Session 1 - Liftoff

General Clarke ushers you into a small conference room in the hanger where, having met with the Selection Committee's approval for this mission, you've spent the last several days taking a crash course in astronaut training; a refresher for some of you but a necessity for others who have grown up planet-side and never left its gravity.

The air of tension in the facility and the frustration of the instructors has made it clear that the Committee is impatient and wants you in the sky as soon as possible. So, you're not overly surprised when after only a few days Clarke comes to inspect your progress personally. You're not entirely certain whether you're about to receive a pep talk or a scolding when she takes you aside to speak with you in private.

What you aren't expecting is to find Prime Minister Owen Farley himself seated at the head of the conference room table, waiting your arrival. He's typing rapidly on the laptop before him as you enter but stops to rise and nod to Clarke as you file into the room. You've all met the Prime Minister, as he interviewed each of you individually as part of the selection process and took some time to congratulate you after you were chosen, he's been largely hands-off since--allowing the Committee to take the necessary steps to prepare you.

"Prime Minister, you've met the team already, of course, but just to refamiliarize you with everyone's role," says Clarke, motioning towards you with sharp stabs of her chin as she speaks. Farley's calculating eyes study each of you in turn, but he says nothing and his bland expression doesn't change.

"Lieutenant Erik Monroe, our ship's pilot. Gavin Shellstrom, engineering/communications. Dr. Phillip McHeart, linguistics. Dr. Richard Riemann, chief scientist. Major Tanner Woods and Second Lieutenant Olivia Rojas, tactical support."

"Quite well, thank you." responds Farley. He clears his throat. "Please be seated everyone."

As everyone maneuvers for a chair, he himself remains standing.

He taps a key on his laptop and an image replaces the blank ivory of the wall behind him. Like almost every news report or video you've caught online lately, it shows the unidentified craft circling Farley's World. These images seem to be either enhanced to higher resolution or taken from much closer, but they're still mostly blurry gray smears.

"I know your team's goal is first contact but, despite the fact they've done nothing but try and capture our attention, our visitors here have caught the public's attention to the point that its whipped things into a near panic."

The screen changes to show a pair of blue dots circling the globe at a slight angle from the equator, while a pair of red dots nearby flutter about randomly but seem to maintain a fairly consistent distance.

"Orbital Guard craft have taken up stationary orbit at an estimated safe distance from the unknown agents,"[/b] Farley says.

"Their deployment is entirely defensive," Clarke cuts in. "They have strict orders not to approach or engage the craft unless they take hostile action."

"You'll understand we had to be seen to take some action to ensure that people remained calm." Farley shrugs. "The opportunity to make history as the ones to solve this mystery is still yours--but if you don't get up there quickly some shuttle jockey is going to steal all of the fame. And we have to hope it's not by proving trigger happy."

Gavin Shellstrom examines the images and the chart showing the Orbital Guard craft with the other objects.

"Makes sense to me," he says. "The communications chatter's been getting even more heated than usual recently. I'm sure at least one person is psyching themselves up to get out there first. Whoever it is is probably a fine human being, but I wouldn't bet on them being what we would call 'thoughtful' or 'organized.'

Farley nods in response to Gavin's comment.

"Nor should we ignore the efforts of the scientific community here on the ground in attempting to make contact. They've made a number of attempts to simply broadcast back from the surface," he leans forward to tap a button on his laptop and a second window opens on the wall showing detailed graphs of frequencies, intensities, and periodicity shaded in different color coding. "These have largely entailed attempting to mimic the transmissions received or break them up into different sequences. It doesn't appear to have changed the nature of their response. The messages we've been receiving have remained static."

"That's good to hear, Major, and I'd expect no less," he responds to Woods. Then he turns to face Clarke, seated to his right. "So, how soon do you think we can have this group off the ground?"

"The former," replies the Prime Minister. He taps a few more keys and graphs reappear on the wall screen, though they're simpler now, just the same signal graphed repeatedly with timestamps and notations regarding which agency had recorded them. A highlighted portion is marked by an arrow directing to related graph showing soundwave frequencies. The minister strikes a key to play the isolated recording.

"Heh-pah... Sisti... heh-pah."

This small, repeating audio component has been omnipresent since it was decoded and it has been loudly argued by various experts as to whether it contains some type of language or is merely background noise or is perhaps only of value when considered as part of the overall transmission.

The 'heh' sounds like someone panting heavily into a receiver. The 'pah' almost a cough, like the breather had suddenly been struck in the chest. The other syllable starts with a snakelike hiss that seems to promise danger, before abruptly ending in a sharper sound.

Farley claps his hands at Phillip's assertion of readiness. "Very good, that's what I was hoping to hear. Do the rest of you share that assessment?"

His eyes drift over everyone offering them a chance to voice any concerns, but noticeably come to rest on General Clarke seeking final approval.

"Yessir. I have a go-bag at the ready and I'm prepared to go orbital. As long as we have the standard set of datapads and linkups, that's all I need right now."

"I assure you, Mr. Shellstrom, we'll do our best to ensure you're equipped with whatever you need. If you find the Blackthorne is lacking in anything you require, just call it out."

"You got it, Prime Minister. Let me do a quick preflight evaluation and I'll let you know if there's anything else we need.

"Not so fast, Major." says Clarke, rising from her chair. She extends her left hand to halt Rojas who had leapt to her feet at Tanner's command. "While I've no doubts as to the readiness of you and the lieutenant, I would remind you that portions of this room at present have a total of 2 weeks of devoted astronaut training to their name."

She makes a curt, chopping motion as if physically deflecting away any incoming objections.

"Yes, some of you traveled down from orbit when you arrived and the rest are at least up to date on your annual emergency evacuation training if you grew up here; but I'd point out that passenger safety is a far cry from the detailed training given to even those actively performing the least taxing scientific study in oribit. You've maybe one sixth the recommended hours, if we're being generous."

She turns to face the prime minister.

"I understand the desire to move as fast as possible, but I'd weigh that against the fact that every launch has the potential for unexpected dangers--this one most of all. I'd advise another couple of weeks on the ground if it could eliminate an error that has us starting from back from zero."

Woods is visibly frustrated by this new delay, but years of practice deferring to the chain of command helps him keep his cool.

"If I might offer a counterpoint General, we still don't know if we're preparing to defend ourselves from a new threat, perform a first contact, embark on a rescue, or start evacuating the planet. We need intel and we need it bad. I'd feel better about leaving with time to spare in case we hit trouble and need to turn back. If we wait, we don't have that option."

Phil skips asking for the general's permission and aims his arguments directly at the PM "I'd like to add, mister Prime Minister, sir. I've never seen or been part of a crew that shows such a high level of competence." Usually, this is where Phil would be bullsh*tting his way through, but in this case he didn't have to lie. He really hadn't ever been part of a better crew... Then again, contrary to what his resume said, he hadn't been part of many crews.

"I'm sure you've extensively studied our previous accomplishments. If that doesn't give you the confidence you need, we might as well call the whole thing off." As a con man, Phil was accustomed to feigning confidence when needed.

Gavin is taken aback by General Clarke's hesitation, especially considering what was said about some lone-wolf cowboy type trying to make a jaunt up there before they could put together an official mission and possibly ruining an incredible opportunity. He decided he needed to speak up himself.

"Pardon me, General Clarke, but from what I've gathered in the discussion so far one of the primary complications here is that the signal is not a secret. I know for a fact that the signal data is being analyzed by a number of interested individuals, and there is some concern that one or more of them could try and launch themselves out without warning.

I understand you would feel more comfortable with extra time to prepare, dot all the Is and cross all the Ts. But it seems to me like time is an issue here and at this point it's seeming less and less like a luxury we can afford. It sounds like we're as prepared as we need to be right now, we should take first mover advantage."

"I assure you, I've been studying your previous accomplishments since before the committee confirmed you as their selections. And again I'm in no way expressing a lack of confidence in the team or your ability to succeed at the assigned task. I am saying that you, and I include you in this specifically Mr. McHeart, would benefit from another week of training in that I think that short delay realistically has the chance to significantly shift the odds between mission success and failure.""What you say is not without merit, Mr. Shellstrom, it is the very same argument the PM was just making--the longer we delay the more of a chance that someone tries to make an unsanctioned attempt at the first contact. However, for the moment we have the public's support to manage the response. All of the scientific teams currently attempting to establish remote contact are another arm of our own strategy and are acting only after receiving our approval. The pilots currently surveilling the unidentified craft have orders only to observe. Does that mean the other side won't force the issue? No. But the resulting outcome will be we still have control over the exchange, granted your team would be preferred to be managing it."