Chapters When Ocellus scanned her area, she found only two galaxies, called Lemuria and Ludus. Ludus was the closest galaxy, so she headed there first.
The Ludus galaxy had hundreds of gas-giants which were all different. Some of the planets even changed color, so she made sure to take gas samples from each planet for research in the future. Although, there were some planets with solid landmasses. She explored those carefully to avoid disturbing the environments. Half of these planets had environments similar to those of Equus and had breathable air. All of the other planets were full of caves where the inhabitants lived underground. All of the inhabited planets were welcoming and the residents gladly donated samples of their resources for experimentation.
In Lemuria, there were more solid planets than any other type. One-third of these planets were forested. However, the wood from the trees was different in hardness from planet to planet. On some worlds, the wood was so soft that it could be cut with only a knife, whereas other planets had tree wood that required a laser to cut it. The inhabitants here gladly gave her some samples from trees they had recently harvested. One-sixth of Lemuria was gas-giants and did not show any signs of life, so Ocellus moved on after charting the planets' positions.
Half of the remaining planets were mountains everywhere. There was nothing to collect from these planets except for photographs and written information. The remainder of the planets were all ice planets. Life did exist, but there were noticeable differences. On half of these planets, the inhabitants were acclimated to the sub-zero temperatures. The other planets had heated buildings that the inhabitants lived in. If going outside, they would need to put on heavy clothes. Some of these ice worlds had liquid nitrogen for their oceans. Ocellus had brought a special thermos for this, so she was able to collect a sample.
Once she was certain that she had not missed anything, she made her way back to the space station.
Smolder's part of Sector 3 consisted of the systems Delta, and Zulu. As she got close, a scan told her that the planets in Zulu would be hard to chart.
In the Delta system, she came across something she had never seen in her life. Equus may have been modernized, but every single planet here was inhabited by complete nerds. These planets had technology unlike anything that had been created on Equus, so the workers gave her some pieces of equipment as well as copies of some of the blueprints for their best inventions. Smolder thanked them warmly and left with a grin. She could not wait to share these designs with Flurry.
In the Zulu system, Smolder's flight skills were tested to the ultimate level. 80% of the planets were in tight orbits around black holes. She had to watch how close she got in order to avoid getting pulled in. Nevertheless, she still managed to get pictures taken and samples collected from the planets that were in safe areas. Although, some of these inhabitants were not very friendly and didn't like outsiders. In those cases, Smolder kept her distance and cloaked her ship so they would not see anything. One planet involved her having to go scuba diving in order to carry out the mapping. She enjoyed that planet because she learned a lot about how to pressurize vehicles for extreme depths underwater. She took many notes so she could tell Flurry Heart as much as possible.
After making sure she had not missed anything, Smolder returned to the space station to regroup with her friends.
Yona's portion of Sector 3 consisted of the Alpha, Juliet, and Tango systems.
In the Alpha system, Yona came across numerous worlds where the inhabitants constantly trained for war. They were impressed that someone had come to visit and gladly gave some of their time for Yona to make recordings of some of their best battle tactics for close-combat, water, air, and in space. She even took lessons from some of the inhabitants.
In Juliet, she encountered tons of agricultural worlds that produced more fruits and vegetables than she had ever seen. She was given samples of each and every bit of produce, along with labels since some of the names were hard to produce. Yona even received recipes for how to mix the juice from each crop and make interesting drinks.
Tango was another story. This system worked in conjunction with Juliet to produce different types of candies on 25% of the planets. The other planets had all of the resources that were necessary to make said candies, even cocoa for chocolate. Some of these planets had plants that actually grew candy that you could eat after picking it. Yona had a sweet tooth, but she resisted eating too much because she did not want to get sick during the mission. She took lots of pictures and wrote multiple logs to document what the planets looked like both from space and on the ground. These were some of the most colorful planets she had ever seen.
She had charted everything in her part of the sector in about three weeks. Once all was said and done, she returned to the space station.
Moving to the next Sector
Once everyone had returned to the space station, they talked about what they had seen and what kind of terrains they encountered on the planets they examined. Sandbar quickly logged everything in a holographic map that showed the portion of the universe around Equus. After undocking from the station and leaving Sector 3, they flew on the Harmony to the space station in Sector 4. The scanners indicated that this sector was larger than Sector 3, so it possibly would take longer to map out. Nevertheless, they docked on the space station and talked to the Commander, which was Spike. He had some shocking news for them.
"This sector may look large on the scanners, but there aren't as many planets as there were when the campaign was first started. Massive solar flares in almost all of the systems have completely obliterated the planets. All of the remaining planets are in a single solar system. You can still chart the locations of all of the stars, but you will have very little to record for planetary life. Sandbar, I suggest you take part in the mapping for this sector as well.", explained Spike.
Sandbar accepted what Spike had said and they set off.
As Gallus piloted his ship into his portion of Sector 3, he picked up three galaxies. In order from closest to farthest, the galaxies were called Veridia, Amargosa, and Talaria.
Reaching the Veridia galaxy, he started charting every single planetary body for position and even sent probes down to check environments. Several of the planets were gas-giants, but Gallus also found habitable planets where Equus could establish bases. There were some planets that were both inhabited and uninhabited that had poisonous atmospheres. Exploring these planets required Gallus to keep his space suit sealed at all times while he was charting.
There were also some inhabited planets with a similar atmosphere to that of Equus. All of the inhabitants that he met were friendly and welcomed him to their worlds. Some did not speak english, but Gallus had brought equipment with which to translate the natives' language so it could be comprehended. Gallus even told the inhabitants about his home-world, which was intriguing to them.
Amargosa and Talaria were similar and had a few uninhabited planets. Some were difficult to explore due to dangerous terrain. For instance, there were two planets where lava was almost everywhere and the rain-water was heavily acidic. Some of the other planets were all water and the only structures were either under the water or on gigantic metal support legs anchored on the seafloor.
Once Gallus was certain that he had mapped his section out completely, he made his way back to the space station.
Silverstream's portion of Sector 3 involved systems called Thule, Agartha, and Hyperborea.
Ninety percent of Thule was filled with planets that did not have an atmosphere. The inhabitants were able to survive in the vacuum of space. Silverstream was sure to take notes that if the planets here were ever colonized, then pressurized outposts would need to be built. The remaining 10% was mountainous worlds that did not have any flat areas to land a starship without sustaining heavy damage. Silverstream opted to remain flying while charting these planets.
Agartha was filled completely with lush plant worlds. The smell of nectar from the flowers on these planets was sweeter than any kind of honey that Silverstream had ever tasted on Equus. She was even given plant samples to research. Some of the planets were so huge that they had to be shrunk down with a shrink ray in order to store them. On a couple of planets, the natives were generous enough to give samples of the honey and molasses they produced.
Hyperborea was the most treacherous system she explored in her area. All of the planets here were together as one giant mining operation. Smoke from the constant explosions in the mines made it difficult to see, and the substances that were being mined were highly radioactive. Silverstream had made sure to bring special receptacles to store these metals and liquids, and she did not take her space suit off in order to avoid getting radiation poisoning.
Once Silverstream had charted every star and planet in her part of Sector 3, she headed back to the space station.