Like Mother, Like Daughter

Nascha Anishinaabe, astrogeologist on board the Heimdall, clenched her fists anxiously as she felt the great ship shudder as the retros cut in, slowing it down to a virtual crawl as the flight computer corrected its flight path. Her normally calm demeanour was showing signs of collapsing today as the excitement building within her grew. The Heimdall was beginning the final phase of an orbital insertion into Saturns inner system, the vast gas giant sitting in a necklace of moons and satellites and the ship was closing in for its first encounter with the second largest moon, Rhea.

Rhea had been chosen as the first port of call for the mission as it had been established some time ago, that the moon had its own ring, or series of rings, just like it's mother planet. Anishinaabe wanted to see the ring firsthand and as soon as the vibration of the engines stopped, she had foregone the usual safety protocols and unslung her harness, making for the observation port. With Skarvalds protests ringing in her ears, she carefully descended the access corridor to the lower decks and scrambled to open the hatch to the viewing port. Her enthusiasm was rewarded by a halo of bluish light at the edge of the port as the automatic polarising shields, appalled at the brightness from the icy face of Rhea, had cut in. She stood at the edge of the port, gazing out at a scarred and cratered face, gleaming brightly in the reflected glare of Saturn. Already, onboard instruments would be analysing the light in various spectrometers and scanners, but Nascha could tell instinctively that the bluish glow suggested a fine atmosphere of oxygen, liberated from the ice and clouding the face of Rhea. Skarvalds voice across the intercom startled her and snapped her out of her musings and she turned swiftly to head back to the command deck. Skarvald would be readying the first probe to land on the surface and she needed to be on hand to examine the surface for suitable landing sites. Within minutes of her arrival on the main deck, Skarvald was busily issuing orders and she soon found herself strapped into the acceleration couch, waiting for separation of the Gungnir shuttle for a close approach. Within hours she would be able to examine samples of that spectral ice and with luck, float amongst the ethereal ring of dust and debris surrounding Rhea. She clenched her fist again, reflexively, imagining the cold of alien ice on her palms.