Reaching For The Stars

During the voyage Peter gathered all the students together to tell them a bit about their first port of call. The planet Fron was the third planet of Betelgeuse, a star in the Orion constellation and was similar in size to Earth. It was not yet a federation member as it had seemed that the whole planet was unstable which might have caused total abandonment of the planet, but following extensive seismic and geological surveys, it had been deemed safe. Galactic Federation craft had been visiting the planet for many years and the population was well aware of the Federation and had been requesting membership for over a year now on a formal basis. It was for this reason that Peter had been given the quite pleasant task of informing the people of Fron that their application to join the federation had finally been accepted. He said that there would probably be big celebrations once the news became public knowledge. The usual routine in cases like this would be for a Federation representative, in this case, Peter, who would arrive first, would inform the people of the decision, to be closely followed by a proper delegation from Federation headquarters on Varianne, consisting of civic staff, monetary experts and military advisors. They were due to stay on Fron for eight days and would no doubt become involved with the celebrations and preparations for full membership. As part of her on-going training, Maureen had programed the navigation computer under Bill`s watchful eye. She had done this with confidence and competence and Bill had said that the next one she could un-supervised, saying that if she happened to get it wrong it could easily be re-done.

They landed on Fron on schedule and once the landing formalities were completed, the student party disembarked and headed off to the local university where they would spend some time doing their research in the life Sciences department before going off talking to the population. As they were staying for quite a long period, Maggie told Peter that they may well stay on the university campus for several days. Peter requested a meeting with the president of Fron and was told he was out of the capital for a few days visiting a city on the other side of the planet, but his secretary said she could call him back if the matter was of an urgent nature. Peter said that the matter was fairly urgent and it affected the whole planet. The secretary was intrigued but Peter wouldn`t divulge any more information. A call was placed to the president requesting his return to the capital as soon as possible, with a reply saying that he would be back in a day, arriving almost immediately.

The following morning the crew dressed in their best uniforms as opposed to the working dress they usually wore and made their way over to the presidential building. The president arrived about an hour later. He was a very tall man, probably over seven feet, but this was fairly normal for his race as about ninety percent of the Fronian population was six feet six at least. All the president had been told, was that some Federation Police officers wished to speak with him on a very important matter. When he entered the room where Peter and the others were waiting he greeted them cordially and invited them to sit down.

“Good morning folks, I haven`t got any idea why you need to speak to me but I just hope that my planet isn`t in any trouble with the Federation.”

“Good morning Mr President”, Peter replied, “There`s no need to worry. None of your people are in any trouble, but I do carry some important information for you. I have been requested by the federation to inform you that your planet`s application for full membership of the federation has been granted. I am here as the authorised representative to bring you the good news. A full delegation from Varianne will arrive within the next day or so to take you through the rest of the induction process. Congratulations Sir, welcome to the Galactic Federation.”

The president looked at Peter as if he couldn`t quite believe the news then his face broke into a wide grin and he came over and shook everybody`s hand. He went to a desk in the corner and asked his secretary via a video phone to gather the entire government and get them over so that he could break the good news.

The official delegation arrived the next day and there was a massive celebration planned for two days-time. Peter and the crew were requested as guests of honour, Peter asked if the students could attend as well as he thought it would be wonderful for their studies and this was agreed by the president himself.

The joining ceremony was a lavish affair with bands and all kinds of other entertainment for the several thousand people who attended. The high point of the whole ceremony was the presentation of the new Federation flag which was proudly accepted by the president and promptly hoisted on the flagpole above the government buildings. The students had had a very valuable few days with them learning a lot about how the federation worked to welcome new members and also through the university geo-physics and life science laboratories.

It was soon time for them to depart for the next leg of the expedition, this time to federation headquarters on Varianne. Maureen would sit her final examinations here which consisted of a very in depth written examination which was to last for three hours followed by a two hour practical session. She was a bag of nerves getting prepared for the examinations but Bill assured her that she had absolutely nothing to worry about. The journey to Varianne took four days so there was plenty of time to relax for the crew and students alike, which made a welcome break from studying and research. The day finally arrived and Maureen was waiting nervously in the main foyer of the building which housed the federation police headquarters. After a wait of about ten minutes a small attractive woman appeared from a side room and called Maureen`s name. Maureen presumed that the lady was a secretary making sure she was there for the examination but she had a surprise when the lady introduced herself as Renee Throughgood, the senior navigational examiner for the federation. Maureen was surprised and it showed on her face. Renee smiled and told her to relax and enjoy the experience. She showed Maureen into the examination room and once Maureen was seated, she handed Maureen the exam paper, wished her luck and said if she finished before the three hour time limit, she should ring the bell by the door and someone would come and get her for the next phase, then left her alone. Maureen studied the paper and realised it wasn`t as bad as she had been expecting. She got stuck in and was surprised when she completed the two hundred questions in just over two hours. She went over everything again and not finding anything wrong, got up and rang the bell. The door opened a couple of minutes later and Renee came back in. She looked quickly through Maureen`s examination paper, smiled and told Maureen to follow her. She led Maureen outside to the aircraft marshalling area where there were several saucers standing idle, all Ranger class like the one Peter`s crew normally operated. Renee led the way to one saucer and ushered Maureen inside and up to the flight deck. The pilot was already in his seat, a young man about Peter`s age wearing the uniform markings of a first officer. He introduced himself as Clem and said that he was in Maureen`s hands for the next couple of hours and could she not get lost as he had a dinner date later! Maureen grinned back at him saying she would try ever so hard not to get lost!! Renne slipped into the seat next to Maureen and handed her a set of navigational instructions and asked her to work her way through it. Clem obtained clearance from the control centre and took the saucer up into the air. Maureen looked at her instruction sheet and quickly programed the first instruction into the navigational computer. The course setting flashed up on Clem`s panel and he swung the saucer onto the displayed course setting. Maureen`s panel flashed up a time that the trip would take and deciding that it was too long, she asked Clem to increase their speed. When she was happy with the time display she said that was ok at the current speed. Meanwhile she started programing the computer with the remaining instructions so that they would all run consecutively so as they reached one destination the computer would automatically display the next setting. Renee watched with a small smile on her face as Maureen went through the sheet, thinking that not many of her exam pupils did this, most doing each step at a time when they reached a destination. Maureen`s way was far quicker and more professional and she knew that Bill had taught her well to operational standard not just to pass an exam. As Maureen worked through the sheet the set courses appeared on her panel and on Clem`s in the order that she programed them in. On setting the eighth destination the computer flashed up a one word message “Error”. Maureen checked her input against the sheet and after clearing the entry, re-entered the information. The same error message flashed up, so Maureen reached behind her seat and opened a flap panel. She tapped a code into the small keypad on the open flap and after a few seconds a drawer slid open with paper star charts inside. She extracted one, checked the details on her instruction sheet, referred to the chart she now had in her hand, then pressed a button on the navigational computer marked manual over-ride. She referred to the chart again and then entered a series of numbers into the computer and tapped the enter key. A green light flashed on and Maureen knew that she had done the manual input correctly. She returned the chart to its drawer and closed the flap before continuing inputting the remaining course settings. Just under-two hours after taking off the saucer returned to the spaceport and everybody disembarked. Once back inside the training suite, Renee told Maureen to go and get a coffee in the canteen and she would come and find her shortly. When Maureen entered the canteen she found Peter and all the crew waiting for her. They all bombarded her with questions on how she got on but Maureen refused to say anything about the examination until she knew the result. They didn`t have to wait long as Renee came in after about ten minutes. Her expression gave nothing away and Maureen reached for Peter`s hand suddenly feeling unsure of herself. “Well done Maureen you have a grade 1starred pass. You scored 100% on both sections and I was very impressed with your handling of the trick question in the practical session. That is the reason you have the star rate, not many students get that, particularly in the section that got you yours. A lot of students fall down on the trick question and consequently run out of time. I can see that you`ve been taught by a navigational master. Congratulations”.

Everyone congratulated her, and Bill asked what the trick question was and was impressed when Maureen told him what she had done.

The time on Varianne soon came to an end and they departed for their next destination, Eroc, a planet of the star Sirius.