The ship had spent the last month decelerating, so that Uranus' gravity would pull it in and allow it to maneuver towards the inner ring while looking for relics to search. Pepper and Vanessa had plotted over two dozen likely places to search, so they were now trying to plan the most effective search strategy. Exploring the two biggest ships were still high on the list, as was mounting two or more smaller ones if they could. But the worry was that there could be too much to search in one trip.

The view was sensational. Nobody was working any more, they were either up on the bridge or sleeping. Even meals were taken on the bridge, just to take everything in. The pictures sent back from the probe had been nice, but the real thing was something else entirely. None of the crew could look at it and not be awestruck, it would take a long time for them to grow used to the view, that is, if they ever did.

It was hardest on the pilots. Emily, Lena, and Xavier were working overlapping twelve hour shifts to ensure that the bridge always had two pilots on it. As much as they had wanted to rely on Miles for help, he hadn't had real flight experience, and getting into an orbit around the planet and sliding down to the inner ring required experience. The pilots didn't seem to mind though, Emily had compared it to driving around when she was a kid looking at Christmas lights.

Anton almost never slept any more unless he fell asleep on the bridge and Miles carried him to his bunk. He couldn't stop staring, commenting on everything he saw and beaming like a parent watching their kid's performance. He'd been dreaming so long of this, that he couldn't get enough. Several times, Vanessa had to act like a mother, just to keep him in bed and resting for another hour. She only hoped he wouldn't wear himself out while they were there.

"I can't get over all these moons!" Pepper said in wonder. Fifteen moons scattered around the giant icy planet, and with the addition of the rings it looked like a floating work of art. Whenever she thought of the large planets in the solar system, she'd always just thought of Jupiter and Saturn, never remembering that Uranus was the third largest, and such a beautiful sight to behold.

Vanessa heard the whisper through her earpiece while finishing a quick meal and hurried up to the bridge to join her. When she got to the bridge, she slid behind Pepper, and wrapped her arms around her from behind, gazing over her shoulder at the view while her hands rested on her belly. The two were still hesitant about getting physical, but they weren't shy about holding each other any longer. "This view is going to make it hard to leave," she whispered into Pepper's ear.

"I wonder if we could get oxygen from the clouds?" Pepper wondered. "If there are as many ships as we think in the belt, it could take decades to properly explore everything."

"Are you volunteering to stay?"

Pepper slid her hands up to cover Vanessa's. "If I had the right company, I'd stay here forever." Vanessa just beamed in response, not trusting her voice to answer that.

"We're officially in Uranus' orbit!" Xavier called out. "We should be able to move inward past the rings and moons to the targets in another 48 hours."

The bridge rang with cheers and the slaps of high fives that caused a few people to drift through the cabin because they weren't supported well enough. That only changed the cheers to laughter, but the countdown was started. 48 hours until they could start their exploration. Pepper could feel Vanessa squeezing her tight as she cheered with everyone else, and it took all her willpower to not turn around and kiss her, she was so happy. But she didn't know if that would be crossing a line, so she just cheered along with the rest.

The crew spent the next two days alternating between the view and making sure their equipment was ready for their excursions. The first goal was to capture one or more of the smaller ships, if possible, using three of the powered sleds. Once that was done, they would move to phase two, which was the exploration of the larger intact ship. The plan was for Pepper, Lena and Miles to each man a sled, with Anton, Vanessa and Brody choosing who to follow. They had twelve powered sleds, each with thrusters, that would transport them in groups to their targets, and allow them to bring gear back easier. Pepper, Lena, and Miles went over each of the sleds one at a time, checking and double checking each to make sure that they were in perfect shape.

Vanessa maintained her presence on the bridge with her father, occasionally whispering to Pepper through the earpiece to make sure she was alright, or to tell her to come see something new that was just too beautiful to miss. The ship had high resolution cameras to take pictures, but that never could replace enjoying the view in person. The images were also being sent back to Earth, one of the conditions for being the only group allowed to explore the rings for now.

Brody was on the bridge a lot as well, talking to Anton and Vanessa about possible plan for bringing ships home. His concern was that even the small ships might be too large to connect to their modular craft, but Anton was determined to get an intact ship back to study the engines. The promise of having a way to explore distant stars was too alluring to pass up and getting an intact ship back to Earth would be a huge win for the company and humanity.

Back in the cargo bay with the powered sleds, Miles and Pepper had just finished checking over the last of the sleds. Lena was taking a break, since she needed sleep in between bridge shifts.  All twelve had passed inspections and would provide the teams an easy way to get to their target relics without spending their own energy. "You're sure you're good flying these on your own?" Miles asked Pepper.

"Yeah. I mean I only got about 30 minutes flying one back at the station, but it was fun. I did well on the simulations here too," Pepper wasn't going to admit how nervous she was going to be flying one, especially if she was going to have a passenger like Vanessa entrusting their life to her. She did wish she could fly a little more on her own though. "Maybe we could practice a bit before we take passengers though?" She suggested.

"Not a bad idea. I don't think our passengers would mind if we got a little more experience with the sleds," Miles smiled at her. Pepper could see why Lena liked him. For all his muscles, he had a very gentle demeanor, and seemed to care about everyone else. She had to assume he could carry a few donuts too.

Damnit, now that Lena put that image in her head, she was never going to get it out of there. She couldn't help but wonder if it mattered what flavor? Seriously, glaze or chocolate frosting could get everywhere, and then the jelly donuts didn't even have a hole. Sprinkles could be as bad as beach sand! She knew that she was overthinking it, but she was an engineer at heart, and it was bugging her.

She booted up the sled simulator and got to practicing. "Nessa, anything nice to see up there?" She whispered.

"Well, it is the same beautiful view as ever. Lena is guiding us inward, so we're getting closer," Vanessa told her.

"Damnit, I was just working with Miles on the sleds and now I can't get donuts out of my head," Pepper complained.

Vanessa was silent for a moment, unsure of how to take that. "Would you rather have donuts?" She finally asked.

"No! I mean, that isn't what I mean. Ugh! This is coming out all wrong. He's a nice guy and all, and Lena and her dirty mind keep making me think stupid things," Pepper lamented.

"But you're thinking about him?"

"Yes. Well, no, not like that. From a purely scientific standpoint of donut flavors."

Up on the bridge, Vanessa was trying not to giggle as she realized that Pepper was truly not interested in Miles' donut holder but more the type of donut. "You know, we're allowed to try our own donut experiments," she finally said as she started to make her way back towards the cargo bays to find Pepper, her magnetic boots making little pops as they lifted off the deck.

"I'm pretty sure Lena wouldn't like us borrowing Miles for that," Pepper scoffed.

"Actually, knowing Lena, she'd help us, but I didn't actually mean that," Vanessa giggled into the whisper. She peeked through the hatch, seeing Pepper astride one of the sleds while doing the simulation.

"Well then how can we experiment?" Pepper asked, her confusion evident.

"I could think of a few places on you I'd like to put a donut to eat," Vanessa said in a husky whisper. "Once we're home and have access to some donuts."

Pepper immediately sat up straight, her hands on her chest as she failed the simulation horribly, her brain overthinking Nessa's statement. "You what?"

"I'm sorry!" Vanessa said, hurrying over to the sled and sliding onto it behind Pepper and pulling her back into her. "I was just teasing, that wasn't nice of me." In truth, now that she mentioned it, she really wished there were a donut shop up here.

"You really want to do more with me though, don't you?" Pepper asked shyly.

"Pepper, you're gorgeous, you're kind and a brilliantly smart woman. You've been in my bed for months and I love the feeling of holding you. Of course, I would love to do more with you, but not until you're ready. You're worth waiting for. Not to mention, we have a whole new planet right outside our ship, there are ancient spacecraft in orbit that we get to go investigate. We get to go places what no human has ever seen," Vanessa stated. "I'm pretty sure that we're going to be so busy over the next few months that we wouldn't have time to do more if we wanted to."

Pepper sighed, but then said what she had been saving for the last few months. "So, what you're saying is, you really want me to explore Uranus, huh?" she couldn't help but giggle afterwards.

"Damnit Pepper! You know those jokes don't count if we say them!" Vanessa groaned at the bad joke.