The rings and moons of Uranus, as well as the planet itself, were a stunning natural view that none of the crew would ever forget. But that view was relegated to a distant second place as the bulk of the intact space craft grew larger and larger in front of them. Emily had taken the pilot's seat for last of the flight to get the ship near the hulking craft, and now they could see some of the details that weren't visible from the original pictures they had seen.

Like the immense hole that bisected the craft from top to bottom.

It looked as if someone had just taken a giant popsicle stick and ripped it right out of the middle of the ship. From the beginning, Pepper had wondered why the immense craft had been abandoned, but now they most certainly knew.

"Well, at least now we don't have to guess how to get in!" Brody joked.

Nobody laughed.

"That is gigantic," Xavier murmured. In the original photos, Pepper had been able to see the length of the ship and general outline, but up close the scale was awe inspiring.

"Bigger than an aircraft carrier," Lena agreed. She had flown off the USS Gerald Ford in her Navy days, and this was substantially larger.

The ship was shaped almost like an elongated square cut diamond. They were coming in from the wide end, giving them a view of a cluster of what appeared to be six huge engines, arranged in a circular fashion. Moving forward, the craft then tapered slowly down to a point far on the other end. The hole started top of the ship near what appeared to be the stern, tilting down into it, and they couldn't tell yet if it went the entire way through. It certainly didn't look to be a part of the design and lent more credence to the thoughts of a space battle.

Remembering the photo analysis, Pepper knew that beyond this ship were several potential smaller ships as well as the larger ruined ship. As amazing as this ship was, it was only going to get better!

"I can't believe we're finally here and seeing this!" Anton smiled widely.

"We're going to see a lot more soon, the smaller ships and the giant one should be in sight once we pass this," Pepper promised.

"How many ships will there be?" Lena asked, no doubt wondering which ones she could fly.

"We weren't sure. There could be up to a dozen based on what we saw, or even more if they were too small to see on the photos. We'll have to see what we find."

All of this was being recorded, both audio and video. Anton had planned on making a documentary of the expedition after editing, and no doubt it would be played over and over back home. But right now, they were just enjoying the view. Emily had the speed of their craft slow enough that they could study the sides of the larger vessel as they slowly glided past. It had a surprisingly large number of openings. Perhaps glass had blown out or something? As they passed it, they could finally see the other side of the hole that terminated low on the ship's hull.

"Could any foreign body have done that?" Miles asked, trying to study the hole.

"No," Pepper answered. "If that had been hit by a rock of some sort, it wouldn't be such a neat hole. It would be like a bullet, larger on the way out. I bet if we measured the diameter, it would be the same size the throughout the ship."

"Some sort of a laser?" Miles pressed.

"I don't know, maybe," Pepper shrugged.

"Certainly, well beyond our capability," Brody commented.

"Everything out here is well beyond our capability," Lena scoffed.

Pepper was examining the tip of the giant ship when she felt Vanessa grab her am while gasping. Turning her head to see what had Vanessa's attention, she looked beyond the ship and could see the ruins of the even larger ship starting to come into view. But between the ships was even better, what looked to be a whole fleet of smaller versions of the intact ship. Some were small, perhaps the size of an 18-wheeler, while others were several hundred feet long. But they all had the same shape, and they all floated lifelessly.

"Holy shit!" Pepper finally choked out.

"Jackpot!" Lena crowed, no doubt wanting to joy ride in these new ships. Pepper noticed that Miles had his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her into him while nuzzling her neck. It was a cute image, and not what she had thought Lena would be like with Miles. Maybe it was more than sex now? She hoped so, they were both nice, even if Lena was a bit crazy sometimes.

Vanessa looked over to her father, only to be met with his face bearing a beaming smile as he looked out at the ships, tears flowing down his face. This was far greater than he could have dreamed. When she looked back at Pepper, she was met with her hazel eyes staring back at her. "Are you alright?"

"Never better," Pepper sighed, pulling Vanessa close and placing a soft kiss on her cheek. She wanted to talk with her, but knew that tonight in bed would be a better time. Vanessa looked at her, a soft smile on her face as she touched her cheek.

"How many of those do you think we can take back with us?" Miles asked.

"I don't know. Maybe three or four," Anton said quietly. "I wasn't expecting so many"

"Well, let's go grab some!" Brody exclaimed.

"Not so fast," Emily stated. "The first thing we're doing is mounting all of the thrusters for the return trip. I don't want anything to happen out here and then have to install them while we need to go."

"Agreed," Lena stated. "We need to be safe. Get ready for the return trip first, and then we can go play with our new toys." For her to be so responsible, when Pepper knew that Lena wanted nothing more than to see those ships, she knew it was important.

Anton looked frustrated, but he had to admit that it was the prudent move. If anything were to happen and they needed to move in a hurry, they couldn't do much without the return thrusters installed. Brody looked as though he wanted to argue the point as well, but he closed his mouth, realizing it was a losing battle. They had months on the timeline to search out here, taking a day to ready the ship was a minor inconvenience.

Lena and Brody had the most space walk experience, so they led the way to the cargo bays where everyone could get suited up. Emily and Xavier stayed on the bridge to monitor things, as the rest of the crew double checked each other's suit seals. Once they were all good, they went into the air lock and had Xavier open the cargo bays with the unused thrusters.

The new thrusters weren't hard to install. The brackets had been empty for several years since Lena had ejected the original thrusters once they ran out of fuel on the first day of leaving the space station. So, they just had to slide the new ones into the empty brackets. But it was still tedious. They were bulky, and you needed three people to move and position them before the brackets locked them into place. It was easy when they had practiced by doing the original ones prior to the flight, but the new view made for a lot of distractions while we were doing the current thrusters. It also didn't help in that there were more thrusters for the return trip in anticipation of a lot of cargo.

Miles and Pepper maneuvered the thrusters, while Brody positioned them within the clamps. Vanessa and Anton took in the view, while Lena stood over watch in case anything came up. She kept a special eye on Anton, who looked as though he wanted to leap off and go to one of the nearby ships. She couldn't fault him. Emily had gotten them to within 100 yards of the front of the giant ship, and it was so large she felt she could reach out and touch it. But she resisted the urge. She'd get her chance later.

It took almost six hours to get all 18 of the thrusters installed, and they were all sweating by the time it was done. Vanessa had pitched in on the last few, having seen how tired everyone was getting. When the final set of clamps slammed shut, it was a welcome sound.

"All thrusters are reading as secured and connected on the board," Xavier's voice came through their headphones. "Come on in and relax people!" Everyone piled into the cargo bays before Xavier closed them, and then cycled through the air lock to get back inside.

Their first space walk and assignment around the planet was a success. Hopefully it was a sign of things to come.