Chapter 1

My first view of Pathfinder is as a newly striped Commander and as her first Captain. She is long and bulky and definitely not designed for racing but she is still the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I should think that most Captains say that about their first command. Her forward section is a modified lifting body and will allow us to land on Epsilon Eridani 4. This sits above and astraddle the containment and habitat module which will hold the labs, the Hyber-sleep chambers and common rooms for when orbit is achieved at EE4. Behind these is the drive section where the fusion reactors and the fuel cells for the Ion-pulse engines. 500 meters long and at over 450,000 M-tons she is capable of .88L; this will give us the speed necessary to rich EE4 in just over 11 years. The L6 yards have done a first rate job of getting her finished a month ahead of schedule and now it is up to me to get her ready for her maiden voyage. In two years we leave and I still have to pick the rest of my crew and get the ship fitted out.