Quoted By:
“MIZAR-V-A receded as it cooled. Reefs of smooth, heat-fused glass shifted from orange to dull-red as they were reclaimed by the planet’s ash-choked oceans. The darkening surface highlighted a brief but intense shower of micrometeorites – speckles of crimson as debris from the orbital elevator bus abraded in the dense atmosphere.
By the time the shower tapered into nothing, the RAIN had long since left orbit– her prow pointed towards the soft smear of MIZAR-IV. Somewhere within that planet's diffuse borders lay the verdant glow of twin sister-moons.
The two moons had been born together– formed from the same accretion-band during their parent planet’s gaseous infancy. Then, they had captured comets together during early maturation, accumulating enough water to submerge their landmasses under kilometer-deep oceans.
Finally, they had been colonized together during the first phase of Mizarian settlement, transforming from minor outposts to fully-fledged colonies to catapult the expansion of their species further into the outer system.
And now they would die together – sister-monuments to the final extinction of their kind.”
- [UNSIGNED], EXECUTIVE AUDITOR, TRS NOVEMBER RAIN, AD. 2242, OCTOBER 2nd, PERSONAL JOURNAL
>DIRECT APPROACH. At our current heading, we will arrive while one moon is transiting its sibling. This will allow the RAIN to strike both targets simultaneously from a single launch position. However, the transit will also concentrate the patrol forces guarding the two moons – potentially creating a more dangerous approach.
>DELAYED APPROACH. By slowing our approach by two days, we will enter the orbit of one moon while its sibling is locked to the other side of the parent gas-giant. This will allow us to engage the patrol forces around each moon separately. However, this will come at the expense of time and secrecy – by the time we swing around to engage the second moon, the Mizarians will be able to obtain a relatively good grasp of our heading and orbital insertion window. This information may render our assault on their homeworld more challenging.
