text: Commander Andrade continues. "I was going to cover this at our meeting this morning, but now's as good a time as any," she says. "You'll be pleased to know the captain has approved your promotion. Allow me to be the first person to congratulate you, Lieutenant."
  
  "So you were testing me?" you say.
  
  "Yes, and the results were, shall we say, interesting."
  
  "What about the mission to Folvan?" you ask. "There have been a lot of rumors going around about who's going to lead that team."
  
  Andrade looks at you carefully before responding. "Captain Ynthramanni has decided to give that assignment to Lieutenant Wyte. We're sure he is the best person for that job."
  
  You leave the meeting with the commander devastated. You know you should feel excited for getting your promotion, but the news that the mission you had been preparing for has gone to someone else--and of all people, Aolin Wyte--hits you like a punch in the gut. Wyte has been your biggest rival since you both arrived on the Orion a year ago. He made lieutenant two months before you, and now he landed what many people thought was going to be your mission. You feel both hurt and angry at the same time.
  
  > If you focus on your work and try to put your disappointment behind you, turn to page 70.
  The last thing you need is to say or do something that you'll later regret, so instead you focus on your work and keep to yourself for the remainder of your duty shift. Everyone knows how much you wanted to lead the Folvan mission, and your disappointment is plainly obvious, so they keep a respectful distance while you work out your emotional state.
  
  The next day goes a little better, and by the start of the third day you feel as if you are putting your feeling of disappointment well behind you. But you are legitimately curious to know what your future role on the Orion is going to be now that you've been promoted to the rank of lieutenant.
  
  That morning, just as you are about to leave your quarters, you get an incoming message notification on your WristComp. The text is brief: you have been reassigned to the bridge, with no explanation provided.
  
  If the main hull of the Orion is shaped like a giant sphere, the bridge is placed like a button at the top of that sphere, on A Deck. It is the command center for the entire ship. In your first year of duty aboard this ship, you've only been on the bridge just a handful of times before, and never for more than a few minutes. Bridge assignments can be highly coveted, especially for junior officers such as yourself, because of the experience you can earn working with the senior staff.
  
  > Page 116
  When you arrive this morning, there is a flurry of activity as the crew is preparing to set off from Star Base Ishtria to begin the voyage to Folvan. Lieutenant Diureng, the ship's helmsman, is surrounded by holo-virtual navigation displays and computer controls; when the ship sets off it will be steered by the movements of his body. Commander Andrade is at the communications station, coordinating the unmooring protocols with the dockmaster on the star base.
  
  You start to approach the commander, because you assume it was she who had you reassigned to the bridge. But when Andrade sees you she tips her head toward the far side of the bridge, where Captain Javid Ynthramanni and his first officer, Commander Jonn Diston, are discussing something at an unmanned computer station.
  
  "Ah, Lieutenant," the captain says, shaking your hand. "Congratulations on your promotion."
  
  "Thank you, sir," you say.
  
  "I'll bet you're wondering why you're here, so I've asked Commander Diston to describe your assignment to you."
  
  As the captain moves on to handle some other task, the First Officer explains that you have been selected to serve as the bridge liaison for the planetary mission on Folvan. Basically, you'll be monitoring the expedition's status and preparing mission updates for the senior officers--perhaps not as exciting as being on the expedition, but a bridge assignment is still a big deal.
  
  > Page 73
  Although your new assignment is not particularly demanding, you nevertheless feel important as you take the lift up to A Deck every day during the voyage to Folvan.
  
  Five days after setting off from the star base, the Orion enters orbit over what many people call the Grass Planet because its predominant ecosystem is a planet-wide grassland, interrupted only by a few small mountain ranges, dozens of freshwater lakes, and two small oceans. It appears on the main HoloPort as a drab-green orb speckled with blue.
  
  Lieutenant Wyte's team takes off in a shuttle, heading to the night side of the planet and the area where Dr. Munro was last known to be. You monitor their communications as the team lands near one of Dr. Munro's hidden research posts, where for the last few years the xenoanthropologist and her people were secretly observing the indigenous people who live on Folvan.
  
  At first everything sounds routine, except that the post appears deserted and the research team is nowhere to be found. Then you think you hear shouting before the comm signal goes silent. You aren't sure, but is the expedition in trouble, or are they experiencing a technical malfunction?
  
  > If you advise the captain that you've lost contact with the expedition, turn to page 40.
  The captain seems gravely concerned when you relay the news that you've lost contact with the planetary mission already, at their first landing site.
  
  "Have the shuttle pilot, Warrant Officer Hinju, fly down and try and make visual contact with the expedition," Ynthramanni says.
  
  It is a tense and quiet moment on the bridge as everyone awaits word from the shuttle. "Hinju to Orion," he finally says. "It appears that the expedition has been mauled by a roving pack of wild animals. I can't see any signs of survivors from up here. Should I land my ship and investigate?"
  
  "No, Warrant Officer," the captain says. "If the entire survey team has been wiped out then we don't need to be putting your life at risk too."
  
  In the end, you do get assigned to a team heading down to the Grass Planet--but as part of a heavily harmed recovery mission, not to explore. What you find on the surface is not pretty; based on the remains, it appears that the expedition was ambushed by a pride of vicious garda beasts, one of Folvan's apex predators.
  
  Did a similar fate befall Dr. Munro? No one may ever know for sure, but it certainly seems like a plausible scenario.