April 26th, 8252

You lay back in the captains chair and grin at the preliminary passive scans of the Sono system gathered during the silent run on the way in to the star. Four clusters of asteroids in addition to the main asteroid belt, a planet the green and blue of a verdant world, and not a single sign of the golrak. Looking over the finer details of the preliminary scans you shrug in only minor annoyance. A bountiful system, if not the haven that the Azur system was. Counting up the major stellar locations of interest you estimate that it will take sixteen days to survey everything. Checking the orbits of the various objects and adding in travel time you curse as you realize it will take a full twenty three days to complete the full survey.

May 19th, 8252

You pull up the final report on the Sono system for review before dispatching it.

TO: SURVEYOR'S CORPS (Celesmore System)

STAR SYSTEM: SONO

PIRMARY STAR:

The Sono star is a F0II, a luminous giant of a star. Spectral emissions are blue-white and provide rather spectacular back lighting to the dust clouds in the inner cauldron and inner reaches of the primary biosphere.

INNER CAULDRON:

The only defining stellar feature in the inner cauldron of the Sono system is an extensive dust cloud. Of note is that this dust cloud is diffuse enough to not impede sensors overmuch, but dense enough to dim the illumination of the primary star somewhat.

PRIMARY BIOSPHERE:

Two further regions of dust clouds dominate the inner reaches of the Sono system's primary biosphere. As with the dust cloud of the inner cauldron, there dust clouds do not impede sensors over much but do mitigate the light of the star somewhat.

Sono 1 benefits greatly from this reduction in light from Sono the star. It is a large world, but not overly dense, with a gravity of 1.09g and a thin atmosphere. Of note is that this atmosphere is near human breathable, but contains higher then standard percentage of argon (5.31 percent) and oxygen (27.72 percent). Breathing apparatus is highly recommenced for prolonged surface exploration. Despite Sono 1's orbit on the inner side of the primary biosphere, the dust clouds between it and the primary star result in a verdant world with a temperate climate. Logged unique native species include three distinct species of flora (two of which are of enormous size), two distinct species of apex predator, three more species of lesser predator (one of which is an organic silicon life form), a species of mega fauna, two notable avian species (one of which is purely nocturnal), a pack / head vermin species that lives quite close to the two active volcanoes on the surface, and an organic silicon herd beast. Surface scans also indicate plentiful industrial metals and significant quantities of radioactive isotropes, particularly in and around the active volcanoes, and (with some caution) sustainable sources of organic silicon compounds.

Sono 1-1 is a small, dense moon that has settled into a stable orbit in the Sono / Sono 1 L2 lagrange point. Accordingly it never receives direct sunlight. This, combined with it's low gravity and lack of atmosphere, has resulted in an inhospitable ice moon. Overall Sono 1-1 possesses significant deposits of exotic ices, major clumps of ornamental materiel (exotic crystal formations), and sustainable levels of industrial metals.

Sono 1-2 is a small, low density, low (0.5g) gravity moon notable for it's thin atmosphere, corrosive atmosphere, and utter lack of surface features.

The first of four asteroid clusters orbits near the border between the primary biosphere and the outer reaches. Scans indicate that it contains significant deposits of radioactive isotopes and sustainable deposits of industrial metals.

OUTER REACHES:

The inner edge of the outer reaches features the first of two asteroid belts comprised of two hundred and sixty six major objects and many more minor ones. Plentiful industrial metals, significant ornamental metals, and limited stockpiles of radioactive isotopes have been flagged for extraction.

Sono 2 is a dwarf gass giant planet with a weak gravity. Atmospheric composition is dominated by hydrogen, making it a possible location for a ship fuel harvesting facility. The Night Horse was able to top of it's reserves of reactor mass successfully via onboard hydrogen harvesting scoop. Detailed chemical analysis of harvested material has been appended to this report.

Sono 2-1, 2-2, and 2-3 are all lesser moons or very large asteroids trapped in stable orbits around Sono 2 in lieu of the expected dust rings. Should one of these moons be disturbed or broken up it is likely that a dust ring would result as well as the destruction or deorbiting of the other moons.

Beyond Sono 2 lies a trio of asteroid clusters in stable stellar orbits. The first of the three has sustainable deposits of both industrial metals and radio active isotopes. The second has plentiful exotic materials ('rare earth' elements) and ornamental materials ans well as sustainable industrial metals deposits, majority iron. The third cluster is dominated by ferrous asteroids and accordingly has plentiful industrial metal deposits with minimal exotic metals mixed in, mostly exotic impurities.

Out beyond even this lies the second asteroid belt of the Sono system with four hundred significant objects and many more lesser ones. Tagged resource deposits indicate plentiful supplies of industrial and ornamental metals as well as radioactive isotopes.

RECCOMENDED ACTIONS:

Given the presence of both a world suitable for colonization with minimal teraforming or atmospheric tampering, a gas giant stable for ship fuel harvesting, and extensive asteroid resource deposits I recommend that the Sono system be considered for colonization at the earliest opportunity.

SIGNED: CAPT Lawrence Warde, Commanding, HMSCS Night Horse.

Satisfied you append all of the documentation as well as several pictures taken form shuttle in low orbit over Sono 1 to show the sunrise over one of the more spectacular mountain ranges, the night-side slopes of which are naturally lit by active lava flows. I's not the absolute best picture from an artistic standpoint, the navigation lights from the shuttle distort the lighting for example, it is still an impressive sight none the less.

Six hours later your tablet dings with a pair of notifications. One is the expected deposit of credits from bonuses (nine hundred and seven each for your midshipmen). The other is a notification that your report has been forwarded over to the Office of Colonial Expansion for review.