• Mars Date/Time:  Year 1, Sur Two, Thursday, Sol 1 (1.2.1)  23:17 NST
• Earth Date/Time:  Saturday, 5 March 2016  8:25 PM PST

The last few hours had been busy for the crew of the Sagan. Jeramy had been able to buy time with the ground Engineering team with questions and concerns. The over-cautious ESEP Engineering administrator, Paul-Henri Giroux, had been reinstated by ESEP along with several fired engineers who sought to have Rear Admiral Wade relieved of command. Jeramy was able to induce delays by raising safety issues related to a direct return firing. At one point he almost had the administrator considering four-month return that involved minimal fuel.

While Jeramy conducted multiple transmissions of questions, issues, and concerns, Paige hacked into the ESEP system. She was able to create a copy of their data and build a dummy ESEP data base that she could shut down at anytime. Paige also secured the real ESEP database from access and built three different ways to access it outside of the ESEP communication system.

In addition, Paige and the Comm team, supplied emails, and video and audio conversations to Jenna and her Command team. Within three hours they had determined who was involved in the coup and who was locked out from ESEP. Jenna was also able to send messages to Megan and explain what had happened. She also had Megan prepare a takeover team for all the ESEP facilities to move in on a moment’s notice. Once Jenna gave the word, specific people throughout the world and in orbit would discover they were locked out of the system and no longer an employee of ESEP.

ESEP had decided that they would begin the first firing at 12:01 AM NST. Other than the Engineering team discussions, there had been very little communication from Mr. Duncan. It was clear he abhorred the crew and saw no reason to explain or discuss the situation with them. He desperately wanted to get them back and end the mission as quickly as possible.

However, since ESEP would be controlling the ship, they would have to warn the crew prior to the firings. This made a convenient deadline for the Sagan crew to end the charade and take action. Jenna waited for Mr. Duncan’s transmission, but at 11:45 PM NST Jenna looked at Anna and said, “Let’s pull the rug. Call Mr. Duncan and tell him we have a problem. Paige, stand ready.”

Anna smiled and said, “Paige, connect me to ESEP Actual.” A screen came up that said, “Transmission to ESEP Actual – 97 second delay.” Anna looked at her camera and said, “Mars Actual, we have a problem. We may need to delay the firing. Please respond.”

Jenna sent a message to pull the temporary computer connection he had established with the IPC drive. This effectively ended any firing and would send a signal to ESEP.

Paige announced, Message should be received in 75 seconds.” Paige did a countdown, then she allowed twenty seconds for them to establish a response, and then after another 33 seconds she signalled the Admiral. Jenna said, “Paige, enable program Castillo.” Paige touched and icon and multiple new screens came up on the Command deck.

Jenna and Ken stepped up next to Anna and looked at the camera. Jenna said, “Mr. Duncan, I hope I haven’t caught you in mid-sentence, but you may realize you are no longer in charge….Naomi.”

Naomi said, “COMMAND ALERT! All ESEP hands, all stations, standby for a message from Rear Admiral Wade.”

Jenna stepped forward and said,

“All ESEP employees. Today, we have had to deal with the tragic loss of some of our best leaders and we will miss them dearly. Unfortunately, Mr. Duncan, his security team, and several former employees took this opportunity to insert themselves into  the decision-making authority for ESEP, and attempted to takeover all ESEP operations. That has ended as of this moment. We have established who was part of this effort and their access to all ESEP systems has been terminated. In most cases they will find themselves locked in their work areas. They are to be arrested by the localized national authority and held for international charges of piracy, fraud, and several other charges. I, am acting as temporary ESEP Director until we can reestablish an Earth-based leadership team. All ESEP systems are now under the control of the crew of the ESS Sagan and will remain that way until our leadership is restored. Megan De Luca, the Director’s Assistant will be the point of contact for ESEP. I am asking all departments and divisions to assess their current situation and issues that need resolution in the next twenty-four hours, next two days, next four days, next week, next two weeks, next month, and next two months. Our goal will be to be back under normal operations within two month. Sunday, Sur Two, Sol 4 will be a day of grieving for the friends we lost today. Thank you for your patience and time.”

Mr. Duncan stood bewildered, locked in the Director’s office in San Jose. All the computer screens around him had the same message,

Now Under Control of the ESS Sagan
Mars Can Be A Bitch