Seth was right. This was the last test for a noob. The Astra would have to reverse her orientation in order to use the engines to decelerate. The maneuver wasn’t especially dangerous or difficult with the hab ring spun down, but required the crew to be strapped in for the duration. During the maneuver, the slow rotation of the entire ship in an unaccustomed direction generally left people with a slight, undefined queasiness. And the protracted duration of the event sometimes produced a surprise reaction in stomachs that had no experience with it.

Ivan compared the symptoms to a low-grade sea-sickness, but managed to avoid any need for the barf bag.

“Deceleration begins, fifteen seconds.”

This announcement brought sighs and smiles from the crew. They would have one-tenth gee during deceleration, then would spin up the hab ring once they arrived at their target location.

The engines fired up, decelerating the ship to slip into an orbit consistent with the asteroid belt objects in the area. In four hours, the Mad Astra matched the average orbital velocity for objects at this distance from the sun.

The hab ring would be spun up next, but there were also jobs to do. And no reason to sit around waiting. The crew gathered in the on-axis lounge, awaiting orders from the bridge. With no thrust, they were in zero-gee, but it still beat being strapped into an acceleration couch for hours.

Ivan settled himself onto a bench and locked his legs underneath to anchor himself. Several crewmates joined him at his table, but no one attempted conversation. Everyone just wanted this part to be over as soon as possible.

In short order, the intercom blared forth Dante’s voice. “Crew, prepare for spin-up, ten minutes. Pritchard, Robinson. Beacon deployment. Hop to it.”

The two men straightened up, taking care to not go floating off, and launched themselves toward the exit. Seth whooped as they set off. “They wouldn’t deploy the beacon unless there’s something in the area worth looking into.”

“So they found something?” Ivan’s heart beat faster at the thought.

“Well, they found something, as opposed to empty space. Or gravel. The beacon indicates a valid working stake, and warns off any other ships. But if it’s all carbonaceous chondrite, it’s not worth diddly. Next step will be a deep radar survey.”

Ivan remembered most of this from his training, although at his level, they didn’t go into a lot of technical detail. The courses concentrated more on what the bridge crew would want you to do, and how to do it, and less on why or how it worked.