Once we realized there were life-forms worth studying down in the depths of the gas-giant atmosphere, we requisitioned some atmosphere-capable craft to investigate them more closely. First to arrive were some scout-class ships en route to one of the colony moons. We dispatched some science teams down into the atmosphere to observe the creatures, thinking these small sturdy ships were more than capable of keeping the crews safe...
It was only the third such expedition that revealed how much we had underestimated conditions down there, and how little we really knew! The team was following a small pod of sky-mantas, observing their habits, when a strange radar echo appeared on the 'scopes to stern. The science team believed it to be a technical anomaly, as the creatures' own echolocation frequency had interfered with the ship's sensors on both previous excursions. The team was shocked when an absolutely huge sky-manta sailed by overhead, dwarfing the scout vessel and the mantas from the accompanying pod; it was larger than the largest commercial air-liners used back on Earth and the colony worlds... Fortunately, like its smaller brethren, the huge beast showed no interest in the science team, focussing all its attention on harvesting the clouds of nutrient organic compounds and aero-plankton. Computer simulations run later confirmed that sufficient nutrients existed in the clouds to support such large animals! Also fortunately, later behavioural experiments conducted on the larger mantas confirmed their gentle nature - like whales on Earth, they were extremely aware of their spatial surroundings, and took great care not to contact any of our vessels or equipment. But, the experience served to show us all that there were many mysteries still to be uncovered in the unimaginably vast atmospheric expanses of these gas-giants. To this day, we still have no idea of the maximum size attained by these sky-mantas and their relatives...
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