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 Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 3:13 pm
The sleek design of the ship made it long and narrow. It was larger than most commercial vessels yet lacked any significant room for passengers or cargo beyond the crew. As far as anyone had been able to determine, the lavish insides were an indication that it was used for diplomatic or even royal transportation. Research of the vessel showed it had minimal weapons systems. That was balanced, however, by great speed and a very strong defense.
The bridge occupied the angular nose, spacious yet cozy with consoles for a crew of five. The engineering area ran along the bottom of the three decks. The mess hall, medical ward, and reserve bridge occupied the second deck and the housing areas littered the first deck.
All lighting is ambient and reactive to the presence of someone. All outer hull pieces can be made transparent at zero impact to the strength, and a person can navigate the entire ship with speed and ease, using either the specialized gravity lifts located centrally in the ship or by using the ladders conveniently located at each end of the long, straight hallways.
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Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 6:40 pm
The bleakness of a pin light backdrop irked him to no end. He could feel vibrations coming from beneath his feet as the ship hovered through space, closer and closer to the sleek, oblique styled alien craft designated Summer's Rain. Well, maybe it was more his unease at the fact he was hundreds of miles from the nearest soil. He was a man to be on a chunk of rock, not a metal coffin.
Regardless, he was on point and finally turned away from the view port to pace back and forth in the cargo bay of the shuttle Intrepid Dream. Tucked away in his breast pocket was the order summons to relocate aboard Summer's Rain. He saw them as a punishment, if not an outright demotion of duty. He was meant to fight. To lead men on the battlefield. He was the best at what he did. He was the best at stopping the insurrectionists and pirates that constantly provided employment for people like him.
He was the best because he didn't let things like language hinder a search. He was adept at knowing what people would do before they did it. He was an incredible shot with his Calbis 35 handgun. He'd spent a small fortune on the piece, but it was the best money could buy and custom designed for him. And likely the only person on the ship who carried a weapon.
He resisted the urge to wrap his fingers on the grip. He was a colonel and couldn't let the frustrations of the higher brass fluster him like that. He didn't like his orders, but he was still following them. Duty was duty. And his only hope was that this mission he was given would be over soon enough. Or that Earth would be released from quarantine status.
Finally the docking arm hissed its connection and pressurization. The airlock of Intrepid Dream opened archaically and through the short tunnel, he saw the silvery blue armor of the Summer's Rain airlock retract and vanish, exposing the entrance into the ship.
He hoisted his bag and carried it through, deftly ignoring the two crew members that followed behind him bringing food and equipment supplies. Once through the airlock, he looked around and figured he was on the second deck. He had been given schematics of the ship, however crude they had been, but the outline was enough. He saw lots of faces. And one face standing near the airlock with a young, smug grin on his face.
"Here, make sure this makes it to my room," he said, shoving the bag into the kid's arms. The smug grin vanished, replaced with a startled look of confusion. Without giving him another moment to consider what happened, he stalked off down the corridor to the bridge. He ignored the marvels of the ship, how it seemed to be alive and aware of the people inside. It felt more solid than any human ship he had ever traveled on, but he swore he could still feel the thing trying to shake itself apart in the death of space.
The bridge was bustling with activity. Seven people were floating about, most of them carrying clipboards or datapads. All of them ignore his entrance. Or maybe it was that they were so immersed in their work that they just didn't see him.
He cleared his throat after a moment. "Who's in charge here?" he asked, the full weight of his rank an automatic trait that he couldn't shut off. He was designated to be the overseer of this project, or at least a co-overseer. And frankly, the faster he got the mission started, the faster he could go back to solid ground.
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Kai Karasurei Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:21 am
((Will edit as necessary))
Dr. Landford was bent over a console manned by one of the navy's little toy soldiers. He was grumbling something to the man about matching the pitch of the interlock ships, something which the naval private had apparently failed to do adequately.
Unlike the military personnel, Dr. Landford was dressed in the uniform of the company he worked for. It was a blue overall punctuate by pouches holding various instruments. A black utility belt bore similar compartments and an empty holster. Black boots, ending above the knee cover his feet, while his forearms were decked out in bracers fited with data slats and an array of buttons. The chest piece looked armoured, with the name "Landmine" embroidered on a patch affixed above the heart. A patch on his right sleeve identified him as a member of the R3S company which the military had outsourced some of their research to. His left sleeve identified him as a member of 'team alpha' along with the number 1, shown in a stylistic western numbering system. Across his back, the name 'Dr. Landford' was printed in clear, stenciled lettering. A few other people on the bridge and in the corridor outside all wore similar uniforms. Perhaps the only thing that was not uniform regulations was the small vial of packed soil that hung from the man's neck.
The man himself was large, standing at 6'1" and towering over much of the equipment he was using. He had stocky, fat features with broad shoulders, round face, wide forehead and a bulbous nose. His lips were full, his eyelashes dark and neither his brown hair, nor brown eyes boasted any unique trait. Meaty fingers attached to a massive, paw-like hand delicately punched in the necessary commands on the console as Dr. Landford demonstrated the correct sequence for matching pitch.
"Your speed and proximity look good, just watch that pitch." Dr. Landford commented, with a pat on the man's shoulder at approximately the same time that another uniform walked into the bridge and demanded someone to talk to. Dr. Landford looked around, waiting to see if any military personnel would respond to the summons. When no one did, he stepped forward.
"Hello, sir." Dr. Landford said, sticking out his over-sized hand for the other man in a formal greeting. "My name is Dr. Landford, I am the project leader for the R3S company research teams aboard the vessel as well as the vehicle operation instructor for the Naval personnel learning to pilot the craft." Those titles made Dr. Landford the highest ranking civilian in the bridge at the moment and responsible for the crew piloting the ship.
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:34 pm
"Colonel Vexant," he responded to the stocky man. Already, he could tell this assignment was going to test him. "Here on orders to oversee the translation of the alien language." He looked around, only starting to take in the lavish beauty of the ship. It was definitely something a royal ambassador would travel in. Which meant, inversely, that is was something he was going to come to hate.
Luxury was not a commodity he saw comfort in. Luxury would get you killed on the battlefield.
He noticed a couple of the team standing there staring at him, eyes a bit wide as if surprised to see a colonel in their presence. Yea, yea, laugh it up whiteys. Your esteemed white lab coats won't save you from me. His intimidating stare he shot back at them quickly turned their attention elsewhere. He wasn't looking forward to being gawked at.
He pulled the datachip from his breast pocket and held it out to Landford. "You'll need this to insert my authority into the database and provide me with the access required to assist with this God forsaken project. The faster we figure out their abc's the faster I get back to the ground and to doing what I do best." He looked like he was going to spit, but the lavish interior made him think twice. The fact he wasn't swearing really showed that his nerves were frazzled.
"I'll like a full report of what's been uncovered thus far, as well as a summary of system functions we've been able to identify. Likewise, I'd like to see a full list of supplies on board and the shipments scheduled for the next two weeks." He paused for just a moment, remembering the words of his superior before leaving. You're a partner in this project. Take leave to treat the civilian overseer with respect. He's been allowed equal standing with you.
"Is there anything I can help with?" he asked, the question obviously difficult, if not painful to ask.
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Kai Karasurei Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:42 pm
Seeing that Colonel Vextant had no intention of shaking hands, Dr. Landford diverted his offered hand to the datachip with no complaint.
"Mmmmhmmm" Dr. Landford said as he simultaneously took the datachip and listened to the list of demands, nodding. He seemed to examine the datachip a moment. With a whistle, Dr. Landford motioned a fellow R3S agent over and handed him the datachip.
"Make sure to associate full command functions to this datachip, immidiately." The doctor asked in a desicive, but aimiable voice. The response was a nod and both the datachip and the agent were gone.
"In the time it takes you to walk to your quarters, you'll be able to access any data files in the main computer from any console on the ship. We have tried to keep our data network separate for the alien systems, until we have a better grasp of how to navigate them. Our research, supply lists and inventories are all on our network. You'll need one of the consoles we have set up on key points along the ship. Communication, sensory equipment and other ship functions are accessible via the ship's internal consoles. One of each is available in your assigned quarters. I will instruct my staff to give you full cooperation and any progress reports on demand, though I doubt you will find any resistance. We always appreciate the extra help in finding a breakthrough." Dr. Landford smiled at the notion of integrating the R3S teams with military personnel. He apparently had not realized he was talking too much, on the contrary, he seemed to rather enjoy it.
"As for any aid, there are language teams assigned to each of the ships major functions and a general team attempting to decipher the language as a whole, which is our ultimate goal. You can simply take one of those teams over and direct them as you see fit. So far we have figure out words by cross-referencing them with their associated ships function. For example, we have picked up a word that appears on several initiation commands which we think is pretty much the same word as 'enter' but it has yielded no other real purpose than that." Another smile and a nervous laugh emanated from the big man as he pushed the glasses back up his nose. "If it wasn't for our ability to reprogram a large amount of the raw code in the computers, we wouldn't be able to fly the ship at all." Dr. Landford finally seemed to notice the irrelevance of his long-winded speech with a shake of his head and he smiled, yet again, at the colonel. It seemed the military man's distaste of his surroundings was having no effect on the optimism of the civilian project leader.
"Did you have any specific questions, Colonel Vextant?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 4:10 pm
He swore he could feel vibrations rumbling the ship. His paranoia that the ship would shake itself to pieces terrified him. He was a ground soldier. Had been ever since the disaster at Heglar Station some fifteen years ago. It was hard enough to get him in a transport carrier that wouldn't leave the atmosphere. And here he stood, hundreds of miles from solid ground, stuck in a metal--or whatever the hell this ship was made out of--coffin.
Admiral Rowen owed him huge for this assignment.
He only paid half a mind to what Landford said to him. All that mattered was that this operation went quickly. He'd start pulling reports as soon as he retired to his room and hopefully, a week from now, they'd have enough of a lead on what they were dealing with that he could pardon his a** off this ship and get back to regular duty.
I'm too bloody old for this space combat s**t, he thought, the weight of fifty-five years seeming much more now that he was away from all he knew. A mocking thought laughed at his perceived notion of space combat. What were they fighting? Space Pebbles? He wanted to laugh.
Landford, apparently still babbling, reminded him of one of the drug dealers he had put away several years back. Intelligent, but lacking just enough wit to pull off something big. He certainly hoped this man didn't drop the ball. He didn't want to clean up any messes. Or be stuck here for months.
He snapped back to attention with the last question. "What bloody time is it here, anyway?"
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Kai Karasurei Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 7:39 pm
Dr. Landford looked as if the question had been utterly unexpected. A moment of dumbfounded redirection and the good doctor looked at his watch. Again he seemed surprised at what time it actually was before his smile returned to his face.
"Taking our mark from a standard 24 hour rotation it is 17:24 hours SST (standard ship time)." Dr. Landford said pleasantly. Then, almost as if some unspoken time limit was up, Dr. Landford exclaimed, "If you are quite satisfied, and I do hope you are, I must return to over-seeing our navy's finest pilots in safely disjoining from your previous transport." Dr. Landford's disposition seemed sincere, though mildly lacking in the crisp readiness of discipline. It was almost as if Dr. Landford was enjoying his work and was only doing it because of the pleasure that the discoveries were giving him, rather than the large sum of money he would get for successfully completing the assigned tasks.
Even now, as he once again adjusted the controls of the naval pilot to whom he had already spokn, Dr. Landford seemed amiable and genuine. The slightly chipper bounce in his step stood out amongst the studious researchers and straight backed military personnel.
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 1:45 pm
Aine Caldwell read over her reports once more on her way to the bridge. A pencil hanging loosely from her full bottom lip as she nibbled on it. The action a common one for her, although completely unconscious. Her long red curls were held back in a braid running the length of her back. One unruly rebel swinging with each step the woman took. Her R3S uniform seemed too large for her, but did little to hide her figure, which was yet another thing the woman seemed completely unaware of.
Indeed, she seemed a natural at being unaware of her surroundings as she mindless negotiated her way to the bridge. Unless it was something she was currently working on, things had a way of never being picked up on the woman's radar.
Although her specialty was astrobiology, and one of her primary functions on the ship was to learn what she could from the medical bay about the former owners, she also had a way with computer systems. Something she now concentrated on to aid in deciphering the linguistics, the primary hindrance to her main objective. Although she could now navigate the records, not having any significant translations of the alien language rankled her. She was hoping that Dr. Landford would have some news concerning their efforts. If not, she could at least compare the data layout for the systems to see if they compared to the medical bays.
Progress, she said to herself. Something to mollify the seeming lack of it since she started on the project...
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 3:19 pm
Lola Chase was heading away from the bridge bobbing her head to music pouring out of her wireless headset. Her thoughts were centered around her current situation and mentally re-hashing how she had gotten stuck on the Summer's Rain.
So she had gotten herself into a very sticky criminal situation, she was always ankle deep in something illegal. Although, even Lola had to admit silently to herself that this latest stunt was a bit thick, even for her reputation. So Lola had been given two choices by the government. Work as a geneticist on the Summer's Rain or go to jail. Given the two options sticking a fork into a power circuit was much more preferable but she chose the Summer's Rain. Lola was already starting to regret the decision.
Yawning hugely she decided it was about time for an energy drink or maybe a nap. She was not used to the hours she was being forced to keep. She was used to sleeping late and dancing the night away in a nightclub. The only upside to this place was the cutting edge lab they gave her to work in. She didn't mind the work because it did fascinate her but she did mind being forced into it.
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Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 5:36 pm
Aine took the turn, mind only vaguely paying attention to her surroundings. She had become accustomed to people making the effort of swerving out of her way. Perhaps not the best habit to get into. Punctuated by the fact that she crashed hard into someone when she rounded the corner.
Her digital display went flying, as well as the pencil she kept more out of habit then any need. Her eyes whipped around to see who she had collided with as she straightened back up off the wall supporting her. She just managed to stifle an inward groan.
Of course it would be the criminal. She couldn't quite wrap her mind around why the military would have taken on a criminal, regardless of their specializations. A person's character doesn't change easily, and she had never been one to associate with questionable characters. The thought simply made her uneasy. So of course she had read a brief report of all on board before she had taken the assignment.
Quickly picking up her reports and pencil, she tucked the latter behind her ear as she mumbled her apologies and swallowed her reservations. "Sorry about that. I'm just on the way to Dr. Landford to deliver my report. Perhaps you should come along as well." She didn't wait for a reply, but rather continued on her previous route, her eyes returning to the display screen as she reviewed the material one last time. Preparedness was everything, after all.
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 3:15 am
Lola collided hard with another person which caused her headphones to fly off of her head and knock her down. When the other woman didn't even offer to help her up Lola lost her temper. "Excuse me?! You run into me and then tell me to go report? How do you know I haven't done that!" With surprising quickness Lola was on her feet and tightly grabbed the red head's arm before she could get away.
"I know you know who I am. I saw it in your eyes. I may be up here against my will but don't think I'm completely defenseless." Lola looked the woman in the eyes, her own ice blue ones flashing. "You don't look like someone who wants to be on my bad side because that would make you an idiot. You wouldn't be here if you were an idiot." She kept her voice down, barely whispering, but it got her point across.
Violently she shoved the woman's arm away then bent down to get her headphones. Checking to make sure they weren't broken she looked Aine once more in the eyes then ran her hand through her short cap of dark hair fringed with electric blue. "Watch where you're going next time or I won't be so nice."
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Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 3:05 pm
Aine turned her icy blue eyes to the other woman. Her features could have been carved of marble for all the emotion she showed. However, her voice and demeanor brokered no room for negotiation as she straightened up from being shoved at. A small adjustment of posture as she had only taken a step back to brace herself, but one she was now highly irritated at having to accommodate.
Her voice whipped at first. "You will be coming to report." Turning, she continued to walk once again as her voice trailed coldly behind her. "Do not think to threaten me again, or your commanding officer will be called to take disciplinary action in regards to your action. I accepted my portion of blame for that little incident. You should learn to do likewise. I neither care nor will I worry which side I am on with you. I simply care whether or not you get results. And you will get results or be replaced, so that is not a worry for me either."
She looked off to the side and took the final few steps to the bridge, quickly going over her uniform once more to make sure it was as close to regulations as possible before presenting herself. She was still prickly over the situation. And had just checked the urge to knock the woman senseless. Thankfully her emotions, like everything else in her life, were controllable. No need to be a debased beast like she was.
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Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 4:17 pm
Just to prove she wasn't going to take orders from an underling Lola snickered at the woman's back then turned and headed in the other direction. She knew who was in command of her and that little book nerd with a stick up her butt was not it.
With the matter settled in her mind Lola headed off in the direction of her lab. She had literally thousands of DNA strands to go input into a computer which was just the beginning of what she had to do and the least difficult part of it as well.
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Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 8:58 pm
"No, no, no, no!" Dr. Landford said chastising one of his pupils looked on in bewilderment. The screen, which had been displaying a set of numbers, calculations and titles in a bland green font on a black background, suddenly switched to a spectrum of tantalizing colours and a very odd language, one that was recognizable all over the ship.
With a sigh, Dr. Landford shooed the pilot-to-be out of the chair and stretched his hand over the keyboard. With a furious chattering of his fingertips across the keys, Dr. Landford set about re-establishing the translations of the ships basic coding.
The truth was that the ship was being run through a series of laptop computers hooked up to various consoles. The engineers, translators and any other assigned personnel had failed to make any real progress on the actual language. Their solution had been to set about rewriting the ships basic coding, allowing them access to certain ship functions. The naval pilot had unwittingly shut down the program on the computer, which was now displaying the untranslated data.
In the grand scheme of things, it was not too big issue, but Dr. Landford was aware the wide-eyed naval recruit did not have the wherewithal to handle the problem. As he finished, he smiled up at the man and returned the seat to the student-pilot just as one of his R3S colleagues walked on the bridge. And, of course, Dr. Landford smiled. Perhaps he was simply acknowledging his co-workers presence, or maybe it was the fact that he enjoyed how the bridge was dominated by R3S personnel, but he smiled all the same.
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Kai Karasurei Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:47 pm
After getting the time, he realized that there was still hours of daytime activity that would be tended to. Despite his biological clock screaming that it was nearly midnight, he intended to finish out the shift that was at hand. His belongings, what scant few there were in that bag he'd brought on board, as well as the cargo container unloaded by the cargo ship staff, could wait. By the looks of it, he was trapped here a long while.
He followed the R3S agent to the station that took his datachip. Watching the man with half an eye and the rest of his attention on the crew on the bridge, he exercised his patience. And failed for all apparent reasons.
When the agent finished, he took one of the datapads laying on the console and keylogged his information to the login screen. A moment for the database to sync, a flashing message of 87 new messages awaiting his attention and 7 appointments overdue, and finally the welcome screen loaded. He keyed the information folder labeled "LANGUAGE" and began sifting through the various subfolders.
Dozens of reports were in each subfolder. Some of them explained the logic behind some translations while others were speculation. Some of these reports had been forwarded to him before arriving. He'd had a small opportunity to overlook the information and determine that this was going to be Hell's mission itself.
Not only was the alien language a series of glyphs and script, but colors. Or so it appeared. A musical chime sounded overhead, seeming to come from everywhere on the ship. It lasted all of a handful of seconds, quiet and peaceful. He almost didn't notice it for the subtlety of it.
He did shift his attention back to Landford when he chastised the helmsman for apparently shutting down the program. Or had the helmsman been doing his job properly when something else happened to shut the program down? The man clearly had the look of someone innocent.
Already, he was looking for patterns in the system. How much trial and error had the crew really done with the ship? He stepped over to one of the consoles currently not being used and studied it. The note atop the console said "Navigation" and currently displayed the alien language. He looked around at the other consoles: "Communication," "Tactical," "Helm," and lastly, "Security."
So, they've done enough prodding to label things. But have they just started pushing buttons yet? He reached out to the navigation console and pushed a glyph in the upper right corner. It was a button he had seen shared between several of them, so it had to be a universal command.
Instantly, the bridge seemed to vanish and the crew appeared to be aloft in space itself. The consoles and what appeared to be lighted walkways remained, but everything else had vanished, leaving the spectacular view of Earth and several of the navy's finest orbiting the jewel of a planet. While gravity didn't leave, they had a full view of everything around them, the rear of the ship being hidden by some sort of technology. When the bridge door swooshed open, he could see that the rest of the ship was unaffected.
As much as his stomach tried to leave his body, he was amazed at the tactical view it allowed. You could see anything coming at you...
"That was unexpected," he muttered. How he longed for solid earth beneath this feet!
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