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[NOVA] Slowing Down (K 1.7, M 1.6)
Here's the thing. The transition into FTL? It's actually pretty low key. If anything were to happen, you'd never know. You'd just end, along with the ship and anything else in the surrounding hundred cubic K-klick volume of space. The transition out of FTL? That's the wet-your-pants, pray, write one last letter to momma moment.
From the nanosecond before you enter the Gray until the nanosecond before you exit, the vast majority of ship's power is taken up not by the FTL engines themselves, but by a super-dense cube of quantum material, each particle entangled with one at the other end of the journey, maintaining a picture of your destination through what Einstein called "Spooky Action at a Distance." Because if any part of the ship happens to be in the same spot as anything already in realspace when you pop out, shit gets real.
But here's the thing. Even that's almost always okay. 99.99999 percent of the time, the computer and the SAD mechanism avoid direct collision on re-entry. And again, you'd never know it happened. Just poof.
The real nailbiter? That's what's just outside of the volume covered by the SAD monitor. The comet in an erratic orbit that's 12 K-klicks away with impact in 3 seconds. A hundred shards of rock and ice ejected from the Oort cloud after an impact. Any random piece of space junk. Not to mention enemy vessels, although that seems unlikely in this case.
"Attention. Attention. Transition out of FTL in T-minus-ten minutes and counting. All hands to stations. All hands to stations."
Although the Stalker Jane can, and usually does, make the transition with a crew of two, more hands and eyes means less chance of disaster. Dai proposed, and all agreed, that stations were to be as follows:
In the cockpit, Captain Dai at the helm. Ensign Mei in the co-pilot's chair, with Shields slaved. Dr. Gaumata at Sensors and Comms.
In Engineering, Lourdes and Cribbage.
Forward Damage Control: Sung, stationed in the Crew Lounge.
Aft Damage Control: Sanchez, stationed just outside Engineering.
Lifeboats: Church, trained to push the right buttons on the signal of Dai, Lourdes, or Mei.
Ksenia and Mei, you're at your stations, ten minutes of waiting to go. Do you say anything? Do anything? Do you have any rituals for this side of the Gray?
From the nanosecond before you enter the Gray until the nanosecond before you exit, the vast majority of ship's power is taken up not by the FTL engines themselves, but by a super-dense cube of quantum material, each particle entangled with one at the other end of the journey, maintaining a picture of your destination through what Einstein called "Spooky Action at a Distance." Because if any part of the ship happens to be in the same spot as anything already in realspace when you pop out, shit gets real.
But here's the thing. Even that's almost always okay. 99.99999 percent of the time, the computer and the SAD mechanism avoid direct collision on re-entry. And again, you'd never know it happened. Just poof.
The real nailbiter? That's what's just outside of the volume covered by the SAD monitor. The comet in an erratic orbit that's 12 K-klicks away with impact in 3 seconds. A hundred shards of rock and ice ejected from the Oort cloud after an impact. Any random piece of space junk. Not to mention enemy vessels, although that seems unlikely in this case.
"Attention. Attention. Transition out of FTL in T-minus-ten minutes and counting. All hands to stations. All hands to stations."
Although the Stalker Jane can, and usually does, make the transition with a crew of two, more hands and eyes means less chance of disaster. Dai proposed, and all agreed, that stations were to be as follows:
In the cockpit, Captain Dai at the helm. Ensign Mei in the co-pilot's chair, with Shields slaved. Dr. Gaumata at Sensors and Comms.
In Engineering, Lourdes and Cribbage.
Forward Damage Control: Sung, stationed in the Crew Lounge.
Aft Damage Control: Sanchez, stationed just outside Engineering.
Lifeboats: Church, trained to push the right buttons on the signal of Dai, Lourdes, or Mei.
Ksenia and Mei, you're at your stations, ten minutes of waiting to go. Do you say anything? Do anything? Do you have any rituals for this side of the Gray?
Comments
A ritual for this? Hell yeah. I rub my dog tag, well, not my dog tag since I don't carry my own anymore. There are far too many parts of me that can be easily identified to bother. I recite "Charge of the Light Brigade" to myself. I've got it down so well that it's almost a chanting song. It started out as a fun thing the unit did, but it's stuck with me. I like the cadence of it, the power, the expectation and excitement.
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honour the charge they made,
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.
I live for this, all jacked up on adrenaline and possibilities. This is why I love the Corps, it's why I do SecOps for M-T. In the battlefield, I know my place. I fit here. And I'm badass.
I hit stations and I'm all business for the first five minutes. Once we've got it locked down, ready to go, I loosen up a bit. I've found that if you spend too long clenched up waiting for a firefight that when it actually happens, you lose a second trying to shift into action. A kind of open-mouthed-stare-at-the-pretty-lights-of-the-guns moment.
I'm working at the secondary station. I can't override anything at Dinah's station, but I can pick up parts of the process if she needs me. She probably doesn't, but I'm not going to stand around and do nothing.
"Hey Dinah," I say, casual, conversational. "How many jumps is this for you?"
I know plenty who have rituals for this end. A lot of prayer, letter writing, messages in the "Grey Box" in case the ship is pulverized.
I try for a little moment with everyone that morning- sort of "goodbye, just in case" without saying it. Bad luck. I do have recordings for everyone on board in case I don't make it. Plus a few messages for people back in Space Corps and Psi Corps. I don't tell anyone about these messages. I always just quietly delete and purge them on the other side.
I do a little exercise, mental and physical, to pump my awareness and the adrenaline about one minute before. I need to go in to the transition on alert. Until then, I'm calm and together, without a fuss. Oh, and I totally pee before it's time.
I don't pray.
I have faith in the crew and our skills and the ship and the science.
At the t-minus ten announcement, I look at Dai. "Captain, what's the furthest you've been?" Seems like every mission I take is further from Earth.
Ksenia, Dinah doesn't even have to do the math in her head. "This'll be my 105th in-and-out, assuming we make it out." After she says that, she kisses her fingers and reaches to the top of her console to touch a carved image of a tiny sailor in a yellow coat and woolen cap, with a long pipe in his mouth and a hammer in his hand. You're certain that little statue wasn't there before.
"This make you nervous, coming back out of the Gray? I've noticed a lot of grunts and, well, ex-grunts treat FTL like some sort of voodoo."
COCKPIT
Mei, Dai is relaxed and poised in her command chair, like a martial artist ready to move in any direction, address any threat. In this light, from this angle, you notice fine silver tracings extending from her headpiece down her neck and into the collar of her tunic. "Made a passenger run to a science station in a rosetta orbit around a black hole once. That was as far out as I've been. We were in the Gray for five and a half weeks, and I forgot to load new media on my tablet beforehand. Never been so bored. Wound up starting an epic ping-pong tournament, though."
She checks the screens again. "You? Have you been anywhere good?"
Mei, how much does anyone know about what happened after you left the Dauntless? Was your (mis)adventure splashed in the media, or kept quiet? How do you answer the Captain?
T-MINUS-9 MINUTES TO TRANSITION
I grin when I see her water kobold dude. I've seen them at markets around. Corporal Copenhagen told me about them. Ancient little totems. It fits Dinah. Damn, I like working with her.
"Nervous?" I repeat her question. "Not really. It's like going into battle, really. Getting dropped right in the shit, not knowing if your intel is good or borked, keeping eyes open for any and all and reacting." I shrug, "I kinda like it." That's a lie. I love it. I love the razor's edge before it cuts.
"Corps or no Corps, I'll always be a grunt."
After a minute, "Cap and I showed off our mods to each other." I'm looking at the console. "Her work is amazing. It's like... art. I was jealous as hell."
Ksenia, Dinah says, "That vixen! Seriously, though? Yeah, it's gorgeous work. Top of the line and pretty, to boot. She paid for it, though. Childhood, adolescence, with external hearing aids and misfiring nerves. Twenty-some years of pure hell, it sounds like." She stops and gets a Look. "Hmm. What do you think of Zoo? She's... let's say she's an omnivore." Smiling and humming to herself, she runs the pre-transition checks again.
I raise my eyebrows, surprised and impressed. I whistle appreciatively."That's a long time in the Grey, Captain. Remind me never to play you in ping-pong." I defocus my eyes, imagining the beauty of a rosetta. I imagine Cora might like such patterns. A readout catches my eye, I'm sharply focused on it to make a small adjustment for the pretransit. "Jitter clear on the Hilbert space synchronics." It's a satisfied mutter as I half report to Dai.
"Anywhere good?" I think about the Dauntless, Adenay, Cribbage, and Ylldel. "Once, but it's classified. In the Academy they had us in the Grey for eight days to DS-Kappa, then we pulled a Kessel run maneuver and came back in a series of jumps. Took about a month, all told." I was almost in pieces from the transitions. A lot of the cadets were... stressed. But that was the point of the exercise.
My eye can't help but notice the delicate lines of Dai's work. Her head and neck is almost limned in silver. It's very fetching.
I chuckle when Dinah calls Dai a vixen. The thought of the two of them actually fighting over me feels surreal. They must be stir crazy in this boat. It's a good joke, though.
She asks what I think of Dai and I look up from my console. I don't want to tell her I almost kissed her best friend, our captain. Especially after the vixen joke. Sometimes jokes are truth. I do not want to get in that. "An omnivore? You mean... she's bi, too? You two ever hook up?" There, I turned it back on her.
Ksenia, Dinah laughs a little bit. "Ksenia, I'll make you a deal. I'll let you handle all the shooting things, and you let me handle the conversational gambits. Oh, I'll take the Engineering stuff, too, but I might let you help if you're good."
Still smiling, "So, what do you think of Zoo?"
Dinah shoots me down hard. I scowl at her for a moment, frustrated that she keeps pushing. Not angry, just, I told her already that I'm celibate. "I can see why you're both friends. I think both of you are wonderful people."
And she's still frakking smiling at me. What the hell, I'm not scared of her. "I sorta almost kissed her."
Mei, Gaumata noticeably perks up when you mention your classified mission, but when he sees you noticing, ze just gives one of those superior smiles. "The mathematics of a rosetta orbit are beautiful. Such a simple formula to describe such an intricate procession. Captain, I know Dr. Hazelton, who was once the Research Director of that station. Did you meet her?"
Zoo replies, "Yes, I did. She was quite charming to Dinah and me."
Gaumata mumbles, "A bitch and a poor scientist, but I'm sure she was pleasant to you." Ze's not trying to avoid anyone else hearing, just mumbling for effect.
Mei, your station, like so many you've encountered, was clearly designed for someone larger than you. Do you just deal with it, or do you make adjustments to the positions of readouts and controls?
Ksenia, Dinah's amusement increases, if you can believe it. "Really? That's funny..."
She makes a show of reading the results of her latest pre-transition quadruple-check.
"She told me that she almost kissed you."
Sergeant Sung stands at ease, the picture of relaxed efficiency. Fire suppression equipment, a hull patch kit, the various tools needed to respond to a wide range of potential emergencies, all arranged neatly and logically like the parts of a gun disassembled for cleaning. His vacuum suit is nearby, arranged to be quickly donned. His face is neutral, but he is singing something under his breath, so softly that even if you were there, you wouldn't hear it unless you were right next to him.
"From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli..."
ESCAPE POD ACCESS
Ezekiel Church, having mentally reviewed once again the procedures he is to follow if called upon, although he of course understood them perfectly the first time, stands with his eyes closed, in perfect repose, unworried. There is a look on his face, though, that would make you wonder if you were to see it, "What is he thinking about?"
The answer, which you will never know, is this. He is thinking about his dogs. There are four, all bitches, none, strangely enough, pure-bred. All four were found by Melzer-Togawa contract security at Earth 1 Spaceport, abandoned by owners who probably discovered too late the cost of transporting a pet to the outer system. He has named them after the four Galilean moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
OUTSIDE ENGINEERING
PFC Edgar "Boots" Sanchez is neither calm nor collected. He has the same range of equipment present in the crew lounge spread out before him, but holds the dry chemical fire extinguisher in a white-knuckled grip. He has already put on the body of his suit, and the helmet is close at hand.
Not under his breath at all, he recites the names of his brothers and sisters like a litany, oldest to youngest. "George, Mariana, Joe, Suzanna, Abel, John Paul, Jude, Luca, Marisol. George, Mariana, Joe, Suzanna, Abel, John Paul, Jude, Luca, Marisol. George, Mariana, Joe..."
I look over at Dinah for a beat, giving her a kind of WTF look. "Are you two playing some kind of game with me? I don't..." I ease back a bit. We're in a high pressure situation, and I'm not about to start a fight with the frakking engineer before we transition out of FTL. If we were sitting at a bar, though? I might've slugged her.
Probably not. But maybe. I feel like I'm the ugly girl and they're trying to fix me up, placing bets like... like frakking Trading Spaces and I'm that Murphy guy. I'm nobody's project. I'm going to check myself right now, but damn, that smarts.
Ksenia, Dinah's amusement fades instantly when she hears the word "game."
"Dammit." A hint of tears suddenly looms in the corners of her eyes. "Is that what you really think, that we're playing a game? Sure, I was teasing a little, but... you understand that you and I were just talking about Zoo the same frakking way? You brought it up, even, your little show-and-tell. Just... dammit."
She's got me there. I'm feeling stubborn, though. I don't want to just up and apologize, even though I should. This is why you don't frak where you work, it's like shitting where you eat.
Dammit, I don't want Dinah, our damn engineer, to cry. My mouth quirks into a frown, I break my glare at her and mutter, loud enough for her to hear, "See? I told you I'm damaged goods."
Ksenia, Dinah rounds on you. "Fuck. That. Shit. Do you not have anyone to call you on this 'poor me' bullshit? Do they teach self-pity in grunt camp? 'Yes, sir, I suck, sir!'"
She blows a breath out through her nose. She continues more calmly. "My mother had a favorite ring. It was her mother's before her and her mother's, so on, from back when the family had money. It was a star sapphire. So pretty, when you moved it in the light, there was this six-rayed star that shined out from the stone. Later, in school, I looked up what did that. You know what it is? They call it 'inclusions'. It's little bits of stuff that's not sapphire, growing in the crystal as it forms."
"Don't you see? Your cyber may not be pretty like Zoo's, but it's all part and parcel of you. I've known you for ten days, and you're my friend. Zoo's known you for ten days, and it seems like she'd really like to find some way to jump your bones and, um, titanium, or whatever. Fucking deal with it."
She looks at the clock. "Shit. Almost T-minus-7. Sanchez will be in here in 63 seconds to get his seals checked."
Oh, I'm aware of Gaumata. But everything that happened the instant that fleet showed up is classified IBIS SWORD. Ze's not cleared for that. "Doctor, we're in agreement on the beauty of orbital mechanics..." I'm still adjusting consoles, my attention split. "I'll have to see the plots. Perhaps fly them." A distracted smile. Gaumata's cattiness wipes it away.
I'm used to not being a hundred percent comfortable in flight chairs, but most of them can be adjusted to within decent. At least I'm not under 1.5 meters. It does take a little time, raising the seat, angling the comms. A flight buddy of my in the Academy called it "adjusting the mirrors." Some day I'll get a ship of my own with seat presets.
Yeah, I deserved that. It doesn't feel good to be called on my shit. But she's got me pegged. It's so much easier to just shut up and work. Or, you know, shoot things.
"I'm sorry, Dinah." I say in a strained tone. It isn't easy for me to trust someone enough to be weak around them. But she's right. We're friends. Not comrades in arms who fight by each other's sides and get drunk when things suck but never actually talk about shit. Friends. I used to have friends.
Forty-five seconds before Sanchez comes in...
Mei, this occurs just as you finishing adjusting your station and chair to your liking.
T-MINUS-7 MINUTES TO TRANSITION. ALL PASSENGERS AND CREW DON SUITS AND PROCEED TO ASSIGNED STATION FOR SEAL CHECK
The cockpit crew will check each other. Sung and Church will check each other. Sanchez, Cribbage and Lourdes will check each other. As assigned.
I speed up my speech, "You're right, I'm." Frak. "I'm scared. My body is so gross now, I just hate looking at it and I don't get why anyone would bother..." Shit, more self pity! Shit, Sanchez is coming.
My eyes back on the panel, searching for some work to do, something to look like I'm supposed to be doing it when he comes in. My eyes are watery, shit. Shit, I am not crying. I'm in that about-to-maybe-cry state, I have to snap out of it.
Ksenia, before you snap out of it, you hear a thump from the deck outside Engineering, followed by cursing in Boots' distinctive voice. "Dammit!" You know what a vac-suit helmet sounds like rolling around the deck. This is it.
"Frakkin..." I'm up, pretending to be angry about the interruption but internally grateful for it. I make my way out of the engine room to fetch Boots. I'll grab his helmet for him if I get to it first.
Ksenia, Boots is scrambling, trying to hold on to a fire extinguisher and scoop up his helmet at the same time. Have you ever seen him so out of sorts?
He looks up. "Shit. K? Sorry."
"Boots." I say his name clipped, like I'm calling out an order. He flinches. I'm lashing out and I realize it, but at this point, I just need to check his seal. I step past him in the corridor on steadier legs. I hand him his helmet, wait for him to put it on. "What is your major malfunction, Sanchez?"
Ksenia, something in your tone snaps Boots alert. He responds by instinct. "Ma'am, yes ma'am! Sorry, ma'am!" He puts his helmet on, fumbles at the seals for a few wasted seconds. The clock is ticking. What do you do?
Suit and seal check. I'm already in my suit, so I set the controls for unmanned and get to Dai and Gaumata. I check my own first, then theirs. I'm more worried about Gaumata than Dai, but I am one hundred percent thorough and complete, moving with practiced and rote efficiency.
Suit check is nothing to be light about.
We don't have time! I grab his shoulder and pull him into the engine room. "Stand tall, Sanchez. Prepare to check seals." I leave him at attention and grab my helmet. I'll check his seals, then Dinah's. Then she can check me. Once we're golden, I'll let Sanchez go.
COCKPIT
Mei, Gaumata was surprisingly fluid and competent with the suit, given zir protestations of no field work. Perhaps this happens on passenger liners, as well? Regardless, the three of you are suited up, and everyone's suit-to-suit comms are on line. Before this moment, you could have chosen to speak to anyone on the ship. Now, you're in a mouth-to-ear link with everyone.
ENGINEERING
Ksenia, the same is true for you... you hear the breathing and muttering of everyone, Mei included. You and the two comrades you have responsibility for (orders) are suited properly.
Ksenia, Mei, What stands out for you, among the initial unguarded suit-to-suit chatter? Whose voice, words, are most revealing?
T-MINUS-6 MINUTES TO TRANSITION.
Sanchez is muttering to himself. Seriously guy, you're making us all look like shit here. I'm quietly stewing, but he's a welcome respite from the conversation I was having. "Hi, K, let me dredge up all your self-image issues, then throw it in your face, and on top of that, call you a pussy for not dealing with it when I blindsided you." Ok. Maybe I am a pussy. Stupid Dinah. I'm going to kick your ass again at Pyramid, then trash talk the hell out of you.
Church gets him to calm down with this speech, "There's a man from Ancient Earth I've always admired, his name was Holtz. He once said: Adversity is another way to measure the greatness of individuals. I never had a crisis that didn't make me stronger. It brings me comfort in times of strife.". That was it. It wasn't even directed AT Sanchez, but he got it. The guy is so good at his job. So calm and collected. I really admire him. He's a badass.
Gaumata does surprise me. For all zir's caterwauling, there's not a clasp or a seal or a connection out of place. Maybe zir transitions a lot? Oh, Mei. Of course ze does. I'm still rolling my eyes and relaxedly smiling as I do up Dai. This close, her cyberwork definitely catches my attention and I trace its fineal path with my eyes. I wonder if it goes all the way down, the bright silver against the dark brown. Ahem. I shunt it all away before anyone notices, I hope. Do not goof around while working with Dai's suit, Mei. I check everything a second time because I lost focus. "Sorry, Captain. I think I missed a step. I'm starting over." Only fifteen or twenty seconds lost, and it's better we lose them now than on the other side of transition.
Right before I seal her helmet, I give Dai a look of luck and respect and understanding, just one pilot to another, just another boat. I don't have anything fancy to say that doesn't sound goofy or sappy or green, and I don't know her own superstitions well enough. So I just say, "Suit looks good. Everything is green." and nod with certainty. Of course it is.
Sanchez's family litany strikes me, and I feel oddly alone in space. My own upbringing was very different... usually it doesn't affect me this way. But you have a ship to fly, Mei! Eyes on!
Church's professional manner impresses the hell out of me. I try to take notes on his skill, his ability to command. How effortlessly he pulls it forth. I don't doubt myself right now, I'm just very painfully aware of how little I know about leading in the field. This mission will be a good opportunity to temper my abilities.
There's some poignant silence from Dai, and I glance over to see her watching me. Gaumata's momentarily distracted with the sudden influx of comm chatter, so ze's busy at zir station. I can't read Dai's expression, there's a slight reflected glare across the clear not-glass of her helmet. Is she nervous? Judging? Worried? I make an okay-sign and smile with confidence.
It's great to be in the chair again.
T-MINUS-5 MINUTES TO TRANSITION
The Captain's voice comes through, sharp and competent. "Check-in. Respond when I call out your station."
"Helm. Captain Azubah Dai
"Engineering Primary"
Dinah's response is immediate. Crisp and Professional. "Chief Engineer Dinah Lourdes"
"Copilot"
[Mei, put your response in your next post]
"Sensors and Comms"
"Doctor Su Gaumata" No hint of zir usual amused superiority.
"Engineering Secondary"
[Ksenia, put your response in your next post]
"Forward Damage Control"
"Ma'am! Sergeant Tobias Sung, Ma'am."
"Aft Damage Control"
"Umm. PFC Edgar Sanchez. Ma'am." Ksenia, how is Boots before a fight? Have you seen him like this before?
"Escape Pod"
"Ezekiel Church."
"Thank you all. We anticipate that this will be a routine transition. Telemetry showed no significant debris fields in the super-volume where we will be re-entering realspace and there are no known threats or anomalies in the area. Remain alert, although you will probably not be called on. Dinah, SAD status?"
"Five by five, Captain."
T-MINUS-4 MINUTES TO TRANSITION
Mei, Ksenia, Four minutes. Anything you want to say? There are private channels, as well as the general. You can speak one-on-one with anyone on the ship, if you like. What are you doing?
When Cap calls on Engineer Secondary, I respond curtly, "SecOps Ksenia Cribbage."
Boots in a firefight? Back in Basic, he would pull this kind of shit, but once we actually hit it, he would sort it out. That was drills, team-based sim combat and our few live-fire exercises. I've never seen him in real combat. I'm more than a little disappointed in him right now.
I drop to a private channel with Mei, "How's it look up there? You good?"
When Dai calls, I answer. Calm, collected, focused. I'm "on." "Ensign Taban Mei, check."
I'll comm to Church, "Nicely done with Sanchez."
To Lourdes, "Looking good, Lourdes. How's the Jane?"
Ksenia comes on to me. "Aye aye, Ms. Cribbage." I bite my tongue, hesitate, then say it anyway. Just in case. Warmth belying my cool demeanor. "Not as good as that massage."
If we come out of FTL into an asteroid, I will die happy. Dai wants to jump my bones and Mei liked her massage and...
I don't have words for a response. I have words, but I don't trust them to the comms. Or saying them out loud.
Mei, Lourdes responds with fake indignation, "Ship shape, Ensign. Always ship shape."
Church answers dryly. "I do have a few tricks up my sleeve, Ensign Mei."
ENGINEERING
Ksenia, Sanchez speaks in your ear. "K, I'm so sorry that I'm being a shithead. It's just... I hate coming out of FTL. I read a book about the whole thing once and it just seems so... I don't know. A little knowledge, right?"
Well, now I won't die happy. Frakking Sanchez. I click back, the rattle off Sergeant-style, "You need to stow that shit right quick. Be as scared as you want to be in your head, Boots. But once it hits the skin, it needs to be full-time soldier shit. Now stop embarrassing yourself and put a lid on it. I know you're better than this. You better frakking show me, or so help me, I will kick your ass up and down the deck. One. Frakking. Handed."
"I expected nothing less, Lourdes."
"Church, I look forward to picking up some of those tricks."
Ksenia doesn't respond. Oh, good. Nicely done, Mei.
"Please clear all comms. Repeat, clear all comms. Keep it zipped except to report when requested or to alert me of an emergency."
Silence. Hum of ventilation, the slightest breeze stirs a loose piece of paper in Engineering, not that you can feel it. The Cockpit lights dim slightly to make it easier to focus on displays. You all know your routines, although there should be nothing to do. Focused, alert, ready.
T-MINUS-2 MINUTES TO TRANSITION
You're growing accustomed to the sounds and smells of the unfamiliar suits, although the fit isn't perfect. Something itches that you can't scratch through the material.
T-MINUS-1 MINUTE TO TRANSITION
A bead of sweat trickles down somewhere uncomfortable.
"Engineering, status?"
"Five by five, Captain. All systems humming."
TRANSITION IN 30... 29... 28...
...10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
And you're out of the Gray. Stars, points of light show in the viewscreens and you feel the deep thrum of the sublight engines starting.
"And, we're... shit. Hold on!"
...and that's when all hell breaks loose. Klaxons blaring, warning lights flashing throughout the ship.
The same calm automated voice: PROXIMITY ALERT. TWO OBJECTS ON COLLISION COURSE. FIRST IMPACT IN 17 SECONDS.
What do you do?
Seventeen seconds is plenty of time. I check the vectors, I check the actual. What's our heading? What's coming for us? I want to plot three separate escape routes.
"Got 'em on the tracker, Dai." I speak quickly, clipped.
This would be an ideal time to consider creating an Asset. In a fight, that might be as simple as picking up an EVEN BIGGER gun, or the like. In this case, though, you might describe something you're doing or have done to set up an advantage for the upcoming scene.
FOR INSTANCE:
Ksenia, you've gotten pretty fluent in Dinah's verbal and body language, in Engineering. You could spend a Plot Point (y'all only have three at the moment) to establish an Asset: "I Understand Dinah" (boring name, I know). That would give you an extra d6 to add to any pool when Dinah's involved for the duration of the scene.
OR
Mei, you haven't been an officer for long, and you have a lot of respect for the Captain, it seems. You might spend a Plot Point to establish an Asset: "Reporting to Zoo for the Duration" that would add an extra d6 to your pool when following Dai's direction or orders.
ANOTHER NOTE:
NPCs will not roll. You will each be rolling to take care of business wherever you are. NPCs can, however give you a die to add to your pool, if appropriate to their expertise. Each NPC has two "areas" in which they can contribute.
Captain Dai: Starship Ops (d8); Leadership (d6)
Dinah Lourdes: Engineering (d8); Starship Ops (d6)
Ezekiel Church: Leadership (d8); Comms (d6)
Su Gaumata: Science (d8); Engineering (d6)
Sergeant Sung: Security (d8); Comms (d6)
PFC Sanchez: Security (d8); Science (d6)
You don't necessarily have to be in the same spot as the NPC to receive their die. If it makes sense, you can just be in communication with them.
SECURITY, by necessity, will cover most physical challenges, as well as shooting things and such.
I'll spend that Plot Point to buy the asset: I "get" Dinah.
I let Dinah take the lead, she knows the Jane better than I, but I'm watching the gauges and keeping an eye where I can slip in some help.
You got this, Dinah. Seventeen seconds is a lifetime.
Ksenia, Dinah is cool, but her body's taut with the readiness, the need to take action. Over the comms, "Firing on all cylinders, Zoo. Repulsor thrusters online and ready for maneuvering. Shield generator nominal. Let's rodeo!
She thumbs over to your direct channel. "Drop the power to the SAD core, but keep the mag containment online." She turns back to the console, confident that you'll do what she asked.
OOC: Not a roll yet. Just react as you like.
Dai immediately goes into command mode. "Gaumata, what do you read? Composition, mass? What's just outside the proximity perimeter? Mei, do you have a course for me yet? The frakking computer wants to take us out of the first path and into the second."
16 SECONDS
"Aye aye, Engineer Lourdes." I respond verbally in a calm, quick manner. Gone are the smart aleck remarks, no longer calling her Dinah. We're a team now, I'm her second. I will not let my friend down. I will not let my crew down. I will never let Mei down.
I tap the console with quick movements, then pull the slider for the SAD core down to minimum safe, with my cybernetic hand adjusting the mag containment up in an inverse relation, stopping at 7 ticks.
I report once I'm done, "SAD down, mag's online."
My fingers fly across the console. My gaze darting like a bird's. I quickly take it the major details, and report. "Dai, course corrected for the second bogey. Watch the pair of gas giants on the other side of the star, bearing one-one-three. New course laid in... mark."
Focus, Mei. Mind on the job.
Mei, Ksenia, Gaumata speaks up. "Captain, we're in a field that wasn't on any of the telemetry. Sensors indicate thousands of objects within 10 K-klicks. Overlapping signatures, but by the ping I would say they're fragments of a planet or planetoid. Dense."
The Captain swipes at her screen, zooming out and looking at the big picture. "Mei, I hope you're as good as someone thinks you are. We're in the middle of a frakking... something. Zoom out and give me a plan while I evade the immediate threat."
ENGINEERING
Ksenia, Mei, Dinah and Dai have been two arms of the same body (that body being the Stalker Jane) for some time now. Engineering doesn't need orders from the helm. "Cribbage! Shut down all non-essentials and bring that wide view up on the big screen. Need to see what we're dealing with."
15 SECONDS
I'm moving quick with my left hand, bringing down non-essentials, focusing on bringing down everything not in use. I'm tempted to connect with my cybernetics to speed my access. I don't want to do it.
I am good.
Gaumata shunts the ping chart to my station. I spin it, zoom, look, visualize. I zoom again, cock my head, "Looking at vectors... I see it." It's shards from a collision of some kind. Asteroid? A moon? "Field least dense at... relative bearing 72 mark 190, correction, mark one-nine-one." Not looking at Dai while I work. "Looks good from here, Captain, it's on your console." I shunt the plot to her, keep looking at what I've got, where we're going. That binary gas giant must play merry hell with the orbits here.
I feel very calm despite my brevity.
Ksenia, for whatever reason, you're the first to notice. On the wide-view chart, something catches your eye. Tara's Firma, MV-589, isn't there. The debris field you're in seems to have originated that far in. You're nowhere close to the main body of the system, so it must've happened some time ago, but MV-589 appears to have exploded. Or something.
COCKPIT
Dai glances down at the auxiliary monitor with your plot, Mei. "That'll do, Mei. Be ready to tweak the shields for incidental impact. Good work. Gaumata, where the hell did this come from?"
14 SECONDS
My face softens at the praise. "Yes, ma'am." I go back to the shields, adjusting.
I say as controlled as I can, keeping it level. "I'm not sure Tara's Firma is there. Doctor, check sensors."
I mumble, "Crap, I hoped that wasn't it." I look at Gaumata, then back to my plot.
ENGINEERING
Dinah says on the general channel, "Nice catch, K! Do we have anything else to give to Shields? I think we're gonna need it. No comment on your skills, Zoo!"
COCKPIT
Dai's voice doesn't come over the suit comms, but you can tell she's cursing a blue streak, Mei. Shields are at max power and angled properly for the course you laid out.
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14 SECONDS
I search through the subsystems for anything leeching power, whatever I can shunt off to the shields. Not sure where else to pull from, but I'll check down the list. Better than sitting here like a dumbass.
What the hell happened here? How will this affect Mei? Is our mission over before it even began?
I twitch, the words in my head, between my ears. I pull my hands back from the controls, sharp. Odd that it got Church when it hit me. Maybe he's got some psi, too. Gaumata? "All crew, all crew, I'm hearing words, repeat... gaaah... It's very strange. It doesn't rhyme. Be prepared. " I shiver a little.
I want to push the heels of my hands into my eyes and ears. But there's no choice in a suit. Gotta focus on my words and not its. Hard to fly and psi at the same time. Put on your suit first before you help someone else. I concentrate my will, putting up defenses.
You can do this, Mei.
"Alright, folks, we're gonna thread the needle. Dinah, give me sublight and shield. Ready repulsors for quick bursts to avoid the bigger chunks. Mei, keep your eye on shields. This is gonna be a bumpy ride."
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ENGINEERING
"Cribbage, you heard the Captain. I've got sublight and repulsors, you keep on shield. And shut that idiot up!"
"That idiot" is Sanchez, going through some litany in Latin or Esperanto or some shit. Chattering over the general suit comms.
13 SECONDS
"Aye, Aye." I'm okay with the shields and the debris. Still keeping an eye on the bogeys, just in case they're somehow guided and not bigger hunks of debris.
How am I going to get any sleep? Damn right this thing's gonna get neutralized!
I tweak the starboard harmonics for a minor collision. "Gaumata, did it hit you yet?" Is my psi that much stronger?
I switch channels to Sanchez and yell, "Shut the FRAK up! Radio silence, trooper!" I'm still maintaining shields, per directive. I am so gonna kick Boots' ass.
COCKPIT
"Shit, Dinah! Where the frak did the engines go? GET THEM ON LINE!" Mei, I hope your shield profile holds. Get on the repulsors and bounce us off the biggest chunks!
Gaumata chimes in. "Watch for heat signatures, Mei. The hottest bits are the densest."
ENGINEERING
"Cribbage! Get to the sublight engine access and, I don't know, kick something. Maybe shoot something? There's no reason they went out. And smack that asshole on the way!"
You all hear Sanchez. "O San Miguel, Arcangel defiendenos en la batalla. Se nuestra proteccion contra el mal y las trampas del Diablo; humildemente te rogamos que Dios los reprenda. O Principe Celestial de la Santa Hostia, que con la ayuda de Dios eches a Satanas al infierno y a los espiritus que vagan por el mundo para arruinar las almas." Fast and practiced, recited by rote.
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What do you do?
Mei, you're working against: (Rolled: 4d8. Rolls: 2, 7, 6, 4. Total: 19)
Ksenia, you're working against: (Rolled: 4d8. Rolls: 8, 8, 4, 7. Total: 27)
I'm up and out of the Engine Room before Dinah's told me to smack Boots. I plan on doing that on the way back, even if doing it first sounds wonderful. I'm striding in a quick walk, almost a jog to the access panels, then I'll open the panel, forcefully with my right hand if needed.
Drive: Bravery (d10) - I'm going to save this ship, my friends, my mission.
Role: Engineer (d6) - If the engines are down, a kick-start should help
Distinction: Cybernetic Systems (d4) - I need to access the ship's controls fast, but my gear isn't built for this (rolling the d8 as a d4 to gain 1 PP)
Relationship: Sanchez (3d10) - he isn't responsible for shit breaking, but he sure as hell is making it worse. And he's in my way! (challenging)
Oh, shit. I'm blinking rapidly, my face blank with concentration and adrenaline.
But it's a little like hopscotch, and a little like skipping stones across water, except this is a spaceship dancing on the fragments of a dead planet.
If anyone's watching, I'm very slightly bouncing and swaying in my seat to put some English on the moves, even though it doesn't affect the ship. Just my control and sense of the ship in space.
d10 Starship Ops - I haven't flown in weeks. I'm itching to see what the Jane can do.
d10 Discovery - What could shatter a planet? Is the emitter loose in the debris?
d8 The Right Stuff - Flying without an engine? Let's do this! But...
I’ve Never Tried That Before: Starship ops a d4, not a d10
d8 Zoo Dai - Captain's orders. We're getting out of this.
Bravery (Rolled: 1d10. Rolls: 10. Total: 10)
Engineer 1d6/
Cybernetic Systems (Rolled: 1d4. Rolls: 3. Total: 3)
Sanchez (Rolled: 3d10. Rolls: 6, 9, 2. Total: 17)
Engineer (Rolled: 1d6. Rolls: 2. Total: 2)
I'll use the 10 from Bravery and the 9 from Sanchez to build my result - 19.
Starship Ops down due to the trigger (Rolled: 1d4. Rolls: 1. Total: 1)
Discovery (Rolled: 1d10. Rolls: 6. Total: 6)
The Right Stuff (Rolled: 1d8. Rolls: 8. Total: 8)
Dai (Rolled: 1d8. Rolls: 2. Total: 2)
[Keeping the 6 from Discovery and the 8 from Right Stuff for a 14 total.]
I juggle the repulsors, bringing the forces around to bear rapidly, rapidly, shoving off this chunk, spotting the next one and course-correcting, getting a vector from the console to the next massive enough slice — Why are they hot? Magma, Mei. — and shoving off that one, swimming in space, in nothingness, by using flotsam in the pool, the shields holding and flexing, helping the impacts flip around to inertia.
"Ha!" Triumph and delight, uninhibited for a few beats. I rise to half stand in place, tiny and fierce.
The view is of sweet, clean, clear stars.
I stride quick out to hang a left and jog through the corridor, dropping to pull an access panel in the floor parallel to the port side sub-light engine. I grip one of the power cables with my right hand while checking the read-outs with my tablet.
Some kind of kink in the wire? No, something else, some kind of localized virus maybe. I re-route the signal and juice the engines again. This time, they hum to life, kicking in right away, thank God.
For just a moment, I rock back on my heels and breathe a sigh of relief. Take us out of here, Mei. "Engines back online, Ms. Lourdes." I call over the comms, but I hear Sanchez is still yammering away.
I disengage my cybernetic probes from the cable, set it back in place, then replace the panel. On the way back to the Engine Room, I head for Sanchez. There he is, sweating bullets and chattering his prayers. I stalk up angrily. When I get to arms-length, I reach up to manually flick his comms off.
Then, I punch him in the frakking gut. With my right hand. Enough to knock the wind out of him, not enough to do anything lasting.
Once that's done, I'll turn on a heel and march back to the Engine Room, give Dinah an all clear and return to stations.
"Thank you, Engineering," I say, relief obvious over the open channel. I'll make sure the Jane is responding as expected. Very odd to lose engines... but what a rush.
"You're welcome, Ensign." I reply with a smile. That felt damn good. I'm disappointed we won't be landing on that planet. I wanted to get out of this ship, head out into the unknown with Mei again.
Not that the last time went incredibly well.
Ksenia, you can see Dinah's grin through the helmet of her suit. She is as jazzed as you are, her leg jiggling with energy as she sits in her chair and tries to figure out what happened to the sublights.
Church speaks up. "It seems we're going to need a new plan. Shall we gather once we're secure and certain that we're not about to be bombarded with bits of the planet we came to explore?"
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Mei, Gaumata starts suddenly and cocks his head as if listening to something, then seems to shake himself.
"Ensign Mei," I ask over the comms open channel, "Are you alright? You mentioned hearing repeating words. Did you count them? Are you hearing them now?" I give Dinah a nod of acknowledgment. That stress between us now seems so far away. I'm glad. This feels better than being called a pussy.
"Gaumata, do you see anything big enough to land on?" Matching rotational velocity could be a real bear, unless most of the planet is left intact. I think back to the theories of how Earth's moon formed, and I wonder if this is what we are seeing here.
"Dai, do you see anything unusual from those bogeys on the matrix?" I'm correlating last knows paths, running probabilities.
"Aye, Ms. Cribbage, and it's not exactly unpleasant but instead rather distracting. I count twenty-three words. It's low volume, English, probably male? Imagine someone talking from down a hallway, except in your mind." There's a note of worry in my verbal report. I don't know how loud it will get. At least Ksenia is speaking to me again. I feel a little subdued. Buck up, Mei, we're in the middle of the unknown!
"Screw landing, copilot! Why the hell would we want to give up maneuverability? I'm heading for orbit around that nearest planetoid. And the bogeys themselves are plenty unusual, don't you think? Speaking of which, why don't you and Gaumata put your heads together and figure out what the hell happened."
Gaumata says nothing. He seems distracted, and you can probably guess why.
ENGINEERING
Ksenia, Dinah hails you on your private channel. "Pull up the log for the sublights, Ksenia. Just there at 13 seconds after transition. Almost like a switch just got thrown. They just stopped, and they shouldn't be able to just stop."
What do you do?
I'm worried about Mei, but she said it wasn't exactly unpleasant. She'll manage. I trust her to say otherwise. I keep at the task I'm assigned. Per Dinah's instruction, I pull up the logs on the sublight engine routines, commenting, "I connected with the system manually when I brought it back online. It was weird, like there was a kink in the line or something." I try to pull up logs on what my cybernetics picked up and share that data with Dinah.
She probably doesn't realize this, but I'm taking a decent risk by doing this. I'm giving her my raw operational files, which are the best route to a solution, but also have embedded some of my core command files. I've been told my systems are one hundred percent secure from attack, but this is the Corps. I'm sure there's a backdoor.
"Aye, captain." I get the feeling we will make planetfall one way or another. No, not psi, just a gut feeling. Which may be psionic on its own.
I switch to private channel."Gaumata," I look at zir, say "Gaumata!" with more force. If that catches zir attention, I'll say, "You heard the captain, let's see that data. Theories?"
What if Church wrote the note?
Ksenia, Dinah pores over your data, so intent that at one point she reaches out with her finger and traces it along the display. The tip of her tongue pokes out between her teeth. "There's no event, no shutdown command or failure flag. And in your data, it's as if the engine was running the whole time, but it wasn't, we know that."
Then, on the general channel, "Zoo, I need to go talk to the engines. Ksenia's got my chair if you need anything immediate here." She stands and points you to her station, then leaves.
COCKPIT
Mei, Gaumata snaps out of it, seemingly. Over the private channel, "23 words? The reports don't convey how disconcerting that is." Ze sends a few plots to your station. "The spread and trajectories are consistent with either a massive impact, and given the velocity of those fragments that just missed us, the event happened..." Ze pauses to do some math in zir head, "...wait, that can't be." Ze taps on the keyboard for a few seconds. "Well, the data indicates that the event occurred between 120 and 127 days ago. Which doesn't make any sense, but it is what the data indicates."
I'm right there with Dinah, watching her pore over details. When she tells the captain she's handing over the Engine Room to me, I feel like someone just handed me a frakking tiara. No, seriously, Dinah Lourdes just gave me Engineering.
[Mei]
I'm nodding, "I keep wanting to find patterns! Syllables, initialisms, meanings..." I can't rub my temples, so I squeeze my hands into fists. "When was the last known telemetry from MV-589?" I review the reports to see. "A massive impact, intentional or natural. After a few days of this, I can only imagine!"
The timelog gives me some ideas. "We may be able to triangulate on the emitter in three-space given when you and I hear the words. We already have two data points along this heading. Are you up for it?"
I check to make sure we're on the private channel. I look away, then back before admitting, "Doctor, I may require a sleep aid for the duration of this mission. We'll see how bad this gets." I feel zir judgement coming.
Gaumata, still on the private channel, responds. "Telemetry? Ensign Mei, the Charlie Chaplin entered this system from FTL 32 days ago. They orbited a planet that has apparently been smithereens for four months, 32 days ago. We need to get to MV-589's orbit, see what we can discover. Shall I ask the Captain, or would you prefer to?"
You briefly taste purple and for a moment Cora is whispering along with the words in your mind.
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ENGINEERING
Ksenia, everything's in the green. Dinah keeps a running commentary on what she's doing in the private channel, occasionally asking you to flip a switch or read off a number. Seems pretty clear that she's still perplexed. Eventually, back on general comms, "Zoo, I'm going to need to do a restart and recalibrate on these damned engines. There is no apparent reason they failed, not even any indication in the logs that they failed. I need the recalibration data if I'm going to figure this out. I don't guess it needs to happen right now, but let me know when... what the hell?"
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[Mei]
I shake my head. "One-twenty days, but here 32 days ago? How can that—" And I hear Cora's got it too. I feel like I'd rather have a migraine, and I squint and lean into it, like I can push it away, or weather the storm in a lee. "It's a good thought. Let me.." I hope we get away from the emitter, and make a noise in the back of my throat.
"Captain, requesting permission to enter the elliptical of MV-589. Gaumata and I need eyes on." I lay in a course while speaking with only the occasional stall, hover my hand over the go button.
Careful, crew.
I perk up at the end of Dinah's chatter. "What the hell what, Dinah? What do you see?" I'm checking all the displays, did something fire?
Zoo comes over the general comms. "Yeah, me too, Dinah. Everyone check in. Do we all have it now?"
Assent comes from everyone, and Mei's already made it known that she's getting the signal. Ksenia, what do you say?
"Okay, folks. Gonna step down the alert level. You may remove your helmets, but keep them at hand at all times. Accelerating toward the described orbit of MV-589 to reconnoiter. Once course is laid in, I think maybe we should have a powwow as Mr. Church suggested."
Mei, do you want to do anything to attempt to learn about or tamp down the words in your head?
Well, shit. I'd hoped my robo-brain parts might've helped protect me. I guess there's no frakking upside. "Yep, me too," I answer.
I switch to Dinah's channel, "I turned off Boots' channel, you'll need to check in on him while you're out there."
[Mei]
My brow is furrowed with concentration. I would love to weave a psi block. If I can shut it down for me, I stand a better chance of learning more about the signal. I could probably expand a block for two or three people, if we were close, and that makes me sweat a little with thought of the future effort. Blocking the whole ship? I go a little pale. I feel so divided!
I love the Jane a little. I won't let her down.
It's not long before Captain Dai hails over the ship's intercom in a light tone that belies the recent stress, "Okay, it looks like we're on a good course for MV-589's notional orbit, thanks to some excellent navigation work by Ensign Mei. If everyone would like to ignore the voices in their heads for a minute, I would just love to see you in the lounge for a little chat. Expect me to issue forth with some of my finest repertoire, such as 'What the frak?' and 'I don't even...' and 'So... will there be a bonus?' Thank you."
Dinah re-enters Engineering just as the Captain begins speaking. She smirks at the speaker. "Sanchez is calmed down. Any idea what sort of particulates gummed up his lube? That was nuts."
I chuckle, audibly over the comms, at Captain Dai. I want to hear her ask those questions and I want to find the answers. Or watch Church find them. I've removed my helmet, and now I'm up, removing the suit as well.
When Dinah comes in, asking about Boots, I just shrug, "He was twitchy during Basic before simulated combat, but never like this. Who knows? Maybe he's attuned to this shit or something. I will tell you he wasn't the PFC originally assigned to this mission, so he was a late sub."
I walk over to her, standing near without getting in her bubble. "About earlier. You're right. I'll work on it." I know she'll get it, because really, she was. I don't know if "working on it" means I'll go sleep with Dai because of a number of reasons, not the least of which is the alien presence in my frakking mind, but I do need to buck up, at least around her.
[Mei]
"You're welcome, Captain. Thank you for letting me fly her." I already took off my helmet, so i start shucking off my suit. I'm really glad these are one size fits most. I did a stint on a smaller ship that did not, and everybody had their own sized suits. It was a little bit of chaos. That sort of chaos is really bad on a spaceship.
When Dai gets out of her suit, my eye is drawn to those silver lines. I pull my gaze away before I start to stare. It really is artistry.
"How bad is it for you, Gaumata?" I'm unconsciously rubbing behind my ear. It doesn't help.
[Mei]
"It's bad for me." I don't want to lie about it, especially if I'm piloting. "I'm going to try a psi block. I could use your help, when it's time."
"You're both consenting adults." I answer like it's no big thing. "Well, he'll be consenting when you mention the idea. Keep in mind he's a manslut. So, you know, there's good and bad in that."
Ksenia, Dinah gives you her distinctive smirk. "We'd better get to the lounge. Don't want to keep Captain Snarky waiting."
COCKPIT
Mei, Gaumata looks at you with interest. "I'm sure you have more training than I in that field, Ensign, but if it might help get us some peace and quiet, I'll do what I can."
Captain Dai taps her tablet to slave her console and walks into the lounge, giving you a "come along" look.
LOUNGE
It's about five minutes before everyone assembles. Sanchez arrives last, looking sheepish and with his face still a bit wet. He must've washed up on the way.
Dai looks at the small crowd of you. "So. What the frak? I don't even... So... will there be a bonus?"
Anything to say?
I take a seat, and I'm sorry, but I chuckle when Dai actually delivers those questions. Once we have a moment, I ask Sanchez, "Boots, you alright? I've never seen you this, you know, bothered."