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Post by Joe on May 15, 2011 21:27:47 GMT -5
"Very good." The camera spun back around to face outside the ship, effectively dismissing Celeste for the time being. He had already sent the report of the missing shuttle back to command, they could easily send them another one by auto-pilot, though it would take some time to reach them and they would have to catch it. He had decided the missing shuttle was of no particular consequence, probably just a loose crew member stuck outside of synth-sleep, it had happened before. A ship this large was bound to have a few bad apples.
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Post by KD on May 15, 2011 21:43:57 GMT -5
Jinx wasn't quite as blithe as the captain about it. Particularly because someone had messed with the history and records...particularly because whoever had done it had used some method she wasn't familiar with, which means it had to be new. She shifted in her chair in the depths of the ship, her eyes narrowed. She shot Jacobs a message to let him know they were sending out for a new shuttle and turned most of her attention to this new puzzle.
Celeste was also not quite as easy with someone entering her research stations. She detoured to the ship's residential area to get a cup of coffee before she went back down. She had a lot of work to do and little time to do it now.
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Post by Joe on May 15, 2011 21:44:30 GMT -5
The lift arrived on the crew deck and Liam headed for the main plaza. He decided grabbing something to eat would be nice. As he approached the main plaza he was greeted by an immense pavilion, there were stores and restaurants and passages to even more scattered about. It was designed to appear as a small city, there were even fake ambient noises played through subtlety placed speakers and a projected sky above that went through a 24 hour day/night cycle. Dozens of other crew members scurried about, laughing and generally having a good time. Liam spotted a small oriental restaurant and headed for the door. The interior was decorated with authentic Japanese decor and a simulated world outside the windows showed the landscape of Japan with cherry blossoms in bloom. The projected environments were even given volumetrics so it wasn't just a flat image, it had perceived depth and it almost seemed like you could put your head through the window. He ordered something small and took a seat in the back, peering outside. He removed his PII and comm, folded his elbows on the table, and lowered his head in thought.
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Post by KD on May 15, 2011 21:55:59 GMT -5
Celeste wasn't in the mood to hang around people...big shock. She went straight to one of her preferred coffee stands and ordered a large drink with as many shots of espresso as was allowed by health regulations.
Jinx finally unraveled the program they'd used to scramble things but it didn't do much good. The person registered as entering had died en route. She hardly thought he'd entered the escape shuttle two days after he died. Using a dead man as a cover. Clever.
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Post by Jenny on May 15, 2011 23:56:34 GMT -5
If she suffered any discomfort from waking up from stasis, she said nothing. Aya's moods were up and down. At times she could be quiet and sullen, othertimes she was socialable enough. There were rare occassions when she laughed, but that was usually after a few drinks. She went to her locker in the corner and grabbed a change of clothes, eager to change out of the drab coveralls they were required to wear while sleeping. They had a nack of soaking up the minute chemical scents from the stasis chamber. After changing into more suitable clothing, she affixed the familiar PII to her temple. As the transit shutters retracted and deep space could be seen of them, she approached the side of the ship. She looked from side to side and then pressed a palm against the thick glass to feel the cold of space and peered out, looking about. The stars were always different, every time. So far from home... She shivered lightly, letting her hand fall to her side. There was slight condensation of a hand print from the cold and she lifted her sleeve to wipe the mark off the glass. Aya stretched and let out a long sigh, then turned to continue down to corridor to the transit station. Aya's first task was to enter the belly of the beast that was Godspeed. Having a former, military career in mechanics helped her on the side, apart from her role as Head of Mineral Research and Terra Advancement. She started routine checks on the mechanics. It was so familiar to her that sometimes she dreamed doing the same task in her sleep. It gave her peace of mind to know that, technology aside, the inner workings... the get-up-and-go... of the ship were in good shape, not to worn or cracked, and running smoothly.
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Post by Joe on May 16, 2011 1:42:55 GMT -5
As Liam sat lost in thought, his mind drifted to a familiar but harsh memory, something that happened ten years ago; the Saturn rebellion. At the time he was a corvette pilot in the Titan Security Force, but of course they were ordered by the Earth Government to help quell the rebellion. At the time the colony on Saturn was one of the largest and most industrious, dwarfing the small "home-world" of Titan. After growing so large the colonists felt their toil should not go to the big-wigs in EarthGov, and they started refusing EarthGov shipments and eventually opening fire on any non-Saturn vessels. There was much more in-between, but it all lead to the invasion of Saturn and the orbital bombardment. In the early days of the colony, Titan and Saturn were very close, sharing trade and culture. Liam, along with the rest of the Titan Security Force, were forced to destroy a place they once called home and fight those who once cared for them. It was their own fault though, and he knew that, and of course the colony was rebuilt, but it was never the same. It was a grueling month-long ground war to destroy the insurgency on Saturn, and the the conflict had cost him his natural eyesight. More people were coming into the crew pavilion and he didn't care for the crowd. He fixed his equipment, paid, and headed for the door. He still had work to do.
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Post by KD on May 16, 2011 1:48:02 GMT -5
Celeste took a slow sip of her coffee and headed for the lifts. Ah, caffeine. Still the greatest wonder of civilization.
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Post by Jenny on May 16, 2011 1:49:04 GMT -5
That done, she shut and bolted the door to the mechanics room behind her, air hissing as the air-tight seal was formed as it should. She shivered lightly, rubbing her arms with her hands and hunching over slightly, looking up at the top corner of the corridor. Was it usually this cold in the ship? Brr. Perhaps her body was simply used to the controlled temperature of the stasis chamber, they had spent quite a bit of the voyage that way. Well, at least it slowed the aging process. That was a plus.
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Post by Joe on May 16, 2011 2:45:14 GMT -5
Alan Burke held his communicator to his ear, "We've finished our preliminary sweep, no one here that shouldn't be. What're your orders sir?" "Lets just double patrols in Hydroponics for now, everyone else return to normal duty." He was chief of security on the ship, and had control of all security personnel on the vessel. It was his first assignment in such a position, and he was a bit nervous about the undertaking, he had never pictured himself in a leadership position. He was on the company payroll though, and as such there was an agenda he had to uphold besides that of justice. "I don't have time for chasing ghosts.." He thought to himself, rushing off towards the command center.
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Post by KD on May 16, 2011 3:01:34 GMT -5
Celeste paused and eyed one of the ship's terminals thoughtfully before turning from the lift and heading for it. She set her coffee down on the floor behind the terminal's podium and brought up the ship's announcement board.
Coming from Carmine "You can choose your own crew." pretty much translated to "All that shit is your responsibility." Celeste smirked a bit. She would handpick the specific scientists but she would also need a few members of general crew for the shuttle they would take down since the Godspeed itself certainly couldn't land on the planet.
She put out the announcement of a ground team going down in roughly a week or so as soon as they were safely settled in or around the planet's orbit and the call out for any volunteers wanting to go groundside and put out a list of needed personnel. She'd found in her experience that asking for volunteers was a better first move than sending out orders, which seemed a bit high handed to her.
She put out a quick general list: a couple of mechanics, security just in case, certainly someone from environmental research, mineral or air or both, pilot for the shuttle, computer specialists, ect. She posted it for anyone to see at their leisure and left her message box number and general contact information, then picked up her coffee and headed back for the lift.
If push came to shove, she and the scientists could take care of a lot of that stuff but it was always nice to be able to focus on the research and besides, there might be quite a few people with cabin fever.
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Post by Joe on May 16, 2011 5:39:38 GMT -5
Liam had finally finished his ship-wide check of the emergency shuttles, no more were missing thankfully. Now he had another order to carry out, one from the captain. Liam tracked Celeste down with the help of the captain and intercepted her on the way to the lift, "Excuse me doctor.." He sighed and lowered his head a bit, remembering their last exchange, "I've been given an order from the captain. He'd like me to take you, and any other personnel you feel necessary, on a fly-by of the planet ahead to gather some preliminary information. We'll take one of the observation shuttles so you'll have any equipment necessary to observe from orbit. Captain said this needs to be done in the next 24 hours.. when would you like to proceed?"
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Post by KD on May 16, 2011 7:20:02 GMT -5
When he'd reported his findings, Jinx had given him a huffy "I told you so." then assured him she'd make sure it was recorded.
If Liam had come swaggering up, she might have gotten pissed off all over again. As it was, she felt a bit guilty. She hated it when her emotions ruled her actions, anger in particular, it wasn't logical. It had to be a side effect of just having woken up. "As that interferes with your schedule more than mine, Officer, just let me know when it's most convenient for you. I can have a team ready to go in a snap." She hesitated and tugged her hair out of its tie, running her fingers though it in a nervous habit before putting it back up again as she spoke: "Look, I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier. That was inconsiderate."
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Post by Joe on May 16, 2011 8:00:45 GMT -5
He retorted to Jinx jokingly, "Since when can I trust you?" He held up his hand, dismissing her apology, "It happens. In that case I'd like to leave as soon as possible, I'll head up to the flight deck and prep the shuttle, just meet me there whenever you're ready." He smiled gently to her and turned away, heading to the flight deck. The flight deck on the Godspeed was divided into a large multitude of singular docks fit for different size ships, rather than one large hangar. He arrived at the dock for one of the observation shuttles and approached it. It was a modestly sized ship, about 50 meters long. It's belly housed a large retractable telescope for orbital observation, as well as having the ability to fire probes onto the ground and atmosphere to take readings, among other things. He scanned his flight ID and the boarding ramp slid down; he entered the ship and headed for the cockpit. The cockpit was cramped, seating only one pilot, a ship of this type wasn't built to please the pilot but for the scientists that would inevitably fill its hull. He plopped into the chair and spun it around to face the controls. He initiated the launch sequence and the engines began to warm.
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Post by KD on May 16, 2011 8:28:28 GMT -5
Jinx cackled in response and turned her attention to the mechanics and security divisions.
She nodded and headed down. True to her word, Celeste had a small group of three research assistants and a couple of her colleagues specializing in minerals and atmosphere up there and ready to go.
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Post by Joe on May 16, 2011 9:34:14 GMT -5
After Celeste and the scientists had piled in, he shut the boarding hatch and initiated manual control. The ship was loaded into a sort of spring-board in the dock, and when activated the mechanism would propel the ship out of dock with great force. Due to artificial gravity this was only faintly felt on the interior of the ship. After making sure the passengers were settled, Liam hit the launch button and they were thrown out into cosmos. As the ship slowed down from the launch Liam hit the thrusters and sped off towards the distant green world. Since smaller ships were capable of much faster travel than capital class ships, it would only take them an hour at most to reach their destination. He considered setting the ship to auto-pilot and mingling with the passengers.. perhaps try to make another pass at Celeste. He decided against it though, simply keeping his hands on the controls and his eyes forward.
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