The Galactic Opera IC

[whoiam]

March 1st, 2200.

Last night was a night of heavy drinking for the personnel assigned to the LEO Shipyard. In fact, it had been a night of heavy drinking for most of the military - the tenth anniversary of first contact with the Yor.

An anniversary that had held special meaning for Commander 'Theo' Vicarus. For a start, it was his last night as a Commander. Because at the stroke of dawn (Due to its orbit, the shipyards did get a day-night cycle just like a planetside installation would have) he officially took up his new posting: Captain of the TSF Unnamed Prototype. The yard workers who had given him the tour the day before had joked this new ship was so fast that its name had not caught up with it yet, and they were not far off.

Theo had known he would get command of this ship for a week now, ever since Admiral Briggs had passed over a handful of dossiers and a cover note. The dossiers were for potential officers for the Unnamed Prototype's first voyage, all skilled, and all between postings. They would all be waking up to the sound of their quarters' terminals beeping with the presence of an urgent message...

So, this is where you all start. You're all in quarters (single or double, your choice) on the Low Earth Orbit Shipyard station. Theo knows where to find the ship and that he's just taken over officially as its Captain, and the rest of you are just being woken up by a message containing the details of your new postings.

[Doc_Shiny]

Theodore 'Theo' Vicarus (Doc_Shiny)

(http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8468406&postcount=110)

"Captain's Log #000001: It is currently..." looks down at pocket watch "0005 in the morning here on the LEO shipyard. Everyone here is celebrating the tenth anniversary of the First Contact War with the Yor. Unfortunately, I've been locked inside this room reading dossier after dossier instead of out there with the men. Luckily, it seems I'll be commanding some pretty competent people on our maiden voyage. I'm going to try to get some sleep, and make my way to the TSF Unnamed Prototype at 0700. Captain, out."

Theo awoke at 0600. The noise from outside had died down considerably. He was surprised he could get any sleep last night due to the ruckus. After a quick shower and shave, he put on his new suit. "Might as well look the part while we're docked" he said while looking into the full-size mirror in his room. After checking a few last minute things, he made his way to the ship, looking to get there before the rest of the crew arrived.

Theo shall wait in the ship's bridge for the crew to assemble. If the message could say to meet there, that would be great.

[AmberVael]

Lydia Argent

Trance music filters from speakers, which are placed around the room at odd locations, wherever they can fit. Hundreds of cords and wires cross over the small quarters, connecting to countless devices which form a very nice localized computer system, without the need to connect to the outside- though it certainly has the capability.

No less than five holographic screens are currently flickering, one displaying various streams of information encrypted in some strange format, another a live message board, while the third shows the currently playing music. The last two form two parts of a single whole, displaying a mock 3D battlespace and some list of coordinates and calculations.

Beep beep beep.

The noise doesn't immediate register to Lydia, who is currently in a very bizarre and precarious position- resting partly on her back, mostly on her shoulders, her legs propped up against a wall as if it were the floor. With one hand, she very carefully moves one of her holographic battleships, keeping an eye on coordinates and calculations.

Beep beep beep.

Her face contorts into a scowl as a sixth screen lights up and starts flashing at her, and she continues trying to position the ship, only to have it explode in a simulated blast of fire from her opposition. She pitches a minor fit at this, making a number of impotent and highly amusing noises, then sighs as she slips off the wall, landing on the ground with a thump so that she can turn to the sixth screen, waving it closer with one arm.

"What what what."
She says to the computer screen irritably.
What's so important it's gotta be now? Isn't it like-"
With a glance at one of the screens, she checks the time, only to find that the night is pretty much over.
"Oh. Guess not."

Somewhat more amiable now, she checks the incoming message, her eyes widening a bit at the notice of her new posting. With a grin, she leans back against her bunk.
"Now that's more like it. Guess they came through for me after all."

After a moment of thought, she swiftly shuts off the various screens and disconnects and retracts the crossing wires and cables with a few button presses, leaving the once crowded room almost instantly vacated. She packs the computers, which now appear quite compact, into a single duffel bag, before moving to change into something more suitable. Would there be an official send off? Well, it was a prototype... best be safe. If she were informal in the midst of a ceremony, she'd get hell over it.

How annoying.

In the space of a few moments, Lydia has donned her military uniform, gotten the rest of her gear, and is ready to head out to the ship.
And so she does, a satisfied smirk on her face.

[whoiam]

The Message:

<Charname and Rank>

You have been assigned to service on the Unnamed Prototype ship currently connected to airlock 4. You have been posted as the <assignment>. Please relocate to your shipboard quarters immediately.

A ship layout map is enclosed. You will need to report to the bridge to receive your full orders.

Admiral Briggs.


Design of the LEO was slightly unusual. Like most of the facilities around earth, it was in a geostationary orbit, and served as the tether at the upper end of a space elevator. Unlike most such stations, it actually had a split-level architecture - one ring (the closest to earth) served as habitation, and one served as the shipyard facility. This allowed the living quarters to have actual windows!

What was more important was the lack of artificial gravity on the upper, shipyard, level. This was mainly for docking reasons - getting a ship into or out of the shipyards while they were rotating enough to generate full gravity would not have been easy.

Thankfully, the walkways in the upper level had handholds.

Docks were clearly signposted by number, so finding dock 4 would not be a challenge. Lydia's fears of walking into a formal sendoff dressed embaressingly were unfounded - In fact, there was noone there to greet new arrivals when Theo reached the docking hatch. Well, that's not strictly accurate. A couple of the dock workers who had helped build the ship were floating near an observation window above the airlock. But thye were paying more attention to the ship than to the people.

The airlock from the station was mated to the armoury airlock via a short extendable tube. The ship was docked with its nose pointing inwards towards the heart of the LEO shipyard. And it was... silent. Inactive. Even the internal lighting was off. It was why the orders to board had not been sent out until after local sunrise.

The windows, darkened as they were, would still provide just enough light for the crew to find their way to, and activate, its power plant. It was tradition. The ship's first crew were the people who turned it on. And, as the dock workers noted, they would also be its last crew if the antimatter reactor was faulty...

[Gamerlord]

Patrick Talres
Mr.Talres wakes up, finding himself on the floor of his tiny quarters, with the display blaring loudly, he stands up, and half-awake looks at the message.
It takes only a few seconds after reading it for him to realize what it is. He then quickly gets his uniform on, and then attempts to access the computer in his quarters to figure out how far away is airlock 4. After quickly figuring it out with the assistance of the computer, he walks over to the airlock, to enter his new posting. When he sees Theo he salutes him and says "Good morning to you captain!"

[Dragon queen]

Aloria Vicrolas

Aloria wakes up and decides to get something to drink when she sees the message on her computer. "Oh-no. Pleeeeease no." she rubs her eyes then looks at the message then remarks "Of all people I get assigned to this prototype? Well they need a doctor and as far as I'm concerned their getting a good one." She gets her uniform on, takes a sip of her coffee, then heads for the prototype. She sees the captain then gives him a salute ,then heads for the medi-bay.

[ktulhu]

Laylah Quaid, PhD

Ding! Ding! Ding!

"What's that horrible noise?", was all Laylah could think while she tried to figure out why her was pounding so badly. Thankfully, the noise stopped as Laylah drifted back to sleep to escape the pain.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

"There it is again! Why would anyone make such a horribly painful sound?" This time she decided that whatever was making the noise, it had to be stopped. The only problem was that between her current state of grogginess and the pounding headache she was having trouble thinking of what it could be.

Slowly she opened her eyes, only to quickly shut them again when the painfully bright light from the large window in her quarters entered. She attempted to sit up, only to discover that she was hopelessly entangled in her bedsheets. Fueled by frustration, she stretched her arms and legs with incredible force ripping the sheets. This movement was also accompanied by the loud thud of something heavy hitting the floor.

"What the hell!?", came a surprised cry from the ground.

Laylah peered over the edge of the bed only to see a fuzzy blob lying on the floor staring back at her. Turning back to her nightstand she grabbed her glasses and put them on. Now she could plainly see Ensign Fripp gathering his clothing from the floor and foggy recollections of the party last night came flitting into her mind. They mainly consisted of flirting with younger crewmen and far too many mixed drinks.

"Sorry about that Bobby! You know alcohol and my brain never seem to agree with each other." Now if only she could remember what the hell this guy she only knew from the bar was doing in her room. It was during this thought process that her own state of undress struck her. Grabbing what was left of the sheet for modesty she got up unsteadily and headed for her locker.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

"Seems you have an important message, baby." He was right, it was her terminal making the horrible noise! In a normal state she would've recognized that it was, in fact, her that set up her terminal to use a glaringly loud notification to overcome the fact that she often played loud music while she worked. Right now she just hated the terminal itself for amplifying an already bad hangover.

"Oh man! I'm going to be late!", Bobby tried to give her a kiss before he left, but was shrugged off. He was out the door an instant later.

Laylah waved the terminal over to her. "Silent mode! Show latest message.", she commanded as she peered at the terminal.

Reading the message cut right threw her grogginess. "A prototype ship! I wonder how many of my ideas made it in... and what kind of equipment the lab has... Report immediately!? When was this sent... OH NO!! I would've been nicer to Bobby if I realized that might have been the last time I see him..."

She didn't have time to message him, or any of her other friends, she barely had time left to pack up her gear. Hopefully the ship would be within range of the station long enough for her to inform them.

A few moments later, dressed in her best uniform and loaded with two duffles and a backpack, Laylah was precariously pulling herself along the handholds leading to airlock 4.

"Why wouldn't they let me know sooner? I wouldn't have had so many drinks if I'd known I had to ship off in the morning!" The strange looks two dockworkers near an observation window gave her alerted her to the fact that she was speaking aloud. She pulled herself through the airlock door a little too quickly to escape the embarrassment and bounced off the exterior door quite hard.

"That's going to leave a mark!"

She checked her gear to be sure things looked intact and commanded the door to open. She brought up the ship layout on her tablet and started finding her way to the bridge to meet the rest of the crew. She was preoccupied thinking of all the possibilities for adventure and discovery, so after several wrong turns she finally found the bridge.

She laid her bags near the door and straightened her uniform before entering. "Greetings Captain! Laylah Quaid reporting for duty. It is an honor to be serving under you, Sir."

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Forrin Creel

The Altarian, perhaps the only Altarian aboard the Terran Station it seemed, for Forrin could not recall the last time he had spoken with another, woke up the urgent announcement of the message. Yawning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Forrin reads over the message a couple times making sure he wasn't missing anything. He supposed he was supposed to act as some sort of cultural liaison, or perhaps he was merely being called for his skills in the field of military logistics. Whatever the case, Forrin pulled on his uniform, a station crew uniform of appropriate rank, with a special badge declaring his ultimate allegiance to the Altarian military.

Quickly pulling together his few possessions and tossing them in a bag in as organized a fashion as he could, Forrin pulled on his boots and began to head for the ship at airlock 4.

[The_JJ]

Pilot Inaber Straun

Inaber rolled out of his bed with a thud. Ow. He glanced at the cot. Uh. Co-occupied. That would explain. Uh, hi? The insensible form just grunted and turned over. I uh, got to uh... Another dismissive grunt.

Inaber gave up. If she was content to go home with him as drunk as he'd been, he probably didn't have a whole lot of responsibility for her.

He'd been told to expect a new posting, so he had everything he needed in his bags. Two duffels, a military side arm, and his personal computer.

And the cowboy hat, never forget that.

Inaber scribbled out a note ('New deployment, got to go, nice to meet you'), and left his single at the LEO. It wasn't really home, he'd volunteered for a quick cycle. As he walked, his computer started dinging away. The pilot crossed his fingers and waved over the display. Oh yes. Ohhhhh yes. Big and beautiful. Airlock four, unnamed, new tech.

Before he went in, he did one last walk out. He had come and paced up and down this stretch of the shipyard before, watching the ships being built. He loved watching the fighters come together and shoot off on their shakedowns, but airlock four had caught his eye. She was big and lubberly, but that new engine looked fast. He'd checked out the buzz on the Next Big Techs, and 'antimatter engines' kept popping up. For the first time in a long time, Inaber had looked at a bg ship and felt the good old I want feeling that he'd first experienced watching the Terrordactlys back home.

Inaber Straun tipped his hat to the people he passed on his way to his new bunk, labeled with a nice shiny nameplate and all. He kicked his bags into the room, and went on up to the bridge.

He was an interesting sight to behold; unkempt Navy issue casual wear, cowboy hat pulled low to cover his eyes and apparently stuck to his head. He was dark skinned (a son of Senegalese colonists) and moved through the zero gee like a true natural. He kicked himself over to a corner and crouched there, upside down on the 'ceiling,' waiting for the festivities to start.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Forrin Creel

Forrin arrived at the bay, and as soon as he arrived on ship headed straight for the bridge. He arrived on the bridge with his bag still slung over his shoulder, which he quickly placed on the ground. He was a tall, thin man with pale skin and dark hair, he stood straight, his hands held behind him.

[Gamerlord]

Patrick nods to the people who just walked into the bridge,"Hello, my name is Patrick Talres, your first officer, I hope that with your skills, we should be able to survive our first mission, you are all the best of the best, save for a few of you, for whose reason being here I have yet to comprehend."

[whoiam]

Placing the bag down quickly in 0G turned out to be a mistake: as Forrin does his best imitation of standing at attention without anything holding you to the 'ground', his bag lazily floats off the floor behind him.

Those who have made it all the way through to the bridge would note that everything was dead... all the power was off, naturally. There were stations set around the bridge (including seats with buckles and belts on them to keep an officer in place even if the AG is off), set around the outer wall in two circles of five. The Captain, being the Captain, customarily did not have a standard bridge station. Instead, he got to work with a large holographic display generated by the sides of the central walkway.

One of the perks of command - akin to being the man with control of the projector, in a meeting where all the others have to make do with laptops.

For the moment, though, it was too early for the Captain to gloat about the size of his display. He had to get it working first...

[Dragon queen]

Aloria Vicrolas
When she gets to the med-bay she says "Not bad, for such a small ship." She calls to one of the nurses and asks her to hand her a medical kit for emergencies."I hope that the people who serve here work hard, because if they like it or not I like being alive." she mutters bluntly. She starts to arrange all the medical tools she'll need and tries to get the systems in here to work.

[Gamerlord]

Patrick looks around the darkened area, then quickly says "Where the heck are the engineers? He quickly attempts to get to engineering and look around for crew.

[Doc_Shiny]

Theodore 'Theo' Vicarus (Doc_Shiny)

(http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8468406&postcount=110)

"Interesting." That's all Theo could say as his crew slowly assembled in the Bridge. He was in the middle of attaching his tethers to his belt when an old familiar face came into the Bridge. With a stern face he says "Hello First Officer." A few moments pass when a giant smile is produced on his face. "Patrick, my old friend, good to see you. I'd shake your hand, but I just tethered myself and you know how much of a hassle that can be. There is no power yet, as we are waiting for the rest of the crew. Tradition and what have you."

After some time has passed, a tall brown haired woman with long brown hair floats in through the door. That must be our talented new doc. The doctor salutes and curtly floats out. Hm, that was interesting.

While do yet another look around the bridge, Theo is surprised by a small bespectacled woman with a rather red bump on her head. "Greetings Laylah Quaid. I've been expecting you." "Greetings Captain! Laylah Quaid reporting for duty. It is an honor to be serving under you, Sir.""As it is to server with you. I've heard some interesting things about you, and I can only hope half of them are true. You are free to drop off your bags in your quarters and explore the ship. Might I suggest getting acquainted with the lab? I'll call you when we are preparing for the meeting."

Dark skinned, cowboy hat, flying through the zero-g like he was born in it. That must be Inaber. "Haha, Inaber, my friend, looking as dashing and eccentric as ever I see."

"Forrin Creel" says Theo when the tall, thin Altarian floats into the room and puts his bags on the floor. "Welcome to the ship. I see that..." As he speaks, Forrin's bags start to float away. "... your bags are floating away." After a small but poorly concealed laugh, Theo says "Why don't you go drop off your luggage in your room and meet up back here. We'll be starting the engines as soon as the rest of the crew arrives."

And now he waits for the rest of the crew to arrive so we can get power to the systems and start diagnostics on the ship.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Forrin Creel

Deftly grabbing his bag by the straps, Forrin navigates the darkened corridors to his room, and lightly tosses his bag into the empty compartment, after which he returns to the bridge and awaits the arrival of the rest of the crew.

[AmberVael]

Lydia

Lydia walks briskly up to the ship, and upon noticing the lack of gravity, fastens the strap to her bag over her shoulder and tightens it, then pushes her way inside, drifting to the bridge with practiced grace. She was always pretty fond of zero gravity situations, and had spent quite a bit of time in them.

As she arrives at the bridge, she pauses in the entrance, giving a small salute to Theodore, along with a cheery smile.
"Lydia Argent, reporting. Should I get power online, captain?"

Proactive was always a good bet, and Lydia was very fond of her computer access, so getting on the power would be good...

[Doc_Shiny]

Theodore 'Theo' Vicarus (Doc_Shiny)

(http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8468406&postcount=110)

"Lydia Argent, straight and to the point. I like it. Welcome aboard. If you would turn the power on, that would be lovely. You might want to stop off at your room on the way."

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Forrin Creel

Noting Lydia's arrival Forrin turns to the captain. "I hope you don't mind the question, but how many more crewmembers are expected to arrive? And how many crew will there be total?"

[AmberVael]

Lydia

"Will do!"
Lydia flits off to find her quarters, and where she might turn on the power.

[Gamerlord]

Forrin Creel

Noting Lydia's arrival Forrin turns to the captain. "I hope you don't mind the question, but how many more crewmembers are expected to arrive? And how many crew will there be total?"
"Senior staff? Well, I believe 4."

[Doc_Shiny]

Theodore 'Theo' Vicarus (Doc_Shiny)

(http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8468406&postcount=110)

"First Officer Talres is correct. We are expecting four more senior staff members. While we wait, you should all get acquainted with those working under you. We are running on a smaller staff than some of you are used to, roughly two to three staff members to each senior officer. They should all be in there corresponding stations. I hope you all get along."

[The White Lyre]

Cyrus Orr

It was not pitch black in the cabin of Cyrus anymore. A rather annoying and perpetual blinking screen lit the room every second, and had been doing so for the past thirty minutes. Usually, Cyrus would have woken immediately and turned the damned thing off - or at least read the message that undoubtedly awaited him - but this morning was not exactly a usual morning for the large Russian.

Cyrus had made his way to one of the many bars that had been set up for last night’s festivities, like many others, although he had not exactly participated. The man had sat amidst the crowd, sometimes smiling or talking to a passing drunk, but mostly he had drank back the memories of the Yor. It was not that he didn’t enjoy beating them as they did back in 2190 (he relished that), but in stead he devoted that night annually to the loss of vision he suffered at the hands of those good-for-nothing machines.

Of course, he always paid for it the next day; he was a big man, built well for drinking large amounts of booze. Slowly his eyes opened, the bloodshot qualities of the left obvious even in the dim light. He right eye was quite able to open, as well, but there were no red tinges to be revealed; no actual eye ball could be seen, actually. Grunting as he quickly sat up and let his legs touch the ground, Cyrus began to come to his sense. He pushed the large bottle of vodka he had brought home off of his bed, put on his eye patch and stumbled to the flashing screen.

He jabbed a button on the console and walked to the sink installed in kitchen area of his room, splashing water on his face. Slowly he registered the commands that were being issued in a metallic voice from the com-station, and slowly his face grew darker. He stood up, wiping his wet hands in his short hair and started to dress himself.

“Nice idea, telling us to leave after celebrating last night. Wonder which of those intelligent brass came up with this idea...” He muttered to himself as he pulled on a marine's uniform. It was nothing formal - he wasn’t told to wear his parade uniform, and he sure as hell was making an extra leap for the captain that set this departure on his lap; it was just the grey jumpsuit every marine was issued, along with a basic utility belt. He grabbed his duffel bag off the shelf (he was always packed, except for about a week’s clothing) and stuffed anything that was lying about into it. Finally, Cyrus laced up his combat boots, took a swig from his vodka, and left. Sure, it would be an honour to board this prototype...if he wasn’t hungover.

He walked down the rotating corridor until he reached the elevator to the zero-gravity part of the shipyard - the docking facilities. The pod descended with Cyrus inside for about four minutes, finally beeping open into the shipyard. On the way down, practically immediately, actually, Cyrus had slung his duffel bag across his back and donned his officer’s hat. He began to lose gravity, as well, and was floating by the time the pod stopped - the hat came off, then, and was in his hand once more.

Cyrus guided himself off the walls to Airlock 4, arriving to see a few crew members boarding. Most had probably boarded ahead of him, considering his lack of enthusiasm on getting down here immediately. They must all be as groggy as I am, though. Unless I’m stuck with a bunch of nerds... Cyrus thought to himself, shaking his head. He made his way to the deck of the ship.

“First Lieutenant Cyrus Orr reporting for duty, Captain.” The marine said while looking at the Captain with his good eye and loosely saluting him. It was hard to be at full attention while floating, and Cyrus had learned not to attempt it unless he felt like embarrassing himself.

[Gamerlord]

Patrick nods towards the marine, "First lieutenant, greetings, I am your first officer Patrick Talres"

Patrick continues his search through engineering for engineers or switches to activate power, he finds the antimatter generator, but first he calls out to the bridge "HEY! Someone check the lab for a generator!" then he flips the matter switch.

[Doc_Shiny]

Theodore 'Theo' Vicarus (Doc_Shiny)

(http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8468406&postcount=110)

Theo rotated in his tethered harness as he heard the Bridge door open yet again and was surprised to see a large, eye-patched man in Marine attire. It took him a few moments to register who this man was.

"Ah, First Lieutenant Cyruss Orr, I've been looking forward to your arrival. Stand at ease comrade, no need for formalities at the moment." Theo says with a smirk. After taking a noticeable sniff he says in a very serious tone. "Now, I'm fully aware of what happened on this ship last night, and I HOPE that the Signar Colony Vodka I smell is nothing but a leftover from last night, soldier. Now, if you would drop off your gear in your room and return promptly..."

With that Theo does a 180 and faces the command console yet again, when he hears Patrick's call. "Laylah Quaid, please activate the fusion generator."

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Forrin Creel

After the lieutenant introduces himself, Forrin does likewise. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. I, as the Captain stated early, am Forrin Creel, and I am the logistics officer for this ship. I will likely also serve the role I served aboard the station as an Altarian liaison, should such be required. Unless I've missed my guess, Captain, I don't want to presume."

[Doc_Shiny]

Theodore 'Theo' Vicarus (Doc_Shiny)

(http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8468406&postcount=110)

"That is, indeed, your place on my boat. Like you said, your role is both that of a Linguistic and Diplomatic officer. Your station is right there." Theo then gestures to a work station to his left. "Please get yourself situated and familiar with your area, you'll be spending a lot of time there."

Theo reaches into his pocket watch and sighs. If the rest of the crew doesn't get here soon...

[The White Lyre]

Cyrus Orr

Cyrus gives Patrick a rather blank stare, but inclines his head towards the First Officer, "Good morning, sir.". He continued to regard the man, focusing his one good eye on the odd colour of his superior's eyes...

He looked back to Captain Vicarus as he was addressed, although his curiosity about the bald man's pupils was a bit obvious. As Theodore talks, Cyrus is able to analyse his new commanding officer: a tall but rather thin man, there is nothing initially remarkable about him. He did, however, look like a captain.

"Of course. Simply the remnants of approximately 0200 hours, sir." He says, nodding his head in acknowledgment of the reprimand. "That's a good nose, if I may say so." He adds with a bit of a twitch to his lips...a smile? "I'll return as soon as possible, sir" It was best to stay neutral and respectful when hungover, Cyrus had learned over the years. What seemed a good idea to say at the time was often not the best choice of words in retrospect.

He kicked himself away, looking around as he began to memorize the layout of the ship. He passed a rather strangely tattooed human as he left - Altarian, he realised. It wasn't hard to find his quarters, as most other crew members were returning or going to their rooms like he was. Follow the herd, I guess.

He set his duffel bag in the locker beside his cot, not bothering to unpack just yet. He carried his hat still at his side, though, and returned to deck.

[ktulhu]

Laylah Quaid, PhD

Upon entering the bridge Laylah was greeted by the dashing Captain and the immense First Officer, and congratulated herself in her head for successfully resisting the urge to comment on the Captian's physique... or the First Officer's eyes. She really hoped the First Officer's comment wasn't an allude to her own history. "You wouldn't want a guy that big to dislike you.", she thought as she stared up at him.

After the greeting Captain Vicarus added, "I've heard some interesting things about you, and I can only hope half of them are true." She turned a shade of red that nearly matched the bump on her head at this. "I will try my best not to disappoint, Captain."

"You are free to drop off your bags in your quarters and explore the ship. Might I suggest getting acquainted with the lab? I'll call you when we are preparing for the meeting."

"Thank you, Sir. I can't wait to see the rest of the ship."

She waited a few minutes while some other crew members filed in and her headache subsided, though the bump was still quite tender. She recognized a few of the faces from around the station, but when an Altarian officer entered she was thrown on-edge. "We're bringing an alien with us? I hope this isn't part of someone's evil scheme..." When a handsome man wearing a cowboy hat floated in after him she felt a little more at ease. Seeing a familiar face in the crowd helped get her mind from running through all the various possible evil plots she could be stepping into by joining this crew. She gave Inaber a wink and a smile on her way to gather her bags, certain that they'd have time to catch up after the formalities of getting the ship up and running had been completed.

Feeling a little better now, Laylah found navigating her way around the ship a bit easier when her head wasn't pounding though the lack of gravity still wasn't agreeing with her. She stowed one of her bags in her locker and headed to inspect the lab. Even in the half-light the ship's lab was an impressive sight. Half of the area was a laboratory with every imaginable piece of equipment and a vast array of terminals. The other half appeared to be the medical bay. The Medical Officer appeared to be already at work and it looked like she was keeping the nurses busy.

Laylah began looking around for her crew. She found the pair of young men studying schematics on the screen of a tablet in front of what appeared to be the controls for the fusion reactor.

"Hello boys! I'm glad to see you're already learning about the ship. Any minute now we'll be firing that up I imagine.", she informed them, barely able to hide her excitement.

Almost as she finished the sentence the order was issued, "Laylah Quaid, please activate the fusion generator." With relish she powered up the reactor, bringing the first hints of life to the ship. While she monitored the reactor's self-test routines all she could think about was heading over to see the real powerhouse of the ship, the fabled anti-matter reactor.

"The fusion reactor is now online, Sir. We can go to full power when you are ready."

[whoiam]

It takes about 20 seconds from Laylah pressing the cold start button on the backup Fusion generator to the ship's internal lighting switching on. Another ten seconds and the consoles in the bridge power up - they're not displaying anything, yet, but there's a slight hum (that would be familiar to all the officers) as the projectors initialise, which disappears again seconds later when they all switch over to their standbye mode.

Down in the engineering section, the pressing of the cold start on the matter pump is met with a high-pitched whine, and one of the backup physical readout dials moving from the far left to about a tenth of the way towards its maximum. The units on the dial are unlabeled.

Back on the bridge, a minute after Laylah started up the backup reactor, the Captain's massive projector switched onto full power. A hologram of Admiral Briggs appears and addresses the bridge crew.

"Alright, you have gotten the ship turned on and the new reactor has not exploded. Always a good place to start with a prototype reactor. So, your shakedown cruise: Normally this would be something nice and non-threatening, but your ship was not designed for picket duty.

A week ago a Yor corvette probed the defenses of one of our outer colonies. The report from the colony states that it sported both shielding and point defenses. Despite this advanced technology, being only a small ship, it was defeated and driven back.

The colonists also report that the damaged corvette seemed to be leaving odd radiation traces behind. This signature is enclosed in a data packet in the Sensor Officer's console.

As you may recall, your ship is not fitted with point defenses because they interfered with our new shielding. Obviously the Yor have found some way around this limitation, and our research teams want to know how they did it. That ship's crew may know the schematics, or its database may hold it, or you could try capturing part or all of the ship to bring back for study. Just find us something we can use.

Briggs out."

[AmberVael]

Lydia

Lydia is about halfway through the ship when the power comes on. With that already done for her, she stops in her quarters, drops off her bag, and then makes her way quickly back to the bridge and gets in her seat, pulling up sensors and communications and getting ready to go.

[Doc_Shiny]

Theodore 'Theo' Vicarus (Doc_Shiny)

(http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8468406&postcount=110)

The hum from the ship. Strong and soft. They told me she was powerful, and this girl did not disappoint. This beauty was full of surprises.

The Holo-screen flashes and then stabilizes in front of Theo. As the message plays out Theo's face grows darker. Probing one of the colonies with a corvette-class ship? That doesn't sound right, and radiation leaking... After the message was played, and the Holo-screen was relinquished control back to Theo, he brought up the intercom.

"Attention crew, this is your Captain speaking. You have all been hand picked for positions on this ship. If you are here, it is because you are the best of the best for what we need. That being said, you will all be held accountable for your decisions. If, because of one of your actions, we lose someone, you WILL be reprimanded accord to my rules. We are more lax than a standard TSF Navy ship but that does not mean that I will not hold you all up to a standard. We will be going into potentially dangerous areas with out backup on a semi-regular basis, if that is a problem now is your chance leave. If you are here because this is what you've dreamed of, if you are here because you are proud to be who you are and want to make a difference in the lives of billions across the galaxy, then welcome aboard my ship, and I am proud to serve with you."

"Now, for what we were all called here to do. I need everyone to run diagnostics in their sectors, followed with familiarization with the equipment. We will not be taking off yet, as not all of our crew is on board. Feel free to introduce yourself to anyone you haven't yet, and to get yourself situated in your rooms. I will call the senior staff to the bridge once I've received the green light from each one of you and everyone is on board.

Theo turns the intercom off, and begins getting a feel for the Holo-screen. This is more advanced than anything he's worked with to-date. All kinds of surprises

[Dragon queen]

Aloria Vicrolas

She looks around and sighs When's the last time I heard that sound?" she remarks. She makes sure all her tools are in place then mumbles "No turning back now Aloria."

[Gamerlord]

Patrick gets back into the bridge,having heard theo's message.

[daelrog]

Brrrzzzhhh! Brrrzzhhh! BRRRZZZHHH! No matter how many times the warning flared up, Shray Holdt could not hear, her ears covered with sound-proof earmuffs. When the door slid open and two armed marines stepped in, she did not see them, her back turned and the bionic implants-for-eyes moving about, each one on its own accord, at the rocket launcher she was working on, half taken apart, half put back together.

When the two hands grabbed her shoulders, and picked her too her feet, she dropped her drink, the last one she had taken back frorm her around midnight.

Within five minutes she had tossed what little she needed in an old, frayed, military-issue deffle bag, running to the ship. As she entered the dock, the warm hum of the ship prompted her to use the last of her strength to speed up and make sure she was onboard.

With her duffle around her shoulders, and a thin parchment desrcibign her new post she walked in without looking at the other crewman.Dark rings were under her odd eyes, and she looked malnourished,like the children on the "Help the outer colonies" propaganda.

She heard the Captain's voice, all of it a distant blur of a sound. It was another normal day.

[The_JJ]

Inaber flips his hat off to Laylah, revealing close cut kinky hair, and then sets it firmly back in place. He nods to the Captain, and kicks himself out to the pilots station. Engine sounds good, but I won't be able to tell you much until I can roll her out, sir. I'll just synch my station up with Comms and Sensors for now. Let me know when you want to hail traffic control for clearence. He sits down at the station in front of him, pops his personal into the slot and uploads his macros. The hologram color instantly shifts from standard light blue to a deep amber color, normally associated with hot shot figher pilots. Hooooowee. Can't wait to get started. Who's Comm's on this fat tub of lard?

[daelrog]

If any of the crew said anything to her, she didn't hear them, walking straight into the armory. "Convenient. Armory's near the front." She contineud to mutter to herself as she walked around what would be her new home. Lockers lined up, the names of each of the crewman yet to be written on them. A couple computers unused, smelling of that new tech smell. This wasn't an armory, not yet at least. Grease, clanking, and the smell of burning.

Not now thogh, sleep first.

AShe opened each locker quickly, making sure there wasn't anything not strapped down, not even caring that she was looking at the latest model of railgun andsidearms, even the few heavier things locked away in a separate cage. "Wonder where the key is."

She walked over to the communicator in the room, pressing a few buttons until she found the right one. "Armory is green Capn'"

She dropped in her chair, pulled the seatbelt around her, and dozed off.

[The White Lyre]

Cyrus Orr

The Lieutenant returned to the bridge at an easy gate, his ears taking in the sound of the ship's engines and computers as well as the crews voices around him. He didn't have any duties, at least not yet, and largely he could dismiss the Captain's message as being irrelevant to him. Cyrus was on bridge, accounted for and waiting.

He realised he was not immediately required to be on deck, waiting for the meeting between all senior personnel; introductions would be made later, though, and the marines directly under Cyrus' were well past the age where they needed to be checked in upon and pampered. For now, he would wait with a stiff posture, his hands clasped behind his back and his hat tipped a bit forward, out of the way of any of the crew running about.

[Greystone]

Corporal Greystone sighed as he threw his bag on his bunk. He had been late, of course, to the dembarkation. Luckily nobody had seemed to notice- at least not yet. He had managed to slip in hiding with a bunch of techies. Tobias took out two packets.

One had his orders- special Bridge armsmen. He grinned, that meant that he was assigned to protect the bridge itself. A dangerous job, but one that meant he could hear all of the action. Tobias hated being left out of the loop. The other folder was the dossier of the two other guardsmen directly under his command.

One was a Private Reanne Kinder. The other was Private Painter Dawn, a young man of native american heritage. He scanned their files quickly, and shrugged. Neither had faced any special action, and had scored well on all physical and mental tests.

Tobias stood, adjusted his vest, and ran a hand through blond hair before he put on his helmet, and left for the bridge. He had a job to do.

[AmberVael]

Lydia

With a whirl of holographic interfaces, almost too quickly to track, Lydia brings up her systems and gets them online, further investigating into their capabilities and functions as much as possible in this limited environment.
"Comm and sensors are fully active and ready. Everything seems to be checking out."

She speaks to the bridge at large, though mainly to the captain, and Inaber, who had asked the relevant question.

[Gamerlord]

"Head count...still no chief of engineering, worst comes to worst, I might be able to function as a temporary head, but I only really know how to repair shuttles and ground vehicles, stuff like that."

[Doc_Shiny]

Theo runs his fingers over the holo-screen, like a maestro on a piano. He looks over the flashing green pop-ups and quickly groups them to the side, each giving the all clear to their perspective stations. All save one.

"Talres, go down to Engineering and coordinate the staff for inspections. They all should have knowledge of the station and what to check."

Once Quintin Hadley gets here, he'll go over it again, but we'll be able to do some basic tests once Talres clears the station.

"Lieutenant Argent, get my the station."

[Gamerlord]

"Affirmative!" Talres gets down to engineering and starts shouting so everyone can hear him clearly, "ALRIGHT! I want weapons and engines check first, then get our shields the OK, afterwords, we can start working on the sensors." He then moves to a console to check to get a full read-out of the ship systems, looking for any irregularities in it's systems.

[AmberVael]

Lydia

"Of course, captain."
Lydia instantly taps into their comm system controls and attempts to link up with the station and open up communications.

[Greystone]

Tobias

The corporal entered the Bridge and walked towards the door. He nodded to the two soldiers already standing guard. The two matched their dossier.

"Hello" he said "Names?" he knew their names, but he could always tell a lot about a person by the way they introduced themselves.

"Private Reanne Kinder sir" the young woman seemed very at ease and nodded back at him. He red hair was slightly longer than regulation allowed, and he filed that away in case he needed discipline.

"Private Painter Dawn" unlike his counterpart, Private Dawn snapped to attention and saluted- back going stock still. Tobias eyed him with interest. He looked like a stickler for rules. That may change.

"I'm Corporal Tobias Greystone, and I guess I'm your fireteam leader" Tobias smiles "This will be our post permanatly unless our situation is changed by the captain." he pointed to the door "Private Dawn, stand at the main door"

Painter nodded, and stayed at attention as Greystone switched focus to Kinder "Private Kinder, take upper hatch" she turned to go. The upper hatch was rarely used, but it gave a good vantage point to the bridge.

Greystone himself took up a position in the middle, standing near the bulkhead between stations. It also put him close enough to eavedrop on the commanders of the ship...

[The_JJ]

Inaber flicks a few switches holographic switches, tapping into Sensors. Excellent, thank you very much LT Argent. Can't fly if you can't see. We are ready to detatch and spin up on your go, Captain.

[Dragon queen]

Aloria Vicrolas

She takes the medical kit and examines it thoroughly. Then calls to one of the nurses and says "Nurse Zayla, please stand by for any medical emergencies for the next 7 hours. We don't know what on earth is going to happen in the next few hours. She hands the medical kit to Nurse Zayla and then sits down on a near by chair and starts to design an examination for all the crew members.

[whoiam]

Unsurprisingly (The ship still being docked, after all) Lydia has no trouble opening communications with the station. She has two choices at this point: Use the direct connection to the LEO's computer systems to contact someone specific, or transmit a wireless message to whoever cares to listen.

Talres, down in engineering, found the two enlisted engineers busy purging the chamber of the antimatter reactor. As he entered and began barking out orders, one of them threw him a salute and headed as best (s)he could back to the Bridge - several of the systems the first officer had just ordered checked were physically located in the science labs, further forward. The other remained at her/his post, and replied to the first officer's orders with a rather terse: "It will have to wait. Someone switched only one of the pumps on on this thing and the antimatter containment pipes are swimming in electrons." Brave man or woman, that. But then, a dressing down was marginally less painful then an explosion blowing the antimatter pump apart.

Private Painter Dawn became the latest member of the crew to experience the joys of standing at attention in zero gravity. Anyone watching him slowly and stiffly float off the 'floor' may need to make a saving throw versus absurdist humour.

[Doc_Shiny]

"Lieutenant Argent, comm the flight control deck of the station and the personnel officer for the station.

Theo switches on the intercom while he waits for Lydia to get radio clearance, "Attention senior officers, I need to know if all crew are ready and accounted for."

[Dragon queen]

Aloria Vicrolas

She turns on her intercom signal then replies to the captain "Aloria Vicrolas Medical officer here and accounted for sir." she then turns her intercom signal off and continues working on the examination.

[Gamerlord]

Talres moved over to Science to do some diagnostics. Making a mental note to finish a job after he starts one.

[The_JJ]

Helmsman Inaber Straun and all zero of my direct subordinates on board and bored. The helmsman kicked back and pulled his hat low over his eyes, floating gently inside the seat harness.

[Doc_Shiny]

Theo looks up at Inaber and with a grin on his face mutters "Smart ass" under his breath. Atleast this trip won't be boring.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Forrin Creel

The tattooed Altarian takes a short time to check in and find out about his subordinates, to make sure, and quickly informed the captain. "Chief logistics officer Forrin Creel and subordinate logistics officers Jonus O'Malley and Herrik Jekrin onboard and accounted for, Sir."

[Greystone]

Tobias

"Corporal Tobias Greystone, acting Bridge Guard Team, active and accounted for sir"

In the back, one may hear a snicker from Private Kinder as she watches Private Dawn with amusement.

[The White Lyre]

Cyrus Orr

Grabbing his damned hat as it floats off once again, Cyrus departs the bridge, deciding to make sure that his marines are fully accounted for. He nods to Greystone and the two guards as he propels his way out the bridge's entry.

Arriving once again in the section of the habitation rings that are designated for marine-military personnel, Cyrus makes his rounds checking that all teams are on board. He jogs his memory to he remind himself of the two soldiers that he would be directly paired with for this tour: Sergeant Howe and Lance Corporal Perrault.

Sergeant Howe was the brains of the two, Cyrus could safely assume from his previous knowledge of the man. He was especially intelligent as a soldier. More than once Cyrus had heard that the Sergeant had saved his team by ensuring there were multiple avenues of retreat, as well as other sorts of precautions that saved lives. He was also known for his strict loyalty to the Terran cause, unwavering in his patriotism. Fanaticism, Cyrus had once heard a Lieutenant say. He was tall, maybe 6' 2", and about 180 pounds. Not particularly muscular...but you didn't have to be with a gun in your hands. His hair was short, a crew cut, and a dark blond in colour.

Lance Corporal Perrault was a different sort of soldier. He was more to Cyrus' standards: a large man, built like an ox, and he didn't see himself as smart, nor did he expect others to. He was the kind of man that kept his eyes open, mouth shut and followed orders to the letter. None of that individuality that so often messed up Cyrus' commands. He was around 5' 9", stocky and absolutely bald.

Of course, the two of them combined made quite a good team.

They were both in their quarters when Cyrus opened the door.

"Gentlemen." He said, eying each of them severely, "Names Cyrus Orr, and I'll be commanding you two directly for this tour. Good to have you - I've heard some things. As soon as you're done in here, get the others patrolling decks and guarding key positions; I want this send off to look professional and prepared."

After checking on a few other soldiers that were assigned to protect the crew during their time in space, he headed back to the bridge.

"All marines on board, Sir."

[AmberVael]

Lydia

Lydia directs her comm requests to flight control and the personnel officer(s), sending a small explanatory message as an introduction- that the Prototype was readying for launch and attempting to account for all its crew. She'd let the captain handle the rest.

"I'll put them on screen as soon as they reply, captain."

[Doc_Shiny]

Lydia and I will have a swimming relationship thought Theo.

With every incoming acknowledgment from the senior officers he makes a small check with his finger, slowly filling the floating checklist in front of him. Theo then waves his hand through the screen, pushing the list and small detailed notes associated with it to the side, and with a complex hand gesture combination brings up the large rotating star chart to the forefront of the screen. With another flick, the co-ordinates that were listed with the mission statement came up.

"Inaber, I'm throwing the co-ordinates your way. Start getting the flight path ready. We'll be taking off soon.

"Lieutenant Creel, now would be the time to make any last minute acquisitions."

[Gamerlord]

Talres walks into science, and does some diagnostics, afterward, he decides to run a simulation on the computer, "If the ship were to crash into a moon sized planet, how long would it take for speed and momentum to reach 0, and how much damage would we take? Repeat simulation 100 times, and average out. Compare with how ship performed in stress tests, this ship did go through stress testing before it was pronounced ship worthy, right??"

[daelrog]

"All accoundted for in the armoury Sir." A male voice, obviously not the Lieutenants said it. Corporal Ollis Gaird could only shake his head at his new superior, a girl, a tatooed, scrawny, sleeping girl that looked like she had been in them iddle of a science explosion and never bothered to get the microscopes taken off her face.

Then again, he looked little better, a tall man, at least 6'6",. morel likely 6'8" that had laser hair removal on every part of his body. He looked over to the other guy.

Private Rell Smithy was young, just eighteen, or so he sid. Clean cut, built like a wrestler, and with a enthusiastic if not formal knowledge of all the ship's weapons spelled one thing: glory boy. Ollis could only sigh again as he floatedto his own seat. He just wanted to take things easy and slow.

[Dragon queen]

Aloria Vicrolas

She finally finished the examination.It's just a general examination from the looks at it.She goes to the bridge then hands it to the captain and asks "Sorry to bother you sir, but I need you to clear this examination. 10 hours, no more no less."

[Doc_Shiny]

Theo turns around in his harness and takes the pad from Aloria. Taking a quick glance, he says "Hm, all looks in order. I'll be holding you to that time frame." With a wink, he hands the pad back to Aloria and, after asking if that is all, turns around and goes back to finishing his last minute routines.

[Malfunctioned]

A large calloused hand places itself of Laylah's shoulder.

"You're not gonna let it just run straight off the bat like that are you?" A richly accented voice asked from somewhere behind and to the side of her. As the source of the voice became clear a young man came into view, looking to be in his mid-twenties and wearing a oddly clean looking blue jumpsuit that he was obviously uncomfortable with. He sported short brown hair and a deep scar along the edge of his chin, in his hand he held what appear to be a modified spanner that he quickly set to work on a small section of the piping behind the reactor.

"Of course if you're not worried about quantified ion bombardment you should of just said that in your file." He turned towards her and placed the spanner back into his belt.
"Laylah, if I'm not mistaken?" Quintin offered his hand.

[The_JJ]

Course plotted out sir, awaiting your go. Inaber reached down for his personal comm link and turned it on to 'subordinates.'

Pilot Second Class Herman and Pilot Second Class Janus, this is Helmsman Straun. I want you two on the bridge within an hour of our uncoupling from the dock.

[whoiam]

'Space Control', or the In-System Traffic Organisation Office as it's more prosaicly known, chooses this moment to answer Lydia's request for an exit. A young male lieutenant of mixed, mainly african descent returns her call.

"Unnamed Prototype, you've got an exit vector. Line up on Neptune and then twenty degrees under the orbital plane. You're clear all the way to the Heliopause."

Since almost everything in a given solar system (even ours) lies within a few degrees of a single plane in line with the star's equator, the simplest way to pass out of a solar system at high speed without hitting anything really large is to head either above or below this plane.

Talres' requests for a hundred averaged simulations as to the effect of crashing into a planetary body at high speed did not take long to run. The computer's summary of the event could be boiled down to 'If you crash this ship into a moon, everyone and everything on it is a write off'.

Much the same as ramming other starships... even with armor plating, it's just not designed for that kind of punishment.

And, almost as an afterthought, it brought up a testing report. According to the specs and the testing during assembly, the ship risks losing a compartment if it collides with any solid object of greater than a cubic meter in size.

[Dragon queen]

Aloria Vicrolas
She nods at the captain then heads for the medical bay thinking so far so good...

[Gamerlord]

Talres looks concerned, "Looks like we are going to have to be careful about losing engine control." He then checks to figure out where his two subordinates are, privates Ryan Kraul and Samuel Adtala were in the armory.

He swiftly marches over to the bridge.

[The_JJ]

I've got the tower's exit vector plotted into the flight plan. Helm is ready for departure, sir.

[Doc_Shiny]

"Attention crew. We are setting off for one of our outer colonies. We are tasked with investigating and dealing with a recent Yor defensive probe and, if able, to find out how they have acquired both shielding and point defenses on the same ship. This is not likely to be a standard shakedown cruise, so everyone be prepared for anything."

With that, Theo turned off the intercom and, looking over to Inaber. "Once you have everything squared off, detach from the station and let's get this journey underway."

[The_JJ]

Aye. Helm to Armory, hold on tight, sealing the airlock and detatching now. Comms, let traffic control know we're one our way. Inaber leaned over his controls and slid his hand into the hologram. Alright fattie, time to fly... with a few flicks of his fingers Inaber pushes the Unnamed out of her dock. We're clear. Should I spin up now or set straight for the flight course?

[Greystone]

Tobias gripped a nearby panel tighttly as the captain made his announcement. He always had hated this part. One time, on Tycho, he hadn't been prepared for a jump. Three days in the infimary and 12 stitches later, he knew better now.

[Gamerlord]

Patrick says a short prayer as takeoff begins.

[Dragon queen]

Aloria Vicrolas

She stares at the room around her and says "I really really should have put more thought into this." she sighs then signals for nurse Zayla and Slore to go to their quarters and says "I want those reports in two hours people, two hours." she stares at them a second longer then sits down and waits for something to happen.

[whoiam]

Theo gave a quick glance at his helmsman.
Confident, aren't you? You have to be a good pilot to make fine course corrections while the ship's spinning... Might as well see if he's as good as he thinks he is.

"Get us spinning first, there's a good chap. I think we've all floated enough for one day, hm?"

[The_JJ]

Pilot Inaber Straun

Aye sir. This is Helm to all hands, stow your bags and find the floor, you have until I get done talking to a pair of rookies 'til we start spin up. Herman, Janus, glad you could join us. Now, I note that one of you trained in Flight School to handle lards like this, and another did main atmo work. That's fine for me, 'cept I did neither. So I don't know what you know, so you're both just going to have to learn from me. Capishe?

Struan flicks a few switches. First off, spinning. nice for everyone who can't handle zero. Also makes this lub of lard even more lardy. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Like bullets and footballs, spin also means stable. You do not want a tumble with a ship this long and an engine this big. Bad, bad idea.

That said, stable means sticky, turning's going to harder, and worse, some maneuver jets are now maneuvering. Fortunately, if you go slow, watch it, and let the ship know what you want ahead of time, you can thread credit card gaps. Let the silicone time your bursts, there are macros for this, but in combat, be ready to run with your gut and your twitchy fingers. Though so help me God if we need that really precise maneuvering in combat we'll have so many other problems on our hands that a little Chaos Tumbling might be in order. Two more things to remember, maneuver points, drive shoots. That's easy. Other point, this ain’t no Fishhook Mark II. You got two gears: Forward, and FTL Forward. So any work you do with the main drive can be damn well chalked up to inevitable and indelible. Aim then shoot, there are no second chances, there are no brakes, just spinning 180 and going the other way. The pilot's fingers move over and through his custom interface, settling on a mostly manual burn for this run. He could set up standard macros after he'd got a feel for the ship. He started with a low, slow burn slowly holding the rotational acceleration at a constant until the desired velocity was reached. That was the easy bit.

Then he set about creating a rough NSEW compass, 'North' being the conventional 'up' within the station, though it would track with a ship 'dorsal' (even as it spun around.) Later he would program in a full circle, but for now he slapped in the macros. With a tap of the finger the he highlighted 'North.' As the nearest jet reached within 5 degrees it tapered up, reached a peak at dead North, then tapered off, starting the the nose of the ship 'down.' Moments later Inaber tapped 'South,' and brought the ships nose to a halt. With and other tap burn pasue tap burn he turned the point 'East.' Sir, now in line with exit vector. Helm to Engineering, we are ready to warm up the drive.

[whoiam]

To the crew, Inaber's ministrations would appear to produce several acceleration effects of around the same strength as a car. Most of these are side-to-side, relative to the ship's direction of travel, although there was also a slight push towards the front or rear, whichever was closer, as the ship turned around.

If you want to know what it felt like for your character/NPC, say which compartment they were in and which direction they are facing in relative to the nose of the ship and the center of their compartment.

The acceleration was not beyond 'safety margins', meaning that you'd need to fall really awkwardly on a sharp corner to suffer a serious injury. Otherwise you weren't risking anything much worse than bruises.

Of course, the main engines were yet to come...

[daelrog]

Shray's bionic eyes turned on again, as they did automatically when she awoke. They flahsed on and off as the Lieutenant straightened herself up in the chair.

"What'd I miss... and who are you people?" She was in and out of sleep, and her speech slurred from exhaustion. She rocked side to side, waiting for an answer.

"Corporal Ollis Gaird Ma'am, at your service!" The man saluted in his chair, his shoulders already straightened.

"Private Rell Smith, Ma'am."

She glanced back and forth betwee nthe two, and smiled. "You two'll do."