The Silverstar Incident (FT, Open (Read First Post!))

by **Sunset** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 1:33 pm

OOC Rules and Such!

This RP is open to anyone who is interested in a First Contact/Exploration scenario with a bit of a Treasure Hunt and Survival edge. Your nation doesn't have to be FT and it is open to non-Nation characters/ships as well. All of the characters involved will, however, be part of the Conspiracy as laid out in the opening sequence. Characters can be the Captain of their own ship, crew of a random ship, or any combination there-of. Since the action takes place inside Sunset, the ships involved should be at least neutral to Sunset (Though individual characters don't have to be!) Ideally the characters will be of a commercial nature: Traders, miners, merchants, and the like.

Warships showing up out of the blue or requests to play the aliens will be firmly ignored.

The following takes place in Sunset territory and as such I'll be the ultimate arbiter of what happens and what doesn't.

If you have any questions the best place to ask is on IRC (irc.gamesurge.net, #nationstates, Sunset) or via telegram.

----

Port West, Silverstar Orbit, Northgate System, Ares Local Cluster...

"Another round!"

The call came up from one of the many tables scattered around the Last Chance and Susanne Culling put her head up for just a moment to see who it was, and whether another beer might be heading her way, before looking back to her cards in disappointment. Disappointment with both the cards in her hand and with the lack of beer; Given she'd already had several losing hands and a trio of empty pints sat at her elbow, perhaps it was time to concentrate on one or the other. Given her hand...

"Fold."

Her cards hit the table and she stood to look around for a waiter. There seemed to be only one on duty, and with the young woman busy at a far table serving the previously called for round, she made her way over to the bar. Patrons standing at the long painted metal surface were few and she slid in and raised a hand to call for the barman's attention. Within a minute another golden amber brew was sliding across to her and she lifted it to take a long draw. Turning to return to the table of old friends and comfortable rivals, she found her way blocked by a short, thin man in a spacer's dark blue coverall.

"Mister Chin," she addressed the green-eyed Asian, false solemnity apparent in her tone. "What can I do for you?"

The spacer was also one of the crew chief's on the Olivia Marie, Culling's ship and the reason why she was at Port West to begin with. Flush with orders, they'd been making run after run from the refineries in the Rubble to the transit facility at Port West. That Chin was in the bar meant that they were finished and that, despite the pint glass in her hand, it was time for another run.

"We're all done off-loading but..." He leaned closer, his voice going low and a cautious glance going around the room, "Can I talk to you... Over there?"

He indicated a quiet corner with a nod of the head and she followed him. A whispered conversation, and she headed back to the table to take her seat. Another hand passed and she just watched, thinking something over as she finished off her drink. Chin had left, doubtless heading back to the ship, and it was his absence as well as the empty glass in her hand that prompted her to lean forward and whisper in a conspiratorial tone, "So, who wants to have some fun?"

When those gathered around the table had put their drinks or cards down and moved closer, the middle-aged woman with the wavy brown hair continued, "Mister Chin," she indicated the man who had already left, though she didn't seem altogether aware of that fact, "Just told me that one of our probes has picked something up out in the cloud. Something big."

"How big?" One of the others asked.

"Huge. It's a ship!" She said with a bit of a giggle, as though this was funny in some way. "A really big ship! And it's headed towards us really slowly. So... Chin thinks it might be one of those sleeper ships."

"So call the SEC," the same woman shrugged.

"Aw, come'on!" Susanne grinned, "Haven't you ever wanted to be the one? Find a new alien species?"

"Or it could be full of dead colonists," her opposite pointed out, "A lot of those old ships don't make it before their power runs dry, or there's some kind of malfunction."

"Then it wouldn't hurt to go take a look before we call the authorities, would it?"

"No... I suppose not."

"Alright!" Susanne put her glass down with a bit of a thunk. "If you're in, I'll send you the coordinates. If you're out... Keep it under your hat, k?"

With that, she pushed herself to her feet and, with more than a little swerve in her footsteps, headed for the door.

by **Sunset** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:50 pm

"When you said 'big'..." Susanne took another gulp of coffee and looked back at the display and the ship that was centered in it. "This is... big. I was thinking something on the same scale as the Marie."

The old Zenith-Class Transport was nearly four hundred meters, more than enough for it's former job as a cargo hauler for the SDF and just right for ferrying around the odd load of refined ore, but what she was looking at was downright enormous. According to the scale at the bottom of the screen it was nearly ten kilometers wide, another fifteen tall, and perhaps three long. And alien, definitely alien.

"I've never seen a ship like it, Captain," Chin admitted. Granted, he'd not seen too many ships when it came down to it, since his job was mostly seeing to the smooth operation of loading and unloading, but even with his limited experience it was beyond exotic. "Never in my life."

To Susanne's eye it looked like a shield that would be carried by some fantastic robot knight in a mid-summer blockbuster. A huge asymmetrical hull, traced here and there with the seams of plating, formed the foundation for the craft. Shaped something like an inverted comma, it supported a titanic and sprawling heraldic device with the same sharp-edged style of the super-structure. Here and there bulging spheres erupted from the super-structure, the device curving over the top of these to continue on it's way to another curving talon or acute turn.

"How fast is it moving?" Culling asked. Her ship wasn't even close yet, just having left Port West, but they were looking at it through the sensor rig on the distant probe and, compared to that bit of industrial hardware, it didn't appear to be moving nearly at all. The stars were moving by behind it, but even these were painfully slow.

"About fifty meters a second," the engineer who was managing the remote probe answered, "Not very fast at all."

"Where is it headed?"

"Silverstar," which was the primary semi-inhabitable planet in the system. "It should get there in about twelve. Years."

Which was a hell of a trip. But if Chin's supposition was correct and it was a colony ship, it might have been crossing the stars for hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years.

"Let's get out there and take a look then!"

by **Roania** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 7:21 pm

Lanyrun's slightly pointed ears twitched, and angled towards the conversation. An affectation, no more. A Roanian's sense of hearing wouldn't be acute enough to pick up a private discussion. The Roanian's employers in the Fox Triad had sent him out here with ten young women and their overseers to establish an outpost here; it was widely known that wherever there is a chance to profit on human lust and frailty, the Triads will appear to do so. In six months, another captain would make the run to bring these girls home, their 'debts' cleared. And bring a fresh cargo.

The idea of heading home with an empty hold hadn't appealed to him. Neither was involving himself in something as plebeian as carrying raw ore home. The idea of staging a 'recruiting' run here amongst the barbarians had temporarily appealed, but even if he'd had a chance to catch some of the women off-guard, none of them seemed to have the right temperament.

A colony ship... well, that would change matters. Not that he expected the 'colonists' to be appropriate material for the Triads, but there may be interesting artifacts that could be sold or traded.

Decision made. Time to get his men together and get the ship going.

by **Sunset** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 4:04 pm

Sometimes, it's good to be the Captain...

"Wake me up when we get there," Susanne declared, not even bothering to take her clothes off before collapsing, face first, into her bed. A cup of coffee, a glass of orange juice, and some painkillers, and she hoped she'd be right as rain when the Olivia Marie reached the incoming colony ship. Within moments she was sound asleep, which denied her the change to intervene or even watch the commotion as it unfolded.

----

As with most secrets whispered between friends in a bar, the fact that it had been whispered at all meant that soon everypony knew about it. From the bartender passing along a hot tip to a down-at-his-luck spacer, to a dashing Captain who bragged about it between the sheets, it was soon known to everyone in the tiny space-borne community of Port West that Culling, Ltd, had discovered an incoming sleeper ship.

Or was it an alien invasion fleet? Or a titanic asteroid made of pure platinum and speckled with tyrant stones?

Rumors flew like dinnerware at a Dominion dinner party, and by the time they reached all the way back to Mister Chin they had shifted from the simple to the outrageous. With what could only be described as a soul-crushing sigh, the spacer listened to these, both the best and the worst, while going about his own set of tasks. Tasks which, viewed as they were by the rest of the station, lent both credence and fuel to the rumor mill.

As the cargo master, and one with apparently the only empty cargo hold for a thousand light years, he was suddenly bombarded with requests to join them on their expedition. Or to help fight off the aliens. Or to flee into the void of space as the Nemesis planet prepared for another million-year pass. How that last one had even emerged from the muddy morass was a question that was, perhaps, best unanswered as it might call into question the mental capabilities of the perpetrator. Still, the Captain had told him she'd invited some friends to go along and thus, come along they could.

Even if that meant finding a spot for someone's old cargo shuttle, modified stunt fighter, or fishing trawler in his carefully maintained cargo bay.

Still, by some miracle, it only took a hour for his highly trained crew of ore handlers and cargo movers to figure out how to shove a half-dozen (or more, it was a bit of a jumble) shuttles, fighters, pods, crew modules, habitats, and other bits and pieces into the cargo bay. That and the delicate negotiations of who would be next to who (he didn't care, it was his ship, so shut the hell up) or who did or didn't get to go. That last one was a rather tenuous decision, mostly based on whether, at some point in time, he'd seen the person around the station in clean clothes and not attempting to sell him a stolen watch.

With that accomplished, and the Captain safely down for her nap, the Olivia Marie pulled out of port and headed out to the Oort Cloud and the incoming ship. And only an hour after her intended launch! Another minor miracle, in Chin's opinion.

by **Sunset** » Thu Apr 03, 2014 6:52 pm

"...anne... Susanne... SUSANNE!"

"Wha," the brown mop of hair sunk into the pillow stirred and then rolled over to reveal the bleary face of it's owner, "What?"

"We're there."

"Oh. Gimme five minutes." Susanne sat up, covers falling away, to realize too late that she'd taken her coverall off before dropping into bed. "Make that ten," she looked down and started to cast around for the misplaced garment.

"Make it one," the Chief Mate noted, visible perturbed. "There's a whole lot of people clamoring to do something."

"Alright, alright..."

Sliding out of bed, she searched around for her coverall for a moment before admitting it was lost to space and time. Meanwhile, the Mate left to return to the bridge and she, standing in the bottom half of her underwear and visible to all who passed by the open cabin door, hurried to replace it. Retrieving another from her cabinet, she shoved her legs into it and scooted out the door to pull the rest on as she walked. It was only a moment's walk from the Captain's cabin to the Bridge - a typical design for SDF ships - and she entered to find more than a few additional hands standing around or occupying the few spare seats.

"Well, let's see...

Her eyes slid up to the main screen and there it was. Or at least, one small portion of it. If that was normal resolution then they had to be only a few hundred meters away. From here, which looked to be somewhat behind the vast ship, she could see just a tiny portion of the forward section of the ship at the edge of what looked to be a vast, unbroken mirror that stretched along the entire rear surface of the ship.

"Woah. What is that?"

"It's a mirror," the Chief Mate supplied. While technically as the owner of the ship Susanne was in charge, Chief Mate Tiraw was an actual spacer and knew more than a little something about space ships. "Which means this was a solar sail, at least when it was leaving it's home system. Given the mass, I'm guessing it was chemically boosted then they hit it with a big-ass laser until the beam culmination was reached."

"That would be one big rocket," someone else on the bridge added. "At ten klicks across? Wonder how long it's been going."

"Easy to tell, if we could run the calculations through the GEC's GalaxySim..." the Chief Mate noted, again looking perturbed. "But that would be a big red flag that we're going on an adventure, wouldn't it?"

Susanne ignored him, even if he was right. This was her party, and she'd poke around as much as she wanted!

"Have you found any docking ports? Or are there any signals?"

"Yes on the first, no on the second," one of the Deck Cadet's reported from her station at the back of the room. "We've got what looks like a docking port - actually, a whole bunch of them - around the rim. No transmissions, though. At least not on anything we can pick up."

"It's probably 'asleep'," the Chief Mate supplied. "When it gets closer to the planet it will wake up."

"How will it know?"

"No way to know that without looking," he admitted. "Could be anything from a counter, to visual, to..."

"Let's go look then! Pick an airlock, Cadet, and grab your magnetic boots!"

A few minutes later, the ship began to move towards the titanic construct, rotating and turning until it matched up with what they thought was the correct orientation for one of the small docking ports on the ship's curved rim. There were no lights, or other indicators, so they simply went with what looked good. A mating tube extended from the side of the Olivia Marie, the flexible rim settling onto the far surface and finding a viable surface to establish atmosphere.

"I'd suggest space suits," the Chief Mate warned as they all trooped down to the airlock. "It could have been breached by any number of micro-meteorites over the years."

"Right!"

by **New Septentrion** » Thu Apr 03, 2014 9:08 pm

Dr. Stormoen had been sleeping soundly when the alarm rung, after a long day of analyzing images from deep space. She dreamed contentedly of her future career plans, once she could enjoy a nice cushy tenure at the University of New Seward. For now, she was resident xenoarcheologist on a decaying research vessel, the Blue Mountain, maintained by the poorly-funded Interstellar Intelligence Society. Lost in her dream, it took a few minutes for her to notice the beeping and wake up, and then only reluctantly. Still squinting, she slapped the berth's touch screen several times trying to hit the respond icon. She grumbled, "What the hell is this for? I'm running on nine hours of sleep in two days."

"Tica, we've found something. We need you to come see it."

"We've 'found' a half million bits of debris, and every one of them turned out to be nothing."

"This is different. We've got, uh, visual evidence. There's something close by." The man on the other side paused. "Okay, make that two things."

"I'll take a look, then."

For the sake of convenience, Stormoen - or "Tica", as she was sometimes called, from her first name, Helvetica - was already in the standard jumpsuit she had received for the mission, and didn't need to worry about getting dressed. She crawled out of the narrow box that served as a bed, and stretched out for a few seconds before beginning her stumble down the shaft to the craft's bridge.

The door on the bridge slid open and the doctor stepped out. Expedition Leader Tim Heisenberg turned around his chair to face her. "Tica! Good to see you."

"Alright, where are your 'things'?.. oh... well."

First and foremost, the Blue Mountain was slowly approaching a distant speck. The object responsible, according to a telescopic image shown on a large screen in the center of the room, was several kilometers long, and distinctly irregular, yet significantly artificial. An even closer resolution showed a smaller object - unlike the first, it was quite distinctly a standard spacecraft - docked with it.

"The big one should be our main focus. That small one is just another ship... though I would like to communicate with them." She glared over to the head of communications, a lanky man named Albert Lu.

"Yes, Mr. Lu. Send out a message on all standard hailing frequencies. We don't know who they are or what communications system they might use, but the fact that they haven't turned this boat into rubble means we can negotiate with them."

Diligently, Lu turned over to his console - a set of several glowing touchscreens - and pressed a few more buttons on the screens. He pulled up a microphone and gave the announcement: "To all vessels hearing this message: This is the Blue Mountain, a civilian scientific vessel from the Federation of New Septentrion. We have two unidentified docked vessels in visual range. Please respond with your identity and position."

by **The Fedral Union** » Thu Apr 03, 2014 10:09 pm

Doctor Simon Banks, stared in to the screen of his mobile computer. The holo-screen cast upon his brown face and in to his brown eyes a teal hue of sorts, Simon scrolled down using a finger the texts on the screen rolling passed as he glanced from one unimportant message to the other. He was used to useless mails from the data link net, mostly from his friends and co workers at the Nessues labs on Tryian.

It wasn't as if he was that much of a social butterfly but he didn't shy away from friendship either, he rarely however was the first to offer it but that depended on circumstances. Here he was on this foreign ship so many light years from home only his drone friend and compatriot Keneal to remind him of home. He was used to this fact though, often traveling on ships from dozens of nations all privately owned of course, it was useful to save on travel costs and international issues to book passage on other liners or craft. And it was also subtle, if the competition doesn't know you're there then its likely they'd make low end offers. This thought Simon and the Nessues company was more than a viable way of out competing other companies.

Simon was a renowned materials scientists and archeologist in the employ of the Neusses Resource conglomerate, his professional yet casual stance all at the same time gave him more of a neutral relation to many he traveled with or associated with outside the UTA. Simon sighed he began tapping the nimble digits of his right hand against the metal room table, before running a hand over his well kept brown hair.

He looked toward the view port his eyes locking on the field of stars that were all around them. Simon while on the outside appearing like a normal Terran hid under his skin various bits and augmentations, it was nothing extreme though, most of them being processors and implants for the visual cortex, those implants allowed him to glance at something and to a limit determine a few things about it that could be attained beyond normal sight. (Think Gordi first contact and onward.) Yet even with all this, he was still a man and it was thankful most of the galaxy seemed to accept him as such, he sunk back in to his chair moving to face his screen again.

One by one new topics popped up, most of them once more irrelevant to his situation.

-“I got holo concert tickets Jen”-

-”Would you like to buy a timeshare and exclusive property in Sohjin valley and Paradise Lakes on beautiful Sohjin IV? “-

-”If you own a freighter, than you need Insurance from IPTC. (inter Planetary Transport Corporation.)”-

-”The Pleasrue dome was great Simon the verity of aliens and people there always works to my favor”-

Simon raised an eyebrow, that was another thing that got to him people going on about what or, who they had “fun with”. It had no baring on him, why should he care, though in public he always had to be polite that was a different matter.

-”Nessues, objective and additional directive, Hemmy AI-”

Hey Simon, I've got some additional directives and authorization from the Executives. Well handled by me but you know the process. Anyway they've green lighted you making the call on weather the site your going to has anything worth further investigation.

And they've unlocked some more funds from corporate accounts to pay for any additional expenses for the operation. Yeah I know you don't do this crap but don't use operational funds for personal amusement, you know how the execs get, its like someone stuck a flash light up...Off track, if you need to make any deals or negotiate for anything put it through me first, other that that you're free to asses the situation and get to work.

Stay safe Hemmy
–

Simon shut his personal messages off, he unlocked the additional Terran Credits from the accounts and the imprint of those rather secure codes were placed in to the plug in credit chit in his computer. It was a lucky fact that Terran Credits were trusted for the most part and easily exchangeable with other digital currencies. As he detached the chit and closed the holo screen down in a quick wave of a hand Keneal had floated next to him, he noticed right away despite the almost silent gravity drive propelling her.

“Yes Kaneal?”

He said with an unenthusiastic voice, he looked over to the familiar spheroid shape of the gray drone and her optical interface's focused right at him.

“I was going ask if you'd like to go meet the others on here? We cant be couped up in this room can we?”

Simon nodded slightly, Kaneal had a point, and be sides he did think booking passage and that nice chat he had could use a follow up, after all why would he come on this ship to work solo? He stood from his chair adjusted his semi loose blue shirt and fixed his white overcoat. He walked out of the quarters navigating his way through the ship, with Kaneal behind Simon made his way to the person most likely to be able to grant his wish to work together.

After the fact and what ever other particulars needed to be fleshed out Simon had joined the captain and First mate respectively in the bay. While the whole risk of this did cross his mind, it never daunted him. He wasn't all work and no play, nor was he over careful adventure was a rather alluring fact. He had to have a desire for it even in his profession and occupation. He made some final adjustments to the Multi-tool device he carried, one that could be attached to the suits they were donning.

“Well, there’s no sense going out in space without a little interest eh?”

He commented generally, Kaneal replied.

“There are interesting things, and then there are those things that are interesting at first but quickly turn in to something you regret...”

“Have we ever gotten in to-”

Simon glanced at the blue optical inputs Kaneal had, they stared right back at him. It was one of those stares (at least the way he interrupted it witch was pretty accurate nonetheless), someone got for saying something stupid, or in general silly.

“Never mind.”

Simon said remembering all the events they had been through, being incognito wasn't the best of things after all. Beyond the hazards of design and nature there were those made by society, criminals and competitors. But he didn't expect anything like that at least not over the top, It wasn't like the people he was working with and the ship he was on was likely to advertise in big red letters and loud speakers.

-“There’s A Terran on this ship working for Nesseus...!”-

That could go down in many ways but thankfully it wasn't a thing to worry about.

“That’s right, I wont say anything else, its not like it'd do any good.”

Simon shrugged as the drone quipped back, they did not come just equipped with various doodads and personal equipment, the shuttle they had docked with was equipped with sensors and things meant for missions such as prospecting or investigating some aspects of ruins in-depth. It was mostly preliminary, they weren't there to set up a permanent research or extraction operation anyway.

by **Moad** » Fri Apr 04, 2014 11:02 am

Well Captain, this either the best decision you've ever made, or the worst. Captain Ahrugn really didn't know which his decision to investigate the Oort Cloud was. He was not sure his employers would be pleased with him either. His mission was to seek out new markets for the Liddlan Trading Company, not fly lightyears off course chasing rumours heard in a bar. He hadn't even heard them directly. It was his first mate Nokota who heard them. The company didn't even trust Nokota. Otherwise he would have been given his own ship years ago. Ahrugn trusted Nokota, but that would hardly be a sufficient explanation for taking the ship off course.

Ahrugn was an explorer at heart though. That was why he had requested a deep space assignment, and why he was now searching for an ancient ship in the Oort Cloud. The accounts were conflicting, but the ancient ship was the one that came up most often and the one that Ahrugn was choosing to believe. If his gamble payed off he might even find a new trading partner for the company.

As they approached the cloud, Ahrugn cursed himself for not upgrading the Hawk's sensors. It was a rather large area he had to explore, and there was no guarantee that what he was searching for would be easily detectable. If the ship had lost power, and his limited information lead him to believe that it probably had, then there would be no radiation trail, or other tell tale signs to trace. What he did not count on was that others would have already found the ship.

"We're picking up a high energy output," the ship's analyst called out. "Possibly two close together. I can't differentiate them at this distance, but they look artificial."

"Its probably the Sunset ship that started the rumours," Nokota suggested.

"Let's go take a look." Ahrugn ordered the helm to take the Hawk in closer to the unknown ships.

by **Roania** » Fri Apr 04, 2014 11:44 am

The Fabulous Courser of the Lady Bai was not designed for combat, of course. It was listed as a cruiser, but more through lack of anything else to call it than because it matched that loadout. Rather than ship-to-ship fighting or orbital bombardment, it was built for speed and 'cargo' efficiency. It was also one of very few Roanian ships with the ability to enter atmosphere -- but it had to be, of course; atmospheres were where the clients and 'wares' lived.

"There's no telling what we're going to find on board, gentlemen." Lanyrun had left the controls in the hands of his second, and was now addressing the eight men he'd picked for this mission. "It could be zlith, it could be a Prince's ransom. One thing I do know is we're not alone. Barbarians are both en-route and may already be on board. I don't want any conflict, but if we have to fight..." He picked up a shipboard gun and shoved the energy-cell home. "Shoot to kill. Except for women, of course."

"We'll spare the women?"

Lanyrun turned to look at the man who'd spoken. Kounel; a new employee of the Triad. Obviously not quite used to the way things worked around here. Well, he'd learn or he'd be fired. "No, you idiot. If the women start something, end it. We have plenty of space below for new recruits."

The speaker above crackled. "Dragon, we've arrived at one of the bulkheads and are maneuvering for landing. Atmospheric viability is questionable. Recommend hardsuits and rebreathers."

"Right. You heard the second, men. Get on with it."

by **Sunset** » Fri Apr 04, 2014 11:45 am

New Septentrion... And Moad!

'This is the Blue Mountain, a civilian scientific vessel from the Federation of New Septentrion. We have two unidentified docked vessels in visual range. Please respond with your identity and position.'

"New Septentrion?" The Communication's Mate shoot his head and looked over at the Chief Mate, who had taken the Captain's Chair while she prepared to embark on her little adventure, "Not familiar with that one, Sir."

Tiraw mentally flipped through the 'net as quickly as he could, until he found an entry. For a minute he read it over until the message repeated.

"Damnit, not our job..."

"Sir?"

"Never mind," the older man sighed, running a hand over his non-existent grey hair. "Record message..." He waited a moment for the chirp... "This is SS Olivia Marie, Civilian Craft flying the Sunset flag. We are rendering assistance to a disabled vessel, unknown name and registry. Exercise caution, status of disabled vessel is unknown. Repeat, status of disabled vessel is unknown."

He couldn't very well claim the vessel as salvage, at least not yet, and since the craft was in Sunset jurisdiction, until he knew the status of the crew local law said that it belonged to them. Even if, ultimately, there was no 'them'. For all he knew the vessel could be adrift, or inhabited by a monstrous plague, or filled with hive zombies. Definitely, one hundred percent, not something that a civilian ship should be investigating.

"Attach coordinates, registry, regular comm frequencies, etc, and send," he instructed. There definitely wouldn't be any response from the sleeper ship. It was, as he looked at it on the main display, still very much asleep.

"And another ship," the Sensor Mate called out. "Though this one's familiar. It's the Hawk, Moad registry."

"Thank goodness for small favors," Tiraw relaxed. Though contact with Moad had only been established a few short weeks ago, their ships and crews were already establishing a reputation for reliability and a science-minded attitude as they spread out through Sunset space. "Send them the same message, same attachments. Then find the next closest docking port and send them the coordinates."

"Yes sir!"

----

Everyone Else...

It was an iconic image.

A line of space-suited and helmeted men and women - or women and men, as Susanne was in the lead - strode purposefully across the metal decking of the umbilical towards the far side, the depths of space visible on either side through the vertical slit view ports, and one by one came to a halt on the wide platform on the other side. It was enameled, like much of the ship, in white and the shiny coating reflected the lights from the inside of the flexible collar all around them as they looked up at the massive door.

"It's like a fuckin' movie," someone whispered, followed almost immediately by a laugh and a couple 'Sssh!' that sounds like either hissing snakes or crackling speakers, depending on the quality of the space suit involved.

'Horror from Space, or Scientific Exploration?' Susanne thought as she looked up at the door. It too was covered in white enamel and reflected her nervous image back at her, magnifying it in her mind until 'Horror from Space' seemed the definite possibility. Not as massive as she'd first thought though, now that she looked at it. Just barely a half-meter taller than the tallest among them, and perhaps twice as wide. It was big and vaguely shaped like a M, with curved corners to the frame and a little tip right at the top that had a recess that contained a shiny black plate that was enameled with... something.

"Are those letters? Or numbers?" It looked like a child's first book of colors. A slightly trapezoidal shape, filled with a gentle blue that varied in a gradient from side to side, with a single symbol or character filling the interior.

Well, she was no linguist, cunning or not, but she definitely knew a lever when she saw one. Right beside the door, projecting straight up alongside the door, was a long round metal shaft with a columned texture running along the interior side. It was attached at the base by a very-sturdy looking hinge, and right next to it was an entirely smaller version. Both had the same unknown lettering, or markings, or...

"Pictograms?"

They could be pictograms, she decided, but they were in their own little recesses and enameled onto their own little shiny black plates. She'd leave that for the nerds, but for the moment she had a lever to pull.

"Here we go," she turned to look behind her, "Everyone ready?"

She pulled the large lever towards her, using both hands, and there was the distinctive click of a metal ratchet moving along it's pawl. Normally silent; In the sealed umbilical flooded with atmosphere it sounded hard and clear. The lever reached the deck and nothing. Well, the door had moved up just a bit. There was a raised lip around the inside door and that was just a little higher than it had been.

With a heave, she shoved the lever back up to the top and the ratchet again sounded as she did. Then once again she pulled the lever down.

"Why not a..."

With a whoosh, the bottom of the door came visible and the air in the umbilical began to scream past her and under the door. She tried to jump back in alarm, but while it wasn't enough to pull her along the deck, the second her boots unlatched the wind sent her slamming sideways into the fractionally open door.

"Oww. Right, vacuum."

After a few seconds things equaled out and she bent to the lever again, and, seeking to hurry the process along several others stepped forward while the rest began to peer under the door, their lights flickering here and there.

----

OOC

For the linguists, they are hieroglyphs of a sort. The shapes (various) around each character signal intent, while the color is tone. The characters inside are pictograph in origin, though they have evolved and become simplified over time. These relay meaning. Deciphering their meaning will be difficult until the species that made them, and thus what some of those odd lines mean, becomes clear.

That should get everyone up to opening the door. I'll do an inside post in... 6 hours.

by **Sunset** » Fri Apr 04, 2014 7:42 pm

"It's, it's..." Beams of light from several of the other gathered crew members and interested parties swept the dark space beyond the door until it had risen enough that one of the shorter members of the crowd could bend down to look under for themselves. "It's... a door!"

The slender spacer dropped prone on the deck and slithered inside, eager to be the first, and she was soon followed by several more who, through spacesuit or body size, could fit through as the Captain slowly cranked it higher.

"What..." she cranked again, "Do you mean..." Another crank, "It's a door?!"

"I mean, it's a door, Cap'n!" The high pitched voice called out, this time over the radio as well as an odd even higher pitched echo-like version as her voice traveled faster through the thinner air. "I'd bet it's an airlock. There's another door in here, and it's a pretty big room."

That made perfect sense, of course. Why have the outer door to your thousand-year colony ship directly vent whatever might be inside, outside, and inside, outside?

"And another lever."

"Fuuuck."

Susanne turned and kicked the smaller lever next to the larger one, inadvertently learning exactly what it was for as the large door she'd just finished cranking up dropped back down into it's frame.

"Fuuuuuck!" Her radio went dead for a minute as she filled her helmet with even more colorful expressions before grabbing the big lever again and starting the slow process all over again. "Can you at least describe it?"

"Sure! It's full of gold, and silver. There's big old piles of treasure in big pirate chests all over, and there's serving men dressed in nothing but leather thongs with rippling pecks. Judging by the size of those thongs, they are packing some serious..."

"Shut up!" Susanne groaned, hauling down on the ratchet again. "Just describe the room."

"Alright, alright, keep yer panties on..."

Fortunately for the Captain, someone else broke in with a description before the little spacer could earn herself a half-toss into a planetary atmosphere. It didn't sound like one of her crew, possibly one of the tag-alongs.

"It's the same white metal material on the walls and ceilings. Lots of recessed sections, some more plates without lettering on them. Purple and orange. The floor is interesting..." The voice paused for a moment and she could hear, through the now-narrow gap between door and deck, the sounds of feet tromping heavily. "It's made of some kind of resilient plastic. Not carpet or plating. I can leave an impression in it, but then it fades away."

Another voice spoke up, "There's also some chrome accents, or at least they look like accents. They are around some of the letter-plates in here, and along the walls for trim. They have a pattern to them, kind of like diamond plate, but in a raised hexagon pattern. But no gold, or silver."

"Yet!" the high-pitched voice called out.

"Alright, is there a lever on the other side?"

"A lever?"

"Yes, you runt. Like the lever I'm working out here."

"Oh, yes. And another close-me lever."

"Good!" Susanne turned and sprinted under the half-open door. Always fun to be the last one to your own party. But at least they could open the door again.

by **Weyr** » Fri Apr 04, 2014 9:58 pm

"Ready to make things go whoosh, captain ma'am," Surveyor Second Class Alice Katsuko, of the Survey Ship AERC-CE-J09 (currently somewhere in Olivia Marie's cargo hold) said cheerfully from the other side of the airlock-room, in a gently-lilted accent. She was a tall, broad-shouldered woman in a safety-orange flightsuit, its vaguely form-fitting shape interrupted by a myriad of pockets that gently bulged with the tantalizing outlines of possibly-useful items, or perhaps of stale candy bars and empty pens. The oversized monkey wrench clipped to her belt was certainly functional, if perhaps quaintly outdated.

She rested one hand on the big lever that she assumed would open the hatch into the ship. "Just give the word."

Alice figured that any sort of sane airlock setup would have mechanical interlocks to prevent some silly person from venting a section of the ship, but it seemed best to not test that wholly unfounded theory. Some species had an oddly suicidal bent. Assuming that they were in an airlock to begin with.

The placement and function certainly suggested an airlock, but perhaps pulling on the other big lever without the requisite credentials would flood the chamber with poison gas, or space bees, or some other nastiness. They would not know until they found out, and space bees on a ship meant delicious space honey somewhere nearby. Supposedly real honey was delicious; the synthetic stuff that Weyrean survey ships carried tasted like oddly-flavored sweetener. So Alice could find no reason not to pull the lever and see what was on the other side, unless Captain Culling were to suddenly change course and summon professionals.

For not the first time, and not for the last, Alice tried to ignore the little voice in the back of her head that insisted she should have simply notified Corinae and gone on her way, as a surveyor was supposed to do when she found something interesting. The horde of experts aboard the retrofitted supercarrier were much better equipped and trained, at least in theory, to poke around a multikilometer monstrosity. They were also backed by the firepower of a supercarrier and its twenty-thousand-odd hands. That sort of backing could unravel a lot of mysteries in very short order. A surveyor like Alice was just supposed to ride herd on her assigned survey ship and its various instruments and probes.

Which didn't matter a single bit to Alice in any meaningful way at that particular moment. She was already committed. Captain Ch'iu could bust her down when he got her message and decided to act on it, which might happen anywhere between yesterday and some indefinite tomorrow, depending on the state of the sub-ether and on Corinae's location. A surveyor did not need to know the carrier's business. Which also meant that help might be a long ways away if things went pear-shaped, unless Captain Culling had a handy line to the TYCS. Alice was certain that this was true, and so told herself that there was nothing to worry about.

by **The Fedral Union** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 1:34 am

Simon and Kaneal hovering next to him moved forth with the rest of the party, he looked around eyes glancing from place to place. How odd this place was, he couldn't help but feel a bit on edge but it was to be expected one thought. You don't go in to a ship that's adrift and seems to lack any crew without experiencing some from of heightened alert, be it fear or focus on the surroundings. Simon thought the layout was quite curious, he examined as much as he could with his eyes. Who built this, and who manned it if anyone was the paramount question bugging his scientific mind; weather or not it would lead to some mishap or not was still a matter of debate in his mind.

“Well, I can say who ever the interior decorator of this place was did an.. Interesting job.”

Simon said through his suit radio, he went forth quite curious about every little detail on the walls and the doors they had come up to. He furrowed a brow at the mention of pictogram writing, what ever the case was every facet had a reason for existing. What they meant was quite arbitrary until he had time to conduct proper and detailed analysis or find some sort of thing that correlated to stuff they've seen.

“Interesting? Is that what you call it, this place is a bit creepy. I'd call it a bad omen if anything.”

Kaneal said as she floated on the left side of Simons flank, Simon shook his head what a silly thing to be paranoid about. At least that's what he thought, sure it was risky but he didn't think there was any need for alarm. He replied as he brought up the arm of his suit and pressed a few buttons on the multi tool.

“What, you think a race would go through all this trouble to make a ship this large just to house the boogieman? For a drone with super-lum processing capabilities you sure don't act logically."

Keneal shot back, Simon's Multi tool began to run various standard scans material scans, environmental scans and so forth.

“Just because I don't want to be turned in to a power cell or in your case alien puree of human doesn’t mean I lack logic.”

Simon just shrugged, he glanced over the streams of raw data and then the multi-tools final compilation of every scan, conventional materials as well as some things he couldn't recognize. With his eyes he could see something there but couldn't tell what it was.

-“Unknown substances detected, further analysis needed.”-

Simon was intrigued, but they didn't have time just to stop and look at the walls. A moment passed, he turned his head to the hovering drone its optical inputs looking back at him, In a late reply to Keneal's comment; in one of those rare blunt responses he said.

“Listen, you signed up for this position, there is no sense whinging about it. I don't want to hear doom and gloom, after all if we were all paranoid of every shadow and thing in the damn corners we couldn't any thing done.”

Simon was polite yet a bit stern at the same time, Kaneal shook her form and quietly turned to look over what was ahead. Simon went forth Kaneal following, commenting on the open comms.

“Hah, that would be a sight. Though I don't think I'd get in to what the punishment would be for trespassing on such a scene.

Anyway I can tell you all this though, the materials used here are a mix of both known and unknown substances. I wont know until I can run a more detailed scan.

I've never seen anything like this though in general. But hey someone can make it in to a tourist trap if they put their mind to it... We'll find out or not -I hope- if that can be literal."

Simon let a grin come across his face, as him and Kenal went through that door a sense of strangeness that had been gracing the two came forth in a stronger surge. Simon looked around curiously once more, he began to put what ever he could together even if it wasn't much. Often in a mind like his theories came and went about affairs such as this, at least until the picture became clearer.

“Well at least there haven't been any trap doors that we've encountered.”

Simon commented, Keneal again shot a look at him, she knew all to well that assumption lead to some unforeseen misadventures.

“Who are you Indiana Jones? Your going to jinx this whole thing if your not careful. Besides who the hell would put trap doors on a ship its the ruins of Camnis IV”

She was referring to a trap ridden temple uncovered in a Terran system, it lead to Simon and her to experience an ordeal that was right out of a movie. But not as pleasant or glorious. Simon responded and stifled a chuckle.

“That was just a miscalculation, relax. And Indiana Jones?”

Keneal was mute for a moment, then she realized he had not studied the historical records of sol prime as well as she had. But then she could do it in a micro second.

“That old Earth flick, about an archeologist and treasure and china.. Or Nazis.”

Simon nodded vaguely realizing what she was talking about slightly at least.

“Yes, a bit. Huh, I don't see what this has to do.. Anyway we better stop our friends might start to think we're bat-shit crazy.”

Simon gave another nod, Keneal if she could would roll her eyes. They did seem to quip at one another a bit, like a married couple but it was expected amongst friends and co-wokrers who had been through things and have known one another for long period.

“Right, less loony more work.”

Simon again nodded with Keneals veiled sarcastic response. After all if anything had happened here, the crew from the sunsetii craft had graciously handed him a pistol. Even if Simon thought he didn't need it, he wasn't that bad of a shot even without aim assist, but he was no marksmen. So as things become more complex as they went on it seemed, more interesting for Simon and Keneal but the to the latter it was a lesser degree of interest. At least though Simon and Keneal had a chance to learn about others in the team aside from the treasure trove of data they hopped to collect from this ship.

by **Moad** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 1:48 pm

Ahrugn quickly read the communique from the Sunset ship, aloud so that his bride crew could give their input. It wasn't really necessary in this situation, as they had no real choice but to follow the other ship's instructions, but he liked to keep them in the loop.

The helmsman guided the ship in to the given coordinates and locked it in place with a tractor beam. A docking tube extended to form an airtight seal around the airlock. As soon as docking was confirmed Ahrugn leaped from his chair. "Nokota prepare a team of ten. Have them equipped with standard space suits, all the basic scanners, EPDs, etc. Yourself too, and bring a suit for me too. I'll meet you at the airlock."

"Shouldn't one of us stay with the ship?" Nokota objected.

"Oh yes. Wake your brother from hibernation. He can watch the ship."

Ten minutes later the team was assembled in the docking tube: six capro, four anghi excluding Ahrugn (genetics may say they are the same species, but Ahrugn never felt much kinship with his fellow anghi), and Nokota. One of the capro performed a scan of the door to the unknown ship. The results ran across the front of every crewmembers helmet, so there was no need to discuss them aloud. The scan picked up the opening mechanism and the lever to which it was connected. Not that the fact that the lever would open the door wasn't obvious, but it was better safe than sorry.

Nokota took the lever and pulled as hard as he could, but couldn't move it as much as a millimeter. "It's jammed."

They had to wait several more minutes as one of the crew cleared away accumulated space debris with a laser drill. Then Ahrugn, being the strongest in the group, stepped up to the lever and pulled. It slowly shifted and the door ground open. The opening was just a little larger than an adult man could crawl through when the lever jammed again. "That's as far as its going. Nokota, you found out about this, you should go first."

Nokota crawled through the opening followed by the rest of the team. Ahrugn looked wistfully at the opening, not even half the size of his great frame. Just when he had resigned himself to staying on the Hawk Nokota called "There's another lever in here. It looks just fine." The door slid open the rest of the way and Ahrugn stepped into the alien ship.

by **Sunset** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 2:01 pm

Everyone...

'I'm not trapped in here with you...' Susanne thought, looking around the collection of miners, traders, rogue merchants, and the occasional scientist, 'You're trapped in here with me!'

Sigh. Dark thoughts aside, she had at least a little leverage in the form of the lever.

"Well, I'm gonna look around," she toggled her radio on, "So if you want to get into the next area..." She pointed meaningfully to the lever that was next to the inner door. Then she turned and, with a kick, dropped the outer door.

The room instantly grew darker, though there was still plenty of light from the various flashlights, mounted suit lights, and glowing bits. First was the inside of the outer door, which was blank, but there were a number of the small black plaques scattered around the outside. Her guess was that the one above the door was a designation of some kind. Which airlock this was, and so forth. The one next to the lever was instructions, and there were two identical on either side that were warnings. These were in a purple diamond shape and the black plate was shaped to match. Or were they shaped to match the black plate?

Just like the outer bay walls, the inner walls were slightly canted outward at the top, making the room shaped like a 'W' given some depth. The corners at top and bottom were rounded out to smoothly merge with floors and ceiling, though the corners at the airlock bulkheads were not. Her next question was the unusual floor and she knelt to examine it. It felt, through the mushy surface of the suit gloves, somewhat giving and almost a little slimy. Scooting aside, there was a clear imprint from her boots but it started fading immediately. Whatever material the floor covering was made from, it was mounted in a recessed section of the floor and trimmed with chrome so that she couldn't tell how deep it was.

"Hold on..." Someone called out, and she looked up to watch as a pair of burly spacers stood next to the lever. One had his hands on it, and the other joined him as she watched. "Here we go!"

The rapid fire click of the ratchet was almost immediately annoying and she shut off her external mic as they worked the lever rapidly up and down. A moment later she could feel the slight rush of air as the pressure between the airlock and the inner structure equalized.

"Vacuum again?"

This time the space beyond was much, much bigger and she could immediately see why, and there was a rush as the group spread out into the cavernous space beyond. It was clearly a storage bay of some kind, with a single broad avenue down the middle that led to a distant door. On either side were large stacks of, at least what she assumed were, cargo containers. Each was shaped to fit through the large door behind them with barely a finger to spare, and was secured to the floor by some kind of clasp that was built into the floor. These were enameled in the same purple as the signs next to the door.

"Maybe purple means caution?"

Already some of the containers were being opened - the locks were simple hooks and loops at top and bottom - and the contents were being explored. For the most part these were yet more crates. These were the first non-enameled surfaces they'd come across, being made of a generic plastic with black characters press-formed into them to indicate their contents. Beyond the containers were more containers, and beyond those even more. The room was simply vast, perhaps two hundred meters by itself, and if the contents of the containers were any indication it held a vast amount of the supplies that would be needed for a colonization effort.

----

OOC: Feel free to explore, even make stuff up. The bay is full of stuff, and more stuff. There's cargo pods with heavy machinery, agriculture supplies, you name it.

by **Sunset** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 2:31 pm

Moad...

Beyond the outer door was a small room, clearly the chamber of an airlock, though this one was much smaller than the one just a little further up the rim where the Sunset ship was docked. Visually, however, the two were very similar. Both had the walls canted outward, the same somewhat-sticky floor, and the same marking plates on the inside of the doors. Past the airlock, however, it was a whole different story. What had been a vast cargo bay was now a large room that immediately reminded one of a waiting area.

There were long lines of somewhat saddle-shaped seats that faced away from a central aisle and these were facing a large floor to ceiling glass panel with some kind of nearly-invisible wiring or circuitry imbedded in it. On the other side was another row of seats, reversed so they would face the same panel, and then another few rows and another aisle. More seats, though these were clustered in a 'U' shape around a similarly shaped table with another short glass panel at one end. There was an open space and then a wall. This had the look of a food counter, with folding counters tucked against the walls under framed panels, or shutters, that would presumably rise up. A door - smaller, again accessed via a lever - likely led into the back preparatory area.

On the other side of the center aisle, the room was an exact mirror of the first. At the end of the aisle the room ended, but spread out into a large alcove with what looked like a large curving desk with more panels and more seats, as well as a gigantic panel behind the desk. Some sparkles of color and texture had started to appear as well. The seats were covered with a fabric printed in a hexagonal pattern over a firm cushion material, and the outer walls had various patterns on them that resembled impressionist landscapes, with suggestions of water and sand, tree and river.

by **Roania** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 6:34 pm

The Dragon and his enforcers had boarded the ship in good order, though they hadn't expected to discover that there was no shipboard gravity generation. "Zlith." One of them muttered as he left the ground, waving his hands helplessly.

"Magnetic boots on, gentlemen." Lanyrun ordered, and they resumed their previous positions. "Fan out." The size of the space they found themselves in would be breathtaking, if they were the sort of people to find things breathtaking. A vast room, filled with... with...

"Zlith mynu! There's no power on board this accursed ship! It's a ghost ship!" The complete darkness fazed the Roanians, and they huddled together in a small group.

"Calm down." Lanyrun almost fired into the air, but withdrew his intent to do so when he realized they were probably not alone on board the vessel. "Or do you want the enruahniya to know we're here before we're ready for them?" Once order was restored, the Roanians activated the flashlights attached to their guns and began to fan out across the cargo hold in teams of two. When they found a likely looking canister, they gathered together around it and began to hunt for means of opening it. No, just kidding. They bored in through the side with high-powered lasers, six of them on guard to shoot anything that moves, the other two handling the equipment.

The Triads weren't interested in science, or first contact, or any of that nonsense. They were looking for something salable. Acting on the assumption that people everywhere are the same, Lanyrun doubted the valuables would be kept with consumables or raw materials -- that didn't mean he wasn't going to hunt through a couple of containers in each storage room he found, but it did mean that he was going to bow to the odds and leave that room if nothing useful turned up after a couple of minutes hunting.

by **Weyr** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 7:18 pm

"Thanks!" Alice said to her nameless helper. Or was she his helper?

Perhaps she could have managed the lever herself, but now she knew that she could maybe count on help if there was trouble. She expected trouble instinctively -- surveyor life expectancy was spectacularly short given their average age. Eventually some ten-DiCoin gasket blew in the middle of ship-night, or some rocks happened to cross an insertion point, or the survey ship simply came apart from the stress of translation. It was small consolation that no survey ship had been lost to hostile action. Alice's paranoid half fully expected this ship they were on to suddenly come alive and eat them all.

"Wow," she breathed, looking down the cavernous space beyond the inner airlock hatch -- bigger than one of Corinae's flight hangars. "A long way to fall. Very long way to fall." A fall that far would break bones, or kill outright, under acceleration. She had become accustomed to low overheads and passageways that twisted and turned to break falls under acceleration. This ship was not going to suddenly fire its engines, she told herself firmly. It was stupid paranoia, and she was dumb for thinking about it.

While some of the group opened containers, she ambled down the avenue between the cargo stacks, bouncing slightly off the springy floor, the magnetics in her boots keeping her gently tethered to the floor. The containers were strapped down, she noted approvingly. Perhaps it was against sudden acceleration or artificial gravity failure. No acceleration, she reminded herself. Her head-lamp flitted from container to container as she walked further away from the group, sweeping wide, slow arcs as she made her way toward the door on the far side, barely visible even with her helmet's HUD enhancing her field of vision. They were all purple, Alice thought of the containers. She opened one at random, revealed more crates inside, these ones of black plastic with strange characters. The translator software could not figure them out; it took a lot of data to decode a language, assuming human-similar psychology. She wondered if the Sunseti would have better luck.

Alice closed and latched the container. "One, two, three, sixteen, fifteen, fourteen," she counted off, choosing another container in a quasi-random fashion. She opened it. Some weird, toothed metal contraption secured in a plastic cradle stared up at her; after a long moment, a memory floated up from her childhood: reel from a small combine harvester. A third container revealed a shrink-wrapped pallet of sacks.

"Farming supplies," Alice exclaimed over the common radio." Like a farm warehouse in Kekkosmaa. Only in space. Because they're going to need them where they're going. Whoever and wherever 'they' are." She trailed off into silence. They were inane observations, she suspected belatedly.

Alice twirled around in a lazy circle, feeling both cheerful and foolish: she was on a lost ship, in a chamber filled with assorted machinery and stuff that would not have looked out of place . She looked back, and looked up.

That was a mistake. Her lamp's beam could not reach the overhead, lost somewhere up in the dark. She breathed an obscenity, furious with herself, switched off the magnetics in her boots and kicked off from the deck, and soared up into the vacuum. Her flight suit, detecting a drop in the ambient light, fluoresced faintly along the seams, emanating just enough light by which to read a newspaper. Sometimes the best way to cure a silly fear was to dive right into it. So she flipped over, and was upside-down relative to the deck, which was steadily receding away. She looked 'up' between her legs, in case the overhead was closer than she expected.

by **New Septentrion** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:05 pm

"Sunset." Heisenberg pondered. "Yes, I've heard of them. Can't quite put my finger on where." He paid attention to the given coordinates for docking ports. "Alright, Ivaana, plug those in to the autopilot.

The Blue Mountain approached the mysterious ship. As it came near, powerful retrothrusters slowed it to near-stillness. A separate set of side thrusters rotated the vessel around until it came by the first port the Sunset ship had indicated. In front of the port, though, there was already another ship. "Do you recognize that one?"

"Not Sunset's. We passed that one a while ago."

"Alright, there's another one coming up." The opposing side thrusters engaged and stopped the Blue Mountain once again, and it proceeded to turn normal to the surface.

"We're here, sir. Now how do we dock? It's not compatible with our standard docking mechanisms."

"We don't dock."

"You mean-"

"Yes. Tica, Ivaana, Rob, suit up, magnetic boots. I'll meet you in the airlock."

---

8 kPa. The monitor on the airlock wall counted down. 7 kPa. 6, 5, 4, 3- good enough. A siren sounded and the outside airlock valve slid open. Three dirty blue-gray spacesuits climbed out and pushed off the Blue Mountain toward the waiting door. Steering along with small jets of gas, all three managed to land foot-first on the metal surface around it. The suits' inhabitants heard only a light clang and brief buzz as the magnetic boots activated.

"Look, guys. I had to get some stuff. I'm coming! What's out there?"

"Whatever, Timmy," Stormoen derided. "There's some levers and a few symbols. I'll start recording the video log now." She pressed a button on the chest of her suit and an LED lit up on the side of her helmet, indicating that the camera was on."

From the bridge, Lu buzzed in to the conversation. "Reports from Sunset. That other ship is from someplace called Moad. I'll look into it. Second, and more importantly, there's something about the levers. Big one works a ratchet, opens up the door a little more every time it's pulled. Small one releases the ratchet to close the door."

"Alright, Rob, crank the lever."

With a sigh audible through the radio in the other helmets, Rob - Robert Williamson, the vessel's engineer - began working the larger lever back and forth, gradually opening the door. Both women watched, unaware that Heisenberg was hurtling toward them with various implements attached to his belt and a pack mounted on his chest (his back being occupied by a rocketpack). Only when he hit did they hear the clang of his boots transmitted through the hull of the alien ship.

"Sorry if I snuck up on you. I had to get some stuff. Here, take a pistol." He detached three guns from his belt. "We don't know what's in there, and these are the only weapons we've got. The pack's got food and such, in case we end up taking a while."

Williamson struggled for a few more pulls, until the door was open enough for everyone to crawl through. "Alright, for all we know it might close behind us. Just be careful going through. You getting Tica's video?"

"Clear as day," Lu confirmed.

Ivaana was the last to squeeze through the partly-open door. "I think it's an airlock. Not sure if there's any air left in here to begin with, but we may as well be careful."

Stormoen turned around to get a good view on the video log. "More symbols. I'll send the feed to a linguist or something. There's a small lever in here, too. Permission to pull it?"

"If it does what I think, granted." The archaeologist kicked it, and the door slammed shut again.

"Great, another lever for the inside. Whoever built this musta never invented the motor. Well, Robby," Heisenberg said smugly, "here's another job for you." There was another gruff sigh from the engineer, but he always did what was asked of him, including pulling the new lever.

The second door also eventually opened enough to let everyone through. Stormoen turned, giving Lu a panoramic view of the first chamber, though her main intent was just to see it for herself.

by **Sunset** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:34 pm

New Septentrion...

Beyond the airlock was another large cargo bay. There seemed to be a regular rotation of personnel airlocks and then the larger cargo airlocks, one after another across at least the near side of the ship. The difference between the first and this second was the initial contents of the bay.

Lined up next to the door were several large machines, each sized to fit through the door, and each with the clear purpose of transporting the various cargo containers outside the ship. They were universally equipped with medium-sized but wide wheels, each about one meter in diameter, and equipped with a series of smaller rollers around the outside circumference that would allow them to move in any direction. Most had an open control pod, built as a step-in platform, equipped with a small saddle-shaped seat.

The control panel offered some clues: A series of blue characters were printed on the shiny black disc that surrounded a large rubber-textured track ball, and several levers had purple textured handles. There were three pedals on the floor, each somewhat concave, and the floor of the control pod was covered with the same malleable material the floor was made from. None had power, though there was a marked port next to the pod that seemed to be a fuel port. The majority of the vehicles were simple open platforms, able to transport one of the cargo containers on it's flat back and equipped with extending clamps that matched those that held the containers, and the vehicles, in place.

There were also lifting rigs, essentially the same as the platform carriers except for a crane built onto the platform, but there were also craft that had to be personnel transports. These were broken up into several sections and provided with linkages that would allow them to be assembled once they had been moved outside. These were universally of a ducted-fan variety, with either a quartet of large fans that would be mounted on either side, or of a smaller quad-fan variety with two fans in a single pod that would be mounted on the main cabin. These were all stacked up in large frames that stretched towards the ceiling, a good fifty meters overhead.

Far beyond this was an inner door, and here was the first evidence of a control panel. Next to the door was a small panel with raised lettering as well as warning panels mounted around it. There was a mechanical lever as well, but it was set off to one side in a little niche that also contained a much larger control panel as well as a half-wall that projected out into the space along with a glass panel display.

by **New Septentrion** » Sun Apr 06, 2014 8:11 pm

"So this seems to be some kind of vehicle," Stormoen said, indicating a cargo carrier. She climbed into one and looked across the controls. "These are the same kind of symbols from the doorway. Part of a control system, I guess."

"Who are you talking to?"

"Myself. And commentary for the recording. Not much use to a bunch of footage of empty space without context."

Williamson walked around the base. "Yeah, it's a vehicle. Doesn't look like it works anymore. Interesting design, though." He opened the nearest container. "Cords of wood, huh." They were flat, neatly grained, and bound with plastic cables. "At least I think it's wood."

The other two continued to the end of the hallway. "I'll let you two figure out what's in the other boxes" Commander Heisenberg radioed. "We'll try to get this other door open. I bet it'll get weirder as we go in."

Lu cut in with a seemingly extraneous comment. "Guys, you seem not to have anything else to do, so I'll make a little report of what I've looked up about Sunset. Remember in the history texts when they talked about the United States?"

"On Earth? Yes, and how five of the states joined up with some parts of... that other country-"

"Canada", Lu corrected. "to form old Septentrion, in 2042. At least you haven't completely forgotten high school. Well, there seem to be some kind of multiverse antics going on, because they also claim to have started out by seceding from the United States. In 2002. On Mars."

"Bullshit," Williamson interjected. He pried open another container, finding several boxes labelled with the same symbols the archaeologist had noticed already. They were filled to the brim with loose metal parts, probably packed this way for easy storage and meant to be assembled later."

"Well, everything in their historical archives fits perfectly with ours until the late 20th century, which I assume is when they went to Mars. I guess they spread out a ways from there? Like us, only more. They've even got aliens and such. Somehow, we drifted into their space." He paused. "Don't try wrapping your head around the cosmology."

"And what's 'Moad'?", the commander asked. "Damn! Sorry, trying to figure these controls out. Another civilization, friends of theirs?"

"Still working on that one. Friends of Sunset, indeed. They're not from Earth, though, which is probably for the best of our mental health. Apparently, there's more arriving, also old friends. We're the odd ones out. I'll keep you in on it, just keep exploring. Hey Tica, try pressing some of those buttons."

"How about no," she said, smirking. She heard barking and panting on the other end. "Oh, it's Victoria!"

The engineer had other words. "Damn it, Lu! You woke up that damned furball! Should have never brought her with."

by **Sunset** » Sun Apr 06, 2014 9:36 pm

Everyone...

Someone watched as the little scout flew past and, after a moment of realization, it was like a strong breeze had swept through the cavernous bay and suddenly explorers were everywhere. Flying from here to there, pushed by arms or legs, was the most obvious and common but there were others who, coming to one of the tall metal frames that held stacks of container pods, simply put a foot on a rail and began to walk up. Or was everyone else on the walls and it was they who were on the floor?

"Well," Susanne noted, watching the short little woman who'd taunted her earlier float past, "It does look like fun..."

An evil glint entered her eye and she reached out, snatching the dwarf's ankle and hauling her around like a flailing humanoid club.

"Hey! Hey! Woah!"

Twisting her body around in a tight circle, the Captain whipped the smaller woman around her and released, sending her flinging down the length of the broad central avenue towards the very far door.

Fun aside, the explorers had uncovered little of immediate interest in the bay. There were building materials: Molded plastic blocks like those found by the crew from the Blue Mountain, along with their potential use. Any idea of gold and silver, or really treasure of any kind, was dashed as container after container was opened and searched. Some contained other machines - all inactive - while most had crates filled with various materials. There were some that were filled with metal ingots, though these were usually aluminum or more rarely steel. One container proved to hold the method to work these ingots; An automated machining rig that would presumably turn the ingots into a specific part or component.

Soon it was time to move on, and Susanne moved over to the inner door to see if there was some way of accessing the interior. The door wasn't fitted with the same lever and instead there was a control panel next to the door, but a press of the various buttons accomplished nothing. On a hunch, she tried the lever in the alcove off to the side and was rewarded as the door began to open.

"There's gotta be a control center, or something like that, where we can turn the power on..." She relayed over the radio. "Consider that our first goal."

----

New Septentrion... Roania as well...

It fell to the other two to figure out the mysterious of the 'wooden' beams. They weren't wood, but rather plastic or at least some similar material. A container, opened at random, proved to hold what looked very much like a milling machine except that it was designed to add rather than remove material. A feed slot matching the exact dimensions of the block was linked via a series of braided metal cables to an extrusion head mounted on a robotic arm. This was mounted to the container itself, and sat above a spider-like frame of smaller arms that would hold whatever was being extruded in place.

A 3D printer.

Beyond the next door, accessed via the same lever, a long corridor stretched into the distance. Immediately to the left and right were two structures that could only be cargo elevators; Two recessed bays that held a massive platform with multiple floor latches built into the platform and rails on the back that would guide it up into the darkness. An alcove that matched the one inside the cargo bay sat off to the side of each of these and likely served as the control point. A series of projecting sconces on the wall would provide light, and every so often between these there was a recessed door that matched the same dimensions as the outer bay door. A quick check proved that these led to yet more bays, filled with yet more containers.

At the far end of the corridor the atmosphere suddenly changed. There was a large space at the end, obviously a control center of some kind, fitted out with multiple large glass displays and various seats, desks, and consoles filled with the unknown alien language. A long curving ramp led up to an observation deck, though there were some small consoles there as well, as well as their first sign of habitation.

Along the back wall was a bay that held, each in their own harness, a cluster of robots. They were clearly so, with smooth metal limbs and exposed joints. Each had four legs arranged in a quadruped fashion and standing on bluntly spiked feet. A torso, mounted on a sturdy ball joint, linked a pair of arms that had thick and functional three-fingered hands. A vaguely T-shaped head sat on top of this, with a pair of sensor-eyes at the crux of the T. An alcove next to the bay likely served as a control point, though like all the other consoles it didn't seem to be active.

Perhaps more interesting, at least in the short term, was one of the smaller consoles on the upper level. Surrounded by labels in what had been termed 'warning purple' was an inset disc that had a handle built into it. It was currently aligned with a projection that held a single, unknown, character and there was another series of projections that overlapped the disc that had other characters on them, to a total of four.

by **Moad** » Sun Apr 06, 2014 10:34 pm

"Curious," said Nokota softly. "What could this place be for. It's an odd place for an airlock wouldn't you agree?"

"Not how I'd have designed it," the captain admitted, "but it must have made sense to the designers, however many millennia ago." His voice trailed off. "One!" he exclaimed invoking the name of the mecce god. "When this ship was built my ancestors were still holding demon hunts. Imagine how advanced their civilization must be by now."

"Or their civilization collapsed centuries ago and this is all that's left," Nokota suggested. "The tagor are the oldest species we know of and they never even made it this far."

"Well don't be too optimistic. Go check out that side room. The rest of you run some scans and see what you can find out."

Scans could tell you a lot about the composition of something, but not necessarily what it was for. All the crews analysis could not really turn up much beyond the obvious. The room contained a number of screens of unknown purpose. The only real surprise was that the bioscanner detected some form of dormant bacteria. The resilience of microbes never ceased to amaze Ahrugn.

Meanwhile Nokota took two crewmembers into the back room. It was a kitchen area, as predicted. Every surface was spotless, even down to the microscopic level. The only organic matter inside was the apparently indestructible bacteria. It appeared as though the kitchen had never been used or even occupied, or else that it had been very thoroughly cleaned after its last use. Nokota took EMR scans of a few appliances, thinking that some scientists or archaeologists would take interest in these alien artifacts. He also collected some unusual looking utensils and put them in his bag.

When Nokota returned Ahrugn suggested that they try to establish a com link with the other ships. Nokota assented and established a link between his own communicator and the Hawk. His brother Nokato answered and agreed to set up a link between the boarding party and the Sunset ship.

by **The Fedral Union** » Sun Apr 06, 2014 11:49 pm

Simon's eyes canvased the massive bay, even with his enhanced optics he couldn't tell the full scope of what he was seeing. Yet it was nothing unusual, after all this ship was built for space and storage. And to support a large number of inhabitants it naturally had to be large. Keneal used her scanners to gather as much data as she could about the path up ahead. Simon snapped out of his trance for a moment following the team from Sunset behind their heels, as everyone began to split up so did Simon but he made sure to pair up with an officer from the ship.

Keneal parted ways with Simon as well and teaming up an officer herself. Simon looked down at one of the containers his multi-tool and eyes both telling him the same thing, there was some sort of liquid inside. He looked to the side of it there a crate its rectangular form patterned in a similar manner but not the same as the other containers. It was quite large obviously used to carry bulk, Simon pondered for a moment his sensors registering some sort of fuel, the compounds coming up one by one.

-Scanning compounds.. Compound Scan complete compounds registered are CH3OH, And H1.-

Simon glanced at the results, he furrowed a brow then he said to no one in particular.

“Hydrogen, And Methanol compounds. That explains part of this little riddle..”

Wasting little time Simon began trying to get the other container open, as his gloved fingers gently grazed the surface of the container trying to find a handle, yet he found none or at least the ones he thought were handles weren't made for his fingers. Looking at it again his eyes scanning the form of the box he pinpointed a release mechanism for the top. Using a nimble digit he tapped the button and with a click part of the container top popped up. Simon smiled he glanced in side, there were various unremarkable bits inside, they were all the same. He reached in his multi tool and eyes again confirming one another scans.

Surprisingly they all had compounds of a proton exchange fuel cell, more accurately an indirect menthol cell. Engineers didn't even use these widely anymore where he came from, but they still had to learn about them. Even so their obsolesce meant that one would go his whole life without seeing one. How curious a race with a ship like this, a massive ship if it even was inhabited would store these things. Logic dictated that at first he would think they were confined to using this, but a ship like this didn't add up to these components. Perhaps, he figured it may have been a one way trip and the most basic of technologies would have worked best with no support from home.

“Hmm this fuel, these cells. What do you guys make of all this? I have my own theory but its just that a theory... Until we can at least learn more about this ship and what it carries.”

Indeed he didn't want to jump to conclusions , after all anything could be possible in this galaxy. Yet it was a nagging question, where they on their way to a final destination so to speak and stocked to what him were basic components for energy? Or were they part of some colonization effort and lacked faster than light travel. Other theories and questions arose in his mind and swam around his head, but for now he would keep the conjecture to a minimum unless he was asked, and until he was able to prove them or disprove them. Keneal meanwhile scanned some containers documented the materials and was relatively unimpressed, nothing of worth.

“Jeez there’s nothing here. I expected grave robbing to be more lucrative.. At least some Oralic ingots, Illuim ore.. or. Bah”

She moved on to another container, again it was unimpressive rather lack luster and held none of her interest. Simon was the brain, so was she but someone had to be the greedy one. Nessues sent them here to find something of worth or to use, not to just poke around for the sake of poking around. She didn't care about wealth, why should she? An AI had no use for wealth other than for upgrades not covered under contract.

Simon tapped the cover of the fuel cell, the interface was quite straight forward, but what did these power? The bay surely had to be filled with some vehicles that used these things, it would make no sense if they didn't. But he also realized they could be used for power in habitats, either way things like this weren't on a ship this large for no reason. Things most always had an explanation, and those that didn't haven't had one discovered for them. The universe had few absolutes as the Terrans discovered but those absolutes it did have were unbreakable and unwavering.

As the team moved on he followed suit, Keneal rather reluctantly did as well, the two glanced at one another then looked around at the walls. Simon was use to unconventional designs in his line of work, this was no different but it was in-fact something new.

“What ever happened here or what ever this ship was meant for it sure looks like someone put a lot of thought in to it.”

Simon would say over the radio in an idle comment, Kaneal looked at him.

“Well, a lot of thought, but so far nothing of value.”

Simon was hardly worried about valuable things, what he wanted was the knowledge and to try to solve this riddle. Learning more about these people may not seem profitable but things like this in his mind were often beyond profit, the company financed him knowing this. They got returns as often as they like, Simon delivered and sometimes knowledge was its own reward.

“Profit isn’t the motivation here, you cant expect a payoff every time we head in to something like this. Its not the movies there aren't dead kings or nobles with vast riches to be plundered. Not that it'd be useful.”

Simon responded, Keneal again wanted to roll her eyes.

“Yes I know I know.. science and all that other stuff.. I can tell about things at a glance too.”

Simon shook his head, he knew she didn't mean ill it was just the mannerisms of the AI that got to him at times. She did keep his curiosity in check and found valuable or interesting items many times, he glanced at her as they walked along.

“Yes that's right, but on the other hand if we didn't deliver anything of use not just metals but technical knowledge I'd be out of a job right now.”

Nesseus indeed had no use for anything lustrous or “valuable” in that sense perhaps the two aforementioned ores but they would only reluctantly take it, they were after data that would allow them to make new products components or make incremental improvements on the stuff they had.

Nessues was simply a parent company of two other corporations one making superluminal consumer electronics and the other sensor units for military and civilian use. But they were just one of many companies in those markets and with the use of fabricators on Terran worlds that niche was dominated by special alloys, metals and materials that made what seemed to be impossible possible. They were always looking for new ones and data pertaining to devices they could make with existing ones, thus here was Simon both of his fields of study were quite valid for this whole thing. The conversation between the pair died down and they remained silent until anyone spoke to them.

by **Roania** » Mon Apr 07, 2014 7:31 pm

"Bring this back to the ship." Lanyrun gestured with his gun to a few of the enforcers he felt were least useful right now. "Don't stop for anything." The enforcers saluted and picked up the device, then carried it back to the waiting Courser. A few of the unusual blocks that fit into it were carried back.

The remaining Roanians set up watch positions. At a gesture from the Dragon, the technician pulled out a small metal device. It was a radio, after a fashion -- it couldn't transmit information, but it could pick up signals. Useful in the Triad business, especially for 'mercantile' raiders. The hope was to trace shipboard communications -- security or the like. But what they received was obviously ship-to-ship communications. The barbarians, then. "Any women?" The other men lifted their weapons, ready for action.

"...if I could tell, Honorable Dragon." The Enforcer fiddled with the receiver, trying to open the transmission. "No, it's not a recognized country. I can't quite..." He frowned and continued to fiddle. "No. We've lost it. But it's coming from close by."

"Well, gentlemen. Shall we continue?" The leader gestured with his hand. The Roanians hunted a few more cargo containers, pillaging any contents that looked like they could be sold for a profit, tossing to the side anything that wasn't. Eventually, regrouped, the Roanians made their way over to the far wall and the bright purple projections.

"Anything online, boys?" The reports came back negative, as the Roanians folded out in pairs and studied the room closely. This wasn't going well, Lanyrun reflected. "Check that door." He pointed to the side, and a few Enforcers went to investigate. "Without lights and power we're running blind here. The only benefit is the others are just as blind, but we're not going to find anything useful on board this ship without basic systems running."

"We think we can get access to the electronics via one of these control panels, and maybe hunt through the ship for the local power source. But..."

"I don't like 'but'. What's 'but'?"

"We could fry whatever power source we use, or blow a fuse, and not accomplish anything except alerting the other visitors of our presence. We'll need to get Rel," Rel being Serelar, the Courser's engineer, "to work out the connections, and he won't like it."

"Table that for the time being." Lanyrun rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "Meanwhile, come over here and take a look at this." The Roanians gathered around the bright purple handle. "What do you make of it?" It was a rhetorical question. The Dragon grabbed it and pulled as hard as he could.

The Silverstar Incident (FT, Open (Read First Post!))

The Silverstar Incident (FT, Open (Read First Post!))

Alts in Space: Breaking in like the Kool-Aid Man (Oh yeah!)

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