Commodore Jalana Rajel - So many questions, not a single answer
Jess
(( USS Icarus - Deck 3))
Grabbing the handle of the suction cup again she put some gusto
into her pulls and after just another moment the metal finally
gave in with a loud groan, revealing the control center of the
ship.
With a few panting breaths she reached down to turn off the
magnets of her boots again and tapped off the ground to move
inside. A bridge without power was strange. No beeping, no lights,
no nothing. Not even a faint glow and the front empty. Of course,
it was a screen not a window, just like on the Constitution. When
her eyes wandered over the dead consoles and screens her eyes
caught a few floating tools, padds, a medikit, some mugs - she
tilted her head and floated forward to a railing dividing the back
from the front and looked down, with furrowed brows, sliding her
gloved hand over it before looking at it.
Rajel: No dust. ::She mumbled:: No power, no crew... no dust.
Anyone else find this is getting weirder by the minute?
McCray: By the second, to be honest. Especially that impact on the
door.
Yirah: It's definitely weird, but stranger things have happened.
::pause as he floats over to the science console:: Would be nice
to have some power right about now.
McCray: Makes me feel like all our answers are locked behind a
wall we can’t get past.
Rajel: Once we have some power I hope this will answer those
questions.
Yirah: What if there was no crew? As in, they initially intended
the mission to have a crew but at the last minute they decided on
an unmanned test flight? It's a secret mission few people know
about, something gets filed wrong along the way... ::pause:: It
doesn't explain the tribbles though, unless that was dealt with
before the ship even left.
McCray: You beat me to that point, Lieutenant. But it’s definitely
logical to have unmanned tests before throwin’ a live crew aboard
an’ just launchin’ it off into the void full send.
Rajel: What makes you think that?
She turned to Indrid who plugged a mug from the air and looked
inside.
Yirah: Having no crew would explain the lack of liquid in these
mugs. There should be mug sized floating drops of water, tea,
rakajino, but there's not.
McCray: That’s definitely not logical. :: he examined a mug. ::
Not even dried rings of liquid left. So it’s not like they drunk
it an’ walked away.
Rajel: I think that Dr Aurdax would have found in the files if
there had been a change of plans of taking no crew with them. But
she mentioned the about 50 people that went with the flight.
However... we don't know where the ship went before coming back,
maybe they were left behind. You know like an away team that
couldn't make it back to the ship in time.
Indrid/McCray: response
Rajel: Also possible that the liquids were evaporated too quickly
to leave marks. Or this cup just wasn't used. I got empty mugs on
my desk and shelf that would be floating around if we lost
gravity. But I don't want to exclude the possibility that the crew
was not on the ship when it returned. ::She hummed.:: There are
too many questions and not enough answers.
Indrid/McCray: response
Montanari: Response
Shimisi: =/\= Shimisi to Jalana =/\=
The sudden additional voice in the silence made her jump slightly
before her hand moved to her wrist panel to press the button.
Rajel: =/\= Jalana here. Give me some good news please. =/\=
Shimsi: =/\= We've shut off all energy conduits from engineering
outside. We'll start checking auxiliary systems first one by one
to ascertain their stability and safety. Dr. Aurdax warned us that
being an experimental system, we might find residual effects like
weird energy packets or exotic energy that could explain why
systems acted up strangely. =/\=
Explanations. Good! She liked explanations. Everything could be
explained somehow she knew it.
Rajel: =/\= That makes sense. ::She paused:: Thre are too many
questions floating around, and we'll need power to get answers. So
let's hope those packets and exotic energy won't go too haywire.
=/\=
Yirah/McCray: Response
Shimisi: =/\= We're doing our best, but if the doctor is right,
exotic energy is unpredictable,... but we'll try to predict it.
I'll inform you of our progress. =/\=
Rajel: =/\= Very good. Be careful. We haven't seen any crew so
far... so whatever happened here might be reason as to why. =/\=
Yirah/McCray: Response
Through Mingxing's comm she could hear another voice. Leran. Not
directly next to him, most likely not aimed at her, but still
audible.
Perax: As soon as we get full ship wide power back, I recommend
that the first system we try to get back online is internal
sensors. I’d like to see how many escape pods have launched. If
they are here, the crew should be here. If some or all are
missing, then we can presume that the crew abandoned ship even if
the logs don’t mention it.
Shimisi: Good idea. :: To the comm channel :: =/\= When we get
stable power here, we'll go with illumination first, If that
works, we'll move forward, Is that okay with you? =/\=
Rajel: =/\= Lights would be good. What I'd really need is enough
power to access the logs. But I know we have to go in steps to not
overload the system. ::She paused:: By any chance... have you
encountered any Tribbles? =/\=
Perax: =/\= I don’t know about the tribbles. ::he shrugged and
gave a thoughtful look:: My little grey cells, have a hunch that
the tribbles don’t fit in to this, a red Salmon, if you will. =/\=
Rajel: =/\= They really don't. Yet we found a jefferies tube full
of them. All dead. =/\=
Yirah/McCray: Response
Perax: Tribbles are a nuisance, but they don’t eat circuitry or
get into completely closed systems. They do very little except eat
too much and take up space.
Aurdax: Why would anyone bring those little pests on a starship?
I thought they were outlawed in this time period.
Rajel: =/\= That's the question. One more on the pile. =/\=
Shimisi: I was only aware that they eat quadrotriticale but I
agree they shouldn't be able to eat circuitry or anything of
importance to the ship's systems.
Aurdax: If I remember correctly they don’t even have teeth.
Rajel: =/\= At least we know they didn't cause it by eating part
of the ship. Alright I'll let you get back to your work. Be
careful. Rajel out. =/\=
The line closed and Jalana took a breath.
Yirah/McCray: Response
Rajel: Until we have power we should find other ways to gather
some intel.
Yirah/McCray: Response
Rajel: Maybe we can find some PADDs, or actual paperwork. Back in
the day some Captains still used that before adding it to the
computer. Or it was just me. Who knows. ::She grinned:: There are
compartments all over the place, like under the consoles and in
the walls. ::She gestured::
Yirah/McCray: Response
Montanari: Response
Jalana looked to a door on the other side of the bridge. She knew
a long time ago not many ships had a Ready Room connected to the
bridge, but some did. Maybe this one did, or it was a storage
room, or the head. She would find out. She pushed herself off and
went back to the door and pulled the suction cup from its surface
before floating across the bridge to that door.
Ch'Nilmani: =/\= Diz to Jalana. =/\=
Mid flight she pressed the comm panel on her wrist and reached up
to push herself off the ceiling down to the door.
Rajel: =/\= I'm listening. Find anything? =/\=
Ch'Nilmani: =/\= Encountered weirdness down here on Deck 5, aft
section. Jefferies tube hatch deciding to move on it's own. We're
investigating but be careful. =/\=
Rajel: =/\= On its own? ::She considered for a while while she
fixd the suction cup to the door:: Maybe check if the metal
expanded for some reason. There might be a hairline fracture or
something. These hatches wouldn't just open on their own. =/\=
Ch'Nilmani: =/\= Anything spooky on your end, Patches. Please say
no. :: nervous chuckle :: =/\=
Rajel: =/\= Just another time I have to disappoint you. There was
some strangeness happening, from tools coming our way, to bumps in
the doors as if something invisible impacted on it. But nothing as
weird as a jefferies tube full of dead tribbles. Mingxing and his
team are working on getting power back for us, but it takes some
time to not overload the system. Until then we'll collect
questions until we can find answers. =/\=
Ch'Nilmani: =/\= Roger. We'll update you if we run into anything
else. =/\=
Rajel: =/\= Please do. Rajel out. =/\=
Once the line closed Jalana established magnetism with her boots
again and with some oompfh and grunting pulled the doors open.
Looking through the gap she grinned. An office. Jackpot. Maybe.
Yirah/McCray: Response
Montanari: Response
Commodore Jalana Rajel
Commanding Officer
USS Constitution B
Image Team Member
A238906JL0
Character Pronouns: She/Her
Player Pronouns: They/Them