JP: Lt. TK Cabrillo, Ensign Lhandon Nilsen, Ensign Josh Herrick, Nurse Rox: Remnant of Chaos Pt. 3
Mark P
((Foxy
Lady))
TK was a little more than surprised that they were in a stable warp field and the ship had not rattled itself into pieces. He stood up from his seat and rubbed his lower back. Lhandon loved every second of the flight.
Cabrillo: When we get back I am replicating lumbar supports for these seats.
Nilsen: Nah, keep these seats, they are original. It’s sin to pull them out.
Josh looked at the seats, each set seemed to be designed with usage and cost in mind. The seats at the front seemed to still have some padding while the one he was sitting in was practically just a piece of fabric covering metal. The auxiliary jump seats also seemed a bit suspect; he wasn’t sure how well they’d hold up over time.
Herrick: ::looking at Rox and Nilsen at the front:: Of course, you’d say that! You have the best seats in the house. I feel like Cabrillo and I are going to avoid sitting for a while.
Rox: The only thing going at ludicrous speed is your brain. The Lady is presently traveling just below warp 6.
Cabrillo: That rattling could simply be some adjustments needed to the inertia dampeners or the field coils are out of alignment. How fast will she actually go?
Nilsen: Warp 7?
Rox: Well, we’ve pushed it to 7.5 on occasion. Just sit back and relax, it’s a 3-hour tour.
Nilsen: Bet you could get it to warp 8.
Josh rechecked the levels; the shaking had somewhat smoothed out as soon as they entered warp, but he was still seeing that they were at 75% of maximums while maintaining their leisurely cruising speed.
Herrick: Perhaps we should leave engine stress testing for another day… I’d like to survive our trip up to the ceiling without shaking ourselves apart. Let’s stay with a cap of 7 for now. (With more humor) You can test out 8 next week and let me know how it goes, Nilsen.
Nilsen: Oh, just you erm… just you watch.
TK had no intention of sitting back down in this flying death trap. The ship might be flying at the moment but as soon as they hit any level of disturbance he knew some panel or shielding was going to come flying off.
Cabrillo: I think I am going to check out the dampeners and field coils. ::beat:: just to be safe and make sure we get back from your trip to the ceiling of the galaxy.
Grabbing his engineering kit, TK winked at Rox and then stepped past her towards the rear of the freighter.
Nilsen: I thought it was the edge of the galaxy?
As far as TK could tell, the previous owner had not been a mechanic or engineer of any type. He envisioned the previous host boasting about special modifications and how glorious this flying tramp was.
Opening an access panel on the floor, TK found the inertia dampeners and sat back as he looked at the array of parts that all seemed to have been mismatched together. A junk yard's delight for sure. This vessel could have been a perfect demonstration at Starfleet academy for what not to do in engineering.
Cabrillo: ::yelling up to the front:: Rox, get back here.
Nilsen: I’ll keep her fly straight ::temporarily taking the helm::
Rox: ::looking at Nilsen:: You don’t need to babysit her. Once she’s at warp and the autopilots on, she’ll give us a nice smooth ride.
Nilsen: You sure? Auto pilot is boring.
Cabrillo: ::scanning the damping system with his tricorder:: Well, won’t get any smoother until we can get back to the ship, but she’ll hold together the best I can tell.
Rox: Thank you doctor TK starship MD.
Nilsen: Why would we want smooth? That’s what the big ship is for…
TK looked up and smiled at the Ensign. oO Time to torture a few noobs. Oo
Cabrillo: Well Ensign, best I can tell, this bucket of bolts is barely keeping you from hitting the vacuum of space and freezing solid like a Ensignsickle. ::beat:: But from here on out, you can sit closest to the hatchway, just in case.
TK grinned an evil grin and then looked at Rox and finally back down to the chaos of engineering that made up the dampeners.
Nilsen: Ha! Be sure to remember me when I’m gone. I expect a plaque, a statue and an entire day named after me.
Lhandon slowly started to catch onto what might be going on. He had done something like this before with his brothers. He did wonder when the sudden turn or dive would happen, or if he should make a sudden dive happen. But how should he react? Scared? Laughter? o0 Full maniacal laugh might be fun. 0o
Rox: ::putting an arm around Lhandon:: We’ll call it Landing day. We’ll all take turns hang-gliding and eating corn on the cob.
Rox wasn’t totally sure what they grew on Gault, but during her time on Earth the crop she had become most interested in was corn because…it was tasty.
Herrick: ::looking back at the group:: Well… you never know. I’m sure all the greats never thought that they’d have statues and special days. You might be the first Starfleet officer to have literal corn-y day associated with you.
Cabrillo: ::closing the hatch and standing back up right:: Well Commodore ::grinning at Rox:: tell us more about this area we are headed to and how you and Doctor Kel ran across it.
Nilsen: Yeah, I still got no idea what this is?
Rox: ::mysteriously:: Well, gather round kiddies.
Nilsen: Oh, a campfire story?
Rox made her way further back into the ship which passed for a kitchen/bedroom/living room. On the left of the tight chamber was a short counter upon which was a replicator unit that could be described as “rustic.” Beyond this was a circular couch with a round table at the center. On a good day two could comfortably sit. On the left side were two bunks which had been stowed vertically on the wall. As Rox entered she kicked the wall sharply and the lower bunk crashed down.
As Rox passed Josh, and the rest of the crew was gathering at the back, he decided to join them. He was a bit worried about the readouts, but alarms had been set to warn them when it reached 90%. This was a chance to bond with officers he normally never had the chance to interact with.
Rox: Take a seat ::gesturing around the room.
Lhandon was the tallest member of this group. He sat on his ankle on the lower bunk, aware of how much space he takes up and aiming to politely mitigate that. Josh sat opposite him.
Nilsen: I’m guessing the edge of the galaxy isn’t really the edge of the galaxy. ::laughs:: look at me using my brain.
Cabrillo: ::looking to Nilsen:: Or perhaps these two actually did venture to the edge of the galaxy.
Rox herself stopped before the replicator and spoke to it as if it was an elderly person.
Rox: ::loudly:: Blue squale!
The replicator whirred and hummed, and a glass of water appeared.
Nilsen: Oh!
Josh looked at the translucent glass; and while he never had taken the opportunity to drink one of the most popular beverages on the ‘Oumuamua, he knew that it definitely didn’t look right.
Herrick: Maybe the programming is wrong?
Cabrillo: ::folding his arms and leaning against the counter:: Is this a sign of what we just got ourselves into?
Rox: Oh, come on. ::she removed the glass of water:: Stupid thing is on the fritz again. ::loudly:: Popcorn!
Whining again the replicator produced a plate piled high with saltine crackers. Rox took the plate and sat it on the table at the center of the couch.
Rox: Snacks anybody?
Herrick: Sure ::grabbing a few of the crackers:: at least they’re salty. ::taking a very noisy bite of one::
Nilsen: Thank you kindly. You know, if the replicators continue like this, we’d have to go back to eating proper food. That has been prepared…and cooked.
Cabrillo: ::leaning forward and stepping closer to the unit:: Here, let me at that thing.
TK started tinkering on the replicator as Rox began to explain what it was they were doing. Rox hauled herself upon the counter letting her legs dangle down and took a drink of the lukewarm water.
Rox: So, V’Len and I got the Foxy Lady at DS9. Once through the wormhole we of course realized it could only do warp 6, which meant it would take forever to catch up with you. So, we paid for a berth on a Ferengi vessel we found at Port Loray. We were heading to their first stop when an ion storm struck, and we sheltered in a system on the very edge of the galaxy.
Rox: The system was chock full of all kinds of radiation but the tetryons seemed to impact the Ferengi’s drive system. Weirdly we also detected spatial and gravimetric anomalies that were more consistent with the universe just after the Big Bang than now. Navigation was also difficult and there were multiple subspace corridors.
Rox: We were effectively stranded in the orbit of a gas giant while the crew tried to get the drive going. It turned out Lady's drive system was less impacted so V’Len and I went deeper into the system and discovered two habitable planets. A class M that was not formed and a class Y.
Nilsen: So, with where our lady here can go, she’s the envy of the entire Starfleet science division?
Cabrillo: And apparently an engineer's nightmare. This replicator is going to need a new particle enhancer to properly work.
Herrick: So, just a short detour on your way back from the DTI? … What did you find?
Rox: We called the class-Y planet Inferno and the class-M planet Paradiso.
TK turned away from the replicator and leaned sideways against the wall, again folding his arms across his chest. oO Of course these two would stumble across a Demon class planet. Oo
Cabrillo: Did you visit either planet or just name them?
Nilsen: And did you step foot on them or just flew by?
Rox: We didn’t set foot on Inferno. The reason I say Pardiso was only partially formed was because it consists of huge pieces of rock floating around a central mass. The rocks were teaming with life, and some were large enough to have lakes and river systems. The surface proper was covered with oceans and vegetation and teaming animal life. I was like something out of Earth’s Jurassic era.
Cabrillo: Sounds more like you had too many blue squalls before visiting this system.
Nilsen: Yeah, this sound. ::looks at Cabrillo:: trippy?
Rox: You guys will love it.
Herrick: Will love it… wait… Rox, are we going to this Pardiso?
Rox: ::looking at Herrick:: Give the man a prize.
Cabrillo: Well, we are already under way, but I think I should have brought a larger engineering kit.
Nilsen: Well, I used to fix the old trucks on the farm. Granted they were like a century old but still.
Rox gulped down the rest of the water and hopped off the counter.
Rox: I’m going to go back upfront. The autopilot is probably on, but the damn thing kicks in and out and I’m never really sure if it’s working.
---
Ensign Josh Herrick
Engineering Officer
USS ‘Oumuamua
O240005JH3
he/him/his (player/character)
&
Rox
Nurse - Crewman 2nd class
USS Oumuamua NCC-81226
T239811VK2
He/Him (player)
She/Her (character)
&
Ensign Lhandon Joseph Nilsen
HCO
USS Oumuamua
O240007LN1
He/Him/His (Both player and character)
&
Lieutenant JG TK Cabrillo
Engineering Officer
USS Oumuamua
T239901JK1