Lt. Cmdr. Ian O'Connor- It's Survey Time
rob mahardy
((Shuttlecraft Kepler, Shuttlebay, Deck 9, USS Ronin))
Ian smiled at Poagie as walked past him and entered the shuttle
O’Connor: Let’s finish this up. Tweak those last 2 probes and I’ll put the front panel back together. Apparently we’re going for a ride. Oh, and freshen up before we take off. You play your cards right and you could be a Duke by the end of the mission.
Ian slid back under the pilot’s station leaving Poagie speechless for one of the only times in his life.
Wren: I mean, if we’re ready to go, we can just-
Ian tightened the last fastener and stood up just as the new chief surgeon was boarding the shuttle. She was decked out in some sort of outfit one might see in old paintings of fox hunts.
Kel: Take a seat Doctor. We're just about ready to depart.
Wren: ::as genuinely as she can:: Welcome aboard.
Ian gave the acting CO a thumbs up indicating they were ready to depart.
She straightened her tweed hunting jacket, tossed aside the standard medical case with far less care than she had applied to her shotgun, and found an empty, if deeply uncomfortable, seat near the rear of the cabin. The view was dreadful. Probably more dreadful when Poagie slid into the seat right next to her.
De La Croix: Ah yes of course, all of us roughing it today I see. Won't this be...::Her nose curled reflexively as she took in the crowd::...cozy.
Poagie: Don’t worry, your highness-ness, Cozy can be good.
Ian smiled, catching Kel’s eye before sitting down at the pilot’s station.
O’Connor: Here we go everyone.
Kepler smoothly departed the Ronin’s bay and arced around heading out toward the edge of the Ross-580 system. They’d set up a survey pattern that would have them the farthest away from Ronin to start with then spiral their way back in.
Shortrith/Kessler: Response
Poagie continued to ramble on despite the Duchess’ obvious slack of interest. He knew she was ignoring him but continued on with his strategy to wear her down with quantity versus quality of conversation. Also, over-the-top flattery and total agreement with her viewpoints couldn’t hurt either. He felt like he was on the verge of something beyond looks of disgust or scornful glances when Commander V’Len interrupted.
Kel: Doctors. See what you can see as far as life readings on those interior planets
Poagie sighed as the Duchess moved over to a console and barely looked at it.
De La Croix: Well I can hardly see anything from here, these sensors are like cans tied together with string. According to this...::she gestured towards one of the displays at random::...I'm fairly certain the gas giants are devoid of life.
Poagie started to get up.
Poagie: Perhaps I can assist. I’d be happy to push buttons for you.
Ian decided to cut the new surgeon some slack. No one, no matter how arrogant, deserved 24/7 Poagie.
O’Connor: Look, Sorry to interrupt you latnum digger woo-fest but could you start pulling up your modified sweeps for similar chroniton patterns.
He smiled at De La Croix and gave her a “you owe me one” look. Poagie sighed and moved to a different control station deeper back in the shuttle.
Shortrith/Kessler/Wren: Response
Kel: ::pleased:: The gas giants are very colorful.
Thess offered a dismissive 'hmph' as she tapped at the dreadfully slow computer.
Ian turned back and began to increase impulse slightly moving them farther away from Ronin
De La Croix: Just simple chemistry, Doctor...hydrogen, helium, a splash of ammonia and methane for variety...hardly worth waxing poetic about. Oh and no life to speak of...much like the last medical conference I attended. Tedious doesn't even begin to describe it.
O’Connor: Maybe you need to come to one of the helm officer symposiums someday. Tedious is not something remotely on the agenda. Then again the poetry might night be your style.
Shortrith/Kessler/Wren: Response
O’Connor: Hey, I’m part Irish. Of course I do limericks. I’m actually thinking of one now. :: He smiled at the chief surgeon:: …
oO There once was duchess so rich,
Whose demeanor was that of a … Oo
Anyway, back to those gas giants.
Shortrith/Kessler/Wren: Response
Kel: ::smiling:: I'm always like this, all the time.
They continued to survey for a while. There were a few awkward moments where all that was heard were De La Croix’s nails tapping at her panel and Poagie’s not so subtle sighs while glancing in her direction.
Lights and warning alerts sounded off suddenly through the cabin.
Kel: What the…I'm picking up a massive burst of ultra-high energy gamma rays coming from the gas giant closest to the Ross-580 star.
Wren: Shielding is at seventy percent, but it’s dropping rapidly.
Ian saw it on his own screen and adjusted course a bit.
De La Croix: Well then we should probably....back away from the particles that could tear our cellular membranes to shreds. Surely you already knew that.
Ian turned to Kel.
O’Connor: Already on it boss altering course slightly. We’ll need to adjust sensors a bit as we’ll be farther away from that area than we anticipated. And if someone could reroute some power to shields, please.
Then something bucked repeatedly.
Wren: Sir, we seem to be receiving damage to our engine. Scans are unclear on whether it’s from the radiation, our shields are dropping. If we move back, we might be out of range, but we’d be back in the eddy.
Ian looked back toward Kel as he wrestled them back to semi-smooth flight.
Shortrith/Kessler/Wren/Kel: Response
De La Croix: Well if you didn't want my opinion then why did you ask me to join you in this dinky little skiff?
O’Connor: Hey, Kepler doesn’t like it when you ‘dis him. Just hold on everyone,we seem to be experiencing some slight turbulence.
One engine seemed to just drop almost all thrust and Ian quickly compensate before they started spinning.
Wren: ::strained:: We’ve lost partial thrust from our engine, we’re going to start listing to the side. I can try and go fix it ::grabbing her kit::, but it might take a minute, I'll have a better idea of what we're dealing with if I go look at the engine itself.
Shortrith/Kessler/Wren/Kel/De La Croix: Response
O’Connor: Look your highness. We’re almost stopped anyway. I could always let you out if you’d li..
More alerts went off. And Ian “slammed the breaks”. Inertial dampeners compensated instantly.
O’Connor: Whoah. Where did that come from?
The massive object appeared out of nowhere almost directly in front of them bathing the area with chronitons. Ian worked the console and dropped their new temporal anchor. The probes deployed and the gravity well formed, holding the Kepler in place and time…for now.
((OOC: Leaving it vague if anyone wants to get creative as to what we find))
Shortrith/Kessler/Wren/Kel/De La Croix: Response
O’Connor: Ok then I guess, “When” did that come from?
Shortrith/Kessler/Wren/Kel/De La Croix: Response
TBC/Tags
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Lieutenant Commander Ian O’Connor
HCO
USS Ronin NCC-34523
R240009IO4