View Topic

Space Expeditions: The Next Generation

The Next Generation:  IC Thread

Far in the future, and after loss of communication with the USS Wintreath, the first vessel to attempt to map and explore the far reaches of space, the USS Frosthold has been hastily commissioned to find Wintreath's Flagship, at the expense of system debugging and completion of what are considered by the Spacefleet to be "non-essential" systems...

Commanded by Captain T'plail, a headstrong officer graduating first in her class from the Wintreath Space Academy and spent little time on other starships before hastily being appointed to the Frosthold, a consequence of fleet officer reserves stretched thing, as many experienced officers where assigned to the Wintreath for her voyage.  The Fleet Command has searched desperately for a crew willing to take a vessel to the outskirts of known space to determine the whereabouts of the USS Wintreath, and have hastily assembled one, and the crew is now about to embark on the journey of a lifetime....

OOC: Click Here

Crew:
Captain T'plail, USS Frosthold
Chief Engineer Namora Yllaen
Propulsion Engineer Julio Perez
Field Engineer Jacobus Malan
Robotics Artificer Aurelius Áedán Völund Alexsandrov
Security Chief Kal Vau
Security Officer Johann von Tomlin
Tactical Officer Michael Alexander Cornell, Spacefleet Intelligence
Chief Medical Officer Dr. C. R. McNamara, MD
PAAR-85 "Perry"
Miranda Walls
Other persons who want to come out of the woodwork along the way!

Wintreath Spacedock

Lai T'plail gazed into the abyss from the Wintreath Spaceport to Dry Dock 17-B, only a glowing speck in the vast emptiness of space from her vantage point.  But she knew that it contained the fruit of all her labours of the past two and a half decades since she resolved, at the age of four, to become a starship captain. 

"All Group R Personnel assigned USS Frosthold, please proceed to Shuttle Bay 4 for departure for USS Frosthold.  Group R, Bay 4 for USS Frosthold."

The cool, crisp voice took Lai by surprise for a second, but then she found herself running down the hall from the observation deck to the shuttlebay turbolifts...

18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8...

She ran a bit further.  Shuttle Bay 4.  She took one last look around the Spaceport, and then entered through to the Shuttle Bay. 

T'plail did not resume running in the shuttlebay, instead opting for a more casual brisk walk to the white shuttle trimmed in azure...

"Hiya Captain!  Ready for your new command?"

T'plail spun around, "Rob, what're you doing here?  I thought you'd already departed the Frosthold construction team!"

The fleet construction officer responded, "Oh yes, I have!  Though that doesn't change the fact that I thought I'd introduce you to her presonally..."
Shuttle to USS Frosthold

Fifteen minutes later, she was gazing at the most beautiful sight she had ever seen... a starship, the finishing touches still being applied to the surface and interior as well, no doubt, but still, a starship nonetheless.  The hull plating glistening in the sunlight, emblazoned:

USS FROSTHOLD OVN-0474

Julio stumbled off the shuttle and into the starship, shaking and pale as a ghost, walking quickly past other crew members and away from the shuttles while muttering to himself.
"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck..."
It wasn't the brief strange sensation of zero gravity getting to his head. It wasn't the weight of the mission upon his shoulders. It wasn't a fear of heights. It wasn't even really something that even happened. But Julio saw the state that those damn shuttle engines were in after hundreds of uses with minimal repairs, as well as the noises they made as they made their orbital ascent and acceleration. The fact that his shuttle didn't detonate on its way up seemed to be something of a miracle, and one that he was not going to take for granted. Julio wanted to get out of the spacedocks ASAP.
"Dios te salve, Maria, llena eres de gracia... uh... oh, wow..."
The quick prayer that he had been saying was cut short by Julio's amazement. In a (safer) space many times the size of a grand stadium, he was surrounded by brand new, state-of-the-art technology: nuclear boosters, loads of fuel cells, and- oh my god, is that a real warp core!? Seeing as he is something of an aerospace fanatic, this was certainly the best day of Julio's life.

He wanted to get started right away, yet he knew that he was responsible to the rest of the crew and to a certain "Chief Engineer Namora Yllaen". So, Julio took a seat on a nearby bench meant for construction workers and waited. Impatiently.

The Yaim Rusurian shuttle arrived in the docks, looking more like a armored vehicle than a public transport. Kal Vau stepped out, in full armor, and took a quick look around. This was one of his first times outside of his homeland or stations owned by his homeland, so an area that didn't look like a post-apocalyptic barrack definitely intrigued him. He looked at his wrist mounted display and started heading off in the direction of the ship, after getting all his weapons, equipment, and documents saying he can have these, in order.

Right before we entered the room he said "Olar vi slanar! (Here we go)," and walked over and viewed the craft. He immediately noticed that Yaim Rusur was not consulted in the creation of the craft, noting a relatively lower combat efficiency than anything they would have produced, although he noted there were probably more internal weapons. He turned and walked through a little door marked Security, showed his identification, and loaded onto the ship. Dropping his personal effects in his room, he began a starting patrol of the ship which he was to protect.

Alexsandrov Estate

Aurelius wasn't sure what to feel of his departure. Would he miss his home? Probably not. He had little attachment to his homeland. He wasn't fond of his childhood. Due to his birth into the Acarian, and therefore Wintreath nobility, his parents were quite strict and controlling. Most of what he remembered was with his times spent with his older brother Alexsandr, whom he considered to be closest to. Ever since he joined the Wintreath Officer Institute of Military Engineering and Science, Aurelius communicated little with his family and relatives. He would then proceeded to create his own cadet branch of his dynasty. And several years ago his parents died in their estate due to some arson related assassination, which was greatly exaggerated by the Wintreath media. Aurelius was alive after all.

However, Aurelius would leave some close friends he befriended in his military service. He said his goodbyes to his comrades and had one final night in the pub with the lads. He would miss his house most, which contained much of his personal experiments and projects. He was thankful that his house would practically be his forever; he had more than enough drakoes (The United Acarian Empires still refused to let go of their own currency despite their joining into Wintreath) to pay for any bills. His personal, custom-made household bots would take good care of the place.

With all his belongings that he considered important to bring packed, he just had one thing left to do. He activated his luxury watch and turned on his personal project.

A voice asked from upstairs, "Ah master Aurelius, is it already time to leave the rock you call Wintreath?"

"Yes Qwerty, it is already that time," Aurelius said with a smile. His personal project turned out to be a success in the end, with his many years of research and work on it. A fully functional semi-sentient robot, whom some would call a droid, as a companion! Aurelius was elated when he first activated it. He got the name Qwerty from a type of keyboard that was in use.

"Well, already exploring the cosmos! How exciting, and me, Qwerty, tagging alongside with you on your journey. Who knows what we'll find out there. Aliens, strange flora and fauna, little teddy bears that can destroy an advanced galactic empire! Oh, the possibilities."

"It'll certainly be quite a journey. Now, let's do these final checks and make sure you're correctly calibrated to my watch..."

"Of course, now the checklist. House all neat and tidy? Caretaking of residence setup? Everything locked up and secure?"

"Check, check and check."

"Said goodbye to everyone that you want to, especially one... that you consider special?" asked Qwerty in quite a suggestive tone.

Aurelius raised his eyebrows at Qwerty. "You know there's no one like that here."

"How unfortunate. I'd expect one like you would pick up someone or two. Guess you'll have to make do with-"

"Oh shut up and continue the checklist."

"Oh fine... Let's make sure we're not forgetting anything. Good looks? Check. Humour? Check! Luggage? Luggage! Now where did I leave my luggage?"

"You're a droid. You don't need any luggage, and I have your charging equipment already packed!"

"I have some personal belongings too you know. Oh well, they're not needed."

"Now, let's make sure you're calibrated and synced properly with my watch."

"Everything seems to be good and functioning correctly. Now hurry up and let's leave."

"You're an impatient one. Now get in the suitcase."

"I'm not the only guilty party here! And I have rights too... maybe not legally yet, but from my point of view I do! Imagine what I could do with the freedom... The universe would be in my domain! Mwahahahahahhahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...." Aurelius just looked at Qwerty. "Fine, I'll get in the suitcase." Qwerty slowly set himself in the suitcase and deactivated.

With that finished, Aurelius was on his way to the Imperial City's shuttleport via the underground. There, he found his personal shuttle (Courtesy from both the UAE and Wintreath for his service and nobility) along with his chauffeur. Soon, the hangar doors opened and the shuttle was off into orbit.

Wintreath Spacedock

Seeing Wintreath from space was just as magnificent as the pictures. To celebrate the occasion of the sight, Aurelius poured himself a glass of whiskey from the shuttle's minibar. Several minutes later, the Wintreath Spacedock was in sight.

Aurelius decided to quickly get through the spacedock. With his benefits and identification, he managed to quickly arrive at the shuttlebay. With the same benefits and ID, he practically bypassed security (where he received curious looks by the guards do to his clothing he was wearing) and was on his way to the USS Frosthold.

USS Frosthold

The ship looked magnificent. His brother had managed to get him pictures of what was basically the Frosthold's sister ship, the USS Wintreath and the USS Frosthold was, if not better, equal in looks. Even with the rushed production, (There was no hiding from Aurelius that the ship would be rushed with the time span in between the two expeditions) a few years of research did it well, despite its probable flaws and inefficiencies.

In a few minutes, the shuttle safely landed within the great metal beast. Aurelius gathered his belongings and entered the hanger. He was in awe. After taking in his surroundings, he looked at his map on his watch and headed towards in his room, looking at the various neat gadgets and technology that was poured into the ship.

Aurelius was pleased with his personal chamber. He unpacked his belongings, the few extra garments he packed, and anything he considered priceless to leave behind. He set up Qwerty's charging station and decided to further analyse the ship and its various rooms. The USS Frosthold appeared to have the same discretionary rooms the USS Wintreath had, along with its various vital systems.

Aurelius wondered about the quality of the technology the ship hosted with the same ambition the USS Wintreath had, but not the time. He ended up deciding that he would have to help with whatever flaws the ship had and decided to just explore the ship personally. Thus, he reactivated Qwerty.

"I would surmise with my activation that we are on board the pride of Wintreath, the USS Frosthold."

"You would surmise correctly. It's quite a lot to take in, so we're just going to have a gander around."

"Ah, this is amazing. An adventure. Well, a quick scan of the ship provides some interesting results, but I'll need to have a closer look for some more detailed scans."

"Always ready to help out I see. Glad you're here to contribute."

"What kind words. Now enough with the dialogue, I'm ready."

Aurelius nodded and began his surveying of the ship by wandering around its corridors.

PAAR-85, "Perry"

Spoiler

Perry looked at the ship as his face showed an awe emotion. Impressive ship. He would need to acquire the full layout and probably get some more in depth dossiers of all the crew going. Personalities, strengths, weaknesses, kill plans. Probably start with the captain. Cut off the head and all that...

Spoiler

He had been "assigned" to the maintenance bay. Best place for a robot, supposedly. He found an empty info jack for terminals. Perfect. He slid out the interface in his arm (doubles as a nifty stabbing implement) and slot it in. In 3 seconds he downloaded all files on the central mainframe and wiped his intrusion from the system. Hehehehe, this was easy. Full blueprints and crew dossiers. Excellent. He turned to his bay where his bag and few belongings where and took inventory. His twin blasters where here, along with his assorted explosives and knives. Excellent. He put them back into his bag. Time to meet the captain...

Johann had arrived on the ship a little before some of the other officers. He wanted to learn more about this ship he was going to be staying on. Layout, security systems (though he would be in charge of many of them), and especially weaknesses. He wasn't planning to stage a mutiny...yet, though it didn't hurt to be prepared. Sipping a cup of coffee in the Security Center, he looked through the dossiers of the various section heads. He didn't see any that stood out in particular, so he took to figuring out the Chief he was going to work under.
"Pretty serious guy..." the old man grumbled, "he could be trouble. Suddenly Johann saw him enter the other side of the room, drop off his things in a locker, and go on patrol immediately.

"Yep, definitely trouble..."

Making my way down the corridor, walking past, faces pass...

Alexsandrov Estate

Aurelius wasn't sure what to feel of his departure. Would he miss his home? Probably not. He had little attachment to his homeland. He wasn't fond of his childhood. Due to his birth into the Acarian, and therefore Wintreath nobility, his parents were quite strict and controlling. Most of what he remembered was with his times spent with his older brother Alexsandr, whom he considered to be closest to. Ever since he joined the Wintreath Officer Institute of Military Engineering and Science, Aurelius communicated little with his family and relatives. He would then proceeded to create his own cadet branch of his dynasty. And several years ago his parents died in their estate due to some arson related assassination, which was greatly exaggerated by the Wintreath media. Aurelius was alive after all.

However, Aurelius would leave some close friends he befriended in his military service. He said his goodbyes to his comrades and had one final night in the pub with the lads. He would miss his house most, which contained much of his personal experiments and projects. He was thankful that his house would practically be his forever; he had more than enough drakoes (The United Acarian Empires still refused to let go of their own currency despite their joining into Wintreath) to pay for any bills. His personal, custom-made household bots would take good care of the place.

With all his belongings that he considered important to bring packed, he just had one thing left to do. He activated his luxury watch and turned on his personal project.

A voice asked from upstairs, "Ah master Aurelius, is it already time to leave the rock you call Wintreath?"

"Yes Qwerty, it is already that time," Aurelius said with a smile. His personal project turned out to be a success in the end, with his many years of research and work on it. A fully functional semi-sentient robot, whom some would call a droid, as a companion! Aurelius was elated when he first activated it. He got the name Qwerty from a type of keyboard that was in use.

"Well, already exploring the cosmos! How exciting, and me, Qwerty, tagging alongside with you on your journey. Who knows what we'll find out there. Aliens, strange flora and fauna, little teddy bears that can destroy an advanced galactic empire! Oh, the possibilities."

"It'll certainly be quite a journey. Now, let's do these final checks and make sure you're correctly calibrated to my watch..."

"Of course, now the checklist. House all neat and tidy? Caretaking of residence setup? Everything locked up and secure?"

"Check, check and check."

"Said goodbye to everyone that you want to, especially one... that you consider special?" asked Qwerty in quite a suggestive tone.

Aurelius raised his eyebrows at Qwerty. "You know there's no one like that here."

"How unfortunate. I'd expect one like you would pick up someone or two. Guess you'll have to make do with-"

"Oh shut up and continue the checklist."

"Oh fine... Let's make sure we're not forgetting anything. Good looks? Check. Humour? Check! Luggage? Luggage! Now where did I leave my luggage?"

"You're a droid. You don't need any luggage, and I have your charging equipment already packed!"

"I have some personal belongings too you know. Oh well, they're not needed."

"Now, let's make sure you're calibrated and synced properly with my watch."

"Everything seems to be good and functioning correctly. Now hurry up and let's leave."

"You're an impatient one. Now get in the suitcase."

"I'm not the only guilty party here! And I have rights too... maybe not legally yet, but from my point of view I do! Imagine what I could do with the freedom... The universe would be in my domain! Mwahahahahahhahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...." Aurelius just looked at Qwerty. "Fine, I'll get in the suitcase." Qwerty slowly set himself in the suitcase and deactivated.

With that finished, Aurelius was on his way to the Imperial City's shuttleport via the underground. There, he found his personal shuttle (Courtesy from both the UAE and Wintreath for his service and nobility) along with his chauffeur. Soon, the hangar doors opened and the shuttle was off into orbit.

Wintreath Spacedock

Seeing Wintreath from space was just as magnificent as the pictures. To celebrate the occasion of the sight, Aurelius poured himself a glass of whiskey from the shuttle's minibar. Several minutes later, the Wintreath Spacedock was in sight.

Aurelius decided to quickly get through the spacedock. With his benefits and identification, he managed to quickly arrive at the shuttlebay. With the same benefits and ID, he practically bypassed security (where he received curious looks by the guards do to his clothing he was wearing) and was on his way to the USS Frosthold.

USS Frosthold

The ship looked magnificent. His brother had managed to get him pictures of what was basically the Frosthold's sister ship, the USS Wintreath and the USS Frosthold was, if not better, equal in looks. Even with the rushed production, (There was no hiding from Aurelius that the ship would be rushed with the time span in between the two expeditions) a few years of research did it well, despite its probable flaws and inefficiencies.

In a few minutes, the shuttle safely landed within the great metal beast. Aurelius gathered his belongings and entered the hanger. He was in awe. After taking in his surroundings, he looked at his map on his watch and headed towards in his room, looking at the various neat gadgets and technology that was poured into the ship.

Aurelius was pleased with his personal chamber. He unpacked his belongings, the few extra garments he packed, and anything he considered priceless to leave behind. He set up Qwerty's charging station and decided to further analyse the ship and its various rooms. The USS Frosthold appeared to have the same discretionary rooms the USS Wintreath had, along with its various vital systems.

Aurelius wondered about the quality of the technology the ship hosted with the same ambition the USS Wintreath had, but not the time. He ended up deciding that he would have to help with whatever flaws the ship had and decided to just explore the ship personally. Thus, he reactivated Qwerty.

"I would surmise with my activation that we are on board the pride of Wintreath, the USS Frosthold."

"You would surmise correctly. It's quite a lot to take in, so we're just going to have a gander around."

"Ah, this is amazing. An adventure. Well, a quick scan of the ship provides some interesting results, but I'll need to have a closer look for some more detailed scans."

"Always ready to help out I see. Glad you're here to contribute."

"What kind words. Now enough with the dialogue, I'm ready."

Aurelius nodded and began his surveying of the ship by wandering around its corridors.

After finishing his coffee and his reading, he decided to patrol opposite his 'commander'. With hope he could make a few allies onboard should anything go south.

Wandering the ship's corridors and torrenting a movie on his eyepiece, Johann spotted a man in the corner of his eye who was seemingly scanning the ship. On closer inspection he looked eerily like Johann did when he was younger and hadn't lost his face and frame to age and fighting, though even back then Johann was much meatier than the man before him, who he had started to recognize from the dossiers as the robotics officer, Aurelius Alexandrov. Recalling his need to get some allies onboard, he decided to talk to the egghead.

"Picking up anything interesting?"

PAAR-85, "Perry"

Spoiler

Perry walked down the corridor with his "normal" face on. He was going towards the bridge, it was customary to introduce himself to his employer. He was unsure just how much the Captain knew about him and his....

Spoiler

...additional functions, but she certainly did not know about his own....'personal' reason for joining this mission. This mission would eventually cross the path of the original expedition, finding.... HKR-47. The myth. The Legend. Able to do what no robot had ever done before. And when Perry found him, there was a question he had to ask him. He was determined to find HKR. He will find HKR.....

Spoiler

....but that was for another time. He entered the bridge and looked around, scanning for the Captain.....

Namora was already onboard working with the engineering teams and trying to get the ship as ready for service as she could before casting off. She was incredibly busy with her work, as she was racing against the clock.

Vau checked his display which pinged him as each of the security team logged on board. He noted the officers and in particular Officer Johann von Tomlin, whom he had read about his shady yet impressive past. He figured that eventually he would get around to checking in with them, most likely at the first briefing. Until then he just wanted to get a walk around. He passed by the PAAR-85 unit he had been told about. The Yaim Rusurian chuckled, because unlike many of the naïve crewmembers, he was not fooled by the drone. Yaim Rusur had in fact, unofficially of course, sent combat data for the creation of similar drones to Gralend before. Kal Vau paid him no mind. As a soldier he knew the dangers these bots posed, and figured that whatever it's goal was is none of his concern so long as it doesn't endanger the mission.
"In fact having the droid on board could be very useful should we come under attack out there," He thought to himself. Vau kept going until he realized he should visit the bridge as well, seeing as it was and integral part of the security and weapon systems.

Namora was already onboard working with the engineering teams and trying to get the ship as ready for service as she could before casting off. She was incredibly busy with her work, as she was racing against the clock.

After getting bored of waiting, Julio wandered around and looked for his next objective. He almost literally ran into Namora as she raced about the ship.
"Oh, sorry- Wait a second, I'm supposed to report to you!"
He saluted in Thalasi style.
"Julio Perez, Propulsion Specialist, or something like that."

"Good to see you finally made it, Lieutenant Perez. I could really use your help with fine tuning the Warp core. We have an hour at best to get this ship capable of reaching it's top speed. Hop to it!" And then she continued on her way.

PAAR-85, 'Perry'

Spoiler

...and found her. There she was, standing in the middle of the bridge. Perry walked up to her and began speaking. Time to put his game face on....

"Introduction: Hello, Captain T'plail! I am PAAR (Proprietary Automated Assistance Robot) number 85. My personal designation is 'Perry' if that is more convenient for you. I have been contracted by the United Gralend Corporation to the Wintreath Government to assist you in your mission!"

"Statement: I am programmed in all known languages and protocols for all known cultures. I am also programmed in many different types of food preparation and survival scenarios."

Spoiler

"Humorous Statement: You could say that I am a Jack of all trades, Master of all. Hahahaha."

Spoiler

"Query: But, Captain, I must confess, I am not sure how much the UGC told you about me. Such things are usually not shared with me. So I must ask, Captain...

...Just what do you know about me and my functions?"

Aurelius had explored only a few rooms, mostly the luxuries that Wintreath was nice enough to provide, with Qwerty slowly trailing behind due to taking in all the details of a room before he heard a voice saying "Picking up anything interesting?"

He turned towards the voice and saw that it was one of the other more important crewmembers, a guy named Johann von Tomlin.

" 'Ello there. I haven't picked up anything interesting quite yet. After all, I've only begun exploring about 30 minutes ago. I've mostly only looked through the luxuries provided on this ship. By the way, my name is Aurelius Alexsandrov. Nice to meet you."

Aurelius extended his hand out in greeting.

Aurelius had explored only a few rooms, mostly the luxuries that Wintreath was nice enough to provide, with Qwerty slowly trailing behind due to taking in all the details of a room before he heard a voice saying "Picking up anything interesting?"

He turned towards the voice and saw that it was one of the other more important crewmembers, a guy named Johann von Tomlin.

" 'Ello there. I haven't picked up anything interesting quite yet. After all, I've only begun exploring about 30 minutes ago. I've mostly only looked through the luxuries provided on this ship. By the way, my name is Aurelius Alexsandrov. Nice to meet you."

Aurelius extended his hand out in greeting.

Shaking the man's hand firmly, maybe a bit too firm considering their respective body masses, he responded
"Johann von Tomlin. Security. Saw your dossier, said you're in charge of robotics. Well, you see any of them start going all 'destroy all humans' you just let me know."
He said that last line with a bit of a chuckle, and was going to start some discussion until he got a notice on his eyepiece about reporting to the bridge with all the others.
"Well, looks like I gotta work. Guess I'll see ya. Oh, and one last thing, I'd like to see the results of your scanning when it's done. Used to be an engineer, might find some of it interesting."