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Space Expeditions: Deep Space Wintreath

Deep Space Wintreath IC Thread: So It Begins

Far in the Future, a lone Mayyoran pilot achieves faster than light travel.  Apprehensive, but ultimately optimistic, the first few Mayyoran explorers venture into nearby unknown systems, at long last leaving the influence of their own star, Maig, for the first time... 

Keffar System, Y(K)U 3114

A flash of light, and a small Mayyoran vessel bursts back into realspace.  Unbeknownst to it, they have entered a blockaded system...

KDC Gollmar, Kerdossian Battlecruiser
"Gul!  Unidentified Alien Vessel has come out of warp.  Orders?  Scan and begin an intercept.  Orders are to intercept all vessels, regardless.  None can be allowed to relieve the seige of Boa!"

The cruiser moves to intercept the Mayyoran vessel, broadcasting a general notice of the embargo and demands that the Mayyoran vessel comply with search procedures in all languages in the Kerdossian database.

"Sir!  Kl'aarg fleet decloaking on our port!"
"Power weapons and prepare firing solutions!"

A fleet of six Kl'aarg destroyers decloaks, and begins pounding the Gollmar.  The stunned Mayyoran exploratory vessel, crewed by only six, watches the pitched battle, and attempts to move off.  A lone Kl'aarg destroyer breaks off from the main battle.  A blinding white light, and the Mayyoran vessel and its crew are little more than space dust, floating down toward the surface of the jungle world below...

Maigar System, Months Later

Horrified by the destruction of their people without cause, the Mayyorans frantically construct a plan to survive despite the massive conflict that they have discovered.  The last of their ragtag armada of hastily constructed exploration vessels leaves the system as a Kerdossian battlegroup enters the system, beginning construction on a massive outpost, the end of a string of space-based fortifications to secure the current Kl'aarg-Kerdossian border...

Maigar System, Five Years Later

A Wintrean fleet of ten ships enters the Maigar system.  Wintrean Fleet officers and crew have been dispatched to the Maigar system after a request by the government of Mayyor, a fledgling civilization which has only recently achieved warp flight.  The Third Kerdossian-Kl'aarg War has ended, and has been replaced with a fragile peace.  The Mayyor once again have a shaky control of their system, having requested protectorate status from the much larger Wintrean Federation.  At massive Kerdossian outpost, still in orbit of Mayyor, massive construction projects are underway to modify the station to fit Federation needs...

Bridge, USS Belladonna

"Commander Kusulk to bridge.  Commander Kusulk to bridge."

An irritated humanoid stumbled out of his bed. 
Christ I drank too much last night

The hungover commander tried to make the most of it, though.  Jogging out of his room, he headed toward sickbay and implored Dr. Iwa to do something about his headache.  After a few minutes, and feeling much better, Commander Saav Kusulk walked onto the bridge of the Belladonna, for what he feared was the last time. 

There, Commander Maya Goporov stood, prepared to relieve him of duty. 

He caressed the panels of the ship one last time, admiring its construction, taking a mental note of everything and everyone on the bridge, determined to not forget a thing.  He turned his attention then to the viewscreen, displaying a great space station just beyond the ship... Deep Space Wintreath.

"I am ready to relieve you, sir."
"I am ready to be relieved."
"She's a fine ship, with a fine crew.  And now, I think, a finer captain.  I stand relieved." 
Shuttle to Deep Space Wintreath

Two hours later, Saav Kusulk disembarked the Belladona the last time as commander, shuttled to Deep Space Wintreath.  The shuttle turned, presenting the gleaming ship to its previous commander one last time:

USS BELLADONA OVN-6206

Upon arrival at the station, Commander Kusulk was presented with the flurry of activity in Shuttlebay 5 that he had only read about in engineering reports for the past three weeks.  Nearly two dozen engineers performing every technical task under the sun.  He was even surprised that the landing bay was even halfway operation with the degree of it that was presently strewn about its own floor. 

Meanwhile, he was greeted with a similarly crazed auditory assault:

"Engineering Team 6 to Secondary EPS system.  Security Team 4 to Kuark's.  Communications Center requests Main Power reboot..."

"Not much of a looker, is she?" he exclaimed, walking out of the shuttlebay onto the promenade toward the bridge...

Deep Space Wintreath, Kuark's Bar

HKR-07

HKR stood behind the bar, cleaning a glass with mechanical precision. Considering it was a robot, mechanical precision was a given. It raised the glass to his photo receptors, data indicating that the glass was now pristine. It nodded slightly, content in having cleaned it to perfection. Then it took a step back, dodging the figure of one of Kuark's customers being tossed behind the bar. The man slammed into the drinks cabinet, fortunately in such a way as to not damage anything and began to try to stand up before another man jumped onto the bar and hurled himself at the first man.

HKR took a look around the bar. There was a full blown brawl going on, it had been for about 3 minutes now. HKR remembered when the first insult from one of the remaining Kerdossian personnel still yet to be evacuated to one of the Mayyoran security staff members set this whole thing off. It had considered getting involved but had decided against it. After all, it was posing as an itinerant protocol droid working as a bartender, harmless and beneath notice. If it got involved and killed anyone, which it would do, then that image would start to break down to some extent.

Kuark, his nominal employer, came rushing behind the bar, ducking and cowering as he took cover. His panicked eyes looked up to HRK. "Well, don't just stand there you big lumbering robot! Do something!" HKR looked to the mewling Forongian cowering before him. "I am a protocol droid, sir. Violence is beyond my programming." Kuark snorted in disgust as he turned to run away, trying to find more security to break up this before any more of his property was destroyed. HKR made a mental note to introduce himself to the new security chief when they arrived. Such a person would be very useful to it....

One of the Mayyoran people caught HKR's photo receptor. Before it had come here it had never heard of the Mayyorans. Not a surprise, they were relatively new to the galactic scene. It seemed that after all this time HKR was still seeking out new life.

Seeking out new life.....

A memory flashed in its processor, a face, a name, a sentence, a conversation. Not for the first time HKR's processor began to play a memory it could not stop.

USS Wintreath, unknown space, several hundred years ago

HKR-07

HKR stood in the bridge, looking at the scene unfold before it. Captain Alexsandr stood before the whole assembled crew, explaining what had happened on that space station, the bodies they had found, the attack by the Acarian droids, how they had pieced together what had happened and how they had miraculously survived the station falling out of orbit to the planet below. HKR had to admit it, the Captain had quite the ability to explain a situation with intensity. HKR had been there itself and even it was taken in by how the Captain was speaking.

HKR looked up as the Captain continued speaking. "...and yes, it might have cost us our lives. But that is what we are here for. A once in a lifetime chance to explore the galaxy! We all knew it would be risky, that something might happen to us, that some of us might even perish. But we came here anyway. We are explorers in a new frontier, searching for new planets and seeking out new life. This might well be the single most important thing any of us ever do in this life. Take heart in that. We shall never be forgotten........"

HKR raised its hand to its face to where it had been struck by a bullet, right in the face below a photo receptor. There was a big scratch where the bullet bounced off. HKR felt the scratch as it considered the Captain's words. For the first time in its relatively short life HKR.....felt? Could it even feel things? It did not know, but it eas experiencing something it could not describe. A quick diagnostic showed that the closest human emotion was pride. Was it proud to be along for this great adventure? HKR processed what it was thinking as it continued to feel the scratch on its face.....

Deep Space Wintreath, Kuark's Bar, Modern day

HKR-07

HKR felt the scratch on its face. It was still there, even after all this time. Everyone on the USS Wintreath was dead now, they just had to be. Everyone but HKR. They had been like a family to HKR, for the first time HKR felt like it had something it could call a home on that ship with those strange, strange people. The memory of that ship made HKR feel a new emotion, something that made him feel bad and regretful. Captain Alexsandr had said they would be remembered forever, that they would never be forgotten. Now, though, in this brave new world, no one knew who they were. No one remembered, no one even cared they were gone. HKR could barely remember them, it struggled to remember the crew and what had happened to it. But it would. It would remember and it would find out what had happened. It was still here. As long as it was, they would never be forgotten. Never.


Never.

Bridge, Deep Space Wintreath

Talaria was practically bouncing in place, as she waited patiently on the bridge for the commander.

This was not her first position within the federation. She'd graduated from her doctorate academy at 22, the youngest graduate in nearly 40 years, and practically flew through the federation training, completing what took the average human four years in one and a half. However, it would be her first officer position, should Commander Kusulk accept her.

She couldn't help her mind wandering back to her mother's disappointed face the day she left Monam:
"Why do you want to leave? There's plenty to learn here." Her mother had pleaded, giving a meaningful glance toward her father.
"She's right. You could go back for a second doctorate! Find a nice Monampal spouse..."  he trailed off. "Monam is a paradise, what need have you to go elsewhere?"
"How can such intelligent people still be so narrow-minded? There is an entire universe of information we don't know-- we can't know! We can't learn about all the universe has to offer hiding on Monam due to some twisted xenophobia,"  Talaria said exasperated. However, seeing no change in her parent's she continued dejectedly, "I will call you when I can, I love you both."
They have yet to answer the phone.
Talaria looked around the bridge, seeing sideways glances from other officers wondering what she was doing, she saw her possible future station sitting vacant, and her excitement returned.

Deep Space Wintreath, Medical Bay

A stabbing, and a bar fight were the sources of K011's biggest threats to neutralize today. The ER was always busy on the station, primarily from various work related accidents, but recently there had been an uptick in fights between the Kerdossians and the other species who bled orange that K011 hadn't cared to learn the name of, the only reason he knew the name Kerdossian was because of training.

The stabbing had been a bigger issue, the victim was a human, stabbed six times, five times in the gut and once in the neck. Unsurprisingly, he had expired shortly after arriving, but in the short time he lived, he made a significant mess of the station the nurses brought him to, and it was K011's job to clean it up.

According to the few who acknowledged K011's presence, often seemed to note how 'outdated' his cleaning method was, making use of a mop, wash cloths, a couple of buckets full of soapy water, and spray bottles of disinfectant. K011 could agree that the technology used in the process was archaic, but from the time he could understand speech he had been taught that technology was only as useful as the person using it, and K011 had no intention of trusting machines to perform his duties up to his standards.

Upon request from the nearby blood covered nurse who just lost her patient, K011 helped move the corpse of the stabbing victim to the morgue, before returning to clean up the 'room' where the man died. Wiping down the exam table, and mopping up the floor, it was all rhythmic and mechanical, one of the few things that ever brought K011 comfort in his 12 years of existence.

Just as he put the finishing touches on his clean up of the station, the wounded from the bar fight came staggering through the door, and a Kerdossian with a broken nose starting bleeding on the table all over again. K011 made no notice of it, and returned to the Janitor's closet where he refreshed his equipment in preparation for his next assignment...

Deep Space Wintreath, Shi'vali Suits and Sips and Shots

Dimitrius was tending to a new fashion garment as he listened to the fight at old Kuark's. He had set up shop strategically close, to provide some friendly competition, while also flaunting his more modern style with different options besides just booze. His primary business was the tailor shop of course, but he also offered drinks of intoxication or merely cute little teas and coffees or other warm beverages of the different cultures of the world. His jewelry jingling with each step he couldn't help but laugh as the Forongian ran, the big eared fool. He admired the man's style, though it seemed too restrictive, unlike the flowing gymnastic like movements possible in Shi'vali clothing. As he passed Dimitrius shouted "Ahhhh a classic sight, retreating in style eh?" before laughing to himself and walking back into his establishment. An exotic music was playing as he walked around. He often had points of low activity, but this did not bother him, and in the empty shop Dimitrius began to dance to his store's music. He kept a passive note of all that went passed, including the security to whom he frowned to himself, before smiling again and continuing this ornate dance for his audience of mannequins.

Just outside the bridge, DSW

"Damn door actuators are malfunctioning again," growled the tall Fenrir. Lieutenant Zerick, in his attempt to access the bridge for the welcoming of the Commander, discovered the door was having problems yet again. "This is the third time in two days..." He quickly got out his tools and popped open the maintenance panel for the door then began to isolate the problem and proceed to fix it.

It didn't take him too terribly long, as he had become very familiar with the inner workings of the doors on the station since his arrival. Every single one was fubar. Getting to the bridge for the first time upon arrival required an excessive use of strength by the wolf man. And boy how the bridge was wrecked when he got to it. It took an entire team of engineers two and a half weeks to get the controls somewhat functional again. In that time, the Lieutenant and his personal team of engineers brought the station's power back online and repaired the life support systems. For the last four weeks it has been nonstop 20 hour days for him and his engineering teams to get things operational. And while the station can technically function now, the place is still a massive project. All the while Zerick was fixing the door actuators, he was thinking to himself how best to explain the situation to the Commander. After the little bit of time he had, he decided to keep it simple and direct. No use in beating around the bush for this one.

Upon entering the bridge, he noted the Monampal bouncing up and down. "Too much raktajino? Looks like that caffeine is really getting to you," he said to her with a little bit of a smug smile on his face before going to the sensor controls and proceeding to coordinate efforts with one of his teams to get sensors functioning properly.

Medical Bay, Deep Space Wintreath

Kry forced the back door into the Med bay open, straining against the edge of the door and using her feet to push it open. Her clawed legs provided extra support, leaving scratches in the floor as she wedged her way though. She would have to put in a maintenance request as soon as possible.

What would become her office had been left in a state of serious disrepair, which she couldn't blame the previous occupants for. She wouldn't want anyone stealing her technology either, but was it really necessary to bash in the computer terminal? Sighing, she deposited her equipment on a shelf she unceremoniously cleared with one appendage and walked out into the main bay.

The first victims of the fight down at Kuarks were starting to trickle in, soiling her medbay. Some species could be so messy. She had little sympathy for those who willingly inflicted harm on others. As she idly set to work none too gently on the Kerdossian's nose, she wondered if she was supposed to report to the bridge to welcome the commander. She figured she could play that one by ear. Her patients, though stupid beings that liked to pick fights, needed her assistance, and that was her priority. She directed new patients to tables as they came in, a line of bruises and broken bones forming as security dropped off the aggressors of the bar fight. She sent a half hearted glare at the security ensigns which now lounged around her medbay, getting in the way. But they kept the peace, which she was grateful for.

As she moved on to her third patient, she wondered where the janitor she had been informed about was. If they could clean the tables in between patients, she and the nurses would have a much easier time  cycling through people. Extra hands always helped. Asking a nurse, she turned slightly and used one long appendage to knock on the closet door.

Deep Space Wintreath, Medical Bay

K011 had just finished refilling his buckets with fresh soapy water when the knock came upon his door. Typically the staff didn't bother to knock if they wanted something, so he was somewhat perplexed, but he got up grabbing hold of his equipment and opened the door. Greeting him at the door was one of the long metallic legs of a Cyarenea. Following the appendage to it's source, he locked eyes with her and greeted her in a tone attributed to any soldier addressing a superior officer in the Cyarenea's own language, "What can I do for you Si-.." he still struggled to cut the 'sir' from his speech. As he waited for a response his gaze momentarily left eye contact to see the mess that was being made by the whining and groaning wounded from the bar fight and had a feeling he already knew what the stranger was going to ask him.

Initiating Startup...

Initialising Standard Checks...

All Systems Stable!

Location: Deep Space Wintreath, Maigar System

Local Standard Time is 27:04:10 and the local date is 04/14/7051 according to the current Mayyoran Calendar, Wintreath Galactic Standard Time is ERROR and the date is ERROR


Some systems will be unaccessable until a sync is completed with the Wintreath Galactic Standard Time

And thus, QWERTY opened his eyes - well - one, bright glowing eye that was close in colouration to that of the local blue giant, a Class O star. Definitely not in luminosity though. If only, if only he could blind his foes with an eye as bright as a thousand suns.

Actually, that sounded pretty bad for his circuits and electricity consumption.

QWERTY looked around his room, generously given by the previous resident who met an unfortunate, gruesome death on one of the local planets. Well, by look, he technically could "see" in three hundred sixty degrees, but it was much easier for the humanoids to focus on something. That something being his giant, neon eye. That allowed him to form a high quality image that he could sense, an image that would normally form in the retina of an organic eye, allowing QWERTY to better relate and integrate with humans. This eye had a frontal, 180 degree view. The other 180 degrees were analysed by a variety of complicated sensors that gave him an image that lacked colour and flavour.

The room contained quite a large bed for its one inhabitant and no, it wasn't QWERTY. It was a guinea pig, or a cavy as called by some scientific nerds. A much larger than average version with brown fur varied by a collar of white fur. A pair of eyes as black as coal stared at him, as its nose twitched. Meanwhile, he himself slept in a cozy, rooming charging pad that he built with his.... spare hands...? That was a mystery he would have to solve later.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MOOOOOOOOOOOORNINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG 'NAMMMMMMM."

The guinea pig squeaked loudly in response prompting QWERTY to look down at him.

"What master? I'll have you know 'nam is a very important event to remember, and thus by remembering the quote from the movie we can all remember that important bit of history thousands of years ago."'

Squeak squeak!

"Yes, I already prepared you food. No, it is not the garbage that they sometimes serve on this station." QWERTY's round body shook left and right as if it was a head shaking. "My food is great, what the hell are you talking about?"

Squeak.

"If you don't enjoy it, too bad. That's all you're getting. Now, a little birdy told me about an exciting fact of life on this boring dump. The station finally got its commander! Isn't that exciting? Something tells me that High Command didn't receive the message about transporting me back home, though. Oh well, that means I can continue taking care of you. Since you know, my caretaking skills is level 100."

The droid left the room with ease, a result of having one of the few working doors. It seemed that downloading the digital dictionaries that were left behind was actually valuable. After all, it made understanding the manuals to everything on the station much easier. Just... forget the fact that he accidentally wiped said dictionaries from the station database. Thankfully, QWERTY doesn't leave much of a digital footprint in systems. A positive of Quantum Physics he supposed. Though, there were certain vulnerabilities that existed in his quantum security system. He never should have looked into that Kerdossian porn. Something he'd have to tediously fix sometime in the future.

He hovered like a balloon through the halls that seriously needed some repairs and touch-ups. QWERTY would have helped, but the station wasn't his responsibility. Him and his master would live even if the rust bucket suddenly disintegrated.

QWERTY started quietly singing a tune to himself, a melody of an old forgotten song from an ancient franchise. "Just another Sunday morning in my quiet space station." Meanwhile, he drifted past a rather bloody scene at the bar, full of loud moans of pain and the yelling of medical staff, on his way to the bridge to personally meet the new commander. Of course, QWERTY was a very important individual on the station.

Deep Space Wintreath, Medical Bay

Kry was somewhat surprised to find a human janitor, but the surprise quickly changed to confusion when he addressed her in her own language.

"What can I do for you Si-.."

Her confusion melted away to understanding as he choked on his last word, her eyes raking over his appearance. She had studied the clones extensively in her extra years at the academy. Marvels of genetic engineering. And while she appreciated everything they were, it was still a process she would love to see die out. It was simply... inhumane.

"I'm afraid there's a bit of a mess being made out here. If there isn't a more pressing matter on this mess of a station, would you mind doing something about it?" She would understand if he refused. It was her mess, and she had worked in far worse conditions. The nurses, on the other hand, had something against visible contamination. They had tools to prevent any possible contaminants in this day and age. Kry did not see how anyone could avoid contamination on this station no matter how "clean" any item was, what with all the junk on the floor and dirt in the air filtration system. Even her sterile room was barley what she would consider properly clean for a basic med bay.
She would admit, however, that the Medbay was by far the tidiest place she had visited on the station. The janitor clearly took pride in his work. It just simply wasn't possible to make things orderly at this point in time. It would take a full crew several hours to straighten things out.
She gave the human a slight smile before returning to her patients. More were coming in by the minute. She could only hope nothing too pressing came up during all this mess.

K011's suspicions were correct, the Cyarenea wanted him to help clean up the Medbay, he nodded to her and said in his usual near monotone, "Affirmative," and set off into the midst of the chaos as if it were a calm sunday afternoon cleaning every station with mechanical efficiency. One of the Kerdossians who had an artery in his arm cut with a beer bottle sprayed blood everywhere splattering the Clone with it, he didn't even flinch, simply wiping it out of his eyes and washing his hands off into his bucket before moving on. The nurses by now were used to the Clone's methods and calm under high stress situations. They all still feared him, but they appreciated his good work.

Promenade, Deep Space Wintreath

Kusulk looked around a bit at the eclectic mix of shops and locations on the promenade deck of his new station.

The station's medical bay, Kuark's Bar—conveniently near station security—still reeling in the aftermath of what looked like a considerable brawl... a tailor's shop ... a Raisin Emplorium!?  Yikes I'll have to take a better look at this place later!

He continued moving along the promenade, nodding at Fleet personnel fixing everything from the deck itself to lighting and environmental controls. 

Finally arriving at what he believed to be the turbolift and entrance to the Bridge, he sighed, and prepared to meet the main crew. 

Main Bridge, Deep Space Wintreath

The turbolift opened, revealing a rather comical scene.  It seemed the first batch of crew had restored some functioning to the bridge and replaced most of the terminals, but various lights sputtering in and flickering out informed Commander Kusulk that there was still a lot of work, even on the bridge.  An annoyed Fenrir seemed to be trying to engage in a bit of a conversation with a Monampal. 

Well considering we've only got three Fenrir on the crew, and this one's on the bridge, I'll bet that's Zerick Aldrnari.  Similarly, there couldn't be confusing a Monampal with hardly anyone, especially considering to his knowledge there was only one on staff.

"Well it would appear I've successfully found the bridge!" Saav boomed, hoping to get the attention of at least most of the bridge. 
He then moved over toward the bridge stations.
"Lieutenant Aldrnari, I presume?  And you must be Lieutenant Omlo?  Excellent to meet you both!" 

Zerick pulled his attention away from his console when he heard Commander Saav, clearly his new Commander given the authority the guy held in his aura. The Lieutenant saluted the Commander. "Welcome to Deep Shit Wintreath, sir."

"My species doesn't process caffeine the same way most do, it has no real effect on me," Taralia told the person in operations red. Shortly thereafter there was a sliding sound, indicating someone had walked onto the bridge.

"Well it would appear I've successfully found the bridge!" Voloran-looking man in command red boomed. Most people on the bridge jumped to their feet. "Lieutenant Aldrnari, I presume?  And you must be Lieutenant Omlo?  Excellent to meet you both!"

The wolf-man, clearly Lieutenant Aldrnari, saluted saying "Welcome to Deep Shit Wintreath, sir."

"You must be Captain Kusulk!" Taralia answered excitedly, with a hasty salute. "It's a pleasure to meet you, but it’s actually Doctor Orlo, if you don’t mind. I was transferred to fill the position of chief of science, however, I can go back as soon as you find someone suitable to fill the position. The Admiral didn't want you to start off with an incomplete command."

She laughed uncomfortably before looking down, "In any case, sir, I'm at your disposal."