Thirty stazura
... blimey!This is good. Quite broadly developed, there are a lot of different ways this could go. I look forward to seeing how it progresses!
The Earth Ship
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RSDark_Angel
- Posts: 124
- Joined: Sat, 25. Jun 05, 12:33
Chapter 2 – Gathering Intelligence
Slow dark shapes flickered here and there at the back of his mind. Sounds, noises, the cold feel of the space suit through his coveralls. Everything spun, everything seemed all too familiar but again all too far away, the shadowy form of the Split Dragon was getting bigger, and fast. Julian gripped Nova Alpha one's control stick tighter as the M6 got closer and closer, letting loose a hail of Mass Driver fire at the last moment. Then he was sat back in the simulation chair with the VR equipment wired up to the helmet and visor over his eyes. He swung Helios around into the trail of lubricant and debris leaking out from a wounded Mamba and opened fire with the three alien energy weapons. The beams lanced out and tore through the remnants of an ancient Jump Gate. Only he wasn't in Helios, he was back in the cockpit of Alpha 1 and the Mamba's were everywhere, orange hue of the nebula in Rhy's Desire mingled in with the dark blue of the Unknown Sector, creating a moldy custard effect that lit up the inside of the Nova in an eerie light. The Mamba before him broke apart under his heavy HEPT fire, the fragments of metal spreading out in an ever expanding debris cloud. He switched targets and went after another Mamba. The plasma shots left his cannons and hurtled through the cramped tunnel towards the Pirate Bayamon in front of him. He screamed as the rounds slammed into Reaper, tearing her apart and instantly killing her occupant. Julian twisted the control stick to try and ram Alpha 1 into the wall but the ship refused to turn. The control stick melted from his grip and the atmosphere in the cockpit suddenly became all too uncomfortably warm. The bugs were getting through. They chewed at the hull, gnawing away at the Nova until the ship cracked and fell away around him. The heat level shot through the roof as the bugs began to eat the fibers of Julian's space suit. Julian writhed in space, trying to wriggle the bugs off his armored suit. He tossed and turned and awoke to the sound of his own heart thumping wildly in his ribcage.
He lay half in and half out of the crumpled sweaty sheets. He lay back for several seconds, allowing his racing heart to calm down. He slowly turned around and placed his bare feet on the metal decking. The cold metal made him shiver. He stood up delicately to avoid provoking the lurking threat of a migraine right at the back of his eye sockets.
“lights” he grunted as he moped around for his coveralls. Lamps flickered to life and Julian had to squint to look around. He saw his coveralls on the floor and walked over to them, still squinting at the glare from the lights. He had barely picked them up before he dropped them back on the floor in disgust. He had been waring them for the past thirty odd stazuras and the lengthy period of time had left its mark. He grabbed the coveralls and threw them into the laundry chute at the far end of the room. They missed their intended target and slithered down the wall. Julian stared at them for a while, grunted and then turned for the cleanser block, scratching his left armpit.
* * *
At that very moment, Jo Rider stood on the decking of one of the Razor's many corridors, looking out into the deep voice of space beyond. She had left her wheelchair back at her quarters, now being able to walk properly without collapsing every now and again. She watched at the liveliness of the system. In the distance, the Teladi Stations could be seen, the small flecks of transporter ships going about their daily business, impervious to the military presence sat only a few klicks away. Several inquisitive M5s had come within scanner range, but had quickly retreated back to the relative safety of the Teladian network of stations. Through the port, Jo could see the reassuring form of the Thunderhawk, standing vigilant over the Rhy's Desire gate. She had also tried to grasp some sleep like Julian but hadn't managed to get it, even though her eyes felt so heavy that they might fall through her upper jaw and into her mouth. She leaned forward and let her forehead press on the cold plasteel of the window. She breathed on the transparent material and watched as her breath condensed and left a blurred stain. She stood up straight again and looked back out at the stars.
“Beautiful when admired by apprecccciating eyessss” the voice made her jump. It came from behind her. She turned around to face the newcomer. A tall Teladi male stood directly behind her, his purple/blue reptilian skin glinting moistly in the artificial light.
“Oh, hello, I didn't see you there” Jo said, turning fully to face him. The Teladi smiled at her, an obviously practiced task seeing as Teladian folk don't usually tend to smile. “Allow me to introduccce myssself. I am Sssalamanca Issskander Androzallusss the third, I am chief engineer on board vessssel Sssamarkand. Pleasssed to be meeting yousss”
Jo smiled back and held out her hand palm upwards in the Teladi way of greeting. “Jo Rider, I used to be a personal trader for Mr Gardna, but I'm not entirely sure what role I play corporation wise any more. If you don't mind me asking, If your based on the Samarkand, why are you here?”
“I am awaiting meetingsss in ssseminar roomsss”
Jo looked puzzled “What meetings?”
“Meetingsss for engineersss to assssessss damagesss” Salamanca stated.
“Oh yes, of course, I just wondered that's all, Julian is hosting another meeting, I think, to do with the current situation.”
“Yesss, methinksss I will be attending that too, I have a messssage from Missster Gardna sssaying he may need a wordsss”
Jo turned back to the window. The Teladi moved up to join her. “I have been working on Mr Gardna'sss persssonal Nova, the damagesss done to the outer hull are quite disssturbing”
“Tell me about it, I was in there”
“The hull hasss been eroded quite ssseverely, it seemsss thessse creaturesss you dissscovered live on certain metal elementsss that they mussst find sssomewhere in the cloudsss or maybe in the asssteroidsss methinksss.”
“It seemed like the cockpit continued to get warmer by the sezura whilst we were in there, do you have a conclusion for that?”
Salamanca raised his head to look at the ceiling “Easssily explained my dearsss, the coppersss element in the coolant sssyssstems running the length of the shipsss body wasss one of the elementsss that I found to be quite low. The creaturesss must need copper asss one of their energy sssources”
“oh, cool” Jo said, not quite listening any more as she had spotted a Split Scorpion fly out of the huge Jump Gate and head for the heart of the Teladi system.
“No, it would not have been coolsss, do you underssstand what I am sssayingsss?”
“Yeah. Oh sorry, it's a term, a phrase. A bit of Argon rubbish, thats all”
Salamanca shook his big blue head as Joe walked down the corridor, her eyes on the Scorpion. “Humansss” he hissed to himself as she turned to look at him, satisfied when the Scorpion had docked with the Trading Station. “Sorry, you were saying lieutenant?”
* * *
Julian stepped out of the cleanser, feeling refreshed. He stepped out into his room and opened the locker next to the bed. He pulled out a clean set of coveralls and set off for the door. The metal plating slid gracefully back into the wall and Julian stepped out into the corridor. The door slid shut behind him. He walked over to the nearest communication point and set the frequency for the bridge. A young woman he didn't recognize appeared on the screen.
“Bridge”
“Julian Gardna” Julian stated “I'm coming up to the bridge now, I just wanted to ask if you could put up a notice on the info boards: Meeting over in the Seminar room on the Samarkand at 0900 hours. There will be a transport leaving exterior dock nine at 0830.”
“No problem sir” The screen went dead and Julian thought for a moment. He needed to arrange for the TP to come over from the Samarkand. Sighing, he opened the comm once more but this time hailed the Samarkand's hangar bay frequency. A deep set Paranid answered.
“Priest Duke's compliments to one so well established, Mr Gardna.”
“Yeah. Okay then. Could you arrange a TP pickup to exterior docking bay nine at 0830 hours tomorrow?”
The Paranid looked down to what presumably must have been a palmcomp. “It shall be done, oh beneficent one”
“Thanks” Julian cut the link and shook his head, Paranids! He turned and set off back down the corridor in the direction of the bridge.
Slow dark shapes flickered here and there at the back of his mind. Sounds, noises, the cold feel of the space suit through his coveralls. Everything spun, everything seemed all too familiar but again all too far away, the shadowy form of the Split Dragon was getting bigger, and fast. Julian gripped Nova Alpha one's control stick tighter as the M6 got closer and closer, letting loose a hail of Mass Driver fire at the last moment. Then he was sat back in the simulation chair with the VR equipment wired up to the helmet and visor over his eyes. He swung Helios around into the trail of lubricant and debris leaking out from a wounded Mamba and opened fire with the three alien energy weapons. The beams lanced out and tore through the remnants of an ancient Jump Gate. Only he wasn't in Helios, he was back in the cockpit of Alpha 1 and the Mamba's were everywhere, orange hue of the nebula in Rhy's Desire mingled in with the dark blue of the Unknown Sector, creating a moldy custard effect that lit up the inside of the Nova in an eerie light. The Mamba before him broke apart under his heavy HEPT fire, the fragments of metal spreading out in an ever expanding debris cloud. He switched targets and went after another Mamba. The plasma shots left his cannons and hurtled through the cramped tunnel towards the Pirate Bayamon in front of him. He screamed as the rounds slammed into Reaper, tearing her apart and instantly killing her occupant. Julian twisted the control stick to try and ram Alpha 1 into the wall but the ship refused to turn. The control stick melted from his grip and the atmosphere in the cockpit suddenly became all too uncomfortably warm. The bugs were getting through. They chewed at the hull, gnawing away at the Nova until the ship cracked and fell away around him. The heat level shot through the roof as the bugs began to eat the fibers of Julian's space suit. Julian writhed in space, trying to wriggle the bugs off his armored suit. He tossed and turned and awoke to the sound of his own heart thumping wildly in his ribcage.
He lay half in and half out of the crumpled sweaty sheets. He lay back for several seconds, allowing his racing heart to calm down. He slowly turned around and placed his bare feet on the metal decking. The cold metal made him shiver. He stood up delicately to avoid provoking the lurking threat of a migraine right at the back of his eye sockets.
“lights” he grunted as he moped around for his coveralls. Lamps flickered to life and Julian had to squint to look around. He saw his coveralls on the floor and walked over to them, still squinting at the glare from the lights. He had barely picked them up before he dropped them back on the floor in disgust. He had been waring them for the past thirty odd stazuras and the lengthy period of time had left its mark. He grabbed the coveralls and threw them into the laundry chute at the far end of the room. They missed their intended target and slithered down the wall. Julian stared at them for a while, grunted and then turned for the cleanser block, scratching his left armpit.
* * *
At that very moment, Jo Rider stood on the decking of one of the Razor's many corridors, looking out into the deep voice of space beyond. She had left her wheelchair back at her quarters, now being able to walk properly without collapsing every now and again. She watched at the liveliness of the system. In the distance, the Teladi Stations could be seen, the small flecks of transporter ships going about their daily business, impervious to the military presence sat only a few klicks away. Several inquisitive M5s had come within scanner range, but had quickly retreated back to the relative safety of the Teladian network of stations. Through the port, Jo could see the reassuring form of the Thunderhawk, standing vigilant over the Rhy's Desire gate. She had also tried to grasp some sleep like Julian but hadn't managed to get it, even though her eyes felt so heavy that they might fall through her upper jaw and into her mouth. She leaned forward and let her forehead press on the cold plasteel of the window. She breathed on the transparent material and watched as her breath condensed and left a blurred stain. She stood up straight again and looked back out at the stars.
“Beautiful when admired by apprecccciating eyessss” the voice made her jump. It came from behind her. She turned around to face the newcomer. A tall Teladi male stood directly behind her, his purple/blue reptilian skin glinting moistly in the artificial light.
“Oh, hello, I didn't see you there” Jo said, turning fully to face him. The Teladi smiled at her, an obviously practiced task seeing as Teladian folk don't usually tend to smile. “Allow me to introduccce myssself. I am Sssalamanca Issskander Androzallusss the third, I am chief engineer on board vessssel Sssamarkand. Pleasssed to be meeting yousss”
Jo smiled back and held out her hand palm upwards in the Teladi way of greeting. “Jo Rider, I used to be a personal trader for Mr Gardna, but I'm not entirely sure what role I play corporation wise any more. If you don't mind me asking, If your based on the Samarkand, why are you here?”
“I am awaiting meetingsss in ssseminar roomsss”
Jo looked puzzled “What meetings?”
“Meetingsss for engineersss to assssessss damagesss” Salamanca stated.
“Oh yes, of course, I just wondered that's all, Julian is hosting another meeting, I think, to do with the current situation.”
“Yesss, methinksss I will be attending that too, I have a messssage from Missster Gardna sssaying he may need a wordsss”
Jo turned back to the window. The Teladi moved up to join her. “I have been working on Mr Gardna'sss persssonal Nova, the damagesss done to the outer hull are quite disssturbing”
“Tell me about it, I was in there”
“The hull hasss been eroded quite ssseverely, it seemsss thessse creaturesss you dissscovered live on certain metal elementsss that they mussst find sssomewhere in the cloudsss or maybe in the asssteroidsss methinksss.”
“It seemed like the cockpit continued to get warmer by the sezura whilst we were in there, do you have a conclusion for that?”
Salamanca raised his head to look at the ceiling “Easssily explained my dearsss, the coppersss element in the coolant sssyssstems running the length of the shipsss body wasss one of the elementsss that I found to be quite low. The creaturesss must need copper asss one of their energy sssources”
“oh, cool” Jo said, not quite listening any more as she had spotted a Split Scorpion fly out of the huge Jump Gate and head for the heart of the Teladi system.
“No, it would not have been coolsss, do you underssstand what I am sssayingsss?”
“Yeah. Oh sorry, it's a term, a phrase. A bit of Argon rubbish, thats all”
Salamanca shook his big blue head as Joe walked down the corridor, her eyes on the Scorpion. “Humansss” he hissed to himself as she turned to look at him, satisfied when the Scorpion had docked with the Trading Station. “Sorry, you were saying lieutenant?”
* * *
Julian stepped out of the cleanser, feeling refreshed. He stepped out into his room and opened the locker next to the bed. He pulled out a clean set of coveralls and set off for the door. The metal plating slid gracefully back into the wall and Julian stepped out into the corridor. The door slid shut behind him. He walked over to the nearest communication point and set the frequency for the bridge. A young woman he didn't recognize appeared on the screen.
“Bridge”
“Julian Gardna” Julian stated “I'm coming up to the bridge now, I just wanted to ask if you could put up a notice on the info boards: Meeting over in the Seminar room on the Samarkand at 0900 hours. There will be a transport leaving exterior dock nine at 0830.”
“No problem sir” The screen went dead and Julian thought for a moment. He needed to arrange for the TP to come over from the Samarkand. Sighing, he opened the comm once more but this time hailed the Samarkand's hangar bay frequency. A deep set Paranid answered.
“Priest Duke's compliments to one so well established, Mr Gardna.”
“Yeah. Okay then. Could you arrange a TP pickup to exterior docking bay nine at 0830 hours tomorrow?”
The Paranid looked down to what presumably must have been a palmcomp. “It shall be done, oh beneficent one”
“Thanks” Julian cut the link and shook his head, Paranids! He turned and set off back down the corridor in the direction of the bridge.
They don't. The Ancients themselves never go anyplace. They ceased traveling places many millions of years ago. If things need to be done in the physical world, the Ancients send the Sohnen to fix it for them. The Sohnen, however, never use jump-gates. They travel at near-c through space, even if it takes them thousands of years off-board time to get anywhere.RSDark_Angel wrote:I should think that the Old Ones would have had a gate into Sol. If just for inspection purposes.
Besides, there never was a Ancient's gate in the Sol system. Sol and humanity weren't discovered by the Ancients in the first place; why not? I suppose, because humanity evolved from apes into intelligent beings much to swiftly for the Ancients to notice. Certain is only that humans created jump-gate technology and tapped into the Ancient's gate-network, and only then were noticed.
And thus, the Great Plan had to be changed once again.
This is all written down somewhere in the Timeline V3 document, and Farnham's Legend, I should think. Or isn't it?
Cheers
Helge
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RSDark_Angel
- Posts: 124
- Joined: Sat, 25. Jun 05, 12:33
I'm sorry. This wasn't my intention. I only wanted to point out some info from the Timeline V3 document, which is the official back-story for over five years now (and is in english language available from many places on the 'net). Of course, everything might very well be totally different in a parallel X universeRSDark_Angel wrote:OKAY, just undermine the whole storeyline why dont you....
Helge
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RSDark_Angel
- Posts: 124
- Joined: Sat, 25. Jun 05, 12:33
Another overly late addition to The Earth Ship
sorry guys, i've had a bad past three months, and things aint looking up yet
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Julian sat mesmerized, staring into the beeping mass before him. It took several clicks of Captain Ghenna's fingers to bring him back to reality.
“Sir? Sir, stop staring at the comm console and talk to me.” she stood impassively with her hands on her hips.
“Oh, sorry. What is it Captain?” Sara Ghenna was the Captain of the Argon Centaur GSS Logos, the lead M6 in the GSS inventory. She was around five foot seven inches with a lithe, supple body. The body of a bread fighter. A pirate faction had once tried to board the GSS Logos out in Loomanckstrat's Legacy. The record shows that Captain Ghenna fought the pirates off single handedly with a disarmed Wasp missile as a baton, knocking them all unconscious and successfully looting three Pirate Orinocos and two Bayamons. Her hair was light brown and tied back to keep it from falling in front of her dark brown eyes.
She wore the standard flight suit of all GSS military personnel with the Captain's stripes on the left shoulder.
“I need to talk to you about tactics, we've got a whole Split war force formed on the other side of that gate and if you plan to go back to that system, we're gonna' have to come up with a good plan”
“I can see what you mean” Julian shook his head slightly to remove any lingering trace of weariness. “What do you propose?”
“I think we should get everyone together, Ban will come up with a good strategy”
“hmm” mumbled Julian “Yeah your right, listen Sara, I've got a meeting over on the Samarkand in half a stazura, everyone will be there. I'll get them all to stay an extra couple of Mizuras so we can talk then”
Sara nodded and sat down beside him “On a more personal note sir, how is everything. I mean fatigue and all. You must have had a hard trip back there”
“Oh I'm quite all right thanks Sara, A little tired but I'll grab some sleep whenever I can manage it. How is the Logos?” he chuckled “Not been on board since before the battle for Omicron Lyrae!”
“I keep her in good shape boss don't you worry! A couple of scratches from that last scuffle but no replacement parts needed, not sure about the Trinity though, she took a beating, I'd look into that one sir.”
“Thanks for the heads up” Julian sighed, he had already lost seven Novas and the Razor had taken extensive hull damage during the fight with Vermilion. “This is gonna' hurt my pocket book” He looked at her and she raised her eyebrows
“You just make sure I get my paycheck boss” she stood up and winked at him “As long as that's secure you can keep your financial problems to yourself. She turned and headed for the exit. Julian stared after her.
“Frakking pilots” he grumbled “Think they've got it easy if their good at what they do. Too bad she is”
* * *
The GSS Rose left the Razor's exterior docking bay and slowly picked up speed until she was flying on a steady course over to the Samarkand. The bizarre, shoe like vessel cut through the dark of space, the only lights from the lines of windows down her hull. Julian sat in the co-pilot's seat of the Argon Express. The pilot was a gunmetal gray service droid. Julian remembered back to Argon Prime when he sat with pilot Hellen Rha on the Express over from GSS HQ to the Samarkand. He sighed and looked out of the window. The Teladi ships were keeping their distance, but several unmarked Split ships were venturing close enough to observe.
“They know what we're up too” It was Jo, she had come through the hatch behind him. He turned to look at her. She was waring a new, clean set of coveralls. Her eyes were the usual sparkling blue and her hair was tied back neatly to stop it flowing into her eyes.
“They can only watch from a distance, our scouts will deal with them” Julian remained in the seat as Jo moved to stand behind his chair. The pilot droid shifted course to point the Express at the Argon Colossus rapidly growing larger in the view port.
“Do you have it?” Jo asked quietly. Julian slowly reached into his left breast pocket and drew out a blackened palmcomp; Chianna's palmcomp. Whatever Chianna had downloaded onto this hard drive was about to be presented in front of a room full of high ranking GSS personnel. This was the turning point, this was what Julian had been waiting for. He turned the palmcomp over in his hands, it's charred surface felt course and uneven. The battery pack had been replaced and stood pearl white against the dull exterior of the palmcomp its self.
“Have you looked at it yet?” Jo asked.
“No, I only turned it on once to see if it still worked. It's fine” Julian's voice was lower than a whisper.
The Rose flew on steadily towards the Samarkand. Julian returned the palmcomp to his pocket and for a while the two of them watched the stars. Julian stared out into the deep chasm before him, the whole bleakness of it his him and sent a cold shiver down his spine. Jo sat down on the chair arm and put her arm about his shoulders, but he was too far away to notice. Deep within the recessed of his mind, he was remembering. Chianna happy and alive on the Wheat Farm the last time they had spoke. And his corpse; an asphyxiated body inside a floating space suit tomb.
Several Mizurae later, the Rose had safely docked with the Samarkand. Julian and Jo were the last two to leave the airlock. The Samarkand's hangar had been pressurized so space suits were unnecessary. Julian stepped out of the airlock and looked about him. The Express hadn't docked properly and had just parked in the middle of the weightless gap in between the berths. The reason for this was, simply, all the berths were taken. Umbra and Tannis wings took up the majority of the slots. But there were several captured Split ships and other utility class vessels with fuel lines and repair crews buzzing around them. Julian noticed two ships sat in berths side by side with maintenance crews fussing over them. He turned to Jo. “Shall we” He moved his hand forwards in a chivalrous gesture. Her face broke into a big smile that agitated the butterflies in Julian's stomach. He took her hand and they pushed off from the Express together.
sorry guys, i've had a bad past three months, and things aint looking up yet-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Julian sat mesmerized, staring into the beeping mass before him. It took several clicks of Captain Ghenna's fingers to bring him back to reality.
“Sir? Sir, stop staring at the comm console and talk to me.” she stood impassively with her hands on her hips.
“Oh, sorry. What is it Captain?” Sara Ghenna was the Captain of the Argon Centaur GSS Logos, the lead M6 in the GSS inventory. She was around five foot seven inches with a lithe, supple body. The body of a bread fighter. A pirate faction had once tried to board the GSS Logos out in Loomanckstrat's Legacy. The record shows that Captain Ghenna fought the pirates off single handedly with a disarmed Wasp missile as a baton, knocking them all unconscious and successfully looting three Pirate Orinocos and two Bayamons. Her hair was light brown and tied back to keep it from falling in front of her dark brown eyes.
She wore the standard flight suit of all GSS military personnel with the Captain's stripes on the left shoulder.
“I need to talk to you about tactics, we've got a whole Split war force formed on the other side of that gate and if you plan to go back to that system, we're gonna' have to come up with a good plan”
“I can see what you mean” Julian shook his head slightly to remove any lingering trace of weariness. “What do you propose?”
“I think we should get everyone together, Ban will come up with a good strategy”
“hmm” mumbled Julian “Yeah your right, listen Sara, I've got a meeting over on the Samarkand in half a stazura, everyone will be there. I'll get them all to stay an extra couple of Mizuras so we can talk then”
Sara nodded and sat down beside him “On a more personal note sir, how is everything. I mean fatigue and all. You must have had a hard trip back there”
“Oh I'm quite all right thanks Sara, A little tired but I'll grab some sleep whenever I can manage it. How is the Logos?” he chuckled “Not been on board since before the battle for Omicron Lyrae!”
“I keep her in good shape boss don't you worry! A couple of scratches from that last scuffle but no replacement parts needed, not sure about the Trinity though, she took a beating, I'd look into that one sir.”
“Thanks for the heads up” Julian sighed, he had already lost seven Novas and the Razor had taken extensive hull damage during the fight with Vermilion. “This is gonna' hurt my pocket book” He looked at her and she raised her eyebrows
“You just make sure I get my paycheck boss” she stood up and winked at him “As long as that's secure you can keep your financial problems to yourself. She turned and headed for the exit. Julian stared after her.
“Frakking pilots” he grumbled “Think they've got it easy if their good at what they do. Too bad she is”
* * *
The GSS Rose left the Razor's exterior docking bay and slowly picked up speed until she was flying on a steady course over to the Samarkand. The bizarre, shoe like vessel cut through the dark of space, the only lights from the lines of windows down her hull. Julian sat in the co-pilot's seat of the Argon Express. The pilot was a gunmetal gray service droid. Julian remembered back to Argon Prime when he sat with pilot Hellen Rha on the Express over from GSS HQ to the Samarkand. He sighed and looked out of the window. The Teladi ships were keeping their distance, but several unmarked Split ships were venturing close enough to observe.
“They know what we're up too” It was Jo, she had come through the hatch behind him. He turned to look at her. She was waring a new, clean set of coveralls. Her eyes were the usual sparkling blue and her hair was tied back neatly to stop it flowing into her eyes.
“They can only watch from a distance, our scouts will deal with them” Julian remained in the seat as Jo moved to stand behind his chair. The pilot droid shifted course to point the Express at the Argon Colossus rapidly growing larger in the view port.
“Do you have it?” Jo asked quietly. Julian slowly reached into his left breast pocket and drew out a blackened palmcomp; Chianna's palmcomp. Whatever Chianna had downloaded onto this hard drive was about to be presented in front of a room full of high ranking GSS personnel. This was the turning point, this was what Julian had been waiting for. He turned the palmcomp over in his hands, it's charred surface felt course and uneven. The battery pack had been replaced and stood pearl white against the dull exterior of the palmcomp its self.
“Have you looked at it yet?” Jo asked.
“No, I only turned it on once to see if it still worked. It's fine” Julian's voice was lower than a whisper.
The Rose flew on steadily towards the Samarkand. Julian returned the palmcomp to his pocket and for a while the two of them watched the stars. Julian stared out into the deep chasm before him, the whole bleakness of it his him and sent a cold shiver down his spine. Jo sat down on the chair arm and put her arm about his shoulders, but he was too far away to notice. Deep within the recessed of his mind, he was remembering. Chianna happy and alive on the Wheat Farm the last time they had spoke. And his corpse; an asphyxiated body inside a floating space suit tomb.
Several Mizurae later, the Rose had safely docked with the Samarkand. Julian and Jo were the last two to leave the airlock. The Samarkand's hangar had been pressurized so space suits were unnecessary. Julian stepped out of the airlock and looked about him. The Express hadn't docked properly and had just parked in the middle of the weightless gap in between the berths. The reason for this was, simply, all the berths were taken. Umbra and Tannis wings took up the majority of the slots. But there were several captured Split ships and other utility class vessels with fuel lines and repair crews buzzing around them. Julian noticed two ships sat in berths side by side with maintenance crews fussing over them. He turned to Jo. “Shall we” He moved his hand forwards in a chivalrous gesture. Her face broke into a big smile that agitated the butterflies in Julian's stomach. He took her hand and they pushed off from the Express together.
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RSDark_Angel
- Posts: 124
- Joined: Sat, 25. Jun 05, 12:33
Hak'Rhy licked his dry lips in anticipation. The Scorpion had docked with the Trading Station and had made contact with the spy. The Argons were waiting on the other side of the gate, biding their time. Rolling it over in their minds. They wanted to get back to the new system. The one in charge, Julian Gardna, had found something apparently. The Split must protect the system and find out for themselves.
Well he and his friends would give them the surprise of their life. He punched the throttle lever inside the cockpit of his Mamba, Saeror, and felt the vibrations through the seat. He preferred to keep him cockpit pressurized in combat so he could enrich the air with battle hormones and provocative adrenaline stimulants.
Hak leaned back in his seat and breathed in the swirling ecstasy around him. He let it out in a rush of air and gave a satisfied sigh. The stimulants worked their way through his nasal system and made through the receptacles into the Split's brain. He shuddered in pleasure and his eyes burned a more vivid red than before.
He flicked the comm switch and rasped into the microphone. “Its time my brothers” His scaly dry red skin pulsed along time to his heartbeats as he eased the M3 forwards out of her docking berth inside the Split warship Ripsaw.
Saeror's engines slowly thrummed to life and the M3 cleared the docking berth and drifted out towards the hangar bay doors.
The Split Raptor Ripsaw sat in the center of Rhy's Desire. Her captain, Lt'sho Rhy, sat in her chair quietly giggling to herself at the prospect of war with the Argons. Her fat red bulk quivered as she chuckled. The drones on the command deck whirred about their usual business paying no heed to her mirth. She looked out at the vast army gathered on the screen in front of her. Most of the Rhy fleet had gathered to repulse the meddling Argons and Rhonkar would be summoning his forces and having words with the Argon President Herron. This surely would be a turning point in the archives of the X Universe. The filthy Argons and their underwater companions would be crushed by the Split might. Lt'sho Rhy quivered again with pleasure as she thought of the power her family would have over the other puny lifeforms that dwell in the Universe. She fiddled with the controls of Ripsaw, tracing a poor Iguana with port turret mounts, like watching a dragonfly flee from the praying tongue of a bullfrog, she thought to herself as she unfocused the tracers and allowed the Iguana to continue on its journey. Soon they would have to pass through the system to get to their goal, and then Scorpion would strike, the Split would have their revenge.
* * *
The wide conference table stretched out in front of Jo. It fitted in perfectly with the circular shape of the Seminar room. At the head of the table, sat Julian, weighting his options of how to get back through to the unknown system. Positioned around the table in various random places sat the majority of the GSS military and scientific personnel present in the system. Sat to Julian's left was Senior Administrator Tracie Fisty, looking unusually as pale and ill as she did at the last meeting. To Julian's right sat Captain Sherwin, looking fresh and revitalized. Her hair was neatly tied back and the purple under her eyes had gone. She looked intent on the topic at hand and was caught in a heated debate with a tall, middle aged fighter pilot who Jo recognized as Lance Blansher, the newly appointed Wing Commander of Umbra flight. Sara Ghenna and the other two Centaur Captains sat next to Tracie Fisty, all conversing with one another. The rest of the room consisted of scientists and technicians all talking about damage assessments and how absurd another venture into the wild would be. Amongst them, Jo saw Lieutenant Thompson, looking impassive. Captain Grant Archer of the Agamemnon sat by himself separated from the others and looking across the table at Captain Sherwin. He wasn't really looking at her as such, he was gazing at her whilst shrouded in his own thoughts. Along with all the named crew members, there were also technicians and engineers that Jo had never seen before in her life, each with a pad or palmcomp of some sorts in their hands.
Jo felt a little left out, she had never been to anything as big as these meeting before. She was just a lone trader for GSS who occasionally brought together a group of traders and set off to work in the outer rim systems. Even though she had known Julian for a long time, she had never really been a big player in GSS's dealings, until now. And now she felt so pressured it was almost unbearable. The thoughts of the hull eating bugs kept coming to her and catching her off guard, the memories of the swirly haziness inside Alpha one's cockpit. She shuddered and tried to set her mind on another track. Julian did it for her. He banged his hands on the table and called everyone to silence.
“Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention please” He said, loud enough for everyone to hear him. Grant Archer came out of his trance and looked expectantly at Julian.
“We have a crisis on our hands” Julian continued “This discovery could quite possibly change a lot of things, it is of grave importance that I lead a team back into this new system and retrieve the Earth Ship” A murmur of surprise spread through the room. Thompson continued to look at Julian, his eyes narrower.
“Yes, my former employee and friend, Chianna Danar discovered something deep within the bowels of an asteroid in this system.” He jammed something into the socket at his section of the circular table and a holographic projection of a completely alien ship appeared from the projector in the center of the table “This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Pathfinder. According to the information in Chianna's hand held, she has been inside this asteroid for nearly one thousand years! It's designation shows it is definitely an Earth Ship, as the design is familiar to most early Earth liner models the Goners have in their archives. On the side of the vessel, the name of the ship is inscribed under the NASA emblem. For those of you who aren't aware of who NASA were, they were the Earths leading space program at the time of launch.”
“Excuse me sir, how do you know the time of launch?” chief engineer Bourne looked inquisitively over at Julian
Julian smiled at him and continued “The hand held says that the ship Pathfinder launched from her orbital berth stationed around the Earth in late February of 2010AD. To me and you, that is one hundred and seventy four years before the colonization of Sonra, Argon Prime. The ship set out to find out about the far reaches of the Sol system. It was a top secret operation as there wasn't much space activity going on of any particular interest. And the families didn't want the fuss etc.”
He stopped to look at the faces of the gathered. There was a mixture of awe and disbelief. Julian gave a wan smile. “Basically, we're going back into that system to get that ship. Any suggestions?”
Everyone broke out into an excited fuss. Jo looked at Thompson. He just sat with his arms crossed with an uninterpretable look on his face. Julian raised his hands for peace and got the desired effect, everyone quietened down.
“There are, obviously, several major problems, three of which involve our local Split friends, the nebula in the system and how we are going to retrieve the Pathfinder. That's why I am splitting you up into groups to try and come up with solutions to each one” He looked over at Captain Archer and smiled “Grant, if you would please take Gillian and discuss military, Mr Bourne, if you would look into the means of getting Pathfinder and Scorpion out of there and Jo if you would, take some technicians and look into getting through the nebula unscathed.” He clasped his hands on the desktop before him “Okay ladies and gentlemen, we need to come up with results as quick as possible, we will re convene here in one stazura and talk about what we've got, dismissed” He leaned back and pulled Tracie Fisty over to the corner for a quiet word.
Jo sighed and hauled herself out of the chair. She turned to a group of technicians lingering by the door waiting for her.
“All right guys, lets go”
Well he and his friends would give them the surprise of their life. He punched the throttle lever inside the cockpit of his Mamba, Saeror, and felt the vibrations through the seat. He preferred to keep him cockpit pressurized in combat so he could enrich the air with battle hormones and provocative adrenaline stimulants.
Hak leaned back in his seat and breathed in the swirling ecstasy around him. He let it out in a rush of air and gave a satisfied sigh. The stimulants worked their way through his nasal system and made through the receptacles into the Split's brain. He shuddered in pleasure and his eyes burned a more vivid red than before.
He flicked the comm switch and rasped into the microphone. “Its time my brothers” His scaly dry red skin pulsed along time to his heartbeats as he eased the M3 forwards out of her docking berth inside the Split warship Ripsaw.
Saeror's engines slowly thrummed to life and the M3 cleared the docking berth and drifted out towards the hangar bay doors.
The Split Raptor Ripsaw sat in the center of Rhy's Desire. Her captain, Lt'sho Rhy, sat in her chair quietly giggling to herself at the prospect of war with the Argons. Her fat red bulk quivered as she chuckled. The drones on the command deck whirred about their usual business paying no heed to her mirth. She looked out at the vast army gathered on the screen in front of her. Most of the Rhy fleet had gathered to repulse the meddling Argons and Rhonkar would be summoning his forces and having words with the Argon President Herron. This surely would be a turning point in the archives of the X Universe. The filthy Argons and their underwater companions would be crushed by the Split might. Lt'sho Rhy quivered again with pleasure as she thought of the power her family would have over the other puny lifeforms that dwell in the Universe. She fiddled with the controls of Ripsaw, tracing a poor Iguana with port turret mounts, like watching a dragonfly flee from the praying tongue of a bullfrog, she thought to herself as she unfocused the tracers and allowed the Iguana to continue on its journey. Soon they would have to pass through the system to get to their goal, and then Scorpion would strike, the Split would have their revenge.
* * *
The wide conference table stretched out in front of Jo. It fitted in perfectly with the circular shape of the Seminar room. At the head of the table, sat Julian, weighting his options of how to get back through to the unknown system. Positioned around the table in various random places sat the majority of the GSS military and scientific personnel present in the system. Sat to Julian's left was Senior Administrator Tracie Fisty, looking unusually as pale and ill as she did at the last meeting. To Julian's right sat Captain Sherwin, looking fresh and revitalized. Her hair was neatly tied back and the purple under her eyes had gone. She looked intent on the topic at hand and was caught in a heated debate with a tall, middle aged fighter pilot who Jo recognized as Lance Blansher, the newly appointed Wing Commander of Umbra flight. Sara Ghenna and the other two Centaur Captains sat next to Tracie Fisty, all conversing with one another. The rest of the room consisted of scientists and technicians all talking about damage assessments and how absurd another venture into the wild would be. Amongst them, Jo saw Lieutenant Thompson, looking impassive. Captain Grant Archer of the Agamemnon sat by himself separated from the others and looking across the table at Captain Sherwin. He wasn't really looking at her as such, he was gazing at her whilst shrouded in his own thoughts. Along with all the named crew members, there were also technicians and engineers that Jo had never seen before in her life, each with a pad or palmcomp of some sorts in their hands.
Jo felt a little left out, she had never been to anything as big as these meeting before. She was just a lone trader for GSS who occasionally brought together a group of traders and set off to work in the outer rim systems. Even though she had known Julian for a long time, she had never really been a big player in GSS's dealings, until now. And now she felt so pressured it was almost unbearable. The thoughts of the hull eating bugs kept coming to her and catching her off guard, the memories of the swirly haziness inside Alpha one's cockpit. She shuddered and tried to set her mind on another track. Julian did it for her. He banged his hands on the table and called everyone to silence.
“Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention please” He said, loud enough for everyone to hear him. Grant Archer came out of his trance and looked expectantly at Julian.
“We have a crisis on our hands” Julian continued “This discovery could quite possibly change a lot of things, it is of grave importance that I lead a team back into this new system and retrieve the Earth Ship” A murmur of surprise spread through the room. Thompson continued to look at Julian, his eyes narrower.
“Yes, my former employee and friend, Chianna Danar discovered something deep within the bowels of an asteroid in this system.” He jammed something into the socket at his section of the circular table and a holographic projection of a completely alien ship appeared from the projector in the center of the table “This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Pathfinder. According to the information in Chianna's hand held, she has been inside this asteroid for nearly one thousand years! It's designation shows it is definitely an Earth Ship, as the design is familiar to most early Earth liner models the Goners have in their archives. On the side of the vessel, the name of the ship is inscribed under the NASA emblem. For those of you who aren't aware of who NASA were, they were the Earths leading space program at the time of launch.”
“Excuse me sir, how do you know the time of launch?” chief engineer Bourne looked inquisitively over at Julian
Julian smiled at him and continued “The hand held says that the ship Pathfinder launched from her orbital berth stationed around the Earth in late February of 2010AD. To me and you, that is one hundred and seventy four years before the colonization of Sonra, Argon Prime. The ship set out to find out about the far reaches of the Sol system. It was a top secret operation as there wasn't much space activity going on of any particular interest. And the families didn't want the fuss etc.”
He stopped to look at the faces of the gathered. There was a mixture of awe and disbelief. Julian gave a wan smile. “Basically, we're going back into that system to get that ship. Any suggestions?”
Everyone broke out into an excited fuss. Jo looked at Thompson. He just sat with his arms crossed with an uninterpretable look on his face. Julian raised his hands for peace and got the desired effect, everyone quietened down.
“There are, obviously, several major problems, three of which involve our local Split friends, the nebula in the system and how we are going to retrieve the Pathfinder. That's why I am splitting you up into groups to try and come up with solutions to each one” He looked over at Captain Archer and smiled “Grant, if you would please take Gillian and discuss military, Mr Bourne, if you would look into the means of getting Pathfinder and Scorpion out of there and Jo if you would, take some technicians and look into getting through the nebula unscathed.” He clasped his hands on the desktop before him “Okay ladies and gentlemen, we need to come up with results as quick as possible, we will re convene here in one stazura and talk about what we've got, dismissed” He leaned back and pulled Tracie Fisty over to the corner for a quiet word.
Jo sighed and hauled herself out of the chair. She turned to a group of technicians lingering by the door waiting for her.
“All right guys, lets go”
Last edited by RSDark_Angel on Wed, 23. Nov 05, 23:13, edited 1 time in total.
A stoned split...now that cant be good, for Julian anyway.
I thought Chianna was a guy, unless i read it wrong somewhere?
That or i have wrongly assumed some of the timeline?
Good story though.
bye
I thought Chianna was a guy, unless i read it wrong somewhere?
Wait wait wait i though it was only about 700 years since the argon split off from Earth? and it was in the 2000-2999 region at the most that they discovered gate travel(and swiftly abandoned it)?she has been inside this asteroid for nearly ten thousand years
That or i have wrongly assumed some of the timeline?
Good story though.
bye
-
RSDark_Angel
- Posts: 124
- Joined: Sat, 25. Jun 05, 12:33
yes i checked the timeline, it is roughly 1 000 years since the ship got lodged in there, soz i ment 1000 years not 10000, i'll correct that 
. I counted it from the X year 0 to the year this is set = 722. yes, thats roughly 700 years but the ships been in there for longer remember. And i said one hundred and wotever years before the colonisation.
as for Chianna, yes it is a guy, sorry I probably wasnt concentrating.
eeesh no1 got owt except criticism
i thought it was good...
edit: it says that there is a breakthrough in propulsion physics in 1999 so thats what Pathfinder will have run on.
as for the jump gate, well i've made a cheesy way around that so you cant grumble about the old ones not having a jumpgate into the system.
its a crap excuse but it will have to do to stop your nit picking!! not mentioning names coughhelgecough
. I counted it from the X year 0 to the year this is set = 722. yes, thats roughly 700 years but the ships been in there for longer remember. And i said one hundred and wotever years before the colonisation.as for Chianna, yes it is a guy, sorry I probably wasnt concentrating.
eeesh no1 got owt except criticism
i thought it was good...
edit: it says that there is a breakthrough in propulsion physics in 1999 so thats what Pathfinder will have run on.
as for the jump gate, well i've made a cheesy way around that so you cant grumble about the old ones not having a jumpgate into the system.
its a crap excuse but it will have to do to stop your nit picking!! not mentioning names coughhelgecough
Nice one. I agree that a stoned Split can't be good. Mind you, as his cockpit is pressurised it only takes a massdriver to drive him out of his seat, so to speak. 
Looks like Jules didn't get too much flag in that meeting. So perhaps the images were powerful enough to convince his people sufficiently for them to give it a shot.
Looking forward to the next part!
Looks like Jules didn't get too much flag in that meeting. So perhaps the images were powerful enough to convince his people sufficiently for them to give it a shot.
Looking forward to the next part!
I have located another error:
Thank you for reading with us tonight, I'm The_Hypo signing off.
Bye
May i call exibit A to attention?RSDark_Angel wrote: eeesh no1 got owt except criticism
i thought it was good...
So Mister(I assume your a mister for well...cos i do) RSDark_Angel your argument falls flat on its face and gets repeadedly slapped by a wet fish.Exibit A wrote: Good story though.
Thank you for reading with us tonight, I'm The_Hypo signing off.
Bye
Not bad....
Been reading a bit of Dan Abnett have we......
Blansher....Larice.........
I was expecting the Apostles to charge in at any moment......
Not bad though....
Just need Gaunt and the 1st and Only now....
Blansher....Larice.........
I was expecting the Apostles to charge in at any moment......
Not bad though....
Just need Gaunt and the 1st and Only now....
-
RSDark_Angel
- Posts: 124
- Joined: Sat, 25. Jun 05, 12:33
-
RSDark_Angel
- Posts: 124
- Joined: Sat, 25. Jun 05, 12:33
sorry for the time lag again
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The team of technicians led by Jo made their way down the long, wide passages of the Samarkand. The interior architecture was nothing special; gun metal gray walls with dull metal mesh plating for the decking. Underneath the decking, a dark labyrinth of piping and cabling criss-crossed and split off to connect with different couplings and terminals. The whole grayness of the passages was contrasted by the large heavy duty lamps attached at regular intervals down the huge bulkheads. The lamps shone light blue, illuminating the corridors in an eerie ghostlike light. Jo shivered as the party walked down the seemingly endless corridors, her boots clanking on the metal decking.
They finally reached one of the main entrances to the hangar bay concourse. The armored double doors slid open with a hydraulic hiss and Jo stepped out onto the deck. The atmosphere in the concourse was different to the quiet dull passageways. Three utility Droids clomped around bearing heavy tools and sections of heavy metal plating. A number of smaller droids, engineers and tech hoverdrones wandered about the scene. They were administering repairs to a damaged section of wall. Must have been a blown gas pipe or power phase out Jo thought to herself as her team walked along the high decking towards another door set in across the far side of the concourse. They were a level up, standing on a sheet of the same, strong metal mesh used in the floor decking. Only the pipes and cables were replaced by the busy engineers and droids below. Jo diverted her attention to her palm comp on which she was trying to see how much plastic an Argon Nova would take in order to be perfectly safe in the nebula. They walked along the decking and across a narrow bridge that lead over the commotion below to the elevator door on the other side of the large chamber. Jo reached the door first and punched in her I.D code. The door shot open with a hiss and all seven of the technicians huddled inside. Jo followed and the door slid shut once more. Jo activated the elevator controls and there was a quiet whir as the lift shot down and the door slid open once more to reveal the red optics of an inquisitive service droid.
“Can I help you?” It's mechanical voice box grated out the words rather painfully.
“Senior Paymaster Jo Rider” Jo looked directly into the optics as the droid scanned for verification.
“Of course Senior Paymaster, please excuse us, we are carrying out maintenance to the electrics of this sector. We will not be long”
“No worries” Jo reassured the thing “We're going into the hangar bay”
The droid nodded and turned it's body around to face its colleagues. It then clomped off in the direction of a large lump of burnt metal.
The huge armored blast doors that lead into the hangar at the end of the concourse were sealed for the duration of the conflict with the Split, but a smaller door to the left of the large blast doors let them through. The party walked into the huge expanse of the hangar bay. This was where all the maintenance on smaller ships took place. The airlock to the berths dock lay beyond where the Express had dropped them off. The hangar was a maze of activity. Gamma one sat over by a large piece of machinery that looked out of place with the architecture of the hangar bay. Jo recognized the machinery as the vacuum chamber that had been pre-rigged to fit the Nova and generate the right conditions for whatever tests were to come.
Jo and her team walked over to the Nova and began to set up some of the smaller tools scattered about the deck. Jo walked over to an engineer stood next to Gamma one holding a holo-board and a pointer. The engineer was slowly going down a checklist on his holo-board and jumped when Jo politely tapped him on the shoulder.
“Excuse me” she smiled at him when he gathered himself “Jo Rider, I've been assigned to undertake experimental work on Gamma one”
“Certainly, I was just making the last system checks. She's ready to go whenever you need her to”
“I don't the we will be going anywhere, but thanks anyway”
The engineer nodded and walked off in the direction of a single door over at the other end of the hanger. The technicians had set up their equipment and were busy hovering around their equipment and the parked Nova. Jo found a seat and sat down, busying herself with her palmcomp.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The team of technicians led by Jo made their way down the long, wide passages of the Samarkand. The interior architecture was nothing special; gun metal gray walls with dull metal mesh plating for the decking. Underneath the decking, a dark labyrinth of piping and cabling criss-crossed and split off to connect with different couplings and terminals. The whole grayness of the passages was contrasted by the large heavy duty lamps attached at regular intervals down the huge bulkheads. The lamps shone light blue, illuminating the corridors in an eerie ghostlike light. Jo shivered as the party walked down the seemingly endless corridors, her boots clanking on the metal decking.
They finally reached one of the main entrances to the hangar bay concourse. The armored double doors slid open with a hydraulic hiss and Jo stepped out onto the deck. The atmosphere in the concourse was different to the quiet dull passageways. Three utility Droids clomped around bearing heavy tools and sections of heavy metal plating. A number of smaller droids, engineers and tech hoverdrones wandered about the scene. They were administering repairs to a damaged section of wall. Must have been a blown gas pipe or power phase out Jo thought to herself as her team walked along the high decking towards another door set in across the far side of the concourse. They were a level up, standing on a sheet of the same, strong metal mesh used in the floor decking. Only the pipes and cables were replaced by the busy engineers and droids below. Jo diverted her attention to her palm comp on which she was trying to see how much plastic an Argon Nova would take in order to be perfectly safe in the nebula. They walked along the decking and across a narrow bridge that lead over the commotion below to the elevator door on the other side of the large chamber. Jo reached the door first and punched in her I.D code. The door shot open with a hiss and all seven of the technicians huddled inside. Jo followed and the door slid shut once more. Jo activated the elevator controls and there was a quiet whir as the lift shot down and the door slid open once more to reveal the red optics of an inquisitive service droid.
“Can I help you?” It's mechanical voice box grated out the words rather painfully.
“Senior Paymaster Jo Rider” Jo looked directly into the optics as the droid scanned for verification.
“Of course Senior Paymaster, please excuse us, we are carrying out maintenance to the electrics of this sector. We will not be long”
“No worries” Jo reassured the thing “We're going into the hangar bay”
The droid nodded and turned it's body around to face its colleagues. It then clomped off in the direction of a large lump of burnt metal.
The huge armored blast doors that lead into the hangar at the end of the concourse were sealed for the duration of the conflict with the Split, but a smaller door to the left of the large blast doors let them through. The party walked into the huge expanse of the hangar bay. This was where all the maintenance on smaller ships took place. The airlock to the berths dock lay beyond where the Express had dropped them off. The hangar was a maze of activity. Gamma one sat over by a large piece of machinery that looked out of place with the architecture of the hangar bay. Jo recognized the machinery as the vacuum chamber that had been pre-rigged to fit the Nova and generate the right conditions for whatever tests were to come.
Jo and her team walked over to the Nova and began to set up some of the smaller tools scattered about the deck. Jo walked over to an engineer stood next to Gamma one holding a holo-board and a pointer. The engineer was slowly going down a checklist on his holo-board and jumped when Jo politely tapped him on the shoulder.
“Excuse me” she smiled at him when he gathered himself “Jo Rider, I've been assigned to undertake experimental work on Gamma one”
“Certainly, I was just making the last system checks. She's ready to go whenever you need her to”
“I don't the we will be going anywhere, but thanks anyway”
The engineer nodded and walked off in the direction of a single door over at the other end of the hanger. The technicians had set up their equipment and were busy hovering around their equipment and the parked Nova. Jo found a seat and sat down, busying herself with her palmcomp.