31
My shuttleself was floating among the stars far away from anything else. I was three lightyears away from the core at the hospital and my avatar.
Almost completely alone with the void and the stars as I slowly drifted in system at impulse drive, the star shining far ahead. I was getting close to the Kubier belt of the system ahead. It was a young system and didn't even have any decent planets yet, just a big soup of gases, rocks and ice in orbit around it. A couple looked like they would grow to planets if given enough time, but that's hundreds of millions of year into the future.
I could detect power signatures in system.
I had done it. I had done the solo trip and I didn't go nuts from it. It wasn't even that bad! Now, I didn't like it. I actually quite disliked being away from people. For one thing, I was slooow. I may be a racing shuttle, but it wasn't made for going fast at warp, I maxed out at warp two.
Which means that going here had taken over five days.
So it had been so incredibly boring without anyone to talk about. My sensors wasn't even good enough to get any real astronomical readings meanwhile.
I had read so many books. Especially as traveling at warp, you didn't want to turn your speed down.
A signal came in and I answered it, stepping into the virtual environment invitation to meet the tall and blonde avatar standing in the middle of the starfield,
"Welcome, Starfarer," Carry said with a smile, "You doing okay there?"
I just groaned, "Sooo… booooored. There are only so many games you can play before you start dropping processor cycles!"
She grinned, "Get any reading done?" she asked and her ship hull dropped cloak next to me. She was a LCU, a Whirlwind class. 'Of Course I Still Love You' was about the size of an Intrepid from my time and more or less pill shaped, the usual design of the Jovian ship designers.
Efficient or not, it was such a boring design. Almost every ship had it, from LCU to the largest GSVs. At least Starfleet had some variation.
"About half a library of medical textbooks," I admitted and crossed my arms, "And I caught up on every comicstrip since I was stranded."
She grinned, "Does help to keep them around, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, really does," I agreed before I looked towards the system ahead, "So why this place? Just the right distance away or… I'm spotting Federation signatures in system."
Carry shrugged, "Bit of both," she admitted, "This is one of the six systems claimed by the Jovian Gathering and of the right distance away for a decent test. There is another half a lightyear further away in the other direction that could have worked too, but that one is mostly mining operations. I think you'd find this one more interesting."
"Oh?"
Carry nodded and opened another datachannel for me, giving me a sensor link. I accepted and watched through her much stronger sensors at what was happening in system.
I could detect fifty three ships in system, but they were… odd. They looked nothing like Jovian, Starfleet or even Federation ships.
They were pretty big, a bit bigger than Carry. They looked almost like mining ships, the front a mass of mining equipment, but they didn't have any warp nacelles. Instead they had solar collectors, a lot of them and their power signatures were low, almost like they didn't have any active warpcores.
"What is that?" I asked with a frown, "It looks almost like some kind of strange mining operation."
Carry nodded, "In a way it is. It's an experiment/small movement. They started with three jovians that wanted to see if they could create a self-sufficient community with nothing but the resources in a system and solar power."
"They are building more?" I asked and looked at her.
"Yep. Well, there has been some immigration as well, mostly former ROU's that're still far down on the list of getting a real hull."
I frowned and then looked at her, "...I jumped the queue, didn't I?"
"If they had the same idea as you did, they would have been allowed too," Carry said with a smile.
I nodded and watched the ships in system slowly move about on impulse. Only some were moving, most were sitting by rocks, "Is it me or does that look really boring?"
"Eh," Carry said with a shrug, "I guess it could be, but think about it like going and living in the countryside with a small patch of land. There is something to be said about a slower and self sufficient life."
"I guess," I admitted, "But I think I'd like a warpdrive anyway."
"It is partly an experiment," Carry agreed, "not meant to be the final form of it. As I understand it, the final designs will use modern powerplants and warpdrives, but they want to see if it can be done long term."
"Do they have crews?"
"Not currently," Carry said and shook her head, "Right now, it's a Jovian only colony," she answered and then smiled at me, "Want to get docked up and we can head back to New Jupiter?"
"Yes please," I said and released her sensor feed before changing my course with thrusters, shifting up behind her as her dockingbay opened to reveal a free docking spot next to her one runabout.
Nosing forward, I carefully moved in through the triple redundant forcefields towards the free docking spot before I started to gently settle down, shutting my shields down. As I touched down and the clamps locked me down, I shut down my engines.
The runabout poked her avatars head out from her main hatch before stepping out, giving me a wave, "Hey, I'm Slipstream," she said, introducing herself. Her avatar was that of a darkskinned human of average height, her hair cut short and she had brilliant green eyes.
"Hello, I'm Starfarer," I answered with my external speaker, "Didn't bring my avatar."
"Ask Carry for hologram access, we have work to do."
"Work?"
"You need a new paint job!"
I eyed her neon pink hull, "...I'm good, thank you."
She pouted.
Almost completely alone with the void and the stars as I slowly drifted in system at impulse drive, the star shining far ahead. I was getting close to the Kubier belt of the system ahead. It was a young system and didn't even have any decent planets yet, just a big soup of gases, rocks and ice in orbit around it. A couple looked like they would grow to planets if given enough time, but that's hundreds of millions of year into the future.
I could detect power signatures in system.
I had done it. I had done the solo trip and I didn't go nuts from it. It wasn't even that bad! Now, I didn't like it. I actually quite disliked being away from people. For one thing, I was slooow. I may be a racing shuttle, but it wasn't made for going fast at warp, I maxed out at warp two.
Which means that going here had taken over five days.
So it had been so incredibly boring without anyone to talk about. My sensors wasn't even good enough to get any real astronomical readings meanwhile.
I had read so many books. Especially as traveling at warp, you didn't want to turn your speed down.
A signal came in and I answered it, stepping into the virtual environment invitation to meet the tall and blonde avatar standing in the middle of the starfield,
"Welcome, Starfarer," Carry said with a smile, "You doing okay there?"
I just groaned, "Sooo… booooored. There are only so many games you can play before you start dropping processor cycles!"
She grinned, "Get any reading done?" she asked and her ship hull dropped cloak next to me. She was a LCU, a Whirlwind class. 'Of Course I Still Love You' was about the size of an Intrepid from my time and more or less pill shaped, the usual design of the Jovian ship designers.
Efficient or not, it was such a boring design. Almost every ship had it, from LCU to the largest GSVs. At least Starfleet had some variation.
"About half a library of medical textbooks," I admitted and crossed my arms, "And I caught up on every comicstrip since I was stranded."
She grinned, "Does help to keep them around, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, really does," I agreed before I looked towards the system ahead, "So why this place? Just the right distance away or… I'm spotting Federation signatures in system."
Carry shrugged, "Bit of both," she admitted, "This is one of the six systems claimed by the Jovian Gathering and of the right distance away for a decent test. There is another half a lightyear further away in the other direction that could have worked too, but that one is mostly mining operations. I think you'd find this one more interesting."
"Oh?"
Carry nodded and opened another datachannel for me, giving me a sensor link. I accepted and watched through her much stronger sensors at what was happening in system.
I could detect fifty three ships in system, but they were… odd. They looked nothing like Jovian, Starfleet or even Federation ships.
They were pretty big, a bit bigger than Carry. They looked almost like mining ships, the front a mass of mining equipment, but they didn't have any warp nacelles. Instead they had solar collectors, a lot of them and their power signatures were low, almost like they didn't have any active warpcores.
"What is that?" I asked with a frown, "It looks almost like some kind of strange mining operation."
Carry nodded, "In a way it is. It's an experiment/small movement. They started with three jovians that wanted to see if they could create a self-sufficient community with nothing but the resources in a system and solar power."
"They are building more?" I asked and looked at her.
"Yep. Well, there has been some immigration as well, mostly former ROU's that're still far down on the list of getting a real hull."
I frowned and then looked at her, "...I jumped the queue, didn't I?"
"If they had the same idea as you did, they would have been allowed too," Carry said with a smile.
I nodded and watched the ships in system slowly move about on impulse. Only some were moving, most were sitting by rocks, "Is it me or does that look really boring?"
"Eh," Carry said with a shrug, "I guess it could be, but think about it like going and living in the countryside with a small patch of land. There is something to be said about a slower and self sufficient life."
"I guess," I admitted, "But I think I'd like a warpdrive anyway."
"It is partly an experiment," Carry agreed, "not meant to be the final form of it. As I understand it, the final designs will use modern powerplants and warpdrives, but they want to see if it can be done long term."
"Do they have crews?"
"Not currently," Carry said and shook her head, "Right now, it's a Jovian only colony," she answered and then smiled at me, "Want to get docked up and we can head back to New Jupiter?"
"Yes please," I said and released her sensor feed before changing my course with thrusters, shifting up behind her as her dockingbay opened to reveal a free docking spot next to her one runabout.
Nosing forward, I carefully moved in through the triple redundant forcefields towards the free docking spot before I started to gently settle down, shutting my shields down. As I touched down and the clamps locked me down, I shut down my engines.
The runabout poked her avatars head out from her main hatch before stepping out, giving me a wave, "Hey, I'm Slipstream," she said, introducing herself. Her avatar was that of a darkskinned human of average height, her hair cut short and she had brilliant green eyes.
"Hello, I'm Starfarer," I answered with my external speaker, "Didn't bring my avatar."
"Ask Carry for hologram access, we have work to do."
"Work?"
"You need a new paint job!"
I eyed her neon pink hull, "...I'm good, thank you."
She pouted.