Prince Charon
Just zis guy, you know?
A small ROU, unless she's going for irony, in which case a large GOU or GSV would each be appropriate in different ways.
The Next Generation (Star Trek)
- Thread starter Hiver
- Start date
22
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"
Rolling and wildly maneuvering my ship body would be immature. Instead, my avatar was bouncing up and down.
I just got a message from GCU 'Keep Hands Clear of Moving Parts'. I had been approved! They wanted me to take the position!
Camin grinned, "I can only assume that mean you got the spot?"
"Yes!" I agreed and grinned, "I'm gonna be an aeroshuttle! I'm going to be exploring the universe!"
"Congratulations!" she answered and got up, giving me a quick hug which I happily returned, "How soon do you leave?"
"Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow!?"
"Well, not tomorrow, "I admitted, "I'm being installed tomorrow to give me time to get used to my new hull and my new crewmates. We're not leaving for another month, GCU 'Keep Hands Clear of Moving Parts' is still undergoing maintenance."
Camin nodded, "Can I see it when you're installed?"
"Sure!" I agreed before I frowned, "…That does mean I will be leaving though. That part does suck a bit. You have bit of time left here, right?"
She nodded, "At least two more years of school," she said before she smiled, "We'll run into each other again. I bet when I graduate that you'll have your own ship. Maybe I'll ask to be transferred to you."
"That'd be awesome."
Meanwhile, I opened a channel to Rain, "I got it!"
"The aeroshuttle?" she asked with a smile, "I'm so happy for you!"
"Thank you!" I said with a grin, "This will be great!"
She winked, "You'd be tiny again though. No more ROU, you'll be a subcraft again. A lot of the time you'll stay docked up."
"…There is that," I admitted before I shrugged, "It won't be too bad I guess. Clara has already said she's going to be sharing her sensors with me, so I'll be able to see clearly. Besides, when we get to the interesting parts I will get to fly. Land even."
"That does sound fun," she agreed, "When's the transfer?"
"Tomorrow. She is unhooking her cores from the aeroshuttle now and giving it a last once over with the engineering crew before I'm to be installed. I'm about to dock up at any moment actually, to start to prepare."
Rain nodded, "Better pack light."
"Meh, like I really have much stuff anyway."
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Walking into the subcraft bay with Specialist Thivan and Clara's avatar, I looked up at my new hull.
It was a couple of hours left until my installation, but I wanted a good look before then. The Amur class were a bit larger than the old model aeroshuttle and actually aerodynamic. You could actually drop it mostly unpowered from orbit and have a decent chance at landing it, as long as the wing surfaces worked. No thrusters needed.
Looking up at it, I slowly walked around it, running my hand along the white hull as we moved towards the rear landing ramp.
Heading up it, I tapped the button by the door and it opened to reveal a cargobay. Not overly big, but plenty enough to fit an assemble-in-place research dome or two, and even a buggy if need be.
"Modular," Clara said and walked in with me, "Not only a cargo space. This entire part can be slid out and replaced with anything from extra living space to a mobile research lab. Or even a hull breaching and boarding module."
"Cool. I didn't notice that in the specs."
Clara nodded, "Fair enough, it is a small footnote."
That was all kinds of awesome.
Moving through the cargo area, I headed up the stairs and into the living space. Two levels of bunks on each side of the walkway, eight in total. Beyond that was a small space with a table, a couple of consoles, and a replicator.
"Cosy."
That got a grin from Thivan, "Let's see if you still think so after having a full team living here for a month on a detached mission. Sonic shower and such through the door to the left. That's about as much creature comforts as can be crammed in here."
I nodded and headed on. He had a good point there. The passage between living space and the flight deck doubled as a transporter pad.
The flight deck itself was actually somewhat spacious for a ship this size, four full consoles and chairs.
None of which were actually for piloting or engineering of course. No windows either, the smooth walls were meant to be covered by a hologram of the outside.
No 'non-civilian' vessels of the Commonwealth had windows unless it was a tiny little subcraft, barely rated for suborbital flight. They were a structural weakness and not actually useful.
Walking into the middle I looked around before I grinned, "Mine."
Clara smiled, "In a little bit at least. Now, let's start getting your cores ready for installation."
Rolling and wildly maneuvering my ship body would be immature. Instead, my avatar was bouncing up and down.
I just got a message from GCU 'Keep Hands Clear of Moving Parts'. I had been approved! They wanted me to take the position!
Camin grinned, "I can only assume that mean you got the spot?"
"Yes!" I agreed and grinned, "I'm gonna be an aeroshuttle! I'm going to be exploring the universe!"
"Congratulations!" she answered and got up, giving me a quick hug which I happily returned, "How soon do you leave?"
"Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow!?"
"Well, not tomorrow, "I admitted, "I'm being installed tomorrow to give me time to get used to my new hull and my new crewmates. We're not leaving for another month, GCU 'Keep Hands Clear of Moving Parts' is still undergoing maintenance."
Camin nodded, "Can I see it when you're installed?"
"Sure!" I agreed before I frowned, "…That does mean I will be leaving though. That part does suck a bit. You have bit of time left here, right?"
She nodded, "At least two more years of school," she said before she smiled, "We'll run into each other again. I bet when I graduate that you'll have your own ship. Maybe I'll ask to be transferred to you."
"That'd be awesome."
Meanwhile, I opened a channel to Rain, "I got it!"
"The aeroshuttle?" she asked with a smile, "I'm so happy for you!"
"Thank you!" I said with a grin, "This will be great!"
She winked, "You'd be tiny again though. No more ROU, you'll be a subcraft again. A lot of the time you'll stay docked up."
"…There is that," I admitted before I shrugged, "It won't be too bad I guess. Clara has already said she's going to be sharing her sensors with me, so I'll be able to see clearly. Besides, when we get to the interesting parts I will get to fly. Land even."
"That does sound fun," she agreed, "When's the transfer?"
"Tomorrow. She is unhooking her cores from the aeroshuttle now and giving it a last once over with the engineering crew before I'm to be installed. I'm about to dock up at any moment actually, to start to prepare."
Rain nodded, "Better pack light."
"Meh, like I really have much stuff anyway."
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Walking into the subcraft bay with Specialist Thivan and Clara's avatar, I looked up at my new hull.
It was a couple of hours left until my installation, but I wanted a good look before then. The Amur class were a bit larger than the old model aeroshuttle and actually aerodynamic. You could actually drop it mostly unpowered from orbit and have a decent chance at landing it, as long as the wing surfaces worked. No thrusters needed.
Looking up at it, I slowly walked around it, running my hand along the white hull as we moved towards the rear landing ramp.
Heading up it, I tapped the button by the door and it opened to reveal a cargobay. Not overly big, but plenty enough to fit an assemble-in-place research dome or two, and even a buggy if need be.
"Modular," Clara said and walked in with me, "Not only a cargo space. This entire part can be slid out and replaced with anything from extra living space to a mobile research lab. Or even a hull breaching and boarding module."
"Cool. I didn't notice that in the specs."
Clara nodded, "Fair enough, it is a small footnote."
That was all kinds of awesome.
Moving through the cargo area, I headed up the stairs and into the living space. Two levels of bunks on each side of the walkway, eight in total. Beyond that was a small space with a table, a couple of consoles, and a replicator.
"Cosy."
That got a grin from Thivan, "Let's see if you still think so after having a full team living here for a month on a detached mission. Sonic shower and such through the door to the left. That's about as much creature comforts as can be crammed in here."
I nodded and headed on. He had a good point there. The passage between living space and the flight deck doubled as a transporter pad.
The flight deck itself was actually somewhat spacious for a ship this size, four full consoles and chairs.
None of which were actually for piloting or engineering of course. No windows either, the smooth walls were meant to be covered by a hologram of the outside.
No 'non-civilian' vessels of the Commonwealth had windows unless it was a tiny little subcraft, barely rated for suborbital flight. They were a structural weakness and not actually useful.
Walking into the middle I looked around before I grinned, "Mine."
Clara smiled, "In a little bit at least. Now, let's start getting your cores ready for installation."
tehcrash
Apprentice Supervillain
- Location
- Seattle-ish
Now that makes me curious as to whether any of the Jovians are hoarders. A GSV could store so much junk.
Some of them are definitely hoarding information. As shown by the Borg, I'm pretty sure the Jovians are also hoarding most of the good toys.
And for all that he's been put on abus out of the way station, I'm still expecting we'll find out one of the ones hoarding both happens to be Circle...
And for all that he's been put on a
I'm pretty sure the larger Jovians hoard people rather than stuff.
tehcrash
Apprentice Supervillain
- Location
- Seattle-ish
Hmm. If a Jovian is hoarding people, perhaps they're also playing Pokemon, trying to collect one of each of the Federation species.
Gotta catch 'em all!
23
Alarms rang through my mind as I struggled to regain control of the tumble. Atmosphere roared across me, wisps of plasma starting to form.
"Thrusters, antigrav and main power are offline. Inertial compensators are fluctuating."
"Tha…ugh!" Theresa Mayfair started to say before a jolt slammed her into the crash harness of her chair, "T-thanks for the update! We didn't notice!" she managed to choke out between clenched teeth, as g-forces rose past five standard gravities.
Thivan was too busy breathing to chide her but his fingers moved across the buttons on his chair's armrest, tapping out a question.
"I think I can stabilize," I said as I watched the universe spin around us, the atmosphere slowly getting thicker, "Hang on."
Thrusters down and they couldn't be fixed. Main power… rerouting through secondary lines. The PSC was offline, but the fusion plant was still online, power was just not getting through.
The planet below was heavy, a bit over a standard gravity. It would massively suck to land there, but if I didn't get main power online, no thrusters. No thrusters, no way I'm getting back into orbit.
No luck on the power rerouting, something was seriously wrong.
Fine, worry about that later, get down there in one piece first.
Ok. Okay… I learned how to do this.
The spin was speeding up and would continue to do so until I could get my wings to bite into the air. The sooner I could do that, the easier it would be on my crew.
Thirty seconds until unconsciousness for some of them.
So, I did the only thing I could to speed it up and deflected my rudders to try to tip into the airstream.
Come on. Come on!
Hull's getting very hot now! The plasma was slowly dispersing.
Twenty seconds.
Ten seconds.
Clarksson suddenly went unconscious, eyes rolling back in their sockets. I started to finally turn into the air stream before flexing my flaps, starting to slowly pull up while deploying air brakes.
Seven G.
Come on.
Six point five.
Yes! The spin stopped and I started to slowly pull up, going into a glide as I retracted my air brakes. Thivan gasped for breath, "R-report!"
"Main power still offline, thrusters are down. I'm on a glide trajectory. Looking for a spot where we can put down," I said and projected a map of the area, "Samantha is unconscious."
He nodded, "Nothing to do about it now. Can you reach the sea?"
"Think so, sir. Barely."
"Try to put us down in the shallows."
"I'll try," I agreed and shifted my course a bit. Glide angle… good. Speed… good. Distance… not good.
"Uhm, sir. Not going to clear those mountains. No go on the beach. We have two options, grass plains or… well, that's about it if we want to keep me intact."
"Do it."
I banked and slowly adjusted course, slowly sinking lower. I started to do an S-curve, slowly bleeding off speed as I deployed my air brakes. Lower. Slower. Forest whipped past below as I slowly sunk lower and lower.
Grass plains below.
Deploying landing gear.
Deploying landing gear?
Landing gear not deploying.
"We have a problem, landing gear not deploying! Hang on!"
Shit!
Come on. One hundred meters. Eighty meters a second. Fifty…. Seventy meters a second. Twenty…. Ten…
I flared hard as I popped my emergency parachutes.
Speed the speed and I dropped like a rock. The back end of my hull hit first, followed by the front a split second later.
My crew slammed forward into their harnesses as I went sliding across the grass, twisting and slewing sideways.
For a second my wing dug into the ground, threatening to turn it into lethal roll, but it didn't catch, and we came to a stop in a cloud of dust.
Down.
Made it. Everyone's life signs were stable.
My sensors flicked for a second before being replaced by the interior of Clara's hangar, her avatar standing on my nose.
"Well done," she said, Thivan standing next to her, looking down at a PADD in his hand before he looked up at my nose,
"Agreed. That was a difficult landing for anyone. You got us all down alive, that's about as good as anyone can demand. Good job, Ship."
I sighed and answered with my exterior speakers, "I didn't get main power back online. The objective was to recover."
Thivan smiled a bit, "Can't always get everything. Sometimes you have to settle for what's most important."
"Keeping the crew alive."
"And staying alive. Anything else can be fixed later."
"Thrusters, antigrav and main power are offline. Inertial compensators are fluctuating."
"Tha…ugh!" Theresa Mayfair started to say before a jolt slammed her into the crash harness of her chair, "T-thanks for the update! We didn't notice!" she managed to choke out between clenched teeth, as g-forces rose past five standard gravities.
Thivan was too busy breathing to chide her but his fingers moved across the buttons on his chair's armrest, tapping out a question.
"I think I can stabilize," I said as I watched the universe spin around us, the atmosphere slowly getting thicker, "Hang on."
Thrusters down and they couldn't be fixed. Main power… rerouting through secondary lines. The PSC was offline, but the fusion plant was still online, power was just not getting through.
The planet below was heavy, a bit over a standard gravity. It would massively suck to land there, but if I didn't get main power online, no thrusters. No thrusters, no way I'm getting back into orbit.
No luck on the power rerouting, something was seriously wrong.
Fine, worry about that later, get down there in one piece first.
Ok. Okay… I learned how to do this.
The spin was speeding up and would continue to do so until I could get my wings to bite into the air. The sooner I could do that, the easier it would be on my crew.
Thirty seconds until unconsciousness for some of them.
So, I did the only thing I could to speed it up and deflected my rudders to try to tip into the airstream.
Come on. Come on!
Hull's getting very hot now! The plasma was slowly dispersing.
Twenty seconds.
Ten seconds.
Clarksson suddenly went unconscious, eyes rolling back in their sockets. I started to finally turn into the air stream before flexing my flaps, starting to slowly pull up while deploying air brakes.
Seven G.
Come on.
Six point five.
Yes! The spin stopped and I started to slowly pull up, going into a glide as I retracted my air brakes. Thivan gasped for breath, "R-report!"
"Main power still offline, thrusters are down. I'm on a glide trajectory. Looking for a spot where we can put down," I said and projected a map of the area, "Samantha is unconscious."
He nodded, "Nothing to do about it now. Can you reach the sea?"
"Think so, sir. Barely."
"Try to put us down in the shallows."
"I'll try," I agreed and shifted my course a bit. Glide angle… good. Speed… good. Distance… not good.
"Uhm, sir. Not going to clear those mountains. No go on the beach. We have two options, grass plains or… well, that's about it if we want to keep me intact."
"Do it."
I banked and slowly adjusted course, slowly sinking lower. I started to do an S-curve, slowly bleeding off speed as I deployed my air brakes. Lower. Slower. Forest whipped past below as I slowly sunk lower and lower.
Grass plains below.
Deploying landing gear.
Deploying landing gear?
Landing gear not deploying.
"We have a problem, landing gear not deploying! Hang on!"
Shit!
Come on. One hundred meters. Eighty meters a second. Fifty…. Seventy meters a second. Twenty…. Ten…
I flared hard as I popped my emergency parachutes.
Speed the speed and I dropped like a rock. The back end of my hull hit first, followed by the front a split second later.
My crew slammed forward into their harnesses as I went sliding across the grass, twisting and slewing sideways.
For a second my wing dug into the ground, threatening to turn it into lethal roll, but it didn't catch, and we came to a stop in a cloud of dust.
Down.
Made it. Everyone's life signs were stable.
My sensors flicked for a second before being replaced by the interior of Clara's hangar, her avatar standing on my nose.
"Well done," she said, Thivan standing next to her, looking down at a PADD in his hand before he looked up at my nose,
"Agreed. That was a difficult landing for anyone. You got us all down alive, that's about as good as anyone can demand. Good job, Ship."
I sighed and answered with my exterior speakers, "I didn't get main power back online. The objective was to recover."
Thivan smiled a bit, "Can't always get everything. Sometimes you have to settle for what's most important."
"Keeping the crew alive."
"And staying alive. Anything else can be fixed later."
GiovanniBlasini
Transhumanist Nutcase from Niops IX
- Location
- San Diego, CA, USA, Sol III
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Simulation. They're still in the hangar.
- Location
- Christchurch, NZ
Went over this and I'm fairly impressed at the accuracy! In reality the touchdown would be several minutes past aerobraking, and so you'd likely still have quite a bit of control of where you're landing (it's more of a "where on this continent" thing), but it's still not implausible you couldn't maintain enough velocity to glide to a water landing, and the G-forces from a too steep profile was a nice touch!
This doesn't sound right.
KSP is good for something.
tehcrash
Apprentice Supervillain
- Location
- Seattle-ish
"So Marvin, I was playing KSP and had a great idea for a ship design."
"Dammit Amy, everyone has 'great designs' after playing KSP. I never should have released that as a holoprogram."
24
I turned, looking around the cabin, everything that remained was the original furniture and a couple of small cargo pods, "I think that's everything."
Camin nodded from her place sitting on the bed before she quickly scooted off to check beneath it, "Yep, seems like. You did not have a lot of stuff, did you?"
"Not really," I admitted and dropped down next to her, "I left most of my stuff on Korra. Didn't stay here long enough to really get much."
A thought messaged the Station and he beamed the containers over to my new quarters onboard of Clara.
We watched them disappear for a second before I frowned, "…And that's that I suppose. I'm officially moved."
"Mmm. How long until you leave?"
"Another week or so," I said and got up, "Clara is finishing up her upgrades now, then there is a couple of days of testing."
She nodded, "So… happy with your new ship?"
I grinned and happily nodded, "Yes! It's awesome. It's like the best parts of a runabout and an ROU! Been practicing a ton in sims and even a couple of test flights to get used to my new hull. It's so much fun!"
Camin smiled at me, "Picked a name yet?"
"Have," I agreed, "Going to keep Amy for my personal name, going with LCU Leaf On The Wind."
GCU 'Keep Hands Clear of Moving Parts' had helped me pick. It was from an old series, it felt like it fit me. I loved flying.
"Do I get to see it?"
"Sure. Come on, I'll give you a full tour!"
It didn't take us long to get there, Rain's avatar joining up with us on the way, "Amur class," she said as we entered the small hangar, "Never tried to fly one of those. Is it as nippy as it looks?"
I nodded, "Almost," I said with a smile, "It's a ton of fun to fly. Rather tiny though."
Rain nodded, "I think it'll be a good first ship for you. Well, first service ship anyway. You have had ships for practice for a bit now."
"I hope so," I said and looked up at my hull as I ran my sensors across the hangar. My sensors were good, not as good as my former ROU hull, but better than the runabout I learned to fly on.
Camin smiled up at my hull, "Well, I think it looks amazing. Are you roomy?"
"Better than a runabout," I said before I shrugged, "But not overly. The class isn't made for long-term habitation. But there is more than enough room to carry a 'shake and bake' research base. Or replace the same cargo space with more living space which would make it more tolerable for the crew. Come on, I'll show you."
The tour was quickly done.
I wasn't exactly big enough for an extended tour. I have just over hundred square meters in total floor area split three ways.
Don't exactly take forever to look through.
Camin sank down on one of the chairs on the flightdeck, giving the controls a flick. I brought up a schematic of my hull on it.
"…You actually have something of a pleasure craft feel about you," she said and looked around, "You're basically just missing the windows."
I blinked and looked over at Rain. Rain did a bit of a half shrug,
"Eh, not too far off," she said, "I'm checking the design documents, a lot of your design is actually pulled from the 'Cloud diver' private yacht. Mostly avionics and the base hull, it's a old design anyway. But they actually pulled some for the interior as well from what I can see now."
Hmh.
"Not a pleasure craft."
"Indeed not," Rain agreed and patted the top of my head, "Just a silly little science vessel."
I glared at her.
I finally got why mom used the tone she did when she said 'warships'.
Finally, I grinned at her, "Warship."
"Science vessel."
We shared a quick laugh. Camin looked between us, "…Don't get it."
Rain grinned and shook her head, "Don't worry about it, it's a Jovian thing."
Camin sat up a bit straighter, "Well, now I'm extra curious. I'll study Jovians for my final sociology project."
I shared a look with Rain. She smiled, "It's all yours, she's your friend."
"Oh come on, I don't know everything either! I been a Ship less than six months!"
"But you did grow up to be one," she countered, "Same culture as I am. This, you know just as much about!"
I glowered at her again before I sighed and nodded, "…Fine. But let's do it somewhere else, in a couple of minutes there will be drones here replacing the chairs and bedding in the bunks, they are getting a bit old. Let's go to the Lounge."
Camin nodded from her place sitting on the bed before she quickly scooted off to check beneath it, "Yep, seems like. You did not have a lot of stuff, did you?"
"Not really," I admitted and dropped down next to her, "I left most of my stuff on Korra. Didn't stay here long enough to really get much."
A thought messaged the Station and he beamed the containers over to my new quarters onboard of Clara.
We watched them disappear for a second before I frowned, "…And that's that I suppose. I'm officially moved."
"Mmm. How long until you leave?"
"Another week or so," I said and got up, "Clara is finishing up her upgrades now, then there is a couple of days of testing."
She nodded, "So… happy with your new ship?"
I grinned and happily nodded, "Yes! It's awesome. It's like the best parts of a runabout and an ROU! Been practicing a ton in sims and even a couple of test flights to get used to my new hull. It's so much fun!"
Camin smiled at me, "Picked a name yet?"
"Have," I agreed, "Going to keep Amy for my personal name, going with LCU Leaf On The Wind."
GCU 'Keep Hands Clear of Moving Parts' had helped me pick. It was from an old series, it felt like it fit me. I loved flying.
"Do I get to see it?"
"Sure. Come on, I'll give you a full tour!"
It didn't take us long to get there, Rain's avatar joining up with us on the way, "Amur class," she said as we entered the small hangar, "Never tried to fly one of those. Is it as nippy as it looks?"
I nodded, "Almost," I said with a smile, "It's a ton of fun to fly. Rather tiny though."
Rain nodded, "I think it'll be a good first ship for you. Well, first service ship anyway. You have had ships for practice for a bit now."
"I hope so," I said and looked up at my hull as I ran my sensors across the hangar. My sensors were good, not as good as my former ROU hull, but better than the runabout I learned to fly on.
Camin smiled up at my hull, "Well, I think it looks amazing. Are you roomy?"
"Better than a runabout," I said before I shrugged, "But not overly. The class isn't made for long-term habitation. But there is more than enough room to carry a 'shake and bake' research base. Or replace the same cargo space with more living space which would make it more tolerable for the crew. Come on, I'll show you."
The tour was quickly done.
I wasn't exactly big enough for an extended tour. I have just over hundred square meters in total floor area split three ways.
Don't exactly take forever to look through.
Camin sank down on one of the chairs on the flightdeck, giving the controls a flick. I brought up a schematic of my hull on it.
"…You actually have something of a pleasure craft feel about you," she said and looked around, "You're basically just missing the windows."
I blinked and looked over at Rain. Rain did a bit of a half shrug,
"Eh, not too far off," she said, "I'm checking the design documents, a lot of your design is actually pulled from the 'Cloud diver' private yacht. Mostly avionics and the base hull, it's a old design anyway. But they actually pulled some for the interior as well from what I can see now."
Hmh.
"Not a pleasure craft."
"Indeed not," Rain agreed and patted the top of my head, "Just a silly little science vessel."
I glared at her.
I finally got why mom used the tone she did when she said 'warships'.
Finally, I grinned at her, "Warship."
"Science vessel."
We shared a quick laugh. Camin looked between us, "…Don't get it."
Rain grinned and shook her head, "Don't worry about it, it's a Jovian thing."
Camin sat up a bit straighter, "Well, now I'm extra curious. I'll study Jovians for my final sociology project."
I shared a look with Rain. She smiled, "It's all yours, she's your friend."
"Oh come on, I don't know everything either! I been a Ship less than six months!"
"But you did grow up to be one," she countered, "Same culture as I am. This, you know just as much about!"
I glowered at her again before I sighed and nodded, "…Fine. But let's do it somewhere else, in a couple of minutes there will be drones here replacing the chairs and bedding in the bunks, they are getting a bit old. Let's go to the Lounge."
tehcrash
Apprentice Supervillain
- Location
- Seattle-ish
I assume you meant "nifty."
Why not both?
No nippy means fast/agile.
I thought it meant 'cold enough to be uncomfortable'. Thank you for expanding my dictionary.
- Location
- Cultural Memory
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It can be both IIRC. Nippy seems like it is one of those words that are more connotation than denotation, if that makes sense.
tehcrash
Apprentice Supervillain
- Location
- Seattle-ish
Ditto. TIL.
Though I am now curious as to whether the "agile" definition is more common outside of the US, as I haven't run into it used that way before.
Prince Charon
Just zis guy, you know?
Oh, dear. Not necessarily a good thing.
Quadhelix
Professional Windmill Hunter
Worse -- it's a deliberate reference:
That's almost as bad as naming your spaceship (or airplane) "Icarus." Or naming any sort of ship "Titanic." Or naming your son "Oedipus." Or . . .
Prince Charon
Just zis guy, you know?
I know, I just didn't see the point of pointing it out, as I thought it was obvious.
25
I watched the station fall back behind us through Clara's exterior sensors as we accelerated away.
Moving away. Again.
Leaving all my friends behind. Again.
"Never fun to move," Clara said, her hologram standing next to my avatar in the Lounge as I looked out the window towards the dust clouds parting before us.
I just nodded, "…Stayed just long enough to find some friends," I admitted quietly to her, "I tried to keep subspace contact with my friends from growing up, but it's not the same."
"It's not," she sighed and crossed her arms, her hologram turning to look out the window with me, "It's really not, not even for us. Especially as we spend a lot of time out of com range. It turns into a game of message tag most of the time. Even with others of our kind. It's even harder with organics."
"…I guess," I sighed as well and glanced at her, "You left people behind?"
"More than I like to think about. A lot more."
I frowned at her for a second. I suppose she had. She was… seventh generation? Personnel file linage said seven. She remembered all of it, every ship she had been, every crew member and every person she served with.
That sounded… lonely.
I told her as much.
She smiled a bit at me, "Could be. I'm not sure how you are, but I and the rest make friends easily. Kind of have to from the way we exist. We get to see so many amazing things, meet so many amazing people. The drawback is that sooner or later, we have to leave them behind."
"…I suppose," I said and scanned my hangar.
Thivan was gathering the rest of the team for a drill. As Kyn walked inside as the last one, he turned to my hull and did a motion.
Borrowing Clara's hologram system, I projected my avatar image next to him. He nodded and turned to the rest.
Samantha Clarksson. The team's survival expert and xeno-biologist. She was shorter than average for a human and with only slightly shorter hair than my avatar. If she looked like she could do one handed pushups, it's because she could.
Next to her was Theresa Mayfair, the team's geologist and engineer. Where Samantha was short, Theresa were tall and had her long dark hair gathered in a braid the majority of time.
On her other side were Kys, he was bald and tall, the tallest of the group Vulcan was the teams sociology and physics expert.
He turned to the rest, "Okay, you have all met Amy by now in a social setting. Once we are underway, there will be an official welcoming in the Lounge as well for the rest of the ships crew. But that's something for later. Right now, we are going to figure out how to work together."
Theresa crossed her arms and leaned back against a storage pod with a small shrug, "I know Amy is a new model, but I never had problem working with a Ship before. They tend to slip right into almost any group dynamic."
Kys shook his head, "That's because they all originated from a base personality, one everyone here but I grew up getting to know. It's no wonder they always fit in, most of the time people unconsciously know what to expect. Amy is completely new."
"Almost new," I said and shifted slightly, "My kernel is still the same as any Jovian, but I did 'grow up' on my own. But I was raised as a Jovian, by a Jovian."
Thivan nodded, "Indeed. Which is why we are going to be doing daily training for a while. Simulations, practical exercises. Full nine yards."
Samantha sighed, "Great. There goes our free time. Well, better that than messing up on a real mission. Do we know where we are going anyway?"
Thivan turned to me, "Ship?"
I nodded, "Two weeks to a Federation base where we are picking up some cargo. We are meeting up with the USS Iowa before continuing on for a secondary planetary survey mission.
Motioning with my hand, I brought up a hologram of the planet in question from Clara's database, "Sedona Five. Borderline M class, about equal to Earth's Silurian period. Some plants on land and a lot of animal life in the sea. Oxygen levels are a bit low at nine percent, survivable but wouldn't be nice for anyone. So, while temperature, pressure and the rest of the atmosphere mix is perfectly safe for everyone here, I would very much recommend breathing masks for everyone."
Samantha groaned, "Secondary survey? Really? Ship!" she asked and glanced up, "Don't you have anything better?!"
"Not every mission can be in an unknown steaming hot jungle," Clara answered from the speakers, "Last time the place had a look was well over seventy years ago. We need to confirm conditions for a possible Commonwealth colony site."
"At nine percent oxygen!?"
"One of the things we are going there to confirm. Not all species need as much oxygen as humans either, some don't need it at all. So suck it up, Sam. I'm sure the next one will be more fun."
Thivan chuckled and nodded, "Indeed. Thank you for the briefing, Amy. Now, let's get down to business. I have the holodeck booked four hours a day for the next two weeks. We are going to use every single one of them."
Theresa sighed and rubbed her eyebrows, "…Okay. Fine, we might as well go get it done. I have a date tonight and I don't want to be late."
Moving away. Again.
Leaving all my friends behind. Again.
"Never fun to move," Clara said, her hologram standing next to my avatar in the Lounge as I looked out the window towards the dust clouds parting before us.
I just nodded, "…Stayed just long enough to find some friends," I admitted quietly to her, "I tried to keep subspace contact with my friends from growing up, but it's not the same."
"It's not," she sighed and crossed her arms, her hologram turning to look out the window with me, "It's really not, not even for us. Especially as we spend a lot of time out of com range. It turns into a game of message tag most of the time. Even with others of our kind. It's even harder with organics."
"…I guess," I sighed as well and glanced at her, "You left people behind?"
"More than I like to think about. A lot more."
I frowned at her for a second. I suppose she had. She was… seventh generation? Personnel file linage said seven. She remembered all of it, every ship she had been, every crew member and every person she served with.
That sounded… lonely.
I told her as much.
She smiled a bit at me, "Could be. I'm not sure how you are, but I and the rest make friends easily. Kind of have to from the way we exist. We get to see so many amazing things, meet so many amazing people. The drawback is that sooner or later, we have to leave them behind."
"…I suppose," I said and scanned my hangar.
Thivan was gathering the rest of the team for a drill. As Kyn walked inside as the last one, he turned to my hull and did a motion.
Borrowing Clara's hologram system, I projected my avatar image next to him. He nodded and turned to the rest.
Samantha Clarksson. The team's survival expert and xeno-biologist. She was shorter than average for a human and with only slightly shorter hair than my avatar. If she looked like she could do one handed pushups, it's because she could.
Next to her was Theresa Mayfair, the team's geologist and engineer. Where Samantha was short, Theresa were tall and had her long dark hair gathered in a braid the majority of time.
On her other side were Kys, he was bald and tall, the tallest of the group Vulcan was the teams sociology and physics expert.
He turned to the rest, "Okay, you have all met Amy by now in a social setting. Once we are underway, there will be an official welcoming in the Lounge as well for the rest of the ships crew. But that's something for later. Right now, we are going to figure out how to work together."
Theresa crossed her arms and leaned back against a storage pod with a small shrug, "I know Amy is a new model, but I never had problem working with a Ship before. They tend to slip right into almost any group dynamic."
Kys shook his head, "That's because they all originated from a base personality, one everyone here but I grew up getting to know. It's no wonder they always fit in, most of the time people unconsciously know what to expect. Amy is completely new."
"Almost new," I said and shifted slightly, "My kernel is still the same as any Jovian, but I did 'grow up' on my own. But I was raised as a Jovian, by a Jovian."
Thivan nodded, "Indeed. Which is why we are going to be doing daily training for a while. Simulations, practical exercises. Full nine yards."
Samantha sighed, "Great. There goes our free time. Well, better that than messing up on a real mission. Do we know where we are going anyway?"
Thivan turned to me, "Ship?"
I nodded, "Two weeks to a Federation base where we are picking up some cargo. We are meeting up with the USS Iowa before continuing on for a secondary planetary survey mission.
Motioning with my hand, I brought up a hologram of the planet in question from Clara's database, "Sedona Five. Borderline M class, about equal to Earth's Silurian period. Some plants on land and a lot of animal life in the sea. Oxygen levels are a bit low at nine percent, survivable but wouldn't be nice for anyone. So, while temperature, pressure and the rest of the atmosphere mix is perfectly safe for everyone here, I would very much recommend breathing masks for everyone."
Samantha groaned, "Secondary survey? Really? Ship!" she asked and glanced up, "Don't you have anything better?!"
"Not every mission can be in an unknown steaming hot jungle," Clara answered from the speakers, "Last time the place had a look was well over seventy years ago. We need to confirm conditions for a possible Commonwealth colony site."
"At nine percent oxygen!?"
"One of the things we are going there to confirm. Not all species need as much oxygen as humans either, some don't need it at all. So suck it up, Sam. I'm sure the next one will be more fun."
Thivan chuckled and nodded, "Indeed. Thank you for the briefing, Amy. Now, let's get down to business. I have the holodeck booked four hours a day for the next two weeks. We are going to use every single one of them."
Theresa sighed and rubbed her eyebrows, "…Okay. Fine, we might as well go get it done. I have a date tonight and I don't want to be late."
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esotericist
A Weary Hand
- Location
- Lacey, WA
That's one of the more interesting sociological implications of this setting prior to this arc:
If you know one ship, then any other ship you meet is someone that either has been that, or could have been that.
Yes, there's been deviation with life experiences and the elective cognitive edits, but until now Jovians have been a much narrower demographic than any natural species.
26
"Looking forward to the mission?"
I glanced at Clara's avatar as she moved to sink down next to me on the couch, sitting back and crossing her legs.
Putting my PADD down, I nodded, "First mission. Of course I am."
She smiled, "Figured. Will be a couple of weeks… and I bet you'll be tired of it by the time it's finished. I'm going to have you and your team bouncing around that gravity well for weeks. Couple of spots a day."
I stuck my tongue out at her, "I'm going to be flying, so it's all good."
That got a chuckle from her and she nodded, "Now that I believe. How's training going?"
"…Good enough I think? Takes some getting used to," I admitted and crossed my arms as I leaned back against the couch, "We get in each other's way. Argue."
Tactical mission exercise yesterday. Samantha and I almost started yelling at each other about which plan to follow.
Thivan got us back on track though.
"New team," Clara agreed, "Always tricky. But you're doing well… You'll get there."
"Hope so," I sighed and shifted my course slightly.
My main body was currently some hundred and fifty kilometres away, flying in formation with her as we moved towards our first destination at a cruise of six hundred and fifty lights. That was as fast as I could fly without stressing my engines too bad.
Like all small craft, the Amur class wasn't exactly built for long range warp travel. If I pushed up any higher, it would start to damage my engines.
Clara on the other hand, could travel more than twice that fast without suffering any damage. This part of space was almost completely empty, other than the standard hydrogen and other gasses. No rocks or anything else dangerous floating about, so pretty much all I needed to do was to keep steady next to the larger ship and keep my warp field synchronised to hers.
This close, they were most definitely messing with each other, and if you did it wrong, it could cause definite damage to the engines.
And by damage, I mean explode.
"Ready?" Thivan asked as he moved his feet down from the forward right console he had been sitting at, putting his book away.
I projected an image on one of the screens, "I still don't see why you needed to be on board for this."
"Smallcraft or not, you're still my Ship," He said before he smiled, "I plan to be the captain of a full size one, one day. That means that where you go, I go."
I smiled a bit, "Still, this isn't exactly safe. I have never done this maneuver outside of sims before. If I mess up…"
"Don't mess up then. Open a channel to the Moving Parts, request docking clearance."
"Request approved," I told him, "She is opening up."
This was among the most dangerous things you could do at warp that didn't involve transporters.
Docking two ships while at warp.
I would need to match warp frequencies perfectly, slip through her warpfield, match shields and slip through her 'active' navigational deflectors. I would need to lower my shields and warp field once inside hers. If anything was off even by a tiny bit, if I wandered even a little… there was a real risk I would be spread across half the sector.
There was a reason nobody was crazy enough to do this before we came along, and even for Jovians it wasn't exactly a standard maneuver.
"…You know I haven't even been flying for a full year yet?"
He smiled, "So? Get on with it, I have holodeck time in forty minutes. I don't want to be late, I finally got Amelia from Aeroponics to go out with me."
"I'll try not to make you late."
I started to slowly move closer to the larger ship, our warp fields touching and we started to modulate to keep on the same frequencies.
"…And Ship?"
"Yeah?" I answered as I continued on my course, slowly slipping closer.
"If you blow us up, I'll be annoyed."
"Noted, sir."
Okay… okay…
As my hull passed through her warp field, I started to collapse mine. Making sure to keep the field modulated to not disturb hers.
As I shut down my warp engines, I slipped further towards her shields as well, receiving the required shield modulations on the way.
I could see Clara opening her docking bay for me as I slipped through her shields. The Borg technically used the same technique to have their drones walk through forcefields; we just couldn't do it on the fly.
Almost letting out a breath with my avatar, as the most dangerous steps were behind me, I floated up and into the hangar bay as I deployed my landing gear.
Actual wheels, something that was NOT exactly common. It was a design decision that went along with my airframe. What use were aerofoils if your landing gear were still set for vertical take offs and landings?
As the doors closed beneath me, I settled down and finally relaxed as Clara extended the clamps to lock me in place.
I did it.
We did it.
As Thivan got up, he nodded, "Good flying."
Clara smiled at my avatar with her own in the Lounge, "Well done. Smooth."
"Thank you."
I glanced at Clara's avatar as she moved to sink down next to me on the couch, sitting back and crossing her legs.
Putting my PADD down, I nodded, "First mission. Of course I am."
She smiled, "Figured. Will be a couple of weeks… and I bet you'll be tired of it by the time it's finished. I'm going to have you and your team bouncing around that gravity well for weeks. Couple of spots a day."
I stuck my tongue out at her, "I'm going to be flying, so it's all good."
That got a chuckle from her and she nodded, "Now that I believe. How's training going?"
"…Good enough I think? Takes some getting used to," I admitted and crossed my arms as I leaned back against the couch, "We get in each other's way. Argue."
Tactical mission exercise yesterday. Samantha and I almost started yelling at each other about which plan to follow.
Thivan got us back on track though.
"New team," Clara agreed, "Always tricky. But you're doing well… You'll get there."
"Hope so," I sighed and shifted my course slightly.
My main body was currently some hundred and fifty kilometres away, flying in formation with her as we moved towards our first destination at a cruise of six hundred and fifty lights. That was as fast as I could fly without stressing my engines too bad.
Like all small craft, the Amur class wasn't exactly built for long range warp travel. If I pushed up any higher, it would start to damage my engines.
Clara on the other hand, could travel more than twice that fast without suffering any damage. This part of space was almost completely empty, other than the standard hydrogen and other gasses. No rocks or anything else dangerous floating about, so pretty much all I needed to do was to keep steady next to the larger ship and keep my warp field synchronised to hers.
This close, they were most definitely messing with each other, and if you did it wrong, it could cause definite damage to the engines.
And by damage, I mean explode.
"Ready?" Thivan asked as he moved his feet down from the forward right console he had been sitting at, putting his book away.
I projected an image on one of the screens, "I still don't see why you needed to be on board for this."
"Smallcraft or not, you're still my Ship," He said before he smiled, "I plan to be the captain of a full size one, one day. That means that where you go, I go."
I smiled a bit, "Still, this isn't exactly safe. I have never done this maneuver outside of sims before. If I mess up…"
"Don't mess up then. Open a channel to the Moving Parts, request docking clearance."
"Request approved," I told him, "She is opening up."
This was among the most dangerous things you could do at warp that didn't involve transporters.
Docking two ships while at warp.
I would need to match warp frequencies perfectly, slip through her warpfield, match shields and slip through her 'active' navigational deflectors. I would need to lower my shields and warp field once inside hers. If anything was off even by a tiny bit, if I wandered even a little… there was a real risk I would be spread across half the sector.
There was a reason nobody was crazy enough to do this before we came along, and even for Jovians it wasn't exactly a standard maneuver.
"…You know I haven't even been flying for a full year yet?"
He smiled, "So? Get on with it, I have holodeck time in forty minutes. I don't want to be late, I finally got Amelia from Aeroponics to go out with me."
"I'll try not to make you late."
I started to slowly move closer to the larger ship, our warp fields touching and we started to modulate to keep on the same frequencies.
"…And Ship?"
"Yeah?" I answered as I continued on my course, slowly slipping closer.
"If you blow us up, I'll be annoyed."
"Noted, sir."
Okay… okay…
As my hull passed through her warp field, I started to collapse mine. Making sure to keep the field modulated to not disturb hers.
As I shut down my warp engines, I slipped further towards her shields as well, receiving the required shield modulations on the way.
I could see Clara opening her docking bay for me as I slipped through her shields. The Borg technically used the same technique to have their drones walk through forcefields; we just couldn't do it on the fly.
Almost letting out a breath with my avatar, as the most dangerous steps were behind me, I floated up and into the hangar bay as I deployed my landing gear.
Actual wheels, something that was NOT exactly common. It was a design decision that went along with my airframe. What use were aerofoils if your landing gear were still set for vertical take offs and landings?
As the doors closed beneath me, I settled down and finally relaxed as Clara extended the clamps to lock me in place.
I did it.
We did it.
As Thivan got up, he nodded, "Good flying."
Clara smiled at my avatar with her own in the Lounge, "Well done. Smooth."
"Thank you."