The Furry Forums
Creative Arts and Media => Roleplay => Serious RP => Topic started by: Oedipus Rex on September 09, 2013, 01:40:04 AM
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(Attention! All new recruits must first fill out the recruitment sheet:http://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=23160.0)
I awake to the loud beeping of my alarm clock. My eyes open, and I gaze upwards from my bed on the floor to see what time it is. 5:30, standard galactic time. I stand and quickly turn it off with practiced ease, not wanting to hear it's wails any longer, and flip on the light switch directly above it. My eyes adjust to the false light that the room's U.V. projectors can offer and look around. The white walls of the quarters are slightly comforting, almost like being wrapped up in a blanket. I head across the room to the small dresser where my various uniforms are kept. Today is the day where I get my first crew, a good occasion to dress properly if there ever was one. I dress in a clean white uniform with a orange stripe heading down my back, and another one on the front running down across my thorax. I smile in satisfaction and exit my quarters, making my way down the corridors to the airlocked exit. After exiting I stand in front of the door and stand straight, waiting for the new recruits, due to arrive at 6:00. I look back at my ship. The mantis cruiser is clean and fresh, wearing a fresh coat of white and orange federation paint. The words 'Vengeance and redemption' are painted in orange on the hull. I smile, my beautiful ship boosting my confidence, and wait.
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Sam walked with a stride down one of the many corridors of the Federation base. Walking high and proud, all the windows on his side gave view to one of the most magnificent ships he'd ever seen: The Vengeance and Redemption... It was truly breathtaking to behold and more so that he would have the chance to pilot it, even if it was a Mantis ship.
His life had lead up to this, since a young age he'd dreamt of being a pilot and now all the hard work and strenuous training had brought him here to the greatest moment of his life.
Sam turned the last corner, checking his watch, to make the last stretch towards the docking station. He took a moment mentally to calm down and relax, put on a determined look and try to look not too hasty. A Mantis stood at the station, dressed in fine Captain's clothing. Sam walked up to him and gave what he thought to be finest salute he'd ever given.
"Sam Kingsley sir, reporting for duty."
Sam's watch gave a silent buzz indicating 6:00 exactly. He was happy.
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I watch as the human walks towards me and look down at the paper I hold in my right foreleg. The only pure human on the registration form, and he is my pilot. What irony...
I look up at you and offer a kind smile, "You must be my new pilot, welcome aboard." I extend my left foreleg, offering a sort of handshake.
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Sam stood at attention,
"It's an honor to be working with you sir"
He did his best to give the Manits Captain a handshake and hope this wasn't awkward by any means. Sam knew he was meant to be here and in despite of how he would probably have been better suited to a human ship under human command, the Federation was slowly falling (Sam would deny this) and it needed it's men where they were. He just hoped that he could reach the standards that his new captain would lay on him despite him being probably the only human on the mission.
Sam went back to attention after the handshake and moved to stand in line next to the captain in attention, hoping to avoid any awkward situation (he was sure there wouldn't be any) and waiting to see who else will crew the ship as they move down towards the docking station.
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I look down at a small watch latched onto my left foreleg, It is 6:30 GST, we are due to leave the dock at eight and we still need to run pre flight checks and get the FTL drive heated up. I sigh in annoyance, "Looks like the other's are no shows, I hope command has a good explination as to why they only sent one person to crew my ship" I say with malice and turn to enter the ship, quickly heading to the bridge and opening coms with the commande center inside the space station.
"Command of the three crew members you assigned me only one showed, why?" The clean looking human with a gray beard replies, "Captain we are stretched thin at the moment, I expect you to be happy that you got a crew member. You are still to continue to leave the station at 8:00 GST as planned. Command out."
I sneer and close the coms channel.
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Max groaned awake and looked across at the clock, only to realize he was half an hour late already. He quickly got up and dressed, grabbing his bag and packing anything he had forgotten before running out the door with half a piece of meat hanging out of his mouth.
When he reached the ship it looked like they were getting ready to leave so he rushed on board and set to work finding the captain. It didn't take him that long but what he did find was a bit of a surprise, he'd never actually seen a mantis before "Sir, sorry i'm late. Engineer Max Shadow reporting for duty."
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I turn my head to face the human addressing me. "You're late, recruit" I say, "However, better late than never, go head to the crew quarters. Then I need you down in engineering checking that we are flight-worthy and heating up the FTL drive, we leave at 8:00." I then exit the room and head down to the cargo bay, checking that all of our supplies such as food, water, and munitions are in order.
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Max was a little confused about being called a human, but he didn't let it bother him. not bothering to drop his stuff off he headed straight for the FTL drive and got to work making sure everything was working. taking a little bit of time to familiarize himself with the workings of the engines and main systems.
(sorry forgot to mention max looks like my pic)
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Sam had by now moved to the bridge, trying to avoid any conflict between the captain and the latest addition to the crew, and reflected on how the ship had been constructed. Like most modern day FTL ships, it was able to be run on minimal crew... It was a relief that another human had joined the crew... especially an engineer. Sam didn't want to run back and fix the engines himself while leaving the ships to the Auto-Pilot.
He sat himself in the Pilot's chair, adjusting it, and started the preliminary flight checks. The mantis ships had been slightly modified under Federation regulation to make it at least more comfortable for any species that may pilot it. Lights, Cameras, Action! The slow hum of the engines warming up always excited Sam. This would be his baby and he would see no harm to it.
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After checking all of the supplies in the cargo hold, twice, I head back through the corridors to the weapons room, checking that they would come online. I turn on a mounted intercom and connect to the bridge, where I expect Sam is. "Sam, if you could please look out the view port and confirm that both of the blasters up front are online and have been extended forward into firing position, it would be much appreciated." I say, flipping the switches to turn the guns on.
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Max went to work examining the entire ship, climbing though as many vents and access hatches as he could to lower his chances of needing to look for things. when he was done he found his way through the maintenance tunnels into a vacant room and claimed it for himself. relaxing till he was needed or got bored.
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Sam got the message and looked out at the sides. They both appeared to be functioning properly, but that could prove nothing until they actually get fired.
"Blasters looking good" He said in response over the com.
The engines had almost finished warming up and would probably need to be checked soon for leaks in the FTL drive.
Making use of the com himself, he sent a message to engineering "Engines nearly warmed up, you can perform your checks."
Sam flipped a few switches and played with the steering controls to make sure there would be no jamming of the controls in the middle of a meteor field. Now it was all down to the engineer.
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After hearing the confirmation, I power down the weapons and exit the room, making my way to the reactor room to check that there are no leaks.
After finding none, I head up to the bridge to wait until the engineering checks are done.
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A humanoid cat cursed as he ran down the main hall towards the large hangar of the base. His uniform was barely put on properly as he ran as if the winds, or even the Rebellion themselves were after his furry ass. He quickly avoided two humans who eyed him with concern as well as confuesment as to why a soldier was running so quicky.
But it didn't matter to Tio, he had an assignment and he was already over 49 minutes late! But then again if a dammed power outage happened and the doors shut down, well that makes getting on time rather hard.
"Mantis ship... A mantis ship." As his eyes checked the hangar. A good deal of Federation ships were docked, some had been beaten up due to recent fighting with the Rebels. They, so it seemed, had begun to be bolder. Attacking defenseless planets, taking hostages and more. To the cat they were as terrible as the Rockmen, or even some of the Mantisses. Oh the irony that from what he heard the captain would be a Mantis himself. Still this was his first true assignment after graduation and he was needed.
The gods only knew that every race was needed to defend against the Rebels who sought to destroy the Federation. What the actuall cause well was a bit unknown to Tio, he had slept through most of that class. What he did know was that his own kind, Cathians, were devided and he wanted to restore that as soon as possible.
His eyes glinstered as he saw the ship and the few weapons it was carrying. He whistled at it approaching it slowly as he went to the airlock. "Nice ship... And here they saw the Mantis ships aren't decent?"
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As i pass by the airlock doors to the bridge I hear them hiss open, and I turn around. Standing in the doorway is a cat who looked like he had just been zapped by a Zoltan. I walk up to him, "And who might you be?"
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The cat blinked at seeing the Mantis, somewhat confused now himself that he wasn't informed of the cat's arrival. But it then hit him as the male grabbed his papers and showed them hastily. "Tio Crowell, sir. I was assigned here as the weapons expert. High command merely said I needed to get here in time. Nothing more."
He then scratched the back of his head, somewhat stressed at being late. "Terribly sorry for being sir, uuh..." Trying to find out the Mantis his name.
He hoped that there weren't two Mantis people onboard, or this might have become rather akward very soon.
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I click my lower mandibles together, the equilivent of a shrug, "Another unannounced recruit, not that I'm not happy to receive more crew. Fortunately for you I already preformed the weapons checks, so you can report to your post and familiarize yourself with the controls." I say, making it sound like a request, but actually giving an order.
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The cat nodded in respect, before looking at the Mantis. "With all due respect, sir..." Before he looked strictly at the other. "But I prefer to do a checkup as well. I need to familirize myself with the weapons installed."
Not before the other could say a word did the cat walk alongside the ship, he entered one of the many rooms. The room was filled with many items of medical origins, the medical bay he assumed.
He was kind of lost in his enthousiasm, not knowing where on a Mantis ship the weapons room was located. He quickly sighed. "Uurgh... Me and my head. I should have asked where the weapons were. Where is the captain?" As he tried to search someone of the crew.
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Max groaned and stretched, having just finished rearanging his room to his liking the call from the bridge was welcome. "okay flyboy, most the checks are done, i'll let you know as soon as you can go." He climbed back into the access ways and headed towards the engines, hearing a new voice on the way "Uurgh... Me and my head. I should have asked where the weapons were. Where is the captain?" Silently opening one of the hatches he looked down at the lost cathian. "need some help there? if you're looking for the firing controls then those would be in the bridge. if you're looking to check that everything's working then i think i saw some parts in here you might like to see. keep up though, you get lost and you're gone."
With that he continued through to the engines and did his checks, before calling the bridge through comms. "everything looks fine down here, i'll keep an eye on the gear when you give them some power to be sure."
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The cat followed the other into the vents. It was a tight fit for sure but doable before he asked the other his name. "So you are the engines specialist over here I take it?... Name's Tio. Yours?" As the feline kept following the others, seeing indeed a few machines that already got his attention. A few hallways deeper down, he began to notice various control panels and weapon chargers. Deeming that this would be the weapons control room he looked for the screws of the vent.
"It isn't the prettiest way to get to know the ship, but heck. If I ever find myself stock in these things. I'll give you a call!" As the male waited untill the other had responded on his question before checking out which armaments this little ship actually had.
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I walk into the bridge head over to the shields control panel, turning them on at low power and checking outside the view port to check that the bright blue bubble had surrounded the ship, which it had. I power the shields down and turn my head towards Sam, "Have all systems been checked and deemed operational?" I ask the pilot.
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"max, and yeah, i guess you could call me a specialist. i'll probably start drawing maps of the insides of the ship, since unless this heap of metal is prone to breaking i don't see myself being all to busy." Max finished checking the engines and headed back to Tio and helped him with the vent. "there you go. i'll be in here if you need me."
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The cat laughed at that. "Hehhe, you prefer tight spaces eh?... Can't blame ya. Captain is kinda scary if you know what I mean." Before he bid farewell and jumped into the weapon room.
The chamber was large and had various instruments to keep the weapons charged. There was room for a lot of improvement. Especially around the prevention of weapons igniting themselves during combat. Or worse during travel. He shivered at the thought that any of the weaponry onboard could explode. The ship wasn't too well armed either, when Tio went to the controls and looked for the weapons they were using. "huh... One would expect this ship to be armed to the teeth seeing as it is a Mantis ship." But he thought nothing of it, making notes on a simple datapad he had with him and tried to mesmorize the various layouts of the systems.
"I could have max tune up some of these machines if he's indeed as good as he says."
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"something like that. and it's not the captain i'm worried about, my kind used to eat things like him for lunch." He made sure to say the second part under his breath, not sure how good the cat's hearing was. He stayed next to the opening in case he was needed, staying silent and listening. "never said i was good. but if you wanna see something impressive i can show you no one else on this ship would have seen." He smirked, wondering if he had the gunners interest.
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"You can show me it... And I'll keep quiet on you saying you eat the captain." As the male laughed at this, knowing he need s to be carefull now around this Max fella, lest he wants everything he says to be drawn out fo context as a result.
"Does it require me to move through more vents? Or can we take the normal route? The latter of which I would prefer." As he crossed his arms a bit, smirking at the idea as his mind began to ponder on what the other might have found that was so special.
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Max smirked and jumped down into the room "good ear. i'll have to keep an eye on you. and to answer your question, it's a bit of both, it's an engineer only area so, lips shut." he walked out of the room and down the halls, looking around before opening another vent access hatch. "come on in."
(okay, i think we should let the others catch up now XD)
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Sam had smiled when the engineer referred to him as "Flyboy". He was sure all the crew would end up becoming a pretty close knit group. "All's good on this end
As the Captain walked in and checked the shields though... he was probably an awesome guy too, even iff the relations between the Federation and the Mantis Empire were hazy.
"Yes Sir, all systems are go. The Engine's warmed up and on your call we can set launch."
Sam felt a mixture of excitement and pride as he brushed down his uniform before setting his hands upon the various levers, knobs, touch and holographic screens. I beautiful blue light shining onto his features and reflecting in his blue eyes as each screen showed it's own unique system and the data charts indicating various important fields.
Sam waited excitedly, eyes set out the front window, past the holographs, awaiting his orders.
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"Thank you, Pilot" I say before heading to the wallmounted intercom, and brodcasting over the entire ship, "Attention all crewmen, we leave the dock in thirty minutes. Preform all final checks, make sure that all heavy objects have been tied down, and report to your quarters."
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As Tio wanted to climb into the vent he heard the voice of the mantis calling. He grumbled slightly and moved himself out of the vent. Well it seemed that their voyage would start. The male had no clue as to where they would be heading or what their task was. He hoped that the captain would explain this soon enough.
"Well guess you need to show me once we are done with the launch I suppose." As Tio shook his head before grabbing the gear he had dropped in the weapons room. "Max, do you know where the sleeping quarters are?... I havn't had time to explore the ship yet." Scratching his head in dismay. The cat would be able to memorise the ship once he has had the chance of seeing it fully, but untill that time he would stay near their quarters and strap down. Offcourse with Max leading the way, which was the better option then going alone.
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Max reluctantly closed off the hatch again and walked with Tio back to the weapons room. "Yeah i know where they are. Follow me." He lead Tio to one of the empty rooms closer to the weapons room before returning to his own room to fiddle with some gadgets he had brought along to fill his time while wondering why they needed to be in their rooms, especially him, the one there to make sure the ship is running right.
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I wait until 8:00 before I contact the station's docking control center, trying to be as punctual as possible. "Docking control this is The Vengeance and Redemption requesting permission to undock." I say into the microphone attached to my console. A metallic voice obviously belonging to an Engi responds, "Roger, you are cleared."
I look over at Sam, "Time to show your stuff rookie."
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As Tio was brought to the room, he quickly began to unpacl and strap in the most important items of his gear. Not wanting anything damaged he took extra caution to make it so that the fragile items were still wrapped up decently. After which he went to one of the chairs and took place, strapping himself in them. It was odd to have these safetybelt mechanisms everywhere on the ship, but then again if they hit a meteor shower or something of the sorts, they couldn't have the luxury of firsyt moving to one of these rooms before strapping in ight.
Still, the ship should have had mechanisms and machines that prevented them from even feeling that the ship was moving. So why would they need to strap themselves shut? The cat didn't ponder too long on it, thinking that a quick nap would do wonders. After all, he had ran all the way to the ship and felt rather tired.
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Sam smiled
"Roger that Captain"
Flicking a switch, the blue lights of the consoles turned orange. He was in control.
A loud clunk came from the docking bay and a small klaxon let off indicating the bolt heads were secure and airtight.
The giant hangar bay door slowly opened revealing space and the thousands of stars that were part of it. A few more switches flipped and the Retro Thrusters lifted them gently off the ground of the hanger and slowly outwards. The ship barely shook in the process. "As smooth as a Whistle" Sam thought, still smiling.
Once the ship had left the hanger, He put the retros on full blast and activated the Artificial Gravity, elevating the ship and into a range where it would be safe to activate the FTL drive without destroying anything. The ship hung still.
Sam turned to face the Captain, it was obvious he was proud of himself.
"FTL drive warmed up and ready to go Captain, Awaiting coordinates."
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I smile slightly and turn the shields on and boost the artificial gravity. Due to the nature of some ships, un-docking from any space station must be done at the lowest amount of power possible, so that in the case of catastrophic failure the ship could quickly jump to a separate beacon instead of colliding with the station. I personally thought the rule was a bit silly, but with the Federation practically recruiting anything with basic sentience, I understand why it is there. Now that we are no longer docked though, I can use the reactor as intended, allowing the artificial gravity to use it's motion dampeners. I activate the wall mounted intercom "All crew report to your stations and prepare for jump." I turn my head to Sam "Our first mission is a bit of a trial run, just a few pirates causing trouble in lowsec." I say. "We are to find a non-violent solution if possible, however if we are fired upon we have permission to fire back. Head to beacon 7-14, then head to coordinates -264*43 564*02. It should only be a few jumps away."
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"Locking coordinates..."
Sam swiped and swung his fingers over a various array of screens and buttons and numbers and information popped up as he needed it.
"...locked, ready when you are Sir"
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I nod. "Let's wait for the others to get in position, we don't want to jump into a few raiders with no one manning the guns."
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Max yawned and climbed back into the maintenance tunnels, heading down to check on the engines again before sneaking around looking for anything that would keep him occupied before anything needed fixing. he decided to keep himself busy messing with the crew gunner, making his way to where the main guns were mounted and starting to give them a quick examination.
knowing that Tio was most likely freaking out while watching the displays dance around erratically from even the slightest tap of a spanner against their mounts.
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The cat himself had unbound himself after the ship was in orbit. It was good to know that they now could walk freely and more decently. Even if the gravity was artificial, it was way better then what they trained him for in 0-Gravity. The man walked down the hallway and soon found the weaponsroom again, it was still neat and clean. As if it had barely been touched by anyone.
Tio moved to the screen and arched a brow at the reading being all fuzzy and strange. This wasn't supposed to happen not when the weapons weren't charged or anything ionic in the space around them. He sighed quickly rubbing his forehead, reminding him that this was a ship where he needed to work with others. Wether he liked it or not. And even if he only met Max and the captain, who still hadn't given his name, he figured only the engineer could do this little stunt.
Making sure that Max wouldn't mess with the guns, he charged them slowly letting of a small surge of electricity going through the muzzle and mounts, making it so anyone that touched them would get a nasty zap. Not enough to hurt anything, but enough to make someone think twice. He grinned and chuckled when the meters began to get back to normal again. "Not with my weapons ya don't!"
After the mischieve he had done, did the male open up a channel to the bridge. "Sir, I am in the weaponsroom and have checked the weapons... I would suggest to add extra weaponry or at least grant more power. I can load weapons like missiles by myself rather quickly, but with better gear it could be autoloaded, or better..."
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I hear the intercom blare the marine's words and I sigh "Marine, this ship is equiped with two standard issue Burst Laser MK II's, I'm sure that is moe than enough weaponry for now." I say into the intercom in a strict tone before turning back to Sam. "It looks like everybody is in place, lets start the jump."
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Max jumped a little when he got shocked. Smirking and making a mental note to mess with the cat more. he finished up what he was doing and gathered his gear, heading into the 'engineer only' depths of the ship, quietly whistling as he climbed through the ship. He stopped at a com panel and contacted the captain. "Sir i'm going to be out of contact for a little while. i'll update you as soon as i'm out of the coms free area."
Quickly continuing before the captain could argue he moved through the last access hatch and entered the 'coms-free' areas in the deepest reaches of the ship. floating through the not gravitated maze of wires, panels and circuits that made up the brain of the ship.
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"Aye Aye, Captain"
Sam smiled a determined smile and at the press of a button and the input of a code, the ship jumped into an FTL slip-line and launched then through space, faster than the speed of light.
The Gravity Diffusion system cushioned the sudden stop wonderfully.
A small light blinked on one of the displays.
"Sir, we've received a message from a nearby ship."
A Holographic face disfigured with Static projected itself over the front window, a small ship could be seen in the distance with what appeared to be pirate markings.
"Greetings, and welcome to our beacon! For a small fee, we'll let you continue on your way."
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I scoff, "Your beacon? Sir this beacon is property of The Federation. Now you will let us jump or you will face the consequences." I turn towards Sam and mute the communications "Alert the crew and tell them to report to the battle stations, just in case this pirate is as reckless as I think he is."
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"Aye Aye"
The console turned red and a klaxon echoed briefly through the ship.
Sam opened intercom and spoke as well as he could.
"All Crew to Battle Stations, Pirates in sight, Prepare Weapons for charging"
He closed the com and and readied himself incase they opened fire. The two layers of shields would obviously do well against beam and lasers but any missiles or bombs would just pass through and it would be his job to do his best to avoid that.
Sam's stomach had butterflies. It was now down to the integrity of the ship and it's crew.
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The alert sounded as sirens began to sing their song of warning to the crew. The cat had been checking out the various equipment before being startled to death by the sudden change in atmopshere. His furr, if he didn't wear clothing, was standing up straight as a result, making the male groin a bit as he got into the chair of his room and made sure the systems were operational.
"Alright, I got it... Charging the lasers now." As Tio began to reroute some of the energy of the reactorchamber towards the weaponry. Out of all the equipment onboard, the weapons consumed the most energy. It would take a bit to charge them however, else he would risk blowing them up. But the thought that after their first jump they already met pirates?...
The energy from the reactor began to flow throughout the chamber and towards the installed weapons platforms. The cat locked down the room and added more juice to it, as the signatures on his screen indicated the creation of the needed heat in the muzzle. Whenever the order was giving, he would be to let the recoil loose and the burst of energy would blast forward towards the enemy vessel. However, he was missing something and quickly opened up a channel to the cockpit.
"Yo, names are for later... I need schematics on the ship. I can't aim these things or find weakspots with no 3D projection down here!" He growled, needing the info to locate the correct angle for the lasers to fire at. Unless offcourse the pilot wanted to blast them, but focussing on evading and on firing would be troublesome for anyone.
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The pirate's smile diminishes, being replaced by a frown. "You made the wrong choice, Mantis." he says before closing the coms channel. An alarm wails at my podium, they are locking on. I open up coms with the weapons control room. "Our scanners are activating now, sending you a live uplink. Open fire when as soon as you can. we have a lock." I say into the speaker before turning my attention to Sam. "See what you can do to dodge them."
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As Sam took in what was said, a small beeping lit up indicating incoming fire.
"They've launched an offencive"
A single heavy laser shot flew towards the ship, followed by a sweep from a beam weapon, one after the other. The laser just hit and took out the first layer of the shield and luckily the beam wasn't strong enough to do any damage beyond the remaining shield.
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The weapons kept charging, heavier lasers weren't as easy to charge as simple ones. And these fired three rows of small shots after another. So they needed to make sure the target was where they aimed or all three shots could easily miss.
As the graphics of the ship came up, Tio watched in amusement that the pirateship, whilst shielded wasn't the best designed. Still it made up in its lack of armor with firepower. And that is what he fired, a few good hits and the shield would collapse. The generator was already being overstressed as it was. He however obeyed orders and kept charging the weapons untill they lit up green. The 3D image was taken and swirled around to see where to best hit the enemy vessel. "Mhhh, let's see. Ah got it!" As he rotated the model and hit double on the lefft unerside where the enemy beam was connected. Hitting it there would not only dislodge the beam, but because of the energy buildup of the weapon, the shield over there was less thick, able to being pierced more easily.
He pushed up for a link to the cockpit. "Try and fly on it's side, it'll get us a few hits. But with luck we can cripple that beam of theirs and overload the circuits.... IF we are lucky!"
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The scan panel, which shows all of the essential components of the ship, lights up bright green and indicates that the enemy's laser is offline. I respond to the intercom "Good job down there marine! Maybe you aren't entirely helpless."
The enemy pirate watches as his attack bounces harmlessly off of the federation ship, and swears. With the laser gone he has no means of punching through the shield, and determines the best plan of option is a full retreat. He begins to power up his FTL drive.
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Sam got the message "Rodger that"
The guns were down and that was the time to get in close. He pulled the ship into an optimal range beside the pirate ship where targeting would be easy and if the Pirate ship exploded, nothing would happen to them other than perhaps a shield taking the impact.
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Tio did not know that they got so close to the enemy vessel. It would be dangerous to get close to the ship. The explosion could damage the ship even with shields as a reactor would make the same blast as a small sun.
"I can fire again soon... I'll try and aim for the engine area." As the laser heated up again. He was trained for this, he knew this!... He was good in it and would use his skill to defend the ship.
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Max happily floated around, seemingly calmly oblivious to the fight going on outside the ship. it took him a little while to find what he was looking for. Switching breakers and re-wiring panels. whistling quietly as he worked on, at the time, seemingly useless systems.
it didn't take him long to get the systems he tweaked running again, mostly just basic systems that most of the crew wouldn't even know were running unless he turned them off for a day, others would be more important later when they reached where they were going. he quickly did a reboot of the targeting systems, making sure they they were on target with no idea they were in use, also resetting the 3D map in the weapons room. he smirked a little at the thought of maybe leaving a few of the smaller systems off for a little, seeing if anyone noticed at all. With a final tweak he gathered his tools and enjoyed the lack of gravity for a little longer, thinking quietly to himself.
"i missed this feeling. i wish i could be back with my own, but this will have to do for now."
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As the two laser weapons were charging again, a sudden beeping sound catched the attention of Tio. The weapons expert went to the control panel in question as he arched a brow. A look of confusion as well as bafflement could be seen on his face as he entered in a few lines of code to see wether or not the system was optimal.
But to his satisfaction everything was working fine, at least from what he could tell. "That was odd..." Before he quickly pointed his attention back to the 3D map. The pirate ship was showing still with a small red circle where the last impact was.
And the other screens indicated the lasers were almost ready to fire again. "Aiming the lasers for their engine compartment, sir." He spoke through the comlink, his tail swaying left and right in amusement. This was much like target practice, yet easier. Their shields were holding and the generator wasn't being overtaxed. Yet he wished he was able to get a link to Max,... As the engineer could easily provide him with more power, or know of a method.
As the laser gave their signal to be fired, the cat aimed and opened the mechanism. He saw a few shots fly towards the hologram as they connected and was very much content. "A direct hit!" He yelled, however unbeknownst to the male, the hit was a complete miss. Further more only one laser had actually fired. The messing of the control system by Max had jammed one of the outlest and the heat inside of the chamber of the weapon was now trying to seek a way out, melting everything in its path slowly.
A sudden alarm went off, as Tio was spooked. The emssage indicating that one of the lasers had just went offline, to his horror as he took up the control panel for it, showing their ship in a holographic 3D projection the issue was within the laser chamber itself. His heart began to pound not understanding this, he had hit why then did the computer tell him there was still a buildup of energy? His eyes glanced over the other screen trying to pinpoint the cause of it as a sudden explosion began to rock the ship heavily.
The shockwave forced the man onto the ground as he bumped his head on the panel.
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A message scrawled across one of the screens. "Hull integrity at 75%"
"Sir, we seem to have been hit... hard... but they're guns are down and our shields are up?"
Sam sounded panicked and confused, especially as the force from the explosion had hit him.
The one shot that had been fired at the pirates had also blatantly missed and from this range...
Regardless, the Pirate had managed to charge the FTL drive and had warped away to potential safety.
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I nod in reply to Sam. "There is now way the pirate could have hit us. It must have been an error. Prepare the ship for jump while I go see what just happened." I say before exiting the bridge and heading down to weapons control, only to find Tio picking himself up off the floor, the main control panel smoking. My right eyelid twitches as I see what this humanoid has done to my ship. "Marine what did you do? Tell me now or I swear to the war God I will throw you out into space."
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The cat grumbled as he pulled himself up and rubbed his head, he was hurt a small scratch, but nothing too serious. He shook himself a bit and tried to understand what the captain was asking off of him, the words circling in his mind as his mouth had trouble finding a decent response.
It then cleared to Tio what had occured and went to look at the numbers on his screen before he began to curse.
"**censor** it... We lost one of the weapons! How could this have happened?!" He growled and his eyes kept looking trying to figure out the cause. "There was heat buildup in the muzzle of the laser! It couldn't escape and must have overloaded the circuits thus the blast hit us... And not the pirate ship!" With his paws searching for the cause of the error. "It seems that someone had deactivated the release chamber of the gun!... One doesn't do that unless it needs to cool, as no energy can then get into the chamber. But when charging the power can't be interrupted! As it is directly gotten from the reactor..."
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I look over at Tio, still angry. "Strange, that can only be done directly at the reactor." I quickly go over the list of crew members in my mind, and where they were during the battle. Max and I were on the bridge, Tio was here in weapons. That only leaves the reptile unaccounted for. I sneer in anger and quickly exit the room, quickly heading down a few corridors until I reached a latch mounted in the floor. I pull it open angrily, revealing the maintenance tunnels, and wait.
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Max floated slowly to the hatch and carefully left the room and entered normal gravity again, walking through the passageway to the nearest com panel. "captain, i'm back in signal range. contact me if you need me for anything." with that he kept walking and headed straight for his room, planning to get a little rest before he was needed again. still unaware that the ship had even stopped or had anything go wrong.
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After a bit of waiting, I decide a much better option and head up to the bridge. There I locate the intercom mounted on the captain's podium, and I press the call button, brodcasting tgroughout the entire ship. "Will the Recruit Max Shadow please report to the bridge."
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"everything good captain?"
Sam turned to face the captain.
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Max managed to just sit down when the message calling him to the bridge. He figured that there had been a bug in the systems or something there so he grabbed his gear again and walked to the bridge, quietly whistling to himself on the way.
Moments later he arrived at the bridge and looked around. "what seems to be the problem captain?"
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Without turning to face Max, I address him, "Where were you about ten minutes ago? What were you doing?"
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Sam went back to evaluating the extent of the damage and how much would need to go into repairing everything.
All at the same time keeping an ear open.
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Tio arrived not much later then Max, having gathered a quick report on the damage to the weapons sytem as well as an assesment on how to repair some of the damaged modules and machinery that were caught in the blast. He shook his head, somewhat annoyed and didn't like the fact that they were now short of one laser weapon. His tail very much irritated at the whole mess that had happened, mostly as the captain sought to blame him at first!
"Well, the good news is that the reactor didn't explode, nor both guns for that matter..." As he browsed through the various data on the holopad and brought it up towards one of the screens. "However, we have lost one laser and the aforementioned nearby systems completely due to the blast. And the actuall reactor has been functioning at merely 87% as of now. But I assume that Max can provide a better report on that." With Tio crossing his arms and shaking his head. "You know, it is a miracle we are still alive. If that laser had been placed anywhere closer to a compartment, rather then near systems... Thankfully no critical ones. We would have been vaporized!" His face turning more sour. "To top it off, we lost power to the kitchen... And no more warm water from the showers as the boiler has melted."
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"To add on to that" Sam said a bit too aloud "We can make a jump but I'll take about two hours to charge to the point we can actually reach another beacon."
He looked around, he thought he may look a bit odd not smiling for once.
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"Wait. What are you accusing me of captain? I was down in the mainframe, doing general maintenance. Stuff that I only did not knowing the ship would be stopping. Something I couldn't have known down in the mainframe and you or the pilot would have been responsible for letting me know. The only reason i know we've stopped now is cos i can see that from here, So how about you take the tone out of your voice captain and ask why i wasn't informed of the stop over, meaning i didn't know to wait to reset the systems."
With that he turned and walked off the bridge, annoyed that they would accuse him of sabotage less than a day into the trip. On his way out he grabbed Tio around the waist with his tail and dragged him out. "you, come with me." He threw one more look at the captain "i'll send you a report. Sir."
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My eye twitches as I turn to look at Max. "Did I dismiss you soldier?" I say, striding towards you. "The fact that you are trying to blame your idiocy on me is appalling at best. Everybody knew what was going on on this ship but you. Everybody knew we were in battle, but you. Your ignorance cost us a kill and put me down a very expensive weapon." I say with a hiss. "From this point onward, you will ignore your little 'impulsive outbursts'. You will do as I say, when I say it. You will only mess with my ship when I permit you to, and I swear if you cause me any more trouble I will have you hung up naked by your toes, and broadcast on live television!" I say, my voice raising to a shout towards the end. "Do I make myself clear?"
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Max took a long breath before looking the mantis in the eyes "sir. I'm not blaming you, i'm telling you it was your responsibility to inform the head engineer that there was a stop-over. And I didn't know we were in conflict because the mainframe is completely closed off from the rest of the ship. The reason for this is because if there's a disruption or interference to the mainframe it could easily go into a stand-by cycle."
"Meaning everything turns off for about 20 hours then the ship auto-pilots itself back to the dock for repairs, Our dead bodies still on board." He moved closer to the captain "So if you don't mind i'm going to take the cat and see what the damage looks like around the guns. And next time you think of threatening me, keep in mind that our races have fought before. yours was loosing." He pushed past the mantis and left, not letting anyone else get in his way.
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I hiss in anger as the engineer leaves the room. "Why is it that I am assigned the most ignorant crew members in all of the Federation" I say before returning to the captain's podium. "I didn't go through five years of military academy to be disobeyed by a recruit."
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Tio felt the tail around his waist as he was dragged away from the bridge.
He knew what the other wanted, but still this was a little bit awkward. "Whoa Max, easy there! We barely met!" As the cat chuckled at the lame joke he had made.
He felt the eyes of the captain on him and gulped. At the very least their weaponry was enough to have scared the pirates... If the ship had known their weapons didn't shoot straight they would have been target practice.
"Dude, carefull on the goods. I can walk just fine." As the feline was guided to wherever the man wanted him to. Rolling his eyes thinking this would be a looong trip.
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Max loosened his tail, wrapping it back around his own waist so it was out of the way. "You'll need a suit, the damage likely means we can't re-pressurize where we're going." He found two engineer suits designed for working on the outside of the ship, throwing what looked like a giant pill to Tio. "It's an enviro-suit they conform to the users body. You might as well keep it after, they bond to the first life form that uses them. Meaning that one will only work for you." He activated his own unit and let it form around him before opening the access hatch.
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Tio grumbled as he was given the item. It wasn't normal furr technologie, that was for sure. This was way more advanced.
But at the sight of the other already opening the hatch, did the cat quickly mimic what Max had done before. The suit adapted to his body, and to his joy his tail also, without difficulty.
"You do realise, the mantis is pissed off?!... Heck he hasn't even given his name to me yet. The pilot seems cute however!" As the feline followed the other creature past the protection of the ship.
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Sam turned to the captain and relaxed in the Pilot's chair.
"All due respects sir, but we are still alive. If anything, we've pretty much all been forced here and I guess we just have to deal with what we've got. Right now that's our lives and a fixable mess of a ship, and if we don't work together, who knows what actually could be lost."
He looked out the window, the stars were so different from what he was used to, even so, he could still tell where he was even without the navigational systems.
"Sir, perhaps there's a space station in this sector. We could get the ship's hull fixed up and see what's for sale."
Sam typed at the navigational computer. There seems to be one a few jumps away, we could risk it and make our way there. For now, I think I've managed to stabilise the ship."
Sam stood up out of the chair and stretched. He knew he was sometimes overly optimistic.
"Permission to get a glass of water?"
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I nod, "Permission granted, and when you get back I'd like you to try and tap into the jump beacon's phase detector. If something is about to jump to this beacon I'd like to know about it."
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"Aye Aye Captain"
Sam went off to get a glass of water and sit in the kitchen for a few minutes.
Why was sitting in the kitchen more relaxing than sitting in the pilot chair?
probably the same as sitting at work and sitting at home...
He decided to dwell on these thoughts for a few moments.
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He scoffed and pulled himself along the wall towards where the damage was. "I know, and honestly at the moment he can boil away in his captains chair......But yeah I have to agree on the pilot." He found his way to the damage and started expecting around. "This doesn't look as bad as i thought it would be. Might even be able to get it working again if i can get some parts. What do you think?"
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The cat flew by in the suit before grabbing one of the outlaying wires to prevent himself from drifting away into the deep region of space behind him. The blast was strong enough to have blowna small portion of the weapons area clean off. It frustrated the feline to the extent of him grumbling when the other asked what he thought on it. How that anyone could find this type of damage minor was beyond him. One weapon had been obliterated and the encasement area for it wasn't in too good shape either.
"How about we first check if there aren't any possible breaches that could occur during a next jump? Mhhh?" As he arched a brow and stared at the other male. "Unless you want the ship to be ripped open during the FTL procedure, I do advice to first check for any weakened hull and strengthen that." As the cat began to search inbetween the rubble, before he suddenly pulled his paw away. "Aaah... Max get over here. This area is still warm, gathering energy." As Tio eyes began to widen. "We need to shut off the reactor for this!... Get to the ship quickly and inform them to keep everything at a low point. Only oxygen needs to be on. This lbuildup of energy is from the weapons compartment... because the alser is blown off, it didn't get any stop commands! The reactor has been feeding small amounts of energy each time. My screens didn't even notice it!.... If it keeps doing this, it'll melt through the hull!"
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Sam sauntered out of the bathroom, still feeling very philosophical from the past 5-10 minutes...
Sitting himself in the comfortable Pilot's chair, he opened an uplink to the local beacon.
"Monitoring any incoming ships Sir."
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I nod, "Thank you pilot. Out of curiosity, how long before a ship got here do you think we would know about it?" I say, looking out the view port at the two men, concerned that if a pirate or stray rebel came past they might quickly turn into fodder.
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"I'd say anything between 10 seconds to 5 minutes Sir"
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Max looked over at Tio when he got close to where he was "You go, I'll see what I can do out here." Pulling himself through a small opening into the weapons damaged mounts. Quickly starting to work on the connecters feeding the energy into the damaged gun, talking quietly to himself without knowing if Tio was still there or not. "Stupid laser tech, what is it with these bugs and their laser tech. Why couldn't they just stick with less self-risking firepower." He thought for a moment "Then again, it is less risky than on one of the dreadnaughts."
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The cat did as asked and began to make his approach back to the ship, using the hull and anything that was of use, as a method of not drifting into space. It wasn't easy as some of the wires and various sharp components, were floating about. One wrong more ment a cut in the suit, or worse a breach in the helmet. That was something Tio feared for, but he sighed in relief when he got to the hatch. He turned it open, decompressing the chamber before entering it. The computer quickly adjusted the needed signs back to a normal level.
Once inside of the ship, did he quickly pull off the suit and stored it away. Regardless if it was easy to use... using clothing and fur in such a thing was terrible for his hygiene. "Next time I'm stripping down... Dangit!" Before he started running to report to the captain to shut the ship down. They didn't have time to spare. Even if Max was a genious, the energy needed to go somewhere.
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I turn around from the podium as the airlock doors hiss open behind me. I watch as the marine walks into the room. "Yes, what is it?"
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Tio panted, as he had tried to be as quickly as possible. No minute should be wasted as the expression on his face made that abundantly clear at least.
"The generator is still pumping energy to the weapon, sir." As the cat tried his best to explain the situation as the ship suddenly trembled a bit. "Short version?... Shut everything down except the most basic needs or ship goes boom!"
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I nod, "From what you say, we need to drain power from the reactor as fast as possible. Simply cutting off the power won't do it fast enough. The only option is to preform an FTL jump. The power from the jump will reset the reactor and immediately power down everything but the oxygen."
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The cat stared at the captain for a moment wondering why the male hadn't given any orders yet. But he then thought of warning his colleague outside.
"Uuh sir, with your permission I would like to warm Max before we do this... In the meantime we can warn the bridge to quickly take actions." As Tio put on his suit again, before saluting and moving to the hatch for outerspace again.
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Max calmly kept working, still thinking about the other ships he had worked on. "I miss those old days." He then contacted Tio, when he finished, through the suits built in coms. "Hey, cat, tell the bug that I managed to divert the power to the working cannon. All he has to do is power it down or fire it. Either way make sure to let me know what he's doing before he does it. I'd hate to have him pop that one as well."
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Tio got the message when he wanted to move backside and tapped the headgear to get a better reception. He blinked at what the other said and hoped when he talked the other would hear it. "Test... Max, can you hear me?!" As the tanned cat was somewhat curious.
"The captain wants us to do an FTL jump to drain power from the weapons... What should I respond?!"
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(i think this kind of died. DX)
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(Unfortunately so, it would seem.)
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Give it some time!... I am still active in this!
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(i try to be as well. but we're the only ones really....come to think of it when was the last time any of us saw MrRazot online?)
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((Someone does need to reply to my post still. :p ))