Posted by Gamemaster Alias Smith N. Jones, Esq. (GMT) in Main Sim - Bridge - The Arrival

Posted by Lieutenant Priscilla Simms (Chief Science Officer) in Main Sim - Bridge - The Arrival

Posted by Gamemaster Alias Smith N. Jones, Esq. (GMT) in Main Sim - Bridge - The Arrival
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

SNIP

“Alright.” Molly said a little more enthusiastically than she wanted. “Maybe we could bring them on board and work out our differences? Maybe formulate a plan with what they know and with what we know…” The latter words were more of a thought than an actual question, even though they were said out loud. “Doctor, Lieutenant.” Holloway continued addressing both Drillek and the CSO. “Have Engineering help you with that. I want a plan on what needs to be modified on the Dresden in order to dock with the alien vessel.”

Drillek nodded and began detailed scans of the docking hatch, relaying the results directly to the Engineering station and to Main Engineering.

Renveer nodded at Ensign Winter, guiding her over to one of the empty terminals. “We can work on formulating a greeting. We need to make sure that every word said is positive, welcoming… something that can’t be misconstrued by incomplete translation.” He wracked his mind for a starting point. “I like the image idea. But what do we send an image of? We’re trying to dock with the ship, but we don’t want them to think it’s a boarding party…” Renveer shook his head at his next thought. “Dr. Drillek mentioned an ‘umbilical’ tube. Could we use that literally? Send a picture of a human embryo in the womb, with an umbilical cord attached? My understanding is that almost all animals that have in-uterus pregnancies have fetuses that look similar up to a certain point, so if we chose an image of a fetus young enough, it should appear similar to how an ultrasound would appear for the aliens as well. I would hope that image would foster a sense of care and assistance, as if we might be the mother in the metaphor. And if they have also associated a similar docking mechanism with an umbilical cord in their language…”

Renveer looked to Winter, wondering if he was making any sense at all. It was an out-of-the-box idea, but this was an out-of-the-box scenario.

(Lt. Cmdr. Renveer, XO)

Keri smiled at Renveer with a combination of commraderie and wonder before she could stop herself, then buttoned it down before speaking; “That’s a great idea, sir. And even if it’s not perfectly understood, it would give us a starting point, much like my earlier performance”, she said with a wry grin. Talking to him was easy. She seemed able to brainstorm with him as if they were colleagues, without forgetting the chain of command. It just made lobbing ideas off one another more fluid, and less encumbered by the added stress of rank. “Besides, I can’t think of any way that image could hurt our cause”, she added.

She began running through the biological database to sample the best examples of the image the XO was looking for. As she was running through the options, she felt herself stealing a brief glance back towards the Captain; she really was an impressive woman. She seemed at ease in the ‘big chair’ without being cavalier, which Kerilah had heard a lot about during her training at Starfleet. [Even if it’s all a smoke-screen, she is still excelling where others have failed because it doesn’t show] She admired Captain Holloway, and she hoped she had made a good impression on her Commanding Officer.

The console indicated it had completed the search and offered several dozen options. She selected the top three, that showed a young enough fetus to be non-descript, but still subjectively identifiable as something being supported and cared for, then presented them to Cmdr. Renveer.

“Which one is our ‘ambassador’, sir?”

(Dr. Winter, Ens)

At that moment the computer made several more advances in translation. As the figure on the screen spoke / sang, their voice came through. “… help in stopping… laboratory… the field… trapped… accident… assist… stopped… sacrificed… power… satellite… find…”

GMT

As the words came through, Holloway’s gaze shifted between the console and the viewscreen where the call was still ongoing. The words seemed more and more disconnected the longer they went. She glanced at Renveer and Winter for a split second as she knew that they were tirelessly working on a way for them to explain to the alien beings who they were. But they couldn’t just leave them hanging indefinitely.

Turning to Drillek, she asked. “Was there ever the mention of an accident on board the station?”. Holloway suspected that she knew the answer already, but she might as well just ask.

“No, Captain. Last report was completely normal.” Drillek replied.

Finally, she walked back to the center of the Bridge, and standing in front of the center chair, she pointed to herself and then at the viewscreen, as she spoke three isolated words. “We help you.”

Holloway, CO

The alien looked at her for a moment and then leaned forward, as if they were having trouble hearing her. one of the Comms officers said “Captain, we get more facial reaction and body language when the messages are sung, rather than spoken.”

GMT

Renveer nodded the Ensign Winter and pointed to one of the images she had presented, but his attention was quickly drawn back to the viewscreen as the captain spoke. He lowered his voice to address Winter. “We’ll suggest this to the captain if verbal communication continues to give us problems, but for now your singing talents might be needed again.” Renveer was not keen on singing himself… of course he would if required, but part of him was nervous that if he sung off-key it’d be like he was using a negative tone of voice to the aliens… and he did not want that. For now, he’d let those more confident in their lyrical abilities handle the communication.

(Lt. Cmdr. Renveer, XO)

Molly sighed softly as the comms officer spoke. Singing was not one of her best abilities, and even though she knew it was for the good of the mission and so on, she was afraid of the possibility of making a fool of herself in front of the Bridge crew.

Looking around, her eyes settled on Renveer and Winter, and she moved towards them. “Any progress?” She asked the two officers more as a proforma rather than anything else, before turning to the young Ensign. “Ensign Winter, the tune you sang a few moments ago was the first breakthrough we had. Do you think you’d be able to uh… sing our messages to them?” An apologetic smile broke her lips. “According to Dr. Drillek, they should be able to understand around 10% of what we are saying. Right now we are just trying to let them know that we are going help them. And you are quite more competent at singing than I am.”

Holloway, CO

At that moment Drillek stood up. “I’m going to Engineering to help with the modifications to the umbilical clamps. I will send word when we are ready.” and he turned and walked off the bridge.

GMT

Priscilla had been working on the latest computer translations as she nodded to Drillek who departed. “Sacrificed power… satellite find…” she murmured to herself and started to try to piece together the words they were learning with the songs and bits they were giving. If she could manage to make coherant sentences, then maybe communication both ways would be improved. The fact the words made less sense as the translation progressed meant either the words were more difficult, perhaps more scientific in nature, or the concepts were more complex. Help… assist… trouble… were words that came across easier than scientific… distortion… or out of phase. She attempted to help the computer fill in the first missing words hoping, like the cascade failure of translation, there would be a cascade success in the coming translations.

She also set the computers to scan the area in all aspects and spectrums trying to find a satellite of either man made or natural materials that could be setting off odd energy readings to possibly be the culprit and catalyst to what had occurred between the station and ship.

She had it look thru the most recent star charts from what the station had provided last, hoping to see if there was a discrepancy that may help. Something that was there now that hadn’t been there then. Had the mishap created something? Or had something come close and interacted in an odd way? She hoped they would discover it was something easily moved out of the way or destroyed. But in the back of her mind, she knew it wouldn’t be that simple.

Priscilla
CSO

Between the interference of whatever was affecting the station part of the alien vessel and the brown dwarf itself, reading of the area were convoluted at best. Try as she might, finding something of unknown origin and unknown materials was like trying to find a needle in several hundred haystacks.

GMT

Bump to keep on board