Posted by Captain Johann Dvorak (CO) in Bridge - Main Sim

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Avik (XO) in Bridge - Main Sim

Posted by Gamemaster Creeping Dread (Gamemaster) in Bridge - Main Sim
Posted by… suppressed (10) by the Post Ghost! 👻
The bridge was bustling with typical activity, with the junior officers likely a bit more alert than usual. The slightest movement was apparent on the viewscreen, as the impulse engines moved the ship slowly towards the alien homeworld and the space station orbiting it.

Over the comm system speakers, a familar voice could be heard.

=/\= Dvorak to Avik. I’ve been cleared for light duty, and I’ve gotten a brief summary of the situation from Lieutenant Zorell. I’m heading up to you now. You can brief me when I get there, but I think we need to expedite the return of the alien spacecraft, without performing any destructive testing. What’s our current ETA? =/\=

As the comms conversation carried on, NE Keynes at the helm leaned over towards NE Hayek. “So, who won the pool?” he whispered.
“It doesn’t count until he’s actually up here,” the equally quiet reply came from the officer at the Ops station.

– Johann Dvorak, CO

Avik’s brown eyes turned to the Junior officers who had commented on a betting pool. Even when she didn’t say a word, an ice aura shot through both of them. It was clear the casual reaction to a critical situation drew her disapproval. She released her stiff posture to reply to the returning CO, ignoring the two officers for the moment.

=^= Avik to Dvorak, understood. If my calculations are correct, it will take us a day to arrive at the latest.=^= Deep down, Avik hoped Dvorak might understand her intentions for a slower pace. A disorganized and chaotic ship put them all into danger when making contact with unknown variables.

-Avik, XO

There was a moment of silence before the comms system came back with an answer:

=/\= Understood, plot a new intercept at full impulse power, and engage impulse engines at that speed. Have the rest of the crew prepare to return the alien ship and any remains before we arrive. =/\=

– Johann Dvorak, CO

Avik understood the orders. A small relief washed over her to realize the ship was no longer under her command as she relayed the orders to the CSO, CoS, and other crew assisting in examining the ship.

=^= Avik to Marsh, Captain Dvorak has ordered us to increase impulse power to full. The crew working on the ship has an hour until it’s due to be returned.=^= She waited a moment for any reply then ordered the impulse speed to increase.

-Avik, XO

The helmsman acknowledged the course and speed correction and laid it in.

GM Dread

=^=Aye,=^= Marsh responded. A short warp jump would do more that hours at full impulse, but it made it look like the Europa was trying hard.

Marsh

OOC: Through the magic of time not being linear, I’m going to jump us through time to the arrival at the space station. Everything else can continue in their own time.

After a handful of hours at full impulse the Europa sidled up to the space station. The two non-warp craft had returned from their search during the transit of the Europa and flanked the station. Sensors showed that there wasn’t anything identifiable as weapons on them or the station. Their arrival was accompanied by a hail using an infrared signalling technology… outdated but usable for video conferencing. The computer had already decrypted the protocols used during the listening in phase.

GM Dread

Marsh started surreptitiously listening to the communications. If they were going to talk in a way he could hear, he wasn’t going to ignore it. =^=Captain we have arrived. There natives seem non-hostile.=^=

Marsh

Almost immediately after Marsh was done speaking, the ready room doors parted, and the Captain walked through them, standing near his chair but choosing not to sit. “Thank you, Mr. Marsh,” he said simply. “Let’s try communicating with them. Try to open some sort of visual channel.” Johann would have liked to know more about this society before this step, but events conspired to prevent that from happening.

Shortly after the CO had emerged from the ready room, Avik also followed. They had been in the discussion to catch the CO up on details leading up to here. At this point, the details weren’t important and she casually also took her seat. Quietly she remained in the background to watch the conversation unfold.

–XO, Avik, Lt. Cmdr

“It’s electronic, not that advanced, but secure enough… ” He tapped a few keys. “You’re on.”

=/\= I am Captain Johann Dvorak of the USS Europa. We are a starship on a mission of peaceful exploration on behalf of the United Federation of Planets. =/\=

Start simple, he thought. There would be plenty of time to talk about returning their ship, the non-survival of their pilot, and even to arrange meetings or other activities related to First Contact.

– Johann Dvorak, CO

Marhs

On the screen was revealed a humanoid face with slight amphibian influences. Their skin was tinged blue with a bit of green mottled around. Upon realizing that there was another person on the communication, they didn’t immediately reply but instead studied Dvorak for what might be perceived to be an uncomfortable and uncanny handful of seconds. This period was broken as their eyes blinked horizontally instead of vertically. =/\=We are Sllrak. We manage this world Sllrostaria. Why do you have our vessel?=/\=

GM Dread

Dvorak didn’t outwardly seem phased by this question, but found it very odd. Nobody told them yet that the guy died? he wondered. He thought somebody mentioned that already.

=/\= We observed your vessel from a distance and noticed that it had a significant navigation error; instead of returning to your space station as planned it entered an area of extremely high solar radiation. We decided to mount a rescue mission in order to save the pilot’s life; unfortunately he died shortly after we brought him aboard our ship, as his injuries were already too severe. His dying wish was that you be informed that he was going to ‘rejoin the Great Cycle’ and had ‘completed his duty.’ =/\=

=/\= We are, of course, prepared to return your vessel to you. =/\=

– Johann Dvorak, CO

Sllrak tilted their head slightly to the side, the body language intent being nebulous. “His duty has served us all.” They paused for a few more seconds before continuing. “We appreciate the efforts you’ve expended to return our vessel. The cost to replace it would exceed 442 solar cycles of productivity. We hope that repairs will save much time.” They paused again before their head tilted the other way. “What is this United Federations of Planets?”

GM Dread