Posted by Lieutenant Kaia (Chief Engineer) in Main-Sim: Geosciences Lab

Posted by Fleet Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Main-Sim: Geosciences Lab

Posted by Commander Shedda Mal’athar (Executive Officer) in Main-Sim: Geosciences Lab
Posted by… suppressed (9) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Mal’athar grabbed the samples and mesh basket as they floated out and moved them to a crate and secured them inside. “Lt,” she said to Kaia, “Do you think you can get that chest loose?”
As the away team tagged items they appeared in the geosciences lab. Several rock and core samples, and then a sealed chest with unknown contents.

Cmdr. Mal’athar, XO

Back in a gravity environment the chest would be noted to be quite heavy. Individual core samples and rocks were of varying lengths and sizes making this a kind of rockhound’s dream. Mineral specimens showing distinct crystalline elements showed that our good deceased person was a potential collector as well as one who was a prospector.

The doors to Geosciences slid open and the Commanding Officer came in. He nodded at the four scientists who had begun working on the chest.

The chest itself was heavy, metal and built solid, but, really, nothing that a good cutter couldn’t get into in time. Preserving the chest as is would be a matter of circumnavigating the lock on it that would require a key of sorts.
- Wookiee

Cochrane took a close look at the chest and said “Ok. Lets get a full scan of the chest and contents, make sure it isn’t booby-trapped or anything.” He thought for a moment and then tapped his commbadge. =/\= Cochrane to Away Team and Medical. Be on the lookout for a mechanical key of some kind. Could be stored on board the ship or perhaps on our deceased friend in the morgue. If it is on their person, check for a necklace or hidden pockets in their clothes. If it’s on the ship, I would suggest looking in personal quarters or in the cockpit. Sentient beings who keep important things secured behind mechanical locks, at least most species anyway, tend to keep the key to such locks close to them or within easy retrieval. I’d prefer not to cut open this chest if at all possible. =/\=

Cochrane, CO

The chest was .. stubborn. The exterior that was visible scanned out to being a tough steel alloy that dated back a couple hundred years. Overall it was a tough metal but nothing impregnable. The interior on the other hand, on scans, would find an be able to map a second layer - what may be another box inset inside the chest. That had all appearances of a form of duranium composite - rather ahead of the time for the day and age of the Red Dwarf - but not necessarily from other groups. That was distinctly hindering any reliable scanning beyond that point.
- Wookiee

bump for anyone wanting to open the chest

Kaia examined the chest and its lock, trying to determine its mechanism. With a slight flourish, her prosthetic arm opened up, a panel revealing several small tools - generally used for wiring and navigating around small spaces in her engineering projects (mostly for arm maintenance), they could be used as lockpicks without too much difficulty. “Doesn’t seem to be any traps on the first player, although to be safe I’d suggest a containment field,” she commented, getting onto the table beside the object and beginning to feel around in the mechanism with her picks.

Lieutenant Kaia
Chief Engineer USS Manhattan

Kaia worked around with it for some time. It ‘felt’ like there was some headway and even had some promising click sounds but that was rapidly followed up by a light buzz. Scans taken at the time revealed there was an electronic as well as a mechanical component to the lock, previously hidden by virtue of no power emanations until it seemed that Kaia was getting the first portion of the lock set. It looked like it might be possible to try to coincide both on a physical level with an electronic means piggybacking on the physical combination. That too may be tricky .. or one could find the actual key.

In short it looked to Kaia that the lock was looking for an accompanying electronic key that was likely within the key that added the additional authentication for the lock to release.
- Wookiee

=/\=Mal’athar to Geosciences and cargobay 1. We’ve had no luck finding a key. It might be in a hidden compartment on the chest or in the cargo we sent over. We’ll keep looking here.=/\=

Cmdr. Mal’athar, XO

Cochrane scowled. He did not want to cut through the chest if at all possible. Tapping his commbadge, he said =/\= Understood, XO. Keep looking. This chest may be old, but whatever is in it was important enough to put a cutting-edge-for-the-time lock on it. And we aren’t in a rush, so let’s take our time and do this as methodically as we can. =/\=

Cochrane, CO

OOC: Moving this here from the Red Dwarf thread so the key gets to the box.

=^= Sickbay to Bridge and Away Team. Cancel my last, I have one key that I am beaming over to you. =^=. Moments later a small key appeared.

Lt. Hudson
Chief Medical Officer

Cmdr. Mal’athar, XO

Cochrane grinned and looked at the Engineer. “Nice. Let’s give that scan and see if it’s a match before we use it, just to be sure.” He tapped his comm badge. =/\= Well Done, Away Team. Keep going over the ship and retrieve anything you can. Personal effects, as well. If we find any relations or family of the former occupant, we will return them to them. =/\=

Cochrane, CO

Kaia took the key, a grin on her face as well as she tested it in the lock. “Let’s see if this bad boy works,” she muttered, carefully turning the key.

Lieutenant Kaia
Chief Engineer USS Manhattan

The scan of the key would show a match for the lock - which slid into the lock with only small resistance. As it turned they could hear things shifting and moving and changing, tumblers and other locking elements shifting. There was a small hiss as of air escaping from the top of the chest as it was released. Success!
Wookiee