Posted by Commander Jonathan McKnight (Executive Officer) in MAIN SIM pt 1: Intriguing Nebula - Bridge

Posted by Commander Wulf Baumann (Intel Officer) in MAIN SIM pt 1: Intriguing Nebula - Bridge

Posted by Captain Arialla Bovar (Captain) in MAIN SIM pt 1: Intriguing Nebula - Bridge

<Snip>

Ari shook her head and paced to the window. After taking a deep breath, she shook her head once more and turned to the men. “I don’t like this. Especially since we don’t even know if the other ships are viable and out here. But as a ship from Earth, we can’t merely abandon it to the darkness any longer. I think we need to see if those children are still alive, perhaps in stasis of some kind. But I can’t just walk away from this. Can you?” She glanced at them both, perhaps Baumann a bit longer than her XO. While it didn’t show on her face, perhaps her subconscious was asking him to forgive her for not asking permission.

Ari
CO

“Well it is hard to just walk away without doing anything Captain. But we do need to be cautious. We don’t know how long that distress call has been going out for. For all we know it has been going out for 200 years, and everyone is long dead. Those colony ships were designed for long duration missions, but that is a lot of time to be out here, even for one of them.”

Jonathan was definitely cautious. As much as he wanted to run in and help, he kept getting a weird feeling about it.

Cmdr. McKnight - XO

Baumann considered all the options. “I will neither agree or disagree. The decision is for you to make, Captain. All I can do is give you the facts as I know them. One: The Eugenic vessels are a major threat if and only if they are activated. We still do not for certain they are even here. Two: This could absolutely be a trap set by them to lure someone in and, perhaps, attempt an escape… an attempt that would most likely succeed, given their abilities. Three: The odds of a colony vessel remaining functional after so long are low… but not out of the realm of possibility. There are several cases where colony ships of the era lasted well past their initial viability. I will leave you and the XO to balance the risk and reward, and see if the scanners can find anything else.”

Nodding once, he stood up and made his way to the door.

Baumann, Intel

Ari sighed and turned back to the men. “Ok, so we do both. Err on the side of caution and see if the call is still real and viable, but keep ourselves safe. I think we need to launch a probe then place ourselves well past this launch point. That way, if followed ‘back to where it came from’, we aren’t here if someone comes looking. The probe should be able to tell us if the call is coming from a derelict ship, and hopefully enough info to give us a better clarity for the next choice.” She headed for the door, pausing at the XO. “It’s all I can think of to both protect us and still check. Your thoughts?”

Ari
CO

Elizabeth was working on the signals hoping to find something more to show Baumann when he returned. Seeing the results of the Morse Code, she was elated. Realizing it was something they may see more of, she downloaded the Morse Code alphabet and files on the code to her personal files to study later. Next time it will be better to know it and not need it, she thought.

Prescott
Sec/Intel

“Agreed Captain,” Jonathan said as he followed Ari. “We should be able to tell pretty quickly just how much activity is on the ship. And hopefully gauge just how long the distress signal has been going out. And if nothing else comes out of it, we can still move the Bonaventure closer to the ship for further investigation. So we aren’t standing to risk losing anything but time.”

Cmdr. McKnight - XO

Ari nodded as they all reappeared on the bridge. “Helm, launch a probe in the direction of the signal, then take us around the outer edge of the nebula at impulse. Let’s not leave a bigger trail than we need to. Shall we?” She sat in her chair and tapped her heel in agitation. She was usually the one to rush headlong into a situation with this kind of intrigue. But with command came responsibility. And this time, she could lose more than her rank for pulling such a stunt, and failing. So this time, it wasn’t an option.

“Baumann, see if there is anything more to that message, please. Or if, perhaps anyone else is listening and responding. Last thing I want is someone else showing up as a ‘rescue’ ship on our tails.” She didn’t want to voice that her biggest fear was that rescue ship could be another of the century ships they were avoiding. One was bad enough. If more were here, things would get a lot more complicated.

Ari
CO

“Aye aye, Captain.” the big German replied. He watched the incomming comms and monitored along with the Communications officer.

Baumann, Intel

Jonathan moved to the back of the bridge and stood towards the side, watching as the rest of the bridge crew worked. He was still getting to know the crew, and was wanting to see how they would perform as they carried out their tasks. Plus, at least until the probes data came back, there wasn’t a lot he could do.

Cmdr. McKnight - XO

“Aye, Cap’n,” Fleet replied, sending the probe and slowly increasing the speed of the ship so she began to approach the nebula.

Fleet, Helm

Ari moved to her chair. If she remained standing, she would pace. And after all this time, she knew it bothered the crew when she prowled like a caged animal wanting to pounce on something. She glanced at the XO and smiled with a nod towards his chair as if to let him know he could sit if he wanted.

Turning back to the viewscreen, she watched them skirt the nebula as the probe went to see what it could find. “Baumann, anything more on the code we can get?” She glanced over her shoulder towards him and hoped one of two things… it was an old message bouncing around in the nebula debris and there was no ship, or that the ship was one they ‘could’ rescue without worrying about putting everyone in jeopardy.

Ari
CO

Baumann shook his head and said “Nothing yet, Captain. But I think we may have a way of narrowing our search area. Mr. Fleet, if you could do a broad crescent manuver parallel to the nebula with the apex of the crescent closest to it, we can probably determine where the strongest signal strength is coming from. That will at least narrow down the search area.” and he turned and looked at Ari. “Unless you want to send a response message, Captain. Not that I am suggesting you do so.”

Baumann, Intel

“How much area are we looking at having to cover? What if we were to launch the shuttlepods to help expand the triangulation area?” Jonathan said as he stepped forward. The shuttlepods wouldn’t be able to go as fast at the Bonnie, but it would allow them to go in multiple directions at once.

Cmdr. McKnight - XO

Ari nodded in agreement with Baumann and if Fleet turned around, she would nod for him to do it.

As the XO spoke of the shuttle pods, she shook her head. “I like that idea, but let’s wait till we can narrow it down a bit more. With their limited capabilities, I don’t want to leave them stranded if they get caught up. But once we have a better idea of the area, I think a smaller craft would definitely make a better choice than this behemoth.”

Ari
CO