[snip]

While El and others were finishing storing things, the fourth NE by the launch control room poked his head out of the door. “..Hey can someone check the aft port thruster sensor? Diagnostics there just finished up for a third time and are giving me three different results of status, might be a faulty sensor but might not..” he said.

GM CockRoach

“We’ll need an engineer for that,” El said. “Where will we find one here?” Her mind went through the makeup of the pod. The sensor was linked to the status display at the helm which was linked through the thruster array itself, so it could be the helm sensor or the ‘governing’ sensor at the thruster itself that sent out the signal. That would take two of them to confirm. One at the helm and the other at the thruster to confirm command and test and output. “I’ll take the helm and run a thruster test. Aelef, get to the thruster panel and open it up, hook directly into the port thruster to bypass the sensor and we’ll first check if it’s a thruster issue.”

El squeezed about the other NE loading material and fit handily into the pilot’s seat. It was a nice fit with her frame. Anyone else, she thought, would be rather squished. Bringing up thruster controls she set it for a low powered test – just enough to see the thrust happening. She called back. “Test level. Zero Point Five. Ready when you are Aelef!”

“Just hooking up here,” he called back. “There, I have a reading. Initiate test.”

“Engaging .. NOW!” she called out, hitting the switch. She could feel the low rumble of the thruster, not enough to move the ship anywhere or really do anything, but inside it sounded louder than it would otherwise. She looked at her digital display. “What do you read?” she called, checking her display to see if it matched.

El, Eng

The thrum of the engine was felt and heard, the result was that Aelef’s diagnostic came back in the green, the helm also showed good, so that meant the thruster feed sensor was bad in some way.

GM CockRoach

Ari came back in with an armload of old clothes just as the shuttle wound down. “I’m counting that that was a good test and not about a bad one?”

“Ok, everyone change. No uniforms. I’m sure we’ll get to the we’re not from around here and you’re not either at some point. But no need to make it the first topic of conversation.” She set the clothes pile on a nearby crate. There would be casual clothes for everyone.

“Once security and the others are here, we’ll go. Make sure everything’s secure. We’re not sure what crashed them. So let’s be prepared for anything, including a rough entry.” She nodded to them and went to check on the other departments from the console by the door, leaving them to continue their conversation.

Ari CO

With a shrug the NEs present going down changed clothes off to the side behind some boxes.

GM CockRoach