Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Alison Barr (Chief Science Officer) in Shuttlepod Back to the Sphere

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Alison Barr (Chief Science Officer) in Shuttlepod Back to the Sphere

Posted by Captain Arialla Bovar (Captain) in Shuttlepod Back to the Sphere
Posted by… suppressed (12) by the Post Ghost! 👻

<snip>

“Okay, I think I see it,” Alison said as the shuttlepod came around the latest girder. “Confirm the landing coordinates and what our clearance looks like while I get the shuttlepod prepped to land.”

Flipping the controls, Alison slowed the shuttlepod almost to a standstill, preparing it to land. It looked like they had enough clearance, but she wanted to double check. The last thing she needed was to scratch the paint on the shuttlepod.

Ltjg Barr - CSO

Ensign Bohannon responded, “You appear to be clear to land; everything looks good to me” responded Bohannon.

Bohannon

Just as they were about to come to a firm landing the land began to move around them, if one could call it land. It was like another invisible hand was tugging at anything that it could. Not far away, one of the great anchor chains was nearly wrenched from its secure point as the metal skin pulled upward.

The upside was that anything not nailed down at that point was drawn away from them rather than down like any normal gravity would. Something below them that had been wrenched banged against the side of the pod with a loud clang. The pod itself lurched .. as if a hand had grasped it and pulled them upward .. compensation seriously required as they were pulled toward a mesh of girders they had just skirted.

Wookiee

“Everyone hold on,” Alison said as she tried to compensate, firing up the main engines on the shuttlepod. She grimaced as something hit the side of the pod with a loud clang.

They were definitely being pulled away from the ground, but at the same time, she didn’t want to over compensate and have them go splat into the surface if whatever had them let go. Turning the shuttlepod, she pointed the nose down, and the engines back towards whatever was pulling them up. Slowly she increased the thrust, hoping to pull them away from whatever had them, and down to the surface.

Ltjg Barr - CSO

With a jolt, the pull ended and the ship righted itself … at least was not being pulled out but the thrust took over launching itself toward some spiky girders below them ....
Wookiee

Alison cursed as the shuttlepod launched forward, right back at the girders on the ground. Cutting the main engines, she pushed the decent arrest thrusters to max. At the same time she pulled up on the stick, trying to pull themselves out of their steep dive into the surface of the sphere.

Ltjg Barr - CSO

As Ensign Bohannon held on for dear life he exclaimed, “Lt. Barr, sir, is there anything I can do to help? Otherwise, I think I might get sick.”

Bohannon

Her next comm was to the shuttle team. [O] Ari to shuttle. If you guys are safe to land, do so. Find the nearest city leader. I need head counts and transportation abilities asap. Their technology is failing. If we’re unable to fix it soon, we may need to get out as many as we can. [O] The order came with a great undertone of pain, and the realization that if things got bad quickly, they may not be able to save everyone.

Ari
CO
(Cross from bridge)

The pod lurched forward then slowed again with a not so gentle motion .. mere meters away from the girders.

Sensors would show that there had been a serious gravitational anomaly that disappeared almost as soon as it came. However, the ‘pull’ in the gravitational force was at a level of 6% higher than it was before. The pod will be able to, barring more of these, operate and land normally as planned.
- Wookiee

Bohannon looked at his readings and responded, “Sir, I the gravity pull has weakened, we should now be able to land the pod, and I suggest that you do before something else occurs.”

Bohannon

Her next comm was to the shuttle. [O]Ari to shuttle… you guys need to reach out to whatever leaders you can and see what they sphere has by way of evacuation ablities. I’m hesitant to bring the Bonnie into the sphere but we we see how close we can get for transporters. But I’ll be honest. I don’t think we can hold everyone. So we need to see what other options there are. [O]

Ari
CO

Knowing that everyone else is busy, Bohannon pull out his communicator and responded, “Captain we are attempting to land now and we will advise when we have further information.”

Bohannon

In this tangled nest of tortured metal there was a path through to a landing place.

The region was a broad tunnel that was a hundred meters wide and half that high with rounded corners. Once inside the bare metal gave way to what might be considered a kind of concrete, if cracked and aged. There looked to be girders and roadways for some kind of system that was not visible here.

The shuttle could travel down this yawning tunnel further, or land and all could walk.
Wookiee

Alison gritted her teeth as she concentrated on the controls. Fighting against the anomaly, and having to compensate for the higher gravitational pull, was taking more of her concentration, and all of her skill. And the messages from the Captain were definitely not helping with that. She silently thanked Bohannon for answering the messages.

Seeing the metal girders give away to what looked a concrete pad, she sighed with relief.

“Alright, everyone hold on, I’m taking us down.”

Angling the shuttlepod for the spot, she brought it in for a mostly soft landing. As soon as they touched down, she quickly started powering down the shuttlepod. She couldn’t help but let out a deep breath. She hoped that she wouldn’t have to do that again.

[O] Captain this is Barr. We made it down in one piece. We will attempt to locate the nearest city. [O]

Ltjg Barr - CSO

Ari sighed in relief to hear the shuttle had made it. [O] Be safe and don’t get too far from the shuttle. I don’t want to have to explain how I lost part of my crew to a ship with a black hole in its center, [O] she tried to make light of it. But she doubted it came out more than a mildly panicked plea to come back safely.

Ari
CO

[O] Understood Captain. Shuttle crew out. [O]

Alison turned around in her seat so she could look at one of the external sensor readouts.

“Alright, let’s see what we’ve got. Checking to make sure that everything is clear, and atmosphere is good.”

She just wanted to be safe before they opened the hatch.

Ltjg Barr - CSO

Ensign Bohannon was ready to leave the shuttle. Asking the officer in charge he said, “Sir, do you have a plan to search quickly?”

Bohannon

“That’s what I’m hoping to figure out before we leave. Additionally, we got a bit turned around during the landing, so I want to make sure that we are heading in the right direction to a large settlement.”

Turning towards one of the other panels she brought up a map.

“So we are here. And it looks like one of the main settlements is over here,” she said pointing towards one side of the map. She made a quick calculation to see how far away it was.

Ltjg Barr - CSO

There was some sensor indications that there was a sealed space ahead that could be pressurized and holding an atmosphere. Where they were it was still open to space; what atmosphere that had been there had been torn away by the black hole. They could negotiate further in the shuttlepod to get closer or to walk the distance. Either way they would need to work the intervening distance to that sealed area in suits.

The region ahead had some indication of having been a settlement at one time. Small but it had been transformed from the transportation grid to habitations and an old - very old - a dome on the surface that was put together from plates torn up from the wall of the tunnel and riveted into a dome. At this time it was aged with a number of plates missing from it. A transportation track led from it down farther to where it was sealed and pressurized.
- Wookiee