Posted by Lieutenant Commander Peter Sigmundsson (Chief Intelligence Officer) in The Quiet before the Storm…Chief Intelligence Officer…When the past doesn’t match the future or the present

Posted by Civilian Jessa Novar (Child) in The Quiet before the Storm…Chief Intelligence Officer…When the past doesn’t match the future or the present

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Peter Sigmundsson (Chief Intelligence Officer) in The Quiet before the Storm…Chief Intelligence Officer…When the past doesn’t match the future or the present
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Snip of all snips

Peter raised an eyebrow at the question “There are probably a number of names given to it, it’s the fourth planet in a fairly standard system. An F-type Yellow-white dwarf star is about .4 times larger than the star of my home system, just a few million years older. The planet is what we call an L-class, it has a breathable atmosphere and some local flora but no fauna.”

Jessa’s forehead wrinkled some. There was a lot of information coming at her and it was hard to both remember and understand it. All his information was vague but with enough specifics that if she asked for more clarification it would be obvious she was trying to get information.

He paused “If that didn’t translate correctly what I mean is they have trees and plants but no other lifeforms” The universal translator was oddly buggy when it came to translating certain terms and he wasn’t sure how much of Federation Standard she’d learned yet “For reference our home planet of Earth is an M-Class planet, derived from the Vulcan term Minshara. Gravity is 1.1 G, about ten percent stronger than what we have on the Atlantis and the oxygen is thinner so it’ll be a little bit harder to move around but not by much.”

“Earth is stronger gravity or this planet or your planet,” Jessa blurted out feeling her head start to ache. If she was not trying to force memorize everything, she might have enjoyed this. Everything was an effort here.

Peter pulled his right hand off the console “Watch this” He pointed to the course projection.

Peter did not frustrate Jessa like some of the other crewmen but he shared information so rapidly, Jessa could not keep all of it straight. Just as she was getting the information about the planet straight in her head he jumped to another topic. She was not mad about this but it made her wonder if he was trying to distract her or trying to educate her. The line between them right now was a little blurry for her and the crew of the Atlantis. Ignoring what she thought she might have learned earlier, Jessa focused on the new information being given to her.

“This is our current destination, this number here is the distance, if you’re familiar with our numbers you should be able to read them. This here is the distance in light hours for convenience. The numbers below is the estimated time remaining in hours” He pointed to the 5:12 “AS you may or may not know 60 minutes constitute an hour, the first digit is an hour and the second is minutes” He didn’t speak as if explaining something obvious to a child but more like he was sharing an experience, something to be jovial about.

“Yes,” Jessa said with a lot more enthusiasm than was probably needed but she had had no idea how their time system worked. Most times systems were based on a solar cycle but being on a ship, Jessa had no way to reference the passage of time with her rudimentary knowledge of their numerical system but at least now she had a reference. The smile she gave Peter did not fit with the information he was providing but was indicative of someone achieving success.

“The number there with that symbol is our current warp factor” He indicated the 2 that’s our cruising speed” The engineering team would probably scold him later for using the maximum sustainable speed instead of the slower cruising speed but he wasn’t going to spend an entire day in that rustbucket and overnighting on a planet just to confirm a hunch “Now comes the tricky bit” he said with a smile

He used his hand to expand the sensor information “This screen here shows us what’s coming, now generally the deflector dish should handle any micro debris but occasionally there will be something that we should avoid, anything from a traveling anomaly to space dust.” He pointed to something the sensors indicated “That there is a cloud of dust, probably something that was shaved of some starship that dropped out of warp around here decades ago, it’s not a hazard but we still want to avoid it” He moved his hands across the console slowly, her side highlighted what he pressed in a duplicate screen “Now I’ve plotted a course correction, the ship will move three degrees starboard for 3 light minutes then readjust to our original course. That’ll take us out of range of the cloud when we reach it in twenty minutes” He pressed a final button which confirmed the correction “Now try to do the same on your end. Don’t get hung on the words, understand what each function does. I can’t read any Romulan script but I can pilot any Romulan ship just out of understanding how their system works.”

CIO

Jessa looked at the console in front of her. Once she had stopped trying to force all the random pieces of information into her head, Jessa found what Peter was trying to teach her was easy. Reaching up to her console she tapped two areas in sequence and looked over at Peter with a smile. From Jessa’s point of view the ship had not blown up so she had to have done something correct. “This is like Pyathogor lights,” she said happily touching a third motion in the pattern before confidently hitting a fourth.

“It’s a game I play with my friends. It’s a square with twenty squares in it. The machine puts out lights,” Jessa stopped on the controls and turned to look at Peter. “You have to memorize the light sequence for as long as you can and if you make a mistake you are out.” Relaxing back into her seat, Jessa slipped from junior spy to chatty kid. “I am pretty good but Alinto cheats all the time. I can’t stand playing with her and her stupid group.” Letting out a deep irritated sigh, Jessa let her feet dangle for a moment and stared off as if remembering something.

Peter just smiled at her rant, it was refreshing to see her behave like a little girl, not forcing herself to be an Elder as she’d been raised.

Suddenly Jessa sat straight up. “That was when I was little,” she countered squaring her shoulders. “I don’t play games. I serve just like all of you.” Starting at the console, Jessa realized her random memories and speeches had made her forget the rest of the sequence. Her lips moved as she tried to silently recreate the pattern with her finger hovering over a choice of two options. Looking at Peter, Jessa stubbornly refused to ask for help. Adults didn’t ask for help so asking would only drop their opinion of her. Closing her eyes, Jessa picked one but tentatively as if she were cutting a wire on an old time bomb. Once touching it she opened one eye slightly squinting looking at Peter.

Jessa Novar

Peter let out a soft chuckle “You just set a course for empty space” He said with a smile “The most important part about learning new skills is asking questions, especially when you don’t have the necessary information” he chided gently “How can you expect to learn without help, this is a different galaxy, completely different systems of measurements and technology” Getting her to open up and ask questions would be useful on multiple levels, it’d build rapport between them, get her to lower her walls and giving more answers could help her decide to ask questions that really matter “Although memorization can help, especially during start-up procedures what I want you to learn is how the system functions”

Jessa side glaced Peter hearing his comment but it was more frustration with herself than anger at him. She had never had to try and do something like this before and the weight of it felt overbearing along with a dash of oppressive hopelessness. This was not some holonet movie where a stranded person contact rescuers using the angle of the sun, some loose wire, and a scrap piece of metal. Jessa was starting to realize that she needed more than the blind faith of youth for her rescue. She needed help. Instantly a flash of inspiration washed over her features. All of Peter’s experience could read this like a road map. When most people he was working within the field developed an expression like this, it generally meant they thought they were smarter than he was and about to do something incredibly stupid. It was typically a deadly mistake but desperate people could fool themselves into believing anything.

Peter tapped in a few more commands on his side and Jessa’s panel changed again, this time there were only a handful of commands available. A star chart with their current heading, headings and speed adjustors and the display showing speed as he’d shown her “That circle around the little shuttle icon shows our heading, I’ve set it to only change directions in two dimensions, It’s a better first step to take, do some experiments, see how changing direction changes your destination on the chart.”

CIO

Looking at the icon, Jessa lost her momentary scheming thoughts and placed her fingertip on it. Flicking her wrist to the side, she saw the starfield shift in a blur as she shuttle-followed her command. The corners of her mouth dipped slightly noting that she felt none of the effects of the rapid course change. It only made sense they had inertial dampeners but that was a wrinkle in her current plan. Trying it again, Jessa zagged her finger to the left resulting in the rapid blurring of the star sky before looking at Peter. “So I just,” she moved her finger back to what would be the shortest line between the shuttle and the destination, “move the ship like this to get it back on course?” An infant could understand this display but Jessa used the need for adults to help others to her favor.

“Good work, yes that’s how you do it” He wondered for a moment if she realised that she was using a closed of training simulation and not actually flying the shuttle.

Now that they were back on course, Jessa decided to try and implement her plan. “So does this ship have communications or a communication array back with the Atlantis,” Jessa asked trying to appear nonchalant. “I mean I can’t be the first person to set a course into oblivion. So how do I contact the ship to let them know I need…help.” Adults loved to hear the word help coming from other people. It made them feel important. Most of the people on the Atlantis seemed to get some kind of happy sensation when they thought they were helping her so Jessa put on the most innocent expression she could think of and looked down at the console waiting for Peter to show her how to use that system on the shuttle.

Jessa Novar

Peter suppressed a smile, he still held onto the belief that she had a talent for lying, of course, her being a teenager raised in a cult meant that she didn’t have the skill mastered but with some training that’d be easily fixed “The subspace array has a limited range, we’re still in range of the Atlantis, check the right-side panel, this lettering” He wrote on her display the word Comms “That’s the communications control panel or one of them. We can use the subspace channel for immediate FTL communication with any ship within range but a shuttle doesn’t have the strongest transmitter.”

CIO

Reading their alphabet was a nearly impossible task but she could memorize a select few words. Having a model of the word helped. It was just a game of matching at that point. Locating the corresponding symbols she looked at Peter holding her finger above the comms button. She had no idea who would answer but Jessa doubted Peter would just give her a dead line.

=/\=Shuttle to Atlantis Shuttle to Atlantis We are on route and will reach the planet surface in=/\= Jessa scanned the console finding the chrono she read back the time checking again to Peter for confirmation as she filled in the time.

Hearing the voice reply back, Jessa gave Peter an accomplished but forced smile. She wanted it to appear as if she was proud of herself but Jessa was nervous. It was time to start her plan. Pulling off her sweatshirt, Jessa balled it up in her lap. =/\=Atlantis shuttle out=/\= she stated. Jessa had no idea how to turn the comms but she didn’t ask. She didn’t want the line closed. She figured that you probably touched the button so she had to find a way to not let them know it was still open. Pulling the sweatshirt from her lap, Jessa leaned on the console crossing her arms and staring off into space, pushing the balled-up sweatshirt over the comm button. Pretending to enjoy the view, Jessa began to tap out a song she was humming. The words and rhythm of the song did not match the tapping of her finger. She had no idea how long she could keep this up but Jessa would as long as she could.

Jessa Novar

Peter smiled at the attempted tradecraft, it was clever keeping an open comm line and attempting to send a signal through subspace. With a smooth motion, he closed the open channel but manipulated the screens to show nothing, he activated a recording subroutine to monitor the tapping, taking it for some code similar to the old Earth Morse they all learned at the Academy “What’s that song?” He asked innocently.

CIO

“It’s a song we teach the little kids who want to become Elders.” Jessa cleared her throat and began to sing. She wasn’t sure if either man would like it but that didn’t matter. Jessa didn’t know much about comms or comm transmissions but she did know physics or more specifically The Inverse Square Law. In her classes, she learned that comm signals did not go on forever but without friction like in an atmosphere it went on a lot longer and a lot farther before space loss occurred and the signal became undetectable. Her transmission was not going to be an X marks the spot beacon for the incoming fleet a signal. It might however be able to be picked up by the Beacon of Hope. Jessa had sent the ship into auto-pilot and distress mode when she got her armor and weapons before the promenade. To the best of her knowledge, the Union ship was trailing the Atlantis just out of sensor range. The Beacon of Hope would pick up her comm message so when the incoming fleet found the Beacon of Hope it would not be long until they found her. At least that is what Jessa hoped so she began to sing.

“Long before the life I live, Long before my time,
The Union was there and now I must give.
What and I? Who am I? Ask yourself what will I be?
Faith, trust and patience will eventually show me
So off we go seeking the truth to reveal.
Heretics dwell in the fantasy, the Union dwells in the real”

The song made her sad. It reminded her so much of home however there was time to cry later. The Union fleet might not know who or what was being sung after that but she needed to keep the comm transmission going. “What is a song you sang as a kid?” She hoped that once she got Peter singing, she could continue the S-O-S component of her tapping in the signal. Doing both was taking way too many brain bytes and she was not getting any of the tapping right as she sang. It did not occur to Jessa at all that these people would probably be able to reverse-engineer everything she was doing. So Jessa did not stop, acting as if both men next to her were clueless about science.

Jessa Novar

Peter smiled wanly “There’s a strong tradition of songs in my home country going back nearly a thousand years, at least those songs that survived the passing of time. My personal favourite is a lullaby.”

He took a breath and started the song. His voice was a surprisingly soft baritone, none of the usual gruffness. The lyrics were not translated but the song itself was somber even sad. There was something in the vibration of his voice that implied other voices followed.

Sofðu unga ástin mín.
Úti regnið grætur.
Mamma geymir gullin þín,
gamla leggi og völuskrín.
Við skulum ekki vaka um dimmar nætur.

As soon as he started singing, Jessa’s attention was captured. The tapping was long forgotten and she sat quietly listening to the alien words with rapt attention. The melody did not seem happy and upbeat but somber and slightly sad. At the same time, Jessa could imagine closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep hearing it. It spoke to her on a deeper level than Peter could probably guess. The tune was hauntingly close to some hymns they sang at the Citadel. While this was sung only by one man, she imagined a chorus singing it, with different pitches, echoing off the frescos and marble walls and filling the space. She had no idea of the words or meaning, but this was so different from the other music she had heard on the Atlantis. It was a foreign song with alien words yet vaguely reminded her of home.

He stopped singing and for a moment just looked straight ahead.

Jessa tensed and leaned forward in her chair. She had no idea why Peter stopped singing. Maybe he thought she did not like his song by the way she stared at him. Licking her lips, Jessa thought about her response. “That was a really pretty song.”
She debated about her next comment. Jessa wanted to be honest yet it felt insulting. “You said it was a lullaby only,” she paused for a second. “It sounded kinda sad. What do the words mean?”

“Some seven Earth Centuries ago, maybe thirty or so Human generations ago a man and his wife lived in the countryside, they were what was called an ‘útilegumaður.’ The only standard translation would be camper or something similar, they were people who lived outside society in caves in the mountains of Iceland. Often exiles or outlaws on the run. This song was a lullaby sung by a mother to her child before tossing the babe into a waterfall to keep it from being taken by wicked men. There is a poetic translation but I don’t know it but I can translate.” He cleared his voice “Sleep my little love, outside the rain cries. Mother keeps your treasures, old leg bones and treasure troves.” His tone turned deep and somber “We shall not wake through dark nights” He let the final words resonate.

CIO
OOC: A link for those curious Sofðu Unga Ástin Mín

OOC: Okay I loved that you added the link. It added so much to an already amazing post. ~ Kate

The words were not as melodic as the song. It was as if the tune knew the somberness of the words and conveyed; however, the more Jessa thought about the words, the more she tensed up. “The song is sad but also kinda sweet. The parents are going to do anything to protect their child even if they have to give up everything. That would be one heck of a way to be woken up though. Being tossed into a river as you and your mom swim in the dark.” Pulling her sleeves over her hands, Jessa lost interest in her message sending.

“Kinda reminds me about my mom except for the part of tossing me into a waterfall. She sent me to a school to keep me safe.” Her words ended abruptly and Jessa’s expression flickered to shocked panic. Blinking several times rapidly, Jessa searched for a way to shift the topic. No one needed to know that her mom left her at the school years ago. Left and disappeared essentially were the same thing in her mind. Calling it disappeared stopped most questions from others.

“Um Ian,” she said looking back at the man behind them. “There aren’t any waterfalls on this planet we are going to are there?” There were far easier ways to get rid of someone in this universe. Jessa gave Ian followed by Peter an exaggerated forced smile indicating her comment was rhetorical. She held it waiting for confirmation though.

Jessa Novar.

“Be not a feared” He said quoting an old play “You volunteered yourself here don’t forget” He said with an amiable smile. He put the tidbit surrounding her mother in the file of interesting things, it was a chink in her armor one that could be used to file away her guard “Where we’re going it’s a few days walk to the nearest waterfall, there are some small rivers but nothing you couldn’t wade through”

CIO

“Speaking of where we are going,” Ian stated directing Jessa’s attention forward. “We are about to land.” The planetary surface in front of Jessa was picturesque. The planet itself was largely green indicating an abundance of plant life. Blue splotches grew into lakes, rivers, and some oceans as the craft moved deeper through the atmosphere until the splotches took the form of rolling hills, trees, and a rather large civilian outpost covering several miles. The outpost was larger than a colony but smaller than an actual city.

Jessa leaned closer to the shuttle’s viewscreen as if this would allow her to see things in more detail. She was markedly quiet as she studied the landscape It was hard to hide her excitement. It was a rarity for her to visit someplace so wild and untamed. “We don’t have cities like this,” she commented not looking at either man. “Our cities are vast, sprawling, and highly technical. The only places we have like this are the re-education colonies. They are designed to be a place where one reflects on thier choices. Based on these choices, one could return to society.” Jessa’s statement was without any emotion tied to it. For her it was a fact of life. “This isn’t a re-education colony of the Federation is it?” This statement held the hint of anxiety and uneasiness as the shuttle landed softly on a landing pad at the small spaceport of the settlement.

Jessa Novar