elnysa | ( video ) uns: maxwell & jtk

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( video ) uns: maxwell & jtk | thesa : ready up

[ Video greetings from Jim Kirk and Duo Maxwell, who are both in what looks like one of the various tech rooms on Thesa Station. The only lights are emergency ones and glittering bits from the computers themselves. In the background, the blaring sound of an alarm siren is audible, though it's been muffled in here (possibly by someone disconnecting the speaker or shoving a sock over it, who knows).

Jim begins: ] As you're aware, the Natha left Thesa a few weeks ago, and the station has been in a state of low-power ever since. Stable, just running quieter. Today, though - [ he thumbs over his shoulder. ] Full-on emergency mode.

[ Here's where the braided pilot finally chips in, looking away from the screen he’s been typing and swiping away at in the background, throwing his braid over his shoulder with his typical candor, blue eyes finally turning to the camera to look at it instead of rudely staring off to the side to see what he could diagnose. ]

So, from what I can gather there’s nothin’ going on with the ship that would typically trigger emergency mode like this. Electricity is as stable as it’s gonna get, the shields are all up and there’s nothin’ within immediate range of the ship that the sensors show as a threat.. [ Duo pauses, clicks a few more buttons with a crease in his brow of concentration - ] .. so, yeah, there’s no obvious reason this is happening other than maybe the fact the Natha are gone for ..

[ A flick of a hand. ] .. Whatever they’re gone for.

But… [ There’s some weight to this, and that usually jovial or smirking face is dead serious as he looks back to the screen. ] .. all the training equipment is stuck in a conflict mode to teach people how to fight. Both physical combat as well as the flight modules for people who want to be that eager about it.

If anyone has any experience or clearances for the Natha’s mobile suits there’s training modules for that, and I’d be happy to offer to let you go against my mobile suit with the promise I’ll treat ya nice and gentle. [ Duo grins in that cocky way again, turning to Jim as if saying he’s done from here. ]

Following that, [ Jim says, exchanging a look with Duo, ] if anyone has spacecraft or advanced computer experience would like to come and be briefed on the situation, you're encouraged to do so, in case something happens to necessitate defending Thesa. [ The worry isn't just Thesa itself, of course, but the people asleep up here. ] I know most of us are focused on what's happening with the potential for a resurrected dragon, and this is horrible timing. Hopefully it'll remain a preventative measure up here.

Thanks.

[ Duo gives a little bit of a ‘saluting’ motion, though it’s clearly not military grade before turning back to his screens. ]

Looks like we’ll do best to be prepared on both fronts – everyone better be ready.

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What if the threat to Thesa is the same as what is threatening Olympia and Wyver?

[Could the dragon be that powerful? Or does the Natha know something that everyone else doesn't (a much more likely situation).]

In any case, I have experience with spacecrafts. Although my Lion is missing, I am sure I could learn to pilot something else, if the need arises.

It's possible, [ Jim says, in the spirit of anything being possible. ] There's no evidence linking them that I'm aware of - but I know investigation results are still rolling in.

The Natha did leave before the heart was stolen, though. [ Still, it's something to keep an eye on. Being closed off to ideas helps no-one. ]

Lion. Is it a suit like the ones up here?

That is true... [The timing doesn't line up exactly but,] It just seems a little too coincidental.

[Perhaps she's paranoid. She's seen a few too many missions with multiple fronts to totally dismiss the possibility that they are linked somehow.]

My lion is... [It's complicated,] It's like a small ship. Big enough to hold a few people but only one pilot.

[Oh only if Blue were here. She'd feel a lot better about the threat of a dragon if she was properly outfitted.]

Yeah, this place loves its coincidences, [ he says dryly. The sound of alarms is still going in the background, and Jim's currently lowkey looking for an Okay I Get It button. Every starship he's worked on has had a mode to remain on red alert without going deaf, but no luck here, so far. ] The thought that there could be a connection can't be discarded out of hand.

[ It could be so many things-- fate or some cosmic force, if not an actual instance of intelligent collusion. Stuff Jim has no intention of trying to hypothesize about it. ]

Well, piloting is piloting, when you're in space. I can't imagine the learning curve would be too extreme.

I have been piloting since I was a small child. [She refrains from pointing out that she was piloting her Castle since before human society was even a blip in history (being in stasis doesn't count). Her voice is firm, unwavering in her confidence in her abilities,] I can do it.

[And... ah, the alarm sound. It makes Allura a little nostalgic. Some things transcend space and societies. Alarms that are difficult to turn off is one of those things.]

Have you tried communing emotionally with the ship's systems?

Outstanding. [ Jim believes her; he has no reason not to. And he means it when he says he's capable of something, so. ]

Aaahh I haven't. That's not something I'm capable of-- [ nor is Duo, he's pretty sure. ]

Are you?

Possibly.

[She's not sounding so certain now, and she continues, a little sheepishly,]

Then again, the technology here is very different from back home.

By all means, come take a crack at it, [ he says encouragingly. ] You never know until you try. It'd be foolish of us all to scrap ideas before testing, right?

We've got so many potential resources here between everyone. I'm positive we can make whatever we need to work, work. It's just gonna take figuring it out.

[In truth, her fear of failure comes more from the increasing awareness that her connection to quintessent energy has been cut off. The life-giving energy permeated so much of the universe as she knew it—it gave life to the planets, and even powered the ships they used—that she found the lack of its presence deeply unsettling. Either this part of the universe is void of the life-giving essence, or her connection has been severed. She is not sure which answer is worse.

But, she takes his words to heart, nodding, despite her video feed being turned off.]

You are right. I suppose there is no harm in trying.

[With renewed vigor,] I am helping with the evacuation efforts, but I will be there afterwards. It should only take a few dobashes—[Right, she’s among the humans now,]Minutes, I mean.

[ Jim suspects things like this - whether it's empathic or technopath or whatever it might manifest closest to - are going to end up without much traction, but he means it when he says it's best to try. At least they know, and at least she can start getting points of reference for trying again in the future, if and when circumstances change. ]

Minutes, gotcha, [ he says with a smile. ] What's your name? I'm Jim Kirk.

Ah, I am Princess Allura.

[Her personal identification on the network is descriptive, if nothing else.]

It's a pleasure to meet you, Jim Kirk. [The smile is evident in her voice,] And I am already acquainted with your compatriot, Duo.

You too, Princess. [ Maybe he should have said 'Captain!' ah well, there's time for chat later. If she prefers Allura, he's sure she'll tell him so. He laughs a little, ] That's good. Our makeshift team aren't all strangers.

[ Because this sure is a thing, man. ]

[Though Allura rarely indicates a preference one way or another, most people switch to first name basis after a degree of familiarity is reached. Thus, being addressed as ‘Princess’ doesn’t earn any sort of reaction out of her, negative or positive.

It’s not long after she bids him farewell before there is signs of teleportation up to the ship. As a newer arrival, it hasn’t been so long since the last time she was on board, yet the atmosphere is entirely changed. Deserted is the first word that comes to mind. Dim emergency lights barely reach all parts of the halls, and the sounds around her are just the quiet hum of the ship’s most necessary systems.

And that alarm, of course

It’s tempting to stop by the stasis bay first, to check on her loved ones, but Allura has business to attend to, and heads directly for the tech rooms. If there is no one to intercept her on the way there, she will be content to enter the room quietly at first, observing whatever Kirk and/or Duo are busy with.]

[ It's not quite a busy bustle up here with most people focusing their attention on prep for potential disaster on the planet, but those that are around are working tirelessly. Every screen and scanner is up in the defacto control room, and several of the alarm speakers have been manually disabled, just to save some headaches - but it still rings through the rest of the station periodically, echoing throughout long hallways. ]

Hey, [ Jim calls, looking up from a monitor he's trying to divine answers from. His gold uniform is long gone, mangled in his group's crash-land into the swamps some months ago, so he's dressed casually but effectively. Sometimes when he moves, a flash of a silver badge is visible beneath the sides of his jacket, pinned high on his chest. ] Are you checking in with piloting experience?

Jim Kirk, [Allura nods a greeting, crossing over to stand near where he was having an impressive staring contest with a computer,] We spoke on the communicators, I am Allura.

[Just to be safe, since she wasn't using a video feed for herself. Her paladin armor—white with details of pink, and a futuristic helmet clipped to her hip—made her look far more at home in the steel halls of the station rather than the more primitive cities on the planet below them.]

I'm here to learn how to use the station's suits. But first— [Her eyes travel to the hall, where the unceasing alarms can still be heard,] I may be able to help make things a little more peaceful in here.

Oh. [ He brightens, pleased she showed up just as soon as promised - and that she definitely looks like she knows what she's up to, in that garb. It's something of a relief to be meeting more people from space-familiar environments; he's got nothing against doing his best to teach people why it's a bad idea to touch a hull breech, but it's nice to be able to speak the same language. ]

It's great to meet you in person. And I hope so, I still can't get it to cough up a reason why the alarm's even on. The best guess anyone has so far is that there's a time limit on how long the Natha can be away before it does it automatically.

[By all means, she understands the struggle. For all the differences between the orbiter’s technology and what she grew up with, she felt far less out of place dealing with computers and weapon systems than, say, gryphons and dragon blood.

She nods toward the interface that he’s standing over,] May I?

[Assuming he steps to the side, she’ll take his place, leaning over the console. From the looks of it, she can already tell it’s much different from anything on board her Castle Ship, and she has yet to feel the familiar hum of quintessence powering the system. Poking at the on-screen commends, she grumbles something about primitive interface, searching for some clue on the alarms,]

Have you found any clues regarding their departure? [The Natha. Everything else aside, there must be a good reason why they disappeared so suddenly,]

[ Jim does indeed step aside, gesturing for her in case it wasn't clear she's more than welcome. He huffs a quiet laugh at her grumbling, and it sounds sympathetic. This is a little last-century compared to the Federation starships he's used to, as well. ]

A few. [ He gives her space but watches her work, always attentive when it comes to trying to sort this junk out. ] The astronomers in Olympia witnessed 'comets' streaking away from the moon after Darma's message went out and stalled and we first found the station in a low-power state a few weeks ago. They left the scanners on up here looking for something. It's made me think they went out deliberately and left the station in a kind of stealth mode.

[She’s not an engineer, nor a computers specialist, so her hunting through the system is likely not much different from what anyone else or Jim himself had to offer. A familiarity with ship and computer systems, but nothing bordering prodigious. Were Pidge here, she’d have the alarms turned off and likely have figured out a way to reverse engineer the systems into spying on the Natha somehow.]

Perhaps they are fleeing until the danger passes, [She hums, pressing through a few more screens,] Or left to retrieve something?

[Which brings them back to what. Even with the immense threat of Yversai below, the orbiters should be insulated well enough out in space.]

If they do ever show back up, we might have to have a chat about communication and transparency, [ he says. Because. :| C'mon y'all this is silly. ]

Something's not right about it, that much is clear. We just have to hope it holds until the situation on the surface stabilizes.

If they intended on never returning, they likely wouldn't have bothered to put the ship on this low power mode.

[No sense preserving what they intend to abandon. But she agrees with the rest of what he said. She's distracted, however, by a breakthrough in the "how-to-turn-the-alarms-off" mission,]

Ah! [She sounds pleased with herself as she enters a command in the system. The alarm, however, doesn't stop, but changes. Into a high-pitched pinging sound.]

Oh no... [She made it worse.]

[ Jim's about to say something regarding the conflict between intent and what might actually happen then the sound shifts. For a brief moment he becomes that one Kermit the Frog emote where he's just slowly looking upward, horrified. ]

Aaah.. [ Oh, boy. ] Well you've figured out how to-- interact with it somehow-- [ he steps closer and looks over what she's done, trying to see if he can help. ]

[We interrupt your serious discussion thread to bring you technology shenanigans. Allura’s face reddens a little—this is a great way to prove that she’s competent with ship computers.]

It’s—! None of it is anything like the castle ship!

[Flustered, she pokes at the button again, and the siren changes, cycling between sounds. Changing the alert levels?]

It's not much like Federation ships either, [ is about half reassuring and half WELP.

Beepbooptyping. The lights turn blue, then red, then the doors all close, open again, and the alarm returns to what it had been before.

... And an error message on the main screen: ]

'Mess hall closed, unable to deliver coffee', [ Jim reads aloud. What in heck. ]

[By now, they can start to hear voice from anyone within earshot, loudly wondering what's going on, why the lights and alarms keep changing what could it mean.

Then the most dire warning—no coffee. Except Allura only has a passing knowledge of what coffee is.

She places a hand on Kirk's arm,] I think it's for the best we leave it be.

[Before they cause something truly terrible to happen.]

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willrevile - 2018-06-27 21:07 (UTC) - Expand

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( video ) uns: maxwell & jtk | thesa : ready up

Voice | un: PrincessAllura

permavid on this end

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> Possibly going into action in the next tag or so? If you're down for that?

totally down! c:

:D

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