To Boldly Go - Roleplay Thread

The year is 2334, and it is the third day of the first week of the month of September. Across the dark veil that is deep space travels a lone starship, the E.A Einstein, the most technologically advanced ship the Earth Alliance had ever built in their entire history. The people inside this shipare part of the Earth Alliance's first foray into deep space. It's first voyage into truly unexplored territory, with a mission to collect information on new worlds and species to vastly increase humanity's knowledge about what exactly is out there. And to perform this mission, the Earth Alliance, whose control expands to two planetary systems and multiple other colonized and terraformed planets, has chosen the best of the best, the cream of the crop. Each person has a job, and they have all be chosen to work together in order to return to humanity with ample results from a sucessful mission. And right now, the crew of the Einstein is excited at its first real mission of the six-year trip.

An hour or so ago, the ship received a message from a distress beacon, the first sign of intelligent life in deep space. And as the Communications department decrypted the message, the entire crew of two hundred people stopped to wonder what were they going to find out. Maybe it was a super-intelligent alien species, ready to welcome them with gifts and the secret to life, the universe, and everything else. Or maybe it was a fierce battle with a mighty alien empire who wants to conquer Earth. Whatever it was, the crew of the Einstein couldn't wait to find out. Communications quickly decrypted the message and found the coordinates to a little planet not far away from them. And what they found was... a little disappointing. It was an ice-covered planet, with no interesting sights at all, apart from a very vast cave system which was the source of the distress beacon. A landing party was formed, made up of two Security officers and two Science officers, and sent towards the source, all of them outfitted with suits to protect them from the ice and from anything dangerous they might find inside.

The landing party returned with three crates, which were, according to a recorded message that came with the crates, the last remaining possession of the K'otahars, a race of creatures who looked like someone merged a bee and a human together◊ (maybe it was the fact their body was mostly human-like, apart from that freaky bee head). The message told them how the K'otahar's once had a warm and beautiful planet, one that they themselves had built with their own technology, but each country wanted to have total control over the planet. This squabble elevated into a full-on nuclear world war, which ended with a powerful weapon de-activating the planet's core and transforming it into a permanent frozen wasteland. Without the ability to travel into space, the K'otahars died one by one, until a small group of scientists was left. They spent their last days inside a cave, placing all books and holographic recordings of their planet's history and the researches their race had done, so someone else could find them and continue the legacy of their once-proud race. The last act of the K'otahars was to send an automatic distress beacon into space, in the hopes that someone would find the last evidence that they ever existed.

And so, we return to the present, with the crew of the Ship dealing with the aftermath of this discovery. Every department is excited to find out what the K'otahars had in store for them, but right now, only department Chiefs, Science officers, Intelligence officers and other people authorized by the Captain are allowed inside the Analysis Room, where Science officers are carefully removing the books from their crates, decrypting them and adding the information contained in them to the database. Zuko, the Security Chief, watched everything from inside the Analysis Room, alongside some of his Security officers. Leaning against the wall, he tapped his finger against his phraser, furrowing his brow. "I don't like this." He muttered to the officer closest to him, glancing at the long window to their side that allowed people walking outside the room to take a look at what was going on outside. "It's too... safe."

edited 27th Jun '13 1:55:35 PM by TheBigBean

Kyle Katarn, security officer and Jedi Knight, privately agreed with the Chief. This almost seemed... well, too simple. Nearly routine. Maybe this was what most of the six-year tour was gonna be like. Dead planets and artifacts from long-extinct civilizations. He didn't buy it.

"I think you're right. I got a bad feeling about this one. Sir."

He frowned. Wasn't quite used to the whole chain of command yet. Last thing he needed was to piss off his boss on the third day at work. He turned back to watch the scientists going about their business, folding his arms.

...Yep. They sure were scientists. Stacking books. Nothing too dangerous yet.

"With my apologies, Chief Security Officer," put in Nen Yim as she watched books, scrolls, tablets, and recordings unloaded from each one of the heavy metal crates, "but on the whole I would prefer to be too safe than too dead to contemplate an alternative choice of action." She picked up one of the recently imported books and flipped through it with a determined scowl on her face, as if trying to decipher the unreadable alien script by force of will alone.

"These K'ohotar ruins..." she asked out loud. "How long ago do we think their civilization collapsed? Were there any bodies left in those vaults or biological artifacts to examine?" She cradled her chin in her replacement hand for a few seconds. "My scans did not detect any kind of known biological pathogens in these relics, but the motivations of alien civilizations can often be... peculiar."

Engineering Area

Dell rapped his finger on the console as he finished walking with his engineers through the Engineering section. With one hand behind his back and a warm, fatherly smile, he looked at his subordinates, straightening the goggles on his forehead. "So, yeah. I hope we can all work together throughout this mission. Now, whenever there's a problem, if you think you can't handle it, don't be afraid to call me. I want to make sure you fellas collect so much experience, you'll be the best engineers in the whole universe after this trip."

With a chuckle, he motioned to the engineers. "Now, are there any questions from the group? Because if there aren't, I believe you are all dismissed to return to your posts. Be on the lookout, the message to do a warp jump may come down from the bridge at any moment."

Chief Navigator Vice Granscenic nodded as well. “This scenario looks ideal for an ambush,” he said, leaning on the wall. “Then again, who am I to talk? I'm just the navigator and a shuttle pilot. Neh, Storm Raider?”
“It seems so,” said the AI installed in the dog tag Vice wore.
Secretly, and unlike Kyle, Vice hoped that they won't encounter sentients. Where there was sentient life, there were hostiles, and where there were hostiles, there were chances for another miss, another friendly fire accident.
He shrugged as Nen Yim voiced her concerns. “There's only one way to find out if your scans did not show anything, and that's going dirtside.”

edited 27th Jun '13 1:23:28 PM by desdendelle

Analysis Room

Finally, some excitement! In an hour's time, Pan had gone from being bored in deep space to exploring the remains of a now iced overed planet's civilization. The fact that the K'otahars as a people were gone forever was depressing, but at least they had left some information behind, right? Judging by the contents of the recovered crates, the K'otahars were humanoid aliens that resembled bees on Earth. Really creepy looking bees. Pan shuddered as she came across a detailed anatomy illustration. Not very easy on the eyes, were they? This kind of thing was why she didn't enjoy life science. At least it gave them good information on their biology... She got up from her place to scan the picture into the computer before she started translating the notes to go with it. There were still quite a few more books in her assigned stack to skim through and sort after she finished this one, but being occupied was never a bad thing. The silence was unnerving though... The only ones speaking were the Security Officers and that was pretty quiet.

"So..." she started, glancing at her still working superiors as she tapped at the computer terminal. "How's your pile going?" She spoke in a low tone, not wanting to interrupt the others' conversation.

"Chief Navigator, if I may..." Zuko said, crossing his arms. "But that is a horrible idea. We don't know a lot about the situation at the planet's surface. The entire thing could be getting colder and colder to the point sending a landing party there would be like sending them to their death. Until we have a complete report on how the planet operates, then we'll send a landing party there to collect more artifacts."

Several crates down from Pan, Intelligence Officer Selvaria Bles silently stood near the wall, her hand tapping and skimming over a datapad while her eyes darted to and from a set of open books nearby, all containing star maps and other astrological charts. When the distress beacon made itself known, she excused herself from her commanding officers and went to distribute the remaining datapads she had been handing out before reporting to the Analysis room to assist in going through the recovered records.

Now, she had begun cross-referencing the dead planet's location with the location of other observed star systems in the sector, seeing if she could find any nearby civilizations that may have a sufficient enough level of technology to have interacted with, encountered, or at the very least observed the K'otahar before their demise. Her work was fast, focused and quiet; she paid no attention to the talking Chief Officers nor the young officer who was trying to start up a conversation with someone.

edited 27th Jun '13 2:04:26 PM by demovere

Shepard stands near the door of the Analysis Room trying to resist the urge to pace back and forth. "There's never a thing as too safe, Officer. We need to know the extent of the superweapon first and foremost. We don't know if it left over any radiation or any of that. Let alone the unknown situation with the planet's temperature. We should have the Science Officers examine it, I say. The planet is, to put it nicely, a deathtrap at this moment. Any objections here?"

Inside however Shepard has this odd sense of glee. It hasn't been a week and already a beacon from a long-lost species. Good to see the adventure is real. Shame I won't be able to see the planet myself. The early explorations are the job of Ensigns and Science Officers.

edited 27th Jun '13 2:23:59 PM by Fusionman

Engineering Area

Behind his pince-nez glasses, Professor Ivo Robotnik rolled his eyes. Honestly, did this man think that he and his fellow engineers were children that needed somebody to hold their hands? They’d been on the Einstein for two days now; if the rest of them hadn’t gotten themselves familiarized with the ship’s inner workings to at least some extent by this point, he doubted they ever would. And if they couldn’t manage that, then what were they even doing on this ship in the first place?

The rotund roboticist leaned on a nearby console, draping his arm across it in such a way that left his gloved hand dangling over the edge. No, the day that Ivo Robotnik asked somebody for help would be the day the stars stopped shining. He’d memorized the engineer’s manual from cover to cover on the long trip from Mobius to the Einstein’s point of departure; the only way there’d ever be something he wasn’t prepared for was sabotage from the others.

When the chief engineer asked if there were any questions, Robotnik lifted the arm at his hip. “Yes,” he said, his tone curt and mildly annoyed. “When do we get to hear what's in those alien crates the away team dug up?”

"There's so much scanning one can do from a ship, Officer Shepard." Zuko said, glancing at Nen Yim. "At least, that's what I presume."

Selvaria would find out something very odd: while there were planets nearby, all of them were dead, desolate, and covered by ice, like the planet of the K'otahars. There were no signs of any species that might have lived on them, but the fact that they were on a similar predicament as the K'otahar homeworld did raise some eyebrows—

"Atchoo!"

One of the Science Officers, the one who had been on the landing party, sniffed out loud. He scratched his nose, shaking his head. "I think I have cold..." The young officer muttered, shaking his head and scratching his dark-brown hair. "I'm sorry, Ma'am... could you give me a quick check outside? Don't want to infect the others—" He sneezed again, but this time, he sneezed as the same time as someone else: a Security Officer, one of the two that had also been on the landing party.

"Sorry, sir." The Security Officer said, wiping the sweat of her brow. "I'm feeling fine, must be the dust..."

Zuko rolled his eyes, sighing. "You don't need to go that far to impress me, Officer. You're dismissed. Get outside. Anyone else feel like they have a cold?" Two other hands were raised- the other Security Officer and the other Science Officer who had been on the landing party. "Of course, why didn't I expect that." Zuko said, grunting as the other two got ready to leave the area.

Analysis Room

Security officer M-di H'chak Halkrath said nothing. The dead emptiness of the K'otahar world had come as something of a letdown to him. He privately hoped that this first discovery wouldn't set the tone for their entire voyage.

edited 27th Jun '13 2:45:18 PM by Vox

Dell looked at Robotnik, scratching his forehead as he thought about the answer. "Well, I asked the Captain to call me if he found anything we'd might find useful, but for now, it's best we leave the Science fellas to it. Don't want to get anything dangerous near our engines, do we, Mr..." He leaned closer, trying to find out who Robotnik was. "Sorry, haven't memorized your names yet... Ivo, right?"

The Bridge

Meta Knight stood by in command of the ship on the bridge, looking over the data collected from the artifacts and the scanning data on the planet's surface. He could only wonder as to whether or not the distress beacon was telling the truth. It looked like this planet might have been abandoned for a long time, yet the distress beacon still worked. Its possible that scavengers simply never came close so didn't notice the planet or see the beacon.

edited 27th Jun '13 5:39:12 PM by StephanReiken

...Well. That sets off some alarm bells.

"Call me paranoid, but I'm thinking we shouldn't try and go down to the surface just yet."

He scratched his beard absentmindedly. What was it again? Once is happenstance, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern? Something along those lines.

"You do not need to say that again." Zuko said, motioning to the landing party. "Even with the appropriate clothes, they still managed to catch a cold. So, barring an immediate order from the Captain, we are not going down to the planet."

Engineering Area

“That’s Professor Ivo, if you please.” Robotnik brought a hand up to one of the bushy orange fronds that made up his moustache, pinching the end of it between his thumb and index finger and rolling it between them. “I didn’t spend twenty years earning my degrees in robotics and engineering just to be called ‘Mister’, thank you very much.”

He paused. “Doctor is fine, though.”

Pan momentarily stopped her scanning to watch the four officers leave. What are the odds of everyone in the landing party coming back sick, considering their protective measures when they left. Either they all had terrible immune systems (which she doubted), or there was something more to this desolate planet than met the eye... She looked at the rest of the science officers still working. They all seemed fine at the moment, and a quick check of their energy levels confirmed it. That ruled out the crates as the problem's source. Maybe there was a medical text she could find and translate for more information. Refocusing her efforts, Pan abandoned her previous source and started searching through her pile, looking for anything else on the subject of native biology. Sure, she might be completely wrong, but it wouldn't kill anyone if she started investigating.

"Possibly one of the best courses of action at this point, Security Chief."

Selvaria now stood before Shepard, Zuko, and Nen Yim, handing Shepard the datapad that had the information she found. "Based on previous reports, all of the planets in this star system exhibit the same conditions the K'otahar said befell their homeworld," she reported. "Maybe it's a mere coincidence - perhaps a freak climate change in the entire system - but it's too much of a coincidence to simply brush off. In fact..."

She glanced around, eyeing the crates of books surrounding them. "Perhaps it's also a good idea to quarantine these items..." Her glancing ended at the three senior officers. "...and us."

Engineering Area

"Woo." Dell said, whistling as Ivo finished his complaint. "I'm sorry, partner. Not really used to this whole formal thing. My past jobs have been very... casual. But that doesn't mean I didn't earn my position here, Professor." He said, nodding his head slightly. "So... what do you think they found down there, on that planet? I saw their scans... didn't seem like there was much to find."

Analysis Room

When the first science officer sneezed Nen Yim instinctively flinched. When humans sneezed, that could indicate respiratory problems caused by irritating particles blocking their air passages. When the second crewmember joined in, a small but visible alarm bell rang in Nen Yim's mind. The sneezing could be symptomatic of anything: airborne spores, an allergic reaction, or some kind of breathing disorder.

"With me," she said, motioning for them to step outside the analysis room immediately. "Everyone else who has set foot on the K'otahar planet, please proceed with me into temporary quarantine." Outside, she fumbled for her gnullith in her pocket; the echidnoderm-like breathing apparatus◊ clamped easily over her mouth and tickled her throat as it sent its air-purifying proboscis into her windpipe. When she was certain that her gnullith was functioning properly, she looked at the group. Outwardly, they seemed healthy, even though every time they sneezed and coughed she internally winced. The throbbing mask betrayed no expression, however. Had she been infected too in the analysis room, breathing that same air? And, if so, what would toll would the disease take on her own body? After all, she remembered, what would only be a minor inconvenience for a human might be lethal for a Yuuzhan Vong and vice versa.

When she reached the sickbay through the ship's turbolift, she quickly ushered them into the medical bay's quarantine section: a series of sparsely furnished and separately pressurized rooms. "I apologize for the inconvenience," she said as she quickly looked over their medical readouts, "but until we know the exact cause of this disease I and the other medical staff must err on the side of caution." Mild pharyngitis, a slight fever, and perpetual coughing. It seemed like the common human immune response they called a "cold" (although exactly why humans gave it that name eluded her, like so many other aspects of human culture), but she would not take any chances just yet.

She would not disgrace the Shaper caste by letting illness run rampant on her first ever emergency.

Razputin had been very excited when word had first reached him about the distress signal, preparing himself for an exciting and dangerous mission; probably some kind of rescue mission. Then of course it turned out to be a completely dead planet and the distress beacon was left behind so that someone would find the last archives of the race that lived there...

Oh God, it's an entire mission of paperwork Raz had thought to himself, being unfortunately obligated as Chief Of Intelligence to likewise assist in analyzing these new found documents. He considered what was top priority for his department, and had started with the race's historical records, starting with the most recent and working his way backwards. SIB would want to know what these guys' motivations were.

He had just covered about a century into their past before their world-ending nuclear war when the sneezing began and the four members of the away team were sent to sick bay. At first Raz didn't respond, but then he had to stop and think about it. Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe it was nothing; it was hopefully nothing. But... Wasn't it kind of his job to be super paranoid and assume the worst? It might not look good on his career file if he just ignored this.

"She's right. The entire away team coming down with sneezes despite being in protective gear cannot be ignored. And we must assume that whatever got them sick may have come up with them and these crates as well" Raz said, indicating Selvaria as he made his way over to a console near the door and quickly tapped away at the keys. "Captain, this is Razputin. The entire away team just came down with something. I'm initiating a partial lock down for medical quarantine" he reported into the comm as he started to do just that. He was thankful his position gave him the authority to do that; of course it was meant to hinder enemy agents performing sabotage, but it just so happened to work for this kind of situation as well.

"There. This room, the medical bay, and the pathway between are now sealed off from the rest of the ship" Raz quickly told the others in the analysis room before turning back to the comm.

Earlier, Jim had taken the datapad handed by Selvaria but told her he'd have to review it later. That was when the distress beacon was brought up, and he had to tell Meta Knight and Zuko that their talk would also have to wait until later.

Like Raz, Jim had wondered if this was going to turn into some kind of dangerous mission, but was a bit relieved when it turned out to be an automated call left by some already dead race. He did not want to see any members of this crew dying this early into the trip.

When the crates had been brought aboard, Jim just let the Science and Intelligence divisions get to work, not really cut out for that kind of smart stuff himself. Once they started having already decrypted, analyzed, and summarized versions of the documents ready for review, Jim had gone to the ready room and had them transmit copies there for him to review. He was in the middle of one when the comm suddenly piped up.

"Captain, this is Razputin. The entire away team just came down with something. I'm initiating a partial lock down for medical quarantine" the voice of his Chief of Intelligence suddenly informed him. Jim reeled from this, having to take a few moments to get his composure as visions of a terrifying illness spreading through his crew took over his imagination for a few moments.

"What kind of something?" Jim asked through the comm once he had calmed down a little. (This coming through after the end of Raz's part.)

"Sneezes, sir" Raz reported quickly.

Jim stared blankly for a few moments. "You mean to tell me you've initiated a medical quarantine because of sneezes?" Jim said incredulously.

"Sir, the away team was wearing protective gear, but all of them have started sneezing. For one, we cannot simply assume it to be coincidence. For two, if it's something so virulent that even our protective suits can't stop it, then we may have to assume that sneezing is only the beginning."

"... I see your point" Jim muttered after a quick moment of thought, "very well Raz, proceed." Jim cut the comm, then after a slight pause, opened it again, this time to the chief medical officer. "Nen, this is Raynor. I assume you've been appraised of the situation? What're we dealing with?" Jim questioned her, hoping to hear some good news.

Great. Just great. Wasn't quite what Kyle had in mind for his first mission. Maybe it's nothing serious. Maybe it's just a cold. Nothing to worry about, everyone'll be fine.

...Or maybe it'll turn out to be some horrific disease that'll turn everyone into zombies. Or even bees. Well, probably not that.

Not much he could do about it, anyways. Just gotta look out for any threats to the crew. Like people suddenly turning into zombies. Or bees. He still wasn't sure which was worse.

Nen Yim turned to her oggzil as it pulsated and changed, becoming a mottled miniature replica of the captain's own head, speaking his voice and inquiring about the status of the infected officers that she had put under quarantine.

"Captain," she began, "this is Nen Yim. I have taken the liberty of placing the vectors of infection under medical quarantine in our sick bay." She paused for a moment as she looked at the medical printouts once more, sparing a glance as the closest man behind the glass descended into another fit of hacking coughs. "So far the patients display similar symptoms to the human immune reaction known as the 'common cold'- that is to say, they possess symptoms such as inflamed throat linings, abnormally high body temperatures, and persistent attempts to flush out an invading pathogen through coughing and sneezing. It may be that the pathogen, such as it is, is attacking the upper respiratory tract and producing extremely similar symptoms to Earth diseases that have the same effect. Stand by for further updates while I monitor their situation."

Pan winced as she heard some of the Einstein's doors close and lock, including the one connecting the room she was in. Aaand...the ship just went into lockdown. This trip was just getting better and better, wasn't it? Pan had been working for a grand total of three days, and now everyone probably had space flu. Interestingly, Pan felt more annoyed than terrified for her life, considering the disease could very easily be lethal. Oh well, she wasn't a doctor.

"Uh, Sir?" Pan asked the Chief Security Officer. "Should the rest of us keep working over here?"