Exiles of Sol v2.0 IC

[Dusty]

The captain turned to Rayne. "Come with me to the bridge. We'll discuss the situation there," he ordered before turning to leave. By now the research staff had begun to coalesce into small groups as friends and colleagues began to discuss the ramifications of what was happening.

Before Rayne could respond the Captain's ear piece chimed as the bridge called. "Captain," the ship's XO said, "the EM sensors are picking up a stream from the alien vessel, it looks to be intelligent in nature, the computer can pick out prime numbers and some kind of audio signal but beyond that we don't have a clue. I suggest you get the research staff up here."

"Alright. I'll round them up. In the meantime follow first contact protocol. Send the Pre-recorded Assembly Message and our own prime number pattern back, just so they know we're listening. And keep the computer working on translating that audio signal.

Ramas stood, slowly as the briefing ended, his heart raced giddily as the full effect began to set in. He stumbled in a daze towards the exit from the mess hall. Honey if you could see me now, he thought to himself, this should getting home late. As he exited he noticed the Captain and the ship's security officer standing near the podium, the Captain's hand reflexively moved towards his ear as the XO's message reached him. After listening to the message he quickly glanced for the rest of the away crew in the crowd. "Everybody listen up! The First Contact team needs to be on the Bridge NOW. We think we're getting a signal from the ship," he announced. Once again the research staff burst into frantic conversation over what exactly that meant.

Wow, this is seriously happening, Ramas thought as he watched the Captain then turn and make his way out of the Mess Hall. His pace quickened to catch up with the Captain security officer, he didn't want to miss something important waiting for the lift.

[AlWayZFrE3]

Rayne reflexively saluted and shot off a parade ground "Sir, yes sir!" before following the captain. Following his training, the Riharian kept close to the captain and a little to the right, where he could move around him, guard him with his left arm while drawing his weapon, or spin and do the same for a threat from behind. The movement was only training, however, and if anything only served to annoy the crew that also began to follow their CO. From the short message the captain had recieved, however, Rayne tensed a good bit. Something big had happened, and it made the captain begin some sort of protocol. That could only mean that the species was somewhat intelligent. This could be either good or bad. Inteligence meant, universally and normally, government. Governments tended to go bad, and that led to war. War meant weapons research. All of this led to the other ship being quite possibly hostile or portentially so.

All that calculation and consideration went through Rayne's mind on the way to the bridge, but he showed no sign, just gave the 'perfect soldier' exterior he'd worn for years. Then he calmed down, rolled his neck a few times, and held his eyes only half open, going into the 'Zen' form of mind most snipers used to steady their aim and block the outside world. It worked, mostly at least through the caffine still coarsing through his system. Rayne did what Riharians did when they had nothing to kill and no reason to start: he kept walking and waited for orders like a good little soldier.

[Brome Teks]

Toby looks over his control station. Suddenly, the program lit up. "They're sending something back! It's in packets. 1... 2...3...5...7...11..13... They're also sending back prime numbers!" he beams. "There's also a signal, this will take me a bit to get decoded..." He immediately sets to work using mathematical cryptography to decipher what he can out of the signal coming back. "Thank you, MIT applied mathematics..." Using the computer's Smart AI, he starts to work out the incoming transmission byte by agonizing byte. "This will take a bit..."

He gets a packet of heated coffee and sips it down, getting the wake-up boost he needed to shake off the last of the cryo-sickness.

+=====================+

Ike eyes the chief of security suspiciously. He never really did trust soldiers, even former ones, much less ones from species that actually fought hand to hand. Always acting on instinct, not thinking a situation through.

Nonetheless, he looks back to the captain. He follows them up to the bridge and lands by a console. Wanting to hear the direct audio himself from this new alien race, he sets the computer to play the stuff being sent on amplitude modulation. In an incomprehensible spout of gibberish, the computer plays part of the message. "Bonjour, nous ne vous veux aucun mal." Ike listens to it and scratches his head. "What the hell does that mean? It sounds like gibberish... Is the computer receiving the signal right?"

He begins to fiddle with the controls on the monitor, confirming that the playback was accurate. "What manner of creature makes such noise?" He asks, looking to the others on the first contact team, wondering if they'd be able to make sense of this gibberish.

[AlWayZFrE3]

Rayne hears the tiny reptile read through the data. He runs through it in his mind a few times, thinking. Then he shoots off a seemingly random phrase in Riharian, which sounded like a mix between Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, and Russian to human ears, but a random combining of sylables in no particular order. "'No oddity is odd to the maker,'" he quoted, in common this time. "An old soldier told me that once, a short while after I first met a creature similar to you. They are odd to us, but we are also odd to them. Could you also understand Riharian when you first heard it? I could certainly not understand your language, even now. This is merely something new and different for now. Soon, I am more than sure that this will be something as common as common, so to speak."

Rayne's voice was almost monotone, only broken by a very slight, experienced tone, one well earned. He meant no offense, just wanted to explain how he felt.

[Brome Teks]

Ike shrugs and looks back to the screen. "I think we could hazard sending them back a message in their own language. We should use the first bit of data in the pulse..." he types into the touch screen. "Translate it to our language and back..." he types some more And send them a message back. He ponders "Something simple and friendly." he types into the touch screen. "Hello....we...wish...to...meet...you..." he then hits SEND.

+=============+

Toby looks at his screen, utterly baffled. "Greetings. My hovercraft is full of eels."

[SliceOfDog]

Simon's hand involuntarily went to his mouth. He stared at the floor, unable to really comprehend the idea of intelligent life. Perhaps life more intelligent than ours, He thought. In the brief moment of silence following Toby's revelation that an intelligent message had been sent back, Simon felt himself lurch dangerously close to that familiar but long overcome abyss in his mind, the depression that had swallowed him for years of his life, that had nearly ended it. He had come to terms with that, and with humanity's role in that, but with a new race, he struggled to imagine a positive outcome. He had seen too many revolutions, dictatorships and coups to believe in the natural good of humanity, and he failed to imagine how an alien intelligent race would be any different. There were, as he saw it in the brief moments of thought, three outcomes; The race contacting them were smarter, stronger or more technologically advanced than humans, and would enslave or destroy them once it was discovered humanity had little to offer them. The alternative could be the case, and though Simon knew the military presence on this ship was very low, he had little better opinion of the morality of scientists, of which there were many on board. Perhaps extermination would be off the table if humanity was the greater of the two races, but certainly they would not be above 'researching' the aliens, with whatever that entailed. The final outcome, at least as Simon would forsee, was that the race may have an enlightened view, and not attempt to destroy humanity. If that were the case, humanity may be welcomed into their community, and would exploit the race for all they could. War would never be far away, and scheming and deceiving humans would be able to take advantage of any 'weakness' this alien race showed.
Shaking his head, he pulled himself back from the brink of that mindset. He had been there before and it had nothing to offer. Better to strive for an impossible utopia than accept the futility of it all. If he could focus on the present, he might distract himself enough to believe this encounter may end in something positive.
"Keep on that contact Mr Wilson. Change the mathmatical pattern to something a little more complex, and end the transmissions of all non-Latin based languages. From there, phase out all languages till you're left with English, at which time tell me and I shall relay messages I would like sent"
He looked around the room "I would like a list of the leader, head researcher or highest ranking officer of every department we have on board. We will need an assortment of our leadership present, otherwise the indication may be sent that I am your leader. We do not know whether this race understands the concepts of diplomats or governments as we understand them, and it would be much smoother if we could avoid any misunderstandings such as that.
"Mr McMurphy, I believe you are the highest ranking engineer here, how likely is it we could meet physically with this race. And is there a medical team present, I would like to know the risk of disease or viruses if physical contact took place"

[Khandnalie]

Randle turns to look at the leader as he begins preparations for their possible meetings. He sits there and strokes his patch of a beard for a moment before answering "Well, ah think ye can ferget the idea o' talkin' to 'em face-to-face. A'least not fer a while. We ain't got no proper idea o' their size nor their life support requirements. Could be, they breathe chlorine and dog farts at 200 celsius - neither our nor their systems will be able to generate the necessary environment for a close up meetin'." He says that, and let's it sink in for a moment as he leans back in his chair "But... But, if'n I were to take a look at their life support systems, I could see what can be done. That ain't no promise now - we don't even know yet if there's a viable way to transport people from one ship to the next. If I were you, I'd get yer comm guy on settin' up just some line of communication so that y'all can talk back an' ferth, an' make with the friendlies." He swings back around to his panel an remarks "Oh, an' if yer sendin' them our best and brightest fer a meetin', if ever that becomes possible, I'd like to be among that group." He turns back with a grin. "Mr. Toby an' a few other engineers and scientists excepted, I outshine yall like a star to a lightnin' bug." He gives a little chuckle as he turns back to revamping the reactors.

[Brome Teks]

Toby looks over to the Physicist. "Well, if they're intelligent at all, they'll be wearing space suits when they come on board our vessel. If we beam those suits with a UV decontamination system, we should be safe to talk to them as long as their suits remain sealed. We'd be making those suits as sterile as a clean room if we crank up the intensity enough. You were involved in the design of this ship, do the airlocks have any sort of system like that? Someone must have considered the possibility of contamination if we were planning to find a habitable world somewhere." He ponders. "As for them getting to this ship, I hope they don't mind doing a quick space-walk, because there is practically no chance that our airlocks can latch onto each other."

He looks back to the console. "Anyhow, I'll work on that translator. I'll switch up to the Fibonacci sequence or some other fractal formula and phase out all the non-English languages. Hopefully we'll have an accurate translation by the time they catch up to us."

+===============================+

Ike looks over his screen. "That's weird, the sequence has changed. They seem to be trimming down the number of different data bits and moving to a more complex formula. I think we got results. I wonder why they didn't just send a message back though. Anyhow, I'll work on what we've got, maybe we can get a more fixed down translator. Hey, could I get a data analyst to give me a hand here?"

[Cobalt3924]

(OOC: Sorry for taking so long. I was having a break and completely forgot.)



Dejah hadn't said anything to anyone as she returned to her labs. She was both curious of the race and scared at the same time: after the first time her kind met outsiders. After some time she got up and opened one of her storage chests: examining her Space Suit and Sampling equipment: tossing up whether to stay in the safety of the ship or go on the Away team and confront her fear and Curiosity.

"Should I... or Shouldn't I..." was the one thought constantly cycling through her head.

[Khandnalie]

Randle opens his mouth to retort to Toby's remark, before dejectedly closing it again. He hadn't even thought of them wearing suits. He clears his throat, a red blush creeping up his cheeks, hiding itself under his red beard. He turns back to his console and mutters "Aye sir, that we can do. Though, size'd still be an issue if theyre too big. We ain't got no big doors but them cargobay doors what's fer whenever we land. An' ye might wanna tell 'em we'll be sterilizin' them whenever you get that translatin' matrix up an' runnin' - The UV probe looks remarkably like a weapon. Rather poor design plan, in hindsight." He runs a diagnostic on the UV probe to make sure it was operational.

[Brome Teks]

Toby looks over his console, then back to the others. "Oh, I just had a great idea. I can send an uncoded analogue video signal which they should be able to get pretty easily. With that, I could show them to go to a certain airlock by taking a computer model of the ship and highlighting which ever airlock we want them to go to. I could also show them what the UV probe looks like and does, just toss together some graphics like in an old game I enjoyed called Portal from the late aughts. We could probably communicate all the information we need with that, and if we add an English audio signal, that would help them make a working translation.

"What do you think, good idea?" he asks the others in general, already beginning to make that video on his console, highlighting the cargo bay doors for the moment.

(OOC: The graphics he's referring to are the ones like in the "portal for free" trailer. )

[Buzzwolf]

"I gotcha! Gimme a couple minutes here!" She said over the comm, recognising it to be the small pocket Dragon. a Zrackli if she remembered the species name right as he requested a data analyst. the doors infront of her slid open to the cargo bay and she looked around at the boxes and crates stacked on more boxes of gear and equipment that littered the bay. "Fantastic..." it'd been awhile since she'd been down here...she'd forgotten just how much of a jungle it was to find anything in here, even when it was properly marked and stored. she tapped a command into a wall panel and a map with a flashing point on it told her where the container she sought 'ought' to be was. She smiled and ducked between a few containers, dodging right an left, ocassionally hopping a chest or box before finding her container buried under a stack of mining equipment, thankfully, the open side was facing out. She smiled again and stuck her tablet into a slot taht seemed to be beckoning for it, it took it and latched down on it as the systems booted from their long slumber. a small puff of dust floated upwards as the tablet slapped flat agains the side of the container. Rachel Sneezed and tried to key her passkey in as more of the dust got in her nose, she broke down into a laughing/sneezing fit for a few moments before holding her nose till the urge to sneeze passed, finally being able to key her passkey in and deactivate the biometric lock.

The door's latch released with a loud hiss as air was cycled with the bay's air supply, then swung slowly open on silent hydraulics to reveal a suit nestled inside. a standard military light ops suit. nothing fancy about it, just a standard, unpowered, plated suit....and far more comfortable than what most of the scientists aboard would probably be wearing. "It's been awhile, eh?" she talked ot the suit as though it were a living thing, and yet somehow got a response out of it

<It Has> the text scrolled on a small holo screen that floated just above a projector mounted to the arm of the suit. a small interface AI, designed for basic user interface, and ease of use. basically, it was there to allow for easier multitasking and keeping track of the suits systems, so that the user wouldn't have to. nothing more....at least not generally. her's could talk to her tablets and 'understand' research and data collection devices. basically, it added some additional processing power to the already massive computers aboard the ship, now just in a mobile form. <Inquiry: Suit up?>

"Yep! suit me up! No weapons though, friendly-like mission this time" an almost 'dissapointed' sound issued from the container as two arms folded out from the sides of the case, and began removing the pieces of the suit from within the case and attaching them in their places on Rachel. they moved about their work fairly quickly, locking all the plates and pieces in place within a matter of a couple minutes. "Check the seals SARA" her helmet folded back over her back for the time being

<All suit seals are cleared for vaccuum use> the computer responded after a few seconds <Inquiry: Transfer controls?> She nodded, and the 'eye' in the container caught the motion
<Preparing control transfer....connecting via port 112...Transfering....25%...50%....80%....Transfer complete...checking controls...controls confirmed....Shutting down container processing unit...> the door slowly swung shut, the inner light turning off with a flicker before the latchs locked the door down and the tablet popped free of it's mount <Transfer complete. Entering Standby> the screen when dark as it awaited use

She nodded, a motion gone unnoticed by the suit with a lack of an 'eye' to see it with, and grabbed the tablet from the slot, keying in a new set of interface commands to deal with the gloves she was wearing now, her comm clicked open at the tap of a key "All yours now..."She racked her memory for a name that would fit the pocket dragon"...Ike was it? where ya at?"

[Brome Teks]

(Eh, whatever. This is a great setting, I‘m not going to let it just die. Clear! *Zap*)

Ike looks over the console. “Anyways, if you get a working translation going, send it to our suit computers. I’m going to head down and suit up. Mechanical counter pressure suits take forever to get on anyways.” Ike stretches his wings and flutters off the bridge and towards his quarters. He takes a quick shortcut through some open vents from his work earlier, and soon arrives at his quarters, a space no larger than a cubic meter. Ike was fine with that when it was assigned to him, it was the size of a large house to him. He lands next to a seal drawer. “Condition of the suit?” he asks his digital aide.

“Optimal, there has been no damage since it’s last use.”

“Excellent.” He begins to pull on his suit, a long process given it’s nature, but such was the expense of having a suit that gave you full flexibility. Hew manages to get his body in, then dons the wing case. The wing case was designed such that in vacuum his wings would experience normal pressure, through thanks to a dry neural interface, could provide him with thrusters that allowed him to move around in vacuum how he would normally fly, despite the fact that his wings wouldn’t be moving. In an atmosphere, the suit still had a tight fitting seal over his wings, but the thruster and pressure pack would open up to allow him to fly normally if the pressure was great enough. Suffice to say, this set up is very, very, expensive.

Ike pulls on his helmet and runs a pressure test. Finding it to be acceptable, he pulls his helmet off. His Aide chimes. “The ship is receiving a new kind of signal…”

+=========================+

Toby had finished his fast little presentation, and had set it into the broadcast on UHF frequencies in addition to the rest of the broadcast. “Man, it felt like it took 6 months to get that thing done…” He looks to the others. “Let’s hope they have some way to receive a UHF signal. If they don’t, we can try other methods as well.”

+=========================+

Ike arrives at the bridge. He lands at the console he had previously been sitting at. “Hey wait a sec, I think I recognize this frequency,” he says, after looking at it for a couple moments. “It’s the one used by amateur television broadcasters on my home-world.” Ike didn’t mention it, but his parents had at one point bought him a set for that. The signal it gave of was weak, and could only make it a few miles, but he had still given it a shot.

“That means that all I have to do is set the computer to emulate the proper kind of receiver…” He begins to type on his aide, “And we should be able to begin to get a picture.” He plugs the new settings into the computer, and sets the broadcast onto the screen in front of him. It was full of static, but some minor tweaks and adjustments later, he had a reasonably clear signal.

Ike watches as the screen shows what appears to be some kind of silent broadcast. It looked like a primitive digital model of a ship. The ship rotates around and a set of doors on it highlight red, then appear to open up. The broadcast shows what looks like a handful of green bipeds wearing excessively primitive space suits float in to the bay, then the bay closes behind them. The broadcast shows what looks like some kind of device lowering to them. A graphic appears, showing what is instantly recognizable as the electromagnetic spectrum, then highlights a certain portion of it. “High energy ultraviolet,” Ike notes.

The broadcast shows the device emitting a cone of what Ike presumes to be UV light, then zooms in on the green biped’s space suits, showing what look like bacteria all shriveling up and exploding before zooming back out, and beginning to repeat. “Must be their decontamination device.”

Ike watches a couple more loops. “Well, I reasonably believe these are instructions on how to enter their ship, wouldn’t you agree?” He looks to the others present on the bridge.

[AlWayZFrE3]

(I'm back on too, Brome.)

Rayne cocks an eyebrow. "Decontamination?" he asked. "I would think that a space traveling race would have developed sterlized suits that they would use to make first contact with...oh, right," Rayne smiles and slaps his own forehead. "Forgive me, I'm remembering my own race's traditions. Will this procedure require me to suit up?"

Turning, Rayne addressed the captain. "Sir, I am fully prepared to follow through with any and all operations involving this contact and vollunteer myself for first up in case of hostile insertion. With respect, sir, before you speak, consider that this may be a ploy on their part to lower our guard. It may be a weakness, but my race does have an enhanced understanding of combat and gurilla tactics, sir."

[redtail]

(OOC: I've almot caught-up on this. I dropped the proverbial ball, my apologies. At any rate, your physician has returned.)

Kevin's voice seems to be resuscitating slowly from the dry, hoarse croak it was after slipping out of the hibernation pod. Nevertheless, he pulls himself through the crowd, trying to remember who was in charge and who he was supposed to be reporting to.

It was impressive, just how foggy the mind could be, but after more than two hundred years of being literally frozen, it was a wonder it even worked at all.

"Begging whoever's pardon I'm supposed to be begging, it might be a good idea to have anyone making contact take a radioprotectant and grab a particle filter mask before meeting. I'm no biologist, but I know that not all life is vulnerable to radiation, and anything on that ship may in fact contain gamma or even beta-emitters as part of its body. If they're wearing sealed suits, I'm sure they'll understand if we want to cover up the holes we use to breathe with."

He remains silent a moment longer, then speaks up again.
"I'm a doctor, can someone point me in a direction where I'll be useful?"

[SliceOfDog]

Simon looked over to Kevin and nodded.

"Right here Doctor. For the moment, I'd like you to stick with us. If you could distribute those masks you mentioned, though, I'd be very grateful. Well then... we're genuinely getting ready to meet alien life then? I would kindly suggest that no one raise any issues of contention, which means no religion, no politics, not even the kind of music you like if someone on this ship holds a different opinion. It is of the utmost importance that we are viewed as a cohesive and well-coordinated entity. Any strife or disagreement within us reflects poorly on us as a... species," he inwardly cringed as he only just prevented himself from saying 'country', but continued as if nothing had happened "so keep it to yourselves. I don't care if you're a liberal, a conservative or even a Nazi, you are all human and that's a good enough reason to work together nicely for however long this will all take. Understood?"
He looked over to Toby "Mr Wilson, do we have an ETA on our new friends?"

[Dusty]

((I just gotta say wow guys. Never seen a ressurection like this Anyway I just got home. Tired, flying, all that. I might expand this tomarrow though. And Free I'll post in your RP tomarrow too.))


Ramas fidgeted in his space suit as he watched the little drake work. This whole situation currently made him feel like a third wheel. His specialty was in biology, the study of how exactly other beings operated as a living entity. Signal theory, computing, and communications weren't in his job description. His attention was drawn away from the science aspect of the mission however, when he heard Rayne's remark to the captain.

"Uh hi, Rayne right?" Ramas asked as he stepped between the two men, "Listen, this is a very very delicate matter. We're dealing with a completely unknown race. We don't know their motives. Weather they are hostile or friendly. Now with all do respect Captain, I don't think it shows good faith on our part to have a plan in place to come in guns blazing. We don't know their capabilities. They could detect our Rayne here. And his presence could compromise the safety of the first contact team."

The Captain's eye stalks shifted between the two crew members. "I see your point Mister Egatias, but precautions must be taken. I believe that Rayne's skills could be of use. But I don't want to use them as he suggested. You have a point in saying that they could detect our ploy. Rayne, you'll be escorting the first contact team. Lightly armed, and under their direction. Your job, if so needed. Is to provide security in a non-threatening way, understand?"

[redtail]

"Roger that, ah, Simon. I'm on it."
Kevin pushes his way off of the table toward a row of supply cabinets, digging for anything that could be of use.
Hundreds pf paper dust-masks helped to make a difference, and would be enough to stop alpha particles from entering the lungs where they'd do the most damage. Beta particles would largely be stopped by skin and decay in the ship's largely ionized air, but something had to be done about potential gamma sources.
"YOu!"
Kevin's voice rang out, singling out a random individual floating nearby with no apparent task.
"You ever been an orderly before, son?"
"No, I'm a biochemist."
"Close enough. Take a mask, put it on and start passing this stack out. I want everyone wearing one of these. There's no biological hazard, tell people it's for alpha radiation. Tell them also that it's not likely there will be any, but if any alpha-emitters get into their lungs, there's likely to be some trouble, so it's just a precaution. Good man."
The doctor gave his new assistant a hefty pat on the back, then set about finding a proper radiation protection plan.

THe lockers contained most of the more time-critical supplies for emergency protocol. The rest would be on another part of the ship, and much harder to get to.
That meant long-term radioprotectants like potassium iodide would be deeper inside, as would the substantially more dangerous Cysteamine radioprotectant agent, but the immediate solution seemed to be the best one.

B-190 autoinjectors, and hundreds of them, stocked in dispenser cabinets marked with big, yellow radiation symbols.

"Simon! Simon, I've got it. See all of these indraline dispensors? Space is radioactive as hell. The guys who built this tub knew what they were doing. Hey! Someone help me pop one of these damn things open!"

It took several minutes to work the case of the dispenser open, but the result made spreading out the injectors much more easy.
"Everyone, listen up. You've all got your masks, and now you're being given B-190 Indraline autoinjectors as a gamma-wave radioprotectant. This stuff is relatively short-term and we haven't got a ton of it, but it works fast and I personally guarantee it works well. Only one per person for now. I will personally dig the potassium iodide out of my medical supplies if it turns out that there is a radiation hazard. I want to stress that it's not likely that we're going to get any benefit out of this, but we can't afford to be wrong. There is only so much to go around, and I will personally castrate anyone caught hording medical supplies, so again, one per person."

After a relatively ordered disbursal, Keven closes the half-empty dispenser and returns to the command table with a pocket full of autoinjectors, passing them out to the command staff.
"THe crew should be safe for now. I want to tell you guys again that this is just a what-the-hell kind of precaution. The ship itself is probably glowing anyway by now, with whatever we've passed through. The autoinjectors take effect within about ten minutes of use and last... Around 18 hours. Little longer than water-soluble vitamins persist in your system. On a side note, just because of our current situation, it might not be a bad idea to start issuing kay-eye tablets after the visit. They'll take longer to get into the system, but they protect the thyroid and some other important accumulation sites. I've got masks for you gentlemen as well."

[Brome Teks]

((OOC: Don't worry, there was plenty of effort put into it. =P *Hides the dead virgins behind the Necromancy altar*))

Ike loads a copy of the video and all the translation data they’ve got so far onto his aide, and instructs it to synchronize with the ship’s computer every 20 minutes. He looks to the other three discussing between themselves. He looks over to Rayne when the captain is done speaking.

“Yes, decontamination. This broadcast seems like an invitation to come aboard their ship, and that means they won’t want us to bring over any of our alien germs. And because our airlocks are most likely incompatible, that also means we’ll be doing a spacewalk over.

“So yes, doing a brief spacewalk then entering an alien environment will in fact require you to suit up. We don’t as of yet have any information on the ship’s atmosphere, and even if it is breathable, you’d still have to be suited up to avoid letting their germs get to you and vice versa.”

Ike looks to the captain. “We’ll be ready as soon as we can pull along side their ship. I suggest we pull to the side with their large bay doors and rotate the ship so the airlock is facing it, to minimize our time spent space walking. Bear in mind that we are still traveling at 80% light speed, so I’d also suggest deploying a magnetic field generator to keep the area between our ships as clear of the interstellar medium as possible. Even at this speed, our engines can easily handle the extra drag.”

“Otherwise, I am ready to go, and have my Aide set to get the worked out translation data from the ship’s computer every 20 minutes. I have my tools assembled, but hopefully won’t need to use them too much.” He nods.

+=========================+

Toby looks to Simon, then to his console. “Given what I’ve seen and the ship tracking their current position, they’ll probably be pulling up next to us in less than 15 minutes. We’ll probably be able to get a visual of what their ship looks like in ten minutes.”

He accepts the particle mask and the injection the Doctor gives him.

He looks back to Simon. “After that, I can’t say for sure how long till they send over someone to greet us. Either way, once they’re here, we ought to open up the bay doors and warm up the decontamination device. I realize that who we send to greet them is up to you, but I personally volunteer to join the team to go down and greet them.”

[Cobalt3924]

(Been god knows how long since I used a Kycanid. I thought I'd killed the race off, but oh well: I'm back in too.)
(And Brome: Stop stealing my Necromancy potions! Those things are expensive!)

--------------------------------

"Ahh, to hell with it." Dejah said as she gave herself a small shot of a powerful fruit mixture to calm her nerves as she stepped into the Steriliser to get suited up.

"Activate Suiting, Sterilising Protocol A-Five Seven Two." She said. The Steriliser hummed into life: Sterilising her and her suit before fitting her into it. It was a Skin-tight Space Suit in silver and soft Gold with a Heads-Up display in the helmet. While she was fitting on her Electro-Static Gloves: that let her feel things through the gloves: the Steriliser started to blare and depressurise before the suit was fully sealed.

"Oh no you don't..." Dejah muttered as she hit the override: cancelling the Depressurizing before she ruptured the suit: Venting the leftover air in the suit and making it completely sealed around her before clipping on her Sterilised equipment: her Bio-Scanner on her hip as well as an assortment of Sensors, Data-Devices and her sidearm: a Plasma Blaster modified to be Non-Lethal, and a Holographic Display projector on her arm.

"That should do it." She said to herself as she headed towards the docking bay where the others were. When she arrived: Dejah stepped up to the Capitan: carrying her Helmet under her arm.

"I'm sorry I took so long Captain: I had some troubles with the Steriliser in my Lab. It was the Depressurisation Sensor this time."

[SliceOfDog]

"Thank you Doctor" Simon said, taking the mask with a nod before turning briefly back to Toby "Of course you may be in the Greeting Team, Mr Wilson, I'd appreciate someone of your expertise."
He then turned back to Kevin and, tapping him lightly on the arm, pulled him gently aside.
"If it's all the same to you, Doctor, I'd appreciate it if you were to refer to me as "Mr Mills" in front of the crew. I realise it's only an attempt at friendliness, and I do appreciate that, but it is quite undermining to my position at such a vital stage in these operations. I hope you understand"
He glanced down to the injection, frowning "This... thing won't impede speech or mental capacity in any way will it? No side-effects drowsiness I hope"

[AlWayZFrE3]

Rayne saluted as he'd been taught. "Sir, yes sir!" he barked, and then ran off to suit up. His personal suit, the one he'd been issued upon assignment, was lightly armored against radiation, chemicals, and even acidic compounds. It could also take a light calliber round or two before popping open. On the suit's hip was a nearly miniscule rail carbine. It was developed by his own race, and used for many first contact operations. It looks small and was, being only able to make a small dent in most armor. It could still punch a medium sized being back a few feet in space and stung like hell in gravity. Rayne loaded one clip for the thing. 'Thirty rounds should be way too much as it is,' Rayne thought as he suited up. He carried no sidearm and made sure to keep his rifle slung around his back, though easy to get to.

Now he looked like some mix of samurai and werewolf. He had the noble appearence of a warrior, but still retained his form as a wolf. Now that he thought about it, Rayne realized he looked like one of the ancestral patrons of battle back home. At least it wasn't the patron of bloodlust. That would have been bad for a first meeting.

Rayne reported to the first contact team wherever it waited. His rifle was slung and he kept his helmet pulled back, resting on his back. "Ready to go," Rayne said. "Anyone know an ETA on the walk?"

[redtail]

Kevin seems slightly put-off by the comment, but does his best to take it in stride. He takes on a considerably more professional tone, appearing a bit less personal all at once.

"Well enough, Mr. Mills, then I'll assume you take no issue with 'Doctor Smit'. They aren't exactly handing out Ph.D's these days. And no, a B190 injection causes oxidation of body cells and slows cellular reproduction. Immediate side-effects will most likely include some lightheadedness, minor shortness of breath, and temporary, I stress temporary, infertility. If you're anemic, it might cause mild nausea. I assume that's not the case, since you passed muster for the launch. THe reason they don't stock us full of this stuff for long-term use is that continuous use leads to tissue wasting and occasionally lesions, because of the specific mechanism through which it prevents radiation damage. It was used on the Interational Space Station, they wouldn't have astronauts using it regularly if it caused cognitive failure. The dizziness will subside within a few hours.

[Brome Teks]

Toby nods. “I took a brief tour on the ISS. Fun stuff.” He looks to Simon. “I’m also technically a doctor, but I still don’t mind being called Mister. Take your pick.”

He looks around his console. “I should bring some useful things… I’ll take a data tablet, and high gain microphone and speakers, and a high definition camera. That way we can keep using the translation program and we’ll be able to record the whole meeting as well as send visual and audio back to you. If you turn on a camera up here you can even have a presence through the data tablet.” He looks to the computer to find out where he can find these things, and promptly kicks off to gather them.

Soon enough he has his pile bundled up in midair, floating thanks to the 0g environment. “Alright, it won’t be too much longer now. The welcoming party should come down to the bay airlock.” He kicks off the table and gracefully floats towards the door.

+=================+

Ike looks to Rayne again. “It shouldn’t be too much longer. Whatever you do, don’t pull out that gun unless they attack us first. I don’t want to be part of the first contact team that maybe starts a major war.”

He looks over to the captain. “We’ll be pulling up next to their ship shortly. The computer should be able to get us a visual representation of their ship in just a couple more moments…”

[SliceOfDog]

Simon frowned for a moment, then nodded "I see. Thank you for the information, Doctor Smit, and I hope you will accompany me in the greeting party, assuming no medical emergency calls you elsewhere between no and then."
He turned to Toby "Well if you genuinely don't mind, I believe I will continue using "Mister" for now, simply to avoid confusion, since I already announced it several times" he allowed himself a wry apologetic smile "I will make a note to use "Doctor" in private though, since proper courtesy should be observed"
He smiled at Dr Smit at this, and then at Toby's final comment said "Absolutely. Please, lead the way"

[redtail]

((OOC: I should note that I *love* conflicting strong personalities in-game. This is shaping up to be fun, let's run with it. ))

Kevin offers a quick nod, feeling more agitated now by his lack of proper medical provision than with the moment's minor conflict.
"I'd be honored. Mr. Mills."
There's a brief and slightly supercilious smile.
"I'd like to recommend anyone on the welcoming party take their B190 injections now, as most of the mild disorientation will most likely subside and protective properties will be in full effect by the time our visitors have arrived. Mr. Mills, you in particular, as you're sort of our figurehead for this operation. The closer the injection is to a major artery, the better. The inside of the right leg is preferrable, as this will distribute the radioprotectant most wuickly through capillary tissue."

The doctor takes his own injection in one hand, folding up a leg and bracing himself against a bulkhead before pressing the tube's tip against the meat of the inner thigh. There's a soft, rubbery "thump" sound as the injector operates. Kevin grimaces sharply, waiting a few seconds before carefully withdrawing the tube.

"Ow."

[AlWayZFrE3]

Rayne was getting antsy. The caffiene shot he'd had earlier was beginning to eat away at his self control, despite massive amounts of self control being used to subdue it. There was one thing Riharians did not do well, and that was wait on uncertainty. Absently, he began reciting an old Riharian marching chant.

"We are soldiers, through and through,
Soldiers of a particular brew,
We welcome death we laugh out loud,
As bullets snap our heads round and round.
I'll take my PT over a meal,
I'll take my PT head over heel,
Because I know that one day soon,
My legs'll keep me from the death coccoon.
We're all fighters to the core,
We're all made to settle a score.
Matriarch says we're bred to kill,
And every day loyally do our drill..."

As he repeated it over and over, Rayne began to calm. His breath came slower, and he was visibly more still. 'I'm ready,' he thought. 'Let wonder or death await us, I'll welcome it either way as a Riharian does.'

[SliceOfDog]

((Hah, that's good to hear redtail, because I do too. Sometimes people get offended thinking I dislike them, when actually my character just dislikes theirs. Glad that's not the case here ))

Simon suppressed a grimace as he observed the doctor inject himself. Begrudgingly he followed suit, but his leg shot out involuntarily as he made the injection and he yelled "Sweet mother of mercy!" through clenched teeth. Gaining a slight flush in his face, he gingerly pulled the empty needle from his thigh, not meeting Kevin's eye.

"Let's get ready then" he said, already moving in away.