RP: The Wayward Distant Memories (Ep. 2.0)

[SmokeEmpress]

Engine Room

Ana had gotten the engines up and running without any issues. She had just gotten herself something to snack on as she waited for the away team. She had taken the food into the cargo hold to wait for their arrival, so smiled a bit when Tanja had called for her and Nan to join her. Quiet as a mouse, the petite engineer made her way over to the captain and stood just in Tanja's point of view, but waited for the other to say something...not wanting to interrupt the other one's thoughts.

 

[Whitehart]

After replacing the tools Nan was able to open his PHC and start inputting code for the reconstruction program. He also shuffled his extensive library of techno music to program to. While typing he was wandering the halls of the Anbruch. Every now and then he would take a corner to tight and bump into it startling himself.

There were three things Nan truly enjoyed in life. Computer work was one of them. He often lost himself in the scrolling of lines and commands. He was eager to test results and make tweaks. Programming was like military tactics. You can plan, coordinate and execute but nothing is garunteed once it goes live.

Hearing the call from Tanja turned his wanderings to the cargo hold. Those within soon heard the sound of digitized, upbeat techno music grow louder, coming to a fairly high volume as Nan entered. He stopped typing and approached the crew and went to say hello but could not be heard well over the music. He kept trying to greet everyone as if he couldn't tell the music was too high.

Eventually Nan caught on and deactivated his media player app. He smiled broadly in his enthusiastic fashion, "Sorry 'bout that guys. What can I say, I got the music in me! What's the what?"

 

[Syaoran]

Near Shuttle

Tanja looked at Ana and Nan giving them both a pat on the shoulder "Good work getting everything fixed up, but I wanted to talk to you about something. Have you noticed anything suspicious around while you were down here? Something feels kind of off. Our computers should've warned us about where were were exiting FTL at if it was an asteroid belt, but it didn't. I get the feeling someone might be out to get us, so I want you two to keep your eyes peeled." The usually rather confident captain had a hint of worry in her voice, after all the topic was very serious and very dangerous if her suspicions were right.

 

[SmokeEmpress]

Near Shuttle

Ana smiled a bit at the praise, but it faltered when the captain had asked if there was anything amiss that they had seen. Hesitantly, Ana said softly, "The damage to the ship...on the outside. It was...more...than what one would expect from the crash landing. It looked like someone hit us at just the right spot to where the crash would hide their intent..."

Ana's voice drifted off as she looked out towards where the bear was and shrugged. "Other than that...just a bear that watched us work on the ship. It ran off when you came back."

 

[Whitehart]

Near shuttle

Nan beamed with a broad smile. This was only his first mission with the crew of the Anbruch but he had already proven himself a valuable ally. He liked all the crew a lot, maybe a little less that cranky doctor.

Then he realized, he was new and on his first outing the ship may have been sabotaged! A million things went through his head. Did Tanja or the crew suspect him? Blame him? Did he enter a variable wrong? His usual smile faded and for the first time Nan looked unsure.

"You...you don't think I did it do you? Really Captain, I wouldn't! I swear, I will prove it. I can find what happened," Nan said in a quick stream of anxiety.

 

[Semjax]

Near Shuttle

Hugar listened to them quietly and shook his head quietly at Nan. "That makes you look guilty you know, that being said, No we don't suspect you. How in the world would you get outside mid flight to damage our ship? No matter what type of sabotage you did it would've had to have been on the inside." He stated truthfully.

 

[Enansel]

Near Shuttle

Quinn helped to move the bones from the shuttle into the cargo hold, happy to have something to do to keep his hands busy while listening to the conversation between Tanja, Ana and Nan. Quinn's immediate thought was that Nan was the one with all the drones. Technically he could indeed have hit them from the outside on entry, but Nan's body language suggested only recent anxiety and insecurity so Quinn kept his mouth shut for the moment at least as far as Nan was concerned. He finished moving the last of the bones and glanced over to Ana. "You two did your best to fix the ship yeah?"

 

[Whitehart]

Nan started at Hugar's comment about appearing guilty but calmed a little by the end. Even what Quinn said seemed to Nan that maybe they didn't blame him. Nan let out a sigh of half relief, not really letting it go until Tanja would speak up.

"Whew, listen, your right. I've just never done anything like this before and I don't want it to end so soon. The most exciting thing I ever did before this was sneaking into a rave back home and drinking. Though, that sounds pretty lame when I say it out loud..." Nan said and blushed a little in embarrassment.

 

[Syaoran]

Near Shuttle

Tanja chuckled some at Nan's response and put her hand on his head, ruffling his hair before she pulled him in close, practically hugging him. "I don't suspect you, after all you could've died along with us." She then grabbed Analiese and pulled her in too keeping her at her other side. Though she looked almost their age, and younger than most the rest of the crew, to her, these two were still children, not even half her age, in fact they were about the right age to actually -be- her children.

"You two did great." She loosened her hold on them to let them step away if they wanted, but she did not seem to mind keeping them in her arms. "The two likely scenarios are that either someone at port tampered with our systems, or when we arrived in this system, there was something in or near the asteroid belt we hit. Making it undetectable to us from long range. Either way I doubt they just did it for fun, so we might have visitors soon. So we have to change up our plan. We're going to have a group here ready for when our visitors arrive, and a group that takes Rulloo to this structure and investigates. So who wants to go where?"

 

[SmokeEmpress]

Near Shuttle

Ana stiffened and winced just slightly when she was drawn into a hug, but she didn't pull away. Instead, she blushed deeply at the praise and stayed near Tanja. Even though the woman could be her mother, or a mother-like figure, Ana had her own mother already...so she would most likely look to Tanja as an aunt or older sister.

She already knew it wasn't Nan that had done what was done to the ship, for it was all externally damaged. Nothing, as far as she could tell, was internal. "I...I think that the ... err ... systems? Yes, systems are normal. Damage, was all...outside. Not inside." She isn't sure if what she said made sense to the others, but she wasn't sure how to explain it any other way.

When Tanja had said that they would be splitting up once more, she frowned a bit and took in a breath before glancing at the others, not really sure what she should do. Stay or go? Swallowing softly, Ana reached up to tuck a wayward strand of hair, her head tucking down to meet her hand easier, since she was starting to get really sore. "Umm...I...I think I'll just stay here. Maybe work on making a meal for all of us when the others return from the st-structure?"

 

[Enansel]

Near Shuttle

Quinn studied the trio as Tanja pulled Nan and Ana close and hugged them. He was wearing just a hint of a frown when Ana stated that she wanted to stay at the ship. He fished around in his medical gear and after a moment he offered a capped pair of syringes to Hugar. "I can only assume you're going to go back out. Bigger syringe has pain killers, anti-inflammatory, and a mild steroid. The smaller one has a cocktail of drugs to keep you from bleeding out and your heart from stopping... I suggest only using it in an emergency." He turned and tilted his head at Ana, extending his free hand towards her. "Come on, I'll stay here and we can cook while they're gone." He could tell she was sore, and he wanted to make sure nothing else was going on that she might be hiding.

 

[Semjax]

Near Shuttle

Hugar nodded towards Quinn taking the syringes and putting them in his bag for safety. "Yeah, I'm going back out with you Tanja." He looked at Quinn. "Thanks, these'll definitely come in handy." He looked back towards Tanja then looked at the rest of the group and frowned a bit. "Hmm..."

 

[Whitehart]

Near shuttle

Nan at first was startled by the hair tussle and the pull into Tanja's embrace. Once he was beside her he snuggled in, cozily not missing the opportunity to pressed against a woman. His usual broad smile also now held a hint of teenager.

He half listened as he relished the affectionate attention. Nan could not decide where to go. He knew he could help Rulloo in the field but the thought of more wolf things scared him a little. After a small bout of nervous hemming and hawing Nan decided, "I think I will head out and help with the investigation. I will bring my newly designed program along to help out. Just let me run it on the skeleton you brought back."

Nan reluctantly extracted himself from Tanja's warm embrace and moved to do some quick photos of the recovered bones. He worked quickly over his holographic keypad, entering data, measurements and statistics as needed. Once entered, he hit the execute button and waited to see if his program would work. It may take a while though.

 

[Syaoran]

Near Shuttle

Tanja let go of Analiese and let her go about doing what she wanted. “The crew that’s staying, will still have Geboku for support, but keep your eyes peeled and if anything happens, call us.” She then made her way up onto the ship and got Rulloo who was distracted by the bones, and brought him back to the shuttle.

“Everyone inside, I want to make this quick so we don’t have to leave these guys long.” She moved into the shuttle with Ruloo and motioned the others in as well.

Reed decided to stay back with the rest, figuring that if anything did happen at the ship it would be good to have as much fighting experience as they could get.

 

[SmokeEmpress]

Near Shuttle

Ana took Quinn's hand and nodded to Tanja to let her know she heard her. She followed Quinn into the Anbruch itself once more, figuring that their first stop was going to be the med bay. (Continued in the Aside 2.0.2 - Rest is more important!)

 

[Whitehart]

Nan smiled once again and gave Analiese a quick cheerful wave. "Be right back Captain," Nan said quickly as he ran over to his small stockpile of Camera blister drones. He adjusted the gravity parameters to coincide with the current gravity and pre-programmed a patrol pattern. It would send a brief ping to Nan should it catch anything moving in it's viewfinder.

"Oh-two here will keep a rudimentary eye out for you guys. We shouldn't be long. This is gonna be super exciting," Nan said with boundless energy as he boarded the shuttle.

 

[Syaoran]

Shuttle

The shuttle ride was quick and without much incident, nothing really got in there way and within only a few minutes, they had reached their destination. However what they was was likely not what they had expected. At the site was a large spire, several dozens of feet high with walls that had maintained a white color even now after it was likely abandoned for years.

“This iss marvelouss” Rulloo spoke as he looked out the forward window at the structure. He looked almost like a child looking through the window of a candy store, glee spread all across his face. “We must go down and investigate. They are more advanced than I had ever anticipated.”

“Settle down Doc, we’ll be landing in a little. Just make sure to be careful.” Tanja spoke and gave the man a pat on the back trying to calm him down. As amazing as the structure was, they were not in a situation where they could just run around carefree.

Soon the ship landed, getting about a dozen meters away from the spire to give people room. Once down Tanja stepped out, Rulloo following quickly after.

 

[Syaoran]

Spire

The area around the spire was mostly a clearing with the shuttle at the end of it There were signs of what were once two roads leading from the spire in opposite directions, but they had become nothing more than scattered stone and dirt in the purple vegetation.

Rulloo made his way over without hesitation standing next to the spire and beginning to examine markings that were at the base. “These inscriptionsss are beautiful.”

As his hand touched the spire there was a brief glow from it and then it began to make a buzzing sound.

Tanja looked a bit nervous after that and began looking around, rifle ready. “What did you do Rulloo?”

“Nothing, I merely touched it, but it seemsss to have activated some function. I musst see what it doesss.” A smile grew on the scientist’s lips as he began to pull out more and more tolls to examine the structure.

“Everyone, check the perimeter, I don’t want any surprises.” Tanja spoke up strongly as she began to head to the treeline.

Anbruch

Inside things were relatively peaceful and calm, at least until the alarms began to go off. They were loud and flashing red throughout the entire ship. Soon Embel spoke over the intercom to clear everything up.

“We have an unidentified ship entering the atmosphere, their estimated touchdown is less than three kilometers from our current location. These might be the people the captain was talking about so everyone be alert.”

 

[Semjax]

Spire

Hugar had followed the group all the way to the spire, he watched the area as the doc did his thing. He stopped watching the area when he saw the doc touch the spire and the thing began making a buzzing sound. Gods be damned… Hugar let out a sigh and then nodded to Tanya. “As you say Tanja.” He turns and moves and begins patrolling the area quietly, keeping eyes and ears at the ready.

 

[SmokeEmpress]

Anbruch

Ana awoke with a start. She had fallen asleep after Quinn had taken a look at her and now there were alarms going off and lights flashing all over. With a small groan, she got up off of Quinn's bed and rubbed her weary eyes. Another ship? People Tanja was expecting? Friend? Foe? Oh why can't I remember? Ana had no idea what was going on at the moment, but she did know that she still needed to make something for the crew to eat.

Stumbling, and having to pause now that pain killers had worn off, Ana slowly made her way to the kitchens, not sure if Quinn had started or what. Either way, she needed to sit down once more and catch her breath.