Roboship (Part I)

Posted on Mon Jan 31st, 2022 @ 5:57pm by Lieutenant Remy Boudreau & Lieutenant JG Tessa Nicoles & Petty Officer 1st Class Ranonda LeBeau
Edited on on Fri Aug 12th, 2022 @ 7:20am

998 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Making for a Hostile Environment.
Location: Shuttle

ON

Petty Officer Ranonda LeBeau walked into the shuttle bay. This was her first away team and she was excited, even though she made sure she didn't show it.

Nicoles came onto the Shuttle Bay with a minor change of uniform; she had opted for the warmer tights for her uniform and the jacket was to specifications but a bit warmer as shuttles tend to be a little more of the chilly side.

"Hello..." She greeted the new person and extended for a handshake. "Ah am Tessa Nicoles, Medical Officer. It is a pleasure to meet yew." She said in her southern drawl.

"Hi. I'm Ranonda LeBeau, but please call me Rani." She shook the other woman's hand. "Nice to meet you, ma'am. Lieutenant Jansum thought you might need someone from security."

'Let's hope it doesn't come to that,' said Boudreau with a thin smile as he stomped on to the shuttle's ramp. He was still sour after the briefing they'd received. 'I'd settle for a nice, quiet Away Mission that leads to a scientific breakthrough.' He placed his case of instruments into a cargo compartment and settled into a chair with a nod at the other two crewmembers.

"Me, too," Ranonda replied. "This is my first away team." She took he seat and waited for the others to arrive.

Looking up from his PADD for a moment, Boudreau's sour mood lifted, 'your first? That's quite an exciting prospect. Nothing like beaming over to an automated space vessel full of exciting possibilities for your first.'

"It's alien. That makes it interesting," she said. "Not everyone has a first encounter for their first away assignment."

'You never know,' Boudreau shrugged, 'the thing controlling the ship might be a sentient AI of some sort. I could mark at least one type of First Contact off my list then,' he finished with a chuckle.

She grinned. "You keep a list?"

'I wouldn't be much of a science officer if I didn't now, would I?' Boudreau gave a genuine smile as he carried on, 'ascended beings and noncorporeal life are top of the first contact list. Not many people have had that experience.'

The security officer giggled, then put a hand over her mouth. "Sorry. You're right. That makes this twice as awesome."

Boudreau shook his head, 'don't worry Ms. LeBeau, it's not everyone's priority or interest. And that's just fine. More noncorporeal beings for me,' he winked as he settled back in to read his scarce notes.

Ranonda smiled and looked out the viewport as the shuttle left the Aurora.

Glancing out the front as the shuttle departed, Boudreau heaved a sigh of relief. At least now they were closer to doing some real work.

There was no sign that the alien ship was aware of the shuttle approaching, but still Ranonda kept looking at the security panel to make sure nothing had changed. "It doesn't seem to notice anything but the planet. It hasn't changed course or activated any defensive systems."

'Maybe we're just too small to notice,' said Boudreau from his seat. He moved to one of the auxiliary stations. 'That thing is huge after all. Or its primary programming overrides any distraction.' He frowned. 'Could also be that the AI knows we're here, and has assessed us as too puny to interfere so it will tolerate us, for now.'

"Good point." The security officer scanned the large ship for weapons, but found none that registered. She looked for power output and anything that might be internal weapons, again finding nothing. "Odd. I detect no known weapons, but it's well-shielded."

Frowning, Boudreau looked over at the tactical station. 'Quite odd. How powerful are the defensive systems?' He looked at the looming vessel from his seat. 'Perhaps it's designed to take a beating ... not good in our case.'

Ranonda checked the shields again. "They're strong enough to withstand quite a bit. From what I can tell, a good part of the energy from the ship is fed into shields. The rest goes to engines and whatever it's doing to the planet."

'Agreed, the power output is heavily weighted to those areas. Barely anything for a recognisable life support,' Boudreau replied as he looked over the data as well. 'Looks like we're all going to have suite up for this one.' He leaned in closer to the screen. 'Can we see any docking ports or the like?'

Ranonda turned to Paris. "Can we fly around the ship and get a good look? For docking ports and for anything that looks like weapons."

TAG PARIS

Boudreau nodded, 'should do nicely - shall we move in a little closer?'

TAG PARIS

'Those ports ... they look like they're sealed up there.' Boudreau let his fingers dance across the panel in front of him. 'I wonder. Officer LeBeau, d'you think you can run an override across with our sensor ping? It might override the locking mechanism and force it to open.'

"An interesting challenge," she said. "Let's see." It took Ranonda several minutes, but she finally succeeded. "Got it!"

'There we go,' replied Boudreau in a tone thick with satisfaction. 'That docking port is opening wide. We should be able to marry up our shuttle's locks to it and seal the atmosphere.' He threw a game look in the direction of the Security crewman. 'Shall we?'

Ranonda grinned. "Definitely. Does it have atmosphere, or do we go in EVA suits?"

He checked the sensor scans once again. 'Seems one of the advantages for having a fully automated ship is you don't need atmosphere. We'd better suit up, Petty Officer.'

"Yes, sir," Ranonda replied with a brisk nod. She was both eager and trepidatious at the prospect.

(To be continued...)

Petty Officer Ranonda LeBeau
Security
USS Aurora

Lieutenant Remy Boudreau
Chief Science Officer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant JG Tessa Nicoles
Security Officer
USS Aurora

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