08-20-2024, 01:40 AM
When she materialised, Jenny was immediately aware of just how small and cramped the area they had materialised in was; if she'd chosen to take a larger team, or they'd chosen to wear EV suits, moving would be difficult at best. Even with just the four of them, it seemed like they were taking up the majority of the usable space in the room. Though her enhanced vision quickly adjusted to the dull red glow of the emergency lights, she activated her flashlight anyway and let its beam of harsh white light pan across the room.
We're spoiled in the 25th century. I've seen equipment lockers bigger than this!
Air, warm and stale, was slowly circulating around the room, accompanied by an asthmatic wheezing sound that indicated the Life Support system wasn't in the best of shape. If the ship was to be salvaged, that would need to be repaired. The respirator masks the Away Team wore would keep them supplied with "fresh" breathing air for a few hours, but any extended stay aboard the Lord Franklin would either require a larger supply of masks, or a working supply of air.
"Altairi, your first job is to try and get Life Support running properly. If memory serves it'll be on the lower deck. Sara, you'll assist him; we'll need air if we're going to work here. I also want both of you to report on the status of any cryo-pods you come across."
Moving around the Control Room, Jenny let her hand very gently brush against the ancient consoles. Analog displays, manual switches, it was unlike anything she'd seen outside of a museum, and even most museum pieces she'd seen still had digital systems. The old-style wheel and yoke at what she assumed was a pilot's station stirred something nostalgic as she remembered her own time as a "stick jockey", and she allowed herself a small smile behind her mask.
"Arwen, I want you to try and interface with the computers; anything you can tell us about where this ship was going, or how it got here, would be great."
It was the first time she'd called Qi by his given name since he'd reported aboard, and was a sign of her growing comfort with him. Department Heads had been something of an issue for Jenny, even going back so far as the Gettysburg, and Science Officers especially so. Qi was one of the most enthusiastic and competent scientists she had met, lacking the ego or lab-centric attitudes that so often plagued experts in that field, hopefully this one would stay.
Continuing to pan across the room, Jenny paused as she turned and faced the centre; hanging from the ceiling was a cylindrical construct encircled by a metal wheel. Reaching up, and having to stand on her tiptoes to do it, Jenny grasped and with some effort shifted the metal wheel to the left. There was a dull clunk, followed by a hiss of ancient pneumatics, and she barely concealed a squeal of delight as the Franklin's periscope descended into position. Pulling the handles on either side of the assembly down, Jenny leaned into the view piece and was immediately assailed with data. Superimposed over the starfield display provided by the visual sensors were telemetry links from the functional sensor systems; too many of them were indicated as being offline or displaying error messages, but she could gauge the ship's current velocity and rate of orbital decay based on what she was being shown.
With a mischievous smirk on her face, Jenny shuffled her feet and panned the periscope around. As she'd hoped, the sensors moved with the periscope, and she paused as she focused the visual sensors on the Yeager, hovering at a safe distance. With a soft sigh, Jenny took the moment to gaze upon her new command, as beautiful as she was ungainly; she'd never been able to see her following her completion, but she felt the same rush of exhilaration as she'd done the first time she'd seen the Artemis.
Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made, for somewhere deep in their oaken hearts the soul of a song is laid...
We're spoiled in the 25th century. I've seen equipment lockers bigger than this!
Air, warm and stale, was slowly circulating around the room, accompanied by an asthmatic wheezing sound that indicated the Life Support system wasn't in the best of shape. If the ship was to be salvaged, that would need to be repaired. The respirator masks the Away Team wore would keep them supplied with "fresh" breathing air for a few hours, but any extended stay aboard the Lord Franklin would either require a larger supply of masks, or a working supply of air.
"Altairi, your first job is to try and get Life Support running properly. If memory serves it'll be on the lower deck. Sara, you'll assist him; we'll need air if we're going to work here. I also want both of you to report on the status of any cryo-pods you come across."
Moving around the Control Room, Jenny let her hand very gently brush against the ancient consoles. Analog displays, manual switches, it was unlike anything she'd seen outside of a museum, and even most museum pieces she'd seen still had digital systems. The old-style wheel and yoke at what she assumed was a pilot's station stirred something nostalgic as she remembered her own time as a "stick jockey", and she allowed herself a small smile behind her mask.
"Arwen, I want you to try and interface with the computers; anything you can tell us about where this ship was going, or how it got here, would be great."
It was the first time she'd called Qi by his given name since he'd reported aboard, and was a sign of her growing comfort with him. Department Heads had been something of an issue for Jenny, even going back so far as the Gettysburg, and Science Officers especially so. Qi was one of the most enthusiastic and competent scientists she had met, lacking the ego or lab-centric attitudes that so often plagued experts in that field, hopefully this one would stay.
Continuing to pan across the room, Jenny paused as she turned and faced the centre; hanging from the ceiling was a cylindrical construct encircled by a metal wheel. Reaching up, and having to stand on her tiptoes to do it, Jenny grasped and with some effort shifted the metal wheel to the left. There was a dull clunk, followed by a hiss of ancient pneumatics, and she barely concealed a squeal of delight as the Franklin's periscope descended into position. Pulling the handles on either side of the assembly down, Jenny leaned into the view piece and was immediately assailed with data. Superimposed over the starfield display provided by the visual sensors were telemetry links from the functional sensor systems; too many of them were indicated as being offline or displaying error messages, but she could gauge the ship's current velocity and rate of orbital decay based on what she was being shown.
With a mischievous smirk on her face, Jenny shuffled her feet and panned the periscope around. As she'd hoped, the sensors moved with the periscope, and she paused as she focused the visual sensors on the Yeager, hovering at a safe distance. With a soft sigh, Jenny took the moment to gaze upon her new command, as beautiful as she was ungainly; she'd never been able to see her following her completion, but she felt the same rush of exhilaration as she'd done the first time she'd seen the Artemis.
Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made, for somewhere deep in their oaken hearts the soul of a song is laid...