"Oh. The best place in the galaxy, of course!", exclaims Jean. "There's more to see here than you can in a human life. Just avoid the lower levels, and you should be fine, mon ami.", he grins. "Hm. I think I've scratched your taste for Martian cuisine. If you're feeling adventurous, I can propose a robot deathmatch?", he suggests. "I'm afraid I'm banned from betting on those, and I'd rather not draw attention while we're here, but it could be interesting to watch. There's even the occasional Earth champion coming here to get his rear parts kicked.", he smiles, basking in the artificial red glow of the Red Planet.
He looks over at APRIL. "Uh. I'm afraid I spoke too soon, my friend of the artificial persuasion.", he sent a cheerful smile towards a nearby camera. "I'd prefer unarmed presence, if possible. I'd hate to drag attention to you!", he apologises with a shrug. "Maybe we can simply go and see the Technomancer's palace, if you're feeling like learning more about Martian history. I'll be your guide.", he proposes.
So, Jean and Aster have a night on the town, taking in a robot deathmatch and the Technomancer's palace, without getting into any trouble.
Aster runs his least patched jumpsuit through the sonic cleaners and gets ready for a night on the town.
You know, we should probably look at some newer clothes if we're going to be meeting any dignitaries.
After loading his edc, Aster waits in the lounge for Jean. He pulls out his tablet and starts reading through the tourist info.
Rix uses the time on Mars to just enjoy the feel of a planet under her feet and takes a sight-seeing tour to gawk and Mons Olympus and the Valles Marineris. She is impressed, but misses the lush vegetation of earth and ends her tour more interested in ever in returning to earth.
Jean chuckles, clearly enthusiastic after showing Aster around. Bah. That was the shoddiest combat protocol I've seen, and I've seen things.
"Or, if I know how dignitaries work, we can ask some of their aides to help in that situation, no?", he proposes, pouring himself a coffee. "I never say no to new clothes, especially if someone gives me the money to buy it." He sits down, lighting up a cigarette and connecting to the news station. "I suggest we head to Terra now. We spend any more time on Mars, you'd want to stay forever.", he jests. Except, not really., he adds to himself, taking a long sip from the coffee, as blue-gray smoke rises from his hand.
After a pleasant (if a bit boring) night on the town, the crew is ready to move on. After submitting a flight plan to Space Control, the ship is cleared to leave in 25 minutes.
Pre-flight checklist goes smoothly (relatively speaking - there are always a couple of glitches with the Turing), and the ship blasts off for space.
It takes 3 weeks to circle in towards Terra .
Once in orbit, you contact Hangtian spaceport, just outside of Bejing, China (the location of EarthGov), for permission to land.
How do you identify yourselves?
Aster splits his free time on the trip with practicing his mind clouding on the rest of the crew and studying an engineering e-course.
Jean cheerfully waltzes into the cockpit, waving at the doctor. "Bonsoir, Rix!", he chirps, sitting behind the VR screen. In a second, he frowns, as the screen displays that they're clearly approaching Ceres once more, and after a not-so-gentle slap, the screen goes back to behaving himself.
He scratches his well-groomed stubble, then cheerfully looks at a camera. "APRIL, mon cher, can you connect me to the shipboard comms?", he asks, clearly in a good mood, as he picks up his coffee cup and lights a cigarette.
++Mesdames, messieurs, uplifted animals and intelligences of persuasion artificielle, we'll be arriving on Terra soon.++", he says, with the voice of a showman. ++I believe I, your esteemed Comms Officer, have enough time to attempt a certain tomfoolery of our electronics signature, so that we're able to land under the shroud of secrecy. Alternatively, I can prepare a speech for us, the Heroes of Luna, so that the parade is ready for our arrival.++ He lets out a ring of smoke, then blows another ring into it, turning around in the chair, which screeches unpleasantly. I should've oiled that. Merde! ++Pardon.++ He grins. ++I now call to you, fellow selflessly heroic individuals, to decide. My humble call is for us to cast off the veil of shadows, but our ship is a glorious democracy! One Jean-Christophe Garneau, signing off.++, he closes the comms, spinning on the chair once more, and popping up the console, the onboard music changing to a quiet, yet dramatic Martian music.
"Wouldn't sneaking in to Earth and then announcing our presence indicate that we are...well...sneaky, and maybe have something to hide? If we believe the reward is real, I say go in as ourselves."
How about just announcing our ship, origin as Styx.
Aster rubs a hand through his hair, relatively low key, but pointed 'neough to tell them who we are. 'Sides if they have data on the ship already, they should already know who we're likely to be.
Aster shrugs his shoulders just not interested in showboating.
Rix speaks up after Jean, Aster, and Terra give their opinions. "Let's just return as ourselves but monitor communications and try to gauge the situation by the reaction we are receiving. If they don't recognize us as the 'ship of heroes' we can deal with that and when we identify ourselves, they have no reason to think we are 'sneaking.' If they do recognize us then they'll either respond with force or friendship. If they intend us harm, well, that's karma. If they don't, that's karma too. We have nothing to be ashamed of and we did deal with trouble fairly well before."
APRIL has little opinion on the method of introduction, as a being with no specific interest in being famous.
"Très bien!", exclaims Jean, as he leans onto the console. ++Hangtian, this is the Turing, arriving from Styx, Luna. Sending IFF data and requesting permission to dock. Turing out.++, he says with a calm voice, jumping on ship comms. ++Well, let's see how they respond, no?++, he chuckles, lighting up a cigarette.
There's a short delay in the response, then a somewhat excited female voice says "Turing? THE Turing? Good to hear from you! You *do* know that you're...uh...very welcome to land, right away!"
Then there's some muffled voices back-and-forth, as if she has her hand over her microphone talking with someone, and then she comes back with "Turing, please enter low-Earth orbit for one rotation, we have some preparations that need to be made before you land. Please contact us again when you're in position for re-entry landing. You copy?"
Jean chuckles, flicking the comms back on. ++Copy, Hangtian. Oui, madamoiselle. Thank you for the welcome!++, he replies in a suave voice. ++Requesting proper protocol instructions - is it the black tie sort of preparation, or more of a business casual? Preparing for orbital rotation, over.++ Looking in the cockpit, Jean shrugs. "Well, so much for them not expecting us. I suggest we prepare ourselves for a formal ceremony.", he suggests, finishing his cup of coffee and transmitting comms to his ear-bud.
A few minutes later, an almost completely dressed and ironed Jean appears out of his room, and enters APRIL's core. He stands next to Gilligan, and looks at the camera. "What do you think, APRIL?", he asks, staring at the robot with an appraising, deep look. "You think Gilligan is more of a bow-tie or more of a tie sort of robot?", he asks, raising his hands, containing a set of neck-assortments.
Aster retreats to his cabin and dresses in his best outfit over his nanoweave bodysuit, not that it's much, this one is all in one piece, no patches or unsightly oil stains. Hopefully he can keep it that way for a few days. While it was new from Mars, it was still a function over fashion outfit.
Aster drops his handcomp into one of the thigh cargo pockets. What's the protocol for sidearms? He holds his gauss pistol and holster, wondering if he should wear it or not.
Savoir-Faire (default) IQ - 4 = 8
Rix doesn't really know what to wear to a reception for space heroes, so she just remains in her space gear (bioplas and nanoweave combo that she wears always so she's ready in case of emergencies). She accessorizes with a nice silk scarf and puts on a pair of earrings in the form of lotus blossoms.
She keeps an eye on news broadcasts just in case anything jumps out that would advise caution.
Computer operation/TL 10 12
"Oh, it depends, mon ami", replies Jean to Aster, affixing the neck-tie of choice onto Gilligan. "I'd suggest either carrying it out on his hip in a swaggery notion, or don't bring it at all! It's not like a single pistol can safe us if we get attacked on the starport, could it?", he chuckles.
Jean leaves the AI Core, one less neck accessory in his hands, as he walks into Dr. Rix. "Oh!", he exclaims, seeing the doctor's dressing. "Tres charmant, madame docteur!", he exclaims, as a wide smile spreads on his face, as he shrugs. "I have to say, it's somewhat relaxing to know that you're already set on a course, no?", he asks nobody in particular. "So all we can do now is enjoy the situation. Besides, we'll get to breathe actual, real air soon, and be able to walk more than 3 meters in a single direction!"
So, after 90 minutes (one orbit around the Earth), you're in position to come in for a landing, which the spaceport guides you in on.
Once you've landed, a very large crowd gathers around your ship - it looks like a mixture of newscrews, dignitaries, and plain old folk who just happened to be in the area.
The crowd shuffles itself around, as the dignitaries move to the front, followed by the newscrews. The rest of the crowd is held back by spaceport security.
As you exit the Turing, camera flashes threaten to blind you, and the crowd roars with cheers of excitement.
Once the shouting dies down, one very well-dressed man comes forward from the dignitaries and introduces himself as the Secretary of Earthgov. He apologizes that the President herself couldn't make it, but there was such short notice and she was in an important meeting, blah blah blah.
The Secretary makes a short speech, welcoming the "heroes of Styx" back to Earth, praising your virtue and heroics in such a dangerous situation. He claims that you saved over 100,000 lives by your actions.
He then poses for the newscrews to take photos of him shaking each one of your hands individually, then poses in the middle of the group, trying to get his arms across all your shoulders.
Finally, he allows you to make a speech to the press. What do you say?
Jean disembarks from the Turing, dressed in a sharp, yet casually unbuttoned shirt, as he waves at the crowds. His charming smile washes over the crowds, as he seems to enjoy the event immensely. Shaking a hand with the Secretary, he poses for the camera, and points towards the members of the crew, ushering the crowds to cheer even more. As the time comes for a speech, Jean's face turns a bit more serious, as he takes a step forward.
"Thank you! Thank you.", he says, waiting for the crowds to quiet down. "We, the crew of the Turing, thank you for this... opportunité." He takes a sip from a glass of water. "I do not believe that we are heroes. I believe that we did what every man and woman can, and will do, when facing tyranny and despotic actions. That they will organise, they will fight." He pauses. "The real heroes were the people who let others board their ships. Those who stayed behind, and sacrificed their vessels in the line of fire. The real heroes of Styx were the people of Styx, everyone that stood up and fought against a force thought unreckonable with." He pauses. "I saw the finest examples of humanity and compassion. And, the thing that moved me the most is feeling the seething rage of those who dared to attack with no warning, those who seeked to abuse their power, those who felt to make a statement... and were denied by the love for freedom." He clears his throat. "And I ask of Terra, if any refugees from Styx appear, to accept them with open arms. Thank you."
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Rix found the whole scene overwhelming. She thought about what she would say as Jean was speaking. When he finished, she hesitated, prepared to defer to any others who might step forward, looking over a piece of paper on which she printed out something she found while on the long journey to earth. Not wanting there to be a long silence, she stepped forward herself. "Thank you. This is ... hard to take in. I am Dr. Rohana Ingólfsdóttir-Xióng. I did not do much except heal a few injured survivors and helped keep the spirits up of a group of orphaned children.
But I did witness terrible devastation. Since then, I have found wisdom in a Chinese sage who noted that," She looked down at her paper and read:
"'Weapons are instruments of fear; they are not a wise man's tools.
He uses them only when he has no choice.
Peace and quiet are dear to his heart.
And victory no cause for rejoicing.
If you rejoice in victory, then you delight in killing;
If you delight in killing, you cannot fulfill yourself.'
He concluded, 'War must be conducted like a funeral.
When many people are being killed,
They should be mourned in heartfelt sorrow.
That is why a victory must be observed like a funeral.'
I am happy that the killing is over. I hope we can devote our resources to exploration, not war. Thank you."
Aster stands forward and simply states, What they said.
Terra waves off the secretary, indicating that she does not wish to address the crowd.
After the speeches, the Secretary motions to his comrades and hustles you to a stretch limo, where he and two guards join you inside. "Now it's time to meet the President, and we have an offer for you that we hope you can't refuse" he says with a smile.
After a 45 minute drive, the car stops, and as you get out (you couldn't see much thru the darkly-tinted windows), you see you are at the President's Palace, a mansion built in a mixture of ancient Chinese and post-modern styles.
A five-minute walk (the place is *huge*!) brings you to a set of plain double-doors, with the Earthgov seal blazoned across them. The guards take up station on either side of the doors, and the Secretary opens the doors for you, waving you in.
The President's office is a large room, with an executive-style board table closest to the doors apparently made out of real mahogany. Then there's an area with about 6 overstuffed chairs for more casual conversation, and finally her desk, which is large and covered with phones and computer monitors.
The President herself is sitting at the desk, her face peering intently into one of the monitors until you all get right up to the desk. She's a 50-something mix of Asian and African heritages. She greets you cordially, and takes you all over to the overstuffed chairs, and motions you to sit. The Secretary asks if you'd like anything to drink - coffee, tea, something stronger - and serves everyone.
"First off, I'd like to thank you all personally for your actions at Styx. We had no idea that Baron Silus was going to go rogue, and it was brave of you to take him on." She turns to Jean and says "I enjoyed your speech, except for the parts about rising up against tyranny - there are still some here on Earth that think *we* are tyrannical - which is completely unfounded, of course". Turning to Dr. Rix, she says "That was very clever, quoting an ancient Chinese sage in the heart of China".
She pauses to savor a sip of hot tea, and then says "Now, on to business. Earthgov has a project that it would like to pursue, but we need the backing of the people to do it. In light of your current popularity and backgrounds, we would like to ask you all to go on an exploratory space mission, to a region of space we have not yet investigated. Are you interested?"
Jean looks around the palace. He takes in the sights with almost child-like enthusiasm, as he looks left and right, making casual conversation as he goes. All this grandeur...
Once inside, he accepts a cup of coffee, and takes a long sniff at it. "Madame President, I have to say what an honour is for a kid from Olympus Mons' lowest reaches to be in this cabinet as an invited guest.", he sends a charming smile at one of the most powerful people in the system. He stops himself from raising an eyebrow at the offer. "Madame President, it honours us deeply to be considered competent enough for such a mission! If my comrades are willing, I certainly am interested enough!" And it would get me away from, you know. People after me. He takes a long sip, swallowing his political views alongside the aromatic coffee. "I do hope that the project might have the funding necessary. The Turing is a proud vessel, but her age is showing. We may also need additional personnel, no?", he looks around.
Trixy: Curiosity: 12 or less to maintain control
Trixy kept to Rix's side throughout the brief ceremony, sitting up tall and looking bored by the whole affair. When invited to the limo, Rix makes sure the cat heels and lets her bound in ahead of the doctor.
Throughout the trip, she hugs her companion and keeps her occupied with thought to thought conversation about what little could be seen in the area.
Once in the president's office, Rix is suitably staid and formal, accepting a cup of sweet chai when offered.
Rix: Curiosity: 12 or less to maintain control
Rix resists the temptation to closely examine a few of the rare ancient Chinese relics she notices on a display shelf nearby.
Turning to Dr. Rix, she says "That was very clever, quoting an ancient Chinese sage in the heart of China."
Rix smiled and did not tell the president she was so disoriented by the flight in, she was not even aware they were in China.
When Rix heard the offer, she could barely contain herself and forced herself to remain silent and hear what Jean said before composing a suitable response for herself. "It would be an honor."
She touches Trixy and communicates that they will have the chance to explore the universe.
Trixy: Curiosity: 12 or less to maintain control
Trixy purrs loudly at the prospect of exploring the universe, fixing her golden eyes on the president, hoping the woman would approach, pet her, and let her express her gratitude. Although of somewhat limited intellect, she has learned to appreciate just how much there is in the universe to explore and is quite pleased to get the chance to explore with her favorite human.
Aster shrugs, Let's hear her out.
He accepts a cup of tea, green if they have it.
Aye, we had put into Styx for long-needed maintenance. Unfortunately, we did need to make a hasty departure.
Trying to stay small and unobservable during the limo ride, Terra's eyes are wide thruout the walk thru the mansion, and once she's in the President's office, asks for a soft drink (everyone's request is filled, the President evidently keeps a well-stocked "bar").
Visibly shaken by the President's offer, she manages to stammer out "Yes, indeed, Madame President - I too would be greatly honored by the opportunity".
The President smiles, and says "Well, I don't know all the scientific details of the mission, that's Dr. Murgurty's department. I'll see you all at the launch ceremony, in a few weeks". She motions to the Secretary, who ushers you all out of the office, back to the limo, and accompanies you to the ESA, the Earthgov's Space Agency's, headquarters.
He walks you thru the large installation, located on the border of the spaceport, to an office with a plaque on the door that says "Dr. Murgurty". Motioning you in, you see a short, slender, balding man behind a desk that's very cluttered with books(!) and papers.
"Dr. Murgurty, these are the people who have volunteered for the Libra mission - I'll leave you to fill them in on the details", and says his goodbyes to all of you. As he leaves the room, you note that one of his guards stays with you.
Murgurty comes over to you, and shakes each one of your hands very enthusiastically, speaking kind of rapidly as he does so. "Oh, congratulations, congratulations - we were hoping that you would accept!
As I'm sure you all know, the wormhole gate was practically an accident, and it opens up to a fixed spot about 1000 light years away, in the direction of the constellation Aquila. While we've found many habitable planets in the region to colonize, we've never found any *intelligent* life nearby.
What you're probably not aware of (state secret, you know), is that for the last few years we've been receiving sub-space radio signals that are definitely intelligent, from the direction of Libra! And, we've been able to determine that they're coming from only about 60 light years away! Unfortunately, public sentiment has been against spending money on government-based explorations, preferring to spend money on improving living conditions here on Earth. So, while we've been ready to mount an expedition to Libra for some time, we've been looking for a way to sell it to the public. That's where you come in - with your current popularity, we're sure the public won't object too much, and may even praise you as heroes yet again!
So, we have a brand-new (well, ok, newly retrofitted), space-warp capable spaceship ready to launch! It's capable of one light-year per day , so the trip to Libra won't be too much of a burden. It was built for a crew of 6, so you all won't be too cramped.
If you would be so kind as to leave us your current ship (which doesn't have space-warp anyway), that would help offset the cost of the mission. Oh, I understand you have an ATV - you can keep that, it'll fit nicely in the new ship's hangar bay. The ship is 30 meters long, and V-shaped. It's fusion core powers everything, from the warp drive to the reactionless space drive to the atmospheric jet engines, and it will last for at least a couple hundred years, so no fuel worries!
Now, we need to get you all into training, so you know how to operate the ship! Who will be the pilot?"
Aster's eyes light up with the mention of aliens!
Prime directive? Aster asks, None of us are trained in first contact procedures. Have you deciphered the broadcasts? Any translations? Visual, audio? Can we see them?
His mood dampens as the thought really starts to sink in, are they hostile? Does this new ship have stealth capabilities? I'd hate to come out of warp just to get shot before we can say "we come in peace"!
Jean is hard pressed to hold his excitement, as he leaps in the air. "A-ha! I knew it!", he almost giggles, as he stands up and starts pacing in the office. "Have you any idea of what they are? I'll need books and reports on theoretical psychology! Ha! Aliens!", he practically giggles, as he sets down, sipping from his coffee. "And what about their technology! The opportunity to explore a possible differing path in its development! It's a scientist's dream come true, no, it's everyone's dream come true!"
He raises an eyebrow. "Are we to go there with no goverment supervision?", he crosses his arms.
Murgurty is clearly as excited as you all are about the prospect of meeting alien intelligences, and somewhat disappointed he can't go.
Turning to Aster, he says "We have enough of their audio messages to have fed them thru a pattern recognition algorithm and come up with a translator", motioning to a small badge-sized device nestled in the clutter on his desk. "Unfortunately, their video signals are more complicated, and we haven't been able to decode them yet. And no, the ship doesn't have any 'stealth' technology, because no such thing exists", frowning as if somewhat disappointed that you didn't already know that.
Turning to Jean, he says Unfortunately, in order to sell this to the public, it must not look like a government project, so I'm afraid you'll be on your own. Your group is so well known to the public that we can't add someone to your team without everyone noticing. You'll have to handle 'first contact' yourselves. I don't know if they're hostile, but any race capable of sub-space communication must be highly civilized, so I would imagine they've worked out how to get along with each other".
"Grand!", replies Jean. "I might require assistance... Hm. I'd need some light reading on the matter of diplomatie, I suppose!" He smiles. "I would need to re-position the AI core from our ship to the new one. Then we'd need to name it, of course." He sighs. "I'll miss the Turing...", he remarks.
You all spend a couple of weeks of intensive training, getting used to the new ship's systems, and the EarthGov technicians spend that time moving April and all her gear over to the new ship.
In the evenings, you're the toast of the town, as you're invited to nightclubs, private dinners with high-ranking people, etc. etc.
During training, Rix will explain her developing ESP abilities and perhaps practice using them in controlled situations. She will suggest we simulate attempting to communicate with people who don't share any common language with Rix (if such diversity of language is still present) to work on her ability to share with non-language concepts that would be part of first contact.
She has her concerns with why the government would entrust such an important mission to the Turing crew, but she doesn't voice these publicly for fear it might stimulate a movement to replace her (self-fulfilling prophecy).
Jean takes his time floating from one social circle to another, enjoying the night-clubs, and generally making himself known.
During the day, he oversees the re-fitting of the new ship, making small talk with the engineers and techinicians, and asking all sorts of questions.
The night before the faithful day, he appears, shirt unbuttoned, in the training chambers.
"My friends!", he says, tipsiness apparent in his voice. "It is time that we picked a name for our new... ship.", he stifles a hiccup, sitting down on a chair and grabbing himself a coffee. "Have you any suggestions?", he asks, reclining back. "I've been thinking... Maybe Apollo? We'll bring the light of humanity to the other civilisations? Or Orpheus, to the man that crossed the river of Styx and returned from it?", he proposes, clearly excited for being present for the christening of another ship.
After several weeks of intensive training, the crew is ready to leave! There's a big press conference, hailing the Heroes of Styx as adventurers into the unknown. The government doesn't mention the intelligent radio signals, as they feel that would possibly cause panic among the general populace - they're going to wait for confirmation from you that there's actually an intelligent species out there (and what it looks like, and what it's temperament is) before announcing it to the public.
The President poses with each of you, shaking your hand. Tens of thousands of people crowd around the spaceport to watch you take off in your new ship.
Liftoff happens without a hitch, and after you clear the moon's orbit, you engage the warpdrive engine, and you're off!
You have two months of travel time - what do you do?
Rix spends some quality time with her family before leaving. She is nervous during the final ceremony and somewhat relieved when we are underway and the whole world is not watching.
Once underway, she spends free time learning Navigation (Hyperspace).
She'll, of course, ask the crew to undergo periodic tests to see how they are doing with the rigors of space travel. But that probably won't take much time. She'll apply her mechanic (robotics) skill by running diagnostics with April, if she will cooperate, so Rix can get familiar with her systems and what is needed to keep them running tip-top. Even if April has self-diagnosing and repair programs, Rix should get familiar with them and how to apply them, in case April gets damaged.
There is FTL communication "sub-space radio", and even tho it travels fast (1 light-year per minute), it is very energy-intensive, and the ship's subspace radio can only broadcast about 60 light-years. So you can send global broadcasts home, and even exchange pre-recorded videos with loved ones, but with a two-hour turn-around time, EarthGov won't be available for advice/directions on a regular basis.
Rix will spend free time practicing Navigation (space) related tasks to improve her skill.
She will sit at the navigation console and pretend we need to plot a course to something in the region (based on data banks with locations of stars). She'll lay in the course she thinks is best and then run it through a simulation and also compares it to whatever automated navigation programs are available.
Rix will give Aster gentle teasing about his earlier expressed skepticism of ESP, wondering why he needs to shield himself against something that doesn't exist, Jedi mind tricks, and such like.
Who will you suspect of being the psi? The one professing to not believe in it? :)
Terra spends her time trying to learn the alien language by speaking into the translator, listening to what comes out, and trying to noodle out sentence structure, etc.
Would you like to play a game? Aster asks April and pulls up tic-tac-toe.
During the 3-week intensive training on board the new ship, Jean woke up one morning terribly ill. The doctors diagnosed him with "Martian Rheumatic Fever", a sickness which most people pick up as children growing up on Mars (it's a virus which evolved on Mars when it had lots of water, and its spores are in the ground dust), and which then has a chance of manifesting later in life.
Unfortunately, once you've got it, you're weak and feverish for a couple of months, so he had to be pulled from the mission.
He is replaced by Olivia Boardman, an engineer and scientist.
The powers-that-be have also decided to include a honest-to-god soldier, as they think that your combat potential as a whole is wanting. So they've added Sergent Derek "Boomer" Ratcher to the crew as well.
Y'all can introduce yourselves to each other, as you're constantly in close quarters with each other during the ship training.
=======================================================================
Aster, due to the intensive training, you get 2 points to put towards Piloting/Low-Performance Spacecraft. Everyone else gets 2 points to put towards any ship-based operational skill :
Just to fly the thing (note : the ship's "Handling" is at -1) :
Interstellar flight – Piloting(Warp Drive)
Interplanetary flight - Piloting(Low-Performance Spacecraft)
Atmospheric flight - Piloting(Aerospace)
And :
Navigation(Space)
Gunner(Beams)
Please post what skill(s) you're taking, and what their values are.
When Derek "Boomer" Ratcher walks into the (docking bay? where are we all right now?), there is no question that he's the military sergeant being assigned to the mission. First, there's the fact of his olive drab tank top and khaki pants with lots of pockets on it. Second, there's the buzz cut. Third, there's the chisled features, with a square clean-shaven jaw and piercing blue eyes. Fourth, there's the buzz cut.
Most importantly, however, is what he says when he finds somebody who looks like they might have some idea what's going on. "Sergeant Derek Ratcher reporting for duty. Who's in command here?"
At some point close to his arrival, his gear is delivered to be brought on board the ship. This primarily consists of a large heavy battlesuit.
The arrival of Olivia Boardman is quite different from the arrival of Boomer. She is small, too skinny woman with shoulder-length mousy brown hair, wearing overalls, with goggles pushed up to her head, and various tools sticking out in various places.
She comes in, wide eyed, drinking it all in. She looks at one thing, then, her curiosity pulled by something new, her attention darts to a new thing. Shy, she doesn't approach anybody right away, but tries to look inconspicuous until somebody ask her what she's doing here.
If somebody does, she'll say, "Hi, I'm Olivia Boardman. I was selected for the expedition to explore the FTL alien signal. Do you know anything about it? Publicly released details have been scant. Has anybody decoded it? Is there anywhere I can get a full record of the signal? What has been learned?"
Pausing. "Um, sorry. What do you need me to do to get going?"