M shrugs. "Oh. Well, we can fab the tools and fabric then. Ooh- I wonder how fast I can code up specs for supplies that simple."
M leads the way to the other room and starts tapping away at the controls furiously.
Soon, the machine spits out small sewing tools into the output bin. They land with a small tinkle sound. She then raises a finger, about to ask a question, when she remembers the answer. After glancing at her own armband, she punches in some more commands and a few bits of cloth come out.
With a smile and a gesture, she presents the material to AX.
Her smile half fades as she says at last "Uh- you or Betty know how to sew, right?"
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This is a DM's call. It doesn't say so in the rules, but sewing fits under "Live off the land."
"I believe so. I have performed similar rudimentary tasks before. Thank you for your assistance." AX picks up the materials in his hands as gently as he can, and turns to leave. Before he gets all the way to the door, he turns back and states, "I find it difficult at times to address deficiencies in my knowledge banks. Betty however often tells me what to do, and to ask an expert when I require aid. If you require aid that I can provide, please inform me and it would be my pleasure to return this favor."
AX waits a second for a reply, and if none is given, he returns to his post and begins work, taking as much time as he needs to make sure that the item comes out to the best of his abilities.
M smiles and waves goodbye before returning to her own station.
Oh, I can keep going if the first was only takeoff.
The controls were responsive, and Alyson was pumped up on Adrenaline. This was the BEST day ever.
For a ship this size, it was incredibly agile, and the engines, as well as the reactor, were state-of-the-art. She had never moved that fast in her life.
A kind of intellectual stimulation and arousal - far beyond sexuality - gripped her as controlling the Niven became a sensual experience in its own right.
This....this was better than any drugs she ever tried.
Retri, meanwhile, after a few moments' hesitation, had settled himself into the captain's chair. He was inwardly determined to make sure he proved worthy of that degree of trust.
One thing was for sure, Alyson was definitely enthusiastic about her own role, and seemed to have the skills to back that enthusiasm up. He certainly wasn't going to ask her to dial it back - not without cause - but he did bring up his navigation display, ready to highlight any nearby ships for her attention if need be.
When Raloveg hears M's announcement over the intercom, he contently nods and heads toward the helm, where he was used to assist the pilots of the Asimov in navigating the uncharted expanse of space.
The Vesk takes place in a seat near the window and begins uncertainly tapping on the display, trying to make something appear on the screen. As soon as takeoff begins, Raloveg clutches his seat.
"Oh dear... Light be with us!" he mutters as Alyson pushes the shuttle to its limit. But after an instant, the fear on his face dissipates as he looks out of a porthole, replaced by a look of sheer amazement.
After a few minutes of silently gazing at the window, he brings his attention back to the flight, trying to guide Alyson.
"Let the Light guide you, child!" He closes his eyes and tries to reach out into the nothingness, tries to feel the divine energy seeping from the cosmos. Sensing a disturbance ahead of the shuttles path, he cries out:
"Careful! Steer left just a bit!"
The ship launches from it's bay and the wild maneuvers that Alyson did made a few people nervous. At least, it was a good shakedown of the Niven and you find yourselves out in the stars.
Ahead of you is the fold gate, and your first destination. It's simple enough, to fly through the fold gate and find yourselves on the other side.
M gets excited by Alyson's maneuvers, and decides to try and help out by .
Just after Raloveg warns the pilot, M's adjustments kick in and the Niven experiences an extra kick just in time to speed through the fold gate's entrance.
As the ships systems switch to low power mode to support the ship's transit through folded space-time, M emerges from engineering and looks around 6's elbow, too short to look over his shoulder.
Noticing how the engines interact with the power draw of the generator. 6's circuit lines light up and pulse along with the ship.
Getting ready for the jump they watch the folding energies transition us through to a new place.
Noticing M "Hello M. Did you want to take a look at the systems? Facinating what we see out there. You can watch while I do a scan"
Looking through the ship's scanning equipment at what is in front of us. Basic information about the planet, plus any dangerous activity that might be flying around the space. Other ships, etc.
You gather information from the planet, places where there is radiation, and abandoned cities. You notice site B hasn't been explored yet, but site A has been. This was done by Team A, who have been doing the same scans.
Without looking up from the screen "Looks like our information was correct. We should approach Site B. Unless you wish to try to communicate with Team A."
Raloveg, joining the others in engineering, listens to the conversation, hands behind his back, before adding: "I think we should contact Team A. Maybe they have made important discoveries that we ought to be aware of."
"Maybe we should ask Retri. He can see the future, right? Or something like that." M says, turning to their captain.
Retri pulled himself away from contemplating the sight of a whole world spread out in front of them. "More like alternate realities. Useful to get a sense of very short term probabilities, not so much over the longer term. I won't have all the answers."
"It's early days yet, and I doubt Team A have much to add to our own briefing. I think a courtesy mail to let them know we've arrived is in order. If they have anything important to relay, I'm sure they will. Otherwise we can catch up and compare notes once we both know more."
So saying, Retri tapped out a brief message to send to Team A's ship, glancing about to see if anyone had any objections before he hit send.
Hello there,
Team B checking in. We have arrived in orbit and are proceeding to investigate site B. Will stay in touch.
Regards,
Retri Valnik,
Captain
M nods in agreement, then moves back to engineering in case the landing isn't quite as easy as it should be.
As the ship descends into the planet's atmosphere, the ship begins to rock. This is the first time it has visited a planet, and so the forces of re-entry tests the ship's structure.
Feeling secure in the ship, 6 still watches the sensors briefly dip into the yellow zone. Watching for anything out of the ordinary.
With a mellow tone in everyone's head "This is exciting". It almost comes off as sarcastic.
Flames hit the heat shields, as the ship entered the atmosphere. Soon, the rocking stopped, as the ship falls into the upper atmosphere, and then into the lower atmosphere.
The ship was on a trajectory to land at site B. And there were ruins of cities nearby.
Alyson still enjoyed her task, but she was not stupid.
It was her first time landing on a celestial object, reentering an athmosphere, compensating for the sudden force trying to alter the ships course.
Almost all of the tasks were computer-assisted, requiring minimal input from her, but she felt the power from the feedback loop of the controls.
This was no time to take risks or be overconfident - she needed to be calm and get this right. How embarassing would it be if she crashed the landing and they'd need extraction from Team A - they'd probably leave her behind on the planet...
The ship responds like a dream to Alyson's piloting. The ship passes over site B, flies a wide half circle to get a better look, and then find a landing area. The ship's contra gravity controls are working at optimum levels. Not really designed to fly in an atmosphere, the Niven performs better than expected.
M smiles at her console as the ship touches down.
Wow, they didn't spare any expense on these engines...
M grabs her things and waits for the others before disembarking.
"By the way, I don't think we've all exchanged comm-link addresses, perhaps now is a good time?" she suggests.
AX puts down his work on the armband. It's pretty rough, the giant android's hands are not really designed for such precision work. They take the work they have finished so far, and put it in a small pouch, in case they had some free time while on the mission. They trundle their way to the exit, and wait next to M.
6 pulls out their comm unit and with a swift click of a few keys everyone's comm units ding. "There, everyone should have my address. That was a great idea, M."
Grabbing their supplies, checking their gun once again. Checking levels of batteries "While I am processing it, I can transfer charges between batteries. If any of you start to run low, I can consolidate power between them."
Nodding over to Alyson "That was great flying. It was great to see what a human and a ship can do together. I feel safe while you fly."
6 walks to the air lock, but does not go through first. Waiting for others to collect themselves.
"Sounds like a plan," Retri said, sharing his own details. With that done, he made his way to the airlock, pausing along the way to organise his gear. A bit of extra protection from a new and potentially hostile environment certainly wouldn't go amiss.
As she receives each number, M silently sends a message without touching any comm unit that anyone can see.
Raloveg acquiesces and pulls out his own comm unit, frowning as he tries to navigate the device to his messaging software.
"There, that should do it!"
Raloveg soon feels his comm unit buzz and a "hi -M" appears in his inbox.
You get a communique on your comm units:
Hello, Team B.
We will be arriving soon and will proceed to Site A ASAP. Please keep us informed, and we shall do likewise. Best of luck.
Maximinus Aelius,
Diplomatic Outreach Specialist
"Sounds like we should just get this done."
6 does a quick diagnostic on himself, and his strange techno magical subsystem. All good to go.
Alyson blushes slightly when 6 compliments her - she was aware she did well, but all the same, not used to being told that she did well on something.
As the Comm Units buzz, she quickly presses a few buttons on the one attached to her hand:"I set mine to public visibility for now so you can add me. Not like there should be many options out here-", she smiles as she gets out of the pilot seat.
Heading to her bunk, she retrieves two items from the bag. Taking a moment, she slips into a form-fitting stocking matching her skin tone exactly, fiddling with some tactical holes for her piercings. When she is done, she looks almost exactly as before, until she attaches a small metallic disk on her left wrist before heading to the ramp.
Her issued Leather Coat is left behind on the bunk - something she does not comment on, but looks at Retri defiantly if he looks likely to bring it up: "Ready to go."
The look Retri gave Alyson was envious, rather than judgemental. Having been appointed captain, he felt obliged to stick with the uniform. At least while on duty - there were limits.
Retri made sure everyone was gathered before cycling the airlock. "Let's take a few moments to acclimate and drink it all in," he suggested, "There'll be plenty of time to get stuck into the mission." That first experience of a new world, he felt, was something to be shared and savoured.
He's a politician, not well known, but a politician anyhow. And he has been known to be gay.
M runs one last diagnostic on her weapon while the air-lock adjusts to the the atmospheric pressure on the planet.
Yes, you saw ten overgrown structures. There is a residual radiation, but it radiates 1 rad. There are no unusual barren areas you see on your scope, but there are some hollow areas beneath the surface. There are some predatory animals, but they're the size of lions.
Raloveg heads over to the airlock, obediently wearing his leather coat, although he looks quite uncomfortable.
"Ahh! Great flying, Alyson! Where should we begin our exploration? Did anybody download satellite images of the planet on their datapads?"
With a nod "Yes I have a basic layout of the area recorded. I say we approach and see what comes up. Baring anything interesting cropping up, we should just head for the closest building. Making sure to keep an eye out for the Native Elves or other Native species. We should try to avoid disturbing this place till it is necessary"
6 opens the ship door and heads out.
Standing out in the grass, which is green, you find that the sky is a beautiful red and blue. As the sun creeps down below the Horizon. Out on the grass, there are two elves staring at you. One a male, and the other a female. They seem to be about childhood age: one seems eight, the other five.
They are looking at your ship, which has touched down where they are playing. They got out of the way of course, but the elves have blonde hair, blue eyes, and hardly any clothes on except for a loincloth. They stare at you, as if you are a new thing to them.
AX follows 6 off the ship, carefully checking the ground for traps or other such dangerous things.
AX follows 6 off the ship, carefully checking the ground for traps or other such dangerous things.
AX-498 Perception:
AX's notices the children looking at them. Other elves come to join in, coming out of the forest on to the meadow that you landed on. The elves are in loincloths, except for the adult females, which are wearing a shift. They all look at you as if you are some new thing to them.
Sending out a quick telepathic message to the group "Alyson and Retri, we could use your skills out here. Looks like we might have landed right in the native's land. Could use your communication skills"
6 raises their hands in a non threatening gesture as possible. Knowing they look very odd compared to these Elves. Hopefully the humans of the group could connect with them better.
The children retreat a little a ways from C'tikt-6. There is nothing else between you and the children except the wind. One of the adults retrieves one of the children and looks at you pensively.
Noticing no weapons, M tries the impossible task of keeping her gun concealed behind her torso. "Um, perhaps I should try?"
Ceasing to adjust the gun strapped to her back, M proceeds to say "Hello, we come in peace." followed by trying the equivalent phrase in Akitonian, Aklo, Brethedan, Castrovelian, Kasatha, Loglan, Shirren, Triaxian, Vercite, Vesk, and Ysoki.
One of them understands Aklo. Perhaps a little. He says in broken Aklo, "Why have come?"
All of team B's commlinks suddenly recieve a message:
"I think one of them understands Aklo.
Think we should contact the Diplomatic Outreach Specialist?
-M"
Ignoring the buzz of commlinks as messages transmit, she continues speaking in Aklo. "We came exploring. I'm M. Is there room for a village near here?"
Raloveg, not knowing Aklo, stands by with a wide smile on his face. Slowly, he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He admires the beauty of this new land that, who knows, other Asimovians may someday call home.
Listening to M without understanding a word, he turns around and examines the scenery.
Looking at the other members of the crew, Alyson decides to take point as she steps down the ramp. She approaches the Elf children until they seem to grow uncomfortable with the distance, then kneels down and waves at them, hoping that waving with an appendage is as universal a gesture as she believes it is.
When the adult comes to retrieve one of the kids, she offers a sincere smile, then points at herself: "Alyson", repeating it twice, then adding:"I am afraid I don't speak your language, but it seems one of my friends does." - she was well aware they wouldn't understand her explanation, but all the same, communication did not depend on understanding words alone.
Body language, the tone of voice, whether the speaker seemed relaxed or agitated, it all carried information. As this was likely a rather significant event not only for herself but especially also for the elves assembled here, her intent was to show that they were not a threat, and their looks were no cause for concern.
AX endeavors to clank quietly and non-threateningly.