|
Rukais is sitting in the end cubical on the bunk. He's been left naked.
Rynnkk Caerrikk shows up with, of all people, Tetran and Kallyn, too. It's a brig party. The jailhouse'll rock tonight. Or something. Let's rock, everybody, let's rock. There's a Pyracani guard outside Rukais's cell. He's holding a uniform. The uniform gets past to Rynnkk after some bracer clanking salutes are exchanged. The door opens. Rynnkk throws the uniform inside.
Kallyn follows along to the brig. She's not entirely sure why, but there she is. The silver-dyed redhead doctor-lady smirks a little as she notes the naked prisoner, but says nothing more than a return of earlier greetings for the moment.
Tetran glances about curiously, not quite sure about things, and stands behind the others.
Rukais leans out from the bed and catches the greater part of that uniform in one hand. He pulls himself forward and up, giving a sly little grin in response to Kallyn as he dresses himself quietly.
"Since you put the uniform on, I'm assuming you are not looking to be discharged," states Rynnkk as his weird red eyes remain locked onto Rukais.
"Or he's just... /cold/," Kallyn muses softly, pointedly eyeing the dressing man and then looking away innocently.
"I am capable of recognising this is neither the appropriate place or day for nakedness, sir." Rukais replies as he fills a trouser leg. "I've no objection with uniform when I am on-duty, really, I was just expressing a freedom given to others in their off-time."
Rynnkk Caerrikk is outside of Rukais's cell where there's also a Pyracani marine and the other people. "Who else was naked?"
Being a shy, somewhat nervous fellow, it's with marked reservation that Nicholas steps into the brig bearing a tray of food, "Er..." He offers, his voice quiet and soft, "It's uh... it's dinner time. ... If that's okay?"
Shok enters the room about this time and is mildly surprised to see so many there. To Rynnkk he gives a salute and turns to join the rest of the party. For now he's content to watch. Nicholas gets a glance but nothing more.
Tetran stretches a bit, listening with interest to the conversation, while fiddling with his PDA, before nodding at Ikin for a moment, showing that he's learned a bit more about how to operate it.
"We have an epidemic of nudity? Oh wonderful, nobody tell Eelim," Kallyn chuckles.
"Nobody present, sir." Rukais replies, buttoning up his shirt with all the prominence of someone dressing to an audience. "At the time, I was the only person in the smoking lounge. I have, however, seen other races freely allowed to wear limited or no clothing where it is considered inoffensive."
"Dinner can wait until the conversation is over," Rynnkk tells Nicholas before he salutes Shok in turn. Speaking to Rukais, he says, "Yes, we allow each race to uphold their own cultural and racial mores within reasonable limits. In both directions as long as it does not harm other beings. I assume the protest was not due to your being offended by the limited clothing being worn, or rather, not being worn by...who in particular?"
Shok chuckles a bit along with Kallyn as she makes her comment and replies with "I don't know. It would certainly confuse the enemy if we showed up the a battle naked." It's said in a quiet enough tone as to not interrupt the conversation between prisoner and officer,
"It was not a protest, sir." Rukais corrects, "Rather, I feel it is a cultural right of mine to be allowed to be naked and chose, arguably, the most appropriate public place to do so. Much as Tupai or B'hiri are physically burdened by them, I am, but psychologically. I did suggest a sciath, but our Laoch reacted somewhat violently to the concept of questioning her motivation."
"Oh, sure. Of course Laochaigh, er sir. Uhm." Nicholas shrinks back a bit, perhaps feeling out of place as he falls silent, watching and listening as the conversation between Rukais and Rynnkk progresses.
Kallyn giggles at Shok and replies at about the same conversational level, "Perhaps, but it wouldn't leave us very protected, now would it? Besides, they might not be the only distracted ones, though not for the same reasons."
"You are psychologically burdened by clothing, so it has nothing to do with other species wearing or not wearing attire deemed normal by your species," says Rynkk. "This burden did not come up during your evaluations. Is that because you were untruthful or some fault of our resident psychologist?" He pauses a second. Adds, "We will ignore the sciath reference for the time being."
Shok chuckles a bit more at Kallyn before saying "Perhaps we should have nudity desensitivity training before employing it as an actual policy." It's said on the same level as before.
"And what is normal for my species, Laochaigh, that you might apply it as an easy template? It isn't a mental illness, it's a lifestyle choice." Rukais asks in a tone that drives away from the calm responses he exhibited earlier.
Nicholas shuffles lightly from foot to foot, the tray kept balanced precisely so that nothing will get dropped again. It's not the most elaborate meal out there, soup, sandwhich, a square of brownie for dessert, but he's proud of his work dammit!
"I'll pass," Kallyn replies to Shok at nearly a whisper, shaking her head, "I rather like my boyfriend's sensitivity to nudity, thank you." She checks her PDA, then, "Aren't we supposed to set off on a flight soon?"
"A lifestyle choice that you say causes clothing to be a psychological burden," says Rynnkk. "If clothing is such a psychological burdening lifestyle choice, I hesitate to guess what else might become such. Perhaps training. Perhaps obeying orders. I know that psychological burdening lifestyle choices that disrupt the discipline of my ship, whether normal or not, cannot be tolerated when we are actually busy. Now, yes, entertainment is fine, but later your entertainment can get your fellow crew killed. So, are you going to remember to not act scentless when it matters, or am I going to pay out your salary and send you home?"
Shok chuckles a bit at Kallyn when she responds and asks "Have we met? If we have I don't recall getting your name. If you care to know mine's Shok." The Pyracani would offer a handshake butit's a bit crowded in here.
"I've met so many people lately that I can't remember," the Aukami woman replies to Shok, "Dr. Kallyn Lake, it's a pleasure. i don't know about you, but I've gained all the amusement I'm going to out of this - I'm going to go check out the bridge."
"Sir. Your second in command fired an energy pistol into the ceiling to win respect from a Reub who had had a couple of drinks in his off-time and was responding without disruption - and yet you are talking to me about my psychological burdens being a danger to the operation of this crew? I have served in two AirSpace Forces. I am veteran pilot who has proven himself against the very same enemy you face now. I know when it's time to refute policy and when it's time to follow orders. It is my opinion that discharging me would be a waste and a mistake." Rukais offers flatly.
Rynnkk Caerrikk offers up a very human shrug followed by what's either a snarl or a grin, "Good. You're flying." He turns, "Food later, come with us." This seems to be directed at anybody and everybody. Other than the Pyracani marine jailer dude. That guy goes back to wasting oxygen.
Shok nods to Kallyn and says "Sounds good." The Pyracani proceeds to follow her out before Rynnkk even gives the order.
Nicholas slumps his shoulders a bit at the 'food later', after all, he came here to deliver it personally instead of sending a kitchen mook. And it'll be cold later, too! Man. Does no one appreciate the chef? On shuffly footsteps, he makes way to follow Rynnkk out, only deviating along the way to drop the food tray and it's contents back into the mess.
Rukais lingers for a moment, sidling up to the jailer in question and whispering sidelong, "Sorry about the dance." He offers that before following along brusquely.
And, there is a conga line to the bridge.
Bridge <MCV Alopex>
Shaped like a broad wedge, the deep purple and black bridge looks as much like a backwards orchestra pit than a ships command center. Twenty-four positions are scattered across four arc-shaped terraces, consisting of twelve free-rotating gunnerspheres, missiles, pilot, copilot/turboweapon, communications, sensors, shields, a flight control console, a marine control console, an engineering console, and the large raised dais of the commanders console. A wrap-around viewscreen against the curved fore wall shows pertinent data from every console as well as a 270-degree view. On the ceiling is a circular fish-eye view of what lies above. A broad, textured black walkway connects the airlock-style aft door to the commanders console, where the walkway splits in two and angles out to split each arc in thirds.
So, Rynnkk goes over to the raised dais of the Pyracani in charge. Despite being relatively scrawning, he makes it almost look regal. The metal arm could do with some polish, though. There are a crapload of consoles that everyone else can be at. Nicholas can be serving drinks. Ikin and Ruin can figure out if they want to be here or in engineering. Tetran's with them. Shok can be at a gunnersphere. Kallyn on medical standby. Rukais in the pilot chair. Nicholas on food and drink standby. Or, you can be where ever else you want to be but because of my mortal limits, just pose from in here.
Ikin is standing in front of one of the computers in midship engineering, monitoring the ship's readouts. Not the most glorified job, but necessary nonetheless. He's got a commlink headband on, to help with communication.
Ruin is in engineering. Owing to the natural glow, apparently it was figured sticking him in the darkest sections would save on people carrying flashlights. About his waist is a standard toolkit, to enact any midflight tweaks or repairs.
Maybe this job isn't quite what Nicholas expected - he certainly hadn't expected to be sitting around on the bridge with wheeled tray, cooler on the bottom rack and big, admittedly prettily arranged, plate of finger-foods on top awaiting any of the bridge crew to demand food or drink. Slumped against the wall, near the door hatch, he somewhat bleakly watches everyone else go about their work. Alas, big Mama Demarian taught the poor clone to be a good worker and not to quit.
Shok sits in his gunnersphere awaiting takeoff. The Pyracani seems to be familiarizing himself with controls as he waits however.
Tetran stands beside Ikin in engineering, awaiting to be told anything else, while observing silently.
Rukais settled down into the slightly large piloting chair, craning over so he can adjust it for his smaller frame. It takes him a moment before he can move on to fiddling with the controls and double checking settings. Oh, and he spares a moment to bring up a holographic bobblehead of everyones favourite Lunite captain in the corner of his viewscreen.
Kallyn finds herself leaning against a wall in the bridge, medical satchel with her and her arms crossed. Just incase a console blows up in someone's face or something. She sticks around Nicholas, eyes glowing a mild yellow-orange hue. "You look miserable," she remarks to him softly, "Doing all right there?"
And, then, it got complicated. Rynnkk points at Nicholas, "You just got shot in the gut with a Nall's rail gun, food service tech." Giving Kallyn a 'you know what to do nod," he turns his attention to Ikin, "Falari, everything is off the charts. Call down your problems to engineering. Get Tetran to give you the numbers to make sure he understands what off the charts entails." He keeps looking, spotting Shok, "Look onto the asteroid at grid (blaah, blaah). Destroy it, gunner." He points at the pilot, "Reub Rukias, go to coordinates (blaah, blaah in the asteroid field somewhere)."
Shok nods when his orders are given and does as he's told. Or at least attempts it. Having never manned a turret before this could be interesting. The Pyracani aims and fires.
Before Nicholas can make much more than the murmurs of words beginning to form, Rynnkk tells him he's been shot but even worse calls him a /food service tech/. He's the /chef/ dammit! The mooks are supposed to be doing this serving crap. With a heavy sigh, emerald eyes look up to Kallyn and the clone dramatically slumps down to the ground - he's used to playing dead at least, babysitting so many kits for Mama Demmie, "Supposed to be the chef, not a waiter." Nicky murmurs softly to Kallyn, perhaps hoping ol' Rynnkk won't hear his pissing and moaning.
Rukais glances back as Nicholas plays dead before turning forward with a resolved frown, "For the baked goods." He affirms, bringing the ship to warp drive and wot.
Ruin seems to enjoy watching powered systems in use; he walks through Engineering, checking back with Ikin on readings. And now and then takes out a tool or three for fine tuning.
The Aukami's initial reaction is to laugh, but she stifles it quickly. "Yes, sir," she says lightly, crouching to pretend to work on Nicholas. "Sorry to hear that," Kallyn whispers to the man as she works her medical magic, "If it's any consolation, I rather love your food."
Ikin presses a button on his commlink. "Alright, Commander." he says before turning to the human "Alright, you stand here, feed me the numbers on the computer... Uh... Yeah..." The bird stammers a bit as he opens a line to engineering. "Alright... we've got problems... Just about everything is running high." Ikin proceeds to point out the charts to Tetran, turning off the headband as he explains them and proceeds to read off the engineering-drill numbers to the other Engineering sectors.
Tetran nods as he listens to Ikin, carefully examining each word told to him, before carefully reading the numbers off.
Rynnkk Caerrikk has some lackey route primary flight control up to his command chair. He surveys the chaos or lack there of. The asteroid definately went kablooey. He asks Kallyn, "What are the primary things that distinguish rail gun wounds from standard slug weapons?" Then, he looks around, clawed fingers steepled. "Engineers, how long would we have before we exploded if those readouts were true and not corrected?"
Ruin is the one to answer, the tone amused and calmly cheerful. "About four and a half minutes, assuming you had any of us left with eardrums."
"If we bypassed non-critical systems and used auxiliary resources, I'd say we could probably extend it out to a half hour, but we'd be a sitting duck in the meantime." Ikin says to the commlink, typing rapidly on one of the computers "Maybe enough time for some of us to escape."
Shok grins at the shot he makes to blow the asteriod up and awaits another order. Until then he merely watches the chunks fly.
"You do?" Nicky inquires, his expression brightening somewhat as he once more refocuses his gaze up at the Aukami doctor, "Thanks you, miss .. uh? Sorry, I haven't memorized your name yet."
"Well, higher velocity projectile means it's going to make a much larger exit wound," Kallyn starts mildly, continuing to list off the comparitive characteristics of railgun wounds vs slug wounds as she pretends to stabilize Nicholas. "And then you go on the pretend gurney off to sickbay," she tells the man at the end of her explanation, "Congratulations, you're going to live. Barely, but almost dying doesn't count as actually dying." She snags a snack off the tray, then. "Mm. Delightful." And goes for seconds. The preggo's hungry. "Lake, Dr. Kallyn Lake. Kal, if you like."
Ah, yes, that guy. Rynnkk locks his weird red gaze on Shok, "What sort of armor is most effective against Nall rail gun technology? Also, calculate the most effective firing solutions for targets A through C on your screen." A through C match up with some beacon style targets floating in space around the blaah, blaah grid coordinates that the boat flew to in the asteroid field. Rynnkk keeps on looking until he spots Kallyn and Nicky, "How do we shorten the extraction time of critically wounded planet side crwe members back to sickbay here on the ship? What's the soup of the day for next Thursday and the Falari menu special?" Those beedy eyes keep turning until he's locked onto the engineers, "Suitable. And how long does it take to eject the core with only three surviving engineers who are qualified in core ejection?"
Ruin seems to be enjoying the drill, but his attention's on the actual systems while the ship is in flight. No better time to see how they handle, after all. Now and again, he can be seen opening up sections of wiring for examination and tweakage. "Tetran, could you give me the I/O percentiles for the port thrusters please? Or let me know if the readout's wobbling?"
"Nicholas Amondella." Nicky murmurs back to Kallyn, his nerves flaring a bit as Rynnkk's question hits him, "The ... Er, the Falari menu special is lightly seared grup fish steak with a side of cold leesil grain salad. And uh, the soup of the day on Thursday is Spicy Rickirrupp egg drop soup." Pause, "Er, Laochaigh, sir."
Shok replies to Rynnkk loudly enough for him to here "Standard physical armor sir." The marine then goes about making the calculations he's requested to make in silence.
Tetran studies the readouts, speaking to Ruin without glancing from them, "The percentiles are at about 65 percent, and the readouts are uneven."
"Erm... I'd say about twenty minutes comm....ander... That's bad." The Falari says, turning to Ruin, he says, "We should probably get on that." before he activates his commlink, "Commander, we've got a real, non-drill problem here... We'll go handle that."
Ruin nods to Ikin and heads back into the less readout-available, more mechanical sections of the ship's heart. "Power conduits, fuel conversion, flaw in the wiring to give a false reading," he murmurs, apparently checking off lists of possible causes as he goes through to manually check on anything he can. "Which ones will you two be taking and I'll take the third."
"Erm... He's not an engineer. He's a freshly rifted computer programmer from pre-contact earth..." Ikin says to Ruin in regards to Tetran, "I can handle the conduits."
Rynnkk Caerrikk checks some stuff himself. Chats with some kind of engineering dude who isn't involved other than to be hit up when the commander is stumped. After that chat, Rynnkk gives the engineers the go ahead to do whatever is necessary to track down the system error. He gives Shok a nod about the armor, letting him figure out the firing solutions in his own time. Then, he asks the chef, "How much food per twenty four hour cycle is a net loss? How long will we be able to sustain independent operations?"
"We stay the fuck out of the way of the medical personnel, that's how," Kallyn replies to Rynnkk's earlier question flatly, before giving her serious answer, "Meatball surgery, make sure patients are properly secured, and make sure the conscious ones aren't going to squirm and cause a holdup - either by strapping them down, or sedating them in cases where that's safe." She leans over a bit then, "Nice to meet you, Nick." And claims more finger food.
"Here if your chance to design the perfect casualty extraction operation," Rynnkk tells Kallyn.
Ruin hrms. "Keep eyeing those readouts then and call back if anything changes dramatically. I'll start with the fuel conversion system." And word is deed; he sets out for the right part of the ship to get hands on with an inspection.
"Between 100 pounds or more of food per twenty four hour period, sir." Nicky replies after a moment's thought, the clone pushing against the wall to help leverage himself back up to a standing position, "We should be able to sustain independant operations for approximately four to five months." A small smile to Kallyn and he asides, "Nice to meet you too, Kal." Leaning over, he fetches himself a drink from the cooler - nothing special, just bottled water.
Ikin heads off towards the power conduits after Ruin heads off towardsthe fuel converter, though he does bash his wings on one doorway. Ouch. The electrical section of the ship has a station with rubber gloves, which the falari grabs and pulls onto his hands.
Tetran continues to scan over the readouts, before contacting Ruin and Ikin, "Sir, those percentages have gone down to 55, and the readouts are a bit more uneven now."
"I'm not in charge of the bloody logistics," Kallyn mutters under her breath, before clearing her throat and piping up, "Yes, sir." She pulls out her PDA, flips on the holodisplay, and starts working out a visual model of an extraction plan. It's very rudimentary, visually speaking - her computer skills are on par with a 20th-century granny. But it gets the point across.
Ruin for his part is nearer the reactor, and tugs on a protective suit as he proceeds, picking up a sensor unit along the way. "Some readings here are off," he reports, "But it shouldn't be causing the reported level of error. I'll trace back to source."
An asteroid field isn't exactly the best place for wonky thruster action, so Rynnkk decides to do a bit less jaw flapping and a bit more flying, getting the ship into a relatively uncluttered area before managing to come to some sort of equally relative stop. He asks Nicky, "What sort of snacks did you bring?"
"A couple of the conduits down here are giving me low readouts..." the Falari says, with a multimeter-esque device in his hand, "It could account for some of the problem, but probably not all of it..." the Falari's commlink is somewhat muffled by the electrical interference in the area. It's unknown how much everyone else heard.
In mid-sip, Nicky gulps down his mouthful of water as he pulls the bottle away from his lips, mild blink offered momentarily towards Rynnkk, "Oh. Er... Salanas pate, and a mild, soft cheese from Eiru mixed with bluenight berry jam, both on grainy crackers as well as snowpuff tartar on thin, toasted bread, sir."
Kallyn grabs another snack as she works on her little 3D display. "There," she offers to Rynnkk, sending the plan to him to view when he has the time, "Next challenge, sir?" For the record, no, the plan is not perfect. It's /theoretically/ on the efficient side, but it's kind of obvious that she's never been on an actual extraction team.
Shok finally answers the question given to him a while ago answering "Firing at a 45 degree angle at the first will minimize other potential targets to be in the way, A 65 degree angle of fire would have to be used on the second for a similar effect."
"What's that mean?" asks a baffled sounding Rynnkk of the food items. He changes his mind. "I'll take one. Just stack it all together for me, please." The canoid looks down at the various consoles and what not at his dias. Most are sealed. Probably for more extreme situations than crumbs, but they'll work. He calls over comms towarsd the engineers, "Status?" Getting off the comm channel, he scopes out the plan. He nods vaguely towards Kallyn, "You should coordinate your plan with Magaigh Sirias or some of the other marines who have been under fire and needed extraction." Then, the multitasker Rynnkk who judging by the mechanical arm has been under fire himself, is talking to Shok, "Execute."
There's a slightly disparaging look at the request, but Nicky follows suit anyway. A little sammich of sorts is made, crackers with pate stuck to the tartar and bread to secure the loosely cubed meat, while the cheese and bluenight berry jam crackers get stuck in the middle, having a little less tenacity than the paste and less suited to securing other foods. He makes two stacks, bringing them over to Rynnkk and offering them over with only a murmured, "Drink, too?" Offered.
Ikin uses an electricians kit and begins attempting to normalize the conduits while he taps on the headband "Found part of the problem, commander. Ruin is off looking for the rest. Attempting to fix." the Falari is careful not to electrocute HIMSELF in the process.
"Technically not my job, but I'll do it anyway, sir," Kallyn replies mildly, saving the plan on her PDA to be reviewed later. She claims another bit of toast and nibbles at it. Mmm, snowpuff tartar.
Shok nods to Rynnkk and does as he's told firing first at the 45 degree angle and next at the 65 degree angle hitting both marks easily and reasonably close to the center both asteriods blow up sending rocks in several directions.
"No thank you, sir," says Rynnkk as he politely declines the drink and less politely scarfs (wolfs if you would) down the food. He flicks some crumbs off his snout. They may or may not hit Nicholas. He tells Kallyn, "Thank you, ma'am." Ikin, Tetran, and Ruin are all doing engineer stuff. They may or may not be on the bridge. They're busy, though. Very, very busy. Meanwhile, the ship is idling in space as the captain snacks. He asks Shok, "Which is your best marine and why?"
Tetran presses his finger to his commlink, before asking over it, "Excuse me, but may I have permission to run diagnostics on the ship's computer systems?"
Wendari either has terrible timing or pays no heed to any sort of schedule as she wheels her way in with a rolling bucket and mop. A pair of headphones sit atop her frilly head, and she clicks her beak to the blaring tune of what sounds like a Falari mariachi band.
"Uh... Sure..." Ikin says to his commlink. "Just be careful." the non-janitorial Falari is elbow deep in the ship's electrical systems at the moment, checking wires and the occasional mechanical bit.
Crumb attack! Ack. Still, Nicholas takes it without a word, silently wandering back towards his rolly cart of food and drink. Taking a pate cracker and a cheese cracker, he smushes them together curiously to see what they taste like together. His expression makes clear he thinks it's not a good combo. Wash it away with water!
Shok looks to Rynnkk quite seriously and replies "Define best sir. Each of my men has a specific skillset. Kohk for example knows his explosives better than I myself do. Gowk is quite the sniper. Soht is a jack-of-all trades but never hesitates a second when given an order. Lokk is rather gifted with hand to hand. And Rohk is an excellent swordsman."
Tetran begins to enter some things, and runs a diagnostics check through the systems, keeping track of the readout as he does, careful not to mess up being less-informed on these systems, and managing to run a successful check, before speaking into the commlink "It seems some of the uneven readouts are from slight faults in the code,
Ruin in his protective gear is working on the fuel conversion systems, calling back his findings. "Flawed piping. Looks like some badly scanned salvage parts here. Nothing to cripple us but probably contributing - give me ten minutes." He fishes out a welder and some mend-plates from his kit, setting to work.
"Best," answers a stone snouted Rynnkk. No help there from his lack of expression and tone. He does tack on, "Remember the why." Maybe that's a hint. Meanwhile, he's got an ear tuned to whatever commlink chatter is coming from the engineers, but he doesn't try to micromanage their repairs. Instead, he yells at Wendari, "Ma'am!" Assuming that gets her attention, he asks, "What is the best cleaner to remove set in Nall blood from interior corridor traction decking?"
"We have spare fuel lines in the workshop, I think..." Ikin says over the commlink. "in case something needs replacing... Not to say you're going to screw up or anything..." the bird stands back from the newly repaired conduits and says, "I think I got the conduits. Er... Everyone else doing alright? No problems...?"
"Mmmm-hmmm hmmm hmmm," Wendari hums pretty well without lips, mopping her way over to Nicholas and his cart. She proceeds to mop over his feet, and dares to steal a few hors d'aeuvres. "Eh!" Rynnkk catches her attention. "Well sir, ya' don't wanna' go for the store-bought cleaners. I'd use my own mixture of billiweed, vugnid, stripe cap and gem tum. Then ya' boil a matchbeetle carapace and let it sit for three days. More than Nall blood'll come up."
Tetran adjusts the commlink a bit and asks of Ikin over the line, "There are some problems with the code on some of the systems, and controls, would you like me to try and correct them sir?"
"I'll bear that in mind when we're in dock," says Ruin. "Not going to try a replacement when these thrusters may need to fire."
"Erm... That's alright... You give it a shot while I work my way back." Ikin says to the commlink. "I'll head back there and check your work when I get there..." he starts back towards Engineering at a not-so-leisurely pace. Not that he doesn't trust Tetran, he's just kinda... New.
Tetran adjusts the commlink a bit and asks of Ikin over the line, "There are some problems with the code on some of the systems, and controls, would you like me to try and correct them sir?"
"I'll bear that in mind when we're in dock," says Ruin. "Not going to try a replacement when these thrusters may need to fire."
"Erm... That's alright... You give it a shot while I work my way back." Ikin says to the commlink. "I'll head back there and check your work when I get there..." he starts back towards Engineering at a not-so-leisurely pace. Not that he doesn't trust Tetran, he's just kinda... New.'
"You're... seriouslly drilling the cleaning staff, too?" Kallyn asks of Rynnkk, "Wow, talk about thorough..." The doctor chuckles, and continues in her slow munching from the food cart. And then suddenly she pipes up, "Sir! What is the ideal battle strategy for a ship-to-ship invasion when you're facing a <blahblah> class cruiser?" That's right, she just tried to grill the boss.
Well, Nicky's shoes are clean now, at least, though his ankles are a bit wet... and stingy. Damn that detergent is strong! Ow ow ow... With a quietly fretful noise, he looks to Kallyn, "Er... Kal?"
Tetran starts entering a few command lines and streaming the data, while skillfully placing the code together so that the readouts between different parts of the ship are in synch and more accurate, and then uses the commlink, still thinking Ikin is slowly working his way back, "I think I might have fixed the problem."
Wendari warbles in amusement. "Sorry 'bout that, they's clean enough to eat off of, at least! Wouldn't try it though, this stuff's illegal on three planets," she asides in a low tone, dangling her mop.
A quiet clinking of talons on traction plating informs of Ikin's arrival back in Midship Engineering. Scrawny nerdbird moves quick when he's afraid the rifter will blow up half the ship. "Hrm? You did? Let me see?" Ikin says without using the Commlink as he walks up behind Tetran.
"Hm?" the doctor looks to Nicholas, and notes his squirming before cringing, "Ooh, chemical burns?" Kallyn pops the rest of her toast in her mouth and scoots Nicholas over to take a seat and get his shoes off so she can analyze and neutralize the detergent. "I see why," she asides to Wendari, "This stuff could very well be a health hazard honey, maybe you should try something a little weaker."
"Three days. I hope you have some stockpiled," Rynnkk tells Wendari. He turns to answer Kallyn next, "Ideally, the battle would not have to happen because the war would not have started. However, depending on the situation, we would want to cripple the ship and then lie in ambush out of their sensor range and then destroy whoever came to rescue them with overwhelming force, making a large victory out of a small one. If however, mutual boarding has already taken place the ideal is well out the window, and we would want to recall our own troops, disengage, and destroy the enemy. Failing that, we would have to secure both ships which with a crew of ninety and such a large space and relatively small marine group would be impossible against our current foes."
Tetran nods softly, still monitoring the systems carefully, before motioning Ikin over to his modifications in the line of code, and how they synch the ships system to keep readings more accurate.
Ruin sends over the commlink, "That's it. Repairs in, and I'm not reading any other flaws in this section. Ready to give the thrusters another go if the rest of the issues are cleared."
"Sat down and being attended to, Nicky nods in agreement with Kallyn, quietly adding, "/Very/ strong." His voice tinged with a bit of pain. Chemical burns are never a fun time and while his previous self might have been an absolute badass, well, this clone is a bit of a nervous wuss from the looks of things.
Wendari lifts her shoulders in an exaggerated, shrug, palms out, when Kallyn suggests something /weaker/. "Shucks doc, kills every known germ what ever existed! I can get somethin' weaker, sure! If ya' want. If that's what ya' /really/ want. You're the doc, yep," she replies with forced indifference, and continues cleaning.
Shok assumes Rynnkk is satisfied by his answer considering he didn't address him and merely goes back to toying with the controls making certain not to fire any rounds off.
Ikin looks over the code with the practiced eye of somebody who spent most of their college career inside at a computer with the lights off. "Hrm... Looks good.." he says before activating the commlink; "I think we're good here... Feel free to get back to it Commander... if you want to, I suppose... Sir." he says to the device.
"Nobody can say you're not realistic, sir," Kallyn nods approval to Rynnkk as she works on Nicholas. She stops the chemicals from eating any more of Nick's feet before setting about applying medicated bandaging to soothe the pain and stave off infection. "Yyyeah, stop using this stuff," she tells Wendari, "I don't want to have to add dissolving skin to the list of common health concerns around here. And that's ignoring that anything that strong is probably putting off fumes, too." As an afterthought, the woman pulls the collar of her shirt up over her nose.
Up until the moment soothing, medicated bandages are applied, Nicky is hissing with each touch necessary though it might be. The sting lingers on for a short while, gradually lessening until he finally doesn't notice it at all. One hand raising to scratch shyly at the back of his neck, Nicholas offers quietly, "Thanks, Kal."
"It's perfectly safe!" Wendari insists, whipping out the bottle. It has some /serious/ warning labels on it, and at least 3 skull-and-crossbones. "Hrnnn, s'wrong bottle or sommat. Bahhh fine, I'll get some sissy cleaner." To Nicholas, she waves her hand. "Ya' big baby." With this, she turns up her music and wheels on by.
Rynnkk Caerrikk starts up the thrusters yet again, flying the party bus back towards its earlier orbit above Pyracan. He gives Kallyn a bit of a nod but is, apparently, too busy flying to muster up more of a response.
Shok decides to ask Rynnkk while all this cleaning business is going on "Permission to take a few practice shots on those asteriods in the distance sir? It's a rare occasion I get practice with the turrets."
Tetran studies the readouts carefully, and nods thoughtfully, before turning to Ikin, "It seems it's up to 70% now, and the readings are fairly even."
"Yeah, I'd say we're good to go...." Ikin rubs his eyes with one hand and adds, "Not the most efficient, but we'll deal with that later. Preferably when the ship ISN'T in flight." Apparently he doesn't feel like catching on fire today. But hey, if he does, what's the bet he'd taste like chicken?
Ruin puts away the scanner and protective gear as he returns to the safer parts of the ship, the beads in his hair click-clicking gently as he moves. "It's what shakedowns are for," he says. "If people really expected a test flight to have no problems, there wouldn't be test flights." He nods approvingly. "No *major* flaws at least. That's good."
Some asteroids appear to be marked as targets on Shok's console about the time that Rynnkk tells the other canoid, "Granted." Meanwhile, the party bus is still returning to its orbit around Pyracan with various department background types filling Rynnkk in over the command line as to what all needs to be done and such.
"No problem, Nick," Kallyn replies lightly, "Come down to sickbay if they start bothering out again, all right?" She eyes Wendari and then taps her lightly, "'Ey, wait a sec. Lemme read that bottle." She snaps on a pair of gloves and waves a little 'gimme' gesture.
Shok takes the shots with glee and hits his marks for the most prt occasionally being off by a bit and hitting a different asteroid. After all they are a ways away and he's out of practice.
Wendari kinda' sorta' dances away from Kallyn, balancing on one talon, "Naw doc, it's fine! Mom-and-Pop-made! It's almost out anyway... I ain't gonna' use it!" She chirps in laughter, nervously. "Oh look, a smudge." Said smudge is apparently on Shok's nose, and she drags her bucket in his direction, away from Kallyn.
Tetran hums a gentle melody while monitoring the readouts, and asks to Ikin, "Is there anything else you need me to do while I monitor this?"
Back in orbit, the duty officer takes over for ol' metal arm Rynnkk. He announces to all those that were part of the drill, "Dismissed to your regular duties. Send me a follow report on the engineering glitch."
"Okay, Kal." Nicky offers quietly once more, Rynnkk's announcement filling him with a bit of relief and Wendari's disparaging label ignored for now. Getting up slowly, Nicky moves back over to his cart, settling the saran wrap back over the food and shutting the cooler before he turns to wheel the cart out, murmuring to himself, "I guess i'll put this in the lounge fridge."
"No... I got the rest of this." Ikin says, tapping out something on his PDA. A file is sent off to Rynnkk's computer as he walks out towards the bridge. The commlink goes back into his vest.
Shok nods at the order given and gets out of the sphere stretching a bit before moving off the bridge to prepar his report.
Ruin nods to Ikin. "Not a bad ship," he says. "And no panic. That's always good."
Tetran sends in his own report, and walks back to the bridge, before stretching a bit, before turning to Rynnkk "May I speak with you when you're not busy sir?"
Kallyn actually growls at Wendari, but forces herself to take a breath and let it go. She turns away to head back to sick bay, pulling out her scanner and sweeping it over her belly in an overprotective check of her little growing embryo.
Wendari murmurs something about hippies and mops her way on out of the bridge.
Ikin shrugs towards Ruin and says, "Yeah, it's a good ship... Not sure whether or not the lack of panic is indicative, given that it wasn't that serious of a problem." the bird appears to be relatively out of things to do for the moment, but knowing this ship more shall appear.
Ruin smiles a bit. "Of course. Still. Any paperwork required? I think the fuel conversion system needs a few sections of pipe replaced if budget allows, next time it's in dock. But she'll fly for a while regardless."
"Talk," Rynnkk tells Tetran.
Tetran nods in acknowledgement, "I was curious about learning more of the Pyracani Military sir."
"I took care of most of the paperwork, I think... You'd just have to fill out a requisition order for the bit of pipe you need." Ikin says, scratching the back of his head. "And then a report when you actually replace the pipe, of course..."
Ruin nods. "I'll take care of that, then. It's been an interesting trip."
"Which part?" asks Rynnkk at long length.
Tetran rubs his head a bit, "I apologize, but I am going to need to rest after today. Perhaps we can speak tomorrow sir?"
"Yes," says Rynnkk. "Find me with a more specific question."
"Erm... I'm gonna find something to do... Yeah..." Ikin says, rubbing the wing he bashed on the door in the process. "If you don't have anything else for me to do..." The Falari glances over at Rynnkk.
"Dismissed," Rynnkk tells the Falari in question.
Ruin just follows after Ikin, taking it as read that if the boss is cleared, there's likely nothing he needs to be doing either.
And thus ended the Alopex's shake down cruise.