Ohh a nice treasure at the end of the rainbow

Posted on Sat Jan 16th, 2021 @ 12:32pm by Captain Bethsabée Leroux

Mission: Mission 4 - Eden
Location: Bridge
Timeline: Day 162 Time 04:00
1028 words - 2.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Beth yawned as she wandered onto the bridge. It was too early, to be honest, but she needed to do something other than lying in bed trying to sleep and going over and over things that were bothering her. She wanted to know the fuel situation this morning with barely 17 days supply and wanted to know how close they were to reach the signal. “Good Morning Ensign.” She greeted the helm officer noticing that she was the only one who looked anywhere near alert.

Elspeth glanced over her shoulder. "Good Morning Captain." She kept her tone level hiding the surprise at seeing the captain so early. "We are holding our course. No sign of any other vessels as yet."

Beth frowned as she finally sat down and tied her hair back into a ponytail. It was getting longer than she liked at all but she was not sure anyone onboard could be trusted enough but someone would have to if they were going to be out here. Maybe there was a how to guide somewhere on the computer. “That is not good,” Beth murmured barely audible but still allowed. “Apart from that sounds like a smooth night?” She mused bringing up the night's alerts.

“Smooth as if we were in the Sol sector.” The Ensign replied as she calmly checked their heading again. Which it was blatantly clear they were not, but Elspeth was going to put a positive face on it.

“I think the view here is a little prettier and more unusual. Any different flying?” Beth appreciated the positivity that the woman was giving off. It was needed around the ship at the moment after new year celebration and the come down from that. The holiday high might have lasted longer if they had been in the Sol Sector but here the stark reality set in quicker.

“No different yet Captain.” Elspeth didn’t want to rock the boat so to speak. She knew if they dropped their speed they could conserve more but also knew that that would hinder any chance of finding more fuel. “I am keeping any changes required to an absolute minimum to conserve fuel.”

Beth watched the woman and frowned. She was still trying to work out how to approach that situation on a crew wide level but it seemed that the crew knew enough to try and stop the consumption where and if they could. “You sure you are not an engineer at heart Ensign?” She wondered bring up the hourly tracker of fuel. 17 days was nothing in the grand scheme.

“Positive Captain. I am a pilot and Pilots always want to keep their ships flying.” The Ensign replied as she monitored the scopes.

Beth smiled and nodded. That would make sense as to her approach. She had never thought on things that way at all, it was like her fears over never being able to find another new language or talk to someone who knew the same unique dialects as her. “I...I…” Beth stopped as the viewscreen changed in front of them. “What the hell…” she whispered. The interstellar vessel in front of them scrapped the aerodynamics and all of the design principles that Beth had ever known let alone appearing out of nowhere.

“That is nothing like I have ever seen before.” The starship was long and huge, dwarfing the Atlantis even at the distance they still were. It was obviously designed to keep its occupants alive for years, decades, or even centuries, it had systems unheard of in anything Beth had ever seen in a spacecraft.

Elspeth’s lips curved. She studied it as carefully as the captain. “Wow... I bet she would be great to fly.” Elf breathed as she pulled the Atlantis into a gentle slow down so that it would come to a halt several kilometres off the other vessel’s bow.

Beth nodded as she stood and slowly approached the view screen to look better at the ship. She just wanted to admire the ship without a scientist in her ear giving her facts, and admire whatever the ship's potential was before they got closer. “Any changes in the communication they are sending out?” She wondered looking at the communication officer sat gaping at the screen.

“It is just like something out of a film Sir.” The young man said, thinking about all the old films that he had seen as a child. “It is just saying the same thing over and over.” He assured keeping the message to his ear set as requested. He did not want to freak out anyone else hearing something that really should not be happening.

“Shouldn’t take long for us to prep a shuttlepod” Elspeth said almost innocently as she glanced at the Captain. “We really should help those in need...”

Beth did not miss the look or the innocent tone in her voice. Afterall she had been communicator chief before it had all gone wrong on the ship, she knew tone and pitch as well as languages. “I think we need to potentially wake the senior officers first before we prepare anything Ensign.” Beth winked at her. “Comms keep sending our usual response to distress calls to see if anyone responds.” Beth looked at the ship wondering if they could actually dock with it rather than pods if it comes to it.

Elf merely nodded and chose not to slump in her chair. She let her gaze fix on the ship. “If... if you need a pilot for the shuttle pod...” She left the rest unsaid.

Beth smiled a little at the younger woman’s response. She was eager and it was nice to see someone enthusiastic again. It made a huge difference to Beth and her mood even at that time in the morning. “Almost worth getting up early for now,” Beth admitted as she moved to the comms console to get the senior officers. They needed to see this and she did not care what time of day it was.

Elspeth nodded and began her own scans from the helm and brought the Atlantis a bit closer to assist with the scans.