Autopilot [Open]

[Angel]

Tamrin's mouth twitched slightly as she walked through the bridge. She wasn't completely focused on where she was going: her feet were just taking her across this new ship. Mentally, she was travelling too, but somewhere far away...

He made it, he had to make it, she thought, but felt guilty and shameful for it. She wasn't prone to wishful thinking, and scolded herself for lamenting the sure loss of her friend when others had lost so much more. Entire families, histories... and she'd lost Kaden. Sure, that was cause enough to mourn, but he was a comrade in arms. Fighter pilots weren't given to exceptionally long lifespans. Part of her insisted that she should have expected it, but she couldn't come to terms with it anyway.

Finding herself on the bridge, Tamrin looked around for the first time, coming to herself. She'd felt strange lately -- oddly airy, at times, or like she'd gained 50lbs, without her body changing shape. She had been on spacecraft too long to attribute it to adjusting to artificial gravity, but she figured it was just her stomach doing funny things with all the stress.

Now she just looked out across the open space. The soft mechanical whir of the ship was tranquil. There were a few people working up here, but the ship seemed mostly to be on autopilot, drifting, channels open to distress calls. She sighed.

[Karyl]

Karyl leaned back in his super-comfy chair. His feet were propped up on a small space on his console designated for placing items, like a cup or a pad or something. In his hands, Karyl was tapping on an elctronic notepad. He was trying to work out a code that he could use to change the buzzer sound on his cabin door to a less-harsh noise. What were the builders of the ship thinking when they put those in? Let's totally annoy everyone who has visitors?

Karyl heard a set of doors leading to the bridge slide open with a Swish. He immediately leaned forward and knocked his feet off of his console. This was the off-shift, but the captain had been known to make spot appearances. When Karyl looked around, he saw that it wasn't the captain. He let out a breathe he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

Karyl returned to the code he was working on, adding a few components there, taking some away, but he didn't resume his previous position. He heard a sigh come from somewhere behind him, but he just assumed it was from the female who had just entered the bridge. She must still be worked up over Earth's destruction. Or maybe the death of a family member? Karyl didn't designate many brain cells to the problem. It wasn't that important to him.

[Angel]

Tamrin looked deep out into space, holding on the the short railing that existed before the viewing glass. As she stared out into the open black, her mind wandered. That was, until she had a funny feeling in her hands. When she looked down at them, she could almost swear they had slightly sunk into the metal. Quickly she pulled them back.

"Great, now I'm seeing things on top of it," she grumbled to herself. The clicking and clattering of people at their consoles was somewhat comforting in the background. At least, until someone's radar starting beeping loudly. Tamrin knew that sound, after her time spent in the UIR military, particularly on spacecraft. There was an incoming ship.

Her heart started to beat faster.

[Liara]

Liara stopped in front of the door to the bridge. Her head hurt. It had been hurting a lot lately. At first she thought it might've been a hangover from all the wine she had drunk from the other day. But it couldn't be now, it was too long for a hangover to last. And she had a bad feeling in her gut. Like....something bad was going to happen. She didn't know what exactly, but knew deep down something was going to happen soon.

She managed to keep herself composed and walked onto the bridge. And as she entered she immediately heard the beeping of their radar. Her eyes widened. Was this what she had a feeling about? And why did she in the first place? "Someone tell me what we're picking up," she soon said to everyone on the bridge.

That bad feeling.....it was starting to get worse.

[Quantum]

Quantum rushed down the hallway full tilt. His head pounding as he ran. He burst onto the Bridge, barely managing to keep himself upright as he did so. "Ma'am! I hear beeping!" He began to wonder why he always burst in at times like this. He decidely kept his mouth shut. He shuffled his feet and kept staring ahead. Still unaware of any potential danger.

His mouth twitched slightly, he felt cool. Yes, almost cold. Though still comfortable enough. It's like the water in the engine room, remaining cool after hours of work in a room full of trapped heat. Quantum shook off the notion as quickly as it had come. Though it lingered in his head . . . like a time bomb waiting to go off.

[Karyl]

The doors slid open a second time and Karyl dropped his feet again. Then he glanced at the doors to find out who had just entered the bridge. It was the captain. Karyl turned back around, knowing that he wouldn't be able to relax as much now and also wondering why the captain was here. Maybe she couldn't sleep?

Then the radar on multiple consoles, including his own, went off. He wasn't the navigator, but he still needed radar to detect incoming ships and then he could best advise them how to dock with The Destiny or how to manuever. It would only help his efficiency. Then a man came running into the bridge, informing the captain of the beeping. Karyl allowed himself a small smile at the redundancy of the comment before telling the captain,"Captain, there is an incoming vessel approaching. I can't tell what kind it is, but it appears to be a cargo ship of some sort. And it appears to be disabled. I'm recieving a distress call now."

As if on cue, a button on Karyl's console lit up, waiting to be pressed to send the distress signal over the comm unit on the bridge. He turned in his chair to face the captain.

[Caleb]

Caleb ordered the distress signal to be sent again: hopefully this other ship would respond. Their own engines had been damaged, and while life support was functional, they weren't exactly getting anywhere anytime soon. Patiently, Caleb stood, hands clasped in front of him, and watched the communication screens: they had been dimmed to conserve power, and it made the cargo ship's small bridge dark.

The communications officer turned back to him, muttering that the signal wasn't working. Caleb took a few long strides over to the main terminal. "Give me the headset," he instructed, his voice even and calm. The officer did, without hesitation. Rather than putting on the bulky, old-fashioned design, he gently held one side to his ear, and the extended microphone to his mouth.

"Hello? This is the a Mule model cargo ship. We were attacked by raiders a week ago. They took the produce we were transporting, and we're running out of food. Our engines are not functional. Please respond. Over."

[Liara]

Liara thought for a moment. A distress signal from a cargo ship? Normally she'd be concerned but....there was just that nagging feeling that there was something more to it than meets the eye. If only she know why she was feeling that way....There shouldn't be any reason for her to feel suspicious. SO why did she...?

After thinking it over a bit she nodded over to Karyl. "Go ahead," she told him and soon they heard the distress signal. Apparently the ship out there had damaged engines and they were running out of food. She thought about this some more. She still had that bad feeling.....but she couldn't just up and abandon them. "Alright, I think some of us should go on board and attempt to fix their engines." she said after awhile of thinking. She looked around the bridge to see who would step-up and decide to head over to the other ship.

[Angel]

Tamrin listened carefully to the broadcast, and then turned promptly to Liara. "Ma'am. I'm not terribly great with fixing things, but if you need protection detail, I'm in. I can also get into my ship if and fly at the Destiny's wing if you think we're still under some threat from raiders in the area."

She was glad to have something to put her mind to, and was happy if they could help some people in the process. From her time serving in the UIR military, and even before that as a runner on Duette, she knew what damage nomadic bands of criminally minded individuals -- raiders -- could cause. These people were lucky that they were even left alive, or weren't enslaved.

Then again, maybe raiders now weren't the same as raiders before Earthfall. It was a depressing thought, but it could always be that the criminals in this case might be desperate people who otherwise would never think about stealing food from a cargo ship. That might explain survivors.

[Leo]

Leo laid on the ground half in the room, half in the wall through careful not to accidently kick the panel cover. That would have just been another thing to add to his list of things going well that day. He swore as he worked on the air conditioning controls, not upset at the machine but rather it’s operator. She’d called in the repair panicking, not saying what the malfunction was, only to get there and find out she was “too cold”. How hard was it to but on a jacket and deal? Now she was standing just out of view keeping an obnoxious beat with her foot.

As he tried to reach one of the gears a spark arced from another to his hand. His whole body twitched and he hit his head on a pipe. Swearing he examined his hand for a burn thankful to not find one. Other than a few muscles still misfiring he was fine. Had it been another of the mechanics in his place, he doubted they would have been as well off. That aside, he was still pissed.

“Didn’t I tell you to turn the light off in the kitchen,” he growled.

“It is off,” the woman said.

“Off,” he checked his head for cuts, “or just dimmed down all the way?” He pulled back his hand relieved to see no white liquid. When she didn’t answer he muttered, “That’s what I figured.”

He collected his tools and slid out of the wall. Replacing the panel, an alert went off and the woman went to check it. She returned and told him he had a call. Leo dropped his tools into his box before wiping his hands and walking to the nearest com system.

“What?” He said leaning against the wall.

“Huh,” a male voice said, “You’re being called up to the bridge.”

Leo raised an eyebrow, “Why?”

“There’s a cargo ship that says it has engine damage, non functioning. Captain says we’re going aboard. You got volunteered to help with the repairs.”

While he usually didn’t abandon anything mid-job, he glanced at the woman then said, “Tell them I’ll be right up. Have someone get my things ready.”

“Uh,” the woman tapped his shoulder, “what about me?”

Shrugging he picked up his tool bag, “You’ll live.”

He left her quarters as soon as he could and headed to the lift. After a quick stop in the engine room to trade out tools he was back in the lift and up to the bridge. Leo adjusted his hat to make sure the hat was out of his face before the doors opened. Off the lift he walked to the door to the bridge he waited a second for it to open. Stepping in he looked around until he located the Captain.

“I heard I was needed up here,” he said to her.