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Long Distance House Calls Pt 2

Summary: Investigating an anomaly

Cast: Kethren Gea Leucohyle Rathenhope Wyri

Air Date: Feb 15, 2655

Setting: Flight Deck - Deck 1 - ISV Galactix

This massive chamber has sufficient docking facilities for several large vessels, and multiple fighter squadrons. Smaller vessels are stored in smaller hangars arranged like shelves on the side walls. High above on the ceiling a large blister dome houses the flight control center. It is mostly glass windows, giving the flight controllers inside a 360 degree view of the deck below. Access to the flight control center is gained through a hover tube which hugs the hangar wall and the ceiling, running towards the dome.

Contents: Exits:
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The interior of Galactix' hangar bay is still as wrecked as the first visit. All main power is off, the only illumination being red emergency lights that flash on and off in cycle. Debris is scattered everywhere and scorch marks cover the floor, walls and ceiling as evidence of fires that have burned themselves out. Shuttlecraft lie scattered, some appearing repairable, others smashed to pieces, and great panels swing from the ceiling above, held only by the cabling that ran through the conduits attached to them.

When the people disembark from their ships, a voice greets them. "Welcome back, my friend... I have awaited your return..."

Kethren nods as he looks around a bit, again in his smartsuit, a robot penguin by his side. "Sorry it took so long. I brought some of the friends who should be able to help more. And the materials you thought we'd need."

Gea is right behind Kethren, the positronic armed, with a flashlight. The beam swings this way and that over the wreckage and upheaval, her hardlight form pushing through crumpled panels and dodging cables.

Rathenhope steps off the Amadaun behind the others, carefully making his way down the ramp. "By Jupiter's beard, that's a lot of damage," he breathes. A tilt of his head. "Galactix?" he ventures. "I'm Thomas Rathenhope, Captain of Sanctuary." A pause. "How are you doing?"

Leucohyle comes bustling off the IND Temperantia, WELL bundled in an enviro-suit and accompanied by a cadre of spherical arachnoid robots: Omicron the stalwart Security Bot, Iota the dutiful Conveyance Bot, and a handful of walnut-sized Observationals, who scatter as soon as the little clone reaches the bottom of her docking ramp. With a series of tiny chirps, a multitude of polycarbonate lenses on the assorted robots light up, helping illuminate the area. "H-hello," she pipes, cautiously, through a vocalizer. "I'm Leucohyle Amalia Hall, genetic offspring of Alastair Rhys Calum Hall; my numerical d-designation is 5824553, I've worked with Danu Chroi, Sanctuary Station, and and the VES Minerva. All Engineering. I'm I'm very honored to make your acquaintance and am here to, to repair you."

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tick. Tick. Tick. Wyri's cane, a fusion of clock, metalwork and utility that seems more art then it is walking stick, accompanies him as always as he descends the boarding ramp of the vessel he'd arrived on. His other tanned hand is wrapped around a PDA which is dark blue glowing eyes occasionally flicker towards as he moves to join the others. The presence of the voice doesn't surprise him as much as it should, but then by the looks of him few things would. He really does look like he's just been scraped out of a jungle. Grass stains and cuts decorate what would've been otherwise fine clothes. As for his cane? It is, as always, in pristine condition.

"I would like to say I am doing well, but that would be a blatant lie." Galactix' voice says. "The damage is quite extensive...." he says, pausing for a moment. "It is a pleasure to meet all of you, though I wish it was under better circumstances. My auxiliary reactor has dropped to 1% power output... I estimate it has less than 24 hours before it depletes."

Kethren winces "Crap. That's a far cry from the two weeks in the last estimate. Where to first, then? Doesn't sound like we've any time to lose."

Chiming in, the avatar-female nearly cuts across her commanding officer's question. "Galactix, if you'd permit me to connect to your outboard computer systems, I could independently navigate us wherever we needed to go, and you wouldn't need to use up as much energy." While awaiting a reply, the construct stoops to look at one of the extinguished fire locations.

Rathenhope looks around while the technical people try to figure out what to do. "Hmm.." he murmurs, moving over to one of the shuttlecraft to have a look at it. "What can we do with that..."

Leucohyle blinks several times, her eyes darting momentarily out of focus. "J-just tell me where to go, if-you-please," she pipes. "That's er -plenty- of time. I'll just need to er. Get back to the Temperantia around zero hundred hours for eight minutes of of accellerated-rest-period."

Wyri is looking around when the voice tells them exactly how long it has left. The Aukami, true to his race, doesn't even flinch. "Computer," He says, adding his voice to the inquiries of the others, not using a name, he's not been given one. "I'll assist Miss Leucohyle where repairs are required. Until then, is it possible we could draw power from one of the reactor cores of our own ships?" His eyes shift about the landing bay. "I am... not intimately familiar with this era outverser technology." Even his voice betrays no emotion, a dull, nearly monotone drone.

"I would be happy to allow you to connect but unfortunately my outboard computer systems are off line... the reactor is providing enough power to run my core and little else." Galactix says. "It may be possible to attach to one if the owner was willing... it may provide enough power to get basic functions online in the computer. My main reactor is in engineering aft of deck 2. If we can get it online it would be of benefit to the repairs."

Kethren nods "Sounds like that's the place to be, then. Repairing the rest of him won't do us much good if the core dies." Wark! "Of course, if you do need to hook up to the Amadaun to get some extra power in the meantime, I have no objections."

Gea purses her lips and begins to move in the direction indicated, looking out for hazards and pitfalls. She will warn the others of any, should she come across some. Turning to look over her shoulder at Kethren, the positronic inquires, "Is there anything that you'd like for me to bring along, or is that all packed away in Kail?"

"Deck two it is," Rathenhope says with a nod. "Do you want me to bring anything?" he asks Kethren and Leu. "I suspect my talents are relegated to mule, for now."

Leucohyle very cautiously points towards Iota, who is scuttling along with a chock-full cargo compartment and tugging a small wheeled crate. "A-apologies," she murmurs, actually looking contrite. "But don't feel poorly I've hired an assistant and and frequently neglect to to give him -work- to do. But well anyways if if someone will kindly direct me to Engineering and ensure that there are no outstanding dangers I'll get right to work, yes?"

To answer Rathenhope's question, Wyri pipes up. "Please, assist us with several lengths of plas-piping, wires, an interfacing PDA, and... well there's a bag back on the ship. I fear if we do not have the required supplies, we will not have time to retrieve them." Again, said in the emotionless voice. Even his eyes, the glowing colours of the Aukami said to give them away, are nothing but the darkest of blues. He tries for a smile though, and follows Leu.

Kethren nods as he starts to head back to the desginated area "Last time I was here I was given a list of materials we'd likely need. There's a large pile of them in the Amadaun. Anyone who has a free hand, grab what you can."

"The way is clear as best as my limited senses can tell." Galactix' voice says. "I can meet you there once you arrive."

"Understood," Rathenhope says to everyone, heading back to the ship to get hold of the materials requested.

This room is a complete mess. What little emergency lighting there is shows most of the structures are still intact but circuits are fried, conduits ripped apart, and sub systems wrenched from the primary systems. The repairs appear to be extensive, but attainable.

Kethren walks in slowly, taking in the wreckage as he goes, and taking scans with his pda "...Hope I brought enough to get things stable."

"I see you have found engineering without incident. Perhaps if we can get some power flowing I can bring up my diagnostic readouts... but for now they are useless." Galactix' voice says.

Gea enters the room and takes up a position off to one side of the door, scanning it and allowing her brain to do the multiple calculations and checks needed. Once the math is done, she steps forward, standing where the most logical place to start might be, and indicates it by shining her flashlight on it to get a better look before consulting with the rest of the techies.

Rathenhope stares around the room and shrugs. "Well.. uh.. just tell me what to hold and I'll hold it. If you need a tool, tell me what it looks like and I'll try and find it," he suggests with a grin.

Leucohyle's attendant robots go scuttling off in all directions, the smaller ones scanning the environment. The holoprojector on Leu's wrist slowly starts to display a green-screen three-dimensional image as the little 'bots send photomosaic data back. As for the little clone, she also takes some time to give the area a visual once-over before beelining over to Gea and the logical start point. Iota scuttles along behind her, opening its cargo compartment. A tarp is meticulously laid out before she starts unpacking her tools.

There seems to be no time to waste. Materials in place, Wyri goes about the start of diagnostics. He knows his way around most Hiverspace starship engines, but this is a completely different beast. With the help of his PDA, and a little psychic probing, perhaps he'll be able to uncover something useful. If not, at least he looks like he's doing something.

Rathenhope stands by, looking over the tools that Leu is unpacking. "Right. Pointy thing, slightly less pointy thing. Small hex thing, bigger hex thing.."


The general consensus from the initial inspections show that the power grid is still mostly intact. Circuit links between the main systems are damaged but repairable. Leu however would notice that there are slight cracks in the reactor's outer casing and some structural shift. She would also notice that some control circuits are still intact but some components have suffered damage that will require replacement.

Kethren nods thoughtfully as he walks over to a likely starting point, Kail waddling along with him. "Scans look a lot better than I expected... A lot of work to do, but we can work with this. "W-we're going to need to reinforce the outer casing here, here, here, and here," Leucohyle starts rattling off, sending her tiny Observationals to scuttle forth and start imaging the necessary areas. "And and I will need twothreefour replacement circuits, as we've got some d-d-damage here, here, here, and and here in the control centre, and and Mister-Kethren would you kindly evaluate this area f-for structural-shift? There's an an asymmetry here that I find disagreeable."

Rathenhope just stares around at the mess and shakes his head. "I have no idea how any of this is recoverable," he considers, picking up a bit of broken conduit, investigating it thoughtfully and putting it to the side.

Gea begins to look through the accumulated items for the list of things Leu has rattled off. Filling her hands with whatever she can find, she then approaches the excitable, chipmunk like human and stands at the ready to place things where indicated, or hand them over when needed.

Galactix waits patiently while the repairs begin. For now he lets them work and keeps the small talk to a minimum.

The shoring up of the reactor casing is successful, with readings now indicating that it will withstand operating pressure once it is fired up. Replacement of some of the control circuits is successful, but not all of them. Meanwhile Kethren would notice that the reactor itself has shifted on its mountings, putting considerable stress on the lower supports.

Rathenhope holds tools and looks pretty at requisite moments, standing well clear of those techie people doing their stuff. As he stands back, he moves a little close to a live power conduit, blissfully unaware of the danger.

Kethren carefully but briskly goes over to Leu, taking a good look and a scan of the reactor mounting as he goes. "Hrm, no, this isn't good. It's listing to starboard, putting too much stress on its mounting. We'll need get some shims in there to level it off, and then weld in some new supports to keep this from happening again."

Gea attempts to replace one of the smaller parts, fumbling it so that it falls between cracks in the decking on the floor. Resignedly, she goes back to simply handing things over, and shining light where needed.

"Reactor is proper, circuits seven five and eight are restored, two six and nine still need refurbishment Captain Rathenhope Do Avoid Leaning Back, and and can someone bring me a half-metre length of three and three quarters cabling?" Leucohyle rattles off, pale, circuit-traced fingers flicking between workspace and tools.

"It would seem the Phyrrian weapons did more of a number on my than I thought.." Galactix' voice says.

"Phyrrians attacked you?" Rathenhope says, blinking as he's told not to lean back. He glances over one shoulder, winces, and steps forwards out of the way.

Kail at his side, Kethren kneels down by the offending mountings and starts pulling a few things out of the belly compartment that opened itself up. It doesn't take too long to get enough shims in place, but there are of course other considerations. Like the goggles he pulls on. "Uh, Leu, before I start the welding, do you need a set of goggles, or are you already good on that front?"

Gea, now that Kethren has brought it up, starts to go over safety points preparations, making sure that, at no time, can those doing the repairs be suddenly electrocuted.

"W-well you'll be pleased to know that we haven't many Phyrrians in this universe and so far none of them have been dangerous," Leucohyle pipes, socially, adding, "Well not any more dangerous than any -organic- after all." She blinks at Kethren, and then reaches into Iota's cargo compartment without looking and snags herself a visor. The holographic lenses of her spectacles hum out, the frames unsnap at the bridge of her nose, and they cycle back into the ports at her temples. "Ready!" she chirps, lowering the visor.

"Indeed... these were apparently from some alternate universe... perhaps from some rift similar to that which brought me here...." Galactix says. "A universe where they had enslaved all organic life. I didn't learn much more before I was 'destroyed'... or rather rifted here."

Rathenhope turns away from the welding. "Ready," he calls. "Huh. Well, hopefully you'll have more luck here." A pause. "Are you able to defend yourself?"

Kethren gets his goggles in place and then nods before reaching for his welding gear. Lots of bright flashes and sparky noises ensue, and a few minutes later, things look to be done. At least right here. Plenty of ship left, after all.

"If perhaps we can get my weapons control center back online, then perhaps... my anti-proton cannons are at least physically intact." Galactix says. "My shield array will also require repair... the graviton emitter coils have suffered from the loss of the cooling system and have corroded."

"W-well we'll worry about that -later-," Leucohyle pipes, busily running one, two, three, diagnostics to make absolute certain that everything checks out before any attempts to bring the reactor online are even -considered-. "Operational first, then defense, then offense. How, how are we doing, Mister-Kethren?"

"WEll indeed, not right at this moment. I just want to be sure that you're able to protect yourself if needs be," Rathenhope nods. "Also, once your engines are online, you are more than welcome to use Sanctuary's shipyard for repairs as well."

Kethren snaps his goggles back over his eyes and pulls his pda out to do a quick scan "Well, I'd feel more comfortable if I had an x-ray to make sure that everything is good inside the weld, but at the least it should hold together long enough that we're not all running back here to fix it every ten minutes. What next?"

"That may be best. Floating in deep space presents its own dangers and I suspect my outer hull will require patching." Galactix says. "I leave judgment of if re-activation of the reactor is ready at this time to you. I suspect once main power is online we can better determine what damages remain."

The structural shoring up appears to have the reactor in operational shape.. enough to get it running until more thorough repairs can be made.

Leucohyle pauses for a long, long, long, moment. Her little face, under the lip of the visor, scrunches up in thought. "Ah!" she finally says. "The er, the appropriate phrasing for this moment would be, I believe, 'Good to go!'."

"If we melt I blame all of you," Rathenhope says cheerfully.

Gea hunkers down and prepares for re-ignition of the power supply.

Kethren nods to Leu "I think it's secure now. Care to do the honors?"

Leucohyle, since she's run all of the diagnostics, has no 'adventurer instinct,' and backs up her mnemonic image every day, cheerfully pushes the button.

A soft computerized voice speaks as the reactor control panel comes to life. "Ignition sequence activated. Fusion initiators priming." A soft hum comes from within the reactor, then with a flash it starts to glow from within, and the power needles stir as they start to rise towards maximum power. The primary lights struggle to come to brightness, and some can't take the strain, popping in a shower of sparks. In time however the primary power grid comes online, and the room becomes as bright as it can be with what lights are still operational. Fortunately, the life support generators are also still operational, and the fans begin to circulate fresh air through the ship.

Rathenhope ducks as one of the sparks showers comes very close to hitting him. "...Thank you for not killing us all guys," he says from behind the console he's using as a hiding place.

Gea sighs unnecessarily and looks around slowly, once the sparks and general danger have passed. Aqua-blue sights are trained upon Kethren, and the hardlight inquires of him, "Where to next, Councilman?"

Kethren smiles faintly "Looks to be a good start... What do you think, Leu? You know more about ships than I ever will."

Leucohyle flips her visor up, beaming her wobbly smile at all of the fixtures coming back to life, the pride and awe interrupted at intervals with some small-mammal flinches and a few surprised 'pip's. After a few blinks, she peers at Rathenhope. "Of of -course- not," she pipes. "I'm I'm not a -hobbyist,- you know." Sniff.

"I can feel the power flowing through my body again... but it reveals a rather bleak picture as my sensory links begin to work." Galactix says. "My dear, the outboard computer is beginning its boot up sequence... some parts of the system are still offline but I believe now you can tap in to get a more detailed layout of my body and its systems."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Rathenhope asks after a moment, addressing the room at large. "I feel a bit useless.."

Gea twitters a little bit at what she perceives as being called "my dear" by the ship, eyelashes batting at the term of endearment. She responds to the voice with a little hiccup of a laugh, and beings communicating with outboard computer remotely, and, after making contact and establishing a connection, the hardlight begins scanning the system, operating, and protocol files in particular; it appears that she's looking for glitches, holes and corruption..