Conversation with #ussatlantis at Wed Nov 6 20:39:03 2013 on VAdmBlackthorne@packetstorm.va.us.darkmyst.org (irc)
(20:39:03) mode (+nt ) by packetstorm.va.us.darkmyst.org
(20:39:03) ChanServ has changed the topic to: With the ingots refined by the transporter algorithm, tonight our repairs should be completed and we can leave this strange star system behind.
(20:39:03) ChanServ [chanserv@services.darkmyst.org] entered the room.
(20:39:03) mode (+o ChanServ ) by services.darkmyst.org
(21:01:15) DoctorTav [Bryan@90-43-96-75.res.bhn.net] entered the room.
(21:01:24) DoctorTav: Evening.
(21:01:29) VAdmBlackthorne: Hiya
(21:01:54) CdrTKirr [TKirr@90-43-96-75.res.bhn.net] entered the room.
(21:01:55) mode (+o CdrTKirr) by ChanServ
(21:02:02) DoctorTav: I am done with that book. Holy crap, how did anyone ever think tiles were a great idea for rocket re-entry protection?
(21:02:04) CdrTKirr: Once Upon a Time...is a great show.
(21:02:57) VAdmBlackthorne: You can really blame Nixon for that whole debacle, followed by the Air Force.
(21:03:29) DoctorTav: But someone told Nixon that brittle ceramic tiles were a good heat shield.
(21:04:28) DoctorTav: I'll blame him for the final decision, sure. But someone came up with the idea of putting ceramic tiles on a spacecraft.
(21:04:51) VAdmBlackthorne: I'm talking about the space shuttle in general. It was a terrible idea,
(21:04:56) ColDougMcKnight [Mibbit@v-30-997-94-44.hsd7.vt.comcast.net] entered the room.
(21:04:57) DoctorTav: It was.
(21:05:11) VAdmBlackthorne: Hiya
(21:05:15) ColDougMcKnight: Evening.
(21:05:43) DoctorTav: I remember the first time I heard Wernher von Braun's reaction to seeing the orbiter on the side of the main tank.
(21:05:51) LtAlexisWright [Mibbit@i-73-062-552-594.hsd7.wa.comcast.net] entered the room.
(21:05:54) VAdmBlackthorne: Hiya
(21:06:01) DoctorTav: Hiya, Mike.
(21:06:09) LtAlexisWright: Hihi everyone
(21:06:09) ColDougMcKnight: Hey, Wright.
(21:06:18) DoctorTav: And Wright.
(21:06:31) CdrHarper [Mibbit@sbvg-62-95-09-17.clppva.fios.verizon.net] entered the room.
(21:06:41) CdrTKirr: Greetings.
(21:07:11) LtKuari [TKirr@90-43-96-75.res.bhn.net] entered the room.
(21:10:06) VAdmBlackthorne: Just a moment folks and we'll get going.
(21:10:53) VAdmBlackthorne: (Mike, IM)
(21:15:04) VAdmBlackthorne: Alright, let's get going.
(21:15:20) ColDougMcKnight: Yeah, bear with me. I figured I'd jump in and try throwing out a little plot myself. Jason and I are just conferring.
(21:15:41) VAdmBlackthorne: IT'S A SEEKRIT
(21:16:10) CdrTKirr: o.O
(21:17:37) VAdmBlackthorne: And by that I mean let's roll.
(21:19:47) CdrTKirr: :: TWEEET :: Attention!
(21:19:51) DoctorTav: :: AA... aa... .. ::
(21:19:58) LtAlexisWright: :: AA ::
(21:21:11) VAdmBlackthorne has changed the topic to: Atlantis is cruising at a leisurely warp five toward the nearest interesting star system while continuing repairs on the quantum slipstream drive.
(21:21:13) VAdmBlackthorne: Questions?
(21:22:30) VAdmBlackthorne: BEGIN SIM
(21:22:31) VAdmBlackthorne: BEGIN SIM
(21:22:32) VAdmBlackthorne: BEGIN SIM
(21:23:08) VAdmBlackthorne: :: on the bridge, reading a PADD with reports from home ::
(21:24:02) ColDougMcKnight: :: Glances up from his console at the PADD in question. :: Don't suppose you've got an update on the Cestus league on there?
(21:24:02) CdrTKirr: :: also on the Bridge, but back behind Science checking out the star system they're heading for ::
(21:24:47) VAdmBlackthorne: Why yes, I do actually get the sports news.
(21:26:43) VAdmBlackthorne: :: pages over to it ::
(21:28:23) VAdmBlackthorne: Looks like New Phoenix beat Pike City yesterday in 12 innings, 5-4.
(21:29:40) LtAlexisWright: :: doesn't have her full sensor array back online, so is using what she has in unconventional ways to get more data on the star system as they draw nearer ::
(21:29:45) ColDougMcKnight: :: Grins :: I might just have to request a recording. Subspace delay's only...what, a week out here?
(21:30:01) DoctorTav: :: is in Sickbay, all the beds completely empty for the first time in... as long as he can remember. He sits at his desk, reading his PADD with the latest medical journal reports. ::
(21:30:05) VAdmBlackthorne: Something like that, yes.
(21:30:25) CdrHarper: :: at the helm, monitoring all sorts of data on Atlantis's performance ::
(21:30:40) ColDougMcKnight: A twelve inning contest might just be worth it.
(21:30:52) ColDougMcKnight: :: Thinks on that a moment. :: With a happy ending, anyway.
(21:31:37) VAdmBlackthorne: Time for another couple of hot dogs, at least.
(21:33:31) LtAlexisWright: :: looks up at T'Kirr looking over her shoulder :: I'm sorry there's not much to see yet, commander. The sensor array was pretty heavily compromised in the battle.
(21:33:41) CdrHarper: :: notes that the engines feel a bit tetchy, like she hasn't gotten her legs back yet ::
(21:34:09) ColDougMcKnight: There's that. I just need to give some thought to whether to wash it down with a light or a dark -
(21:35:17) ColDougMcKnight: :: Breaks off as his console chirps at him repeatedly and goes to see what it wants. :: Well, I can tell us something about this system. We're not going to have bragging rights for first to visit the place.
(21:36:19) VAdmBlackthorne: Hm, it seems to be pretty populated out this way. What do you have?
(21:36:46) CdrTKirr: :: goes back to the wall panel behind Science, where most of her attention has been :: Indeed it was. I'm monitoring the repair's progress more than anything.
(21:37:57) LtAlexisWright: I had to stop doing that. A saying from Earth many centuries ago: "A watched pot never boils."
(21:38:25) ColDougMcKnight: We've just been tagged by some kind of long range scan...scratch that, three separate scans. If I had to guess, it looks like they're trying to get a fix on our course and speed. No hails just yet, but give me a second, and I'll get a trace on where it's coming from.
(21:38:51) CdrHarper: So that is how that one goes.
(21:39:00) LtAlexisWright: :: sees this information on her console as well ::
(21:39:13) LtAlexisWright: :: turns and grins at Harper :: Yes. Do you understand the meaning?
(21:39:35) CdrHarper: :: starts to open her mouth and say yes, but then just shakes her head ::
(21:40:12) VAdmBlackthorne: :: stands and turns toward Science :: Any useful data coming from the long range sensors?
(21:40:29) LtAlexisWright: I actually had to try it out on the holodeck... I'll explain later.
(21:41:07) CdrHarper: :: sighs and mumbles something about looking it up ::
(21:41:10) CdrTKirr: :: doesn't understand the saying at all ::
(21:41:34) LtAlexisWright: :: turns to the Admiral :: Unfortunately, Sir, what the Colonel has already relayed is the majority of what I can glean from the sensors. They're still rather crippled, I'm afraid.
(21:42:53) CdrHarper: :: is rather sure that she has watched several pots boil ::
(21:43:19) VAdmBlackthorne: Well, someone is interested in us, at least.
(21:43:38) LtAlexisWright: We are interesting.
(21:44:15) ColDougMcKnight: Well, the scan is ongoing, and the points of origin don't seem to be moving, so I'll point out the engines are doing a little better. I'm bringing up their positions now. Your call, but the nearest one is off at a distance of 3 million kliks, on a heading of 227 Mark 184.
(21:44:41) ColDougMcKnight: :: Brings this up on the view screen, as promised. ::
(21:45:05) VAdmBlackthorne: Kate, change course. We're out here to make friends, after all, so we may as well go say hello.
(21:45:17) CdrHarper: Aye sir. :: adjusts course toward the origin of the scans ::
(21:46:02) LtAlexisWright: :: to Harper :: It is kind of an expression of relativity. When you are extremely attentive in your anticipation of something, it seems to take longer for the anticipated event to occur. If you occupy yourself with something else while waiting for the anticipated event, it seems to occur much more quickly.
(21:46:26) LtAlexisWright: But in reality, of course, it takes the same amount of time regardless of how attentive you are.
(21:47:07) ColDougMcKnight: Unless you're trying to make tea in the vicinity of a black hole.
(21:47:22) CdrHarper: :: thinks :: Ah, so it is saying that the pot will seem to boil more quickly if you pay less attention to it.
(21:47:55) LtLedaHarper [Talaith@03-87-8-424.hlrn.qwest.net] entered the room.
(21:47:57) LtAlexisWright: :: nods at the Colonel :: There is that, but I think the saying was assuming the lack of space-time disturbance.
(21:48:16) VAdmBlackthorne: (Hey, Leda!)
(21:48:17) LtAlexisWright: :: to Commander Harper :: Yes, exactly!
(21:48:25) CdrTKirr: :: moves from Science back to her seat in the center ::
(21:48:31) LtLedaHarper: (shh, I'm being sneaky.)
(21:49:15) CdrHarper: But what if time is dilated because of relatavistic speeds?
(21:50:00) LtAlexisWright: Well, at the time the saying was first popularized, our planet had no concept of relativistic speeds.
(21:50:24) CdrHarper: Oh. Right.
(21:50:58) ColDougMcKnight: :: Looks off to the side so nobody can see him chuckling as the latest old timey saying gets pigeon holed. Fortunately, humans seem to come up with a whole lot of sayings. ::
(21:51:34) CdrHarper: :: wonders why they did not come up with a new saying at that point ::
(21:53:33) LtAlexisWright: But there is a quote from Albert Einstein, the Terran father of Relativity..."Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity."
(21:53:43) ColDougMcKnight: ACTION> As they finally come up on the object of their curiosity, they find an object floating in space about thrice the size of a Danube Class runabout. Even a visual scan, however, can tell that's largely scanning equipment. :: Well, I'm not picking up any sort of offensive weaponry...unless you count the scanning capacity itself.
(21:54:00) CdrHarper: That makes more sense than the other one.
(21:54:15) ColDougMcKnight: ( Wow. I haven't done an action statement in too long. I forgot how they work! )
(21:54:25) CdrHarper: :: slows as they approach without being ordered to, just anticipates ::
(21:55:06) LtAlexisWright: Sensors aren't showing any overt response to our proximity.
(21:55:13) ColDougMcKnight: I'm picking up a low level shielding system. Based on the power output, I'm guessing it's basically like our navigational deflector. For cosmic rays and debris. Nothing more.
(21:55:41) VAdmBlackthorne: It does look to be scientific in nature.
(21:56:12) LtAlexisWright: Negative for life signs.
(21:56:39) VAdmBlackthorne: Hm. Well, it belongs to someone. Anyway we can get more sensor capacity online to find out who?
(21:57:43) LtAlexisWright: I believe we need an EVA at this point to make physical repairs to the array... Commander T'Kirr?
(21:57:46) CdrTKirr: :: is quite content to find something scientific appearing to be just what it appears to be ::
(21:59:03) CdrTKirr: Indeed, but that will take. In this situation, I recommend we launch a probe, as their sensors shouldn't be damaged.
(21:59:31) LtAlexisWright: I concur.
(21:59:35) VAdmBlackthorne: :: nods :: Make it so.
(21:59:44) VAdmBlackthorne: :: tugs on his tunic for good measure ::
(22:00:11) CdrTKirr: (time)
(22:00:42) LtAlexisWright: Launching probe in 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Launch.
(22:01:12) VAdmBlackthorne: (I heard that in EDI's voice)
(22:01:29) LtAlexisWright: :: looks down at her console as the data comes in, ignoring the probe coming into frame on the viewscreen ::
(22:01:30) ColDougMcKnight: :: More console beep. :: Looks like we just woke it up. Scan is intensifying. On both us and the probe. No danger indicated.
(22:01:42) ColDougMcKnight: ( "REALLY, Lieutenant Wright?")
(22:02:03) LtAlexisWright: (?)
(22:02:13) ColDougMcKnight: ( I cannot be the only person here who ever tried launching a probe at Uranus in ME2. )
(22:02:32) VAdmBlackthorne: (You are not, sir.)
(22:03:42) LtAlexisWright: Now that I have some eyes in the sky... this is an automated sensor buoy. It's connected by comm link with more sensor buoys, which I can confirm are the other scans that touched us.
(22:04:23) LtAlexisWright: It looks like they're marking a border. Permission to show locations onscreen?
(22:04:42) VAdmBlackthorne: On screen,
(22:06:00) LtAlexisWright: :: flips the view onscreen, showing Atlantis' current location and glowing points indicating the location of the sensor buoys, stretching off in all directions, some lines up to 10 light years long ::
(22:07:35) LtAlexisWright: ( :: crickets :: )
(22:07:58) CdrHarper: :: looks up at the screen ::
(22:08:09) VAdmBlackthorne: Well, this is someone's border, that's for sure.
(22:08:19) ColDougMcKnight: ACTION> More chirping! This time, it's the comm!
(22:08:27) LtAlexisWright: We're being hailed.
(22:09:13) LtAlexisWright: :: looks expectantly at the Admiral ::
(22:09:14) VAdmBlackthorne: And I'll bet that's our someone. :: faces the screen and does another Picard maneuver :: On screen.
(22:09:22) LtAlexisWright: :: complies ::
(22:11:41) ColDougMcKnight: ACTION> The face that shows up onscreen hardly looks like an official representative of anything. The figure is more or less humanoid, albeit possibly a little less estranged from the reptile on the evolutionary chain. The skin seems lightly scaled, though it's hard to tell beyond what looks like some sort of sky blue face paint, and he's clothed in a grey
(22:12:43) ColDougMcKnight: grease smudged jump suit festooned with pockets. He seems guarded, but not hostile.
(22:13:19) VAdmBlackthorne: Greetings! I am Vice Admiral Ian Blackthorne of the United Federation of Planets Starship Atlantis. We come in peace. (shoot to kill, shoot to kill)
(22:14:15) CdrHarper: :: waits in anticipation to see if the universal translator deciphers this being's language ::
(22:15:26) ColDougMcKnight: "That's, uh...that's a lot of names, friend. I'm shift supervisor Miraak, of the Telthis mining operation. You'll excuse my confusion. We don't get a lot of visitors out this way. Still fewer we like. If you came the way our scanning network says you did, I'm guessing I don;t need to elaborate.
(22:15:27) ColDougMcKnight: "
(22:16:26) ColDougMcKnight: Miraak> I mean, you're not Red Sun, right? You don't look like anything we've seen from them before.
(22:16:51) VAdmBlackthorne: Ah, I understand now. No, we are not Red Sun. We stumbled on them in our exploration.
(22:21:05) ColDougMcKnight: Miraak> Then maybe I did the right thing contacting you. I got the scan of your ship, and compared it against whatever it was you just launched. I've never seen a design anything like this before, but that looks like hull damage to me. Do you need aid?
(22:24:35) VAdmBlackthorne: We are making repairs, but a safe harbor in which to do a bit more detailed work would certainly be appreciated.
(22:26:50) CdrTKirr: :: peers from the screen to Blackthorne ::
(22:28:35) ColDougMcKnight: Miraak> Well, I'm not sure if I can make all the authorizations myself, but if you limit your speed to warp 2, stick to the flight plan I'm sending you, and maintain a distance of a half million kilometers from the gas giant you find at the other end...we'll see what we can work out. Sound fair?
(22:29:43) VAdmBlackthorne: Quite fair. We thank you.
(22:31:23) CdrHarper: Receiving navigational data.
(22:33:04) ColDougMcKnight: Well, avoid getting me fired, and we'll call that the start of thanks. We should be able to cobble together an escort by the time we get in. And, uh...nice to meet you, I guess.
(22:33:30) VAdmBlackthorne: Likewise. We'll try to not get you fired. Atlantis out.
(22:33:37) ColDougMcKnight: ACTION> Miraak hesitates for a moment, as if unsure if there's some more appropriate thing he should say or do with his hands before he awkwardly stabs the OFF button.
(22:33:50) VAdmBlackthorne: :: once the comm fades :: Scans along that course, anything untoward?
(22:34:01) CdrHarper: :: relays the nav data to Science and Tactical ::
(22:34:04) CdrTKirr: (Cute character)
(22:34:55) ColDougMcKnight: (Oh, thanks. Haven't had time to refine him too much yet. Good to see he's off to an okay start. )
(22:35:03) LtAlexisWright: Nothing that I can see, Sir. No close encounters to stars or planets until we get close to that gas giant he mentioned at the other end.
(22:36:15) ColDougMcKnight: And if there are any artificial hazards...well, you heard the diagnosis on the long range sensors. I'll keep my eyes open. In the meantime, I don't see that it'll do any harm to keep shields up until we have our eyes back.
(22:36:57) VAdmBlackthorne: Sounds good. Commander Harper, follow the course at warp two.
(22:37:10) CdrHarper: Aye sir. :: does so ::
(22:40:14) VAdmBlackthorne: PAUSE SIM
(22:40:15) VAdmBlackthorne: PAUSE SIM
(22:40:16) VAdmBlackthorne: PAUSE SIM
(22:40:46) LtAlexisWright: :: || ::
(22:40:53) DoctorTav: :: pauses ::
(22:41:54) ColDougMcKnight: Okay. Slow start, I know. But join us next week, and hopefully I'll have some interesting stuff when the new guys have us over/
(22:41:58) ColDougMcKnight: .
(22:42:07) VAdmBlackthorne: Nice start, though :)
(22:42:23) DoctorTav: I am intrigued.
(22:42:29) LtAlexisWright: moi aussi
(22:43:30) CdrTKirr: Nice to encounter friendlies
(22:43:48) DoctorTav: Or... So we think... Dun, dun, DUNNNNNNNNNNNN.....
(22:44:44) VAdmBlackthorne: As long as I don't lose another starship to sinking in a giant liquid space goo, then I'm cool with it.
(22:45:10) ColDougMcKnight: :: Makes some discreet corrections to his notes. ::
(22:46:19) CdrTKirr: Space goo...
(22:46:28) CdrHarper: As long as I do not end up retired on the bacon planet, I am good with it!
(22:46:31) DoctorTav: KSP!
(22:46:41) VAdmBlackthorne: Observe the goo!
(22:46:50) LtLedaHarper: Can we retire to the Planet of Caramel?
(22:47:15) CdrHarper: The bacon planet has maple syrup seas.
(22:47:52) DoctorTav: Every day, three times a day, everyone gets on their hands and knees, and they appear to kiss the ground. What they are actually doing in nomming.
(22:51:19) DoctorTav: Well, good night, everyone
(22:51:29) VAdmBlackthorne: G'night Doc
(22:51:43) LtAlexisWright: nini
(22:51:47) DoctorTav: I'm either going to make Liz come watch Person of Interest with me, or I'm gonna go launch Kerbals.
(22:51:54) VAdmBlackthorne: Kerbals!
(22:51:59) ColDougMcKnight: I should head out too. Feed the cats. But I'll see you all next week.
(22:52:06) DoctorTav left the room.
(22:52:15) ColDougMcKnight left the room (quit: Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client).
(22:54:32) CdrTKirr: Night =)
(22:55:01) VAdmBlackthorne: Night!