NX Mission: The First Casualty

[Jada]

[Mess Hall]

d'Jada grinned mischievously at Bota's surprise, especially his speculation about great Orion technological achievements (ha!) and his inadvertent innuendo (shouldn't that be her role in this conversation? Cruk that.). Stirring around her salad in contemplation, she caught a live slug and a hunk of tomato on her fork then ate it with a disgusted wince. 'Ugh, I don't like these tomato things. The slugs really improve the taste.' she admitted, but there were few other edible plants to go with slugs remaining on the Lexington. But she'd eaten worse in the jungle and would grin and bear it like any good Orion.

She sipped some water and answered Bota confidently 'Well, I'm no engineer, I've not been inducted into the higher secrets of the trade... But we may utilise a kinetic propulsion system Á¢â,¬"œ we extend rows of special poles with splatulate ends from the sides of the ship, then push them against the aether to generate thrust. Of course, we have to pull the poles inside the ship, which is done by a lot of slaves and lesser spacemen.' d'Jada rolled back a sleeve and flexed a wiry but strong green arm adorned with black tattoos, saying proudly 'That's how you get arms like these.'

She ate some slug and tomato, swallowed, and added with a grin 'And internal power is generated by good old uranium fission.'

[Kinley Garrison]

OOC: I know, there's a lot of posts I'm replying to. I just don't want to put them all in.

[Cafeteria]

She grinned as she grabbed her plate of fried tomatoes off the line. " I've been noticing that too.  We haven't had fruit that wasn't canned fruit cocktail for a couple weeks now. Let's hope we get back sooner rather than later.""
A really pretty green-skinned Orion came up to the table, carrying a platter of neatly sliced slugs. It was definitely a good thing she wasn't all that hungry today. "Hi Jada. I'm Grace."

Quietly noting the ongoing conversation between Bota and Jada, she nodded. Earth was definitely a bit behind other civilizations' technological advances. So during her off hours she was usually found looking at blueprints from a few other different planets, to see if she could "borrow" any good ideas. "Hmm... uranium fission. Tricky stuff to work with, but it does get you rather far in a pinch. "

[Solluk]

[Mess Hall]

Bota's eyes began to widen as d'Jada began to describe a remarkable new propulsion technology.  Then, as what she was saying became clearer to him, he let loose a merry laugh.

"Oh, you had me going there, for a minute."  Turning to grace, he spoke with a smile, "I do believe she is pulling our legs, Commander."

He shook his head, "Oars and fission.  You should have gone with coal-fired steam!"   He resumed eating his tomatoes, which he enjoyed quite a bit better than the slugs that d'Jada seemed to favor.

"Well, fine," he allowed with a wink between mouthfuls, "keep your secrets for now.  But sooner or later I will learn the precise gauge of the rodents you use to spin the Aetheric wheels of your Voidmobile."

As Bota finished his plate, he nodded to the Commander, "Which reminds me, I wanted to go over some ideas for intermix that I had."  He glanced to d'Jada, "That is if you don't mind?  Neanderthals talking about fire, and all that."  He grinned.

(tags)

[Jada]

[Mess Hall]

d'Jada laughed as she was found out, glad these humans were no fools. 'Pulling your leg?' d'Jada began, puzzled by the idiom, but soon guessing it from the context. Something to do with tricking or conning, them, she supposed. 'Not on a first date. But seriously, Orion pirate vessels do use fission when they want to be cheap and don't mind a dirty reactor. Those ships are nasty. You can track them by the radioactive exhaust.' she explained, falling into her role as anti-pirate advisor (after all, the Orion Colonies governments did appreciate other species taking care of their pirate problem at no expense to them). 'Otherwise, our engines are like yours: impulse, warp, but we can make Warp 8 or so, of course. We've lost the ancient advances - the paragravitic drive now exists only in stories my grand tabadi told me, but maybe she was making it up. It sounds like technobabble to me.'

She gestured them to carry on. 'Please don't mind me. I'll try not to laugh.' Another of her wing-slugs rose and tried to make a bid for freedom, but it couldn't fly fast enough before d'Jada gulped it.

[Solluk]

[Mess Hall]

d'Jada laughed as she was found out, glad these humans were no fools. 'Pulling your leg?' d'Jada began, puzzled by the idiom, but soon guessing it from the context. Something to do with tricking or conning, them, she supposed. 'Not on a first date. But seriously, Orion pirate vessels do use fission when they want to be cheap and don't mind a dirty reactor. Those ships are nasty. You can track them by the radioactive exhaust.' she explained, falling into her role as anti-pirate advisor (after all, the Orion Colonies governments did appreciate other species taking care of their pirate problem at no expense to them). 'Otherwise, our engines are like yours: impulse, warp, but we can make Warp 8 or so, of course. We've lost the ancient advances - the paragravitic drive now exists only stories my grand tabadi told me, but maybe she was making it up. It sounds like technobabble to me.'

She gestured them to carry on. 'Please don't mind me. I'll try not to laugh.' Another of her wing-slugs rose and tried to make a bid for freedom, but it couldn't fly fast enough before d'Jada gulped it.

[Mess Hall]

"Well," Bota considered, "it's good to know we have little to fear from Orion Pirate technology."  Fission hadn't been used by Earth starships for the better part of a century.  And that wasn't just because of a desire for cleaner energy.  Fission simply didn't have the requisite power output for anything beyond the lowest warp speeds.

News of their more standard technology was more interesting.  Warp 8!  That was four times faster than the NX class could go.  And 'Paragravitic drive' sounded like the Orions' own Atlantean mythos.  And yet... it might be true.  One day he would have to do some real research into Orion history and learn just what feats their ancestors may have been capable of.

When she promised not to laugh, Bota smirked, "I appreciate your forebearance."

"So," Bota said, bringing his full attention to his Commander, "I have noticed that at high warp velocities, we are experiencing some annhilation inefficiencies.  While the Academy textbook says the ideal intermix is 1 to 1, we both know that in real-world situations, no annhilation is flawless.  There will always be particles that escape annhilation or experience delayed annhilation, resulting in a less efficient or regular energy output per quantity of mass in unit time.  With antimatter particles being the much more valuable in terms of fuel, I think we should conserve them when possible."

"What I propose," he went on, "is that we oversaturate the matter stream in comparison to the antimatter stream.  This will guarantee the complete annhilation of the antimatter particles, and the excess matter will exit the reaction as supercharged plasma anyway, which we convert to electricity to power all ordinary ship systems.  Perhaps we could start with a 10 to 1 ratio at Warp One, and move closer to parity as flow volume increases, up to maybe 4 to 1 at Warp Five."

He glanced to d'Jada and smirked.  "If we ever build a Warp 8 engine like the Orions, we could lean it out to 1 to 1 with enhanced magnetic vortices at Warp 8, but I think we're a long way from that, yet."

"Implementing this would mean overhauling the core injector and shipwide EPS system when we get back to base," he concluded, "but I think we could see significant antimatter fuel efficiency and power output improvements.  Perhaps as much as twelve-percent."

Bota looked to the Commander hopefully.  He'd been working on this idea since his time on the Mercury, but a Warp 5 platform was the ideal place to test the theory.

(tag)

[Jettis Jyur]

[Bridge]

"I believe that would be me, ensign," Subcommander Mahak said, who had entered soundlessly a moment before.

He reflected upon the remarks of the young officer as he sat in the CO's chair. It was quite common for humans to remark upon the alleged failings of their superiors when they believed no one else was around. Briefly, Mahak wondered what they all said about him.

"Ensigns Chestnut and Jyur, I can presume by the banter taking place on duty that you have both completed your duty assignments." Mahak said bluntly. "Your reports?"

[Bridge]

Jettis watched the action, but didn't say much. Muttering a simple 'no comment' when they tried to drag them into their good-natured spat. He still felt mildly out of place, and was adjusting with their strange sense of humor. Not to mention he was quiet anywho, and preferred listening to jokes, rather than telling them.

When Mahak walked in, he quirked a brow, turning slightly to face him. His smirk widened as Chestnut straightened, trying to look as innocent as possible.
He swung back around, going back to his Station, unworried considering he wasn't the one gossiping.

"Same here. No excitement, no unusual debris, no ships, no strange readings or fluctuations." He reported, monotone and clearly only doing his job. Glancing at Morris, he shot him a sly look when Mahak glanced away. "All standard procedure."

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

.

Morris didn't jump I his seat, when the Mahak entered.  But he did whip around and straighten up.  He hoped the Subcommander didn't hear his comments.

"We on course to earth base 83 at a speed of warp factor 3.2, we should arrive in approximately two days five hours 20 minutes.  I've pick up a couple of freighters now and again, otherwise  traffic has been light."

[Bridge]

Jettis watched the action, but didn't say much. Muttering a simple 'no comment' when they tried to drag them into their good-natured spat. He still felt mildly out of place, and was adjusting with their strange sense of humor. Not to mention he was quiet anywho, and preferred listening to jokes, rather than telling them.

When Mahak walked in, he quirked a brow, turning slightly to face him. His smirk widened as Chestnut straightened, trying to look as innocent as possible.
He swung back around, going back to his Station, unworried considering he wasn't the one gossiping.

"Same here. No excitement, no unusual debris, no ships, no strange readings or fluctuations." He reported, monotone and clearly only doing his job. Glancing at Morris, he shot him a sly look when Mahak glanced away. "All standard procedure."

[Bridge]

"Acknowledged." From his tone, that was just the way Mahak liked it. He hoped his presence would put an end to whatever inefficient and illogical discussion was going on.

The Vulcan activated the CO chair's onboard commlink system to speak with the captain.

"=/\=Subcommander Mahak to Captain Tyvon." He said. When the CO answered he went on. "=/\=Bridge reporting in. No unusual occurrences or reports, sir. Awaiting your orders."

[Lena Atwood]

[Mess Hall]

Strolling through the doors into the unusually busy mess hall, it only took a second for Thomas to spot Kaiti sitting at a table, her grey uniform sticking out like a sore thumb amongst all the blue. Stopping at the beverage dispenser for a mug of coffee, he glanced at the offered lunch options only momentarily before going to her table.

"How's the weather, Atwood?" He asked, taking a seat across from her while eyeing her meal. "Huh, so I wasn't imagining things. Good thing we're heading home, otherwise we'd have to break out those rat packs by next week."

[Mess Hall]

"The weather is just like it was yesterday, and the day before that and so on." She said, she took a sip of the tomato juice before grimmacing.

"Don't get me wrong." She said staring at the glass of juice. "I like tomatoes, and I'll happily eat whatever is out in front of me." She placed the glass down on the table and pushed it away from her.

"But this is too far. You're being far to optimistic there, I give it until tomorrow until private Proctor finally goes for one." She smiled. "Wanna make a bet?"

[Dylan Torngate]

[Bridge]

"Acknowledged." From his tone, that was just the way Mahak liked it. He hoped his presence would put an end to whatever inefficient and illogical discussion was going on.

The Vulcan activated the CO chair's onboard commlink system to speak with the captain.

"=/\=Subcommander Mahak to Captain Tyvon." He said. When the CO answered he went on. "=/\=Bridge reporting in. No unusual occurrences or reports, sir. Awaiting your orders."

[Space]

Mahak had spoken too soon. A series of subspace disturbances began randomly occasionally appearing, and disappearing on three sides. It appeared to look like a standard energy storm at first glance. While the ship would likely need to change course to a miraculously clear path through the storm, the sensors couldn't get much better in terms of readings. The trip would take them close to a nearby nebula, so Science should be able to gather readings.

Unbeknownst to anyone else on the ship, the Romulan Star Empire had clamed this system. Likewise, nobody on the ship knew of a Romulan Cloaking Device, nor that they were heading into a trap. Similarly, the crew would likely be distracted by the nebula to care about the random subspace noise.

The nebula was visible from warp ahead, out of the mess hall. The distortion of warp made the nebula quite the sight to see.

[Mess]

Thank you, Subcommander. Why don't we take a few readings on that nebula? Looks interesting enough. he said, before turning back to the Major and the Security Chief. He hoped to not have to seperate the two, but if he had to there would be no practices, so the Captain knew that the major would toe the line but not cross it.

[Alexander Wu]

[Mess Hall]

"The weather is just like it was yesterday, and the day before that and so on." She said, she took a sip of the tomato juice before grimmacing.

"Don't get me wrong." She said staring at the glass of juice. "I like tomatoes, and I'll happily eat whatever is out in front of me." She placed the glass down on the table and pushed it away from her.

"But this is too far. You're being far to optimistic there, I give it until tomorrow until private Proctor finally goes for one." She smiled. "Wanna make a bet?"

[Mess Hall]

"Well, I suppose if food's the only thing we're griping about, things are going okay." Thomas chuckled, sipping his coffee. "And if you get a pool going on Proctor, I'll throw in my hat for sure."

"Here." He slid a tablet across the table. "The boss is going to try and convince the Captain that we should step up the pace of co-training with the ship's security officers. If he can get approval for it, we're thinking of taking over sections of Deck D thru F to practice anti-boarding drills. It'll be a full scale scenario, complete with opfor and casualties, so I want to make sure we're on the ball. Take a look over that training schedule and let me know which classes you want to teach."

[Space]

The nebula was visible from warp ahead, out of the mess hall. The distortion of warp made the nebula quite the sight to see.

"Well now that's a mighty fine view." Thomas quipped, glancing out of the forward windows. "Although I'm hoping we won't be stopping for more pictures." Weeks of slowly mapping out the last nebula they passed meant lots of work for the scientists. The rest of them were just along for the ride.

[Jada]

[Mess Hall]

'Oh yeah, I know this one. Every ship has its own unique intermix ratio.' Jada said, recognising what Bota was proposing. She grinned at the pair, not mocking but impressed 'Wow, I feel like I'm watching history happen.'

[Kinley Garrison]

[Mess Hall]

"Well," Bota considered, "it's good to know we have little to fear from Orion Pirate technology."  Fission hadn't been used by Earth starships for the better part of a century.  And that wasn't just because of a desire for cleaner energy.  Fission simply didn't have the requisite power output for anything beyond the lowest warp speeds.

News of their more standard technology was more interesting.  Warp 8!  That was four times faster than the NX class could go.  And 'Paragravitic drive' sounded like the Orions' own Atlantean mythos.  And yet... it might be true.  One day he would have to do some real research into Orion history and learn just what feats their ancestors may have been capable of.

When she promised not to laugh, Bota smirked, "I appreciate your forebearance."

"So," Bota said, bringing his full attention to his Commander, "I have noticed that at high warp velocities, we are experiencing some annhilation inefficiencies.  While the Academy textbook says the ideal intermix is 1 to 1, we both know that in real-world situations, no annhilation is flawless.  There will always be particles that escape annhilation or experience delayed annhilation, resulting in a less efficient or regular energy output per quantity of mass in unit time.  With antimatter particles being the much more valuable in terms of fuel, I think we should conserve them when possible."

"What I propose," he went on, "is that we oversaturate the matter stream in comparison to the antimatter stream.  This will guarantee the complete annhilation of the antimatter particles, and the excess matter will exit the reaction as supercharged plasma anyway, which we convert to electricity to power all ordinary ship systems.  Perhaps we could start with a 10 to 1 ratio at Warp One, and move closer to parity as flow volume increases, up to maybe 4 to 1 at Warp Five."

He glanced to d'Jada and smirked.  "If we ever build a Warp 8 engine like the Orions, we could lean it out to 1 to 1 with enhanced magnetic vortices at Warp 8, but I think we're a long way from that, yet."

"Implementing this would mean overhauling the core injector and shipwide EPS system when we get back to base," he concluded, "but I think we could see significant antimatter fuel efficiency and power output improvements.  Perhaps as much as twelve-percent."

Bota looked to the Commander hopefully.  He'd been working on this idea since his time on the Mercury, but a Warp 5 platform was the ideal place to test the theory.

(tag)

[Cafeteria]
Grace went over Bota's ideas for upgrading the warp core in her mind. The matter/antimatter annihilation processes he was theorizing intrigued her.   "Y'know, what you're thinking just might work. It'd take a bit of reworking of the systems, and we'd have to figure out a few failsafes, but  I'm liking what you've got."   She paused for a second, while her mind was racing with potential schematics. "I'd have to look at some blueprints, but i think with a little tweaking, this could be awesome!"

[Solluk]

[Mess Hall]

Bota beamed when the Commander seemed interested in his proposal.   His life seemed to finally be coming together the way he wanted it to.  After years tinkering with a relic, he was finally going to be able to use his scientific and engineering degrees where it mattered: at the bleeding edge of technological research and development.

"I'll send you all of my proposed schematics this evening after end-of-shift," he said, "I don't think I've been this excited about a project in years."  Then he blurted without meaning to, "I could kiss someone!"

Bota glanced to d'Jada as he said that, and then looked away, blushing mostly invisibly under the cover of his melanin.  He cleared his throat.  "It's... a figure of speech," he attempted to clarify.

Outside the mess hall windows, a beautiful streaked starscape presented itself, colored by the presence of a nearby nebula.  "My, that's beautiful," he said, trying to change the subject away from his exclamation.  But upon saying the word 'beautiful' he glanced back at the Orion involuntarily.

Apparently, extended exposure to these Orions only amplified whatever effect they had on human biochemistry.  He stood abruptly, gathering together his tray and glass.   "Well, I suppose I should get back to my shift.  d'Jada, it was a pleasure meeting you."  He should have offered his hand again, but he decided it was probably a bad idea to touch her a second time in such a short span.  Though he had no medical training, he suspected each physical contact would only allow more of her mysterious pheromones to infiltrate his body and warp his manners.

He did pause before making his retreat to look towards Grace and add a heartfelt, "Thank you, Commander, for considering my proposal.  It means a lot."

(tag)

[Jada]

[Mess Hall]

Caught up in the excitement of the two engineers, d'Jada leaned over the table, looking with admiration and open interest between the nebula, Bota, and Grace. She quirked a smile, saying 'Hey, if either of you need to kiss me, I'm open.' She slurped a slug through her lips, which wasn't nearly as seductive as she thought it was.

[James H. Hawk]

[Captain's mess]

"Hey, handsome," Tom started with a smile as a way to keep Harmon off balance. "I think cross training your guys in our department would be good in case my boys need deployed with an away team."

He always enjoyed playing a mind game every now and again. It helped determine weaknesses and see what button to push to get certain reactions. He used this particular tactic against men because he took pleasure in confusing them.

"As I was telling the captain, if the NausicaansÁ¢â,¬Å½ decide they want to have a go at us, we'll need more than just my boys. God forbid if the Klingons decide to wage war with us."

He let that last part trail off a bit.

[Bridge]

Matt wasn't sure what he was expecting to be greeted but it certainly wasn't that (regardless of how true Matt considered it to be). "No foreplay?" He joked as the Major got right into it. "The problem is, mate, my men are quite busy. We don't have much time for extra training." Of course that wasn't quite true, after all Matt was almost asleep before he was send down here. He simply didn't like the MACOs and wasn't going to give them what they wanted so easily. "Besides you and your boys have no authority over us," he said, sure to use the word 'boys' in the place of 'men'. "Then there's also, no offence, the fact that we just don't like you. Ok, that was a lie as well. He ment plenty of offence.