Post by Dowser on May 6, 2009 16:38:12 GMT -5
A booming voice pops over the ships intercom. "Interstellar drive will activate in five minutes."
"Sir, there appears to be something wrong with the docking clamps."
"Which clamps?" the standing officer on the dock demanded, moving to read the Kendar soldier's readout. They were only just leaving Kendar spire, and Daimyo's impromptu entrance had already been a try on the nerves. The last thing they needed right now were mechanical issues.
"The ones holding Suiko Miyamoto's cell onto the hull of the ship, sir."
"It isn't already inside?" the officer shouted, deeply concerned that henrich may make an example of him if this turns out badly.
"We haven't been able to! Those systems are disabled too! The stress is tearing the clamps apart. Like this, if we go hyperdrive, Miyamoto's cell is going to be torn from the side!"
"Well don't just stand there! Get ship maintenance on! Get them on that hull with wire, with blowtorches, with whatever the fuck we need to keep that cell on this ship!"
"The maintenance team isn't responding sir! They're either not at their post, or communication is down!"
The officer grabs the soldier by the collar and brings him close. "Maintenance is two sectors down the ship. Start running." The soldier, once released, wastes no time darting down the back hallway towards the lifts. The officer takes over the control panel, looking over every panel, every sub screen, trying to see if he can ordain something that the technician he had just sent running could not. The overhead intercom buzzes again. "Two minutes until Hyperdrive."
His face wreathed in sweat, the officer finally notices a bright button on the communication panel. A calm voice rings through the intercom. "Maintenance calling with our pre-flight check. Any problems in the dock before we jump?"
The officer nearly swallows his tongue trying to hold back an unfiltered river of profanity. "Why aren't you up here fixing the cell!"
"What cell?" the engineer responds with her same cool demeanor.
"SUIKO MIYAMOTO'S CELL, what else could I possibly be referring to you lead-brained cunt! The tech should have been down to see you by now! Why weren't you at your post?!"
Seeming to ignore his outlandish insults, she replies, "We're all here at our post. No one's been down here, and we've actually been having trouble contacting the dock for a few minutes now. The intercom was turned off from your end. As to Suiko's cell, let me pull up the readouts..."
"No one's been down..." all the color drained from the officer's face. In fact, had he ever seen that technician before? It was a new face. It hadn't occurred to him until now.
It barely even registers as the same robotic voice whispers over the intercom, "Thirty Seconds Until Hyperdrive."
"That's odd," the engineer's voice came over the intercom again. "There's no malfunction with suiko's cell, but the clamps have been ordered to release."
"Wha... can't you..." the officer tried his hardest to pull his thoughts back together. "Can't you just order it closed again?"
"No, we're locked out, and the hyperdrive protocol locks most of the systems to prepare for a jump. This is just... well," he could hear some amusement in her voice, "pretty damn impressive."
The captain, for his part, did not have the strength to find the situation funny.
From the outside of the massive battleship, the small cell is barely noticable as it dismounts from the Docking doors, quickly outpaced by the accelerating warship. A drifting dot, disturbed only slightly as space bends, and the Kendar battleship is pulled through, taking them lightyears away in only a few seconds.
And then it was by itself, in space, with only the planet of Unukalhai below to keep it company. A planet that was growing larger as the cell approached it.
"Sir, there appears to be something wrong with the docking clamps."
"Which clamps?" the standing officer on the dock demanded, moving to read the Kendar soldier's readout. They were only just leaving Kendar spire, and Daimyo's impromptu entrance had already been a try on the nerves. The last thing they needed right now were mechanical issues.
"The ones holding Suiko Miyamoto's cell onto the hull of the ship, sir."
"It isn't already inside?" the officer shouted, deeply concerned that henrich may make an example of him if this turns out badly.
"We haven't been able to! Those systems are disabled too! The stress is tearing the clamps apart. Like this, if we go hyperdrive, Miyamoto's cell is going to be torn from the side!"
"Well don't just stand there! Get ship maintenance on! Get them on that hull with wire, with blowtorches, with whatever the fuck we need to keep that cell on this ship!"
"The maintenance team isn't responding sir! They're either not at their post, or communication is down!"
The officer grabs the soldier by the collar and brings him close. "Maintenance is two sectors down the ship. Start running." The soldier, once released, wastes no time darting down the back hallway towards the lifts. The officer takes over the control panel, looking over every panel, every sub screen, trying to see if he can ordain something that the technician he had just sent running could not. The overhead intercom buzzes again. "Two minutes until Hyperdrive."
His face wreathed in sweat, the officer finally notices a bright button on the communication panel. A calm voice rings through the intercom. "Maintenance calling with our pre-flight check. Any problems in the dock before we jump?"
The officer nearly swallows his tongue trying to hold back an unfiltered river of profanity. "Why aren't you up here fixing the cell!"
"What cell?" the engineer responds with her same cool demeanor.
"SUIKO MIYAMOTO'S CELL, what else could I possibly be referring to you lead-brained cunt! The tech should have been down to see you by now! Why weren't you at your post?!"
Seeming to ignore his outlandish insults, she replies, "We're all here at our post. No one's been down here, and we've actually been having trouble contacting the dock for a few minutes now. The intercom was turned off from your end. As to Suiko's cell, let me pull up the readouts..."
"No one's been down..." all the color drained from the officer's face. In fact, had he ever seen that technician before? It was a new face. It hadn't occurred to him until now.
It barely even registers as the same robotic voice whispers over the intercom, "Thirty Seconds Until Hyperdrive."
"That's odd," the engineer's voice came over the intercom again. "There's no malfunction with suiko's cell, but the clamps have been ordered to release."
"Wha... can't you..." the officer tried his hardest to pull his thoughts back together. "Can't you just order it closed again?"
"No, we're locked out, and the hyperdrive protocol locks most of the systems to prepare for a jump. This is just... well," he could hear some amusement in her voice, "pretty damn impressive."
The captain, for his part, did not have the strength to find the situation funny.
From the outside of the massive battleship, the small cell is barely noticable as it dismounts from the Docking doors, quickly outpaced by the accelerating warship. A drifting dot, disturbed only slightly as space bends, and the Kendar battleship is pulled through, taking them lightyears away in only a few seconds.
And then it was by itself, in space, with only the planet of Unukalhai below to keep it company. A planet that was growing larger as the cell approached it.