Welcome to Holoworld

Posted on Thu Sep 2nd, 2021 @ 12:45am by Executive Officer Jake Ford & Isaac Nicoli Dr. & Micheal Robertson & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein & Jinx Jorasco & Jeassaho Kea (*)

Mission: Mission 14: Holoworld
Location: Holoworld - Foyer
Timeline: MD-02: 1200 hrs
1443 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

As the away team materialised on the main deck of the abandoned holoship, Jake wasn't really sure what to expect. He'd never been on one of these types of ship before, nor had he really heard much about them in all truth.

The first thing that they noticed was that they had landed in some sort of ostentatious ballroom. There were banners, streamers and balloons all over the walls and high ceiling. Tables were covered with an assortment of foodstuffs from all kinds of different cultures. A stage occupied one end, at the moment unoccupied despite an abandoned set of instruments. It looked deserted.

And then it wasn't. A flash of light later and there stood a Human-looking figure in a waistcoat and bow-tie, his short dark hair slicked over to one side, somewhat old-fashioned in his dress, but grinning ear-to-ear in wide-eyed welcome.

"Good day, visitors! Welcome aboard! I am your host..." there was a twitch, perhaps a minuscule glitch in the holographic program as it caught-up, "Reginald George Arnold Cuthbert Lewis III. You can call me Reggie, if you like!" It was clearly some sort of over-familiar introduction program.

"Guess some of the systems are still working. We should figure out what's salvageable," Jake said, ignoring the holo-host and directing his statement at Jinx and Burnie. "The rest of us should spread out and figure out whether those life signs we detected are a person or something else."

"They must have built this thing to last," Burnie remarked, looking around. Holoemitters and program controls working after a crash was really something. "I'm amazed it's in such good condition after crashing."

Though Micheal had wanted to stay on the ship, by Dixoho’s side, as she continued to slumber inside her stasis pod, as Chief Armory Officer, it was his place to be on the away team. "I'll head towards the bow. We should stay in contact. This is a damn big ship."

Jeassaho rolled her eyes as instantly everyone wanted to split up. Did no one listen anymore? Reuben had literally told them to stay together for the first trip over until they could gauge what was what with how the ship was not in their database. They had no idea what they were walking into other than it was a holoship and was only a couple of years old. "Gregnol said we should stay together for the most part. Not leave each other's sight," Jeassaho said, looking at the holographic program as she started to scan around, trying to see through the holograms to the heart of the ship.

Jinx pulled out her tricorder and started scanning. Reginald definitely registered as a hologram. “Looks like fun, at least,” the tiny woman commented with a smile. “Wonder what one of these cruises costs. Definitely no people in here, though. other than us. Surprisingly minor damage to the holosystems.”

"Me and Reuben went on one of the first ones way back as an engagement gift. Not as expensive as you think," Jeassaho commented on thinking that there should be a lot more damage, but also bodies. "The specs for a smaller version says they can carry up to several thousand people at a time. I cannot imagine how many this ship can. But the question I have apart from surprise over only minor damage to the holosystem is where are the bodies?" The ship had crashed into a moon and there was going to be damage.

"Check for escape pods," Burnie said, pulling out a tricorder. "Could be only one passed out drunk person who didn't bail when the emergency alert sounded."

Jinx switched over to looking for life pods. “If life pods ejected, they should still be signalling,” she mused. “All of their emergency beacons couldn’t fail. And with the size of this ship, and the likely passenger population, there should be numerous signals.” The tiny alien woman frowned as she studied the readings.

Jeassaho laughed softly, thinking about a holoprogram that she used to like that was exactly that situation. "I do not believe we detected any pods having been released, but it is not a bad shout," she said, turning and letting out a yelp as Reginald George Arnold Cuthbert Lewis III stood there just behind her. "You scared me," she said, glancing around at all the space, yet he stood there.

The big Russian looked the hologram over. It seemed a little more lifelike than he would have liked. He expressed unease at the situation. "Anyone else think this hologram is a little creepy?" His accent wasn't very strong, but there was still more than a little hint of the motherland in his voice.

"Apologies. If this image is of discomfort to you, an alternative host program can be arranged at an additional cost of two strips of gold pressed latinum, payable up-front at your local service outlet," the holo-host explained, still smiling with those big wide eyes.

“Alright, Jeeves,” the captain's wife commented at his apologies for scaring her. “Very creepy.” Jeassaho agreed in Russian, watching as the hologram flickered again before turning to look around. “Which direction are we heading? Bridge or Engineering?” she wondered quickly, trying to regroup them into making a choice that would hopefully get them away from Jeeves.

"I'll head down to engineering," Micheal said as he finished doing a perimeter scan of the area. "I'm not detecting any life whatsoever down here, aside from us." Looking over at the hologram, he asked, "Alright, Reggie, where are all the civilians that were aboard this ship?”

"All civilians were requested to return to cabins at...2137 hours...three days ago." The holo-host paused between statements, evidently delayed in recalling data. "This was due to standard lockdown measures implemented during an engine failure. I do apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused."

"Three days? Maybe we should be scanning for dead bodies," Burnie said under his breath.

“I cannot smell anything, but I will scan,” Jeassaho whispered back to him. Dead bodies would be making a smell after that long in multiple locations.

Burnie shrugged. "Depends on how well sealed the rooms were. Also on how much of the ship's automated systems are functioning." He knew most starships had detect & move to the morgue routines, because a body or body parts missed after a firefight could make life aboard really miserable for anyone with a sense of smell, and he expected that a spaceliner would have something similar if only to keep any death aboard discrete to avoid alarming other passengers.

"I think you're missing another obvious possibility here," Liha put in, cocking an eyebrow at him. "We got a distress call from, at least in theory, an actual live person who said she was fine but marooned. So unless she's managed to drink herself to death in the last three days, we ought to be picking up at least one life sign, right?"

Burnie snapped his fingers. "You’re right. There must be something interfering with scans." He fiddled with his tricorder a moment, then shook his head. "I guess we'll have to go looking for survivors the old fashioned way."

"I think sickbay would be the best place for me," he said, looking around. If the crew were injured or dead they would have to record it. These ships were meant to be for training and relocation. Of course, ships like this would have found their way into civilian life as well.

"Okay," the Texan replied slowly. "Well, Reggie, you say the passengers were sent to their rooms. Why are we not detecting their bio signs? A ship this large, they'd be rather hard to miss. And next, describe the nature of the engine failure. What caused it? And why weren't the passengers evacuated to the escape pods before you crashed?"

The hologram twitched. "All civilians were requested to return to cabins at...2137 hours...three days ago." It was repeating the same information word-for-word, clearly not having anything else to contribute. "This was due to standard lockdown measures implemented during an engine failure. I do apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused."

Jeassaho sighed, wishing she could keep reminding them that for now they had been instructed to stay together. "Jake, do you want us to split up?" she asked, putting it back on the man as if it was like herding kittens.

"Want and need are different things," Jake grumbled. "Three teams. Burnie, you take engineering. Doc - medical, see if there's any survivors. Anyone not going with either of them with me. We'll take a look for the bridge. Stay in close contact, this could still be trouble."