Catching Up

Posted on Tue Jun 16th, 2020 @ 7:08pm by Jeassaho Kea (*) & Fordyce Kirschler PhD & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein & Jinx Jorasco & Chief Helmsman Eden Bowers & Executive Officer Jake Ford
Edited on on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 1:56pm

Mission: Mission 11 - Prospecting
Location: Mess hall
Timeline: MD03 09:45
1265 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Jeassaho hated feeling so helpless as she stood in the mess, nursing a mug of black sugary coffee. She had not slept, and she knew not many other people had, if any. Everyone looked worried and tired as they waited for everyone to come back from searching the colony or trying to work on clues around the ship.

“I made fresh coffee,” she called out to the person who came through the door, not looking up from the window she was leaning against. They would find the coffee easy enough, and she had more important things to worry about. Nothing was making sense about any of this. Her husband was a smart man. He would never draw them into trouble that could end in disappearances.

“Coffee sounds great,” Jinxe said, and Zambi scrambled ahead of her. The half-sized woman tossed the cat-sized raptor a treat and yawned as she poured herself a coffee. Then she just plopped down on the floor, too tired to bother scrambling up onto a chair built for regular sized people while holding burning hot liquid in her hand.

Eden had come in a bit earlier and put her head down on one of the tables, having fallen asleep waiting. She jerked awake at the sound of voices and saw the raptor run across the floor. She probably should have checked on Stan.

"We may know where Liha and the doctor are," Burnie said, rushing in, eager to report and get back out. If Liha and Quin were trapped in a cave, every minute might count. “They were at the mines and there was a cave in. I'll need scanners, drones, and recovery equipment.”

It had been quiet as they had waited, and Jeassaho had nearly found herself drifting off to sleep as she thought about things. She heard someone speaking in a rushed manner, but it did not compute and left her wondering what had been said. "What?" Jeassaho wondered, turning to see Burnie and her brother rushing in looking like they had just run the whole way to tell them.

Jake, looking a little unkempt himself, appeared through the door just behind the other two men, having seen them rushing in with their news. He scratched at his unshaven beard, which despite it only having been a day felt like it was already growing out. "You can have whatever you need," he declared, realising the urgency of that situation on top of the other one. He glanced at Jea. "Could be that Gregnol's down there with them?"

Having no real idea, Eden rose to her feet too. What could she do though? What could she say? She had been with Gregnol before he disappeared, yes. But she had no idea where he'd gone after, so it was possible that he was there with them. "But what about what we found on the surface?"

Fordyce had been about to object to Armory Ford telling Burnie he could "have whatever you need." People around here thought latinum grew on trees or something. They had a whole crate full of scanners of all kinds down in storage, not to mention the equipment already laying abandoned in labs and the like. But drones? What kind of drones? They didn't just have drones laying around. And recovery equipment? He'd have to get a license for that, find an industrial replicator, get transport to move it to the mine... But Eden broke his concentration by interjecting about Gregnol. The very mention of him was enough to draw his full attention. Ford was keen on finding Gregnol. Finding Gregnol meant he could find some peace and quiet.

"What'd we find on the surface?"

"Nothing clear," Jake replied. "Equinox Industries are probably involved somehow. Something to do with that mystery cargo we found, I'll wager. Right now, though, if we have other folks trapped down there too then we should head in and find them."

"I meant the blood. If he were injured up here would he be down there with them? I mean there's no way to know unless we look." Eden didn't want to discourage anyone; she just often thought out loud.

Jeassaho looked at them all taking in what they were all saying, trying to rationalize it all. It was clear that everyone was just as concerned and following every lead like her. "We need to check there before we can follow any more leads," Jeassaho said, hating how that sounded. They could not use resources that they did not have to look somewhere if there was a possibility that the man was there. It was what the Humans called a catch 22 situation in her mind.

"Now hold on," Burnie said. He'd been absorbed in making a mental list of what he needed to gather, but now took note of what was being said. "We only got two badges for access from the mine. I figure we could fast talk a third person in, but not this whole group. Besides, the area isn't stable, so fewer are better, though we could use someone right outside and someone on the ship monitoring. That's five at most, so others can track down any other leads."

He started pacing, anxious to get going. "That said, for the mine, it should be me, one other engineer, and maybe Leiddem for muscle. We'll wear transponders to boost the signal for emergency beam out and bring three extra. But for back-up and S&R: cables, safety harnesses, emergency braces, and anti-grav units in case the ceiling falls. I've got some small inspection drones I can mod for searching, and a ...few other items... in my office that might be useful. Also, someone grab a medkit and extra doses of triox."

"You know the engineering crew best. Maybe that one that helped you out with the industrial replicator business?" Jake suggested with a shrug. "Rest of us need to keep looking. Maybe investigate this Equinox bunch."

"Cami? She is small enough to sneak in if we need to." Leiddem liked the suggestion a lot more than his sister coming along. "I am a medic, so brawn and medical in one," Leiddem spoke up. Normally it would have been followed by a joke, but now was not the time when his brother-in-law was missing along with now the ship's doctor and another engineer.

"Okay." Burnie nodded. "I'll grab her. You get an emergency medkit and meet us at the gangway," he said, heading off toward engineering.

"Well looks like we know who is in charge at the moment," Leiddem said with a small shrug at the others as she ran off to get hopefully what was a full kit already prepared so as to not waste much more time. Jeassaho watched her brother go with a shake of her head.

"So that leaves us. You said you need research doing?" Jeassaho asked quickly, thinking she could use her nervous energy for that. It would be useless for anything else at the moment other than hoping that her husband's communication signal came back on.

Jake gave her a nod. "Between you and Cassie, hopefully we'll dig something up."

OFF::

Michael Burnstein
Chief Engineer
SS Mary Rose

Eden Bowers
Chief Helmsman
SS Mary Rose

Dr. Fordyce "Ford" Kirschler
Chief of Operations
SS Mary Rose

Jake Ford
Chief Armoury Officer
SS Mary Rose

Leiddem Kea
Weapons Master
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Gregnol)

Jeassaho Kea
Engineer
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Gregnol)

Jinx Jorasco
Chief Science
SS Mary Rose