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Jillian stepped in, "... and you can count on me to advise you otherwise. We'll help each other out, don't worry. Though, I'm just worried what we're going to do when we make first contact. I mean, if whatever race built this tech is still out there, how are they going to feel that we stripped their ship apart and used what worked to make our own? Plus the language barrier, and then there may be other races that are just naturally hostile. I mean, they didn't have that 'Fire-Titan' weapon to inact policework. That's a major weapon. Why have it?"
She looked at the viewport, then down at the opening button, but she decided against it. "Well, maybe I'm just worrying to much." |
"Thank you, again, ma'am." she said and nodded. The captain had a few good points, especially about the language barrier and hostility... She saw the captain glance at the button and laughed a little. "Maybe," she began, "but someone has to worry, right?"
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She nodded. "I suppose that's true, and who better to worry then the person who has to deal with it, right?" She smiled. "I'm sorry to ramble at you, but I think you'll find that's probably going to become part of the job during this mission."
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Amelia laughed out right, "I don't mind. Part of my job is to also share in the worry and help you out with solutions and stress relief, isn't it?" she asked, "We're here for one another to rely on, I think." Amelia added after a short pause.
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Jillian smiled. "Well, I think I will. Be relying on you, that is. I'll need all the help I can get, I fear, and I can't think of a single person who I'd want to be helping me besides you, even though I've only known you a short time now." She scratched her forehead, trying to hide her blushing slightly. "Now I KNOW that was a little too forward of me." She laughed.
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Amelia laughed again, "Perhaps, this time, but I still don't mind." she responded, "And it's not as though I mind you relying on me. It is what I'm here for..." she smiled. She was a bit flabbergasted, and what she said seemed to be all she could formulate.
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Jillain stood, walked over to the security station, and started typing on the screen. She pulled up the ship's layout, and set it to scan. "Well, they say turnabout is fair play. Certianly you must have questions for me, and I've been asking plenty of you. I'll answer anything you ask, promise." She smiled back at her.
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Amelia smiled a little, unsure what to say, "As of this moment, I haven't any questions, but if I come up with any, of course you'll be the first I ask." she said, hoping it would reassure the captain that she wouldn't be alone in leaning on another person.
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Jillian shrugged, and sat down after turning off the security screen. She sat again, and pulled up her own screen, and typed. She couldn't think of what to say, so she glanced at Amelia occasionally, also checking the clock.
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Amelia sighed, for no particular reason, and looked around again. She wasn't sure what to say either, so she turned to talking about work again, "So, when the crew gets here, other than the roll call for the crew log, what is our first task?" she asked.
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Jillian smiled, obviously glad to talk about something she knew. "Well, once roll is called, we'll await all stations to check in with systems go. Then, we'll test the sublight drive by making a short burst to Mars. Once we confirm everything is working, we'll sublight to the edge of the system, then Warp-Jump to the nearest starsystem. Once there, we'll begin a scouting mission for planets that can support human life, or supports extra-terrestrial life. If we confirm the second, we are to begin negotiations for a neutrality treaty and maybe Star Charts or other technology."
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Amelia smiled. It all sounded so exciting, but she had a bit of a confession also, "It sounds sort of frightening when you explain it like that." he laughed, "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm completely thrilled about this! It's amazing and I'm honored to be here! But when you think about what we're doing... REALLY think about it, it's a bit scary. We'll be the only ones out there from Earth, and if something goes wrong out there... Who knows what can happen..." she admitted.
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She nodded, looking slightly grim. "It's a long way from home we're going. No human has gone to where we go." She smiled. "But I think, if we all work together, we can make it through this, and even more then that, we will do what no one has done before us. First Contact." She looked at the Viewscreen. "I wonder what they'll look like? I wonder if they'll already know about us?" She smiled at looked at Amelia. "Wouldn't it be a lot easier if they could already speak English? Or really any language. High command has probably put speakers of as many languages as they could find on the crew, in case they already know one of ours." She leaned back, thinking. "Maybe they knew French, or Spanish. Heck, maybe ancient Egyptian, if you buy into that 'aliens made the pyramids' theory."
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Amelia laughed, "Aliens also made stonehenge " she smiled, "Not sure where that gets us though. All we have is myths and conspiracy theory to go off of what these others will be like... I wonder what will be true." she said, "But I'm sure it will be fine. We can find a way around the language barrier one way or another. The only real issue is if they are hostile or not." she said, now considering aloud the possibilities herself. She couldn't be just reassuring anymore. They had no idea what was out there, and they had to be prepared for anything.
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Jillian nodded. "I'm sure we'll learn pretty quickly if they are hostile. If we're lucky, we'll encounter a ship like the one on Europa. Command was nice enough to upload a copy of the original ship's blueprints. With those, we could potentially disable and capture them, and more importantly their ship. If we do find hostile life, Earth's going to need a fleet, and to get a fleet going we're going to need these parts." She reached up, stroking her chin, as she leaned back in her chair. "That's actually one reason I'm against this mission. It seems more important to try to understand this technology then make first, and potential contact. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to cancel this mission for anything, but I wouldn't mind a year or two's delay." She looked at the closed viewport again, scowled, and hit the open button. She walked to the viewport as it opened, clasping her hands behind her again. "But it's to late now, so there's no use in me complaining about it."
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Amelia nodded, considering what her captain had just said, "I disagree." she heard herself say, then sat up a little straighter as she went on, "I believe it would be more important to make contact and understand the race who made the technology, in order to recreate the technology that we have become so fascinated with." she explained. She found it amazing she had discovered something she disagreed with Captain Jillian on. Amelia knew it was bound to happen eventually though.
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Jillian leaned back, chewing her lip a moment. "Is suppose that is a good point. But what if something happens to this ship. We could loose thousands of years of technological advances in the blink of an eye. The setback from that would be even worse if whatever happened out there brought hostile Aliens back here. Could Earth really hold out against a fleet of ships like the one we found?"
She sat back. She found herself enjoying Amelia as a debate partner. She hoped it would reflect well on the two of them being in charge. |
Amelia smiled a little, enjoying the challenge, "Perhaps we could lose all this technology in the blink of an eye, but perhaps we were not meant to have it in the first place for a reason. Humans did not create this, and we can hardly understand it. Perhaps losing it would be the price we pay for dabbling in knowledge beyond our capabilities.
"By meeting with those who created this beautiful thing, the ones who know what they are doing with it, maybe we could then understand and adapt the knowledge they have that we don't. If we could do that, we would be able to rebuild and maybe even advance this further!" she exclaimed all at once, barely taking a moment to breathe. Amelia took a breath quickly before adding, "And suppose this race we should meet is not hostile. They could teach us so much, and perhaps help us save our planet and our people. Though, if they are hostile, that too could be what we get for trying on shoes that were too big for us to fill in the first place." she said. Amelia utterly enjoyed the debate they were having, and she was thrilled it was a friendly one rather than a hostile one. Tension between the two commanding powers could prove tragic to the mission. Though, it seemed as the women got along as though they had been best friends all their lives, and it certainly felt to Amelia like they had. |
Jillian clicked her tongue, shaking her head. "Humanity's natural curiosity has gotten us into trouble before, but if we can give us some security we should. Our attempt to explore the final fronteir shouldn't be stopped, but we shouldn't just rush in. Certainly we could wait until we at least understand the weapons better. We found three new weapons on the old ship, but we only waited till we understood only one enough to get it to run to-" She stopped dead, her eyes wide. "Oh hell, that was classified, wasn't it?" She put the palm of her hand against her forhead, covering her eyes. "Oh man. I'm glad we had this debate before the rest of the crew showed up." She looked up at Amelia. "I hope you can keep that to yourself."
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Amelia's eyes widened as well, "You mean, we're going into this practically blind?! All we do is know how to run one of the weapons?" she asked in a loud whisper. Amelia covered half her face with her right hand and looked in that direction. She rubbed the side of her nose near her eyes, then laughed, "Well, I'm sure I can do better than you just did, no offense, Captain." she joked, hoping the Captain was comfortable enough not to scold Amelia for that.
"I thought we had better knowledge than that... I was informed so anyway. That changed my argument quite a bit..." she laughed a little. |
Jillian shook her head. "Oh no, we know how the long range hyperdrive unit works, but we've never tested it. We couldn't, really, didn't have the room. And we-" She stopped, looking around again. "We have tested the local warp drive, with 100% success in thrity-three tests." She leaned back, returning from a whisper to a normal pitch. "We can get around a star system just fine, and we know how to fix the hyper-drive if it breaks. No, I was refuring to the other weapons we found." She looked around the room, then pressed a button on her chair, and stood. "Join me in my ready room, number one? Less chance of someone walking in on this." She put her hands behind her back, waiting. Either she would want to hear this, and would, or she didn't, and wouldn't. Jillian felt her second in command should know the full details of this mission.
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Amelia hesitated- she wasn't completely sure she wanted to know everything she was about to find out. On the one hand, it would add to her anxiety on top of it being her first mission... But on the other, it was her duty to aid the captain in maintaining and commanding the ship, so it would be wrong of her not to go and listen. She chewed her lip momentarily and then stood up with conviction- she would hear it whether she liked it or not, she told herself, "Good idea, Captain. It would cause a panic if the information was heard, especially if it was relayed wrong. You lead." she nodded with a small smile.
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Jillian nodded, then turned and headed out of the door. She took an immediate right, entering her ready room.
The room was large, and spacious. An empty fishtank, without even water, was set into the wall. Another window looked out into space, and at the Lunar Space Station outside. Several pictures were on her desk, as well as some paper and a pencil. An open doorway off to the side lead to a bedroom, and the open doorway next to that lead to a bathroom. "Have a seat." Jilliam motioned toone of the chairs in front of the desk. She herself sat behind the desk, and opened it. From within she drew a container and a pair of cups, which she set down and opened the container for. "Limonade?" She asked, holding the container up. "It's one of a couple of drinks I brought to share with any aliens we might meet, as well as for a little taste of home. It and the two soda's are the only non-alcholic ones I brought, and I don't want my officers drinking on the job." She suggested the last part lighthearted, both assuring Amelia she didn't think she would, but warning her against trying. |
Amelia nodded, taking the seat, "Yes, I would love some thank you." At the last bit Amelia laughed, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear, "Well, no need to worry about that, ma'am, I don't drink at all." she said. Then she looked around the room, tempted to linger on the pictures, but not wishing to be rude. She looked back to Jillian immediately and put on a more serious face, "So, what else do you need to tell me?" she asked.
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She nodded, pouring out a pair of glasses and dropping an ice cube into each. "I assume I don't need to tell you everything we say here can never leave this room. As my First Officer, in the event of my death you would learn this stuff anyway, but there might be a time when you'll need this information before then."
She slid the glass across the desk. "Now, you are aware that we found a ship, that isn't this one, on Europa. Now, this is already known to just about everyone. Inside, we found technology that far surpassed our own. The one that has been made public is the Faster-then-light Drive, which you saw when we visited engineering. As I mentioned, we haven't actually tested it yet, not in a real space environment. The Science team was afraid it might fly through the facility and be lost into space. The ones the military didn't release to the public was a Sublight drive, allowing us to cross from Earth to beyond Pluto and back in about three minutes, as well as an artificial gravity generator. It created a downward pull in any set direction, as weak or as strong as needed. What only the highest people know is we only know basically how to turn it up and down. We don't even know if we can turn it on and off, just all the way down, or cut the power to it. There are 16 controls for it, two of which have been used." She sipped her lemonade for a moment before continuing. "Then, we have the alien weapon 'fire-titan'. We don't know how the original controls for the weapon worked, because they were destroyed. The console that activates it now works because we just sent power through each wire till we knew what they all do, then hooked buttons up to that." She rotated her chair to look out the window. "What no one else know is we found another superweapon, and what we think may be a standard armament." She sipped her lemonade again, giving Amelia a chance for some questions before she went into the two other weapons. |
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