Waiting a little longer for more questions Ascott finally decides he has waited long enough. Looking around the conference room once more he states:
"Lt. Maxwell, your primary task for now will be to investigate what the heck happened here. Use whatever resources needed, talk to whoever you need to talk to, find out who or what tried to sabotage and kill us. The men I mentioned are at your disposal. Everyone else is hereby ordered to ccorporate with her when required. Consider her the law on the ship for now." He looks around, seemingly looking for someone in particular.
"Ah, yes, Mr. Cornell. Excellent job on the reactor. M4RC0 tells me your expertise saved our asses. Would you mind sticking around at engineering for now to help get things up to speed? It would free up a lot of time for tech-sergeant Kong-We. You could coordinate with her and the graycoats over here," he gestured to the people in the gray coveralls, "and get them all up and running? I'm sure Sergeant-Major Musashi over there can assist you if needed. Both the Agri-decks and R&D wont be active just yet anyway, and I'd hate to see you twiddle your thumbs." He chuckles.
"Unless ofcourse the ship is in such a great shape that twiddling our thumbs is all we have to do. But i'm sure I can find decks to scrub then."
Some of the marines dare a laugh, immediately catching a deadly glare from the Major. He then motions for the young man at the far end of the first row to join him on stage. It's the dandy fellow that came in with Germaine.
"Mr. VanderBeek here has some words for you all. If you need me, just use the ships comms or find me in person. I'll be... everywhere for now I think."

"Thank you Major Ascott." He rests his weight casually on his black cane, waiting for the Major to step back.
"Good morning people. According to the ship clocks it is nearly 1300 hours. The recreational decks will not be opened for the public, you that is, untill the civilians start to wake up. Its no use pressurising and powering 12 decks without it being in staffed. The same will go for many other areas of the ship that are usually meant for the civilians. So for now, as chief morale officer, my task will be improving the morale by improving the food from the barracks, and getting us all some decent rooms. The military mess hall will be accessible by all untill otherwise noted, and we will have three meals a day there. The Major was so kind to assign me a few marines I can teach the art of preparing that food, so be patient with them..."
Some of the soldiers look at each other in shock. Cooking wasn't really part of their marine training. The only one with a remote smile was a marine with a french flag under his armpatch.
"For that much needed rest and drink when you are off duty, I have decided the officers bar will be open in the evenings." Ascott rejoins VanderBeek at the pedestal. He waits for him to finish up.
"After all, we all need some relaxation at times."

"Now, those of you without any other questions, you are dismissed. Those of you that do have them, stick around. Lets make this work people, and make me proud."

Stephen nodded. "Yes, once I leave here I'll return to Engineering and get a crew up to speed in the reactor. Happy to help. I already have a preliminary report on the reactor and the power flow through the ship available."

He looked around trying to decide who to trust, who he could speak with. Finally he decided the only people he would trust for now were those who dealt with the initial emergency. It was logic with holes in it, yes, but less holes than anything else he could come up with.

He approached Lt. Maxwell. "Ma'am, it's nice to put a face to the orders, and in a less critical situation. Dr. Stephen Cornell, may I have a word?"

  As Ascott, more or less , dismisses them. Shadow says to Maxwell,..I'm off to the Hangers again, 'Captain'... let me know  when the recDec is up....


 He smiles at Steve when he comes over,..hey,  Steve,  Make sure you get a cup of coffee inside you...been a rough 'morning' for us..eh?

  As he turns to leave , he walks over to Kong-We,... when yer   ready,  I'll be down the Hangers  for a bit  longer. Then i'll need a sleep , i think.But you make sure ya get a bit of tucker in ya , or at least somethin' ta drink..the shakes  will catch ya soon enough, if ya don't..

I will worry about me pilot. You just worry about yourself. Ill meet you on the hangar deck, bay one.
The asian woman hastily makes her way out. Presumably to go eat.

"I realise I'm a bit late, but what is my assigned task? Would I be helping survey the engines, or helping search through the ship's systems for the culprits?"

For now assist Lt. Maxwell where you can. Die up any information that might still be hidden in the AI. We wont start the engines till tomorrow at the soonest anyway.

  Shadow  nod to Kong-We as she leaves.  He will go up to the Officer's mess and see about starting up a coffee machine ( searching  for   coffee and sugar!)

  He will sit and have a cup,  when he's  done he' wash out the Cup and proceed to the Hanger Deck.



>>>>>>>>>>  Shadow to Hanger Dec.

In reply to Stephen Cornell (msg # 21):

   "Of course, Doctor Cornell."  Lt. Maxwell listened to what Doc Cornell had to say.  "You may have heard that cop coffee is terrible, but my machine hasn't degenerated that far, yet.  Stop by sometime for a cup."  She looked around to find her three assistants.  "Now if you will excuse me..."

Thank you Lt. Yes, I will have to come try the, er, cop coffee soon. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm suppose to be getting some bright eyed sorts started in the reactor.

>>>>To Reactor

After everyone who wanted to had finished providing intel or comment the meeting broke up. Rising Lee left with the Marines, who hadn't been assigned to alternate duties, deciding it best to headed back to the Barracks.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:29, Wed 15 Mar 2017.

Almost the last to leave, Blake decides to head to engineering. The bridge is in use, so engineering is the logical place to investigate the ship's problems.

Troy goes to report to Lt. Maxwell.
Troy Patterson Ma'am. I was assigned to your detail. Where do you need me ma'am?
He looks pale, sweating and is shivering a bit. Still he manages to stand upright and salute properly.

In reply to Troy Patterson (msg # 31):

   Maxwell looked closely at Patterson.  "Your first assignment is to get something to eat and drink.  Your body is shutting down from lack of energy and hydration.  If the food and fluid don't help, report to Sick Bay.  Then say in three hours, report to me in the Security section.  I should have your quarters assignment sorted out by then.  After you get your area assigned, draw your initial uniform issue and get squared away.  There's got to be some kind of gym in the barracks.  I'll meet you there at 6 AM tomorrow.  Be ready to work out."

The meeting apparently over, Addison rose and started to head to medical, then noticed Troy's state. She pivoted on her heel and marched over to him, looking him up and down. She didn't bother disagreeing with Jennifer out loud, simply pointed toward the door with the sternest look she could muster. "Medical. Now."

   Jen found the other two members of her unit, Pvt. Ramirez and Pvt. LeBeau.  She gave them almost the same instructions as she had to Sgt. Patterson.  "Your first assignment is to report to Sick Bay.  Then say in three hours, report to me in the Security section.  I should have your quarters assignments sorted out by then.  After you each get your area assigned, draw your initial uniform issue and get squared away.  There's got to be some kind of gym in the barracks.  The duty day is scheduled to begin at 8 AM.  I'll meet you at the gym at 6 AM tomorrow.  Be ready to work out."

   Jen answered their few questions as well as she could, then sent them on their way.  She had somewhere else to be as well.


To:  Captains Quarters

<<<<< from Flight Opps

 As the pair  walked in   Shadow  said,..so   Kelly is a Shelia!....better check through me list again..  don't  wanna  make the same mistake to thier  faces..eh?

"Oh I bet she'd find it hilarious," Timochev replied as walked in.
They were early, none of the other pilots had gathered yet, giving the Russian ample time to prepare his welcoming talk. He quickly checked if the pedestal microphones were on. Then he sat down and waited.
"I think its the only name one could be mistaking with."

  TGhere an embarrassed  Chuckle,  Well..   Well.. I blody well proved  that, didn't I?

   He walks around a bit,..second  time i've been in this room. The Captain had a get together  with some of the Unfrozen.. Be Nice to  see some pilots....which makes me ask...are there Pilots  for the  shuttles  and  Hippos and such... if so..are they Under yer  command too?..might be a thing we need ta do?..cross train folks....we know  someone flew the stolen Hippo out...so they had some training?

"Dropships and shuttles are the marines' cup of tea. They are commanded by Ascott's crew normally, most of the pilots they use are civilians I think. We all know how to fly them, they do not know how to fly fighters. So thats our primary task."

Soon a couple more people started to trickle in. One by one, each wearing the standard grey uniform, the pilots of the fighter group started to arrive. Most wore their personal flight jackets over their jumpsuits, keeping their individuality alive in a place far from home.
The fourth person to enter clearly showed Shadow the error he had made on Kelly Wallace.
She was indeed no bloke. At 5'3" she was short, with a well-trained physique, and the most beautifull eyes Kray had ever seen on a woman. She wore her hair short, blonde spikes that made you wonder what a pilot's helmet would do to the style. Either the hair would flatten, or more likely the spikes would pierce the helmet and render it useless judging by the amount of styling gel she had used to create it. She wore a standard 10mm pistol on her hip, the hilt decorated with silver wings. Her jacket indicated she had been part of the 377th reserves, a unit Shadow had never flown with, hardly even heared about. Stretching herself to counter cryo weariness she joined the other pilots on the front row seats.

The Swede came in nearly last.Kray immediately knew it was him, as he immediately showed why his callsign was 'Giant'. The man was huge. Bald, with clear scandinavian features including the cold blue eyes, he stood at nearly 7 feet tall. It was a miracle he even fit in a fighter cockpit. With a casual nod at most other pilots and a stomp on the shoulder of the Kongolese pilot he slumped into a seat, unscrewing a small thermos flask.

Last of the eighteen to enter was the Frenchman. He was also the strangest.
Sure, he wore a standard grey jumpsuit and had the mandatory 10MM pistol on his hip, but what stood out immediately was the old soft pirate hat on his head, and the pirate flag badges oin his worn leather jacket. His hair was far beyond standard issue lentgh, unkemp and braided at irregular intervals, an his moustache and goatee made him look like old Captain Blackbeard of the movies.

  Shadow was leaning against the wall his arms  crossed,  he wanted to see the folks as they walked in.

 he chuckled a bit to himself, he had hoped that there were a couple he might have saw before, but..he was wrong.

 These folks trained together, know each other, and Outside of Yuri.. he didn't know them at all..at least not the person...he looked over the sheets when everyone was still on ice,  saw some of the ratings  when they were posted for wargames..but in the end. He was the odd man here....then he shrugged, he had been transferred before.. he always managed to find some place to fit in... this was different though... there was no place to go from here.

 He sipped his coffee, nodded to the few who nodded to him, his half smile grew, as he knew they were wondering who the 9 hells he was...

After giving all the pilots a couple minutes to talk and joke around, Commander Timochev takes the stage.

"Ladies, gentlemen," he begins, his voice loud and commanding. "Your attention please."

"Welcome to 2157."

There was a sudden silence, the pilots shocked at that revelation.

"You heard me right... 2157. We slept for 115 years, give or take, and overshot Alpha Centauri by some sixty lightyears. In short, we are not where we planned to be, or when we planned to be there."

"How is this possible?" the frenchman cried out. Some of the others immediately chimed in.

"Ship security is working on that. For what I have heard, someone sabotaged the ship when we arrived at our original destination, and sent us on our way further into space. According to Major Ascott the only reason we are here now is because the AI woke random people to fix a problem with the fusion reactor."

"Incroyable! Quelle malaise!"

"The reactor problem has been fixed, amongst others by our replacement pilot Lieutenant Kray Shadow, RAAF." Timochev pointed in Shadow's direction. Eighteen heads turned to check him out. "Lieutenant Shadow was amongst the first to be woken up, and with some others managed to change the fusion reactor's waste collector batteries, preventing total destruction of this ship."

"But let us get to the matters at hand first. There will be more than enough time for questions. All contact with Earth has been lost. It has been lost for the past 27 years, the reason for this is unclear. At this time it is impossible to say if Terra is still there or not, but our mission remains unaltered. We are here to build a colony, and by god we will. This morning at 0900 CS-8 Marco Pilot fired up her engines and we are en route to the Keppler 118 system. Intelligence suggest several planets inside the habitation zone of their sun, and we are going to check them for a suitable colony location."

"Shouldn't we return to Terra and see what's going on there?" A dark skinned man inquired. Shadow suspected it was the Kongolese zulu.

"And do what exactly?" Timochev replied, a bit more sarcastic than he had intended. "We would need another 115 years to return there, and since we will not be able to activate the cryo pods again once opened, we will all be mighty old by the time we get there. Even our children will be old. No, our best bet is to find a good planet, build a colony, and hope we can re-establish contact with Terra, or other colonies."

"Our mission stands unaltered. We will find a location, build a colony, and our squadron of fighters is there to protect the people working hard to accomplish that. This means we will be doing patrols, more patrols, and likely, even more patrols... We can safely assume that if and when we encounter anything else besides us, it will most likely not be human."

"Rules of engagement are clear however. Unless we are attacked, we will not be using our weapons. We will not, I repeat, will not, provoke combat situations. If ever we encounter anything, we will not be the ones initiating a fight. Am I clear on that?"

As one the pilots replied with a yes sir. They all knew this, Timochev was only repeating what he had told them 115 years ago.

"Good. Now everyone can get some food, some drinks, and get settled in. Time is now 10.53. I expect to see all of you in our own squadron quarters at noon. Its connected to hangar bay one. Marco will upload the directions to your datapads. Save your questions till then."

     When  Yuri  said about the  reactor,  Shadow  gave a  slight  wave to the  others  with his Half  smile.

  The rest of the   meeting he listend, but watched the faces of the others, looking for  Pilots  he  think he might connect with.

At the mention of the reactor all the pilots at least acknowledge Kray. Several of them give him a thumbs up. The Frenchman eyes him suspiciously.

  As they began to  file out to eat and Get ready,  Kray  hangs  Back. Again taking stick of the   new squadron.

   he will, again nod, to those  who might give him a parting look. Otherwise, he doesn't interfere  with their   leaving, they know  each other, he would have to wait  to  get to know them.

looking back at Yuri , He  Grins.

  walking to the door, Shadow  turns  to Yuri,..i'm gonna   head  down to the  Mess, get something small ta  eat. see if anyone wants  ta chat with me? Gotta get to know me mates soon enough..eh?

   Unless Yuri has something for him, he'll head off....

>>>shadow Barracks.