In reply to Mac Anderson (msg # 34):

Talja looks over at Mac's back, hesitates a second, then inquires, "Lieutenant Anderson, what brings you to Starfleet? I've only ever heard of one Xenexian in the fleet, on the Excalibur. A Captain... Calhoun, I think. Your names are so close to some on Earth, from northern Europe."

The hirsute lieutenant's fingers paused painfully over the control board as he gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and counted slowly back from ten.

"Ensign, don't you have something better to do besides small talk?" he warned.

In reply to Ensign Sosal (msg # 33):

" It's honestly no trouble, Ensign," Rai tells Sosal, smiling bemusedly, " I'm quite comfortable talking about this. My choice to avoid certain foods, even in their simulated forms, is something that I have elected to sacrifice as an extension of a principle. I do not eat replicated meat for the same reason I will not commit simulated murder on the holodeck; I find the acts morally objectionable, and to engage in them would minimize their real-life equivalents."

In reply to Mac Anderson (msg # 36):

At Mac's tone, Talja reflexively braces to attention for a brief second, then replies, "Yes sir," and goes back to her console, chastened.

In reply to Mac Anderson (msg # 34):

After five days of an uneventful voyage, the Ruanbouts arrive at the coordinates of the Dyson Sphere.


When Mac and Cassy open a hailing frequency, Dyson Base responds, "Welcome, USS Cuyahoga and USS Kitchissippi. Please proceed to coordinates 2384 by 9712 mark 20 and await instructions."

"Thank you, Dyson Base.  We'll be there shortly."   Keying the coordinates takes only moments before she sets the Cuyahoga's course and the ship begins turning.   Looking then to the others, "Might as well take some readings while we're outside...."   Why not.

"It doesn't look so massive from this far out, does it?" Gian muses.

In reply to Gian Seingalt (msg # 42):

And it rapidly gets bigger. Eventually, it bots out all sight of the stars, and you still haven't approached close enough to even see any texture to the featureless grey surface.

In reply to Relic GM (msg # 40):

"Confirmed, Dyson."

Mac pulled the Kitchissippi in at the lowest speed the regs specified, along an approach path at the edge of their window.

"Everyone aboard get a good look now, I can't promise you we'll be let out to gawk for a while."

In reply to Mac Anderson (msg # 44):

"You folks getting a good eyeful out there?" The words from Dyson Base Flight Ops are a woeful understatement. Up close, the Sphere is mind boggling. Many identical panels make up its surface, dotted with structures of unknown purpose.


Up ahead is a large round depression, which turns out to be a portal with a set of 2000 metre wide octagonal doors.


"Maintain station at Z plus 10,000 metres until the blue tractor beams finish their scans."


The doors slide ponderously open and a dazzling array of bright blue beams begin a complicated dance.

[OOC I love it when there are ready-made images to outline what I'm trying to describe. :)]
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:10, Sat 30 July 2016.

"Hey, it would be a shame not to check it out, right?" Mac said, talking to Dyson Ops. He wasn't about to be made to feel bad about this...

In reply to Mac Anderson (msg # 46):

Dyson Ops replies, "Commander Samson says take your time. You only get one first look, so make it a good one." The Ops officer laughs good naturedly. "As soon as the tractor beams finish their scans pattern, you're good to go. If you want to sight-see outside first, just let us know when you want to enter."
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:53, Sat 30 July 2016.

"So they haven't figure out how to deactivate the tractors yet," Argent comments. "That is good to know."

"I wonder of anyone has landed on the exterior surface and examined any of those structures. There might be access hatches to the interior of the shell."

"For that matter, there could be any number of other ships examining the shell at other places, and we would never see them."

In reply to Argent Merawdr (msg # 48):

Shione tried to not look wide eyes at the immensity of what they were here to explore,but failed and chose to live with any jibes for her openly awestruck reaction

"Damn,That's a whole new definition of Huge!
I wonder if a scan would tell us if any other ships are scanning outside Argent?
Any idea of how thick the sphere's surface is?"

In reply to Shione (msg # 49):

Talja pipes up, "The shell is a foamed carbon-neutronium composite with many subsurface voids and equipment presumed to contain circulation equipment for the Class-M environmental systems as well as artificial gravity and power generators and is an average of 2500 metres thick. Currently, the starship Bras D'or is on a mapping mission to chart the exterior of the Sphere."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:52, Sat 30 July 2016.

In reply to Ensign Talja Groen (msg # 50):

"Is the surface uniformly the same Talja or are there some interesting anomolies that we could look at,assuming we have Mac's permission to do so?"

Mac nodded.

"Well I guess if we've got permission I think we'll go on a short field trip to see if our cone is secured proper. We'll try to keep things tight and the flat hatting to a minimum. Kitchissippi out." He tapped the communications off and rotated his seat to face the others.

"You heard him, we've got a castle pass for our approach. Everyone take a moment to highlight a few points of interest and forward it to my console. I'll knock out a flight path to move us into range for as many as I think we can get away with."

"Ensign Gröen, you're up on point for sensors. Pick your backup. Whoever's left, take Tactical and look out for ghosts. Ghosts: They're invisible right now but scary if agitated. We don't know if we're going to run into ghosts, but Dyson is a giant question mark and I don't think any of us want any surprises just because we weren't careful enough with the gigantic, mostly unknown alien artifact. In fact, we'll perform this little hop running with the shield board hot and the phasers yellow - just like we might if we were approaching a minefield and not an archeology site, okay?"

"This is for fun, but it's also another shakedown. As far as I know the exterior of Dyson isn't inhabited, but let's not forget the Jenolan - Dyson is unstable, unknown, and known to be deadly."

He rotated his seat forward again and tabbed the communications back on.

"Dyson, you want to hand us a red list for flight paths out here? I don't want to hatch any surprises just because I'm sticking our heads in pots looking for pie. If there's anywhere the Dyson builders left something nasty out here, I don't want to trip over it."

In reply to Mac Anderson (msg # 52):

Shione speaks up
"I'll take Tactical,but Ghosts.Lt?That a synonym for something?"

In reply to Mac Anderson (msg # 52):

Dyson Ops replies, "We'd appreciate if you'd stay clear of the other nine entrance portals for now. Coordinates follow. Maintain 10,000 metres clearance. They all look the same anyway... The USS Bras D'or's survey location's coordinates follow if you want to take a look."

"Euphemism. We're in someone else's house, poking our noses into things we don't quite understand. I don't want an unpleasant end to surprise us at the very beginning of our mission. So as of now we're on point, even though this is isn't on our official assignments. Assume the castle is haunted, be prepared for anything. No surprises."

He tabbed communications.

"Roger that Dyson. No sightseeing the backdoors, ten klicks minimum altitude." He relayed the Bras D'or's survey data through the communication link to everyone else's panels.

Mac turned to look at their Ensign. Part of the whole process for Ensigns was educational... to prepare them for the considerations of being an officer. Mac didn't consider himself much of an officer by inclination, but he took the idea of mentoring junior officers seriously.

"Gröen, is it okay if JG Kurasa takes Tactical since she has a preference? Tell me if you've got any special considerations for collecting your data and I'll try to make them happen. As soon as we get underway for this, you're our specialist-in-charge. I'll only overrule you if I think we're in danger, so be careful and thorough, okay?"

"How are you doing Argent? Sorry we're not allowed to look for those surface entrances you mentioned. The point about the other ships doesn't make me less itchy, so along with everything else we're about to do let's see if we can't stretch the envelope and see if we can't specifically look for other ships that might be in the area - this thing has been around for a long time as a navigational hazard. Maybe we'll luck out and find another Jenolan."

"Let's get that flight path ready," he ordered before standing up and heading towards the replicator. "I'm going to go grab a sandwich before I take us in."

A couple days of travel wasn't nearly enough to reassure him of the Kitchissippi's mission readiness, so he was glad that they had an opportunity to do some real work "for fun" before they were tasked to do it as part of their official duties.

In reply to Mac Anderson (msg # 55):

Dyson Ops clarifies, "Negative that 10k minimum altitude, Kitchissippi. You may NOE, or should that be NOS as we're nowhere near Earth." He chuckles at his own attempt at humour. "Simply maintain 10 klicks distance from the portals."
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:37, Sun 31 July 2016.

On the Cuyahoga, Seingalt leans over to the flight officer. "What do you want to do, Lieutenant? Wait, explore, or head inside?"

She looks to the other three and with no suggestions on their part nods, "Let's get inside.   Our mission is in there and it looks like Kitchissippi is going to have a poke around out here anyway.  I don't don't know about you," said in plural, "But I'm very keen to find out what our orders are!"   And assuming no immediate disagreement, she'll edges the Cuyahoga forward into position to be scanned and, once done, through the portal....

In reply to Cassiadora (msg # 58):

OOC It is not fair to us to have the Kitchissippi go off and leave the Cuyahoga crew waiting.
We should stay together and not leave other players waiting for us,

It is a group game
Let's go in and continue

I was wrong to want to look outside,especially as that is not where the adventure is

Just my opinion,but we need to be responsible to what is best for us all

In reply to Shione (msg # 59):

[OOC] Well, I'm going to split the threads until you all meet up again. When next the two ships go out together I'll try something different - a dedicated thread for each thread with a third thread for intership actions.]