Futuristic The Equinox

[Stem]

╰┈➤ VERAS
Veras’ fingers moved deftly over the control panel, eyebrow twitching minutely at the readings that were spit out at him. Everything was functioning normally: all panels were in working order, the computer systems were tied in and ready for use, the biobeds were fully operational, and the small lab in the med bay had every single piece of equipment he'd requested. Checking off the last item on his report, he turned off the panel and took a step back. With one last look over the circular room, Veras turned and exited the medbay, quickly dragging his tail through before the sliding door could close.

Though he'd been working with Technome for years now, this was his first ship assignment, and he was determined to see everything operating at peak efficiency. The assignment had not been his first choice, but he understood the politics of the organization as well as anyone else and knew that it was only a matter of time before they sent him out. A Velleskin wandering Technome headquarters did not paint the picture they were trying to portray.

The Equinox was a small science vessel, Nebula class. It was the smallest starship he’d ever been on, though that was hardly surprising, considering most of his interstellar journeys had either been on transport ships or the simulations at the academy. There were only four sections, two turbo lifts, two decks. The bridge, engineering, sick bay, and the science lab. Aside from that, there was the tiniest mess hall he’d ever seen, a meeting room that he didn’t foresee being used often, and crew quarters. They were on a quick, one-month survey mission of a planetary nebula in sector 062 of the Andromeda galaxy to test the ship's capabilities.

As he walked, he lifted his wrist closer to his mouth to speak into his communicator. “Veras to bridge, medical report. All systems are fully operational.” He approached turbo lift 1 and waited for the doors to open before stepping inside. “Bridge,” he instructed and heard the beep of the computer’s compliance before the lift started moving. The turbo-lift slowed to a halt at his destination, and he steeled himself, standing up just a bit straighter as the doors opened, allowing him to step out onto the bridge to meet the rest of his colleagues who had finished their reports.

It would be the smallest crew he'd ever been apart of, and his first time not serving under a human, or Homo Totus. He'd never met a Cerebim before, and knew nothing beyond the fact that most Velleskin considered them to be a particularly weak race. They disapproved of most things without armor plating. He was particularly interested in their Navigations Officer, Tobi. He'd never met a Holo-Sapient before, and wondered what it might be like, living without any sort of physical form.

 

[diogenesUnchained]

YAROM

---

Yarom was quite literally vibrating with excitement in his captain's chair, floating right above it. He kept his cool enough to remember his training though, watching the reports come in green across the board. This was the first time they had complete unsupervised command of a vessel. The first time they've flown a maiden voyage, and it was the first time working with such a diverse crew. It was also his first voyage without a security officer, but a timeframe of a single month should be perfectly fine without one.

They "looked" around at the others in the bridge, wondering how best to lead a crew like this. 3 out of the 5 were created artificially, making their experiences far different than his. His usual methods of relating to them might not work. Not to mention, most were not looked upon too favorably in A.G.A.T.H.A, so it could even be seen that this mission was one of expendables. The only real exception to this was the Homo Totus, who were one of the most respected species in the galaxy. He focused further onto Aser Ooliab 213, noting his perfectly symmetrical features, healthy cells, and clean cut clothing. Maybe he was sent by the higher ups to babysit the miscreants of the group. Still though, all of them have done good work before, except 213, who got in on almost entirely academic skill with nearly no experience. According to their files, he had just reached the Homo Totus's age of assignment, being sent out almost immediately on the Equinox assignment. At the same time, he supposed Ena held about the same level of experience, being only 12 and programmed entirely for this specific mission. Come to think of it, this crew was full of little asynchronicities. His telepathy didn't work with half of the crew

A crackling rose in the communicator floating nearly next to his audio receptor, breaking him out of his fervent analysis.
"Veras to bridge, medical report. All systems are fully operational."
More importantly, he heard the Velleskin think it before he even said it. A little slip of his that only really happens with speech. Yarom liked to make it a point not to read a mind when he didn't need to, since most species found it a massive invasion of privacy. He turned the captains chair with him fully about face to greet Veras as he stepped onto the bridge.

He fired up the speech simulator as a deep, monotone, mechanical voice filtered out.

"Welcome to the bridge of the Equinox, Veras, hope you enjoy your stay on it's maiden voyage. Just cross your meat digits that we don't hit a space iceberg. "

The holographic display below the speaker showed a small face did two finger pistols and a wink

"Let me do one final check in with everyone else before we go ahead and take off."

Yarom turned around to face the rest of the bridge.

"Ena, Tobi, 213, is everyone all set?"

 

[mogy]

213​

---

213 held a black notebook in his hands and walked around the somewhat-smaller room. Each step or head turn resulted in yet another check mark added onto the notebook list. So far there was everything 213 needed to successfully fulfil his duty to the universe and all that inhabit it—self-building on-need terrariums, testing chambers, specimen chronolocks, matter generators, so on and forth. Of course, the lab itself, like mentioned, was much smaller than what 213 was used to back home, but taking into consideration that there weren’t 511 other Asers onboard made up for the fact.

His reflection stared back at him as he looked up from his notebook into one of the closed lockers. Everything was spotless, and that brought out a smile from 213. There was always a chance that he would end up somewhere not-as-perfect, not utilizing his full potential. Though, it seemed that the smile wasn’t solely caused by lack of griminess; perhaps being here alone, without another Aser to share the experience with, wasn’t exactly the worst thing in the world, or was, maybe, even something 213 secretly liked about the entire mission.

It wasn’t long before he continued and put the last check mark into the notebook before promptly closing it and putting it safely into his back pocket.

“Okay. Now just be yourself and be pleasant.” He instructed himself, taking a deep breath in as he checked that he looked appropriate; that his hair wasn’t a mess or that he didn’t have something in his teeth. Needless to say, 213 had never met anyone who wasn’t a Homo Totus—which was why his intrigue had sprinkles of nervousness in it. A Valleskin, an Inheritor, and perhaps the most interesting, a Cerebim. Those were all species he’d learned about back home, and now he actually got to meet them, in person! A Holo-Sapient being on board also made for an interesting puzzle piece—it was going to be an exciting and unique journey, definitely. “Phew, you can do this successfully, 213. You can do this successfully.” He encouraged himself before stepping out of the science lab and making his way towards the bridge.

The elevator was quick to arrive and even quicker to transport 213 to the bridge. Just as his name was being said, in fact. “Y-Yes, sir. The science lab has all necessary equipment and is secured for travel.” He stood firmly but could not refrain himself from speaking again. “I’m 213— I mean, Aser Ooliab 213, and I just want to say that it’s a pleasure to meet everyone.” After that concoction of words, he shut his lips and just remained in place. Awkward.

 

[GrieveWriter]

ENA
Interaction/Mention: Stem diogenesUnchained mogy
Location: Engineering ==> Bridge

Peak performance, peak potential.

Diagnostic scans on the inner workings of the Equinox revealed more or less what ENA had been prepped for prior to the mission. Compared to most exploration vessels in the various catalogues of those partnered with A.G.A.T.H.A, the Equinox was small and compact to an almost worrying degree. Of course, it had passed preliminary exams and field-testing fairly thoroughly, doing far better than prior attempts to streamline expedition vessels.

If they got through the first mission with minimal issue, ENA fully expected to see the Equinox-model replicated en masse for future endeavors. It was a point of pride that all Inheritors would enjoy their inclusion in, and ENA was fairly confident the rest of the micro-crew she was working with had similar expectations for it.

She had gone to the Engineering deck the first opportunity she had, taking stock of everything from the Ochtran drive to the floor paneling. There was no reason to believe A.G.A.T.H.A would underdeliver on such an endeavor, but she did not take shortcuts when it came to her purpose.

Ventilation, Drive stability, wiring and power levels were all scanned and cleared before being transmitted to the bridge. All done without her ever having to move from the center of the room. With her task complete, she wordlessly turned and made her way to the turbolifts, as soon as the initial reports were completed their mission could begin properly.

She joined the rest of the crew on the bridge, silently standing at attention whilst looking towards the Captain. He was a Cerebrim named Yarom, little more than a large brain floating over the Captain's chair. Despite the lack of expression, she could see he was shaking with either anticipation or concern. The last of their crew, a Velleskin known as Veras, was the last to arrive to their meeting. He was their medical officer, who would be useful for examining any flora/fauna that they might encounter.

Him and the Science Officer, who spoke up the moment their Captain requested confirmation on their preparedness.

213, Aser Ooliab, a genetically modified human known as a Homo Totus. He responded to the Captain's question quickly but not as fluently as ENA expected. His words were tinged with some flavor of worry. She would assume it was just first day jitters, he was still human after all.

"Engineering diagnostics complete." she stated once he was done, her attention staying locked on Yarom "Systems nominal, Captain. Full report uploaded logged for review. "