Andromeda Lost (closed)

OOC.

Dale Lorkovski English/Russian, pilot of the Andromeda
Age 36, 6 foot tall, black hair, and dark green eyes, experienced space pilot.


The year is 2279, the interstellar transport shuttle Andromeda is inbound to Earth, with 4 crew members. A course correction burn is required,3 days out, at 75% power, to align the Andromeda up for orbit insertion. This will be an engine burn, with attitude adjusters keeping the craft stable, for 43.59 seconds precisely.

The engine fires for 30 seconds only, and then shuts down, at the same time, all communication with Earth is lost.

IC

The moment the burn started, I sensed we had a problem, something was certainly wrong, I was being pushed forward, towards the Earth. Then, after only thirty seconds, a whole bank of lights went out on the display. All engine power was gone, also, the direct line to control in Australia.

I looked at my co-pilot, and she looked as bemused as me, and then I noticed, the Earth was no longer senter screen, it had pitched left from my viewpoint. The onboard control center computer was flashing, and I hit the communicate key, that was when I heard the terrible message of doom, from our Computer Helen.

"Error message Commander, serious error message, priority maximum. The projected engine burn failed after 30.724 seconds, and the engine exploded due to a major malfunction. The engine is now destroyed, and all communication antennae are also destroyed.
Our current course will place us within 10 kilometres of the crater Daedelus, on the moon. Daedelus is on the section of the moon that always faces away from Earth.
This craft will hit the moon in precisely 29 hours, 38 minutes, and 17 seconds.
What should I do now Commander?
Do I self destruct?"

I looked across at my co-pilot, and all that I could say was,

"Holy shit, what the fuck do we do now?"

Emma Bergvall, Swedish, Co-Pilot of the Andromeda
Age: 27, 5'6" foot, dark blond, wavy hair and blue eyes.

IC

Emma Bergvall smile to herself as she check the numbers and vital signs on the control panel in front of her. She had just adjusted their course after Dale's order. Everything check just fine and Emma lick her lips nervously. This was her first assignment and she feel her nerves twitch before each burn. The nervousness is fighting with her desire to see earth and her family again.

"Everything checked." She tell Dale. "Status and vitals are fine." As she say that she double check the engine status and the thruster status. She feel sweat running down her back and grimace slightly.

"The ship is ready and so am i." She look to the side at Dale. He know how she feel about this part of the journey. She smile and take a deep breath. This won't hurt she try to tell herself. She tense as the burn start.

It do not take many seconds before Emma realise that something is wrong. She is pushed forward in the seat and after only thirty seconds the engine is no more. The display turn blank and the world go ape shit. All controls seem dead, even the line to earth.

Emma meet Dale's gaze and shake her head to let him know that she have no clue what the hell happened. The earth wasn't where it should be. She take a deep breath before looking down at the dead display. "All was fine." She mutter. Dale hit the communicate key.

"Error message Commander, serious error message, priority maximum. The ptojected engine burn failed after 30.724 seconds, and the engine exploded due to a major malfunction. The engine is now destroyed, and all communication antennae are also destroyed.
Our current course will place us within 10 kilometres of the crater Daedelus, on the moon. Daedelus is on the section of the moon that always faces away from Earth.
This craft will hit the moon in precisely 29 hours, 38 minutes, and 17 seconds.
What should I do now Commander?
Do I self destruct?"

Emma stare down at her hands. It was just then that she realised how deep in the shit they are. Dale look at her with the words. "Holy ashit, what the fuck do we do now?"

"Don't press the wrong button." She mumble. This was the worst case scenario except from totally blowing up.

Emma, I knew, was as surprised as I was at this turn of events. To lose the propulsion system was bad enough, but the communication with Earth? Losing that was a major catastrophe. I doubted that they would have any idea what had happened, even though we had made contact an hour ago with our plan, and precedure info. We would just have disappeared off their screens, well, that was my fear. I needed to act quickly, to oake control, and to try to bring some order to this potentially chaotic situation

I looked at Emma,

"At least the lights for internal communication seem to be OK. I had better put a call out for Sheena and Daniel, It is Daniel`s rest period, but he will hear this."

I set the speakers at full volume,

"This is your Captain, we have a situation on board, that will need to be addressed immediately. All crew to assemble on the mess deck, in ten minutes from now. This is an order, not a request.Thank you."

The ship was in virtual free fall, heading for the dark side of the moon, so I figured that an empty bridge for a few minutes would be of no consequence.

OOC:

Engineer Sheena Davies

5'8" 130 lbs red hair, green eyes.

Born Sheena Randolph in Japan to American parents. Her father was a career sailor in the United States Navy and her mom stayed home and raised her and her sister.

About two months ago she married a Canadian architect named Raymond Davies, and was eagerly looking forward to returning home to him. This was her last mission, as she was retiring to start her family.


IC:

Sheena was on her bunk thinking that she would be back on Earth in less than two days and back with Raymond.

When she the ship lurch she knew something was wrong. She was getting ready to go and check the engines when she heard the captain on the Comm stating that he wanted them on the mess deck in ten minutes.

'Just enought time' she thought. Exiting her quarters she knew there was a catastrophic engine failure. They were on emergency power. She ran toward the engine room and found access restricted as part of the room was exposed to space.

'Damn, this isn't good,' she thought. She quicly ran back to the mess deck making it there with a minute to spare.

"At least the lights for internal communication seem to be OK. I had better put a call out for Sheena and Daniel, It is Daniel`s rest period, but he will hear this." Emma nod as Dale put the speakers on full volume.

"This is your Captain, we have a situation on board, that will need to be addressed immediately. All crew to assemble on the mess deck, in ten minutes from now. This is an order, not a request.Thank you."

Emma sigh and stand up from the Co-Pilot seat. She stretch her arms as she try to release the stress of the situation. For every passing second and minute it dawns on her more and more how deep in the shit they are.

"Meet you there." She tell Dale and leave him to his thoughts. She have enough of her own fears to deal with others right this moment. She hope that ten minutes will be enough to get her emotions in check.

The walk to the mess deck feel like the longest in her life. As she reach her destination she know that she ain't the first to reach it. She nod to Sheena.

"The Captain is on his way."

To her own surprise, her voice is steady and even. Her nerves are almost shattered but to her relief it do not show. The only thing that reveal her true feelings are the cold sweat on her forehead.

Daniel Marconi

OOC

Name: Daniel Marconi
Age: 21
Length: 5'10"
Weight: 240 lbs
Hair: Black
Eyes: Green

Freshly graduated from the Academy Daniel has been assigned to the Andromeda as a cargo co-ordinator
Not having any ties back home Daniel had to rely the whole trip on nothing but his imagination and of course checking out Emma Bergvall and Sheena Davies.
Being young Daniel also strives to be perfect in his job, sometimes he can be a real pain in the ass as he tries to prove himself capable in his job.

IC

A sudden lurch brings Daniel awake, normally it would be upsetting since he was having the best dream...then he notices that the sound of the engines have quieted down

"What on earth?"

As he gets up and reaches for his jumpsuit

"This is your Captain, we have a situation on board, that will need to be addressed immediately. All crew to assemble on the mess deck, in ten minutes from now. This is an order, not a request.Thank you."

"Oh shit"

He grabs his jumpsuit and pulls it on along with his boots, running a quick hand through his hair to push them into a semblance of order he realizes that he forgot to pull on his underwear

"Not like anybody would notice anyway"

He exits his cabin and rushes towards the mess hall, arriving to find both Sheena and Emma already there, Emma turns to him

"The captain will be along shortly"

Daniel nods and takes a seat, resting his arms on the table and checking out Sheena and Emma when he is certain they are not looking.

I put on my best uniform, as I prepared to meet the crew, and inform them of our bleak future. Emma of course was already aware, but I knew that I could count on her to stay silent.

I entered the mess deck to see all three of them seated around the table, looking expectantly at me. And I relised that there was only one way to handle this, to be upfront, and very frank, I could deliver no false promises at all.

"There is no doubt that you are all aware that something has happened, and that our ship is in trouble. Unfortunately, trouble comes nowhere near describing our dilemma. The ship is totally without propulsion power, or the ability to communicate with either Earth, or our employers TripleC. In a fraction over 29 hours from now, this vessel, and we four crew members, will impact the moon, and be totally destroyed."

There was an audible gasp from both Sheena, and Daniel, who started to speak, but I held up my hand.

"Before you ask, we have no way of knowing if anyone is mounting a rescue mission, due to the fact we cannot communicate. Hopefully our transponder is still functioning, which will let them know that the ship is still here.

I want each of us to go to our respective quarters, and write a farewell note to our family. These notes I will place in a pod, that will eject from the ship, as we approach the surface, this is a preprogrammed event, that I can access on the ships computer. We will reassemble here in 90 minutes from now.
Thank you."

I looked at Sheena, who seemed to be about to burst into tears, looking away, I returned to my quarters, to write my own farewell to my family.

Daniel Marconi

Daniel blinked at Dale's sudden departure

"Hell so much for clarification"

He turns towards Emma

"What exactly happened? I can't think that everything could just die? Something must have given a warning of sorts?"

Glancing at Sheena he continues

"Especially on the engines isn't that true Sheena?"

Emma look sharply at Daniel. The feeling she get is that he criticise Dale and herself. To be truthful she did not know what went wrong or how they could have prevented it from happen. She push the chair back and stand up.

"No warning. I checked the status of the engine before the burn. Hell, i even double checked it." She tell them and wipe back a strand of dark blond hair from her face.

"Something just went wrong." She nod to first Daniel and then Sheena. "I will go to my quarter and write my letter. I suggest you do the same." She turn and leave the mess deck.

Once she reach her room she let the first tears fall down her cheeks. So much for dreaming about home and family. Now she would die in the dark and cold space. She slump down on the floor, with her back against the wall. She sit there for about twenty minutes before getting up, and over to the desk.

She start to write the letter she don't even know, if it will reach her family.

Daniel Marconi

Daniel slowly got to his feet, rubbing his jaw as is his habit when he is in deep thought.

"Geez it was just a question, I know that I can be a bit too much sometimes, but she didn't have to storm out like that"

Daniel looked at Sheena

"I guess that as engineer you would like to check over the damage with the captain, no need for me to dally around then"

With that Daniel walked out of the mess hall muttering to himself as he goes, he reached his cabin and walked inside. He looked around and realized the impact of the news that the captain just told them. Is this is what his life will be remembered as? A small cabin and a notepad with all his details of the cargo written up and labeled in neat order? Daniel sighed as he sat down at his table, he looked at the papers...well he doesn't have anybody he could write to. His sister doesn't want to talk to him, his parents passed away, there is no extended family that would care a rat's ass about him. He rubbed his hand over his face and sighed deeply

"Nice, I'm going to die on the moon and I have nobody to even tell about it"

Dale Lorkovski

I knew that I had been very blunt with the crew, but in all honesty, that was the only way to do it. For no matter how I dressed it up, or what fancy words and phrases I used, the outcome was the same, we were about to die.
I realised that each of them, like me would be scared, and frightened also, it is easy to say you have no fear of death, until that is, Death stares you in the face and says "Oh yeah".

I wrote two letters, the first to Mom and Dad, thanking them for my life, that was difficult enough, but the letter to my fiance Ellen tore me apart. I sat there with tears in my eyes, telling her how much I loved her, and what I had planned for our life together. In the end it was that bad that I just gave up, and signed it, before sealing the envelope.

I sat composing myself, surveying the immediate future, and I wondered, just what we were going to do, we four, as we waited to die?

I was the ship`s captain, and the responsibility was mine, I needed a plan of action, something for all the crew to do. I thought about our crew, Sheena, our engineer, and Daniel the cargo man. Then I had an inkling of an idea, a basis for a possible plan.

The engineer would need to compile a report on the engine failure. Even though the compartment was airtight and sealed, there were observation cameras in place. We could do an inspection, and compile a report, to be placed in the pod. She and I could do that, and be very thorough with it.
Meanwhile Daniel and Emma, could do an inventory of every single item the hold, and an assesment as to whether or not the cargo had shifted.

I sent an internal email to all three of them in their quarters, along with the instruction to meet on the mess deck at the time previously arranged.

Sheena Davies

"Before I came up here I went to see what happened to the engines. Part of the engine room is exposed to space. There was an explosion of some kind. I don't know if the engines can be fixed, but I'm not willing to believe the communications systems is beyond salvage."

She stopped for a moment and continued, "I refuse to believe that we are doomed to die. I'll write my letter, but it won't be a farewell letter."

She left and went back to her quarters to make sense of everything. She wrote her letter stating that there was an accident, and she is doing everything in her power to fix it an return home safelty to him, and if she couldn't she would do what she could to make sure they landed on the moon and wait for rescue.

She placed her letter on the table in mess hall and went to do what she could to fix the communications device on the ship, so they could converse either with the Triple C offices on Earth or on the moon, not bothering to return at the pre-arranged time. The Captain might think he has time for these games or to sit around and do nothing, but she was going to do everything she could to get home to Raymond and that meant repairing the communication device.

Daniel Marconi

"Boop...Boop...Boop..."

Daniel looked at the screen, grateful for any kind of interruption from his train of thoughts. Tapping on the screen to open the internal mail, he read the message and got out of his chair. What would the others think when he doesn't show up with any letter? He went to the small hand basin in the bathroom or should that be shower room? He smiled slightly at the sort of nonsense he could think of when under duress, he brushed his teeth, washed his face in the cold water and used his wet hands to get his hair into order.

"Well Marconi, it doesn't quite matter what they think, you're going to die a sad, lonely man anyway"

He blinked at the sound of strain in his voice and turned back to enter his cabin

"Well since I'm awake I can at least do my job"

He knew that talking to himself made him sound crazy, but he would rather try and remain sane on his own terms than on other people's terms. Picking up his arm computer, he strapped it to his arm, he gently patted it. At least something would remain of him, since the computer have been engineered to handle all types of situations, they are rather tough, the screens are easily damaged, but the information stayed protected. Not having anything else to do he left his cabin and walked to the mess hall, maybe something to eat would make him feel a bit better. He entered the mess hall and started hunting around for something to eat

Emma Bergvall

The letter was harder to write than she thought. There was so much that she wanted to say. She know that her younger sister would be totally devastated. Karin was five years younger than Emma and was thinking of a career in space, just like Emma. Emma had written that she wouldn't let this discourage her.

She wipe her eyes and go inside the small bathroom to wash her face and look at her flushed face in the mirror. Her eyes do not look so red anymore from the crying. She feel more at ease. More in control of her feelings. Holding up her hand in front of her she are relieved that it don't shake. The sound of n incoming e-mail draw her attention from herself to the screen.

After just some minutes she was walking to the mess hall. Reaching it she notice Daniel Marconi. He was obviously out for a meal. Emma did not feel hungry. She sat down at a table and was watching Daniel's hunt. He was a good looking guy. A little to young. There was no crime in looking though. Emma was glad that she didn't have anyone back on earth. It had been hard enough to write to her mother and sister.

Daniel Marconi

Daniel finally found a ration of what would be labeled as steak down on Earth, with a triumphant grin he turned towards the table and almost jumped out of his skin as he found Emma sitting at the table looking at him.

"Oh! Uhm...hi Emma"

Suddenly he felt very self conscious about earlier, he sat down and placed the ration close to the middle of the table, he noticed that Emma's usually clear blue eyes have a slight tint of red and he suddenly felt even worse about his actions.

"Listen Emma about earlier, I didn't mean to sound like I was criticizing you or Dale's flight experience, I just thought that there would have been some kind of warning, but from what Sheena told me it could also have been a sudden malfunction that lead to the explosion. I am really sorry if I seemed a bit crude and straightforward"

Daniel wanted to reach out and pat Emma's hand just to bring across that he didn't harbor any hard (well not that kind of hard) feelings towards her, but he constrained himself as he looked at Emma

Dale Lorkovski


I entered the mess hall, and they were not all present, as required, but, I wanted to try to reassure them, to say that we could get out of this, but it would be difficult. I had spent the last ten minutes writing on a pad, trying to figure out ways of actually doing something. I activayed the ship wide communication.

It was time to make my pitch.

"Hello again crew, and thank you for maintaining discipline in this very difficult period for us.

As to the incident with the engine and the communications systems, there was no way of predicting what happened. It seems, from what I can glean, that the engine burned at 100% capacity and not the 75% instructed, and then it exploded after 30 seconds, destroying not only itself, but the communications module outside the craft also.
But, we are not going to sit around feeling sorry for ourselves, we are going to beat this thing, and make contact with either Earth, or the Moon, or a passing Battlestar.

Emma and Daniel, you will both check the cargo logs, and then go into the holds. You are looking for anything that can possibly be used to communicate.
I do realise that the hold is both dark, and undoubtedly dirty. It may be advisable to change into somehting old, and loose, as it is also hot in there, to preserve the integrity of some of the electrics. Whetever you find, no matter how small or trivial it may seem, we have four people here, ourselves, who can make it work, of that I am certain.

Sheena and I will inspect the engine bay, and the communications section, especially the electronics. Also, I want to know if we can interrupt the transponder signal, and use it to send a message.

Any questions before we begin?"

Sheena, who was listening on the intra-ship as the captain had turned it on so she could hear from the communications section, spoke,

"Captain, I'm already working on a way to rig up the backup communications module we have in storage to see if we can get it to work. We'll contact someone, even if I have to go outside the spaceship in a spacesuit and use my thumb to flag down a ride."

As this moment, she didn't care if he wrote her up for insubordination. This was her last mission, so there wasn't much that could be done anyway.

"Engineer Davies, I appreciate that we are in a precarious situation here, but we are a team, and we will work as a team, not individuals. You will return to the mess hall at once."

I de-activated the communications module, and awaited her arrival, this was not good. I was hapy for Daniel and Emma to go and start om their task, but I decided that I was not waiting around for Sheena to arrive.

She spoke as he was closing the module, "I'm in the middle of ....

He closed the communication module before she finished what she was saying. Instead of returning to the mess hall, she continued what she was doing. "I don't have time for that. I'm busy trying to save your ass and mine so you can come here if its so important."


She continued working getting the spare communications module working so they could send a message and waited for the captain to make his way down to her.

Dale Lorkovski


I sat in my chair on the bridge, thinking about what had happened, and what I had put in place.
I realised that Sheena was not just being awkward, she was actually trying to do something, to get us out of this predicament, and I had to admire her for that.

I switched on the security cameras, and eventually found her, she was bending over a console, with the top open, examining the wiring. I looked twice, and I started to admire Sheen`s ass. I was not sure why, my life was in peril, and yet here I was looking at Sheena`s tight ass, and wondering.

I sat back, and closed my eyes, remembering my last night back home, 6 months ago. My last night with Ellen, my fiance, then I knew why I had looked at Sheena`s ass. I could see it so clearly now, Ellen, bending over the table, legs spread, holding her pussy open, laughing as she teased me.

"Come and get it big boy, you know want to, and you wont get it again for a long long time baby"

Damned if I was not getting a hard on, I tried to push the thoughts from my mind, but in vain. All I could now think of waas fucking and coming, inside a tight pussy.
I almost laughed at the next thought

God, if you are tout here, please let me cum before I go, please?

I stood up, this was silly and I knew it, taking my communicator with me, I set off to join Sheena, in the comm area.
Entering the comm area I spoke

"Any luck yet Sheena, and is there anything that I can do?"

Emma Bergvall

She sat there patiently and waited for Daniel to notice her. When he did, he did it with a triumphant grin on his face. Emma was amazing that finding a ration of dull food deserve such an reaction.

"Oh! Uhm...hi Emma" He seem a little startled to see her sitting there. She nod to him as he sit down in front of her.

"Listen Emma about earlier, I didn't mean to sound like I was criticizing you or Dale's flight experience, I just thought that there would have been some kind of warning, but from what Sheena told me it could also have been a sudden malfunction that lead to the explosion. I am really sorry if I seemed a bit crude and straightforward" He explain.

Emma shake her head and look down at the table before looking at him again.

"Don't worry about it. We are in the middle of a crisis. We are all worked up i am sure." She say with a faint smile. Before they can say anything more Dale approach them.

She listen to him and look over at Daniel when they get their orders. This was Daniels area of expertise and Emma would have to follow his lead.

"Looks like we have a purpose." She grimace when she realised that she used the line from a famous movie from the 1980's. She stand up.

"Where shall we meet?" She ask Daniel.

Daniel Marconi

Daniel looked up at Emma and flipped the protective sheet of plastic from the face of his arm computer, he motioned her over to come stand next to him and he showed her the schematics for the cargo bay

"I have a whole list of the cargo here, but there was two containers....Z5 and X2 that I couldn't open because they had restriction codes on them"

As he took a breath he realized just how nice Emma actually smelled, he faltered and tried not to blush

"Uhm...ah...yeah I think we can probably force it open and take stock of what is inside? Then uh we can just give the complete list to the captain? I think I'll meet you outside the cargo bay entrance in say ten?"

Damit why would he make an ass out of himself in front of Emma? Now she probably thought he is just a bumbling child.

"Uhm I guess you already finished your letters?"

Emma Bergvall

She move closer when Daniel motion her over to him. He explain the schematics on his arm computer and Emma listen intently. When he start to stutter lightly Emma look up and meet his eyes with her own. She can not decide if he is embarrassed or nervous.

"You are the expert." She say after he is done talking. "I have written them yes." As that is the only thing she want to say about that matter she turn away and walk toward the doorway. "Ten is just fine." She say without looking back.

When she reach her quarter she feel a little regret that she was so short with Daniel. They are in his mess together and she need to remember that. She curse softly as she strip off her uniform and put on a pair of loose grey pants and a white baggy t-shirt. She put up her hair in a ponytail with a leather cord.

With a few minutes to spare she arrive at the entrance to the cargo bay.

Daniel Marconi

Daniel was waiting for Emma as she arrived, he was still in his working clothes as it was the only clothes he felt that actually suited the environment. He carried a hydrological crowbar in his one hand and was checking through the list on his arm computer. He looked up as Emma approached and gave her a friendly smile also at the same time running a quick glance over her body, somehow the loose clothing actually fitted her better than the uniform

"Good you're here, just a fair warning, the captain wasn't joking about the conditions in here, it is rather warm and at times it can get stuffy"

He hefted the crowbar and opened the door for her

"Ladies first"

As Emma stepped inside he followed her inside

"OK from the schematics, the crates should be in this direction"

He walked off towards the general location of the first crate

Sheena continued to work on the communications panel. It didn't have to send out a verbal message. Even a simple morse code message would work and would be picked up by both earth and moonbase.

It was unfortunatel that the engines were gone. However, what was worse was that the space suits were in the area that was vented to space. If they weren't she could have gone outside to check and see what what left.

As she finished hooking up the new communications panel and began coding in the computerised morse code signals for the short burst message of S O S, someone walked into the area; probably the Captain, who got tired of waiting in the mess hall for her.

The unit began playing back in a continuous loop the 3 dot 3 dash 3 dot sequence and Sheena sat back on the deck and looked up at the Captain.

Looking at the Captain, she said, "This is my last run. I promised Raymond I would return and start that family we want and I intend to keep that promise."