"New Earth Denied" (closed)

[MarieDavisRPs]

"New Earth Denied"​

Link to the OOC Thread.

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Brittany Wilson, 27
Image
5'8", 132#
34C-24-36


Brittany blinked her eyes clear of "sleep" as consciousness returned to her. Her ears were filled with the of an emergency Bringing her immediate surroundings into focus and regaining the ability to formulate a clear thought, she slowly recalled when and where she was, as well as what was happening to her. If everything was as it should be (which it was, for now), the year was 2297, she was aboard the Deep Space Transport Aruna, and she was being reanimated after 19 years in cryogenic stasis.

DST Aruna transport was delivering settlers and supplies to an already constructed settlement on the very Earth-like Humar IV. Onboard, in addition to Brittany, were 48 more crew and 1,688 passengers, all in cryogenic stasis as Brittany had been. The remaining crew were to be gradually reanimated as the need for them arose. The settlers would remain in stasis until just days before reaching Humar IV, with team leaders and administrators awoken first as they would be needed to organize the others.

Brittany spent her first day following reanimation recuperating. She filled her belly with vitamins, minerals, and solid food and her blood system with antibiotics, digestive aids, and a dozen and half other medicines in both pill and liquid form. Between the medical procedures and sleep periods (which she found ironic as she'd been "asleep" for 19 years), Brittany partook of physical exercise, working first on flexibility, then on cardio and strength building. The Aruna's Artificial Intelligence, nicknamed Helen, kept the navigator company and both guided and tracked her recuperation.

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Finally, after almost 30 hours of rest, recuperation, and seemingly endless reports from the AI regarding the ship's condition, Brittany finally got to do some real navigation work. Dressed in her pressure suit (as was protocol despite not having anyone else awake who might challenge her choice of wardrobe), she dropped into the Navigator's chair on the bridge to initiate the braking procedure which was the first of two parts of slowing the ship down for arrival at Humar IV. The second part, called aerocapture, would see the Aruna passing through Humar IV's atmosphere over and over and over again until it had slowed enough to achieve stable orbit above their new home planet.

With the AI's backup (performing verification of her own calculations), Brittany used thrusters positioned all about the ship's outer hull to flip the Aruna over 180 degrees, putting its (obviously) rear-located main propulsion engines out in front and the fore-located bridge to the rear. Once this was completed, Brittany found herself looking back the direction they'd come from.

"Helen, turn off as much lighting as you can on the bridge, please," Brittany ordered. "I want to see what's out there."

The AI did as she was told, and the night sky that had been unavailable to them during the transit thus far was on full display. The billions of billions of stars seen in just this one direction awed Brittany to no end. She'd always loved witnessing space from space, as opposed to looking up at it from the surface of Earth, the Moon, or Mars, each of which she'd been on at some point during her life.

She ordered killed the bridge's lighting to get a better view of the night sky. Ironically, she could still make out the constellations of Orion and Gemini. Each of them, as well as Cancer, Leo, was on the far side of Earth from the the Humar System and, therefore, still looked almost identical as they had to every Human Being who'd ever looked up into the night sky.

A few minutes later, after thrusters were again used to make small but necessary corrections, Brittany was ready to begin the braking procedure.

First, though, she rose from the Navigator's seat and crossed to a bulkhead cabinet to don the helmet and gloves that completed her pressure suit and protected her against depressurization of the compartment. Brittany didn't anticipate any problems, but this was just more protocol. Returning to her seat, she activated the "Emesis Collection System" in her helmet. (Emesis was just a fancy way of saying "puking".)

Finally ready, Brittany reached to her control panel, put her finger to the appropriate icon, hesitated a moment while she prayed this went correctly, and activated four of the ship's main engines and initiated a braking maneuver.

The G-forces slammed her back into her chair. Brittany had, of course, expected this, and still it was frightening to her, as well as uncomfortable and a bit painful. She could hardly breathe, despite the protections provided by her suit and the accompanying features of her chair that had been designed specifically for this maneuver.

For over three minutes, Brittany could hardly breathe. She would later believe she'd passed out, but when she asked Helen for verification, the AI reassured her that she'd been conscious throughout the procedure. Brittany had closed her eyes immediately upon firing up the engines, having been told during training to do just that. At one point, though, she'd forced them open, just to see what was happening around her. She'd found herself fully unable to focus her vision on any feature of the bridge surrounding her.

Finally, as the Aruna began slowing and the G-forces lessened, Brittany found herself able to gasp in and exhale full breaths. Her vision returned, as did her hearing. She found the AI reporting (and then repeating over and over) the most important details of the breaking maneuver.

Occasionally, before once again repeating how things were unfolding, Helen added for Brittany's reassurance, "All systems nominal, Lieutenant Wilson. You are safe and secure. How do you feel?"

Brittany had no idea how much time had passed before she was finally able to grunt out to one of the AI's inquiries, "I'm fine. How are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you, Lieutenant," Helen responded in a programmed tone of friendliness. Some more time passed before the AI announced, "Powering down main engines 2 and 4."

Brittany found herself thrown forward against her seat's belts, before settling back into the pads again. the engines began to power down, Helen suggested, "Lieutenant Wilson, perhaps you should

Brittany was surprised by the AI's question. She knew that Helen was programed to simulate friendly banter and emotional concern for her human counterparts, but the navigator hadn't experienced this until now and found herself smiling in delight. She answered simply, "I'm fine, Helen."

Eventually, once the ship had stabilized and the uncomfortable G-forces had abated, Brittany unbuckled and checked her console for any sign of trouble. There was none, which was a surprising relief. She headed aft, telling the AI to alert her to any issues. Returning to her quarters, Brittany undressed, showered, checked with Helen one last time, then slipped into bed to masturbate and (with the stress somewhat relieved) slipped into a deep, pleasant slumber.

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When she awoke, Brittany immediately took note of the lack of braking sound and vibration. She dressed in her flight deck uniform rather than her working coveralls. She asked Helen for the ship's current condition, then headed straight to the bridge to verify everything the AI had told her.

She was less than an hour into her work when the ship shuttered, and an alarm sounded. She asked the AI, "Helen, what's happening?"

"Gathering data, Lieutenant," the AI answered immediately, before then reporting, "Main propulsion engine number 4 has failed. There has been an explosion."

"Fuck!" Brittany growled to herself as she rushed to the Engineering Console for a more complete viewing of the situation in the Aruna's furthest aft section.

"There are fires and decompressions throughout the engine room," Helen continued reporting.

"Specifics!" Brittany cried out. "I need to know exactly what the fuck is happening."

As Brittany reviewed readings and tapped at controls, the AI listed a litany of issues and compartments affected by them. Brittany sorted through them mentally in order of biggest threats and priority for repair. One might think that saving the passengers and crew was the first priority but ironically it wasn't. The first priority was putting out the fires to save the ship since, obviously, every person aboard would perish if that was not done.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Brittany worked feverishly at the controls of multiple bridge consoles in an effort to learn exactly what had happened to the Aruna and what she herself could do to fix things. In coordination with the ship's AI, she closed every pressure door and ventilation system, then vented the compartments where the fires were burning. Without oxygen, the fires were out in no time.

After that, the priority was determining which compartments could be repressurized now and which had to be sealed first. Brittany knew she couldn't do this herself.

"Helen, I need help," she told the AI. "You know what needs to be done better than me. Who would you recommend for reanimation?"

The AI quickly began listing crew members as well as why she was recommending them. Brittany, in turn, confirmed the choices and ordered their awakening. "Emergency reanimation, please, Helen. I need these people ASAP."

Helen began responding, "There could be physical and/or psychological effects caused by--"

"Do it!" Brittany interrupted. "The ship's dying! I need help."

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Four hours later, Brittany left the bridge to visit each of the three stasis compartments in which crew members were being awoken. Most of them were still a bit loopy, so she was hesitant to tell them just how bad things were aboard the Aruna. Instead, she simply told them that there was in fact an emergency, and she needed them as soon as they felt up to it.

She was surprised when, just minutes later, the first of the reanimated men and women began strolling into the bridge. Many of them were still as loopy as before, and nearly all of them were in need of further physical therapy. But the dedication was obvious.

She explained the situation in detail, keying in on specific damages applicable to specific crew. They responded with their thoughts, and a plan was generated. It was determined that additional personnel were needed, and Helen began their reanimations as well. As they neared the end of their meeting, Brittany told the others there was one more issue to be dealt with.

"We can no longer reach Humar IV," she said bluntly. She ran through what they knew about the damage to the engine room and propulsion system. An emotional discussion erupted, with some crew members offering solutions and others debunking those fixes. After nearly an hour of looking for a way to continue onward to Humar IV, Brittany said, "There is an alternative, though. Humar III."

One of the crew laughed, quickly reminding the others, "Humar III was rejected."

"I know," Brittany confirmed. "Not enough water, heavy winds, a lack of tillable land, magnetic field issues, yadda yadda."

"Humar IV has a settlement waiting for us," yet another crew member pointed out. "Homes, laboratories, greenhouses--"

"That's nice and all," Brittany interrupted, "but as we now know, we can't get there. Humar IV is on the other side of the sun, almost 700 million kilometers away. Our engines and remaining fuel will not get us there."

With a sarcastic tone, she continued, "They could have ice cream and sex slaves, and it wouldn't matter. We can't get there!"

More back and forth discussion resulted, after which Brittany concluded, "I've done the math, and Ensign McAfee has confirmed them."

She nodded to the Junior Navigator, who stood to make her report. "We've calculated an atmospheric braking course

The System's 3rd planet had been rejected as a possible settlement site due to two major issues. The first was environmental. Humar III had very little water, with no oceans or other large bodies of the vital liquid. The majority of its surface was an unending, hot, desert of flat plains and treacherous mountains. Never ending winds of 50-100 mph caused sandstorms that scoured the planet, leaving little on the surface but rocks.

The second was astronomical. The only possible locations for a settlement on Humar III were at its poles, where the planet's only water existed as low-lying aquifers that fed a minimal amount of plant life above them. The north pole (the size of Earth's Greenland) was a tropical forest, while the south pole (only half that size) was a mix of temperate forests and vast grasslands. These two zones could in fact support life from Earth, whether it be Human or other introduced animals.

But the effect of the twin suns on Humar III's magnetosphere would make interplanetary communications with a north or south pole settlement impossible and, it was feared, might deem electronic and electrical equipment unusable.

Life could exist here, sure, but it would be drastically restrained and, if a Humans did survive there, Earth and Humar IV would likely never know.

After some calculations with the AI's help, Brittany realized that Humar III was in range of the ship, and she could pilot the Aruna into such an orbit that they could disembark the crew and settlers safely to the planet's surface.

So, up against the clock and still waiting for the others to be reanimated, that was where Brittany aimed the vessel.

Brittany broke away from her work in Navigation to greet the newly awakened crew in Cryo Central. Between them, they had all the required knowledge to keep the ship functioning and the surviving crew and settlers alive long enough to get to Humar III.

On the mess decks for a nutritious meal Brittany and the AI had prepared, the young pilot told the six the bad news: "Things are not as they are supposed to be. The ship had taken serious damage. Lives have been lost in cryo, both crew and civilian. We can't reach Humar IV, and I have diverted us to Humar III instead. Other than that, all's fine and dandy."

The conversation that followed was a very animated one. Many topics were discussed, including the course change and Brittany's belief that she had the right to make it. She explained, "I didn't have a choice. By the time I realized that Humar IV was out of reach, I only had 3 hours to make the navigational shift. The Commander was still 8 hours away from reanimation."

"You still haven't reanimated the captain, though," one of the six pointed out.

"I brought the six of you out because I need your expertise in keeping the ship in one piece and getting it to where it needs to go," Brittany explained. "And, of course, keeping those crew and settlers who are potentially in danger safe."

"But, not the Captain?" she was asked again.

Brittany hesitated a moment before explaining, "Right now, I don't think we need anyone who's--"

"Higher in the chain of command than you are," someone cut in with an accusatory tone.

Brittany didn't respond. She didn't see any reason for bringing the Commander out of stasis right now. Her reasoning was practical: it only meant one more mouth to feed. But to be honest, she did also like being in command.

"How long to Humar III?" someone asked.

Brittany raised her voice a bit, asking, "Helen, can you answer that question, taking into consideration the repairs to be affected by these crew members?"

A short moment later, the AI answered simply, "112 days, Standard Time."

Brittany shrugged her shoulders as if to indicate there it is.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

This is bullshit. I can't get my edited pages to save. I keep getting these messages saying, "Oops! We ran into a problem."

I'm not writing here anymore.

If anyone is interested in RPing on Discord, PM me.

 

[Storm1752]

How?where's discord?