text.

[fullmoon]

Is this quiet permanent? It's a little unnerving.

[ He means the literal quiet from the engines powering down, not the metaphorical quiet from the absence of overt disaster. The metaphorical quiet can stay. ]

Comments

[alsohawkeye]

[ but threadjacking 1 is too easy sorry ]

So then why have stopped?

sorry to mj

[axeyou]

Because no one really knows what the hell they're doing?

sorry to mE

[technologist]

Because the ship's decided to stop.

Like I've said, there's nothing wrong with the engines, they've just diverted power to

[ Ugh science is wasted on you, never mind. ]

It's like a computer that's gone into standby.

[overdraws]

but why did it go into standby?

[technologist]

I don't know, why does a ship usually go into standby in the middle of space clouds?

[ Which is a sarcastic question, although. ]

Stealth?

[alsohawkeye]

[ right and computer metaphors aren't wasted on her at all BUT KATE KNOWS BASIC SCIENCE HI ]

Do we have access to the sort of sensors that could pick up if there was something else nearby?

[technologist]

Not here. On the bridge, maybe? The ship's managed to locate & dock at stations before.

[overdraws]

[ wow no need for sarcasm B( ]

so we're hiding from something
or someone

[ It's not meant to be a question, it's a serious consideration on Allison's part. ]

i don't know anything about how space works but would it be possible for someone to find us all the way out here?

[technologist]

Not likely, but that doesn't mean it's impossible.

[ And a pause to be vaguely creeped out, because the question rings a bell. ]

Wasn't there something about transmissions coming from outside the ship? Last month. Jump, whichever.

continues threadjacking away lalala

[alsohawkeye]

Yeah, Jax and one of the French guys got weird messages in the last couple months that claimed to be coming from somewhere else.

Do we have any idea what the cloud's properties are? Could it hide us, make our signal harder to find or disrupt transmissions or something?

how rude

[technologist]

You'd have to ask comms about the last one, engineering hasn't got the access. But hiding out here's probably more about sensors than visibility, so it's possible.

We've had people out on the hull before. I'd suggest getting a closer look, but there's no guarantee it's safe.

[overdraws]

...there was.
i take it back
i'm glad we're hiding

[technologist]

Assuming that's what we're doing.

And if we are, we don't even know from what. Did they ever figure out who it was?

[overdraws]

not that i know of
is there any way to tell if someone's following us at all?

[technologist]

We've never tried, so I'm not sure what we've got access to. Maybe via comms, if nothing else.

But if the points of contact were a month or more apart, I'd think there's some following involved.

[overdraws]

there might be a way to back through the network and check and see if the contact there were between multiple jumps? that's where some of the contact happened, right?

you ok, you ok

[axeyou]

[EXCUSE ME she's not stupid]

Diverted power to where. If you can tell me that, I won't consider you a total waste of time.

no

[technologist]

[ Oh maybe he shouldn't have said diverting. While he'd rather not get into details, he also doesn't want to say he doesn't know, sO FINE. ]

Climate controls & life support.

[axeyou]

So we throw some people out of the airlock, and we'll have our engines back.


Thanks for the answers.

[technologist]

No, because the diversion's a result of the stopping, not the other way around. If it weren't diverting power elsewhere it'd just be saving it.

We've seen emergency standby before. There'd be more red lights and errors.

[axeyou]

So you DON'T actually know why we stopped and I was right the first time?

[technologist]

We think the ship's hiding.
Maybe.

[ we being him and Allison CASUALLY DRAGS HER UNDER THE BUS WITH. ]

[axeyou]

Maybe.

Wow, that totally doesn't inspire me to have any faith in you. Who are we hiding from?

[technologist]

[ WHY IS HE SUPPOSED TO HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS ]

Look, I haven't got any clue, alright? I'm as in the dark as the rest of you. But I do know that the ship's functioning exactly as it's meant to, so there's no point in anyone panicking about the engines going quiet.

The only thing that's changed recently is those strange messages. Either that or there's something else out there that the ship knows about that we don't, and it or whoever's in charge of it is following protocol.

[axeyou]

[because this is the internet Fitz and you are always wrong on the internet]

Who's panicking?

I guess hiding is a pretty good strategy. As long as there's a decent follow up protocol, like attacking. I hope whoever's in charge is reading this.