IC-Ep 1-The Dawn Patrol(Juliette only)

[Mr. Handy]

Flying over Pluto
0600 GMT - Tuesday, August 9, 2112

Captain Juliette Desjardins was piloting the Demeter on her morning patrol of the area around Styx Base. In the weeks since their arrival on Pluto, she had uncovered nothing extraordinary, and the planet seemed to be a small barren chunk of frozen methane and rock. Still, one never knew what one might find. Though it was considered to be dawn, at least as far as the base's clocks registered, Pluto was shrouded in eternal night. The stars the and other planets in the solar system were but pinpricks of light in the velvet curtain of space. From this distance, the sun appeared to be just an especially bright star. Charon, Pluto's tiny moon, was the only object in the sky large enough to see. Fortunately, the Demeter's instruments allowed her to see and navigate, scanning the entire electromagnetic spectrum, not just visible light.

Juliette flew onwards, varying her route as she always did so as to cover as much of the surface as possible. Her exploration instincts were finely honed, and she always covered new territory when she could, as she was doing now. She had a direct communications link to Ground Control, where 2nd Lieutenant Colleen Rose was keeping an eye out for her.

OOC,[b]Juliette[/b], please roll Spot Hidden.

[Lynx]

Spoiler:

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3178238/

[Mr. Handy]

As Juliette flew, an interesting rock formation off in the distance caught her eye. At first she couldn't put her finger on why it had attracted her attention, but after a longer look she realized what it was. The rocky outcropping was too regular, too symmetrical. She wasn't enough of an expert to know whether or not something like that could exist in nature; that was more Lt. Edward Barrett's area of expertise.

OOC,[b]Juliette[/b], you may roll Geology if you like. However, the base skill is only 1%, so you would only succeed on a roll of 1 on 1d100.

[Lynx]

Juliette stared at the rocky landscape. Her knowledge of rocks were limited to whiskey on the rocks, and as far as she knew only manmade rocks should be so smooth
"Ground control, this is the Demeter, there seem to be an anomaly in the landscape. There is a rocky formation that seems to be too symetric in shape. It stands out when you first notice it. I'll transmit visual readings of it to you. I think this might be something for Lt. Barrett. I'm also logging the coordinates in the computer, there is something about it that makes it... slightly wrong. " She pushed some buttons, slid her hand across the screen to enhance the readings of the landscape. Silently hoping that this might be something more interresting than a mineral deposit.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,The formation isn't actually square. That would have been blatantly obvious. It slopes to either side, but the two slopes look smooth and seem to be at the same angle. You might want to edit your post above to reflect this before I pass on your message to [b]Colleen[/b]'s thread. When you're logged in and you bring up this thread, you'll see an edit button among the row of buttons in the upper right of your post. You can click that button to bring up the post for editing, which is very similar to writing a post in the first place. Great picture, by the way! I've already added it to your character sheet.

[Lynx]

Spoiler:

fixed and ready to go

[Mr. Handy]

"Roger that, Captain," replied Lt. Colleen Rose. "Forwarding the image to Lt. Barrett. Let me know if you discover anything further about it."

The rock formation was located about ten kilometers from Styx Base, roughly to its northeast. Juliette was currently about one kilometer west of the formation, and from here she couldn't make out any more details.

[Lynx]

Juliette actually took a minute or two to ponder wether or not she should fly closer. She was after all on patrol, and patrolling did mean to check out anything out of the ordinary, but she was also alone on a not very heavily armed shuttle, it would be smarter to wait for result on the preliminary reading. But that again would not be true to her nature. Cursing under her breath, she mumbled to herself: " Sût Alors, It is only one way to find out wether it is a mineral deposit or not, fly closer and take a sample." She manouvered the Demeter closer with at steady hand, at her normal careless speed , scanning the area closely. Fighting the for her unfamiliar foreboding, she cheered herself up. "It might even be diamonds or something exciting. Diamonds are a girls best friend".

[Mr. Handy]

Juliette flew closer to the unusual rock formation, which was rather large. At first she couldn't tell anything more about it until she began to fly around it. As she circled it to the north, she saw what looked like a large cave at ground level, more than big enough for the Demeter to fit inside. She could tell by the lights on her ship that the ground sloped gently downwards inside the cave at about a fifteen degree angle, but she couldn't tell how far down it went from the outside. The walls, floor, and ceiling of the cavern seemed unusually smooth. She could actually pilot the ship into the cave. Alternatively, she could land on the flat ground outside and enter on foot. She was already wearing a vacuum suit in case she lost hull integrity, and she had a flashlight and her trusty blaster pistol attached to the suit's utility belt. The pistol wasn't as powerful as the shuttle's blaster cannon, but the ship would be much more easily detected if there was anything hostile down there. Whatever she decided to do, standard procedure would be to report her findings first.

OOC,[b]Juliette[/b], if you decide to land the ship outside the cave, please make a Pilot Space Fighter roll at double your effective skill due to the flat, smooth ground here. A roll of 100 will still fail.

[Lynx]

Juliette debated with herself wether or not to report the find or go check it out. Checking it out was winning. She almost started the landing sequence, when she suddenly had second toughts. What if something did happen, who was then coming to get her? After all, she was the superbrilliant pilot. And beeing the best pilot was no good to her out of the shuttle. Reluctantly she followed protocol. "
Ground Control, this is the Demeter. I have found a cave. It is alarmingly regular in shape. My insticts tell me it would be best to check it out on foot. Permission to go outside to check out the cave?" She studied the cave closer, scanning it for movement , staying alert for any change.

[Mr. Handy]

"Hold on and let me find out, Captain," replied Colleen.

[Lynx]

Adrenalin rushing through her weins, mind sharp and alert, there was one thing Juliette did not want to do. And that was to wait. And landing and walking in to that dratted thing now would to directly disobey orders, if she hadn't checked in she could have said it was just to check things out, according to the previous order. Obviously she wasn't as quick in the mind as she needed to be. Maybe that was the reason she had stopped. She felt her mind lagging, not beeing up to speed. Well she knew a way to remedy that. When she got permission to land the Demeter she could fix that problem.

[Mr. Handy]

After a minute or so, Lt. Colleen Rose came back on the line. "Captain, this is Ground Control," she said. "Permission has been granted."

OOC,[b]Juliette[/b], please roll Pilot Space Fighter, at double your effective skill. This means that you will only fail on a roll of 100. Invisible Castle has been having problems, so you may use another dice roller or physical dice, or I can roll for you if you prefer.

[Lynx]

"Roger that ground control. Initiating landing procedure." Juliette had already chosen the spot for landing, she started flicking switches, touching screens, adrenalin rushing and with a smile on her face she commenced landing the Demeter. "Finally," she said to herself mimicing the voice-over of the promos for the unification. "Something worthy the greatest pilot in the universe!"

OOC,Could you please roll for me

[Mr. Handy]

Juliette picked out a fairly flat stretch of ground not far from the tunnel and set down the Demeter. It was a bit of a rough, bumpy landing, but she managed all right.

OOC,I rolled an 87, which succeeds thanks to your doubled skill.

[Lynx]

Cursing herself, for landing like an amateur, she scanned the area for movement and lifeforms, once more. She was a pilot not a fighter, and did not need to meet a hostile situation outside her protective hull. She expected no movement, and while she waited she opened her helmet, picked out a little something from one of the suits pockets and put it in her mouth. "For safety precaution," she said to herself. She closed her helmet and started to get up to go for the airlock, but had second thoughts. She locked down the controls with a safetycode, and giggled to herself, as if anything could ever enter the Demeter to steal it. beeing in a good mood, she stood up and walked over to the airlock. The checking of her suit and equipment was automatized after years of practise, and her mind was more concerned about whether or not she believed there to be anything in the cavern, and how careful an approach she should make.

[Mr. Handy]

Juliette emerged from the airlock onto the rocky surface of Pluto. Out here, gravity was minimal, about 1/15 of that of Earth. She wouldn't be able to launch herself into orbit without her spacecraft, but it would be possible to leap up quite high. Of course, the descent would be very dangerous and could easily result in injury - not to mention breaching one's spacesuit. Ahead of her the cavern loomed uninvitingly. For now she would be able to patch her suit's radio through the ship's communications, but once she got underground she would likely lose the signal.

[Lynx]

"Here goes nothing" she thought to herself. She skipped in small jumps, as they had trained so often in bootcamp. "A small step for man, a giant step for mankind," she whispered to herself as she skippedyfloated towards the opening. She was imagining all kinds of stuff inside, but she ezpected only an open cavity with minerals in it.

[Mr. Handy]

Juliette knew of course that she hadn't been the first to set foot on Pluto's surface. The crew of the Persephone had done so last year. It was a shame they hadn't made it back to Earth. She bounced across the featureless ground towards the cave.

"Captain Desjardins, this is Mission Control," Lt. Colleen Rose said on her radio as she reached the entrance to the tunnel. "Lt. Barrett reports that the rock formation has clearly been altered by an intelligent life form of some sort. He advises you to exercise caution." Indeed, the sloping tunnel looked very smooth, as though it had been excavated. The beam of her flashlight didn't extend far enough for her to see the bottom from here.

[Lynx]

"Roger, Mission Control, this is Captain Desjardin. There is a tunnel sloping downwards that look like it has been dug out. It is very regular and smooth, it goes down farther than my flashlight can reach. I suspect I will loose signal if I enter the tunnel. Should I proceed?" Feeling a bit like a character from one of the ancient science fiction films Juliette stopped to await the answer from Colleen. Earth was suddenly far away, her hearth racing, she hoped it was just adrenalin. Just the right amount adrenalin.