New Faces

Posted on Apr 29, 2015 @ 11:22am by Commander Jacob Crichton
Edited on on Apr 29, 2015 @ 11:23am

Mission: Limbo

= New Faces =

(cont'd from "Easy Way Out")



LOCATION: LIMBO

SCENE: Hangar Bay

STARDATE: [2.15] 0428.1451



Jake called in the order to transport Aerdan and his team into Sickbay. He was looking at the big guy, and noticed a sudden widening of the man's eyes, as if he'd heard something that had shocked him. If he had, the big man didn't have time to mention it, as the transporter field shimmered him away before he could open his mouth.



There was something about the big man, Jake realized. Something he couldn't put his finger on. He stared for a moment at the spot where the man had been standing, trying to give name to some strange certainty that seemed to have blossomed somewhere in his brain. But whatever it was, it wouldn't come, and the pulse of the refugees around him quickly shook him from his reverie. He made a mental note to look at the transport logs later, still not totally sure what he was looking for, and turned his attention back to the crowd.



He turned and found himself staring at a wide, barrel chest covered in a thin fabric. It was stained brown and black with what looked like years of hard living, but Jake thought its original color might have been an orange or red. Jake lifted his eyes to stare into the reptilian face of a Gorn. Its lips were peeled back to reveal a row of needle-like teeth, shiny with spittle. Its eyes were little yellow beads set in hollows high up on either side of its dinosaur head. Its scales were a patchwork of varying shades of green, and Jake noted more than a few scars criss-crossing the creatures arms.



"Uh..." Jake said, momentarily stunned at the way the creature had gotten so close without him realizing it. The Gorn said nothing. Its wide smile (or sneer, scowl, or over threat-display... Jake couldn't really be sure which) didn't falter. Instead, it held out one burly arm.



Mounted on the creature's wrist was what looked like a old-fashioned Vox unit, a portable computer used primarily for voice recording and playback. It was the sort of thing that had been popular decades ago, before the use of Universal Translators had become widespread, that allowed for at least limited communication between different species. The machines had fallen out of fashion, except perhaps among less advanced races or species that had evolved without verbal communication, but it was exactly the kind of antique hardware one could expect to find in an out of the way place like LIMBO. This particular Vox looked old, its chassis scratched and pocked from years of abuse.



Jake glanced back up at the Gorn. "You wanted me to see this? Why?"



The Gorn reached out with its other hand, and pressed one of the buttons mounted on the Vox's faceplate. A tinny male voice buzzed out from the unit's speaker:



[[My name is Chaucer.]]



Jake looked at the Vox, then back up at the Gorn. "Can you understand me?"



The Gorn pressed another button: [[Yes.]]



"Can't talk?"



Another button pressed: [[No.]]



"Okay, fair enough," Jake said. "You wanted to come aboard?"



[[Yes.]]



"Just a minute," Jake said, running his tricorder over the Gorn's Vox. "We have to monitor what we're bringing aboard. You understand."



[[Yes.]]



Jake inspected the readout. The Vox was clean, no suspect technology hiding behind its scratched-up chassis, but Jake noted that the thing looked like it had been jury-rigged together at least a dozen times. There were foreign components throughout the whole device, bits of tech that had been scavenged from whatever scraps had been laying around. It wasn't pretty, and must have been a pain in the ass to maintain, but there was a certain elegance to the work that Jake recognized immediately. A lot of time had gone into keeping this old Vox in working order, but a lot of care, experimentation, and ingenuity, too.



"Surprised this old thing isn't smoking," Jake said, smiling up at the Gorn. The reptile had finally put his teeth away, but his expression didn't change, and Jake wasn't sure if it appreciated the joke. "You wired it up like this yourself?"



The Gorn pressed a button: [[Yes.]]



"Impressive work," Jake said. He was meeting all sorts of interesting people today. "What's your name again?"



[[My name is Chaucer.]]



"How literary," Jake said. "You're clear to board, Chaucer. Listen, if you're up for it, I might have some work for you when we're away."



The Gorn only stared at him impassively, so Jake wasn't sure how enthusiastic he was about being conscripted. But that old Vox was an impressive bit of improvisational engineering, and right now Jake's team could use all the extra hands it could get.



"Okay then," Jake said. "Uh. That's it, I guess."



He gestured towards the shuttle bay, and the Gorn brushed past him. Chaucer wasn't as big as some of the Gorn Jake had seen- in fact, he was more on the runty side for Gorn- but he was still bigger than most humans. Even with all that height and weight, though, Chaucer moved quicker, more lithely, than Jake would have expected. He disappeared into the shuttle bay, and Jake turned back to the crowd again.



=[/\]=

NRPG: Short post, just introducing a new pNPC so we can fill out the ship's ranks a little bit. I will do another post that develops Chaucer more, and will send out a character bio around the same time, but I will probably wait until we're officially away from LIMBO to send those out. I don't want to hold us up. ;-)



Shawn Putnam

a.k.a.

Jake Crichton

Chief Engineering Officer

USS PHOENIX