Natalie Darron's Story

There was probably no actual introduction for the ship yet because the higher-ups probably figured that since they would be venturing as a group for a while, the members of the Apollo and other ships would get themselves acquainted with the others aboard their vessel. Still, to Nero, it felt quite odd that a voyage of this magnitude would not have some form of formal greeting or introduction. Maybe he had watched too many movies during his stay away from the military. If that was the case, then he'd soon enough get used to things.

But there were apparently more important tasks at hand. Before they had even left Earth, Nero (referred to as 'Raze' when called upon in this instance) was requested to deal with someone already. This did not make his future look bright, because if they would start fights or do something destructive before the ships even left, then what about afterwards? He'd have appreciated a bit more information about the subject or what they had did beyond the fact that they were in custody, but that was asking too much it seemed. But he continued down to the holding cells like instructed and was ready to do his job. He was ready to scold and question someone as any chief of security on these ships would. Since he was aboard the civilian ship, Nero figured that his job would essentially be akin to being the father of this ship. 'You can't pound on the windows' (a rule he didn't understand since the windows had shutters, and the glass was more than just bulletproof) or 'Don't start food-fights, we don't have an unlimited supply of resources in space'. Well, this was what Nero was expecting. He didn't expect anything too severe to occur unless by some odd chance they actually encountered aliens or beings of extra-terrestrial origin.

So forgive him for raising an eyebrow when upon entering the room, he noticed a young girl locked behind bars.

"lolwut"

"Chief, you're here." came the voice of the stationed guard, who seemed very happy that Raze had arrived. "She's all yours. Too much of a pain for me." he gave a nasty glare over at the young girl, then turned back to Nero.

Giving a look between the two, Nero spoke. "Is that so? Then go take a tour of the ship or something. We're not really needed to be stationed until we launch." Grinning, the man nodded and happily made his way out of the room. "So," Nero refocused his attention on the young girl. Although he didn't have a distinct expression on his face at that moment, he gave the aura of absolute intimidation - a man who would kill someone who didn't offer him the exact words he wanted to hear in the exact way he wanted to hear them. He gave off his old, malicious aura. "... what have you done, girl? How have you been thrown in here?"

"So you're a stowaway?" he asked rhetorically. "Look, you do realize what this ship is, right? Just because you're a child doesn't save you from all of the consequences of intruding upon a ship of high importance such as this." of course, this was the civilian ship, so odds are that a child wouldn't get anything more than a severe tonguelashing at worst. And Nero wasn't the kind to yell at children, truthfully. The older man sighed and turned around to retrieve the 'blueprints' she had. Obviously, he was expecting some lackluster drawing by a child, like anyone would. He opened up the blue cabinet, next to the gray, and looked at the pictures.

"..."

He looked up at her.

"..."

He looked back down to the paper.

"...what?"

He managed but a single word. Did she steal these? This looked legitimately like a real blueprint for whatever these things were. The words used and how they were used were much more complex than any child could possibly hope to mimic. Honestly, they made Nero wonder if he should redo science class, just because some of the words used weren't in his vocabulary. Sure, he wasn't a scientist, but he wasn't ignorant either. "Where... did you get these?" he asked, dumbfoundedly.

"How does a little one like you even comprehend a quarter of what is written on this page?" he questioned. It was embarrassing to see a ten year old who knew more about this subject than he. "And even if you do know this, the funds required to construct something like this aren't included in the budget for this expedition. I'm not sure we have any place on the ship solely for the making of these... robot things." he began, but slowly added, "But...."

He thought about it for a moment. Ah, yes, since she was on the civilian craft with no actual job or family, he couldn't just allow her to stay on. Because she didn't have a place. Family was the only exception to this, since it kept morale high and they voyage was no three-day journey. Someone like her wanted a job -- needed a job. And, thinking about it, maybe he had one for her. She could screw with robots on paper in her spare time.


"Maybe I can make an exception, if you'll do something for me, that is. How about it?" he asked, not waiting for an answer before beginning. "There's a chance I can convince the people who get to decide who stays on this ship to let you on, but you'll need to actually have some form of legitimate purpose beforehand, and sorry to say, but they might not classify building robots as a purpose. Therefore, maybe you can help me by taking care of Claudia, what say you? If you can construct blueprints for plans like these" he held them out. "Then you should be mature enough to handle that. Am I wrong on this assumption...?" he left a pause since he hadn't heard her name yet. "Just think of it as a way to get on the ship so that you can prove your robots aren't junk."

(I'm going on the assumption robots aren't just walking the streets and stuff. Correct me if I'm wrong.)

((She's fourteen...
and yeah, there would be robots walking around on the street, according to the existence of Unseenshadow2's character, which is a robot, although they might be very expensive, and so rare (possibly, I'm not the GM). The way his character is portrayed indicates that a business sells it.
Plus, her 'robots' are actually mechs, which require a pilot. they could be robots, but they'd be less effective, more expensive, and take longer to produce, according to Natalie's estimations.
I hope it's okay to put OOC stuff in here! O_O))

"I'll see what I can do." Nero replied, walking over to the console and opening the cell door for the young girl. He had high doubts about her honestly needing to be in confinement. He believed that to be more in place for someone who could cause damage, and as smart as she could possibly be, there was not much of a chance she'd endanger anyone. Now, he just needed to speak with someone in charge about letting her stay aboard, and he knew just who to contact. After all, this man was his friend. "I believe Nagasaki could help us...." he muttered mostly to himself. "...but where could he be?"

Nero hadn't seen his friend just yet. Not for a few days, at least. It would be a good time to kill two birds with one stone; meeting his friend before launch was something he had on his mind before he was even called to deal with this girl. If he could do his job and socialize, then that was perfect. "Come, follow me and stay close. He's probably trying to make himself look important." he smiled and begun out the door, keeping it open until Natalie had exited as well. The bridge seemed as likely a place as any to begin. Odds are, he'd be mindlessly wandering around there. His job as a linguist didn't have much meaning until they made some form of contact with unknown lifeforms. If they did. Well, that and his job as second-in-command. Truth be told, Nero wasn't sure how he pulled that one off. But having friends in high places could help, like now.

It didn't take long for the two to reach the bridge, where a tired Rai stood waiting. Captain of the ship, or rather, Lana, didn't appear to be there. Probably at some important meeting. Well, it gave them some privacy. "Hey, Rai." he called out to his buddy, who didn't seem to be doing anything. "Wanna help me with something? It might take my daughter off your hands on occasion."

Rai was, in contrast to Nero's expectations, actually working to configure his workstation to his preferred settings. However, it seemed like there was something amiss - which he expected when he saw his old friend Nero bringing in a young girl who was still definitely too old to be his daughter.

"Nero, good to see you. It's been a while." The linguist said, getting up. "...what's going on, and who is this girl with you?" he asked. "I'm pretty sure Claudia can't possibly be this big already." he chuckled.

Jokes aside, this girl wasn't Claudia - nor did she look like anyone else on the list. If she was a stowaway, then that could potentially cause problems - it was not that Rai considered one girl to be that big of a deal, but it could set a bad precedent - the Apollo could not possibly let every stowaway remain on board, after all.

Nero completely ignored the enormous textwall above this post.

"Ah, well she isn't that big yet." he smiled. "It seems we've got a stowaway in the form of this young girl. Natalie's her name. While I know I should just throw her out, she seems a bit determined to help the ship in whatever way. She's apparently a bit of a genius with robots and the sort. I know we probably have no need for a robotic specialist at the moment, but with the few that are aboard the voyage, shouldn't we be safe? Oh, and she promised to help watch my daughter too." he finished explaining with a small smirk. "You think she could stay aboard? I know it's not up to you, as high a position as you are, but a good word wouldn't hurt."

Nero looked at the young girl for a moment. Over the few years away from the carnage, conflict, and violence, he had gotten much more soft than the angry man he was before. Were that same man still here, he'd have thrown this young girl out without so much as a single thought about the matter. But things change. People change. He was a living example of this, and the tales about him alone had only reinforced this about him. Was this a good thing? He thought so. And odds are, if he was cooperative, the men in charge would think so as well. Just..... would he perform well in battle? Only time would tell.

Lana wondered where the captain of the Thunderchild was, Maybe he is late? She wondered, then a young man came into view he then turned to the Admiral then said, "Uh... hi, Admiral. I know you were expecting Captain Speirs, but I took it as my responsibility to report..." He took a deep breath. "I'm afraid he's gone missing while on a last visit to Earth. I'm the new captain. I've gone over Captain Speirs' notes, however. He seemed to thinking hitting KOI-1686 was the best option. I agree with his judgement, and want to honor it."

Lana saw the Grand Admiral scratch his beard as he shifted his stare from the three, ”It escapes me whether the Thunderchild is on Fleet Command Appointment or is Private Commissioning. Did Secretary Maybourne appoint you, son, or did the ship elect you? That would answer that. Either way, I’m glad to have you aboard. Have your ship’s AI send your Nautical File and Officer Serial.

“As for the votes, lady and gentlemen, we have two Kepler and one KOI. I myself was going for Gliese, though I've been mostly convinced. It doesn’t matter. A fair vote is a fair vote. Kepler-62 it is. Captain McCoy, g’head and hit the Bridge and start the processes for the Hyperion’s departure. Dr. Marietta, please send Veris a report upon the completion of the civilians’ boarding. Captain, uhh… whatever your name is, remember to send the information over." With that Lana saluted as the other captains dissapeared out of view. The room went dark but then was lighten up by the dim lights on the wall, Lana stretched and walked out quietly, I guess I will head to the bridge and get the report of the Civilian's aboard the Apollo...

While walking through the ship, Lana had time to reflect on her decision of Kepler-62. It was a good call, the soil was rich, and there is a good chance of it possessing alien life. Either way, the choice was made. At 1000 Hours the fleet will begin their journey to Kepler-62. Whoosh Lana walked onto the bridge calmly, taking a breath of relief that Lt. Worf had turned off that music. Over near one of the consoles Lana saw two men and one girl, one of the men was tall and was dressed in black military gear and had black unkempt hair. Ah, that must be my Head of Security Nero. But who are the other two? She decided to walk over to them, "Good Day Everyone, Nero who are these people?" She had picked up her hand-held holographic device as she was scrolling through the list of civilians aboard the ship.

Rai was still hesitant about Natalie, especially because of his precedent policy. Then again, their supplies weren't exactly scarce either, and they could support her life here without any trouble at all. He was, in fact, about to say "I'll do what I can" to assure Nero when the captain came over and placed the situation beyond his control.

"Ma'am," Rai nodded to Lana - he was still very unsure whether military protocol applied here or not, but he was a civilian - he supposed it could be forgiven once or twice - "I don't believe I've had the pleasure of introducing myself. I'm Rai Nakasagi, linguist, and your second in command for the Apollo." he told her. He hadn't had a chance to greet her in person, which would probably explain why she did not recognize him. That, and his tired appearance meant that his face wasn't exactly looking the best right now. "As for the girl, well..."

He turned to face the chief and security and his friend, who he was sure could probably explain the situation to Lana better than he could.

Markus turned about, glancing in curiosity at the scene undertaking on the bridge. He knew what was going on. Everyone did with the rumors floating about. Somehow, someway, a mere kid had managed to sneak aboard the Apollo. This meant that the kid was either insane and really lucky or insane and really intelligent. Either way, he held a soft spot for her. He knew what it was like to feel left out of the loop. To feel like you wanted to be part of something momentous... once in a lifetime.

And such a thing was happening right here in Lunar orbit. In distance of home...

He couldn't really blame her.

At that, he cleared his throat. "Um... pardon to interrupt."

The group turned towards him, some looking slightly annoyed.

Markus, naturally, put on his patented sheepish grin, which usually took the heat off him... but not with these soldiers.

"Ehehe... yeah... uh. Well: basically, I know it's not my business. But why not let the kid walk? Put her through one of those new lie detector tests: you know, the ones that don't suck, to see if she's up to something. If she isn't, well: it's not like we'll let her play Starcraft V: Raynor's Alcohol Rehab on any of the computers like you guys let me do... if you knew about that. If not, forget I said that. BUT ANYWAY: if she were to pass said rehab test, what if someone were to take her under her wing? Someone who isn't me, of course, since I'm too busy playing Star- I mean, calibrating the point-defense cannons to do something like that."

He then took a deep breath, before turning back to his video ga- control console.

"Lana." Nero greeted the Captain by first name as well. This, of course, was not their first meeting. The end result of their first contact was an agreement to first-names, since Nero wasn't sure what to call her. After all, he wasn't sure how often people had two ranks. Being Head Researcher and the Captain of the Apollo made it odd to call her one title or the other.

He listened as Rai introduced himself as the Second-in-Command of the Apollo. Honestly, Nero felt they neither of them looked to be anything like a Captain or the sort, but then again, this was the civilian ship. The other two did fit face in his opinion. But, sure enough, Rai left explaining Natalie up to him. Nero cleared his throat before beginning. "Ah, this young woman is Natalie. It seems she had snuck aboard this ship, and was caught. While in confinement in the holding cells, I saw some schematics for a few different service robots that she said she had thought up.---"

He was interrupted by a blonde man, who SHOULD have been busy calibrating weapon systems. Nero narrowed his eyes at this man, for it was a delicate matter and input by someone else who couldn't explain the situation in the right way would only compromise any chance of her staying aboard. This, of course, was Captain Lanna's choice and hers alone; Nero had no authority over letting people aboard, only throwing them off (if they were to become a nuisance). But still... he was trying to help.

Nero dragged his eyes from the young man and back to the Captain...Head Researcher...., continuing as if he wasn't ever interrupted. ".....If this is true, then this girl is practically a genius, and would most likely benefit the ship were she to stay on. It's that reason why I request that she be able to stay aboard the ship as we venture off. We have more than enough resources to accommodate one young girl, no?" and so he made his claim. He at least felt that the odds were in favor, since there wasn't much in the form of downsides to letting her stay, and because they were close enough to launch that some things might be overlooked to keep on schedule.

EUCLID-II runs several hyperspatial simulations to prepare for the real deal. Simultaneously he reviews data from his sensors throughout the ship. His eyes and ears scattered in an array of panels featuring his signature neon-green eye. Nothing onboard really concerned him directly, he's just a nosy machine.

"It would appear there is an unexpected passenger aboard." EUCLID-II relayed this information in his monotonous Alan Rickman like voice, to his half asleep technician Argon. "A young girl. It's creating quite a controversy on the ship."

Argon just turns over and mumbles "That's nice Euclid~" then turns over. He doesn't really care about Euclid's little commentaries about what's going on, he's just his tech guy. Almost a pet for the "Great Mind that is the EUCLID-II Supercomputer" like his creators advertise, at the end of the day he just wants his fat paycheck when he gets back to Luna. He ignores EUCLID-II and goes back to sleep.

"You bore me, meatbag." EUCLID-II murmurs before cutting the audio coming from the panel in Argon's room.

I think I will take closer examination of this stowaway... he thinks to himself and brings up the feed from the nearest panel to Natalie Darron, his green electronic pupil following her movements.

"Ma'am, I don't believe I've had the pleasure of introducing myself. I'm Rai Nakasagi, linguist, and your second in command for the Apollo," The man with glasses said to her, she was a bit surprised. He looked like an ordinary citizen, "As for the girl well...." Rai looked at Nero with anticipation.

"Um... pardon to interrupt," Lana turned around to see Lt. Markus Worf, who put on his usual sheepish grin. I just want to choke him to death sometimes... Lana thought while sighing to herself. "Ehehe... yeah... uh. Well: basically, I know it's not my business. But why not let the kid walk? Put her through one of those new lie detector tests: you know, the ones that don't suck, to see if she's up to something. If she isn't, well: it's not like we'll let her play Starcraft V: Raynor's Alcohol Rehab on any of the computers like you guys let me do... if you knew about that. If not, forget I said that. BUT ANYWAY: if she were to pass said rehab test, what if someone were to take her under her wing? Someone who isn't me, of course, since I'm too busy playing Star- I mean, calibrating the point-defence cannons to do something like that," With that he walked away to his console, what he said did actually make sense though.

"Lana," It was Nero. Her and Nero had agreed to speak to each other in a first name basis, Lana thought it would boost their friendship, or maybe it was because Nero couldn't choose what to call her. Head Researcher or Captain, Which one which one? Personally Ma'am or Miss is just fine, but to make sure that they don't get scolded in front of officials she would be called Captain or Head Researcher.

"Ah, this young woman is Natalie. It seems she had snuck aboard this ship, and was caught. While in confinement in the holding cells, I saw some schematics for a few different service robots that she said she had thought up. If this is true, then this girl is practically a genius, and would most likely benefit the ship were she to stay on. It's that reason why I request that she be able to stay aboard the ship as we venture off. We have more than enough resources to accommodate one young girl, no?" Nero looked pretty proud about his statement. Lana took a deep breath and smiled, "Once we make the jump I will see the girl in my cabin and we shall discuss...Her time with us." She laughed and patted the relieved girl on the back softly. She wasn't going to kick the girl off the ship in the first place. As soon as she saw her she was going to invited her to stay, that was the kind of person Lana was; Caring for the little people, people who haven't been given a chance to achieve their full potential in life, "Ok you can sit next to Nero but do it quickly we need to get jumping. She strided over to her seat and sat down, crossing her legs. "Ensign, initiate jump in time with the Hyperion and the Thunderchild.

Commence countdown..
10.
9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
Jump...

Lana held tightly onto her chair as the jump was initiated, the looked onto the console and saw the energy levels for the hyperspace drive which were rising quickly. Once the lurching was over she stood up, and looked around to her crew with a big grin on her face, "Alright crew, now starts our journey to Kepler-62!"

As the Apollo makes its jump through hyperspace, EUCLID-II rapidly crunches the numbers so vital to keep everything intact and the jump on course. Higher dimensional geometry, and Calabi–Yau manifold equations had to be run simultaneously to keep them on the right path through a higher segment of reality. While energy fluctuations and particle interactions in the hyperdrive itself had to be kept at the right levels to prevent an overload or the formation of a devastating singularity. He has his work cut out for him.

All of his access panels display a red X in place of his neon green eye and the words "Processing. Please Hold. Processing. Please hold." repeat themselves quietly over and over throughout the duration of the jump.

Meanwhile his technician Argon sits at his workstation, watching the mountains of code being run at speeds fast enough to slightly hurt his vision. He's completely locked out of the system while in hyperspace, it's all EUCLID-II running the show now. He just monitors in the 0.001% probability something goes wrong.

”Veris. Thank you. I am confident that those diagnostics are already in capable hands and are being attended to. Please notify me when the pods return.”

McCart finally allowed himself a moment of… jubilation, as he stared out over the Bridge’s primary windows. Such awe. Such wonder. Planets unknown to mankind, around a star previously just a blip on a telescopic image. A message on the Admiral’s inbox came up.

"Congratulations old man, how does it feel to be the Grand Admiral of the first space expedition outside our solar system? Forget Mayor of Lockhart, Admiral. I'd be surprised if you weren't nominated for president. Congratulations in advance."

McCart joyously shook his head. He was content with the message.

[color=DarkSlateBlue]”Congratulations to you, too, Hunter.

It feels… overwhelming. We’ll talk about it more over a bottle of wine sometime.

And president? President of what? I do have dual-citizenship, you know? President of Texas, or were you thinking something more… D.C.? Or maybe President of Toy Land? President of St. Henry’s Home for the Senile?

I suppose we shall see.

The uproar that had erupted on both the Bridge and the Relay was most definitely echoed throughout the whole of the ship, indeed the whole fleet. It seemed almost like a deafening buzz of applause and cheers, right for at least 15 minutes. From the FCC, the Admiral could see the various smiling faces of the young men and women aboard. It inspired a ‘kink’ of pure ecstasy in the old man for a moment. He remembered Katie at that moment – she’d love to be here.


He waited for a moment to allow the hum to die down, slightly. At what seemed the apex, he stood up from his chair and stood just in front of the navigational module, using it as a pulpit above his congregation. From his raised position over the Bridge, he stared off into a few of the eyes that caught his own. Raising his right hand as if calling a cab, he called the attention of Captain McCoy.

”Veris. Bring up a camera and focus it on me. I’d like to address the fleet. Broadcast to all public facilities,” the Admiral said to his trusted side.

A small, spherical pod was discharged from the ceiling of the Command Level and kept itself in hover around the Admiral’s FCC. It’s lights turned from green to red, indicating broadcasting. The screens and holo-modules of the Bridge, likewise, manifested the Admiral’s face. It was safe, at least to McCart’s mind, to assume the case was the same on the Thunderchild and the Apollo.

Clearing his throat, the Admiral began to speak, culling the roars of the crew to attention.

”Ladies and gentlemen, damen und herren, madamoiselles et monsieurs, damas y caballeros: my… fellow children of Gaia, my fellow Earthlings. Welcome to Kepler-62.”

The crew burst into cheering once more, forcing the Admiral to humbly stretch out his hand as if to understandingly snuff their cheers away.

”After over two years, we are finally at our destination. Many of us have just woken from cryosleep today. Many of us haven’t been in cryosleep for awhile but with all the busy-bodying, I bet it feels like cryosleep.

“We are all the very first humans to use hyperspace, leave our local system, and see with our very own eyes the horizon of another star. Before us lies perhaps a system filled with destiny.

“For the time being, we will engage slowly. Apollo shall work on deciphering which of the planets will be the safest to engage and then I’ll determine who’s going where and when.

“Congratulations. Now if there be life out there other than our own, let’s introduce ‘em to our King.”

At that, the Admiral initiated a track from his personal datacore, and broadcasted it to each of the ships public facilities.