I Ain't Fraid of No Ghost

Posted on Sun Apr 18th, 2021 @ 11:35am by Alden Loxley & Alison Bliss & James Thomson & Tristan & Daiyu & Chloe Waltz PhD & Jonas Bailey & Kindra Graham & Whit
Edited on on Sun Apr 18th, 2021 @ 11:42am

Mission: I Ain't Fraid of No Ghost...
Location: Fortune's Echo - in orbit around Ghost
Timeline: November 1 (Day 1)

“Okay, everyone sit down and strap yourselves in!” Alden’s voice called from the bridge and permeated throughout the ship by virtue of the basic, but now fully functional comm. Chloe’s work, with a little help from anyone willing to pitch in, meant that everyone on board had working access from their bunks as well as the open areas.

The internal comms however, were the only ones currently working right.

Daiyu ignored the shipwide comm and rolled over in her bunk, returning back to her broken sleep.

Ever since they’d come within range of the pale pink clouded world the input from outside had been sketchy, erratic and glitchy as hell. Random signals in all kinds of voices, from Alliance through freighter pilot to raunchy promises of full bodywork (and not the ship-kind) and unlikely treasure troves. Signals caught up in the uniquely retaining properties of Ghost’s surface crust, age-less now yet dated by the codes and accents that mixed new settler through soldier to smuggler, hurled and wandered into range as the Firefly made its final approach.

“Gonna have to double-team this landing,” Alden confirmed as, beside him, Alison manned the main pilot chair. He rested his hands lightly on the co-pilot controls and checked all the external cameras and feeds for information. “Hells, I can’t even see the first marker buoy for all the static.” A short pause. “We’re gonna be flying by the seat of our pants,” he added with a big dumb grin. “Ali, Chloe, you ready for this?”

"I can take my pants off if that will help you feel better." Alison said cheekily under her nose focused on the instruments. Her flying was always based on the feel and she augmented that with readings of the instruments or actual visual feedback from the big viewports. Considering the lack on the latter, there was no real problem for her. She was still feeling the Echo and had all the systems operational. "One thing that bothers me is no response on the comm. It's not that we are a dreadnought or Reavers. They should hail us long time ago." Alison eyed Alden calmly.

"Pants off definitely not gonna help me focus, no," Alden muttered, his own gaze intent on the world before them. There could be anything in those clouds... "Amount of interference and overchatter here," he pointed out. "I'm not sure the signals would reach us even if they had hailed us?"

Chloe shrugged, all alone in the engine room. She worked mostly on engines, not signals and while she did probably know more about communications than the average mechanic, they had people for that back home. All her practical experience from harsh flight situations like interference and what not, she was stuck looking at the engine itself. They had specialists checking out everything else. "They probably should've hailed us. Legal would require them to have a strong enough communication array to account for the interference... assuming they followed all the regulations, that is." Which they likely didn't. Chloe had low opinions about terraforming teams. "And that they even cared to check in with us. And that this isn't a five year event, and that we're not using outdated receivers... You know what, it's probably fine. I'm ready for the landing, Captain." She trailed from one train of thought into a response with no hesitation.

"Okay," came the response after a moment's pause. "Thanks for that, Chloe." Alden grinned and looked to Ali. "Don't think she's said that much since we brought her on board," he noted, hand over the comm as he spoke.

Then Alden checked the last reading, tapped the console's screen and cursed quietly. Nothing was on their side now, nothing was going to help them reach the ground through the thinly forming atmo and all those fancy storms, nothing but learned human judgement and old fashioned skill. “Okay, y’all - everyone sound off when you’re good to go.”

At some point, when no one was looking, Tristan had slipped into the ship's bridge area and strapped into a seat near the back where neither Alden nor Alison could see him. He wanted a front-row seat for the landing.

*** Port Shuttle ***

Alden's voice on the intercom sounded nervous, and understandably so. Kindra slipped into her shuttle's pilot chair and strapped herself in. If there were any two pilots she trusted to make such a complicated landing safely, it was Alison and Alden. And if this landing turned out to be her end… well, at least she'd done her best to seek a resolution for her greatest regret.

Kindra had no idea what awaited the crew, or her personally on Ghost. With no communication with the planet there'd been no way to declare her impending arrival as a registered companion. For all she knew, she'd spend the time on Ghost practicing her harp, learning from the doctor, and getting to know the crew better… which was fine with her. Two or three weeks literally off the grid would throw her stepbrother off her scent, and with a little - or a lot – of luck he might even give up on looking for Kindra altogether.

*** Crew Quarters ***

Jonas strapped in as much as possible in his bunk. Well, some kind of chair that folded out of the wall. It was what it was and he just chuckled as he settled in.

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"Okay here we go," Alden confirmed, and looked to Ali to take the lead on their combined descent into those pretty pink clouds. Maybe they'd get a visual cue or two once they broke atmo and levelled out some, but if they could grab the beacon at least they'd be on track.

It didn't make his stomach any steadier or the random comms any less irritating with their conflicting messages and varying volumes. That first lurch downward felt way worse than it should considering the in-progress planet, but as they dropped like a broken elevator, Alden kept his hands loosely steady, adjusted as needed, and trusted Alison with their baby.

Alison confidently steered the Echo deeper into the atmosphere. It wasn't an easy flight as she was doing it by instruments and the instinct. The colorful and blinding cottonwool-like pink clouds were eerie and disorienting so she ignored them. "Angel one thousand." She informed with a military style. "Those clouds are hanging low." She added realizing that they might actually not be able to break through them. However as she did think so, Echo managed to cut through the clouds, pulling down strands of cotton-like trail behind. Below it was a bit more orangy hue, with barren rocks below forming canyons. "Now, that's better."

The instruments picked the landing coordinates on the short range receiver.
"Angel eight hundred. I have landing coordinates locked in." Alison said looking at the comm status. "Strange... it is an automatic broadcast. As if there was no one home." She said and she felt her hairs raising on the back of her head, realizing the implication of it out here in the far reaches of the known space. "I don't like it." She turned her face to Alden, switched off the intercom, and next sentence was whispered. "Can you use visual sensors and make sure we are not landing on the top of a Reaver party."

Alden didn't like it either, but, honestly, he'd been expecting it for a little while now. Even with the screwy sense of comms, something should have reached orbit from down here, assuming someone was sending.

"I've been scanning for signs all the way down," he confirmed, keeping his hands close to the controls, but trusting Ali had this now. Alden's voice was utterly serious, his eyes intently searching each scrap of data and rechecking it twice. "No other ships in the vicinity, nothing in the air, and we're clear on the mark given."

She shook her head. She didn't like it. At all. Then Ali switched on the intercom and added, jesting.
"Less than a minute to touch down people. Arm yourself people just in case because there is no red carpet waiting for us and certainly it is too quiet down there for your pilot's likening."

"James, Jonas," Alden added. "Be ready, I'm gonna need a quick sweep when we land just to be sure. James, Ali - you stay close to Echo. Jonas, Whit - you're with me. Everyone else remain on board and keep her locked down. Whit - soon as the immediate landing area is clear we'll head out, I just need to make sure there's nothing about to bite us in the butt. Chloe - keep everything running until I check back in, okay?"

"Copy that, Captain Alden." Whit looked happy to be there and couldn't wait to be on his way.

"Can do," Chloe said, in response to the Captain. Today was one of those rare times where she actually had her sonic pistol on her - perhaps she was a bit more wary after what had happened on the last planet. She reached down to feel that it was still there before responding on the comms. "I'll keep her running," she assured him.

Tristan shifted in his seat, his stomach still turning from the rough entry. Breaking the rules was something he was good at, though he felt bad leaving the crew in such a sneaky way. As soon as they landed and Alden was off ship, he'd steal away and disappear. That was the plan and it was the only way to keep them safe.

"I'll hook us up soon as we're down," Alden promised his engineer. "Keep the exterior vid feeds running, Chloe. You and James are on overwatch while we're gone. Help Ali keep everyone safe. I'll set some perimeter markers. And we'll keep in touch with the radios as far as they reach. Don't let anyone in unless they give the codes, okay? Stick together."

Alden looked to his pilot then and smiled a grim smile. "Set her down, Ali, then you get to be in charge of our big old baby, if you're up for it." Technically she was still 'just the pilot' but he hoped the last two years gave him some leeway on the current situation.

A piercing scream echoed throughout the Echo as Daiyu woke up from her tortured slumber in a perspiring fright. "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!"

Alison winced and glanced at Alden. Even being so far away from Daiyu she could hear her very well. Focusing on the landing, Alison brought the transport down nimbly, observing the altimeter. The automated landing system provided a clear vector that Alison followed but slowly enough to be able to react to any unexpected complications. There was none. The Echo gently settled down on the rocky ground. "And we touched the ground. Switching off non-essential systems." She said aloud while her slender fingers moved on the cockpit flipping various switches seemingly chaotic but for her it was in a very specific order.

"You can power us down Chloe." She added to the intercom.

Down and clear. Down and quiet, externally at least. Nothing but the sound of the disturbed young woman's voice echoing in his ears (and no doubt everyone else's).

"We're all gonna die, one day, Daiyu," Alden said over the ship comm with a calm, confident tone. "Not today if we can help it though. Jonas, Whit - get suited up. We're taking the Mule for a look-around. Ali - lock Echo down soon as we're out and clear. We'll call in when it's clear. Code-words for check-in - field team's is Quantum of the Stars. Ship team's response - Cuthbert Yeatman. You'll have Echo and both shuttles, use them if you need them to stay safe, but if you have to move from this pad, aim to stay within range of the Mule's radio."

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