Ted - tryout

[Raptocidic]

The process of clearing the spacejunk had hardly progressed since they started. The crew were working hard to clear the wall of spacejunk, but without much luck. The team persisted regardless of their efforts feeling hopeless. A sluggishly long amount of time appeared to pass before anything mildly interesting occurred.

Yet another cycle of sending out the net to capture some old satellite was about to begin. Everything seemed normal and the process begun just as it had the hundred or so times before. The net was shot out and about to open and capture medium sized piece of spacejunk. It appeared to be a cube of rubbish, compressed and hurled into space. The net opened and caught the cube. Having fallen into a cycle of repetition after doing the same mundane task over and over meant that the crew weren't really playing much attention to their general surroundings at this point.

A small, sharp fragment of something passed through the net, cutting the net and making it useless. The fragment was most likely a bit of a satellite that had broken off the original body, perhaps after colliding with another satellite or something else orbiting the planet.

The crew had a moment of silence accompanied by expressions of surprise, disappointment and mild panic from different members. Ted chimed up at this moment and announced that he had packed spare nets. The team were all rather thankful, particularly Kuzi, who kept on thanking Ted over and over. It was clear that Kuzi didn't want to travel all the way to base and back again just to get another net.

You thought that event was probably going to be the most interesting aspect of clearing the spacejunk. It was just a neccecary boring bit the crew needed to get out of the way in order to be able to reach the planet.

Suddenlt the crew were presented with a brief flash of light soon followed by the screeching sound of the something skimming past the exterior of the ship. The entire team paused for a split second, followed by unorderly panic, followed by Gracie yelling at her crew to get themselves together. In an instant Ted and Calum rush over to the control room to try and figure out what just happened. Kuzi wondered off somewhere, but since he was being quiet nobody bothered to go find him. Azure suddenly switched into being dramatic, taking the opportunity to practice her acting skills. In truth she wasn't that bothered by this event, but she felt like she should act like the rest of the team. Her 'i'm afraid' act was extremely over exaggerated however, making it look somewhat fake. Gracie rolled her eyes at Azure before moving to the control room herself to see if Ted and Calum had figured out what had happened.

In the control room Calum was peering at the navigation screen and Ted was trying to make himself look busy. Ted wasn't exactly sure what to do, but he was staying calm. Calum looked over towards Gracie and scratched his head. He looked confused.

"I'm not entirely sure WHAT that was, but something hit us."

"Great. Calum, go find the others. Ted, run a damage report."

Calum left the control room. Finding Azure was easy, but Zuzi would be a challenge.
Without a reply Ted instantly rushed over to a different machine and started to tap buttons in an overly complex pattern. A holographic screen appeared in the middle of the room. Gracie read the flow of information, making occasional inaudible comments under her breath. Ted could only imaging what she was muttering, but it didn't sound too bad at least.

Finially Gracie spoke clearly. "It appears we've been hit by some sort of energy beam, although it has only brushed past the outsde of the ship. Nothing is badly damaged it seems."

Ted felt great relief with these words. He started to read the damage report himself, turning to face away from the main control screen.

However, little did anybody know, the control system had a tiny alert notification in the corner of the screen. You saw it, of course. But you couldn't do anything. You couldn't interact with the ship or the crew. It felt The ship had turned its main focus towards the damage report and as a result of a major unseen design flaw hadn't alerted the crew of an upcoming beam. This situation could turn rather dangerous very quickly.

You could probably try to get the radio voice to help, since the voice offered to help before.

Should you try to get them to help?

> Yes! We need to alert them, this is dangerous. <
> Nah, i'm sure they'll realise that there's a second beam, right? <

[Raptocidic]

You speak outloud, hoping that the annoying radio voice will respond. To your relief and annoyance, the radio voice responds.

Well this situation looks like it's turning particularly dire. You want to help them?

You agree, after all you definitely don't want this training session to end with the crew you're observing being blown up by a beam of energy.

The radio voice must have done something, because the control display begun to flash just like how it did before. It flashed blue and red and made some faint fizzing founds. The tiny notification on the screen was enlarged to cover almost the whole screen. Triangular 'alert!' signs also appeared on the screen, which you were confident was a cheesy thing the radio voice added.

Nobody played any attention to it for a while. The room remained empty bar Ted, who was still looking at the damage report. He appeared to be trying to figure out what exactly the beam was.

Ted turned around and went off to find himself something to drink. He returned later, presumably having drank something, and sat next to the control panel. He sat there for a bit doing nothing in particular before he noticed the fizzing sounds. He stood up and analysed the screen. He didn't need long to take the message and he quickly rushed over to other equipment to confirm that there's a second beam. To his surprise the message was correct and Ted alerted the crew.

The communication system appeared to not be working, which must have been due to the first beam. To his irritation the damage report didn't mention anything about the communication system, but Ted figured that this was just a fault, since the research ship wasn't exactly up to date (it was somewhat old and really should have been replaced with an updated model a while ago).

With no other choice Ted rushed off to find the other crew members to alert them.

Despite Teds best efforts, he was unable to find Kuzi, Gracie or Azure (who were trying to find Kuzi and still couldn't find him). Thankfully he did find Calum, who rushed back to the control room. They attempted to move the ship with just the two of them, but weren't particularly successful at this. They were too late and the beam hit the ship.

Fortunately they moved out of the way just enough so that the beam didn't destroy the ship. They were left unable to move except with a few thrusters, which was just enough to temporarily prevent the ship from floating into spacejunk. They were just on the edge of the planet's gravitational pull, which was helpful to an extent, but still not ideal.

Oh, so helping them out didn't really help much.
(continue story)

[Raptocidic]

Although you considered it, you decided not to ask the radio voice for help. After all, if you don't say anything out loud the extremely annoying voice doesn't bug you, and frankly you'd rather not hear that irritating voice an extra time if you can help it.

Ted was still in the control room. He had just about finished up reading through the damage report. He appeared to be attempting to figure out what the beam actually was.

You hoped that he would notice the display screen. You felt a false sense of security when he got up and walked towards the control panel, followed by that feeling being shattered as he walked right past it without noticing.

Ted returned some time later with the screwdriver he packed earlier. He removed some metal covering from the panel and started to mess about with electronics. He appeared to be trying to fix the control panel, likely after believing it to be broken because it was flashing earlier. The display started flashing blue and red, much to Ted's annoyance. The alert message also enlarged and these triangular warning signs popped up on the screen as well. Ted grew more and more frustrated.

Eventually giving up he screwed the metal covers back on and looked up at the screen. A moment of panic hit Ted as he read the message on the screen. He rushed over to other machines in the room to confirm is the message was true, or if it was just a fault he had caused by messing around with the wires.

His panic turned into dread as he realised there was infact a second beam heading towards them, this time the beam was due to hit them right in the middle of the ship, which would destroy the ship and everything on it. He ran over to the communication system, only to find it wasn't working. Although his facial expression remained calm, he ran out of the room to try and find the other crew members.

Ted didn't have much luck finding the crew.

Despite Teds best efforts, he was unable to find Kuzi, Gracie or Azure (who were trying to find Kuzi and still couldn't find him). Thankfully he did find Calum, who rushed back to the control room. They attempted to move the ship with just the two of them, but weren't particularly successful at this. They were too late and the beam hit the ship.

Fortunately they moved out of the way just enough so that the beam didn't destroy the ship. They were left unable to move except with a few thrusters, which was just enough to temporarily prevent the ship from floating into spacejunk. They were just on the edge of the planet's gravitational pull, which was helpful to an extent, but still not ideal.

We probably should have helped them, things might have turned out differently.
(continue story)

[Raptocidic]

Calum tried to move the ship.

The main thrusters weren't working. A few smaller ones were, which was better than nothing. The two turned their attention towards where the beams actually came from. Something must have fired those beams and if it fired again they definitely wouldn't be able to escape.

Ted begun to load up recorded footage onto the ship's main holographic screen. He started to analyse any footage that showed the beams. He soon focused in on one particular clip.

"Hey Calum, you'll want to look at this."

Calum walked over towards Ted and stood next to him. Ted rewound a part of the clip and zoomed in. He pressed play.

"See that?" he asked. His voice was a mix of fear, relief and excitement.

Calum seemed amazed by Ted's discovery. "The beam came from another ship! Maybe if we contact them they might stop-"

Ted interrupted Calum. "The communication system is completely broken. I think the damage report missed it or something."

"Oh."

Calum decides to go and find the others whilst Ted remained in the control room. Calum told Ted to try and find a way of communicating, but the best idea he came up with was flashing morse code by turning the lights on and off. There was a chance the other ship might get their message, but then again they may not understand. From the small glimpse they got of the ship it was clear the ship definitely wan't anything they knew of. A glimmer of hope told Ted that the ship was alien, but he figured that it could also just be an updated design he hasn't seen yet.

At least they hadn't been destroyed by a 3rd energy beam (yet).

Calum soon returns with all of the crew members, including Kuzi (who apparently had got himself stuck in the toilet room). The crew were trying to decide what to do next when they realised that the other ship was flashing back. And they were flashing back in morse code. Ted was somewhat disappointing by this, having hoped that they were aliens. The fact that they knew morse code decreased the chances that they were dealing with intelligent alien life, at least going by Ted's logic.

The ships pass messages back and fourth for a bit before the other ship moves towards them. The team had been directed to set up the ship to be docked to the other one. Although difficult without all of the necessary thrusts they managed to line up the ship.

They head a loud clunk as they are docked onto the other, larger ship. The team prepared to enter the other ship.

continue story

[Raptocidic]

The crew all lined up in the air lock. The doors between the ships opened and the crew stepped through. Ted felt nervous as the doors closed behind them.

Inside the ship was a series of tunnels. The layout was unlike anything the crew had ever seen. They were greeted by a tall, green dragon-esk being. Ted's face lit up. 'So they ARE aliens!' he thought. He tried to hide his excitement.



Although unable to communicate verbally, the team communicated through text on a screen. The aliens appeared able to read their language, but unable to speak it. They explained they can't pronounce the language because they're physically incapable of replicating several sounds that are needed for every language that originated from Earth.

They eventually agree to fly the crew back to base in their ship, but only in return for supplies. They were trying to capture/destory a dangerous criminal group of aliens and thought they might be involved. They didn't seem apologetic about their mistake at all.

Ted suggests trading some of the extra supplies he packed. Although too tall for the spacesuits the aliens agreed to take the 3 spare suits he packed, as they could reuse use the materials for an other purpose.

The crew returned back to base, now with proof of intelligent alien life and new allies to assist them on future adventures.



Touched with this idealistic ending to the situation you had just witnessed first hand you almost forgot about that irritating radio voice. The voice spoke again, which burst your bubble.

And with that nice ending it seems like the perfect time to end this training session. Ok recruit, you should take off your communicator and helmet. You will find yourself in the room you started in before all this. You should walk down the corridor, to the left is a debriefing room.


Thank you for reading my entry!