The Ringed Quest for the Legend, part 6 - The life onboard
30 Dec 2024Claude Lecardunoie
... continued from The local news
I assisted to the FSD jump of the Arc Raider out of Algorab on the 8th of december 3310 from the passenger seats in the vessel control bridge.
Hyperspace in a fleet carrier, that was new for me!
And for my metabolism too, actually.
My body was not yet accustomed to a sequence of such long jumps. Accelarations and decelerations were killing me, pushing and pulling blood back and forth. On the recommandation of the crew medical officer, I took some pills and withdrew to the hangars in my ship's cabin, where I immediately flumped down on my bed and fell asleep.
When I woke up about 10 hours later, the Arc Raider was stationary, orbiting in Col 285 Sector KM-V d2-106. Arriving at the ship's social lounge, I was stroke by the sight behind the giant composite glass bays of the room. For someone like me, who barely went out of the Bubble, the density of stars in the sky was impressive. As we were closing in on the center of Galaxy, in other words, the hub of this gigantic wheel, it shouldn't have been a surprise. Yet, that view was amazing. Saddly, my little moment of contemplation was interrupted by the public announcement system:
"Attention! 3rd shift briefing in 5 minutes".
Each time the Arc Raider would remain orbiting in a system for more than 6 hours, a general meeting was called for the relevant shift on duty, and I was on the third shift.
Briefings were held in the control bridge, more convenient to gather all the people and the elevated navigation console made a convenient speech podium for the expedition manager in charge to detail the shift's teams schedule and daily objectives. In the audience, many contracted exploration pilots, like myself, but not only.
- First, there was the fleet carrier crew itself, of course: shipyard personnel, maintenance technicians, onboard security enforcers, navigators and air traffic control operators, the medical team, cooks and flight attendants.
- Some independant researchers were also there: two climatologists, a biophysicist and a young and smily xeno-archeologist, all of them from different academic institutions, Imperial or Federal, this expedition being a very "ecumenical" initiative.
- And last, but not least, credits being the backbone of such operations, the inevitable private commercial and research corporations teams: mining and terraforming prospectors, Pionneer Supplies retailers, Universal Cartograhics astronomers and geologists, Vista Genomics exobiologists.
Security staff, bar tenders, Universal Cartographics astronomers, Vista Genomics biologists, Pionneer Supplies retailers, experts in various scientific fields. A micro society was onboard the Arc Raider
In total, about 30 people were in the room, taking their planning. Four shifts of 6 hours, so I was sharing the Arc Raider with about 120 persons in total.
Four shifts of six hours, a classical 24 hours cycle to fit with the universal galactic time was applied.
So the routine was a little more strict than the one I had during my solo exploration some years ago (read An explorer daily routine). During my duty shift, as a contracted pilot, I had to assist the Vista Genomics biologist, Nyomi Dickson. For 6 hours, I would process and sort biologic data collected by other explorers. You can call that office hours, but it actually was a good way to learn, because I was new to this scientific disciplin.
24h - 6h of duty. 18 hours remaining.
Out of the duty shift, I could plan my time as I pleased. I would usually take up to 10 hours to do freelance exploration or to check out the point of interests on the expedition route. The most important thing, during solo raids there, out in the dark, was to keep en eye on the Arc Raider FSD sequence notifications. I missed it one time, busy while collecting geologic samples on a promising high metal content planet, and I had to run a 39 jumps marathon to catch up with the fleet carrier. That time, I docked way too late for my shift, but with plenty of valuable data. As if this incident hadn't taught me anything, the day after, I docked "at the buzzer". I am not too sure where this expression comes from, but it applies when docking on a megaship seconds before FSD sequence lockdown.
18h - 10h of exploration. 8 hours left.
That would be resting time. At least 5 hours of sleep, but also a couple of hours to socialize, share a meal and befriend with the other passengers.
A short break in the Pilot's Lounge
On one of these occasions, I met with Avrora Al-Kashi. I saw her during my shift briefing earlier. At 26 years old, she was leading a team of three xeno-archeologists from the prestigious Capitol Imperial College in Achenar.
- "26 years, no, it is not too young", she explained, over a cocktail, "You know, Claude, there is a very small chance, if any at all, to discover a xeno site, Thargo, Guardian or from a forgotten Human expansion, during this explo. That is why they actually send freshly graduated students. My two colleagues are actually younger than me. But it'll pay some of my student loan. This, plus the 'team leader' title I'll put in my resume."
- "No..." , she sighed, "At best, we'll stumble over some human crash site near Colonia but they are usually of no scientific interest. Now, if, by chance, you find something unusual during you explorations, let me know first, ok?".
Public announcement system again: "Attention! Jump sequence initiated. Please, get to a FSD jump seats or to your ships' cabins"
- "Well, Claude, we'll have to carry on that conversation later", she said, waving me goodbye as she walked toward the main bridge for a seat.
To be continued in First discoveries...