[Open]

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi glared at the console, and instructed the computer to bring up the simulation once more. It was a fairly simple one - just dodging an oncoming asteroid field - but she'd run it three times now, and each had ended with her ship as an asteroid bug-splatter not too far in. She could drive a car just fine, but the finer controls of the ship eluded her. She had imported the Ptolemy's basic design and control scheme into the program, so at least it was a ship she was vaguely familiar with.

Nonetheless, ten minutes into this fourth run, a fairly loud stream of curses - in more than one language - could be heard outside the door to the sensorium she was using.

Comments

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi glanced over at the intruder, and put the sim on pause - no point in crashing for not good reason. "This thing steers like an overloaded truck, I think."

[quick_strike]

"Or you are a poor pilot." She didn't even ask to take a seat at a console but she did nonetheless. And blanched at the technology.

"Of course you would pilot poorly with this set up."

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi bristled a little at the curt dismissal of both her ship and her skills.

"I wasn't trained as a pilot. And I have to work with what I have."

[quick_strike]

"Before you can even pilot, you must know if your ship's offensive and defensive capability is up to par."

She poked around at the console, slowly reading the words since human doesn't come to her naturally.

"Do you have brightlance cannons? Plasma torpedoes? Shuriken cannons? Laser weaponry?"

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi raised an eyebrow. "I know what weaponry the ship has - but it's not going to make much of a difference if I can't steer this thing around an asteroid."

[quick_strike]

"Destroying the asteroids in advance would make a difference." Because when you're a warrior, everything can be solved with force. "For humans, you would require a machine to do the calculations but an Eldar like myself can do it easily."

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She'd managed to avoid any human/non-human dominance struggles so far, but it seemed like her card was up.

"This vessel is primarily a transport and launching platform. We have weaponry, but unless they're very small asteroids, it's not going to do much good."

[quick_strike]

"Don't you know?" Having spent many years as a pirate herself, the thought of it put a smile on her face. "The small ones are the most dangerous. However, while you have said nothing of the sort, I do believe this ship is equipped with laser or particle based weaponry, yes? One does not need to destroy an asteroid as much as redirect it, which is possible with this type of technology."

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi shrugged. "Usually we're dealing with space garbage on the smaller scale of things - we do have particle weaponry, though."

[quick_strike]

"I see. What about shielding? Even the smallest of human space-going ships have Void Shields." Nope, looking at a console wasn't helping her here.

[indeliblepast]

"We have particle shielding that can go up, but it's a big power drain." Which, with the state the units were in, was a problem.

[quick_strike]

"Try another run." She pointed out the view-port. "Your skills are good enough to at least stay away from the larger ones, yes?"

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi nodded, instructing the computer to bring up the simulation again. Running it with someone watching was a little unnerving, though.

[quick_strike]

Alendian sat back and watched the simulation run. She wasn't too hip on working with a human but it was in inevitable outcome. Helping make one better may as well be a benefit in the future.

[indeliblepast]

The first part of the run went smoothly enough - she'd done it plenty of times at this point. She was tense, though, doing this under scrutiny, and part way through came the inevitable collision. The bridge shook violently, and then the viewports turned themselves off, ending that part of the sim.

[quick_strike]

"As much as I would prefer to show you what a better ship is like, that would be pointless as this is all we have." Eldar always sounded judgemental, unfortunately.

"Therefore, it would be in your bests interests to find a crew for this ship or to upgrade it with better equipment."

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi's lips thinned slightly in annoyance. "My crew so far isn't on the best of terms with the rest of the ship, unfortunately. And upgrades require both parts and an engineer - neither of which I have."

[quick_strike]

"Tch. I, for one, do not blame them no matter who they are." Her dislike for authority here wasn't exactly a secret but it wasn't like everyone knew.

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi gave her a raised eyebrow over the console. "Not on the 'one bit happy spaceship' bandwagon?"

[quick_strike]

"I am not and that last fight is proof of it." Her arms crossed, recounting the scene. "It was a wild free-for-all with no leadership."

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi nodded. "I'm not sure Command is really giving us enough information."

[quick_strike]

"Of course they are not. It is a common strategy when one wishes to have another do their bidding." Eldar used it with humans all the time.

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi sighed heavily. "And this is why I left the military...'

[quick_strike]

"Why be a part of this in the first place? I refuse to follow orders from some species who has no idea how mine functions and also have no wish to learn." And by that, she meant the aliens who were leaders of this whole thing. She hasn't even seen one, almost proof to her that they did not care.

[indeliblepast]

"Well, that wasn't an issue back home," Sumeragi replied. "But I didn't like what they did there, and I don't like what they do here."