And Another Thing On The Bridge

Posted on Mon Nov 10th, 2025 @ 2:09am by Captain Calypso Skyie & Tessa di'Orion & Lieutenant Rebecca McMillen
Edited on on Mon Nov 10th, 2025 @ 4:00am

Mission: A Princess Of Tial
Location: Chimera Bridge
Timeline: Day 2

The turbolift doors slid open and the two blondes walked onto the bridge together, both wearing red, but only one in uniform as the other wore a flowing red and white gown, though both were roughly the same height. "This is the bridge of Chimera, what we would call the brain of the ship where I typically am on any given day. Usually it's a rather boring place, but when we're engaging something new, it can get rather lively."

"I see, My Lady," Sera'e'Metel di'Orion stated as she stopped outside the lift and gave a look around, seeing no one in the center chair of the bridge, only an officer at each of the front two consoles, one in the back and then someone else on top of a console, "And who would be in charge here when you aren't?"

"Typically it would be Commander Espersen, who you've met, but since he's also involved in our current diplomatic situation on the ground, I've left the ship in the good hands of Lieutenant Rebecca McMillon." Cally gestured towards the small person that had her own set of consoles on top of another and they worked their way over towards it, "Rebecca, this is Sera, the mother of Tessa if you've ever met her, she's visiting us for a quick tour if you'd like to conduct one of the bridge and even the science labs if you'd like?" She smiled brightly, "I think she could even give you a ride if you ask politely?"

Rebecca stood up as their guest approached. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. di'Orion. And I'd hate to burden you with having to carry the tour guide I assure you the other option is slower but much much more amusing." Rebecca said with a smile, clearly amused. "But yes, while the Captain is away I am the ruthless and imposing overlady of the bridge." she said with all the casual tone of reading the phone book. Clearly teasing, she smiled after a moment, "It's very nice to make your acquaintance. I don't see Tessa as much as the others do, but everyone looks the same from the ankles down." another joke. Rebecca was in a good mood today.

“The pleasure is mine, Milady.” Sera enjoyed the joke, especially since she could understand the joke that had been made about ankles, then pondered for about a heartbeat, “And carrying you would hardly be considered a burden, although I’m not sure where to put you to carry you.” She made a show of looking Becca over, “I suppose a shoulder, since you’re not carrying a toothpick to stab me in the ear?”

"A shoulder would be the most polite." Rebecca responded, and gave another nod. "And of course, if you need anything just ask. It might take me a while to make it happen but, I achieve results." she giggled.

Sera reached down with a chuckle and allowed Rebecca to climb up onto her palm before lifting her to the right shoulder and looked at the Captain, "I think the Lieutenant can take care of me for the time being, you can go check on things, grab a cup of coffee, let me plot a little bit with this charming young lady."

"Hmph!" Cally made a show of being 'annoyed' about being dismissed so suddenly, but laughed as she waved while headed towards the ready room.

Sera turned her head to look at Rebecca to make sure she knew she was paying attention to her and smiled, keeping her voice lower now that they were so close to each other, "So, Rebecca, now that she's out of the way, we can talk to each other like friends, no?"

Once the proverbial coast was clear, "Of course, nothing would stop that." she covered, but gave a nod, "What's really on your mind?"

“Nothing in particular, however, given my own experiences being the ‘overly hovering higher up’, I have discovered that people are much more able and willing to be more frank when they aren’t concerned about giving away important secrets.” Sera gave her a knowing smile, “Which means you can actually tell me about what the capabilities of this ship are, or what all you get up to in a given day or whatever. One thing I can say is don’t fear that I’m here to steal your technology, none of it is compatible with our own, yet, not to mention it would take me or my best priests quite a while to truly grasp it.”

Rebecca looked mock insulted. "My good lady, I could never." she shook her head. "I could never deny your people the chance to consider." Rebecca took a moment to gather her thoughts. "If I Told you the answer, then you'd stop considering the question. And what would that lead to? Yet another species in the vast and infinite cosmos that solved the most common question with the most prevalent solution. With very, very few exceptions, everyone solved the issue of warp travel in exactly the same method. There hasn't been a divergence in technology for quite some time. So consider it a mark of respect when I say I'd much rather see how your people solve the problem than just give you the answers."

"Because once you have the answer, you stop considering the question. You'd have OUR answer. Which might not have ever been your own."

"That's the problem about people who already have the secrets to the galaxy figured out, they think everyone else just wants the easy way out." Sera was grinning to let Rebecca know that she wasn't being serious about the words, "Certainly our sublight drive is more primitive than yours, as is our weaponry, but we've made it work and we're not going to take the easy way out just because it's there. That's just not our way." She gave a wry chuckle, "Our warp drive isn't powered the same way yours is, we use hydrogen fusion plants instead. The higher the speed, the faster we burn through our fuel supplies, but we make sure there's plenty of it. I don't take any offense by your words or actions, fear not."

Rebecca giggled, "I mean that's good to hear, and hey you're on the right track. We use hydrogen too!" Mind you, it was a specific form of hydrogen. Oh and it's antimatter pairing. But...

"I respect that it isn't your way to use the answer over your own. It's my way to not give the answer when folks are still figuring out The Big Question." she offered in response. Sure, they were on their way to figuring it out, but that's a LOT of hydrogen to burn to explore the galaxy fast.

"We've theorized about anti-matter reactions, but our research into the area has been minimal because we can't create it in any quantity yet, with containment of it also difficult at best in space and far too dangerous on the surface." Sera continued on, oblivious to Rebecca's inner thoughts, "If we can find a way to keep that annihilation reaction contained reliably, then prevent burnout from the energy produced, storage of the energy, we may have something going."

She paused for a moment, "Of course, now's probably a good time to mention that we know it's possible, because your engineering team is setting up a matter-antimatter reactor in our technology research center under Light's End as we speak. Knowing it can be done is one thing, figuring out how is the other and since we can't reproduce your technology, we're still going to have to find out how it's done on our own."

"They say that 90% of making something is knowing it can be done, so you're really almost there!" Rebecca offered with amusement. Not in a condescending fashion, but more in the tone of someone watching someone else have that lightbulb moment. They were well on their way to opening the door.

"I have to admit, I'm very pleased to hear that you're working on containment first before mass production. I can't even imagine the number of great societies that were on the verge of greatness who mixed up that order. It's like, Hey Flib, come check this .... boom, and no one ever knew." she illustrated with hand gestures of an explosion.

"But yeah, build the bottle first, then put the lightning in it." a pause, "Sorry, ummm, Bottled Lightning is an Earth phrase. It means to succeed at something that's essentially impossible. You know, like breaking the speed of light or surviving a catastrophic accident."

"Then we have successfully bottled some lightning on several occasions. The first being sustained power generation and taking it from theory to practicality. I can only let you imagine our first sojourn out of atmosphere, riding a series of chained nuclear explosions. From our records, I can tell you there were several spectacular failures before we succeeded."

Rebecca gave a nod, "I have to say, fissile propulsion sounds like a spectacular success when it worked." she offered, "Basically riding a chain of explosions. Just, you know, stand clear of the launch pad."

"Very much clear of the launch tube, but it was all part and parcel of the price to get into orbit." Sera gave a broad smile, "So, Miss McMillen, what else are you allowed to tell me about the ship? And those here that are aboard?"