to sleep perchance to dream

[warpfairy]

Isabella drifts into a new system. This is farther than she usually ventures, but she can make it back to a new human colony after a complete survey here, with a margin of error, and refuel there to get back into central Federation space. Still, she's a little apprehensive as she drops out of warp. If the system proves to be unusually complicated she'll have to do it in two stages.

Comments

[warpfairy]

"Fair enough. I suppose we've diverged from essential preliminaries before I warp away into small talk regardless, and you have a time limit; I oughtn't keep you."

She punches up gentle impulse to break orbit - away from the attack drones and the small fleet cleaning them up.

[evesystem]

Something in her hold goes 'CLANG.'

[warpfairy]

...She stops.

"Something just made a loud noise in my cargo hold and I can't think of any reason for it to be anything other than what you sent me."

[evesystem]

"I don't see why it should be making any loud noises. You did stow it properly, right?"

[warpfairy]

"It needs special stowing?"

[evesystem]

"No, it just needs to be treated like something with a... warp core in it, right, your warp is not my warp. Our warp drives have interesting properties, inertially. They don't resist acceleration: they resist having velocity."

[warpfairy]

"...I may not be able to travel any useful distance with it in my cargo hold."

[evesystem]

"If you take the warp core out of the drone, you should be able to ship the rest safely."

[warpfairy]

"Okay. How do I do that?"

[evesystem]

"Er... I have no idea. Warp cores are generally built into things pretty thoroughly - they're not modular like most ship equipment, they come with the hull."

[warpfairy]

"Okay, what does the ansible part look like? I have some tools around and may be able to figure it out although I'm not a properly trained engineer?"

[evesystem]

"There should be a fairly obvious communications array on one end. Take out the part that it's attached to, and that will probably be the ansible."

[warpfairy]

"I'm not sure I'm familiar enough with your conventions of what things do and do not look like a communications array to be sure I've identified one...?"

[evesystem]

"The part with the rods that stick out."

[warpfairy]

"All right."

Isabella goes to try to take that bit off.

[evesystem]

It takes some finagling, but eventually acquiesces.

[warpfairy]

"Should I return the part I'm not bringing along?"

[evesystem]

"Do whatever you like with it: I can replace it easily."

[warpfairy]

"All right."

She gently jettisons it, and then punches up to careful impulse, listening for clangs.

[evesystem]

There is a distinct lack of clanging!

Wergeldt's ship appears to be aligning for transit back to the wormhole.

[warpfairy]

All right then.

She accelerates cautiously out of the system, and then warps away.

[evesystem]

A last transmission comes through. "See you again sometime, hopefully."

[warpfairy]

"Here's hoping."

And then she's gone.

[evesystem]

And then he's gone.