The Space Opera Working Thread

reply to post by silo13


Why not!

You're on the Yddryl under Captain Cadbury, initially as Mascot until re-assigned.

U2U sent

Opening Post (Edited update)

************************



NOTE

Suggestion for the opening post



Title:

The Voyages of the Penelope and the Yydryl


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d378fdcf5f0c.jpg[/atsimg]

Credit: www.cfa.harvard.edu...

(pic Optional]

From two distant locations in the universe, two ships depart at approximately the same time. Their destiny is to meet and an adventure awaits the brave crews stationed within their hulls.

Faster Than Light and capable of using wormholes, crammed with extensive technological advances, devastating firepower and defensive shields., they are a veritable match for each other.

( bla bla bla - suggestions accepted )





Starhip Penelope

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/87a4c44e0844.jpg[/atsimg]


(insert pic here)

-of Earth Federation, departs from LagrangeOne, a permanent orbital outpost situated near the home planet.

Crew

• Captain - mf_luder
  
• Senior Celestial Navigator - Fook Gai Dan
  
• Chief Medical Officer - DJMEsssiah
  
• Chief Security Officer - nenothtu
  
• Weapons Control Officer - WCO Seeker
  
• Navigator - whiterabbit85
  
• unassigned Ensign - John Q
  

Mission

A carrier, the USS Nimitz was lost in the Alpha Centauri region of space and our mission is to take the Penelope there to try and locate any signs of the missing crew. This mission is classified High Priority.

The USS Nimitz has not reported in for nearly two months now.

We are to investigate, search for survivors, and report our findings to Earth Command.



Command Staff: 9
Navigation - Filled
Medicine - Filled
Science - OPEN
Engineering - Filled
Communciations - OPEN
Security - Filled
Supply - OPEN
Marine Commander - OPEN
Fighter Wing Commander - Filled

There should be at least 1000 - 2000 personnel attached to the Marine contingent to act as a defense/boarding force if needed.

There are a total of 72 Starfighters docked in the USS Penelope and they include the following:

1 Fighter Pilot, 5 Technicians, 5 Weapons Specialists. - - SO:
72 Pilots, 360 Techs and 360 Weapons Specs total.

The rest of the crew laydown I'll leave to my officers' discretion as to how they want to man their sections. The Total Crew number is just to provide PLENTY of leeway on number of personnel needed.

Nenothtu - as current head of security operations, you have operational control over all Marines on board until we get a proper Commander for that - you also have Security personnel.

Ship Functions

Weapons.

Seeker - I love your ideas for the weapons. Just give me some elaboration so I'll know what they do. We can incorporate them into the Penelope at any time. The following are my ideas:

Short Range: Armor Piercing Solid Projectiles
Shield Depleting Energy Rounds
Anti-Fighter Batteries

Long Range: Ship to Ship Capital Artillery Canister Guns (Heavy)
Ship to Space (Anti-Fighter) Canister Guns

Seeker, we can fit in yours wherever, just let me know something.

Defenses.

Static Repulsion Field (Anti-Projectile)
Triple Titanium amor plating
Energy dispersal fields
Anti Missle Chaff and Flak Tubes

Structure:

Six Bays capable of housing an overall total of 72 fighter craft, their support crews and their weaponry line the sides of the (design 1 picture)

The command center is locate on the top of the ship, near the center where the little round thing comes to a head. lol - sorry - I can't really elaborate better than that.

There are two primary medical facilities on board - one for normal crew operations and one for the fighter pilots/marines in case of injuries during ship to ship combat. (DJMessiah, if you have any suggestions for the medical stuff, feel free to pipe in at any time.)

The ship contains enough rooms and quarter to house all 15,510 personnel. We assume that like the Earth military of old, lower ranks equal more to a room to conserve space.

The Penelope contains two food processing and storage facilities, capable of sustaining a crew of 16,000 for 3 years without resupply. These facilities are paired with water treatment and recycling facilities capable of sustaining the same size crew for 2 years without resupply.

There is an on-board air generation facility which uses principles found in plant life to help generate oxygen and recycle it. Since this technology was discovered 100 years ago, it is able to run almost indefinitely these days.

The engines are twin Super-Quad 51J FTL "Bender" Drives. The exhaust cones are solely for sub-FTL travel, as the ship actually uses on-board wormhole generators to move about the galaxy. (JohnQ, as you are the Chief Engineer, this is your baby and I want to see you treat it as such. Chime in with any suggestions and modifications you'd like to see or make to the stock Earth design.)

Computers/Sensor Equipment

The ship has three primary computer banks.

The sensor systems work by three modes:

Passive Scan. - This mode is for detecting any upcoming threats or anomalies to the ship and is always running, regardless of alert status or any other running modes the ship may be in.

Active Scan. - This mode is for directly scanning any vessels, objects, etc. the crew would like to know more about.

Long-Range Scan. - This is high on power consumption but is capable of presenting near-real time data of the surrounding 500ly of space when used.

The ship does not carry probes.

Communications

A "Universal Translator" was a thing of fiction in the 20th century and for all practical purposes, may forever be. However, by using the knowledge amassed from all Earth languages, the Penelope's computers are able to analyze vocal and linguistic information gained from new species to attempt to build a common grounds for communication.

The ship can operate with the following limitations to communications:

Real Time for out to 50ly
Near Real time for out to 50-100ly with a delay of 5s.
Near Real time for out to 100-200lywith a delay of 10s.
Anything further is sent in a "data burst" which can take longer times depending on distance and method of receipt.

The ship has internal PA communications systems for intra-ship communications by the Captain and other ranking personnel.

The ship has an internal "personal use" system for personnel to call each other.

The ship has access to the "Galactic Interweb" - (Equivalent to the internet)






Starship Yydryl


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a348be2a8591.jpg[/atsimg]

(pic optional)

-of the Orion Alliance, departs from the Rigellian outpost in the Orion Nebula

Starship Yddryl


• Captain - Cadbury
  
• Weapons Tech - scurvy
  
• Communications Officer - visible_villain
  
• Navigation Officer - Skyfloating
  
• Empath/Chief Medical Officer - antar
  
• Special Ops - Whisper67
  
• Mascot - silo13
  

Their mission remains UNKNOWN


[edit on 18/3/09 by masqua]

[edit on 18/3/09 by masqua]

I see Nature doesn't want me to be a weapons tech... just a measly pilot...
How disappointing

The ship has access to the "Galactic Interweb" - (Equivalent to the internet)

Oh good... for a moment there I was frightened you guys wouldn't have access to Facebook.

reply to post by Scurvy


Don't worry Scurvy I'm sure we can get you switched to that if you'd like. And Masqua that's looking pretty damned interesting so far... Good work, Sir.

I'm open to suggestion (via u2u only) from the Alien crew as to what our mission should be. In role it may be that the crew doesn't know the mission, but I'd really like suggestions from you all because I don't want to be sending you out on something you find boring, offensive or otherwise unsatisfactory.




[edit on 18-3-2009 by Cadbury]

This will be my character intro, just to give an example of what I meant by that.


Character Intro

It looked like a fickle whisp of fog but actually contained billions of worlds. As my gaze rests on that nebula I fondly look back at what originally inspired me to go into Celestial Navigation. Go out there, see a new world, meet exotic people...and kill them? No. Learn from them. Being part of a battleship in an apparent time of war, my yearning to reach out to foreign souls is yet unfulfilled.

I was born on the lonely planet of æxløsis,.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/0b20de4b317e.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c14c98a01b7f.jpg[/atsimg]

...and may remain lonely even if our mission patriotically insists we are among "our own".

Signing up for the Yddril holds the promise of a free ride to the wonderlands of the Universe. At the cost of participating in violence. A cost I am obviously willing to pay.

They call me "Sky" because thats where my gaze was back on æxløsis. Im male, 33, dark hair, blue eyes.

I met my captain yesterday as he approved of me taking my aquarium along. He made the impression of a strong-willed, yet unpredictable personality. Not exactly soothing. Still, I am grateful to be here and will respect his authority. I have not shaken hands with any of the other crew members yet.

[edit on 18-3-2009 by Skyfloating]

Ok I finally have a question for the setup. How to ask...

Ok so I have some free time to devote and yet the current scene is filled with dialog between the other ship and their crew. It would not be a good time to jump in as it would disrupt their flow.

How do we keep it fluid and within a storyline and not haphazard or interruptive to the other crew?

Also does everyone post one after another once we get started? I mean what if it is me and another crewmember on the bridge alone?

Originally posted by antar

How do we keep it fluid and within a storyline and not haphazard or interruptive to the other crew?

Nice avatar.

The way Im personally planning to handle this is by reading others posts and writing in a way that it fits into whats going on, fits into what was already said and done or describe the same thing from my perspective...only rarely venturing out to side-stories.

Originally posted by Cadbury
reply to post by Scurvy

 

Don't worry Scurvy I'm sure we can get you switched to that if you'd like.

Consider it done.

Oh and also I think we should define our own characters appearance. I am in all actuality a changeling of sorts. My appearance is contoured to what ever makes the observer comfortable. So to whisper I have tentacles, to a human I appear humanoid.

From what I understand Rigel and the Orion Nebula is filled with hundreds of individual races or species.

reply to post by Skyfloating


Thank You and yes that sounds good, however if you are in the flow and want to post, will it not be disruptive to the other crew if you start interjecting from the prospective of the alien crew instead, I mean more for continuity and ease for the readers. Do I make myself clear?

reply to post by antar


yes, and I agree. Its the same issue that comes up with any sort of collaboration...even in the business world: How to fit in with the others and tell ones own unique story at the same time.

Thats why, as I just posted my character-intro I made sure it didnt interfere with anything in the story. I come from that planet and you can come from any other...

I think if we just get started, we can still make corrections as we go along. By discussing it here or even by deleting and re-writing stuff.

Originally posted by antar

Ok so I have some free time to devote and yet the current scene is filled with dialog between the other ship and their crew. It would not be a good time to jump in as it would disrupt their flow.

The current scene is only the set-up for the opera. Once the new thread starts, we'll start the role playing in earnest and discussion between crews will not be allowed until they actually meet. That will happen because NATURE will post into the new thread making it happen.

How do we keep it fluid and within a storyline and not haphazard or interruptive to the other crew?

Use the 'Reply To' and 'Quote' buttons to talk to your crew members. Of course, everything you post will be SEEN by the other crew, but, for the time being, they won't actually communicate. After a while, it won't matter anyways, because the ships WILL meet. I think it's important that a crew works together at first to get to know what everyones role will be.

This isn't serious business or anything... it's basically to have fun.

Someone suggested two seperate threads, but that might be a little hard to work.

Also does everyone post one after another once we get started? I mean what if it is me and another crewmember on the bridge alone?

Just like on any other thread on ATS, answer even if they're not logged on. If someone goes away for a few days, it's not a problem and they'll respond when they come back online.

Free and easy does it. No-one's expected to be on-line all day, every day.

If you've been gone for a while, then you'll enjoy reading to catch up.

reply to post by Skyfloating


I love the idea of doing a character intro, Im with you on this one and am hoping (in character that you will be there) as we have met on previous worlds outside the Orion Nebula and resonate greatly. I trust your intuition and know that there is no better choice for Navigation. I think that on our crew we have a balance of those who have deep respect for all species and hope for Galactic peace one day and then the others who would just as soon make a meal of the humanoid race.

I will do my best to respect the flow of the storyline and yet await the opening posts of my fellow crew members with great anticipation.

Also I have changed comps, is my spell check working properly?

I'm here. Forgot and left my desktop 'puter on, and it probably has me "logged in" for days...

The design for the organic Yydryl looks sort of like a Romulan Bird of Prey, 2nd version. If that's what you all decide on, I can probably find a model for subsequent pictures. Let me know if that's where you go, and I'll scrounge it and drop it into the Orion nebula for you if you'd like. Scrounging is one of my specialties...

Originally posted by antar
if you are in the flow and want to post, will it not be disruptive to the other crew if you start interjecting from the prospective of the alien crew instead, I mean more for continuity and ease for the readers. Do I make myself clear?

I understand what you're saying.

Think of it as any other thread on ATS/BTS.

It could be 20 pages long with dozens of posters, but there are 2 individuals who 'talk to each other' within all the other posts. As long as they use 'Reply To' and 'Quote', they always know that the post is directed at them.

The Space Opera will be no different other than everyone is Role Playing and building up a 'personality' for themselves in relation to their ship and fellow crew members alone. It won't be long before everyone will be communicating anyways.

Originally posted by nenothtu
The design for the organic Yydryl

It's the 'Yddryl', but we can change it to your spelling easier than changing the pic.


Edit done

[edit on 18/3/09 by masqua]

Agreed. Now also it was suggested some pages back that we sport the ship we are on in our avie, I dont agree with that as I work the entire forum and as has been stated this could go on for a very long time, an ongoing series of sorts. We could however with the help of our more apt members get a cool logo made with a link to the story that we could post at the bottom of our post, you know the sig area? I am no good at it but am very open to having one made.

reply to post by masqua


Would'nt that change the pronounciation from Eye-drill to yid-drill?

reply to post by antar


It's Rigellian and is still pronounced as Eye Drill.