OOC: OK, so, not quite Boxing Day yet, but...

Danica, Doc, Jacques, and Thera take the lift down to Box Two’s ventral pod.  Wylins meets them in the reception area and leads them through the restricted access iris valve into Station Ops.

The station’s ops room is only slightly larger than Gypsy Moth’s bridge.  The room is already full, but the group crowds in.

Operators are manning consoles and speaking in hushed, tense tones.  Proverbial “flies on the wall” in station coveralls line the bulkhead behind the consoles.  All told, including the group, there are eleven people in the Ops Room, making it not claustrophobic, but definitely crowded.

Director Xiu is standing in front of her command chair, speaking to a holographic projection of a severe man with close cropped hair and a Naval Officer’s uniform.  Smaller holographic projections of two other naval officers and a Pathfinder Supervisor indicate the Director is involved in a group holo-conference. “… simply not an option”, the severe man is saying.

A middle-aged man in station coveralls, sitting at the console nearest the Director, looks up when the group comes in.  He sees Wylins, sets his headset aside, stands, and approaches the group.  “Merv Laraque, ops.  Navy picked up a distress transmission from outsystem.  Pathfinder ship coming in hot and apparently without power.  No telemetry, just single passive lines of bearing.  Only ships with a chance to intercept based on plot are yours and the Navy’s.”*

At first you think Laraque must be kidding.  A quick glance over the shoulders of the station operators is enough to tell you the Pathfinder ship isn’t coming straight at the station and is no longer transmitting.  The Pathfinder ship is over 7AU away (farther than the distance from Sol to Jupiter in the ancient system of Terra) and the only information you have to plot her course and speed are a handful of radio intercepts.  That makes an intercept extremely difficult.  Even if a would-be rescuer managed to hit the target, it would take several days to get there.  If the distressed ship is already without power, then crew would have to be in suits, for the duration of that time.  It’s anyone’s guess whether there would still be anyone alive to rescue when you got there.  As experienced spacers, all these thoughts flash through your head in milliseconds as Laraque talks.  Apparently sharing your doubts, he shrugs and turns back to his console.

Turning your attention back to the Director’s conversation, the severe Naval officer is now saying, “Director, I assure you I appreciate the gravity of the situation and the need to try to rescue our people.  However, I cannot leave the Boxes undefended.  Reims is underway already and we will shift Zeitlin fom Box One to Box Two as a gap-filler.  That's the best I can do.”

He continues, “I also have serious reservations about using merchants for such an important task.  It is my considered opinion that involving them decreases our effective coverage of the wedge.  I don’t  think they can do the job.  However, since Team Leader Sorenz and yourself feel strongly about this, Reims will alter her course to give the near side sectors to, uh, Gypsy Moth.”

The hologram of the Pathfinder speaks.  In a formal tone, Team Leader Sorenz intones, “Your concerns are noted Captain Petit.   The Pathfinder Corps is cognizant of the risks involved in attempting to rescue FRPS Suzain** and we support a two ship effort, FRS Reims and the merchant trader Gypsy Moth.  The assistance of the Navy and private industry is greatly appreciated.”

Director Xiu formally adds her statement to the transcript, “Box Two Station Authority recognizes the strategic danger and fully supports the rescue mission for Suzain.  Under my authority as station director, I shall contact the crew of the merchant vessel Gypsy Moth for assistance in accomplishing this mission.”

Captain Petit nods, “You are advised, I cannot support delaying Reims to move marines to Gypsy Moth.  She’ll have to use her own resources unless Box Two provides.”

Director Xiu responds, “I understand.  I believe they have sufficient personnel to handle it.”

Captain Petit says, “Unless there are any other comments, this council is adjourned.  We will convene again in, sixty five minutes.”

The holograms disappear.  Director Xiu looks over at you.  She simply says, "Let's talk in my office."

* = (warning, the following is based on some fairly hard science, but it is not authoritative and if you disagree with this interpretation please press the “IMTU believe” button.  If you violently disagree, and can’t suspend disbelief, PM me.)  IF a distress signal contains good telemetry data, then plotting a rescue becomes a fairly straightforward math problem.

If it doesn’t, then the accuracy of the sensors and the distance to the ship in trouble become major factors.  At the ranges in question in this instance, a bearing inaccuracy of a few billionths tens of thousandths of a degree equates to hundreds or thousands of kilometers of positional inaccuracy.  A succession of single lines of bearing from a receiving sensor can narrow down a target’s position, course and speed to a “wedge” of possibilities, but plotting an intercept off such information is akin to trying to hit a bullet in flight with another bullet.  Not impossible, but far from easy.

** = FRPS Suzain is the Pathfinders’ Lab Ship, she is a variant of the same class as Gypsy Moth herself.  Both Jacques and Doc have been in her dirtside at some point, if not actually travelled in her.


Edit: math corrected.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:45, Wed 28 Dec 2011.