In reply to GM (msg # 22):

"Talia! We were just about to leave without you! I think the way were all locked out of the computer system a few minutes ago was a good sign something's not right here.

"Can anyone pilot this vessel? Or should we be trying to take a space walk to the surface?"

Like the other humans, the Vargr scientist was already almost finished putting on her vacc suit.

In reply to GM (msg # 22):

"I'm going to get a vacc suit on, just in case!"

She pulled a spare one out of the storage locker, made a face at the smell inside.

Once the door is closed, Billy drives the screwdriver into the outer lock mechanism.  While it wouldn't take a skilled person all that long to fix the thing - anything that keeps the thugs closed up inside for a bit longer has to be a good thing.  Then he follows the others.

"The first officer had three thugs in secure low-berths,  but I shut them in the armoury," Billy tells Talia and Walker as they head towards the cutter, "the doctor is in on it - and I think the captain is as well."  He adds everything he has learned so far to the general information pot.

Hearing the conversation in the Cutter, Billy chimes in "We probably need to get this thing away now.  It won't be long before those thugs get out of the armoury, armed to the teeth ..." Billy waits to see if anyone has the  skills to pilot the vessel. If not he will shrug, almost as if to say if you want something doing, do it yourself and makes his way to the control panels.

"No point having a vacc suit on if there are armed thugs beating away at the door.  Or the captain suddenly decided to disable the cutter's controls."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:43, Tue 04 July 2017.

Walker dropped to one knee, took what cover was available, and shouldered his shotgun, as a defensive position.

Quietly, he says,"Grab a suit for me, too, please, and grab some extras.  I'd prefer to have a spare suit should one that's occupied get holed.  When we're ready, can any of you guys handle a shotgun?  I need to suit-up, too."

In reply to Billy (msg # 25):

"There is a rather big point to having a vacc suit on if they hull the cutter once we're gone," the Vargr scientist pointed out. "But yes, let's get out of here!"

None of the scientists were small craft qualified, although a few of them had some familiarity.

Heinrich Chandragora had some grounding in Sky Raider small craft controls as part of his being the expedition technologist.

"If someone wants to pilot, I can maybe handle being a copilot."

"Oh, as soon as we are out of here." Billy replies to the Vagr and then nods at Dr. Chandragora.  "That is about my level too." the handyman says as he starts the process to separate the cutter from the main ship and move her out into space.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 21:51, Wed 05 July 2017.

In reply to Billy (msg # 29):

There was a little uncertainty but Billy had observed cutter takeoff many times, and Jeri, one of the pilots, had explained to him what to do in order to undock the cutter and launch. This time there was no helpful instructor, nor was ship command on the line to provide guidance.

The vast majority of the pre-launch checklist needed to be abandoned. All they could do for now was to boot up the computer and follow the basic checklist. Ignoring all navigation, sensors, and comms, he turned on internal auxiliary power and life support, sealed all cargo locks and airlocks, detached the umbilicals, unclamp the cutter and then, no wait a minute, fire up the power plant, check fuel, ok, spin up the engines, get an error message that the computer wasn't running the Maneuver program and was in a diagnostic mode...

But the manual controls were clearly labelled and as he started to handle them Jeri's words came back to him and his tentative movements became more confident.  Once the cutter had launched, and had started on a slow trajectory towards the asteroid, Billy turned to the scientist, "Your turn.  I need to suit up."

In reply to Billy (msg # 31):

With Billy at the helm, the cutter slid backwards out the docking well. Very little paint was lost although there were a few bumps and scrapes along the way.

Then they were free! Billy quickly changed into his personal vacc suit, which had been located in the converted cargo deck they just left.

He got back into the cockpit to see they were still drifting backwards, but faster as they accelerated. In front was the spherical Inquisitor. Behind them was the massive asteroid ship, hidden by the hull of the cutter.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:28, Thu 06 July 2017.

In reply to GM (msg # 32):

Beside him in the copilot seat, Heinrich said somewhat nervously, "uh... you better take over. I think I got us decelerating... or maybe now we're accelerating into the asteroid ship? Either way let's get turned around and try to find the crater where the landing party is located with the other cutter."

Billy nods as he slides back into the pilot seat, a slight grimace on his face as he takes the controls again.  Frowning in concentration he makes small adjustments to the manual flight controls.

"Can anyone sort this computer out?  It's running diagnostics and we need to help with  manoeuvring." Billy asks, reasoning that there must be someone with computer skills among the scientists.

In reply to Billy (msg # 34):

Dr. Mirost poked his head in the cockpit. "I have a lot of experience with computers. Let me try." He strapped into the engineering station, pulled up a display. "Ok. I see the right program. Executing now!"

In reply to Dr. Vledistart Mirost (msg # 35):

The cutter's HUD and instruments came alive with maneuver vectors and other readouts.



One screen began tracking the ship ahead of them. The other locked onto the other cutter, which was lifting off from a crater on the surface.

In some ways all the extra screens made it more confusing, but Billy focused on those that plotted vectors and paths, and selected one that would take him in the right direction.  It didn't really matter what the fuel, safety and ancillary readouts said, there was one simple objective - get to the same crater as the other cutter.

Then, with a bit more confidence, Billy starts to follow the lines on the screen.

"Anybody want to try to get in contact with the others?" Billy asks noting that the other cutter is returning to the Ship.  "They don't know the situation ..."

Once on board, Walker cycles the round out of his shotgun, safes it, and slides the round into a loop on his vest.  Then he places the pack with his primary rifle on it on the deck, and fumbles his way into the suit.  "This was easier when I didn't think I needed to do this in a hurry."

He looks at the others, and carefully closes his helmet.  He didn't want to suck up his tank, but if they got hulled, he'd fumble it.  Then he uses the sling on the shotgun, muzzle down, and moves his pack out of the way, into a seat.

In reply to Billy (msg # 37):

"Right, I can try and call them."

Putting on a headset he started almost randomly throwing switches. He listened intently.

"Oh no, I am getting something from a suit radio on the gunnery deck. Some kind of violence has broken out!"

He pressed a few more switches. "I hope this works.... hello, Cutter One, can you hear me? This is Cutter 2. Come in please."

In reply to Thomas Walker (msg # 38):

This being a scientific and more utilitarian craft, there were umbilical life-support hookups built into all passenger seats. Once Thomas plugged himself in and switched on exterior LS, others started doing the same.

Outside, the other cutter continued to lift off out the crater. There was a bright flash of light and sparks. The entire engine pod at the end of the cutter was sheared off and began spinning away into the darkness, trailing gas and an expanding and dispersing cloud of hydrogen fuel. As well, the other cutter began slowly spiralling back down into the crater.

The most logical explanation was that laser fire (which was invisible to the naked eye) from one of the ship's dual laser turrets had caused catastrophic damage to the other cutter's engine.
This message was last updated by the GM at 09:25, Mon 10 July 2017.

In reply to GM (msg # 40):

From the Engineering station Dr, Mirist exclaimed, "my word! The other cutter's been hit! I believe it's going down!" He spoke in a tone of disbelief, not quite realising they were probably in the same situation.

"Make sure your suits are properly secured."  Billy calls as he realises the implication of the other cutter losing its engines.  "Doc, we need  the evasion software running on the computer now as well ..." he adds through the suit coms as he checks his own suit over.

"They always zig-zag in stories ..." he says trying to do the same while maintaining control of the cutter.

In reply to Billy (msg # 42):

The cutter dropped towards the surface. Billy barely maintained control. Perhaps his erratic maneuvering threw off the gunner's aim. They were not hit. There were flashes and then fountains of pulverised dust and gas boiling away from the surface below them, indicating the ship was shooting at them (although the laser beams were invisible) and missing badly.

Soon, the surface of the asteroid loomed in front of them. They could try to continue across the surface of the asteroid and put the horizon in between them and the ship, or else try and make it to the crater into where it seemed the other cutter was now crashing (this would also put them out of LOS from the ship).
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:50, Thu 13 July 2017.

In reply to GM (msg # 43):

Billy heads towards the crater and tries to land.

Off to the side there was a flash as the other cutter's engine pod impacted the surface, sending up a plume of pulverised regolith.

The cutter began slewing to the left as they descended into the crater that had been selected as a base for entry. Different warnings began sounding off. Radar and Lidar altitude and collision alerts, attitude anomalies, many more that Billy couldn't begin to identify.

"We're going too fast, hit the retro's!" shouted Heinrich. He fumbled around, trying and failing to trigger the landing jets.

The grey and black regolith rushed up to meet them. Cracks on the crater bottom became larger and larger. In the last few seconds before impact they could see, a short distance away, the hull of other cutter, wrecked but surprisingly intact. Gear and equipment was scattered around the former intended landing site. They landed hard on the crater bottom, everyone jolted around in their seats. Saved from serious harm by their crash harnesses.

In fact, they landed so hard and the gravity was so weak then slammed into the surface in a cloud of dust, then bounced up a half-dozen metres, then drifted back down to settle the fresh impact crater they themselves had just made. The ringing of alarms and warnings was a cacophony of shrieks, buzzes and sirens.

GM Note: Make your final posts here if you like, then switch to the other thread please! Extinguish all smoking materials and return your tray to an upright position. Welcome aboard the main adventure, I hope you had a pleasant journey so far.

As soon as they are properly down. Billy starts the sequence to close down the dives and anything else that he can find and climbs through to the back of the cutter.  After a quick look around he grabs anything that might appear useful , checks his suit.  Once he is sure that his suit is secure, he checks with the others and starts to open the airlock.

"The sooner we are out of here the better ..."

When the bouncing stops, Walker grabs his shotgun and pack, and heads with the rest of them, out of the shuttle.