In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 138):

Vonon looked over Walter's shoulder, out the front viewport, at the Longshot -- and their good fortune so far.

Vonon gave an irritated flick of his right ear when he heard the airlock cycling, but he reached forward to gently place his armored left hand on Walter's shoulder.

"The Gods of Space do love us, Sir Walter!" Vonon said cheerfully, pointing towards the Longshot, "There, do you see that hatch, portside lower deck? The small one next to the large launch bay doors? That is your destination. Get us docked to that hatch as quickly as you can!"

Vonon turned to the others, "Okay, folks, here we go! We're going to make our approach to the Longshot and try to get inside. There's a lower access hatch -- the back door -- that Sir Walter is going to try to dock with. Once he does that..." Vonon finally noticed that Pablo was one of those who'd jumped out of the launch to make their way across the face of the asteroid to the Longshot, "...uh, once we dock, we'll hope the hatch isn't locked, but it probably will be."

Vonon looked from Sam to Sharik, then to everyone else, "During my Patrol days, our typical S-O-P, here, was to slap a breaching charge on the hatch and blow it -- so I never learned the skills to finagle one open any other way. I don't think we want to do that now, though - hurr-hurr-hurr. I don't remember who said they might be able to over-ride the hatch controls, back when we were planning this, but I hope someone can, because the only explosives I have are a grenade -- and they make messy breaching charges."

"So. Before we go -- does anyone have any questions? Anyone need to piddle? Hurr-hurr-hurr."

The only way to dock the launch with the Long Shot, at the moment, is to back the launch up to the lower aft hatch of the Long Shot.

It is unknown if the Long Shot has a launch of its own, so even if you get the launch bay door open, there may already be a launch in there.


Pablo and Kaengarr have no problem making their way across the asteroid, over the edge and along the surface to lower aft hatch of the Long Shot.

As the shuttle had made its cautious approach towards the Longshot, Sharik had double-checked the seals in her vacc suit's gloves and helmet.  It was an old habit that despite the fact that she was to remain in the controlled environment of the shuttle, they were heading into an operation and that level of unknown meant that it was better to be prepared.

When the away team got ready to disembark, the diminutive dilettante unbuckled her five-point harness and made her way to the airlock to see the others off, making sure to man the manual override in case of problems and to ensure that the lock closed securely once everyone had made their way through.  She gave both Vonon and Pablo a friendly tap on the shoulder (the 'safe' one that many servicemen designated when on high alert) for good luck before they made way as the first wave into the airlock.

Her HUD continued to be tied to the launch's central core and so she still had her data stream pushing the sensor stream to the display in her helmet.

Once everyone was away, she'd resume her position back in the co-pilot's seat.  Unless, there was an emergency, of course.  Sharik had had enough time in hostile environment suits to be quite comfortable in them, they were almost like a second skin to her.  And in fact, her tailored suit had been fitted so that it was pretty much a second skin for her.

They had lowered the cabin lighting to ensure minimized the potential for inadvertently alerting the opposition.  So, all they could really do now was wait.  She resumed her position next to Walter, her eyes back on the larger console displays of the various passive sensor feeds.

So Pablo exited the launch and made his way across the asteroid to the Long Shot. Is he going to try and get in through the lower aft hatch or he going to check out the open cargo bays? Or do something else entirely?


At Vonon's urging, Walter turns the launch arse-end around and slowly eases the launch's rear hatch into 'near' contact with the Long Shot's lower after hatch. Neither of the two craft have airlocks that are designed to dock with each other, but the shuttle does have a docking sleeve.

The 'airlock' of the launch is a single air-tight hatch; there's no secondary hatch. Opening the rear door of the launch will open the interior directly to space... or to the docking sleeve if it's been connected tot he Long Shot.

The sleeve fastens magnetically, and then pressurized along the contact edge to seal it.

In the end, Pablo decided to stay with the airlock. The only really advantageous place to go from the cargo decks was the hatch right up into the bridge, and with the area below in vacuum, that seemed more dangerous to the people they were trying to save then it was worth.

He checked the airlock, trying to open the outer door, gauss pistol held ready. His plan was to cycle through to the interior and start securing the long open corridor that led right to the main bridge.

Sam gave Vonun a thumbs up from within her sealed vacc suit, then waited for the doors to open.

Darrell places himself near the airlock, providing covering fire if needed, and/or security protecting the launch.

So Pablo went for the rear hatch on the Main Deck. The gravity of the asteroid is so low that he has no problem jumping up to the hatch nor floating there while he attempts to open the hatch.

It does have grab bars welded to either side, probably a modification after it was converted to a mining ship. As expected, the airlock has an access panel that requires a security code, but it's only a 9-button pad with alphanumeric symbols on it. That means it isn't a 'smart' pad. There's no reset or anything, so it's a timed pad... if you don't type the correct code within 5 seconds, it automatically resets to let you try again. After trying a few 'obvious' codes, he finds that 3-2-1 cycles the airlock.

His main concern is if the lock cycling shows up on a control panel on the bridge... and someone's actually paying attention.

It's unlikely that anyone will be in the airlock waiting for him. It might be something he'd do, but he doubts if claim-jumpers are that savvy.

It cycles the air out, and he has to manually pull the door open... and there's no one beyond. He steps through and closes the hatch behind him, noticing that the doors to the two lockers are open, and it looks like they've been ransacked.

The airlock cycles through for equalization to the internal air pressure and content for the interior, and his suit confirms it's all green.

He now realizes that the internal airlock door has a viewport in it, but he doesn't see anyone peering through it at him. Looking through it himself, he sees an empty corridor.

===================================================================================

Walter backs the launch up to the lower aft hatch without difficulty. While the launch is meant to be boarded from a landed position, its design also took into account the current situation. So the docking collar extends over to the Long Shot. The inside of the launch is still vacuum, so no cycle time is necessary to equalize pressure. The launch hatch swings open, it's only 2 meters to the Long Shot, and there's a keypad entry just like the upper hatch.

It doesn't take long to determine that the access code is 6-5-4. It clearly wasn't meant for high security. While it is odd that the airlock is the entire length of the corridor on this deck, it does kind of make sense for accommodate a dozen miners or so at once.

It takes longer to cycle because of that, but not too long. It's soon showing equalization. There's barely enough room to swing the hatch open, though, as it swings outward. Once everyone has exited the launch into the Long Shot, the airlocks are closed and the internal pressure is raised back up to the ship's standard internal pressure and content.

As everyone moves down the corridor, viewports into the launch bay can be seen, and looking through them, you can see that the bay is empty.

With the first batch over at the Long Shot Khea fumbles with her suit to get herself and her equipment over to the miner. Preferably with or after Vonon or Kaengarr. The size difference makes them bad shields, but they will hopefully throw enough firepower down the corridor if anything happens to draw all the attention.

Sam tags along behind the others, probably about 3rd or 4th (or last), shes not bothered, and keeps her eyes and ears open, her tranq rifle at the ready

Pablo cycled through the airlock, gauss pistol in hand. Moving quietly, he headed down the corridor to the bridge, sticking a commdot on each door he passed to alert him if it opened behind him.

In reply to Pablo Esteban Ryzov (msg # 149):

Leading the way in through the lower hatch, Vonon heads for the far end of the corridor to secure the far hatch. He causally looks into the ports showing the interior of the launch bay, and notes the lack of a launch, but decides the lack is something to ponder later.

Reaching the end of the corridor, Vonon first looks to see if there is a window in the hatch, so he can look through into the compartment, beyond.

Next he looks for the hatch controls and -- if he hasn't seen anyone on the other side (or if there is no way to see beyond) -- he goes ahead and opens the hatch.

  Kaengarr has no trouble navigating the low-G environment, though he can't help but wonder at Khea's skittishness or the fact that two of the sophonts with military experience are hanging back and leaving him in the lead alongside Vonon. He certainly hadn't been left with the impression that they regarded him as their leader...

As Vonon traverses the corridor down to the internal airlock door, and peers through the viewport to see the rather wide area beyond, he realizes this is a staging area. Probably both for boarding and unloading the shuttle.

He doesn't spot anyone on the other side of the hatch, and opens it.


Sam, following the bricks, hangs back with Khea. As she glances through the viewports into the launch bay, she can see that there are signs of use--tools fastened to the walls, sensor machines in their storage nooks, grav pallet in the corner.



Kaengarr keeps up with Vonon. There's no gravity on this level, so the micro-gravity of the asteroid is all there is. The floor material, however, is a synthetic covering that lets spaceboots stick to it so that someone could walk down it who was uncomfortable with zero-g. So he can either walk down it or float down the corridor.


==================================================================================

As expected, Pablo discovers that the interior of the ship has gravity, at least on this level. He doesn't have near enough commdots to put on all the doors in the corridor, however. Walking stealthily isn't a problem because the flooring is some sort of synthetic material that functions like carpet. Plus, his suit can pick up the music. It's apparently quite loud.

He goes about 20 feet down the corridor before he can see that there is someone up ahead on the bridge. Someone is sitting in the captain's chair.

Muttering darkly to himself, Pablo resolved to get more commdots when opportunity allowed. He still placed the devices at intervals down the hall, though his coverage was by no means complete.

On seeing the person on the bridge, he considered calling Vonon, but decided not to. Instead he moved on down the corridor to just outside the bridge, to see if the rest of the bridge stations were occupied, or anyone else could be seen.

Khea tugs the cord she used to tie her toolkit to her suit to keep it close and walks, after discovering the properties of the floor to the next interior wall to stay in cover and looks expectingly at the Vargr to lead the way.

  Kaengarr readies his shield and stunner whilst Vonon opens the hatch, far preferring to take enemies (or potential enemies) out at range but not counting on that luxury in these close quarters.

  He looks at Vonon, motioning left and right to silently put the question of whether they should sweep the level or head straight for the next one.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:50, Mon 30 Nov 2015.

Pablo reaches the end of the hallway and visually scans the bridge. He spots only two people. The person in the command chair is operating the command console on the arm of the chair, alternately tapping buttons, pounding on it and swearing.

Standing beside the chair is a woman still dressed in her vaccsuit but with the helmet off. She offers an occasional suggestion to the man in the chair.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 156):

Vonon walks into the staging area, drawing his heavy automatic pistol in his right hand, and walks over to the corner; the one that turns into the passageway going forward.  As he does so, he notes Kaengarrs signals, and raises his left hand in a 'just a moment' gesture.

Then Vonon pops his head around the corner and takes a quick glance down the forward passageway, before coming back around the corner.

Well, here it was. Two targets. Two people. Pablo pointed the gauss pistol at them generally, and spoke, not particularly loudly or even in a threatening tone. "Sir, ma'am, please raise your hands, and interlace them on top of your heads. If you don't, I'll have to shoot, and we'll both regret it. Once you've done that, please identify yourselves. Oh. ah...my name is Pablo. Good meeting you."

Vonon spots an empty corridor.


===============================================================================

The woman looks particularly startled, but the man in the chair ducks down behind the chair, and then pops around the side firing a laser pistol.

His first shot goes wild, mostly because he didn't really know where his target was.

The ex-Peacekeeper marine didn't hesitate. The muzzle of the long-barreled gauss pistol shifted fractionally, so the laser sight and HUD crosshairs lined up on the man's torso, and the trigger was pulled, a very short sharp crack as four hypervelocity needles flew...

Sam follows behind Kaengarr and Vonun, checking the rear every so often to make sure no one approaches from that side, keeping her tranq rifle at the ready
This message was last edited by the player at 08:33, Thu 03 Dec 2015.

The man only popped his head and arm out from behind the command chair long enough to shoot, and then ducked back behind the chair. Pablo wasn't able to react fast enough to re-aim his weapon to shoot the man, but the hypervelocity needles rip into the command chair.

Pablo, noting the miss, took a flashbang grenade from his webgear and armed it, tossing it into the bridge area.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 12:20, Sat 05 Dec 2015.