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22:26, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Long Shot Engineering Inspection/Test Flight.

Posted by StarMasterFor group 0
Gregory Jones
player, 27 posts
Human CyberAgent
Shoot First
Mon 7 Mar 2016
at 05:50
  • msg #144

Re: Things we have learned so far

"Nah, I wouldn't say I'm looking for anything in particular," Jones replies to Valeska when she finds him going through the ship's lockers.

"Although... I suppose I am kind of looking for what isn't there. There are supposed to be certain things in the lockers... enough vacc suits for everyone, emergency rations, tools, weapons, first aid kits."

"I'm also seeing what else they keeping adding."

"If it gets too cluttered, we may have to do a bit of organizing. Anything we might need in an emergency shouldn't be hard to get at."

Valeska Brandenberg
player, 49 posts
Mon 7 Mar 2016
at 17:08
  • msg #145

Re: Things we have learned so far

Valeska smiles, nodding, "I understand the need for efficiency in an emergency. An early voyage I was on ended pretty disastrously. I was lucky enough to survive but others were less so. Let me know what I can do to help."
Darrel Cromwell
player, 573 posts
Noble (Count)
Retired actor
Mon 7 Mar 2016
at 21:09
  • msg #146

Re: Things we have learned so far

OOC: At this point, we're waiting for the main cargo to be loaded, and any other things the group has ordered to arrive, plus any shopping to be done? Then we're ready for flight?
Kheaiftouaw
player, 398 posts
Aslan outcast
Tue 8 Mar 2016
at 00:34
  • msg #147

Re: Things we have learned so far

As everyone else do not seem to be bothered much by the different transponders Khea drops the issue. When the shopping list for last areiaao purchases, is passed around she adds toolkits for the remaining subsystems to it and one for general hull repairs so that if something goes wrong she does not have to rely on the repair droids.

Speaking of them, while everyone else is waiting or busy doing last minute tasks Khea goes into an unclaimed cabin and disables several unimportant systems and activates one of the droids to see how well it repairs them and if there is anything unusual about how it does it (and also wearing her armor and carrying a gun, just in case the robot blows up or decides to go on a rampage).

OOC: I need toolkits for mechanic and all engineering specialications except power.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:45, Tue 08 Mar 2016.
Pablo Esteban Ryzov
player, 161 posts
End 8, Str 6, Dex 2/9
Gun for hire
Tue 8 Mar 2016
at 08:26
  • msg #148

Re: Things we have learned so far

Pablo returned to watching the cargo arrive, though he amused himself by ordering more stuff for the ship's locker. As the growing mound of items was delivered, he sent Khea a text saying her tools and some other things had arrived.

He loaded a dolly with the Aslan pattern tools, suits, and the case of mouse bots, and stood by it watching the teamsters delivering cargo cases. Sentry duty was rather amusing when combined with buying necessary items. Not shopping, of course. Never shopping.
Samantha Kilgore
player, 266 posts
Pilot and Security expert
With more hidden talents
Fri 11 Mar 2016
at 08:34
  • msg #149

Re: Things we have learned so far

In reply to Darrel Cromwell (msg # 146):

ooc
Think so. We just need to fly the thing and work out the kinks (or what the hell is going on with the ship) as we use it.

Sharik Kaagira
player, 226 posts
Freelance: ex-IISS, ex-IN
Serious about recreation
Fri 11 Mar 2016
at 08:51
  • msg #150

Re: Things we have learned so far

As the ship's computer continued to crunch on the astrogation calculations, Sharik joined Pablo in the cargo area.  She kept an eye on diagnostic sensor streams as well as the state of her route and jump calculations through the reticule in her shades, the overlay display streamed past her field of vision even as she watched the loaders dart back and forth.

She chatted with her old friend, but kept out of the way.  Not the most physically gifted of individuals, the diminutive navigator trusted in her keen mind to keep her out of harm's way and from getting underfoot.

The multitasker that she was, Sharik made sure that she consulted with Pablo on a number of purchases that she was making.  His instincts with respect to certain types of equipment and resources was invaluable.  Even though, the man professed to never be a shopper, he could be quite serious when it came to Retail Therapy™ before and after an operation.
Walter Zeller
player, 333 posts
Merchant/Noble
Fri 11 Mar 2016
at 14:33
  • msg #151

Re: Things we have learned so far

With the cargo loaded and secured in their proper places, Sir Walter took to putting away his clothing that had been delivered to the ship. Taking his one dozen suits and 6 pairs of dress shoes, he checked to make sure they were in good condition before placing them in the wardrobe.  With that done, he added the new work clothes to the dresser but not before putting on an Armortec Crew Coat to wear for shipboard use. Now changed, he lugged his vacc suit to the locker and headed to engineering to find a place to stash his work overalls in case they were needed.

Once done with his taskes, Sir Walter headed to the Bridge. "How are things looking?" he asked
Pablo Esteban Ryzov
player, 164 posts
End 8, Str 6, Dex 9
Gun for hire
Fri 11 Mar 2016
at 16:01
  • msg #152

Re: Things we have learned so far

Chatting with Sharik always made Pablo feel good. She just had what his mother would have called "good energy," about her. Once Walter was satisfied with the cargo situation, and the dock workers had gone, Pablo looked over at Sharik, and said, "So, you and Darrel going into the spy business again, now that we have this sneaky ship?"
Darrel Cromwell
player, 575 posts
Noble (Count)
Retired actor
Fri 11 Mar 2016
at 16:30
  • msg #153

Re: Things we have learned so far

In reply to Walter Zeller (msg # 151):

"Seems like we're about set, whenever everyone is ready."

The Count admires Sir Walter's Armortec Crew Coat, "Nice, we should look into getting everyone a set, something stylish with a logo..not too pretentious, but, you know what I mean."
Gregory Jones
player, 28 posts
Human CyberAgent
Shoot First
Fri 11 Mar 2016
at 18:36
  • msg #154

Re: Things we have learned so far

Jones wasn't used to working with a team; all his work had been solo up till now, which meant he'd always had to be self-reliant. So it was hard to turn over even a minor task like inventory to someone else. And this wasn't even a team that had trained together and knew how to function as a team.


Still, that old life was over and done with. It had always been fun, which is why he'd done it so long. After the last tour, though, it had stopped being shiny and new. The spark was gone. Someone had once told him that when that happened, it was time to get out, because that's when it could get you killed. It was probably one of the few pieces of advice he'd ever taken to heart. So when the spark went, he got out.


Now he had to learn to function as part of a team. Unlike many others who tried to make it solo, he rather liked the new challenged. The spark was back... mostly. It wasn't the same... quite, but things were... interesting again. This ship was a good example. It was most definitely 'interesting'. Not for the first time, he wondered just how many secret compartments there were on the ship... and if they'd ever discover all of them. Like the one in the ceiling of the locker, just inside the door. He'd only just found it and hadn't opened it yet, but given its size and location, it probably just held a weapon of some sort.

"Sure," he replied to Valeska. "This ship has a very unusual layout. Among other things, there are two separate ship's lockers, though they are right across the hall from each other."

"You can inventory the second one, if you want. I'm thinking that we should have at least 5 emergency vacc-suits in each one. That way, if we have an emergency, everyone isn't trying to get to the same locker. Personally, I'd like to see 10 in each, in case one side gets damaged. But that's probably just me being paranoid."

StarMaster
GM, 708 posts
Fri 11 Mar 2016
at 19:10
  • msg #155

Re: Things we have learned so far

Because none of the repair drones are currently active, Khea has to go down to the remote ops bay and activate them because the ship is in 'stand-down' mode. Once the ship is active, the drones can be controlled from the bridge or engineering.


The repair drone named Diefenbaker by Vonon disengaged itself from its allotted docking station and trundled down the hall to the room that needed repairs, entered the room, and proceeded to fix the damage that Khea had done. When it was done, it paused for about 5 seconds, probably waiting for additional orders, and then trundled back to its docking station.


Sharik's astrogation calculations were threefold. First there was the vector to leave the planet and reach the jump point. Normally, this is routine, and was the case here, but there was always local traffic to deal with. Since the consequences of a misjump were usually fatal (or of a nature to make it the same thing in a more unpleasant fashion), sensible astrogators always updated their data just before take-off just to be on the safe side. 9,999 times there was no change in the planetary mass or the number of satellites (natural or man-made), but because the distances were vast (from a personal viewpoint), a hundredth of a decimal place could have dire consequences. The current situation turned out to be one of those times: no change.

The second calculation was the jump itself. The space lanes also didn't change much in the course of the time span since the last jump, but the presence of comets, asteroids, and rogue planets always made it necessary to re-calculate every time. There was also that 1 in 100,000 chance that the stellar or system data had changed. They gave you all the gruesome details in Astrogation Class about what happened when that 1 chance happened. Sharik didn't know that it was true, that a ship had been turned inside out and so had all its crew, but the lesson had been learned.

The third calculation wasn't so much the approach to the destination planet at the end of the jump as it was determining a 'safe' area in that system to drop out of jump. Ideally, of course, you wanted to get as close to the destination planet's jump point as possible so that inbound time was at a minimum... just in case. On the other hand, it was also prudent to give yourself some 'panic room'.

The Outpost system had three gas giants, any one of which they could refuel at if they needed to. Outpost itself was a moon of the innermost gas giant. There were also 10 other outer planets in the system, all useless balls of rock and frozen methane.

So she had to calculate all those things as the destination point. The jump distances were even vaster, and while the computer could make the calculations to a hundred decimals, the final destination was no better than the least calculation number. That was why the best that was currently available was 10 decimal places. That meant there was a vast volume of space at the destination where the ship could drop out of jump. Sharik's task was to put the ship as close to the center of that volume as possible as that area was considered the 'safe zone'.

After about ten minutes, Sharik had half a dozen jump calculations done, confirmed and triple-checked by the computer (and vice versa). She just needed Darrel to tell her where he wanted to arrive so she could enter that destination into the jump program.
Darrel Cromwell
player, 576 posts
Noble (Count)
Retired actor
Fri 11 Mar 2016
at 19:50
  • msg #156

Re: Things we have learned so far

"Let's head to the furthest point where we can refuel, and test out some of our equipment without having any prying eyes around, before we jump."
Walter Zeller
player, 334 posts
Merchant/Noble
Fri 11 Mar 2016
at 20:29
  • msg #157

Re: Things we have learned so far

Darrel Cromwell:
In reply to Walter Zeller (msg # 151):
The Count admires Sir Walter's Armortec Crew Coat, "Nice, we should look into getting everyone a set, something stylish with a logo..not too pretentious, but, you know what I mean."

"I have a feeling that given the vessel, we might want to come up with a few different designs and see if we can have them be changeable on the fly. Maybe some kind of fiber that can change colors." Sir Walter said.

"Since I did not get to fly in this on the way back, mind if I run Comms for the flight out to the jump point Captain?" he inquired
Kheaiftouaw
player, 399 posts
Aslan outcast
Sun 13 Mar 2016
at 00:32
  • msg #158

Re: Things we have learned so far

"If you intend to test the weapons on some asteroids, don't forget to inform the local clan forces beforehand. But why do you want to get away from prying eyes? That will only make us look suspicious and delays any rescue should something happen."

Still, Khea was glad that Count suggested to first test this ship mote instead of jumping immediately. And even though she tries to stay calm, the farther they away they got from the planet the more anxious Khea got and she couldn't help as to make sure that her vacc suite was stored in engineering and to male sure, several times per day, that the way bezween the engine room and the launch was free. That was of course in addition to wearing her flak vest every time a new system was tested.
Darrel Cromwell
player, 577 posts
Noble (Count)
Retired actor
Sun 13 Mar 2016
at 18:18
  • msg #159

Re: Things we have learned so far

Chuckling inside, Darrel wonders if all Aslan, at least the females were always so...hmmm...paranoid/cynical.

quote:
"If you intend to test the weapons on some asteroids, don't forget to inform the local clan forces beforehand. But why do you want to get away from prying eyes? That will only make us look suspicious and delays any rescue should something happen."


"There are certain aspects to this ship that I think would be best tested where others didn't see it. I'm not saying we sneak off to a far distant corner of space, just outside the range of sensors. In fact, as we move out, we stick to 3T, the fact that this thing can do 6T, we don't need to advertise that."

Although the Count wasn't an expert in starships, anything that can do thrust-6, unless it's military, will naturally draw attention to itself.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:48, Sun 13 Mar 2016.
Valeska Brandenberg
player, 50 posts
Sun 13 Mar 2016
at 20:59
  • msg #160

Re: Things we have learned so far

In reply to Gregory Jones (msg # 154):

"That sounds logical. I'll be happy to help with it," Valeska replied, busying herself with the work.
Sharik Kaagira
player, 227 posts
Freelance: ex-IISS, ex-IN
Serious about recreation
Wed 16 Mar 2016
at 06:28
  • msg #161

Re: Things we have learned so far

Sharik just flashed that enigmatic smile that she had.  Her eyes seemed to sparkle for a moment, as she noted playfully, "And dragging your sorry butt all over creation to boot!"

Then the diminutive dilettante sobered a touch, growing just a shade more serious.  "Honestly," Shar stated rather deadpan, "this crew seems well suited for 'odd jobs'"  She flashed that smile again, "You included, Mr. Ryzov."  The auburn-haired woman shrugged slightly, "Ifni only knows the type of trouble that we'll get into."

Her dataglove pinged lightly and she glanced down at it, "Ah, duty calls."  And Sharik started back towards the main bridge; she gestured for Pablo to walk with her.  "This ol' girl's not so bad." she mused aloud, her hand gliding along one of paneling seams of the corridor, "At one hundred, she's bound to have plenty of stories and her share of secrets."  Hell, at less than half - or even a third - that age each, plenty of the crew could say the same.

Part of her was already running the calculation refinements as any jump algorithms had to account for delta-V between the source and destination systems even before she got to the bridge.  In astrogation, static coordinates were not enough.  Space-time continuum warping calculations were not enough.  If you didn't want to misjump, a lot of complex, interdependent vector math had to be resolved to an extremely accurate degree as everything was moving in different directions from everything else in the area of interest.

Ultimately, you checked the math many many times.  Otherwise, you were bound to not enjoy having your constituent particles scattered all over the route between jump transition points - with most of them going their separate ways - at potentially paradox-inducing, effectively supraluminal speeds.
Samantha Kilgore
player, 267 posts
Pilot and Security expert
With more hidden talents
Wed 16 Mar 2016
at 08:25
  • msg #162

Re: Things we have learned so far

Sam headed up to the bridge, and started pre-flight. There was no huge rush, so she took her time - there wasn't much else for her to do at the moment
Pablo Esteban Ryzov
player, 165 posts
End 8, Str 6, Dex 9
Gun for hire
Wed 16 Mar 2016
at 12:36
  • msg #163

Re: Things we have learned so far

Watching Sharik head off, Pablo grinned, just a bit. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same. And he wouldn't have it any other way. Headinng up into the ship, he found Jones and Valeska working with the ship's locker gear, and said, "Hey guys. This should be the last of it, at least till we get to Outpost and finish fitting out."
Darrel Cromwell
player, 580 posts
Noble (Count)
Retired actor
Wed 16 Mar 2016
at 15:29
  • msg #164

Re: Things we have learned so far

"Once we get out far beyond sensor range, let's speed up to 6T, run it for a little bit to get the feel. Then how about the transponders."
Kheaiftouaw
player, 400 posts
Aslan outcast
Wed 16 Mar 2016
at 23:48
  • msg #165

Re: Things we have learned so far

"As long as we are not hiding behind another planet the starport can track our location and acceleration if they care. And I hope you do not suggest jumping into deep space just to test the drives unobserved"
Pablo Esteban Ryzov
player, 168 posts
End 8, Str 6, Dex 9
Gun for hire
Thu 17 Mar 2016
at 00:05
  • msg #166

Re: Things we have learned so far

Pablo thought a moment, then said, "We could take the ship back to the asteroids we found it in and test her out there. As long as we are moderately careful, we should be hard to track from planetside."
Walter Zeller
player, 335 posts
Merchant/Noble
Thu 17 Mar 2016
at 00:20
  • msg #167

Re: Things we have learned so far

"We might want to get it to Outpost for an overhaul first before we try to break our new toy." Sir Walter suggested.
Valeska Brandenberg
player, 51 posts
Thu 17 Mar 2016
at 14:50
  • msg #168

Re: Things we have learned so far

"I wonder if it would be out of line to suggest a launch dinner. I wouldn't mind getting to know the rest of the new crew," Valeska said to Gregory as they worked.
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