OOC: Yes, I know this is multiple postings...


Standing in his own magnificence, Darrel stops and realizes, "Wait a minute, something seems wrong... let's lock the ship down, until we're secure."

Sir Walter shook his head as he stood by the back wall of the bridge at the mention of locking down the ship. "If I might point out, locking the front door is going to be a waste of time since we are in an underground hanger and it has tractor beams." he said. "At the very least, prepare to be boarded by customs and do as they say. You might want to have your identification ready and not be armed to the teeth." he added.

"You're right, but, there is something wrong here."

Sharik had made sure that she was strapped in at the astrogator's station a full two hours before the scheduled transition time back into N-space.  They could have fallen out of J-space before then, but it was highly unlikely.  Statisically speaking, it was a greater then 95% chance that they would appear within two hours of the appointed time.  Having run the calculations herself, Shar was extremely confident of that estimate.

During the week a lot of things had come together for her.  Her facility with computers had taken a quantum leap forward as she brought together bits from her familiarity with general electronics hardware as well as her training with specialty communications protocols and security systems.  It helped that her personal virtual aide had also been tutoring her with various architectual designs and that the auburn-haired dilettante had a pretty good head on her shoulders for sythesizing information.

She'd dutifully shielded her eyes when lanthenum grid had flared at the transition, there was little need to risk permanent ocular damage.  Besides, it always took the sensors and guidance systems a couple of seconds to reacquire signals and start streaming data after the flare.

It seemed when they dropped out of jump and the ship started to broadcast that there was some necessity to use her new-found computer skills.  Sharik started by running a set of traces and diagnostics to verify which transponder was broadcasting and to see if she could figure out when subroutines in the central core were being accessed (and if possible, by whom).  Sharik was wearing her tailored vacc suit, though immediately after the ship had transitioned (and it had become apparent that there were not being scattered all over creation), she'd popped her visor and stowed her gloves on the hooks next to her console.  Her fingers danced on her holographic, dynamic display; she'd spent plenty of time configuring the way that she liked it and so, the cosmopolitan socialite was able to make efficient use of the various data feeds both internal and external to the ship.

Shar simply listened to conversation of Walter and Darrel, having nothing to add about any of the legal stuff.  She wasn't armed in any case, having stowed any of her weapons properly in armoury section of the ship's locker.  She pushed a preliminary route based on the initial star location data from the transition point and the Port Authority beacon information.

---

[OOC:  Can we trace the transponder feed back to the core routines (not sure how difficult that will be)?

  22:15, Today: Sharik Kaagira rolled 11 using 2d6+4 with rolls of 6,1.  Computer/Int Check: Transponder! (+1 Skill, +1 Intellect/1, +2 Int).]

Sam was shaken when the tractor beams locked, and tried to fight them until she realised it was pointless.

"They could have at least warned us that was going to happen"

As she waited to be pulled in she pulled up what data she could on Outpost

ooc
Sam will scan recent news items and also the world code to see what she can find out. Can we get the World Code for this place - or have I missed it soemwhere
This message was last edited by the player at 07:33, Mon 18 Apr 2016.

It was a routine Astrogation task to determine that the ship came out of jumpspace where it was supposed to, not only in the correct system but roughly in the area near your destination.

It would have been a bit tricky to match vectors with the moon, but not only are there a bazillion beacons and such, the Long Shot has more than enough power to handle the task. It'd be harder for an M-1, but still doable.

As near as you could tell before, and still do, the Long Shot transponder is linked to the library computer and the engineering computer to get the info it requires. You can't normally alter the information it transmits from the main computer. Only ships engaged in illegal operations would have that capability. Even having that capability is generally considered illegal, with fines and confiscation of the ship possible it caught.

On the other hand, it's probably within the Count's noblesse oblige, at least within the Imperium.


Since the tractor beams are more like a cushion that actual beams, Sam is pretty sure the Long Shot could have broken away from them if she'd wanted to. They don't appear to have been intended as any sort of restraint.

"Nah, nothing to worry about, your Countship!" Vonon says from his bridge station - where he, like the Count, is not wearing a spacesuit, but instead is wearing one of the longshot ship's suits; the one he's wearing today is one of the black ones.

"If we'd had landing tractors like these back in Cassandra's Belt, we'd have used them. You have to remember that folks who live in sealed environments - like these folks, or Belters, like myself - we all have a little paranoid streak when it comes to anything that could compromise the sealed environment of our communities. Things like big ships falling out of the sky right at us - that is to say, a ship that's landing! - give us some concern."

"Any of a dozen things can go wrong during a landing - propulsion failure, pilot error, computer error, whatever. And if a ship landing goes wrong, the damage could blow-out seals all over the port; hundreds of people could die from the loss of environment. These guys have the tech to take control for themselves; back in Cassandra's belt, we have to allow a ship's pilot to bring his vessel into a hangar on his own - all we can do is track him with weapons the whole way in, and blast him to atoms if the ship deviates dangerously."

"So, think of it this way, my Lord - it's either landing controlled from the ground, or they could be pointing missiles at us. Me, I prefer missiles, hurr-hurr-hurr."

In reply to Vonon Ronkunu (msg # 17):

With Vonon/Walter's comments, Count Cromwell realizes his own paranoia had gotten the better of him, "You're right, I should have realized that...I've been watching too many of my own vids. Ok, let's get the formalities over with."

Khea was a bit surprised to land on the planet. With such a small world she expected to dock at a high port instead.

After what she learned of Outpost from the ships computer she decided like Count to go out armed. Except that she decided to wear her armor vest and two of her MPs.
She also takes one of the life supports masks with her, just in case.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:49, Wed 20 Apr 2016.

Sir Walter went down the check list in his mind and the first two were easy as there was no passengers or mail to deal with. "I guess next is to greet our first group of customs officials on the Long Shot. Care to come?" he asked the Count before grabbing his datapad with the cargo manifest.

"Sure, maybe we can speed up the process."

Sam leabned back in the pilots chair as the landing was made for her. To anyone else on the bridge she said "I could have done a smoother landing. Probably." She looked around
This message was last edited by the player at 08:27, Mon 25 Apr 2016.

In reply to Samantha Kilgore (msg # 22):

"I'll wait here." Vonon says, waving at the bridge tactical panel he's sitting at, "If this port is like most, they'll probably want to check the weapons and make sure they're locked down. So far, we've received pretty much Class A port services - which I wasn't, really, expecting." he finishes with a frown.

As if raining on Vonon's parade, the image view of the ship's bay paints a different picture. While nothing actually looks rusted, it all looks kind of grim, dirty and grimy... like it hasn't been cleaned in awhile... a loooong while.

It also doesn't look like it's been maintained, as the lighting is rather dim. Or possible half the lights just haven't been turned on.


You wait for customs to show up... and wait... and wait.... and wait... Nobody comes to the ship.

There's a diagram in the ship's computer of the base, though it doesn't appear to be updated. It's also a 'tourist' version, since it doesn't show any details for critical areas.

You saw this when the ship was landing, but until you look at the diagram, didn't know the significance. The ship landed in the outer ring of docking bays. You can call up data (out of date, too) that indicates the outer ring is usually reserved for smaller ships and those who want discount docking fees.

"Considering what the computer had to say about Outpost the customs should be over quick." Before joining the others Khea grabs her computer and loads the support for the local dialects into her translator.
"When it comes to it though I leave it up to you to offer a bribe. I do not know yet how much a humaniti would consider appropriate, be it male or female."

"Well now, something is not right as I am use to the starports having the same procedures." Sir Walter said. "I guess we will find out what is going on shortly." he added opening the entrance.

In reply to Walter Zeller (msg # 26):

"Interesting place to land us, I doubt all the inner docking bays were full, so, again, not being paranoid, but, I have a feeling there's a specific reason to put us all the way out here."

Calls up the datanet for Outpost, to upgrade the ship's current information.

One thing of interest, he's looking to see if any ships from Grendal had docked recently.

And, contact information for Mutt Talbek.

"Let's hold off a minute before making any official contact with port authorities, maybe get a sense of our surroundings...can we get our ship's lighting to check out the complete docking bay? Pablo, do me a favor and any turret that can be used in an anti-personnel role, hhhmmm, how about that might be available if needs be."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:27, Fri 22 Apr 2016.

Pablo, having waited long enough, decided it was time to just go and see what was up. After some thought, he went, for him, pretty light. One of the Snubs, loaded with tranq, given the Captain's policy of limited bloodshed, went into a leg holster, due to its size, and he wore the body pressure suit, and his tailored vacc suit.

A simple pouch held his other things, and after some thought, he left the various explosives and the wrist launcher in the ship's locker. He did, just for his own peace of mind, bring along a mag full of HEAP for the Snub, just in case.

Setting his comms to record, and making sure his link to Sharik was good, he headed out into the landing bay, on his way towards the nearest personnel door. looking around as he did.

---

20:56, Today: Pablo Esteban Ryzov rolled 10 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 3,6.  Recon.

The first thing that Darrel discovers is that access to the base's datanet has been blocked. It's not a hard block, and there are a number of ways around it, specifically anyone's personal comm, since none of those have been blocked.

A free trader from Grendal named Good Fortune docked about a week ago. It departed yesterday.

Mutt Talbek is the Chief Engineer for the civilian end of the starport shipyard. His comm ID is readily available.


Pablo exits the ship with no problem. His vacc-suit sensors tell him the air is breathable and the correct pressure.

Because the base is constructed in a concentric ring pattern, the outer docking bays have the potential for being the largest. In particular, the one that the Longshot is in is probably 1/3 of what it could be expanded to. Access to the rest of the base is through interconnecting corridors.

The first door he finds appears to be locked, as it won't open. As he studies it for a moment, that's when he realizes that this would be a connecting door to an adjacent bay, for the wall itself is movable (though currently locked in place, and seems to have been so for a rather long time).

He has to go to the other end of the bay to the personnel door there. It isn't locked and opens to a corridor going left and right. To the right, which would put him at the edge of the outer ring, is a tool locker. The door is open, there are tools scattered across the floor, and a layer of oily dust on it all. It looks like someone just walked away from it.

To the left, the corridor goes nearly 100 feet before coming to a cross corridor. It is dimly lit, too. There are additional doors along the length, including one right across from the one he opened.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:36, Sat 23 Apr 2016.

Pablo wasn't especially concerned yet. Often times whatever customs or entry administrivia took place happened at the point where you left the landing areas and entered the terminal buildings and such.

So he looked up and down the hall for a door marked 'Exit,' or possibly a sign directing him towards the starport offices.

Now that the ship was docked at Outpost, Jones had little to do. Actually, he had even less to do on the journey here.

He was definitely concerned about the lack of activity... and the condition of the docking bay. It was too much like an ambush site... at least as portrayed in many of the holovids.

They had cargo to deliver; this location did not seem conducive to that. He decided to check the local law level.

"Holy Klono's Balls!" he exclaimed to himself. "There might as well not be any!"

Only energy weapons were prohibited, which made sense. In a sealed environment, energy weapons had a greater potential for breaching that. He suspected there was a caveat to that, though: no explosive... for the same reason.

Technically, he was here as the Count's bodyguard, and that would be great for show, but he was pretty sure none of the others actually believe that by now.

He looked for Valeska. They'd worked well together on dealing with the ship's lockers.

"Hey, Valeska. Wanna take a stroll? Go see the sights of Outpost?"

"It looks like there is no one here to greet us. I guess lets head forward to get the cargo unloaded. Let me try to remember the the layout but as I have not been here in almost 20 years, things are bound to change." Sir Walter said, as he headed out to join Pablo

While not initially concerned the paranoia of the others is a bit contagious. But as Khea had already decided beforehand to go out armed as far as the local law allows it there was no need to go back and change equipment.

Outside she dons her life support mask, not out of fear but because of the smell of years of neglect and follows the others deeper into the facility.

"I expected a more lively place. Are you sure you docked at the correct downport?"

Sam stayed at pilots desk seat and decided to do a sensor sweep. She wanted to look for power usage levels, and signs of movement on the deck, or any lifesigns on the base. It had an air of a ghost base. Or perhaps it was just the boondocks of the base. Anyway her "Spider sense was jingling". She wasn't sure what that meant - she'd picked it up as a phrase from a buddy on tour, who liked old vids. It didn't make sense to her - most spiders seemed dumb to her. But apparently it meant "something ain't right"


ooc

09:46, Today: Samantha Kilgore rolled 9 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 4,3.  Sensors 1 Int +1.

Sharik had retired to her stateroom for a few moments, after the ship had come to full stop and she'd put her console in standby.

When the diminutive, cosmopolitan dilettante had emerged from her quarters a couple of minutes later, she sported a stylish bolero-style jacket (with a fetchingly tailored cut) over her tailored vacc suit.  Since the suit wore like clothing, she used it as a jumpsuit.  There collapsible helmet was folded back for the moment and doubled as a high collar around her neck, while the gloves were tucked in her belt.

She glanced down at her dataglove, which scrolled a notification.  Shar smiled slightly and started off down the hallway at a fair clip.

The scion of House Kaagira came trotting around a corner before hailing the ex-Marine, Ryzov, "Pablo, wait up."  She sidled up to her old friend as he walked the corridor towards the starport proper warning him playfully, "You should never go 'exploring' without back up..."