Jones glances at the Count for a moment, only to realize that the Count was looking at him. The Count raised an eyebrow of enquiry.

"Okay, okay, I get the message," Jones says as he slips into a chair in front of one of the consoles.

He was the most skilled at comms among the crew, but he never liked taking center stage.

He activated the radio comm.

"IISS Elusive, this is the IFT Long Shot. It looks like you found the only parking garage in half a parsec. What kind of assistance do you require?"

He was pretty sure that the occupant (single life sign) of the Scout ship was probably picking up the transponder code of the Long Shot, so there was no point in lying... on several levels.

In reply to Gregory Jones (msg # 74):

With making contact with the scout being handled, Vonon turned back to the sensor board and started sending commands to the mining drones to continue their...prospecting...along the outer hull of the pyramid. Mostly, he just expanded their search area, while instructing them to keep searching for the same things.

*...who knows, they might find more hatches...or the ejection points for the alien space-crappers...*

Vonon chuckles to himself, as he sends the command.

In reply to Gregory Jones (msg # 74):

> "IISS Elusive, this is the IFT Long Shot. It looks like you found the only parking
> garage in half a parsec. What kind of assistance do you require?"

RADIO TRANSMISSION
- Nice to see you, Long Shot. I suppose, this Pyramid's gravity caused me to misjump, then it pulled my ship inside, and that's all - I could not take off to escape. I hope you don't mind to pick up a hitch-hiker along the road? Over.
TRANSMISSION ENDS
This message was last edited by the player at 07:53, Wed 02 Aug 2017.

Jones looks around at the others, to see if they have any input, before going back to his comm duties.

"Copy that, Elusive," Jones replies.

"Is there some sort of magnetic or gravity field holding your ship in place, or can your grav drive get out, now that we've opened the hatch?"

He turns to Vonon.

"Have you scanned the ship? Is there anything wrong with it?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:57, Fri 04 Aug 2017.

"You may be right, Khea... it could be a trap, but the fact that it's tumbling erratically kind of puts the lie to that," Darrel says.

He'd been pondering all the information being presented, but was struggling to separate what he thought would be a 'reasonable' plot for a holovid and what was realistic. He realized that a malfunctioning gravity drive would explain why the ship and the gravity field was suddenly in one of the star lanes.

He was a bit relieved to discover that they weren't the first to be affected by the gravity. Otherwise, it might have meant that they'd been targeted by it.

"It's possible that the means of opening the hatch is different from the inside, so even the Scout's advanced sensor suite might not have been able to determine it."

"We just got lucky with our drones. By the way, good job, Vonon."

In reply to Darrel Cromwell (msg # 78):

"Well, I haven't detected any significant damage to the scout." Vonon responds to Jones, "But like I said before, that ship appears to be running at minimal power. I think he's shut down just about every system to conserve power. So, unless he's running some really good sensor masking tech over there, that ship is going to need several minutes to power up and get ready for flight."

"The scanners are still trying to get readings from deeper in the big ship - heck, I'm still getting echoes about just how big that landing bay is. That fracking neutronium-or-whatever hull is scattering the beams all over the place."

In response to Darrel's praise, Vonon says, "Thanks, Captain. Standard procedure to send in a drone before you bust in on the perps. I just sent a bunch of the little buggers. Oh, and I sent them new programming to continue to search the surface of the pyramid for further anomalies - especially any more of those magnetic signatures, like the one at this ship hatch. Might find more entrances."

Finishing up her escape plot, Sam called up the sensor readouts on her console and tried to make sense of them.

She tried to determine if there was any obvious weaponry on the pyramid, and if so where it was located, as well as trying to work out if there were any other lifesigns.

"Jones, see if the Scout has any info on this pyramid he can share with us"

ooc
I'm assuming that because Sam can call up other Positions on her console she can interact with them without interfering with who eelse is using them?

08:39, Today: Samantha Kilgore rolled 7 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 3,2.  Weaponry or lifesigns on pyramid. Sensors 1. Int 1.

RADIO TRANSMISSION
- And it seems that lanthanum grid on the ship's surface has been damaged. But wait a sec... Now, as the bay is opened again, I will try to take off once more. Over.
TRANSMISSION ENDS
This message was last edited by the player at 11:14, Thu 03 Aug 2017.

The drones detect smaller areas of the pyramid ship that have similar magnetic fields. Most are small, but one is man-sized. The smaller ones are probably weapons ports or access hatches, maybe a mix of both; it's hard to say. The drones' magnetic pulse only opens the man-sized one, so that's probably an airlock.


Since the Scout ship had its reactor completely powered down... i.e. inactive and inert... it'll take about an hour to power it back up. That's a safety precaution. It can be scrambled on in about 5 minutes.

However, Serge can lift off from the pyramid ship's docking bay using his auxiliary batteries. He's only got about 6 hours of engine thrust off of the batteries, though.

Also, remember, there's a much larger ship parked directly overhead of the docking bay. There's not enough clearance for him to get clear of the pyramid ship unless the Long Shot moves.


Sam can easily display any of the ship's systems on her console, either halved, quartered or tabbed. Unless someone locks out that particular system from the command or primary console, she has just as much control over it as the other operator.

She still can't get any readings on weaponry, neither through the docking bay nor the airlock when the drones get it open.


It seems reasonable that the pyramid ship's flat square side is probably the base, but that's assuming the builders constructed it either on a planetary surface or with the intent of landing. However, if they were really alien and built the ship in space, the 'base' could actually be the leading edge.

There is no indication yet of which is the case.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 82):

OOC:
I think we've done enough scans to ask - is the "bay door" big enough to admit the Longshot? (don't know if we'd want to, but I wanna know if we have the option), And second, is the bay, itself, large enough to hold both the Longshot and the Scout?

---

"Bongo!" Vonon calls out, "Update from the drones - they've located several ports, or maybe hatch covers, along the hull that have the same or similar magnetic signature as the bay opening, over there. And...they have found what looks like a personnel airlock. It's located..." Vonon leans in closer to read the location.

OOC: StarMaster? Where is the hatch to the garbage disposal - uh, I mean, the Airlock?

RADIO TRANSMISSION
- Long Shot, this is Elusive. How did you open bay door? Whould that remain open if you move aside to give me clearence to take off? I'm powering ship in safe mode, that will take about an hour. Over.
TRANSMISSION ENDS

The docking bay that holds the Scout ship is barely large enough to hold the Scout ship. He's got about a meter of clearance to either side, and maybe 2 meters front and back, so there is no room for the Long Shot.

The open hatch has a slight lip... roughly 2cm, so it's even a tighter exit.

...COMM TRANSMISSION TO IISS ELUSIVE...
"We deployed a few mining drones that were able to sense the magnetic seals on the docking bay hatch and then disengaged them," Jones replies. "Don't know how long they'll last."

"But we'll have the drones standing by as we back off to let you exit. Signal us when you're ready."

"Meanwhile, do you have any information about the pyramid ship? Our sensors can't penetrate the hull, which we think is neutronium."
...END TRANSMISSION...

While Gregory sends his transmission to the Elusive Khea cant stop glaring at him and as soon as he closes the channel she blurts out "Should we really give out such information freely? Even if by law we would have the claim instead of him we wouldn't be able to defend it against a large clan. Even the information about this structure would be worth less if he was able to leave with it.

Are we certain that he cant jump away?

At first, Jones is a bit startled at Khea's protest, but then he just shrugs his shoulders and smiles.

"Of course we aren't sure," he replies. "We aren't sure he's a real person, we aren't sure he's in a real Scout ship, we aren't sure there's a giant metal pyramid floating in space in its own planetary gravity well... hell, we aren't even sure we aren't dreaming or hallucinating this whole thing. Or, at least one of us is."

"Am I in your dream, or are  you in mine?"

"If he's an alien in disguise and the Scout ship is an alien ship disguised to look like a damaged Scout ship, then he could still jump despite the appearance of the damaged lanthanum grid."

"If you've got any better ideas, I'm ready to listen."

In reply to Gregory Jones (msg # 88):

"Nuke 'em from orbit!" Vonon calls out, "It's the only way to be sure!"

Vonon looks back over his shoulder with a grin, "I heard that in a holovid, once. Always wanted to say it."

"Anyway...Captain...you want we should just move aside for the Elusive? The Longshot's too big for that bay, but maybe we could get a docking seal around that airlock the drones found? Oh, hey, Mister Jones! That fella on the Elusive may have run scans while inside, but ask that fella if he ever got out and tried to leave the bay?"

"And...if we're gonna assume possible security issues with this distressed spacer, I suggest we have him come alongside and dock his ship at the airlock at the stern of Deck One - that way Pablo can keep him covered by the dorsal turret."

"If we decide to try and dock with the airlock, I recommend we make the attempt using the hatch in the old Jump Pod control room, down in Engineering. I think that that hatch will allow us better, easier access."

"Otherwise, the only way we are getting into that beast is by flying our ship's boat down into that bay. Oh, wait, why am I suddenly thinking there may be a problem with that option?"

Sam looked up "I'm not sure we would fit even if we wanted to, but what I'm more concerned about is that he said this thing pulled him in. We're assuming he might jump, but we might want to check we can still get away from it. Is there any sign on senors of any sort of beam on us holding us in place, Vonun? If not I can back us away so we can keep maximum guns on both ships as we do so."

ooc
Have I understood right Starmaster? - The Longshot won't fit at all, or did you mean both ships wouldn't fit at once?

In reply to Gregory Jones (msg # 86):

> Meanwhile, do you have any information about the pyramid ship?

RADIO TRANSMISSION
- Very little... None, actually. The walls are impervious to my sensors. I couldn't even find any doors or hatches out of the hangar bay. I'm not even sure it is a hangar bay, as it didn't seem to have any of the usual equipment for dealing with a ship. It is more like a cargo bay. What else... Gravity is normal here, about 1.1 G. Over.
TRANSMISSION ENDS

"Well, at this point, the pyramid is a navigation hazard and I think the laws are a bit different but I don't remember the exact details." Sir Walter said.

"We have two options. Serge could EVA over to us and we head off to report it to the authorities, or we go over and check it out ourselves. What do we want to do?

"Given that this isn't one of my holovids, not even one of the less successful ones," the count replies, "I still think we should investigate it. I don't like leaving a job undone, and I do like solving mysteries."

"We probably have a key, in the form of magnetic resonance, which Serge didn't have, so I think it's at least worth an effort."

"My two credits are this: the ship experienced a malfunction. I can't make any sense out of it any other way."

"What that means is that there's a chance the whole thing could go ka-boom as we explore it. It might be on a countdown of some sort, but I'm thinking more along the lines of a slow build-up to some critical condition."

"Let's get Serge out of there, piggyback his ship on us, and meet the fellow face-to-face. Then we can resume this discussion."

Khea throws her arms in the air"Fine. You all seem determined to share with this person. But if we can't have exclusive rights to this pyramid then at least we take everything we can safely find with us."

In reply to Kheaiftouaw (msg # 94):

Vonon turned a puzzled expression Khea's way,

"What? Didn't you hear ... oh, yeah. Imperial Standard isn't your primary language; you must have misunderstood what that guy said."

Vonon points up at the image of the Scout Ship, still sitting down in the bay, up on the main viewscreen, "That pilot said his ship's lanthanum grid is damaged - he can't jump. He's stranded here. He also said he had been trapped inside the bay - he couldn't get out. He was double stranded."

Vonon drops the finger he'd been pointing at the screen with, and taps the sensor console he's sitting at, "And his admission to both conditions is recorded for use in Court, if needed." he grins at Khea.

"That massive derelict belongs to us - Longshot Interstellar Venture Group, Discombobulated. If he wants to help us with the work, we can make an arrangement. But otherwise, he can dock to one of our airlocks, lay back, and deadhead along with us til we reach the next port - all in accordance with Imperial Distressed Spacer laws."

Sam piped up - "I think first priority is helping the distressed spacer, second is investigating the pyramid, and third is salvage rights. If hes not docked could we tow his ship out - do we have anything we could do that with? Rescuing a Scout ship is bound to earn us some brownie points with the Scouts, which is usually a useful card to have handy."

Sharik was going to speak up about the priorities of the crew, to append to what her Vargr friend was saying, but then Samantha beat her to the punch.  She nodded to what the Long Shot's pilot had noted so eloquently.  Their duty was first to the aid another in trouble in the far reaches of the Deep Black.  Spacers didn't have anything, if they didn't have each other.

And being an inactive IISS member, Shar could speak from some personal experience on the matter IISS service psychology.  While scouts were trained to be as self-sufficient and independent as possible, there was a certain level of loyalty and esprit de corps amongst them as well, being an Imperial service.  Not even looking up from the sensor readings that she was viewing while peaking over Vo's shoulder, the diminutive IISS ex-courier gave Sam a 'tell it, sister' thumbs-up as acknowledgement of her statements.

Her brow furrowed as she watched the various forms of spectrum data dance before her eyes.  She'd seen plenty of things in her time, but this was new...

---

[OOC:  Is there anything that she can contribute to analyzing the sensor sweep?

  14:23, Today: Sharik Kaagira rolled 9 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 5,1.  Sensor/Int Check: Sensors/1, +2 Int, (+1 Expert, as applicable).

Either a '9' or a '10' depending on the difficulty of the roll...]

Khea snaps back at Vonon
Even if an arbitrator decides that we own the claim, he still will know the location of thy pyramid and will tell his clan or even sell it. And we can't fight off a clan or company if they decide to challenge our claim.


Ah, what am I doing? I am starting so sound like a male.