In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 105):

Ken helped out as best he could.

The Quartermaster gave Blake 24 hours access to the hold where the expedition's gear was stored. That is, he is allowed 1 standard Earth day to conduct his business, then his access is terminated.

The scientists didn't seem to need anything from the hold. At the moment they were relying on the ship's sensor array and the equipment they installed in the clear-domed astrophysics/astronomy lab. What was in the hold was supplies, weapons and equipment for exploration.

Blake was refused open access to the bridge except on a per-case basis as he has no business there. Tracking of the possible location for the mothership was being done from the ship's astrophysics/astronomy lab, located on the topmost/forward deck. The expedition scientists are not very excited about an amatuer (Blake) pokiing around! They are not rude but try to brush him off with (legitimate) claims they are too busy. Likewise, the ship's Navigator is not doing anything and won't until the mothership has been located.

Ships using Maneuver are actually using a kind of limited inertialess gravitic drive. As such they pretty much all handle the same in straight-line acceleration. He would be surprised if it exhibited any kind of agility, though. Either way no one lets him at the controls!

Studying the video of the Sky Raider vessel Blake thinks he could pilot a similar one if they came across one like it. Who knows, they might!

The crew, aside from the highest-ranking officers, wasn't told of the mission objective beforehand other than it was a scientific expedition.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:30, Sat 26 Nov 2016.

Meanwhile, after the brief foray into hacking, Linus settles down to tend bar and makes a few speciality dishes. Of an evening, he engages the scientists in conversation about the sort of work they are doing (and have done in the past), he's always curious.

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 108):

The crew and passengers seem to appreciate Linus' efforts.

Although the expedition only had one dedicated astronomer/astrophysicist, Dr. Goezghae, all the other scientists also had skills to assist in this phase of the expedition. Thus the scientists were kept very busy.

Of the scientists, he saw the least of the female Vargr, Dr. Goezghae. She was the expedition's astrophysicist and astronomer. Until they located the mothership she would be very busy! Her specialty was astogeoloty, specifically asteroids, and was familiar with the construction of asteroid ships throughout the many thousands of years of history in Charted Space. Normally pleasant, she occasionally snapped at Linus but apologised, blaming overwork.

Dr. Heinrich Chandragora, a Solomani, was the next busiest. He was the expedition's technologist and expert in Sky Raider technology. Dr. Chandragora also had a grounding in gravitics and physics and aided Dr. Goezghae in using densitometer readings to detect the mammoth Sky Raider mothership's gravity signature. He was a well-established member of the Institute's faculty and a longtime associate of Lorrain. It was his work on Mirayn and using the data recovered from the Sky Raider craft on Qarant that led to most of the breakthroughs involving Sky Raider technology.

The expedition's anthropologist was Dr. Lurushar GIlenkaar. There was some allegation that he plagiarised some of the elder Dr. Messandi's work on the Sky Raiders. But those concerns were put aside due to need of his skills and experience, which are still the best in the Institute. His involvement was helping Dr. Mirost in develop a model for interpreting sensor data. He didn't have as much to do as the others but kept to his cabin.

Dr. Vledistart Mirost was a liguistic archaeologist. He mainly programmed the model for interpreting sensor data. The model was already complete before they left the Institute on Alzenei but needed adjustment and tweaking. As such he was quite busy.

The expedition member Linus interacted most with was Dr. Talia McKenzie, another Solomani. He knew her from their adventure together on Mirayn, and she was another old friend of Lorrain's.

Just another passenger Blake thinks to himself.  He checks out the expedition stuff, noting it on his data pad.

"Blake, do you need a hand going through the cargo hold?"

Ken and Blake go through the expedition supplies. Everything seemed to check out. The large case that Ken had almost held up departure to check out was there. It held electronic equipment in a padded case that was large enough to hide a man. But there was no room inside it.

Blake spends the time with Ken, So the captain really went-off on that Zhodani remark, huh.  I wonder if Ollie could make us a spy cam and recorder ...  Has your prof friend ever used this ship before ??

Blake casually takes the video and text recorders out, looks for a good view of the hatchway and carefully hides them.  He also connects the video to the text recorder - so when the text hears sounds, it also turns the video on.

Say Ken, can you give me a hand here, some nerf-herder crammed these battery packs in here ...  Prof Laskan will have a core-breach meltdown over it.

Blake then hides the other video recorder in a hidden but not quite so difficult spot and sets it to record at random times for 5 - 10 minutes.  He then pockets several storage crystals and gives some moore to Ken as well.

Ken shook his head.  "The whole over reaction to my comments got my hackles and up and made me a bit suspicious.  We may be paranoid but you never know." He shook his head again.  "I don't recall if Lorain has used this ship and captain but I can ask."

He stepped over to where Blake was working, his broad back hiding what was being done.  "Yea, old Laskan will blow us from here to Regina.  I'll get those batteries shifted before he finds out and makes our life miserable."

The cameras are planted.

While the ship accelerates out-system they show nothing unusual. No odd movements by the crew, passengers or stow-aways.

The scientific crew, however, has great news. By the time they reach their destination they believe they have a hit on the Sky Raider mother ship!

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 114):

Lorrain seemed very excited as she briefed the group.

"We got pretty lucky! Well, we never would have known where to look without the data we brought back. Plus we had centuries of observations by the telescopes of the Institute to fill in the details. Turns out it had been tracked before as just another deep space object, then dismissed.

"We'll take a couple more days to refine our Jump coordinates and vector into the proper course for intercept. We're so close!"

Ken smiled and nodded.  "Outstanding!  It's a historic moment.  Does the craft lie in Zho space?"

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 117):

"Not yet. It seems to be 4 light years away from Saulente, just over a parsec out. But give it a decade and it could be considered over the imaginary border of the Consulate as it goes through deep space.

"Ken, are all your people ready to go? We could be on the Sky Raider mothership in a week or so!" She sounded excited at this news.
This message was last updated by the player at 09:58, Sat 10 Dec 2016.

Ken nods. "The team is ready.  We'll practice and drill in Jump.  I doubt if anyone is left alive onboard but we need to be prepared.  This is really historic, the chance to go aboard the Sky Raider mother ship.  You'll be famous in academia and more publically."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 119):

She looked pleased but emphasised, "this is due in no small part to the work of my father. Without his sometimes questionable research we would never have found the tomb on Mirahn. If anyone should get credit it's certainly him."

Within a couple more days they had the information they needed.

Next was getting ready to Jump! There would be additional acceleration to match speed and course with the mother ship once they exited Jump space.

Who hah !!  Jump time !!

Ken nodded slowly.  "Certainly without your father's work none of us ever would have made it to Miryan.  The initial horde of Sky Raider artifacts would have languished undiscovered and you and I would never have met.  Even though his use of the evidence to reach conclusions was unorthodox to say the least his persistence brought us to this point."  He smiled. "Now we're taking the next step, the final step perhaps in this adventure to visit the source of all of these legends and confirm all the varied theories."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 123):

Jump....The place where she could relax for just a little bit.  She smiled at the thought and then wondered if this would be the final expedition.  She had mixed thoughts on that.

They did indeed take the next step. They Jumped ahead of schedule, as finding the probable location of their target took much less time than anticipated.

The Inquisitor entered Jumpspace on a precisely calculated bearing. In a week they would exit, maintaining their velocity and course along the Mothership's path. It would be far behind them, but travelling much faster. They would continue to accelerate along their present Realspace course, eventually matching speeds with the mothership, if all went well.

All they could do in the mean time was wait.

Ken continued to hone his mind and body during the period of Jump.  He also chatted frequently with Lorain as he wooed the brilliant and beautiful scientist.

While in jump, Neva set up a running and exercising routine.  It was always more fun to run on a pathway than around in circles so she mapped out some corridors that she could run and changed it if the crew got either spooked or protested.  She did try to appear non threatening by wearing casual gym clothes while she ran but also kept her eyes open for changes in the mood of the crew and her teammates.

Linus contented himself with tending bar and cooking a few of his favourite dishes.

Blake took after Neva's plan, but his loud thumping let everyone know what he was doing and that he was coming, even when out of sight.  Gradually the noisiness dropped in intensity.  Blake actually looked for a crew group that did the same, not caring if he was a tail-end Charlie.

While appreciating the attention of her friend, Lorrain seemed too distracted by the coming scientific achievement of her career to pay much attention to Ken. If he didn't make a move, she obviously wasn't going to. The problem was, Ken wasn't sure if she was interested in more than being friends.

Running in the ship was a challenge. Due to its spherical shape the decks were stacked on each other like a building. She really didn't find a good route that didn't require climbing up and down ladders. As well, the gunnery deck and bridge were off-limits, which restricted where she could roam somewhat.

Blake didn't discover anything unusual, and the crew were busy enough no one really made note of his comings and goings.

In reply to GM (msg # 130):

Lexi, one of the ship's cutter gunners, waylaid Blake on one of his runs.

"You seem like you got a lot of nervous energy. How about we grab a drink when you're done?"