The cutter was loaded up with gear and the exploration party.

Jerri, the cutter pilot, maneuvered into the impact crater on the side of the vast, dark bulk. Keeping the craft stationary above the bottom of the crater, EVA teams were deployed to secure the ship and explore the cracks and fissures in the bottom. A few looked very promising.

Blake watched the vid feeds, nodding his head at times.  Then took a nap.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 2):

Beside him in the cutter, Jack playfully shoved Blake to awaken him.

"Hey! Neil! You just volunteered to be first out the hatch. Let's go, someone's gotta explore this crater."

He closed the faceplate of his vacc suit, switched to internal breathing mixture and completed his suit-up drill. "OK. Checklist completed. PLSS is nominal, all systems are green. Let's get in the air lock! Anyone else coming?"

"I'll come," said Linus, who was bored sitting around. He went through the requisite drills.

"All personal systems nominal. Cross-check, please."

Lucky jack - the life of the party.  Blake suits up too, then bows to Jack to be the first of the group out the hatch.  Blake then checks all the read-outs one more time ...

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 4):

The three of them cross-checked each others' gear, Vacc Suit seals and pressure, and PLSS function/air supply. All systems were in the green. The airlock cycled, letting them out into the bottom of the crater.

The giant asteroid was spinning at a fairly rapid rate, presumably to provide centrifugal force for simulating gravity in the interior compartments as an alternative to grav plate technology. That meant that the cutter needed to be anchored lest it drift into the rear wall of the crater. As well, the Inquisitor needed to make regular boosts from time to time for station-keeping purposes to keep above the rim of the crater, lest it fail to keep up and drop down out of sight as the mothership rotated.

Working together, the three anchored the cutter using lines secured to explosive bolts. Once that was accomplished they also set guide lines from the airlock to the surface (although due to the spin it seemed more like they were hanging beneath the asteroid).
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:50, Mon 24 Apr 2017.

In reply to GM (msg # 6):

Like the others, Jack remained tethered to the cutter for safety purposes.

Using precise boosts from his Vacc-Suit maneuver system, Jack found the drone where it was parked near a deep fissure that looked like it penetrated to a lateral corridor. Freeing the drone from its anchor cables, he shone his light down into the crack.

"I'm sending the drone back to the ship, it can't help us any more. This one looks good. Blake, set a guide line to here. Linus, go set a repeater beacon on the lip of the crater. Just in case the ship falls behind and we lose LOS we won't lose comms."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:57, Mon 24 Apr 2017.

"Right, on it," said Linus. He headed up to the crater rim with a beacon and set to anchoring it securely.

Aye aye sir !!  Blake gives it the usual two strong tugs to make sure of the anchoring.

Ken suited up as well, checking his suit with Lorain before heading out.  He clumped carefully over to the three working and pitched in. "I'll help you with that repeater Linus.  With the two of us we should have it aligned and running in no time>"

"Thanks, Ken. Check it's secure, will you?"

He began to run comms protocols, establishing the linkage.

The EVA team got down to the job of securing the cutter and laying guide lines to the likeliest entry points. Inside the cutter, Lorrain and her people began prepping to suit up and begin exploration of the mother ship itself. There was a feeling of excitement and anticipation.

Outside, Linus reached the top of the crater wall and successfully shot a bolt into the asteroid's stony surface to anchor a repeater. One that was secured he switched it on. A strobe on top of the antenna began blinking, providing a visual cue for the ship and/or the cutter. The antenna would allow them to keep in contact with the Inquisitor if it slipped below the horizon if they strayed while station-keeping.

Just in time, too! As he finished up with the repeater beacon, the Inquisitor's spherical white hull above them slipped further and further behind them as the asteroid rotated. It soon dropped out of sight of everyone down in the crater. Linus could still see it. Everything appeared fine but the repeater was taking it's time establishing a comms link. The Inquisitor slipped farther and farther back.

Ken leaned forward and began to dig the supporting cables into the surface of the asteroid.  He noted Linus still working with the instruments.  "How is it going?  Can you get a good synch Linus?"

"It is taking its own sweet time," grumbled Linus, adjusting the gain and fiddling with antenna alignment.

When Blake hears about the mother sip dropping out of sight, he makes a mental computation about how long they can survive here ...  Space is a very unforgiving critter.

The ship got smaller and smaller and was soon out of sight to Linus as well.

The cutter lacked the sophisticated long-term nutritional and life support recycling systems of a starship. But it did contain 600 person-days of rations for the expedition personnel, about 2 months worth. (Aboard were the pilot, Jerri, the gunner, Lexi, plus Jack. Lorrain and Hanno were there, plus Ken, Blake, Linus and Neva made 10.) The cutter could be fully operational as long as the fuel lasted, 2 weeks, then they could deploy solar panels to supply electricity to maintain minimal functions (basic life support) almost indefinitely.

In reply to GM (msg # 16):

Out of the airlock now, Lorrain asked via her Vacc Suit radio, "what's going on? Where's the ship? I don't see it and we've lost telemetry."

I'm not sure Professor. I don't recall it being part of the mission profile either.  Ken, Linus, do either of you remember if the main ship was going to depart after finding our site ??

"Not that I knew of," said Linus, "But I was busy putting the supplies together, so I may have missed something."

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 19):

Neva shook her head.  ~Yep.  This trip is starting out terrific.~

Vacc Suit Radio:  "This isn't a good sign.  On the other hand it does give us motive to check things out.  I'm sure things will be fine and that the ship will return."

Neva's communication was only three sentences but in those three sentences she was optimistic as well as pessimistic.  She did, however, try to sound optimistic at the end of the transmission.

Neva's right, only one direction now.  We may have to move fast too.

In reply to Prof. Lorain Messandi (msg # 17):
"Lorrain, this is Jack.

"Roger. It looks like the Inquisitor is no longer above us. If they lost power and are unable to maintain station-keeping the mother ship will rotate and they'll go below the horizon. That's all we know. Do you want to take the cutter up and have a look for the ship?"

Outside as well, Jack looked up by leaning his Vacc Suit back, then turned to look over at Lorrain.

In reply to 'Lucky Jack' McIntyre (msg # 22):

Thinking about it for a moment, Lorrain replied,

"Hum. The cutter is fast enough to catch up to the ship so if there's a problem maybe we can help.

"We have some other choices, far as I see it. We can take off and catch up to the ship, maybe before they enter Jumpspace, if that's where they're going. But if the ship has been hijacked then they can also shoot us down.

"We can wait here and see if the problem resolves itself.

"Or, we can wait here but in the mean time unload as much as we can in case the Inquisitor comes back and tries to destroy the cutter.

"Lastly, we can try and hide the cutter. Again, we don't know there's a problem with the Inquisitor other than maybe technical.

"Neva, Linus, Ken, Blake, what do you think?" She asked the crew.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:43, Thu 01 June 2017.

If we have been sold out, there's not much we can do.  It all depends on how far they have to travel to link up with their benefactor before returning.    Blake thinks, something scouts don't do very well it seems, just ask the navy.

We could send one person out with a tether line and a maneuvering pack from the cutter for a look/see.  Or we could gently goose the cutter upwards for a look/see, keeping it as low as possible for detection purposes, keeping the asteroid between us and them.  Lexi, Jack, up to playing hide and seek ??  Meanwhile we have an airlock to install.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 24):

"I'll take the cutter up above the crater lip to get LOS once we get the airlock unloaded in a few minutes. We can always re-secure the cutter when we're done."

In reply to Lexis Garcia (msg # 25):

"No problem. I'll volunteer as well to be pilot."

He set about getting the portable airlock set up over the crevice they believed led to the maze of tunnels honeycombing the asteroid.

In reply to 'Lucky Jack' McIntyre (msg # 26):

"All right. It should take 5 minutes to warm up the cutter and cast off. Let's unload as much gear as we can!"

Linus pitched in to help.

The stay-cables were quickly removed. It took about six minutes.

In that time, they managed to get the portable airlock out of the cutter airlock and to the surface. It only loosely floated on the surface of the crater, as the asteroid's weak gravity was counteracted by the coriolis force of the ship's rotation. A small amount of gear and supplies were also pushed out to land haphazardly.

As soon as everyone was off, the cutter engaged its anti-grav drive and began rising up to the lip of the crater, the above. Lucky Jack transmitted,

"Landing party from Cutter-1. Be advised I have the Inquisitor on radar. Range to target 1000 km. Not responding to hails. Ah.. wait one... Shit! We're getting painted! They got a target lock, I'm initiating evasive maneuvers and taking us down."

The cutter began to spin and slew as it began to descend. There was a bright soundless flash near the stern of the craft as it was struck by a pulse laser. (Being infrared, the beam was invisible to the naked eye but the metal and plastic flash-boiling away was visible as a cloud and spray of particles.) "Ah, Mayday Mayday, Cutter-1 is going down, say again we are going down. We have lost all maneuver drivers and are reduced to auxiliary power."

Indeed, the pulse lasers had cut off the rear hull where the maneuver drives were located. The cutter was helpless to slow its descent now using the Maneuver drive or antigrav thrusters. The cutter's central fuselage continued to spin downwards while the severed stern section spun away towards a wall of the crater. Lower and lower the stricken cutter dropped towards the pile of supplies and gear, and the landing party...

Linus eyed up the trajectory. No point in running until you'd figured out the impact point, or you could as easily run INTO trouble as out of it!

Somewhere in the back of his mind he was cursing as only a Navy man can do.

This is not going to end well.  Like Linus, Blake can only watch and see where the parts land/impact.  Blake looks around for the cutting lazer/welder, the one most useful tool to have.  Then he checks his suit gauges ...

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 31):

"Shit!  This isn't going to end well.  You guys got a projectory on it yet?  How far away will it miss us."

Neva was making sure that her suit was intact and that she had her weapons.  She knew that they wouldn't waste time once the ship landed.  They'd have to move fast.

It looked like the stricken cutter was coming straight down!

The "Eagle" class modular cutter was built with a command module in the shape of a flattened cone with two windows mounted up front, mated to a central "bus" with four leg pods (front and back on both left and right) where a payload module could be mounted on the centreline between them. At the rear was an engine pod with fuel tanks and maneuver drive. On the leg pods were thruster packs for attitude adjustment and on the dorsal surface were quad retro-rocket thruster modules.

The could see puffs of gas sprout from the attitude-control jets mounted on the quad landing gear pods. Slowly, the cutter stopped spinning, but it was still falling down towards them, fast! They could either make a run (well, microgravity jump) for the crater lip, or take shelter in the crevices at the bottom of the crater.

"Yo Guys!  Quit the chit chat and get to the crater.  Not sure We'll make it to the crevices at the bottom, or if we want to but get to the lip at least."

Neva, with her pack on her, started to do micro jumps to get to the crater.  Hopefully she and the others would make it in time.

Run at right angles ...  Or down the crevice ...

Bound at rights angles to the descending wreck.  With the lazer welder.

The crippled cutter dropped lower and lower overhead. It had stopped spinning and it looked like Jenna and Lucky Jack were using the thrusters to attempt to regain control.

As everyone was in the crater, and likely near where the cutter was going to hit, the cracks on the crater floor looked like a great place to start looking for some shelter! Everyone seeme to think this was a good idea and began squeezing into the cracks, specifically the large fissure that looked like it would reach down into the interior of the ship.

It would take a couple minutes for the cutter to slam down, due to the microgravity conditions. But even at that relatively sedate speed the damage would be catastrophic, at least to the craft!

 Typical day in the field, starts out great and then right off a cliff ...  The good news is, everyone will think we died.  The bad news is, they could be right.  Good luck there Lucky and Lexi !!

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 37):

"We can't be dead. You're still complaining!  Did everybody find someplace to squeeze into?  Watch the equipment.  It might be the only thing that will keep us alive."

Ahhh Neva, the voice of reason when everything hits the turbo fans ...  Lets hope the maneuvering fuel doesn't ignite.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 39):

The cutter continued to accelerate as it slowly fell.

Time to impact was 30 seconds!

Blake crosses his fingers - difficult in a vacc suit.

Neva smiled at Blake's words.  "Hope to hear from you all in around 40 seconds."

Then Neva started her own countdown.  Making sure she was in the best position she could be.  She couldn't help but think here she was again hiding in a crevice instead of a box but it was still the same thing.  Hide and scrunch in low to survive.  She shook her head and then went back to the countdown....hoping it wouldn't be the FINAL countdown.

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 42):

Finally, the crippled cutter neared the bottom of the crater. At the last moment, before it looked like it must crash into the dark regolith, the landing retro-rockets fired. It was a brilliant bit of piloting, without the engine pod Jeri and Lucky Jack must be operating and coordinating the throttles of all 4 thrusters manually, by hand.

In the middle of the crater the cutter settled down hard, but intact, in a cloud of pulverised dust!

Linus let out the breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Thanks be to God!"

Neva mentally counted off how much time they had.  When she got to zero and nothing else happened she peeked a look and quickly closed her eyes again.  Her mental count down was off and she saw she wasn't out of danger yet.

She then felt the cutter land and felt dust fall and settle.  She waited til a count of 10 and then dared to look again.

"We made it?  I mean...that turned out ok."

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 45):

The cutter was wrecked but for that in surprisingly good shape.

It seemed they weren't out of the fire yet! Another cutter, the second one the ship carried, came into view overhead.

It seemed to be in trouble. Its descent into the crater was quicker than was safe and whoever was at the controls seemed unsure and rough. Down the cutter dropped towards them, slewing from side to side and wobbling. It looked like it was going to hit and hit hard, not to far from the wreck of Cutter 1.

In reply to GM (msg # 46):

Seeing the other cutter, coming down with much less precision, Neva ducked her head back and once again went into protective mode.  While she did so, she couldn't help but say "And there is the other shoe dropping."

Here comes trouble ...  and ducks back into hiding.

Billy cracks the door of the cutter open, and looks outside.

shall I assume we feel it, 2 crash landings ??  Blake waits for several seconds, allowing any 'ground' impacting debris to also land before edging himself out for a look/see ...

Although there was no sound they could feel the thump through the asteroid's regolith as the second cutter impacted the surface not too far away. It too bounced up after impact in a spray of dust and then landed with a more final crunch. The main spinal bus was clearly bent in the middle, the passenger module partially detached at one end and the retractable landing legs were all collapsed.

Those inside the cutter were jolted around in their crash seats but otherwise unharmed. Every panel and door was askew or popped off, gear spilled from lockers. Windows and portholes were cracked or popped open with tangles of wires spilling out. In the bridge the displays all went dark, including the twin VR HUDs mounted in front of the pilot seats. There was a little starlight filtering in from outside, not much.

GM Note: Ok, the cutter is down. Everyone is together!

Billy cracks the door of the cutter open, and looks outside.

In reply to Billy (msg # 52):

There was a cloud of dust suspended above the floor of the crater where the 2 cutters crash-landed.

From one cutter Lucky Jack, Lexx and Jerri spilled outside. From the other, Billy led the way as the expeditions scientists plus Lorain bounced and stumbled out in the weak gravity.

In reply to GM (msg # 53):

"We made it! Is everyone all right?

"What do we do now? Is the ship coming back?"

Billy sets his suits coms to broadcast locally, so those from the other cutter (and those on the surface of the asteroid) can hear him.  "Are you guys OK?" he asks before turning to help the others out of his cutter.  However, Prof. Messandi's question  gets a raised eyebrow inside the privacy of his own helmet.

"I hope not, they were shooting at us as we tried to land.  We need to find some cover quickly, just in case the ship does return."

Neva waits until she hears people speaking and then peeks out.  Slowly climbing out from her cubby hole, Neva looked around and then up.  Not to say she was paranoid but she wondered if anything else was going to drop on them.

"Everybody ok?"

Linus scrambled upright and stretched.

"OK, what the heck is going on with the ship? Has there been a mutiny?"

"Sort of, but its a long Story.  We'll fill you in later, but we need to get off of the surface, just in case they come back." Billy responds to Linus's question.

Like Neva, Blake also looks upwards ...  Just stars and what-not for the moment.  Then he heads towards the wrecks.  Hey, Lucky, were you planning on stranding us here or what ?? Anything on those shuttles that we need ??

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 59):

Walker followed the rest of the passengers on the shuttle.

"Frag this for a lark."

Here's hoping there's not going to be a problem with those gunmen from the ship.

In reply to Thomas Walker (msg # 60):

Cutter crash-landing:



The dust cloud slowly dispersed.

Seeing the immediate danger was passed, Lorain peeked out from the fissure in the crater floor where she and the others had taken cover.

"What happened? A hijacking? Who? Is everyone ok? There were gunmen?

"Is the ship coming back Should we unload the cutters?"

Post-Crash:


This message was last edited by the player at 09:06, Wed 02 Aug 2017.

Walker kept his eyes open, but he figured that the biggest problems would come from a laser that he couldn't see.  Just needed to get the hell out of this busticated shuttle.

Billy replies to the academic's questions.

"There was a sort of mutiny, but the officers were involved too.  I don't know whether the ship is coming back, and I am not sure I want it too.  It shot the engines of of Jack's cutter, and we think it was shooting at us as well.  So, yes, I think we need to take as much as we can get off of these cutters, and to prepare for a long stay.

But I also think we need to keep an eye out for that ship.  If it comes back I don't want to be inside a lame duck cutter.  Just in case it starts shooting again."

Then carefully, he pokes his head back inside the cutter to see what can be unloaded easily and quickly.  He really doesn't want to be caught inside the cutter if the ship returns.

"Do you want a hand with that?" asked Linus, coming over to the wreck.

"I'll help unload the cutter but where are we going to put stuff?"

Neva looked around and shook her head.  No good answers but she was alive and THAT beat the alternative.

Lets off-load what we need, worry about storage later.  I have a lazer welder if needed.  Watch out for leaking fuel and other volitiles.  Blake watches his steps in this debris field.

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 65):

"Do we have someplace with atmosphere?" asked Walker, hoping that his suit wasn't going to be his grave.

In reply to Thomas Walker (msg # 67):

Neva started to take some of the supplies they would need and stacked them together.  One of the first things she looked for was something that might tell them if there was oxygen around where they could stay.

Maybe inside this rock Thomas, we haven't gotten that far yet.  We may also want to turn our radio power down a lot since everyone is local now.    Blake looks around for Lucky or Lexi.  He wants to know how many other small craft were onboard the (former) mother ship. Billie, do you think your departure surprised them ??  They may spend time locking down the other small craft and doing a personnel roll call before heading this way.

"I think they might have been suprised that I locked their mercenary thugs in the armoury, and that we stole the second cutter.  But they wern't so surprised that they couldn't shoot at us. " Billy says as he hands stuff out.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 69):

Lexi, like Lucky, was shaken but ok after their close call.

"Uh... yeah. Just a sec. There were only 2 cutters aboard. No other small craft."

In reply to Lexis Garcia (msg # 71):

"Yeah! And they might have been shooting at us, but they weren't shooting very well! That ship has 8 turrets but only one engaged us. And no one shot at you, even though they could have switched targets. I think they haven't gotten full control of the ship.

"We can't go up. We can try to move across the surface. Or try to make an entry using the fissure we identified. That is, go down if we can't go up!"
This message was last edited by the player at 07:21, Sun 06 Aug 2017.

In reply to 'Lucky Jack' McIntyre (msg # 72):

Neva nodded and looked at Lucky.  "You're the one called Lucky so you choose.  That was some piloting but I don't fancy having to go through that again.  We were just hanging here watching those come down upon us.  I wasn't sure if I'd die from them crashing or from having a heart attack.  I can say that I am truly awake now."

No other small craft and these two are wrecks.  That means they will have to come close and drop in by vacc suit to get us.  Lets haul stuff to our opening.  Blake organizes the science types into hauling teams, asking if any of them need help walking about in nearly zero G.

"Missile racks?" Billy asks, reminding the others that the ship doesn’t need to get close to destroy them all.

In reply to Billy (msg # 75):

Lexi, a gunner, shook her head.

"Dual pulse lasers only in all 8 turrets. No missiles or sand.

"Cutter One has a single beam laser for signalling, mineral sample extraction and possibly cutting into the asteroid to create an entrance. But it's ventrally mounted and probably damaged in the crash."

Blake looks at Billie and Lexie Lets have a quick look at that lazer in cutter 1.

Billy checks around the cutter he is in, looking specifically for personal weaponry, tools and spare air tanks.

Blake's comments puzzle him, a single beam laser won't be much good against the ship, should it return, and if it's ventrally mounted, it is going to be practically impossible to do anything with anyway. "What do you want to do with it?" Billy asks.

Meanwhile, everyone gathered themselves. The rest of the expedition joined Billy and Neva in unloading the cutters of all possible supplies and portable gear.

Just curious ...

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 80):

The ventral-mounted lasers on the cutters seemed to be damaged, but not catastrophically so. It was still in its housing but there was evidence that it was probably knocked out of alignment.

With everyone helping a pile of gear grew outside the stricken small craft of tools, survival gear, weapons (which were part of the expedition stocks).

In reply to GM (msg # 81):

Jack leaned backwards due to the awkwardness of his vacc suit. "I don't see the ship. Of course we're in the bottom of this crater. Are we going to try and get inside the ship? If so, let's get a move on!

"Any volunteers?"

"Sure..." said Linus.

Billy is unsure as Jack looks skywards,  "Get back inside the ship?" he asks, "I only just managed to get out of it ...."

Jack pointed down.

"This ship."

In reply to 'Lucky Jack' McIntyre (msg # 85):

"Get back inside the ship that you just got out of?  Why?  Do we need more stuff out of it?  Are you going to try and patch it up?"

It was clear that Neva had missed part of the conversation or something.

In reply to 'Lucky Jack' McIntyre (msg # 85):

"Well, walking home is pretty much out of the question.  It's 'March or Die.'  If we're not lucky, it will be 'March and Die.'"

Walker slung his shotgun, muzzle down, and grabbed his share of the load.  Low grav means he has to be careful, but he can carry a lot more than he could on many planets.

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 86):

Lorrain laughed, realising what he meant.

"This is a ship. We are standing on a ship. Remember? This asteroid is one big ship! He means let's get inside it. We identified this fissure here as one that probably penetrated into the ship interior."

She pointed at a deep crack marked off with glowing tape.

"All right, any volunteers?"

Well, lets move our gear to the entry way.  Then we need to find a way inside.  Someone should get back to installing that airlock, so we have a place to stay.    Blake doesn't add breathable air, water, non-hostile natives, and enough weapons to immobilize a starship to capture and go home in ...

Neva looked at the crack and shrugged.  "Want me to go in first?  I've been in tight places before.  Who wants to come in with me?"

As realisation dawns, Billy nods and responds to Blake's comment,  "I'll start moving the stuff." However, he reconsiders his options as Neva asks for volunteers.  No point doing physical work if there is a nice quiet corner to sit in.

"Maybe I should come," he suggests to Neva, "I've squeezed into a few ventilation ducts in my time ..."

In reply to Billy (msg # 91):

"Ok. Blake, Neva and Billy. Anyone else? If not, let's go. I'll come as well."
This message was last updated by the player at 08:20, Fri 08 Sept 2017.

"As I said before, I'll come," said Linus.

Billy follows along with the others.

"All right then.  We're on it.  I'll go in first if you want.  If Lorraine goes in she should either be last or in the middle.  She's too important to get surprised or hurt going in first."

OK Neva, be careful.  Check the clearance, take this line with down with  you.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 96):

"Thanks Blake."

Neva took the line and tied herself to it and slung her weapons behind her.  Soon she was ready to go down.  "Now don't go off without me ya'll or if you do leave my stuff behind too ok?"

Neva smiled at the group and then took a deep breath before she started to check for a way inside.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 96):

Walker didn't say anything, he just scanned the sky from where they'd come.

Blake shines his light for Neva to get started descending down.  He will shut it off once Neva gets down and doesn't need an additional light distracting her.  He would pass along the orange spray paint, but the poor can would probably explode in a vacuum ...  He then looks to Linus "Could use some of your famous choco chip cookies along with something to wash them down with !!"

{Stylized text not working tonight]
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:45, Thu 14 Sept 2017.

"The question is, how do I give them to you when you are wearing a spacesuit? Come to that, I'm wearing one as well!"

Linus stayed close to Lorain.

"Right! Linus is coming as well."

Lorain tied herself off to Blake and Linus, switched on her helmet lamps.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:08, Sat 16 Sept 2017.

The impact crater was made by a glancing blow, as there was no foreign body lodged in the asteroid. Many fissures radiated from the centre of the strike, some shallow, some deep. They had chosen a deep and wide one that seemed to have metallic debris at the bottom. The explorers carefully made their way deeper until they came to buckled metal plates that seemed to be ruptured along a seam.

Inside the long dark rupture was a tangle of wires inside bent plastic conduits. But to get through they would need to widen the hole, either through cutting with a laser of some kind or using an explosive device. There might be some seismic or breaching charges in their supplies, but Lucky Jack certainly had a laser rifle!

Any way to determine if the wiring is active ??  Powered up and being used ??  Maybe an electronics tool kit ??

Billy nods at Blake's question and pulls a probe from one of his suit pockets.  Carefully he  pushes the probe against wires, choosing a number of different wires at random.

In reply to Billy (msg # 104):

Doing some checks, Billy determined there were no live wires or electronics present. The crack  beyond the plating was darkness.

Hmmm, no time to snip them apart, anyone down here have a laser ??  Otherwise we'll need to have Lucky's lowered down to us.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 106):

"As a matter of fact, I do!"

Jack made his way to the bottom of the rift.

"Ok, this could take a few minutes," he said as he got set and aimed the laser rifle.

The beam was invisible. A spot on the metal plating began to glow, then boiled away as it was melted by the infrared (heat) laser beam. The spot moved, gradually cutting away a half-moon of metal plating, widening the hole. Finishing, he switched off the beam and raised the rifle.

"Aaand, done! Not too bad, still got a half charge on the battery pack."

In reply to 'Lucky Jack' McIntyre (msg # 107):

"Nicely done.  We may need it again so keep it handy."

Neva looked at the others.  "Who wants the honors of knocking."

Ladies first.

Billy, moved towards the back of the group when Jack  arrived with his laser,  and happily remained at tthe back without saying anything, when Nava asked her question.

Neva laughed and rolled her eyes.  "There ARE times when it is acceptable for men to go first."

Neva, however, grinned when she said it and started to proceed through the widened hole that had been made.

Right behand you.  Blake gives Neva some space, tries to keep his light in looking where Neva is looking, etc.  Along with the old scout maxim of up/down/all around.

Next in line ??  Those profs all done hauling gear ??  We may need someone soon.

Billy follows along, looking for signs that there might still be some life in the systems.

The edge of the ruptured hull plate at the bottom of the crevasse glowed white, then cooled to orange and red where the Laser had been used to cut out chunks to widen it.

Once it was safe, the exploration party entered the dark empty space beyond.

Inside was some kind of corridor, almost squashed flat from the impact crater of the intruding body that had bounced off the surface of the massive ship. It was filled with trash and debris: popped out paneling, shattered and dislodged fluorescent light tubes. Tangles of colour-coded wiring, Lengths of sheared pipes and conduits that once held liquids and gasses. The asteroid ship's spin-induced gravity had long ago pulled all the loose debris down to settle to the "outer" bulkhead.

By default this then became the floor. Pulling themselves "up" through the gap they entered the corridor, and found the Coriolis-force-induced gravity to be about .10G,

In one direction the corridor was almost squeezed shut and the remaining gap filled with trash. The opposite direction their lights detected a closed hatch blocking the way. It was dark in the corridor, with no power or light.

As his light catches the hatch blocking the way, Billy points it out to the others.  "That might take us further inside."

Easing his way forwards until he gets to the hatch, Billy sweeps his suit light across the area, looking for the hatch controls.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:41, Sat 30 Sept 2017.

Blake eyes the trash ...  Looking for anything familiar, with writing on it, etc.  Is there enough space here to start bring their materials down ??

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 116):

Walker followed the rest of the party, trailing behind, to keep an eye behind them.

In reply to Billy (msg # 115):

The hatch seemed to be jammed, but if it was of a safety design it would be part of a dual lock and wouldn't open if there was a significant pressure differential between sides. The markings were a little faded but seemed to be of Sky Raider script.

There was about 15 feet of intact (non-squished) corridor, enough to shelter everyone but not store materials. It was enough room to set up the portable airlock. As it was the small group had a lot of space to operate in. Looking up through the crack, Thomas could see the vacc suit helmets of the remaining expedition personnel peering down at them. (Actually, due to spin gravity making everything outwards "down" the others outside needed to peer up into the crack on the surface, and they needed to be anchored or drift away due to centrifugal force.)

"Well, what are you waiting for?  We found a bolt-hole to start off with."

Billy turns as he hears his suit radio crackle with Thomas's voice.  His eyebrows half raise, as he quickly interjects,  "But send down the gear we need to set up a portable airlock first.  If Jack is going to burn our way in, we need to make sure that whatever air is inside doesn't escape."

With some difficulty, the hard cases containing the collapsible airlock were maneuvered into the wrecked tunnel. They started to unpack it and set up the ribs to attach the "air tent" over the airlock and seal it using magnetic clamps and quick-drying epoxy.

Meanwhile, a watch was set up to keep an eye out should the ship return. Hopefully they would have enough warning to crowd into the crevice and the space beyond! For lack of anything better to do the others left behind on the surface organised the gear and supplies so they could be easily moved. A power lead was connected to the least-damaged cutter, so they could recharge batteries and the laser rifle.

Finally, the air tent was set up.

"Everybody ready?  Shall we knock and see who answers?"

Neva grinned when she said it.  She didn't think they would actually knock but she thought a little levity couldn't hurt.

Linus, who'd been helping set up the portable airlock, grinned and raised a large wrench.

"Shall I?"

The portable airlock was set up. It was mated to the bulkhead, quick-dry epoxy used to create a quick but airtight seal. Inside, Linus waited for the air pressure to equalise.

Using the wrench he then tried the hatch and wasn't surprised when it refused to open, having been warped by the long-ago impact.

OOC: May I get a STR check from Linus? Roll -2 to roll (+1 for STR 9, -3 due to difficulty). 8+ is success!
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:57, Thu 12 Oct 2017.

Linus wrestled with the door to no avail.

---

OOC: 11:11, Today: Linus Spruance rolled 5 using 2d6-2 with rolls of 4,3.  Trying to open the airlock door..

The mechanic watches the attempt to work the hatch by force, then comments, "Sometimes if something is jammed, it is worth hammering it a bit, and then trying again, but I suspect we might need Jack and his laser to cut our way in.".

In reply to Billy (msg # 126):

Neva watched and as slightly amused as the different men tried to open the door.  She wasn't going to try.  If they couldn't open it then they probably needed the laser again.

"Why don't we just go get the laser from Jack?  It would expend less energy and we might have to do that anyway."

"I'll try hammering it a bit then..."

Linus was not, after all, an engineer, so he was quite happy to take advice.

Well, if we cut thru the door way, then we need another airlock door of some kind ??  We would have to make that 'cut door' workable.  Would oil or some lubricant do the job ??  He searches for Lucky Jack and asks if some thing slick was requisitioned ...

"Can anyone read this writing?" Billy asks pointing to the skyraider script near the airlock.  "If this is the outer door of a safety lock, there should be an internal door as well.  That might not have been damaged so badly."

"We would only need to make the broken door workable if we take the airlock away, leaving a hole behind. Normally when we do that we would cover the hole with a sealing patch or weld a plate over it. The airlock should function normally if there's air in the space beyond.

"IF there's no air then, well, I guess it's just another door."

Dr. Mirost, their linguist, wormed his way in. He studied the various script in the corridor and on the hatch. The writing was still bright after thousands of years.

"I think... yes. This is an emergency hatch of some sort. There are instructions but it is a little hard for me to follow."

In reply to 'Lucky Jack' McIntyre (msg # 131):

A Vargr-shaped vacc suit wormed its way in to the wrecked corridor. It was Dr. Goezghae, the astro-geologist. She had much experience with asteroids and asteroid ships over the history of human and Vargr spaceflight.

"Allow me." She examined the corridor, the bulkhead and the door, using a tool that combined a video scanner, light and microscope. She paid attention to the airlock seals and reinforcements at the joins, corners and edges.

"I think the hatch is just jammed. There is probably no more air beyond this door for a couple reasons.

"When the unknown body struck this ship and bounced off, the kinetic energy was transferred through the nickle-iron substrate and the ship infrastructure (corridors, ductwork, chambers) both directly underneath the crater and around it. In other words, this whole area flexed inwards, then outwards. The kinetic stress would have been transmitted through this bulkhead, the door, the walls, everywhere.

"Now, I figure we are just at the edge of the sub-impact zone so there was some energy transfer through here. I see micro-fissures (tiny cracks) all over the walls, especially at the joints and corners, and around the hatch. Over hundreds of Earth years air pressure would have been lost. You probably wouldn't notice anything but a gradual loss of pressure over a very long period of time, days or weeks. But it would happen.

"Second, this is not an exterior airlock hatch, it's an emergency hatch and normally kept closed. It's air-tight but not that heavy-duty. Meant to seal a corridor or chamber so that repairs can be made or security maintained. Not designed to hold pressure indefinitely. Yes, there is probably another closed hatch beyond this.

"We can just drill or laser a hole in the wall, see if anything comes out. The laser has a 2mm focal aperture, that should be enough to test without depressurising the space beyond."

"Just jammed? OK, let me have a look before we start drilling." Billy nods at the analysis and moves forward to where he can inspect the hatch more clearly.  Using his suit light he checks both the mechanism and the sides of the hatch looking for anything that might be holding the door shut.  "there is no point damaging the seal if we don't have to ..."

Blake backs out of the way so Billie can have space to examine the hatch.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 135):

Neva backed up as much as she could so that the guys could do their thing.  She kept her eyes and ears open for anybody else joining the party but also she didn't want to be caught in anything collapsing on them.

In reply to Billy (msg # 134):

It seemed obvious to Billy that Dr. Goezghae was correct, the hatch was jammed. He could also detect cracks that would have let any atmosphere on the other side escape a long time ago. There wasn't much Neva could do to prevent any further collapse, but at least she could maybe clear out the tangles of wire and other trash like popped-out wall panels, smashed light fixtures and other debris cluttering up the destroyed corridor so they would have a clearer and safer space to work in.

Using the knowlege he has just gained, billy has one last attempt to open the hatch manually.  Asking jack to play his laser, briefly over parts of the combing to help expand the metal and free and jam,  knocking at other parts with the wrench, to try and dislodge any obstructions and break any chemical bonds (such as rust) that have formed between the hatch and the combing.  Then he takes one last attempting to open the hatch.

"It is always worth a try" he offers with a shrug.

Clutter clutter everywhere.  It was a booby trap waiting to happen.  As Neva started to clear out some of the debris, or rearrange it, the best she could do, she smiled.  She remember a talk she had with one of the guys on the street one time about the term booby trap.  Basically it was how it got its name.  Did it lure humans in and thus be sprung or a once long forgotten bird that perished because of going into traps.  Where they ALL boobies for going into such a mission?  Well if so, then she, at least, wasn't alone.

A small chuckle escaped from Neva as she continued to clean, keeping an eye open for anything that might be interesting or unexpected.  She'd let the guys work on getting into the place especially since there was only one laser that could work on it if needed.

Blake steps back against a wall and looks up and down ...

With some effort and the application of tools they managed to open the jammed hatch. The laser wasn't much use (the 2mm beam was actually too concentrated) but an Oxy-Acetylene torch did the trick.

While they worked, others careful removed the debris that Neva was cleaning out of the wrecked corridor. There were several nasty jagged pieces of metal and ceramic that could have damaged or ruptured a vacc suit, and it was good they were no longer drifted about while the others worked.

Beyond the hatch was a small chamber with a second emergency hatch. This one seemed to be much less damaged, although there was still a lack of power to the module.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:26, Sat 21 Oct 2017.

Using his suit light to show him the way, Billy steps into the small chamber and looks around, then asks,   "Have we got any lube for that door?  We might as well see if we can  make it easier to use.  It could be our main route  in for a while ."

Assuming all is well inside the small chamber, Billy will move across to look at the second hatch.

In reply to Billy (msg # 142):

He pointed behind them.

"The jammed hatch? We can close it a little, I guess. But it and the bulkhead are warped. It would take time and effort to repair it enough to use it as an airlock.

"Are we going to check if there's atmosphere on the other side of that other bulkhead? Seems less damaged and more secure. I can lase a small hole, and we can see if any air leaks out. Then seal the hole."

At this he put the "red dot" on the forward undamaged bulkhead, ready to melt a small hole there through the metal.

Blake moves to a side, out of the line of anything coming thru that hole.  We could put up our airlock unit instead.

"It should work where it is." Billy says, noting that their temporary airlock has already been installed.  "This small chamber won't make much difference, if there is air inside -  especially is we start with a small hole and let this area pressurise slowly.  That would probably make the hatch easier to open and less 'explosive' as well."

In reply to Billy (msg # 145):

"This laser will drill a 2mm hole. Very small, it would take days or longer for air to fill this space. No, this is just to create a sample hole to see if there's air on the other side. Then we epoxy up the hole.

"We can leave the portable air lock where it is. That bulkhead isn't that airtight anymore but it'll do for now until we find a permanent solution."

_{"Depends on the pressure the other side ...."} Billy says softly, as he waits for Jack to burn the hole

In reply to Billy (msg # 147):

Jack rolled his eyes. "What, do you think it's going to be a thousand atmospheres of pressure or something? The Sky Raiders were normal humans. Because one atmosphere room pressure won't hurt. You'd barely feel it if you didn't have gloves on.

"Anyone else object? Afraid there may be acid on the other side that will squirt out the hole? Spiders? Acid-filled spiders?"

"Oh.  They'll fry in the laser .... " Billy, grins as he thinks, briefly, of the effects of opening a vehicle door under water, and still wonders if the onrush of air, when the hatch is opened, would disturb the temporary airlock they have installed.  Not something he had tried or seen before, but you never know.  Theoretical fluid dynamics was never really one of his strong points.

Metal fatigue, serious structural failure, poison darts from the cannibals on the other side.  Of course, this is also one large tomb drifting thru space for centuries too.  Who knows what condition the atmosphere has become now.

"Now that we have gone through all the possibilities, what are we choosing.  We made it this far and the only other way is to go forward.  Yeah we could get killed from  multiple sources but in reality it would only take one source.  Let's see what the Fates have in stored for us shall we?"

I agree Neva.  We have no alternatives right now.  OK Billy, give us your best guess.

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 151):

"I like your thinking!"

He aimed the laser at the wall and triggered it. The bulkhead under the red "aiming spot" suddenly flared and began to melt under the infrared beam. Droplets if vapourised metal and plastic quickly dispersed in the vacuum.

In reply to 'Lucky Jack' McIntyre (msg # 153):

In short order the laser drilled a neat 2mm hole through the bulkhead. Readings indicated a faint pressure on the other side. Trace amounts of Oxygen, Nitrogen, Hydrogen, etc. meant an atmosphere breathable by humans. It was clear that the chamber on the other side once held much more pressure but that it had leaked away over time.

This door would need to be opened once the pressure was equalised (gone) but they would perhaps find a fully pressurised area further in! And it would be breathable.

In reply to GM (msg # 154):

Lorain finished her testing and gave a thumb's up.

"Good news, looks like the atmosphere is safe and breathable. No pathogens, no toxic particles or gasses.

"Low pressure means there's been some leakage on this end over the centuries. But we'll find another space beyond and hopefully beyond that we'll find full atmosphere.

"Let's remount the portable airlock on this hatch. Once we equalise the pressure we will be able to open it."

Billy is pleased that Jack is right about the rate of airflow from the other side of the hatch and nods happily as Professor Messandi completes an analysis of the air coming through.   After all, if they don't find good air soon ....  However, that thought doesn't need to be voiced, everyone else must be thinking the same thing.

"OK, I'll go start.  Although should we plug the hole, just in case?" Billy asks as he  goes to dismantle the emergency airlock.

"Go for it Billy.  I'll follow after you."

Neva waited for Billy to go and would follow him through.

In reply to Billy (msg # 157):

"On it." Jack had already prepared an airseal patch to cover the tiny 2mm hole drilled by the laser. He clipped off excess patch material so there was about a 4cm square left.
This message was last updated by the player at 07:46, Mon 13 Nov 2017.

In reply to Billy (msg # 157):

After the portable airlock was repositioned over the next hatch they equalised pressure. Billy and Neva crowded inside. The pressure readouts were green, indicating the hatch could now be opened.

Beyond the second emergency hatch was a 30m tunnel that had slowly lost pressure over the centuries but was otherwise structurally sound and airtight. Spare oxygen cylinders from the cutters brought the pressure in the tunnel up to human standard.

Neva and Billy could see the tunnel's furnishings and lights were largely intact. There was no artificial gravity. All the gravity they felt was centrifugal in nature, from the rotation of the asteroid. A few light panels in the ceiling still glowed, giving the corridor a red glow.

At the end of the corridor was yet another hatch adorned with Sky Raider (Loeskalth) script.

Billy lets the light from his suit play across the furnishings, just in case  there is anything of interest.  "There is power further in," Billy says over the local communication channels, "Dim lights by the far door.  Checking .." he tails off as he gets close to the far door and  makes a quick visual inspection.  Then with a glance towards his companion he asks, "Neva?  Did you see anything to give us pause as you came through?"

In reply to Billy (msg # 161):

Neva went in and looked around and rolled her eyes as she saw yet another hatch.

She answered Billy's coms as she shook her head.  "Let's see.  Spooky lighting, a hatch with foreign writing on it, pressure is good here, nope, nothing that we haven't encountered before."

Neva looked at the script and since she couldn't tell what it said or even IF it said anything, called for Lorain on the Coms.  "Hey Lorain, we got some more of that Sky Raider squiggles, I mean script, on this hatch.  You want to look at it before we open the can of worms?"

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 162):

"Be right there."

The airlock cycled and in less than a minute Lorain's vac-suited form came through the opening.

"Hi! Ok, let's see what we got. Looks at least a little functional in here. Some lights, but a little dim. That's better than nothing."

She made her way over to the far hatch, playing her vacc-suit lights over the script.

"Uh... I think it's some kind of designation. Not a warning or instructions. Probably for some kind of access shaft or conduit. Go ahead and open it."

Billy nods, and sets about opening the airlock.

Linus stood near Lorain, watching what was going on.

"Think we should get a picture of that Lorain?  Either to study it more later or to copy it on a door sometime or something.  Never know when something might come in useful."

Neva grinned at Lorain.  She knew putting up signs could lead people away or two locations or to give false information.  One never knew when it might come in handy.

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 166):

Lorain feigned being taken aback. "Come on! I'm an archaeologist! Everything will be recorded. I think this script is just an alpha-numeric designation. See?" She pointed out a string of characters as she recorded it with a videocamera. "These are numbers with some letters... basically, the Anglic equivalent is "CONDUIT 14550-62A-18RF-974" or something to that effect.

"Let's get the inertial locators fired up, maybe we can make use of this designation at some point, help make a 3D map."

"Good idea," said Linus. "I'll get started on that, shall I?"

Neva chuckled at Lorain's words.  They both were right but Neva wasn't going to say that.  "Silly me.  How could I have forgotten that.  Well Conduit 974 it is then."

Conduit 974. Blake says as he initializes his locator. OK Billie, lets open the next door.  Sooner or later we should find something other than doors and corridors.

Billy smiled ruefully, he'd been about to open the door a few moments ago, before he was interrupted by conversation concerning pictures and image locators and other such things.  With a shrug, he continues ...

Ken noted down the designators as well.  He was a marine more used to ground combat but his time had included both shipboard service as well as training in space based assault.  He moved up behind Billy as the other went to open the hatch.  "Let me cover you Billy.  If there is power there are going to be people eventually."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 172):

"Speaking of power, I wonder where this power is coming from? We did detect some sources of low-level neutrino emissions but kilometres away. Likely fusion plants in standby output load. It seems unlikely that power would be kept on in such a peripheral area.

"This is not just a colony ship, but a warship as well. I wonder if the ship automatically detected near-spatial activity, like the Inquisitor's arrival, and is entering some kind of wakeup routine? Security systems could be coming on-line."

Finished with her recording, she motioned for Billy to go ahead with the hatch.

Billy opens the hatch.

And that professor, is what scares me the most.  Biological survivors and/or an AI running this ship.  Along with whatever is happening on our former ship.  Blake then checks his vacc suit gauges.

Ken frowned and checked his weapon.  "Let's hope that the Sky Raiders did not rely too heavily on automation in their defenses.  We'll need to stay very wary."  He stood near Billy and looked past him.

In reply to Billy (msg # 174):

The handle was stiff to open. Who knew how long it had been since it was last serviced?

With a creak the hatch swung inwards. It took Billy, Neva, Ken and Blake to pull it open.

Through the hatch was a ladder in a short 4m shaft.

The top of the ladder was a roof hatch.

Billy raises his eyebrows as he looks at the short shaft, playing his suit light across the surfaces and checking to see if there are any more signs of system-life now they have penetrated that little bit further.

"Have we got some lube for this hatch?" The mechanic asks, indicating the hatch they have just been through, "I don't suppose we will be able to get anything on the next one ...." he says looking up at the ceiling hatch.

In reply to Billy (msg # 178):

There were cans of aerosol lubricant available, and a generous spray was applied to both hatches.

The second one was definitely "overhead" as the asteroid provided spin gravity, holding their boots to the floor (oriented towards the outer crust of the asteroid).

"Shall we?" Billy asks, half-rhetorically as he climbs the ladder and prepares to open the hatch.

Assuming there is no dissent, Billy will try and open the ceiling hatch.

In reply to Billy (msg # 180):

Walker sat, quietly watching the way they came, shotgun in hand, occasionally looking over his shoulder to see what was going on with the main group.

Blake works the lube into their entry door, then swings it shut before they open the roof hatch.  He then passes it up to Billie.

Everyone might want to link yourself to something sturdy.  No telling what is on the other side of that hatch.  Blake carefully picks a place to secure himself, out of the direct line of fire from the hatch.

Neva takes the advice and tries to secure herself.  She's not sure it will do any good in the circumstances but it was still good advise.

Ken took a look at the hatch.  "Billy, are there markings on or near the hatch that Lorain might decipher?"

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 184):

Leaning back sp that she could get a good look through her Vacc-suit visor, Lorain examined the markings on the roof hatch as Billy climbed up and started trying to turn the handle. Again, the markings looked like the Vilani-derived script the Loeskalth/Sky Raiders used as a written language.

"I think it's another alpha-numeric designation. This one doesn't seem to bear any pattern-resemblance to the last code... could be gibberish for all I know. Or in code so that intruders can't use them to aid in navigation? Either way, I guess we don't have any choice."

Ken shrugged.  "Well, just add it to the database and eventually we might crack the location code.  They have to have some sort of location system on the ship, probably something derived from the Vilani since they got their spacefaring tech from them."

"There's no reason to think they were less logical than we are, so it's probablu a designation based on side of the vessel, level, then how far it is from the front... or the back," said Linus, steadying Lorain with one hand as she lent back to look up.

Ken nodded and moved aside to allow Lorain to move back.  "It would speak of paranoia on an institutional scale to scramble things but you never know..."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 188):

"The Sky Raiders were pretty paranoid. They booby-trapped most of the launch bays we know of to prevent outsiders from boarding. I wouldn't put it past them!" answered Lorrain, waiting for the balky hatch to come free and open.

In reply to Prof. Lorain Messandi (msg # 189):

The hatch finally opened inwards and downwards with a loud squeal. Beyond the portal was a dark hole. There were no lights on in the space outside, but there was pressure (or else the hatch wouldn't have opened!

"Emergency lights in ducts?"" Billy wonders quietly as he  pops his head trough the hatch to see if he can see anything up there.  If there is no immediate threat he will continue through to the area above and light it up with his suit lights.

OOC: Assuming the suit has a helmet light for the initial look around.

In reply to Billy (msg # 191):

Billy's helmet light played over the hatch coaming as he slowly lifted himself up. The beam played on a curved wall some ten or so metres above him. Dim blue lights (possibly motion-actovated) started to flicker on in a line to either side. It became clear he was in a 10m wide tunnel smooth-bored through the nickel-iron asteroid that stretched for perhaps kilometres in both directions. The tunnel walls were lined (on all sides) by conduits, plastic piping, bundles of wiring, and several rails of different sizes (again, on all sides).

Billy should make a DEX check, 8+.

Billy pokes his head above the parapet.

OOC: 21:49, Today: Billy rolled 4 using 2d6 with rolls of 2,2.  dex check.

In reply to Billy (msg # 193):

Billy slipped a little, but caught himself on the ladder.

Everything appeared safe and deserted in the tunnel. Nothing came rushing down the tunnel to decapitate him. In fact, nothing untoward happened.

After regain his grip, Billy climbs out through the hatch, making way for the others to follow.   Once he is through, he starts to play his suit light across the walls more systematically.

In reply to Billy (msg # 195):

Climbing out through the hatch into the tunnel, Billy noticed that anti-grav must be functioning in this sector due to the fact he began to slowly float away from the floor!

At this rate if he didn't manage to catch himself, he would slowly float across the tunnel to the "upper" wall.

Roll 7+ to regain control, add Vacc Suit skill.

Ken will climb up behind Billy to support him as he peeks through the hatch.  He'll attempt to grab Billy's foot to keep him from floating off if he can.

"Whoooaa.  No grav..."  his teeth clamp down on the word as he tries to regain control.

"Take care up there," said Linus from 'below'. He got some line and clipped one end to the waist of his vac suit ready to use as a tether.

With a helping hand from Ken, Billy managed to regain control and was brought back down. His boot magnets engaged, drawing him to the deck.

"Thanks." Billy acknowledges the help from Ken as his feet settle against the floor.  "Come through carefully, this is a zero-G zone ..  for some reason," he continues as he offers his hand as support for Ken and anyone else who follows.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 07:40, Sun 10 Dec 2017.

See any on or off switches up there ??  Blake will look around the hatch opening on this end.

Ken helped Billy back down until his boots could latch onto the deck.  "Glad to help," he said to Billy.  Ken used his help to leverage himself up into the passageway.  Shining his light around Ken called out.  "It looks like we are in some sort of maintenance and service corridor."

Moving carefully, Ken stomped over to the nearest wall to look at the conduit and piping.

There didn't seem to be any switches for the antigrav plates that negated the tunnel's gravity, nor controls of any kind.

The piping and conduits didn't seem to be anything special. They were partially recessed into the smooth fusion-bored walls. Several different rail lines of different sizes and configurations also line the walls, protruding enough that anything using them would clear these potential obstacles.

Referee's Note: the shaft and ladder beneath and leading up to the tunnel is actually about 15m high.

Ken checked the walls and conduit.  "I'd say they negated the gravity here to facilitate moving stuff through the asteroid here.  We're best off moving all of our gear inside and picking a direction in which we might find another hatch into the habitable sections."  He considered their options.  "We eventually want to go back and salvage from the cutters but it may be better to investigate inside and avoid the risk of getting caught on the surface."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 205):

The inertial locator indicated they were burrowed about 60m inside the surface of the asteroid ship. Their entry crater had been 30m or so deep, and the corridors leading to the ladder plus the ladder shaft made the difference.

It seemed, judging from the rudimentary 3D map they were making, this transport/conduit shaft traveled parallel to the surface, down the length of the long, thin asteroid hull.

OK, this is the outer beltway.

Ken shared the inertial locator data.  "I'd agree Blake.  Which direction do we head, fore or aft?  I'd vote aft toward engineering as the proximity to power should support the most life."

Seconded, if anything is still working, we will need to know about it.

"OK." Billy nods in acquiescence, although he doesn't know which way the Engineering department is going to be.  "Have we got anything that can check the air pressure, and make up?  It might be good to save tanked air if we don't need it ...."

In reply to Billy (msg # 210):

Lorrain carefully made her way up into the transit shaft.

"We have plenty of sampling and testing equipment for atmosphere, including toxins, pollutants, contamination of all kinds. We wanted to measure and record everything for later analysis. Although we expected to find an airless hulk there was a chance that atmosphere was present and any chemicals in it could tell us important information with some analysis.

"For example, they had manufacturing infrastructure here on the asteroid. There could be residue of this in the air. Molecules from construction and building materials would eventually leach into the air."

In reply to Prof. Lorain Messandi (msg # 211):

Jack also made his way into the shaft. He checked the atmospheric tester.

"We also wanted to test for safety reasons! There could be nasty germs, pollutants, contamination, radioactive particles, organic molecules, spores... you name it.

"As for engineering, there were Bussard ramjet engines aft, opposite the direction of travel. Ken, you got the inertial locator?"

While he waited for Ken to determine which direction was aft, the tester beeped. Information scrolled up the tiny screen.

"OK. Nothing dangerous I can see on first readout. Looks good! Anyone want to be first to crack their helmet?"

Because of the air pressure they could hear the clunk and scuffle of movement and their voices. Unlike the silence of vacuum, where you would only hear yourself.

Run it again there Lucky.  If the same, I can do it.  Got a temperature for us too ??

Assuming its green, Blake carefully cracks the helmet seal for a couple sniffs ...

Ken looked over the locator and then pointed aft.  "That way I'd say is where we want to head."  As well when the tester came up green Ken nodded to Blake but waited as the scout had already cracked his helmet seal.  "Turning green yet Blake?"

Linus watched proceedings with fascination. As a former Naval storeman, the more adventurous side of space travel was quite novel.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 214):

Jack and the others looked at Blake with clinical interest. Nothing killed Blake, not surprisingly.

The air was breathable, fainly scented mainly with metallic odours but with perhaps something organic as well. It was difficult to tell.

After a minute or so Ken took off his helmet and breathed deeply. "Well, like a ship and not.  There is something organic in the air, growing stuff perhaps."

Yeah, kind of leaves a metal taste in my mouth too.

Ken nodded.  "So, head aft until we find a way further into the ship or all the way to what might be engineering?"

whichever comes first.

Now, the people behind us are doing what ?? Just trying to keep track of all the specialists and supplies ...

Happy to leave the decisions about direction to the others, Billy opens his helmet and sniffs cautiously at the air.  His shoulders shrug, although it isn't visible through his suit, almost to say ... its air ...", then heads off, slowly, towards the aft of the ship.  It's not so much leading the way, as moving generally in that direction while he plays his light across the walls floor and ceiling.

There might no be anything to see  but, then  again, there might be.

When Blake can catch Billy for a private minute About how many crew took over the ship out there ??

Otherwise, Blake keeps an eye out for any kind of writing or location markings.

Ken looked around in the undisturbed portions of the floor and walls for signs of any recent use.  He was looking for dust or disturbances as well as rust or tarnish or the lack thereof on the rails.

Billy shrugs and replies quietly, ”Not really sure who was involved.  There were some thugs in cold sleep, Dushguunguzi, the First Officer,  and Fkeming, The medical Officer were involved – but that is all I know really. I suppose the captain was in on it, but I don’t really know.  When they went to the Armoury and started getting tooled up, I made a break for it and picked up the others on the way.

Linus shines his light around the corridor they are in, curious.

Well, so long as no aliens with molecular acid blood pop out, I feel fine.  Wasn't that an old vid of some sort ??   Blake setting the mood.  Lets take 5 and contact the others for an update.

Ken nods and calls on the radio. "What is the status with the equipment?  We've found what appears to be a large, disused maintenance passageway."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 227):

There was a hiss and pop of static from the vacc suit's radio receiver. They were too deep for normal signals to reach, they would need to set up repeaters to facilitate communication through the metal asteroid body.

Billy sighs when he realises that there is no response.  "I'll go back and get them ..." he says as he makes his way back to the hatch.

In reply to Billy (msg # 229):

When he got much closer to the entry point Billy started to pick up vacc suit radio traffic from the rest of the expedition. They were getting organised and not in any trouble.

Arriving at the airlock Billy noted that most of the gear was now stowed on the floor of the first, wrecked, corridor. The hole in the floor leading to the crevice in the bottom of the crater had been enlarged for safety and access reasons.

It had been roughly an hour since they were abandoned by the mutinying ship. It had not come back into sight or communicated with them in any way.

Quickly, Billy was able to locate the cases with the repeaters and bring them back to set up a relay.

Meanwhile in the tunnel, Linus was able to tell that the three sets of rails on the sides of the gravityless shaft probably were there to guide vehicles of some kind. Self-powered as there did not appear to be any electrical "third rails". Two pair looked like small rails, one set was for larger vehicles. Using the inertial locator Ken determined the correct direction for aft.

Billy passes on the information about what had been discovered so far, and then makes his way back to the leading group - laying a trail of repeaters along the way.

Once back in the main tunnel, Billy reports back on how the rearguard already have most of the equipment inside.

"Let's wait until the rest of the gear is secure inside and then head aft.  I think I have the right direction.  We'll want to close the hatch we came through so that no one stumbles across our stuff."

Billy frowns slightly, and asks "Are we expecting company?"

Ken shook his head.  "It doesn't look like this passageway has been used in a long, long time.  However I'd hate to have anyone stumble over our gear so even if the chance is low we should take precautions."

Neva looked at Billy and nodded.  "ALWAYS expect company.  The question would be if you WANT company or not.  Most of this trip?  We don't want any more company.  I'm sure there will be a time when we might but it's that "unexpected" company part that can kill you."

Ken nodded.  "The Sky Raiders had a violent reputation.  I'd imagine their descendants onboard if they are still alive would be likely to be equally unpleasant."

Billy shrugs and lets them get on with it.

And there's always our mother out there ...

Ken nodded grimly.  "They'll have a reckoning although at the moment we lack the means to take any retributive steps."  He looked about. "Meanwhile if the gear is stowed let's get the rest of the party together and head aft."

They made their way back to where the gear was stowed.

"I think we need to find a better base camp than here, although this does have the advantage of a "front" and "back" door.

"Second, for a preliminary expedition party I suggest myself, Ken, Neva, Linus, our new friend Billy. Make sure everyone's armed."

Ken nodded in agreement. "Something more defensible in a base camp would be useful as well.  If anyone came looking for us with hostile intentions it would be good to have our resources staged elsewhere." He considered Jack's suggestion.  "Armed and at least a couple of days of rations and water.  We'll want to bring our suits and at least a little bit of air in the event we need to move through a damaged area."

Billy frown slightly at the thought of going armed, but sees the sense in it.  "Hang on, I'll look through the supplies piles and find something ..."  Then he makes his way to the supply piles and starts checking through them looking for a weapon of some sort that won't hinder him too much.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:37, Fri 12 Jan 2018.

Blake will follow Billy back as well.  Vid camera and his pack along with the gear.  He will also arrange with the expedition members for a list of code words - just in case.

Neva nodded.  "It's a sound idea.  Everybody check everybody else's pack before we leave to make sure we have enough. Good idea Ken, about food supplies.  Also plan for the worst."

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 243):

"Ha ha, and Blake as well. Of course!"

In reply to Billy (msg # 242):

Going through the expedition gear Billy found 4 semi-auto shotguns (fixed stock) with 4 reloads each, 4 revolvers (also with 4 reloads each) and 2 laser rifles (mainly for cutting).

There was also a good deal of plastic explosive (for breaching) in brick and det-cord form, along with various timed and remotely-detonated fuses. There were cases of grenades (fragmentation, smoke, tear gas).

"Right..."

Linus sorted through the food and made up packs of sandwiches for everyone.

"Here you go."

Still frowning Billy takes a revolver and its reloads, and looks around for a holster of some sort, if he can't find one he stores them in one of his suit pockets.  Then with a rueful grin, he takes one of the shotguns as well, hoping that the sling will will keep it out of his way. 

Taking his sandwich packet from Linus he nods his thanks, before turning to the group as a whole "I'm ready ...."

Blake takes his gear.  Keeps the orange spraypaint (trademark item ??), the auto carbine, etc.  Nite googles would be nice too.

Ken went back as well and took some of the explosives and fuses as well as a shotgun and pistol and ammo for both.

In reply to Billy (msg # 248):

The revolver had a holster that would fit either way with a vacc suit or not. The shotgun had a sling as well as a tactical flashlight mounted under the barrel.

Ken took his own magazine-fed shotgun where it was kept with team stores, along with his auto-snub pistol.

Referee Note: As a reminder, you should all have gear loads already listed in the Player Post-Its thread. I assume you all have your standard gear available! Billy should also post his gear list there. Thanks!
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:54, Thu 18 Jan 2018.

When everyone is ready, Billy asks  "Who is going first?"

"That's nice - a volunteer!" said Linus, grinning.

"Or I can..."

Billy grins, but then looks mischievously at the others.  "I'll go first if you like, but I thought one of you military types might like that honour.  After all, you are supposed to know what you are doing in these circumstances, and I am just an engineer ..."

I pilot starships for a living.  I defer to the engineer here.

Billy shrugs and sets off towards the rear of the vessel, expecting he others to follow.

Blake will fall in at the end.  Occasionally checking behind the group, then the usual up/down, all around.

Linus follows Billy, chuckling to himself.

Ken steps up.  "I served long enough in the Marines that I'm used to being cannon fodder.  I'll take point."  He checked his weapons and equipment and then started a steady walk aft, keeping near the side opposite the tracks about a meter away from the bulkhead.

Once they were ready to depart, the scouting party started off down the access shaft in the direction of the stern. There they hoped to find engineering, perhaps some kind of power supply.

After 10 mintues of travel in the weightless shaft they came to a large opening in the wall. It was a closed hatch, large enough to fit a truck-sized grav vehicle through. There were some markings, and the hatch was on the "inside" wall of the shaft.

"They know what they are doing.  They are letting others go first.  Besides engineers make good doormen."  If he was watching, Billy would have seen a quick grin flash across Neva's face before she became serious again and settled into the middle of the group.  With Blake having the rear and Ken (and Billy) in front, she thought the best place would be in the middle.  They would have most of the group covered then if need be.

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 261):

Walker watched the others, then fell in with Neva.

Billy falls in behind Ken with a half smile.

"However, the tips haven't been good so far ..." he replies casually to Neva, and holds his hand out, unobtrusively, for  a split second, as if encouraging a small coin or two. At least it had stopped everyone dithering ....

blake's voice carries up to Billy Yo, Billy, you watch the machinery for us, OK ??  Them killer-bots and auto-squashers could be disguised as anything in here.    He then turns to cover the rear again.  Only, he now looks for things moving along the corridor as well.  Maintenance bots and such.  Now a Solar Plunger auto drink dispenser would be real nice right about now ...

When they reached the door Ken gave it a quick once over and then waved the others forward.  "Loraine, can you decipher the script for us please?  This looks like it should take us in to the main spaces."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 265):

The recessed ceiling valve leading inwards was perhaps 10m across. Several tracks led up to it (and presumably through it when open) indicating that cars or tube vehicles would easily travel past it going who knows where on a regular basis. A few scattered functioning HVAC vents kept air circulating in the weightless tunnel, so there was no accumulation of dust to indicate the passage of time.

There was different coloured Sky Raider script in various places on the valve and what could be a control panel assembly off to the side.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 265):

Lorain tried to make out the symbols.

"Uh, I think many of these are warnings. Some off to the side are obviously instructions. That, there, looks like a designation or code. But I can't say for sure."

Lorrain floated up to the control panels and grabbed one of many conveniently-placed zero-G handles to steady herself.

"We should bring up Dr. Chandragora, see if he can open the valve. It looks like it has power."

Billy stands back and watches, happy to leave the valve and its operation to the experts.  However, as Lorain speaks of warnings, he gives his suit a quick once over to make sure that it is all tight, ready to reseat his helmet ...  just in case ....

"Do the different colours have any significance?" asked Linus.

"Like we tend to use red for danger, that kind of thing."

Ken watched warily as Lorain examined the door and controls.  At her recommendation he put in a call.  "Dr. Chandragora, can you come forward and see if you can help us with a large hatch into what seems to be the main part of the asteroid?"

Blake will walk back to meet the professor.

(I will be out of town tomorrow, Saturday, and back later on Sunday.  NPC me as needed.)

Jeri got to thinking.  Two crashed cutters might just equal one bashed together functional cutter.  She headed back up to the crater to begin examining the cutters with an eye towards cannibalizing the most damaged one to repair the other.  It wouldn't need to be perfect, just good enough to rescue them and get them off this floating tomb.  With any luck, they might be able to time a return while the thugs are trying to assault them on the rock.  Hauling herself back up into the passageway, she looked around for some of the scientist types who'd been scanning the exterior of the asteroid.  Once she found some, she asked, "If I can cobble together a working cutter from the remains of the two we have, is there a nearby area on the surface that would be suitable for hiding it?  I could lift it out of this crater while the Inquisitor is on the other side of the rock and then we could scatter the remaining parts to make it look like they're all that's left of two destroyed cutters."

Blake walked back and met the expedition's expert technologist, Professor Chandragora. They walked and pulled themselves along the weightless transit tube until they reached the portal.

Meanwhile, Jeri examined the hulks of the cutters. Cutter 1 was missing its drives and power plant but had made a soft landing. Cutter 2 had made a hard landing that still left it mostly intact save for collapsed landing gear. Both were secured by cables and pitons to the asteroid's bedrock hull to prevent them from floating away due to its spin.

Power and She thought that with enough time and some way to move parts around from Cutter 1 in the microgravity they could repair the undercarriage and landing struts of Cutter 2. Cutter 2 had hit the asteroid tall-first causing damage to the power/maneuver module leaving these systems offline but possibly repairable.

In reply to Jeri Marrenda (msg # 272):

The Vargr scientist, Dr. Goezghae, was the expedition's specialist in asteroid and asteroid vessel geography. She studied the 3D terrain maps they'd made of the local surface area.

"Good news! There's a 150 metre-long fissure wide enough to hide the cutter in, about 600 metres spinward of here. It's in between two fairly high hills that are extensively covered by what looks like old antenna farms and solar cells. It should be shielded from direct observation and detection by any ship or probe unless they are directly overhead. The surface structures will make sensors and thermal less likely to detect it as well."

In reply to Jeri Marrenda (msg # 272):

Hanno, the ex-scout, offered to help. "I can give you a hand. We used to fix these Scout Service cutters from rough LZs on frontier planets all the time with a tree and a winch. The microgravity will help. We can build a derrick and rig up a pulley system to shift things around. Might take a few hours to rig everything up."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 270):

Blake and Dr. Chandragora arrived back at the massive portal. Dr. Mirost tagged along, being the backup linguist.

Dr. mirost and Professor Messandi conferred.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:58, Mon 12 Feb 2018.

In reply to GM (msg # 276):

Some 30 minutes later they were finished translating the script by what looked like some controls.

"Ok. We think we have translated the emergency access instructions."

In reply to Prof. Lorain Messandi (msg # 277):

After familiarising himself with the controls, Dr. Chandragora asked the group, "I believe I can open it now. Do you wish for me to proceed?"

Just as a final precaution Billy seals his helmet, although he leaves the tank valves closed, as there should be enough air inside the suit for two or three minutes.

Ken looked over at Billy and nodded.  "Everyone suit up and ready your weapons.  Move back from direct line of fire.  I can do the opening Doctor if you want to instruct me.  You're not replaceable."

"Thanks Doc, that is good news," Jeri said to the vargr scientist.  Turning to the ex-scout, she happily accepted his offer of help.  "Sound good, four hands will definitely make the work go faster, especially when we're maneuvering bulky equipment in microgravity.  Let's get to work rigging up that derrick; it's a great idea."  With a smile, she added, "They seem to be using the grav transport module to transfer gear down into the asteroid, and we definitely want that to go as quickly and smoothly as possible so all the gear will be off by the time we've fixed the cutter, but we might be able to rig something up with the crate of grav belts I got this one out of," she concluded gesturing at the belt around her waist.

"Yeah, you guys can rig up something that will help?  Go for it.  I'm suiting up and can help stand guard."

Neva did just that.  Guarding she knew.  Putting things together...not so much.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 280):

Walker pulls his helmet over his head, and looks a direction that's different than all the others.

Blake likewise 'helmet's up'.  He checks the rear and anchors himself to something along the corridor.

"Ok Doc, let's go."  When everyone was ready Ken opened the door as directed.

In reply to Jeri Marrenda (msg # 281):

"Do you want to make unloading the cutters the priority? It's about half done. It might take another hour.

"And thinking about it, the derricks will be more to keep parts from floating away."

The asteroid possessed microgravity but was also under spin to provide internal gravity. (The Sky Raiders did possess grav plates for artificial gravity but spin gravity would take no power and not require maintenance over time. Anything that was not anchored would float away. This would actually help in moving around parts and modules once they were no longer attached.

As the hatch was leading inwards, it would be "above" them if they weren't in the artificial zero-gee of the transit corridor.

Lorrain and Dr. Chandragora worked on the panel in deep concentration and with plenty of gestures and consultation.

Finally after about another 20 minutes they were really ready this time! Pulling a few levers and turning a wheel caused some displays to light up dimly. First they changed from yellow (the Sky Raiders "danger" colour, the colour of fire and thus very bad for a spacefaring culture) through white (the colour of upper atmosphere and a sort of in-between colour) to blue (the colour of water, a "good" colour).

The door began to creak and squeal and then the leaves retracted from the centre outwards. They moved enough to clear a 2m hole, then shuddered to a stop. Looking at the gap they could see the door was 2m thick. There was no light on the other side.

Ken waited a heartbeat or two to see if anything responded from the other side and then moved forward to shine a light around the edge of the thick door.  He held the light well away from where he peeked his head around the side to see what might be on the other side.

"Yes, let's get everything moved inside the asteroid first," Jeri replied to Hanno.  "That will give us more room to work, for one thing, and get the gear safely held in place by spin-gravity for another.  And if that half-hour makes a difference in getting the cutter out before trouble shows up, better that the gear be secured before then."  She was happy to be working with the scout.  They tended to think well on their feet and have a broad skill-base.  They had to, since they often operated alone, or with minimal crew.  She respected the scouts, but never really longed to become one.  Let alone an asteroid colonist.  They had to find a way to fix the cutter and regain control of the ship.  There was no way Jeri was spending the rest of her life on this hollowed out rock.

And then the unloaders are going to need some 'down time' after all of this hauling.  Some can rest while others start sorting our gear out.

Are we able to recharge our vac suit air tanks with anything we presently have ??  Can we place an alarm and a vid on the exterior hatch ??  Can we lock it ??

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 290):

It wasn't clear ahead of time how long it would take to breach the asteroid ship and set up a base camp. Therefore the plan was to have the cutters provide shuttle service back to the Inquisitor, or use them to provide on-site living quarters and Personal Life Support System (PLSS) pack recharging.

But in the event a surface camp was wanted they had several pressure tents with PLSS recharging stations plus 3 portable PLSS recharge-recycling units. Each could fully recharge several vacc suit PLSS packs at once in ten minutes. The PLSS was completely closed-circuit as the spent air mixture was not vented but collected and then scrubbed/recycled for reuse using a recharger.

OOC: It's best to formulate statements and questions like this to be IC in some sense, like spoken dialogue to another PC or NPC, or even just thinking. Or else you can post to the OOC thread.

In reply to Jeri Marrenda (msg # 289):

Hanno replied to Jeri, "agreed, a half-hour is not going to make a lot of difference under the circumstances. Let's rig the gear for transfer inside. It would help if our old belter friend Lucky Jack was here, this would be his specialty, but he's on that little safari inside the asteroid.

"For now let's just get everything into the first corridor after the breach, the one that's wrecked and in vacuum. From there we can shuttle it through the portable airlock into the corridor that's pressurised."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 288):

Due to the oblique angle, Ken's light showed a little of the walls. Nothing more of the space behind it.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 288):

As he floated in the zero-gee field of the tunnel, Lucky Jack checked his atmosphere sensor. Like everyone else he was geared up, helmet on and face shield down.

"I don't see anything. It could be dangerous. You first, Ken. We'll, uh, cover you. Then I can take some samples inside."

Linus moved forwards to shine a light around.

Ken called out what he saw (not much) looking around the entrance.  After a few moments he nodded to Jack and gave him a thumbs up.  He clipped a line to his belt and passed it to Jack.  "Haul me back if I get in trouble.  It's over kill but you never know..."

With that he moved forward using his magnetic boots and explored past the entryway.

Blake moves up to be with Jack, in case needed.

As Ken and Blake push forward, Linus - who had been shining a light in to see what he could see - steps back to give them room.

Billy is happy to stand back with his shotgun in hand, as instructed.

Within the Asteroid

10m behind the massive portal was a second one like the first, creating an airlock between them that could accommodate a small ground bus. But the second portal was partially open, allowing easy access through it.

Ken carefully peered through the opening in the middle of the second, inner door. Inside an 8m tunnel led deeper towards the centre of the asteroid. Tracks led through both outer doors, connecting to this tunnel.

The inner chamber where Ken now floated between the doors had a great deal of the Vilani-based Sky Raider script on the walls. There were other pictograms, more primitive looking. Mostly men and oxen-like beasts, a few unfamiliar stylised symbols.

The chamber between the doors was dimly lit, as was the passage leading further into the interior of the asteroid.

On the Surface

The rest of the gear was stowed safely in the tunnel. Hanno and Dr. Goezghae started working on a cable and pulley system to move the wrecks to the chasm.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:55, Mon 05 Mar 2018.

In reply to GM (msg # 300):

"Jeri, do you want to work on the cutters here or move everything to the chasm where it'll be hidden?" asked the Scout.

"I don't think we're going to get both cutters operational with what we have to work on them.  I think we're going to need to cannibalize one to fix the other.  And besides, they know we came down here, when we're done and move the operational cutter, I want to take what's left of the other and try to do our best to make it seem to be the scattered pieces of two exploded cutters."  It might not fool them for long, but any delay in the assholes who'd done this to them confirming their survival was a good thing in Jeri's book.

Ken, if it looks OK, move forward to see what comes into view form the second door.  Billie, we may want to know why that second door is only partially closed.  And as for that writing ...Blake's voice trails off.  Did the inhabitants regress on their journey thru the stars ??

Ken called back to the others.  "Looks like a big airlock.  It's mostly dark with nothing much moving and the walls are covered with writing and drawings.  I'm moving forward."

With that Ken maneuvered himself forward using his magnetic boots if possible to stay secured to what would be the floor.  He advanced to the second door and peered around it.  Ken remained careful to not silhouette himself against the lights from behind.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 303):

Lorrain peered inside as well, capturing the markings on video.

"The figures could have been painted yesterday, or thousands of years ago. The Altamiara paintings in Spain on Terra were over 18000 years when discovered, but looked like new. Likewise cave paintings on Vland and other worlds where the Ancients supposedly seeded Humaniti also look recently made.

"Still, we might want to being up our professional linguist. Even Dr. Chandragora and myself were having trouble making sense of the script on the door controls and that was simple technical language."

In reply to Jeri Marrenda (msg # 302):

"OK. Fix up one, then hide it. Use the other as a ruse.

"Cutter 1 lost its power and M-driver module, but made a soft landing. It still has an operational cutting laser. Cutter 2 has all its pieces but made a hard landing and so suffered structural damage to the ventral surface. It's laser is probably destroyed."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 304):

Ken peered through the hole left in the middle of the second door.

He saw a long gently-curving tunnel lit by a widely-spaced handful of the glow panels. It looked like more pictograms covered the walls as long as he could see, about 100m.

Ken looked for a moment and then moved past the second door.  "It's empty with some lighting.  There are more of those pictograms.  Let's go ahead and move through and head further in."  He pulled off his helmet and clipped it to his belt.

Still cradling his shotgun, as instructed, Billy moves forward to support Ken.  While he waits for the specialists to decipher enough of the script that they can work out what the space is for, he casually examines the half open door.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 308):

Ken and Billy floated into the branch tunnel. Gravity was still nullified here, meaning that the grav plates were still functioning.

A few more lights flickered on here and there. These were of an emergency blue-tinged white "glow plate" type that seemed to be the most common surviving light source they'd seen so far. This wasn't surprising; these types of lights could function for centuries or longer if not over-used. There were still-functioning Vilani-manufactured examples existing in museums here and there that dated back to the First Imperium, some of which even predated the Sky Raider era when this ship was built, 5000 Terran years ago.

In reply to GM (msg # 310):

Outside, Jeri found herself being hailed by Professor Messandi over suit radio relay. "Jeri, we found some neolithic-style artwork in a side tunnel. Please escort Dr. Gilenkaar to our position. We are 500 metres down some kind of transit tunnel in the direction of the stern. Can you do this, please?"
This message was last updated by the player at 08:18, Mon 12 Mar 2018.

Blake moves forward to the partially open airlock doors.  As he passes the first doorway, he shines his flashlight into the doorway tracks, any sign of recent use ??  Rust and corrosion ??  Then on to the next doorway, same inspection.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 312):

Once through the airlock it was mainly one long tunnel curving out of sight. There were some open side doors near the airlock and as he floated by in the null-G Black checked them out. Once, a long time ago, these were maintenance hatches leading to narrow conduits that ran parallel to the tunnel. The conduits were still there but any equipment inside had been removed.

"So consistent power then." Billy acknowledges softly as he notes the softly glowing panels and zero gravity.  Carefully, he pushes himself upwards, so that he floats gently towards the ceiling.  Then from his new vantage point, he looks again to see if he can spot anything different or unusual.

Could the hatchway be manually closed ??  Blake has a casual look around.  Billie, any way to manually close this doorway ??

Brent drifts over and looks at the conduit runs.  Are they big enough for a person to use?

"Well, we're probably better off with the cutter that doesn't have any structural damage, so I'd say we try to repair Cutter 1," Jeri replied to Hanno.  "We scavenge the pieces we need out of Cutter 2 to fix the power and M-driver, and transfer the laser.  It's a good thing we don't have to try to do this in full gravity.  With the hard landing, it ought to be easier to break Cutter 2 up to make it look like two wreaked cutters than if we did that with the intact Cutter 1, especially if we can melt some random debris into slag to help make up for missing mass and make it look like part of the crafts melted in the collision explosion."  She knew it would likely not fool an extensive examination, but they'd do their best to buy the team some time.  If it at least could pass visual and sensor scans, the scumbags might decide they could take their time physically getting over to the asteroid.

In reply to Jeri Marrenda (msg # 317):

"I see what you mean. Let's do that with Cutter 1, and break up Cutter 2.

"Yes, I think we can make it look like both cutters plowed into the crater. Easy. When a small craft craters while going a good speed, there isn't much left except for some pieces of the tail."

He listened a moment to Lorrain's transmission. "Jerri, you want to escort Dr. Gilenkaar to the exploration party? Seems they need someone with experience in paleolithic cultures. As well, please take Dr. Mirost, they probably will need a linguist as well, from what I understand.

"Don't worry, we'll keep it under control here."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 316):

It looked like the hatchways to the main transit corridor could be manually closed but the inner door seemed frozen partway open. If so it had been like that for a good long time.

The hatchway to the conduit access was 1m square but the conduits themselves were too small to be used by humans as a means of travel.

From his position 'up  by the ceiling' Billy asks "So do we continue along the main duct that we were on, or do we head around.  We had guessed that the main duct would lead to the engines and power source, while this new duct might have an exit that gets us deeper inside the ship.

Good idea Billie.  Blake looks at his inertial locator to see how far they have progressed vs the asteroid length.  Professor, does this asteroid actually have any drive engines present ??  If so, any vid of them ??  As for a power plant, my guess would be somewhere in the middle.

Jeri, Hanno, you may want to try covering any tracks too. 

In reply to Billy (msg # 320):

"This tunnel does seem to be leading deeper into the centre of the ship. It's not probably not going to lead us to the stern. Then again, the main tunnel we cam off from may not lead there, either."

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 321):

Dr. Chandragora took over. "I can answer the question about drives and powerplant.

"The stern had both gravitic emitters for M-Drive and a J-drive quantum tunneling array. Both drives sustained heavy damage at some point and are thought to be non-operational. They were of course very large but as expected were based on early Vilani designs. Performance was estimated at perhaps 0.25-.50 G acceleration and Jump-1.

"Fuel is likely liquid hydrogen stored internally. Evidence suggests that water-ice-rich comets were captured by utility vessels, tankers and warcraft and towed into close proximity to the mothership. Then carved apart and processed into oxygen and hydrogen through several water cracking purification plants located on the surface. Most if not all these refineries seem to be destroyed, for some reason.

"Something unusual is the presence of several electromagnetic field emitter arrays mounted on the bow to collect ionised hydrogen gas in interstellar space. This could allow for sublight interstellar travel operating as a "Bussard Ramjet." Jump-capable ships do not tend to also be Bussard ramjets, unless they are built right at the transition from sublight to FTL travel. But we believe basaed on course information  that the mothership crossed the gas-giant poor but hydrogen-rich Rift using the Bussard ramjet, otherwise, this feat would have been impossible.

"As for the location of the power plant, we believe there probably wasn't one main one but many power plants scattered throughout the ship, due to neutrino readings. Some are still operational, obviously. Or if there was a main power plant or cluster of such plants located in the stern they were also destroyed."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:05, Fri 16 Mar 2018.

Ken looked around as he listened to the team discuss things. "Let's take a side trip and see what we can find.  I want to find out what we can about the condition of the ship before we continue toward the stern."

Linus also listened. The former spacehand reckoned it was important to know about the powerplants and their state - even more so if they were stranded on the asteroid/ship and needed to rely on its resources. Yet, they also had time to explore...

"All right, then. Shall we?"

He scrambled over towards the entrance to the side tunnel and shone his flashlight up it.

Billy shrugs, he has no strong views either way and will follow along with the others.

Ken heads down the passageway.

While she wasn't sure exactly why the scientists needed an escort, and from a sky jockey at that, Jeri wasn't one to complain about doing what was requested of her.  "Copy that," she replied to Hanno.  "Hopefully I'll be back in time to help with the actual move.  I expect that will be some tricky piloting."  In fact, if it weren't for the life or death nature of the situation, she would be looking forward to the test of her skills that the crevice they were taking the cutter to sounded like it would give her.

After double-checking her gear, she headed in to where the scientists were waiting.  As soon as they were ready to depart, she began leading them to meet up with the forward team, whom she informed via her vacc suit's communicator.  "Jeri here.  I'm heading your way with Dr. Gilenkaar and Dr. Mirost.  Is there anything in particular we should be aware of?"

Thank you for the update Professor Chandragora.  From our maps and the inertial locator, where would the nearest active power plant lie ??  That may help when we come to branching tunnels and corridors.  Lets break until our next specialist arrives.

In reply to Jeri Marrenda (msg # 328):

Messandi answered Jeri's transmission. "Thanks for doing the escort, Jeri. We found possible evidence of recent inhabitation. Or not. But until we are sure I decided all scientific personnel get an armed escort.

"Atmosphere seems safe and breathable. The route is blazed and you shouldn't have too much trouble following it. We're just inside the first side tunnel going aft down the main shaft.

"See you in fifteen."
This message was last edited by the player at 08:58, Tue 27 Mar 2018.