OOG: Everyone please generate your characters with an eye to types who might serve on a spacecraft. Keep in mind that there are no habitable planets in the Egg System, so everyone lives in some type of habitat. Most of them do have grav plates, though.

OOG: Adding a post so it will ping each of you. I don't think I'd added y'all to the game.

I'll stick with Brett which would be a Scout type.  I'll pull up the GURPS Traveller stuff.

Good deal.

In reply to JR (msg # 4):

I'm still not sure what type of character I should/can be.

What type of character is like Han Solo and mal reynolds combined?

There isn't a real call for military types, although there is a small navy consisting of system defense boats. The closest thing to ground forces is the police force, which isn't that big, either.

Since there are no planets to live on (other than a few moons), everyone works in space habitats and on spacecraft.

I was actually thinking a type of character that is as close to captain space cowboy, smuggler, good guy at heart type of character class

With GURPS, there are no character classes. You have a set number of points (150, in this case) to allocate to your character's attributes and skills. With those tools, you can shape your character's skills, abilities, quirks, and so on to fit your desired persona.

It's easier with a character builder; there are several available for GURPS 4e.

Okay this is hoot. Like I said won't really be able to get started on this till next week. Is the only content allowed the 4e gurps traveler book? Or does this also include other 4e gurps books.

As long as it fits within the Traveller universe, and within the living conditions, it's fine. For example, saying that you worked on an ocean liner wouldn't be possible, since there are no planets with oceans in this star system.

So atmospheric flyer skills wouldn't be available either?

There are some habitats large enough to fly ultralights, hang gliders, and similar craft inside. They don't allow larger aircraft, though.

Not like I was going to fly something so flimsy.  A manly ship for me!  :)

Oh, of course! :-)

OK, I cant figure out how to make a character. Joe, I need some help. I tried to use the GCS that you linked in the other thread but I cant figure that out either.

Please help me make my character...

NP - check your email..
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:49, Mon 18 Apr 2016.

OOG: I've been sitting on this for a few days now, and I just have to post it :-)

Date: 32/IV/1402
Location: Entering Jora’s M-ring

“Prepare for freefall,” the automated message intones over the public address system. A moment later, you feel the ship’s engines stop, and you float upward from the deck. “At least we got to finish our meal this time,” one of the ship’s technicians grumbles. She collects her tray and kicks off from her seat, aiming for the galley’s rear bulkhead. She shoves the tray through the small window, and, rotating her body with practiced grace, kicks off again on a trajectory for the mess compartment’s main hatch.

The three-month voyage of the freighter Daiidkhun is nearly at an end, bringing food, medical supplies, and other goods to an outpost in Jora’s inner rings. The gas giant’s rings are a rich source of water ice, ammonia, and other sorely needed commodities. It is also a very long way from the asteroid belt, and has little to recommend it as a pleasant place to visit. There wasn’t much to recommend the Daiidkhun as a place to work, either.

Jana Gakuali, the Daiidkhun’s master, was a cold, petty woman – and those were her good points. She had a habit of foisting her duties onto her officers, and then criticizing their work when any questions came up from the home office. She also tended to play favorites, and it was a mystery how she was able to retain her position after a dozen years as captain.

Gareth contemplates slinking off to his quarters. He was here to maintain a low profile having borrowing a few too many identies after all. Being terminated for failing to perform his duties could also be problematic so Gareth elects to bark a few orders before wandering towards his station (bridge?).

"Well don't just float there! Get to your stations.Especially you Malcom Solo. I've got my eyes on you"

Singling out a random crew member was sure to create the impression that Gareth was keeping a close eye the ship's crew.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:50, Wed 27 Apr 2016.

"Understood." He mutters to the Second Officer.

Malcolm, not one to disobey an order, gathers his belongings and makes his way through the corridors to the cargo hold.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:34, Mon 02 May 2016.

The cargo hold is located in the accommodations section, forward of the massive cargo containers arrayed along the ship's spine. These containers are pressurized, but they can only be accessed by using a vacc suit. The internal cargo bay is approximately 4 meters tall, and has cargo doors on the port and starboard sides.

The ship is in freefall, so the only way to move about is by using handholds or push sticks. Every crew member carries a collapsible stick, two meters long when extended. One can push off with it, and rotate it like a propeller to change orientation.

OOG: Think of a helicopter rotor - the blades spin one way, and force the fuselage in the opposite direction.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:47, Tue 03 May 2016.

OOG: Moving on a bit to the early morning hours of the following day. There are six watches in a ship's day, with the First beginning at 0600 ship's time each morning.

Date: 32/IV/1402

Brent is on the first of his two watches for the night, and the third for the day. The captain had turned Third watch over to him with no warning, and no explanation. It was a depressingly familiar scenario, and Brent's eyes are heavy with fatigue. He is the only officer on the bridge, whom he is sharing with a young petty officer. He can't seem to recall her name at the moment, but he remembers that this is her first cruise with the company. She is sitting at her helm station, also working the first half of a double watch.

Everyone else is asleep at the moment.

The ship's computer is more than capable of safely navigating the gas giant's rings, especially given that, unlike in holovids, the components of actual asteroid belts and rings are widely scattered, and not clumped together. Their destination is still four days' flight away, and the ship will begin it's approach deceleration burn in eighty-one hours.

A soft tone sounds on the helm console, and a display changes on Brent's smaller repeater built into his command chair's displays.

"What the hell?" the petty officer says quietly.

Brent stifled a yawn as he floated just above the commanding officer's acceleration couch, held in place only loosely by a single strap.  He'd needed the work after mustering out of the service and finding that berths were rare for one who didn't have the extensive contacts among the merchant captains and ship owners.  Brent had plenty of time in free fall deep in the system, far deeper than even they were going now. But it didn't matter terribly much that he was a natural spacer, skilled as a deck officer, with the engines and power plants or even ship's weaponry.  What mattered was who you knew and what they owed you or your friends or family.  Brent hadn't made those contacts having spent his long years out near the Oort cloud rather than aboard the web of merchant ships that wove the mesh of commerce that kept the scattered habitats prosperous and alive.  That was why he was serving aboard the Daiidkhun under captain Gakuali and it was a measure of her unpopularity and ill reputation that he'd been appointed as First Officer.

He sucked on a bulb of coffee brewed strong and bitter.  Brent eschewed sugar and anything else to cut the taste, preferring to use the caffeinated beverage to keep him awake.  The watch was quiet and routine, something Brent had experienced since his teens.  Still, death lurked in every corner in space and he struggled to stay active and alert, not always successfully...

Brent is about to strike up a conversation with the young petty officer but the soft beeping interrupts the silent routine.  Reflexes took over and Brent leaned forward to examine his repeater.  "Check the sensors and comms, make sure there is nothing on a collision course," he called out automatically even as the rush of adrenaline brought him to full consciousness.

"Aye, Sir," she responds instantly, then a couple of heartbeats later, "confirmed no collision threats, and nothing on comms." She takes a breath. "Sorry, Sir, I just got a strong lidar hit off that asteroid's companion."

Brent's repeater display shows the asteroid, a chunk of rock some six kilometers in diameter, with a smaller rock, scarcely larger than the Daiidkhun herself, orbiting about a hundred kilometers above its surface. The target, whatever it is, shows as a bright spot on the smaller asteroid, at a range of eighty-one kilometers. A side display shows that the Daiidkhun can decelerate to rest with the target in ten minutes at point two gees of accel.

Brent leans forward and brings up the display.  "That's odd, something that bright might be artificial.  Give it a closer scan and use the radar as well.  I'm going to see if there are records of anything out here."  While she performs the scan Brent will check through the shipping and historical records (such as they might have) to see if anything is or was out that way.

"Aye, Sir." The petty officer brings up the ship's main radar array, and steers the nearest antenna's beam to light up the target. Whatever it is, it's not a rock. The return reminds Brent of how the derelict ships he'd found appeared on radar and lidar. The records check reveals two known shipwrecks in these rings, but they were in a totally different area.

Brent's navigation repeater shows that he has another two minutes before he will no longer be able to match vectors with the target.

"Slave the exterior cameras to the radar contact and go to maximum zoom miss Lui.  Let's see if anything is visible."  He brought up the navigation displays and quickly calculated an intercept course.  He had a few moments to at least see the what might show on the video before contacting the captain and decelerating the ship.

Lui slews the camera nearest to the target bearing around and zooms it to maximum resolution. "I don't know what it is, but it's not a rock, Sir."

OOG: See Game Map 1.

Brent nods.  "No, it's a ship or station of some sort and nothing I recognize.  Get this all on the record and enter it into the log."  He pressed the maneuvering alarm button sending a klaxon call through the ship.  "Stand by for maneuvering, all hands to stations."

Then he activated the engines to decelerate the ship and bring them alongside the object.  Once the engines were firing he called the captain. "Ma'am, we've picked up some kind of derelict object.  I've initiated a maneuver to bring us alongside."

"Aye, Sir" Lui busies herself at her console as the ship's computer executes Brent's helm commands. The ponderous cargo ship answers her helm and slews on her thrusters to the correct attitude for the commanded vector change. Petty Officer Lui watches the autopilot's projected course carefully, not taking direct control of the vessel just yet.

It takes nearly two minutes for the ship to align itself properly, and then the main fusion engines flare to life. Brent feels himself settle into his couch under nearly a third gee of acceleration. The navigation displays show the relative vectors moving to match as the ship vibrates gently under the power of her engines.

Back in the officers and crew quarters, the maneuvering alarm, while not the same tooth-twisting howl of the emergency alarms, is more than enough to awaken everyone.

Standard procedure is for everything to be secured for acceleration, but a loud clatter and a muffled curse sounds outside Malcolm's stateroom door.

Gareth also hears the alarm as it yanks him rather rudely awake.

Brent monitored the reaction of the ship and particularly the engines as he trusted the navicomp more than the thrusters.  He put the imagine of the object up on the main screen in the bridge.  As he did so he buckled himself into the acceleration couch more securely.

Gareth awakens for what should have been a pleasant nap. Annoyance turned to grave concern as it dawns on him that some kind of external threat may threatening the ship, and more importantly Gareth. Casting aside thoughts of escape pods for the moment Gareth tries to make it to the bridge in time to secure himself and observe his imminent destruction.

Brent nodded to Gareth as he came onto the bridge.  He points up to the display. "We picked up something man made and not on the charts Gareth.  I'm intercepting it."

"...Or we could run. Running is always good."

Gareth takes his place on the bridge, and is dismayed to see bravery occurring.

The intercept vectors are still merging smoothly as the freighter's fusion engines continue to rumble astern. "Two minutes until cutoff, Sir," the petty officer says quietly.

Robert chuckled.  "I doubt if its a threat. Hail her Gareth anyone though."  He turned to the petty officer.  "Scan the object for heat sources.  Let's see if she's alive."

As the ship closed the range he announced again.  "Stand by for free fall in two minutes."

Gareth's bridge station has a communications panel already displayed. He has the option of using a steered array for directional radio, omnidirectional radio, microwaves, and laser for voice and data communications.

"Aye, Sir." Liu consults her displays for a full minute. "I've got a faint heat source now, and also a better visual."

Brent's nav display shows a minute to match vectors now.

See group 2 map for latest image.

Gareth begrudgingly hails what is probably an enemy vessel.

"This is the Daiidkhun. Please respond."

Gareth transmits with no result. Then, over the broad frequency radio receiver, he sees a very weak signal. "G... K..., G... K..." The text code keeps repeating, one letter every five seconds. The signal is on a frequency that no one uses, and the origin appears to be in the direction of the unknown object.

Brent leaned forward and gripped the arms of the acceleration couch.  "Heat sources and signal GK.  Someone is in there."

"I recommend sending over a team of low ranking crew members to investigate."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 21:05, Sun 08 May 2016.

"How do you know someone is in there, Sir?" Lui asks, turning to look at Brent. "And what is a Signal GK?"

Brent shakes his head.  "I'm only guessing that someone is alive given that there is a heat source and the emergency signal was triggered suddenly.  It's possible that the heat source is just a low level power plant and the signal is on automatic and was triggered by our signal automatically."  He frowned.  "Signal GK is an old, old distress signal.  It was ancient when this system was first settled.  Beyond that I don't know much."

He looked over at Gareth.  "That would be a good idea.  No reason to lose the command team in one blow."

Brent's navigation display changes as the Daiidkhun's engines shut down, indicating that the freighter is now on the same vector as the unknown target, holding formation at about two kilometers away.

Brent brought the unknown target up on the screens at maximum magnification.  He checked their position one last time to make sure they were stable and called the captain again.  "Captain, the object is definitely man made and a derelict.  We're getting a garbled distress signal.   Request your presence on the bridge."

There's no response from the captain's cabin, and the navigation plot shows your ship and the target are at rest relative to each other. In effect, you are both now in orbit around the larger asteroid.

A moment later, the captain appears through the aft bridge hatch. Her undress uniform blouse is mis-buttoned and half tucked in, and she is sporting a fresh-looking reddish blotch on her neck just under her left jawline. Her mass of blonde hair is pulled back with a hairband, and she glowers darkly at Brent as she pulls herself through the compartment toward him.

"This had better be good," she growls. "If we're late, it's my ass - correction, it will be your ass."

OOG: New pics on group #3 & 4 map pages
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:47, Mon 09 May 2016.

OOG: For some reason I can't see the map pages other than 0. 

Brent unbuckles and floats out of the command couch to make room for the captain.  He refrains from making any comments at her appearance.  Moving over he floats near the navigation console.  "See captain, it's clearly a derelict of some sort.  There is a heat source and a faint distress signal.  Legally it would be our asses and our licenses for ignoring it.  There may be salvage rights."

OOG: Okay, everyone should be able to see the maps and images.

IG: The captain positions herself in the command chair, and peers at her displays. "It does look to be in one piece, at least." She smiles, which doesn't do a lot for her, since Brent can see the avarice in her expression. "If it is, it'd be worth a fortune. Get over there, and see how we can salvage it. Take whomever and whatever you need, but get me that ship."

Meanwhile, back in the crew quarters area, Malcolm has been dealing with a minor emergency of his own. The crash he heard, he soon found out, was the galley crew somehow dropping and spilling an entire container of flour into the passageway. In the ensuing bout of maneuvering and periods of freefall, the entire passageway is now covered in flour, and the air is heavily contaminated with flour dust.

The dust is a breathing hazard in the low/no local gravity environment, and Malcolm has had to rescue the feckless assistant cook and her helper from certain lung damage, and get breathing masks on them from the emergency locker near his cabin. All three of them have breathing masks against the dust, and the ship's engineer is busily rigging the ventilation system to pump the dust out - as soon as the rest of it can be cleaned to prevent stirring up even more of it from the deck, bulkheads and overhead.

Brent examined the object more closely on the screen.  It wasn't anything with which he was personally familiar.  The basic lines of the ship itself were off from the un-streamlined and more functional ships upon which he'd served.

"Ok captain," he said, restraining his enthusiasm.  "I'll pick a small boarding party and head across.  Let's maneuver a little closer first to make the crossing less hazardous.  Losing crew on something like this would raise a lot of unnecessary questions."

Sensing a number of opportunities Gareth attempts to convince the captain to take another course of action.

"This could be a huge discovery captain. If you're not there to witness it someone else might try to take the credit once we get back home. I'd be happy to supervise the bridge while you go make history."

The captain turns to face Gareth, and she stares at him as she considers her reply...

OOG: Please roll 3d6 to see how convincing Gareth is. Lower is better, and this isn't an easy sell. The modifier is secret, since it's Gareth against the captain.

01:07, Today: Hoot rolled 10 using 3d6 ((3,1,6)).
This message was last edited by the player at 06:09, Thu 12 May 2016.

Just then, the captain's intercom buzzes. She turns toward it with a scowl. "This is the Captain."

"Engineering. We've had some sort of hazmat spill in the crew area near the galley," the chief engineer reports. "I'm trying to ventilate the area now, and Malcolm is there to help clean it up."

"Very well. Keep me informed." She cuts the circuit without waiting for a reply, and turns her attention back to Gareth. "It's not usual procedure for the captain to leave her ship while underway," she points out.

Malcolm, seeing the potential hazard before him, grabs the closest breathing mask to place on himself before attempting to assist. once on, he looks around for more breathing masks to prepare for other crew members without. he surveys the scene and attempts to provide a mask to all those closest to him.

"Everyone, get into the closest compartment and shut the door. make sure not to breath any of this in."

Once everyone is secure, Malcolm attempts any Hazmat procedures currently set as protocol on the ship for these type of situations.

Most of the flour had settled to the deck when the ship was maneuvering, but, now that the vent fans are running full blast, it's starting to kick up again pretty heavily in freefall. The vents are working to pull the dust away, though. The two cooks scuttle into the nearest stateroom and close the door, as Malcolm ordered.

His breathing mask, a combination of a filter and a respirator with a twenty-minute air supply, is working well to filter out the flour dust. The mask also has a comm unit built into it, set to the primary damage control channel on the ship.

Malcolm uses the comm link:

"Crew members have been secured and the situation is being resolved. Lock down all doors until situation is fully resolved. whats our status? - over"

Malcolm attempts to assist the venting system suck up the dust faster.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:48, Thu 12 May 2016.

"Copy that," the engineer replies. "I'm venting the dust over the side at the dorsal emergency vent. The pressure is going to get a little wonky as I rebalance everything."

Malcolm's ears pop as the air pressure in the passageway starts to drop.

OOG: What does he do?

"Rodger that. Please release the lock on my room."

once open, Malcolm enters his room and shits shuts the door behind him.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:11, Thu 12 May 2016.

A couple of minutes pass while Malcolm's ears register the change in air pressure.

"Can you check the passageway?" comes over the comm.

Malcolm exits his room to the passageway and responds back with what he sees.

There is still a white coating of flour dust on every surface in the passageway, but the air is clear.

"Copy, securing the vents now," the engineer responds to Malcolm's report. The fan sounds die away, and Malcolm's ears stop popping every few seconds.

Brent speaks up.  "I'll take the lead as you've asked Captain.  I have experience with this type of salvage previously as well."  He looked over at Gareth.  "Why don't you come with then?  I can use a partner.  Think of the potential fame."

As the ventilation of the hazardous dust goes on he keeps an eye on things.

The captain nods, visibly relieved at Brent's suggestion. "Yes, I think that would be for the best."

The DCC repeater at Brent's station shows the threat has been downgraded to non-hazardous. The dust has been vented over the side, and fresh air pumped in from one of the unoccupied cargo bays. The engineer has also begun to replenish the air from the compressed air stores.

Brent is willing to put up with the captain's lack of enthusiasm or worse in regards to exploring the derelict.  He's become used to her personality flaws and could work around them.  Besides, he was excited to board the object and didn't want her hovering around him and interfering with things.

"Ok Gareth, come with me.  We'll suit up and conduct an EVA over to the object."

Gareth cringes as Brent speaks his name, and is forced to come along on what must be a suicide mission. Playing the loyal officer he agrees.

"This is a tremendous opportunity. The vessel may even be functional."

Gareth heads off to suit up with his "friend" Brent.

Brent shakes his head slightly and smiles a bit at Gareth's reaction but with a nod to the captain leaves the bridge.  As he heads to the air lock he calls on the comm.  "Malcom, meet me at the air lock.  We're going to EVA over to the derelict."  He also calls one of the maintenance techs.  "Roland, meet us at the air lock.  We need a fourth for an EVA to explore this derelict."

Once at the air lock he'll start to suit up, working with Gareth to check his gear as they progress.

OOG: I'm assuming that Gareth and Malcolm follow Brent's orders. :-)

Brent, Gareth, Malcolm, and Roland all arrive at the forward ventral airlock at about the same time. This facility is the only one specifically set up to accommodate EVA work on a routine basis. The hard suit storage(nicknamed "the morgue"), maneuvering packs, and three small doodlebugs for extended work are all located in this area.

Roland is Senior Chief Veronica Roland, one of the more experienced hands, aboard the ship. Along with her regular gear, she has a pair of pistols strapped to her thighs in tactical holsters. "Thanks for inviting me along, Sir," she says to Brent with a grin. "It's pretty boring back there in Engineering."

The petite blonde seals her shipsuit, and steps up to one of the racked work suits. She wiggles her way into the suit, seals it, and begins checking the onboard displays. "The EVA packs are on the racks in the airlock," she reports. "They show charged, fueled and ready, Sir."

Brent gives Veronica a grin and a thumbs up.  "It's time to have a bit of excitement.  This isn't anything I've seen before.  We'll pair up; Roland and Malcom and Gareth with me."  He continued suiting up.  "Buddy up and check each other that your suits are 100%.  We'll take the maneuvering packs and doodlebugs to get us across to the object.  Once inside we'll split up; Malcom and chief Roland head aft and I'll go forward with Gareth."

He gave the pistols a careful look.  "Are you expecting trouble Chief?"

She smiles. "Always, Sir." Roland sets about checking her own gear, and then helps Malcolm suit up. "Looks like everything's okay, Mr. Solo."

Brent works with Gareth and before too long everyone is suited up.  He smacks Gareth on the shoulders;  "You're good, give me a check."

Gareth resists the almost overpowering urge to sabotage Brent's life support and checks over his suit. Once down he readies himself to move out.

Malcolm looks over Veronicas suit and verifies that it's within working order.

"Ready. You're 100%. Let's rock and roll."


Malcolm verifies that the pistol holstered at his hip is ready and that he has all the gear necessary for an away mission.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:30, Mon 16 May 2016.

It takes everyone a few minutes to suit up, move into the airlock, put on their EVA pack, and exit the airlock.

Outside, the ponderous bulk of your ship stretches aft; the massive cargo containers loom behind the hangar bay just aft of the crew section. The system primary is little more than a very bright star at this distance, and even the largest of the inner system's habitats are invisible.

The ring fragment you are orbiting dwarfs the freighter, a mountain of pockmarked and fractured rock stretches in all directions, blocking your view of the planet beyond. Holding station at two kilometers' distance, the ship you have come to see hugs a fragment barely longer than the vessel itself.

The group sets off toward their objective, with Brent in the lead. He moves with the ease of long practice, his suit beacon a guide for the team's nav computers. As you close in, you are able to see more detail, including writing on the hull in a language none of you can read.

Soon, you see a cargo bay door and a personnel lock, both appear to be sealed. The ship shows only a few dings and superficial punctures from micro-meteor strikes, and the paint is faded and covered in dust. The landing legs are extended, and a set of cables anchored in the rock are attached to the gear legs. To the engineers in the group, the ship's hull appears to be properly aligned, and there is no sign of damage to any of the external fittings.

Your sensors are picking up the still-faint radio signal on a very low frequency band that isn't in use anymore. It appears to be originating from somewhere in the forward part of the ship. Your heat sensors are picking up a single small source from somewhere amidships. Everything else is quiet, and at about the same temperature as the ship's surroundings.

Brent will first make sure everyone arrives safely at the target and then give it a good visual check.  He'll take plenty of pictures with his suit camera for use in a claim.  "From the dust and meteor strikes it looks like it's been here quite a while.  Let's see if we can get the personnel hatch open."  With that he'll head to the hatch.

The hatch is a standard Imperial design; Brent has seen their like many times in his career. This one has an extra panel just below the hatchway that isn't familiar, though. It is slightly wider than the hatch, and a half meter tall.

To the right of the hatch are the automated controls, and just below, the emergency override panel. If it's a standard design, then there should be manual controls to unlock and operate the hatch, along with backup pressure gauges and a pressure release valve. When the ship is under power, the emergency panel is sealed shut, but it's supposed to unlock when the power is cut.

As the others approach Brent will check to see if the automated controls are active without trying to activate them.

All of the telltales are unlit. The panel also has a ragged hole about a centimeter in diameter in the upper right corner. The edges of the hole are bent inward, and Brent can see what appears to be a broken circuit board in the hole.

Gareth approaches from behind and looks into the hole. He will attempt to determine if it is possible to repair or jerryrigg the circuit without touching it yet.

One look tells Gareth that this is highly advanced technology. He's seen fragments, but never a single working example of it. Given time, he could - maybe - puzzle out how to build a workaround to operate whatever it controls.

Brent moves aside as Gareth examines the controls.  "It looks like something violent made that hole.  Can you get it working or should we try the emergency controls Gareth?"

Of course Gareth had to be the one to probably get melted repairing the door...

"I can make the attempt. But it may take some time, this techology more advanced than what we usually work with."

Knowing doom awaits him Gareth moves forward and attempts to repair the door mechanism.


ooc: Hoot rolled 14 using 3d6 ((4,4,6))...if I understand this system correctly that is a bad roll.. Hopefully one of my skills is relevant.

Gareth opens the panel for the automated controls. After a couple of minutes, he determines that the technology is just too advanced for him to repair, and that the ship's power is completely offline. Without ship's power, the door mechanism can't be moved with these controls.

OOG: Picture a repair tech from the 1980s trying to work on a computer from today. He can recognize what the parts are, and swap them out, but he can't make repairs with his known techniques and tools.

"Sir, is there anything I can assist with?"

Malcolm comes to a stop just clear of the hull, and about 2 meters forward of the personnel hatch. He's oriented himself to match the ship's position; feet toward the landing gear (and the asteroid). To his left is the maw of some type of scoop, and to his right is the nose of the vessel. He notices an odd bulge perched atop the hull, a dome with a clearly defined hatch line like a lid.

Forward, he also notices a group of what appears to be windows or viewports. They are darker than the hull around them, and he can't see what may lie beyond.

The hull has markings on it, but he can't read the language.

Malcolm remembers all the markings he has seen.

"Look. A hatch. How would you like to proceed First officer?"

"This ship is far more advanced than anything we're currently working with. It also has no power. Someone will have to open it or another entrance manually."

Gareth does not volunteer to open the door manually.

"I will take point."

Malcolm volunteers to open the hatch and go into the ship first.

Malcolm examines the hatch before trying to open it. If it looks clear, he will open it on command. IF it does not look clear, he will try to clear it of danger.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:27, Fri 20 May 2016.

Brent watches and then moves in closer as Gareth tries with the automated controls.  "Let's see if the emergency controls work first.  They should activate even if power is dead.  They don't seem damaged.  If they're jammed we'll try that other hatch."

OOC: Brent will try to operate the emergency controls.

Brent studies the area around the manual controls, and, after brushing off a small area of dust, soon spies the release mechanism for the cover. The cover hinges open, revealing a completely familiar black and orange striped handle.

He pulls the handle out and downward in relation to the ship, and the outer hatch slides open about a handspan - and then stops. As the hatch releases, Brent's sensors briefly indicate a nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere, but the reading drops back to zero almost before he can register it.

The cover below the hatch also pops open, and what looks like a folded ladder extends from the bay about a third of a meter, and it, too, stops.

Brent pulls back a bit as the hatch starts to open.  "Damn," he calls as the hatch stops opening.  "The damn thing jammed."  He'll try pumping the handle again.

The handle moves quite freely, and nothing happens.

Brent backs away.  "Malcom, see if you can get that other hatch open, this one is jammed.  I'll work on it in the meantime." He turned back to the hatch and braced himself while using a pry bar to try to further open the hatch.

Brent gets a good purchase against the edge of the hatch with the prybar - and discovers that the hatch moves without much effort. It slides open, revealing an airlock chamber with a closed hatch on the other side. The airlock is large enough to take the entire group and their EVA packs.

"Hopefully it shuts tight after we enter"

Malcolm enters the airlock.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:54, Sat 21 May 2016.

Brent opens the lock and then calls out.  "Captain, we are heading into the ship."  He turns and catches sight of the others.  "Let's go and see if we can get the lock to function.  There were traces of atmosphere in the lock so there might be something to breath."  As people head into the lock he'll look inside for the controls.  "We may have to crank the door closed and the inner door open.  See if the inside automatic controls are damaged as well Gareth."

Malcolm's helmet light illuminates a small part of the airlock's interior, while Brent and Gareth's lights move as their owners look around. The airless, black space is somewhat disconcerting after being outside with light from the system primary.

The airlock has several panels on the bulkheads, all labeled in what appears to be the same language as the exterior lettering. The inner hatch appears to be tightly closed, but the control panel to the right of the hatch is dark. The inner hatch also has a porthole some twenty centimeters in diameter located at about eye level.

One thing that is conspicuously missing, Malcolm notes, is handrails. Every ship he's ever seen is literally festooned with handrails and padeyes to secure items while the ship is in freefall. This ship's interior, or at least the airlock, has no handrails, and not much else to grab onto, either. Maneuvering in here will be difficult, as using thrusters in such a close space is generally a Bad Idea.

"Can we salvage the ship?" Comes the question back to Brent.

Craig replies;  "Not sure yet Captain.  Power seems to be off and from the state of the the vessel it must have been here for a long while."

"We don't have a lot of time, so you need to get in there," the captain replies tersely. (Everyone on the channel hears this.)

Gareth will enter the ship along with the others, and if possible close the outer door to the airlock behind them. If the outer door can be secured he will look for a means to open the inner door into the ship.

The interior door control panel is similar to the outer panel, except that it's undamaged, and somewhat larger. Without power, though, it's a dark colored plastic plate. Below this panel is a larger square outlined in yellow and black. It's marked, but again, none of you can read the language.

"Roger that captain," Brent will reply.  He'll examine the yellow and black panel to see if he can figure out how it might serve to open the inner door.  He will check to see if there is a way to close the outer hatch first.  He won't open or close anything until he has some idea of what might be going on.

Brent opens the panel. Inside, there are two handles, arranged side by side. Above them is a pair of round gauges with white faces and black needles. The gauge on the right's indicator needle is pointing to a blue line in the lower left (7 o'clock) of the dial. The gauge on the left's needle is pointing to the left and up (10 o'clock). The other indicators are apparently powered, so they are blank.

Brent will move back a bit from the panel.  "I'm thinking we try to close the hatch and try to get through into the vessel.  These handles might pressurize the compartment and open the hatch.  They have to provide a way to get into and out of the ship with the power off.  It may be we want to have just one person go through first in case this doesn't work and we can't get the hatch back open from the inside."

"I'll do it. I'll go in first."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:50, Wed 25 May 2016.

"Yes, I think thats best."

Gareth will approach the panel and attempt to identify its purpose, and the means of operating it.



21:11, Today: Hoot rolled 8 using 3d6 ((2,2,4)).

He's fairly certain these are the emergency controls for this airlock. It should allow only one hatch to be open at a time, and the handles either release the hatches so they can be moved by hand, or employ some mechanism to open and close them. The gauges should measure atmospheric pressure in the lock, and inside the ship.

"Can we get in?" Veronica asks from just outside the airlock, where she has been waiting patiently.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:34, Wed 25 May 2016.

Brent considers Gareth's response as well as the time crunch. "Let's all do it then if you can make it work Gareth.  We'll try to pass through."  He called to the captain.  "Outer hatch is open and we're going to get through the airlock with the inner hatch now captain."

"Understood," the captain replies tersely.

Veronica moves into the airlock, scrunching in to make room for the others. Everyone can fit, but it will be close quarters.

"Yes, I believe that we can."

Gareth briefly explains what he believes the function of the panel to be. Once he has done so he will attempt to employ the controls to close the outer door.

With everyone crowded into the airlock, Gareth pulls on the right-hand handle, and the outer door closes. The only illumination now is from your headlamps.

Brent lets out the breath he was holding.  "One hatch down, one to go.  See what you can get with the other handle Gareth."

"Have you ever done this before, Sir?" Veronica's voice isn't quite steady over Brent's comm.

Brent swivels around his entire suit somewhat awkwardly in the confined space.  "I've not seen this particular model of ship but the emergency protocols are similar enough to what we use.    As to what is on the other side of the hatch; I'm not sure what to expect but it will likely be something none of us have ever seen."

Emboldened by his success Gareth will manipulate the controls and attempt to open the interior door. If the door opens he will shine a light in and observe what he can.

Following his earlier logic, Gareth moves the left handle, and nothing happens. He tries the right one again, and the outer door starts to open. He quickly returns the right handle to its stowed position, and the outer door closes. Once more, he moves the left handle, and the inner door opens smoothly.

The team swivels as one to look at the interior beyond the airlock. Beyond the doorway, there is a bulkhead to your immediate left, with a pressure door about three meters away. The far bulkhead, about eight meters away, is curved, apparently matching the ship's outer hull. the compartment is about four meters wide, and there is a hallway leading forward, directly across from the pressure door.

A small table with chairs around it, and a sofa are arranged in this space, and there are cabinets lining the forward bulkhead. The deck appears to be covered with a cloth-like or carpeted material, as is the overhead.

"Oh, my!" Veronica gasps as her light illuminates the area. On the sofa lies a sprawled figure, legs stretched toward the airlock, and head slumped over to the side. Your helmet lights lend a garish cast over the scene, and you can all clearly see the figure's long dark hair hanging toward the deck. The person's skin is desiccated and dark, drawn tightly over the bones. A tattered coverall and boots still adorn the body.

Another figure lies prone on the deck, facing away from the airlock. They wear matching clothing, but that is all that can be seen from this vantage point. Your monitors beep softly, indicating that there is breathable atmosphere here, but it is at about a third of normal pressure.

Brent steps forward into the space and stops suddenly as he sees the dead.  He noted the presence of atmosphere as well as the fact that the bodies indicated that they had been dead for quite some time.  "Keep the helmets on for now in case there is some plague.  Check the bodies first."  He moved further forward and knelt to examine the body on the couch.

Brent's light falls on the figure's face. It - she, he can see enough of her features now, appears to have been asleep. As he checks further, he notes a small hole in her light blue jumpsuit, right over her heart. Her jumpsuit has several tears in it, like the fabric was stretched and torn along the woman's limbs. The torso and abdomen area is undamaged.

Her skin was darker than his own, and is darker still from the effects of decomposition and mummification. Other than the hole, he sees no sign of injury or illness on her person.

Brent turns back and faces the others.  "It looks like she may have been shot.  Her jump suit is torn and ripped and there is a hole over her heart."

Gareth decides to investigate the other body. He will attempt to determine the cause of death. He will also search for any equipment or possessions.

Ooc: will make skill check in die roller for examining the body.

The man, Gareth sees, is lying face-down with his head turned to the left. Oddly enough, his feet are crossed, one over the other, but he is stretched out full length on the floor. An autoloading pistol of a type Gareth has never seen before lies near the man's right hand. His left arm is nearly pinned under his side, with the hand barely showing.

A jagged wound about the size of the man's ear is evident in the left temple area. Bone fragments gleam in Gareth's headlamp, and there are some unidentifiable tissue fragments visible inside the skull.

When Gareth tugs at the man's shipsuit, the fabric tears easily. The suit exhibits rips along the man's limbs, just like the woman's suit. There is nothing in the pockets Gareth can reach.

Malcolm reaches around and I holsters his pistol.

"Hear that? The scratchy noise coming from the overhead."

Malcolm checks the overhead to see if there are access panels. If he finds one in the area of the noise, he makes sure he has adequate light, and tries to acces the area to investigate, with command permission of course.

"Where?" Veronica looks around the compartment, focusing on the overhead. The interior of this ship is somewhat different than the others you've seen. There is definitely an up and down orientation, without the hand holds and locks on everything to keep it from coming adrift.

Also, everyone notices that down is definitely *down*. Your feet are planted solidly on the deck, although you tend to bounce upwards with each step.

Malcolm sees that the only openings in the overhead are a trio of air vents, which are covered with grills. They appear to be intact.

Gareth will pocket the pistol or secure it on his person if possible. He will attempt to determine how to use the weapon.

ooc:21:24, Today: Hoot rolled 12 using 3d6 ((3,5,4)).

"Something strange happened here. I need more information, Veronica go explore the immediate area and report back. Thats an order."

As best he can tell, it's a regular auto loading pistol. It's hard to handle with his gloves on, since it's a compact model. Also, he has no idea if the thing has a safety or not. It's usually bad form to place a loaded handgun in anything but the holster designed for it.



"Aye, Sir," Veronica says. She moves into the small hallway, and up to the forward hatch. She grips the hatch door and tugs experimentally. The hatch slides open. "Looks like the flight bridge, here. Everything's dead, though."
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:45, Wed 01 June 2016.

Brent starts at the mention of something moving in the overhead.  "Something cut or ripped at the uniforms.  Stay close and keep the vents above us covered.  I'm worried there was something that attacked this crew."  He readies his own pistol.

"The noise has faded. If something was in the air vents, it has moved to another part of this ship. Stay frosty Veronica."

Malcolm pulls out his combat knife for close encounters. speaks with Veronica on the flight bridge.

"Veronica, can you determine the state of the flight deck equipment? We might be able to find the flight records and figure out what happen to the crew."

Malcolm moves to an area where he can still cover the air vents and a full view of the room  but also see veronica location. Malcolm tries to determine, through Observation, what might have happened between the two. His first thought is he killed her and then himself.

"Can any of you determine how long they have been here based on decomposition? We need to find those flight records."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:09, Wed 01 June 2016.

"It appears to be intact, but it is offline. I don't see any manual controls."



There is a small galley unit located next to the airlock. Both doors on the forward bulkheads are closed. They appear to be ordinary sliding doors instead of pressure doors.

The woman indeed has a single hole consistent with a gunshot wound directly over her heart. Malcolm sees no sign of powder burning, and there are no obvious injuries or defensive wounds immediately visible. The man's only visible injury is the jagged hole in his head. There is no sign of any other tissue or bone fragments. Malcolm does spot a mark on the rear bulkhead just behind the couch - an area of the wall covering has been forcibly removed, revealing the metal underneath.

"I'm no doctor but with bone fragments jolting out of the mans skull it looks like an exit wound, as if something might have ripped its way out. If there is an exit wound on her back and a hole in the couch, we might be able to determine if the woman was killed here or placed here after being shot."

Malcolm tried to determine if there is a way supply power to the flight deck and doors.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:10, Wed 01 June 2016.

So far, Malcolm has seen no indication of active systems aboard the ship, aside from the distress signal. There is still that heat source somewhere aft...

knowing certain crew members are more valuable than others Gareth decides to send Veronica further in before advancing himself. Gareth radios to Veronica.

"Veronica, there is a heat source in the aft section of the ship. I need you to go take a look."

"Aye, Sir," Veronica replies. She steps back into the common area, and approaches the hatch leading aft. She works with the hatch for a moment, and she finally manages to open it. She starts to step through, and then abruptly stops. "First," she addresses Brent, "you may want to look at this, Sir."

"Whatever happened here, we should get the power running first."

Malcolm hears Veronica and follows her into the aft hatch.

"First, We should keep together. I don't think it is best if one of us goes off alone. I recommend we split into two teams of two. I can go with Veronica to find the heat source. I should be able to attempt to regain power."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:26, Thu 02 June 2016.

Brent nods. "Let's definitely stay together.  There is something odd going on here.  Let's search the ship first and then come back for the forensics on the bodies.  The heat source may very well be a live power plant that is running on minimum.  If we can get it going we may be ok here."  At Victoria's call he advances slowly to the aft hatch and looks past her, his gun ready.  "What do you have?"

Brent steps up to the hatch, and, with Victoria's help, manages to slide it open enough to pass through. At first, his headlamp illuminates what is obviously a cargo bay - since it clearly contains cargo.

"Switch your head lamp off for a moment, Sir," Veronica says.

OOG: Check maps six and seven..

Brent moves forward a bit more both so he can swivel about to the sides and let others look.  When he switches off his light he swears.  "Damn, something active back there."  He readies his gun and looks about.  "Cover me Victoria."

Victoria switches to a private circuit: "Glad to let the officer lead the way, Sir." She goes back to the team channel: "Aye, Sir. Right behind you."

The hatch is about 2/3 of the way open, and it won't move any further.

Brent chuckles; "Lead from the front, right?  That gets you killed a lot though.  Let the captain know we are investigating a light and heat source in what appears to be a cargo hold." Still he presses forward through the hatch, swiveling as best he can to see what has it jammed on the other side.

Veronica chuckles. "As you say, Sir."

The hatches are the pocket door type, so Brent isn't able to see what might be blocking the panels. He can see that the lift car has its safety latches engaged, which keeps it from moving down on him. Until the ship is powered up, the car, and the doors, should stay where they are.

As he steps into the cargo bay, Brent notes that he is being attracted a bit more to the deck, more now than can be attributed to the asteroid's gravitational field.

Brent swings his light and gun around as he stands in the entrance to the cargo area.  He looks around carefully including the ceiling after the initial scare with the sounds in the vents.  "Gravity appears to be stronger here, artificial I would say."

Nothing is moving in the cargo bay. His sensors beep - the atmosphere here is at about half standard pressure, and at about 75% nitrogen and 25% oxygen.

"Come on down Victoria, it looks safe here at least for now.  Atmosphere is a bit higher here, more like half an atmo.  I'm going to advance toward that light."  He steps forward a bit to clear room for her and pauses a bit to allow her to reach the deck.

"If we must commit suicide I suppose we should get started. Malcolm would you care to help me locate the bridge? We may be able to re-establish power there. Also I think we have enough information to theorize that these deaths may be suicides. I also suspect some kind of disease or infestation is at play. Venting the atmosphere might not be a terrible idea" 

Gareth will wait for Malcolm's response. Creating a false sense of comradery may serve Gareth better than orders for now.

Brent makes his way through the maze of boxes and containers. He soon spots a quartet of low berths - and one of them is clearly occupied and active.

Veronica steps down onto the cargo deck, moving carefully in the low gravity. "Right behind you, Sir."

Brent stops and curses again.  "A low berth and active.  Call the ship and get the doc prepared."  He steps forward and checks the read outs on the berth to verify vital signs and see if he can tell how long the berth had remained active.  That might give some clue to the age of this thing.

OOG: No pic this time. Sorry ;-)

IG: Brent steps up to the berth and shines his light on it. The woman within is lying on her back with her arms at her side, and her eyes are closed. Pale fluid fills the berth, and a blue light shows from somewhere above her face. She is nude, and quite muscular, Brent notices.

The berth's control panel is located at the head of the berth, but Brent can't read the language. There are four indicator graphics on the panel: two green squares, a yellow circle with a thin wedge of green at the twelve o'clock position containing "00:15:37", and a flashing red square with writing in it. The numbers change as Brent watches; 00:15:36, 00:15:35...

Brent releases a breath he had been holding when it is evident that the occupant of the low berth was human.  He examined things for a bit and then called out.  "It's a woman who appears to be alive.  I can't ready the instruments but it looks like there is a countdown going on with maybe 15 minutes left.  I think the berth is going to decant her."

Veronica steps up next to Brent. "Okay, that's one gal I wouldn't want to piss off. She's been in there a really long time; look at her body hair. She will need to shave just about everywhere." She pauses for a moment. "Sir, I've been trying to raise the ship for a few minutes now, and there's no response."

Brent notices that he is being drawn to the deck more strongly now. The same goes for Malcolm and Gareth; they feel a definite "down" sensation, and they aren't bouncing as they walk.

If Malcolm checks the bridge, he finds that two panels have come to life on the central chair's repeaters. Everything else is offline.

Brent's sensors beep at him, insistently this time. According to his heat sensors, something is really heating up just behind the bulkhead at the aft end of the cargo bay. The reading is at 2000K 400k - and climbing. It's just a tiny point, the rest of the area, about a quarter of the area of the aft bulkhead, is at a more sedate 322K.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:21, Tue 07 June 2016.

In reply to Hoot (msg # 143):

"Yes sir."

"You might want to stay behind me sir, just in case."

Malcolm takes of with Gareth to find the bridge and see if power can be restored to the vessel.

Malcolm reached the bridge and finds the two active monitors. "He holsters his pistol and sits at the station.

"Sir, Please watch my back. Ill see what I can do."

Malcolm tries to determine the language being used:
10:10, Today: Eddie rolled 17 using 3d6 with rolls of 5,6,6.  Skill check for language.
OOC: Yes! the Dice Roller Gods have finally stopped messing with me!

And tries to use the computer
10:24, Today: Eddie rolled 10 using 3d6 with rolls of 3,1,6.  Computer Skills.
OOC: And then they start to hate me again. :-/
This message was last edited by the player at 15:25, Tue 07 June 2016.

While Malcolm watches, the bridge's center station comes to life. Ghostly, holographic displays spring to silent life around him, and suddenly he can see the immediate area around the ship. The Daiidkhun is about 2km clear of the starboard side, oriented 90 degrees nose down to this ship. The primary glows brightly in the center of the map, and a white line reaches out from the ship's icon in the center, and loops around the ring fragment they are orbiting. Another line, this one magenta, traces the ring fragment's orbit around the gas giant.

Off to his right, Malcolm sees something that looks a lot like an environmental panel, and it's graphs are quickly filling in with green bars. Also, he is feeling a definite weight now, pulling him down into his seat. His head starts to swim from the effect, as he's been in freefall for months now, except when the ship has been accelerating.

His suit sensors report that the atmospheric pressure is now at about half standard, and it's increasing. The cabin temperature is rising, and he also hears more skittering noises; louder now (think of a cat with metal claws walking on a tin roof).

Gareth nearly falls as the gravity increases. His suit sensors also report that the atmospheric pressure is rapidly rising, as is the cabin temperature. He can hear the conversation between Victoria and Brent, and he can see the bridge displays through the hatch.

Then, the cabin lights come on...

Gareth follows Malcolm into the bridge with the pistol drawn. His first course of action after power is activated is attempt to close and lock the door to the bridge. If there is no lock he will attempt to disable the door controls after closing it.

21:03, Today: Hoot rolled 9 using 3d6 ((6,1,2)).

"Take up a station, Mr. Malcolm see if you can determine if the ships propulsion systems are functional. I will see if the ship can scan for the infestation I believe we are dealing with.

Gareth will now search the bridge for any kind of internal sensors, cameras or monitoring systems that can detect life forms or observe other sections of the ship.

21:06, Today: Hoot rolled 10 using 3d6 ((5,2,3))

Gareth steps into the tiny flight deck and looks at the door controls. He is able to close the hatch, but he can't see any way of locking it, short of attempting to smash the controls. The only station that is live is the one where Malcolm is seated. There are two empty chairs, one on each side of the central one. He is not able to really see the displays from his viewing angle, they are oriented for Malcolm at the moment.

Brent checks his sensors and notes that the air pressure and temperatures are increasing.  "We've tripped something for sure.  The heat could be a power plant activating but it seems poorly insulated if the bulkhead is getting that hot.  I'd guess she survived somehow and put the entire ship into a low power mode.  Given the appearance of things I'd guess it's been this way for a long, long time."

He calls to the others.  "Malcom, Gareth can you receive me?  We've found a survivor in a low berth here.  It's counting down and getting ready to open in about 15 minutes.  Can you contact the ship and pass on the information to them?  We've lost comms."

Malcolm will attempt to see what controls he can access and relay them to the group.

Everything is locked out, and Malcolm can't decipher the symbols. He is able to make guesses about some of the controls, like the basic flight controls. Everything *seems* to be indicating normally, and they are still tethered to the rock.

Everyone's sensors is reporting atmospheric pressure at 70% of normal, and you can all hear the ship's ventilation fans running at full force now. The gravity is up to .7 standard, something that most of you haven't experienced in months. Your limbs feel like lead, and your insides start to settle.

Veronica comes up on the comm. "I can't raise the ship. Has something happened to it?" Everyone can hear everyone else aboard ship, though.

OOG: Everyone roll against motion sickness :-)

Brent relaxes a bit as he figures that the heat source is an advanced fusion plant starting up and then settling into steady operation. "These systems are very sophisticated if they're coming online so smoothly without intervention."  He glances down at the low berth to make sure that all is well.

"Gareth, Malcom, can you make out the ship from the bridge?  Is it still in place?  Veronica, see if the lift is working.  We need to at least take a quick look at the deck above.  Then we may have to EVA to communicate with the ship in case something in the power up of this ship is jamming our comms."


20:43, Today: Matt rolled 9 using 3d6.  Motion Sickness (HT11).

Brent takes a couple of breaths as the gravity comes online. He's experienced artificial gravity before, and he is saved from having his dinner come back to haunt him. The low berth is still counting down, and Brent's sensors say that the atmosphere is nearly up to standard pressure and temperature. There are no toxins he can detect, and he can hear ventilation fans running. Behind him, the cargo container creaks as it settles more firmly onto the deck.

Veronica, on the other hand, isn't so lucky. Her VOX comm opens as she retches into her helmet. Brent hears her stagger heavily against a crate and topple over onto the cargo bay deck with a thud and a gurgle over her comm.

Gareth and Malcolm both hear Brent's transmission.

"I read you. We'll see what we can do, the systems are locked down here."

Assuming the new ship's display is still active he will relay the Daiidkhun's position to Brent and attempt to Gareth will attempt to contact the Daiidkhun using his suit's comm.

Finally Gareth will have a seat to Malcom's left and look for any panels that might resemble communication systems.

ooc:rolled for motion sickness.

Gareth and Malcolm both manage to hold down their latest meal as the gravity presses on them. Being seated helps, and Gareth plops forcefully into the left side station. The displays appear around him, and he notices they shift slightly as he moves to maintain the best viewing angle for him. The language is still indecipherable, but the letters tickle something in the back of his mind. Somewhere, he has seen this before.

His suit comm is unable to reach anyone outside the ship, although Brent hears his position report.

Gareth and Malcolm both note that the Daiidkhun is firing its maneuvering thrusters, and the freighter is slowly moving away - and skewing to point its stern at their ship!

On the comms.

"We can't reach anyone on the Daiidkhun. This vessel appears to either preparing to leave, or moving into a firing position. Either way if we take take control something is going to happen."

Gareth makes a show of messing with the panels while he tries learn how to use it, but he will take no actions to stop his new ship's current actions.

Brent curses.  "Keep an eye on the low berth Veronica.  I'm going to EVA to try and contact the ship in case something inside is jamming our comms since the ship started up." He'll hustle back to the airlock as best he can.

Brent turns toward the cargo bay's forward hatch to retrace his steps. Veronica is rolling on the deck, clawing at her helmet. The inside of her visor is covered in vomit, and she is still gurgling over her comm.

Brent stops and crouches next to Veronica.  He pulls off her helmet and wrenches her to a sitting position.  "Clear it out and breath Veronica."

For a second, Veronica grabs at her helmet in a panic reflex as Brent takes it loose. She coughs mightily and gasps for air between the vomit laden coughs. "I'm... okay...go," she gasps. She rolls over onto her hands and knees, still coughing. "I've...got...it."

Seeing Veronica stable Brent nods and heads to the airlock.

Brent arrives at the lift door to find it closed - and the control panel on it is lighted, with a yellow handprint symbol displayed on it.

This message was deleted by the player at 19:36, Sat 11 June 2016.

OOG: The bodies are on the other side of the bulkhead - Brent is still trying to get out of the cargo bay. The door leads to the lift, and then there is another door that leads into the crew mess area where the bodies are located.

OOC: I totally misread it.  I'll strike my post.

Brent stops at the lift door and frowns.  He places his gloved hand on the yellow symbol not quite expecting it to work.

"Malcom, Gareth, the lift door here in the cargo area is closed.  I'm not sure I can get out of here as it seems to want a hand print.  Can one of you go out through the airlock and try to communicate with the ship?  Our signals may be jammed and I'm not sure why they are maneuvering as they are."

"I'm on it!"

Malcolm rushes to exit while looking around and thinking of a way to signal the ship.

Malcolm staggers in the gravity field, but he quickly finds his footing, and arrives at the airlock to discover that it's inner door controls are alive - and the hand symbol is red with a black "X" across it. The lights are on in the crew area, throwing the whole scene with the dead crew members into stark focus.

The lift door slides open - revealing a lift car.

Brent will glance back to make sure Victoria looks ok and then glance into the lift car.  He'll look for some kind of controls before he steps inside and faces the chances of it activating automatically.

Victoria has sat back on her heels, working to clear her suit's neck area of vomit.

The lift door closes, and a moment later, the door behind him opens, revealing the crew area. Malcolm is standing to his right, studying the inner airlock door.

Brent steps out into the crew area.  He steps over to the air lock and asks; "Any luck Malcom?"

Meanwhile, on the bridge, Gareth's station reconfigured with Malcolm's departure. Gareth sees a depiction of space around him, with breathtakingly vivid views of the asteroid they are tethered to, the larger rock they are orbiting, and the freighter skewing away from them on her thrusters - and is now beginning to accelerate away as her main engines come to life.

A blood-red cone suddenly appears at the freighter's stern, flashing ominously on the display. The broad end of the cone is slewing in sync with the freighter, and it will touch their ship in a very short time. The freighter's avatar is ringed with a red outline in the area of her engines, and a set of red numbers appears in the center of the display:

00:10

As Gareth watches, it changes:

00:09

00:08

Facing imminent death Gareth begins attempting to use the ship's controls. He will attempt to fire any weapons systems he can access at the freighters engines. Failing that he will try to unlock the controls to the door in the cargo area remotely.

21:05, Today: Hoot rolled 16 using 3d6. O_o

Gareth's attempts to access the controls are futile, and the counter reaches zero. He watches in full color and unmatched resolution as the ship fires its engines and races "up" from the particle-spewing freighter.

Everyone aboard hears and feels a series of thumps and bangs, and one pretty loud thud, as the ship departs from its berth. There is absolutely no sense of acceleration - Gareth is the only person aboard who knows that they are even moving, aside from a few jarring thuds.

Gareth watches as the ship accelerates up and away from that deadly cone at at least four times the Daiidkhun's rate of acceleration. The distance opens quickly, and, within thirty seconds, they are clear. At this velocity, the lumbering ship cannot overhaul them, and the Daiidkhun has no weapons. The ship's engines shut down, and they are arcing into a new orbit around Jora.

As he studies the display, he sees a pale green cone sweep across his ship from the Daiidkhun, and a more distant cone emanating from the station that is the Daiidkhun's destination. That cone fades out three or so light minutes from them, however.

Brent pauses as a series of thumps and bangs sweep over them.  "What is going on Gareth?  What do you see?  Did the Daiidkhun let her drive loose on us?"

Gareth relates what has just happened.

"It seems that we are clear. This ship may have automated systems in place to protect itself. There are some other readings I can't make snese of yet.

The ship rolls to place it's roof toward the gas giant they are orbiting, and adjusts it's attitude to point pro-grade in the orbit. The Daiidkhun continues to accelerate away, taking it further off course from its destination.

Back in the crew area, the inner airlock door won't respond to anyone's handprint.

Brent shakes his head.  "Give it up Malcom.  There is no need to go EVA."  He glances as his watch to see how soon the cryo tube would open up.  "Victoria, are you ok?  How is the cryo tube behaving."  He headed up to the bridge to look for himself at the situation.

"So where is the Daiidkhun?" he asks Gareth as Brent tries to make sense of the displays.

Veronica sounds hoarse as she comes up on the comm circuit. "I've been better, Sir, but I'm on my feet. The air is perfectly fine in here, fresh even. Our friend back here will be out in about twelve minutes. If you can find her some clothes, she would probably appreciate it, instead of having to parade around naked. I could use some help when she comes around, too."

All three bridge stations are alive now, with artfully arranged holographic controls the like of which Brent has never seen in full operation.

Gareth discovers that, if he touches an object in the display, information about it pops up on the screen next to it. Unfortunately, he can't read the language, but he has an increasing mental itch that he's seen it before... somewhere.

"Roger that Victoria, I'll be down in time to help her decant.  She should have a stateroom aboard with clothes I would assume."  He pulls off his helmet and takes a deep breath of the ship's air.  Stepping forward he examines the looks at the controls. "This is way more sophisticated than anything we've ever managed.  It must be a relic from before the wars shut things down from the outside.  Can you get access to any of the controls Gareth?"

The script looks somehow familiar to Brent..

Brent curses.    "That script is almost familiar.  Can you make it out Gareth?"

Gareth touches the Daiidkhun and relays whatever information he is able to pick out from the display and the foreign language.

23:50, Today: Hoot rolled 7 using 3d6 ((1,3,3)).

"This is vaguely familiar to me somehow. Perhaps it is imperial? I won't be able to do too much with the controls until I master some of this language whatever it is. If you find any kinds of books bring them to me here. Maybe I can work from there to decode it."

Touching the ship seems to trigger something in Gareth's memory. The language is Vilani - it had been in fairly wide use in the older parts of the Imperium, but it was far less common in the border areas than Galanglic.

The display changes, zooming in on the fleeing freighter, and adding a video image from the external cameras to the generated image. The ship has stopped firing its engines, and is rolling on its thrusters again.

Their ship is still pulling steadily away, even though they have stopped accelerating.

Brent shook his head; "Imperial?  No, it doesn't quite seem like it but something from the same period.  Certainly this ship is old enough to be a true relic."  He looked excited.  "If this is a relic imagine the value and the importance of the technology.  This is truly more advanced than what we have and may even have clues to the making of Jump drives or even contain a working unit."

He leaned forward.  "They're not boosting anymore and certainly not on course after that burn.  They must be adjusting their facing with the thrusters to come back on course."

What do we so now sir?

OOG: I think we're waiting for Hoot's comments.

"The Daiidkhun appears to be leaving. I suggest we with locate escape pods or find a way to learn the controls. We have been abandoned. Perhaps we should regroup. Thoughts?"

Gareth relates the name of the language and everything he sees on the display.


While Gareth is pleased to be rid of the Daiidkhun's captain he had hoped to have a few more crewmen about his new ship. This new situation was not with out opportunity though.

Brent glances at his watch.  "The controls seem to be out of our reach at the moment.  We do have an option though.  The woman in the cryo tube is probably crew and can help us out of this situation.  She'll be decanting in a handful of minutes."  He glanced again at his watch.  "Let's search the place more thoroughly though but stay in pairs.  Gareth, Malcom can you continue the search.  I'm going to go down with Victoria to see just who we've awoken."

OOG: Malcolm and Gareth can catch us up with their activities as we go along here...

IG: Brent arrives at the cycling low berth to find Victoria frowning at the control panel. "Oh, hello, Sir. I'd be doing nicely if I could read this thing, but it seems the process is nearly complete."

As Brent watches, the timer reaches zero, and the device's lid lifts upward and back toward the occupant's feet. After a moment, she coughs and tries to roll onto her side. Her body is soaking wet, and Brent can see goosebumps forming on her dark skin.

"If you have a weapon keep it handy. You may need to put her down if shes infected. I'd keep your suit on as well."

With Malcolm in tow Gareth will start looking for crew quarters that could contain books, or corpses that might shed some light on the crew's fate.

Gareth and Malcolm quickly locate the crew quarters behind the two doors in the common area. There are two single occupancy bunks in each stateroom. There are three sets of personal items - hand computers of some type, toiletries, and clothing, one for a man and two for women.

Malcolm proceeds to go through the crew quarters looking for pictures, journals, logs, anything that resembles religious, personal, etc.

"Sir, would you like to see if those hand held computers is working? It's. Long shot but we might get lucky."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:22, Fri 01 July 2016.

Malcolm finds a picture that could be the two people in the crew area, showing them with another couple about their age, along with three small children. The plaspaper is in good condition, although it is brittle with age.

He also finds handwritten letters, apparently from all three crew members. The paper is heavy, and made with a definite grain, instead of the plaspaper Malcolm has seen. It is also brittle, but it has aged much better than the picture. And - Malcolm can read them, since they are in Galanglic and not Vilani. The couple's names, and they are married from the content of their letters, are Siar and Piiam, with no surnames mentioned.

The third person is Joxe Laiam. There are no pictures of her, though.

Brent considers removing his suit and pauses for a moment.  Then he changes his mind and removes the helmet.  "If she's infected we're probably doomed anyway.  We need help getting the ship active and if she dies we'll be stranded here and stuck in our suits.  Unless we can find a way to recharge the air in the tanks we'll die as well.  Everyone else keep your suits on though.  I'm going to remove my helmet as a sign of friendship with whoever is coming out of the cryo tube."

He considers the other requests.  "Do you have any names or other evidence from the staterooms?  Keep the hand computers as we might be able to hack into them.  Also, bring some woman's clothing for our sleeper."

With that he turns back to the cryo tube.  He nods to Victoria in agreement and then steps forward.  Turning on the exterior speaker he attempts to help her sit up.  "Hello, I'm Brent," he speaks in slow Galangic.

The woman coughs twice, bringing up a small amount of a bluish liquid. She looks up at Bernt as she rises onto her knees inside the tub-like structure. Her skin is slippery from the liquid inside the tube, and she is well-muscled and toned, even after the time spent in stasis.

"I..." she starts to speak, and then leans forward to either cough or vomit out more of the blue liquid, Brent can't tell which. "Oh, that sucks," she mutters. "Are you..." she takes a breath, "going to answer my obvious questions," another breath, "for me, Brent whoever-in-Inferno you are?" She makes no attempt to cover herself as she swivels her body to half-face him, still kneeling inside the berth.

Brent steps back a bit as the woman seems to stabilize.  "You've been in cold sleep for a long, long time.  I'd say a century at least.  We stumbled across the ship and found a man and woman dead in the lounge area.  What happened here?"

"What!?" She looks at him with wide eyes? "Dead?" She swivels to look at the other low berths in the bay, and then the rounds on Brent. "What did you people DO to them?!" Her muscles bulge as she grips the edge of the berth, and her eyes are fiery.

Brent stepped back a bit.  "We didn't do anything to them.  When we boarded the ship all the systems were powered down and the man and woman were dead a long time."

"Oh...my..." She sits back on her haunches. Tears start rolling down her face. "They told... me that they... were going to go in their berths." She covers her face with her hands and starts to cry in wracking sobs.

Brent knelt next to her.  "It looks like they may have shot each other.  What happened that forced you to go into the low berth?"

It takes her a minute to regain control. "We had to get away. When we arrived here, there was a battle going on. They blew the highport to dust, and then the real fight started." She shivers and looks up at the ceiling. "Computer, status report."

"Verified Joxe Laiam, sole remaining crewman aboard. Four unidentified humans aboard. Fuel status, bingo fuel. Security protocol enabled, controls locked. Access granted to unidentified humans since critical fuel state exists, leading to low berth failure."

Joxe looks at Brent. "Looks like she let you aboard. Where is your ship?"

That is an an excellent idea Malcolm please proceed. If Gareth is unable ant written materials or manifests he will join Malcolm in attempting to operate one of the computers.

The language is now readable, but Malcolm and Gareth can't get the computers unlocked.

Brent considered what the woman was saying.  Given the ship and high technology he was ready to believe just about anything.  "You are from out system."  He said this to confirm the fact rather than a question.  "No one has been here from outside since the collapse; when the high port was nuked."  He took a deep breath.  "As far as we know everything is gone.  Why did you go into the low berth?"

At her question he frowned and then sighed.  "I don't know.  The captain must have been afraid of the ship.  She tried to fry us with the drives and headed away.  Regardless of that we need to get your ship to the port.  Your technology will allow us to regain the star"

Veronica steps up beside Brent, holding some clothing in her hands. "I found these in one of these containers. They've been sealed in nitrogen, so they're still good."

With Veronica's help, Joxe gets out of the low berth, dries off and gets dressed in the same jumpsuit uniform worn by the dead crewmen. As she dresses, she continues the conversation. "The first thing, this ship needs fuel. Computer, are we still in orbit around that gas giant?"

"Yes," comes the reply.

"Set us up on a skimming run, please."

"Due to our fuel state, we will have to use a slower trajectory", the ship replies. "It will take us 22 hours to reach the upper atmosphere."

"Thank you," Joxe says. She returns her attention to Brent. "Regain the stars? Do your people still have jump drives?"

Feeling that he truly has learned everything he can on without additional help Gareth decides to regroup. Ideally Malcolm will join him should he choose to.

"Give me an update and your location, we need to decide on our next course of action."

Still carrying the pistol Gareth will attempt to join the rest of the crew.

Gareth makes his way to the lift, and then into the cargo bay. There, he finds Veronica and Brent talking to a dark skinned woman with red hair. Veronica looks at Gareth as he zigzags through the boxes scattered randomly across the deck.

Brent listened in amazement at the sophistication of the computer and the controls.  He shook his head slowly.  "We've lost the ability to manufacture Jump drives these decades."

Malcolm makes his way to the room with the rest of thE crew as well.

Joxe takes a couple of experimental steps, and just manages to make it to one of the crates scattered on the deck. She plops down onto it, sits quietly for a moment, and then looks at the assembled group.

"I'm just a trader; I don't have the equipment or the material to make a jump drive." She takes a breath. "My shipmates and I own this ship together. The three of us were the only ones who escaped. So, if they are dead, this is my ship." She looks at each of you in turn. "The problem is, although the computer can run the ship, it still needs a crew."

Brent stands as the woman tries to walk.  "Be careful, you've been in cold sleep for decades."  He sighs in relief as she sits down.  "You have a working Jump drive on this ship.  That is what is so valuable.  We can build our own if we can reverse engineer what is on this ship.  And the technology that this ship represents, it's far beyond ours."  He shook his head and focused on the present.  "We can crew the ship at least a bit.  Victoria is an engineer and I'm experienced in engineering and on the flight deck.  We have two others on board who are very experienced as well."

As he thougth about her comrades who had died he lowered his voice.  "Just what did you escape?  And from where did you come?"

"We were running from the war, but it caught up to us here," Joxe says quietly. "Just like Egg, the ships came, and everything was wrecked when they left. We were in Montezuma when the attacks began. We ran, and by the time we arrived here, another trader told us Poznan, our - my, homehad been attacked and destroyed."

Joxe wipes at her face, and Victoria gives her a tissue. "Thank you. We refueled in company with the other trader, and we were planning to go back to Poznan. But, while we were still skimming, the other ship was attacked and destroyed. We hid by diving into the planet's atmosphere, and we nearly didn't make it back out."

She sits up straighter. "So, we watched the battle here. Two Imperial light battlegroups fought it out, and we had the best seat in the house. The survivors left, and there we were. A few light units were prowling around, so we decided to hide in the rings. We tethered the ship to a rock, and had a meeting. We set the ship up to look for friendly ships' transponders - people we knew , and then we went into the low berths."

"At least," she finishes quietly, "I went in."

"Something about this ship scared our illustrious captain so badly that she tried to kill us all to destroy it. We have to know why before we bring anything back to home. If we don't take any new technology through the right channels it could destroy the fabric of our society. Or worse bring back the imperials. Handling this poorly will amount to genocide."

Gareth clutches the pistol tightly, but manages to hold back. He still need the other less compliant members of HIS ship for now.


Still I am willing to serve for a time if it means an opportunity to responsibly study your technology. I'm against returning home until we're sure this ship is safe and we have a plan for introducing new technology. So the question is: where do we go next?"

Joxe regards Gareth calmly, her eyes shifting to the pistol in his hand and back to his face. "Please holster that thing. This isn't technology, it's one ship that I happen to own. This is also my home. My plan is to find what's left of my family. You are welcome to accompany me, if you wish."

Victoria clears her throat. "Actually, we do know how to build jump drives, but we don't have the materials to do it anymore."

Joxe glances at her. "I know. Many of the systems were mined out, and the materials had to be imported from less settled systems. That might be a way we can help, but we'd have to find a supply first."
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:39, Thu 07 July 2016.

"Well, we can either stay here forever or get this bucket of bolts moving. Does this ship have he ability to scan the region for the resources we need to build a jump drive?"

Joxe shakes her head. "No, not specifically. The nearest shipyard is, or was, at Gorky. That's where I would start looking."

"That should be our fist stop then. Tell me more about this ship? What are its combat capabilities? What can this ship do?"

Joxe lifts her hands, indicating the cargo bay. "This is the largest part of the ship. We have enough room for twelve people, counting the passenger deck above us. As for combat?" She shakes her head. "We can't outrun a warship, and we only have a laser turret and a few missiles. We are also unarmored, so any hit is serious at best."

Brent listened quietly.  "And no friends ever came... until now."  The spacer was silent as Gareth and Malcom spoke.  "Certainly something odd is going on here Gareth.  I have no idea why the captain attacked us.  I know people in the outer system that we can communicate with privately if it comes to it.  We can find out what might have gone on here."

He looked back at Joxe.  "Certainly we respect your ownership of this ship and all that you have been through.  I'm not talking about taking the ship apart but just the technical specifications and design data that you should have aboard would greatly benefit the entire system." Brent stopped and listened as Joxe laid out some options.  "Ideally you could make a lot of money renting out your ship to allow the governments here to go do the hard work.  Then of course you are at great risk that said governments here might just seize the ship from you with possibly no more than a thank you."

Brent sighed.  "Let's get the ship refueled first.  We have to do that no matter what we do.  Meanwhile I'd like to see if I can find out something of what is happening if I can tap into the comms net."  He looked about.  "What Jump range does this ship possess?"

"Agreed. We can jump one parsec," Joxe replies. "We used to have fuel tanks that fit in here, but we got rid of them a few years ago," she falters for a moment, "um, because we were running the main and didn't need them."

She looks at Veronica. "Can you help me get to my quarters? I really need a bath, and," she looks at her arm, "to shave this mess off." She sighs. "Computer, grant Brent non-control access to the ship's systems. You can listen, but not transmit."

Veronica lifts an eyebrow as she looks to Brent.

Gareth was already concerned that this new captain would be even more of a tyrant than the last. For the time being he had little choice in the matter though.

"Let me know when you need us. In the mean time I will familiarize myself with the layout of the ship."

Gareth will spend this brief respite attempting to locate the ship's escape pods or life boats. If he is successful and still has time will take an inventory of the ships cargo.

Joxe sighs. "Computer, allow this gentleman access to all areas except engineering, and non-control access to ship's systems." She points to Gareth as she speaks.

OOG: Where does he start?

Brent gave Victoria a slight nod of assent as Joxe asked her to help.  "Thank you Joxe, we'll see what we can do to understand more of the ship while we finalize our plans."  He glanced at the others as Victoria and Joxe started to go.  "I'm headed to the bridge to look over the comms systems.  I want to look at the star map as well and see just where we can get if we choose to Jump out."

Brent headed to the bridge and sat down at the central position.  He began to slowly explore the controls to see if he could figure out the communications.  Knowing that Joxe used voice commands he started by asking the ship's computer to display the comms console.

Malcolm will look for the mess hall and attempt to asses food and water supply. he is also hungry.

He finds a commissary unit in the crew area. It is an advanced version of an autochef - using specially formulated food stocks, it can fabricate many different foods, much like the mechanical fabricators and fabric extruders. The results are generally good, but it's not fine dining, in Malcolm's experience.

After a short query on a console he can read (finally!), he determines that the food supply is empty, and the water tanks are full.

Joxe starts off with Veronica. They nearly reach the lift, then Joxe staggers against her, leaning heavily. "Come on, you can make it," Veronica says as she takes Joxe's weight. The pair makes it into the lift, and the doors close.

When Brent arrives in the common area, he finds Joxe on her knees next to the dead couple, with Victoria kneeling next to her. "I'm so sorry, honey," she says. Joxe is holding her face in her hand and crying softly.

In reply to JR (msg # 232):

Comm chat with Brent:

"I have good news and bad new sir. The good news is we have a sizable water supply. we just need to test it to be sure its still drinkable. The bad news is that we have no food.There is a commissary unit in the crew area. It should be able to fabricate many different foods, though we need supplies. It probably still works. we need to test it."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:20, Fri 08 July 2016.

Veronica and Joxe arrive in the common area at about this time. "Oh!" Joxe cries out as she sees the bodies of her friends. She sinks to her knees and begins to cry. Brent comes in a moment later.

Brent replies to Malcom.  "What type of supplies do we need to stock the commissary unit?"

As he headed on he came into the common area.  Seeing Joxe crying he kneels next to her as well on the other side from Victoria.  "I'm sorry about your friends.  Do you think they did this to save on power and life support?"

"No," Joxe says through her tears. "They knew that their families had all died." She takes a breath and scrubs at her face. She doesn't turn away from the gruesome scene, though. "I thought they would be able to cope with it, or I'd have put them in first." She breaks down for another few moments, and then she wipes her face again with her sleeve and takes another, longer breath. "Can we give them a proper burial when we arrive at the gas giant?"

Brent admires the woman's strength of character.  It must be a terrible blow to have gone through the war and lost loved ones, to have seen the world come apart and then wake up decades later and face the death of your friends.  He gives Joxe's shoulder a squeeze.  "We'll certainly give them a respectful and proper burial.  Go clean up and dress.  You'll feel better.  Then we can get the ship on the way to the gas giant.  This ship can certainly out run and outmaneuver anything in the system."

After another minute, Joxe rises to her feet, with Victoria's help. The pair disappears into the starboard cabin.

A few minutes later, Joxe joins Brent on the bridge, sliding into the portside position. Brent has been able to pick up snippets of conversation from all over the system, including a report from Jana Gakuali, master of the freighter Daiidkhun, reporting a rogue starship has kidnapped members of her crew in Jora's 'M'ring.

Brent looks up as Joxe enters the bridge.  He examines her closely for signs of distress and nods slightly to her as she slides into the portside seat. "It seems our ex-captain has reported that we've been kidnapped.  That won't hold much weight if we do want to communicate with the network."  He played back the conversation for her. "What position did you hold on the ship?"  It seemed to him that it was best to stick to business for now.

He catches the scent of rose and lavender as Joxe moves by him, and her hair is dried and pulled back in a ponytail. She smiles slightly and returns his nod with a knowing look.

"I mostly did engineering work, but I can run any position on the ship. As a free trader, you have to be able to cover all of the positions." She brings her station fully online, and Brent sees that his station is online now, too. "Just don't fly us into the planet. We're really short on fuel; we barely have enough to get into a close orbit."

She listens to the recording with an appalled awe. "Tell me this isn't typical for her." She plays back the ship's maneuvers. "Look, here's what happened. The idiot was about to zap us with her drive. A friggin' fusion drive! Wow. That would've hurt at that range. The computer figured it out, and took off." She thinks for a moment. "I wonder if the gear is retracted fully with all those cables hanging off it."

Gareth would start with the escape pods. If possible he will determine what kind of propulsion system they have.

If he makes it to the cargo will keep an eye out clothing.


ooc:I'm thinking whatever we wear under the suits are not designed for longterm use.

Gareth is able to search the entire ship - except for the engineering section. He finds an air raft in a small hangar on the upper deck, four empty staterooms, and a small lounge area there, as well.

The computer does provide him with a manifest when he starts examining the contents of the cargo bay. There are two dozen smaller crates and bins containing mostly personal items, and a large shipping container with commissary stores for the ship. The container also has a fabric extruder with a store of raw materials, and a selection of small arms with ammunition. The shipping container is locked, though.

Brent regards Joxe's story and smiles slightly.  "I have much the same background in our explorer corps from when I was 15.  We did whatever was needed although my skill is more as a pilot."  He leaned forward as the panel sprang to life.  "Ahhh... very intuitive and easy to use.  Our systems are similar although not as sophisticated.  At least the symbology and methods are essentially the same." He flicks about for a few moments and looks back at Joxe.  "She was always a borderline nut case.  It was a mutiny waiting to happen.  I'm personally surprised that she's not been accidentally spaced.  That attack was entirely unjustified and really made no sense short of paranoia."

At the mention of cabling he frowns.  "Do you have exterior cameras that will show us the gear?  Do the tell tales indicate if the gear doors are closed?"

Joxe laughs. "Nut case? I have no idea what that is, but it sounds serious."

She consults her own displays for a moment, and then shakes her head. "The one camera we had on the belly isn't working. We have indications that the gear legs are retracted, but that doesn't specifically mean that the doors are closed."

Brent frowns.  "If the doors aren't fully closed we'll come apart during the skimming operations.  I've plotted a minimum fuel course to the gas giant.  We have time to EVA and inspect the doors.  I'm still mostly in my suit and can go do that."

"If you want to go out, we can take the air raft. Going dutchman out here isn't a very good idea."

If Malcolm is told commissary supplies are in storage, he will make use of himself and prepare the commissary to supply food to a crew.

To Brett
"Sir, I will be in the commissary. Do you have any further orders?"

OOG: The commissary units are automatic food preparation units - think 3d printers for hamburgers, although they use different processes. They are about the size of a large refrigerator, with a small counter and a unit like a microwave to dispense the completed food. They typically store raw materials, proteins, starches, sugars, and so on, in a dedicated set of tanks and bins connected to the unit. Malcolm has seen them in operation before, but they are a new technology.

He will need to find the loading system to refill the commissary units - and he will need to get into that locked container.

Malcolm attempts to locate the loading system for the commissary unit. He will then try to unlock the container holding the food supplies by first asking Joxe if she has access to it and then, a more physical approach if there is no other way.

"Thank you for working on that, Malcolm," Joxe says over his comm. "I've sent the unlock code to the container, so it should be open."

The commissary system has a central access panel on the cargo bay's forward bulkhead, as the computer helpfully points out. The system distributes the material to both units as needed.

While the ship gradually comes back to life Gareth will locate Malcom and a assist with the container.

"We should try to stick together when we can. I'm not entirely convinced this ship isn't dangerous.

Malcolm and Gareth are able to easily open the container - and find that it is stuffed to the top with supplies, literally ten tons of material. As they open it, their sensors register that the interior is filled with pressurized nitrogen. It's safe enough, since they can't get into the container, anyway. The smaller crates and barrels scattered around the cargo hold add another four tons to their cache of supplies. Most of it is food, in the form of commissary stocks and emergency rations.

Brent replies to Malcolm.  "See if you can get a meal fixed for us Malcolm. It would be good to have something solid."  He turned back to Joxe.  "Are you up for an EVA?  The ship is on a ballistic course to a refueling point.  We can EVA safely."

Joxe shakes her head. "I will go in the air raft, but I can't EVA anymore," she says quietly. "I... went dutchman once when my maneuver pack failed. It took me on a ride..." she sighs and shakes her head.

Brent nods sympathetically.  "We all face our moments.  You're lucky you walked away from it."  He sets the course and locks the control board.  "Let's take the air raft.  Working with unfamiliar gear I'd rather have you along with me.  If something is jammed it may required two sets of hands and at least one that knows what to do." He smiles a bit.  "I'm suited.  Are you feeling up to heading out?"

Joxe nods. "I'm perfectly fine in the air raft. I can manage, especially given the risk to the ship. We have to refuel, and soon." She pauses and looks aft toward the crew area. "Would you... cover them, for me?"

Brent nods and calls Malcom and Gareth.  "I'm going to EVA with Joxe to check on the landing gear doors.  The ship is coasting on autopilot toward the gas giant for a few hours."  He got up and headed out of the bridge.  "Let me take care of them.  We can arrange the burial in a few hours as we approach the gas giant." Brent headed over to the staterooms and pulled a set of sheets off the beds and came back and covered the two.  "There you go Joxe.  They are a bit more dignified.  Now where is your suit?"

She steps into her stateroom. "It should be here, but I will need some help to check it out. Two hundred years is a long time to have it in storage." She opens her locker and pulls out a spacesuit styled differently than Brent has seen. It's more compact, and appears to be form fitting.

Joxe unseals her jumpsuit and peels it down to her feet, and then steps out of it. She then steps into the suit, turns away briefly to make the plumbing connections, and then turns back to finish pulling it on over her arms and torso.

She reaches back into the locker for a small backpack, and puts it on. Next, she extracts a equally compact helmet. She pulls on the helmet, and Brent notices a faint light at the level of her eyes. "It seems to be okay, but can you check me?"

Brent followed Joxe out of the bridge and to her stateroom.  He waited outside as she changed, glancing in and then back out as she stripped.  When she finished and callout out her stepped into the small room.  "That's your vacc suit?  The technology is incredible."

At her request he nodded and stepped closer.  Brent ran his hands over the suit checking the connections and equipment.  "It all looks fine as much as I can tell.  Is that a HUD in the helmet?"

The suit material is thinner and more form fitting than anything Brent has seen. The outer surface is seamless, with molded connectors for the airpack, gloves, boots, and helmet. Joxe raises her arms as he reaches her upper body, and her eyes meet his as he runs his hands over her.

"Um, yes. Uh, yes, it is," she says as he finishes. She nods once and takes a deep breath. "I think I'm ready to go out."

Brent meets her eyes for a moment as he finishes the check.  The form fitting nature of the suit makes the check a bit more intense than normal.  "Ummm... yea... all set."  He steps back into the passageway.  "Where is the air raft?"

"This way." She steps past him, and Brent catches the lingering scent of lavender as she passes by. She leads the way up the lift to the passenger deck, and then aft to a cramped hangar.

The air raft is familiar to Brent mostly from wreckage and some of the smaller work vehicles he's seen. The body is a sleek rectangle, with large, curved windows and windscreen. Joxe presses a panel on the door, and it hinges upward to admit them. She sildes into the left front seat, and gestures for him to join her in the right seat.

"We don't have grav plates, so it's good form to strap in," she says as she fastens her belt and shoulder harness. "I hope this thing will fly. The computer says it performed regular maintenance checks."

The vehicle does power up, and, with the inboard and outboard hatches closed, the hangar doors open to reveal Jora's looming bulk in the distance, bordered by the diamond glitter of stardrift.

Brent fastens his helmet and checks his suit before belting into the seat.  He leans across and clips a line to Joxe.  "If things go crazy I have a maneuvering unit on my suit to get us back.  We'll not be stranded; I promise."

"Thank you," Joxe says quietly. She maneuvers the vehicle out of the bay, and over the ship's stern. Brent can see the laser turret's cover just aft of the hangar bay as she rolls the air raft and moves them forward.

The ship's belly comes into view a moment later, and Joxe rolls the vehicle again so they are looking up through the craft's roof windows at the ship. It has three landing pad bays, two aft and one forward. In the sim light of Egg's primary, Brent can immediately see that the port and forward gear doors are closed, but the starboard gear doors are open.

Malcolm replies to Brett:

"Understood. I will prepare meals for when you get back."


Malcolm turns to Garett and says:

"I'm starving."

Then proceeds to prepare meals

Brent marvels at the efficiency of the air raft.  He also notes Joxe's deft piloting skills.  "Ahhh... good call.  One set of doors is open.  Bring us closer to see if anything is wedged in or the door mechanism is damaged.  I can EVA over to do any quick repairs."

Veronica appears from the engineering section as Malcolm and Garrett begin work on resupplying the commissary units. Between the three of them, they soon have the units up and running.

When they return to the crew area, they find that the bodies have been covered. "I think we should find, or make, body bags", Veronica says. "I doubt Joxe wants to walk past her friends' remains again."

Joxe eases the air raft in close, and brings up the exterior lights to illuminate the landing gear bay. Brent sees a mass of cables snarled around the gear leg, which has been jammed against the mechanism that closes the doors. He also notes a series of dents in the doors, and on the hull plating around the bay. Fortunately, starships are tough skinned to ward off micrometeorites and space junk hits, so there seems to be no serious damage. Of the four doors, two are completely closed, one is a third of the way closed, and the other hasn't moved from the open position.

Gareth graciously uses the extruder to produce six body bags. If there is time he will produce plain outfits for the rest of the crew from the mining ship and two holsters with slots for ammunition for Malcolm and himself.

The extruder is packed away inside the large cargo container - somewhere. The end facing inward has food supplies - about three tons' worth, stacked on unpowered pallets.

Brent frowned.  "Do you have cutting tools aboard the ship Joxe? With that mess it would be best to deactivate the door and landing gear mechanisms and cut the mass of cable."

Joxe nods. "There is a tool crib in engineering. We can just go to the aft airlock, and it's right inside." She smiles at him. "I'll give you a ride, and wait while you get out and walk in."

Brent laughs.  "I'm not used to a chauffeur service like this.  And one so capable and good looking."

Joxe smiles. "Talented, and charming, too. What's a girl to do?" The air raft halts two meters from the airlock. "I think this is your address, sir."

Brent chuckles, glad to banter and pleased as well that the woman was able to find some enjoyment as she adjusted to this new situation.  When the reached the airlock he unbuckled.  "I couldn't ask for better service or a prettier girl."  Brent's voice was light as they exchanged comments.  He moved over to the airlock and cycled through to get the tool kit.

Joxe chuckles over her link. "Flatterer."

Brent enters the engineering compartment to find Veronica already there. "You two seem to be getting along well," she says with a smile. "I opened your private comm channel to ask a question, and, well, I closed it."

The equipment locker is close by, and she gestures to a pile of equipment beside it. "I only listened long enough to hear what the problem was, and this gear should clear it. If you need help, just call me."

In reply to JR (msg # 268):

"Good idea. This ship must have a med center. Perhaps there are body bags there. We should also consider what we will do with the bodies."

Malcolm looks for a med lab, med supplies and any possible body bags.

He finds the ship only has an advanced medical kit, with several diagnostic tools he's never seen before. The only other bag-like items he finds are inflatable rescue balls for decompression emergencies. They can hold four people with enough breathable air for several hours.

The fabric extruder is still packed somewhere in that ten-ton cargo container.

Hoping to reach the extruder Gareth will attempt to power the pallets or repair them if they are damaged.

OOC: this is a phone post. See die roller.

If successful he will begin unloading. If he cannot active the pallets he will ask the ship if there is a forklift or other device onboard that can move the pallets

Gareth finds that some of the pallets are damaged, probably from age. Between connecting dead power packs to the charging system, some parts swapping, and resorting to adjusting the cargo bay's grav plates, Gareth is able to move the cargo. It's hard work, and it will take a couple of hours to finish, even with help.

Malcolm is still working on finding body bags, Veronica is back in Engineering, and Brent is outside with the ship crewman.

Brent laughs as well before cycling through the air lock.  He starts a bit as Veronica surprises him, Brent having forgotten she was down in the engine room.  He blushes a bit at her words and shakes his head.  "Well, she's competent and brave... and good looking." Changing the subject he nods at the equipment.  "How are you feeling?  Is the G-sickness gone?"

While she talks he gathers the equipment, clipping some of it to his harness and the rest tying off individually to lanyards.  "Thanks for getting this squared away.  What do you think of their engineering?"

Veronica smiles. "That she is." She sobers a bit. "I'm all for whirlwind romances, but keep in mind that you two have just met, Sir." She raises a hand in half apology. "We are apparently going to be together for a while, so... just be careful."

She accepts the change of subject with a nod. "Once things settled, I was fine. The gravity is still higher than I'm used to, but I'm managing."

She helps him arrange the gear. "Sure. It's great to see one of these ships in operation instead of in pieces. I just wish I'd gotten a little notice before we took off. My parents are going to wonder what happened to me."

Brent sighed.  "Don't worry Veronica, I'm not falling in love and I'm certainly not going to try and pick up a woman on a rebound from a 200 year old catastrophe.  Throwing in a potentially touchy emotional situation is never a good idea when we have nowhere else to go."  He accepts the help arranging the gear gratefully as the bulky vac suit makes fine manipulation difficult.  "You had me worried back there for a while Vernica.  I'm glad you are ok."

He frowns a bit at the thought of the rest of the system.  "We have the means to tap into the communication system.  We'll send something out to our loved ones if we can before we leave."

Veronica works as she listens. "Thanks. You're all set. Remember to stay out of the way of that cable cutter. I think it's like the old Richmond model that doesn't trap the cut ends."

She steps back. "It would be good to send a message. Be careful out there."

Brent nods at the advice.  "I know just the type you mean Veronica."  As he stands in the air lock he looks back. "I don't want us to leave this system without an explanation and word to those we leave waiting behind."  With that he cycled back through the air lock and out to the air raft.

"I have the gear," he called out as Brent clambered aboard.  He gave Joxe and thumbs up; "Let's go then."

Joxe smiles from behind her faceplate. "Did you remember the coffee and donuts?"

She backs away from the airlock, and then maneuvers the craft back to the right main gear well. "Here we are, sir. Would you like an umbrella for the rain?"

Brent laughed.  "That's for later, let's get this job done first."  He sorted out the gear as she maneuvered to the landing gear by.  Brent chuckled again as he unbuckled from the seat.  "An umbrella and a fan I think.  Actually if you can stand in the craft and keep me oriented and pass along tools that will be quite good."  He rose up hand over hand into the gear well and clipped himself to a ring.  "Ok, now one at a time.  Double check me before I make each cut to be sure I don't remove anything essential."

Joxe brings the air raft up to the ship's belly, holding just clear of the snarled mess in the gear bay. She closes her helmet and depressurizes the air raft so Brent can open his door. "If it's not a cable, don't cut it," Joxe says lightly. "If you patch your video feed to me, I can help you."

The process of clearing the cabling from the gear takes about a half hour. The tough strands had wrapped themselves tightly around the mechanism, having been propelled by the tremendous energy of being torn from the asteroid on takeoff.

One of the gear doors is bent, and Brent manages to heat and hammer it back into shape enough to make it safely close. Otherwise, the gear mechanisms weathered the battering, and it finally closes and locks as Brent watches from a few meters away. The discarded cabling is slowly drifting away on a safe vector, so it's no longer a threat.

Brent gives Joxe and thumbs up as he opens the air raft door.  He fiddles a bit and works to patch his video feed across to her.  He works slowly at first to be sure that what he is cutting is safe as well as to get used to the unfamiliar tools.  Brent's efficiency increases with time though allowing him to speed up.  The bent door is a bit puzzling but after discussion with Joxe and Victoria he settles on the application of force while securely wedged against the ship.

Once all is clear and the hatch closes Brent verifies with Victoria in engineering that the tell tales are all green for the landing gear.  He returns to the air raft looking tired but triumphant.  "Well now, that was a bit of work.  It all looks green though and we should be safe to skim now.  Let's do a once over on the ship exterior while we are out here to see if anything else is amiss."

The repaired gear door is a little lumpy and the paint is burned from the torch, but it is securely closed and sealed. The rest of the ship shows some small dents and scratches here and there, apparently from meteorite collisions, but it seems to be spaceworthy and able to safely enter an atmosphere.

Joxe brings the air raft back around to the hangar bay, and sets the craft down in its docking buffers with a gentle bump. The hangar doors close, and it takes a few moments for the bay to pressurize. Finally, they are able to open the door and re-enter the ship.

"I'll get these tools back to Engineering," Joxe says. "You did good work out there, Brent."
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:40, Thu 11 Aug 2016.

Brent sighed slightly in satisfaction as the rest of the ship provided to be space worthy.  When they returned to the hangar he disembarked and removed the helmet and then the suit.  The heavy protective gear was settled against the wall and out of the way until it could be more permanently stowed.  "She's a good ship and sound enough to get us through the refueling." He looked back at her.  "Thank you for the help as well Joxe.  Show Victoria what you can of the ship systems.  She's a fast learner and I'm sure there is plenty of maintenance to do after everything has been idle so long.  I'm going to head up to the bridge and familiarize myself with what the ship can do."

"Thank you for helping me, Brent. I'm sorry you've all been kidnapped, in a manner of speaking." Joxe sighs. "You are right, though. There is much to do before we can jump out of here."

Brent shakes his head slightly. "I'd not say kidnapped though.  I think if we really wanted it would be possible to get us back to society here.  I'd rather see new worlds and be the first to Jump out of here in hundreds of years."  He frowned.  "Now do we have the course available to make a Jump?  I know nothing of that type of astrogation."

The pair reaches the lift at the upper lounge, and step into the lift car together. The space is close, and Joxe bumps into Brent as she touches the control panel. "Oops, sorry." She smiles a bit, and then sobers. "We have prerecorded jump logs, since this ship has been through this system several times. I am also a navigator." She shrugs. "On a small ship, everyone has to be able to handle everything."

The door opens to reveal Gareth, Vanessa and Malcolm stacking boxes and moving pallets out of the cargo container.

Brent turns slightly to accommodate Joxe in the tight space of the lift.  He smiles as well at the bump and shakes his head.  "No problem, I'm not complaining."  Brent let's her precede him out of the lift and then steps into the lounge.  "You'll have to teach me interstellar navigation.  We've lost the art of it without any reason to practice."

Looking around at the activity before him Brent asks; "What's up guys?  Are you looking for buried treasure?  I'm sure there is a cargo manifest to make that easier."

"We are retrieving the fabric extruder to produce body bags and clothing for wherever this journey takes us. If you're done gawking maybe you should help."

It should be clear what to anyone what is going on, but Gareth always considered himself a charitable sort and explains anyway.

Brent looks more closely for a moment and then nods. "I'm headed to the bridge to check on our course and look at the Jump controls.  It would be bad to run into something.  I'll come down and help afterward."

Joxe stays behind to help with the cargo moving, since she helped pack in the first place.

Brent arrives on the bridge and settles into the center workstation. The seat and displays shift to accommodate him, and he is soon able to determine that the ship's course is nominal, and there are no objects on a collision course. The ship is also scanning the area, so it will avoid anything it spots.

OOG: What are you checking on the jump drive?

Brent sighs slightly in relief as the course is confirmed to be clear.  He hadn't expected trouble but one never knew.  After a bit he brought up the navigation system and began to look about in the Jump controls.

OOC: Just starting to hunt around.  I figure Brent has no real idea what is involved.  He'll be careful not to activate anything.  If there is a way to lock the console in a training mode he'll do so.

Brent locates the correct display for jump navigation. It shows the Egg System in the center of the display - helpfully labeled as such. There are a string of what he quickly sees are other star systems, arranged both above and below Egg on the map. There are a total of fourteen systems, eight above and six below, with Egg nearly in the middle. The names mean nothing to Brent, as do the markings next to the systems. He also notices that all but the nearest two systems are connected with blue lines. The nearest two systems are connected to Egg with solid green lines.

With Joxe's help, they are soon able to locate the fabric extruder. It's roughly the size of a desk, and weighs about 200kg.

In reply to JR (msg # 302):

Malcolm begins the process of producing the body bags. Once complete he asks for assistance using the bags.

"Where should we store them?"

Joxe sighs. "We can put them in one of the low berths. It can be sealed until we decide what to do."

Gareth will help Malcolm store the bodies in the low berths. When he does so he will continue to wear his sealed environmental suit. He will also take the opportunity to give the bodies one final final search before putting them in the bags.

If there is time afterwords he will produce normal clothing and holsters for himself and crew members that don't have any.

Brent looks for Poznan and Gorky, two systems mentioned by Joxe.

Those two systems are "up" the chain from Egg, the second and fourth systems out, respectively.

OOG: The Main Game Map has everything within 6 parsecs of Egg.

The bodies and their tattered suits are sealed and stored. There is nothing on either of them. Joxe sighs sadly as the berths are sealed. "Thank you for your help," she says to Gareth.

Brent will look for information on Khesanadu.  In particular he's looking for refueling options since the map indicates no gas giant.

Brent brings up the detailed information about Khesanadu; it is nearly a water world with oceans on about 80% of its surface.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:34, Mon 29 Aug 2016.

Brent calls down over the intercom.  "Joxe, if we go to Khesanadu can we refuel in the oceans?"

"Yes, we can," Joxe replies. "That's the next system coreward of us on the main."

Gareth nods before leaving to find something productive to do. If there is nothing else needing repairs or maintenance he will locate an empty bunk and get some much needed rest.

There are four staterooms on the upper deck, so Gareth has his pick. He lies down, and is soon fast asleep.

Malcolm speaks to Brent:

"Sir, is there something else I can assist with?"

Brent nods.  "See if you can rustle up some food and hot drink Malcolm.  Joxe can probably help you with getting the galley started.  We can all use some food I am thinking."

He replied on the comm.

[Comm]
"Can you run the Jump drives Joxe?"

"Yes, I can," Joxe replies.

[Comm]

"How does that interface with setting a course?"

"I would be glad to show you, right after we eat. Food will be served in the crew area in about ten minutes."

Anyone entering the crew area finds Veronica has been cleaning the remaining evidence of the slain crew and generally tidying up.

"Ok, I can use some food.  I'll close things up here and come down to help."  Brent locked the controls and then headed to the galley area.

Brent finds Malcolm, Veronica, and Joxe in the crew area. They have rearranged the furniture to better accommodate five people at the table. Veronica stands at the commissary unit. "What would you like, Brent? There are dishes on here I've never heard of, but there are some familiar ones, too."

Brent nodded to Joxe and goes over to the food unit and picks one at random.  "Let's try this one.  I'm not sure what it is but let's be adventurous.  We're going to be experiencing a lot of new stuff in the near future."  He looked at Veronica; "How are you doing now?

Veronica peers at the selection screen. "Frog legs? What's a frog?"

Brent shakes his head. "Hopefully something edible and not too outre."

"You've never seen a frog?" Joxe says with a laugh.

Malcolm eats the food in front of him fast and complete.

Sir, may I be excused? I would like to go rest in my bunk for a while. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance while out."

Veronica finishes her meal at a more leisurely pace. When Malcolm leaves, she stands. "I think I will get some rest, too." With that, she takes her leave.

Robert shakes his head and laughs.  "It's probably best that I don't know what a frog looks like before I try eating the legs."  He digs into the food finding savor in the difference.

"Everyone get some sleep if you can.  This course we are taking is well outside any normal transfer orbits used by our intersystem traffic.  We should be quite safe.  With help from Joxe I think we can set up some automatic warnings.  There is plenty of time before we reach the gas giant."

"I can do that," Joxe says.

After the meal, she puts the dishes away, and turns to Brent. "Veronica helped me clear the other cabin," she points to the former couple's stateroom. "You're welcome to stay there."

Brent finishes his meal and shakes his head.  "Well, that was interesting but not my favorite."  He looked to Joxe and nodded.  "Thank you Joxe, let's get the warnings set.  We have a good ten hours until we need to maneuver."

"You may get to experience a great many new things," Joxe replies.

After the meal, she takes him to the bridge and walks through the process of setting the appropriate navigation warnings in the computer. Other than a few stray rocks, there's nothing on the sensors anywhere close to their flight path.

Brent smiles;  "I'm counting on it Joxe.  This ship alone is an experience no one in this system has seen in decades."  He pays particular attention to the settings for the navigation system, trying to understand how the ship works.  Finally when they are done he straightens up;  "Well, that was different.  This type of controls will take a good deal of getting used to for me."

Yawning he stretched a bit;  "A bit of sleep sounds good.  Can you rest Joxe?  All this must be overwhelming.  Do you need to talk?"

"You'll catch onto it soon enough."

At his offer to talk, Joxe shakes her head. "I just need to get some sleep. The ship will wake us up before we start the skimming run." She steps into her cabin and closes the hatch behind her.

Brent smiles and nods.  "Sleep well then."  When Joxe closes the door behind her he turns and walks back to the bridge.  He looks around, checks the instruments and then takes a careful tour of the ship both to satisfy his curiosity and to make sure nothing is amiss.

Everyone has chosen a cabin, and they are apparently asleep. The cargo has been neatly stacked and categorized. In all, the ship is squared away.

Brent heads to the cabin chosen for him.  He pokes around in it, checking out the amenities and then lays down to sleep.  The alarm is set for 8 hours.

Eight hours later, everyone is awakened by the ship's comm system:

"Your rest period has expired. On our present course, we will enter the planetary atmosphere to begin fuel skimming operations in seventy-two minutes. All systems are operating normally, and our trajectory is well within limits for refueling."

Brent stretches and climbs from the bed.  He splashes some water on his face and heads to the galley.  Once there he brews up coffee or whatever hot, caffeinated beverage is available.

The coffee he gets is much stronger than he's used to, with a nutty flavor. As he sits down, Vanessa appears from the lift.

"How is the coffee? It smells wonderful." She goes to the commissary and looks over the offerings. "I don't know what half of this is. What is a kolache?"

"It's good, a bit unusual but good." Brent pours her another cup as he savors the unusual taste.  "Kolache?  I have no idea.  Hopefully it is better than frog's legs."  He laughs a bit at this last.  "How are you holding up Veronica?  Did you get some sleep?"

"Um, well," Veronica muses over the offerings, selects something, and retrieves the plate from the unit when it is complete.

"I eventually drifted off," she says as she picks up what looks like a pastry. She bites into it, and smiles around it. "Oh, this is good," she says after the first bite. "It's hot, though. I think I'm okay. And you?"

At Veronica's approval of the pastry Brent called one up as well.  "I'm fine, still a bit overwhelmed by the level of technology.  It's a once in a lifetime chance to see more beyond our system.  I just want to make sure of a way to give our people access to Lanthanum so that they can regain the stars as well."

The pastry has some sort of meat filling in it. It's a bit spicy for Brent's taste, but it is tasty.

Veronica nods. "I don't know how Joxe will feel about coming back here. It's a risk to this ship, since it would likely be seized." She shrugs. "Of course, we don't know what's out there, either. We could have the same thing happen at the next system we visit." She grins. "Here we are, talking about jumping to other systems, and none of us have ever ridden through a jump in our lives."

Brent eats the pastry carefully, hoping that his stomach will handle it.  "Yea, we almost need to find another ship, fix it up and bring it back here with a nice load of lanthanum.  I agree with Joxe wanted to keep her ship free.  Still, you are right.  Given that no one has recontacted us I'd guess that things are a howling wilderness beyond our system."

"We certainly hope it is, at least," Veronica says darkly. "Given that we've heard nearly no radio traffic for what, a century?" She shrugs. "I don't think a interstellar society would be that quiet. Thing is, we have to be very careful to not break this ship. We damage something we can't fix, well..."

Gareth enters in time to catch the last few comments.

"A new ship and a load of parts sound like a fine idea. If Joxe's civilization has crumbled in the intervening years they probably won't miss either."

Gareth locates some kind of breakfast and sits down to eat.

Most of the listed dishes are unfamiliar, but he is able to find a rather tasty meal.

"That is true," Veronica says. "My concern is, how will advanced technology have fared in two hundred years? Of course," she waves her hand, "this ship is one answer to that question."

Brent waves to Gareth as he enters and slides aside to make room. "If it's a howling wilderness I'm guessing we'll be dealing with societies that have regressed to barely spaceflight or even less.  It will be dangerous and we'll have to do more salvage than anything else."  He frowned at Veronica's comment. "Yes, this one ship is all that will keep us alive and fixing her will be hell with no operating support infrastructure.  We'll be cautious."

Malcolm get up, bathed and dressed. He then straps his pistols to his waist and heads out to meet with the group.

Malcolm makes his way In and grabs the closest protein and sits to eat. Once done, he cleans up after himself and mentally prepares for a new day.

"Good morning, what to we have in store for today sir?"

Brent looks up as Malcom enters the room.  "Oh, just a bit of breakfast and then a fiery plunge into the atmosphere of a gas giant."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:56, Thu 29 Sept 2016.

Veronica grins at Brent's comment, then goes back to her meal.

"Well then, what's the battle plan so that I can star preparing."

Brent smiles for a moment and then turns more serious.  "We've about an hour until we hit the upper atmosphere of the gas giant.  We'll make a skimming run to fill up our fuel tanks and then head toward the Jump point while refining the fuel.  After that... Jump!"

Veronica frowns. "Has anyone looked for the skimming stations? There are what, a few dozen of them? That would hurt if we hit one."

"We don't even know if they are functional. Are we sure they are still there?"

Veronica nods. "Yes, they are still operational. I don't know what they take out, though."

Brent shook his head.  "They're extracting hydrogen for fuel as well as organics that are in the gaseous state in the gas giant atmosphere.  They should have beacons to help locate them and for traffic avoidance."

"We'd better get a move on. These things probably won't loot themselves... or maybe they do this tech is all new to me."

After eating Gareth heads to bridge and takes a seat in one of the extra chairs to wait for things to develop.

Brent headed up to the bridge.  He scanned the spectrum for the beacons of the skimming stations and silently bemoaned the absence of his spacer's directions which would have ephemeris information for the stations.

"We'll just have to avoid the darn things.  I'll see if I can pick up their beacons."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:16, Wed 12 Oct 2016.

Brent and Gareth work for a few minutes, and they soon find Jora's navigation satellite system, which in turn, allows them to plot all of the spacecraft operating in Jora's gravity well. There are twenty-four navigation platforms, forty-three atmospheric platforms, six transport ships, and an even dozen science platforms orbiting the gas giant.

Even with all of that traffic, finding a safe orbit for skimming isn't difficult. The ship's navigation system suggests several flight paths, depending on the desired exit vector.

That, in turn, will depend on the jump destination, and the desired arrival vector...

Malcolm is checking as many systems as possible to be sure that everything is working properly. Then proceeds to wait for all hell to break loose.

According to the computer and Malcolm's own observations, the ship is operating normally. It is very low on fuel, so you will need to refuel on this orbit, or risk running out.

"Sir, we are running dangerously low on fuel."

Brent went through the calculations on different skimming courses.  He then plugged in the Jump tape for their next destination to determine the desired point at which they needed to be for the Jump.

looks up from the navigational display as Malcolm speaks up.  "Do we have enough to make the skimming maneuver Malcolm?"

"We need to refuel this orbit or we will run out."

Gareth pays close attention to his console, and prepares to assist in any way he can as others perform more servile tasks on "his" ship.

Brent looks down at the console and frowns.  "That's going to make it tight Malcolm.  We'll need to nurse the drives and run on aerodynamic lift and grav plates once in the atmosphere until we can process drive fuel.  At that point we should be home free."  He sets an initial course through the gas giant atmosphere that will take them through with minimum initial energy and then out with options that will all lead to their Jump point.

"All hands, we'll be entering the gas giant atmosphere in 30 minutes.  We're critically short on fuel so the skimming and processing will have to start immediately.  Divert initial fuel to the maneuver drives.  Engineering, are you ready?"

OOG: What tasks/positions are each of you taking on during the skimming run?

OOG: I think Brent will be at the pilot's console.

OOG: I'm guessing the ships owner will be in the captains chair, so Gareth will take whatever seat remains.

Veronica takes the Engineering station in the after hull to monitor the refueling operations. A few minutes after Brent's announcement, Joxe arrives in Engineering to assist Veronica. Brent, Gareth and Malcolm occupy the bridge seats as the ship descends into the upper reaches of Jora's atmosphere.

Meteorological data, obtained from querying the local navigation satellites, flows across the ship's displays, showing areas of turbulence in their flight path. Brent has chosen a flight path/orbit that takes them well away from the orbiting platforms, since they are clustered along Jora's equator to take advantage of the planet's rotation for the arriving and departing tankers. The ship's orbit is inclined at 35 degrees to the equator, keeping them clear of the busier orbits.

Jora's bands of brown and gray resolve into gray canyons lit by frequent lightning flashes. The ship bursts through dense bands of cloud, her scoops wide open as the hypersonic airstream screams past its hull. The turbulence overcomes the ship's inertial dampers at times, making their seat harnesses snug down tightly to keep them in place.

Finally, Veronica announces the fuel tanks are full, and the maneuver drive comes online to bring the ship out of the skimming run with velocity enough to take them to the hundred diameter limit.

"So," Joxe says over the intercom. "Where are we going?"