"I did hear a few things, yeah."  Niamh pauses to take a sip of her coffee.  "As things started to get bad, a bunch of traders fled rimward, and stopped at Khesanadu to refuel.  They let us know about how things were going on the rest of the main, and what systems to avoid."  She lets out a sigh.  "The traders told us that the Keipes system, and Lote...just Trailing of the main...were both absolutely leveled..."

"Um...wait a minute here..."The doctor brings up a map of the subsector on one of the starship's terminals, and sets it to broadcast.  "I remember hearing that Kide and Lefiguura were left basically intact during the whole thing...and if I were to choose between the two systems, I'd go to Kide."  The redhead frowns then, pointing out the four worlds marked by amber rings on the map.  "Lefiguura was always a pretty lawless system, Thorell was run by what was essentially a bunch of feuding nitwits and Desel?  Well, let's just say that the Deseli government were big fans of 'illegal search and seizure', and leave it at that." She looks over at Joxe and shakes her head.  "I don't want to even *think* about what those three systems are like now, after two and a half centuries of isolation."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:47, Sat 13 Jan 2018.

Brent turned to listen.

"There must be a reason they were left intact. Any of these systems could have made a bargain with those responsible. . Perhaps we could jump to safe distance and ease drop on broadcasts or radio transmissions. If they are inhabited there is bound to be something that could learn."

Brent pondered the information.  "Kide sounds like the best bet."

"Kide it is, then," Joxe says.

OOG: The rest of the week in jump passes uneventfully, with everyone pitching in to either inspect equipment and systems, or reshuffle the ship's inventory of food and supplies. The cargo container was moved to make room for the extra fuel tanks, and it now serves as an expanded ship's locker.

Does anyone have anything else to discuss before emergence at Poznan?

At some point during the week in jump, Niamh asks, "Brent?  What was it like for you growing up in this era, if you don't mind my asking?

Brent looks up from the bridge console where he'd been studying the controls and working through one of the built in tutorials.  "We were totally isolated in Egg.  We were hit hard during the wars and came within a hair's breadth of dying out.  Fortunately we were spread widely enough and cooperated well enough to hold things together and even thrive after a while.  In the process we lost a big part of our tech including Jump drives and a lot of history so even what happened in the war is a bit misty." 

He shook his head and leaned back.  "Even now everything is a hustle and everyone pulls their weight.  Water, food and organics are stable between what we can harvest from the outer system and what we can process."  He laughed.  "It's a lot of nutritious food paste and yeast beer made from the left overs of the food processing."

"As for growing up, we worked as soon as we could be trusted in zero g or in a hab.  Everyone was educated well, the smarter ones went on to be engineers but no one has time for fancy science or theories even now.  I've been hustling ships since I was 12; first in the smaller little tugs and such and lately in the big inter system cargo freighters.  It's a busy, very pragmatic and practical life.  We don't have much art or entertainment."

Niamh nods sadly.  "I would think it's a lot like how it must of been during the Long Night, only a *lot* worse."  She lets out a sigh.  "*This* time, far, *far* more damage was done."
The doctor smiles weakly in response to Brent's brief laugh.  "It's odd, in a way.  Back in my day, people generally ignored the resources in the outer system, because it really wasn't cost-effective to harvest them." Then, her freckled face turns somber.  "Now, those scattered little chunks of ice and rock are keeping people *alive*."

Niamh looks down for a moment at her folded hands.  "I hope that the art, entertainment, and all of the other culture that's been lost comes back one of these days...but I've got a bad feeling that none of us will be around anymore to personally see it."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:58, Sat 20 Jan 2018.

Brent nodded in agreement to Niamh. "The Long Night was terrible but it was longer and slower and many areas did not fall as far or with as much violence.  Also it was patchy with some areas prospering while others suffered.  That meant that there were always areas of peace from which to rebuild."  He shrugged; "We had plenty of solar and fusion power but it was water and organics for food and life support that were the bottleneck.  And of course building the infrastructure to maintain the power plants."

He sighed. "I'd just be happy if we survive over the next few years.  Still, maybe we can act as a catalyst to spread knowledge and contact."

"We're already years more advanced than our friends back in the Egg system. Given the way we left... it may not be in our best interest to return in the short term."

The ship's computer interrupts the conversation:

"Emergence in fifteen minutes," it intones.

Brent nods; "Yea, I'd expect they think we're hostile pirates or aliens.  We'll want to return very carefully when we do decide the time is right."

He jumped a bit out of his seat at the announcement. "Well," Brent stated after he'd check the instruments.  "It seems the time has come."  Turning on the ship wide intercom he called;

"All hands to Jump stations.  Emergence in 15 minutes."

With nothing left to say Gareth heads to the bridge and straps in.

Within a few minutes, everyone but Naimh is at their stations. Brent, Malcolm, and Gareth are on the bridge, while Joxe and Veronica occupy their stations in engineering.

Right as the timer reaches zero, Wanderer shudders gently as she returns to normal space. Transient energy bleeds from her hull in bolts of azure lightning, temporarily blinding her sensors. The energy fades away in a few seconds, and the passive sensors begin feeding information to the crew's displays.

The emergence vector is nearly perfect, as the ship is established on a vector to enter a high orbit around the brilliant blue gas giant looming off the ship's port side.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:53, Sat 03 Feb 2018.

"All stations report.  It looks like we made a perfect emergence."  Brent will start to scan the passive sensors for communications and signs of a radar lock.

"Engineering is good," Joxe replies.

The only signal is the background electronic noise from the gas giant itself.

"I don't have any radio chatter or data signals.  I'm going to bring us into a refueling orbit around the gas giant."  Brent will thrust to put them into a ballistic orbit to set up for a skimming run.

17/V/1402 1930hrs

Wanderer's emergence vector was placed for a high orbit, so Brent executes a two-minute burn to lower their perigee enough to reach skimming altitude. When done, the ship orients itself with its belly toward the planet in preparation for the fuel skimming operation.

The nav system estimates atmospheric contact will occur in nine hours.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:54, Sat 03 Feb 2018.

Brent checked the course again and called out over the intercom. "We're on a course to skim.  I'm coasting so it will be nine hours.  That will give us a chance to listen in a bit more on the system before we have to be any more active."  He sets the sensors that they do have available on passive and record and then stretches.

18/V/1402 0430hrs

Early in the morning, Wanderer approaches the gas giant's atmosphere. Vanessa is on duty in Engineering, Gareth has the bridge watch, and everyone else in in bed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:54, Sat 03 Feb 2018.

Brent yawns as he comes into the bridge, the smell of coffee filling the room from the two mugs he carries.  "Good morning Gareth, how does it look?  I brought you some coffee if you like."

"Hmmm lets have a look then shall we?"

Gareth will access the ship's systems and perform as detailed a scan of the planet as time allows. As the scan progresses he will share everything he learns with Brent.

"Just don't go active on any sensors Gareth until we've refueled.  I'm probably being paranoid but I'd rather not stumble across anything nasty until we can Jump out."

The passive sensors reveal nothing beyond data about the planet, and updated position information on the other planets and their satellites in the Poznan system.

Wanderer begins to buffet gently as she settles into the upper reaches of the gas giant's atmosphere at orbital speeds. The flight management system indicates that the fuel scoops can be deployed, and that the counter grav is operating to reduce the felt turbulence during the five-and-a-half-hour fueling run.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:52, Sat 03 Feb 2018.

"Everyone strap in for skimming operations," Brent called out on the intercom. "We'll be in turbulence for just short of six hours. Is the system ready to take in gases Joxes?"  He strapped in himself and set to pilot the ship through the upper atmosphere after deploying the fuel scoops once he had the go ahead.