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?"