Django returns a few moments later, and sits at the table across from Tump. "Nuthin'" he says quietly. "So did'ya break the bank yet?".

Ayce rolls down the inclined path between the seats.  "I know that you don't trust me right now, and I understand why, but I do have a map that has a 94% chance of leading us to the power core for the planetary systems."

Tump grins sheepishly. "Nothing personal, Ayce, but this place gives me the willies right now." He takes a glance at the map. "How far down is this power core?"

"The power core is linked to the planetary core for power.  It is one thousand two hundred and sixty kilometers below ground.  There is a transportation tunnel that runs from this city to that power station.  The power for the maglev rail is out, but two of our generators should get us there."

"Any clue if critters what like was in the ruins under Ant Hill Ease lurk around down there? Last thang I wanna do is stumble up on some ticked off octo-rat mamma again, or them dang vytes".

"Previous scans showed no signs of organic life. I'm sure that rules out any octo-rats as well." He pulls out his comm unit. "We should call ahead to Ronin. See how many generators we can spare to get us down to the main power core."

Tump raises the unit to speak. "Ronin, you there?"

"Ronan here."

"Looks like we've got another power situation down here. We're gunna need to daisy chain a couple generators to get ourselves down to the main core. How many do you think can we spare?"

"We have eight if you include those two still running the city computers.  I don't know how much juice they have left though considering what all you're doing over there.  These other six are fully charged, though."

"I think the two here should hold for now. If we can get two of those fully charged ones to power up the maglev, we should be able to get to the main power core. Once that's patched up, we'll probably be able to pull the generators back."

Tump punches in a few numbers on his datapad. "I'm sending you the coordinates."

"Meet you there, Cap'n.  Ronan out."

Vyctor shuts down his terminal and finishes his meal.  "While you are down there working on the power core, I'm going to poke around up here and see what I can find."

Irin grabs Inarra's arm and the women grin at each other in anticipation of the adventure toward the planet core.

Everyone follows Ayce, who is true to his word and leads the group to some sort of maglev tram.

Ronan arrives a few minutes later with three of the generators.  He offloads two to the tram car and begins wiring them to the vehicle's system in parallel.  He suggests Tump and Django hook the other one up to the rail system computer and see what requirements the rails themselves have energy-wise.

[Roll Knowledge: Engineering or similar skill.  DC 17 to correctly hook up the generator to the ancient system.]

Tump grabs a handful of cable and wires and gets to work.  A few curses and a nearly fried generator later, he calls for Ronan's assistance.

"Hey, uhh... this doesn't quite look right. Are these cables supposed to be over here?"

Ronan pops up from the compartment he's in and hoists himself back to the tram's floor.  He comes over to inspect Tump's work.  "No.  This one goes there.  That one goes here."  He seems slightly frustrated at the situation.  "You have your electron spin alignment trying to spin the electrons both ways simultaneously.  You also tried to hook up the voltage in circuit instead of across it.  Did you not learn quantum ring fundamentals?  You're lucky you didn't burn out the rail system."

[Both gain +1 XP to Knowledge: Engineering from Ronan's diatribe...erm, training.]

Tump chuckles nervously under his breath. "Nah, too busy running from the law." Immediately after saying it, his eyes dart over to Django. "Uhh... kidding, of course."

Django chuckles. "Wouldn't matter much if I was still a law man or not at this point. I swore a oath to enforce Core law. But we ain't Core now, are we. Loot, pillage, riot, and plunder to your heart's content".

Trying to keep the subject off their near critical failure, Tump shrugs and continues with their banter. "Well now, I wouldn't go that far, but a few new trinkets here and there wouldn't hurt."

"Ready to roll out? I have a feeling it won't be easy getting this power core back online."

"All ready here.  I'll drive."  Ronan gets into the proper place on the tram and gets it fired up.

Irin and Inarra climb on board as well.  The seats are all along the wall except for the driver's seat.  Enough space is available for up to twelve people sitting and there are harnesses, which Ronan highly recommends.

There is a hum and the tram lifts up off the rail a little and floats.  Ronan looks back to see if everyone is on board.

Tump gives a thumbs up.

Django nods.

The ride on the tram is rather exciting, at least for the women.  They scream in terror and sheer joy as Ronan rockets them down the rails into the core of the planet.  There is a whoomp and then no sound at all, indicating a likely vacuum outside the tram.  The vehicle seems to be in free fall for a couple of minutes before the mag lev system engages a counter force to decrease and then end the acceleration.

Ronan looks back and grins.  "Thanks for riding the Core Express.  We are currently traveling at one klick per second and holding.  We should arrive at our destination in forty two local minutes."  He faces front again and continues to monitor the controls.

"Django, what are our initial plans when we arrive?  I know we're trying to find the core and reboot the energy generation for the planet, but when the tram stops, we don't know what we're going to find.  With your experience in law enforcement, you are probably best for leading a small group down here.  If Tump and the others don't mind, I nominate that you be in charge down here."  She looks to Tump to find assurance that he's okay with that.

Tump shrugs. "We need someone to lead this crazy mission. I ain't no leader." He scratches his chin. "Only led to bad memories."

Django listens and nods. "While the techies figure out if an' how y'all are gonna get this core up an' running, I and one other, y'all pick, are gonna poke around a bit to see if we can figure out whether or not foul play was involved. I know the place is old as dirt, but it still feels awful strange to me that an all seein' AI can lose a grip on its central areas. We also need t' be keepin' an eye out, and I mean all of us, for any sort'a defunct security droid team or somethin' along those lines. Once we secure our area a' operation, we'll see what we can do about settin' thangs up - if possible - to avoid any future shut downs... with a twist. Ronan, you got any way to rig up a kill switch to undo the work yer gonna be performin'? If this core's AI tries to spaz out on us, I wanna be good an' sure we can be more of a problem for it that it can be fer us".