You lost 1 momentum for a new scene starting (planetary orbit), so ch'Pertha's speech will top ya'll up to 6.

As the shuttle Sacajawea launched, the mighty Independence hung in orbit over the blue pearl of Coriolanus IV.

Dr. Layne's bioscans continued to monitor the strange alien ship-being, albeit at far-reduced quality once they broke through the Oort cloud.  The ship-being made no attempt at following the Independence, and the hellish plasma bombs it had hurled at the ship - thankfully without connecting - had long-since ceased. As they neared the planet, interference from the cloud chopped the scan quality down to garbage. Finally, he loses it in the wash of static.

LCDR Decker's scans turned towards the planet, even as the captain queued the shuttle for launch. Visual scans from orbit reveal no significant damage to the planet, save to the settlement itself. The city’s landing pad is strewn with the wreckage of the colony’s only warp-capable transport ship, and there is no visible human activity. Scans of the surface are inconclusive, as it’s covered with electromagnetic anomalies. Since scanners are unable to establish transporter coordinates, the only way down to the surface is via shuttlecraft. The colony had approximately 200 workers, researchers, administrators, and support staff, so taking more shuttles down allows the crew to evacuate more survivors, assuming any are left.

Nonetheless, to begin, the cruiser sent down a lone shuttle to investigate...


This message was last edited by the GM at 01:17, Sat 02 Oct 2021.

ch'Pertha had ordered, via Engineering, for the strongest Beacon's to be delivered to the planets surface with the Landing Party;  so that, once placed, the Independence could use these to establish comms, transporter coordinates, and general location facilities.

"LT Saghalie reports beacon loaded aboard Sajacawea prior to launch, Captain," LT Nipay reported from COMMS.

As the alien ship-being was lost behind the Oort cloud, Dr. Lansing set secondary sensors to warn him if it came within range, then turned the primary sensors to scan the system itself. There were at least three other planets in the Coriolanus system, close to the sun that four, and most likely several more beyond their target planet.

"Try to scan Coriolanus 4, Dr. Verghese. Let me know if you find anything, ordinary or otherwise. Things should hopefully clear up some, when the Beacon is set up."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 15:48, Sat 09 Oct 2021.

"Of course, Doctor," Verghese replied.  "Scanning now."

"The city’s landing pad is strewn with the wreckage of the colony’s only warp-capable transport ship, and there is no visible human activity."

"Scans of the surface are inconclusive, as it’s covered with electromagnetic anomalies.  Trying to compensate..."

Continuing to survey the remainder of the system, Dr. Layne acknowledged the information received. He would spend a few minutes on each planet that was on this side of the star, assuming the rest were unscannable at this time, while keeping an eye out for the alien ship-being.

"Sir," LT Nipay said, turning in her chair towards the Captain.  "I've just lost contact with the Sacajawea."

CDR Decker frowned and leaned over his console. The ship had been doing its best to monitor the course of the shuttle through the interference, but now he focused the primary sensors in an attempt to ascertain its status. "Scanning now, Captain..."

08:32, Today: LCDR Christopher Decker rolled 54 using 4d20 with rolls of 12,19,20,3.  Scanning the shuttle as it crashes - Reason(12)+Science(5)+1 momentum+Testing a Theory.
08:49, Today: LCDR Christopher Decker rolled 31 using 2d20 with rolls of 15,16.  Re-rolling 19 and 20 using Tech Expertise and Cautious:Science.
Result: 12, 15, 16, and 3. No focuses apply, so that's 4 successes.
Ship's Advanced Sensors should reduce the difficulty by 1.
Also, someone should be able to roll an assist by the ship? 1 die at Sensors(9) + Science(3)

Oh very well, I'll do it.
09:20, Today: LCDR Christopher Decker rolled 18 using 1d20 with rolls of 18.  Ship assist to track the shuttle's descent - Sensors(9) + Science(3).
The ship is no help. This is what Decker gets for sending Kezik off to die on an away mission.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:21, Wed 27 Oct 2021.

Decker's attention was riveted to the blue-lit sensor hood, but even with all his skill and the ship's advanced sensors, all he could glean was a few magnetic pulses, the output of a shuttle's impulse engines under strain, and her metallic hull disappearing beneath a haze of magnetic fields.

He's lost them.

Unfortunately, the situation is such that the roll is impossible until something creates an Advantage or changes the situation.

Decker gave a soft grunt of frustration, "I've lost them. The last readings suggested that they were in trouble, Captain. Their engines were running at maximum power."

His mind raced. Sending additional shuttles would be reckless. He couldn't recommend bringing the ship into the upper atmosphere based on the readings - that was dangerous enough for a starship under the best of conditions. But maybe...

He swiveled around, "I can't see anything through this interference. Perhaps one of the atmospheric probes...?"

Ch'Pertha nodded, as he pointed at LCDR Decker, "Lieutenant Nipay, work with the Lt Commander  to punch a connection through to the Sacajawea via the atom-drones", he said.

The Science Officer quickly programmed up a set of directives for the probe and sent them over to the Communications Officer's console.

The young COMMS officer's fingers danced over her console and then she turned to the bridge core.

"Probes ready, sir!" she reported.

ch'Pertha nodded.   "Decker, try to get a lock on their position.
Helm, prepare for atmospheric entry.
Engineering, I want the tractor beam online, and ready for immediate use.

Open a channel the moment you can please, Lieutenant Nipay"

The probe shot down into the atmosphere, boosting the ship's scanning ability... but there was a flare of energy, magnetic interference, and then... it was destroyed.

It was a brief eyeblink of data...

OOC: Decker may make a Difficulty 5 Reason + Science check, assisted by the ship's Sensors + Science.  The Complication range is increased to 17, so any 17+ generates a complication.

As the probe made its way down, the Science Officer prepped the ship's instruments. He knew he'd likely have only the smallest of windows to operate in. He ordered the primary sensor arrays to maximum sensitivity and readied the computer to receive a high speed data burst.

"Lieutenant Nipay, please keep that telemetry channel clear. We're only going to have one shot at this."

And then...

23:19, Today: LCDR Christopher Decker rolled 52 using 6d20 with rolls of 10,3,12,12,3,12.  The probe: 5 dice (spending 3 momentum, testing a theory) at (12)+(5) plus 1 ship's die at (9)+(3).
That's 6 successes (and no complications), unless one of Decker's focuses applies. If they do, that would be 8 successes.

"Pirk's cunning strikes again!"

Through all the interference, with the aid of the probes, Decker locates the Sacajawea.  She's flying nape-of-the-earth at high speed, hurtling across a barren valley and angling towards a range of nearby mountains.

"Got her!"

He pauses for just a moment to compose himself.

"Shuttle located, Sir. Transferring data to Helm and Engineering."

He glances over towards Lieutenant Nipay, "Excellent work, Lieutenant."