Okie dokie.  Let's start this hoe down.

I need you to post a series of blind rolls.  Let's say 5.  2d6.  Thanks.

There's only one constant rule about navigating asteroid fields:  don't hit anything.

Even with the autopilot and Fritz, that's easier said then done.  Between the natural attrition and mining operations, the field is littered with small rocks and debris, not large enough to be easily detected, but not small enough to be ignored easily.  There's a constant level of pings bouncing off the hull.

It sounds like God is using Tia to make popcorn.

The trip to 2204 and the Buddha rock takes about 10 hours.  Even with the best pilot, going full bore through an asteroid field would be suicide.

But you get within signal range at the twenty minute past ten hour mark.

Scanning... Mainframe says.

Yeah.  Already did that dumbass.  Just display the file.

Cross checking results-

Oh delete you!

Fritz brings up a topographical scan of the Buddha asteroid.

This is as close as we can scan from this far out... he adds before anyone asks.  The detail isn't terribly clear.  It's possible to make out nooks and crannies.  But to be able to evaluate them for comparison to a guy taking a leak?  Not so much detail.

There are two formations that might match.  But that is only in that they are large spiky outcroppings that could be vaguely human shaped if seen closer.

We should be able to get more definition in about fifteen minutes.  I can hit the other asteroid too.  The one Rig says reminded him that he needed to check fuel filters 2 and 7.  Rig, the diagnostics on that are ready.

Fritz must mean the wrench shaped asteroid.

Sensor bandwidth capacity ex-

Yeah I was getting to that.  Don't clear your cache.

Anyway, as version negative one point very zero was saying we do have one issue with the sensors.  Yes, I know you have state of the art.  But it's having to filter out all the various debris and flotsam.  The upshot is they're only good for so much at the moment.  I-

With assistance-

Uuuuugggggh! Fine! Weeeee...Happy now?..can focus on scanning one thing at a time.  You'll get clearer results.  Or we can spread the love.  Your call.  How do you want us to go about the scan?

Another thing here:  there are going to be some rather tedious choices you will be making in this section.  Like whether to scan generally or specific objects at a time.  And yes.  There is a reason.  We'll get to it soon.

Let me know if there are any questions.  Thanks.

"Let's focus our scans on specific outcroppings. Even if they don't look quite like a guy taking a leak I think it is better to focus our scans. First of all it keeps our profile a little more hidden and second if this base is sheltered from scans then a general scan will probably miss it."

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 2):

A'ight Boss Man.  Will feed you results as they come in.

Tia edges closer to the Buddha.

Results from the outcroppings come in at the ten and twenty five minute marks.

Outcropping one isn't human except at an angle.  It looks more like a fountain geyser.  It's not a hit.

The other outcropping comes a little closer, but it looks more like a man raising an arm rather then pissing.

87% of this rock scanned.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  We would need to move Tia around to the other side to complete.  Want us to move or want us to scan Rig's rock?

”Moving the Tia. We are looking for a needle in a haystack. The last thing we need to do is cut corners.”

Ledo was currently alone on the bridge. Everyone else was catching much needed shut eye but he had decided to spend the night scanning with Fritz. He would doze off now and then but if things got intense he had a packet of stims in his pocket. He figured he could get a good night sleep back at the station.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 4):

Moving to new coordinates.

Fritz doesn't try to interrupt this time.  He's actually quiet as the ship changes course.

Compiling scan data... he murmurs.  Displaying closest hits.

Three more scans pop up.  Two aren't even vaguely human like.  The last one looks more like a woman who'll have back problems in a few years.

I think the Buddha is clear.  Recommendation is to try Rig's rock.

Reviewing previous scans.  Tia only bounced a few shots off the facing side of the asteroid.  From the available data, there is a 46.923% chance the formation may be this...

The image of a thin stalactite looking protrusion pops up.  It's not clear enough to make much out.  But it could be guy standing.

Otherwise, we can move around to scan the back of the asteroid.  Position to fully scan first object:  18 minutes.  Position to scan back of asteroid in 32 minutes.

Ledo tapped the screen next to the thin stalactite.

"Well it's the closest thing to a person pissing we've seen so far. Might as well go in for a closer look."

With that he set in the course and nodded back to sleep, confident Fritz would run the scan and let him know when the results were in.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 6):

It's a guy pissing.

The outcropping looks fairly plain from two sides.  Like it will just be another disappointment.

But come around to the rimward side...

In comparing the scene with footage taken from the bathroom cameras while Captain or Rig were relieving themselves...by the way, did you know all the bathrooms here had cameras?  And that there is a large, large cache of footage from them?  There's a file marked playtime follies created by a crew member who must have served onboard fifty two years ago. But those cameras still appear to work...and it is reminiscent of a human male urinating.

Going from the description Silver provided, the base should be located in this area...

The map changes from Man-Peeing-Freely rock to a section of the asteroid not far away.

Scan of area detects traces of carbon polysteel, reinforced-

Sigh.  Yes, yes.  Long story short, there are synthetic materials detected.  From the concentration, I'm guessing we're looking at a cargo elevator or airlock door.  Won't know until we're close enough for a visual.

Fritz proves to be correct.  About a half kilometer from Obscene Rock, set into the side of a naturally occurring gully like fissure, is an airlock door.  The door locks to be manually locked.  It's also set far enough back into the wall that the only way in would be to land Tia, get out, and walk over.

Ledo pumped his fist and hit the buzzer to wake up the rest of the crew.

"Rise and shine everyone. We have located the airlock. We will have to go outside the Tia to reach it though so everyone suit up in your vacc suits. Except for Tepha, you're staying here on the ship and keeping an eye on space for us."

Ledo started inputting the flight plan to set the Tia down on a nice landing spot near the airlock. Moving around in zero-G wasn't going to be fun but he was thankful he had sprung for the high end vacc suits. Of course Silver was going to go first with her armored boarding suit but he and Rig would be able to provide decent backup although he made a mental note to remind both of them to pick up some gyrojet weapons for zero-g combat in the future.

"Fuuuuuuuucccckkkk...."

Silver wasn't happy about being woken up by an alarm. Even the prospect of pirating/salvaging/killing wasn't enough to make her happy about waking up early. She loved her sleep. If she could marry sleep she would. Better yet enter in a polygamous marriage between sleep, weed, and booze. Her perfect life would be just roling back and forth between the three of those.

But she also liked money and not having the Imperium breathing down her neck for "taxes" or "common decency" or "outstanding warrants" so here she was chasing after an asteroid of some guy pissing.

Who knows though. Maybe today would be a good day after all and she'd get to smash her piston fist right through Siri's skull and cross off one of the many reasons why she had to always keep an eye open.

In reply to Silver (msg # 9):

It takes about a half hour to land Tia safely...there are a few outcroppings that have to be avoided on the way down that add about ten minutes to the descent.  There won't be any quick take offs.

But after TD, the boys and gal get suited up.

Engineer Rig:  preliminary scan of the airlock completed and being downloaded to your helmet.  There is no computer lock.

The scan Fritz feeds to Rig confirms his words. The airlock door is archaic in design.  It's operated on a 'key lock', which only exist on ultra low tech worlds and history books.  Rig has probably only ever seen a couple in his life.

The key in this case would probably be a rod about a foot long with various intricate groove work along the rim.  The rod would be inserted and then turned, disengaging the lock mechanism.  Past this door is probably the first of two inner locks, both of which should be computerized.

The door is pretty stout.  It's possible to blow it open.  But without knowing how far back the inner lock door is, and what it's made of, there's no way to be sure the inner lock won't get blown open too by a charge.  Cutting it with a torch isn't likely.  The door's made of a pretty high end polygrade steel substitute.  Rig figures he could cut through it.  But it will take time.  A lot of time.  Six, maybe seven hours.  It's that good a door.

The other odd thing here are some details about the lock mechanism.  Little cross rods that circle the insertion point.  Obviously some of them are knocked aside the grooves on the side of the key when it's inserted.  But not all of them seem to line up on first blush.

No electronic components are detected.  Unable to scan through the rock to detect much about the interior structure.

---

The worst part about the suit up, besides having to wake up, is the little sensation in the back of Silver's head that there's something weird about all this.

Something about this set up...

If Rig needs some hints about the lock, he can make a Mechanics/Edu roll.  I would need to know what question he is thinking about though.  A general 'what does he think about the lock' is going to get a general response.  Something more specific like 'what are the possibilities for handling the lock' will get more specific answers.  This will be true going forward in this story line anytime any of the crew is rolling for a hint or idea.

Silver needs to give me a Streetwise/Int.

Looking forward to this one!

Thanks

Silver paused as she suited up. Something was bothering her...

OOC:

19:23, Today: Silver rolled 9 using 2d6+1.  +1 streetwise.

Rig hit the comms to talk to the rest of the crew and share the details.

"The way I see it we've got three options. I can cut it, we can use the ship's weapons to blast it, or I can try and pick it. Mechanical locks like this can be manipulated with the right tools.

Something about the lock is bugging me though. There might be some kind of anti-theft booby trap on this thing. Push the wrong pins and boom, or something like that."

OOC: What kind of HP are we talking about? I've got a double beam laser turret on a ship with plenty of fuel. I imagine that would be faster than a cutter.

As for the question: How pickable is this thing? Standard lock picking is to apply tension on the lock and then use a pick to manually press every tumbler and because of the wiggle when you push it up far enough it will "catch" coming back down.

If this is a fairly large hole which I imagine it would be if people are expected to operate it through bulky vacc suits then it should be possible even if it's a 3d hole. Rig can probably whip up some rudimentary lockpicks and try picking it while someone else uses the cutting torch as a backup.

19:29, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 15 using 2d6+3.  mechanics + edu.

At the word "booby trap" Silver taps a command to her vacc suit's computer to bring up the PRIS binoculars. If there is something inside the lock transmitting she might be able to pick it up where the giant ship's sensors might have missed.

In reply to Gary 'Rig' Rigan (msg # 12):

Rig:  The lock pick is the best avenue.  You are correct:  Riggy Boy can whip up something pretty easy.

The extra pins are a bobby trap.  Most of the pinions are unnecessary.  In fact, they're buttons disguised as pinions.  They're meant to trick someone to try to pressure them and then...well.  Whatever would happen would happen.  Fritz can't scan into the rock to see what resides behind the locking mechanism.

Because of Rig's excellent result:  he can jury rig a key easy enough.  He's got a good idea which pinion need to be activated and which don't.  He'll need to feed a sensor into the key hole, have the data beamed back to Fritz, and Fritz can give him a template to cut a key from.  Rig feels like he should have them inside the complex within fifteen to twenty minutes.

Give me a Mech/Int roll if you go with the lock pick option please.  Take a DM of +2 to the roll.

Also, the set up here is actually kind of impressive.  Assuming the fake pinions are traps...and that seems safe to assume...this is pretty sophisticated mechanical work.  If Rig didn't have Fritz to do the numbers and he wasn't Rig, this might be a different story.

Blasting with the ship's lasers is an option.  One shot should do it.  But it's like swatting a fly with a cow.  Even with a tight beam, you're probably going to hit more than just the door.  And you don't know what's behind the door.

If you go with this option, I'll need a Gunner/Int roll.  This would be a precision shot, so the target is a little higher, though I think your software gives you a bonus.  Can't recall and I'm not close to my rule book at the moment.

---

Silver:  This set up is pretty odd, even for a super secret smuggler base.  The part that really bugs Silver are those crags that kept from an easy descent.  Most pirates are going to want to get away soon as possible.  Having to park their ship and risk hull damage on lift off in case a navy cruiser came by...

It is true the gully would provide some protection from being seen.  But a scan of the rock itself would pick up a ship parked on the surface easy enough.

She doesn't know enough about Clesing to decide if he was just someone who was willing to take that kind of risk or not.  But supposedly a lot of crews came through here back in the day.

It just seems odd to her that smugglers would be willing to park their rides out in the semi-open like that.  It's like something they would teach you not to do in Smuggling 101.

Rig used the video feed to design the key that would avoid the trapped pins and press the untrapped ones. When he put his mind to it, it was actually pretty easy to tell which was which. Trapped pins were designed to be turned while depressed so they had to have a sheer line in them so it would twist. All he had to do was use a sensor to tell how long the pin was before a break or disruption in the metal. All he needed was a vibration sensor, something to tap the pin with and a powerful supercomputer with a science library to analyze the results based on the material composition.

Once the lock was mapped he went inside and printed out a key. Easy peasy.

"Alright guys, here goes nothing..."

Rig began to turn the key...

OOC: /le sigh

07:52, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 7 using 2d6+3.  lock pick.

Silver was staring at the nearest outcropping thinking about what was going on. It was weird. Of all the asteroids they could have picked one that was more sheltered so why this one.

"Hey Fritz, poke your nose at the nearest outcropping. Hard. I want to see if anything is buried underneath there. If you can't see anything then fire up the laser and lets give it a poke."

Ledo's voice came on.

"Uhhh, belay that. What's going on, Silver?"

"This set up is all wrong and those outcroppings are the problem. I think there's more going on."

"Like what?"

"Don't know, that's why I want to poke it."

"Let's not poke anything while we're all out of the ship. Fritz, keep the beam laser warmed up and input the nearest outcropping to the virtual gunner and keep your eyes open."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:21, Mon 11 May 2020.

In reply to Silver (msg # 16):

Rig's 7 isn't all that bad. But just to make sure...only Tepha is aboard Tia right now, correct? Everyone else is by the door, with Silver looking around.

That sound right?

OOC: Lol...yeah.

"It's not that bad....also I need to know exactly how close to the blast radius everyone is going to be..."

No really.  I just needed to know who was going, and who wasn’t.

As Silver and Ledo exchange tactical information, Rig turns the key.