BB had never seen the guy but she had been told he was a computer expert. Maybe he was running some kind of predictive software or something. In any event they were running, not fighting so while it would screw up her shot, there wasn't much for her to be shooting anyway.

With a flick of her wrist she tilted the controls to spin the turret around.


16:01, Today: BB Nova rolled 9 using 2d6+2.  gunner (turret) check.

Rig was still limping towards the low berths. He needed to make sure they were solid. On a whim he hit the comms to the passenger berths.

"Everything's under control but if any of you happen to have any kind of technical background meet me in the cargo bay. The ship took a hit."

Nero didn't need to be told twice. He had his camera in hand and was sprinting down the corridors of the ship.

"Nero-knights this is your man again. We're hurt. Bad! The ship's engineer has deputized me to help with the repairs. This could very well be my last post! Stay tuned for realtime updates! Don't forget to like and subscribe for automatic notification as the fight goes on.!"

He saved the video to for later editing and uploading. Hopefully by the time they were finished the jamming field would be lifted and he could begin uploading all those death defying vlogs he had been recording. He would need to time the uploads out properly to make his viewers think they were happening realtime...

BB, as you spin your turret, what sounds like a ground tank running along the side of the hull suddenly starts.  It gets so loud you have to block your ears.  The cabin you're in shakes...worse than when that missle hit...and if not for the straps, you would be launched from your chair.

With your ears still ringing, you see the turret screens light up red.

Evacuate Turret!  Breach Imminent!

Rig, number one turret is 92.7% damaged.  That last rock bounced right along the hull and steamrollered into it.

Fritz pipes up to both you and Ledo.  I had Ms. BB spin the turret.  Damage took out the guns instead of the module she was seated in.  I think her exit is unobstructed.  But turret needs to be sealed off.  Immediately.

Tepha, you catch a signal from Resting.  Their mercs have apparently driven off most of the pirates but one landed.  They've got a fire fight on the ground.  It sounds like they have the pirates pinned.

Siri's ship sideswiped a rock as well.  Damage reports are lighting up.  Looks like he's deciding to bail though.  The Plasmatic Spifull is continuing on course, heading away from you.

Or maybe his nav system took a hit.  Nah.  You guys couldn't get that lucky.

Resting is signaling.  Tiamat's Flight.  This is Resting control.  Power down and identify your reason for being here.

They are obviously concerned you guys are pirates.

Once it appears like Siri was bailing Ledo laid off the afterburners. He slowed down and started punching in commands to drain power away from the turrets. Not shutting them off completely but putting them in a low energy standby mode.

"Resting this is Tiamat's Flight. We're on a supply run delivering foodstuffs and sundries when we saw your station under attack. Just trying to do our civic duty but we took some bad hits and are in need of repair."

Even as he said it he winced. If Siri was still monitoring their comms he might decide that they were easy pickings but then again he still had the afterburners he could hit to outrun Siri's ship if needed.

BB was calm, she had gone through evacuation drills in the military after all. She began looking around for anything that could help. Patch kits to mend the breach, an emergency air supply to keep her breathing, an obvious route out of the damaged turret.

Rig cursed. The alert occurred just as he reached the other end of the ship. He hoped that whatever was going on with the low berths wasn't fatal as he now needed to make his way back to the front.

"Rig here. I'm way at the other end of the ship. Have Silver do what she can until I get there."

Silver punched the controls. It was clear that Ledo was letting Siri go and with their beam turret damaged it was the best call but that didn't mean she was happy about it. Still the star marine had proven to be a hot shot so it didn't do anyone any good to let her die in a damaged turret. Silver was already suited up anyway in her vacc suit (just in case of boarding operations) so she figured she was in as good a spot as any to help out. She unstrapped herself from the ion cannon controls and made her way over to the beam turret module to assess the damage.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 74):

BB, the hatch into the turret is thankfully not blocked.  You can open it and crawl out.  You hear one of the most dreadful sounds there is to hear during space travel:  the groan of metal being pulled by on, probably by decompression occuring somewhere nearby.

The alert is blaring.  You have time to exit and seal the hatch behind you.

Rig and Nero, the two of you arrive in the hold about the same time.  The trouble is pretty apparent, even to Nero.

A container came loose during the fight.  It must have been thrown when the missle hit.  Of course, it landed right on top of the temperature controls.  The low berths are warming up...fast.  Too fast.  If passengers in cold sleep come out of cryo too fast they can go into shock.  "Freezer Burn" is what it's called.  It's usually fatal.

The lockers have a manual thermometer on them. So you can program them to readjust to a cold temp or to thaw at an acceptable rate.  But with  the main control down, you'll have to flip each thermometer manually.  And fast.

Let's give Riggy baby some rolls please.

There are 8 passengers I believe:  6 on the film crew and the mining couple.

You'll need to make eight rolls.  Engineering/Edu or Int.  Your call.

Nero can assist.  I'll let you add his Int or Edu  bonus to each roll.

Each failure means the passenger is going into shock.  You'll need to get them to the med bay and fast.

If you can come up with another solution that's good too.  The problem here is getting the passengers at either a freeze temp or a thaw temp with the right timing.  Just flash freezing isn't going to cut it.

How's that for drama?

Ledo and Tepha, there's a long pause from Resting.  And then...

Tiamat's Flight.  The cruiser Adano is on it's way over to you.  It is one of ours. Allow boarding and have your manifests ready for inspection.  Any sign of trouble and we blow out of the belt.

Sorry.  But we can't be trusting under these circumstances.  I'm sure you can see where we're coming from.

Rig swore and considered a complete bypass but there just wasn't enough time. Every second they waited meant someone was closer to getting freezer burn. Rig was limping towards the casket while pointing Nero at the one at the other end.

"No time to explain. Go to each one and set it to manual override and set the system to Emergency III. Not II or IV. III. Just agree to whatever it says and once the panel indicator goes green go to the next one. If anything else happens or the panel stays red call me over!"

OOC: So I'm assuming this is life support so their total score is +4. Calling out which casket is which.

Casket #1: 12
Casket #2:  9
Casket #3:  9
Casket #4: 13
Casket #5: 12
Casket #6:  8
Casket #7: 10
Casket #8: 14


13:37, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 12,14,9,10,9,8,13 using 2d6+4,2d6+4,2d6+4,2d6+4,2d6+4,2d6+4,2d6+4 with rolls of 6,2,5,5,3,2,2,4,4,1,3,1,5,4.  Going 1->8->2->7->3->6->4->5.

13:38, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 12 using 2d6+4 with rolls of 6,2.  forgot one.

Ledo began slowing down and lowering engine to standby.

"Roger that Resting. I'm going to leave combat systemso online until the cruiser is in position. I don't want to be a problem but I don't want to be a sitting duck for pirates as well. We have security personnel onboard if you want us to dock and help with your vermin problem. Otherwise we will sit tight. Transmitting manifest."

Ledo turned and submitted the "official" manifest and made a work order for Rig to begin filling the tanks from anything in the inflatable to cover up their hidden storage. He pulled up the damage control and frowned when he saw that the low berths were flashing warning signs.

He punched in some controls to put the ship in a slow course towards Resting at minimal power and stood up.

"Keep an eye on the sensors. I'm going back to help Rig. Tia took some bad hits."

He began jogging towards the cargo hold, less to help Rig and more to get the fuel pumps going himself. He figured Rig would be too busy with repairs to handle that but they needed to cover their contraband before being inspected.

Silver ran down the hallway towards the other turret but skidded to a halt when she saw the marine already extracting herself from the turret. With a nod from her armored helmet she complimented BB.

"Good shooting."

BB shrugged, stretching and putting her arms behind her head, twisting to either side as she worked the kinks out of her back.

"You too. We took on what, 4 pirate ships. 2 kills and still surviving to fly. I like this ship. She's a lot different than a typical Far Trader."

Silver gave a laugh although it came out a little garbled as the vacc suit's speakers didn't know quite how to translate the sound.

"She's a tough old bitch, that's for sure. Make sure you talk to the captain and get your payday. You earned a big fat bonus too. Tell him that as well."

She paused and then held up her hands as if BB was about to rush off that very second.

"But make sure it damn well doesn't come out of my cut. I barely get paid enough as is!"

In reply to Silver (msg # 81):

Damn.  You made. Every. Single. One.  Even with the bonus I thought you'd miss at least one of them.

Nice improv on Rig's instructions by the by

The low berths go from a red to an orange status Rig>  They're falling to green.  You should be good at that point.  You'll need to thaw the passengers.  Fixing the board is a no go with bodies in the tubes as you'll have to recalibrate.  But you think you can get the board fixed.  Maybe.  That will be it's own Engineering/Int roll when you're ready to make it.  Doesn't have to be done now.  If you fail, you'll have to buy a new system.  We can talk about costs when/if it comes to that.

Siri seems to have cut bait and run.  He disappears off your sensors Tepha

Fritz pipes up.  Tepha.  The passengers in their rooms are asking if it is safe to come out yet.  Should I tell them to stay put?

Ledo, you get the inflatible set up a little after Adano comes into range.  As you feel the soft bump of the boarding platform locking onto Tia's airlock, you finish things up.

The Adano sends over a small unit of five.  One officer.  Four grunts.  Not surpirsingly, they have rifles raised when the door opens.

The officer, a short man built like a steel wall, steps forwward.  "I'm Randers.  Let's make this easy on both sides.  My folks are gonna do a quick looksie around your ship.  You'll understand we need to be careful.  If it's good, we'll get you docked.

"Anything I should know about before my boys an' girls go for their walk?"

Before the boarding party hits them Ledo relays the news back to Fritz.

"Tell them to wait in their rooms and have their paperwork ready. Tell them that we're being inspected by a naval vessel, standard procedure after an engagement just to make sure we're not pirates ourselves."

Once the team arrived Ledo had the crew waiting in the lounge (except for Rig) and Fritz was told to stay as quiet as possible. BB had been sent back to her room to keep an eye on Nero.

When the team boarded Ledo shook his head and handed over his paperwork. Everything was official and on the up-and-up and it didn't hurt that his ownership agreement had his full Naval rank (retired of course) in the header which should catch the eye of the inspector. Nothing to see here, just a ship doing its civic duty on a delivery run.

"My main job is transporting a movie crew to a planet for filming. The rest is just various simple cargo and passengers. Try...try not to make a big deal if you recognize any of the actors."

Rig was hauling ass across the ship during the inspection working down emergency repairs one at a time in priority order.

In reply to Gary 'Rig' Rigan (msg # 84):

Have Riggy baby give me three repair rolls just to see what he can get done please.  Thank You

"Unless you got Calliope Quans and she wants to do a nude scene with me, don't worry."  He studies your crew and passenger list and barks a laugh.  "You do have Callipoe Quans?  Wow.  One out of two ain't bad I suppose.  Don't worry.  I'm a gentleman when I'm sober."

He studies the manifest. "You guys were headed our way for a milk run, huh?  That makes things easier.  Once I verify with shipping that they were expecting you, that solves a lot of questions right there.  Much appreciated," he adds as he hands back the handcom.  He nods at his people who move off to do their search.

"I don't know what you've heard, but your timing is really bad.  The pirates pulled a big raid.  And it was on the Navy.  I guess they're throwin' down the gauntlet.  But it was one hell of a surprise.  I haven't heard much, but your boys really got their asses handed to 'em.  They just barely beat the pirates back.

"Supposed to be some kind of uprising in a few sectors.  I guess we're one of 'em.  Some group callin' themselves the Sang Real or some such."

Ledo couldn't help but snort at the name.

"Royal Blood? Really? Someone has delusions of grandeur..."

The life of a chief engineer is never slow or dull. Not with a ship getting hit by every pirate in the sector, apparently.

OOC:
16:26, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 9,5,8 using 2d6+2,2d6+2,2d6+2.  repair rolls.

In reply to Gary 'Rig' Rigan (msg # 87):

You do remember where I got the name Sang Real?

You're able to patch quite a bit Rig.  But here's the bad news:

Besides the central life support monitor on the low berths, you're going to have to replace the gun turret.  All of it.  The old one has to be junked out and a new one fitted on.

The last bit:  some of the hull needs to be replaced.  You don't know until you have a chance to do an outside inspection.  And its not extensive.  But there are spots now where a direct hit could penetrate the armor.

You need to berth Tia in a fully operational shipyard.  And if Bowman's been hit, there's probably not one in this sector.

Tia is still flyable.  Just try to avoid pirates until you can get to a good shipyard.

The officer here's back from his troops.  To no one's surprise, you're given an all clear.  They weren't looking too hard for contraband.  But then again, they aren't the navy.

Resting allows you to dock.  They can't give you much in the way of repair work.  They've got too much of their own to repair.  But they do happily take the delivery and pay promptly.

Let me know if you want to try to do any trade here.  You can refuel and restock here.  But you aren't getting any repair work done.  They have other priorities.

Or at least that's what they're telling you.  Let me know if you want to try to convince them.


Let me know what your folks want to do next.  If nothing special, we will move on to the next stop.  Bwah ha ha ha.

Ledo wasn't taking "no" for an answer, not after what they had just been through.

"Hey! We put our assess on the line for you. We could have turned around and left you to those pirates and let me tell you if they had gotten this station we would be cleaning up what's left of you and your crew with a mop and bucket. Is that how you want to repay a Good Samaritan? I'm looking at a million credits plus in repairs and you're telling me 'sorry, no can do.' Come on. We both know you're going to get insurance to payout for the cost anyway, what's a few repairs thrown into the mix. That way I get to let it be known that Resting takes care of those who take care of Resting. Bowman's already going to be struggling with a bad rep after this pirate raid. It's going to be even worse if traders know the stations don't look after anyone who puts their ass on the line for them."

Ledo's voice softened. He had hit with the hammer now it is was time to offer them an easy way out.

"Come on, we both know it's the right thing to do. I get my ship back in order and you get to do some good out of all this mess."

OOC: Wasn't sure what to roll so Diplomat/Social

15:56, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 10 using 2d6+2.  Diplo/SOC.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 90):

"No" appears to be answer.  Mostly.

The dock crew chief shrugs.  "I got lots of ships that are smacked up.  And most of them are company owned so they take priority.  If you wanna wait around for a few weeks, sure. We'll patch you up.  But you're at the bottom of the stack.  Sorry.

"But if you wanna try to salvage from some of the derelicts...use those parts and patch it yourself, I won't stop ya.  Maybe you can find the parts you need on one of those pirate carcasses.  I got crews goin' out to salvage them starting in a few hours.  You wanna have your people jump on one of the shuttles and see what they can find, be my guest.  You pull it off the wreck, you can have it and do with it what you want. Best I can offer ya buddy."

Sorry, but from their POV, their ships come first, both in terms of labor and supplies.

You can wait on them to repair, but that will be 16 days before they'll start on Tia

If Ledo wants to try to go up the food chain and make his case, go ahead.  I'll give you a shot.

What they will give you now is a berth and let you try to salvage the parts from the pirate wrecks.  Rig can use the shipyard tools and you guys can do the work yourselves.  They won't charge you the berthing fee.

If you want to go this route:  there are three main problem areas

-The weak spots in the hull
-The turret
-The life support monitor for the low berth

The Hull  This is pretty straight forward work.  Pulling good armor off derelicts and welding it on.  Rig doesn't even necessarily have to be involved. Silver has probably done work like this before.  Your call if Ledo or BB have as well.  Rig will need to do the final inspection.  Let's say a Mech/Edu roll with a +1 for each set of hands you put on this task.

It will take four days.  Two to find and pull enough plate, one to cut off the bad plate and one to weld the good plate on.

The Turret  You can probably find some turrets.  The questions are will they be compatible and will they be in good enough condition.  If you want to try to look for one, make two luck checks.  One luck check success, you find a turret in good enough shape that is compatible.  You can install but your Gunner checks are at -1 because it is not the same model.  If you make both luck checks, you found a model match.  No penalties

Rig would have to oversee the installation on this himself.  Enginnering/Int.  You can make checks until you make one.

Time frame on this:  one day to salvage.  Two days to install.  If you have to make additional Engineering/Int checks other than the first one, add a day.

This work can go on at the same time as the hull work.

The Low Berth Situation  So I don't see pirates really prioritizing low berths.  The odds of finding the parts you need aren't really good.

But we can let the luck rolls decide.  Three luck checks.  You make two of them, Rig finds enough parts to jury rig a working unit.  It will take a lot of care.  You'll still need to replace it.  But it will work unless the system takes more damage.

Three luck checks and Rig finds enough to rebuild the unit completely.

Either way, Rig has to do this work.  Engineering/Int.  Rig has to pay attention to this separately.  It's that intricate.

Time frame:  one day to salvage.  If it's the jury rig option, that's one  day.  If it's the complete rehaul, two days. 

Given how much damage they had taken and the cost of repairs, Rig advised Ledo to take the salvage option. It might cost them their bonus with Black Sun but Black Sun also wasn't offering them millions of credits either and even if they were, that didn't help the fact that they were now in the middle of a war zone or revolution with some real sadistic killers gunning for them.

Rig treated the rest of the crew as his own personal work team. Even Ledo had to step aside and let Rig take charge. Luckily while Ledo wasn't really experienced with ship repairs (he normally had entire Naval branch handling that), Silver's background as a salvager was a godsend for Rig. He could put her in charge of doing the basic repairs like patching hull plates while he focused on the more delicate internal work. Even Tepha found her computer background coming into play as she helped run diagnostics and scour debris fields for usable parts.

Hull Repairs
Rig put Silver in charge, tasking Ledo and BB to help out as they both had zero-g suit training. They might not be welders but they were extra hands that could hold plates in place while Silver welded.


13:56, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 15 using 2d6+6.  hull repairs.


Turret Repairs
While it wasn't quite the same as what they had bought, it was still a double beam turret which was a huge part of their repair bills. It could turn and it could fire. Sure it was jittery and the targeting package had a tendency to short out under stress but it could turn and it could fire.

OOC: Got an 8 and 5 on the luck checks so that is 1 turret with a -1 to hit. 11 on the mechanic check.

13:57, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 8,5 using 2d6,2d6.  luck check.
13:58, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 10 using 2d6.  rig up the turret.


Low Berth Repairs
No dice on a replacement unit but that was to be expected. While he could pass off hull repairs and even some of the turret work this was something he needed to do all by himself. It didn't help that life support wasn't one of his strong suits. His time in the merchant fleet had been spent in electrical and engines but he knew enough to rig together a controller.

"Hey Fritz, how much do you know about low berth life support temperature monitoring? This is going to need to be fiddled with constantly and I was hoping you could spare some subroutines to tweak it so I don't have to set up a bed and an alarm here in the cargo hold. Anytime a door opens or closes, any time an air cycler kicks on or the Captain hits the afterburners the system isn't going to handle the change in temperature very well. We'll need to anticipate it. Start cooling things as temperature goes up and cutting cooling when temperatures fall again. Do you think that's something you can handle?"

Rolled a '7'. Any bonus for getting Fritz to help out with the science/maths?
14:12, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 7 using 2d6+1.  jury rig the low berths.

In reply to Gary 'Rig' Rigan (msg # 92):

Sorry.  Thought I had responded.

The repair is outside his scope. But it does make sense Fritz could monitor the temperature.
 Rig will have to walk him through the set up i.e. make a programming roll.  Electronics/Int with a bonus +1 for the Fritz factor.

This will get you a functioning temp reg system.  But of course, you still need to replace that board at some point.

You can keep rolling until you make the roll.  Each roll will add a day.

After the roll, you can post as to what you want to do next, if anything.  If not, I will move us on.

Thanks.

Programming a function to help Fritz was right up Rig's alley. Working alongside Fritz they were able to cobble something together. It wasn't pretty, it violated about every safety standard in the Imperium, but it worked and that was all that mattered at this point.

OOC:
08:17, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 11 using 2d6+3.  Electronic (Computers)/Int.