Tia launches.  The corpy highway is pretty straight forward.

Keeping an eye on the sensors, Tepha, you see...

Give me three sensor/Int checks from Tepha (or whoever is manning the sensors) please.  You can assign them in any order you wish.  I'll use them for the next few sensor checks instead of calling for a roll each time.

Thanks

Tepha keeps her eye on the sensors but gets distracted now and then out of concern for how Ledo and the others are handling the food poisoning.



15:48, Today: Tepha Pezal rolled 4 using 2d6+01.  sensor 3.

15:48, Today: Tepha Pezal rolled 13 using 2d6+01.  sensor 2.

15:48, Today: Tepha Pezal rolled 6 using 2d6+01.  sensor 1.

In reply to Tepha Pezal (msg # 2):

Lucky

About the halfway mark, there seems to be something glitchy on the long range Tepha.  One of the rocks you scanned earlier suddenly has a larger signature then it did before.  Like it increased in size by about 1.7 %.  It's too far out to get a clear read at the moment.  You guys will be coming up on it in 18...17...16...

Tepha hits the comms to alert Silver.

"Silver, I think we have company! Get to the turret Any of them."

Tepha will begin adjusting course to swing them a little wider away from the asteroids and start pinging that area heavily with the sensors.

OOC:

15:40, Today: Tepha Pezal rolled 6 using 2d6+1.  sensor.

In reply to Tepha Pezal (msg # 4):

You don't have to ping them long Tepha.

Two ships come up from below, each coming around the side of a big rock.  They appear to be modified shuttles. Someone's welded afterburners on them.  They don't seem to be fitted with weapons.  But they are fit with assault scaffolds.  They're meant for boarding.

They start to come after Tia

Tepha frowned and set the course before (badly) targeting the ion cannon. She was hoping that a quick display of power from their ship would send the would-be pirates running for cover. While Ledo might have pursued to collect another bounty with most of the crew incapacitated in bed she wasn't keen on a real fight.

I think that is a 6. Isn't it -3 for untrained?

16:27, Today: Tepha Pezal rolled 9 using 2d6.  ion cannon shot.

Silver, firing up the beam turret, was not so keen to just give a warning shot and instead targeted a shuttle and pegged it with her twin-linked beams.

OOC: I don't recall all the bonuses but a 9 just from skill + the beam bonus oughta do it. 5 damage!

16:28, Today: Silver rolled 9 using 2d6+2.  raw turret roll (not including beam bonuses).

16:31, Today: Silver rolled 5 using 1d6+1.  turret damage.

In reply to Tepha Pezal (msg # 6):

Your warning shot is just that Tepha.  It goes wide.

Silver, your shot scores a hit, raking across the back end of one of the shuttles.  It's enough to cause their engines to sputter but not conk out.  But they slow significantly.

The other shuttle pulls closer, trying to come in under Tia's belly, using your own ship for cover from the turret.  They aren't quite there yet though...

I'm guessing Ledo didn't make that 6- roll then?

Shuttle A has been hit.  Still up and running, but you managed to knock out some of the afterburn units they had installed, slowing them down.

Shuttle B is trying to come in under your belly.  It's not giving them cover at the moment.

Ledo rushes into the cockpit. He still looks pale and sweaty but his mind is focused and he can handle a light jog without doubling over in pain.

Tepha looks up and sees him, flashes a quick smile, and then runs over to the co-pilot console.

"Pirates inbound. They're trying to get under us and board us."

Ledo gives a nod and jumps into the pilot chair, immediately sending the ship into a barrel roll to make docking as impossible as he can manage it.

OOC: Make it harder to be boarded

17:00, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 12 using 2d6+01.  pilot check.

Silver fires up the beam turret on the still active shuttle. At this range it was all too easy to clip the ship.

OOC: So she rolled a 5 but that becomes +4 for using a beam turret and (probably) +1 for short range = 10

3 damage

17:00, Today: Silver rolled 5 using 2d6+2.  raw turret roll (not including beam bonuses).

17:03, Today: Silver rolled 3 using 1d6+1.  beam laser damage.

Back at the sensor station Tepha activates all the targeting protocols feeding telemtry data to Silver and Ledo and acquiring a sensor lock on the still active ship.



17:04, Today: Tepha Pezal rolled 8 using 2d6+1.  sensor lock.

The three of you work like well oiled machine.  Ledo, you swerve at just the right moment, both avoiding them attaching themselves and opening a good field of vision for Silver.  The sensor lock is icing on the soy protein bar Tepha

However, the shuttle pilot is no slouch. He banks hard at the last moment, offering the shuttle's belly instead of risking the engines.  The shot rakes across the plating.

Tepha, you can see the shuttle lost some internal pressure.  It looks like a back compartment raked open.  Two of the life signs wink out almost instantly.  There are four more still beeping though.

The shuttle spins and launches forward, trying to make another grapple at Tia's underbelly...

Your move

Ledo continues to try to outfly the other ship but frankly the shuttle was much more maneuverable than the Tia was. His hand hovered over the afterburners but he decided it wasn't life or death...yet.



15:12, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 7 using 2d6+1.  pilot check.

Frankly firing beam lasers at close targets was like shooting fish in a barrel. Even if the first shot missed, it was a beam. She could swing the turret across and cut the enemy ship like a knife.

Silver hits on a 13 for 7 damage!
15:13, Today: Silver rolled 13 using 2d6+7.  raw turret roll (not including beam bonuses).
15:13, Today: Silver rolled 7 using 1d6+1.  damage.

In reply to Silver (msg # 14):

Shuttle B comes apart down the middle.  Tepha, all the hot spots inside it quickly go cold.

Shuttle A breaks off pursuit.  It dives back into the cover of the Belt.

You have about five more flight hours to Resting.

You may take whatever action you like.  But I will want three more sensor/int rolls from the lovely Ms. Tepha please and thank you.

Tepha had figured that with all the fighting they would be safe for awhile from any other attacks and wasn't paying too close attention to the sensors until Ledo reminded her to keep her eyes open.


15:37, Today: Tepha Pezal rolled 11 using 2d6+1.  int/sensors #3.
15:36, Today: Tepha Pezal rolled 4 using 2d6+1.  int/sensor #2.
15:36, Today: Tepha Pezal rolled 5 using 2d6.  int/sensor #1.

Ledo took the Tia close to the now empty wreck to evaluate it to see if there was anything worthwhile in salvaging. Given how quickly it had come apart it might not even have a cargo bay and instead literally just be the raiding party with an engine strapped beneath them but he figured it never hurt to check before heading on down.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 17):

The broken shuttle is drifting apart.  There isn't any obvious cargo, though you would suspect there are some guns and the like.

Someone will have to go out in a suit though to check it out to be sure though.

Ledo considers what value there might be on the wreckage and then hits the throttle to keep moving on by. They had cargo to deliver and a fat juicy contract with Black Sun to try to deliver upon. Salvaging every pirate ship they come across probably wasn't in the cards currently.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 19):

Tepha, you catch a transmission on your sensors.  An audio and its response.

Boss.  A swing and a miss.  They got J Bird.  We got crippled.

There's a minute before they get a response.

Here's your next order.  Run fucktard run.  You dropped the ball and you hailed me on an unsecured channel.  I'm going to enjoy myself when I get to you.

You can't tell much about the first voice.  The signal it came from soon disappears.

The second voice.  Well that's Siri.  No doubts about it.  He must be somewhere in the belt, because you can't get a fix on his location.  All you can tell is, he's somewhere ahead.

---

Tia hums along the corpy highway without much hitch.  You're about two hours out from Resting when you pick up an incoming.  Ship going the other way than you along the highway.

It scans as a yacht.  High end model.  Built for sports running, at least that's what it seems from the power it seems to support for an M Drive.

The yacht pings you with its long range and then peels off the highway, heading upwards.  It seems to be trying to avoid you by heading away from the belt.

So far so good. If they wanted to keep their distance, so much the better. With knowledge the Siri was in the system and actively hunting for them Ledo was having Tepha compile a report and beam it towards that naval captain they met earlier. With any luck the Navy would take a patrol through the asteroids and scare off any potential ambushes while they finish up their run.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 21):

The yacht races away.

Tepha, you beam the information to the nearest navy bot.  But it seems like all units are busy:  the pirates launched another massive attack close to WesRim.

---

Tia makes the 1 hour mark to Resting.

Ledo  you are having trouble finding Resting's signal beacon.  There's a lot of interference across the bands.

Then you latch on to it.

Then you latch on to another.

There are two seperate beacons hitting.  Each one saying they are the beacon for Resting.

And they are leading in two different directions.

They're both in the same quadrant, the quadrant Resting is supposed to be in.  One is sitting just on top of the belt.  The other is underneath it's surface by a couple of clicks.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:40, Sat 20 Feb 2021.

Ledo leaned back and considered the options. A coin flip, huh. Maybe there was a way to reason it.

It seemed likely that the pirates doing this ploy weren't stupid and the point on top of the belt seemed the easiest to get to. A little too easy. If he was a merchant captain and didn't know where to go, he would avoid going into the belt as well. Which makes that point the better ambush spot for the pirates.

He pointed the Tia towards the point inside the asteroid belt hoping an asteroid station was inside the asteroid belt.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 23):

Not long after Tia dives into the belt, Tepha, you notice the other signal, the one that had been on top of the belt, is moving.  It seems to be on an intercept course.

Suddenly, the comm network goes to static.  Tia has wandered into a jammer zone.  All comms external to the ship are being snuffed out.

It looks like someone's set up a ring of jamming stations around Resting

Fritz pops up a map.  It shows Resting seated in the middle of a septagon.  It seems there's seven points that are emitting the jamming signals.  Tia is just on the inside edge of the rimward side.

Tepha, long range sensors show Resting is under attack.  Four ships are down. Either dead in the water or blasted into itty, bitty bits.  Five ships are scrambling around the rock Resting is sitting on.  It appears its two corpy security jobs against three pirates.

That on-top-of-the-belt signal that peeled off after you has moved so it's coming in behind you. Still too far off to engage you.  But it's obviously trying to seal off your avenue of escape.

It hasn't just yet though.

Ledo slams the ship back around making for the nearest edge of the jamming zone.

"Oh fuck. This is bad. We need to alert the Navy ASAP! Tepha, as soon as we clear the jamming zone broadcast an emergency message on all channels that Resting is under attack with at least four pirate ships still actively engaging.

Silver, warm up the EMP. BB, you're in the turret again. Rig, quit throwing up because we're going to need you!"

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 25):

Poor Rig.  He can operate at a -1 penalty considering he's been nursing himself.

Ledo you spin Tia around, heading for the nearest border of the jamming net.

One of the ships attacking Resting peels off, or tries to.  The corpy interceptors manage to delay him by trying to blast him to bits.

You hit the edge of the border and begin spraying off SOS.

The ship that was dogging you is bearing down.  It seems to have Tia listed as a priority.

You slip into the belt....

There is currently one ship on your tail.  Let's call it A.  There may be at least one more coming.  It will depend on how the dog fight back at Resting goes.

You guys have slipped into an asteroid belt, so you have some options.  Ducking and weaving around the rocks, trying to find some place to hide, or making a run for it.  I can come up with a belt map if that helps.  Let me know if you want to run, hide, or fight.  Or some other option I haven't thought of.  Thanks

Ledo had an idea. The best defense was a good offense, right? He turned the ship and made it look like he was bolting with just his M-Drive but he kept an eye out for a the right asteroid to loop around. Instead of just dodging around it when he reached the far side he would hit the afterburners and suddenly burn right around to charge the incoming pirates and blast them square in the face with his EMP.

OOC: I imagine that will require a roll or two :P

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 27):

Tia pushes into a burn, sliding around the asteroid like a blood sample swinging around inside a medical centrifuge.

You come up under A's belly Ledo.

Despite being bleary eyed, your shot scorches across BB>.  Silver,, your shot lands solidly as well.

But A continues forward, and passes by as Tia shoots upwards behind it, both ships continuing on their flight paths.

Tepha, sensors show objects dumping out of A's back end.  Missles.  They're veering upwards, heading for an intercept course.

Ledo...

We haven't really played with Luck yet have we?  Ledo...make me a luck check.  2d.  No bonus.  I'll let you know what happens depending on your results.

Take whatever actions you deem fit.

Ledo pulls back on the throttle trying to adjust their course to put an asteroid in between them and the missiles.

OOC:
12:32, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 5 using 2d6+2.  pilot check.

12:32, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 10 using 2d6.  luck check.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 29):

...pulls upwards, barely able to keep Tia from rubbing her upper plates off the surface of the rock.

As Tia shoots upwards, you can see A has flung forward, temporarily losing sensor lock on the asteroids around them.  The pilot of A barely manages to pull out from a rock that is right in front of him.

Ledo, you aren't able to bring Tia back around in time to take advantage of his bout of user error.

Thanks for rolling a 5

Tepha, Fritz shoots up a scan of A's condition. They took some damage but the EMP does not seem to have fazed their much.  They still seem to have nav and weapon systems online.  They must have shielding.

Siri does learn when he assigns his ships to missions.

Next round.  They were too busy trying not to crash into a rock to return fire.

I will also need a luck check each round.  The luck check will determine how the surrounding asteroids play into the coming dog fights, if at all.

Questions?  Thanks.

Ledo's ship proves to be considerably more maneuverable at the expense of burning through their fuel like crazy. He splits his time from setting up his own crew for shots and avoiding incoming fire.

OOC: With 4 thrust he'll add +2 to enemy shots and +1 to his own crew firing

14:19, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 7 using 2d6.  luck check.

Tepha tries to establish a target lock but with all the asteroids and the wild combat maneuvers she is unable to score a full lock.

14:23, Today: Tepha Pezal rolled 7 using 2d6+01.  sensor lock.

Silver lines up a shot and fires off the EMP barb as Ledo lines up a shot for her.

Silver hits a 9 (10 if short range), +1 for Ledo's piloting for 70 ion damage

14:26, Today: Silver rolled 7 using 2d6.  ion damage x10.
14:19, Today: Silver rolled 9 using 2d6+2.  emp turret shot (raw).

BB isn't doing so hot but then again, she is in a beam turret which is known as one of the easiest things in the world to fire and hit with.

OOC: BB rolled a 4 (+4 beam laser, +1 Ledo, +1  short range? -1   for being sick) = 8/9   for    5 damage

14:20, Today: BB Nova rolled 4 using 2d6+2.  raw beam turret roll.
14:30, Today: BB Nova rolled 5 using 1d6+1.  beam  laser damage.

In reply to BB Nova (msg # 34):

A's gunner seems to have recovered.  As you both tear into A Silver and BB, Tia rocks as they score a hit...but it fails to penetrate to any real depth.

Ledo, you manage to swing Tia around before getting too close to another rock.  A does as well.

A still seems to be up and running, though Tehpa you notice some of their systems are powering down.  Just not nav, weapons, or life support.

Another round.  Besides the Luck check, let's have Tepha make a general sensor sweep.

Ledo keeps weaving through the asteroid belt trying to get a good angle on the enemy ship but he is suddenly struck with an icy chill running down his spine.

OOC:
10:11, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 9 using 2d6+1.  pilot check.
10:11, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 2 using 2d6.  luck check.

Tepha continues to sweep the sensors to keep aware of their engagement zone.

OOC:

10:11, Today: Tepha Pezal rolled 8 using 2d6+1.  sensor sweep.

Tepha, you see another ping on long range.  Looks like another ship incoming from the direction of Resting.

Ledo, you start to turn Tia, coming around to line up the guns.

That's when the proximity sensor goes off.

The rock is only the size of a shuttle.  How it got missed by the sensors neither you nor Tepha can figure out.  Not that you have a lot of time to puzzle it.

It is positioned in just the worst possible place...

Since you made the Pilot check, I will give you a choice.

...right against Tia's belly.  It's going to scrape along the hull.  That in itself wouldn't be horrible.  But...

Fritz flips up a warning.

If you finish manuever execution, damage to sensor relays D4 and C4 assured.

Reading that message is all the time you have Ledo. What does that mean?

There's no time to call Rig or query Fritz.  You have to move.  Now.  You can either finish out the maneuver or roll Tia around, letting the rock scrape and hoping for the best.

I wasn't sure Ledo would reasonably know enough about the individual parts of Tia to know what Fritz's warning meant.  I will leave it to you.  Would Ledo have detailed knowledge about all the various parts of the sensor network?  If you want to roll for it, and can think of a reasonable skill like Engineering, that's fine.  If he does, let me know and I will give you more detail.

Otherwise, your choices are:

1) Take the hit to the sensors without knowing how extensive that damage will be or

2) Take a scrape across the hull and trust your luck/Tia's defenses.  Keep in mind you are going at an insanely fast speed.  So that may work against you here.

Dog fighting in an asteroid belt.  Whatcha gonna do?

If it makes you feel any better, Ship A got a 4 on their luck check. I have to figure out what happened to them in a moment. 

Ledo figures that Fritz wouldn't raise a warning unless it was important so he pulls Tia into a roll hoping the armor takes the hit instead of their sensor array.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 39):

Figured you wouldn't take the bait. But wanted to give it a shot.

The sound of the rock scraping across Tia's hull reverberates throughout the ship.  No matter where any of you are, its a sound that stops you in your tracks for a moment.  There's always that idle thought:  is the hull about to come open?

Damage reports light up your consoles Ledo and Rig.  The gouge is pretty deep.  But it didn't cut through the armor to the underhull.  And it missed any important fuel or electronic lines.

But now Tia has a seven meter open wound on her under carriage.  A shot hitting there will penetrate a lot of her armor automatically.

But what are the odds of that happening, right?

Ship A has its own troubles.  It didn't bank hard enough on its dive.  A rock also scored along their hull, but it hit topside.  Sensors show they've probably taken damage to their nav.  You aren't totally sure yet.

Tepha, the other ping is confirmed.  Another bogey incoming.  Its not broadcasting any kind of call and its blocking any hails you send its way.  It also looks to be hardened around the nav, engine, weapons, and life support system.

After a moment, you can get an ID.

Its the ship you saw before.  The Plasmatic Spifull

The Spifull suddenly sends out a hail.

"Siiiiiiiil-ver.  You there?".

Siri's calling.

Ship A is still functional, but you aren't sure how functional.  Tepha can try to scan them with a sensors test.

The Spifull will arrive in two rounds.  Less if you try to charge at them.

Your move.

Ledo maneuvers to put the soon-to-be wreck of the one ship between the Tia and the Spifull. Ledo was trying to the long game, buying time until the navy could head on over and clean up or at least spook the raiders into turning tail and run.

He was about to order radio silence when he saw a transmission going outbound...from the turret Silver was operating.


OOC: Easing off the afterburners a round. Need enough fuel to make it to station after all.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:10, Mon 22 Mar 2021.

Sillver was having enough of Siri's little mind games and she wasn't the kind of person to suffer quietly.

"Cut the shit, Siri. Everyone knows you're too chicken shit to do anything on your own. How many more ship's you gonna lose before everyone else realizes you're the fucking loser we know you are."

Maybe not the most eloquent but to prove a point she pumped another ion blast into the semi-disabled ship in front of them.


15:07, Today: Silver rolled 8 using 2d6+2.  ion turret.
15:07, Today: Silver rolled 6 using 2d6.  ion x10.

BB was just about to ask about target selection but seeing the sensors light up as Silver let loose another blast, BB kept on pulling the trigger, sweeping the laser beam across the pirate ship near them. If possible she was trying to aim for the gash they had from clipping an asteroid.

OOC: +2 skill, +4 beam, +1 short range = +7
15:11, Today: BB Nova rolled 10 using 2d6+7.  beam turret.
15:11, Today: BB Nova rolled 3 using 1d6+1.  beam damage.

Tepha had her sensors trained on the incoming ships but as Ledo mentioned to her that the ship they were firing on was slowing down she quickly adjusted them to point at the near ship to see how disabled it was.

OOC:
15:13, Today: Tepha Pezal rolled 6 using 2d6+1.  sensor scan.

Nero face was close to the camera, filling the frame. His breath was audible even though the audio filters that cut out background noises in order to add clarity to the speaker. All standard features for a holo streamer but amateur software like he was using could hardly handle a battle happening in the background.

"Nero-knights, this might be my last transmission. We're in...I don't know, some dinky asteroid belt mining system. Boreman or something. As you know from my last transmission when we jumped we interrupted a pirating session, two ships attacking a merchant. We blasted one apart and drove away the others but it seems they're back with a vengeance! We've just been hit! The whole ship is shaking and the...wait for it..."

He pointed the directional microphone towards a side wall where it could pick up the rising hum of electricity before the abrupt zap as the capacitors for the ion cannon discharged. He spun the phone so his face was back in frame.

"We're fighting like hell but how many pirates can we we take down before we're overwhelmed by sheer numbers? If we don't make it, I've already sent specification for memorial merchandise to Grief Tanks online store. They're the official sponsors for all current and future Nero Knight merchandise. Also don't forget to like and subscribe for more updates straight from the front lines of pirate hunting!"

He began turning it off but at the last second remembered one last bit.

"Also don't forget to donate to the Pansy Paws Legal Fund. Just because I'm facing death in the face doesn't mean I'm forgetting my morals and principles. Every credit donated will help fund the Pansy Paws legal team to defeat those absolutely bogus terrorism charges they're facing. We can't let the be scape goated! Fight for the truth by donating now. Link is on the sidebar!"

He shut it down and quickly fired up his laptop for editing. If this was his last update like hell would it be stuck on his device where nobody could see it. He figured if they did die it would be worth a million views easy.

Ship A is in little position to defend itself as you take out your aggression Silver.  Tepha, it doesn't matter any longer as visual scans are enough to confirm BB's laser has torn a good hole into the hull.  Looks like whoever is left on Ship A is having enough problems trying to keep from decompressing to fight any longer.

Nero, you have to photo edit a cowlick off the back of your head in several frames.  Annoying as all get out, but you finish up rather quickly.  As you go to upload to the net, you get an error message.  The outbound signal is being jammed.

Oh my Silver.  You certainly showed that disabled ship who's boss.  You're always so tough provided someone else has beaten the snot out of 'em ahead of time, right?

But you know what?  Today's a good day for you.

Send me over the ones doing the videos.  And I won't blow your ship up.

How's that for a deal?
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:34, Mon 22 Mar 2021.

Silver started to reply but the comms were cut from the bridge. Growling she punched up the ship's inner comms.

"Let me talk to him."

"Why? Silver I need you focusing on keeping us alive not venting to a serial killer."

From the other turret BB piped in. The perks of being an unofficial or auxillary crew member.

"Wait, a what? Who's a serial killer?"

"Siri. The pirate mouthing off. Siri...short for Serial as in he leaves a trail of bodies everywhere he goes."

BB didn't respond but she sure kept listening.

"Silver...I...we don't have time for this right now. Trash talk once we're clear. Or dead. And what does he mean the one taking videos?"

"I don't know. That's not code for something."

BB's comm activated. There was a slight hesitation before she spoke.

"Well...here's the thing about Nero..."

Nero was still trying to figure out how to upload his video when the tone sounded. Someone was calling him on the ship's comm. He turned the channel on and then immediately regretted it.

"ARE YOU FILMING OUR FIGHTS?"

Uh oh. Sounds like someone finally discovered social media. He paused, waiting to see if that grouchy captain was going to keep going or not. When there was silence indicating it was an actual question and not just rhetorical Nero responded.

"Well. I might have mentioned them in passing. I have a channel to maintain."

There was a long pause. At first Nero thought it was because the captain was struggling to figure out what to say but it sounded like instead he was issuing orders for countermeasures to another of the crew. Finally the angry voice came back.

"Stop. Just stop. Thanks to you a serial killing pirate is demanding that we turn you over and I'm half inclined to agree."

Nero rolled his eyes and flapped his hands mimicking the captain talking. His dad had disapproved of his career too. He figured the two old men would love one another getting to talk about how the younger generation doesn't know the meaning of a hard day's work. He had heard these lectures before and between the terrorist attacks and the other pirate attack he wasn't worried. No way a straight lace like Ledo would deal with a pirate. Empty threats bounced off Nero like asteroids off the ship's hull...apparently.

He zoned back in and realized the captain was still ranting about something called "opsec" or "hopsack" or something. Nero was back at his bunk continuing to try and mess with the internet settings. He heard the telltale phrasing of a question and a long pause and gave his stock answer.

"Fine. Sorry. Whatever."

He turned the comms off and went back to work not waiting to hear the response.

Ledo was hauling back on the controls trying to keep the crippled ship between them and the incoming ship. If the incoming ship would fire missiles they would have to path around the derelict giving them room to maneuver. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the light wink off indicating Nero had closed the comm channel.

"That little shit! I...fuck..."

Whatever the rest of that thought would have been was lost as Ledo had to focus on keeping them alive long enough to deal with a snot nosed brat streaming their location to every pirate and mercenary in the sector. One problem at a time...

The Plasmatic Spifull isnt' moving any closer.  It's keeping a good size rock between your two ships.  Close enough to pursue.  Far enough and with enough cover not to get shot at.

Siri pings you.

"I'm not hearing a nooooo...

"C'mon.  Hand them over with the film. And we can alllll get on with our lives."

Ledo paused for a second and then hit the comms to return.

"Let's talk then. How much?"

Ledo gave a nod to Tepha to keep scanning. They needed to find a channel they could broadcast out on to alert the Navy and get reinforcements. Until then he figured stalling Siri wasn't a bad idea.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 51):

Tepha, you guys are close to being outside the jamming net.  But finding a clear channel in this field...

Sounds like a Sensor/Int check to me boss

Siri chuckles back at you Ledo.

"Really?  How much?  Tell you what.  If you give 'em up in the next minute, you can all keep all your organs inside your body.  For every minute that passes after the deal, you all get to lose one organ.

"I'm gonna count 60 Solomanis.  Ready?  One Sol-e-mahn-e. Two Sol-e-mahn-e.  Three..."

In Traveler, it's one solomani, two solomani instead of one Mississipp, two Mississippi

Tepha scanned the frequencies but couldn't find a break.

OOC:

15:23, Today: Tepha Pezal rolled 5 using 2d6+1.  sensor/int.


She turned to look at Ledo with a worried look but before she could even speak, he just shouted back at her.

"KEEP TRYING!"

She turned back and redoubled her efforts...



15:24, Today: Tepha Pezal rolled 11 using 2d6+1.  try #2.

In reply to Tepha Pezal (msg # 53):

At last, you find a clear band Tepha

You latch on to a Naval bot and broadcast out.

After a moment, a woman wearing a navy uniform comes online.  Something's wrong.  She's got a bandage wrapped around her forehead.  Behind her, you can see what looks like a circut board hanging from a wire on the ceiling.

"Naval Comm Center.  What's your emergency?"

Tepha's voice comes out in a hurried rush as she doesn't bother trying to keep the panic from her voice.

"This is the Tiamat's Flight reporting an emergency. Resting is under attack by pirates. I repeat Resting is under siege. Siri's pirate group have set up a jamming field around the system. Four pirate vessels were engaged with two corporate defense ships. One of the pirates is down and another is pursuing us. Send the fleet!"

Ledo could have corrected her that most likely a cruiser and some support ships would be dispatched. A fleet would never respond to an asteroid base being attacked by a couple of pirate ships but he was focused on piloting and figured Tepha had things under control and she didn't need him backseat SOSing for her.

In reply to Tepha Pezal (msg # 55):

The naval officer shakes her head.

"Tiamat's Flight.  We are currently at an Orange 3 status in Bowman sector. Repeat. We are at Orange 3 status.  Run.  We are advising all ships to flee the sector."

Ledo, a Red 2 means an active military situation.  If it's an Orange situation, that means the Navy is on the defensive.  The stages come in seven levels.  The closer to a 1, the worse it is.  A 3 is the level right before a retreat is ordered.

Siri pops in on the line.

"Interesting conversation you're having there.

"Tell me.  Do you really think I'd attack a corporate base if the Navy was free to make a house call?

"So I'm guessing you want to do this the hard way, huh?"

"Cut the crap. We both know you're not onboard that ship so go on, send another bunch of your men on a suicide run."

Ledo had taken the foot off the gas and was positioning them to make it look like they were running for a jump point. Truth be told with the extra fuel they had topped up with at Bowman starport they still had enough to make the J2 to their next destination but that would mean forfeiting their dairy run and, more importantly, possibly surrendering a small port to the tender touch of Siri and his pirate armada. If they could punch through and break the siege they could save dozens of lives which would go a long way towards clearing his conscious from the mess on Wyltz.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 57):

Ledo, the immediate choices are

Run upwards towards the top of the belt and then angle back down towards Resting.  It's the longer route, but would give you the most cover.

Run downwards towards the bottom of the belt and then angle back up towards Resting.  That is the quickest way out of the rocks if you wanted to take on the pirate outside of the asteroid field.

You can go straight at the pirate.  You'd have to exchange fire but it is the quickest way to Resting.

To give you the best visual I can of your situation:

This is a side view of the asteroid field.  The - indicates the belt.

T is Tia.  P is Pirate.  R is Resting.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------R------------------------------
---------------------T---P---------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Clear as mud?

Ledo flipped the ship around. His goal was to make it look like they were going to flee to get Siri to pour on the juice to catch up to them, then Ledo would flip the ship around and accelerate with the afterburners straight past the pirates and to Resting. Once there he could regroup with the mercenary guards (assuming any were still alive) and they could present a more unified defense of the station.

OOC:
16:46, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 13 using 2d6+2.  naval tactics + INT .

So something like this?  Assume the x are Tia's flight path.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxR------------------------------
-----------xxxxxxxxxxT---P---------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

You rev her up Ledo and peel off.  Siri's ship fires up and pursues.

Tepha, looks like Siri is targeting Tia.

I think they're keying up a round of missles

As if on cue, Siri releases a barrage.

Outrunning them would be easy...if it weren't for the asteroid belt.

So the rocks are going to be the real impediment here.

Just to streamline things a bit:

Let me know if the missle barrage changes any of Ledo's plans.  I wouldn't think so.  But let me know.

Let me know if Silver/BB are goign to fire off a round. If so, make rolls please.

Make me a navigation roll with a -2 penalty and a luck check with a +1 bonus.

Thanks

Ledo had figured they would take some damage in the burn around. He was crossing his fingers that the Tia would be able to survive long enough to get them to safety. She hadn't let them down so far but there was a first time for everything...

OOC:

13:10, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 6 using 2d6+02.  pilot check.
13:11, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 6 using 2d6+01.  luck check.

So afterburners + Mdrive = 4g movement

Spending 1G for evasive action (first attack is +1 difficulty due to pilot skill)
Spending 2G to reduce movement band from Medium -> Short
Spending 1G to reduce movement band from Short -> Close (zooming right on by!)

BB sense the missiles coming and readies her turret for point-defense operations.

Woot! If I'm doing this right her final check is a 16 so whatever the difficulty is, 16-that = # of missiles popped.


13:17, Today: BB Nova rolled 16 using 2d6+8.  point defense - +4 beam laser +1 short range +2 skill +1 dbl turret.

Nothing is going to stop Silver from unloading her turret on Siri's ship. Ledo kept saying he wasn't onboard but she couldn't help but imagine he was and put everything into disabling that ship.

OOC: Hits 12 for 60 ion damage
13:19, Today: Silver rolled 12 using 2d6+3.  +2 skill +1 short range.
13:19, Today: Silver rolled 6 using 2d6.  x10 ion damage.

Meanwhile Tepha was doing her best to try and feed Ledo nav points to get them back to Resting as quickly as possible.


13:21, Today: Tepha Pezal rolled 11 using 2d6+01.  sensors (navigation?).

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 61):

BB, you manage to pummel quite a few of the barrage.  Two make it through...

I need to recheck my calculation on that.  I think I'm right, but I'll post the missle damage tomorrow after I'm sure.

Siri's ship fires off a couple of cannon blasts, raking along the side as Tia makes her turn.  Whoever his gunners are, they're good. Rig, you get damage reports coming in.  Looks like one of the shots took out targeting systems on Silver's ion cannon -2 to further targeting rolls.  More importantly, the hold took a hit.  Damage reports show the low berths might have taken some damage.  You'll need to inspect those manually.

Tia flings herself past, Siri's ship now having to stop and make it's own turn.

Tepha, you find a path...

Tepha's roll would be a nav check since she's trying to plot a course.  Doesn't matter.  You made it.

I'll give you a choice.  You can either use her success to mitigate a bad luck check or you can use it to reduce the travel time to Resting by one turn.

Once you've decided, make me a luck check.  You're still jetting around an asteroid belt.

Thanks

Ledo made a mental note: Cannons? Check. Missiles? Check. No beams or pulse turrets, thankfully.

He used Tepha's coordinates to plot a quick route to Resting.

OOC: Going to use Tepha to reduce turns to Resting by 1.
16:56, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 7 using 2d6.  luck check.

Rig was still hurting from the food poisoning. It would take him awhile to get back to the berths but those were the priority. Getting Tepha's ion cannon was secondary to making sure their hold of actors and actresses didn't die on them mid-battle.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 66):

One of the missiles makes it through BB's barrage.  It strikes Tia's aft.

The ship rocks from the impact.  Ledo, nav goes down for a moment.  Fritz flips the back up systems on.  But the proximity alerts start blaring.  You've got another rock, this one bounces off the hull...

BB, you keep your seat as the ship rocks.  But suddenly that crew member you haven't met yet...Fritz was his name?..pipes in.

Incoming to turret one.  Swing turret three quarters turn rimward.  Now

He wants you to rotate your turret three quarters of a turn.  It sounds urgent...

Rig, more screens light up from the missile hit. J Drive's safety protocols have been knocked out.  You can fire up J Drive, but not safely.  The back hull has a nasty bruise.  But there's still integrity.

Then there's a thumping sound.  A new report comes up about number one turret...

I can't recall if BB was introduced to Fritz or not.  I am assumed not for this post.  Will edit it if I have that wrong.

BB needs to make a gunner/edu or int check (your call on the stat).  She is not firing the cannons.  She would be just making the maneuver Fritz is asking.

Of course, she can ignore him...

Tepha, Siri's ship is starting a brake and turn maneuver.  Ahead, you can pick up signals from Resting.  Seems like the attack has been broken off.  If you guys can make it there, you should be safe.

Maybe.

Ledo winces as he feels the explosion reverb through the ship. That was going to take a healthy chunk out of their profits this run. Everything was going to shit around them and all he could do was hang on and put the proverbial pedal to the metal.

ooc:
Using the 4 thrust to increase their range band from short to medium and then Evasive Manuever 2

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.