The reply from Lieutenant Tsetsegma comes quickly, meaning she has given it a thought before. It comes as a video file and the other officers are in copy.

"Captain, our ship is designed for long range mission, and our supply is down only on average to 66%, after 3 weeks of travel. I recently ordered an inventory, and it turns out we're not missing strategic supplies nor parts. Meaning we could - theoretically - travel another 6 weeks without needing to resupply (except fuel, of course).

Mtensc is a backwater world with a population of 10,000 and a tech level of 8 and  little industry or economic activity" she recited. "Apart from the fuel, my opinion is that we'll waste our time looking for resupply here, and waste more time bringing it to and through the class-D starport.

Our best supply planet in the area, and I mean it in a "living on the land"/civilian/survivor mode, is Tuwayk. It looks like another backwater world, dry and hot, but

• it has a class-B starport for our repairs and maintenance
  On Tuwayk, 500 millions inhabitants live in climate-controlled cities with
• standard Imperial TL,
• biologic research centers,
• and the infrastructure is good.

So,

• good workers,
• large workforce,
• modern tech,
• friendly culture,
• democracy so maybe not much corruption...

They could produce what we need with our blueprints, were we to miss specific Naval spare parts.

The only issue with resupplying at Tuwayk may be political, as Tuwayk depends on Trin of Trin's Veil subsec."

Iita concluded with the usual humble reservations that she would welcome any complementary data and validation from the astrogation department, and did the required salutations.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:54, Wed 16 Sept 2020.

Gvoellaekh only had one point of concern, or at least only one point of concern that he chose to raise openly. "Sir. How long are you willing to wait for the Shuuursima Ki?"

     Back in the Command Bridge, supervising Traffic Control, Ishakhi reaches up to lightly tap the lightweight comm-headset snugged into his right ear,

     "Affirmative, Captain." Ishakhi replies, "Currently only the three Boats which are designed for exclusive use in fuel gathering and disbursement are ready to transport fuel.  Six Boats are configured for Materiel transport, and two are configured for Personnel transport.  Boat Eleven...Sir, Boat Eleven is still off the Flight List, and is currently being used as a test bed for a sensor enhancement project myself and the Chief Engineer are working on."

     "We sent a project proposal to your Inbox, Captain--but, now that I think about it, I don't recall that we placed any kind of priority flag on the file, so you may not have reviewed it, yet.  Sir."

     "I can reconfigure any of the remaining eight boats to also act as fuel carriers, if you wish to prioritize refueling over general resupply, but doing so will require about four hours of down-time per Boat.  And we really should keep at least one Boat for Personnel transport, just in case there is a need for someone to go down to the planet."

     Ishakhi pauses for a moment, considering the possibility of raising Captain the Baron's ire by offering an opinion--but quickly decides to do so, anyways...

     "Also, Captain, as the officer who usually has to move all our supplies around, I concur with the Chief Engineer's assessment concerning going to Planet Tuwayk for full resupply."

     "With the exception of fuel and consumable supplies, Planet Mtensc can't offer us anything like the kinds of parts and equipment we need.  Sir, the native manufacturing infrastructure on Mtensc--what there is of one--can't even provide replacement power packs for our vacc suits!  Just about everything we do need will be imported items, down there.  And while we do have some influence over price, with our Imperial Navy Fiat, anything other than fuel and edibles will still be high priced."

     "Respectfully, Captain, Chief Engineer Tsetsegma's suggestion about Planet Tuwayk is pretty solid.  Sir."

Hrolf looked up as the captain gave his order.  "Setting course for mainworld, aye sir."  Now that a decision was made Hrolf's fingers danced over the controls as he laid in a minimum time course to the planet at 6G burn.  If nothing else they would show the locals what a naval cruiser could manage.

Jacqueline looked thoughtful and tapped out several options on her tablets. "The naval base at Evet's World is only one jump away at J-4, but if we're moving further along on our patrol route, any ship they'd send would have to catch up to us. It's probably best to send word ahead to the base at Saguenay, sir; they are two jumps away at J-4, but we're moving towards them on our patrol route. Of course, it's all dependent on having a courier to send. We're well off the X-boat routes here. There aren't many options beyond that. Every other naval base, Trin for example, is further away and we can't be guaranteed an available supply ship without a naval base. There's a scout base at Nouakchat, but I doubt they'd be able to help us yet. There's supposed to be another resupply opportunity at Nouakchat, but that won't be for a couple of months, probably too late for this purpose." She called up a map, highlighting the Evet’s World, Nouakchat and Saguenay systems. She was about to continue, but looked up and hesitated a long moment. She did not want to do anything wrong in front of the captain, and was nervous about offering her opinion. Frankly, she'd just wait for the Ki to turn up, since it was probably just delayed, but she wasn't going to second-guess the captain. “I, I tend to concur on the desirability of moving to Tuwayk for resupply, Captain” she said softly, looking down at the floor. “There are no real facilities in this system, and there's been some complaints by the locals about the aquifer situation; they might not be happy with us taking too many supplies. ”

"We will give them a week. Enough time that if this is a simple case of delays or a bad jump then they should still be able to rendezvous. Beyond that it puts our patrol at risk and we will have to adjust our plans accordingly."




The Baron scowled and rubbed his chin before giving a nod.

"Noted. We will get an inventory from local depots just in case but if our Chief Engineer says there aren't any critical supplies missing then there is no need to drain the locals."

He paused, continuing to rub his chin before glancing upwards in thoughtful pose.

"If we are stuck waiting in system anyway we can at least assess the local aquifer situation. It isn't something the Navy should dirty its hands with but given this is a new crew we will classify it as a training exercise. At the very least it will keep the crew busy while we wait for our supply ship and disguise the fact that there is a disruption in the logistics chain."

[OOC : IIRC, we already were near the Mtensc planet. So a 6G acceleration would bring us to the starport in a few hours, not days]

After listening to the Captain's orders, Iita went again through the library data about Mtensc. Then she spoke to the computer :
"Computer, get ready to record the new episode of "STEFAN-DB : Shasharna's Techs and Engineers, Now Another Daily Briefing!""
The video was already nicknamed "Not Another Dumb Briefing" by the crew, as it was designed to be both informative and entertaining.
But the Chief Engineer changed her mind. "No, hold that. Open a channel to the captain-baron."

She then addressed the Baron Reziilka in person, or his answering avatar : "Captain, regarding how we could help to solve the water shortage on the planet ; according to the library, when the authorities petitioned the Duke of Zeng, he sent a small scientific team who conducted, or is still conducting, research into the situation and possible remedies. Sir, we could immediately work towards the implementation phase of their recommendations, if we could lay our hand on their report, or their preliminary conclusions."

She implied for the Baron to tell her who should communicate this request to the local government, then added :
"Excuse me, captain, could you please specify if by the week you want us to wait for the supply ship, you mean

• one week from now
• or one week from the moment she was supposed to arrive into the system, two days ago?"

"The Engineering Department would like to know the time allotted to a project before initiating it", she added.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:09, Thu 17 Sept 2020.

"One week starting now."

He seemed frustrated and for a second doubt seemed to flash across his face but it was quickly buried and he nodded as if re-affirming his answer to himself as much as to the rest of the crew.

Iita cursed. Typical male behavior : you try to be subtle, and they don't take the cue. You talk about two subjects, and they remember only one!

Now, the captain didn't explicitly forbid early contacts regarding the former scientific team research, did he? Who should the Chief Engineer request to ask for news about that team? The shy, reserved Astrogator, or the boasting pilot, whose main interest in visiting worlds seemed to be to explore every local pub?

And why not make her problem someone else's problem?

She pressed the call button to the captain again, and with an innocent face she asked :
"Thank you captain. Now... I'm not yet used to the 'who does what' with my new colleagues... and I would need your advice regarding etiquette. Could you please tell me who, among our officers, I should ask to convey the request of the previous scientific team's progresses?. This will require some diplomacy and ease of navigating through the labyrinth of the local hierarchy..."

Of course, she eventually meant him.
There.

The Sharshana moved into position in orbit of Mtensc, near to but not directly over the downport so as to facilitate launch transit without impeding local traffic - while, not coincidentally, also being well-positioned to scrutinize that local traffic.

The following day and a half is a mix of waiting for most, shore leave for a few, and diplomatic and scientific work for an equally scant number. The research team that had been dispatched by the duke in response to Mtesnc's petitions has been at work for some time, but with little more than token funding and a lack of direction hasn't been able to achieve much; the arrival of the Sharshana not only presents an opportunity for the local leadership to register further complaints about the situation, but for the team to make at least a modicum of progress; if they could find another suitable aquifer - ideally in the vicinity of the existing downport - then it would relieve much of the stress on the present one, but without high-quality sensor equipment it's a difficult task.

The Sharshana has high-quality sensor equipment and a recently-developed 'sensor net' protocol. Time to put those to the test. A thorough orbital lithoscan would be a lengthy process, and even a low-resolution map of Mtensc's current sub-surface conditions will take several days, but the Sharshana appears to have those to spare.

That operation is about half way done when a long-overdue (at least it feels long) jump-ripple is accompanied by the appearance of a transponder signal that you've all been waiting for: the Shuuursima Ki, just over two days late, but apparently none the worse for wear.

Whether this event is greeted with relief or by a captain's florid outburst remains to be seen, but it seems that you'll soon find out as the Shuuursima Ki signals the Sharshana, requesting communications.

Jacqueline filled her time with assisting on the scientific work, although it was hardly her area of expertise, and trying to wrangle a seat on one of the ships going down to the planet, either shore leave or as part of the diplomatic team. It was a terrible waste to come all this way and not set foot on the surface. When she received the signal that the Ki had come in, she tapped out an intercept course on one of her tablets and sent it to Hrolf, with an additional note that it was just advice. She was trying to help, not tell him how to do his job. She tried not to show how relieved she was that the Ki was here. "Well, that will save a lot of trouble."

The captain gives the nod to accept communication. Despite the frustration of dealing with a late ship in all fairness it hadn't been too late. Nothing beyond a bad jump and while the Baron would never admit it, a couple days delay was a lot easier to handle than fighting with the admiralty and coordinating another rendezvous.

Hrolf brought the ship smartly into orbit and set the anchor watch once they were stable.  He spent some time studying astrogation with whatever time Jacqueline could spare to check his calculations and scrounged shore leave when he could.

When the supply ship showed up Hrolf double timed it to the bridge.  He took over the watch from the senior petty officer in charge and quickly brought up the full controls.  Jacqueline's course recommendation brought a quick smile to his face and he flashed her a thumbs up.  Turning to the captain he asked. "Shall we intercept Captain?  I suggest that we make them rendezvous here since they are late."

[In The Couple of Days Before the Arrival of the Shuuursima Ki]

     "It occurs to me, Chief Engineer," Ishakhi says to Iita, during one of their review meetings concerning converting a few Launches to assist sensor sweeps,

     "We might make some use of the aid request from the Duke's Science Team, on the planet, below.  Even in a low orbit, the Shasharna's densitometers won't be able to give high-definition readings for much more than a hundred meters-or-so beneath the surface.  Depending on the ground density, of course."

     "But, if we were to send the modified launches down to fly sensor sweeps in a low-altitude ground search pattern, then add that data to the results from the densitometer sweeps from the Shasharna, it might help to increase the depth accuracy." Ishakhi gives a non-committal shrug,

     "A little bit, maybe.  I don't see any down-side, here, plus it will assist us in refining the concept.  What do you think?"

Iita shook her head.

"That's very enthousiastic of you, but you have two factors to consider :

I chatted with the Duke's scientific mission people, and hydrogeology is very distinct - in use and goals - to our military mission. Hydro... - the study of aquifers - deals with chemistry, climatology, geology, microbiology ; soil, water, nature. As members of the Navy, on patrol, we basically deal with spaceships, in the void. It appears that apart from the search for specific molecules in the air, and establishing geological maps from orbit like a very expensive satellite, there are very few common points between those missions.

To assist the local planetology research with your boats implies lots of very different sensors settings. Reconfiguring the sensors for the search of aquifers is going to take ages, since we're not experts in that, so we'll waste time exploring this new field. The new sensor parameters would be valid only for Mtensc, since all those factors of climate, geology, etc. wildly differ from planet to planet.

Here comes the second factor : time. We're here only for a week at worse. At the end of the week, we might be ready to help, but also have to leave.

Then, after all those re-setting, rearranging, installing, uninstalling, we'll have to restart our own Sensor Enhancement Project from scratch.

It's just not worth it. The Sharshana is hardly the right ship for the job. Promising to lobby the Duke for the inhabitants would be more efficient and improve the Navy's reputation.

What some of your launches could do, is transport the scientists and their drilling machines to the places they want to study, and transport them and the core samples back."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:57, Sat 26 Sept 2020.

Captain Thenroy quickly finds himself face to face with a holographic representation of his counterpart from Shuuursima Ki, the aforementioned Commander Terrence Killorn.

"Captain, it's good to meet you," he began, greeting Thenroy with a formal salute. "Between one thing and another, I was starting to worry that we might miss our appointment! How has the Sharshana been treating you, sir?"

For all of the crispness of his uniform and precision of his movements, Commander Killorn certainly seemed to be taking the situation in stride!
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 11:58, Thu 24 Sept 2020.

To Hrolf the Baron tapped out a set of coordinates that put them at a jump point.

"Commander Killorn, let's not waste any more time as we are already behind schedule. We will rendezvous with you here on our way out of the system."

The Baron's displeasure was clear. He was curt and cold, not engaging in polite small talk like he would normally present. This mission wasn't just the shakedown run of the Sharshana but also of his command of a heavy cruiser and starting things off with a half week's delay had put him off. While it might not seem a huge deal after countless speeches about the might and importance of the Imperium to his crew the Baron didn't like being undermined, even if accidentally.

     "That I can, and will do, Herr Obergruppenführer!" Ishakhi replies cheerfully...then his eyes seem to narrow at something, and he frowns out of the vidcomm screen at Iita...

     "Um, I'm sorry, Chief Engineer, I was just trying to be amusing...stating your position in the language of your Ancestors." Ishakhi says with deepening chagrin, "Did I get that wrong, somehow?  Your Terran Ancestry is, um, something called Transyl-Vanian, is it not, Lieutenant Tsetsegma?"

If Commander Killorn thought anything untwoard of the Baron's response then he did a good job of keeping it to himself, and a poker game against him would be a very risky proposition...

"Not a problem, Captain. We'll meet you on the way and get you properly restocked," the holo-figure nodded, and winked out a moment later.


Comms didn't end there, of course; there was back and forth at lower levels as the flight officers on both ships worked out vectors and the logistics officers worked out the manifests for the transfer.

As the ships drew close, Thenroy received a quiet notification from Gvoellaekh that he'd managed to negotiate a bit of extra supply from Commander Killorn. Of course, this would add more time to the resupply operation, and would hardly be enough to keep the Sharshana from needing a second resupply during the mission, but it would give them a week or so of surplus.

And a +1 to effective CEI while the ship remains over-stocked!


The full operation would keep them in-system and linked together for several hours, and actually navigating into position for the UNREP system to link up and start working presented several nerve-wracking minutes of delicate maneuvering for the pilots of both ships. When the objects being maneuvered were five thousand and fifty thousand tons of free-floating metal and electronics, even a very minor miscalculation could prove disastrous.

Hrolf: We need Piloting/Capital from you. It's only standard difficulty (Average/8), though!
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:36, Sat 26 Sept 2020.

[In The Couple of Days Before the Arrival of the Shuuursima Ki]

In reply to Ishakhi Kiikag Kimpasherki (msg # 41):

Iita was disconcerted. Why was Ice Cube suddenly clowning around in the middle of a technical meeting? Or was the ex-fighter pilot starting a psychological seduction dance by showing interest in her ancestry, and blundering? She didn't know her genealogy, and didn't care.

She was confused and did not know how to answer. Her face must be looking like an idiot's.

"Your efforts of learning my ancestors' language and culture are much appreciated, lieutenant", she replied diplomaticaly. "We're busy right now, with you organizing the ballet of Launches and cutters to bring up the fuel from Mtensc Downport, and my engineers ensuring that the fuel we get is more refined than raw...".

Then she squinted and tried to smile like a cat, licking her lips. "Two can play the game", she thought.

"...but I do hope that when we leave at last this system, you would show me how you use your mother tongue... and in return I could practice my ancestors' tongue with you... Tsetsegma out".

She hung up. There. Take that, Mr. Ice Cube. May you turn over on your bed, sleeplessly, trying to guess if I just used double entendre on you.

But the joke was on her, because she felt aroused.
Iita tried to chase dirty images off her mind by getting back to the fuel purity indicators. The supply ship or something better arrive quickly.

Once the order had been given to rendezvous with the replenishment ship Hrolf set to his duty.  As a naval warship and especially a cruiser tasked as scout and eyes and ears of the fleet it would not do to make a slow or worse yet sloppy approach.  Instead Hrolf brought the Sharshana around almost on her hind legs with an immediate and radical 6G maneuver.  The cruiser might not be the smaller escorts with which he was familiar but the Sharshana had long legs and the heart of a racer.  Feeling the entire ship vibrate under him Hrolf patted the control console as the maneuver drives rapidly poured on 6G's of acceleration until the rear of the ship glowed brightly enough to be seen from the planet. "Good girl, let's show them that you are back and you have it like no other vessel in the Fleet."

Hrolf maneuvered precisely and radically in a consummate display of piloting and performance by the hulking cruiser that would have put even the most crack destroyer to shame.  The Sharshana came about like a racing yacht and ran down the slower Shuuursima Ki with frightening speed.  As they approached Hrolf timed things to a second to bring the Sharshana alongside the target with the precision of a laser and the sweet touch of a lover's caress.

As the replenishment continued Hrolf maintained the Sharshana alongside as though the enormous warship were riding on rails.  Each slight adjustment was made almost before it was required showing a dexterity that might have surprised an observer given that the great lady had been rebuilt almost from the keel up.  When the last lines and connections were cast away Hrolf looked up to the captain.  "Permission to disengage sir.  Request permission to play the Imperial Navy March over the intercom and broadcast to the Shuuursima Ki as we breakaway sir.  Let's do it with style sir!"

Hrolf paused with his hands on the controls waiting for permission...

12:57, Today: Hrolf Standarsson rolled 13 using 2d6+3.  Piloting. +2 more for Greyhound for 15!

The Captain-Baron narrowed his eyes at Hrolf and shook his head.

"Permission denied."

He locked Hrolf with a stern glare, paralyzing him with that stare. Then a flicker of a smile formed on the corner of Reziilka's lip and a soft chuckle was heard.

"Broadcast it on general frequencies. Let's give a reminder to everyone in system that the Imperium is always watching."

With a flick of his hand he signaled for Hrolf to have his fun.

Hrolf stared at the captain a bit shocked at the response.  When the captain cracked a slight smile and amplified Hrolf's request he smiled himself.  "Aye, aye sir!"

He turned to the communications rating stationed nearby.  "You heard the captain Petty Officer Vuezd.  Broadcast the March!"

As the comms rating set up the broadcast Hrolf brought the Sharshana away from the Shuuursima Ki.  He moved slowly at first to avoid damage to the other ship but he slowly increased acceleration until they were fully clear.  At the prescribed point Hrolf again set the ship to full boost and peeled away from the Shuuursima Ki smartly on a course back to the main world.  "Maneuver complete Captain, course plotted to take us back into high orbit around the main world."

About an hour and a half into the supply transfer, the Shuuursima Ki reports - and the Sharshana itself detects a moment later - a sensor contact. Something is heading toward the docked ships on a vector that will bring it, at the very least, uncomfortably close...

Jacqueline calculated the rendezvous and was already preparing early work on their jump out of the system. She covered her mouth with her hand to stifle her giggle at Hrolf showed off and played the Imperial Navy March. Boys did love their vehicles. And he did do a very good job piloting, he had the right to show off. She frowned at the sensor screen as the new contact was picked up. "Whoever that is, I guess they don't mind making close friends with the navy."