Since immemorial times, humans have set the length of a day to be 24 hours, when not forced otherwise - like living on another planet.
So in space, the day was 24 hours long.

Maybe as far ago as the division of time, sailors have divided the day into fours shifts of 6 hours.

On the Old Lady's Hope (OLH), the shifts were organized thus (they overlapped during the transfer of controls) :

• 0600-1200 : Captain Dahl. At his age, Baris woke up early and went to bed early, so he chose this shift.
• 1200-1800 : Pilot / 1st officer Lady Arslan. Daphne enjoyed to carouse deep into the night; this shift fitted her perfectly
• 1800-0000 : Commander Beto Arark. She would go to bed immediately afterwards.
• 0000-0600 : 2nd Officer Nicodemus Trask. The doctor did not like this shift, and he was aware of how bad disturbed circadian cycles were for health. Still, he had been appointed to this shift because he had professionally led teams, and in his spare time had obtained a private pilot spacecraft licence. Because he liked to pilot. Until now.

The ship exited hyperspace into Tanar space at 1716 (Ship Time).
At 1717, the power went down.

People began to float and drift in the darkness since the artificial gravity was off. The silence was deafening as suddenly no machine buzz was heard.

At 1718 the emergency batteries brought some light and life support to the ship, but they wouldn't last long.

Reading quietly in the crew spaces when the lights went out, Baris drew upon his decades of service for the long long minute of darkness. Under the duller flicker of the emergency lights, he began to make his way towards the doorway to the corridor that led to the engineering spaces , calling out. Although old, he retained his command demeanour, and it came to the fore

Anzha was meditating on her bunk, sitting in lotus position, when the power went out.  She did not like free-fall and as the sensation of falling hit her she instinctively reached for something to catch herself, grabbing the bunk frame for dear life.  Once steadied she grabbed her personal computer and desperately tried to link to the ship's computer to find out what was going on.

Khor'ruhn had been in the middle of a quick private meal as he re-read through some of his family correspondence to stave off home sickness. With a devoted wife and four children, there was plenty to read and his guilt at being away vied with images of the new things his spouse had been able to afford with the influx of credits he had been able to send home.

He had been in the middle of an artificially apple flavored little dish in a cup when the power died. The Vargr heaved a quiet sigh and used the next few moments to use his long tongue to scoop out the last of the desert before he pushed off, without much urgency, towards the door to his quarters and the corridor beyond.

Nicodemus had adjusted to his midnight shift by moving the start of his day to the beginning of the shift. His practice was to wake at 2300 ship time, and go to bed eight hours before waking. Only medical emergencies were allowed to interrupt his schedule, and there had been none. Dr. Trask had put on his sleeping mask, so the change in the lighting didn't affect him. He was in the infirmary, however, so the sudden lack of gravity initiated protocols that included the donning of sticky shoes. As Nicodemus caught the handle for the emergency gear, on his third try, he heard Daphne's announcement.
Beginning to grumble, Dr. Trask started to make his way hand over hand back to where his mag boots were. In the midst of mentally chiding himself for not putting the mag boots on in the first place, his lack of concentration caused Nicodemus to tumble end over end and he exclaimed aloud, "I'm a doctor, dammit, not an acrobat!"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:33, Sun 03 Sept 2023.

It was towards the end of her shift, and Lady Arslan had been mostly enjoying it. A jump is always at least a little exciting, and it seemed to go well. She was still making routine checks when the ship powered down for no apparent reason, and she found herself floating sideways after mashing a few buttons a little too vehemently, a swirl of limbs in her daytime reflecting bodysuit, an iridiscent reflex Space Age number, a little too tight for practicality, but great to show off how well she was keeping into her late thirties.

"Mr Henson, I'm going to need you to check the react... oh shoot," she started saying on the radio, before she realized it was offline as well. Now what in hell causes a general systems shutdown, short of a...

Light came back, but it was emergency juice, which was no bueno. Daphne clicked the intercom on again, this time on All Ship.

"Pilot here, I'm gonna need an engineer to check our reactor, please. We're running on emergency, which is uncouth in the best of cases, not to mention I can't steer the Old Lady like this. Oh, and I suggest everyone puts on their mag boots?"

During a jump there was not much to do except idle away time. Ar least for him, since he was not part of any shift. Even so, he always felt that surely boredom was lurking right around the corner all the time in jump. At least in comparison to his early military years.

It was past 5pm and Carmichael had poured over the latest statistics of market development on biochemicals on Vadada, when the lights went off and he lost his seating, clearly drifting off. He was no longer as agile as he used to be but where he lacked in physical characteristics he had experience. Not with manoeuvering in zero-g at that but his body had learned to compensate.

Then the lights went on, but gravity failed to return and the pilot on shift announced an emergency.
Bother, he thought.

Once upon a time, The Old Lady's Hope was a freighter, and there were 6 cabins for the crew, and 8 lowberths for 4th class passengers without means.  The captain had the biggest cabin.
But recently, Beto had to focus on "quick money"; so 3 crew cabins were converted into
1 High passage cabin, with 1-2 1st class passengers
1 Middle passage cabin with 1-2 2nd class passengers,
1 Basic passage cabin with 4 bunks for 3rd class passengers

The other 3 crew cabins were converted into 4-bunks cabin., and the 10 crewmembers were crammed into it.
The cabins were identical, but humans manage to recreate a class system everywhere ASAP, so the crew cabins quickly bore designations, and the crew was distributed in it like so:
- Women's cabin : Anzha, Beto, Daphne, (free bunk)
- Officer's cabin : Baris, Nicodemus, Carmichael, (free bunk)
- Crew cabin : Bannacor, Khor'ruhn, Oscar, Yuri

if the crew members would get over 12, bunk shifts would have to be considered - though an unpopular prospect.

OOC : I uploaded the map of the living quarters as "Game Map for Group 1". The little cabin with a table and four chairs named "captain's or middle passenger" is presently used by 1 lucky middle passenger.
You are all invited to read the thread "A3Lc Far Trader Old Lady's Hope" link to a message in this game to get the details back to your head (there's a uniform for the crew, for example). Not only is this an enjoyable read, but it also shows the role of each crewman and how the check-list is run before each departure. :)
The "E. Trade Goods and Cargo." thread link to a message in this game is also a good read for persons interested in the Trade part of things :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:58, Sun 03 Sept 2023.

- Baris was reading quietly in the lounge. When the lights went out, shouts were heard. When the emergency lights turned on, the passengers hurtled out of their cabin and all nine bumped and converged to him with questions and requests. Especially vocal was Drinn Dorabue, the High passenger. A businessman, followed by his mistress/secretary in close-fitting, leopard pants.

Drinn Dorabue: "What is happening here, captain? This is a scandal! We're risking our lives on this tub! I'll report this to the Traveller’s Aid Society!"

Baris didn't make it to the power plant (yet).

- Anzha the wi-fi was off, as non-essential. She would have to navigate from the Women's cabin through the crowd in the lounge to reach her cubby hole/computer office, where she'd have direct access to the mainframe server

- Khor'ruhn was trying to get some solitude in the Crew Cabin while most of his bunkmates were socializing. So this were the "quarters" he floated from. He immediately zero-g-entered the lounge where he found the captain surrounded by afraid passengers.

- Nicodemus, who had been asleep for 1-2 hours, alone and quiet in the infirmary on deck 2, was awaken by the red emergency light - this was never turned off - or Daphne's announcement.

OOC: When you want to move around in zero-G
if you have at least Vac Suit-0, don't roll
if you don't, roll DEX. "Fortunately", the ship's insides are narrow and jammed, so you always have something to grip, or which stops your movement.
If you want to perform something physical (like punch the magnate), and you don't have the Vac Suit skill, the difficulty threshold is raised by +2.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:11, Wed 06 Sept 2023.

Beto was also on the deck, pouring over shipment documents. When all powers shut down and the only light was those of distant stars by the bay, she exclaimed "Good Gracious!". Then : "what the heck?!"

When the EL turned on, she saw Lady Arslan floating sideways. The former professor at the Naval Academy in her could not but exclaim "The regulations state that the pilot on shift, when seated, always have their harness fastened!"


- "Grouch? What would you need Grouch for? A broken pipe??"

After Daphne called for an engineer, the old lady loaded a file on her mobile pad.
- "Ah ah! You always complained that old Beto bothered you with her demands of diplomas and certifications and tests results! But would you not like to know who's in charge of the reactor!?", she triumphed.

Then, with the index following the lines: "My table here says that we have four engineers on board: Arark, Dahl, Carmichael - doesn't he have a first name? - and Trask. However, when it comes to specializations, mine is J-drive, and Baris and Charmichael have Life support... We need to recruit a Power engineer, I make a note of that! Gir-... Lieutenant, I suppose you may call them by name to the Power room, now."

Anzha put away her computer and scrambled to make her way to the computer closet.  She was too worried and too rushed to be embarrassed by her lack of skill moving about in zero gravity or the scant clothing she was wearing, and largely ignored the din of passengers and Arark pontificating.

---

"climb" her way to the computer room, pulling herself along by whatever handholds she can get.  Figure she was getting ready for bed (she keeps an off-cycle schedule to overlap shifts) and in her underclothes.

And it looks like she is banging about in the cabin...
19:39, Today: Anzha Lyu rolled 5 using 2d6+1.  DEX Roll.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:40, Sun 03 Sept 2023.

Baris moved with surprisingly grace in the zero-g, years of drills and training coming to the fore. It helped that the pressure on his joints was less too. Regardless, he adroitly avoided the press of the passengers sufficiently to put on his best command presence and charm, projecting into the cabin, “Ladies. Gentlemen. Goodfolk” and he raised his hands for a moments calm, “As you can see the ships backup systems are running without issue. If you could return to your cabins for a few minutes, I will have the crew confirm to me the extend of this little trouble and have some tea served to everyone”

In reply to Baris Dahl (msg # 13):

As the passengers - not used to absence of gravity - were holding their balance on one another, when some turned back to their rooms while other took a leap forward, the result looked like a release of a cluster of balloons, bouncing all over the place.

However, the last part of the captain's call to quietness caused a stir:
-"We don't want your tea!"
-"yeah it tastes like sh*t!"
-"it's either is too strong or just hot water!"
-"yeah, no one of you knows how to make any drink!"
-"except the Countess, but she's always busy piloting or whatever!"
-"yeah, and the rest of the food is subpar!"
-"No wonder, since you don't even have a single Steward to take care of us!", adds Dorabue
-"Refund! REFUND! RE-FUND!!", they all started to yell, the four 3rd class passengers being the loudest.

Baris, what did I write about y'all declaring an action and rolling dice you think are appropriate in the situation? :) Roll 2d6+SOC+Leadership <- you could have found that by yourself... :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:51, Sun 03 Sept 2023.

21:51, Today: Baris Dahl rolled 16 using 2d6+4.  Leadership. !

“Silence!”, cracked out Baris’ normally genteel voice, not loud but with two decades of command presence behind it, “You will return to your cabins, quietly and politely, and allow my capable crew to investigate this issue. You will be informed once they have finished putting their lives on the live to ensure yours. You will be served tea, and you will be very thankful when it comes knowing that my crew remain focused on your safe passage over the provision of some liners entertainment “

Giving them a stare that had quailed many an ensign, he added very very softly, “Now”
This message was last edited by the player at 10:34, Tue 05 Sept 2023.

Khor'ruhn made his way towards the gathering with halting and cautious progress. While the Vargr had trained for zero-g in his youth, he was badly out of practice now and dealing with the distractions of the outage and the situation with the passengers.

He "arrived" after a few moments and lingered on the frame of the bulkhead as he glanced from one passenger to another as they spoke.

Nicodemus managed to get his magnetic boots on and gathered an emergency kit. As he tossed a few extra pressure bandages into his sack he heard the passenger's cries. Despite this, after he cycled open the infirmary door he clomped off towards the bridge, mumbling something about his minimal status as either pilot or Engineer.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:50, Sun 17 Sept 2023.

Carmichael did have some Engineering skills and while he was not officially employed as such the least he could do was try to help. It would not do any good to remain floating and not helping while the ship broke down.
Mag Boots? Yeah right, if I had those, they'd be nice to wear. Personal Memo: purchase some for the whole crew and put them in the locker.
Nimbly he moved to the door and was pleased that it opened.
Maneuvering outside he headed for Engineering to see what he might do.

Anzha clumsily bumps into the ceiling, then pushes off entering an uncontrolled spin in the general direction she wanted to go, stopping when her head hit the bulkhead.  She gripped madly for the door jam, pulled herself to a reasonably up right orientation (vis a vis the door) and made her way into the computer closet.  "I hope we have some power," she grumbles to herself as she tries to access the systems, rebooting the main computer if necessary.

---

She is trying to access the computer and determine what went wrong and if she can do anything from here to help fix it.

06:30, Today: Anzha Lyu rolled 5 using 2d6.  Computers.  +2 for Computer Skill, +2 for INT if it applies.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:31, Tue 05 Sept 2023.

Oscar had been resting when they came out of jump which meant thankfully, when the power went out he hadn't been moving about. He hated zero-g, in all his years in the military he had never developed any skill at it.

A few select curse words later, along with a bit of struggling Oscar was dressed well enough by his standards and had started making his way toward the mess or bridge when he heard the commotion.

He pulled him self to a stop just as the captain let the passengers know who was in charge. Looking through the mess at the captain. "You's need any help Capt'n?"

Baris : The passengers seemed to recover the capacity to move in zero-G, as they quickly disappeared in their rooms and bunks. A little brunette - the only woman in the 3rd-class - turned to say a word about how she’d like her tea, but her eyes crossed the captain’s so she thought better of it and closed both her mouth and the cabin door.

Signing to Grouch that the situation was under control, Baris was able to quietly catapult himself through the stairs to Deck TWO - the elevator was out of order -, then a corridor around the cargo hold, pass the main computer closet, one row of four low berths, to the power plant.

Meanwhile, the eight 4th-class passengers, cryo-sleeping in their low-berths, were blissfully unaware of any issue, as they were just inanimate cargo. Their bodies were already near 0°K and the energy necessary to keep their reinforced sarcophagus was minimal; the batteries could keep in this state for decades.
Indeed, there were stories circulating about sailors lost into deep space, who "slept" 200 years before being rescued.


Khor’ruhn observed he didn’t have to show the passengers to their doors. He had prepared the tea for the passengers when the Countess couldn’t, and was miffed the passengers seemed not to appreciate his receipts - he had taken special care the tea wasn’t too strong.

Grouch witnessed the little goings-on of the brunette. He had noticed those four low-passengers were a curious bunch ; apparently the charismatic girl loved and was loved by all three men, so she was shared between Jim, Jules and Jan. Jan being Feskal.

“Engineers Arark, Charmichael and the Captain please meet in the power plant room!”, called the Lieutenant Arslan.
[OOC: as stated in the posting guidelines, if the player doesn’t act, I act on their behalf :)]

Beto replied “Aye Aye Lieutenant!” and unfastened her harness. "Grandma" was weak, but the zero-G required less strength, and she had years of EVA under her belt; Beto progressed from handle to handle to the power room. When she opened the door, hot steam invaded the corridor, damping Baris, Jared and herself.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:50, Fri 08 Sept 2023.

~ In the computer closet ~

Anzha floated before the ship's computer console. Due to the Aslan “tenants” having connected their own Aslan computer with its Aslan software, Anzha had unplugged the thingie and stored it somewhere, then installed a main computer herself;

Beto being short of funds at the time, Anzha had bought the cheapest ship computer : 30,000Cr, with only enough space for 5 programs.

The young Zhodani did not have to reboot the computer ; it was running on accumulators. She had also taken care of that.

Anzha opened a drawer locked by a code. She swapped a chip from the computer with another chip. In that chip she inserted, was stored the cheapest Power Engineering program - (still 1000Cr).
The main computer shortly became an expert in Power Engineering. [all rolls of this skill get +1]

The next level of expert programs cost 10,000 Cr, so for the short term, it was less expensive to hire crew with an assortment of expertise than to buy expert software.

[OOC - and otherwise y’all would be playing computers and not humanoïds!]

Of course, Anzha had made illegal backup copies of every software chips. She had lived a highly illegal, rewarding life, before.

Anzha had access to all the bridge feeds - in fact, she controlled what the screens displayed on the bridge. The Life Support report was interesting:

A spacecraft or self-contained, sealed structure without power can usually sustain life support for one person per stateroom for two weeks at most.
For the Far Trader, who initially had 6 rooms for a crew of 6-7 persons, the duration of breathing and warmth was 14 days max.
However, for 19 persons, including 9 agitated passengers, life support without power - and without tweaking the parameters - would last 4 days.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:21, Fri 08 Sept 2023.