1107.324 2340hrs UST(+7ADC) - Transit to Belnafaer

The Empress Katarina has made a transit to the nearby Darida system.  There, she makes her way to the gas giant planet, Belnafaer and a small iceball satellite moon called Snobol.  The crew have been commissioned by ByChem Corp. to ferry a well known molecular bio-chemist engineer, Dr. Saregeny Marksputin, to the station.  The Empress Katarina made the 117.5 hour transit time without any incidents.  However, eighteen hours out on approach to the station, the Empress receives a distress transmission from an unknown source.  The distress transmission was directed at a ship called the Moneyspider.  We pick up the story as they arrive to static momentum relative to the Snobol moon. The ship is 10 km from the moon on its southern pole.

Visual images of the moon, reveal an icy block about 6 km in diameter, though not exactly spherical. It makes a rotation on its axis every 4 minutes and 45 seconds.  Watching the station, one sees several features.  A sharship is docked to a 20 km long tether to the station along its equatorial axis. A small dock opening is on one pole.  It is small, such as for a shuttle.  While on the opposite pole, a much larger rectangular man-made opening exists.  This must be a landing zone within the moon.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:15, Thu 23 Nov 2023.

"Should we do a serious sensor search of Snobol Captain? That call sounded like they had a problem there and it sounded life and death. Look for survivors?" Harry asks Karma.

Before checking on the Passenger, Adrian headed to the bridge hoping to get an update on the situation. Or a summary of what the Captain wanted the guest to be told.

GM RESPONSE

The captain asks Ms. Orilliah to speak to the guest and inform him we have arrived at Belnafaer.  She also asks Adriannah to bring the guest to the passenger reception lounge (crew lounge).  She wishes to speak with him.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:55, Mon 20 Nov 2023.

"We are 10,000 meters out Harry.  That's close enough to get a pretty good sensor feel.  See what you can find out." Karma replies to the gunner. She opens the iris on the table and brings up the zoomed-in optical image of the moon on the holo-vid. "There is no scattered debris, smoke, or leaking gases."

To the left of the moon's image is the large diameter gas giant, Belnafaer.  It's dusky orange clouds, with hints of purple and red create vivid swirls and eddies in bands across it's outer atmosphere. An aurora at one of its poles glows eerily green.  It really is quite beautiful to see.

"Should we tell him what has happened?"  she asks aloud, unsure herself what to do with the guest.

Not really expecting an answer, she continues to her next thought. "Might be a good idea for someone to figure out how we are going to dock with this thing.  Might want to get into your vacc-suits." 
This message was last edited by the player at 23:07, Mon 20 Nov 2023.

Slipping away Adriannah headed to the passengers stateroom extending the Captain's invitation to meet with him in the lounge.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:41, Wed 22 Nov 2023.

Billianah was in the galley fixing a snack and heared the Stewardesses conversation.

Sargeny takes his time, packs up his computer, files, and papers as the summons from the captain comes.  He makes his way to the lift, and with Adriannah's code, takes the lift down to the passenger reception area where a group of people are gathered.  He takes a seat at the table and looks over to the captain.

"We made exceptional time Captain." he says, pushing his glasses back up on the bridge of his nose. "That may compensate for the overall horrible experience this passage has been.  I was to make a formal complaint to the trade guild, but then I learned of events that were not in your control and my inconvenience seems misplaced.  I am truly sorry to hear of the death of your crewman."

"That is why I am summoned, yes?  We are docked?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:33, Tue 21 Nov 2023.

Harry goes to the sensor station and scans Snobol with a deep scan to find out what he can.
"Aye, aye Captain, scanning now!"

---

GM RESPONSE

Harry can use any of the sensors on board.  He chooses the optical sensors first and finds no debris, dust, smoke, or gas leaks from the Moneyspider or from the moon, Snobol.  He next checks thermal scans.  He can see power blooms on the Moneyspider, but only for a power plant.  There are several biological heat signatures onboard. Engines are cold.  There are two biological heat signatures on a transport along the tether moving toward the moon.  The moon exhibits no heat signatures on the exterior with exception to the base of the tether.  There seems to be a power generator there.   He finds the densitometer gives him the most information.  Ice, though solid, is not that dense.  He can make out the deck plan of the entire station.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:46, Mon 20 Nov 2023.

[Coms-Captain]"'Sickbay' is ready Captain, if it becomes necessary." the doctor informs the captain over coms

Tanja sits on the pilot's chair, her hands resting lightly on the ships controls. Her focus is on the results of Harry's sensor sweep.

"Didn't they say that the ice shield had failed or something?? Is there any visible damage to the facility??"

To Karma she asks, "Where are we going to be landing to drop our guest off?? Tether or port??" When no response was forthcoming, she turned in her seat and realised that Karma had left the bridge. So deep in her own thoughts she hadn't noticed the captain leave the bridge, and wasn't sure just when she had left. She repeats the question over the comms before returning her attention to the display again to monitor the sensor data.


Edit: Realised that Karma is currently talking with the passenger... Edited
This message was last edited by the player at 10:29, Wed 22 Nov 2023.

While in the lounge Lex listened to the status given and evaluates how best to help.  He decided he would return to the Repair Bay and continue working on setting it up, because at some point having it up and running will be critical.

"I'll be setting up the Repair Bay if anyone need me." Lex announces as he gets up and prepares to leave the lounge. He pause and asked “Do we have a Label Maker on board?”

Fatboy was recovering three days of one-to-one meeting with KATRINA-1, hanging around the refrigerator for a time, and listening to the distress signal record a couple of times.

As a former belter and amateur geologist, he's very interested with what the bio-chemist has to say.

He's thus disappointed, that Marksputin awkwardly threatens to fill a complaint. But then, Fatboy knows well that social skills and expertise in science do rarely mix.

"Doctor Marksputin , do you have any idea what is going on so secret here? We receive a distress call, a mention of electrical storm (so far from the gas giant?), freeze fields, a person named Akord gone missing, but then everything looks covered up...", he blurts.

"No doctor, we are not docked."  Karma replies to the scientist. "We will be shortly.  I invited you here at this time to share with you some information.  I do not know your relationship with the station.  Whether you have been here before, or you have friends here. We intercepted a transmission a little while ago that you should listen to."

Karma brings up the transmission log and replays the data stream for the scientist.  The man's face blanches at the vid and what it implies.

He looks across at the captain when the transmission ends, "They are all dead?  What happened?  I mean, I don't know any of them.  I have never been here.  Are we in danger?" 

"You are asking questions I do not have an answer to." the captain replies. "Thank you doctor.  We will be docking shortly and perhaps we will get some answers.  Just buckle up once we are close."

Karma touches her ear bud.

[COMMS]
"Thanks Dr. Soboleskii.  Please make you way to the lounge." the captain replies to the doc's communications.  Tanja then gets her attention with a question regarding docking.  She brings up the C.O.C. sensor screens from Harry's station with a command override.  She swipes up the densitometer information and zooms in the overlay.

"That looks like a docking bay Ms Skorskald." the captain says, pointing to the right of the density mapping. "Maneuver with the gravitic arrays per standard space station docking procedures. No Intellect."

She continues to scan the imaging and notes the upper left of the iceball. "That's also for docking, but not for anything larger than a shuttle it appears.  And... there is no shuttle."   

She looks at the others, the obvious thought out there.  Where is the shuttle?  Do they even have one?  Is that zone used for cargo handling?  Or perhaps, ice haulers from that mine?

The scientist looks stricken when addressed by Fatboy.  His face turns ruddy and he pushes his glasses up on the bridge of his nose before answering, "Secret?"  he sputters, looking from face to face.  "I don't know anyone named Akord. I don't even know what they want from me yet.  But secrets I'm sure they have, just like every corporation out there."

He manages to regain some of his composure.  "Besides, why are you so certain that transmission did not come from the gas giant?  That pilot mentioned electrical storm, I think is what I heard.  That means they were most certainly near or within the gas giant's atmosphere.  Unless one of the other moons has an atmosphere for such activity."

He gives Fatboy a confident look that dared the computer wiz to refute his conclusion.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:02, Wed 22 Nov 2023.

"I had noticed the second docking bay," Tanja confirms.

"We could put on Vacc Suits and use the grav sled if you want to keep the Katerina on station but away from the base?? I could position her so that it would only take a few minutes on the grav sled in hard vacuum. And before anyone points out that the sled needs a gravity body to function, that rock is spinning and its mass would also generate a small amount of gravity. That should be enough, provided nobody asks the driver to make too many twists and turns during the short flight.

Alternatively, we could just dock at the larger port," she adds.

Phillip continued with repair work in the Missile Bay and in Engineering. He worked to get the ship in A1 condition again.

Levi had been working with Phillip throughout the voyage to this... rock. He'd been so focused that he'd been able to forget about everything else other than patching his beloved Katerina back to her former glory, and ensuring that there were no structural weaknesses or faults. He'd even started with the aesthetics, ensuring that the repaired wall matched those around it so that to the casual observer nobody there was no evidence that a bomb had exploded in the missile bay and killed one of their crew.

Levi found the imminent arrival at Snobol frustrating. He was in a routine, working hard, and for the first time in a long time he was enjoying his work. He'd kept up with the training routine that the chief had insisted he follow, exercising his body as well as his mind, so that he was tired at the end of each duty cycle and remained quiet and introspective during the times he had to be social - mainly at meals and if he was caught reading in the lounge.

Putting the tools back into their correct position in his toolbox, and securing the toolbox itself (sometimes he'd even annoyingly tidied Phillip and Lexon's tools away if they were out but had been unused for some time), Levi returned to engineering to monitor the powerplant and ship systems. He and his team had just put the Katerina back together and now they were here quicker than he'd wanted, summoned by curiosity relating to that distress call...

GM RESPONSE

While others gather at the lounge table, Phillip and Levi continue making repairs on the missile bay.  In the roughly fifty hours, give or take, repairs include removing the bent, broken, and damaged sections of the flooring and walls.  Removal of damaged wiring, racks, and conduits.  All of this by employing plasma cutters and other power hand tools now stored in large chests along the corridors of the cargo bay for now.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:01, Wed 22 Nov 2023.

Billianah sips from a mug of hot chocolate as she listens to those gathered to discuss various options and a course of action.

"We too have excellent scientists here, doctor... Let me introduce to you Tanja SKORSKALD. Tanja can tell us where our ship was, where Snobol was relative to the gas giant, where it's now.

[COMMS to Skorskald]
"Mrs Skorskald, I'm sorry to disturb the maneuvers - but would you mind helping us determining the position of the shuttle in regard to the gas giant Belnafaer when they emitted the distress call? Thank you.

Also, Harry McStubbins is our Chief Communications Officer, he could definitely, through the Doppler effect, establish the shuttle's trajectory.", and Fatboy crosses his arms over his belly, also defiantly.

Sargeny shakes his head, "I am no communications specialist, but I am pretty sure he can determine where the transmission originated, not a trajectory." 

Sargeny then awaits the answer from Ms Skorskald. Not because he wanted to prove a point, but because he is interested in the answer.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:52, Thu 23 Nov 2023.

With the crisis over, Levi was not as productive with - or as focused on - the repairs as he could be.

The repairs on the missile bay is exhausting and physically demanding.  Levi finds it difficult to focus and miscommunications are common, mistakes are made, and there is a bit of rework to do.  With the tiredness comes irritability between companions and heated words thrown about.  These things make progress difficult and the process inefficient.  But, progress is being made.  Just at a slower rate than Levi wished.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:01, Thu 23 Nov 2023.

Despite offering the alternative to docking, Karma hadn't replied. So her initial order stood.

"Docking procedure initiated. Manual only, no Intellect, aye," she responds.

Settling back into her seat, she carefully and steadily manipulated the grav plates to move the Katerina into position. As the ship begins to glide through space, she turns her attention to the request for the sensors. She glanced at Harry beside her, with a questioning expression that asks why me, why not you but doesn't say anything. Since the docking procedure is routine, and she has plenty of time, she pulls together the sensor logs that Fatboi had request and begins the correlation of data.

[COMMS internal]"Correlating and verifying the data for you now, Mister Stout. One moment please," she confirms on the Comms system.

With the Comms off she speaks directly to her co-pilot, "Harry, could you double check this data for me?? It looks correct but I'm focusing more on driving the bus than the accuracy of sensor data."
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:10, Thu 23 Nov 2023.

Harry spends several minutes going through it all and calculating the results. "It looks right to me, everything checks!"

---

GM RESPONSE

Harry confirms the data Tanja collated and verifies the conclusion.  The origination of the signal was from the gas giant.  An exact position is not possible, but whatever happened to that shuttle was near the planet.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:10, Thu 23 Nov 2023.

Tanja nods and thanks Harry, making a few slight changes to the grav plates to accommodate drift and errors.

Satisfied she had a few moments while the data display updated to show the results of the changes, Tanja forwards the data her and Harry had processed to Fatboi.

---

GM RESPONSE

Eldorado receives the communique from Tanja on his wrist band chronocom.  The transmission signal originated from the gas giant.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:35, Sat 25 Nov 2023.

"Oh thank you and... How far is Snobol from Belnafaer presently? When will it reach periapsis? We don't want a giant storm from the gas giant to engulf our ship, do we, like it likely did with the shuttle?" (munch munch)

GM RESPONSE

A quick assessment of the sensors from Harry and he replies that the satellite moon will be at periapsis in twenty nine hours.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:35, Sat 25 Nov 2023.

"Oh, there is no danger of that."  the scientist says dismissively.  "The closest the moon gets to the giant is one hundred and fifty thousand kilometers.  Well above the atmosphere."   
This message was last edited by the player at 16:08, Sat 25 Nov 2023.

1107.325 0010hrs UST(+8ADC) - Snobol Moon Research Station

While discussions are taking place in the lounge, Tanja guides the ship across the southern pole of the moon. She aligns the ship with the docking entry portal that is a kilometer offset of the moon's magnetic south pole.  The moon rotates around its axis every four minutes and forty five seconds, so she has to work the gravitic arrays to get the ship to move at the same speed and rotation as the portal.  At the correct rotation, the ship glides through the ice portal and a static stasis field.  The moon is so small, that it has nearly negligible gravity at 0.1 gee.  The interior of the cave is lit with industrial lights along the path inward, eventually coming into a large cavern.  The ice walls inside the cave are a deep blue color with the lighting, while outside the moon's surface was more of an orange hue with light reflected from the gas giant.

Ahead a large platform can be seen coming into view.  Beyond it walls and windows.  The platform is a raised structure from the ice with steel beams supporting it.  Inertial dampener modules beneath a grated flooring can be identified as the ship rises on approach of the platform.  So, there will be gravity.  The ship settles onto the platform gently.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:27, Sat 25 Nov 2023.

Settling of the ship against a hard body alerts Karma that the ship has docked.  She brings up a screen and regards the information.  "Normal atmospheric pressure, breathable mixture, and gravity. We will not need the vacc-suits."  she says.  "Iris, Close holo-vid."

The circular opening in the table closes, shutting off the holo-vid screen and Karma stands.

"Well doctor, it appears we have arrived at your destination.  We will contact them and let them know you have arrived.  Expect to be off loaded shortly.  Stand by."  Karma says to the scientist.  She then makes her way to the bridge.  She finds Tanja shutting down the M-drive engines and gravitic arrays, as the ship is sitting on its landing struts.

"Nice docking Ms Skorskald."  she compliments. "Alert them to our arrival."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:52, Sat 25 Nov 2023.

"Aye firmative, Cap." Tanja replies. "There was no Comms from the station on approach, though. It's odd. I'd have thought the station would have sensors and would have directed our approach. But nothing."

She flicks her Comms,

[COMMS Station]"Snobol research station, this is the Empress Katerina. We have docked and powered down. We have a passenger ready to unload. Respond please."

This message was last edited by the GM at 19:36, Mon 27 Nov 2023.

"I don't like it captain. In all of my years in space, no comms from a station has NEVER happened before. Should we ready for a boarding party just in case? Or am I just paranoid? Lock down just in case?"

Lex feels the thud of the ship as it docks.  He listens for comms regarding new priorities from the captain.  None come.  Lex assumes all is nominal and continues his work in and around the maintenance bay.

"Lockdown Captain? Prepare to repel boarders?" Harry is in near panic! A station had never failed to acknowledge arrival before! Ever!

He looks to the captain and prays she understands the gravity of the situation!

"It could just be a downed transmitter," Tanja says calmly to Harry. She'd mocked the new "uniform" Levi had insisted that they wear, but was now thankful that they were all wearing something more protective than just cloth.

"Do think we ready small arms at the least, when we're ready to disembark. Just in case."

"Patience Mr McStubbin." Karma says in response to Harry's outburst.  "Give them time to--"

"Yes, yes, erm, Empress Katarina this is Snobol research station. We see you are docked. Crewman Daqor Klarr is on the way to meet you in the transport lobby. He will be there shortly."

Karma gives Harry a 'see, I told you so' look. She then thinks on Tanja's suggestion.  "That might be prudent Ms Skorskald. Harry and I will escort the passenger into the transport lobby."

She looks over at Harry expectantly. "A laser pistol and a vibroknife should suffice."

As Harry goes to the ship's locker, Karma moves to the reception airlock and opens the doors. The cold air of the ice cave hits her. She crosses her arms reflexively as her body reacts to the cold, straining against the dispersion suit fabric. She grabs her jacket she had brought to the airlock earlier and puts it on.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:12, Mon 27 Nov 2023.

When the greetings from the port comes, Harry visibly relaxes himself, glad that his paranoia had been confirmed as just that. He goes to the locker and retrieves weapons as instructed and gives Karma hers at the airlock when he gets there.

Karma straps the shoulder holster on, then tucks the laser pistol in the strap before closing up the front of her jacket.  She straps the vibroknife and its sheath to her belt.  For some reason, the pistol felt good against her side.

She closes the airlock, then moves back into the lounge, beckoning Harry to follow.

"Well, Dr Marksputin, we are ready.  If you will follow us."  she says, walking into the cargo bay.  She taps the controls to operate the cargo bay door.  A yellow flasher goes off along with a buzzer before it lets her press the green button.  The cargo door ramp lowers and a blast of cool air washes inward.

Karma looks over her shoulder at those still at the passenger lounge table.

"We will be back shortly with a lot of credits."  she says, smiling at the thought.

1107.325 0030hrs UST(+8ADC) - Snobol Moon Research Station

Karma, the scientist, and Harry exit the ship via the cargo ramp. They climb some utility stairs onto a balcony overlooking the landing zone, then follow the wall around to a hatch.  It is open by the time they arrive, with a young crewman bedecked in a utilitarian uniform with a ByChem logo stenciled upon it.  He greets them and beckons them inside.  The space within is much akin to a passenger lobby, complete with loungers, tables with vid screens, and lighting.  A high definition imaging screen on a center island displays the Belnafaer gas giant with the ByChem logo.  It pans through an orbit, passing several moons before zooming in on Snobol station.  A camera follows a path through the stations static stasis field to the landing hangar, through the airlock hatch into the lobby where they are standing.  It then zips into a transport tube and the watcher is taken for a ride through transport tubes, then out onto the tether for a ride until it ends on a platform where a ship, the Moneyspider, is docked.  There is a voice talking about something, but the volume is apparently turned down.

The image on the screen switches, panning on a view of some sort of platform, akin to the hot air balloons of Terran earth antiquities, drifting through turbulent clouds of the gas giant's atmosphere. The bottom left of the screen shows an cut away image showing an internal structure within the balloons.  The platform gets closer and closer to the viewer.  The bottom of it houses a large structure, then a ballooning shape in six huge sections.  It is called Jetsom.  Atop the thing is a tall column with equipment all over it.  The camera circles the apparatus a couple of times.  Two docking ports can be seen about halfway up the balloons, on opposing sides of the structure.  Finally, the camera zooms out of the atmosphere of the gas giant and beginning the whole scene again at Snobol.

The man before them smiles warmly and nods his head at the scientist. Then, before anyone can talk says,  "Dr. Marksputin, the captain will be so glad to see you have made it.  I have read many of your works." he says with some pride.  He cocks his head and touches an ear bud, obviously listening to something or someone before addressing the other two.

"Please, the captain wishes you all to come aboard and have dinner with him." the crewman expresses to Karma and Harry. "As an expression of his gratitude for your expedient and safe transit with the scientist.  He will also have your payment in full.  Please inform your captain of his offer and we will await your decision."
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:31, Mon 27 Nov 2023.

Karma smiles at the man. "Why don't I inform my crew now."  she says demurely and with a gratifying smirk at his wince.  Why do most species believe it is the man's position to be captain?  He must have Aslan blood in him.

Karma touches her own ear bud as the man nods at her meekly.  He and the scientist make their way to the transport tube.  The two enter, the doors close and with a swooshing noise are gone.

[COMMS / Bridge]
"Ms Skorskald, please inform the crew they are welcome to join us here.  The captain of the Moneyspider has invited us for dinner.  I will await those who wish to join us here in the lobby and then we will make out way to the ship."

[COMMS SHIPWIDE, Internal] "Attention, ladies and gentlemen, this is your temporary captain speaking. We have touched down and are secure, the real captain has made contact with the locals and has passed our scientist passenger over to them, so you can all breathe a sigh of relief at successfully delivering, and not killing, a paying passenger despite everything that was stacked against us.

We've also been invited to dinner with the head honcho as their guests, so wrap up warm if you've leaving the 'Rina as the temperature is a little on the chilly side, and nothing larger than a discrete personal sidearm.

And definitely nothing that can be thrown and goes boom. Yes, I mean YOU. Just don't even think about it. And not those either.

Thank you for flying 'Rina Spaceways, and on behalf of me and the flight crew I hope you'll fly with us again soon."

Tanja grinned at her sudden outpouring of insane waffle over the Comms.

Phillip rolled his eyes at Tanja playing on the comms, in turn he contacted Levi. [comms-Levi] "Levi, this is Phillip, you want to attend the party? I can stay and take care of the Empress if you want? Or vice-versa, I can represent Engineering and you can stay. Someone should watch our baby and keep it locked up and secure while here."

He kept an eye on all of the gauges and readouts for the engines as he waited on Levi's response.

Zbigniew decided to take this time to review the rest of the medical records of the crew and finalize his report on the incident in the Missile bay.

Levi was already heading to the engineering deck when Phillip's message came over the Comms. He paused, was about to answer, then continued, arriving a couple of minutes later.

"Leave the powerplant idling, and don't power down fully," Levi says as soon as he enters the bay. "I want us to be able to dust off at a moment's notice if necessary. There's something about this place I don't like.

If you want to dress up and head out go for it. I have a lot to do here, and will secure ship access once everyone is off or staying. Someone's got to keep working on the Katerina while we're on level ground "

He didn't want to admit that he didn't feel ready to socialise with anybody new, especially formally, right now.

"I'll keep working too then, I'm not liking it here a bit either. It might be fine, but it gives me the creeps after what just happened to us." Phillip replies.

"There's loads for us to do too. The help would be appreciated," Levi replies. "I'd like to make use of whatever grounded time we've that makes access to the outer hull easier.

Do you think they do take-away??"

Well, he thought it was funny.

Lex hears the invitation but is conflicted.  He likes social events but knows the ships is still not fully repaired.  They chose not to stay at the space station to repair the ship but to repair while continuing the mission.  This stop is very valuable in making real gains in repair and reconfiguring the missile bay area.

Levi and Phillip are in the area working.  Lex walks over to them and asks "You guys going to this social event?  I'm considering staying here.  There's a lot of work remaining and a lot of work can be accomplished if we take advantage of this layover."

"I'm not the kind to pass pleasantries at a party with strangers. It leads to pain and embarrassment." Levi responds. "I'm staying here. To keep an eye on the ship and continue working on her.

He.nofs towards Phillip. "I think Phillip has decided to stay as well, but it is your choice if you want to attend or not.

There's no rush. You can stay here and attend late, if that's your wish."

Dawn wears the dispersion suit beneath a tight fitting black jump suit and the jacket. She conceals a laser pistol in a shoulder holster and conceals a stealth knife in her back.  She greets Tanja at the crew lounge. "Looks like it's just you and me, fly girl.  You packing?" she asks.

Billianah accesses the database to check for any commercially viable sources which may be  available from the current location.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:11, Fri 01 Dec 2023.

Tanja looks at the "uniform" they are wearing and groans. She knows the reasons for the protective clothing, and is even thankful for them considering the potential for explosive decompression.

But damn they were plain.

"I'll need to grab my leather jacket or something from my room. Something to go over our spacer wear. When we get time I'm thinking of adapting the suit to make it less... Drab.

You'll be carrying?? I'll leave my gun behind if that's the case. No sense in us all turning up armed to the teeth."

In reply to Levi Stensgaard (msg # 46):
Lex placing ship readiness over the social event decides to stay onboard to continue his work. "If you guys need an extra hand in this area, let me know.  Else I'll continue working on the maintenance bay area."

[Comms/ Tanja] "I'll remain onboard continuing the work on maintenance and missile bays."

The expression on Levi's face was difficult to discern. Pride, that his was the only team wanting and willing to remain behind - or annoyance that he had company with him... But he nodded, "We're grounded, have air, pressure and gravity. Let's focus on anything that needs doing on the outer hull or would require a spacewalk first, then we can look at internal essentials and finally cosmetics and aesthetics."

Dawn laughs. "Of corse I'm carrying." She says, patting her jacket side.  She ragards Tanja's dispersion suit.

 "I don't know girl. You look okay in that dispersion suit. Hugs the right curves. Just be glad we don't have to wear those emergency decompression suits or our vacc suits."

Dawn exits the ship's cargo bay via the ramp that is still open. She follows the path the captain took until finally reaching the "lobby". As she enters the lobby a transport arrives silently. Only the slight hum of the gravitc array can be heard above the droning voice on the imager.

"Tanja should be right behind me captain. I think the rest are staying aboard."

Tanja appreciated the functionality of the suit, but if they were going out for dinner - even on a barren ice cube like this - she wanted to feel like she wasn't in a spacer jumpsuit. Leather jacket it would be.

She was only a couple of minutes behind Dawn and was surprised that the groundpounder hadn't waited for her. She sighed but continued on, raising the cargo ramp and securing the ship as she left.

[Comms Katerina internal]"I'm out and the Katerina is closed up. Good luck gentlemen, enjoy your evening."

She walks to the lobby, waits patiently for the next shuttle, and heads onwards. All the while her eyes and ears are open and she's curiously taking in everything she can.

"There you are." says Karma as Tanja finally enters the lobby to be with the rest of them. "Let's go get paid.  Shall we?"

GM RESPONSE

Karma steps into the transport, sliding to the left to let the others enter.  There are seats but she chooses to stand and takes hold of one of the strap handholds, remaining standing as the transport begins to accelerate.  She is surprised at its speed.  It zooms through the tube silently with exception to a swoosh of air that is fed through some cleverly concealed venting from fore to aft.  There are several ice caverns through which the tube passes through.  Beautiful to behold and several have chasms that open and the planet Belnafaer can be seen through them, the orange reflected light from the planet giving an eerie gloom where possible.  Then, the tube arcs, and dives further into the ice where it becomes dark except for the occasional recessed lighting at a tube sectional.  The trip only takes about one minute, maybe a little more, to travel the six kilometers from the lobby to the tether house and brewery, as an artfully decorated sign calls it.

Exiting the transport, one turns a corner to follow a corridor.  In it there is a small portal window.  The mind must reorient itself at this point.  A view out the window reveals that the moon Snobol is relative now to the 'UP' direction.  Another turn, following a small sign on the wall that says '<- elevator', leads the party to a hatch. Analog wall gauges show atmospheric pressure of .98 bar on the other side and a temperature of 22 Celcius.

"Ah you have arrived."  says Mr Klarr.  Sargeny Marksputin arrives with him.  Daqor adds, "Let's make our way to the Moneyspider."

Daqor opens the hatch and guides everyone inward.  He then enters, closing the station hatch behind him.  Then, he closes the elevator hatch and presses the elevator down button. The elevator is a spacious, self-propelled vehicle similar to a monorail car, except that the rail (which runs alongside the Moneyspider tethering cable) is vertical. The elevator accelerates steadily to a maximum speed of 156.86 m/sec.  The first ten kilometers, the elevator slides by a long distillation column mounted along the tether. Looking 'upward', Snobol grows smaller and one can see from horizon to horizon.  The whole trip takes eight and a half minutes.  Then, the elevator enters part of the research vessel and comes to a stop.

Daqor checks the gauges, then opens the hatch.  He walks into a small access corridor and opens the next airlock hatch and beckons for everyone to follow.

The first room on this deck is an airlift/grav transport access.  There is a hatch marked as a docking airlock and a second one mark with Airlift/Grav.

A short climb down a ladder column, and the party finds themselves in a hallway with three doorways.  The forward one is glass, and opens into what appears to be a bridge by appearances.  The ship seems very old though with antiquated technology.  No one has built ships with top down deck plans in centuries. The advent of inertial dampeners and gravitic arrays changed all that. Daqor leads the companions through the doorway to their left, which opens into a conference room complete with large oval table and comfortable chairs.

1107.325 0048hrs UST(+8.75 ADC) - Snobol Moon Research Station

Moneyspider is a research vessel that has seen its prime come and go. It is a top down deck plan that relies on gravitational pull for gravity. In its current state, this is achieved with a twenty kilometer long tether to the moon that rotates on its axis every four minutes and forty-five seconds. This spin gives the ship an inertial momentum equal to approximately one standard Terran gee.

The party of four wait as Daqor leaves in search of the captain.

Lex knows this is a very logical approach but he also knows he is not very experienced in space maneuvering yet.  "Sure.  With my space experience, perhaps you should give me the less complex jobs.  I'll get my Vac Suit."

Lex heads off to suit-up.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:20, Tue 05 Dec 2023.

Daqor returns and moves to a door within the conference room and presses a green button. The door slides open, revealing a room beyond with one occupant and a droid. The man is average heigt, middle aged with light brown hair, greying on the sides. The droid is humanoidal in a silvery polished exoskeleton.

"Come in. Come in. Please, have a seat." Urges the man in a raspy, low voice you have not heard before. He beckons the party to an area with loungers and comfort seating. A crystal carafe filled with a jade colored liquid is on a low round table with crystal glasses. A tin of ice balls accompanies the arrangement. Also on the table is a small case. The room has a nice aromatic odor reminding one of flowers."

"Negreate?" He asks, gesturing at the decanter.  "All the way from the Querion Cluster. This is your whole crew?"

Daqor leaves, closing the door behind him.  The droid moves in the background around a dining table, setting plates and cutlery into place. Once done, the droid leaves by the same door Daqor had.

The man introduces himself as captain Akizk Taark Kass. Introductions go around and the formalities are concluded. While the meal is being prepared, The captain explains what the ByChem mission at Belnafaer is about while everyone who wishes, enjoys a drink of the nectar wine.  His job, he explains, is overseeing an operation called the Venturi project that collects and distills certain molecules from the gas giant by use of a bouyancy platform that floats in the atmosphere.  That platform is named Jetsom.

He goes into what those molecules are, which brings the scientist into the conversation and a lot of technical information is bandied about which the rest of the party finds to be dry and quite boring.  But eventually, the conversation is disrupted as the droid, named Baralou, returns with platters of hot, actually cooked, food. Decanters of purified water and spiced tea are served for drinking.

One thing can be said for ByChem. They take care of their researchers. Foodwise anyways. The meat is of Tarkarion elk flank steaks smothered in a creamy fungi sauce, with wild grain rice and vegetables steamed to perfection.

"Your payment for transporting Dr Marksputin is in that case. Two hundred and fifty thousand credits." Akizk says, gesturing to the case on the low table.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:36, Tue 05 Dec 2023.

"That all sounds really technical," Tanja says having accelted a glass of the negreate, sipping it slowly..

And the food!! She had to refrain from using her fingers and shovelling the food into her mouth.

"But what are the molecules actually used for??"

The project manager and captain smiles warmly, happy to have an audience, or he has had too much Negreate.

"A couple of years ago, ByChem sent an unmanned atmoprobe (atmospheric probe) into the gas giant's atmosphere, looking for anything of value to the company.  They do these probes in hundreds of star systems.  Anyway, it reported the presence of the usual gases such as hydrogen, helium, methane, and so on.  But in addition, there were very low concentrations of several bio-chemicals, including Cys-DiEropadyne and Meta-Trilphidone.  It was a very exciting find.  Those two molecules have never been encountered in nature before now.

But to answer your question, Cys-DE and Meta-TI are catalysts.  Erm, compounds which speed up chemical reactions, and are of great value in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, plastics, and bio-electronics.  However, they are very unstable and very expensive to synthesize or create artificially."

Karma looks at Dawn, then Tanja and Harry, who seem rapt in their own thoughts.  She turns to captain Kass, "So, you manufacture these compounds.  But... you are listed as research vessels." 

The captain laughs nervously, "Yes, perhaps I have spoken too much.  Many, many other mining operations would eagerly start bio-chemical extraction here on Belnafaer if given the chance.  To keep the project secret, Jetsom and Moneyspider are indeed registered as research vessels. Moneyspider here, is originally a Vilani exploration vessel from the 1st Imperium era.

I must insist you do not share or repeat information I have openly divulged, against my better judgement."  The captain shakes his head, weariness evident in his features.  "It has been a trying few days." 

"How many people you lose when your shuttle exploded?" Harry asked bluntly.

"Four." captain Kass says, equally blunt but with sadness.  "They should not have attempted... they should not have gone.  Should have waited for periapsis.

Every 38 days, Snobol is at periapsis with Belnafaer.  This is when we switch shifts between two groups of four members. The A team is on the Jetsom at the moment.  Jetsom was caught up in a violent super storm, the likes of which we have not seen since starting this project.  We lost contact with the platform.  Normal radio frequencies are lost in that atmosphere, so we use a tight-beam transceiver.  When we lost contact, Parl argued to make an immediate emergency shuttle launch before periapsis, fearing for his beloved, ATatya Myera.  She is our sape handler.

Snobol was a long way from Belnafaer then, but Parl attempted anyway, taking three others with him.  That shuttle was designed to be able to reach Jetsom at Snobol's closest approach and so could carry barely enough fuel for the longer trip Parl wanted.  I received a transmission from them as they entered the atmosphere, then they too were gone."

"So sorry for your loss, I'm sure they were close friends. Sounds like you need quite a few replacements now. You going out of business until they arrive?" Harry asks, with genuine sorrow in his voice.

Karma nods at Harry's statement of sympathy. "That must be the transmission we picked up." She says, remembering the frightened faces in the viewer. "We made adjustments to our approach to get here as soon as possible, in case... well, I don't know. We did not know what was happening, but help might be needed."

"Which brings me to why I discussed our operations." captain Kass says, putting his crystal glass down gently. He regards Karma for a moment. His thoughts forming quickly now. "Captain, as you can see, I have a crisis. You and your crew offer an opportunity for both of us."

He stands and turns to look out the small porthole viewing window. Belnafaer moves quickly past the portal in the beyond as Snobol spins. Then it is gone, showing up again three minutes later.

"I would like to hire the Katarina's crew to investigate the Jetsom platform, assess the damage that storm caused, and at minimum restore the tight-beam communications and ensure my people are safe. If you can bring back tanks of crude bio-chemical product, ByChem will pay you extra. Is this something you might consider?"

As the captain returns to stand at his seat, Karma continues to watch as Belnafaer once again enters the viewport. She can discern lightning in the clouds every so often, especially in the darker bands.

"What are the known dangers my crew could expect?" She asks, taking another sip from the Negreate. It really is a good tasting drink. Smooth, and cool, and she can feel the effects of the fermentation. She wonders what it is made of, then shakes her head to focus her thoughts.

She glances at her companions, judging their reactions to the offer.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:00, Wed 06 Dec 2023.

Dawn smiles at Karma's inquisitive glance. A dangerous job? Right up her ally. But... She speaks before thinking.

"Exploding shuttles comes to mind." She quips. It then strikes her that what she said was completely insensitive. She blushes at the blunder, lowering her eyes and focusing on her drink and shaking her head.

"Sorry." she murmurs sheepishly.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:30, Wed 06 Dec 2023.

Harry is interested, but not suicidal. "When is it safe to go there? Is the storm constant, or will it end soon?" Harry asks.

If the quip bothered him, he does not show it. He takes his seat again and turns to regard them all now, not just the captain of the Katarina.

"Yes, there is risk to get there. But periapsis is tomorrow morning. With great risk, comes a healthier reward." He says sagely, then sighs. "I cannot guarantee your safety. The Jetsom bio-chemical extraction platform  floats in the very cold hydrogen upper stratosphere, supported by a huge bouyancy system of heated hydrogen. It does not have a fixed position, but is blown around the planet by winds of up two thousand kilometers per hour, and never less than five hundred.  The platform operates at negative one hundred and twenty degrees centigrade. Which is very cold."

"The storms flare up occasionally and mostly depends on factors in the lower altitudes." captain Kass  replies to Harry. "This last one was especially bad and I suspect, bad enough to disable our comminications tower. Normal radio does not work in the atmosphere except locally, like on the platform. To communicate with the platform, we use a subspace array, or tight-beam comms as the military likes to call it."
This message was last updated by the GM at 21:36, Wed 06 Dec 2023.

"The offer is compelling Captain." Karma says. She stands and moves to retrieve the case of credits. Picking it up, she glances at her companions, giving the clear signal it was time to leave.

"I will discuss this with the crew and let you know shortly. Thank you for a wonderful meal. Please compliment the cook."

Captain Akizk Taark Kass stands when the captain of the Katarina does, straightening his plain white shirt.

"Of course captain. I must urge expediency though in your decision. After periapsis, the opportunity does not come again for 38 days. Which reminds me, if your crew takes the job, they can expect to be on the platform for that length of a stay."

He circles the table to come next to Karma. He offers a hand for shaking.

"It has been a pleasure captain. I can have Daqor see you to your ship."

"Deep space is negative two hundred and something," Tanja imterjects to the conversation. "So temperature is not the issue. The thickness of the atmosphere and particle density and composition is. High wind speeds would make it... Interesting." This she says to Karma, reinforcing what the captain probably already knows. She turns her attention back to the doctor.

"Before we leave, what modifications did the shuttle possess to enable it to travel to the platform and back??"

"Our two shuttles are specially outfitted with clamps that hold a thick shield of ice we quarry from the moon. It is great at dissipating the external heat on entering the gas giant's atmosphere." The captain replies to Tanja. "I have a couple of crewmen digging the other shuttle from storage as we speak. It will have an ice shield in place in a few hours."
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:29, Wed 06 Dec 2023.

"No need for an escort captain. We can find our way. It is a short distance to the elevator." Karma replies, shaking the man's clammy yet firm hand.

She then makes her way  to the door from which they entered, making her way to the elevator by way they had come.

The party find themselves back at the Empress Katarina in about ten minutes. In all, a pleasant couple of hours with great food and an opportunity.

"I'm against it Captain, too dangerous! I'm sorry for their loss, but no one held a gun to their heads and told them they had to work here." Harry says when back a board the ship and in the galley drinking a coffee.

"True Harry. We delivered our fare and have been paid. I wonder though if it makes business sense to leave them in their crisis." Karma exclaims, taking a seat at the table. The mug of herbal tea is welcome after their trip back through the cold icy moon.

"The Venturi project fails. What happens then? Will we be viewed by prospective patrons as having been in a position to help and did nothing? ByChem could possibly take our refusal to help, to secure their profit making project personally and make our business ventures around Regina more difficult.

On the flip, we risk it. Make heros of ourselves by turning a certain loss into big gains for ByChem. Our venture becomes more reknown. Business opportunities grow. Profits grow."

"Do we have sufficient protection from the storms and winds and particles?" Phillip asks.

"We do not." Dawn replies. "But I'm sure they do. They work the platform afterall."

"And their shuttle desintegrated in the storm! I'm thinking we'd not have a good chance, only a 10% to 15% chance is my best guess." He shook his head. "We barely survived the saboteur."

"Either the ship can endure the atmosphere or it can't. It's a yes/no situation. I would like to hear the opinion of our Chief-Engineer. We have a hole in the hull, which is now sealed, or clogged, or plugged, enough to stand the difference of pressure between inside and the void. But in the clouds of a gas giant... that's another order of magnitude. Or several", Fatboy elaborated. "Plus, 38 days in a station tossed around by the winds, IIUC?"

"The Katarina's hull is completely repaired. There is no further work to be done there." Karma corrects the software specialist. "But in this situation the discussion is moot. This vessel cannot dock with the Jetsom. I watched a presentation on an imager in the transport lobby. A few of us did. There are two entrances to the Jetsom platform within the bouyancy structure. They are just large enough for a shuttle.

So, if we go, we take their shuttle. And, yes, that's a thirty eight day hike in the clouds."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:50, Fri 08 Dec 2023.

Lex listens to the discussion.  He does not like the extended stay on that station.  "There could be an alternative to reduce our stay on the station.  We take our ship and the shuttle.  We park our ship at a safe distance from the Jetsom station and use the shuttle for the final leg to the station.  When we are done, we use the shuttle to return to our ship.  Park the shuttle and reboard our ship.  We would then use our ship to catch back up with Snobal.  This minimizes our time on Jetsom, help were we are able and frees us up to move on to our next venture. "

---

OOP: when considering the proposal, note Lex's Leadership and SOC.

"As the Captain said, the holes are plugged and plating has been reattached and sealed. The Katerina is good," Levi responds to Fatboi. "The repairs we're doing are cosmetic and mostly internal now. Rebuilding and securing a portion of wall and floor, along with securing and hiding the power and communication conduits that run through them.

Non-essential as everything was rerouted, but time consuming as I want it to be done properly."

"There are some logistical problems with that scenario Lex.  First, and foremost, we have no way to transition from shuttle to ship in the gas giant's atmosphere. Second, skimming through the atmosphere and using our scoops to process fuel is not the same thing as trying to maintain a position in upwards of two thousand kilometer an hour winds with just gravitic maneuvering."

She gives the proposed idea a further moment of thought, then turns to the captain.

"However, we dont need to use their shuttle.  We have the air grav."

Dawn turns and speaks at Tanja. "I'm no starship pilot, but I have a little skill with grav vehicles and I would not dare those conditions for any great length, but under those conditions, can you get close enough to the shuttle portal that the grav makes a very, very short flight?."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:49, Fri 08 Dec 2023.

"I won't go, too damn dangerous out there." Harry announced.

"Do I get a vote? I don't like it either. How many are already dead? At least four?" Zbigniew says.

"Well first we discuss the issue, then have a majority vote on the matter. If majority is to proceed, those opposed can remain on the ship."

"Sorry doctor. The vote is by members of the crew. However, as a guest here you may, of course, choose to remain on the ship."

"We can discuss it further, but for the business aspect of it, I am in." Karma says formally.

She looks around the lounge for other votes or ideas.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:24, Fri 08 Dec 2023.

Tanja looks thoughtful for a moment at Dawn's suggestion.

"In theory, yes it would work. But I'd not recommend use of the grav sled in the upper atmosphere of this planet. They aren't great with gale force winds in terrestrial atmospheres, let alone wind speeds that would tear flesh from bone.

I'd be reluctant to put the Katerina into that atmosphere, and she's got the thrust and powerful grav compensators to cope. Still, I'm always up for a challenge if that's what is needed..." she grins.

Listening to Karma offer to give everyone a vot, Tanja pipes up, "I'd be more willing to pilot that shuttle if the doctor and his team would let our own team look over the shuttle and make any modifications they felt would give us a better chance. The local team may know the weather conditions and other hazards but they've lost one shuttle to this planet, and I trust our team more. If they give us the data to work with, liaise with us and our lot say the shuttle is good to go then I'll fly it for you.

I know we don't have much time before we have to go, but that's my condition for flying. That and they pay us handsone hazard pay."

"Happy to look over the shuttle for you all, though I'm not expecting much.

But I'm with Harry, it's too dangerous, and I'm not convinced it wasn't sabotage.

Well, too dangerous as it stands..." Levi says.

"What if we do place the Katerina in orbit above that floating contraption. Have a second team here on standby in case something goes wrong?? We can keep the active sensors pointed right at the float, monitor the weather and can be in constant communication with the ground team.

We could keep a skeleton crew who can fly and run the Katerina and cover all the basic crew positions."

Eldorado followed his chain of reasoning: "It seems their biggest issue is that they cannot communicate with Jetsom, whose tight beam is offline. Harry or Tanya need to be sent in the shuttle, or the whole voyage seems useless."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:14, Sat 09 Dec 2023.

"Oh, I'll go," Tanja says, "Unexpected weather patterns, difficult conditions?? Seems like a challenge to me. And it sounds like they need a mechanic rather than an engineer. No offence Levi."

"I am in, though I can only help where needed. I have no skills with repairing communications. But, I can follow directions."

"Sorry, I don't like it either. How much they willing to pay? Better be a heck of a big pile of credits, my life is worth a LOT! I'm voting no for now." Phillip said.

Lex waits for a break in the discussion.  "I'm for the mission if we have more resources, like having accessibility to our ship, and I don't like being stuck on the platform for 30 plus days."

Lex looks around the room. The crew was waiting for a few more details.  "One crew can fly in the shuttle to the platform.  A second crew can fly Katarina.  We will need to decide where to park Katarina.  Once the mission is over the shuttle flies to the Katarina.  They both move near the periapsis point.  The shuttle crew EVAs to the Katarina. The shuttle remains parked, waiting for Snobol to return.  If needed, Katarina could then travel to Snbol to return the crew and other items that are deemed suitable."

Levi nods at Lexon. It was a similar idea to the one he'd raised moments earlier. "Agreed. Even if we park the Katerina in high orbit, we'll at least be on hand in case something goes wrong. Still not sure how much we could actually do, but I'd rather be a few hours away than a few days. And.we have the supplies, it's not like there's much to see or do on this base anyway... Hell, even if we use the ground time and follow in a day or two."

He shrugs. "I dunno."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 17:00, Thu 14 Dec 2023.

I've oft found adventure to be diverting

"The idea of Katarina being in orbit above the Jetsom is a good one." Karma states, thinking on the ideas presented. She also does not like the idea of 38 days on station, especially with a bay full of cargo to be delivered. "If we were to do this, Lex's idea of EVA between the shuttle and the Empress is the only feasible solution. I will pilot the Katarina in orbit. Tanja pilots the shuttle to and from the Jetsom. We make the repairs on their communications, meet the other requirements, and bank.

But, from what I am hearing, only two of you, maybe three, are willing to do it. That may be enough. If not to repair the comms, maybe enough to see to the safety of the platform and her crew."

"Iris, open a channel to the Moneyspider, captain Kass, on the holo-vid dislay."

The center of the table opens up and the hard point display comes to life. In moments the transmission is responding with video from the other ship. Captain Kass fills the viewer, pushing glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Captain. Have you and your crew come to a decision?"

"I have two or three willing to venture out there. It may be enough to repair the comms, but surely enough to assess the damaged platform and crew status. When would we be expected to take command of the shuttle? My pilot will want to become familiar with it beforehand."

"The shuttle has enough fuel storage for a drop into the atmosphere at periapsis. That occurs in twenty one hours.

The shuttle has a maximum occupancy of eight plus cargo. Many more if no cargo, though only side wall drop seats in that scenario. Up to sixteen persons then.

A pilot is not really required. The shuttle is outfitted with a computer with Intellect piloting software to transit to and from the platform."

"I still don't like it, but I'll go too, they might need me."

"I would rather my pilot control the flight of the shuttle. Please send us the specs on the ByChem shuttle." Karma says, continuing the conversation.

"We will require protective equipment for the environment for those of us going. And, what are you offering in the way of pay? Specifically, what are your terms?"

The captain of the Moneyspider does not answer immediately. He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose again and looks off camera for a moment.

"Due to the extreme hazards involved, we are willing to pay each individual that goes twentyfive thousand credits on completing several objectives.

One; assess the damaged communications array and reestablish transmission between Snobol and Jetsom.

Two; assess the damage, if any, to the platform and make any necessary repairs to affect safe and stable operation.

Three; assess the crew and assure their safety.

Lastly, ByChem will pay twenty thousand credits for each containment pod of unrefined product brought back to the refinement station on Snobol.

As for the gear, we can provide you with the chill suits to endure the temperature of the atmosphere. "

Tanja chuckles at the terms proposed, "So, according to term three we have to assess and ensure their safety. So if they're already dead we don't get paid?? And what if we can't re-establish communication or return the platform to a stable, workable condition??

The terms are very binary and weighted against us." she says quietly.

Twenty five thousand was a decent pay for a month's work. Several times her normal monthly salary in fact. Plus a further twenty per container. That could easily soon add up.

A little louder she asked, "At last transmission, how many containers did the collection vessel currently contain??"

She is aware and concerned that if they fill the shuttle there wouldn't be enough seats for the rescued crew and her team might be viewed as expendable...

Eldorado had been wondering what he could be useful for - given his shameful lack of skill in Comms tech. But then repairs were mentioned, so he decidesz that if Levi Stensgaard went to the "jetsom", he'll go as well.

Plus, there may well be people needing to be rescued... and he would feel remorse for the rest of his life if they died because he did not do something.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:20, Sat 16 Dec 2023.

Adriannah considers the situation along with the numbers involved and determines there are too many crew going in the shuttle. Determines the rescue effort has a greater chance of recovering the crew if there is more space in the shuttle. Adriannah suggests she's opted to remain on the Katarina.

"Each cycle has yield six containers. We have been working to increase that yield and is one of the reasons we brought Dr Marksputin onboard." The captain replies from the viewer.

"We have four that will descend to the Jetsom." Karma states. "Maybe five, if I can talk a doctor we have traveling with us to go. They will rendezvous with your shuttle in nineteen hours. Please have the chill suits waiting for them, along with any spare communications array parts that might be needed.

If we need any further assistance before leaving, we will contact you captain. Empress Katarina out."

At those keywords, the intellect software named by Karma as Iris shuts down the holo-vid screen at the table.

The video transmission ends and the screen disappears. Dawn turns to the captain. "I have a question." she states, putting a computing tablet onto the table. The familiar "GIN" logo is on the screen, a commonly used online platform for galactic information searches.

"I have searched and cannot find anything on it.  When we were on that ship, the captain mentioned one of his crew was their 'sape' handler.  What do you suppose that is?"

"Sape handler. Honestly, I don't recall that. Could be an acronym for something in their field. Chemical maybe?" Karma responds, then looks between Fatboy and Billianah, "You two see what you can find out about it."

Karma then excuses herself from the table and seeks out Dr Zbigniew.

[Comms/Dr Z]
"Doctor Zbigniew, where might I find you presently?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:42, Tue 19 Dec 2023.

Billianah glances in Stout's direction, seeing how he's the guru she will leave him to weave his Electronics Computer magics.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:26, Thu 21 Dec 2023.

"I'm right here captain." he says from the corner of the room, behind everyone, keeping silent and listening.

Karma approaches the investigator."Doctor, I know you are here only in an investigative capacity. If you have been listening, we are launching a mission to help the Jetsom. The project's manager believes there may be wounded there. Would you be willing to assist by joining the away team?  You will be compensated just as the others going will be."

"If there are wounded, yes, I'll go. I don't like it, it looks very dangerous, but I must care for the ill and infirm and those that are hurt."

"Splendid. Join the others in nineteen hours. You all will take the transport to their shuttle bay and board there."

"Yes Ma'am." he responds, and gets a snack, goes to his quarters, and rests.

Surprised by the Captain's directive, especially in light of her voiced concerns. Adriannah suppressed a grimace. It appears the Captain either isn't concerned about rescuing the "stranded crew" or knows more than she's letting on about this whole thing. she thinks to herself.

She quickly chats with Billianah.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:58, Fri 22 Dec 2023.

After a quick chat with Adriannah, Billianah  has been persuaded to their support of the rescue. The possibilily to leverage additional financial gain and corporate knowledge is also a viable option. "Captain if there's room.for us to accompany you could Adriannah and I do so?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:01, Fri 22 Dec 2023.

Whoa. This means Hacking. If ever Eldorado had to choose a spy name, it would be Hacking. He would introduce himself thus: "My name is Hacking - Steven Hacking". Now he's got the captain's permission...

Eldorado starts by connecting to the ByChem Corp intranet, and looks for an employee's list. He searches for Akorn. Is her account already deleted? Then he searches for someone who's stationed on the Jetsom. Someone low on the ladder, like the cook. That is the account name he'll try to use.

The computer guru then introduces in the ByChem network a small program that could not be traced to him to brute force the cook's password.

If his hacking is discovered, it will be obvious to the corp's cybersecurity that this couldn't be the cook, but someone who knows him.

Once successful; Eldorado will search for "'sape' handler". Then cover his traces, and then consolidate his hack and look for anything suspicious. Of course, it's going to take some time. But doesn't he have 38+ days to waste?

---

Hacking: Eldorado Stout rolled ((5,3,2)) and uses his total Computer skill +6 Eldorado discovers that Atata Myera and Castuss Wallorr, crewmembers of the Moneyspider, are contractors with a corporation called Renouf Associates.  This company specialises in transcranial neuro matrix augmentation and species breeding on creatures of the galaxy. Sapes (or "super apes") are a specially-bred strain of 2 meter tall, muscular, ape-like creature originating from the Trojan Reaches. They have been bred as an alternative to robots in certain applications.  Sapes are currently being tested in a wide variety of settings (hidden from prying eyes of the larger corporations), hence their presence on Jetsom.  Renouf Associates hopes to be able to sell apes on the basis of their cheapness (about 2500 credits each), low running costs (about 10 credits per day), versatility, strength and agility.  The corporation also maintains that members of the major races (especially those of humaniti) will prefer sapes to robots, especially when working in isolated situations.  At present however, sapes are generally mistrusted by people and governments.  Ownership of a sape is illegal without a license, and such licenses are only granted to large corporations.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:45, Wed 27 Dec 2023.

If he has discovered that before the 19 hours have passed, Eldorado looks for the captain and - with an attitude evoking a conspirator's - communicates his discovery orally, but in hushed tones, and far from prying ears!

Karma watches as the away team descends the cargo ramp and walks off into the dimly lit ship hangar toward the stairs up to the transport lobby.  She hopes nothing goes wrong with this rescue of the Venturi project. But that would be counter to Murphy's Law, an old Terran proverb milennia old. Karma closes up the cargo ramp and prepares the ship for debarking.

The short two minute transport to Snobol's shuttle bay is mostly uninteresting with the most exciting view coming from a span across a large ice chasm. The shuttle bay transport lobby is more utilitarian, without flare or imaging displays. The shuttle bay hangar is, of course, much smaller than the ship hangar with an opening to another ice cavern evident by lighting. Automated track vehicles line the far wall of the bay.

A 40-ton pinnace ship, what the ByChem corp. uses for a shuttle is parked in the bay. Several thick slabs of ice are attached to the underside to help protect the ship on entering the thick atmospere of the gas giant. It makes the profile of the ship a little strange, sitting on ice rather than its landing gear. The back hatch with a small ramp is open, a man, Daqor, lies sprawled on the incline. Another man  is cowering against the back ice slab under the ramp, his hands up in fear.

Ten feet away a humanoidal droid crouches in a melee attacking posture with mechanical arms held before it. Stenciled on its chest is GLLR-5. The man sees the party enter the shuttle bay zone and shouts, "IT'S GONE CRAZY! PROGRAM GLITCHED!"

The droid turns its head in the direction of the transport.

---

If your character is bringing with them any gear other than the supplied dispersion suit and ballistic cloth jacket, please indicate it in your post.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:18, Wed 27 Dec 2023.

"Might be time to scrub the mission now I guess." Harry says very seriously, he backs away, ready to head back to the Katarina! He wasn't armed!

---

17:43, Today: Harry McStubbins rolled 13 using 2d6+4.  robotics check.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:12, Thu 28 Dec 2023.

Tanja pauses for a moment, her mind trying to identify the robot model before her - and what she knew of the model. Were they reliable?? Did they have a tendency to glitch?? Did they have any apparent weaknesses - a blind side, an easy to access power cell, anything that might be of use...

She had her pistol but had secreted it deep in her toolbox - in case they were searched or weapons were refused, and having not expected danger till they were in the atmosphere.

She remained stationary, not presenting a threat, while she analysed the situation.

---

22:19, Today: Tanja Skorskald rolled 6,4 using 2d6,d6 ((3,3,4)).
Science: Robotics (1)
Not sure if it's Education (+1), Intelligence (+2) for this situation
Rolls of either 7 or 8.

---

The GLLR-5, known colloquially as "Gorilla", is a anthropomorphic (humanoidal) droid. The type five is normally used for recreational purposes, knowing thousands of games of many different sophont varieties, including martial arts defense sparring. All legally registered droids have a programming that prevents deliberate harm to any living species.

As with all electronic and positronic devices, a glitch may happen as a consequence of damage of some sort. An internal malfunction is rare in droids above a certain level of technology.  This droid's internal functions have a lifespan in the hundreds of years.

An access panel located at a human's sternum position contains a rechargeable encapsulated parabattery power supply. There is also a kill switch located behind the head. The access is located where the head meets the neck but requires the proper robotics tool to open.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:30, Thu 28 Dec 2023.

Wearing Vac Suit, Adriannah draw one of her Pistols; aiming it in the direction of Droid and mechanical arm.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:35, Thu 28 Dec 2023.

In a Royal Blue battle suit with a Sabre and Pistols (in shoulder and hip holsters) Billianah rested her sword hand idly on the sabres grip. Taking in the scene she waited for one of the others to say something.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:27, Thu 28 Dec 2023.

As Lex and the rest of the team steps into the shuttle bay he observes the situation and years of training kicks in.  He instinctually starts gathering situational information by using his enhanced vision and leaning into his senses to evaluate the threat level.  If needed, he has his Gauss Pistol within quick access on the outside of his Vac Suit.  He starts developing tactics to deal with the potential threat.

---

OOP: Lex has the Edge Danger Sense (always know ahead of time when danger lurks) and Tactics (Military 1)
Lex is carrying Mobile Comm TL10, commdot, Blade, Medikit TL10, Survival Backpack & appropriate gear, Portable computer/3 TL12, transceiver TL12 (computer/0)
Lexon Reed rolled 13 using 3d6+5 ((1,3,4) + 5)

---

Lexon's senses alert him to the serious threat level below. One man down, another cowering, and attention of the droid now drawn to the group he stands with. It is not the first time he has encountered deadly droids, though all the others were combat specific droids designed with the intent of serious harm or killing on a battlefield. This droid is in full engagement mode.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:45, Thu 04 Jan.

"A gorilla recreational droid. Judging by it's stance, it has a self defense program it's using so be careful." Tanja says quietly to those nearby, sensing that they're tense and ready to act.

"Doesn't look armoured, but there's a power cell in its chest, accessed by it's sternum. A protected kill switch is at the base of its skull where a shot or two there from behind might be enough to deactivate it?"

This message was last edited by the GM at 21:09, Fri 29 Dec 2023.

Dawn is wearing her tight fitting blue dispersion suit (+2/+10, TL12) beneath an orange utility jumpsuit and cloth jacket (+5,TL10). She has a holstered laser pistol (3D+3,TL11) beneath her jacket on the left side. She has brought a backpack with an extra power cartridge magazine, a tablet (comp/1), a tactical cold light torch, commdot(50m,TL10)), transceiver (TL12, comp/0), First-aid kit, and a dagger (1D+2).

Dawn regards the dysfunctional robot with wary caution. She sets her backpack down and switches her commdot on. The laser pistol is in her hand instinctively as Tanja describes the nature of the GLLR-5 unit. She checks the magazine as Tanja finishes.

"Stay up here." she warns the others as she opens her pack and retrieves a dagger that is shoved into her beltline on her back. She then heads for the stairs that lead down onto the shuttle bay floor level.

---

The droid moves to engage the party, moving across the mat covered ice floor of the hangar toward the stairs. Its visionary sensors detect Dawn's descent from the platform with a laser pistol in hand. It picks up speed to intercept while calculating her weight, body mass, and probabilities in fighting prowess based on stance, movement, and those calculations.

At the bottom of the stairs it notes a stack of freight crates and storage containers, a likely spot for cover. There is also a grav car used to traverse from the hangar to the ice quarry safely. It is covered with a blue tarpaulin.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:08, Thu 04 Jan.

As Dawn moves off, Tanja drops to her knee and opens her toolkit. She searches for her hidden pistol and a small powered drill or screwdriver - anything that might be able to pierce the robot's plating.

She was a pilot and a mechanic, not a soldier. She'd let Dawn do what she did best and support her as best she could.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:11, Sun 31 Dec 2023.

The others appeared to have everything in hand, prompting Billianah to return to the Shuttle.

As Lex gathers intel his danger sense clearly indicates the droid's next action will be directed toward the Katarina party to do as much damage as possible.  He also notes the droid is only poised for melee combat, no other weapons are apparent.

Out of reflex, years of command training kicks in and he gives clear direction to the group “Target the knees. This is not a battle droid, so immobilizing it will be easier.  Once it’s down we can take further action if needed.”

As he speaks he simultaneously pulls out his Gauss Pistol, targets the knees and fires.

He hopes the others will follow his lead. Dawn and he have been through this before.  He can count on her at least.

---

(GM) Targetting a specific area moves the task difficulty from average to difficult, Gun Combat(slug) DM+10, INT

OOP: I am assuming since the recreational Droid is poised for melee combat and Lex’s danger sense, we would have the initiative if we are using range weapons.  Let me know if this was a bad assumption.

(GM) I have posted the way the combat round will work for play by post gaming. Basically, no initiatives. Also, the tactics roll below gives you no advantage in combat unless you are using it as a minor action to discern something tactical.

Tactics check: 2D+1( Military tactics)+2 (INT) = (6,5,2) + 3
Ranged Attack: 2D+ 1(Slug) + 0 (DEX) = (2,2,5) + 1
If successful 3D damage: 10

Also, is there anything nearby which can be used as cover?

---

Atop the platform, against the railing in several spots are crates of gear for rigging, a mechanics tool chest, acetylene tank rack with twelve tanks(some empty), oxygen tank rack with twelve tanks(some empty), empty storage bins, empty freight crates, and a stack of tarpaulins.

Ignoring Lexon's gauss pistol attack, or not detecting his intent, the droid continues across the hangar floor toward Dawn. It stops and looks up at the railing when a chunk of mat blows apart several feet beyond him, sending a spray of ice shards flying. The thundering report from the gun echoes loudly within the hangar.

From beneath the shuttle rampart a voice calls out, "Don't destroy him! I'm sure its just a programming glitch. A faulty positronic gateway or something!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:35, Thu 04 Jan.

Dawn sees the droid stop, distracted by Lexon's firing. She moves toward the stacked crates for cover as she fires her laser pistol, aiming for the knees as Lex suggests.

---

11:44, Today: Dawn Hunter rolled 2,5,2. -
12:26, Today: Dawn Hunter rolled 17 using 3d6+3 with rolls of 4,5,5.  TL11 Laser pistol (3D+3). –

Hard Task (10+)
2D +GunCombat(energy) +DEX +Aim
7+4+2+1=14
1D boon roll
2
WEAPON DAMAGE + effect
21
STR	DEX	END
5/8	10/13	0/15

---

The recreational crew droid detects Dawn's intent and its defensive software kicks in. It moves forward to get to close quarter combat range. The laser blast strikes the droid's leg just above the knee joint, blowing away a protective plate in a shower of sparks. Sparks appear from other joints as circuitry is overloaded. The droid staggers a little as compensators adjust for damaged ligament structure and damage control software makes necessary calculations.  This stagger is just over a second in real time, a lifetime in droid computational time.

Dawn is moving for the crates, hoping to put them between it and her, but the droid descends on her quickly.

---

09:54, Today: GM, for the NPC Rec crew droid, rolled 12,14 using 3d6,3d6 with rolls of 6,3,3,6,2,6.  Combat Task, boon roll, damage.

Average Task (8+)
2D +Melee(bludgeon) +STR
9+2+2=13
1D boon roll
3
WEAPON DAMAGE + effect
13

This message was last edited by the player at 20:28, Wed 10 Jan.

Harry, not packing this time, stays back out of the way and lets Dawn and Lexon take care of it.

Noting the imminent threat Adriannah targeted the advancing Droid, firing a shot at its chest.

---

Adriannah's laser blast goes high, hitting the flooring beyond the droid.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:41, Tue 09 Jan.

Pulling her pistol and a powered screwdriver from her toolkit, Tanja looks at the tool then regrets her decision. It would likely need a plasma torch or other cutting tool to open the kill switch compartment quickly.

Brushing aside the feeling of stupidity at her action, she offers Harry the pistol so he has something while she returns her attention to her toolkit to see if she has brought her portable cutting torch.

Harry takes the 9mm conventional pistol from Tanja, aims at the knee as instructed, and fires!

---

13:51, Today: Harry McStubbins rolled 12 using 3d6 ((5,6,1)).

Not sure about any of the numbers, Nate, can you compute? I do not have and melee gun skill except with laser guns.

(GM)  Firing a gun at a small target on a moving object: Difficult(10+), GunCombat(DM-3) DEX(DM+1)

11-3+1=9   marginal failure

---

Harry takes the offered 9mm pistol and fires a round at the droid. He winces at the amount of recoil and feels a twinge in his wrist. The slug hits the droid, but not in the knee. It does no damage with a ricochet off its plated leg.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:32, Tue 09 Jan.

---

The droid hits Dawn with its composite alloy fist in the upper left shoulder. She careens backward, spiraling into a support for the stair and falls across a stacked crate before hitting the floor prone. A slug pings against its leg, glancing off the plating. It searches above, then begins making the climb of the stair having located three targets that must be neutralized in this exorcise.

---

Dawn receives 21 points in damage minus armor protection from blunt force.

Begin round two


This message was last edited by the GM at 16:22, Fri 12 Jan.

Dazed, Dawn rolls over. She locates her pistol a couple of feet away and stretches, retrieving it as the droid stomps up the stairs next to her. Clambering to her feet, she steps out into the hangar and blasts her laser pistol at the droid's backside.

---

Minor Action - getting up from a prone position
Major Action - laser fire at droid
14:47, Today: Dawn Hunter rolled 11 using 2d6+6.
Task: Avg(8+),Firing gun(+4), Dex(+2).
Dawn Hunter rolled 16 using 3d6+3.  3D+3 Laser pistol damage .

This message was last edited by the player at 15:25, Tue 16 Jan.

Harry steadies his aim, and shoots the droid in the main body!

---

07:05, Today: Harry McStubbins rolled 10 using 2d6.  to hit. – 10
09:07, Today: Harry McStubbins rolled 10 using 3d6.  damage. – 10
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:53, Mon 15 Jan.

Lex continues the attack.  He aims and fires.

---

Ranged Attack: 2D+1(Slug)+0(DEX)+1(aim)+1(short range) = (1,5) + 3 = 9
If successful 3d6 ((5,6,3)) damage: 14
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:53, Mon 15 Jan.

Adriannah moves to the railing, putting a crate between her and the top of the stairs. She checks the wrist pack connection to the laser pistol and levels it around the edge of the polymer crate, waiting for the droid to show itself.

---

14:51, Today: Adriannah Orilliah rolled 9 using 2d6+5.  Laser Pistol - 2D,GunCombat(2), Dex +2, Short range +1
14:57, Today: Adriannah Orilliah rolled 12 using 3d6+3 ((4,3,2)). - damage

This message was last edited by the player at 21:58, Mon 15 Jan.

GLLR-5, or "Gorilla ", continues up the stairs to reach the platform. Calculations indicate the greatest threat comes from the male with an augmentation eye. A laser blast from Dawn hits him in the back plate, doing substantial damage. Damage control algorithms reroute power around damaged circuitry and several internal surge protection relays spark and burst. Smoke seeps from between joints in its protective plating. Still, the droid continues as if nothing amiss.

GLLR-5 takes a slug from the 9mm in the chest, sending more sparks flying. Lexon fires his gauss pistol again, the hyper daccelerated slug puts a hole in the droids chest, taking it down finally. Another laser blast strikes it in the side as it falls to the floor. The backlight of the eyes blinks a couple of times before finally going dark.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:57, Tue 16 Jan.

Seeing the droid go down, Dawn breathes a sigh of relief. She stops and looks back at the pinnace shuttle ramp. An injured,  prone man lies on the ramp with another male figure hovering over him.  She turns back to the others.

"Medic! Man down." She says loudly before starting back down the stairs.

"Lex! Grab my pack please." She adds quickly. She did not want to leave it behind. With one hand she rubs the aching collar bone where the droid hit her. It might be cracked, she thinks.
This message was last updated by the player at 19:02, Tue 16 Jan.

Adriannah glances down at the droid with uncaring eyes through the golden hued Vac-suit helmet. She continues down the stairs and moves to the shuttle while putting her pistol back into the holster. She unattaches the power umbilical from her wrist pack. Someday, she thinks, they will make a weapon that has the power integrated somehow.

She approaches the ramp, careful to keep out of other's way.

"We are departing now. The shuttle will rendezvous with us at the orbital point before their descent. Empress out."

Captain Stormwind ends transmission with the Moneyspider from the pilot's console.  She then powers up the gravitic drive and grav arrays. The ship slowly rises from the platform to a vertical distance of ten meters.


Here we go, Karma thinks, offering a silent prayer to the heavens. It has been at least a full rotation since she last piloted a starship.

---

Karma Starwind rolled 14 using 2d6+3.  2D, pilot(starship/+1), INT(+2)
This message was last edited by the player at 19:52, Tue 16 Jan.

Harry followed the others to the shuttle.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:16, Tue 16 Jan.

Holding the unlit and impotent cutting torch in front of her like a cheap, improvised firearm, Tanja looks visibly relieved when the droid stops moving. She only moves when it is clear that the last vestiges of energy have drained from its eyes, feeling unnervingly that it was akin to watching the colour and life drain from a dying human.

Hearing Dawn's call for a medic rouses her attention. Replacing the torch in the toolbox, leaving it near the top, she takes her pistol back off Harry. "Nice shooting, Tex," she says in mock imitation of one of the voice overs she'd heard on a holovid ad. Quite who Tex was, or why they were famed for shooting, was beyond her but it was a phrase that had stuck with her for some reason.

She wasn't a medic and would probably cause more injury than be of help. But the droid did cause her to pause for thought.


This last part she added quietly before picking up the toolkit and heading to the shuttle.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:38, Tue 16 Jan.

Karma frowns at the transmission.  Droid? Attack? What attack she wonders. She pulls back on the throttle, powering down until the ship settles again on the hangar floor.  She flips a switch, turning on the ship-wide comms.  Now, for the benefit of others onboard, all traffic can be heard in all parts of the ship.

OOC: Just re-read the initial post about the droid - Dawn isn't shouting for a medic for herself, it's for the downed scientists... that changes things

Tanja pauses by the two downed scientists and quickly checks them over so she can pass a situation report on to the medic who comes to treat them.

she reports as she works.

---

Tanja finds one man, the man called Daqor who escorted them to the captain's chamber aboard the Moneyspider, unconscious from a blow to the head. The other man is a thin framed human with glasses and dark eyes. He is otherwise unhurt. As Tanja approaches, the thin man says, "He's out, but alive. Help me get him to the transport lobby? I can call for help."


Karma contacts Eldorado and Phillip with the request.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:15, Wed 17 Jan.

Lex scoops up the pack, as Dawn requested, and continues to the shuttle.  Lex also continues to scan the area for any other treats and anomalies.

---

Recon roll (treats and anomalies) 2D6+3+2= ((6,4)+3+2) =15
Also has Danger Sense Edge

---

Lexon finds no further threats in the area.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:05, Wed 17 Jan.

Zbig, now that the threats were eliminated, went to check on the men that were down! He kneeled down to the first and checked him as best he could.

15:03, Today: Zbigniew Soboleskii rolled 15 using 2d6+5 ((6,4)) Medic 3, EDU 2.

---

Zbigniew's diagnosis is head trauma from a blunt force. Likey concussed. No epidermal hematoma present. Bruising evident on the scalp.

The other fellow was simply frightened out of his mind.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:30, Wed 17 Jan.

"What about the droid? Was it destroyed or just deactivated?" The nervous man asks those helping Daqor.

Adri walks up the ramp and into the pinnace ship being used for shuttling personnel and gear between Snobol and Jetsom. The ramp leads into the ship's cargo hold, which is empty except for two open crates.

She approaches the first crate and finds it contains HEVs, hostile environment suits designed for extremely low temperatures. What worries her is the radiation symbol attached to a tag. Why do they need that, she wonders.

The next crate contains the back packs for thej suits. Air breathers for six hours, an electronics suite module that includes Eye protection, a geiger counter, body camera, and helmet lights (inner and outer), and a power pack module for weapons or tools.

She takes a suit and pack before making her way through the iris door. It opens to a small cross walk to airlocks and another iris door. Adri opens the next iris door and walks into the passenger area. Where she stows her gear and takes a seat still wearing her vac-suit.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 17:31, Thu 18 Jan.

"It had to be destroyed sir." Harry answers him. "You okay Dawn?" he asks her.

"Come on Eldorado, let's go find the droid and get it back here and check it out for sabotage." Phillip says to the big man. He suits up for the place and waits for Fatboy before he goes to carry out the order. "We'll be on our way to get it in a minute Capt, putting on protective gear." He informs the captain.

"Pity's sake." Fiator huffs at hearing that. He then shrugs. "Guess there was nothing else to do for it."

The nervous man glances at the one checking Daqor's condition.

"Say, can we move him sir? Can you wake him up?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:38, Thu 18 Jan.

Dawn grins at Harry through the HUD information on her helmet visor. "I'll be okay. Maybe a cracked collarbone. Hurts like hell, but makes you feel alive."

She looks down at the unconscious man. "Want me to carry him to transport?"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:44, Thu 18 Jan.

"He's concussed, but he can be moved, just be careful with him." Zbig tells him. Then he checks on Dawn.

---

13:48, Today: Zbigniew Soboleskii rolled 10 using 2d6+5.  Medic +3, Edu +2. – 10

---

Zbigniew's diagnostic leads a conclusion that Dawn suffers from a contusion of the collarbone.  It is not cracked or broken. Time will heal. Excessive movement will irritate the condition.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:57, Thu 18 Jan.

Tanja thinks to the arrival of her two shipmates, and decides to prepare for them taking the droid. "Fiator, was it?? Droids are machines that can be repaired. I've tasked a couple of our crew to have a look at the damage and see if we can offer repairs.

If it is damaged beyond our ability to repair, they'll let us know.

If you help Dawn and Harry here, the three of you can move your comrade here. I'll stay and start checking on the state of the droid until they arrive," she suggests.

[COMMS/LaPierre]
Eldorado felt a need to talk, now that he learned that one of them nearly died, so few weeks after Balakov's death...

"You heard the captain, Phillip. Let's go and examine some mysterious droid getting mad after some mysterious cloud station getting damaged... Shall we meet in the middle of the way? Or the furthest of us go and pick the other? I confess I'm not at ease inside this asteroid, which I find "labyrinthic" "

"Let's go big guy, I think they actually want us to hurry too, you up to it?" He asks Eldorado.

---

I thought I already posted! ????
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:04, Sat 20 Jan.

Fatboy and Phillip return to the Katarina with one disabled droid.

With the help of Lexon and Dawn, the injured Daqor is moved to the trasport for a trip to the Moneyspider with Fiator, leaving the companions to the shuttle.

---

Elec/computers 8+, INT  to accomplish an Intellect/piloting software override. 
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:04, Sat 20 Jan.

Levi had been listening to the communications and had remained silent. He was looking forward to.looking at the droid during the flight. They had a few weeks, he could spend time working with his team (those that were still on the Katerina). They needed something to pull them together that wasn't going to explode, suck them into vacuum and kill them.

It had been too long since he'd pulled a droid apart. Back in his naval college days in fact. Once they were underway he'd take a look, for now he had procedure and protocol to follow.

He checked and double checked the systems as he powered them up, careful of any anomalies in the readings no matter how minor.



Engineering: Powerplant 12
Engineering: M-Drive: 14

21:33, Today: Levi Stensgaard rolled 12,4,14,4 using 2d6+6,d6,2d6+4,d6.  Engineering: Power, Engineering: M-drive. 

After Lex and Dawn dropped off Daqor and Fiator, Lex headed back to the Shuttle.

With Mr Stout and Mr LaPierre back aboard the ship with the now inoperable droid Karma powers up the gravitic arrays and M-drive. At nominal output, she throtttles up and lifts the ship from the ice hangar's floor.

---

Karma Starwind rolled 5 using 2d6+2.  2D, pilot(starship/+1), INT(+2)

---

The Empress Katarina lifts, breaking contact with the flooring of the hangar. Suddenly, there is a shudder throughout the ship, and Karma winces. She forgot to compensate for the rotation of Snobol, sending the right quarter of the ship into the ice wall of the exit to the hangar. She quickly makes necessary adjustments for compensation and the ship glides from the hangar into open space.

"Get ready Phillip; the captain will soon request a damage assessment.", Eldorado states with a straight face.

Feeling the shudder through the ship, and hearing the familiar sound of impacting metal, Levi winces..

"What are you doing to my ship??" He shouts from his station in engineering.

He checks the display to see if there are any changes, or whether it's a cosmetic repaint and hammering out if the dents.

Boarding the shuttle and finding the pilot's seat, Tanja begins powering up the systems.as she settles, becoming familiar with it's controls and displays.



Checking over her sensors, and having landed earlier, she was aware of the rotation that caught Karma unaware.

The weight ratio of the craft however threw her, and she neglected to compensate for the additional weight of the ice shield.

22:38, Today: Tanja rolled 6,6 using 2d6+5,d6.  Piloting

Used small craft - it it's spacecraft +2 to roll.

Karma sighs, relieved there is no damage indicators flashing on her console vid. She plots a course to the indicated orbital position above Jetsom, then throttles up the M-drive to 30m/s/s accel/decel to target position.

"Iris, pilot the ship on the trajectory entered to a stationary low orbit above targeted object.  Synchronize orbital speed to  the target's indicated airspeed."

The screen changed, indicating Intellect software control. Satisfied with her calculations and command of the Intellect software, Karma moves to the crew lounge to retrieve a mug of hot tea. She wants to get a look at this dysfunctional droid.

She finds Phillip  and Eldorado standing near the droid in the cargo bay forward. She sips her herbal tea, then regards the two.

"What do you think fellas?" The captain asks.

---

Karma Starwind rolled 10 using 2d6+3.  2D, pilot(starship/+1), INT(+2)
This message was last edited by the player at 15:41, Tue 23 Jan.

Phillip disassembled the droid and went over the electronics of the little bot. "Working on him Captain, what do you think Eldorado?"

---

10:34, Today: Phillip La'Pierre rolled 6 using 2d6+3.  mechanical +1, Int +2. – 6

10:34, Today: Phillip La'Pierre rolled 10 using 2d6+3.  electronic +1, int  +2. – 10
Phillip and Eldorado begin work on the droid. With their skills they determine that mechanically, the droid is repairable. Structural plating can be repaired. Robotic ligature, gears, and gizmos can be peplaced or repaired. Power supply is intact. The positron generator is intact. Transcranial positronic connections are not damaged. Protective artificial synaptic overloads are all tripped, indicating a shutdown to protect the positronic brain structure.

Beyond that requires Levi's knowledge of the science behind robotics. He joins the two after satisfied all is well in engineering. Karma sips from her mug of tea, watching the process with curiosity. Phillip and Eldorado remove the protective synaptic grid covering at Levi's direction to reveal the positronic core, or brain, that houses the quantumly encrypted Law of Three algorithm and allows for artificial sentience in droids. The module appears completely intact undamaged, leaving a mystery as to why the droid would actively break the first law that states no artificial intelligence can harm a living, sentient being of any kind.

"If it's not the hardware, it's the programming," Levi suggests.

"Disconnect the droid from its limbs, reconnect it's power supply to its brain. Attach some sensors Then repower it, see what it's programming says."

"Sounds like a job for Eldorado" Phillip says as he puts it back together and powers it just enough to read it's "mind."

Billianah watches the work on the droid with contained fascination. To see the inner workings of a droid, though not rare, was usually left to techs in labs somewhere. To be honest, she has never been a tinkerer ofvthings mechanical, but the science of the artificial intelligence intrigues her.

She has often wondered why the Imperium bans androids past a certain level of technology. What do they know others do not?

Levi offers technical advice as Phillip dismantles and rebuilds sections of the droid.

21:14, Today: Levi Stensgaard rolled 12 using 2d6+4.  Technical: Robotics

Eldorado does not know much about robotics, so he follows Levi's instructions. Personally he would have removed the brain from the body and laid it on some berth, but maybe Stensgaard does not walk around with a full robotic workshop.

So he unplugs all connection to the brains, and in the same, generic ports, installs a sniffer to analyse the signals, and his own faithful computer with the relevant software (on a secure, isolated profile) to list the programs in the "brain" and their installation date.

With two cables in hand like a mad scientist, Eldorado inquires: "Levi, would you happen to have under hand another droid of the same model, with whom - or with which - we could compare the files?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:00, Wed 24 Jan.

"No, and I doubt the staff on Snobol had a spare either with the way they were being precious about this one," he replies.

"We could check.the data net, see what the basic program would be as I'm sure it's generic software. Or we could ask the scientists on the station for their diagnostic reports and specs for this droid here. When did it last receive updates?? They'll have a backup of all the software and programs in case they needed to roll back to a previous version."

The computer Guru contemplates the files from the droids brain.
"I can guess what some files are, but knowing how to read does not mean you can understand a foreign language, and that's what robotics are for me. So I suggest you Levi skim through the files.

Meanwhile, Phillip would you agree to find the basic program on the data net, and compare the version numbers?
I'd go and ask Snobol's technicians for any backups.

At least we could restore the droid's programming and hope the same causes won't produce the same effects. But if we suspect any sabotage - and incidents on the Jetsom, incidents at Snobol, one shuttle lost: there seem to be a fraking lot of coincidences - ...if we restore the programs with the backup, we'll lose all evidence of wrongdoings and their modus operandi".
This message was last edited by the player at 19:16, Wed 24 Jan.

"I'll get on that El, going to get on the webs to see if I can find it. Wait, I'm not a computer guy, where the heck do I look?"

He doesn't even have computer 0.

Eldorado winced at Phillip: "I'm sure you'll figure it out!"

[OOC: you've got Jack-of-all-trades 1. Which means you can roll for unskilled skills at -2. With your +2 INT DM, it evens out, and then the difficulty may be easier than 8+... ;)]

"Okay, I'll fudge it!" He goes to the computer, goes on to the net and gives it a shot!

---

16:10, Today: Phillip La'Pierre rolled 9 using 2d6.  +1 JoaT, +2 int, -2 for 'untrained'? – 9

Levi takes the data pad and begins the long, slow process of running the code through a compiler so it is converted to code he is better able to understand. But even then his skill was always.with putting machines and components back together not fiddling with intricate code to control a seemingly intelligent machine.

That was the domain of other specialists.

Still, he'd try.

Int +2 Science: Robotics+1
Not sure what the target number would be?? 12??

21:21, Today: Levi Stensgaard rolled 10 using 2d6+3.  Science: Robotics

Between the three of them, the droid is diassembled, prod and poked, disected, invaded, and examined thoroughly. Or, as thorough as one can on the deck of the cargo hold.

The droid is a Shinku University Research Directorate, or SURD, model. They are an innovative producer of pseudobiological or android robots in the Core, combining life-like appearance with sophistication. The GLLR-5 has a very advanced robotic brain equivalent to computer/3 running Steward/2 software. It also runs two zero-level packages; Martial arts and Recreational Sports. It approaches the complexity of a biological brain in the number of connections. Robots with these brains can operate outside their programmed functions and develop opinions and beliefs based on experience and reasoning. Like all artificial intelligence, they are bound to the Core Three Laws.

With all the diagnostics, the team do not locate or identify the problem with the unit's programming.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:50, Thu 25 Jan.

The shuttle lifts from the floor of the hangar using the reaction drive thrusters, which Tanja has not piloted on in a few years. A very different feel. The shuttle lurches nose down and tail yawing to the right. The front area of ice shield makes hard contact with the floor of the ice hangar before Tanja corrects the yaw and pitch of the ship. She hovers in place, adjusting for height every few seconds with a thruster as she collects her thoughts. Snobol has very little in the way of gravity, but it is there.

Keeping relative motions in mind, Tanja glides the pinnace through the static field and into open space.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:02, Thu 25 Jan.

Dawn grips a hand hold tightly when the ship makes an unexpected and uncompensated for inertial change. She winces as a thump is felt and heard.

She looks at the others with worriebd eyes behind her Vac-suit helmet.

Harry sits quietly and confidently, having absolute faith in Tanja's piloting ability. He sees the way Dawn and the doctor hold onto their seat arms.

Doctor Soboleskii was new to these people. He prayed to God that he didn't make a mistake volunteering to help! After the shuttle bumped, he closed his eyes in terror and gripped the seat arms with a death grip, thinking he might die imminently!

Lex was sitting in his flight chair when the jolt shook the ship.  Inwardly he snapped to full alertness, but outwardly he simply looked at the others not saying anything.  He was concerned, but not scared...yet.  He waited to see what happens next.  But, nothing else happens.  He believes since there were no more jolts and no alarms, what ever happened, was not critical.  Slowly the tension passes.  They were now heading to the platform.

In reply to GM (msg # 183):

"Two options," Levi says, returning the tools they'd been using to the correct place, ensuring that they faced the correct way.

"Either we've missed something, which is possible, or the droid was reacting to a threat as per a learned behaviour outside of it's normal programming. This is supported by two things. The first is the incident on the shuttle. We still don't know what caused it, but it's too coincidental not to think that the two aren't linked.

And secondly, while it attacked and hurt a human it hasn't killed anyone. Yes, yes, yes... The first law. It cannot harm or kill, however if it logically believes that hurting a human in some way protects their life, then a neural net, learning processor could break beyond that rule.

That suggests it's goal may have been to incapacitate rather than kill. If it, or one of its kin, is responsible for the incident, then it's aim is to stop something worse from happening. The question is what?? What could the scientists and staff be doing that could cause a droid to act in such a way??"

He had enjoyed venting that conspiracy theory, but he was a pragmatist at heart. "The simpler solution is that we just haven't found the code that has interfered with its normal functioning, and that multiple lines of learned code have somehow managed to overwrite one of the three laws.

Now if THAT'S the case, there's a much larger problem of a corporation's production and sales of a defective model of robot. Such a corporation would stand to lose a hell of a lot, and would gain massively if the problem somehow disappeared in a number of unfortunate disasters on a small station in a backwater system."

He looks directly at Karma, "We need to advise the others on a tight beam comms to ensure nobody else knows what we've found out.

Get them to check every system on the shuttle. Twice. Then do it all again. Check every inch of that craft, every nook and cranny, inside and out."


TL;DR: Levi rants about a conspiracy theory, and reacts over-the-top by suggesting the crew of the shuttle tear the craft apart looking for signs that something is wrong.

"Errr... Whoops. This baby is ancient, and her arse is heavy!!" Tanja calls out, trying to make light of the situation while she twists and fumbles with the controls.

As they breach through the static field she sighs in relief, "And just like that we're out and into hard vacuum. Setting course. There shouldn't be any more bumps, but if there are... Well, it's not my fault.

Anyway, you're free to unstrap and move about the ship as you wish. Go and have a look around at what our home has to offer us for the foreseeable future."

I'm taking it that we have basic artificial gravity even if the craft doesn't use contra-grav technology??

"There is still something we could do, in my opinion", Eldo interjected. "Turn the thing on, and discuss with it. With all limbs disconnected, he could do us no harm."
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:03, Sat 27 Jan.

"What if it decides the only option left is self-destruction?  An overload of the power supply."  Karma offers, clearly not liking the idea of powering the thing up on the ship.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 16:02, Sat 27 Jan.

"We won't need a huge amount of power," Levi responds, "We're only powering it's processing unit. Without the power drain of motors and actuators we won't need much.

But if it does, we will notice the drain and cdn reduce the power it's trying to draw. It'll starve, a bit like holding your breath and putting on yourself to sleep.

Besides, we'd get some data during that process and will know something is definitely wrong. Normal programming does not allow droids to self destruct."

"Okay.  Do it."  Karma says, turning away.  She has responsibilities on the bridge to tend to, and needs to send a message to the Moneyspider and make contact with the shuttle.

"I could backup the data, in case the processor fries. Hey, I could even clone it and feed an IA with it", elaborates the IA specialist. "Then we could place the virtual brain in a virtual word, and run it through various scénarios". Eldorado reflects about how 32 days on a ship will be boring, and when he's bored, he eats.

"Hey we could recreate the scene where our colleagues enter the shuttle bay, and see what it does. It should have a feeling of deja-vu.", he chuckles.

"...and we could replay it over and over, to see if it reacts differently, in a time loop."

"Of course, we could also play God. 'GLLR-5, this is your builder. Why did you attack Daqor and Fiator?' - and it'll reply 'I-don’t-know-Am-I-my-humans-keeper?'”, Eldorado concluded with a smile.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:24, Sun 28 Jan.

Levi smiled, enjoying the suggestions and mental challenges they were considering. He was practical - shape metal, give it movement or power, give it a purpose.

But programming was definitely something he was interested in but had not yet had the patience to master.

He liked the idea about putting it's processing centre - it's consciousness - into a set of simulations to see what they could learn.

"We have the time, if you have the computer capacity to create and run the simulations, I'm sure we can set it up.

Why don't we take this to the workshop and start the preparations?? I'd also like to setup a network white noise generator or a network blocker. I don't want it trying to access our network from some hidden device."

He thought the processes through. "Or, you could setup a secure network access point to see if it connects, then who or what it tries to contact once it thinks it's in our system."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:00, Sun 28 Jan.

Eldorado clones wants to clone the droids' brain, bit by bit. Actually, he will let those who know Robotics extract the bits, and he just makes sure they are well stored in the ship's brand new computer.

He also calls Snobol, trying to reach someone doing the same job as him on the station, and requesting pictures of the shuttle bay (to re-create a virtual bay). Stout is using logic to convince the guy, who is probably reluctant to give plans of the station. The jokes on the other person though, since Eldo has hacked the network anyway. But he wants to sound helpless to avoid raising suspicion.

---

Let's try Persuade at -3 +2 INT Elderado Stout rolled 7 using 2d6-1 with rolls of 3,5.
It seems he's successful at looking helpless!

---

Levi and Fatboy continue working on the droid by disconnecting its extremities first, then a very precise procedure to remove the head from its torso. These are not tasks done in ten minutes. Once removed, their plan is to move it to Engineering and power it up to run diagnostics software and clone the software packages. The thought of cloning the positronic matrix and neural network is discarded. The ship does not have the equipment and resources for a project like that and a positronic quantum core cannot be cloned. Any attempt will collapse the core's state of superposition necessary for artificial intelligence.

As it is, in the time they have spent on the floor of the cargo bay, the ship has reached its orbital position above Jetsom. They have managed to disconnect the legs and arms with all associated fiber optics, power conduits, and structural ligature. The head comes next, not a small task (Science: Robotics 12+, EDU)

The request for structural plans of the Snobol facility is denied for security reasons. However, the logged desitometer readings from Snobol approach provide enough data for what Eldorado wants.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:41, Wed 20 Mar.

[Shuttle]
Tanja remains at the controls for the shuttle until she is certain that they have the correct trajectory and are making good time. She sets the controls to ensure that should anything change an alarm would sound.

She rises from the pilot seat and returns to the rear of the shuttle, to check out what they had available on the ship, and the quality of the living quarters. She was assuming that it would be little more than a bunk for each of them, and that privacy would be severely limited.

She also knew she'd brought her toolbox with her, but she wanted to run an inventory of what the shuttle had available. Just in case. She starts with the onboard system, searching for an online inventory. But knowing how inaccurate they can be, she visually checks each and every compartment, counting their supplies.

Well, she had to find something to do. She also searched for an area that she could use as a gym or training area. She had a month of travel, and had no intention of not using it to the fullest.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:37, Mon 29 Jan.

[Shuttle]
Lex seeing what Tanja is doing decides that exploring and surveying the shuttle is a good idea.  He get up and starts inventorying anything that he thinks could be useful ... tools, supplies and useful items what could be repurposed for another task.

---

As the shuttle transits the orbital path to reach a planned descent window into the upper atmosphere, Tanja and Lex investigate the ship's inventory. The ship's locker is sparse. No weapons. There is one large tool chest with generic common handtools for very minor ship mechanical or electrical repairs. Each bridge station and each passenger flight chair has an energency vac-suit. Cargo containers line the bay. They are all empty.

Tanja returns to the bridge and starts a query into of the inventory of the shuttle, she runs into trouble with the system. She keeps getting "EOF" messages and the dreaded "Oh, I ate one (0i81)" querying error.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:53, Tue 30 Jan.

[Shuttle]
An end of file prompt?? No input for reference?? That suggests the database was empty...

Which was worrying.

"Err... Lexon?? You still hear me?? We may have a potential problem..." she shouts into the back as she starts querying the shuttle's databases to see what data, if any, it stored and what it didn't...

---

Tanja navigates the Jetsom database for an hour as the shuttle descends into the upper atmosphere, following Tanja's flight path. She continues running into the same errors. The following is the only information she is able to retrieve.


This message was last edited by the GM at 13:36, Tue 30 Jan.

[SHUTTLE]
Harry hears the bad news. "Turn back now! We've been set up! Can we turn around? This is not good!" It is apparent Harry is quite upset!
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:36, Tue 30 Jan.

[SHUTTLE]
"Harry!" Dawn laughs lightly, her voice muted from the vac-suit helmet. "Don't be so paranoid."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:36, Tue 30 Jan.

[SHUTTLE]
Adriannah gives Harry a sidelong glance. "Says the woman wearing a vac-suit."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:37, Tue 30 Jan.

[SHUTTLE]
Lex's hears Tanja comment and ponders the situation for moment.  He knows his systems database skill are nothing special.  He is not an expert, but he is not a novice either. He figured he had little to loose and potentially a lot to gain.  If there was valuable information in the database he want to find it.

Responding to Tanja "Computers are not my strong point, but I do have some experience.  Let me see if I'm lucky enough to pull out more information."   Lex starts making queries into the database.

---

Searching the database: Roll 2d6 (4,6), Eng, computer (+0), Int (+2) = 12

The shuttle continues its descent into the upper atmosphere, turning its belly at an angle downward, the ice melts as the friction of atmosphere heats the belly of the ship. Turbulence rattles the seated occupants and a roaring noise reverberates through the hull.

Lexon has to wait. Once the shuttle is deep inside Belnafaer's atmosphere and has slowed down sufficiently, the remainder of the ice shield is ejected by the computer. Tanja breathes a sigh of relief that her jarring impact earlier had not damaged the shield. At least, not enough to kill them all on descent.

The small portal windows to port and starboard are clear of ice now, revealing a colorful view of orange and purplish scudding clouds, driven by the wind while flying toward Jetsom. The turbulence has abated to just minor shakes and shimmies.

Lexon spends ten minutes with the shuttle onboard computer but gains no more information than Tanja.

Computer readings indicate one hour flight time to Jetsom. Fuel will be down to 1/4 of full level, as expected for descent.  The shuttle must refuel at Jetsom for the return to orbit, requiring all the fuel except reserve (30 mins).

[Shuttle]
Tanja sends a radio transmission.

---

There is no reply from the Empress Katarina.

"Damn, too late.. Looks like we've hit the silent communications part of the flight." She curses.

She records all the data onto her personal Comms, encouraging Lex to do the same then pass the details around the crew without sending it over the Comms. She didn't trust the ship's systems what with that faulty droid and potentially faulty shuttle, and the distribution of the codes wasn't urgent yet - they had an hour before they reached their target.

Then she settles in to complete the rest of the descent.

---

Thirty more minutes pass by with passengers having casual conversation to pass the time.  A warning beeper resounds from the cockpit and when Tanja investigates, she sees a weather hazard.  A severe electrical storm is on the horizon between Jetsom and the shuttle.  Quick assessment finds it is too large to fly around with the fuel onboard.  It will have to be traversed and looking ahead at the dark ominous clouds that flash from within, a feeling of dread cannot be helped.

"Strap yourselves in!! We're in for some chop!!" Tanja calls out, fastening her own safety harness.

"Where would the storm be strongest?? Higher or lower??" she asks out loud as she debates how to respond.

Who, if anyone, is up front with her??
This message was last edited by the player at 17:11, Thu 01 Feb.

[Shuttle]

Lex records the gathered data onto his PComms device.  As he was finishing the warning beeps sounds, then shortly there after hears Tanja warning about choppy ride.  He takes the nearest seat in the passenger compartment and secures himself with the safety harness.

Harry is very unhappy! He straps himself in with the harness, grits his teeth and his knuckles go white hanging on to the armrests!

"I think I'm going to be sick!" His face turning a shade of green!

[Empress Katarina]
Karma returns to the cargo bay to find Fatty and Levi finishing up the decapitation process on the droid. She is impressed at the amount of interconnecting cables there are. How will they know which is which when putting it back together, she wonders.

"The shuttle is deep into the atmosphere now. We've lost radio contact. Too much radiation. " the captain says before asking, "What's next here?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:52, Thu 01 Feb.

[Shuttle]
Adrannah is no pilot, but there are two seats in the cockpit, so she takes a front view seat since no one else did.

"Wow!" She exclaims, looking out the front portal windows. A very large and towering column of dark purplish clouds looms ahead continously lit from within by flashes of lightning. Occasional streams of lightning coalesce around the outer perimeter.

She gets situated and straps into the flight seat.

The shuttle begins to lurch from side to side which is not so bad, but it also bounces up and down losing several hundred feet per second, then regaining altitude within the sudden air turbulence. Lightning flashes brightly and the repercussive thunder around the ship is loud.  The shuttle then enters the storm clouds and visibility drops to near zero. Tanja pilots the craft, manipulating the react drive thrusters with every lurch of the ship. Suddenly, the sky around them is on fire with a bright flash, followed by a loud reverberating crash and a shuddering of the ship. Sparks burst from somewhere in the back of the passenger cabin, then the lights go out, the pilot console screens go dark, and the react drive and power plant  shut down. Without power, the ship begins a spiraling descent, throwing everyone to one side. If not for being strapped in, injuries could be significant.

If the situation cannot be resolved, the ship will eventually implode from a hull crushing pressure the deeper it falls into the planet. 

---

Overcome Gs from spiraling 8+ (Athletics, STR)

Keep stomach contents 6+ (Athletics, END)

This message was last edited by the GM at 19:38, Mon 05 Feb.

[SHUTTLE]
When the shit hit the fan, Harry unbuckled to head for the back and the drives! He held his stomach contents in, but couldn't rise because of the hard G's, so he crawled back!

---

15:16, Today: Harry McStubbins rolled 9 using 2d6.  overcome puking. – 9

15:16, Today: Harry McStubbins rolled 5 using 2d6.  overcome G's. – 5

15:21, Today: Harry McStubbins rolled 12 using 2d6+3.  Engnrng check - +1 JoaT, +2 Int. – 12
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:25, Sun 11 Feb.

[SHUTTLE]
Zbigi felt like he was being crushed as his stomach came to his throat then fell again, he did keep his lunch

---

15:23, Today: Zbigniew Soboleskii rolled 7 using 2d6.  overcome puking. – 7
15:22, Today: Zbigniew Soboleskii rolled 6 using 2d6.  overcome G's. – 6
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:25, Sun 11 Feb.

[SHUTTLE]
"I've lost flight controls and power!!" Tanja shouts against the growing roar of the storm outside as the shuttle begins its descent. Somehow she kept control of her stomach, despite the desire to relieve its contents over the controls, and her head swam as the shuttle spiralled.

Without looking back, she shouts at those in the back; "There's no juice from the plant!! Someone needs to restart it!!" She knew she was stating the obvious, but she needed to gain some control over the situation.

Resisting the G's: Rolled 10
Not throwing up: Rolled 15

21:15, Today: Tanja Skorskald rolled 10,15 using 2d6+2,2d6+4.  Resist G, Resist sickness.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:24, Sun 11 Feb.

[SHUTTLE]
Dawn grits her teeth, the jarring of the ship setting her nerves on edge.  The helmet on her head rattles against her skull.  She's been in plenty of drop ships, the movement does not bother her much.  She unstraps and pushes against the Gs affecting her, but the extra weight of the boarding vac-suit does her in.  She cannot overcome the weight, try as she might.

"I can't move!" she shouts.  Her voice sounding mechanical through her vac-suit hard helmet. "Lex!  Can you check out whatever that is smoking back there?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:24, Sun 11 Feb.

[SHUTTLE]
Hearing Dawn, Adriannah unstraps from the seat.  She gulps, keeping the bile from billowing forth.  It is there, but she keeps it in check somehow.  She strains against the force throwing her against the side of her seating and slowly rises.  She grabs onto another chair and pulls herself along until reaching the smoking black box mounted to the inner wall of the hull.  It has a small latch that flings open easily, revealing row upon row of... what?  What the hell is this, she asks herself.  She's no mechanic or engineer.  Smoke roils out of the space until clear. Green.  Red.  The emergency lighting in the cabin left little in the way of knowing what is what.

"What am I looking for?" she calls out helplessly over the din of thunderous roaring in the cabin.  Feeling a touch on her leg, she looks down and is suprised to see Harry on the floor, pressed against the cabin wall by the force of inertia.

"Harry, what do I do?" she asks.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:24, Sun 11 Feb.

[SHUTTLE]
"Can . . you . . help . . me . . up?" he calls out to her as he grabs whatever he can to pull himself up!

---

17:35, Today: Harry McStubbins rolled 4 using 2d6.  overcome G's
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:24, Sun 11 Feb.

[SHUTTLE]
Adriannah holds onto a hand hold and reaches down, grabbing Harry's arm. She pulls with all her strength, lending aid to Harry.

---

DM+1 to Harry's task check.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:23, Sun 11 Feb.

[SHUTTLE]
08:54, Today: Harry McStubbins rolled 3 using 2d6+1.  overcome G's. SNAKE EYES, we're gonna die!

(GM) Athletics(-3),STR(+0),Dm+1

---

Harry grabs Adriannah's arm and tries to get to the controls box she has opened. A jarring lurch of the ship sends him flying sideways and into the cabin wall, knocking him senseless. His eyes roll back as he falls unconscious from a hit on the head. (-2)
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:23, Sun 11 Feb.

[SHUTTLE]
"Harry!" Adriannah yells as the gunner slips from her grasp. Desperation fills her as she looks back into the passenger cabin. What is she to do now?

"Lex! Lex! Can you make it to me? Do you know what these are?" she yells into the cabin as she glances at the things in the box. They look like little switches. But what do they mean?
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:20, Sun 11 Feb.

[SHUTTLE]
"Dammit!! I'm useless here!!" Tanja says to herself. She glanced behind her and knew she'd need to be back where the problem was.

She unstrapped herself from her seat, and using both hands for support began to inch her way out of the cockpit.

As she reached the passenger section she locked her arms so that she wouldn't be thrown around then shouted, "I'll head back there. Someone get their arse up to the flight deck and man the controls. Just pull back on the stick until we stop falling and I'll be back soon enough."

Spotting Harry slumped against the wall she cursed. "Doc, compose yourself and help Harry. We need him!!"

She continued her movement further back, trying to reach where she had stowed her toolkit in case it was needed - and stopped to look at what Adriannah was talking about. Fuses?? Was it that simple?? Had they blown the ships fuses??

---

Tanja sees a controls junction box for the cabin. If fuses were blown or overloads tripped, they would normally be lit up red. But the box has no power. No indicators. The power plant is down. Only emergency battery lighting is working. Likely, some were tripped, but until there is power...
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:19, Sun 11 Feb.

[SHUTTLE]
"On my way!" Zbigi shouts, he unhooks and slowly made his way over to Harry, slumped against the wall!

---

11:45, Today: Zbigniew Soboleskii rolled 11 using 2d6.  overcome G's.
11:49, Today: Zbigniew Soboleskii rolled 11 using 2d6+5.  Medic +3, Edu +2.

---

Zbig finds Harry slumped against the hull of the ship, partway up the wall with the G force holding him there. He has a nasty gash and lump above his brow about two inches in length.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:19, Sun 11 Feb.

[Shuttle]
Lex takes in the situation, the best he can, while losing the contents of his stomach.  The violent movement of the ship, Tanja comment about "There's no juice from the plant!!", then Tanja inspecting the controls junction box. "I must push forward" he thinks to himself.    After he wipes his mouth with the back of his sleeve, Lex get up and quickly looks over Tanja shoulder into the controls junction box.  Confirms there is no power and heads to the power powerplant to see if he can get it started.  He arrives at the powerplant and indeed it is not running.  He starts working on the powerplant.

---

Overcome Gs from spiraling 8+ (Athletics, STR):2d(4,5) = 9 <success>
Keep stomach contents 6+ (Athletics, END): 2d(2,1) = 3 <failure>
Attempts to restart using Mechanic roll: 2d(6,1)+mechanic(+4)+ INT(+2) = 13 <?, don't know difficulty level>

---

Lexon finds the fusion reactor console in the back of the ship and after a quick examination of controls finds the toroidal chamber magnets still powered under battery backup. Plasma vents are open, which prevented a melt-down disaster. He closes the venting. With the chamber magnets aligned and active he can fire up the reactor. He presses the button marked ignition. The high powered laser fires a beam, only a fraction of a femtosecond in duration, and ignites the unobtainium pellet suspended my magnetic forces in the chamber, creating a plasma reaction that builds.

The pilot's console lights up, flashing warning indicators, as seen through the door from the cabin into the bridge.

"He did it!" Adriannah exclaims, feeling a shift in her body as the inertial dampeners come back online. She didnt even realize the spiralling spin was generating such force as to fool her mind.

But lights are still out.

[SHUTTLE]
Her movement had been premature, Tanja steadies herself for her return to the cockpit. With the powerplant firing and the technicians on it, control would be restored sooner rather than later.

She needed to be at the helm.

She made her way to the pilot's seat.

---

Tanja pulls her way back to the cockpit of the shuttle, fighting the inertial forces that pull against her.  She finds Dawn in the flight seat, pulling back on the streamlined shuttle's aileron controls. Dawn is happy to give up the position to Tanja and moves over into the co-pilot's seat in her bulky boarding vac-suit.

The shuttle's spiraling spin has not changed.  She finds the controls impossible to move.  The react drive comes back to life as the power plant reaches nominal output, giving Tanja the control she needs with added react thrusters.  She has control of the ship and levels it out in the atmosphere.  Outside the portal windows is a dark purple atmosphere with flashes of lightning somewhere high overhead. Drops of something hit the windows, something not water.  Liquid methane or ethane, if she was to guess.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:58, Sun 11 Feb.

[shuttle]
Lex grins as he see the reactor hums to life.  For a few moments he watches the reactor to insure it come up to full power.  Once satisfied, he looks around and notices the light are still off.  Still on a mission he returns to the controls junction box to see what else can be brought back on-line.  Hopefully the ability to restore lighting will also be there.

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Mechanic roll: 2d(2,5)+mechanic(+4)+ INT(+2) = 13

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Lex reaches the junction box and finds circuit breakers lit up red, only a few were green.  He toggles them off first, to reset them, then toggles them back to the on position.  Each of them go green and the lighting returns to normal.  Only then does he realize he is no longer fighting a pull against the hull of the ship.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:18, Sun 11 Feb.

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