Traveller: Life in the Marches - A ship of our own

jasonb · 15-03-2018 05:40PM

Fourier wrote: »

The Minister's mind betrays some obvious surface level facts. He knows where the ship is, he is being unfaithful to his wife and he wants to take an offworld holiday.

"Easy....well I won't lie, not really. Quite difficult actually."

"Why quite difficult? Is it the location it's in, or the fact that you said it's wrecked? Are you in a position to get the ship delivered to the dock here, and any repairs needed carried out? I'm sure that would encourage us to check out the Volcano for you"

Mollyb60 · 15-03-2018 05:56PM

jasonb wrote: »

"Why quite difficult? Is it the location it's in, or the fact that you said it's wrecked? Are you in a position to get the ship delivered to the dock here, and any repairs needed carried out? I'm sure that would encourage us to check out the Volcano for you"

Verne pipes in 'will we need a salvage crew if the ship is unable to fly? Are you willing to provide the crew for us? We are a small team. Extensive repairs to a ship that size could take a considerable amount of time for us which would jeopardise how quickly we could complete the survey for you. I can pilot it and have some understanding of the engineering however a larger crew with us would speed things up considerably.'

[OOC: yeah Jason you just go by what your character knows]

Banjo · 15-03-2018 06:01PM

OOC - woohoo I'm back in the game! @JasonB - yeah, basically if I don't tell you and you don't mindrape me, Glenn doesn't know.

Evan comms Nestor
"Hey Aircon. It's Alfonse. Have you sorted out a raft yet? It's looking like those scouts treated that ship the way my ex-wife treats an open bar. Doesn't bode well for the raft they crashed outside of town so we'll need our own wings to get down there. You back in the hotel?"

Not for the first time he regrets following Aslaug Fuentes' legs into Fusion Gen 101 when he could have been learning about J-Drives. What was it they use to say? "Jump Drive switched on in the stars, you'll be travelling very far, Jump inside the atmosphere... something something something else..." ****.

Fourier · 15-03-2018 10:27PM

OOC: Static Resolution: Comms Skill

OldGoat wrote: »

Nestor comms Dhinor and Bakleth:
"Any luck with the flyer? Is it airworthy? I'm staying here for the moment to take a look at the radio the previous crew sold. If I can access the datalog I might find out who these guys used as a fence. That could lead us to a nice source of material for the taking.
If you need me to bring anything to the plane comm me."

Nestor manages to recover some audio logs from the ships radio. Of primary interest though is an intended broadcast from the ship's engineer, who was sending word to the Scouts that the circuits controlling the M-drive were malfunctioning.

Fourier · 15-03-2018 10:41PM

Necrominus wrote: »

OOC: I missed this in my efforts to actually use my talents. Retcon

Bakleth while opening the door of the craft thinks back to his fun times....

'And you think this is a talent? To harm innocent animals? Maybe I should start cutting you up and sell pieces of you on the market? Huh?

Cease immediately or...I will follow through on my threat.'

The Vargr had dropped the knife immediately, pleading for forgiveness from the looming quadraped.

"Well closing up now, certainly learned my lesson alright...."

He ran off, although his mumbling of "nutjob" had lead Bakleth to think he was less than sincere.

Fourier · 15-03-2018 10:42PM

jasonb wrote: »

OOC: Just a quick question. From reading the above re Evan talking to people, I know that the ship isn't in great shape. But Glenn doesn't know that yet, right? Just separating the player from the character, right? To clarify, Glenn knows it's 'wrecked' from the Minister, but he doesn't know the M Drive has been stripped, right?

OOC: That's perfectly correct, like Banjo and Molly mentioned above.:)

OldGoat · 15-03-2018 11:44PM

Comm to Evan:
Hya Bubastus. "I just finished playing with the radio. From what I found we should try and get hold of some M-drive circuits to bring with us.
No word yet from the flyer. If it's a writeoff I'll see about hiring something for us to use to get us to the ship when we find it."

Comm to Verne:
"Hya Verne. How difficult is it to replace Mdrive circuits?" I relay all I found from the ships radio.

jasonb · 15-03-2018 11:57PM

While waiting for the Minister to decide, Glenn excuses himself and moves to a quiet corner. He comms the rest of the crew and fills them in on how Verne and he are getting on. Once he’s told them everything he says... “So Dhinor, what do you reckon? We might be able to get the Ship returned and repaired if we agree to survey the Volcano. Or even if they won’t repair it, they’ll tell us where it is and pay us to survey the volcano, which could pay for the repairs”

Banjo · 16-03-2018 12:00AM

OldGoat wrote: »

Comm to Evan:
Hya Bubastus. "I just finished playing with the radio. From what I found we should try and get hold of some M-drive circuits to bring with us.
No word yet from the flyer. If it's a writeoff I'll see about hiring something for us to use to get us to the ship when we find it."

Evan explains that he knows the location of the ship, that the M-drive has been stripped and that based on that time his cousin backed his uncles lunayacht into an Imperium orbital admin router M-drives are pretty ****ing expensive. He also calls himself Nigel.
"Cas offered us a working ship and air raft. We're definitely not getting the former and the latter sounds unlikely. We should call him up, let him know we need parts and a raft or we'll strip the jump drive, ablative plating and the copper from the stereo, call it quits. If only we had some kind of Negotiator in the team..."

Wider comms to all group.
"We have the location of the ship, and it's crippled. Lover boy, you found the raft yet?"

Edit : after hearing Glenn's comm update, Evan tries to remember if a volcano can be triggered through some sort of external stimulus, like an explosive. Then he has a good look around for anything Walston has that he might want that might seem like a small price to pay to not die in a lava floe.

Banjo · 16-03-2018 02:52PM

OOC : What are the rules in the Imperium in relation to Salvage? Presumably it's analgous to marine salvage in the real world (you help out a stricken vessel and if you recover anything of value you return it for a reward / you salvage material and then make a claim in court for ownership/recompense) so given it's Scout equipment anyone who took anything off that ship is a criminal in the eyes of the imperium?

Evan heads to the location of the hotel Nestor commed details of earlier to investigate the contents of the spares container Cas sent with them, cross-referencing what he finds there with the section in the manual Cas also provided related to the M-Drive, trying to figure out just how much trouble they're in. What the hell is a Higgs Sprocket? Space-god damn you, Aslaug!

He also fiddles with his commlink - if there's a scout channel, he'll try to raise the local scout base, which the star-map assures me exists.

Mollyb60 · 16-03-2018 02:57PM

OldGoat wrote: »

Comm to Verne:
"Hya Verne. How difficult is it to replace Mdrive circuits?" I relay all I found from the ships radio.

Verne looks at the Minister 'It looks like this will be a bigger job than we all expected. We can use all the help we can get. Can you give us a plane to allow us to get to the ship faster? We'll need replacement parts for the M drive too if that's been scavenged.'

Fourier · 17-03-2018 02:14AM

Mollyb60 wrote: »

Verne looks at the Minister 'It looks like this will be a bigger job than we all expected. We can use all the help we can get. Can you give us a plane to allow us to get to the ship faster? We'll need replacement parts for the M drive too if that's been scavenged.'

"Replacement parts...."

He looks a little worried.

"...that'd blow almost all my budget for the volcano survey of which your ship was to be a small part...."

He thinks hard.

"Get me images and gas samples from the main crater of Salbarii and we have a deal."

Fourier · 17-03-2018 02:16AM

Banjo wrote: »

Edit : after hearing Glenn's comm update, Evan tries to remember if a volcano can be triggered through some sort of external stimulus, like an explosive. Then he has a good look around for anything Walston has that he might want that might seem like a small price to pay to not die in a lava floe.

He manages to remember enough of his education in fusion engines that an M-drive close enough to a vent in the volcano could easily set it off.

Walston itself has little of obvious value to Evan.

Fourier · 17-03-2018 02:20AM

OOC: Only noticed this there now!

The Minister had answered earlier:

jasonb wrote: »

"Why quite difficult? Is it the location it's in, or the fact that you said it's wrecked? Are you in a position to get the ship delivered to the dock here, and any repairs needed carried out? I'm sure that would encourage us to check out the Volcano for you"

"It's really the location....you'll...well...have to repair it yourself."

He had smiles nervously at Verne and Glenn at this point.

Fourier · 17-03-2018 02:25AM

Banjo wrote: »

OOC : What are the rules in the Imperium in relation to Salvage? Presumably it's analgous to marine salvage in the real world (you help out a stricken vessel and if you recover anything of value you return it for a reward / you salvage material and then make a claim in court for ownership/recompense) so given it's Scout equipment anyone who took anything off that ship is a criminal in the eyes of the imperium?

OOC: Yes, they are (minor) criminals.

Banjo wrote: »

Evan heads to the location of the hotel Nestor commed details of earlier to investigate the contents of the spares container Cas sent with them, cross-referencing what he finds there with the section in the manual Cas also provided related to the M-Drive, trying to figure out just how much trouble they're in. What the hell is a Higgs Sprocket? Space-god damn you, Aslaug!

The spares container has enough to replace the circuitry controlling the M-drive, but nowhere near enough for the actual M-drive itself.

Banjo wrote: »

He also fiddles with his commlink - if there's a scout channel, he'll try to raise the local scout base, which the star-map assures me exists.

He manages to secure a channel.

"This is Scout Installation 1 on Walston. I'm Dyots, the station computer. Current Active Staff: 0, hence you will be dealing with me. What is it you wish to know?"

Fourier · 17-03-2018 02:27AM

conor222 wrote: »

We'll that doesn't seem safe, Alex checks what is listed in that direction on his commap.
Alex finishes up his drink and heads to follow out to where Dhinor is headed. Why would he be that far out?
OOC: Once he gets to an exit or something notable on the route he will stop to reassess.

Alex follows the route easily enough. The major shocker though is the kilometer high cliff the commap recommends jumping off. On the beach below he can see the air raft.

Fourier · 17-03-2018 02:31AM

Necrominus wrote: »

Bakleth, having had his fun with the fishmonger is with Dhinor.

He smirks at the human trying to open the door.

'Leave that to the professionals' he states and motions for Dhinor to stand aside.

'I didn't become a legendary thief among my kind for no reason.'

Bakleth examines the door to see can the lock be picked, or failing that - for a weak point in the craft door.

Bakleth manages to hack open the door. The mechanism was mostly shot, the door's memory card having been damaged by the weather, so it was mostly a matter of rerouting the circuits.

When the door opens, inside is a cryogenics pod, six seats and the cockpit.

Although the glass is frosted over, the readouts show that somebody is currently in stasis within the pod.

Banjo · 17-03-2018 02:49AM

Fourier wrote: »

He manages to secure a channel.

"This is Scout Installation 1 on Walston. I'm Dyots, the station computer. Current Active Staff: 0, hence you will be dealing with me. What is it you wish to know?"

"Dyots, I'm Evan Torisson, on Detached Duty in Walston, I'm sure you received our details from the Wind On Stars when she jumped into this system. We were promised a ship with a working drive and an air raft in it's cargo bay would be waiting for us and instead we've found a metal skeleton sitting on top of a time bomb. Would you be so kind as to send word back to Jansen Cas on Flammarion that we'll be needing an M Drive of at least - it's a standard scout courier, you have a good head for sums, work out what rating drive we'd need to pull 2 Gs - and a replacement Air Raft, or we'll source one locally and he can reimburse us; alternatively he can just leave that hulk where it is, the locals will strip it bare and my crew and I will keep the advance he gave us as recompense for him dumping us in this ****hole backwater on false pretenses.

You should have the registration of the ship on file - can you pull the data and get serial numbers for all the components -put the MDrive at the top - and see if you can trace any of those parts through any recent transaction records you might have taxation data stored for for forwarding on the next ship out?

Hey, can you also draw up warrants for the arrest of the population of Salbarii - not the kids though, I'm not a monster! - any merchant in startown that carries 2nd hand parts and any positions of local authority who can be considered to be aiding and abetting these criminals through their inaction and oversight?

By the way, how are things? Any outstanding problems you need active staff to help with? I know we're only DDs but what we lack in skill, experience or training we more than make up for in...uh... Access to horse people!"

Necro · 17-03-2018 12:50PM

Fourier wrote: »

Bakleth manages to hack open the door. The mechanism was mostly shot, the door's memory card having been damaged by the weather, so it was mostly a matter of rerouting the circuits.

When the door opens, inside is a cryogenics pod, six seats and the cockpit.

Although the glass is frosted over, the readouts show that somebody is currently in stasis within the pod.

Bakleth steps into the craft and tries to peer into the cryogenic pod to see who or what is within.

Baggly · 17-03-2018 01:20PM

Dhinor checks the status of the rafts systems.

Fourier · 17-03-2018 11:06PM

Necrominus wrote: »

Bakleth steps into the craft and tries to peer into the cryogenic pod to see who or what is within.

A sheet of hard ice covers the pod, but the name on the life support read outs is clear: Seneca.

Fourier · 17-03-2018 11:07PM

OOC: Static resolution: Pilot Skill.

Pter wrote: »

Dhinor checks the status of the rafts systems.

The raft is fully functional, both jet engines are intact and ready to go, with half a tank of fuel. The only problem really is that the front of the plane is buried in the beach sand.

Necro · 17-03-2018 11:09PM

Bakleth looks for a way to turn off the pod. He turns to Dhinor.

'We should release this being. They may have information on the craft for us.'

Fourier · 17-03-2018 11:21PM

Banjo wrote: »

it's a standard scout courier, you have a good head for sums, work out what rating drive we'd need to pull 2 Gs - and a replacement Air Raft, or we'll source one locally and he can reimburse us; alternatively he can just leave that hulk where it is, the locals will strip it bare and my crew and I will keep the advance he gave us as recompense for him dumping us in this ****hole backwater on false pretenses.

"On Walston any starship's M-drive could achieve 2G. Your credentials check out, I am forwarding you a portion of this base's remaining funds. I have sent the message to Jansen Cas. It will arrive in 13 years, or if it is picked up by an X-boat, four weeks from pick-up time."

You should have the registration of the ship on file - can you pull the data and get serial numbers for all the components -put the MDrive at the top - and see if you can trace any of those parts through any recent transaction records you might have taxation data stored for for forwarding on the next ship out?

"Walston is not a full member of the Imperium, hence legal ethics prohibits my accessing the relevant data....even though I could."

Hey, can you also draw up warrants for the arrest of the population of Salbarii - not the kids though, I'm not a monster! - any merchant in startown that carries 2nd hand parts and any positions of local authority who can be considered to be aiding and abetting these criminals through their inaction and oversight?

"The Imperium does no interfere with law on member worlds."

By the way, how are things? Any outstanding problems you need active staff to help with? I know we're only DDs but what we lack in skill, experience or training we more than make up for in...uh... Access to horse people!"

"Nothing much. We were here to conduct investigation into the mining potential of the planet as part of an ongoing project to correlate star type to presence of habitable planet with good mine networks. However Walston has delayed full membership and hence the staff were relocated. I have been conducting sampling in areas too dangerous for humans to access. I lie in the mountain range on the main continent, I wouldn't recommend coming here."

Baggly · 17-03-2018 11:40PM

Fourier wrote:

The raft is fully functional, both jet engines are intact and ready to go, with half a tank of fuel. The only problem really is that the front of the plane is buried in the beach sand.

OOC: How deeply buried? Diggable?

Necrominus wrote:

'We should release this being. They may have information on the craft for us.'

'I'd be more comfortable with our medic doing that. If she isn't familiar with stasis tech, she would at least be best placed to treat that person if something went wrong.'

Dhinor comms the group and updates them regarding the raft and stasis pod.

'has anyone made any contacts that would be able to help dig out the front of this raft? It's usable if we can do that.'

Dhinor also asks everyone to update the group on any progress they have made regarding information on their wayward ship.

Necro · 17-03-2018 11:42PM

Bakleth nods.

'Very well humie. They made you captain so I will listen.'

He wanders back outside the craft to take a look at the front of the ship and how deep it is buried.

jasonb · 17-03-2018 11:48PM

Glenn comms everyone...

"Judging by the progress we've all made, I suggest the following... We agree to the Foreign Minister's request to survey the Volcano, including images and gas samples of the main crater. In return, we get the Minister to get the plane dug out (I'm sure he can find some workers to help with that!) and to fully repair the ship. What do people think? If you agree it's a good plan, we can get the plane dug out first, and then Dhinor and Bakleth can fly it back to the Dock and we can all meet there."

Necro · 17-03-2018 11:54PM

jasonb wrote: »

Glenn comms everyone...

"Judging by the progress we've all made, I suggest the following... We agree to the Foreign Minister's request to survey the Volcano, including images and gas samples of the main crater. In return, we get the Minister to get the plane dug out (I'm sure he can find some workers to help with that!) and to fully repair the ship. What do people think? If you agree it's a good plan, we can get the plane dug out first, and then Dhinor and Bakleth can fly it back to the Dock and we can all meet there."

Bakleth looks at his comms equipment, having forgotten it was even there.

'Bakleth like the cut of this guy's jib. Bakleth think this is good idea. But Bakleth no fly craft.

There is person or being in cryo stasis within. Medic should come meet us and free person or being. Bakleth have bad feeling.'

OldGoat · 18-03-2018 01:42PM

Nestor comms Bakleth: "On my way. Don't do anything to the cryo pod till I get there."
I pack up my med gear, including an extra respirator filter. I find the hotel proprietor and ask if there is a local taxi type service that will take me to the raft site. If there is I will refresh my background knowledge of cryo systems on the way, if not then I'll start the trek towards the site on foot.

Also of note, I'm bringing my shotgun under my duster cos deepfrozen aliens on a downed liferaft sounds like the start of all the bad holo-horror-trivids I've ever seen.

Necro · 18-03-2018 01:45PM

Bakleth grunts at his comms equipment.

'Bakleth no touch. Puny captain told Bakleth not to touch already. Bakleth will try to dig out craft.'

Bakleth starts scrabbling at the buried front of the craft with his hooves.

Traveller: Life in the Marches - A ship of our own

Comments