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.