Harry runs tests and diagnostics on all of the systems he fixed again, making sure all was well. All tests were within specifications and everything was working properly.

{Comms to Capt.} "Captain, this is Harry, all diagnostic tests re-run and passed on Coms module and everything else I worked on. All Systems go."

Phillip also reran the tests on the Maneuver drives he had repaired and did other work on. All was normal. Then he reported it all to Levi to report to the captain when the tests were all run.

[Comms Levi] "Levi, this is Phillip, Maneuver drives check out A-okay. Any other diagnostics need run?" he asks the Chief Engineer.

Lex took care in inventorying and arranging the maintenance deliveries so that the first items to be used would be the easiest to retrieve.  Just as he had completed his task the captain called for everyone to gather.  Lex quickly joined the group in the Lounge.

He listened to the Captain's comments and could sympathize with the upcoming struggles in getting General Products to own up to their side of the disaster.  While he was running his investigation business dealing with insurance and lawyers was definitely his least favorite activities.

Lex listens to Levi's comments and asked "Need any help on those diagnostics.  I finished my task and free to help where needed."
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:30, Mon 13 Nov 2023.

Zbigniew, after he settled into his quarters on the ship, began by setting up his 'account' on the ship's computer and accessed the medical records on the crew and did evaluations on them and the late Dr. Balakov. He then started his duties of investigating the sabotage, starting with the Missile Bay, even though most of the evidence was already gathered, he wanted to check to see if anything had been missed. Using his medical and computer skills combined with his forensic abilities to assess what and where everything was and such, he began work on a report.

He went through the Medical Examiners report on the doctor, Examined the physical evidence and the chemical properties of the residue that was left by the explosion and read those reports as well, and then evaluated all of the evidence he found through his physical examination of the site and all of the rest that was known. He would have to evaluate what the Navy and Admiral Amundson came up with from the server when that report came in.

---

14:23, Today: Zbigniew Soboleskii rolled 12 using 3d6+6 with rolls of 1,1,4.  chemistry.

14:23, Today: Zbigniew Soboleskii rolled 16 using 3d6+5 with rolls of 3,4,4.  medic.

14:22, Today: Zbigniew Soboleskii rolled 13 using 3d6+4 with rolls of 3,3,3.

Levi agreed for Lexon to help with the diagnostics and testing. He tasked him to go over the tests that had already been run, to double check. It wasn't that he doubted the thoroughness of any of the team - he just wanted everything to be perfect in his department.

Plus, he justified to himself, he could always give the go-ahead while the last tests were running. It would take the powerplant time to spool up before they could engage and begin powering up the gravity plates and main drives.

The more experienced eyes, the greater the chance of spotting any anomaly. Then once they were airborne he'd go over the produced data himself for a third time. To see if there were any patterns that the computer had failed to spot in real-time. He doubted it, but felt he owed the Katerina to make sure. And besides, he had am effective and functional team. He could leave them to run the deck - for a while at least - during the long in system flight...

...well, he'd have to ensure that he was receiving live updates himself and monitor them in the background, and he would be nearby anyway just in case, so he wasn't really leaving them alone. But he knew he had to let go. The last day proved he couldn't do everything by himself, much as he wanted to. It would be hard, but going back over the test results might - just might - give him the focus so that he wasn't standing over the team while they were performing routine tasks.

He acknowledged Phillip's communication.
[Comms Internal - Phillip, Lexon] "Gravity plates need going over again. I'm tasking Lexon to double check our work, redo each test once we've completed them just to make sure.

I know it's overkill, but after the day we've had I want to make sure. And it's good practice for all of us now we're out of the emergency situation from earlier."

He pulls up the completed test results and compares them to logged data both from previous uneventful flights as well as the data from the last day. His head hurt, but the numbers were soothing.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:15, Mon 13 Nov 2023.

[Commms/Levi] "Roger Levi, I'm on it!" Phillip replied.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:57, Mon 13 Nov 2023.

1107.321 0430hrs UST - Regina High Port Station

On time, Tanja powers up the gravitic arrays and the Empress Katarina lifts off the deck of the cargo hangar. She uses the gravitic array thrusters to skim forward, like a much slower speeder, along the cargo corridor.  She has to maneuver the ship following a set pattern as dictated by the station's traffic protocol.  Finally the ship slides through the giant static stasis field door of the station. The ship glides out of the space door which glows with a blue hued curtain. Tiny sparks crackle against the hull as the ship moves through the energy field that protects the denizens of the space station from the vacuum of space.

Once out of the station, Tanja throttles up the maneuvering engines to .1% power (30 m/s), the maximum allowed speed within 10 km of the station. It takes five and a half minutes to reach that distance, then Tanja reorients the sip toward Balnefaer and throttles the engines to 200% (2G).  With the inertial dampeners in the decks of the ship, the passengers do not feel the uptick in acceleration. At 2G, the inertial dampeners are at 50% dampening capabilities. If the speed were pushed to 4G, the dampeners would be operating at full capacity.  Anything above 4G requires special Flight chairs that will compensate for extreme gravity force, or larger and more expensive inertial dampeners.

1107.321 0630hrs UST - Transit to Belnafaer

Once the ship is underway, the crew continue their tests and diagnostics until the lights dim at 0630hrs.  Tanja rechecks all flight data one last time and is satisfied all is well before calling the captain on comms.  Levi, Lexon, Phillip, and Harry have exhausted all attempts at trying to find something wrong with the new equipment.  Satisfied there is nothing wrong, they give over to the creeping exhaustion they all feel and turn in.  The captain and Dawn Hunter, now in a new, form fitting dispersion suit keep silent watch as the ship plies through space toward it's destination.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:26, Wed 15 Nov 2023.

"I'm here Ms Skorskald." Karma says, answering Tanja's call through comms in person from behind the pilot.  She left her quarters at exactly 0630 hours as the lights dimmed.  She listens quietly at Tanja briefs her on the flight so far and the expected flight to come, including the  projected path around a large moon for a gravity assist.  This will get them a bit quicker to their destination, but only by about five hours.

"Very well, Ms Skorskald.  Turn in.  You and the rest of the crew need some rest." she says, tearing open a stim pack.  She takes small white round tablet and pops it in her mouth. "I will expect you back on station at oh 1630 hours. Sleep well."

Karma sits in the pilots seat and double checks all the flight log readings, sensor logs, and engineering log information on the engines for a while.  The readings all look normal.  At .02% of the speed of light, one can just detect the field of near stars or planets moving, if you stare at it long enough.  She wonders what it would look like at a 12G thrust.   Probably, much the same, just they would move a little faster.

Hearing noise behind her, the captain turns.  Dawn Hunter is leaning against the round iris door jamb, sipping on something hot.

"I see you took off that clunker suit you like so well." she says teasingly to the marine.  "Nice suit, by the way. Is this what you all decided for us?  The blue is nice.  Should make my hair colour stand out."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:01, Tue 14 Nov 2023.

Dawn smiles, holding the mug up close to her lips to hide that fact.

"You like?" she asks with a toying lilt to her voice.  Karama turns with a raise eyebrow. The reaction Dawn was hoping. She laughs lightly. "It came in several different colors, but yes, the blue was the best choice."

"And, I will gladly give up that boarding vacc-suit as soon as I get my hands on an imperial battle dress suit with a full electronics suite."  she adds.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:09, Tue 14 Nov 2023.

"You can't get your hands on one of those." Karma says, turning her attention back to the screens and starfield. She smiles inwardly, enjoying the very slight tease implied by Dawn. Nothing to take seriously, of course, but the attention feels good. It has been so very long. As a captain should, she pushes desirable thoughts from her mind. "Not without taking a serious risk with a black market."

[COMMS/Intellect]
"Empress, continue on planned trajectory. End inactive duty cycle at sixteen hundred and thirty hours."

"Autopilot engaged. Tracking trajectory. Monitoring systems. Monitoring sensors. Notification task active." the computer voice replies.

Karma rises from the pilot's station and regards Dawn.

"And you know how I feel about the black market.

"C'mon, let's distribute the purchased gear left in the crew's lounge. We can make piles on the table for them to pick up when on active duty cycle. We have several more hours. We can also supply each station with emergency rebreathers and emergency softsuits."

Karma opens the first box, which was already opened and began sorting dispersion suits for the crew.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:43, Wed 15 Nov 2023.

Lex takes advantage of the down time.  He goes to his quarters and rests for the first time since arriving on the ship.  Rest after a long day always fells good.

Upon getting up he starts thinking how different being on a ship is compared to the Army and his post-army business. He need to start planning additional training, especially related to ship and space based activities.  Perhaps he should ask around to determine what would be the best skills to study.  He mentally added that to his To Do list along with asking if there is a Label Maker onboard.

 The Empress Katarina continues its path through space. Onboard, it is a planned inactive duty cycle of ten hours. The crew enjoys a much needed rest, enough time to replenish both vim and vigor.

Some of the crew are already awake when, at 1630, the lights increase in intensity to an active duty cycle setting.

The ship is currently being piloted by the Intellect software.  The crew gather in the lounge, eating porridge packets or drinking hot tea while discussing the day's planned workload.

On the table, each crewman finds a pile containing a dispersion suit and a cloth jacket.  The dispersion suit is to be worn beneath other clothing, if preferred. The cloth jacket becomes a mandatory part of an Empress Katarina uniform. The jacket just needs an official emblem to represent the ship.

Dawn and the captain retire to quarters.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:09, Thu 16 Nov 2023.

Tanja retired to her room behind the bridge without fuss or word. Locking the door - more a symbolic gesture of privacy than real attempt, after all with the skillset possessed by the crew, a locked door wouldn't be a barrier for long - she undressed and say in the shower allowing the warm water to wash over her. Wrapped in nothing but a towel she lay on her bed, set an automated alarm and allowed exhaustion to take her.

She slumped into a deep, dark, dreamless slumber.

Her mood is still dark when she awakens, but a second shower and the smell of fresh coffee in the lounge is enough that by the time she is sitting to breakfast she is smiling and willing to laugh. Especially at the expense of the rest of the crew. They needed a little light relief after all...

Levi setup his system to continually record and analyse the data streams. He set his alarms so that he would wake every two hours. Since he was a child he'd found he could work on less sleep. In fact he could nap for a few hours here and there and that would be enough.

He'd used it through school and college and even in the navy to good effect, effectively gaining an extra few hours each day. And he used it now.

It meant he could look through the numbers the computer was crunching, analyse the data, and draw conclusions in his own time.

He spent hours during down-time studying the test results searching for a pattern, anything to suggest the system was still compromised.

Even then he arrived at breakfast looking rough. He'd analysed the last few test results before attending the lounge and had skipped his shower. But he arrived looking happier. And that could only mean his painstaking and meticulous attention had not gleaned any data to worry him.

And.he arrived at breakfast hungry and desperate for coffee and stims.

For three days, the crew have been plying through space in transit to the the smaller Darida system, leaving behind the Lusor system for now.  Almost every waking hour has been given to two projects.  One, the computer core installation for backup.  Two, the missile bay repairs and mechanic's bay installation.  Those two go hand in hand, since to do one, the other has to be done as well.

It is eighteen more hours until the Empress Katarina reaches the gas giant Belnafaer.  Their destination is a small icy satellite called Snobol. It is one of the many moons of Belnafaer, and very small by comparison with the rest.  Snobol is a large, lumpy, cold block of frozen water and carbon dioxide ("dry-ice").  Snobol was only recently, in planetary system evolutionary terms, "captured" by Belnafaer, and is unusual in that it has a very elongated orbit which takes it as close to Belnafaer as 197,000 km and as far away as 950,000 km.  Its orbit takes 38 standard days. Snobol still has the spin which it had before it was "captured", and rotates about its axis once every 4 minutes and 45 seconds.

The crew is sitting in the crew's lounge, enjoying their breakfast of the usual hot porridge packet, or whatever they brought, when the iris in the center of the table opens and the holo-vid appears with a communications screen.  A still image shows a man, frightened, in the middle of speaking.  He is one of a few others locked into a seat in a shuttle of some sort according to the background imaging.

"Captain, sensors have picked up a radio transmission from Belnafaer planet." the mechanical voice of the Intellect software says.

Using her personal nickname for the Intellect software, Karma says, "Iris, play transmission."

The transmission begins and chaos ensues.  Screaming and loud noises in the background all but drown out the man's voice.  "...calling Moneyspider, Jetsom..."

A clear voice answers. "Moneyspider here.  You are breaking up.  What has..."

More of the frantic, hysterical voice continues, "Mone... ider... a major elec... orm with....  failur... in...  gone craz...  hold on much longer...  into freeze field but... Akord thought she knew... can't find her..."

The clear voice responds.  "Parl, I do not understand you.  How far out are you?"

"...orm ligh...  stroyed ice shield... We are... ing onto last---

The transmission ends abruptly with screaming and bright flash of light. Folowed by a frantic call over radio, "Parl. PARL! Come in!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:57, Fri 17 Nov 2023.

Tanja leans forward. A shuttle or craft, perhaps?? "Computer, what is the source of the transmission in relation to us?? And are there any other ships in the area??"

Perhaps if they were in trouble the Katerina could collect them... And perhaps a reward as well. It was too early to tell, but you never could tell.

The intellect replies, "Unknown source. IDENT Transponder SRF5600-1045, known moniker of Moneyspider is the only ship within DRAEDUS range."
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:07, Fri 17 Nov 2023.

"I'll get the 'med bay' ready for patients when we're done here. It didn't look good. Some kind of storm it appears." Zbigniew informs the Captain.

"That's a good idea Mr Soboleskii, but we have little in the way of a medical bay." Karma says.  "Oh, we have bandages, sutures, and other first aid items, but nothing state of the art. Our auto-doc is basic and over 120 years in use, but still works."

"Computer, what is the dstance to signal designated Moneyspider?? What vector are they on??" Tanja asked the computer again, pulling her data pad out so she could see the sensor data for herself and interrogate it.

No sense in worrying about it if they were too far away or accelerating away from them in a different direction and they couldn't intercept them. "What would be the optimum intercept course and ETA if we were to change course towards them now??"

"Moneyspider is located at target destination of current trajectory. Optimum intercept course is the current trajectory. ETA 17.256 hours at current deceleration of 2G. A five hour zero gee flight at current speed, then a 4G deceleration rate would decrease transit time by 7.25 hours."
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:22, Fri 17 Nov 2023.

Karma opens a tight-beam communications channel.

[COMMS/Moneyspider]
"Moneyspider, this is Karma Starwind, captain of the Empress Katarina far trader en route to the Snobol station."

A two foot by two foot holo-vid communications screen opens, showing a middle aged female with red hair pulled back into a bun, wearing wire rimmed glasses and wearing a white research uniform with a ByChem logo on it.

"Captain, yes we have you scheduled to arrive sometime tomorrow."  the woman says.  "I am Dr Ellen Cooperman, chief engineer.  We look forward to Dr Sargeny Marksputin's arrival."

"We are eighteen hours from the station Dr Cooperman. We have monitored a very worrisome transmission. We will offer any assistance you might need with your situation when we get there." the captain offers.

"Thank you Empress, but we have things...  under control here."  the voice says after a glance to something or someone beyond the camera.  "We shall expect your arrival.  Moneyspider out."

The transmission ends and the screen shuts down.  The iris closes on the table.

"Hmmm, I wonder why she lied there? You do know she was lying Captain? We heard the SOS, I think whoever WAS on the ship, is dead now though, it sounded like an explosion." the doctor says to the capt.

Tanja looks at her data pad, confirming what the computer had said. "Either we continue as expected, arrive in seventeen hours and leave them be; free-gee for five hours and 4g decel for five hours, arriving seven hours before we're expected. That would prevent them from removing too much evidence, if we want to go down the path of finding out what is going on.

Or we could accelerate?? Even for an hour at 4g, then decel at 4g. We'd knock two hours off our time?? Arriving in eight, or so??"
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:13, Sun 19 Nov 2023.

"I would prefer it if we did not perform a zero-gee maneuver while we have a passenger onboard." the captain responds. "Confirm your supposition with the astrogation computer Ms Skorskald. Have IRIS make the change immediately, if the solution works." 

Karma uses the holo-vid and brings up the Darida system according to astrogation mapping.  The astrogation screen moves from the current Lusor system to the nearby Darida system.  The M6 red dwarf star occupies the center of the screen orbited by several rockball planets and one gas giant.  Karma zooms in on the planet and it becomes the center with orbiting moons.  She highlights the orbit of Snobol, the iceball satallite that has a long elliptical orbit.



To the right of the orbital screen are a couple of system briefs.



Oddly, there is no information in the astrogation database concerning the docking procedures at Snobol.

---

Make a Pilot task check.  (Astrogation AVG 8+, INT, D6 minutes) //Change of Speed and Trajectory// 
This message was last edited by the player at 22:43, Sun 19 Nov 2023.

"Aye firmative, cap," Tanja replies. "While I'm doing that you may want to listen to the recording again. I don't think it was an explosion. There was something about a storm with lightning that destroyed ice shielding?? Sounds planetary to me."

She begins pulling the numbers together on her data pad, first calculating the direct route of accelerating then decelerating for as long as possible. Then she quickly considers options of using gravity wells from the other planetary bodies, and checks gravity wells to see if there are any additional gravitic influences she could use.

23:16, Today: Tanja Skorskald rolled 13 using 2d6+6.  Astrogation
GM, on behalf of Tanja Skorskald, rolled 5 using 1d6.  1D minutes
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:09, Mon 20 Nov 2023.

Tanja spends five minutes going over the calculations, inputting the data, and confirming with the astrogation computer the trajectory path.  Once confirmed, the astrogation computer sets the course, spins the ship,  and increases the maneuver drive to 4G.  Everyone feels the uptick in acceleration, even though the computer does its best to ramp at a rate where the inertial dampeners can correct for the change quick enough.  Still, a mug has to be caught before it falls to the floor from the table.  The ship's nose dips down with a change in attitude, making for one of the larger moons for a quick acceleration gain by the gravity well.  An hour later, they are well past the moon and the astrogation computer again spins the ship and begins a 4G decel burn.  With the corrections, the ship will arrive in 7 hours with no necessary zero gee maneuvering.

Being the start of an activity cycle, the crew get to work on the missile bay once again while in transit.  Each wondering what that strange transmission could have been.

It is one hour before static zero momentum relative to Snobol, a moon that is in orbit around Belnafaer.  Sensors indicate the static point will be 10,000 km from the moon.

The crew gather again in the lounge to go over the upcoming docking and further their plans.

The End of the Chapter.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:29, Fri 12 Apr.