Alpha Dawn
        Crash on Volturnus
Campaign:Alpha Dawn
Adventure:Crash on Volturnus
Turn Number:1.6
Turn Start Date:600171
Turn End Date:600171
Send To:alphadawn@championsoftheempire.com
Combat Turn?No
Subject:Fleeing the Serena Dawn

Name

Lethal

NL

Current

Armor

Screen

Luck Pts

Fate Pts

Alyson Worth

15

0

25/40

Military Skeinsuit


/

/

Alzarix

15

0

35/50

None

None

/

/

Carter d'Marshian

9

0

25/34

None

None

/

/

Ciara Anne Preston

0

0

60/60

None

None

/

/

George Fury

12

0

33/45

Military Skeinsuit


1/1

/0

Gorman Blake

0

0

45/45

None

None

/

/

Jim Jitsu

16

0

29/45

Civilian Skeinsuit


/

/

Mykel Dronvere

16

8

31/55

Military Skeinsuit


1/1

/0

S'lch Vatal

0

0

35/35

None

None

/

/








NameNotes
Alyson
Alzarix
Carter
Ciara Anne
GeorgeSkeinsuit (35/50)
Gorman
Jim Jitsu
Mykel
S'lch
ALYSON: As she gets up from the floor she says,"Looks like our ride is done for. Please look for any first aid kits and other stuff that might help us. As we take a lifeboat."

ALYSON: She will look for a lot before boarding the lifeboat.

JIM: As the ship lurches and shakes violently Jim says, "Yeah, that's not good."

JIM: He offers a hand to Alyson to help her up and says, "We might not have time for first aid now, best wait till we're off ship."

JIM: Loudly for all the group to hear, "On behalf of the crew of the Serena Dawn I want to thank you for flying with us. Please file single file into the waiting lifeboat."

JIM: Jim heads for the life boat.

JIM: As they are heading to the life boat, Jim remembers Chon's chronocom and decides to try running a bluff on the 3rd Mate again. He calls him and disguises his voice with a whisper, "This is Chon, I'm pinned down near the computer room by some armed passengers, I need help."

JIM: [rolled (2) Grievous Success!!!]


MR. GREELY: The third mate responds, "Get to the bridge now. We're abandoning ship in the last lifeboat."

Jim keeps the conversation going by pleading for some help so he can get past the armed passengers.

Even as this conversation is occurring, the group is piling into the Escape Bay. Stepping over and around the dead bodies of several passengers and crew, George reaches the lifeboat hatch and swings it open. The group watches the other entrances to the Escape Bay nervously as they quickly enter the lifeboat, knowing that the remaining pirates could arrive at any minute to claim this final lifeboat.

Another entrance to the Escape Bay suddenly slides open after everyone except Mykel and George have entered. A pirate shouts, "THEY'RE TAKING THE LAST LIFEBOAT! STOP THEM!" Mykel and George rush into the lifeboat as four armed pirates push into the Escape Bay. They begin firing automatic weapons as soon as they are able and bullets fly everywhere. Those already on the lifeboat drop to the deck as lead whizzes by plunking into bulkheads, seats and anything else in the way. Carter swings the hatch shut as George and Mykel dive in. More rounds impact the hatch but it is made of tougher stuff than cannot be breached by typical hand weapons.

"One minute to launch," declares a quiet voice over the lifeboats loud speakers. "Please fasten your seat belts."

As the rest of the group quickly takes seats in the lifeboat, Carter spends another half minute gazing out through the tiny window of the hatch to see what the pirates in the Escape Bay are up to. He sees one pulling stuff out of a pack at his side. Carter recognizes it as an explosive device with a timer but the man quickly realizes that he doesn't have enough time to set the explosive and then clear the area so he gives up and departs the Escape Bay with the other pirates. Carter quickly takes one of the many empty seats and buckles himself in.

The lifeboat launches itself into space.


ENSIGN FURY: As the lifeboat departs the Serena Dawn, George breathes a sigh of relief. Hopefully the immediate danger is past. He looks around the lifeboat to take stock of the situation. He sees many of the same people that were helping to combat the pirates, most of whom are, like himself, showing the physical wounds of the recent battles.

GM: The lifeboat is designed to hold 30 people. The seats are all flex seating to allow adjustment to the four races of the frontier. The spray of bullets from the pirates as the hatch was closing left holes around the interior of the lifeboat but, miraculously, did not hit anyone. A compartment at the rear of the lifeboat near the entry hatch, labelled "Survival Kits", seems to have borne the brunt of the weapons fire, with numerous holes in the hatch panel. The lifeboat contains a total of 30 seats, including a "pilot" and "co-pilot" seat at the front. There are no controls to maneuver so a pilot would not do much good, but there are read outs and a wide view port to see out of.

ALYSON: She will look the kits over. She is hoping that she can make a few full kits from stuff that wasn't damage from the shot up kits.

S'LCH: Knowing that the others were better qualified to monitor the shuttle and respond to the events that might occur, S'lch turned his focus to studying the last commlink he had acquired.

ALZARIX: Warily climbing to his feet after the life boat launches, he looks around and finds a undamaged seat to sit in. Gingerly he sits down and sighs, "Man those pirates were rough. All I did was walk out of my room to see if the steward needed any help and the one started shooting me! Well I guess karma does not like them. Cause now it looks like they get to go down with the ship and quite a few of them have holes in the spacesuits now."

ALZARIX: He is interested in helping get the equipment together, but he is a bit sore and tender from the wounds he received in combating these pirates. In fact he is just happy to be alive and in the emergency life boat at this point and time. He would like another biocort shot, but knows that that will not help him at this point in time as he has already had one today. He is also wondering if there are any slugs in him or if they were through and through.


CIARA: Ciara rushed to her seat and buckled herself in. She was thankful her father taught her to keep her bag packed while traveling. Though her personal belongings she brought along weren't much, at least she had the envirokit from the research team. She just hoped that nothing would malfunction and that they would safely land on Volturnus. Her thoughts drifted to her friends on the research team and wondered how they were faring.

MYKEL: Mykel scrambles to get into one of the seats after seeing that the hatch is fully sealed. He is barely seated when he is jolted by the release of the lifeboat.



While Alzarix rests from the wounds and exertions of combating the pirates, Alyson gets up and walks down the aisle to the bullet punctured locker holding the survival kits. She opens it up and sees dozens of sealed plastic packages each about the size of a shoe box size for an overly large human foot. Through the plastic, she can see that each contains an overfilled bright yellow nylon bag. A number of the kits are no longer sealed after being pierced with lead rounds from the guns of the pirates.

She begins to pull them out, separating the still sealed ones from the punctured ones. There are a total of 30 such kits. Nineteen are still sealed. The remaining eleven have suffered various degrees of damage. More alarming to Alyson however, is the fact that, while each one is stamped in large letters "LIFEBOAT SURVIVAL KITS" with various other numbers that probably mean something to someone, the number that sticks out the most to her is the expiration date. Of the 30 kits total, all but five are beyond their expiration date, in two cases by over ten years. Of the unexpired ones, two have been damaged by bullets. Each pack also indicates whether it is for a dralasite, human, vrusk or yazirian. A majority are for humans as the primary route of the Serena Dawn was through the systems populated mostly by humans.

At the very back of the compartment, and undamaged by bullets, are three water packs. Each holds 48 one liter containers of water (think of a package of 48 bottles of water from Costco and imagine a lightweight, rigid plastic frame holding everything together, with a strong but cheap harness for wearing it on the back).

Alyson lets out a sigh and says, "I think we will need to go through each survival kit and attempt to assemble," she pauses to count those in the lifeboat and then continues, "nine complete survival kits."

Alyson opens up one of the kits to find out what it contains. She finds the following:
  • Nylon Kit Bag - All of the following items are inside this drawstring bag made of thin but tough nylon. The drawstrings are arranged such that the bag can be worn as a simple backpack. The bags are high-vis yellow in color.
  • Thermal coverall - A single piece article of clothing that covers the entire body. It zips closed in the front and has numerous utility pockets. It is lightweight but will keep the wearer warm in temperatures down to 0 degrees (C). The coverall includes an attached hood and a pair of gloves. Color is mostly light tan but with high-vis yellow in a vest-like pattern on the main torso.
  • Survival belt - A lightweight, semi-rigid belt that circles the midsection and clasps in front. It includes several small pouches and objects.
  • Survival tent - A single use item the size of a moderately thick paperback novel. Once the tiny gas cylinder is activated, the tent erects itself but cannot then be refolded as the cylinder fills the ridgelines of the tent with a gas that hardens almost instantly to a solid to form the structure of the tent. The walls, floor and ceiling are made of a very thin, thermal material that will protect in temperatures down to 0 degrees. If the wearer is also wearing a thermal coverall, they can sleep comfortably in temperatures down to -5 degrees.
  • All weather blanket - As the equipment list item of the same name. When combined with the tent and coverall, the wearer can sleep comfortably in temperatures down to -10 degrees.
  • Everflame - As equipment list item of the same name. Found in one of the pouches of the survival belt.
  • Concentrated Rations - Five sealed energy tabs each a bit thicker than a Kit Kat bar. Each tab breaks into three pieces intended for consumption in the morning, midday and evening. Thus, there are a total of 5 days worth of tabs. They are somewhat tasteless but provide all of the nutrients required by any of the four major races.
  • Emergency Radio - A radio with but 2 channels and a range of 5 miles. The radios are disposable in that the batteries are built in and cannot be replaced or recharged. The 2 channels are commonly used channels and one of them is a universal distress channel. The radios are about the size of a deck of cards. Some are clearly no longer functional.
  • Multitool - Similar to the equipment list item but provided by the lowest bidder, with corresponding lack of quality. Pieces may break if put to heavy, or even moderate use.
  • First Aid Kit - As the equipment list item of the same name.
  • Water Purification Tablets - Small capsule containing 25 tiny tablets, each capable of purifying up to 1 liter of water.
  • Compass - As the equipment list item of the same name.
  • Inflatable Lifejacket - Inflates rapidly courtesy of a tiny, compressed gas capsule. However, it can be deflated and manually inflated as needed. Before first use, the life jacket is about the size of a deck of cards and fits into a pouch on the survival belt. Once inflated however, it is difficult to fold back down to the same compressed size.
  • Flashlight - About the size of your pinkie finger and powered by a sealed battery. Some are clearly no longer functional. Those that work provide a beam of light that reaches out to about 30 feet and will last up to 100 hours of constant use (though it can be turned on and off as desired).
  • Nylon Cord - 15 meters of nylon cord that is strong enough to support 1000 kg.
  • Goggles - Can be used for sun, sand or snow protection.

Meanwhile, S'lch studies the chronocom. The first thing he discovers is that it will need to be hacked.

GM: One of the computerists in the group can attempt to begin the long process of defeating security. Success indicates that not only will they be able to see everything on the chronocom but they can use it normally in the future. The other alternative is to take the chronocom apart and attempt to bypass security by rewiring it but the risk is that the chronocom might be rendered useless for long term use.



S'LCH: OOC that would be Carter I don't think and S'lch knows him well enough to know that. :)

S'LCH: Seeing the device locked up in a manner he was not familiar with he knew he needed help. "Hey Jim this comm is not secured using the standard robotic or communication models. Want to take a crack at it?"

JIM JITSU: Jim looks at S'lch with a confused expression, "Silch buddy, I'd love to but my expertise is strictly limited to technician stuff, well that and confidence scams and bluffing; I was a petty criminal a life time ago- I can bluff people no good with computer security. What you really need is a computer specialist."

CARTER (GM): Is Carter close enough to the conversation to overhear the topic? He would be the logical person to attempt to hack the chronocom...

S'LCH: As Alyson inventories the supplies the Vrusk pulls the gear he took off the pirates (except the comms) and tells her "Add these in to our supplies"

S'LCH: He the turns his attention to the basic comms he acquired and does two things. He checks for useful information and he disables any remote tracking options (if he can)

JIM JITSU: Jim is idly humming to him self enjoying the idea of himself as a galactic hero and the ride down in the life boat.

JIM JITSU: "tan tananta tanantan tantan tantan tyantan tantan tan tan tan tan tan atan tan tann tan tan tantan tantan tantan"


CIARA: As soon as Alyson starts to go through the survival kits, Ciara perks up. For the last few minutes, she had been lost in thought about the shocking events that had just taken place. She unbuckles and stands up. "Oh," Ciara speaks up, "I should introduce myself to those of you that I haven't already met. My name is Ciara Anne Preston and I am a research student with the university headed to Volturnus to do an advanced field study." She pauses with a frown and adds, "At least, we were supposed to do a field study but I'm not sure what's going to happen now." She looks over the rest of the group in the lifeboat making note the people she hadn't met during the voyage.

CIARA: Once the conversation dies down, Ciara continues over to Alyson. "Do you mind if I help you look through the kits? I have some survival training and it would be good to see what we have to work with."

MYKEL: Once everything appears stable and the lifeboat – despite being shot up – is not leaking atmosphere, Mykel surveys the compartment and his new set of traveling companions. The group is mostly familiar to him from time on the ship. The difference now is that nearly everyone appears to be injured, some more than others.

MYKEL: “Does anyone here have any sort of medical experience? I’ve got some first aid training, but that’s all.”

ALYSON: She says,"Some but not a whole lot."



Carter hears S'lch talking about a security system on a high end chronocom that one of the bridge pirates was wearing and his ears perk up. He gets up from his seat and walks up the aisle to speak to his vrusk cabin mate about it. Once he gets the highlights, he takes the chronocom and gets to work.

GM: Go ahead and send a Defeat Security roll with a -20 modifier for the level 2 security of the device. Also send a 1d10 roll to determine how many hours it will take.

CARTER: DEFEAT SECURITY: 55% [rolled (25) Success]; duration [rolled 10] hours


GM: Carter, S'lch and Jim all know each other moderately well as they all shared a cabin on the Serena Dawn and were in the same "Auxiliary Systems" department on the ship.

Meanwhile, Ciara and Alyson start sorting through the equipment, separating the functional from the damaged or otherwise non-functional. They come up with two piles of equipment. They separate the functional equipment by type.

Functional Items
  • Nylon Kit Bags - 17
  • Thermal coveralls - 18
  • Survival belts - 24
  • Survival tents - 19
  • All weather blankets - 17
  • Everflames - 12
  • Concentrated rations - 23 (so 115 person days)
  • Emergency radio - 8
  • Multi-tool - 25
  • First aid kits
    • Antiseptic - 8 cans
    • Biocort - 32 doses
    • Stimdose - 8 doses
    • Staydose - 13 doses
  • Water Purification Tablets - 27 (675 individual tablets)
  • Compass - 28
  • Inflatable life jacket - 17
  • Flashlight - 11
  • Nylon cord (15m ea) - 27
  • Goggles - 23

ALYSON:She says,"Over all not a bad place to be for survival equipment. I just hope we land in a good spot."

JIM JITSU: OOC: I checked and out of the ten of us 8 can carry 20 or more kg before being slowed (two of the tech nerds among us have less then 40 STR [cough] Carter and S'lch

JIM JITSU: On the other hand the only things on the list of survival equipment that I see of weight though are potentially the tent as its not on the standard equipment list (although I dont think so from supplied description), the life jecket is 1 kg, the emergency radio? (is this the radiocom of the equipment list?), and food. [DM correct me if I'm wrong]

JIM JITSU: Jim answer's Alyson, "Well there are 10 of us so lets double up the doubles for the strongest among us to carry, lets leave nothing behind."


JIM JITSU: In a whisper to Alyson, "Dont give Cater or S'lch any extra weight to carry, they both good guys, great to work with but neither of them is very strong. I can take some extra weight in my pack and some of the military jocks among us look pretty fit."

JIM JITSU: Out loud he continues, "What is really troubling is I don't see any water do you?"

CIARA: "We won't leave anything behind for sure. Once we're safely on the ground, we can figure out how to split up the supplies. Oh, we have 3 packs of 48 bottles of water in the back of the compartment. That won't last us long so we'll still want to find a source of water as we have purification tablets to make it drinkable. Between these kits, my research on this planet, and my survival training I'm hopeful we'll be able to survive on this planet long enough to be rescued or find civilization. Of course, we need the lifeboat to safely land first!"

JIM JITSU: 144 kg of water wt. we'll have to parcel it around to make sure the weaker PCs arent slowing us down when moving.

JIM JITSU: With a STR of 45 Jim can carry 23 kg before slowed from weight. his only equipment with mass is the tech kit at 12 kg so he can carry 11kg for the party.

CARTER: I represent that remark!!

JIM JITSU: Its alright Carter I got your back.

Alyson and Ciara pack all of the items back into the kit bags, making up one bag for each person and putting all of the other gear that is still in working order into bags of their own so that, in the end, there are nine kit bags for the group and eight more kit bags containing spare gear. Although the hope is that the lifeboat will make a smooth landing, Ciara prepares for the worse and ensures that the gear is separated among the team so that if they must leave the lifeboat in a hurry, everyone knows what they need to grab. This is complicated somewhat by the heavy toolkits that some of the group already possess and have no desire to leave behind.




S'lch examines the other chronocoms and finds them to be fairly typical, low-end units. None of them can be used to track the group if they are not broadcasting. However, that thought does cause S'lch to suddenly remember something from the safety training in the early part of the trip. He recalls that, during a tour of the Escape Bay, the crew member giving the tour mentioned that the lifeboats were set to automatically send some sort of signal so that rescue parties could find them. If rescue parties can find them, perhaps pirates in their own ship could also find them!

Ensign Fury gets up from his seat and moves all the way forward. He sits down in one of the "pilot" chairs at the front and studies the various lights and screens. He notes that most of the "controls" are really just readouts and indicator lights.

The most prominent readout indicates that a habitable planet has been located and arrival time is 3 hours and 42 minutes.

Other indicator lights indicate that various systems are working as intended though there is a red light flashing under a label that says "Sewage System". (The lifeboat has a toilet just aft of the pilot seats on the port side.)

There is a steady green light under a label that reads "Transponder" but, as Ensign Fury watches, the light flashes bright green for a second and then goes back to normal. The bright flash is repeated a couple more times over the next several minutes.

An indicator light next to the transponder light reads "EPIRB Activated" and is currently off, presumably meaning that the EPIRB, whatever that is, has not been activated.

ENSIGN FURY: To the rest of the group, he says, "One of you technicians might want to check out the pilot controls and see if there is anything we need to do. It looks like we will be landing on Voluturnus in about three and a half hours."

JIM JITSU: Operating machinery roll to assess damage? [rolled (12) Success]


GM: Jim can see that 2 rounds penetrated the control console. Neither hit any of the dials, lights or readouts but could have cause damaged within the console. He pulls out his techkit and opens up the console to take a look. One of the rounds went right through the module that displays interior readouts such as temperature, air pressure, air quality, etc. The second round missed everything and embedded itself in the forward bulkhead of the console after ricocheting off a couple of supporting struts.

GM: Jim also identifies a couple of modules that he believes to be the transponder and the EPIRB but he knows that S'lch is more the expert on radios than he is so calls him over. S'lch takes a look and agrees. Both can easily be disabled if he so desires. He explains that the transponder does not transmit except in response to a query from a radar system, in which case it broadcasts a unique code and, of course, position can be derived. The EPIRB (emergency position indicating radio beacon) will transmit constantly but has not started yet. It will likely be activated automatically upon landing.

S'LCH: Looking up from the last chronocoms he asks a general question to the group, "Are we okay with the lifeboats emergency tracking beacon activating? I mean it could lead to a rescue but it could also lead the pirates to us. Also has any one checked the boat for damage that might compromise our landing... Because that was alot of gun fire we took and the emergency packs might not have been the only things hit.

CIARA: "How easily can we disable and re-enable it? I have no idea how likely these pirates are to pursue us, do any of you know? If we land in a bad spot, we may want search and rescue to find us over any fear that the pirates will track us down. George, how likely is the UPF to come searching for us?"

JIM JITSU: Oh and I'm curious as to range on the emergency radios?- Chronocom is 5k and radiophone is 1000k.

GM: S'lch believes that they are likely akin to chronocoms, with an effective range between 5 and 10 kilometers.

S'LCH: Once he is done helping out with the ships systems he returns to the radios and chronocoms. "Does everyone have a chronocom? Because I have a few extra. And while they aren't the most powerful or secure of devices I can probably create an encrypted channel for us if that is what people would like."

JIM JITSU: Jim tosses his personal com to S'lch, "Sign me up."

CIARA: "I do not have one. I was expecting the research team would provide one."

ALYSON: She says,"I could use one." As soon as she gets one she adds,"Thank you."

S'lch spends some more time examining the chronocoms and eventually concludes that he will not be able to install encryption in them. They are base model chronocoms with no room for additional circuitry, even if he could interface it successfully, which would also require creating the encryption circuits, which is beyond the capabilities of his toolbox. S'lch lets go with a vrusk sigh and concludes that they will have to go with a more primitive encryption system - code words and numeric encryption. S'lch gets busy coming up with some simple verbal codes to use for now. He also checks on Carter's progress on the high end chronocom but sees that he is deeply engrossed in his work.



GORMAN: "I was hired as a medic by a tour operator for this trip to Volturnus. It looks like that gig is up in smoke now but I can lend my talents here as needed. Most of my previous experience was with typical home accidents and vehicle accidents but I can do what I can for weapon wounds. Just step over here to my office and I'll get to work."

GORMAN: I will use the flexible seating to create a makeshift bed in which to examine and perform first aid (and minor surgery if needed).

GORMAN: "Let me know who wants to be first."

ENSIGN FURY: "I don't need to be first but would like to get some treatment," George says and he rises from the pilot chair.

MYKEL: “I can help you with that.” Mykel steps over to be an extra set of hands for Gorman as he deals with the wounded.

CARTER: Gorman - I can usually help out but right now I am fighting with this chronocom.

ALZARIX: Slowly get up from his seat with a groan. The Yazarian walks over to Gorman and stand by Fury. "I was shot at least three times and could use a look over. I have already had a biocort shot once during the scuffle." As Fury is looked over he will take his harness off and lay it down on one of the empty seats. after he gets Gorman assesment/ treatment he can help check over the craft for that damage that might have happened to the escape shuttle.

JIM JITSU: He turn to scan the cabin of the life boat but winces from the pain of his wounds.

ALYSON: She says,"Hey Jim have you taken a shot of Biocort as of yet?" She will use the one she has that only has one use left.

JIIM JITSU: OOC: currently at 19 STA need to be over 23 to avoid pain penalty to skill and ability checks so either first aid and a shot of bio cort for a quick boost or surgery to get back to 45 STA either way then Jim will do some technician stuff to see whats what with the boat.

JIM JITSU: IC: Jim looks between Gorman and Alyson and says, "I need a little something at the very least to get over the pain, perhaps just a shot of biocort and I'll see whats been damaged from gun fire and if anything can be done."


GORMAN: I will do the first aid on Ensign Fury and Jim Jitsu next before doing the minor surgery on Alzarix. Here are my rolls:

GORMAN: Minor Surgery on Alzarix [rolled (27) Success]
GORMAN: First Aid on Ensign Fury [rolled (94) Success]
GORMAN: First Aid on Jim Jitsu [rolled (57) Success]

GORMAN: Let me know how many biocort I use.


GM: Gorman used a total of 4 doses of biocort and 1 dose of anesthetic. George and Jim are each healed 10 points while Alzarix is healed 20 points. Nobody is down over half their STA anymore.



JIM JITSU: Jim tries to fix the damage to the interior readout module wondering if that is the reason the sewage system light is flashing.

JIM JITSU: [rolled (37) Success]

JIM JITSU: Jim says, "I would suggest disabling the transponder since pirates in vacuum suits implies they have a ship in the vicinity and maybe disable the EPIRB which will broadcast location on landing. This of course means anyone that could help us would not be able to find us either. However, if we disable the EPIRB we can take a day or two and prepare an ambush if it happens to be the pirates who comes looking when we turn the beacon back on?"


CIARA: "I don't really know anything about EPIRBs. I would want to make sure we could turn it back on though."

JIM JITSU: Jim looks at Ciara, "True enough but I think disconnecting power supply and reconnecting it would suffice but this is a decision we all should make and not something that should be done unilaterally. So question is do we want the EPIRB broadcasting our position when we land?"

Jim gets out his toolbox and gets busy under the console. Disabling the transponder is the work of but a minute and disconnecting the power of the EPIRB is the work of another. Then he gets busy with the damage caused by the round that penetrated the console. He also troubleshoots the flashing red light indicating a malfunction in the sewage system and concludes that someone will need to check it out in the toilet, located at the rear of the lifeboat. Time passes and Jim makes steady progress in repairing the damage.

GM: Let me know if Alzarix or Carter (both are Technicians) are going to troubleshoot the sewage issue.



GEORGE: Once Gorman has given him a shot of biocort to heal some of the damage he took fighting the pirates, George slowly makes the rounds of the survivors. He engages each in conversation although some of the conversations are brief. Carter is very clearly engrossed in the encrypted chronocom and only a few words are exchange. He sits up front for a few minutes talking to Jim and passing him tools as needed. He speaks to Alzarix and S'lch. He talks to Gorman, Alyson and Ciara. He sits down with Mykel. Although trying to be very unobtrusive, he is simply trying to gauge everyone's mental state after the pirate attack and their own violent defense. He concludes that everyone seems to be taking the matter in stride and adjusting quite well to the radically changed circumstances. Some even seem to be thriving on the thought of dangerous adventures.

JIM JITSU: Jim decides to delegate checking the sewage malfunction indicator while half buried under the console and calls out to George or Ensign Fury to check on the head at the back of the boat just to see if they can tell what the indicator light might be all about. while he finishes up with the console.

CARTER (GM): I think the flight to the planet was going to be 30 hours and the chronocom was to take about 10 so what did we learn about it before we enter the atmosphere??

CARTER: Does not have a chronocom but will take one of the extras. Or the high end one if he can get it to function...

CARTER (GM): While he is trying to break into the chronocom he will bring his alien contraption around to see if it will help with the decryption. Doubtful but can't hurt to try...

ALYSON: She listens in on what George is saying. While her thoughts go to their situation. She can not wait for this tin can to land. If the bad guys have any type of ship. No where to hide or run in here. Not at chance at all. The planet might not be any better at least you might have a chance there.

JIM JITSU: The irony strikes Jim that he's repairing a boat that will soon be done with space and never fly again. However, Jim like living so plucks away at the repairs as fast as possible mindful that he wants to be strapped into a seat for planet fall.

JIM JITSU OOC; tech skill check just in case one is required: rolling a Repair subskill check but if it passes than its good for any of the other subskills which have higher success rates [vroll-40]

S'LCH: Having done the best he could he makes sure everyone has a way to communicate either through their own personal devices, one of the extras, or one of the radios. And that they understand the basic primitive encryption he was able to figure out

JIM JITSU: Will abstract the primitive encryption or will we have a list of code words?

ALZARIX: After the minor surgery and the removal of the slugs, he is feeling a bit better. He would of liked to sleep for awhile to help speed up his recovery, but making sure that the shuttle is okay first takes presidence to his comfort. "Okay, Jim. Ill go check out the circuits in the bathroom." With that he grabs his kit and head to the head to inspect it for any damage.

ALZARIX: checking out the louve: technician repair roll [rolled (57) Success]



Jim completes his repairs on the console while Alzarix works on the toilet. He finds that here too, some automatic rifle rounds penetrated into the sewage system. Fortunately they are fairly simple repairs, easily accomplished with tools and material on hand. Alzarix finishes and then does a live test of the facilities. When he exits, he finds a few more of the survivors waiting in line to conduct their own tests.

When everyone is available, S'lch passes out the chronocoms to ensure that everyone has one. He reminds everyone that not all of the chronocoms have all of the same channels. Each chronocom has 10 channels, of which four tend to be common to all chronocoms but the other six are set up when sold with the installation of tiny channel circuits. All of the chronocoms captured from the pirates have all the same channels but only four of them overlap with the channels of the chronocoms that people owned previously.

He goes on to say that none of the chronocoms are capable of encrypted communications so everything said over them can be heard and understood by anyone else within range who happens to be listening on that channel. They have an effective range of about 5 km over the surface of the planet because the high frequencies are line of sight and can't bounce over the horizon or through mountains. However, they might still be heard by craft overhead, even at many times the effective range so they should not be used unless in an emergency. Using them will allow vehicles equipped with radio direction finding equipment to pinpoint their direction and, if two such vehicles work together, to pinpoint exact location.

S'lch then goes on to say that, even though encrypted communications aren't possible, he came up with a simple code we can use in the event that we must use them. Every survival kit came with a short, 9 page instruction booklet. If you absolutely must encrypt a message you can use it to do so using the booklet. For example if you want to say "Send help," you would encrypt it with a code of 384 119. 384 means look on page 3, sentence 8, word 4 and you will find the word "send". 119 means look on page 1, sentence 1, word 9 and you will find the word "help". Far from perfect, S'lch says, and we may never need to use it but it is something. We can also write some code words in the book that have specific meanings.

ALYSON: She likes the code words and agrees with it. She is also eyeing the bathroom line. Looking for a chance to go.

Carter continues to work on the encrypted chronocom. It is taking longer than he hoped but he feels that he is making progress. He doubts that he will be done before the lifeboat lands but, assuming a safe landing, he should be able to continue after landing.

GM: I plan to send the next turn with the lifeboat landing on the surface of Volturnus. I hope to send it tomorrow.

JIM JITSU: Jim stows his tools and decides to take a front seat next to Ensign Fury just to keep an eye on the damaged console. Its a "pro-forma" action as he doubts he can do anything if there is a problem during landing. To relieve stress he mentally does a martial arts kata and centers himself and whispers a prayer to the one spirit. He had never gone in for the spiritual and philosophical side of Fluidism when his dralasite cell mate had instructed him in Fluidic martial arts but he figured it couldn't hurt to pray now.

JIM JITSU: "....that flows through the universe as a mighty ocean and yet flows within each of us, keep us safe and let us not crash upon the rocks of this shore but flow over and on and be part of your power and flow...."

JIM JITSU: Jim knew that classic "prayers" were not really part of Fluidism and he was making this one up on the spot but figured the one spirit, the Da that flows through everyone and everything would not be offended. He wasn't really sure how to end the prayer and a long forgotten memory from his youth came to mind and he said, "Amen."

JIM JITSU: While he has prayed in a whisper the Amen was out loud and he glanced at Ensign Fury with a smile and shrugged, "In case my repairs dont hold."

CIARA: Addressing everyone in the lifeboat, "I have a few questions that I'd like answered if anyone knows. What were the pirates after? Just looking for an easy ship to take over or were they looking for a specific cargo to steal? Or was their purpose to capture crew and passengers?"

CIARA: "The next question I'd like to know is will they try to find us and other passengers that got away in lifeboats or will they leave us be?"

CIARA: "I realize that none of us may know but if we felt confident about those answers what to do about the beacon becomes easier. The way I see it is that if we have a bad landing or we're in a dangerous location, the beacon may be our only hope. It may also lead to our death if the pirates come hunting us down. Maybe we disable it and hope that our skills and resources will allow us to find our way to safety?"

CIARA: "Well, what do the rest of you think?"

JIM JITSU: Jim answers Ciara, "I dont know the answers but I do know that at least two members of the crew were in on it, Chon and the 3rd mate. To me that doesn't seem like there were after a random ship but rather something specific and when I used Chon's com disguising my voice the 3rd mate said, "You have your orders." That implies a plan of some sort and may have just been their tactical plan for taking the ship. It just seems like a lot of effort to infiltrate the crew."

ALYSON: She asks,"Anyway he can see the ship from here? Or did blow up. If it did explode will it's cargo pods crash land on planet?"

ENSIGN FURY: "I'm no expert on piracy," he says to Ciara, "but it could any and all of the above. Piracy of the cargo, kidnapping and eventual ransom of prisoners, taking the ship for their own use, to break down and sell or to sell whole." He shrugs and says, "how many other passengers managed to flee in lifeboats and how far the pirates will go to hunt them down I couldn't guess but agree that we should turn off the transponder and EPIRB."

ENSIGN FURY: "You also asked about whether the UPF outpost on Volturnus would mount a rescue. My understanding is that it is a small outpost. The new personal arriving on the Serena Dawn would have vastly increased the size of the outpost. My guess is that they simply do not have the resources to mount a rescue. A better question is whether the pirates are aware of the outpost. Since, as Jim mentioned, members of the crew of the Serena Dawn were involved in the pirating, I have to assume they are aware of the outpost. The outpost is certainly equipped with a subspace radio and will report when we don't show up..." George pauses as a new thought occurs to him and then goes on, "unless the pirates have taken over the outpost and are sending daily updates saying that all is well." George looks thoughtful as the last idea occurs to him and then adds, "way too many unknowns at this point."

ENSIGN FURY: George doesn't really know how to answer Alyson's question. Certainly there were explosions on the ship as they were leaving but whether that meant that the entire ship would blow or that it was sustaining significant damage that might be lethal for the crew but not necessarily the ship, George doesn't know so he leaves her question unanswered.

MYKEL: “If the pirates found what they were looking for, we’ll never see them again – unfortunately, based on their reaction to missing the lifeboat, I’d guess that they didn’t find whatever they were looking for. They’re probably either landing on the surface like us or they’ll be searching the surface. Maybe both. Would be nice to report the piracy, but at this point I think stealth is safety.”

Hide details for Specific Character Information