Microjump to Aekhotsroeg

Characters: All
NPC: All
Location: Miishakaal, at the gas giant, Aekhotsroeg
System: Ikhog

1126.10.6 - 9:22 Imperial Time, 9:22 Vilani Time

It's a nerve wracking two minutes in jump but the engines hold and nothing blows up so it's considered a win. The moment the ship exits jumpspace, Slade is all over the jump drive making sure that nothing broke and that the ship will be able to jump again.

Kagfak is at the sensors reading off the "all clear" signal with distance as data comes in. It looks like no one's here.

Despite there being 40 AU's between them and Ikhog, Gvarokh plays it cautious and holds off on the decel burn until he feels confident that it will be lost in the gas giant's infrared signal or hidden by the planet's bulk.

Gvarokh tells Kagfak to program the passive sensors to gather as much data about the gas giant's moons as possible.

As it's going to be at least 11 hours before they're in the gas giant's shadow, he orders the crew to divide in two watches: one for now and the other for later. The second group is ordered to sleep. Each group will consist on someone to man the pilot's chair, a turret, and monitor engineering. The other two can work on temporary interior patches.

First Group: Gvarokh, Slade, Simrii, Vlad, Dougok
Second Group: Kagfak, Chuck, Vincent, Lakir, Uengghae

Chuck makes the suggestion that four of the passengers be put into the low berths to save on life support resources. Gvarokh says that he will take it under advisement.

Gvarokh then heads up to the passenger deck to explain the situation and his plan to the prison refugees. Both captains agree that his plan is a good one and offer themselves and their crews to help out if he wants them.

"Do you have anyone that's good with a torch?"

Both captains answer, "Yes."

"Good. I'll have them each assigned to a welding team."

"While I have you here, would you tell me a little something about yourselves and your crews, particularly where you were captured?"

"Sure," they both say. Then the male says, "Ladies first."

She gives a polite nod. "Ok, then. I'm Su Daagudakur, captain of Ronni's Raven, a standard, type A free trader. Unfortunately she was lost at Envar. It wasn't bad enough the bastards took us and our cargo, they killed both of my gunners and sent Ronni's Raven adrift." She grits her teeth, obviously still upset. "As for the rest of my surviving crew, there's my pilot, Ki, Bill the engineer, and Khamu, my all around fix-it guy. I handled the trading and simple medical duties." She looks over at the other guy giving him his cue to introduce himself.

"I'm Michael Urshakekar, captain of the standard free trader Agile Agikhi. She was taken at Diiron and the Touzagh bastards sold her off. I want to get her back, but I don't know how and I can't afford any mercenaries like Sharurshid. I was the pilot. Gi is my sole surviving gunner. Her brother was the other and he was killed in the attack along with my trader. Dasha is my engineer and Fez my medic and mechanic."

Dougok's tail is wagging and his ears have perked up. He has overheard the conversation and comes over to ask a question. "How badly damaged was Ronni's Raven, Captain Daagudakur? If you have an idea of her vector when she was cast adrift it might be possible to recover her for repair or salvage."

She regards Dougok a moment before answering. "Bad enough. The jump drive was offline. Bill said that it was repairable with the right parts. It's been so long and it'll be longer stll before we can get back there. I'm not optimistic but I have to try."

Gvarokh asks, "By the way, are either of you familiar with either Dathsuts or Gengfok?"

Su shrugs. "Don't know either one."

Michael says, "Don't know Gengfok, but I passed through Dathsuts a couple of times before Ngath took over. I'd try to skip the staport if possible and hit the gas giant for refuelling."

"Why's that?"

"The place spooked my crew and the miners there were a bit creepy."

"Anything specific?"

"Afraid not. I think they were just underground for too long."

14:50 Imperial Time, 14:50 Vilani Time

End of first shift. Beginning of second shift. No incidents. Chuck starts inventory of damaged cargo.

20:20 Imperial Time, 20:20 Vilani Time

Gvarokh returns to the bridge to start the decel burn. Both shifts awake just in case. Temporary interior patches have been affixed to 10 of the 11 important holes (all but stateroom outside of bridge and the two damaged cargo locks).

21:50 Imperial Time, 21:50 Vilani Time

Decel burn complete. No incidents. Gvarokh looks over the sensor data and notes that there are only 15 moons. Each of them is a speck of rock with surface temperatures above 100°C! He uses the gas giant to slingshot around to a moon that will be in the gas giant's shadow the longest but whose face is always towards the gas giant thus further hiding EM interference.

22:20 Imperial Time, 22:20 Vilani Time

Miishakaal touches down in a crater to start external repairs. Working conditions in the shadow of the gas giant are what one would expect: -130°C. External repairs get under way, unfortunately you only have one welding kit so the process is going to be slow.

Cargo hold and Engineering are pressurized. The crew and the rescued prisoners not involved in patch detail, help move the cargo blocking the expansion of the fuel bladder.

Chuck provides a report on the damaged cargo: 1/2 ton of the non-perishable food was destroyed.

"That's it?" Gvarokh asks.

"That's it. Three of the four hits on our cargo hold were in empty space. The neighboring containers suffered some heat damage but didn't breach."

"Good!"

1126.10.7 - 13:30 Imperial Time, 5:30 Vilani Time

External hull repairs have been completed. Remnants of the destroyed cargo have been dumped out of the ship. The stateroom outside of the bridge is now pressurized. Naps have been taken so the crew is reasonably rested. Sensors did not pick up any patrols or other ships.

Characters: All
NPC: All
Location: Miishakaal, at the gas giant, Aekhotsroeg
System: Ikhog

1126.10.7 - 13:30 Imperial Time, 5:30 Vilani Time

External hull repairs have been completed. Remnants of the destroyed cargo have been dumped out of the ship. The stateroom outside of the bridge is now pressurized. Naps have been taken so the crew is reasonably rested. Sensors did not pick up any patrols or other ships.

Gvarokh announces ship-wide that they're taking off and headed in to the gas giant to skim for fuel.

14:40 Imperial Time, 6:40 Vilani Time

Gvarokh brings the ship in to skim. The repairs have held and Gvarokh's confidence in his crew's abilities is rewarded. The ship's fuel tanks and bladder fill up.

15:40 Imperial Time, 7:40 Vilani Time

Miishakaal exits the gas giant and heads out to the jump point but keeps the gas giant between her and Ikhog.

As there will be several hours before the ship is at safe jump distance, Gvarokh calls a meeting for the crew (and only the crew). He has the ship's computer project sensor readouts into the crew lounge so that if something comes up he can race back to the Bridge with little delay.

"I've called this meeting to discuss our status and hear what you have to say about our two route options.

"First off, good job on the repairs. We have a good chance to make it back to Vilani space.

"Second, our damaged jump drive means that we're going to be limited to one parsec jumps. No matter which route we take back, it means that not only will we be hopping through empty parsecs but it also means that we don't have enough life support supplies for the entire trip. If it was just us, there wouldn't be a problem. But because we have so many additional people on board, we only have enough to stretch our air and water supplies for two and a half weeks and it's a six week trip at minimum. If we find four volunteers to use the low berths we can stretch that to just over three weeks. Either way, we're going to need to stop somewhere.

"We can either go Gengfok to Deraan to Diiron or Dathsuts to Odinaga.

"There aren't any gas giants along the Gengfok route so we're going to have to stop at both worlds. We can only squeeze three jumps out of fuel tanks and the bladder.

"The Dathsuts route has gas giants but we'll still need to stop at the starport for life support supplies. One obvious problem with this route is that we came up this way. If the Touzagh were smart enough to raise an alert after we destroyed their base on Gamgilebo, then they'll be looking for us.

"The benefit of the Dathsuts route is that it means only one stop at a Confederation occupied world. The benefit of the Gengfok route is that they might not know about Gamgilebo yet."

Gvarokh addresses the three ex-corsairs. "Do any of you know anything about Gengfok or Deraan?"

Uengghae replies in his limited Galanglic, "Fuel lots of money."

Kagfak adds, "Sell cargo to pay fuel."

Dougok nods. "Neither world is popular with the Touzagh because the worlds wouldn't give a discount on fuel costs."

"And Dathsuts?"

All of them shrug.

Kagfak says, "Gas giant fuel."

Dougok adds, "There's nothing there. The mainworld sucks. No bars. Crappy food. Smelly humans." He pauses a moment, mulling over the two routes. "The Gengfok route is probably best due to the lower chance of meeting the Touzagh. Also it's indirect and perhaps less likely to be watched if anyone is watching."

Vincent disagrees, "I'd say the Dathsuts route. No worlds."

But Lakir agrees with Dougok. "I'm with Dougok on this one. His reasoning is solid."

Gvarokh cocks his from side-to-side to listen to what each crewmember has to say. When it seems like they've finished offering their opinions, he stands up straight and says, "We will go to Gengfok.

"I would prefer Dathsuts, but the complete lack of listed population and something Captain Urshakekar said severely bothers me. If the population is even only slightly addled, they could easily refuse to sell us the needed supplies and we would be completely screwed. If we just had to stop at the gas giant, then things would be different, but we have to hit the world itself. With Gengfok, I believe we will have better options to get the supplies we need. Plus, we should be able to get Dougok a vacc suit there."

Dougok wags his tail at that news.

"I want Lakir, Simrii, and Vlad to keep an eye on the passengers. I figure there is a low chance for a plant, but I also want to make sure that we can try to head off any problems before they happen. Nothing hostile or overt, but using your special soft-skills to see what is going on."

Vlad says, "Not me. These pinkies are gonna think they've been stolen by rival pirates not rescued. Chuck would be better."

Chuck replies, "Vlad's right. And I don't think any of them are a spy. These captains know their crews so it would have to be all four of them. Plus, they're all malnourished and dirty. I don't see anyone volunteering for that abuse. Seriously, why would you spy on your own prisoners. They were kept in an underground cell for Pete's sake. Those Touzagh were so confident their prisoners couldn't do anything that they put their friggin' armory down the hall from them!

"What they need is a shower and food, not us looking over their shoulder."

Gvarokh pauses for a few moments and then replies, “Excellent points. Sometimes I guess I just get too paranoid. Chuck, please help them to cycle through the showers so that they can get cleaned up and hopefully feel better about things.”

Chuck is pleased with Gvarokh's response and it shows in his voice. "Will do, Captain."

Towards the end of the meeting, Dougok speaks up, "This isn't the time for it, but after listening to Captain Daagudakur, I was thinking about a potential job. I'm not sure whether it is worth chasing down the idea of helping to salvage her derelict merchant ship. The J drive repairs alone will likely be damn expensive and the crew may not be able to afford them without outside financing. Just something to consider."

Gvarokh says, “That is something we can definitely keep in mind when we get back to Vilani space, but right now there isn’t much we can do about things like that, so let’s keep focused on getting back there.

With the meeting concluded, Gvarokh sets out to talk with the other captains.

Character: Gvarokh
NPC: Su Daagudakur and Michael Urshakekar
Location: Miishakaal, at the gas giant, Aekhotsroeg
System: Ikhog

1126.10.7 - 16:45 Imperial Time, 8:45 Vilani Time

While the ship continues to climb out of Aekhotsroeg's gravity well, and with the meeting concluded, Gvarokh sets out to talk with the rescued captains.

Chuck has gone along with him to organize showers for the passengers. Gvarokh pulls the two captains aside into an empty stateroom.

Gvarokh explains the life support situation and planned route to them and they nod in understanding. They offer to take turns in the low berths. Gvarokh informs them that he has only enough materials for one low berth cycle. Su says, "Well my crew will go. If you get the supplies and Michael wants to trade places, then thaw us out. Otherwise just leave us in until we get back home. I think I'd rather take my chances with the ice than go stir crazy on the trip. No offense, Captain."

Gvarokh thanks her for understanding their predicament and volunteering.

"Just let us each have a shower and a meal first."

"No problem."

After the discussion, they pop out of the empty stateroom and join Chuck and the captains' crews. Gvarokh takes captain Daagudakur to Chuck and says that she and her crew should be given priority in the showers and that they have volunteered to enter the low berths for the duration of the trip. "Please work with them to get them prepped and ready."

Before he takes his leave, Gvarokh thanks Captain Daagudakur again for her willingness to volunteer and to please let him know if there is anything else they need prior to going into the low berths.

"Thank you, Captain, for all that you have done for us."

Gvarokh returns to the Bridge to monitor the rest of the trip out to the jump point.

Characters: All
NPC: All
Location: Miishakaal, at the gas giant, Aekhotsroeg
System: Ikhog

1126.10.7 - 17:15 Imperial Time, 9:15 Vilani Time

Gvarokh returns to the bridge to oversee the rest of the trip out of the gravity well.

19:15 Imperial Time, 11:15 Vilani Time

Since Gengfok is only a size 5 world, Gvarokh kills the thrusters and has the ship coast the rest of the way to the jump point.

Chuck reports that Captain Su Daagudakur and her crew have finished cleaning up. He'll now begin putting them into the low berths.

20:15 Imperial Time, 12:15 Vilani Time

Chuck reports that Captain Su Daagudakur and her crew have been placed in low berths. Gvarokh thanks him for handling the passengers and getting them into the low berths and commends him for doing it so well.

22:30 Imperial Time, 14:30 Vilani Time

Gvarokh alerts the crew and passengers that they're going to jump.

The jump drive is engaged without a hitch. Miishakaal and its crew and passengers are finally out of the Ikhog system.

Next: Arrival at Gengfok