~ On the Bridge ~

Beto seemed to melt after the Countess's speech.
"Oh Daphne, you remind me so much of my daughter Gemmie... I wish some day you will meet, you'll surely get along together!

Pulling herself together, the commander grabbed the headphone of the comms and said with greed : "Of course I'm gonna call those idiots at the TSA. I'll drill them a second a**hole!"

"TSA, this is Commander Beto Arark (retired)...". She added her (military) service number, diplomas, time spent teaching astrogation at the Naval Space Academy on Vadada, participation in space battles, medals, mentioned "The Arark manoeuvre", and went to the point:

"When a pretty girl is on the sidewalk behind you, going in the same direction as you, this does not mean she's going to your room... -"

(ENTHUSIASTIC VOICE INTERRUPTING)"- Old Lady's Hope, we're informing you that with our updated sensors data, we refined our calculations and your ship should avoid a collision with Tanar by a range of 34,000 km at the closest point."

Beto gestured and mouthed "SEE, I TOLD YOU!"

"We're also sending a rescue ship your way. Meanwhile, tell your manoeuvre drive engineer - if you have one - to find as much remaining power as possible to feed the M-drives.

More instructions to follow."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:42, Sat 16 Sept 2023.

~ in the corridor area ~

Dorabue was confused by the doctor's fast-talk. "Whataryou t-trying to do? Numb me? Gettout of my way to the bridge!".

Easily holding the shotgun in zero-G in one hand, he used his other hand and legs to push himself.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:03, Sat 16 Sept 2023.

Once more, Dr. Trask gave a confused look to all present. Rather unsure of his ability to add anything cogent to the discussion, he remained silent.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:58, Sun 17 Sept 2023.

~ in the corridor area ~

Khor'ruhn had been idly thinking of home as he deftly maneuvered along when he felt an almost nostalgic flush of adrenaline as his subconscious mind recognized the silhouette of the stubby weapon. His limbs grew light and a sort of nausea washed over him as he stitched the man's posture and words together over the next few seconds.

It would be unfair to say that the Vargr had grown complacent during his time aboard the Old Ladies Hope, but he certainly had not expected an insurrection from the passengers or an attempted ship jacking, yet here he was in nothing but his ships uniform faced with the prospect of both.

As he saw things, he had two options. Try to make for the ships armory , acquire a better weapon, then return to the Bridge under the assumption that the man would make good on his threats, or take advantage of the fact that he was not obviously armed to try to prevent the take over in the first place, armed with only the inferior snub pistol he kept discreetly holstered with his dat to day wear.

In that fraction of a second he decided that he could not in good conscious allow an armed man onto the bridge, whatever the cost. All aboard were in enough danger as things stood.

Taking advantage of the close confines of the ship and the fact that they were in a narrow corridor, he silently  pushed off with as much force as he could muster on an intercept trajectory, hoping that he could take Dorabue by surprise.

He deftly drew the pistol and rapidly closed the distance with the front sight rapidly growing larger upon the man's chest.

21:16, Today: Khor'ruhn rolled 13 using 2d6+5.  Athletics: Dexterity.

23:17, Today: Khor'ruhn rolled 8 using 2d6+6.  Gun Combat, Slug, Snub Pistol.


This message was last edited by the player at 04:17, Mon 18 Sept 2023.

~ in the corridor area ~

[OOC Khor'ruhn, I'm referring to the thread "D. Game Rules". :) It says you can do one major action (e.g. attack) and one minor. What KR does is: draw his weapon (minor), move (another minor), fire (major). However, I consider KR drew his weapon at the end of the previous round, when he let Dorabue zero-g swim closer :)]

Khor'ruhn knew the snub pistol had a range of only 5 meters, so he pushed himself "up", jumped over Trask, barrel-roled on the ceiling, regained his footing to jump again, and arrive, upside down, close to Dorabue. Very close. 2 meters. Melee Range, the Vargr thought. Maybe close enough to soon be able to both fire his pistol and give a punch or grab the sub-machine gun or knock the weapon aside? [Next round. I allow dual attacks, but DM-2 to both actions. Your choice ;)].

How difficult was it to shoot and hit a person floating in a corridor? It was as easy for the ex-policeman as when he was training at the shooting gallery, in his lane.

The first bullet of the snub pistol's six hit Dorabue in the torso. The executive was twice surprised: at one moment he saw only Trask, and the next some... wolf? ... was charging from the ceiling at him, upside down!
And then he felt a pain...

[How huge a pain? Roll 3D-3 for damage! ;)]

~ elsewhere ~
In the silence of the ship, everybody heard a loud BANG! Especially those 8 meters away, on the bridge.

[Also, what his Trask doing ? He's 3 meters behind KR now]
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:20, Tue 19 Sept 2023.

Nicodemus sighs, "that's going to be really messy."
He starts to clomp towards Dorabue as he pulls a pressure bandage from his kit. "Bandage fast! Blood gets everywhere in zero g..."
The doctor shudders slightly and mumbles "don't ask how I know."

Years and years of fighting wars left no room for any doubt: a pistol had just been shot. Inside a space vessel. He truly hoped there would be no further damage to the ship, they had enough trouble on their hands already.
Quickly Jared pushed himself off to make speed for the fight.

---

rolled 10 using 2d6+1.  Athletics (DEX)/+2/-1.

Less swift to move than Carmichael, Baris fell back on training, closing and securing the bridge after the man had slipped through. He turned to those who remained, noting the preponderance of ex-Navy personal. He said nothing, they knew the drill

Anzha listened to the commotion out in the corridor and decided to secure the door to her computer closet and look for a weapon.  It is then she realized she has almost nothing with her and regretted jumping out without even dressing.

Round 1


[OOC: damage of the snub pistol : GM RegisP, on behalf of Khor'ruhn, rolled 7 using 3d6-3.  Dorabue loses 7 Endurance points. 1 point Left. DM-2 for END tasks.]

Dorabue felt a huge pain that sobered him up immediately. No more discourses about saving the planet: the executive had to save himself for the enraged beast that attacked him (Khor'ruhn). He reflexively triggered the gun...

[But first, since the sub-machine gun does not have the Zero-G trait, he must make an Average (8+) Athletics  (dexterity) check or not only automatically miss their target but start to spin helplessly out of control. The circumstances being unfavorable for him (it's an understatement), I'll apply a bane.

Drinn Dorabue, rolled 2 using 3d6, dropping the highest dice only ((1,3,1)).
That's a -6 failure...]

...and before firing back, Dorabue decided to take support on the partition on his left side. His movement was a blunder, he began to roll over and fired a burst of three bullets on the opposite wall - BA-TA-TA !! - missing the proverbial target at a distance of 2 meters in the corridor. [EDIT: I forgot it was dark. He has a good excuse. He really did not recognize "the monster falling from above"]

The executive couldn't cope with the recoil of the weapon, whose butt punched him on the chin and knocked him out. By a physical mechanism of kinetic energy transfer, the gun went one way and the flabby body went the other way, banging on the walls and the ceiling and the floor and eventually on the partition at the end of the corridor, leaving a trail of blood.



An incredulous Khor-rhun followed the seemingly unconscious body, pushing himself with his legs; both his hands were holding on his snub pistol, as the police regulations demanded.

Jared Charmichael lands on the wall of the corridor, [OOC: with which weapon, trooper? Blade ? Autopistol ? Laser pistol? Not Advanced combat rifle ?! ;)] behind Dr Trask. However, with the darkness and the people before him, he has trouble understanding what is happening, even if he hears the shots...
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:05, Thu 21 Sept 2023.

Dr. Trask attempted to run to Dorabue. The efforts of someone trying to run in magnetic boots had been used to great comedic effect in many an entertaining tri-d, but the doctor attempted anyway as he bellowed "CATCH THAT FLOATING BIOHAZARD!"

Completely ignoring the efforts of anyone attempting to corral the blood spheres floating in zero G, the doctor grabbed Dorabue's hands and raised them above the hapless executive's head. Taping the wrist's together he secured the hands to the wall. Then the doctor slipped off one of his magnetic boots and put it on Dorabue, sticking his foot to the deck. Into his medikit, the doctor plunged both hands. The left came out first with a hypo that plunged immediately into Dorabue's shoulder before being returned to the kit. At almost the same time the right hand emerged with some sort of probe which the doctor proceeded to insert into the wound on the executive's chest. As the doctor's left hand emerged from the medkit with some sort of tube, the doctor stared intently at the end of the probe still exterior to Dorabue's body. "This blood is getting in the way," he mumbled before he used the tube, apparently some sort of laser, in short bursts around the probe.

Satisfied momentarily, the doctor withdrew the probe while applying a few more short bursts with the laser. After the probe came out, the bullet snugly stuck to the end of the probe, the doctor returned the laser and probe to the medkit. Nicodemus applied standard bandaging to his patient before he removed the magnetic boot from Dorabue's foot. He put the boot back on, and turned to Dorabue's secretary. "As soon as we can, he needs to be placed in some sort of berth. If he's still in this position when the gravity returns, it'll undo all the work I've done. I've given him a panacea, and I tend to keep my instruments sterile, but to fully recover he'll need at least a day in a full medical facility with slow drug."
The doctor then collected all the blood or blood-stained cloth for disposal, as if nothing untoward had occurred.

---

20:25, Today: Nicodemus Trask rolled 14 using 2d6+9.  FIrst Aid on Dorabue.
20:20, Today: Nicodemus Trask rolled 2 using 1d6.  minutes to treat the gunshot wound.
Dr. Trask's treatment restore six endurance points to the patient.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:50, Fri 22 Sept 2023.

The dust settled, so to say; even if in Zero-G the dust and the gunpowder stayed in the air, unfiltered by the life support system in "absolute saving mode".

Kor'ruhn and Charmichael reported how the incident ended to the bridge, via the intercom and CCTV, behind the bridge's closed door.

~ On the Bridge ~

"We must take the other passengers into consideration now. We need to reassure them that we won't crash on the planet and that rescue is on the way - UGH! I wish we had a true Steward to take care of them!", she grumbled.

She glanced at the Countess - who was busy and focused. She looked at Yuri, who was impatient to do his magic on the M-drives.

"Kor and Jared, patrol the passengers' cabins please. Start by the middle-passenger one just out by the bridge. We must know if some other lunatic is about to burst. Ask if they own weapons, in a convincing way. Jared, please arm yourself!".

Once the patrolmen had cleared the ex-captain day room, the old lady opened the door and hoped the passengers wouldn't yield to panic mode.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:03, Fri 22 Sept 2023.

Baris nodded, called the doctor on his direct line and asked courteously "If you're able to see to them, Dr Trask; perhaps see if someone can help provide them with tea.. Last thing we need is the passengers becoming distraught"

Yuri simply nodded to the captain and headed for engineering, pulling himself along. Hopefully, in the engineering section he would bypass any crazy armed passenger or at least be out of the way if things went south as they say.

When he made it to engineering, he quickly went to work, assuring the maneuvering drive had access to the remaining ships batteries and was in as best possible condition for whatever maneuvers were to be executed eventually. He left the raft and lowberths energy alone for the moment.

~ In the engineering area ~

OOC: Engineer M-Drive when needed.
Yuri Argonov rolled 15 using 2d6+3.  Engineering M-Drive +1 (+2 from Carmichael).
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:04, Fri 22 Sept 2023.

Jared went to his cabin and took both blade and autopistol. The latter truly just for intimidation. He would not use it.
Once armed he rejoined with the grizzled veteran and indicated his readiness with just a nod.

Once the all-clear was given Anzha exited the computer closet and returned to the cabin she shared with Beto and Daphne to dress and arm herself.  Once fully dressed and kitted, she returned to the computer closet to see if there was anything else she can do to help.  Upon seeing the injured passenger, she addresses Dr. Trask.  "Doctor, I'm trained as a registered nurse as well, I can stay with the passenger until we land and make sure he doesn't worsen,"she offers.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:02, Sat 23 Sept 2023.

~ half-paw patrol ~

Deck 2:
- middle-class cabin, next to the bridge, close to the fight: a greyed-hair woman, seen for the first time without her sun-glasses. She heard all the shots and commotion. She had to be persuaded to open her cabin's door, and undo the barricade behind (an achievement in zero-G). Unarmed.

Deck 1:
- low-passage cabin: as could be expected from a female who was ruling over three men, Jeane owned a body pistol. The "patrol" allowed her to keep it. Nobody seemed traumatized - as John mentioned: "Jeane protect us, always."

- middle-class cabin: a couple in their honeymoon. They swear it's their worse travel experience, that they'll never fly on the OLH again, or even fly into space. Unarmed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:35, Tue 26 Sept 2023.

Nicodemus sounds relieved as he responds to Anzha, "I would appreciate that. I'm going to put him in the infirmary. There's little chance of his condition worsening as he'll be restrained and therefore unable to further abuse whatever substances pushed him into his previous psychotic state."
Calling Baris back, Dr. Trask continues speaking to both parties. "As soon as I get Dorabue settled, I plan to make the rounds of the other passengers to assess their states. Being exposed to severe trauma can be a trauma in its own right, we wouldn't want the Old Lady's Hope to be a bad memory to share with other potential passengers."

“Excellent thought, Doctor”, offered the Captain, “Assuming no further complications, if you could prepare a statement. I will be laying charges of hijacking with the port authorities once we have settled”
This message was last edited by the player at 05:30, Sun 24 Sept 2023.

[OOC most of what I'm writing here comes from a private message by Sven Glanz. He should be credited with having done a lot of calculations regarding what the best method was to save your PCs little a**es on a ship in distress ;))
So, new msg#66]

~ on the bridge ~

Baris, Beto and Daphne cheered and high-fived when they saw the levels of M-Drive power rise to unexpected heights.

Unsurprisingly, a ship with power failure, - though uncommon -, was an event the Tanar Space Authority was prepared for. A new, older, more confident voice on the radio explained what was going to happen.

(VOICE): "Now that we determined your trajectory around Tanar and made new calculations, we advise you to use the M-Drives to decelerate as soon as you can, and give more time to the Pride of Tanar - who is right now accelerating towards you and positioning on your trajectory.

You shall reverse a neat 180° and use your M-drive to reduce your speed WHILE staying on the same course.

The Pride of Tanar may cross you, then stop at zero speed then reverse and go to your direction

Don't use all your M-drive power, say use 98%. When the Spaceguards ship will have joined you in speed and direction, things will get tricky for the very last 100 meters to 50 meters when adjusting our respective positions.

We do not want our big solid ship to collide with your merchant ship; the exchange of kinetic energy will be in your disadvantage, so use your last M-Drive thrust power for a delicate approach.

Once both ships are less than 50 meters away, the 'Pride catches you with grapples and claws, grabs strongly on you, and links the ships with an energy cable to feed you power. Then, you'll be piggybacked to the Starport. Please repeat the procedure to me and express any remarks."
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:25, Tue 26 Sept 2023.

Daphne Arslan activated the intercom.
[COMM'S SHIP] "This is..." - she hesitated between her titles. All passengers knew her as "Countess Arslan" so far.
"...your pilot Lieutenant Arslan speaking.
You'll be relieved to know that a rescue spaceguards ship is coming at us. We shall use most of the energy obtained by keeping you in the dark to reduce our speed to meet the Pride of Tanar.

The ship will "brake".

As you have doubtlessly noticed, the artificial gravity is not powered anymore, but our deceleration will create another gravity for a few minutes...
For those who have cabins with portholes at the bow of the ship, they shall become the new ceiling. The opposite side will be the new floor.
I will decelerate gradually to 1G so you'll get used to the new gravity side.

Beware of falling objects.

When the accel... (arrh!)... deceleration is finished, you shall experience weightlessness again."

Activating the lateral thrusters, the pilot did a 180°. Standard manoeuvre. Another "puff" from the lateral thrusters to perfectly align the heading and the ship was going "backwards" on its trajectory.
[OOC in this TU, gravitic plates around the ship are NOT used for direction vectoring in space.]

[COMM'S SHIP] "Deceleration begins."

Daphne pushed gently on the lever. The back thrusters came to life and spit their pulse output. Everybody felt a force pushing them to the "back" wall. Gently at 0.01G at first, then they had no choice but roll or stand on the wall. The feeling was similar as if the ship had been placed vertically on it's reactors.
Objects slid and fell.

In their harnesses, Daphne and Beto felt hanged to their left side, their weigh on their right.

In the infirmary, the strapped Drin Dorabue was in a similar uncomfortable position, except he weighed on the straps on his left side. Anzha had moved on the wall, so he had the feeling of living in an engraving by M.C. Esher.

Now the pilot had to keep the thrust perfectly aligned, or the ship would start to rotate and their trajectory would change. Her hands seemed to caress the controls...

[Daphne rolls against a difficulty of 8, because the thrusters controls are manual. She's got +3 for Pilot, +1 for DEX.
GM RegisP, on behalf of Countess Daphne Arslan, rolled 12 using 2d6+4 ((3,5))]

Daphne dried her sweating hands on her thighs. So far, she used most of the M-Drive energy for decelerating, and very little to stay on the trajectory...

[OOC Arbitrarily deciding that the using 98% of the OLH's energy for M-Drive will allow it to decelarate at 1G for 2d6 minutes +/- 3 min/DM. Since Yuri and Daphne's successes brought +2 DMs each, the M-Drive decel will last 2d6+12 minutes.
GM RegisP rolled 20 using 2d6+12 ((6,2))]

"Good work, pilot", drawled the captain, watching the proceedings carefully. He believed in letting a capable crew be capable. Besides, he was too old to handle the work of two

Two hours passed, and the power inside the ship was next to nothing. Darkness reigned; the air had a stuffy odor. The oxygen gauge was in the orange section, and nearing the red section. It was getting cold.

The radio buzzed "Pride of Tanar, on approach, 1000 km". Yet, those who could see outside through portholes only perceived the distant specks of lights of indifferent stars.

[OOC How do you prepare for the rendezvous? especially the passengers? How do you cope with the lack of oxygen?]

Anzha sat by the injured passenger and meditated, regulating her breathing and maintaining an even, low-level of activity.  If necessary she was ready to enter a state of suspended animation, something she could do on her own as a survival technique.  But the rescue ship was coming and the injured man needed care, so she remained conscious and aware.  After the attempted hijacking she had dressed in her armored clothes and armed herself, but she really didn't think that was needed.