The Dead Ship - Chapter 4
This months account was mostly written by Carl (Fig Newton) who's notes were way better than mine.
Continued from The Dead Ship - Chapter 3
Location: Outer Gas Giant in the Querion System, Querion Subsector.
Imperial Date: 081-1100
1000 hours ship's time.
Just back from the first walkabout on the ship, learning that the
small pieces of the crystal found on the wreck expanded like popcorn on
steroids due either to pressure, temperature or atmosphere, we are
unsure at this time.
Things we have to consider:
1. Getting fighters out of the Haunting Thunder and onto the Skylark
2. What to do about the folks in cryo storage aboard the Thunder
3. Whether or not, and how to take a crystal sample back
4. The trip back, damaged as we are
5. The delivery or, possibly, deliveries
Fig, Kipenzi and Leon rest up from the excursion (Those suits are
HEAVY in this gravity) and by dinner everyone is pretty well up to date
news-wise.
1700 or so.
Medicus knows of
instances in which cryo stored people have been revived successfully
after 50+ years, but it takes sophisticated equipment that we do not
have. The minimal life-sustaining gear can be taken out of the cold
storage unit in a pinch, and transported to a proper facility.
2100
Equipped with winch, cables, all 4 lifter units, and cutting equipment
the Fig, Kipenzi and Leon head back down. This time we are also taking
two comm relays to allow us decent communications with the Skylark
while inside the Haunting Thunder. While we checked out the primary
elevators on the first trip, there are also 4 shafts that are used for
deck to deck travel which might be suitable for us, if the lifter will
fit. Gotta be better than going up and down ladders in those VACC
suits.
Tethering the air/raft so it does not wander off
and all three of us go inside this time. This time the local fauna(?)
are a bit more inquisitive, and after a couple shines with the IR light
being ineffective we set down a flare to keep them away. With no idea
of what they are, and not being inclined to experiment (at least for
now) we want to keep a decent distance between us and them.
Oh frabjuous day, the first shaft we open up is clear as far as we can
see, and the lifter is just the right size for three of us to stand
on, and it fits well enough. Down we go. There are doors that can be
opened onto each deck, but with the flight deck as our primary concern
we just float down. At 41 there is an obstruction - some equipment
slammed into the door, wedging into the shaft. Leon is able to clear the
obstruction with help from Kipenzi, and we get a little look into one
of the Upper Power Plant Decks. We also can hear a SPLASH when the
obstructing door falls, and on deck 41 we see more of the local fauna -
may as well call them like we see them, Space Herpies for now.
Getting down to the flight deck - 69 - There is shiny black wetness
just below this, consistent with the level the ship is floating in the
planet's fluid 'seas' - we work the door open and hear a WHOOSH as the
gas giant atmosphere gets into the flight deck for the first time.
After a brief sigh of relief that no one has been here before us, a
little call back to reality comes in the form of warning lights on the
VACC suits. The warning is about the mixture of deck gasses and planet
gasses being potentially hazardous (explosive with the proper
incentive) so BACK UP WE GO...
About deck 65 the VACC suit lights go out, so at least we can smile a little bit as we wait
But in the meantime...
Going up we are blocked off at about deck 15 by wreckage in the shaft.
The little we were able to learn about this ship class included a basic deck layout, at least enough to get us in the direction of crew quarters. Deck 17 - we think this would be the running bridge area, a good candidate for information and possibly some additional means to break even or even show a slight profit after repairs. Back in the ship, Sam always has at least one eye on the bottom line and with good comm we can pick the best stuff of what we find.
The WHOOSH of atmosphere when we open the shaft door is familiar, but the air here is not explosive and the suit readings stay fine. The indication is low Oxygen and high Nitrogen plus the local gases.
Out onto the deck with the lifter, and closing the shaft door behind us, we check out the rooms. Briefing rooms, quarters for Captain Michelle Shalken and some associated crew, several frozen bodies, and a bridge with adjacent galley are the notable features, but we also find some 'goodies'
Most potentially significant is a small computer in the Captain's quarters, and we all hope this will shed some additional light on what is where in the ship. The information may be salvageable after a slow warmup and some good luck. We are pretty sure that someplace on the ship there was a purser's office that may hold a good chunk of money, and there is always hope of finding that.
A small guard area has several rifles and pistols, perhaps worth as much as 100,000 Cr, according to Sam, and we recover the Captain's dress sword and pistol as well.
All the goodies are stashed by the shaft door for later retrieval
It looks like several of the crew survived the crash and tried to tend the wounded, but crashes being what they are... now just frozen bodies in suits remain.
Leon, Fig and Kipenzi find the bridge strewn with frozen corpses. Note: Kipenzi is wearing a helmet, it just doesn't show in the picture. :-)
There is one very interesting room, locked beyond our ability to open at this point, but a definite lure for a return visit with better equipment.
Deck 16 is our next intended stop, but when Leon opens the shaft door he gets the first up close and personal contact (literal as well as figurative) with one of the Space Herpies. They are apparently similar to octopi, and part of one squished through the initial opening and attached to his VACC suit. A quick (not to say panicked) response with the IR light and it backed off, but Leon was hurt from the intense cold that happened when heat from his suit was sucked off. Clearly the herpies are very conductive thermally, and we best stay well away from them from here on out.
With an injury and possible suit damage, we head down and out, back to the ship with only the Captain's computer as loot on this trip.
Back at the ship by about 2300 ship's time, we get unsuited and
Medicus deals as best he can with Leon's damage, taking care of some of
it at least, and we check out the suit carefully. Fortunately it is
intact and good to go the next time around.
Leon had a bad case of frostbite on his chest and upper abdomen, it should take a week or two to heal with medical treatment - Terry
Medicus examines the 'goop' that remained on the suit, but with the limited facilities we have cannot make any sense of it.
082-1100 1200 hrs ship time
After a good rest and some much needed food, the away team load up and head out. Down the shaft, going slow and monitoring the suit readouts, we are able to get out with some confidence on deck 69. Initially we can see the remains of four(4) fighters in a pile of rubble on one side of the deck, as we float over to the exterior door to let the level 'air out' more completely. Leon stays with an IR light to fend off the denizens of the deep - sure don't need any of them in here - while Kipenzi and Fig float about checking out the whole deck area.
Lo and behold, there are two (2) fighters hanging by their nose on the track used to transport them to launch. Both have some visible damage but two is two!! The track is usable manually so the fighters can be pulled around to near the outer door. Better yet is the presence of a 15 ton lifter. We brought 4 lifters that do 5 tons each, but in this gravity they would not be enough to move the fighters, so it is a real good thing that this one is here and that it runs on the same batteries as our 4. Enough spares in the ship stores to use the big one.
The iris valves in the 'ceiling' of the deck are openable, but a slight trial reminds us that the shafts are full of goop, and we leave them alone for now. Possibly we can check later to see if any more fighters are in the tube, but for now getting the two we can see will be the priority.
______________________________________________________________________
Seems a long time since we started out, late last year, and we have all come a long way
Fig made it through psycho-tuning for his long ago blackout
Medicus is similarly overcoming issues, his with past outlaw behavior
Leon doesn't talk much, but seems to be adjusting well to low brow society
Sam is just happy he doesn't have to do timeshare sales any more
Kipenzi still exercises, but those pole dancing days are long gone
Comments, corrections, additions are welcome
All errors are due to other people yammering when I tried to write, all correct recollections are my own sterling good notes.
or....not
Continued in Chapter 5
Carl, your notes were excellent. I just made a few clarifications and some minor formatting changes. - Terry
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