One Crowded Hour – Part 2

On board the liner Duchess Selene, things continue to go from bad to worse.

This chapter is based on Carl and Kay‘s notes from our June 13, 2021 session. Since we are scattered around the country, we use Discord for voice communications and the Roll20 online virtual tabletop to connect with each other.  The picture of the surface of Ambre was rendered in Unity, with the models created in Sketchup and Blender.

Continued from: One Crowded Hour – Part 1

Location: On board the Duchess Selene in the Maitz system, Mora Subsector.

Date: 012-1110

First Officer Andrea Tarkei was with us by the ship’s locker when she got a desperate call from Chief Steward Kim Feldermann in the dining room. She says, “They are taking over!”

Andrea asked for volunteers to back her up, and Jaime asked to get his gun out of the locker, and she turned him down. “No guns”, she says.

Mvita, Jaime and Anders went with her. Anders picked up a heavy tool he had been using in the boat bay and the First Officer didn’t object.

Shesa and Chrysa stayed in the launch bay and continued working on freeing the hatch.

There was an ugly scene in the dining room. A passenger revolt was in the making, led by Granzh, May and Keven. The Head Chef, Janice Collins, had joined the passengers and had a meat cleaver, others were armed with makeshift clubs and kitchen utensils.

Accusations fly that favorite passengers are being taken to the launch under the guise of assisting. Andrea doesn’t use her sidearm, but implies that she will if she needs to.

There was chaos as the passengers kept arguing among themselves as well as blustering, threatening, harassing and making demands of the increasingly frightened stewards.
 
We needed to do something before someone got hurt. Mvita and Anders were able to get things calmed down and talked the crowd into cooperating, and defused the situation, at least for a while.

With luck, it would stay calm.

Mvita picked up a knife from the pile of kitchen utensils sitting on the bar in case she needed it later.
Back in the launch bay, Shesa and Chrysa freed the cover hatch for the launch. It should be able to be opened unless it gets hit by another big rock.

Once we knew the launch could be launched, we started talking about who should be on board. The launch can carry 2 crew and 10 passengers. The launch doesn’t have room for everyone, so some will stay behind. Captain Warner has the final say, but everyone has input.

Just about everyone agrees that the badly injured and the Vargr pups and their mother should go.

We got a garbled call for help from outside.  There was a crew outside trying to get the comm working when the collision took out the bridge and now they were in trouble.

They wanted to find out what happened and needed help to get the crew back inside.

They asked for two volunteers, but only Shesa stepped forward, saying that she could use a vacc suit and had experience working on the outside of a ship.

Shesa dressed in one of the Rescue Suits in the airlock locker. This was a heavy-duty suit with a range of rescue tools, line attachments and other emergence equipment. She also picked up a crowbar from the locker in case she needed it. Once suited up, she stepped outside.

It was like a hurricane outside; we were passing through a gas giant’s ring at high speed; dust and fragments of rock moving past the ship limited visibility to less than a dozen meters.

She found Silven next to an open panel.  Her arm was broken and her suit had been torn. Silven had patched her suit, but needed help getting back to the airlock. She said that Eugenie and Karghazz were hit and dragged the length of the hull and were hanging on near the aft stabilizers. She also said that they had fixed the comm links and it is now possible to con the ship from the bridge.

Oh, NOPE, bridge was gone, destroyed in the collision. Fortunately there was an option in an auxiliary area, and the captain was heading that way.

Back in the launch bay, Jaime started prechecking the launch and preparing for takeoff.

With a few stumbles and false starts, Shesa helped Silven back to the airlock and inside the ship.  
Mvita stabilized Silven's arm while Shesa called for the ship’s doctor. She relayed to Andrea what Silven had told her about the comm link being fixed.

Hargz arrived a few minutes later and took care of Silven, saying, “Not bad”, when he saw Mvita’s first aid.

Shesa went out the airlock and headed for the aft stabilizer, ducking debris. Once back there, she found Eugenie and Karghazz.

Chief Engineer Karghazz Sezrhk was dead; he was struck in the back of the head by a fragment of debris, all but decapitating him. Eugenie was clinging to an antenna near an aft stabilizer. Her other arm was wrapped around Karghazz’ corpse in a death-grip.

Shesa persuaded Eugenie to let go of Karghazz and go back.

About halfway back, Shesa had a very near miss as a chunk of debris came way too close, later she was struck by small debris, but didn’t lose her grip. It took a total of six minutes to get back.

Once inside Hargz checked out Eugenie, dealing with Eugenie's shock and confusion as Captain Warner explained what he wanted to do next.

It was only 46 minutes after emergence from jump space.

The captain had a plan... an emergency console in engineering could be used to con the ship, and if any passengers could handle the other duties so much the better. He needed any pilots and engineers from among the passengers.

Ahead of us was a moon that might be within reach.

Anders said he knew electronics and could help in engineering. Mvita said that she was a passable mechanic and could help some and Shesa had worked as a starship pilot.

We had just cleared the ring and were still moving too fast, we needed to slow down.

The door to the boat bay had been freed up by then, enabling launching the launch.

First Officer Andrea Tarkei would be piloting the launch. Jaime said that he had small craft piloting experience and could co-pilot. After interrogating him, she was dubious, but accepted his help since there was no one else.

The Captain said that the pups, their mother and the badly injured would be first on the launch.  The rest would be selected at random by Andrea.

Aboard the launch would be:
•    Andrea Tarkei – Pilot
•    Jaime Karweiden – Co-pilot
•    Linvargh Jen’Gourrh and her pups, Gargh and Jazgh. (Only the mother would be taking up a seat, the pups would be in rescue balls.)
•    Ray Jarness – Injured low passenger
•    Talia Avange – The 2nd surviving low passenger
•    Medical Officer Hargz Enver – Our doctor
•    Helen Montmorency – Almost wasn’t selected, but Shesa convinced the Captain that the launch would need an engineer and she had been the one who had figured out how to fix the launch door.
 
The rest of the passengers were selected by lot:

•    Orlando Iovine - the real estate tycoon that got along with everyone except Granzh.
•    Alex Vander-Ilmarsii – The noble who had sided with the mutineers, and was skeptical of the Captain’s plan until he was selected for the launch.
•    Silven Uutami – A crewmember who’s broken arm wasn’t a serious enough injury for her to be counted among the injured but got to go when her name was drawn.
•    May Cambra Slein – A passenger that stayed in her cabin after an initial panic.
•    Asya Imasha – The politician who was the first to get ill as we came out of jump space.
•    Granzh Jen’Gourrh – The Vargr leader of the mutineers, but now supporter of the first officer.
 
Everyone else was told to go to the nearest stateroom and strap down and prepare for a rough landing.

In engineering, the captain disabled the safeties on the maneuver drive and gave it everything it had.

With four minutes to impact, the ship had slowed enough that the engines on the launch could keep it from hitting the moon at high speed. LAUNCH HO!

The launch bay door fell away as the launch cleared the ship. All fingers were crossed as Andrea gunned the engines to their maximum of 1G.

Jaime sent a Signal GK (distress call) using the launch’s comm.

Three minutes to impact and Shesa reported that the maneuver drive and power plant were running hot.
Suddenly a line failed and there was a coolant leak with hot steam filling the engineering compartment, burning everyone but Shesa, who was still wearing the rescue suit. The rescue suit was better insulated than either the Captain’s regular space suit or the soft suits that Mvita and Anders are wearing.

   

Two minutes to impact - Mvita and Anders left engineering as they were being burned by the hot vapor filling the engineering compartment, and were no longer able to help. They got to nearby passenger compartments and strapped themselves in.

At this point, Shesa’s control station failed; she started working on fixing it.

One minute to impact, the Captain lined up the ship on a relatively flat area ahead as the ship plunged tail first toward the moon.

Shesa got her station back up and started assisting the landing process when a second pipe broke.

________________________________________

THE DUCHESS SELENE CAME TO REST JUST 1 HOUR, 2 MINUTES AND 23 SECONDS AFTER JUMP EMERGENCE. THE CHARACTERS TRULY LIVED THROUGH ‘ONE CROWDED HOUR OF GLORIOUS LIFE’ AS THE OLD SAYING GOES.

THE SITUATION THEY FOUND THEMSELVES IN IS NOT AT ALL GOOD. WITH THE SHIP DOWN ON AN INHOSPITABLE MOON, AND BADLY WRECKED (AT BEST). EVERYONE ABOARD WAS INJURED, AND LIKELY THAT SEVERAL CHARACTERS WERE DEAD OR IN A CRITICAL CONDITION. THE SURVIVORS WOULD HAVE TO FIND A WAY TO SURVIVE AND SEND A DISTRESS SIGNAL; NOT AN EASY TASK GIVEN HOW SMASHED-UP THE SHIP IS.

________________________________________

012-1110  0140
On the Skylark, we saw a ship come out of jump ahead of us. It was obviously in trouble, heading toward the rings.

Medicus was piloting and called everyone to their duty stations. We got a garbled distress call, Sam replied but there was no acknowledgement.

The ship, the Duchess Selene, was decelerating but not nearly fast enough. They were going to hit the ring at a bad angle and there was nothing we could do about that.  

As we got closer, they hit the rings almost edge on. We tracked their path through the rings on our scanners. Partway through they hit something big and we started picking up atmospheric gasses - it looked like an explosive decompression of at least one compartment.

They looked like they were maintaining some control when they emerged from the ring and started braking hard and changed their course towards the moon, Ambre.

A 20-ton launch or lifeboat separated from the ship and started braking hard as well.

The suspense built as it looked like they might or might not make it.

Amazingly, the ship skidded in almost under control. She looked like a structural write-off but actually had some sound compartments capable of holding air, there might be survivors.

We landed on the moon about 100 meters away and their launch landed nearby a few minutes afterwards.

We were able to contact the launch, but got no response from the Duchess Selene.

Some nearby belters also responded, they had a Type-J seeker, Gold, and an ore shuttle, Amindra-6, on the way but were several hours out.

The planetary navy on Maitz had been notified but they were half a day away.

Good thing a distress call went out earlier, every minute counts in a situation like this.

Medicus ran to our ships locker and started loading rescue gear into the air raft. Everyone was already suited up.

We talked with Andrea Tarkei, pilot of the launch.  She said that they had 14 on board, including two children.  Injuries were two crash-woke low passengers and one broken arm, everyone else was OK and they had a doctor on board.

Our Away Team for this was Medicus, Fig and Leon with Kipenzi flying the air/raft. The plan was to dock the air/raft with the ship and offload any survivors.



The bridge and the front dining area were gone. The airlock on the port side was intact and we docked there.

Fig tried the radio again and there was still no response.

Kipenzi was to stay on the air/raft in case we needed a quick exit and to provide security.  The last thing we needed was for panicked survivors to steal our air/raft.

Leon and Fig went in first and found the corridor outside the air/lock was in vacuum. Moving in, they could see that the iris valve on their left was open. Looking in they could see the moon’s surface past the ruined dining hall. The bar was all broken glass and bubbling residue as what looked like some very high quality wines sublimated into the vacuum.

Leon checked the starboard iris valve and found that there was air on the other side.

Medicus tried the intercom by the airlock but got no response.

Not wanting to expose possible passenger areas to vacuum, Kipenzi moved the air/raft to the launch bay. The launch bay and walls looked pretty solid, although the exterior door was missing.

We couldn’t pressurize the launch bay, but the cargo bay looked like it was still sealed.

Medicus, Fig and Leon went into the Duchess Selene, moving carefully, very conscious of any sharp things sticking out.

Leon overrode the alert on the door and evacuated the rear cargo bay. We went inside and Leon got us a good airtight seal between the rear cargo bay and the launch bay. Then opening the door between the cargo bays, we had about 50% air pressure in both bays. When he closed the door between the two cargo bays, we could move further into the ship without worrying about exposing anyone not in a suit to vacuum.

The first thing we saw when we moved into the next pressurized section was the sick bay.  The door was open and it was a mess, cabinets doors had sprung open and the contents were on the floor. 

Fortunately no one was inside to be hit by the flying debris.

This section had three more doors and an iris valve labeled “Bridge”.  The iris indicated vacuum on the other side.

The other three doors looked like crew staterooms.

Fig opened the first cabin and it contained our first survivor, Kaspar Handro, a passenger. He was badly hurt, barely conscious. He was wearing an emergency soft suit and was strapped into an acceleration couch. Medicus took him to the air/raft and started treating him.

Leon and fig continued searching and found Ohtorm Taisuui, one of the crew, a steward. He was also injured but could still walk and could walk to the air/raft with help. He said that everyone should be in soft suits or rescue balls. This would make rescue easier for us.

Kipenzi told Leon to go ahead and let the air blow out if he needed. Time was of the essence so we risked exposing survivors to the cold cruel vacuum of space. Hopefully Taisuui was right about everyone being in suits and none had been breached in the crash.

She took the air/raft back to the port airlock on the lower deck so that we could evacuate survivors quicker.

The next survivor found was Keven Umali-Dupree, yes that Keven Umali-Dupree, the slightly famous entertainer. We decided to use his stateroom as a staging/triage area to herd healthy survivors toward. We would then move the most seriously injured to the air/raft. Once we had a full load, we would take them back to the Skylark and Medicus could use our sickbay there.

The next cabin held Chief Steward Kim Feldermann, she had several broken bones so we moved her directly to the air/raft.

Crewman Simon Tasker was found two cabins down.  He had a broken arm and we helped him to the first cabin where Kevin could look after him.  If he were to get worse we would put him in the air/raft.

Most of the staterooms had no one in them. Some had personal items, but several looked unoccupied.

Kipenzi called the launch and asked if they knew how many people were left on board?

“Twelve”, they replied.

Kipenzi kept them updated as we found more survivors.

Fig found Gunnery Officer Bar Gurlphen. She had a couple of broken ribs and Fig helped her to the air/raft, as she swore to make the paint blister the whole way.

Leon found our first fatality. Assistant Engineer Eugenie Midraasciaa. She showed signs of having been injured before the crash.

We found Renee Philip, one of the passengers.  Upper left arm broken, abdominal injury and going into shock.  She made it a full load on the air/raft and Kipenzi flew them back to the Skylark as Fig and Leon continued searching.

We found Head Chef Janice Collins with injuries to her left foot and right elbow. Fig helped her to the staging area where she could wait for Kipenzi to get back with the air/raft.

Leon found one of the passengers, Anders Miracru, apparently dead from extensive burns acquired after he suited up, although the stateroom he found him in showed no sign of fire.

Another passenger was similarly burned, but still alive. Mvita Mambo was alive, but only barely so. Her left foot was also broken. Leon and Fig helped her to the staging area.   

The low berth bay was a mess. There were two dead bodies lying on the floor and equipment strewn everywhere.  The low berths were torn apart, looked like maybe scavenged for parts.

Leon marked an X on the door with a “2” for the two dead bodies and moved on.

When he opened the iris valve leading to engineering, a cloud of hot coolant rolled out into the hall.

Sitting at the first console was Captain Warner, dead in his space suit apparently scalded to death, his hands still at the controls.

In the next chair was a woman in a heavy vac suit. To our surprise, she was still alive. She came to as we got her out of the hot engineering compartment.  She was Shesa Kerekou, one of the passengers. She said that Anders and Mvita got burned helping in engineering before the pipe broke.

Leon tried to stop the coolant leak, but gave up and just shut down the maneuver drive before the heat drove him out.

Everyone was accounted for and when Kipenzi got back, we loaded everyone on board the air/raft and went back to the Skylark.

Triage on the Skylark, worst first.  Leon made a basic map of the Duchess Selene and the location of the dead. We tended the wounded as best we could and listened to their stories.

About four hours later the belter ships, Gold and Amindra-6, arrived to render aid.

012-1110  1400
The local Coast Guard arrived with emergency craft to take the wounded off our hands. Once unloaded, we headed for Maitz.

013-1110  0300
While Still on our way to Maitz, an X-Boat arrived from Fornice and broadcast the latest information on the war.  They are still fighting Jewel Subsector and the battle is over in Rhylanor, with an Imperial victory.

0450
We parked the Skylark in an enclosed hanger and ordered an unrefined fuel hookup.

Continued in Ivestigating the Eye.


See Also: Dramatis Personæ, Skylark 2, Campaign Starts, The 2nd Adventure, The Chamax Plague, Horde, Shadows, Research Station Gamma, Twilight's Peak, Prison Planet, Leedor on Aramis, First Call at Zilla, Trade War, The Bloodwell, ANNIC NOVA, The Kinunir, Kesser's Return, Justice, Mission to Mithril, Outback, Skylark and the Pit and Last Flight of the Amuar.