Stay Frosty II - Hitching a ride

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Are there any machines or vehicles we can use to push the rockets once we get past the locks?
Raúl looks about. Some of the machines the Xenos were using for augmenting the jump drive have claws and clampers. The larger ones definitely look as if they could shunt the rockets.
 
Raúl looks about. Some of the machines the Xenos were using for augmenting the jump drive have claws and clampers. The larger ones definitely look as if they could shunt the rockets.
"Hey, Potter and Griff, stop staring at the drive and see if you can use one of these machines to shunt the rockets!" I call to them.

Then I think to myself, Man, those guys couldn't piss straight if I didn't hold their pollas for them!
 
I get to it and try and use the machines to move the rockets.
 
I get to it and try and use the machines to move the rockets.
With little impending doom to rush him, Potter manages to figure out how move the vehicles at a slow enough pace and hops into one with two clamping claws at the front. Upon reaching the Drive however the rockets themselves cannot be reached thanks to the transparent metallic shielding, which seems too hard to wrench open with the machines claws.
 
To Ling: "Let's check this office and see what's going on with the control station while Potter and Griff figure out the drive situation." I keep my weapon handy to kill anything that moves.
Ling and Raúl approach the small collection of offices that form the control station and enter via the kitchen. The kitchen has two exits, one each to the left and right as they enter. The office with the screen is to the left.

The kitchen itself is small enough. Three tables, a few chairs, a snack dispenser, a coffee machine. The bigger concern are another collection of the worm creatures, fatter than those they've seen before as they are currently gorging themselves on multiple bodies of long dead ship staff they've piled around the room.

Ling estimates there to be eighteen of them.
 
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Griff watches as Potter is unable to get at the rockets themselves. He looks around to see if there is any kind of mechanism that is used for opening up the shielding in emergencies.

"Potter! I know LT is hellbent on blowin' this thing tae fuck but we haftae remember Newton's laws! Blowing it up might just mean we send a ball of flamin' wreckage hurtlin' at the station, ya ken? We have to get it to slow down and stay off course!"
 
Ling and Raúl approach the small collection of offices that form the control station and enter via the kitchen. The kitchen has two exits, one each to the left and right as they enter. The office with the screen is to the left.

The kitchen itself is small enough. Three tables, a few chairs, a snack dispenser, a coffee machine. The bigger concern are another collection of the worm creatures, fatter than those they've seen before as they are currently gorging themselves on multiple bodies of long dead ship staff they've piled around the room.

Ling estimates there to be eighteen of them.
I'm torching 'em.
 
I'm torching 'em.
The worms back into the corner of the room, desperate to escape Raúl's flames. However they don't fight back, just back up further and further until they're pressed against the walls and writhe atop one another, making odd cooing noises as they burn.

After a few minutes Raúl has killed them all.
 
I'll check out the computers to see what information was being spat out. "Ling, keep your eyes open and your weapon ready," I say.
 
I'll check out the computers to see what information was being spat out. "Ling, keep your eyes open and your weapon ready," I say.
Raúl sees the main point of the messages quick enough. With the psykers no longer hacking the emergency systems the ship's main computer has gone to red alert. It has predicted collision with Pitstop in 138 minutes and recommends evacuation. It can't slow the ship in time as it has been disconnected from the Fusion drives.

The rest of the read outs are in Jump Theory jargon that Raúl can't figure out. Ling fortunately remembers some stuff from an old elective at marine academy (https://orokos.com/roll/740766) and recognises the read out as instructions for an emergency jump procedure to prevent collision. It would involve directly entering the Jump Drive to remove the modifications the computer has detected.
 
Raúl sees the main point of the messages quick enough. With the psykers no longer hacking the emergency systems the ship's main computer has gone to red alert. It has predicted collision with Pitstop in 138 minutes and recommends evacuation. It can't slow the ship in time as it has been disconnected from the Fusion drives.

The rest of the read outs are in Jump Theory jargon that Raúl can't figure out. Ling fortunately remembers some stuff from an old elective at marine academy (https://orokos.com/roll/740766) and recognises the read out as instructions for an emergency jump procedure to prevent collision. It would involve directly entering the Jump Drive to remove the modifications the computer has detected.
"Okay, who wants to enter the jump drive to remove the modifications so we can make an emergency jump? Griff is the engineer so I volunteer him unless someone else thinks they can do better. It's either that or we try to blow this ship to pieces and skedaddle, but not in that order."
 
"Aye LT, I'm no worried about it," Griff says, grimacing.

OOC: So can we get inside?
 
'What are the dangers of entering the jump drive?' I ask as I climb down from the machine.
 
OOC: Griff and Ling would know that a wrong move could see you pulverised by the intense gravity within the Drive Core.
 
"Aye LT, I'm no worried about it," Griff says, grimacing.

OOC: So can we get inside?
Griff approaches the entry to the Jump Drive, an arc forged from metals that don't exist naturally on most worlds. Within there is a bright white light causing the metals of the drive arc to scintillate with beautiful patches of reds, greens and oranges.

As Griff enters his eyes adjust to the light. He sees the walkway over the drive core before him:
cherenkov-glow-2.jpg

Within the coolant fluid he sees the thousands of little neutronium claws knitting spacetime, though he recognises that almost all of them have been modified with extra joints and strange power units clamped on. A small black sphere also sits within the pool, something he's never seen before.

He carefully crosses the walkway to the main control circuits on the other side. The air shimmers in places, signs of intense gravity. He jumps and dodges the bubbles of increased gravity, helped by Ling's drugs, but is caught when one suddenly expands.

He's thrown into the railing and then slammed into the ground, breaking a leg and a few ribs and knocking him out for a few minutes.

When he wakes he hobbles slowly across the final section of the walkway, managing to notice another bubble just as it expands.

He stands before the control circuitry on the other side, coughing up some blood on the wiring. Whether its the drugs, the adrenaline from the fight or just natural talent, Griff takes out his toolkit and manages to re-rig all the systems to be slaved to a small device he hacks together.

Not only does he gain control of the drive, but does so to such a degree and regulates the power correctly to render the emergency jump completely safe.

He can also turn off the Power Plant, which will release the door to the Fusion Drive and let Potter in.


Analysing the readings from the drive he realises the small black sphere is a small region with different physical laws.

OOC: Griff dealt 6HP damage, armour took 1HP, so he is down to 1HP from the impact. However he got another double crit on hacking the drive!
 
Once Griff indicates that it's safe for the rest of us to enter the drive area, Ling will approach him and begin to attempt to heal the damage done to the engineer.

"Jesus, Griff, are you always this high-maintenance?" she quips, trying to keep the tone light. "I just can't take you anywhere, can I?"
 
Once Griff indicates that it's safe for the rest of us to enter the drive area, Ling will approach him and begin to attempt to heal the damage done to the engineer.

"Jesus, Griff, are you always this high-maintenance?" she quips, trying to keep the tone light. "I just can't take you anywhere, can I?"
At this point it's second nature to Ling as she heals up Griff's wounds while using barely any of the paste.

OOC: Griff fully healed up and Ling's medpack still on d6
 
"Can we set this ship to jump into a sun, preferably in an uninhabited system?"
 
After catching his breath, and eyeing Ling's handiwork with avid interest, Griff pipes up. "Aye LT, I'm no certain but I am pretty confident that I've gotten us control of the ship completely, at least from a power aspect." He gestures at the strange black ball within the fusion drive. "Before ya think about blowin' the ship tae kingdom come, I dinnae ken what that thing is. It's no ours, that's for damn sure. High Command might be interested in it, is all I'll say. It looks like the xenos made a few modifications to the drive. If I had to guess, they improved performance by no wee margin. It could be in our interest to safely return this ship to marine hands." He grins, failing to hide both his curiousity and the blood that has smeared his pearly whites.

"Just a suggestion, like."
 
OOC: To plot a course the controls are back at the office Raúl and Ling were in. Anybody is able to do it though Ling has the greatest chance to succeed. Every failed attempt wastes only 5 minutes since Griff has such control of power etc that only the calculations need to be managed.

There are 135 minutes left until impact with Pitstop.
 
After catching his breath, and eyeing Ling's handiwork with avid interest, Griff pipes up. "Aye LT, I'm no certain but I am pretty confident that I've gotten us control of the ship completely, at least from a power aspect." He gestures at the strange black ball within the fusion drive. "Before ya think about blowin' the ship tae kingdom come, I dinnae ken what that thing is. It's no ours, that's for damn sure. High Command might be interested in it, is all I'll say. It looks like the xenos made a few modifications to the drive. If I had to guess, they improved performance by no wee margin. It could be in our interest to safely return this ship to marine hands." He grins, failing to hide both his curiousity and the blood that has smeared his pearly whites.

"Just a suggestion, like."
"On the other hand, for all we know the XTs are coming through that hole and we could contaminate HQ by bringing it back. Too many unknowns to be worth the risk and I haven't been wrong yet. I say we blow it to hell. Ling, try to set a jump into a nearby sun in 30 minutes. That should give us enough time to get off the ship."
 
OOC: Is Griff able to get some samples or readings of the strange sphere? His curiousity will get the better of him
 
Griff does a careful analysis of the sphere with his toolkit, using the jump drive's natural ability to manipulate space to enhance it. The drive confirms it's an infant universe in a pre-Big Bang state, its physical laws yet to settle.
 
"LT, I dinnae ken if I agree with that action. I agree shit's fucky but that-" he points aggressively at the sphere, "-is no a simple matter. If my readings are correct then it's a bloody wee universe, pre-Big Bang. I dinnae have all the answers but exploding this thing into a bloody sun might make matters worse. Imagine that kinda energy surge in a pre-universe, providing it the catalyst to create another universe inside this one?? We could be fuckin' shit up a lot worse than ya expect!"
 
"LT, I dinnae ken if I agree with that action. I agree shit's fucky but that-" he points aggressively at the sphere, "-is no a simple matter. If my readings are correct then it's a bloody wee universe, pre-Big Bang. I dinnae have all the answers but exploding this thing into a bloody sun might make matters worse. Imagine that kinda energy surge in a pre-universe, providing it the catalyst to create another universe inside this one?? We could be fuckin' shit up a lot worse than ya expect!"
"Well, you and Ling have about two hours to figure it out. Have at it. In the meantime I'm programming a jump as a failsafe."
 
"Well, you and Ling have about two hours to figure it out. Have at it. In the meantime I'm programming a jump as a failsafe."
Raúl scans through nearby systems on the control station computer and gets a decent target quick enough. The AS23 system, marked for mining development sometime in the next two centuries, but currently completely uninhabited. Just the star and two fat gas giants.

He guides the computer through the calculations, taking only five minutes to do so.
 
"Cheers LT." He then turns to Ling, looking a little frazzled. "Ling, am no a physicist and I ken yer not either. Any chance we can get hooked into the ship's computer and use it to maybe visualise what might happen if a surge of energy like flying into a sun might do tae a pre-Big Bang universe system, while inside a post-Big Bang universe??"

He glances at LT, "we dinnae have much time for it to run this kinda simulation so I can do what I can to get more juice to whatever computer drive yer needing."
 
If I get blood samples from the others and myself, could I be able to test how each of them might react to that experimental drug I was given? And given the small volume of blood being tested against, would that eat up one of the three doses?
 
"Cheers LT." He then turns to Ling, looking a little frazzled. "Ling, am no a physicist and I ken yer not either. Any chance we can get hooked into the ship's computer and use it to maybe visualise what might happen if a surge of energy like flying into a sun might do tae a pre-Big Bang universe system, while inside a post-Big Bang universe??"
"...Huh. Interesting question. Yeah, let's see if we can run a sim on this," Ling responds. "Normally I'm all about the explosions, but that could possibly be a bit much, even for me."

"While we've got a moment, I want to draw some quick blood samples from everybody. And before anyone shits a brick, I want to see if I can test what that experimental drug might do before putting it in your systems. If it's as hinky as I think it might be, I want some ammo to explain to the brass why I didn't use us as guinea pigs."
 
Certainly able to test and it won't use up the doses for the reasons you mentioned, blood sample mass would be nothing next to the total body mass the full sample is intended for
 
While the science nerds do their thing, I'll keep my flamethrower (Old Scratch) ready for any new excitement. I'll also check the office for any sensory or security equipment that I can use to monitor anything coming our way--the same mistrustful hypervigilance Raúl always displays.

"¡Cuidado, todos! I don't trust this place any more now than I did when we got here. Potter, keeps your eyes and ears open and your weapon handy."
 
OOC: Let me know if anyone refuses to give Ling a small blood sample.

if you don't want to, Ling won't question your manhood. Well not much, anyways.
 
Griff nonchalantly rolls up his bloodied fatigues to reveal a pale forearm and elbow. He sticks it out whilst messing with his equipment with his free hand. "Aye take a pint if ya need, you've earned it keepin' me tickin'."

OOC: Griff does anything and everything he can to get that simulation done ASAP and with a good degree of certainty
 
While the science nerds do their thing, I'll keep my flamethrower (Old Scratch) ready for any new excitement. I'll also check the office for any sensory or security equipment that I can use to monitor anything coming our way--the same mistrustful hypervigilance Raúl always displays.

"¡Cuidado, todos! I don't trust this place any more now than I did when we got here. Potter, keeps your eyes and ears open and your weapon handy."
Raúl's mistrust pays off once again. Security monitors at the office display the engineering deck they're currently on, as well as tracking pipes and power lines across the ship. Several power lines on decks 1 and 2 are shown as damaged. Some on Deck 3 are currently being ripped up. Something is digging its way down.
 
Ling runs her blood test. The results are pretty clear. Everybody will be boosted up, quicker reactions, mental agility. Potter and herself however will react particularly favourably. Potter with an enhanced constitution and herself with greatly enhanced strength.

The crash will be hard though, particularly for Potter and herself.

OOC: For everybody: An advantage on everything and all stats improved by 2.

Ling's Brawn however is improved all the way to the best value of 3 and she'll deal quite a bit of damage with melee attacks.

Potter's health will go up by 10 to 27HP.

After the drug wears off Raúl and Griff would have a disadvantage on everything and stats 2 points worse.

Ling and Potter however will basically be too weak to do anything except talk and hobble along.
 
OOC: Griff does anything and everything he can to get that simulation done ASAP and with a good degree of certainty
As he begins the simulation Griff quickly begins to see the complexity of the calculations. It'll take the supercomputer here in the drive section 20 minutes to complete it with his guidance if he wishes to continue.

OOC: 125 minutes until impact
 
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OOC: If LT lets us know about the incoming threat, I will do what I can to set up some safe explosive traps in the zone where the breach is likely to occur.
 
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