Setting Off

[Terl Obar]

OOC: Bear with me, there is a bit of background to provide. Feel free to post comments and questions along the way. We'll get to some action shortly.

BIC:
After the small thruster nudges die down there is a moment of weightlessness then a small stronger burst (about 0.1g) that temporarily pushes you down into your seat. Weightlessness returns as the ship drifts out of the docking bay and away from the station. Once clear, a few more small bursts rotate the ship and you feel the main engines kick in slowly building up the thrust to 1 gee over about 5 minutes as you pull away from the crowded area around the station and the engines can be brought up to power. Fifteen minutes after you originally strapped in the ship is providing a comfortable 1g of gravity and you can move about freely.

As you all start to unstrap and stand up, the door opposite the one you entered opens and a strikingly beautiful (even to human eyes) Yazarian woman walks into the room. "He everyone. I'm Yala Obar, Terl and Lee had some things to discuss and Lee wanted to get that call in to the shipyard in Truane's about the mod you wanted on the Dart. Good call on that, by the way," she says to Sebastian. "I should have thought of that myself when working on the design. Anyway, I get to be your tour guide and show you around the ship and get you settled into your rooms. After that we can give you the details of the Dart and let those of you who want to play in the auxiliary bridge with the stations configured as they would be on the Dart, or at least as close as we can get them. If you are all ready, follow me."

As you follow her out the room, she begins telling you about the ship and the access you will have. "This is the third level of the ship but the uppermost one you'll have access to. Above us is the crew quarters. In addition to Terl, Lee and myself there are twelve others, a pair of pilots, a pair of astrogators, three engineers, four gunners and our chef. Above that is the bridge." Arriving at the elevator she says, "We'll go down one level to the passenger cabins.

Arriving on the passenger deck you see a hallway extending off to both the left and the right. I both cases the hall ends in a pressure door and there are cross passages about half way down.. "The pressure doors both lead to lifeboat bays," Yala says, indicating the doors at the ends of the hall. "Standard style lifeboats just like on the common deck. Except for one room on the far end of each of those cross halls, all the cabins on this deck are rated as First Class or better." She crosses the hall to one of the doors and opens it (room 20 on the deck plan). Inside you see a large nicely appointed room with large bed, table, chairs, desk, wardrobe and a door into what is probably a bathroom. "All of the rooms are similarly appointed although some are slightly larger than others and the decor varies a bit room to room. Take a minute and find one you like. When we're done you can grab your gear off the airlock deck and stow it in your cabin. We'll meet back at the elevator in when you are done."

Once you've all selected a cabin and reassembled at the elevator she continues. "Okay, next stop, ship's vehicle's deck. Normally, passengers don't have access to this deck but you aren't normal passengers so you will have access. Upon arriving on the Ship Vehicle's deck, Yala points to the pressure door across from the elevator. "That's the ship's sick bay. Counts as a hospital for all intents and purposes. There is a small recovery room, an O.R., a medical lab and a medical storage locker. We have the equipment to safely remove a Freeze Field if needed..

Leading you to the right, she stops at the end of the hallway where it branches perpendicular to the one you are in. "Like most of the decks this one is fairly symmetrical so I'll just point out features here. The apply to the other direction as well. At the end of the hall to your left, the first pressure door grants access to a workpod bay. The Morning Glory has four two on this level and two down in engineering. The next door is access to one of the launch bays. Both of the launch bays have a large launch in them. The other two pressure doors provide access to a shuttle bay, currently empty. At the far end, the passage wraps around and there is another suiting room and airlock. The suiting room has lockers for up to a dozen suits."

Heading back to the elevator she continues. "Okay that is the upper levels. The next two levels down are Terl's, my and Lee's apartments which you don't have access to, then the airlock deck you came in on. After that there are several stops through the belly of the ship that open up into the cargo bays. Those stops only work when the bays are pressurized which they currently are not. Final two stops are engineering decks. We're going all the way tot he bottom to begin, It takes a minute or two to get there, it's a long ship."

Arriving on the lower engineering deck you are immediately struck by how spacious it is. Five meter high ceilings, four to six meter wide hallways, you could drive an Explorer around in here. directly across from the elevators are two computer stations and the first two crew members you've seen. At the station on the left, a dralisite is looking over some monitors and gauges. A male yazarian sits at the console to the right looking at a similar set of controls. The both look up as you exit the elevator. "D'narr, Grenix, how are the engines."

"Just fine, Yala," the dralisite, D'narr, pipes up. "Purring like a Volturnian megasaur."

"You know that's not necessarily a good thing," Yala quips back. "I've met a Volturnian megasaur and they usually start purring just before they bite you," she says with a grin. "Carry on gentlemen, I'm just showing our new team around the ship. The two look you over and then get back to their monitors.

"Okay, lots of room down here as we sometimes have to move big pieces of machinery around between this deck and the one above Mostly this deck is just storage and engine access. Each of these side passages provides access to one of the ships eight engines. Normally you won't have access to the engines but if you have to go down there, don't forget to put on an inssuit. They are in here." She points to the storage locker on the left of the elevator (OOC: forgot to label it on the deck plans, need to fix that). Down the passage past the engineering stations is a head and then the cross passages you see lead to escape pods for the two guys working here if needed. We'll take the cargo elevator up to the next level so we can all go at once." She leads the way around to the cargo elevator (area 2 on the deckplan) a huge 6m x 8m enclosed platform. Once you are all in she hits the button and you head up a level.

The upper engineering deck has large hallways just like the one below. Walking you around the deck Yala points out the various rooms. "This deck a large machine ship, we can fix just about anything or manufacture just about any part you need. There is additional storage and another suiting room and airlock. We have a computer and robotics repair shop and the storage room for the ships robots when they are off-duty or recharging. This door, indicating a large security door on the right had wall is the access to the core of the ships computer. Down the hall there we have some additional storage and access to one of the other work pods. On the other side is the other workpod bay and a lifeboat. Finally, this room, indicating another set of security doors which she opens is the auxiliary bridge. Come on inside."

You walk into a roughly 12m x 6m room with 9 computer stations, four on the north and south walls and one in the middle surrounded by it's own console. "This is the auxiliary bridge for the Morning Glory. I'll configure some of these stations to simulate the stations you have on the Dart, at least as closely as we can. Anyway, that's the ship, You'll have access to all of the decks we visited plus the airlock deck you came in. The only thing that will be locked off is the computer core and engine access passages.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm famished. Meerkal, our chef should have dinner ready by now. Grab your gear from the airlock deck and stow it in your rooms and then let's meet back up in the lounge on the common deck and I'll answer any additional questions you have over dinner. Terl and Lee will join us there and after dinner we'll give you the full specs on the Dart and talk a bit about your first assignment. I'm going to start configuring these stations and I'll catch up with you shortly." With that she turns to start working on one of the computer consoles.

You all head out and get your gear and get it placed in your rooms. Arriving on the common deck you see that the tables in the lounge have been rearranged. Three of them have been pulled together to form a long table that will seat 10. In the middle sitting across from each other are Lee and an older (50-60ish) yazarian gentleman with a bit of frost touching his mane. The two other tables are fully occupied by other members of the crew. D'narr and Grenix are seated at a table with a human female and an male Vrusk. The other table is occupied by a male Vrusk, a dralisite, a female yazarian and a human female. They seem to be involved in a lively discussion about some space or air battle as they are gesturing and making sounds like ships flying and lasers firing. Behind the counter in the kitchen is a male yazarian whom you surmise is Meerkal, the chef.

Lee sees you enter and waves you over. "Go get some grub and have a seat. This is Terl," he says indicating the yazarian seated with him.

Terl rises and turns to face you as you cross the room. "I'm glad to finally meet you," he says in a voice devoid of most of the gruffness you normally hear in Yazarian speech. He greets each of you in turn and by name, shaking your hand, ending with Maria. "The flower of the group," he says, bringing her hand near his lips in imitation of the human gesture. "A Timoneon Dagger Rose, I would say" he adds as Maria pull her and away. "Beautiful, but with razor sharp thorns." Addressing you all again, he continues. "By all means, follow Lee's excellent recommendation and get some food. Have a seat and we can try to answer any questions you have." While he is talking, Yala arrives and joins you sitting by Terl in the middle of the table leaving seats on the ends for your team.

OOC: Whew. Okay that's the ship and the next post will have details of the first assignment. Feel free to ask any questions or make comments.

[Shadow Shack]

After witnessing Terl's display with Maria, Sebastian leans over to Mal and whispers "How about that, the boss-man's pretty smooth. What chance have we?"

[Will]

"If you don't mind," Maria replies, abruptly pulling her hand away from the dirty old Yazirian's filthy paw,"keeping that to yourself."

Visibly bristling, her other hand clenching the butt of her pistol in a death grip, she adds,"I'll take orders from one of you, but that doesn't give you permission to put your filthy paws on me."

"I just lost my appetite," she adds, turning on her heel and walking towards the lift,"thank you."

[Shadow Shack]

"Spit and vinegar," Sebastian thinks to himself as he watches his future helm partner waltzing out the door. "Thankfully she's on OUR side," he continues in self thought.

Addressing Terl, he says "Don't mind her, Chief. Hoverbikers are wound pretty tight. Can't say I blame 'em, what with the hoardes of inattentive barge operators drifting all over the roads these days, too busy with their chronocoms to be bothered with the inconvenience of driving." He remembers a few close calls he had in the cockpit of a star fighter with bulk cruisers listing lazily in the space lanes. And now he's onboard one of them. Funny, the way irony pans out...

[estradling]

Leo picked himself a room (10) and stowed his stuff away. He enjoyed the tour but he quickly realized he would have very few reasons to go all the way down to engineering or even back to the airlock deck during this trip. As big as this ship was he was going to spend his time bouncing between two decks.

When they met for dinner he was busy choosing what he wanted when the little tiff between Maria and Terl happened. Hearing her footstep moving away he spoke up, "I do belive we were going to discuss our first assignment?" He hoped that might be enough to help her reconsider, but he really didn't know her all that well.

[Will]

"Spit and vinegar," Sebastian thinks to himself as he watches his future helm partner waltzing out the door. "Thankfully she's on OUR side," he continues in self thought.

Addressing Terl, he says "Don't mind her, Chief. Hoverbikers are wound pretty tight. Can't say I blame 'em, what with the hoardes of inattentive barge operators drifting all over the roads these days, too busy with their chronocoms to be bothered with the inconvenience of driving." He remembers a few close calls he had in the cockpit of a star fighter with bulk cruisers listing lazily in the space lanes. And now he's onboard one of them. Funny, the way irony pans out...

Just as she reaches the lift doors, she hears the JO's comment to that decrepit monkey.

"You have no idea, Minotaur," she whispers.

"No vogging idea at all," she adds, entering the lift.

"Level, please?" a pleasant female voice asks.

"Auxiliary bridge, and don't voggin' talk about it," she snaps, the lift descending to the upper engineering level quickly enough, Maria stepping off onto the deck, walking towards the auxiliary bridge, hoping it isn't manned.

[Shadow Shack]

Sebastian will grab a quick bite and head for the auxilliary bridge for some sim training as well. Might as well see how he and Maria can mesh together where it counts, since we'll be working together on the Dart.

[Bonehead]

B'Looone was having a hard time keeping his wits about him. To be sitting at a table with such near-legendary figures whom he can now call his "bosses" had made him positively giddy. Then to be spun in the opposite direction by the inexcusable behavior of that human female had left him somewhat disoriented.

He was trying to regain his composure by focusing his attention on the food in front of him when he heard one of the humans ask about their first job.

"Yeah", he chimed in, "just what is it that you expect this motley crew to do, anyway?" His words escaped him before he realized that he was speaking. If a Dralasite could choke on their words, he would have. Gaaa! Way to make a good first impression! Speaking flippantly to a Yazerian who's just been pissed off: smooth.

[Shadow Shack]

OOC --- ACK! I missed a vital part...I'd like to ammend my post:

After hearing the details concerning the job, Sebastian will grab a quick bite and head for the auxilliary bridge for some sim training as well. Might as well see how he and Maria can mesh together where it counts, since we'll be working together on the Dart.

[Terl Obar]

OOC: Sorry about the slow post. RL has been kind of hectic. Again, feel free to interject questions or comments anywhere along the story line.

BIC:
Terl watches Maria storm off and then turns to the rest of you. "Well, it was worth a shot," he says shaking his head. "I don't envy you guys having to work with her. As you said," he continues, looking at Sebastian, "she's pretty wound up. Hopefully she doesn't come unwound all at once, or if she does, it's directed at your opponents."

Gesturing to you all, he continues with a smile. "Grab some food, have a seat. Every new crew has a few rough spots to wear down while the team gets to know each other. Finagle knows, I've been on enough of them. On my very first team there was this Dral who just about drove me crazy with his contorted sense of humor and desire to blast holes in everything. We managed to get over it though and got on pretty well after that." He winks at Lee.

You all get some food and take places at the table where you exchange small talk and stories over dinner. Once everyone is finished, Terl and Yala shepherd you all into the larger conference room down the hall from the lounge. Lee goes off to find Maria and let her know that you are meeting to discuss your ship and assignments.

Gesturing for you all to take seats, and taking one himself at the head of the table, Terl begins. "Okay, first things first. Your ship. Lee's told you the general characteristics but I'm sure you are all dying to get details. Full details of the ship, deckplans, computer specs, etc, can be found by accessing the TSSS Dart data file on the ship's computer. Here's a quick run down.

"For normal interstellar and interplanetary travel there are four decks. The bridge, which seats two, the pilot and copilot and/or astrogator. Two crew decks. Each contains a small common area with computer access and small galleys, sanitation facilities and two double bunk rooms. All but one of you will be bunking with someone else. Finally the engineering deck. Again two stations, one for the engineer and the second is the gunnery station or can be used as a backup engineering station. Above the bridge are two decks designed for use during horizontal atmospheric flight. The mid-deck is also the ships airlock and has five seats for the crew not directly involved in the atmospheric flying. Above or next to that, depending on your orientation is the flying bridge. This has three seats, pilot, gunner and co-pilot. Finally you have the cargo bay. It's a full one cargo unit bay.

"Take some time, look over the specs and get familiar with your ship. Yala has configured four of the stations in the auxiliary bridge (b-e) to replicate the four main stations on the Dart. In addition, three of the other stations (f-h) have been configured to replicate the three stations on the flying bridge. Feel free to play around with them but don't get too familiar with the set up down there as it is not a very good replication of the actual controls. You'll get plenty of real 'stick time' once we get to Truane's Star.

"Which brings me to your first corporate secret. We'll be docking at Pale station in just over five days, not the 17 or so you may have been expecting. Many years ago, not long after we acquired the Gullwind, we decided to take a calculated risk. We plotted a jump directly from Cassidine to Truane's Star and back. Actually we did it the other way, Truane's to Cassidine and back as there was a better chance of landing in a known system if something went wrong on the first jump, but that's neither here nor there. It payed off and we found ourselves in possession of a private jump route linking two major star systems with diverse economies. We decided to keep the route to ourselves and made a small fortune moving goods rapidly between the two systems. Later, when Reesta joined SpaceFleet we pass the jump information on to the military. It remains unpublished as part of the strategic defense of the Frontier. If a major Sathar fleet ever does drop into Zebulon again headed for Truane's Star, Task Force Cassidine will be waiting for them when they arrive. SpaceFleet hasn't forgotten the events and lessons of the Sathar War nearly seventy years ago.

"So this is going to be a shorter trip than you expected, we reach the jump point in just under fourty hours. Leo, feel free to spend some time with K'la-tar (m. Vrusk) and Kimber (f Human), our two astrogators, and gain some experience with the jump route. The data will all be uploaded to the Dart's computer so you'll be able to use the jump in the future.

"Okay, your first assignment is a bit of a milkrun, it's the next one where things will definitely get hairy. This first job is mainly an opportunity for you to get a feel for your ship in many of it's operating modes and get settled in. Plus it takes care of some routine operations for the company and will give us time to gather up any additional supplies you guys think you will need. Despite being primarily an agriculture world, New Pale does have some mineral resources. We have a small mining operation, mostly robotic with eight crew for oversight, in one of the remote mountain regions. It's a gold mine, literally, and we typically run a delivery very two weeks or so to drop off supplies, rotate crew, pickup shipments, etc. This time that job will fall to you. It's pretty straightforward, fly in, drop off a new explorer, half a dozen robots and some miscellaneous supplies, pickup the gold shipment, and head back to Pale station. Once you're back, we'll start working on cracking the pirate problem that was the main motivation for assembling your team. There is a base we want captured but the timing is a bit tricky."

Seeing the questions forming in your minds, Terl holds up his hands. "I know you've probably got a ton of questions about the pirate operation but you'll just have to hold on to your curiosity for a bit. We'll know more once we make the jump and get updated information at Pale Station and you'll get the full briefing once you get back from New Pale. Focus now on learning your ship and getting it equipped to your liking."

"So, for now, get some rest, look over the Dart's specs, play around on the mock-up in the auxiliary bridge and enjoy the trip to Truane's Star. In addition, draw up a wish list of equipment you'd like to have generally stored on the Dart and we'll see what we can do about getting you stocked up. Common items we can probably have for you by the time you set off for New Pale. The rest you will probably have to wait for until you get back. Any immediate questions or comments?"

With that, Terl leans back and fields any questions you might have.

[cliff]

Gren decides to try and get to know the other members of the team. He turns to Sebastian and asks "So Sebastian, have you seen any action as a pilot? Ever work as part of a boading operaion? what about ground combat?"

[Shadow Shack]

Despite being primarily an agriculture world, New Pale does have some mineral resources. We have a small mining operation, mostly robotic with eight crew for oversight, in one of the remote mountain regions. It's a gold mine, literally, and we typically run a delivery very two weeks or so to drop off supplies, rotate crew, pickup shipments, etc. This time that job will fall to you. It's pretty straightforward, fly in, drop off a new explorer, half a dozen robots and some miscellaneous supplies, pickup the gold shipment, and head back to Pale station. Once you're back, we'll start working on cracking the pirate problem that was the main motivation for assembling your team.

"Pirates, I'd heard something about that through the grapevine via transferred fighter pilots back in Minotaur. One of the guys I worked with knew someone that assisted in an offensive move against the bandits lurking within Truane's asteroid belt. Is it safe to presume that we can expect to encounter some of these freebooters during our pickup at the mining colony?"

Gren decides to try and get to know the other members of the team. He turns to Sebastian and asks "So Sebastian, have you seen any action as a pilot? Ever work as part of a boading operaion? what about ground combat?"

"Been through all three during my tenure in the Minotaur Defense Directorate. Started off as security and corpsman on the surface, transferred to the militia and served as a boarding party trooper, and spent the last two years as a stick jockey in an F-40 Vulcan (standard UPF fighter). Never got my promotion as a flight leader so I opted to get out and see the Frontier instead."

"As for those first two parts of my career," he hefts the roll bag up and unzips it partially to reveal the barrel of a machine gun, "ol' Chatterbox and I saw plenty of action. As a fighter pilot, I assisted my flight leader in taking out several pirate and sathar vessels alike. Two confirmed kills and five assists total."

[Terl Obar]

Is it safe to presume that we can expect to encounter some of these freebooters during our pickup at the mining colony?

"We've had trouble with them in the past, so it is always a possibility." Terl replies. "A gold mine always tends to draw that type. Some of the 'bots you'll be delivering are Combots to boost security."

[Shadow Shack]

"Hence the second mission..." Sebastian nods in agreement. "One of my two kills was a pirate vessel. I look forward to the opportunity of ammending that record."

[estradling]

"So this is going to be a shorter trip than you expected, we reach the jump point in just under fourty hours. Leo, feel free to spend some time with K'la-tar (m. Vrusk) and Kimber (f Human), our two astrogators, and gain some experience with the jump route. The data will all be uploaded to the Dart's computer so you'll be able to use the jump in the future.

Leo, "A chance to learn a secret route. Yeah I'm all over that."

When he gets the access to the plans he looks over the specs that interest him, "Oh you got all the nice stuff for the astrogation. Very good." Then he turns his attention to the ships computer which he assumes he would be responsible for. "Looks like a good setup. I assume it connects to the ships main power with its own parabattery back up, for emergencies? Also I see a call out for primary and backup life support at 150% crew roster which is good, but I am not seeing a independent backup life support program. Am I missing it? I'd hate for one computer failure to bring down both systems."

[Terl Obar]

I assume it connects to the ships main power with its own parabattery back up, for emergencies?

"Absolutely correct," Yala answers Leo's question.

I am not seeing a independent backup life support program. Am I missing it? I'd hate for one computer failure to bring down both systems.

Yala pulls up the specs as well. "Another good catch. I've stared at these so many times I tend to miss things. You're right, it's not called out explicitly," she continues, "but the backup life support system actually has it's own independent computer control completely separate from the main system so even if nothing else works, the backup life support should function."

[Will]

OOC: Sorry to have tuned in late, People PC didn't want to play nice yesterday morning...

BIC:

A few fumbles later, and Maria's sitting at the station on the aux bridge configured as the main pilot's station on the Dart's space bridge, familiarizing herself with the ship's specs, as she gets ready to run the sim program.

She has no illusions that this is anywhere near the real thing, sims never are, but this will do for the day or so it will take for this hunk of junk to enter the Void.

A final study of the ship's specs, and she begins running the sim program.

[estradling]

Yala pulls up the specs as well. "Another good catch. I've stared at these so many times I tend to miss things. You're right, it's not called out explicitly," she continues, "but the backup life support system actually has it's own independent computer control completely separate from the main system so even if nothing else works, the backup life support should function."

Leo nods as she confirmed what he expected, "Independent, Isolated, Good. Opposite ends of the ships or as much as practical?"


"While I am sure we can think up a thousand nice and shiny things to stuff in our cargo hold, I am concerned about the mental well being of the crew. It looks like there really is no 'personal' space on board. May we should use the cargobay for that? Sort of a get away from it all space?" It was just an idea he wasn't sure how well it would go over with his 'new' companions.

[Bonehead]

"While I am sure we can think up a thousand nice and shiny things to stuff in our cargo hold, I am concerned about the mental well being of the crew. It looks like there really is no 'personal' space on board. May we should use the cargobay for that? Sort of a get away from it all space?" It was just an idea he wasn't sure how well it would go over with his 'new' companions.

"That's a good idea", B'Looone agrees, "It's already been demonstrated that at least one of us will need such a space. How do you propose that we use it without making it so that we can't put cargo there when we need to?"

[Shadow Shack]

"If anyone ever needs a little extra space," Sebastian grins, "there's always a vacc suit and the airlock!"