[Eclipse Phase] Saturian Scavengers

[JediSoth]

Work has been slow. Derek Jackson, your boss, and owner of Jackson Salvage, promises all of you that the contract he signed with Omnicor will pay off soon. Supposedly, the contract ensures that all future salvage jobs are fully funded by Omnicor, resulting in better equipment, better pay, and ultimately, more work for you.

So far, zilch.

Kronos Cluster is not the type of place where you want to hang around for long if you don’t have an income. Especially in the neighborhoods salvage workers can afford. But when the salvage opportunities are good, they’re very good. Good enough that the risk is worthwhile.

A popular salvager hangout, “Sully’s”, is near The Vine: Kronos Cluster’s space dock. You’re there, enjoying a dinner and drink, when your muses relay a message from Mr. Jackson. Your muses automatically verify the message and pop-up the video link in the corner of your FoV. The metadata indicates it was recorded less than 10 minutes ago.

Jackson: The drought is over! Team 3, we’ve got a unique opportunity, and I think it’s right up your alley. I’ve just received a noticed from OmniCor regarding an old habitat that is moving to a perfect intercept point. They want you to rendezvous with it, board it, and salvage whatever you can. Once you get your ship fired up, connect to channel 401.844 and I’ll have the coordinates uploaded.

Jackson’s message ends with an animation showing the orbits of Saturn, Rhea, Kronos Cluster, and the habitat, labeled GDS-43 Torus. GDS-43 Torus will be passing very close to the Kronos Cluster; if you miss this opportunity, the eccentricity of its orbit indicates it will be years before it’s this close again.

 

[vf-xx]

Finally, being surrounded by so many meatbags all the time was starting to try my circuits. Hurrah for open space! I'll go start getting the ship ready. Try not to be too slow in boarding

With that, Rover pushes off of his anchor, takes his usual high speed hovercraft form and zips off towards the ship.

 

[Friadoc]

"Excellent," says Cade as he stands up and moves to head out. Once he sets off into an efficient, loping gait, he sends a request to his muse.

[Dinah, would you run a history on GDS-43 Torus? A general outline of it since it was commissioned and any outliers and events that range outside of what's consider normal, withing two standard deviations.]

[Of course, Cade. You always know how to talk to a girl.]

[Only you, darlin'. I'd not trust just anyone to mine my data.]

[sblock=ooc]I just realized that I forgot to finish my muse's stats, but I'll do that once I'm home from campus. It's the standard muse with a modest focus on research and data mining.

I did a straight up research roll for my muse, if it's needed.
[/sblock]

 

[Valmiras]

"Any work is good work," Zeph says as he grabs the remains of his dinner in eight equal portions, and shoves each arm in turn into his beak.

"Let's go."

He hops from his seat and shuffles along on his many arms toward the ship.

[ Best route to fly there, Ludo? ]

[ One moment. Researching... ]

(12+40=52 for Nav roll -- great first start! )

 

[JediSoth]

[ Best route to fly there, Ludo? ]

[ One moment. Researching... ]

(12+40=52 for Nav roll -- great first start! )

Your muse indicates it is trying to calculate a flight path the entire time it takes you to travel from Sully's to your shuttle's airlock.

Fortunately, the information you'll download from Jackson once you're on your shuttle should provide you with enough information for your muse to calculate a flight path.

[Dinah, would you run a history on GDS-43 Torus? A general outline of it since it was commissioned and any outliers and events that range outside of what's consider normal, withing two standard deviations.]

By the time you reach the airlock, Dinah has returned some information:
GDS-43 Torus is small toroidal habitat, approximately 500 meters in diameter. It was once registered to OmniCor, but the current owner/operator information is unavailable. At last report, it housed approximately 200 sciences and engineers. It is unknown what their purpose was. No record of contact with them exists in the last fifteen years; the habitat was privately owned and operated and no distress signals were sent. It showed up on the derelict habitat list eligible for salvage three months ago.

 

[Friadoc]

"Interesting," says Cade as he looks over the data that his muse pulled up.

[Nice work, Dinah.]

Popping a pulse signal to the others, Cade shares an outline of the data mining results.

"Not to sound too paranoid, but I've got an itch about this one," states Cade. "Torus had about 200 minds on board, yet they went silent 15 years ago and nothing says they left that place."

"So keep on our toes, and our senses active, okay?"

 

[ozedge]

On the way to the airlock Glitter swings past her suite, she managed to pick up some extra creds in a nice game of dice last night and as usual spends it on what is important.

Grabbing her bag, which is always ready for action she pokes her head into the bedroom.

Taking one last look at the lithe form in her bed "It's a shame Max that i only got that one night with her" Glitter mumbles to her Muse, Max.
"As usual i recorded the XP for you" Max confirms as expected.

Double timing it down to the airlock Glitter sends messages out to her usual contacts letting them know she is out for a few days, reminding Ricky she will be hitting him up for the debt he owes when she gets back and places an order for some flowers to be sent to her suite for this morning. Its always good to say thankyou.

 

[Valmiras]

"Senses?" Zeph responds to Cade. "Am surprised you former monkeys know anything about those."

Reminding himself that his sense of humour does not always translate well, he goodnaturedly slaps Cade on the back with one of his arms.

"I am pretty sure I can fly us there."

 

[Friadoc]

Adjusting his own kit upon his shoulders after picking it up from his berth, Cade chuckles at Zeph's comment.

"Ain't much like most former monkeys," says Cade. "I've pushed quite a few of my sensory packages so as to enhance my capabilities, so I tend to presume others have done the same, or have something similar."

"I figured I'd swap out my poo throwing ability for something more useful."

 

[JediSoth]

Your shuttle detaches from The Vine and you slowly navigate away from Kronos Cluster. GDS-43 Torus appears as little more than a point of light, shining in the deep black of space, illuminated only by reflected sunlight from Saturn. The coordinates and navigation information provided by Jackson plots a path to the habitat.

After an hour or so of flight, GDS-43 Torus looms large in the shuttle's windows. You can it trailing a debris field. There doesn't appear to be major structural damage that you can see from your vantage point. You can see lights in the windows and the navigational beacons are still flashing. There is a shuttle attached to the hub airlock. The habitat ring airlock is free and clear of debris.

If/when you choose to dock with GDS-43 Torus, you will need to make a piloting check.