High Law and Low Justice, Part 5

[Wilphe]

"This is free trader Vyrkris requesting co-ordinates for a fuelling splashdown."

You wait patiently for the transmission to reach planet and any reply to get back.

After a minute you try again,

"This is free trader Vyrkris requesting co-ordinates for a fuelling splashdown."

Another minute goes by

Ruzz'koff sniffs in apparent digust, "Alert here aren't they? Let's keep our distance till we know what's up."


After ten minutes more you finally get a response, "Hello Vykris, this is Bleue Mer control, please state you business insystem". The overal impression is of someone rather flustered who is trying to sound formally aloof. You fully expect their next action to be an accustion of trespass.

Once it is established that you are in fact their overdue supply run the voice becomes far more cooperative, "Um so you want a fueling coordinate?", the controller talks to someone else, "Do we do that?" "No"

The radio goes dead for a few minutes and then the controller, who you have by now surmised does NOT do this as his day job, come back on, "Vykris, please be advised that we request all fuelling be done at the Gas Giant."

Saanath, "Roger that Bleue Mer control we are on a tight schedule and would prefer to fuel from your hydrosphere so that we work on cracking it while on planet and make a quick exit."

Control, "Vyrkis, this is standard practice for all vessals coming to this planet"

Sanaath, "Control, we were not informed of this and we are not keen in the arse end of nowhere out on that rock with no cover with no fuel in the tank and no way to make tracks if trouble comes knocking. We have already plotted approach vectors and to head out to the gas giant will take over a week. We have a cargo of your animals on board that will suffer if unable to land and we were led to believe that our other cargo for you was urgent."

There is another pause, and then another different voice comes on line, "Vykris this is Director Thann, you may refuel at your leisure but is at your own risk and Pharmacorp accepts no responsibility for any damage to your vessal that may result. We would further remind you that this is a Pharmacorp reserve and that this entire biosphere is classified as Commercially Sensitive. Any unauthorised informatiion gathering or theft of samples will be treated as Espionage and Piracy and pursued through the limits of the law."

"I am transmitting a disclaimer and a non-disclosure agreement, your Captain will sign and return both before you land. Over."

 

[doghead]

ic - HLLJ

Sanath kicks the bulkhead in frustration.

"Bloody bureaucrats. They can ruin anyone's fun. How do they do that?"

Saanath does a double check to make sure that they were not broadcasting. He notes that they were not with a sigh of relief.

[comm to Bleue Mer]"Roger Control. We appreciate your understanding on this. You are more than welcome to take a swim in our tanks before we leave to check that there is no unprocessed biosphere in there."

[private comm to Trelene, assuming that she is not on the bridge]"Trelene, can you pull up all the data we have on Bleue Mere and check for anything that might cause contamination of the fuel. Actually, do we have anything on board that can be used to manually check the atmosphere for contaminants?[/comm]

[private comm to Gwydion]"Gwydion, can you round up Tuon and make sure all the external survival gear is good to go. Breathers in particular."[/comm]

Saanath glances around at the others on the bridge. "See. Look at what she made me do. And I was having so much fun. I don't feel like swimming now."

Saanath sighs, then looks over to Ruzz'koff. Saanath is finally starting to get used to Ruzz'koff's hands off approach to being captain. But the young merchant can't help but check just to make sure he hasn't overstepped his bounds.

[sblock=ooc]Wilphe, are we taking water or atmosphere for refuelling? I was assuming water. But ships scoop gas from gas giants, so would we be doing the same thing here? Could we? Any advantages either way?

DrZ hasn't been around for a couple of months. Hope that we haven't lost him.[/sblock]

 

[Wilphe]

"Bloody bureaucrats. They can ruin anyone's fun. How do they do that?"

"Maybe Pharmacorp are using this place to breed a race of genetic super bureaucrats? Would explain why they are so touchy about visitors yet their main defence is to threaten to sue us. If this wasn't an Imperial World I'd say it was in need of a good pillaging."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[comm to Bleue Mer]"Roger Control. We appreciate your understanding on this. You are more than welcome to take a swim in our tanks before we leave to check that there is no unprocessed biosphere in there."

Director Thann responds icily, "That will not be necessary thank you young man. Bleue Mer out."

Ruzz'kofff sniffs, "I'm starting not to care if this is an Imperial World or not; and I really shoudln't think that way. It gives me ideas."
he looks at Tess,
"I am of course, joking," he pauses, "Mostly".

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[private comm to Trelene, assuming that she is not on the bridge]"Trelene, can you pull up all the data we have on Bleue Mere and check for anything that might cause contamination of the fuel."

"ISS can't decide if the atmosphere is "tainted" or "corrosive", seems to change every time they survey it but no one seems to have any record exactly what they are on about".

Actually, do we have anything on board that can be used to manually check the atmosphere for contaminants?[/comm]

"You mean apart from you? yeah, not a problem"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[private comm to Gwydion]"Gwydion, can you round up Tuon and make sure all the external survival gear is good to go. Breathers in particular."[/comm]

"Roger that. You planning on making a crashlanding?"

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Saanath glances around at the others on the bridge. "See. Look at what she made me do. And I was having so much fun. I don't feel like swimming now."

Ruzz'koff looks up, "You are a bit too valauble to use as a canary. That's what Tess is for. Joking, again, honest, mostly"


Saanath sighs, then looks over to Ruzz'koff. Saanath is finally starting to get used to Ruzz'koff's hands off approach to being captain. But the young merchant can't help but check just to make sure he hasn't overstepped his bounds.

Ruzz'koff is busy reading the disclaimer and the NDA, he sniffs and looks at Saanath, "Nothing out of the ordinary, but can you and Trelene take a look for me before I send it back please?"

 

[Wilphe]

[sblock=ooc]
ooc
Wilphe, are we taking water or atmosphere for refuelling? I was assuming water. But ships scoop gas from gas giants, so would we be doing the same thing here? Could we? Any advantages either way?

Yeah we are talking water from the planet itself, Pharmacorp want you to use the gasgiant.

pros and cons of either:

- Water:
+ It is normally availible on inhabitated planets, terrestrial ones anyway
+ It is really hard to die getting water, as even if there isn't a hose all you have to do is stop over any body of water, sink into it and open the fuelling cocks. Bad weather can make this a bit tricky but usually nothing more than that
+ You can use ice in extremis but that requires a lot of shovelling and then you have to melt it.
+ It doesn't require a seperate journey away from the main world

- Most inhabitated planets don't like seeing their hydrosphere dissappear and will flat out forbid such refuelling or charge for it. Especially is water is short
- Water needs to be cracked into hydrogen and oxygen to be useable as jump fuel. This isn't normally a problem as most ships have power to spare, but it does take time. Normally however that time is spent on planet or travelling to the jump point

Gas Giant skimming
+ You will getting Hydrogen, not water, so it just needs to be purified, not cracked
+ No one really cares is their gas giant is a bit smaller

- Skimming a gas giant is never routine, these things have weather systems the size of planets, crushing gravity and massive magnetic fields. Not a place to make a mistake.
- It's a great place to get ambushed. Pirates, SBDs and commerce raiders love hiding in the clouds
- Gas giant dwelling life forms, of which there are a few, naturally very alien, tend to get upset if people skim their planets. The shockwaves from a passing starship can damage or kill thousands if not millions of creatures

DrZ hasn't been around for a couple of months. Hope that we haven't lost him.
Me too. Hope he is okay [/sblock]

 

[Shayuri]

Tess gives Ruzz a good natured roll of her eyes, but her grin shows she's no stranger to an informal crew environment. ISS ships were often...'eccentric' by the standards of Imperial military services. Long periods of time out in the middle of nowhere led to close crew bonds and less reliance on regulations.

"Hey, lemme do a quick analysis of an atmosphere sample," she suggests. "If there's conflicting reports, the least we can do is add to the confusion."

(I'll take 10 for now, I think. That means results of 16 in Survey and 17 in Sensors for the purpose of determining atmospheric composition and effects. If those figures seem inconclusive, I can try again with a roll, I believe...let me know. )

 

[doghead]

ic - HLLJ

"Hey, lemme do a quick analysis of an atmosphere sample," she suggests. "If there's conflicting reports, the least we can do is add to the confusion."

Saanath considers their new crew mate for a moment. He had forgotten that she was a scout. Would probably be fairly used to dealing with new environments. Good to know.

"Take what you find and have a chat to Ktarl, and maybe Trelene. Between you, you should be able to get a fairly good idea idea of what is going on."

"You can tell Ktarle that I really don't want any uninvited guests coming back on board with us. ... Actually, If you give me a minute, I will come with you.

 

[doghead]

ic - HLLJ

Finishing up, Saanath leaves the bridge, beckoning Tess to follow. Saanath finds Trelene and Ktarle, and somewhere they can speak in private. If Gydion is folating around, he grabs him also. Once he has them were they can talk without being overheard by any passengers, he gets straight to the point.

"I am concerned by the number of connections between Bleue Mer and the oxygen sucking bug we encountered on the Devonn. Pharamacorp is part of the Nels-whatsits empire, and I am pretty sure he knoew what was going on on that ship. Also, traces of the same organism were found on Treth. That really worries me. So can you make sure we are prepared to deal with it if we do run across it again. Would it be possible to monitor for it? Do we have the equipment for that?"

Of course, only Trelene and Ktarle know first hand what Saanath is going on about. He gives Tess and Gywdion time to ask any questions they have. Once everyone is up to speed, "Right, Ktarle and Tess, you can sort out prevention and monitoring. Gydion, you and Tuon make sure the quarantine protocols are sorted, and the survival gear ready. Work with Ktarle, she knows the details.

"Trelene, can you have a look over this. Its some wrongbadfun from planetside."

 

[Shayuri]

(mew...I guess there won't be any response from GM re: scanning until he gets back online. No need to put everyone else off though. )

Tess listens with a concerned expression. When he gives time for questions, she has a few.

"Alright, this 'oxygen sucking bug,' this organism...do we have any library data on it? To determine if there's any infestation here, we'll need to know at least the basics about its life cycle and chemical makeup. Also, would it have arrived with an incoming starship, or does it have other vectors?"

She makes a mental note to review the mission logs from Devonn as well.