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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ptolemy" data-source="post: 9364453" data-attributes="member: 1412">Gorram 325-1080We had the best part of a week on the station. The first day or two was focused on helping the Kusari get jump capable again. Then we had a few days of R&R. We then spent two days getting to Gorram itself to check on a satellite for Max. One of the university relays had gone down so we checked it out. It looked as though it had had an impact from a tiny piece of debris. We changed some parts. It was an easy task. Just as we were setting off home we received another mayday. A ship was in the midst of skimming Weisen when malfunctions on their ship cut thrust. They were slowly drifting deeper into the gas giant and would be crushed if we didn’t get a move on.We turned it up to 11 as the old Terran saying has it. Weisen wasn’t quite on the other side of the suns but it was still pretty far. We don’t have military grade sensors on the GR1 but they are pretty good so we weren’t in orbit for very long before I picked them up. It looked like an old Type A Beowulf class. Communications weren’t good but we gathered that the crew of 6 was all fine and life support wasn’t affected. They were pretty nervous and I can’t blame them, we didn’t relish the idea of going deep into a gas giant either. It was, however, what we were here for so in we went. It was a tense dive. Pressure on the hull increase rapidly and a hydrogen squall pushed the Pixie (as she was called) deeper and ourselves up. It caused some damage to the hull as well. We all thought we could hear creaks and moans from the hull but it was probably just our fancy. Peter pulled us out of the damaging pressure depth after the squall and we took more detailed scans to see if another could be detected. We couldn’t see anything so in we went a second time. The Pixie had enough thrust to slow her descent so we didn’t reach a critical depth. I was very glad of the practice the Kusari had afforded us when it came to attaching the grappling arm. Another squall blew up and for a moment I thought the arm was going to be torn away. It held and we crept out of the gas slowly and carefully, monitoring our ship, the Pixie and our hold on her continuously. I never want to see the inside of a gas giant again!The Pixie had taken a battering in Weisen and the crew all looked relieved to be rescued. We thought they might be a problem as we affectively arrested them for illegal skimming; in a red system that can be a pretty serious charge. They didn’t dwell on that, though. They had nearly died for the sake of a few thousand credits and they seemed happy to be alive to be punished. All the same we wore our snubbies for the trip home.With the Pixie impounded and our crew formally arrested we set to work repairing the GR1. Our handling of our ship had kept the damage to the minimum, especially Peter’s flying. But we had all been vigilant keeping power level, managing the drive engines, keeping a look out for squalls or other dangers in the gas. Everyone understood that our dive into Weisen was dangerous and we gained some status on the station, apart from Derisson. He chewed us out claiming that the reason the GR1 took any damage was due to us being so far out of position that we allowed the Pixie to sink too deep into Weisen. This despite us being specifically required to support Max and the University of Mora’s research group. On top of this we had filed a flight plan, as always, and been cleared. Derisson does not have any friends on the GR1.Gorram 331-1080Repairs to the GR1 took a few days. Things weren’t as bad as we initially feared, although the GR1 is starting to look like it needs a thorough overhaul in a shipyard. Helena and I used some of our R&R to start poking around in Derisson’s past. He turned out to be from a completely civilian background, which is uncommon but not rare for stations like these. He was a business school graduate with nothing outstanding to his name. We noticed that he was rather free with customs certificates which authenticate you cargo manifest. A customs certificate from an imperial station can be a great help if you don’t want your cargo inspected along your route. Beyond that, and on its own it meant little, his records looked boring.</blockquote>

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