NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 1503848" data-attributes="member: 515">Chapter XXVIDate: 122-993Place: Groves Airport outside Lowford, in Bromley, on Alief The rescue group — Argent, Vargas, Martha, and Darishun — spends the day making final preparations for their first set of rescue runs to the capital. Argent and Vargas talk with Lt. Col. Billings and one of Dr. Warren’s assistants, and agree on a procedure. For each run, the Bray Keaven will: 1). Perform the pickup with the evacuees being housed in the cargo bay during the short ride. Evacuees don biohazard suits where they are hiding before making their way to the cargo bay. 2). Do a relatively quick vertical rise to a suborbital altitude and then descend. 3). Drop the evacuees at the receiving center near the portable building the Bray Keaven brought. 4). Decontaminate the cargo bay. Receive new or decontaminated biohazard suits. With this procedure, assuming that all goes well, the Bray Keaven can rescue two groups a day. Argent and Vargas also plan the order of the first three rescues and look at where they can land the Bray Keaven. There are three groups that claim that they had someone succumb to and recover from the virus. Claim Alpha is a small family of three who are holed up in a house in one of the middle class suburbs. The Bray Keaven should be able to land in the street near the house without too much trouble (or damage) except for damage to vegetation. Claim Bravo is a group of 10 who are occupying a mansion in one of the upper class enclaves of the city. The Bray Keaven can either land in the street about 100 meters from the mansion or on the mansion grounds. Landing on the mansion grounds will require destroying/clearing a couple of statues and a few large trees. Claim Charlie is a family of four who are on the top floors of a skyscraper in downtown Medway. The Bray Keaven will either have to hover just above the top of the skyscraper or land in a traffic circle/park about 500 meters away. Martha and Darishun install about 20 or so temporary seats in the forward part of the main cargo bay for the evacuees. The seats are not acceleration couches, but they will keep the passengers from bouncing around should the gravity be switched off for some reason. Martha and Darishun also load 30 local biohazard suits and place them on temporary storage racks in the cargo bay. -----Dinner finds the foursome in the lounge, munching on Marine rations, still discussing their plans. "We will first ensure that the Bromlian military has contacted the groups, to let them know we’re coming, then we’ll contact the groups individually when we get within 5 minutes of landing," Argent says. "Once we land, Darishun will stand by in the cargo area, as Vargas and myself head in to help the victims out. Of course, that means that we’ll go through four vacc suits between the two of us — we should probably use Bromlian suits for that, to prevent contaminating our own suits. "For the skyscraper, I will continue piloting, and Vargas and Darishun will handle getting the passengers aboard; we’ll warn them about Darishun’s appearance first. "We’ll pick up Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie, in that order. We’ll go with the easiest and closest landing first, then the 100m distant landing, then the hover over the skyscraper." Darishun cocks his head to the side slightly. "So, as standard procedure, you’d like me to stay in the cargo bay area while you and Vargas go in to help the people out? I think that we can decontaminate any suits that we wear in the shower that Martha set up in the port airlock, but we certainly can use the Bromlian suits also. I will wear my own suit since I cannot wear any of the emergency or Bromlian suits since they are a little small for me," the massive sophont adds with an alarming grin. "What would you like Martha to do while you and Vargas go in to help the people out?" Darishun says. "Also, shouldn’t someone will remain on the bridge? Perhaps either you or Vargas should remain on the bridge, I’ll stay in the cargo hold, and Martha and either you or Vargas goes in to help the evacuees out?" Martha says, "I am trained in all facets of operating the ship. If my services would be of better use on the bridge, piloting the Bray Keavan, then I am more than willing to fly her. I have my Level One Certification in Starship Piloting, and have kept my license up-to-date." "Listen, Big Guy," Marcus says affectionately. "These people are probably scared out of their wits right now with the epidemic wandering around, effectively unchecked. And as gentle of a being that you are, my friend, to the primitive eye, you can be pretty frightening. Allow Vargas and me to make the initial contact; we can, at least, soften the blow a bit, OK? "Now, for the first two rescues, the ship will have landed, so unless enemies of Bromley come across the border and attack the ship, I doubt there will be any need to keep someone at the controls at all times on the ground. And with Darishun at the cargo bay, we should be able to deter any would-be mobs.As far as Martha is concerned, she is the engineer, and I want to keep the engines running throughout the entire exercise. Thus, I feel it is best she stay in engineering. With a slight look of surprise, which is somewhat amusing in such a large face, Darishun responds, "Marcus, I was not suggesting that I should be the first to meet the folks. I was just trying to make sure that I understood where everyone would be. I agree entirely that I would be most helpful if I remained at the cargo bay entrance." -----After the meeting, Martha makes whatever preparations she feels are needed as far as equipment goes, double-checking everything to make sure the crew can more readily respond to any untoward threat. She also runs a Level One diagnostic on the ship’s anti-hijacking system, making sure its implementation is running properly in case one of the locals gets the bright idea of trying to take over the Bray Keavan.</blockquote>

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