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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 2018352" data-attributes="member: 515">Chapter XXVDate: 174-993Location: Aboard the Bray Keaven At the appointed move time, Vargas and Kevon gingerly guide the Bray Keaven out of the far trader’s berth. Given that the ship’s communications are out, the pair is using a combination of suit comms, personal communicators, and a short–range link for communications with Fonnein Orbital Traffic Control, and for telemetry and guidance. There also is a cutter assigned to the Bray Keaven to relay communications for what should be a 15-minute maneuver to the other side of Fonnein Orbital. Clearing the berth area goes rather smoothly and the Bray Keaven starts making its way towards the Stork & Sons yard. Traffic is a little busy this morning and mostly consists of various freight–bearing small craft going back and forth between the high port and a couple of large freighters in parking orbits. Vargas guides the ship smoothly along its designated lanes while Kevon keeps an eye on the local traffic. While working the scanner to check the small craft coming and going, Kevon does see something odd: a far trader appears to be under full acceleration while departing its berth in all violation of protocol. The far trader narrowly misses a freight shuttle as it accelerates at a full 2G across the freight shuttle’s path. Over the suit comms, Kevon and Vargas hear a combination of stern and frantic calls: "Markov’s Daughter, come to a full stop immediately. You do not have departure clearance and must . . . " "FS–132. Look out!" "FS–38. Are you seeing this bozo?" "Oh my god . . . " "Marellia Landing, come to course 13 by 330 immediately. Emergency full acceleration." "All traffic. Unless otherwise directed, come to a full stop immediately." Vargas swings the Bray Keaven along her axis and applies full thrust. Since the Bray Keaven wasn’t going very fast, the far trader comes to a stop fairly quickly. -----Meanwhile, Kevon watches in disgust and mounting horror as he sees the errant far trader clip a freight shuttle while trying to avoid a scout courier. The far trader sends the freight shuttle spinning off at a crazy angle and keeps on accelerating. Unfortunately, the impact seems to have affected the far trader’s angle if not controls, and the far trader plows straight into the forward section of a 1000 dTon Tukera Lines long liner. The collision severely mangles the bridge sections of both ships, and both end up thrusting at odd angles away from the station. After a moment of stunned silence, over the comms comes, "Signal GK, Signal GK. This is Fonnein Orbital control requesting that any ships underway with medical personnel lend immediate aid to Marellia Landing and FS-57. We are scrambling emergency response now. Advise that you do not approach Markov’s Daughter and leave her to official personnel." Kevon’s plot marks Marellia Landing as the 1000 dTon Tukera Lines long liner and Markov’s Daughter as the crazy far trader. FS-37 is the freight shuttle. -----"Fonnein Orbital, Bray Keaven," Kevon calls on the comms. "We have a doc on board, but our ship is in no condition to be rendering aid. We request that a ship’s boat meet us at our destination to ferry Dr. Talbek to the accident scene." -----Martha, feeling that Saro will urge the Bray Keaven to respond as he did at the last Signal GK, comms the bridge. "I’m running a passive sensor scan to see if what damage was done to both vessels, in case Doc wants to get involved. It might help him take some appropriate precautions." Martha then focuses the sensor suite on the two vessels, looking for tell–tale signs of damage that might require special gear or protocol to address. -----On the bridge, Vasilii says, "Uh, Kevon, as odd as this sounds, right now I’d say we’re actually in better shape than the liner is, and everything the high port has is probably going to be used to help them. I doubt they’re going to have a ship’s boat free just to pick up Saro, and I wouldn’t want to just leave him without any help, anyway. "Um, OK, we’ve still got one working docking tube, and at least some cargo space and the lounge upstairs that we can use for evacuating people. If they can get a cargo crew to meet us, we can offload some of the cargo to make room as we're dropping off evacuees. At the least, we could try to get the crew off the cargo shuttle. How’s that grab everyone?" -----"Hide that damn cube, if we’re going to be letting people onboard," Martha speaks softly into her comm unit, distracted by her concentration on the sensor sweep. "I doubt any of these people are among those after it, but we’ve had our share of curious passengers lately." -----"Kevon, after all that’s happened I’m leery of taking on anything more without a more functional ship," Vargas says, "but I don’t see that we’ve got much choice. I know if I was out there I’d want us to help." The former Scout shrugs. "Your call." "You’re outvoted two to one so far, and the other vote is from the guy who will probably be patching you up the next time you get injured," Vasilii says. "But I don’t want you to feel pressured here," he adds with a smile. Vargas smiles. "I love a good mutiny." -----The doc bolts through the door of the flight cabin, his heavy breathing indicating that he ran hard to get here. Glancing out the viewport he looks upon the havoc the Markov’s Daughter has generated. Wincing at the destruction he turns toward Kevon. "Mr. Holland, what’s the sitch? Has anyone else indicated they’re moving in to assist?" Looking out the viewport again he continues on in a calm, firm tone. "Get me out there, Mr. Holland. If we can make it without breaking apart, we need to go. I’ll do a tethered jump crossing if we can’t attach to them. If we can’t make it ourselves, get a boat to pick me up." His eyes darting back and forth between the two devastated ships, he comes to a decision, "Mr. Holland, if we can, I’d like to get to the shuttle first. There is likely only one or two crew aboard, so we can easily fit them aboard the Keaven and they’re not likely to have medical supplies. "After we rescue the shuttle’s crew, if no one else has assisted the liner, we make for it. They should have medical facilities aboard, and if it is still pressurized, I can stay aboard there and help the passengers and crew. If the situation is worse than that — we’ll have to cross that bridge when we get to it." "Hey, don’t forget we’ve got that cutter that was assigned to relay comms back and forth!" Vasilii injects. "We could send them on to pick up the shuttle crew while we go after the liner." Accessing the internal comms, Saro calls to the rest of the crew in a no–nonsense manner. "Martha, Ian, if we’re going to stow that be–damned cube, let’s do it now. And anyone who has med training, I don’t care how slight, follow me to the sickbay when we’re done. I’ll pass out some medkits and then we’re getting suited up. There’s some work to be done." "Heads up, Doc," Vasilii says. "Ian, Swann, and Aidan are dockside. Last I saw, the cube was in Martha’s engine room with Kevon’s black box. If she wants them out of her way, I guess we could try putting them up on the bridge with Vargas and Kevon. And if Vargas and Kevon are needed on the bridge, and Martha’s needed in the engine room, that leaves you and me to deal with casualties, and I don’t have any med skill, but I’ll help with what I can." Vargas waits for Vasilii to finish before adding a comment. "I know what you mean Saro, but I’ll do more good aboard as pilot than impromptu medic. If we’re going to linger at any one place I’ll help you out then. Where to, Captain?" The lieutenant commander sighs. "This is not a good idea," he says. Pausing for a moment to glance between Vargas and the expectant Dr. Talbek, Kevon adds, "All right. Mr. Vargas, plot and execute an intercept course for the liner; Doctor, get your gear ready." "Roger that, changing course." -----Saro looks out the viewport again and shakes his head. "Damn it all." With that he turns and heads back to his cabin. -----"Bray Keaven to Fonnein Orbital Control. Belay my last transmission; we will intercept the Marellia Landing and render any aid we can. Bray Keaven out," Kevon announces over the comms. Switching the comms off, he sighs again, "You all are going to be the death of me." "Probably, but at least we’ll have your back when we do," says the former Scout in an entirely too cheerful way. -----Vasilii thinks to himself that he’s seen someone on the ship using a long–range comm, but can’t recall who, where, or when. Not on the Oser. Not on Sentry. "Alief! The holiday outing! Ian had a long range portable he used to call the ship when we needed to be picked up!" Vasilii checks the ship’s locker for it, then Ian’s quarters when he doesn’t find it there. Once he finds it, he runs it up to the bridge. "Hey, remember this? Been a while since I’ve seen it, completely forgot we had the little bugger on board." He turns to Kevon. "That should buy us about 500 clicks or so, which means we don’t need the cutter to relay comms any more, which means we can send them on without worrying about how we’re going to maintain communications."</blockquote>

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