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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 2048973" data-attributes="member: 515">Watching the Marellia Landing with its slight rotation headed towards Fonnein's upper atmosphere, Kevon sees two main options. The first is to attempt to directly dock with the long liner either at its engineering airlock (easy) or its passenger airlock (difficult). Docking at the engineering airlock will be relatively easy, but runs the risk that the passengers can't be brought out that way due to damage on that level. Docking at the passenger airlock will be difficult (and Vargas thinks the idea is too difficult at least for his skills) since the Bray Keaven will have to constantly be adjusting its vector to stay docked. The docking tube isn't a hard connection, so any significant stress/strain will cause it to break. Either docking maneuver will take about 10 minutes from this point. The second main option is to attempt to arrest the long liner's slight rotation by using the Bray Keaven. The Bray Keaven would need to essentially find a place to push against the long liner as the Marellia Landing rotates. The main difficulty would be in performing this maneuver without causing significant hull damage to either ship. Also, setting up for the pushing maneuver and then docking will take about 20 minutes or so. The lieutenant commander assesses the situation for a moment, then straps himself into the chair. “Everyone strap yourselves in; I’m going to adjust the Marellia’s vector and see if I can bring her to a near stop outside of GSO,” he says. “Mr. Vargas, contact the Marellia, Cutter C13 and Fonnein Orbital and tell them that we’re going to go hull-to-hull to gently direct the Marellia away from the planet.” "Roger that" says Vargas as he goes to toggle the comm. “The fighter jocks used to call this ‘rubbing bellies.’ “I’ve been running calculations in my head on how to redirect this thing,” Kevon says as he sits down. “But I don’t know if the docking tube can take the strain. What do you think?” After a moment of contemplation and analyzing vectors, Kevon decides to go for a fairly risky maneuver of trying to angle the 1,000 dTon Marellia Landing away from the upper atmosphere with the 200 dTon Bray Keaven. The lieutenant commander quickly plots and studies the vectors involved. He decides that angling the long liner away from the planet should be doable (but rough). Bringing her to a complete stop probably would be very damaging to the Bray Keaven. Vargas dutifully advises the accompanying cutter and Fonnein Orbital. Fonnein Orbital Traffic Control responds, "Heavenly Father help and bless you. Emergency response teams are ETA 15 minutes." -----Cutter C13 replies, "You're crazy! Thank you, but you're bloody crazy! We'll stand by to assist if we can, but I don't think that we can do much." -----While Vargas warns the cutter and Fonnein Orbital, Kevon keys internal comms and warns the crew to strap in and prepare for collision. Amidst getting ready to receive survivors, Martha and Saro look at each other incredulously for a moment, and then scramble for the nearest acceleration couches. Saro dives for the one the improvised medical bay, and Martha goes for the one in Kevon's new cabin (the spare one next to the medical bay). -----Meanwhile, after having retrieved the long range communicator from the ship's locker, moving the cube, and making Martha worry about his stability with his odd actions/request with regards to the cube during the approach, Vasilii runs to the lift, keys it, and charges towards Aidan’s stateroom. The Vilani merchant hurriedly, but somewhat methodically searches Aidan's stateroom looking for Aidan's handcomp. Aidan's suitcases are unlocked and unpacked. Inside one of the suitcases, he finds an Imperial Standard ID for Aidan Silver. The other suitcase is empty. All of Aidan's clothes are hung or packed away. Vasilii quickly and clumsily paws through them and finds nothing of note other than a very expensive taste in clothes in general and undergarments in particular. "Hmmm, note to self: booby-trap Aidan's underwear later," he mumbles as he scans Aidan's ID into his handcomp. The ID indicates that Aidan’s home world is Galir/Ikhnaton. It gives no address or place of issue (usually the home world). There is no mention of being part of a Noble family -- no Imperial IDs indicate this unless they also include the rank (which is usually how it is done). On the desk, Aidan has placed six models of various warships. In a desk drawer, Vasilii finds a very well-crafted writing kit containing writing utensils, wax, a seal, and sheets, notes, and envelopes of various sizes of real vellum (i.e., very expensive). Scattering the sheets on the bed, Vasilii sees a half written note of some sort. The note appears to be a half-written letter to an old friend named Catherine. The note mainly inquires about her son's health and sports practice as well as gives mini reviews of what sounds like three of the finer restaurants near Sentry Downport. Vasilii makes some quick notes on his handcomp. Catherine's son's name is Montague. The restaurants are Bistro de Paris, Artist Point, and Brown Derby. The seal has a smooth cylindrical handle with the seal at the end. The seal is simply a heavily stylized A. There is also an archaic melter for the wax -- looks like one of those 21st century Terran blowtorch cigarette lighters. He does not find Aidan's handcomp or anything that he thinks is an interesting electronic gadget. -----As the long liner hurtles towards the planet, the Bray Keaven comes up from underneath the much larger ship, turns its belly to the Marellia Landing at the last minute, and crashes into the long liner. The Bray Keaven strikes the long liner with its forward belly. The crash is much harder than Kevon intended, and terrible grinding and crunching noises reverberate through the ship. The lights momentarily dim and almost everything that isn't properly secured flies about. Luckily, Vargas, Kevon, Martha, and Saro are properly strapped in and are only knocked about a bit. Unfortunately, Vasilii is turned into a grav ball and bounces off two walls, the ceiling, another wall, and the floor before coming to rest. Moaning on the floor, the Vilani Merchant feels like he has badly thrown a shoulder as well as possibly reopened some of his shrapnel wounds. -----Noticeably wincing, Vargas says after the controlled collision, "That's going to leave a mark." The Scout starts running whatever diagnostics he can to determine just how much damage the ship has taken, and whether or not something vital has failed. -----A brief exclamation -- "Elvis!" -- escapes Martha's lips as the Bray Keaven slams into the ship, and the damage is done. Already, Martha's mind begins imagining a wide range of catastrophes affecting the ship. -----Saro dives for the accel couch and manages to strap himself down just as the Bray Keaven rubs against the liner. Slamming back and forth against his restraints as the ships caress each other, Saro grunts and curses several times. When the ride settles down, he gingerly releases his restraints and tests his limbs' functionality. His chest, shoulders and hips cry out in protest but he determines that he came through the ordeal intact, although he'll be incredibly sore later, and sporting a brilliant set of bruises. -----“Dammit, dammit, dammit!” Kevon growls mentally at his miscalculation. “If these people ever pay me, I’ll be surprised.” Vargas says, "Kevon, it occurs to me that a lot of our problems would be solved if we scrapped this poor thing and bought ourselves a well armored long-range tug." The lieutenant commander allows a short chuckle to escape through his grimace. “I’d prefer a 150-ton armored patrol combatant, if you’re offering,” he quips. “I saw an old Carnahan-class converted into an armored merchantman in Jump Space Technology Magazine a couple years back going for only Cr12.2 billion. Jump 2, 2Gs with 36 tons of cargo space. The article said something about the pirate-infested backstretch of the Kaufur Sector.” The Scout lets out a low whistle. "I wish I had one to offer, sounds sweet -- oh, that looks like it used to be a high gain antenna,” he says as he points out a chunk of debris whizzing by. “Oh, hush.” -----"Kaan-el's Left Testicle," Saro moans softly to himself, "wasn't that a load of fun? Of course this type of thing is rapidly becoming commonplace," he muses. Over his comm he calls out, "Saro here, I made it through our little maneuver intact. How's everyone else doing? Anyone hurt badly?" -----In spite of being knocked about a bit in his seat, Kevon does manage to keep the Bray Keaven in contact with the much larger long liner, and his course plots and approach appear to be true. After a minute or two of more grinding, Kevon's plot shows that the Marellia Landing should now just miss the upper atmosphere. The new trajectory isn't a proper orbit, but the Bray Keaven has just bought the long liner at least two more hours. "Well, it's an improvement at least,” Vargas says. “Hey, can we bill the locals for damages?" Kevon quickly plots out the chances of further moving the liner and decides that there just isn’t much more to be gained by further mangling the ship. “Martha, do we have hull integrity?” he asks. “I’m about ready to break away.”  -----Martha grunts, "Let me see -- one moment." Struggling to get out of the acceleration couch, Martha moves to the nearest workstation to check the system. At the workstation, she starts to check the hull integrity. -----While he is lying on the floor bruised and battered, Vasilii's comm rings with an indication that a call is coming in from Swann. Vasilii answers the comm and hears Swann say, "I checked, and the person you asked about is still here. What is this all about?"</blockquote>

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