Episode 10

[Bynw]

[19:40]<Bynw> (( lack of recaps because I'm just not doing it that way. Raith has been on board the Waterloo, an ISD ship for several weeks while his ship is being upgraded with a copy of the Klade jump drive. He is being trained in its operational details that differ from a standard jumpdrive and also learning a bit about the Klade that the ISD has known for the last 10 years ))
[19:44]<Bynw> *the Waterloo's Commander, Malcom Fortson, finds Raith during one of his 'off duty' moments relaxing in the ship's lounge*
[19:46]<Bynw> *Malcom comes up to the table were Raith is sitting. He carries a datapad and 2 drinks.* "I brought you a refill" *he says as he takes a seat*
[19:50]<+Raith> ::Looks up from a talk he's having with one of the Waterloo's female lieutenant's. The lieutenant says her goodbye's and walks away. Raith nods to the commander:: "Commander. I hope that is tequila in your hand, or at least a decent whiskey."
[19:52]<Bynw> "It is indeed sir. I asked the bartender what you were having." *he pushes the drink towards Raith* "I do hate to come in here with business when one is having some R&R but I received some rare orders from the High Command."
[19:54]<Bynw> *he looks at the datapad* "But given the nature of the assignment and the request by the Klade to have you personally at the negotiations. I can see why they would send orders regarding it."
[19:56]<+Raith> "I used to ask myself why I always get orders while I'm relaxing..." ::Takes the shot of tequila in one dose:: "then I realized it was because I was always relaxing." ::smiles::
[19:58]<Bynw> *malcom laughs* "I'm sure that is why ... they know timing. The orders are simple. The High Command still considers the mark 3 jump drive to be experimental. even though we have been using it for 3 years now. skeptics. they don't want any mishaps and think that the months time you are spending here is not enough time for you to be fully versed in there workings. and they are right on that."
[19:58]<Bynw> *he pauses*
[20:00]<+Raith> ::sits back from the table with a sigh and folds his arms over his chest, the smile gone::
[20:01]<Bynw> "I'm sure you are guessing what the orders are ..."
[20:02]<Bynw> "they want an experienced engineer assigned to you."
[20:03]<+Raith> "And I get the feeling this crew isn't a slim, young, redhead, with impulse control problems?"
[20:05]<Bynw> *malcom* "Most likely not. The High Command is leaving the choice to me. And I haven't fully decided yet on who it's going to be. I can tell you it wont be an officer. So you will have rank on both counts."
[20:08]<+Raith> ::Looks a bit disgusted:: "Greeeeeat."
[20:08]<Bynw> "Do you have any personality preferences for men under your command ... are you wanting an officer or someone with higher rank than yourself?"
[20:14]<+Raith> ::Looks a bit surprised:: "Uh...well. Someone that can handle himself in a fight would be nice, but not a meathead. Someone with some computer training would be a plus. I don't want a hard-ass that can't follow orders, but I can't use a robot that can't think for themselves either."
[20:17]<Bynw> "You will find having command and others under you very valuable on assignments out there ... even as a "lone wolf". backup is very handy in a tight spot."
[20:17]<+Raith> "I work under cover on most ops sir. Anyone who can help in that regard would be appreciated, but not required. So long as this shave-tail can keep the lady luck in top form and not get in my way I'll consider myself lucky."
[20:18]<Bynw> "i'm sure i can find someone to fit that bill" *he says taking his drink*
[20:21]<+Raith> ::chuckles:: "Yeah? And here I thought I was putting in a tall order. Guess it's too much to ask for the who slim, redhead thing then huh?"
[20:21]<+Raith> ::Smiles and motions the server for another round::
[20:22]<+Raith> ((who=whole))
[20:22]<Bynw> "That one isnt within easy reach Captain ... possibly later on other tour." *he takes another round himself*
[20:25]<Bynw> *over the ships speakers comes the customary 1 minute warning prior to a jump ... which still happens every 12 hours*
[20:25]<+Raith> "Sir. I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I signed on for action and it seems like all I've been doing lately is sittin' on ass. I'm not used to this much downtime in one place."
[20:26]<+Raith> ::sighs:: "And what is it with all these jumps anyways? Who are we hiding from anyways, sir?"
[20:27]<+Raith> ::Cracks his neck and mutters:: "Starting to get cagey, sir."
[20:30]<Bynw> "The jumps are a security precaution. We jump every 12 hours. Never within a system. Always in the voids between systems. Less likely to be discovered that way. We aren't hiding per se but we are keeping vigilant on our surroundings. Capturing this ship would be a boost to anyone."
[20:31]<Bynw> *he looks at the datapad and punches up its command subroutines* "Engineering reports that the upgrade to your ship will be completed in 48 hours. It should be taken out for a bit of shakedown, don't you agree Captain?"
[20:32]<+Raith> ::Grins:: "Yes Sir!"
[20:35]<Bynw> *the commander stands* "Well I will leave you to your R&R today" *he takes his 2nd drink* "And I'll write the orders for you to take the ship out when it's ready for a shakedown. There will be several others on board with you ... can't get around that ... they have to monitor things to make sure its all good."
[20:36]* Elf (~wildelf9@2A2CA4.6CB250.18E7ED.59A852) has joined #Teara-Adan
[20:37]* Bynw gives voice to Elf
[20:38]<+Raith> ::Takes his second drink as well:: "Thank you sir." ::Stands up with the commander and salutes him::
[20:39]<Bynw> *he doesnt return the salute* "Salute me in here again Captain and I'll space you."
[20:40]* Elf is now known as Ken
[20:40]<+Raith> ::Chuckles and takes a seat:: "Yes, sir."
[20:43]<Bynw> *48 hours later in the docking bay. The 'Lady Luck' has its completed upgrades with the Mark 3 Jumpdrives. A team of 3 engineers (1 officer and 2 nco's) are on board making some final adjustments when Raith arrives in the bay*
[20:45]<Bynw> *the officer is a captain blass who greets Raith as he arrives* "Good morning Captain. She's ready."
[20:47]<+Raith> ::Seems happy:: "That is some very welcome news Captain." ::Takes a moment to admire the Lady Luck:: "Let's not keep her waiting." ::Begins walking towards the Lady Luck to board::
[20:48]* Ken takes a few more readings and then turns to await further instructions
[20:49]<Bynw> *Captain Blass follows Raith on board and turns to the other 2 engineers* "Gentlemen. It's time to take her out for a shakedown. Man your stations."
[20:49]<+Raith> ::Raises his voice:: "Alright let's mount up."
[20:50]<+Ken> "Yes Sir!" *follows Captain Blass aboard and takes his station.*3
[20:50]* Ken is now known as Jack
[20:51]<+Raith> ::Boards the Lady Luck and heads for the familiar pilots chair on the bridge and begins warming the systems up and doing a pre-flight check::
[20:51]<+Jack> "Yes Sir!" *follows Ken aboard and takes hi place.*
[20:51]<+Raith> ::Mutters to no one in particular:: "Hunny, I'm home..."
[20:51]* Jack is now known as Ken
[20:51]<Bynw> *Blass takes one of the other seats on the bridge while the 2 nco's head for the engieering section*
[20:53]* Ken begins a preflight check of the engineering systems
[20:53]<Bynw> *blass* "Engineering shows green. Incoming comm from the flight deck"
[20:53]* Jack (~wildelf9@2A2CA4.6CB250.18E7ED.59A852) has joined #Teara-Adan
[20:53]* Bynw gives voice to Jack
[20:53]<+Raith> ::Closes the boarding ramp and opens a channel to the CAG:: "Waterloo, Lady Luck requesting clearance to launch."
[20:55]<+Raith> ::Switches open a channel to the flight deck:: "Go ahead flight deck."
[20:55]<Bynw> *Flight Deck* "flight deck has been cleared. Spacedoors are opening below you now. Umbilical detaching in 30 seconds ... mark"
[20:55]* Jack monitors the power system
[20:56]<Bynw> *Blass* "Umbilical is detached sir, would you like to fire thrusters to clear us from the Waterloo or shall I?"
[20:57]<+Raith> ::Shoots Blass a dirty look for a moment and then engages the thrusters to gently drop the Lady Luck out of the hanger::
[20:58]<Bynw> *he smiles and chuckles to himself a bit*
[20:59]<+Jack> *keeping an eye on the power grid; remarks to Ken* "Is this your first assignment?"
[21:00]<+Raith> ::To the Waterloo CAG:: "Lady Luck is clear of the hanger. See you in a few Waterloo."
[21:00]<+Ken> "If you do not count training assignments.. yes it is."
[21:01]<+Ken> "well maybe I should count the graduation assignment."
[21:01]<Bynw> *Blass* "FTL's are cold. We are gonna have to take 20 to spin them up. So feel free to fly around for a while."
[21:01]<+Raith> ::As he clears the hanger he engages the main thrusters and the waterloo quickly drops behind the Lady Luck::
[21:01]<+Jack> "Ahh A greenhorn. You'll do fine."
[21:02]<Bynw> "There are a few tricks you can take to potentially reduce that time ... but if you don't do it just right you can end up taking much longer."
[21:03]<+Raith> ::With the Waterloo well behind them he opens the throttle full:: "Let's make sure your boys did their job first eh?"
[21:04]* Ken notes the sudden change in thrust and frowns slightly, checking a few monitors.
[21:04]<Bynw> *Blass* "Let's take the risk shall we Captain." *he starts with some additional code. I'll leave you some detailed instructions to manually do this as well. But I'll also write a subroutine for you to make it quick ... even then its not foolproof."
[21:04]* Jack smiles
[21:04]<Bynw> roll 7df+
[21:04]<BoxCars> Bynw rolls 7df+ and gets (-)(+)( )(-)( )(+)( ) Great
[21:06]<Bynw> *Blass smiles* "Boards looking good. Looks like we will be ready for jump in 10 ... crazy subroutine changes almost all the time too .. but it's doable"
[21:06]<+Raith> ::Banks sharply and then pulls a roll that turns into a reverse bank::
[21:07]<Bynw> *Blass hitting the comms* "Ken, Jack. Check out the internal inertial dampners ... they seem to be a bit out of alignment"
[21:08]<+Ken> "Yes Sir!"
[21:08]* Ken runs a dignostic on the dampeners
[21:09]<Bynw> *blass to Raith* "So, where do you want to jump to?"
[21:09]* Jack seeing Ken running a diagnostic, checks the power flow to the damperners.
[21:11]<+Ken> "Sir, I think the Z compensator needs a minor adjustment."
[21:11]<+Jack> "Power is nominal to the dampenerss."
[21:12]<Bynw> *Blass over comms* "You two take care of it. I want this ship fully functionable ... we aren't docking until it is"
[21:12]<+Ken> "Could I have a steady flight for 10 seconds, Sir?"
[21:13]* Ken does some quick calculations on his pad while he waits
[21:13]<+Raith> ::levels out and reduces thrust to half:: "Captain how far is Hip 8998 from our current position?"
[21:14]<Bynw> *Blass* "Punch it into the navcomp"
[21:14]<+Ken> "ready to attempt the adjustment..."
[21:16]<+Ken> roll 5df
[21:16]<+BoxCars> Ken rolls 5df and gets (+)( )(-)(+)(+)
[21:17]<+Ken> roll 5df+ Engineering
[21:17]<+BoxCars> Ken rolls 5df+ Engineering and gets (-)(-)(-)(-)(+) Poor
[21:19]<+Raith> ::Punches in a jump to the neighboring system of Hip 9989, not mentioning the slight difference to the Captain::
[21:20]<Bynw> *navcomp shows Hip 8998 is 32 pc from our current position*
[21:20]<+Ken> "Try a steep loop now, Sir"
[21:21]<Bynw> *navcomp shows 2 jumps instead of the old jump drive taking several more than that*
[21:23]<+Raith> ::Pulls back on the stick and guns the thrusters pulling a hard loop::
[21:25]<+Ken> *Passengers feel nothing at all as the ship abruptly changes direction*
[21:25]* Ken nods in satisfaction
[21:26]<+Raith> ::levels out:: "Good job Captain."
[21:26]<+Jack> "Nicely done. You have a touch for vector analysis I see."
[21:27]<Bynw> "board is green, we are ready for jump ... lets hope we don't have a misjump"
[21:27]<+Raith> ::Enters the destination for the first jump on the trip to Hip 9989 into the nav computer:: "Let's test the jump drive Captain."
[21:28]* Jack mouths something silently
[21:28]<+Raith> ::Turns on the ship's internal comm:: "Good Job engineering. Time to test out our new drive. Brace for jump."
[21:29]* Ken activates a secondary log monitor; recording energy readings
[21:29]<Bynw> *navcomp reports 3 jumps and automatically begins to spin up the reserve ftl unit*
[21:29]* Ken tightens down his safety web
[21:29]<Bynw> *blass* "jumping in 5 .... 4 ... 3 ... "
[21:29]<+Raith> ::Does the same::
[21:29]<Bynw> "2 ... jump"
[21:29]<Bynw> roll 7df+
[21:29]<BoxCars> Bynw rolls 7df+ and gets ( )(+)( )(+)( )(+)(+) Epic
[21:29]* Jack grips the edge of his seat after ensuring his webbing is tight
[21:31]<Bynw> *the lady luck flawlessly jumps to its first waypoint on the way to its final destination and begins to automatically spin up the primary ftl again ... 5 minutes before next jump"
[21:31]* Ken runs a diagnostic on the jump drives
[21:32]* Jack runs a diagnostic on the power systems
[21:32]<+Raith> ::Opens the internal comm again:: "Outstanding job Engineering. Everything looks good up here. Jump in 4 minutes and 30 seconds."
[21:33]<Bynw> *blass is also working on the engineering bridge panel* "that was a hell of a good jump. i was thinking something smaller for the first jump but we can do some micro jumping later."
[21:35]<+Ken> "Jump drive systems nominal"
[21:35]<+Jack> "Power systems nominal"
[21:36]<Bynw> *the jump drive signals it is ready again and has 10 second countdown that can be aborted if needed before jumping automatically to the 2nd waypoint*
[21:39]<+Raith> ::Internal Comm:: "Brace for Jump."
[21:39]<+Jack> "You know, the misjumps with the first prototype drives were spectacular."
[21:40]<Bynw> *the ship jumps again and reaches its 2nd waypoint. one more jump to go based on the coordinates entered in by Raith. 5 minute spin up time remaining
[21:41]* Jack runs a diagnostic on the power systems
[21:41]* Ken runs a diagnostic on the jump drives
[21:42]<+Raith> ::To Blass:: "How many craft has this drive been tested on?"
[21:43]<Bynw> *blass* "two dozen. this is the first non ISD ship to have it."
[21:46]<Bynw> *the navcomp signals it's ready for jump, however this time it's also displaying a warning that the next jump will take the ship into Klade space. and its requesting the ship captain's authorization code and retina scan to complete the jump*
[21:46]<+Raith> "Interesting. Alright one last jump. Captain are any of the crew certified to use the ship's turrent?"
[21:47]<+Raith> ::punches in the authorization code and looks about for a retinal scanner::
[21:47]<+Ken> "Jump drive systems still nominal"
[21:48]<Bynw> "I see the warning over here on the engineering panel. I would strongly advise against jumping into Klade space unannounced." *the retina scanner is built into the terminal*
[21:48]<+Jack> "Power systems still nominal"
[21:49]<+Raith> "Oh why is that Captain?"
[21:49]<Bynw> *blass to engineering* "If either of you have gunnery skills. I need you in the turrent."
[21:50]<+Ken> "Not I sir."
[21:50]<Bynw> *blass* "because we are on the brink of a peaceful relationship with them. and jumping into their space could be taken as a hostile act."
[21:51]<+Jack> "Yes Sir. On my way although not my MOS."
[21:51]<+Jack> *makes his way to the trret, strapping himself in* "never had to fire one of these in a live fight."
[21:52]<Bynw> "and we will be 5 minutes from jumping out again if there is trouble" *blass adds*
[21:53]* Ken fires up the secondary monitor log
[21:53]<+Raith> "Understood Captain. Thank you for the advice."
[21:53]<Bynw> "as acting first officer, i'm advising against it sir. but it's your ship. your call."
[21:53]<+Raith> "Prepare for jump Captain."
[21:54]* Jack ensures he is securely strapped in and begins a diagnostic check on the turret systems
[21:54]<Bynw> "running the subroutine on the secondary ftl since its still spinning up from the initial spin-up"
[21:55]<Bynw> roll 7df+
[21:55]<BoxCars> Bynw rolls 7df+ and gets ( )( )( )(+)(+)( )( ) Great
[21:56]<Bynw> *blass* "secondary ftl shows green. we should be able to jump right out ... i'm putting in coordinates for it now, as a precaution"
[22:02]<+Raith> ::Uses the retinal scanner and sets to jump::
[22:05]<Bynw> *the ship jumps into Klade space .... as it reaches its destination of the Hip 9989 system.