The Drus Badlands (S.E.T. 2)

[Recklessfireball]

For threads taking place in the bleak, barren Badlands of Drus...

[Recklessfireball]

The following morning, your Chronocoms activate, telling you to report to shuttle 3, for debarkation. Gear in tow, you board the shuttle with a mix of eagerness and anxiety. The reason you signed on for this job, is finally at hand!

The shuttle pilot, a short, spunky human female, who introduces herself as Jennifer Tycho, welcomes you onboard. As she flips switches and punches in codes for the launch sequence, she looks over her shoulder and says, “So you guys are going to the Badlands, huh? Can't say I'd trade assignments with you- nothing I hate worse than heat and dust. Grab a seat, and strap yourselves into the safety webbing. Theres some pretty heavy ionization in the atmosphere; when you get close to the Tetrarch sites, sometimes things can get a little bumpy.” She pauses, then looks apologetically at Nuk, adding,“The big guy'll probably have to hunker down in the cargo hold. Sorry, but I don't think the crash couch will hold you.”

A short while later, the shuttle blasts off and you feel yourselves pressed back into your seats as the craft accelerates. Thirty minutes later, Tycho activates her chronocom, and says,“This is Moonhopper 3-Gamma-Niner, requesting clearance to land at Base Camp Cappa, over.” Her request is met with resounding silence. She activates the chronocom and repeats it, looking over her shoulder and saying, “Don't worry- the ionization sometimes interferes with communications; it'll get through eventually. You've probably already been briefed about that, though.”

Sure enough, a few seconds later, the reply from base camp comes over the comm system. It's staticy and a little garbled, but comprehensible. “Affir...ive... oon...opper. Th... is Base Camp Cappa. Per...ission granted. Proceed to LZ.”

“Roger that, Base Camp. Initiating landing sequence. See you soon.” Turning to look at you, she says, “All right people, here we go...”

You feel the shuttle bank sharply and there's a mild vibration as the craft breaks atmosphere. It's relatively minor, at first, then suddenly you feel a violent jolt, and the craft lurches to one side, hurling your around in the crash webbing. You can see see lights blinking on the cockpit control panel. Tychos fingers dart over the console, flipping switches and making adjustments with cool efficiency. She chuckles, and says, “Whoa! That was a good one; doesn't usually get this rough.” She grins, and glances over her shoulder at you. “Don't worry though, I've dealt with this stuff before. Looks like we had the bad luck to drop right into a lightning storm. Should break through in another couple of...”

Suddenly, there's an even more dramatic jolt than the first. You're tossed around in your crash webbing like rag dolls, and the cockpit console explodes in a shower of sparks! Tychos thrown forward, violently, her forehead smashing into the console. The impact renders her immediately unconscious; her head lolling limply to once side. You can see blood running freely from a nasty gash above her right eye.

Claxons wail and red lights flash all over the ship. The speakers activate. You can hear the computer declare urgently, “Attention! Attention! Flight controls not responding! Port engine offline! Angle of entry off by 34.771%. Autopilot offline! Please initiate corrective maneuvers to avoid crash! Repeat: Please initiate corrective maneuvers immediately!”

[Blackrazor]

Nuk grumbles sadly, as he shakes his head and prepares for the crash.

[Argennian]

"Oh shit, lads! We just lost our pilot!" cries Marcus desperately as he sees Tycho hit her head and get knocked unconscious. The thought of crash landing strikes him as all things very bad and he wonders if he and the others would live through such an eventuality. "I need to get her a stimdose and quick, otherwise we're all bloody toasted! Anyone else know how to fly this bucket?!" he exalts to no one in particular, reaching for one of the two stimdoses that he keeps handy on his equipment belt.

Marcus will try to determine what the interval between the violent jolts is and if he thinks he can safely untether himself and get a stimdose on her before he makes himself the second casualty. If he thinks it is even possible, he'll wait till the violent shaking stops and move forward. Otherwise, if it is non-stop, he'll stay strapped in and start praying!


OOC: Reckless, is there another seat up by the pilot? If so, does it have a seatbelt/harness? was Tycho wearing hers?

[Recklessfireball]

OOC: Reckless, is there another seat up by the pilot? If so, does it have a seatbelt/harness? was Tycho wearing hers?

There is a co-pilots station. Tycho had her lap belt on, but wasn't strapped into her full harness; let her example be a cautionary tale to dare-devil pilots everywhere.

The shuttle is plummeting into the atmosphere and shuddering violently, as it vibrates from the friction against its hull. Your med kit is stowed in an overhead storage compartment; there was no reason for you to believe you would need it on the ride down. You'll need to make a DEX check to keep standing while you extract it from the compartment- then another DEX check to open the thing and retrieve your hypo without spilling everything from the turbulence- then ANOTHER to drag yourself into the cockpit and administer the dose without losing your balance and falling. So, 3 DEX checks total. Yeah... sucky, but that's the situation you're stuck in here.

[Recklessfireball]

I've decided that in order to make threads a little less lengthy, and to put the relevant information in a place easy for you to find, from now on I'll be placing dice rolling instructions as edits labelled "GM" within your last post. If I need to post instructions or results for multiple players at the same time, I will still lump them together in their own post. Hope this doesn't confuse anyone.

Also, in accordance with my 24hr turnover policy, I'll give everyone until this afternoon to post actions for their characters, then I'll roll for anyone that hasn't caught up yet, so we can keep the action moving forward.

[greyarea]

Vombis "Bob" the Dralasite

Vombis is no pilot but.... I can try to fly this thing. I have an idea of how their engines work...

Vombis moves to the co-pilot seat and tries working things.

GM: Bob needs to make a DEX check to get to the co-pilots seat without getting tossed against a bulkhead and thrown to the ground. If he makes it, he can try to straighten out the shuttles trajectory with an Operate Machine sub-skill check.

[Recklessfireball]

OOC: Want to give greyarea and Argennian some time to post replies before I move this forward, so hang in there a while longer, guys.

[Argennian]

Marcus mouths a silent prayer to as many Old Earth gods as he thinks will listen and begins reaching for his harness release when...

Vombis "Bob" the Dralasite

Vombis is no pilot but.... I can try to fly this thing. I have an idea of how their engines work...

Vombis moves to the co-pilot seat and tries working things.

Suddenly relieved that someone else might have a shot of averting their team either coming apart in the atmosphere or wrecking on the planet surface in a huge fireball, Marcus looks to Vombis, unable or at least unwilling to try and hide his fear and concern. "Be careful, Bob! And if you can get to that chair, don't forget to stap on the flight harness! Otherwise we'll be in the same boat with two people down!"

Marcus holds his breath and waits to see if Bob the Dralasite can make it. If he cannot, he will follow through with his previous designs.


OOC: 3 Dex rolls?

Yeah, I'm voting for Team Dralasite! Go Bob go!!

[Recklessfireball]

OOC: Gonna go ahead and make Vombis' Operate Machine roll for him, in order to move things along. C'mon Bob, you can do it, buddy!...
Generic Rolls [1d100] = 76 (Or not- heh )

Vombis's pseudopods dart frantically over the dash, flipping switches and adjusting levers. He growls in frustration, as he realizes the control surfaces at the co-pilots station are also non-responsive.

"Crap- I'm gonna have to do this the old fashioned way," he says. "Hang on, guys!" Then he flips the comm switch and says, "Computer, release flight controls for manual reentry."

Theres a seconds delay, then the computers infuriatingly calm voice replies, "Manual controls released. Good luck, sir." And immediately, a control yoke pops out of a recess in the center console. Vombis grabs hold of the joystick with sweaty pseudopods, and says, "All right, here we go..."

OCC: Vombis must now make a DEX check (there will be a considerable penalty, thanks to the angle of entry, damage to the shuttle, and wind shear) to try to get the ship to level out and slow it's descent. If anyone else wants to try to do something, feel free to post (not that I recommend such, necessarily. Just want you to know you have the option. )

[greyarea]

Vombis "Bob" the Dralasite

Vombis struggles with the joystick. If Dralasites could sweat, he'd be doing so in buckets.

[1d100] = 1 Stat check

GM: And Bob reveals his hidden talent for piloting, with a roll of awesome!

The flight yoke bucks and vibrates in Vombis's grip. He extends his third pseudopod for extra control, and pulls on the yoke with all his strength, keeping his attention on the altimeter and gyroscope. The ship rattles and groans, then slowly but surely, levels out and slows it's descent. The Dralasites eyespots flick across the displays, quickly assessing their condition.

GM: Against all odds, Vombis has managed to turn a plummeting death spiral, which would have assured your collective destruction, into a chance to make a crash landing that you may all walk away from unscathed. Additionally, the shuttle is descending sufficiently smoothly, that O'Riley can unbuckle from the crash webbing, retrieve his case, and attempt first aid on the pilot without needing to make a DEX check!

The shuttle is going down- that is inevitable. Vombis must now make another Operate Machine check. If he succeeds, he can gently (comparatively speaking) "belly" the hopper in, without injury to anyone on board. If he fails, the landing with toss everyone around in the crash webbing, stuff will fly from the storage compartments (possibly hitting some of you) and, of course, poor Nuk will get bounced around the insides of the shuttle.

So, roll them bones or bone them rolls, guys!

[Argennian]

... Against all odds, Vombis has managed to turn a plummeting death spiral, which would have assured your collective destruction, into a chance to make a crash landing that you may all walk away from unscathed. Additionally, the shuttle is descending sufficiently smoothly, that O'Riley can unbuckle from the crash webbing, retrieve his case, and attempt first aid on the pilot without needing to make a DEX check! ....

OOC: Huzzah on that uber-crushed stat check, greyarea!

As soon as the shuttle stops buffeting and shaking, Marcus unstraps himself, grabs his medikit from the storage compartment above him and moves over to their unconscious pilot.

First thing he'll do is strap Tycho into her harness, to prevent further injury when they land. He will then proceed to use his medscanner, to be sure her wounds are not more severe than they appear. Finally, he'll use a Stimdose to try and revive her!

GM: Sorry, I'm a little late to the party- been unusually busy today. Marcus buckles Tycho into her harness (no need to roll, the shuttle is stable enough, it isn't a problem) and does a quick medscan. She has a fairly severe laceration on her head, and was knocked out by the blow, but doesn't appear to have a concussion. You determine that it's safe to revive here, and give her a shot of the Stim.

Tycho raises her head groggily and looks around in confusion. "What... what happened? Did we crash?" she asks. It's clear she's still somewhat disoriented.

[greyarea]

Vombis "Bob" the Dralasite

The shuttle is going down- that is inevitable. Vombis must now make another Operate Machine check.

Bob tries to bring the shuttle down as gently as possible. If a Dralasite could sweat, he'd be sweating gyrojets.
[1d100] = 53 Stat check

GM: And the little blob does it again! He may have missed his calling as a professional shuttle pilot!

As Marcus administers some timely first aid to Tycho, Vombis wrestles to keep the shuttle on a level trajectory as it steadily loses altitude and plummets toward the ground. His extra pseudopod toggles switches and punches buttons, trying to compensate for wind-shear and the dead auto-correction of the flight controls. Seeing they are about to touch down, he says in a somewhat strained voice, "You'd better go sit down and strap yourself in, O'Riley- I think we're about to crash! Everybody hang on!"
Marcus, sensing the urgency of the situation, pats Tycho on the shoulder, telling her not to move, then quickly does as Vombis suggests.

The shuttle whines and vibrates as the dralasite fires the retro-thrusters and deploys the air brakes, fighting with the control yoke to keep the crafts nose up. A few seconds later, the shuttle hits the ground with a violent jolt and the tortured scream of metal, as the ship skips and jumps across the barren terrain. For one long, terrifying moment, you're all certain that the shuttle is going to flip and roll, exploding into a fiery ball of shrapnel. But, miraculously, after a several seconds (which feel like an eternity) the shuttle skids to a stop and everything grows eerily silent.

Bob sighs in relief, and looks back over his shoulder. Everyone is strapped in and apparently uninjured. Even poor Nuk, who didn't have the benefit of a crash couch, only got a little jogged around, and suffered no real injuries- a veritable miracle!

[Argennian]

Marcus buckles Tycho into her harness (no need to roll, the shuttle is stable enough, it isn't a problem) and does a quick medscan. She has a fairly severe laceration on her head, and was knocked out by the blow, but doesn't appear to have a concussion. You determine that it's safe to revive here, and give her a shot of the Stim.

Tycho raises her head groggily and looks around in confusion. "What... what happened? Did we crash?" she asks. It's clear she's still somewhat disoriented.

"You hit your head on the console cause you weren't strapped in, lass. Sit back and settle in, Bob's got the stick, " Marcus explains before collecting his medikit and returning it to the overhead storage compartment. He will then proceed to strap himself back in with a quickness and hope for the best.

[Argennian]

As Marcus administers some timely first aid to Tycho, Vombis wrestles to keep the shuttle on a level trajectory as it steadily loses altitude and plummets toward the ground. His extra pseudopod toggles switches and punches buttons, trying to compensate for wind-shear and the dead auto-correction of the flight controls. Seeing they are about to touch down, he says in a somewhat strained voice, "You'd better go sit down and strap yourself in, O'Riley- I think we're about to crash! Everybody hang on!"
Marcus, sensing the urgency of the situation, pats Tycho on the shoulder, telling her not to move, then quickly does as Vombis suggests.

The shuttle whines and vibrates as the dralasite fires the retro-thrusters and deploys the air brakes, fighting with the control yoke to keep the crafts nose up. A few seconds later, the shuttle hits the ground with a violent jolt and the tortured scream of metal, as the ship skips and jumps across the barren terrain. For one long, terrifying moment, you're all certain that the shuttle is going to flip and roll, exploding into a fiery ball of shrapnel. But, miraculously, after a several seconds (which feel like an eternity) the shuttle skids to a stop and everything grows eerily silent.

Bob sighs in relief, and looks back over his shoulder. Everyone is strapped in and apparently uninjured. Even poor Nuk, who didn't have the benefit of a crash couch, only got a little jogged around, and suffered no real injuries- a veritable miracle!

Marcus closes his eyes and let's out a long and thankful held breath before collecting himself and snapping to action. "Is everyone okay? Anyone hurt?" he yells out as he undoes his harness and reaches for his medikit, his mind already racing.

He'll move over and check on Tycho. As he cleans her wound and sets to wrapping a bandage, he'll ask her a few questions. "You see where we went down or how far away from base camp we are? Will they or Gamma Niner have seen us go down?"


OOC: sorry for my double post and confusion here, RF. Didn't see you had edited both our posts with your responses!
GM: No sweat, buddy.

[Recklessfireball]

Tycho listens to Marcus as he bandages her head. She thanks him gratefully, when he's finished. Then she sighs and shrugs. "No idea where we're at. As far as whether or not G-9 saw us go down, it's hard to say. Depends on how much ionization was interfering with the satellite telemetry." She pauses, then punches some buttons, attempting to run a quick diagnostic. "Damn, most of our systems are down- including the subspace radio. I can't even tell how badly damaged the shuttle is, though I imagine it's pretty bad. That dral did one hell of a job setting us down, though. We should all be dead right now." She looks over at Vombis and nods in respect. "Nice work, buddy. Where'd you go to flight school?"

[greyarea]

Vombis "Bob" the Dralasite

I went to the school of hard landings, says Vombis in reply to Tycho. He chortles at his own joke.

He looks out the viewports, straining to see where they are. So what do we do now? Grab supplies and start hiking? Do we have any way of knowing how far off course we landed?

Vombis tries repairing the subspace radio.

[1d100] = 17 Stat check

GM: Looking out the viewport, Vombis sees a bleak, featureless expanse of cracked hard-pan, broken by the occasional, stunted weed. Just on the horizon, he can make out the shapes of large, wave-like sand dunes.

When he asks Tycho the question, she sounds irritated, "No idea- navigation and sensors are trashed. We've still got life support- so we shouldn't have to worry about heat stroke or dehydration for a while- at least, as long as the para-batteries and water rations hold out."

Vombis opens the panel to the sub-space transceiver and begins tinkering with the circuitry, working dilligently as he listens to the pilots reply. Seeing him laboring, she makes a cynical noise and says, "Don't waste your time- the transceiver is completely fried and relays are gone and we haven't got any spares onboard to repair them. There's no way that..." she pauses, as Vombis pulls some relays from the now defunct navigational systems and plugs them into the transceiver, rerouting power from the inertia screens. The blinking indicator on her comm panel suddenly changes from red to orange.

"I'll be damned!" she exclaims, "We've got partial communications restored! You're a regular little techno-wizard, aren't you?" She works the comm panel for a second, then remarks, "Still too much ionization to reach G-9 with the damaged gear, but I think I can get through to base camp, at least. Give me a second here..."

Tycho sends out a distress call and a few seconds later there's a distorted, but comprehensible reply.

"We hear you loud and clear, Tycho. We've tried to contact Gamma Niner to apprise them of your situation, but there's heavy atmospheric disturbance and we're having some trouble getting through. In the meantime, we've assembled a rescue team and we're sending them out in a Sand Cat to pick you up. Our sensors show you went down at coordinates 1711, about 25 kilometers south and east of your our position. Should take our team about two and a half hours to reach you. Just sit tight until we get there; roger?"

"Roger that, base camp," Tycho replies, sounding extraordinarily relieved. "And thanks." She flips the comm off, then turns to the rest of you. "Well, I guess the only thing to do now is kick back and wait for pick up. Sorry about all the excitement, guys."

GM: I should clarify that when i write something like coordinates 1711, it corresponds to that hex number on the appropriate map (in this case, the Drus Badlands) in the Maps thread.

[Argennian]

Marcus gives Vombis a thankful pat on the appendage. "That was some quick thinking and keen flying back there, Bob. Appreciations on saving our arses then," he offers with a smile and a wink.

..."Roger that, base camp," Tycho replies, sounding extraordinarily relieved. "And thanks." She flips the comm off, then turns to the rest of you. "Well, I guess the only thing to do now is kick back and wait for pick up. Sorry about all the excitement, guys."...

Marcus recovers his water pack and offers some to their former pilot. "No worries there, Tycho! At least we got a hold of them and know they're coming. Would hate to be stuck out here and have to try to get back on foot in this place, so that's well enough for me. Besides," he says sarcastically with a toothy smile, "we can all brag that we've survived a shuttle crash now!"

[greyarea]

Vombis "Bob" the Dralasite

Wow, if I was this good a tech at my old job, I wouldn't have had to take on this work, says Vombis, chortling to himself. I guess we wait here until pickup. Two and a half hours isn't bad. Do we have cards to play a game?

[Recklessfireball]

Tycho takes the proffered drink and swallows, thanking Marcus gratefully. Then she looks over at Vombis and says mischievously, "Sure, there's a deck in the supply compartment just behind your seat, there. Better be careful though- I'm a deft hand at Truane style Faro. You'll probably get a commendation and a pay bump for that daredevil landing of yours; be a shame for all that money to wind up in my pockets."

While the pilot and the dralasite discuss how they're going to pass the time, the Saurian woman, Seela K'tan, unbuckles from her her crash webbing and rises smoothly to her feet. She places a slender hand on Vombis's shoulder and says, "Well done, my little friend. Your skillful landing has saved all our lives. We owe you a great debt."

Shifting her attention to Tycho, she says, "I'm feeling a bit claustrophobic in the confines of the shuttle. I'd like to step outside, breathe the air of this new world, and let my muscles stretch. Do you have any objections?"

Tycho shrugs. "Fine by me. Watch yourself, though- and don't wander too far. There's supposed to be some pretty dangerous life forms on this moon."

Seela nods. "I'll be cautious," she replies. Then she grabs her gear and weapons from the overhead, straps them on, and activates the shuttles access hatch. As the gangramp lowers, a blast of hot, dry, air blows into the craft, bringing with it small particles of dust. The saurian shields her eyes against the glare, then steps out into the desert, the ramp closing behind her.

After a span of about ten minutes, the hatch opens and Seela steps back inside, a grave expression on her face. Tycho catches the look, and asks,"What's wrong?"

The Saurian looks thoughtful for a moment, then replies, "I'm... not sure, but I think a storm might be approaching. A large one. I can see a great wall of dust on the horizon, stretching to the sky. There is lightning, as well, and I can hear the rumbling of thunder in the distance. Perhaps I'm overreacting, but... someone more knowledgeable about such things might want to come have a look."

She glances at each of you, expectantly.