[001] Welcome to Birach

[Leitz]

[1437.003.0904 (Ship Time)] Lady Perelandra, Birach System

Minutes ticked. The Sensor Officer's brow was covered in sweat as she tuned and re-tuned. "Gain is maxed out, attenuation should be nil. We're getting nothing, I don't-"

An ear splitting wail tore through everyone on the bridge. The Sensor Officer's fingers scrambled over the console and the auditory assault dropped. Eight seconds after starting, it was completely over.

"Got her!" The Sensor Officer grinned maniacally. "Point to Point comms established. Hail sent."

The girl, Alba, came back on the screen. The angle and background were different. She scowled.

"What now? Can't you get away?" She was not looking into the comm viewer, it appeared that she was at a console. Her voice dropped to a whisper."Please, Creator, I can't f*****g save everyone.

The comm is gone.

[Leitz]

[1437.003.0905 (Ship Time)] Lady Perelandra, Birach System

The holo plots a new location for the small merchant. Passive sensors dampen in self-defense as a tunnel of pure energy screams through space. Pure Navy types have seen that display of power, yet it makes it all the more terrifying. The spinal gun from the warship fires. Sensor Ops tracks the beam through the last known position of the small merchant.

[Leitz]

[1437.003.0908 (Ship Time)] Lady Perelandra, Birach System

"Sir?" The Sensor Officer's voice trembled. She stared at her console. "We're being hailed."

Smythe nodded, and Alba came into view. Smoke billowed behind her as a man yelled in the background. Blood ran from her cheek as she looked into the comm. "Please tell me you're running away."

[joertexas]

[1437.003.0908 (Ship Time)] Lady Perelandra, Birach System

"Sir?" The Sensor Officer's voice trembled. She stared at her console. "We're being hailed."

Smythe nodded, and Alba came into view. Smoke billowed behind her as a man yelled in the background. Blood ran from her cheek as she looked into the comm. "Please tell me you're running away."

Vee steps up to speak to her liege in a low voice. "My Lord, the warship will need to burn a lot of mass to bring us into range. If we recover the pod and accelerate on our current vector, we make his problems that much worse. He may decide to not burn that much mass to catch us."

[The Bindoner]

The klaxon snaps Zhenya awake and she swings into the practised routine, suiting-up and readying her LasCar and sword, thinking as she works Blyad'! The boys are here already and I sleep. What ship are we stealing? Wait...

With a sudden laugh she remembers where she is, and that this time she will be defending the vessel, not acting as inside-woman. Shaking her head as she continues to work: Nightmares of years gone bye again.

As she finishes arming for action she calls the Bridge: Kapitan, I am moving to cover the airlock, please advise from which quarter the boarders approach.

Edited to emphasise past times.

[Tiglath]

Foix simply nods his agreement to Vee before returning to the comm "Captain Alba, this is the Comte de Foix, we are clear. You have done your duty well. Now, you can do no more, disengage and explain this battle to me".

To Vee he says "Save the children and get us clear of that capital ship if you can. I didn't think Birach was at war - I need to know what is going on here. If I can do that and save the life of the brave girl flying that trader as well then I will have dragged something from this anarchy".

[Leitz]

"Sorry, never heard of you. Keep running. I'm not sure where this thing came from but it's headed to the research station. We think it's breaking down; we keep making it fire its main gun and it is getting weaker. It doesn't have active sensors but it still packs a punch." Alba met Foix's gaze. "I'm not dead, my duty isn't over."

[joertexas]

EDITED

Foix simply nods his agreement to Vee before returning to the comm "Captain Alba, this is the Comte de Foix, we are clear. You have done your duty well. Now, you can do no more, disengage and explain this battle to me".

To Vee he says "Save the children and get us clear of that capital ship if you can. I didn't think Birach was at war - I need to know what is going on here. If I can do that and save the life of the brave girl flying that trader as well then I will have dragged something from this anarchy".

"Yes, M'Lord." Vee turns to Captain Smythe. "Captain Smythe, with the Comte's compliments, please prepare to recover the life pod immediately. As soon as the occupants are back aboard, plot an evasion course that will allow us to avoid combat without stranding us out here." She turns to the others on the bridge. "Everyone who isn't part of the bridge crew, if you can assist with the pod's recovery, then please help arrange it."

[shaidar]

With the order to leave the bridge Captain Dubois starts to turn and then pauses and turns back, her brow furrowed "What was that wail? Active scanning should not have that effect, unless...maybe it was a condensed data burst, being sent to someone else out there, such as the Birach Navy. Do we have a recording of that noise?"

[Leitz]

The Sensor Ops Officer nodded. "Yes, Ma'am. We'd need some help breaking it all down, though."

[joertexas]

Captain Dubois nods at Vee "Yes, Ma'am", she starts to turn and then pauses and turns back, her brow furrowed "What was that wail? Active scanning should not have that effect, unless...maybe it was a condensed data burst, being sent to someone else out there, such as the Birach Navy. Do we have a recording of that noise?"

"Let's focus on catching that life pod before it drops off our sensors, shall we?" Vee nods toward the navigation plot. "Then, we need to get away from that warship."

[BackworldTraveller]

If you need someone to tag the pod with a line, I'd like to be in that party!

[joertexas]

If you need someone to tag the pod with a line, I'd like to be in that party!

Vee turns to Rock. "Fantastic. You're in charge of the rescue. Get ready and tell us how close we need to get. Take whomever you need. You have five minutes."

[shaidar]

The Sensor Ops Officer nodded. "Yes, Ma'am. We'd need some help breaking it all down, though."

Captain Dubois turns to Vee

"With respect, I think I should remain on the bridge, it's where I can be of most use. I'm guessing that of everyone in this room I'm the one that has the most actual ship-to-ship battle experience. I can assist in decoding the message, which could contain vital tactical information about that warship and the general situation in the system. If that data contains information on the warships systems, I should be able to work out what is wrong with it and how we can take advantage of that."

[BackworldTraveller]

Rock

Captain, We'll need to be as near as you can manoeuvre to match vectors, and we'll need your Cargomaster and his mate. I assume there are mag-clamps in the locker and cable and hoists? And your master at arms just in case they have been taken with mal-intent.

Which airlock is large enough to accept an escape pod? Or are we talking getting the Cargo Bay open to vacuum?

<Radio>Ademola: Any sign of Anna yet - It's urgent we know if she is on the pod?

And Captain, My Maid and our room's Steward are also missing. Are you able to locate them on your security systems?

[BackworldTraveller]

The Sensor Ops Officer nodded. "Yes, Ma'am. We'd need some help breaking it all down, though."

Captain, Elvira is a data person...It would take her mind off the children, and my antics in attempting a rescue, for her to look that over!

[Leitz]

Some precious children are "focused"; as they start school and approach their pre-teen years they show an unusual ability to work on "adult" challenges.

Freya blew through "focused" at age three. At five she lept into "maniacally capable" and isn't slowing down. An average six year old might be able to activate a Stillwell Mark Four. Freya could do it while eating a sandwich and mentally computing travel time to Birach's planetary alert sensors.

Ademola said the children were going to their parent's stateroom just before the alarm. She (?) is continuing the search aboard, in hopes that they are still aboard. There are hundreds of places they could be hiding. Anna reports that she and the Steward are continuing the search as well. So far, all other passengers, crew, and Foix house members are present.

Within two minutes, an Engineer's Mate approached Rock. "Sir, we can review the recovery process in the forward common area. It's big enough to hold the team."

The man put his hand on Rock's shoulder. "I have children too, sir. So do several of the others. We will succeed."

[BackworldTraveller]

Within two minutes, an Engineer's Mate approached Rock. "Sir, we can review the recovery process in the forward common area. It's big enough to hold the team."

The man put his hand on Rock's shoulder. "I have children too, sir. So do several of the others. We will succeed."

I head to the lounge and outline my ideas...

OK - My thinking is we anchor using clamps at this end, and either jump and tether or (if someone brought a manoeuvre pack aboard) fly and tether - and then we winch in as fast as we can. As soon as we get the pod inside, we slam the bay doors, tell the ship they can go for it and then re-pressurise and recover.

I look at the team...

Anyone else got a better idea? 'Cause I'm possibly a bit close to the passengers to be totally objective at this point.

And (reading their name-tags) I work round putting each on the spot.

Assuming that they agree: OK, Mr Cargomaster...who is best at which job?

[Leitz]

The old CPO that Rock looked to nodded, and then turned towards a young girl. Teens, in that acne still showed and the form in the coveralls was definitely not male. She looked shocked, for a moment, and then stood straight. A deep breath.

The CPO coughed, "Something we can understand, if you don't mind."

The girl nodded, and then brushed a stray lock of hair from her face. "Sir, the Mark Four has two on-ship recovery processes. If we can achieve zero motion, relative, we can use the on-board controls to redock her directly. That takes twenty-seven minutes to do right, and with children aboard that's what we'd want. Roping one at speed has risk. Any motion from the Lady would risk the connections and anyone aboard the pod who was not buckled in. The aft Engineering hatch has the clamps and connections. We can set up the emergency dock there and bring the pod in. Once we repressurize the lock we can open the pod's hatch."

It was a surreal moment for Rock. Ten years from now some old guy would look at Freya with the same doubts.

The girl set her jaw and glared at Rock. "Sir, my mother trained with Chief Lucky. We can do this."

[BackworldTraveller]

27 minutes isn't going to be popular with the captain with 50k dTons of warship bearing down.

We'd need zero-relative to get aboard the pod or it's jam time. So that's a given.

With a wire, once we are connected we can start winding in immediately. About 5 mins max at 50m/min assuming 250m separation - and a good pilot should be able to do better than that. Also with a wire we could use low accelerations (.1G) to move us. Depending on wire strength that could build up considerably if needed provided we don't jerk. With a 10 ton wire we could hit 2G safely - provided the wire stays tight (i.e. no turns).

If the controls are good, then they can help guide the pod aboard too.

What do you think? Daft?