(013) Phlume [1611 Spinward Marches]

[Eris]

In only a few seconds a call comes in on Ship's Comm.

"Welcome in Phlume. This is Phlume Traffic Control, please switch on your Transponder and respond with your intentions in the Phlume system." says the female sounding voice over the radio.

Two ships are within range of your passive sensors. One appears to be leaving Phlume and nearing the 100 dia sphere, but it is far from you. The other is inbound to Phlume, nearing orbit.

There is no Up port facility here at Phlume, so ships either land or orbit and use lighters, or boats, to access the planet's surface.

[Tiglath]

As her ETA ticks by Sigrun snorts "Ýmirs frosteistna!" then looks to Carlos with a warm smile and says "You're getting distracted - Zaki's leg must be getting better!"

She quits her seat on the bridge and says "I'll go and check the passengers haven't made any mess coming out of jump".

[joertexas]

In only a few seconds a call comes in on Ship's Comm.

"Welcome in Phlume. This is Phlume Traffic Control, please switch on your Transponder and respond with your intentions in the Phlume system." says the female sounding voice over the radio.

Two ships are within range of your passive sensors. One appears to be leaving Phlume and nearing the 100 dia sphere, but it is far from you. The other is inbound to Phlume, nearing orbit.

There is no Up port facility here at Phlume, so ships either land or orbit and use lighters, or boats, to access the planet's surface.

Zaki checks the passengers and crew to be sure everyone is still breathing. She also pulls up the jump pool to see who had closest to 172 hours.

[bruce.desertrat]

In only a few seconds a call comes in on Ship's Comm.

"Welcome in Phlume. This is Phlume Traffic Control, please switch on your Transponder and respond with your intentions in the Phlume system." says the female sounding voice over the radio.

Two ships are within range of your passive sensors. One appears to be leaving Phlume and nearing the 100 dia sphere, but it is far from you. The other is inbound to Phlume, nearing orbit.

There is no Up port facility here at Phlume, so ships either land or orbit and use lighters, or boats, to access the planet's surface.

Pedro starts the transponder and comms Phlume Control "Phlume Control, this Captain Wong of the merchant Connie Malone, we have cargo and people to deliver. We're about 14 hours out."

[terrymixon]

Emily will get the two engineers doing the post jump checklist and report to the bridge once it's complete.

She'll nod at Pavel. "Nicely done."

[Keven]

In only a few seconds a call comes in on Ship's Comm.

"Welcome in Phlume. This is Phlume Traffic Control, please switch on your Transponder and respond with your intentions in the Phlume system." says the female sounding voice over the radio.

Two ships are within range of your passive sensors. One appears to be leaving Phlume and nearing the 100 dia sphere, but it is far from you. The other is inbound to Phlume, nearing orbit.

There is no Up port facility here at Phlume, so ships either land or orbit and use lighters, or boats, to access the planet's surface.

Pedro starts the transponder and comms Phlume Control "Phlume Control, this Captain Wong of the merchant Connie Malone, we have cargo and people to deliver. We're about 14 hours out."

Carlos scratches his head. "Skipper, the math just doesn't work out right for this. 17.1 hours at 2g means we're 18.950 million klicks out. Now Phlume is a Size 8 world, which means it's 12900 klicks diameter. 100 diameters out from that is 1.29 megaklicks, about 3 1/2, 4 hours tops at speed. Hell, the solar jump radius of a G5V star is 43 megaklicks and that's way inside the Goldilocks zone. Single star per the catalog, so no close companion to bollux up the math. So why does the standard jump tables dump us way the hell out here???"

[bruce.desertrat]

Carlos scratches his head. "Skipper, the math just doesn't work out right for this. 17.1 hours at 2g means we're 18.950 million klicks out. Now Phlume is a Size 8 world, which means it's 12900 klicks diameter. 100 diameters out from that is 1.29 megaklicks, about 3 1/2, 4 hours tops at speed. Hell, the solar jump radius of a G5V star is 43 megaklicks and that's way inside the Goldilocks zone. Single star per the catalog, so no close companion to bollux up the math. So why does the standard jump tables dump us way the hell out here???"

Pedro frowns "You're right, that is a long way out. Sure you didn't fat finger a code or anyting?" He thinks a moment. "Connie do you have any similar jumps in your logs, Extolay to Plume? Can you find your travel times post jump? Also please recheck your jump table data; are there any recent timestamps for data updates?"

He comms Engineering. "Emily, please double and triple check our j-drive logs. We came out a lot farther away that we think we should have."

He turns to Carlos "If we're lucky, this is just some fluke, but if someone wanted to get us out here in the open, juking the jump data updates would be one sure way of doing it."

Does the Connie do 2 G or 1? The specs in the Trav docs say 1G.

Pedro continues "Maybe I"m just paranoid, but I think we should go to alert status. Quietly. He comms the crew channel " John Lee and Sigrun man the turrets, please. We are at stage 1 alert status. I see no known threats but we came out a lot farther away than the astrography would indicate, not sure why. "

"Connie, maintain maximum range passive sensors 360 global." he pulls up the local astrographic data "lets see if there are any likely hideyholes near by for a bad guy to hide."

[terrymixon]

He comms Engineering. "Emily, please double and triple check our j-drive logs. We came out a lot farther away that we think we should have."

"Copy that. We're on it."

She'll go over the logs with Pavel, looking for any anomalies.

[Tiglath]

Sigrun returns to the bridge. She has clearly taken a diversion to her stateroom because, in addition to her military hard helmet (which she usually carries at her hip when wearing her vacc suit), she now carries her axe and a tac vest festooned with ammo and gear. She carries her gauss rifle inverted which is explained when she slides a last grenade into the underslung launcher and closes the breach.

She says "Carlos is too good to have gone short. Kapiten you should consider getting Connie either a Sword World personality or a security overlay. She's been fooled once and now it seems she's been fooled again - I don't believe in coincidence. For now I suggest we vector onto an orbital course perpendicular to a direct approach. Connie's a girl built for comfort and not speed and, while she can't outrun trouble, she can avoid being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If we're not where we are expected to be those awaiting us might go active and show their hand. Whatever scenario develps we will have the tactical inititaive".

She grins and then adds "That was the tactical commerce raiding analysis but I'm here to give you options. So alternative two - crazy belter. Turn and burn for the black. No increase in threat and no one rational will expect it and, once more, we trade position for time!"

[bruce.desertrat]

Crazy Ivans only work if they can't *see* you

Pedro considers a moment "My problem with this is..as you say, Connie's built for comfort, not speed. If there is someone out in the black gunning for us, they're certain to have a faster ship. Our transponder's on, so we're active...they know where we are and what our vector is. Juking now lets them know we know, and we're a long way from help. "

He stares off for a bit, thinking. "I think we may suffer a failure of our comms system that will require shutting down the transponder for a few hours. Phlume control shouldn't mind since they know we're a long way out. This could have ramifications with regards to licenses, so this isn't a Captain only thing. I'm thinking going dark, then going random crazy belter vectors gives us some maneuvering room...might force any bad guys to go active and we'll id them." he smiles grimly, "and with any luck, Phlume SysDef....if any.."

He looks around the bridge "Ideas? Thoughts? Mutinous mutterings"

REALLY want the answers to the questions I asked Connie! before I commit

[Tiglath]

Sigrun replies "I don't think we can rely on too much help from Sys Def. Phlume's a quiet agric world and will have nothing much in the way of her own ships and has no Imperial bases. It's a good place for an ambush especially if someone was able to make us jump short. Also, unless we want to go prospecting in the asteroid belt, all the available fuel is on the surface or at the star port".

[Eris]

In only a few seconds a call comes in on Ship's Comm.

"Welcome in Phlume. This is Phlume Traffic Control, please switch on your Transponder and respond with your intentions in the Phlume system." says the female sounding voice over the radio.

Two ships are within range of your passive sensors. One appears to be leaving Phlume and nearing the 100 dia sphere, but it is far from you. The other is inbound to Phlume, nearing orbit.

There is no Up port facility here at Phlume, so ships either land or orbit and use lighters, or boats, to access the planet's surface.

Pedro starts the transponder and comms Phlume Control "Phlume Control, this Captain Wong of the merchant Connie Malone, we have cargo and people to deliver. We're about 14 hours out."

Carlos scratches his head. "Skipper, the math just doesn't work out right for this. 17.1 hours at 2g means we're 18.950 million klicks out. Now Phlume is a Size 8 world, which means it's 12900 klicks diameter. 100 diameters out from that is 1.29 megaklicks, about 3 1/2, 4 hours tops at speed. Hell, the solar jump radius of a G5V star is 43 megaklicks and that's way inside the Goldilocks zone. Single star per the catalog, so no close companion to bollux up the math. So why does the standard jump tables dump us way the hell out here???"

Well, Connie Mac does 1 g for a start. For another, it should have been a nice easy 7.1 hours, so the 17 hours was a typo on my part.

[Tiglath]

Well, that makes matters more straight forward - let's head on in to Phlume!

[bruce.desertrat]

Well, that makes matters more straight forward - let's head on in to Phlume!

Pedro laughs "told ya someone dropped a decimal point there"

Idle question, what would it take to give Connie 2G's? Just hotrod her drives at the cost of some cargo space or would this require major structural upgrades? This might come in handy at some point to look slower than we are...

[Tiglath]

Idle question, what would it take to give Connie 2G's? Just hotrod her drives at the cost of some cargo space or would this require major structural upgrades? This might come in handy at some point to look slower than we are...

If/when we get that done adding collapsible fuel tanks to extend range are a good option on traders with "spare" hull/cargo space.

[joertexas]

Idle question, what would it take to give Connie 2G's? Just hotrod her drives at the cost of some cargo space or would this require major structural upgrades? This might come in handy at some point to look slower than we are...

If/when we get that done adding collapsible fuel tanks to extend range are a good option on traders with "spare" hull/cargo space.

The Connie Malone is an RJ version - Jump 2 and Maneuver 2. viewtopic.php?f=420&t=7225

[Eris]

Idle question, what would it take to give Connie 2G's? Just hotrod her drives at the cost of some cargo space or would this require major structural upgrades? This might come in handy at some point to look slower than we are...

If/when we get that done adding collapsible fuel tanks to extend range are a good option on traders with "spare" hull/cargo space.

The Connie Malone is an RJ version - Jump 2 and Maneuver 2. viewtopic.php?f=420&t=7225

Well, dang! And I wrote that, too. I remember J2, but I had M1 in mind for her. It's only been 3 years... IAC, let's just say you're doing M1 on the way in so it's still ~ 7 hours for no special reason and no, you aren't going to be ambushed on the way in...this time.

[joertexas]

Well, dang! And I wrote that, too. I remember J2, but I had M1 in mind for her. It's only been 3 years... IAC, let's just say you're doing M1 on the way in so it's still ~ 7 hours for no special reason and no, you aren't going to be ambushed on the way in...this time.

There are speed limits in ATC, too. Maybe the local traffic control doesn't want people zooming around at 2g accel...

[Keven]

Carlos nods. "What I thought. Glitch in the charts." He keys a correction in. "Lemme just update this..."

[Eris]

Connie Mac flies in to an orbit around Phlume, and given permission to land and at the same time are issued a personal invitation to meet with Baron Heulcyn-Aadarkhi, who holds this system as a feifdom of the Imperium, at the TAS suite of the Empress Hotel in Phlume City.

Phlume City surrounds the Starport and is both the Capitol and only real city on Phlume with a population of close to half a million. The rest of the world has only a few scattered towns and villages that service the large agricultural farming areas. Much of the land surface of Phlume has been left "natural" and is covered in a variety of biomes ranging from arctic to tropical and everything in between. A few "safaris" a allowed to "hunt" in the various undeveloped areas, but only with licenses and government provided guides. Most such safaris are photographic only as only a handful of native animals are allowed to be harvested each year.

Baron Heulcyn-Aadarkhi, Colonel Craig Grissum, retired is a decorated Imperial Army officer who was awarded this feif as a reward for actions during his long career. He is over 80 now and spends almost all of his time in Phlume City rather than on the large estate in the country.