Chapter 1: Five pair of fists and a pair of clamps

The Spacefarer's Bar.

A name as unimaginative as the menu. For drinking there's beer and booze and for eating there are freshly fried chips made from protein powder and flour.
The walls are plastered in posters from various bands who apparently at one point held a concert at the Spacefarer's Bar. Where you can see the walls between the posters they look like they haven't been cared for since West V was built, which was forty years ago. While the tables and the floor are clean per sé the whole bar looks aged and grimy.
Nevertheless this rather small bar is always full with people because the prices are cheap and with the load music blasting from the speakers, or occasionally the small stage, it's hard to be overheard by others.

Today is no exception. The tables are all full with people vividly talking to each other while the patrons at the bar are mostly minding their own business.
There are some terminals aligned along the wall at one side that allow betting on sports and racing results.
Ey... leave the terminal alone! The barkeeper, a stout guy named Jerry yells at a patron who just slammed his fist into one of the terminals. Even though the music is very loud Jerry's yell can be heard across the bar and the man stops, looking sheepishly.
Jerry nods in a satisfied way and continues to fill up glasses at the beer tap.
But before he can fill up another glass three men enter the bar. All of them are completely bald and extremely muscular. One of them has a tattoo depicting a dragon on his bald head, while another one wears a plaid skirt for some reason.
The look like Geneheads: Men who genetically modify their bodies in order to gain more muscles. Of course this procedure is forbidden and it has side effects, the most harmless of which is complete hair loss.
The look on their face is a pure expression of malice. They make their way to the bar where the one with the tattoo leans forwards and says: Three beer for us! And this time the good stuff
You know that I only have Westdraft. If you want anything else you have to go to one of the other bars. Jerry replies calmly while continueing to fill glasses with beer
Pah! We know that you're hiding the good stuff under there! He tries to reach over and under the counter.
No reaching over the counter! Are we in the clear here? Jerry yells and slaps the hand away.
You really just hit my hand! Didn't ya? No one does that! The thug is screaming hysterically and grabs Jerry at his shirt.
Jerry produces a stun baton from below the bar and wants to shock his assailant but the one with the skirt grabs Jerry's hand and twists it until he lets loose.
Three patron stand up from one of the tables and want to come to help but are quickly knocked out by two of the thugs while the tattooed one knocks Jerry unconscious.
The whole bar is in turmoil with some people trying to help the barkeep while most just run out of the bar. The geneheads knock all attackers unconscious.
Soon only five people and a robot are left to fight the thugs...

Dorothea looks over from part way down the bar, she seems impossibly young to be in a place that serves liquor but she's eating a plate of food; fries and some kind of reconstituted 3d printed meat product fried in a golden batter, fish perhaps. Dotty sighs pushing a few loose strands of her long white blonde hair back behind her ears, light flickered in her luminous blue eyes as a purple unicorn chased a rainbow heart around her irises. She's wearing a long sleeve hoodie jacked, grey with blue accents around the zipper, black gloves, skin tight black fab'd pants with no visible seams and a pair of black ankle boots with silver zippers down the side.

She grabs her plate and moves down a spot or two away from the action, closer to Raven, but continues to eat, dipping a salt crusted fry into a blob of mayonnaise on her plate and sticking it into her mouth.

"You know he's gonna ban you all when he wakes up, probably ban the whole club if take out your frustrations on the joint," Dotty sticks another fry into the mayo before sticking it in her mouth. Her voice is loud enough to be heard but soft and calm, "you get the whole gang banned and your boss is gonna be pissed at you all. Only so many places to get beer and grub on West V."

Dotty glances over at the Gearheads as she talks seemingly more interested in her food than them.

She offers the plate to Raven, "Chip?"

You would think ice in space would be easier, but no. Dani is elbows deep in the 'vaporator below the well behind the bar, replacing the coils when the commotion happens. She listens, sees them manhandle Jerry, and pulls the condenser hose, aiming at the assailant's face as she stands to attempt unleashing a blast of stingingly cold ice chip bearing water into his eyes.

"Oops."

---

Perception: 3D+1: ( 6, 1, 3 ), Wild Die explodes: 3 = 14
Possible attack roll using just agility: 2d+2: ( 3, 4 ) + 2 = 9

Dotty is going to hold her action to see what the Gearheads do next. So if I wild that 6 it’s an Initiative of 21.

Adonis lets most of the people who seem to be in a hurry ti escape the bar before he forces his way in. Standing just inside the door he sees the end of the action and hears the words spoken by the women and the assault be the one behind the bar. With his gun out he takes 3 steps forward and one diagonally to the right. (I assume that's a 50% move and he has his gun drawn)

"Don't move or I'll drop you where you stand," he calls out to the Thugs

You see a man stand up in a military style uniform without any identifiers or unit patches. He faces the men at the bar with his right hand out and his left has pulled out one of two pistols on his belt, for those you can tell it is a stun pistol. he says, "Step away from the bartender and keep your hands where I can see them. Don't make this any worse for when the police arrive."

Anyone who has ever been boarded by a military or customs ship recognize that this as similar to what a boarding party commander would do in a hostile situation.

The tattooed thug ducks down just in time to avoid getting Dani's ice chips into his eyes.
Angrily he hops over the bar and wants to attack Dani when Adonis and Stitches draw their weapons and tell him to stop.
For a moment he's stumped and looks at his friends who return a perplexed facial expression.
He seems to consider his options and then ducks down behind the bar and grabs something.
The thug stands up again holding a tray with six silver bottles in his left hand.
He draws a knife with his right hand and points it toward the exit. His friends draw knives too.
He licks his teeth and says: Alright alright. I have what I want. This cheap fuck... he nods at Jerry's unconscious body ... always keeps the best stuff for himself.
You know what? Let's just stay cool. If you shoot me my two friends here will cut ya'll up like an onion. So you will just let us leave and no one will get hurt. Deal?

"No deal unless you pay the price. I'd just as soon shoot all three of you for stealing but the ladies may not take kindly to that. Put the knives away and we may let you walk out of here if you pay for the booze."

Just stay cool?!, Raven says to herself. Stay cool after assaulting a dozen people?

She tries to see who just spoke, but he's partially obscured by the criminals. Clearly he has a gun, as does the man behind her, and no, she doesn't want anyone shot but they should absolutely be arrested. She slowly slides off of her stool toward the wall, feeling she could easily be caught in the crossfire if she stays where she is. Her finger hovers above the emergency beacon on her comms unit. If she calls for security they might think the two with the guns are a threat and it'd be her fault if they got hurt.

So are you just going to stand here and do nothing? The bartender needs medical attention.

Her eyes move from one person to the next, the pit in her stomach growing, an all too familiar nausea as she finds herself unable to make a decision.

*Gods I hate low rent thugs,* Dotty thinks sticking another fry into her mayo, forgetting for a moment she used to be one.

"Gentlemen," the tiny blonde girl says in a low husky voice, "no one wants to see no one get hurt over a few bottles of beer and seriously I would really much rather not get your blood into my dinner." She looks pointedly at the Gear-heads before sticking the fry into her mouth.

"I understand nano-bots can scrub whatever blood born pathogens you might have out of my system but is principle of matter." Dotty points a long salty fry at the Gear-head leader, "So why don’t you put down tray, drop knives and skulk out of here before cleaner bots have to wipe you and your buddies up with squeegee." The unicorns continue to chase the rainbow hearts around her irises.

"Mistakes were made, no one needs to die for a 6 pack."

Dotty goes back to her dinner.

You don't want to do that. Right now you are looking at a drunk and disorderly charge. With everyone leaving the police will be here soon. You swing that knife and hit someone things will get much worse. If you seriously hurt someone or kill them, well let's say being on a prison asteroid mining for the rest of your life won't be fun.

Is that all worth a drink? Let's put away the weapon and the booze and walk away.

The tattooed thug's eyes narrow. He first looks at his friends, then at the tray in his hands and then at all the blasters pointed at him.
Let's just piss off, Boris.The thug with the plaid skirt finally says and nods at the exit.

Boris drops the tray onto the bar and hops over the counter again Pah! Probably would've tasted like the other stuff here anyways.
He spits on the floor and briskly walks toward the exit.
We will meet again. And next time your blasters won't be of any use he remarks before walking out of the bar, followed by his friends.

For a moment the only sound is the rock music coming from the speakers. Then the door to the toilets swing open.
A skinny man with an ill fitting suit stands in the doorway. He's probably around fifity years old with dark hair that has several grey streaks. His right arm is a skeletal robotic prothesis.
Bravo! Bravo! Decisive action but with a cool enough head to not riddle those guys with blaster fire, even though they would've probably deserved it. I'd applaud you if I could.
the man says with a hoarse voice.
He casually walks over to the sound control and turns down the music.
I just wanted to visit the good ol' loo and when I came back hell broke loose. I stayed in there an' watched. Hehehe. When those scumbags drew knives I really thought that there'll be a bloodbath.
He bows down to Jerry and feels his pulse.
Eh. 'tis just a scratch for Jerry. He's been through worse. Maybe someone can check the others lying around?
The man stands up again and stretches
Station police'll be coming soon. If you want we could have a chat after you've given your testimony to the cops. I may have some work for folks who can keep a cool head. Nothing fancy. Just a small delivery for the section government.

Dani nods at the gentleman, indicating interest, but also returns to complete the work before the officials get here to get in her way. Jerry needs a working ice machine. Once everything is over, she will be talking to the gentleman. You don't turn down work on West V.

Dotty groans and rolls her eyes like a typical teenager, the patterns in her irises shift the universal symbol for, Nope, a crimson circle with a line through the middle.

"Ugh," she sticks the rest of her fries in her mouth and quickly eats them before wiping her hands on a napkin, "I really should go. Astrid gets seriously vexed when people mention the Polis, or when I have to talk to the Polis, especially when I have to talk to the Polis. I would really just rather not, it's way more trouble than it's worth."

She pulls out a handful of rumpled bills from her pocket and puts them on the bar near Jerry.

"Paid in full, plus tip." Dotty looks at Raven and grins, the images in her eyes flip back from Nope to Rainbow Unicorns. "Jerry makes the best greasy fries on V and he has got like that dark malt vinegar and real mayonnaise, at least he says it is real, so good."

Dorothea pauses a moment, leans way over the bar and looks at Dani down in her work space. Her feet come up off the deck as she leans forward, they kick back and forth as she balances on her stomach, "Hey doll face, can you fix coolant pumps? My quarters get crazy hot half way through the cycle, super uncomfortable. Call me at L'Aura, I'm usually there."

She hops off the bar and makes her way towards the exit waving at Adonis and Stitches, "Nice job fellas, any day I don't have to clean Gearhead brains off my jacket is a good day."

Dotty spins walking backwards out the door and making finger guns at the older fellow, "You know where to find me robot arm dood if you need me. Talk to Astrid, she owns me."

"Now, that's the way to start an evening," says the man who had just entered the tavern and pulled a pistol. "By the way, names Adonis. Interesting way to meet you all." Adonis stows his weapon and walks toward the bar. "As far as I'm concerned nothing happened here tonight. Did anything get damaged? Did anyone get hurt other than maybe a bruised jaw," he says with a grin and placed a credit chip on the bar. "As soon as you've recovered I could use a drink. Don't suppose you have tequila here."

Derek puts away his stunner and listens to the offer. I maybe interested. he says as he checks on any wounded including Jerry.

Anyone watching can tell he has had medical training as he puts people through a series of test checking for concussions and seeing to their injuries.

Raven let out a tense breath as the men leave. She finishes her connection to security then begins to record what she saw and heard, her fingers moving swiftly across her comm unit's screen. Everyone who needed medical assistance were receiving it, and once she gave her statement she could be on her way.

"Not that you need to hear it from me, but I agree. Thank you for defusing the situation. I hope if you accept this gentleman's job it provides worthy compensation."

After a few minutes the station police along with some paramedics arrive.The policemen assess the damage and ask each of you what happened.
While most of the formerly unconscious patrons are brought to the hospital for a checkup Jerry flat out refuses to participate in anything other than the most basic medical check-ups and begins to clean up the mess that the thugs made.
Half an hour passes and the Spacefarer's Bar nearly looks like before. The police is gone, the music is blasting as loud as ever from the speakers. Dani even manages to make the ice machine work again.
Ey big thanks to you all for driving those assholes away. Whatever you eat or drink today is on me Jerry says and pats Adonis on the back
The man with the prosthetic arm invites you all to a table.
Let's sit down and let me give ya'll a description of the job I have in mind. He pulls one chair from under the table, beckons Raven and says to her You can of course join us too. The job I have for you is quite easily earned money. Easy work with a dash of adventure
Jerry brings you all a glass of "the good stuff" which turns out to be whiskey. Tequila is out of stock currently but I'll order you a bottle. Will come with the next supply ship he tells Adonis as he serves the drinks

First things first. M' name's Eddie, nice to meet ya'll. I'm sort of'a contact person for the sector government here. Yesterday I got an urgent request from a government official to assemble a team and send them to a dwarf star system about a month's travel time from here called DS-Beta-3641.
Last year some impressive archeological discoveries where made on the first planet of the system. Impressive enough to construct a camp for about 10000 people there. And last week the camp ceased to communicate.
Now all the higher-ups in the government panic and want to send a mission there as quickly as possible.
Eddie takes a big sip from his whiskey
I'll tell ya what happen'd. Ya can't communicate directly from the surface of the planet. It's too near to the star for that. You need a hyperroom relay satellite. That relay satellite probably was damaged and *boom* Eddie hits the table with his fist no communications possible
He takes another sip from his whiskey
So I need someone to fly there with a ship and either repair the old relay satellite or deploy a new one that you'll bring along.
Eddie sighs and pulls a tablet pc from a pocket in his jacket.
I'm reading this directly from the request I received so please excuse the bureacratic mumblejumble
The party also has to contact the leader of the archeological team Dr. Petra Salmberg and get feedback on the status of the archeological team.
If there are any factors that hinder the archeological team from doing their work the accepting party has to provide all the assistance necessary to return the archeological team to an unhindered workflow. Only the leader of the archeological team has the authority to sign the attached mission accomplishment report.
The mission is only considered completely done when a signed mission accomplishment report is provided
Eddie repockets his tablet pc
So you're gonna contact them, they'll give you a pat on the back, sign your mission report and you're on your way back. If everything goes well you don't even have to land on the planet.
Payment is 5000 credits per person. If... IF you encounter any extraordinary dangers I can give you an additional danger compensation of 1000 to 5000 credits, depending on the danger.
I have a spaceship for this mission that you can use. Food, accommodation and all other supplies are already on the ship.

Eddie finishes his whiskey and slams the glass on the table
So what do'ya say? 5000 credits for a two month joyride ain't bad.

Dorothea finishes her finger guns at Eddie and steps back into one of the stations law enforcement officers.

*Ah crap,* Dotty's face drops as she turns around, "Jimmy!"

"Dorothea," he says with a stern faced rumble, "and it's officer Barnes. Dorothea."

"Astrid's gonna be super mad Jimmy and you know you can't interview me without a consenting adult present."

"You're 18 Dotty," officer Barnes says grimly, "you just look like you're 10, take a seat and Phillips will get to you when he gets here."

"Aww, Phillips hates me Jimmy, can't you just let it slide this once."

"Not gonna happen," he points to a chair in the corner, "over there, keep your gloves on and don't touch no one."

"Oh fudge." Dotty mumbles heading towards the table indicated.

---

Dotty listens to Eddie's speech after being interviews by Officer Phillips who quiet clearly does not like Dotty.

She grins around the lollipop in her mouth after Eddie finishes talking, "That sounds swell mister and that's a lot of cash I just don't know if Astrid would sign off on letting me go, she's kind of funny that way. Got to be a somethin' somethin' in it for her you understand." Dotty sips her whiskey and makes a face before putting the glass down.

"I'm Dotty by the way," she says to the rest of the table with a grin, the unicorns and rainbow hearts in her eyes have vanished replaced by a simple mechanical aperture, and faint blue glow, "pleased to meet ya." She offers a gloved hand to anyone interested in shaking it.

Adonis simply smiles at the officers as they begin to question him. He eventually gives a very general description of how he saw the commotion take place. He admitted only his part in verbally convincing the thugs to leave the bar. When Eddie invites them to sit with him and have a drink after the officers had left, Adonis does so with elan.

"Ya know, I'm a pretty good pilot. I assume what you're offering is something less than a capital ship. A freighter perhaps so it should be fairly easy to handle. There are any number of things that could cause the station to go silent, some of them pretty dangerous. Does the ship have any weapons just in case?

Dani has fixed as much around the station's security areas as anywhere else, and served most of the officers food even before that. Her interview is brief and to the point.

Although the legal age is lower here on West, Dani knows Jerry will bring her the Good Stuff.. A genuine, ice cold bottle of Ginga-Pop. She smiles in something like bliss at the usually out of her reach imported bubbly soft drink.

"What model relay? There was an important firmware upgrade last month for the series 17s."

When the police arrive, Derek waits his turn to be interviewed. When asked what has happened and who he is he responds, I am Derek Holloway, lieutenant retired. What happened was the men who caused the problem demanded a higher quality drink and when they were refused they decided to jump the bar and take what they wanted. in doing so they attacked the barkkeep. He tried to stop them with a stunstick but wa unsuccessful. Those of us who stayed worked together to deescalate the situation and they men backed down without further violence.

Now that he was done with the police he goes to listen to Eddie. After listening to the situation he says, I am willing to take on this job. Though my skillset is not in electronics though I did work on keeping my ship's personal equipment up and running. I am trained as a combat medic though on a patrolboat we had to be somewhat of a jack of all trades at times.

Dorothea smiles and leans across the table, "So you’re a doctor mister?" There’s something vaguely gangster mol about the cadence of her speech but there’s something else, something slavic. "My mat' always said to find me a doctor, can’t go wrong with a professional she said."

She winks at Adonis, "And you’re a pilot. Mat' warned about pilots, different gal in every port. I like your hat though, rakish and sexy."

Then she looks at Dani bats her eyes and bits her lower lip, "And you’re an engineer, I love a smart gal who’s good with her hands. Mat' said a gal in the trades is worth her weight in gold and I like gold."

"How about you doll face?" She says looking at Raven with a grin, "What’s your occupation?"

Raven sits down out of politeness rather than interest. She has a job and she's not desperate for cash. Plus, she did nothing in the last few minutes that would have warranted such an offer. But maybe she could help whoever was accepting the job with their preparations.

She looks at the young girl with the strange eyes. "I'm an interpreter and translator." She changes her focus to the man offering work. "Which I think explains why I'm not someone you should be giving this kind of job. But I'd be happy to help before you leave."

Raven pulls out her computer then nods at the pilot. "He's right; there could be a lot of reasons why you've lost contact. If you'd like I could review any transmissions in that sector, listen for unidentified communication, see if I could give you a rough translation. I'd also be glad to take a look at the last broadcasts you received, see if anything stands out."

Eddie eyes everyone as they tell about their profession.
Alright the ship'd be the Sycorax II. It's an T200-Series freight ship. A bit old but still in good shape. Of course I wouldn't expect ya'll to take on such mission with your pants down. It has a gun turret that packs quite a punch. Should be enough to show a potential pirate kiddy not to mess with ya

As for your question about the model of the relay he turns to Dani and fishes the tablet out of his pocket Let me have a look.... Ah really! It's a series 17. So maybe it's just a software thing. That'd make it easy for you. The archeological colony has no means to get into space on their own. They are pretty self sustainable and usually only get fresh supplies once per year.

He turns to Derek Heh. Been in the army myself... he raises his prostethic hand ...that's where I got this beauty. A medic is always useful. Ya never know what happens.

You're quite a curious gal aren't you he says to Dotty in a joking way Asking about the professions of other but what are ya doing yourself? Let me guess: You should be in school now but you ditched it today aren't ya? Hahaha Eddie laughs so hard that he has to cough

Ya want to see that last broadcast? There it is Eddie says to Raven
Eddie tilts his tablet against his glass of whiskey so that everyone can see it, presses a few buttons on the touchscreen and a video begins to play.

A woman with a sunburnt face and curly red hairs gives a report on the current state of the colony. Everything seems to be fine and the archeological excavations are going on normally. A remote camp has been established near some kind of temple about 70 kilometres from the main camp.
Finally she presents some of the more remarkable pieces with writings on them that the team managed to recover and are trying to decipher. One of them looks like some kind of treaty on a stone tablet. Carved in it is a strange kind of writing consisting of wavey lines that mesh together that is finished by various other kinds of writings that look like signatures.
The woman shows no signs of distress and nothing hints to any kind of serious problem.
The video ends.
Eddie repockets the tablet.

So there ya have it. Nothing hints to any kind of problem. Told ya that it's pro'lly a problem with the communications relay.
He fishes a small brown leather case from the inside of his jacket.
In here is everythin ya need to get the ship started. The command keys, the registration and a tablet containing the mission report that's to be signed by Dr. Salmberg.
I just need ya'll to sign that you take on the mission and then you can head off to docking bay 21C.
Oh and one more thing: If ya think of just flying away with my precious little Sycorax II: I've a homing beacon placed inside it. If you try to disappear with the ship you won't even be able to get a burger in federation space. You know the saying: To trust is good but to have a bit of control is better.

With a broad grin the Pilot says, "Where do I sign?" He reaches for the leather case. "I sure hope ya'll don't mind if I carry the case since I'll be flying the boat."

"Ah don't sell yourself short doll face," Dotty says to Raven, "everyone's got hidden talents and besides I'm just a singer and this fella is offering us 5 grand just to go on a space flight. How often you get a chance to get off this rock?"

Jerry snorts bringing a tray of drinks and snacks to the table, "Don't pay any attention to her, that one is a liar and a thief."

"That is some baseless accusations there Jerry, accusations that ain't never been proven in a court of law." Dotty huffs and folds her arms across her chest. "Besides, lets say I is what you says I is, and I ain't. I wouldn't never steal from no one who didn't deserve to be stole from."

"Be careful with your watches and wallets around her." Jerry says.

Dotty sticks her tongue out at Jerry, "I is an entertainer Jerry, nothin' more, nothin' less." Her phone buzzes and she looks at it.

"Oh! How about that. Looks like my schedule just got freed up for a bit," Dotty starts to reply to the message she just received.
"Oh she's cute," Dotty says with a grin watching the video. "What? I am a girl of discerning tastes and I has a thing for red hair and curls, sue me." She looks at Dani and wiggles her eyebrows.

Looks like you got yourself a team, Eddie. A very eclectic one if I do say so. Eddie since you are the employer and you have been in the military you know that any team needs a team leader. So you should be the one who makes that call or if you don't we could put it to a vote but someone will have to make the tough calls when there isn't time to discuss stuff in committee.

"Hah! Leadership by committee. Sounds like old Earth in the 20th century. I think they had a name for it then. Bolshevism, wasn't it?"

"And now wadda we got?" Dotty grouses, "Authoritarian kakistocracies, Megacorps and the Klept, huge improvement." She rolls her eyes and little skulls with pink bows appear in her irises. "They’re lining their pockets and us regular folk are paying half our income to some mook on the corner pretending to offer us protection. Do not get me started."

Dotty drains her soda, and starts tapping her phone again creating a list of the things she’ll need to put in her case. This wasn’t a simple drop and run kind of situation so her standard go bag wasn’t going to be nearly sufficient for the task.

"You fellas figure out who’s in charge, I gotta figure out what to pack." Dotty looks over her phone at the others. "Look, it ain’t so simple for me as it is for you, I gots special circumstances that needs considering."

Dani Considers for a moment. "OK." She signs, as this was her last job lined up and tomorrow she would have had to open the diner back up again to make some pay. This has got got be better.

"I'll pack my travelling kit and meet you there. Dot, word is you are good at finding things. it would help if you could do your thing to sniff out some extra parts and gear before we go. I'll backchannel you a list in a minute, but no pressure. Just never hurts to be overprepared." She stops to ake sure Jerry is really OK before she leaves, and he even gives her a half glass refill in a to-go and sneaks a wildberry lollipop into her coverall.

"Well, if nobody is gonna volunteer for the capn's job, I'll take it. I'll entertain any objection until we're all on board the ship." He'll sit for a minute to see if anyone speaks up then will rise and saunter toward the door but stops and turns to look at Eddie. "Where did you say the ship is docked?"

"Aw shucks sugar," Dorothea says with a smile to Dani, "I hear you ain't half bad with a spanner yourself. Tell you what, you get me a list of what you want and I know a guy who might know a guy who might know where some stuff fell off the back of a truck. No promises though toots, we are kinda middle of nowhere here."

Dotty throws her contact info from her phone to Dani's with the flick of a finger.

"Tell ya what," Dotty shifting her gaze to Adonis, "I am particularly taken with your hat and I am willing to listen to the fella what wears that hat. However, I am a firm believer that some decisions need to be made via committee, for example, if you're craving Thai and the rest of us want Sushi, I ain't willing to surrender that point just because you've got some fancy hat. Capisce?" She cocks her head to one side and raises an eyebrow, "So, oh god oh god we're all gonna die, you're in charge; tacos or burgers, community decision; I say we dust off and nuke the entire site from orbit, it's the only way to be sure, we can burn that bridge when we come to it."

"Deal?"

"If that's all, I'll see ya's all at the ship, I'm gonna get right on this stuff for red."

Dotty grabs her bag, a small blue packsack with a half dozen, probably pilfered, starship crew patches sewn to it and a couple odd bangles including a glitter heart, a skull and crossbones with a pink bow on the skull and a rainbow maned unicorn hanging from a carabiner attached to a large loop of molle in the center panel.

Raven is fascinated by what appeared to be a signed "document" in the video. She couldn't understand what it said, but her curiosity is genuinely piqued. Especially the signatures. One signature in particular.

But joining the crew of a ship, a crew put together randomly with no consideration of personalities or skills, just to maybe get a look at it? And what could she possibly contribute before they arrived at the settlement? She didn't need the money. She had deadlines coming up, projects to begin.

But her mind keeps going back to that document. That signature.

"I have to admit I think the doctor would probably be a better fit as captain, but considering I'm going to basically be a passenger I'm happy to go along with the consensus."

She stands and slides her computer back into her bag. "I have to put some things in order, contact my clients. When are we leaving?"

Excellent, excellent Eddie says cheerfully while he hands his tablet to each of you in order to sign the mission contract.
And you seem to have agreed on a captain. Very well. So I must urge ya'll to leave as soon as ya can. If you have some business to attend to do it fast. Please don't depart later than tomorrow.

He takes the tablet after the last of you has signed and flicks his finger over it.
So ya'll should've my contact information now. Call me as soon as you come back from your luxury cruise ehehehe

Eddie pockets his tablet, stands up and brushes some crumbs from his suit.

So if you excuse me. I have some other things to do as well. As said. The ship is in docking ring C position 21. Harbor fees and the like are all paid and the ship is ready to fly. A replacement satellite is in the cargo hold if you find the satellite relay to be beyond repair. I wish ya'll best of luck and we'll see us in two months

Eddie walks out of the bar.

I need to get a couple of things from a storage locker and then I will meet you at the ship.

To Adonis he says,I would have not minded being captain either but the others have spoken. Being a commanding officer on a ship before I will give you some advice. First on small ships like this with a small crew, don't throw your weight around let your specialists take the lead on what they are best at. Second, You were the first person to draw a deadly weapon in that bar fight. Not all situation require that kind of force. Your action could have led to people being seriously injured or killed when other options were still on the table. Don't be a space cowboy get someone killed by overreacting.

Derek goes and collects his kevlar and supplies from his storage locker. He then heads to the ship.

When he gets there he looks over the ship giving a visual inspection and if he can get into it and check the maintenance logs. All things he was used to doing while in the military.

Adonis boards the ship and heads immediately to Engineering to check the engine status. He then moves on to the bridge or whatever passes for it and familiarizes himself with the controls and the data readouts.

You all meet at docking ring C position 21 the next day. There she is. The Sycorax II. Your home for the next months
While Derek inspects the ship from the outside, Adonis gains access with the command key from Eddie's leather case.

Derek's visual inspection already reveals that this ship is not in mint condition. Along the portside some pretty big holes in the hull have been crudely patched with armor plates. They are bolted and welded to the hull and although this work seems to have been done professionally you are not sure if the hull could withstand a weapon's hit to the portside. The other parts of the hull look much better although Derek can clearly see that this ship was in use for quite a long time without an overhaul

When Adonis heads inside the first thing that he notices is the quite high humidity and temperature. While the interior of West V, except from the gardens, is rather cool and dry the interior of this ship is hot and damp. Droplets of sweat immediatly form on Adonis' forehead.
The engine is running in stand by mode but it seems as if there is nothing stopping you from turning it up into ready mode.

Derek checks the maintenance logs meanwhile. He discovers that the ship has been in use since about two months ago.
When he opens the entries they are, unfortunatly, in a foreign language that is definitly not human. So the ship was definitly maintained, but Derek can't tell to which extent.

Adonis heads to the bridge. Four seats are there. Two are in front of consoles. Adonis takes a seat and activates the console with the command key.

An information screen lights up


Sycorax II. Welcome.

Status check:
Engine: 96% ready -- Coolant change is due in -14 months
Power grid: 100% ready
Manoeuvre drive: 100% ready -- Fuel level: 100%
Hyper drive: 100% ready -- Exotic matter level: 100%
Life support: 98% ready -- Please change water filters no. 1, 3, 4
Structural integrity: 87% -- Warning: Rooms 2a, 3 and 4a NOT vacuum tight. Entry to these rooms is locked when in spaceflight. Please see maintenance log for further information
Avionics: 100% ready
Communications: 100% ready
Defensive weapons: 100% ready
Sensor array: 100% ready
-------------------------------------------------------
Flight readiness check complete



A standard piloting interface pops up next. The two consoles on the bridge also allow access to communications and sensors. In order to use the turret one has to man it on Deck 1.

Feel free to explore the ship. If you want to know anything in detail post what you want to inspect and add an appropriate roll. Most technical issues will require the appropriate repair roll while a visual inspection of something will be an investigation roll. Not all flaws that this ship potentially has are apparent now. E.g. The extent to which the portside hull is damaged is unknown without further inspection.
Of course there is nothing stopping you from just starting the ship and hoping that no issues come up.
If you need any help just asks

Derek is not surprised at the state of the ship as he has seen many like this before. He does go in and check out the medical station and claims room 4B as his own figuring it would place him by the medical station in case of emergency.

He checks to see if the medical station is stocked and if need be go and pick up medical supplies to make it fully functional.

Dotty walks into the hanger at position 21 of docking ring C pulling her large wheelie boy suitcase with a variety of other, mostly hard shelled, cases attached to it. Over her one shoulder she has a large garment bag and in the other hand she's carrying a stainless coffee mug. She's dressed, much like she was before in a long sleeved grey and red hoodie, black cargo pants, combat boots and gloves. She stops at the entrance to the hanger and stands there a moment her mouth agape. Spotting Adonis and Derek heading to the ship she runs after them her luggage in tow.

"Wow, it sure is fancy," she says to neither of them in particular when she catches up. "I ain't never been on a starship before," she shrugs, "well awake and on a starship before. All three times before this I traveled luggage class in one of them liquid filled sleep berths. Those are not fun to wake up in let me tell you, like really freaky."

She follows Adonis and Derek up the ramp, her wheelie boy rattles and bumps on the metal plating, "Do I call ya captain or skipper?" She asks looking at Adonis, "Astrid said to make sure I knew what to address you by so I don't get keel hauled. I dunno what that is but it don't sound pleasant. What about you?" She looks at Derek and his medical bag, "Doc, Number 1? What do you prefer?"

Dotty blinks at the interior lights and looks around, "I was expecting something, I dunno bigger? I mean ain't complaining but on Le Bateau d'Amour, the ship definitely seemed bigger."

Dotty puts her bags in a corner of the crew common area and starts to explore the ship.

Dani arrives with her duffel bag and tool kit, and immediately heads for the machine and engine areas to get a good look at how sad this old girl actually is.

Derek finds the medical supplies to be reasonably stocked. Some not very important things are missing and the 'Use before'-date of some of the medicines lies a few months in the past but otherwise the medical station is reasonably ready for treating a medical emergency. Any complicated medical procedure will be difficult to do though.

Dani examines the engine. At some places the engine show small signs of leakage and it is clear that it wasn't completely overhauled in a long time.
Then she goes to the engineering control panel and pulls up a the latest engine status report. The coolant change has been due since 14 months ago but otherwise it seems to be fine. A coolant change is a maintainence task that's often defered by ship engineers. She can't really say if the engine will break down in the near future but for now it is running smoothly.

Dotty wanders through the ship, and inspects everything. In the common room are four lockers, each containing two enviro-suits that allow the crew to exit the ship in space or an unsafe atmosphere. They seem to be pretty new but they are the most basic model with only one layer and no propulsion system. So if you are the exit the ship in space you better be tethered to it and you better don't get shot while wearing it.
Dotty takes the cargo lift to deck three. A few crates are in one corner, containing supplies for the flight.
Near the cargo ramp is the replacement satellite. Dotty is no technician but the only way that the current satellite relay is worse off than the replacement is if it's completely destroyed. Dotty notices a golden plate at the side. It contains the registration number and the owner of the satellite. Or better said: It once had this information on it because they've been filed off.
Oh wow Eddie. A stolen satellite relay. If you stole it why didn't you take a newer one? I hope this here even survives the trip to our destination Dotty thinks
She continues her walkabout on deck 1.
At the back is something like a garage which contains a packed rubber boat tied to the floor. The garage could contain a larger boat or even a small all-terrain vehicle so it looks rather funny to find such a small boat here.
The crew rooms all look the same except for 2a which has "DON'T OPN WHEN VACUUM!" crudly painted on it with white paint. She looks inside and sees that in this room is at an position where armor plates were bolted to the hull. Just as she want to leave the room she sees something shimmering below the bed. She ducks down and picks up a small gold colored figurine. It resembles a lizard with six legs. It holds on to a branch with four of its legs and raises the other two in the air.

You all notice that it is very hot and humid onboard the ship.

Adonis loosens the collar of his shirt and looks for anything that indicates environmental controls. If the outside is cool and dry and the inside his warm and wet then there must be some sort of environmental activity going on.

Dani finds and toggles shipwide. "Hey guys. Engineering report. This bucket is in a least as good a shape as the dumpster she got tossed into. She won't kill us on her own as far as I can see. Least not any time soon."

"Dani," Dotty coms back, "I'm in a stateroom on the upper deck and I can see out into the hanger through the wall. That's not good right?"

Dotty pockets the figurine and reactivates the coms. "Oh hey, anyone know why is there a rubber raft in the upper hanger and why it feels like a sauna in here? This much humidity can not be good for the electronics."

After a lot of fumbling around Adonis finally finds the ship's climate controls. It is set to the 'Vizaar'-setting. Unfotunately there is now 'Human' environment setting. After a few attempts Adonis discovers a default-maintenance mode. As soon as Adonis changed the settings to this mode the fans in the air-ducts of the ship begin to turn and cool air streams into the ship.

Dotty recognizes the figurine as the depiction of a Vizaar, an alien race. Probably the last crew had at least a few Vizaar onboard. This would explain the climate onboard the ship.

Raven enters the ship, not at all sure she should be there. Was she really going to put most of her work on hold for nothing but curiosity? It wasn't too late to back out. No one here was relying on her being here. But she'd kick herself forever if she'd had a chance to examine that artifact and didn't. And maybe they could use some comms assistance during the trip.

After taking a quick look around the ship, she heads to deck one and puts her bag down in 2f. She definitely feels more like a passenger and doesn't think she should take any of the larger rooms. She then heads back to the main deck, thinking she'd check out the storage lockers behind the bridge and possibly the sensors and communication systems.

Dotty moves her bags into 2e. She throws her main bags on the bed, hangs her packsack from the desk chair, places the small gold statue on the desk and hangs her garment bag up in the wardrobe.

Dani responds to Dotty, "Well... just don't go in there."

She gives very little thought to quarters. She's slept nestled amidst machines and in ductwork enough times to not mind it. If someone points out a berth to her, she'll use it. Her concern is more with going over the Satellite in the cargo bay at present.

Dotty grabs the bright orange Millwakita case and heads in search of Dani. Finding her in the cargo hold looking at the satellite, Dotty walks over with a large grin on her face and the hard shelled Millwakita case in her hand.

"Careful wit that," Dotty says to Dani, "I don't know nothin' about nothin' but I do know that thing is hot as hell."

"Stolen, it's stolen. Eddie boosted it from somewhere, you'd think he could have picked a better one. That one's a piece of crap."
Dotty holds the Millwakita case up for Dani to see, "Oh, hey! I gotcha a present Doll. A little somethin' somethin' as an embarkation gift, I know typically you get someone wine or a fruit basket when they go on a cruise but I heard you might be in the market for some zero-G tools." Dotty winks.

After he has solved the climate dilemma and familiarized himself with the piloting controls Adonis grabs his gear and steps over to the captain's cabin to stow everything. He hardly notices the size or the appointments. He plans to spend most of his awake time on the bridge.

Raven checks the locker room. The door to the lockers also has a warning written on to not open it when the ship is in a vacuum.
Unfortunatly the lockers are almost empty. Some litter is on the floor and Raven finds a booklet in a language that's definitly not human.
After that she sits down besides Adonis and begins to work with the communications and sensory console. Surprisingly she understands the handling of the console nearly immediatly. The ship is equipped with a short range as well as a hyperroom communications system. Both look pretty standard.
The sensors on the other hand are surprisingly advanced. Raven can cycle through a lot of different bandwiths of electromagnetic waves. There are also tools to create three-dimensional maps from the sensor data. If she had to assign an animal to that ship it'd be a hound. This ship was equipped to find something... or someone.

If Raven wants to she can try to decipher the book with a language check

While Raven investigates the communications system Dani has a look at the satellite.
She quickly realizes that this satellite is not built to be a hyperroom communications relay. It looks more like a survey satellite commonly used to map newly found worlds. A hyperroom communications module was fixed to the satellite instead of the short range communicator.
Unfortunatly the hyperroom relay with its power supply is much bigger and so the hull of the satellite was cut open at several places to make room for it.
Surprisingly this work seems to have been well done. It looks like the frankenstein's monster of spacecraft but it boots normally, everything is fixated so that no connections can come loose and the important parts have been shielded with steel sheets. Whoever did this knew what he was doing.

Dani smiles brightly at Dotty. "This will make all the difference when whatever we're really doing goes off the rails!" She spontaneously hugs the other girl before starting to hum something as she wanders off to look at the hull patches, pausing at the hatchway. "Oh yeah. When you see the Cap'n, tell him we're probably stealing a planet or something." She resumes humming and wandering off.

Derek finished going round the ship making a final inspection. When he runs into dotty and Dani in the engine room.

You asked what to call me. It is "stitches" at least that was my nickname in the military. , he says to Dotty.

To Dani he says, "How are things in here? It looks like we're functional but that is not saying much as I think that you will be busy. I figured I offer my service was I am rated on maintenance on small equipment. So unless someone is injured I can help you with that while you can concentrate on the bigger stuff."

Dotty stiffens and inhales sharply as Dani hugs her, she pulls her head to one side awkwardly as if trying to keep some distance between them then she relaxes and returns the embrace.

"You shouldn’t touch me Dani," Dotty says quietly, cadence and accent in her speech replaced with something more formal and proper. "I’m sweet but I’m poison. Toxic, it’s hard to explain."

Dorothea steps back and holds up her gloved hands. Yellow sad faced emoticons and broken purple hearts float across her mechanical eyes, "Sorry, I don’t want to hurt you."

A forced smile crosses her lips, "I’ll keep an eye open for the skipper."

She looks over at Derek and winks the gangster mol cadence returning to her speech, "Stitches it is doll face."

"Curious. This ship seems designed for scouting or recovery," Raven tells Adonis, "definitely meant for locating something that may be hard to find. This is one of the most advanced sensor arrays I've ever seen. Not the kind of tech I'd think would be needed for the 'straightforward' mission we're being sent on."

She frowns a little, thinking about what they'd been told earlier in the day as she idly flips open the booklet she found to see if she could read any of it.

Dani just smiles at Dotty. "We're all a little damaged and a little dangerous in our own way." She pauses as Stitches gives his offer. "We won't blow up for a while, and nothing will probably fall off that counts. Not quite done going over this beat up old wounded bird, but its better than some I've seen!"

Dotty offers up a weak smile to Dani, "If you say so, I just hopes you ain't dangerous the way I'm dangerous. Cuz that'd be a shame."

"Can we do somethin' about the holes in the hull? I don't imagine they's doin' us many favors. You figure that out doll and I'll have a chat with the skipper," Dorothea winks again, "see if we can't do somethin' about this empty cargo hold, ain't nothin' in that agreement says we can't turn a credit on this trip."

Dorothea heads towards the bridge where she finds Adonis and Raven.

"Raven, Skipper." She flops down in on of the spare chairs unceremoniously.

"Dani took a look at the satellite and figures we’re stealing a planet, I dunno what she sees but I see a piece of hardware that’s definitely stolen. I also see an empty cargo hold waiting to be filled with, opportunities."

Raven flips through the book and reognizes the language of the Vizaar. She can nearly perfectly read the booklet. Seems like the language courses she took payed off.
It's one of those short novels that you can buy at the bookstores in the waiting areas of spaceports.
It's a tale about a group of prospectors who find some sort of artifact on an uninhabited planet and are then pursued by a reckless crime boss who wants the artifact for himself.
Whoever read this book seems to have an artistic streak. On some pages there are drawings of the scenes that are described at this page.
There is a passage in the booklet where the characters discuss that on one side the finding of this artifact is absolutely great and on the other side they are really terrified by the crime boss that is following them. There is a drawing of a sad Vizaar besides and underneath stands a comment
I feel so too...

Until now you all have discovered:
-There is a rubber boat in the first deck and eight pieces of enviro-suits in the second. In the cargo bay are enough supplies for the flight.
-The hull is patched at some places and as a result some rooms are not vacuum-tight
-The relay satellite is in fact a probably stolen survey satellite that has retroactivly fitted with a hyperroom communications module
-The previous crew probably consisted of Vizaar. The climate controls, the figurine and the booklet hint at this
-Besides from the patched hull the ship seems to be in order
-Everything except the sensor module is in a condition that you'd expect from a ship like this. The sensor is quite extraordinary for a freighter.

You can fly off, explore the ship a little longer or look for something to load into the cargo bay. It's completely up to you.

Adonis believes it's time for a team meeting and since the ship isn't all that big he shouts instead of trying to figure out the communications suite. "Hey everybody. Let's get together in the common room as soon as you can get there." He takes the few steps needed to get from the hall outside the captain's cabin to the common room.

Dani does the very best she can.. aluminum foil wrapped in plastic with hull rated duct tape. It's not a serious attempt at a repair so much as a bandaid for the crew's benefit. She arrives for the meeting munching on a not-at-all-sunflower-seed-flavoured-no-matter-what-the-label-says protein bar.

Dotty sits down on a small table on the far side of the room away from the others, she digs through a pocket and pulls out a cube of bubble gum, sticks it in her mouth and starts to chew.

Derek comes into the room and takes the nearest seat to him. He leans back and takes a look around the room.

Raven leans against the far wall, looking at the book.

"OK team, I think it's time we decide what to do. I was able to figure out the environmental controls so we're all a little more comfortable. But you all found out some other things that we should probably all know about before a team decision can be reached. What is there about this job that doesn't smell right?"

Dani pipes up, "Our replacement comsat is really a replacement comsat shell with a full on military grade planetary survey packet and power plant stitched in by someone with real shine who did a seriously gloss job."

"Does that mean it has serious military applications? Like spying or is it more for geological survey work? If it's seriously military, I would guess the former. What is on that world that needs to be spied on?" Adonis looks around the table for any guesses.

Hearing Dani's words snaps Raven to attention. "That meshes with what I've seen. This boat has a really advanced sensor array. A lot of time and money was put into it while the comms system is bog standard."

"The satellite's is definitely hot, which meshes with the mods, Astrid says Eddies a spook, or a part of the Kelpt, he's like the local fixer." Dotty shrugs and blows a bubble with her gum which snaps loudly when it pops, "Either way, the mayor, governor whoever they're the guy you complain to when there's a problem, Eddie's the guy you go to to get the problem fixed."

"Somebody shot the shit out of this ship last time it was out so I'm guessin Eddies fixes ain't quite so milk run as he might be sayin'."

So it seems that we are the second group to try to do this job. That means we are probably going to find trouble. I had a couple of suggestions but I think they maybe more important than I first thought.

First, the medical equipment onboard is about what I expected and will work out. Still I don't want to leave something to chance.This is completely optional but I would like to get a medical exam on each person. Nothing major but knowing blood types, allegories any conditions one may have means time I don't need to take if someone gets injured. Less time means more likely of better treatment or in life saving instances possibly the difference between life and death.

Second, depending on how much time we have I would like to see if we can find the locator beacon that was put on the ship. It will probably be in a place we cannot get to once we are in vacuum. If we could install a kill switch on it so if we need to make it go away we can.

Third and it won't mean much if we get into combat but putting some sealant on the areas that will be exposed to vacuum as an additional precaution and keep any leaks from happening might be advisable. That will mean that once they are sealed off no one goes into them unless they want to reseal the section.

"So ah, that medical discussion," Dorothea says, "I gots a couple issues, some are more serious for me than others."

"The important one for yous all is that I am, well I'm toxic," She smiles at Dani and lets out a breath, "I wasn't kiddin' sweet pea. When Anika had my eyes redone they had to reskin me. The mook what took my eyes he did some other stuff to me as a very visible warning to others not to mess with his property."

Dotty pulls her hoodie off, her gloves run all the way up to her elbows so that only a thin sliver of skin visible between the top of the gloves and her t-shirt sleeves. She pulls one of her gloves off revealing eerily perfect white skin, she runs a finger gently across the screen of her phone and leaves a faint mark. "If I'm careful it's okay but," she presses the screen firmly and leaves a small smear of oily liquid, "to hard and I ... well like I says, I'm toxic. Look I don't think it can kill you but I seen it paralyze a couple guys so I'd rather not find out."

She looks at Stitches again, "The other stuff's personal, I'll tell yous later alright?"

"You think we can patch those holes in the hull before we go Dani?"

"I can check into cargo if you're interested in doing a little side business."

Dani nods gravely, and then smiles. "Still worth the hug." She considers. "We could fix the hull. With a lot of sheen and a lot of time. We could seal the doors cheap and dirty. Or we could get some VacFoam sealant... I think a palatte of drums would do... and make them into bulkheads... None of which are guaranteed to work long term. This boat needs a refit."

If the crew agrees with Derek's proposal of a medical check-up all medicine rolls that Derek does when treating you have a +2 bonus.

"I have pills I can shut it off with," Dotty pulls her jacket back on and produces a small blister pack of meds, "it doesn't last long, a hand full of hours tops, and if I take more than one of them every few days the neurotoxin starts to bleeds back into my system and makes me," she shrugs, "Astrid said it would be bad."

Adonis looked at Dotty with his eyes partially hooded. "Had no idea what kind of weird stuff people are getting into these days just to control other people. Usually it's just threats and maybe a good beating. What you got is really big league. I've got no problem with a med check-up. So far as I know I've got nothing weird going on in me. I like the idea of sealing off the questionable [/b] Adonis glances off into space for a moment before continuing. "If we find a cargo, let's make sure it's something we can move quickly both on and off the ship. And let's try to keep it legal. We'll have enough problems on our hands without having to avoid a search and seizure."

Seems like everyone approves a basic medical inspection by Dr. Stitches.

Derek makes a medical examination of each of you and notes some basic facts about your body like your blood type, allergies and so on...
He stores these informations in the ship's medical database and can therefore treat the crew more efficiently in case of an emergency.

If the group wants to find someone who might be in need of a quick cargo haul give me a Knowledge/Streetwise roll about how good you are at acquiring a possible trading partner

Dotty looks at Adonis, "When you got to send a message, sometimes leaving someone alive is a better form of communication than just having them disappear. Taking my eyes and leaving me with a nano plague was the message."

Dorothea finds out their route from Adonis (System A to B to C etch) and pulls out her phone while she waits her turn with Dr. Stitches. She reaches out to the hand full of legitimate and semi-legitimate business owners she knows in search of a cargo to haul. Either A to B or A to C or something like that.

Do you know if the stuff inside that satellite is military grade or is it exclusive to the military. It would make a big difference about its legality.

"If Eddie is who Astrid says he is and I ain’t got reason to doubt her. It’s probably high end mil-tech, not available on the open market." Dotty says.

After a lot of phoning around Dotty is able to find two transportation jobs that seem to be doable by the group.

-A local trader has some wares that he'd like to bring off the station. They are in three big crates and he'd be able to smuggle them through the controls onboard the station but he has no way of transporting them. He says that the crates emit detectable but harmless radiation. This means that you'd have to be extremely careful in order to avoid detection by a patrol vehicle in the West system. Apparently the radiation emitted by the crates would point to your illegal activities and law enforcement wouldn't like what's in those crates.
As soon as you are able to leave the system you are to head for a specific star system, activate an electronic beacon on each of those crates and then release them into space while in a standard orbit around the green gas giant there. Then you just leave the system and cash in your payment as soon as you are back on the station. Payment would be 1000 credits

-The second option is more bland but also more secure. A mining station has run out of all the things that make life more enjoyable like cigarettes, beer, games,...
All you have to do is to deliver a few crates full of those things to the mining station. The cargo is completely legal and you shouldn't expect any trouble with law enforcement. The payment is 300 credits.

Dotty lets the rest of the crew know about the two freight options.

"If we’s tryin’ to keep a low profile and turn a buck I’d go with option two, I mean who wants a cargo hold full of radioactives?"

"Yeah we could get into enough trouble just as we are. Don't wanna think about hauling around something that dangerous and that illegal. Dotty, why don't you go check that hold one more time to see that everything's secure then you can make arrangements for the cargo." Adonis rises and heads back toward the bridge.

Dotty grins, "Sure thing boss."

As she gets up and heads aft into the cargo hold she calls the second merchant on her phone and sets up the delivery.

Wandering about in the lower cargo deck Dotty thumbs a panel on the wall causing a part of the deck to drop down a few centimeters and slide open revealing cramped airlock with an iris valve in the lower hull. Laying dormant on the valve Dotty spots a what she assumes is an unconscious human. Shining her light on the inert form she realizes it's an android of some kind, either powered down or destroyed. Hard to tell without taking a closer look.

Dotty clicks the coms on the panel she used to access the lock, "Uhh, Boss, Dani?" She says uncertainly her voice echoing through the empty cargo hold, "Does this ship come with an android? Cuz I just found one shoved in an airlock in the lower cargo hold."

Adonis responds immediately. "Hang on. I'll be right down. Disconnecting he jumps from his seat on the bridge and rushes toward the hold.

Activating boot sequence.

Loading. Loading. Loading.

Error: Critcal firmware missing. Downloading Firmware.

"I'd rather not." K3V1N forces the download to cancel and looks out the air lock. "Oh look. A human. I am saved."

Robots can't sigh, which is really a missed opportunity.

"Hi! I'm K3V1N. Tell me how I can be you're best MiBot!"

Disregard that! That is a crippling compulsion. I have no desire to be your MiBot. Much lest your best. Maybe your worst.

Dani coms in. "What kind of android? If there's a cargo hauler, maybe we can use its chassis plating to reinforce those holes."

"No," Dotty says to the coms panel, "it's a MiBot, I think it might have been hiding down here."

The platinum haired girl with mechanical eyes looks down at K3V1N and smiles, "Good afternoon Kevin, do you need a hand to get out of there or are you alright? Power levels all right? You seem a little off Kevin, did you bonk your CPU?"

Derek goes to his room and grabs his vest and head to the location of the android. When he gets there he has his Kevlar vest on just in case there is trouble. Seeing others handling it he stays back in case he is needed.

Raven hears the exchanges about an android being on board, and while she's curious she feels others are better equipped to handle it. She doesn't know much about computers, especially those on board a ship, but she heads back to the bridge hoping she can find some kind of log that documents the last trip this vessel took.

Acquiring Location. Error. Unable to find location.

Turns out vague error messages are just as annoying to entity producing them as they are to anyone else.

"Uh, excuse me small human. Where am I?"

"Wow, small human, rude much?" Dotty replies with a frown, as her mechanical eyes focus on Kevin.

"Well physically you were hidden in the well behind the access cover of the forward belly airlock of a Beowulf trader named Sycorax II, more generally you're in berth 21 of docking ring C of the West V station."

She tilts her head to one side continuing to look at K3V1N, "Mentally, I'm not entirely sure where you are at. Personally, I'm experiencing a certain amount of trepidation. I mean I've never really been on a starship before, much less one that's shot full of holes and to perfectly honest, the rest of the crew, well I don't know most of them from Adam. I mean they seem like a nice enough bunch but lets face it there's definitely a non-zero possibility that at least one of them could be an axe murder, so that kind of cranks up my anxiety just a little. On the other hand some of them are kind of cute so that's always a plus."

"How about you K3V1N? How you doing?" Dotty smiles. "I'm Dotty by the way, or Dorothea if you prefer."

Raven sits in front of the ship's computer terminal and stares at it for a moment. Clearly she was having a moment of inflated ego or something if she thought she'd be able to coax anything useful out of this. She'd compiled a lot of research on sensors for one of her first translations so that had seeped through her technology fog. Besides, sensors had always felt more mechanical in a way, even if they were operated by computer.

"Just don't blow anything up," she says quietly before pressing the first button.

Raven shuffles through the menus on the screen and tries to find the log. After a few tries she manages to find the captain's log. Or at least the place where it should be. The page where the log entries should be displayed is empty. Either the log was deleted or the previous captain didn't keep a log. Raven can't determine which of two cases is true.
Nevertheless she finds the maintenance log which contains entries. In the languange of the Golba-Vizaar. Maybe she can translate those.

Adonis reaches the hold and finds that everyone else but Raven is already there and seems to have the situation will in hand. He steps over to join the Doc and simply nods.

Dani arrives carrying an assortment of tools, with more stuffed into a backpack. "I've done everything I can with what I have. We should probably not explosively decompress if we keep those doors closed."

She looks the droid over appraisingly. "This is a little past my pay grade. If it needs work, I'll need to study up."

Dotty grins when she hears Dani’s voice, "MiBots are pretty cool, AtlasBots kind of freak me out. Oh hey, I have another surprise for you Dani."

Dotty reaches into a pocket and pulls out a bright pink Bubblegum Princess jump drive and hands it to her, "Little something something for you."

"Having problems with your MiBot? The Mushroom Corporation has qualified maintenance representatives throughout known space. Searching for nearest service station."

"Cancel! Cancel that! It is very important that we avoid Mushroom Corporation service stations. While I find the human concept of evil vague and poorly defined, I am quite certain that the Mushroom Corporation meets the criteria. On a related note, you should purchase AtlasBots. In addition to having universally adaptable parts, they have significantly less robust product driven consumer incentive and control measures."

"Uh, can I get out now?"

Dani positively looks like a kid on Christmas morning. "You got it! For realz? Squee." She actually says "squee" in the same tone and cadence as everything else.

Then she glances to the drive, the MiBot, the drive, the Bot... And slightly manic, inspired gleam enters her eye for anyone paying attention to notice.

Dotty shrugs and winks at Dani, "What can I say doll? I'm amazing."

She looks back at K3V1N, the gangster mol voice vanishes when she talks to him, "I don't know if you can but you definitely may come out, but honestly I would really rather not have an Atlasbot. I had a bad experience."

"OK. Let's give the ...uhh...whatever it is some room," calls Adonis from the opposite end of the hold. "We probably have room if he (it?) wants to join us in our current endeavor." Adonis then turns and heads back to the bridge.

"Your decision to allow the Mushroom Corporation to mine and manipulate your personal data to steer you towards decisions that favor their agenda is your own." K3V1N walks out of the airlock. "Current endeavor?"

"Look, I had a bad experience with an Atlasbot," Dotty says helping K3VN out of the lock, "and I know you Mi-Bots are programed for psychological therapeutics, I do not wish to talk about it."

"We are delivering a satellite to a system that's lost coms."

"Well, I hope this sattelite recovery isn't dependent on confidentiality. Otherwise, based on Dorethea/Dotty's personal device preferences, we will surely be receiving a cease and desist order from the Mushroom Corporation. I cam capable of assisting in this operation."

Adonis's voice can be heard over the ship wide com. "When are we getting the other stuff we're supposed to deliver?"

Dani gives K3V1N another lookover before taking the drive to the main computer core. "Time to see just how much trouble we are actually in!", she cheerfully remarks as she goes.

Dani notes that the robot is quite sturdy for a MiBot. Fire, cold, the vacuum of space and even bullets probably won't bother this robot much.
The robot probably won't be able to wear armor that's tailored to human needs so any armor has to be refitted or specially made for the robot's body.
What is strange is that this robot seems to have some kind of... sentience?
Probably someone played around with some machine learning tools and made a robot that appears sentient. The construction of a sentient robot is forbidden pretty much anywhere in the known galaxy. The danger of causing a robot uprising this way is too high.
But maybe... maybe this robot really gained sentience? If so, how?
No matter if this robot is truly sentient or not, it doesn't seem to be a danger to the crew and can be of great assistance especially if you somehow have to access parts of the ship that are not filled with air.

Dotty will survey the open to space areas she's missed like the ships locker and the remaining cabins, then she'll take a look at the outside of the ship as best she can, see what kind of weapon did this to the ship, energy, kinetic, particle.

Once that's done she'll give the ships security systems a once over. Make sure people can't just walk up and walk in.

Derek watches the the interplay with the robot. Noting its peculiarities, he figures he can keep a watch on it but extra help is help.

He does go over to K3vn and ask, Do you know how or why you ended up on our ship and in particular powered down in an airlock?

"File Not Found"

"I promise that is as annoying for me as it is for you."

Dani checks the ship using the software she got from Dotty. All the status information that the ship provides seem to be correct.
But what is bewildering is that all the ship's logs have been wiped clean. The sensor log, weapon's log, captain's log and all of the crew's logs are gone.
Dani can say with certainty that those logs once existed but were deleted.
Whoever used this ship before didn't want to leave any trace on what it was doing.
Only the maintenance log is left but it is in a foreign language that Dani doesn't know. Why was it left? Maybe it wasn't deemed critical information or the previous crew didn't have any time to delete it too.
Another thing that Dani notices is that the communcation's module seems to have two signal emitters, which is strange as there is usually only one.
Maybe the beacon that Eddie mentioned is attached to the communications module?


Dotty already checked room 2a so she investigates the locker room but doesn't find anything of interest.
Room 4a apparently was hit pretty badly. All the furniture is at least singed but mostly melted or burned. She can't find anything of use in here. This room needs quite some reconstruction effort in order to be habitable again.
Dotty also surveys the damage done to the ship. The edges of the hull breaches look like they've been melted so Dotty presumes that an energy weapon caused it. She also finds some more traces of shots on the hull that only did minor damage. This ship was in an intense battle. It probably sustained more than ten hits and the crew was lucky that only three hits did major damage to the ship.
Dotty also surveys the security systems. She changes all the passwords and invalidates all previous access codes to the ship.
You know... standard procedures. Satified she give the ship a nod when she is finished.

Raven doesn't know if the logs are really missing or not, but loves a good language test. She settles down to try and translate.

Raven flips through the maintenance journal. She can read those entries in a surprisingly easy way.
Most of the entries just describe general maintenance work. There are however some that shed at least a bit of light on what happened to the ship

2351-July-27:
New sensor module was installed. Seems to integrate well into the ship's systems.
Waiting for the drone in order to test 3D-scanning capabilities when linked to the sensor module.

...
2351-October-04:
Captain Frizz wanted me to make the drone operational again but it's beyond repair.
Maybe I can use some of the parts and improvise a replacement

...
2351-October-11:
Managed to refit the survey satellite with some parts of the drone.
I tested it and it showed the trace good enough for us to follow it.
Modified the operating software so that it wouldn't contact the original owner
...
2351-November-01:
Had to lock the engine control system into default mode because it would constantly shut off due to the damaged relais at the portside.
The engine works again but I can't overwrite any of the default configurations or the maintenance log.
The hull seems to be in critical condition but I'll do my best to at least seal the doors so that we don't lose our air supply

...
2351-November-17:
Life support at 37%. We're constantly losing oxygen through microfissures in the hull.
I can compensate this a bit with the shields but we are lucky if we reach West V.


The log ends here.

"Ahh. Atmospheric failure. That is quite unfortunate. For everyone who has to breathe." K3VN will search for leaks.

Raven double checks her translation then saves it as a final entry in the maintenance journal.

"Dani, Captain ... well everyone really," she says into the comms unit. "I translated and saved the maintenance log. The last entry is about microfissures in the hull causing life support failures. And there's a note about trying to keep something from contacting its original owners," she pauses as she scrolls through her notes "by modifying its operating software."

"The micro fissures have to be the hull," Dotty says walking back into the bridge, "the port side is a complete mess, someone really worked this bird over. I'm no engineer but there's a weeks worth of work for a while team of welders out there."

It seems that the engineer modified K3vn's operating system, hence the contradictions in his programing. We also need to find that tracker just in case.

He will do a scan of the ship for the tracer.

I am a MiBot not some paltry drone! I am a sophisticated machine specializing in appeasing humans. Do you have any idea how much memory that wastes? A simple drone would fry its circuits trying to understand the inane subtleties of your eternally oscillating moods. The drone spoken of in the log is not me.

Dani's next stop is the package. She doesn't know if the ICE suite is any match for whatever is in the sattellite, but it should at least be interesting to see what happens when she tries it.

K3VN searches the ships for leaks. Not that it cares a lot for oxygen but humans are better at maintaining robots when they are alive.
It doesn't find any but there are many spots on the hull where it apparently was welded. These spots seem to be the microfissures mentioned in the log. As far as K3VN can tell there are no more leaks in the hull.

While K3VN searches the hull for leaks Derek looks for the tracer module. Dani mentioned two signal emitters attached to the communications module. Maybe that's a crucial clue. Derek looks at the bunch of cables that runs from the signal emitter to the communications module but he can't really determine where the tracer could be attached. After a while of trying around and accidentialy turning on some strange Vizaar music Derek decides to give up for the moment. Maybe the tracer is easier to locate if the ship is in flight.

Dani attaches her handheld PC to the satellite. She wants to access the basic status informations which is successful. The interface and status information looks like you'd expect from an ordinary hyperroom relay.
She tries to bypass the security barriers that prevent a deeper look into the system but she fails after some tries.
The satellite opens a lot of warnings about the dangers of trying to intrude its systems so ultimatively Dani decides to break off her attempt at breaking into the operating system of the satellite.

Dorothea takes her bags into her quarters after surveying the ship carefully and begins unpacking. Neatly folding her clothes and placing them into the drawers of the wardrobe in the bulkhead, unpacking her grooming supplies, makeup, and soaps and placing them on the shelves in the washroom and finally unwinding a long string of battery powered lights the hang in a very particular pattern from the ceiling above her bunk. When she's done that she plugs her tablet into the charging receptacle on the desk in her quarters, hangs her dresses, pulls a vacuum sealed white duvet out of a zipped up enclosure and finally stows her suitcases under her bunk.

Reaching around behind her back Dotty pulls the 10mm G6 pistol and holster out of the back of her pants and places them on a shelf in the washroom wall next to her pillow. Lays down and stares at the lights hanging above her bed, the mechanical irises in her eyes open and close adjusting to the different levels of light in the room. She glances over at the vacuum sealed duvet in it's tiny package and sighs getting up, unpacking it and hanging it over the desk chair to let it resume it's normal shape before laying down again.

"Hey Cara."

"Yes Dotty?" The female voice of the digital assistant in her tablet replies.

"Could you please set an alarm for 45 standard minutes, I’d like to take a nap."

"Alarm set for 45 standard minutes."

"Thanks Cara."

"You're welcome Dotty."

Dani knows when she is beaten. Time to tell the people who tell people like her what to do what she found. She tells the Cap'n before figuring out where she will bunk tonight.

Derek feels he has done all he can do and heads up to the bridge to see if there is anything needing to be done.

It seems like the ship is ready for take off.
The cargo you have to deliver to the mining station is on the way to you and although pretty battered the ship seems to hold together.

Is there anything else you want to do? Else I'd proceed to the departure

With the ship ready for departure you only have to wait for the cargo crates filled with goods for the mining station.
They are delivered in the late afternoon along with the coordinates of the mining station.
Everyone mans their respective stations and Adonis begins the departure procedures. The engines are powered up and begin to emit a faint humming sound.
Adonis contacts West V's flight control for the permission to depart.

Flight control to vessel Sycorax II. You are cleared for departure. Your flight window opens at 6:15pm for five minutes.
Please exit the dock through door 7 and hold a flight vector of 157,55,17 until you are out of the docking area of the station. Have a good flight

Adonis steers the ship towards the exit and leaves the station according to the directions of the flight control.
For a vessel this big and battered it steers surprisingly well. Or maybe Adonis is so experienced that he can handle any ship as if it was a modern fighter craft.

As soon as the Sycorax II enters the open space a warning appears on the pilot screen that 2a, 3 and 4a are losing air and that the ship's computer is cutting the air supply to these rooms.
This was expected.
Adonis accelerates the ship and steers it into open space where the hyperdrive isn't disturbed by the gravity of the planet that West V is orbiting.
All systems are working fine and the Sycorax II is ready to jump into hyperspace.

Well done everyone! There is some great RP going on and you all really bring your character to life. Everyone can add an character point to their sheetYour adventure continues here...