Chapter 3: Red dwarf and purple planet

"Umm, sure thing, lemme see what I can getcha boss man," Dotty turns her sensors first to the wreckage cloud that the assault craft came to, then to the planet itself.

"You're staring too hard at that screen, kiddo. Rest your eyes a minute and try again." Adonis grins and turns pack to his piloting station.

Dotty scans the wreckage and detects a faint signal. A door seems to have survived the blast. A detailed optical scan reveals a registration number etched onto it. FV-SX6-698332
Maybe a search for that number could reveal the origin of the craft. But this'll probably have to wait until you get back to West V.

Then she directs the sensors at the coordinates of the planet but the planet is gone! Just empty space...
The planet is gone... she murmurs but then she double checks and realizes that she entered the coordinates in the wrong order...
She corrects her error and she finds oput that the planet is still here and it is responding to Adonis' hail!


This is Dr. Petra Salmberg from the research station DS-Beta-3641 One Alpha. If you can hear us and provide assistance we would greatly appreciate that. Otherwise we urge you to forward an emergency hail to the sector government. We have a hostage situation down here and we are not able to deal with it ourself.
A word of warning: If you are any kind of pirate. This camp is protected with an X4 planetary defence gun. Any hostile action will be answered with a hypersonic projectile from it

As you maybe remember Dr. Petra Salmberg is your contact person on the planet

"Oh hi," Dotty replies enthusiastically into her microphone, "I'm Dotty, err, Dorothea Astankova, you can call me Dotty, I'm sensors and communications aboard the Sycorax II. Eddie sent us, we've got a com-sat for you Doc." She takes her finger off the transmit button.

"We should probably figure out how to put that thing into orbit skipper, or what orbit they wants it in."

"Let's concentrate on the hostage situation first. Ask them about that, please."

"Oh ya," Dotty clicks on her mic, "What's with the hostage thingie there Doctor Petra?"

This job just goes from bad to worse. Have any of you been trained or experience in this type of situation?

Petra responds A com satellite ... Good.... at least our lack of communications was noticed.
So regarding the hostage situation: More than a month ago our comms went out and a few hours after that an unknown ship attempted to land. It was pretty big and it didn't react to our hails.
Given that it probably jammed our comms and that it didn't react to our hails we shot it down with our planetary defence gun.
It crashed near one of our camps. Some of those bastards survived and and took the scientists at the camp hostage.
We were to provide food for them and they wouldn't hurt our colleagues.
So we were in a stalemate. They couldn't survive without us because the planet has hardly any edible plants or meats and we lack the military equipment and training to drive them out.
Lately they've become increasingly agitated and I fear that the worst could happen if we don't intervene soon.

She sighs
So yeah... any help would be appreciated

Adonis joins the conversation, "We just encountered another, smaller, ship out here and destroyed it because it wouldn't answer our hails and fired on us. I suspect it may have either come from that larger ship or was part of their fleet. We're not a very big ship and crew so I'm not sure what we could do against an organized group of thugs with training in fighting. Do you have anyone there who is capable but just lacks the right kind of leadership?"

We have three colleagues who are more than eager to join in on an attempt to liberate the hostages. We can also provide some limited help with equipment.
I also think that the time for an... an... attack is good. They've reduced the guards who patrol outside. Maybe some of them became sick... we don't know but we see fewer of them
Dr. Salmberg answers.

"Oh for criminy sakes," Dottys says her mic turned off, "this is some kind of a mess ain't it?"

"I mean I'm not bad at getting into and out of places I ain't supposed to be but I ain't much of a fighter Skipper." She shrugs, "I mean not a fair one at any rate. Iron is loud, I don't do loud."

Adonis turns off his mic to talk to Dotty and Stitches. "Let's work this just like we did back at the bar before we even know about this gig. At least let's meet these three colleagues that Dr. Samberg is talking about. We just need to get down to the surface without causing too much of a disturbance and alerting the kidnappers. What do you both think? Are you in?"

Before they reach their goal and pick up the new crew Adonis will gather the others together for a brief discussion.

"How do you feel about this idea? First we determine just who it is we'll be dealing with. Are they just plain human ruffians? Are they crazy mutants or even strange aliens or are they just like us just with a bad attitude. If they're anything like us we might want to do a little spying. The last thing I would want to do is rush in with guns blazing. It depends a lot on how many there are. The fewer of them there are the more likely they all would know each other and the more difficult spying would be."

Sounds good, we may need to find a back way in. Many times a two pronged attack can work by creating a diversion and slipping one team in for the rescue.

"Well, whatever we decide to do we should probably learn a little about who we have to work with. I will try to bring us in from the opposite direction of the site where the raiders took their hostages."

Adonis prepares the ship for atmospheric entry. All openings are closed and he programs an approach vector that avoids flying over the hostage site while also limiting the thermal load on the ship.

I see you are approaching us. I'll give you the coordinates of our landing pad. Be careful the planet is very windy Dr. Petra Salmberg remarks over the comms.

As you all approach the planet you notice that while most life-bearing planets are coloured in green and blue tones, this one is dominated by shades of purple and brown. Even the oceans have a purple tint.

You are transitioning from space to atmospheric flight.
Please take a seat and use the seat belts to fixate yourself. Predicted maximum deceleration: 4.42 g.
This warning is repeatedly said by a computer voice and displayed on all screens onboard the ship.

Soon you can sense how the atmosphere pushes back on the ship while it falls towards the landing zone. The ship rumbles a lot and Adonis banks the ship left and right in order to follow the navigation markers on the screen.

We've lost an armor plate from the patched up part of the hull Dani suddenly calls through the intercom.

Does that mean that we'll die? Raven calls out in a panicked voice.

Probabilty of integrity loss is at 7%. That's what the computer says. We should make it. I've been in situations that were worse Dani answers

Adonis changes the flight angle in order to avoid airflow over the damaged part and soon the research camp comes into sight.

It more looks like a small town than a research camp. Two large, white and blue coloured buildings with about 10 floors form the center. Around those buildings a lot of container-shaped houses are sprawled out.
At the ouskirts of the camp you can see a large satellite dish and what appears to be the planetary defense gun.

The ship engages the thrusters and Adonis steers it toward the landing pad.

Looks like we made it. We survived the reentry. The approach to the landing pad shouldn't put a lot of stress on the ship's structure Dani says through the intercom.

The whole ship shudders as the landing thrusters increase their power to 100% and you can feel how the forward motion of the ship stops as soon as it reaches the landing pad.
Finally the Sycorax II extends its landing legs and lands at the designated spot.

Dani undoes her seatbelt, comes to the front and says.
Skipper, I'll stay here with the robot. We'll have a look at the damaged hull. We have to repair this before we take off again. Otherwise Eddie will need a rescue mission for the rescue mission.

The rest of you exit the ship.
The air is warm and humid. You recognize a sour smell that remembers you of lemon juice and it is quite windy.
You are welcomed at the landing pad by the woman with the red curly hairs you know from the video you watched at the spacefarer's bar.
She is accompanied by two men and some alien being that looks like a ball made out of plant material and that balances itself on four vine-like tentacles while it raises another four of those into the air, holding something resembling a tablet PC.

Welcome at DS-Beta-3641 One Alpha, or how we call it "Purple Town"
My name is Dr. Petra Salmberg and these are Jeff our mechanic, Dr. Scott Prix our scientific allrounder and ChiHiRu our security advisor.

She approaches you all and shakes your hands

The alien stand comfortably on only one tentacle while the Doctor finishes the introduction. One of the freed tentacle grab a self-lighting cigarette from a bag on his body. It draws the smoke deeply from the end of the tentacle. The whole plant body shudder violently a moment and then relaxes.

When the doctor is done shaking hands, it raises the tablet slightly in the air. You can smell faintly, over the cigarette smoke and citrus flavored air, something like grass after the rain, followed by a sweet flowery scent. Right after, the tablet "speaks" with a neutral tone and low volume. "I am ChiHiRu. Welcome."

It then waits, unused tentacles floating slowly in the air.

I am Derek Holloway, former navy and trained combat medic. what can we do to help you?

As much as I'd like to say, let's fix your ship and get out of here... I think we need to address the pirate camp and see if there's some resolution that doesn't involve more death. Cause I'm kind of a 'less death' person.

Jeff looks across the team that has arrived, Sorry, Jeff Fabeck, Senior Ship Engineer. At least on my last couple ships. Stopped off here for the interesting science equipment, stayed for the pirates.