Chapter 1: Ring of Fire

Zuni brings the truck around and lands it near the rear of the ship where it will be easy to load it. As you approach, you get to see first-hand how badly damaged the ship is. Multiple scorch marks blacken the hull, and the upper turret is a burned-out shell.

You make a few passes to search for danger. No sign of movement or habitation. There are some caves toward the out rim of the volcano, and the lake itself is opaque. Perhaps the ship's sensors will be of use to further assess dangers.

As you land the truck, a furry creature emerged from below the ship. It is mamilian with black and white fur, has four legs and a wagging tail, and is making sharp roaring noises at the Shaggin' Wagon. The creature is immmaciated to the point where you can see its individual ribs, and looks quite unhealthy. This might explain its aggression.

"What? A dog? He must have been on the ship. I'm getting out. Zuni exits the ship and stoops low to the ground. "Come here pup. Come on. I won't hurt you. There's a good boy. Where are your people? Hmm little guy?"

As he tries to coax the dog closer he takes the opportunity to scan the area from that level and see if there are signs of anyone or anything in the vicinity besides the dog. If the dog doesn't approach he will go back in and find a treat or ask the girls to bring one out. The dog might be able to lead them somewhere useful.

The dog is too scared to approach. It really does look to be in wretched shape.

As you survey the site, you see no sign of anybody. Now that you're on the ground, you do make out some empty beverage cans with laser pistol holes burned through them.

"Knowing our luck, they got chased off many some great lava worm, or something." she says with a shudder.

"It might explain the damage."

And then she sees the dog approach, and her eyes go wide. She hadn’t seen one since… the K-9 unit back home?

As the dog ignores Zuni, she taunts:

"Last owner must have been a man! Watch and learn!"

Alerio claps her hands and then pats them against her thighs!

"Here! Here! Come and get it! Come on! Here!" and then she wags some of her provisions at the poor thing!

Spotting the cans Zuni says "Hey guys, whoever was here obviously didn't believe in pack in take out They left their litter behind and it looks like they were bored."

He is glad to see Alerio's efforts with the treats beginning to pay off as he watches the poor creature approach the woman.

Seally doesn't understand dogs, they weren't something she grew up with, and preferred monkeys if you were going to have a pet. Still, the creature did look like it could be cute if it wasn't so dirty.

She waits for Alerio, who has a surprising knack for such matters, to gain it's trust.

"They left it here? And then they went on a rampage in town? I'm surprised it can breathe here, we were told the air was dangerously thin." She looks around and then makes her way slowly to the ship. "Let's get this thing checked out and then let us run some atmo scans before we get too carried away."

Fallon nods at Seally's words and makes her way inside. She heads for the sensors first, then to the bridge to check all the electronics.

The dog's bark slowly turns into a whine as Alerio begins to override its fear with its natural affinity for humans, especially humans with treats. It waivers, then caves in and limps towards you, and begins licking the food out of your hands. Up close, you can see the animal is in rough shape, but it must be a survivor to have stayed alive all this time. You're grateful for the filter mask keeping the animal's scent at bay. Pretty soon it is shaking and dancing about you as if moved with joy.

The override codes supplied by House Llewyn work as promised, and you open up the cargo bay doors. This is your first taste of the advanced technology this ship represents. A century old, it was built in the Core worlds at what some consider the height of Imperial starship design.

The bay doors slide open smoothly and soundlessly. Unlike most starships out on the frontier made from bulky Crysteel, Wayward Wind is top-to-bottom Bonded Superdense*, which allows for elegance in design without sacrificing strength. A thin ramp slips out from some hidden space beneath the door and forms a gentle arch between the ship and the ground, inviting you inside.

Unfortunately, the elegance is marred by the frat-house like condition of the interior, which is completely dark. Turning on your own lamps, you see heaps of trash, rotting food, dirty clothes, and dog shit as you enter the cargo bay (18). It takes you a minute to spot the seismic survey gear amid the unlit midden heap. There are a pair of seismic charges, as expected, and a bulky device the size of your crate for analyzing the resulting shockwave. The instructions indicate the charges must be placed at least 100m below the volcano's crust for the shockwaves to penetrate. The device must be set up on the volcano's surface, and then it can remotely detonate the charges and read the data.

The dog follows Alerio inside, so close to her footsteps she could trip over him if she didn't pay attention.
You attempt to access sensors from the engineering station. Power seems good, but the main computer looks to be offline. You do find some manual switches to turn on the lights, at the least.

The bridge is on the second level, but the lift is unresponsive and it will take some doing to get up there. However, Fallon is certain she can begin installing the new operating system from Engineering. Bringing the crate up the ramp, Fallon hooks up the crate computer and begins the reset process. The process goes smoothly, but will take time.

Fallon estimates it will take 4 hours to complete. The system is automated from here, so Fallon won't need to be tied to the computer. However, if something unexpected occurs, it will notify her via comms.

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* - A material that had its molecular structure partially collapsed in a massive artificial gravity field.

"I guess the dog really does only like women," Zuni kids. When the ramp slides out followed by the doors of the ship sliding open Zuni stares unblinking."Whoa." He hadn't seen a ship as nice as this, with the exception of the exterior damage of course, since the last convention and it was going to be theirs.

"Pity about the crew being such pigs though," he says once inside the ship, wrinkling his nose in disgust at the mess. "Guess we got some cleanup to do."

Zuni finds a treat and tries to feed it to the dog. "Hey Buddy. Girls, what shall we call him, or is it a she?" He cranes his head sideways to have a look.

"I'll grab that seismic gear over there and see what's what. Looks like Greener was right." Extracting the bundle from the heap of refuse and wrinkling his nose again he starts to check out the gear and read some instructions. "It says the charges must be placed at least 100m below the volcano's crust. Easy peasy."

Seally looks at the mess. While she is initially disgusted, she is eager to clean it out. "I'll start cleaning this out, and load the garbage into Gino's truck. Then we can drop it off in the volcano or maybe a landfill or waste management facility."

She wrinkles her nose at the doggie doodoo. "Glad we're wearing these. Hey when you go plant those charges, if you see anything sketchy let us know, we'll be ready for a rescue or back up, or we can bring snacks. "

The caves on the perimeter of the crater look like your best bet for going underground. Before Seally begins the cargo bay cleanup, she can ferry the explorers across to the caves in Gino's truck. Once the crew is able to inspect closer, they see the caves appear to be ancient lava tunnels. The smooth walls of the cave descend rapidly, becoming nearly vertical at times.

Fallon looks around the ship and tries to imagine it without all the rubbish. "Well, it's definitely a cleaner-upper. I guess it's pretty clear there were no women in that group of ruffians," she muses. I'll get started checking out the electronics in Engineering and see if I can get some power back on." After a few minutes she gets the lights on and power back somewhat. "The software upload will take a few hours. I'll help you clean, Seally. Dumping this stuff into the volcano seems like our best bet." Fallon looks for a broom, trashbags, or gloves.

Patting the dog on the head, and coaxing it alongside her, Alerio enters the ship. What had been pleasant surprise gave way to crushing expectations.

"It’s… nice!" she offers, with an unconvincing look that’s partially masked by the glean on her mask.

"That’s all your muck, I take it." she says, looking down at the dog, who looks back up innocently; failing to take any responsibility for the matter.

"I’ll go with you!" she calls to Zuni then. She ponders then for a moment, before speaking to the two other women:

"An old dog that only likes women. We should call it Zuni then, shouldn’t we?" she says with a wink and a laugh. She bends down to pet the dog.

"You stay here, ZuZu!"

"Zuzu huh? You better watch out Alerio. I might cut your zip line. Sure you want to come with me?" He throws a tight-lipped smile her way and continues inspecting the gear.

"Alright then. Let's get to it." Zuzu takes out a safety harness, gloves, helmet, rock shoes, helmet, and tool belt and proceeds to put everything on.

"Come on Alerio. These gloves look your size. Helmet too. Have a look." He pushes the bag over to the woman. "I suggest we go slow and easy."

Zuni and Alerio don the climbing gear and find suitably sturdy rocks to drive their anchors into. With the explosive charges strapped to their backs, they slip their way into their respective lava tubes.

Zuni finds his lava tunnel is almost all vertical, and sweat drips from his brow as he swaps lines without solid footing in the dark, but he manages to make the change. He finds a solid place to anchor the charge, and then begins the onerous climb back out. Reminds him of old times with the Scouts, exploring caves on now far-away worlds for mineral deposits. As your hands make contact with the rock, you find that it is warm to the touch, even hot in certain places.

Meanwhile, Alerio finds her way down. Her descent is much more jagged, which makes for an easier descent but she knows it'll be harder coming back up. Fortunately, Alerio is an accomplished climber and knows how to handle herself dangling precariously over the dark abyss. She gets to 100m (estimated from rope usage), plants the charge, and begins the arduous ascent, having to navigate overhangs and sharp-edged rocks. Alerio also finds the cave's walls to be unexpectedly warm to the touch.

The two of you come up on the surface, dripping in sweating and with laboured breath.

Alerio and Zuni find Seally and Fallon busy with the clean out, and have mostly cleared the trash out of the cargo bay and into the crater. You give them a call for a lift, and they come fetch you in the truck. While they're getting over, a tremor grips the mountain. It is not especially violent but goes on for a surprisingly long time, making it difficult to stand in the open.

After what seems like far too long, the ground stops trembling. Suddenly, you see a disturbance in the surface of the lake. As the Travellers watch, huge bubbles rise to the surface of the lake for a short buy intense burst, then just as suddenly as they appeared, they subside again.