Heist the Colours 2: Now in Space (OOC)

I have read some Lem, but it was decades ago and I don't recall specifically which books I read. I believe Pirx is 'short stories', and I don't tend to read short stories, but even if not, I don't think it is among those I read.

Ah then I had the wrong one. Thanks.
Alrighty :)

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I have not ;)

So what are we rolling today?
DEX +

Athletics?
Vacc Suit?

Both 0 so a little difference? Or should not I roll?

Tricky one.

You almost never roll the Vacc Suit Skill, except if you are doing something directly related to the suit itself, like checking it or putting it on under stress.

You do take a -2 penalty to everything you roll because you only have the Skill at 0 which is 1 level below these suits requirement (for some reason I maybe thought you had it higher or I meant Ronny when I said above about 'no penalty'?).

This does seem like DEX +Athletics(Dexterity). We would use the Effect Level (past 8) to determine how it goes, ranging from Raf getting a bit bruised same as Abby on the low side; to Raf instead of Abby; to no bruising at all; all the way to 'heroic and spectacular saving of the damsel who swoons in your arms' on the high side.

Roll it and then describe it.

Roll added: 8 - not bad. Must be a real love - considering the huge patently..... ;) ;) ;)

Nice. That is a a success, though not a great one. There was never any real 'harm' on the line, so you don't need to mark anything on your sheet, but you can go ahead and describe what you do, how you keep Abby safe, and what happens to you as you do it.

Ok. Later. This day. But can I incorporate us gettin to engine room in the same description - to move things forward?

Sure.

That is correct. It would be a net 2 gain, but you would also have to deal with the ship signalling that it was being powered on and have people wonder why.

Once the power is on you can also turn on the Gravity, so that is another +1.

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Raf is a Power Plan Engineer, he may be able to do something with the Power Plant without the computer, but that would be very risky. It would solve all three of the above problems, though.

Hmm, that would complicate things in a different way, that's true.

I'd say either Abby does a slow hack during the boot sequence or a rush job after the boot sequence.

I'll wait and see what the others think.

Do we know who would be messaged by booting up? Like what is 'the standard list of contacts' of this? If it's only the caretaker, maybe we can get out of it with a quick lie. Either before we start booting or after.
If also the ship owner gets a notification, that might be more annoying.

Well, yeah. Would not be much of a devil's bargain if there was not a cost. :)
I am not sure the +2 is worth it taking maybe 6 days when it could be done in 10 hours (both extremes of the dice outcomes, of course). But that option is there.
Yeah, maybe. 60 hours on the 'normal' speed might be a long time to delay if someone is after you. (But see below.)
You can be pretty sure it is 'the military'. But they may have their hands full with the unrest, and may even --if you get really lucky or set something up-- write it off as a thing they were expecting to happen as part of their mobilisation.
I doubt it. There is also a good chance the manufacturer has backdoor telemetry in the software (you might want to have Abby look into that... later?).

I would say it is 50/50 whether the caretaker is even in that loop.

The caretaker also knows you are there, and probably assumes you need to power up to do your work. He probably won't care till you start getting cleaver with the fuel or start moving the ship. It is the other people who you have not lied to yet that are a problem when they find out you are there.
Yes, though he is also the closest, and would have to be dealt with while you are still here in the Depot. Anyone else would probably be many days away (space is big) and you know that from the time it took you to get here, but you don't want to bargain on that, there may be a ship cruising around this area.
Yeah, maybe either deal with it before, or hope no one notices until it is too late... or have made a plan for this (your characters would have known about this, but you did have your schedule shifted up, so may not be fully prepared).
You can assume they will notice it being gone eventually. If you let it signal the startup then they will be an immediate threat, if you keep it quiet then they will not know till they see the ship moving away or maybe until they find it gone.

No matter what, you are still talking about 'days' for anyone other than the caretaker to get to you. But it will take time to get fuel, and then will take time to plot the jump (Lio might appreciate being able to take his time on that Astrogation Check rather than being rushed:) and time to get to the 'safe distance'. Lack of time for either of those will make the jump calculations harder.

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But, in all this, remember the promise that you will get the ship, and that a mis-jump won't be the end.

Closing the unclosed threads:
Ok, it was just an idea. Maybe useful maybe not. And you are very right: IF there is something strange we should discover it later, not to "disturb" the current main aim: to get the ship and flee with it:)

Edited: Post about Stanisław Lem -> moved to General Chat.

Wow... things are starting to get complicated:)

Ok, after reading all that you have written my view/ideas on the situation is this:
- the official story is that we are installing a new module on the ship ("a med bay" - I think - it was?) - so it would mean that caretaker should not see anything suspicious in us powering up the ship. I think he didn't expect us to install it with no gravity at all on the ship? That would also mean that he is expecting us to work on the ship for at least few days? Installing such a things isn't just plug and play - I presume?

- but... the above doesn't mean we don't have to take care about the party that will be signaled about "unauthorized" ship powering up - indeed. But to me it seams that if they would get the signal AND decided to do something about that, they would contact caretaker first. Wouldn't day? And apart from that it will took them days-long-time to get to the depot. So maybe we could try to "just" intercept the signal TO the caretaker or if he get it, just lie or stop him in other wat to do something about situation? Do any of us have some Comms or Sensors skills to do the interception i.e. being on the Ginger - near the caretaker office - while Abby will be booting the ships system?

- to help Abby on the site I have such idea: could Raf make something with the power plant that will only last to open the cargo hold for Ginger to fly in, then close it? Or now that we are inside - use some Ginger power to get the cargo hold door open and then close?

Why? - you may ask:)

Looking at the ship's schematics: it looks that engine room have it's own air lock door... so maybe we could use Ginger's life support, or air reserves (Bob will be more then happy... ;D ) to pomp the air in this engine room ALONE and (before :) close its airlock - so Abby (and Raf!) wouldn't have to work on the engine in the vac suits! :) Making it 4 points easier for Abby and 2 for Raf?

Any other ideas?

Apart from all of this. It is supposed to be a military ship sealed to be ready for semi-fast mobilization when the times come. So should it have something ready in cargo hold for such occasions? Stuffed with food at the minimum? :)

Traveller is not rules light. :)
Agreed. He would expect it. And may see it as strange if you don't do that soonish.
Indeed. You can assume that whatever lie you told him covers you for at least as long as you would stay. The longer you stay the more chances there are that he will decide he needs to actually see your paperwork, or that he is lonely enough that he wants to come over and talk, or for news from the planet to get to him and change the situation, though.
Presumably. He would then tell them "people are doing work up here" and they may spend time checking their records before telling him that you are not authorised.

But they may also decide to check it out immediately, the tense political situation might have everyone on edge --or have them ignoring this-- so you don't know for sure how they will react, it might not be by the book.
Probably, though that discounts the possibility that they may have a ship or a squadron in the area, or they may be on their way here already 'for other reasons'.

Whatever you do, there will be some risk, and some unpredictability.
It seems easier to try intercept the signal from the ship than to try to intercept a signal to a third-party at a distance.

It would take quite an operation to disrupt military communications in the field. But you are hands-on with Betty, so you have more options here.
If he gets a signal, and tells you about it, then you will have such options. If he just answers the signal, then you might not even know about it.
Abby has some Comms (possibly 2) and I plan to have her pick up some Sensors (this was just to fill in the gaps in the character sheets). So the only person who could really try such a thing is already busy. :)
Sure. You could try something like that.

Starting up the fusion power-plant without the computer is a significant risk though.

You could maybe find a way to open the cargo bay doors without power.
A Power Engineer should be able to use Ginger's power (run an extension lead over) to get the door's motors going.
Correct.
Possible. Though the engine room is twice the size of Bob's Gig, so it will strain his systems. Maybe a Power-Plant Engineer could help there, or at least reassure him that it will not strain them enough to be a problem.

Your presumption that Bob will be happy with this relies on your making him happy. :)
Or attach a docking couple (you planned for this, right?) to the inside and dock Ginger to the Engine Room, that way you can have access to both the Engine Room and the Gig (with its bunks) for the duration. This would mean that Bob is not available for other duties quite as easily.

Taking the Gig inside would also reassure the caretaker that things look normal. He may assume that means you have power (as expected).

I don't know what 'Grav Plates' look like, but you may have planned ahead and brought some temporary ones that you can place in the Engine Room so Abby does not need to deal with Zero-G (and its -1) as well.

Each of these would require some sort of roll or risk, or be a thing that could go wrong. But each step you take is also a step to make your job easier.

Thanks for answers and considerations. I love idea about mobile grab plates! Looks like we would be really smart and well prepared for this heist... :))

Let's see what others thing about situation and those ideas.

No, it is 'in Mothballs' (google 'ships in mothballs' or 'mothballed ship' for more details). This state is not meant for quick activation, but rather 'quicker than building new ones'.

A force that wants to make use of these old ships would ship over all the personnel and requirements to get it going. Taking a week or so (about how long you might be taking) would be fine for getting more ships into a military action --and only if they were called for, the currently active fleet would bear the brunt of the action till help can arrive if needed.

Any food left here would be purely by accident and would not be very appealing. Ginger can carry 8.6 Tons, so you can have all the food you want... though you were rushed in your departure.

Could be. What did they cost you? Where did you get them?