Last chapter. The Heaven's Wing

Trade Era 1235, Day 209. 08:00 UTC
The cramped confines of the boarding craft, christened Vanguard, was filled with tension as its hull bucked slightly against the turbulence of the stellar winds. The red giant star in Sector 02.07 loomed ahead, its massive, roiling surface seen through the narrow cockpit viewport.

The Vanguard was an unassuming vessel—small, rugged, and stripped down to its essentials. It was a relic of Stellar Express’s industrial fleet, designed for breaching derelict stations and ships. Its boxy frame bristled with grappling arms, docking clamps, and cutting torches, a stark contrast to the more robust and spacious vessels the crew had grown accustomed. It had been towed into the system by a Stellar Express frigate—silent and ominous as it drifted in the distance, ready to retreat at the first sign of trouble. Once released, the boarding craft had surged forward on a burn, its engines straining to intercept the separatist station.

Erin gripped the edge of her seat, her eyes fixed on the distant ring-shaped silhouette of the research station, stark against the starry backdrop. "This thing flies like a brick tied to a rocket. Even the stellar winds are rocking it. You sure this bucket can make it in and out?"

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Douklan, you have got one shot to approach, so you could play it safe and approach slowly or you can arrive fast and furious, shuddering violently the ship as its retros fire and killing the forward velocity at the last minute. That would make the boarding safer and any enemy fire easier to avoid but it may paint yourselves across the station’s hull if you fail by a lot.

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Corbin, the ship’s docking and boarding systems are online. Grappling arms and cutting torches are prepped. But there is a trade-off here. Shutting down some systems or messing with the energy grid may let you approach faster or more stealthily. You have shut down non-essential ones already and done any "obvious" choices.

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Hank, you’re the ship’s eyes and ears here. Please gimme a Program roll to let us know what you detect. We will take it from there.

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Mercer, the Heaven’s wing is probably somewhere inside this large station. There are no informed choices here, but an educated guess could be the difference between a reasonable search and a fruitless one. Do you have any idea where you want the Vanguard to board or dock? Near the station labs? Engines? Turrets? In the middle of the ring? How do you wanna approach this?

Ok, here goes the sensors roll!

The middle would make sense in one way, equal access to he whole place, but we're not sure where to go. Station labs usually have a fair amount of information, if we can get access to them. Let's start there.

Hank, here is the station layout.

There is a large central node and a rotating ring structure with 11 frigate-sized docking bays. The current rotation of the ring should provide about 1/3 of Earth's gravity, while the central area is at zero G.

At the bottom, where the 12th bay would be, there is another structure, connected through a pinnacle, which rotates with the ring and has the greatest centrifugal forces.

If you want to use them, there are docking ports on the central node. There are also the eleven bays - if they are empty, your ship would fit inside. Last but not least, you can park anywhere and use the cutters and explosives to board the station.

Artificial gravity seems to be offline. Heat exchangers are closed. From this distance, you cannot detect any energy signatures. You haven't tried to open communications, of course, but there are no broadcasts coming from them.

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Mercer, with Hank's results, we now know that the largest laboratory is probably the structure at the bottom. The power plant, main docking port and other major utilities are likely in the central node, in a zero-gravity environment.

Since the artificial gravity appears to be off and the station is rotating, the centrifugal forces would pull you in strange directions at the main lab. It would be more difficult to get there and move around inside, but it is feasible. The ring has a more appropriate floor/ceiling orientation and the central spire would be the easiest way in.

Looking over the readouts, Corbin considers the options. "If we're voting, I say grab one of the docking bays near the spires. We'll make less noise if we don't need to cut into things. Also, I could power down the grappling systems and cutting arms. That'd cut down our energy signature and maybe help with maneuvering."

Corbin looks to Hank and Mercer for thoughts. He refrains from bothering Douklan since the turbulence is bad enough while he's paying attention.

Mercer, not one to ignore the advice of experts, would agree. "If you think we could move through that easy enough, let's do that."

"I agree. If we can get into a bay, it might take longer to get noticed."