Chapter 3: High Noon on Walston

"Nice and slow…" Alerio says, more to herself as she hammers away at her console to make sure she has eyes on everything as they approach!

"Reading data now!" she says, preparing to share her findings!

Seally pries her finger from the arms of her station chair as the Beowulf bobs in the water. With Fallon's quip she is brought back out of her life-or-death flash-before-your-eyes-ing. She jumps up.

"Maybe they've even relaxed their rules about beach activities since we were here!" She shakes Falkirk's hand. "You're a good man. Thanks for the ride down. Now, we've got to see a pirate about some hostages."

She rounds up the heretic squad, helping them check their armor and guns. "One, Four, Nine, are you ready to show them what we're made of?"

"Whadya got Alerio? Tell me they all had heart attacks and dropped dead."

Zuni continues to ease the craft in, repeating a phrase he heard in an ancient movie, "slow and steady winds the race, slow and steady wins the race..."

THE WAYWARD WIND

Alerio is getting a good handle on the Wayward Wind's powerful sensor suite, and manages to pinpoint a number of lifeforms with weapon signatures within Startown (shown as red dots on the map). In addition, she counts thirty-seven unarmed lifeforms in Hanky's pub. She streams the data to Seally and Fallon.

"You seeing this? They’ve got that square licked down tight! We’ll need to give them a reason to come our way! Draw them off the bar!" she says, hoping Zuni has some ideas for what they could do.

Fake a malfunction, maybe?… Idle on the port and run down the clock?…

"Yeah. Looks like 37 unarmed. Potential allies? How many with weapons? We could fake drive trouble or make a leak, something to distract and try to peel away potential help in our direction. Do we have any spare armaments? I know we can't arm them all but I'm thinking out loud here."

H20RAACE HARVESTS

---

As usual, One speaks for Heretic Squad, confirming his unit's readiness in his usual laconic style. Before leaving Forine, they chose armaments suitable to their training:Horace Symon greets you as you clamber out of the top hatch of the Beowulf and climb up to the platform.

"Greener has informed me of the plan. Please, be careful with my subs! I just got them up and working last week!" Despite his nervousness, he doesn't hesitate to give you the ignition code. He knows what's at stake here.

"You know how to drive these, right?" Well, maybe there's a little hestitation.

Seally skates Horace's hand, and introduces him to Fallon and the Feskals.

"They're beauties all right. I've driven something similar back in the core. I won't say I'm going to do fancy tricks, but I'll bring them back in one piece. At least one, anyway."

"Just what I’ve got on me! How well can you land this thing?" Alerio asks, drumming up a plan in her mind.

Fallon claps Horace on the back. "Not at all! But thankfully I won't be the one piloting them. I'm sure someone here does though, right?" She looks around at the others.

"Im thinking we have a busted landing! Something that looks convincing enough that they’ll come make sure the ship isn’t in danger. Any ideas?"

"I could make a hard landing. But it won't be easy to put her down like that. You know what I mean? Hard yet not with so mucn force we end up with an unfixable problem".

Zuni makes a series of quick calculations, all of which scream wrong, but that's what they should do.

"Ok, hold onto your hat!"

Zuni starts the hard landing descent.

The Feskals look at Fallon with a blank look as Horace leads you to the dock where the subs are tethered. "We were not taught to drive vehicles of any kind," One explains. "We are Infantry."

Horace frowns as talk of piloting the subs reveals your inexperience. "Are you telling me none of you know how to pilot these? I think I'm going to be sick..."

Fallon shrugs easily, as if this were no big problem. "I can't be both beautiful and good at everything. And submarines aren't the most common mode of transportation in the universe. But you can pilot one, can't you Horace? You don't have to come ashore with us, it will be perfectly safe for you. And anyone else who can pilot the others. I'm sure there has to be another pilot among us who is...good with their hands?" she arches an eyebrow seductively as she gazes at potential pilots.

"You sure you know what you’re doing?" Alerio asks, as something just feels off with the way they were approaching the star port. Not off how she expected, but off off…

"Shit, I'm doing the best I can. Give a man a break. I didn't train for semi-crash ladings, you know."

Sweat had started dripping into Zuni's eyes. She was right to doubt him now.

Whose dumb idea was this anyway?

THE WAYWARD WIND

---

Klaxons sound off all through the ship as Zuni stalls the M-Drive to give the stunt an air of realism. Unfortunately, he finds it a lot harder to get the engines to turn back on! Goldie sounds off as the ship hurtles toward the ground: "CRITICAL DESCENT ALERT: Velocity exceeding safe limits. Immediate course correction required to avoid planetary impact."

Zuni does manage to get the M-Drive back online, but a little too late! The ship's hull groans as he pulls up on the stick as hard as he can, but there isn't enough time to slow the ship's descent. Goldie calmly announces: "BRACE FOR IMPACT."

There is a jarring smash and a deafening bang as the ship's belly scrapes against the landing pad of the downport. The impact is somewhat absorbed by the artificial gravity, but it still causes quite the upheaval within the ship. It skids off the landing pad and tears straight through the perimeter fence, continuing on into the desert sand, sending up a kaleidoscope of colours into the air. It comes to a stop, nose half-buried.

H20RAACE HARVESTS

---

Horace is unwilling to get into the sub under these conditions. "Look ... I'm terrible under pressure, with lives hanging in the balance! I'll most likely put the mission in jeopardy. No, I am sure you are the right people for the job.

He hands you the ignition fobs and steps away.

The subs are old and smelly, but definitely watertight, and they do start without issue as you hit the ignition switch. Running lights all around fire up, illuminating the shallow sea, which, unlike the surface, is absolutely teaming with plant life.

Looking at the control panel, you figure it can't be that bad. Rudder, ballast, and pressurized thrust ... pretty simple, right?