8. Mars

[dakota]

(extra roll added to prev post)

[Renekin Skywalker]

Rather than politely wait, I just gotta say:

Due to her diagnsis roll, McKenna can't tell if Mr. Johnson's alive, dead, or got a weasel on his head.

Feel free to re-roll.

[Mierin]

Engineering rolls to close off the water:

Basic Engineering[dice=100], fail
Mechanical Engineer [dice=100], pass[rand=51275348758620943556523940534912597887722735734039500230877582544]

[dakota]

[dice=100]

Unsatisfied with her results using the computer's scanners, McKenna took a chance and unbuckled , moving to the bedside to examine Mr. Johnson herself. She had flown in the back of an ambulance shuttle unbelted, so she was confident she would be okay. [rand=2626978140483746698615366110180294615353827166523563075722140096]

[kurff]

The next phase should be easy. Getting the landing gear ready. Looking over the control status he hit a pair of slides and lowered the gears. the sequence should start the landing thrusters as well but to be certain he also made sure the were in proper timing.

"Initiating landing gear," he spoke tapping the rooms comm, then slid the lever down...
Engineering:
Mechanical
[dice=100][dice=100][dice=100]
Electrical
[dice=100][dice=100][dice=100]



[rand=01788172498345375580949056893587107210456253960729710485702380538]

[Renekin Skywalker]

Important note to players!!
Don't worry about posting a reaction to everything in this post. Seriously. It's just filler. However, there is something at the very end for yee!

GM story-moving-along post where players do not respond to every paragraph.
The ship landed at the space port, pretty much on time.

How lackluster!

But, that's OK. The fairly clean landing was more than made up for by the emergency vehicles tearing across the spaceport to their landing pad. The emergency workers were quite a scene to behold. Before the engines were full powered-off, and the ship ready to open, the crews had sprayed foam coolant/retardant over the gash, and were prepping to enter the ship to examine the port side.

Once in, about a dozen were up and down stairs taking radiation readings before coming to the bridge. At about the same time, a team of medics came in and relieved McKenna of the patient, taking a copy of her files with them for his treatment. As usual, the local team did little more than ushers around like ants on sugar, take what they needed and leave without more conversation than "Pulse? Pressure? File?"

Eventually someone in a firechief's uniform came on the bridge. "Captain." He said, without asking permission to enter (spaceport crews had as much entry power as a corrupt cop with imagined suspicion about the guy that ripped him off at the latest drug deal). "Your port bow shows 10 degrees above normal. HOwever, we do not see signs of combustion. They are safe to enter."

"Thank-you." Tawfeek said, almost to the crew-chief's back. "Stephens, Foreman, go do visual verification. I'll go with Mckenna to help the passengers disembark." Tapping the comm, he says, "Mensk, begin a full power-down, all systems except basic life support."

ON the general comm, he says, "Attention passengers, this is the captain speaking. Hey, how's it going? I am happy to say that not only have we arrived on Mars, but we are now allowed to leave the ship. McKenna and I will be down to each quarters in turn to help with departure. We ask you to remain patient so that things stay orderly. A transport to the main terminal will be here shortly."

...
Commercial break!!! Buy Spuddies. They're spudderific. Also, see the latest banal attempt at risqué limit-pushing on FOX!
...

So, the ship seemed to be more or less intact, with no new damage. The affected rooms were not more than too hot to bear, but th ventilation was helping. At the same time, the hyroponics looked no worse than having an overly hot and dry summer.

However...

Tawfeek, under spaceworthiness laws, was not allowed to leave Mars until the ship passed another inspection. It was also the best way to avoid criminal charges or a lawsuit from the Johnsons. So, while the ruptured hull parts were being repaired (mostly under Tawfeek’s and Jessica’s supervision), the rest of the crew spent their working/waking hours checking every wire connection of every system on the ship. To help things go quickly, each member was assigned parts of the ship to review. Foreman worked around the bridge and flight controls, McKenna handled the medical ward, hydroponics and cooking, and Jessica, Tawfeek and Mengsk went over engines, life support, gravity and general systems.

Usually, Tawfeek allowed time in the evenings to relax, but the pace he and the crew were working, it was just enough time to eat before going to sleep for the night.

And Tawfeek was fairly exacting, checking upon everyone to make sure they were focused on their tasks. Though, he wasn’t abusively so, and it was pretty obvious he was working alongside them, where he could. In some ways, it was something Tawfeek should have done a long time before, since it gave the crew a detailed idea of just how their systems worked, wire by wire.

It was another two weeks until the hull was complete and all the checks were done. Two weeks going deck by deck, panel by panel, before Tawfeek let them quit early. He was still going over proximities of wirings and wire shielding and grounds to see if the problem causing the gravity failures (the high-voltage conduit was too close to the computer drive housing and it caused the electricity to travel to the magnetic fields of the drives. Or so the GM says. Anyways, he wanted to know if this was an isolated problem before the inspector came to check on the ship. If it was not an isolated problem, they were out of a job.

So, the group has been on Mars for two weeks, working on the ship, getting it space-worthier again when news arrived that Mr. Johnson had finally woken up. The doctors expected him to make a full recovery in the next few years, though it also meant he would have to retire early, and may never travel in space again. Mrs. Johnson was happy to have her husband back. He had basically corroborated the Six Flags theory. He had just walked away from a terse discussion with Mr. Smith about something when he got caught in the wrong stairwell, the gravity went crazy. Next thing he knew, he woke up on Mars. Mr. Johnson seemed to accept it as being a risk of space travel, and, given his relatively good care after the incident meant that Tawfeek had one less thing to worry about.

After that news, the captain did seem to breath a little easier. When the last of the checks had been completed, and the ship cleaned up again, Tawfeek gathered his crew all in the galley.

Overall, everything seemed to be in working order – nothing was missing, decayed, or needing upgrades. Well, except the destroyed hard drive, the and the conduit needing to be replaced with better shielding. Tawfeek probably wouldn’t go in for upgrades, just now, anyways. (GM’s sort of note to players that this won’t happen every time.)

...
More commercials. These ones are for furniture. You know the ones: the big gymnasium with one of everything that's really the last of anything, and the only reason they're selling it cheap is because no store will take it.
...

In the Galley.

“I have a vacation for you all.” He said. “A bus tour around the gardens of Mars. Probably nothing fancy, but still. You all need the break. I’ll be here for the new inspection. You’ll get picked up from the spaceport and trucked around for a couple of days. See the sites, and be good boys and girls.”

[dakota]

McKenna was thankful for a break, but the captain made her a bit suspicious," You aren't coming with us? You probably need a break more than anyone else, Captain." She didn't say anything, but touring gardens was the last thing she wanted to do. She had seen the inside of hydroponics too much since they had landed to want anything to do with more plants. More like the inside of a dance cllub with the booze flowing was what she needed to unwind.

[Renekin Skywalker]

"No rest for the wicked." Tawfeek said to McKenna. "You'll be gone a few days, and the inspection is only a few hours. That difference will give me the rest I need."

[Mierin]

Jessica simply nods at the Captain, smiling in a friendly manner. She could use some quiet time, especially after the last few days of being as busy as she was getting the ship ready. She didn't really care if it was a bus tour, so long as the bus didn't break down and she wasn't expected to repair things on their days off.

[Dome]

Foreman was barely able to contain the groan about touring the gardens. He really needed to just sit back and relax. He still hadn't gotten past getting the ship damaged. The struggle on re-entry wore on him more than he let on. He could have been the cause of death for the crew and all their passengers. No matter what anyone said, the entire incident was nagging at him. All that weighed on him, and then with the Captain's grueling work schedule they all had been on he was just wiped out.

Anyone looking in his direction could tell he was drained, as the ever present smile was no where to be found.

He glances at the other crew members briefly as they talk to the captian. When he looked at MJ, he wasn't sure what to think, they never had a chance to reconnect, or even really talk about what happened in the stair well. Since the bread loaf incident he practically slept on the bridge. Jess never really seemed to like him that much and it seemed to get worse since he almost had her quarters vented into space on reentry. Mensk, well, atleast this time he could see Mensk, as the mechanic was believed to be on the ship the entire flight but he was seen less than a public men's room sees a mop and bucket.

Foreman just sighs and stands, his face impassive, "I'll go pack," he says as he turns and leaves the galley. Unless stopped he heads for his room.

[Renekin Skywalker]

"That's the spirit!" Tawfeek says as Dome trudges resignedly out of the room. "Look. I can't have you all underfoot for the inspection, since it means really important things like venting air from the ship, and turning the gravity off and on. I'm told it'll be an easy trip, and you could easily just sleep on the bus."

[dakota]

"Guess there's no choice." McKenna said with a shrug. " Being the doctor, maybe I should bring something formedicinal purposes." she grinned, then started back to her quarters.

[Mierin]

Jessica raises an eyebrow at McKenna's grin and then heads to Tawfeek's quarters to get her things ready for their time on Mars.

[Renekin Skywalker]

"Don't do anything that would embarrass yourself or the crew." Tawfeek calls after McKenna. "Or you'll be stuck on this planet to live with yourself and we'll be merrily on our way."

As Jessica is about to leave, Tawfeek adds, "As second in command, it's your duty to not have to keep them in line. Just let me know later if they screw up. I got this as a favour, so it'll look bad on me no matter what stupid thing they do."

A GM notes about setting:
Common phrases:
“Outerspace is a non-smoking environment.“
“Don’t fly, if you’re high.”
“Mars is a dry environment. Also, it’s a desert. Alcohol is not permitted on the planet.”

[Dome]

Foreman heads to his bunk and packs everything into his one duffel. He thinks, 'I don't need a tour of the planet, what I need is to get my hands on a low altitude single seater and just let loose. Maybe then I'll feel like myself again. I almost killed everyone, The Captain, Jessica, MJ, and even the kids. This shit with MJ got in my head. Now I don't even know where that stands. Maybe I'll stay on Mars. Only time will tell.'

He heads out and meets in the cargo bay with everyone else. Unless they went to his bunk, no one would really know he cleared it out as he didn't have a whole lot when he came on board. He sits quietly and waits for everyone else, and them to depart.