Let's Play: Shattered Earth

[Eternal_Freedom]

OOC: the Ravenstar from TEAM LAME can hold 8-10 I think, but I would imagine these Ravenstar-10/11's would be larger, with more cargo space and passengers. I would think a passenger capacity of 20-30 would not be unreasonable, with a much larger cargo area to fulfill their duel role as shuttle and lifeboat.

[doom3607]

OOC: Works for me. If anyone's wondering, the Ravenstar line is still in use because Team L.A.M.E. proved, rather dramatically, that they can take effectively anything and Just. Keep. Going.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Ravensburg leaves the meeting with Icy, the Security Chief in two to oversee the preparations. In an undertone, and only after ensuring there's no one about, he says:

"Look, Icy, I'm worried. I don't think Captain Prycin can handle what's going on, he's a schemer and manipulator, not a leader. Just...do me a favour, and keep an eye on him for me."

[FaxModem1]

Woods, doing his eyeball deck check, stumbles into Icy. A small 'meow' is heard.

"Sir, I've been checking the station, we're going to need spare parts for most of it, we have leaks and small fractures in most of the heating tubes."

Chuck Woods hopes his two superiors don't hear the small purring as he puts his hand into his torso pocket.

[Hawkwings]

"Lieutenant Negrón, round up that away team double-quick! Looks like we're going to have to do this one live. Yes, I think it would be best if you lead this one personally. Once you're all prepped and ready on the shuttle stand by for more detailed orders."

"Ravensburg, I don't think that will be an issue here, at least for this mission. They know we've got to get those parts found or everyone on the station is done for. Anyways, get to the comm station and see if you can find anyone alive in Istanbul. Feed the information to the away team as you get it."

Finding the ensign who had originally reported the crisis, Jacob said "Ensign! Round up a repair crew and get outside to take a look at the damage. Report back with exactly what parts are broken, what we can fix, and what we'll need replacements for."

OOC: so do we just have the 39 people listed in the original post? because 10 ships capable of carrying 20 people each seems a bit excessive if that's the case.

[OmegaChief]

Taylor shook his head quickly, to clear the thoughts of an imagined argument over just how bad thier situation could be.

"Recommend we lockdown and seal any parts of the station we can afford to use at this point, it could buy us time, also suggest we start loading up the spare birds with as many of our supplies as we can as well as looking for alternate landing sites even if Istanbul is intact for now"

[Force Lord]

"Lieutenant Negrón, round up that away team double-quick! Looks like we're going to have to do this one live. Yes, I think it would be best if you lead this one personally. Once you're all prepped and ready on the shuttle stand by for more detailed orders."

"Yes sir. I'll inform you when we're ready."

"Icy Ralph" moved out.

Ravensburg leaves the meeting with Icy, the Security Chief in two to oversee the preparations. In an undertone, and only after ensuring there's no one about, he says:

"Look, Icy, I'm worried. I don't think Captain Prycin can handle what's going on, he's a schemer and manipulator, not a leader. Just...do me a favour, and keep an eye on him for me."

Icy whispered, "I'll keep a lookout for that son of a bitch, Rave. Damn intriguers are dangerous if they get their position over their heads."

Woods, doing his eyeball deck check, stumbles into Icy. A small 'meow' is heard.

"Sir, I've been checking the station, we're going to need spare parts for most of it, we have leaks and small fractures in most of the heating tubes."

Chuck Woods hopes his two superiors don't hear the small purring as he puts his hand into his torso pocket.

"Get the engineers to their stations. Tell them what you've found. And did I just hear a cat?"

[doom3607]

OOC: The extra lifeboats are because A) Some could break down, it's happened before and B) the station is pretty empty at the moment. All the Deep Space Reaserch or Combat or Mining vessels are far from Earth at the moment. The ones that can make it back without tug assistance will begin trickling in over the next few months. Again, if you need a complete listing I can make one.

[FaxModem1]

Woods, doing his eyeball deck check, stumbles into Icy. A small 'meow' is heard.

"Sir, I've been checking the station, we're going to need spare parts for most of it, we have leaks and small fractures in most of the heating tubes."

Chuck Woods hopes his two superiors don't hear the small purring as he puts his hand into his torso pocket.

"Get the engineers to their stations. Tell them what you've found. And did I just hear a cat?"

Chuck Woods takes the kitten out of his pocket, "Had him for a week now, he was on the last cargo run. He would've starved if I've left him in the cargo bay."

[Eternal_Freedom]

Ravensburg is rather amused by the small and cute kitten.

"Normally I'd drag you in front of the XO for a serious breach of regs, but I hardly think that matters now Ensign. Just keep him out of sight of the Captain or we'll all suffer."

[doom3607]

OOC: I can just see it. "Sorry Chuck, but you know the rules- no hoarding food!"

[Force Lord]

Chuck Woods takes the kitten out of his pocket, "Had him for a week now, he was on the last cargo run. He would've starved if I've left him in the cargo bay."

Rafael stared at the kitten for a moment, then said, "Yes, I would confiscate this cat and send it planet-side since animals aren't allowed here, at least not yet, as well as send you to the brig. However, with the surface not looking good for the moment..."

He paused, then said gruffly, "Your pet, your responsibility. Treat it well and keep him out of sight, and I may not have you on the slammer or toss you to the XO. Now do your job Ensign."

[FaxModem1]

Ensign Woods nods, "Yes sir."

Putting the kitten back in his pocket, he runs to the Engineering department to tell them about the damages.

[Zixinus]

Can I still sign up?

Name: Bruke Orswik
Age: 33
RanK: Engisn
Position: Geologist / EVA mechanic

Bruke comes from a little-known, poor country where he earned a degree in geology, specilising in satellite picture-analysis and
mineral radiology desite the suggestion of his teachers. He lived in a reality where a person with his training manages to get a job at a construction company. However, partly due to desperation, some hardly-earned brilliance and great deal of luck, he joined the ISA. After that, with hard work and faith, he managed to qualify for astronaut training and even earned an EVA certificate. This was part of the period where he was considered third in line of backup for a Mars mission and wound up on the station. He has found himself in a dream situation that his countrymen, rather than be proud of, resent him for. Despite this, he has a bitter love for his country.

The meteor strike has destroyed his country. He has been out of it, grieving and coping, until now.
However, when he heard the hits, he wiped his tears, washed his face and started the EVA pre-breathing procedure because he just knew that something needs fixing out there.

[Zaune]

Lt. Grey made his way back to his "office" in the central hub of the station, just off the server farm and above the main antenna array, which he strongly suspected had been intended as a broom cupboard in the original blueprints. It was cramped and windowless and two of the power sockets didn't work, but it was still an office, and not many mere lieutenants merited one of those.
He kicked the door closed behind him, and busied himself with the minor engineering marvel that enabled him to brew tea in microgravity whilst he waited for his workstation to boot up. Once this brief but important ritual was completed, he settled himself before the keyboard and began his allotted task.

Unsurprisingly, there was little activity from the surface that he could pick up from here. Quite possibly the comet's impact was doing things to the ionosphere that would be fascinating from a purely scientific perspective, but more likely there simply wasn't much intact equipment capable of transmitting to orbit right now. A few locater beacons were still sending out steady pulses from military and commercial spaceports, which was only mildly encouraging; those beacons were designed to provide navigational reference when de-orbiting commercial spaceliners in Air Traffic Control conditions not seen since the turn of the millennium, and were built to withstand almost anything short of a direct hit from a small nuclear warhead. Out of the hundred and fifty or more he should have been able to receive at this period of the station's orbit, Grey could pick out nine.
Probably too early to read too much into that, Grey decided. Most people probably had more pressing concerns than touching base with the ISS2 right now even if they had the necessary equipment. He composed, rehearsed and recorded a short message asking anyone with a working transmitter to call in with a sitrep and set it to be broadcast every thirty minutes on as many common frequencies as he could think of, instructing the computer to alert him to any incoming traffic.

That was as much as he could do for the Communications half of his job description, so now it was time to turn his attention to gathering information. Lt Grey allowed himself a few minutes to make a second mug of tea, and sipped it thoughtfully as he skimmed a chapter of his procedures manual that he hadn't revisited since training.
Part of the ISA's contingency plans for a planetary-scale disaster was the ability to commandeer a number of civilian mapping and weather satellites, using access codes provided by their owners in return for a hefty grant. A number of UN-owned relay satellites in geostationary orbits over all parts of the globe could relay this command past than the ISS2's line-of-sight and then relay the incoming data, theoretically giving them worldwide satellite reconnaissance cover. A lot of satellites had probably been taken out by the impacts, but there was enough redundancy that they should soon have a much clearer picture of just how badly Earth had been knocked about.

"Mixed blessing, really," Grey mused aloud, inputting the appropriate commands.

[OmegaChief]

Back at the meeting, Taylor turned to face the Captian.

"We may have to consider a base of operations if the station turns out to be uninhabitable sir"

And while the idea hit him he turned to face the approriate Ensign.

"And speaking of, what are the predictions for the climate effects on the Earth are orbital flights even going to be viable soon?"

[Eternal_Freedom]

Ravensburg supervises loading of the shuttle for a short while afterthe conversation with Icy and Ensign Woods. He decides that if the Captain does anthing foolish and he is forced to act, having the XO and the other Lt Commander on-side would be a great advantage.

Heads to Operations Centre to check observations of Istanbul Spaceport. Early indications look promising, but the final word has not yet arrived.

[doom3607]

OOC: yes Zixinus, you can join. People can continue to join this until such time as we're out of crew, at which point we'll probably have been planetside for a good while so you can just be some guy from down there anyway. And Istanbul itself is gone, but thanks to some miraculously good luck the spaceport is on high ground and the small bit of the tsunami that reached it did very little damage. The Hagia Sophia finally went down, though.
---------------------------------------------------
Yet another ensign, who was busy checking his pad (OOC, the spiritual descendants of the IPad are everywhere... running microsoft OSes ), says "Weather is going to suck. What forecasting ability we have left is saying that with all the water vaporized in the ocean strikes, the atmosphere is going to be one giant rain storm for months. And that's not even considering the volcanos. A lot of strikes hit near fault lines, and they're causing them to let go. The entire Ring of Fire is going up... oh shit. Write off North America, one of the weather sats is picking up a massive heat spike in Yellowstone. It'll probably blow in... the next week or so." The ensign swears vilely for the next two or three minutes, not repeating himself once. Some of the others seem to be taking notes. After he finishes, he says "So, landing is out until it clears up, unless we can find an intact landing beacon to guide the lifeboats down."

[OmegaChief]

"Unless of course we abandon the station right now and head down before the storms break? Do we have the resources to survive until they'd clear up with the recent damage we've taken?"

[FaxModem1]

After informing Engineering of what he's surveyed, Ensign Woods goes to report to Icy for a new assignment.

[PeZook]

Project 69 was listening in on the command staff's meeting, in his usual silent and unmoving state becoming nearly invisible to the people used to seeing him everywhere. There was damage to the station, he had learned, having to do so with the damned vocal receivers instead of a more efficient and streamline direct network connection, but the silly organics wouldn't let him have wi-fi.

No matter. That was his chance.

"Captain, if I may, it should be a relatively simple matter to modify my current chassis for repair work outside the station. I will only need slight modifications to be able to effect some repairs. I have compiled a list already.", 69 says in his soft British Butler voice.

Inside, his chips quiver with anticipation. Dextrous hands! If only this ploys works...if only!

[Zixinus]

Bruke prepares an EVA suit and contacts his superior for an order to go out and do repairs.
Spoiler

Seriously, what's the sum of the situation? Are we to leave immediately or should I go out and do whatever repairs I can?

Also, who IS my superior?

[Eternal_Freedom]

"I think we should send down the teams we have prepped now, to secure the spaceport. Those of us still aboard can make what repairs we can whilst we wait for news from the surface. If Yellowstone isn't going to go up for a week or so, that gives us time."

[Force Lord]

After informing Engineering of what he's surveyed, Ensign Woods goes to report to Icy for a new assignment.

"Woods, you'll stay here and mantain the station secure with the others. I'll be busy going down to Earth with the away team."

"I think we should send down the teams we have prepped now, to secure the spaceport. Those of us still aboard can make what repairs we can whilst we wait for news from the surface. If Yellowstone isn't going to go up for a week or so, that gives us time."

"A first wave? Like the idea, but are you sure the Spaceport's functional?"

[Eternal_Freedom]

"It looks at least intact from the telecopes. Thank goodnes they built it on high ground."