Hello Alex,

Now this is getting back to the usual state of the Das Boot and crew. Thank you for another pick me up on the day.

Tom Rux

> On 01/17/2021 5:52 AM Alex Goodwin <xxxxxx@multitel.com.au> wrote:
>
>
> As it involved everyone's necks, Old Joe tried to convince Him Wot Gets
> Strung Up First to sign up to the Beat Feet Manifesto.
>
> "Do you even _see_ these grey hairs, captain?" - Old Joe
>
> EC floated around Shulgi's port a bit himself (while Nikki turned said
> port upside down in search of spec cargo) and, primed somewhat by Old
> Joe's concerns, picked up some disconnected fragments of rumours that
> could be stitched together to spell "fleet movement" if you squinted
> hard enough.
>
> El Capitane proceeded to muse about this in a very Milfordesque manner -
> decamping to a passing boozer and propping up a stool.
>
> Unaware of the fine detail of Old Joe's concerns, (fair firing squad
> then fair trial, etc), El Capitane drank to his current predicament. A
> major drag of the job - namely, he would be responsible - became more
> apparent with each passing lager.
>
> He wasn't overly looking forward to an indefinite period of residence as
> a guest of the Ziru Sirka, for some reason, either.
>
> Nikki had previously waxed lyrical about the shortcomings she endured
> during her 12 years as a guest of the German state - and that was as a
> citizen thereof.  As an alien in two senses of the word, El Capitane
> didn't expect his tenure to be better.
>
> Buggrit.  Millennium hand and shrimp.  Trouser the lot of 'em.
>
> As Drake drained his n-th lager, he mused that he'd have to ask Joe for
> a membership card to the Beat Feet Manifesto.
>
> A pre-arranged ping summoned Bert.  In the latter's professional
> opinion, the captain was _maggotted_.
>
> The two headed back to Das Boot, where Bert loaded Drake (aka Ralph) up
> with sufficient electrolytes and analgesics to blunt the worst
> aftereffects of his musing.
>
> After the bent landing gear got fixed somewhere along the way, Das Boot
> made to lift to Zaggisi.
>
> The jump was routine, although Drake was a little tense upon emergence.
>
> Approach and dock was nice and boring, whereupon Old Joe was set loose
> upon unsuspecting freight lots.  Two lots of breakbulk, 30 dton and 4
> dton, both to Nusku.
>
> Refuel, pay fees, scarper - both Old Joe and El Capitane figuratively
> looking over their shoulders all the while.
>
> Das Boot proceeded to Apishal all nice and boring-like, and, after
> refuelling, thence to Nusku.
>
> The _jump_ seemed routine, but emerging on _the wrong side of the Nusku
> system primary_ not so much - not to mention unusually high traffic.
>
> Nikki suggests to book docking while they beat feet across the inner
> system, so they could wait out the port congestion en route.
>
> Curly managed to balls up the approach, bending both the boat and the
> dock.  He managed to breach the hull and cripple the M-drive.
>
> "I didn't know you could drift.  I'm impressed." - EC
>
> Possibly as a result, the port didn't bother pressurising the berth. 
> Drake had buggered up the ship's gravity control when he was drinking
> with Bert.
>
> "Let's hope so.  It's our ship, we can't guarantee that." - EC
>
> Despite the zero pressure, they manage to unload the breakbulk cargo
> without too many incidents, but the docking fee had ballooned by 1.2
> megacredits while they weren't looking.
>
> "Curly emptied the bank" - Old Joe
>
> "I don't want to spend money on fuel and watch it float away.  We've
> done that before." - EC
>
> Nikki fixes the hull damage, but flubbed the critical repair twice and
> wasted 5 hours.
>
> Drake sorted out delivering the cargo and paid the docking fee and the
> fuel for the upcoming international jump.
>
> Nusku Control was for some reason happy to see the back of the PCs and
> Das Boot.
>
> Old Joe flew the departure (fulfilling an earlier bet he'd lost).
>
> The jump was about as welded-flightpath as possible, with two critical
> successes (El Capitane the astroguesser and, big surprise, Nikki on jump
> drive) and one success with effect 5 (Old Joe on the yoke - one short of
> a critical).
>
> As they were merely transiting Agidda, El Capitane had chosen to jump to
> a gas giant and take his chances skimming.
>
> Curly dove down to the Deeps and filled tanks in a mere 160 minutes, but
> inflicted some hull damage on the way out.
>
> Drake decided to take the helm - everyone else freaked.  Drake crit
> failed the layer-change roll and crit-succeeded the buffeting-avoidance.
>
> "The _ship_ has taken no damage.  Your fellow crew members' psyches, I
> can't speak for." - Me
>
> The second escape attempt had dual critfails, inflicting 6 points of
> hull damage, triggering a sev 1 hull crit, which inflicted _another_ 6
> points of damage.  Nikki and Bert suited up and started sealing hatches.
>
> El Capitane's third escape attempt failed but not as badly, doing
> another 2 points of damage and inflicting a sev 2 armour crit, which
> removed any protection the armour used to give.
>
> Curly resumed the helm, and Old Joe tried to psiboost him.  Net result:
> null program.
>
> Old Joe took the helm.
>
> "You don't _need_ to throw anything at us, Alex, we do it ourselves" -
> Easy Frag.
>
> Old Joe's first escape attempt was as manic depressive as El Capitane's
> first.
>
> "Just watching the dollars fall off the ship" - Nikki
>
> Old Joe's second attempt finally gets Das Boot clear as Nikki gets
> weaving on the frame hit.
>
> "Nikki, do you want the captain's help?" - Me
>
> "NO! He's done enough damage!" - Nikki
>
> Nikki rocked out fixing the frame crit in an hour.
>
> While Nikki was distracted, Drake went EVA to fix the worst of the bulk
> hull damage, managing 6 points' worth.
>
> Judging from Nikki's cursing, Drake figured they'd need some yard time
> to replace the busted armour shell.
>
> Terra was almost certainly going to be a madhouse (not to mention a
> damned long wait), so Prometheus would probably be easier, as no jump
> drive work was needed (yet).
>
> The run to Prometheus was nice and boring.  On emergence, it was
> immediately obvious that the long-awaited upgrade (via direct investment
> from the TC itself) to starshipyard had commenced.
>
> "It'll probably work out.  We haven't _landed_ yet!" - EC
>
> EC sorted out clearance and threatened to take the helm.  Curly docks
> safely at Prometheus while Nikki WTFed at the hull damage she didn't
> have to fix.
>
> After docking, Nikki started looking for a buyer for the gemstones, and
> found one.  Said buyer haggled her to a standstill, settling for 1400k
> solars - payment took the form of a letter of credit, drawn on a
> different Terran bank.
>
> Nikki also found a buyer for the industrial radioactives, settling for
> 450k.  She got another letter of credit, this time drawn on a Swiss bank
> apparently headquartered on Wash House Street in Geneva.
>
> Intending to do the armour refit herself, Nikki started chasing up the
> raw materials for a new armour shell, while getting Old Joe to sort out
> hiring the hangar and frames needed.  She also asked him to see what he
> could do about the frame critical hit.
>
> 360k covered said raw materials, and Nikki also scooped up 2 tons of
> spares - they'd just about run out.
>
> Old Joe took a day to straighten out the frame critical and spent the
> time waiting for Nikki chasing down a whole bunch of minor maintenance
> items that were a lot easier to do with the ship off its landing gear.
>
> El Capitane blamed Bert for the hull repairs.
>
> --
>  
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