Naval Clash (turn tracking)

[Sankis]

Sankis left the the auxiliary bridge as Yang had finished speaking. Though the escape pods were not far from the bridge, Sankis rushed through the ship's hallways until he reached his destination. Being his typical paranoid self, he looked around to make sure no one had been following him. Finally satisfied that no one was, he walked towards the lock's keypad. He quickly punched his code in. 7 - 2 - 2 - 5 - 6 - 9. "Access Granted" said the computer as the door opened.

Inside, he was greeted by the sight of several hundred adult men and women. "Is it time yet?" said one of the women as he walked in. Sankis shook his head and headed towards the front of the pod, nodding to those he reconized along the way. As he reached the front, he grabbed a microphone. "Greetings, everyone" he said into it. "As you all know, we will be ejecting the escape pods onto the surface in a matter of minutes. I'd like to ask you all to please remain calm and prepare yourself for launch." With that said, he turned the loudspeaker off and sat down. Any minute now the signal would be given to launch the pods, and he would have to be ready.


note: I made that up in about 5 minutes. Probably full of errors, and i wasn't sure what was inside the pods so I just assumed.

[Sankis]

2105 sent to angels.

If anyone else wants to do an rp story before the pods launch, do so now 'cause i want to get a move on to the current rp events and i plan to launch them tomarrow or later today.

[GeoModder]

No prob for me, Elevea will sit out the ride 'till Unity reaches Chiron again... in a few months time

[Barinthus]

King Geo, please notify Her Majesty there are decrees needing her signature.

[Barinthus]

In Pod 2, Aeolus stood and surveyed the scene of personnel securing cryobeds and other loose equipment for the detachment from the ship. Hours of stressful repairs has taken a toll on him and it finally descended upon him that Director Morgan is truly dead. He just did not have had the time to ponder about everybody - his immediate concern once he was able to recover from the long hibernation was the ship.

The ship! Damn, how can he could have forgotten! Unity is about to depart the maximum distance from Chiron for landing pods and there are still much to be done. Too many personnel were not strapped in for his comfort and there are still some equipments needing to be secured.

Aeolus looked around himself seeking an officer to take charge. They need to get everything organized quickly or when personnel from other landing pods open up this one, all they will find would be smashed bodies. Suddenly it dawned upon him that he's the highest ranking officer in the pod.

It was an unease feeling for Aeolus. He never had to lead before in his life, preferring the role of a subordinate. Being a computer geek, he preferred to throw himself into the impersonal and emotionally safe world of computers. But now he is the highest ranking officer hence what happens would be his responsibility.

"Hm, you... hey you!" Aeolus pointed to a man who seem less nervous than the most. "Quickly, we need to get those stuff tied down, we could be detached from the ship anytime now."

"Shall I organize a team so we can do it faster?" the conscripted man queried.

"Eh? Oh, yes, yes, do that," Aeolus mumbled as he noticed that the entrance has not sealed completely. Swearing silently at himself, how could he not notice this before? Everybody's lives depend on that entrance being sealed off completely to prevent the pod's contents being vaccumed out into the cold space once the pod has been detached.

Running toward the entrance, he immediately noted that the one of pistons was not fully extracted. In the same instant he knew what had to be done. He barked at two nearest personnels who were helping others strapping in. "You two! Come here! See this? It's stuck, I need to go over there to that panel to release some pressure. When I say go, you both have to pull it out and hold on until I can get the pressure back, understood?!"

Not even waiting for his newly recruited assistants' affirmation, he rushed toward the panel. His heart in his throat, the knowledge that message announcing the landing pods' detachment could come any moment now gave his hands the sense of urgency as he opened the panel and started cutting certain wires.

There was a hiss as pressure holding pistons into the place was released. "Go! Pull that rod out!" Aeolus shouted, making himself heard over the noise. Two assistants grunted as they extracted the rod until it has reached its fullest length. One man moaned as he struggled to fight the resistance which was trying to push the rod back into the piston chamber. Two persons from the team responsible for securing equipments scurried to help the pair at the piston.

Aeolus wiped away the bead of sweat which was momentarily blinding him while he was seeking right wires to reattach. Where is it? Ah! He quickly twisted two wires together, restoring the pressure which secured all rods into their places. There was a faint clunk as the entrance slid completely into its threshold.

"Sir, what should we do now?" the man who organized the equipment securing team asked. Dizzy from the adrenaline rush, Aeolus did not realize who the man was talking to. "Sir?" the organizer reach and tapped Aeolus' shoulder. "All equipment and cyrobeds has been secured."

It took what seems a long while but was actually few seconds for the request to sink into Aeolus' fatigued mind. "Eh? Oh yes, good. Hm we all better get strapped in. Quickly too."

"Yes sir!" Aeolus' new subordinate went off, hastening remaining personnels toward their securing places.

"Don't call me sir," Aeolus muttered to himself.

[Mart]

Nice story so far Having several styles of writing makes it very interesting to read. Everyone writes differently.
I think progress of all factions is ok. And gameplay should be interesting.

[GeoModder]

+%°)\'@&ç)§ô those pesky...

Remind me again that the map is 'only' average...

/me rushes out of his (and Her Majesty's) bedroom.

I persuaded her to sign these...

turn 2105 on.

[Rubin]

2106 to Sankis.

---

A simple malfunction!? Seems likely... Sabotage, on the other hand, would be highly unlikely. The emergency procedure--which is quite loose due to the impossibilities of accurate predictability--has been initiated. I find it somewhat disturbing with all the emergency activity. My crew is ready--including Dr. Jeneba who wished to take part following the tragic demise of her mentor, CEO Nwabudike Morgan. Dr. Jeneba is a talented scientist and skilled theoretical engineer. I trusted the CEO and I trust Dr. Jeneba.
[...] I do not fear planetfall. However, I am concerned as to what we'll find on the surface... or rather: Not find! I dearly hope Chiron is suitable for human colonization.

Doctor Rubin, Personal Log (excerpts, pre-launch aboard the U.N.S. Unity)

[Barinthus]

I welcome any input and feedback on my writing. I don't take anything personal on those forums so don't worry about my feelings ha. .

Seems we need to figure out what happens to Santiago and Miriam. Since apparently Miriam is staying on Unity I guess we'll let Geo take care of her.

What about Santiago. Is she the murderer? Does she make it to the Planet?

[Sankis]

The time was here. The pods were set to launch. Sankis sat in his chair, uneasy. For the last 20 minutes he had checked everything twice over to make sure it was in working order. Everything seemed so. The ejection from the unity give the escape pod its needed speed to reach the planet, from there it was only a matter of piloting the thing through the atmosphere. Bing. "Escape Pod one launching in T - 10 Seconds."
9
This was it, no turning back now. If anything happened, they would have the face the consequences on the ground.
8
7

Sankis searched his mind for anything that could go wrong with the pod. He thought of nothing...

6
5
4
3
2

"Lets hope this works" Sankis said as his body was pushed back against his seat.

"Escape Pod One...Launched"

***************************************
It had been nearly 24 hours since Sankis' pod had launched, and he hadn't slept a bit. Shortly, he would be entering the atmosphere and the one he appointed to be pilot, a one Cecil Lorn, would have to navigate to some level terrain and land there.

Sankis looked out the window only to see an endless supply of white clouds before him. "I suppose we've entered the atmosphere?" Cecil nodded and said "Correct, Sir. If my calculations are correct, we should be approaching land any minute now." Cecil spoke the truth. As he said that, Sankis spotted a mass of a brown and red on the horizon. "Thats our destination, Sir. It's a large landmass, and seems to be fairly level. We do not have enough fuel to land anywhere else, anyway." Sankis nodded in agreement. He just wanted this ride to end.

Nearly 10 minutes later his pod had become within close range of the landmass, strill travelling at a 60 degree angle towards the water. "Don't worry, Sir. I will pull the ship up and we gently glide over the landmass and reach a complete stop." Cecil pulled up on the controls. Nothing. He did it again. Still nothing. "Whats wrong!?" Sankis demanded. Cecil looked in disbelief at the controls. "They...won't work."
"WHAT?" Sankis yelled "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY WON'T WORK?" His screaming had woken up the remaining passengers.
"I mean they won't work, they seem to be broken. Something must have lodged itself into the pod outside."
Sankis closed his eyes a minute to calm down. "Whats going to happen?"
"We are going to crash into the water, sir."
=======================================


Turn to angels.

[Barinthus]

Turn to Geo

[GeoModder]

And done, turn to Rubin.

[Sankis]

Turn to Aeolus

[Barinthus]

Geo, head up!

[Sankis]

By the way, if no one minds i'd like to finish up the pre-story by thursday/friday so we can start doing some current IC things. If you want to write something, please do it before then

[GeoModder]

Rubin, ready or not, here it comes.

Sankis: do you mean today/tomorrow or next week?
If for now, wait till tomorrow please, I've got 2 stories to write...

Originally posted by DataAeolus
Since apparently Miriam is staying on Unity I guess we'll let Geo take care of her.

What about Santiago. Is she the murderer? Does she make it to the Planet?

Um, Aeolus, Miriam is already taken care of, reread the last sentences of the senior staff meeting

And what do you mean by Santiago being a murderer? Captain Garland was killed in the accident, not murdered in this PBEM's line of events.

[Barinthus]

Sankis seems a bit eager - he probably meant this Thursday/Friday, not the next.

I have one more myself - the landing of my pod. I'm pretty sure that you guys can go ahead without me since my story will not involve anybody else, probably.

[GeoModder]

Chief Santiago hurried through the bulkhead of the Unity's landingpod section, carrying a limp woman on her shoulders.

"Hurry, you slow morons!", she yelled to the men approaching her from another passage. They struggled to force an unwilling crewman to pod 7.
"Just knock him out.", she added.

The men obeyed, and pulled the man through the hatch of pod 7. Santiago jumped after them, drew the woman in their hands and moved forward to the steercabin of the landingpod. She dropped in the co-pilot's seat next to a waiting crewman and barked "Status!"
"All ready for launch, ma'am.", the pilot responded.
"The extra cryocel doctor Rubin indicated is removed, mass ratios are optimal."
"Good!", Santiago responded, "Let's close the hatch then and depart."

The pilot forwarded the order and buckled up, indicating her to do the same and then initiated the launch sequence.
"5-4-3-2-1-IGNITION."

A loud rumble went through the pod for several seconds, and then silence returned.
"We're free of the Unity, ma'am.", the pilot said, checking his control panel.
"Course, speed and inclination are optimum. ETA in about 22 hours."

"Very well", said Santiago, switched on a camera and ordered it to give her a backward view towards the 'Unity'.
"And for that bloody gal still onboard, good riddance!", she added vehemently. Only five of the six belligerent colonists were found and dragged onboard.

***********************************************
Shudders and thumps went through the pod, the sound of whining air against the battered hull reached a final crescendo and then faded away rapidly.

"Ma'am, we're in the lower atmosphere and our speed has slowed to subsonic level, altitude 2000 feet and stable.", reported the pilot some minutes later.

"All right, time to look for an decent landing spot then. How long can you keep her in the air?" asked Santiago.

"Another thirty minutes, ma'am, but I think I've found a good place already. Radar shows that broad, redcolored valley at two o'clock there has a flat bottom, I'll steer us to there."

The pilot manoeuvered the pod around, ignited the thrusters untill the crafts velocity dropped to a bare minimum to stay airborne, and released the landing pads, turning the pod's tale toward the ground. A last increase in thrust, a heavy bump that went through the landing pod and there it was, an earthling object on the soil of an alien world.

"Touch down.", Santiago murmured.
"For better or worse...", she added in her mind, and couldn't resist a broad smile cracking her face.

The crowd below her started to cheer...

[Rubin]

2108 to Sankis.

[GeoModder]

I have breaked a rule unknowingly: I hurried a unit production last turn and I'm used (with the ACDG) to put 'stockpile energy' in the production qeue. I just checked the rules html, and it states that this is forbidden. The only profit I have from this now is that a bit extra cash is in my bank. Must the turn be replayed for this or is it enough that I don't spent all my ec's for a future hurry untill I produce 2 facilities in qeue sequence without the automatic stockpile?

[Mart]

GeoModder, how many EC you got? Is it large amount or rather small?

[GeoModder]

I don't know how much I get out of this bug, but it's rather small. Didn't spent all of it on the hurry. Not much in cash ATM, though.

If needs, I'll try to calculate.

[Sankis]

I meant this thursday/friday, but thats only because I find it a bit silly that its the 8th turn and we're still doing the pre-story things :P. If you need more time for a story, I'm fine with that. I'm just a bit eager to make use of the pics and such i've been collecting for a pirate announcement dealy.

[GeoModder]

Mart 7x5: If I calculated correctly (but it's simple math), I won 12 ec out of it.

Sankis: Yes, turns are going rather quickly, don't they?
Well, I'll write my Atlantean story now, but you don't have to wait for that. After all, Atlanteans land a few months afterwards anyway with the 'Unity' flyby, Aeolus is about on it's way, Santiago's pod has landed and Rubin seems to write things in introspect.

So, feel free and surprise us

[Barinthus]

Originally posted by GeoModder

"Hurry, you slow morons!", she yelled to the men approaching her from another passage. They struggled to force an unwilling crewman to pod 7.
"Just knock him out.", she added.

That's Santiago, alright. No wonder why I voted for her in that most sexy lady of SMAC thread (or something like that) . , Geo.

I'm really glad you guys are writing stories - I know it takes up time but it makes the game more fun IMHO.

[Sankis]

I forgot to mention I sent you the save, Aeolus, not sure if you checked mail yet.

[Mart]

GeoModder, Are you sure 12 EC?! That is quite a number, for early turns. Does this game gives so much energy in that bug? If this is 12 EC in one base you would have to have like 24 minerals per turn?

Anyway thank you for reporting it

It's multiplayer so you probably cannot "dump" the energy there....
It's up to all players, but what I would suggest is either:
- as you propose, you might keep 12 EC on your account for some turns. or
- forget it, one time bonus for you for honest reporting, or
- maybe give a "share" of the bonus EC to other human players - 3 EC to each of the three factions, no interest....
- support Chiron Charities Ligue.... (just kidding )

[GeoModder]

Gwynn Elevea watched through the bridge screen the last pod descending towards Chiron, and felt relieved.
She made it, nobody had found her in that last search through the ship by Santiago's men. Appearantly she was the only one left aboard ship, the search parties had been throughly.
She was free to revive Geo now, he would now what to make of this situation they were in.

Gwynn moved through the Unity towards cryobay 5, passing empty corridors and abandoned cabins.
Once there, stepped to Geo's cryocel and started the revival procedure.
Six hours from now he would be with her again...

*********************************************

Next to her, Geo tapped up cruise info from the ship's main computer, and murmured happily at what he saw.
"About time", he told her. "Chiron will be in reach five hours from now."

They were on the auxiliary bridge, together with half a dozen others manning the stations.
She thought back on the past three months. The problems of waking the necessary people to maintain the damaged ship, Emergencies when systems failed, redistributing the available oxygen and supplies to the ship's quarters which were most likely to hold 'till Chiron was in reach again and, above all, preparing everything for the final descend to the planet. Repairs had been made to the two remaining landing pods, but a proper landing was not possible. They would have to land on sea, that much was sure. Luckily enough fuel was left in the ship's tanks for a quick slow down of the pods to suborbital speed. The Unity would therefore be doomed to a quick destruction on the planet even before the pods were landed, but nothing could be done about that now. The survivors and equipment left on Unity were more important then a broken hull...
The ship's cargo bays still held quite some equipment, and in light of their forced landing on sea, the most valuable of that was the agricultural equipment specially designed for use on the seas, and a cargo foil. Also, all under water equipment had been left as well. A most pleasant set of circumstances considering her schooling. The only drawback was that only a handfull of people could be wakened to prepare it all. The ship simply couldn't support any large number of people anymore. A skeleton crew of fourteen had managed to repair the pods, load the necessary equipment in them, and, the last few days, moving all remaining inhabited cryocels in both pods. A mere three hundred could be loaded, the rest, another two hundred or so people, have to be brought out of their cryobed within a few hours and boarded in the pods. This was a minutieus procedure. Simply not enough oxygen was left on Unity to accommodate that many people, even only for a few hours.

"It's time", Geo spoke up, interrupting her thoughts. "Operation Exodus can start", he added with a wink.
Always the humorous one, even in a stressed situation, she thought fondly.
They all left to the nearest cryobay...

*********************************************

The planet's view was breathtaking.
Gwynn watched the screen as the pod came closer and Chiron continued to grow in size.
Swirling white clouds, red-and-brown dots between the clouds where the surface
could be seen. But above all, the mainly aquamarine blue of the planet's equador.

A bright star came into existence on the front left side of the screen upon the planet's view.
"the Unity", she thought. "It punctures the atmosphere!"

"Good bye, ship, you served us well.", said the pilot next to her.

Gwynn took one last look at the already fading star, and let her eyes drift back to Chiron's equador.
Somewhere there they would soon float on the waves of an unknown ocean...

[GeoModder]

Originally posted by mart7x5
GeoModder, Are you sure 12 EC?! That is quite a number, for early turns. Does this game gives so much energy in that bug? If this is 12 EC in one base you would have to have like 24 minerals per turn?

Well, I'm quite surprised as well. I expected nothing more then 3, maybe 4 credits. Probably have miscalculated something, and I'll double check. But to keep on the save side, I will keep 12 ec's in my account at all times 'till I finish 2 facilities in a qeue row on that base, or whatever sanction the other players feel appropriate.

I don't know how the bug works exactly, but I think stockpile energy doubles the income of the base were it is initiated. Even then 12 ec's are extraordinous.

[Barinthus]

I'm cool with Geo keeping 12 ecs until he finishes two fac...

and btw it's your turn