Shakedown Cruise, Part 2 (Episode 2)

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Solomoriah
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Re: Shakedown Cruise, Part 2 (Episode 2)

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Lando stepped out onto the hull of the Pegasus, alert for any signs of the Russians. He walked up the side of the ship, lining himself up carefully with the slowly drifting form of Lt. Grimm. He knew that once he was away from the ship there was little he could do to influence his trajectory, but he also knew he might not have much time to save his ship's doctor.

He squatted, keyed off his magnetic boots, and kicked out. He was pleased that he had judged Grimm's drift perfectly, and as he collided with her motionless form he threw his arms around her. He was surprised to discover that she was tethered to the Skylark; switching her to his tether, he gave a solid yank on it and began their return to Pegasus.

Back in the airlock, he inspected her suit while the lock repressurized. It appeared the Russian had turned the Vulcan pistol's output down; she had suffered a nasty shock, but her suit integrity was still good and she appeared to still be breathing.

Steele watched the Martian ship... it hadn't gone far, and through the multiscope Finn got him a closeup view. It appeared they were retrieving the other cosmonaut, the one Grimm had set adrift. He heard the outer airlock door close, and was about to check with Scott to see if he was ready for the ship to move, when he saw a wormhole form in front of the Martian ship. It was gone in an instant.
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Re: Shakedown Cruise, Part 2 (Episode 2)

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"I've got her, XO. She's a little worse for wear, but she's breathing. If you would send Finn back to take care of her I can start operations to charge the Skylark's batteries and take her home with us."
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Re: Shakedown Cruise, Part 2 (Episode 2)

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"Excellent work, Scott! Finn, see what you can do to bring Grimm back to the land of the living."

"I'm sure Tranquility would love to get the Skylark back but we need to be positive the Russian isn't still hanging around first. We don't want any more of our team out of commission."

While Grimm is attended to, Steele will keep monitoring the area, trying to figure out whether Nikolayev is still around or not.
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Re: Shakedown Cruise, Part 2 (Episode 2)

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Almost as soon as Scott and Finn got Amanda's helmet off, she coughed a few times and opened her eyes. She was shaky, but she got out of her spacesuit with the help of the two men and then retired to the head to examine her back in the mirror. She was relieved to discover the electrical burns were relatively minor.

Steele deftly made a sideways orbit of the Skylark on maneuvering thrusters, watching for any signs of the cosmonaut, but he saw nothing. He supposed it was just possible that Nikolayev hung on to the cable trailing from the Martian ship as it pulled away, then boarded with the other Russian.

One way or another, Nikolayev appeared to be gone. Unless he was aboard Skylark...
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Re: Shakedown Cruise, Part 2 (Episode 2)

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(or burnt to a crisp by the martian ships engines.))

Once Amanda is in Finn's hand, lando starts pulling out the necessary material and equipment to jump start the Skylark.
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Re: Shakedown Cruise, Part 2 (Episode 2)

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Lt. Scott determined what he really needed to jumpstart Skylark was some heavy power cable... which he didn't have in spares in sufficient length. He did have the necessary materials to weld aluminum in vacuum, and the Russians had left most of one of their cables behind. He figured he could make do with that, though he'd have to figure out some way to disconnect the cables. There was just no way the batteries of the Skylark could supply the heavy current needed to fire the wormhole generator... Pegasus would have to provide the power right up to the moment before wormhole entry.

He wondered, as he had been wondering for some time, why the Russians had taken the long way around to connect their cables, but at least that left him with enough of their cable to use. Of course, there were other things he wondered about... he knew the batteries of the Skylark would be strained to provide life support and run the lights for two days if they were in like-new condition. The Russian riding it home from Gliese 65, a more than four day jump, would have to spend more than half of it in his spacesuit switching tanks every three hours. How would he sleep? Maybe if he limited life support to the bridge, he'd have enough power to get by... still, even then, four days in isolation was hard.

You'd have to be an iron man to do it, Scott decided. And that led to another question... if they were going to fly Skylark home themselves, how would they get it into the wormhole? The maneuvering thrusters could be fired only from the engine room or the bridge. Would Steele order him to do it?
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Re: Shakedown Cruise, Part 2 (Episode 2)

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((Scott has always wanted to Captain his own ship))
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Re: Shakedown Cruise, Part 2 (Episode 2)

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Hywaywolf wrote:((Scott has always wanted to Captain his own ship))
:D

I am at the end of your stated actions, so nothing else happens until someone posts an action. Of course, if you're waiting for Blazeguard, that's cool.
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Re: Shakedown Cruise, Part 2 (Episode 2)

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((I'm waiting for my XOs orders. I have done everything I can before actually starting the procedure.))
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Re: Shakedown Cruise, Part 2 (Episode 2)

Post by Blazeguard »

Having made sure that Grimm was alive and still in one piece, Steele assembles the crew. "A visual recon does not show any sign of the Russian but we can't rule out the possibility that he's ducked back inside the Skylark."

"Scott, what needs to be done to get the Skylark mobile? And is it possible?"

As they discuss their next move, Steele keeps one eye on the Skylark.
The problem with doing something really stupid to impress people is that they may just be impressed by how stupid you really are.
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