Pushkin entered the hangar bay a few minutes after leaving the bridge, his heart raced a bit from both the run down of eight decks and the adrenaline rush of flying the shuttle. Anderson had accompanied the helmsman to assist in the piloting and sensor operations.
The flight deck crew led the duo into the shuttle and showed them the two environmental suits they would need upon their return. If the Columbia's systems were not back up and running by then, the only way they'd be able to leave the shuttle and cross to the airlock would be with the suits. Both men were well versed in the EVA suits and little time was spent on this; instead the deck crew went over how the launch procedures would occur. There was little margin for error here...
[OOC:] Jeremy, I need from Pushkin the following:
Sys Ops (Helm) TN 15 to launch, and then a TN 10 to take up a position off the Columbia.
You can then give me dialogue as to what you guys are going to do while you orbit the mother ship and you may also roll me a Sys Ops (Sensors) test. I will give you any results based on DOS.
Pushkin finally arrives on deck 6. He takes a few moment to catch his breath, doubling over slightly. He makes his way to the hanger bay and the waiting deck crew. He suits up in the environmental suit, making sure the everything is sealed except for the helmet. "Comm check." He says to the nearest Deck Chief. He sends a signal to the Chief's communicator before giving him a thumbs up.
He climbs aboard the shuttlecraft, checking over the flight controls before glancing over to Anderson. He gives him a smile. "It is..what do you say, a piece of pie?" He says with a grin before sending a signal to the bridge. "Galileo 042 ready for departure."
He waits for a response before looking forward through the large viewport as he powers up the shuttle, getting it into the air. He smiles to himself. "It's go time." He says to himself before hitting the throttle.
OOC: Sys Ops (Helm) TN 15
Sys Ops (Helm) 13 - Dazed 1
(6,5) +13 -1= 23
Sys Ops (Helm) TN 10
Sys Ops (Helm) 13 - Dazed 1
(1,4) +13 -1 =17
[OOC:] Hey Jeremy, I have edited your rolls for the Skilled +1. That is already included in your +8 Sys Ops skill rank - that was how the points for the human species trait Skilled were spent at generation... still, very nice rolls!
The flight deck crew disengaged the manual locks on the hangar doors and then activated the motorized hydraulics that drew them back. The mammoth chamber immediately was vacuumed, the precious air sucked out into space in a rapid, white vaporous cloud.
Pushkin and Anderson began the task of piloting the shuttle out of the Columbia. The two crewmen took more time than may have been necessary, but in ten minutes they were accelerating the Galileo to begin an orbit of their mother ship.
Anderson opened the main view portals and they got their first look at the Columbia since it had gotten caught in the horrific explosion. Starting with a pass over the dorsal side of the ship, the two cringed to see the scarred hull. Something had torn across the top of the ship, through the series of sensitive palettes that made up the Arc Bow passive sensor suite. It also had gouged a small hole and the ship's environment bled from it into space.
Below the Columbia, the view was not much better. Grahm had already achieved the smothering of the forward fire and now empty escape pods drifted underneath the ship like flotsam and jetsam. The hull itself was blackened from the heat of the blaze and explosives that were used to put it out. A long, rounded, open crack was visible in the saucer where the pods were once housed. Like above, the ship's air supply was slowly bleeding out of some minor breaches.
Coming around full circle, Pushkin noticed a far off black shape that covered the stars. He pushed the accelerator and brought the shuttle to a higher impulse, racing the craft across the great distance. The two crewmen cringed again as the shape took on the recognizable shape of the Gr'Toth. Though a few system lights still flashed on its wings, Anderson and Pushkin knew the ship was dead... along with everyone on board.
Billy looked at Alex and said, "I guess we should report, huh? Maybe its also time to see if there is anything, or anyone, else out here?"
Alex knew what Anderson meant, they had yet to engage the shuttle's long range sensors.
Pushkin grimaces as he looks around the exterior state of the Columbia. "She definitely looks roughed up. It doesn't look like the Arc Bow is going to be working anytime soon." He comments to Anderson. He maneuvers the shuttlecraft carefully, avoiding the debris and the floating escape pods. He turns to Anderson, "Signal the Columbia and give them a damage report while we are still in communication range. Tell them we have spotted the Gr'Toth and checking on their status."
He waits for Anderson to send the signal before turning the shuttle for the Klingon Cruiser, accelerating over to approach it. "She looks to have a little power left. There might be a few pockets of environment left. Run a sensor check while I bring her closer."
[OOC:] Sys Ops TN 12
Sys Ops +9, Specialty +2
Roll(2d6)+11: 3,6,+11 Total:20
Anderson pushed the consoles commands to initiate a scan of the darkened Klingon ship. It took only a few moments, but the navigator sadly shook his head.
"Nothing there Alex."
Pushkin frowns at Anderson's answer. He pauses before tapping the controls, flying the shuttle in closer. "Check it again." He says before clicking on his communicator. "Galileo to Columbia. We are seeing extensive damage. There is a hull breach in the dorsal side of the ship. There is a extensive damage to a series of "sensitive sensor pallets." He says, not wanting to say Arc Bow over an open comm. "Ventral Side of the ship is also showing some major hull breaches including a large crack where the life pods are located." He pauses before looking to Anderson. "We have located the Gr'Toth. We are showing...minimal power. There are no life signs. We will continue our searches. Galileo out."
Pushkin sighs before looking to Anderson. "Once you are done with that scan...run a long range scan. We need to know what's out there."
[OOC:] Unless they show up to play again, we can consider Anderson and Telek as NPC's who may just fade back into the 'crew'.
Anderson nodded at Pushkin's request and ran through the same sequence of operations that controlled the shuttle's sensors. Again the panel showed no life signs, though it showed an abundance of carbon-based bodies.
While the navigator was performing his task, Alex brought the shuttle over the starboard wing of the D6 battlecruiser. He grimaced when he saw the extent of damage on this side of the ship. Not only was the nacelle gone, that had blown off earlier, but the aft hull's underside was rent open exposing five decks to space. Pushkin had studied a bit of Klingon starship design, and the life support/environmental systems and safetys were similar to that of the Federation, but the Russian doubted that the system could compensate for such terrible damage.
"Commencing long range scan," said Anderson, bringing Alex back to where he was.
The Galileo's sensors began to sweep the area of space that its range would allow. Immediately the Columbia registered and appeared on the console, along with a large planetoid that was at a distance of 3.2 million kilometers. Billy was also detecting the many larger fragments that were rapidly moving away from the explosion's epicenter. Other than that, the space around them was empty of any unknowns.
The Klingon sensor controller looked closer at his console. There it was again. With its passive sensor array, the Bird of Prey was picking up a small, almost negligible, energy emission coming from the direction opposite to their flight path.
"Commander!" he called.
[OOC:] Here is a time breakdown since the Episode started:
| A hour* -1 | crew slowly revive and begin initial work to find out what has happened |
| A hour* -.25 | Darkan starts his 30 minute tests to come back to his senses |
| A hour* -0 | Klingon B'rels arrive and move in opposite direction |
| A hour* +.5 | Ramos begins computer reboot; Pushkin starts shuttle launch |
| A hour* +.75 | Grahm blows pods and extinquishes fire |
| A hour* +1 | Pushkin circuits the Columbia; Ramos programs the patch |
| A hour* +1.25 | Pushkin discovers the Gr'Toth; Ramos wires the tricorder |
| A hour* +1.5 | Ramos initializes the CPU |
| A hour* +2 | Life support comes online; Telek and Torrence complete repairs on hull breaches and secondary system failures |
| A hour* +2.25 | Sensors come online |
| A hour* +2.5 | Helm and Nav come online [Propulsion] |
| A hour* +3 | Shields come online |
| A hour* +3.5 | Weapons come online |
| A hour* +3.75 | Misc minor systems come online [Operations] |
* A hour is the arrival hour of the two B'rels; bullets in light red have already passed
The Galileo finished its last turn, coming around the bow of the Gr'Toth and the two men could see where the boom and forward bridge of the ship had become partially separated from the rest of the ship, hanging on with mere wires and electric cables.
"BOOP! BOOP!" sounded the console in front of Anderson and he quickly looked down. "Alex! We are picking up a pocket of steady environment within the forward hull of the ship... possibly the bridge?!"
The navigator refined his scans to that area of the ship, "I've got lifeforms! Klingon life readings!"
Pushkin sighs out gently at the news from Anderson, nodding his head. He activates the Comm again, transmitting to the bridge. "Beginning scans, Columbia. We have detected a planetoid that is 3.2 million kilometers away. Perhaps we can fall back to the planetoid if necessary."
He stops and looks over to Anderson at the latest information. "Really? You're got to be kidding!" He turns back to the Comm. "Columbia, we have detected life signs on the Gr'Toth! I am moving us in to be of any assistance! Galileo out."
He smiles to himself as he looks over the scans. "Alright. If we can find the nearest airlock to their position, maybe we can get in and get them out."
[OOC:] Hey Jeremy, waiting to get a response to a canon question I posed on Trek forums. I can ask here, too... were there transporters on the Wrath of Khan era shuttles?
I know I can make it up for our game, and I am probably going to do that, but... I want to see what canon is first. ;)
[OOC: Well I was under the impression that there weren't; there's no space for the Galileo they use in ST:V; but as you've got a warp capable as well... you may as well if you want to. Nobody's going to have a go.]
(ooc: I was under the impression there wasn't any transporters in the shuttlecrafts until half way through next gen. Still, there might have been the emergency tranporters in case you need to leave.. You know, I'm not sure now... Hmmm...)
[OOC:] Yea, Jeremy... that is the response I got on the other site as well. Looks like you'll be doing this the hard way. ;)
I will get you a post to work with in the morning.
Billy looked at Alex, "How do you want to do this? I think most Klingon ships' access ports are triangular. The Galileo doesn't have a docking collar anyway."
The Columbia did have a a few shuttlecraft on board that could dock with larger ships, but that would require the two men to go back and switch their craft. It would cost them an hour at the minimum.
Anderson thought out loud, "We could use the tractor beam to secure the Galileo to the outer hull of the D^ and then enter via EVA's. What do you think?"
Pushkin scrunches up his mouth in thought before shaking his head slowly. "We don't know what kind of condition they are in. By the time we went back, change to a hard dock capable shuttle and possibly an expanded team, it could be too late. We're going in." He answers. He taps the console, bringing the shuttlecraft to life. The ship answers his commands, moving in closely towards the spine of the Cruiser, moving in close for the airlock. "Ready that tractor beam."
He waits until Anderson is ready before bringing the shuttle slowly down to the surface of the Klingon Cruiser. "Just in case...brace for impact." He comments.
Pushkin used the directional thrusters to both slow and orient the Galileo so that it would set down on its landing pads upon the D6. All the while, Anderson counted out the meters until contact, "6, 5, 4, 3, 2..."
CLUNK!
The shuttle came to a halt and Billy engaged the tractor beam to anchor the small craft to the Klingon battlecruiser's hull. That done, Pushkin shut down all unnecessary systems and stood up. Anderson scanned one more time deep within the superstructure of the larger vessel to get an idea of what they were entering in to.
"Only a few pockets of atmosphere, but still only registering life signs forward. The inner structure is showing a lot of deviation, so we may be in for a difficult walk. Still... mag boots will help."
The two men stood and checked the status panels on their EVA suits. Both had green lights, even after they donned their helmets. Pushkin touched a few console commands and the shuttlecraft environmental system sucked back into its storage tanks all of the nitrogen/oxygen mix, which was a commodity. Once done, and now breathing from their EVA tanks, the helmsman opened the doors to space.
"We have 60 minutes of breathable air," said Billy. "After that the suit scrubbers will start feeding us the recycle and you know what can happen then."
Alex knew exactly what Anderson was talking about - the EVA's kept a quantity of fresh oxy/nitro mix for them to breath and they also had a scrubber system to recycle the air, but there had been situations with the suits where occupants started to have black outs. Nothing either men wanted to have happen once they entered the maze of passages within the ruined cruiser.
They stepped out of the Galileo and their mag boots locked them to the skin of the ship. Both moved as quickly as weightlessness would allow them, to the airlock doors.
[OOC:] I am going to need a Computer Use (Hack) test TN 12 for you guys to open the airlock doors. Your EVA's have a built in tricorder - this will grant a +2 bonus. If you do not have EVA training though, you will have a -5 penalty on top of that... so net -3.
Pushkin makes sure the suit seals are intact and pressurized before moving to unseal the door. He keys the commlink, sending in through the shuttle to send back to the Columbia. "Galileo to Columbia, we have detected some life signs aboard the Klingon ship. We are moving to provide assistance. Pushkin out." He looks to Anderson and nods. The Columbia needed to be updated.
The Galileo's hatch is opened and he steps out, walking across the hull. He takes a moment, glancing around at the new metal landscape. He glances to Anderson before continuing on slowly across the hull until the reach the airlock. "Alright. Let's see if we can open this up." He transmits as opens the console to access the computer.
Computer Use (Hack) test TN 12
Computer Use (7) -1 (dazed) -3 (lack of EVA skill)
(6, 4) +7 -1 -3= 13