One of the things I realized on the Altair station was how much I need to learn Vilani.\u00a0 Once we had leave in system I went shopping for a Vilani teaching program\/device for Terrans.\u00a0 Boy, did I pick the wrong system to try that in.\u00a0 The spaceport was barren of anything helpful, and that was putting it nicely.\u00a0 I was able to pickup a Terran to Vilani dictionary.\u00a0 I am currently driving my staff nuts putting Post-It notes all over my Engine Room in order to teach myself Vilani.<\/p>\n
While on the planet, the Captain took Daniel to meet with one of the survivors from Altair.\u00a0 He was the lead scientist from the station.\u00a0 Funny thing these Vilani, they did not look like they were too upset when we turned over the bodies from the station.\u00a0 Frigid lot they are.\u00a0 They also apparently did not want the cargo we were sent to deliver to Altair back either.\u00a0 It was mostly basic supplies and foodstuffs.\u00a0 Turns out the survivor will be with us a little longer.\u00a0 He wants a ride to Zaggisi (1523-B).<\/p>\n
18 Apr 2173 — 25 Apr 2173: Transit from 1622-D Apishat to 1523-B Zaggisi<\/p>\n
Spent most of the transit covering Engineering in Post-It notes\u2026 damn it\u2019s fun bugging my staff.\u00a0 Besides, it is good for them to learn the tongue of where we will be spending the next year or so.<\/p>\n
Zaggisi was everything Apishal was not.\u00a0 It was a huge industrialized planet and friendly (for Vilani) to boot.\u00a0 While in port we met the crew of a 200 ton Hero-class Free Trader called the Reaver.\u00a0 She was a Terran vessel and was headed back home to Nusku.\u00a0 They agreed to carry letters and small packages back to Nusku, and into the Terran mail system, when they head back.\u00a0 It took a couple of days, but the crew put together their stuff and the Reaver left for Nusku two days later.<\/p>\n
On the Vilani learning front, I was able to get a program while here.\u00a0 It will work a lot better than the Post-Its, but not as fun.\u00a0 I will still use the Post-Its for a while.<\/p>\n
Remi and I got to spend some \u201cdude\u201d time while on Zaggisi.\u00a0 We actually went fishing one afternoon.\u00a0 I caught 7 decent size fish, but Remi caught a near-record size fish.\u00a0 Remi actually took a class later that day on how to prepare it according to local cuisine.\u00a0 I gave a couple of my larger fish to the crew of the Reaver as a \u201cthank you\u201d for taking our mail.<\/p>\n
I worked on Jenny II for a few hours while here.\u00a0 I even took her for a spin around the spaceport.\u00a0 She rides real well.\u00a0 However, she does have a weird little \u201ctick\u201d at 1200 rpm that I have to find.\u00a0 I do not think it\u2019s serious, but it bugs me that it\u2019s there.<\/p>\n
Time to go back to work.\u00a0 It looks like we have a new client.\u00a0 He wants to transport his children, ahead of himself, and cargo (a full hold!) to 1222-A Dingir.\u00a0 Apperently he is in bad with some local hoods because the crew is all cloak-and-dagger getting the kids aboard.\u00a0 The client did not want to handle the transfer to the starport for fear of a leak and attack on the kids.\u00a0 We did see some shady characters during the transfer, but they could not follow us into the starport.\u00a0 Just to be sure, I checked the cargo for any potential problem prior to takeoff.<\/p>\n
28 Apr 2173 — 05 May 2173: Transit from 1523-B Zaggisi to 1324-C Shulgi<\/p>\n
The transit was uneventful but I cannot say the same for the arrival.\u00a0 As soon as we arrived in system, we detected a 100 ton scout class ship near the arrival point.\u00a0 While this is not abnormal, his rapid acceleration to our arrival point was.\u00a0 It became crystal clear what his intentions were as soon as his radio message arrived.\u00a0 His demands were simple, \u201cHand over the children\u201d.\u00a0 Well, that was not going to happen.<\/p>\n
The Captain decided to play along with their demands while we formulated a plan.\u00a0 This I can tell you, they picked on the wrong people that day.\u00a0 Being that I had a background in blockade running, I had extensive training and experience in counter-boarding operations. We set about formulating a plan based on lulling them into thinking we are an easy target, which isn\u2019t hard considering we are unarmed and they have at least one turret.<\/p>\n
They approached us from above and docked with our upper hatch to their lower hatch.\u00a0 This prevented them from threatening us with their turret while they were docked.\u00a0 It also let us see them form our portholes while they could not see us, amateurs.\u00a0 As soon as they docked, Mr. Remi (who was hiding in the Air Raft bay) went EVA and approached their ship from the rear.\u00a0 While we delayed the boarding party he approached their turret and placed a C4 charge (which I had built during the approach) under the central barrel hinge.\u00a0 He then made his way back to the rear of the ship.<\/p>\n
While he was doing this, the crew setup an ambush near the airlock exits.\u00a0 We split the crew into two ambush points, one hear Sickbay and the other near the Engineering Workshop.\u00a0 We also sealed the door at the end of the stores area so they could not get to Engineering from the airlock area.\u00a0 Mr. Remi positioned himself near the Port engine and fired a grenade launcher into the main combustion chamber housing.\u00a0 The grenades wound not damage the ship, but they would cause enough damage to the injector pups and fuel sensors thereby guaranteeing that the engine would need to go to a shipyard in order to get fixed.\u00a0 Mr. Remi was knocked off his footing when he fired, but he had a lanyard and was ok.\u00a0 At the same time he fired on the engine, I set off the turret charge remotely.\u00a0 This made sure that they could not use the turret against us.<\/p>\n
With the enemy ship disabled, the boarding party started the attack with smoke grenades.\u00a0 I called engineering and had them do a rapid decompression to have the air evacuated.\u00a0 We had already made sure the passengers were in rescue balls before the enemy came on board.\u00a0 When they cam up through he airlock, we opened fire.\u00a0 They did not stand a chance.\u00a0 They never got a chance to make an effective and coordinated attack.\u00a0 We took out 3 of them and captured one.\u00a0 On the way back to the Air Raft bay Mr. Remi fired a grenade into the enemy transfer tube and into the chest of an enemy boarder.\u00a0 Needless to say the tube was put out of action and the last thing Mr. Remi saw was the enemy ship leaking atmosphere as he came aboard our ship.\u00a0 We did not suffer any injuries and were able to dislodge the enemy ship using a high-g roll that tore off the docking clamps.\u00a0 I will have to fix that once we get to Dingir.\u00a0 We secured the prisoner in the sickbay till we could decide what to do with him.<\/p>\n
We did a gas giant refuel and got the hell out of there ASAP.<\/p>\n
06 May 2173 — 12 May 2173: Transit from 1324-C Shulgi to 1222-A Dingir<\/p>\n
Payday on transit again\u2026 WOOT!!<\/p>\n
I spent some time in transit working on ways to help defend the internals of the ship in case we ever get boarded again.\u00a0 I will make a proposal to the captain as soon as I have the cost estimates done.\u00a0 I want to make some Passenger Isolation Doors and add some Low Births for injured crew and prisoners.<\/p>\n
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