Alpha Panda, Serenity RPG IC

[Lentrax]

A burn trail follows the Alpha Panda away from the Lullabelle Mine, cargo secured in her hold. A wave from the Mary Celestia before she makes for hard burn arrives, with Tap explaining his decision to leave. He does offer one parting gift, however. Since he was Corebound, he agreed to take the prisoners to the Feds for you.

The Alpha Panda makes its way through the ice field, some of the smaller pieces thumping softly against the hull as the ship makes its way through the field. Turning with a grace that belies the hulking starship, distant starlight dances upon her hull before she departs in a hard burn.

Spoiler

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Wrote a litle parting scene for us. Thought it fitting, if this was the end.

[Adlan]

Episode 3: BoomTown
With the departure from the Lullabelle mine, the Alpha Panda's crew had split, some staying to repair the claim jumpers ship, and remove the prisoners from the mine before Corone Mining Corp. got wind of any presence that might indicate smugglers such as themselves operating in the area.

For Captain Jack, it was a slight problem. Losing a gun hand like shooter wasn't uncommon, but TAP was the ships mechanic. Still, he'd found a replacement, and the new boy Amiri hadn't blown them up yet on the short passage to Regina.

Now they just had to run the blockade.

[Adlan]

Amiri
Alpha Panda's Cargo Hold

The young engineer was squatting on his haunches infront of the starbord mid cargo module. His Omnimetre in hand, a a mess of wires leading from it to the door, where a panel was removed.

Amiri's hands were stained with dirt, but worked smoothly and surely as he kept on eye on the readouts of his device, and the other watching his hands try different connections.

[Aneurin]

Jack
Alpha Panda's Hold

The sting of Tap and Shooter's parting may still be fresh, but brooding before the job's done is a sure way to get shot - and Jack isn't planning on getting shot any time soon. When they hit Regina, then he'll raise a toast to them.

But first, there's the small matter of the cargo not exploding...

"What can we do, Amiri?"

Amiri wouldn't have been Jack's first choice to allow unfettered access to the important parts of his ship, but without Tap around trust is not a luxury Jack can afford with his new mechanic. Fortunately, the boy was shaping up alright and there hadn't been anything major for him to do.

Jack runs his eyes over the vast, methane-leaking chunk of ice in his hold. Then he runs them over the coolers.

"I don't much trust those cooling engines, and I'm not a fan of having a hold full of toxic, flammable gas,"

[Erasmas]

Cole
Alpha Panda's Hold

"Not to mention having to leave the gorram cargo hold opened up to the Black like a whore's legs, just waiting to get... well, you get the euphemism."

Cole wrung his leather gloves between his hands at the thought. One little hole... that's all it takes... he thought to himself, trying to keep his unease at bay.

[Adlan]

Amiri
Alpha Panda's Cargo Hold

Amiri fiddled with his omnimetre, and tapped at the door panel. The Hologram projection, a perk of the military history of the ships class, flickered and changed.

"Sure Cap'n, he processed the data, and switched to a different hypothetical solution. The Hologram projection of them dumping the ice into their hold for offloading through the cargo hatches vanished. The coolers vanished too, part of the suggested solution they were taking readings for. The composition of the ice made it impossible.

"Well, good job you didn't accept that extra weight of Ice cap'n, we can barely fit it in all the Cargo Modules."

The Projection flickered again, showing the ice beginning to boil as they kept it in the Cargo Modules. Each 25 ton module was currently filled to the brim with the Ice, but only the cold of space and thermal inertia was keeping them that situation. And Amiri was projecting a need to dump excess heat elsewhere, or cut speed and manoeuvrability.

"How about this Solution Cap'n? Give's us about 12 hours in atmosphere before the safety seals pop. I could override them, but it'd be unsafe for sure after 18, less if I have to dump engine heat somewhere fast.

The Projection showed what might happen. The bulk of ice remained solid as Amiri increased the simulated time speed. If the safety seals popped, there was a spray of noxious comet gases. He rewound it for a disconcerting gas impolosion, and the saftey features overridden ran for a minute more at high speed, before the cargo modules ruptured.

"We'll have to get this ice slurry delivered ASAP, they'll be able to draw it off... ...if the customer was legitimate and prepared for smugging the amount of ice on board.

[Creed]

Morgan
Cargo Hold

Morgan stood bye and crossed his arms, watching the crew with a blank expression. If he couldn't shoot it, he couldn't do much about it, but this was definitely a problem for everyone aboard the ship.
The soldier picks at his teeth with a chipped thumb-nail, turning to Amiri. The young man was good, but he was still a prisoner, in his own right, and Morgan had no intention on letting him screw them all over.
The pistols hanging on his belt made that very, very clear.

[Space Lawyer]

Lei
Alpha Panda's Hold

Lei is sitting with her own instruments, running through numerous calculations to help get the maximum amount of ice to their destination while mitigating the loss of performance in the ship.

First, she calculates the optimum distribution of ice to make sure that nowhere on the ship is overloaded: Pilot (Mid-bulk) (1d12)[6] + Intelligence (modified by math whiz)(1d12)[8] +(1d2)[1]

With that done, she sets to modifying the systems to dump excess heat away from the ice more efficiently: Tech Engineering (Hardware) (1d8)[7] + Intelligence (modified by math whiz)(1d12)[7] +(1d2)[1]

"Don't worry baby; I'm not gonna let getting yourself crammed full of explosive ice keep you from flying pretty."

[Aneurin]

Jack
Alpha Panda's hold

He listens intently to Amiri's suggestions.

"How would it work if we didn't fuss too much about keeping the ice cool, and instead concentrated on making sure it can't go boom on us?," Jack says after a few moments' thought. "I mean, if we drain all the atmo out of here, then there's no way for the methane to catch fire. We can dump pressure from the modules to the hold, and from the hold out in to the Black if need be.

Only way I can see to keep cool without those coolers, though, is to either let the Black in, or turn the heat off for the whole ship. Panda's mil-spec, which means 'really hard to sabotage', and 'built by the lowest bidder', so you can't turn off the heat without doing something drastic to life support, and when you do turn it off it goes off everywhere.

Fortunately," he goes on. "That isn't the end of the world for short-haul. If we find a nice, snug place and bundle up tight with whatever heaters we can find, then we can survive it. Main issue with that, though, is that there's still some fancy flying to do and trying to do it half-frozen won't be all that fun,"

[Creed]

Morgan
Cargo Hold

Suddenly, Morgan reaches to his belt and pulls out a marker, quickly scrawling something on his forearm. He turns it out to the others, and a short sentence is written in thick chicken-scratch:

Atmo-suits? Wear them all the way home and leave the hold open?

Morgan shrugs, not sure about the feasibility of the idea.

[Lentrax]

Sia
Alpha Panda cargo hold.

Sia, unsure of anything she can do to help, just sits back and fiddles with her hair.

[Narmoth]

Adrian Starr
Alpha Panda's Cargo Hold

Adrian enters and nods to all present before turning to the captain, as if to ask about something, but then the calculations performed by Amiri catches his attention and he turns to Jack just as Jack finishes his proposal:
"Apologies for interfering, but would you mind to explain the composition of the problem substance?"

[Space Lawyer]

Lei
Cargo hold

"Turns out the ice has got methane all through it. Not a big problem if its kept cold, 'cause the methane will stay all frozen too. Thing is, inside the ship, it ain't gonna stay cold, 'cause the ship is supposed to keep out the cold of the Black, and a good job she does of it too. So, the ice melts, the methane turns to gas and comes out, and we all die horribly gruesome deaths when the ship explodes."

[Lentrax]

Sia
Cargo hold

"I seem to recall a basic lesson on fire. No oxygen, no fire. Why can't we just replace the O2 in the pods with our waste CO2?"

[Narmoth]

Adrian Starr
Alpha Phanda cargo hold
"If I could be so inconsiderate as to object, my lady..." Adrian starts
"If you are able to cool down oxygen, it would be much better to ad it. Liquid oxygen is colder than methane and would keep it cold. An alternative would be to separate the methane from the water, and keep them in separate containers"

[Erasmas]

Cole
Alpha Panda's Hold

"Who'da thunk it was so bin shwa ming difficult to move a load of ruttin' ice?!"

Cole was clearly flustered by all the "science talk" and wanted to be done with the situation. All this discussion about being sucked out into the Black and/or exploding wasn't doing much to calm his nerves. The soldier paced in an antsy manner up and down the hold, finally resigning himself to move back over to his workout equipment - things were simpler there, and he could quiet his mind against the worry and doubt.

[Shadow_Elf]

Greg
Alpha Panda Cargo Hold
A tsk tsk noise is produce from the hallway. Coolin' oxygen ain't any easier'n coolin' methane by its lonesome. I think the Doc's got the right a' it; no oxygen, no combustin'. As the other members of the crew no doubt look at the tactician strangely, he shrugs. Not a whole lotta work fer tacticians in peace time. Some folks farm, I read books.

[Space Lawyer]

Lei

"Won't work. Methane is still flammable without needin' much oxygen."

[Lentrax]

Sia

"Gotta be better than, how did you put it Cole? Like having our legs open like a 该死whore. I don't know about you, but I don't like having the Black 'tween my legs."

Nope. I have a big cuddly Teddy Bear for that...

[Shadow_Elf]

Greg
Alpha Panda Cargo
Greg gives Lei a quizzical look. No oxygen, hon, not even a little. Methane's nasty, but it wont light if its cold an' there's no oxy. Hell, we could git fired on an I doubt it'd light. Until we hit atmo, we could even vent the Methane. I reckon the Black wont care two cents fer a few more gas molecules.

[Narmoth]

Adrian Starr
Cargo Hold

"Would not that be based on the assumption that the methane is not a part of the commodity you transport? After all, it could be just as valuable to the end buyer." Adrian points out

[Aneurin]

Jack
Alpha Panda's hold

"Alright, let's leave it where it is for now - if you're absolutely certain we're not going to go boom? I'm trusting you on this one. If we explode, I'm going to kick what's left of your backsides out of a hull breach, got it?" Jack gives Amiri and Lei and very firm look, before turning to face the others.

"Everyone else, I want you on the bridge in 10 so I can talk you all through how we're doing the next part of this run. Lei, I'll need you to get a wave to our contact to make sure they're ready to meet us when we go dirt-side - I'm not spending hours looking for them with Alliance overhead, dohn ma?

[Shadow_Elf]

Greg
Alpha Panda Cargo Hold
The tactician nods. See y'all there, Cap. He turns and leaves for the bridge.

[Space Lawyer]

Lei

"Wǒ míngbái, duìzhǎng.“ Lei skips off to the bridge, and opens up the communications suite.
I probably should have asked who the contact is first...

She starts setting up the wave anyway, figuring she can ask who to send it to in a bit.

Intelligence (1d12)[10] + (1d2)[2] + TechEng (Communications) (1d10)[7]

Math whiz bonus

Spoiler

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Wǒ míngbái, duìzhǎng. ＝ I understand, captain.

[Creed]

Morgan

Morgan nods at the captain's command, then heads off down the hall.

[Adlan]

Amiri
"Aye Cap'n" while the others had to attended to the blockade approach, Amiri began to clear away the clutter, and set up as Lei's Calculations instructed. He'd need to be in the engine room before she started putting the demands on the ship she said Alpha Panda could do. Amiri trusted her though, the pilot knew her stuff and would know what was actually what, not just what the specs said.

[Narmoth]

Adrian Starr
Alpha Panda's hold

Adrian turns to the captain:
"Excuse me, but could we perhaps have a short discourse while you perambulate to the bridge?"

[Erasmas]

Cole
Alpha Panda's Hold

The soldier finished the rep count that he was on and carefully placed the free weights back in their brackets. He toweled off the back of his neck as he made his way towards the bridge, trying to slow both his heart rate and his breathing after the small workout. As he crossed the main cargo hold, Cole uneasily cast his gaze to the side and upwards, where the exterior bays held the much-talked-about ice.

[Aneurin]

Jack
Alpha Panda en route to the Bridge a few moments ago

"What's up, Adrian?" Jack gestures that they shold be moving towards the bridge.

Alpha Panda's Bridge

The bridge is alight, dials and screens lit up on even the frequently unused navigator and comms stations. The majority of the display panels, however, are showing either Regina or schematics for the Patrol Cruisers in orbit above it.

Jack is, of course, occupying the captain's chair, but the rest of the crew are left to take their ease at the other stations.

"Alright... now, we've got to get past some pretty heavily armed Alliance ships to get down to the planet and our contact. Now, if that sounds worrying," he holds up his hands in a stalling gesture against any concerned murmuring, "it really isn't. That planet? It's big. Us? We're fast. We should be able to get down without any real bother if we're just a little bit clever.

As for getting back off, well, let's just have a look-see at what we've got to deal with..."

[Adlan]

Alpha Panda's Bridge
The Three Patrol Boats orbiting are the the Victorious, the Redoubtable, and the Renown. Their spiralling path ensures virtually no part of the planet is entirely out of their sight or sensors.

A formidable challenge to any blockade runner, as would be lucking out and finding an alliance ship who could be bribed to let them down. The Cortex notes for Reginia highlights the towns whose disputes with Corone Mining Consortium have resulted in being blockaded. Including Frisco, home of their contact, Balley Sackett.