caek; well I did say I was experimenting with different pacing.



The Bridge (Trel, Ralph, Nixie)

"I found the doc a bunch of cigarettes."

"That's uh... that's good, I guess. Last thing we need is him having a breakdown from cravings or something."

..

"Great, we should be able to navigate through the debris field to some degree now, onwards! Oh, uh, upon your orders captain."

"The short range sensors should also help us in identifying wrecks that are likely to contain a good degree of salvageable material. Captain?"

"Yeah. Yeah, okay. Set course for the debris field, SARA. Careful with the engines."

"I know, Captain."

Heirophant and Jones trundle off towards the Probe Bay.

SARA's 'voice' ripples through the ship;

"All hands prepare for sublight autoflight maneuvers. Destination: unidentified debris field. ETA: 2 hours."

Unfortunately, with sublight at 20%, you're not going anywhere in much of a hurry. But hey, at least they don't burn out easily.



Cargo Hold, Fore (Ryker)

Ryker: 4=4

Lighters are not so easy to come by. It seems the shock of jumping ruined most of them, but at least a handful are salvageable.

Man, it feels good to be back on gravity plating again. 0g is always a pain to deal with.



Probe Bay (Jones, Heirophant)

The Pioneer series uses a modified torpedo launcher as the probe deployment system, each probe itself being approximately five feet long and around a foot and a half in diameter, encased in a protective shell that is jettisoned as the probe nears its destination. The Probe Bay itself is quite cramped, with the launcher on the port side of the room, the 'magazine' of spare probes on the right, and a probe maintenance table in the middle. The loading mechanism has jammed on something, so first things first...

Unjamming: (+1 Cooperation)
Jones: 2+1=3
Heirophant: 6+1=7

Jones has little luck finding the source of the jam, and very nearly gets his hand stuck when the mechanism suddenly shifts as it grinds against the obstruction -- fortunately, Heirophant's more nimble manipulators manage to root out the problem and extricate Jones' hand without it getting crushed. It seems that a chunk of unsecured probe casing got trapped in the workings during the misjump.

Anyway, the crew can now move probes between the rack, the table, and the launch tube. Jones locally overrides bridge access, so nobody can mess with the system whilst he's busy playing at being a probe surgeon.

Now the jam is clear, you can start working on the probes. Unfortunately the best source(s) - that'd be all the missiles - of explosives already went and exploded, so a conventional explosive charge is out of the question. With Ralph's assistance you might be able to rig up a crude electromagnetic pulse or some kind of jammer that'd interfere with the navigation systems of all nearby ships, but that's probably about it.

Still, judging by SARA's navigation announcement, you have plenty of time to work.

"Alright, let's take a look at what we got in here. Make a note of each of the probes that have components that look fine."
Examine all the probes. Make a note of any which have damaged casings or electrical components.
"We might find some spare casings, and if we're really lucky, a thruster or two. Could make a pretty crappy torpedo."

Arc, what kind of engines does the ship have? Are they chemical?

Also, how long are each of the roles, in universe?

Two propulsion systems - a slower-than-light drive, and a short-range faster-than-light 'shortjump' drive. The latter is currently wrecked.



I assume you mean 'rolls'. In which case, flexible/plot time.



Bridge (Sully, Trel, Ryker)

Trel and Ryker both inquire about helping. Sully doesn't have a good answer for that, and instead has slumped into the general-purpose console's seat looking exhausted. Did I mention he's a bad captain?

Instead, SARA chimes in, "Dr. Whirlow, I strongly recommend taking a full inventory of the Medbay supplies and performing a thorough check on all the equipment there. My diagnostic routine is having trouble accessing the Medbay network. Raphael may be able to help restore it, but he is currently helping Jones work on our damaged probes."



Probe Bay (Jones, Ralph, Heirophant)

Jones: 9=9

Jones goes through and takes a proper inventory of the probes and the status they're in. It's not pretty, with a bunch of different components burnt out in each probe. Fortunately, the casings are intact save a few scratches and bumps from the rough jump.

None of the probes are launch-worthy in their current state, but earlier estimates about being able to have one almost-complete and another half-functional seem about right.

Heirophant: 3+2=5

Unfortunately, even a thorough search of the room turns up little besides other scraps of probe casing and other burnt-out spares. It seems that the casings on the probes actually helped protect them, somewhat. Though, as far as armour goes, it's really not that tough.

Between the five probes, you have the following intact components--

2 engine/thruster modules
3 compact fuel cells
1 guidance system
1 sensor-array payload

A probe needs one of each to be considered a proper probe capable of any kind of proper scanning mission.

(p.s. it was actually Hierophant this entire time

sure got you good huehuehuehue)