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What would you do next?

Spinward Scout

Spinward Scout

SOC-14 5K
Baron
"Whanga Starport Tower, this is Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Zero Six Niner on Approach from Jump Exit. Requesting Orbital Insertion for Airspace Entry and Landing. Do you read? Over."
...

"Whanga Tower, do you copy? Over."

Static...

Hmmm... he thought.

He tried fiddling with the frequencies. Nothing. The Starport Beacon. A steady 'beep', 'beep', 'beep'. The Scout and Navy Comm Channels. Strangely quiet. There's usually some chatter somewhere. Even the Entertainment and News frequencies weren't active.

Odd. Maybe their transmitter is down. But then the Beacon wouldn't be working. Pulling up a scan for other ships.

Processing...

No ships within scanning range.

"All hands to the bridge - we have a situation. All hands to the bridge. This is not a drill."

What would you do next?

Is it the Zhodani invading?

Is it Virus?

An interstellar Zombie plague, just starting to infect the spaceways?

Something to think about while you are out and about tomorrow.

Happy Hallowe'en!
 
Spinward Scout said:
What would you do next?
Click to expand...

Frantic sensor scans on the approach. Don't go directly to surface, make a few orbits first, try to get some idea of what's up. Leave a small satellite beacon (if we have one) with our own message in orbit.

Landing won't be standard. Try to hover near the Starport, try to circle the perimeter (it's an E-class facility, that won't take long), see what there is to see. Have the turrets manned and ready, tell the pilot to be ready to boost clear at any time.

If nothing happens, land close to the Starport building, but have a 'response team' armed and ready near the airlock. Main power stays active, ready for immediate dust-off.

Wait a few minutes, see if anyone tries to rush the ship.

Ask for three volunteers to check out the Starport building, armed, and with strict instructions to stay together. Start offering bonus pay when no one volunteers. The best pilot, astrogator, and engineer will not be allowed to volunteer.
 
Time to break open the vault and take out a Decider wafer...

(Yeah, I just read Agent.)

Seriously, what resources do I have here? Is WTF-09 a Type S, a Type A, a Gazelle, a Lightning-class, or what?

Assuming it's a Type S because I can...
1. SOP is to finish a Jump with as much fuel as possible. J1 to get here, with careful fuel management, could have left 25 tons of fuel in the tanks
Spoiler:
CT Book 2 ('81), JTAS #14 power-down rules. Pn runs at Pn1 for outbound leg and Jump, burning 5 tons fuel (2 weeks at Pn1); Jump Drive burns 10 tons fuel in Jump. Remaining fuel supports J2 with no fuel remaining at Jump Exit, or J1 with 12.5 tons fuel remaining at Exit.

2. Approach to 10-diameter limit and hold short in an evasion pattern (Agility 2), lobbing a recon/relay drone missile into a parabolic course around the world with perigee high enough to stay above the atmosphere. It's looking for lights, IR hotspots, RF signals, movement.
3. Scan the heck out of the world with the ship's sensors. Any neutrino emissions (active fusion reactors)? Any unusual pings back from the densiometer? Anything unusual about the atmosphere? Compare IR imagery to what would be expected based on known infrastructure. Also, run an antivirus scan on the sensor readings and the comms from the drone at the most-paranoid setting before starting analysis.
4. Concurrently, and while waiting to see what I get back from the drone, leave the powerplant at high idle (Pn2) and have the computer Generate a Jump-1 course back to whence I came, from my current position just outside the 10D limit and save the file. When done, Generate another Jump-1 course to the same destination from the 100D limit and save that. With Pn=2xJn, the Jump capacitors can be charged in a single turn. And yes, I'll risk the misjump from 10D if I have to, depending on the threat level.

Once I get the drone data from the far side of the world, drop a beacon cubesat warning passing ships to avoid the world until further notice, proceed to the 100D Limit at 1G (2G if there are any potentially hazardous anomalies. Actual hazardous anomalies or active threats may call for an immediate Jump.) and Jump back to the nearest Imperial installation as quickly as possible to report my findings. Don't recover the drone missile, but record its position and vector for later recovery.
If any hazardous anomalies or active threats manifest, consider Jumping from just outside the 10D limit based on perceived threat level. Knowing that there's about a 60% chance of surviving a Jump from the 10D limit (between no misjump and survivable misjump outcomes), any threat with a lower survival probability than that likely justifies a close-in Jump.
 
Last edited:
E Starport. Low Population. Two planetoid belts. Yeah, scrub the mainworld.
It's the only way to be sure.
 
Spinward Scout said:
What would you do next?
Click to expand...


A few orbits checking pop centers for physical damage. Find a 'government' building, or noble estate, and land at either one.

Debark in VaccSuits/NBC gear, and poke about.

Put up some drones for local recon, and see what we can 'scare':) up!
 
Spinward Scout said:
Interesting... If you can prove the planet isn't dangerous, can you claim the whole planet as Salvage?
Click to expand...

Roll vs. Admin. :)

The Traveller Map said that there were all of twenty souls on the planet as long-term residents. Not much there to salvage.

No matter what the flux, I don't think Starports can ever get claimed as salvage.
 
Last thing I want to be in is the gravity well of an ongoing disaster. I'd be looking for the refuel/exit.


OTH I assume we will at least be hauling cargo and/or passengers or have come here for a contractual reason. Gotta pay the bills so you may have to show good faith effort even though every safety precaution screams 'don't land on silent planet that's not supposed to be'.


The other part is that if there is some general war/pirate/raider thing going on, the gas giant is likely watched and you may be shot down over it and get killed by the Gs and pressure with no escape, while the planet at least allows for a chance of landing, evasion and survival.



As a referee I would probably have passengers and/or patrons onboard insisting strongly that they get down and find out what happened to their families/business partners.



So assuming no escape, similar precautions as others note above plus an assumption of virulent plague possibility so contamination/NBC type protocols.
 
“It's a blackrock. Uninhabitable. Terraforming didn't hold, or somesuch."

I like everyone's responses. I guess I could have picked a larger Pop world than Whanga. But, it could just be that small settler's town where something bad starts.

Hope you liked it!
 
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