Part Two: The Plasma Drives

[Melvyst]

"Listen", replies Melvust after a few seconds, " they captain is currently on the planets surface. There is now way that he will abord his misson without any good reason. Any believe me, we have been on so many so called cursed planets" He pauses to underline his words "So I'll ask you again, identify yourself and give me some good reason why the captain should return from the planet."

"And besides killing my men wont bring you further, they will still come and get us..."

In the same time Melvust tries to remember if there was another entry to the room, perhaps a emergency exit or so and if there is any possibility to have look into the room (camera, sensors,...)

[Grimbold]

"No way. Then we have to leave without the captain. You will listen to me. Get the ship away from this cursed planet or I will kill your men, one after the other. I also have some explosives here and I can blow up your precious Gellar field. I give you 15 minutes, and I want the ship moving away by then. Else..." The man sounds very agitated, on the verge of madness...

The Enginseer Prime knows the basic lay out of the place: There is this one entrance and no other exit, only a small maintenance shaft at the back. The Gellar field controls consist of a control room (right behind the door, a large storage room as well as a short corridor leading to two more rooms full of technology.

Melvust looks at the cogitator nearby and works on it for a minute. Then he has access to the cameras inside: He can see five or six armed men (with shotguns and autopistols) and three prisoners, two of them tech priests and one simple technician. The mutineers look like standard crew and they look very determined and a bit crazy.

Melvust might be able to reach the captain by vox. He receives the message that some security personnel are on the way.

[Melvyst]

The situation is worse than he thought and he starts to doubt that it might be solved easily.

"Ok ok, 15 minutes. We will start the preparations to move the ship away, so don't hurt my mens"

Melvust gives his bolt-gun to the engineer to guard the door and camera and walks outside to avoid that his conversation with the caption can be heard by the intruders.

"Captain, Melvust speaking. We got a serious problem on the ship. 5 to 6 intruders armed with explosives and guns are barricaded in the Gellar Field control room. They have 3 hostages and want us to move away from the planet in 15 minutes otherwise they will destroy the controls and kill the mens. Awaiting your orders"

In the meantime Melvust thinks about the differently possibilities they have:
- How long would it take for the crew to return?.
- Could we manipulate the oxygen in the control room?
- Is there anyway to deceive the intruders by actually flying around the planet?

As a first measurements he changes the access codes of the doors and blocks them so that a least they can not simply walk out.

OOC

Beginners questions Can we teleport or do we use shuttle ships?

[Grimbold]

Melvust quickly changes the access codes to all the doors into the Gellar field controls.
Then he thinks about his options, while he waits for a connection to the captain.

Display

No teleporting with this ship.
You could just fly around the planet, but a full circle would take 3 hours or so. It depends on how much these guys really know if they fall for it or not.
Flying from the surface to the ship will take an hour at least.
You could manipulate the oxygen in the room, but it requires a challenging tech-use test. (But you are the best on the ship with this!)

[Grimbold]

The Captain, Sarvus Trask can be heard over the vox. "Can you do anything to kill them without damaging the gellar fields? Like creating a void in that area? I'm counting on you Melvust! Who are the hostages!?!"

[Melvyst]

"Two tech priests and one techie" he replies over the vox.
"Already thought about this, but we have to act carefully as they might have some explosives. I'll check some options and will report back in 5 minutes!"

Melvust returns to the terminal and his fingers move quickly over it as he further analyses the situation.

Action

Taking a closer look to the available data:

- Are there any sensor/possibility to confirm the existence of explosives?
- Can they visually be confirmed and if so who carries them.
- How long would it take to dispose the intruders by creating a void, would it be possible that they ignite the explosives?

[Grimbold]

Over the vidscreen, Melvust can see a black backpack sitting in the corner. It might contain explosives. And one of the men has some sort of remote control hanging on his belt.

Creating a void (or cutting the oxygen) might work, but it will also kill the tech and perhaps the tech-priests (they do have respirators, though, which might help). But maybe the hostage takers might notice and explode the bomb. It just depends on if they become aware of it in time to push the button or if they drop immediately. Probably it is a 50/50 chance, depending on how good they are.

[Melvyst]

Melvust feels unease as he confirms the existens of the explosive. For now he doesn't want to risk to much and therefore wants to gain some more time. He quickly informs his captain:
"Captian, I have confirmed the existence of one or more explosives. I will try to gain some more time"

First he instructs to crew to prepare the engines and if possible adjust them so that the a slight vibration can be felt without actually moving the ship.

Then he blocks the access to any terminal in the gellar control room to avoid that the intruders may gain any information and returns to the anteroom.

"We have started the preparations to move the ship" he adresses to the intruders " this will take some time before we can move the ship. What will happen when we have left the orbit? Will you surrender and free the hostages?"

[Grimbold]

"We will free the hostages if you do as told. But do not cheat on me, I haven't worked on this ship for a decade just to be killed by aliens. Now make things happen and move the ship. If I do not hear the plasma drives working in 15 minutes, your precious gellar field gets blown up, ya hear? Now get to work!!!"

Melvust has gained some time, but he knows that if he wants to start the plasma drives in 15 minutes, he will have to give the order to warm them up right now.

[Grimbold]

Another message comes up from the captain: "Then you had better find a way to keep them from setting it off, Enginseer Prime! If we lose the Gellar Fields we will be stuck here. The hostages are nothing, stop them at all costs!"