It takes a day for Oliver's contacts to get hold of the equipment that they need, including an Advanced Combat Rifle (ACR) and ACR ammunition for both Tommy and Vann. Wilhelm expresses a concern that for an initial, stealthy, scouting mission the others seem to be preparing for an assault on the office block. All the same though, Wilhelm packs his auto pistol, cutlass and laser rifle into the air/raft along with a few other essentials that might be needed. Bucky asks if they should maybe get some stun grenades, Vann says yes but the rest say no to that idea.
The trip to the shipyard is swift and uneventful and Wilhelm manages to find a concealed position from which they can overlook the factory. During the day the group manage to identify security camera positions and patrol routes by the few guards that they see on site. They also manage to identify the actual manufacturing buildings, but cannot see the disused slipway that Wilhelm's contact mentioned, and none of the buildings seem large enough to hold a Kinunir class ship. That night the shipyard seemed very quiet, with just a couple of security guards patrolling the grounds, using IR goggles though, the group could see that the security cameras did have an IR facility, though the sweeps with it seemed to be very random. Getting into the offices was going to be a tough job.
The next morning, shortly after the workers had started work at the factory, a large Grav Carrier arrived and settled down at the rear of the shipyard, several workers hurried out and began to load what appeared to be crates of components onto the carrier. Thinking that it might be heading to another General Shipyards site, the group packed up and discretely began to follow the G-Carrier. After about ten kilometres the carrier crested a ridge and dropped from sight, when the group approached the ridge, Wilhelm landed the air/raft and together they quietly approached the crest on foot. In the middle of a small valley sat what appeared to be a large scrapyard, the G-Carrier was located at one edge of the debris field, the workers hastily off-loading it then re-boarding it they left. The interesting thing about the scrapyard was that almost in the middle of it sat a very rusty, pock-marked, hull of a Kinunir class battle cruiser. After the G-Carrier had departed the group tried to decide on what to do next, after ruling out the more homicidal plans it was decided that going down and asking about the wreck might work better.
The security guard that greets them is quite straight forward, no the group cannot enter and if they want to buy any scrap then they would need to talk to the owners of the scrapyard, General Shipyards, for authorisation. So, the group decide to return to their rooms to get some rest and to plot their next moves.
The discussions about their next moves are long and detailed, Oliver suggests that the best move would be to hit both the office and the scrapyard at the same time as that will reduce the chances of increased security at either site if one or the other of the break-ins is detected. Wilhelm is impressed by Oliver's thinking about this plan, but the only drawback is that there are only five of them and splitting the group into two uneven teams could be problematic especially if they are about ten kilometres apart. Ultimately, it is decided that Tommy and Vann will go to the General Shipyard office in the starport to see about the possibility of getting authority to get access to the scrapyard. Meanwhile, Bucky will try to get his hacking program fixed and running properly this time to try and access the General Shipyard data archives, and Wilhelm will go off and kick the daylights out of the contact that gave him false information about the disused slipway.
The trip to the General Shipyard office is unprofitable for Tommy and Vann, the secretary does not think that the company sells it's scrap but that she will check. After a quick phone call to the main office it is confirmed that General Shipyard does not sell its scrap to third parties. So, the two adventurers return to the group to discuss plans to break into the scrapyard. That night Oliver, Tommy, Vann and Wilhelm leave Bucky puzzling over what went wrong with his program, and head out to the scrapyard in the air/raft.
Once they get there they spend a few hours familiarising themselves with the layout, the patrol routes of the guards and looking for a suitable entry point for the team. It is decided that Wilhelm, Vann and Tommy will be the ones to break in, whilst Oliver provides radio support and cover in case of trouble, which surprises Wilhelm as he is the only one equipped with effectively a silent weapon with a long range capability, his laser rifle. Oliver just has his short ranged, very loud submachinegun. So, the three intruders set out and with some good support from Oliver calling out the guards positions, they manage to make it to the Kinunir unseen.
They enter the ship through one of the cargo loading ramps and what they find is a totally dark ship, the floor covered with litter and debris. Using their Light Intensifier goggles they see that they only structures that seem to be in place are the bulkheads, work must have been discontinued before all the internal fixtures were put in. After studying the aft portion of the deck they decide that there is no pinnace dock here, so the Black Globe Generator fittings must be on a higher deck. As they make their way up a ladder, Wilhelm stops them and draws their attention to the very large cat-like creature which has suddenly appeared behind them. The creature stares at them and emits a low, menacing, growl, very slowly the group resume their climb to the next deck with Wilhelm keeping one eye on the creature to make sure it is not following them. The search on the next deck also proves fruitless, so they carry on climbing to the next deck. This deck looks more promising as it has a dock on it large enough to hold a pinnace, a quick search soon finds the mountings they have been told to look out for. Measurements are quickly taken to pinpoint the precise location, and as a back up Tommy takes some photographs. Just to be on the safe side they check out the other side of the pinnace dock to make sure there are no mountings on that side. Finding none, the group decide to leave.
As they finish descending the ladder and are about to enter the cargo dock, the creature pounces out from behind some debris and attacks. Wilhelm was first down the ladder this time and is greeted by a swipe from the creatures large claws across his chest, wounding him deeply. Wilhelm and Tommy both draw their cutlass and begin to hack away at the creature. Vann tries to get into a position to get a shot at the cat. The fight loud though fairly short, with Wilhelm suffering another wound but managing to finally kill the large creature. The noise of the fight though has attracted a couple of security guards, who suddenly appear in the doorways across the cargo area with their revolvers drawn, pointing them at the intruders whilst yelling for the group to lower their weapons.
Sunday, 28 February 2016
Tuesday, 9 February 2016
The Kinunir of Regina - Part One
Once their patron has gone the discussion begins about how they can complete the job. Bucky, Tommy and Vann straight away begin talking about what they will need to interrogate people, and start making a shopping list beginning with handcuffs. Oliver goes off muttering about seeing what his contacts in the local underworld know, and Wilhelm sits there dumbfounded wondering about what sort of people he has got involved with. When Vann begins to ask where they might be able to get hold of some truth drugs, Wilhelm decides to step in and suggests that maybe they should find out what information is available publicly. As Bucky is the most skilled with computers he decides to go and see what he can find out. Tommy, Vann and Wilhelm decide to go check out some of the other bars in the starport to see if they can find someone who might have some information they could use.
Oliver's contacts come up dry, but say they will put the word out and get back to him. Bucky has more luck and manages to retrieve ship specifications, a list of all the ships in the Kinunir class and the fate of some of the ships that have been lost. When the others return to the Traveller's Aid Society hostel, where they are staying, they say that they were unsuccessful in finding out anything. Oliver and Bucky sit down and calculate how much fuel would be carried based on the specifications Bucky found, they come up with a figure that actually exceeds the tonnage of the Kinunir class! Later, when the others are asleep, Wilhelm works out his own figures on the fuel requirements and comes up with a total of 1,080 tons, which would only leave 120 tons for drives, weapons and crew accommodation. Wilhelm decides that the public specifications are certainly inaccurate. The next day Oliver and Bucky decide to go and check out General Shipyards to see what they can find there while Tommy, Vann and Wilhelm head back to the starport again.
Bucky and Oliver manage to find a General Shipyards office in the starport and go inside, it is not what they expected though. The only occupant is an attractive woman seated behind a desk typing awat on a computer. Oliver introduces himself but when the woman asks how she can help, he realises that he has no ides what to say and just babbles incoherently. Bucky steps in and tries to pass himself off as a covert naval operative who requires information on a military vessel that had been built by General Shipyards. The stunned secretary says that General does not produce military starships, that all she can do is make appointments for people to go to the shipyard and if he worked for the navy surely they would have the information he was looking for. The logic of these statements throws Bucky into silence, clearly the intelligence of the secretary is superior to Bucky. Oliver gets the ides of actually just making an appointment to see someone at the shipyard, finally faced by someone making sense the secretary makes an appointment for Bucky, Oliver and Wilhelm to see Mr Hansen at the shipyard in five days time. Meanwhile, Tommy and the others manage to find and talk to a retired shipyard worker who had worked on the Kinunir ships produced by General Shipyards. He tells them that from what he remembers the Black Globe Generator was on the drive deck not too far from the pinnace dock. Though, at present, the only Kinunir the group know that is in the Regina subsector is the Gaesh, the prison hulk at Pixie, and that has had all the drives ripped out. The problems with the Gaesh are that getting to Pixie will be time consuming and expensive, and short of getting arrested, breaking into a prison ship will be almost impossible.
Over the next few days the group continue to track down leads and rumours, though the only ones circulating around the starport are in connection with possible Imperial suppression of political opposition. This leads Oliver to think that a civil war is about to break out in the subsector. Bucky decides to make himself useful by trying to hack into the General Shipyards data archive. On the day of the appointment at General Shipyards a car arrives outside the Traveller's Aid Society to collect them, but only Oliver and Wilhelm decide to go, leaving Bucky to carry on writing his program. The meeting at General Shipyards is short and unproductive, Mr Hansen knows nothing about the building of the Kinunir class and says the previous management team were borderline criminal in their working practices. He then brings the meeting to a close and Oliver and Wilhelm return to the group empty handed. When they get back to their rooms there is a message for Oliver saying that one of his contacts has found a couple of people that might be willing to talk to him, for a price. They are Daniel V Adar and Guy Self, both formerly worked at General Shipyards, Oliver and Tommy decide to pay them a visit in the next couple of days.
The next morning Bucky announces that he has almost finished working on the hack program and should be able to give it a go in the next 24 hours. Wilhelm and Vann decide to give the starport another go for leads while Tommy and Oliver head out to see Mr Self. Tommy slips a pair of handcuffs into his pocket, in case Mr Self proves to be a little unwilling to provide them with the information.
Guy Self was the former Project Manager (Military Division) at General Shipyards, he was a casualty of the board room battle that took place when General pulled out of the military shipbuilding market and narrowly avoided criminal charges for misappropriation of funds. Since then he has only been able to get junior and low paid work, so he greedily snaps up the Cr 500 that Oliver offers him. He tells them that the publicised range of 200 days was pure rubbish and that the Kinunir only had a range of 28 days fuel for the power plant and manoeuvre drives. He also says that the Black Globe Generator was on the port side of the drive section. As they leave Tommy looks a little disappointed that he did not get to use the handcuffs. Maybe next time, he thinks.
Vann and Wilhelm are also having a bit of luck, they have run into a navy veteran who everyone calls 'Lucky' Jim. Jim was an engineer on the Allamu, until its last fatal flight, when he had to stay in port because of a fever. Which technically makes him the last survivor of the Kinunir class battle cruiser, Allamu. He puts his luck down to the old maintenance shaft key that he kept from the ship. However, no amount of convincing from Vann will get him to part with it willingly, so Vann decides to try a little drinking contest with him. Things do not go to plan though and Jim soon discovers that instead of whiskey Vann has been giving himself measures of apple juice. So, Jim decides to buy the next few rounds and pretty soon Vann is slumped unconscious at the table. Between Wilhelm and the very drunk Jim they manage to get Vann back to the hostel and into his bed.
The next morning Vann is feeling rather unwell, so decides to spend the day in his room, but Wilhelm shows him a little present, it is the key that Jim had last night. Wilhelm explains that while they were carrying Vann home Wilhelm was able to lift the key out of Jim's pocket. Tommy and Oliver say they are going to pay a visit to Mr Adar today. Wilhelm says he is going to go and see a contact he made while Vann was having his contest last night. Bucky says he has a couple of final tweaks to make and then he is going to try the program.
Mr Adar is a former designer at General Shipyard who got dismissed as he was an incompetent architect. He never worked on any military vessels, but he does hint that he has something that could be useful. Oliver offers him Cr 500, but Daniel dismisses the offer. So, Tommy quickly steps in with an offer of Cr 2,000 which is gleefully accepted. Daniel hands over a piece of paper with a code written on it, the code he says will access any data archive at General Shipyards but, it will only work from a terminal within the General Shipyards office. Once they leave Tommy and Oliver have a heated debate about the level of the bribe and about just who is going to be paying it. Wilhelm searches a couple of bars and finally finds the shipyard worker he was talking to last night. The guy seems to think that the Adda Dubsar, the last Kinunir built by General, was not scrapped or broken up, but is sat ready for outfitting on a disused slipway at the General yard.
Bucky finally runs his program which seems to work, until it gets caught in a loop and crashes. Obviously, it needs a bit more work. Though, when the others return another plan comes to mind, to break into the General Shipyards offices to get the data there and to look for the hulk of the Adda Dubsar. Bucky and Vann instantly begin to work on a list for Oliver's black market contacts while trying to find an ingenious way to use their disguise kits.
Oliver's contacts come up dry, but say they will put the word out and get back to him. Bucky has more luck and manages to retrieve ship specifications, a list of all the ships in the Kinunir class and the fate of some of the ships that have been lost. When the others return to the Traveller's Aid Society hostel, where they are staying, they say that they were unsuccessful in finding out anything. Oliver and Bucky sit down and calculate how much fuel would be carried based on the specifications Bucky found, they come up with a figure that actually exceeds the tonnage of the Kinunir class! Later, when the others are asleep, Wilhelm works out his own figures on the fuel requirements and comes up with a total of 1,080 tons, which would only leave 120 tons for drives, weapons and crew accommodation. Wilhelm decides that the public specifications are certainly inaccurate. The next day Oliver and Bucky decide to go and check out General Shipyards to see what they can find there while Tommy, Vann and Wilhelm head back to the starport again.
Bucky and Oliver manage to find a General Shipyards office in the starport and go inside, it is not what they expected though. The only occupant is an attractive woman seated behind a desk typing awat on a computer. Oliver introduces himself but when the woman asks how she can help, he realises that he has no ides what to say and just babbles incoherently. Bucky steps in and tries to pass himself off as a covert naval operative who requires information on a military vessel that had been built by General Shipyards. The stunned secretary says that General does not produce military starships, that all she can do is make appointments for people to go to the shipyard and if he worked for the navy surely they would have the information he was looking for. The logic of these statements throws Bucky into silence, clearly the intelligence of the secretary is superior to Bucky. Oliver gets the ides of actually just making an appointment to see someone at the shipyard, finally faced by someone making sense the secretary makes an appointment for Bucky, Oliver and Wilhelm to see Mr Hansen at the shipyard in five days time. Meanwhile, Tommy and the others manage to find and talk to a retired shipyard worker who had worked on the Kinunir ships produced by General Shipyards. He tells them that from what he remembers the Black Globe Generator was on the drive deck not too far from the pinnace dock. Though, at present, the only Kinunir the group know that is in the Regina subsector is the Gaesh, the prison hulk at Pixie, and that has had all the drives ripped out. The problems with the Gaesh are that getting to Pixie will be time consuming and expensive, and short of getting arrested, breaking into a prison ship will be almost impossible.
Over the next few days the group continue to track down leads and rumours, though the only ones circulating around the starport are in connection with possible Imperial suppression of political opposition. This leads Oliver to think that a civil war is about to break out in the subsector. Bucky decides to make himself useful by trying to hack into the General Shipyards data archive. On the day of the appointment at General Shipyards a car arrives outside the Traveller's Aid Society to collect them, but only Oliver and Wilhelm decide to go, leaving Bucky to carry on writing his program. The meeting at General Shipyards is short and unproductive, Mr Hansen knows nothing about the building of the Kinunir class and says the previous management team were borderline criminal in their working practices. He then brings the meeting to a close and Oliver and Wilhelm return to the group empty handed. When they get back to their rooms there is a message for Oliver saying that one of his contacts has found a couple of people that might be willing to talk to him, for a price. They are Daniel V Adar and Guy Self, both formerly worked at General Shipyards, Oliver and Tommy decide to pay them a visit in the next couple of days.
The next morning Bucky announces that he has almost finished working on the hack program and should be able to give it a go in the next 24 hours. Wilhelm and Vann decide to give the starport another go for leads while Tommy and Oliver head out to see Mr Self. Tommy slips a pair of handcuffs into his pocket, in case Mr Self proves to be a little unwilling to provide them with the information.
Guy Self was the former Project Manager (Military Division) at General Shipyards, he was a casualty of the board room battle that took place when General pulled out of the military shipbuilding market and narrowly avoided criminal charges for misappropriation of funds. Since then he has only been able to get junior and low paid work, so he greedily snaps up the Cr 500 that Oliver offers him. He tells them that the publicised range of 200 days was pure rubbish and that the Kinunir only had a range of 28 days fuel for the power plant and manoeuvre drives. He also says that the Black Globe Generator was on the port side of the drive section. As they leave Tommy looks a little disappointed that he did not get to use the handcuffs. Maybe next time, he thinks.
Vann and Wilhelm are also having a bit of luck, they have run into a navy veteran who everyone calls 'Lucky' Jim. Jim was an engineer on the Allamu, until its last fatal flight, when he had to stay in port because of a fever. Which technically makes him the last survivor of the Kinunir class battle cruiser, Allamu. He puts his luck down to the old maintenance shaft key that he kept from the ship. However, no amount of convincing from Vann will get him to part with it willingly, so Vann decides to try a little drinking contest with him. Things do not go to plan though and Jim soon discovers that instead of whiskey Vann has been giving himself measures of apple juice. So, Jim decides to buy the next few rounds and pretty soon Vann is slumped unconscious at the table. Between Wilhelm and the very drunk Jim they manage to get Vann back to the hostel and into his bed.
The next morning Vann is feeling rather unwell, so decides to spend the day in his room, but Wilhelm shows him a little present, it is the key that Jim had last night. Wilhelm explains that while they were carrying Vann home Wilhelm was able to lift the key out of Jim's pocket. Tommy and Oliver say they are going to pay a visit to Mr Adar today. Wilhelm says he is going to go and see a contact he made while Vann was having his contest last night. Bucky says he has a couple of final tweaks to make and then he is going to try the program.
Mr Adar is a former designer at General Shipyard who got dismissed as he was an incompetent architect. He never worked on any military vessels, but he does hint that he has something that could be useful. Oliver offers him Cr 500, but Daniel dismisses the offer. So, Tommy quickly steps in with an offer of Cr 2,000 which is gleefully accepted. Daniel hands over a piece of paper with a code written on it, the code he says will access any data archive at General Shipyards but, it will only work from a terminal within the General Shipyards office. Once they leave Tommy and Oliver have a heated debate about the level of the bribe and about just who is going to be paying it. Wilhelm searches a couple of bars and finally finds the shipyard worker he was talking to last night. The guy seems to think that the Adda Dubsar, the last Kinunir built by General, was not scrapped or broken up, but is sat ready for outfitting on a disused slipway at the General yard.
Bucky finally runs his program which seems to work, until it gets caught in a loop and crashes. Obviously, it needs a bit more work. Though, when the others return another plan comes to mind, to break into the General Shipyards offices to get the data there and to look for the hulk of the Adda Dubsar. Bucky and Vann instantly begin to work on a list for Oliver's black market contacts while trying to find an ingenious way to use their disguise kits.
The Kinunir of Regina - Introduction
Whilst out one night celebrating their new found wealth Oliver is approached at the bar by a well dressed gentleman who tries to engage Oliver in conversation. Oliver thinks the guy is a little creepy and so disengages himself from him and goes back to the table the group are sat at and begins to moan about the well dressed weird guy at the bar. A few minutes later the well dressed guy comes over to their table and sits himself down.
He explains he is an executive from Oberlindes Lines and he is looking for a cautious group to perform a discrete job for him. He needs to obtain some data regarding a certain class of military vessel, some of which were produced here on Regina by General Shipyards. The class of ship he is interested in is the Kinunir class battle cruiser. Bucky indicates that he knows of the type of ship but has never served on one, the executive says that serving on one does not matter as the information he needs could be classified more as trade secrets rather than military secrets. Despite repeated attempts he will not divulge why he needs the data or even his name. After a bit of discussion the group decide to accept the job.
The executive says that he has a budget of Cr 200,000 available for the full (and he emphasises the word full) completion of the job, which will be to get accurate data on the capacity of the fuel tanks and to get the exact location of the Black Globe Generator. He says that he can provide pictures of the Black Globe Generator mountings to help them find the location. He also says that to fully complete the job he will need two pieces of evidence for each piece of data to confirm the accuracy of the groups findings. With that being said, he hands a card to Oliver with a communicator code and says to contact him when they have the information. He then thanks them for their time and gets up, leaving the group to finish their drinks and to consider their next move.
He explains he is an executive from Oberlindes Lines and he is looking for a cautious group to perform a discrete job for him. He needs to obtain some data regarding a certain class of military vessel, some of which were produced here on Regina by General Shipyards. The class of ship he is interested in is the Kinunir class battle cruiser. Bucky indicates that he knows of the type of ship but has never served on one, the executive says that serving on one does not matter as the information he needs could be classified more as trade secrets rather than military secrets. Despite repeated attempts he will not divulge why he needs the data or even his name. After a bit of discussion the group decide to accept the job.
The executive says that he has a budget of Cr 200,000 available for the full (and he emphasises the word full) completion of the job, which will be to get accurate data on the capacity of the fuel tanks and to get the exact location of the Black Globe Generator. He says that he can provide pictures of the Black Globe Generator mountings to help them find the location. He also says that to fully complete the job he will need two pieces of evidence for each piece of data to confirm the accuracy of the groups findings. With that being said, he hands a card to Oliver with a communicator code and says to contact him when they have the information. He then thanks them for their time and gets up, leaving the group to finish their drinks and to consider their next move.
Wednesday, 3 February 2016
Shadows of Yorbund - Epilogue
Wilhelm tells the group that their destination is Regina, as he has some business with the Scout Administrator and he also wants to report the pyramids as a possible undiscovered Ancient site, with the hope that the scout service will pay them for finding it.
The route back takes the Aurora through Beck's World, Feri, Roup, Hefry and finally to Regina. By the end of the five week trip the air in the scout ship is smelling pretty bad, a common problem with the Type S Scout/Courier, so Wilhelm says that he will get the scout station mechanics to rip out the old system and replace it with something better, though to perform the task will probably take about three and four weeks to complete once he has bought the parts needed. After that Wilhelm heads off to his appointment with the Administrator.
Meanwhile, Bucky heads off to the University of Regina, where he meets a biology professor who states that his plant and dropping samples are common enough for Yorbund and nothing special. Upon seeing the gold coin however the professor gets a little excited, he says it is a casting coyn used by the Droyne to determine which caste the Droyne belongs to. The professor says that, sadly in his opinion, that individually the coyn has no real value, but a full set of 36 would be worth something to a collector.
When Wilhelm returns he says that the IISS are interested in the site and that he has registered the claim to it, in the names of the crew, in case the Imperium determines that it is an Ancient site. If they do then the crew will be entitled to a substantial reward, but in the meantime the Scout Service have paid a 'finders fee' to the group, which Wilhelm happily divides equally between them.
The route back takes the Aurora through Beck's World, Feri, Roup, Hefry and finally to Regina. By the end of the five week trip the air in the scout ship is smelling pretty bad, a common problem with the Type S Scout/Courier, so Wilhelm says that he will get the scout station mechanics to rip out the old system and replace it with something better, though to perform the task will probably take about three and four weeks to complete once he has bought the parts needed. After that Wilhelm heads off to his appointment with the Administrator.
Meanwhile, Bucky heads off to the University of Regina, where he meets a biology professor who states that his plant and dropping samples are common enough for Yorbund and nothing special. Upon seeing the gold coin however the professor gets a little excited, he says it is a casting coyn used by the Droyne to determine which caste the Droyne belongs to. The professor says that, sadly in his opinion, that individually the coyn has no real value, but a full set of 36 would be worth something to a collector.
When Wilhelm returns he says that the IISS are interested in the site and that he has registered the claim to it, in the names of the crew, in case the Imperium determines that it is an Ancient site. If they do then the crew will be entitled to a substantial reward, but in the meantime the Scout Service have paid a 'finders fee' to the group, which Wilhelm happily divides equally between them.
Shadows of Yorbund - Part Two
The group decide to explore the long passageway leading down from the pendulum chamber, Wilhelm and Vann lead the way with Bucky bringing up the rear. Whilst they are walking Bucky stops to collect a sample of the animal droppings that litter the floor. At the end of the corridor the group find a room full of machinery, but its complexity defeats them and they cannot find a way to switch it off. Down a side corridor they find a barred exit to the outside, which seems to lead to the shaft Tommy and Wilhelm found earlier at the base of the largest pyramid. Wilhelm suggests that he could cut through the bars, using his laser rifle, in about twenty minutes but the others want to press on as they only have about two and a half hours of oxygen left in the suits. So, they decide to return back the way they came.
Returning to the upper level and to the shaft where Bucky made his descent, they explore the two side corridors that Bucky ignored when he was first here. The first just leads to another small chamber, whilst the other one leads along to what seems like a door, Vann and Bucky give it a push and slowly it begins to open, flooding the corridor with light and opening a doorway to the outside. Bucky decides to head back to the Aurora while the others begin to rappel down to the lower level. Everyone makes it down the cable without any mishaps.Quickly they make their way along the main corridor to where the pendulum is. Three large chambers are located off the chamber, in two of them the group find what appear to be sets of controls, in one chamber all the controls seem to be turned off but in the other the controls show that power is going to a number of systems in the pyramids. The third chamber is empty except for a curiously smooth block of stone set in the middle of the chamber. In the active control chamber Tommy examines each of the controls and finds three depressions beneath each one, pressing each depression does not seem to change any of the readings, so Tommy and Vann go back to the pendulum chamber leaving Wilhelm to study the controls. One thing Tommy notices is that the pendulum is swinging in an intricate pattern over three plates on the floor, he and Vann remove the plates and reveal eight small compartments. After opening all the compartments all he finds are twelve small metal clips which can be clipped on to a cable to help in climbing.
When they return to the control room Wilhelm says that he has had a bit of luck in decyphering the controls, he presses two of the depressions simultaneously and the power level for that gauge drops to zero. Rapidly, the three of them each take a bank of controls and turn them all off, plunging them into darkness. Tommy radios Oliver and Bucky and tells them that the beam might be disabled, To test this Bucky goes back to the pyramid and looks for something to test the theory, not finding anything on the ground he delves into his pockets and throws the first thing he finds towards the pyramid. The thrown animal droppings do not trigger the beam, and there is a profound silence from the others when they hear what Bucky has done.
Wilhelm tells Oliver to lift off gently and to bring his ship closer to the pyramid, as the ship comes over the dunes there is no reaction from the pyramid, with a sigh of relief from both Oliver and Wilhelm the Aurora, settles back down beside the pyramid. Tommy, Vann and Wilhelm make there way back to the cable and with the help of the clips Tommy found they quickly climb back up and exit the pyramid through the door they found. Wilhelm goes and retrieves his cable before following the others back to the ship. Gingerly Wilhelm takes off and at a safe distance climbs up and back into orbit.
Returning to the upper level and to the shaft where Bucky made his descent, they explore the two side corridors that Bucky ignored when he was first here. The first just leads to another small chamber, whilst the other one leads along to what seems like a door, Vann and Bucky give it a push and slowly it begins to open, flooding the corridor with light and opening a doorway to the outside. Bucky decides to head back to the Aurora while the others begin to rappel down to the lower level. Everyone makes it down the cable without any mishaps.Quickly they make their way along the main corridor to where the pendulum is. Three large chambers are located off the chamber, in two of them the group find what appear to be sets of controls, in one chamber all the controls seem to be turned off but in the other the controls show that power is going to a number of systems in the pyramids. The third chamber is empty except for a curiously smooth block of stone set in the middle of the chamber. In the active control chamber Tommy examines each of the controls and finds three depressions beneath each one, pressing each depression does not seem to change any of the readings, so Tommy and Vann go back to the pendulum chamber leaving Wilhelm to study the controls. One thing Tommy notices is that the pendulum is swinging in an intricate pattern over three plates on the floor, he and Vann remove the plates and reveal eight small compartments. After opening all the compartments all he finds are twelve small metal clips which can be clipped on to a cable to help in climbing.
When they return to the control room Wilhelm says that he has had a bit of luck in decyphering the controls, he presses two of the depressions simultaneously and the power level for that gauge drops to zero. Rapidly, the three of them each take a bank of controls and turn them all off, plunging them into darkness. Tommy radios Oliver and Bucky and tells them that the beam might be disabled, To test this Bucky goes back to the pyramid and looks for something to test the theory, not finding anything on the ground he delves into his pockets and throws the first thing he finds towards the pyramid. The thrown animal droppings do not trigger the beam, and there is a profound silence from the others when they hear what Bucky has done.
Wilhelm tells Oliver to lift off gently and to bring his ship closer to the pyramid, as the ship comes over the dunes there is no reaction from the pyramid, with a sigh of relief from both Oliver and Wilhelm the Aurora, settles back down beside the pyramid. Tommy, Vann and Wilhelm make there way back to the cable and with the help of the clips Tommy found they quickly climb back up and exit the pyramid through the door they found. Wilhelm goes and retrieves his cable before following the others back to the ship. Gingerly Wilhelm takes off and at a safe distance climbs up and back into orbit.
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