Orbit of Chiron
(Reentry and landing roll:
43)
"All systems in the green, we're going for reentry Captain.""Very well, halt gravity rotation and align us on the reentry vector. All hands, prepare for reentry, I repeat button up your stations and prepare for reentry."The crew scramble to their stations and belt themselves in as the ship halts its slow gravity spin along its axis and maneuvers to the reentry vector. A few minutes pass, then the main engines light up in a braking burn as the ship slowly breaks orbit and descends to the surface.
"Vector stable so far captain, we just passed the upper mesosphere. Velocity at 800 m/s and falling. Hitting stratopause in 2 minutes... Alright, we've hit the lower stratosphere, velocity now sub-400 m/s, we'll be hitting the troposphere any minute no-Captain! Unexpected thunderstorm broaching the landing site, we're going to fly right through it!"The danger has appeared too late for any action to be taken. An unexpected front has formed and is passing though the area, sweeping in from the south. One moment, there is clear skies, then the next the ship is buffeted by winds and rain. And then a blinding flash...
"Captain, we've just been struck by lightning! Power loss to cargo hold, and I'm getting small fires from burnt conduits on decks 3 and 5! The computer is also telling me the turbulence has thrown our course into the yellow, and we're coming down faster than expected!""Emergency overcharge on the main engine, we need to bring our velocity down or we're going to auger in!"The whine of the engines pitches up a few degrees as more power is applied. The ship slows more, but the speed is still fast for a landing...
"We're 60 km out from our landing, but our speed is still 129 m/s! We're coming in hot, and it'll be a hell of a jolt!""Nothing to do now but pray!" She hits a button for the intercom.
"Brace Brace Brace!"With the driving rain seeming whipping the ship on, it screams down the last few kilometers, valiantly trying to slow enough for a somewhat safe landing, but it's too late. The ship impacts at 63 m/s, gouging a gash through the grasslands and finally settling to stop just 800 meters from the north rim of the canyon. Minutes go by....
"....urgh, I feel like I've been thrown through a washing machine. Report, you guys still alive?""I'm still here captain. Preliminary reports show the engine is well and truly junk not that it matters at this point, we have hull breaches all up and down the lower section, and we've lost power to damage control and life support, though the local backups are keeping the pods powered this time. More seriously, Damage control actually took a bad hit when a bulkhead let go, and frankly it's a mess. We also lost 3 crew who were manning damage control when the bulkhead blew. Crushed completely. We'll need to send the crew to do a proper assessment of everything though.""Goddammit to hell! Well, I guess we're lucky we didn't lose everyone then, but I can say with heartfelt sincerity I do NOT want to ever do that again.">>Yerkri Astgheri Landed on Chiron March 18th, 2076. Arrival date of Ark:2081(mini-update next with whatever post landing stuff you'll want to do, then we move to one month turns)
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Topic: Outpost Delta Turn 13 (Read 33787 times)