"Ok gents, let's make sure we plan this nice and thorough before we venture in, shall we? I'd hate to loose more people to this godforsaken galactic ink blot."
Does the AWaCCP pack extend comms range at all?
No, the range between grid spaces is pretty far and this isn't "empty" space.
((Kay then, thanks for quick answer.))
"So, the first thing we need to decide is whether we stay together, or split up. While splitting up has the obvious disadvantage of breaking up strength, I fear we'll never find the other team if we don't. So, I'm afraid our hand is rather forced in this.
Next tot that, there are a few points of interest that I think are worth exploring:
Where the planet used to be.
The space between the planet and the jump point, which seems most likely where we could find our teammates.
The local star.
The other main celestial bodies that used to be in this solar system, aka other planets, moons, any man-made stations or satellites.
Now, one possible plan of action is that we stick in 1 group and head for the planet. As we get closer, 1 team splits off and goes for the star, 1 stays on course for the planet, and the final one goes for another object of interest, or searches the space between planet and jump point for our lost allies ship. Or stays with the second team in case there is a lot to explore on the planet, which wouldn't surprise me, seeing as how it's at the source of all this. And we might find clues to their whereabouts there.
Another thing we need to agree on is a timetable of sorts. Since we won't be able to just tell each other when we've found something or when to bug out, we'll need to agree on a pre-determined schedule and try to stick to it.
Oh, and first we might want to send out again 1 ship and let it return before we all go on, maybe do some quick experimentation, just in case there's trickery going on at the border between normal space and blackspace. Oh, and I'm calling the anomalous area 'blackspace' for convenience, unless someone has a better name. Voidspace maybe?
Roughly how big is the black sphere, in coordinate points? At roughly what point is the planet they were, and the star? Are/were there other celestial objects of note (other planets, moons, man-made objects, ...)
How much time do we have before we need to bug out? A very rough estimate (eg based on current expansion rates and when it'll reach the jump point) is good. Hard to plan if we don't know if we could do 1, 2 or 10 roundtrips (assuming going for max speed).
Where does Steve think we could find our allies? Can he give us a heat map of likelihood of their position (aka don't want you to draw an actual map, just have an IC map that tells us where to look first).
Can we have a quick inventory of the ships? Next to containers, do they have something that we could use as buoys (aka something to drop into blackspace that continuously 'plays' a recorded message/sends certain data.
((Done editing. I'd propose a more detailed plan, but we'll have to know more before we can really come up with anything concrete.))
At widest point, something like 600, expanding by 1 each turn.
Their orbits are around -2 to 2 Z, And the planet Mission 21 was on should be roughly 350, -100 x,y if things have stayed the same. However considering the state of the system, guessing about the other planet's and the sun would be complete speculation. Even the mission 21 planet is complete speculation, but we have assurances from the doctor that it most likely will now be anchored in place. We recommend you avoid it.
At current expansion, about 70 turns (Of movement).
No idea. But the best guess is that they'd be moving from the planet towards 1,1,1. So along that path. No.
We'll say you have little signal transmitters like that.
Also, you should know that asking for an inventory is a bad idea with me. You're collapsing the quantum space.
Brother Lars bows at the comms screen. "I trust in your judgement, General. May the guiding light of Steve show our path. Perhaps we should pray to the gods to seek guidance?"
Pray to Cog-Azaon for guidance on where to go and how to navigate in this strange space.
((Also voidspace is taken, so it'll have to be blackspace))
((Blackspace huh? If you listen carefully, hiphop can be heard as though from a great distance))
You pray to your gods but they don't seem to answer. Maybe the line is busy.
"Look on the bright side, general. If we are split up, horrors from beyond time and space can only eat us three at a time."
Do that scavenging thing on the RCS if I haven't already while the others deliberate on plans. Not the cap'n here, after all.
I don't know what an RCS is but sure.