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To: Dan Corrin <dan%engrg.uwo.ca@RELAY.CS.NET>, jamesp@metolius.WR

Subject: TML Bundle #161: Msgs 1988-2011

Reply-To: TML Administrator <traveller-request%metolius.wr.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET>

Precedence: bulk

Date: Tue, 12 Feb 91 13:52:28 PST

From: James T Perkins <jamesp%metolius.wr.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET>

Status: RO





TML Bundles come from the archives of the Traveller Mailing List,

maintained by James Perkins, traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com.



------------------------------------------------------------



Date: Tue Feb 12 13:52:19 PST 1991

From: traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com (TML Administrator)

Subject: TML Bundle #161: Table of Contents



-AMN- --Date--- --Sender--------- --Subject-----------------------------------

1988  14-Dec-90 bonnevil@acc.stol More on sector map problems... << In reply to

1989  14-Dec-90 Bob Mahoney       Yacht Info needed << I've been quiet a while 

1990  14-Dec-90 George William He [embarrased george needs help] << Does anyone

1991  14-Dec-90 George William He That's OUR Bertil... << Letters section of Ch

1992  15-Dec-90 Robert P Poole    Magic system? << Doesn't adding a magic syste

1993  15-Dec-90 James T Perkins   TML Message 1993 was lost << I know not what 

1994  17-Dec-90 wrgate.wr.tek.com Last posting, for the time being. << Well wit

1995  17-Dec-90 wrgate.wr.tek.com Rule comments from Scott Kellogg 12/16/90 << 

1996  17-Dec-90 "Robert S. Dean"  Merry Christmas! << To all of you out there, 

1997  17-Dec-90 al646@cleveland.F re: (1988) More on sector map problems... << 

1998  17-Dec-90 al646@cleveland.F Magic and MegaTraveller << >From: Robert P Po

1999  17-Dec-90 wrgate.wr.tek.com PBEM status update from Richard << [Richard a

2000  18-Dec-90 d9bertil@dtek.cha Xboat Xmas << I just wanted to say "Merry Xma

2001  18-Dec-90 al646@cleveland.F Re: Sector data in files - << Last night I co

2002  18-Dec-90 al646@cleveland.F Missing Books << While compiling the data on 

2003  18-Dec-90 Nick Sylvain      Merry Christmas << Merry Christmas to all you

2004  18-Dec-90 SULAIMAN          Scott's ships << just noticed that Scott Kell

2005  19-Dec-90 woodsb@ecn.purdue Re: (2002) Missing Books << In message 2002, 

2006  00-Jan-00 Alan Huscroft     Re:(1988) More on sector map problems... << >

2007  18-Dec-90 Dave Johnson      TML Archive Site << Has anyone else had probl

2008  19-Dec-90 METLAY@vms.cis.pi Holidaze << To all TMLers and TDR people: I'm

2009  19-Dec-90 Jo Jaquinta       Space Habitats << I have never seen a convinc

2010  19-Dec-90 Dan Corrin        Sunbane archive update. << <bertil> > The Chr

2011  19-Dec-90 Dave Johnson      DGP products << Hello, Could anyone send me t



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 1988

Date: Fri, 14 Dec 90 10:28:38 -0600

From: bonnevil@acc.stolaf.edu

Subject: More on sector map problems...





In reply to Alan Huscroft's reply to my earlier posting about problems

with the Trojan Reach map in the archives not agreeing with published

material [ (1979) Re:(1976) Messed up sector map in archives? ] --



>I suspect the data in the archives were early drafts.  It's possible

>that the folks at DGP forgot about the data in Leviathan when they

>were originally working out the Trojan Reach and corrected it later

>when it was published in the Digest.  The base/allegiance/port/giant

>codes would be correct because they were taken from the Atlas of the

>Imperium.  If this is true then the problem should be isolated to

>the 2 subsectors that were published in Leviathan.



Well, that's what I thought at first too.  So I checked some of the other 

data for both Trojan Reach and Riftspan Reaches, which I also have in a

Digest.  Riftspan looks ok, _but_ it is probably Second Survey era data,

where the Digest article was circa 1120.  Govenment codes were different,

but that was to change them to the Aslan codes now in use.  Some TLs had

changed, but heck, Regina's has too.  One world was marked as having a 

hydro code of 1 which now had one of 0, but library data said that it 

had lost its surface water in 1106 or so.  For the Solomani Rim archive,

pop multipliers don't agree with info in the 1108 era Supplement 10.

For instance, Lagash/Sol in the Supplement has a pop of 21 billion,

while in the archive is listed as 50 billion.  Personally, I can live

with that.  However, back to Trojan Reaches.....



I checked some worlds outside the Leviathan area.  The 1120 sector capital

is Gazulin/Gazulin, so I checked that:

*ARCHIVE LISTING*

 [unnamed]  2708 BA6A002-7 A   Lo Ni Wa      301 Im K6V

*Digest #20*

  Gazulin   2708 AA86887-B A   Ri Cp An      213 Dd F3D

Well, the size is right, but atmosphere is denser, it has 40% less water,

200 million people instead of 3, and a higher TL.  The Imperium isn't

that good at terraforming -- and why change the atmosphere from standard?

Still, this might be justifiable.  The problem is that every world that

I looked at was different.  In some cases, massive change might be

understood; the Aslan have been rather thourough in reducing some worlds.



So the problem might just be restricted to Trojan Reach sector.  Still,

I'm a little wary about the sectors I can't check.  I'm sure the

ones that were enterd by hand to update them are pretty safe, but it's

hard to tell with the other ones, especially ones like Vland for which

the pop multiplier and stars part is incomplete.  Perhaps someone with

"Vargr and Vilani" could check that one?  Hopefully it's just the one

sector file that is messed up.  Anyway, if anybody has any ideas or 

more info out there, I'm sure many of us would appreciate it!



- - --Steve





------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 1989

Date: Fri, 14 Dec 90 20:00 EST

From: Bob Mahoney <BOBMAH%PSC.PLYMOUTH.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu>

Subject: Yacht Info needed



I've been quiet a while here, but...



I'm looking for some info on the Yacht, as described in the Imperial

Encyclopedia (or any better design you may wish to quote).



First, the dumb question:  Why would a Noble want a ship that can't land?

(Configuration is unstreamlined)  I would think he/she would want to take their

luxury-mobile everywhere they go, without having to slum-it in a ship's boat.



Has anyone ever used one of these in a campaign?  Are there any commercially

available ship plans?  Or any (probably superior) had-drawn plans someone might

want to share?



I'd be interested in any discussion concerning yachts- type of weapons

typically installed, any published adventures in which they appear, etc.

(Now since Peter just blew one up in a story, he *must* have something to add!)



Thanks all!

                                  ..

- - ---------------------------------m--m-----------------------------------------

Bob Mahoney        Plymouth State College Computer Services, Plymouth NH 03264

Network Manager/Postmaster                             BOBMAH@PSC.PLYMOUTH.EDU



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 1990

Date: Fri, 14 Dec 90 22:13:37 -0900

From: George William Herbert <gwh@ocf.Berkeley.EDU>

Subject: [embarrased george needs help]





Does anyone have an easily accessable copy of the submarine design

formulas I posted here a while ago?  Mine got archived off onto a tape

and I don't want to recover all umpteen megs off the tape to find it...



Sigh. 8-P i ought to archive my own work, really i ought.



- - -george william herbert

gwh@ocf.berkeley.ecu



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 1991

Date: Fri, 14 Dec 90 22:14:17 -0900

From: George William Herbert <gwh@ocf.Berkeley.EDU>

Subject: That's OUR Bertil...





Letters section of Challenge 47.  Congrats Bertil. 8-)



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 1992

Subject: Magic system?

Date: Sat, 15 Dec 90 02:28:04 EST

From: Robert P Poole <tarquin@ATHENA.MIT.EDU>



Doesn't adding a magic system kind of defeat the purpose of a SCIENCE Fiction

RPG?  I mean, there are plenty of good Fantasy RPG's out there.  Besides,

Traveller has a Psi system which is close enough as it is to magic.



Sorry, but magic offends the purist/rationalist in me.  That's precisely why

I avoid Fantasy games.



R. Poole

tarquin@athena.mit.edu



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 1993

Subject: TML Message 1993 was lost

Date: Sat, 15 Dec 90 02:28:04 EST

From: James T Perkins <jamesp@metolius.wr.tek.com>



I know not what happened to TML message 1993.  It appears to have never

been sent.



James, TML Admin



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 1994

Date: Mon, 17 Dec 90 09:09:00 -0500

From: wrgate.wr.tek.com!tnc!m0068@uunet.uu.net

Subject: Last posting, for the time being.



Well with these last 3 postings I've finished Scott Kellog's

forwarded material. Thanks for the patience show here. 

Scott is now in the process of moving, and I'll be on 

Christmas holiday till 1/4/91 and won't be able to reply

or gather messages.



Continue with the excellent work, and have a happy holiday

season.



        Stephen D Smith

- - --Name = STEPHEN SMITH  Mailbox # = 68



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 1995

Date: Mon, 17 Dec 90 09:08:53 -0500

From: wrgate.wr.tek.com!tnc!m0068@uunet.uu.net

Subject: Rule comments from Scott Kellogg 12/16/90



From: m0068@tnc.UUCP (Stephen D Smith)

Organization: personal mailbox at The Next Challenge

 

And some of Scott's thoughts on the rules.

 

*********************************************************

*********************************************************

Scott is in the processing of moving so his access is

even more limited. His previously given address and

phone will be of dubious use, depending on the US Snail.

Anyone wishing to contact him should leave a message

with me and I'll forward it to him.

*********************************************************

*********************************************************

 

    WHEN I BREAK THE RULES

 

    I don't hold by some of the design rules.  Those of you who

have looked closely at some of my designs already know this (maybe

you have already commented on my liberties I don't know yet, such

is my limited access to the list.)  The main rule I've broken is

the one about manuver drives.  Here is my justification:

 

    The rules state that you can't put a spacecraft thruster drive

or a spacecraft antigrav drive into a craft smaller than 20 tons. 

The only place you find that rule is in 'Shattered Ships of the

Squabbling Imperium' in reference to the FS-15.

 

    Well, it is a good guide line.  Most craft under that tonnage

can't fit enough of a power plant to run one anyway.  But, you can

if you are careful.  I can see that there is a minimum of size to

these units.  The smallest unit they list is 5.4Kl.  Ok, don't

build one under that size.  However that 5.4Kl drive takes up 17%

of a 2.3 ton vehicle.  Therefore, theoretically, a 2.3 tonner would

have 6G acceleration if you built it.  So would that mean that

everyone would want 6G air/rafts?

 

    No.  I suggest that you use the manuver drives if you are

designing either a spacecraft or a craft that is large enough to

warrent such a drive.

 

    Here is how I interpret the difference bettween the standard

grav thrust units and the anti grav drives.  The standard grav

units being small create only a small disturbance in the local

gravitational field.  the only area substantially affected is

within the volume of the grav unit itself.  That is the sort of

propulsion unit designers would want for a small craft which

carries people or comes in close proximity with other such

vehicles.  Two air/rafts could fly along in close formation without

effecting each other.

 

    Now the grav drive units on the other hand create a large

field:  One which extends beyond the confines of the drive unit

and possibly the ship itself.  That's Ok because that's how the

craft that use these drives operate.  One doesn't often ride down

Main street in a 30 ton ship's boat.  "Ooops!  Charley, you better

pull over, the gravitic field has picked up another traffic cop! 

Boy, he looks funny stuck to the side of the hull..."

 

    Craft using the drive units would operate out of airports,

spaceports and starports.  Areas designated for their use.  After

all, if every scoutship could operate VTOL why should you need a

landing pad at the starport?

 

    Basically, I would say, if a craft is going to operate in a

congested or confined area use grav units.  That includes most

craft.  But in the case of space based fighters one would use drive

units.  Other craft that would use drive units would be large

transports which don't operate without some provision for their

landings.  From 101 vehicles applicable designs for drive units,

the Zeff grav cargo transport, vehicle #95, or the Tachcel

hypergrav transport, vehicle #100.

 

    Military craft would not necessarily want to use grav drive

units as the fields can be detected.  Anti-grav drives would give

off a particularly detectable gravfield.  Actually, in my opinion,

when computing the object size of a craft, the total grav thrust

of the craft should be added to it.

 

    This is all the more reason for military craft to use

thrusters.  Grav tanks which have to operate in various

environments in close coodination with troops will still want to

use grav units.  You don't want the troops stuck to the side of

the grav carrier do you?

 

    The nice thing about this interpretation is that it partially

accounts for grav drive units performance being dependent on a

crafts volume rather than it's weight.  Assuming a grav field is

of a certain size, it would effect a certain volume.  Size and

power of the field would give a certain performance.  Real

gravitational fields after all give a uniform acceleration to a

certain volume.  ie.  The gravitational field of Earth gives a

nearly uniform acceleration of 9.8m/sec^2.  An artificial

gravitational field should have similar properties.  Therefore, an

anti grav drive ship will have less need for inertial compensators:

 

If the hull of the ship and it's innards is being pulled along at

6Gs that would include the passengers as well.  The ship's volume

would be in freefall.  A strong artificial grav field will probably

have some variations and not be a suitable environment for people

to stand in; thus the need for inertial compensators and artificial

gravity inside ships with anti grav drives.  So while you might

consider ommiting inertial compensators from a ship with 2G

acceleration, I would advise against it with a ship using anti grav

drive units.

 

    Another 'rule' I break regularly is putting aircraft hardpoints

on grav vehicles.

 

    Well, that is not actually a rule.  Nowhere has it been put

down that you can't use them.  Actually, with the exception of

missiles and cluster bombs most aircraft ordainance will be of

doubtful use when put beside high powered energy weapons which do

more damage without having to be reloaded.

 

    They are of limited use but I like them.  Their chief

disadvantage is the drag they induce.  Fast re-enty may damage the

ordainance carried.

 

    The ability to fire off volleys is extremely valuable.  Check

out my designs of the Viper, Talon and Indianapolis.

 

Scott Kellogg

 

    via  Stephen D Smith   USENET: m0068@tnc.UUCP

                           BIX: sdsmith

- - --Name = STEPHEN SMITH  Mailbox # = 68



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 1996

Date:     Mon, 17 Dec 90 10:07:44 EST

From: "Robert S. Dean" <rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.mil>

Subject:  Merry Christmas!



To all of you out there, Merry Christmas!  



I'll be around my office for the remainder of this week, but too busy to

think about Traveller much.  So if I am pretty quiet between now and the 

New Year, there isn't anything to worry about.



Best Wishes,



Rob Dean





------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 1997

Date: Mon, 17 Dec 90 13:20:21 -0500

From: al646@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (T. L. Hayes)

Subject: re: (1988) More on sector map problems...







I have the Vargr/Valani supplement.  Tonight (when I get home) I will

make a quick comparison and, if no one else posts anything in the meantime,

I will summarize what I find for tomorrow night's list.  Acutally, I did

something like this when I first got the sector data (in like Sept/Oct)

and I did see some differences but the only one I can remember for certain

is the lack of names on planets that now have names.  I am almost positive

(but not quite) that there were differences in the data as well.  Anyway I'll

check this out.



If there are differences, I will try to update the sector data (to match

the Supplement) and make it available.  This could take some time if the

differeneces are extensive but I may be able to do this over X-mas.



TLH



- - --

T.L.Hayes                  |  General Mail : al646@cleveland.Freenet.Edu

MIT/Lincoln Laboratory     |  Personal Mail: hayes@ll.mit.edu

Lexington, MA              |  (Personal Mail Address is in Beta Test!!!)



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 1998

Date: Mon, 17 Dec 90 13:51:12 -0500

From: al646@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (T. L. Hayes)

Subject: Magic and MegaTraveller







>From: Robert P Poole <tarquin@ATHENA.MIT.EDU>

>

>Doesn't adding a magic system kind of defeat the purpose of a SCIENCE Fiction

>RPG?  I mean, there are plenty of good Fantasy RPG's out there.  Besides,

>Traveller has a Psi system which is close enough as it is to magic.



No.  Science Fiction and Fantasy have often been mixed not only in games

but also in literature.  Many stories have magic and technology mixed and

remember the famous line that goes something like this "Sufficiently 

advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic".  These mixed games

and stories are often refered to as Science Fantasy.  Some lean more toward

Fantasy some lean more toward Science Fiction but both approaches are

fun and interesting to play.  I personally have played both types as well

as pure SFRPG anf FRPG.  There are few enough games on the market that do

a good job of mixing the two that making you own is a valid approach to 

the problem.  If you want a SCIENCE Fantasy game you pick a good Science

Fiction game (or at least one you like) and add Fantasy elements.  The

more you add the more Fantasy-like it becomes.  If you want a Science

FANTASY game you start with your favorite Fantasy game and add SF elements.

In the past I ran a Traveller campaign to which I added Fantasy elements

because the players were also long time AD&D players and didn't want a

pure SF game.  Because I allowd some Fantasy into Traveller, my AD&D DM

who was a player in my campaign brought some SF into AD&D.  It was all

rather fun - for a while at least.



>Sorry, but magic offends the purist/rationalist in me.  That's precisely why

>I avoid Fantasy games.



I'm sorry to hear that.  Fantasy games can be a geat deal of fun as can

Science Fantasy.  You should try finding a vaguely realistic basis for

magic sometime if you want a real physics challenge!  But I have to agree

with you in part, magic/fantasy requires you to ingore a lot of reality

and it can be very unsettling if not handled properly (many games do not

handle magic well unfortunately) but if you can bear with it you can have

a lot of fun.  However, if I only have time for one game, I will always

choose the Science Fiction game everytime!



TLH



- - --

T.L.Hayes                  |  General Mail : al646@cleveland.Freenet.Edu

MIT/Lincoln Laboratory     |  Personal Mail: hayes@ll.mit.edu

Lexington, MA              |  (Personal Mail Address is in Beta Test!!!)



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 1999

From: wrgate.wr.tek.com!oresoft.com!richard@reed.UUCP (Richard Johnson)

Subject: PBEM status update from Richard

Date: Mon, 17 Dec 90 7:54:31 PST



[Richard asked me to edit some private mail and make it public, so here

y'all go! -- James]



Well, here it is nigh on a month since I told you guys to be quiet,

and I still can't get on agora to see what mail I've received since

the beginning of (time) December.  :-(  Guess we just live in

`interesting' times.  Figured I'd drop you a note from work ('cause 

your addresses are here, too) and AT LEAST with you Merry Christmas 

(or feel free to insert the name of your preferred mid-winter festival).



To bring you up-to-date on our work gossip (it's somewhat public

now, and I'm relieved of my vow of silence.), Accu-Fab, who owns

Oregon Software has made some kind of "agreement in principle" with

Tau Metric corp. (San Diego) in which TM is immediately assuming

engineering management, and almost all engineering development.

Publications, QA, Sales, and Manufacturing stay in Portland.  So now

I have to figure out how to write about what folks half a continent

away are developing -- welcome to the global village.  The TM folks

seem to think UNIX is just for engineers, and I should use a PC - a

PC not connected to e-mail, or usenet, or even remotely gated to

their development work.  I told 'em what that kind of thinking would

get them, and meanwhile am porting many MB of files to a PC disk and

crying every time a name gets bizarrely truncated.



I will probably be at this most of the next two weeks, but figure I

can leverage a few days of vacation out of them during which I might

make some headway against a bulging mailbox :-).



Sorry for the long hiatus.  Please pass the word I'm still alive and

developing devilish tricks, and to have a wonderful solstice.



Richard Johnson

	again - anyone with a strong desire to talk to me, go ahead and

	write me at richard@oresoft.com -- they still let me read mail

	at work, and I'd enjoy the break.



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2000

From: d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se

Subject: Xboat Xmas

Date: Tue, 18 Dec 90 10:37:21 MET



  I just wanted to say "Merry Xmas" to the TML and everyone on it. I will be

gone to the far north between the 26th and the 30th, playing Traveller around

the clock and probably getting a mild case of Net-withdrawal.

 

  Does anyone know what the status is on the first number of DGP's 

MegaTravellers Journal? It was supposed to come out in december but I havn't 

seen it yet.

  (Which btw don't say much, If I want Challenge 47 before february 91, I'll

probably have to get it by mail order. The (only) rpg shop in Gothenburg usually

get things with at least a two months delay, if they get them at all:(



  The Chrysantemum deckplans on sunbane seems to be incorrect and buggy. Since I

know as much about postscript as a vilani engineer knows about drives 

(ie I know which buttons to press:) but lack all kinds of diagnostics programs,

I'll simply try again and test it on our unix laser here.

  The vargr trader plan is still ok, It checked out ok here.



  To the person who discovered the problems with the Chrysantemum deckplans:

  Sorry, but I lost your letter when the mailbox poked it's nose at me. Could

you please mail me again so that I know where to sent the files to?



- - -bertil-

- - -- 

"Words on the net aren't usually worth the paper they are written on."



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2001

Date: Tue, 18 Dec 90 07:55:41 -0500

From: al646@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (T. L. Hayes)

Subject: Re: Sector data in files -







Last night I compiled this data in response to the questions about

accuracy or currency of the sector data files.  Overall the data files

seem fairly accurate.



Vland -

   Missing many names and Stellar data otherwise a RANDOM search

   through the data does not show any differences with data published

   in Vilani & Vargr.  Most of the Allegiances were incorrect.



Deneb -

   Deneb      1925 B796955-B from The Early Adventures

              1925 B537ADD-C from file

   Exile      1928 X567361-0 Red Zone from TEA

              1928 X799212-4 Red Zone from file

   Jode       0805 A9A6683-B from TEA

              0805 A9A6220-B from file - This was explained in TEA.  The

              data listed in the 2nd survey as of 1065 should be updated

              to the TEA data due to discovery of materials to make a new

              combat drug.

   Dilex      0702 D625385-7 from TEA

              0702 D626888-7 from file

   Atsah Subsector (subsector H) of Deneb matches between TEA and file.

   Pretoria Subsector (subsector A) of Deneb matches between TEA and file.



Corridor -

   Ian Subsector (subsector E) of Corridor matches between TEA and file.



Massilia -

   Massilia as listed in Knightfall seems to match exactly the data in

   the files.



Spinward Marches -

   Spinward Marches as listed in The Spinward Marches Campaign matches the

   data listed in the files.



NOTES:  A match means that except where noted (by explicitly listing the

        conflicting data) a random sampling of data from the listed text

        was compared with and found to be the same as the data listed in

        the files on that sector.



TLH



- - --

T.L.Hayes                  |  General Mail : al646@cleveland.Freenet.Edu

MIT/Lincoln Laboratory     |  Personal Mail: hayes@ll.mit.edu

Lexington, MA              |  (Personal Mail Address is in Beta Test!!!)



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2002

Date: Tue, 18 Dec 90 07:56:45 -0500

From: al646@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (T. L. Hayes)

Subject: Missing Books







While compiling the data on the sector files I noticed several books

that were supposed to appear around this time.  Anyone know anything

about what happened to them?  Are the going to appear or have they or

what?  The books are:



Aslan         - Stock Number: 0254

Flashback     - Stock Number: 0217

Rebels' Tales - Stock Number: 0220



The last one was advertised along with Knightfall (in Fighting Ships).

Robots was also listed but the stock number matches the stock number for

Book 8 of Classic Traveller so I assume they mean to use that book or at

least they are simply going to re-release the book with some slight

editing (since according to the write up it will be several pages shorter).



Anybody know what's going on here?



TLH



- - --

T.L.Hayes                  |  General Mail : al646@cleveland.Freenet.Edu

MIT/Lincoln Laboratory     |  Personal Mail: hayes@ll.mit.edu

Lexington, MA              |  (Personal Mail Address is in Beta Test!!!)



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2003

Date:         Tue, 18 Dec 90 12:04:15 EST

From: Nick Sylvain <NPSYLV%WMVM1@VTVM2.CC.VT.EDU>

Subject:      Merry Christmas



Merry Christmas to all you TML'ers out there!



With the upcoming holiday season, I will once again be away from this account

for an extended period of time, and I don't want an accumulation of mail to

clog this relatively small account. Therefore, to all PBEMers, TDRers, and

the TML Admin: From Thursday, 12/20 -- Sunday, 1/13 please send me no mail.

Feel free to unload on me after that date. Thanx!



Nick



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2004

From: SULAIMAN <asulaima%zephyr.cair.du.edu@RELAY.CS.NET>

Subject: Scott's ships

Date: Tue, 18 Dec 90 10:40:14 MST



 just noticed that Scott Kellog's Lightning class cruiser/variants have 

no launch tubes. I doubt if the Imperium wants to take 20 hrs to launch all

their 60 fighters.



Zaffar.





------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2005

From: woodsb@ecn.purdue.edu (Brent L. Woods)

Subject: Re: (2002) Missing Books

Date: Wed, 19 Dec 90 4:19:09 EST





 In message 2002, al646@cleveland.freenet.edu (T. L. Hayes) writes:

 >

 >Robots was also listed but the stock number matches the stock number for

 >Book 8 of Classic Traveller so I assume they mean to use that book or at

 >least they are simply going to re-release the book with some slight

 >editing (since according to the write up it will be several pages shorter).



     Wouldn't surprise me one bit.  I just took a look at the credits

for _Book 8:  Robots_ and I found Joe D. Fugate, Sr. listed under

"design."  There was also a notice to the effect that the material

in the book had previously appeared in the _Traveller's Digest_, issues

1 through 3.  They included an advertising blurb for the _Digest_, too.

;-)



     The robot design rules are very reminiscent of the vehicle design

rules from MegaTraveller (at the time I first got the book, I was

reminded of _Striker_).  After taking a glance through the book (I

haven't used it in quite a while), I can't really see any reason it

can't be used as-is with MegaTraveller.



     One of the sample designs caught my eye--the one for AB-101, a

robot familiar to the readers of the _Digest_ (as I recall, he was in

_101 Robots_, too).



 >Anybody know what's going on here?



     Know what's going on?  Surely you jest...  ;-)





- - --

     Brent



INTERNET:  woodsb@gn.ecn.purdue.edu

USNAIL:  2818 S. Sunrise Dr.  /  New Palestine, IN  46163

PHONE:  +1 (317) 861-4844 (voice)





------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2006

Date: Wednesday 19th December 1990 09:59:13 GMT

From: Alan Huscroft <ASSHUSCR@cms.am.cc.reading.ac.uk>

Subject: Re:(1988) More on sector map problems...



 

> From: bonnevil@acc.stolaf.edu

>

> I checked some worlds outside the Leviathan area.  The 1120 sector capital

> is Gazulin/Gazulin, so I checked that:

> *ARCHIVE LISTING*

>  [unnamed]  2708 BA6A002-7 A   Lo Ni Wa      301 Im K6V

> *Digest #20*

>   Gazulin   2708 AA86887-B A   Ri Cp An      213 Dd F3D

> Well, the size is right, but atmosphere is denser, it has 40% less water,

> 200 million people instead of 3, and a higher TL.  The Imperium isn't

> that good at terraforming -- and why change the atmosphere from standard?

> Still, this might be justifiable.  The problem is that every world that

> I looked at was different.  In some cases, massive change might be

> understood; the Aslan have been rather thourough in reducing some worlds.

 

This certainly isn't terraforming -- it's a completely different solar

system.  It looks like DGP must have totally rewritten the stats for

the sector.

 

> So the problem might just be restricted to Trojan Reach sector.  Still,

> I'm a little wary about the sectors I can't check.  I'm sure the

> ones that were enterd by hand to update them are pretty safe, but it's

> hard to tell with the other ones, especially ones like Vland for which

> the pop multiplier and stars part is incomplete.  Perhaps someone with

> "Vargr and Vilani" could check that one?  Hopefully it's just the one

> sector file that is messed up.  Anyway, if anybody has any ideas or

> more info out there, I'm sure many of us would appreciate it!

 

Well, I had a quick check of Vland Sector last night.  I didn't examine

every world, just a random selection.  Apart from the updated allegiance

codes I couldn't find any differences.

 

Season's Greetings everyone.  See you next year.

 

............................................................................

: Alan Huscroft              : Janet:    A.Huscroft@uk.ac.reading          :

: Reading, England           : Internet: A.Huscroft@reading.ac.uk          :

: 6-G takeoffs AND landings! : X-boat:   A.Huscroft@terra.sol.solomani_rim :

:............................:.............................................:



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2007

From: Dave Johnson <D.M.Johnson@newcastle.ac.uk>

Subject: TML Archive Site

Date: Tue, 18 Dec 90 15:02:59 WET



Has anyone else had problem getting stuff from the TML archive site. Half way

through downloading some stuff. I got a connection timed out message. Logged back on

and now it says can not set guest privileges.



What gives?



Dave



- - --



+------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+

| David M. Johnson                   | Janet : D.M.Johnson@uk.ac.newcastle    |

| c/o Electrical and Electronic Eng. | ARPA  : D.M.Johnson@newcastle.ac.uk    |

|     Merz Court                     | UUCP  : ...ukc!newcastle!D.M.Johnson   |

|     Newcastle University           |                                        |

|     Newcastle upon Tyne            |                                        |

|     NE1 7RU                        |                                        |

+------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+

| 'There are only three just wars in American history: The American Civil War,|

| World War II and the Star Wars Trilogy,                                     |

|       Peace Dudes'                                                          |

+------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+





------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2008

Date: Wed, 19 Dec 90 10:09 EDT

From: METLAY@vms.cis.pitt.edu

Subject: Holidaze





To all TMLers and TDR people:



I'm going to be away from my mail account until just after New Year's Day.

Not by force, but by choice; some of you may know that the only two things

I love more than Traveller (and if I spend this much time on Traveller, you

can imagine what my commitments here are!) are my wife and my music, in that

order, and since my wife's in Antarctica (She did remember to send a postcard

to James Perkins, though, so the TML has a Snail link to Antarctica now |-> )

I plan to blow my brains out gigging all night with a bunch of beering swine

who play monstrously hot keyboard jams on the backfeet music for a black onyx,

ay okay. Strong and streamin', mates. See you in January, if I survive.



metlay



PS. 



I know these have been posted before in spots, but for the new folx:



How many Vilani does it take to change a light bulb?

I'm not sure; I better look it up.



How many Solomani does it take to change a light bulb?

Fewer than anybody ELSE, damn it!



How many Zhodani does it take--

- - --To change a light bulb? I knew you were going to ask that.



How many Hivers does it take to change a light bulb?

None. They get someone else to do it. And what's worse, they make them think

it was their idea all along.



(or)



How many Hivers does it take to change a lightbulb?

<hold up both hands and slowly wiggle fingers>



How many K'Kree does it take to change a lighbulb?

As many as can fit into the room.



How many Aslan does it take to change a lightbulb?

Male or female?



(or)



How many Aslan does it take to change a lightbulb--GLURK!

<grab; throat squeezed slowly> I do not know, little human, but I wish to laugh

as hard as everyone else apparently is. Why don't you tell me?



How many Vargr does it take to change a lightbulb?

Four. One to go get a ladder, one to slug the first one and take the ladder 

away, one to slap the second one around and force him to hold the ladder while

the first one wipes his bloody nose and climbs the ladder, and one to stand

by and smirk until the job's done and then take credit for it.



(or)



How many Vargr does it take to change a lightbulb?

YES! <insane half-barked, half-howled laughter>



How many Droyne does it take to change a lightbulb?

Six. It ALWAYS takes six. EVERYTHING always takes six.



(or) 



HOw many Droyne does it take to change a lightbulb?

Six. A Worker to split a claw trying to hit nails in the dark, a Warrior

to rough him up for damaging valuable nails with his carelessness, a Drone

to cast the coyns and decide if maybe darkness isn't a good idea, a Leader

to trip over the hammer and scream for something to be done at once, a

Technician to immediately implement a feasibility study for future illumination

patterns, and a Sport to watch the proceedings with resignation, sigh, and 

go get a lightbulb and put it in himself.



(or)



How many Droyne does it take to change a lightbulb?

<look around fearfully, then hesitantly peep in a tiny voice:> .....One?





Happy holidaze, all.



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2009

Date: Wed, 19 Dec 90 14:19:02 GMT

From: Jo Jaquinta <jaymin@maths.tcd.ie>

Subject: Space Habitats



	I have never seen a convincing argument for widespread space habitats.

It costs overwhelmingly more to accomidate people/industry in a free floating

space station/habitat than on a planet or vaccuum world. Not to mention 

maintenence.

	Granted, as long as there are high profit industries requiring

a micro-gravity environment (including, of course, research) you will have 

habitat developments. But only as many as the industry can bear. Remember the

higher the tech level the less people needed for production. Unless a system

is setting itself up as a production centre for an entire sector there would

unlikely be more than one or two specialised instalations. Space cities just

aren't economical. If you do a cost analysis you'll probably find that it is

cheaper to shuttle your employees up from a planet.

	One possible analogy is an ocean going oil rig. It's a stationary

platform in a hostile environment. I don't know any riggers personally but

the impression I get is they're glad to get off it for leave. I do know that

there are no families on oil rigs. At the moment, space is a romanticised

topic. Loads of people think it's a really nifty idea to live in space. Once

spaceflight becomes more common it loses the romanticism. Capt. Kirk: "No,

I'm not from outer space, I just work there."

	Ok, lets suppose we have families and emotional attachments. Another

posible analogy for this situation is my own Dublin. Dublin is 1000 years old.

There are no wide suburban expanses like all those American cities. The majority

of people live in rows of terraced houses or council flats. Families are quite

large and very close. The attraction for one's street or one's "local" (i.e. 

pub) is quite strong but the fact is there just isn't enough housing. Housing

is very expensive and there just aren't that many high-paying jobs or people

selling houses. The majority of the children are going to have to find houses

quite outside Dublin or, more often, move further aboad. Even unto the next

continent.

	Space habitats have a similar problem. They're very difficult to expand.

You just don't have the room for a growing generation and that generation 

doesn't have the money to build more. They may hate living on a planet, as many

native Irish hate living in the States, but, well, that's life.



	Space habitats are interesting and unusual places. If you're style is

just escapist techno-wow they're fine. For me, I need some economic

justification for anything to be very widespread. Technology I am prepared

to treat by the "black box" principle but sociology is sociology.



				Jo Jaquinta

				lgrant@maths.tcd.ie



PS> The mailer upset sysgen4 and Dan Corrin is still untwisting it. Due to

the holidays he has been unable to give me a concrete timetable. I think it

might be available on a "untried" basis shortly.



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2010

Date: Wed, 19 Dec 90 11:33:07 EST

From: Dan Corrin <dan@engrg.uwo.ca>

Subject: Sunbane archive update.





<bertil> 

>   The Chrysantemum deckplans on sunbane seems to be incorrect and buggy. Since I

> know as much about postscript as a vilani engineer knows about drives 

> (ie I know which buttons to press:) but lack all kinds of diagnostics programs,

> I'll simply try again and test it on our unix laser here.

>   The vargr trader plan is still ok, It checked out ok here.

> 

>   To the person who discovered the problems with the Chrysantemum deckplans:

>   Sorry, but I lost your letter when the mailbox poked it's nose at me. Could

> you please mail me again so that I know where to sent the files to?

> 

Problems with the deckplans? I usualy don't put things in the ftp area

unless I have tested them out first. I just printed out a copy of

deckplan.TypeEL15.1.ps and except for an acute angle in the middle of the

tolerances section, it prints just fine. (QMS PS810 Laser Printer on

Sun Network through transcript). I know that postscript is prone to

errors particularily when a large variety of printers are considered.



This brings me to another point. The sysgen4 program is available in the

software subdirectory on sunbane. There was some problems with lines over

79 characters being truncated, and all tabs converted to spaces. The

program now compiles fine (at least on my Suns), but the output doesn't

quite agreee with Jo's sample output files, particularly with temperatures.

Be warned that the program still has an error somewhere if you download it.





The sector data on the archive is the same that DGP posted to GeNIE, so I

would presume that it takes precidence over the paranoia press material.

As for discrepancies between it and some "offical" material? Some of it

can be explaned away as the data is pre-civil war, and some products

such as Vilani and Vargr are later (thus some changed allegiances).





Also on the topic of the archives. Note that come January all the current

bundles (73-160's) will be put in the articles.1990 directory (or 1990).





Lastly, Did I miss the results of the TML survey or what?  Wasn't that 

supposed to be out in early December?



				-Merry Christmas

				

					-Dan



Dan Corrin, System Manager, Mechanical Engineering, UWO, London, Ontario

TML FTP site coordinator:  dan@engrg.uwo.ca   ...!watmath!julian!engrg!dan



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2011

From: Dave Johnson <D.M.Johnson@newcastle.ac.uk>

Subject: DGP products

Date: Wed, 19 Dec 90 14:48:00 WET



Hello,

        Could anyone send me the complete list of DGP products for

MegaTraveller. (Don't bother to list the Traveller Digest Mags apart from the

current one).



        Does anyone have the up to date list of planned publications as I have

a list in Traveller Digest 20 (The lastest one I have got) and I was wondering

if there were any new releases after Alien Module 1.



        Also does anyone one know of a could supplier of MT stuff in the UK.



Cheers Dave



- - --



+------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+

| David M. Johnson                   | Janet : D.M.Johnson@uk.ac.newcastle    |

| c/o Electrical and Electronic Eng. | ARPA  : D.M.Johnson@newcastle.ac.uk    |

|     Merz Court                     | UUCP  : ...ukc!newcastle!D.M.Johnson   |

|     Newcastle University           |                                        |

|     Newcastle upon Tyne            |                                        |

|     NE1 7RU                        |                                        |

+------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+

| 'There are only three just wars in American history: The American Civil War,|

| World War II and the Star Wars Trilogy,                                     |

|       Peace Dudes'                                                          |

+------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+





------------------------------



End of TML Bundle

*****************



From jamesp@metolius.wr.tek.com Tue Feb 12 17:40:44 1991

Received: from RELAY.CS.NET by engrg.uwo.ca;

	(id AA04506) Tue, 12 Feb 91 22:40:15 GMT

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To: Dan Corrin <dan%engrg.uwo.ca@RELAY.CS.NET>, jamesp@metolius.WR

Subject: TML Bundle #162: Msgs 2012-2026

Reply-To: TML Administrator <traveller-request%metolius.wr.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET>

Precedence: bulk

Date: Tue, 12 Feb 91 13:52:41 PST

From: James T Perkins <jamesp%metolius.wr.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET>

Status: RO





TML Bundles come from the archives of the Traveller Mailing List,

maintained by James Perkins, traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com.



------------------------------------------------------------



Date: Tue Feb 12 13:52:37 PST 1991

From: traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com (TML Administrator)

Subject: TML Bundle #162: Table of Contents



-AMN- --Date--- --Sender--------- --Subject-----------------------------------

2012  20-Dec-90 f3w@mentor.cc.pur Re: Space Habitats << [This mail came to trav

2013  20-Dec-90 d9bertil@dtek.cha Re: Deckplans << > From: Dan Corrin <dan@engr

2014  20-Dec-90 Adrian Hurt       Happy Christmas << Around here, it's the cust

2015  20-Dec-90 "Robert S. Dean"  Robot Designs << The following two robot desi

2016  20-Dec-90 "Robert S. Dean"  One More Vehicle << Got bored today and start

2017  21-Dec-90 al646@cleveland.F Holidays << Happy Holidays everyone! Here's y

2018  21-Dec-90 Mark F. Cook      TML Survey results delayed << Rob Dean writes

2019  21-Dec-90 richardt@Legato.C @! party at WesterCon << I will be cohosting 

2020  24-Dec-90 mcknight@tusun2.m Character Generation Query << Hi all, I'm wri

2021  25-Dec-90 f3w@mentor.cc.pur Character Generator Programs << I wrote a cha

2022  25-Dec-90 Rob Miracle       Re: 2020: Character Generation Query << In Me

2023  27-Dec-90 Richard Johnson   Telegram! (Actually PBEM News) << :Date: Tue,

2024  27-Dec-90 Richard Johnson   (2019) @! party at WesterCon (fwd) << The oth

2025  27-Dec-90 Richard Johnson   PBEM Turn 10.5 Admin << OK the turn is immine

2026  27-Dec-90 Richard Johnson   My Address is Changing! << My address is chan



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2012

Date: Thu, 20 Dec 90 01:15:03 -0500

From: f3w@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Mark Gellis)

Subject: Re: Space Habitats



[This mail came to traveller-request, so I fixed the subject line and

forwarded it to the TML -- James]



The comments regarding space habitats are well considered, but I must

disagree for several reasons.



Earth-like planets will not be common.  One per one thousand solar

systems is an optimistic estimate...it may be as low as one per one

million.  Planets that can be terraformed will be much more common,

but this is an even larger venture than building a habitat.



Habitats will be expensive to build, but not incredibly so.  In two

hundred years, or less, we will have cheap solar and fusion power, and,

more important, intelligent, self-replicating machines.  These will

be the key to space industrialization, as it will allow much of the

labor to be done by machines, vastly reducing the expense of any

industrial venture.



The resource base for habitats is enormous.  Realistically, you might

be able to put twenty billion people on an Earth-like planet with the

support of high technology.  (Personally, I think more than two billion

is a mistake at any tech level.)  The asteroid belt alone in our solar

system will be able to support two or three HUNDRED billion, and that

is using my very conservative estimates.  Shatter a few of Saturn's

medium-sized moons and the resource base jumps by an order of magnitude.



Why space habitats?  First, one must distinguish between a habitat and

a base.  A base is designed to be temporary, or at least the crew is not

expected to spend the rest of their lives there.  A habitat will be,

literally, a microworld, a self-contained island; the designs suggested

by O'Neill and others make this clear.  People do not simply work here;

eventually, these habitats will be permanant communities, similar to

the Pacific islands in "geography" and to the Greek city-states in

socio-political structure (although here Athenian democracy will have

robots for its slave caste).  



Second, and more important, evolution.  Consider our own solar system,

perhaps two hundred years in the future.  There are a few million people

living in L5 space cities in Moon-Earth space, and a few hundred thousand

living in the asteroid belt.  Many of them were born in space, some are

even second or third generation spacers.  To them, living in habitats is

NORMAL.  And they form a large enough seed population--if you assume

high technological support--to start building more colonies, which will

then build even more.  (Small gene pool?  Hey, guess what becomes Earth's

newest export item!) 



Why would the initial population leave Earth?  Why would anyone in

their right mind leave England in 1620 for the cold, unfriendly shores

of North America?  Or why leave the pleasant towns of New England for

the wilderness of (gasp!) Ohio in the early 1800s?  If the technology

of travel and colonization is available, and people live in a society

that is free enough to allow space colonization, it will happen.  With

five billion people on Earth, there are enough crazy people to form a

whole bunch of colonies in space.  The wilderness, whether it is Ohio

or Ganymede, speaks to something in many of us.  Adventure.  Fortune.

Freedom.  Open skies.  The chance to start over.  



Ask yourself a simple question.  If it was 2190 A.D., and we had the

technology, and you knew that most habitats were pretty safe and pretty

comfortable (a small Pacific island with a medium-sized town on it, 

and a HUGE cable TV receiver)...you know you have a 10% chance of getting

rich, an 80% chance of at least doing well, and only a 10% of getting

killed or going broke...wouldn't you be tempted?







------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2013

From: d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se

Subject: Re: Deckplans

Date: Thu, 20 Dec 90 9:55:08 MET



> From: Dan Corrin <dan@engrg.uwo.ca>

> 

> Problems with the deckplans? I usualy don't put things in the ftp area

> unless I have tested them out first. I just printed out a copy of

> deckplan.TypeEL15.1.ps and except for an acute angle in the middle of the

> tolerances section, it prints just fine.



  <Sigh of relief>

  It looks like it was printer incompatibility after all. I have had problems

with the <cr> and <lf> characters when transferring things from mac to net, so

I thought that the problem lay there and had corrupted the plans when I moved

them to the sun. 



- - -bertil-

Famous last words: 

Player: "I'll attack the sailing vessel all alone!"

Me:     "WHAT?"

Player: "Yup. I've got battle and gravbelt and a gaussrifle, they can't touch

	 me!"

Ship:   "<BAROOOOM!>" (Broadside from 40+ guns, one got lucky and hit...)



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2014

From: Adrian Hurt <adrian@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk>

Subject: Happy Christmas

Date: Thu, 20 Dec 90 12:34:31 GMT





Around here, it's the custom to give people either nice presents or silly

cards at Christmas.

^L

Guess which one you're getting?

^L

		+-------------------------------+

		|				|

		|	   !samtsirhC		|

		|				|

		|		*		|

		|		*		|

		|	   ***********		|

		|	    *********		|

		|	    *********		|

		|	     *******		|

		|	     *******		|

		|	      *****		|

		|	      *****		|

		|	       ***		|

		|	       ***		|

		|		*		|

		|		*		|

		|	       ***		|

		|		*		|

		|				|

		|	      yppaH		|

		|				|

		+-------------------------------+



- - -- 

 "Keyboard?  How quaint!" - M. Scott



 Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET:  adrian@uk.ac.hw.cs

 UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian     |  ARPA:   adrian@cs.hw.ac.uk



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2015

Date:     Thu, 20 Dec 90 15:37:53 EST

From: "Robert S. Dean" <rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.mil>

Subject:  Robot Designs



The following two robot designs are further examples of the new format for

robots.  Someone said robots were of more general usefulness than large

starships, which is probably true.  Add either of these to your typical

small starship crew in anticipation of those inevitable crises of the

Shattered Imperium.



Rob 

- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------



  ConTech Model 15 General Purpose Robot TL15

  

       The ConTech Model 15 is intended as a general purpose starship crew 

  robot.  On a small ship it can provide skills to complement the operator, and 

  on a larger one it can fill for mising crew members in a variety of 

  situations.  The brain interface allows reprogramming with standard memory 

  crystals when necessary.

  

    RobotID: CT Model 15 GPbot, TL15, Cr482,300

    Chassis: 10/25, Disp=150L, Conf=HUSL (Humanoid), Armor=1G, Weight=268kg     

      Power: 1/2, FuelCells=30KW, Dur=8.5days

       Loco: 1/2, Legs=2, P/W=112, MaxSpeed=145kph

       Comm: Voder

    Sensors: 2 Visual, 2 Audio, 1 Olfactory, Radiation Sensor, Taste Sensor,

    Devices: Power Interface, Brain Interface, Holorecorder, Electronic tool

             package, Mechanical Tool package, Medical Instrument Package, 

             2*medium arms, 2*very light tentacles

        Off: -

        Def: -

      Brain: CPU=4 Synaptic, 20 Parallel, 36 Linear, Storage=50 Standard

    Program: High Autonomous, Full Command, Steward-4, Mechanical-3, 

             Electronic-3, Medical-2, Engineering-1, Gambling-1, 

             Grav Vehicle-1, Ship's Boat-1, Emotion Simulation

      Other: Fuel=40.6L, Profile=NFC5



  Madhidkarun Type 1115 Ship Maintenance Robot TL15

  

       The Type 1115 ship maintenance robot is capable of repairing almost any 

  piece of starship equipment.  With its array of 12 appendages it can handle 

  multiple operations from a central location, as well as lift and cary weight 

  of up to 500kg.  A state of the art brain with synaptic memory allows the 

  robot to profit from experience.

       

    RobotID: Type 1115 Ship Maintenance Robot, TL15, Cr531,800

    Chassis: 14/33, Disp=200L, Conf=3USL, Armor=1G, Weight=470kg     

      Power: 7/14, FuelCells=270KW, Dur=4.4days

       Loco: 2/4, StdGrav=1t, MaxSpeed=300kph, Cruise=225kph, NOE=190kph,

             MaxAccel=2.1G

       Comm: Voder, Radio=Dist(5km)

    Sensors: 2 Visual(+telescopic), 2 Audio, 1 Olfactory, Radiation Sensor,

             Magnetic Sensor

    Devices: Power Interface, Holorecorder, Electronic tool package, Mechanical

             Tool package, Spotlight, Zero-G Maneuver package, Laser Welder,

             2*heavy arms, 4*medium arms, 6*light tentacles

        Off: -

        Def: -

      Brain: CPU=4 Synaptic, 15 Parallel, 20 Linear, Storage=50 Standard,

             4 Synaptic

    Program: High Autonomous, Full Command, Gravitics-3, Mechanical-3, 

             Electronic-3, Engineering-3, GravVehicle-2

      Other: Fuel=40.6L, Profile=VFB5(9) (V=198)



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2016

Date:     Thu, 20 Dec 90 15:42:38 EST

From: "Robert S. Dean" <rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.mil>

Subject:  One More Vehicle



Got bored today and started reading MILTARY REVIEW.  After thinking about

air deployable forces for a while, I drew this up.  I know nobody needs

military vehicles.



Rob

- - -------------------------------------------------------------------------



Aki Exports Ranger LAV TL9



     The Ranger LAV (light armored vehicle) is designed for light reconais-

sance and security work.  Manufactured by Aki Exports, it can be found serv-

ing with low tech level military and police forces throughout the Glisten, 

District 268 and Trin's Veil subsectors.



  CraftID: Ranger LAV, TL9, Cr85700

     Hull: 3/6, Disp=2, Config=4USL+turret(20%), Armor=16D, Unloaded=12.6t

           Loaded=16.0t

    Power: 1/2, MHD=3.2MW, Dur=15hrs

     Loco: 1/2, Wheels=6, P/W=200, Road=309kph, Offroad=93kph

     Comm: Radio=Regional(500km)

  Sensors: 2*Headlights, Light Amplification, Passive IR

      Off: Hardpoints=1, Weapon stabilized, 100kph



                         Pen/         Max      Auto   Dngr

              Ammo  Rds  Attn   Dmg   Range    Tgts   Spc    Sig   ROF

 12cm Mortar  HEAP  60    48    12  Dist(7km)   -      -      M     21

               HE    -    20    16  Dist(7km)   -     35      M     21

              KEAP   -    29    12  Dist(7km)   -      -      M     21

             Illum   -     -     -  Dist(7km)   -     95      M     21

              CBM    -   10/7    6  Dist(7km)   +1    35      M     21 

     HMG       -  1000   6/3     3  VLong(1.5)  3      -      H     80



      Def: -

  Control: Elec*16

    Accom: Crew=4(Commander, Driver, Gunner, Loader), Seats=Roomy*4,

           Env=basic env, basic ls

    Other: Fuel=2.1kl, Cargo=0, ObjSize=Small, EmLevel=Moderate



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2017

Date: Fri, 21 Dec 90 08:00:28 -0500

From: al646@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (T. L. Hayes)

Subject: Holidays







Happy Holidays everyone!  Here's your task for the X-mas holidays:



     To think of a juicy MT discussion topic:

     Routine, INT, Traveller Skill, 1 day (safe)



     Referee:  This task is used to enliven the TML discussion following

an extended holiday.  Traveller Skill is the number of years you have

been involved with Traveller (and remember the is a maximum DM of +8 for

all of us who have been at this a long time).



I personally plan to sleep late, eat till I'm stuffed, drink till I'm

dizzy, and play till I pass out.  Now what should I do for my second day

of vacation...



Merry Christmas, Happy New Years, Happy Hanuka, Happy/Merry (Fill in your

favorite late December/early January holiday) to all the TML.



TLH



- - --

T.L.Hayes                  |  General Mail : al646@cleveland.Freenet.Edu

MIT/Lincoln Laboratory     |  Personal Mail: hayes@ll.mit.edu

Lexington, MA              |  (Personal Mail Address is in Beta Test!!!)



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2018

From: Mark F. Cook <markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.COM>

Subject: TML Survey results delayed

Date: Fri, 21 Dec 90 10:46:17 PST



Rob Dean writes:



> Lastly, Did I miss the results of the TML survey or what?  Wasn't that 

> supposed to be out in early December?



*Sigh*.  No, you didn't miss it, I'm just taking a lot longer to process

the results then I said I would.  We got 53 responses out of a total TML

readership of about 260 (at the time of the survey).  Unfortunately, I've

been temporarily moved to a new job inside HP (until the end of January,

then I get my old job back).  As a result, I'm acting as a defacto manager

(all the responsibility, none of the rewards) and it's really cutting into

my recreational time (no more spending 50-75% of my workday on TDR-related

stuff; Damn!).  Also, I've been fighting the flu for almost a week now and

that's not helping either.



Oh, well.  Enough excuses.  My current plan is to (hopefully) have the

survey results ready for the TML by mid-January.  Until then, Merry

Christmas everybody (and a belated Happy Hanukkah, Mike!).  Have a

fun (and SAFE) New Year!



Later,



        - Mark F. Cook (overworked TDR Archivist)



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2019

Subject: @! party at WesterCon

Date: Fri, 21 Dec 90 12:16:41 PST

From: richardt@Legato.COM





I will be cohosting the @! party at this year's Westercon (July 4th

weekend, Vancuover, BC, 1991).  All TML subscribers (as well as any

other netfolk or not-yet-netfolk) are invited.



Please send me mail if you wish to attend.



RichardT

Have you considered the significance of chocolate covered manhole covers?



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2020

Date: Mon, 24 Dec 90 09:44:55 CST

From: mcknight@tusun2.mcs.utulsa.edu (Chuck McKnight - Law)

Subject: Character Generation Query







Hi all,



I'm writing a MegaTraveller character generator and need some input from

other referees regarding the 'serves as' skill subclassification.  I have

been treating multiple occurrences of the same skill as increasing the level

of proficiency (i.e., if the character gets a 'serves as' skill that is a -1

twice, I treat it as bringing the skill up to a 0).



As I want to distribute these programs to the TML, I'd like to know how

any other refs handle this point.



All help is appreciated and many thanks in advance.



Chuck McKnight

Internet: mcknight@tusun2.mcs.utulsa.edu

Fidonet:  1:170/104.0@fidonet.org





------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2021

Date: Tue, 25 Dec 90 00:37:00 -0500

From: f3w@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Mark Gellis)

Subject: Character Generator Programs







I wrote a character generator some time ago...it is very helpful to not have

to spend two hours rolling up a character that, because of random rolls, might

not be what someone really wants.  For NPCs, I cheat; I just assume that they

are +1 or +3 characters, etc., and can do anything they need at that level;

chief bad guys get planned out in more detail.  For players, however, the

program is useful.  It creates a template that assigns values for stats,

how many terms they were in what career, etc., and it generates of number

of "skill points" that they can use to build characteristics, buy skills,

etc.  This way, I save a lot of time on dice rolling, and people can build,

within some limits, a character that they like, with the skill specializations

that they want.  In other words, a good technique is to NOT generate skills

for players, just give them a number of skills that they can buy, based on

the character's depth of experience, and let them build whatever character

they want (this is kind of a fusion of the Traveller system, and the 

Hero system--by the way, I must recommend the Hero system as one of the

best General Role Playing systems I have ever seen...my biggest complaint

is that their combat system uses a weird curve that gives totally 

unrealistic results for anything above personal combat, and their personal

combat system can take a LONG time to get something done because they use

different phases within a combat round, so "fast" characters can do more

stuff...my compromise for handling fast characters is that I let everyone

do the same number of actions in a combat round, but people with higher

dexes get pluses, and trying to do more than one thing--firing more than

one bullet from a semi-automatic pistol, etc., which IS possible in a

combat round, I've seen speed shooters who can pull off six rounds in

four seconds with good accuracy--gets minuses...it's possible, just

harder.)



 



Enjoy.



Mark



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2022

Date: Tue, 25 Dec 90 21:36 EST

From: Rob Miracle <RWMIRA01%ULKYVX.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Subject: Re: 2020: Character Generation Query



In Message 2020, mcknight@tusun2.mcs.utulsa.edu (Chuck McKnight - Law) writes:



>I'm writing a MegaTraveller character generator and need some input from

>other referees regarding the 'serves as' skill subclassification.  I have

>been treating multiple occurrences of the same skill as increasing the level

>of proficiency (i.e., if the character gets a 'serves as' skill that is a -1

>twice, I treat it as bringing the skill up to a 0).



First, the rules declare two types of "Serves As"  Relative which is (by

example):  Pilot-4 Serves as Ships Boat-3   and  Absolute which is

Navigation-5, serves as Sensor Ops-1.  See Players Handbook Page 30.



Now, I think you are reading all skills as absolute.  Where the skill reads:

Serves as skill name MINUS 1 means, it serves as the skill listed at a level of

1 less than the skill that gave them the default.  Maybe the following

conversation may help:



GM:            "Starhunter, make a Steward roll."

Starhunter:    "I don't have a Steward skill, but my Carousing is a 4."

GM:            "Ok, you can use your Carousing, but since you don't know all

               the ins and outs of being a Steward, make your Carousing Check

               at a -1 to your Carousing skill."





If you are generating characters with this program, I wouldn't automatically

give every Pilot-4 a Ships Boat-3.  If you read further on Page 30, there is a

limit to the maximum skill levels that a character may possess.  If the

character is allowed to have 15 skill levels, then that Ships Boat-3 that you

just gave them may push them over the limit early.  Also avoid putting skills

with a -1 skill level in there.  If you put 10 skills as such "Chemistry -1"

then your math toward calculating the maximum skills will be thrown off.

Remember there are no "negative" skills in traveller.  If your skills is below

a skill level of Zero, then you are unskilled.



>As I want to distribute these programs to the TML, I'd like to know how

>any other refs handle this point.



I wouldn't mind a copy.  How about the rest of the list?



Rob Miracle



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2023

Subject: Telegram! (Actually PBEM News)

Date: Thu, 27 Dec 90 11:31:17 PST

From: Richard Johnson <richard@agora.UUCP>





:Date:         Tue, 11 Dec 90 20:46:27 EST

:From: Nick Sylvain <NPSYLV%WMVM1@VTVM2.CC.VT.EDU>

:Subject:      Telegram!

:To: Richard Johnson <richard@agora.hf.intel.com>

:

:How goes the war? :-)

:

:nps

:



Evolution is over.  We won.  :-)

I actually have spent several hours reorganizing and re-timing all

of the PBEM turn stuff.  With any luck (tm) I should have something

out this weekend (unless the ... or the ... etc.  :-)



A word of warning to all -- One weekend in January (the sysop does

not know which yet) agora will be down for a software upgrade to

the release version of SysV/386 R4.0 (now running Beta).  Consequently

your mail might bounce.  *Don't Panic*, just send it through again 

(sounds like what I tell all my creditors. :-).



Richard



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2024

Subject: (2019) @! party at WesterCon (fwd)

Date: Thu, 27 Dec 90 21:16:56 PST

From: Richard Johnson <richard@agora.UUCP>



The other Richard said:

:I will be cohosting the @! party at this year's Westercon (July 4th

:weekend, Vancuover, BC, 1991).  All TML subscribers (as well as any

:other netfolk or not-yet-netfolk) are invited.

:

:Please send me mail if you wish to attend.

:

:RichardT

:Have you considered the significance of chocolate covered manhole covers?





Disclaimer!



I am *NOT* Richard T. Johnson in Vancouver.  Although going up there

next July sounds like one He** of a lot of fun.  Mark Cook (on the spot

again) has been designing some TML name badges for just this sort of

affair.  (No, not chocolate-covered name badges.)



Richard, if you're listening, drop me a line.  I'm interested in all

manner of stuff like child care, customs, actual dates, parties,

local pubs and brews, and why Canada on July 4?



Richard Johnson

	richard@agora.rain.com  <---  note new address!





------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2025

Subject: PBEM Turn 10.5 Admin

Date: Thu, 27 Dec 90 21:24:56 PST

From: Richard Johnson <richard@agora.UUCP>



OK the turn is imminent.  Here are the rules for the next:



1) send no more than _two_ public messages.

2) send it/them before Jan 10 or so 

   (I want to do the turn that weekend)

3) send no more than _three_ private messages.



You folks are in a serious time-bind right now (as you will

shortly discover) and we need to keep close tabs on everyone.

I don't want to spend another two weeks re-syncing the players.



Aslan, get ready.  You'll pop back into "normal" space as

soon as Alcyon gets jumped.  Should happen next turn, or very

close to it.



Turn 10.5 take place over about two hours.  All but five minutes

of it befor GQ is sounded...



Richard



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2026

Subject: My Address is Changing!

Date: Thu, 27 Dec 90 20:30:00 PST

From: Richard Johnson <richard@agora.UUCP>



My address is changing immediately.



Old address:

	richard@agora.hf.intel.com



New address:

	richard@agora.rain.com

or:

	richard@agora.uucp





Please adjust your mailer accordingly.  Sorry for any incomvenience.

If you have real trouble, notify James Perkins or Mark Cook, who know

more nefarious ways to contact me, or try richard@oresoft.com and I'll

fend off the bean counters.



Richard





------------------------------



End of TML Bundle

*****************



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Subject: TML Bundle #163: Msgs 2027-2028

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Date: Tue, 12 Feb 91 13:52:52 PST

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Status: RO





TML Bundles come from the archives of the Traveller Mailing List,

maintained by James Perkins, traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com.



------------------------------------------------------------



Date: Tue Feb 12 13:52:48 PST 1991

From: traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com (TML Administrator)

Subject: TML Bundle #163: Table of Contents



-AMN- --Date--- --Sender--------- --Subject-----------------------------------

2027  27-Dec-90 Richard Johnson   PBEM Turn 10.5 (1027 lines, 43kB) << "Sherman

2028  29-Dec-90 George William He Re: Character Generators << In my campaigns, 



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2027

Subject: PBEM Turn 10.5 (1027 lines, 43kB)

Date: Thu, 27 Dec 90 21:26:34 PST

From: Richard Johnson <richard@agora.UUCP>





"Sherman, set the way-back machine for last November, when the PBEM

was actually progessing.  We'll pick up our story line shortly after

Alcyon arrives at her pre-assigned initial contact/refuelling point."

Thanks to Peter for the fewmets comment - I loved it.  :-)









                            PBEM Turn 10.5



Robot arms umbilically connect the Alcyon and Anslinger to the fuel

ship while shuttles carry passengers and cargo between them.  Two

people float aver the Alcyon's surface, inspecting, while a third

jets back and forth on a grav bike, looking for slightly more obvious

"things".  Two other figures, with a small sphere, holograph the 

proceedings from a few hundred meters away.



Inside the Alcyon, the new personnel are getting checked in, and engineers

are busy vivisecting the locator beacon and running through old computer

tapes.  



As the eight new arrivals step out of the airlock and onto the main cargo 

deck of the Alcyon's crew pod, they are greeted by a single figure: a 

black and white Vargr in a stark grey and black uniform of a type not 

seen anywhere in the Imperium. He is wearing a pair of heavy metallic 

gauntlets that reach up to his elbows and seem to effortlessly follow 

each motion of his fingers. His ice-blue eyes rest on each of the new 

crew members for a long moment, surveying, weighing and criticizing. 

After a long, uncomfortable silence, he nods slowly. 



"Welcome aboard the Alcyon, gentlebeings. My name is Bhyarrvouf, and I am the 

Executive Officer and SubCommander of this mission...."



'Vouf greets the newcomers, and resumes his "normal" duties while the

fledglings get acquited with their new crew and team mates, and settle

in a little.  As soon as he has them accounted for, 'Vouf calls for a

complete internal bug sweep.



Meanwhile outside, Kimball Redd and Lazer Farouk scan the 

hull for any evidence of tampering or signalling, beyond that already 

discovered in the passageway.



<Redd> 

Okay, 'Vouf said "power sources and radio emitters that shouldn't be there",

which covers anything from a battery/fusion powered lasercom to a mini radio

tapping into ships power.  That means we'll have to eliminate all the 

existing ones and go over the rest in lots of detail. How long have we got ?



I'm just glad I don't have to worry about organising all this, I just have

 to spend a few hours floating in nice, quiet, empty space while some poor

 executive officer gets some more work to do :-]



'We could be at this for *DAYS*' 





<Abuko>  ...  Has anyone seen Bit, by the way?  He'll go nuts if everyone is 

running around and taking the ship apart.  I don't think that we could put it 

back together if he was loose during the sweep:)"



"We'll be using airlock 4 to run some tests that we might need to

eject from the Alcyon pretty fast. The airlock will be occupied and off-limits

for an unknown period of time, probably several hours. If anyone got any suits

or something in the lock that you want to use, get them now.

  

<Aaron> "Great, that's all we need.  I guess that means that we should all be

    on the look out for Bit.  Just keep him away from where I'm working on

    the Beacon.  I prefer to have a COMPLETE toolkit."  =B^}



<Abuko>  "Yes, especially since you'll be working in an airlock. Tree-rats 

are known to have landed in trouble by being in the wrong place at the 

wrong moment."



Blaine arrives at airlock 4.

<Zben>  "Hey Aaron. I just stopped by Engineering Stores and picked up

this." He opens the small padded box to reveal a Bugs and Detector

kit. "I should have thought of this earlier, but with this we can take

a lesiurely sweep of everything before we Jump again." With that he

and Aaron carefully start the beacon check out.

      



<Redd> (on intercom) Why don't you [Abuko] get him [bit] a comdot?



<Abuko>  Have tried, but he usually manages to pick them apart within 

a few minutes..



<Redd>  It could save time when you want him safely out of the way, with 

all the resources on this ship, it could even be an implanted locator,etc.



<Abuko> Implanted?  Yes, that might do it.  I'll ask Doc about it when 

everything has calmed down... 





- - --------- Sciences  --------------

Wearing camouflage pants and a god-awful bright flourescent shirt, 

Andon stops by wherever the Physics team hangs out, "Hey, you guys ever

figure out whether our grav vehicles are going to work when we get to

R-Alpha?  If they aren't going to work the same then I need to get some

parameters for the simulators so I can get a feel for it."



Then he heads back to the cargo bay to await the unloading of the new

equipment so he can get back to doing Preventive Maintenance on all the

small craft.  



"So Ralf, I'm a little concerned about all this sabotage and poisonings

or whatever that has been going on.  Would you mind giving me a hand going

over our other grav vehicles to look for signs of tampering, I don't want

to be going like a bat outa hell at ground level and all of a sudden lose

any controls.  And if you can fine tune them to just get that wee bit a

extra power..."







- - --------- Outside ------------

With the transfer complete, ond only that boring old refuelling going

on, Bishop and Horne scramble back inside.  Bishop takes off at a relatively

good clip in the direction of his cabin, and Horne starts unsuiting on

his way to the armory.







- - ----------------- Medical ---------------

The vastly understaffed medical team, now doing incoming physicals as well

as autotopsies and epidemical investigations, asks Dr. Limner to help out.



<Limner>  Certainly, what do you need?  



If you have biochemistry questions, you've come to the right place, I must

say.  Especially if they relate to xenobiology.  I've been kind of busy

repairing my equipment after the party (don't ask, please), but I'll be

there ASAP.



<Van Der Merwe> Well, Ian suggested that we bring you in on the biochem 

end of the investigation into the recent sicknesses and deaths -- we've 

got a lot of samples to work through, and we're trying to correlate 

biochemistry with something. We're checking party supplies and loaded 

cargo/supplies and the autopsy results. Any suggestion would be well 

received.



<Limner>  Let's hope this isn't some disease which one of the crew

brought with them.  I'd guess that this is unlikely, however, since our

examinations were rather...(Dr. Limner winces slightly)...complete.



<VDM> Indeed -- it would have to be something unusual to get past *my* 

medical exams. (grin)



<Ian> If you guys don't mind, I'll go check the supplies while you go

over these bodies.  I'm not really comfortable dealing with autopsies.



<L> I think checking the supplies is an excellent idea.  I have here an

environmental bioscanner which I have modified slightly.  It should find

any radiation or microorganisms which are present.  It also searches not

only for known dangerous chemicals, but previously unknown combinations

of safe ones.



<VDM> Good -- between you and Ian, I think you can check the cargo and see 

if any of it could be related.  But your biochem talents are also needed to 

help me run through these tests and samples -- we still aren't sure what 

caused the time "lapses", sicknesses, and deaths, but Ian noted that the 

dehydration levels were consistent with metabolism control drugs.



<L> (Dr. Limner lowers his tone somewhat.)

It could be a form of psychic feedback caused by jump.  Let's hope this isn't

the case, or we could all be in danger, unless one of those who died was the

responsible psychic.



There could also be something causing artificial psychic "vibes".  If so, who

knows what effect jumpspace would have on it?  It could even be some of the

"bugs" we discovered.



<Ian>  Waitaminit!  Talk about psi prejudice!  There has NEVER been a case

of death, or even a real sickness that could truly be attributed to psychic

or psionic causes.  Now maybe, just maybe, somebody slipped some psi drug

into out coming aboard shots and some of us reacted badly, but that's still

chemical, not psychic.



<VDM> If it is psychic, I can't do much there, either, so we'll trust in the 

material and hope we find the answers.



<L> There is also the possibility of foul play.  Of course, this needn't be

psychic, but it would explain why the cause is so difficult to pin down.



<VDM> That possibility is being investigated, I assure you. It would have 

to be a very ingenious murderer...



<Ian> I don't think it was murder.  If it was murder, sombody went to a LOT

of trouble to get the weapon aboard and into or onto us.  Why pick on us

nobodies when they could have disabled the Alcyon completely, or militarily

decapitated us.  I don't believe it was a bio-weapon either, too selective.

Either some of us got a bad reaction to something we ate or drank, or we've

got a wierd miscibility problem.  What intrigues me is the missing five days.



<L> If you want, I'll start on a complete scan of the ship for medical hazards.



<VDM> Yes, you and Ian can doublecheck my scans. Then you have to get back 

here and start sifting through the data we've accumulated from "party" and 

"initial boarding" sources.



<Ian> 'Tell you guys what.  I'll go below and quarantine all of our cargo

(oh won't Count Ger love that :-) and you two can get started tearing

apart bodies.  I *really* don't want to be here for that, if you don't mind.



<VDM>  Ok. (Waves scanner over Ian) Go ahead and do that -- you don't

have to stay here if it makes you uncomfortable.



Doc Limner tosses Ian a spool of bright yellow tape, and Ian takes off

down the passageway, obviously thankful to be gone. 



Christian looks at the scanner, and frowns. 'Now where did that come from?'

he mutters to himself. He moves over to the medical computer, sits down, and

plugs the scanner into a data port. "Computer, Tie-in scanner, input Beta.

Verify and analyze trace mineral combinations. Full report: identification,

source, possible physiological effects, you know the drill." (It's a synaptic

computer, after all...)







- - ---------- Engineering -------------

Down in engineering, 'Vouf waves a gloved hand over the drives - talking

to Slide and the other new engineers. "Perfect hiding places for clandestine 

listening and broadcast devices, sabotage machinery, or relays. We're going to

pull every kakh panel off 'em, scan 'em from top to bottom, and put 'em back 

together. Then we're going to yank up the conduit panelling under the floor 

and check THAT. Then the walls. Get the picture?  We're looking for anything 

that shouldn't be there, finger-sized or larger. This crate's very cleanly 

designed; if something IS out of place, we'll spot it. The refueling sequence

is on schedule: we have to have this room certified clean before we begin Jump

charging. We'll start with the main power plant, since it's idling right now 

and we'll need it la..." His voice trails off. "....ter....."



His ears swivel and track on a particular section of wall. He strides over to 

it, seizes an access handle, and yanks upward hard. The panel rattles up out 

of the way, and Slide sees a tiny golden animal sitting on one of the wiring

conduits, holding what looks like a powerspanner battery in its prehensile 

tail. It blinks at 'Vouf, obviously terrified.



"GOTCHA!" With a swoop of a hand, 'Vouf grabs the beast by the scruff of the 

neck and hauls it out of the machinery, chittering and scolding as it 

struggles in his grip. He holds it up and shows it to Wrinkely.



"Slide," he says pleasantly, "Meet Bit.  Bit, this is Slide." He sighs, and 

calls Abuko on the commdot. "Hey, Johann, I found your vermin inside the 

Number Three power coil feed with that battery Aaron said he was missing.

You wanna collect him, or should I stuff him in the Jump capacitors?"



Slide looks bemused as Vouf pulls Bit from the conduit. "I take it Bit

can be a bit bothersome [chuckles]." As the mirth recedes, he says "Well if

you'll excuse me I'll get changed and get to work."





After quickly donning his coveralls he sits at the engineering console

and begins to inspect the design plans for the plant and drive.

"Computer, get me the power plant and maneuver drive design plans,

include the circuit diagrams. I want manual browsing." In less than 10

minutes, Slide is systematically removing access panels from the power

plant checking that everything clean.



<Abuko on intercom>  "On my way!  Be careful, he got sharp teeth and he'll 

use them if he's picked up roughly..."

  

Johann arrives in the engineroom about thirty seconds after 'Vouf finished his

transmission.  Bit is quite occupied with trying to chew on 'Voufs metallic 

fingers by that time but with no success.

  

Johann shakes hand with Slide "Johann Abuko, pleased to meet you!" who might

notice that the former second engineer isn't the only one who carries spare

parts on (or rather in) his person, because the skin on Johanns right arm seems

to be made from skin colored plastic.



"INSIDE the what?!? How did he get in there? Aaron lost that battery just a 

few hours ago, and I saw Bit a little over an hour ago, and I didn't think that

anyone had openend that hatch for days?  A thought strikes Johann.   "Uhoh, 

We'd better take an extra close look behind that panel when we sweep the 

engineroom..."



"We'll take care of it," 'Vouf says. As Abuko leaves with Bit, 'Vouf scans the 

 inside of the panel carefully, then suddenly stops. He stands up straight,

 ears perked up at some tiny noise somewhere. If Slide tries to ask him what's 

 going on, he gets an angry wave for silence. A moment later, 'Vouf frantically 

 begins replacing the panels, screaming, "SLIDE! BUTTON HER UP, FAST!"









Everyone's comdots come to life, almost painfully:

<sccRrEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!>



Tout le Monde!  Preparez Vouz pour le Jump, Immediatement!...



[a second later]...Prepare for jump, NOW!  

Anyone still outside the ship, get inside the grid and start praying, the 

airlocks are sealed.



<ominous silence...>



- - --------------- Bridge ------------



Nishu drops into his navigator's chair, tapping at the holodynamic 

console.  His first task is to bring up the second navigation file 

and unlock it, loading it into the jump computer.  While the system 

is chewing on that, he glances over at Etienne and his sensor display.



"Range, mass, number of targets.  Transponders if any."



He then makes a few calls on the intercom:



"General Quarters, General Quarters.  Admiral and Exec to the Bridge."



"Engineering, this is Navigation.  Start charging the jump crystals.  How

is your fuel transfer status?"



Nishu turns back to Etienne.  "We need time.  Get us moving, escape vector,

best acceleration."



"Shall I raise the Anslinger?"





- - -------------------- Engineering (etc.) ------------



Since general quarters for focaline tree-rats are to be safely locked up 

in a cabin, Johann rushes the rest of the way, put bit in his carrying 

box, check the air status on the box and rush back to engineering, being 

careful to avoid any Jump-6 Vargr in the corridor, all the while talking 

in his commodot on the engineering channel:



Johann here! 

Fitz, Redd, Ralf, Slide! To engineering immediate! 



Aaron and Zben! you too, leave everything but lock the inner valve of 

the airlock.



Anyone know the fuel status? 



Mechbot! Tune the powerplant up to a hundred percent now! 



Full power to the armaments and manuever drive! 



Aaron! Zben! take a look at the number three power coil feed. I think 

that someone have maybe opened it! Look for bugs, bombs, beacons, damage, 

anything out of the ordinary!



Are the access tunnels to that frigate and whatever else we met here

disconnected yet? 



Do we have a solution to jump on? 



Was any ship disconnected from the Alcyon during the stop? 



Has the computerlinks checked out ok?



<short pause to stop for breath> 



Does general quarters include vaccsuits?"



"Engineering to bridge! We are turning up the plant to 100% to feed the 

manuever drive and weapons now. We are investigating the fuel status and

preparing for jump.  One access pannel on the jump drive that wasn't 

supposed to have been opened has apparently been opened recently. We are 

investigating and sweeping the immediate area and we'll let you know. 

Over and out."





- - ---------------- Medical -----------------



When (presumably) the alarm klaxons sound, Christian immediately stops

whatever he's doing and races for the Aurora bridge, where he jumps into

the pilot seat and reconfigures the panels for sensor ops -- he brings the

Passive EMS array on-line and starts looking for these bogies. Much quicker

than heading for the Alcyon bridge, and this way he's not in anyone's way.

And considering he's got a better computer than does the Alcyon, Christian

will tie it into his sensors to classify the signals and identify...







- - --------------- Outside ---------------------

Zben and Aaron happen to be right on top of an airlock when

the fewmets hit the windmill.   Lazer is not

so lucky.



"Holy Onsorik!! What the %^&*^(???"

Zben drops whatever tools he has at the moment, grabs the bug

detector and stuff it in a vac-suit pocket, bolts through the airlock

[hopefully with Aaron!], and slaps the Lock Seal button. Without a

word he starts to run flat out toward Engineering, literally dancing

around anyone in the way (a feat that would amaze anyone used to how

fast he usually moves!).







<Lazer>

"What the hell?!  Great Ghu hobbled and bound, they're not kidding!



"Redd, let's move.  I'm strapped in.  Nearest airlock should be ... 

#2, far side of that grid pylon."



The seconds tick by, agonizingly slowly as the scooter accelerates 

turtle-like.  The chaos inside spills out through the communicators.  

The command to seal the airlocks drops like lead.



Redd pulls a deft flip at midpoint, and the scooter begins to slow.  

Lazer ties one of the tether-lines into a loop, just in case. 



The heartbeats pound on.  The airlock slides into view.  Lazer lassos 

a hitch by the lock door, but it isn't necessary--Redd judged it nicely.



Lazer leaps out of the scooter and punches the airlock open button.  

Nothing happens.  



"Ask for excitement, will you, Lester?  Well, you got it..." he mutters 

to  himself.







The umbilical fuel lines auto-detach from the Alcyon and from Frost, 

accelerating slowly away from the ships as the precious vapor spews into

the void.  The Anslinger rolls over and dives away at right angles to

Alcyon, and the scout ship that first greeted the arrival quickly 

maneuvers onto an intercept course for the incoming fleet.  Frost 

begins dumping, and firing, fuel, picking up speed and angling between 

Alcyon and the newcomers.





- - ----------------- Armory ----------------



<O'Shi, already being in the armory checks in...>

Ok, where the suits?  and what the HELL is going on?



	



Horne is standing in security when the claxons start blaring.



"Gimme my goddamned weapon NOW, which airlock do you want me at and who is

my fire team-mate." We are gonna kick some enemy ass"



He holsters the six-shooter and his extra cylinder, and grabs a small box

cartridge box. He then grabs his Sub-Machine Gun and rams home one clip and

pockets two more, then casually chambers a round.



He then grabs another cheroot pulls out his trench lighter and lights

the foul smelling cigar, and puffs patiently as he waits for his assignment.









Charyn heads off from the armory at a sprint for the bridge, in search

of Etienne.  "Transport team" she mumbles under labored breath.

"Bridge, now was that a...  <pant, pant>... left or a right?" she asks

of no-one in particular.





- - ---------------- Bridge ------------



Commander Ger, talking into his comdot walks onto the bridge.



<Ger>

"Have the necessary personnel report to the command shuttle and fighter".

"I will need a tactial plot up on the holodisplay.  Where are the shuttle 

and the refueling ship?"



<'Vouf's voice>

"Andon Shrike should be on his way to the Shuttle.  Fritz is almost certainly

needed in Engineering, Morgan Grey is in no shape to pilot the fighter so it

will have to be one of the new people or no one." 



Ger turns to whomever is on duty and looks expectantly.







<'Vouf's voice (holo image?)>

<General announcement>

"All hands, this is 'Vouf. ACTION STATIONS! 



Engineering, BELAY Dr. Abuko's orders on the Maneuver Drive-- 

this bucket couldn't outrun a scuttled Xboat.  We stand and fight, 

Jump, or die right here.



Route all necessary power to weapons, and the rest to the Jump crystals.



Bridge, I'm needed here for a moment, but I'll be up on the double. Etienne,

unlock the airlocks for a period of two minutes, then lock them again, you've

trapped two of our men and there may be more outside! 



<Etienne>

"Opening now...





<'Vouf again>

Blaine, Frieder, get the hell out of there! 

Leave the kakh beacon and your tools if you have to! 

Anyone outside the ship has ninety seconds to hit the airlocks-- 

Severin, if you're still out there, run pickup on Farouk, Redd, Bishop, 

and Horne!" 









- - ------------- Outside -------------

Lazer pounds the lock open button again, and twice, and the lock opens.  He

flips inside, and begins pulling on the tether rope to the scooter.  He and Redd

haul it in, and shut the lock.  It begins cycling.





Overhead, Fitz jets by silently on the Tau Zero, counting to himself.

"Good.  That's two who made it in for sure.  Now let's see who's left...

Sure wish I could see whatever it is that made the ruckus."





When the hatch opens, Anton is running up from the inside.



<Lazer>

"Anton, good.  Help Redd tie down the scooter, then get to your action station.

I've got to figure out what the hell is going on..."



Lazer dodges past, and moves out down the corridor at a fast trot.  He taps

his comm.



<...>

"Bridge, Farouk here.  I'm in; Redd's clear.  Fill me in.  I'm 1 minute from the

comshuttle."

<...>





- - ---------------- Engineering --------------

<'Vouf>

"Security, suit up, pull all longarms and prepare to repel boarders! Turret

gunners to their stations. 



Silvmane, MT, to Engineering, on the double! 



Leadfoot, seal the fuel ports and calculate available tankage. 



Bridge, inform the fuel shuttle to sever umbilicals and get clear. 



Try to get the Leviathan and the other ships to stay between us and 

the incomings until we can Jump!



We're buttoned up here-- I'm on my way up." 



During this little speech, 'Vouf makes sure that Engineering stations 

are properly manned, then takes off in a Vargr-in-panic sprint for the 

Bridge....



"Roger Vouf, I'm on my way." Dan [Silvmane] says to his commdot and 

runs out of the Talisman towards engingeering.



<'Vouf>

"Blaine! As soon as Silvmane or MT reaches Engineering to relieve you,

report to the Bridge. We need to cook up a quick and dirty way to jam

outgoing transmissions, just in case there's another beacon ready to

transmit...."



As Zben runs, he punches in an extra frequency on his commdot.

"Computer! Code Zben, Alpha Niner! Start Priorty Two monitoring of all

non-ship frequencies. Record and Identify transmission origin, if

possibile. Zben out."



Sliding into Engineering, he whips out the bug detector, and

starts running it over the #3 coil, followed by as many areas as he

can before Dan or MT arrives.





- - --------------- Bridge -------------

Ger sits at the command station. "Captain has the con"



<Etienne>

"Aye, Sir."



"Sir, There are twelve ships...Looks like...voyons, voyons...Oui, Imperial

designed cruisers, pickets and tenders, Sir!  [a faint smile touches his face.]

But they have a large vector AWAY from us!"



<Ger>

"Nishu, See if you can raise either the imperial task force on the radio,

or the Anslinger on a laser. I think the *immediate* danger is over."



<Zben> looking up from communications console

I think I can handle the bridge Communications, if you'd approve.



"Etienne, after you have maneuvered us away from that fuel cloud see if you

can patch into the scout's sensors, so we can get a better idea of what

the Imp..Imperials have."



<Etienne>

60 standard seconds remaining, sir.



Ger turns to Bishop, and without speaking into the communicator says:

"Bishop, I presume you are getting this on your machine"



"All team leaders except medical report status. Dr. Let us know whenever

you can about the emergency"







- - ------------- Engineering ----------------

<Abuko>

"Engineering to Bridge. We are bringing the plant on line. We are prepared to

begin charging for jump. If we begin charging for jump we'll be committed to

either jump or discharge the sinks through the hull radiators, and it seems 

that our fuel truck just left...



No word yet about the possible bug.  We are sweeping the area.



Shall we begin to charge the sinks?  



<Ger> on commlink

"Negative, Do not charge the crystals yet. How long will it take to charge

and jump from when I give the signal?"



<Abuko>

It'll take about twenty minutes to charge 'em up."



Johann seems to ask someone in the background something.



"Maximum save time in when holding charge is about thirty minutes, one hour if

the crystals are in top condition.  Any more than that and risk of getting a

explosive decomposition of the crystals will increase.  No word yet about the

possible bug. We are sweeping the area."





Just then MT walks into Engineering looking very much less confused than

normal.  The sudden tension has 'jolted' him into full awareness.



"MT reporting as ordered.  Blaine, I've come to replace you.  I believe 

you were needed on the bridge."



MT turns towards Abuko (if he's there...) "What shall you have me do?"



Redd arrives back in engineering, takes off the helmet & gloves of his 

vacsuit, and looks hot, tired, and annoyed...  "Ok, so who's running 

engineering, and what do they want me to do. - I'd appreciate just ONE 

answer, thanks."





<Zben> to MT

"Great! Here's a bug Detector. Use it on everything in here!"

With that Zben starts out at a strong lope toward the bridge. 







<Abuko>   "I'm running engineering. 'Vouf helps run the Alcyon. 

Keep an eye on the powerplant and manuever drive, make them go to 

full power as soon as possible without endangering the ship or the 

drives themselves.   



If we get goahead to begin charging the drives, divert to the jumpdrive and

keep the fast fusion burner working smooth."





<Redd>

Check.

- - -Redd finds himself a seat, and starts monitoring the readouts, still wearing

 most of his vac-suit.



"Anybody know what's going on ?

 - I was outside and seem to have missed the point.

 Oh, hi Slide, I'm Kimball Redd by the way. Nice to have you aboard."





With years of practice and battle experience under his belt, Slide knew

what to do. Luckily there was a mechbot around to lend a hand. He flew

to the engineering computer and started to crank up the power plant.

Someone just called for 100%; they'll just have to wait.  Full power

takes time, don't the bridge jockey's know that?





Dan runs into Engineering at full tilt nearly slamming into MT doing a

bug scan. "What the hell is going on?  We're jumping now?" 

He rushes over to the jump crystals and helps starts the charging sequence.







Werner abruptly finds himself in engineering.  Confused by the flurry of

activity on the comdot he looks even more lost than usual.  



"Doctor Manfred Werner reporting..."  Realising that no one is paying

attention, Werner wanders over to the man whom he thinks is Chief 

Engineer Abuko and says:



"Um, can I help here?  I am have some experience with electronics and

mechanics."  







The plant's starting to really hum now, as several others dash into

engineering. Slide quickly introduces himself to those he hasn't seen

before and says he's got the plant to about 86%. The mechbot been

warming the drive, someone'll have to check it. What the f**k's going

on?





- - ----------- Outside -------------



Fritz starts lashing down the Tao Zero, nervously looking about for

an air lock, a hatch, or even an access panel to hide under.  Anton 

Devious arrives like an angel in the night, hollering at Fitz to get 

his butt inside.



"Air lock #3 right over that ridge there!"  He points just behind Fitz.

Grabbing a line he tightens the Tao Zero just as Fitz is head-down

in the air lock.





- - -------------- Bridge --------------

The captain continues looking at the holodisplay, with speical attention

to the size of the imperial vector.



Etienne checks the maneuver controls...still holding at max g, vectored away

from everything.  He will then attempt to patch into the scout's sensors, 

although that might be tough with Dr. Van Der Merwe absent.





After a false start or two, and bumping into and squeezing past three or

four faces she recognizes, Charyn bursts onto the by-now-packed bridge.



Charyn stands 1.7m tall, has long dark curly hair, a wide ready smile,

and is light of build (52 Kilos).  Her eyes are forest green, her skin

dark.  She is attractive by most standards, and has held up very well

for 46 years of age, but not overly so, with a few laugh lines.



She is wearing a dark green jumpsuit that has one or two stains on it,

and looks decidely sweaty (the Alcyon is, afterall a big ship, and has

little shortage of long passageways).  There are two holstered small

pistols on straps draped hastily over her shoulder, along with a package

of the right shape to contain a half-dozen clips of ammunition.  She is

breathing heavily, either from having run very fast, or not being in the

greatest form.





While the klaxons blare and voices shout excited orders, she looks for

Etienne (she's very familiar with the short writeups and images of crew

members she read before coming aboard the Alcyon).  Etienne has just

finished reopening the airlocks per Vouf's orders.  She shoulders her

way through the mass of busy people, taps Etienne on the shoulder and he

turns.  She pierces him with intense eye contact.  Dispensing with

formalities, she announces: "Commander De Mer, hi.  I'm Charyn Robins."

She stops a moment to look down and take a deep breath, and continues a

little more slowly: "I'm well-qualified in Commo, Nav, Sensor Ops, and

Ship's Boat piloting.  I'm ready for immediate assignment.  What's your

wish?"



[Etienne looks Charyn up and down then turns to Commander Ger.]



<Etienne>

Commander, Lazer still needs a pilot for the fighter.  It's got to be either 

Charyn or I, if we're going to need it. 



Otherwise, Charyn could take the sensors, and I could concentrate on herding 

this sky heap.



Orders, Sir?



<Ger>

"Etienne, You're in charge of assignments for your people."



<Nishu>

I confirm engineering estimates that the time to charge the crystals is

20 minutes.  We should, maybe, be clear of that hydrogen cloud by then.





<Etienne>

Aye, sir.  "15 standard seconds remaining, sir."





- - -------------- Outside -------------

<Anton>

"Coming in Now!"  He neatly dives headfirst into the hatch.

  



- - --------------- Bridge -------------





"Here!" comes a shout from behind Charyn; she turns, to see Nishu Neriika

 bent over his nav station on one side of the large holodisplay (currently

 showing a tactical).  He waves her to the twin station on the opposite

 side as he continues to examine the data coming out of the jump computer.



"I'm not really a Commo man, and I could use some help."  He looks up and

 glances at Etienne, in the pilot's seat.  "With your permission, sir."



<Ger>

"I need a good commo, sensor and navigator on the bridge. I doubt that

we will be launching our ships, so manning the fighter is of lower

priority. Also don't forget that the secondary ships are patched into the

Alcyon, so there is no reason why a person on those ships can't for

instance perform the commo."



"To confuse you more, I doubt we will be performing much maneuvering

either."



<Zben>

"Commander, I have a `bug squasher' programs set up. Do I have your

permission to implement?"





<Etienne>

Aye, sir.



"Zben, activate your program."



"Charyn, help at comms."



Etienne glances at the lights on the sensor display that just changed

from red to green.  "120 standard seconds...Closed and locked."





- - ---------------- Air Lock 4 ----------

Anton gets 95% in and catches his right foot on the hatch combing

as the iris closes - and cleanly removes his foot.



Blood quickly begins to fill the zero-g airlock in little globules

and Anton emits and involuntary scream and reaches out for the nearest

(and only) human form for help and comfort.







- - ------- Near the Armory, on the way to the Fighter Bay -----

<Lazer>

"Security, action stations.  

Horne, Azani, Mahlel.  I wish I knew you better. Can any of you 

pilot a fighter?



"Form up at the Alcyon armoury; Horne, you know the ship; you're in charge.

Vacc-suits, zero-G gear, shipboard weapons.  Be ready to move out.



"Thul, we need your ship's guns.  Ready them, and watch your sensors.  Anton,

when you finish with Redd, join Thul.



"Abdul, am I right you're assigned to the Aurora?"







<...>



Lazer slaps the comshuttle airlock control.  



"Good, you're here, Andon.  Release the missile turrets from their travel lock.



"Computer, recognize Lester Farouk, Security clearance alpha-two.  Display

external sensors, screen one.  Split screen two; open files action.stations

and ship.specifications.



"Now, let's see what we're looking at..."







- - ------------- Armory --------------------

Ian happens to be here, looking truly out of place, with a roll of 

unused, yellow, quarantine tape.



<Ian> 

Uh, mister Farouk, If no one else can, I can fly the fighter.  I'm not 

assigned anywhere riaght at this instant, and am willing to be useful

wherever I can.



<...>

Farouk here.

Mr. Thomas, you're on.



Power up the fighter and ready the weapons.  Do not repeat not separate from

the Alcyon unless ordered--we're wanting to Jump, not fight.  Also, do not 

repeat not fire without instruction.  The bogeys outnumber us severely.

Farouk out.

<...>



<Fitz>

Major Medical Emergency in Airlock 3!  Prepare surgery, life support and low

berth for Anton. Airlock Malfunction!



<Doc Van Der Merwe>

"Ian Thomas, grab a medkit and scanner, go to Airlock 3!  NOW, Medical 

Emergency! When you get there, stabilize Anton and hook up the scanner 

on an Emergency channel, I want his vitals on datalink, then tell me 

what happened!  I'm sending you a medbot to get him back to Sickbay (on 

the Aurora) ASAP!"



<Ian> 

To whoever is inside the armory passing out weapons...

"Toss me a medkit quick!  Sorry Lazer, gotta run.  If those ships get

any closer holler and I'll be right down to the hangar."  And Ian makes 

a great down-and-out pattern and catches the medkit 20 meters down the

passageway.





Abdul runs in (a little late as usual) carrying his treasured laser rifle and

power pack.  He looks like he pulled his vacc-suit on in a real hurry and he

keeps adjusting it after he arrives (muttering something about how awkard

these things and something about droyne owned vacc-suit companies)



"Well here I am, sorry about being a tad on the late side...



"Are we going to have a play with those pretty impressive

 looking fusion guns we carried along?  I really do want to

 see what a shot looks like.





Lazer starts slightly, disturbed from his concentration.  He's in his 

vacc-suit, gloves in the helmet, under his arm.



"Fight?  We're not going to fight, except possibly those two fast attack 

boats.  But our only real chance is to jump the hell out of here before 

they figure out what to do with us.



"It really depends on Engineering--what the hell are they doing down there?"



- - ---------- Sciences ---------------



Witfield heads for the bridge, "Captain, the Generalist team was just about

to check the inventory of the cargos. But this incident has the priority.

I feel I'd be more useful on the bridge, being a qualified pilot, sensor

operation, and navagator, not to mention a bit of gunnery." He smiles.





- - ----------- Command Shuttle --------

Lazer sits bolt upright in his chair.  "Anton's down?!  Ghu's beard!"



"Farouk to Mr. Schmud.  Report to the 'Talisman in Anton's place.  Farouk out."

          [G.M. comment -- That'll teach you to be late]



"Farouk to Medical, that's my man.  I want a report as soon as you're free.

My prayers.  Farouk out."







<...>

Farouk to Bridge.  Security reporting.



Mr. Shrike and I have the comshuttle; we're in good order.  



Mr. Jonson is manning the 'Talisman, and I have sent Mr. Schmud to assist him. 



We have a small squad arming up at the Alcyon armoury; Mr. Horne is leading, 

with Mr. Azani and Mr. Mahlel.  I have a man down in the airlock emergency; 



I do not know Anton's condition.



Farouk out.

<...>









- - ---------- Bridge --------------

<Ger>

Judge Jett, this is the captain, Report to the brige Immediately.



<...> Aye, Commander. On my way. <...>



Ger turns to Bishop, and without speaking into the communicator says:

"Bishop, I presume you are getting this on your machine"



"Ah, Yah,..er,..yes sir, I'm recording everything." Bishop replies.

He is clearly overwhelmed by the tactical scatter in the holo-tank.

He looks around and mutters, "Funny.  I could have SWORN I'd find 'Vouf

up here."  He turns back to the Cmdr. and, as he points at the fleet

displayed in the holo, asks, "Do we have ANY idea who that is?"





<'Vouf> on commlink

"Vouf here sir, my sensors are showing about the same picture that you're

getting. But the formation and movement patterns, that tells us something

else again-- my guess, and at this point it's ONLY a guess, is that those

are Dulinor's vessels, what he calls the Loyal Fleet. If that's the case,

m'lord," 'Vouf sighs over the intercom, "That's ANOTHER major power that

has found out about R-alpha before we could get there-- and we still haven't

heard from the two most LIKELY combatants, Lucan the Brat and Mommy Dearest,

yet! Maybe we should sell tickets or something?"



Bishop backs up against the bulkhead at that comment and moans, more to

himself than anyone else, "Lucan.  Dulinor.  Margaret.  Wonderful.  Just

BLOODY wonderful.  If I'm very, very, VERY lucky, they'd just kill me."

Without displaying the slightest concern about the fact that he has an

audience, Bishop pulls a small container from his pocket, shakes out a

small, white, hexagonal tablet, and pops it into his mouth.  After

swallowing, he shakes his head nervously and mutters, "I'd better get

one HELL of a bonus when I file this documentary."



Richard Jett walks onto the bridge, with a firm, paced step. He's

clearly not been running. He coolly surveys the controlled chaos, and his

gaze lingers for a second on the holotank, then he looks at Ger. "Reporting

as requested, Commander. What can I do for you?" He pauses. "...But could

you tell me what transponder signal we are running?"



 

<Ger>

"I just want you to be here to advise me on the laws of the Imperium."



"Commo officer - Have we got the laser connection to the other ships in

our task force or have you raised the Imperial fleet on the Radio??"



<Zben>

"Sir, I have directed our main Maser dish toward the Anslinger,

and have Laser comms locked on to both Leviathan and Frost. I have

also locked out the transmitters of the other ships contained in the

Alcyon. Also, Sir, may I reccommend that we shut down all internal

radio communication until we are in Jump? I have established hardwire

connections to Engineering, Gunnery control, and the other bridges."





> "Nishu, see if you can raise either the imperial task force on the radio, 

>  or the Anslinger on a laser.  I think the *immediate* danger is over." 



"Um, aye, sir."



Ushda.  I'm not a comm officer, just a sensor man.  Ah, well... it's all

putting out signals and listening for anything coming back, I suppose.



I'll try to get a laser pointed at Anslinger, and hail the task force.  I'm

continuing to listen for transponder signals; if I get any names from that,

I'll use them.











- - ------------ Armory -------------

<J. J. Horne>

Alright, Lazer put me in charge, looks like we got a three man fire team

Thul, how many men do you need to run the weapons here on the Alcyon.

Now we will need to coordinate anti-boarding parties. Can you keep me informed

as to where this enemy is, then maybe we can head 'em off at the pass.



Thul, if you need someone else to run this looks like you get Shmud.



Azani, Mahlel, pull your weapons and ammo. get suited up and follow me.



With that JJ spits out his cheroot and steps on it. He then buttons up the

Vacc Suit, hoping the Reflec underneath his cloths really works as advertised.

He remembers to that time on BrightFace, when the mining laser cut through the

ATV that he was in, shredding his suit like it was paper and putting a 6 inch

hole in his chest, it was amazing to him how lazer wounds don't bleed. He

lived thru that but didn't know or care much whether he would live or die

thru this. But at least this was better then sitting on his butt watching

security cameras.





Thru the security channel:

OK Thul, Lazer, I have a three man team here, we can hold down one airlock

pretty well, I assume that the one that Anton was hurt in is out of commission

You will have to direct us to the action, we're spread to thin as it is.

If you can give me more help we can cover more than one airlock. I realize

that may not be possible, but if you can, great.



Looks like we are ready to move out. Let me know which direction the bad guys

are coming from we'll give 'em a bloody nose.



Horne out







<Azani>

Since we are pulling all weapons, I'm pretty adequate with lazer weapons

and crifleman. I have some experience with tactics and reconnaisance. I

was army commando for two years and an infantryman for six. Served four

with the scouts though. Pretty tame stuff...



<Horne>

"Alright, that gives us four. Join us in the armoury, we will work out of

here. OK, fire-team relax, smoke if you got 'em."



With that he unbuttons the VACC Suit that he is wearing and produces and

lights another foul-smelling cheroot. He finds a place to sit, and waits.





<Lazer>

Mr. Horne, it appears that there is no immediate threat of boarders, though

the bogeys' intentions are still undetermined.



Remain in readiness, but don't waste your energy.  The armoury is fairly

central [OK, Richard?]--stay there.  



There are a dozen unidentified military vessels out there; they appear to be

Imperial.  Our captain is attempting to establish communications.



Mr. Horne, I assigned Azani with Mahlel and yourself as the original three

members of your squad.  Who is your fourth?  Niigurd?



Please detail one of your squad to check the accident at airlock #3.  Medical

hasn't requested help, but I'd like a report on the situation.  The internal

monitor seems damaged.



Also, be ready to reply to general emergencies, in addition to boarders.  

Check if any of your team has medical or first aid training, and report.



Farouk out.





- - -------------- Outside -------------------



The fuel tender has dropped most of her hydrogen in an ever-widening

swath between you and the newly arriving fleet.  The imperials are still

17 light-minutes away, and slowing.  The Anslinger is now about 600 km

away and moving about 6 km/s relative to the Alcyon.  The scout is now

several light-seconds closer to the imperial fleet than you.  The debris

is now almost a full hull-length behind and no longer a threat.





have fun



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2028

Date: Sat, 29 Dec 90 09:29:20 -0900

From: George William Herbert <gwh@ocf.Berkeley.EDU>

Subject: Re: Character Generators





In my campaigns, it's the player's responsibility to deal with all 'Serves As'

situations... they record only the skills they actually recieve, and then if

in play they remember that one of their skills serves as one they need, they

announce so and use it.  But we don't keep track of the 'serves as' on the

record sheets... it would clutter and confuse, and gives them more levels of

skills than they ought really have.



- - -george william herbert

gwh@ocf.berkeley.edu



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