Keeping up the posting speed.....
The aftermath of the above, as seen by the blogger elite...
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Elephant sightings. 12/12/24
Title; Guess who's back in Hostile waters....
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Less than a month after the Arcadia controversy, K.M. Lun is proving to be as Glomarous as ever. This time, it's thanks to an onboard explosion and fire in Venus' atmosphere while transporting a fugitive.
I'm assuming you all know about Daryl Haur's biomod... well, it seems that someone on Frigga used a spare chunk of change to hire the Knight Sabers to nab the person responsible - and in a fairly public fashion too. They picked her up right out of a New Port street, car and all. Lun rendezvoused with the Sabers, accepted the prisoner and had planned to drop the individual off at an AMP station on Crystal Tokyo for the full bounty.
As the ship descended onto an approach track, one of the onboard 'shuttlecraft' malfunctioned - in the number 5 tube. Now remember, because of PEPPER Loopholes these things are launched by a mix of Hydrogen Peroxide oxider and Kerosene - they're real rockets for the first few seconds of flight.
The 'shuttle' goes live in the tube. Lun takes a hard turn attempting to trigger an onboard safety device to shut the missile down. Crystal Tokyo ATC notices the turn off the assigned track and attempts to make contact, but there's no answer. Partway through the turn, the missile's engines activate. It promptly blows up, damaging the ship's hydraulics, opening part of the hull to Venus' atmosphere and fracturing fuel lines, causing an onboard fire that can't be put out.
Out of control, Lun descends rapidly into the atmosphere. Again, ATC attempts to contact them, but there's no answer. After four contact attempts, Lun begins squawking 7700 on its transponder. The situation aboard is so dire, even changing the transponder squawk seems like an afterthought. The ship continues to descend, accelerating on the way down, getting dangerously close to the Red Line. Through a combination of speed, denser air, and moveable engine nozzles, they pull out of it agonisingly slowly. But the ship's not fully under control yet, they can't properly control and stabilise the climb and the fire's still burning. A PGA Starclipper spotted them and reported it as a missile, trailing smoke and flame.
Once in space, the crew dump the remaining peroxide and fuel, vent any fumes, settle into orbit, give thanks to a dozen deities they made it out alive and finally take stock of everything. Somewhere in this, they find their prisoner has been overcome by fumes, and the body has to be dumped when they vent the compartment. Otherwise, most injuries are minor and the ship's able to limp to a stable orbit.
Meanwhile, HMS Lydia has time to catch up to Lun and, after more attempts at making contact, Lun makes its only voice transmission of the entire incident; it's Alekseeva herself that answers with sang froid that'd impress the Klingons on Praxis.
If anything, it looks more like Lun hit something.
I'm not trying to insinuate they deliberately murdered their prisoner and tried to cover it up by claiming 'accident'. If they wanted to do that 'opened an airlock hatch while escaping' is the generally accepted excuse. Nobody would've looked twice, most people would've understood, and few people would've cared. Instead, they've created a mystery that's demanded solving.
Because that official explanation above doesn't match what actually happened. They had an accident sure, but not the one they're claiming they had.
Evidence the first. The damage to both forward sets of missile tubes. There's no way that could've been caused by an explosion in an aft missile tube... but if the ship was passing under another spacecraft, they're the first parts that would hit. We also see evidence of something hitting the tail and left stabiliser.
Second, Lun's radar tracks are published. They're on Flighttracker. I pulled the records. A full five minutes before the explosion, Lun makes a series of rapid changes in speed and altitude, before beginning the long circular turn described above, ending with a sharp pitch-down right as it straightens up, crossing its original course perpendicularly. This is the moment they claim the explosion happens.
But that's not quite true. The explosion was recorded on Crystal Tokyo's barometers. Accounting properly for atmospheric density, Lun is descending out of control for a full minute before the missile explodes.
So, I think we can say with some certainty that Lun physically hit something. This something damaged its controls and the fifth missile tube, causing a fuel or oxidiser leak. After leaking for a full minute, it explodes, turning a risky situation into a dire one. It wouldn't have taken much more to turn this from an interesting conspiracy curiosity, into a mysterious tragedy.
The question that follows now; What was it doing maneuvering like that?
It looks a lot like Lun was trying to perform some sort of Crazy Ivan, suggesting its crew believed they were being followed but couldn't confirm it. Nothing appears on Crystal Tokyo's radar - either before or after the collision - but the fact that Lun actually hit something proves something was there. Whatever it was, was likely either some form of Stealth craft or even Cloaked. So Lun's crew detect evidence of a following craft, try to draw it out, and end up hitting it instead when it tries to maintain a steady course and stay hidden. Both sides wait for the other to flinch, and neither does.
So, Lun was being followed and hit the following craft. We can call that proven.
Now, By Whom?
The answer to that is in her cargo bay. The Prisoner. Who was tied in to the Crime Guild, which has enough resources to be able to consider getting away with biomodding competitors to fix major sporting events. A cloaked, or stealth-equipped ship would be well within their means, and they may not have been too keen to risk that prisoner talking to the AMP.
Which leads us into the next question, why wait until they reach Venus before doing anything?
The answer to that is even simpler. Jet Jaguar was aboard. If someone attacks Lun in open space, they have to deal with a pissed-off combat cyborg who has taken on bombers in single combat and won. Attacking Lun on Venus, well, I doubt Jaguar would find being aboard an imploding starship to be a healthy experience. That, and Venus' atmosphere will happily eat evidence of their involvement. It would look just like an accident.
So, that makes a fairly decent narrative.
Lun accepts the prisoner from the Knight Sabers. Somewhere on the journey to Venus, the ship picks up a cloaked Crime Guild tail. The Guild craft is planning to shoot the ship down in Venus' atmosphere, to make it look like an accident. Lun's crew detects evidence of the tail, and starts some wild maneuvers to try and draw it out without provoking an attack. Instead, both ships hit each other. Lun is damaged and starts to descend out of control. Her hydraulics are damaged and one of her missiles is leaking oxidiser. Meanwhile, the Crime Guild ship carries on undetected, believing it's mission to have completed itself.
After a minute the leaking peroxide explodes, blowing the missile tube apart, puncturing the hull, and nearly dealing the coup-de-grace. It's only a mixture of crew skill and sheer-luck that allows Lun to regain orbit.
It's a nice answer that ties all the little narrative threads together. It just has one tiny little problem... just a little loose change to be accounted for.
Why the hell are they coming up with such a bullshit explanation? Hitting an enemy ship would be a perfectly valid and acceptable explanation for what happened. Honestly, it makes for an even cooler story. It turns 'oops' into 'awesome'. The only reason I can think of for keeping mum is that it wasn't a Crime Guild ship they hit - but someone else.
Lun's crew might've thought they were being followed by a Crime Guild ship, then hit someone who wasn't who they thought.
So, who did Lun hit? And why was that person following the ship? All we know is, it's someone who isn't keen on being discovered, has the technology to build a spacecraft that doesn't appear on sensors, and has more than enough influence to encourage Lun's crew to keep quiet. It's an accident that causes enough mutual embarrassment that everyone involved has agreed not to talk about it. Whomever was following doesn't want it to be known they were following. Lun and her crew would prefer if nobody knew who they hit. Everyone's too embarrassed by it all.
Who might that be?
Answers on a postcard, please.
Lun itself is parked up at Damogran for repairs. Rumour is, it's because that's the only place who'd give them the time of the day since the Federation blackball. Maybe they'll take the hint, and take the chance to refit the thing to something a little less likely to blow itself up. Already, the usual voices are calling the accident an excuse for a rebuild into a fully-armed weapon system.
That's what I love about the Lun; that ship's a conspiracy theorist's best friend.
Until next time, Elephant Watchers, and another Genaros procurement boondoggle.
---------------
Too much? Trying to avoid people being hyper-competent.... have I strayed into incompetence.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
The aftermath of the above, as seen by the blogger elite...
-----------------------
Elephant sightings. 12/12/24
Title; Guess who's back in Hostile waters....
---------------------
Less than a month after the Arcadia controversy, K.M. Lun is proving to be as Glomarous as ever. This time, it's thanks to an onboard explosion and fire in Venus' atmosphere while transporting a fugitive.
I'm assuming you all know about Daryl Haur's biomod... well, it seems that someone on Frigga used a spare chunk of change to hire the Knight Sabers to nab the person responsible - and in a fairly public fashion too. They picked her up right out of a New Port street, car and all. Lun rendezvoused with the Sabers, accepted the prisoner and had planned to drop the individual off at an AMP station on Crystal Tokyo for the full bounty.
As the ship descended onto an approach track, one of the onboard 'shuttlecraft' malfunctioned - in the number 5 tube. Now remember, because of PEPPER Loopholes these things are launched by a mix of Hydrogen Peroxide oxider and Kerosene - they're real rockets for the first few seconds of flight.
The 'shuttle' goes live in the tube. Lun takes a hard turn attempting to trigger an onboard safety device to shut the missile down. Crystal Tokyo ATC notices the turn off the assigned track and attempts to make contact, but there's no answer. Partway through the turn, the missile's engines activate. It promptly blows up, damaging the ship's hydraulics, opening part of the hull to Venus' atmosphere and fracturing fuel lines, causing an onboard fire that can't be put out.
Out of control, Lun descends rapidly into the atmosphere. Again, ATC attempts to contact them, but there's no answer. After four contact attempts, Lun begins squawking 7700 on its transponder. The situation aboard is so dire, even changing the transponder squawk seems like an afterthought. The ship continues to descend, accelerating on the way down, getting dangerously close to the Red Line. Through a combination of speed, denser air, and moveable engine nozzles, they pull out of it agonisingly slowly. But the ship's not fully under control yet, they can't properly control and stabilise the climb and the fire's still burning. A PGA Starclipper spotted them and reported it as a missile, trailing smoke and flame.
Once in space, the crew dump the remaining peroxide and fuel, vent any fumes, settle into orbit, give thanks to a dozen deities they made it out alive and finally take stock of everything. Somewhere in this, they find their prisoner has been overcome by fumes, and the body has to be dumped when they vent the compartment. Otherwise, most injuries are minor and the ship's able to limp to a stable orbit.
Meanwhile, HMS Lydia has time to catch up to Lun and, after more attempts at making contact, Lun makes its only voice transmission of the entire incident; it's Alekseeva herself that answers with sang froid that'd impress the Klingons on Praxis.
K.M. Lun radio broadcast Wrote:"There has been an incident aboard. The situation is under control. The ship is secure. Our emergency is over."Finally, someone on the Lydia takes this photograph. Look at that damage... The radar dome is smashed, the 5th missile tube has had both its hatches blown off, there's shrapnel damage all around the tail, and a hole has been blasted in the hull. The paint's scorched and blistered by the fire, right above the cargo bay. All of that is consistent with an onboard explosion. Now, look at the forward missile hatches and especially the leading edge of the port stabiliser.... how could an explosion in a missile tube do that?
If anything, it looks more like Lun hit something.
I'm not trying to insinuate they deliberately murdered their prisoner and tried to cover it up by claiming 'accident'. If they wanted to do that 'opened an airlock hatch while escaping' is the generally accepted excuse. Nobody would've looked twice, most people would've understood, and few people would've cared. Instead, they've created a mystery that's demanded solving.
Because that official explanation above doesn't match what actually happened. They had an accident sure, but not the one they're claiming they had.
Evidence the first. The damage to both forward sets of missile tubes. There's no way that could've been caused by an explosion in an aft missile tube... but if the ship was passing under another spacecraft, they're the first parts that would hit. We also see evidence of something hitting the tail and left stabiliser.
Second, Lun's radar tracks are published. They're on Flighttracker. I pulled the records. A full five minutes before the explosion, Lun makes a series of rapid changes in speed and altitude, before beginning the long circular turn described above, ending with a sharp pitch-down right as it straightens up, crossing its original course perpendicularly. This is the moment they claim the explosion happens.
But that's not quite true. The explosion was recorded on Crystal Tokyo's barometers. Accounting properly for atmospheric density, Lun is descending out of control for a full minute before the missile explodes.
So, I think we can say with some certainty that Lun physically hit something. This something damaged its controls and the fifth missile tube, causing a fuel or oxidiser leak. After leaking for a full minute, it explodes, turning a risky situation into a dire one. It wouldn't have taken much more to turn this from an interesting conspiracy curiosity, into a mysterious tragedy.
The question that follows now; What was it doing maneuvering like that?
It looks a lot like Lun was trying to perform some sort of Crazy Ivan, suggesting its crew believed they were being followed but couldn't confirm it. Nothing appears on Crystal Tokyo's radar - either before or after the collision - but the fact that Lun actually hit something proves something was there. Whatever it was, was likely either some form of Stealth craft or even Cloaked. So Lun's crew detect evidence of a following craft, try to draw it out, and end up hitting it instead when it tries to maintain a steady course and stay hidden. Both sides wait for the other to flinch, and neither does.
So, Lun was being followed and hit the following craft. We can call that proven.
Now, By Whom?
The answer to that is in her cargo bay. The Prisoner. Who was tied in to the Crime Guild, which has enough resources to be able to consider getting away with biomodding competitors to fix major sporting events. A cloaked, or stealth-equipped ship would be well within their means, and they may not have been too keen to risk that prisoner talking to the AMP.
Which leads us into the next question, why wait until they reach Venus before doing anything?
The answer to that is even simpler. Jet Jaguar was aboard. If someone attacks Lun in open space, they have to deal with a pissed-off combat cyborg who has taken on bombers in single combat and won. Attacking Lun on Venus, well, I doubt Jaguar would find being aboard an imploding starship to be a healthy experience. That, and Venus' atmosphere will happily eat evidence of their involvement. It would look just like an accident.
So, that makes a fairly decent narrative.
Lun accepts the prisoner from the Knight Sabers. Somewhere on the journey to Venus, the ship picks up a cloaked Crime Guild tail. The Guild craft is planning to shoot the ship down in Venus' atmosphere, to make it look like an accident. Lun's crew detects evidence of the tail, and starts some wild maneuvers to try and draw it out without provoking an attack. Instead, both ships hit each other. Lun is damaged and starts to descend out of control. Her hydraulics are damaged and one of her missiles is leaking oxidiser. Meanwhile, the Crime Guild ship carries on undetected, believing it's mission to have completed itself.
After a minute the leaking peroxide explodes, blowing the missile tube apart, puncturing the hull, and nearly dealing the coup-de-grace. It's only a mixture of crew skill and sheer-luck that allows Lun to regain orbit.
It's a nice answer that ties all the little narrative threads together. It just has one tiny little problem... just a little loose change to be accounted for.
Why the hell are they coming up with such a bullshit explanation? Hitting an enemy ship would be a perfectly valid and acceptable explanation for what happened. Honestly, it makes for an even cooler story. It turns 'oops' into 'awesome'. The only reason I can think of for keeping mum is that it wasn't a Crime Guild ship they hit - but someone else.
Lun's crew might've thought they were being followed by a Crime Guild ship, then hit someone who wasn't who they thought.
So, who did Lun hit? And why was that person following the ship? All we know is, it's someone who isn't keen on being discovered, has the technology to build a spacecraft that doesn't appear on sensors, and has more than enough influence to encourage Lun's crew to keep quiet. It's an accident that causes enough mutual embarrassment that everyone involved has agreed not to talk about it. Whomever was following doesn't want it to be known they were following. Lun and her crew would prefer if nobody knew who they hit. Everyone's too embarrassed by it all.
Who might that be?
Answers on a postcard, please.
Lun itself is parked up at Damogran for repairs. Rumour is, it's because that's the only place who'd give them the time of the day since the Federation blackball. Maybe they'll take the hint, and take the chance to refit the thing to something a little less likely to blow itself up. Already, the usual voices are calling the accident an excuse for a rebuild into a fully-armed weapon system.
That's what I love about the Lun; that ship's a conspiracy theorist's best friend.
Until next time, Elephant Watchers, and another Genaros procurement boondoggle.
---------------
Too much? Trying to avoid people being hyper-competent.... have I strayed into incompetence.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?