"Make for the refueling station," Sal tells Zed.

"Doc, watch them scanners there for unusual energy readings from the station," he continues. "You lot," waving at the armed-and-armored bunch gathered on the fringe of the bridge, "we dunno of that station's airlock's gonna work, so b'ready for EVA."

He looks over the plot, searching for asteroids or comets.

Faraday operates the scanners, muttering under his breath, "Doc? I'm just an ABD, I don't even have my grant proposal approved yet . . ."

The jump left you clear of the main outer debris field in the system, but there's still a fair deal of space junk in the area around the station. Much of it appears to be debris from a long past battle, likely the remains of one of the previous dustups over the system rights the last time the claim was offered.

(I'm gonna need a piloting check)

Quote from: J Arcane;651102(I'm gonna need a piloting check)

It looks like our Pilot player has left the game.  I made a roll just move things along for Zed.  He rolled a 14, which equals his DEX score.

Just as you approach orbit with Korathraz VIII, the ship gets clipped by a stray chunk of hull, bearing the mark of the Squid navy. Thankfully you managed to turn the ship in time to glance the blow but not enough to evade damage. It carves a groove in the outer armor plates, doing 4 damage to the Armor.

Once you get into orbital range of the station, you spot what appears to be a docking ring on the sunward side of the station. Markings in large yellow paint near the airlock read:

:| .| .:

Quote from: J Arcane;651151Once you get into orbital range of the station, you spot what appears to be a docking ring on the sunward side of the station. Markings in large yellow paint near the airlock read:

:| .| .:

"Fascinating!"

Faraday consults the linguistic databases on his wrist-computer.

Quote from: Maltese Changeling;651199"Fascinating!"

Faraday consults the linguistic databases on his wrist-computer.

Roll an INT check.

The symbols are in the language of the Heptapartite Republic, a system of base-six numerals whose full translation thus far eludes scholars owing to a lack of source material, as Korathraz is one of the only systems yet discovered to have been settled by the Republic.  

Transliterated into Arabic numberals, the symbol reads 543, though the significance of that is not immediately clear.

"Zed, take us 'round the station once," Sal says quietly. The engineer's eyes flip between the viewscreen and the instruments, checking for hull integrity, signs of venting volatiles, and obvious damage to the station.

"Doc, keep an eye out for more of that writin'," he adds as the Hole circles.

The kid, fully armed and packed is just about glued to the porthole, staring at the station.  It's his first, after all, and he is really very excited and not a little scared, but he's putting on a brave face and letting his wonder overwhelm his fear.

"Where are we getting in?" he asks, not really expecting an answer.

Zed flies the ship around the station slowly per the Skipper's order so that it may be visually observed by the crew before docking.

As you orbit the station you begin to take in more details.  It is a small and unimaginative structure, more or less square in layout, with rounded corners.

On one corner is the aforementioned docking port clearly intended for larger vessels, and on an adjacent wall is a row of three of what appear to be sealed landing bay doors, in ascending numbering from the first one nearest the docking port, and those three bays are joined by 6 others, 3 to a side of the squarish station.

The landing bays appear to be closer to shuttle sized than full stations, perhaps intended only for interplanetary vessels, and thus not nearly large enough for your vessel.

There do not appear to be any obvious hull breaches on the ship, so if the atmosphere (oxygen, and medium gravity to boot) is likely stable, if a bit stale.

As the Hole orbits the station, Sal searches for the refueling couplings. Once they are located, Sal tells Ned to lay the ship alongside the station. The engineer watches the sensors for power surges or other anomalies.

Surprisingly, the docking pylon seems to be of a polymorphic design, so as long as the pilot can get the ship into position, the extending arm should have no issue linking up with the Hole's airlock.  

Gonna need a DEX check from the pilot, this is a tricky one.