H.M.A.S Badger ~ Online Æther Ship ~ Member's Wanted (OOC Thread)

[Theosophus Grey]

Totally OOC here - Actually, Jim's intention was to approach the two cruisers and detonate his self-destruct in support of the Badger, after offloading the artifacts with Mr. Gywwned (sp?) on the crater's surface - that's the upshot of some posts he left with me to use on his behalf, since he's working until late tonight.  

You may want to revisit that last part of your post - my intention in suggesting we all post first-person-only (did you see that above?) was to get a panoramic view of the same event, i.e., the battle, so we should minimize the use of other player's characters to prevent these crossovers.  The rest of it was awesome, I was hoping you would bring in the miners! 

So sorry to hear about your procedures, I'm working from home myself these days due to multiple surgeries in the past year, all the best to you and your Mom.  

[MWBailey]

off to evening stuff, no i didnt see that, and I'll adjust my posts when we gwet back. an dthanks for teh concern, I'm actually better off than they orib=ginally thought but they still insist oin teh procedures. Mo's...well, its only to be expected. thanks for teh good numbers.

[Theosophus Grey]

Have a good evening, sir, and thanks for the followup on the posts.  I'm logging off myself now, so... jump in there, Zuttle and Alexis!    Best, Theo

[Zuttle D. Curious]

Much luck and many blessings for your mothers back surgery. Had a friend go through that last year about. He smiled a lot more after the surgery I hope she is enjoying the housework break too And I hope your diabetes tests turns out well too.

Please understand, I am in a hurry, so these paragraphs will come out sounding a lot more irritatedly derived than they should. Usually I quadruple check my posts to make sure they upset noone, but I have no time right now (Cooking dinner, reading, posting, getting ready to go to a movie with family and neighbors within the hour. No time.) So please take this with a grain of salt and assume the best of my intentions were used to write this, Not the worst. Because that is what I meant it with.

Personal Irritation. (I would be surprised if you knew it, I guess I'm saying it just for future reference.)

as every ship within the outlying 3-mile spherical scout space suddenly went up in smoke in reaction, including the corvette and the battlecruiser.

   In real life, Air traffic control is supposed to help keep Planes from going within FIVE miles of each other. There wouldn't be many space craft within a 3 mile sphere. Probably only one. Anything closer could be dangerous. That is assuming they use radar. GPS is what is used to allow planes closer, but it's still being phased in. GPS would likely not be invented, and if it was, it probably wouldn't be very useful as the coordinates wouldn't be figurable in a fast enough time without a computer. Which in the end would defeat half the purpose of this being a steampunk story.

Also Trilidian belt or not. How many ships do you think are in the immediate vicinity of this battle? Asteroids are generally far apart, the largest would be the size of dwarf planets. Which would be thousands, even millions of miles apart. If these miners are doing their job, odds are not many are in the area to help. And how many would actually do so?

Grey could see that even at miles distant, as heavily framed and armed as the Mad Badger had become, the German warship outclassed her or any other vessel he had encountered in both size and firepower; she was purpose-built as a predator.  Within moments, they would be within firing range of the long guns.

In my opinion, not many Mining vessels with minor weaponry, would risk their cargo and lives to help out the Badger and Baldwin. Not without good reason. Profitable reason. None was promised. I don't think there would be that many mining ships to help to be a considerable threat outwardly. (But who knows, maybe one of them has an experimental weapon, or can pull of an old Captain Morgan trick by making the ship LOOK dangerous and distracting one of the attackers.)



Also did I read right that there is one main Germanic ship attacking, plus two others in close vicinity attacking with it?
Hoping to post soon, but might have to be after we get back from the movie, Sorry!

[Alexis Voltaire]

I picked a good day to sleep in I see...  Not intentional either, (at all) but I have no alarm clock here.

That was some truly FANTASTIC stuff! Really edge-of-your-seat writing, I'm disappointed I wasn't here earlier today.

AAAAAAAAAAAGH!  HE LIVES!   Quick, hide the silver!   

Made me laugh out loud 

Actually for me, Getting to an exciting part usually makes me want to take a break about half way through and take a walk or pace or something. I don't know why.

Same here, I used to do that a lot reading Clive Cussler, sometimes a few times during a one or two pages. It definitely doesn't make it any less exiting though.

on the plus side, I should be back home tomorrow, where I'll hopefully be less distracted, and I'll Finally get to finish my khukhuris. I've been waiting darn near a month to do that...

[Zuttle D. Curious]

on the plus side, I should be back home tomorrow, where I'll hopefully be less distracted, and I'll Finally get to finish my khukhuris. I've been waiting darn near a month to do that...

You have a camera right? I'm still eager to see a picture of how they turn out

[Dr. malcolm moriarty]

Well that battle is coming off a little convoluted, but to be fair it’s the first time we tried to do something this complicated in this group. I would say A for effort B- for execution. Till ripping good stuff, rather liked it myself.

[Dr. malcolm moriarty]

by the way, Zuttle, I think you make a good point about the ship,
I was wondering if the mad badger is on its own now with no way to suport itself were is going to get fuel, parts, food, and just what dose a dragon eat any way{.sheep? Virgins?} and were are we getting the "tons" of whatever it is to feed this many of them.

Are all the people on this ship being paid? humm. makes you wonder huh?

[Zuttle D. Curious]

Details like these are main driving points And when was the last time we were in some sort of port to refuel and restock?!

Welcome Back Jim

[Dr. malcolm moriarty]

thats better, Now Grey said something about going pirate?
I just dont see this group attacking ships just to rob them.
It would be diffrent if we were at war but were not

[Dr. malcolm moriarty]

Well I am going “to the back of the ship”, and look around. check back in later see whos on

[MWBailey]

I'm also answering these with the best will in the world, ditto on the grain of salt; folks are on my posterior to fingd doctor receipts and hospital addresses.

Personal Irritation. (I would be surprised if you knew it, I guess I'm saying it just for future reference.)

as every ship within the outlying 3-mile spherical scout space suddenly went up in smoke in reaction, including the corvette and the battlecruiser.

   In real life, Air traffic control is supposed to help keep Planes from going within FIVE miles of each other. There wouldn't be many space craft within a 3 mile sphere. Probably only one. Anything closer could be dangerous. That is assuming they use radar. GPS is what is used to allow planes closer, but it's still being phased in. GPS would likely not be invented, and if it was, it probably wouldn't be very useful as the coordinates wouldn't be figurable in a fast enough time without a computer. Which in the end would defeat half the purpose of this being a steampunk story

Sorry, but you're assuming a winged, heavier-than-air paradigm. The argument that they'd have to use GPS to get closer together than 5 miles is like the commercial where the skeptic tries to prove the wagon-train pioneers had convenience stores like 7-11 because they'd need to buy toothpaste...

Besides, 5 miles is teh arbitrary limit set by the FAA, not a silver-bullet distance that is immutable and solves every problem (witness the numerous aerial collisions each year, even with air traffic control in place); and something tells me the FAA's ships or whatever would be gunned from the sky if they tried to tell a battling brace of fleets where and how to fly . were teh japanese planes five mikes apart at Pearl harbor? How about the bomber runs into Germany? teh dogfights over france in the first world war? this ia battle we're talking about here, not a transatlantic airport.

The steampunk universe in which the events that this RP refers to are supposedly occurring or have occurred, has never seen air traffic with aeroplanes (a massive assumption, based on teh fact that i have seen no mention of such, so far as I can remember. Thus, any aerial warfare would most likely follow a line-of-battle Naval model; such a tradition would be very hard to break, as it works very well in a "wet" navy, and ships crews of aerial men-of-war would find it useful in their sphere as well (most airships of our multiverese in RL only move at speeds of around 50-90 mph, which makes such gigantic safe zones unnecessary) would be used to following the said model.

The major naval actions that were performed in our own universe involving line-of-battle (In no particular order) Battle of teh Nile, Drake vs. the Armada; Trafalgar, Heroic 5th of June, Vigo Bay, the whole anglo-dutch series of conflicts...more modernly, Jutland, battle between Hood and Bismarck, sinking of teh Graf Spee,

In the Age of Sail examples, ships were often closer than 100 yards and even 100 feet the entire time (hence teh incredibly thick wooden hulls, designed -not always successfully -to deflect roundshot)

Exception: Trafalgar was an action in which the british ships CROSSED the FRENCH line of battle, but again, at distances sometimes closer to but oftentimes no farther than MAYBE a hundred FEET.

In the armored warship examples, 2 to 3 miles was pretty much the maximum for both line-of-sight and indirect artillery fire (14-mile barrages being reserved for land targets nine times out of ten, due to changeability of sea conditions --hence the two or three shots required for warships at sea to ascertain the target's range). Bismarck and Graf Spee were both decimated by plunging artillery fire, caused by close-quarters use of long-range guns, although Bismarck is generally sai dto have been sunk by aircraft from teh carrier Ark Royal. again, line-of-battle, although greater distances would have been better. (again, tradition is hard to break).
 so, no, the 3-mile sphere is actually a bit huge considering the likely norm for ship dispersal, based on an airship paradigm.

Also: the Plummets are not actually aeroplanes, but in fact very heavy gliders with motorization. some might argue, successfully, that such were teh early aeroplanes, but since these are the only examples of such mentioned, it seems likely that an airship paradigm is still the norm in place.

Also Trilidian belt or not. How many ships do you think are in the immediate vicinity of this battle? Asteroids are generally far apart,

again, making assumptions that the claims would only be on asteroids, and those millions of miles apart.  The problem is that we're not talking about the asteroid belt close to Jupiter, but rather what comprises the region we in our RL   multiverse refer to as "the oort cloud." i've already mentioned how close together many are; why isit such a sticking point?  Frankencats so far have not happened in real life, shouldn't we excise that part of the story as well, if we're going to be such sticklers for fact?

I think maybe I'm seeing a little jealousy here.

the largest would be the size of dwarf planets.

Really? Why? because that's the way it is here? The story isn't happening here...

Which would be thousands, even millions of miles apart.

again, why? can't it be different in a different universe?

If these miners are doing their job

What job are you assuming they're doing? They're all self-employed placer prospectors who occasionally band together to put together large rafts of trailer ships full of mined ore. They're not employed by anyone other than themselves (much like the Australian fossickers, only much more profitably, due to looser controls and greater amounts of ore to be had by all).

Odds are not many are in the area to help.

assuming the American paradigm; however, remember, while many are Americans, they are not Americans of the latter twentieth or early 21st centuries, and this is not california.

too, the germans tried to force their way in before, and teh Trilidian Brigade drove them out then. this would be seen as another attempt to horn in, another attack on 'their" territory.

And how many would actually do so?

Quite a few, just like in the last war. I really don't understand your irritation. there's plenty of other things to be done by others, if that's your worry.

Grey could see that even at miles distant, as heavily framed and armed as the Mad Badger had become, the German warship outclassed her or any other vessel he had encountered in both size and firepower; she was purpose-built as a predator.  Within moments, they would be within firing range of the long guns.

In my opinion, not many Mining vessels with minor weaponry, would risk their cargo and lives to help out the Badger and Baldwin. Not without good reason. Profitable reason.

Such as, maybe being able to continue their livelihoods? Perhaps personal relationships with other miners who might not be willing to help them out of a jam if they didnt pitch in now? pardon the horrendous pun, but they don't all act in a vacuum (or at least, not THAT  kind of vacuum). also, you're talking about "minor weaponry, such as lasers which cut through iridium and neptunium, tractor/repulsor pirings which scrape diamonds, quartz, calcite, carborundum, etc. from their asteroidal matrices, as minor weapons? fire the plasmic cutting lasers a certain wayand that's where the fireballs come from. teh ships of teh enemy get ripped open with teh tractor-repulsor arrays. and they often fire teh other wepons in to teh gaps thus created.

None was promised. I don't think there would be that many mining ships to help to be a considerable threat outwardly. (But who knows, maybe one of them has an experimental weapon, or can pull of an old Captain Morgan trick by making the ship LOOK dangerous and distracting one of the attackers.)

Sorry, but i really don't see any compelling reason to change the numbers or the armament, since its not a "GPS" paradigm. the trilidians are [l]heavily[/i]-armed, when they reconfigure their laser and field projector arrays (tractors and repulsors) differently than that used for mining at short range (in essence, mining lots of heavy-duty stuff (like a ship) at a distance, at much higher power levels). the disadvantage is that the have to actually close with each opponent either in a dogfight or in a sort of "strafing" mode. They probably can't hit things with their weapons at million-mile distances. (Jaguarundi being the exception, presumably, although she has yet to have a target farther than about 30 miles, if that) They can sling their ore trailers at an enemy, and its already established in many pieces of other literature (one of teh shellperson novels, for instance) that ship-to-ship collisions, especially those carrying ore loads, are devastating...or did the baldwin just ding the battlecruisers and blow up itself only? And if five miles were the operating distance, wouldn't that mean that the Baldwin couldnt start up and get there that fast, especially considering it's a slower, early ship?

Also did I read right that there is one main Germanic ship attacking, plus two others in close vicinity attacking with it?
Hoping to post soon, but might have to be after we get back from the movie, Sorry!

Plus lots of smaller scout and slightly larger craft (let me explain that before you get all ticked off). I think theo mentioned seventy scouts or so; scouts have to go to someplace to refuel, reload, etc., and even if they are total aether-flyers, they'll still need to have someplace to land and effect repairs. I doubt that the big battleship and FIVE battlecruisers could handle the load.- please note that the plummets would only barely qualify as "scouts," and only marginally as "aeroplanes." They are in fact, the only mentioned form of winged craft in the story. Thus, other larger-than-scout ships would be necessary. 'Slightly larger than a scout' = things like light escort corvettes, cruisers, tugs, lighters, packet brigs, (not sure what an interstellar packet brig would look like, but hey) etc., all of which would be militarily armed in some way. Plummets would actually be smaller and less heavily-armed than a scout.Even the aether-capable ones, such as Berthadine, are really just glorified landing craft.)

Hope you enjoy/enjoyed the movie.

[Alexis Voltaire]

on the plus side, I should be back home tomorrow, where I'll hopefully be less distracted, and I'll Finally get to finish my khukhuris. I've been waiting darn near a month to do that...

You have a camera right? I'm still eager to see a picture of how they turn out  

Yes, I have a camera, and I'll get pictures as soon as I get them done. (getting the time to get them off the camera and onto the comp is the main issue... since the camera's storage capacity outlasts multiple battery charges, it normally gets offloaded a couple times a year. ) But I shall find the time... even

By the way, I won't be here for most of tomorrow (leaving at 9 AMish, getting back home sometime around 8 PM , probably.)

just what dose a dragon eat any way{.sheep? Virgins?} and were are we getting the "tons" of whatever it is to feed this many of them.

I have been wondering, actually, when this might come up...

Dragons on the moon eat mostly fish and the small native plains deer. They are meat eaters, but they also have traditional ways of preserving meat and fish, since they can't hunt or fish during the long lunar night.

There were originally 45 human and dragon pairs in the Dragon Corps, before the Mars assault. And a few were killed on the station in the fight with the Drene-Vah and the beast. So the remaining number is probably close to thirty, unless more joined after the Mars assault. (not entirely unlikely.)

[Dr. malcolm moriarty]

Male lions can eat up to 75 pounds of meat in one sitting, True not every day lets say once a week. The dragons are bigger lets say 100 lbs per week times s 30 dragons =3000 pounds of meat a week.

How long do you think the humans will last when we run out of alpo?

i know im nitpicking,,but  its kinda funny to think about

[Dr. malcolm moriarty]

Well the point of this rp is not reality is it?
But miss Curious  got me looking at it with reality glasses, it can look quite funny when you do.

[MWBailey]

Male lions can eat up to 75 pounds of meat in one sitting, True not every day lets say once a week. The dragons are bigger lets say 100 lbs per week times s 30 dragons =3000 pounds of meat a week.

How long do you think the humans will last when we run out of alpo?

i know im nitpicking,,but  its kinda funny to think about

Hmmm...whaddaya know, I think I've just found a use for Mr. Nightshade...(J/K..er...well...)(nonono, Just joking)


(I think...)

addendum:

Please Note: I do not mean to be insulting in my explanations of distances, armament, procedures, etc. . In fact, I had/have been waiting for an opportunity to explain much of this, and to remind people that
1. Our characters are not shooting at each other from passing 747's at Heathrow or Laguardia airport, 
2. Nor are we talking about Flash Gordon, (just a cheesy example from my dad's generation) where things only happen in a 3D paradigm when it fits the script.
3. Here in the airspace (spacespace? ewww) of the story, we not only have above and to either side, but also way, way down below to maneuver in.
4. there is no "deck"  (the ground) as such, unless one is flying in the so-called (by me, mainly, so far) "airspace" of an asteroid or planetoid.

Also: Remember the TIE fighters chasing the Millennium Falcon through the asteroid belt in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back? those 'stroids were not a million miles or even five miles apart! sure, in real life, maybe, but in the story it's just flat boring to be able to miss them so completely .

Again, I'm just saying, not trying to be insulting or mean or nasty.

[Zuttle D. Curious]

... I think this is more closely related to Air warfare than Naval warfare. And We had War planes by world war 2. With their own methods of attack that differed from Naval strategies. That was within 30 years of the aeroplane invention. Space Aether ships in this RP have existed for around 50 years. By now they assuredly would have strategies VERY different from naval warfare tailored to fit Aether ships unique strengths and weaknesses.

Such as the 3 dimensional travel instead of 2 dimensional and the speeds at which Aether ships can travel. They dwarf naval ships by a longshot. (Someone, I think it was you, said the Brunhilde I think? Was capable of moving 300+ MPH. That's faster than 18th and 19th century naval ships that I know of. A lot faster. And more dangerous. The small scouts should be capable of going as fast if not, faster. Those are VERY dangerous speeds to go at without the instant calculating ability of computers. One would want LOT'S of distance between them and the next ship.)

And weaponry would be A LOT farther range in space than on sea. They could attack over longer distances, there wasn't a whole heck of a lot of reason to get close unless they wanted to board the ship.

One could not rely merely on their eyes for navigating amongst large ships because one could not be at the Bow and the stern of A large ship at the same time to make sure they cleared a craft behind them. They would have to rely on instruments to help guide them. And instruments that could be used in this made up time frame wouldn't work in a fast enough manner to make speeds of 300+ miles safe in that small of a distance between ships. In a three mile diameter... if they are a ton of small "scout" type vessels, I suppose some would be close enough to blow up. But that would depend on what formation they are using. My brother says that if they were attacking, they would want to be attacking as one frontal force, but far away from each other, to be able to pull flanking manuevers. Then they would be less likely to be in a 3 mile spherical area.

So I guess this one comes down to, what attack formation they are using. But I concede. If it's the smaller vessels, there is a distinct chance more than just a couple could be blown in a 3 mile spherical area.

again, making assumptions that the claims would only be on asteroids, and those millions of miles apart.  The problem is that we're not talking about the asteroid belt close to Jupiter, but rather what comprises the region we in our RL   multiverse refer to as "the oort cloud." i've already mentioned how close together many are; why isit such a sticking point?  Frankencats so far have not happened in real life, shouldn't we excise that part of the story as well, if we're going to be such sticklers for fact?

I think maybe I'm seeing a little jealousy here.

... Oort cloud?

The outer Oort cloud is believed to contain several trillion individual objects larger than approximately 1 km[1] (with many billions with absolute magnitudes[14] brighter than 11 - corresponding to ~20 km diameter), with neighboring objects typically tens of millions of kilometres apart.

Even if the source is Wikipedia, Tens of millions of Kilometres apart is farther than I was giving credit for. I also didn't notice where you said How close together they are, Feel free to let me know the date or page of that post, I would like to get my facts straight.

Really? Why? because that's the way it is here? The story isn't happening here...

To my understanding, yes it is. This universe is the same as our own with Key differences and a few pieces of differing facts with science.

again, why? can't it be different in a different universe?

Again, it's not a different universe. Same one, key differences. Otherwise My character gets to have blue skin and gils, Got it? *smirks*

What job are you assuming they're doing? They're all self-employed placer prospectors who occasionally band together to put together large rafts of trailer ships full of mined ore. They're not employed by anyone other than themselves (much like the Australian fossickers, only much more profitably, due to looser controls and greater amounts of ore to be had by all).

I merely meant they would be attracted more to the much larger, dwarf planet sized asteroids as there would be more to mine there. Thus many of them would have a long distance to travel to reach The German fleet.

Quite a few, just like in the last war. I really don't understand your irritation. there's plenty of other things to be done by others, if that's your worry.

... That's not my worry.

assuming the American paradigm; however, remember, while many are Americans, they are not Americans of the latter twentieth or early 21st centuries, and this is not california.

too, the germans tried to force their way in before, and teh Trilidian Brigade drove them out then. this would be seen as another attempt to horn in, another attack on 'their" territory.

I have NO idea what Americans and Californians have to do with this. But honestly? I wouldn't risk my life and livelihood even if they are Germans like who attacked THIRTY YEARS ago, Because they aren't attacking miners. They are attacking a ship with unknown motives for being out there. Miners may very well protect their own. But the Badger isn't their own.

Such as, maybe being able to continue their livelihoods? Perhaps personal relationships with other miners who might not be willing to help them out of a jam if they didnt pitch in now? pardon the horrendous pun, but they don't all act in a vacuum (or at least, not THAT  kind of vacuum). also, you're talking about "minor weaponry, such as lasers which cut through iridium and neptunium, tractor/repulsor pirings which scrape diamonds, quartz, calcite, carborundum, etc. from their asteroidal matrices, as minor weapons? fire the plasmic cutting lasers a certain wayand that's where the fireballs come from. teh ships of teh enemy get ripped open with teh tractor-repulsor arrays. and they often fire teh other wepons in to teh gaps thus created.
None was promised. I don't think there would be that many mining ships to help to be a considerable threat outwardly. (But who knows, maybe one of them has an experimental weapon, or can pull of an old Captain Morgan trick by making the ship LOOK dangerous and distracting one of the attackers.)

As stated. There is no indication for them that they are indeed here to stop or control their mining operations. That's a pretty big gamble to take. And most of the hostilities toward past Actions from the Germans would have calmed in 30 years. Many of those out here wouldn't be in their 50's because this kind of work, would likely be cold, dangerous, and hard. Many may have died by stress, disease, lack of food or water, or fighting by their 50's. And many new people there probably wouldn't be intimately familiar with that war. Many of the people involved in the mining operations are likely 20-40.

That's an indication of a hesitation to fight. Not enough of a threat, and not enough to gain. And yet almost guaranteed high losses.

... Lasers huh? First what use is a laser in mining? (seriously, think about that, they point in a straight line. They cut. How are they useful for mining? Blasting and drilling are more useful than that.) Whether it's a laser, a drill, a sonic weapon of some sort, or anything really. It would likely be made to dip down the farther it dug, and work on a close range of less than 20 feet likely. If these ships spanned even only 100 feet to each other (personally I think it would be closer to 2000 feet at the least, which is less than a half mile.)  There would be much adjustment to the tools, and a very large power requirement, one they very easily might not be able to meet. Business people don't hold large maximums beyond what they need for their equiptment. Because it's expensive. They take the cheapest option that will work.

And what is a Tractor Repulsar array, and how is it supposed to theoretically work?

Hope you enjoy/enjoyed the movie.

Thank you. I hope you enjoyed your dinner out with your family

Errrm.... *coughs* toward the end there that sounded a lot more antagonistic than I meant it to. Please do excuse that. I'm not trying to fight with you Bailey. I'm just of a mindset that as much as possible needs to make sense. For two reasons. One because I think it makes a more interesting story, and two, because I think my brain might implode trying to make sense of it if it doesn't have some sort of decent explanation. I know I come across as a know-it-all child, Please do excuse me for that. I don't mean to disrespect you or your experience.

[Alexis Voltaire]

Well the point of this rp is not reality is it?
But miss Curious  got me looking at it with reality glasses, it can look quite funny when you do. 

Heh, true. I've been thinking about it. To really give an answer I think I'd need an unnecessarily huge amount of info about the ship and what she's carrying and how she's laid out.

And when considering a ship the size of the Mad Badger, which is an armored aethercraft*, I don't think weight or space is something to be picky about. Not to say this isn't a good consideration though. (the realistic vs. the believable)

*armored spacecraft are common in fiction, but thinking again, realistically, the cost of sending a stuff into space, per pound, with today's technology, is very, very high. (something like $8,000-10,000, though I can't find exact figures)

So far the Mad Badger hasn't been away from a place where she can resupply for more than a few days, since the dragons have been on board.

In the ship's old design, probably 1/4 of the people on board, if the ship was fully occupied, would be crew members, and the rest passengers. In the current design, with the military refit, that'd probably be closer to 1/3 of the full capacity. (I don't have exact figures so I'm just mixing fractions) The ship was originally designed for taking passengers between worlds (maybe 1-2 weeks), and not months long voyages without resupply. So fewer people would mean she's able to make longer trips.

The refit would probably convert the unused cabin space, but then again, since she's a military vessel now, she has to store weapons and ammo, for the ground crews if not the ship mounted weapons, as well as other equipment. I think some of the plummet craft were added as well, from the amount carried before. (I might be wrong about that though.) So there's probably more space to store supplies than there was before the refit, but not much. Again, she was refitted to be a warship, not a long voyage vessel. I'm thinking the ship was refitted to be capable of going, maximum, five or six weeks weeks without resupply. With the dragons on board (which was not part of the original plan when the ship was refitted) that would probably be about four weeks.

[MWBailey]

I'm just of a mindset that as much as possible needs to make sense. For two reasons. One because I think it makes a more interesting story, and two, because I think my brain might implode trying to make sense of it if it doesn't have some sort of decent explanation.

Or, it might expand if you let it run with it... life isn't all explained, sometimes it's a puzzle, and you have to fill in with something besides facts.

I know I come across as a know-it-all child, Please do excuse me for that. I don't mean to disrespect you or your experience.

Hey, what's wrong with being a know-it-all? I'm one too, remember?

Oh, you meant...OK

Seriously, perfectionism is not necessarily bad, especially for a writer, but endless explanation or obsessively making everything fit just perfectly so tends to make a story pretty boring, in my view; its as if the writer cares more about the detail than the story. Detail is great, sure, but absolute exactitude would have killed novels by people such as Bernard Cornwell (the Sharpe series -- the books, not the PBS travesty series), Isaac Asimov (Particularly I, Robot or The Caves of SteelSomeday I'd like someone to explain to me why the earthside cities have hydroponics but raise nothing but yeast...),  not that I prefer no sense and no reality, but sometimes you have to be willing to fill in the gaps with a little imagination instead of having everything perfect. But, whatever floats your boat. Or aethership. or whatever. (pardon my philosophizing, I get this way when I eat chicken fried steak and don't walk two miles afterward).

[MWBailey]

Pardon the second post...

I really don't know what my time will be like saturday or sunday; hectic, probably, but online? maybe, maybe not. Bailey's not copping out, and neither am I. but he's been leaping about and taking no damage?! No, I'm not a sadist, I dont enjoy watching my characters suffer. Much... Er, I mean, not at all! Yeah, that's what I meant...

Seriously, though, I can't just let him not get hurt, ever. Hmm...maybe I am just a tetch sadistic... Or maybe I'm just tetched...(lol)

[Alexis Voltaire]

Pardon the second post...

I really don't know what my time will be like saturday or sunday; hectic, probably, but online? maybe, maybe not. Bailey's not copping out, and neither am I. but he's been leaping about and taking no damage?! No, I'm not a sadist, I dont enjoy watching my characters suffer. Much... Er, I mean, not at all! Yeah, that's what I meant...

Seriously, though, I can't just let him not get hurt, ever. Hmm...maybe I am just a tetch sadistic... Or maybe I'm just tetched...(lol)

Heh, not a problem at all...

Personally I find it really unrealistic when in action stories/movies/novels ect, none of the characters ever get hurt by anything, at all, unless it kills them. It's like they could run through an entire war zone (and do) and never get a scratch...

[Theosophus Grey]

Great stuff, everyone!

BTW, I think it's a very good indication of just how far we have come that we're actually discussing food and pay aboard ship, rather than just posting headlong with the story.    We'll need to discuss the realities further.

[Dr. malcolm moriarty]

Mr. bailey I rather enjoyed Bernard Cornwell (the Sharpe series -the PBS travesty series}
Probably because I still have not gotten around to reading the books yet.

then again, I have yet to EVER be satisfied with a film adaptation of a book I have read first.
 Not enough space to give you a list of thoese

BTW have you read any of George MacDonald Fraser,
 "Harry Flashman" stories. Early 1800s I believe but also a Army life story sort of. The character  Harry Flashman is one of my all time favorites.

[MWBailey]

Saw the movie Royal Flash, but only glanced through the book; oddly enough, I enjoyed teh book more... . I thoroughly enjoyed the PBS series, actually, but forget it as an accurate depiction of the books by the same(or similar) titles.

Bailey's not really gone, he and Sutter's captain are just employing some of the tricks Bailey saw the unsavory types employ back in teh RIASS. (Remember Empire Strikes Back? If Zuttle needs help, she just might find it where she least expects it... )

[MWBailey]

It is to be hoped that Bailey's little evening walk will contribute to the chaos aboard the Shatzenjaeger (pardon me, but is that a GG reference? lol ) and make it easier for Zuttle to do whatever it is she's going to do, even though Bailey does not, could not, have any idea she's aboard the huge battleship. Yes, the Sutter's Revenge is clamped to the outside of the Shatzenjaeger, right above the hangar where Zuttle walked in, for all the world like a scout that almost didn't make it home...though neither they, nor she, are aware of it, unless Miss Curious wishes to handle it differently. The hole that he tossed the mortar round into is far away on the other side of the ship, diametrically.

The plan, in any case, is for the Sutter's Revenge to wait until all attention is directed somewhere else, and then quietly let go and float off and disappear into the reefs, while remaining close enough to contact the Badger when it becomes possible to do so. They're only waiting now to be sure that a rescue of personnel from the Badger (insane though that sounds) will not be necessary.

Where is Gwydden? Is he more likely to be with the containers, or with Frank's troopers?

Can Bailey flit with more than just himself and his effects? That remains to be seen...

Alexis, can't wait to see pics of those khukhuris!