Posted by Vice Admiral CockRoach (GM) in Main Sim - Bridge - Those Who Remain Behind
[snip]

Green could figure that likely they could clear things up by going into the atmosphere, it would be a bumpy ride for sure but long as they were careful to avoid any atmospheric pockets they would probably be fine long as they kept the ship moving, holding station in such a high gravity would be almost impossible due to the strain, but moving the ship at least on low impulse would be fine........hopefully.....

GM CockRoach

“One moment commander,” he said, turning in the chair to the console and feeling cramped, stuffed between the chair and the console. They were not built for his frame. Scanning tolerance levels he spoke up, still scanning. “Commander, if we get under the layers of the upper atmosphere we should be able to have a stable ride but for some turbulence. We’d need to plot a circular course on impulse to keep our elevation stable. That might give the science people a better perch for viewing.” He glanced over there to see if that was so. He was starting to get out of his depth of atmospheric running and sensor adaptions.

• Green

“Go ahead and plot the course. Keep us above the landing zone. We’ll go in for an initial 5 minutes and gather as much information as possible. At the same time Ensign, monitor the space frame. I know the Bonaventure was not specifically designed for this, so I want to make sure we aren’t going to be just causing more problems for ourselves.

Green coughed lightly at the ‘ensign’, him being a Lt jg. Who did he think he was? Serinde who did not deserve the commission in his opinion. Far too inexperienced. he did feel a tinge of recall at family history on the old masted ships were ‘officers’ began as children, often of privileged background. Still. “Aye,” he said, nodding to the navigator to plot and engage the course. He would do what he was trained for. The space frame.

“I’ve got green on hull integrity sensors. Pressure. Temperature. Inertial dampers,” he said, scanning the screen. “Computer recommends a 80kph impulse thrust. We can modify as necessary.” He glanced over to the navigator who had turned to him.

“Course plotted. Angle of 40 degrees descent. 80kph,” she said. What was her name? Amandeep? He needed to pay more attention to those outside of engineering.

“With a glance at the Commander, Green said, “Ready to initiate, Commander.” He thought the Commander had suggested he just do it but the order was not clear to engage it himself. He would let him tackle that command.

NL Green

“If after 5 minutes there are not any issues, we can maintain station over the landing zone as long as conditions allow for it. If not, we’ll head back out of atmosphere and come up with plan B. Sound good to everyone?”

Jonathan looked around at the other crew on the bridge. It was risky, but had the chance of giving them really good information. Hopefully it just wasn’t too risky.

Cmdr. McKnight - XO

Nods of agreement came and went, and once the order got given the Bonnie began its slow careful descent through the atmosphere. Things were of course bumpy and a few panels and monitors flickered here and there as they struggled to compensate. But after a few minutes they broke through the upper atmosphere into cloud cover without much trouble. Once clearing the cloud cover they found they were in a circling pattern about 40,000ft or so above the ground. Again they would have to keep the ship moving to not put undue stress on the ship’s frame so hovering in place was pretty much out of the question unless there was a really big emergency needing it, even then they probably only could do it for a minute or three until problems would arise.

Green gritted his teeth. Next ship design could do a little better with their inertial dampers to smooth out that ride. But nothing bad happened both in their descent or on the screen. “Systems all green, Commander, ” he reported confidently.

Scans would clear up slowly, and it would take a bit of time to fully process and adapt their custom search algothrims for the lower altitude. In the meantime though, it seems they had drawn the attention of a pack of predatory very larger insects. 20 some of these 10ft long, 6ft wide spikey tailed creatures had initially flown away from the area of the Bonnie arriving. But it seems they had circled back now intent on driving off the bigger challenger to their air space. The swarm of larger spikey looking insects began to land and circle on the Bonnie’s hull. Of course they couldn’t do any damage right?

GM CockRoach

Comms came alive shortly after their descent. [o] Engineer Petty Officer Aelef to Bonaventure. We see you up there. That was . . quite an entrance. We’re wondering if anything is wrong? Are your comms not going through to us? [c] There was a pause. [o] You also have some bugs heading your way but Ensign Serinde doesn’t think they can do any harm. We’ve met two of the .. shuttle crew. They confirm they’ve been there for a century and a half but say they don’t know how. [c]

Green gave a dismissive clearing of his throat. Sure they’d be the authority on that down on the planet. He glanced up, however, at some skitching sounds above them. That must be some ‘bug’. Glancing over to a monitoring station crewman he asked, “Can we see what’s out there?”
NC Aelef