Alacrity - Where exactly on the map do we think the door opens?

Ok, gang, how do we want to proceed with the boarding?  I'm ready to get this investigation goin'!  

I think I'd vote for the jump across.  We'd be linked I assume so there really isn't much risk, is there?  And it seems simpler.  What say the others?  And, of course, the captain.  

Carolina Panthers
Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills
Washington Redskins
Tennessee Titans
Houston Texans
Los Angeles Chargers
Minnesota Vikings
New England Patriots
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
Kansas City Chiefs

Chicago Bears
Los Angeles Rams
Philadelphia Eagles

New York Jets

Very unfortunate news for Tann and his mother.  Thoughts are with them.  

Before leaving the hut and moving up the road Galydan cast  detect magic on the items they had acquired from the goblins, but it appeared that a few coppers was the extent of their wealth.  Nothing around showed as magical.

When the group approached the web covered hut they moved quietly and cautiously.  It seemed none of them were interested in finding out if there really were any spiders around.  Finding that something had conveinently cut a path through the webs that had once blocked the path, Ghiberti attempted to lead them quietly forward.  The rest followed his lead and moved slowly up the path.  Passing the front door Loradove thought she might have seen some movement in the webs covering the entrance.  Maybe.  When she tried to look closer everything was still.  And silent.  Nothing seemed to move except the little gnome who quickly decided against investigating closer.  

The team eased past the silent hut and up the path, crossing through the webbed zone without sight of anything.  Keeping a close eye on the  surrounding rocks and brush they didn't breath easily until they had reached the next switchback.  Even then as they turned back in the direction they had come from and continued upwards they knew they were approaching the hut again from above.  At the next turning they could look down on the top of the webs about 70 feet below them.  Nothing moved but the webs seemed to extend back into the brush behind the hut.  

Quickly moving on and putting more distance between them selves and the hut they made short work of the rest of the road up the ridge.  Eventually they reached the last turning of the road and saw it head upwards towards a gap in the top of the ridge.  The road seemed to crest about 300 or so yards in front of them and descend out of their view.  Through the gap the only thing visible was sky.  Closer to the party, however, was the tower that they had caught glimpses of on their way up.  It was about 150 feet ahead of them and about 30 feet to the right side of the road.  It was about 40 feet tall. Or at least it had been when it was in good condition which it certainly was not anymore.  The top of the tower was crumbling and the entire thing appeared to be crumbling and on the verge of falling down.  There was one entrance - a doorway at the base that showed no sign of a door.  Throught the open gap little could be seen due to the shadows, but collapsed wood seemed possible.  The area around the tower was stone and did not look likely to give any sign of footprints or others signs of passage.  

Chicago

Cleveland

Baltimore

Minnesota

NY Jets

Philly

LA Rams

KC

Sand Diego Chargers (LA is just wrong . . . )

Seattle

Dallas

Detroit

Tampa

New England

New Orleans 

Denver

Just waiting while the wheel turns. . . 

Fixer watched as everyone took up their spots.  Glahn moved to a spot to provide cover.  Somehow it didn't make him more comfortable.  But they needed it.  Others would sit at the diner or someother similar location.  And some would go in.  he suspected he was in that group.  He looked around the alley to see if there was any security visible in all that wiring. there might be something he could co-op if it existed.  He just doubted it existed.  

More likely was something on the nearby buildings.  He looked for security cameras that might cover the alley.  Was it possible someone had footage off people going in and out?  It might tell them if Rya was there.  Or perhaps even Jace if the footage was stored back far enough.  It likely was if it existed in the first place.  But that would likely require a camera on a nearby building that just accidently seemed to cover their target.  He kept his eyes open for possibilities.  If he found something he could suggest looking for the wiring for access.  But time probably made it a bad option anyway.  Time was not on their side.  

When he finished his quick look around he was ready to go?  "Ok, We goin' in?  Not much sense waitin' any longer."

As the crew scattered to their quarters to prepare to board the Demeter Alex Castlebrandt sat at his post and manuevered the two ships closer together.  He attempted to follow through and his previous comments to the captain and avoid ever lining up right in front of the derelict.  With the tiny power signal the ship was displaying it seemed nigh impossible that the thing could suddenly fire that nose cannon, but something about the thing had set the whole crew on edge.  No sense risking it.  So he manuevered around behind and as close as made sense and then matched trajectories.  

.He'd heard the comment about life support.  Stasis beds?  Looking at the ship it seemed almost impossible that anyone was alive over there.  It wasn't just the damage and lack of power.  The damn thng was the Demeter.  If somebody took it down they weren't going to just let it sit there.  At least not with surviors.  It was like the wealth the ship was supposed to carry.  He didn't gamble, but he'd wager every penny he had that none of the platinum remained on that ship.  Who would shut that vehicle down and leave the prize behind?  And things didn't look like an accident.  unfortunately for the crew, anyone who would take the prize without announcing it to the world would also not leave survivors.  It was hard to imagine any set of circumstances that left someone alive over there, stasis beds or not.  But if it was possible he'd be damned if he was going to sail away before making sure.  Somethngs needed to be done.  You couldn't leave someone to float out here.  

As he finsihed moving the ship into position he looked at the captain.  "Cap'n.  The Destiny is in the best spot I can put her.  I've locked the controls in place and we should hold this position relative to the Demeter.  Also, I've set up Destiny to have a maximum probity detect.  We don't want anyone sneaking up on us.  It'll send an alarm to my PADD if something triggers.  Permission to leave my post and prepare to board?"

He expected the assent that he received.  The man had already told everyone to do just that.  But the question needed to be asked.  Once permission was given he moved quickly to his quarters to prepare.  He really didn't have much he needed to bring.  No weapons.  They'd be useless in a vacuum and he wasn't much good with them anyway.  He did grab the small camera he had with him.  Just what would be over there?  Nothing said platinum was the only thing that ship had carried.  And a mystery needed evidence for solving.  His PADD, of course, came over as well.  The alarm he had set would do no good if he left the thing here.  He should be able to make sure the thing sent the alarm directly to his suit as well.  Before heading out he also did a quick lookup of the Demeter itself.  What were the odds that somewhere he could find the blueprints for the ship itself?  Shor that, it was an Apollo class ship and some general schematics and blueprints might be useful.  A pound of prevention and all that.  

Once ready he headed towards the shuttle bay.  He was the last to arrive - not surprising since he had been the last to leave the bridge besides the captain himself.  He arrived just in time to hear Fox say, "I told you so."  He had to stop himself from visibly shaking his head.  There might be people alive over there, no matter how doubtful the matter, and the man complained?  He was confronted by an incredibly mystery and he balked at losing a few hours.  It made no sense.  He understood caution.  And he understood the fear of delay.  But to let that make you pass on such an obligation and opportunity?  Again, he could not help but wonder where the caution had come from.  He figured he had as much reason for caution as anyone, but he was as eager as he had ever been to cross that vacuum.  

He had one more thing to do before actually getting in the shuttle.  Power.  They would likely want power to be able to get the computers up and running.  Or maybe those stasis pod if someone was incredibly lucky over there.  He asked Pops about a portable battery.  They'd want one of those.

Alex listened as Fox questioned the captain's decision to check out the Demeter.  It was hard for him to not turn around and gape.  He understood caution.  He appreciated it.  He was alive and free because of it.  But to ignore something like this ship just floating out there?  This was his response to a distress signal?  This was his reaction to one of the big mysteries of their time?  it seemed almost impossible to Alex that someone would seriously argue against checking it out.  That level of caution was . . .usually earned.  He wondered what had made Fox so cautious that he would turn his back on something like this.  In many ways the response wasn't just a surprise, but a second mystery.  Pondering the man's motivation he began to move the  Destiny into position.  One good thing about the situation at least, he appreciated how the captain handled it.  This wasn't a military outfit and he had given the man his say, but also made a decision.  Fair.  Fair was good.  Mysteries were good.  Unless they weren't.  

Alex heard the captain say that the entire party would head over to the  Demeter.  He couldn't entirely keep the smile from his face as he put in his own, "yes, sir."  He certainly wasn't going to voice concerns about goin' over.

The pilot quickly set the controls to move the  Destine closer to the derelicct vessel.  His primary goal was to get close enough to make the shuttle jump and attachment as simple as possible.  As a secondary goal he also kept the ship clear of the  Demeter's gun port.  It hardly seemed likely to fire under the circumstances, but of such things were ambushes made.  

Once he had everything ready to go he hurried down to the shuttle being sure to make sure everythng was locked up as the captain had ordered.  He appreciated a cautios man at the helm.  

              In the morning Ghiberti spent some time looking around the hut to find a place to hide the bodies. He attempted to go about 150’ in a circle, but the terrain didn’t really allow for that. It went uphill at a reasonably steep rate. It was climbable, but there was a very good reason that a long time ago somebody had built a switchback road into it. Generally, within about 10’ of either side of the road (or behind the hut) the land quickly becomes very difficult with significant elevation changes, trees, brush and rocks. Movement is difficult, but if your looking for a place to hide some bodies, it won’t be difficult to find one. Luckily goblins are small, so it wasn’t overly difficult to haul them to a spot about 50 feet in back of the hut. It seemed unlikely anybody would find them unless they were specifically looking there or had an extremely good nose. The view was blocked from all directions by rocks and brush.

               With the bodies disposed of it was time to split the loot. The coins, as Loradove loudly noted, easily split into three piles, with each of the three adventurers putting a small pile into their pouches. The weapons were piled in the hut, with only Loradove taking something. (Feel free to change this.) She claimed a couple of shortswords. They were goblin work so even the best were only average, but they were serviceable. As were the two bows and pile of arrows she added to her collection. She was beginning to look like a walking armory. Luckily all of the items had “short” as part of their title. Still, her limit on what she could carry wouldn’t include many more bows and swords.

               Leaving the hut behind, the group started up the road towards the top of the ridgeline. Just a couple hundred yards up the path, not even yet to the next hut, (Remember there is a small hut like the one you stayed in at each turning of the switchback path.) you found a medium sized round object on the side of the road. As you approached you remembered seeing the goblins kicking something along the path as they came down the previous evening. It was about the size of a decent ball, but when you got a closer look you realized it was no ball – it was a head! An orc head, to be precise. But an orc head that had been used as a football by some goblins. It was in rough shape from being kicked down the path and was partially covered in sticky strands. It was gross, but not otherwise noteworthy.

               Moving on up the path the group traversed several more switchbacks. As they approached the hut near the turning of the path, they could see that the hut and surrounding terrain was covered with webs. The hut was about 10’ to the side of the path and the entrance was not passable due to webs. About 5’ uphill of the hut a desiccated orc body (minus a head) hung in the webs. It looked like the webs had once crossed the path, but had recently been cut. The road itself is thus relatively easily passable. There is no obvious sign of whatever made the webs.

               Looking upward you can see that there are about 5 or 6 more switchbacks before you will reach the top of the ridge. The broken off remnant of a stone tower rises from the top of the ridge. It is a ruin. From the angle you are looking up at it is hard to tell how tall it is since you are unable to see the tower’s base. The top of it is crumbling and uneven.

Seriously?  Pops doesn't favor stopping to check out the most famous tresure ship ever?  I get wanting to not mess anything up and everything, but if this ship is as famous as Alacrity implied then would anyone really not want to investigate?  First, the money.  (Probably gone) Second, it is a legendary mystery.  

Wait, salvage work might be illegal and get us in trouble??  Oh geez, then Alex is out.  

Ok, maybe not.  

Thanks for the info.  

Ghost peppers are good.

Not that I'm looking ahead or anything . . . 

This is a pretty legendary ship.  With a pretty legendary (and, ahem, valuable) cargo.  

What are the salvage rules in space?  I suspect Alacrity isn't going to drop millions of $ worth of platinum on us 5 posts into the game, but if he did, what are the rules?  And what about the ship itself?  Given its history the ship itself could have value.  At the very least we aren't going to be able to tow/fly it into a shipyard like we/you did with Destiny.  That name plate will attract a lot of attention.  It would also attract attention to us - and likely get people asking questions about us.  

This is all very far in the future since we haven't even managed to board the thing yet, but I thought I'd throw it out there as food for thought.  

Alacrity - what are the salvage rules for derelicts found floating in the black?  (How long has this ship been missing?)

I'm ok if Alex ends up staying on Destiny.  He would very much want to go explore the other ship, but would expect as pilot that he might stay - depending on the need for a skilled shuttle pilot.  And he would follow orders from the captain.  So it isn't a problem if he stays behind.  He makes sense if we aren't just "all going."  

As for the storyline and game play - Alacrity suggested there'd be game play on the ship as well.   Plus, Alex would be in contact with the away team, I assume.  

Or, fi the boss says so, we just all go.  Whatever.  

Well,

If we play it based on the GM saying the NPC is there so we can all go on the mission, then that works with me.  

On the other hand, if we play it by character role-playing so far, Ivy does not exactly seem like she is trustworthy to leave in command.  Lets leave the crazy young girl wandering about spouting weird stuff in charge of the entire ship while everybody goes off leaving themselves completely at the mercy of whatever she starts seeing this time?  Oh yeah, that seems like a great idea.  

Can anyone fly the shuttle?  Or who has the skill?

Alex will be really bummed to be staying on the Destiny, but it is what he expects.  (Assuming the pilot stays with the ship and others can run the shuttle, which seems pretty obvious givent he back story.)  

Alex watched as the dead relic floated on the screen.  When the image of an earth ship first appeared as a logo his hopes rose for something special, but then the name,  Demeter, entered the view screen.  A low whistle slipped through his teeth.  Well, that would be something special.  The  Demeter....

Everyone in the command center had their eyes glued on the screen.  Ivy's voice came over the intercom but Alex just ignored her.  He agreed with the sentiment, but the general sense of it was not needed at the moment.  

He glanced at the captain.  It was the captain's call.  But he had heard comments about time and he did know something about what they could spare.  "Captain, as you know, we haven't been pushing it on this run.  We can easily make up for a 6 hour stop.  Even 24 hours could be caught up easily enough and would have us arriving as scheduled.  That's your window."  

As he looked at the ship it was clear that something had happened to it.  "I can bring us closer away from the nose of the thing.  With no power it is hard to imagine that cannon firing, but I'm not big on chances.  Then it would be shuttle time."

He wanted to go over.  At least, he wanted the team to go over.  He guessed he might be stuck sitting right here.  Priviledge of the pilot's seat.  But there was a mystery sitting right out there.  A mystery and a whole heap of money.  Maybe.  What the heck had happened?  Best not to think about the money right now, he didn't even know what he'd do with it.  No.  Ignore that. 

He slowly guided the ship closer and glanced up at the captain.  "Captain?"

    Fixer looked around at the Alley and surrounding neighborhood.  Squatters.  People who couldn’t even afford the rent in that flea-infested pile where Rya supposedly lived.  All she could do was afford to buy an address.  And then live here.  What a crappy world.  The idea hit him in the face nearly every day on this planet, but somehow it struck him really hard here.  He felt badly for those stuck in this alley – and he had seen much worse alleys.  Heck, they’d just been buying info in a worse one outside the rental space.  But life was harsh.  And he did not want to end up here himself. 

  And not ending up here meant finding Jace and doing it quickly.  He put pity aside with one last thought – what would he be willing to do to not end up here?  And similarly, what would he be willing to do to get out once there?  He had heard nice words about Rya Mendez, but couldn’t help wondering how she had answered those two questions.  Sometimes nice people just needed to stay alive.  What was it his uncle used to say?  “When people are starving and watching their kids die right in front of them, they don’t just roll over in the gutter and say, “ah shucks!” and die.  They fight.  They fight whoever and however they need to in order to save themselves and their families.”  The wisdom of Uncle John.  Was Rya fighting to stay alive?  It would explain much.  And he could hardly blame her. 

    But sympathy didn’t find the kid and didn’t keep him out of the alley.  He had his own fight to fight. 

   Fixer looked at the others in the group.  This stuff was their gig.  “Ok, so we can see with the spy.  And we need to watch all exists.  We have the walkie talkies split up at each exit, I assume.  Does everyone here know what she looks like?  We all saw the video …” Here he looked at Charlie.  “Charlie, you see the vid?  You know her?  There is no reason she should know us or know we are here.  I know I’m not the master planner, but I gotta think going in with the whole gang will be pretty noticeable and might make her run just to be safe.  I suspect I’m here as backup so point me where I can be of use.  Team work folks.  It isn’t just Jace’s life that depends on it now.” 

    That last statement made him nervous.   It was so true.  He looked around the entrance to the alley – any entrances he could find looking for security.  Who the hell would wire a hobo alley?  Nobody he could figure, but if Rya could rent an address maybe she could rent something else as well.    Those wires running about the alley also got a scrutiny.  He’d seen crazier things.  And if there was security of any sort whatsoever, they not only might want to be careful, but might be able to take advantage of it for their own uses.  Security in a hobo alley . . . crazy thought.

"We got ourselves an unknown some three thousand klicks ahead and in path. I'd appreciate everyone gettin' situation for whatever Gorram shinanigans are 'bout t' go down." 

Alex found the captain's tendency to scatter odd phrases into his speech to be somewhere between annoying and amusing. It appeared to be Korean.  Surely he could figure out Korean.  Especially since most of his choicest selections appeared to be some form of profanity - or expressions used in similar situations.  Figuring out what the gorram the man was actually saying might prove an interesting puzzle.  

But he didn't think he'd used that word quite correctly.  

He'd get there.  

“I did it.”

The words seemed to just hang in the stale air of the dungeon.  Guilty.  The girl everyone was so confident was innocent was, by her own words, guilty.

But the story wasn’t that simple after all.  It was an accident.  A sleep potion gone wrong.  And attempt to do good that turned into a nightmare.  Perhaps.  Maybe.  Innocence was a complicated word.

Dane, crouching right in front of the poor girl, passed the waterskin (wine?) through the bars again.  “Calm down.  Things look bleak, but try to get a hold of yourself.  Take a drink.”  Here he paused and looked at the Ebou Dari who had washed her face a bit and nodded to indicate her tears.  A kind heart was needed here again.  “Catch your breath and tell us what happened.  You did it.  Ok.  How?  What did you use?  What made you decide to help out?  Where did you get the sleeping herbs?”  The questions came out slowly.  He was careful not to go too fast.  He didn’t want to push her over the edge, but he needed her to see the kinds of things that might prove helpful.  “Nothing is certain about any outcome just yet.” 

He almost groaned to himself at this point as he could almost hear every elder in his village saying something like “The wheel weaves as the wheel wills” or some such expression of fate.  It was crap.  Dane didn’t believe in fate.  And he hoped this young lady didn’t either.

“For example, do you usually keep sleeping herbs around?  Where’d they come from?”  He smiled again.  “None of us seem to be going anywhere soon, so take your time.  Tell us what happened.”

Will get done.  

What you would all likely know about Alex:  

* He has done a reasonable amount of smuggling.

* He reads a lot - often big books with complicated titles.  If your paying attention you may recently have seen him reading Plato's Euthyphro.  Or the book mentioned in the first post which I can't remember.

* He may be a smuggler, but he does seem to have a strong sense of right and wrong.  It may not have come up yet, but it will be an easy deduction before long.  

*He doesn't show it off, but anyone with a brain will wuickly realize that he is educated.

Wyatt and Pops - since you did the interviewing

* Alex has a strong background in ancient earth objects.  He has smuggled some of these in the past.

* He has traveled a fair amount around the system.  

* He didn't disclose his background more than a year or two back.  

* You likely didn't catch it, but Alex does not believe in fate, the rule of 3 or any such thing.  We make our own fate.  His life, his choices, and nobody else can make them for him.  

* When hired he made it clear he would transport stuff, but he had no intention of doing something that was truly black.  He mentioned a previous run he pulled out of because of biologicals.   In all honesty I'm not quite sure what the exact right item would be but the idea is that he will haul stolen goods and rebellion goods but he wouldn't do something he believed would harm millions.  Drugs, for example, would be hard for him if he knew.  

Alex Castlebrandt looked around the Destiny when he first got on board.  It was an interesting ship – it didn’t really match the specs of anything he had seen before.  He’d flown plenty of transports, but this wasn’t one.  It certainly didn’t run like one.  The thing was a gazelle compared to some of the lumbering things he’d shepherded through the Black.  And that wasn’t all – a lot of other stuff was funny about the ship as well.  He wasn’t great with the mechanical stuff but even he could see that lots of stuff was not factory spec – and he spent enough time talking with the owners of the ship to know more.  The ship was interesting.

               Destiny seemed a fitting name.  He wanted to know more about it.  A ship like this, someone would probably be looking for it.  But he didn’t know much about where it came from.  He didn’t think the other three did either, but they hadn’t said much about its origins.  (Assumption here – that Alex would not necessarily have been told the story from post #1.)  He didn’t dig too deeply yet.  He’d need to earn his stripes with this crew as he had with the others.  He was glad he’d found them.  It was about time for him to be leaving Beylix.  He delivered a few canisters here because he thought there might be an interesting collection he could access but that had turned up craps.  Still, he’d asked enough questions that it was best to keep a move on.  He didn’t need anyone honing in on the name Castlebrandt.  It was still shiny, new and clean and he wanted to keep it that way as long as possible. 

               But the name had been enough to get him the job.  He was known as a pilot who could do certain jobs.  It seemed this crew had a need for one – and he got a good vibe from them.  At least if the Korean guy could keep his temper.  He seemed a bit wound up at times.  But give the guy a break until an issue arose.  It was off into the black.  He wasn’t sure exactly where he wanted to go next.  This job for Molly gave him a direction as good as any. 

               Later the pilot found himself sitting in the ship trying to digest Pop’s chili and wondering if there was a reason to be on deck.  But as usual, he wanted things to run smoothly.  Plus, the ship wasn’t all that big and it gave him some time to himself to sit and ponder.   He wondered what they were carrying.  Foodstuff for a shelter was the official line, and the various cannisters were labelled that way, but he’d have wagered a lot of coin against there being anything nutritious in the hold.  If he wagered, that is. It didn’t bother him much, but he would have been happier if he had been able to believe the lie.  If he knew it was something destructive, he might have pulled from the trip.  He had standards.  But plausible deniability and need went a long way.  Besides, who was to say what the greatest good was here anyway?

               His mind began to shift to thoughts about who he might know at their landing spot when his reverie was interrupted by some mint tea.  Ivy.  And she had the tea he had been thinking of.  Certainly that qualified as a lot of good at the moment with both of them feeling the side effects of Pop’s cooking.  It seemed they were carrying hazardous materials, regardless of what was in the hold.  The young lady like learning about astrogation and it felt good to Alex to teach her.  It had been a long time since he had been in front of a classroom. 

               But the lesson didn’t even get started before the ship picked up a shortwave broadcast.  Shortwave?  Out here?  He quickly did his best to home in on the object and called the captain to the bridge. 

"What kinda ship are you readin' it t' be?

Alex didn’t even bother taking his eyes off of the sensors as he replied.  “At this distance, I have no idea if it even is a ship. It could be just about anything.  All I know is that it is putting out a shortwave message.”  With that he paused briefly.  “But that in itself is interesting.  First, who in the blazes uses shortwave out here?  The odds of hitting anyone is tiny.  Second, assuming they aren’t just idiots into shortwave, where are the other signals?  Where is the pulse beacon?  Nothing.  There isn’t even a heat signal that I can detect.  Literally nothing else.  That’s odd.”  He tried another scan as they moved a bit closer.  “The only thing I’ve seen in the black with no signal like this was a crybaby – you know, the kind of decoy smugglers use to distract ships?  It sends out a message of some sort, but wouldn’t have the other sorts of signals associated with a ship.  But again we’re stuck on the whole ‘shortwave only’ thing.  What’s the point of crybaby using only shortwave?  Makes no sense.”  At this point he glanced at the captain.  “At this point I got nothing.  Maybe when we get closer.”

               As the Destiny moved towards the source of the signal Castlebrandt began to get some reading from the ship’s sensors.  Around 1,000 clicks he actually had some information, although not much.  “Bingo.  Got something cap’n.  There is a power signal, but it is very faint.  Not much there.  And whatever it is – its metal and kinda big, at least compared to us.  Maybe 2x the size of Destiny.”  He sighed, he hated not knowing.  “That’s it.  I’m checking every sensor we have, but until we get closer, maybe even visual range, I don’t think I can say much more.  Right now, we are on a course to intercept.  Let me know if that should change.”

               Alex stopped himself from humming.  He really wanted this to be a simple trip.  5 days.  That was the deal.  Simple and done.  Get the crew a name and keep moving.  But he did love a mystery.   What was that thing?  And a distress signal meant that someone was in distress.  Or more likely once had been.  The odds of anyone still being alive out there seemed remote, but you had to check. 

 Alex Castlebrandt is on board and ready to fly.

As for the distress signal - the object has a very low power siignal.  Does it seem to be enough to do anything more than just a shortwave?  Would some other type of beacon or message have required more power?  Would there be power left over after the beacon to do anything else?  (Like lifesupport or weapons, even small.)