Sorry guys, the salvage crew won't see much combat. I haven't made up my mind yet whether it's "no combat" or "not enough combat to be interesting", but you guys are primarily in "adventure game" mode. Find clues, figure out what happened, etc.
The away team going into the pirate ship, however, will hopefully see more combat than they bargained for. *rubs hands together*
Hmm. In future missions, I'll probably cut down a lot of this prep work. You guys won't need to be hand-held through mission prep next time for sure. Just tell Sixthree what equipment load-out you prefer, then he'll give you what
he thinks you should have, and then right to the action.
As for the utility pack, I'm pretty sure those are meant for when you crash land on a planet (clothes, food, water, weapons). For starters, between your shoulder blades is not exactly a good place to reach for your pistol during a firefight. Another thing is that all those items will start floating away from you unless you tape them down once you open the pack. (Unless they're secured already. Hmm.) I'd advise against trying to put on your extra uniform while in space. ^_^;
Regarding David's question, we'll just say that the utility packs are new additions on the latest model Mindies, which Renko and Isuzu are forunate enough to be piloting.
I'll probably refuse to allow techs for this mission that are approved after this point though. The Celia is a little out of sync time-wise with the other plot-ships, but let's be reasonable here. ^_^
If you're really determined and have a straw, you could probably find an intake port on your helmet and drink all that delicious, precious water. Of course, if you're doing this, then your armor's life support (which provides water) has probably failed, and you have a few minutes to live before you die of oxygen deprivation.
Or you can splash it on your helmet:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/09/14
PS: Gah. Too much talking and browsing. Sorry. No IC post today. Early meeting with manager tomorrow.