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 Harm Profit [ALERT] [ALERT] [2100] [2200] [2300] [0000] | Valkyria [ALERT] [ALERT] [2100] [2200] [2300] [0000] 1-armor | 11-cred | Ed+2 St+1 Me+0 Mi+1 Co+0 Sy-1 | XP ●●●●●●●○○○» 2-hold (Assess) Then: I give Spectre a cool look. "I think that we should stick to the plan." "Killing him is the more conservative approach, but the benefits are small. He knows nothing they can't figure out for themselves. But the risk is that Flores finds out. And she knows more than enough to make things difficult for all of us."
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Feb 9, 2017 20:41
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 --:-- Harm | 0-armor | 7/10 XP | 9 Cred Then: "I'd say she's already making life difficult for us. This is going to come back to haunt us, I guarantee it." I shake my head dejectedly and sigh, I know a lost cause when I see one. "If you change your mind you can find me in my bunk, I'm gonna crash." I walk off.
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Feb 10, 2017 00:39
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    The first question the group deals with on the way to the Spinner is — what to do with this Jovian pilot? Does the crew toss him out in a Luk and let fate deal with it from there? Or do they handle it themselves? The cargo exchange and trip through the Spinner goes according to plan. After unloading all the cargo to Amardeep, they arrive to find the Spinner itself is deserted but for its crew. No other ships are in a queue, they’ve been diverted for discretionary sake. And then it’s slightly less than a week hurtling toward Venus. How do you spend your time? What do you do to deal with the weird disassociative feeling that comes with using your body to examine some laws of physics and see if they’ll break. One thing you can do, is shop and read the feeds. Much of the equipment you’ll need to acquire to get back into top shape can be ordered en route and delivered to you once you hit Venus or one of the surrounding stations. Anything particularly interesting or illegal will need to be handled in person, however. The Feeds are dominated by the upcoming Venusian Benchmarks — one of the biggest conventions in the system, the Venusian Benchmarks are the equivalent of something like CES mixed with the World Cup, where the megacorps come to show off their latest tech and compete in various benchmark tests to drum up publicity. More than one billionaire has been made overnight at the Venusian Benchmarks. The Benchmarks include everything from processor computation speed to augmented reality to weapons systems to frigate racing. Corps, naturally, also conduct a decent amount of dealmaking and industrial espionage. There is a lot of fluff coming through the feeds — every company is touting their latest and greatest as something that will shift power in the System. You’ll need to dig a bit deeper to find out the truth of the situation. As the Lance begins it deceleration burn, the familiar signifiers of the inner system make themselves present. The Lance is flying semi-dark, biding time to pop up in a crowd and continue unnoticed, broadcasting a signature provided by Amardeep. The bare minimum required by the IFF, essentially. Even so, the Lance is immediately in the sensors of dozens of ships, stations, etc simply by proximity — just how it is here, and it’s a stark change from Jovian space. Approaching Venus, you see a further concentration of ships both making their way to the Cloud Cities and milling around Venus’ various stations and orbitals. Due to the density of Venus atmosphere, Aerostats are able to support massive domed cities that dot the Venusian cloudscape. Travel between them is done through suborbital. Despite the harsh conditions should beyond the dome, inside the domes Venus feels like Miami. Think of Venus’ Cloud cover as an ocean, with large complexes of domed cities. The main Spaceport is in the centrally located floating city of Quetzalpetlatl, known to just about everyone as “The Quetz,” one of, but not the biggest of the floating cities. It’s a ring of huge domes, each big enough to be considered a city in its own right, that help to buoy an A-Grav assisted space port. The Mega-rich do not live on The Quetz, which is home to heavy industry, agriculture, and the docks themselves. Instead they are spread out over the smaller, less accessible domes. They stay as far from the Spaceport as possible unless they’re using the thing themselves. And many of them have personal ports on their own city-states. The Lance’s crew has a decision to make: are they going to dock at one of the space stations or flotillas that surrounds Venus, or are they going to make for the Quetz? The benefit to being on a space station or an orbital is that there’s a lot more that will go overlooked and unnoticed. The benefit to docking on the Quetz is that you’re close to all your gear, but, by default, you’re going to have eyes on you. You could also dock somewhere else entirely, that is, if you’ve got an “in.” If you do, tell me how. The orders of business, it would seem, are to bring your own ships back up to full strength (and then some, given how well the last mission paid), find someone to move the Jovian Tech, and find a way to make some money during the benchmarks. What do you do? As always, sorry for the slow post. Now would be the time to declare some contacts and do some shopping, I think? Let me know if you want clarification about anything regarding Venus. Let’s make this planet as cool as possible and then try our best not to blow it all up. I can think of three or four very cool different ways you could go, and am interested to hear what you think. If you want to re-jigger your directives at all, LMK, and we'll work something out. EDIT: SORRY AND ALSO DO LINKS! xian fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Feb 21, 2017 |
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Feb 19, 2017 19:05
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 --:-- Harm | 1-armor | XP ●●●●●●●○○○» [Cred] 11 [Gear] - [Intel] - El C: [ALERT] [1800] [2000] [2200] [2300] [0000] 1. I would definitely have put in some orders for Corrido's repair, and some upgrades for G0U, how much cred am I dropping for that? 2. if anyone orders bits for their own ships, I'm happy to fix them up when there's time. 3. If we park the Lance in a Geosynchronous orbit, I can bring us all down to the Quetz in Corrido, but it'll be a little cramped, and I couldn't fit Spectre's Mecha and everyone else at the same time. 3a. Or if y'all wanna shuttle down separately, I can take Corrido down to serve as a mobile base and a stash for the more 'frowned upon' gear or merchandise to be close at hand. 4. The Benchmarks are extremely my poo poo, and I'm probably gonna hang out there getting my nerd on. After putting the Jessie in a Luk and floating his rear end, there wasn't much to do during travel time except sit by yourself, or try to spend time making friends. I did plenty of both. Mahren: What was the name of that awesome movie we watched, and why is it your favorite? Spectre: What did I do that really annoyed you? ps I'm sorry. Profit[: You suggested an upgrade to my ship or to G0u, what was it?
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Feb 21, 2017 08:48
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Harm Profit [1500] [1800] [2100] [2200] [2300] [0000] | Valkyria [ALERT] [ALERT] [2100] [2200] [2300] [0000] 1-armor | 4-cred | Ed+2 St+1 Me+0 Mi+1 Co+0 Sy-1 | Mahren+1 Ying+2 Spectre+2 | XP ●●●●●●●●○○» You suggested an upgrade to my ship or to G0u, what was it? Somewhat counter-intuitively, Profit points out that G0U's size and toughness makes it resilient enough to use less than lethal force in dangerous situations. As such, giving it a way to take down and restrain targets without killing them would greatly increase its utility. Sourcing a new gauss cannon for my fighter takes a fair bit of the trip. This is less due to difficulty in obtaining one, as the need to explore a great many options. The Valkyria uses a standard mount for its heavy weapons, and thus could conceivably take a host of different armaments. Since I have the time anyways, I do the cost/benefit of laser arrays, torpedo launchers, focused plasma throwers - the entire panoply of mass destruction. I suspect I've recapitulated work done at SAAB, because in the end I elect not only to stick with the gauss cannon, I settle on the latest iteration of the exact same model. There's a good reason the fighter's primary configuration relies on it. I also now know exactly what increase in capabilities would be required to make a change worthwhile. Since I'm ordering from an armorer anyways, I take the opportunity to purchase a new subcompact. Inner System jobs often require more... discretion than the work available beyond the Belt. That thought prompted me to add a trio of silencers for my weapons as well. Since I was already on a roll, I extended my shopping to clothes and music, to keep up with trends. Not all my time is spent on retail therapy. I also reach out to a contact on Venus that should still be active. K1, as in "Keichi," owner of K1, as in "kay-one," usually just The One. a particularly fashionable club not exactly on, but near the Quetz. K1 decided early on to pair a minimalist interior with panoramic windows onto the storms of Venus itself. That base lets subtle lighting changes and the addition of small color touches keeps the look from going stale. But for me the critical aspect is K1 themselves. They have a keen nose for scandal, and is happy to share gossip with a select group of friends. It took a great deal of effort - and some vocal lessons - for me to get inside that circle. As an information source, K1 is scattershot and biased towards the sensational, but never wrong. I suspect they'll have something interesting at least. For links, +1 for Spectre. Buying:
Comrade Gorbash fucked around with this message at 08:30 on Mar 2, 2017 |
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Feb 22, 2017 05:17
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--:-- Harm | 0-armor | 7/10 XP | 9 Cred I'm back in the privacy of my quarters, lying on top of my bed and scowling at the ceiling. Sleep eludes me, or maybe I'm eluding it; I still haven't taken my boots off... What a mess. Could JSS really tie us to Himalia without Jessie connecting the dots for them? Maybe, but more importantly maybe not. Rosie doesn't think the risk calculus comes out favorably, but this time I think she's wrong. If not for our martian flower's conscience we'd have thrown him out the airlock the moment we were done speaking with him. Something had to be done or I was going to regret it. We all would. I get up on my feet and slip on my stealth suit. I can think of only one way to ensure this goes over well, Jessie has to die without anyone realizing. That means he has to stay alive and well until we jettison the Luk and we lose sight of him, but not much longer. This was going to take some improv. I exit my room and stay light on my feet, avoiding the main passageways and the usual gathering spots. There was no avoiding the hangar, but knowing Flores she's probably deafened by the bass and blinded by the haze. I make my way to where we keep the Luk and give it a thorough look over. It's pretty sparsely equipped, containing only what you'd need to survive. In other words, there's not much for me to play with. A box of emergency supplies, the basic life support system, a distress beacon... Now there's a thought. I unscrew the panel to the distress beacon and poke around. Pretty heavy duty electronics, unsurprisingly. The large battery in particular catches my eye, looks like I found my makeshift bomb. I bypass the protective circuitry and wire the battery directly to the beacon. With a little luck the thermal runaway should set in a short while after the beacon is activated and do what it does best. For good measure I alter the life support's oxygen mix to ensure a bigger bang. After screwing the panels back on I sneak back to my quarters. Act Under Pressure (+Cool+Stealth Suit): 2d6+3 9
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Feb 22, 2017 14:38
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 --:--Harm|1-armor|6/10 XP|6 Cred What was the name of that awesome movie we watched, and why is it your favorite? Extreme Justice! I used to watch it all the time as a kid, and it made me dream of becoming a bounty hunter like the hero, Jose Ramos. I haven't been to the Benchmarks since I was young and my parents were trying to get me to join the business. All I remember from that time is Mom and Dad talking up all their business partners. It's where the family business first got big, so I'm sure I'll see some crazy poo poo here. I'm not used to flying with so much traffic, so most of the burn down to Venus is comprised of focusing on that. "We obviously need to get our ships repaired - thoughts on docking at the flotillas vs. the Quetz? I'm leaning towards less eyes on us, personally, and taking the Corrido down." I send out a ping to someone I'm sure is at the Benchmarks - Karl Gerov. While I'm sure the rest of the crew is looking for jobs, I'm specifically looking for info on Kal and the Rank 1 Hunters, as the bounty board hasn't shown as much as I'd like. Karl and I met during a bounty a few years back - I bailed him out of a sticky situation with the MPSSR and Ares in which he didn't want to give up some tech he'd made on government time. Throwing in 3 creds for repairs - I'll wait for the rest to be spent @ the Benchmarks Mr E fucked around with this message at 21:35 on Mar 1, 2017 |
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Mar 1, 2017 03:51
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--:-- Harm | 1-armor | XP ●●●●●●●○○○» [Cred] 7 [Gear] - [Intel] - El C: [1500] [1800] [2000] [2200] [2300] [0000] So I'm kicking 3 cred into the repair pool and dropping 1 to fix Corrido's last tick (7 Cred remains) I'm taking +1 Link with Profit, We're like mirror images, what I do with tech, she does with people, where I run hot, she's absolutely cold. We make a good team I'm going to take Profit's advice and get G0U some non-lethal armaments as well as armor, but I'll wait to shop at the benchmarks to do it.
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Mar 1, 2017 07:03
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--:-- Harm | 0-armor | 7/10 XP | 9 Cred I spend the week in transit to Venus mostly bored. There's not a whole lot of excitement to be found when you're effectively untouchable. Not saying that I enjoy having JSS breathing down my neck, that part I can do without, I just get a bit restless when nothing is happening. I split most of my free time between keeping myself in shape, hanging out in the lounge for some card games and such and browsing the feeds. Besides the obvious feeds from Venus and the Benchmarks I keep my eyes on news from Luna and Jovian space, Himalia in particular. When we're just a day or so from our destination I send a message to my main black market contact, a hot poo poo smuggler named Celia Steele. She mainly deals in arms, cyberware and other military grade gear, but she also smuggled me off Mars one time when things got too hot after a wetwork assignment. I still owe her for that one, getting past ATU isn't exactly trivial. I highly suspect that she's part of the Allians but hey, they call it Hemlig Allians for a reason and she's kept that secret, I don't actually know for sure. She's usually on the move and can be hard to track down but there's no way she's going to miss the Benchmarks. In the message I ask for a meeting and let her know I'm looking for something with teeth, something that you don't have to get too close and personal with but doesn't draw too many eyes if you have to do shadow work. I'd like to plug that gap in my arsenal before I end up in a situation where I wish I had. What did I do that really annoyed you? ps I'm sorry. Remember that time when you started messing with the power couplings between El Corrido and the Lance without bothering to announce it over ship comms first? I was going at full sprint on the treadmill in the workout room when it suddenly went pitch black in there and the treadmill stopped dead. It was only thanks to my synth nerves that I managed to react in time before I broke my neck, instead I only have a large bruise on my shoulder to show for it. Shopping list: Trauma Derms Some AP Ammo for my Pistol/SMG. Setting some creds aside for a new weapon, I'll pitch in to the repair pool later when I know what it'll cost me. Profit can take +1 link with Spectre. Ying was a close second but I think the interrogation scene tipped the scales.
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Mar 2, 2017 01:40
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Due to the abundance of oxygen in the Luk, “Jessie” has a very euphoric last few hours. Investigating a ghost ship in Jovian dark space is about as disconnected from humanity as one can be. The main concourses of the Quetz during the Benchmarks are the opposite. The general arrival concourses are filled with endless amounts of people. There's at least a hundred thousand people on each concourse, and the more you look as you make your way to your various destinations both on the Quetz and off, you think it could be double. Some are clustered around product demonstrations, vocaloid performances, food kiosks, and more. When not in AR it's a sensory overload, with banners for various competitions everything from the Intersystem Free Running Championships, the latest AR eSports tournaments, an ARG, and of course the big Race -- once around Venus, no barriers to entry, a dead sprint. With AR, the overload goes exponential; there are pop ups and advertisements in your field of vision with every step, suggested walking lanes to avoid getting stuck behind a crowd, interactive schedules, flash deals, Benchmark-long scavenger hunts, live feeds from other panels and demos -- it's a lot. The real money of course is far away from halls like this, not even on the Quetz. Behind closed doors, there is tech being demoed with the potential to change the lives of Billions. Or end it. Even these smaller habitats are overfilled, but if the Quetz has the overwhelming feeling of an overpacked convention center, the smaller habs either feel like bustling business districts or resort towns during a holiday weekend. Profit is in such a place, on a habitat called Mariko, at K1. Even during off-peak hours, K1 is lively. Profit is in inside for less than a minute before Keichi appears from somewhere -- likely his office, “Rose,” He says with a smile his face, "I've missed you. Life can be so much more interesting when you're here." Gerov sends Mahren a ping back with a location on the Quetz, Blanca Auditorium. When Mahren looks it up he sees it's a venue in an ancillary concourse where a lot of smaller robotics corporations are located. Inside the Auditorium, Gerov is watching two teams of robots play a game that looks similar to capture the flag, except they have guns that can stun other robots for a second, and there are three flags. Bolts of electricity bounce off the transparent enclosure the game is taking place within, as the robots engage in a very fast game of position control and teamwork. The event is disorienting to watch at first because of its speed and the alien way the robots move through the game itself. There are view screens around showing the game at half speed, easier for fans to follow. The place smells like fried dough and motor oil. Mahren, how does Karl Gerov know of Kal? Ying is also on an ancillary concourse, one with a more technical focus, looking for armor and non-lethal armaments for G0U, as well as anything else that catches her eye. The phrase kid in a candy store applies. Ying, what has impressed or disappointed you? Do you see any familiar faces? Celia Steele gives Spectre an address -- the Grand Freya Hotel -- one of the most exclusive hotels on the Quetz. When Spectre arrives at her room, he sees she’s in the middle of a workout. Currently suspending herself on rings over a workout mat. There’s a 40kg Kettlebell off to one side. A minimalist but effective workout regiment — Steele could be a descriptor as well as a surname. Spectre assumes it probably was. She raises one leg slowly, then the other, then lowers one, then the other. As she does so, she asks, “So what it is that you’re looking for that you need to meet in person?” Jace and Sake are also down on the Quetz. The last few days before heading down to Venus, all the two of them talked about was the scavenger hunt. If you heard them tell it, their victory was a foregone conclusion. On Venus at this specific time, there is infinite possibility and one question: What do you do? xian fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Mar 8, 2017 |
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Mar 8, 2017 04:11
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--:-- Harm | 0-armor | 7/10 XP | 9 Cred "The Grand Freya Hotel." I let out a low whistle as I scan the luxe room with my eyes. "You seem to be doing well for yourself, Celia. Quite the leap up from that dusty old shed back on Mars where we first met. I'd ask if business was booming, but, well..." I shrug and smile wryly as I look back to her. "So you haven't heard the news? I've left Earth and Luna behind me and finally made it freelance. Using the old corporate channels for sensitive business like this isn't really an option anymore, better to minimize the trail between me and the bullets I leave behind as much as possible. Besides, I wouldn't want my favorite hardware supplier to get caught up in anything on my behalf just because some executive got their feelings hurt and went through all the effort to conduct an extensive backtrace." I try to read her as I speak, but I just can't get a good bead on her. "...Not that I think you couldn't handle whatever they'd throw at you. Training for anything in particular?" Assess: 2d6+1 6
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Mar 10, 2017 01:08
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Harm Profit [1500] [1800] [2100] [2200] [2300] [0000] | Valkyria [ALERT] [ALERT] [2100] [2200] [2300] [0000] 1-armor | 4-cred | Ed+2 St+1 Me+0 Mi+1 Co+0 Sy-1 | Mahren+1 Ying+2 Spectre+2 | XP ●●●●●●●●○○» I'm scanning the club when Keichi comes up to me, seeing who's important in the crowd tonight. The people who the action revolves around, and the ones who create a bubble of calm around them. VR starlets, pop sensations, hero athletes, powerful producers, cartel bosses. You never know who will show up at the One, but you can count on them being the people who matter right now. I return Keichi's smile. "Strange, I tend to think of visiting here as a bit of a vacation." I hook arms with him and let him lead me around for the moment. "And you know I couldn't miss the Benchmark. Not when you'd pick up so much good material during it." Comrade Gorbash fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Mar 18, 2017 |
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Mar 15, 2017 03:35
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Celia releases her hold and drops to the floor softly. She picks up a microfiber towel and begins wiping her face. "Life," she says with a half-smile, "Maybe it's different for you, but it would be a level of self-regard I don't have to assume I know what I'm training for..." She tosses her towel onto a counter and picks up a stainless steel canister and takes a sip. "The key to 'handling what they throw at you' is when that moment comes I need to be able to look myself in the mirror and know that I've prepared for it." She makes hard eye contact with Spectre, "I need to know that I'm more prepared than whoever it is trying to stop me from doing whatever I'm intending to do." "Guns also help. And it seems like you had something in mind. Talk to me." ~~~ "It's funny isn't it?" Keichi muses. Profit and Keichi are sitting in a booth next to a floor to ceiling window that overlooks the Venusian storms miles below. Keichi sips a neon drink in a martini glass, fog tendrils curling up from the surface of the drink, "A vacation?" He arcs an eyebrow, "Ok. If you say so, but you're no tourist." Keichi takes another sip, "I find more and more I regard the Benchmarks as a wave. This moment right now is most interesting to me because it's all potential energy, no kinetic. It's... the deep ocean -- a wave could go on for miles and miles and no one pays it any attention. It's... smooth. And for the overwhelming majority of tourists here, it will remain smooth. But, unfailingly, for people like us, people who know where to look, a certain threshold will be crossed and the wave will begin to shoal, refract, crash, break upon the shore. I find it fascinating to know that's going to happen, but not the what, the when, the how, or the why." xian fucked around with this message at 07:25 on Mar 15, 2017 |
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Mar 15, 2017 04:50
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--:-- Harm | 1-armor | XP ●●●●●●●○○○» [Cred] 7 [Gear] - [Intel] - El C: [1500] [1800] [2000] [2200] [2300] [0000] The first thing I do once Corrido is docked is stock up supplies; food, fuel, the basics right there at dock control. Then I just wander. Yeah yeah work, but I've loving earned an off day. or two. or three. So I enjoy the slightly fresher air, an actual goddamned breeze tinged with a hint of sulfur, but not enough to really stink (ooc note: the docks totally stink), but enough to give a spice to the air. I navigate the typical dockworker crowd, making my way through the perfunctory customs line and into the common concourses, stretching in the natural gravity. A-Grav keeps you alive and comfortable, none of that bone loss poo poo the ancients had to gently caress with, but no matter what there's always that little nag, that little pull in your inner ear that says 'A-Grav is fake, dipshit'. Artificial-Gravity Maladaptation Syndrome. AGMS, is what it's called, everybody in space who works for a living just calls it Phantom Vertigo. A-Grav and your compensators keep you able to walk around right in the middle of a burn or maneuvers, but it never quite fools your inner ear, your whole body says 'I'm gonna walk fore' but your sense of balance thinks it's an incline. It affects everyone more or less, its never hurt anyone, it's annoying, but you get used to it when you live in it for months or years at a stretch. But right now, I lean my head back and let the filtered sunlight drifting in through the dome warm my face, right now in a natural gravity well, it feels like a tiny pressure I rarely notice has been lifted, like a breath of fresh air for my sense of equilibrium. It's funny, but even in the lovely end of a lovely hab of a lovely city on a lovely planet, you really do get the feeling of being let out of the tomb you call a ship. It's...liberating. And right now I'm gonna fuckin enjoy as much of the good life as I can before more work finds me. I duck into a shady doorway with an interesting looking sign my AR rig tagged for me. I can't read the language, don't feel like opening a translator, but OHMYGOD I smell real meat cooking! I snag a seat at the bar, toggle G0U to watch mode outside, and start pointing at pictures of drinks ordering with my eyes and smile, as the bar's conveyor belt passes dish after dish of amazing looking food before me. You can never expect more than a moment of perfection, but when that moment arrives, you loving seize it! I am assuming this is a pretty secure zone and walking around loaded for a fight is, at best, frowned upon by local law. So G0U's weapons are deactivated I have nothing but my concealed pistol as a weapon. I'm assuming that, since it's the Benchmarks, it can be safely assumed that I'm just some low rent tech keeping her shabby looking 'invention' close by, rather than the reality of G0u being any real threat. So the rest of the day is going to be buying the stuff for G0U that we already decided, and doing other shopping because...yay shopping! of course I'm gonna check out Benchmark related attractions, and also hit the nightlife. At this point I'm very much just having fun and not looking for trouble, so it's cool to focus on whatever Spectre or Profit have brewing, they can call me if they need me
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Mar 16, 2017 07:27
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--:-- Harm | 0-armor | 7/10 XP | 9 Cred "Yeah, you do look more prepared than most." Meeting Celia's hard gaze without flinching takes some nerves. It's like how I imagine it would be to stare down a bull just as it sets off charging straight at you. Or maybe a flechette burst is more apt. Either way, it helps that it's not the first time I've faced it. I do not so much as blink. "I wouldn't want to be the one standing in your way that's for sure." I pause for a moment as if I'm considering it and continue with a cocky grin. "No, if I had to take you out I definitely wouldn't come at you head on." The tone of my voice may be somewhat playful but I'm certainly not lying. "I'm surprised you're not interested in the open sporting events going on at the Benchmarks though, seems like a missed opportunity." I raise an eyebrow inquisitively but decide to move on right away. "Alright, let's change the subject from your guns to what you've got for sale." "I prefer to seize the initiative, to get the drop on life whenever possible. I'm looking for a precision rifle to expand my options to do so. I need it to be short and lightweight, without sacrificing accuracy or stopping power too much. I want a gun that's not too cumbersome for if I have to make my way through someplace narrow. I want to be able to walk through a crowd with it under my coat or in a bag without sticking out like a sore thumb. Rate of fire I'm willing to compromise on. I'm thinking a bullpup bolt-action rifle would suit me fine. Think you can whip up something like that?" Hit the Streets: 2d6 11 I get what I want and a little something extra. I think I'll take [gear] in the form of the AP ammo I wanted to buy.
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Mar 19, 2017 18:33
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--:--Harm|1-armor|6/10 XP|6 Cred Karl know Kal based off of reputation - Kal was also working with me at the time when I did the bounty for Gerov, and I asked him to keep an eye out for Kal when he ghosted. "Long time no see, Karl!" I take a spot next to Gerov. "I dunno how you keep up those bots, even at half speed I can't tell what's going on. Any luck with the info I asked for? I've come up blank on any of the normal channels."
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Mar 19, 2017 21:49
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Harm Profit [1500] [1800] [2100] [2200] [2300] [0000] | Valkyria [ALERT] [ALERT] [2100] [2200] [2300] [0000] 1-armor | 4-cred | Ed+2 St+1 Me+0 Mi+1 Co+0 Sy-1 | Mahren+1 Ying+2 Spectre+2 | XP ●●●●●●●●○○» Keichi's love for over the top cocktails never fails to amuse me. My own preference for whiskey, neat, is just as amusing to him, I think. "Don't be coy, Keichi - you mentioned everything but who. So what have you heard? What sort of opportunities have you sniffed out?"
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Mar 23, 2017 04:09
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Keichi sips his over the top cocktail and tilts his head. "That's what I'm saying, Rose. The reason this part is exciting, the wave cresting, not crashing, is because of the thousands of ways the Benchmarks can become important, seismic even, in hindsight." "There's been talk of a few different factions beginning to think that the slingshot design isn't one hundred percent optimized. They think they can get functionality closer to that of a spinner. A big part of this is the development of portable and redeployable receiving stations." He lets that sink in. "I don't need to tell you the tactical advantage that would create. I won't pretend to understand the technical aspects of any of this. From what I've heard, whoever thinks they're on the path to cracking it is trying to engineer a bidding war for their services. They might succeed. Or they might engineer themselves into corpses in the process. Or slaves, and then, much later, corpses." ~~~ "I'm interested once trophies start getting handed out. Until then? I'm going to watch some nobody--" her eye-roll says it all, "be overmatched in the second round? Come on. Not interested." Celia says as she does some standing warm down stretches. "I have what you're looking for. Whether you'll be able to fit it into a bag will depend on the bag. I can have it delivered wherever you specify a few hours after the cred hits my account. I don't have anything here. Can't have friends leaving with that kind of gift bag. Wouldn't want to send the wrong impression in a place like this. Especially this week. You never know who you might bump into." Spectre's not sure if she's referring to him, or someone else. I don't think we settled on a price, did we?" ~~~ "For the most part, I've heard the same things you have," Karl says, "It looks like someone is trying to fill Kal's boots in a pretty literal manner, right? It's not him." He pauses before adding, "You're not gonna like this. He angles his datapad toward Mahren and a pulls up a picture of Kal from above, from a security drone. "Here." In the picture Kal is in the middle of barking an order to a squad. From his placement and the way they're all looking to him, it's clear it's his command. They're all in body armor, not a scratch to the paint. Corporate. Kal's gone corporate. ~~~ At some point in her evening, Ying gets a series of messages from Sake: //have you seen this generation of amoebic / shoaling micro drone packages? //they are mesmerizingly good //i want 1 //should we figure out a way 2 acquire //better prize than scavenger hunt //more work tho + gotta convince jace etc //thoughts? xian fucked around with this message at 05:07 on Apr 4, 2017 |
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Apr 4, 2017 05:04
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--:-- Harm | 1-armor | XP ●●●●●●●○○○» [Cred] 7 [Gear] - [Intel] - El C: [1500] [1800] [2000] [2200] [2300] [0000] I'm halfway through my third course of noodles and 6 beers down. It's only 0945 local, and the last day has been awesome playing tourist and stretching my legs. I even made some local cash in a bot-fight. All my purchases are waiting for me in a Secure-Box at the docks. Some new vape strains, restock on my SmartFood supplies, clothes, G0U's upgrades, etc. I've done dancing, dinner, my internal drive storage has several gigs of new whitepapers and articles, corp literature, and the leaked 'real' doxx on some of the best of the latest poo poo. Great for reading in transit. I finish breakfast, and hit a bakery not far from the Capsule hotel I've been staying at. All this real fuckin food. It's heaven. I'm working my way through a croissant when Sake's texts start scrolling across my HUD. I respond almost instantly, while I eat: //I'm down //Have some ??s //Meet?
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Apr 4, 2017 07:04
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//Sure. Drop a pin. Within twenty minutes Sake is across from Ying. She came alone. She's wearing a loose fitting black top that shines like silk and some light and flowy smartly cut white pants. She arrives carrying a shopping bag with a couple of smaller shopping bags stuffed in it, all from upscale brands. She's moves like she's embraced some of the vacationy aspects of the Benchmarks. Sunglasses sit perched on her head. Working her way through her own croissant, she says, "We ditched the scavenger hunt pretty early. I think Jace and I both overlooked just how much time we spent alone together, away from the world. Not too proud to say this is a lot to step back into. All I've been thinking about is what are we going to do? Neither of us want to fight anyone else's wars. At least not without good reason." She tears at the croissant and has a sip of tea. "Anyway, so... I went shopping. You know, cameras everywhere, gotta look good. Good way to acclimate to a new place, too. But I... like I said, there's some stuff I've seen here that I really want. Nothing to fancy to it. I really want it and can't afford it. And even if I could, people wouldn't sell it to me anyway. Like those micro drone clouds. Nobody's gonna let us have one of those. I saw some of the sleekest power armor... I would actually kill for it... " "What about you? If you were gonna convince me to help you boost something from the benchmarks, what is it?"
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Apr 7, 2017 21:35
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--:--Harm|1-armor|6/10 XP|6 Cred "What the gently caress, Kal! There's no way he'd choose to go corporate - someone's holding something over him. Guess that's my next goal - finding out what dirt they have on Kal. Thanks for the info Karl - see you around?" I don't even know where to start on Kal. It has to be something huge for Kal to do this - he's not the kind of guy to give or take orders lightly. There's also the matter of the impostor, and why they think it's a good idea or a necessary one to impersonate him. I have my work cut out for me, and this isn't even going to pay me!
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Apr 10, 2017 03:14
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Harm Profit [1500] [1800] [2100] [2200] [2300] [0000] | Valkyria [ALERT] [ALERT] [2100] [2200] [2300] [0000] 1-armor | 4-cred | Ed+2 St+1 Me+0 Mi+1 Co+0 Sy-1 | Mahren+1 Ying+2 Spectre+2 | XP ●●●●●●●●○○» K1 has my attention. Slingshot development was the most lucrative venture of the last half century . It's not particularly close. And as he alluded to, the military implications are enormous. If someone even thinks they have a way to improve them, it'll cause a feeding frenzy. One our team could find very lucrative. "It sounds like someone is going to be making quite a bit of money either way. And in particular, anyone willing to take some risk to do it." "I might just know some people who like taking risks, as it happens. I wonder if there might be a mutually beneficial arrangement for them. If you hear anything about something like that, I'd love to know." As soon as I get his assurance that he'll keep me in mind, I spend the next hour or two gossiping and enjoying the whiskey, the view, and the music. I duck out before the peak hours - with the Benchmarks on, it won't be my crowd here then, and K1 will be far too busy to entertain. By then I've looked up a nice diversion while I wait to see what employment opportunities turn up. An convention as big as the Benchmarks spawns a lot of side events. In particular, it has an encrustation of famous - and infamous - ARGs. I always enjoy picking out one to throw a monkey wrench into. Espionage would be my first choice, but there are usually insurgency or power politics games as well, with all manner of themes. One of my favorite was actually effectively a model UN in a cartoonish, Miyazaki inspired fantasy setting. It was absolutely cut-throat. I need to scout a few out and decide which one is the game to play this year. Besides the inherent fun, it's a great way to network.
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Apr 11, 2017 03:22
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--:-- Harm | 0-armor | 7/10 XP | 5 Cred "You've got that right, but then where's the fun if there's never any risk involved?" I dig out one of my phones and send her the location and code to a locker in one of the transit halls by the spaceport. "Drop site for the package, I doubt you'll have any trouble getting there without drawing attention to yourself." I deftly spin the phone around my fingers before making it disappear in a pocket. "As for your payment, check your account. It's already there as of eight minutes ago. I think you'll find the amount satisfactory." I start to leave but stop at the door and turn my head. "Oh, one more thing. I might have recently acquired some hardware that was floating in space that I think you might be interested in. No promises, but I'll get back to you." "Enjoy the benchmarks, Steele." Finalizing my shopping: 3 Cred for the rifle [gear] for some AP ammo 1 Cred for trauma derms --- As I walk out of the hotel towards my next destination a thought crosses my mind. Maybe Mahren would want to come with? I should try to get to know the guy better if we're gonna be part of the same crew for the forseeable future. I pull out a different phone from before and send him a ping. //Hey, you done with whatever you were doing? //Wanna meet up? Saw something on the way over that I thought you might enjoy. //Unless 100% pure uncut adrenaline isn't your speed.
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Apr 12, 2017 01:47
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--:--Harm|1-armor|6/10 XP|6 Cred I get a ping from Spectre. //I've gotten what I need here //I'm up for anything, need to get some frustration out - where are you? I'll be looking up stuff to buy hopefully this week when I actually have access to my PDFs
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Apr 17, 2017 17:53
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--:-- Harm | 1-armor | XP ●●●●●●●○○○» [Cred] 7 [Gear] - [Intel] - El C: [1500] [1800] [2000] [2200] [2300] [0000] I enjoy my food, as I've been doing the whole time I've been here- really, real food is such a luxury when you live off of SmartFood on the regular- as we catch up. I'm not the most social, so I sympathize with her about integrating into crowds after a long stretch. "Y'know, the pay might be poo poo, but Mahren's bounty op is independent and the Lance is big enough for more than a crew of 1, maybe hit him up about joining the crew? I like you both, but Corrido is pretty strictly a one-woman op." I spend a few minutes chewing, giving her room to lay out her proposal. "I'm down for some action, as for what I'd want, gently caress can we just strap boosters to the Quetz and fly off with it?" I chuckle a bit at my own joke. "honestly, I'd love to get into the prototype servers and get at the R&D doxx, and maybe a mountain of credits to then just fabricate what I want from raw materials. Having the latest poo poo-hot toy is one thing, but being able to make, modify, and combine your own flavors of bleeding edge badassery is whole other thing. There's an old earth saying that was popular in my hab growing up. 'If you give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to fish, and he'll eat for the rest of his life.' That seems applicable here."
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Apr 17, 2017 19:47
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 09:58 |
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Karl tells Mahren, "You'll find me if you need me." Shortly after, Mahren gets a ping from Spectre and makes his way to the top of the Quetz, where Spectre dropped his pin. Mahren finds Spectre somewhere inside the Red Bull Stress Test area. The Stress Tests are an extreme sports adjacent set of events where pilots push their mecha to their absolute limits in terms of targeting, maneuverability, and speed. Is Spectre in the audience? Or is he a competitor? ~~ Profit enters that ARG whenever she wants and finds herself very quickly complicating the lives of multiple factions of avatars. ~~ "Jace and I will make money wherever we go." She says offhandedly, "I think Mahren already asked Jace if we wanted to hang around. Gonna play it by ear," Sake says, "I like the way you're thinking. Being able to fabricate those little guys on the go would be a life changer. Let's do it." So I'm at a bit of an impasse here about how to move forward (as you're all split and everything you're going to do can, in my opinion, be narrated for the ultimate degree of cool (between Profit's ARG and Spectre/Mahren going adrenaline hunting, and Ying getting up to something with Sake, I think there is a lot of room for cool stuff to happen. I'm always down to talk thru this stuff in Discord or roll for things if needed but I feel like you're gonna do better with your ideas than I would? So if you have a direction you want to go, you should! We won't need to roll unless it was an obvious thing (like to see how Spectre does if he enters the Mech Stress Tests, for example, or to see how well Profit does on her ARG meddling). Sort of like player directed Love Letters? Beyond that I have a couple ideas: 1) The first is that we all take turns narrating stuff that happens at the Benchmarks, for a couple of the Benchmark days. This could be stuff your characters get up to or stuff that's happening externally and your characters hear about via feeds. This would be me handing you all the reins to a degree, which I'm fine with and think could be cool. A bit of Worldbuilding 2.0, kinda. 2) We don't do that and the group reconvenes either in virtual or real space, shares notes and decides on something to work toward together, and the we experience the same Chunk of the Benchmarks through the Legwork Phase of one (or two, if y'all do well on the first) Jobs). 3) The obvious job, by the way, and I'm not sure whether it's a full "JOB" or a "task" that might lead to something interesting, is offloading the JSS Mech parts (this would be a Declare Contact and/or Hit the Street probably) 4) It's also worth noting that the JSS Clock remains at Midnight. The noise to signal ratio of the Benchmarks provides some cover, but it's worth noting that laying low (p 219) is an option but at great cost. Doesn't seem like your style though. What do you all think?
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May 1, 2017 00:17
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