[Stars Without Number] Glory in the Black: Revival

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Byers2142: May 5, 2011; Imagine I said something deep here...

Waador posted:

He had rented the groundcar for two days, largely for this reason. It provided more than enough time to get to the warehouse, complete his 'art project', and transport it wherever it ended up needing to go. He would just have to swing by an electronics store on the way, to pick up a few supplies of his own.

pre:

Task #2 - Repackaging of the hardened polyceramic overlay.
 > Tech (astronautics)/Int vs. DC 10 to succeed.

If Vasily is able to provide the talent, I will go through the following
process to repackage the hardened polyceramic overlay...
 > I will go to an electronics store and purchase a holo unit for 50 credits.
 > I will go to Vasily's warehouse, and unload the barrels of overlay tar.
 > I will use the holo unit to project an image of what the new-in-box
   ceramic overlay barrels should look like, to consult as a basis while
   the forgery is underway.
 > I will use my astronautic toolkit to make the check, at 2d6+2+0.
 > I will hire a team of five expert-level artists/forgers to review my work
   and point out any flaws relative to the base product projected by the holo
   unit.  They should each have +2 Perception, and normally cost 100cr per day,
   putting them to 200cr per day since they're Russian mafia helping me with
   illegal activity.  With five of them that works out to 1,000cr per day.
 > I am not sure how long the process of repackaging the material will take?

Vasily's response was immediate, and very sheery. "конечно! They'll be waiting for you; I hope your art project is successful... and if I know you, lucrative."

Once 588 gets to the warehouse, Vasily's team is already waiting. After a brief conversation about what their purpose is and the traditional negotiation of money for criminal services without directly saying it's for criminal services, there's not much time needed before the holo unit is set up and 588 begins to doctor the packaging of the barrels to match a new-in-box look. Vasily's team stands behind 588, flasks of vodka quickly beginning to make the rounds as they critique the work being done. They offer the vodka to 588 several times as well, just a group a middle aged criminal artists enjoying a day of work with a beautiful woman.

"нет, prepare the underlay seal after the top seal is in place and then squeeze it up under, that's how they prepare it in the factories. It's stupid, but authentically stupid."

"Yes, yes, like that. Excellent work there, girl."

"Do you want Mikhail to lift that piece while you prepare the bottom? Always better to have an extra pair of hands on this step! Mikhail, give up the flask, help her with that."

It quickly become clear, these men have done this work before. As always, Vasily's delivered.

Call it half a day, given the five totally-not-forgers helping you with the work? And don't worry about a check, you're shelling out for professionals, they'll get you the automatic success. Once it's done, you can sell the overlay for 150K credits easily, with no concern for blow back from it being a forgery.

~

Rhyos posted:

Gen Chatham

With a little help from Erica, the interview setup is brought back to life. Back in his Squawkbox, he makes sure to shuffle back into place, Erica keeping an eye on things as Elsted shows up. Once again, the desk is populated with the squawkbox and a chair for the more ambulatory interviewees. Again, the lights on the front of the box cycle; green, yellow, red, before the artificial voice speaks.

"Thank you for considering Killdozer, LLC. While questions do exist as to your background, the forthcoming interview should aid in disambiguation. As part of an in-person skills assessment, if you happen to have brought a concealed-carry firearm on your person, please proceed to field strip the device while considering your answers."

Rao taps his cybernetic arm with his flesh-and-blood arm. "It's integral, one shot with a silencer but no means to field strip without removing the full arm. Which I will not do."

quote:

"To the best of your recollection, how many lives have you taken over the course of your career?"

"Enough."

quote:

"In your experience, what is your preferred caliber of ballistic round for the following ranges: 10m, 100m, 1km"

"10mm, 45mm, and 84mm fired from a recoiless rifle."

quote:

"What was the cause of death listed for you 8 years ago? What steps have been taken with the Caerleonian government to disambiguate this error?"

"Bullets." Rao pauses, head slightly cocked as though considering the next statement. "Technically, none. They have a body, they don't care."

quote:

"On how many worlds have you performed covert operations?"

"Sev... covert? None."

quote:

"You are separated from your unit. You find a way to achieve your objective, but it would ruin the cover of your unit. You are unable to use electronic communications. How do you proceed?"

"Achieve the objective." While giving this answer, it's clear that he finds it either stupid or insulting that it was even asked.

quote:

"Paper or plastic?"

"Whichever is cheaper."

quote:

"You are tasked with retrieving an experimental piece of cyberware. In the course of your investigation, it is found to be implanted in an adolescent, and is currently keeping them alive. How do you proceed?"

"Remove the implant in a hospital. My job is the implant, their job is to save lives."

quote:

"Please list all sovereign and private militaries you have served under, and any accolades you may have received during service."

"Militia of the Bear, discharged with honor, also technically a purple stripe with bar for dying. Overwatch Society, all eligible bonus payments achieved. Reichenbach Circle, Security Division."

quote:

"If you could have one food item packaged in all future rations, what would it be?"

"Spiced cheese spread."

quote:

"What did you eat, if anything, for breakfast last Tuesday?"

Rao thinks for a moment before answering this question. "Caffe, bisquits, something gray posing as a gravy." Another pause, before continuing. "Don't eat at the Bear's Den for breakfast."

quote:

"How many blue lights have flashed during this interview?"

"None."

# ? Sep 28, 2016 14:06

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# ? Apr 27, 2024 04:14

Zeppelin Insanity: Oct 28, 2009; Wahnsinn
Einfach
Wahnsinn

Erica Steiger

Erica had been discreetly listening in. She wasn't particularly sure if her input was appreciated at this point, but since she was planning to have a command, might as well start acting as if she had some authority.

pre:

To: G.C@Killdozer.pmc

For what it's worth, my impression: professional and amoral Good combination for mercenary work. I'd suggest yes.

# ? Sep 29, 2016 01:08

Waador: Sep 11, 2001; Smashin' down the light.; Pillbug

^{'588' > 8 / 8 HP > 9 AC}

Vasily posted:

"конечно! They'll be waiting for you; I hope your art project is successful... and if I know you, lucrative."

Now, this was why he liked Vasily. The man rarely complained, and went to all reasonable (and sometimes mildly unreasonable) efforts to ensure his 'friends' were well catered. There was a reason he was in Vasily's priority queue, of course, but that would come after the task was complete.

Plot posted:

Once 588 gets to the warehouse, Vasily's team is already waiting. After a brief conversation about what their purpose is and the traditional negotiation of money for criminal services without directly saying it's for criminal services, there's not much time needed before the holo unit is set up and 588 begins to doctor the packaging of the barrels to match a new-in-box look. Vasily's team stands behind 588, flasks of vodka quickly beginning to make the rounds as they critique the work being done. They offer the vodka to 588 several times as well, just a group a middle aged criminal artists enjoying a day of work with a beautiful woman.

There was a very narrow bridge between having a healthy amount of self-confidence, and a dangerous amount of self-delusion. He usually managed to straddle the right side of that canyon, and today appeared to be no exception. Placing a call to Vasily had obviously been a good idea, as the men he provided clearly had an impressive depth of experience in the realm of 'refurbishing' products. Although it took a full day of work, plus some overtime, they managed to finish the whole process as the twelve-hour mark approached. The underlay and overlay seals had been properly applied, the paint was on point, and the resin had been dyed to give it that factory-fresh look, smell, and - according to Mikhail, at least - even taste.

When their work was complete, he went about the process of loading the barrels back up into the trunk of his groundcar. He comments to the men, "Thank you, my friends! I have business to attend this afternoon, but when next we meet, drinks are on me!" The hacker pauses, and laughs, "You should get some sleep in the meantime, I think!" He only belatedly realized that they had been working a full twelve hours, from just before midnight to nearly noon. The customary payment to each man is provided via untraceable credit sticks, and an invitation for later in the month is provided to one of his preferred establishments for drinking and general entertainment, Memory Lanes.

pre:

I will pay the following out of my own pocket...
 > 50 credits for the holo unit
 > 1,000 credits for a day's wages for five artist (forgery) experts
 > I will also invite the five men to go out drinking later in the month

This adjusts my personal credit pool from 35,905cr to 34,855cr.

Parting ways from the Russians, at least for the afternoon, he begins to contemplate his next move. He had been careful throughout the process to pay for these services with his own money, so there was currently no record linking this transaction back to Killdozer. While nothing had been particularly questionable to date, making payments out of corporate accounts to known criminals was rarely a wise course of action. He'd had centuries to set up a complex web of false identities throughout Caerleon, and leveraging a handful of those to make the payments to untraceable credit sticks, and then passing off those credit sticks in person, definitely kept risk to a minimum. The next step was also a simple one, at least in theory...

Agent Voight posted:

"As part of your official payment, I shook free a starship from one of the Shark elders. It's yours, if you want it, payment to Killdozer for services rendered. The name's been wiped from the registry, but the registration number will clearly lead anyone running back to your 'long established' PMC and your efficiency in this crisis. That's the second item on the datapad, the ship registration and specifications."
pre:
NAME:
REG #:  CF-380162
COST:   1.075 Million Credits
HULL:   Free Merchant

DEFENSES
Hardened Poly Overlay

It would have been easy for a less paranoid person to overlook, but he knew that a paper trail existed documenting Killdozer's ownership of a ship with a hardened polyceramic overlay installed on the hull. The CID had gone to reasonably impressive lengths to falsify those ownership records, and he was certain they would be in essentially every database that mattered across Caerleon. Given that the company also didn't have any other assets on paper, if Killdozer's financial accounts contained a record of their sale of a 'new in box' overlay, an obvious question would arise. He generally didn't have a policy of leaving evidence lying around if it could be avoided, and the last thing he wanted was to leave a paper trail pointing straight to Killdozer that might suggest something as immoral as forgery.

That meant, unfortunately, that a bit of careful money laundering was required. He spent the better part of the afternoon identifying a buyer for the overlay, activating a dormant corporate account to receive the payment, and arranging the transaction and delivery. The corporate account was ostensibly an auction house that sorted through the belongings of recently deceased wealthy individuals. Since privacy was paramount to the families of the deceased, the original owner couldn't be disclosed, but he could say the former owner was gravely injured in the Federation Day attacks. In all the ways that mattered, that narrative was true, given how badly Shark had been savaged after he'd passed along evidence of their foreknowledge of Rhyne's plan.

That approach would get the credits into an account he controlled, which he would then be able to quietly disperse via other fully believable - if false - transactions to a myriad of corporate accounts he'd set up over the years. It was a beautiful thing, really: a self-sustaining web of lies, carefully constructed programs, and identities with relatively detailed financial and personal backgrounds that all acted in unison to deceive the system and keep their true owner under the radar. Hell, some of his false identities even had grandchildren. Naturally, none of them voted. A number of them propogated a stream of clickbait on social media on the regular, though. The system had to be believable to a casual reviewer, after all.

The Killdozer piece was simple enough, as well, he supposed. He simply created a transaction on both sides of the coin that showed Killdozer selling its well-used but still-functional polyceramic overlay to an interested buyer. A fair market price, of about twenty percent of its retail value, was paid to the corporation. On paper, Killdozer had entered into a perfectly believable and entirely legal transaction, and received fair compensation. Elsewhere, a few dozen corporate and personal accounts of his were each a bit better off.

pre:

Computer/Int 10 vs. money laundering

In summary, I will do the following...
 > Using a personal account, I will sell the overlay for 150,000cr.
 > Those credits will then be distributed to a number of other personal accounts
   for generally believable corporate purchases of goods and services.
 > One of those personal accounts will receive 50,000cr, which it will use to purchase
   the used hardened polyceramic overlay from Killdozer.  As this is twenty percent
   of retail value, it mirrors what the company would generally be expected to earn,
   so shouldn't seem out of the ordinary.
 > The web of my personal accounts will absorb the remaining 100,000cr.

This adjusts my personal credit pool from 34,855cr to 134,855cr.
This adjusts the Killdozer accounts upwards by 50,000cr.

The final part of the narrative was also relatively simple to arrange. Killdozer, despite being a media darling ...of a sort... portrayed itself as the type of people who weren't really very good with money. As a result, the moment they received a five-figure payday, a major purchase for essentially all of that income was immediately made. True to form, a seemingly incidental part of the overall scheme had been his only real goal the entire time.

pre:

Once Killdozer receives the funds, it will immediately purchase an actual
new in box frigate-sized survey sensor array, for 50,000cr.  I'll purchase
from a reputable buyer, probably a CID-approved military supplier.

This adjusts the Killdozer accounts back to their starting point.

A substantial portion of his afternoon had been consumed in the construction of what some might call an unnecessarily complicated web of half-truths and financial shell games. He would call it an art form, though. With a sigh, he begrudgingly returned to the spaceport, returning his rented groundcar to one of the service outlets at the departures gate. Making his way back to their hangar, he resumes the thoroughly informative process of getting their starship ready to fly.

pre:

Task #3 - Removal of the sandthrower.
 > Base time of 24 hours as a hardpoint.
 >> Tech (astronautics)/Int vs. DC 6 reduces base time to 12 hours.
 >> Tech (astronautics)/Int vs. DC 8 reduces base time to 6 hours.
 >> Tech (astronautics)/Int vs. DC 10 reduces base time to 3 hours.

 > Attempt #1 vs. DC 6 - Tech (astronautics)/Int 8 >> Success after 12 hours!
 > Free Merchant Power (0 >> 3), Mass (4 >> 5), Hardpoints (0 >> 1).

Task #4 - Installation of survey sensor array.
 > Base time of 24 hours per point of mass, and 12 hours per point of power.
 > Fitting consumes 1 mass and 2 power, for 48 hours base time to install.
 >> Tech (astronautics)/Int vs. DC 6 reduces base time to 24 hours.
 >> Tech (astronautics)/Int vs. DC 8 reduces base time to 12 hours.
 >> Tech (astronautics)/Int vs. DC 10 reduces base time to 6 hours.

 > Attempt #1 vs. DC 6 - Tech (astronautics)/Int 7 >> Success after 24 hours!
 > Free Merchant Power (3 >> 1), Mass (5 >> 4)

It was hard to say whether the experience was pleasant or not, but he was definitely effective at grinding up his skills in the realm of starship maintenance. Within relatively short order, and without any oversights or errors in judgment worth noting, he was able to equip the ship with the gear they would need. Now all that remained was to pick up his other belongings in Vasily's warehouse, and drop off a little thank-you gift for Vasily's assistance with arranging the sale. He normally waited a few days, rather than providing it immediately after the transaction, as that seemed more polite. If it was just part of the payment it wouldn't seem genuine, but if it was a few days later it just seemed like a thank-you gift.

pre:

 > I will rent a gravtruck for 30cr for one day.
 > I will also purchase Vasily a 500cr bottle of the finest available vodka.
 > I will then return to the warehouse and retrieve the belongings I had
   stored there, being the assault suit, the cache of weapons equivalent
   to an armory for a frigate, the stealth suit cache, and miscellaneous
   other equipment.
 > I will then return to the planetary spaceport, unload the armory and
   other equipment, and spend the rest of the day inspecting the vessel
   and generally confirming we're in a position to fly when necessary.

As the frigate armory has no mass or power requirements, I don't imagine
it takes very long to install.  I'll spend the rest of the day running
system checks on the ship.

This adjusts my personal credit pool from 134,855cr to 134,325cr.

He'd been labouring non-stop for days, and he'd had enough. With all of his poo poo finally settled, he locks the ship up and waits for Chatham to call him. He is, apparently, now living in the starport. He assumed nobody would notice. He hoped Vasily enjoyed the absurdly expensive bottle of vodka, at least.

pre:

The timeline so far...
[12h] Day 1, 10AM - 10PM, check-in at resort, research
[12h] Day 1, 10PM - 10AM, socialize, eat, lift hard, get hard, rest
[12h] Day 2, 10AM - 10PM, return to suite, research
[24h] Day 2, 10PM - Day 3, 10PM, remove hardened polyceramic overlay
***
[12h] Day 3, 10PM - Day 4, 10AM, forge new-in-box condition of overlay
[~4h] Day 4, 10AM - 2PM, sale of 'new-in-box' overlay and money laundering
[12h] Day 4, 2PM - Day 5, 2AM, remove sandthrower
[24h] Day 5, 2AM - Day 6, 2AM, install survey sensor array
[~4h] Day 6, 2AM - 6AM, install frigate armory and other cargo
[~8h] Day 6, 6AM - 2PM, perform system checks, and finally rest

Shortly after lunch on the sixth day, Chatham receives a voice call on his compad, which is a bit unusual for the hacker who has otherwise only entreated by text. "The ship's ready to fly when you are. I'm going to go to sleep now, possibly forever. Make sure you guys bring all my crates when you leave the office. Don't open them. One of them is super dangerous. Actually several of them are, now that I think about it." The hacker hangs up before any response can even be received, the sound of someone collapsing into a bed clearly audible as the line disconnects.
__________________________________________________________________________________________^{Passive: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,420xp / 134,325cr / Killdozer LLC

Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) / Tech (astronautic)

Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech)

Inventory (ready): Compad⁰ / Bioscanner¹ / Dataslab¹ / Metatool¹ / Toolkit (astronautic)³

Inventory (stowed): Grenade launcher³ (3/3 shots, flashbang) / Stealth Field Uniform⁰ / Gravity Pack¹ / Mag Pistol (silenced, 6/6 shots)¹ / Holo Unit¹

Inventory (back at base): Instapanel (x5) / Lazarus patch (x1) / Medkit (x1) / Type A cell (x6)/ Flashbang grenade² (x2) / Butler armature crate

Inventory (frigate): Armory (frigate) / Stealth Suit Cache^x / Assault suit² / Argus web¹}__________________________________________________________________________________________

Waador fucked around with this message at 18:06 on Sep 29, 2016

# ? Sep 29, 2016 06:27

Rhyos: Jan 2, 2006; It's probably my fault.

Zeppelin Insanity posted:

Erica Steiger

Erica had been discreetly listening in. She wasn't particularly sure if her input was appreciated at this point, but since she was planning to have a command, might as well start acting as if she had some authority.
pre:
To: G.C@Killdozer.pmc

For what it's worth, my impression: professional and amoral Good combination for mercenary work. I'd suggest yes.

Gen Chatham

"This concludes this portion of the interview. Ma'am, if you would?"

If he had lungs in this state, he would be holding his breath. Disconnecting from his squawkbox, the telltale toaster Ding~ chimes as the front of the box opens, revealing Gen's brain casing. If there was a time for a hit, this would be it. Erica had given him plenty of reason to trust her - Rao, not as much. His willingness to sell out the group to get an A+ was a little worrisome, but the cybernetics were a plus. Without prying too much, it sounds like he had to fake his death for political/military reasons, though it does seem like a sloppy job. Hopefully a more human face-to-face would allow him to more discreetly ask some questions. That is, if Rao actually wanted in after seeing the shape of things. He didn't seem like much of a ground-floor kind of guy.

# ? Sep 29, 2016 17:27

Zeppelin Insanity: Oct 28, 2009; Wahnsinn
Einfach
Wahnsinn

Erica Steiger

Erica walks into the room, her fingers tingling in her hated stress reaction. She was not the fastest draw and she knew it. Offering a handshake wasn't a great tactical move either, but she did advise yes. Might as well try to be polite.

"Greetings Mr Rao. It is a pleasure to meet you. If you would follow me, I believe we are nearly done."

If things go well, I do whatever needs to be done with Gen. If not, I draw my weapon.

# ? Sep 29, 2016 22:20

Byers2142: May 5, 2011; Imagine I said something deep here...

Waador posted:

Crime Boss 588 Post

I don't have anything to add to this post, it literally all happens as you say. Also, I pity the law enforcement agency that tries to hunt you down.

Zeppelin Insanity posted:

Erica walks into the room, her fingers tingling in her hated stress reaction. She was not the fastest draw and she knew it. Offering a handshake wasn't a great tactical move either, but she did advise yes. Might as well try to be polite.

Rao cocks his head for a moment at Erica's outstretched hand before taking it. It's clear that he's being careful with the grip strength from his cybernetic hand. While shaking, he nods at Gen's now-exposed brain casing. "Biologic?" For the first time in the interview, he seemed actually interested in something, but there's no signs of aggression in him.

Successful Businessmanga posted:

Killdozer HQ

"Not the uh... not what I was expecting." Camisa glances up and down the shabby building a look of disapproval on her face, but she is quick to chastise herself; these people were the biggest new thing and she'd been working for and with Vasan criminals for the last few months, so she wasn't one to talk about filthy working conditions.

Stepping into the lobby Camisa announces herself "Camisa Roja reporting as requested."

Probably not a bad idea to finish up getting the group together; as soon as you're ready to head out, we can get you in a situation to ~~shoot~~ meet new people and do ~~dangerous~~ interesting things.

# ? Sep 30, 2016 18:23

Waador: Sep 11, 2001; Smashin' down the light.; Pillbug

^{'588' > 8 / 8 HP > 9 AC}
One of the benefits of taking point on getting the ship ready was that, as the first person to set foot into the vessel, he had the privilege of his choice of quarters. He opted for the starboard cabin closest to the bridge, largely because it was as far away as possible from the common area, as well as the bathroom. Settling into his bunk, he began to consider their next course of action.

pre:

Culture (traveler)/Int 4 vs. Dynamene

Problematically, he didn't know much about the current state of the Dynamene system. He hadn't had a reason to visit the area in recent memory, and it never seemed to make the news.

Plot posted:

Rumors are that the recent attempt to introduce a baseline miscible biosphere on Seda in the Dynamene system have gotten out of hand, and the introduced species are turning violent against the Sedans.

The rumor mill at the executive retreat had provided an interesting tidbit, and he was certain that it could be turned to their advantage, but there were still a large number of unknowns. Rather obviously, the Sedans would almost certainly welcome any assistance they could get when it came to protecting themselves from a rampaging herd of invasive species. Whose toes would they be stepping on, though? Someone was obviously responsible for introducing those creatures, and it was not hard to imagine that they wouldn't necessarily appreciate a group of interstellar 'heroes' taking a scorched earth policy towards their biological assets, nor the impact such an action might have on their terraforming model.

There was the question of his crew, as well. He hardly wanted to pack up and head to Seda, only to find out when they arrived that they didn't bring the appropriate gear for the local atmosphere. Did they require a stockpile of antiallergens, and bulky equipment to adequately tolerate the local atmosphere? Was it a cold-weather world, in the middle of the depths of its winter? There was also a question as to the world's population ...was he setting out to come to the aid of a single outpost, or a world populated by millions? He assumed the former, but didn't actually know. Moreover, how technologically advanced were those civilians? He had no idea what passed for industry on Seda, though he assumed they must have had something of value to put them on the interstellar radar. There was also the question of the safety of the Dynamene system in general. Was it a haven for piracy, or a relatively infrequently traveled backwater system? Aside from the planet that was theoretically their destination, did the solar system have any other notable features? As much as he wanted to simply rest for a few hours, his insatiable desire to prepare himself for any eventuality still gnawed at his heels.

Begrudgingly, as he pulled the blankets up around him, he retrieved his datapad and began conducting a bit of research on the Dynamene system, as well as Seda and its people.

pre:

Computer/Int 10
Doing a bit of research on Dynamene and Seda while I wait.

__________________________________________________________________________________________^{Passive: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,420xp / 134,325cr / Killdozer LLC

Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) / Tech (astronautic)

Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech)

Inventory (ready): Compad⁰ / Bioscanner¹ / Dataslab¹ / Metatool¹ / Toolkit (astronautic)³

Inventory (stowed): Grenade launcher³ (3/3 shots, flashbang) / Stealth Field Uniform⁰ / Gravity Pack¹ / Mag Pistol (silenced, 6/6 shots)¹ / Holo Unit¹

Inventory (back at base): Instapanel (x5) / Lazarus patch (x1) / Medkit (x1) / Type A cell (x6)/ Flashbang grenade² (x2) / Butler armature crate

Inventory (frigate): Armory (frigate) / Stealth Suit Cache^x / Assault suit² / Argus web¹}__________________________________________________________________________________________

Waador fucked around with this message at 02:44 on Oct 1, 2016

# ? Sep 30, 2016 23:02

Rhyos: Jan 2, 2006; It's probably my fault.

Gen Chatham

One of the funny things about being a completely isolated consciousness is that you can never really know in the moment whether your brain is being kicked around like a

pre:

Connection established!
Visual processors online!
Vocal centers initialized!
Motor sensors

"Whew! It's always good to come back up from something like that."
As the access port for his brain casing finally closes, Gen smiles, reaching out to shake Elsted's hand. He's still in one piece, there's no scent of gunpowder, and Erica is still breathing normally - all in all, a good transfer.

"Gen Chatham - sorry for the deception at first, but it's always good to see how people react to that sort of thing. We deal with a lot of weirdness in our line of work, so the fact that you're still standing here bodes well!"

Legitimate Businessmanga posted:

"Not the uh... not what I was expecting." Camisa glances up and down the shabby building a look of disapproval on her face, but she is quick to chastise herself; these people were the biggest new thing and she'd been working for and with Vasan criminals for the last few months, so she wasn't one to talk about filthy working conditions.

Stepping into the lobby Camisa announces herself "Camisa Roja reporting as requested."

Unable to stifle a laugh, Gen waves Camisa in. "And in case you were wondering where in the world she could be, I believe the two of you have already met." Taking a few steps between the pair, he offers his hand. "Though I believe we have yet to formally meet. Gen Chatham. I believe Fiver may have mentioned me."

Clapping his hands together once, he opens his arms wide, taking in the fact that he's actually got employees, targets, and a legitimate business to start.

"Everyone, welcome to Killdozer."

I'm ready to fade to black and get started if everyone else is.

# ? Oct 4, 2016 18:38

Successful Businessmanga: Mar 28, 2010

Camisa Roja
_{HP: 16/16 AC: 8 (Street Clothes)

Strain: 0/12}

Rhyos posted:

Gen Chatham
Unable to stifle a laugh, Gen waves Camisa in. "And in case you were wondering where in the world she could be, I believe the two of you have already met." Taking a few steps between the pair, he offers his hand. "Though I believe we have yet to formally meet. Gen Chatham. I believe Fiver may have mentioned me."

Clapping his hands together once, he opens his arms wide, taking in the fact that he's actually got employees, targets, and a legitimate business to start.

"Everyone, welcome to Killdozer."

Camisa throws a disapproving glance in Rao's direction as she notices him, before striking a textbook salute to Gen before grasping his hand to shake "Sorry about the slam the servers hit a few days ago, I had to prove to Mr. Rao that I worked here to complete my assignment and yeah, that's a little more difficult when you don't." Falling back into a straight backed posture Camisa nods first to Gen and then to the other woman in the room "A pleasure to work with you."

Settling into the ramshackle building, Camisa is a little confused that she has just been accepted wholesale, but she chocks it up to the extracurricular work she did, HR apparently approved of her methods enough that she'd been given a free pass. Left to her own devices for a time, Camisa sets to work cleaning and lubricating the spines along her forearms before she begins the lengthy process of maintaining her weapon and the mass of energy cells she carried for it.

_{Inertial Shunt Nodes: Spend one round spooling up to nullify any full body impact. Reuse within a minute causes 1d8 heat damage. Tech Save to activate as a reaction.

Integral Biostatus Monitor: Automatically alerts Camisa to Poison/Pathogen/Radiation exposure, identifies the substance and standard treatment for it.

+2 to first skill check to treat the effects. +1 to Tech/Med checks against Camisa.}

quote:

Good to jump ahead, unless Rao feels like trying to shoot me or something .

# ? Oct 5, 2016 02:34

Zeppelin Insanity: Oct 28, 2009; Wahnsinn
Einfach
Wahnsinn

Ready to go ahead.

# ? Oct 5, 2016 08:19

Waador: Sep 11, 2001; Smashin' down the light.; Pillbug

^{'588' > 8 / 8 HP > 9 AC}

Gen Chatham posted:

"Everyone, welcome to Killdozer."

It took a while for everything to get sorted back at the office, but Chatham's update on the results of the interviews eventually made its way to his inbox. The results were rather encouraging, as by all accounts Steiger seemed reasonably qualified to take on a command position of her own squad when the budget allowed. He remained confident in his pick of Roja, and thankfully - if a bit unexpected - Elsted Rao hadn't been an assassin. At least, the man hadn't targeted Chatham at the first available opportunity. He suspected there was still more to Rao than the smokescreen of a former covert agent, but he was willing to concede that their agendas might not be at odds with one another. He would obviously still monitor the man's movements and communications like a hawk, but depending on what he found, he was willing to modify his opinion accordingly.

Chatham hadn't expressed a dissenting opinion as to the destination of their first 'mission', such as it was, which meant that final preparations were in order. In all truth, he would have preferred another week to go over every system on the ship with a fine-toothed comb, in order to ensure there weren't any surprises in store for them. The precise nature of those surprises were difficult to predict, but the myriad of possibilities was hard to ignore. Had the Shark clan skimped on maintenance of non-critical systems in the past year or two, intending to retire the vessel and replace it with a newer model? Had the former captain implemented a command lockout protocol that would activate in deep space if he didn't enter a relief code every few days? Had one of the former crew members been smuggling a biological agent or dangerous pharmaceutical on the sly, which might bleed into the life support system if left undetected for long enough? He hadn't yet had enough time to be certain of any of these things.

They weren't necessarily on a tight schedule, but every day they delayed departure might spell misfortune for the population of Seda. There was also, somewhere, a timer counting down to doomsday from an unknown starting point. This mission aligned with his overall goal of finding and manipulating the unbraked mind before that timer hit zero, so it needed to get started sooner rather than later. He'd had enough time in the past day to run a number of cursory system checks, and on the surface everything seemed to be in working order. It wasn't the best plan, but he supposed the easiest way to find out if something on the ship wasn't working properly was to get the beast into space and see if anything caught on fire. With that thought in mind, he sent a message to the newly hired team.

pre:

From: 588@killdozer.pmc
To:   G.C@killdozer.pmc
Cc:   Rao@killdozer.pmc; Steiger@killdozer.pmc; Roja@killdozer.pmc

Everyone, please report to the Interplanetary Spaceport at 1800 tonight.
Our vessel is located in Terminal 4, Hangar 27, accessible by Gate AX-99.

Our destination will be the Dynamene system, heading for the planet Seda.
A full mission briefing will be conducted during the spike drill, but please
arrange your affairs to be off-planet for approximately two weeks.

I am in the process of coordinating the relevant logistical and supply chain
management concerns for our time off-planet.  If you have any personal
requirements or requests that need to be considered, please advise today.
Additionally, please remember to bring my crates from the office.

Lastly, for those of you new to the team, it's good to have you.

He ran through a mental checklist in order to ensure things were ready for their upcoming departure. The team had the information they needed to arrive at the right place at the right time. He was reasonably confident that everything on the ship was in working order, if not necessarily up to his standards across every system. He'd installed and calibrated the sensor array, which was almost certainly going to play a critical role in his agenda for this upcoming mission, and which would probably lend some value to the core mission parameters as well. He'd retrieved his cache of equipment from Vasily's warehouse, taken a detailed inventory of their stock, and installed it behind a few security doors on the ship. The team had been instructed to bring his various crates of equipment and hazardous materials from the office. Most of the lights on his mental map were green.

Practically speaking, there were two matters left to address.

Durandal (the past) posted:

The rumor mill at the executive retreat had provided an interesting tidbit, and he was certain that it could be turned to their advantage, but there were still a large number of unknowns. Rather obviously, the Sedans would almost certainly welcome any assistance they could get when it came to protecting themselves from a rampaging herd of invasive species. Whose toes would they be stepping on, though? Someone was obviously responsible for introducing those creatures, and it was not hard to imagine that they wouldn't necessarily appreciate a group of interstellar 'heroes' taking a scorched earth policy towards their biological assets, nor the impact such an action might have on their terraforming model.

There was the question of his crew, as well. He hardly wanted to pack up and head to Seda, only to find out when they arrived that they didn't bring the appropriate gear for the local atmosphere. Did they require a stockpile of antiallergens, and bulky equipment to adequately tolerate the local atmosphere? Was it a cold-weather world, in the middle of the depths of its winter? There was also a question as to the world's population ...was he setting out to come to the aid of a single outpost, or a world populated by millions? He assumed the former, but didn't actually know. Moreover, how technologically advanced were those civilians? He had no idea what passed for industry on Seda, though he assumed they must have had something of value to put them on the interstellar radar. There was also the question of the safety of the Dynamene system in general. Was it a haven for piracy, or a relatively infrequently traveled backwater system? Aside from the planet that was theoretically their destination, did the solar system have any other notable features? As much as he wanted to simply rest for a few hours, his insatiable desire to prepare himself for any eventuality still gnawed at his heels.
pre:
Computer/Int 10
Doing a bit of research on Dynamene and Seda while I wait.

The first was a task already half-complete. He'd downloaded all available data on the Dynamene system a few hours ago, and merely needed to parse the information in order to get an idea of what they might expect to encounter. He wanted to ensure he had the relevant medical supplies and general forewarning necessary to react to the local environment.

The second task hadn't yet been started, and had two facets to it. Problematically, in order to leave the planet, they would need to fill out a reasonable amount of paperwork. He wanted to ensure they had passports and travel papers that would allow them free travel throughout Caerleon and its neighboring systems, and wanted to avoid any risk of confiscation of their more sensitive ordnance by formally registering and licensing the company as a security contractor and general incorporated business in each region. Given that he'd personally blown up the Holst embassy a few days ago, they weren't likely to be in the mood to respond to his registration requests, but he suspected he could get whatever passed for an embassy or consulate from Draken, Enterprise, Dynamene, and Najibah to work with him.

The other facet to the paperwork was a more Caerleon-centric concern. Although they were unofficially backed by the CID, it was unlikely that the intelligence agency would intervene on their behalf when it came to supply chain management. That meant he needed to get on a number of lists to purchase restricted ordnance and other sensitive equipment within Caerleon, and in this one very particular case it was probably wise to do so through official channels rather than merely hacking the appropriate databases. Problematically, when he had gone about the process of pillaging Rhyne's cache of equipment, he hadn't bothered to take any consumables. That left their armory woefully short on munitions, if otherwise plentiful in military hardware.

A few hours of placing calls and filling out forms later, and they seemed to be in good shape.

pre:

Bureaucracy/Int 11 vs. paperwork

Attempting to accomplish the following:
 > Acquiring travel documents and work permits for our team
   that will be recognized in Caerleon, Dynamene, Enterprise,
   Draken, and Najibah.
 > Acquiring permits for our company and ship to transport
   hazardous materials (such as military ordnance) throughout
   these systems.
 > Attempting to get us properly filed in all of the databases
   that would be necessary to purchase typically restricted
   military hardware on Caerleon.

With all of the appropriate forms filed and presumably propagating, he decides to test the results of his efforts by placing an order with an ordnance manufacturer specializing in military and law enforcement supply.

pre:

Attempting to purchase the following...
 >   580cr - Ammunition (1,160 rounds)
 >   500cr - Ammunition (missile) x10
 >   500cr - Grenade x20
 > 1,500cr - Land mine x60
 > 1,000cr - Lance charge x4
 >   500cr - Emergency rations (100 days)
 >   300cr - Medkit (x3)
 >   120cr - Lazarus patch (x4)
---------
   5,000cr

Waador fucked around with this message at 16:51 on Oct 28, 2016

# ? Oct 7, 2016 17:51

Zeppelin Insanity: Oct 28, 2009; Wahnsinn
Einfach
Wahnsinn

Since we skipped ahead in time, and preparing the ship took 588 a number of days, how many rolls can I resolve from the previous "work on setting things up" post?

# ? Oct 7, 2016 20:34

Waador: Sep 11, 2001; Smashin' down the light.; Pillbug

^{'588' > 8 / 8 HP > 9 AC}

pre:

Adding a bit of flavor text at the spaceport to get us all in the same place, at least.
I remain hopeful Byers comes back to continue running things! It's super weird that a
guy who has historically posted 6 times a day for six years all but disappears, so I
assume he's caught up in something important.  Worst case scenario I'll kick off some
sort of Dynamene adventure and hopefully he can drop back in to grab the reins.

Several hours later...
>>> Interplanetary Spaceport > 1800H > Terminal 4 > Hangar 27

Amazingly, the team had assembled in a reasonable amount of time after his message had been transmitted. Accounting for a bit of drift due to traffic, getting lost in the truly massive spaceport, and what he believed to be a cup of coffee, they even showed up more or less on time. It was nigh unthinkable, particularly considering what they were being paid. He would have honestly settled for them simply not being drunk or high, but timely? They probably wanted to earn a raise as soon as possible, he belatedly realized. It didn't matter at this precise moment in time, he supposed.

The hacker meets the crew at the entrance to Hangar 27, within Terminal 4 of the Interplanetary Spaceport, nestled deep within the bowels of Gate AX-99. Shaking Chatham's hand, 588 introduces himself to the pair of women, as well as Rao. "Erica Steiger, Elsted Rao, and Camisa Roja, I take it? I go by 588, pleasure to meet you." A brief pause, as he takes the tip of his armature's manicured fingernails to his chin, purses his lips, and comments, "Though, I suppose that's Captain 588, nowadays." With a shrug, he waves his arm in front of the hangar door, revealing the massive interior that houses their comparatively cozy ship. The view of the wide open sky beyond the docking clamps is an inspiring one, in its own way, with half a dozen other vessels darting into and out of their respective hangars as they go about their business under the direction of a particularly harried air traffic control manager. He was pretty sure the man had been working the past ten hours straight, if his monitoring of the local communications was to be believed.

The sight within the hangar is a less inspiring one, in some ways. A truly chaotic mess of power cabling, industrial lasers, paint chips, fragmented chunks of some kind of translucent material, and a hundred other tools lie scattered about the hangar deck. He comments over his shoulder as he walks inside, beckoning the rest of them to follow, "Bless this mess, am I right?" The statement is followed by a laugh that seems to truly not be bothered by the situation, though he does add, "Mind your step, though. I am pretty sure at least one of those lasers is still powered up and ready to fire. I'll take care of that before we leave."

Their ship, in all honesty, was kind of a hosed up mess on the outside. His detailing job with the industrial lasers had blasted off all of its exterior paint, and left it a literal blank slate, dull gray from stem to stern. It seemed more than a little appropriate, in truth, considering the clean slate and utterly wiped records that CID had provided for them insofar as the vessel was concerned. Ironically, anyone with even half a brain could still tell where the ship came from, though: the Shark clan had given the thing a loving shark fin. He had debated removing it, but to date he simply hadn't had any time for cosmetics. It was starting to grow on him, though, so it might stay in place for the long haul.

He comments, "It might not look like much on the outside, but don't let that fool you. Most of my attention has been focused on the interior in the last few days, and for the most part she's in decent shape once you crawl inside her." The hacker leads Chatham and the rest of the crew towards the cargo elevator, where he comments, "I'll give you the nickel tour, I suppose?"

Taking the cargo elevator up to the main deck of the ship, he comments, "This is the common area. Another level higher is the cargo bay, which for the moment you should probably avoid. Probably best not to ask why." The hacker winks at Chatham, and laughs, continuing, "The area to our immediate right is the common area, which is admittedly spartan at the moment. There are two massive crates cooled by liquid nitrogen housing vegetable matter and protein, each conveniently labeled. In between them is a device that can only really be described as a cross between a hydration chamber and a convection oven. It takes the freeze-dried vegetable or protein pellets, saturates them with water to your degree of ...preferred wetness... and then heats them to your preferred temperature. I've experimented with it a bit, and so far I'd suggest that the protein soup at 90% wetness and a few degrees before boiling is the best. You're able to mix vegetable and protein if you want, or just get water at whatever temperature as well, obviously." The hacker shrugs, offering, "Frankly, it isn't very good, but this isn't a cruise liner. It'll provide decent nutrition, at least. We'll upgrade it when we have some time, though."

Motioning down the hallway with one hand, he takes a few steps off the cargo elevator and towards the long bay of doors. "Flanking us on either side are six crew quarters, plus the shared ...facilities. The door on the far end of the hall leads to the bridge. I'm taking the starboard cabin closest to the bridge, but the rest of you are welcome to take whichever you prefer for now." He pauses again, adding, "That said, as you will no doubt take note over the remainder of the tour, any real facilities for exercise or entertainment are somewhat lacking. The crew cabins currently each contain a single bed, a desk with some personal computing and communications equipment, and not much else. Frankly, I think we'd be better served retrofitting one or two of the rooms to serve as shared bunks, and then installing a gym, and perhaps a mess hall. A theater for entertainment and briefing purposes has also crossed my mind. Anyway, this is to say, for the current trip you each get your own bunk, but try not to fall in love with it, unless you like having your heart broken."

Walking along the lit section of hallway towards the door to the bridge, the hacker waves behind him, commenting, "Behind the cargo bay are two reinforced security doors, which lead to engineering. For security purposes I'd ask that you stay out of the area, though it is also currently housing my personal armory. You're welcome to requisition whatever equipment you need throughout the course of the mission, and I rather suspect my supply chain will leave you pleasantly surprised. I'll get you a complete inventory soon enough." He decides not to mention the bleeding-edge sensor array he'd also secretly installed within the engineering department. No sense letting them know he could easily crack and monitor their personal communications without breaking a sweat, at least for the moment.

Entering the bridge, the hacker offers, "This would be the bridge. Captain's chair is front and center, with a bay of two chairs on either side providing access to targeting data, navigational information, communications channels, and all of the various other readouts required to not die a cold, lonely death in space. Technically, all of those commands also route through the captain's console, and I can fly the ship well enough without a crew, so you don't need to be on the bridge if you don't want to be, and it certainly isn't a part of your duty roster. Given that it is currently the only set of chairs in the ship outside of your cabins, however, I suspect it will also have to serve as the default place for social gatherings."

He inserts himself into the captain's chair, swivels a few times for good measure, and then motions for the others to take seats along the bridge. After a brief silence, he comments, "As I mentioned in my message, we're departing shortly. Our destination is the planet Seda in the Dynamene system. Officially, our mission is a humanitarian one. I've recently picked up on rumors that there has been what I will call a 'more-than-a-little-bit-botched' attempt to introduce a miscible biosphere on the planet, which has resulted in an invasive species turning more-than-a-little-bit-violent against the local inhabitants. Seda is not a well-traveled planet, and consequentially it is not particularly wealthy in credits or technology. My assumption, which we can validate when we get there, is that a Persev corporation has taken to using the area as a planet-sized research and development lab for some clearly experimental terraforming technology. It might be something else entirely, but in either case, the Sedans aren't armed, or trained, to deal with hostile organisms that pose any real threat to human life. We're able to help them, and that's what we're going to do."

Another few swivels in his chair, before he comments, "Unofficially, I'll remain on the ship throughout the course of your mission, attending to another matter. Your primary objective, as stated, is to help the Sedans regain some semblance of security. Your secondary objective is to achieve the primary objective in a manner that puts Killdozer in the good graces of whatever passes for the planetary government. This will, unfortunately, likely require at least some amount of tact, rather than a solution to the problem that exclusively involves shrapnel and high explosive ordnance. As you can imagine, this is a factor that contributes to my decision to exclude myself from the fieldwork of this mission." The hacker gives Chatham a wink and 'the guns' at the end of that last statement. "As far as the chain of command, Chatham runs the field team. While I will be focused on a separate matter, I will be available as needed to provide a wide array of technical support capabilities from the ship. I'd recommend you each bring a compad or two with you so that you can patch me in remotely to any computer system you want dealt with, as that's typically the most convenient way to access closed systems. There's no guarantee everything is primed for wireless access, after all."

With a shrug, the hacker concludes, "I will provide a more detailed dossier on Seda after I've had a chance to read through the information I've gathered earlier today, but that's the gist of it. I would expect that the hostile forces you can expect to encounter will have something approximating the intelligence of a predatory animal, but there's no guarantee on that. As I mentioned, we'll have to figure out the facts on the ground, as we're currently operating on rumors that the corporate network is actively trying to suppress. There's obviously some truth to it, but specifics are on lockdown at the moment, and with lives on the line it seems the wiser course to go investigate for ourselves, rather than trying to ferret out the truth in a star system where we can't possibly help the people in danger."

A final swivel in the captain's chair, followed by, "This concludes the briefing. Are there any questions?"
__________________________________________________________________________________________^{Passive: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,420xp / 134,325cr / Killdozer LLC

Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) / Tech (astronautic)

Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech)

Inventory (ready): Compad⁰ / Bioscanner¹ / Dataslab¹ / Metatool¹ / Toolkit (astronautic)³

Inventory (stowed): Grenade launcher³ (3/3 shots, flashbang) / Stealth Field Uniform⁰ / Gravity Pack¹ / Mag Pistol (silenced, 6/6 shots)¹ / Holo Unit¹

Inventory (back at base): Instapanel (x5) / Lazarus patch (x1) / Medkit (x1) / Type A cell (x6)/ Flashbang grenade² (x2) / Butler armature crate

Inventory (frigate): Armory (frigate) / Stealth Suit Cache^x / Assault suit² / Argus web¹}__________________________________________________________________________________________

Waador fucked around with this message at 17:34 on Oct 22, 2016

# ? Oct 22, 2016 06:39

Zeppelin Insanity: Oct 28, 2009; Wahnsinn
Einfach
Wahnsinn

Erica Steiger

Erica's gear is mostly contained within two nondescript duffel bags, as well as a sealed security crate for the weapons. Truth be told, she's never been on a world where getting weapons through spaceport security was this little of a hassle - probably something to do with Caerleon's love of guns. That's not to say that you can just carry them around unsecured, however.

When 588 discusses the quarters, she shrugs, opens a door at random and tosses the bags in. Despite her attempts to focus on the briefing, much of her mental energy at the moment is spent on mentally readjusting her view of the ship from "miserable shitheap" to "work in progress".

Following the conclusion of the briefing, she outlines her thinking:

"You said the Sedans aren't trained or equipped? I sense an opportunity here. We don't have the manpower to deal with a large predatory population, but I mi... can help organise and train a militia. If there's any chance before we set off, I would strongly advise we pack up a sizeable shipment of basic rifles. That's a far more permanent - and I would wager, profitable in the long term - solution than just blowing poo poo up. While I'm busy with that, I suggest we use the rest of our resources to focus on recon and precision mayhem."

# ? Oct 22, 2016 20:00

Waador: Sep 11, 2001; Smashin' down the light.; Pillbug

^{'588' > 8 / 8 HP > 9 AC}

Erica Steiger posted:

"You said the Sedans aren't trained or equipped? I sense an opportunity here. We don't have the manpower to deal with a large predatory population, but I mi... can help organise and train a militia. If there's any chance before we set off, I would strongly advise we pack up a sizeable shipment of basic rifles. That's a far more permanent - and I would wager, profitable in the long term - solution than just blowing poo poo up. While I'm busy with that, I suggest we use the rest of our resources to focus on recon and precision mayhem."

Captain 588 nods, reaching towards the keyboard that accompanies the consoles in the captain's chair. A few keystrokes later, the same information appears in parallel across the bay of monitors flanking either side of the bridge, with the various displays beginning to scroll through an impressive array of electronic copies of official-looking documents. "I would agree with you, Ms. Steiger. In fact, I've already gone to the trouble of licensing our organization in Caerleon, Dynamene, Enterprise, Draken, and Najibah with the appropriate regulatory bodies. A package containing relevant travel documents and work permits can be provided as necessary, but for the moment I'll draw your attention to the following."

Durandal (the past) posted:

The second task hadn't yet been started, and had two facets to it. Problematically, in order to leave the planet, they would need to fill out a reasonable amount of paperwork. He wanted to ensure they had passports and travel papers that would allow them free travel throughout Caerleon and its neighboring systems, and wanted to avoid any risk of confiscation of their more sensitive ordnance by formally registering and licensing the company as a security contractor and general incorporated business in each region. Given that he'd personally blown up the Holst embassy a few days ago, they weren't likely to be in the mood to respond to his registration requests, but he suspected he could get whatever passed for an embassy or consulate from Draken, Enterprise, Dynamene, and Najibah to work with him.
pre:
Bureaucracy/Int 11 vs. paperwork

Another keystroke, and the displays shift to highlight registration papers to transport hazardous materials. "Apart from its activities as a security contractor, Killdozer LLC is licensed in the aforementioned systems to transport hazardous materials, including a variety of ordnance typically restricted to military and law enforcement professionals." The hacker pauses, adding shortly thereafter, "We're also authorized to purchase that restricted ordnance on Caerleon, subject to a few minor exceptions." The display continues scrolling through a wide variety of paperwork as the hacker concludes, "Essentially, as a corporation, Killdozer LLC has all the necessary paperwork to perform three basic duties: security contracting, arms dealing, and specialist training. Put more plainly, we're registered to blow poo poo up, buy and sell things that blow poo poo up, and teach other people how to more effectively blow poo poo up."

The captain sighs, and a few more swivels in the captain's chair quickly follow. "Therein lies the problem, however. As I said, I haven't had a chance to compile a detailed dossier on Seda as yet, though I have gathered all the necessary information for analysis. What I can tell you is that although I have filed more than enough paperwork to ensure we're fairly likely to be allowed to possess and facilitate the transportation of a substantial variety of firearms, we will still be expected to comply with local customs and laws concerning the distribution and sale of such equipment in any given system." With a shrug, the hacker continues, "Which is to say, unless you fancy a prison sentence on a less-than-wealthy planet, we need to be very careful about to whom and how we distribute large quantities of firearms, let alone any training in their use. Raising a militia to defend against vicious predators sounds good in theory, but the likelihood of the local government reading that as 'foreign nationals raising and arming a militia for a possible rebellion' is not a gamble I would like to roll the dice on."

A wink towards Erica is followed by, "That said, while I do not think it would be wise to arm the locals before we understand the precise nature of the threat, and carefully navigate local customs surrounding the matter, I do agree that we should come reasonably well-supplied in case raising an army is the only feasible solution to the problem at hand. In truth, I've already placed an order online earlier this morning for a thousand rounds of ammunition, though that might not be enough depending on the size of the 'militia' you intend to raise. There's also the matter of the preferred calibre of weaponry. As I mentioned, my personal armory is secured on the ship, but it's only enough to arm ten, maybe twenty soldiers at most. All of the equipment is also military-grade, and I'm not sure I'd necessarily want it in the hands of yokels. It's also precisely the sort of gear a local government would not want us to sell or gift to their citizens."

The hacker appears to be trying - and failing - to hold back a bit of amusement at that last comment, and continues, "Although I'm not yet an expert on Sedan laws, I would assume anything that can penetrate military-grade assault gear is going to be a non-starter. That said, even if there are local restrictions to worry about, given the apparent threat to the population, I would assume there would be an appetite for us to negotiate some sort of arrangement related to less effective projectile weaponry. Your recommendation of a 'sizeable shipment' of basic rifles is probably feasible, either in the form of classic hunting rifles or something a bit more geared towards mayhem. How many do you think we will need? Or I suppose more aptly, how many militia members do you think you can reasonably train at once?"

Deciding to take a few cues from Chatham, he inquires of the room, "Anyway, maybe the four of you should think about how you want to approach this problem. If you want to spend some money to purchase some firearms and ammunition, let me know what you think we need, and I'll arrange it. For my own part money isn't really a concern, though it would be nice if you weren't too wasteful." Another swivel in the captain's chair, followed by, "In the meantime, I'll begin reviewing the materials I have gathered on Dynamene and Seda's local customs, politics, economy, and other general points of note. If anything comes up that is worth highlighting I'll let you know before we leave. I should only need an hour or two to pull together a reasonable assessment of things we need to keep in mind."
__________________________________________________________________________________________^{Passive: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,420xp / 134,325cr / Killdozer LLC

Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) / Tech (astronautic)

Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech)

Inventory (ready): Compad⁰ / Bioscanner¹ / Dataslab¹ / Metatool¹ / Toolkit (astronautic)³

Inventory (stowed): Grenade launcher³ (3/3 shots, flashbang) / Stealth Field Uniform⁰ / Gravity Pack¹ / Mag Pistol (silenced, 6/6 shots)¹ / Holo Unit¹

Inventory (back at base): Instapanel (x5) / Lazarus patch (x1) / Medkit (x1) / Type A cell (x6)/ Flashbang grenade² (x2) / Butler armature crate

Inventory (frigate): Armory (frigate) / Stealth Suit Cache^x / Assault suit² / Argus web¹}__________________________________________________________________________________________

# ? Oct 24, 2016 06:20

Successful Businessmanga: Mar 28, 2010

Camisa Roja
_{HP: 16/16 AC: 8 (Street Clothes)

Strain: 0/12}

588 gets a brisk salute as introductions are made "Captain, good to meet you." Leaning her mobile crate back up, Camisa follows the odd hacker into the hangar proper and lets off a polite low whistle when she sees the ship. Having spent the vast majority of her career on ships that represented the new cutting edge, Camisa finds it fairly hard to be impressed by what her employer is presenting, but she'll make it work.

Camisa fights to keep her hopes up as 588 gives them the run of the ship, it wasn't all that bad; the ship at least had the ability to boil water! That was miles ahead of some of the vessels she'd flown on in her early days with the Vasan military, though she did find out later that those junkers were purposefully built shoddy to haze new recruits, so they wouldn't be jaded when the proper small luxuries a Vasan cruiser offered were made available to them. Camisa smiles when the Captain suggest condensing bunks to make better use of the space on offer "Having some luxury rooms available like a gym of theater would be good, in my experience people stop caring about having to share bunks when they've got actual entertainment and living spaces available to them. It's easy enough to run folks on opposite sleeping cycles too with a crew this size, so that we're not disturbing each other's sleep."

Camisa nods at Steiger as the woman outlines a plan and 588 refines it "I can get behind that course of action if it comes to the point where we need to train them, I'm not one for the subtle method most times, but-" Camisa opens a pouch on her hip and thumbs through a few small packets "-I've got enough stims on me to keep me awake and alert for a few days, and I can plug my cutter into its juicebox and keep firing for hours, so I can manage either holding a perimeter or heading out to do some preemptive hunting while you get the Sedans up to snuff."

Closing the small pouch on her hip Camisa shrugs "I'd hesitate to plan too far ahead before we actually have more details on the species we're dealing with, if this is some freaky hive mind critter that spawns from a single Queen or whatever, it'd be a waste of our time and resources raising a militia when we could just have a small strike team deal with the problem and then get paid." Camisa clicks her tongue against her teeth "If these critters are now a permanent part of the ecosystem with no short term way to get rid of them? Then yeah we can bill them for some longer term solutions and wring them out for all they're worth."

As conversation begins to dwindle down, Camisa hauls her storage crate off into one of the unclaimed bunkrooms and begins to lay out her gear, dissatisfied with the sterile look to the room she begins to casually make a small mess of the place, an explosion of the lived in look unleashed over the course of a half hour.

_{Inertial Shunt Nodes: Spend one round spooling up to nullify any full body impact. Reuse within a minute causes 1d8 heat damage. Tech Save to activate as a reaction.

Integral Biostatus Monitor: Automatically alerts Camisa to Poison/Pathogen/Radiation exposure, identifies the substance and standard treatment for it.

+2 to first skill check to treat the effects. +1 to Tech/Med checks against Camisa.}

# ? Oct 24, 2016 22:46

Rhyos: Jan 2, 2006; It's probably my fault.

ogod i'm back

Gen Chatham

There's a weird familiarity as the ship comes into view. He hadn't been on this particular one before, but spacers gonna space. After being in so many different forms, actually feeling a ship's bulkhead, hearing the dull thunk of a footstep, smelling the sterile, if stale, air, brings him back. No tactical software, no information feeds, just instinct and familiarity. This was his environment. This is the sort of thing he knew. And this ship was now home. At least, until they decided to upgrade, expand, or get shot out of the black.

Gen generally keeps quiet as the briefing goes on - a humanitarian mission was right up his alley, and he was pretty sure that between himself and Erica, they'd be able to help organize an effective defense. Erica's idea is sound - it always helps to have extra guns on hand. Chiming in, he adds: "It miiight be a good idea to pick up some surveillance and automated defense equipment, too. You'd think that folks on a frontier world would expect a little rough and tumble, but stranger things have happened. If worse comes to worse, it should give some modicum of fair warning and point defense while we get things arranged. Likewise, if we're looking at a wildlife, and not armored combatants, it might be worth issuing shotguns alongside rifles - greater raw tissue damage, less penetration, easier for local police to deal with. Pretty sure we're not dealing with simple varmintry, but shotguns are generally given leeway over rifles. At this point, everything's still just theory until we get more information."

Bunk-wise, Gen doesn't really need much, just some armature storage space. Still, the idea of knocking a wall between rooms down to give some more space just might help - after they get paid, of course.

# ? Oct 27, 2016 19:37

Waador: Sep 11, 2001; Smashin' down the light.; Pillbug

^{'588' > 8 / 8 HP > 9 AC}

Gen Chatham posted:

"It miiight be a good idea to pick up some surveillance and automated defense equipment, too. You'd think that folks on a frontier world would expect a little rough and tumble, but stranger things have happened. If worse comes to worse, it should give some modicum of fair warning and point defense while we get things arranged. Likewise, if we're looking at a wildlife, and not armored combatants, it might be worth issuing shotguns alongside rifles - greater raw tissue damage, less penetration, easier for local police to deal with. Pretty sure we're not dealing with simple varmintry, but shotguns are generally given leeway over rifles. At this point, everything's still just theory until we get more information."

The hacker laughs, and cocks a knowing smile, commenting, "Good ideas all around the table, and with any luck it will encourage you to know I shared most of your opinions earlier this morning when I was getting us set up for the mission. On the subject of 'automated defense equipment', I ordered a whole loving lot of land mines earlier this morning. It's not a machine gun with automated targeting systems embedded into the circuitry, but it's about as effective, and at least twice as fun. It does have embedded friend-or-foe software that we can turn on if you guys want, keyed to compad signals. I'd take care not to run out of batteries, though." With a shrug, the captain offers, "As for surveillance equipment, I ...wouldn't worry about it." No elaboration appears to be forthcoming on that subject matter, as the captain quickly changes the topic.

With a wink to Chatham, he continues, "On the subject of what weapons to give the locals, shotguns and rifles sound fine. I'll pick up a few before we leave." Precisely what the captain meant by 'a few', was of course, subject to interpretation. Only Chatham likely knew what was in store for them on that matter.

pre:

588 adds on 40 shotguns (2,000cr) and 20 rifles (1,500cr) to their supply order.
...plus a bit more ammunition and some other incidentals.

This amends the order as follows:
 >   500cr - Atmofilter x5
 > 2,000cr - Shotgun x40 [TL2]
 > 1,500cr - Rifle x20 [TL2]
 > 1,200cr - Ammunition (2,400 rounds)
 >   500cr - Ammunition (missile) x10
 >   500cr - Grenade x20
 > 1,500cr - Land mine x60
 > 1,000cr - Lance charge x4
 >   500cr - Emergency rations (100 days)
 >   300cr - Medkit (x3)
 >    90cr - Lazarus patch (x3)
 >   410cr - 400 gallons of paint and painting tools.
---------
  10,000cr

An entry also appears in the Killdozer financial records for 'NOTHING IMPORTANT',
(probably only visible to Chatham) at a cost of 20,000cr.

(If Byers comes back I'll tell him what this is, otherwise look forward to that.)

Turning his attention back to the subject at hand, the captain offers, "Anyway, I've placed an order with a supply depot at the outer rim of the system. We'll stop there before we drill out to pick up our equipment. In the meantime, here's what I know about the planet Seda at the moment. Expect a slightly better analysis by the time we drill into the system, though." The captain taps a few keys on his console, and an image of what is ostensibly Seda appears.

Motioning with a wave of a hand towards the image, the captain offers, "We'll cover the important things first, I suppose. The planet Seda has an extremely thick atmosphere, which keeps the planet almost perpetually covered in dense fog. The air is technically breathable, as it is more or less an oxygen-dominant composite, but you will require a pressure mask to breathe outdoors. The temperature is cold on Seda, in large part due to the inability of solar radiation to penetrate the dense fogs covering the planet. This is also, I assume, why the planet has no native biosphere. Without the benefit of solar radiation, the planet Seda is effectively a closed system. Which is ironic, actually, but we'll come to that later. Vegetation never developed on the planet, because, well, plants need sunlight to thrive. Without vegetation, you can't have insects, which then precludes herbivores, which then precludes carnivores. It's a bit of an evolutionary bottleneck, obviously."

With a shrug, the captain continues, "Population of the planet isn't substantial, with 323,002 citizens as of the most recently available census. Without the ability to grow food outside of hydroponic gardens, they have a bit of a hard cap on their population. My understanding is that the luckier citizens live in enclosed bubble cities, and that overall they've been described as having a bit of a rigid culture. I can't tell you much more than that at the moment, but once we take off I'll set my mind to reading through the information I've gathered on the subject and get you a proper assessment of the situation. In the meantime, if there are any last minute supplies or personal matters to attend to, you might as well sort them out. I suppose I'm open to questions as well."
__________________________________________________________________________________________^{Passive: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,420xp / 104,325cr / Killdozer LLC

Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) / Tech (astronautic)

Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech)

Inventory (ready): Compad⁰ / Bioscanner¹ / Dataslab¹ / Metatool¹ / Toolkit (astronautic)³

Inventory (stowed): Grenade launcher³ (3/3 shots, flashbang) / Stealth Field Uniform⁰ / Gravity Pack¹ / Mag Pistol (silenced, 6/6 shots)¹ / Holo Unit¹

Inventory (back at base): Instapanel (x5) / Lazarus patch (x1) / Medkit (x1) / Type A cell (x6)/ Flashbang grenade² (x2) / Butler armature crate

Inventory (frigate): Armory (frigate) / Stealth Suit Cache^x / Assault suit² / Argus web¹}__________________________________________________________________________________________

Waador fucked around with this message at 19:29 on Oct 28, 2016

# ? Oct 28, 2016 17:50

Waador: Sep 11, 2001; Smashin' down the light.; Pillbug

Harambe CF-380162 > 20 / 20 HP > Armor 2 > 6 AC >>>
With the crew given the bare minimum amount of time they need to sort their affairs, it is not long before the ship's engines fire up.

"This is Terminal 4, Hangar 27. Registration number CF-380162, vessel designation Harambe. Requesting clearance to undock and depart Caerleon airspace."

"This is Control. Harambe, you're clear to depart the planet."

"Acknowledged."

Flipping off the mic on the communications hardware, 588 steers Killdozer's vessel clear of the Caerleon interplanetary spaceport, and into the deep black of space.

Once clear of the planetary gravity well, the captain turns their attention back to the crew.

"It's worth noting, I've given the ship a solid analysis before we departed, and I'm reasonably confident that all of the systems are in working order. However, I'd like to give the engines a bit of a stress test before we put our faith in them during the rigors of metadimensional travel. Which is to say ...you might want to buckle yourselves in."

Relatively little notice is given before the engines throttle into high gear. Caerleon disappears from view almost instantly on all of the monitors, as well as the main viewscreen, enveloped by the eternal night of deep space. While it should technically be impossible to really feel acceleration in an environment without gravitational pull to orient you, the crew is knocked back to the flats of their chairs. Chatham and Roja, being fairly well-acquainted with life onboard a ship, would recognize this situation as a rather atypical occurrence, at least so far as their standard shipboard protocols ever went ...the captain just activated the spike drive within the middle of the system, seemingly attempting to trim the course on their journey from Caerleon to the system's outer rim. The hazard of doing this was not trivial, and the time savings was - in a non-emergency scenario, at least - negligible.

pre:

Engine Test #1: Travel from the Interplanetary Spaceport to Caerleon's outer rim
 > Base travel time: 24 hours (drive-2)
   >> Course trimming level: 1
   >> Effective spike drive rating: 3
   >> Modified transit time: 16 hours
   >> Time saved: 8 hours
 > Base Navigation DC of 7 (6 + course trimming level in-system)
 > Navigation/Int (in-system) 9 (successful!)

Oddly enough, the captain seems entirely calm about the whole affair. In truth, the chance of a disastrous malfunction in the spike drive is negligible, but is also definitely not zero. It is difficult to keep your eyes from scanning the engine readouts on any number of panels about the bridge, at least for the first few minutes of the journey. With no klaxons sounding, and no readouts anywhere other than in the green, the crew inevitably begins to cautiously feel as if the captain has the vessel entirely under control.

Sixteen hours later, the crew has arrived at its destination: a supply depot on the outer rim of the Caerleon system. It is here that the vessel docks for an hour while calculating its flight path, picking up an unexpectedly large shipment of cargo. The crates upon crates of weapons, ammunition, and other assorted supplies for their journey are clearly marked. There is, as well, a series of twenty other crates that are a bit more conspicuous, stamped only with the logo of a kingfisher. That is, decidedly, not one of the symbols of the dozen clans that comprise Caerleon's political climate. The crates are otherwise tightly sealed, and are quickly ushered into the cargo bay along with the rest of the recently purchased materials. The captain seems largely silent on this matter, and is, in fact, ignoring it entirely. Once the materials are loaded, the captain addresses the crew once more.

pre:

Computer System Test #1: Calculate a drill course from Caerleon to Dynamene
 > Base calculation time: 1 hour (1 hex)

"The first engine test provided encouraging results, and it would appear our navigational system is running within required parameters as well." With a shrug, the hacker offers, "Time for the moment of truth, I suppose. Ladies and gentlemen, prepare for spike drill."

The lights on the bridge dim for a few moments, and the monitors flicker as all available power is rerouted into the spike drive for the truly staggering amount of energy required to tear a hole in the fabric of reality. Chatham notices all too late that the captain appears to intend to trim this course as well. A brief, instinctual response of fear routes through his neural pathways before it is interrupted by an unbelievable quantity of acceleration, which slams him back into his chair once more.

pre:

Engine Test #2: Travel from Caerleon to Dynamene
 > Base travel time: 3 days (drive-2, 1 hex)
   >> Course trimming level: 1
   >> Effective spike drive rating: 3
   >> Modified transit time: 2 days
   >> Time saved: 1 day
 > Base Navigation DC of 8 (7 + course trimming level, charts less than a year old)
 > Navigation/Int 9 (successful!)

The readouts on all of the panels on the bridge indicate - against the odds - that everything is operating within expected parameters. The engines are not redlining, and are in fact doing fairly well all things considered. As the ship settles into its metadimensional drill course, and the acceleration catches up with everyone, you are all left with a feeling of relief. Meanwhile, the captain is having a great time.

"Whoo~oo! Do you feel that, Chatham? Damned if that isn't a good feeling. These engines have got spirit, I'll give them that." Releasing their hands from the throttle and setting into autopilot on the remainder of the drill course, the captain offers, "It took me a few days to get the ship ready, so in a sense we're behind schedule. Although we don't yet know the situation on Seda, I do expect that lives are in danger. While I can't make up for all of the time we spent in dry dock, we should be able to recover some of it. An extra day or two might make the difference to someone's life, you know?" With a shrug, the captain concludes, "Or maybe not. I suppose we'll find out." Unbuckling from the captain's chair, a few keystrokes are entered into the command console to lock out access, and the captain rises to depart the bridge. "I'll begin preparing that dossier on Seda, now. We'll be in transit for about forty-eight hours from this point in time, so please arrange your schedules accordingly. If there's anything particular you'd like me to compile for you on the planet to assist in the operation, just let me know."

The captain departs the bridge, and the crew is left to their own devices. In less than three days, they would set foot upon Sedan soil in what might well be a hotzone. They knew precious little about the planet, and next to nothing about its economy, political environment, history, or other factors that might help them guide their actions and policies towards the locals. The captain was, ostensibly, attending to that matter. Yet would they provide the information the crew felt it needed, if those information requirements are not voiced?

pre:

For narrative purposes, we're in spike drill for two days.
588 is in the process of compiling a detailed report on Seda,
based on information downloaded prior to departing Caerleon.

If you would like that report to contain any particular information,
you are definitely welcome to request it in the captain's mission
briefing materials.  Likewise, you are also welcome to make any
appropriate rolls to carve out some information on the system
yourself before we land, though you should probably specify
the topic you're trying to get further details on.

__________________________________________________________________________________________^{Ship Report: Life Support (84 / 84) / Location (meta-space) / Destination (Dynamene)

Captain 588: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,420xp / 104,325cr / Killdozer LLC

> Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) / Tech (astronautic)

> Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech)

Next Update: Planned on or before Tuesday, November 2, 2016.}__________________________________________________________________________________________

Waador fucked around with this message at 05:39 on Oct 31, 2016

# ? Oct 31, 2016 05:30

Rhyos: Jan 2, 2006; It's probably my fault.

Gen Chatham

The sensation is not entirely unlike taking a taxi driven by a professional drift racer. Unexpected, frustrating, but ultimately satisfying. The chief difference is that this taxi happens to be about half the size of a cruise liner, and the captain just so happened to, seemingly instinctually, plot a course in which one either threads the needle, or either crams a chunk of rock through the hull or transports a hefty chunk of planetary atmosphere somewhere far less useful.

Glad to not have any bile - or any digestive fluids, for that matter - Gen simply adjusts his center of balance. He had dealt with hotshot starship pilots before, but to be fair, it was hundreds of years ago.

The second jump, however, manages to take Gen completely by surprise. Logic fights instinct - he knows that 588 has no intention to suicidally drill without proper preparation: Preparation was their forte, after all. Still, "Woahwoahwait, this close to the-"

The funny thing about relativistic speeds is that time streeeeetches. Therefore, Gen's pronunciation of the exclaimed query "station?!" managed to take a full 2.5 seconds.

Taking a few moments to... breathe? Adjust? Compose. Gen gives 588 a short wave before staggering back to his feet. "Y-you do that, cap'n." As his meat brain finally un-accordions, he hops up from his seat, trotting after. "Hey, quick question before you go off doing those things you do! Could you check for any previous colonization attempts on Seda? For them to move right into animals doesn't quite seem right. Think we might be dealing with a plant issue?"

# ? Oct 31, 2016 20:55

Waador: Sep 11, 2001; Smashin' down the light.; Pillbug

Harambe CF-380162 > 20 / 20 HP > Armor 2 > 6 AC >>>

Gen Chatham posted:

"Hey, quick question before you go off doing those things you do! Could you check for any previous colonization attempts on Seda? For them to move right into animals doesn't quite seem right. Think we might be dealing with a plant issue?"

"Honestly, that's the part about this situation that I don't yet understand either. The specific wording used to discuss the situation on Seda was that the 'introduced species are turning violent against the Sedans.' I'm not up to date on Seda's history, but I do have a fairly strong understanding of the conditions on the planet. It's about eighty percent water, and twenty percent land mass. I would assume any terraforming initiative would have to first introduce baseline vegetation into the biosphere, as you can't really introduce living organisms to an environment beforehand. That said, overcoming the challenges of growing plant life with limited solar radiation penetrating the dense atmosphere is not a trivial task. Moreover, as I mentioned, the planet has an extremely thick atmosphere, which human lungs can't tolerate without a pressure mask. Generally speaking, animal species are going to have the same problem, which leaves you with a bit of a quandary that only fairly advanced genetic engineering is going to solve. I suppose it's possible that they've introduced something that can breathe the atmosphere, but it wouldn't be a simple task." With a pause, and a shrug, the captain laughs and offers, "Then again, it would be a lot easier to introduce a species into the oceans of Seda instead. Even on ancient Terra, there was no shortage of creatures that could survive in the deep blue sea, able to live their entire lives without exposure to sunlight. Living at the bottom of the ocean requires an ability to withstand monumental pressure, as well. Theoretically, Seda's environmental challenges wouldn't be too dissimilar from what those organisms have already evolved to withstand. Hell, if you wanted things alive on the land, you might just need to give them legs and let nature figure out the rest. That's a much easier project for today's aspiring genetic engineers."
__________________________________________________________________________________________^{Ship Report: Life Support (84 / 84) / Location (meta-space) / Destination (Dynamene)

Captain 588: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,420xp / 104,325cr / Killdozer LLC

> Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) / Tech (astronautic)

> Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech)

Next Update: Planned on or before Tuesday, November 2, 2016.}__________________________________________________________________________________________

Waador fucked around with this message at 22:04 on Oct 31, 2016

# ? Oct 31, 2016 22:01

Successful Businessmanga: Mar 28, 2010

Camisa Roja
_{HP: 16/16 AC: 8 (Street Clothes)

Strain: 0/12}

Camisa putters around the ship as preparations to get underway are made, absent of properly assigned tasks she falls back on the old standards of "If you've got time to lean you've got time to clean" and begins scrubbing down every inch of the ship she has been authorized to be on. Having spent the majority of her life on cutting edge Vasan ships, Camisa is certainly not prepared for the unpleasant jerking sensation, she tosses a questioning look in the direction of Chatham after 588 decides to make a second risky jump "The Captain have a lot of experience doing this?"

Ultimately however the ship doesn't explode and everyone somehow manages to keep their insides inside their insides. Settling into the doldrums of ship life, Camisa ponders over what information she'd find useful from the captains reports, but she mainly draws a blank. She's pretty sure she'd been hired to function as a hammer based on what her experience entailed, and she'd certainly be happy to offer up any expertise that was required from that department.

Some time late into the second half of the trip, Camisa is hunched over one of the terminals on the bridge, any attentive crew mate noticing that she's been there for well over a day, a cup of some kind of steaming protein slough in one hand and a packet of zip stims in "Beef" flavoring being sprinkled into it. As she sips at her stimulant laden meal, Camisa scraps the 180th draft of her ship revision and begins again. A few hours later she lets out a relieved sigh and nods, looking over her shoulder she spies 588 and pipes up for the first time in over a day "Cap'n, got some ideas for re-figuring the layout of the deck" she flicks the fairly shaky blueprint through the ship's network over to 588.

"I figure we can knock out the walls on the starboard bow cabins and then split the space up between two larger rooms. In the barracks we either simply use privacy curtains or we get complicated and subdivide the space into three smaller bedrooms, having stripped the desks out of the equation we can afford the space to put in nicer beds for the crew." She eyes the other glaringly open space adjacent to the barracks "On the other side of the wall we convert the space into a proper relaxation room, put down some nice carpet and throw in a large monitor up on the wall for games and movies, bolt down a couple of couches for a soft place to actually sit. The chairs here in the bridge aren't exactly all that conducive to us sitting around and having a chat." Camisa pauses for a few moments and finishes off the, now cold, protein slurry she's been nursing over the last few hours "having a place to actually sit down and eat that isn't a console or alone in a room would be nice, so we could do it in there or maybe get some actual dining furniture for the common room."

Shifting focus over to the port of the ship she continues with her plan "I like the idea of having a gym, so we go along the same plan as the starboard side and knock out all the walls, use the aft half of the space for a gym and the fore half can be used to expand the state room a touch. We cut a little bit of space near the corridor to make a communal office that we can use for the paperwork and such, having a desk in each room is kind of pointless when we've got proper communal areas to congregate around and take personal time in, and it's easy enough to have a scheduling system around the office if someone has a need for a quiet work-space."

_{Inertial Shunt Nodes: Spend one round spooling up to nullify any full body impact. Reuse within a minute causes 1d8 heat damage. Tech Save to activate as a reaction.

Integral Biostatus Monitor: Automatically alerts Camisa to Poison/Pathogen/Radiation exposure, identifies the substance and standard treatment for it.

+2 to first skill check to treat the effects. +1 to Tech/Med checks against Camisa.}

quote:

Camisa ticks off a use of her Zip stims.

Tech/Astronautics: 5 6 if I can apply con for spending an inordinate amount of time on a task via the stim , if it's the 6 Camisa probably eventually produces a draft that is structurally sound!

Successful Businessmanga fucked around with this message at 23:52 on Oct 31, 2016

# ? Oct 31, 2016 23:24

Waador: Sep 11, 2001; Smashin' down the light.; Pillbug

^{Harambe CF-380162 > 20 / 20 HP > Armor 2 > 6 AC >>>}
The journey from Caerleon to Dynamene was expected to take about forty-eight hours, if the captain's estimate was to be believed. It was decent time, in truth, as an average ship would generally only be able to make the journey after an arduous six-day trek through metadimensional space. The combination of engine upgrades inherent to the ship and the captain's willingness to roll the dice on course trimming did wonders for shortening time spent in transit, albeit at no small cost in distraction for those aware of the risks of this particular method of travel. Shortly after the ship reaches the half-way point in its journey, the captain rounds up the crew and brings them to the bridge for a more in-depth briefing.

"Everyone, I've run through the data that I was able to download on the Dynamene system prior to our departure from Caerleon. There remains time to delve into further details if you require specific information, but I wanted to share what I've learned so far." A few keystrokes unlock the command console on the bridge, and the panels on either side of the room spring to life.

"As mentioned, Seda has a relatively low population, barely in excess of three hundred thousand souls. As a result, the planet has only one starport, which is our destination when we arrive in the system. You will be required to go through customs at this point, and we should likely ensure we're able to stay on point with our narrative when requesting access to the planet. In this particular case, based on what I can intuit of the local culture, even if it it happens to be true, they will not take it at face value that a group of well-trained soldiers from another star system have shown up with a desire to help out of the goodness of their hearts, mere days ...or possibly weeks... after trouble starting brewing planet-side. Given our cargo, I recommend that we portray ourselves as arms dealers, who have heard about recent troubles, and would like to peddle our wares to a populace that might require a little bit of piece of mind. It doesn't paint us in the best picture, but as Seda is reliant on neighboring systems for trade in wares they cannot produce themselves, it is a picture they are used to seeing, and thus likely to accept without much question ...particularly since our paperwork is in order to facilitate such a narrative." Another keystroke on the command console changes the image projected on the walls.

"This brings us to two interesting topics that seem to be hopelessly intertwined, and which will no doubt complicate matters for you. As I mentioned, the lucky among the Sedan population live in bubble cities, or to be more accurate, a single bubble city. Known as Foghaven, approximately two hours journey from the highest point on the planet - where the starport is located, incidentally - it is the most technologically advanced settlement Seda has to offer. While it would barely qualify as a city by Caerleon standards, and the quality of life is certainly lower for its residents on average, it does manage to afford reasonable comfort to its residents. Or, rather, a portion of them. Foghaven is divided into three segments - Inner Foghaven, Outer Foghaven, and Lower Foghaven. Literally built upon the backs of their poor and disenfranchised, the inner and outer layers of Foghaven rise above the mist that permeates everything but the planet's upper atmosphere. The 'Inner' layer is the only true 'bubble city' of the settlement, which you can see on the map. It appears to be an energy field of some sort, within which critical infrastructure is housed alongside those of the highest privilege within the Sedan society. It's a walled garden if ever there was one. The outer layer of this area enjoys more or less the same amount of privilege when it comes to security and personal comforts, as well as being afforded the view of the stars, though they must contest with the local atmosphere as a result of being outside the bubble proper."

A brief pause, before the captain continues. "Meanwhile, those of lesser opportunity are condemned to the perpetual gloom of the lower districts. Directly below these areas of privilege, plus or minus a few thousand feet, is Lower Foghaven. These districts are essentially an entire civilization literally living in the shadow of their superiors, within the support structures leading down to the planet's surface, as well as those unfortunate enough to live in the badlands of the planet itself. Essentially, you can imagine Seda as a planet where technological sophistication radiates outwards from a singular point, being that bubble." The captain zooms in on the bubble at this point for dramatic effect, before zooming out further to the city once more. "Upper Foghaven, in both its incarnations, will probably remind you of Caerleon, more or less, in terms of technological sophistication. Most of their technology is imported, and as a world with little to offer its peers, they can't afford much, but that's where it goes. Below the upper crust, however, are thousands upon thousands who have likely never even seen the stars, let alone visitors from the stars."

Pausing to shake their head, the captain raises an eyebrow in confusion, and explains, "This is the intertwined part I don't fully understand yet, however. As you might expect from the way their civilization is organized, the Sedan population operates under a rigid caste system. The largest caste, which is also, naturally, the lowest on the totem pole, are severely restricted in what they may and may not do. It is illegal for a member of this caste to travel off-world, they may not own any technology - weaponry included - above a certain level of technological sophistication, and there is a long list of jobs and titles they may not hold under penalty of law. As far as I can tell, that listing essentially precludes them from any job that you or I would consider to be of a governmental, military, or law enforcement nature. In general, the majority of them are farmers ...of a sort. Essentially everyone in this caste lives in Lower Foghaven, or somewhere nearby in the badlands surrounding the city." The captain shrugs, honestly confused, "What I don't get is that most governments are perfectly happy to slam their poor people into the army. Apparently, Seda isn't having any of that."

Swiveling in their chair, the explanation continues, "The next caste on the totem pole lives among the rest of the population, though the laws surrounding the work they can do are more relaxed. They are allowed to work in low-level governmental jobs, perform law enforcement duties within their communities, and can have a career in what passes for the military on Seda, though as far as I can tell the line between law enforcement and military is blurry at best." Another swivel, followed by the obviously pending data point, "Finally, the upper caste is relatively small, representing less than two percent of the population. These people are the only ones legally allowed to hold jobs that keep their society functioning. The entirety of their court system, every single decision-maker related to matters of national security, labor, commerce, education, and everything else that would be important rests in their hands."

The captain shrugs, commenting, "The hosed up thing is that it doesn't conform to any patterns you would expect to see when you hear those data points. The ruling class of Seda isn't known for human rights violations, antagonistic behavior towards outsiders, or anything that would scream 'dictatorship'. What I've read so far seems to suggest that the ruling class legitimately tries to do a good job of improving the quality of life of the planetary population. That might just be extremely well-controlled export of propaganda, though, so who really knows?"

Looking to Chatham, the captain offers, "As for your question on previous colonization, I found something interesting. Sixteen months ago, the Sedan leadership agreed to partner with a Persev corporation, AgraTech. In exchange for a favorable tax rate on imports that supply the local populace with all the luxuries Persev can offer, the firm agreed to begin the process of introducing a miscible biosphere throughout the badlands comprising Seda's surface. Obviously, they didn't publish their specific plan to terraform the planet, as trade secrets are the lifeblood of Persev's economy. However, there was a news article in a few of Persev's major papers where one of the executives announced the program, explaining that it would bring vegetation to Seda's surface within a year, and a 'thriving ecosystem to the land and sea' within a decade. That seems to track with what we're hearing."

Another shrug, followed by, "Here's another thing I don't understand, however. As I mentioned, Seda is approximately eighty percent water. However, it isn't drinkable water in its typical state. Unlike the salt oceans of ancient Terra, however, it's a mixture of water and PbCO₃ ...more commonly known as water-soluble lead carbonate. Admittedly, I'm not a genius when it comes to biology, but the number of human-digestible life forms that can survive, let alone 'thrive' in an environment with that much lead in it is rather minimal. Their claim might have just been marketing, or hopeful thinking. Either way, I find it hard to believe that they would be met with much success seeding Seda's oceans with life. I suppose stranger things have happened, though..."

Looking to the team, the captain inquires, "Anyway, that's all I've got for now. If you would like further information on a given topic before we arrive, just let me know." A brief pause, "Oh, and Roja? I like your recommendation for the remodeling of the ship's interior, good work. Just ...one problem. Your design isn't symmetrical. It ...would bother me. I know that might sound a little eccentric, but it is what it is. Is there anything you can do about that?"
__________________________________________________________________________________________^{Ship Report: Life Support (84 / 84) / Location (meta-space) / Destination (Dynamene)

Captain 588: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,420xp / 104,325cr / Killdozer LLC

> Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) / Tech (astronautic)

> Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech)

Next Update: Planned on or before Thursday, November 3, 2016.}__________________________________________________________________________________________

Waador fucked around with this message at 17:11 on Nov 1, 2016

# ? Nov 1, 2016 06:15

Successful Businessmanga: Mar 28, 2010

Camisa Roja
_{HP: 16/16 AC: 8 (Street Clothes)

Strain: 0/12}

Looking over the details Camisa taps her fingers against her shawl in an steady pattern "Bit late to pick up some extra goods I guess? Probably would have been a good idea to bring a few dozen crates of lovely hooch now that we know the general layout of things, the farmer folk probably don't have much in the way of luxury, but it'd be easy to milk them for the little money they've got with small pleasures" Taking a closer look at the images displayed, Camisa ponders the scenario for a moment and shrugs "It'd probably be chump change at this point after figuring in a course correction and spending extra time heading out to procure more goods, the guns'll probably turn us a small profit anyway."

Camisa is silent for a good while, but eventually brings her thoughts to the table "With how import heavy this place is I can't imagine we're going to turn much of a profit at all, sure we'll make some cash teaching the locals how to play around with guns and we might snag some info we can sell to the scientific community back on Caerleon or elsewhere, but with a Persev corp being involved, I guess the question is; do we go into this from a more corporate espionage angle, or are we just here to do a networking milk run?

quote:

Looking to the team, the captain inquires, "Anyway, that's all I've got for now. If you would like further information on a given topic before we arrive, just let me know." A brief pause, "Oh, and Roja? I like your recommendation for the remodeling of the ship's interior, good work. Just ...one problem. Your design isn't symmetrical. It ...would bother me. I know that might sound a little eccentric, but it is what it is. Is there anything you can do about that?"

Camisa's lips tweak to the side, her tongue clicking against the back of her teeth as she thinks for a moment and then nods "I've got just the thing."Heading back to her console on the bridge, Camisa sifts through some of her rejected designs and pulls one out that's fairly similar to the final result.

After loading the design onto the ship net proper, she walks back to the Captain and gives her thoughts "This one kind of eats into the entertainment space and crew quarters a bit, but we make up for it with the convenience of not having to haul ourselves to the storage bay for spare linens or to stow a console for the entertainment room that's fallen out of use or a folding table or two if we decide to have dinner in a nice upholstered room instead of the tin can kitchen we've got.." Camisa shrugs to herself "Can't say I prefer it, but you're the Captain and if the symmetry of the layout bugs you it bugs you and doesn't get implemented."

_{Inertial Shunt Nodes: Spend one round spooling up to nullify any full body impact. Reuse within a minute causes 1d8 heat damage. Tech Save to activate as a reaction.

Integral Biostatus Monitor: Automatically alerts Camisa to Poison/Pathogen/Radiation exposure, identifies the substance and standard treatment for it.

+2 to first skill check to treat the effects. +1 to Tech/Med checks against Camisa.}

# ? Nov 3, 2016 07:05

Waador: Sep 11, 2001; Smashin' down the light.; Pillbug

^{Harambe CF-380162 > 20 / 20 HP > Armor 2 > 6 AC >>>}

Camisa Roja posted:

"Bit late to pick up some extra goods I guess? Probably would have been a good idea to bring a few dozen crates of lovely hooch now that we know the general layout of things, the farmer folk probably don't have much in the way of luxury, but it'd be easy to milk them for the little money they've got with small pleasures" Taking a closer look at the images displayed, Camisa ponders the scenario for a moment and shrugs "It'd probably be chump change at this point after figuring in a course correction and spending extra time heading out to procure more goods, the guns'll probably turn us a small profit anyway."

The captain shrugs in response, offering, "As far as I can tell, it probably wouldn't be hard to buy the good stuff in the upper city, and then use it as currency down below, if you have to venture down there. I sort of assume the people living in the literal sky will be insulated from any ecological disaster rampaging on the planet's surface, but you never know. If we get into the system and there's nothing but distress signals on every frequency we'll know pretty quickly what the facts on the ground are, I suppose."

Camisa Roja posted:

"With how import heavy this place is I can't imagine we're going to turn much of a profit at all, sure we'll make some cash teaching the locals how to play around with guns and we might snag some info we can sell to the scientific community back on Caerleon or elsewhere, but with a Persev corp being involved, I guess the question is; do we go into this from a more corporate espionage angle, or are we just here to do a networking milk run?"

A thoughtful pause, followed by, "I have no idea how things will play out down there, but from my perspective we aren't here to make money selling arms to the locals. If we earn some beer money doing so, that's a plus, but it's not really noteworthy. If we end up using that beer to bribe the locals, I don't really care, either. The arms dealer angle is just a cover to get in the door without too much scrutiny, and to provide a plausible reason to have some ordnance on your person. I doubt they'll let us travel around with enough gear to level half a city block, but a few 'samples' should be feasible." Another brief pause, and then, "Speaking of which, this is the ordnance you folks have to work with throughout the course of the mission. I ...don't exactly know what they'll let you keep when you make your way through customs, as that's probably dependent on how well you follow the narrative of our cover. However, this is what I have available on the ship for your use on this mission." A detailed inventory of the armory springs up on the various monitors on the bridge.

"I would rather recommend you each take an atmospheric filter with you, if you enjoy breathing. It wouldn't be the worst idea to bring along some medical supplies, as well. As for ordnance, I appreciate that you all seem to have brought your own favored sidearm, but if anything strikes you as a good backup, or something worth bringing along as a contingency, feel free to sign it out. While Seda obviously has the manufacturing expertise necessary to produce unsophisticated shotguns and rifles of its own, our product is in a different class entirely. Caerleon's shotguns and rifles, while just as 'simple' in their operation, are still fabricated using state of the art techniques, and to military-grade specifications. Our weaponry is, simply put, inherently more reliable than anything they can produce locally on Seda. The upper class might have access to whatever they like in terms of imports from Persev or elsewhere, but the core of the civilization would be hard-pressed to find a shotgun that can fire fifty thousand rounds before it requires a maintenance cycle."

Camisa Roja posted:

Camisa's lips tweak to the side, her tongue clicking against the back of her teeth as she thinks for a moment and then nods "I've got just the thing."Heading back to her console on the bridge, Camisa sifts through some of her rejected designs and pulls one out that's fairly similar to the final result.

The captain clicks their tongue, and then lets loose a low whistle. "That's about right! I'll see what I can do about getting it implemented when next we have some downtime." After a brief pause, 588 looks to Chatham, and comments, "Oh, and Chatham? You may want to decide which suit you're wearing planet-side. There shouldn't be any issue with your current face, but if you intend to go down clad in chrome you might need to be prepared to sweet talk the customs agents."
__________________________________________________________________________________________^{Ship Report: Life Support (80 / 84) / Location (meta-space) / Destination (Dynamene)

Captain 588: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,420xp / 104,325cr / Killdozer LLC

> Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) / Tech (astronautic)

> Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech)

Next Update: Planned on or before Friday, November 4, 2016.}__________________________________________________________________________________________

Waador fucked around with this message at 22:59 on Nov 3, 2016

# ? Nov 3, 2016 21:05

Successful Businessmanga: Mar 28, 2010

Camisa Roja
_{HP: 16/16 AC: 8 (Street Clothes)

Strain: 0/12}

Camisa lets out a quiet impressed "Hm" as she glances over the list, it wasn't the largest armory she'd see by far, but for a company which by all accounts seemed to consist of 5 people? It wasn't bad at all.

Jotting down the few things she'd needs, she sends the Captain the requisition order and shrugs "I imagine the locals wouldn't be particularly pleased with either the decoration on my combat uniform, I'll need to spend a bit of time scrubbing it clean" she flicks open her compad and displays a photo of herself from her military days, in the gear she currently still owns "I doubt they'd care for the idea of me carrying a juicebox either; flaunting a giant battery pack attached to a cutter rifle probably sends a I could kill you all in one sitting vibe they'd not enjoy."

_{Inertial Shunt Nodes: Spend one round spooling up to nullify any full body impact. Reuse within a minute causes 1d8 heat damage. Tech Save to activate as a reaction.

Integral Biostatus Monitor: Automatically alerts Camisa to Poison/Pathogen/Radiation exposure, identifies the substance and standard treatment for it.

+2 to first skill check to treat the effects. +1 to Tech/Med checks against Camisa.}

pre:

Requisitions for Camisa Roja and Loadout for Seda

Readied Inventory 4/4
Combat Uniform- 0 Enc: AC 3 (4 base -1 dex)
Cyber Claws- 0 Enc: d20+AC+1 Dex+0 C/Primitive+1 AB /d8+1 damage
Cutter Rifle- 2 Enc: 15/15 Ammo 
Single Shot- d20+AC+1 Dex+1 Energy Bonus+1 AB+ 0 C/Energy/ 1d12 damage
3 Burst- d20+AC+1 Dex+1 Energy Bonus+1 AB+ 0 C/Energy+2 burst/ 1d12+2 damage
Atmofilter- 1 Enc
[req] Thermal Pistol 1 Enc: 5/5 Ammo
d20+AC+1 Dex+1 Energy Bonus+1 AB+ 0 C/Energy/ 2d6 damage

Stowed Inventory 5/9- Backpack TL4
[req] Type A Cell x 4- 1 Enc each (2 mine 2 requisitioned)
[req] Flashbang x 1
Lazarus Patch- 1 Enc
Zip Stims x 9: 0 Enc

Successful Businessmanga fucked around with this message at 05:01 on Nov 4, 2016

# ? Nov 4, 2016 04:45

Rhyos: Jan 2, 2006; It's probably my fault.

Gen Chatham

"Well, I don't necessarily have to breathe, but I do plan on bringing some spares for those that do. As for myself, it might be worth declaring multiple armatures at customs - all for personal use, of course. There's... well, me, then the squawkbox, then chromedome - that's going to be the one for when we go outdoors. We ARE a PMC, after all, and since we're technically here to take care of something, we might be able to get away with it. Do we have any word on what the local laws are for weaponry? Do they have restrictions on carry outside of civilized areas?"

"As for the purpose here, it's pretty much a hearts and minds, thing. There's a problem, we're here to fix it. A bit of good PR in the system can do a hell of a lot of good. If we keep it clean in the cities, we should, hopefully, be ok using whatever we like on the outside. You know, barring spacing a chunk of the planet with a risky spike or something like that. Of course, this is all theory until we hit the ground. We did tell the local authorities that we're on the way, right?"

# ? Nov 4, 2016 11:48

Waador: Sep 11, 2001; Smashin' down the light.; Pillbug

^{Harambe CF-380162 > 20 / 20 HP > Armor 2 > 6 AC >>>}

Gen Chatham posted:

"Well, I don't necessarily have to breathe, but I do plan on bringing some spares for those that do. As for myself, it might be worth declaring multiple armatures at customs - all for personal use, of course. There's... well, me, then the squawkbox, then chromedome - that's going to be the one for when we go outdoors. We ARE a PMC, after all, and since we're technically here to take care of something, we might be able to get away with it. Do we have any word on what the local laws are for weaponry?"

"Given how reliant Seda is upon amicable relationships with interstellar traders, our baseline level of social status should be about on par with their second class of citizens, with a few perks over and above the norm for that caste. You should expect your travel through Seda to be monitored, as you'll need to pass through formal checkpoints to get into or out of each of the major districts of their city, or to head to the planet's surface. Much like their middle class citizens, we are allowed to own advanced weaponry and similar technology, though we'll be prohibited from taking it into certain districts of the city. Essentially, they take the risk of assassination of their upper class fairly seriously." With a shrug, the captain continues, "It'd take too long to go into a lot of detail, but the short version is basically this: as far as I can tell, the only instances of off-worlders being given the death penalty on Seda is in cases where those off-worlders attempted to smuggle lower-class citizens off the planet. Most other oversights, whether criminal or merely reckless in nature, have been settled with a fine, or punitive restrictions placed upon the visitor. It's interesting in that they don't tend to imprison off-worlders. Part of their economic strategy appears to be ...well, it's complicated. Here's an example: a few crew members of a Wolf clan trading vessel got into a bar fight in Outer Foghaven nearly three years ago. Six citizens were injured, and one was nearly killed. The Wolf crew members were returned to their ship by the city's security forces, and banned from entering the city again unless they paid a fine of three thousand credits each. In addition to that, tariffs on any imports conducted by that ship, its captain, or any other ship of the Wolf clan were raised by three percent for the next five years. Enough of a penalty to make them feel the pain, but not quite enough to make them cut their losses and never deal with Seda again. Effectively, without a strong economic engine of its own, Seda can't afford to wantonly imprison the merchants that supply their world with luxuries that keep the middle class happy. If you get into a firefight with the security forces I imagine you might end up dead in the crossfire, but there seems to be very little risk of anything other than a monetary fine ...short of one of you having a psychopathic breakdown with a machine gun, I suppose."

Gen Chatham posted:

"Do they have restrictions on carry outside of civilized areas?"

"That's where our narrative might fall apart, to be honest. As I mentioned, the planet's surface is almost exclusively inhabited by their lowest caste of citizen. These people are prohibited from owning anything you or I would consider 'good' when it comes to weapons or technology. Essentially, they aren't allowed to own thermal pistols, laser rifles, and the like. Our paperwork should allow us to bring this equipment to the planet's surface for our own use and protection, but it is very illegal to sell any of it to the people living on the surface. There's a good chance we'd be fined if we even let them use that kind of kit, and don't even think about losing anything." A brief pause as the captain seems to consider something, before adding, "Anyway, thankfully, they are allowed to own shotguns and rifles, for which we have an ample supply. If we want to push the angle of trying to sell arms to the locals on the ground, the only thing we'll need to explain is what they could possibly have that is of value to pay us in exchange."

pre:

Mechanically, the restrictions on Seda are as follows:
 > Upper-class citizens are Inner Foghaven residents.
   >> They can own anything.
 > Middle-class citizens are primarily Outer Foghaven residents.
   >> They can own TL4 equipment, but need a license for TL3+ weaponry.
 > Lower-class citizens are primarily Lower Foghaven residents.
   >> They can own TL3 equipment, can be licensed for TL4 equipment, and are prohibited from TL4 weaponry.
 > Interstellar travelers can own TL4 equipment and weaponry, but are barred from taking it into certain city districts.

Gen Chatham posted:

"As for the purpose here, it's pretty much a hearts and minds, thing. There's a problem, we're here to fix it. A bit of good PR in the system can do a hell of a lot of good. If we keep it clean in the cities, we should, hopefully, be ok using whatever we like on the outside. You know, barring spacing a chunk of the planet with a risky spike or something like that. Of course, this is all theory until we hit the ground. We did tell the local authorities that we're on the way, right?"

The captain laughs, and offers, "...sort of, yes. Interstellar mail to Seda isn't a booming business, so there wasn't an opportunity to announce our arrival in advance to the planet. I did register our flight plan and obtain the appropriate documentation for what passes for a Sedan embassy on Caerleon, so our paperwork is in order. It's sort of like being on the guest list for a nice club, but not the VIP list, if that makes any sense? They'll talk to us when we get to the gates, but if the bouncer doesn't like us, it could be a headache." The captain shrugs as the navigational system pings a few alerts to the bridge console, and comments, "On the bright side, our spike drill is almost done. Brace for dimensional shift in five, four, three..."

The ship returns to three-dimensional space with a physical jolt, as well as some errant flickering on the various consoles throughout the bridge. A few keystrokes are immediately entered into the bridge console by the captain. An image of what is ostensibly a real-time image of the planet Seda very quickly makes its onto the main screen on the bridge.

pre:

Computer/Int 11 to scan the system with the sensor array.

The captain blinks, offering, "We appear to have arrived during the course of a solar eclipse. I don't suppose any of you believe in omens? I'd have to check my book, but I'm sure that's a good one." Pressing a few more buttons on the console, a flight path is charted through the system, accounting for the orbital path of asteroids and stellar debris throughout the system, most of which appear to have been compiled in advance. Presumably it was collated from various navigational data available on Caerleon from the various other parties that regularly travel to Seda, though it is entirely unclear whether it is information freely shared or liberally 'borrowed' by the hacker. "You might want to keep yourselves strapped in." Mere moments after reentering three-dimensional space at the outer rim of the Dynamene system, the captain once again activates the spike drive, trimming the course between their current location and their destination on Seda's surface. The physical jolt as the engine kicks into high gear is all too familiar, though this time perhaps a bit less unexpected.

pre:

Engine Test #3: Travel from Dynamene's outer rim to Seda
 > Base travel time: 24 hours (drive-2)
   >> Course trimming level: 1
   >> Effective spike drive rating: 3
   >> Modified transit time: 16 hours
   >> Time saved: 8 hours
 > Base Navigation DC of 7 (6 + course trimming level in-system)
 > Navigation/Int (in-system) 12 (successful!)

As the final leg of the journey gets underway, a readout appears on the navigational console.

pre:

Total Transit Time:  81 hours
Travel Time Saved:   40 hours
Engine Assessment:   Sufficient
Computer Assessment: Sufficient
Sensor Assessment:   Sufficient

"Looks like we're going to make decent time on the route to Seda. I'll admit, I'm rather pleased with the way the ship is handling." The captain appears to have minimal concern, if any, as to the risk of what might have happened if these 'engine tests' hadn't been successful. Though, that said, the fact that they have beaten the odds on three successful spike drive activation subroutines in a row without even a hint of system overload might begin to fill the crew with confidence that their captain actually does know a thing or two about astronautic navigation.

The crew is about six hours into their journey from the outer rim when a communication directed at their vessel is received, flashing pervasively on the majority of consoles throughout the bridge, as well as within the individual quarters of the crew.

"Good morning, CF-380162 ...Harambe? You've been detected on a vector approaching Seda. We don't appear to have your ship's identification number in any of our records, suggesting this is your first visit to our planet. Please state your purpose."

The captain seems inclined to respond, but looks to Chatham and the others, commenting, "You folks are the ones going planet-side. Why don't you take point on dealing with our new friend?"
__________________________________________________________________________________________^{Ship Report: Life Support (72 / 84) / Location (Dynamene system) / Destination (Seda)

Captain 588: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,420xp / 104,325cr / Killdozer LLC

> Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) / Tech (astronautic)

> Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech)

Next Update: Planned on or before Wednesday, November 9, 2016.}__________________________________________________________________________________________

Waador fucked around with this message at 01:32 on Nov 7, 2016

# ? Nov 7, 2016 01:25

Rhyos: Jan 2, 2006; It's probably my fault.

Gen Chatham

Gen shrugs. He kinda was sorta half in charge of this whole thing, so he figures he may as well make with the meet and greet. Sidling into the comms chair, he leans an elbow on the console, toggling the microphone switch.

"That would be correct, Seda. This is Gen Chatham of Killdozer, LLC. Don't let the name mislead you, we're actually here because we've been informed of a wildlife problem that we just might be able to help with. Interstellar communications haven't been performing as well as we'd like, so we figured we'd show up in person to try and see what we can do to help."

Releasing the transmit key, he glances to everyone else. "Short, sweet, not quite giving away everything... Figured it's better than saying we're here to gently caress poo poo up and charge the bigwigs, right?" In the most emotive his face has been since he got it, he glances back to the transmit light, just to make sure it's not still lit.

# ? Nov 7, 2016 02:45

Waador: Sep 11, 2001; Smashin' down the light.; Pillbug

^{Harambe CF-380162 > 20 / 20 HP > Armor 2 > 6 AC >>>}

Gen Chatham posted:

"That would be correct, Seda. This is Gen Chatham of Killdozer, LLC. Don't let the name mislead you, we're actually here because we've been informed of a wildlife problem that we just might be able to help with. Interstellar communications haven't been performing as well as we'd like, so we figured we'd show up in person to try and see what we can do to help." Releasing the transmit key, he glances to everyone else. "Short, sweet, not quite giving away everything... Figured it's better than saying we're here to gently caress poo poo up and charge the bigwigs, right?" In the most emotive his face has been since he got it, he glances back to the transmit light, just to make sure it's not still lit.

Chatham is able to confirm, much to his delight, that the microphone was indeed turned off as intended, and didn't transmit the latter half of his commentary. There is a brief pause before the voice on the other end responds, presumably coordinating with a superior, or perhaps merely distracted with some other matter.

"Acknowledged, Harambe. I've been instructed to ask by my superiors, are you affiliated with AgraTech Corporation? If so, please transmit your identification code, and we'll prepare your usual hangar."
__________________________________________________________________________________________^{Ship Report: Life Support (72 / 84) / Location (Dynamene system) / Destination (Seda)

Captain 588: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,420xp / 104,325cr / Killdozer LLC

> Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) / Tech (astronautic)

> Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech)

Next Update: Planned on or before Wednesday, November 9, 2016.}__________________________________________________________________________________________

# ? Nov 7, 2016 03:02

Rhyos: Jan 2, 2006; It's probably my fault.

Gen Chatham

Glancing around and not quite recalling any such info, he decides to stick with the truth. "Negative, Seda - we're an independent company. Sorry if that's a disappointment! Expecting some company?" It's possible the conversational route could work, but even if not, usual facilities would presume a longer-standing AgraTech presence on the planet. "Regardless, here's our ID info. Got room for one more?"

Hoping the cue results in a proper transmission, he decides to keep everything above board for now. Getting planetside was the first priority.

# ? Nov 8, 2016 18:22

Waador: Sep 11, 2001; Smashin' down the light.; Pillbug

^{Harambe CF-380162 > 20 / 20 HP > Armor 2 > 6 AC >>>}

Gen Chatham posted:

"Negative, Seda - we're an independent company. Sorry if that's a disappointment! Expecting some company?"

There is another brief pause before the communications channel flares up in response. "Harambe, acknowledged. Not a disappointment, but not fully understood. If you're not affiliated with AgraTech, that isn't a problem, but if I'm understanding you correctly you heard about wildlife problems on the surface, and ...came to help? To be clear, the Sedan government has not formally transmitted a distress signal. Everything is fine down here. Mostly."

Gen Chatham posted:

"Regardless, here's our ID info. Got room for one more?"

"Identification received, Harambe. I'll get back to you momentarily on your clearance to dock."
__________________________________________________________________________________________^{Ship Report: Life Support (72 / 84) / Location (Dynamene system) / Destination (Seda)

Captain 588: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,420xp / 104,325cr / Killdozer LLC

> Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) / Tech (astronautic)

> Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech)

Next Update: Planned on or before Wednesday, November 9, 2016.}__________________________________________________________________________________________

# ? Nov 8, 2016 18:52

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 27, 2024 04:14

Rhyos: Jan 2, 2006; It's probably my fault.

Gen Chatham

"The 'Mostly' is what concerns us. Like I said, Killdozer works just a little bit differently. Thanks for the clearance!"

Flicking off the transmit key, he turns to the rest of the group. "Looks like that was some insider information! My memory's fuzzy - did we get this one from the party? Kinda liking the idea of taking care of problems before they become catastrophes."

# ? Nov 8, 2016 19:47

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > The Game Room > [Stars Without Number] Glory in the Black: Revival

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