Episode 1 : Rescue or Retrieval

[personalpariah]

Udex: Integrated VI

>>ANALYSIS OF (RESCUE / RETRIEVAL MISSION LOG) SUGGESTS NEXT TARGET: INDIVIDUAL SIMON CHARMSWORTH

OOC: Udex wants to to do a similar search for Simon Charmsworth, the person we are tasked to find and retrieve.
Program Skill Check: [3d6c1+1] = 9+1 = 10
Heh, 10 appears to be my lucky number

[Marullus]

Dax

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The nightclub pulsed, the lights and bass of the music thumping in its own feral rhythm. Dax's blonde hair was styled up with multicolor punk spikes, her skirt and crop-top both shorter than they should be anywhere but here. She locked eyes with two different men as she worked the floor, enjoying the attention as they competed for her, watching the tables to the side discretely all the while. When three men came across the dance floor twisting back the arms of a fourth into joint locks, she pivoted her swarthy dance partner and knocked solidly into them. The goon stumbled. She gasped in shock to the men she was dancing with, "He grabbed me!" she objected, prompting a momentarily conflict as the dancers confronted the stumbling goon over her honor.

She watched as Nikolai bolted out the door, pausing only a moment to note that the three thugs didn't see which door he escaped out through. She smiled to herself and sidled away in the chaos, following Evegny and his other goon as they slipped into a hallway, heading to look for the Doctor in the club's side rooms. She surprised the goon, dropping him with an upward palm strike that spurted blood from a broken nose, then cornered Evegny in the dim hallway, missing her strike but at least trapping his gun-arm between them. Evegny lashed out with a wild hook with his free hand but she dodged back effortlessly, then leveled him to the floor with a well-placed roundhouse kick to the head.

"Best find a different doctor," she said, smiling down on him sweetly, her high heel choking his windpipe. "He doesn't kill people on purpose," she said, leaning down as if sharing a confidence. "but I do." After patting the Russian's cheek affectionately, she released his neck and strode back out into the club with bravado, dissappearing into the crowd and swiftly heading for the front door before they could catch up.

____

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Dax arrives late: thigh-high boots and a kimono coat complimenting a white blouse she wears over her black halter. Her blonde hair is slicked down, multi-color florescent highlights adding to the asthetic. She nods to Wei respectfully, trying to studiously catch up on business... no particular greetings for the others as she does so.

After watching the holovids scroll past a few times, she chimes in."Guy gets a valuable artifact and dissappears with the natives? Even odds he doesn't want to be found," she adds, releasing a puff of vapor from her e-cig. "Finding him anyway sounds fun. When do we blow this popcicle stand?"

[Liaozhai]

He could not begrudge Armiger's deception. Wei himself was no stranger to being other than what he appeared to be.

Wei wished he could offer more information about the L'Hoi to his cohorts before they made a decision. When speaking to the L'Hoi, he would be guided by the Way and communicate with them without effort. Until the crew arrived in Ahiri, this intuition would be quite useless. Though the images of heads mounted on spikes were grisly, without understanding the circumstances of the beheaded creatures' death, judgement was meaningless.

He saw Tatiana making eye contact with him.

"I agree with Taniushka. I don't believe the L'Hoi are our enemies. They seem to be victims of these pirates, the Black Albion, just as the others who have been subject to their depredations of late."

"If we are in agreement, I will contact Mr. Armiger with the good news."

Wei casually checks his dataslab to see if any of his connections have any word on a bounty on any members of the Black Albion operating in Nadwa.
Connect-0 + CHA [2d6+1] = 7+1 = 8

[Faanku]

Tatiana greets Lloyd with a smile and a brief wave as Wei gives the mission the green light, then frowns at the blonde-haired woman. "Daxana, I do wish you would refrain from using that device aboard Persephone; Silas has explained several times before how close to disrepair the filtration systems are."

[lordgrimli]

Lloyd gives a small laugh from the doorway.

"If a cigarette is what tears this ship apart, we have bigger problems."

No one seemed to be volunteering, so Lloyd took the next step. Sitting down, he searches for someone selling atmosphere scrubbers.

Trade: [2d6+0] =6 and 4 = 10.

[Liaozhai]

What is long divided must unite, what is long united must divide. These disagreements were a natural part of any group that cohabited for an extended period of time. How best to balance Ms. Anchillies' chemical dependence with Tatiana's discomfort? Wei wondered if Mr. Corvus or Dr. Yegorovich had an expert opinion to provide on the matter.

"Mr. Moss, if you require any assistance, I am happy to lend my services. On a related note, there is still the matter of payment from our last errand. Are we still committed to putting half of the reward into ship maintenance and dividing the rest of the credits equally?"

[lordgrimli]

Lloyd nodded appreciatively.

"Thanks Wei, if it involves a meeting I'd love to have your help negotiating. In terms of payment, we need 500 credits for fuel, unless someone took care of that when I was sleeping? And then we need capital to purchase these filters- I'm happy to put in some of my money but the more volume we buy a better deal we'll get, anyone else willing to contribute their 500 credits to the purchase?"

The possible profits were obvious, but Lloyd left that unsaid, or else bring up the risks as well.

[Antman9]

Silas A. Corvus: Expert Technician (HP: 5) (AC: 13)
Actions: Readies the ship for departure while trying not to think about Eli

Silas eventually comes back to the conversation in the room, having exhausted his current reserves of inner dialog. “She’s not wrong Dax. The formaldehyde and heavy metals in those things do contribute to the load on the system, though small. I’d be more concerned about what they’re doing to your lungs. But you do you.” Silas offered a big cheesy smile, an unnatural act for him. ”Yes Lloyd, bigger cockroaches in this tincan heap to worry about. If we’re going to do this then let’s git! A workshop would make all things easier but that’s neither here nor there in the bigger scheme of things. I’ll go batten down the hatches.”

Silas eased his cranky muscles into movement. I'll pony up a hundred credits toward those filters. Take it out of my share. Good to see you again Wei. We are in agreement. You too Udex, always a pleasure to see both of you,” Silas says with emphasis and a wink on the way out. Eyeing Dax’s colorful hair, he says ”Nice hair Dax. Loving the color.” Several steps later he realized she reminds him of Eli. Not in appearance or personality, but in age and vivacity. His thoughts turn dark once again as he busies himself with the ship.

[Marullus]

Dax exhales the flavored and laced water vapor unperturbed, offering a grateful smile to Lloyd. She is no stranger to female jealousies nor protective men. "It's a Meraxes model; the highest end designers are easier on the filters," she concedes to Tatiana, then tossing her a small white box. "Here, gift from an admirer. Thought it'd go better with your complexion." The box contains a pair of turquoise-stud earrings.

"Thank you!" she says brightly to Silas at his compliment, running a hand over her new multi-color highlights. Then she replies to Wei. "I'm fine with however you want to divide it, lets just get off this rock. I'm running out of things to do, here." Her eye lingers for a moment on Nikolai's wrist, appraising, before she catches herself and turns her attention to her rhinestone-covered compad, scrolling contemplatively through her social media feeds.

(Assess contacts and opportunities among both low-lifes and corporate/socialites along their proposed route - Connect-0 +1 WIS. Do you want us to roll proactively, or wait for you to call for rolls and state difficulties?)
Connect + WIS [2d6+1] = 11+1 = 12

[Faanku]

The white box seems to hang in place for a second in front of Tatiana's face, before she plucks it gingerly from the air and inspects its contents. "They are very nice, but are you certain that... I mean, is it right to give away something that...." She sighs, defeated. "Thank you, Daxana. I shall try them on once we have left port."

And once again the psion was left dumbfounded at how different she and the wild Dax had turned out, despite the parallels of their upbringings. They were born to similar circumstances, had the same lofty expectations heaped upon them, but here was a woman who had walked away from it all without a second thought, who had the courage and conviction to say "No." The mere thought of opposing her family's demands was alien to Tatiana even now, and in truth this unpredictable storm of a woman fascinated and agitated her in equal measure. With an imperceptible sigh, she moves to leave the common area.

[Gerrin]

(Assess contacts and opportunities among both low-lifes and corporate/socialites along their proposed route - Connect-0 +1 WIS. Do you want us to roll proactively, or wait for you to call for rolls and state difficulties?)
Connect + WIS [2d6+1] = 11+1 = 12

You can roll proactively, helps me keeps things a lot murkier not giving you guys any clues as what is happening

[personalpariah]

>>NOTIFICATION: PARTY MEMBER LLOYD HAS BOARDED
>>NOTIFICATION: PARTY MEMBER DAX HAS BOARDED
>>NOTIFICATION: SCRAPE SEARCH COMPLETE ON INDIVIDUAL SIMON CHARMSWORTH
>>ANALYZE: RECENT SEARCH HISTORY
>>
>>PERSONAL LOG: PARTY MEMBER SILAS APPEARS TO BE CONFUSED ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DRONE AND A GRAVCAR.
>>NET QUERY: "HOW TO TRAIN YOUR HUMAN"
>>NOTIFICATION: SCRAPE SEARCH COMPLETE
>>
>>
>>PRIORITY ADMINISTRATIVE COMMAND: DELETE "HOW TO TRAIN YOUR HUMAN" BROWSING HISTORY
>>PRIORITY ADMINISTRATIVE COMMAND: DELETE "HOW TO TRAIN YOUR HUMAN" BROWSING HISTORY
>>PRIORITY ADMINISTRATIVE COMMAND: DELETE "HOW TO TRAIN YOUR HUMAN" BROWSING HISTORY

Tengu falters for a moment before regaining its slow orbit around the party. Tengu's tinny speakers chirp, "I have completed my research on our rescue / retrieval target individual Simon Charmsworth. By all historic accounts he is a decorated Federation war hero. However, his recent records suggest a sudden change in behavior beginning a year ago. Additionally, it appears that he has taken minor obfuscation measures to hide his travels. Alternatively, he may be periodically traveling in unofficial capacities."

Flitting over to Wei's shoulder, the Tengu drone pipes up again. "If it is determined that trade will be profitable, this one is willing to use its share for purchasing additional trade materials."

>>PERSONAL LOG: PARTY MEMBER TATIANA APPEARS TO BECOME UNCOMFORTABLE WHEN RECEIVING GIFTS. INVESTIGATE IF THIS IS A GENERAL OR SPECIFIC SCENARIO.
>>ALERT: MULTIPLE PARTY MEMBERS ARE EXPRESSING DISSATISFACTION WITH CURRENT PHYSICAL LOCATION OF SHIP.

Chirping again at Wei's shoulder, "Is there an unannounced threat that needs to be assessed in this location? Dialog is trending towards a making a getaway."


OOC: I was mistaken about our starting system. If it is alright with everyone, I would like to retroactively have Udex suggest that we trade with the Espino 8 Moon Base within our 606 starting system instead. It is in orbit around the planet Thorunn, on the Astopel moon.

[Liaozhai]

Wei kept 2200 Credits for ship expenses. In Rilloo they had completed necessary repairs for the previous cycle. He began a new spreadsheet: 3200:7. The seventh month of the Year of the Bright Metal Dragon, he mused.
He sent funds to the members of the crew per their request, dividing his share between ship upkeep and Mr. Moss & Udex's venture:

• Anchillies, Daxana: 400 Credits
  Corvus, Silas: 400 Credits
  Moss, Lloyd: 1000 Credits
  Tatiana: 400 Credits
  Udex: 000 Credits
  Wei, Xuan: 000 Credits
  Yegorovich, Nikolai: 400 Credits

With his small contribution, they only required ¥68,600 Credits for necessary repairs on Persephone by the end of the year.

Had Udex sensed a danger he had not? Ms. Anchillies seemed particularly eager to head into the black and had been known to get into scraps while on shore leave. Wei could not detect the scent of offense on her, but his connection to the Way had suffered since his exile. Addressing both Ubex and Dax, he said, "We don't have to be so hasty. Better to have all things aligned than to venture into the unknown unprepared. Is everyone ready?"

Additionally...

He sent a message to Jonas Armiger confirming the crew would take the Charmsworth job and continued searching for any Black Albion-related bounties.
Connect-0 + CHA [2d6+1] = 7+1 = 8

[lordgrimli]

Lloyd tapped his finger against the table as he scrolled through his compad. "Ubex, you mentioned the moon base, do you think we should keep with oxygen filters or just go with the simpler option of food and water? Bases always need those."

Lloyd searches for anyone who might be selling either oxygen filters, canned food, or water at an advantagious price.

Trade (0)= 3+4=7

He pauses. "Actually, Wei, we should be able to ask them what they need directly, since we are in system with them, if I hook up the line, could you see what they need?"

(If Wei agrees to this, Lloyd will ask Ubex to open a channel of communication with the moonbase)

[Gerrin]

Lloyd searches for anyone who might be selling either oxygen filters, canned food, or water at an advantagious price.

Trade (0)= 3+4=7

There doesn't seem to be anyone offering any speacial deals on oxygen filters at the moment

[Marullus]

(Assess contacts and opportunities among both low-lifes and corporate/socialites along their proposed route - Connect-0 +1 WIS. )
Connect + WIS [2d6+1] = 11+1 = 12

I am still supposed to be waiting for this result before posting more, right?

[lordgrimli]

(Gerrin mentioned he might respond in personal forums, maybe check there?)

(I realize I've already gotten Wei's promise of assistance, so I will make the program check and see what we can do.)

Program= 4+1 -1 = 4
Lloyd attempts to connect with the starbase to open communications.

"Espino 8? This is the Persephone, a free merchant on Dion, do you need any supplies? Espino 8, do you read?"

If his efforts are not enough he asks Ubex for help.

[Gerrin]

After several minutes of trying, Lloyd accepts defeat in trying to raise the space station.

[Marullus]

Dax smiles contentedly as the notification noise on her compad indicates the credit deposit. She winks at Wei.

Had Udex sensed a danger he had not? Ms. Anchillies seemed particularly eager to head into the black and had been known to get into scraps while on shore leave. Wei could not detect the scent of offense on her, but his connection to the Way had suffered since his exile. Addressing both Ubex and Dax, he said, "We don't have to be so hasty. Better to have all things aligned than to venture into the unknown unprepared. Is everyone ready?"

The freshly-scrubbed hands and arms of Dax are not abnormal, but then neither is the need for her to get rid of blood stains. Perceptive in the Way, her protective and worried looks at Dr. Nikolai likely do not escape him. The word he'd percieve most is, perhaps, Lost. She has lost her way, the comraderie of the group and the sharing of its purpose a comfort she gravitates to strongly, despite any outward protestations.

Dax shifts sideways on her chair as the atmosphere becomes more casual, the work conversations ending. She seems content to peruse her social media channels while others move the ship to their next adventure...

Ready here - next scene?

[Faanku]

I'm ready.