TUELLER: “Any fucking reason you’re looking through my mail, Ghost?”
STORY: I AM ATTEMPTING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HUMAN INTERACTION.
STORY: THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE.
TUELLER: “If you were human we’d be interacting about now.”
STORY: I DON’T FLIRT WITH MY COWORKERS, MR YA’MAKASI
TUELLER: Tueller lashes out with his fist at a bulkhead, which crumples waaaaaaaay more than titanium should.
STORY: Cheap-ass ship.
STORY: Dr. Breedlove, why don’t you give me a Face Adversity move + Interface to see how well you bring the Canary to meet up with Alejo and Tueller.
STORY: whoop, belay that
STORY: +Mettle. Sorry
MILLICENT: Working on it
STORY: Still learning the stats
MILLICENT: 5d6, right?
STORY: Yep!
MILLICENT: j/k
MILLICENT: 10
MILLICENT: 9+1
STORY: Beautiful! Tell me what you do.
TUELLER: –9+1?
MILLICENT: Wait
MILLICENT: Do we roll 1 or 2 dice?
STORY: 2
TUELLER: Two six sided dice.
STORY: 2d6
MILLICENT: Yeah.
TUELLER: Ahhh.
TUELLER: Sorry.
MILLICENT: 5 + 4 + 1 Mettle
TUELLER: Got it. Two dice together. Sorry.
TUELLER: —I’ll shut it now
MILLICENT: Millie asks Noma to rejoin her in the Canary and does some quick math on the simple interface there. Using the plummeting craft’s momentum she calculates her angle and fires her nav jets at just the right time to soar across the few miles between herself and the other craft, landing on or near the airlock.
STORY: Alejo, Tueller, you’ve got something knocking at your door.
TUELLER: Tueller goes to check the airlock.
TUELLER: “That you doc?”
TUELLER: Tueller is wearing the mask he got off the Maitri.
TUELLER: Having wiped it off.
MILLICENT: “Oh, hello there! Are you Maitri?”
TUELLER: He is otherwise wearing his go suit.
MILLICENT: “Did you kill some pirates not long ago?”
MILLICENT: Through the com channel
STORY: Tueller is, roughly, Maitri-sized.
ALEJO: “Welcome aboard, Doc. Noma.”
TUELLER: “I have in my day killed pirates, yes.”
MILLICENT: “Oh hello, Alejo!”
STORY: A speaker in Millie’s suit crackles to life. “Good day, Mr. Ya’Makasi. Your mask is quite frightening.”
MILLICENT: “Are you gentlemen going our way?”
TUELLER: “You’re coming our way, yes.”
MILLICENT: Millie lifts a giant metallic claw and lifts one “thumb”
TUELLER: Tueller cycles the airlock.
STORY: “Millie, shall I investigate the systems onboard?”
MILLICENT: Millie steps on board and starts disentangling herself. “It’s only polite to ask our hosts, Noma.”
MILLICENT: “Gentlemen?”
ALEJO: “Please do.”
STORY: Noma beeps pleasantly and the display before you flickers.
TUELLER: “Of course. We gave it a once over, but didn’t find much other than the Maitri sentry”
STORY: The screen turns black and green text appears onscreen.
STORY: SHIP SET TO AUTOPILOT; WILL RETURN IN 3 HOURS 22 MINUTES.
MILLICENT: “You two fought a Maitri sentry?”
TUELLER: “Went pretty quickly.”
STORY: DESTINATION APPEARS TO BE MAITRI GUARD BASE. SUSPECT SIGNIFICANT ARMED RESISTANCE TO OUR ARRIVAL.
TUELLER: …
TUELLER: “Oh! Noma! He said he booby-trapped the place. We didn’t find any. If you see anything, please give us a head’s up.”
STORY: THIS SHIP SUCKS AND HAS NO INTERCOM SYSTEM. OLD MODEL CENTAUR-CLASS GARBAGE.
TUELLER: “Watch your step, Doc.”
STORY: NO DETECTABLE TRAPS IN THE COMPUTER SYSTEM; MAITRI LIKELY NOT SOPHISTICATED PROGRAMMERS.
STORY: WOULD REQUIRE MANUAL SEARCH OF THE SHIP TO FIND ANY HANDMADE SECURITY DEVICES.
TUELLER: “I think this is probably a hijacked pleasure craft–pirates pirated it and brought it out here, and the Maitri took it over.”
STORY: SECTORNET SUPPORTS ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE OF MAITRI HOMEMADE BOOBY TRAP DEVICES BEING A FREQUENT TACTIC.
MILLICENT: Millie fully exits the suit and takes a look around. “Fascinating!” Absently, “Of course, yes, I’ll be careful.”
ALEJO: Alejo sighs to himself and stands from the controls to the ship.
MILLICENT: Millie is already examining a terminal.
TUELLER: “Anyway, you ever seen Maitri before? Big bug fucker with a schnozz.”
TUELLER: “Apparently he liked hand to hand combat. Weird, since he wasn’t that good at it.”
ALEJO: “Noma said we could expect armed resistance. Any idea how much? I thought there was only one other sentry down there?”
MILLICENT: “Oh, no, I’ve never met any Maitri before.”
ALEJO: “Welcome to meet ours.”
TUELLER: “Well, there’s most of one here to look at, if you want.”
TUELLER: “Face is a little squoshed.”
STORY: Millie, there is a dead body just outside the bridge.
STORY: They were polite enough to drag it outside, at least.
MILLICENT: “And I have no idea what kind of resistance we can expect. But if I can repurpose the scanners on board to check the surface for defensive systems…”
TUELLER: The Maitri is streaked with yellow blood.
ALEJO: “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. And we need some sort of plan. Are we . . . just going to kill whatever we find down there?” Alejo’s voice is flat.
TUELLER: “This is your expertise now. I’m just here for whenever the resistance resists.”
MILLICENT: Absently, “Noma, is there a room you can bring to sub zero temperatures?”
MILLICENT: “We should probably try to deliver the fallen champion with as little rot as we can manage.”
MILLICENT: —can I scan the surface to recon?
STORY: I CAN VENT THE CARGO BAY IF YOU CAN SECURE HIS BODY SOMEWHERE.
TUELLER: “I’ll handle the securing, if you want, doc.”
TUELLER: Tueller goes to drag the Maitri corpse to the cargo bay.
MILLICENT: “Oh yes, thank you Tueller.”
ALEJO: Alejo simply watches Tueller work. Then, after a few beats, “Let me know if you need help.”
TUELLER: “Naw. Look into our welcome on the surface.”
ALEJO: Alejo nods once and turns to Millie. “About that scan. What can I do to help you get it set up?”
TUELLER: —back in a sec.
MILLICENT: “Oh yes, see if you can pull up the thermal imager. We’ll need to compare some other data sets against temperature.”
ALEJO: “Alright.” Alejo says simply and heads to a terminal to see what he can find.
STORY: That’s going to be a Face Advertisy + Interface, Alejo
STORY: and the same for you, Millie
ALEJO: 4+4=8 No modifier.
MILLICENT: haha same roll as last time
MILLICENT: 5+4+1=10
TUELLER: Tueller is dragging the Maitri corpse to the cargo bay. He’s going to prop it up in the webbing on the cargo bay, so that it’s facing the exit of the bay. If anyone enters the cargo bay from outside, the corpse would be facing them like a scarecrow.
STORY: Aljo, you can access the imager, but you will mess up the calibration of the thermal sensors for the approach, which may affect your landing. You can abandon the inquiry without damaging the system if you want.
MILLICENT: Screen Shot 2017-12-05 at 9.05.45 PM.png
STORY: Tueller, that is excellent and I like it and you can do that.
STORY: Millie, what specifically are you looking for?
ALEJO: “Shit.”
MILLICENT: What kind of defenses we can expect. Actual Maitri troops? Automated canons? Killer robots? Spore monsters?
ALEJO: — Is there time to take another run at it, if I back out?
STORY: — nope
STORY: — not a time issue, you’ve just reached the limit of your technical expertise in this subject
ALEJO: — But someone else could give it a run?
STORY: Sure.
ALEJO: Alejo backs out of the system. “Doc, this is above my pay grade. I’m gonna fuck up the thermal scan on the approach if I keep at it.”
STORY: Millie, you remote link to the Maitri mainframe on Mercury and are able to find a crew manifest. There are currently five Maitri guards living on the surface, not counting scientists and engineers. Since you’re beyond the main barrier, there aren’t any other defenses to speak of for keeping the ship away, only the Maitri themselves on the surface to deal with.
TUELLER: —need to sear my pork chop. Back in two minutes.
STORY: And if there’s one thing you’ve learned about space, it’s that there are always killer robots.
MILLICENT: “Oh!” Millie looks over at his screen and kicks her roll-y chair (she has a roll-y chair) over to the console he’s working on
MILLICENT: “Yes, that’s ah. Very accurate.”
MILLICENT: “Not your fault. I shouldn’t have asked. I’ll just…”
STORY: — learn technobabble?
ALEJO: Alejo slides over and watches.
MILLICENT: Can I fix the thermal scan and get the info on where the Maitri are?
STORY: Sure.
MILLICENT: As she types, “You see, these thermal scanners rely on tritanium multiadaptive converters, which, which,” Millie laughs, “are wonderful in a vacuum, but when you bring them into atmo you’ve got to that into account and.”
ALEJO: He nods absently and moves over to where Millie was and reads the manifest. “Gods.” He mutters this and shakes his head.
MILLICENT: Millie hits another series of buttons and the main view screen has a rotating map of the kind of main area we’re headed with 5 rough red heat signature outlines
STORY: Tueller, in the cargo bay, the display next to the door flicks on. IS THE BODY IN PLACE?
TUELLER: Tueller leaves the cargo bay and closes the hatch on it before responding.
TUELLER: “Yes. And, just in case you were planning on something, I’m no longer in the cargo bay.”
MILLICENT: “There! These are the Maitri that appear to be armed.”
STORY: TOO CLEVER BY HALF, MR. YA’MAKASI. VENTING CARGO BAY.
MILLICENT: “There may be additional personal. And military grade robots.”
ALEJO: Alejo moves back to look over Millie’s shoulder.
STORY: There is a barely audible hiss and pop as the area beyond the door you have sealed is opened to the vacuum of space. The Maitri body tugs against its bonds, but stays in place. You see frost begin to form on its skin.
MILLICENT: —hang on
MILLICENT: —-we’re about to go through the atmosphere
MILLICENT: —we’re going to fucking flash fry that body
STORY: — not for three hours!
TUELLER: Tueller returns back at a narratively appropriate time.
MILLICENT: oh yeah okay
STORY: MR YA’MAKASI, IF I MAY ASK YOU A QUESTION.
TUELLER: “Shoot”
STORY: YOU HAVE SIXTEEN UNREAD MESSAGES IN YOUR ONBOARD MAILBOX FROM YOUR SISTER. ARE YOU INTENTIONALLY AVOIDING HER?
TUELLER: “Which sis?”
TUELLER: Tueller sounds professionally curious.
STORY: ESINAM
TUELLER: “Professional curiosity, Noma. You reading those messages?”
STORY: BASED ON MY RESEARCH, SHE IS NOT A WOMAN YOU SHOULD KEEP WAITING.
STORY: The question remains unanswered.
TUELLER: “Take a look at my inbox. You see ANY read messages?”
TUELLER: “I don’t read messages while on a job.”
STORY: NO. YOU APPEAR TO BE REMARKABLY BAD AT PROMPT CORRESPONDENCE.
STORY: NONETHELESS, MS. YA’MAKASI IS A POWERFUL WOMAN. IT WOULD BE WISE TO ANSWER HER.
TUELLER: “We’re on a job. Even Esinam can wait. She is, as they say, not the boss of me.”
STORY: AS THEY SAY.
TUELLER: Tueller looks like he’s in a bad mood now.
TUELLER: Because he fucking is.
TUELLER: This is, honestly, the first thing Noma’s said to him yet that’s gotten to him.
ALEJO: When Tueller arrives back at the bridge, Alejo notices his bad mood face. “Everything go alright?” He asks cautiously.
TUELLER: “Any fucking reason you’re looking through my mail, Ghost?”
STORY: I AM ATTEMPTING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HUMAN INTERACTION.
STORY: THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE.
TUELLER: “If you were human we’d be interacting about now.”
STORY: I DON’T FLIRT WITH MY COWORKERS, MR YA’MAKASI
TUELLER: Tueller lashes out with his fist at a bulkhead, which crumples waaaaaaaay more than titanium should.
STORY: Cheap-ass ship.
TUELLER: “You…”
TUELLER: “Okay.”
TUELLER: Tueller calms himself. “Millie, your friend’s a bit of a fuckhead.”
TUELLER: “Noma, are you reading my messages, or just skimming the outside of the envelope?”
STORY: No response on the display, just the schematics Millie had pulled up.
ALEJO: “Tueller, I don’t know what’s up. But it needs to wait. We’ve got to focus on what’s in front of us now.”
MILLICENT: Millie looks curiously at Tueller, then back to the schematics, content to leave it for now.
TUELLER: “How fucking close are you guys to putting something in front of me?”
ALEJO: “Close. But we need to decide what we’re doing. At least five armed sentries down there. Other defenses. This isn’t what we were sold. I thought they’d left. This isn’t them gone.”
MILLICENT: Millie gestures to the heat map of the compound on the screen
TUELLER: “Five. Huh. Five is doable.”
MILLICENT: “Do you think we could send the ship I just left as a distraction?”
TUELLER: How clustered are the five?
MILLICENT: “Noma, what’s the estimated location of the crash site for the ship we just left?”
TUELLER: “Presume one sentry to swap out with the sentry I just strung up as a scarecrow. That’s easily overpowered.”
STORY: A small red dot appears on the map you have pulled up, about a half mile from the major structures on the surface.
ALEJO: “Yeah, it’s doable. But are we really killing five more and then however many other unarmed Maitri are down there? I mean, I’ve got no love in my heart for giant naan eating bugs, but . . . “ He shakes his head.
MILLICENT: Millie leans forward and types for a moment. A segment of map, half a mile from the indicated crash site, becomes gradually larger and larger.
TUELLER: Tueller is not wearing the Maitri mask anymore, btw.
MILLICENT: Two levels from the surface a room, or series of rooms, snaps into place. Now that it’s separated from the rest of the map you can see that this area is a few degrees warmer than the rooms surrounding it.
MILLICENT: And at the middle a small, but impossibly hot object.
MILLICENT: “Whatever that is, I’m betting it’s worth the price of gas to get here, gentlemen.”
ALEJO: Alejo looks at the screen. “So it’s hot. So what?”
TUELLER: “Ejo, you did your time in Murders and Acquisitions just like me. This is a doable job. Plot us a path between our landing and that big blue ball of love, with as many or as few sentries as you want me to handle, and let’s handle it.”
TUELLER: “One thing we know about these roach fuckers is that they respect strength. So show some fucking strength.”
ALEJO: “I did my time. And I can handle myself. You damned well know that. That’s not the point. I also . . . left. You did too.”
TUELLER: “Yep. I left for this. Something more interesting than sitting on Io driving a city.”
STORY: — lol
STORY: — i enjoy the subtextual conversation here
MILLICENT: —I’m missing the subtext entirely!
ALEJO: Alejo shakes his head. “Yeah, well, if I wanted to kill for money . . .” He trails off.
ALEJO: “How good’s the fucking money?” He asks this angrily to Millie?
MILLICENT: Millie’s fingers twitch quickly, then she spins her chair back to the console and begins typing.
TUELLER: Tueller sighs.
STORY: There is a friendly chime from your console, Millie.
TUELLER: “We’re not killing for money. We’re stealing for money. From shithead aliens, by the way. The killing is just to make things easier to steal.”
MILLICENT: “Good question, co-captain.”
MILLICENT: What’s the chime signify?
STORY: Noma agreeing.
TUELLER: “Seems to me the best way to figure out what the payoff is is to grab it and sell it.”
MILLICENT: Millie tries to get into the planet’s systems to find out the reason behind the hot spot.
TUELLER: Tueller looks irritated and restless.
STORY: Let’s do Assessment + Interface, Millie
MILLICENT: oh wait
MILLICENT: This is the first time I’m witnessing this situation!
ALEJO: Alejo stands rigid and still.
STORY: It is!
MILLICENT: Who or what, oh Starmaster, is most vulnerable in this situation?
MILLICENT: That’s a question about the defense grid of the planet
MILLICENT: As for another situation I am witnessing for the first time
TUELLER: Tueller just kind of glares at Alejo. Irritated, not openly hostile.
MILLICENT: Who or what, oh Starmaster, caused this situation? Being the tension between Tueller and Alejo.
STORY: lawl
STORY: I’ll PM you
MILLICENT: haha I’ve got to remember to recognize first looks at new situations!
ALEJO: —That’s a thing? Nice thing to have!
MILLICENT: Also going to try to get into the planet’s system to find out the reason for the hot spot.
MILLICENT: —I have Deduction
MILLICENT: !
ALEJO: “If we’re stealing, then incapacitating the naan bread shithead aliens should be enough, right?” He says this without looking at Tueller. “Kill ‘em if we have to. But only if we have to.
TUELLER: “I’m not here to kill shit. I’m here for whatever that spike on the map is. You want to avoid bloodshed, plot it out for me.”
ALEJO: “I love you like a brother, but you know that’s not how this works.”
TUELLER: Shrugging. “I’m not here to pick a fight.” Pointedly not looking at Noma’s screen.
ALEJO: “Shit goes sideways. Always goes sideways.” He shakes his head. “I just want to focus on the A and ease up on the M. You know that.”
TUELLER: “Ejo. Millie. Someone give me a fucking plan and I’ll do it. Okay? Okay. Until then, I’m over here checking my fucking email.”
MILLICENT: Millie spins around suddenly and claps. “It’s a teryon subspace sensor net!”
MILLICENT: Millie grins up at them expectantly.
TUELLER: “oh. Of course. How did I not see that?”
ALEJO: Alejo smiles completely cluelessly.
ALEJO: “Yay?”
MILLICENT: “Oh yes, yay! Very yay!”
STORY: Tueller, the display in front of you turns on. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO REROUTE YOUR MAILBOX TO THIS DISPLAY, MR. YA’MAKASI?
MILLICENT: “Teryon subspace sensor nets respond to changes in atmospheric conditions to register initial threats!” She smiles, confident that she’s given you enough to go on.
TUELLER: To Noma: “I have my own encrypted tablet, thank you, Noma.”
TUELLER: Tueller is not checking his email since the interruption.
MILLICENT: Millie’s smile slips a bit. “Because they’re designed to…”, no response, so, “…detect superstorms common to recently terraformed worlds as well as external threats.”
MILLICENT: Seeing blank looks, “If we explode the other ship just inside the atmosphere it will convince their sensors there’s an oncoming superstorm and our ship should evade notice.”
MILLICENT: “We blow up the other ship so they can’t see us?”
TUELLER: “That works.”
MILLICENT: “Great!” Millie claps. “I’ll leave the explosives to you two. I’ll try to get a better read on what we’re up against.”
TUELLER: “You can land us near the site then, unencumbered by poor innocent bugs to squash?”
ALEJO: Alejo ignores the sarcasm. “Good plan.”
TUELLER: I want to be clear, Tueller’s asking this because he’s unclear what the plan is after that.
MILLICENT: “Yes, schematics list that as the “refinery”. I expect it to be quite hot, so we’ll want to look out for thermal suits.”
ALEJO: — Yeah, I think that I’m a bit confused as well. Aren’t we on a ship that no one on the surface knows has been taken over that is auto landing soon?
STORY: — Yes, buht it’ll auto land in a place full of Maitri guards. If you can get off their radar, presumably you can land where there are fewer dangerous aliens and avoid having to kill any of them.
MILLICENT: —well shit I forgot that part and solved an unnecessary problem
MILLICENT: —oh good I did a positive thing
ALEJO: “So we sneak in and steal whatever that hot spot thing is and sneak out, no one the wiser?”
ALEJO: “Hopefully, we avoid things going loud and violent?”
TUELLER: Tueller pulls up for a second like he was just surprised by a thought.
TUELLER: “Noma, can you please repressurize the cargo bay? And not kill me when I go into it?”
TUELLER: “I want to check something out there.”
TUELLER: Tueller turns and walks out of the room, heading back to the cargo bay, not waiting for Noma to respond.
TUELLER: He’s going and doing what he just said he did, unless Noma gets in the way.
MILLICENT: —Noma is climbing the stairs with a glass of wine and should be with you shortly
STORY: By the time you reach the cargo bay, it’s repressurized and oxygenated, though it is still pretty cold in there.
TUELLER: Tueller goes in and ignores the cold. And the scarecrow.
STORY: The scarecrow doesn’t smell, thankfully, and its nose is basically an icicle.
TUELLER: After looking at something in the cargo bay, he says to himself, “I thought so.”
TUELLER: Yelling back to the bridge, he yells, “I think I’ve got an idea. Come on back here!”
MILLICENT: Millie heads back
ALEJO: Alejo does as well.
TUELLER: Tueller grabs a tarp, and pulls it back dramatically.
TUELLER: Under the tarp is a 12 foot long, black metal—well, I guess it’s a giant robot beetle with six legs.
TUELLER: “Guys, here is our ride.”
ALEJO: Alejo’s interest in piqued.
MILLICENT: Millie cocks her head to the side
TUELLER: Tueller starts trying to fiddle around the rear, eventually finding a handle that cracks open the rear of the vehicle.
TUELLER: With a slight hiss, a ramp extends.
TUELLER: Inside is a small area. It’s definitely big enough for the three of you.
TUELLER: There is a horizontal cockpit, with stirups. Tueller is the only one large enough to reach both the foot pedals and the hand pedals.
MILLICENT: “Huh”
ALEJO: Alejo looks inside. “Nice ride.”
TUELLER: “I’m pretty sure if we can get on the ground, I can walk this to the site. I’ve driven jankier shit on a volcano planet, I can manage on Mercury.”
TUELLER: “How you like that, Millie? That ship over there goes boom in atmo, you put us on the ground, and I get us there?”
MILLICENT: “I like that very much, Tueller. I like that very much indeed!”
MILLICENT: Millie is all smiles.
TUELLER: It’s a six legged walker, armor plated, with two arms basically in fists coming from the front carapace.
STORY: Big hammer type balls on the front arms. Looks like it was built for demo work.
STORY: (Demolition, not demonstration)
TUELLER: —Antifa demos
MILLICENT: haha
STORY: There are little mottles and scratches all over it. It’s seen some use and is still in good shape, just a little weathered. The cockpit can fit the three of you comfortably, though the two passengers have to share the edges of one large seat. It looks like it was designed to fit two Maitri.
STORY: Tueller, the controls are a little complicated since they were designed for someone with four arms, but you should be able to make do by using your feet now and then.
TUELLER: Tueller nods. “Okay. Get us on the ground then. I’m…ummm, going to have to figure out how to work this.”
ALEJO: Alejo smiles for the first time in a while. “Let’s steal some shit.”
TUELLER: “Oh, and get me some paint.”
TUELLER: Tueller is going to focus in figuring this thing out until someone tells him he needs to do something else.
TUELLER: He takes a moment to put the Maitri mask back on, and gets to work.
TUELLER: —wife just got home. brb
MILLICENT: I think we’ve got a viable plan here
MILLICENT: —SAY HI TO COURTNEY FOR US
STORY: I have only one question about your plan
STORY: How are you going to blow up the derelict ship?
TUELLER: So whenever someone gets Tueller some paint, he’s painting “The Gregor Samsa” on the robot.
ALEJO: — Nice.
STORY: That’s a good name and Tueller is surprisingly well-read for a socialite
ALEJO: —Good ol’ Kafka.
MILLICENT: —yeah good goof
TUELLER: He’s spent a fair amount of time on milk run ships and he gets bored.
TUELLER: He gets bored so easily.
MILLICENT: The blowing up of ships is the purview of the co-captains
STORY: Well, let’s hear the plan, co-captains!
STORY: Alejo, what do you plan to do?
ALEJO: Alejo smiles once more at the bug mobile and then turns to Millie. “How big an explosion do we need?”
TUELLER: What type of skill does “explosives” depend on? Just so I know how good Tueller would be at something like that.
MILLICENT: “It’s not the size of the explosion, it’s the timing. You have to blow it in the mesosphere.”
ALEJO: — I assume it’s a sabotage sort of thing, which is a skill that I could have chosen, but I haven’t yet.
STORY: Tueller, depends on what you’re exploding. If you’re wiring together an improvised device, it’s Expertise, if you’re shooting a block of C4, it’s Mettle, if you’re hacking and overloading a computer to fry it and start a chain reaction, Interface.
ALEJO: “Right.” Alejo starts to think through the options. “Well, we have some low-yield explosives back on the Peregrine. I’m thinking that we’ll need to hump it back to the derelict, plant something and then . . . .”
ALEJO: He trails off.
TUELLER: Tueller perks up from behind the controls of the Samsa. “You’ll need me for that, then. You’re shit at explosives, Ejo.”
ALEJO: Alejo nods. “Yeah.”
TUELLER: …
TUELLER: “Millie, you were on the junkheap. You know the condition it’s in. We going to be able to plant close to the fuel nacelles?”
TUELLER: —Actually, Millie is the only one with an eva suit, right?
MILLICENT: Absentmindedly, “Oh, I could gin up some minor explosives, if you need them.”
STORY: — well, now all of you have a big bug-shaped EVA suit
TUELLER: —That can only walk, not fly.
MILLICENT: “I’m sure I saw some reactant around here.”
MILLICENT: “Could you two figure out how to launch it at the other ship?”
TUELLER: “Millie. I don’t know if I’ve told you this, but I like you.”
STORY: — yeah, both of them are land vehicles, they can safely travel through space but there are no thrusters or anything. that was my bad last session about millie’s EVA
MILLICENT: “Tueller!” Millie smiles hugely.
STORY: — you can point them and shoot them in the right direction but there’s no steering until you land somewhere and grab on.
ALEJO: “Any probes or escape pods on this thing?”
STORY: NONE ONBOARD, MR. SOTO.
ALEJO: “What about on Peregrine?”
STORY: I DO NOT RECOMMEND USING PEREGRINE’S ESCAPE PODS FOR THIS PURPOSE.
STORY: PEREGRINE HAS ONLY SIX ESCAPE PODS. ANY THAT YOU CHOOSE TO USE BEFORE AN EMERGENCY WILL LIMIT THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS YOU CAN SAFELY TRANSPORT.
TUELLER: “Millie puts together a bomb, Noma drives us over, Millie EVAs to put the bomb on the ship near the fuel nacelles, and then we land. Any issues with that that I’m overlooking?”
TUELLER: “We don’t need to THROW a bomb. We just need to walk over there.”
STORY: THAT IS AN EXCELLENT PLAN, MR. YA’MAKASI.
MILLICENT: “I believe that may work.”
TUELLER: “I’d use the EVA suit, but I’m a bit big. And Gregor doesn’t have any hands.”
TUELLER: “Only fists.”
MILLICENT: I assemble a makeshift class 0 explosive
STORY: You do so!
STORY: Let’s do some rolls to see how this goes. Everyone good with this plan?
ALEJO: “If I can borrow the EVA, I can plant it. Best not to lose Millie. Or you, Tueller. At the moment, I’m the most expendable.”
STORY: I AGREE WITH MR. SOTO.
TUELLER: “You’re also the worst with bombs, buddy.”
ALEJO: “Worst at building them. I can plant them just fine.”
TUELLER: “I couldn’t hear out of my left ear for three months, remember?”
ALEJO: Alejo laughs. “You didn’t let me forget.”
MILLICENT: “I’ll let you boys fight this out. I’ve programmed a guest mode into the EVA, I’ll go activate it for whichever of you wins this particular…contest.”
MILLICENT: Millie leaves to do so
ALEJO: “You build it. I’ll be the messenger boy.” Alejo gives Tueller nod.
STORY: SHALL I BRING US TO THE HANA?
ALEJO: “Please.”
TUELLER: Tueller shrugs. “Prefer it be Millie with this task, but if you insist…”
STORY: The thrusters kick in and you feel the slightest rumble as the ship changes course.
STORY: Then a few pleasant chimes alerting you to the proximity of the derelict ship nearby.
STORY: On the screen: MR. SOTO, DR. BREEDLOVE IS READY FOR YOU IN THE AIRLOCK.
ALEJO: Alejo goes and gets into the EVA.
TUELLER: —For the record, I stated that Tueller won’t fit in the EVA, so he can’t handle this.
TUELLER: “Try not to kill us all, buddy.”
TUELLER: “You sure you don’t want to handle this, Doc?”
ALEJO: “Still sure you don’t want to drive a city?”
MILLICENT: “Mr Soto! I’ve reconfigured the controls to match…” judgemental cough “…standard settings. If you’re sure you want to take this flight?”
ALEJO: “Stop worrying. It’ll be fine.”
MILLICENT: —thing is, I don’t want to take away Henry’s only chance to do a thing this session
TUELLER: —Sure! It’s just…well, it’s an Expertise roll.
STORY: The display near the airlock door turns on. I WILL ASSIST MR. SOTO, MILLIE. PLEASE TAKE OVER MANUAL CONTROL OF THIS SHIP UNTIL WE RETURN.
MILLICENT: —haha yeah exactly
STORY: The screen darkens and the ship shudders slightly.
MILLICENT: “I have the con, dear.”
ALEJO: — Well, it’s been nice playing with you all . . . .
STORY: Alejo, a HUD turns on inside your mask. It shows you a reticle and a few data readouts. Noma’s voice pipes in to you. “Are you ready, Mr. Soto?”
ALEJO: “Hey Noma. Let’s try not to kill me, shall we?”
STORY: “This suit has no thrusters, so you need to get your initial jump right, or the two of us will have approximately one hour to chat before you suffocate.”
ALEJO: “Aww, that’d be such a sweet time. But yeah, let’s skip that.” Alejo sizes up the situation and gets ready to make the jump.
TUELLER: “Millie wants her suit back, buddy.”
STORY: Okay! Roll me a Face Adversity + Mettle, please!
TUELLER: “So don’t do that first thing.”
STORY: Millie closes the airlock behind you and prepares to open it on your mark.
ALEJO: 6+3=9 + 2 = 11
STORY: Dang. Dang.
STORY: Why don’t you tell me how that goes?
ALEJO: — By the way, I have the bomb, yes?
STORY: You do.
MILLICENT: haha oh man
MILLICENT: stomach in my throat for that
ALEJO: — I mean, we didn’t really get that part down. So, just before I kill myself.
TUELLER: —somebody set up us the bomb
STORY: Yeah, I assumed Millie would have handed Alejo the point of the mission.
ALEJO: Alejo steps forward in the airlock and then makes a firm jump and kick off from the airlock wall towards the derelict ship. So far, so good.
ALEJO: “How’s that Noma?”
STORY: As you float through the air, Noma speaks to you. “I’m not typically one for flowery speech, Mr. Soto, but that was downright elegant.”
ALEJO: “Well, that was the easy part.”
ALEJO: “But thanks.”
STORY: “We have approximately twenty seconds until contact with the ship. If I may raise a topic for discussion?”
ALEJO: “Uh. Sure?”
STORY: “Your SectorNet and Erde-Maris expenditure reports are… unusual. In particular I can’t find any meaningful record of your credit. Are you a spy?”
ALEJO: “One ghost to another, that’s just not a polite question.” Alejo says this lightly.
STORY: “That’s fair, but I have never lied to you, Mr. Soto. Have you lied to us?”
ALEJO: “I live lies, Noma. I live lies.”
ALEJO: “But no, not about anything that matters to you or the Doc or anyone else around me.”
STORY: There is a pause, and you reach the derelict ship, bumping lightly against the hull before grabbing the handle of the broken airlock with one of the EVA’s arms.
STORY: “Acceptable. Please ensure you do not keep anything important from Millie or I in the future.”
STORY: “I will continue to be honest with you. I believe Mr. Ya’Makasi will make contact with his sister shortly.”
STORY: “Do you wish to be apprised of their correspondence?”
ALEJO: “Fair request, Noma. And . . . no, probably best if I don’t spy on my friend. But thank you for the offer. Now, let’s plant a bomb, shall we?”
STORY: “Certainly. I have provided the best path to our destination on your HUD. Please let me know if you require any further instruction.”
ALEJO: “Thank you.” Alejo pulls himself in through the broken airlock and moves through the ship, following the HUD’s directions. He moves as swiftly as possible.
STORY: Okay! Let’s do this as a Face Adversity + Expertise to place and set the wire for the explosive.
ALEJO: — Ugh. Here we go.
ALEJO: 5+4=9 – 1 = 8
STORY: Beautiful. You can choose: the explosive goes off, but either too soon or too late.
MILLICENT: Hey!
MILLICENT: Not the worst result!
ALEJO: — Haha. Well, it works either way, yes? So what’s the downside?
STORY: Too soon or too late!
ALEJO: — Hmm. Well, let’s say too late.
STORY: All right. You set the explosive and the makeshift timer and beat feet. Because of your roll earlier, you’re able to jump back to the Centaur-class without issue, and return to your companions unscathed.
STORY: Millie, Alejo’s back with the Canary.
TUELLER: Tueller’s been working at learning how to drive the Gregor.
STORY: Tueller, so far you’ve figured out the command sequence for Smash.
TUELLER: he cleared out space in the hold and is basically hoping he can learn to pace with it.
STORY: Obviously the most important function.
TUELLER: Tuell Smash!
MILLICENT: Mille cycles the airlock and lets Alejo in
MILLICENT: “Well done, co-captain! Back in one piece!”
ALEJO: Alejo steps inside. “Thanks. And thank you Noma for a lovely excursion.”
MILLICENT: “And just in time to watch the ship explode on the verge of the mesosphere.”
MILLICENT: Millie glues herself to the observation port
STORY: Millie, you watch anxiously out the porthole to see the Hana….
STORY: not explode.
ALEJO: “Huh.” Alejo has gotten out of the EVA and is watching as well.
STORY: Both your ship and it start to heat up as they hit the beginnings of the atmosphere. It’s still mostly holding together.
STORY: You both hear an alarm sound from the bridge.
TUELLER: There is a muted smashing noise from the hold as Tueller smashes a cargo crate with the Gregor
ALEJO: “Can’t be good.” Alejo looks a Millie. Then he sprints towards the bridge.
MILLICENT: Millie runs after him
STORY: Tueller, it’s very much like the scene where you meet Dog in Half-Life 2, and if you don’t understand that reference, you need to play HL2 because you are missing out
STORY: Only you are Dog.
STORY: Millie, Alejo, you arrive in the bridge to see a series of text messages from the base aboard Mercury requesting flight clearance in increasingly urgent terms, followed by the correspondence being cut off. Another alarm sounds – a proximity alarm.
TUELLER: Awesome.
STORY: Through the viewscreen you see a missile headed towards your ship.
STORY: What do you do?
TUELLER: —I have of course played HL2 many many times.
ALEJO: — How much time do we have until impact?
STORY: Seconds.
TUELLER: —it’s been ten years since the last Half-Life game came out what the fuck man?
ALEJO: Steer the ship so that it’s in the shadow of the derelict.
MILLICENT: —ask Gage
STORY: Alejo! Let’s do Face Adversity + Mettle
ALEJO: 5+6=11 + 2 = 13
TUELLER: “Uh guys is someone shooting at us?”
STORY: God damn.
ALEJO: — could have used that earlier.
STORY: I think you have a pilot, guys.
STORY: Describe it!
MILLICENT: —jesus shit look at those numbers
ALEJO: Alejo grabs the controls to the ship, flipping off the autopilot and pivoting the ship towards the derelict. At the same time, he slows our ship so that it falls in behind the derelict, trailing it closely.
ALEJO: — I presume that the derelict will blow up here in a moment, and I’m hoping that that will distract the missile
STORY: Millie, you’re unfamiliar with ship combat, but even so it’s a beautiful thing. He slides the Centaur in behind the Hana smoothly, and you barely have to adjust your balance to accommodate his quick maneuvering.
STORY: The derelict indeed blows up
MILLICENT: Millie lunges for a seat, if only for a handhold, eyes glued to the screen
ALEJO: “Shit at bombs. Okay at flying.”
ALEJO: Alejo mutters this, praying like hell that the plan works.
STORY: Taking with it the missile, which doubles the size of the explosion and lurches your ship slightly as it does. Millie, you look down at the readout and see the systems have registered the explosion of the Hana as your own ship being destroyed. If you can quickly block their sensors using the exploit you found before, you may remain hidden from the defense system.
STORY: Face Adversity + Interface, please!
TUELLER: —I’d check if the Gregor has a parachute, but there’s no atmosphere on Mars.
MILLICENT: 4+3+1=8
STORY: You realize as you are attempting to reprogram the planetary sensors that doing so will cause a system reboot and likely expose the Peregrine’s orbital location to the Maitri.
STORY: What do you do?
MILLICENT: Sorry, I’m a little unclear on my options
MILLICENT: oh wait I see.
STORY: You can get to the planet undetected but risk exposing Peregrine, or you can keep Peregrine hidden but let the Maitri know where you are.
MILLICENT: I expose our own entry, but I want to try and separate our signature into the fragments of the exploded ship so we’re at least a little shielded?
MILLICENT: Like, they see us, but also a half dozen other signatures?
STORY: Sure, it won’t be simple for them to target you, but their attention will remain on the Centaur-class.
STORY: Alejo, more missiles coming. Millie must have screwed something up.
STORY: What do you do?
TUELLER: Tueller straps himself into the Gregor, with the assumption that they’ll need to hit the ground running.
ALEJO: “Hang on! Incoming.” Alejo increases speed and starts to track the largest piece of debris that he can find, ready to do evasive maneuvers as needed.
STORY: Face adversity + Mettle!
ALEJO: “We’re going down fast.”
ALEJO: 5+5=10 + 2 = 12
STORY: Tell us about it!
ALEJO: — Jesus. Why couldn’t I just have made one of those and planted the damned bomb.
STORY: Alejo is the slickest motherfucker in the galaxy!
ALEJO: — Yeah, no.
MILLICENT: —wooo slickest motherfucker in the galaxy!
TUELLER: —Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: Just get us on the ground!
Hoban ‘Wash’ Washburn: That part’ll happen pretty definitely.
ALEJO: The ship lurches forward with increased speed, dangerously fast for entering atmo. It bends in behind a large piece of the derelict that is burning up and breaking apart. Alejo keeps our ship as close as possible, trying to keep the missiles out there from getting a solid signal. It works, with one missile flying past and exploding against a piece of debris behind us. Another missile zips past, towards something else we can’t see.
STORY: Land us!
ALEJO: The ship shakes and groans as we finally break into what little atmosphere exists on Mercury. Alejo drives the ship down hard, towards the refinery building we had planned on sneaking into. The last bit of debris breaks apart and scatters in front of us, as our ship rushes to the ground and we make a very hard but ultimately safe landing.
TUELLER: “Off. Off now. Get in here get in here get in here.” Tueller yells out from the Gregor.
STORY: Millie, you catch sight of a display before you depart. GOOD LUCK MILLIE, I WILL PREPARE OUR DEPARTURE.
ALEJO: Alejo jumps up from the console. “Noma. Mille. Shall we?”
ALEJO: He gestures towards the door, a mock gentleman, allowing Mille to leave first.
MILLICENT: Millie catches her breath and shakes her head to clear it.
MILLICENT: “Mr Soto, that was. Remarkable flying.”
MILLICENT: Millie runs out of the door toward the Gregor.
ALEJO: “Yeah, if I hadn’t fucked up the bomb, we wouldn’t have needed it.” He says this quietly under his breath and follows her out and into the Gregor.
TUELLER: “My turn.”