TUELLER: onward
STORY: Into spaaaaaaace!
TUELLER: Second star to the right, straight on till morning.
STORY: It’s another week of travel back to the Ark. Who is in the bridge when you reach visual contact?
TUELLER: Tueller is.
MILLICENT: Millie is.
TUELLER: He’d been warned by Jac that we were coming close.
TUELLER: And he’d been getting anxious.
ALEJO: Alejo is at the helm, though he is not currently flying.
STORY: Jac clears out, telling Noma to meet her in Engineering in a minute.
STORY: It’s still a remarkable object, the Ark. You bring her in to the ring, find a place to wait, and order a taxi onto the station. Who’s going?
MILLICENT: Millie
ALEJO: The three of us, yes? Jenny. Loll. Three.
TUELLER: Works for me.
STORY: Okay!
STORY: Any preparations to make before the taxi arrives?
STORY: Three has done some research with Noma’s help into Ark protocols, and has a whole itinerary. They will be departing your company once onboard, and will contact you if they have any new information.
TUELLER: Nope. Tueller’s going with his mildly armored suit and his gloves, because he has a nemesis, but that nemesis also kind of sucks.
TUELLER: And of course he’s bringing eggs with him.
STORY: What’s everyone else bringing along?
MILLICENT: Millie has found a ton of books on negotiation for Three and has been holding mock conversations with them, giving them some practice
MILLICENT: Millie brings her visor
STORY: They appreciate the practice.
ALEJO: Alejo brings his mildly armored clothing with built in infiltration kit and his stun baton.
ALEJO: He’s paired the kit down to very basic essentials, for covert operation and movement.
STORY: Ok! Plans once you arrive?
TUELLER: Contact Ruma!
ALEJO: Eggs first?
TUELLER: That’s all for me.
STORY: You’re able to contact Ruma while you wait for the taxi (which takes a few hours, typically) – she sends you instructions to meet her at a cafe to make the drop.
TUELLER: Looking for work.
ALEJO: –Well, are we going to get stuff from Three’s ship?
MILLICENT: —we have to find it first
TUELLER: We should also get our ship repaired.
MILLICENT: Millie plans to go with Three to make an official inquiry on where their vessel is and to begin application for ambassador status. She also intends to find a mechanic for the Peregrine.
MILLICENT: She will be very choosey about mechanics
ALEJO: Alejo will go with Tueller, at least for now. He’ll also reach out to Aki and try to set a meet, as soon as he is able to do so.
STORY: Three would like to do this alone, actually.
STORY: They think their chances of being taken seriously are better if they aren’t with a member of another race.
STORY: Alejo, you don’t hear back from Aki before the taxi comes.
STORY: Millie, you’re awfully hungry.
MILLICENT: “Aren’t you boys going to a cafe? I would maim for an order of fries.”
TUELLER: “Well. Come along then. Let’s see if potatoes have made it out of the solar system yet.”
ALEJO: “My friend,” Alejo says to Three, “good luck. We’ll see you soon, yes?”
STORY: Three nods and shakes your hand. “I will contact you when I have made progress. Thank you, Alejo.”
ALEJO: He nods and then turns and catches up with Millie, Tueller and the rest of our merry gang.
STORY: Loll and Jenny accompany you to the cafe. You see Ruma sitting at a table, her bodyguard looming behind her. She is reading the menu.
TUELLER: Tueller walks over to them openingly, acting in a way that ignores the bodyguard without being threatening.
STORY: T’chololl is distracted by a pair of armored Maitri on the other side of the cafe. She endeavors and mostly fails not to look at them.
ALEJO: Alejo scans the room, casually but thoroughly, all business now, his guard up.
STORY: Ruma stands and gives you a kiss on the cheek, Tueller. She’s quite short so it’s really more of a gesture towards a kiss, but you get the point.
TUELLER: “Alejo, come with me. You’re necessary for this.”
STORY: Alejo, give me assessment + mettle please
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: @ablair01 rolled 4 + 2 = 6
STORY: No good exits in this room – the way you came in is an awkward egress due to a large fish tank and the location of the host’s podium, and the kitchen door is behind a panel that extends halfway into the room.
MILLICENT: Millie flags a waiter on the way over to the table. “So, we’re definitely going to need some bread to start. And,” reading a menu as she walks, “the cheese plate. Please and thank you!” She sends the waiter off with a tip and catches up to the boys.
STORY: Also, you catch at least a dozen people in this cafe alone who could take Tueller in a hand to hand fight. This must be the gigantic tough alien part of town.
TUELLER: —low rolls on assessment give us bad news, right?
STORY: Yep
TUELLER: —bad true news.
STORY: Ruma gestures for you three to sit down.
TUELLER: Tueller sits down across from Ruma.
TUELLER: “Ruma, you remember Alejo, and this is the Doc.”
ALEJO: Alejo sits as well, giving Ruma a polite but silent greeting.
STORY: “I do, good to see you all again. You appear to be… well, alive. Please tell me you have good news.”
TUELLER: “Millie? You want to go by Millicent or Dr. Breedlove?”
MILLICENT: “So kind of you to ask, Mr. Ya’Makasi! I’ll stick with Dr. Breedlove, if you don’t mind.”
TUELLER: “We are alive. I have good news and bad news.”
STORY: “God. All right, get to it.”
TUELLER: “First, the good news is that, here is the package. It appears to be viable and intact.”
MILLICENT: —I must know when the bread arrives
TUELLER: “Further good news is that the attack does not seem to have been targeted at you or CJH, even.”
STORY: Millie, the bread arrives, a small steaming basket covered in a napkin.
STORY: Alejo, the person who brought that basket is _not_ the waiter.
STORY: What do you do?
TUELLER: “The…details are very complicated, but a planetary defense grid from a destroyed planet not on any charts identified your craft as a threat and defended itself.”
TUELLER: “It was bad luck.”
ALEJO: I reach out and stop Millie from taking the bread, casually, so as to attract as little attention as possible while doing it.
MILLICENT: Millie shoots a quizzical look at Alejo
TUELLER: “We are submitting the defense grid so no further ships run afoul of it.”
TUELLER: Tueller does not pay attention to what’s going on with his co-captains.
ALEJO: He gives her a quick look, and then slides forward on his chair, ready to spring into action.
ALEJO: Alejo lifts the napkin off the bread, slowly, looking at it and the bread underneath.
STORY: Oh hey.
STORY: There’s a grenade in there.
TUELLER: “The bad news is…”
STORY: Let’s move to slow mo.
ALEJO: –Armed?
STORY: Oh yeah. And about to blow, by your estimation of how long since the basket arrived.
STORY: Alejo, what do you do?
STORY: Ruma’s next to you, Millie and Tueller across the table.
ALEJO: Alejo flings the basket in the direction of the fewest people and to the right of all of us, grabs Ruma and throws her to the floor while shouting “Cover!”
ALEJO: He puts himself between Ruma and the grenade, giving her as much cover as he can.
STORY: Excellent! Let’s have a Face Adversity + mettle to see how you do with that.
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: @ablair01 rolled 6 + 2 = 8
MILLICENT: ooof
STORY: Oof. Okay. You toss it away and the basket and grenade both roll under an unoccupied table. It explodes a moment later, ripping a huge hole in the deck floor.
STORY: In the following moments:
STORY: Millie and Tueller, you are thrown backwards by the concussive force into Jenny, who is standing behind you. Loll was up front near the fish tank.
STORY: Alejo, you and Ruma are safe from the blast on the floor, but it cracks open and you both fall down through, hitting the deck below.
STORY: Ruma’s bodyguard is pushed back, but given how enormous he is, he maintains his footing, drawing a weapon and scanning the room. Tueller and Millie, deafened by the ringing in your ears, you see his shirt puff forward in a few spots curiously, then look to the other side of the room.
STORY: Three gunmen are unloading into the bodyguard.
TUELLER: How far away?
TUELLER: Oh fuck it, Tueller charges them.
STORY: 10 yards. You are still holding on to the embryos.
STORY: Or, well, probably not now. But they ended up on your side of the table – do you bring them with you for this?
MILLICENT: Can Millie scramble with them under a table?
TUELLER: Tueller leaves the embryos. Sorry.
MILLICENT: Looking up at Tueller, “I’ve got them, go be violent.”
STORY: I think so! Tueller, gonna need a Launch Assault, Millie, I need a Face Adversity + Mettle
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: @chris.stuart rolled 9 + 2 = 11
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: @josh rolled 11 + 1 = 12
MILLICENT: hahahahaha
STORY: Jesus, all right!
TUELLER: YEEEEEEEEEEHAW.
STORY: Let’s check in with Alejo and you two can plan descriptions of your John Woo shit.
STORY: Alejo, you hit the deck with Ruma on top of you. She rolls off, moaning, but unharmed. You’re in someone’s apartment. They are screaming with fear. There’s a ten foot hole in front of you. You can’t really hear anything. What do you do?
ALEJO: Alejo springs to his feet, puts himself between Ruma and the screaming people, assessing where the nearest exit is while pulling free his stun baton. He makes a placating gesture to the screaming people. “Sorry for the intrusion. Ruma, you alright? We need to move.”
STORY: “WHAT?” You lip read her shouting.
ALEJO: He offers her a hand.
STORY: She takes it.
STORY: Tueller, Millie, what happens upstairs?
MILLICENT: Oh man, I know Millie’s bit.
MILLICENT: Millie grabs the eggs from Tueller and tucks beneath a table
MILLICENT: Did you know this cafe doubles as a discotheque at night?
STORY: It does!
MILLICENT: Millie finds the DJ’s control panel and kills the lights, hits the strobes, and cranks Lizzo
MILLICENT: At x3 speed and max volume
STORY: In 500 years, we will definitely all still be listening to Lizzo. All right, let’s have an Access roll please
TUELLER: I assume three gunman count as a single threat?
MILLICENT: Any benefit from my previous 12 result?
STORY: They do, Tueller!
STORY: Nope! That 12 got you under the table safely with the embryos.
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: @josh rolled 6 + 1 = 7
STORY: Ok, so you’re in, but you’re detected – someone is going to retaliate.
STORY: Tueller, what’s happening on your side of the floor?
TUELLER: Tueller jumps up on the back of the booths and runs on top of them screaming towards the gunmen, jumping from booth to booth as he makes his way towards the front of the restaurant. When he’s in range, he superman dives into the left-most gunman, hitting him with both fists and knocking him back. Tueller feels his target’s collarbone give way as his head smacks back into the fish-tank. He moves on to the middle gunman, who is whirling around to face him. Tueller punches him with his left hand in the side, moves past him as he crumples around the fist, punches him in the back of the leg, and then hits him in the back of the head. The third gunman, spinning around, points his gun at Tueller’s face, pulls the trigger, and hears it go “click.” Tueller grabs the gun hand and throws the gunman with it.
MILLICENT: As Tueller’s feet leave the last booth in his violence-leap the lights flash off, the light comes back on as he lands his first punch.
MILLICENT: Truth Hurts plays
STORY: Tueller, from your position near the door, you see more armed men coming towards the cafe. Diners crowd along the back wall, trying to stay out of the fray.
STORY: T’chololl looks at you. “What now?”
STORY: Jenny is covering you at the table, Millie.
TUELLER: Questions: What are people wearing? And are they all human?
STORY: Not all human, wearing tactical armor in some cases, standard camo in others. The variety in uniform and weaponry means they look like mercs.
TUELLER: How many?
STORY: Two squads coming now, one in front of the other. They’ve already got weapons drawn, and are shouting for patrons to clear out.
TUELLER: “Come, my Maraas. Fuck them up.”
STORY: She nods happily, reaching down to take a gun from the unconscious merc at her feet.
TUELLER: Tueller charges before they can get flanked.
STORY: Millie, what are you doing?
MILLICENT: Millie uses her visor to locate the merc’s headset channels and tries to blast an immediate and violent hit of sound, deafening them for at least a minute.
MILLICENT: Distracting them from the oncoming storm of Tueller violence and stopping coordination.
STORY: Ok! Tueller, that’s a Launch Assault on the first squad, Millie, I need an Access roll for their headsets.
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: @chris.stuart rolled 9 + 2 = 11
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 1
STORY: @josh rolled 4 + 1 = 5
MILLICENT: Jesus
MILLICENT: Millie misses the mark with her hack and hits the cafe’s speakers instead, deafening everyone in the room for at least a minute.
STORY: Ok! Y’all can write, let’s jump back to Alejo and Ruma. Alejo, where are you going?
ALEJO: Once Alejo has Ruma’s hand, he pulls her up gently but firmly and heads to the door leading out. On hook next to the door is a coat, which he grabs as he opens it and quickly checks the hallway. If it’s safe, he puts the coat over Ruma’s shoulders, reaches into his pocket, pulls out two stocking caps, slides one on himself and one on Ruma and says, “Stay close and do what I say when I say, okay?” He looks back ruefully at the whole in the ceiling, hearing the action above, but quickly gets back to the action at hand.
STORY: Hallway looks safe. She says to you, “What is happening?”
MILLICENT: On the private intercom, blasting into Alejo’s ear. “LOTS OF SOLDIERS, NO UNIFORMS. I THINK THEY MIGHT BE MERCENARIES! TUELLER IS HURTING LOTS OF PEOPLE!”
ALEJO: “You tell me.” He moves with her down the hallway and and as quickly as possible to the nearest busy place he can find.
ALEJO: “Stay safe, Doc.”
MILLICENT: “HE JUST HIT ONE GUY IN THE EAR WITH HIS OWN SHOULDER!. THE GUY, I MEAN. HE HIT THE GUY WITH THE GUY’S OWN SHOULDER!”
MILLICENT: “YOU GET IT.”
STORY: Alejo, you tell me – what busy area is around the corner?
ALEJO: Outside the apartment building is a corner with pedestrians now scattering in the frenzy of what is happening nearby. This is on a lower level, but the noise and shouting is growing everywhere in the vicinity. Alejo moves with Ruma into the crowd, slipping in and among people exiting this sector, keeping his eyes and ringing ears open for threats.
MILLICENT: “HE JUST DID THIS THING WITH HIS FINGERS IN THIS ONE LADY’S NOSE, I DON’T KNOW HOW TO DESCRIBE IT I KNOW IT SOUNDS GROSS, BUT HE LIFTED HER A STEP UP WITH HIS FINGERS IN THE LADY’S NOSE AND _FLUNG_ HER”
TUELLER: —I don’t think I’m doing that, Josh.
TUELLER: Tueller charges up the entry way at a squad of three mercs, two humans and one Viddian (a two foot tall squid alien in the cockpit of a six-foot tall mech, like a combat Doc Ock). The Viddian raises a tentacle to try to brace against Tueller, and he grabs it and swings the entire mech around 360 like a club into the other two mercs as they try to raise rifles at him. He gives another 360 turn to build up momentum and releases the mech, which crashes in a heap.
MILLICENT: —come on the nose thing is solid
ALEJO: Alejo taps his com. “Stay safe, Doc. But I have to focus now. I’m getting Ruma clear.”
TUELLER: Tueller gives a punch to the head to the two mercs on the ground, and then moves to assist Loll.
TUELLER: And then maybe do the things Millie said.
STORY: Okay! The leader of the second squad hesitates, putting his hand on his ear in that universal “getting something in my earpiece” stance, then gives orders to the men behind him, pulls his hood up around his head, and departs them. The remaining mercs approach you, Tueller. Bystanders scatter in every direction.
STORY: What do you do?
MILLICENT: Millie takes the remainder of the DJ’s gear and fashions a makeshift class 0 explosive.
MILLICENT: I’m guessing it’s like a molotov cocktail with half a drum machine attached
TUELLER: Well, fuck, I’m going after the guy who just ran away.
TUELLER: —molotov cocktail with half a drum machine is AMAZING.
TUELLER: —HERE COMES THE DROP.
STORY: Ok! Millie, are you doing anything with that explosive?
STORY: Tueller, let’s have an Assessment + Mettle please
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: @chris.stuart rolled 9 + 1 = 10
MILLICENT: Can I identify the mercs?
MILLICENT: Are they showing anything in common?
TUELLER: They have guns that they’re shooting at us.
MILLICENT: Fair.
STORY: Nothing identifiable, no common uniform. Not even all human.
MILLICENT: Millie murders them in cold self defense.
MILLICENT: With half a drum machine
TUELLER: Hopefully Loll is fine.
MILLICENT: —God I kind of hope Millie gets to save Loll twice
TUELLER: Or at least okay with more machine parts.
MILLICENT: —fuck can Millie just save Loll for the rest of her life
STORY: Millie, let’s have Open Fire please
TUELLER: Mechaloll.
MILLICENT: —Loll having to take a side job to afford Nu Cloning so her clones can live to repay her debt to Millie
MILLICENT: Sure! What does that mean?
STORY: Tueller, you’re able to get a bead on this merc and follow him – he slips down a set of stairs.
TUELLER: Roll 2d6 plus mettle
STORY: It’s 2d6 + Mettle, Millie
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: @josh rolled 10 + 1 = 11
MILLICENT: hahahahaha
STORY: Well, all right then. Describe for me what happens please!
TUELLER: I’m so happy for Loll, who I am shipping.
MILLICENT: It will never not be hilarious to me that Millie is a destroyer of worlds
TUELLER: FYI, Tueller wall runs past the mercs you’re lighting up as this happens.
MILLICENT: As Tueller runs off after the merc captain Millie pops up from behind the DJ stand. “Mercenaries! Excuse me! Hnnnnaaaa! Sorry, that was loud, just trying to restore some inner ear pressure-mercenaries! Here, this should help!” Millie gently tosses the explosive at their feet. “Just kidding, it’s an explosive!” Millie ducks and the mercenaries are blown to whatever hell their culture has invented to punish violence against the state.
STORY: — oh we’re doing Archer jokes now, ok
TUELLER: https://media.giphy.com/media/SKhRWjMUqCQRBQzlIk/giphy.gif
MILLICENT: —I mean, it’s realistic for an inner ear problem
STORY: Ok! Millie, you had your hero moment, let’s see what happens when Tueller follows the merc who is about to reach Alejo and Ruma.
STORY: Tueller, you see him go downstairs and I assume follow?
TUELLER: As fast and angrily as I can.
STORY: Ok! Let’s see if you’re able to find him in the crowd downstairs. Assessment + Mettle, please!
MILLICENT: —guys we can pretend “the mercenaries are blown to whatever hell their culture has invented to punish violence against the state” isn’t a good line, but we can’t hide from the truth.
TUELLER: —a moment to appreciate “to whatever hell their culture has invented to punish violence against the state”. Raised glass that unfortunately only has water in it there.
TUELLER: Oh damn.
MILLICENT: —our hearts know
MILLICENT: —hahahahahaha
MILLICENT: —-thanks bud
TUELLER: —No, thank you.
STORY: Tueller!
STORY: Roll the dice bud!
TUELLER: I did, didn’t I? Rolled 11 on Mettle.
TUELLER: Sorry, 10.
STORY: Oh yeah!
STORY: Ok, so you can keep a bead on him as he goes downstairs. He’s in a crowd, cutting through them pretty quickly, and you see Alejo guiding Ruma through the same crowd – they’re ten feet away from each other, though there are five civilians between them. What do you do?
ALEJO: –Leave one for me, T! Jezz.
TUELLER: “COME BACK HERE YOU MONSTROUS FUCKER!!!” Tueller roars through the crowd.
TUELLER: He’s actually yelling, but also he can’t hear too good.
TUELLER: He points just to make sure everyone knows who he’s calling out.
ALEJO: Alejo recognizes Tueller’s shout and realizes someone is trailing them.
TUELLER: ’MURDERING ASSSSSSSSSSSSHOOOOOLE”
TUELLER: (No one has been murdered yet, but I thinkt that’s probably a question of semantics)
STORY: The merc tries to break off and duck away. Tueller, what do you do?
ALEJO: Alejo gets between Ruma and the big guy, just as he ducks away.
TUELLER: I’m catching this guy and probably trying to rip his arm off.
STORY: Ok, that sounds like a Launch Assault.
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: @chris.stuart rolled 4 + 2 = 6
TUELLER: Ooooooof.
STORY: You reach out for him and he slips away, literally through your fingers. He twists as he does, coming face to face with Alejo, gun drawn. Alejo, what do you do?
ALEJO: Alejo smacks him with the Stun Baton.
ALEJO: Aiming to disarm him first and foremost.
STORY: All right! That’s a Launch Assault as well!
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: @ablair01 rolled 4 + 1 = 5
ALEJO: –Shit.
ALEJO: –Dicebot seriously hates me.
STORY: Oh dear. He fires, hitting you in the leg, and moves to Ruma, grabbing her by the hair and dragging her away.
STORY: Roll to Brace for Impact!
MILLICENT: haha oh dang
ALEJO: –is that a single roll? And I have armor, so I can’t recall how that works.
TUELLER: 2d6 plus your armor.
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: @ablair01 rolled 8 + 1 = 9
STORY: Oof. Guns are a Severe injury, so. You’re pretty fucked up!
STORY: Tueller, last chance. What do you do?
TUELLER: I am trying to save Ruma by beating a bitch to death.
STORY: Let’s have one last Launch Assault, and god be with you.
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: @chris.stuart rolled 10 + 2 = 12
STORY: Well all right. Tell me how that goes/
TUELLER: God is with me. Oh yes she is.
MILLICENT: —ah hell yeah
TUELLER: Ruma twists and falls to her knees, and the assailant trips over her, which enables Tueller to punch him in the nearest ankle, which is….well, pulverized.
TUELLER: The assaillant makes a strangled noise, and tries to crawl back to his feet, but it’s too late. Tueller isn’t elegant. He just punches the guy until his head is flatter than heads should be.
STORY: Okay, so.
STORY: Millie’s upstairs, temporarily deafened from things that are mostly her fault. Alejo’s on the ground, trying to stop a bullet wound in his leg from bleeding. Ruma’s on her knees on the ground, catching her breath, and Tueller has… well rather a lot of blood on him.
TUELLER: “And the bad news is that you seem to still have enemies who are trying to kill you.”