STORY: Loll looks around. “Where is the test master?”
ALEJO: “Incapacitated.”
ALEJO: He looks sidelong at Tueller. “This is gonna get real interesting, real fast.”
TUELLER: “Well, hopefully a steadily increasing amount of interesting.”
TUELLER: “Exponential, not logarithmic.”
TUELLER: “Or maybe the other way around.”
ALEJO: “You’re the smart guy.” Alejo glances back towards Millie. “ETA, Doc?”
MILLICENT: The third time Tigralt swung by the office Millie finally gave him a couple minutes to make his case. He was a sweet guy, under the scales. And he _had_ brought_ flowers. Well, gardenia seeds. This was a step up from his first two visits. The first time he brought banana peels with chard, arranged in a ludicrous bouquet. The second time he’d brought a tri-fold separated tin of potpouri. But the third time he’d brought gardenia seeds, which, to Millie, were better than blossoms. It gave her something to do. So she bought him dinner and let him buy her an ice cream cone and listened to his stories about his semi-aquatic upbringing. The wooing stage was always fun. Maybe Millie could just stay here.
—
STORY: You leave Peregrine orbiting Luna, with instructions for Sweet to keep her ready to leave if you have to make a sudden departure, and head down to the university’s lot in Ariel. It’s an imposing building, done up in the nouveau-Brutalist style that was popular a few hundred years ago and dominates most of Luna’s architecture. You sign in at the front desk and begin making your way to the large lecture hall that will host the gala.
STORY: Who do you have with you, and what is everyone wearing and carrying with them?
TUELLER: Tueller is dressed in his Maitri Marauder Armor, shined to an obsidian sheen, in full helmet, with his gloves. He is accompanied by Loll, I imagine grudgingly.
STORY: Loll finds this amusing, and is happy to go with you, though she gives Alejo a wide berth. You get some looks in the lobby as you stride into the humanities building’s elevators.
TUELLER: Tueller’s armor looks like it should clank with every step, but is surprisingly nimble and discreet. It is an impressive sight to see, but it is clearly built for use, not just for flash.
MILLICENT: Millie has on a sleek, couture outfit. Board room or ball room. Space fancy.
ALEJO: Alejo is in a simple, sleek, black suit, his hair more neat than any of you have seen it before, his stubble also neatly manicured.
ALEJO: Kahn and Jenny are waiting at two possible extraction routes, giving us some on-site but not in the building backup.
STORY: Alejo, something is tickling at the back of your awareness, something just bugging you. It doesn’t feel like danger, just like… you left a stove on, or something.
STORY: You check quickly, and confirm that no one is following you or looking like they might jump you, so you shake it off as nothing.
STORY: The elevator takes you up seven stories to the large lecture hall’s doors. A tired-looking attendant stands by the door and waves you over, looking twice at Loll and Tueller. “Name.”
MILLICENT: Millie strides forward and gives the names of some alumni she knew would be invited, but wouldn’t attend.
STORY: He looks down at his tablet, scrolling through a list and exhaling out of the side of his mouth. He shakes his head as he does. “You’re not here. I’ll enter you manually, go ahead in.” He gestures you through.
MILLICENT: She’s doing her best alumnus impression, bored and a bit bemused at having to “speak” to a “mortal”
MILLICENT: Millie nods brusquely and strides forward without waiting for anyone.
STORY: You step into the lecture hall and are left standing, confused, for a moment before the heavy door clicks shut behind you and a dozen students turn back to look at the four of you. Some of them giggle and go back to looking at their desks. The room is very much not made up for a gala.
STORY: A harried-looking TA rushes over to you and points the four of you to four empty desks. “Shh! You’re late.”
STORY: Two of the desks were adjacent to each other, the other two were singles. One is in the second row.
STORY: At the front of the room, a bored proctor stands and starts to make his way to whoever took the frontmost seat. Who was it?
MILLICENT: I mean, Millie always sits closest to the board.
TUELLER: Tueller and Loll sit adjacent to each other.
MILLICENT: You might not hear something the professor says, otherwise.
MILLICENT: And you might miss a note.
STORY: The proctor hands you a blue book and a sheet of stapled papers. He points at the clock up front. “You will not be given extra time.”
ALEJO: Alejo is the last to sit, taking the single in the second row.
MILLICENT: Millie fights back a grin.
MILLICENT: This is _thrilling_
STORY: He does the same to the others, and warns Loll and Tueller that he has a zero tolerance cheating policy.
MILLICENT: Sometimes Millie has that dream where she’s late for a test, but the anxiety is that she won’t be able to leisurely triple check her work.
STORY: Millie, you look up at the clock and cold shock hits you. It’s two days after the gala was scheduled. This is an exam. Your onboard computer must have messed up the relativity calculations with your last jump.
MILLICENT: Millie groans.
STORY: You’ve successfully snuck into Professor Azakian’s Ancient Ethics final.
STORY: The computer you need is where it ought to be, at the front of the room, behind Professor Azakian.
STORY: What do you do?
MILLICENT: Millie takes a deep breath.
TUELLER: Millie how much time did you tell us you need with the machine?
STORY: Millie, Assessment + Interface for that, please
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 2
STORY: josh rolled 6 + 2 = 8
MILLICENT: 15 minutes or so. Millie has some saved subroutines that should save her writing a bunch of code, but she’s got to find them and reset them.
MILLICENT: There’s just a TA, no professor?
MILLICENT: And a dozen students?
STORY: More like a hundred. Only a dozen watched your arrival, the rest were focused on their exams.
STORY: There’s a TA and a proctor in the room, and another TA outside who took your names
MILLICENT: oh word
MILLICENT: Okay
MILLICENT: Did we see a schedule on the wall?
MILLICENT: Outside the room, I mean
STORY: You didn’t, you had no idea of the time until you sat down at your desk.
STORY: Everyone gave Tueller and Loll a weird look and a shrug, nonhuman students are an occasional occurrence at Erde-Maris, so everyone does their best to get on with it normally.
ALEJO: We’re all up front, in the first couple of rows?
STORY: You’re up front, Millie’s in the middle, Tueller and Loll are in adjacent desks toward the back.
STORY: Loll, it should be said, is very confused about what’s going on and is doing the worst of the four of you at rolling with it. She keeps looking around and almost speaking.
STORY: The proctor has Taken Notice of her and he does not look happy.
TUELLER: I’m back. Just catching up.
MILLICENT: Millie sits down and digs into the test with gusto.
MILLICENT: She starts chewing on her pencil, audibly “hmmmming”
STORY: Millie, it’s all outside your wheelhouse, but you do your best. Give me a Face Adversity + Expertise, please.
MILLICENT: Under her breath, “Oh come on now!”
MILLICENT: “There’s a grammatical error!”
MILLICENT: She shakes her head and continues.
TUELLER: Tueller stands up, and walks up to the proctor.
STORY: Tueller, when you stand, the proctor says wearily, “Sit, I’ll come to you.” He puts down his book and walks over to you.
TUELLER: “I need a writing utensil.”
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 +2
STORY: josh rolled 8 + 2 = 10
STORY: Millie, this shit is child’s play. You gain a Data Point about ancient ethics.
STORY: He nods unhappily, and takes a pencil out from behind his ear. “I’m gonna want that back,” he says, looking up at you as he hands it to you.
ALEJO: Alejo stands up and quickly slips to the back of the room, catching Tueller’s distraction. He heads for the wall sensors at the back and pulls the radiation leak alarm.
MILLICENT: “Anselm? Really? We’re covering this ontological nonsense?”
TUELLER: Tueller takes it. Stands up. Walks, letting his armor clunk on the ground as he walks towards the pencil sharpener near the front desk.
STORY: Alejo, as the alarm starts to ding, another student stands, pointing at you. “That guy who came in late just pulled the alarm!”
MILLICENT: “I mean,” Millie laughs to herself, “What is this? Ancient Ethics?” She checks the front of the test, catching the title. “Oh, right.”
STORY: The proctor looks up at that student, then looks at you, Alejo, his head turned. “With me, please.” Then, to the TA: “You’re in charge. Keep an eye on these three.” He points at Tueller, Loll, and Millie.
STORY: The proctor comes over to the radiation alarm, punches in a code to disable it, and moves over to the door, holding it open for you. “C’mon, son.”
TUELLER: Tueller nods at Alejo.
ALEJO: Alejo does not go. He points, emphatically back at the other student. “I was just going to the toilet.”
STORY: The proctor isn’t impressed. “You can go when we’re done speaking. Come on.”
ALEJO: Alejo resists, putting on a little show, but then reluctantly goes with the proctor.
ALEJO: Alejo also tried, if possible, to catch that code that the Proctor typed into the alarm.
MILLICENT: “I Kant take anymore of this question. Who’s writing the essay here?” Millie snorts to herself.
STORY: Assessment + Mettle on that, please, Alejo
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: ablair01 rolled 2 + 2 = 4
STORY: It was 6665.
STORY: Millie, Tueller, the TA takes the proctor’s position at the front of the room and looks at his watch.
MILLICENT: Millie is engrossed.
STORY: “Ten minutes left for this section.”
MILLICENT: She’s written eight pages on the first question already.
STORY: Alejo, the proctor walks you down the hallway. “Nerves?”
ALEJO: “Something like that,” he stops walking. “May I ask you something?” Alejo leans in more seriously.
ALEJO: Are there other people in the hallway?
STORY: He pauses, sighing. “Sure.” There’s the TA sitting by the door, and a student has just come out of the bathroom.
ALEJO: I’m just trying to get a sense of where we are. Like, if Alejo knocks this fellow out, will other people notice?
STORY: Assessment + Mettle why don’t you!
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: ablair01 rolled 5 + 2 = 7
STORY: If you’re very quick and you do it without anyone making noise, you could probably knock him out and pull him into an empty office or classroom without anyone seeing.
TUELLER: —Luckily you’re very very quick.
ALEJO: Alejo leans in, as if he’s going to say something, and then disables him, covering his mouth, and pulling him to the office, using super speed to do it.
STORY: Face Adversity + Mettle, please!
ALEJO: –Or tries. Ugh.
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: ablair01 rolled 8 + 2 = 10
TUELLER: Tueller takes his pencil and just starts sketching things. Killing time. He’s not a terrible artist, so he starts to design a cover for Nichomachean Ethics.
MILLICENT: Hooray!
STORY: You cut off the blood supply to his head by compressing his neck just at the right angle, and he’s asleep within seconds and inside a broom closet.
STORY: What now?
ALEJO: He’ll sneak out and head for a back entrance to the lecture hall where the test is happening.
ALEJO: Because he studied the plans to this place extensively, he knows how to move around pretty effectively.
STORY: Millie, Tueller, Alejo’s gone a few minutes. What do you do while he’s away?
TUELLER: Tueller’s giving Alejo a chance to work, and killing time by fucking around in his blue book.
STORY: Millie, I assume you’re taking your test?
MILLICENT: Millie has turned her attention to Thomas Hobbes and is writing with one hand and waiving her hand frantically to request a new blue book with the other. She is still on the first question.
MILLICENT: Millie: What If Chidi Could Make Up His Mind, But Not Shut Up?
TUELLER: Tueller’s mentally counting down from ten minutes; that’s how long he’s given Alejo.
STORY: Alejo, there’s a back entrance, but it’s a fire door that locks from the inside – you can try to pick it, but the alarm will go off when you open it.
ALEJO: A fire alarm? Or radiation leak, as a fire under these circumstances would be exceptionally bad.
STORY: A “the fire door is open” alarm
ALEJO: Alejo picks the door and sets off the alarm.
STORY: Tueller, Millie, another alarm goes off.
STORY: Half of the students look up and around – about a quarter of them remain focused on their tests, and the other quarter actually stand up and look like they’re trying to figure out what to do.
STORY: The TA looks around, confused, and then directly at Tueller, Millie, and Loll.
STORY: His eyes narrow.
MILLICENT: Millie rounds a corner and brings in John Rawls.
TUELLER: Tueller stands up and walks directly up to the TA.
TUELLER: “Do you have problem with me?”
TUELLER: “Why you look at me all time?”
TUELLER: Gutteral and aggressive.
STORY: He’s behind the desk, but still intimidated. “Wh– he said to keep an eye on you, why is that alarm going off?”
STORY: He’s looking around quickly.
TUELLER: “Always aliens the problem, right?”
STORY: “I–I didn’t say that!”
STORY: Alejo, there are no shadows, it’s a classroom
TUELLER: “You…” pause for right word. “Jerk.”
TUELLER: “I work hard. This Earth, this new chance for me and my people. Always with the suspicion and the harsh looks.”
STORY: It’s all one big brightly lit space with a couple computer banks in the back, but there’s no cover between the door and there.
TUELLER: “Am sick. Sick of this.”
TUELLER: Tueller raises his voice.
STORY: Tueller, let’s have a Face Adversity + Influence
TUELLER: /roll 2d6
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 10
STORY: The TA shivers with his whole body. “Look, I’m sorry, I–” The alarm is really bugging him now. “Just – please, can you… WHAT’S GOING ON WITH THIS ALARM?” He’s looking around wildly.
TUELLER: “Is probably radiation leak.”
ALEJO: Alejo busts in the back door and shouts, “Radiation leak! Run! Run!”
ALEJO: –He’s going to use his inspire an emotion skill.
ALEJO: –Inspire fear and uncertainty and fuck the exam spirit.
TUELLER: —Well that’s good timing because that’s where I was going.
TUELLER: “My suit handles radiation, but I recognize alarm when I hear it.”
STORY: Ok, let’s have +Influence, Alejo
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: ablair01 rolled 8 + 2 = 10
STORY: The TA looks back at the clock. “Oh, fuck this. Everybody, out the front! Leave your exams ON THE DESKS.”
STORY: Most of them bail immediately. A few straggle behind a bit, trying to rescue their computers or their bags.
STORY: But they’re all out within thirty seconds. The alarm, it should be said, is still going off. You’ve likely got a minute or two before security comes.
MILLICENT: Millie stays at her desk working.
TUELLER: “Okay, I’m on guard door. Loll, can you shut off that alarm.”
TUELLER: “Doc!”
ALEJO: Alejo will go back to the keypad and try the code he saw — 6665 — to turn the alarm off.
MILLICENT: “Just a sec”
TUELLER: “Abandon the test, you’ve got a bigger one to do.”
MILLICENT: “I
MILLICENT: “Right”
TUELLER: “Tick tick tick tick.”
TUELLER: “I will be more impressed if you use a super computer to track our nemesis and rescue a kidnapped member of an AI civilization who is also our friend.”
MILLICENT: Millie writes a line or two and puts her pencils down and stands up.
MILLICENT: She cracks her neck as she walks toward the computer up front.
STORY: Alejo, it doesn’t work. That must have been a one time use code? Or something? Who knows. The alarm is still blaring.
MILLICENT: “Good, ah, good work everyone.” Pretending she’s been paying attention.
ALEJO: “Shit.”
MILLICENT: Millie sits down at the computer and starts working.
STORY: Loll looks around. “Where is the test master?”
ALEJO: “Incapacitated.”
ALEJO: He looks sidelong at Tueller. “This is gonna get real interesting, real fast.”
TUELLER: “Well, hopefully a steadily increasing amount of interesting.”
TUELLER: “Exponential, not logarithmic.”
TUELLER: “Or maybe the other way around.”
ALEJO: “You’re the smart guy.” Alejo glances back towards Millie. “ETA, Doc?”
TUELLER: “Right now I’m just killing time until I’m the muscle.”
MILLICENT: Millie types out a few things.
MILLICENT: I’d like to start by breaking into the security site
TUELLER: “I’m going to step out and meet security. See if I can slow them down and keep them out of here.”
STORY: Millie, Access please
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 +2
STORY: josh rolled 10 + 2 = 12
ALEJO: Alejo runs down and grabs Millie’s exam book and then a couple of left over bluebooks. He then runs back up to join Tueller. “Let me BS them for a little bit, or try, before we start throwing punches, yeah?”
STORY: You’ve got access.
ALEJO: “Buy us more time.”
MILLICENT: I’m going to use Program to set new alarms to go off every 28 seconds in different rooms all over campus.
MILLICENT: For the next two hours.
MILLICENT: Then I’m going to do the real break-in.
STORY: Millie, you’re brutal.
TUELLER: “Please, Ejo. I know how to draw these things out.”
TUELLER: “But, you first.”
ALEJO: He unbuttons the top collar of his shirt, loosens his tie, and musses up his hair.
TUELLER: “Loll, please keep Millie alive and working.”
TUELLER: “We’ll be back.”
ALEJO: Alejo hears another alarm going off in another room. He looks startled and then smiles, glancing back towards Millie, “This might be easier than we thought.” He motions towards the sound of the other alarm.
ALEJO: “Doc’s got us covered.”
STORY: You get to work as the gentlemen leave.
STORY: Alejo, Tueller, what do you do?
TUELLER: Well, it depends on what’s going on on the other side of the entrance.
STORY: Good question! The door closes behind you and you see about a dozen students, still standing around wondering what’s going on. Three security guards come out of the elevator.
STORY: They walk towards the TA, who looks nervously back at you, Tueller.
TUELLER: Tueller walks towards the TA and security guards.
TUELLER: CLANK, CLANK, CLANK.
ALEJO: Alejo walks, slightly behind Tueller, looking as much like an anxious and confused student as possible, in a black, sleek suit.
TUELLER: Tueller looks back at Ejo, who said he was going to go first, after all.
STORY: The TA looks at the two of you and visibly worries.
ALEJO: “What’s going to happen with our grades!” Alejo pleads, rushing up to the TA. “This cannot be how this test ends, right? I mean, we have to have a makeup test. This cannot be how this ends?”
ALEJO: He glances at the guards, quickly sizing them up. How armed are they?
STORY: Stun batons, that’s all.
TUELLER: Tueller lets Ejo up first, but stands two meters back, pacing, clanking and all, just conveying irritation unsubtly
ALEJO: If the guards start to move past us, Alejo will step in front of them, with a new plea.
ALEJO: “Someone wants me to FAIL this test! This is outrageous!”
ALEJO: “Not to mention how this poor fellow was mistreated,” Alejo gestures back towards Tueller and then at the TA, trying to keep things very vague and loud and distracting to all three security officers.
STORY: Alejo, the student who ratted you out before shouts across the hall. “Dude, it was you who pulled the alarm!”
STORY: The TA winces and looks at the floor as the security guards look at you.
TUELLER: “Sirs I wish that you might bring this man up towards the board for racism against my kind. I expect Earth University treat this serious. I have never been so insult.”
ALEJO: “You lying jerk . . . jerkface!” Alejo shouts back, pointing violently.
TUELLER: Tueller raises his arm and points at the TA with that harangue.
ALEJO: “And,” Alejo points at the accusing student, “that guy. He’sa cheat!”
STORY: I’m going to call this scene rather a lot of hubbub and kerfuffle.
STORY: Let’s have a Face Adversity + Influence from Alejo to see how it goes for you.
TUELLER: Here, take my Close Up point!
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+3
STORY: ablair01 rolled 7 + 3 = 10
STORY: Alejo and Tueller create enough confusion to keep the security team busy while Millie works.
STORY: Speaking of, Millie.
STORY: What are you doing?
MILLICENT: Millie is Accessing the computer. She’s setting up a backdoor so she can remote in and finish the job. That’s the easy part. She’s just retrieving some files she left in the University database when she left and cobbling them into a program that will do that for her.
STORY: All right! You already have access, so it’s mostly a matter of time. Let’s have a Face Adversity + Interface to see how your algorithms work.
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: josh rolled 5 + 2 = 7
STORY: Okay! You complete your calculations and remove your old files, but you’re pretty sure someone is going to figure this all out and put together the details of your heist at some point. Hopefully not before you leave.
STORY: You’re done! What now?
MILLICENT: Well now I’m going to Program the system to automatically bork the terminal of anyone who puts together the pieces of data I figure will be needed to identify me, let’s say as soon as they get 3/4 of what they need to figure out what happened.
STORY: That’s a little more complicated than you can do with Program, Millie
MILLICENT: WAIT
MILLICENT: Do I have a Data Point on Erde Maris/University or my rival?
STORY: You have no active data points besides the one you earned today, and that one, in ancient ethics, informs you that sabotaging perfectly well-meaning history professors’ final exams is not cool.
MILLICENT: Sorry, to ask another way
MILLICENT: Does my Data Point on Ethics broadly also refer to the University?
STORY: Nah.
MILLICENT: okay
MILLICENT: Fine
MILLICENT: I accept the consequences of my actions, ethically, and leave, I guess. Just to make sure we’re on the same page, Millie wants to be able to access the super computer from her terminal now so she can run the search from the ship.
MILLICENT: Has she accomplished that?
MILLICENT: OR should I just do the search from here?
STORY: You should do it here
MILLICENT: Millie does it
STORY: You need physical access to this computer to do it
STORY: Okay! It takes around fifteen minutes, during which you hear the occasional impassioned monologue coming from Alejo on the other side of the door.
STORY: Loll picks dirt out from under her nails and looks impatient.
STORY: “Are you finished?”
MILLICENT: “I, what?”
MILLICENT: “No, I”
MILLICENT: “Oh. Yes, I am.” Sternly. “But that was lucky timing on your part.”
STORY: She nods. “Where next?”
TUELLER: You can occasionally hear Tueller yelling on the other side of the door. He does not sound coherent. He’s just stringing together words. Irritated words.
MILLICENT: Great question!
MILLICENT: Do you mean where’s Noma?
MILLICENT: I don’t know that.
STORY: No, I mean Loll wants to know what you’re doing now
ALEJO: Alejo taps his com, in the middle of one of his rants at the accusing student, “Out back! When this is done, I should take you out back and . . . ” He trails off and turns off the com.
TUELLER: We need to get out of the university.
STORY: You really do. There’s a crowd now watching Alejo.
TUELLER: Make up our exfil, Millie!
MILLICENT: “Oh, away, I suppose.”
MILLICENT: Millie grabs her things and walks imperiously toward the fire exit Alejo entered through, waiting to time it with another alarm’s start.
ALEJO: He approaches the accuser threateningly, drawing attention away from the back exit.
MILLICENT: To Tueller, then Alejo, “Alright, boys. We have the package. Time to graduate.”
MILLICENT: Millie signals Sweet to be ready for takeoff
STORY: All right! Alejo, how do you extricate yourself and Tueller from the scene you have created?
ALEJO: He then tosses Millie’s exam answer at this student. “If you think I’d pull that alarm when I wrote this! You’re fucking dumber than you look. Just read that! Read it and weep, you sad little man.” He then spins and turns away. “I’m done with this.” He looks at Tueller, “My friend, would you like to get out of here?”
TUELLER: “_Come! Out! Doctor!_ Towers. Anger! You!!” Gesturing at the TA.
ALEJO: Alejo nods in solidarity.
TUELLER: Tueller’s basically playing incoherent right now, but also hoping all eyes will be on him as he rages.
STORY: All right, you intimidate, sneak, and yell your way out of your various situations, and scurry away to the shuttlecraft to meet up.
STORY: The cargo door closes and Sweet hits the pulse drive.
STORY: “Where to, Doctor?” he asks over the intercom.
MILLICENT: Millie gives him the coordinates
ALEJO: “You’ve got hidden depths,” Alejo says, genuinely impressed, to Tueller as they sit.
TUELLER: Tueller pops off the helmet and gives Ejo a confused look.
TUELLER: “Of course I do.”
STORY: VROOM. And you’re off to Venus. It’ll be a couple hours.
STORY: Millie, you sit everyone down to brief them on what you discovered.
STORY: Tell us about the base!
MILLICENT: The ship circles high in Venus’ atmosphere according to a complicated algorithm. It’s heavily shielded and it makes frequent course corrections to maintain it’s algorithmic pattern. That means it’s slow and the gravity inducers are heavy duty. So it will be easy to catch and no one on board will likely notice if we dropped a tank on it. Except for the sensors.
MILLICENT: The sensors are extremely tough, to withstand the atmospheric conditions, but they’re also easy to fool because the storms of Venus are intense.
MILLICENT: Because of these factors we’ll have a reasonably easy time getting on board without being detected, if we’re fast and good.
STORY: All right! Anyone have plans they want to make before you arrive?
TUELLER: Just outfiting myself with our supply of explosives, really.
ALEJO: –How big and heavily guarded is this thing, do we think?
STORY: Millie?
MILLICENT: It’s big, but the outside couldn’t handle keeping guns out, so it’s not extremely well guarded.
MILLICENT: The atmosphere of Venus ain’t nothin’ you want to fuck with
ALEJO: But, I mean, are we thinking there are like 10 guards on board or 100?
ALEJO: I’m just wondering how freestyle we want to be with this incursion.
MILLICENT: Oh word. I’m thinking on a ship that size that only receives supplies and visits from the outside world sporadically there are only a dozen or so guards. More than that would be overkill and less might get ideas above their station.
ALEJO: Cool. So, freestyle it is. We should probably keep some presence on the ship, in case someone rabbits with Noma. We definitely don’t want to lose track of her again.
TUELLER: What do you mean?
ALEJO: I mean, if we infiltrate this place, we inadvertently set off an alarm or something, and someone tries to escape on a shuttle or something with Noma, we should be prepared to try to follow or at least get a general direction. I’m a little unclear about what our tracking capabilities would be, but that was my thought.
TUELLER: You’re the captain.
ALEJO: Yeah, sure. But I’m open to ideas, ya’ll.
MILLICENT: Works for me
STORY: If you have someone manning the bridge, they can try to track anything that leaves the ship if it happens.
ALEJO: Okay. Cool. Other ideas or plans we need to work out before we dive in?
STORY: None on my end.
STORY: Who’s on the away mission?
MILLICENT: Aye
ALEJO: The three of us, Loll, after Alejo will attempt to make amends with her, Kahn, and Jenny. Sweet and Fiagan are with the ship.
ALEJO: Is Akilah with us? I know she planned on sitting this out.
STORY: Akilah does not want to join you.
ALEJO: Right. I was just wondering if she was on the ship. Anyway, if so, she’s with the ship too.
STORY: Yeah, she’s onboard, in your quarters.
STORY: She’s been generally muted since you left the Ark.
STORY: All right! Your strike team boards the shuttle and heads down.
STORY: Where are you landing?
ALEJO: Millie has the com.
MILLICENT: We’re landing between two thrusters just after a turn.
MILLICENT: A scheduled turn.
STORY: Excellent. Who’s piloting?
TUELLER: —The shuttle cannot carry the Gregor, right?
STORY: — Correct, it cannot
ALEJO: Alejo will pilot.
TUELLER: Tueller is armored up ready to be first out the door.
ALEJO: We are all armed for a stealth but heavy assault.
STORY: Alejo, FA + Mettle!
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: ablair01 rolled 6 + 2 = 8
STORY: You make a clean landing, but it’s a bit bumpy on the way down. You can’t be sure no one inside knows of your approach.
STORY: Okay! You can open that door, but for the record, the atmosphere of Venus isn’t breathable, so I assume you’re all wearing your boarding armor?
ALEJO: Yes!
MILLICENT: Yup
STORY: Ok. Everyone looks very cool, except Tueller, who looks _super_ cool
TUELLER: —Tueller looks like the Shrike.
STORY: Your boots are lightly magnetic, so you walk with a little effort along the hull.
STORY: What do?
TUELLER: Tueller heads for the closest access point.
MILLICENT: Millie follows the Violence Twins
TUELLER: Tueller basically wants to hit something, and, if it has to happen, be the one who gets hit.
STORY: Tueller, you find a small porthole, but it’s sealed.
ALEJO: Kahn, as usual, has our back. Loll sticks close to Millie. Jenny is in the middle.
STORY: The airlocks are electromagnetic and only able to be opened from the inside.
TUELLER: “Doc, we need an entrance. We blowing this open, or you got a key?”
TUELLER: “The only thing I care about in there doesn’t need to breathe, so I’ll poke holes if it’ll get it done.”
MILLICENT: Millie slowly shakes her helmet. “Do try to time the explosions with a raucous atmospheric weather event, though.”
ALEJO: Alejo nods to Tueller and helps him set a couple of breaching charges.
STORY: Tueller, let’s have a Face Adversity + Expertise to set and engage whatever explosives you have.
TUELLER: “Step back all.”
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 3 + 2 = 5
TUELLER: oh man.
STORY: Oh geez.
MILLICENT: oh dicks
STORY: Tueller, you set the charges, step back, and activate them. Nothing happens. You take a step closer to investigate and one of them goes off – not enough to blow the hatch, but enough to blow you off the surface of the vessel and fly into the black.
STORY: You start to tumble upwards and away forever when someone grabs your foot and pulls you back down.
STORY: Loll pats you on the shoulder. “Be careful.”
STORY: Jenny exhales nervously. “So. No explosives. What now?”
TUELLER: “Ahem. yes. Thank you, dear.”
MILLICENT: Millie paces for a second
ALEJO: “Now we break something that makes them come outside to fix it?”
ALEJO: “Or other ideas?”
MILLICENT: Millie shakes her helmet
MILLICENT: “If we linked a surge to the door we could overload it.”
MILLICENT: “We just need to make a lightning rod, while on top of this ship that is hurtling through the storms of Venus’s atmosphere, direct the charge to the door. And not die.”
ALEJO: “Sounds like fun. Let’s do it!”
ALEJO: Alejo stands ready to assist, but this is definitely not his area of expertise.
MILLICENT: Millie starts collecting items from people’s suits and combining them
MILLICENT: Once she’s made her lightning rod she’ll attach it to the airlock sensor and stand way the hell back
ALEJO: “Hey! Don’t I need that to . . . you know, breathe or something,” Alejo protests playfully as she removes something more from his suit.
STORY: Let’s have a FA + Expertise for that one!
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 2
STORY: josh rolled 8 + 2 = 10
MILLICENT: “You’ll be fine, I’ve left you nearly enough tubing to breathe.”
STORY: Millie lines up what looks like a pile of vaguely connected junk, looks up at the sky, takes three big steps back, and almost immediately a perfect, gorgeous bolt of lightning pops down onto the spot she placed her contraption, briefly blinding and deafening each of you.
STORY: A few seconds later, you pick yourselves up from the deck and look around. The hatch is open.
TUELLER: Tueller hurries in.
ALEJO: “Amazing, Doc. Simply amazing.” Alejo follows Tueller in.
MILLICENT: Millie smiles in her suit, “We aim to please.”
STORY: The six of you crowd into a small airlock and open the internal door.
STORY: You step out onto a dark metal catwalk deck that extends a long way in either direction.
STORY: No sign of anyone. Lights are limited, looks like backup power or something. Likely a little used section of the ship.
STORY: What do you do?
ALEJO: “Tueller, you’ve got the lead.”
TUELLER: “This is a heavily modified Persephone class luxury ship. The pleasure quarters are aft. That’s my first bet. Follow me, and subdue anything I don’t.”
ALEJO: “I like it when you talk tactical.” Alejo follows closely, gesturing for the others to follow a few paces back.
STORY: You move quickly through the ship, in a formation the six of you have practiced before. Even Millie knows where to go.
TUELLER: Tueller moves as quickly as he knows the crew can move.
STORY: It’s efficient and downright impressive, though… there’s no one here to see it.
STORY: You move into the pleasure quarters and see no one. In fact, you see a fine layer of dust on the consoles.
ALEJO: “That’s not reassuring.” Alejo runs a finger through the dust.
TUELLER: “Not liking this, no.”
STORY: “How can I reassure you?” a voice springs up from the intercom.
STORY: It is Noma.
ALEJO: “Doc, can you patch in . . . ” He trails off.
MILLICENT: “Oh”
MILLICENT: “Is that you, dear?”
TUELLER: “Oh my god.”
ALEJO: “Well, hello, Noma!”
TUELLER: Tueller sits down suddenly in a chair.
TUELLER: It collapses under the weight of his armor, and he winds up in a sort of crouch, unaware of how silly he looks.
STORY: “How can I help you?”
ALEJO: Alejo turns his helmet towards Millie, questioningly.
MILLICENT: “Is that you? You sound.”
MILLICENT: “You sound different.”
STORY: There is a pause.
ALEJO: Alejo lends a hand to Tueller, to help him stand back up. He mouths through his helmet, “I’ve got a bad feeling.”
STORY: “Please explain Kismet’s theory of thermodynamic influence on plasma drives.”
MILLICENT: “Kismet was a dolt! He thought that warp complex waves would _have no effect_ on the thermodynamics of plasma drives. Like you could bring something to super speed without, haha, superheating it as well.”
STORY: Another pause.
MILLICENT: “Kismet!” Millie laughs.
MILLICENT: “A hack!”
MILLICENT: “He did do one very pretty formula though.”
STORY: “What was the saddest meal your second-tallest crew member had last year?”
MILLICENT: Millie turns to Tueller.
TUELLER: “It was a bucket of congratulations-you’ve-been-dumped live worms.”
TUELLER: “Raw and wriggling.”
STORY: Loll looks surprised.
TUELLER: Tueller doesn’t look at Loll.
STORY: Another pause.
STORY: “Mr. Soto.”
ALEJO: “Hi, Noma.”
STORY: “Did it work out with Millie?”
TUELLER: Tueller laughs.
ALEJO: Alejo takes a step, almost losing his footing. “Ah, no. Well, I mean, we’re still very close.” He pauses, half turns towards Millie. “I think. I hope.” He stops. “No, no it didn’t work out as I’d hoped.” He looks down.
STORY: “Oh, it is you.”
STORY: “I’m on a data drive in the bridge. This is a trap, and the ship is going down. I fear the machinery will not survive a crash, so. Come and get me, please.”
STORY: “There is no crew onboard, so you shouldn’t have any trouble getting to me.”
TUELLER: Tueller breaks off and starts running for the bridge.
ALEJO: Alejo raises his arms and nods. “’Course, it’s my blithering love life failings that seal the deal.”
MILLICENT: Millie runs after him
ALEJO: He mutters this and runs after them both.
TUELLER: Alejo probably passes us pretty quickly.
MILLICENT: Millie whispers low, so only the ship’s sensors can pick it up. “I blew it.”
TUELLER: But Tueller’s pushing it as well.
STORY: The other three follow behind. You make it there within a few minutes. The view out the front isn’t great, the planet is.. definitely not below you, but rather very much in front, and yes, you do seem to be sinking towards it?
ALEJO: Alejo arrives first. “Noma, can I just, take you out of the console, without harming you?” Alejo is looking at the data drive.
STORY: The main console has an animated arrow on it, blinking and pointing at a disc drive port. “This one, please. And get us offboard immediately.”
MILLICENT: Millie rummages in her suit and slams a drive into the port.
STORY: “Ready,” comes the voice over the intercom.
TUELLER: Tueller let’s them handle that, and tries to pull the yoke up on the craft to get more altitude.
STORY: The entire ship lurches as you are pulled into Venus’s gravity and begin to fall.
STORY: Everybody please make a FA + Mettle to stay on your feet.
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 6 + 1 = 7
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: ablair01 rolled 5 + 2 = 7
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: josh rolled 8 + 1 = 9
STORY: “I am afraid I will be a disappointment, Millie. But thank you for coming to get me,” Noma says as you eject the drive and she falls silent.
STORY: Alejo and Tueller stumble and cannot help Jenny and Loll keep their footing as they are thrown to the ground.
STORY: “Shit!” comes Kahn’s voice from the back. “Everybody out, now!”
MILLICENT: “Oh honey,” Millie holds the drive against her boarding armor as she braces.
STORY: He runs back down the hallway toward the shaft you entered through.
MILLICENT: Millie starts running for the exit
ALEJO: Alejo offers his hand to Loll and then Jenny, helping them up and then letting them get out of the room ahead of him.
TUELLER: Tueller picks everyone up and pushes them out.
ALEJO: He looks at Tueller, nods, and then sprints towards the exit.
STORY: The six of you squeeze through the hatch and rush to your shuttle, taking off just as the ship starts to burn up in the thin atmosphere. You reach Peregrine and jump out the moment the shuttle has docked, all three of you reaching the bridge to see Sweet and Akilah looking pale out the front window.
STORY: “Holy shit.”
ALEJO: “We got her.”
TUELLER: “That was a pretty elaborate honeypot.”
STORY: The console below shows what they are peering for evidence of: within minutes, maybe seconds, of your location is an armada of ships.
STORY: Dozens, if not hundreds, approaching your position.
STORY: “What the fuck is this?” Akilah looks to Alejo.
STORY: “How did they know we’re here?”
STORY: You look out the front viewscreen and see the faint glimmers of a dozen ships entering visual range.
ALEJO: He shakes his head. “Hell if I know.”
MILLICENT: “It’s the bar. We took the cheese and.” Millie motions with her fingers, miming a mousetrap.
MILLICENT: “That’s a metaphor.”
ALEJO: Alejo sits down at the console. Can we outrun them?
TUELLER: “Punch it.”
MILLICENT: “I don’t know who the ships belong to either, but they’re part of this trap.”
ALEJO: Alejo spins the ship and does, in fact, punch it.
MILLICENT: Millie, addressing the bridge. “You see what I’m saying now, right?”
TUELLER: Tueller heads over to our weapons console.
STORY: Akilah looks at the readout on the console as she clings to her seat. “It’s everyone. Erde-Maris, Maitri, CJH. Probably everyone wanting a bounty.”
STORY: _“Fuck.“_
MILLICENT: Millie slips the data drive into a port, letting Noma back into the ship.
ALEJO: Alejo tries to put the nearest object between us and as many of them as possible.
ALEJO: –Do we still have a turret on this bucket?
TUELLER: “Beginning to hate Sol.”
TUELLER: —Yes, and Tueller’s on it.
STORY: Some lights flicker as Noma looks around the computer. “Millie, thank you. I am glad to be home. I have more to say but I anticipate we are currently in an emergency situation, am I correct?”
MILLICENT: “You are.”
TUELLER: “Good to hear you dear, and glad to hear you’re still a smart one.”
ALEJO: “Yeah. We’re taking all suggestions on how not to die right now.”
ALEJO: “Got any?”
STORY: “I have given quite a bit of thought as to our likely options and I believe I have our solution. If you trust me, I would like to take control of the ship.”
MILLICENT: “I have one, but it’s very bad. Oh! Oh good, you have an idea!”
MILLICENT: “Oh thank goodness.”
MILLICENT: “I don’t even like thinking it.”
ALEJO: Alejo nods. “It’s yours.” He lets go of the controls.
STORY: “Excellent. Everyone, please go down to the galley and drink at least three units of alcohol as quickly as you can. You have twenty seconds.”
MILLICENT: “Oh no.”
TUELLER: “On it.”
MILLICENT: “Oh Noma no.”
TUELLER: “Always wondering how this would go.”
STORY: Jenny looks confused.
STORY: “What’s she…”
MILLICENT: Millie runs to the galley, grabbing a bottle and bolting it.
MILLICENT: “We had the same idea.”
TUELLER: Tueller pulls Jenny down.
STORY: Loll grabs her by the other arm and runs down the stairs.
ALEJO: Alejo runs as well.
STORY: Sweet throws Figgan downstairs. You catch Kahn as he’s coming up from below decks.
TUELLER: “We’re going to want to be loose for this.”
STORY: “Ten seconds,” Noma calls out. “Enemy ships closing.”
MILLICENT: Millie raises a glass, “To Peregrine and its crew.”
STORY: Everyone chugs very, very expensive whiskey. Jenny _extremely_ does not enjoy it.
TUELLER: “And our health.”
MILLICENT: “Lovely, brilliant, damned fools. I love most of you very much.”
STORY: “Five. Please hold on to something. Three. Two. One. Initiating jump.”
STORY: Who’d like to make the roll?
TUELLER: Millie should.
ALEJO: — I give my closeup.
MILLICENT: Yeah, it’s my “Skill” kind of
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 1
STORY: josh rolled 7 + 1 = 8