STORY: “Dragon.”
ALEJO: His eyebrows raise.
TUELLER: “That’s a new one.”
STORY: “They’re real, apparently. And they live here. So. I’m gonna lie down.”
STORY: “Jenny?”
STORY: She nods hurriedly. They both go have a seat and try to chill out just inside the treeline.
ALEJO: “Huh.”
MILLICENT: “No!” Millie punches Kahn on the shoulder
MILLICENT: “No way!”
TUELLER: “I wish we didn’t lose all of our alcohol.”
STORY: Figgan looks up at you. “What’s a dragon?”
TUELLER: “Flying lizard that shoots fire.”
STORY: She nods. “Huh. All right.”
STORY: Akilah just stands there, with her arms dangling at her sides, and drops her briefcase, walking silently into the woods.
ALEJO: “Was that our only tent?”
MILLICENT: “Dragon!” Millie’s almost dancing
TUELLER: The countdown clock started ticking down, from ten minutes to zero. Io’s New Years crowd swelled in anticipation; when a revolution takes nearly 12 years, the party is correspondingly huge. It was the first New Year’s celebration that Tueller remembered. He’s too young to drink, and that many people crammed together made him antsy. “Race?” he said to Jamilah and Akilah. “First to the Burns monument goooooo!” and they were off, weaving through the crowd of celebrating drunks, laughing and free.
—
TUELLER: We have the feeling like we’re transformed into a Klein bottle, our mouths opening up and swallowing ourselves and vomiting ourselves back out into our bodies into our new reality. Where is that reality?
STORY: Well, you’d really like to check some sensors and find out, but the sensors don’t appear to be working.
STORY: Neither do the propulsion systems.
STORY: Or… anything electric onboard.
STORY: You rush up to the bridge and do see one thing: a planet. A big one. Very, very close to you.
STORY: Getting closer.
STORY: The ship starts to shake as you fall through the atmosphere.
TUELLER: “Doc, engineering go.”
ALEJO: Alejo jumps into the pilot seat and tries to get control of the ship.
ALEJO: But nothing is working.
TUELLER: Tueller picks up the doc and takes her down to our drive.
TUELLER: “Noma you out there?”
MILLICENT: Millie is carried through the ship to engineering, calling for Noma the whole way
STORY: Alejo, there’s no power, so it’s manual only – and the only manual controls worth worrying about in this kind of emergency are the onboard parachutes, which automatically eject if the ship detects that it is in freefall and approaching the ground.
STORY: Shoot, though, in order for that to happen the ship would need to have sensors.
STORY: Hrm.
STORY: No response from Noma. No lights on in the ship, so anything outside of the bridge is very, very dark.
STORY: There is the light from the planet below, you can see a bit with that, but it’s still pretty dim. Also the entire craft is shaking violently and you have no power. Did I mention the no power?
STORY: There’s no power.
STORY: Alejo, you hear Akilah shout up the stairs from below. “ALEJO! ORDERS!”
ALEJO: “Figgan,” Alejo shouts as loud as he can, “get down to engineering and work with the Doc to get this fixed or we . . . ”
STORY: You hear her dimly through the noise. “On it!”
ALEJO: “Sweet, find anything with a battery. Try to get it plugged into our sensors. We need those, at least!”
TUELLER: Tueller puts the doc down and heads back up to the upper deck, to the crank that he hopes will trigger the emergency parachutes.
MILLICENT: Millie jumps into engineering and starts fiddling
STORY: Alejo, you’re in freefall, watching the ground get larger before you. You’re headed towards a large rocky beach. Give me Assessment + Mettle please
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: ablair01 rolled 9 + 2 = 11
MILLICENT: Nice!
STORY: Oh, good. You think you have about a minute before you hit the ground, and you get a Data Point about the geography of this planet as you look down on it. Hopefully you survive to use it!
ALEJO: “We need those parachutes!” He yells down towards Akilah. “About one minute to go!”
STORY: Millie, what are you doing?
MILLICENT: Fiddlin’!
MILLICENT: Millie’s going to try and reboot everything
MILLICENT: Get power back or, failing that, emergency power or, failing that, manually trigger the emergency parachutes
STORY: Okay. You need Sweet’s help, and you’ve only got one shot to do a reboot, it’s gonna take you probably 30-45 seconds to get everything shut off and back on again.
STORY: So you two are busy.
STORY: Tueller, what doing?
TUELLER: Climbing up to the central column to the top of the ship and grabbing the giant lever to try to manually trigger the parachutes.
TUELLER: (like, those levers that have a handle between them. Do they have a separate name?)
STORY: All right!
STORY: Alejo, what are you doing?
ALEJO: Gripping the controls, praying for power to pull us up into a crash landing that doesn’t kill us all, if power comes back.
STORY: Okay! All of you are going to Face Adversity. Alejo, +Mettle; Millie, +Expertise; Tueller, +Physique please.
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: ablair01 rolled 7 + 2 = 9
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 +2
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 6 + 2 = 8
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 2
STORY: josh rolled 7 + 2 = 9
MILLICENT: That’ll do!
TUELLER: Well at least we’re consistent.
STORY: Okay. So.
STORY: Millie, Sweet, and Figgan rip open the battery stations, unplugging all of them down the line, Figgan pumping the manual gear that leads to the pinion that is supposed to get your engine going again.
STORY: Tueller, using the lack of meaningful gravity to his advantage, grabs the big lever that houses the manual parachute release and puts his whole body into it, straddling the spot on the wall and pushing with his legs.
STORY: Alejo, from your spot in the bridge you see the earth approaching fast – green vegetation, blue water, white sand, and what looks like maybe small structures in a clearing north of your location. In the distance, a tall mountain. It almost looks like Earth. You have just long enough to make that observation before the electricity flickers back on and the parachutes eject, throwing everyone straight towards the ground as the falling ship slows down considerably. Everyone give me a FA + Physique to hold on to something.
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: ablair01 rolled 7 + 1 = 8
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 – 1
STORY: josh rolled 10 – 1 = 9
TUELLER: Heavy Lifting has this ability: Ignore Clumsy Trait inflicted by Heavy Weapons, heavy armor, encumberance, and high gravity
TUELLER: Applies?
STORY: Applies!
MILLICENT: Apples!
STORY: The ship won’t crash, but it isn’t getting back in the air either. Alejo, you have just enough thrust to push her towards the water for a slightly softer landing, and you’re thrown from your chair to the windscreen in front of you.
STORY: Millie, you wipe your brow and start to congratulate Sweet and Figgan and the three of you are thrown violently against the wall as the parachutes extend. You land relatively comfortably on top of Sweet, who groans.
STORY: From your position up against the glass, Alejo, you watch as Peregrine’s nose touches the water gently, quickly starting to sink.
STORY: Then she groans, creaks horribly, and flops onto her back, landing with an enormous splash on the water.
STORY: Everyone not wearing a seat belt finds themselves on the ceiling of whatever room they are in, banged up but alive.
MILLICENT: “Oof, cheers, Sweet. Hey, I think we’re not dead.”
ALEJO: “We’re in water!” He struggles back to the console, checking systems to see if the hull is still sealed or if this is another emergency.
STORY: Assessment + Expertise please!
ALEJO: /roll 2d6-1
STORY: ablair01 rolled 4 – 1 = 3
STORY: Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh.
STORY: Alejo, there’s a breach – the shuttlecraft dug into Peregrine’s hull when she flopped over and cracked the lining. You’re taking on water on that deck.
STORY: Tueller, you’re all wet.
TUELLER: Tueller makes his way back to the bridge.
TUELLER: “Taking on water, sealing compartments!”
TUELLER: Tueller heads towards where water seems to be coming from. Loud as he can, “SOUND OFF WHERE IS EVERYONE?”
STORY: The water is coming in fast. You’ve got thirty seconds to grab things before you should really put your helmets back on.
ALEJO: “Fuckety, fucker. We’re in trouble. We’ve gotta plug that leak or get off this boat!” He jumps up, and runs towards the breached area to do a visual inspection.
ALEJO: “Suits! Everyone. Now!”
STORY: Sweet hears the call and pushes you off him, Millie. “Put your helmet on, Millie.”
ALEJO: “Grab critical gear and get ready to swim.”
TUELLER: Where’s the leak?
STORY: It’s in the ceiling of the top deck, which, since you’re upside down, is on the bottom.
STORY: The way the water is coming in, the cargo bay is now the highest point in the ship.
STORY: For the record, Tueller is still wearing his Maitri armor, which makes this all so lovely.
TUELLER: Yes, he is.
MILLICENT: Millie scrambles back into her suit and is calling out, “Noma? Honey?”
ALEJO: “Doc, get Noma!”
STORY: Millie, Noma blinks a message hello to you on your HUD.
STORY: “Low power, Millie. Move around to charge the kinetic batteries, please.”
STORY: “Going idle.”
MILLICENT: Millie high steps her way over to the breach. “HelLO, dear! I’ve missed you so!”
ALEJO: Alejo stands next to Tueller, looking at the breach. Do we have any chance of patching it?
STORY: Alejo: nope. She’s going down.
TUELLER: “Gotta seal the central column before we lose the rest of the ship.”
ALEJO: “We’ve got to abandon ship! Sound off!”
ALEJO: Alejo nods.
STORY: Akilah calls from above. “Akilah, Kahn, and Jenny in the cargo bay!”
TUELLER: “Bridge and captain’s quarters are lost for the moment.”
STORY: Sweet swings Figgan over his shoulder. “Sweet and Figgan heading up.”
STORY: Tueller, the central column is all open. You may be able to seal off individual rooms, but the majority of the ship is going to be flooded.
TUELLER: “Close off everything you can, and get to the cargo bay!”
MILLICENT: Millie grabs a tool kit on her way and is clutching it to her chest when she stumbles into the room with the boys.
ALEJO: “Seal as many doors as you can on your way up here.” Alejo says calmly into the com, heading towards the weapons. “Tueller, can you get the Gregor out?”
MILLICENT: “Oh good,” to Noma, “I do love when they get all take charge-y. All bellowing orders.”
TUELLER: Tueller closes every door he can get to and goes up to the cargo bay.
STORY: Tueller, Face Adversity + Mettle for that please.
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 5 + 1 = 6
MILLICENT: “Oh! The Canary!”
MILLICENT: Is the Canary already under water or is it possibly salvageable?
STORY: Tueller, all the doors you try are jammed. Nothing happening.
ALEJO: “Jenny? Kahn? Sound off!”
STORY: The Canary is in the cargo bay, so it’ll be the last to get underwater.
STORY: Jenny calls down. “Cargo bay, Captain!”
STORY: Then Kahn. “Shit’s all over the place up here!”
ALEJO: “Aki? Loll?”
TUELLER: Tueller gives up and heads up to the cargo bay.
STORY: “Akilah here! Isn’t Loll with you?”
TUELLER: Hearing that, Tueller heads back down.
ALEJO: “Shit. No. Aki, get everyone off. You’re in charge. I’m gonna look for Loll.” He runs, at full speed back into the ship.
TUELLER: “Shit. Prep what we can to abandon ship.”
STORY: Tueller, Assessment + Mettle to search for Loll
STORY: Alejo, same
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 12 + 2 = 14
STORY: _Damn_
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: ablair01 rolled 10 + 2 = 12
STORY: hahaha
STORY: you idiots
TUELLER: Well, we want to find Loll.
MILLICENT: Millie heads to the cargo bay to get out as many useful tools/parts as possible along with the Canary
STORY: You both reach the galley at the same time to find Loll, knocked out cold, a little blood coming from her head. She’s floating in the knee-high water, face up.
TUELLER: Tueller scoops her up.
ALEJO: Alejo runs over to help but sort of just has a leg.
TUELLER: “Of course it would be the galley.”
TUELLER: “You saw us as we came down. We anywhere near land?”
ALEJO: “A beach. There’s some sort of settlement close.”
ALEJO: “We should be less than half a kilometer from land, I think.”
ALEJO: “Fiona!” Alejo remembers Tueller’s pet. “Your cabin?” He starts out the door, turning towards Tueller’s cabin, waiting only for confirmation.
TUELLER: Tueller nods.
TUELLER: “Under the bed. She’ll scratch.”
TUELLER: “Almost definitely.”
ALEJO: “Get Loll out. I got her.”
ALEJO: Alejo runs at full speed.
STORY: Tueller drags Loll up to the cargo bay, and Alejo returns with a very unhappy looking large wet blue cat.
STORY: Millie, let’s have FA + Mettle to get the Canary out.
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 1
STORY: josh rolled 11 + 1 = 12
TUELLER: How’s the Gregor looking?
STORY: Well all right! The Gregor is underwater. Luckily, it’s sealed, and you guys have this boarding armor, so…
STORY: Assuming Peregrine doesn’t end up in 100 feet of soft mud, you can _probably_ dive back down and look around eventually.
TUELLER: “Okay, we’re going to have to open the doors and get off the ship–and when we do that, physics says Peregrine will take on water much faster, so we gotta be ready to go.”
STORY: For now, everyone has their helmets on, Fiona has been shoved into the Canary with Millie (it’s uncomfortable, Millie!) and you brace as one as Alejo opens the cargo bay door and the last bit of the ship is submerged.
STORY: You all tread water hard and resist being pulled back under as she descends below you.
STORY: Each of you had time and ability to grab something – whatever you can reasonably carry in both hands. What did you bring?
STORY: Kahn has his sniper rifle. Jenny grabbed a pack of rations and a handgun. Sweet has a small water purifier, Akilah has her briefcase. Figgan took her tool bag. Loll came empty.
TUELLER: Wilderness Kit and our explosives.
ALEJO: A duffle of small arms that he’d started packing before learning that Loll was missing.
MILLICENT: Engineering kit
STORY: All right.
TUELLER: “That could have gone better.”
STORY: The shadow of Peregrine grows smaller and dimmer as she sinks below you. You are roughly two hundred yards from shore.
STORY: And oh, shit, you can see a small group of bipedal humanoids on the shore, pointing and gathering.
MILLICENT: “It could have gone worse.”
STORY: Five, ten people.
STORY: What do you do?
TUELLER: “Let’s go met the locals.”
TUELLER: Tueller starts swimming towards them, with Loll in tow.
STORY: Millie, Assessment + Expertise please to see what you remember of first contact protocols
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 2
STORY: josh rolled 7 + 2 = 9
STORY: You remember a bunch! Particularly that if these people are uncontacted you should _not go say hi_
MILLICENT: “Belay that, please, Tueller.”
ALEJO: Alejo has started to swim towards shore, but he stops.
MILLICENT: “We’re on a potentially uncontacted planet. There are first contact protocols we need to follow!”
TUELLER: Tueller goes back to treading water. “You think they missed the spaceship crashing and us treading water here?”
TUELLER: “We’re at least point five contact, here.”
MILLICENT: Millie sighs, “First contact protocols aren’t just about shielding natives of uncontacted worlds from our influence. There are dangers here to us and the rest of the galaxy. Can we please reconvene, on shore, and discuss this before we _just go say hi_?”
ALEJO: Alejo starts to look for somewhere else that they could swim. Is there any other land nearby?
STORY: Not nearby, but you are in airtight suits with oxygen tanks, so you could probably just sink down and go half a mile down the shore underwater.
ALEJO: “Let’s do that. Reconvene down the shore, away from this welcome crowd.”
ALEJO: Where’s Fiona? In the Canary?
ALEJO: She’s not going to drown, is the question?
TUELLER: In the Canary, yes.
TUELLER: Wrapped around Millie’s leg.
TUELLER: You told her “You need to stay in here to say safe,” and she knew you weren’t lying.
STORY: Right
STORY: Being very unhappy
ALEJO: Alejo lets himself sink and turns on the light in his helmet. “You okay will Loll?” He asks Tueller. “Want any help?”
TUELLER: “Just get us somewhere.”
ALEJO: He leads the way, underwater.
STORY: You spend about half an hour underwater, swimming slowly, making sure the whole pack is with you, and come back above the water far further downshore, in an isolated cove.
STORY: There’s a small sandy beach with no sign of anyone nearby.
ALEJO: Alejo moves onto the beach, drops the duffle, pulls free a pistol and moves quickly onto the cove, scouting for any danger while the others get out of the water.
TUELLER: Tueller carries Loll out, and sets her down gently.
ALEJO: “Kahn, Jenny, with me, once you’re out.”
ALEJO: “Let’s secure this cove.”
STORY: They nod. Kahn takes your arm, Millie, and glances at the display on it, nodding again. He takes off his helmet. “Air’s breathable.”
MILLICENT: Millie lets Fiona out as soon as she gets onto land.
MILLICENT: Millie aims the camera on the suit toward the sky and asks Noma to try and triangulate where they might be in the galaxy by whatever space stuff may be visible from the surface
TUELLER: Tueller takes off Loll’s helmet.
TUELLER: Examines her head.
STORY: She groans a little, Tueller. She’ll be okay, she’s just sleeping now.
STORY: “I’m sorry Millie, I can’t find a network connection anywhere within range.”
STORY: Kahn and Jenny go in opposite directions to secure the beach.
TUELLER: “Need my help setting a perimeter, Ejo?”
STORY: Figgan goes through the tools in her bag, lays them out to dry.
STORY: Sweet scoops up some seawater and runs it through the purifier.
ALEJO: “No, stay here and keep everyone else safe, please. And you and Doc figure out what we’ve got and what we need to get to make it through the night, please.” He says this to Millie and Tueller as he heads off.
ALEJO: “I’ll call if something bad happens!”
TUELLER: Tueller starts to set up the tent from his kit.
MILLICENT: Millie works with Tueller to catalogue their supplies, come up with basic shelter and when all that’s finished she builds a simple sundial and takes a couple notes.
STORY: Tueller, as you start to set it up you hear a low, deep rumble.
STORY: Volcano?
STORY: Millie, it’s more like a growl?
STORY: Alejo, there’s like… a dot on the horizon. Which is weird, because from what you saw, this civilization is pre-flight.
STORY: The dot’s getting bigger.
STORY: Also there was that thunder you heard a second ago.
ALEJO: He sprints back, turning on his com. “Doc, get everyone to cover. Something’s flying our way, fast!”
MILLICENT: Millie rallies everyone to hide in the bushes.
ALEJO: He looks for the nearest cover that everyone can get to.
MILLICENT: “Get down, get down, something’s flying in!”
MILLICENT: I assumed bushes, but maybe there’s not bushes?
TUELLER: Tueller carries Loll to cover as gingerly as he can.
STORY: You rush into the jungle just in time to miss the arrival whatever it is that was flying towards you.
STORY: It is accompanied by a massive, boneshaking roar.
ALEJO: “Great. Just what we needed. Fucking big ass, mean fauna.” Alejo mutters under his breath, trying to get as good a look as he can.
STORY: The tent Tueller left behind erupts into flames as a line of what you assume to be napalm hits the beach twenty feet away from your hiding place.
STORY: Nobody gets _that_ good a look at it, until a minute later when Kahn and Jenny find you on the beach. Kahn looks white. Jenny is shaking.
ALEJO: “What do have?”
ALEJO: Alejo swallows hard, not sure he wants to know the answer.
MILLICENT: Millie emerges from hiding, sniffing the air
TUELLER: “That was a new tent.”
MILLICENT: “Gasoline and laundry detergent.”
STORY: Kahn takes a deep breath, putting a hand on Jenny’s shoulder.
STORY: “Dragon.”
ALEJO: His eyebrows raise.
TUELLER: “That’s a new one.”
STORY: “They’re real, apparently. And they live here. So. I’m gonna lie down.”
STORY: “Jenny?”
STORY: She nods hurriedly. They both go have a seat and try to chill out just inside the treeline.
ALEJO: “Huh.”
MILLICENT: “No!” Millie punches Kahn on the shoulder
MILLICENT: “No way!”
TUELLER: “I wish we didn’t lose all of our alcohol.”
STORY: Figgan looks up at you. “What’s a dragon?”
TUELLER: “Flying lizard that shoots fire.”
STORY: She nods. “Huh. All right.”
STORY: Akilah just stands there, with her arms dangling at her sides, and drops her briefcase, walking silently into the woods.
ALEJO: “Was that our only tent?”
MILLICENT: “Dragon!” Millie’s almost dancing
TUELLER: Tueller watches her go. Looks at Ejo, and jerks his head towards Akilah.
TUELLER: “On the plus side, I’ve wanted to fight a dragon since I was four.”
TUELLER: “So in a certain light, this is a dream come true.”
ALEJO: “Yeah, I know.” He takes a deep breath and follows after Aki. “Don’t let anyone get roasted.”
ALEJO: He picks up her briefcase before he goes.
MILLICENT: Millie starts to organize a new camp, inside the tree cover this time
TUELLER: Tueller helps out Millie.
TUELLER: Tueller is punching tree branches off, shattering them to build cover at Millie’s direction.
STORY: Alejo, she’s not walking fast or anything, but she’s going. Just straight in some direction.
ALEJO: He catches up to her, doesn’t stop her, but just starts walking beside her. “Hey you.” He says this softly. “Whatcha doing?”
STORY: She pushes you with her full strength. Ya’Makasis are not weak people. You land on your butt.
STORY: “No.”
STORY: She sounds calm, but you know there’s anger there.
ALEJO: He doesn’t stand. “Ouch.”
ALEJO: He looks at her. “No?”
STORY: “No.” She keeps walking.
ALEJO: “Jesus, Aki!” He stands and catches up again. “Please stop and talk to me.”
STORY: She stops, looking down, and takes a deliberate breath.
ALEJO: “There are fucking dragons here. And I don’t know why you’re so pissed at me.” He stops and sighs. “I don’t know . . . why.”
STORY: “I’m not pissed at you.”
STORY: “But..” She shakes her head.
STORY: “I can’t do this, Alejo.”
ALEJO: He blows a puff of air out of his mouth and smiles. “Like, crash landing on some unknown world? Or . . . .?”
STORY: “Or running from my family for the rest of my life, or.. being a fucking mercenary, or dodging assassination attempts.”
STORY: She pulls back her hair, frustrated, but not angry anymore. “This is insane.”
STORY: “I’m a lawyer.”
STORY: “Yes, also I know how to kill people, but I’m primarily a lawyer.”
STORY: “That was a _dragon.“_
STORY: “This is _insane.“_
ALEJO: He nods, gently. He walks up to her, touches her on the arm, if she’ll let him. “I know.” He whispers, smiles sadly, and hands her the briefcase, as an offering.
ALEJO: “I love you. Insanely. But I know.”
STORY: She nods. “I love you too. I don’t regret anything. But…”
ALEJO: He takes her hand. “You’re so incredible at so many things. But I kinda figured something was up.”
STORY: She frowns. “Tueller said I had to tell you.”
STORY: “Look, before I was contributing to something that fed people. It kept our people safe. Hundreds of people, millions on the moons.”
STORY: “To go from that to stealing cargo shipments and wild jumps to places that, I really need to say this again, _have dragons?“_
ALEJO: He listens. Looking her in the eyes, smiling, tears starting to fill his own eyes. “Insane.”
ALEJO: “I’ll get you home. I swear it.”
STORY: “I just want to do something that matters.”
ALEJO: “Ouch.” He says this with a big smile.
STORY: “I want you to want that too. But I can’t make you.”
STORY: “Just let me pout out here for a while and I’ll come back when there’s a tent that isn’t on fire.”
ALEJO: He nods. “Okay. But please stay close enough that . . . you know.” He tosses the pistol in his hand, so that the grip is out for her to take. “Tueller would fucking rip my head off if something happened to you. And . . . I can’t get you back if you’re dead.”
STORY: She takes it. “I’ll write some briefs. I wonder if there’s a pen in here.” She looks down at her briefcase.
STORY: Tueller! Millie! What are you doing on the beach?
MILLICENT: We’re building the dopest shelters, hopefully covered by the forest canopy
MILLICENT: Millie is alternating time between giving instruction to Tueller and building a sundial that doesn’t look like a sundial from the sky
STORY: All right! You’ve got a bunch of palm fronds and are starting to get them assembled when Kahn inhales sharply. “Shit.”
STORY: He’s facing out towards the beach.
TUELLER: Tueller snaps to attention.
TUELLER: Tueller’s pretty keyed up right now.
STORY: Tueller, a small Odh child, couldn’t be more than five, is standing on the beach looking up at you. She has a long skirt, loose top, and bare feet, and she has her head tilted curiously, staring at your armor and Kahn’s rifle.
STORY: She’s maybe thirty feet away.
STORY: The burning tent is between you.
TUELLER: Tueller raises his hand in a wave.
STORY: She raises a hand back, hesitantly.
TUELLER: Tueller waves her over.
TUELLER: Tueller looks around discreetly to see if anyone else is around.
STORY: Not that you can see, but unattended five year olds are rare. She comes over, tiptoeing around the smoking tent scraps.
STORY: “Kind sir, who art thou?”
TUELLER: “I am Tueller. And…who art thou?”
TUELLER: Tueller kind of blinks. He is still in armor, but not wearing the helmet, taking it all in.
STORY: “A pleasure to meet you, Sir Tueller. Mine name is Tiffany.”
STORY: “Why are you covered in spikes, sir?”
TUELLER: “I am a warrior.”
TUELLER: “Though I am currently lost.”
STORY: She smiles. “Oh! Hast thou come for the festival?”
TUELLER: “I did not come here _for_ the festival, but I am most certainly interested _in_ the festival. Where are we, and what is this festival?”
STORY: Millie, are you noting this exchange?
MILLICENT: Millie’s right there, but Tueller’s doing well.
TUELLER: Tueller has kind of a bemused smile on his face during this entire thing.
STORY: “You are in Escaria, milord!”
STORY: “Neighbors to Wuthor and Castana, we are the blue gem of the Spear Lands.”
TUELLER: Tueller gives a look to Millie, and shrugs.
MILLICENT: “Of course, the blue gem of the Spear Lands, all peoples say so.”
STORY: “Warriors come from across the lands to compete in our tourney!”
MILLICENT: “Do they?” Millie’s face falls.
TUELLER: Tueller’s smile becomes bigger and less bemused.
TUELLER: “And what do they win?”
STORY: “Why, the princess’s hand, of course! Or her bounty, if she not please them.”
MILLICENT: Millie steps on Tueller’s toe, completely injuring the wrong person.
MILLICENT: “Sounds… traditional.”
STORY: “But sir, I must tell thee, thine armor is no good for jousting. There are so many points for the lance to get caught. You will surely be thrown.”
STORY: “My brother Urbin can fashion you a fine suit of armor, one that will shove off all blows from an enemy’s lance!”
STORY: Alejo, you arrive back just to hear this part of the exchange.
MILLICENT: “Tiffany, if I may divert thee from thy most compelling tale. Hast thou seen other flying creatures than the mighty fire breather that didst just visit us?”
TUELLER: “I am afraid I am probably not best for the jousting. I’ve never been on an animal.”
MILLICENT: “Escaria is new to us and we would know the land we travel in.”
MILLICENT: Millie elbows Tueller and faces the same problem.
ALEJO: Alejo eases into the group, but does not interrupt.
STORY: She shakes her head, looking worried. “Why no, milady, the Dragon is a lone tyrant. He visits us only when we disappoint his eye.”
MILLICENT: “What disappointing behavior do you ken mustered this afternoon’s visit?”
STORY: “I do not know milady, but for certain someone hath offended him!”
MILLICENT: “For certain, for certain.”
ALEJO: Alejo agrees, silently.
STORY: There’s a call from the jungle beyond.
STORY: Tiffany turns back. “Tis my brother! I should return to him. Please, if thou arrives safely at the tourney, spare a visit for my brother and I?”
STORY: She waves and runs off.
ALEJO: “Ken?” Alejo mouths, but does not say the word, to Millie.
MILLICENT: Absently, “Old English for ‘know’ or ‘understand’.”
STORY: Kahn stands up. “That’s it.”
STORY: “I’m staying back here. You guys have fun.”
STORY: “I’m gonna fix the ship.”
MILLICENT: “I did a Chaucer seminar in undergrad.”
STORY: “…someone who knows how to fix ships please stay behind with me.”
STORY: Figgan raises her hand. “In.”
STORY: And Loll, who has come to. “I should remain, to help supervise the repairs. Also, where are we.”
STORY: “And what happened.”
ALEJO: “We do need to get off this planet.” He glances back towards the tree line, where Aki is.
ALEJO: “Figgan, Doc, Sweet. What’s the prognosis on Peregrine?”
MILLICENT: “We need to interfere in the local civilization as little as possible.”
MILLICENT: “But, Odh.”
MILLICENT: “There are Odh here.”
TUELLER: “I’m going to be honest, as fun as killing a dragon and winning a tournament sounds, it kind of…seems like a distraction from the rest of our lives.”
MILLICENT: Millie looks at Alejo. “Ship’s at the bottom of the bay, Captain. We’ll need a pulley system and an improvised ramp and some kind of motive power to pull it up. For starters.”
TUELLER: “Also I’ve never jousted before so I’m not sure I can sweep the entire competition.”
STORY: Sweet shrugs. “No way to know until we get down there.” He taps the tank on his upper back. “We’ve got about two hours of oxygen until these run out, but if I can get to the tanks on Peregrine and they’re still intact, we can refill from there, give us probably a few days to work.”
MILLICENT: Millie laughs. “I didn’t even think of working on her from underwater! By all means, Mr. Sweet!”
ALEJO: Alejo frowns at Tueller.
STORY: Jenny stands up, brushing her legs off. “What rest of our lives?”
STORY: She gestures to the beach. “We’re here. For a while, from the sound of it. Our ship sank in minutes. That’s a big hole.”
STORY: “We can camp on the beach and get torched by dragons or we can go meet the locals, who Dr. Breedlove points out, are Odh.”
STORY: “That’s not an uncontacted civilization, that’s an Ark council species.”
ALEJO: “We’re gonna need supplies. Help. Even if we can work on the ship underwater.”
MILLICENT: “Except these Odh don’t appear to be the post-warp civilization we know and love.”
MILLICENT: “They are some kind of cousins or off-shoot of the Ark council Odh.”
ALEJO: Alejo sighs. “Alright. We need shelter. We need to figure out how bad the ship damage is. We need to find out if we can repair it underwater. And we need to not die while we do this.” He looks at Millie. “How passionately do you feel about this ‘no interference’ thing?”
ALEJO: “First contact protocols. Whatever.”
ALEJO: He rubs at his temple.
MILLICENT: “It’s not _my_ thing, you know. First contact protocols keep up safe from any Omega-level alien civilizations we might come across. Ask yourself, what if the Collective didn’t go looking for new members? There might be civilizations _that_ advanced out there and the only thing keeping them from our throats is not yet pissing them off.”
TUELLER: Tueller sits down, not really paying close attention for the moment.
MILLICENT: “That being said, the Odh are not known to be anywhere near Omega-level. This is fascinating, but I don’t think that interacting with them violates any scientific ethical considerations. I would, of course, defer the legal standing of such a move to an expert.” Millie nods to Akilah’s direction in the jungle.
ALEJO: Alejo nods. “Of course. I’m not . . . I don’t mean to be an asshole. I just have an atom-splitting headache. And this is all . . . insane.” He glances back towards the tree line.
ALEJO: “Tueller,” he looks at the big guy, “can you please go check on Aki. She’s just taking a beat. I left her with my pistol, so don’t get shot. She could probably use a brotherly check.”
TUELLER: Tueller nods, gets up, and starts walking for the tree line.
ALEJO: “And ask her what she thinks of the legal ramifications of contact.”
TUELLER: He picks up Fiona while walking, and slings her over his shoulder, like she likes.
ALEJO: “Sweet, Figgan. You plan a scouting trip to the ship to check on the tanks and get a preliminary read on how long repairs might take and what we need to get them done? Kahn, can you provide security for them?”
STORY: Kahn nods. “Done.” He takes the two of them and departs.
STORY: Tueller, Akilah is about a hundred yards in, sitting on the forest floor with papers laid out in front of her, legs crossed, writing on a pad in her lap.
TUELLER: Tueller makes a little clicking noise that Akilah recognizes from their childhood as a non-verbal “coming up behind you noise.”
STORY: She calls out over her shoulder. “Well, I did what you said, and now it’s worse, so thanks for that, T.”
TUELLER: “Oh? Sis? Well, this does seem like the best time to have that conversation.”
STORY: She turns around, irritated. _“You told me to.“_
STORY: “You’re supposed to be the feelings guy!”
STORY: “How am I supposed to know when the best time is? Should I just lie and pretend it’s fine that we are IN A PLACE WITH A DRAGON?”
STORY: She flops on the forest floor. “I’m sure you’re thrilled.”
TUELLER: “I’m conflicted.”
TUELLER: “At best I’m conflicted.”
TUELLER: “Also, just to catch you up with what the rest of us know, there are Odh here, there’s a festival day, I could also compete to win the hand of a princess, and….uh, we don’t really know the legal ramifications of any of this.
TUELLER: “I’m rudderless right now, sis. I’d like you to put aside your briefs and join us for a moment.”
TUELLER: “We’ve got to either, I don’t know, teach a dragon how to pick our craft up off the sea floor, or do that ourselves, or win the hand of a princess and get the peons to do that for us.”
TUELLER: “Or, honestly I have no idea.”
MILLICENT: “Captain, the earliest star charts on Earth date back to the Tang dynasty.” Waits for understanding, seeing none, “Around our 620-910 CE. It’s a decent guess that we may find star charts here. And that’s my best chance at finding out where we actually got to if we can’t get astral nav back online.”
ALEJO: “Right.” He rubs at his temples again. “Makes sense.”
MILLICENT: “I hate to suggest this, because I don’t know if even Noma could calculate how many things could go wrong, but I think we may want to send a team to scout this festival nearby, looking for star charts, a map or more information on the most pressing threat. The dragon.”
MILLICENT: “I’m trying to keep this professional and logical, but you should also know that I really, _really_ want to see this dragon.”
ALEJO: He laughs. “I know you do.” He shakes his head, still grinning. “I love your curiosity.”
ALEJO: He sighs and just sort of sits down, collapses, for the first time since all this started.
ALEJO: “Let’s see what our lawyer says about contact, but . . . I think you’re right.” He looks over to Loll. “How’s she?”
MILLICENT: “She’ll be alright. If we can keep her to light duty for a day or two she’ll be alright.”
ALEJO: He stands. “Good. How’s our shelter situation? Rations? Other . . . stuff?”
STORY: Akilah comes back to the group, unhappy looking.
STORY: She shrugs. “Effectively, I have no way of knowing whether this civilization is contacted. If they’re Odh, they could be some branch that split off pre-AI and were never part of the group that met the Collective. Or they could be a colony. I don’t know why they talk weird.” She shrugs again. “I fucking hate this place, did I say that part?”
STORY: “I hate it.”
ALEJO: “Check. Hate it.”
STORY: She sits down next to Alejo and takes his hand, leaning wearily against him.
ALEJO: He smiles and gives her a loving squeeze.
TUELLER: “If I win the princesses’ hand I’ll help you set up the legal system here, though.”