STORY: “Your business partner, Sergio Ndrangheta.”
STORY: “I need him.”
TUELLER: Tueller perks up.
TUELLER: “In what sense?”
STORY: “Intact.”
TUELLER: “In what sense intact?”
TUELLER: “He’s already missing a limb.”
STORY: She looks at you patronizingly.
STORY: “He is CJH section chief on the Ark. I can’t simply send A-Sec to pick him up. I need you to bring him to me.”
TUELLER: “I’m not trying to be difficult. I’m asking…do you need him compromised, or just standing in front of you?”
STORY: “He’s already compromised. I simply need him present.”
STORY: “Will you help me?”
TUELLER: “Oh, sorry, I didn’t know our help was ever in question on this.”
TUELLER: “Of course.”
STORY: He makes sure there’s enough space between you two and Millie before lowering his voice conspiratorially. “I want to talk about how you blew it with the doc.”
STORY: “How bad was it?”
ALEJO: Alejo sighs in answer. Then shrugs. “Complicated.”
STORY: Tux throws back his head and laughs. “What isn’t with you?”
ALEJO: “Yeah. I know.”
ALEJO: “I’m trying to reform.”
STORY: “So does that mean…” He points to her and himself, questioning.
SWEET: “He’s asking if you mind if he takes a shot at it, buddy.” Sweet says as he walks past them.
ALEJO: Alejo does a double take as he walks by. “Uhm. I mean. . .” he hesitates. “Sure,” he finally says, unconvincingly.
STORY: Tux tilts his head to you. “That doesn’t sound like enthusiastic consent, Soto.”
ALEJO: “I mean, she’s remarkable. You’re remarkable. So . . .” He swallows. “Makes sense.” He keeps his gaze forward.
STORY: Tux tries to make eye contact with Sweet.
STORY: Pointing between Alejo and Millie, mouthing, “WHAT HAPPENED HERE?”
SWEET: Sweet points at Alejo.
ALEJO: “Magic,” she said as a thirteen-year-old Alejo watched her card-shuffling hands closely, “real magic, is just the story of the oppressed. The story of humble people trying to survive, deceiving kings and queens, murderers and thieves, preachers and the penitent masses, concealing some secrets, revealing others, and stealing most.” Her hands stopped and she flashed Alejo a wry smile. He squinted at her, determined to get it right this time. He pointed at the center card. She flipped it over. A Jack.
ALEJO: She shrugged, took his ten bits, and began shuffling again. “Deception, exposure, betrayal all in the quest to survive, to make impossible things,” she paused for dramatic effect as her hands stopped, “possible.” Alejo pointed at the center card again, certain that he had her this time. She flipped it over. Jack. Another ten bits lost.
ALEJO: Her hands were back at it, that mesmerizing, simple, circular pattern. Three cards. Two Jacks and a Queen. How hard could this really be? He stayed focused, not blinking. But again and again, he was wrong.
ALEJO: After twenty minutes of this, after Alejo had lost all of the money he’d earned that week, she finally stopped. “It’s a con, boy. Unwinnable. You see that?”
ALEJO: “I can. I know I can catch you. See the trick.”
ALEJO: “Such fire. Such stubbornness. Such foolishness. Sometimes the only way to win is not to play.” With that, she packed up her cards and left.
—
STORY: We’re back on the Black Hat, and you’ve given Tux an hour to have a long shower and a robot-assisted shave. You’re at a small diner, mostly empty. You glance at the clock – local time is 4 am, so the sparseness makes sense. Tux sits opposite the three of you, devouring a hamburger. His hands still shake a little from disuse. Erwin sits closer to the door, buried in a handheld. It bloops every once in a while. T’chololl has returned to the ship to prep your departure.
ALEJO: Alejo lets him finish his current bite. Then: “Wanna share what, huh, is going on, Tux?”
SWEET: Sweet sits quietly, his ears pointed straight out to the side in a way none of you have seen before.
STORY: Tux nods and swallows, clearing his throat and taking a sip of soda. “Honestly sometimes the synthetic meat tastes better than the real deal, especially when they do the thing to make it bleed.” He squeezes his burger at you to demonstrate, and a few drops of translucent red fluid drip off of it.
STORY: “Okay, so. What did Erwin tell you?”
SWEET: “Red bits aren’t actually blood.”
SWEET: “In meat.”
SWEET: “Myoglobin. Not blood.”
ALEJO: Alejo’s eyes dart to Sweet and then fix back on Tux.
STORY: “He told you that? Smart kid.”
MILLICENT: Millie sighs.
SWEET: Sweet shakes his head and bows it.
SWEET: “Doubt Erwin knew about that.”
STORY: He puts down his burger and smiles at Millie. “Okay, okay. I was doing research. Some of the data I needed was on the deck of a Takami player here, so I jumped into his game and hacked it from inside. His security caught up with me, and I got locked down.”
MILLICENT: “What kind of research?”
STORY: He takes a big bite and talks through it. “Nuffin inrsting.”
MILLICENT: Millie glares.
ALEJO: “Not good enough, Tux.”
ALEJO: Alejo glances down the table to Erwin. “Was this research about the Weave?” he says quietly but firmly.
STORY: Erwin’s tuned out, but Tux puts out a hand. “Hey, enough with that – don’t look at my kid like a fucking target, Soto.”
STORY: “It’s none of your business what it was about. It was work.”
ALEJO: “He’s not the target.” Alejo says flat. “It’s my business now. And you damned well know it. So stop playing fucking coy and let’s get to this.” He frowns and then looks down. “I thought you were god-damned dead, Tux. We got your automated message and . . . ” He shakes his head, leaving the sentence unfinished. “I’m really glad you’re not.” He looks back up at Tux and smiles weakly.
STORY: “Hey, me fucking too.” His eyes dart back and forth between Alejo and Millie, reading the body language. “Thanks for that, by the way.” He lifts his burger in salute, and takes another bite.
ALEJO: Alejo’s weak smile turns back into a frown. He looks at Mille and shakes his head again.
STORY: “Look, Soto, last time I saw you, you very kindly threatened to kill me. Can you blame me for being tight-lipped?”
STORY: “What if something I’m working on makes you nervous?”
STORY: “What if something about _Erwin_ makes you nervous?”
STORY: “I’m not risking a bullet to the head for either of us just to ease your nerves.”
SWEET: Sweet, who was still looking down, looks up at this.
ALEJO: Alejo slides his chair back. He gives Sweet a quick glance. “Place has gotten real quiet,” he says calmly, reaching out and alerting Millie with a tap on her arm. “Real quiet.”
MILLICENT: Millie glances around.
STORY: Alejo’s right. The place is empty. The other table has cleared out, and the waitress is nowhere in sight.
ALEJO: “Fair, fair,” Alejo says absently, scanning the room as casually as he can.
STORY: The kitchen door swings open, and Marta steps out. “Have a seat, Alejo.”
STORY: Tux turns back, then looks at Alejo. “Fuck is this?”
ALEJO: He tilts his head at her, curiously. “Hiya Marta.” He smiles easily, sitting back in the chair, but not pulling it back up to the table. He’s clearly keeping his tactical options open and he’s not hiding that fact.
ALEJO: “Always great to see you.”
MILLICENT: Under her breath, “She going to try and blow us up?”
STORY: She smiles, ignoring Millie. “Likewise.” She takes a seat.
STORY: “You know how much money I can get for each of you?”
STORY: “Big bounty on bringing you back to Sol.”
SWEET: “How much for me?”
STORY: She smiles. “You’re free to go, love.”
STORY: “Same with skinny here and the kid.”
SWEET: “Oh.”
SWEET: “I thought I had something of a reputation.”
SWEET: “Guess they’ve forgotten by now.”
STORY: She takes out a handgun and gestures to Sweet, then trains it on Millie. “Oh, you do, you’re just too much trouble to mess with. You two, though.”
STORY: “You two are enough for me to take a long, long vacation.”
ALEJO: Alejo nods in ready agreement. “Big, big money. ’Nough to make friendships . . . flexible?”
STORY: “No friends in this job, Alejo, not really. You know that.”
STORY: “I will give you the chance to make a counter-offer, of course.”
SWEET: Sweet bows his head down again, but his eyes stay on Marta.
ALEJO: “Oh, we had our moments. As I recall.” He takes a long breath. “But I like counter-offering. Let us go, and we can work something out, I’m quite sure.”
STORY: “‘Something’ isn’t gonna do it.”
SWEET: She’s close to Sweet, right?
SWEET: Sweet is going to dart at the gun, and, using his knowledge of sidearms, disable it. Like, remove the slide or whatever it is on whatever type of gun it is.
STORY: Oh boy!
STORY: Okay, that’s a FA + Mettle, since you’re not trying to hurt her.
STORY: Alejo, you know Marta is too smart to come here alone.
SWEET: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 4 + 2 = 6
ALEJO: How many doors are there?
STORY: Two, the main entrance and a door to the kitchen, where she came from.
ALEJO: Does Alejo have any sense of which entrance (or entrances) might be staffed with her people?
STORY: Most likely both, all definitely out of sight.
ALEJO: Alejo will draw his pistol as swiftly as he can and then immediately set it on the table in a gesture of surrender, putting his hands up, once he sees Sweet’s move going south.
STORY: Sweet reaches out quickly and fumbles badly, knocking Tux’s water over and completely missing his attempt to grab at Marta. By the time she pulls back her gun hand, Alejo’s sidearm is on the table and he’s got his hands up. She nods at you. “Smart.”
STORY: And points the gun toward Sweet. “Stupid. Don’t be stupid.”
ALEJO: “Just don’t want anyone hurt.” He emphasizes that last word. “Including Sweet.”
SWEET: Sweet’s mouth does a pursing thing that communicates nothing.
STORY: “Not here to hurt anyone, Soto.” She points at the pistol, then at Millie. “Hand that over to me, will you honey?”
ALEJO: “No, just business. So, let’s do some business.”
MILLICENT: Millie looks to Alejo.
ALEJO: “Wanna tell me what you need to make this situation go more in . . . a friendly direction.” He nods sidelong at Millie, keeping his focus on Marta.
MILLICENT: “That’s doctor to you, honey.”
MILLICENT: Millie slowly slides the gun across the table to her.
STORY: She takes the gun from Millie, nodding. “Thank you, doctor. You know how this goes, Alejo. Make me an offer that’s better than the credits on your heads. Which, I assume you know, are substantial.”
ALEJO: “Yeaaah.” He says quietly. “Sure it is. Thing is, Marta, we don’t have much with us. Buuut. If you let us go, I’ll get you double.”
STORY: She laughs. “Would you take that deal?”
ALEJO: “Back in the day, no. But I’ve gotten smarter in my old age. Patience pays, Mart. In this case, it pays double a very substantial sum.”
STORY: She shakes her head. “Not gonna do it. Space is too big to trust you in it.”
ALEJO: “Space is big. But what if we come up with a way to make the deal safer for you? Collateral?”
STORY: She smiles. “That’s more like it. Go on.”
MILLICENT: “How about I alter your Ark records as a down payment?”
SWEET: Sweet leans back, slowly, not to threaten at all.
MILLICENT: “Your ship becomes a humble trader, lightly armed, a couple of parking tickets, nothing A-Sec or Ark authorities will ever look twice at?”
STORY: She raises an eyebrow. “Ark records are triple encrypted and guarded by multiple AIs. How do you suggest you get into them?”
STORY: Tux straightens up. “I could do it, with her help.”
STORY: “We could do it.”
STORY: He smiles at Millie.
MILLICENT: Millie smiles back. “You know, we wouldn’t even need to get into the records. We could plant a subroutine in the scanning software data base that would replace your info with whatever I want on the way from the mainframe to whatever ship scanned you.”
ALEJO: Alejo watches this exchange. “Seems like you’d like that a lot. How much of a downpayment would this be. We pull it off?”
STORY: Marta nods, considering it. “I don’t suppose you four know there’s a member of CJH here onboard as we speak, did you?”
STORY: “Someone I assume would be very interested in hearing about the two of you.”
STORY: “Now it so happens, he’s an awful boor. A rich one.”
STORY: “Get me that clean record, and his ship, and we’re straight.”
MILLICENT: Millie leans forward.
MILLICENT: “_Really_?”
MILLICENT: “Which one?”
STORY: “Gwairin Bhattacharya. Calls himself the Minotaur. He’s usually plugged in while he’s here.”
STORY: Tux holds in a shocked laugh when he hears the handle, then his eyes widen and he stares at Alejo.
ALEJO: “Minotaur. Figures.”
SWEET: “Krmph. Minotaur.”
MILLICENT: Millie giggles
ALEJO: “What’s the ship?”
SWEET: Sweet’s eyes are closed.
STORY: Tux answers. “Brego.”
STORY: “I, uh. Have his door codes already.”
MILLICENT: “Oh. That’s convenient.”
ALEJO: “Business is fun.” He smiles. “Gonna need that.” He points easily at his pistol.
ALEJO: Alejo beams. “We work fast. When this is done, no more double crosses, Marta. I respect the play. This time.”
STORY: Marta nods, offering a hand.
ALEJO: He stands and takes it.
STORY: We return to Tueller, Steuber, Jenny, and Figgan as they deliver Ezio to Ambassador Aice.
STORY: She notes your wounded prisoner and shoots Tueller a look.
TUELLER: “I honestly don’t remember if that’s my handiwork.”
FIGGAN: “Lucky he ain’t already riddled with holes, Excellency. Our new pirate friend isn’t too happy with him.”
JENNY: Jenny kind of bashfully raises her hand.
STORY: “You believe that he didn’t know what he was doing?”
TUELLER: “If he’s pretending remorse, he’s a better actor than my sister’s ex, at least.”
STORY: Aice nods. “I’d like some time with him, please.”
TUELLER: “Don’t work him over too hard, Your Excellency.”
STORY: You strike a deal with Steuber: transport back to the Ark, in exchange for making Ezio available to him for questioning when Aice is done with him.
STORY: He agrees, and you’re on your way, living in very tight quarters for the ten days it takes to return – you’re sharing a ship meant for a crew of five and a shuttlecraft attached to the side between 9 people.
STORY: Ezio spends almost the entire journey closed away in the captain’s quarters, which Aice has commandeered for her purposes. They talk constantly, Ezio presumably spilling the beans about everything he knows.
STORY: Anyone have a plan while you’re traveling?
JENNY: Jenny is going to work out a lot?
STORY: Very little room for that, Jenny! You do a lot of Sarah Connor type exercises on what you can find.
TUELLER: Seems like Jenny and Tueller would be trading off doing burpees a lot
TUELLER: Prison exercises come in handy!
STORY: Any plans, Figgan?
FIGGAN: Figgan just makes a very cozy bunk under the control panel in the shuttle. She’s ready to play cards anytime anyone wants. She’ll be friendly with the new crew, or as friendly as they want to be. But she’s also not fussed and is happy to fiddle around on her own.
STORY: All right. It’s a quiet trip, given that you all just witnessed or caused the deaths of thousands of people, but you get through it all right. It’s two jumps, and you luck out into very short lines at each relay and are back at the Ring a day early. Aice requests a conversation with the crew.
STORY: The largest single area is the shuttlecraft, so she stands against one of the bridge seats of the shuttle and addresses all of you. “Thank you for your help, all of you. I’m indebted to you for rescuing me.”
STORY: “Captain Steuber, I’ll make sure your costs for the journey are repaid, and your partner’s remains are recovered. Thank you, very much, for coming to our aid.”
STORY: “As for the three of you,” she addresses Jenny, Figgan, and Tueller, “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for your efforts. I am grateful.”
JENNY: Jenny nods.
TUELLER: Tueller nods graciously.
TUELLER: Tueller is actually maybe more magnanimous.
STORY: “We cannot allow the crimes we witnessed to go unanswered. I am afraid I will need more help from you.”
TUELLER: “Taking down the fuckers responsible for this sounds good to me.”
STORY: She gestures to Ezio, whose knee is healing all right but still spends most of his time sitting. “Ezio has been very helpful. I have many leads to pursue once we make Arkfall, and as we’ve discussed he will be under my protection until the trials conclude.”
STORY: “But I need one more thing from him as well.”
STORY: “Your business partner, Sergio Ndrangheta.”
STORY: “I need him.”
TUELLER: Tueller perks up.
TUELLER: “In what sense?”
STORY: “Intact.”
TUELLER: “In what sense intact?”
TUELLER: “He’s already missing a limb.”
STORY: She looks at you patronizingly.
STORY: “He is CJH section chief on the Ark. I can’t simply send A-Sec to pick him up. I need you to bring him to me.”
TUELLER: “I’m not trying to be difficult. I’m asking…do you need him compromised, or just standing in front of you?”
STORY: “He’s already compromised. I simply need him present.”
STORY: “Will you help me?”
TUELLER: “Oh, sorry, I didn’t know our help was ever in question on this.”
TUELLER: “Of course.”
STORY: She nods. “Wonderful. Thank you. Tueller, a word.” The rest of you disperse and she sits in the bridge chair, facing the Ark.
TUELLER: “Yes, Madam.”
STORY: “Have a seat.” She gestures to the copilot chair.
TUELLER: Tueller folds into the seat as carefullly as he can.
STORY: “Until recently, Consolidated Jovan was of enough incidental use to the Ark government that we turned a blind eye to their dealings on Sol. That has changed.”
STORY: “It is my intention to ensure that every single member of your family, and the other two families in your organization, spends the rest of their hopefully short lives in a prison cell. Ezio has told me far, far more about the organization that his own involvement. He knows enough to put everyone on trial, and knows where to find more.”
TUELLER: “I wasn’t aware the Ark cared much about what happened in Sol at all.”
STORY: She looks at you sympathetically. “We didn’t. Then they kidnapped me. That cannot go unanswered.”
STORY: “You’re going to need to make a decision.”
STORY: “I would not blame you if you disappeared once we made Arkfall. I am grateful for your saving me, and would not chase you. Not right away.”
TUELLER: Tueller tilts his head slightly, waiting.
STORY: “Or you could help me.”
STORY: “I am sure you have more information than even Ezio has.”
TUELLER: “I was on the outer edge of the inner circle, or the inner edge of the outer circle. I’m sure I know more than Ezio.”
TUELLER: “And…I know one other person who can help us, and is so motivated as well.”
STORY: She nods. “So what will it be?”
TUELLER: “It’s a yes, absolutely, a yes.”
TUELLER: “I’m surprised you felt you needed to ask.”
STORY: She smiles, then furrows her brow. “What _did_ your family do to you, I wonder.”
STORY: “Well, I suppose we’ll have time to discuss all of that.”
TUELLER: “Maybe I’ll tell you at some point.”
STORY: Okay! We’re back to the away team, after they have completed a daring OFFSCREEN HEIST.
STORY: Marta shakes your hand and flies away in her new ship!
STORY: Your visa is up in an hour.
STORY: What do you do?
SWEET: “Wow, I can’t believe we pulled that off.”
STORY: T’chololl nods. “Your assistance was vital, Sweet.”
ALEJO: “Think that guy’s kneecap will heal?” Alejo says as he gestures for them all to hustle back to the ship.
SWEET: “Oh yes. They can regrow an entirely detached limb. He will be fine, with enough krill to tide him over.”
SWEET: Sweet follows, sounding slightly off but more or less normal.
ALEJO: “Damn fine work, Sweet. I really do owe you.” Alejo gives him a loving squeeze on the arm and then leads the way to the ship.
SWEET: Sweet does not respond favorably to the touch, but keeps it almost unnoticed.
STORY: Tux pulls you aside as you walk, Alejo. “Uh, so I’m kinda homeless.”
STORY: “Homeless parent!”
STORY: “Help?”
ALEJO: “Yeah, you and Erwin come with us, Tux.” Alejo puts his arm around Tux warmly. “Of course.”
ALEJO: “And, I’m not going to shoot you or him. You know that.”
ALEJO: “But we really do need to talk about what you were doing. Whatever it was that wanted to keep you in the Weave wasn’t playing.”
STORY: “I mean.”
STORY: “You shoot people, Soto. That’s your thing.”
STORY: “Can’t blame me for being careful.”
ALEJO: “I’m trying to reform.”
STORY: He makes sure there’s enough space between you two and Millie before lowering his voice conspiratorially. “I want to talk about how you blew it with the doc.”
STORY: “How bad was it?”
ALEJO: Alejo sighs in answer. Then shrugs. “Complicated.”
STORY: Tux throws back his head and laughs. “What isn’t with you?”
ALEJO: “Yeah. I know.”
ALEJO: “I’m trying to reform.”
STORY: “So does that mean…” He points to her and himself, questioning.
SWEET: “He’s asking if you mind if he takes a shot at it, buddy.” Sweet says as he walks past them.
ALEJO: Alejo does a double take as he walks by. “Uhm. I mean. . .” he hesitates. “Sure,” he finally says, unconvincingly.
STORY: Tux tilts his head to you. “That doesn’t sound like enthusiastic consent, Soto.”
ALEJO: “I mean, she’s remarkable. You’re remarkable. So . . .” He swallows. “Makes sense.” He keeps his gaze forward.
STORY: Tux tries to make eye contact with Sweet.
STORY: Pointing between Alejo and Millie, mouthing, “WHAT HAPPENED HERE?”
SWEET: Sweet points at Alejo.
STORY: Sweet gets a close up
STORY: (Tueller can have it)
SWEET: “I’m not going to get in your way either, Tux.”
STORY: “You know, I just figured you weren’t into humans. My apologies, Sweet.”
SWEET: “They’re weirdly colored. All of them.”
SWEET: “And the parts don’t match up.”
STORY: “They do if you get creative.” He smiles.
STORY: All right! Any business to handle on the Black Hat, or are we bound back for the Ark and doing some Cramped Quarters rolls?
ALEJO: “Tux, I’ve got a big ask. You know Noma? She’s missing some code. Long story. But we figured that if there was anyplace it might be, it’d be here. Any ideas about how we might find it, in the under one hour we have left before our Visa’s are toast?”
STORY: Tux stops walking and looks at you incredulously.
STORY: “Noma the AI?”
STORY: “Is… missing code?”
STORY: _“How?“_
ALEJO: “Yeaaah.” Alejo purses up his lips. “She was . . . kidnapped.”
STORY: He shakes his head. “No AI could survive somebody hacking their code into pieces.”
ALEJO: Alejo sizes him up.
STORY: “It’s not code at that point, it’s her organs. It’s her brain. You can’t just carve pieces out.”
ALEJO: “I mean, she’s a pretty sophisticated. . . ” He trails off. “So, what are you saying?”
STORY: “I’m saying whatever you’re talking to isn’t your AI. Who stole her?”
ALEJO: “Chandra.” He says this quietly.
STORY: He nods, finding a place to sit down heavily.
STORY: “Okay.”
STORY: “Christ, Soto.”
ALEJO: Then he reaches out and takes Tux’s arm. “How sure are you? I mean, really?”
STORY: “I mean, pretty fucking sure. It’s not like there’s been a lot of opportunity for testing this sort of thing, seeing as AI are fucking living creatures and not likely interested in being hacked apart for science.”
STORY: “But an AI’s codebase is complex, it’s constantly shifting, it’s living.”
STORY: “It shouldn’t be possible to separate part from whole.”
STORY: “Not without her going insane, at least.”
ALEJO: “I mean people can . . . live if part of their brain gets damaged. Happens,” he pauses contemplating what Tux has just said, “all the time,” he adds slowly. “Fuck, Tux.”
ALEJO: He sits beside Tux.
STORY: “Sure, but even Phineas Gage grew a temper after they punched a hole in him.”
ALEJO: “Doc,” Alejo shouts, before they are too far ahead.
MILLICENT: Millie looks around, realizing that she’s been walking alone for a couple of blocks and walks back to them.
MILLICENT: “Sorry, I was writing that scanner program in my head.”
ALEJO: Alejo watches her walk back toward them. He waves her over.
MILLICENT: “I think it’ll work!”
MILLICENT: She smiles.
STORY: Erwin is leaning against the bench Tux is sitting on, nose deep in his book.
ALEJO: “Excellent news!” Alejo smiles. “We’ve got a potential problem.” He looks at Tux.
STORY: Tux looks sick, Millie.
ALEJO: “I need your big brains and expertise to . . . uh, think it through. Together.”
SWEET: Sweet looks on inscrutably.
MILLICENT: Millie raises her eyebrows
ALEJO: A quick grimace crosses his face but is gone again in an instant.
ALEJO: “Tux, tell her what you told me. About Noma.”
STORY: He does.
MILLICENT: “I”
MILLICENT: “I just thought she’d”
MILLICENT: “Had her subroutines routed around the “missing” data.” Millie does finger-quotes.
SWEET: “So who is that we’ve been carrying around for weeks?”
STORY: Tux tries to soften the blow. “Look, maybe I’m wrong. I could be wrong, she could be remarkable.”
STORY: “Maybe we just find her other code and she gets better.”
STORY: “Worth a try, at least.”
STORY: Erwin answers you without taking his eyes off his book, Sweet. “Trap.”
STORY: “Definitely a trap.”
MILLICENT: Millie sits down, hard.
MILLICENT: “Yes. If she’s not Noma, then.”
SWEET: “That trap is running our ship.”
SWEET: “Sometimes quite literally.”
MILLICENT: “She could have been sending information to Chandra this whole time.”
SWEET: “Right now, for instance.”
ALEJO: “Fucking hell.”
MILLICENT: “We were meant to retrieve her, if you’re right.”
MILLICENT: “Which means he wants something from us.”
SWEET: “They knew we were coming, were waiting for us, and then sent us to the….whatever that place was.”
MILLICENT: “He wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of designing a fake AI just to throw us off the scent.”
SWEET: “I mostly stayed at the beach.”
MILLICENT: “He wanted us to find that place.”
MILLICENT: “We still don’t know who benefits from that planet’s secrecy.”
ALEJO: “But why?” He shakes his head. “We need to make some decisions faster than we can sort this all out right here.”
MILLICENT: “And who would benefit if a group of loud-mouth pirates crash landed there.”
STORY: “What place?”
SWEET: “A secrecy we’re required to keep right now,” Sweet says, indicating Tux and Erwin.
STORY: “Oh Jesus, come on.”
SWEET: “This is above my pay grade.”
SWEET: “But genocide was promised, and I take that seriously.”
MILLICENT: To Tux, “What, are we all going to come clean here and now, on the promenade?”
SWEET: “There’s not that much room in our weekly meeting.”
STORY: Tux laughs ruefully. “Not the first genocidal threat you’ve had, Soto. You’re a busy guy.”
ALEJO: “Yeah, you missed some stuff you’re glad you did, buddy.”
ALEJO: “We need to make a simple decision. Do we try to get the code or not? That’s what’s in front of us. We can sort the rest out later.”
STORY: “You think Chandra is keeping data here?”
MILLICENT: “Or maybe he wants us to steal him some data and hand it over to his pet AI.”
ALEJO: Alejo shrugs. “This shit is above my pay grade.” He emphasizes the “This.”
STORY: Tux looks at Millie. “Looks like it’s up to you, doc.”
ALEJO: “If we get the code, can we keep it from the Noma on our ship?”
MILLICENT: “Tux, do you think if we ran background cortenide scanners on the ship’s computers while we coded Marta’s fix that we’d be able to use the data to map the verterium balances?”
STORY: “If it’s an AI, absolutely not. If it’s an AI-mimicking algorithm, sure, with some luck.”
ALEJO: Alejo’s eyes dart back and forth between them. Then he looks at Sweet to see if he’s as lost as Alejo is.
MILLICENT: “So, it’s a dice roll. We could sniff out a fake AI, but if Chandra has his own best friend AI then we’re toast.”
SWEET: Sweet isn’t watching actively at all.
MILLICENT: “What if we got the missing data? This is probably the only place in the galaxy with truly independent systems we could use to test it.”
ALEJO: “So far as we know, Noma was the only AI not part of the Collective, right?”
MILLICENT: “Independent AI aren’t unheard of. Noma is the only one, that we know of, that chose the company of other sentients.”
ALEJO: “I mean, what are the odds that Chandra has another AI?”
STORY: Tux gives an “ehhh” and nods his head back and forth. “There are a handful AIs in every system who have for whatever reason decided not to be part of the Collective. I’ve never _met_ one, but I hear there are a few gatekeeping this station.”
STORY: “They usually can’t stand being around people.”
SWEET: “Who can blame them?”
MILLICENT: Millie shrugs.
STORY: “Yeah, fair cop.”
ALEJO: “I think we get the data, right? I mean, if Chandra wants it, it’s leverage, so long as we can keep it away from the fake — if she is fake — Noma on the ship.” He looks around questioningly, not at all certain about what he’s saying.
MILLICENT: “Sure, and we can try to test it before we hand it over.”
MILLICENT: “But just getting it is a risk.”
SWEET: “Tick tick tick.”
MILLICENT: “Once we have it, if that’s not Noma, it’ll be a struggle to keep it from her.”
ALEJO: “Everything we’ve been doing is a risk.” Alejo nods at Tux and Sweet. “Can you do it? Keep it from that Noma on our ship? And can we get that Noma out of our systems enough not to fucking die once we leave this station, if she’s got it in for us?”
STORY: Tux looks at his watch. “40 minutes.”
STORY: He points at Millie as he stands. “Gonna need your help. Erwin, you too.”
STORY: He starts to walk into a deck cafe, a place with high powered computers available for rent.
STORY: “You two, get us ready to run, yeah?”
MILLICENT: Millie finds a deck that is apparently _just_ to her liking and fairly leaps into the chair.
SWEET: “I’ll get the ship ready. Not talking to Not-ma at all won’t be out of character for me.”
STORY: All right! Millie, I know Tux is running the show here, but he’s an NPC and I don’t roll dice, so this is on you.
STORY: Gonna need an Access to get into Chandra’s data lake first.
STORY: Here’s the deal.
STORY: Tux and Erwin are both expert level hackers and can be given a Command to help you if you need it.
STORY: They will either remain or stop being useful per the rules of that Move.
STORY: Make sense?
STORY: So Millie, Access to start with please
MILLICENT: Okay!
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 2
STORY: josh rolled 9 + 2 = 11
STORY: Excellent, you’re the first one of the three of you to gain access to Chandra’s remote data lake. The world is your oyster. What would you like to do here?
MILLICENT: I will use Program to set up a behavior. If the system tries to boot me out it will first run a program that remotely backs up all the data and sends me a backdoor.
MILLICENT: As per: When you Access a system, choose a behavior that the system could perform and a condition that will trigger that behavior.
STORY: All right, that’ll buy you one more chance to succeed at this.
STORY: What next?
MILLICENT: I’m going to access the data and download it to the rig we’ve deemed safe for this purpose, all the while looking out for traps.
STORY: All right! Face Adversity + Interface, please.
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 2
STORY: josh rolled 5 + 2 = 7
MILLICENT: I’m going to ask Erwin to help
STORY: All right! Roll Command with Interface, please.
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6
STORY: josh rolled 3
STORY: So Erwin tries to help and gets locked out.
STORY: You’ve still got your backdoor and Tux.
STORY: Erwin getting locked out is the cost of failing your Command roll
MILLICENT: Okay, so what happens with the 7?
STORY: You’ll get the data, but it’s going to come in encrypted and you’ll need to use the ship’s computers over a long time to decrypt them on the journey back. It means more risk of Noma accessing that information.
STORY: Proceed?
MILLICENT: Yeah
STORY: Done! You have the deck loaded with 23 petabytes of Chandra’s data.
STORY: What do you do?
MILLICENT: Hand it to Tux, knowing that Noma (or Notma) will be interested in any deck Millie brings back
STORY: Knuckle brush.
MILLICENT: Along with instructions to keep it safe and only access it when they can work on it together.
MILLICENT: _tingle_
STORY: He takes it and smiles. “Nice job, doc.”
MILLICENT: Millie nods.
MILLICENT: Smiles briefly.
STORY: You rush back to Peregrine and board her in a hurry. Alejo, Sweet, is she ready to go?
SWEET: Sweet has the engine purring. He hasn’t said anything since getting on the ship.
STORY: You take off into the black with six minutes left on your visa.
STORY: Let’s switch back to Tueller & Company!
STORY: I’d like to know what your plan is to get Sergio to the Ambassador’s office.
TUELLER: So let’s review what we know. Sergio works with us from time to time, and is co-owner of our company (which I’m not sure what we named?). He works out of the CJH main offices on the Ark, correct?
STORY: Correct!
TUELLER: CJH knows he works with us?
STORY: They know you’re on the charter and that if they move against you outside of Sol they’re outside their jurisdiction, but that hasn’t stopped them sending assassins.
TUELLER: Anything else I’ve forgotten about him?
STORY: He’s got the one hand.
STORY: And some nasty facial scarring from you, as well.
STORY: He hasn’t been in a room with you since you established this business, he hates you that bad.
TUELLER: And a dead man’s switch fulll of info about us.
TUELLER: He claims, correct?
STORY: Yep!
TUELLER: I think I want to have this as a conversation rather than deciding for the group.
TUELLER: So Tueller sits the people we can trust down, and says, “Well, you know I’m usually a frontal assault type of guy here. Which…I think will probably get me shot if I go for it.”
STORY: You’re back on the Ark and reunited with Akilah, so she’s here for this.
STORY: You’ve caught her up, and as expected she has agreed to inform on your shitty family to whatever extent is necessary.
TUELLER: “I’m looking at you guys to continue to be my back-up conscience so I want to run this by you.”
FIGGAN: Fig runs her tongue along her sharp front teeth.
TUELLER: “Ezio was telling me about signals he knew Sergio had to signal a dead-drop coming in from his black market arms fucks skimming off of The Exodus.”
TUELLER: “I think we signal a dead-drop, knowing he’ll shed whatever amazons he normally uses for security, and do a snatch and grab there.”
STORY: Akilah nods. “He’s gonna be paranoid with Ezio disappearing after what went down on Erehwon.”
JENNY: “We’re not expecting additional security? A-Sec intervention?”
TUELLER: “A-Sec intervention would be great! We want to get him to A-Sec.”
TUELLER: “As long as they don’t shoot us. We….might need to see if Aice can give us a warrant.”
STORY: Akilah shakes her head. “He’s got some degree of diplomatic immunity, same as Aice. We need to do it ourselves.”
TUELLER: To Akilah, “That’s why we’re not using Ezio’s signals. Those are compromised. But he needs his stream of money to finance his lifestyle.”
TUELLER: “You think if we got him and A-Sec comes upon us they’ll cut him loose?”
STORY: She nods. “It’s a privilege you and I used to enjoy.”
JENNY: “Great, back to prison. Only this time I’ll be on the other side of the bars.”
TUELLER: “He’ll be avoiding A-Sec for the job, so we just need to get him and shut him up.”
TUELLER: Tueller pauses. “Or, those are my instincts.”
TUELLER: “What are the other flaws in my planning?”
FIGGAN: Fig shrugs. “Sounds pretty good to me.”
FIGGAN: “Easier than breaking into a prison and rescuing a complete pacifist.”
STORY: Akilah shrugs. “Look, no matter what plan we came up with back in the day, it all went out the window as soon as we had boots on ground. Go be smart and get him.”
TUELLER: “Okay. The dead drop sign is swapping two planters of moss, one florescent and one night, at an intersection on Sergio’s walk home. That tells him there’s a package at the drop site. The drop site is on Rho deck, in the alley around that good currywurst place.”
JENNY: Jenny nods.
JENNY: _She leans_
STORY: We’re going to do that thing where you narrate the plan for the heist as you do the heist.
STORY: So we see Jenny switching the moss as Tueller describes it.
TUELLER: “That’s where we hit him. Lah, can you have a suitably nondescript van for us to wait for him in.”
STORY: Akilah speaks up. “Hit him how? A straight up mugging will get A-Sec’s attention.”
JENNY: “We could try an overserved friend.”
TUELLER: “Exactly.”
TUELLER: “Tranq him, and help our drunk friend into the van.”
JENNY: “Passerby hits him with a dose of something designed to knock him _almost_ all the way out. Someone else swoops in to “help him home.”
TUELLER: “Pick up is in an alley, so he’ll be hidden.”
TUELLER: “I’m a friend. We go way back.”
FIGGAN: “I can drive!” Fig chimes in.
STORY: We see a hooded Kahn slip into a crowd and bump into Sergio, continuing on with a quick “excuse me” and disappearing around a corner. Sergio starts to wobble as he looks for whoever ran into him.
STORY: Just as Sergio starts to wobble floorwards, Figgan pulls up in a cab and Akilah emerges to grab Sergio by the elbow. “Serge, you went in too hard! C’mon, let me get you a cab.” She smoothly deposits him in the waiting car above his drugged objections.
TUELLER: Tueller slips out of the shadows when this happens successfully, where he was hanging out in case things got ugly.
STORY: He slips into the car as well, and we cut on Sergio’s alarmed face as he sees Tueller in the back of the cab with him.
TUELLER: Tueller covers Sergio’s mouth, “Shhhhh.”
STORY: Away team: we’re traveling back to the Ark. It’s a few weeks, and here’s what you’ve got: Tux is running a decryption program most hours that he’s awake, the rest of you are running the ship, and it feels pretty empty without the rest of the family onboard.
STORY: I’d like to end us with everyone being reunited, so we’ve got a half hour to do cramped quarters if you want?
MILLICENT: yar
STORY: First up?
ALEJO: Alejo wants to talk to Tux.
STORY: So where are you when you find Tux? He’s spending 90% of his waking hours in the research lab, on a deck.
ALEJO: Alejo catches him on his way back to his bunk, after his working day. “Hey, quick drink?”
ALEJO: Alejo holds out a bottle and waggles it.
STORY: Tux looks suspicious. “Is this a proposition or a threat?”
ALEJO: He wrinkles up his noise. “Just a drink. And a minute to catch up. Already told you, I’m not threatening you.”
STORY: “All right, all right. You’ve got private quarters, yeah? Erwin and I are bunkmates.”
STORY: “Bunk bed mates, I mean. … Not used to the dormitory style yet.”
STORY: “I mean, Sweet and Loll are lovely, I just.”
ALEJO: Alejo tips his head towards his cabin and leads the way.
STORY: “You know, you want some privacy for a wank now and then.”
STORY: He trots along behind you, oversharing.
ALEJO: “Never stopped you back in the day.”
STORY: “Look, in a crew of two, there’s no such thing as privacy.”
STORY: “Plus I always hoped you’d grow into fancying me.”
ALEJO: Alejo opens the door to his room and steps inside, picking up a couple of t-shirts off a chair and offering it to Tux.
STORY: He sits. “All right, you want to know.”
STORY: “That what this is about?”
ALEJO: Alejo smiles. “I do.” He pours a glass and hands it to Tux.
ALEJO: Then he pours one for himself and sits on the bed.
STORY: He takes a long drink, then resets with a deep breath.
STORY: “But think this through. If information is dangerous, it’s better for both of us if I keep it to myself, no?”
ALEJO: He smiles in answer. “Always clever. But no.”
ALEJO: “Can’t protect you and Erwin if I don’t know what’s up.”
STORY: He finishes his drink, then answers you while looking at it. “What’s up is I’m getting somewhere, and I don’t know where yet.”
STORY: “And Soto, genuinely, I don’t think it helps either of us for me to tell you more than that.”
STORY: “Tell me what happened with the doc. Really this time.”
STORY: “She’s not your type, so I knew this was a big deal for you.”
STORY: “But clearly it went to shit.”
STORY: “Sweet says it was you.”
ALEJO: “Tux, I . . . ” He shakes his head. “Changing the subject isn’t getting you out of this.”
STORY: “Tell me anyway.” He sounds tender.
ALEJO: “It was me. It was her. Look, Aki and I are back together. Mostly.” He says the last mostly to himself.
STORY: Tux raises his eyebrows.
STORY: “’Mostly’ sounds like you.”
ALEJO: “Yeah, it is. And I don’t want it to be. I really don’t.”
STORY: “I would have hoped you’d be past this shit by now, Soto.”
ALEJO: “I went for it with Millie. She pulled back. Not because of me but because . . . of Chandra and threats and shit. Anyway, that happened and we crashed Aki’s wedding and . . . Yeah, I happened. Fuck. Tux. What do you want me to say?”
ALEJO: “And in the process I fucked things up with Jac.” She shakes his head.
STORY: Tux laughs into his empty glass. “Yeah, you did.”
ALEJO: “Because . . . it’s what I do.”
STORY: “Yeah, it is.”
STORY: “Damn, Soto.”
STORY: “All right, look. I’m doing research. I’m digging into what you told me not to dig into. But I’m being careful.”
STORY: “Erwin doesn’t know. Nobody knows. I’m keeping the data offline.”
STORY: “So it’s you and me now who know.”
ALEJO: “Of course you are. Because you’re . . . you.”
ALEJO: “What have you found out?”
STORY: “Nothing, yet. Leads. Suspicions.”
STORY: “You wanna leave my kid without a dad for this, you raise him yourself. Okay?”
ALEJO: “You’re gonna be his dad for a very long time.” He takes another drink. “But I need you to be straight with me, Tux. Seriously, whatever it was that didn’t want this was pretty apocalyptic about this stuff. Maybe it was playing me. Maybe not. But we need to be crazy careful Tux. Not just for you or me or Erwin. But for everyone.”
STORY: “Careful means you trust me and stay in the dark about the details.”
STORY: “You don’t want to know what I’m digging up.”
ALEJO: “I trust you. I’ve got too many secrets burning me up as it is. But I need to know enough to keep you and Erwin safe.”
ALEJO: He tilts his head. “Besides, maybe the doc is wearing off on me. I’m curious.”
STORY: He tilts his head in parallel. “There’s that ‘mostly,’ huh?”
STORY: “I promise to tell you as soon as you can do anything about it. Fair?”
ALEJO: Alejo smiles. Raises his glass in a toast. “Fuck you.” He smiles. “Keep that promise, alright.”
STORY: He clinks your glass. “Give me some more bourbon, then.”
STORY: All right! Sweet, let’s go next
SWEET: Sweet has been quieter since we left than normal. His facial expressions are unreadable, and some of you maybe realize he was translating them so you’d be able to read his nonverbal cues. He’s stopped that, and while he still joins the public meals, he only gives terse answers to conversations now.
SWEET: A week out, he strips down, deep cleans, and rebuilds every firearm in the armory. You can here him working all day. At the end of that process, in an evening, a series of gunshots ring out from the armory, which is not unheard of, but these go on for at least minutes now three minutes, a gunshot every five to ten seconds.
SWEET: That’s what’s going on _right_ now.
ALEJO: Alejo runs to the armory, anxiously turning the corner to see what’s happening. “Sweet! You okay!” He’s ready for action.
MILLICENT: Millie wanders in, curious.
SWEET: Sweet is there. His eyes are slits, and he is methodically just squeezing the trigger on a LeMat pistol style weapon.
STORY: Loll rests, arms crossed, in the doorway, watching unobtrusively.
SWEET: He fires off the last large shell immediately after.
ALEJO: Alejo freezes, once he sees Sweet.
SWEET: Oh, sorry, he’s been firing directly into a giant cube of ballistic gelatin, used for weapons test all the time by him. It is translucent and at least three dozen rounds suspended in it.
SWEET: He turns back and looks at the people. “Oh, sorry. I….got a little caught up in it.”
SWEET: “Hell of a thing, a gun.”
MILLICENT: Millie frowns.
SWEET: “I’m really good with them.”
MILLICENT: “I didn’t think they were very good for you.”
ALEJO: “Sure. Sure.” Alejo approaches Sweet cautiously. “You alright, friend?”
SWEET: “See, I meant to say, this is what I was trying to do to the female’s sidearm back at the station.”
SWEET: He quickly does this thing with his hands, and suddenly the pistol is in three separate pieces, each of them held between different fingers.
SWEET: “Just hit the right spot, it comes apart.”
SWEET: “_Now_ it works.”
SWEET: “Sorry about the noise.”
MILLICENT: “Oh, dear.”
ALEJO: “Sweet, sometimes a move like that, in the field, doesn’t go right. You know that. Happens to the best of us.” He smiles. “You’re a wizard, friend.”
SWEET: Sweet’s ears go completely flat.
MILLICENT: Millie elbows Alejo and walks past him until she is in front of Sweet.
ALEJO: Alejo watches and hangs back.
MILLICENT: Millie takes his hands, guides the gun to a nearby table and holds them in front of her.
MILLICENT: Low, just for the two of them. “You still get to be just who you want to be.”
MILLICENT: “You get to make that choice every day.”
MILLICENT: “What you’re…drawn to doesn’t have to determine what you _do_.”
SWEET: “Making that choice every day is exhausting.”
MILLICENT: Millie smiles up at him. “It really is!”
SWEET: “I spent much of my life…she never would have gotten the drop on me. I would have drawn and shot her the moment she came in that door. And the All High would smile on me for it.”
MILLICENT: Millie nods, listening.
SWEET: “You never carry, Doctor.”
SWEET: “Or you never pull, at least.”
MILLICENT: “I’ve done my share of killing. And yours, probably.”
MILLICENT: “I didn’t like it. I still don’t.”
SWEET: “Oh I _did_”
MILLICENT: “That’s fine, though. I’ve decided that I’ll only kill when I can live with myself afterward. I think you’ve decided you can’t.”
SWEET: “I tried, at least. That….[hun dan] minotaur.”
SWEET: Untranslated Mora text in there.
SWEET: “Anyway, I am very sorry to have disturbed you all.” Sweet is putting his walls back up.
MILLICENT: “I’m not going to blame you for your brain chemistry. You got a thrill in a video game and I get that it’s shaken you. Made you question. But _you_ is still who you decide it’s going to be. And you’ve got the strength to keep making that decision.”
MILLICENT: Millie nods. Louder, for the room, “Good work, ah, testing the weapons.”
SWEET: “Don’t worry about me. We’ll get back to the Ark, I’ll go see my Group, and everything will be okay,” he says this emotionlessly.
SWEET: Then smiles.
MILLICENT: Millie smiles, nods, senses his need for privacy and back away.
STORY: T’chololl strides into the room and stands about two feet from Sweet.
STORY: “Sweet, I would like to have intercourse and do therapy. Are you interested?”
ALEJO: Alejo smiles at this and backs away, then turns and leaves the room, giving them privacy.
SWEET: Sweet’s ears stand straight up.
SWEET: “That sounds lovely, T’chololl.”
STORY: The weeks pass slowly, and quietly. You all get some reading done on the ride back and try to get used to your new crewmembers.
STORY: You arrive back at the Ark the afternoon after Tueller & Company complete their latest heist.
TUELLER: Everyone gets back to the offices at the same time, while Tueller picks up Sergio and says “Oh hey guys, look who we got!”