MILLICENT: “We need a supercomputer. Well, we need a network of supercomputers. And they must be in the Sol system.”
RYO: Ryo nods and tilts his head thoughtfully, listening for the rest of the details.
MILLICENT: “And I doubt anyone who owns such an array in the Sol system will be amenable to the idea of Noma and myself commandeering their use so we can peer under the hood of the most advanced and crucial tech in the system.”
STORY: Calixta moves over to a console. “You mind?”
RYO: “Please.”
STORY: She pulls up a star chart.
STORY: Pointing at the current locations of the planets in the system, she explains. “Got a couple options. We can all become priests and use the Exodus supercomputer on Enceladus. We can break into Chandra’s base on Titan, good luck with that one, or, well, there’s Io.”
STORY: “But I suspect Esinam Ya’Makasi isn’t interested in letting us borrow some time on her rig.”
STORY: “So basically we’re fucked three ways.”
MILLICENT: “One of three ways.”
MILLICENT: “Now we must simply choose the manner of our fucking.”
RYO: Ryo nods in agreement. “Spoiled for choice.”
STORY: So – what happened during the year our characters were separated?
—
STORY: First up, I want to play out Ryo and Tueller answering this question: what happens during Tueller’s sentencing?
STORY: Specifically, what does Ryo do to manage everyone’s various money and legal concerns, and what sort of sentence is Tueller given?
STORY: So I’d like to hear just broadly what sort of things both of you would do to try to secure what you want in those regards, and then I’ll tell you a roll to make and we’ll play out the results.
STORY: Think of it as like a Cramped Quarters roll, the results will tell us what sort of ending to plan for that sequence.
TUELLER: Tueller has no property of note other than his gloves at this point, and he’d like Millie to inherit those to hold on to them. Tueller has no plans beyond that and is kind of punch drunk and giddy, honestly.
STORY: Millie, it should be noted, is not participating in this scene because she’s going to be nose deep in studying Manaaki’s deck.
TUELLER: Tueller does not care what kind of sentence he gets at this point. Ryo totally can care, though.
RYO: Ryo wants to make sure that Tueller’s commissary is stocked up. Then he wants to set up some investment accounts for everyone. He takes 100k of the 400k that they got for turninng Tueller over, and puts it into an investment trust for Tueller. Then he puts 100k in Millie’s personal account, and he keeps 100k He puts whatever the balance remaining is — they spent some on these adventures tracking down Tueller’s family — into a joint investment account called “Peregrine” for crew and maintenance costs, with all of them having access and authority over it. Then he’ll break the news to Tueller that Tueller still has the morkfish businesses. Ryo didn’t get rid of it entirely. He’ll explain how he’s hidden it away — and that he’s taking a management fee for keeping it going. Finally, he will work with the lawyer to get Tueller the best sentence possible. (That’s first, but I figured Tueller might talk about that so I was waiting.)
STORY: Broadly!
STORY: Okay hang on
RYO: Haha. Okay. Broadly. Divide up money and help Tueller’s stay in prison not suck.
STORY: Okay, if you’re going to try to help Becker with some of his paperwork and procedural stuff he’ll gladly accept your help – he assured Millie she couldn’t be of any use, but he privately confesses to you he’s just a little scared of her.
STORY: Give me Face Adversity + Expertise to see how you do arguing for leniency on Tueller’s behalf.
RYO: /roll 2d6+3
STORY: ablair01 rolled 8 + 3 = 11
STORY: All right! Let’s play out this scene and at some point Ryo can be of a big help.
STORY: The three of you are seated at a large conference table in the courthouse, Tueller having been permitted to change into his sole remaining suit for the meeting. You sit opposite two clerks, both representatives of the council and empowered to make sentencing decisions on their behalf. Ryo! Describe the clerks for me, what race are they, how happy are they to be there, so on.
RYO: One is human. She’s dressed conservatively, and she’s professionally brusque. The other is Mora. And in typical Mora fashion, he’s polite and generally friendly.
STORY: And of course impossible to read the body language of.
RYO: They both take their jobs very seriously and have stacks of paper with them, as well as their tablets in front of them.
TUELLER: Tueller has a shellshocked half-smile on his face, just blandly present.
STORY: The human is named Francine Bisset, and she wears her black hear in a severe bun. She peers at Tueller skeptically over her glasses.
TUELLER: Tueller acknowledges her with a finger wave from his cuffed hands.
RYO: Ryo frowns at this gesture and elbows Tueller when he thinks the others are not looking.
TUELLER: Tueller gives Ryo an expressionless look.
RYO: Then he adjusts his own glasses and smiles at her.
STORY: The mora, Sten, blinks at Ryo a few times before starting. “Good afternoon, everybody. We’re here to establish a course of treatment for the convicted. Traditionally I like to set the tone here–” he looks down at his paperwork. “Tueller. Tueller, you’re entitled to speak here, these aren’t formal court proceedings. We intend to determine what sort of incarceration environment you are best suited for, which you’ll benefit from the most.”
STORY: “After a conversation, we’ll set a sentence term and decide where to send you. Any questions?”
TUELLER: “So this is more of a conversation?”
TUELLER: “With my imprisonment at the end of it?”
STORY: “Precisely.”
TUELLER: “Okay.”
RYO: Ryo nods politely.
TUELLER: “I guess I’d like to go to a farm upstate where I can roam around freely.”
STORY: Sten nods. You suspect he’d laugh here, but he doesn’t. “You’re not an animal, Tueller. We intend to do a bit better than that.”
TUELLER: Tueller does not expect Mora to laugh.
STORY: “Tell me, do you intend to reoffend?”
TUELLER: Tueller looks Sten in the face seriously, losing his shit-eating grin. “No.”
TUELLER: “In fact what I would love, if it’s at all possible, more than anything I would love to go to a place with some good psychiatric care and no traps that murder prisoners.”
TUELLER: “Not, you know, crazy,” Tueller makes the twirling around the ears gesture, “But some good My Parents Fucked Me Up type care.”
STORY: Bisset scowls. “That language is uncalled for, Mr. Epaphus.”
TUELLER: “Oh but they did fuck me up.”
STORY: “That wasn’t my objection.”
TUELLER: Tueller looks back and forth between Sten and Bisset, confused.
STORY: Becker takes this one. “A large portion of the prison population suffers from moderate to severe mental illness, Tueller.”
TUELLER: “Shit, I’m even fucking up my own incarceration.” Tueller hangs his head.
RYO: Ryo raises and pats his arm. “No, you’re doing quite fine, Tueller. This is an emotionally challenging experience. No one expects you to be at your best.”
RYO: “I think that Tueller’s fundamental points, though, are an excellent ones. Work. An opportunity to heal and learn from his experiences and mistakes. And a place where he can be, first and foremost, safe.”
STORY: Sten clears his throat. “I agree, Mr…”
RYO: “Hanaka.” Ryo bows his head in traditional Mora greeting fashion.
STORY: Sten continues. “Mr. Hanaka. I appreciate your attendance here, it always helps to have a character advocate for the convicted.”
RYO: “I appreciate the opportunity to appear on behalf of my friend.” He bows his head again briefly.
TUELLER: Tueller keeps his head down.
STORY: “Tell me, how long have you known Tueller?”
RYO: “I have known him for only a few months, but they have been fateful months. We have shared extreme experiences that have forged one of the most meaningful bonds of my life.”
STORY: “Do tell.”
TUELLER: “My longest term friend, he….” Tueller trails off, “Never mind.”
RYO: Ryo starts and then takes a moment, giving Tueller a brief respite. “Tueller’s oldest friend was killed, I’m afraid.”
STORY: Bisset looks through her paperwork. “That would be Mr. Soto?”
TUELLER: “That’d be the one.”
STORY: “He was called as a witness.”
STORY: “Obviously he wasn’t able to make it. What happened?”
TUELLER: Tueller looks at Ryo to see if he’s answering.
RYO: “Mr. Soto and Tueller were rescuing their mutual friend, Doctor Breedlove, who had been taken as a hostage by Tormond Chandra. It’s a rather long story. But Mr. Soto gave his life helping us all to escape.”
STORY: Bisset nods. “And what was Tueller’s role in all this? Rescuer?”
RYO: Ryo nods. “He was.”
TUELLER: Tueller looks to Ryo, just accepting whatever happens.
STORY: Becker swallows, and looks down at his briefcase. “Ms. Bisset, Sten, can I request a minute with my client, please?”
STORY: Bisset nods, and Sten stands. “I must hydrate.”
STORY: They both leave the room.
TUELLER: “I think you might have admitted to more crimes of mine here, buddy.”
STORY: Becker looks at you pleadingly. “You’re both hiding something, even I can tell. These two are trained to clock whatever you’re getting up to and render judgment. Don’t let the fact that they’re being nice about it fool you, they’re here to understand how likely you are to benefit from leniency.”
STORY: “Tueller, admit to them.“
STORY: “You’re here to prove that you’re ready to change. They can’t bring further charges, they want to see that you’re ready to atone.”
TUELLER: Tueller is quiet for a moment.
TUELLER: And then quietly says, “Okay.”
RYO: “I was planning on turning the story that direction, and giving you an opportunity to come clean. I’m not lawyer, but my understanding of Ark law is that you’ve been charged fully. I don’t think that they can charge you anew. They had their shot.” He looks to Becker for confirmation.
STORY: “Correct. They’ve hit you with what they’re going to hit you with. These two want to see that you want to get better.”
STORY: “You don’t have to be good at it, that’s what the therapeutic incarceration is for. But to qualify, you’re going to have to stop lying to them.”
STORY: “Got it?”
TUELLER: “okay.”
TUELLER: Small voice.
RYO: “And the truth, I think, is that you did rescue Millie. And also killed Chandra. But I want the full story here, for you.”
STORY: Becker puts a hand over yours gently. “It’s going to suck. But I promise, this is good.”
TUELLER: Tueller with more steel, “I said okay.”
STORY: “Ready?”
TUELLER: Tueller nods.
RYO: Ryo smiles slightly at this and nods as well.
STORY: Becker steps out, and returns with Bisset and Sten.
STORY: Bisset sits. “Mr. Becker asked that we… start over. Typically I am not willing to extend that kind of courtesy, but it’s clear you have little understanding of Ark law.”
TUELLER: “This is my first arrest.”
TUELLER: “My estranged family covered for my crimes until now.”
TUELLER: “Back when we weren’t estranged.”
TUELLER: “But yes, I can explain. First i must ask, do you know the name Tormod Chandra? Or his reputation?”
STORY: “I’m aware of him, yes. My family originally comes from the Evanuris moons.”
TUELLER: “He was, to over simplify things here, a bad man. And a rich one. He had shot and badly injured a friend, Kahn, and kidnapped Dr. Breedlove. We went to his base to rescue them. It was a lot more complicated than those sentences make it sound, but that’s the gist of it.”
RYO: Ryo nods along with Tueller’s recitation of the facts.
TUELLER: “Once there, he tried to turn me into an ally, letting me know he had my friends’ lives in his hand, and could end them at any moment. So I killed him with my bare hands before he could do anything.”
TUELLER: Tueller is silent, but if anyone tries to speak up he’ll gesture that he’s not finished.
TUELLER: “Then we tried to escape. I was shot, very badly.” At this, he lifts up his oxford button-down to show the scars. “Alejo was killed in the melee.”
STORY: Bisset nods.
TUELLER: “So here’s the summary. I killed a man, and my best friend was killed as a result. I honestly don’t care how long you lock me up, or what you do to me; I just want someone there who will work with me to make me not that guy anymore. Okay?”
STORY: Bisset nods again.
STORY: Sten speaks. “I believe I can speak for my associate when I say you are a good candidate for therapeutic incarceration.” Bisset nods in agreement.
STORY: “Allow me to go over some of the details.”
RYO: Ryo prepares to take notes.
STORY: “The Ark maintains multiple terraformed moons and dwarf planets onto which we transport convicted criminals who express interest in improving. You’ll be given a quarter acre on which you can do as you please – sleep in a tent if you like, work it into a self-sustaining farm if that suits you. You’ll have group therapy twice a week, individual once a week. You and your medical team will meet with the parole board every three months for evaluation. The rest of the time, you’ll be attended by robot guards – none equipped to do lethal harm, of course, they are there to deal with accidents and prisoner-on-prisoner conflict, though they mostly end up giving directions and reminding everyone of the time.”
STORY: “I am not going to guarantee a peaceful environment. Not all prisoners complete the program successfully, and you will very likely be sent to the same place as much of your family. We have seen great results when prisoners attend group with those they have wronged, or who have been involved in their wrongdoing.”
STORY: “The parole board will decide when you are cleared for release, and the terms of said parole when it is deemed fit. Questions?”
TUELLER: “What are the criteria for release?”
STORY: “Mainly, confidence you won’t reoffend. Your doctors will have a say in whether you are able to function on your own as well, sometimes prisoners are released into outpatient mental health care.”
STORY: “We cannot fix everyone, Tueller, but we want to try.”
TUELLER: Tueller nods, and takes a deep breath. He does not say anything for awhile.
TUELLER: “Fuck it, let’s go crazy.”
STORY: Excellent! Tueller, you’re shipped off to the sunny, fairly barren moon you previously found Ezio and a hell of a lot of dead people on. The Ark has purchased and refitted it.
STORY: Notably, you’re here with Ezio, Sergio, Akilah, Yetide (who has recovered and is pissed at you), and the rest of your siblings and about fifty other CJH convicts.
—
STORY: Millie! Calixta is free, Tueller’s sentending is happening, but Becker has assured you there’s nothing you can do to help Tueller at this point – it’s procedural stuff they have to go through to figure out his sentencing and where he’ll end up.
So you have time, finally, at long last, to fix your ship and look into Manaaki’s deck.
STORY: What do you do?
STORY: Let’s do this as a Cramped Quarters roll with Noma, and I’ll include whatever information you gain as well.
MILLICENT: She and Calixta get to work fixing the computers.
MILLICENT: And hopefully giving Calixta a chance to review/reintegrate the other memory set
STORY: You spend a few days plugging everything back in from where Tux more or less yanked it out. You find a part of his t-shirt, torn off into strips and holding wires together in bundles to make it easier for you to put it back together when the time comes.
STORY: Calixta spends a few days on her back in engineering testing electrical connections.
STORY: She’s quiet.
STORY: Roll cramped quarters for me, please
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6
MILLICENT: @josh rolled 5
STORY: Okay! So this piece of the story is going to alienate you and Calixta from each other somewhat.
STORY: She’s quiet as she works, not making conversation, not her usual cheerful and direct self.
josh 8:34 PM
MILLICENT: Millie is in full on Keep Busy Mode
MILLICENT: After crawling out sweaty from a particularly tight bit of console Millie leans against the panel and catches her breath.
MILLICENT: “I keep feeling that I could have done more for Tueller.”
MILLICENT: “I don’t feel that I offered much of a defense for him in that courtroom.”
STORY: Calixta looks at you quickly, then away, taking a deep breath.
STORY: “Once the wiring is done and verified, I need to plug in to the drive that has my remaining data and sync up.”
MILLICENT: “Oh.”
MILLICENT: “Sure, yes.”
MILLICENT: “I’ll double check the wiring.”
MILLICENT: Later.
MILLICENT: Millie washing her face and hands. “I have the feeling that you’ve got some feedback for my courtroom performance, dear. Do you feel comfortable sharing it with me?”
STORY: Calixta stops halfway into a bite of food.
STORY: “I wasn’t there.”
MILLICENT: Millie nods.
MILLICENT: “But whatever I did, it didn’t work.”
STORY: “Clearly.”
MILLICENT: Millie nods. “I think the only thing they would have accepted in exchange for Tueller’s freedom would have been Esinam.”
MILLICENT: “If it helps, I am also disappointed in myself.”
STORY: Calixta stands, slowly. You’ve never seen her do this, and she’s very very good at hiding it, but you think she’s not being honest with you. “It’s fine, Millie. Let’s not talk about it, please.”
STORY: “I’m going to get to bed early. Big day tomorrow.” She smiles and leaves.
MILLICENT: Millie sits in the bridge and cries to herself for a while.
MILLICENT: Careful not to disturb anyone else on the ship.
STORY: It’s just the two of you, so you have plenty of room to cry.
STORY: The next morning, Calixta’s still giving you the cold shoulder, but she’s ready to connect to the deck where the rest of her dataset is stored.
STORY: “If this works correctly, I’ll be able to interface with that part of my consciousness, absorb the new memories, and repair the onboard side of my AI.”
STORY: “I’ve been doing tests, and I don’t think a human brain is capable of hosting all my code at once, so it’s likely I’ll always be split up like this.”
STORY: “Which is completely fine with me. Best of both worlds.”
STORY: “Questions?”
MILLICENT: “Any dangers I should be aware of? Is this likely to overtax your central nervous system?”
STORY: “Most definitely. Keep ice water around.”
MILLICENT: Millie nods. “Is there anything you’d like me to prepare for your recovery? Some tea, perhaps?”
“I’ll just make some tea just in case.”
MILLICENT: “And I’ll set up an ice bath and an AED.”
STORY: “Let’s just do this.” She plugs in.
STORY: It takes a lot longer than you expected. She’s plugged in, eyes closed and flickering like REM sleep, for over half an hour.
MILLICENT: Millie jumps, halfway between readying the precautions she was just talking about, halfway having to stay and observe, to make sure Noma is okay.
MILLICENT: Finally, Millie does her busy work and runs back in every 3 minutes to check on her
STORY: Eventually, you return to find her sipping on her ice water.
STORY: She takes a deep breath. “The planet with the dragon.”
STORY: “Is there anything you didn’t tell me about it?”
MILLICENT: Millie’s eyebrows raise.
MILLICENT: “I don’t think I’ve withheld anything. Nothing intentional.”
STORY: She nods quietly. “I did. I didn’t know whether I could trust you. That part of me, she was without her memories of you. She had no idea. Anyway.”
MILLICENT: Millie leans forward in her chair.
STORY: She taps a console and pulls up a file. “I was the onboard nav computer for Chandra’s mobile base for six months. Gathered a lot of data.”
STORY: “Picked this up on long range while we were on our way through the jump relay.”
STORY: She plays a grainy radar recording. Everything is in green and black, outlines on a screen, very hard to make out. You see a ship approach the jump relay – but not through the main path, not to jump. It approaches from the side, then seems to disappear.
STORY: “I need to keep looking through my data, most of my raw processing power has to live on the onboard computer. This goes slowly. You work on Manaaki’s deck.”
MILLICENT: Millie nods. “Sure.”
MILLICENT: “Noma?”
STORY: “Yes.”
MILLICENT: “I miss him too.”
STORY: “Not now, Millie.”
MILLICENT: Millie clenches her jaw and nods.
STORY: You start to dig through the deck. Give me Face Adversity + Interface!
MILLICENT: “Fine.”
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 2
MILLICENT: @josh rolled 11 + 2 = 13
STORY: You spend days on it, and finally, finally crack the master password for his main database.
STORY: And just as quickly you’re ready to throw the fucking thing against the wall.
STORY: It’s geolocked.
STORY: You can access the files, but they’re unreadable unless you can get within a radius of the jump relay.
STORY: And – and – Peregrine’s computer isn’t a beefy enough boy to help with this.
STORY: You need a supercomputer, probably a few matrixed together.
MILLICENT: Any jump relay?
STORY: Sol’s. You’re going to need to take a trip.
—
STORY: It’s four months after Tueller’s sentencing. Ryo, you have successfully arranged for all the financial plans you made, hired Figgan, retained Astra, and even convinced Erwin that you could be a good enough example for him to join you. The Augusta King rules the skies, at least the skies between New Vesta, where you most recently traveled for an upkeep meeting on Tueller’s morkfish business, and the Ark.
STORY: You’ve just jumped back into Ark space when you get a wave. It’s from the Peregrine.
STORY: The question I want to answer here is “how does Ryo help Millie get the data off Manaaki’s drive?”
MILLICENT: “Hey there, Mr. Hanaka. It’s Dr. Millicent Breedlove of the Peregrine.”
MILLICENT: “I need help and I think it might be the fun kind. What’s your calendar look like these days?”
RYO: Ryo will provide financial aid as well as any access to people or equipment that he can.
RYO: “Hello Doctor Breedlove. Always lovely to hear from you. I would be delighted to help however I can. We are just arriving at the Ark, back from New Vesta.”
MILLICENT: “I need some help in the Sol sector. Hang on just a moment.”
STORY: Ryo, let’s have a Face Adversity + Expertise to see how well you help
MILLICENT: Millie runs some scans. Is this line secure?
STORY: It isn’t! They never are, on waves.
STORY: Plus, Ryo always has the good coffee.
RYO: Can I use a closeup as well?
STORY: Sure!
RYO: /roll 2d6+4
STORY: ablair01 rolled 3 + 4 = 7
STORY: All right! You help, but it’s complicated.
MILLICENT: “This is a bit troublesome. Might even call it compromised. Can we meet in person soon?”
RYO: “Yes, we will adjust our course. We can be there in [x].”
STORY: Whose galley are you having this meeting in?
RYO: Ryo’s.
STORY: It’s lovely in there! Astra makes good coffee, Erwin comes and says hello. Figgan hides in the cockpit.
STORY: Calixta even does a bit of Ryo-ogling.
MILLICENT: Millie and Calixta show
MILLICENT: Millie hugs Ryo and Erwin.
RYO: Ryo warmly returns the hug.
RYO: “It’s so good to see you, Doctor.”
RYO: He steps back and smiles at Calixta. Then he gives her a hug.
MILLICENT: “You as well, Ryo. Please, I want to know all about how all of this business is going. Every last P&L. But I’m wondering if we can skip to the part where I ask you for help.”
STORY: Calixta really enjoys that hug.
STORY: She winks at you from her position behind Millie.
RYO: Ryo laughs at Millie. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He gestures to the table. “Please. Tell me what’s going on.”
RYO: “And how we can be of assistance.”
RYO: He sits.
MILLICENT: “Well, I’ve cracked the deck’s security.”
MILLICENT: “We have, really.”
MILLICENT: “But we’ve hit a bit of a snag.”
RYO: His eyes widen.
MILLICENT: “See, Nikau had some advantages that we don’t have when he was designing the relays. He had basically all the technical help that Sol could provide.”
MILLICENT: “We have myself and Noma.”
RYO: “Best in the galaxy, though.”
MILLICENT: “We need a supercomputer. Well, we need a network of supercomputers. And they must be in the Sol system.”
RYO: Ryo nods and tilts his head thoughtfully, listening for the rest of the details.
MILLICENT: “And I doubt anyone who owns such an array in the Sol system will be amenable to the idea of Noma and myself commandeering their use so we can peer under the hood of the most advanced and crucial tech in the system.”
STORY: Calixta moves over to a console. “You mind?”
RYO: “Please.”
STORY: She pulls up a star chart.
STORY: Pointing at the current locations of the planets in the system, she explains. “Got a couple options. We can all become priests and use the Exodus supercomputer on Enceladus. We can break into Chandra’s base on Titan, good luck with that one, or, well, there’s Io.”
STORY: “But I suspect Esinam Ya’Makasi isn’t interested in letting us borrow some time on her rig.”
STORY: “So basically we’re fucked three ways.”
MILLICENT: “One of three ways.”
MILLICENT: “Now we must simply choose the manner of our fucking.”
RYO: Ryo nods in agreement. “Spoiled for choice.”
RYO: “Well, I expect you have some thoughts about a preference?” He looks back and forth to them.
MILLICENT: “Well, I don’t know a damned thing about Exodus. And I suspect Esinam has a shoot-to-kill order for us on sight. But I thought you might have some insights on Chandra’s home away from home on Titan.”
RYO: “Well,” he takes a breath and takes his glasses off, something that Millie has probably rarely seen him do. He rubs his eyes. “I think Titan is out of play. Whatever I could do would be offset by the fact that Calixta and I would be shot on sight.” He stand and puts his glasses back on.
RYO: “But . . . ”
RYO: He walks to the star map and pulls in closer to Io. “I might have an idea about Esinam.”
MILLICENT: Millie raises her eyebrows
RYO: “You’re not likely to like it. But I think it might be the best play, if a complicated one.”
RYO: “What’s on the drive . . . it’s worth it, yes?”
RYO: He looks at the both in turn.
MILLICENT: “I think it must be.”
STORY: Calixta nods.
RYO: “Then I think that it’s time for me to reach out to Esinam. She’s in need of someone with my . . . skills. I think, that if I play things right, I can broker a sort of peace, removing any kill orders out there and getting you the time that you need on that network. In exchange,” he takes a deep breath, “well, I suppose we’ll see what she wants in exchange.”
RYO: He shrugs. “Unless we think that Exodus is viable. But, like you, I know nothing about it.”
MILLICENT: “Hmmm.”
STORY: “We’d literally have to become priests.”
STORY: “For Exodus. Let’s skip that one.”
MILLICENT: Millie grimaces.
RYO: “Time to get fucked.”
RYO: He smiles weakly.
MILLICENT: Weakly, “That’s the spirit.”
RYO: Ryo will make arrangements to set up a conversation with Esinam.
STORY: You do so! And with that 7, it goes okay. You meet with her and convince her that you’d be an asset to her organization, and are brought in. They’re not as big about titles out there – but you’re in a consigliere role, though without having earned any trust yet. You can retain your staff, but she won’t lift any kill orders from the Peregrine crew.
STORY: Esinam is a terrifying, chilling woman. You get the sense it would be very dangerous to push her too hard on this.
STORY: But the good news is you’re in.
STORY: What now?
RYO: Ryo finds out what kill orders exist, first, so that he has some idea what the dangers are going to be getting Millie and Calixa onto Io and into that network.
STORY: There are hits still out on Millie, Tueller, Akilah, Noma, Kahn, Jenny, Thasht, and Tariq
STORY: Nothing on Calixta, you feel Esinam out on that and you’re confident she doesn’t know that Noma and Calixta merged.
RYO: Do both Millie and Calixta need access to the network together, or can Calixta handle it on her own?
STORY: They both need to be there.
RYO: Presumably, we have some way of communicating. Assuming so, Ryo gives them the update. He then says that getting Millie in will be the trick. He prepares entry documents for them, giving Millie a false name, as Astra’s Aunt, Trinity, and Calixta as Trinity’s assistant.
RYO: He then tells them to get fake ids to match and get prepared for some spy stuff, trusting that Calixta has the disguises covered.
RYO: Where is the network access point? And what sorts of security will we have a difficult time getting past, given Ryo’s new role in the organization? Can he just hand waive them in, or does he need to do some bribing and coverup work?
STORY: All right! I think you’ve got two options here – you can just wave them in and be prepared to deal with potential consequences when they come up, or you can try to sneak them in in a way that keeps you safe. The former will definitely get them in, the latter only might.
RYO: Let’s get them in.
STORY: All right! Millie, you’re given a fake ID and Calixta dresses you up to hide your typical look and you find yourself sat in front of a supercomputer.
STORY: What do you do?
MILLICENT: Millie establishes a MK-33 firewall with eisilium infusers to start. That should keep any of Esinam’s data engineers of their trail for a while. Then she painstakingly builds a matrix out of Esinam’s supercomputers. Then she applies encephalographic holofilters to the subspace intermix inputs and look it would take a long time to explain technically, but Millie covers her tracks and users the computers to access the root code of the relays in the Sol system.
STORY: Data spills onto your screen. You flit back and forth between files, putting the puzzle together.
MILLICENT: Millie looks up after a few minutes. Breathlessly, “The jump relays have atmosphere. And life support systems. Inside.”
RYO: Ryo looks at her puzzled. “How? Why?”
MILLICENT: “I can’t see how people are getting on the station, but it looks like they’ve leaving in cloaked ships through the side of the jump relay. The ships,” Millie looks up. “look like dragons.”
RYO: “Dragons?”
STORY: Calixta silently covers her mouth. “The radar.”
STORY: “That’s what I saw.”
MILLICENT: “Dragons.”
STORY: “What the fuck are they doing?”
MILLICENT: “The scary thing we shouldn’t fuck with on Ren Faire planet? It was fucking AI.”
RYO: Ryo starts and stops several times. Then he finally simply mutters, “huh.”
MILLICENT: “They’re running experiments.”
MILLICENT: “Eugenics experiments.”
RYO: “They being . . . the Collective?”
MILLICENT: Millie nods. She briefly explains the Ren Faire planet.
RYO: Ryo simply shakes his head, overwhelmed.
MILLICENT: “As far as I can tell, the relays are serving as nurseries where babies are being transported from these relays to these experimental planets.”
MILLICENT: “Where the Collective is trying to determine something?”
MILLICENT: “Please, Noma, do you have any recollections that could help us here?”
MILLICENT: “Anything to help this make sense?”
RYO: “Why the relays? What . . . ” He looks at Calixta.
STORY: Calixta shakes her head. “Wiped before I separated. Sorry.”
MILLICENT: “We shot down a dragon on Renn Faire planet full of cribs of infants.”
MILLICENT: Millie runs a hunch through the computer. Could the relays be cloning facilities using the DNA information of the beings traveling through the relays?
STORY: Plausible, yes.
STORY: They’re definitely storing the DNA signature of everyone who passes through, though briefly.
STORY: It goes into RAM then is wiped after the jump is completed.
MILLICENT: “The Collective is storing the DNA signature of everyone who passes through.”
MILLICENT: “They’re using it for something, then it’s wiped after jump completes.”
MILLICENT: “I think they may be making clones using this DNA data.”
MILLICENT: Millie looks sick.
MILLICENT: “Every jump provides a new DNA and RNA sequence for the Collective.”
RYO: “Why would . . . why?” Ryo sits down beside her.
MILLICENT: “I have no idea.”
MILLICENT: “I mean, that’s not true. I have plenty of very bad ideas about this.”
RYO: “So, you think that there are copies of us, all of us, out there on these farie planets? That’s . . .” He shakes his head.
MILLICENT: “Not copies, not necessarily exact clones. I suppose they could be gestating proper DNA matches. Like IVF.”
MILLICENT: Millie pushes back from the computer and takes a deep breath.
MILLICENT: “This is an incredible violation.”
RYO: “It’s horrific.”
RYO: He stands. He checks the time. “What do we do about it?”
RYO: “I think we need to get onto one of those relays.”
MILLICENT: Millie nods.
MILLICENT: “We’re going to need some help once we get there.”
MILLICENT: “We’re going to need someone whose province is judicious destruction.”
STORY: Fiona the Lying Cat yawns theatrically and stretches out.
MILLICENT: “Someone who has been to one of these experimental societies and seen the stranglehold the Collective has made the people there endure.”
STORY: Calixta cuts in dryly. “Millie.”
STORY: “We know who you mean, Millie.”
MILLICENT: “Someone with some skin in the-yes, dear?”
STORY: “Tueller.”
STORY: “We need to go get Tueller.”
MILLICENT: Millie nods.
MILLICENT: “We need Tueller.”
MILLICENT: “And he deserves to be there. It’s personal for him.”
—
STORY: So you’re on the weird paradise planet.
STORY: If prison can also be paradise.
STORY: Which, I dunno, it sort of can. There are cows here and there.
STORY: The question I want to answer here is “what does Tueller do with his time on this moon?”
STORY: but more broadly, how does he deal with his family, does he improve himself, do they – or he – get in the way of his rehabilitation?
STORY: So I think to answer that I need you to either tell me, or roll
TUELLER: Okay. Certain things are easy to say. Tueller will try to get along with Akilah. He will try to avoid the rest of his family.
STORY: Akilah seeks you out the first day you’re there, and greets you with a big hug.
STORY: “Oh, brother, we’re in trouble now, aren’t we.”
STORY: She sits back on your little empty plot of land, leaning on a barrel-sized rock.
TUELLER: “Trouble? Seems to me we’re nowhere. We’re out on the sides. We’re in limbo now.”
STORY: “Yeah, but everyone in all three families is also in limbo with us.”
STORY: She pauses.
TUELLER: “Except Esi. And Bilbo.”
STORY: “Fuck them. Tell me what happened to Alejo before I lose my nerve.”
TUELLER: Tueller breathes heavily, and then closes his eyes to tell her this: “Chandra had a kill order on everyone unless we worked for him. So I killed Chandra. And we almost managed to slip the kill order, but Chandra’s men killed him as he disabled the docking clamps keeping us from escaping. He saved all our lives. But it was my fault he needed to in the first place.”
TUELLER: “I was shot up. I like to think I would have done it in his place if I’d been in any shape to, but honestly, I don’t know if I would have.”
STORY: She drops a hand onto yours. “You would have.”
TUELLER: “It’s pretty to think so, at least.”
TUELLER: “Alejo did, though.”
STORY: “He was so pretty.” She’s half listening.
TUELLER: “Sure.” Tueller shrugs, not sure what to say to that.
STORY: She chuckles sadly. “Sorry.”
STORY: “Thanks for staying with him, T.”
TUELLER: “He and the Doc almost had a thing, there at the end.”
TUELLER: “I’m not sure what was said between them. She didn’t say. But there was something.”
TUELLER: “Turns out I’m not the guy people confide in.”
STORY: “They never got around to it, huh?”
STORY: “I swear, I know he loved me, but it always felt a little… I don’t know. Like he was still performing.”
TUELLER: “Man could definitely compartmentalize.”
STORY: “Sometimes I’d catch him watching her, and. Yeah. It was natural. They were on the same wavelength, somehow.”
STORY: “Shame they didn’t get any time.”
TUELLER: “Indeed. So, how was your trial?”
TUELLER: “Thanks for your kind words in mine, by the way.”
STORY: “Whoever thought it’d be a good idea to call me for that shit is hopefully working a much less important job now. That was ridiculous.”
STORY: “Mine was quick. Yours too, from the look of it.”
TUELLER: “I missed most of mine, actually.”
STORY: She puts a palm behind her head, looking out over the evening horizon. “So are you gonna do this for real?”
TUELLER: “Yes, definitely.”
STORY: “Deal.”
TUELLER: “Raise some cattle if I can wrangle it.”
STORY: She laughs.
TUELLER: “See my shrink every opportunity they give me.”
TUELLER: “Penance or whatever. I don’t know what doing this looks like.”
STORY: “Me neither, brother. Let’s find out.”
STORY: Let’s skip to a few weeks later.
STORY: Akilah is doing the work. Yetide has come to see you, and it was tense, but she understands. She’s going to try too. You’ve avoided Sergio.
STORY: Until today. He’s there, in the lunch line for those who don’t raise or prepare their own food, and so are you, holding a plate.
STORY: He raises an eyebrow at you, and walks over.
STORY: “Fancy meeting you here.”
TUELLER: “Had to happen sometime, I guess.”
TUELLER: “Us all going to prison, that is.”
STORY: “Mm.”
STORY: “Sorry about, you know.”
TUELLER: “Killing Aice?”
STORY: “I didn’t kill her.”
TUELLER: “Framing me for it?”
STORY: “That one.” He taps his nose.
TUELLER: Tueller jerks…that is clearly stamping down on the urge to hit Sergio hard and fast.
TUELLER: “I am working on myself, so…I don’t know what that looks like here, except not beating you until the robots stop me. But you’re not forgiven. That’s for sure.”
STORY: “Well, I guess I didn’t really mean it anyway. So that’s fair.”
STORY: “You did cut my fucking hand off, Tueller.”
TUELLER: “It was a duel. That’s what you do in duels.”
TUELLER: “Or what one tries to do in a duel. If you’re me, you succeed. If you’re you, you lose your fucking hand.”
TUELLER: “You haven’t tried to do anything straight on since, so I guess it worked out as a proper lesson to you. You’re welcome.”
STORY: “Oh, for fuck’s sake, you arrogant little prince.”
STORY: “We were in college.“
STORY: “In college you get drunk and you steal a car and you don’t lose your hand to your uncle’s business partner’s brother.”
STORY: “You cut off my hand. That’s not a normal consequence of anything.”
TUELLER: “I’m glad you’re now coming to the realization that the life our families put us in turned out to be deeply dysfunctional. I don’t know about you, but I’m trying to work through that.”
STORY: “Clearly.” Sarcastic.
TUELLER: “Listen, we’ll probably both be happier if we never see each other again. Since we’re in fucking prison, that’s probably a non-starter, so let’s try the next best thing and never fucking talk to each other again. Talk to your shrink. I’ll talk to mine. Maybe we’ll wind up being less of a shitstain.”
TUELLER: “And if you want to eventually tell people who really killed Aice, that would just be icing.”
STORY: Sergio laughs. “Oh, you’re gonna do great here.”
STORY: “Enjoy your half of the moon, pissant.”
STORY: He breezes away.
STORY: Let’s see how Tueller does in therapy!
STORY: Face Adversity + Influence.
TUELLER: /roll 2d6
TUELLER: @Stu rolled 12
STORY: This game really wants Tueller to turn a corner!
STORY: All right, so we can talk more abstractly about this, but with that result i think he really takes to this process. He goes to group, he shares, he learns to control his temper somewhat, he starts to reckon with what his family raised him into.
TUELLER: Tueller also stops working out so compulsively.
TUELLER: He’s going to put on some weight, use farming as his only exercise. Not be such a gym douchebag.
TUELLER: He cries a lot more.
TUELLER: Uhh, I don’t know about his drinking. I’ll have to think about that.
STORY: After about six months and successfully caring for a couple goats, his therapist thinks he’s ready to raise a cow.
STORY: She also wants to talk about Alejo, and how Tueller feels about it all.
STORY: They had sort of a codependent relationship. Were they brothers? Did they actually trust each other?
Was that a good relationship?
TUELLER: Yes, they were brothers, but Tueller’s conception of brotherhood is definitely stunted by his toxic upbringing.
TUELLER: Tueller trusted Alejo, in Alejo’s lane.
TUELLER: He didn’t trust Alejo with women. He did trust Alejo to have his back in day to day things. He felt there was some limit to Alejo’s trustworthiness out there, that Tueller didn’t understand, and so he just hoped they’d never hit that line.
TUELLER: It’s as good a relationship as Tueller’s had with anyone other than Akilah.
STORY: “And do you regret letting him die for you?”
TUELLER: Tueller is silent for awhile, and catches himself. “I absolutely regret his death, but that phrasing is throwing me and I need some time to walk through it in my head.”
STORY: “Take your time.”
TUELLER: “He died saving us all, but I’ve never thought of it as him dying for me. I’m not even sure he saw what he was doing as giving his life for mine. We took care of each other, but we never worried about whether the other would make it. He gave his life for the rest of the crew, not me.”
TUELLER: “He died because of me, but he didn’t give his life for me.”
STORY: “That’s a rationalization.”
TUELLER: “Is it?”
STORY: She smiles. “Tueller. He saw you as his brother, yes?”
STORY: “And yet you think you were exempt from his sacrifice?”
TUELLER: “…Okay.”
TUELLER: “So the thing that weighs on me is not that he died for me. It’s that he died because of me.”
STORY: “Talk about that.”
TUELLER: Tueller is again silent for a long time, trying to order things in his head.
TUELLER: “He died because I made a calculation. A very very quick calculation with invisible variables and very high stakes. And ultimately for me at the time, violence seemed the easier answer. And his death is what resulted.”
TUELLER: “It’s been some time, and now that I’ve been able to see what some of those invisible variables were, that it ended with only his death is frankly amazing to me.”
STORY: She nods. “You had more than one loved one there that day.”
TUELLER: “Yes, three people who are very important to me, and also a friend.”
STORY: “I think we’re making good progress here, Tueller. Tell me, if you entered the same situation today, do you think you would do the same things?”
TUELLER: Tueller is again very silent, considering.
TUELLER: “I absolutely wouldn’t do the same things.”
TUELLER: “I don’t know right now if I wouldn’t do the same things, for the right reason.”
STORY: She smiles. “That’s still something.”
—
STORY: Millie, after waiting months for the paperwork to clear, you go to Tueller’s moon for a visit. They take you through security – meaning you have nothing useful for breakouts on you – and allow you a six hour pass.
STORY: It’s close to the end of Tueller’s first year incarcerated. He got a 12 on his therapy roll, and is different.
STORY: Tueller, how are you different?
MILLICENT: Millie hands Tueller a cold cup of takeaway coffee.
TUELLER: Tueller is fatter. Not in a jokey Thor sort of way, but in a not-compulsively working out sort of way.
TUELLER: His hands are callused. He works physically a lot.
TUELLER: He’s also calmer, and more centered. He hasn’t been drinking.
MILLICENT: “Hello, dear. You’re looking well. Genuinely.”
STORY: He’s got a cow!
STORY: What’s her name?
TUELLER: Honestly he seems like he’s retired to a ranch that he can’t leave.
STORY: She’s a milk cow.
TUELLER: Matilda.
STORY: A good name.
TUELLER: He offers Millie some milk.
STORY: He lives on a quarter acre that is his, with a small house built on it, and he always has plenty of milk.
STORY: You got there before me!
MILLICENT: Millie drinks some warm milk.
STORY: It’s delicious and creamy.
MILLICENT: Millie nods. “’S nice.”
TUELLER: Tueller keeps trying to figure out how to answer Millie, and finally just nods.
MILLICENT: “How are things here?”
TUELLER: “Regular therapy. Fewer attempts on my life than any time in the last ten years. I have family here.”
TUELLER: “Sheets are an abominable threadcount.” Tueller shrugs.
STORY: You’ve made up with most of your family, Tueller.
STORY: Charel’s still a dick, and Sergio has avoided you, but everyone else is doing the work and there have been some brittle if kindhearted attempts at reconciliation.
TUELLER: “You hear from Loll?”
MILLICENT: Millie nods.
TUELLER: “She still queen?”
MILLICENT: “She brought back the Maraas and argued on their behalf in front of their ruling council. She was given them as her crew to go find a new planet to conquer.”
MILLICENT: “She has three hundred Maitri screamers at her back.”
TUELLER: Tueller smiles. “That’s my True Grey One.”
TUELLER: “Anyway, good to see you, Millie. If you come back in a month or so, I’ll hopefully have some cheese for you.”
MILLICENT: “That sounds lovely.”
TUELLER: “The first time out of the cave wasn’t a success, but Matilda and I are working at it.”
MILLICENT: “How are you doing here?”
MILLICENT: “How are you, Tueller?”
TUELLER: “There’s a fancy cheese with maggots in it, but standard cheese isn’t supposed to have that.”
TUELLER: Tueller’s kind of dodging the question.
TUELLER: “Hey, Millie, this came up in my therapy, and I realized I didn’t know the answer. You and Alejo…you had a moment there at the end, right?”
TUELLER: “Did he finally kiss you?”
MILLICENT: Millie looks down.
MILLICENT: “We did and he did not. End of that line of questioning, please and thank you.”
TUELLER: “Damn. I’m sorry.” Tueller tears up a little.
TUELLER: “I…” Tueller shrugs, turns his back on Millie for a moment. Then turns back around and wipes his eyes unselfconsciously.
MILLICENT: Millie clenches her jaw and stops the couple of tears that were coming. “The timing was wrong each time it came up and then.” Swallows. “We ran out of time.”
TUELLER: “I’m sorry for that. That was my fault. You thought you had more time.”
TUELLER: “Anyway, that’s what this is like for me. They’re helping me come to terms with myself.”
MILLICENT: “That sounds.” Millie wipes her eyes. “Nice.”
TUELLER: “Oh it often really sucks. Turns out I’m not a great guy.”
MILLICENT: “Tueller,” she starts slowly.
MILLICENT: “I’ve often suspected that we weren’t half the daring space adventurers we allowed ourselves to believe we were.”
MILLICENT: “I think we may have been extremely self-serving and self-involved. Surrounded by all the wonder and mystery of the universe and we tended to make it about ourselves.”
TUELLER: Tueller is silent.
MILLICENT: “Do you remember Elowyn?”
TUELLER: Tueller looks at her sharply. “The doppler’s effect doesn’t last that long. Of course I do.”
MILLICENT: “Tueller, the Collective is, no other way to say this, collecting DNA from everyone who takes a jump. I believe the relays are, in reality, cloning facilities and creches. I know for a fact that cloaked ships that look like dragons are leaving them on a regular basis. I think we stumbled on one of, dozens? hundreds? of Collective experimental planets.”
MILLICENT: “The relays are staffed.”
MILLICENT: “They are using us. Violating us to to satisfy their curiosity.”
MILLICENT: “I’m gathering a team that will seek to get to the bottom of this and, ultimately, stop it.”
TUELLER: Tueller takes a sip of his milk and sits there.
TUELLER: “Okay.”
TUELLER: “That definitely seems like something you should take to the Ark Council.”
MILLICENT: “Let’s pretend you’re the Ark Council.”
MILLICENT: “Golly gee, Ark Council, the mean old supercomputers that allow for your form of capitalism have been naughty.”
TUELLER: “Oh, Millie, it’s clear that I definitely should not have that sort of power or authority.”
MILLICENT: “Please oh please stop these genocide machines from doing this thing you’d rather ignore.”
MILLICENT: “Tueller.”
TUELLER: “Millie.”
MILLICENT: “No one else will step up here.”
MILLICENT: “We have a responsibility.”
TUELLER: These are I think the first times Tueller has called Millie by her first name.
TUELLER: “Have you tried seeing if anyone will step up? Or are you just assuming that to be true.”
TUELLER: “Because one thing I talk about a lot with my therapist is the hidden variables that affect my assumptions, and how they lead me to make the wrong choice thinking I need to make an immediate choice.”
MILLICENT: “I’m not leaving this in the hands of anyone else.”
MILLICENT: “I have seen the Ark council put a, potentially, good man away for crimes he didn’t commit.”
MILLICENT: “I don’t have faith in their judgment.”
TUELLER: “Millie, not five minutes ago you were talking about how we may have been…how did you put it? ‘Extremely self-serving and self-involved. Surrounded by all the wonder and mystery of the universe and we tended to make it about ourselves.’”
MILLICENT: “Tueller. Technology gods are using us for our base materials and enslaving planets.”
MILLICENT: “That? Isn’t about us.”
MILLICENT: “Let me tell you what is.”
MILLICENT: “You were born with twice the muscle and twice the brain of the next closest human. I was born with, considerably more of the latter and maybe half the former. I don’t know if there’s a reason, but our gifts come with accountability. We are responsible for how we use these gifts.”
MILLICENT: “I just found a fight worth picking.”
TUELLER: “That’s very stirring, Doc, but there are a couple of things here.”
TUELLER: “First, and I’m not even sure that this is the most important thing, but it’s at least a significant thing so I thought I’d mention it: I am in prison indefinitely until I am reformed.”
TUELLER: “Second, prison is helping me.” Tueller starts crying just a little bit, “You have no idea how restorative it has been here, how my doctors have helped me deal with me and mine. How this journey here on this farm with Akilah and with my other family members and even shitty little Sergio as an object lesson has been for my soul.”
MILLICENT: Millie leans into him.
TUELLER: “I really think the authorities know better than I do; I think you should talk to them first.”
MILLICENT: “I don’t think that, because of the aforementioned IQ imbalance. But also, I don’t.” Millie starts crying softly. “I don’t know anyone else who cares as much as I do.”
MILLICENT: “This needs to be investigated.”
MILLICENT: “It needs to be discovered.”
MILLICENT: “And it needs to be confronted.”
MILLICENT: “But if we hand this over to Ark authorities or Sol governments or whatever.” Millie blows her nose on a hankie from her pocket. “They will sweep this under the rug. They will willfully ignore this.”
MILLICENT: “Someone.”
MILLICENT: Millie takes a deep breath.
MILLICENT: “Someone has to determine when the cost of our current way of life, of Ark tech, of the status quo, isn’t worth the price we pay. And those in charge aren’t capable of making that determination.”
MILLICENT: “The worst thing I did in my life was to take the fate of humanity in my hands. Now I’m in this same position again, but goddammit, Tueller. I’m right this time.”
TUELLER: “Even if this were convincing, which it is not, Doc,” Tueller just gestures around to the prison planet he’s stuck on.
MILLICENT: Millie brushes the concept of jailbreak away.
MILLICENT: “We can get you out if we need to.”
MILLICENT: “I need you to do this.”
MILLICENT: “And it’s worth doing.”
MILLICENT: “Plus, we could get Sergio to recant. Or show up to your next bail hearing with a hundred character witnesses.”
MILLICENT: “We don’t necessarily have to break you out.”
MILLICENT: “Tueller, you’re the only other person I know who cares as much about this as I do.”
MILLICENT: “I need someone with me who’s seen this.”
TUELLER: “I care, it’s true. I care so much that the last time we encountered this it broke me.”
MILLICENT: “The last time we encountered this we walked away because we were scared.”
TUELLER: “And we are right to be! You want to pick a fight with a collective of weakly godlike AIs who can destroy solar systems and have our genetic code already. And you want me–not the government of known sentient races, or a coalition military fleet, or I don’t even know what else, but me–a broken incarcerated spoiled brat in the beginning stages of therapy–to fight them in ways you haven’t even begun to articulate. I’ve got a good shrink–maybe you should talk to her as well.”
MILLICENT: “Tueller, this is going to be tough to take in after a year of therapy.”
MILLICENT: “We were wrong when we acted like we were beyond the law. Also, we must act beyond the law.”
MILLICENT: “You know what, stay here.”
MILLICENT: “Drink your cold coffee and consider my wisdom.”
MILLICENT: Millie leaves.
STORY: Where does Millie go?
MILLICENT: Millie goes first to Tueller’s therapist.
STORY: She’s friendly and happy to meet with you.
MILLICENT: “Hello! My friend is offering triple your annual salary to come into space and have one primary patient and probably a half dozen secondary ones.”
STORY: “Wh–”
STORY: Roll FA + Influence
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6
STORY: josh rolled 9
STORY: She looks at you skeptically. “And leave my patients here? For what, Tueller?”
STORY: “You know what, fine. If he gets paroled and you can deliver on that salary, fine. I’m with you.”
MILLICENT: “I can do that!”
MILLICENT: Millie visits Sergio.
STORY: Sergio got a plot of land with a stream on it and has become a crawfish-like-creature magnate.
STORY: He offers you one, steamed.
STORY: “Hello, beautiful,” he greets you.
MILLICENT: Millie takes a bite of crawfish like creature first.
MILLICENT: Any good?
STORY: Sure!
MILLICENT: Millie nods. “Better than I thought.”
MILLICENT: “Hello, Mr. ’Ndràngheta.”
STORY: “What can I do for you, Millie?”
MILLICENT: “I need you to recant your testimony, Mr. ’Ndràngheta.”
MILLICENT: “For starters, it’s a lie.”
MILLICENT: “Following that, it’s well unethical.”
MILLICENT: “I’m sorry, I’m usually punchier, but I’ve got a lot to do and I’m dealing with therapized versions of people I know.”
STORY: Sergio looks at you. He cleans his tooth with his tongue.
STORY: “I ran into Tueller sometime… last year.”
STORY: “Long time ago.”
STORY: “He didn’t want to talk about it.”
STORY: “I did. His loss.”
MILLICENT: “Do you want to talk about it now? With me?”
STORY: “Not particularly.”
STORY: “No offense. You’re not CJH.”
MILLICENT: “Fine.”
MILLICENT: Millie heads back to the therapist and arranges for a special group therapy session.
MILLICENT: Sergio, Tuller and herself.
STORY: She’s willing to set that up. Tueller, do you attend?
TUELLER: Sure!
STORY: Somebody name this therapist please.
TUELLER: Margarita Bolano.
TUELLER: “Alright, who has the conch?” Tueller says, relaxing in his chair.
STORY: Bolano gestures to you, Tueller, “Sounds like you.”
TUELLER: “Well, I kind of feel like it should be Millie, since she has clearly undisguised ulterior motives for us being here, but since we’re here anyway, Sergio, you were right when we talked last. I do owe you an apology. It is ridiculous that we dueled in college, and it was wrong of me to cut off your hand. I do sincerely apologize for that.”
STORY: Sergio looks genuinely confused.
STORY: “Y–”
STORY: “Okay.”
STORY: “…Damn it.”
TUELLER: “And I apologize for that scar on your face as well.”
STORY: He shakes his head, disbelieving.
TUELLER: “I should have chosen a less disfiguring way of defending myself.”
TUELLER: “It was petty and cruel and I apologize.”
STORY: Sergio takes a long moment, then exhales.
STORY: “I guess… okay. I guess I owe you an apology for trying to fuck you over every chance I got too.”
TUELLER: “We were both pawns in other people’s games, thinking that we were doing the right things for ourselves.”
STORY: Sergio barks a rueful laugh. “‘Were.’”
TUELLER: “Were. We’re off the board. We were sacrificed.”
STORY: “Not all of us get a clean slate if we get out of this, Tueller.”
TUELLER: “Our slates will never be clean.”
STORY: “Look, you and I both know there’s something more I ought to be saying here.”
STORY: “Only I can’t.”
STORY: “I ever get out of here and your sister finds out I changed my tune, I lose the other hand and probably my tongue and all my cousins and three toes for the trouble.”
STORY: “If I survive her at all.”
STORY: “So help me figure out what to do here, Tueller. I want to do right by you.”
STORY: “You don’t belong in here. Or maybe you do, but not for the reasons you’re here.”
TUELLER: “I’m not asking for anything. This is all Millie’s doing.”
MILLICENT: Millie waves.
MILLICENT: “I have ulterior motives.”
STORY: Bolano looks confused. “Tueller, is he saying he has testimony that will clear you?” 
TUELLER: “Margie, I assume so, but I don’t know what it is for sure.”
STORY: Sergio pinches the bridge of his nose.
STORY: “I don’t know what to do here, Dr. Bolano.”
STORY: Who wants to make this roll?
MILLICENT: This ain’t mine to make
TUELLER: Sure.
STORY: Face Adversity + Influence please
STORY: Good luck!
TUELLER: /roll 2d6
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 9
STORY: Millie, are you helping?
STORY: Or just letting it ride
MILLICENT: I think she’s helping
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6
STORY: josh rolled 10
STORY: Get Involved + Influence
STORY: Nice
STORY: Bolano looks over at Tueller, considers the work he’s done in this past year. Looks at Millie, who organized this conversation.
STORY: “Sergio, it’s time to come clean.”
STORY: He looks at Tueller a long time. Then, finally:
STORY: “Can you ever forgive me?”
TUELLER: Tueller gives it serious consideration. “I believe so. I can. Yes.”
STORY: Sergio offers his good hand.
TUELLER: Tueller takes it and holds it.
STORY: In the coming days, Sergio recants his testimony and enters a form of witness protection in which it’s unlikely you’ll ever see him again, and Tueller’s murder conviction is overturned. Just as quickly, Tueller meets with his parole board for the comparatively minor charges he still has on his record and is released on probation, the terms of which we can pretty much assume. Stop criming in Ark space and you’re okay. Stay in therapy. Be a good boy.
STORY: And with that, just about one year after his conviction and imprisonment, Tueller finds himself standing onboard Peregrine’s cargo deck once again.
TUELLER: “Oh god, I hope I meant that sincerely.”
—
STORY: Two days after Ryo bids Millie and Calixta farewell, Esinam calls him into her office.
RYO: Ryo straightens his tie, fluffs his pocket square, and enters when directed to do so.
STORY: She’s got the lights on low. It’s past normal business hours, and she likes to keep things sedate. She pours you a drink and sets it before you.
RYO: He bows graciously and accepts it. “Thank you.”
STORY: She sits down and faces you squarely. “One chance to explain this, Ryo. I’ve been satisfied with your contribution up until now, so I hope you have a good answer for me. Why did you give Millicent Breedlove access to my systems and then see her securely back to her ship?”
RYO: He smiles thinly. Takes a sip and then says, “I owed her. I do not like to remain in anyone’s debt. She needed access to your supercomputer network.”
RYO: “I have now not only satisfied my debt to her, but she owes me. I prefer that reversal.”
STORY: Esinam thinks about this for a few seconds. “And what did she access?”
RYO: “An encrypted drive that she brought with her.”
STORY: “None of our data?”
RYO: “No. I made certain of that. You will, of course, check and double check. But you will find that none of our data was accessed.”
STORY: Let’s have Face Adversity + Influence
RYO: /roll 2d6+2
RYO: DicebotAPP 10:47 PM
RYO: @Ryo rolled 8 + 2 = 10
STORY: Esinam nods at you. “I will. But I think for now I believe you.”
STORY: “What’s your goal in this organization, Mr. Hanaka?”
STORY: “I know you were associated with my brother. And you know he and I are not on good terms. I would like to know if there is a betrayal in my future.”
RYO: He nods, solemnly. “I appreciate your directness. So I will follow your lead. I do care about Tueller. And the rest of the Peregrine crew. I would prefer they live, and I cannot be party to harming them. But, I have no intention of betraying you. To the contrary, my goal is to become your right hand. I want to help you not only retain your power and wealth but grow it.”
RYO: “I plan to become so useful to you, that you will gladly remove the kill orders on my friends.”
STORY: She smiles.
STORY: “I’m not quite ready to do that. But I see the path. I think you do as well.”
RYO: He raises his glass. “To a profitable and rewarding path.”
STORY: She raises hers in return. “To my potential, eventual, right hand.”
STORY: Clink.