STORY: “Captain, Dr. Breedlove wants to give me a robot arm.”
STORY: Battered, but still functioning, the Peregrine begins her journey to the edge of the Sol system and through the jump relays to your destination: The Ark.
STORY: It will be a long haul – about a week to get to the jump relay, then likely another two passing through the various jump points to get to the Ark. Using known pathways is drudgery, but it’s a lot safer than the alternative.
TUELLER: —The alternative is featured in the movie _Event Horizon_
STORY: Tariq has been watching over T’chololl’s recovery, doing his best to help her adjust to her new situation. The others settle down for a long trip, doing what they can to make Peregrine more like home. Jac repairs the damage to the hangar bay door, but isn’t able to get far with the attitude adjusters, which need to be repaired and recalibrated.
STORY: The food’s bland, the view’s boring, and you’re all stuck together for the better part of a month until you get to stretch your legs. Let’s do some Close Quarters rolls.
TUELLER: I’d like to talk to T’chololl.
STORY: All right! Roll dem bones.
TUELLER: (If we’re rolling, I think Tueller would also help out repairs, but we can do that later)
TUELLER: /roll 2d6
STORY: @Tueller rolled 10
STORY: all right! Tell me about how you bonded over this trip, and we can play it out if needed.
TUELLER: So Tueller is more intrigued and less sleazy with Loll than he was with Jenny, so I don’t have any solid ideas, but I’d like him to help her integrate into a human crew a bit more, but, umm, since he’s not really all that integrated into the human crew I don’t have a solid idea how to do that.
STORY: T’chololl is from a culture that values competition and performance above most other things, and she’s badly injured and weak from it. So I think sports are a good idea.
TUELLER: Tueller comes to Loll and asks her if she’d like a sparring partner to get back on her feet, so to speak.
TUELLER: Tueller also wants some insight on alien martial arts.
TUELLER: —-Cramped Quarters are basically Fiasco on a ship.
STORY: You find her reading an encyclopedia. Like, just in her lap, paging through it with a curious look on her face.
STORY: She regards you coolly, then nods. “I do not believe that with only two arms you will be able to perform Maitri martial arts, and I am no longer qualified to teach them to you, but I am interested in learning about human sport.”
TUELLER: “I’m not interested in performing Maitri martial arts, I’m interested in taking them on.”
TUELLER: “The first–and last–Maitri I fought didn’t last long enough for me to see his style.”
STORY: “Then I suppose you shall have to fight a Maitri.”
TUELLER: “Are you volunteering?”
STORY: She tilts her head. “I am not able to volunteer, Captain. I said you need to fight a Maitri.”
TUELLER: Tueller smiles. His charming one, not the shitty creepy one.
TUELLER: “Are you not Maitri?”
STORY: “No longer, no.”
TUELLER: “You look plenty Maitri to me.”
STORY: “Please do not insult the Maitri by saying so. I am Maraas, a true grey one.”
STORY: “I begged for my life rather than perishing with my people. I was bested by you and your comrades and I did not accept my fate. It is my shame to continue this life until I have shamed your mechanic sufficiently to die with honor.”
STORY: “I hope to rejoin my people in death, but I cannot be part of them again in life.”
TUELLER: “You do not sound thrilled by this, for damn sure.”
TUELLER: “I am no longer full Ya’Makasi, with the weight of the house behind me, and yet I will never stop being Ya’Makasi. It’s time for you to get off your ass and get back up to fighting trim whether it’s as Maitri or Mare-ass or whatever. This laziness is unbefitting a member of my crew.”
STORY: She smiles and punches you in the mouth.
STORY: It’s totally a sucker punch.
STORY: Came from one of the hands you didn’t even remember to keep an eye on.
STORY: Let’s roll Launch Assault and see how you do against her!
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: @Tueller rolled 4 + 2 = 6
TUELLER: —-ooof.
STORY: Within a few moves she easily takes you to the floor and pins you, holding your arms in a lock behind you with two hands as she clamps a hand on your mouth with another and holds your head steady with the fourth. Her knee digs into your back. You smell gasoline. “I told you you would be an insufficient challenge for me. Blink if you submit please.”
TUELLER: Tueller raises his eyebrow, and then blinks. His eyes are smiling.
STORY: She releases you and sits back, looking down at her chest piece. You see a trickle dampen her shirt. “I believe I am leaking.”
TUELLER: “As am I.” Tueller reaches up to his bleeding mouth. “May I assist you with that, as befits a defeated opponent, or would that further shame you?”
STORY: She presses on the chest plate. “Pursuit of knowledge is never dishonorable. Let us find the Mechanic and ask her how to… repair me.”
TUELLER: “Your jurus is very good.” Tueller gives a small bow.
STORY: T’chololl smiles at you. “I think we are going to be friends, Captain.”
TUELLER: —“jurus” is silat forms, btw.
STORY: — i was googling!
STORY: okay. Let’s go on to another Close Quarters scene… Millie? Alejo?
TUELLER: —silat form of “kata”
MILLICENT: —I’ll go
STORY: Okay!
MILLICENT: Do I roll first?
STORY: I mean, honor system, pick your person and roll. You don’t decide who you’re going to do a roll with once you know how it goes
STORY: it’s a fun risk!
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 Kahn
STORY: @Millie rolled 8
MILLICENT: Okay!
TUELLER: —Do we want to count that injury here, or should we assume my minor injuries heal by the time we get in dock?
MILLICENT: Millie asks Kahn to visit her in the med lab after dinner one evening.
STORY: — Everybody’s minor and major injuries will be healed by the time you get to the Ark
STORY: He does so, and arrives looking hesitant. “Something I can help you with?”
MILLICENT: Millie smiles brightly, “Nothing of the sort, Mr. Vespertine.”
MILLICENT: “Would you come in and have a seat?”
STORY: He narrows his eyes, glances around the room and back in the hallway, then comes in and pulls a round stool back towards one of the corners and sits.
MILLICENT: Millie pauses to consider her words, finally folds her hands in front of her as if in prayer, pointing them toward Kahn. “Mr. Vespertine.”
MILLICENT: “I feel terrible about your injury.”
STORY: He sighs and eyes the door.
STORY: “No harm,” he says, flexing his hand. You can still see the frostbite burns on the back of his hand and forearm.
MILLICENT: “No? Would you allow me to examine your arm?”
MILLICENT: “Briefly.”
MILLICENT: …
MILLICENT: “Please.”
STORY: “Tariq has– fine.” He holds it out.
STORY: Rolls up his sleeve.
STORY: It’s covered in more frostbite burns and scars, and the muscle mass is degraded. You suspect a bad sprain at the least, most likely some permanent functionality lost.
STORY: One thing’s for sure, he isn’t sniping anything anytime soon.
MILLICENT: “Thank you, Mr. Vespertine.” Millie makes some notes, sketching out a couple of illegible figures and numbers onto a pad.
MILLICENT: “When you first came on board, I believed many terrible things about you all. Captains included.”
MILLICENT: “I believed that a demonstration was necessary. I.” Millie pauses, looking up at Kahn earnestly. “I regret that my demonstration caused you harm, Mr. Vespertine.”
STORY: He looks at you coolly, doesn’t show anything about his feelings in his expression.
STORY: He takes a long moment, then rubs the bridge of his nose. “Dr. Breedlove, what are you trying to get out of this?”
STORY: “Why are you still with us?”
MILLICENT: Millie smiles.
MILLICENT: “That’s a good question, Mr. Vespertine.”
STORY: — remember the goal here is “reveal/discover the answer to their question about an aspect of yourself or your past.”
MILLICENT: “Do you know who the Raloi and the Tal-vashoth are?”
STORY: He shakes his head.
MILLICENT: “Ah, well. No reason you should. I have a fascination with Ark history.”
MILLICENT: “The Raloi and the Tal-vashoth entered Ark space within about a dozen standard years of each other.”
MILLICENT: “Two new alien races ready to join galactic civilization.”
MILLICENT: “The Raloi came from an almost Earth-like world. They were a little more technologically advanced than we are now.”
MILLICENT: Millie is making some measurements on Kahn now.
MILLICENT: “The Tal-vashoth live in nebula forests, vast stretches of organic life inside interstellar dust clouds.”
MILLICENT: “There is a fungus that grows on one type of these, well, space trees, that, it was discovered, has exceptional healing properties for 60% of Ark member species. And only the Tal-vashoth could access these trees to harvest this fungus.”
MILLICENT: “Within 50 years of their mutual approach of the Ark the Raloi were debt slaves and the Tal-vashoth had their first council member.”
MILLICENT: Millie’s measuring tape snaps closed.
MILLICENT: “The Raloi _sold_ their homeworld, Mr. Vespertine. At auction.”
MILLICENT: “I am still here with you because I won’t watch any of Sol’s planets _sold to the highest bidder_. And the crew of the Peregrine might help stop that happening.”
STORY: “That’s very noble, Dr. Breedlove, but I didn’t ask why humanity should fight for their place in the stars.”
STORY: He turns to you and makes very deliberate eye contact, something you realize then is very difficult for him.
STORY: “I asked what _you_ get out of this.”
MILLICENT: At a medium pace, expressionless. “I get a reason not to join my. Mentor.” There’s only a quick hiccup there. “I get a reason to go on.” Eyes up, meeting his. “Living.”
STORY: He looks at you with confusion, but doesn’t ask more.
STORY: After a long moment, “so… what about my arm, then?”
MILLICENT: Millie nods once. Swallows. “I believe I can give you back full mobility. I just need to make some. Modifications. And you’ll need to trust me.”
MILLICENT: She looks into his eyes, searching.
STORY: He raises an eyebrow. “Modifications like you did to T’chololl?”
MILLICENT: Seriously, “I can’t see why I’d need jet fuel this time. But. Yes.”
MILLICENT: “I can give you your arm back, Mr. Vespertine.”
MILLICENT: “It wasn’t mine to take and I’m very sorry.”
STORY: He looks at you for a long time, as if trying to figure something out. Then he takes a deep breath. “Will there be… will it be obvious?”
MILLICENT: Millie smiles encouragingly. “Mostly, no. I have a good amount of dermal layering.”
STORY: He nods. “Recovery time?”
MILLICENT: “You should be starting physical therapy by the time we get to the Ark.”
STORY: He clears his throat. “You cleared it with the Captain?”
MILLICENT: Millie laughs, “Which one?”
MILLICENT: “I’m sorry, Mr. Vespertine. I’m happy to talk to Mr. Ya’Makasi or Mr. Soto if you like.”
STORY: He doesn’t laugh. “Soto.”
MILLICENT: “Of course. Is it a yes from you if it is from him?”
STORY: He nods, quietly.
STORY: — obviously a nod is quiet, bad writing jess
MILLICENT: Millie touches his shoulder lightly. “Thank you, Mr. Vespertine. I’ll check with the captain and let you know. I appreciate the chance to try and right my error.”
STORY: — why not check with him now?
MILLICENT: “Noma, would you ask Mr. Soto to join us?”
STORY: Alejo, you’re in your room when Noma clicks in. “Mr. Soto, you’re wanted in the med lab.”
STORY: — oh good, IRC goes nuts any time we say noma’s name. i’ll have to fix that
ALEJO: “Sure thing.” Alejo sets down his tablet, stretches, stands and heads to the med lab.
STORY: Kahn is in there with Millie. He looks uncomfortable. She’s holding his arm.
STORY: “Captain, Dr. Breedlove wants to give me a robot arm.”
ALEJO: Alejo’s eyes dart from Kahn to Millie and back again. “Ahh.” He smiles awkwardly. “Neat?”
STORY: “When do you need me?”
ALEJO: “I think we’re all locked down here until we arrive at the Ark.”
MILLICENT: Millie smiles hugely.
ALEJO: “Doc, you sure you can do this?”
MILLICENT: “If I’m honest, co-captain, my designs are more cyborg than robot, but yes. I’m sure I can give Mr. Vespertine back full mobility in his arm.”
MILLICENT: Millie gestures at her notes, “I intend to use his current skeletal structure, replacing a portion of his muscle mass with ultra-responsive nano-servos…”
MILLICENT: –and on and on
ALEJO: Alejo’s eyes widen a bit. He turns fully to Kahn. “Is this what you want?”
TUELLER: —THis is how the Borg got started
STORY: Kahn shrugs. “I’m not very useful to you right now, sir.”
ALEJO: Alejo softens and smiles warmly. “Kahn. Seriously? I’d take you at my side over anyone in any shape. This isn’t about use, brother. This is about what you want. It’s your arm.”
ALEJO: –We can play it out, but Alejo will support Kahn’s choice. He’ll be supportive and playful, but he’ll make sure he gives Millie several serious glances, indicating that he’ll be more than pissed if this gets screwed up.
STORY: Kahn eventually asks if he can think about it, disappears for a bit, and comes back to accept.
STORY: You don’t need to roll anything for this surgery, do you? Did I just introduce risk into poor Kahn’s fate?
STORY: Don’t kill my NPC, Josh.
MILLICENT: haha no worries
MILLICENT: “When using a medical facility, your Patch Up can be used to install prosthetics and perform surgical reconstruction on living beings. This treats critical injuries.”
MILLICENT: I just do it
STORY: Patch Up is a roll, bud
MILLICENT: Oh wait, unless
MILLICENT: Yeah unless that
STORY: Let’s see how it goes!
MILLICENT: Is that an Expertise roll?
STORY: “`PATCH UP (+Expertise)
STORY: When using appropriate medical supplies/tools to repair harm to people or machinery, Roll+Expertise
STORY: On a 10+, choose 1 from the list below.
STORY: On a 7-9, choose 1, but you’ve reached the limit of what you can do; you cannot re-attempt to Patch Up the subject for now.
STORY: • Treat a single minor, major or severe injury/damage
STORY: • Treat a malfunction or minor debility
STORY: • Stabilize a major debility
STORY: • Perform a medical/technical procedure
STORY: “`
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: @Millie rolled 5 + 2 = 7
MILLICENT: JESUS
MILLICENT: That was close
STORY: It’s a long surgery, Tariq assists.
STORY: You have to improvise a few times.
ALEJO: Alejo stands outside the surgery suite, pacing.
STORY: But in the end, Kahn emerges with a more or less fixed arm, and only two dime-sized bolts on either side of his forearm to show for it.
STORY: Alejo! Who would you like to Close Quarters with?
ALEJO: Jenny and Tariq. If I can.
STORY: Let’s pick one and save the other for later.
STORY: You guys will be traveling a lot, we’ll have plenty of time for these.
ALEJO: –Fair. I was just trying to mix it up. Jenny.
ALEJO: /roll 6d2
STORY: @Alejo rolled 10
ALEJO: Wait. That didn’t go right.
STORY: hahah
STORY: 2d6
ALEJO: /roll 2d6
STORY: @Alejo rolled 8
ALEJO: I liked my first one better.
STORY: Ok! Jenny is going to discover something about you.
ALEJO: Exciting!
STORY: She’s pretty timid for a few days, keeping to a schedule that no one has put her on.
STORY: She rises in the morning, exercises by jogging around the parts of the ship that no one sleeps in, does some body weight exercises, and is in the shower before anyone else gets up. She cooks herself a small breakfast, will make more and coffee for anyone else who gets up, and starts cleaning.
STORY: She must have done some kind of inspection of the ship during her first day aboard and has written up some kind of rota for what parts of the ship need to be checked on and cleaned.
STORY: She usually scrubs some deck or another until lunchtime, then eats, another small meal if she’s preparing it, whatever everyone else is having if someone else has cooked.
STORY: She takes an hour off after that, then spends an hour cleaning and maintaining her rifle and equipment. Afterwards, you’re not sure what the thing on her rota is, but you usually find her with some crew member, asking lots of questions. Maybe redundancy training, trying to understand everyone’s job? They mostly entertain her. Tariq and she get along well.
STORY: She helps with dinner – she’s friendly enough, though shy, so she mostly listens and laughs at everyone’s jokes and doesn’t get some of them.
STORY: In the evening she’s usually in her bunk. She participates in any sports that are going on, and none of the gambling.
STORY: When do you find time to chat with her?
TUELLER: —I’m curious as to how interacting with her is going to go with Tueller, next Close Quarters.
ALEJO: Early morning. Alejo gets up very early and greets her with a cup of coffee already made for her and a small breakfast cooked, whatever she usually likes.
ALEJO: “Morning soldier.” He raises the mug in a jaunty salute.
STORY: Just an egg and a small slice of vegetable cake, typically.
STORY: She smiles and adjusts her Erde-Maris Navy t-shirt. “Good morning, sir. You’re up early.”
ALEJO: “Figure I have to start keeping up. You’re quite the diligent crew member.” He slides a plate with an egg and a slice of vegetable cake neatly garnished to her.
STORY: She nods. “Thank you, sir. I always get up early, sir. Habit, I guess.”
STORY: “I don’t mean to make anyone else look bad.”
ALEJO: He smiles easily. “Insert cheesy line about how you no doubt have had a lot of experience trying to avoid that.”
STORY: She laughs. “Oh no sir, I was a terrible student.”
STORY: “I only look impressive h– shit.”
STORY: She blushes, her full face erupting pink.
STORY: “I mean, I’m sorry. I didn’t–”
STORY: “I just mean that as criminals I suspect you’re all less used to keeping a strict schedule.”
STORY: “I mean. That doesn’t sound good either. I’m sorry, sir.”
ALEJO: He prepares his own plate and fills a mug with black coffee. He turns at this and raises his laughs warmly. “Relax Jenny. I’m just teasing with you.”
ALEJO: “Alejo. Please. Call me Alejo.”
STORY: “Oh no, sir, I could never.”
TUELLER: FTR Tueller also regularly exercises around the ship.
ALEJO: “No one else seems to, but . . . sir just makes me seem so stodgy.”
STORY: “Kahn does.”
ALEJO: “Sometimes. He does indeed.”
STORY: “Sir– Alejo.” She sits down. “Do you mind if I ask… how you came to this line of work?”
STORY: “I’ve never been a pirate before.”
ALEJO: “Fun thought, right?” He takes a long sip of coffee.
STORY: She shrugs. “So far it’s like being a soldier on a dirtier ship.”
STORY: She smiles playfully.
STORY: — Tueller, you have most likely made meaningful eye contact across the cargo bay as you and Jenny wordlessly do your morning exercises
ALEJO: He laughs at this. “We definitely need to get you some better pirating experiences!”
STORY: — she is universally bashful about looking you in the eye.
TUELLER: —Tueller totally shows off excessively.
ALEJO: –Obviously.
TUELLER: —His favorite thing is to do pull-ups on the outstretched arm of the Gregor.
ALEJO: “So I’ll answer yours if you answer mine.” Alejo says this lightly, playfully.
ALEJO: It’s a statement. But his eyes are questioning.
STORY: She hesitates, looking a little nervous.
STORY: “What’s yours?”
ALEJO: “Why’d you stay? I mean, don’t feel like you need to lie about details of orders that you most certainly have from the Admiral. But orders aside. Or, was this just part of soldiering?”
STORY: A smile breaks out across her face, one she was trying to hold back. She straightens her posture. “Do you answer first or me?”
ALEJO: He nods shrewdly. “I’ll go first. Show of good faith.” His eyes are bright and curious.
ALEJO: “The work has been a part of my life since before I really remember, honestly. I came to it because there wasn’t anything else, really. Ever hear of the Roti dan Garam?”
STORY: She nods, listening intently. “The terrorist group in the Saturn colonies?”
ALEJO: He shrugs. “Terrorists? Freedom fighters? Criminals? I try not to be too judgey.”
ALEJO: He takes another sip of coffee. “Plus. . . they saved my life. And my sister’s.”
STORY: “Oh. Geez.”
TUELLER: —Jenny is super judgy.
STORY: — she has book learnin’!
STORY: “So.. they taught you to be a pirate?”
MILLICENT: —I just bought, among other things, one of those umbrella heaters they used to have in the back yard at Pete’s
ALEJO: “Well, no. Not exactly.” His voice is still playful, but his eyes have gotten more serious.
MILLICENT: —so, feeling pretty good
TUELLER: —Whoa. Fancy.
TUELLER: —I like how everyone is revealing their secrets only to NPCs.
ALEJO: “They used me and my sister for a very long time. Our parents were killed. Workers’ rights thing. Eventually, I got tired of being used and ran. Right into Tueller’s family. They,” he emphasizes this last word, “taught me to be a pirate.”
ALEJO: “Of sorts.” He adds nonchalantly.
STORY: “Huh.”
STORY: “So… you work for Tueller?”
ALEJO: Alejo laughs again. “Oh no. No. I mean, in his mind, I think everyone works for him. But no. We’re more like . . . or we were more like co-workers.”
STORY: “Were?”
ALEJO: “Pirates are notoriously fickle. You’ll learn.” He smiles again, stands, gets more coffee and refills her mug.
ALEJO: “We’re definitely still on the same side. But I don’t know exactly what I’d call us these days. But I don’t think we’re workers. At least not for his family anyway.”
STORY: “This all sounds very… informal.”
ALEJO: After he fills her mug, he fills his own again. “Yeah. All the best things really are. Your turn, I believe!”
STORY: “Oh. Um. Well, have you, uh. Heard of Raitt Nilsson?”
STORY: — you have. tell me about him! he’s someone you are for some reason aware of from a couple decades ago. known across the sol system.
ALEJO: Alejo bunches up his eyes, as if trying to recall how to do a calculus equation. “The guy who invented nanites? Those micro, robot things?”
STORY: “Popularized, but yeah. He’s my dad.”
ALEJO: He nods, impressed. “Wow.”
STORY: “I guess. Kind of hard to get out of the ‘Raitt Nilsson’s daughter’ bubble when you work for the navy he revolutionized.”
STORY: “So… I mean. You guys are going somewhere where no one’s heard of him. Hard to turn down.”
ALEJO: “Sure. Absolutely.” Alejo nods. “I can appreciate that.”
STORY: “I would.. if you could not tell anyone about that I’d appreciate it.”
ALEJO: He raises his mug. “Of course. Thanks for confiding in me.”
STORY: She nods. “Gotta make friends in this new Just Jenny world.”
STORY: Ok! We all know each other a little better. Let’s get to the Ark and if we have time do some quick Barter/Acquisition rolls.
TUELLER: Woot!
STORY: I’m going to need some help from you boys on telling us what the Ark looks like. Here’s what we start with: The Ark is so named because it is a space station that was built from, literally, welding together five gigantic Ark-class ships from various civilizations. It is located where it is because that’s the spot the first two civilizations encountered each other and decided to peacefully meet. As other civilizations found this place, likely due to some kind of complex mathematical issue that made it a more commonly encountered safe jump zone channel, they built onto the initial structure, and added, and added, until they had a massive space station, floating delicately through open space, unmoored to any particular gravitational orbit and cobbled together from the five massive arks and dozens of smaller ships.
MILLICENT: —wife, did you add Jenny Says to the Peregrine soundtrack in honor of our newest crewmember?
STORY: — I did
MILLICENT: —appreciated
MILLICENT: Oooh, can I add a description to The Ark?
TUELLER: I definitely have things I want to add, but Josh, you go first.
STORY: The Ark is galactically ratified as a neutral zone – no one civilization may lay claim to owning it, and the facility itself is managed by an ever-rotating cast of diplomats and engineers from all the partner civilizations. Humanity was welcomed onto the Ark (but not yet onto the Ark council, though they are welcome as delegates) three dozen years ago.
STORY: It is equal parts an intergalactic diplomatic safe zone, gargantuan market, and home to members of all known races.
STORY: Tell me what else.
MILLICENT: Some ships are simply too large or unwieldy to dock with The Ark, so some time ago, no one remembers when, these ships started an orbit around the station and sent shuttles in lieu of docking. The number of unwieldy ships grew until now the Ark is perennially surrounded by an orbiting mass of interstellar ships, called The Ark Ring.
TUELLER: (I was going to go with Ringworld as well!)
MILLICENT: —haha sorry, bud
TUELLER: —Naw, I got more to riff off with that)
STORY: The Ark has a limited number of docking ports, and they are coveted. Most crafts have to join the Ring and wait for a shuttle to transport them in.
TUELLER: The Ark system of wormholes does not exist around any natural star, so centuries ago, a massive project was put into place to artificially create a small star for the system to orient itself around. It is the size of a white dwarf, but artificially induced so it burns with the light of a young Sol type star. This provides power to the system.
STORY: That side of the Ark is completely covered in solar panels, and you realize it likely also runs on a tridubidium system.
STORY: The star is powered by regular, mandated donations of nuclear fuel from each participating civilization.
TUELLER: There are no obvious weapons, which is, in its own way, even creepier than a lot of weapons.
ALEJO: Once onboard the Ark, the convoluted, interpenetrating layers of the lower decks are dizzying. Newcomers usually need to hire guides to help them navigate the public and private places.
STORY: Ark guide is an honored role for many young members of Ark civilizations to take as they pursue their dreams of becoming a merchant or diplomat’s aide aboard the Ark. Some graduate to positions higher up in the Ark bureaucracy, but most eventually take positions aboard visiting ships and depart.
STORY: It’s the NBC page of intergalactic internships.
TUELLER: There are different neighborhoods set to different levels of gravity, from approximately 1.5 earth gravity, down to .25 earth gravity in others, to accommodate many races.
TUELLER: Standard gravity is about .75 earth, though.
STORY: In addition, food generation is mostly sectioned off – the carbon-based lifeforms tend to eat separately from the lithium and silicon based civilizations, simply because this segregation helps the food providers cut down on shipping costs.
STORY: This means one is more likely to see members of their own race if they don’t make an effort to explore the areas of the Ark that are less specialized to cater to them.
TUELLER: How big is the Ark? Like, multiple cities? A planet’s worth of space? A small city?
STORY: Aside from the Merchant’s Quarter and the government and embassy promenade, the Ark houses a gigantic casino and dozens of hotels surrounding it. It’s known as the prime location for any major sporting event and has an arena built to house whatever field is necessary for the competitions.
STORY: I would say it’s the size of a small moon, with bits missing from where the ships didn’t fit together exactly.
STORY: Let’s pick a thumbnail we like
STORY: 1: https://dncache-mauganscorp.netdna-ssl.com/thumbseg/72/72952-bigthumbnail.jpg
STORY: 2: https://evetravel.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/2010-03-29-02-49-50.jpg?w=300&h=187 https://evetravel.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/2010-03-29-02-49-50.jpg?w=300&h=187
STORY: 3: https://english.eve-guides.fr/images/citadel_11.png
STORY: 4: https://evepics.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/hnundocking-amarr-shuttle.jpg
STORY: 5: https://images.mmorpg.com/images/galleries/formatted/492007/a3ebc0bb-541b-4387-a8b2-d09a898d293f.jpg
STORY: Or none of these, and we imagine it in our minds.
TUELLER: I’m a fan of 3 and 5.
MILLICENT: 3
ALEJO: 3 works for me.
STORY: 3 it is!
STORY: Have any of you been to the Ark before?
ALEJO: Alejo has not been, though he has a close acquaintance who has lived there for eight years.
TUELLER: Tueller has not. This is his first time out of the system.
MILLICENT: Millie went once, with her mentor, to present his findings and have his hopes dashed.
STORY: It’s a breathtaking sight. You’re going to have to dock in the Ring and wait for a shuttle, which will be a day or two, then decide who’s staying behind and who’s going on the field trip.
TUELLER: In terms of Tueller’s Acumen ability (tell economic facts about a place when you first arrive) does the Ark count as one place, or are there multiple competing places?
TUELLER: (Also, is the Ark the type of place we walk, or are do we drive?)
STORY: You take a shuttle to where you’re going, and there are public transport options to get from one quarter to another, and if you can afford it you can rent a shuttle car
STORY: You can afford it, but it limits your travel group to 4.
ALEJO: — Alejo, Tueller and Millie need to go. I think.
STORY: Alejo, who from the crew is going, who’s staying behind?
STORY: Millie, are you bringing Noma with you?
MILLICENT: In my visor, yes.
ALEJO: — Jenny will come. Kahn and Jac will stay with the ship as will the T’chololl and the rest.
STORY: Jenny is going to accompany you as a bodyguard, then
ALEJO: Muscle. Yeah.
ALEJO: No offense, Tueller.
STORY: Kahn is unhappy about this, but you can tell he’s happy to ease into the new arm thing.
MILLICENT: Ooh, how’s the arm?
STORY: Stiff, but working. He’s getting the hang of it.
TUELLER: https://i.imgur.com/A3pSzxm.gif
ALEJO: That’s why. Alejo will give him gentle teasing but make sure that he understands.
STORY: Tariq is helping with physio
TUELLER: (The Hulk is Tueller, in this instance)
ALEJO: –Haha.