Turns 4.4 - 4.6 "Giving Chase & Electronic Surveillance" Dr. Lugwig suddenly snapped out of a stint of indecision to find himself falling to the floor. At first there were so many curious things going on he wasn't sure which way to turn. After hearing the gunfire Lugwig's mind quickly sharpened. "My friend'sss might be hurt, mussst lookie lookie." As fast as his T'sa legs and dexterity could carry him, Lugwig ran toward the Main Engineering area looking for any fallen comrades. Nola had thought to herself during the mess of zero-g, "How the heck was I supposed to know what was going to happen?" She cursed herself and Akers, too, for forcing her hand and making her take the shot. Knowing time was being lost if she pondered her situation any more, she shouted, "Dimitrio shut the lights off! Shut them back off!" Dimitrio was just about to say something ironic about the gravity and all when he heard more desperate orders coming from Nola. He saw the t'sa zip past him almost heading into him as he went back into the control room, yelling all the time, "Alright, I'm going. I'm going. Hold on a second..." "What happened in here?" exclaimed Alex, even as Cal started feeding him reports. He took it all in through his ears: the gunshots, the wounds, the falls. It was a drama unfolding before him. As Nola got up to give chase, she called to 'Dig', saying, "Jake follow me, he must be going to the airlock, get him!" Jake had hit the ground like a sack of spuds, instinctively going into a combat roll, and apparently not too well, and had silently thanked his Maker that gravity had come on just in time. Yeah, it hurt like hell to hit the deck so hard, but it was a damn site better than losing one's gonads to that freak's laser pistol. Coming out of his combat roll, he heard the two shots as Akers dashed away. Fortunately they were wild, so he grabbed his rifle and got to his feet, looking toward Nola. And, off she went after Mr. Freak-Eyes. Jake gasped at her wounds and quickly leaped for her. "Whoa, Nola, hold your horses," he urged her, just catching her arm before she could start toward the door, "He's not going anywhere fast. The only ship just left, remember. Let's see if one of the computer geniuses can track him rather than us running headlong into a laser tag party, OK?" "Besides," he added with a note of concern, "You're hurtin' lady. Hey, Doc! Get your scaly butt up here, we've got wounded, yesssss?" "Oh no, bad yessss, ssstay ssstill Lugwig fixey fixey", yelled Lugwig over the hum of the room. He reached into his pack with both hands and pulled out the trauma pack and the anesthetic. With remarkable speed and agility, Dr. Lugwig began to treat his patient, taking only a small glance at Nola's front teeth. ---------- In the meantime, Alex moved back toward the engineering control room... "Dimitrio! Zach!" he called, sliding back through the mechanical doors. "Can you track this guy through the station? Is there a record of the doors opening or something?" He knew little about the computers on the station beyond how to operate the more simple tasks and those that dealt with the hangar. Once in the control room, Dimitrio had begun to shut off the emergency lights as told while explaining to Zach, "I think someone is hurt and they are definitely having problems out there." He continued on with his mad rambling, "Why is it that I don't have my gun, eh? I mean, I'm a full-fledged Concord citizen but no, no guns. What about if something like this happens, eh? Who takes care of me, the security, eh? Fat chance. All I ever get from them are orders and not even thanks for doing what they tell me. You know what? I'm going to keep my gun next time I find it, and I don't care what they say about it..." Standing next to him, Zach vaguely heard Dimitrio's words, not really following the Nariac's ranting, as he focused on the world of the Grid. When Alex stepped back into the room and asked for a surveillance check, he definitely heard that, though... "I can't get a record of all doors in the station," he called out, keeping his eyes closed as he communed with the computer-world, "The system's not set up that way. There are really only certain doors that are monitored. They're all security checkpoints. I should be able to get access to a camera, as well as the internal security logs for whoever passes through them." He logged back into the engineering system and sent a request to the security station to monitor important doors and access hatches in the nearby vicinity. "I've got nothing here...," he called out, "No security-checkpoint hatches have been opened in the past few minutes...no lifts are currently moving...and the airlocks are all sealed...no...wait...uh-oh, that looks bad..." An image came to him inside the whirling sphere of multi-colored lights, an image from the security camera at the airlock on Level Five, the Hangar Deck. There was a person lying on the floor. He couldn't see the face or upper torso, just a pair of legs hanging out of the airlock. The person was dressed in a tan jumpsuit and wearing a pair of standard-issue boots. The alarming thing was the dark red pool of blood all around on the floor. "There's someone down at the airlock in the Hangar Bay...not the bay doors, but the airlock itself. They look really hurt...probably dead," he told them, his hands trembling a bit as he fought down his stomach's urge to give up its dinner. Zach wasn't sure of all that was going on, yet, but one thing was for sure... he wasn't going to find out much more from here. And he really didn't want to stare at the image from the security camera any longer than he had to. He disconnected and said, "I've got to get to comm-central. It's the only way I can complete anything that might help us. Let's try to help catch that Akers guy and find out what he knows and then get out of here. With gravity back, someone will know we are here and probably come looking." He reeled in his wires to his gridcaster and looked about nervously. Both Alex and Dimitrio could tell that Zach was uncomfortable and they could see in his eyes that there were many other places he'd rather be than trying to save the station. He started to rock back and forth a bit, obviously impatient and worried that something worse might be happening on the station than a renegade engineer...people were being murdered. ---------- Meanwhile, in the Main Engineering Chamber... Nola impatiently waited as the good doctor finished applying something for the pain, and wrapped a curative bandage around her lower leg. Finally, she pushed herself up and toward the door. Her face grimaced as the movement sent pain lancing to her head from her leg wound, the anesthetic not quite having had time to do its work yet. Her heart pounded as she began to give chase, knowing that chasing people was always folly, but she knew that she had backup, and catching this man was important. Ducking just outside the door she turned right and looked at the access panel. For the second time in just a few seconds, Jake hit the ground like a sack of spuds, trying to reach for her. Groaning, he watched her lithe figure zip off after Akers. "Nola, stop!" he shouted. Then he got to his feet and took off after her. Remembering too many horror stories from the veteran drill instructors of marines who had run into ambushes because they hadn't taken the time to look over the ground or be careful, he shook his head. Rookies... Seeing the access panel to the ladder just around the corner, Nola's eyes widened as she realized it was gaping open. So...the engineer was heading for the the Hangar Deck? She stuck her gun-hand down the shaft, pulled the trigger twice, and then looked down. The shots ricocheted against the sheet metal and ladder, but nothing else. "Damn it," she thought, "Nothing. The headstart must've given him enough time to reach the bottom." She looked down at her leg again and then back at the ladder, unsure if she'd be able to navigate it with the gravity restored. Lugwig would probably advise her against it, she knew. Coming up behind her, Jake skidded to a halt, thinking she would have raced down the hall, and surprised to find her standing there instead. "Whoa!" he grunted, bumping into her slightly, then helping to keep her steady as she wobbled on her bad leg. "He's gone... probably on the Hangar Deck," Nola said, leaning heavily on him and finally pointing toward the access shaft and the ladder. Suddenly the station lights flickered out, as Dimitrio successfully issued the command to the engineering control station. The rest of the group began to shuffle out into the hallway behind Jake and Nola. Lugwig was there first, his reptilian head twitching back and forth like a salamander to look both ways. Then Alex, Dimitrio and Zach came through the door as well. "Jake , Nola, hold it up there," Dimitrio said, "We got him in the dark wherever he is and if we walk around to the security office, I can probably shut down all the checkpoint doors on him. That would keep him out of most places. He won't be going nowhere important anytime soon. So, where's my gun? I want my gun, man and I am keeping it, OK? I ain't going loony hunting without a gun, no sir. C'mon Dig, go get my gun, man." Of course, all the guns were stored up one level on the Crew Deck, Jake knew... and only two people had the key to the weapons locker... the Station Commander and the Security Chief...where were they? -------------------------------------------------- ---------- Turn 4.4 - Turn 4.5 Comments ---------- -------------------------------------------------- 1. Lugwig has successfully treated Nola's wounds, requiring a complex skill check that took up a couple of rounds. As a result, her wounds have been totally removed (in game terms). She and Jake are still suffering from minor stun damage, however. Given another opportunity, Lugwig could probably remove that as well...but I thought it would add a bit of suspense and tension to have them at least start to give chase. If anyone wants to stop for further treatment, feel free to do so with your next action. Nola, as far as the removal of your wounds go, there is still some pain (so please roleplay it that way), however nothing that would affect you in game terms. 2. Nola fired two shots down the second access ladder, bringing her total ammo down to 11 (max. 15) in her current clip. 3. Zach was able to send inquiries to the security control station in order to get a view of the current camera angles. He won't be able to issue commands to change their angle unless he visits the security stations themselves (i.e., you're still only able to issue inquiries, not commands... to do that, you need to visit each station individually, or head up to the main station computer on Level One). 4. Dimitrio was able to shut down all of the flourescent lights once again. The red-lamp emergency lighting automatically kicks back on, in response to any loss of normal station-lighting, though. So, you're back to low-light conditions again...not complete darkness. To disable ALL of the lights would take a lot longer...and several successes to override all the safety lockouts. Should you wish to invest that much time in attempting it, please let me know... 5. Just to keep things running well, I'm curious as to how each of you feel about the game so far. Is the pace about right? Is everything proceeding the way you expected? If not, please let me know so I can make adjustments along the way. Thanks. 6. Next actions? -- Neil Neil I'm confused, for access to the cameras do we go to: a) Compartment 1. Comm Pit b) Compartment 17. Security Office c) Compartment ?. Other? And are the guns stored in: a) Compartment 16. Master-at-Arms' Quarters b) Compartment 17. Security Office c) Compartment ?. Other? As to Q5. everything seems to be doing fine at the moment. Except you're allowing other people's interactions to interrupt actions, and then you let the actions proceed. (BTW I was away from Friday to Monday and I would have told you that Nola ignored Dig and Doc to have some shots at Akers, but thems the breaks) An aside here: having Nola's wounds tended to and then she fires bullets down the ladder is rather ludicrous. :) Anyway, as I can't seem to suggest anything better except for me to write back with my modified actions, don't change your style. Things are going really well. Thumbs up! :) -- Jamie I'm enjoying myself, even not knowing the system. I think everyone is doing a great job with their characters. I like the posts as well. -- Rich So far I'm enjoying the game, despite doing the upside ballerina thing in null-g. The annoyances of having things happen that weren't stated or planned are just part of the dice rolls, or they advance the story line in some way, so I really don't mind. The pace seems about right, given the situation. I assume we will get in situations where the pace is slower (extended combat rounds) and faster (role-playing situations or those where the story needs to move along). A definite thumbs up and an attaboy! -- Paul Game has been great so far! You are doing an excellent job putting our posts together and advancing the story. I would appreciate more 'guidance' on our responses. I know we are free to do anything but a small guidance would help if it can be set forth. -- Fabian I'll go ahead and take a moment to answer a few of these out-of-character questions, just so everyone understands. This isn't Neil trying to be heavy-handed or anything. I just thought it might be good for us all to discuss the game out-of-character a bit. Mostly, I just want everyone to understand the reasons behind the choices that I've made so far... and also to go ahead and provide you some additional information that your characters would know. Part of the difficulty of this particular scenario is that your characters are supposed to begin with a reasonable "working" knowledge of the station layout. Some of you have been on-board longer than others, so I tried to include as much background as I could in your starting information emails... Even so, I knew I wouldn't be able to explain everything to you right away (Information overload! Aaaaaghhh!), so I thought I'd bring some of that stuff to light along the way... Of course, I also urged everyone to ask me questions regarding their starting information if there was something else they felt their character should know. Some of you took advantage of that opportunity... others didn't... but that's okay. I knew I'd be providing some of this info along the way, regardless... [Jamie/Nola:] Neil I'm confused, for access to the cameras do we go to: a) Compartment 1. Comm Pit b) Compartment 17. Security Office c) Compartment ?. Other? What I've been trying to get across to everyone is that any workstation can "inquire" on the status of another...but to actually manipulate one workstation (i.e., modify the settings, change something) from another is not possible, except in the case of the main station computer (located on the Command Deck, in compartment 3) and the Secondary Command station (located on the Defenses Deck, compartment 26) but only once it is brought online, which must be done from the main computer (compartment 3, again). There are three places where the security cameras could be "controlled" from... however, any workstation on-board can at least access the cameras for their current "view". Workstations are located on the Command Deck, in Engineering Control, the Hangar Ops Office, the Security Office, and Secondary Command. If you want to manipulate (i.e., directly control and not just "view") the security systems, you need to go to compartment 17 (the Security Office) or compartment 3 (the Command Deck). Again, there are also the Secondary Command workstations in compartment 26, but these cannot be brought online unless directed to do so from the main computer on the Command Deck (compartment 3, again). Lastly, I want to explain about the "other" computer system that is NOT connected to the station's main computer. That system would be in the Comm Pit (compartment 1), and it contains all of the specialized equipment for controlling the drivespace relay satellites in orbit about the spacestation. These are BIG computers and take up a lot of room and horsepower. They crunch all of the data packets being routed across the galaxy, translating them, encoding them, sorting them, etc. This system is ultra-secure and proprietary to the ComTech Corporation in accordance with Concord laws which regulate tampering with the "mail". They CANNOT be interfaced with via any workstation other than those in the Comm Pit (compartment 1). And are the guns stored in: a) Compartment 16. Master-at-Arms' Quarters b) Compartment 17. Security Office c) Compartment ?. Other? Believe it or not, the guns are kept in compartment 16 (the Master-at-Arms' Quarters). They are inside a weapons locker maintained by Rieger Bloch, Chief of Security. The locker is very secure with a bioelectric scanner built-in to the mechanism. The only people that carry the appropriately encoded keys are the Station Commander, Brian Rouen, and the Chief of Security, Rieger Bloch. [Rich/Zach:] I'm enjoying myself, even not knowing the system. I think everyone is doing a great job with their characters. I like the posts as well. I would agree wholeheartedly. All of you guys are doing a great job of posting. The depth and detail that you're putting into them really helps me as a GM to understand your characters better. Of course, from time to time, I misinterpret some things. When that happens, let me know that I'm off-base with what you intended and I'll try to put things right. [Hai/Alex:] Having much fun. Still don't know the system. School sucking me dry. Can't talk complete sentences. See you all on the station. Hang in there, Hai! Thankfully for me, school is over. But I can still empathize with you. As a side note, any time real life situations come up that will take you from the game... or slow down your response time... just let me know and I'll hold back posting a turn summary for a little while longer. But even if you do miss getting a stated action into the next turn, don't sweat it... I'm not going to kill you off suddenly or anything. Of course, if you miss a whole bunch in a row without telling me ahead of time... then we might have to do something about it. Just FYI for everyone... [Paul/Jake:] OOC: So far I'm enjoying the game, despite doing the upside ballerina thing in null-g. The annoyances of having things happen that weren't stated or planned are just part of the dice rolls, or they advance the story line in some way, so I really don't mind. The pace seems about right, given the situation. I assume we will get in situations where the pace is slower (extended combat rounds) and faster (role-playing situations or those where the story needs to move along). A definite thumbs up and an attaboy! Thanks, I'm glad that everyone seems to be enjoying the game overall. And Paul hit the nail on the head with respect to the die rolls sometimes fouling up your stated actions. I do my best to incorporate what you guys plan to do... but I still make some die rolls for you to determine how well you pull it off. The zero-gravity debacle was definitely meant to inconvenience you guys. It's part of the overall adventure, and once it's finished, perhaps it will give everyone a reason to buy the skill? I especially like Jake's continuous and inward cursing of the Concord Marines for not providing the training yet. That makes for great roleplay. Even so, when I assisted everyone in character creation, I did make it a point to have at least a few of you invest in the zero-g training skill. After all, I didn't want *everyone* floundering around... or this first combat could have been your last. For the moment, the zero-g imbalance serves to give everyone an opportunity to participate...and hopefully, it should encourage teamwork. If the non-combat guy knows zero-g, but he's not so good at shooting... and the combat guy has a great rifle skill, but no zero-g training... well, they obviously need to work together to overcome their obstacles. It makes for good roleplay. And it makes for a good story. In my opinion, at least...but that's just me. As for the pace of the game, it is a little slow right now. Some of you guys are still getting your feet wet with understanding the Alternity universe. In addition, you're still learning more about the Kendai station as we explore it together. Lastly, you still haven't quite figured out what's going on yet. As such, the pace is going to be a little slow at first while you absorb some of the answers to all of that. Once some of those answers are discovered, the pace is definitely going to pick up. Even during combat. The first encounter with Akers was just an opportunity seized by your GM to let you experience such a situation early on and see how everyone reacted (of course, there's a story-reason as well). As we go deeper into the campaign and you are thrown into more combat situations, hopefully you will have learned a few lessons here...both in and out of character...with regards to how to overcome such a challenge. So, live and learn... :) -------------- [Note: I thought about addressing this particular concern individually with you, Jamie, but as I wrote my response, I concluded that everyone else could probably benefit from my explanation as well. I hope you don't mind...] [Jamie/Nola:] As to Q5. everything seems to be doing fine at the moment. Except you're allowing other people's interactions to interrupt actions, and then you let the actions proceed. (BTW I was away from Friday to Monday and I would have told you that Nola ignored Dig and Doc to have some shots at Akers, but thems the breaks) An aside here: having Nola's wounds tended to and then she fires bullets down the ladder is rather ludicrous. :) I understand what you're saying. In fact, I started to just say that Nola didn't continue the "chase" at all. With two wounds, her action check was suffering a penalty, so Jake and Lugwig certainly got to act first. Thus, 'Dig' caught Nola's arm before she hustled out the door, and Lugwig started fussing over her right away. I would have had that happen even if you had sent me an email between Friday and Monday, because of the way the dice came up for initiative. Nola might have desired to still go after Akers, but Jake would have at least slowed her down... and Akers would have been long gone anyway. Would you have fought against Jake and Lugwig to let you go after him instead of taking the treatment? I guess we'll never know... but, for me, and the overall story, I like how things worked out. It shows some relationships developing between the characters right now... they actually do "care" about one another. Even so, in the interest of the story, I decided to go ahead and use your additional actions (even though I allowed Jake to briefly interrupt them). I simply assumed that your next action, upon being healed, would be to at least take a look out the door. At that point, you would have seen the access panel gaping open. I just decided to have Nola go ahead and fire the weapon down the chute just in case Akers was climbing slowly with his wounded shoulder (who knows, you might have got lucky! ). Besides, I figured she might be pissed off enough at Akers to do that anyway. If I'm misinterpreting your character's personality... or interjecting too much... or assuming too much about your actions, let me know, and I'll certainly try to adjust myself accordingly. The same can be said for everyone else. If I'm ever misinterpreting how your character would act...certainly let me know that. At the very least, I won't make the same mistake twice, because I'll understand the character better. Anyway, as I can't seem to suggest anything better except for me to write back with my modified actions, don't change your style. Things are going really well. Thumbs up! :) Thanks. I appreciate the positive feedback. I'd like to encourage everyone to always write back with their modified actions (assuming you're not away on vacation or something, of course... we all have real lives to live, and I respect that). Keep in mind that I can really only go by what I've received from all the players when I write the next turn summary. Please don't hold it against me if I make a bad assumption as a result of not hearing back from anyone. It's hard to put all of these posts together in a sensible and believable way. Perhaps having Nola fire her gun down the ladder after being healed *was* ludicrous... my thinking was that it moved the story along by providing additional information rather than just stopping with her being healed and sitting on the floor. And, it gave me the extra bonus of being able to actually use what Jamie had already wrote up. I always try to include as much of what you guys write as possible. I hope that's okay with everyone... but, by all means, let me know when you've got a problem with my decisions. I'll be happy to explain my reasoning and discuss the alternatives at any time. Sincerely, -- Neil