Turns 8.5 - 8.6 "Trixie to the Rescue and Bring Out Yer Dead!" November 2, 2495...02:59:17 Zach apologized about his supposedly "lost" password to the security program which had adopted the form of a policeman. "I know sir," he replied, trying to look apologetic. "I already plan on having my lock changed as soon as I get to my apartment. Thanks for the info on Geneva Day." "But, hey, you said yourself that you're new here! Only a week, huh? Well, I guess we can cut you some slack," the officer answered, climbing out of his patrol car. His partner also got out on the other side and looked up and down the street. "But we probably ought to at least check your ID, first," the officer continued, "You got a travel visa on ya somewhere, buddy?" "Yeah, sure do", replied Zach enthusiastically. He reached into his pocket, and reached his hand in. Hopefully his shadow had been able to manipulate the system enough to give him at least the start of a visa. He didn't want to have to fight it out with the cops. That would make things so much harder. He moved his hand around and felt... nothing. Empty air. Getting nervous, he looked back at the officer, preparing to apologize again. And then he caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. Another person had just rounded the corner, evidently a simple citizen of the town. But not just any citizen... not by a long shot! The girl had curves that just wouldn't stop. And her outfit did everything to show them off. She wore a miniskirt that caught Zach's AND the policemen's eyes. Her shortsleeve blouse was tied off into a knot just above her midriff, and she had on fishnet stockings and a pair of heels that looked impossible to walk in. She strided confidently up next to Zach and turned to look at the officers. "Are you two... gentlemen... harrassin' this nice man?" she asked, her mouth in constant motion as she chewed some gum. She looked sideways at Zach and told him, "They're always harrassin' us workin' girls, ya know? Never leave us alone. Get off the streets, they say. Go home, they tell us. But we just go 'round the next corner... 'cause we gotta make a livin', right?" The officer that had addressed Zach before, straightened himself up and said, "Now look here, Miss. This is no time to be walking the streets. Geneva Day is almost here. There's no customers around for you anyway, so why don't you..." "I don't know 'bout that," the girl replied, sliding closer to Zach and pressing herself against him, "This fella might wanna bit of fun. Whaddya say, Mister? My name's Trixie. Are ya lookin' for a good time?" Zach stiffened as he felt the woman's hand slide into his pocket and then she winked at him. One of the officers pulled Trixie away and spoke angrily to her, "Now look here! We'll have none of that, Miss. We'll run you in right here for solicitation." "C'mon," the girl interrupted, "I was just foolin', ya know? I'm waitin' on Geneva Day like ever'body else. I ain't got no time to really give this fella the royal treatment." The girl winked at Zach again, then turned on her heels and moved to walk away. The policemen relaxed as they seemed willing to let her go. "Make sure you get back to your home," one of them called after her, "Get off the streets! Tramp." Zach heard him mutter the last word, but like the cops, he could only watch the girl's hips swaying as she proceeded down the street and out of sight. "So...ya got that travel visa, buddy?" The cop's words brought Zach's attention back to the matter at hand. He swallowed nervously, the strange visit by the hooker disappearing from his mind. He put his hands into his pockets again... and felt something. The girl. She had put something there. He pulled it out and held up a shiny new travel visa. "Well, I'll be damned...," he whispered, handing it over to the policeman. The two cops looked it over carefully and nodded, handing it back. "Make sure you're off the street in no more than ten minutes, citizen," one of them said, "And don't go looking for that girl or anything... or we'll have to run you both in. Understand?" -------------- Meanwhile...back in the Command Center... Alex continued to fret over his AI-companion, Cal, as she probed the station computer systems for any clues to what was happening. "Time isn't something we really have, Cal, but for this, I think it's important," Alex said, "Just run an automated search for the keyword 'Geneva' or anything with those letters in a different order. Give me the results by database and as they come up. I'll see if I can figure anything out from there on my own." He laid a hand down on the console in front of him, as if the feeling of something solid comforted him. "God help us if Akers has set up a bomb..." A couple of minutes passed and Cal hadn't found anything. "I'm sorry, Alex," she replied, "There doesn't seem to be any mention of the word Geneva in here at all. If your friend, Zach, discovered it in the proprietary communications system, that might be the best place to look. I'm sure he must be searching for the same thing. Hopefully, he's having better luck than we are... but I'll keep looking here, if you want?" Across the room, Nola looked perplexed as she looked at the "device" sitting in the lift-car. Fearing for her safety she reached around the corner and pressed the Level 2 button and let the elevator doors slide close and the car travel down one floor and stay there. Over the headset Nola called out, "Dimitrio do you know anything about bombs? If you do then why don't you check it out. I've sent it one level below, if it blows up then it shouldn't do a hell of a lot of damage." Dimitrio queued up his mike and replied, "I can't say that I know that much about 'em, Nola. But, Level Two's the Communications Deck, right? If it's a bomb and that thing goes off, you're gonna take out all of the expensive equipment we've been setting up on this station from Day One. It's whole purpose is to provide a relay point for drivespace communications, right? So, if you let that thing take out the computers on Level Two, we're gonna be in big ass trouble with the brass when this is all over. Not to mention, you'll probably wipe out Zach and Alex if they're still in there..." Nola paused and looked back toward Alex at the main station computers. Just over the edge of the catwalk, she could make out Zach's form still sitting motionless at the far edge of the Comm Pit. "Zach? Alex? How's that Geneva thing going? If you're about to do something then warn us so we can get away from the... 'bomb'." "Haven't got much on it, Nola," Alex replied, "I've set Cal to run an automated search for it through the databanks, but she thinks it'll run for a while before anything comes up. No word from Zach yet, either." Alex drummed his fingers on the console before him, tired of waiting yet completely on edge. Nola's mind switched gears as she tried to deal with two problems at once. Akers might still be on the loose, she thought. "Dig, check to make sure it's Akers down there," she urged, "Be careful as it may not be him that you shot. He was using a laser pistol before, not a charge pistol, remember? So this could be one of his friends rather than Akers himself." "Does anyone need me to do anything other than have the Communication area secured? Nola out." -------------- Down below on Level Three... Jake spoke into his comm while he kept his rifle trained on the attacker's figure, now lying in the hallway, "Well, did that box look like a bomb to you, Nola? If so, you might want to send it back down our way so Dimitrio can take a quick look at it. He's probably our best bet at figuring out what's inside that thing. We can get on the lift with it and take it down someplace less important... maybe the Hangar Deck? While we're down there, we can check out that body in the air lock, and see if Akers has any other loonies running around with him. Meanwhile, Doc and Repo can get these people to Sick Bay. Other than that, well, you're welcome to join our little party, if you want... or take my place, and I'll come up and guard the Command Center." Dr. Lugwig was happy that he had finally got the comm unit to fit his head. The temporary distraction was a welcome interlude from his current predicament. He had adjusted the comm unit to the proper frequency, listened to Nola's questions and Jake's response, then briefly said into it, "Misss T'Sssharn Lugwig alssso have no bomb knowledge, ssso hang-y tight. Misssterr Haldig and Missster Fontecelli are going to take care of bad humansss. I will let you know when coassst isss clear, sssafe, sssecure." Having said that the good doctor gave the one-claw-up sign to Dimitrio and Jake, and said, "Lugwig waitsss, yesss." He then turned back to his patients and checked their vital signs with his medical gauntlet. Dr. Lugwig noticed that the temperture was getting warmer and he thanked Ch'Nak for the welcome warmth. After making sure his patients were in the best shape they could be, considering the current events, he whispered quietly to Teri Reed, "Misss Reed, can you hear Lugwig? If you can hear Lugwig squeezey Lugwig'sss metacarpusss mitt. We in bad sssoup right now, but we workey hard to get you to Sssick Bay. You mussst hold on." Lugwig then shook his T'sa head at Repo wishing thigs could have been different for him and his friends. There was no response from Teri at all, the life support pack and other drugs, combined with her traumatic experience, had left her unconscious of her surroundings... though her vital signs were still strong and the increased warmth was certainly not going to hurt. Repo hovered worriedly over her and Dr. Lugwig. "Ssshould we move them yet?" the robot asked, deliberately using the sibilants that he had heard from Lugwig supposedly in an attempt to more properly communicate with the T'sa. Across the room, Jake motioned with his hand toward Dimitrio, indicating for him to move out through the bathroom door. The engineer nodded silently and slipped into the dark recesses of the tiny room that adjoined both Berthing Compartment Gamma and Alpha. It took him but a moment to bypass the other bathroom door, and he slipped into their original room. Everything was just like he remembered it... lots of low-light, red-glow emergency lamps... dark and shadowy... though thankfully, the restored gravity made it easier to navigate his way to the hall door. "I'm in place," Dimitrio whispered over his comm-unit. "I copy that," Jake replied, "Nola, we're moving up to check this guy out." Lugwig watched the big marine slip out into the hallway, his rifle poised at his shoulder, sweeping back and forth. Dimitrio also crept into his hallway, and both men quietly converged on the figure lying in the floor at the corner. When they got within ten feet or so, Dimitrio whispered again, "I can see his face. It's definitely Akers. His sunglasses fell off, and his eyes are open, and he's staring right at me, but he doesn't seem to be breathing. Kinda hard to tell in that environmental suit, though..." Jake moved closer and glanced at Dimitrio around the corner. Then, he stepped up and toed Akers with his boot. He didn't move and the marine pushed harder and rolled him over. A large pool of blood had collected under Akers' chest, and more of it rushed out of his suit as Jake moved his body. "Doc won't be savin' this one," Dig spoke into his comm, then looked back over at Dimitrio, and motioned with his chin, "Go help him move the injured. I'll handle this mess..." As Dimitrio slipped quietly back down the hallway, he could see Lugwig peering out of the door. He waved them toward Sick Bay, but moved in front to make sure the room was clear. It was, and satisfied that Doc could handle the rest, he moved back to Jake's side. "I found this," Dig offered, holding up the laser pistol, "It was empty. But look at these..." He pointed out two charge pistols, several clips of ammunition, and a bandolier of five fragmentation grenades. "This guy loaded up for war before he came back up here. Where the hell did he get all this stuff?" -------------- Meanwhile, back in the electron universe... Zach watched the police cruiser pull away from the curb and speed off. He slipped his new travel visa back into his pocket and looked off in the direction the girl had taken. Should he follow her? She'd helped him once. Maybe she could do so again? And who was she, anyway? He began to walk quickly down the street in that direction. He came to an intersection, and looked each way. Straight ahead, the road led off into a business district with lots of skyscrapers and office buildings. To his right, there was a street marketplace, silent and empty with several storefronts along both sides of the street. To his left, he could see a warehouse district of some kind next to a spaceport facility. Unlike the other two streets, this one appeared to have some activity. Once every so often, a starship would lift off from one of the landing pads in the distance and head off into the sky... and more frequently ships would come in for landings. "Now what could that represent in this kind of sculpted system?" Zach wondered, "Data transmission of some kind? I *am* in a communications computer. Perhaps the ships are the messages going out and coming in...?" He looked back down from the sky and the ship that was retreating into the stars, and was startled to see the girl again. She was about a hundred yards away and walking toward the spaceport at a brisk pace. "Now where's she going?" he wondered. -------------- Meanwhile, back at the main computer... Cal alerted Alex to at least one important discovery, "I've found something!" Data began to scroll across the screen. "No reference to Geneva Day... but Geneva was a place. It was the site of a major truce signed long ago to end a war that was fought on the Solar planet, Earth. In that time, man had not yet settled the stars. That particular war was the largest struggle mankind had ever faced in history at that time, affecting all of the known world." Cal paused as she continued to process the data faster than any human, and possibly even Mechalus, ever could. "I can see a lot of parallels between the Geneva 'truce' and the Treaty of Concord that the stellar nations recently signed to end the Second Galactic War. Perhaps there is a connection? What could it mean?" -------------- 1. I had only one taker on the opportunity to roleplay Jake 'Dig' Haldig, the marine. Everyone please welcome Dave to the group. His email address is: dtbb@earthlink.net. Please add him to your mailing lists. And let's give him every opportunity to work his way into Jake's persona. Dave, feel free to begin responding in-character... 2. Fabian/Dimitrio sent me an email letting me know that he would be unavailable for this turn summary, so I played his actions out for him. Thanks, Fabian, for letting me know what was going on. 3. Questions? Comments? Actions? -- Neil, DM Welcome Dave! I play the grounded pilot (not cuz I was bad or anything...) Hey Neil! Could I get a quick recap on the Concord Treaty? I still don't know quite what it was... Is there a site that I can find more info on the Alternity setting? -- Hai, Alex Welcome aboard Dave. Hopefully no Hurricane will blow you away as well! he he he I play the "take charge" woman of the bunch, Nola. (But then again I'm sure that you all call her the "bossy bitch") :). -- Jamie, Nola Thanks for the welcome everyone. Game looks great so far. Thanks for having me. -- Dave, Dig Everyone seems to have lots of questions... and that's a good thing as far as I'm concerned. I thought I'd go ahead and answer a few of them within this turn, rather than just answering it with the next turn summary... 1. Rich, you should have no problem catching up to 'Trixie' if you wish. She's walking at a brisk pace, so Zach will have to run... but, there's a lot of ground to be covered from where you and she are before you actually get to the spaceport. 2. Hai, I can't really suggest a website to visit for information on the Star*Drive Campaign Setting by Alternity. There is a hardbound book that TSR sells with all of the Star*Drive info in it. That's what I've been using to run the game from. To help you out, though, I'll have Cal explain a lot of the info contained in the book regarding the Treaty of Concord when I put together the next turn summary. For now, here's the info that Alex would definitely remember on his own, after all, a lot of this history concerns space combat, a topic near and dear to Alex's heart, I believe? :) The First Galactic War was started when the fledgling colonies of space broke their ties to Old Earth... it facilitated the formation of stellar nations such as the Thuldan Empire, VoidCorp, the Union of Sol, the StarMech Collective, the Rigunmor Consortium... just to name a few. The Union of Sol is the stellar nation that actually contains the planet of Earth... although it's badly overpopulated and resource poor at this point. The First Galactic War ended because everyone pretty much suceeded at gaining their independence from Earth. Earth had to recognize their sovereignity, and proceeded to form its own stellar nation, claiming those worlds that it still controlled in and around its solar system, and a few others as well (i.e., spoils from the war). The Second Galactic War broke out as the stellar nations jockeyed for position among the stars. Tensions were already high, when it was precipitated by a mutant uprising in a single star system. Certain stellar nations came to the defense of the mutants (notably, the Thuldan Empire), and certain others opposed them due to prevailing prejudice against mutants in general. Interstellar war ensued. Some stellar nations were consumed (such as the Dreth Commonwealth). Others (notably, the Thuldan Empire and VoidCorp) expanded greatly. In the end, resources were depleted and the war bogged down to the point that everyone knew it was pointless to continue fighting. They were quite simply exhausted. So, one stellar nation came forward (the Orion Leage) and suggested the formation of the Galactic Concord... a sort of interstellar United Nations... which would monitor all of the other stellar nations to ensure the peace was protected. All of the remaining stellar nations agreed by signing the Treaty of Concord, and they created a new stellar nation known as the Galactic Concord by donating star systems and resources along their borders. The Concord could then act as a buffer zone between rival stellar nations by becoming a neutral third party in every conflict. It's a lot harder to go and attack your former neighbor and life-long enemy when you have to cross the Galactic Concord's territory to do so... Even with that, the other stellar nations reluctantly agreed to the Treaty of Concord. They wanted to make sure they weren't creating another "Old Earth" scenario, so they put in lots of checks and balances to ensure that the Galactic Concord could never become a dictator. They retained control over everything within their borders, and Concord law holds little sway there. In addition, as the stellar nations continue to colonize frontier worlds, that national sovereignity extends to those new worlds as well. Of course, a lot of sentiment and bad blood is still left over from the war. Stellar nations do a lot of posturing and moving behind the scenes, and contest one another on the frontier all of the time. It's as if they are all taking a breather from the Second Galactic War in order to obtain the resources to prepare for the next one. And of course, the Galactic Concord is trying to casually manage the situation by playing them off against one another and keeping a careful eye on their activities. By making sure no one gets too far ahead, they can make sure the Third Galactic War never comes. And that's the situation you all find yourselves in today. 3. Dave, you are correct in assuming that the door to Berthing Compartment Beta would require a 'techie' to open (I might recommend Dimitrio as he seems to be having lots of success in that area lately). The station is basically still in a state of "security lockdown"...and everyone chose to leave it that way because Akers was still on the loose and you wanted to restrict his movement somewhat. Being dead, it looks like his movement has been severely hampered at this point, but no one knows for sure if he was acting alone or not. It's up to you guys if you want to "stand down" the security alert... and Alex, being at the main computer station, can control that from his current location with Cal's assistance. 4. Brian, power is certainly available in the Sick Bay. Doctor Lugwig is free to use any device present there. You have three patients... Miss Teri Reed, and two other engineer/tech types that worked on 1st shift with her. They are obviously suffering from exposure... and you've also drugged some of them up. All of them will be out of action for at least the next hour or so... and even then, they will simply regain consciousness at that point and you probably won't want them exerting themselves (i.e., moving around). 5. Jamie, the situation with the 'bomb'... if it really is one... is very serious. We're not talking about a simple grenade. The box is pretty big... explosives are very dangerous in an enclosed space... and this space station does not qualify as being all that large. No one in the party is a demolitions expert by any stretch of the imagination, but, even Nola would be able to surmise that a blast from a bomb that size would take out at least the level on which it was sitting, and probably damage the ones above and below as well. You would also surmise that Akers must have been bringing it up the lift for a reason... his target must either be on Levels One, Two, or Three. Considering that the station's primary purpose is drivespace communication... and that the computers for controlling that activity reside on Level Two... you can assume that his terrorist actions must have had something to do with that, and not just simply killing off you guys. He didn't like any of you... but he probably had bigger fish to fry, so to speak. Okay, I hope some of that helps to clear up any questions you guys had. You can go ahead and post some more if you'd like, making use of the information and clues that I just provided. On a different note, I'd like to say that you guys are doing just fine. Don't be frustrated by the slowness of the current story. This particular part is supposed to be... until you discover the plot behind it all... then things are going to pick up very quickly. I think you'll all be surprised. Thanks for your great posting, Keep up the good work, Neil. P.S. I noticed that some of you are still including Paul Culotta in your posts. He's dropped out of the game, and Dave has replaced him, so you can remove his address from your mailing lists. It's kamalotus@cpis.net. Thanks. -- Neil, GM First Off, thanks Neil for covering for me last turn. I am here and I will post sometime today (I think I am holding up the game at this time :)). Second, there IS a site out there that has SO MUCH info on Star*Drive that it is almost illegal in my opinion. But it is there and it is a great resource for those that don't have the book so enjoy: Be warned that it is a lot of reading but I think the files are zipped up somewhere on the site for off-line reading so look for that. http://users.skynet.be/verge/home.html -- Fabian, Dimitrio OOL (Out Of Lurk): Fabian does list an excellent site. However (pending any changes Neil may have made), there may be spoilers to your current adventure embedded within the website. This is because the module you are playing is actually "prehistory" (albeit by five years) to Star*Drive, so when the Star*Drive hardcover was created, the (likely) results of this module and its usual followup module were incorporated into the book. If you already know how the adventure ends (or at least, is *supposed* to end), or don't mind knowing the results of the adventure, the website will provide plenty of useful information that will be to your advantage. But (pending any revisions made by Neil), some spoilers exist, and they appear without forewarning. Something you may want to know. The adventure will still be fun to play regardless, but some of the end results may no longer have the "punch" they normally would have. And now, back to your normally scheduled PBeM. CBIL (Crawling Back Into Lurk) -- Kevin, Lurker Status Kevin is right but the same can be said about the Star*Drive book. For those of us that have it, we all know that the Kendai relay station WILL be fixed. What we don't know is exactly how and by whom. If it were my campaign, I would have no problem killing every character by exploding a bomb inside the station (take it easy there, just an example Neil :)). History goes back to its normal track as another team of experts comes in and fixes the station so the "total change" to the timeline may be minimal and may be as simple as pushing back some dates. Now, Neil may have a different idea of the time line and I am sure things won't happen exactly as is written (I am hoping we can influence the timeline at least a little). Anyway, maybe I should have checked with you (Neil) before posting the site to the whole group. No harm intended and like I said, it reveals no more than the S*D hardbound does. I think we all have those "problems" in every game and we as players have to be honest and good roleplayers and not confuse player knowledge with character knowledge. Sure Fabian knows a lot more about the Verge than Dimitrio does but Fabian has no idea how to break in doors and repair mass reactors like Dimitrio can :). -- Fabian, Dimitrio > Kevin is right but the same can be said about the Star*Drive book. In my haste, I failed to mention this. Yes, the Star*Drive book contains the same spoilers. Thank you for bringing this up... it is of equal importance for the others to know. -- Kevin, Lurker Status