---

WELCOME ABOARD THE SS NIRVANA!

---

You are a mercenary or contractor exploring the fringes of our solar system. Perhaps you're a gun for hire or maybe a traveling doctor? You could be a professional smuggler or spy, possibly even an arms dealer or criminal lawyer. Whatever you do, your work is privately contracted away from the prying eyes of the inner worlds' tight rules and autocracy. This is where you can make the real money.

At the moment, you're working for Captain Octavius Jehnko, a charismatic young man who has assured you that going into business together will be lucrative. He's quite confident and connected for someone so young, and he's supplied you with the tools of your trade and given you your own private quarters on his ship, the SS Nirvana. Despite starting your journey in debt to him, he's been amenable and accommodating and also doesn't seem to ask questions about your past. Which is good for you.

Your teammates seem about as unscrupulous as you and you get the feeling you're among rejects, refugees, outlaws, fugitives, scoundrels, and criminals alike. But the team seems to be very effective thus far.

---

You've recently gotten word that Captain Jehnko (aka "Lance") wants everyone to meet in the mess hall for an important announcement. You have a few minutes to sort out your quarters, do some research, get something to eat, socialize, explore, etc. before the meeting.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:26, Mon 14 Aug 2023.

R-Chi1 looked about his very small quarters after finishing his 48 minute a day recharge. There was a small window and bunk, which was untouched. There was also a standing locker for personal possessions, of which 'Archie' had none.

This makes me...processing...sad.

He sent another email to Valerys Corvo. He inquired how she was doing, her health, and if it was possible to get in touch with Dr Emily Kessler. His creator, aka-'mother' as she preferred to be called. His syntax program told him he should state Dr Kessler HAD wished to be called Mother, as she was quite dead.

However, that was the key issue upon contacting Corvo. She had claimed to other shipmates that she could communicate with the dead. Of course, the research on all such humans who claimed so where actually frauds. Praying on grieving people for money and access.

Despite that, 'Archie' had an emotional subroutine which told him he was grieving. As a result he once asked about a possible session with Corvo about speaking with Dr Kessler. 'Val' had not replied the first two emails he had sent. He waited the customary 25 hours and 36 minutes between such messages, in order not to appear pushy. However, custom time seemed to be not anything he could source as official.

Was he in error? Should he have waited 48 hours and 36 minutes? Longer? He was unsure. Maybe Corvo's email was malfunctioning.

As chief computer officer to the ship's A.I., he knew her email was fine. He could review anyone's email he wanted, but had been told this was not acceptable unless ordered so by the captain. He wanted to serve on this ship, as it helped him achieve several of his primary goals all at once.

In any case, N.O.D., the ship's core computer identity, was always accessible to him due to the computer brian that housed his own data core. N.O.D. had a more developed personality that Archie did, which suggested its emotional subroutine was fully functional. Unlike his. It had not been helpful in trying to correct the errors in his own processing, as it did not understand Dr Kessler's odd programming language.

So, once again, the need to speak to Val Corvo was most present in his central processing. He had been most fortunate to find this ship and someone who could talk to dead people. The odds where literally trillions to one. Assuming the most likely outcome of her being a fraud was not the case.

His internal clock showed the time, and he adjusted his ship's uniform that he had been issued. Then he proceeded to head to the mess hall, as per the captain's orders. He had finished one of the backups of his entire memory and secured it in his locker. There was nothing else to do, other than review Cat posters to hang upon said locker. He had been informed this would make him...happy. He had serious questions about that emotional subroutine.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:44, Mon 14 Aug 2023.

Gill yawned and stretched as he woke up. NOD let him know about the meeting. He shrugged, Lance wasn't really in charge anyway, NOD was and only Gill knew it. The absurdity of the whole thing made him act in a similar fashion. He grabbed the big hat off his wall among a collage of knickknacks and worthless choochkies that he cherished. He put the hat on, representing his alter ego Turd Ferguson. He didn't bother to change out of his one-piece long red underwear, but he does put on a pair of cowboy boots and brushed his teeth before heading into the hallways.

R-Chi1's door was closed which usually meant he was still in that closet of his. Gill went over and pounded on the door, "Yo! "R" let's go harass people." He didn't wait for R though, he headed on down the corridor to his favorite target, Valerys. He rapped his trade mark knock and said, "Helloooooo Nurse." This is a reference from some cartoons he loves, Animaniacs, and something he says no matter which of his alter egos he is currently occupying. He pressed his face against the door, folding the hat, "Oh ba-abay. Ain't nuthin in the world like a brown eyed girl make me act so funny make me spend my money." He knocked again, "Please Louise, pull me off my knees. Jack, get back, C'mon before we crack. Everybody cut footloose!" He backed up a step and spun on his toes before heading to Skip's room.

He banged on Skip's door, "Yo! Peanut butter, we gotta rap with the Captain, wake up ya big lug."

Next Andre's door, stating with his trademark knocking, "Ray...RAY! Get up Ray, I need my coffee!" Ray is the only one who can make coffee to Gill's liking.

Edwin had stowed his meager personal object in his cabin earlier. Wasn't like there was much to keep track of. Some old photos, a couple of books and a few changes of clothing.

He was currently lounging in the mess hall enjoying a cup of Morning Sun tea and flipping through a copy of Magston's Technical Reviews. The magazine was several months out of date and filled with plenty of techno babble. Some he understood, others not so much, but he liked to keep fresh on such things might have to impress someone, someday.

He could hear someone back toward the crew quarters, sounded like Gill, or Ferguson, or whatever ID he was sporting this morning. He wondered if it was all an act or if the man had a serious psych problem.

He had a cousin who had gotten formal schooling in the inner worlds and sometimes messaged him about fancy parties and making a new kind of lightbulb.

His half shouted ranting could be heard well away from his quarters where he was testing out installing this light bulb that his cousin had sent him. "Sandra... Who cares?! It is a damned lightbulb. One of the original ones is STILL lit in that forsaken museum that used to be some kind of... Local emergency response unit barracks. That means that for a VERY long time people have made lightbulbs WORSE than the prototypes! It is because of expensive, narrow-minded, short-sighted, pinheads like you that starship technologies are stagnating!"

He adjusted the fixture and checked his tablet as a comfortable hue expanded gently into the room. "Damn. It IS a better lightbulb! Fine," this last bit was significantly subdued. He wouldn't call her a stupid pinhead anymore.

His work was here, NOD was amenable to his tinkering as long as he had proofs to show it should improve things, and while he didn't understand Gill even as much as he understood others apparently the cowboy needed coffee and it wasn't a bad idea to get it started before the meeting - for everyone. He entered some data while he moved through the passage(s) to the mess hall.

The sound of a dying cat woke Jak from his dreams. Dreams where he was warm and comfortable. Dreams where he wasn't running or hiding. Dreams that he was now no longer part of.The dying cat? Well, it sounded an awful lot like a feline in distress...wailing and crooning. However it was accompanied by intermittent banging as well. He started to roll over and pull the soft pillow over his head when he spied a glowing message on the room communicator. Blinking once or twice," NOD...messages?"

Jak was still waking up when he realized that NOD had been trying to wake him up. Repeatedly. Aggressively. It was only when NOD started to relay the hallway shenanigans did it make any headway in getting Jak's attention. "Shit..."With deft quickness, Jakova slipped on the oversized hoodie, covering most of his extraness and bolted out the door. Taking the hallway at a quick jog, he made his way towards the messhall and apparently the feline in distress.

NOD, being the polyprescient snarky AI that it was, responded to multiple inquiries simultaneously on multiple monitors, communicators, etc.

@R-Ch1: "You know, I am the administrator for ship communications. I could encourage the first mate to answer your inquiries more expeditiously."

@Gil: Gill will notice the cameras watching him make his loud walk down the halls. NOD didn't say anything, but Gill knew that AI was rolling its digital avatar eye at him again. He could feel it judging him like a mother or aunt would.

@Edwin: "More tea, Mr. Park?" Edwin knew if he agreed, the nearest dispenser in the mess hall would start brewing but he'd likely be given a sarcastic remark.

@Andre: "It appears the installation of the new light fixture was successful. Will there be anything Mr. Klanktonne?"

@Jakova: "Glad you're finally awake Mr. Jakova. Seems the 7th alarm was the charm this cycle."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:47, Tue 15 Aug 2023.

Edwin looked up from the magazine. "Thanks for the offer NOD but I'm good with this cup. Sounds like the others are almost here anyway."

He closed the magazine and took another sip of tea as he waited for the show to start.

Gill looked at the camera and that was NOD, "What? You comin' here to shake my monkey tree? I don't need this abuse from you, I've got a long list of people who want to abuse me. You're in charge but you got not power over how I behave. I will show them the absurdity of all of this and you can't stop me."

"NOD, I'm sure there will be more later but the specifics will be based on what information we get from Captain Jenko... Or I'll revisit the bioluminescent algae ducting ideas and carbon harvesting tanks. We animals put out a lot of the stuff and it would be great if we could efficiently forge half our expressed carbon and feed that through my proposed logic crystal press we could have... something like a cubic foot of quality crystals a year- per organic!" both were system upgrades best suited to a custom built ship... Most ships were made with the idea of how little they could be made of and still get people into space. "Maybe I need to settle down before Captain says his piece."

He jangled of strapped hand tools and scrap filled cargo pockets as he entered the mess hall with a short wave or nod to anyone there before him.

Archie, also a multifunctional AI, could multitask as N.O.D. could. He replied to the computer while walking to the mess hall. "The captain made the security of crew's email paramount. Proper protocols must be observed." He said in his monotone voice. "You should know this requirement as part of your own security program."

He had been about to reply to Gill, but the man had rushed off. His fellow crewmate should also know harassing the crew was also against protocol. It must have slipped his mind. His memory was not computer quality after all.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:58, Tue 15 Aug 2023.

Valerys appeared at the mess hall entrance.

A young woman in her early 20s, Val was always in her black flight suit that doubled as a space suit with her foldable helmet halfway up to cover her head like a hoodie. She was also wearing her typical bone necklace, crystals, and other weird mystical stuff.

She stopped, twirled her fingers, and whispered something to herself before entering. She was a weird one alright.

She quickly walked in not so much as flashing a smile or a nod to the others but found an empty seat in the corner and planted herself there. She wasn't exactly what you'd call "friendly".

Immediately following Val was Lance. Wearing a duster, a worn out uniform, and boots, he strode in with a self-confident swagger. He couldn't be any older than Val, but he didn't seem to realize that.

Lance: "Good morning, everyone! How are you all doing this fine morning?"

He reeked of "try-hard". He reached out to fist bump people as he walked by. A tradition that had come in and gone out of style many times but he seemed to be trying to bring it back.

Osram had been up for a while before the designated start of the "day" cycle aboard the Nirvana chimed.

He'd gone down to the cargo hold and spent time shifting and shuffling the storage containers around.  It wasn't a strictly necessary task as NOD had designated a loading plan when they'd last resupplied that maximized the usage of the space based on an anticipated rate and pattern of usage of the supplies and the ease at which they'd need to be accessed.  Still, shifting the arrangement from 98% accurate based on the current usage projections to 100% gave him an excuse to put some physical work in, which suited him just fine during longer trips.

As the day began Osram strolled out of his cabin with a bit of a cheerful whistle, clad in a pair of thongs, loose shorts, and a tank top with a damp towel around his neck which he planned on dumping into the recycler.

"I don't smell no coffee."  He declared genially as he wandered passed the mess to deposit his towel.

"I'll make some."  He offered, or perhaps threatened from down the hall.  The last pot of blackstrap Osram had made had only resembled coffee in that it was boiling hot and black in color.  Otherwise the casual observer would had assumed it was intended for degreasing engines.

A few moments later he circled back and ducked into the mess.  "Mornin' Cap."  He greeted the man, proferring a large alloy fist to bump.

"Doin' right as rain myself." Osram answered Lance despite only having seen vids of that particular weather phenomenon.

Skip always found his room rather soothing.  Unlike the typical room, the captain had generously modified it for him.  The walls have additional soundproofing (which means not hearing Gill's antics as anything more than a muffled tapping), and there is a the low hum of an low-powered electromagnetic field generator mean to screen the constant bombardment of emotion from the others.  Only the strongest fear and anger would get through as a warning to him.  This allows him to actually sleep restfully.
He is currently awake, and running through scenarios on the training simulator that had been added, so he could keep his marksmanship up without the potential fir injury to his crewmates or damage to the ship.  He runs through a number of shoot-or-no-shoot situations, drawing the simulator pistol from the gunbelt and holster strapped about his bare hips and thigh.  Then NOD reminds him about the meeting in the meas hall.  He shrugs.  I guess I'm gonna be a little late.
He hops into the sonic shower before getting dressed in casual clothing:  undergarments, shirt, boots, jeans, gloves, leather jacket, and cap.  The clothing is a bit stiffer than normal, but not uncomfortably so, giving away its lightly armored nature.  The gunbelt returns, with his plasma pistol in the holster, and a slug pistol in a holster tucked at the back of his pants.  NOD, could you let the captain know I'm on the way? he asks the AI as he finishes with his boots.
When he enters the mess, he greets his crewmates, but first, What's happenin', Cap'n?
This message was last edited by the player at 07:23, Wed 16 Aug 2023.

"Turd Ferguson" strolled in, wearing his red one piece underclothes, giant cowboy hat, boots,  and butt-flap hanging by a single button. He nodded to Skip, "Peanut Butter, glad you joined, always nice to see your smiling face." Osram, the giant piece of metal and flesh, was given a fist bump in passing, as he said "We talked about this before big guy, Ray makes the coffee when other people are going to drink it."

Jakova who was all dark and shadowy got a brief nod. Turd was headed in a specific direction. He moved to Ray, "Ray, please, make the coffee. I need...coffee." Turd offered his hand for the "cool guy" hand shake and when either accepted or rejected he kept going. Edwin was there, his rival...not really but Turd always joked they were each the other's nemesis and as he passed he narrowed his eyes, "Eddie make sure you keep that seat from floating away." Turd kept moving, obviously now headed for Val's table, but on the way he grinned at R-Chi1, "R, make sure Eddie chair doesn't float away."

Finally he reached Val's table. He turned a chair out and sat at her table, putting his boots up. "Val, I'm sorry, it isn't going to work. Last night was amazing but...yea there is just too much man here for one woman." He made sure to say this loud enough that everyone heard it. He wasn't telling anywhere near the truth and wasn't trying to convince anyone, he was just saying it to try to get a rise out of her. The one person in the room he hadn't acknowledged was the Captain. The Captain would have to say Turd Ferguson before he would.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:12, Wed 16 Aug 2023.

Edwin watched as the the others slowly filtered in. He nodded to Andre it was easy to tell the man was a tech above all else. He seemed to always carry enough tools to fix any problem. He still hadn't figured out why Gill called him Ray, someday he would have to look into it, maybe ask NOD eventually.

He also nodded to Archie as he came in though from the bit of conversation he overheard Archie was discussing something with NOD. So he didn't attempt to interrupt.

Val's entrance was rather cold she ignored everyone and found her seat. She was a beautiful woman but seemed to prefer her solitude which was her prerogative. If she decided she needed to talk to him he would be around. Not like there was many place to hide aboard ship.

At the captains entrance he returned the fist bump, "Morning captain."

A quick nod in greeting to both Jakova, Osram and Skip as they entered. Of course then there was Gill. Edwin returned the mans eye narrowed stare as he passed. "No problem there Mr. Ferguson. Figured I would take care of the job since I was recently informed your qualifications were rather lacking." He smirked as Gill found a chair next to Val, this could get interesting. "I'm sure that by some stretch of divine intervention if your comment to Miss Corvo was true, she could easily confirm your lack of ability in other fields too." He would never admit it to anyone but he actually enjoyed these little exchanges with Gill some of the time.

Val crossed her arms and gave Gill a death glare but said nothing. She did smile when Edwin gave a passing insult to "Turd" but only for a brief moment.

She then looked away at Lance and shouted, "Good morning, 'Captain'!" in an overly polite but jovial way.

Ed and Lance seemed to be the only two she was sweet on. She openly disliked Gill and was rather aloof to the rest of the crew.

Lance fist bumped everyone who would do so and greeted them by name, except for Gill, whom he rolled his eyes and mumbled "Turd Ferguson" before chuckling and moving on.

He made his way to what served as a presentation wall. It was normally a menu console for ship supplies and recipes that could be ordered from the mess hall, but it doubled as a meeting presentation.

"Have a seat, everyone. I think you're going to like this one. We've got a job and it pays really good. I'm talking six digits good."

As he tapped on the screen, a display of a Belter mining colony appeared. It didn't look like any that you recognized. The screen didn't have the normal data spread with a name, location, etc. Instead it just said "unknown" in these spots. Below it was what appeared to be some notes Lance had jotted down during a conversation you had not been privy to. Mostly just times, locations, weights, safety measures, and recommended navigation routes.

"I have contacts who want us to make an undocumented delivery. It's a rush job, they didn't have anyone else and they need it done fast and quiet."

Archie greeting the captain and the others, but it was Gill that always confused him. For one, his emotional subroutine would give him contradictory messages about the man. It went from 'You like this man for no good reason at all'-such as when he asked about the stability of the chair. Then when he sat down and spoke to Corvo, the emotional subroutine would state 'You want to punch this man in the head'.

He considered both actions breaches of ship's crew manual of behavior, sections 3.45 A, and sections 1.5 B. So clearly he would have to ignore Dr Kessler's subroutine once again. He found it very...distressing, perhaps? As her work showed a genius only very rare humans where capable of. It should not be so error prone. He needed some way to fix it, and Corvo may be his only chance at that.

"Crewmate Park's chair is at full gravitic stability, Crewmate Rurry." Archie said, without a single trace sarcasm. However, he went silent after the captain made his announcement.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:51, Wed 16 Aug 2023.

Andre moved to the beverage station and started a pot... He did indeed take SOMETHING from at least one pocket and drop it in with the grounds, perhaps as many as three while any trash went back into pockets it was impossible to know what it was. It was also unclear why he was pulling a bent metal rod, wire thin, from a pocket and simply resting it atop the machine as he laid out mugs.

Hints of mint and caramel as well as other spices delicately threaded the air. He was definitely at the task of making coffee now, "Of course we need to pick up the package, are being paid extra for not knowing what it is and a little more to not ask questions. I should probably not be as okay with this as I am... but I'm excited about this job! Twenty seconds to coffee, cocao, or... a reasonable lube and nanite fix blend - you all know which mugs are yours." he dropped tiny wrenches and screwdrivers next to the mugs. He has said before they were beverage only tools...

As soon as the words left Edwin's mouth, Gill turned to him with a wicked grin, "Your mom will vouch for my talents, she came around begging for it often enough." He wiggled his eyebrows, "You walked into that one, Eddie."

The Captain acknowledged him correctly which prompted Turd to tip the massive hat and return, "Cap'n." Then the captain told them about the job, to which Turd replied, "Well I can act as your attorney in this matter, if you like."

R-Chi1 had said something about gravity and Turd said, "Good job R, always count on you." Then finally...coffee. Turd bolted to his cup and took a long first taste. "Ray, you're an artist."

The former Marine does not have a problem with a fist bump; his unit had had many such traditions, fist bumping being the mildest.  He can be seen to be watching R-Chi1 intently for a few moments before he looks back up at the captain.  Aren't most of our delivery runs undocumented?  The issue I see here is the lack of information on that mining colony.  Is that the pick-up, or the drop-off?

As the others were getting settled, Jak slipped quietly in the room. With little fuss, he simply took up space in one of the back corners, crouched on top of the table instead of perched upon a chair. He liked to sit in the back and watch the others...it was often informational and always entertaining.

Still, he did glance over at Valerys. Her expression was somehow intimidating, something about it spoke volumes...just not volumes one reads on a daily basis.

The smells coming from the coffee station was starting to get enticing as Captain was laying out the next job. A run...quiet and fast. Something he was good at...just not at this level. Slowly, Jakova uncurled himself from the tabletop and slinked his way over to the deliciously brewing coffee.

Osram folded his arms and studied the image the captain had put up on the display.

It looked like any other mining colony out in the belt, and he'd seen plenty of them up close and personal.

"Who's normally documenting that we need to make sure isn't doing it for this trip?"  He asked.  "And how 'undocumented' does this need to be?  Dead drop and nobody knows we were even there, or just getting it where it needs to go without it going in the official records?"

There was always plenty of folks willing to take a bribe to look the other way.  Something truly stealth might take a bit more doing depending on how paranoid whomever laid claim to that rock was.

"Gentlemen, I appreciate the concern. I really do. Most of our shipments are above board, we just also happen to have a few packages below board moving with them. That's why I'm so picky about timing, placement, and letting me do the talking with our clients. But I reckon ya'll already knew that."

He points at the image.

"This here is a pick-up. We've been given a visual image of the facility and rough estimate of its location but not exact coordinates, serial identifiers, or schematics. Apparently, it's very hush hush. Which is why we're making the big bucks."

He wrote on the screen a rather large number. Split between the crew, it was easily half a year's pay for a job that wouldn't take more than a week or so. That is, assuming that number was accurate and split evenly. One could never be 100% certain Jhenko wasn't skimming more off the top than he claimed.

"Hopefully none of us will need an attorney, Rur--uhm, Ferguson."

He laughed before turning to Osram.

"Yes. Dead pickups and dead drops are how we're doing it. But everything will be marked for visual confirmation. And instructions to the drop point will be on the package upon pick up."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:45, Thu 17 Aug 2023.

NOD interjected.

"I'll be overseeing those instructions so you'll need to keep an open line to me at all times."

He had expected some friendly jibs being tossed back and forth about each others abilities or lack thereof. He had not expected Gill to drop to the level he did with a comeback of such juvenile quality. Perhaps the mans mental issues stemmed from something else, such as an immature frontal cortex. Whatever the case his opinion of the man had dropped even farther.

But the time for further insults had passed. He turned his attention to the captain as he started the briefing. The job seemed pretty straight forward, but things never go that easy.

"Did the client give any indication if there might be interference? Other than the possible legal types." Such pick ups and drop offs could easily pique the attention of others.

Archie listened and waited for the others to start asking questions first. Then he spoke. "Captain, should we check into the backgrounds of both our client and the location we are to get this package from? Many criminals hire independent contractors and leave out relevant data..."

Turd spoke up as well, "Captain, as your attorney in this matter," he had glossed over the Captain's denial of his need, "I nominate Eddie and R for research duty. I can of course, oversee their actions." He took off the hat, indicating the shift out of Turd Ferguson and back to Gill, which was only slightly less audacious. "Actually I can help, I am good at talking to people and as an attorney...well sort of...I can legalese," read bamboozle but in a sweet talk kind of way, "around most people's inhibitions." He shrugged, "Hey I'm about us, not them."

"Yes. I know my client well enough and they said it was possible others might be sniffing around for these supplies in addition to usual patrols. If it's not official government bureaucrats trying to rob us, pirates might too if we're not careful. So that's the catch. We'll have to be riding dark the whole way to the drop off. No usual travel paths or rest stops and we'll have to keep power usage to a minimum to avoid detection. So dress for a few cold nights, ladies."

He smirks.

"If ya'll want to do more research on the way, be my guest, but there's no time to lose. I've already had NOD put us on a course to the pick up. If we delay, we'll lose the job and we really need the money. Plus, a successful haul like this could put us on the map with my other contacts."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:18, Thu 17 Aug 2023.

Andre rubbed his hands together in anticipation of the low power operations time, "How long are we planning to fly dark? I have been meaning to look into the shields and weapons but they are tied into the power systems. I need a baseline to plan upgrades around. I can't make this my dream boat but just maybe I can make it better than it is without too much expense."

Gill scratched his butt, the flap was making him itch. "You know I've got some bottles of 30 year old scotch laying around. That'll keep us warm. All except you Eddie, You're too young, you gotta be at least 21 to drink alcohol."

Jak picks up his mug and inhales the dark rich aroma slowly. Every time he gets a mug of Andre's elixirs...their sweet ambrosia hints at different flavors. This time he can definitely get a strong sense of chocolate, but also some tones of orange and maybe cinnamon? Closing his eyes, he takes an equally slow draw of the hot liquid energy. He instantly feels all of his sleepy cells waking up...and start to vibrate with the need to do.

As so, he catches up with the chatter happening and couldn't resist, "Gill, that would depend upon what star system we were currently in and what seasonal model we would use. On, or at least near, some planets, Eddie might be hundreds of years old...while you would be centuries." His smile is mischievous. Sometimes it was fun when dealing with Gill. You never knew what was going to be said...or how it would even be relevant to the situation. One thing for sure, it was always funny to someone...even if that was only Gill.

"Cold, Dark, and Fast...easy enough," He replies to Jehnko. "We getting paid upon delivery...or half up front and half upon delivery? Or are we going in trusting that they will pay us when we complete the job?" The last part was laced with distaste and distrust. Jakova had been on the receiving end of the last part more times than he would like to admit to.

Val stood up and moseyed her way over to the brewing station to grab tea.

"Well, if it's going to be a cold trip, I suppose we should warm our bones while we can."

"Flight times have no exact just yet but should be less than a week. If you want to tinker with anything while they're out, that'd be a good time."

He laughs at Gill's remark then looks to Jak.

"Fortunately I was able to convince them to give us a little up front and I took the liberty of applying it to everyone's last supply request. Speaking of which, your packages are still in the cargo hold waiting for ya'll to unwrap. So happy birthday to everyone! I suggest ya'll spitshine your good gear and rustle up what you need before we get to the rodeo."

---

OOC: Everyone will get 3 tiers worth of items which you now have the opportunity to grab. You can have three tier 1 items or a single tier 3 item or one tier 1 and a tier 2. What you ordered on the last supply run is for you to decide.

Whether you get a slugthrower pistol, blaster rifle, nightvision goggles, grappling hook, bulletproof vest, etc. is up to you. You build items the same way you do special abilities they just have the "item" instead of "innate" type. If you're not sure how, ask in the OOC.

The ship has mag-booted spacesuits for everyone to use but they are not armored and are essentially rent-a-suits since they came standard with the ship and aren't individually customized. You can purchase your own if you want to make modifications by using your requisition slots if you want.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:22, Fri 18 Aug 2023.

"Your business partner say whether we were picking up something like a suitcase, or something like a shuttle?"  Osram asked.  Smaller would be better, but he was just hoping they had been given some idea.

"Think I saw some survival suits stowed somewhere, you get desperate and run out blankets.  So long as you don't mind spending the trip in flopping about on the floor."  He commented, thinking to where he thought he saw a stash of the one time emergency comically reflective silver space suits that would keep someone alive for a day or two after a loss of atmosphere event, but blew up like balloons when activated.  Not so bad for floating in vacuum, but he'd participated in plenty of hazing rituals where drunken miners were stuffed into them after they'd passed out, only to awaken hungover, disoriented, and having been dragged to the area of the outpost with the most gravity which left them stuck like an upside down turtle.

Lance chuckled.

"The packages are a few crates so the cargo hold will be half filled more or less. We'll need those strong arms of yours to help sort them.

Yes, the space suits are available in the hold plus the backups we have in engineering and the bridge and shuttle. But we only have so many. NOD and I will steer us to the pick up site. Ya'll just suit up for when we arrive. And make sure to be on your best most polite behavior."

Skip gets up and heads over to the coffee for a cup for himself.  As he pours himself some into a mug with the Wayward Station Marine Force logo, he looks up at Val.  Your a psychic, right?
They both know the answer to his question.  I'm an Empath.  The Skipper got a low-level EMF generator for my room.  The metal wall help to block out some of the more superfluous emotions, but the generator keeps out all but the strongest.  You know, like would be felt if we were under attack.

Archie did not need a suit, but he did make sure to have power packs available as needed. He headed over to Edwin and spoke. "Crewmate Park, should we organize our research as needed?" He does look over at Skip speaking to Val, and wondered if he should do the same.

You feel...envy. Came the emotional subroutine message to his CPU. Envy? Why Envy? It made no sense. He would consider the subroutine an virus of some kind, expect that Dr Kessler was very firm about him keeping it.

Val started making her own tea. She was grateful for Andre's efforts but she had her own rituals that she just needed to do herself. And she always had some weird things she put in her own drinks that never quite smelled right.

"Some call me 'psychic', yeah."

She looked Skip up and down.

"I can see why you need that. You have ghosts on you."

She casually took a sip of tea and looked away. As if what she had just said made a lick of sense.

Andre is grinning widely as he gets news that the packages arrived. It wasn't likely EVERYTHING on his list was here or even half. They had priority on larceny sad as that was.

"Presents!" He cried out, "I'll only open my own today but in 30 hours I start opening anything left in there." that's said he moved out of the room. They would have to shut stuff down in a few hours at best. That would likely be well served with the tools that were no doubt in his shipment. It was tools or supplies. That was all he asked for.

In reply to Valerys Corvo (msg # 41):

Skip gives a nod of appreciation after sipping from his cup if coffee.  Looking at Val, the usually slit-pupils of his more round in the lowered ambient lighting of the mess, he gives a small smile.  That actually would not be surprising, considering the amount of death I've seen.  I'd like to gear about these ghosts sometime.
He takes another sip of coffee.  Look, I know how hard it can be to get a little peace, some ti.e away from what you're sensing and seeing.  If you want, you can come by and hang out in my room for awhile.  The Skipper found me a Weapons Training Simulator that's actually pretty good.  The Weapon Simulacrum can be reconfigured for different weapon types.

Val raised an eyebrow.

"If you want to hear ghosts, just stop listening to everything else."

Val narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the invitation to Skip's room. Gill had made similar offers.

"Uh, no thanks."

She tries to end the conversation by simply walking away. In her hurry, she didn't even notice Archie as she bumped into him and spilt some of her tea.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to--"

---

@R-Ch1 (Optional): Dex save DC10.

• Success: Catch the tea before it spills.
• Failure: 1 point of water damage and tea spills on you.
• Don't Roll: She spills her tea on the floor.

Catching Val's sudden shift, he tries to say, Not like th...., but her hasty exit causes him to trail off.  He shakes his head and gives a sigh of resignation as he moves back to seat a bit further away from hers.  He realizes that he is not the most socially adept individual.

As the briefing ended and the crew began to filter out Osram got to his feet.

Seeing a particular exchange he couldn't help but grin toothfully and chuckle after it was all over.  "Persistence is the key yeah?"  He commented to Skip while giving him a friendly and feather light buck up punch on the shoulder before he moved to get himself a cup of what Andre had brewed.

In reply to Valerys Corvo (msg # 44):

Every movement Archie made was computer controlled. Granted his body moved much slower then speed of his calculations, however he had learned very precise control as a result. His hand shot out and he caught the cup, careful not to spill a drop.

"Please excuse me for causing a disruption, Crewmate Corvo." He carefully hands her the tea, making sure its stable. Then he tries to smile, politely. He thinks he gets it right. He had practiced for hours via 3D rendering.

You feel proud of yourself. The subroutine chimes in. Archie thinks the program may be accurate this time. He does feel irradiation at its constant meddling.

Ooc-18:30, Today: R-Chi1 rolled 13 using 1d20+5.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:39, Fri 18 Aug 2023.

Gill stood, hat in hand, "Well it's been fun. I gotta go see a guy about a gun and some new armor. Don't...break anything while I'm gone." He left to get his care package.

Val takes the tea cup a bit impressed.

"Oh nice catch. Thanks...uh 'Arch One' was it?"

She begins stepping sideways to move closer to the exit.

"You're the one that keeps emailing me about a séance for a doctor...Kesser or something?"

In reply to Osram (msg # 46):

The former Marine sighs again and turns to the mining cyborg.  Yeah, you think the same thing she did.  And that just isn't it.  He shakes his head.  I'm an Empath, she's a Medium.  I just thought I though that, since we have something in common, it would be good if we could be friends.
He turns to look at the Amazonian woman as she speaks to R-Chi1, then turns back to Osram, and gives a small shrug.  I don't think I'd be averse to something more, but I tend to prefer professionals for that sort of thing.  They tend to avoid emotional involvement.
He pauses and looks thoughtfully at Osram.  Hey, you look like you were a Belt miner.  I'm from Wayward Station.

NOD made a final announcement to the mess before going back to its regular duties.

"Your supplies are in the cargo bay. I'll be available at my usual station for checking off requisitions."

In reply to Valerys Corvo (msg # 49):

"Most people call me Archie." Not entirely true, his creator called him that. Gill called him 'R', but he had yet to correct him.

"Yes, I have emailed you twice about it. Please feel free to inform me when my asking breaches protocol. I dont wish to be annoying, but I have been told I have that effect on people." That was true.

Edwin had smiled and nodded to Archie as he came over and asked about them organizing their research. He was pretty sure it just another of Gills strange attempts at humor…….. maybe. Otherwise it would be sorta scary if he was actually trying to coordinate a team effort.

He was about to respond but things had got busy and noisy. At a brief break in Archie and Val’s conversation he spoke. ”When you’re ready Arch we will look into that research. Take your time though, I’m going to go to cargo and retrieve my shipment.”

He smiled to the two, ”Now if you two will excuse me I’ll be going. If either of you need anything I’ll be somewhere on the ship. Mostly avoiding Gill.”

Osram held his coffee cup in one hand, the mug looking like something from a child's tea party set when cradled in his large metal paw.  As skip explained his motives the other man nodded, then got a questioning look.  "Would have figured someone like you'd have a leg up, getting the right reaction out of folks rather than what just happened."  Smiling again, Osram took a sip of his drink and shrugged.  "But maybe that's just in vids, yeah?"

On the subject of former occupations Osram grinned and nodded.  "Born and raised in the belt colonies.  Seen so many dead rocks and prefab outpost modules that I couldn't even say how many.  Never been no where else, but hope to some day."  He offered in response to Skip's astute observation.  "I been through Wayward a couple times.  Fun place to turn a solar cycle's worth of hard earned pay into a week or two of hazy memories, that are probably better left that way.  Must've been a bit a hell to grow up there though if you didn't get out early."

In reply to R-Chi1 (msg # 52):

"Ah okay. Archie."

Val examines him. She seems confused.

"No no, it's not that it's...I don't know...I just don't get why a robot would want to talk to ghosts is all. Is this a prank Gill put you up to or are you actually...a believer?"

She looks at ed and flashes him a smile.

"Oh sorry, Edwin. Didn't mean to interrupt."

She scratched shifted her hair to the side. It's one of the first time she's shown anyone on this crew this much time of day.

---

If you're untrained in Mysticism, a Wisdom check DC10 is necessary to know this. If trained in mysticism you automatically know she's talking about belief in the supernatural. Literally any faith, religion, spirituality, etc. would qualify as "believer" of some kind.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:48, Sat 19 Aug 2023.

In reply to Edwin Arlo Park (msg # 53):

The monitor nearest Edwin flips on and NOD's 3D avatar appears holographically by him.

"Well, Gill's in the cargo bay. So if you're going to pick up your supplies I'm afraid he's already waiting for you. Just a heads up."

Lance walks towards Jak with a smile on his face.

"Mr. Jakova. A word in private please. Walk with me to my office."

Slinking about the perimeter of the messhall, Jak had started to glide into step behind Skip, when he spots the Captain walking towards him. Looking up, with both his hands wrapped around his mug...possessively, he gives a questioning look.

When Jehnko smiles and asks him for a few moments, Jak's heart thudded in his chest. His face briefly froze, as did the rest of his body...What?!??!?...What did I do...Oh God...I did something wrong...I...I...then, his face realigned, that second of fear passed. His mind started to race in another direction, this one mapping out the best routes, what patterns to run, where to go and where to hide...a place to regroup and plan.

On the outside, He looks at Jehnko, smiles and replies, "As you wish Captain," steps to the side and motions for him to lead.

===>Captain's Quarters/Office

In reply to Valerys Corvo (msg # 55):

"I...am technically not a robot. I am an android, a machine designed to mimic human life. I also know that my knowledge is finite, and therefore it is possible there is a 'soul' for humans, even if the scientific evidence for such is lacking."


He paused as his subroutine kicked in. You are very sad. He tried to ignore it.

"I am very fortunate in all the solar system to meet someone like you. The odds are literally billions to one.

Dr Kessler is the only person that can help me, and you are my only chance at speaking to her beyond mere data recordings. She is...was...a true genius beyond her time."


You are very, very sad.

Archie marveled at how close he was getting to feeling angry at it. Maybe this is how it was supposed to function?

In reply to R-Chi1 (msg # 59):

Val looks Archie up and down. She was confused and concerned at the same time.

"Oh. I guess I didn't know the difference. Are...are you...sad?"

---

Archie can attempt any Charisma-based skill check to make an impression on Val. DC13 to affect her.

• Critical Success: Val becomes friendly AND grants your request.
• Success: Val becomes friendly OR grants your request.
• Failure: Val denies your request.
• Critical Failure: Val becomes unfriendly.
• No check: Val will need to think about.

In reply to Valerys Corvo (msg # 60):

Archie blinked at her, and looked surprised.

"Yes. Yes I am. How did you know?"

He actually seems genuine in his question, rather than sarcastic. Not that Archie has ever been sarcastic.

Ooc-08:32, Today: R-Chi1 rolled 16 using 1d20+2.  Charisma check.

Val becomes friendly.

This message was last edited by the player at 15:25, Sat 19 Aug 2023.

In reply to R-Chi1 (msg # 61):

"I don't know...you seem sad."

She pats him on the shoulder.

"So, the thing with a séance is that it's tricky. It's entirely dependent upon whether the spirit being contacted wants to be contacted or is even able to be. The spirit realm is often unpredictable. Location of the ritual matters too, as well as a sympathetic connection."

She takes a deep breath and sighs.

"And to be honest, they're not easy on me. If you want to arrange one I can do it for you but this is an exception not a rule. I'll send you some information on what I'll need for one. No promises, okay?"

In reply to Valerys Corvo (msg # 62):

"If that is the case, crewmate Corvo, I must refuse. A biological being should never suffer on behalf of a digital being. You coming harm to assit me is unacceptable. I thank you for the offer, but I will need to find another way."

He could not think of what that way was of course. "However, my issues seems to be emotions. You managed to dectect that in me, by a means that seems only available to beings that feel freely all thier lives. Maybe all I need is your expertise in that, as that would pose no risk to you."

He paused. "Unless you start finding me annoying of course."

In reply to R-Chi1 (msg # 63):

She chuckles.

"No, it's not usually that harmful or dangerous unless the spirit is malicious. It's just...taxing. Like what a 12 hour shift of manual labor does to the body, a séance that makes contact does to the mind."

She starts typing something into her communicator on her arm.

"Tell you what. You gather these supplies and enough credits to be worth my time, and we'll consider it services rendered for serviced paid, okay? None of that dumb robot rules--or sorry uh...android rules will be a problem for me."

She sends him an email with a list of supplies, approximate costs, and venue restrictions. For a ritual that only appeared to consume candles and incense, it seemed rather costly. Then again, humans often paid top dollar for things that often didn't make sense.

---

Wisdom (Insight) check. DC12.

In reply to Valerys Corvo (msg # 64):

Ooc-21:43, Today: R-Chi1 rolled 16 using 1d20+1.  Insight.

In reply to R-Chi1 (msg # 65):

Val gets nervous when R-Chi1 just stands there without responding or doing anything.

"Well, okay then. I've got some things I need to take care of. See you when we get to the drop point."

She turns around and begins walking back to her quarters.

---

R-Chi1 surmises that Val is not well-versed in artificial intelligence or machines. And from her emails, you can tell she's clearly not using spell-check.

In reply to Valerys Corvo (msg # 66):

"Thank you for your assistance, Crewmate Corso." The calculations he had been doing sometims cause him to pause. Normally insight into an biological's thought process was a bit beyond him. His own emotional inexperience was the hindrance.

"Also, hit control S before sending your emails. That is the auto spell check function."

He then contacted NOD about the location of Edwin on the ship. Then he would go to grab the tech he had been issued before tracking Ediwn down.

In reply to N.O.D. (msg # 56):

Edwin gave NOD a thumbs up, "Thanks for the warning NOD. With any luck he'll be busy playing with his new toys or harassing someone else and I can easily slip in and out before he even knows I am there."

Leaving the others to their individual conversations Edwin heads for the cargo hold.

After the events of Brink of the Verge Part 1 where the crew evaded a debris field, encountered a magical electricity spirit (gremlin) that has now merged with the ship's AI, picked up cargo from a criminal organization, and escaped near destruction from another unknown rival criminal organization with military stealth tech.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 01:42, Sun 04 Feb.

Skip returns to the mess-hall with his cup of caffeinated sludge.  Sitting ha mug down on a table, begins looking for something to eat.  He always feels hungry after a firefight.  Something he attributes to a need to prove he is still alive, or as a celebration of the fact of the same.

Entering the mess, or "break room" as he called it, Gill went over and made himself a cup of coffee. "Skipster. How ya doin?" He gives Skip finger guns.

I am alive and breathing, the former Marine quips.  How 'bout you?

Skip suddenly felt a wave of fear from down below, in the cargo bay area. It felt strong but also...strange. Like someone he'd never met before...but also someone with an empathy wave that was very strange. He couldn't put his finger on it.

Without a second thought, before Gill can respond, the empath sets his coffee down on the table.  Something's up in the cargo bay, he says as he grabs his helmet and heads out of the mess hall....
This message was last edited by the player at 03:09, Wed 07 Feb.

Gill watched skip scrambling to get somewhere. He shook his head and sat down. He leaned the chair back against the wall and put his feet up on the table shoes and all. "When will these people learn that 'I'm on break' means go fuck yourself, I don't give a rat's ass about whatever your current problem is?"

He knit his fingers together, put hands behind head, and slipped off to dream land. His snoring can be heard all down the hallway.

As soon as Skip was out of the room, a blue gremlin appeared in the chair next to Gill. It looked an awful lot like the gremlin he'd interacted with before except it appeared to be a robotic version of him and its eyes now looked like NOD's eye. The gremlin sat back in the chair relaxed in a similar position as Gill.

"I know right? Like...go away. We're on break over here. Heh."

It took a sip from a coffee mug but no one had seen it go get coffee or even walk in the room. And it acted so casually, as if it had been a member of the crew this whole time and not an interdimensional monster that possessed the ship earlier today.

---

Insight, Physics, or Perception check (your choice) but only roll one, Gill.

10:43, Today: Gill Rurry rolled 7 using 1d20+2.  Insight?

Gill didn't so much as wiggle a toe. He snored, enjoying his own rest.

If Gill actually falls asleep, near the gremlin, in his dream he will appear to be in the Mess Hall where he fell asleep and the gremlin will still be there. He'll even be aware that he's dreaming. Even if he normally doesn't remember his dreams, he'll be actively alert in this one.

If he's just pretending he'll notice the gremlin trying to check him out and trying to see if he's asleep or not. Like an obnoxious kid that wants attention. He doesn't harm or otherwise mess with Gill though, just sort of looks at him and paces around him.

Gill was awake, but wanted to sleep. The gremlin wouldn't let him without moving anything but his lips he says, "If what you want isn't as important as my beauty sleep and you persist, I will make it my personal mission to destroy you and erase your existence from history. Understand?"

"Hehehe. Okay. Nighty night."

It then proceeded to pretend to walk away but remained in place watching him with no further comment...just a sh*t-eating grin on its face.

Gill still only moved his mouth. "I know you're still there you little blue monkey. Tell me what you want or take a long walk, kay?"

It scratched its chin and looked up at the ceiling.

"Want?"

He began wandering away pondering this question...as if it were some big philosophical problem. He stopped at the doorway to the mess.

"Do I want a long walk?"

---

OOC
Gill can attempt some sort of social check to manipulate or figure out the gremlin's deal. His choice of skill until the situation is resolved (whatever Gill thinks "resolved" means)

 Today: Gill Rurry rolled 21 using 1d20+6.  Diplomacy

Gill sighed in exasperation. "Listen Monkey, I got no idea what you want. Why did you come in here in the first place?" Gill is beginning to think all it wanted was to harass him, and his break was too short for that.

It scratches its chin.

"Well, my memories are a little jumbly but I remember being stuck in the void and you lot came nearby so I hitched a ride on your spirit wave. Plus I thought I'd have a little fun with you mortals. Your wizard sure is rude. He plugged me into this metal ship. Never had anyone INTENTIONALLY have me possess their stuff, but I gotta say..."

He twirls around.

"This is pretty sweet. I've learned a lot of about your world. Things sure have changed since I last in this realm."

Gill is slightly exasperated, "I don't care at all about your life. In a single sentence, what do you want from me?"

It scratched its chin.

"Would you be willing to part with your soul? Not the whole thing, just some of your spirit energy? I can give you some of my elemental energy in exchange! All we gotta do is shake on it and we're done!"

It scurries over to him and offers him his hand.

Gill looked at the thing, "Then you'll leave me be? Fine." He shook the gremlin's hand. He felt a surge of energy run up his arm. Then he tried to go to sleep.

Val took the kids to her quarters and found some of her clothing. She was a slim woman so they only looked a little baggy on the kids. They'd wander back out of her quarters a few minutes later fully dressed and she'd start to get them something to eat while making small talk and getting to know them. Anyone walking by in the hallway would overhear the conversation and know they were in there.

The ship wasn't big so the walk to the mess was quick. Stopping at the door he motioned to Val.

When she moved closer he whispered to her, "The kids mother was in one of the other cryo units. She needs some clothes, any ideas?"

Val sighs.

"Yeah, I have more in my quarters. Going to run out of things to wear at this rate though. Do we know her size? Maybe one of you could loan her clothes instead."

The kids eat quietly and just listen. Surprisingly well-behaved kids.

Gill was about to enter when he heard Ed having a conversation with Val. "Now that would be a shame, you having nothing to wear. Hmmm....She is pretty much your size. Lilly is her name. Fascinating woman, came with her own chains and hand cuffs." He shivered as he went to get coffee, and sat across from the kids. "Hey, you know what? We have a contest every day about this time. Who can belch the loudest. I always win, but if you think you two can give me a challenge..." He lifted an eyebrow at the two tykes. "Cute kids. I didn't know you were so maternal Ed." He sips his coffee.

Looking back at the kids, "So tell ya what, if either of you two can out belch me, you can have have this..." He took a candy bar out of his pocket. "If not I suppose we can let your big pooch have it. Whatta ya say? We got ourselves a bet. Ed can be the judge, just to make sure its all fair" He gave Edwin a "go along" look then he looked at the candy and a long look at the kids, meaning "let them win. "And all the while I will be thinking of you Val and how much your clothes will mean to that poor unfortunate BDSM fan in our Cargo Bay." He wiggled his eyebrows at her before turning back to the kids, "You kids know what BDSM is right? Big Dog Snot Maker." Then he laughed out loud. He knows the kind of humor kids enjoy because it is his favorite kind too!
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 19:36, Tue 05 Mar.

Val rolled her eyes.

The children stared blankly at the chatty man, unsure as to how to react. One would think kids would giggle at such humor but these ones didn't seem to understand the joke. Or they were just shook up from the experience. Evelyn and Adamus began whispering to each other before looking at Gill.

Adamus: "Sorry, Mr. Turd Ferguson, we have no collateral with which to place a bet."

These poor kids didn't even register that it was just a fun game. They thought Gill was dead serious trying to gamble.

Gill's face dropped at the realization. "Well..." He looked at the other two grown ups and said in a stage whisper "Cover your ears." Then he looked at his coffee, "My name isn't really Turd Ferguson. It was just a silly name I used when I wore that big hat. I gave that hat to you pooch because it made him happy. My real name is Gill Rurry, which isn't funny at all. I really like making people happy, but more than that I like showing them how weird the universe really is, and with kids oh man kids are the best because they already know how weird things are. So I'm not really betting this, I'm gonna give it to you because I like kids." He winked and pushed the candy bar to them. "This one however," he produced another candy bar, "You'll have to win. No cheating okay, but no collateral either. It's really just a fun game. You guys like games right? It'll be fun to see who can belch the loudest and it'll show these grown up how to really live it up, am I right?"

The kids eyes lit up.

Adamus: "Really? Thanks Mr. Gill Rurry!"

Evelyn: "Yay!"

Adamus snatched the candy bar and began unwrapping it and broke it in two, handing Evelyn the other half before they both started eating. They were hungry and the food Val was getting for them was still being cooked. She had wanted to get the good stuff for them. But calories now were probably better than balanced nutrition later. The two kids were all skin and bones just like Lilly. They nodded as Gill explained the rules while wolfing down the first candy bar.

Evelyn: "I love games!"

Adamus: "Me too!"

Val was silently continuing to cook and said nothing. What could she say to something like that?

OOC:
+1 influence Val

Gill grinned, "Me three! Games are the absolute best. Now since we are just starting how about a warm up round, okay? Ladies first." He looked at the brother, "Remember to always let girls go first. You don't have to understand now, one day you will."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:42, Tue 05 Mar.

Edwin let Gill's maternal remark slide, he really didn't feel like participating in an insult competition at the moment. Continuing his conversation with Val, "I'll grab a jacket and stuff from my room. The won't fit the best ever was, but they will be warm."

He had sorta expected Lilly would have shown up by now. She must have had a reason to stay in the cargo bay. "I'll be back in a few minutes, see whats keeping the lady."

He then headed back to cargo with any clothing Val had given him, stopping at his room to grab a jacket and spare clothing also.

Val continued to cook a balanced meal. She was rather proficient at cooking. Specifically soups and stews. She was a self-proclaimed witch after all. But she couldn't help but smile looking back at the kids as they laughed playing games with Gill, who was clearly an entertaining clown. Which is exactly what the kids probably needed right now.

Gill is in the midst of an uproarious good time. The tykes were in the midst of cleaning out his candybar supply, though they had to promise to limit themselves so as not to have stomach aches.  They had moved on from burping and he was amidst teaching them poker.

"You are correct my lady, four of a kind beats a flush and a full house. Sir knight, remember the code of our knightly order. Cut the cards fairly good sir."

As they made their way to the mess hall Edwin didn't say anything letting Lilly enjoy a bit of quiet before having to deal with Gill. As the got close though he paused for a second out side the door. "Sorry for your loss. I'm Sure Adamus and Evelyn will be happy to see you."

He stepped through the door and then to the side giving Lilly room to walk past him into the mess. At least Gill was good for something. He wasn't sure teaching a couple of youngsters poker was all that great but at least they were occupied and seemed okay.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 15:23, Thu 07 Mar.

Evelyn: "Lilly!"

The children immediately stopped what they were doing to run up to her and embrace her. Lilly held them both in an embrace and looked around the room at everyone.

Val: "Hi I'm Val. We're having chicken pasta."

Val made an effort to be welcoming. She wasn't great at it but the food smelled delicious.

Gill smiled as the kids bounced over to the woman from the Cargo Bay. "Well, I've had my coffee and these tykes have most of my stash. If you ever need a baby sitter let me know. I'll have to restock my supply of candy though." Going back to his bored exterior, Gill inhaled and looked around. "I guess I've done all the damage I can here. I'll be ... uhh around." He went over and despite his statement, refilled his coffee and went for a walk in the hallways.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:46, Fri 08 Mar.

Jhenko (on comms): "Val's cooking dinner in the mess hall. I say we get something to eat and then have a group meeting after dinner. We need to discuss how to accommodate our guests and what our next course of action is. Don't know about the rest of you but I could sure eat."

Instead of going for a walk, Gill hung around. He leaned against a wall and drank his coffee. He tried to just blend in and stay quiet, for now. No stress to make him jabber wasn't a bad thing.

Andre arrived with three tablets, "It smells lovely, thank you Ms Corvo. On an unrelated note, I think we can actually go back and save more of the cryo cubes if we ignore delivery or postpone it. When I get up from sleep I'll know better but it would probably take most of tomorrow to write code to hunt active cryo cubes. I'll ask now if anyone has a fair idea about why folks were in them to begin with. Human slaves are terrible products so I'm not buying that... Not for purely human applications anyhow.

Breeding supersoldiers, harvesting mutant powers, or recovering escaped persons from such programs is acceptable. As is not wanting to answer at all or something less plausible. I'm pretty open minded. It doesn't really effect the code that much but I like to know what we are getting into."

With everyone gathered in the mess hall, the entire crew and their three guests could sit down to a warm meal, a rarity out here in space.

The crew got to better know their guests as well. Lilly explains that she was a sociologist working in a nearby asteroid colony. She and her family joined a mission with a handful of other academics to learn more about the different colonies. She and her ship hit an unexplained astral anomaly leaving their ship dead in the water. When a ship responded to their SOS, it turned out to be pirates. They subjected them to strange experiments and tortured them. Apparently the pirates sold them to some strange black site facility that were performing illegal experiments on people. The creature known as Varghast was part of the experiment as well. As the only  survivors of their crew, Lilly and her kids were the only living witnesses to this brutal scheme. Whether a corporation, government, or cartel were responsible, it's unknown.

What is known is that Evelyn and Adamus were gifted kids, though a little strange. Lilly was also very strange. Hard to pin down, but they all spoke very literally and referred to people as their full names until corrected. Whatever experiments were performed, it's possible it altered their minds in ways they were not even aware of. Or it's possible the reason they were subject to such experiments were their irregularities. Who can say? But they seemed like decent people.

The captain offered them their own quarters. The ship was designed to accommodate a crew of 12, so they had the space.

If anyone wants to ask the NPCs specific questions or improve their influence with them, they will have an opportunity. Otherwise, after dinner, Jhenko encourages the guests to leave so the crew can discuss their next moves...

Skip listens intently as Lilly tells their tale.  The others of the crew would know his mind is working, taking in what the woman is saying, as well as what she isn't saying.  He cocks his head quizzically, and intently as she speaks.
What do you know of the other cryo-cubes?  Do you know who was in them?

21:51, Today: Skip Tracer rolled 13 using 1d20+6.  Insight.

Over dinner Osram informed Lilly that he'd put the failed cubes into vac storage.

"If you'd like, we can arrange a gathering to see them off.  Say a few words, that sort of thing."  He offered.

Such rituals were familiar to him, too familiar, and it was bad luck to not observe them in at least some capacity.  However he figured it was best to not obligate their guests to such a thing if they'd rather not be present.

Gill lifted his coffee cup, "To the late Turd Ferguson, may he find happiness in his new role as chew toy."

"No problem. That's probably something we'll have to plan. I'm not sure what happened."

Val whispered back to Andre as Lilly told her tale.

Responding to Skip: "I'm not certain who was put where but I suspect..."

Lilly drifts off. Skip can tell she's generally worried but she's not totally torn up. If anything her thought processes reminded him of someone who was highly trained feeling loss. Analyzing her more over dinner, Skip gets the distinct feeling Lilly and the kids all had something very odd about their emotions. He can't really pin it down but it's obviously unique.

Responding to Osram: "Is that a normal custom for your people?"

"Is it not where you come from?"  Osram asked.  "How were the deceased handled there?"  He followed up, genuinely curious as his intention had been to attempt to help assuage whatever the source of the display of grief he'd seen earlier was.

"Eternal Joy to Turd Ferguson!" Andre echoed raising his stew bowl.

He was more and more convinced that these "people" were inadvertent visitors from another dimension. It didn't mean that they were bad but he hated that he couldn't trust them as much. Lilly, the barghest, the kids, Andre was a nerd. Goblin-wolves and Engineering-goblins, and... Well there were a dozen other goblin things that the trio could be with trickery magics hiding their appearance and that was only if goblins were the only fantasy stuff that made it over. Goblin-spiders SHOULD look uglier in human guise... but maybe not everything would add up. It didn't make them bad... he reminded himself just different, but different and scared was often dangerous.

"Is there anything you all would like to sleep better? If you all have no special skills or abilities then locking up your quarters if we get into a dangerous situation would be prudent for your safety, I think. I would anticipate a cut in non essential power and services for that time as well. I don't want you getting startled by it if it becomes prudent."

Edwin had remained quiet through the meal, simply listening. Even though he had never cared much for the Turd Ferguson person he obliged Gill and raised his glass at the toast.

He had so many questions but for now he would wait. He wanted to let the others talk he generally learned more by listening anyway.

Lilly shook her head.

"Normally we have a remembrance ceremony and then recycle the remains to be used for fertilizer. Releasing precious organic material out here is a waste and wasting someone's body would be a dishonor to the rest of their cl---family."


Lilly smiles.

"I think we will be fine with whatever is...normal. We can just observe whatever your special skills are."

Their guests continued eating and thanked them for the meal. The captain directed Val to show the guests to their quarters while everyone else prepared for a crew meeting on what to do next.

---

OOC
13:07, Today: Game Master, for the NPC ed, rolled 18 using 1d20+3.  insight (active observation). – [roll=1710180432.64832.366573]
13:10, Today: Game Master, for the NPC skip, rolled 14 using 1d20+6 ((8)).

"Huh, don't think I've ever made it to anywhere that had the ability to do that.  Things are pretty scrabbly most places I've had the fortune, or misfortune, of visiting.  Where did you say you were from?"  Osram inquired, genuinely curious of places that may have been built with such luxuries.


"Unfortunately we don't have the ability to, uh, honor, them that way here.  Though I think we could likely muster up some semblance of a remembrance ceremony if you let us know how such a thing usually goes."  He offered.

Skip continues eating his food, slowly chewing as if he means to avoid having anything to big to be swallowed.  He remains silent for the rest of the meal, at least while Lilly and the kids are present.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:56, Tue 12 Mar.

PLAN OF ACTION

Jhenko gathers the crew to set in motion a plan of action once the guests are gone.

The unknown warship and its fighters were clearly out for blood and will likely be hunting down ships that escaped. You're currently outside the normal travel lanes and too far away to call for help. If you head back into travel space, there's no telling if you'll accidentally be falling into a trap set by the warship predicting ships trying to circle back.

You have 3 more crewmembers and a big creature, so that's roughly 50% less food, air, and water supply. So even though your fuel cells and energy cells are stocked, you're still running low on time.

Osram has proposed you risk going back to the wreckage to find salvage, maybe save more survivors. It's a bold risk. Something so reckless it may be unexpected move by the warship. It could also be exactly what they were counting on.

Your AI gremlin seems to be on your side and functional again.

You must brainstorm ideas on how you want to get back to civilization without being caught by the warship and without exposing yourselves as criminals affiliated with this operation in any way.

Gill went directly to lawyer mode, with a detour through pilot. "I can out fly anyone they got. That isn't cockiness or arrogance, it is logic. I got us out of the soup...Okay Mad Dog McGrath got us out of the soup but it was me all the same. I wanna go back and see if we can find more survivors. I abhor slavery and slavers, taking the freedom people are born with and reducing them to chattel." He  took a deep breath to fend off the anger that threatened to over boil. As he did so, tiny sparks of electricity run up between his fingers. They are snuffed as quickly as they appear, but they are there. He did not see them because he had closed his eyes to refocus.

"As far as keeping our nose clean, I think it would be a matter of having ourselves made into a sanctuary vessel. I should be able to put that paperwork together in a couple of hours, but I can't do that and fly in the soup so either one or the other  must be our immediate concern. Which begs the question, how much time do we have to find and rescue any cubes before they...ahhh...become inert?"

Andre was mixed in his feelings about the trio and beast. He had a lot of thoughts, part of what made him smart was that he thought a lot quickly. It could also be a detriment, "Lilly unnerves me but I think I can have an algorithm for the sensors ready by close of business tomorrow. The problem is I don't know if the warship was part of the people who's sending them out into the Stars. That is absolutely how I would want criminals to run as fast to their drop off points as possible. With increased food and water expenditures and a reasonably likelihood that everything behind us was annihilated, there's no real reason to turn around and go back unless we're decent people. Decent people are among the first casualties to the Stars." It was a lament as much as it was a fact, there were plenty of aliens and terrible humans out among the Stars. But people who had no particular gifts were near absolutely useless. Then he remembered that not all of the monsters of the universe were practical. Not all of the good people were practically either but there seemed to be so much more of the monsters that the good people hardly seem to be a quotient to consider.

"I think that if we go back, we shouldn't need to worry about them attacking us. We can likely stay ahead of any small contingents left to watch or perhaps initiating search patterns for survivors would indicate that we're not bad people. If they are bad people then we die doing the right thing. If there are more survivors, than our supplies of food and water are going to be unbalanced significantly. Other survivors would need to stay in the cubes until we can get them to a place where we could trust that they could start being free."

"If we circle back, and come in quiet and cold, we should be able to see if there's anything, or anybody we can pick up."  Osram figured.

"I think it's not unreasonable to believe whomever that was is likely more interested in taking the majority of their ships and hunting down whomever got away than loitering around that asteroid.  On the chance we're wrong, we should be able to figure that out before making ourselves known."

He then gave a bit of a shrug.  "After that it's mostly logistics.  Where can we get to with the supplies we have.  We can worry about paperwork then.  Whoever that was that started blasting likely doesn't care about such things, but maybe it'll be useful to wherever we end up heading."

That warships, those fighters?  They were from a crime syndicate.  I didn't see any markings, so I can't say which one, Skip informs the others.  If those cryo-cubes are worth money to them, they are not likely to stop hunting us for quite awhile.
He pauses a few moments.  Truthfully, the greater concern to me is Lilly.  She is not nearly as upset about those other cryo-cubes failing as she lets on.  She isn't happy, but she isn't torn up about either.  She is hiding something, and that worries me more than anything else.

Something Skip said caught Gill's attention. "Do you get the same vibe off the ankle biters, Skipster? Because I've got a rapport with those tykes. If they know, I could likely get them to fess up."

@SKIP & ED

Skip did indeed get a similar vibe from the kids. They were terrified when the cube opened but calmed down quickly when they realized the crew of the Nirvana were not hostile. The kids didn't seem upset by the fate of other other cubes but Lilly may not have told them. The only thing odd about the kids was that they kept referring to everyone by their full name "Mr. Gill Rurry" instead of "Mr. Rurry" or "Gill" and they seemed to take things literally. Which could be trauma but it may also just be autism or some other social disorders or mental illness. It's hard to tell with kids. They did experience genuine fun and joy at Gill's games and eating candy. But Skip and Ed's intuition told them that whatever was "wrong" or "odd" about Lilly, the kids seemed to have it too. Nothing obviously harmful but they just didn't think or act the same way normal people do. More interaction with them might yield more information though.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:29, Tue 19 Mar.

"I don't know what's going on, but that warship snuck up and was burning ships to crisps without so much as a demand for surrender. And human and animal cargo..."

He shakes his head.

"Now I see why they were in a hurry to leave. They knew someone was coming after them."

He sighs.

"But why? Why would anyone fry cargo? Pirates or rival gangs would've plundered. Law enforcement would've demanded surrender to make arrests. How else could have assets for a ship like that...why? Why then? Why there?"

Lance has a lot on his mind. He's used to having answers and he definitely has none right now.

---

OOC

Sometimes I'll ask you to do a CLUE DEDUCTION.

When I do this, your can each ask a yes or no question about the circumstances of the mystery you're discussing/studying.

You can each pick one Int, Wis, or Cha-based skill and roll it.

If you succeed in a DC12 check, you'll get a minor clue. 17 gets a major clue. 3 minor clues = major, 3 major clues = a revelation (crack the case or at least one big mystery about it). What clue you get depends on the skill and some may be more useful than others but all will give some info. You don't know (unless your question was "which skill would be best for answer to ____ question?".

You can forgo your question to assist someone else instead (granting them advantage).

Right now, everyone do ONE clue deduction at the bottom of your next post.

Yeah, they seem a bit different, too, the security guy advises.  I would have to spend more time with them to figure it out.  You keep doing your thing with them.  Unlike the rest of us, they actually seem to like you.
The expression on his face, and the twinkle in his eye might suggest that he is ribbing the pilot a bit.
He looks to Lance.  These weren't pirates, that's for sure.  They were well funded and had a purpose.  Like I said, organized crime.  I've dealt with them enough to know their Em-Oh.  These guys were particularly ruthless.

Andre nodded, "The word is mechanical. The trio function like robots. The advanced tech of the stealth warship and absolute, efficient destruction of other ships was nearly binary. Though, when you are an engineer everything is SOME kind of machine."

Andre Klanktonne rolled 25 using 1d20+8.  Mechanics for clues.

Likely not the most effective for clues harvesting in this scenario

Edwin listened to the others as he tried to piece together what little information they had. "I have to agree with Skip. I am no psychic but there is something peculiar about the trio, just wish I could figure out what it was. As for the the ship and fighters to me it feels like an effort to cover something up. I could be totally wrong but sorta wondering if the pirates or whoever it was hired the pick up didn't get their hands on those cubes and whoever owned them originally wanted to make sure information didn't get out on what they were doing. No witnesses, no evidence, no liability."

OOC: Search for clues. 08:45, Today: Edwin Arlo Park rolled 20 using 1d20+5 ((15)).

Gill tipped an imaginary cap at Skip. Maybe he was finally getting how weird the universe was and maybe Gill could let him slide some. Gill relaxed and tried to let answers come to him. He felt like there was some kind of con job here and maybe his own ability to deceive would help him in this deduction.

10:36, Today: Gill Rurry rolled 22 using 1d20+6.  Deception Reliable Talent Min 12. Is there a con?

A cover-up.  Or an attack, the former Space Marine suggests.  Either no one was supposed know about it, but several people found out, and decided to raid the station.  Or, somebody sold the crates to several parties, and whoever they are decided if they can't have it, nobody else can.

@SKIP You're convinced it's a coverup. That warship came to destroy everything. Going back is likely going to find nothing but debris and probably one or two scouting ships roaming around to catch survivors and silences them for good.

@ANDRE The tech used to stealth an entire warship is some extremely advanced cutting-edge stuff. It couldn't be organized crime to back that much firepower and manpower. It would have to be official military to sustain such operations. So either its a big black ops or war is brewing and the few days you've been disconnected from the net a lot has changed. You also dawns on you that the acid in the cubes was not planted in the cubes. There were no containers of acid or other chemicals to make acid. The acid must have come from the cargo itself. Meaning either the cargo had containers with them or...inside them. A troubling prospect. Why would anyone carry acid bombs to dissolve an entire person and any immediate surrounding material? Some very powerful people must want witnesses very dead because regular dead isn't good enough.

@ED Ed is absolutely certain this is a coverup. The motives are unclear, but someone wanted all witnesses eliminated at any cost. That means whoever is doing this, probably won't negotiate but will likely set a trap.

@GILL The gears in Gill's head began turning. Who would go through so much effort to annihilate witnesses? Who would have so much power? Why are they this terrified of information getting out? Obviously, there is something about Lilly and the other survivors that powerful people think is so dangerous they'd spend enormous resources and brutal murderous tactics to silence them. Nobody attacks with this much vigor to silence someone unless they're afraid of them...Gill doesn't know how or why, but Lilly and the kids are a threat to whomever did this. It also means whoever did this likely cleaned up survivors at the location. Nobody would do this and leave crates lying around for someone else to discover. Lilly and the kids are likely the only ones left alive. Whoever their friends were, they are almost certainly vaporized or captured by now.

@OSRAM Osram's suspicions of Lilly remain. She doesn't seem hostile, but she is definitely withholding information.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:24, Tue 19 Mar.

Gill spoke up, "Skipster is right, this is a cover-up. It was done by someone with a lot of power and money. They wouldn't have left anything alive, no crates, no cubes, nothing. Lilly and those kids know something, something that has powerful person or persons terrified that it will come out. So terrified they are willing to raze a planet. I think we have the only survivors on this ship." He looked at his shipmates one at a time so they could see this was a rare moment of complete honesty on his part. "This scares the living shit out of me. I am serious. I am going to have to change my boxers after this little meeting. We may have to run as far and as fast as we can, and even that might not save us. In short, we're all fucked. But hey we got a gremlin flying out AI for us, that that can't be anything but helpful, right?" Despite his flippancy, he is clearly scared, not for himself but for them. He has never cared whether he lived or died, but he does care about them.

He laughed aloud, "Actually the gremlin would be to our advantage I think. You want to talk about an evasive little bastard that enjoys making people look like idiots and see machinery taken apart? That is every part the war we seem to be embroiled in now. I can't imagine a better instinct to guide survival against this enemy actually. Skill might be lacking but drive is all there," the engineer spoke with sincerity.

Andre frowned, "That Lilly wants to go back but hasn't particularly cared about losses suggests that either she is a high born or she has inability to emotion though she fakes it decently. She didn't deny having special abilities but merely wants to learn ours. She may be a splinter from the very organization that blasted the facility though it probably doesn't warrant being called a planet... A map that shows no active cubes out there would likely be accurate and timely to justify not going back. Then a ride to the third closest starlanes that pushes our engines just a few percent might be unorthodox enough to increase our safety. Once at lanes we can catch up on news and maybe locate a safe, wet, rock for these passengers. We would need to make money... I give us pretty good odds really!"

"If we're not going back, then we need to decide where to head to next.  Plenty of places to hide in the belt.  Only issue is keeping provisioned."  Osram considered.

"Maybe we should just have Lilly brought back in here. If she continues to be evasive we can just drop them off at the next planet we come to, see how long they survive without us."

I have questions that I feel need to be asked, Skip informs.  Questions whose answers may affect the operation of this ship, and the safety of the crew.  And Lilly has those answers.

The engineer snorts, "Unless you are going to ask in an unconventional manner she isn't going to answer. She doesn't feel like giving answers. I am certain I cannot trust her and by extension the other 3 from the cubes are highly suspicious. Was she in the cube that had the headgear? I want to inspect that to determine function. The kids didn't have gear; were they shackled? I was late on the scene... I also want to test blood samples from them because I don't think they are even close enough to human to consider them mutants. Medical isn't my forte though. If the astral anomaly they hit is the same fold that Gryftrr came through then someone might be covering up access, if only one way, to another dimension. News from lanes would really help sort that out." Andre was done as far as Lilly was concerned and hated not being comfortable with the kids. Weirdly, not an animal person generally he was liking the wolf better than any of them. No guile.

Osram gave a shrug.  "Probably better to not threaten to put them off the ship until we are actually within very short range of somewhere to put them."  He suggested.

"We don't know what they are capable of.  I don't know if the apparent remains of the rest of them turning into acid was some trick or a natural side effect of their death.  If it was the latter, then that's another strong indicator that we don't know what they're capable of.  Which is all the more reason to play nice until we get somewhere, if we're not certain we can contain them and we're not prepared to jettison them on the spot should things go poorly."

I have my ways of getting answers that do not always involve threats, Skop replies.  Besides, have I ever threatened to space someone without being willing to do exactly that?

Gill leaned back in his chair, a sure sign that he was feeling more comfortable. Scratching his chin as he spoke in a much calmer tone, "It has been a while since we played good cop bad cop, Skipster. Whatta ya say I get to be good cop this time?"

Andre chuckled but it faded somewhat more abruptly than one might expect for good-natured reminiscing, "I'm forced to admit that for as long as I've known you I don't have any proof to suggest that you aren't willing to space anyone that you threaten to space. Although I don't recall you threatening to space anyone... Or actually spacing anyone."

The engineer rubbed at some marks on the table where ionized particles that left small scorch marks flickering. "Has someone been playing around with high voltage lately? Other than me."

Skip looks at Gill with a smirk.  Since when do you know how to be a good cop?  He glances around at everyone, then back to Gill.  You're good with the kids.  How about you keep them occupied while I ask the questions?

Gill looked hurt. "I may not be the most orthodox man here, but I have never put you or anyone on this ship in danger. I really did finish lawschool, ask the Captain if you don't believe me." He wasn't angry, but genuinely hurt. Sure he goofed around and had fun making up and pretending to be other people, but Skip was acting like he was some kind of loose cannon. His fingers tingled and he looked down at them. He spread them wide watched arch moving up between them. He is genuinely shocked and amazed by this. "Will you look at that. Maybe the little blue monkey was telling the truth." There are now little surges of lightening in the cornia of both his eyes as well. He clenched his fist and reigned in his emotions. "Whatever you think is best Skip."

Val raised her eyebrow at Gill with a look of suspicion. She noticed. She knew.

"Gill...don't tell you made a deal with the gremlin...did you? What did you promise it?"

Gill looked a bit sheepish, "He wouldn't let me take a nap. The little bastard just kept staring at me. Said if I gave him a piece of my soul, he'd leave me be and give me a piece of his in exchange. I thought it was a game of some kind. Really, I never expected to be Mr. Lightening Fingers. Hey that's good, I gotta remember that one."

Osram raised an eyebrow at the revelation.

Things were definitely weirder on this ship than any other backwater colony or lonely mining outpost in the deep black he'd ever been to.

A fact that perhaps was not so encouraging.

Andre's eyes widened a bit, "Oh, holy moly. You just... offered soul for peace and quiet?!" he didn't have disappointed tones or expression... but surprise and intrigue. "There has quickly become more to test and measure than I have the time to evaluate."

Val stood up and shook her head.

"Gill, you fool. You don't make deals with fey or demons! It's always a trap!"

She began chastising him like a mother who caught a child with their hand in the cookie jar.

"A piece of your soul? Do you even know what it took?! Has anyone else been offered a deal? Where is the gremlin right now...?"

She looks around.

"Wait...Lilly and the kids...do they know about the gremlin?"

It suddenly dawned on them that the gremlin wasn't present. But it was ALWAYS annoying and toying with someone...

OOC:
Both Ed and Gill were propositioned to gamble their souls in a game. Gill actually made a trade. The gremlin was vague about how it would help Andre but it was always clear it liked playing games, placing bets, and wheeling and dealing.

Andre held up hands in a calming gesture, well known to NOT help agitated females... Or anyone for that matter, "Gryftrr is pretty much everywhere aboard ship. I accidentally bound it into the empty bonding pilot location NOD was made for. I gave him a modified drone so he could be visible and interact more personally. He said he would help me in vague terms so I may have a dossier on the visitors in my messages box in the morning. We didn't have an exorcist. I told Cap about it and I'll keep working on the issues in my spare time. I kind of got him to promise to not take apart more of the ship without my supervision."

Gill responded to Rey, "Yea, so. What would you have traded a piece of my soul for, money? Wouldn't get much. Honestly it was way to easy to just hand over my hat, you know TF? Well now that I think about it that was probably the reason. He took the TF part of me and left the rest." He listened to Rey but headed with Val toward the kids anyway.

The captain shrugs as Val looks from Andre to him.

"I trust my engineer. Plus if he's making deals, 'don't tear the ship apart' is the kind of behavior we need our own AI to take seriously. And it's Gill's soul. He can do with it what he wants."

He was surprisingly calm.

"Just communicate anything odd or weird to the rest of us in the future. Andre, I'd like you to work on that sensor program and double check that we're back at 100% before we do anything. Ed, Skip, Gill, Val, why don't two of you watch the kids and two of you interview Lilly. Decide among yourselves. I'll head back to the bridge to keep watch and Osram...can you check on that creature in our cargo bay now and again? Make sure it doesn't get into anything? You're the only one I think could take it without firing a shot should the need arise."

He stood up.

"Unless anyone has any other bright ideas?"

"Sure thing Cap."  Osram replied despite his doubt regarding Jehnko's assessment after seeing what Vargas had done with his claws.

"You want anyone standing by in case things get... weird?"  He asked Skip due to the matter of Lilly's exact nature being an unsettled question.

"If we are going back, we will likely find wreckage. The salvage might be worth it, but the cubes would be destroyed or reclaimed by the warship faction. I can have it ready for use if I put all tomorrow into it, but it will probably be useless to track the cubes after that. Maybe the guests will offer some other energy or matter that I can attune the program to that would be worth more in the long run than the cubes. Particularly if in light of that or other information we decide not to go back. I am all for salvage but we are going to need a larger hold and a major ship overhaul if you want to turn this thing into an armed freighter." The engineer added quickly, "Not that I am against those ideas we would need a shipyard, a crew, and some time for me to oversee everything myself. Another foreman might not understand my shorthand and cut corners... On my plans... might be disastrous. I can put our key systems into a different hull altogether faster than upgrading this to a different hull type, I think."

Gill looked at Skip, knowing who he would pick but still wanting him to do it looking Gill in the eyes when he took Ed instead.

Fine, Skip says with a tone of exxasperation.  You can come with me, Gill, IF Val is willing to distract the kids.  Any of your antics, though, and I will trade you out for her.

Gill was shocked. He looked around to be sure everyone else heard what he heard. It seemed they had, which was either more or less shocking, perhaps both. He nodded slowly, "Got it, I can be professional. Wait, I need something."

He fished around on his jumpsuit for a moment, before remembering where they were. He unzipped a pocket just above his hip and took out a glasses case. Opening it to find his spare contacts holder, and he calmly took out his contacts and put them away. Then he got out a pair of thick, black, hornrimmed glassed and put them on. They made his eyes look enormous. He put the case back in it's pocket. He inhaled, spine straight, and in an extremely professional tone he said, "Ready when you are, Mr. Tracer."

The captain answered Osram on Skip's behalf: "Nah, you head to the cargo bay and keep an eye on that creature. Ed, Val, and the kids are headed there anyway. The kids want to play with their pet I suppose."


He looks to Andre: "Best to put out the idea of going back for survivors out of your mind and focus on the task at hand. Repairing this ship. I'll be on monitor duty on the bridge while you do that."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:34, Mon 15 Apr.

"Sure thing then."  Osram replied to Jehnko as he moved off to head to the cargo bay.

The engineer grunted as he got up from a seat in the mess hall, "Let me know if, especially if, any alerts only flicker on for a minute. I don't want us to lose backup systems because Gryftrr decided to gamble on not needing them.

Tomorrow I may just start by shoring up some of those other drones. Having more hands might just go a long way to whatever endeavors we are up to next. Babysitting seems to be in the cards..."

Once they returned to the Mess Hall, Gill pulled a chair out for Lilly. Then he went around and sat across from her. "Thank you for agreeing to come with us, Lilly. We have some questions and we wanted the comfort of all of us in this environment. We want you to understand that we are not going to harm you or the children. We are not pirates or monsters. We genuinely want to help all of you. We cannot do that properly without the correct information." He is entirely professional in this, adopting his lawyer persona easily.

Skip had waited while Gill had gone to get Lilly.  When the two walk in, He is over by the mud coffee maker, pouring them each a cup.  When he comes over to the table, he is carrying a tray with the three mugs of coffee (each of the crew had their own mug, plus a number of mugs usable by passengers and guests) and a ramican with powdered creamer and sweetener of various sorts.  And a a dispenser of stir-sticks.
Coffee?  He holds up the guest mug for Lilly to take, if she wants it.  Don't know how you like it, but we have a variety of sweeteners and almost-creamer.

Lilly gladly takes the coffee and sniffs it cautiously sipping it.

"Oh this is very hot and bitter."

She smacks her lip.

"This is a stimulant."

She says in a matter-of-fact manner, staring at the mug.

Gill gave a greatful nod to Skip for the coffee. It was the exact right amout which brought a hint of smile to hip lips, which he doused instantly. He poured in the powdered vanilla creamer, stirred, poured more in, stirred again, and then added a lot of sugar and stirred one last time.

He tried to keep things from going off track, "Lilly where are you from, exactly. What is the name of the planetary body and city, county, and state?"

Skip find her response to the coffee odd.  Like she had never heard of it before.  It's called coffee.  Just not a very good version of it.  It is a stimulant, but many people find drinking it to be relaxing, he says to her with a smile.
He opens himself, focussing his empathy upon her, to the exclusion of everyone else outside of the room.  The metal walls and closed door help, muting the presence of the rest of the crew and passengers.

09:34, Today: Skip Tracer rolled 25 using 1d20+6.  Insight-Empathy.

This message was last edited by the player at 13:35, Fri 19 Apr.

Lilly responded in exactly the same rather-scripted manner she had the first time she was questioned.

"Oh, as I said before. I'm a sociologist from a nearby asteroid colony. My family joined a mission with a handful of other academics to learn more about the different colonies. Our ship hit an unexplained astral anomaly leaving us stranded. When a ship responded to our SOS, it turned out to be pirates. You saved us from their experiments."

She looks to Skip.

"Oh, coffee. It is nice."

She does not sip anymore and leaves the mug on the nearest table. Clearly, she's lying, even Gill can tell. She does not like coffee. What was weird is that she didn't seem to know what coffee was just a moment ago.

Gill looked at her sadly, "If you aren't going to be truthful with us, there is nothing we can do to help you."

Skip looks at the woman appraisingly.  Perhaps tea is more your style, he suggests.  He turns back to the galley, leaving her with the cup of coffee for now.  He begins to prepare a cup of tea, using the microwave to heat the water.

Lilly looks at Gill a bit confused.

"I understand. You have already helped very much. I will not deceive you."

She seems a bit ditzy, oblivious, possibly even on the spectrum...no, definitely on the spectrum. She answers your questions but gets absolutely no subtext or implication from you that you want more information than the exact question you asked.

Gill looked at Skip in a way that conveyed he was about to stop being subtle. He adjusted his posture and began as nonthreateningly as he possibly could. "Lets start with your story about being from an asteroid does not make sense. The technology we have seen is way beyond what we are capable of, like people and giant mutant dogs held in tiny cubes. We can't do that here. Another is your general behavior is more akin to someone who has only passing knowledge of humanity pretending to be human. So I ask you again, where are you from. Understand that we have a trans-dimensional goblin merged with our ships AI, so nothing you say will be surprising or cause us to try and end your existence. We are just salt of the earth type space truckers." He blinked and grinned.

He brings over the tea, a mix of orange and black pekoe cut teas, setting the mug down next to the variety of sweeteners and creamer packets.  Try this, he says as he reaches to take the coffee.  You may want to try to sweeten it, or add powdered creamer, to improve the flavor.
He indicates where they and the stir sticks are.

Lilly takes the tea and sips it.

"Oh, I like this warm nutrient drink. It's not very dense. Much better for hydration. This is a relaxant. Thank you Skip Tracer."

There she goes using full names again. It's unsettling. She stared at Gill as he gave her the run down and blinked quietly for a moment.

"You can't? What a shame. The pirates who kidnapped us could. I'm not pretending. I am huma--Gremlin? You have a gremlin aboard?"

Lilly's blasé attitude shifted to concern and she began looking around frantically. She revealed that under her new clothing she had a comm bracer (where had she gotten it?) and began hailing the kids.

"Adamus. Evelyn. Gill Rurry has informed me that there is a gremlin aboard!"

"My ears are burning. All 912 of them aboard this ship."

Gryftrr's hologram suddenly appeared from around the corner. Lilly stood up. It was clear she was afraid of him.

"Hiya, Longneck. What brings you to this backwoods realm? Experiment on any juicy mortals lately?"

He looks at Gill and Skip.

"That's what they do you know. Experiment. It's their whole schtick these ones."

It seems Gryftrr has been incorporating more and more human dialect and vocabulary into his systems.

And that's when Skip draws his plasma pistol.  With it being of little good against a hologram, he points it at Lilly.  Well, it seems that, finally, you were about to outright lie to us when you found out about the gremlin.  You've been a difficult one to get a good read on.
He waves the pistol at the chair.  Sit down, please, and start giving us some straight answers.  I do not want to have to become impolite.

Gill was confused at first, but caught on just before Gryfter showed up and confirmed it. He thought about how his luck was going south and then things went from annoying to Def Con 1 million in the split second it took Skip to draw his weapon. Thinking quickly he realized he had only a couple decent choices: play dumb and hope for the best or back Skip's play. He decided on the second and began to lay it on, "Oh now you've done it, you pissed him off. He gets like this when people lie to us. I've seen him shoot someone's eye out at 80 meters so you better start cooperating fast unless you want him to start blasting. I for one am not going to antagonize him."

03:12, Today: Gill Rurry rolled 20 using 1d20+6.  Deception + reliable talent min total = 12.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:14, Sat 27 Apr.

Lilly put her hands up and slowly returned to her seat.

"I am cooperating. You--you don't understand gremlins. You can't reason with them. They're dangerous. You have to purge it from your ship immediately or it'll--"

Once again Lilly was showing sincere fear and concern. Her communicator was buzzing with Adamus' voice asking her to confirm what she just said, but she didn't reach for it while the weapon was pointed at her. She looks at Gill defeated.

"We are all in great danger. I will tell you what you want to know, but we must address the gremlin."

Skip sensed no lies from Lilly now just fear. But he also didn't detect lies from Gryftrr. It's always possible the AI was impossible to read. But it's also possible they both believe what they're saying. False information is not lies if the person spreading it believes it.

Gryftrr scoffed.

"Or I'll what? Kidnap someone and perform strange experiments on them? Phase through someone else's realm and cause all types of havoc with my weird flying machines?"

He circled Lilly and the group's table in a predatory manner.

Lilly: "The ships don't harm environments. Destroying a ship in transit is often lethal to those onboard! We don't hurt them! We just gather knowledge!"

"Pssh. You think my kind breaking your kind's flying machines is worse than what you do to their kind? You Longnecks sure do have strange priorities."

He points at Gill and Skip.

"I wonder what they would think. Go on Longneck. Tell them who you really are. Tell them WHAT you are. If you don't I will. And I'll be happy to weigh my opinion on the matter."

Lilly bowed her head in shame. It seemed like Lilly was finally ready to crack.

Gill sipped his coffee, making loud slurping sounds. When he put the mug down he looked Lilly in the eyes. Now he has dropped the initial cordial lawyer and gone into shark-lawyer mode, and he smells blood in the water. "Gryfter has not lie to us, kept up his end of the bargains he's made, and honestly hasn't even done anything to directly threaten our lives. You on the other hand have lied repeatedly and have put my crew in serious jeopardy with that thing in the cargo hold. Now I'm going to tell my shipmates to purge your guard dog as it has already eaten my favorite hat. You need to give me a really good reason not to space you as well. Since I'm at it, tell me everything and you got thirty seconds to give me those really good reasons, starting now. One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi..."

Still holding the plasma pistol on Lilly, Yeah, he really has this thing fpr spacing people.  Well, not just people.
He gives a wicked grin.  I, on the other hand, I hate to space the living.  He points his weapon at Gryftrr, and waves it dismisssively, indicating to the holographic that he should vanish.

Lilly sighs deeply.

"Very well. I AM from a nearby asteroid and I am here on a science expedition. That was not a deception. However, what my people consider "nearby" is probably different than what you would consider "nearby". I was raised in an asteroid colony and that's where I first received my assignment to come to this solar system to learn more about its sapient inhabitants. I am not your enemy, Skip Tracer and Gill Rurry. I am just here to observe and learn what you and your kind are like."

She crosses her arms and looks at the gremlin.

"We know what his kind are like. And we know they are dangerous."

Gryftrr scoffs and walks away.

Gill continued counting. He still had not heard a good reason not to space Lilly.

Hmmmmm, Skip muses.  You don't seem to be trying to deceive us this time.  But, the gremlin seems to think you need to take the stick out of your ass.
He laans donw, resting his hands on the table to prop himself there.You're not entirely human, are you.  It is more of a statement than a question.

Lilly seems to think about it.

"My body is mostly human. My creators only needed a few minor modifications to ensure the success of our mission. We were supposed to integrate and observe human society and culture. We just need to know if you're a friendly or...."

She looks at the gun nervously.

"...or hostile species."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:12, Tue 07 May.

We are a complicated species.
 Skip holsters the "blaster" as he takes a seat.  We can be very hostile when we feel threatened.  Like we were when we collected the cargo, you, that we had been contracted to deliver.  We saw a lot of people killed, and ships destroyed.
He shrugs and leans back against the backrest.  Some of us will be friendly.  Some of us will be hostile.  And a great many of us will be opportunistic.

Gill stopped counting as Skip put his weapon away. He did have more questions, "What kind of experiments do you have planned? I'm warning you, anything anal and space you on the spot."

"So I see."

Lilly responds, wary of the trigger-happen homo sapiens.

"My mission did not include any experiments per say. It's purely observational. I need to learn more about what humans are like. We could only discern so much from old transmissions. Do you mind being observed? The pirates we encountered during the gremlin incursion did not have your psychic abilities but were a lot more hostile."

Lilly seemed to be aware she was being psychically observed. But she implied multiple humans were "powered".

Gill was curious now. "Why do you need to learn about us? Are we on trial? What is your motivation? It can't be mere curiosity for all this trouble."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:45, Tue 07 May.

Skip crosses his arms over his chest.  Pirates tend to be pretty violent, preying on transport ships and freighters. Sometimes they kill the people on board, other times they take them as prisoners.
He shrugs.  I don't mind being observed.  I spent a lot of my childhood under observation because of my abilities.  But, you need to speak to the Captain.   It's his ship after all.

"We want to learn about everything. Especially if we're going to be in close proximity to your people. We're just approaching the situation cautiously. We did not expect pirates with such advanced technology to be here lying in wait for us. We were under the impression humans didn't even have superluminal mass transportation yet, let alone precausal predictive tech. Were it not for the probability compensation with our own data cortex and our energy shielding calibration, we surely would have perished. Why our attackers took us captive after our near destruction is still beyond my ability to surmise. I can only guess there are some humans that are just as curious as us but more hostile and more advanced in their technological and psychokinetic progression."

She looks Skip in the eyes.

"But your captain is already listening."

One of the control panels to in the mess hall scoffed in Jhenko's voice.

Jhenko (on comms): "Hah! Clever girl...erh...alien. You called it Gryftrr, she definitely knew. I guess I owe you 20 credits."

Grytrr could be heard chuckling from the comms too. Jhenko didn't even seem upset that he'd been caught bugging the mess hall and listening in on the conversation. More charmed "ah ya got me" causal about it. Who'd have thought? The captain was bit of a scoundrel.

Gill made a quip, "No observing my bedroom or bathroom habits."

I would be surprised if he wasn't, Skip responds just before the Captain does.  At the mention of Superluminal travel, he almost leapt to his feet with a cry of, "FTL?!  They've cracked Faster Than Light?!"  He may not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but he reads, and he tries to keep track of technological advances.   But, there has been not even an inkling that FTL has been developed.
He leans forward.  You are absolutely certain that they have Faster Than Light capability?  That means those pirates either aren't pirates, or they have some serious backing.
He turns to the speaker.  Cap'n, I think we are in some deep shit.  And sinking in WAY over our heads.

Lilly scratched her head.

"Well, we arrived using a superluminal communications array that's only a few lightyears from here. It is how our pods were constructed nearby without humans knowing. Once we had a single node, the code was able to decompress, travel into an operable form, and collect more mass and supplies to build drones that would then build our facility and clone pods. After that it was a few months of tissue replication and a cognitive upload and we were here. Sadly, as we worked on constructing our vessels, they ambushed us. I assume they have superluminal tech if they intercepted any of our superluminal messages..."

Lilly stopped. Her mind trying to process something complex.

Jhenko: "Don't worry, Gill, I got better things to do. Namely, process all these aliens. So much for a glorious first contact that the Signal promised. Sounds like they brought some sort of conflict beyond our system to our doorstep. The question is, who is who and which side are we on? I have feeling "not choosing sides" isn't an option since one of them is already trying to kill us. Just our luck."

Gill went back to serious, "Listen very carefully, Lilly, as long as you are on this ship you are a guest. You will do nothing to harm a member of my crew, that includes the blue monkey. That also goes for the kids, tell them now."

Osram's voice came in over the comms in the mess hall.

"Gil, if you got Lilly with you, can you ask her to talk to the kids?  They're down here in the cargo bay listening, and are worried about her for some reason."

Lilly seemed confused.

"I was under the impression you did not want me to do that. May I operate my communications device without having a weapon pointed at me?"

Lilly looked at Skip.

Skip holds his hands up to show them to be empty.  He had holstered the plasma pistol before he sat down.

Lilly sends a communication to the kids.

"Everything is okay. Our hosts have it under control."

Skip closes his eyes and pinches his nose as though he has a sudden and severe headache.  Maybe we should get a new ship, and scuttle and disable this one into a decaying orbit around the Sun, he mutters to himself.

Gill nodded and gave Skip a thumbs up. "I think that's enough for now. We value your cooperation Lilly. Unless you have something else, Mr. Tracer, I can escort her back to quarters."

Andre was bright eyed and bushy… haired. He started talking almost as soon as he walked in, “The kids are, probably, adults of an alien species, Lilly too. Different species, both more advanced than humans, cousins of sorts to each other. They sent devices into… let’s call it Avalon as that is more poetic than Fae Dimension… gremlins and a few others got ruffled about it because it messed with things. Gryftrr stole a ride, dropped its defenses and got it marauded. I assume that group is the owner of the warship we recently escaped.  I want to recover or destroy that tech to stop people here from making more mess. Maybe we can come up with less destabilizing methods to access Avalon, but we can’t really hope to match a warship as we are and I don’t think it is a good idea to spread this info around.” He didn’t know that half of what he knew was public knowledge already.

Once back at the mess hall he quietly found himself a corner where he could easily watch and listen. He only caught a small piece of what Andre was saying but from that small bit he was pretty sure it was mostly what was suspected by many.

Gill returned from escorting Lilly, still wearing his lawyer glasses. "I agree with Rey, and I'll add that Gryfter hasn't attacked us, and since he is integrated into our ship, he should be considered crew. Skip did you feel any deception from Lilly?"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 05:56, Sat 18 May.

"The kids did make a big deal about how dangerous that newest crewmember and his kind are.  Born to create chaos and all that."  Osram offered.  "Guess we'll just have to trust it now, and hope it doesn't blow up on us."

Turning to Andre he asked, "Could Gryftrr be separated from the ship?  Like say... ejected from us and shunted into a big shiny warship?"

Andre shook his head, “I’m not sure it is correct to call Gryftrr a gremlin anymore. Self described as fey he has also described the connection with NOD as being comfortable. He likes the ship and desires its success and future. I think he will assist maneuvering and attack efforts…

You may be onto something with how to fight them though. Rather than a traditional missile, mine, or cannon a hybrid gremlin might be able to take over that ship. Even a standard gremlin might well be able to wreck it or at least level the playing field for a couple smaller ships. It might be able to be linked to them via a comms wave if we can generate ectoplasm aboard their ship.

I think the largest problem with that being that to get one we probably can’t go through Gryftrr, we would have to trust Lilly and the other Roswellians. I don’t. They may not have actively lied but they were not forthcoming nor instructive.  They were intentionally deceptive after we gave several signs that we just wanted to selflessly help them. Maybe Val can help with the ectoplasm creation or storage..”

As the alien is escorted away, Skip gets up to make himself a cup ot tea.  He, infact, downs a couple as the others begin to file in and converse.  He is on his third cup when he speaks again.
She was very forthcoming after I drew my sidearm.  He takes a sip, and moves to the cupboard to locate something to snack on with it.  He comes up with a pack of creme-filled sandwich cookies of various flavors.
As far as she is concerned, I'd say Lilly believes us to be a hostile sort who can be reasonable under the right circumstances, he says as he brings his cup and the cookies to the table.  I can't sya she's wrong.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:48, Mon 20 May.

Gill looked oddly thoughtful, as if the glasses made him more adult somehow. "Do you remember that bit about experiments? Did you get the impression she was omitting something?"

The engineer raised one hand almost as if throwing something at the ceiling, “Of course. Roswell’s have been thought to perform cattle mutilations and human abduction not to mention probing. Crazier theories exist and if even half of them are true the Roswellians would be more dangerous to more people… though to be fair humans are well documented as messing up each other more than aliens but we can’t be certain of overlaps there, in the name of gods or sciences.”

He took a moment to be ashamed for the species he was born to but there was nothing to be done about it, “Humans with their powers would be undoubtedly bad unless selected carefully.”

"So, that's all well and good, but if the goal is to try and get rid of this stuff so it's not in the hands of pirates, or anybody even, that still leaves the problem of tracking it down."  Osram figured.  "If we can't do that, then figuring out the other part won't matter much."

She didn't really seem to be leaving much out.  I mean, we all have our little secrets, he says with a shrug.  Gryftrr hit a nerve , caused a guilt trip with his words.  And, I'm not sure she was trying to deceive us, once she was found out, as much as she was trying to reassure the kids with a bit of deception.  I am curious to see what they actually look like.

Andre nodded, “Gryftrr is going to be key to establishing trust and cooperation with them. They will be key to upgrading our systems to facilitate our investigation… unless you can already hide us from their systems and track the stolen metal magics, Gryftrr. How are you feeling about that? My metal magic isn’t up to snuff yet, I’m afraid.” he was so familiar with being the smartest person in the room. It had taken him some time to come to grips with the fact that this entire mission plan was stuff that he was not ultimately any better at grasping, then the least educated people in the room. His expression did show he had, what he hoped was a plan.

Gill shrugged, "You guys decide what to do next. It's all the same to me."

Gryftrr's holographic avatar appeared in the room.

"I'm still a gremlin, I'm just...upgraded. Like Osram is still human but also...more. I wouldn't trust the Longneck or Eggheads anywhere near your engineering, bridge, or any control rooms or panels. Keep keep them away from tech and they're just meatsacs like you scrubs."

He skipped closer.

"I can help with what I know of my realm, but if you want metal magic we might need to get the Eggheads to explain to us how all that works. I never really learned. My kind are better at breaking than building. They're the builders. They just like to poke and prod things and experiment on them a lot. I've seen them do the cattle thing. They fly through our realm to get to another one and then just scoop up a bunch of creatures and start poking them with their machines. Then they put them back where they found them and talk about what they learned. It's the weirdest thing! Bunch of nerds!"

Behind Gryftrr, Captain Jhenko was on the video comms listening and nodding.

"We obviously can't let alien tech fall into the hands of pirates...especially not pirates that might have ID'd our ship and could be waiting for us to try to make it back to civilization to "silence" us for good.

Either Lilly and the "kids" can provide us with what we need to fight back or we're going to need backup elsewhere, maybe even ...*shudders*... work with the authorities."

He feels gross even just saying it. Nobody wants to call the Feds because there's so much red tape and convoluted regulation that nearly everyone has unknowingly committed some crimes somewhere. Selective enforcement is how the interplanetary governance gets everyone to cooperate and why most people prefer to fly under the radar, because flying above it is expensive.

“Captain, I think it is safe to say the authorities would be at a disadvantage and want to capture the tech for themselves. They ask too many questions. Maybe they are a threat we could leverage against the Roswellians… I am unsure if Lilly is intentionally difficult or if she really has no grasp of thought of lower beings. Their society must seem either very simple or very complex to us. Cavemen and us would have a difficult time associating even if we wanted to and had a shared language.” Andre moved his chair about a bit and tried but couldn’t imagine more than ordering parts through larger government bodies. It couldn’t end well in his mind.