"Just happened to be going by, or would you happen to have some insight to why that ship was taking shots at us, and who was at the trigger?"  Is it still optimism when the thing you are hoping for is a more detailed picture of who is trying to kill you?

To the doughnut comment, Tim nervously smiles. "Like your priorities, Lucky..."

Maverick says, "The people shooting at you *were* the authorities. I can't take you to them. As for why, you just involuntarily became involved with the Galaxy Gate's completion against your wills."

"What?!  They were the authorities?  You mean they're corrupt cops paid to kill us by dissenters, right?  Because what reason could the real authorities possibly have for shooting at unarmed civilians?"

  Joe blinks, then turns to Lucky,  "Weren't you already involved in the Galaxy Gate's completion voluntarily?"  you know, the whole 'one of the first to go through it' thing.

  He considers their situation, "Hmm, I don't know if we have time to find enough guilty scapegoats in their structure to take out before they cut their losses and act like this all never happened."

Maverick says, "If by "take out", you mean use violence to attack the authorities, then it won't matter how guilty they are, you will be hated by most everyone forever. But if you meant "present evidence to the media", that will take some doing..."

Tim says, "What did you mean by being forced to be part of the Galaxy Gate's completion?"

Maverick says, "I mean you three were imprinted into the activation codes for the Galaxy Gate. It won't function without you. It was believed nobody knew since not even you three knew. Now, those who don't want the gate working are targeting you three. No you, no gate."

"So they ARE rogue officers," Lucky concludes, "So... then... even if we turn ourselves in... there's no guaruntee that the prison guards won't have a lethal accident happen to us on purpose?!  Just great."

  "...That is an incredibly stupid design, more so if there is no work around.  Of course, I've stopped expecting reasonable measures to be the method of choice."  Joe also left his terminology deliberately vague for a reason.

  "So beyond the immediate help, where exactly do you come in all this?"

Maverick says, "...I keep an eye on things. When bad people want to do bad things, I try to stop them. I think it's neat we could be touching another galaxy soon... but I'm helping you because your lives were in danger. Here we are..."

He nudges his head at the view screen. The group sees an abandoned space station. All its lights are out and it looks like it was junked decades ago. It isn't even spinning anymore. Maverick gets the ship to a hole in the station that was actually a cleverly disguised docking port.

"More than likely the way to take ourselves off the key ring requires us to be at the door," Lucky guesses, "I'm sure there's some backup fail-safes if we do die, like the digital lock will work again after a set period of time, but all it takes is a delay to cost this project millions, and it's already overbudget.  That little delay may be all the badguys need to convince investors to cut their losses and abandon the project before their stocks take a dive.

"Not that that'll matter much to us if we're dead."

  "Considering our travel path involves a disguised space station, if it's the Gate projects then no duh budget problems, if it's his" This referring to Maverick, "Then it's hard to imaging budget being a problem for anyone."

  Besides, everyone knows you can build space gates out of hardware store parts and some begging if it' plot relevant.

Yes. We all remember Lex building a dimention tube in prison using a few pieces of trash.

But hard to imagine budget being hard for anyone? Tell that to every sucker with a credit card, paying off debt for the rest of their lives...

Maverick says, "My dad got this place just functional enough to be a secret base. It's OK to exit the ship... there is atmosphere out there." He exits the ship.

Lucky follows after.

"So you do have family," he comments, "That's good to hear.  And pretty impressive at that from the sounds of it.  May we meet him?  I doubt this station had anything to do with the gate originally, but I suppose the man of the house will have more insights into it's history."

  Joe decided not to comment on how 'We only made the already existing space station functional enough to be a hideaway' doesn't come off as much more impressive than 'we only set up this house we broke into enough to live in it'... Okay, so it is more impressive, it's a space station.

  He looks over to Tim, "How are you holding up?" The guy has been kinda quiet.  But then, they probably aren't as used to corrupt officials out to kill them, and Tim RL's already plot and alt juggling as it is.

Tim looks over at Joe as if suddenly waking from a day dream. "Huh?! Oh... sorry, I... was just thinking about our families..."

Maverick says, "Good point. Let's go see my dad right now and let him know your families are likely in danger."

Tim ear-ducks.

Of course, Mav leads the way to his dad. Who may as well be Frank Castle.

"Hello there, sir," Lucky says with an awkward smile, "My name is Lucky.  Today your son saved my life.  Pretty impressive kid you got there."

  Would probably make fun of his father if they ever wore a Skull T-shirt.  But then, Darkthorne families tend to be a bit off anyway.  "Would it be safe to assume you had some way in mind of getting us to the gate with enough time to use it?  Or are we fortunate as it is to have made it this far without having to deal with police assault personally?"

Mav's dad says, "Your families should come first. Come with me." he leads the way to another room where there is a standard person-sized teleportation gateway. "If you know the coordinates, this can get you home and leave a gate open for a moment for you to return here. If you don't know the coordinates, I can figure them out simply from the address."

"I uh... don't really have family to gather," Lucky says bashfully, "Thanks, though.  I'm guessing the latter, Joe."

  "Family policy to laugh maniacally into any ransom or threat calls then hang up.  Who am I to disappoint the family tradition?"  Not to mention, it also avoids disclosing the location to his family to random people with teleportation grids.

Full spectrum! A guy with no family, a guy WITH a family who don't care about each other, and a guy with a family who he does care about. Tim immediately gives his address. Strangers or no, they saved his life. Tim hops through the portal unless stopped.

Lucky of course doesn't stop him.

"I guess we should wait here," Lucky figures, "Less confusion if he tells them alone without a crowd of people with him and lots of questions about them.  But I can't help but feel uneasy that none of us are with him.

"So... what's this family tradition of yours?  I don't understand how laughing at or hanging up on someone holding a family member hostage would help anything."

  "There are plenty of stupid traditions upheld only because they are tradition.  Also, it wouldn't be the first time anyways."  He shrugs, "But it doesn't really seem to turn up all that often.  I think one guy tried to sue my Dad for psychological damage after."

  Fortunately, 'really, really annoying' did not hold up all that well in court.

Tim soon returns with his parents and introduces them. Once intros and explanations are done, Mav's dad gets to changing the coordinates so the group can arrive at the gate. Tim looks at the others. "...so why would we be going there in the first place?"

Maverick says, "To get the gate active before any more delays occur. Once it's activated, your deaths won't mean anything to your enemies anymore and they will lose interest in you."

Lucky just blink-blinks dumbfoundedly at the strangeness that is Joe's family.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Lucky says, "But given that the gate can only remain open for a short period of time before it has to recharge, they'll likely want me to go through as soon as possible.  So um...  Mind if I take a snack along?  I haven't eaten all day."

  "It's sort of comforting to know that revenge has become a lost art to the sort of person willing to kill me.  Also, you're still willing to go through the gate alone when you know people are trying to screw with your way home.  I admire your professionalism."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:43, Fri 30 Sept 2011.