Smoke Alarm sat on the table and swung her long skinny legs, trying her best to outlook fierce at Kellnar and Seress-ass-something. After all, the Kang was the muscle in this gig, scrawny as she was, and she was trying to cosplay the role. She pulled a dark face as Traveller made her generous offer to Kellnar: lots and lots of coins, for shoplifting from her and getting caught? He'd played a game against her lost, he didn't need a prize. Smoke Alarm figured she could have made him talk much better.

She pointed her arrowgun at Kellnar as he pulled something out of his pocket, ready to shoot it out of his hands if it was hazardous, and relaxing when it turned out not to be.

Trav reaches into her pocket and draws out two of the nebula hyper diamonds she'd been carrying. Harvested from the quantum impacted carbon that forms at the accretion disk of certain black holes, this was their vacation and bail money. She waves her sonic over it to clean it of the nanite trackers she had installed to deter casual thieves. "Price these, please? If these are good, you get the rest right now in exchange for what you described, and then I won't bother you any more."

Even as much as he's obviously trying to pretend to be unfazed by the situation, Kellnar's facade doesn't hold up to being confronted with diamonds.  He lets out a low whistle.  "Lady, you must want the Mailman bad for messing with your friend."

After a brisk round of conversation in which Trav and Kellnar agree as to the value of the diamonds, Kellnar transfers the data on the Mailman over to Trav's iPad.

What he has described appears to be on the level.  The tracking data looks legitimate to Trav, although as he described it only leads back so far.  If there really is a hypercapsule at the other end of his contact address, though, there should be a couple of ways to trace it back to its destination.  The devices are like a jump torpedo from Trav's bad old warlord days.  They'll have an encoded set of coordinates wired into their programming (which would entail disabling the device and getting around its tamper-proofing and encryption to figure out.)  Or it would be feasible to simply let the device engage and track it: nearly impossible for the present-day technological level, but not tough for Trav and the TARDIS.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:16, Fri 22 Aug 2014.

For a moment, Kellnar can see the ancient weariness behind the Traveller's eyes. "Money comes and goes. Family, you go to the ends of time and space for."

Jump torpedoes. She remembers using those as anchors, so as to send Exigency teams through. Izzy, Norton, Tarys, Dalin, Destrii. He promised that he sent them away, safe. Mercy. They were her soldiers and agents. They were magnificent.

Damn you, Boobie.

She rubs her eyes.

Trav abruptly stands from the table.

"I think we're done. Let's go."

Trav locks up what Kellnar has given her in a case, and turns to stride out.

Stanley, who has been with her the longest, can see she has that haunted look on her face again.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:50, Fri 22 Aug 2014.

As Trav walks out of the bar, carrying the case - presumably walking back towards the TARDIS, she says, "Hey Stan, remember way back in 2013, when we first met? When we worked with the Chamber, Fortuna and Evers to unwinds that big chronal backwash? Someone tried to hack the devices that the Chamber were using. Phillipe caught that. I encrypted the signal, and then we wrapped up. You remember that, right? Do you think there's any connection between that, and this 'Mailman'?"

She shakes her head. "Mailman. Can't be one of my people. That'd be like one of my people calling themselves 'The Cable Guy'."

Once back in the TARDIS, Trav walks Kellnar's materials down to the Lab and secures them for later work. Then, she comes back up. "I don't know what I would do without you people. I always get far better people surrounding me than I deserve.' Everyone gets snugs - reverent, serious ones.

"Now, this is going to get very serious. I know I keep saying that, but danger and adventure go hand in hand with me. I'm going after this Mailman. I also need to stop by Karn again, alone. I think some of you might want to take a short break - Sereth, you may want to report in to the Draconian emperor, Stanley, you may want to see your mother. Smoke - I promised I would help you find Paradise Towers. I want to see all the other Blue Kangs. I think we can also help the other inheritors get their cash, but I don't want to burn all of you out. This might be my ship, but we are a team. Vesha, if you can check to see if the other stuff of the various inheritors is covered by insurance, I'd be grateful. It seems that the primary target of the Mailman was the skin sample." She can't but help and think that this may somehow be tied to Phillipe-Warlock-Fortuna-Evers.

She plops down onto one of the beat up couches in the control room. "I am deeply humbled by how you guys have had my back during this whole thing. How would you like to play the next step?"

Smoke Alarm loitered in the bar while Traveller and the others left, covering their exit and keeping her arrowgun trained on Kellnar and the green hair lady, She didn't want them getting brave or bold while they were set free from the mouse-trap. And the Kang had other ideas.

When they were alone, she sat in front on the back of the booth in front of Kellnar, still with the arrowgun pointed at him. 'How you do.' she greeted with a dangerous smile. 'So, you shoplifted some scrap for shinies. I knowhow it is. I done it too. But you lost the game, you got my friends in a to-do, and you're a cowardly cutlet! You don't deserve them shinies,' she accused, pointing at the diamonds. 'But Traveller's too nice and generous, she's not brave and bold.'

'But me, I am brave and bold, and I can be mean.' Her finger rubbed on the trigger of the arrowgun. It was decorated with stickers and doodles of flowers and rainbows and a lot of pink. "Smoke Alarm's Arrowgun — No tuching!" was scrawled down one side. A pencil fitted with a crude metal arrowhead was mounted in it. It eased forward. 'This is my arrowgun. There are no others like it. I can put an arrow in a rat down a carrydoor. If I didn't, I didn't eat. I done this since before time start. You make a to-do for Traveller or Dev or any of us after this, you'll find out how.'

The Kang slid off the seat, then pulled off her apron, tossing it onto a table. She kept her name-badge, though. 'Build high for happiness!' she waved happily to Miss Sally, then stole a leftover sandwich from someone who'd made an escape when the mouse-trap was sprung. He wasn't coming back for it.

And the Kang skipped out the door.


OOC: Threatening Kellnar: 6. Hugely appropriate. I'll spend a Story Point to bump that up as necessary.
23:28, Today: Smoke Alarm rolled 6 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 2,2. presence(2) + convince(0).

"Of course I remember that day." Stanley replies, being reminded of the day when he first came in contact with all this weird time travel and space cult stuff. That had been a weird day. "Can't say I really remember the hacking attempt. Sorry, but I was a bit preoccupied with monitoring the patients and coordinating the medical teams. Also, I don't know much about hacking and computers, so I can't tell you if the Mailman is behind the hacking attempt in 2013."

Stanley shrugs. "I am sure you already looked for similarities, like using the same programs or protocols or something. The only similarity I see is that both attempts had you as a possible target."

"Hm. You were beautiful, that day, Stan. I'm so glad you decided to come along." She plants a smooch on his cheek. "But if this 'Mailman' is indeed one of my people who has just been hiding beyond my sight, I'll have to give them a nut kick or titty punch because that is the lamest Time Lord title ever."

Smoke Alarm caught up with the others, not saying anything about why she'd loitered in the bar. After all, it wasn't uncommon for Smoke Alarm to wander off and outlook at things. She hadn't wanted any to-do to track back to her friends, and sometimes a Kang had to taunt and tease and be a meanie-head to make sure of that. And if Traveller wasn't brave and bold for it, then she didn't have to knowhow. And the Traveller could stay the nice girl with butter in her mouth. She was too good for all this.

She listened to Traveller talk, thinking she'd found a hole in her plan. 'But a mailman just brings junk mails and paper texts and puts them in ladder-boxes, and gets chased by dogs. So mayhaps this Mailman only sent the texts to Kellnar, and someone else wants the snakey-skin.' she explained wisely. Really, did she have to be smarty-pants one around here?

*

Smoke Alarm felt squished like a bug in a rug by Traveller's hug snug. 'I don't have to track back to Paradise Towers with all speed. I'm getting lost-and-found before I go home-sweet-home.' Because if she went home-sweet-home, she knew she would stay there, and she wasn't ready to stop the talkiphone box travel now.

She stayed quiet as a mouse on having Traveller's back. 'We're not going back to the catsinos?' Smoke Alarm was disappointed; she wanted to eyespy.

Trav used to run a crew of killers when she was The Marshall, she knows *exactly* what Smoke is doing, and loves her for it. Ity's a mercy on Kellnar that Smoke is threatening. Her trouble wasn't that she couldn't be threatening, it's that she didn't want to expose to her companions a side that was so terribly, terribly dark.

"Exactamundo, babe. It might be this Mailman, it might be a bunch of bosses, it might even be future me, we don't know. But It was left to me by my old babe the Corsair. It's really important but very yawny to explain. But I have a little money left, I just won't be able to bail anyone out is all. No reason why we can't stay a bit and spin the wheel. And I do have the get the chamelon circuit fixed. Which reminds me - did you guys ever find that coil at the junk yard?"



"I see no reason why not, for a little while! I'm sure Vesha knows Estanve Gastem better than anyone! But how about everyone else?"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:36, Sun 24 Aug 2014.

"The coil." Stanley checks his phone. He should have asked 7152C to notify him when they could pick it up. "I suppose it is finished by now. The place you sent us to didn't have one in stock, so we had 7152C, er..that's the owner, manufacture one for us. Recycled materials, of course. "



"Yeah...I don't really want to leave right now." Stanley looks at Vesha. "There's still something that I have to do."

Vesha's brows go up inquiringly as she looks back at Stanley.

Trav smiles brightly at that. "That's fine. By the way, I did say lithium-doped vanadium coil, right?"

Even as Trav queries Stanley about the coil she'd sent him to obtain, she reflexively glances toward the console socket for the cognitive oscillation rectifier.  Even though the blown unit is still in her pocket, there's another unit now in place, with the corresponding status lights on the console showing green.

Smoke Alarm shook her head, blue hair flying. 'No, you said "platinum-soaked vanadium coil". I rememberised it. That's what he got.' she explained, pointing at Stan like it was now all his fault for not double-checking like she'd suggested. Now they'd spent a lot of coins on the wrong widget and the talkiphone box woudn't go hide-and-seek.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:46, Mon 25 Aug 2014.

A snort.

"Looks like even the Traveller can make mistakes. It comes from an unfortunate accident of birth - she's not Draconian."

One of the few times Sereth displays his belief in the Draconian ideal so outwardly; though not the first time he'd thought it.

"Um. Well, herp de derp. Hey, if it works, it works. Although I will not pull a "I meant to do that", I am not boobie."

She triples checks with the sonic. "Hrm."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:56, Mon 25 Aug 2014.

The component is functioning perfectly, even if Trav can't figure out how it got there.  The TARDIS playing one of its little pranks, perhaps.

"Sereth, I'll remember that, when it comes time to get outside and push." That is said with a smile, as Trav crawls underneath the TARDIS panel to check the coil.

He may be more right than he knows - the Time Lords are gone, and the Draconian people may be one of several sets of successors in the Parliament of Time.

Smoke Alarm outlooked to where Traveller was fiddling with the console, eyespying the coil thingey she had slotted in for Us earlier. Uh oh. Was is it the right widget, or the wrong gadget? She shuffled unboldly as Traveller got to work on it, and outlooked to Dev with Outlook that said to stay quiet as a mouse. 'Is something broke with it?'
This message was last edited by the player at 03:03, Tue 26 Aug 2014.

Trav pops out from under the console, and slaps a button. Green lights! "See? All outstanding. You guys did great. Talkiphone box is feeling fine."

She runs around the console, working levers and hitting buttons. "Next, we hit the Yum Yum palace, get some ice cream, and then it's the Strip! Vesha, I've heard about great things about Estanve Gastem's legendary Elvis Revue. 100 Elvises in a Cirque De Soleil extravanganze I hear is not to be missed, right? Especially the audience participation sequence, with the motorcycle jump! I've only seen it on Spacetube. Can we? Please?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:01, Mon 25 Aug 2014.

"The...incident with the car." Stanley clarifies. "I feel bad for damaging it, so I have to find a way to make it up to you."

Vesha's lips twitch and she smiles slightly.  Stanley gets the sense that she finds his concern amusing, but that she takes it seriously enough not to laugh at him.

"Stanley, truly, do not worry about the car.  It's nothing but stuff.  Perhaps having access to a great deal of wealth, to have one's very job be concerned with making sure that all that wealth is safeguarded, can skew a person's perspective, but it does remind one that stuff is replaceable; that more abstract things like loyalty and family and purpose are where you find real value.

"And, you realize, you saved me a great deal of difficulty, right after that.  You talked that kid down when everybody could see he was working himself up to trying something really foolish, getting himself hurt, or getting bystanders hurt.  You might not think, after what you've learned about my line of work, that that's something that concerns me so much, but I assure you it does.  The way we do things here is different from where you come from, but it has the same ends in mind -- to make it possible for people to go about their lives in some sort of orderly way."

She glances at the others.  Trav and Smoke Alarm, at least, seem enthusiastic about seeing some more of the city before heading off elsewhere, though that seems like it isn't precisely decided yet.

"Tell you what," she says.  "I know for a fact that you've got the price of two dinners at Karanevo's on your account.  It's a cozy place off the strip, not too formal, does a brilliant Procyonese sailback.  If your friends are planning on sticking around to see the sights, maybe you'd care to join me there, and you can tell me a little bit about what Old Earth was like, back in the day.  Sound like fun?"

Trav gets an incredibly mischevious look on her face. She grins broadly.

She runs up to the TARDIS controls. SNAP SNAP SNAP TWIST TWIST THUNK THUNK THUNK. The Time Rotor starts!

"Stan. I have here a gift card for Peter Lugars. Why don't you show the young lady what real 21st century beef tastes like, and then give me a call when Vesha is ready for a lift home. In the mean time, the rest of us will have fun in Space Vegas."

She strides across the TARDIS deck, and hands Stan the gift card. As she walks past him, she opens the door.

Outside, she gestures to the glittering lights of Times Square - August, 2014.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:57, Tue 26 Aug 2014.

The Draconian simply shook his head. People would get into trouble here; but it was his job to make sure things didn't get too out of hand. He checked to make sure his 'kitchen knife' hadn't been badly damaged by cutting into the robot; then he simply nodded; with close to a half-bow to the Traveller.