After escaping the initial blast of debris from Ptolomen station, those that made it on-board the Orishi spent some time exploring the ship.

It was a bulky beast of a thing that had obviously seen a lot of wear, but also seen a lot of upgrades.  All-in-all, though, it still had the unmistakeable feel of an industrial appliance.   Only the personal spaces--the modular quarters, the cockpit, the office, lounge and galley areas had any real personality.

The big, burly marine--Sergeant Shy--turned out to be a field medic.   He and Sheng-Xin located the cargo-bay med-station and stabilized the three with serious injuries.  They were laid out in pallets and blankets pulled from cargo-supply.

You're free to write-up whatever you like about exploring the ship, or whatever else you do before (or after, or alongside) this scene in the 02.00 open-thread.

Once the injured had been secured and stabilized, eventually, most everyone ended up in the galley on deck-1.

"So." Gilina, the tech-girl that  they'd helped on the flight-deck spoke up.  "We're two days from the nearest habitable planet.  three from the nearest jump-gate.  Without a ferromodulator, there's no guarantee the ship's impulse drive won't overload and leave us drifting.  So we're going to have to use the gate-system. 


"And you're all criminals." The blonde marine said, her expression neutral.  She looked horrible.  Already pale-skin was blotchy and she had dark bags under her eyes, moved with elaborate care.  She was either nursing one hell of a hangover or she was coming down off of combat-stims, possibly both.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:35, Wed 09 Feb 2022.

Baylee was feeling a bit high a she sauntered into Galley Deck. She spotted an assembly of people and the marine spoke up, "And? Who said I'm a criminal and why? Because I was in one of them cryo-pods? Fuck me. I don't know my story, don't go assuming it for me." She let her eyes roam around the ship and considered what she knew. "Seems this ship knows me. Accepts my command overrides. So, I'd guess I was part of its former crew. Considering it is rigged for smuggling, I guess I was a smuggler? Based on how I handled myself back in that scrap..." She grins at the marines, "I expect I was a mean smuggler. Doesn't mean I was some kind of murderer or rapist or thug. Definitely doesn't mean I am not human. It only means I took things people wanted to places some sovreignity didn't want em to go." She shrugs. "Ship called me Bai Ling-Li. The name feels odd though." She rolled her shoulders at the formality of the name. She licked her lips like something tasted wrong. "Seems that there were at least two others from the ship's former crew. Not sure who they are yet, just logic. The ship listed several unregistered entities, but we have three more folks that the list. I'm one."
This message was last updated by the GM at 08:44, Tue 18 May 2021.

"Lady." Sergeant Shy said, looking up from his exhausted crouch, both hands between his legs, head-down.  He looked better once he'd washed most of the blood off, but he looked emotionally spent, too.  "I don't care who you are or what you did.  We're off the Ptolomen.  We're alive. So, you know, as far as I'm concerned, you could be Kanka Sine, and I wouldn't give two shits.

"Are you mad?" the blonde asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.  "Only the worst get sent to Vizier Colony.  The ones they want to make a statement with.  Bring 'em back for public viewing after they've broken."

"Corporal."  Shy said, his voice was tired but gained a slight edged. "Not our ship.  Not our rules."

"But we don't know shit about her.  She could be--"

"Karin!" Shy snapped.  "Button it. They didn't have to take us on-board.  We made a play.  We lost."



Things Introduced:

Kanka Sine
No clue.  But I'm sure they'll make an appearance later on down the road.  BTW, I"m totally okay with you throwing names of people, factions, places, things, historical incidents, etc. out there as loose hooks for future drama.

Vizier Colony
Also no idea...  But I figure that's where you were headed--once Ptolomen got the requisite number of transferees to ship you there in a full cargo.  No point sending only two or three people when you can send a full-batch of twenty or forty--and bill the originating government for the time-in-transit.

Marines
Sergeant Shy - Combat Medic, thick set thick black hair
"Karin" blonde female marine


This message was last edited by the player at 09:02, Tue 18 May 2021.

"You know that my lady Orija has a far greater measure of control over the ship than you have at the moment," Bek put in, voice soft and mild. The tall thin figure leaned against the wall in one of the corners, absent-mindedly fingering an earring and gazing unfocusedly into the air above the others' heads. "So that's something. And she threw your commander through a window, so now you know two things. But I'm sure that was a fluke-- it was a stressful situation, after all-- and that she'd be willing to discuss the current one with you in a calm, rational manner.

"If you'd like to stay, that is," Bek went on, attention and fingers suddenly snapping to the tattered remains of their ill-fitting prisoner's coverall. "If not, you're free to leave at any time. But please do leave your clothing behind if you go-- there seems to be a lack of spares aboard at the moment."

Rayfe Karnell came through the door at this point. His expression was grim - not the usual somewhat sardonically amused expression he had been wearing before, even in the midst of a gunfight. "Some of us are criminals. Some of us are more than likely just misunderstood. And I, it seems, am Rayfe Karnell. I came within a handfull of hearbeats of stealing quarter of a billion credits from the Unity Banking Cartel. I am from Gauda Prime, and sentenced to life, without parole, for a list of crimes so extensive that I wonder I ever had the time to do my day job. I was a systems analyst for the Cartel. And if anybody wants to know how I know all this..." He shrugged, dismissively. "I stole the database from the prison while everybody else was trying to shoot one another. I've cracked it, and it is currently open on a computer in the office on the upper deck. If you have no name to work with, it can search through facial recognition, as well. Anybody who wants a little clarity on their identity might do well to go and take a look."

He flopped down into a chair, and massaged his temples, with a grimace. "I'm getting a beast of a headache. Probably hibernation hangover, or something. And I am definitely not a member of the crew of this... fine ship. But I don't really have anywhere else to go right now."

Her eyes went wide-wide as saucers. She'd been in the galley before when she had been exploring, so her mind zipped to the bank of handheld tablets in a rack there. They were meant for entertainment purposes and surfing the web, so they'd suffice. She strode over to it as she threw her voice over her shoulder, "And only angels serve as marines in a private security army?"

She grabbed the tablet and powered it up. Her toes tapped an impatient, metallic tattoo on the floor a she watched the series of logos flash past. Finally, the thing powered up to a password input screen. She was just about to curse when the little lock icon opened and the thing booted to the GUI. She raised an eyebrow but shrugged. Guess her access included this thing. She quickly tracked down the file Rayfe spoke of and flicked through folders until she found one that matched. At least, the physical dimensions matched hers. The image associated to the file was barely recognizable it was so beaten, bruised, and bloody. She smirked at evidence of what she had already guessed of herself.

"Sure, I'll share. Bai Ling-Li, according to this, but something feels off about that." She scrolled down a bit and then read a few things, Her mouth moved into a soft smile, "A.K.A. Baylee. Apparently, the newsvids called me Baylee the Butcher. Fucking propaganda! Maybe?" For her part, she seemed slightly concerned there. "Born in the Xingxing Guo Jia Asteroid Belt in the Deux system. Hah, looks like my family were spacers. Fuck me, I got a mother and brother out there. Got their government names right there, but they feel wrong again." Baylee lips silently moved along to more reading. "Says I am a pirate, thief, smuggler, and war criminal... slated for life imprisonment before execution." She let the pad drop and then sighed heavily. It said almost nothing more than the bare minimum. She wanted to read about this place and these events now.

"Fuck me." Her shoulders sagged for the firs time since she woke up and she sluggishly fetched a couple more datapads from the rack to hand them out to others. "干! 干! 干!" She stopped as the foreign words shot out of her then continued handing out the datapads, "Oh, and it confirms that I served on this ship as quartermaster, before. Along with others..." She scrolled more on her own pad.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:36, Wed 26 May 2021.

"Baylee the Butcher?" Karnell raised a brow quizically. "You had your own nickname in the meda? My my! A celebrity. It's an honour to be incarcerated with you, it really is! And this is, presumably, your ship. Thank you for the lift. If you need someone to fine tune your systems, I'll take a look for you. Consider it payment. If I get my memory working, I will probably have a destination in mind. Until then..." He waved a hand dismissively. "My skills are at your disposal."

He did not know where he had to go. Something told him that a return to Gauda Prime was a move that bordered on the suicidally stupid. But it also told him that he had unfinished business there. But not now. Revenge was a dish best served cold. And like all meals, it was more enjoyable with compatriots who want to be there to enjoy the experience.

The heavy-set black man took his turn at the console, calling up the holographic display of his file.  "Theft of a star-ship, destruction of a Trillium Crystal mining installation... I... sold a small moon to a Tvorak ambassador on the basis that it was colonized by hermaphroditic mushrooms?  Oh.  The mushrooms weren't sentient." 

"I was imprisoned on bond by the Tvorak for 'diplomatic crimes.'  after I refused to answer for my... I don't know what a Tungwal is."

Lincoln sounded confused.  "This... this doesn't sound like me.  I mean, I don't feel like the kind of guy who would sell out a are of non-sapient mushrooms.  I don't even know what a Tvorak is--"

The holographic display was briefly eclipsed by a hulking creature with six limbs and a couple of antennae.  The appendages appeared to moves randomly around a spherical mass.  It was sort o a cross between a spider and a squid.

"Okay.  So, look.   We--the tech guys and... and even the security guys...  we're all employees.   We're not military, no matter how Zenda Meier ran things.   I hired on contract for a set term, right?"  Gilna said, glancing at the remains of the marines.   The big bear of the medic nodded, his face pinched and sour.

"I've got a year to go before my option to renew comes up again.  We're not beholden to ZM.  And... And we get paid to the end of our contract in the event of an act of fate.'  Well, I sure as Hesh consider this an act of fate!  But it means... I don't--I don't care who you were.  We--all of us--we have no obligation to do anything to you guys.  Okay?"

She raised a hand, but it wasn't clear if she was trying to beckon or fend off Baylee and the others.   "Marsh and I, we were stripping the Orishi.  Most of the components are still in the ship.  She's space-worthy, but we can probably put her back together.  Mostly."

Maissa appears behind Gilina and lays her hand on Gilina's shoulder. The pilot then addresses whoever seems the most menacing towards Gilina, and gives them a dirty look. She then enounces with a controlled tension in her words :

"Don't worry Gilina; we're all in the same boat... and I won't stand anyone do you harm... just give me my ppp back to put my gun where my mouth is!"

Baylee arches an eyebrow at Rayfe then chuckles, "Well, it says I was a pirate and a war criminal. Not sure what war; doesn't say. I expect... well, based on what I have observed so far, perhaps it ain't far off, eh?" She chuckled somewhat cheerfully then turns as the others make their points. She raises an eyebrow at the list of stuff Lincoln rattles off then adds a slowly climbing whistle, "Guess I am small potatoes. Oof!"

The tech and the other employees grab her attention and she smiles at Gilina, "Oi, I already promoted you, xiaojie. No complaints from me about you... or your friends. As long as you stay in line. Ta ma de pingyong de ren."

She then winks at Maissa and looks at the others. Her hand settled rather conspicuously on her own pep. Baylee tasted her own name mentally a few times then felt a comfort in it.

Maissa listened to the exchanges and connected the dots.
"Oh, you accessed your rap sheet? I'd like to know mine."

@Control : please specify your additions to Maissa's already extensive criminal record (see private msg of May 26th) :)

Lincoln didn't move from his location.  He scrolled through dozens of  files with images until he came across Viper's likeness.  "Looks sort of like you."  He opined.  "Woah, though.   I'm small fry compared to..."

Lincoln went quiet for a moment as he read.  There appeared to an enormous list of charges on file.  "Surrendered to Zenda-Meier by the Holman Alliance of Independent Worlds for destabilizing the planetary economy of Sarius through the establishment of the Ghost Memory Syndicate--a drug cartel?  You're still wanted on decency violations on... six planets and for the theft of--"  Lincoln laughed.  "the Sarian Prime Minister's personal yacht."


Introduced:
Ghost Memory Syndicate - some sort of drug cartel thing...  prostitution and drugs are always fun.  And the idea of something innocuous to one species being a stimulant/aphrodisiac to another fascinates me...   (Viper might have been involved with the GMS, but  the head of the syndicate?  Can you say patsy?  I knew you could.)

Karnell gave a rather wry snort of laughter. "Now that sounds like my sort of crime. I would take my hat off to you, young lady - except I am not wearing one." He frowned and rubbed his forehead again.

"It just occured to me that some of us are dealing with memory loss... I presume there is some complex medical term for it, but for now, I'll just call it hibernation amnesia. I presume these lapses will slowly correct themselves in time, but it wouldn't be a bad idea for someone with a little medical knowledge to investigate that. I'd hate to come up short at an important point in the future, especially given how many law enforcement agencies are going to be hunting for us as soon as they realise we are now at large."

He then looked pointedly at some of the non-convicts in the room. "It might also be a very good time for some of those with functional memories to mention anything important about us that we have clearly forgotten. I won't be very happy, and I think our pirate there will be similarly unhappy, if we find people witholding important facts, given the circumstances." He gave a polite nod in Baylee's direction. "And if she doesn't shoot you for lying to us, I am fairly certain I will. I have no clue whether or not I am a violent man, usually, but I am under considerable strain - and this headache is not doing anything for my patience."

It hadn't occurred to her that the techs and muscle might know things about them. She turned her eyes upon the marines slowly while a finger slid across her temple. The various fun things possible slowly drew a smile on her face, but it shattered into a frown much more quickly and she shook her head, "Aye, information, but if I am not bleeding or dying or give a very explicit invitation, no one better touch me. Especially no that quack who was patching people up earlier." She grimaced at that but absently cracked her knuckles.

She panned her eyes around the group gathered here and tried to think about what was meant to happen next. "Well, I've set myself up as captain. I think we are also already heading for the nearest settlement. We needs supplies. So, I'd guess the first thing is searching the bloody ship for anything edible. Water recycling ought to keep us hydrated..." She hesitated there and then looked at the techs, "But making sure that system and other life support is operational is priority. We don't need that konking out halfway to wherever."

She shifted her gaze to Maissa, "And what is the closest settlement, assuming you've had a chance to look over the starcharts?"

In reply to Bai Ling-Li (msg # 16):

"Aye, captain butcheress.
We're three days from the nearest jump-gate.  Unfortunately, the tech disabled the jump-drive before strip-down.  Without a ferromodulator, there's no guarantee the ship's drive won't overload and leave us drifting.  So we're going to have to use the gate-system."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:28, Fri 28 Jan 2022.

"Okay, then."  the bear of a medic said. "If that's settled, and you're not going to throw us out of an airlock, then maybe now would be a good time for us to get some rest, see what kind of vids or holos this thing has on it's database, and--"

Then, abruptly, the lights went out.

A little strip of track lighting around the upper edges of the room, where the wall met the ceiling, let up a garish orange color.  It wasn't much, but it was enough to see by.  Mostly.

More ominous, though, was that the ambient sound that accompanied any spacefaring vessel was gone.   There was no low-level hum of the engine, no buzz of electronics. Pure silence...
This message was lightly edited by the player at 00:30, Mon 21 June 2021.

"Everybody stay quiet, you still have air for a time, so breathe slowly", the young pilot ordered. She called : "Ashe? Gilina? Do you have a torchlight?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:49, Mon 21 June 2021.

Baylee Looked up at the orange lighting and then panned her vision to Maissa. Nothing about her was panicking. Despite that she knew this was a serious problem, something in her comfortable. Her datafile said she had grown up on a ship, so maybe that was it? OR perhaps she had spent some time on crippled ship in wars and pirate raids? Either way, she was calm.

She nodded briskly to Maissa, impressed at the woman's own calm, and then turned to scan over the assembled mob of folks for those not prepared to be calm. Those who were mechanically inclined would see what could be done about the ship. The rest needed to stay calm and out of the way. "Aye, let's see about bunks then. Those who can help Maissa, do so. Everyone else, follow me to the living quarters." She put what she hoped was a sound of command in her voice as she half-barked the suggestion that was more a command. If she could get them to focus on her for leadership, things would go more smoothly.

Karnell was on his feet in a flash. His weapon drawn, his eyes alert. It was not panic he was exuding - just the sort of instant reaction to danger that one might expect from experience. He might not recall it personally, but he had, until fairly recently, been a hunted man. That tends to give one swift reflexes, and a fight or flight response.

"Emergency lights are on. We have power, of a sort. Show me the power source, or generator, or whatever you call it on this ship. I might be able to trace the fault, if that's what just died on us."

"don't worry about Rayfe's gun", Maissa hissed with a heavy sarcasm. "He likes to pull it off his pants four times a day and polish the cannon... but it doesn't shoot."

"Now... your attention please. I have heard - but not met - the AI named Ashe, would be in the form of a humanoid droid. Who saw it last, and where? It's running on batteries, so it's unaffected by the power shutdown".
This message was last edited by the player at 03:22, Thu 15 July 2021.

The older man shook his head.

"I talked with Ashe while checking out the med station earlier, but it was by comm."

"Even though I still don't remember most things, talking with Ashe via comm seemed... familiar."

"I don't have any memory of Ashe as a humanoid droid..."

He stood up to follow Baylee to the living quarters, unless anyone needed his assistance elsewhere...

There was a long moment of tension, like the muscles in your abdomen was tensing in preparation of projectile vomitting, then... a curious weightlessness, a blinding wash of color and then a long silence.


The silence loomed heavily for a few moments... then, slowly, so very slowly, the lighting in the ship came back on.

Viper glanced at the display that had been before her before the distortion, and saw that their location had changed.  In the manner of jump-ships, preliminary information was sparse.

If the Orisihi's communications suite was operational, it would begin pinging local relay stations and start filling in information.

She held her breath for a moment, as the display started populating.

We're two days from the nearest habitable planet, or rather the nearest asteroid of the Xingxing Guodjia Asteroid Belt, of the Deux system. This system seems to be split between two political entities : the Inner Colonies dictatorship on Paix, and a sort of all-against-all confusing anarchy on Scylla. I haven't found which of them the XGAB responds to..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:57, Mon 24 Jan 2022.

I've taken the liberty of splitting Viper's last post to give us the jump.

Viper & Baylee - Preliminary investigation of the Orishi's set-up shows that it has transponder codes for a handful of different ships names and identifications... and more importantly, different allegiances.  It definitely has one for Scylla and one for The Inner Colonies...

_{^{"In Sovereign Hands..."}}

The murmured response came to his lips without hesitation.  He knew that the path he walked was ordained from before time began.

But... the vision held fragments of memories, just out of reach.  The scene was familiar.  The symbol was familiar.  The words Mendat Silall were familiar, and important.

What path has he already walked?  Just what else had he forgotten?

He pondered this quietly as tidings came of their current position.

After several moments, he turned to Lincoln.

"Does the database have any information about me?"

Baylee lurched but caught her footing quickly and easily. Still, something was slightly off to her sense; she always felt heavy without and explanation. Every time she checked the ship's gravity settings, the read normal. The lurch continued to confirm her suspicions that she had spent time ship bound. Well, that and the fact she appeared to have been crew on a smuggler.

An instinct reinforced by the logs as she navigated them intuitively. Thinking about information idly and she found her hand reaching to an icon if she didn't actively mind it. So she started letting her hands do as they liked. As she read over the incoming data, it took her microns longer than the others, it seemed, to process the names. Blinking, she stared harder at the names until her idle hand once more flipped an icon and the names showed now in another language with universal translation beneath. It seemed the local dialects were more to her liking.

"Arai, Wo kankan, now those squiggles make a LOT more sense that the universal stuff. I am beginning to suspect that I really am local."

Pursing her lips, she shook her head and ran a hand through her short ragged locks. "Well, best to find out if we can before we get there. No use docking for repairs and supplies only to be arrested again... not like we have a ton of choices though."

Rayfe was a little bug eyed, and pale. The hand with his pistol was shaky, and he lowered it slowly. He went back and sat down again. "That was not... That was not how it was meant to be. That was not what I did!"

What was it he had seen? Why had he seen, of all things, that? Nowhere in his hole-bored mess of a memory did he recall that in the plan. He had seen the list of charges against him, laid down for all to read. Not one of them mentioned that. He had planned the perfect crime, even the money was insured. Nobody was meant to get hurt, and especially not...

Who was she?

He looked up, and spoke with a rather shaken voice, "Did you all see that? Did you see the girl?"

"Emergency command routine complete.  Fallback destination Beta achieved." The ship said. "Jump-drive offline."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:57, Tue 25 Jan 2022.

"No!"  Gilina called out, anger and fear played across her face.  "You can't!  I didn't mean--"  But she stopped, her mouth hanging iopen in confusion and surprise.  Body tensed, she shook herself then, "Girl?" she looked at Rayfe.  "There was no girl.  Only my brother and... Oh. Papa..."

She squinted and wiped a hand across her eyes, then looked over at Baylee. "You said you were crew.  On this ship?"  She appeared to still be confused.   "We've been up and down this whole thing thrice upon five--except for the biometric vaults.  The Orishi doesn't have a jump-drive.  Only theta-class carriers and bigger can generate the charge needed to generate a horizon.  Whatever that was... "

She trailed off, here eyes going sullen. "That sure as feck wasn't my brother."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:25, Tue 25 Jan 2022.

"Does the database have any information about me?" Sheng-Xin asked.

Spohr leaned forward and gave Sheng-Xin a long look under furrowed brows.  He looked around the room and something about his countenance shifted, became ever so slightly more guarded.

"Not much." Spohr said.  "Nor on Maxir.  I don't.  Oh, hold on."   He shook his head.  "A couple of notations only.  Origin unknown.  Family unknown.  Genetic markers tests removed from the database.  Political prisoner.  Maybe... maybe there's more under another name? I--"

There was an audible sequence of buzzes, then "Oh, come on!." Spohr said.

Access Denied. flashed across the display.

Of course, if any of our resident PCs with strong Systems skills want to give it a shot, you should be able to further decode some of the restricted elements of the database.  Sadly, parsing the database without the UI/filters and table definitions will take some time... But that means we get to let this sit and we can come back to this database again and again...

This message was last updated by the player at 04:57, Tue 25 Jan 2022.

The older man focused his empathic senses upon Lincoln to discern his emotions as they gazed upon each other, and as he looked around the room, and as he searched the database...

As the message flashed upon the display, the older man sighed thoughtfully.

"Well...  Not as informative as I had hoped, but interesting.  Thank you for trying..."

After a moment, he turned to Rayfe and Gilina, their words and reactions and emotions breaking through his preoccupation with his own vision.  He met their troubled reactions with a gentle, calm empathy...

"I saw something, but different from what you described.  What did you see?"

Baylee ignored the talk of strange women and apparitions to focus on the here and now. "Mm, that was right out of some late night horror vids. Dui a? If it happens again, I'll worry about it. For now it's just anomalous. Hen kakaiba danshi we got more important shit on our plates. Like, what is fallback Beta? Tian a, this thing has more ghosts than a haunted brothel!"

She looked toward Galinia to see if she had a clue. "Any information on this asteroid at all? ID? Demographs? Laws?" After a second, she directed the saw query to the ship's computer as well.

Then, while waiting for the answer, she turned her gaze to Sheng Xin, "Can you stop fondling your cock long enough to be useful to someone? The data's not going aynwhere, but this ship is."

Rayfe managed to tune back into reality. "I have no memory of what I saw. A little girl, crying over a corpse... No mention of that on my rap sheet. Why did I even see it?" He then held his hand out to Spohr. "Give me the pad, I might be able to do something with it. Otherwise, I'll go back to the main terminal. Pretty sure I can unlock it all, with enough time. The system here is antiquated compared to what I am used to, so it might be a bit slow to crack it all, but I can do it."

Baylee's focus on the immediate problem did not go unnoticed. "Is there anything I can do to help? If you need someone to poke around inside your ship's systems to find out what the hell just happened, I'd be delighted to do it. Just say the word."


If the ship had no drive, how did they get here? Did that have anything to do with the hallucinations? Had they escaped a prison, only to end up in even hotter water? What the hell was going on here?

The older man gently turned his calm empathic gaze upon Baylee, speaking with quiet and respectful reassurance.

"孙子曰: '不知彼不知己，每战必贻', 舰长."^*

"We know very little of ourselves, our ship, or our destination."

"What do we know?"

"We know that some of us are escaped prisoners that others may seek to recapture."

"We know that we have a ship with unknown capabilities in need of repair."

"We know that we have wounded in need of medical attention."

"We know that we need credits and supplies, and therefore a way to earn them."

"We know that as we try to assess our destination, some of us have significant memory gaps... and some do not."

"Therefore, in light of what little we do know, which destination looks most promising?"

"I suggest that we pool what little knowledge we have to make such an assessment, from all those aboard."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
^*"Sun Zi said: ' If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle', Captain."

---

"Fallback Beta."  The Orishi said.  "In the event of immediate threat to captain and crew due to environmental circumstance or coded command, the Orishi will initiate tranverse jump to Deux system safe-zone.  Damage from debris threatened He3 volatility, meeting threshold requirements."

It took a few more moments before more of the display started to populate with information as the Orishi automatically initiated handshake with stellar satellites.

The Orishi was near the Xingxing Guojia Asteroid Belt, and about twice the same distance from the orbit of Proteger.  A couple of regions of space near the Orishi were flagged and tagged as debris zones and radiation zones, evidence of a collision or , more likely, a battle in space.

A small section of the asteroid belt--approximately 4 degrees--was highlighted.  Several ships--maybe twenty or thirty of various sizes, all but one the size of a corvette or smaller.  The biggest ship was center of the line.  It appeared to be a blockade of some sort.

None of the ships of the blockade reacted to the presence of the Orishi.  The Orishi remains undetected or is not of a concern to the blockading ships.  Likely, communication with satellites did not alert the blockading ships, nor any other ships in the vicinity.

There appeared to be a handful of settlements on Asteroids within the blockade zone, and a couple outside the zone.  Most are on carbonaceous asteroids, though a few mined metallic asteroids.  The ones inside the zone appeared to be fuel refineries that mined the asteroids they were on to sell the refined resources to ships of the Paixois ships.  One was a specialized agricultural colony, another a R&D outpost for a company identifying itself as Exogenesis.  Details of populations are unavailable.



CSX:
Thank-you for the sum-up.   If you wish to assess Lincoln's emotional state--or any other character, you can make an actual mechanical roll.  An Empathy() roll versus the appropriate defense of the target.  Usually, the appropriate defense would be Will, but not always.

He3 - Helium-3, usually harvested from gas-giants, when fused with Dueterium, it is a key component for clean reaction drives and a key catalyst used in the massive jump-gates to create jump-points between the stars.

Gilina looked confused. "But where is the jump-drive?"  she sasked.  "Computer.  Orishi.  Ashe?  Please provide a schematic of the Orishi and indicate location of the jump-drive."

A basic schematic of the ship came up.  No area of the ship was marked.

"Unable to comply. Please restate your command."

Baylee frowned at the man quoting ancient upon ancient wisdom. A part of her understood the sentiment; another part rebelled. She frowned down at and hard through the console for a stormy second. Finally, she glanced at the man then to Rayfe, "Fine. It does no good to sort this mess only for another to be waiting beyond the horizon. Besides, I think you two have proven your worth in a dust up to be fuck-all." She smirked at the monk, "See, I already begin to understand."

She then forwned down at the puzzle presented. Puzzles. Then returned her attentions to the pair of information specialists, "Techie, yeah you" She now points at Rayfe, "If you can investigate without fucking up any ship systems, fine. Also, as a side project, if you could locate any subroutines related to the ghostly jumpy drive and relay them to Viper, do it. Computer, This one has limited access to files on jump drive and personnel. Read only, no editing. Monk, see what you can do about the injurd and, if possible, get an idea if any of these mouths know how to cook and what would be needed to fill bellies. Sealed, reheated rations are fine and all, but fuck-all for taste. I'd fuck your mother for real guotie or siomai. I'd slit her abdomen to gullet for some sinigang."

She then looekd at the readout and pushed aside the schematic for a second. "you, too, Viper. We can sort the jump drive's Schrodinger status once we sort this." She waved her hands at the information coming in. She zoomed in on the Ag colony to see if it was in the blockade or not. "Computer, gimme a brief status report on Exogenesis." She listened silently as her mind ran in circles. She glanced to the one she was already considering her first mate, Viper, "Can we get a safe FOF on the blockade?" She glanced through the list of their pirate signals and took a deep breath, "Any guess which of these we should be using?"

Rayfe rose, and replied to Baylee. "Karnell. My name is Karnell. I respond to that better than 'techie'... That's the sort of treatment that made me want to rob the Cartel in the first place." Still, she had asked for something he was capable of delivering. This was good. He reasoned that, if he was able to make himself indispensible, he was less likely to be dumped on an asteroid. Muscle was easy to find. But a skilled pilot, and a gifted systems analyst... they were rare. At least two of the group were going to be able to justify their presence.

He had nowhere else to go. Yet. He just had to wait for his memory to return. Then he would know exactly who he had to kill. And after that... new face, new name. Six months working in the bank of some planetary system, and he could steal so much that they would never be able to touch him. He made mistakes in the past. But never again.

He went back up to the office with the net terminal, and set to work. Pulling up sensor logs was so easy a monkey could do it. It looked like the blackout was due to power being sent to the drive system from other systems. While he could understand that the drive needed that, he found it extremely strange that a ship would be designed like that. But he did not know what was normal for this sort of vessel. He would have to ask the others who were more experience in spaceflight.

Once he had that data, he went elsewhere. He did as requested, and started burrowing about, looking for whatever subroutines were connected to the jump. Why here?

In the meantime, he had another task. He had to patch the ship into the local network. Sometimes that was easy. Other times, it meant writing a whole new interface protocol so they could understand each other. That was pretty much his bread and butter. Clients of the Cartel had come from far and wide, and creating interfaces between their systems and the Cartel so they could move money and data safely was fundamental to his job. Not a huge challenge.

And once he was in? Two vitally important topics to check.

First: had news of their escape reached here yet? Had it been reported at all, or was the penal colony still dark? He reasoned that Ptolomen Station would be the relay point for the colony to broadcast out to the rest of the galaxy. With the station gone, the colony was cut off, so would have to send someone physically to report the incident. That took time.

And secondly... he looked for anything about himself. If he was a criminal, he had to have been reported. What he had done was pretty audacious. Unprecedented, even. Somewhere out there, there would be media. And official files. Information to prop up his hole-riddled memory.

A lot to do. None of it trivial.

OOC:

01:07, Today: Rayfe Karnell rolled -1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Systems Operation on the Orisih for various things (Systems: +5 shifts).

01:06, Today: Rayfe Karnell rolled 2 using 4 Fudge dice.

01:06, Today: Rayfe Karnell rolled -1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Systems Operation on the Orisih for various things (Systems: +5 shifts).

I did three rolls for stuff to speed up the process. Happy to do more, as needed! End results are:

Roll 1: 4 shifts
Roll 2: 7 shifts
Roll 3: 4 Shifts

The older man nodded.

"And, according to our ship's AI, I am Chang Sheng-Xin, and I was present on-board the Orishi for travel to fifteen destinations across a span of one-hundred and twenty galactic standard cycles.  So it would seem that I have been useful to you in the past."

"Well met once again, Captain.  It is a privilege to serve."

He turned to give a meaningful nod to Sergeant Shy.

"Sergeant Shy, shall we look in on the injured once again?"

He gently regarded the others.

"Do any of you have cooking skills?  I suspect that I might, but my memory isn't quite what it used to be..."

RPoL Dice Roller:

22:48, Today: Chang Sheng Xin rolled 1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Reading Lincoln's Emotions (Empathy +5).

This message was last edited by the player at 06:41, Sat 29 Jan 2022.

"Exogenesis Station founded by Mervyn-Dahl to research personality mapping away from population centers to allow the use of L4 Sapient-AIs.  Exogenesis researcher, Doctor Gil Raith was the first being of Deux recorded to have had his personality mapped and uploaded to exostorage.

Mervyn-Dahl divested itself of Exogenesis as part of a corporate restructuring and ownership transferred to Nanodynamics.  Nanodynamics came into conflict with Exogenesis staff when it was discovered that several Artificial Intelligence entities on Exogenesis had developed higher levels of sapience than permitted by Paxois and Scylla law and that Exogenesis staff had illegally copied their personalities to said sapient-AIs.

After a short but brutal armed conflict, Exogenesis declared itself a sovereign state and currently exists outside of Nanodynamics control.  This appears to be the reason for the blockade.   (Exogensis is definitely within the blockade zone).  Exogenesis is governed by Zhang Kai Shou, a L5-Sapient AI.  While Exogenesis claims that no other L5s exist, they have refused an audit to verify this claim.

The fact that it is governed by an artificial intelligence says nothing about what kind of shell the AI is housed in--or even if it's using a mobile shell.  Remote scans indicate that three of the five laboratory areas on Exogenesis Station do not currently have atmosphere.  Exogenesis station remains a leading research laboratory involved in the study of  intelligence augmentation, Mind-mapping and bio/mechanical interfaces.  The profit-stream from Mindmapped entertainment patents guarantees that it can remain a force in play for some time.

After a few second: "We have not been to this system for five point six galactic cycles.   Tactical recommendations available pending intention or destination."  the impersonal voice responded. "Updating system information.  Download will be complete in approximaetly two arns."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:58, Sun 30 Jan 2022.

Viper leaned over the controls to check how the Orishi tagged the blockade ships - and asteroids (including Exogenesis station), for that matter. They too can be the target of missiles...

Regarding the second question, Maissa emitted a sarcastic rebellious snigger : "I suggest we continue to use the one we're currently using, captain! Since we already sent & receive signals and IDs with many automated satellites, it would look suspicious to switch it, would it not...? Changing our profile ID is something usually done before a planned jump, if you remember!".

Having expressed part of her daily dose of provocation (Provoke : 4!) The venomous Viper sighed and added "So far, nobody fired at us or ordered us to 'surrender or be destroyed', so I assume the ship showed a pretty neutral ID."

She however tried to determine how the Orishi introduced itself to the space traffic controls. Maybe by looking at the exchanges logs?

"Phah! Like they're paying any attention to little old us? Nah, the ship is probably setup to use a pretty inoffensive one as default, but... you know... let's find out what colors we are flying, shall we?" Baylee was just about to return her eyes to the readout when she smirked, "Oh, yingwei you want to fight me or fuck me, suoyi don't raise your voice at me. My poor little heart gets easily confused." She shot a look to the pilot which implied both options were always on the table in Baylee's book.

She regarded the blockade and then sighed as she looked around at her crew and environment. As much as she liked making trouble, this was hardly the crew for it: barely any fighters worth note, a bunch of hostile and semi-hostile folks, and a lack of information. "Let's find a neutral location then where we can lose dead weight and gain supplies. Danshi, how we mean to do that legally... wo bu jidao. Not that I oppose the other manner, pero we're about as equipped for that as a whore on her first day."

She scanned the un-blockaded area for a ag outpost or trade setup or something giving off trade vibes.

Maissa's eyes widened and locked on the large pupils of the captain. She was engulfed in a burst of heat, heart pounding and tingling excitement as she fantasied on the options, both involving close body contact with the exotic Pai Huai.

"Now this is what you call LIFE!", she thought

She tried to convey through a wink and a twitch of an eyebrow the answer "why not both?"

Wondering if yingwei and suoyi were derogative, and how many meanings they carried, the pilot went on to retort "wo bu jiao? Cap'tain, I'd certainly like to get to... know your tongue... better... and taste it-s... vocabulary... but could you please issue your orders in standard glangtic, you know, for the crew? - US."

Getting back to her screen : "okay everybody, calm down, keep fresh and focused on the work at hand <small pant>. I'll read through the news, the local gossip, the classified ads. I think we should aim for the XGAB asteroids, like, with their emphasis on freedom and lawlessness. They shouldn't screen our IDs too much."

After what looks on the outside as a deeply thought-out balance of risks and advantages - but is in reality a wild guess - Viper advises : "More factors point to the asteroid of K-Zino - a den for never-do-wells, a place where people can multiply their wealth or lose everything. It's a 6 hours travel, and everyone watching our vector for it will be convinced that we're not trying to break the blockade"

Baylee stood up to her full height then and her eyes flared wide as several wicked thoughts ran through her mind. For a few seconds, the only possible outcome was her releasing some tensions right then and there. She visibly shook, though, as she slowly brought herself under control. Still, her eyes bored heated holes through Viper's space and her tongue licked her lips like a hungering lion.

Instead, as she stepped in close, she only playfully grabbed a handful of Viper's jumpsuit and whispered, "Later. Now, get us to that asteroid." Then, growling with a frustration she felt deep in her guts, she turned on her heels and went for a walk to cool down while muttering darkly in something distinctly NOT standard galactic speech.