"I...  There are avenues open to us." Amin said slowly, a thought swirling behind his eyes.  "But it is rather dependent on you not ending me."

"The penal control market has allowed Zenda-Meier to gain penetration to markets traditionally closed.  More than that, it gained them access to unexpected markets.  To the point where they've developed a rapid-contact division for new acquisitions. 

There's a colony down there, presumably.  There must be something profitable.  If there's a branch office here, we should be able to find out if your stack imprints were backed-up off-station.   If they don't have a branch office, then opening negotiations to establish a branch would allow for a corporate influx of investment....  which often includes a handsome retainer fee....

The business-babble passed far over Maissa's head. She replayed Amin's statement several times in her mind before grasping at a single part :

"Opening a new branch? You want us to become" - she choked on the word - "jailers?!"

Gothique herself was listening...or was she.  I mean there was a butterfly or something that ran across her field of vision and totally made her lose her thought.  But not enough for her not to hear the techno-jargon and trigger something in her brain.

(OOC - Hopefully did this right


19:10, Today: Gothique rolled 1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Tech +5.)

Honestly though in greater scheme of things she is not sure she would want her memory back.  After all she is happy now and what if before there were horrible memories.  Still she babbles while working it out in her head while moving her finger like she is writing or drawing on an imaginary board,

"Ok so if that happened and that went there then that might have went there but not before there.  If that is the case them maybe...."

"Oh, Hesh, no." Amin turned to face Viper, but he still kept Baylee in sight.   "The penal colony is but one of Zenda Meier's ventures, and a small one at that.  But it has been a profitable venture that has allowed us to create positive relations with new species, new peoples."

"What I'm suggesting," Amin said, "Is that we seek to establish an outpost.  I can facilitate that.  There is a New Ventures Protocol that allows for strong financial backing for any officer in good standing--which I am--to facilitate the establishment of relations with new species, new systems."

"It will require access to ansible communication and galactic coordinates.  So, there's a risk that, should you be identified, Zenda-Meier will know where you are.  But that's only if you're actually seen and recognized."

There was a calculating fire in Amin's eyes, noticable even despite his battered and bruised state.  He seemed to relish this idea he had. "What we'll need is someone who's very good at convincing people.  And you've got one on board.  Call up Jericho and I can brief him on what he needs to know.  My presence there will lend authority to Zenda-Meier's intention."
He's referencing Jericho, so I can bring him in...

"If we do this, there's no going back."  Amin cautioned.  "It will take time for the administration to figure this is a ruse.  But by the time ZM bureacracy figures it out, we'll all be several jumps away.  and we might actually have a chance at one of the biggest scores in galactic history..."

The older man considered thoughtfully.

"Suppose that we pursued this path.  Would that give us the needed access to determine if our stack imprints were backed-up off-station?"

"If the data was backed up off-station, it would be a solid path to it." Amin said.  "I don't know where we are.  But if there's a FarComm set-up, I can run the checks, to find out.  Once the news corps find out about Ptolomen Station, they'll be mining everything they can about it.  One more inquiry in a hurricane of inquiries. "

"You've got one of the best hackers on-board.  If his skills are intact, getting in and getting the information without tracebacks should be child's-play."
Which'll give me something to do with Rayfe off-camera...

Karin crossed her arms, her face carefully neutral.  She glanced at Gothique with undisguised uncertainty, then shook her head.

"It's a con."  She said to Baylee.  "Nobody turns their back on years of service just like that.  You're not telling the whole story."

"Of course I'm not."  Amin shot back. "If I told them everything I know, I'd lose my utility."

"The truth is, I'd been planning a break from my employer for some time.   Two cycles I spent on Ptolomen, while my ship was being refitted. I've been using my commission and my contacts to work towards a special project. My commission was the most expeditious path.  But it's all pointless if I'm useless to you, isn't it?" He said, sardonically.

"So.  What if I can do this for you... Help me broker an outpost, and in return I will track down your cortical stack imprints?" Amin turned to Baylee.  "and get us both the credits you need to give you some breathing room, so we can both go on to whatever's next.  Would that be a worthwhile transaction?"

In reply to Chang Sheng Xin (msg # 81):

The older man continued regarding Amin thoughtfully as he spoke, focusing his empathic senses...

RPoL Dice Roller:

21:06, Today: Chang Sheng Xin rolled 1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Empathy +5.

Attempting to discern Amin's emotions as he speaks, specifically the trustworthiness and/or deceptiveness of his statements and proposals...  Empathy (+5) + Fudge Dice (+1) = +6 :)

Maissa was standing off the wall. She thought so hard about what Amin exposed that she felt her gray matter was swelling in a tight cranium. If this was all a ruse from Amin to get them back into jail, it was too elaborate and too much depending on factors - first of, Baylee's trust - so either Amin's plans were more than half true, or he was the biggest con-man of the galaxy...

She had to cross-examine his statement, however.

"First, if you're refering to the Orishi as your ship, you have to defend your claim.", she threw a line there - to know more about their mysterious transport. "Second, you mentioned a special project. We may be interested, but we'll need more info about it."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:44, Sat 18 June 2022.

"My ship is The Sargathan."  Amin said.  "She should be out of drydock in less than a twenty rots.  At which point I would have re-assumed my command.  I might still, when I return to Zenda-Meier."

You might have played a part.  I'd have offered your freedom, and a contract.  But without the details I had stored on Ptolomen Station, there is no plan, no project, no contract.  It will take me cycles to rebuild that information.

"As for all of you.   Once the plans for a Zenda-Meier outpost falls through--and it will; I'll make sure of it--nobody is going to look for you.   You're already dead cargo, lost in the destruction of Ptolomen Station. 


--

I'm really looking for an angle to bring Jericho into the scene.  Nothing sucks more than waiting for a game to allow you an entry-point.

Right now, Amin is offering a straight deal: back him on a play to initiate outpost talks with K-Zino, and he'll facilitate a search for your cortical stack backups.  At the moment, that's all he's offering.

rots = rotation  = days
cycles = roughly years
This message was last edited by the player at 18:17, Thu 16 June 2022.

Ever watch a cat watch and listen while the 'adults' or humans are talking....this actually describes what Gothique looks like this conversation going well over her head.  Her eyes and whole head turning to whomever is talking.  In her mind this really does not affect her so after a couple of moments she finds a seat....or really a piece of floor and sits down pulling out parts from her pocket to start tinkering.  On what she is not sure.

Baylee listened and saw the others in the room swaying. She turned her strange gaze on the former-commander and left it there for a minute. She only visibly relaxed once he made it clear he was not claiming her ship. Anyone who did that was going to find themselves on the rough end of a severe beating. She licked her lips and sighed at the salty taste.

Finally, she shrugged, "I am less interested in the contents of my stack than I am in NOT having one, truth to tell. Call it the gypsy in me, pero I don't like ways to track me or hold me down. Whoever I was before, it's changed now. Dui a? There's no going back on that. Life only moves forward." She smirked at Amin.

"Ran huo, scurry on them, be about this plan. Let's see what this rock gots in store for us, eh?" She looked around a the others to see their thoughts.

Maissa may have forgotten her memory, but she knew she was experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Some included : the brain just stopping to record information. The body knows it has been listening, but the brain can't remember a thing that was said.

However, experiencing blanks also meant that sometimes the brain was focused, and after rehashing info in the subconscient, it suddenly turned flashes of intelligence - inter-legare-rei - linking things together. She turned to address Amin.

"Commander... you stated that only the cortical stacks of the most important prisoners would be backed-up by Zenda-Meier. Now you're telling us that our stacks might be backed-up on a ZM outpost on K-Zino. But you're not even sure this outpost exists, since you envision the possibility of founding one...

If we were the most important prisoners - whose stacks were backed-up -, you would know much more about us. You'd know things about Chang Sheng Xin that you seemed to ignore, for example. And you wouldn't have plans for us as your employees, because we would be too famous or too related to crime mobs of galactic importance....

You described the Ptolemen station as a "stopping point". Somewhere to stock "cargo" until a full-batch of twenty or forty could be transported out. I understand the reasoning behind cortical stacks being transported along with the bodies. But I do not understand the need to "backup the backups" at every stopping point, as there may be several of those steps.

So our stacks were in the station, with our bodies. If there were backups, they would  not be stored on some asteroid of dubious reputation... So the backups were on Ptolemen, and were destroyed with it.

The more I think about it, the more I believe the cheapest way to back-up stacks and minimize storage costs, would be to store the backups at the places where our bodies were first put in cryo. Thus, if the stacks are lost during the journey, a copy is sent from the departure point.

Speaking about back-ups... In your latest statement you claim you will re-assume the command of a ship. Which means you commanded it before and your cabin is waiting for you. May I assume that an officer as intelligent as you did hid and leave a backup of his projects on the Sargathan? Or somewhere around? How long is it in dry docks? The less time possible of course : a ship in the docks is an expense, not a profit. Let's say 180 rots [days] at most. You did not loose cycles [years] of information; at most you lost half a cycle of it."

Maissa put her hands behind her back and began to walk into circles, as she had seen it done in so many interrogation rooms where she had been grilled.

"Commander, I find many inconsistencies in your statements.", she parroted. "While some of them may be caused by your trauma, it is a fortunate coincidence that you seem to have an answer to all our problems. We have lost our memories - a backup happens to be near. We're broke - you provide us with a martingale under a layer of business-babble so thick that I stop being hungry."

The pilot stopped walking and went back to lock her eyes with the commander. "I feel you are lying through your teeth. I think you tell us what we want to hear because you fear for your life. Even if your dreams of starting your own Z-M franchise sound true, there is a strong possibility that you just hand us over if - when - the opportunity arises."

She turned to face Baylee, but still talked to Amin, her anger mounting. "Yet we have told you that we're currently not bloodthirsty murderers...". Maissa cast a quick glance at Karin: "...most of us anyway."

She then addressed her new(?) mistress. "Captain, I recommend the utmost distrust over everything that the prisoner says and attempts, and that we pursue our own goals, not his."

"Viper out", she concluded.

Being unaware of how an ansible works, or how data is stored shouldn't preclude you from making all the erroneous assumptions you wish. Amin sighed, as if talking to a particularly obtuse child.  "You've escaped a Zenda-Meier penal station and you've stolen a ship rightfully claimed as salvage by Zenda-Meier.  Trust me or not, your options are limited."

Amin turned to face Baylee. "There are a half dozen ways this could fail. No FarComm ansible, no ZM branch or no administration representative willing to establish one.   Paint me as the architect of your misery, if you like.  But I don't have an answer to our plight.  I have a potential plan.  A possibility."  Amin included himself among those affected.  "Do you have anything better?"

--
I think this might have to become One of Amin's Aspects: I Have A Plan...
This message was last edited by the player at 04:20, Sun 26 June 2022.

What impressions does CSX get from his Empathy?  Is Amin being truthful, is he lying through his teeth, or somewhere in between?
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:54, Sun 19 June 2022.

I do not wish to hold this up any further.  Therefore, there is no indication that he's lying about anything.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:02, Sun 19 June 2022.

The older man nods thoughtfully.

"Captain... I do not sense any deception from him..."

Baylee rocketed up out of her chair as Amin addressed her. She'd listened to Maissa summarize the situation with a twist to her mouth and a frown on her face. She'd followed less than half of it, but the gist seemed to be Amin was a snake, liar, and fiend. Perhaps not in that particular order. She'd already made that conclusion.

She glanced at Amin as he added his bit but remained focused on Amin, "Unlike most of the rest here, ranhuo I don't care about having a plan. Mayhap that's a poor choice of lifestyles, pero that ship's already in space. Now, the others seem to be all for a plan. Well, Casks is. Maissa seems to want me to space you and see what happens..." She glanced at each named to check their status on her conclusion. She looked back at Karin and chuckled. She suspected the marine gave about as many shits as her. "Ranhuo... work with Amin. Try to do this thing you want. Make sure we get paid for it. PERO! Pero, if I get even the slightest whiff of a smell I don't like, we'll be revisiting the 'me kicking your ass' discussion. And it might end decidedly in cold-blooded murder. I'll accept no threats to MY ship or my freedom. Ting dao a?"

She sniffed loudly and looked at Amin, "Mind him well, Casks. I like you so far, pero don't piss me off, eh?" With that she glanced once more at Maissa with maybe a variety of confused different heats then stalked out of the room.

After Amin had exposed how little Maissa knew, and mixed, about ansibles, stacks and backups; the young brune had her dreams of being a great detective fall into pieces. She was also disappointed that Amin knew so little about them, and wasn't the mastermind behind the trumped-up charges. The commander, it seemed, hadn't been  planning the biggest stickup of the galaxy with them in mind... All her assumptions were just incorrect.

"Why didn't you say so, Amin?", she sulked. "We happen to have info about the system, that AshHHH..." - she bit her tongue - "Our AI... our database... whatever. Even though the ship hasn't been in the system since 5.6 cycles (Link back to this game) the info was updated after two arns [hours] and we just have to ask..."

The pilot tilted her head to the ceiling and asked aloud "Ashe? One: is there a Farcomm ansible on K-Zino? Two: is there a Zenda-Meier outpost on K-Zino?"
This message was last edited by the player at 12:31, Sun 26 June 2022.

"Stand By."    The AI spoke, this time through a wall-mounted speaker unit.  Then, "Handshaking....  Connected."

"There are records of a tight-beam pulsed transmission system compatible with commonality ansible operations, using local jump-gates.  Access requires approval by senior colony representatives." Ashe said after a moment.  Then, "The name Zenda-Meier is listed on one business entity active on Colonial records."


--
K-Zino Aspects:
A Den For Never-Do-Wells
No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.
People Can Multiply Their Wealth Or Lose It All.

"Well, that makes things easier and more difficult."  Amin said.  "No need for a hard-pitch, but no chance of the prospecting bonus.  But... if there's only one business entity, it might not have any real presence other than a log in the colony registry.  And if that's the case, I...  I may be able to do some things."

Amin fretted, then seemed to be resigned to the situation. "But you understand, of course, that there will be consequences.  There will come a time when I may ask you a favor.  And I'll want you to remember that both that I freed you from cryo-sleep and helped you on your way."

He isn't seeking an agreement.  It's just a statement of fact.  He might ask a favor.  You might shoot him in the face.

"Now, I need a convincing actor.  Male. Bring Up Jericho.  He's pretty and seems smart enough.  I'll need to brief him on his role." He said.  "and this one."  he nodded at Chang Sheng-Xin. "I want him nearby in case things go very very badly."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 06:13, Sun 26 June 2022.

Okay... That should set the groundwork.

I don't know what role, precisely Jericho is going to play, yet.  But I figure we can wing it.

Casks and Jericho.
Please roll vs Investigate:+1 to Create-an-Advantage: Well-Briefed By Commander Amin

Jericho has been laying on his bunk, perusing the juiciest tidbits from the database (which he stole a copy of from Rayfe, while the two of them were drinking and swapping stories).  Alex has been processing the whole thing, and showing him the bits that make the most interesting stories.

So when the intercom in his room dings, and he's asked to come upstairs, he wanders up distractedly, and enters the room looking a bit rumpled and slovenly, yawning as he sits down.  His hangover is mostly gone, but the tail end tickles the back of his brain with buzzing fingers.

He makes a good effort to listen to Commander Amin, and he absolutely looks like he's listening, but his mind is wandering.

By the end of the briefing, he understands fully - that he is to help set up a Zenda-Meier branch on K-Zino, after investigating... the branch they already have?

Well, when he gets there it will be clear, he's sure.



23:38, Today: Jericho rolled -2 using 4 Fudge dice.  Investigate (1) +1.

The older man listens carefully to Amin's briefing.

Gathering information about new circumstances and new locations and new peoples seems... familiar, as if it was something he was used to doing, as if it was something he had skill and aptitude for.

He could observe Amin with both mundane and extraordinary senses to catch nuances others would miss.

And yet... the specifics of those skills were forgotten, and he felt that he had been a bit better at this in the past, when his natural gifts were supplemented by his remembered skills.

And, in the back of his mind, an unsettling question took shape, even as he listened.

Even if their previous memories were backup up successfully... even if they could obtain them... even if they could also obtain the expertise to restore them... what then?  How likely would it be that the old memories could be successfully integrated with the new ones?  Would it not be likelier that the old memories would replace the new ones, and that they all would have to choose which portion of their lives to discard?

RPoL Dice Roller:

13:49, Today: Chang Sheng Xin rolled -1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Investigate +3.

After the briefing, the older man takes advantage of the time remaining before arrival to spend time bonding a bit with Bear, and briefing him how to contact us after he returns to his duties with Zenda-Meier...