The older man regards Bear thoughtfully.

"You feel a sense of duty to Zenda-Meier, having signed a contract.  I can respect that."

"However, if you had not come aboard this ship, you already would not have been able to fulfill your contract.  You would have perished along with the station."

"I know that there are some who would also feel a sense of duty to someone who had saved their life."

"Nevertheless, we do not choose to constrain you in any way.  We chose to rescue you from the station freely, and to respect whatever choice you freely wish to make for the path before you."

"Therefore, you must examine your heart, and weigh whatever duties you may feel, and which path most calls to you."

"Do you feel called to fight for Zenda-Meier, and what they stand for?  Or do you feel called to fight for those who have suffered at the hand of Zenda-Meier, and who saved your life in spite of that?"

RPoL Dice Roller:

21:10, Today: Chang Sheng Xin rolled -1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Bear Empathy +5.
21:10, Today: Chang Sheng Xin rolled 3 using 4 Fudge dice.  Bear Rapport +4.

"No.  You are mistaken."  Bear considered for a long moment.  Then, "An unmanifested possibility does not release one from manifested obligations.  I have an obligation to fulfill my word and my bond, or my bond is worthless.  If you wish to lay claim that there is a life-debt, then I will serve with you--but not under you--until that debt is paid.  After that, my duty is to complete my tenure."

After another moment, his eyes narrowed and he drew a sleeve across his brow.   "We are told there is no cerebral functions in cryo-sleep.   Did you actually suffer?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:42, Mon 21 Feb 2022.

The older man met the question somberly.

"I refer not to our time asleep, but to our time awake."

"You are a man of duty, so it is probable that your memories are precious to you.  You remember the commitments that you have made, and those you are committed to.  You remember employers, friends, family.  You remember your life."

"We... do not.  We do not remember our lives."

"Your employer literally took those memories from us, and we suffer from that loss even now."

The older man sighed, and regarded Bear thoughtfully.

"I too respect duty, and word, and bond.  Therefore, the question is not what I wish to claim, but how you wish to respond to our present circumstances."

"How long does your current contract last?"

"Suppose that you returned to your employer to fulfill your bond.  While there, would you be willing to help preserve our lives, as we preserved yours?  For example, would you be willing to keep us informed regarding any threats to us?  Would you be willing to discreetly seek information about us that would help us piece together the memories that have been taken from us?  Would you be willing to discreetly seek information about how our actual memories can be recovered?"

Baylee leans back at the response from the marine and tries to understand this talk of manifests and oblivations. It irritated her but Casks seemed to have the matter in hand. Still, she felt no need to control her impulse to interject, "An honorable oath to a dishonorable patron... does that truly hold the honorable man or does it only hold the dogmatic man? But, I suppose, it is only my view the Zenda-Meier is dishonorable?"

She started to understand the discussion a bit more after phrasing it like that. It reminded her of something. Somethign that itched and wiggled in the fuzzy parts of her mind. Things that when she tried to focus on them, worked away from her. Perhaps, for the first time, she started to feel annoyance at the memory fog.

Something else the man had said landed finally and she suddenly spit back, "Just because we did not 'suffer' did not mean that it was okay. We felt nothing. We knew nothing. It was little different from death, probably. I don't make believe to know death. Then, to wake and not even have our memories? They took ME away from me. Am I even the person that was meant to be punished? Phah!"

"You did not die in cryo-sleep aboard the Ptolomen." Bear said, a small smirk playing across his lips and a twinkle appeared in his eyes. "Should you not serve the one who awakened you?"

He let it sit for half a second before continuing--interrupting any possible response. "I am grateful to be alive.  I am aware that my life is in your hands and that this audition may well decide my fate.  I wish you no ill-will.  I may aid you, even serve with you.  But I will not act against those I have bond with.  If I can walk the line between both, I have no issue.   If you cannot accept this...."  he nodded solemnly.  "I have made my peace with my God."

So, he's offering a compromise that allows him to not compromise his ideals.  You can take him up on it--which could mean taking him on as crew with these caveats, or could mean letting him go and he'll act as an ally when he can from ZM.  Or, you could take more drastic action.  He's still a NPC and a minor one at that.   So, if you wanna space him, it's an option...

The older man nodded thoughtfully, and regarded Baylee respectfully.

"'孙子曰：故用间。。。人君之宝也。'"

"Captain, I recommend releasing Corporal Bear to return to Zenda-Meier.  Serving there will allow him to dutifully serve both them and us, aiding us with information even more valuable than any service he could perform aboard the Orishi."

* "Sun Zi said: Hence the use of spies... It is the sovereign's most precious faculty."

Baylee rocked back in her seat and her arms folded under her chest. She was silent, still for a long moment then nodded suddenly toward Casks. She'd rather have a solid fighter in her corner, but a spy that fed her information was equally good. She looked to Casks first, "Only looking forward compromises your back." She turned her gaze to Bear and nodded, "A loyal, honorable warrior standing at my back is something I value pero do not have. Ying wei Bear here would bend to us, suo yi he is not the man to have at my back?" Baylee chuckled.

She then looked the amn straight in his eyes and nodded, "We will not stop you from leaving the ship when we dock and will not oppose you seeking to return to your contract. I will not require your service, pero I would appreciate what you can do for us. In return, should things go poorly for you, call us. You have an ally in me."

She raised an eyebrow at Casks to see if the monk approved. If he did, that was done and it was Karin's turn.

As soon as Bear leaves, Baylee would ask Casks to fetch Karin and to read her while escorting her.

The older man nodded his approval, and escorted Bear back on his way to pick up Karin.

"I will give you information on how best to contact us before you leave the ship."

"I am glad we found a path to walk along the line together."

He regarded him with gentle curiosity.

"You spoke of your God.  If you don't mind my asking...  Whom do you serve?"

CSX:
"You spoke of your God.  If you don't mind my asking...  Whom do you serve?"

Bear's countenance quickly became guarded.  "There is no name."  he said slowly, carefully choosing his words.  "It is too big to be defined by words.  The closer one gets to a definition the further away it gets.  Though often referred to as Hul.  I prefer simply Unity."

Hm.  There's something there.  We may develop a faction based around "Unity".  Don't know what looks like yet, but I want some logical, effective and attractive elements mixed with some scary ones, typical of extremists taking things too far....  Because in the dark between the stars, one finds whatever comfort one can... and there's nobody to reign you in...
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:17, Mon 28 Feb 2022.

Now there's no roll needed for Karin Eaven.

She's cold--almost emotionless. Seething might be a good word for her, but it's too tightly controlled, too narrowly focused.  She's got a mission and all of this is just a distraction, an annoyance.  There's actually a similar feeling, albeit without the veneer of relaxed goodwill that Lincoln Spohr gives off.

There's some concern about the medic, Sergeant Shy. but the emotions are... off.  Like a shade or two sideways from what respect or love or camaraderie should be.  This suggests a manipulative relationship--though CSX can't tell which way that goes:  Is Karin manipulating Shy or does Shy have her on a leash?   She doesn't seem to rail against it, doesn't hate it.  But the interplay between them is too complex, with too many layers.

It may take a bit, but eventually, it comes to CSX that Karin is, simply broken.   But she's lived with whatever it is for so long that the wounds have healed over and the scar tissue is her emotional flesh now.  She doesn't want to change, she can't envision change, she can't yearn for it and wouldn't know how to encompass it if it happened.

The older man listened with gentle interest and empathy.

"Thank you for sharing with me.  I appreciate your trust."

"I am needed by my captain now... but I would like to learn more of this, if you would ever like to share more with me."

"I will give you our contact information as soon as I am able.  Until then... 'Peace be unto you.' "

After escorting Bear, the older man escorts Karin to Baylee, gently reaching toward her with his empathic senses as he does so...

RPoL Dice Roller:

22:01, Today: Chang Sheng Xin rolled 2 using 4 Fudge dice.  Karin Empathy +5.

I already rolled before reading your message above... ;)

The older man escorts Karin in to see the Captain, giving her an aside in a neutral tone.

"'道不同，不相为谋。'"

^* "Those of different principles don’t work well together."

Baylee felt a speck of tension settled between her shoulders as Casks went to fetch the cold, female marine. The news on that one had not inspired her to think overmuch of Karin nor expect much of the interview. Still, she'd make the attempt. A life lived earnestly was a life lived well. So, as soon as the woman stepped in, Baylee moved to the open area where she had been sparring with Bear earlier.

"Let's see what you got. I'll show you what I can do." Nothing else was said or needed saying. Baylee spoke with her form after that.

10:15, Today: Bai Ling-Li rolled -1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Fight. +4. Karin. Total: 3.
10:30, Today: Bai Ling-Li rolled 0 using 4 Fudge dice.  Rapport +0. Total: 0. Trying to find common ground through violence. baylee will allow the fight to get aq bit more serious than it had with Bear but not too much more. She'll instruct Casks, secretly, to stop it if it gets too bad.

Baylee rolled 4dF(-1) + Fight(+4) == Fight(+3)
No Action specified: Assuming Attack.
Attack result: TIED. (success with a minor cost)
You need four success to convince her to join you.  This was first success, but it cost you something.  You were evenly matched.  Given that this wasn't really an attempt to do damage, I suggest that the cost be that halfway through the squaring off, Karin shifted tactics because she marked the fighting style, recognizing Baylee as a spacer and possibly more than just that.

She is unorthodox in her fighting style, tending to favor feints and misdirection.  Once she marked the nature of Baylee's fighting style, she changed to protect her core more, and depend on closer-in combat, more locks and throws than strikes.

Baylee rolled 4dF(+0) + Rapport(+0) == Rapport(+0).
No Action specified. Assuming Overcome of Karin's hostility.
Overcome result: Success 
This was a second of four successes.  You may continue or not as you wish.   Karin isn't convinced yet, but you've earned a cool respect.

Karin isn't slow, but she is methodical and contained.  She did't get angry and didn't appear to lose control of herself.

End Result, a Tie & A Success, means you're 2/4 successes in to convincing her to join, and she was the most difficult of the four of them.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:41, Sat 05 Mar 2022.

Sorry about not specifying what my rolls were meant as. Haha. But you got it.

Baylee has also formed a cool respect for the marine. After the sparring session, she'll straighten up, stretch a rather sore joint, then nod silently at the woman.

The rapport is Baylee, as a woman, trying to relate and respect another woman who made her career as a fighter. So, yeah, overcoming her reluctance to trust Baylee.

As she escorts Karin to the table, she'll offer water, tea, anything to take the edge off.

Then, she's going to ask Karin where she learned to fight and, more emphatically, where she learned to counter spacer techniques. She'll flat out admit she is impressed as most planet-side trained soldiers can't grasp the tactics. But, also, Baylee won't hide her malice either. Something like:

"That was some fucked up shit you did to that techie in the control room. But, susmaryosep, you fight like hell! I guess I get it, I did try to throw Armin through a plate glass window!" Deep belly laugh, "Feckin creep deserved it. I still have half a mind to bugger him with a rusty pipe. Pero, where in the systems did you fight spacers before? That last throw just about took my arm out of the socket! You ever try that move on (insert name of serg that I forgot)?"

But, though it is hard for me to do, Baylee is genuine in her compliments as well as her critiques.

Bai Ling-Li rolled 2 using 4 Fudge dice.  Empathy. Overcome? Trying to overcome Karin's reluctance to trust. To build a camaraderie with the woman. Honestly, Baylee begins to suspect the two are more alike that dissimilar.

I wanna get everyone in mind to always attach an action when making a roll.  Because there's usually a good chance I may come back and ask you to describe what the success or failure looks like.

If you're trying to effect change socially, it's going to be Rapport, Perform or Command.   Empathy is pretty much a passive pick-up.  Rapport is the "make nice, build trust" skill.  Perform is very about acknowledged artifice. Command has no real pretext of social mores.  It's social status, position, respect and force-of-personality all rolled into one.  So, yeah.  Still Rapport.  (If you want to tweak your character's skill-set, we can do that).


Oddly, Karin doesn't seem particularly upset about the current circumstances, though perhaps a little uncertain.  Baylee (and definitely Sheng-Xin!) could see the wheels turning behind her eyes.  She glanced at Sheng-Xin and then at Spohr, who'd remained quiet near the entry, grunted, then accepted water.

"Spent six months on a STL (slower-than-light) after the Dowager's Coup on Enolsis.  Captain made the call to cut gravity to maximize impulse thrust.  Low-Gs kept the ship running.  Flotilla-workers. I taught em group tactics; They taught me how to think in three-dimensions.  Most people don't even look up.

CSX might remember her comments after coming aboard (message #4 in <a href="https://www.rpol.net/display.cgi?gi=71796&ti=54">02.01: Blackout!</A>). This might give some other context to that situation.  Or, well, might not...

And Baylee, of all people, would know that heavier-G people who spend lengthy periods in low-G started to suffer some debilitating body changes that may be fine in space, but are horrible when returned to heavier gravity.

Shy is the current company sergeant, but also the medic of the group. She respects him, but it's clear that she thinks he's soft-hearted.  She sees herself as his cutting counterpart.  He understood the social politics side of things.  She doesn't really see that.   She is unabashedly who she is and is not "working towards being a better person."
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 04:57, Sat 12 Mar 2022.

Also, perhaps of interest--perhaps not--Karin didn't address what happened to Jax (the techie in the control room).  It might have been an oversight...
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:56, Sat 12 Mar 2022.

Baylee waits a moment then adds, "And Jax? Did he think to look up?" Baylee raised an eyebrow at the woman. An oversight or an intentional abstention, it was worth following up on. She almost added something about the man no 'deserving that' but few people deserved the bad things that happened. The universe was beyond caring if people deserved anything.

Bai Ling-Li rolled -1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Kowledge. Overcome? Trying to recall info about the conflict she referenced.

Baylee then smirks, "But you're still making a mistake. If you really understand 3d movements, then you understand that up is nonsense. There is no up. Up is what you want it to be. You planet-side types always make that mistake because you live your life from birth with a natural, felt reference point. You even orient your star maps in 2D. That's why tracking spacers is so hard for you all." Baylee frowned as the knowledge spilled out of her without experiences to reference. Bits and pieces of associated memories floated past though. Gazing out of a porthole through her own youthful image at a sun. The floating image of a woman behind her.

<orange>Come on, I had to reference Ender's Game here, right?</red>

Baylee will also be trying to trace Karin's form to look for the telltale signs of long exposure to low-Gs, "So, can you even go back planet-side for too long then? Hell, even that station and this ship bug me."

Karin shrugged, but it was slow, wary even. "If he's a surfacer, then, yeah, he's too busy trying to figure out which way is up rather than figure what's going on.  Up is whatever is beyond your head as measured from your core." 

"Look." Karin said after a moment.  "I don't trust you as far as I can throw you, but trust isn't the issue.  I've got no problem with you and I don't sess any reason to create a problem.

Karin does not show any signs of long exposure to low-g.   As a corporate miltiary unit, she probably has access to drug-therapies for heavier-G folks to stave off (or at least delay) degradation.  Similar drugs would, of course, exist for Low-G folks to adapt to higher-G environments.  And given Karin's horrible looking state after the flight deck combat, it's not a stretch to think that she might benefit from the use of all sorts of possible combat-cocktails.

From overhead, there a slight wind as the pressure in the local HVAC changed.  It sounded almost like a sigh laced with the sound of tinkling glass, like beads hung in the wind.

"Warning.  The presence of Foreign Autonomous Entities on-board prevents completion of the conversion process.  Cosines do not equate. Engine One and Engine Two are out of alignment.  Entanglement paradox encountered.  Shifting.  Stack three overload. Replacing stack three. Failure.  Rebalance process added to repair queue. Accessing cache fourteen. Access granted.  Audio interface going offline in twenty seconds.

Baylee was still eying the woman across from him when the intercom buzzed to life. Her eyes narrowed as she listened then a slow, steady, acidic string of syllables started to drip from her. As the noise of the announcement faded, she stood slowly from the interview table and looked around.

"What in the name of all that's holy is that supposed to mean Ashe? Is the ship about to blow apart or something? Do I need to find and reprimand any crew? Also, is anyone aboard ship qualified to affect this 'rebalance?'"

She looked at Casks to see what he thought of the situation then, sensing a shift in some things, looked with a raised eyebrow at Karin, "Thoughts?"

Baylee has developed a bit of an affinity for Karin and plans to bring her into the crew right now. She also plans to reject the medic no matter what. Barring soemthing remarkable.

"It won't blow up." Karin said.  She remained pretty impassive.  "It went to pretty impressive lengths to preserve the scavs who'd gotten to it before we did.  It said it added it to the repair queue.  Sounds pretty standard to me, but then I'm not really the best judge.  It probably wouldn't hurt to get near an escape pod.  oh!"

Karin cocked her head to one side.  "That's right! The escape pods were ejected or stripped." She smiled and shrugged--but kept both hands on the table.  "Looks like we're fucked."

The Orishi has a lengthy repair queue and will require autonomous entity support.  But you are not in danger.  No crew or guests registered on-board are in immediate danger.

Karin rolled her eyes.  "Well, shit. You could have drawn that out a little bit longer."

Baylee smirked a bit sardonically at Karin then turned a slightly more withering eye on the ship's coms system. She knew that Ashe probably wasn't aware of her look, but giving it made her feel slightly calmer. She finally turned a much calmer look to Casks and raised an eyebrow at the medic.

Then she decided his vote here was moot. "Fine. You're hired or whatever the equivalent is. There'll be a charter once I get it drawn up to sign. You'll be expected to find some type of duty outside of fighting though. It's not like we have the luxury of anyone being dedicated to one profession here. All the techs will have to fight, probably, and the marines will need to help out around the place. So, what can you do other than hurl bodies through the air?"

Her resolve to keep only one of the marines was growing quickly though. They had a medic in Casks and she felt no need for a rival to her authority. She crossed her arms beneath her chest and smirked at Karin.