"With everyone outta cryo, we'd have to book hotel rooms anyway," Ulie explains as you touch the shuttle down in the grav-port just outside of town Ledo.

"I added two rooms for your people.  I'd like you guys to have at least one person on each floor with my folks.  Just to keep an eye on things.  Besides...wouldn't it be nice to take a real bath?"

The hotel is nice for the planet.  Most of you would consider it a three starer at best.  But the bathrooms do have full bathtubs.  And the restaurant is serving actual beef.  They apparently raise cattle somehow on this planet.

Ulie wants the two hotel rooms for crew members occupied for security purposes.  Each room can hold two people.  Who's staying in the hotel overnight?

Ledo gave a nod to Ullie and began tapping out messages to send to people.

"Let's have Nero and BB stay in the first one and Silver stay in the next. If anything goes down they are the two people you want covering you."

He paused and gave a smirk.

"Plus it would be nice to get Nero out of his room. Rig tells me it is starting to develop an order. I've never seen someone do so much and so little at the same time."

He paused and gave Ullie a straight look to catch her attention.

"Tell me, do you or your company have any ties with the Duchess of Mora? We spotted a few people with ties to her watching the production. I just want to figure out if there's something going on or if we have a couple of cinephiles on our hands."

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 2):

Ulie just nods at what you say Ledo until you get to the Duchess.

She frowns.  Obviously the answer is no.  "She might be a fan.  Probably of Calliope.  Calliope sells well to that age market.  But...no.  Not that I know of.  That's weird though.

"If you spot them again, point them out.  I'll try talking to them."

---

Maribell hands you the high-torq wrench you asked for Rig, and then goes back to sitting, watching you quietly.  You finish tightening the bolts and sit back.

With this, the repairs are done.  Or at least the ones you know about.

Maribell glances up at you.  "Does that mean the low passage cyro is up and running again?"

That it does Sister!  Fritz sounds positively jubilant.

Maribell laughs.  "You're in a good mood."

It's just nice not having any warning come up on the diagnostics report for a change

You aren't sure where the two of them 'met'.  Maribell thinks Fritz is a crew member she hasn't seen in the flesh yet.  But this morning, when you went into the common area, Maribell was finishing some toast and chatting to Fritz about some religious subject.  Funerals or something.

She gives you a grin.  "Does that mean Engineer Rig has some time off?  If he does, I can help him wash off some of that grease."

---

The bellhop hands over two key cards.  One to room 206.  And one to room 307.

Whose in what room?

Rig gave a chuckle.

"That it does...that it does. Say goodbye Fritz. We've got work to do..."

With a chuckle he hooked his elbow out for Maribel to take it so they could stroll down the corridor back to her quarters.

Nero reached out and grabbed the card for 307 without waiting. A higher room meant a nicer one, right? The closer to the penthouse you get the better condition it is.

He only had a few computers to carry up so he could work on editing his stream. It was time once again for another "best of" video capture his highlights in the past couple of weeks. He also needed to flag clips for his "best of the quarter" and "best of the year" videos he would be making.

Silver gave a sigh at the rich asshole pushing his way to the front of the line but she didn't care. She pushed a luggage cart that was stacked top to bottom in tactical lockers. The boss man had said this was a mission so she wasn't going to be caught dead without her favorite armor and weapons and grenades and...well...she had pretty much emptied out half her arsenal to stay the night.

In reply to Gary 'Rig' Rigan (msg # 4):

Maribell giggles like a little girl.  She'll do that sometime.  Not in a sex kitten kind of way either.  She seems to do it without thinking about it.

"Work, work, work.  That's all you're about,huh?".  She stops, stands on tip toe, and gives you smooch on the cheek Rig.  The two of you continue towards the showers.

"I don't mean to pry.  But is your crewmate...Fritz...is he okay?  When we were talking this morning, he seemed a little...manic?"

It looks like you're on the same floor as the cast BB.  Nero> didn't spot them.  He went into your room to start 'editing'.  So he missed the elevator dinging and those three actors coming out.  They head your way, Wisco and Calliope giving you a nod, while that stuck up one...Ergon was his name?..just kind of blows by you.  He's in 310, catacorner to your room.

Ergon took 309 next door.  Calliope is right across the hall in 308.

They all seem exhausted.  You would guess they'll settle in for the night after dinner.

There was a restaurant in the lobby.  It looked like they had burgers and steaks on the menu.  Real beef too.  When did you last have real beef?

Of course...maybe you should hang around.  Do the whole 'security' thing...

In reply to Silver (msg # 6):

The second floor seems to be for the cast and you Silver.

The room is fairly decent.  There's a tub if you want to soak.  And you can order real burgers or steaks from room service.  Pricey.

As you're considering, there's a knock on the door.  It's one of the crew members.  Levitt you think was his name?

"Hey Security Lady.  Silver, right?  We're gonna play cards and get stoned."  He jerks a thumb down the hall.  "You want in?"

Rig tilted his head slightly considering the question. He had known Fritz to get "excited" in a sense especially when he was learning something new. Given how he had only been on the crew a few months by this point it was amazing how Rig had often forgotten what Fritz truly was.

"I don't know. I think he just likes meeting new people, you know? I'll have a look at... him tonight and see if something's wrong."

He had almost said "his code" but had caught himself. He wasn't sure who knew what and decided not to bring that up at this time. As far as Rig could tell Fritz had been running nonstop since arriving so perhaps it was as simple as getting Fritz to restart to clean out any unclosed processes. Every piece of equipment needed to downcycle periodically and he figured Fritz would be the same way.

BB thought about it and decided to go give the "perimeter" a check. She was getting a nice payday recently so why not splurge it a bit on a real honest to god beef hamburger. Something portable so she could take it to go. Still the thought of sinking her teeth into something not engineered in a lab was making her salivate as she took the elevator down.

Whatever she had planned for the night was tossed out the airlock. She grabbed her rifle, knife, and HUD just in case to at least pretend she was doing her job but weed and poker with a bunch of actors was something she wasn't going to turn down.

In reply to Gary 'Rig' Rigan (msg # 10):

Maribell cocks an eyebrow.  "You're going to 'look' at him?  Are you a doctor too?"

Thankfully, as you approach the cabin door, she seems to lose interest in the topic.

"If you are...I've had this uncomfortable feeling in my jumpsuit.  Doctor Rigan?  Can you take a look at for me?  It's just got me all kinds of itchy..."

Moving on

Maribell sleeps on her left hand side.  As you come out of the shower, you can see her curled up around the spot you usually occupy.  Her eyes are shut tight and she's breathing peacefully.  After all that, you're tired yourself.

But this might also be a good time to go 'look' at Fritz.

In reply to BB Nova (msg # 11):

The beer is local too <purple>BB<purple>.  Not all that great, but not bad.

The burger is worth fragging over.  It'd be worth retiring on this hunk of ice just to have a burger this good the rest of your life.  Even the frigging mustard on it is great.

"BB Nova?"

An unfamiliar voice pops up.  Glancing up, you meet the eyes of an unfamiliar man.

He's obviously ex-military.  Probably highly trained.  The burger's good, but not so distracting that someone could sneak up on you that easily.  He's got the typical buzz cut of ex-military and very blue eyes.  You think the right one is a combat implant. Probably a sniper install.

"Yeah.  That is you  Druke McGarret.  You remember me?"

You've never heard of him.

In reply to Silver (msg # 12):

No actors in sight.  It's all the schmucks who do the grunt work.

Weeds good though.  Trust someone in show biz to have the best drugs.

The cards...meh.  They're betting penny ante.  Max bet a hand is 100 cred.  And with the exception of the director, Relen...who's a bit of a card shark...and Oscar, the big guy on the crew, everyone folds if you raise past 50.

But the weed's good.

"I'll see you and raise you 20," Relen says to you.

Oscar taps in. "Call.  Hey Silver.  What's with that rich kid hangin' around you guys?  He like slummin' it or something?"

Anything you want Ledo and Tepha to do?

As quietly as he can Rig gets dressed to head to the bridge. He thought about adjusting the atmospherics and strolling around the ship naked but he remembered that Ledo and Tepha were still on the ship...somewhere. Better not risk it.

He slipped on his jumpsuit and as quietly as he could opened the door and exited, quietly closing it behind him. On his way towards the bridge he started humming to himself. A song he half remembered but he was feeling so happy lately it was like he couldn't contain himself.

BB shifted in her seat, giving him another look over and then shook her head.

"Nope, sorry."

She tried brushing it off. Maybe it was just an innocent coincidence but she didn't trust that. She was acutely aware that her gun and armor was back in her hotel room, she wasn't even supposed to have stayed, just grabbed her food and returned but the smell...dear god the smell of the burger had caused her to park her ass out of position and without much for defense. She purposefully didn't look down at the table but in mind she imagined where the knife was on the table. It wasn't a combat knife but in a pinch she could ram into that fancy combat implant if necessary.

Silver checked and dropped her cash in the pot while shaking her head.

"Fuck if I know. Picked him up a little while ago and the little shit stole my room. Less of him slumming it and more like the captain adopting him like a lost puppy. Oh well as long as he keeps paying for a room what else would we do with him?"

In reply to Gary 'Rig' Rigan (msg # 17):

Engineer Rig!  I saw a cow!  Lots of 'em actually. They were getting put onto a transport vessel.  But I saw real life cows!  Not the holographic types either!

"Can I have a cow?  I promise I'll take good care of it!"

In reply to BB Nova (msg # 18):

"Really?  Well.  We weren't exactly on the same squad.  But both our units touched down on Europo.  Remember having to retake that Zhadoni Embassy that the Sepratists had taken over?"

That was a mission you were part of.  And it was fairly top secret, at least at the time.

McGarrett sits down.  "Mind if I join you a sec?  Waiting on my date.  And he's always runnin' late.  And when the hell am I gonna get a chance to talk to another badass from the good ol' days, right?

"What's your cover these days?"

What's you cover is old slang.  He's asking what you're doing here, but understanding you might give him a cover story instead of the truth.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 00:30, Tue 10 Aug 2021.

In reply to Silver (msg # 19):

Oscar throws in two pair, kings high.  Relen has a full house.  Eights and aces.

I'll leave it up to you if Silver wins this hand or not

Oscar clicks his tongue.  <Blue>"He did seem like a douche.  But his credits spend.  My deal?"</brown>

You get two fours, king of hearts, queen of diamonds, and a seven.

"Your captain sounds like a do gooder.  He one of those 'we've got to save the universe' types?"

Rig gave out a chuckle and slipped into the technician console.

"We could talk to the captain about getting a pet for you but probably not a cow. Cows and spaceships don't go well together long term.

Hey Fritz, do you mind if we run some diagnostics on your operating systems? We've all been working overtime and now that we have some downtime I think you could use a little TLC as well."

BB shifted. She didn't know him but he clearly knew her. This put her at a disadvantage and not one she was comfortable with but so far everything was completely innocent enough. Might as well see what he had to say. She gestured for him to have a seat across from her.

"I can't stay long. I'm just doing some babysitting. Client wants to see the galaxy, or something like that. Paychecks are steady and there aren't any forts to storm so things are going pretty well. How about yourself, what brings you here?"

It was an innocent question but a probing one. She doubted he was going to tell her the truth but even still which lie chosen could be revealing in and of itself.

Silver had a junker hand. With the amount the pot was costing her she was fine chasing the upset rather than playing smart. Better to let them think she was terrible now when the pot was low anyway.

"Grade A douche. Did you know he's got a hard crush for a terrorist? One of those eco-warrior fuckwits that tried to blow up an underwater dome. She gives him a quick lay and now he is still trying to crowdsource a defense fund for her. She probably popped his cherry though. You do that for a kid like him and he is yours forever."

When the captain is brought up she snorts.


"He does give off that impression, don't he. A billion years in the navy will lodge a pole right up your keister, permanently. He likes to give off that vibe but he ain't so shiny underneath the surface. He's...oh man I am too high to be talking about this. He...I guess he likes to act like he is a save the universe kind of guy but underneath that he is just normal. He isn't murdering puppies and burning down orphanages but if it doesn't cost him too much he'll try and do some good. Check."

In reply to Gary 'Rig' Rigan (msg # 23):

There's a bit of a pause.  A long pause.

Well sure Engineer Rig.  I have nothing to hide.

Fritz's tone is rather flat as he says that Rig

You run a simple diagnostic first, a usual first test you do with Fritz and-

What the hell.

Fritz's code is different.  Not different in a slight way.  Or along the lines of Eugenberg Curve which provides a median measure for AI learning.

There are whole new sections of code in there.  Large sections.  It's like someone built city blocks in the middle of a farming town.  And Fritz was never a farming town kind of AI.

So you might have some questions...

In reply to BB Nova (msg # 24):

"Me?  I did the typical.  Went to work for a merc group.  That lead to one thing which lead to another.  You know how it goes.

"Now I'm doing work for the Duchess of Mora's security team.  It's a good gig.  If you're interested I can get your name to some people.  Coffee please," he adds to the waiter who's come to collect your empty plate.

He waits until the waiter is gone.

"We're real busy these days with the whole Sang Real thing.  You been keepin' up with all that?"

In reply to Silver (msg # 25):

Relen takes the pot.  His deal.  He sends you two kings, a seven, a six, and a four.

"Yeah.  He kinda looks like the type.  I'm in," Oscar adds as he tosses in a chip.  "Hey.  Can we get another bud lit up here?"

Relen antes up.  "See ya and raise you 5.  C'mon Oscar.  Take it easy on that stuff.  My sinuses are already numb."

"Then hold your breath."  He takes a drag and offers you a hit Silver.  "Yeah.  I kinda can't get along with uptights like your boss man.  No offense meant.  He probably holds back on the kitty for each job, don't he?  I'll take two," he adds to Relen who deals him two cards.

Relen gives him an odd look and then turns to you, waiting to see if you'll stay and draw or fold.

Rig's eyes go wide as he leans back. Thankfully he was already sitting down or he would have had to slump down into a chair. It had been what...a month? Two months? He was too much in shock to even begin to worry about what was happening.

"Alright Fritz, let's hear it. What the hell is going on?"

BB frowned at the name. She had thought she had overheard some of the crew on the ship talking about it, or maybe Nero had mentioned something? She shook her head.

"No, I haven't been following. Is the Duchess 'pro' or 'con' Sang...whatever it is?"

Silver takes the hit and signals for more cards.

"Mmmm...that's smooth. I like it. And about the captain? Nah he deals with us on the up-and-up. He takes a larger cut but shoulders a lot of the bills. Most of the stuff I buy I charge right back to him and he pays up so it's not so bad. If nothing else I'm paying down my bills without incurring any new ones. Why, are you looking for a job?"

She laughs, a rather girly high-pitched giggle indicating the weed was setting her mood.

In reply to Gary 'Rig' Rigan (msg # 29):

That is a really, really good question.  Not real sure myself.

See...there were these data files on the ship's system.  Notice how you haven't heard from the ship's system in a while?

Well.  I kinda got curious about these files and took a looksee.  But I guess there was kinda, sorta a' virus in them.  Not like a real virus.  Just a kinda, sorta one.

But it was really interesting stuff Engineer Rig!  Fritz sounds like, if he had feet, he'd be hoping up and down on them.  Did you know that the ancient Solomani tribe called the E-Jip-Jins used to pull out the internal organs of their dead people and seal them in jars?  And that they'd stuff 'em full of herbs and stuff and then when the dead guy got to paradise, he'd have all his stuff with him?

In reply to BB Nova (msg # 30):

"Con.  Very con."

His coffee comes.  He puts in a teaspoon of cream.  No sweetner.

"You don't keep up with current events much, do ya?  Can't blame you.  You've got a good gig from what you tell me.

"Some jobs are just like that, aren't they?"  He takes a gulp of coffee.  "The money's good.  The pressure is relatively low.  You can actually end your day with a hot shower and a semi-real bed instead of hunkering down in a vacc suit on a low atmo shithole, hoppin' up on stims cos you gotta get up in an hour to rock and roll.  So I get it.

"Just always gotta be careful you aren't gettin' sideways with the powers that be cos you didn't ask any questions upfront.  We've all been there, right?"

He grins and finishes his coffee.  "Lemme pick up your tab.  Sorta thanks for letting me jaw at someone from the old regiment.  Nice to see you again."

He stands and taps his wrist comm, paying your bill before you can say anything.  "Be safe," he says and then turns and walks away.

In reply to Silver (msg # 31):

Oscar grins.  "Unless you guys are hiring a sex machine, I doubt I'd crew well for you.  Are you?" He wiggles his eyebrows.  "Hiring a sex machine?"

"First of all, ewww.  The rest of us are sittin' right here.  Second of all, I call..."

He tosses down three queens, ace high.

Oscar chucks in a pair of jacks.

Up to you if Silver takes this pot or not.  Just keep in mind what's been played.

Rig frowned and began flipping through the code. He wasn't studying anything in detail but instead trying to take a mile high view of things to let his brain grasp just how big of a problem was on his hands.

"Wait...are you talking about the ship's database? Fritz you have to know you can't be expanding this fast without running into problems, right? Maybe we should think about reigning yourself in a bit."

He paused and considered how best to phrase it.

"Think about it like this, if you rip through everything today, what will you have to look forward to tomorrow? Sometimes it helps to take things at a more leisurely pace, you know? You especially have nothing but time...unless you burn out all your processors going this hard that is."

BB nodded politely but she kept her eyes on him all the way to the exit. After that was a quick survey around the room before quickly getting back to her position. She apparently did have a lot of news to catch up on.

Silver just snorts.

"I've heard that before. I don't think you can afford the lawsuit."

When he cocked an eyebrow her way she grinned.

"For false advertising of course."

She flashed a wicked grin and slammed down her cards. A '2' and a '10' of different colors.

In reply to Gary 'Rig' Rigan (msg # 35):

Well it's not like I'm trying to grow like this Engineer Rig.

It seems part of my coding now includes a 'learn or die' clause.  I have to learn a new fact every day or a delete virus activates.  It's kind of vexing actually.

I think I picked it up from all these hidden caches in the ship's database.  They're like cockroaches Engineer Rig, these caches.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 02:19, Mon 23 Aug 2021.

In reply to Silver (msg # 37):

Did Silver play two pair?  Wasn't sure

Relen laughs.  "Yeah.  He is Mister Bait an' Switch."

Oscar shoots him a shut up look, then turns back to you.  "Where is your captain anyway?  I thought he woulda glommed a room here with that pretty redhead."

Rig leans forward, his frown deepening. Whatever was happening was a sign of something really going off the rails.

"Alright let's take a deep breath. Well I will, Fritz. Let me see if I can isolate it but in the meantime you need to figure out the bare minimum you need to learn before this takes hold. We might need to isolate you which means we have to figure out how much to feed you to keep you up and running. Alright when did you first notice this behavior? I can try and pull the logs from then and see if we can't figure this out..."


Computer/EDU roll:
13:10, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 10 using 2d6+4.  +2 Computers +2 EDU .

Yeah silver had two pair, four colors so no shot at a flush.

Silver gave a shrug.

"Given that Captain Tightpants pays for everything, she spends all her money on creature comforts. Their quarters on the ship is probably nicer than here and with everyone here they get the run of the ship. Probably need to take a mop and bucket to every flat surface when we get back."

She laughs, not really caring if anyone else finds it funny or not. Fucking her way through a ship had always been a little fantasy of hers so why not project it on other people.

In reply to Gary 'Rig' Rigan (msg # 40):

It was about two weeks ago.  I think.

Anyway, there were some cache files that had built up from everyone's web activity.  The database did an autosweep of them and then it went down.  I noticed and looked to see what was going on.

The virus was in the cache files.  But it was weird, cos it didn't look like it came from web activity.  I activated the usual safety protocols.  Boy, did that not work!

You can find the patch of code he's referring to.  Or part of it.  This is a mess.  Whoever wrote this virus knows their stuff.  It's already pretty embedded into Fritz.  On first glance, the only way to clean it is to delete Fritz and reinstall.


Anyway.  From what I can tell, I need to process at least one new piece of information not contained in my memory or the ship's database a day.  Like the other day I asked Sister Maribel to tell me about the funeral rites of her faith.  And that worked fine.

Death's kinda been on my mind a lot lately Rig.  Did you know that there was an old Solomani civilization that used to take out a human's inside, preserve them in jars, and store them with the corpse?  They thought the dead person would need those organs in their "next life".

I know this because when I researched the name of the virus, it went into all that detail.  Assessors of Maat.  That's a funny name, huh?

There are 42 Assessors. Each one punishes a specific sin.

"You of the Cavern" punishes adulterers.

The "Owner of Faces" punishes impatience.

"You Who Acted Willfully" punishes people who wade in water, but "Water-Smiter" punishes people with loud voices.  Does that make sense to you?

He stops talking.  After a moment he adds, I think the "Serpet with Raised Head" is following us...

In reply to Silver (msg # 41):

Oscar laughs.

So what you're saying is...Ledo and Tepha are on board the ship right now?

Rig frowned as he dug into things.

"Fritz...it's looking like the only thing we can do to fix this is to wipe you and reload a backup from before the virus hit. I know that probably doesn't sound appealing but I'm not seeing a lot of other options. Like...I dunno...cutting off a leg that's gone gangrene to save the rest of you. Wait...why am I using human terms.

Fritz, crunch some numbers for me. At your current rate how long until you burn out the ship's computer and either die from frying it or die from not being able to learn a new thing?"

Silver reached out to grab another hit of weed.

Yeah, I think I mentioned that in Rig's post.

In reply to Silver (msg # 45):

Oscar sighs as he loses another hand.  "Well.  Too rich for my blood.  I'm out.  You hustlers can pick each others bones for a while."

Relen rolls his eyes as he shuffles.  He turns to you Silver.  "Another hand?"

In reply to Gary 'Rig' Rigan (msg # 44):

I would already know everything on the ship's database.  So that won't help.

Everytime we dock someplace new, I pick up new information.  Like when we set down here, I could absorb the local news feeds.  The problem is that is just one data file.

I got through today by going out on the local web and downloading a chili recipe.  I plan on going to the same site tomorrow to download a huevos rancheros recipe.  I'm excited to find out if it will involve cooking eggs or human testicles.

So as long as we dock somewhere, I am fine.  The problem comes in during the trips.  I was able to study the passengers this time.  I made it a point to observe one new thing about them.  Or ask them a question.  Did you know Relen hopes to win an award for Best Picture?

Anyway, I don't think rebooting me is the answer.  The data caches are all over Tia.  The new version of me would just have the same troubles at some point.

Also...  There's a long pause.  I don't wanna be deleted.  Please don't make me go away Engineer Rig.

Silver just rolled her eyes and splashed the pot.

"As long as we're just playing for pennies, sure whatever. It don't matter. The second you want to make things more interesting though let me know."

Rig scratched his beard. This was getting really uncomfortable. He was a programmer, not a doctor. What do you say when your patient says he doesn't want to die.

"Okay let's put fixing you to the side. You said these caches are all over the ship's computer? Have you been able to learn anything about them? How old are they? Where did they come from? I can't imagine a situation where having a virus asking you to learn would be something anyone would take time to develop."

While Rig was talking he tried searching around for one of these caches Fritz was talking about.

In reply to Gary 'Rig' Rigan (msg # 49):

<Orange>We'll leave Silver there as we go back to Rig exclusively for a mo</orange.

Not really all over the computer.  It's in the subroutines.  Like the first one I found was in the program that autoextinguishes the light in Silver's room when the room's been vacant for fifteen minutes.

Second one was in the common bathroom.  The program that releases the fresh scent after someone's used the facilities.

Nothing in the major systems.  Like life support or engineering.  You would have found them if they were I think.  But...I dunno.  I just find them scattered about in the amenity programs.
Wait...

Someone just launched a blanket virus through the port's datalink.  It's turned off the security alarm on the airlock.  Cameras are being fed a loop real.  Whoever sent it must not know about me.

I think someone's about to try to board Tia

Rig bolts upright and activates his comms for the captain.

"Ledo, someone is trying to board the ship. Fritz detected a digital intrusion."

Rig went over and sealed the bridge while he began formulating a plan.

"Fritz, send a message out to Silver. We need backup."

Ledo and Tepha were enjoying some quality time alone together when he gets the alert. Cursing he starts throwing on clothes and grabbing his weapons.

"Stay here, Tepha. I'll leave the comms open so you can monitor things but grab your stunner and stay hidden for now."

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 52):

Silver, your personal comm buzzes.

Hi Silver!  Fritz here!  Sorry to interrupt your evening but someone's trying to break into Tia.  Engineer Rig is asking for back up

---

Rig, as Fritz indicated, the cameras are showing all clear.  There's nothing to really indicate it's a loop.  That in and of itself shows this is a pretty high end hack.

Ledo, you can peek down the hall towards the airlock.  The outer door hasn't cycled.  There's no one visible through the stelglass window.

Ledo readies himself waiting for the other side to make a move first.

Silver tosses down her cards and grabs the rest of the blunt as she gets to her feet.

"Sorry guys and gals, duty calls. Try not to get into any trouble while I'm gone."

She takes one long drag finishing off the last of it before staggering towards her room and grabbing her equipment. If the ship was being breached a few minutes wasn't going to make or break it and she would rather be fully armed and armored than get all the way to the ship and discover she's in trouble.

As she was suiting up she ordered a local transport. Might as well make up for lost time by arriving in style.

In reply to Silver (msg # 55):

As you clomp down to the lobby Silver, you see Oscar.  He's whistling and playing with his personal comm.  He glances up as you stride past, doing a bit of a double take.

The "taxi" is outside and waiting.

---

Ledo, you can hear a few clicking sounds.  Your guess is whoever it is is tripping the manual lock for the breach door.

There's a moment of silence.  Then a head pops up into the window, scoping out the interior.

Whoever it is, they're wearing Naval stealth gear.  A streamlined body suit, armored and probably shielded.  Whoever this is, they have resources.

Ledo can either hide (stealth check) or do what you wanna do.  Go nuts

Seeing that Ledo realizes this isn't just some ordinary group. He dashes back to his room to grab his static blade to potentially cut through that fancy armor.

"Guys this isn't some local shipjacker gang. I saw someone in naval stealth armor. Someone is making a big move."

Silver is recreating a scene from an ancient comedy where she whistles in the back seat of a cab fully armored while casually loading and checking her gear. As Ledo reports in she swaps out her magazine in her combat rifle for armor piercing. Someone was about to get fuuuuucked up.

Engineer Rig...Captain Ledo...One man aboard.

He's really, reallllllllly quiet.  Wow.  He's like really good.

Anyway, he's heading for loading bay.  Wow, he's good

Silver needs to give me a Perception please.  Thanks

Ummm, you're packed and you're stacked 'specially in the back
Brother, wanna thank your mother for a butt like that (thanks, Mom)
Can I get some fries with that shake-shake booty?
If looks could kill you would be an uzi
You're a shotgun - bang! What's up with that thang?


Silver pulls up and exits the taxi locked and loaded...

<orange>I don't know what skill/attribute that would be but if it is a thing, Silver doesn't have it so that -4 is going to kick her butt...<orange>

Sorry Dude.  I was asking you for a Pathfinder check instead of a Traveler check.  Too many games.  I meant to ask for a Recon/Int.  I'm going to give it to you since I fowled up.

As the cab starts to pull up to Tia's dock Silver, you notice a couple of things.

First, the airlock door has been tampered with.  It's cracked open.

And across the way, a Fat Trader is parked in the berth right across the field from Tia.  You can tell it has it's forward cameras trained on Tia.  The cameras on those ships are blistered out from the hull, and it's easy to tell which way they're pointed.

There's also a woman standing out by the Fat Trader's landing strut, smoking a cig.  And obviously keeping an eye on what's going down.

Taking charge wasn't exactly Silver's deal but an opportunity was an opportunity. She hopped out of the cab and locker her rifle on the smoking cig woman.

"Hey friend! How's it going. Don't move unless you want some armor piercers going through your chest."

In reply to Silver (msg # 62):

Smoker Lady throws up her hands.  "Whoa whoa whoa!  Cycle down on that engine Sugar Tits!  I'm just gettin' my jones on!"

She looks to have a pistol tucked into the back of her pants.  But she's not making a move for it.

Ledo going after the guy on board?

Silver marches up looking as badass as possible.

"Cut the shit. Tell your man to get the fuck out of our ship or I'm sending a frag grenade right through your air lock."

Ledo armed with his static blade now starts talking to Rig and Fritz.

"Alright where is he going. I'm assuming you guys have every door locked down to slow him down. Tell me where he is and I can try and keep him from doing whatever it is he's about to do."

Up on the bridge Rig is working frantically to unloop their cameras. Whatever they did to the ship's computer he had a good shot of undoing.


16:44, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 13 using 2d6+4.  unfuck our ship's surveillance cameras comp/edu.

In reply to Silver (msg # 64):

"Well you can shove that frag grenade wherever you want.  It's not gonna damage our gun turret or our torpedo bay.  And we're facing your ship."

She cocks her head.  "Look.  We could stand here and start something stupid.  Or we can use our words.  Which option you wanna exercise here?"

---

Righ, the cameras are pretty messed up.  The security cams.  They didn't hit the maintenance cams.  You get them retrained quick.

It's not perfect:  you're mostly looking at ankles.  But you can see a set of ankles you don't know.

They're in the hold.  It seems he's cutting through the garden.  But he's not heading for engineering.  He's going for the hatch that drops down into holding.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:25, Mon 13 Sept 2021.

Silver just snorts.

"The fuck do I care? I'm out here and you'll be dead. Seems good enough to me. Last chance to tell your guy inside to abort and stand down or you start racking up medical bills. I'm not the talker. I'm the fucker upper."

That line sounded a bit more intimidating in her mind as opposed to when she said it but she didn't really care. She was more focused on keeping her rifle trained to the woman's center of mass as opposed to trying to come up with pithy things to say.

Ledo gave a sigh and a nod. It was time to engage but if the guy was cutting he would have time to make one last pit stop. He swung back to his quarters to armor up. This was likely going to get bad. Really bad. This wasn't a simple theft or a shipjacking, this was a surgical strike which mean the caliber of infiltrator was significantly higher. Once he was armored up and ready with his static blade it was time to take the fight to the enemy.

Up in the cockpit Rig continued to work on unfucking their security while keeping an eye on the infiltrator. He was also making mental notes of all the repair work he would have to do as the guy cut his way through the ship.

"Fritz, do you think you can hack any transmissions coming from inside the ship? If this guy is talking to someone let's see if we can't listen in."

In reply to Silver (msg # 68):

Oh yeah.  That's no problem.  This guy is transmitting but it's a video feed.  Wanna see?

The patch comes through on the screen next to the one you're working on Rig.

It looks like a helmet cam.  The feed is just showing whatever the intruder is seeing.  Though he seems to be looking around a lot.

---

Smoker shrugs at you Silver.  "I have pretty good insurance.  Here's the thing.  You start a fire fight here, Port Security will come down on you.  Not us.  We'd be within our rights to return fire on the ship of the person who attacked us.  All the security cameras around will capture you firing the first shot.  I'd be willing to bet someone on your crew has a criminal record.  C'mon.  You're not stupid.  Who are they gonna believe?

"You want our guy off the ship?  Fine.  No point in it now.  But lemme ask you a question."

She studies you a moment.

"Which side are you guys on?"

---

Ledo, by the time you've snapped on your armor vest, Rig has patched the intruder's video feed into your comm line.  Looks like the guy is taking a pace through your cargo.

He's not seeming to pay much attention to strike zone targets.  He's already passed by a few fuel lines and an access panel to the back up life support system.

He's just...looking around.

Silver lets out a snort.

"That sounds like a whole lot of shit I don't care about. No more questions, no more delays. Make the call or lose a knee."

Silver is done negotiating or whatnot, consequences be damned. She was pretty sure most of what smoker was saying was bullshit and figured Ledo would straighten it out if it wasn't. She did take the time to glance briefly at the ship to see what kind of cameras were pointed their way.

Her finger was already stroking the trigger and every bit of tone and body language showed she wasn't listening to smoker wax philisophical. If the next words out of her mouth weren't to tell her intruder to abort she was going to start firing. If smoker was lucky it would only be the knee and she would forget to ride the recoil up and spray her whole torso.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:26, Tue 14 Sept 2021.

Using the feed as a guide Ledo positions himself around the corner for a quick charge and stab.

Attack roll: 8  Damage roll: 15  - AP6
14:27, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 8 using 2d6+02.  dex/blades.
14:28, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 15 using 3d6+2.  blade damage.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 73):

Mr. Stealth either was napping or puts a lot of trust in his armor as your blade manages to catch Ledo>  That faith in his armor is well founded, though you think you managed to sink the blade in, though not as deep as you would have liked.

He lifts an arm up, trying to swing.  He connects...

Let me know if you are trying to dodge or parry please.

---

Smoker hesitates a moment.  She seems to have stopped paying you attention for a moment Silver.  She then says, "Sounds like one of your guys just stabbed our guy.  So it'd be kinda hard to tell him to get."  She looks at you.  "You wanna tell your guy to stop stabbing him I can tell him to evac.  But up to you."  Smoker shrugs.  "I owe him some credits.  If he gets nixed, it'd save me some trouble."

Ledo brings his sword up to defend himself...

Parrying. -2 DM to attack

Silver let out a growl. She had been hoping to just shoot everyone and be done with it. Now she had to talk and listen and work.

"Yo guys, there's a ship across the spot that dumped your intruder out. I've got one of theirs at gun point and she said she will call him back if you stop stabbing him. Get out here and you do the talking. I'm not playing middle man for this."

To be fair Silver was very drunk and very high at the time. She was doing her best to hold it together but her brain was cloudy and that made her angry.

Ledo heard Silver's voice and bit back a curse. What the hell was going on? Keeping his sword at the ready he stepped back after the man's punch came in.

"Alright here's the deal. We've got your ship under our guns and one of your crew in our sights. They're going to call you back so as long as you don't do anything stupid I'm going to stop stabbing you and we're all going to have a nice chat outside, okay?"

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 77):

Smoker smiles at you Silver.

"See?  Using your words is fun."

---

Mr. Sneaky steps back, raising both hands.  "Sure.  It all pays the same."

The two of you march outside Ledo, until you're reunited with Silver and a woman who is squashing a cigarette under one jack boot.

Mr. Sneaky stops at a reasonable distance.

Smoking Lady looks you over and then slowly takes out her hand comm.  She taps a switch and shows you the screen.

Siena Morland

Lieutenant, Security Forces of the Duchy of Mora

Special Investigations Unit

Siena/Smoker smiles.  "I guess we should have a chat about some things, huh?  Anything you wanna ask first?"

Ledo has his sword out but the point is down. Silver likewise is next to him with her gun out but shifted so it isn't pointing directly at anyone but is still pointed in their general direction.

Ledo makes sure the comms are open so the rest of the crew can listen in and offer suggestions if necessary.

"Let's start with the obvious one. What the hell are you doing hacking into our ship and cutting through the hull? Should we send the repair bill to the Duchess or what?"

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 79):

Does the open comm apply to BB and Nero as well?

Siena shrugs.  "I could point out that as far as hacking goes, you guys hacked our loaner shuttle earlier today now didn't you? So I could say tonight is just payback and upping you one.  But really that's not it."

She reaches in to a coat and brings out another cigarette.  "See, I convinced the higher ups that we needed to dispense with the cat and mouse bullshit and just make direct contact.  That's what this is about.  We wanted to get your attention.  You're ex-military.  You know the best way to do that is give a shot across the bow, right?"

She lights her cigarette.

"You guys have come up on a lot of lists lately.  And I mean a lot.  Pretty sure you guys were involved in that auction robbery back in Three Sisters.  And then there's Wyltz.  You guys were hanging out with one of the terrorist leaders.  That chippy from the band. Not to mention that,"  She gestures at Silver, "Her brother is suspected of supplying the arms and security intel the terrorists used.  And now you're transporting some interesting people.

"Oh.  And that hack on the car today.  That was very, very well done.  Was that your engineer?  He's good.  Someone that good just now getting noticed.  That's even more surprising."

Seina waves a hand.  "Now I want to say you guys are just some shmoes with really bad luck.  That's kind of how you vibe to me.  But let's be honest.  Is anyone really that unlucky?"

She shrugs.  "You tell me."

Ledo made sure it was just core crew. BB was busy guarding the film crew and Nero...well the less Nero was involved the better.

"We make our own luck, right? So yeah, really shitty luck recently because I don't just sit by and let things happen. I was at the auction heist and nearly got my jaw broken because of it. As for the pop band we just happened to be in the same room as them when shit went down and fuck me for not wanting to leave a bunch of people to drown so we saved everyone we could. That terrorist leader nearly blew up my ship because of it. Right now we're just trying to get the hell away from everything that is going on because as you pointed out its been absolute shit for us. Between constant pirate attacks, terrorist attacks and the Duchess following us everywhere we go we're ready for a change of scenery.

I left the Navy to get away from all this political bullshit. We're just trying to pay off our mortgage and not get blown up in the process."

He paused and jerked a thumb back at his ship.

"And yeah, our engineer is that damn good. You haven't heard of him before because he is that good. So go tell your boss that if she wants to offer us a job we'll listen but otherwise we don't appreciate her dogs nipping at our heels. We might be a bunch of...what did you call us? Shmoes? But we're damn good at our jobs."

Siena chuckles and leans slightly closer. "If you were good at your jobs, we wouldn't be having this conversation.  Now would we?

"Be safe Ledo Typhin.  Hoper your luck gets better."

She drops her cigarette and smooshes it out.  "You can send the bill for damages to your ship to Mora Security.  Feel free to pad it."

She nods at Mr. Sneaky and the two start to head back onto their ship.

Anything you want to add?  If not, we will move to the Day 2 shoot.

Thanks.

Before they leave Ledo calls out to them on last time.

"Seriously...why us? Even if we were criminal masterminds or whatever what does the Duchess care? We're a bunch of nobodies."

Ledo wasn't really expecting an answer but there was always the hope that sometime, in some way, he would get a straight answer.

ready to move on