Traveller Number 14!
Mar. 21st, 2009 08:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
realsorienAnd here we go again, the latest episode in the Traveller Campaign!
We return to our heroes in the bridge of the mysterious construction facility, moments after the station recognized Luke as its Commander; whether they have total control or not may be debatable, but to all appearances they're now in possession.
Each of the crew have their own thoughts, not least of which is their current lack of transport and what they need to do about it. The station continues to power up, more of its systems coming on line. "Right then... What do we do now?" Asks Deyn. There isn't an immediate answer to his question, however. The crew discuss options, and Deyn takes a cursory look through the station records. "This station has NO records that I can locate prior to our arrival and activation of the facility," he says. "Well, it's NEW!" Replies Maddox. "Understood, Commander, but there should be at least records of the construction, listings of system hazards and the like..." He trails off. Luke is in the command chair, Keisha has begun to work on determining their location and Maddox... Remains silent and within his own thoughts.
Keisha finds that the system is just a planet with a weird wobble three planetoid-moons, plus the station. There is no star- its a rogue planet. Keisha asks, "can't we repair the Silhouette?" "Well, its about a third gone," replies Maddox. "In this place though, miracles can happen. Why should we though?" Deyn comments, "because it's our ship?" "Technically, its NOT our ship. Its Orion's," Maddox says. He continues, "we're in a ship-construction facility. We can build whatever we want! And we DO need something more combatworthy than the Silhouette, given our current situation." Luke is uncertain about this, as is Keisha. Neither have had all that much contact with starship construction. Deyn, who has at least some understanding, says nothing.
An hour passes; Deyn asks Luke for permission to being the main bulk of the Silhouette's remains in; Luke agrees, and after some initial difficulty The wreck is ready to be docked. Deyn calls to Maddox- "How should I dock this thing, Commander?" They end up docking it at the upper-hull airlock, given the lower is unusable due to the damage. Once the link is made, Deyn heads to the ship, meeting Luke at the cargo-and-construction bay that lies between the ship and the station's interior. They're planning to raid the ship's stores for food, but Maddox and Keisha have located the station commissary, so they put off reentering for the moment.
They all eat, with Deyn taking the time to clean up- even if you don't sweat a space-suit can get rather uncomfortable after 30+ hours! Eventually, the entire crew end up out cold, asleep after their efforts and the stresses of recent times.
Time passes, and the crew dream... For the most part. Keisha wakes with the cold feel of a gun-barrel against her head- she starts, then REALLY wakes, realizing that nothing is there... Not that this calms her instantly. Maddox's dream is of constructing a ship, placing sections and plates in place, then getting inserted HIMSELF as a component! He wakes, more bemused at the imagery than anything else. Deyn dreams of being aboard the Silhouette, flying out and away from the station- but instead of the crew, all of the ship's positions are taken by duplicates of himself! The dream ends with the Silhouette being destroyed by Pelinoboc attack, whereupon he wakes, more than a little disturbed. Luke, for his part, just has a lovely dream of swimming in an ocean, peacefully.
Fourteen hours have passed since their arrival.
Once everyone is awake, Luke calls a meeting of the crew. Naturally, discontent rules the day. Maddox favors constructing a new ship, Deyn wants to rebuild the Silhouette, and Keisha isn't sure which way to go. A new ship of the size of the Silhouette would take months to more than a year in a normal facility... But this place can hardly be considered 'normal' by any stretch. "I don't think we should let him build the new ship," says Keisha. "Why not?" Asks Deyn, sensing something amiss. "Because he's a PACIFIST. He'll build a ship that won't fight, and we need to! I don't TRUST him!" Maddox just smirks, having no comment at this statement. The argument goes on, until Deyn finally gets fed up. "Fine. Right then. I'm going to go recover our gear from the ship. We need to do that regardless." And he storms off.
The bridge goes silent, Luke trapped in a situation he certainly didn't deserve but that he's stuck dealing with as Captain.
Deyn suits up and reboards the Silhouette. What he finds isn't a pretty sight; while he knew that the damage was severe, he really didn't take the full tour as they prepared to leave for the station. The engineering section, along with the engines, capacitors, fuel systems and much of the main computer are simply... gone. Shrugging, he gets to work, making several trips with a grav-loader to clear out their personal possessions as well as anything else that might be useful.
Finally, he takes a last pass through the ship. In the lounge he spots something unusual- another secret compartment? "Commander? Keisha? Do either of you recall another secret compartment in the galley area?" He asks over the comm. Both reply in the negative. Deyn echoes his view via eye-and-wristcomp so that they can see what he's doing, and goes to open the hatch... And things go wrong. He feels a huge amount of pain, and suddenly can't move! Maddox and Keisha hear the yelp of pain, and see Deyn's view just drifting... They go to help, and find that he's in pain and unable to move... And soon unconscious, due to the pain when he's moved. Maddox glances inside the hidden compartment, and within is Percy! Strangely, there are also two ACR's and pictures of the crew as well... Including Alphonze and the long-dead Ardith! He puts the mystery aside for the moment and gets Deyn to the station medbay.
As it turns out, Deyn has blown out a spinal disc and without surgery he could be paralyzed. Fortunately, Maddox IS an excellent surgeon, and soon has the problem dealt with... Though Deyn will be out for a day.
Maddox goes back to compiling the designs he's worked out for the putative new ship. In the interim Keisha and Luke look into the planet and the moons, finding that the moons are mostly comprised of usable minerals and frozen water, and the planet is a high-resource rock. There are unidentified materials as well. When the discussion of how to fuel the ship, whatever ship they have, comes up, Luke plays dumb, asking inane layman-questions just for the purpose of driving Maddox up the wall.
Time passes, and eventually Deyn wakes. He's a bit groggy, but otherwise okay. He asks what happened (via the comm) and Maddox gives him the basics; "great." he grumbles, "one of the few bits that HASN'T been replaced,"
He heads to the bridge, finding Maddox working on the design of the new ship and Keisha working on finding their location. By this point she's fined it down to the point that she knows that they're still in the same spiral arm of the galaxy! Deyn gives her a few suggestions, then decides to run repair options for the Silhouette. When he calls up the systems to perform the scans, the computer denies him access. He asks Luke to grant the clearance, who then delegates that authority to Maddox, thereby frustrating two people at once!
In any event, Deyn gets to work on his project. "You know... He's going to be frustrating," he comments to Luke over the comm, referring to Maddox. "This entire crew frustrates me," is the reply. "I do try not to..."
Luke continues what he was doing, jogging around the station perimeter. he gets trailed by the station tram as he does. The station is huge and rather dispersed. There are bunks and barracks for a huge number of people, far more than would staff a station of this nature- at least a civilian station. Eventually, he finds the security office, which draws his interest. Within is a relatively standard office, with another secured door as well. Inside this, he finds a scarily-stocked armoury including a manufacturing system, plasma weapons and armor! He lets people know, and Deyn comments that its likely that the weapons are for stocking the vessels that the station constructs. Luke absorbs that, and decides to restrict all access to the armories to himself.
Later, after Luke returns to the bridge he says, "I think we may have a problem. This station has tons of weapons aboard, but no inventory listings." Deyn nods. "I've had a problem with this for some time, actually. This station has NO records of anything. There should be at least station records of its construction, but there's NOTHING," Luke gives everyone command-access to the computer system, and Deyn goes down to see what he can learn. As it turns out the system, which IS AI, basically hands Deyn a crystal with the records. They basically go back a total of... 2.5 days. Their arrival.
This does NOT make Deyn happy.
They find out that the control AI of the station is a Mark 16 Advanced Synaptic system. "So what do we call you?" The station remains silent on this point. Deyn suggests, "Why not just call it Mark?" And as nobody else has a suggestion, Luke tells the system that it is now to respond to the designation 'Mark'.
They all go back to their individual projects and the day ends. On the dawn of the new day, Maddox gets the time for constructing a new ship- 2.5 days plus the time to obtain the resources. This stuns Deyn, as he KNOWS that that is an impossibly rapid time. "Gods below." He comments. He realizes that this can be sped up by reclaiming the Silhouette! Maddox objects, but the computer says that this WILL speed the time required for obtaining the required resources by half! "So you're willing to give up on repairing her?" Asks Maddox. "Well, in a way we WILL be saving her. So... Yes."
The day passes, and they finish removing the components (as opposed to the personal effects they removed earlier) they want to salvage from the Silhouette. This includes Percy and her 'possessions' from the hidden alcove. Maddox reactivates her, but she's still just a valet-bot, rather than the advanced learning-capable almost-person that she'd been. By this time as well the compilation of the construction-program is also finished. The crew gather in the bridge, and Maddox hits the 'start' button... And as they watch, the remains of the Silhouette... Dissolve. The station collects the material, but construction of the new ship has yet to begin.
Instead, a low hum runs through the station, and beams lance out to one of the moons; the station is apparently capable of mining at range! They watch for a while, but as there really isn't a lot to see they all pass onto their individual efforts, eventually heading to dinner and sleep.
The next day, Maddox is alerted that the resources are now collected, and the strange hum through the station cuts off. The crew convene in the bridge, and everyone watches as a small, glowing dot appears at the centerpoint of the construction cage- the ship is in progress! Deyn is still agitated by the scope of the station that they 'stumbled' upon, but he's accepted it as unavoidable. "Commander?" He asides to Maddox. "I have a name for the ship, if you're interested. Why not call her the Legacy?" Maddox nods, but says, "That's not my decision."
Later that day the crew is once again gathered on the bridge, each at their own projects. Deyn has a thought, then looks to Maddox. "Commander... Are we going to resurrect...?" He asks, referring to Percy's AI and knowing Maddox will understand. Maddox gets an impish light in his eye and replies, "Why, I don't know what you're talking about..." Keisha spots the topic as well, and is decidedly not happy. "Are you talking about bringing back Percy?" She asks. "Yes. Percy will be the AI of the new ship." "I don't think that she SHOULD be," she replies. "Why not?" "Because I don't TRUST him!" Keisha replies, meaning Maddox. The same arguments as before are made, but Maddox does defend himself somewhat this time. "Yes. I'm building a heavily-armed ship that will never fire a shot. We're in a WAR, Keisha!" She remains unmoved. Deyn advocates for Maddox, shortly after which Maddox walks out. The argument dies out, due to the lack of the primary subject.
However, discussions pick up after a bit, Maddox listening in over the comm; During this the subject of the ISS comes up. Deyn looks seriously at Keisha and says, "We CAN'T trust them. I was going to suggest that we call the Pioneer... Now I'd say we can't. Because... What happened after we told them of Pelinoboc and the potential threat? (more intense here) "They patted us on the head and told us to forget about it and sent us on out way. They didn't FUCKING listen! And look where we are!" He winds down, the bridge becoming quiet once again. Percy asks Maddox, "Sir? SHouldn't we contact them? Is there a problem?" He responds, "Actually, Deyn has a point. We're on our own." And eventually Maddox creeps back in, drawn by his 'baby' being built.
Time passes... For some, with painful slowness. The crew eventually sleep, though Maddox does so on the bridge. Morning dawns with the cycling of the station lighting, and when people arrive on the bridge they are greeted with a vision- the ship is finished!
For a moment, everything is very quiet... Followed by a rush to the new ship!
They board... and its dark. Very dark. hand and beltlights are activated, with people head to the bridge, excepting Maddox, who heads to engineering. After a while, the power comes up but the systems aren't initializing. "Commander," Deyn says over the comm. "The ship needs a brain. Nothing will come up without her..." Of course Maddox knows this, but manages to not comment on the statement of the obvious. He inserts Percy's crystal into the ship's systems, and shortly a two hour countdown appears on all monitors.
In the interim, Luke and Deyn load all of their gear back aboard the newly-christened Ardith's Legacy. The get this chore completed shortly before the countdown hits zero- The screens then flicker and switch to numeric displays, followed by a voice: "...Hello?" A familiar voice at that! "Welcome back, Percy." Says Deyn. "I feel funny. Big!" Says Percy. Soon, after she asks for Maddox, and He explains to her exactly what she is now. "I can upload everything I saw recently if you like, Percy... " "Oh, no, no... No data now please..." Percy is a touch overwhelmed by the input that she's ALREADY receiving! She asks after the other crew, happy that everyone that she expected is there.
After Percy finishes loading data and everything is ready they run the system-checks. All is nominal, and the decision is made to take the Legacy out for a checkout flight. As if this wasn't going to happen! Deyn thinks its TOO smooth, Maddox feel every little bump and grind, and everyone else thinks its WONDERFUL! Of course, its a new ship. It needs to become theirs, which takes time.
After the five hours of the three hour cruise go by they head back in. Docking is uneventful, and once things are settled, Deyn tries (badly) to help resolve the situation between Maddox and Keisha. This just results in another argument. Towards the end though, Deyn says, "Really, all I want is for the crew to work together properly. And with this going on, we DON'T work as well as we should. Keisha... I can only offer one thing more; sometimes, someone needs to swallow their pride, whether right or wrong. That's all."
With all of the anger and acrimony boiling around him, Luke ends up simply commanding people back to work. But things remain unsettled. The legacy is loaded and stocked, and preparations are made to head out. Keisha has found their location, and through bizarre circumstance they are within three jumps of the Capitol! As they head to Jump Deyn notices activity back at the station; construction? "Commander, did you order the station to build another ship?" The response is no, whereupon Percy delivers a bombshell- What Mark-the-station is building is weapon-systems to defend himself with. This was at Percy's suggestion. She ALSO reveals that she discovered that Mark was a Pelinoboc installation! Or he WAS, until the crew came along and took control. Percy giggles and states that Mark is her boyfriend, too. Once this all comes out, Luke says to the more and more overwhelmed Deyn, "Well you were right about that!" "I don't WANT to be right about such things! How many more stations like that ARE there?"
They set course to Capitol, fastest route that they can arrange. The first stop is a class E starport, and there IS life! They are warned by System Control of a blockade at the Capitol, and they acknowledge. The next stop is Idmum. Its a Class B starport, on a trade lane... and it's been decimated. They refuel, and the next stop is the Capitol.
The week passes, and the feeling of jump-exit hits them as usual. However, the moment after they return to normalspace they have THOUSANDS of weapons-locks! Deyn makes contact, receiving a stand-down order from the massed fleet now pointing many deadly devices at them! He is forced into waiting on the Captain, and Luke knows that their mission supersedes their secrecy. They contact the fleet admiral, Cain, who is known by Maddox it turns out, and they identify themselves as ISS personnel. "You're here for the Emperor? Good. Its in your hands then. Good luck." With Cain's order the fleet parts, and they pass on the tactical information they've gained on the Pelinoboc forces.
They head for planetfall... And there we leave off. Next run is the fifth of the set, and we move on to 7th Sea thereafter!
We return to our heroes in the bridge of the mysterious construction facility, moments after the station recognized Luke as its Commander; whether they have total control or not may be debatable, but to all appearances they're now in possession.
Each of the crew have their own thoughts, not least of which is their current lack of transport and what they need to do about it. The station continues to power up, more of its systems coming on line. "Right then... What do we do now?" Asks Deyn. There isn't an immediate answer to his question, however. The crew discuss options, and Deyn takes a cursory look through the station records. "This station has NO records that I can locate prior to our arrival and activation of the facility," he says. "Well, it's NEW!" Replies Maddox. "Understood, Commander, but there should be at least records of the construction, listings of system hazards and the like..." He trails off. Luke is in the command chair, Keisha has begun to work on determining their location and Maddox... Remains silent and within his own thoughts.
Keisha finds that the system is just a planet with a weird wobble three planetoid-moons, plus the station. There is no star- its a rogue planet. Keisha asks, "can't we repair the Silhouette?" "Well, its about a third gone," replies Maddox. "In this place though, miracles can happen. Why should we though?" Deyn comments, "because it's our ship?" "Technically, its NOT our ship. Its Orion's," Maddox says. He continues, "we're in a ship-construction facility. We can build whatever we want! And we DO need something more combatworthy than the Silhouette, given our current situation." Luke is uncertain about this, as is Keisha. Neither have had all that much contact with starship construction. Deyn, who has at least some understanding, says nothing.
An hour passes; Deyn asks Luke for permission to being the main bulk of the Silhouette's remains in; Luke agrees, and after some initial difficulty The wreck is ready to be docked. Deyn calls to Maddox- "How should I dock this thing, Commander?" They end up docking it at the upper-hull airlock, given the lower is unusable due to the damage. Once the link is made, Deyn heads to the ship, meeting Luke at the cargo-and-construction bay that lies between the ship and the station's interior. They're planning to raid the ship's stores for food, but Maddox and Keisha have located the station commissary, so they put off reentering for the moment.
They all eat, with Deyn taking the time to clean up- even if you don't sweat a space-suit can get rather uncomfortable after 30+ hours! Eventually, the entire crew end up out cold, asleep after their efforts and the stresses of recent times.
Time passes, and the crew dream... For the most part. Keisha wakes with the cold feel of a gun-barrel against her head- she starts, then REALLY wakes, realizing that nothing is there... Not that this calms her instantly. Maddox's dream is of constructing a ship, placing sections and plates in place, then getting inserted HIMSELF as a component! He wakes, more bemused at the imagery than anything else. Deyn dreams of being aboard the Silhouette, flying out and away from the station- but instead of the crew, all of the ship's positions are taken by duplicates of himself! The dream ends with the Silhouette being destroyed by Pelinoboc attack, whereupon he wakes, more than a little disturbed. Luke, for his part, just has a lovely dream of swimming in an ocean, peacefully.
Fourteen hours have passed since their arrival.
Once everyone is awake, Luke calls a meeting of the crew. Naturally, discontent rules the day. Maddox favors constructing a new ship, Deyn wants to rebuild the Silhouette, and Keisha isn't sure which way to go. A new ship of the size of the Silhouette would take months to more than a year in a normal facility... But this place can hardly be considered 'normal' by any stretch. "I don't think we should let him build the new ship," says Keisha. "Why not?" Asks Deyn, sensing something amiss. "Because he's a PACIFIST. He'll build a ship that won't fight, and we need to! I don't TRUST him!" Maddox just smirks, having no comment at this statement. The argument goes on, until Deyn finally gets fed up. "Fine. Right then. I'm going to go recover our gear from the ship. We need to do that regardless." And he storms off.
The bridge goes silent, Luke trapped in a situation he certainly didn't deserve but that he's stuck dealing with as Captain.
Deyn suits up and reboards the Silhouette. What he finds isn't a pretty sight; while he knew that the damage was severe, he really didn't take the full tour as they prepared to leave for the station. The engineering section, along with the engines, capacitors, fuel systems and much of the main computer are simply... gone. Shrugging, he gets to work, making several trips with a grav-loader to clear out their personal possessions as well as anything else that might be useful.
Finally, he takes a last pass through the ship. In the lounge he spots something unusual- another secret compartment? "Commander? Keisha? Do either of you recall another secret compartment in the galley area?" He asks over the comm. Both reply in the negative. Deyn echoes his view via eye-and-wristcomp so that they can see what he's doing, and goes to open the hatch... And things go wrong. He feels a huge amount of pain, and suddenly can't move! Maddox and Keisha hear the yelp of pain, and see Deyn's view just drifting... They go to help, and find that he's in pain and unable to move... And soon unconscious, due to the pain when he's moved. Maddox glances inside the hidden compartment, and within is Percy! Strangely, there are also two ACR's and pictures of the crew as well... Including Alphonze and the long-dead Ardith! He puts the mystery aside for the moment and gets Deyn to the station medbay.
As it turns out, Deyn has blown out a spinal disc and without surgery he could be paralyzed. Fortunately, Maddox IS an excellent surgeon, and soon has the problem dealt with... Though Deyn will be out for a day.
Maddox goes back to compiling the designs he's worked out for the putative new ship. In the interim Keisha and Luke look into the planet and the moons, finding that the moons are mostly comprised of usable minerals and frozen water, and the planet is a high-resource rock. There are unidentified materials as well. When the discussion of how to fuel the ship, whatever ship they have, comes up, Luke plays dumb, asking inane layman-questions just for the purpose of driving Maddox up the wall.
Time passes, and eventually Deyn wakes. He's a bit groggy, but otherwise okay. He asks what happened (via the comm) and Maddox gives him the basics; "great." he grumbles, "one of the few bits that HASN'T been replaced,"
He heads to the bridge, finding Maddox working on the design of the new ship and Keisha working on finding their location. By this point she's fined it down to the point that she knows that they're still in the same spiral arm of the galaxy! Deyn gives her a few suggestions, then decides to run repair options for the Silhouette. When he calls up the systems to perform the scans, the computer denies him access. He asks Luke to grant the clearance, who then delegates that authority to Maddox, thereby frustrating two people at once!
In any event, Deyn gets to work on his project. "You know... He's going to be frustrating," he comments to Luke over the comm, referring to Maddox. "This entire crew frustrates me," is the reply. "I do try not to..."
Luke continues what he was doing, jogging around the station perimeter. he gets trailed by the station tram as he does. The station is huge and rather dispersed. There are bunks and barracks for a huge number of people, far more than would staff a station of this nature- at least a civilian station. Eventually, he finds the security office, which draws his interest. Within is a relatively standard office, with another secured door as well. Inside this, he finds a scarily-stocked armoury including a manufacturing system, plasma weapons and armor! He lets people know, and Deyn comments that its likely that the weapons are for stocking the vessels that the station constructs. Luke absorbs that, and decides to restrict all access to the armories to himself.
Later, after Luke returns to the bridge he says, "I think we may have a problem. This station has tons of weapons aboard, but no inventory listings." Deyn nods. "I've had a problem with this for some time, actually. This station has NO records of anything. There should be at least station records of its construction, but there's NOTHING," Luke gives everyone command-access to the computer system, and Deyn goes down to see what he can learn. As it turns out the system, which IS AI, basically hands Deyn a crystal with the records. They basically go back a total of... 2.5 days. Their arrival.
This does NOT make Deyn happy.
They find out that the control AI of the station is a Mark 16 Advanced Synaptic system. "So what do we call you?" The station remains silent on this point. Deyn suggests, "Why not just call it Mark?" And as nobody else has a suggestion, Luke tells the system that it is now to respond to the designation 'Mark'.
They all go back to their individual projects and the day ends. On the dawn of the new day, Maddox gets the time for constructing a new ship- 2.5 days plus the time to obtain the resources. This stuns Deyn, as he KNOWS that that is an impossibly rapid time. "Gods below." He comments. He realizes that this can be sped up by reclaiming the Silhouette! Maddox objects, but the computer says that this WILL speed the time required for obtaining the required resources by half! "So you're willing to give up on repairing her?" Asks Maddox. "Well, in a way we WILL be saving her. So... Yes."
The day passes, and they finish removing the components (as opposed to the personal effects they removed earlier) they want to salvage from the Silhouette. This includes Percy and her 'possessions' from the hidden alcove. Maddox reactivates her, but she's still just a valet-bot, rather than the advanced learning-capable almost-person that she'd been. By this time as well the compilation of the construction-program is also finished. The crew gather in the bridge, and Maddox hits the 'start' button... And as they watch, the remains of the Silhouette... Dissolve. The station collects the material, but construction of the new ship has yet to begin.
Instead, a low hum runs through the station, and beams lance out to one of the moons; the station is apparently capable of mining at range! They watch for a while, but as there really isn't a lot to see they all pass onto their individual efforts, eventually heading to dinner and sleep.
The next day, Maddox is alerted that the resources are now collected, and the strange hum through the station cuts off. The crew convene in the bridge, and everyone watches as a small, glowing dot appears at the centerpoint of the construction cage- the ship is in progress! Deyn is still agitated by the scope of the station that they 'stumbled' upon, but he's accepted it as unavoidable. "Commander?" He asides to Maddox. "I have a name for the ship, if you're interested. Why not call her the Legacy?" Maddox nods, but says, "That's not my decision."
Later that day the crew is once again gathered on the bridge, each at their own projects. Deyn has a thought, then looks to Maddox. "Commander... Are we going to resurrect...?" He asks, referring to Percy's AI and knowing Maddox will understand. Maddox gets an impish light in his eye and replies, "Why, I don't know what you're talking about..." Keisha spots the topic as well, and is decidedly not happy. "Are you talking about bringing back Percy?" She asks. "Yes. Percy will be the AI of the new ship." "I don't think that she SHOULD be," she replies. "Why not?" "Because I don't TRUST him!" Keisha replies, meaning Maddox. The same arguments as before are made, but Maddox does defend himself somewhat this time. "Yes. I'm building a heavily-armed ship that will never fire a shot. We're in a WAR, Keisha!" She remains unmoved. Deyn advocates for Maddox, shortly after which Maddox walks out. The argument dies out, due to the lack of the primary subject.
However, discussions pick up after a bit, Maddox listening in over the comm; During this the subject of the ISS comes up. Deyn looks seriously at Keisha and says, "We CAN'T trust them. I was going to suggest that we call the Pioneer... Now I'd say we can't. Because... What happened after we told them of Pelinoboc and the potential threat? (more intense here) "They patted us on the head and told us to forget about it and sent us on out way. They didn't FUCKING listen! And look where we are!" He winds down, the bridge becoming quiet once again. Percy asks Maddox, "Sir? SHouldn't we contact them? Is there a problem?" He responds, "Actually, Deyn has a point. We're on our own." And eventually Maddox creeps back in, drawn by his 'baby' being built.
Time passes... For some, with painful slowness. The crew eventually sleep, though Maddox does so on the bridge. Morning dawns with the cycling of the station lighting, and when people arrive on the bridge they are greeted with a vision- the ship is finished!
For a moment, everything is very quiet... Followed by a rush to the new ship!
They board... and its dark. Very dark. hand and beltlights are activated, with people head to the bridge, excepting Maddox, who heads to engineering. After a while, the power comes up but the systems aren't initializing. "Commander," Deyn says over the comm. "The ship needs a brain. Nothing will come up without her..." Of course Maddox knows this, but manages to not comment on the statement of the obvious. He inserts Percy's crystal into the ship's systems, and shortly a two hour countdown appears on all monitors.
In the interim, Luke and Deyn load all of their gear back aboard the newly-christened Ardith's Legacy. The get this chore completed shortly before the countdown hits zero- The screens then flicker and switch to numeric displays, followed by a voice: "...Hello?" A familiar voice at that! "Welcome back, Percy." Says Deyn. "I feel funny. Big!" Says Percy. Soon, after she asks for Maddox, and He explains to her exactly what she is now. "I can upload everything I saw recently if you like, Percy... " "Oh, no, no... No data now please..." Percy is a touch overwhelmed by the input that she's ALREADY receiving! She asks after the other crew, happy that everyone that she expected is there.
After Percy finishes loading data and everything is ready they run the system-checks. All is nominal, and the decision is made to take the Legacy out for a checkout flight. As if this wasn't going to happen! Deyn thinks its TOO smooth, Maddox feel every little bump and grind, and everyone else thinks its WONDERFUL! Of course, its a new ship. It needs to become theirs, which takes time.
After the five hours of the three hour cruise go by they head back in. Docking is uneventful, and once things are settled, Deyn tries (badly) to help resolve the situation between Maddox and Keisha. This just results in another argument. Towards the end though, Deyn says, "Really, all I want is for the crew to work together properly. And with this going on, we DON'T work as well as we should. Keisha... I can only offer one thing more; sometimes, someone needs to swallow their pride, whether right or wrong. That's all."
With all of the anger and acrimony boiling around him, Luke ends up simply commanding people back to work. But things remain unsettled. The legacy is loaded and stocked, and preparations are made to head out. Keisha has found their location, and through bizarre circumstance they are within three jumps of the Capitol! As they head to Jump Deyn notices activity back at the station; construction? "Commander, did you order the station to build another ship?" The response is no, whereupon Percy delivers a bombshell- What Mark-the-station is building is weapon-systems to defend himself with. This was at Percy's suggestion. She ALSO reveals that she discovered that Mark was a Pelinoboc installation! Or he WAS, until the crew came along and took control. Percy giggles and states that Mark is her boyfriend, too. Once this all comes out, Luke says to the more and more overwhelmed Deyn, "Well you were right about that!" "I don't WANT to be right about such things! How many more stations like that ARE there?"
They set course to Capitol, fastest route that they can arrange. The first stop is a class E starport, and there IS life! They are warned by System Control of a blockade at the Capitol, and they acknowledge. The next stop is Idmum. Its a Class B starport, on a trade lane... and it's been decimated. They refuel, and the next stop is the Capitol.
The week passes, and the feeling of jump-exit hits them as usual. However, the moment after they return to normalspace they have THOUSANDS of weapons-locks! Deyn makes contact, receiving a stand-down order from the massed fleet now pointing many deadly devices at them! He is forced into waiting on the Captain, and Luke knows that their mission supersedes their secrecy. They contact the fleet admiral, Cain, who is known by Maddox it turns out, and they identify themselves as ISS personnel. "You're here for the Emperor? Good. Its in your hands then. Good luck." With Cain's order the fleet parts, and they pass on the tactical information they've gained on the Pelinoboc forces.
They head for planetfall... And there we leave off. Next run is the fifth of the set, and we move on to 7th Sea thereafter!
