I have decided to abandon the Cerberon game. Besides a couple of mistakes I made - specifically I should have taken two paths as assets, but only took one and treating Hayla as a connection rather than an a Sidekick - I've not really been able to connect with the character. As a result I've not been able to get back into the flow and take up the story after this latest hiatus.However, I do have a new character idea which I hope will enable me to start a new game. Stay tuned ...
I've realised that I have been playing Hayla as a connection - +1 on rolls associated with her expertise - rather than as a sidekick - reroll action die if value is less than sidekick’s health. Oops.
The shaft finished at the deck above,where there were three doorways; one opened into a smaller room with another doorway in the opposite wall and the other two opened into larger rooms. One had a raised circular dais and the other opened onto an area with tables, chairs and a smaller shaft.
Popping her head through the doorway, Janya saw that the smaller room was some kind of medical area as it held half-a-dozen beds with blank screens above them.
"Shall we go up again?" asked Janya. "Assuming, of course that, that shaft over there is another elevator tube,"
"Let's have a look shall we?" asked Hayla, and the drone drifted over to the smaller shaft.
Janya again brought up the drone's visual feed and confirmed it was another elevator shaft - at least it had an exit to another deck above. As she drifted over to the other shaft, Janya noticed that the tables and chairs were all fixed to the floor - explaining why they were still here. Actually, they weren't fixed to the floor - they were completely flush with it, as if they had been 'grown' out of it somehow ... not something that she had seen before ...
"Hey Hayla," she said. "Look at this," and she pointed at the foot of a table.
The drone came back from the shaft and pivoted to look at the bases of the tables and chairs. "Wow," said Hayla, "It's like they've grown out of the floor. You know what else?" she continued. "Whoever crewed this ship must've been about the same size as us - the tables, chairs and beds show that."
"You're not wrong, not wrong at all," replied Janya, "But I've never even heard of a ship constructed like this - have you?"
"No, I've not," answered Hayla.
Janya headed for the smaller shaft, entered it and, using her jets, drifted upwards accompanied by Hayla's drone.
Undertake an Expedition: "Explore the Dead Ship" 'dangerous'; +Wits; 5 +3 vs 2 | 4 => strong hit => waypoint, progress now 8/10
"Let's find the cockpit," said Janya.
"Why not?" answered Hayla, so human and drone headed toward the front end of the ship, through the door in that direction.
Reaching the end of the short corridor, Hayla's drone floated through the door and found what could only be the ship's cockpit. As with the rest of the ship that they had seen, there was no evidence of crew or any of the detritus that you would expect on a ship - confirmation of their, joint, unspoken conclusion that the ship had sufferered an explosive decompression.
Finish an Expedition: "Explore the Dead Ship"; progress 8 vs 6 | 5 => strong hit => mark two ticks (Dangerous expedition) on Discoveries legacy track
"So what we have here," began Hayla, "is a ship of design and style that neither of us have ever heard of before, never mind seen. Apparently, it had an explosive decompression, leaving no evidence of the crew or their possessions."
"I agree," agreed Janya, starting to retrace her 'steps' back to their ship. "What do we do about it?"
"We don't have the resources - physical or financial - to exploit it," replied Hayla.
"Unfortunate, but nevertheless true," agreed Janya again.
"So, I guess, we sell it? Or, rather, the location that is ..." suggested Hayla, sounding uncertain.
"Absolutely," said Janya, "Which only leaves the question - who to?"
It didn't take long for their cargo to arrive - apparently they really wanted those polymers - and it was soon stowed aboard. They lifted off at the earliest opportunity and laid in the course they had plotted.
Undertake an Expedition: "Explore the Dead Ship" 'dangerous'; +Wits +1 sidekick pilot; 5 +3 +1 vs 7 | 3 => strong hit => waypoint, progress now 2/10
As they had already jumped to the dead ship - to hedge their bets, they were rolling back on the assumption that it was a precursor ship now - they were able to get there in just one jump. They were too excited to sleep, so spent their downtime checking and rechecking Janya's gear and the drones that would accompany her piloted by Hayla.
The drones were of an old-fashioned quadcopter pattern - experience had shown that they were less susceptible to hi-tech jamming - and they would send two in with Janya. Of course, they would need an atmosphere to work, so they had a repulsor ball-shaped drone as back-up .
They spent the approach to the ship in the bridge, interrogating the sensors constantly trying to learn as much as they could about the ship. It was cruiser-sized and of a design as strange as its exterior finish - they'd never seen or, even heard of, a mirror finish like the one this ship had.
 |
| Images constructed from sensor data |
Finally, they were close enough for Hayla to maneouvre the Fegen close enough to match its rotation with their airlock close enough to the hole in the ship's side for Janya to EVA to it. She had already 'suited up' and was impatiently waiting for Hayla to finish the delicate task.
 |
| Janya in her suit |
Janya's suit was an advanced environmental/vacuum suit that had cost them a pretty penny, but they had both agreed that it was worth it and now, on the verge of exploring a dead ship in the depths of space, Janya was very glad that they had.
Finally, Hayla's voice came over the intercom. "In place, Sis - off you go." Janya could see the target hole/doorway only about five metres away and she launched herself towards it, making minor corrections to her trajectory with her attitudinal jets.
Explore a Waypoint: "Explore the Dead Ship"; +Wits; 4 +3 vs 7 | 7 => miss w. match burn momentum now +2 => strong hit w. opportunity => make a discovery; choose 'Lost or hidden people', mark 2 ticks on discoveries track, mark progress 4/10
Janya reached the hole and floated inside the ship. Her shoulder and head lights showed a cavernous space, that she couldn't see the far side of. She touched down and tried to engage her magnetic boots, but apparently there was no ferrous content in the deck as they had no effect. Her HUD readout confirmed there was no atmosphere inside the ship, as they suspected, so Janya released the repulsor ball drone she had brought. The feed from the drone would allow Hayla to have a VR experience of Janya's trip inside the dead ship.
There was nothing for Janya to get a grip on - unlike every ship that she'd ever been on, there was nothing protruding from the deck, walls or even the ceiling. Everything had the mirror finish like the outside, although here on the inside it was duller that the outside - not quite as reflective.
"Are you seeing this Sis?" Janya asked, wonder in her voice and anxious to share it with Hayla.
"I am," Hayla replied, "Can you believe it?" she asked, just as amazed by what they were seeing.
"If someone had told me about this, I wouldn't, but we're here, so I have to!" Janya responded.
"That looks like it might be an elevator in front of us," Hayla said, so Janya headed towards the circular wall in front of her.
 |
| Area of initial entry |
The wall curled away to both sides and on its left front - as Janya looked at it - there was a doorway shaped gap. Floating up to it Janya could see there was another doorway on the other side through which she could see the other side of the ship. Apparently this circle was in the middle of the ship. Reaching it, she let Halya's drone go in first and briefly tapped into its visual feed. Looking they could see that there was a circular shaft going up to another floor. The drone came back out of the shaft and quickly did a circuit round the outside of the shaft. It was on the centre line of the ship as they had suspected. The space narrowed as it stretched away fore and aft, although they were not certain which way was which. The drone found walls that crossed the width of the ship in each direction. The wall closest to what they thought was the front had 3 doorways in it, while the wall in the other direction - toward what they believed were the engines - had only one doorway.
Undertake an Expedition: "Explore the Dead Ship" 'dangerous'; +Wits; 6 +3 vs 6 | 4 => strong hit => waypoint, progress now 6/10
"D'you think all the doors on the ship are open, or can we only see open doors?" Janya asked.
"How can we tell?" answered Hayla. "But given the complete lack of any stuff at all, I wouldn't be surprised if it had suffered a sudden decompression - all the open doors might've been the cause..."
With that suggestion floating in the air, Janya and the drone drifted into the shaft and began to go up, towards the next deck of the ship.
 |
| Precursor ship |
Janya is too new as a courier to risk delay exploring this find now, but will come back here as soon as she can!
"I have a confession to make Harrow," Janya said, as she entered the lounge. "I'm just as new at this Courier-thing as you are at being a Datacourier. I should have sworn on my shard to take you to Kalen's Folly and I didn't!" She sat at the table.
"Let me rectify that now," she continued, "I swear upon this iron shard of an ancestor-ship that I will deliver Harrow to Kalen's Folly."
Swear an Iron Vow: "I will deliver Harrow to Kalen's Folly", troublesome; +Heart; 2 +2 vs. 1 | 3 => strong hit => +2 momentum now +10
Reach a Milestone: "I will deliver Harrow to Kalen's Folly", progress now 3/10
"I should have asked you to do that ..." said Harrow in a downcast voice. "Let's not bother anyone with such a minor detail, hey?" he finished, sharing a laugh with the sisters.
It wasn't long before Harrow retired, saying he'd been travelling for a while and was dead-tired. They let him go and Janya finally had the opportunity to share her discovery with Hayla. Somehow she had the patience to wait a whole five minutes after Harrow had left.
Hayla wanted to investigate the ship right now, saying that it might not be here when - or if - they came back, but eventually gave in to janya's argument that needed more time to investigate properly and it would definitely be better when no-one else was around.
They were still looking at the sensor data, trying to locate a possible entry point - although the distance to the ship meant the data did not have the resolution to identify an airlock - when the ping that announced the E-drive recycling had finished sounded. Leaving Hayla to supervise the jump and then keep the watch, Janya went to her cabin to get some needed shut-eye.
Undertake an Expedition: 'Travel to Sheraton' troublesome; +Wits +1 Sidekick Pilot; 2 +3 +1 vs 2 | 8 => weak hit => waypoint, progress now 6/10, Suffer Move: -2 momentum now +8
Space Sighting (Terminus): Planetside settlement
The Edward Fegen jumped back to normal space and Hayla began monitoring the standard sensor sweeps the ship immediately began. "Hmmm," she hummed quietly to herself. They had, as expected, arrived in the Neoma system. Neoma City - a notoriously unco-operative settlement - was on the sole occupied planet (also unoriginally named after the system) and they sent a hail demanding that the Fegen submit to customs inspections. Eventually, Hayla was able to get them to admit that a Heralds' ship was exempt and as they were transiting the system, there was no need for inspection anyway.
She could have just ignored them and jumped as soon as the E-drive had recycled, but they didn't know if, or when, they might need to come back here, so a delay was worth not having a warrant out on them.
Undertake an Expedition: 'Travel to Sheraton' troublesome; +Wits +1 Sidekick Pilot; 3 +3 +1 vs 5 | 1 => strong hit => waypoint, progress now 9/10
Finish an Expedition: 'Travel to Sheraton' troublesome; progress 9 vs 4 | 5 => strong hit => 1 tick on Discoveries legacy track
Reach a Milestone: "I will deliver Harrow to Kalen's Folly", progress now 6/10
Make a Connection: with Severinus 'Harrow' Jemison; +Heart; 6 +2 vs 6 | 4 => strong hit => connection made, Datacourier, troublesome
Soon enough though, the final jump to the Sheraton system was behind them and they had begun the slog to the planet.
By now Janya and Harrow had returned to the bridge, while Hayla had taken her turn to sleep. Janya and Harrow chatted amiably as they gradually approached the ocean world, Nimbus, and the smoldering red star Sheraton, grew bigger and bigger in the bridge window.
They eventually reached the orbital path given to them by Nimbus-control and prepared their ship to land on the island where Kalen's Folly was. Kalen's Folly was - as settlements in Terminus went - small (its population was only in the hundreds) and so was its spaceport. Added to that fact that on Nimbus, islands moved about floating on the surface of the ocean, it all amounted to a challenging landing. Hayla was up for it, though, and looking forward to the test of her skill. They could have used the command pod to land, but the incessant rainfall and strong winds meant that the added mass of the entire ship made for a more stable and safer trip into the atmosphere.
Hayla had been running simulations for a couple of hours and was entirely confident that her skill would be up to the challenge.
Secure an Advantage: expertise, +Wits +1 Sidekick Pilot; 6 +3 +1 vs 5 | 9 => strong hit => +2 momentum now +10, +1 on next move
Set a Course: +Supply +1 Sidekick Pilot +1 SaA; 1 +5 +1 +1 vs 7 | 7 => strong hit w. opportunity, +1 momentum now +10 (max)
For the opportunity, lacking any inspiration, I'll mark progress on connection with Harrow for the shared experience, progress now 3/10
Hayla was definitely up to the test and made the landing with aplomb, putting the Fegen down exactly in the centre of their landing pad.
Reach a Milestone: "I will deliver Harrow to Kalen's Folly", progress now 9/10
Fulfill Your Vow: "I will deliver Harrow to Kalen's Folly", troublesome; progress 9 vs 5 | 7 => strong hit => 1 tick on Quests
Harrow had already packed his gear and, with promises to stay in touch, he was wished 'Safe Passage' by the sisters and he left the ship as the custom inspector came onboard. The inspector was delighted to see the polymers that Hayla had brought and gave her the contact details for a buyer. Hayla took them down and as soon as the inspector had departed, began her own enquiries, suspecting that the details were for whoever had paid off the inspector.
Resupply: barter +Heart; 4 +2 vs 2 | 4 => strong hit => +2 Supply taken as Cargo now 3; Nimbus' projects were rolled as Agriculture, Hunting, so cargo found is food
Is there a Heralds' job waiting for them? Ask the Oracle: Unlikely <= 25 yes, roll 86
To her surprise, Hayla found that the inspector had given her the details for the merchant making the best offer, so she accepted it and managed to fill their hold with preserved food harvested from the oceans of Nimbus.
While they waited for the cargo to be delivered, the sisters restored the data to the ship that Janya had deleted and removed her order to ignore the precursor ship. Then they made their plans and plotted a course to return to it, eager to learn what secrets it hid...
Janya had only just finished making a pot of tea when the starship's doorbell rang. Answering the call revealed that the Datacourier they were expecting was just outside the airlock, with a glowcat on his shoulder. He was a wiry young man with Iron Herald guild tattoos on his face indicating his status as a guild-bonded datacourier. They were also an indication of the man's combat prowess. To be a guild Datacourier meant having the ability to protect the data that they carried. That the full power of the guild would be called down on anyone who harmed a Datacourier, meant nothing when someone was trying to stab you...
 |
| Part of the Edward Fegen |
"Welcome aboard Harrow," Janya greeted him, standing to the side and inviting him onboard.
"Cerberon?" Harrow asked.
"That's me," Janya replied, shaking the offered hand as he stepped through the 'lock.
Janya showed him through to the lounge and introduced him to Hayla, poured him a cuppa and then showed him the crew quarters where he would bunk for the trip.
As Harrow was situating himself, the cargo arrived and Hayla wheeled off to supervise its loading. Janya went through to the bridge to prepare the Edward Fegen for launch - they wanted to depart as soon as possible as neither had formed a good impression of Gloam Station. Earlier they had both agreed that its best look would be in the aft camera display.
While Janya was going through the pre-flight, Hayla wheeled in followed by Harrow.
"I told him to join us, so put up the third seat willya?" she said. Janya did and Harrow sat down.
"So when do we leave?" asked Harrow.
"As soon as the pre-flights are done," replied Hayla.
"So when are you going to introduce us?" Janya asked Harrow. He looked genuinely puzzled for a moment, then realisation dawned.
"Oh sorry!" he said, "You mean Ilsit!" He reached up to his shoulder and took hold of the glowcat that was currently glowing a placid, gentle green. "I forget she's there sometimes. This is my friend Ilsit."
The sisters both said "Hello Ilsit," gaining a loud purr in response.
The back-and-forth of the pre-flight checks followed until they were finished and the Edward Fegen backed out of the dock. Hayla engaged the main engines and they started the slog to the minimum safe distance necessary to engine the E-drive.
"Let's go to the lounge and leave Feggie to make the distance, shall we?" said Janya.
"Let's," replied Hayla, and Harrow got up indicating his agreement.
Back in the lounge the trio got to know each other. Harrow - he preferred it to his given name, Severinus - was also a newcomer to the Iron Heralds. He'd just finished his apprenticeship and was on his first solo run. He was very grateful for the friendly welcome the sisters had given him as he'd been very nervous, and they had put him at ease.
The alarm they'd set for when the distance was reached sounded and they returned to the bridge. Once there, they all buckled in for the first jump on the journey to Sheraton. "After all," as Hayla said to Harrow, "Better safe than sorry."
Undertake an Expedition: 'Travel to Sheraton' troublesome; +Wits +1 Sidekick Pilot; 4 +3 +1 vs 6 | 7 => strong hit => waypoint, progress now 3/10
Space Sighting-Terminus: Precursor Vault, form: Vessel
The jump was as good as could be and they entered the Drift sliding along its mysterious Eidolon paths. Confirming everything was a-ok, they adjourned to the lounge again. This time Hayla got out her cards and proceeded to try and fleece Janya and Harrow. Janya was easy - Hayla knew all her tells, but Harrow was better than both of them and won most of the hands.
Janya had given up - she knew when she was beaten - and expecting the jump back to normal space had gone into the bridge so Hayla could carry on playing. They both knew that Hayla was the better pilot, but that didn't mean that Janya wasn't a good pilot and capable of supervising the jump back into normal space. But as they completed the jump into normal space, she saw what was on their sensors...
I was originally going to 'Set a Course' to reach Gloam Station, but have decided to
Undertake an Expedition: 'Travel to Gloam' troublesome; +Wits +1 Sidekick Pilot; 6 +3 +1 vs 3 | 7 => strong hit => waypoint, progress now 3/10
Space Sighting-Terminus: Dense nebula cloud
Also, I've made a change to Janya; I'm removing the Sniper asset in exchange for the Expanded Hold asset. I realised that I was merging character concepts - Sniper rightly belongs to a Cybersworn character concept percolating in my mind
 |
| The Edward Fegen |
Janya and Hayla both examined their sensor fields, making sure they were alone before they relaxed their vigilance. All they could see on the sensors was a dense nebula 'ahead' of them. They did two more full sweeps before pushing back from the consoles and heading to the lounge to relax and it was only a couple of hours before the E-drive had recycled and they went back to the bridge to make the second jump.
The calculations had all been made by the computer while the E-drive recycled, so all that was needed was someone to 'press the button'. There was always the chance, however, that something would go wrong, so it was standard operating procedure - at least on a well-run starship - for all the bridge crew to attend the jump.
Undertake an Expedition: 'Travel to Gloam' troublesome; +Wits +1 Sidekick Pilot; 5 +3 +1 vs 4 | 6 => strong hit => waypoint, progress now 6/10
Space Sighting-Terminus: Zaurak, Blazing blue star, Planet - Frost, rugged, frozen world—locked in an unending winter.
The jump passed without incident and again they were in the Drift continuing their journey towards Gloam. They should, assuming everything went well, have one more stop near the blazing blue star named Zaurak. An uninhabited planet called Frost orbited it, right on the outer-edge of the Goldilocks zone. They had deliberately dropped from the Drift a long way from the star, not wanting to engage with anyone on their first courier trip - they had to establish a reputation for reliability after all. Again their sensors were clear, so Hayla took the opportunity to grab some sleep while Janya stayed awake on watch.
Soon enough the E-drive was ready and they made - what they hoped - was their last jump.
Undertake an Expedition: 'Travel to Gloam' troublesome; +Wits +1 Sidekick Pilot; 4 +3 +1 vs 1 | 8 => weak hit => waypoint, progress now 9/10, 2 -1 suffer moves
Lose Momentum: minor -1 momentum now +4
Sacrifice Resources: minor -1 Supply now 4
Unfortunately, the vagaries of the Drift dropped them out much further from Gloam Station than they had planned, and it took them quite a while - and a fair bit of fuel - to get close enough for hailing to be worthwhile. It did give them a great chance to observe the station - there being little that actually needed doing once the course had been implemented.
Gloam Station was an 'illegal' - it had been constructed without the permission of any governing body and consequently relied entirely upon itself. No help would come if were to be attacked, for instance. Despite being apparently constucted entirely from scrap, it had significant, intimidating even, defences. Which was not in the least surprising, if even half the rumours about the place were true. It was said that the station made its money through the black market and supplying raiders, as well as buying the raiders' spoils. All-in-all, not a nice place to be.
Nevertheless, they had to dock if Janya were to make her delivery, so when they were eventually close enough for it be worthwhile, they hailed the station and were given a docking assignment.
Finish an Expedition: 'Travel to Gloam' troublesome; progress 9 vs 6 | 1 => strong hit => 1 tick on Discoveries legacy track
Reach a Milestone: "I will deliver this datacube to William Nazari", progress now 6/10
Hayla deftly docked the Edward Fegen as Janya prepared to board the station. Haila was staying aboard to guard the ship while Janya, the 'official' Iron Herald, made the actual delivery.
On the station, Janya had to establish her bona fides almost immediately, but smashing the first lowlife that tried to grope her into the deck, dissuaded the others, so she was able to move about unmolested. Finding a bar, she began the time-consuming process of locating William Nazari. In a more civilised place, she could have used the datanet, or asked law enforcement, but not here - so bartenders it was.
Secure an Advantage: sociability, +Heart; 5 +2 vs 9 | 5 => weak hit => +1 on next move
Gather Information: +Wits +1 SaA above; 4 +3 +1 vs 1 | 2 => strong hit => +2 momentum now +6
Janya was soon able to identify the district that Nazari frequented the most and made her way there. Her contract included a picture of the contact - how else would they be indentified? - so once in the district she kept her eyes open
Gather Information: +Wits; 4 +3 vs 2 | 1 => strong hit => +2 momentum now +8
Asking around in that district, which was predominantly engineering facilities, led Janya to a tiny bar, seemingly built in the unwanted space between two workshops. Entering it, she found it to be as much of a dive as the exterior had promised, but luck was with her. At the bar sat the unmistakable figure of William Nazari. Janya took the seat next to and ordered a drink.
"You William Nazari?" she asked sotto voce.
"Who's asking?" he said just as quietly - obviously he was expecting someone, even though he had a hunted air about him.
"Iron Herald," Janya replied cupping her ancestor-ship shard so that only Nazari could see it.
"Then I am," he said with an air of definity.
"Thumb," Janya instructed holding her datapad below the level of the bar. Nazari obligingly put his thumb onto the pad's sensor and the indicator light cycled through red, to orange and then green.
Janya let out a breath that she hadn't realised she was holding and put the datapad back in her pocket. Lifting her carrycase into her lap she opened it retrieved the datacube and passed it to Nazari as subtly as she could. Downing her drink, she stood.
Reach a Milestone: "I will deliver this datacube to William Nazari", progress now 9/10
Fulfill Your Vow: "I will deliver this datacube to William Nazari" troublesome, progress 9 vs 5 | 8 => strong hit => 1 tick on Quests
Leaving the bar, Janya headed back for the Edward Fegen, where Hayla was supposed to be arranging another courier job, a cargo, or both. Hopefully that would have gone as smoothly as the delivery.
Resupply: barter, +Heart; 6 +2 vs 10 | 6 => weak hit => +2 supply now 5 cargo 1, demand made
Back aboard, Janya told Hayla all about her trip. Hayla had caught the deck-smashing of the lowlife on the ship's cameras and they had a good laugh watching that back from several angles. Then they got down to business. The Iron Heralds had got a message to the station instructing them to take a Datacourier - an augmented individual who stored data in a secure internal chip - to Kalen's Folly. Luckily, Hayla had got the message before arranging a cargo, so had been able to get some polymers that the latest archive said Kalen's Folly needed. And even better than that, Hayla had secured the polymers before the archive update had been replicated across the station. No law - no insider trading, right?
Both the Datacourier - Severinus 'Harrow' Jemison - and the cargo should be aboard within the hour, so they'd then be able to leave for Sheraton, the star that Kalen's Folly orbited on the planet Nimbus.
 |
| Janya 'Cerberon' Slater |
"Hey Dancer," said Janya in greeting to the snappily dressed brunette, her gaudy jewelry catching Janya's eye - exactly as it was supposed to.
"Hey yourself Cerberon," replied Dancer, using Janya's callsign as was usual practice.
"You said you had a job for me?" asked Janya, collapsing into the chair on the near side of Dancer's desk, shifting the machine pistol on her hip to a more comfortable (and easier to draw) position.
"Yes I do," confirmed Dancer. "you must be excited to get your first job as a Herald, no?"
"Oh yes! Absolutely giddy for it!" Janya answered sarcastically, but she couldn't hide the genuiune excitement either in her voice, or eyes, from Dancer who laughed at her effort.
"Good!" Dancer smiled at Janya. "You have a datacube," she pulled the crystalline cube the size of a fist from a draw and put it on the desk in front of Janya, "and the standard archive updates for the station - being transmitted to the Fegen now - to deliver to a William Nazari on Gloam Station."
"Urgency?" asked Janya.
"None recorded," answered Dancer, checking the file on her display screen. "So standard - no messing about!" she gave Janya a mock glare.
Smiling at Dancer's jibe, Janya stored the cube safely in her carrycase and picking it up, stood. Taking out the shard of ancestor-ship that hung on a silver chain around her neck, she held it in her right hand and, as the guild demanded, swore her vow.
"I swear upon this iron shard of the ancestor-ship that I will deliver this datacube to William Nazari."
Swear an Iron Vow: "I will deliver this datacube to William Nazari", troublesome; +Heart +1 connection with Dancer; 6 +2 +1 vs. 3 | 3 => strong hit w. match => +2 momentum now +4
For the match, I'm going to Develop Your Relationship: with Dancer, 'dangerous' progress now 2/10
Saying goodbye to Dancer, Janya exited the office into the marginally breathable atmosphere of Morricone. Putting on her breathing mask, she made her way back to the starport where the command pod of the Fegen was parked.
There's no need for a roll here, but I have no 'feel' for Felayn's Drop atm, so I'm going to make a roll and let the result guide me
Set a Course: +Supply; 2 +5 vs 4 | 5 => strong hit => +1 momentum now +5
Janya stared out at the city from the window of the transit carriage, swaying in time with its rocking motion, enjoying the journey back. Felayn's Drop was a friendly, vibrant, growing city with tens of thousands of inhabitants. She knew from the buzz on the streets that terraforming was planned to improve the atmosphere, and the Crimson Legion had recently been hired to defend the settlement - she'd seen some of their troops at the starport after landing. Looking around the carriage, she noted that most of the passengers, like herself, were armed, but when she came back here, she'd have to remember to check whether the Legion changed that by banning weapons. She thought that they would but decided that was 'Tomorrow's problem' as the carriage reached the starport terminal and everyone got off.
 |
| Command pod of the Fegen |
Soon enough, Janya was at the command pod, got clearance and launched. Arcing up through the atmosphere, Janya tried the comms to see if Hayla was online. She got no reply, so headed onto their agreed course looking for the Fegen. Before long the ship appeared on the pod's sensors, even with their short range, and Janya began manoeuvring the pod to dock with the rest of the ship. She knew the proximity alarms aboard the Fegen would alert Halia to her return. The docking complete, Janya exited the pod and boarded the Fegen's main body.
Hayla was waiting for her as she cleared the 'lock.
 |
| Hayla 'Ghost' Slater |
Janya laughed with her, mightily pleased to see her sister so happy.
"Well it's a start, isn't it?" Janya said. "We need to get to Gloam, a deep space settlement and deliver the datacube to some William Nazari fellah."
"Great!" said Hayla. "I know of a drift that heads there, shall we go now?"
"We get the archive data complete?" asked Janya.
Hayla checked a console, "Yup all aboard."
"Then whyever not?" asked Janya rhetorically, so Hayla wheeled into the command pod that was the ship's bridge when attached. She set herself up where the pilot's chair deployed when Hayla's wheelchair wasn't in the pod, and took over from the autopilot.
Janya followed her and took the left of the other two seats in the pod. She clicked the button to retract the third so that, if needed, she could slide her own seat across the pod. Then she put her foot on the console in front of her and said, "Shall we then?" Hayla took the Edward Fegen out of orbit and headed for the distance needed to create a Drift access point.
Reach a Milestone: "I will deliver this datacube to William Nazari", progress now 3/10