hexarchate_rpg | Move 7 (Chapter 1.7)

yhlee posting in

Time: 361
Place: Station Moongray, at last!

[GM's note: If your characters wanted to make any preparations or do any interactions in between Move 6 and Move 7, that's totally fine--just start a thread here with an appropriate subject header so everyone knows. If it's more in the nature of character RP than plot-related RP, it's also fine to start a separate character RP post.]

The Wasp
The Wasp is securely docked under Kaliyan's guidance in one of Moongray's bays--pretty roomy, but Moongray must be used to receiving shipments of raw materials for any fabrication, plus any specialty equipment they can't make or replace with what they have on-station.

In response to Alaric's last communication with the Wasp [Move 6], it responds with a box containing the Wasp, a bag-of-water human figure, and the Rebellion's logo and a "1." Then it pauses and sends two juxtaposed illustrations, one of a moth inside a box with a specifically Nirai voidmoth logo, and one of three moths outside the box.

The welcome on-station
When anyone who's coming on-station emerges, Andan Bokali and Nirai Pavn lead the way.

The group is greeted by Station Administrator Nirai Paerani Shan--who watches them from behind a translucent partition. Shan is a short, stumpy woman whose every inch of visible skin is covered with tattoos and/or implants. The lenses covering her eyes combined with the colorful, shimmering shawl she's wearing makes her resemble a butterfly. "So what's this I hear about trade goods?" she says through an intercom system that distorts her voice.

A rather harried looking group of security workers appears at another door that is blocked by yet another translucent partition. Interestingly (and this was not mentioned in the briefing materials), their leader appears to be a broad, muscular lieutenant seconded from the Kel--the Nirai uniform looks like it only barely fits him, and the golden Kel ashhawk at his breast gleams in the lights of the docking bay.

"Before we start negotiating," the lieutenant says after an inscrutable look in Shan's direction, as if he's used to her jumping the gun (so to speak), "I will have to ask you all to submit to a security and medical scan, for everyone's safety. It might tickle if you have any implants." He holds up a handheld scanner.

Bokali looks bemused. "I always do love being the guinea pig for any bored diseases, but I don't even feel so much as a sniffle coming on."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

smokedetective

Ashari smiles and excuses themself from the escorts under the guise of freshening up and collecting their works.

"Quick status check," they murmur into their communicator. "These station folk are a bit too pleasant, but don't seem all that suspicious of us.

I'll need the little fox with me. Iawa, Sulen, and Virmad, I think are coming too. Give me a quick rundown of your current thoughts as soon as you can.

Alaric, Sasha, Ankat, Kaliyan, Yehan. How are things?"

[OOC: Ashari wants Mikodez to do some sneaking around the station for them. Sulen and Virmad have their own thing, and Ashari also wants people to keep an eye for signifiers and the like. Alaric and Saha seem to solidly have their own thing going on. I think maybe someone apart from Ashari should be on the station to do trade negotiations, as Ashari currently wants to play more into the innocent artist]

From:

pengwern

"Are you dressing Yisran up as anything? Personally I think it's more of an emuherd mix than a foxhound. Last I saw it was in the common room, under the couch."

Edited (maybe space emus are miniature and live in burrows idk) Date: 2017-08-25 05:25 am (UTC)

From:

smokedetective

[OOC: who is Yisran again? I can't for the life of me remember. :') ]

From:

venndaai

[Ankat's dog, aka the best character in the game!]

Edited Date: 2017-08-25 11:07 pm (UTC)

From:

pengwern

[Ashari must have gotten her canids mixed up! There are no foxes on the Wasp, except for Yehan, who is a dignified paragon of linguistic help. Weird that Ankat's dog is going to the station without Ankat himself.]

[Yisran??? paging Ankat]

From:

yhlee - Date: 2017-08-26 11:08 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: [Yisran??? paging Ankat]

From:

pengwern - Date: 2017-08-27 02:42 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: [Yisran??? paging Ankat]

From:

talifabian - Date: 2017-08-28 01:07 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Flashback: In-n-Out of Character Plans (Mikodez to Ashari Memo)

From:

smokedetective - Date: 2017-08-27 04:25 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Flashback: In-n-Out of Character Plans (Mikodez to Ashari Memo)

From:

pengwern - Date: 2017-08-27 06:52 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Flashback: In-n-Out of Character Plans: paging Ashari and mod - Andan Kapoor vs Shuos Semple

From:

vass - Date: 2017-08-27 07:59 pm (UTC) - Expand

[rival artist NPC?]

From:

yhlee - Date: 2017-08-27 08:29 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: Flashback: In-n-Out of Character Plans (Mikodez to Ashari Memo)

From:

smokedetective - Date: 2017-08-27 10:03 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: Flashback: In-n-Out of Character Plans (Mikodez to Ashari Memo)

From:

pengwern - Date: 2017-08-27 10:51 pm (UTC) - Expand

From:

talifabian

"Yehan and Sasha, I understand you have concerns about the other moth nearby, and their ... perceived claims to your persons. Regardless of the movements of the Butterfly Lens, you may-" *pauses mid sentence* "should never be alone while on station. We should be able to control access to the Wasp ... One second"

He stage whispers into the microphone "Kaliyan, remember, any intruder who gets on board won't just press gang our crew, they'll take ALL of our pickles."

"Anyway, feel free to come back here if you need a little private time," He smiles apologetically to Yehan and Sasha. "If you're ever by yourself or will soon be, send me a memo. Acknowledged?"

"Ashari, sir, with respect, do you have a plan to contact Nirai Remi? If he's not in an external liason role of some description, we shouldn't count on establishing contact him during the course of events."

From:

after_almsivi

“Make sense for the crew of uncooperative smugglers to stick together on the station. Yehan, Sasha, hopefully no one will try to hassle you with your overprotective captain on your back.”

“If anyone gets too insistent, well, we can always unleash Alaric on them.”

[did we decide to use fake names by the way ?]

From:

zuhrovet

[We probably ought to generate fake names so nobody can find our escapades in the history books later. Shall we say Yehan did this during transit? And maybe make a table on the wiki so we can keep track of people?]

Re: Flashback: In-n-Out of Character Plans (PAGING TEAM)

From:

smokedetective - Date: 2017-08-25 09:48 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: Flashback: In-n-Out of Character Plans (PAGING TEAM)

From:

zuhrovet - Date: 2017-08-25 10:09 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: Flashback: In-n-Out of Character Plans (PAGING TEAM)

From:

zuhrovet - Date: 2017-08-27 03:13 am (UTC) - Expand

[hexarchate names]

From:

yhlee - Date: 2017-08-27 05:08 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: [hexarchate names]

From:

zuhrovet - Date: 2017-08-27 03:44 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: Flashback: In-n-Out of Character Plans (PAGING TEAM)

From:

lleullawgyffes - Date: 2017-08-26 12:36 pm (UTC) - Expand

From:

yehan

"Acknowledged, and appreciated," Yehan responds. She's mildly concerned for her own safety, but more worried about who might already be held inside the workings of the Rosemallow ship. Alternate history Naxorians are as suspicion-worthy, in her opinion, as any other Naxorians--if not more so. But there's a mission at hand, so she steels herself and focuses on it. "By the way, I've compiled a list of names that should be appropriate to our respective cover stories. Sending that through now."

[If you all want to comment with your preferred fake names and cover stories here, then we can do as Zuhrovet suggested and put them on the wiki for clarity? Yehan's cover is Miqol Veraaz, and she's pretending to be one of the moth's crew.]

From:

zuhrovet

[Sasha will take Bayan. I'm sort of tempted by Noémy as a surname, which I guess is a medieval form of Naomi, but I don't see many accents in h*-archate names and perhaps I shouldn't analyze this question too much.

Sasha's still planning to pose as the moth's IT person.]

[hexarchate names]

From:

yhlee - Date: 2017-08-26 03:03 am (UTC) - Expand

random name list

From:

zuhrovet - Date: 2017-08-27 03:06 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: random name list

From:

yhlee - Date: 2017-08-27 05:15 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Naming our cover stories - Paging everybody?

From:

vass - Date: 2017-08-27 08:12 pm (UTC) - Expand

From:

venndaai

[Sulen's going with Rahal Dar Chresh, picked fairly randomly from the list of generated names.]

From:

talifabian

Ankat picks Anaz as his cover name. "After all, it's best if the big dumb Kel picks something easy to remember, right?"

From:

smokedetective

"If he's working on rifts, I was thinking of talking to him, or having an assistant do so, under the guise of getting feedback on my rift-centric art project. Once things get into full swing, we should be able to contact him one way or another, whether stealthily or with... a little more force."

From:

zuhrovet

"I'm slowly working my way into the station grid," reports Sasha, "though I haven't tried to access specific message accounts."

From:

slybrarian

"If you're talking to him about that," Alaric pipes up, "then wouldn't it be logical to invite him aboard our ship as part of it? So he can examine our sensor readings as repayment for the advice he's giving you, or something like that? It would give us a chance to talk to him without prying eyes."

From:

zuhrovet

[Sasha and Alaric left to their own devices are kind of terrifying-- Sasha just built an illicit weapons factory and Alaric is threatening to rework the invariant drive-- so in-character direction is definitely appreciated! Though I cannot promise Sasha will appreciate it.]

From:

slybrarian

[Ditto, if there is anything productive you would like to me to do - scope out the station, sabotage somehting, technobabble at the Nirai - please feel free to ask and/or order.]

Edited Date: 2017-08-26 01:09 am (UTC)

From:

talifabian

"I've been thinking about our problem getting reliable ammunition on board the station; here's what I've got.

Alaric, can you construct a vacuum hardened (radiation resistant logic circuits, magnetized legs, the works) drone which can move along station exterior from the Wasp to just below that sensor rack monitoring rift radiation? That should hopefully be enough of a blind spot that it won't be noticed by station security. Set it to wait until it receives a signal, then proceed into the maintenance ducts for pickup by the away team. Big enough to carry, say, two dozen handgun magazines?

Sasha, can you come up with a plan to fight the entirety of station security once they notice a rogue drone in the maintenance ducts? Alternatively, we could do the smart thing and do something fox-style.

My suggestion would be to get that drone's hardware ID registered with the system as a routine worker. Any more intelligent ideas will be of course, retroactively claimed as my own."

Edited Date: 2017-08-28 01:33 am (UTC)

Re: Tech support request: Ammunition Problems

From:

yhlee - Date: 2017-08-28 02:47 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Tech support request: Ammunition Problems

From:

zuhrovet - Date: 2017-08-28 11:32 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Tech support request: Ammunition Problems

From:

slybrarian - Date: 2017-08-28 03:44 pm (UTC) - Expand

[DIY drones]

From:

yhlee - Date: 2017-08-29 02:08 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: [DIY drones]

From:

zuhrovet - Date: 2017-09-01 01:16 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: [DIY drones]

From:

yhlee - Date: 2017-09-01 01:40 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: [DIY drones]

From:

zuhrovet - Date: 2017-09-01 02:23 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Tech support request: Ammunition Problems

From:

zuhrovet - Date: 2017-08-29 02:22 am (UTC) - Expand

From:

smokedetective

"I'll make sure to do so [referring to inviting Remi back to the ship], thank you Alaric.

Sasha, I'd like you to keep working on that station grid. When you do get in and start snooping around, may I suggest covering your tracks by checking in on the financial accounts of the folks here? If someone was to find your tracks, it could make it seem like more of a scam than a, well... what we're doing.

Alaric, this looks like it's going smoothly now, but just in case this goes downhill... Can I ask for a gadget or two that could, perhaps, if not knock out the power here, then somehow work to slow down the station folk, or at least their ships.

Is there anything you two would like to mention?"

[I don't think Ashari currently knows about the matter printer, or the stuff Alaric and Sasha have been up to, so it's very exciting all around.]

From:

lleullawgyffes

“Just a quick note: I hope everyone saw my memo about our ‘Andan’ host and is prepared to be suitably on guard. Also, just a reminder to everyone going off-station to keep in mind the briefing notes about the current status of the High Calendar,” Virmad says. “I don’t know that they’ll end up being relevant for anyone besides myself and Sulen, but one can never be sure.”

From:

venndaai

Sulen sends Sasha a message cc'ing Virmad:

If you are getting information from the station grid, a copy of their official yearly calendar information packet would be appreciated.

From:

yhlee

[Note to

zuhrovet: getting the yearly calendar info packet should be no problem. It's a matter of public record.]

Re: (paging Sasha)

From:

venndaai - Date: 2017-09-01 12:34 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: (paging Sasha)

From:

zuhrovet - Date: 2017-09-01 12:42 am (UTC) - Expand

From:

zuhrovet

Sasha writes:

You told them you're future Rahal, therefore am whitelisting you for public calendar-related lattice requests. Please advise if covert search required.

She makes the whitelist temporary, just in case the next mission entails a different cover story.

Edited Date: 2017-09-01 12:00 am (UTC)

Re: (paging Sasha), cc Virmad

From:

venndaai - Date: 2017-09-01 12:44 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: (paging Sasha), cc Virmad

From:

zuhrovet - Date: 2017-09-01 01:31 am (UTC) - Expand

From:

zuhrovet

"Right, reporting," says Sasha. "One: Like I said, I'm inside the station and Rosemallow ship grids. Let me know if you need specific data.

Two: I've got lokkis for everyone to use on station. They're encrypted and you can open a mini-terminal to the Wasp's grid if you need to.

Three: I put the station's welcome packet on all the lokkis. Also a Bumblebee crew list with the names and roles Yehan generated, and an outline of station emergency procedures.

Four: Leave your tablets on the Wasp, or talk to me about a security package-- the station's infested with tracking viruses.

Five: Assume everything you do on station is recorded.

Six: Avrayen volunteered me to talk to a lattice engineer. I'm planning to say that the problems with our lattice connection involve payment rather than the technical setup, but I'd appreciate any guidance. Or an excuse to skip the meeting.

Seven: Ankat, Kaliyan-- thank you. I'll try not to slow you down too much."

Sasha wonders if she should have mentioned her printer, but in the heptarchate everyone looks at you strangely if your report has eight items. Besides, the Kel are being so helpful-- she doesn't want to imply she didn't trust their protection.

From:

smokedetective

"Get what you can on the Rosemallow ship. If there are any viruses or worms you can plant in there that might slow them down, should hostilities arise, I'd like you to do so.

As to your sixth point, that depends on how far you're willing to go. If you want to really get out of there, you could always swing by my office. In the top left hand drawer there should be a couple of small containers. The murky blue one has capsules of a mild... hm... poison. Nothing fatal, but it certainly won't be pleasant. It makes it look like you've had an allergic reaction to something and should be enough to get you out of there. You'll want to take it an hour before the meeting, at least. The effects should only last for about half an hour, but you'll look bad enough afterwards that no one will want to bother you."

[I hope having Ashari have a collection of convenient poisons and whatnot isn't too far out. It seems pretty in character to me, though personally, I know nothing about poisons. But hey, if Shakespeare could have a king die via his bro dripping poison into his ear, I figure this isn't too much of a stretch?]

Edited (better (but totally worse) plan for dealing with the engineer) Date: 2017-08-27 05:30 am (UTC)