Iron Stars - chloe-terrorism-theatre

The Chloe system becomes the target of much UNW attention over the week. Six days pass as ships full of brave UNW adventurers move into the system, and everyone gathers on the bridge of the Dark Star, a specially modified frigate meant for stealth work. The ship is a black, nonreflective needle of a vessel hanging in the void of space at system edge- packed full of deadly cargo that the terrorists aboard the station won't soon forget. The conference room is a large meeting place where everyone slowly gathers to briefly meet before the mission .

Rey and two hounds appear in the conference room. He looks around seeing no one slides into a crack in reality for a quick moment before stepping out. "Man, nothing is as good as nothing. Seriously man, nothing takes away your worry about everything. The void is sooooo deep man like sooo deep."

A young, bookish slyth woman hesitantly slides into the conference room, looking around and flitting her forked tongue in and out of her mouth repeatedly - apparently a nervous tic. She searches the room for any familiar faces, but knows that there will be none. You haven't even been working for the Academy for a month yet, she chastises herself. Why would you recognize any of these polity officers and big-shots? If she had been warm-blooded, her cheeks would have flushed in embarrassment. "Stupid, stupid Iumi." she mutters almost imperceptibly under her breath. She slithers over to an empty spot at the table and attempts to sit. Reminded of the laser pistol at her hip by it poking into her side, she awkwardly adjusts the holster. I can't even enter a room full of these people without sitting on my own gun. Seeming equally scared/unfamiliar with both carrying a gun and with the situation as a whole, both pairs of hands wrap in front of her and start nervously twiddling on the table. I've got to get through this part so we can help those people down there... she thinks, her thoughts trailing off.

Barnabas Strasny walks into the meeting room slowly, cramming one more item into the pockets of his photojournalist vest. He looks a bit more rumpled than usual, and it seems that his vest may have some dried bloodstain that didn’t come out in the wash. Barnabas looks around at the room, clearly impressed. “Now, this is a stealth vessel. I mean I like the Cold Springs and all, but it doesn’t get better than this ship. And from the looks of things, we’re gonna need all the stealth features it’s got.”

Proceus Pompeus walks into the room while checking to see if his mag pistol is clean and ready to go. He pours himself a cup of coffee and takes a seat at the table “That’s for sure. Let’s hope we can take them by surprise”

Rey looks over at Barnabas, "Yeah its a fun little ship. Like i really dig the theme, darkness is my old friend. It seems like we may need to like do some sneaking wont we? Like im really good at getting people through sneaky-ness stuff. Ya know what i mean dude? Like where to step not step jump not jump. Though I have to say that just hiding in shadows helps ya know man? Like darkness is the best friend of any sneak." rey rambles on.

A young woman leans against the doorframe observing the interactions in the room. She straightens as she smirks, brushes down her tidy clothes and walks confidently in to the fray. "Hey, I'm Kila, I think this is going to be fun."

"I'm glad someone does," Barnabas says. "Nice to meet you, Kila. I'm Barnabas. I hope this will go smoothly, but as Rey here says, we're gonna have to do some hiding in shadows."

“At least Rey can tell me where to step and where not to” Proc says with a grin

Rey nods, "For sure Proceus, like we can tread the darker side. If you want i can even take you into the void with me. It narly dude like it will change everything for you man."

Iumi notices the group forming nearby and nervously chimes in, “this isn’t you guys’ first time, I take it? None of you seem nervous at all!” as her tongue flits out between words.

Rey look over at Lumi, "Na babe, there aint nothing to be scared of, like you die, you live, doesnt matter either way the void will just be with you either way waiting or with you. Like whats the worst that could happen? You lose your tail? We have people that can regrow it, you die? Well that one is hard to fix but in the UNW you usually get a ship named after you. I mean thats nice right?" Rey says as he shrugs.

Kila’s eye widen and look like they might pop out her head. She sidles over to Iumi. “Don’t worry it’s my first time too. I’m sure these guys will watch out for us, right?” She directs the last word at the others in the room.

Iumi laughs a little at Rey and replies “You’d be surprised how much the tail contributes to balance!” She somehow trips a little bit while standing still. “And I can’t really afford to lose that.” She turns to Kila, “Gods, as much as I hate feeling helpless… when it comes to fighting I think it’ll be best to rely on the people with big guns.” “Speaking of fighting, I was just down on Draemia with this other chick Fatimah; what a shot! She totally like exploded a couple of zombies with one bullet each. At least, I think that’s what she did.” (edited)

Rey laugh, "Dudettes like zombies are the worst, well I would guess I mean what could be worse than not being dead when your dead? I mean seriously."

“Where is the void in relation to a zombie?”

"No idea dudette, Like im realitively new at all this. Only got introduced to the deep void recently. Like once i was a bit of a tightwad and a crazy tight laced killer spy but now man like, it doesnt matter nearly as much as i thought. But zombies those are weird they like... are both are and arent right? Like normally when we die we go to the void and can be recalled kind of but what about with zombies are they still like them? or is is something else." Rey shivers, "dudette thats got to be the most terrible thing i have thought of in months like thats just scary."

“Yeah, something awful is going on in that system. I’m definitely headed back to figure out how to help. Once we figure out what’s going on over here, I mean. If I can even help here at all.”

"Yeah, we can do something to help. I guess once we all get here at least. Someone with like authority will do some planning and then we can get to like the fun stuff. The sneaking and the fighting part. By the way dudette have i seen you around? I feel like i have ran into you at the academy during my like sabbatical either the first or the second one the Zadak forced on me. Sorry Dudette so yeah have i seen you around if not then like whats your story?"

“Possibly? I know I kind of stuck out while I was there… you know, because of, well how I look. But I tried my best to stay out of the spotlight. Kind of literally - ironically, that’s about all I can do.” She laughs nervously, moving her eyes carefully upward before the light directly above her head flashes obnoxiously bright. It slowly comes back down to the ambient luminosity it was at before, as if being released from an invisible power surge. She chuckles nervously, grinding her teeth noticeably and looking away, embarrassed that she just tried to show off. (edited)

Rey grins, "Electrokinesis? Thats rad dudette, Like not my thing obviously but every shadow needs a light. So how did you end up out here on this? Did you annoy the headmaster too?"

Iumi shrugs, four shoulders moving in unison. “I’m honestly not sure - I just applied for the expedition to Draemia and got accepted. I thought it was a long shot, heh!” Clearly embarrassed to be talking about herself, she folds inward on herself. “How about you guys? How did all of you end up here?” (edited)

Rey shruggs, "Venser and i were about to go check out the rift over at aliah when the call went out for help here so we showed up as usually these things have some good grog. Speaking of which where is the grog?"

Nekosmash started a thread. 2/10/2022 6:11 PM [Open Thread]

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A light rap on the door precedes an Utan head peering through the doorway. "Ummm. Hello? Is this the room? Am I late?" He looks around the room trying to act casual but take in everyone. "My thing here, I got a message saying to come here if you want to help and well" He taps his compad tenatively as he furrows his brow and lowers his glasses to look. "Chloe in danger? Is that this room? This is only the second ship I've ever been on, it does seem a lot nicer than the last one I was on though" He loses himself in looking around the room before snapping back, readjusting his glasses as he fully steps into the room. "Yes well I'm here to do the thing, see a new planet and all" He smiles uneasily as he steps into the assembled circle, alternating between cleaning his glasses and putting his glasses back on in a slightly diffrent way each time.

"Welcome! Yes, this is the Chloe in danger committee, if you want to call it that."

"Uhhhh, yes! I mean are you in charge? You can call it that if you want. Even if you aren't in charge I suppose you could but maybe the person in charge should..." He catches himself and takes of his glasses. "Ahem, yes. I am here for that" He reaches out a hand uneasily and has a grin that is a bit too enthusiatic. "Nice to meet you!

Thulee enters discreetly behind Lamarck, with Muskh slinking alongside him. Mushk is an archaic Caracal - a waist high large cat. Thulee is human, wiry with a mop of straw like hair that has some green fronds mixed in. "Hey everyone, I'm Thulee..." Mushk pads straight up to the two hounds to sniff them out "...and this is Mushk." He listens into the conversation in flight about Chloe...

Proceus extends his arm to Lamarck."Likewise! I am not the person in charge though. I think we're waiting for the guy who is" He then turns to Thulee. "Hey there! you're in the right spot, we're just waiting to begin right now"

"Hey Proceus, Lamarck, nice to meet you." He passes a little wave at Rey & Lumi as Mushk continues to say hello to everyone.

Lamarck completely misses Proceus' hand at first as he watches Muskh walk into the room. His jaw is completely down until he notices Proceus' arm held out to him. He grabs it to make up for lost time and shakes maybe a bit too hard, while giving a toothy grin. "Who is in charge by the way?", still shaking he turns to Thulee, "The pleasure is all mine Thulee!, such interesting things happening here!"

Proceus shrugs "No idea" (edited)

(I wasn’t gonna put a player in charge per se. I don’t like the effect that has on player agency but if you guys want an in character briefing I can do it. I laid out general objectives as the first posts in each channel)

Talos waddles through the door, and quickly stumbles after a rusty screw which bounces from his pack and across the pristine deck of the Dark Star. Following recovering the screw, holding it to his gleaming AO goggles, and giving it a quick scrub with his cloak he makes his way over to the rest of the group. After giving a broad wave his voice box crackles to life, and halting computer generated syllables mingle with the caws and croak of his natural speech. "Talos Corda, at your service. Happy to meet you all off holo, though less than happy about the circumstances."

Iumi nods sheepishly at the new arrivals. "Hmm, I think you must be Lamarck, right?" she says quietly, making her way over to the only utan in the room. "I think that means you're headed to the same place me and Kila are. We aren't very... you know" she gestures with both of her right hands, making a pew pew gesture. "I'm more of a..." all four hands come up this time, imitating typing on a keyboard, "type. What's your thing?"

Iumi is very hesitant when Mushk comes to greet her. She stiffens up, offering just one right finger for the cat to sniff and get acquainted.

Lamarck seems caught unaware by Iumi addressing him, "The voice came from that one but it sounded like the computers do..." He turns to Iumi and seems taken surprised again, turning his eyes down "Oh, oh? OH! Ummm, Yes uhhh yes I don't" He makes finger guns back at Iumi " Although one time I saw a soldier zap a green creature, you see it had hidden under the water which made it" He adjusts his glasses and finally looks up at Iumi "That is to say I uhhh", he mimes looking around and then plucks a bit of blue-green hair from his arm and makes a show of putting it into his pocket. "I take samples, normally at least" As he looks around the room. "You know other people here? Could you introduce me? You look important"

Looking around, and realizing the urgency of the situation, Iumi motions toward the door. "Erm, well this may be a 'walk and talk' kind of situation, let's talk on the way."

Paul slowly enters the conference and quickly finds his corner. Content to people watch he scans the room, sizing everyone up, guessing at the various capabilities. Looks like we’ve got ourselves a couple academics, a few vets, and I have no idea about the void guy. Think he may have found the end of the rabbit hole…..and by the looks of it, it was a deep one. Either way these terrorists are deaders. We’ve accepted the contract to put them down so death is just a matter of time for them. Per usually before missions of this type Paul grabs his coffee, finds a seat and puts his feet up. Feeling nothing but calm Paul takes in the last moments of relaxation before the teams will begin their deadly business on Chloe. (edited)

Fatimah straps up her new gear as she enters the ready room, eager to try out her new grav harness. "Any Intel on how many hostiles are on board?" She asks the room before taking a seat among them.

Proceus frowns "I don't think we have any intel on what's going on inside the ship, other than the obvious fact that it is being held by terrorists"

(Sorry for being late to the party guys, suddenly had a manic few days.) "Unfortunately, Proceus is right." Venser says, appearing rather abruptly and leaning against one of the door ways. In this context he seems to have all the makings of an old gunslinger about him except for the hat, including two distinct and gorgeously ornate hand cannons holstered on either side of his belt. He strides towards the centre table. "This attack was sudden, but it was definitely coordinated. There's a lot we don't know, but that's why we are here. We save lives, we find out who the hell did this, and we teach these insurgents that no one fucks with the UNW - in that order. It warms my heart to see such a massive and personal response to this crisis, thank you, I'm certain Dax and President Harkoni appreciate it. All the luck in the 'verse, and I'll see you all on the other side, victory drinks are on me." He smiles.

Rey looks around the room, “Dudes and dudettes, before we all head out I want to make everyone immune to precognition so they don’t see us coming if that’s okay with everyone. Like it’s the least I can do for everyone.” Getting nods or confused looks Rey focuses and uses Impervious Pavis of Will. (OOC definition)

When this technique is learned, the metapsion must choose a discipline (Precognition). They then become entirely immune to unwanted powers from that discipline; they and their abilities are simply not valid targets for purposes of that discipline’s powers unless the adept chooses to be affected. By Committing Effort for the day as an Instant action, they can extend this immunity for a scene to all allies within 50 meters. This technique may be learned more than once, and any shared protection applies to all disciplines negated by the adept.

"Oh, yeh, nearly forgot about that. Well, while we're all huddled up..." Venser goes to clap his hands together, but right before the moment of contact they seem repelled from each other by some unknown force. Any with the ability to see pure MES energy notices tiny wisps of electricity leaping from one palm to the other, like neurons firing in a brain. He finally releases this energy and a small bubble expands outwards enveloping the group and then dissipating rapidly. "There, you can no longer be mind-noodled." (same but for telepathy!)

“Wow. Thanks guys!” Proc looks himself over to see if it caused any physical effects. “Do you think we’ll have to face any psychics in there?”

(My personal head-canon is you might have a yellow and blue aura around you, if you had some way of seeing MES stuff like metapsionics.) "I sure hope not. But if it happens, now there's not a whole lot they can do!" Venser fist bumps Rey.

Rey bumps fists with Venser, “Can never be to careful dude.”

During the fist bumping that ensued Paul had his hand up in the air. Realizing the “high five” may be a bit out dated among the hip “dudes” he quickly puts it down hoping no one noticed being left hanging. Ive got some “cooling” up to do with this group

A quiet buzz indicates a communication inbound from the ground team. "Hope you folks are doing alright up there!" It's Gurk Samson. "We've been supporting the refugees on the ground, and we've run into a hostile Phemno Mining Guild group, who were very keen to kill as many of them as possible. We've got the situation in hand for the moment but the interrogation has revealed some things you should be aware of." "Firstly, it looks like a very reckless Elysium Protectorate far trader sold troublemakers on the platform a bunch of weapons from their ship armory, no questions asked. This basically enabled these troublemakers to launch the attack, and so it happened on Chloe rather than somewhere else basically by bad luck. So far as we know the Elysium Protectorate itself is not responsible for what's happened, it's a single far trader responsible." "Secondly, it seems likely the PMG are connected to the Azure Eye, a new group causing some trouble in UNW space. If you can look into any link between the PMG and the Azure Eye, it might help us plan out our next steps. Right now, we don't know of any Azure Eye sites or if they have operations outside UNW borders. Good luck!" With a second buzz the update ends. (edited)

Barnabas taps a quick reply on his compad.

Azure Eye? Just heard of a cell on Rawhani. The guys we just took out at the bank were supposed to be connected to AE. Before that, I hadn't heard of them, but our informant says they have branches all over.

(If everyone's satisfied on documenting what they need from this, I'll move this to archive)