Iron Stars - raina

Raina and Severus awake to a soft rain outside the canvas roofed tent they’ve been sharing for the past week or so. The sounds of hammers and heavy equipment in the distance spreads out over the city , waking nearly everyone up with the noise of reconstruction. Rumor is, once the city is done, a rail line will be connected and access to the rest of the planet becomes that much easier

“Raina! Wake up today is the day. We’re going to get someone to take us to Prime, or maybe Vapermills. Those odd jobs got us some credits so let’s put them to work!”

"ahhh! what, huh wait, im up!" still half asleep she quickly sits up and throws the blankets off herself and hops out of bed and gets ready for the day

Severus opens the tent flap heading outside. “Alright Raina where do you wanna start. The market place or maybe we’ll walk around the construction and see if anyone is heading outside of the city?” (Assuming we’re still in Atrovia.)

rubs her eyes before as she digs through her bag then looks up over at Severus and walks to him in her pjs as she hands him her set of Secure Clothing as she peaks through the tent flap "could we trade real quick before we leave, this hasn't been very good for practicing casting in, and sure lets check around the construction site for a bit and hit the markets if we have time after" (edited)

(yeah , im going to change the roll20 background to gudrun. The image file is on my desktop which is currently unplugged. No power in the basement right now)

“Sure I guess.” He says handing over his Armored undersuit. “Then off to scout around all the rebuilding! Let’s hope to not get yelled at for being in the way this time.”

(rip basement pc) she grabs the armored undersuit from him "you know if you would leave the workers alone instead of asking them eeevvrrrerrry little detail about the robots they use maaaybe they wont yell at you" she chuckles before going back into the tent and changes into the Armored undersuit and her clothes for the day before leaving the tent with Severus (edited)

There is a small market at the edge of the rebuilding area, where peddlers of food, water, some tools, and survival gear hope to make some quick credits out of the readily available gang of workers milling about the area. It is early, and the food vendors are already doing brisk business, their homemade goods preferred over the rather bland rations and survival bars whenever they are available.

"Looks like some folks have already come out. I guess maybe we slept in a little to late." Severus says looking around for any new vendors from possibly outside the city.

"nahhh just gives venders more time to set up before we arrive, i dont think we are that late though" she says to Severus as she stretches before looking around the venders for anyone new or for sale catches her eye (edited)

There are a few vendors of survival gear out today, and someone selling train tickets to get to other cities, knowing that many workers would lack the transportation to easily get to the train station and back before shift. Or be able to get there during work

“Hey look he’s selling train tickets. He could be our ride out of here!” Severus exclaims moving towards the vendor.

"Oooh tickets. see we got here just in time" she smiles and walks with Severus over to the ticket seller* "how much are tickets?"

“100 credits. Will get you as far as prime. After that you’re on your own”

She looks down at her compad and checks her credits then winces before looking over at Severus "tsk I may of spent to much on supplies, im 75 creds short. you able to get yourself one at least?"

"I can buy one! I saved all my money for it!"

"i hate to ask, but would you be able to help me pay for a ticket if you can Severus? i'll pay you back as soon as im able." she asks him quietly

"Of course! As long as you wanna go!"

"yes please, i would! thank you so much." taps on her compad and sends Severus her last 25 credits

The seller notices your attention and begins hobbling over, burdened down with his gear. “Ah good morning you two. Planning a trip are we?” (edited)

"Yes! We're going to head for prime and after we save up some money try to head for the stars!"

as Severus says stars she makes a small motion with her hand as she quietly makes a noise like a ship taking off before nodding and smiling "yup, what he said"

There is a mechanical snapping and hissing as the tickets print. “These will carry you and your personal belongings into prime. If you’re looking for work, Ad-Astra has their headquarters there. Plenty of things to do for skilled hands like yours”

"Ad-Astra! Isn't that one of human companies that's really big! I heard they even worked on the train line. Did you hear that Raina we could find work with them!" Severus pumps his arms in the air taking the tickets. "Let's head for the station and get on the soonest train!"

"yeah, im glad to hear we can find work as soon as we get there and sound slike a plan to me. thanks so much for the info sir!" (edited)

He nods and hands your boariding chits over to you. “Good luck in prime. Make it big. “

"Thank you! I'll do my best!" Severus tells the man before turning and running off for the platform.

The two of you arrive on a busy platform. Taros of all types wait for their turn to board the train, lines weaving between stacked boxes and crates full of building supplies and food for the city. Conductors in crisp uniforms punch tickets and check the time

“Raina we’re so close let’s go talk to a conductor. What kinda job do you think we find there!”

"not sure but since it sounds like they helped on the rails you might eventually get to work with their machines." she says to Severus as they run over to the nearest conductor

He waves you both over after punching in the person in line before you “Tickets please” he asks. (Notice/wis both of you)

“Wow really?” He says to Raina (4)

"possibly" (4)

You both board the train as your tickets are punched and can sit in any of the rear five cars. There is a sixth restaurant car in the middle and two meals are included with your ticket as your ride is very long. You can already smell the cooking and it seems far better than what’s been available in atrovia for so long

Severus sniffs in the air. “Do you smell that.” He hears a soft rumble in his stomach. “Food! Real food too not cans or soup! Let’s go take a look!”

she holds her stomach for a moment as she smells the food and follows Severus to find the kitchen "smells soo good. sure lets go see if we can take a peak at the kitchen then after that we can find out where we are going to sit for the trip"

Severus leads the way through the door. "I wonder if they have real meat!"

You do see real meat hanging over the grill as you enter the cart. Two cooks are back to back around an expansive grill, hard at work frying vegetables, scooping rice like grains into bowls, and seasoning freshly carved strips of lope meat. You also see they have something called beef, which comes from an animal the humans had on their home planet and re created here. Most taros don’t care for it, from what you both had heard around the work place, but it does smell rather good. The car is a mix of human and taros , all of relatively working class backgrounds from what can be told

“Hi there!” Severus exclaims coming near the cooks. “Do we order with you? Is that beef? I’ve heard it comes from the humans! Can I have some with rice? Raina what do you want from here?”

Raina gently grabs Severus' arm to keep him from going in to far "careful, dont get in their way at least, a constructions site is one thing but i dont want to find out what happens if we get kicked off a moving train she pauses near the door a moment and watches the chefs cook "but it all does look really amazing and smells soooo goood. is that a stir fry? i kind of want to try it with beef too"

The cook nods and two large bowls of steaming meat, rice, and vegetables are placed in front of you, as the train gently lurches away from the platform. "Just in time" he smiles. "The cart gets pretty busy once we get away from the station. I think people forget how long of a ride this can be"

8:36 PM

"And don't worry. They don't kick you off, not unless you're breaking the law. I certainly hope enjoying a meal with a ...friend? is still legal in Atrovia"

"Of course eating with friends is Legal! Just messing with equipment meant for the reconstruction when you've been told 8 times not to is frowned upon. This looks awesome by the way!" Severus says taking a bite of the food giving a sound of content as he taste it.

she quickly lets go "thank you, We've been running around all morning just trying to find tickets for the train. then he made a good call to visit the kitchen and since you looked busy and as he said" she chuckles awkwardly and smiles before looking down at her meal and taking a bite herself "... mmm its so good, i cant remember the last time i had something this delicious!" (edited)

“One of the few good things the humans brought with them” he winks, and goes back to frying. Outside the rolling plains near Atrovia begin to pass by, as the train picks up speed. It will still be a long trip , but the countryside in daylight is something neither of you have seen for a long time. Someone in the corner overhears the comment about humans. “Aye. Took them just under a year to befuddle us with their pacts and agreements. Charm whatever diplomats you want. The common people never wanted this”

Severus turns food in his mouth still he attempts to talk before chewing a few times more and swallowing. “What do you mean? Think of all the stuff they gave us!”

she looks out the window as they eat, listening in on the conversation as she slowly chews (edited)

“Think about what they took away. Our independence meant something once. Even now, the UNW army is mostly Taros, at least from Gudrun. But human commanders?” He spits on the floor. “It’s sickening”

swallows her food and rolls her eyes before looking in the direction of the complainers voice "You know what is also sickening? Having your own Atrovian government thinking its a good idea to gas your own Atrovian people to death! I dont think that independence was worth it if it meant we were that disposable... The humans fixed that and they're trying to fix more!" (edited)

He raises his hands in mock surrender. “Idle talk. No reason to ruin a meal” “I’ll take mine to go” he says to the chef, and begins watching as it’s boxed up

Severus mulls it over for a few moments before speaking as the food is being boxed up. "I don't know much of the politics with the humans, but I'm glad for all they gave us. Besides Raina they helped make sure I could live. You're also riding on their train so maybe don't spit in it when you're using their stuff." He goes back to scarfing down the food.

"sorry for the outburst" she shrugs before returning to her food quietly, cracking a slight smile for a moment as she eats when Severus finishes speaking

He grumbles and exits the car, slamming the compartment door behind him. After a silence that lasts for a few breaths, the low conversations in the dining car continue

Severus finishes eating. “Sooooooo... I guess we should find a place to sit soon. Just let’s not head that way.” Severus says pointing towards the way the man left.

she lets out a soft chuckle and looks in that direction before finishing her meal “nice one before and agreed, probably for the best” she stretches in her seat before getting up and looks around dinning car one last time while waiting for her traveling companion “ready to go explore for a place to sit?”

"Lets go!" Severus says heading towards the door for the other side of the train. (edited)

The door leads into the first of several passenger cars and you see a few empty cabins in them, their glass doors open to show no one is inside. A wooden bench with thick pads and a table in the middle is perched against a window. The countryside rolls by

"feels good to finally get out of Atrovia be on the move doesn't it?" Raina says to Severus as she looks at the rooms "can we sit anywhere or do the tickets have room numbers?"

“I don’t know. I’ve never been out of the city before. I’m really excited!” He says throwing his arms to the side and waving them slightly. “But at the same time I’m nervous to finally get out there.” He goes silent for just a second before continuing. “At the same time I got you Raina! So we’ll do just fine the two of us!” He then look at the tickets. “I don’t see any numbers so I think we can just sit anywhere.” (edited)

(Yeah Severus is right. )

3

she smiles warmly at him "i've been a nervous too but yeah im sure we'll do great, especially since that ticket seller gave us a nice head start for finding work when we get to Prime. hmm how about his this one" she says as she walks into the nearest empty cabin and takes a seat on the bench

There is a small console set into the table where information can be accessed. The door shuts gently behind you both, the glass frosting over as the sensors detect occupants to preserve privacy

"Oooh. I wonder what kind of stuff this tells us!" Severus says looking to the console.

"lets see" she reaches over see if the console is on 'maybe we can use it to look up more info on Ad-Astra or at least find something to watch for the ride" (edited)

(You can ask the database any question you want. Most public information is going to be in it, but if it’s something not necessarily in the public eye there will be some program checks)

5:48 AM

(But you can trust that all answers coming from the database are true)

2

"Ooooooh. Let's ask it if there's jobs open." Severus says typing it into the console.

"perfect, would be good to know things they want us to do ahead of time" she eagerly leans forward towards the console (edited)

"Alright! Maybe we can even apply for the jobs!"

Ad Astra has several jobs available in all sectors. there is also a banner on their page, black, commemorating the lives lost in its corporate fleet as they fought to defend the worlds of Haila and Acastus from the fleshshaper threat.

9:15 PM

You can see most of the ads for jobs are in their space forces division.

"Do you see that space! We could go to space!" Severus says excitely before the dots start to connect. "Oh god! We could go to space but they died. Raina what if we go to space and die in a fight!"

she closes her eyes for a moment after noticing the memorial banner, before looking at the listings then frowns as Severus connects the dots then she places her hand on Severus shoulder reassuringly "well i supppose its defiantly a possibility, but dont worry im sure we will get plenty training before we ever take flight, then we should know how to not die in a fight if we ever get in one. we got this!"

"But what if I don't want to fight. I just want to see their tech! Maybe they have a job like that or maybe like... I mean most of their newest stuff is probably out fighting huh."

"maybe there is an opening for a engineer? need someone to fix the ships after all, hopefully they'd have room for one more"

"Yeah that's a good idea. Let me check." He says typing into the console again.

There is room for entire engineering departments worth of new employees. Ad-Astra has more ships beginning work, and their shipyards are also in need of more employees, as efforts to get more ships into space quickly begin to move

4:34 PM

the salaries are as generous as a company employing so many people can offer

"Look they need more engineers! I could work on the ships themselves in space! You could join!"

"hmm i am a lil'more used to working on people, buuut at least i wont have to worry about bedside manners with ships unless one has a sassy AI or something" she chuckles then pauses and tilts her head as she thinks "hopefully wont be to hard for me to get a position with you... guess instead of movies im going to be looking up engineering stuff on the way to prime huh."

"Oh yeah. Maybe we can find one looking for a doctor too. We'll just have to ask them when we get there!"

"true and they might need some since they have some sort of fighting force. might still ask you to teach me some basics incase, worst case maybe they will let your apprentice slip in with you" she grins pretends to hand Severus a tool "your do-hicky-wrench-a-mabob sir" (edited)

Severus laughs for a few moments before trailing off. "That's a funny joke Raina. Who uses wrenches now when we have metatools! I'm going to have to teach you a bunch I think! Maybe we can find some stuff to pass the time on here that'll help! Maybe they have the trains schematics that'll be a great read for a couple of hours!" (edited)

The schematics are available. There is a public copy that leaves out a lot of the actual engineering principles behind how a mag lev works (but would have top speed. The length of the cars. Think almost like those packets on airplanes that have the basic details of whatever model jet)

6:59 AM

You’d imagine a master copy would be aboard for the train staff but it might not be something you can easily access

6:59 AM

(Program int if you’re trying)

“Ahhh it’s missing a bunch of stuff. I was hoping to learn how they work!” Severus sits for a moment before getting a sly smile. “Well I bet if I keep looking I can find it, and I’ll just fix that for them!” (7)

she just watches Severus type away on the console then shakes her head but not bothering to stop him "if you get that to work you might wanna leave the public schematics as is, i dont mind you reading it but probably dont want to make it to easy for the wrong person to get them later"

"Wrong person? How could someone learning be wrong? People should be free to explore and learn and find out all kinds of things!"

There is a small ding, as the schematics are pulled. Several small Ad-Astra disclaimers discuss the penalties for unlicensed distribution of such sensitive technical data.

7:56 PM

(but you passed the check, so security isnt alerted)

"if they wanted to learn how to destroy the train?"

"Fine I guess I can just read it for now myself. I'm taking a copy if I can though." Severus says focusing to read the schematics and attempt to learn what they have descripted.

"yeah thats fine i trust you" she looks down at the schematics with him and her eyes cross for a moment then she shakes her head then tries to focus on reading them "let me know when you can give me the layman's summary of what you learned" (edited)

The schematics go into great detail about how the mag system works, using opposing charges on the rail and undercarriage connectors. This cushion of opposing force allows the train to reach higher speeds l, and reduces wear on the tracks since there is no friction

9:13 PM

The chassis alone took several design attempts to evenly spread out the weight on a surface that isn’t stabilized through contact with the ground

9:14 PM

(Basically with enough time and help you’ve got enough information to make one , )

"Huh think you could make a toy sized one with those? and i think im done reading those if you dont mind." she leans back in her seat then rubs her eyes then blinks a few times while staring at the wall "been staring at them so long i feel like i made my own copy, the schematics have been burned into my retinas! i see them when i blink and on the wall... How about we find some movies or something?"

“But they’re so fun to read! Look at this section here! The notes are so small I gotta zoom in and even then they’re small! I think this section even shows prototyping!” Severus looks over to Raina seeing her burnt out. “I mean I guess we could check and see if they have any media. Maybe we should see how far we are from the station too.” Severus says moving the schematics over and pulling up other tabs. (edited)

There are several movies available to watch, and a few documentaries about early planet life here, the underhill wars, and some depictions of wars on other worlds. The accounts are twisted some for the sake of drama but they’ll entertain you for the rest of the ride

“Look at all the war movies. Man who just wants to watch people shoot each other! Where is something about cool stuff like this train! I mean well do you wanna watch one of the documentaries?”

“The documentaries do actually look interesting, early life is always fascinating, crazy how far we’ve come. Think we have tome for them all?”

(We don’t need to rp anything out if you guys don’t want to, but there are handouts for the animals and plants most common on Gudrun so far in the folder. We can assume you guys learn more about that stuff , if you like)

"Wow I never knew there was so many types of trees. That was super interesting. I can't wait to watch more..." Severus says as he checks the time till the train gets to the station. "Let's just check to make sure we have more time. Don't wanna get stuck on here of course." (edited)

The trip is nearly done and you realize you both have been watching documentaries long into the night. The train should be pulling into prime within an hour or so. You were both so engrossed with the sightseeing and schematics Vapormills blew by

“Darn it! I can’t believe I let Vapormills past! I heard they have great sights! I hope prime is just as big. We should probally pack back up and get ready though. Maybe I’ll keep those schematics open for who ever comes in next to read.” Severus says with a grin.

she's quiet for a moment as she thinks then shrugs at Severus before begins checking to see if she has all her things together as she speaks "fiiine, if we are lucky maybe whoever sees em will get inspired by mag trains or something before the tab gets closed, still going to make a copy?" (edited)

“No I think I got it for now. I’ll just come back another time if I ever really need to build a train.” Severus says packed. “Shall we head for the door and wait for the station?”

"guess thats true, and sounds like a plan!" gets up and follows Severus as they leave the room

There is a ringing of bells from inside the cabin as the train pulls up to Prime Station. It seems like most of the traffic on the train was meant for here, rather than Vapormills. Dozens of people begin lining up with their bags, as the doors open to a busy platform

"We're here!" Severus says exiting the train. "So where to first. Should we ask for help finding it or just start walking and hope to find it? It can't be THAT big of a city!"

she taps her chin as she thinks for a moment as she looks around the station "lets look around and see if the station has a map of the city we can look at just incase"

"Alrighty sounds like a good plan!" Severus says excitedly looking around the area.

The city is growing and is dominated by the ad astra headquarters, natural history museum, dozens of habitation towers, and a lively recreation scene. Merlons, piggen, taros and ashen ones co mingle with humans and all walk the streets together. Most look to be ad astra employees or families of employees

Severus walks to one of the Humans with the Ad Astra logo. "Hi! My name is Severus" He waves a hand towards Raina. "And this is Raina. I was hoping you'd be able to point us to the Ad Astra place where they're recruiting!"

she waves to them and smiles "hello and what he said"

“I’d head into corporate. The ground floor should have all the information you need. You’re not the first person to come to town over the last few weeks looking for work”

"thank you! could you you point us towards where corporate is?" she asks with a smile

"Yeah we're brand new here. Just got off the train. I'm excited to try to find work though!"

(the building is the biggest thing here, covered in Ad-Astra symbols)

raina looks up and laughs softly as she notices the building "ahh never mind i see it now. thank you for your time. lets go Severus we're almost there!" she says before running in the direction of the ad-astra building after waving goodbye to the helpful human (edited)

"Thank you!" Severus yells almost running to head for the building. (edited)

There are close to 20 people of various UNW members races in the lobby of the building. Most are typing away at terminals in the midst of applying for work.

Severus looks for an open terminal. “Raina it looks like they’re applying with those terminals I think. Let’s see if there is two open next to each other!”

she nods and heads towards the terminals trying to a couple for them to use (edited)

There are two next to each other in one of the corners, a small divider set up between the two for privacy. Near a set of stairs leading upwards, on the right side of the building, a recruiter and two Ad-Astra security staff look on at the applicants. She must be looking at test scores on her compad\

"Alright Raina I'll take the one on the right and you take the one on the left. Let's make sure to both choose a job that's similar ok?!"

she heads over to the terminal on the left and starts looking through all the job listings "yup, let me when you see something that looks good"

"I mean I'm of course going to choose something like Engineer. Doubleplus if it's on a ship!"

(So this begs the question of what do you guys want to do, so I don’t have you running missions you don’t care about)

(Severus is out to explore and learn new stuff, but what ever happens happens.)

(uuuh Raina was pretty much planning to tag along with Severus for now, got an urge to explore while hanging out with him, maybe his registered combat nurse lol? so if she can apply for the same thing as him)

Some testing occurs and the results come back, Severus qualifying for an exploration mission about to take place. Raina is assigned for the same expedition as the ship medical professional.

1

8:11 PM

(3xp, 5,000 credits each)

"We did it Raina! We got a mission, and they're going to go out exploring! Maybe we might get lucky and get to see stuff never seen before!"

"i hope so wouldn't that be cool, Im really excited" she smiles as she looks over their assignment "hmm how long do we have till we need to be places... wouldn't want to be late on the first day" (edited)

"Uhhhh. I don't know let me check."

You have a night in Prime, before the expedition is due to meet at the small starport here, for preparation. More information will be provided during the morning briefing.

"We got plenty of time. I guess we gotta find a place to stay in town before we spend all this sign on money! Unless you wanna go shopping first." (edited)

"lets go find a room or something so we have a place to rest ready then go do some shopping"

Prime hosts a small marketplace and mall, and as new company employees your stay in town is compensated (for a room) until you’re assignment begins, where you’ll be quartered on a company ship. Most Legal supplies are available here

“Hmm do you wanna pick a place first? I don’t know what I want really.”

(I can give a more detailed breakdown about prime if you guys want. It’s been a while since anyone’s visited, or we can move on to the expedition and get things going ) (edited)

(I need to make a shopping list based on what I got money wise, but a small infodoc would be cool.)

Prime is home to the aforementioned Ad-Astra headquarters, the train station and a large market. The city also boasts the Gudrun natural history museum, the fleet officers school and naval rating academy , and an hour outside down is the primary infantry school and garrison for the contingent of the UNW army provided by Gudrun itself

9:29 PM

Located in the center of the continent, straddling a vital rail link between Central and the taros cities to the west, the city is growing rapidly

(I'm going to merge this into a mission with Wendel once he gets going)

(That's cool. I'll eventually get off my ass and buy stuff.)