Iron Stars - shazi

Shazi's eyes open wide, an icy glass is in front of her. She tries to breathe, but the respirator won't give her any oxygen. While reaching out with her hands she feels that she is in a confined space. On the other side of the glass, she sees a light flicker. With all she has she kicks at the glass door and it cracks. She rips out the IV's and respirator and pushes herself forward to break through the glass door. And she does. Landing on the ground, coughing, and finally breathing. Liquid drops off her naked body and the light she saw is a flickering emergency exit lamp. To her left, she sees an unlocked locker. Most of it is gone, except for a uniform and a book. She gets dressed and looks into a broken mirror. The name on the uniform says S. Jeomowa. She gets a flashback. She is S. Jeomowa. Shazgul Sergejewna Jeomowa, or Shazi for short. And that book is not what it seems. She opens a page with the name 'Nikita' on it. And Slowly but surely her face and appearance change to that of a young woman with a hard look on her face and a used coat on.

"Hello, Nikita. Huh, that felt quite, um sloppy, not as natural. Maybe because of the headache. Or the fact that my memory is like cheese. Full of holes." Despite this, she smiles, but it looks to be a tortured one. Stumbling as if she was drunk, she makes her way out of the ruined building by working her way from one blinking exit sign to another. She couldn't leave through the main gate as it was boarded up, but one of the side exits wasn't and could be unlocked easily. Once outside she sees that this building seemed to be long forgotten. The sunlight hurts her eyes and makes her headache even worse. She leaves the property through a hole in the chain-wire fencing and onto a mostly deserted street. She wonders why the utopian future looks like a desolate past, but as everything hurts she needs to get to the only person she can remember right now. She approaches the first person she sees. "Good Morning, Comrade! Would you be so kind to tell me where I could find Yuri Oktobreskyea?"

“Hah you’ll have to go through the Party Headquarters to even get a glimpse. The chairman is far too busy for the likes of the common people like us”

"Chairman? I guess he was back then, was he? I just don't know. Why did they leave me in this ruin anyway? Too many questions, too much headache." She looks through the person, thinking. Her eyes twitching whenever the headaches pulsate. She then smiles at the person. "Oh, you are so right, Comrade. Us simple people wouldn't get a meeting. I am visiting from another city and wanted to thank him for his great work. So, where would I find the Party headquarters again? Maybe I could leave a letter for him."

"Hard to miss, la;rgest set of buildings in town, surrounded by fence. Trust me, you can't miss it"

"Don't worry. I never miss a target." Thinking that she has to smile. Looking more friendly than she is feeling right now. "Thank you, comrade. Have a productive day!" Walking through the streets she finally makes it to the Party Headquarters. Slight dizziness and the all prevalent headache sway her to try to enter the complex by regular means, but still without revealing her true identity. (I suppose there is some kind of guard, be it a small building at the gate or just armed guards.) She walks to one of the guards and salutes, trying to make it look like she didn't do that a couple thousand times before. Trying to speak with an innocent tone. "Oh. Hello Comrade! My name is Nikita Kartoschka! I would love to meet our great Chairman!"

"The chairman is not meeting with anyone today, he has prior appointments. Be on your way civilian"

In front of their eyes, Nikita turns to Shazi again. In her old uniform and with a really grumpy look on her face. "You know, without the headaches, the dizziness, the feeling that I need to vomit any minute, without these I would have considered toying with you. But I am not in the mood. You will send him a message, now. Tell him Shazi Jeomowa is here and wants to talk. And if he doesn't want Hanna, Ichi, or Nikita in his office, he better finds a second of time for me. Or sends at least someone else to talk to if he really is that busy. I will wait." She touches her had and closes her eyes. "And until then, Comrade, I need a chair or something."

(talk/cha)

(7)

A tentative messenger heads inside to try to get through to the chairman's office, though none of the guards are willing to get close to you. After ten strange minutes, there is a harsh buzz, and the gate begins to slide open on greased rails

Shazi gets off of some chair she just placed herself on. She feels like she is way older than she is. But knows whom she is going to meet. She doesn't really remember why she was cryoed and she also can't find a reason for why her Cryo-Bed was the only thing left in a long-forgotten building. But she still feels pride when she thinks about the revolution. And she won't get any job or mission to further the cause of the Party if she acts like an addict on withdrawal. "Have I been addicted to something? No, that can't be. The unsteady hands and all the rest must be from the Cryo. Must be!" With a nod to the guards at the doors, she enters the building and walks to the reception. "I have an appointment with." She stops, her right eye twitches as her headaches pulses once again, she supports herself on the counter and moans quietly. After a short moment, she recollects herself and starts anew, this time with a fake smile on her face. "Good Morning, Comrade! I have an appointment with the Chairman. I am Shazgul Jeomowa. Where do I need to go."

"You've been permitted inside. Follow the yellow pathway on the bricks, and on the walls inside. There will be more guards outside his offices, expect to be questioned again"

She nods and immediately feels that it was a bad decision to do so. She follows the yellow path. "What look did he prefer? Was there any? I just hope the memory comes back. But right now I shouldn't change anyway, the comrades here seem to be on their heels, and now that I am awake, I want to stay alive. And should I ask what year it is? Well, he should know. I shouldn't act weird when someone else tries to question me. Would they be afraid? Maybe, but even if, that would stop once they see what condition I am in." Shazi's fingers run along a yellow line at the wall. She follows it, greeting people on the way but sticks to speaking and not nodding. "I like the style of this building. Feels like home to me." She walks until she reaches an obviously better-guarded area. That is where she takes the initiative. "Greetings, Comrades. I am Shazgul Jeomowa, I have an appointment with the Chairman. Could you please show me to his office?"

(Only seeing this now, welcome comrade)

(Haihai, comrade)

(Looking forward to some good times! How come you've still got green?)

(EP needs someone to keep their meetings organized, ect)

9:50 AM

(Kay was deployed and everyone else was fairly new to the polity side of EP stuff)

There is a sharp bang on the chairman's office door and you're admitted, though there are close to 10 guards in the room with it, all with service weapons drawn, but low.

10:05 AM

"Please" the chairman says, clearly on edge, "have a seat"

"Oh." She says. Trying to not show that she isn't comfortable with so many guards around. She takes a seat as she was ordered to and doesn't try to act up. At least for a bit. She still doesn't know why it was best to Cryo her. All she remembers is just that. It was the best for the Party and she agreed. That's about all she remembers right now. After a moment she takes a closer look at Yuri, then leans forward. "Yuri? Comrade you didn't look that young back then, but now? How long have I been gone? Oh and I guess you want further proof. I am sorry my memory is lacking a bit but I can do that." She gets her book out. Making sure everyone sees it is just a book. She opens the page with the name Hanna on it. Touches it and focuses. She changes into a young blonde woman. Blue eyes, freckles, overall beautiful face and a three colored beany on. "Hey, I am Hanna Bauer. Nice to see you again Comrade Yuri." As fast as she turned into Hanna, she changes back to her real self. "I guess that counts as some kind of prove, but for this talk I'd like to stay the real me. So. You look old and I feel at least as old as you look. And outside is not the future that my dad promised me, or the one you had been talking about. I am a bit lost here. But I am here, even if it was out of a power shortage. What is going on."

He dismisses the guards with the wave of his hand “Shazi. You’re alive. I can’t believe it. They told me you died in the war, during the final fights to control the capital “

"Weeds are not killed by the frost, you know." She says coughing a bit. "They said it was the best for us to put me into the frost box. They said they would report this to the higher-ups. Don't ask me who they are. Or better were. My memory is really in a bad condition. Guess I got forgotten. But here I am. I might need a night of sleep, or two, which is weird after, how many? Years of sleep. But then I should be good. And well on my way here it looked like we still have some work to do. So, if you could give me a small place to live and some equipment, I'll be back in business, doing what has to be done. Oh, some pain killer for the headache would be great as well."

"So, you just show up, ask for favors? and then just like that, we're all friends and you start killing again? Are you sure you're even up for it after so long?

She produces a sad laugh and looks Yuri deep into his eyes. Not saying a word for a moment. Then raises an eyebrow. "Look at yourself! You look old and tired. And still, you work, you give it your all so that the vision becomes a reality. That everyone who died, like my father, didn't do so in vain." She leans back and looks at the walls of the office. "Asking for favors? Really? Comrade, you know I work for everything I get. I always did." She turns back to him, with a sad and thoughtful look on her face, once she realizes that, she looks down, supporting her head on a hand of hers. "You know who I am. Killing was a thing I excelled at. Am I up to that yet again? Who knows? I mean I am honest with you, I feel bad, but that will go away. My memories will come back. I will be the same again. Someone you can trust. If you aren't sure if I am at all able to do what I did, well then send me on some grunt work. So I can rent myself an apartment from the first Paycheck. But while I can look how I want to, my real me still needs a shower." She focuses Yuri again with an almost desperate look on her face. "I was never sure if you liked me or feared me, or both. But right now, you are the only person I know. And while I fully understand that calling favors from the Chairman is nothing we should do. Please, Yuri, don't just send me away. Someone here surely needs my skillset. Damn, even if I have to steal something."

"You're right. Please, use my apartments here to get yourself cleaned up, I'll have a clean uniform sent up for you, and a nice meal. When you're feeling yourself again, we can decide what to do with you"

Shazi nods. "As in the past, I am just for those I trust." While she stands up, she changes to Nikita again, but changing undeniably isn't helping with her headache. She leaves the office and makes her way to Yuri's apartment. She closes the door and leans against it. Knowing that she is alone again she changes back to her real self and then sacks down until she comes to a halt, sitting on the ground with her head leaning against the door. "I need to get going again, although I think I wouldn't be able to kill a goat right now, let alone a defector who is prepared. It'll all come back." She undresses and walks into the shower. She wants to shower hot, but back then she was allowed to do that once a week, so she opts for lukewarm water now. After she is finished she grabs a towel and hates the fact that she smells like a pine tree now and wonders why men like these all in one shower products. Once she looks out of the bathroom she is happy to see that her meal and uniform had already arrived while she was showering. She puts the towel back, grabs her book, and stands in front of a full-sized mirror. She changes to Nikita, Hanna, Ichi, and back to herself again. Noting minor imperfections in her changed forms. "I need to make that a second nature again. What have we here? Huh, olive green Uniform with red highlights. Oh well, with a skirt, of cause. Need to earn myself a black pantsuit again." She eats first, then gets dressed and then, takes a nap on the divan(couch) knowing that Yuri would come eventually, and if not, tomorrow her head might be less of a bitch.

Close to midnight, there is a knock on the door, before the heavy key begins turning the lock. "Shazi, are you awake? I'm coming in and don't think a knife in my stomach will help me lead the CBSS"

"I've been awake since I heard steps coming towards the door. Come on in, it is your apartment." She waits for him to come in and close the door. She sits on the divan. Straight without a fake lascivious pose, as with him she doesn't need those. "And a knife isn't needed. If you get to your apartment at that time on a regular basis, then you are your own knife. Oh and I decided to sleep and not work myself through your stuff an potentially steal a weapon, don't worry. I guess you want to sleep now. If you have no use for me yet and don't want to talk, and you feel uncomfortable with me in the room, well the I can surely sleep in the foyer. But once you know, just tell me how I can help our cause. Because that is all I have now."

"Business as always. I've got something a bit different in mind for you, its a bit different than the kinds of things you've had to do in the past, but I still need someone to investigate. I've sent a file about the planet Maitena to your pad. The the fleet is gone now, we scavenged some but were quickly overtaken for the rest of it. THe planet though, that dark planet never had boots on it. We don't know what might be down there|

Shazi crosses her arms, looking pissed. But after a short moment, her face changes to a smile again and she starts laughing. "You should have seen your face! You know, that doesn't sound like what I did before, yet it is exactly what I did before on so many levels. First of all, I always did everything for our cause, and if exploring a planet is the best thing now, then it is. It will give me time to recover. Secondly, that all reminds me of a song I once heard, don't ask me why I still remember it." Hello darkness, my old friend I've come to walk in you again Because an old man softly creeping Left a message while I was sleeping And the mission that was planted in my brain, many years ago Still remains Becoming the sound and face of silence She is not a bad singer, but her massacre of the lyrics destroys the actual rhythm and she sings the bit in a way more melancholic tone, just to bring it more in line with the old classics. "Some artistic freedom on my part with the lyrics and all. But what I want to say is, count me in. I will be our spearhead any time until we reach our goal, or someone decides that me in Cryo is the way to go. But next time I don't want to be forgotten. So would I get equipment and a shuttle to Maitena, the planet of darkness, now? If not I will just turn around, close my eyes, and sleep until the sun shines at the heart of the Motherland again." (edited)

“Tomorrow morning. You’ll be taking one of the corvettes since we don’t know what might be there. That ship will have an armory and locker aboard “

"Sure, see you tomorrow. Good Night Yuri!" She changes into Ichi, as she is shorter than her real self and slimmer. That way the divan gets instantly more comfortable. But different than she told Yuri, she actually sneaks out early in the morning, even before the first sun ray could break the darkness of the night. She turns into Nikita as she leaves the Party building. Since she developed the ability to change her appearance, her real self was only for her and those she knew and liked. And for the last seconds in the lives of those she was sent to kill. With the help of the compad, she arrives at the spaceport. Where she walks over to the first soldier she sees. "Comrade. I've been sent here to enter our corvette for a space trip. Do you know where I could find said space ship?"

You're directed and transported to the corvette in orbit, a stout and blocky vessel that is in the last stages of being fueled for the trip. It is expected to be a two day spike flight from the capital,

11:47 AM

and you can see the ship is traveling with a full marine compliment

Shazi walks through the corvette. Teamwork wasn't one of her supreme skills back then and isn't now. Same as leading groups. But she will make that work. Will body and mind recover, she will do what's needed, and that planet actually sounded interesting. Before the Corvette starts to spike, Shazi, always in the form of Nikita, gets herself equipped and finds a room. She aims with the empty pistol she just got herself. Her hands are still slightly shaking and her vision isn't perfect either. "I will need those marines. Without these comrades, I won't be successful." She sighs and puts her stuff away. She waits for the Corvette to spike. "Talking to anyone can wait until we are there, I guess."

(2 days of downtime)

(Pilot 2/90)

A dead fleet existed in this system once before, CBSS being one of the groups that scavenged it. The planet itself remains cloaked in the heavy nebula and there are no signs of lights on the surface, or much of anything else, though the stellar geography might be distorting signal traffic

(Nikita)

1:10 AM

(Hanna)

1:11 AM

(Ichi)

1:14 AM

(Shazi)

1:14 AM

(Just so I have her four most common forms in one place for reference) (edited)

Messages over intercom tell Shazi that they are about to arrive in the Maitena's Orbit. After staying mostly invisible during the trip, simply because she didn't want to talk to anyone, she knew it was time to make an appearance. As Nikita, she walks down the corridor. Two days of traveling, filled with reading about the magic of piloting such a ship, and about what little was known about the Maitena System. All that didn't help her get rid of all the side effects that her sudden wake up brought with it. Her hands still start to shake if she aims for too long. Her headache is still present, even if it's not as bad as on day one. And when she closes her eyes her world starts to turn as if she drank too much. Some Balsaam might have helped. The high alcohol liqueur made with herbs, spices, roots, and berries that were almost used like medicine in her family. But for now, she has to live with it. She enters the bridge and sneaks up to the captain of the ship. "A beautiful one, right Comrade? Resting in the darkness of this nebula. Untouched. Waiting for our communist brother and sisterhood to bring it back into the light. I guess you ran a scan already? As did the ones that came to scavenge what should have been only ours. But that planet will be. Do you think we can land the Corvette on that planet or should we rather divert to something smaller from the get-go, Captain?"

Eisheru, et al. pinned a message to this channel. 11/20/2020 6:52 AM

(❤️ )

“I’m going to try a direct landing , the scans have t come back with anything useful. If we weren’t looking directly at it and flying by instrument alone, the planet wouldn’t even be visible

"Interesting isn't it? It is there, you see it, but no instrument is picking it up. Like the perfect cover, where you walk among unsuspecting targets, just waiting for your moment to strike. Let us just hope this planet is no wolf in sheep's clothing." She says with a laugh. "If you wouldn't mind, I would like to take a seat and watch our descend to the planet's surface. I'd like to see us flying through the nebula I want to see what lies behind. Which is most likely darkness, I suppose. It is thrilling nonetheless isn't it?" "So different to what I was used to, yet so adventurous. I guess that was the reason why Hanna traveled from world to world to get new jobs. Until her last job was a tad too big for her. Poor girl." A grim smile forms on her face while she finds a seat and fastens her seatbelts. "Comrade, shall we lay our eyes on this shy planet?"

8:14 AM

Moving into the atmosphere, the image of the dark planet's surface begins displaying, and there are a few sites of interest on the surface

8:15 AM

Notably, a reactor housed in a secure looking facility producing a tremendous amount of power

Shazi looks at the first images, scrolling around trying to get an overview. "Damn, what is this reactor thing. Readings say it has some tremendous energy production. But why here? For whom? By whom? I need to find out." She was about to get up to direct the captain to find a spot to land near the reactor when something else sparks her interest. She sees some wreckage on the other side of the lake that the reactor is close to. After zooming in she gets up and walks over to the Captain. "Here, do you see that wrack? I do see the reactor as well, but that wrack could give us the intel we need to be prepared for that reactor. What do the scans say about the atmosphere? Breathable and harmless, or toxic and deadly?"

“I’d prepare for the worst. The scanners are having trouble picking up anything useful, there’s an atmosphere but I’m not sure what it will do long term “

She nods. "All right I will grab myself some atmofilter then. Could you bring us over to the wreckage (crashed cruiser)? Once there, please run a scan for lifeforms. I know you said the scanners aren't all too precise on this World. Nonetheless, if they pick something up, we know more than nothing."

“I can. We will have to land. No teleport pads on this thing. You understand”

She looks at him for a few seconds. Motionless. "So you either think I am deaf or dumb, or you just voiced unhappiness with the wonderful spaceship that our communist party and the chairman have given you command over." She shrugs. "Let us try again. You fly this ship over there. Make a scan. Tell me the result. Land this ship. And then you'd better be so nice as to stay while I and a few of your security personnel take a look at that wreckage. And hopefully, with the intel we gather there, we know more about this planet and who built the reactor over there, on the other side of the lake, and why it is still running. If the wreckage is unrelated, well so be it. I get myself some equipment now, and maybe you got some results once I am back." Shazi leaves to the Lockers and Armory of the ship to grab herself a vac suit, just to be sure, and a spare atmofilter. She dislikes the look of the suit. But she doesn't expect opposition down there anyway. So no need to give anyone some eye candy before their soul gets trapped in their decaying bodies for all eternity. Once that is done she returns to the bridge, hoping that she gets some scanner results and a better look at the area from above. (edited)

There is still not much headway into the exact air mix here. Dozens of gasses exist in small concentrations relative to the total atmospheric volume. The scanners are not fitted to provide more than that

As she doesn't expect any living opposition at her first destination, she chooses two marines to come with her. With the ship so close she could always call for additional support. If the planet isn't blocking most of such signals. "Bring us down to the ground, Comrade." Shazi puts on the vac suit, checks her pistol, and gets ready to leave. Before the marines arrive there, she changes to Hanna. "Blonde hair, blue eyes, and ready for some Adventure." She puts her helmet on and once she sees the two marines that will be accompanying her, she nods towards them. "Greetings, Comrades. Ever set a foot on an uncharted world?"

Neither of them have, but are eager to, sensing history in the making around them as the corvette sets down, airlock priming to release you into the world around you. The wreckage of the crashed starship is about a kilometer from here , through some hilly lowlands

She just shrugs when she sees their excitement. "If they'd know who I am, would they still be so excited to visit a lost place with me? And how can that trip be more dangerous than an assassination, right?" She puts the low light Googles on (it is kinda dark I suppose) and leads them into the hilly lowlands, trying to reach a spot that allows them a better look at the ship without being detected from afar.

(notice/wis)

(10)

The cruiser is not of human manufacture, though a few security eyebots of the same alien design seem to still be active in the wreckage. They're small, about the size of a coffee cup. There are four, and you almost missed them

"Eyebots? Really? Too sad they aren't alive anymore to see me appear in front of them, getting behind their camerawork, unseen." "This ship is nothing I have ever seen." "But what do I know what happened in the past thirty years." "It doesn't look like standard humanoid design philosophy. I am no engineer, but who knows, this thing might allow our hard-working ingenious engineers to get some breakthrough research done. Or we get something scavenged for our own ships." She points at the eyebots. "We should walk around them. While I think they are harmless and there is nobody left to see their proximity warnings, they are still running, and with them, most likely any automated defenses as well. So do you think you are able to sneak around them? We do best when we get inside of this ship unheard and unseen. So if we use these hills over there as cover, crouch through this trench to the left, then we might be able to sprint over to the ship, unseen. You ready for that?"

They seem to be able to follow you if you blaze the trail, using your stealth skills to show them the best places to hide, or wait, to avoid the detection of the eyebots

She tries to memorize the movement patterns of the four eyebots. Once that is done she closes her eyes. "Five, four, three, two, one." She signals them to go and starts running along the hills, at the third one she signals them to stop. She knows they have about thirty seconds until they need to continue. But she is out of breath. She felt better after the few days in space, after some sleep. But her body isn't there yet. Ten more seconds, she breathes in and out, focuses, and signals them to do a short sprint. After about one hundred meters of sprinting she dives into a shallow trench and continues to crouch while breathing heavily. After a bit she stops again, waits, waits, waits, then signals them to get up and sprint again. If she was right, there should be a door, if not they would have at least reached the ship. If she lost her orientation they might end up facing an eyebot once they leave the trench. (edited)

There is a broken open airlock ahead of you, opening into a large reception bay where passengers would assemble before continuing on into the ship. You seem to have woven between the patrol patterns of the eyebots

Shazi gets up, still exhausted, but she knows that being unseen is key, and not using the moment could be fatal for that. So she points at the airlock and then runs there herself, moving slower once she is inside. "That much we did already. Good. Now keep your eyes and ears open. If a turret or other defensive mechanism jumps out of hiding, I want to greet it with its end, and not offer it a look at our backs, because we let it surprise us." She walks around the reception bay, looking for a terminal that still has power. If any power is there at all. At the same time, she tries to get a grasp on who built that ship.

(You don't have anything special for understanding languages do you?)

(no nothing.)

You cannot read the ship status panel, but you recognize the slyth language when you see it

"What is this. Damn, I have seen that somewhere before. I know I have." Her hands run down the console, finger following the alien letters. "Slyth! This is a Slyth ship. Amazing! If that ship is still here, untouched, we might really have something at hand. Does anyone of you speak the language of those dead snakes?"

Neither of the marines do, the m ost schooling they;ve had has been their survival training and basic map reading skills. THe comprehension of a dead language is beyond the scope of most soldiers

Shazi sighs. "Let us do a short sweep of this ship, Comrades. If there is anything useful, we take it with us. We should not break anything, so our genius engineers can have a look at it. But be careful, automatic defense systems could be still going here. And we don't look like snakes, so we will trigger them. We shouldn't spread out too much so we can react together if something happens. During the sweep, I want to find out if any subsystem seems to be still functional or better which still has power. If we don't know what it is, we take pictures to take with us. Basically, we want to document that ship in a way that helps our people on Pelsagon to get a good grasp at what we found here. So they know how we can use that ship optimally, if we have to scavenge it or if we could try to lift it off and take it with us." Shazi goes first. Taking pictures of anything that still glows and other things that look to be interesting. Trying to fizzle her way to where she thinks the engine could be, as she thinks that it would be important to know if it could still work.

(I’ll get a deck plan up which I think is probably the easiest way to do this

2:19 PM

(I’ll have something up shortly I just have to get back to a computer

3:50 AM

(So x marks the start and then I would check the ship clockwise. Starting at number 1)

1 is an engineering space. The engines have been destroyed in the crash and wouldn’t be able to lift the ship off ahain anyway. There are no bodies here

Shazi looks around the engineering space and scratches her head. "I am no technician but that engine looks done." She shrugs. "I better let anything like it is right now, so our scientists get to see it like it was left here." She takes a couple photos as documentation and then leaves the room an walks on to the next one, carefully watching any steps she makes (onto number two)

A storage room existed here once. There must have been some crash survivors , the goods here are either smashed or have been carried off by anyone who might have made it.

6:29 PM

The lockers are broken and torn apart

"That room looks empty. But it's obvious that someone survived whatever happened to this ship. Or someone else visited the crash site and took what they could find. You two are free to look for anything valuable in there yourself. But I highly doubt that you find more than scrap." She leans against a wall before continuing, waiting to see if the two marines want to check the storage room themselves. "But that raises the question if those who survived, fled over to the reactor. If it is a Slyth one, and it is obviously still producing energy. Then someone. Something, those snakes, could be there, in stasis or something. Just imagine finding one of those. I mean they are extinct aren't they?" (Shazi doesn't know that they aren't, as she was in cryo during the last approx. 30 years.) She walks towards room number three. "Anyway, be careful."

Nekosmash pinned a message to this channel. 11/28/2020 6:29 PM

3 is jammed by a bulkhead that crushed and deformed when the ship hit the ground at high speed. The compartment here is utterly ruined as is 11 across the hall, but the section ahead seems more intact as the ships belt armor would have helped hold it together under such an impact

Shazi maneuvers through the destroyed part of the ship. Always looking if she could pick up something that might prove useful for the CBSS. Before reaching the next section she comes across a broken, reflecting panel on the left-hand wall. She can see herself almost like in a broken mirror. She sees Hanna's face and smiles. Being her makes Shazi a bit more adventurous. At least she feels that way. Might just be imagination. But once she sees herself like this, some memories come back. She remembers that back then, she was able to access memories of those she turned into. Really becoming one with them. The perfect cover. But it doesn't feel like that right now. She doesn't feel complete. It angers her. So much in fact that she is about to punch this mirror-like panel, but stops before hitting it and sighs. "It will all come back Shazi, just relax and give it time. And maybe I should kill those who forget me there. But most likely they are dead or old now. There is no fun in hunting down prey that already dies of a heart attack if I only jumpscare them. I need to show those two marines that I can handle this situation. They shouldn't think that I am a week or mentally unstable. What was the name of the TV series that I watched in Yuri's room?" Once she reaches the more intact looking next section (Section 4) she turns to the marines while also looking around her. "Comrades this almost feels like we are in the TV Show Cosmarines, Kosmonaz? Or was it Kosmos Morpekhi? You know the one where heavily armed Comrades and Mech pilots defend our glorious nation against the evil Aliens, capitalism, and other demonic things. You know, we explore an untouched world. At least untouched by the CBSS." "Pulling a trigger is easier than small talk."

"Something like that" one of them laughs "Captain Vlad was my favorite, with his bear mech. Always knew what to do, and had a plan" Something bangs from inside one of the ruined sections as he puts a fallen metal panel back into place, just more debris settling from his investigation. 4 looks like a crew bunk, protected by the belt armor it stood up to the crash, and most of the furniture is even in one piece. A few of the storage lockers remained jammed closed, but survivors or scavengers cleaned out the rest

"I mean, bear mech sounds cool. But damn, a young woman's innocent smile can get you in and out of highly defended compounds. All that without them knowing that the boss they are defending is already dead." "Yeah, bear mechs sound awesome." She says while trying to open one of the jammed closed lockers with her knife. "No, that is not going to work Shazi. Plundering something like this must be a new one for me." She puts the knife back before she bends it for no reason and looks at her comrades. Focusing on the one that just made the heap of debris rumble. "Hey, Tovarish Spetsnaz candidate. You don't happen to have some crowbar with you? If not, is there anything in the debris we could use to lever out a jammed locker door over here? They don't look like they could resist our combined force. There won't be a treasure in it, rather some rotten protein bars or something, but every bit of information on those who occupated the ship, those Snakes, is important. Who knows if we meet any of them on this planet."

He reaches into his kit and extends a long crowbar, tossing it over to you handily for prying the lockers open. He changes back to his sidearm a few seconds later, to cover the ship tunnel while you work on the lockers

Shazi catches the crowbar. "Thanks." "Can't be too hard to open a door that has been jammed for like forever. Alright got to do what you got to do." She rams the crowbar into a gap and tries to pry one of the lockers open. "Please, if that door jumps open. I don't want to land on my behind because I lose balance. That would look unprofessional. Focus Shazi. Go!"

There is a squeal of metal as the door is levered open, and a few power cells dump out into the room. It seems like there's a trace amount of power in them still.

7:31 AM

There is also a ship suit the right size and with the right amount of arm holes for a Slyth

Shazi grabs the power cells and looks at them. "They might be useful for something. Maybe if we want to power something on, I guess." Then she points at the suit. "I guess we take that one with us on our way back. For our scientists. I don't think any of you comrades can wear something with four arms. And well Slyths do have a pretty different body. Anyway, you heard something from up ahead?" She asks as she makes a few steps towards the ship tunnel.

"Nothing directly, just keeping watch while you worked. We don't know what kinds of systems might be online still, or if they used security robots"

Shazi laughs. "Just think about it, a snake robot with four arms that tries to kill us. That would be something." She readies her gun. "But it could start looking for its head before it even gets close to us." She says in a more serious tone. "Let's push onwards my Kosmonaz!" She leads the way and tries to silently walk towards the next section. (That would be 5 or 5 and 6 if those are one.)

(sneak/dex, just so i have a score to oppose if i need it)

(9)

Another crew section, and their bathroom is ahead, both of them showing large sheets of rust on the floor where water reclamation units burst open on impact- saturating the area. The touch of the atmosphere did the rest and the metal is nearly entirely orange now.

7:57 PM

The decking groans a bit when solid pressure is placed on it

Shazi presses her foot firmly onto the corroded metal. "Let me go first. If it won't hold me, it won't hold any of you either." She walks slowly over the orange colored area. Hoping that she won't be breaking through at any time.

You see some metal flaking away, before it groans gently. You pass over fast, into the next crew bay, which seems just as relatively empty though there are a pair of Slyth skeletons here impaled by fallen ceiling wreckage.

"Wow, impaled for all eternity. That is not how I would imagine my death. Anyway, those Slyth really look strange. Our scientists will be happy about all the things we find out here." Shazi gets her Compad out and takes pictures of the skeletons. "Well that is weird, even for me." Then she looks back at the comrades on the other side of the corroded area. "Well. Stay there, right now there is no need for you to risk getting over here. I'll check out the rest of the ship, see what I can find out. I should be close to the bridge now anyway." Shazi readies her pistol and walks further towards the bridge sticking close to the left wall

The bridge doors are down, they sealed during the crash intending to keep the crew alive in the event the rest of the hull collapsed or crumbled. A keypad looks to be intact still for opening it. You werent able to find any combinations or keycards on the bodies so far

"Great. Well, that sucks. And not so much." She looks at the door and the keypad. Then checks her equipment. "I could try and short the controls. But that is a one time try. Too early for that. Damn, I did that macabre skeleton photo shooting but I did not check on them." She turns around and walks back to the impaled skeletons. She starts to pick up rubble and tries to find any belongings of the two dead Slyth.

You find a card on the skeletal body, clutched in articulated fingers that are now just dry remains

Shazi grabs the card and waves it at the Soldiers. "I am going to check out the bridge. Let's just hope the card is enough. An iris scanner or finger print one won't be fooled by dried up snake person, I guess." She says with a laugh. She walks over to the bridge again. A bit reassured in her still lacking abilities. Entering the bridge of a ship of a forgotten species. That is quite something.

The scanner seems to accept the card. The light turns green and the doors open, only slightly

As the door starts to open, Shazi checks the status LED of her vac suit. Still green. If that bridge was securely locked, who knew what stuff was in that air. She waits for the door to open, but the opening process ends prematurely. "Perfect. Ah well, feels just like home." She readies her pistol again, as quiet as she can, and then leans towards the opening to get a glimpse of what's on the other side of the door.

A hunched security bot, rail thin with claw is hunched- back turned over the command console. THere are more bodies on the bridge of the command crew, who did not survive the crash

9:01 AM

it is 20m away and doe snot seem to have noticed you

Shazi smiles and is a bit disappointed. "Doesn't look like a snake, huh. Oh well. Let's see if my aim is off as well. But nonetheless, that bot won't know what hit it." She positions herself so she can aim a good shot at him. Then she pulls the trigger. "Boom." She says with a laugh. As she watches the possibly last seconds of activity of the robot. Before she would enter the bridge to look around. (Execution attack: Auto success due to Yama Queen)

The shot is clean, severing the robot's head from its shoulders before it tumbles down in a ruin of broken metal exoskeleton and wire

She makes a sad face before it turns to a grin again. "Sorry Mr. Robot. But I guess you wouldn't have accepted me as your new owner. Too few arms and scales on my part. Oh well, our scientists would have loved you. But they still will, they'll just glue your head back on. And my aim is still somewhat there." She tries to get through the small opening to get into the bridge.

You're able to squeeze through, and the bridge is a room of smashed consoles, broken computers, and bodies that are now just dry remains. The impact killed everyone in here, despite the ship being designed to give the crew a level of protection from it

There is an armory, to the right of the bridge tucked into an alcove, that looked like it has withstood the crash better than its slyth occupants

"Huh, so this is how a bridge for four-armed snakes looks like. Interesting. If I could just take something worthwhile with me, so the scientists could get some hands-on experience." Shazi takes a couple of pictures of the bridge and touches some consoles, hoping that they still got power so she could also take some pictures of the active displays. Besides that, she checks the dead crew and the robot for anything that seems like it could be of interest to CBSS scientists. Ultimately she knows that she won't fly that ship away, and that it might be so broken that nobody ever will. But it still is a piece of old tech that could help to elevate the CBSS tech level, even if for the majority of the CBSS citizens any raise in tech would need years or decades to actually get to them. She is about the leave the bridge again and walk towards her Comrades when she spots the armory. CBSS comes first all the time, but even during the revolution she liked to take some memorablia with her. Be it the looks of her victims, or mundane things or other interesting fun. And an armory could contain just that. Things to have fun with. She gets the Keycard out of a pocket, the one she used to open the bridge with. And then looks for ways to open said armory.

(d100 for me!)

Shazi taps the locker once before trying to open it. (Nat 1 is that a food can or a shoe now?

)

A small pistol is the first thing you see, floating in a stasis field that still has power somehow. It is about human hand sized, meant to be a holdout or concealed weapon for the Slyth, likely. Instead of a barrel, the weapon ends with a pair of forks that look to pass some type of a current between them

Shazi's eyes open wide when she sees the strange weapon. She gets up close to look at the weapon in more detail. "This is really strange. What does this thing do? I mean it has a trigger, so I will find out." She carefully touches the stasis field. When she is sure that her hand isn't going to be consumed by the field she reaches for the weapon and pulls it out of the field. She is tempted to touch the flowing current but decides otherwise. She looks around. "Sorry to disturb your rest, snakeman or girl." She aims at one of the corpses and pulls the trigger.

A small shock ball generates between the forks, and hits the body, cobwebbing out into a pattern of lightning, before vanishing into the deck

"That looks like great fun. Really great as an entry for a perfect performance that ends with my targets lying on the ground, dead. Will need to figure out what this weapon really does." She turns around, towards her comrades, even though she can't actually see them. She shakes her head. "No, explaining why they died, that is too much hustle. There will be a target at the right time." She turns back to the armory, trying to find out if the stasis field was somehow portable. It would look fancy in an apartment.

A tech could probably take the covers and machinery out. It would take time. Probably a lot of it

After finding out that she won't be able to just take it with her, she kicks the armory and points at the stasis field. "I'll get you. You won't get away. You will make my vodka float. Just have to bribe someone or otherwise make a person get that for me. I find a way. I'll triumph in the end, you'll see." Once that is said and done she tries to hide the gun in her backpack, unsure how to really secure it. Then she squeezes through the door again and makes her way to her comrades again. "I see the Tovarishs Kosmonaz are still there protecting us. Great. This Slyth ship is clean, nothing of immediate use. Maybe some of our engineers and scientists will get more out of this thing. Chances are pretty high that the still active reactor on this world is slyth as well. If someone was still alive there, they must know of this ship and didn't care or they took what they needed and left. I don't know if those snake people could still live. Their defenses sure can. You two did well so far. You'll stay with me for now. We will visit one more place before heading for the reactor, but we need to get to the ship first. Even if it might not be necessary right now. The aim is to avoid the eyebots. This time, you lead the way. I need to see what you can do. Ponyal? (Understood?)" (Adding goal The Snaky Cupboard where milk and vodka float: Find a way to acquire the Slyth Stasis field from Maitena or a similar Slyth one.)

(Where do you want them to lead you to?)

After boarding the ship again I would like to fly to the Ruin marked with the X

The ruins look like the remains of a city, either abandoned during construction or fallen into disrepair later. It is impossible to tell, and Slyth architecture is strange compared to he blockier and more stark buildings of home

(Would there be a sniper rifle in the armory of the ship?)

(Yes)

Shazi looks down at the ruined city. Then turns to the captain. "That place could be a gold mine for our cause. And a death trap alike. How close to the city could we land?"

“I wouldn’t risk closer than a few kilometers. We don’t know if there are air defenses or something worse”

Shazi finds a place to sit close to the captain. The last trip was already exhausting, the coming one won't be better. To not show it too much, she tries to make it feel like she doesn't care for all the standing to attention and the rest of the common etiquette. Which is partially true anyway. She was no soldier, no regular one at least. She was no member of the party. And thirty years ago she had contact with those that needed her abilities, and those meetings tended to be under the radar. Although she loved to play the perfect citizen in an overly dramatic way during those meetups. She stood behind the revolution and the CBSS and it's values. But if she ever qualifies for a Hero of Labour title or not, she doesn't care. "That is a realistic assumption. The reactor isn't all to far away, so parts of the ruined city might still be powered by it or other means. Do we have anyone on that ship who might at least rudimentary speaks Slyth?" (edited)

"Not quite. We didn't expect any of ...this.. and CBSS has had little contact with the Slyth survivors that exist already. We have latitude, we might be able to go to Ilaria and see if we can get one to help us"

Shazi, who already changed back into Nikita to not confuse the captain, loses it. She stands there open-mouthed for a moment. Slightly shaking her head in confusion before getting back into the present moment. Her mouth closes again and she nods. "Yeah, the Slyth survivors, thank you Tovarish, I must have forgotten them." "What the hell? Living snake people? That scream thing. Those strange consuming bloblets that could fire bones and do other strange things. Damn, some eventful years while I was out cold." She gets her compared out and quickly looks for Iaria. Phew "That System, Iaria, is not like directly here. We will lose quite some time. I don't like to write a report that gets to the Chairman's office delayed. But someone who is actually able to speak that language could be of help. It would give us the possibility to actually get something out of the place we visit." She gets closer to the captain. "But those Snake people might not like the fact that we want to use what used to be theirs or at least belonged to their people ages ago. So they could sabotage our efforts. So we should keep an eye on that person. But it seems to be easier to take one of those Snakes with us than to go and look for some non-Slyth that could translate everything for us. Any remarks?"

"The Slyth seem to be fine with starting over. They've enjoyed being a mentor race to humans, taros, and the others. We have free flowing information coming in from Galatea council meetings, and there havent been any reports of the slyth sabotaging anything. THe survivors are just trying to start over, and exist as more than a race of only 1500 souls"

"Huh, well. I might be too mistrusting sometimes. Feeling like a relic of the past, sometimes. Haha" "Good, or bad, or whatever. Plot us the fastest way to Iaria. I am going to get us a translator. Nothing I can't get going for our nation."

(10 days of downtime)

Shazi sees the ten days as a chance to get slightly better in shape and gain some of her endurance back. She gets up at four in the morning to jog a bit through the ship, annoyed by the lights of the corridor. Those stay off during that time and only switch on if someone uses the corridor. So she runs in a bubble of light through the darkness of the ship. She doesn't like to be in the spotlight for no reason, but accepts it for the days being. She dedicates most of the day to watching the pilots do corrections of the flight path during spiking, while she listens to some piloting podcast. She still isn't talking much, exceptions to that are the Pilots, Captain, and the two Comrades she had with her on the Slyth ship. But even with those, there is mostly short meaningless chatter, while she isn't lying for no reason, she isn't telling them the full truth either. The evenings are filled with meditation, hoping that focus and silence might bring back old memories, which doesn't happen. She also tries to make her changing become more natural again, so before going to sleep, when she knows she is alone, she switches through her known forms and some random ones. With time it seems to be more fluid but equally straining. (12/90 Pilot)

You’re welcomed out of spike space by the large carrier vessel the slyth empire calls their own. It’s squadron of fighters escorts you in to orbit while ground control negotiates with the captain to have your ship authorized for a planetside run. The colony on the third planet is small. Barely 2,000 souls now, though they’re welcoming all the same. No weapons are permitted for outsiders in the settlement

"No weapons permitted, of course, so they have an easier time eating me!" Thoughts like these are rushing through Shazi's mind while she waits for the ship to land. Once the Captain signals that landing procedures have finished, she approaches the captain. "Alright. I guess I do this alone. Weapons are forbidden anyway and if they would plan anything snakey then it is better to not have a handful of people down there. When I return, shoot me if I don't greet you with Tovarish Captain Dostoprimetschatelnosti (places of interest). Okay?"

"Easy enough" He says "We'll lock down the ship while you're on shore too, just to be safe"

Shazi just nods. Being silly with her codeword brings back her focus. All of her equipment was stowed in her room already when she walks onto the ramp and out of the ship. Interested to see what to expect. "Slyth, Slyth, Slyth, Slyth, Slyth, Slyth. Don't call them anything else."

You're greeted by a surprisingly pastoral scene. Field hands tend the crops. A few small shops are open. A small factory which is little more than a dozen or so Slyth work at furnaces and anvils, with more complicated CnC mills and other crafting devices set up as well to make industrial parts. A medical complex is most of the settlement that isnt devoted to housing. The Slyth are trying to work to ensure as many of their offspring as possible live, to see another day

Shazi raises an eyebrow when she walks down the ramp. "Huh, a real workers' and peasants' state. Not what I expected from a long lost advanced species. But that might make things easier. And they really look like four-armed snake people. Damn. Those videos I watched during the trip here were no CGI after all." Once her feet touch the ground she looks around, trying to decide whom to talk to. The medical complex would be her best choice, she guesses. As there might be someone speaking her language. But she opts for the field. It's been a while, but most of her early life was dominated by farm life. She makes her way to the field, grabs herself a spade, digs a spade full of soil out of the field, and puts it onto her hand for closer examination. Hoping for a fertile mushroomy smell that she remembered from her youth. While doing so she walks towards the closest Slyth. "Greetings..." "How do I greet them? Is this a male or a female?" "Greetings! You've got a nice field here. I come from a faraway world." She points towards the stars with her empty hand. "I'd like to speak to someone who can speak my language. I guess if you don't speak it you don't even understand my question. So, um, do you speak my language dear Slyth person?"

"I understand your language human. Though I'm not sure what there might be to help you with. You haven't said" The Slyth is a tall one,e ven for their species. All four of its large arms rest on the handle of a space. A seed bag on its waist, and a laser pistol round out the scene, as its head rests under a large brimmed straw hat

Shazi looks up at the Slyth's face with a slight smile on her face. "Well, that makes two of us to speak my language. I am someone working for the CBSS. I need to hire a Slyth as a translator for a trip that will take at least a month. I am sorry, further details will only be shared with those who are in charge. So who is responsible for this colony?" She takes a deep breath of the earthen smell of the lump of soil in her hand. "By the way. Some fertile land you have here, huh?"

“It’s beautiful soil. This world feels so alive. Leadership is in the medical complex as you could probably guess, but I’m your snake if you decide you still need someone after you talk to them, and if they allow you to take me”

Shazi tilts her head to the side and has her clean hand on her hip while crumbling the soil between the fingers of her right hand. She doesn't look at the Slyth. "You are my snake? Tell me then, why do I even need to visit your leadership? Aren't you free? I mean, yeah I should say hi. Landing and leaving just minutes later might not be the nicest thing to do, but who cares right? At least I wouldn't steal anything."

"They'll want to know what happened to me and where I am being taken too. Not to mention, if you need someone who can read Slyth, its probably of interest to our leaders"

Shazi nods. "Yeah, most likely. I'll find you once I am finished talking to your leadership." Shazi walks to the medical complex. Questions form in her head. Questions she will ask whomever accompanies them.

A pair of slyth guards allow you inside after some routine questions and you're brought to the top floor where the Slyth leadership has turned the office space into an administrative center. You noticed a heavy guard presence within the hospital mostly on the medical floors themselves- as the slyth safeguard their hopeful offspring

Shazi does not resist any questioning, not because she couldn't handle all the Slyth guards, but because she just doesn't feel like it. Additionally, she needs one of them and she is kinda an official representative of the CBSS. Not like it was in her past. Back then she liked to pretend to be just some assassin, who could have been sent by anyone as she left no obvious trails. She nods towards whom she deems the leader of this colony. "Greetings, I am working for the interstellar nation that calls themselves the CBSS. Um, before I get to why I am here. Do you expect any attacks? I mean this is a medical complex and all those guards here seem to be a little overboard when it comes to security."

“The answer is a complicated one, and we cannot risk our future so the security is necessary. You’ve come to our world, the first of your nation to do so. How may the slyth assist the proud Cbss

"If the future is at stake, every mean to ensure that is the right one. Anyway. Well. We are interested in a Slyth translator. Someone who can teach those who are willing your language and is able to explain cultural things. He or she would be payed of course. And should we find some memorabilia they could keep them to bring them back here. I already met a volunteer out at one of the fields." " Let's just hope the snake buys that and doesn't ask to many questions. They won't get anything of the useful stuff, that is reserved for our cause."

"The chance to reunite with any of our heritage is worth it. I will allow you to take up to two with you, but they must volunteer, and they must be compensated. The specifics of such is between yourselves and who you pick"

"Up to two? Huh, should I take two just to be sure. I mean accidents happen, a snake could die an unfortunate death. Better two so we have a spare translator." She smirks for a second. "Well, well. That sounds good and like a win win situation. Besides that one farmer, do you know of any scientist or engineer who can't contribute to the colony right now with his skill set. Someone who could use the trip to learn more and come back as an even better asset for your colony?"

“There’s one you could take. Not Much use for entertainment systems right now.

5:46 PM

He would be an ideal person to take”

Shazi raises an eyebrow. "Do Slyth dance? Anyway, where might I find said individuum?"

"Probably in the general store, always hunting for scrap or baubles people bring in to make into other things. "

"Ha, yeah, that Slyth might be fitting. Thank you. Oh and with compensating you surely meant that we should pay them right? You don't want to receive anything else than what they bring back from their journey, right?"

"it would be unreasonable to expect more within the confines of this deal. You have the correct understanding"

"Good, I'll talk to them." She nods and turns around to try and find the interesting Slyth at the general store.

You can see him at the counter when you walk in, haggling over a box of spare parts with the store manager. Neither of them seem to be very happy with one another- this occurrence being something that happens all too regularly

Shazi approaches the duo quietly and stops standing at her possible new translator and Slyth-Tech-Consultants side. "Greetings you two. I see there is some conflict here. Maybe I can sort that out, in a way."

“This skinflint won’t sell for what it’s worth. His prices are too high even for this world. Id never pay this

Shazi looks at the pieces both are haggling about. "Well, this stuff doesn't look all to good. Nothing compared to the Slyth ship I found a week ago. Meet me outside if you want to know more." With that said she turns around and leaves. She leans against a tree waiting to see if he is interested or not.

There is a clatter of metal components hitting the counter, as the slyth follows you outside, everything he was concerned about before now feeling like a steaming pile of insignificance.

She has a grin on her face when she sees the Slyth following to her. She waits for him to get closer before she starts to speak "Why? Why will you accept my offer? What is your drive?"

"I'm trying to re-create some of what we lost. What better place to start than to go back to a planet where we once lived and settled,? Its more chance than ill have here"

"Fair. But as you might guess I am not from some charity group that wants to help the Slyth get going again. We have our own interest in what we find. I promised your leader memorabilia and no tech." She looks at the fields and the Slyth working in them. Then nods towards said fields. "Reminds me of my past. Living on a farm. It is honest work." She turns towards him again. "Acquiring old possibly broken Slyth tech, getting them to our scientists for them to reverse engineer it and try to understand it, is time consuming. So, why don't we say, you help us understand what we find and in return you get to bring some of it here. Or we bring it here as you might not have a ship. Would that be acceptable?"

"Alright, I can accept that. You covered what I would have asked for" Two of his arms extend out, to shake yours

She looks confused before she shrugs and does the double hand shake. "Good. Gather what you need, then enter our ship over there." After a short moment of silence she adds: "I planned to take another Slyth with us. Don't look to the field. The one over there on the field. He volunteered. Is he a good choice to help my people learn some Slyth and to help you in inspecting Slyth tech? Don't stare at him. I told you to not look at him! So is he okay?"

'Yesh, he's a good one. Hard worker out there every day. Never see him take a break until its time to be done for the day"

"That sounds like he will fit right in. Like the perfect worker for our CBSS, although he will have other responsibilities then field work. Thank you. We will meet again on board of our ship. Oh, ask them you want to meet Captain dostoprimetschatelnosti." That said she nods towards him and leaves for the hard working field snake. "Greetings. I got the okay. You could come with me if you still want to. But tell me. What do you expect from that trip?"

(i think he answered this already)

12:04 PM

(unless you're checking to see if its the same)

"I want to work, see new worlds, and help recover some of what we lost- knowing it might help another species avoid what we went through is reward enough for me"

She nods in agreement. "Well that sounds good to me. Come on board whenever you are ready. Work hard and support the CBSS with what you have. And you will be payed back with what you desire." She reaches out both hands to do the Slyth handshake.

Everything here seems fine and arranged now, and with the Slyth aboard, its time to return back to the site of your explorations

10:46 AM

(3xp, 5000 credits)

(Lvl 1-> 2 HP 5 -> 9 AB 0 -> 1 Talk -1 -> 0 Program -1 -> 0 Con 7->8 (1SP) New Focus: Ghost Tech LvL 1)

12:41 PM

With their new Slyth Crew members on board, Shazi boards as well and gets onto the bridge. "Oh Captain Dostoprimetschatelnosti! So good to see you!" She says with a grin. "Our new translators and Slyth experts are on board. Let's return to our actual place of exploration, Comrades. And any volunteers should use the ten days of the trip to learn some Slyth from our new crew members." "It is always helpful to know many languages, that way nobody gets to fool you." *She thinks with a impish smile on her face." (For the downtime Shazi would learn Slyth 10/30)

Returning to the dark planet the slyth are both pressed firmly to the portholes and windows , looking down at the veiled planet below. Their reactions had the fleet still been here would have been even more wonderful you can be sure

Shazi, as Nikita (like before), approaches the captain. While doing so she registers the Slyths reaction with a slight grin. "Alright. The reroute cost us some time. We need to deliver, so it's time to speed up a bit. I don't want Pelsagon to think that we aren't doing our best. The idea would be that the engineer Slyth and a security detail, revisit the crashed ship. With him, they might be able to get even more out of the ship. Meanwhile, I will lead a group including that other impressive-looking snake into the ruined city. We will take longer than the other group. So once my group finishes we will rest and then tackle that reactor over there." Shazi looks a bit annoyed when she starts to speak in a low voice with the captain again. "See, I am not used to leading groups and all. And the way I understand it is that you are the lead here, to make sure I don't do stupid things. So are you okay with my plan, Tovarish captain?"

"I think the plan is sound, we will have to change on the fly if anything comes up, but it doesnt sound like it will from where things stand now"

"Doesn't sound like that no. But one should always be careful and try to be fully aware of what's happening. That way you get a chance after you tripped a silent alarm without noticing and get greeted by a killing squad when you want to leave the building with a thumb drive of crucial information. Not a fun situation." She nods to the captain. "But I am sure nobody will relax and do this stuff on auto pilot." She doesn't wait for an answer but turns and walks towards the two Slyth. Stopping behind them, while they seem to not be able to stop looking at the planet below them. "Dark, isn't it?" She says from behind. "Mr. Engineer. You will be joined by a security detail an visit a ship that we already cleared." She turns to the other one. "You, you will come with me to an old settlement of sorts. Any further questions?"

There are none, and as the ship begins descending planetside, the two teams begin preparing their gear. As the engineering team is dropped off, your own ship heads toward the former city- a halo of rock, rad dust, and broken dunes on the northern horizon

Shazi puts on her vac suit and once her face is covered she changes into Hanna, to get that more adventurous feel. Once the ship sets down she looks at four Soldiers and a Slyth. "Comrades, we don't know what to expect here. It could range from empty ruins without any danger to them, to hidden defensive mechanisms. That is why we land a good bit away from that place. Please make sure our SLyth friend here stays safe. Comrades, let us claim this for the Motherland!" "Damn, it did help to watch some of the newer TV-Shows. I almost sounded like a hero in them." With that said and thought she turns around waiting for the ramp to lower so they can start marching over to the city ruins.

(How close did we want to get before going on foot? trying to get an idea of what might be seen,what might be seeing you, ect)

(I'd say half an hour on foot away from the city. I guess the original idea was to stay outside of possible anti air defenses that might still be active. And I forgot that I wanted to take a Sniper rifle out of the armory, if that is still possible.)

(Yea h that's no problem)

Moments before the ship lands, Shazi realizes that she forgot something. So she sprints to the armory to grab an old but most likely trusted sniper rifle. With that on her back she rushes to the rest again. Hopefully in time before the ramp opens.

The ramp opens, depositing you onto the dusty surface of the planet. Dark skies and storms overhead bathe the city in random jagged slashes of light. The points of interest you're immediately drawn to are a large administrative spire, a ruined factory, and the remains of some kind of auto-farm.

"Well, well, doesn't that look pretty." She walks down the ramp first and thinks about what she sees there. "You see that auto farm over there? Let's check that out first. Could be useful to get some data from that. CBSS is lacking in that department. Not due to inability of course. But the enemies of the state still have an easy time sabotaging that area. So maybe new tech could help in that regard." She starts moving. "Stay close together for now. Protect the Slyth. And look out for anything suspicious." She tries to reach an elevated spot or if nothing like that exists she would stop the group after ten or fifteen minutes of walking to get out the sniper rifle and make herself familiar with the area of the autofarm. Checking for defenses and anything that looks out of place.

Using the sniper from the ground you don’t see any signs of defenses around the farm or fields themselves. The tractors look sturdy but also don’t seem to be armed with anything other than their harvesting blades

Shazi stows the sniper rifle away again and stares into the distance. She looks at her comrades. "I just hope the rest is at least as good as the two that already ventured with me through that derelict ship. But I can't change that anyway." She isn't in to good of a mood as the headache that went away for a few days, returned with even more force. She squints her eyes but after a short moment signals the group to move on. She is always looking out for anything unusual, she might not be a scout and her brain feels like it is repeatedly stabbed into, but she knows an alarm system when she sees it. If nothing unusual strikes her eye she would lead them to the Auto-Farm.

You're confident your previous viewing of the property didnt reveal any kind of alarm system in a way you'd be familiar. The Slyth accompanying you also looks and is unable to see anything new or troubling.

The the feeling that there are no obvious traps or anything and why should there? It would just be dangerous for those working there once, when everything was still working. During the last minutes of walking she lets one of the soldiers lead them while she falls back to talk to the Slyth. "So, do you know about such things? You've been a farmer when I met you."

"I do. We've fallen quite a way as you can see, but I still remember how to operate these things. I can see if they'll start, if you wish"

"Alright, I want to see if this thing is functional. If it is, I will call my superior to send us some larger ship and a bunch of engineers and technicians to take that thing apart and copy it. I'll guess we could spare a copy or two for the Slyth colony. So go ahead!"

4:13 AM

"The rest of you, please keep an eye out for anything that moves."

Something howls from the barn as the Slyth farmer jumps into the cab of the harvester and begins tinkering with it.

6:39 AM

It sounds animalistic and either wounded or angry

6:39 AM

Perhaps both

Shazi signals the Slyth to halt the machinery and the Soldiers to aim at the barn. She herself walks over to one of the tractors, one with large harvesting blades. And tries to start it.

There is only 2% of charge left in the power cell but it starts up for the moment. The soldiers have their weapons trained at it

"You!" She points at one of the soldiers. "Open the barn gate, then get away quickly." At the same time she starts to drive the Tractor towards the barn, trying to piece together her memories of driving a Tractor on the farm of her parents, with what little she knows about Slyth language and their culture. And combining both to try and understand what buttons to press to get the harvesting blades going. And all that while having an eye on the dangerously low battery state.

He races forward and pulls the door open, and one races forward without being told to get the other side. Some sort of hybrid tentacled beast is inside and recoils from the sudden light as your tractor charges forward , like a mighty war steed. It has nowhere to go as the blades and cab are bathed in sticky organic wreckage

7:58 AM

It’s Body is torn to pieces , though not entirely destroyed before the fleshy obstructions clog the blades and intakes. The tractor shuts down automatically to avoid exploding

Shazi switches the tractor off than jumps of the tractor and walks a few steps to the side. Minding her distance to both the machine and the creepy being she just harvested. "I guess it's dead. Hey, Slyth man. Please don't tell me this was some Slyth cattle or a Slyth cow or something like that."

"Nothing that I've ever seen before. I don't understand what this was...or is"

Shazi pulls her pistol and moves towards what's left of the beast. Slowly. Ready to shoot what's left, if that thing is still alive.

It is very dead, as most things tend to be when hit with high RPM harvesting blades. Its corpse is not even recognizable as a distinct shape anymore.

Shazi shrugs. "Well, I guess someone can at some moment work around with what's left of it to figure out what it was, um, continue with the starting procedure for this auto farm." In the meantime Shazi tries to find out if anything else was in the barn, trying not to get all to dirty with the monster splatter all around. Just to make sure that the beast was only resting in here and not nesting, or worse.

There would have been animals here once, but they were either released or killed for food off-site. There is no evidence of them now-aside from a handful of goads, leads and other tools for cleaning stalls.

"I guess that was the only, thing, that roamed around here." She says as she holsters her pistol and climbs back out of the barn. "What about the machinery? Does it start up as expected?"

"Seems like it will if we're able to convince it to with new batteries. MEchanically, everything seems fine."

"Perfect!" "Well that thing is a success. Exploring is easier than stalking and killing someone. But at least as bloody. That thing will bring us food. That is good." "So maybe we find some batteries on our way, but if you say that it should work, then I trust on that. Our engineers will disaemble that thing and copy it. For now." She points to a certain direction "There is that ruined factory, maybe it yields some nice finds as well."

“We should be careful. Defenses if they still have power would be on. Standard for all slyth factories

11:22 PM

“Trip wires, mines, gun turrets slaved to sensors. We won’t know until we are closer, and then we can figure out how to spoof whatever they’re using”

"Standard for all Slyth factories? Damn, going to work in that factory must have been as dangerous as my work was. But with that much protection, does that mean such a factory would have produced any advanced technology?" She asks while still continuing to walk towards the factory. Eyes open to not detonate them all.

"You need to remember- last time we slithered the galaxy we were in the middle of a terrible civil war. Factories and population centers were targets as legitimate as shipyards, barracks, and missile bunkers"

8:13 AM

"It wasn't something we adopted by choice"

"Revolutions are sometimes necessary tho. And people die for the betterment of the people. But anyway we should keep focused so we don't miss the traps."

You see a leaning silo type building, about 200m from the factory grounds where you might be able to get a decent overlook of the grounds and possibly spot any defenses that would be looking at the approaches, and not laterally.

"Stay here. Except for you Snake man. You might spot stuff that I don't." She points at the silo. "We'll be going up there. Trying to get some better overview of the area. You can just, um, stay and chill a bit. Look around for any suspicious movement." That said she walks towards that silo, ready to climb up some latter. And trying to not trip any traps.

(Notice/wis)

(2 damn darkness)

You don’t see any overt defenses worked into the factory complex.

Looking down at the complex and not really seeing anything just makes her shrug. She turns to the snake man. "Nothing obvious is visible from up here, but the overall darkness doesn't help either. Let's get over there and be careful where you step, um, crawl? I guess you know what I mean." She gets down and signals the rest of the group to get to her so they can move forward.

200m from the facility walls, you can see a spot light click on, as some sort of sensor is tripped. It begins scanning the surrounding countryside in a circular sweep pattern.

Shazi has an annoyed look on her face. Someone must have tripped something. It couldn't have been her of course. Although she didn't see any sensors or traps, but she wouldn't rip anything. She looks around, then to her team. She doesn't know if they can outrun the spotlight. More hidden traps could make that a really bad decision. She knows she has to do something, and she knows that whatever defensive system is still working it knows that someone or something got close. So she aims at the spotlight and tries to shoot it before they are seen.

(Would just need to hit a 10 or over since it’s a building , or fitted to one in this case)

(13/6)

There is a loud pop as the light cover shatters, and the spotlight goes out

She holsters her pistol again and looks around. "Please be even more careful now. Whatever defensive system it is that is still running, it knows we are coming now. I just hope we just triggered a search light. Just follow my lead. Everyone step where the one in front of you stepped." That said she walks extra carefully while still maintaining some speed, as she still isn't sure just what awaits them in and around the factory.

The factory gates dont have any overt defenses protecting them that you've been able to notice and your Slyth guide is familiar with how the protective mines would have been laid out, and is able to blaze a trail through them. "Most of them are anti-tank anyway. Unless you're very fat, you dont weigh enough to set them off"

"Lucky me." She says while she shakes her head an grabs her pistol with her left hand. Once they reach the entrance she turns to the charming Slyth. "So do you think that door is trapped?"

"Not likely given the spotlight, and the mines. There would have been security forces dealing with anyone who made it through those things in better days. Real tough to get through though"

"For most common folks it sure would be." She says while opening the door slightly. She has her pistol ready to shoot at anyone who would approach them. Her being a human would probably breach any security protocol, so she wants to be prepared. once the door is slightly open she looks around if she sees any immediate threat.

(I'm sorry for letting this go all day just for me to hunt for a map)

4:51 PM

(I'll have something by time you're awake again)

Nekosmash pinned a message to this channel. 12/30/2020 7:51 AM

(That debris field was in the middle there, you can see the factory doors open on the right side of the map now, which is our entry point)

10:10 AM

(so that would be 1 right?)

10:11 AM

Shazi pushes the door open completely and enters the foyer. Looking around for any living or robotic dangers. "Snake man. Does this ring a bell? Does it remember you of factories you saw before? I guess a foyer looks the same for most factories."

(yes, right where you are)

4:55 PM

"Looks the same fro most factories" he agrees with a bit of a smile. "Looks like we have a room with some material hoppers north of us, and to the south we've got the actual assembly floor. Still no idea what they were making in here based on the map on its own"

Shazi nods towards the assembly floor. Sighing on her way there. "As long as it's not a factory for action dolls." She mumbles. "I am not too much of an expert when it gets to getting those things to work." She says still remembering her disastrous attempts at helping with reprogramming the kringle factory.

"You

3:30 PM

are the boss" The Slyth says. "Right or left, what do we poke in first?"

"Right. Assembly floor."

The factory once made vehicles. The vehicles in question were military rated as hoists , galvanizing stations, machine shops.

12:50 PM

There are a few half finished frames hanging up on a hoist, missing critical components

Shazi walks along the stations, her hands running along unfinished military vehicles. One rather sharp part cuts into one of the fingers of her right hand. Annoyed from the bleeding she clenches her fist to stop it. But she knows that this is another diamond for the CBSS. Her finds are great already, right now it was time to find out how much they could get out of this factory. "Is this standard military machinery? And where would we normally find like the server room that is filled with building plans?"

“This would take some repairing but these are slyth military vehicles yes. You would need to modify them for humans to each the controls easily.

11:13 PM

“Server room. Probably on the north end if anything survived”

"If modification isn't possible, then our crews would need to adapt. If you truly serve the CBSS you don't ask them to go overboard and change plans if that means we couldn't use those vehicles for years. I heard there are additional arms one could fit as body modifications. I guess many would be honoured to pilot man those vehicles even if they have to buy custom made clothing from then on. But let us head to the north then, for the server room. Let us see if we can get those plans as digital files."

The door is heavy and sealed around the server room. You see a turret mounted in the ceiling panning back and forth looking to anything it can engage that crosses its detection angle

Shazi points at the turret with her left hand. "Destroying that thing would be a waste of resources. Ignoring it will hurt us." "You, Tovarish." She points at one of the soldiers. "Follow me." With the Soldier behind her she walks back into the assembly floor to look for a ladder and a long metal rod.

You're able to find a long pole buried in a section of ceiling and wall that time has collapsed

With that pole they return to the turret. "Allright. So the idea is to block the turrets movement. Then I'll go up there and cut it's power supply. It would be a shame if we ruined that thing. Could be useful for the CBSS. I'd need some assistance tho."

"And we're not going to ground an electrical current into the floor with this right?" one of them asks. "I saw the last episode of Stupid Ways to Die, from Psyke TV, and they were talking about this Ashen One over in the Protectorate..." The story drones on and you're only half listening by the time you get the pole into the right 'stabbing' position. "...and get this, the guy was a master engineer... how could you make a mistake like that!"

"I've seen it too. On my way here. Always interesting what gets through as Stupid Ways to Die. Sometimes it might have been a brilliant assasination attempt. That Ashen One, didn't die. But the Head Engineer of that place did. Well, he would have been the perfect successor, but I guess it didn't work out for him. Still, that show might be great inspiration for the future. I am ready here tho. I lead the pole you guys help me ram it forward. On three."

THe cast is like throwing a harpoon. It is clean, and lodges into the gyro, preventing the turret from moving or depressing the barrel of its weapon

"So far so good. Comrade." She points at one of her Soldiers. "I did not find a ladder. So get me onto your shoulders I will then try to disable the turret by cutting the power. There might be a security system present. Maybe that thing explodes once I cut the cord. We'll see I guess. So now, get me up there."

(fix/int)

(11)

You’re able to elegantly sever the power cable, and the turret sags in its gimbal mount

Shazi jumps off of the Soldiers shoulders and lands on the ground again. "So that was the easy part. And that turret can be used again. Great. Now we need to find out if that door is protected." She searches the Server Door for some Keypad or a simple handle.

There is just a handle, now that the turret has been dealt with, and you're able to slide the door open to reveal a large server bank nested into the walls along with the overseer controls for the facility itself

"Priwjet factory secrets, you belong to the one and only Shazi. Comrades, anyone good with computers here? Else I will log in and see what I can find."

(program/int, but +2 for their help)

(12)

You’re able to download production methods and placement of automated tooling racks. This could easily be applied to spacecraft as well as ground vehicles

With the data in her hands she just has to smile. "Yuri won't let me kill anyone anymore after I come back with bags full of good news and tech. If it wasn't for the CBSS I would destroy some of it, just to make sure I get hired for my other qualities as well. I also need to be careful, don't want the old man to get a heart attack with all the good news I am bringing." After all those thoughts she looks threw the server to find information about the planet itself. While a factory might not store something like that on a server. Chances are there that she might find something, at least with the Slyth beside her. As Shazi's Slyth is still on the level of a baby snake.

The logs are something its going to take days, possibly even months to sift through to separate the actual events from the legion of chaff messages going back and forth between staff.

(Shazi's Slyth would be a great band name. Or Shazi and the Slyth.)

"Alright this is great. We got a lot. There is most likely plenty more great things to be found here. But our people will get here and deconstruct everything or otherwise try to copy it. Pelsagon is most likely to hear what we found. So before we look behind every door we find, we should push on. Back to the ship. We need to check out the reactor. It is still running. If we find out why and if it is safely usable, that would make settlement or further expedition on this planet way easier. So. Let's get back to the ship." That said she turns around and starts walking to leave the factory.

The group collapses back behind you and your slyth guide leads you through the maze of mines. (the other team was at the reactor I believe, so they'll have some information for you upon getting there)

(No they were sent to the crashed ship to see if someone who can actually read things could find more useful stuff. That's where the other Slyth was. I didn't want anyone to go to the reactor before Shazi was there. Just to make sure nobody gets hurt. Aside from those she wants to hurt.)

7:32 AM

(but the Slyth could know something about it even without seeing it first.)

(i just had my wires crossed since its been a while)

The team working on the ship is still doing so. It is a slow process, documenting as much as possible in the hopes some random data collection sparks inspiration in CBSS scientists back home. The only other point of interest left is the planetary reactor, sitll running after all this time.

Back on the ship Shazi asks the captain to bring them to the reactor. With the usual Kilometer of distance while landing. She doesn't ask for pictures from above. She simply expects active defensive systems that at least equal the ones she encountered before on this planet. All she was hoping for was that this reactor wasn't run by the tentacle beings. Like the one she harvested in the barn earlier that day.

The ship sets down and you emerge. A storm is gathering overhead and a slow drizzle of acid rain begins to fall. It’s not enough to sizzle away anything but it’s warm and stings a bit when it pools up. The arched doorway of the reactor is 200m ahead by time the rain becomes more of a drizzle than a sprinkle

"Let us get out of this rain. I don't want you to get hurt. Slyth man, please look out for mines again." On their way closer she looks out for any of the defensive systems that she already encountered on this planet. "A reactor like that will probably have some defenses, maybe even bigger than those the factory had.""

7:29 AM

Approaching from the westr, youre led through the minefield if one exists. The slyth leading you is essentially guessing. THe blast doors leading in are heavy and there is an absence of a keypad this time

"No keypad. They must have gotten in here someway. Let's try a few things." She turns to the slyth. "Could you tell the door to open?"

He speaks a handful of phrases in slyth , but is unable to make any of them work

Shazi steps closer to the door. "A challenge, time to try a few things. Maybe there is some NFC or otherwise hidden electrical component at the door. There must be a way to open it from the outside, maybe it is just hidden from view." Shazi looks into her backpack to grab some sort of scanner, just to realize that she has none. Was she not prepared enough? Has she ever forgotten to bring the perfect tool? She wonders why she has that feeling that she always has the right tool at hand. Out of nowhere she gets dizzy. She gets some unbearable headache. Lights flicker in her view. The intense lights dilute to memories that rush through her conscious. She falls to her knees and holds her head. Then for the first time she can "see" one of the memories. She sees herself in an office building trying to open a door. Then, looking like her shapeshifting a lock pick appears in her hand. With that she opens the door, then the memory ends and the flicker and dizziness too. It is as if old memories are accessible to her again. She shakes her head and turns to the others. "I just had to think, I am fine." While saying so she lets a survey scanner appear in her hand. This makes her smile. With the scanner she turns around trying to find electrical components or wirings in the door frame.

You find some wiring that leads to a thin panel in the wall that you could peel away, and fold to expose the circuits.

4:08 PM

There are several wires there that link to the door controls

During the process tools appear in her hand and vanish once they aren't needed anymore. With the wires exposed, Shazi gets the battery out and her compad. A microcontroller appears in her hand and she connects it with the battery and compad. With this setup she uses her compad and tries to control and open the gates. Hoping she doen't fry the internal systems of the gates.

The doors shudder and begin to grind open showing a graphite lined hallway. Rad levels on everyone’s pad spike as the doors are opened. (edited)

9:42 AM

The reactor is a free standing core that is about 10m tall burning with a yellow orange lava lamp like mix inside.

9:42 AM

Crackles of the same colored energy spark between coils set in the crown of the room

Shazi almost panics when she sees the rad spikes and her vac suit gives her warnings. She quickly turns to the group. "Shit. Alright shit. Um, I am not too familiar with rad levels. How bad is it?"

“We have twenty minutes before we need to back off or make peace with dying from horrible cancer”

"Okay, 20 minutes or we could stay until we die because waiting 10 years to die of cancer isn't too great either." She shakes her head. "Checck your clocks. We leave in 15 minutes. Until then I want answers to four questions. First, why is this reactor still working. Second, how long will it continue to supply energy. Third, can we control this reactor safely. And lastly, can we use this reactor to power up operations here or even supply a colony with energy. One and two, and, three and four are closely connected, I know. Still I made it four things. Alright let's head inside." Shazi walks in, trying to find some control room.

(which of those questions would shazi try to focus on herself?)

(She would want to focus on if they can control it and use it for a colony or other operations on planet.)

The reactor is controlled as long as it remains within the housing it is built in. The facility seems to be controlling the reactor on its own without input, and there is still 97% of the fuel supply remaining despite it running for all this time.

"Another jackpot. This will be easily usable for us. So many good news." "This will be usable for us." She tells the other soldiers before she checks the clock. "Let us not risk too much. I still have to close the door on our way out."

(3xp, 5000 credits)

8:01 AM

Closing the door, the rad levels begin dropping. The reactor seems to be fine despite you guys going in and out. A colony project built around it would have all the power it could ever need

(Lvl 2-> 3 HP 9 -> 10 Notice -1 -> 0 Fix -1 -> 0 Pilot -1 -> 0 )

They return to the ship and as on the way there, Shazi keeps mostly to herself. She tries to learn some more Slyth and looks through all of the good things they found. It was only two days back to Pelsagon and with only Yuri to report to, she didn't think it was necessary to prepare for that report. Once back in Pelsagon she put everything she found into her backpack and with her 'Nikita' look she tells the Slyth to report to the Party Headquarters. It was her destination too, but she opted to go there alone. She would try to get to the Chairmans private room, or better wait in front of it, as she doesn't want to get the guards into too much trouble.

You’re let through without as much fuss this time directly to the office of chairman yuri, who is pleased to see you have returned safely and is eager for your report

Shazi closes the door happy to see that no guards are present in Yuri's office. She walks over to him while he was still sitting behind his desk. She sits down on the side of his desk, one leg extended with her foot touching the ground, her left thigh rests on the table with her leg bent. She looks at Yuri and changes from Nikita to her real self and puts a few papers in front of him together with a thumb drive. "Yuri. Good to see you. That planet you sent me to, well, a Gold Mine, a real Gold Mine, and I didn't even see everything. Well, you know, exploring wasn't one of my specialties before, you know, being frozen. The good thing is that it brought some memories back, and more. But that is another thing. I mean you can read through the papers and look at the stick but I guess you have people for that. The planet has a working reactor that could fuel any colonization attempts. There is an auto farm there that could be deconstructed and brought here to better our food situation. Or just copy how that thing works. Oh and I've brought plans for some auto tool racks and we found a factory for military vehicles. But the vehicles must be adjusted or the personnel needs additional arms, because that world was a Slyth world. Do you actually know that there are slyth walking among the stars again? I brought two of them with me. Any questions?"

"I did know about the Slyth. When Mr. Trivedi joined us from the UNW, he brought one with him. They'll be pleased to know the information you brought back can assist their work of vehicle and space craft production. Colonization, we're going to need people for that." he sighs "We're going to need a lot more people

"Well at least we have many that would be willing to take the risk. Not that it's bad to be here, but you know what I mean. Don't make me become a recruiter, please." She says with a laugh. "You know I help wherever I can, like back then during the revolution. Even if I have to tell people to join our cause or colonize a dark world. Yeah I wasn't able to lift the veil. But for now, Yuri, do you know where I could find a nice little apartment? Nothing fancy, nothing special, some horseradish vodka would be nice tho."

"A hero of the revolution deserves an apartment in the chairman's residence here. I...I never really got to apologize, truly apologize, for how things were handled after the war. I tried looking, I spent a lot of time looking, but the years went on, the leads dried up. The Tenebrian-Black Sun war started, and then The Scream and the party barely hung on through that"

Shazi sighs and looks down. She speaks slowly, thoughtful, really reminiscing the past. "I know Yuri, I know. It wasn't you who put me in there. Just this bunch of cowards who were kinda afraid of me. Huh, well, but their idea wasn't bad. I was at the height of my ability and still young enough. It wasn't dumb to conserve this when a calm time was probably ahead. And there is always bad times. And it seems like I missed some of them where I could have been of help. But we got here without me." "The waking up process still has me pretty messed up. So many things that I can't remember. My memory is like some cheese. But I still remember the time when I told my dad that I wanted to join the underground movement he was in. I had him because I knew he was an assassin and nobody else in our family knew. Well, that was when we met. I guess he hoped that the three days of training with you would make me want to reconsider. And damn, I can still remember the pain, I was like 15 or 16 and you where like a hammer, the real reality check that this wasn't a game." She looks back up and at Yuri, with a sad smile on her face. "I didn't quit. I became who I am now. So many from back then sacrificed everything to make the revolution a success. Tell me Yuri, was it? Are we on the right track? Where does our track lead? Just tell me something nice."

“Our movement has freed the people of several worlds. It hasn’t been painless. Blood has had to flow, but our revolution is strong. You’ve come back perhaps at the best time, so much more than just an assassin. Your horizons are broader now than they ever would have been during our struggle. You could be anything you want in our new state, far more than just a pretty flesh dancer with a knife”

She chuckles. "Flesh dancer with a knife. That is a great one. But you are most likely right. It murdering people doesn't get us what we need, then I surely do different things to get us forward. But after this first mission I know that I need some more rest. I can't have a breakdown or be not at my fullest when it really matters next time. I don't know when this will be. A few days? weeks? Months? I don't know. But I guess I accumulated some vacation days over the last decades. I hope you are okay with that. And once I am feeling better, I'll do what is needed. Like I always did."

“Take as long as you like Shazi. You’ve done us a great service many times now. You have more than earned your rest”

"Thank you." She touches Yuri and changes into him. "Until I have my own apartement, I'll sleep on your couch. I guess they won't stop me when I look like you." That said she leaves the office.

Жазгул ’Жази’ Еомова (Shazgul 'Shazi' Jeomowa) Species: Human Gender: Female Age: 31 Height: 1,67m Build: average to slender Eyes: Amber with Green as sectoral heterochromia Hair: dark brown, almost black (She is actually just a bit younger than the Chairman, but due to being forgotten in Cryo, her biological age is still quite low.) (edited)

2:21 AM

Physical Description: Shazi is quite literally a woman of many faces and appearances. The one she was born with, her real unique genetic fingerprint, is that of an average height and build woman of earthen's Central Asian descent. A look not many get to see. Only those she trusts the most. She'll occasionally shows it to those she took pride in killing them. Although she loves to dress up from time to time, she normally walks the streets in clothing and with a look that lets her blend in and become invisible to those who don't especially look for her. In most cases she won't carry weapons or tools visibly with her. Unless it helps her disguise. What she carries with her at all times tho is a book, filled with poems and short stories of her ancestors. While she likes to read in it from time to time, it is mostly about four pages in the book. Each page covered with the DNA of a certain Person. Two of which were skilled assassins who Shazi killed before they could kill her. The third one is a farmers daughter from Pelsagon who died during the Revolution. And the forth one, is her own, should she ever forget who she really is. She's got more of them in her apartment, and in secret storage places, just in case her book gets stolen. By touching the pages she is able to change into them, into their look on the day they died. And she uses those three appearances when she is on a job or simply outside of her home. Those aliases are "Hanna", a young blonde woman with blue eyes and about ten centimeters bigger than Shazi. "Nikita" is the farmers daughter, a look that really fits into present day Pelsagon. She is about the same height as Shazi and has a hard look on her face. Lastly there is "Ichi" a woman with a mix of earthens eastern asian cultures. She is the alter ego that Shazi loves to use when she wants to dress up. Besides those, she uses numerous other faces that never look the same. Biography: Redacted (edited)

2:22 AM

Level 3 Жазгул ’Жази’ Еомова (Shazi)                
Yama Queen
❤️  10/10
🛡️  14
⚔️  1
⏳ 9/12

ST | DE | CO | IN | WI | CH
 8   14    8   14   15   14

Adm  -1  | Lead -1  | Shoot  0
Con  -1  | Noti  0  | Sneak  0
Exe  -1  | Perf -1  | Stab   0
Fix   0  | Pilo  0  | Surv  -1
Heal -1  | Prog  0  | Talk   0
Know -1  | Pun  -1  | Trade -1

Foci:
Maskwalker, Ghost Tech


🗡️ 
9mm PMM +2      | 1d6 +1
Knife +2        | 1d6 +1
Sniper Rifle +2 | 2d8 +1      
That Slyth Gun ?| ?

(I just put this all here as I transfer her over from Roll20 to the Google Doc, so it has its place here as well)

An empty bottle of Vodka can be seen through a telescopic sight, then the sight moves, a bit up, a bit to the side. A shot can be heard, and the sight quickly returns to the empty bottle, which now turned into broken glass. From another perspective, Shazi can be seen as she quickly gets up and disassembles her sniper rifle and stows it away in a backpack. She then quickly stops the timer on her wristwatch, and looks at the time with a satisfied smile. She walks over to a table and grabs a pretty empty bottle of vodka, which becomes empty just seconds later. The smile from before has turned into a look of grief and resignation. It cuts to a bird-view shot, that shows her walking towards where the last vodka bottle stood, now with the newly emptied one. The shooting range is next to a dacha. And as it further zooms out, it is indicated that this place in somewhere remote, with no population close to it. It cuts to scenes from the last one and a half years, with herself as the narrator. * "I lost my soul, forgot my way. There are no mistakes that I've not made. Changes hurt, I know, but I'm all alone. Try changing jobs, they said." *Shazi is seen as one of her alter egos in a cafe on Pelsagon. Serving coffee, and tschai. All goes well until one day a guest looks down on her, and makes remarks about how someone could end up being a waitress. For Shazi, anyone within the CBSS should be the same, no matter what they work, as long as they serve the people of the CBSS. So insulted by this person, she poisons the coffee of them, and in the next scene they die of an heart attack. Shazi throws her apron away. In the next scene, she stands in front of the Chairman, who deletes the charges against her, for murder. With a stern and disappointed look on his face. "I tried changing lovers, changing my furniture, change my bed covers, change where I lived. But all that could have helped, was to change my heart. But there is no chance I ever do that."

3:56 PM

. Shazi is seen entering the dacha for the first time. Send to no man's land to be of no harm to anyone. Time goes by in a time-lapse. Until it reaches the here and now, and the just emptied vodka bottle turns to broken glass as well. She packs her things and walks to the door. "So I turn the lights off. I'll make a plan. I'm small, but mighty as I can. I'll be invincible again." The last scene is filmed over the shoulder of the Chairman, as he reads a mail without sender.

I'll be doing good for our people again. My way. I can not sit and wait. I can not be locked away. Don't look for me. Don't send them to try and find me. I'll report back when I feel like it. I still have the key to your apartment. Change the locks or keep them as is.

(I just put this here so it doesn't get lost)

In the back room of a bar on Vari, a group of men is playing poker. They smoke, they laugh, mountains of chips keep changing hands. And they curse at the CBSS again and again. The communists would be bad for business. Life would be worse now, due to them. Protection rackets and drug deals would no longer be what they used to be. The word overthrow is mentioned here and there. But on the whole, it just seems like the ravings of drunken men. A woman enters the back room with a tray full of vodka shots. She hands out the glasses and has to listen to sexist remarks. She skillfully avoids the hands that try to grab her. The men toast each other and the young woman goes to the door, but she doesn't leave the room, she locks it. When she turns around, five of the six men are already lying with their heads on the table and the sixth is looking shocked at his game and business partners. "Lydia, what is the meaning of this?" He asks, confused. The young woman walks over to the table, kicks one of the men off his chair and sits down. "Lydia? Oh, she's at home. A nice young woman. A loyal communist. She'll go a long way. Not you." The woman's face and entire appearance changes. Now a blonde woman is sitting there in a black trench coat. The tray is now a pistol with a silencer. It is Shazi as her 'Nikita' alter ego. "Who are you, bitch?" The man asks, now far more aggressively than moments before. Shazi is unimpressed. "I ask the questions. You answer. Boris Stepanovic. You relieve good citizens of the CBSS of their savings for protection money, when the CBSS offers this protection for free. You and your business partners are also putting drugs into circulation and driving good citizens into addiction. Tell me the name of your drug supplier and the distribution channel." "Who do you think you are, I'm not going to tell you..." At that moment, Shazi pulls the trigger and a bullet pierces the calf of the man who is now screaming. Shazi gets up and walks to Boris. She calmly repeats the question. She leans forward and Boris whispers the answer into her ear. "Good boy." She says as her attention is drawn to the television in the room. A news program is currently reporting on the Straight Blades attacks on Pelsagon. And the possible links to the Church of Benevolence, two groups she had never heard of before. "Oh." She says "I think I have to go. I'm afraid I don't have time to play anymore." At that moment, she pulls the trigger and also ends the life of Boris Stepanovic. Six lives taken, the lives of many improved. A day like any other… (two years since I posted some Shazi snippet. Felt like typing something, so I did. No need to react to it, it is just for me.) (edited)