Iron Stars

Ife takes a deep breath of the mountain air, the air of Heras is pure despite many many people living here.

06:01

The city of Mytikas is bustling with people going about their day, rebuilding , sowing fields and performing the daily tasks of life. Ships come into the system occasionally but it’s a long process. The protectorate had good reason to be suspicious of incoming traffic after the assassination of the former Vice Regent

06:01

Herald Daitrij leads now, and the Protectorate seems finally to be on proper footing. That said, there’s always something to fix and your tools rattle on your rig

Ife’s parting words with the trader-captain whose ship she bought passage on are heated, and she walks away without the promised pay that would’ve covered the expense, broke her even. Whatever. Not this trip, but six on, the cargo bay door hydraulic housing he refused to give her scrap to fix will fail. God willing, no one will be in its shadow at a port. “But how kind can God be?” she murmurs to herself as she gets her first real look at Mytikas. Provincial fields, ruins, broken ship parts, the spaceport more a clear area of ground than infrastructure... “What a mess.” But there are people, and growing things. That is enough. Ife rolls her shoulders and starts forward into the flow of foot traffic. Standing six feet even, broad, muscular and fat, everything she owns in her bulky coat except the tool kit on her hip, she cuts crowds easily enough. Her goal is past the traders gathered to receive the few ships permitted entry. Whatever broken tech they may have won’t find her a place here. She looks to the rebuilding efforts she can see underway, and seeks out one that seems to suit her mechanical and programming skill. (edited)

It looks like a large group of construction vehicles and soldiers are mustering near the South Gate of Mytikas , about a dozen heavy vehicles packed with bridging laminates and enough soldiers to form a large camp and possible even a besieging force

Ife walks over towards the construction vehicles casually, listening as she approaches to overhear any orders being given about this job to other workers to gather some context.

There is an island of separatists out near the Garden of Bones, who promised to rejoin the protectorate but then backed out on their promise after accepting thousands of tons of metal for rebuilding that Mytikas really did not have at the time for its own rebuilding. The hope is that the fact of a siege alone will be enough to get them to comply, and offer the materials they promised to manufacture in return, but if not, a more direct assault and occupation of the settlement would be needed

Ife looks for the foreman of the construction crew to sign on.

The foreman is just finishing some sort of huddle , and as the other workers begin heading to their positions he finds himself standing alone

“Hello,” Ife calls. As she approaches she leans against one of the loaded vehicles, reducing the amount she looms over him. “Big job. I’m new here, need work. Use a hand?”

"We could use another hand. You any good with those tools you've got strapped all over you?|

“Be weird if I wasn’t, yeah?” Ife shifts her weight slightly, prompting various clinks and rattles from her gear. “Just decorating or something? But I am, yeah. Bit of mechanical repair, bit of programming, bit of picking up heavy shit. Where do you want me?” (edited)

He thinks for a moment. "Rear truck, has the crane and the trailer of laminates on it. Heaviest part of the job and the most complex-but it seems like you know what you're doing. We'll talk more over the radio en route, mount up and give me five minutes to get my people moving. I'll explain the job in some more detail"

Ife tips him a salute and walks back. She nods to the other workers as she climbs aboard, making short introductions as needed, then sits staring out at the mountains. Her mood and expression seem content, despite being surrounded by strangers and on her way to do as-yet vaguely specified work. As more people pile in she listens to any chatter or griping. Gathering more info by osmosis about the local situation. (edited)

The trucks fire their engines up as they begin rolling away from Mytikas, packed down with people and materials. The radio crackles and the headset is passed back to you by a curious looking assistant driver

Ife puts it on and tunes something on the cabling running from her temples, greeting the foreman with a, “Newbie here. Go ahead.”

“Newbie I know you probably overheard some of What is going on but you should hear it first hand”

05:46

“The place we are going is an island to the west of the city near the garden of bones. A scrapper clan led by an Ashen One named Bavid lives there and they promised to refurbish some ships and assist us in our fight against pirates out in the ocean. They never showed and we never got our vessels , even though the scrapper clan had no problems taking our food and materials as advanced payment. We hope the situation can be handled peacefully but if it can’t we will be laying down bridges while under fire so our soldiers can storm the small village there and arrest bavid”

Ife takes this in with a placid expression and a few bland hums in the right places to let him know she’s still listening. Finally, she asks, “So, Garden of Bones. That a cemetery or an actual... sorta... calcium situation?”

"It was a cemetery once, then it was again, now its a mildly radioactive exclusion zone that was exposed to an orbital bombardment. We're going to be at the very edge of it, so we won't have to worry too mcuh about exposure- especially if this is a quick mission

“Good to know,” Ife says. “This planet is a lovely place.” Getting back to the topic at hand, she adds, “I got it. While the talking is still happening, though— will we prep supports or materials for the bridges, or totally stay low?”

"I think seeing the swiftness we could react with will go a long way toward selling our message of mandatory cooperation"

17:22

"Having defensive manlets in position, and bridging materials ready to be laid sends a strong signal, and we can leave the bridge even if we come to an agreement- an easier way for them to access the mainland might endear them"

“Copy that.” Ife’s eyes scan the landscape as they travel on. “Anything else, boss?”

"Not unless you have questions. Hell of a way to get introduced to Heras you picked"

Ife laughs from deep in her belly. "Better to see the ugly first than get surprised by it later. And I am happy for the work. I'll let you go, then. See you on the site." She hands back the headset and settles in for the rest of the ride, ready to pile out with the other workers and start preparation the moment they reach their destination.

The trip has everyone donning masks and wraps as the dust and general unpleasantness of the conditions begins getting to everyone. The island is ahead and you can see the moored and broken apart ships that have been repurposed into habitations , defensive walls, and a town hall that reminds you of a combination admin center and shore battery in one. A turret taken from a sea battleship has been erected on a heavily reinforced platform in the middle of town and its three barrels begin swiveling and depressing to face the oncoming convoy

Ife joins the group by grabbing a bandana out of her pocket to tie over her nose and mouth, then pulling her safety goggles up into place. “I assume there’s a plan for the gun,” Ife comments to one of the other workers. “Other than, y’know— hope they shoot a different rig.”

03:15

(would she be able to get any idea of the gun’s condition from this distance?)

The gun looks unreliable, and its not clear if the tower is going to hold up to it being fired more than once, given the tremendous recoil

(good to know! ready to get into this when u are

)

"Ife..." and then a few more names of workers from different cars. "Come with me into the village, I want some witnesses for how this talk goes down"

Ife's surprised by being included in the party at first. On second thought, being a new arrival gives her distance from local issues. She nods her assent and follows the delegation as it heads in. If nothing else, there may be opportunities to glean more information about the structural integrity of the place before an assault. God willing, it's all on-par with the piss-poor support given to the gun.

Heading across the river in a raft, you can see an Ashen One and a pair of bodyguards on the opposite shore. To their credit, they're showing restraint, and weapons are being kept in a manner that shows they're not planning to open fire on you while helpless and crossing. The raft is beached with a soft thud, and you step out onto the shore. Welcome to our humble colony Bavi'd says, looking on with impassive, Ashen One goggles.

Ife has yet to encounter an Ashen One in 31 years of life, previously being a bit isolated. Her assumption is that he’s clothed and goggled against the conditions here like she is. The distortion in the sound of his voice she chalks up to some sort of more sophisticated filter. She takes the opportunity to study this entry point to the island compound. Beyond the bodyguards, she’s interested in the visible security and reinforcement.

There are shooters in the upper floors of most buildings. They’re not on a high level of alert right now but you get to about 50 as bavid and the expedition leader make introductions.

02:47

There are a few grav trucks which must be how they get to shore parked nearby as well about 25m from you next to the town hall.

Ife’s bland expression curls into one of distaste as she counts up the gunmen, hidden under her bandana. Accepted supplies, promised cooperation, reneged on promise, willing to kill to keep their spoils. She listens as the diplomats make their case, but doesn’t put much faith in the negotiation. Thieves know words aren’t worth more than what you can grab when the talking’s done.

We told the Protectorate they'd have their ships, but I never said when Bavid laughs, in the strange mechanical screeching ashen one can sometimes do

15:03

They're done now though! You're free to take them He gestures to the opposite side of town where a trio of rusting tugboats have had a few armored plates welded over some portholes, and a fresh coat of paint is already flaking away.

Got a sweet deal with the Knights of Draconis anyway, you move on us, and you'll have mechs here within days to kick your asses inside your bodies

Ife can’t help herself as she looks at the shoddy work. She laughs, loud. At the looks she gets from Bavid’s people and the delegation she accompanies, she shrugs apologetically and presses a hand to her belly. “Sorry, sorry. Must say, if your deals are as well executed as your ‘upgrades,’ these Knights will only come to thank us for doing away with you.” Ife takes the time to point out the flaws in the ships presented, so her statement resembles more of a professional evaluation than an insult— though it’s definitely intended as an insult. “These tugs might be strong and fast—that depends on their condition within—but they aren’t designed for combat, and will not take gun mounts without serious risk of capsizing at the size and power necessary to battle other ships. Not that I would trust such gun mounts if they had even been attempted.” She points up at the cannon mounted to defend the island. “Seeing as that one may fire once, but will collapse under its own recoil before a second shot.” She lets that information hang for a moment before returning to the ships. “The added armor is mounted with shoddy, visible welds, not a sub-structure that would allow for plating removal, for repairs or replacement. The final incompetence: the whole job has been coated with latex interior paint.” She laughs again, a short bark. “And the color tint is badly mixed.” (edited)

There is a quiet, festering silence from Bavid. Your words are true, every single one. He knows, the mission commander knows, no doubt most of Bavid's people know too as they had a direct hand in all this. What do I need to do to make you people go away?

Ife shuts her mouth and defers to the negotiators. She knows she is an outsider here. She hadn’t even meant to speak before, the work was just so laughable. She turns her attention back to the best positions to build their bridges to on the island, should the farce turn to violence, so she can offer additional insight to her fellow workers.

Your compad vibrates gently. ‘’’Get to shore. Get everyone working’’’

Ife checks it casually, then, when she sees an opportune moment, she splits from the diplomatic party and makes for the beached raft.

(Sneak/dex)

(12, somehow!)

None observe your departure while the negotiations continue. You can only guess at what Bavid might be saying over there. Quietly, the group begins gathering around you, eager for any scrap of news of what might be happening on the island

Ife begins to sketch out what she gathered of the defenses, the shoreline structures, and, verbally, the likely outcome of negotiations. “...so there, there, and there would be best spots for landing. The defenses here are scavenged and cobbled together. Whatever else may be within, there are no skilled engineers. But...” She sucks her teeth, deciding how to phrase this. “The materials sent look to have been used, and poorly. The only way they are coming back out is as scrap. And that will not be relinquished without a fight— I counted 50 in the upper parts of buildings, armed. “This is why I was sent back to start us here, I think,” she surmises. “The negotiation group perhaps plans to keep attention focused on them while we move. This place must fall.” She looks to the foreman. “To work?”

They begin working, under your command (fix/int or lead/cha, and we'll sort of fill in from there)

(woof. lets see if she can do this. rolling int/fix)

19:37

(jesus thats another 12)

19:37

(the rest of my time as ife will never measure up to this shfjfjfj)

The laminates are in place, assembled quickly and the siege manlets are moved into position as the negotiations are ongoing. Those on the opposite bank are taking a terrible risk by letting things drag on and keeping their attention. Once the bridge is fired out to the island, all bets are off, and the gunfire will begin. A trio of mortars are being set up behind the closest of the manlets and you're able to use your surveying senses to help them zero in on buildings with larger concentrations of shooters in them. "Well then Ife, are we ready?"

Ife flicks the brim of the foreman’s hard hat as they gather in a final huddle. “If you’re asking me, do I get your hat?” Joking aside, she nods. “We’re as ready as we’re gonna be, probably. I’ll message the contact that sent me back. Have them take defensive position— then, on their mark, we’ll hit it. Prep finished. Get safe as you can, then reply to start, she taps out.

"Sure" he laughs, taking off his hard hat and handing it over. Kick it off. Try to hit those buildings or we're minced

02:47

You hear more of Bavid's mechanical laughter, carried out across the calm surface of the water

Ife waves the foreman off. “Nah, I was joking, it’ll fuck up my hair.” She checks her compad on feeling the vibration and looks to the others. “Now.” She moves into action with the rest, indicating for the mortars the most densely occupied buildings she saw.

There is a mighty explosion of sound as the bridge and the mortar battery fire at the same time. A trio of explosions impact the settlement, sending one of the buildings listing. The other two sends clods of dirt skyward but the resulting dust is enough to foul accurate incoming fire. soldiers begin pouring over the bridge into the settlement, and as you look on, you can see pops and flashes of muzzle flash through the rising clouds of dust.

05:29

Splashes in the water show the negotiation party struggling with their opposite number in the shallows of the island. The mission commander and Bavid are exchanging punches over and over with one another.

Ife presses her hand to her covered face briefly at the sight of these two supposed VIPs essentially mud wrestling. She lowers it and goes for her laser pistol, drops to a knee and tries to line up a shot on Bavid, but she’s not a marksman— and there’s a whole lot of flailing limbs, murky water, and smoke to deal with. “God... damn it.” She shoves her pistol in her jacket pocket and goes pounding across one of the bridges recently vacated by the soldiers. With everything going on further in, she doesn’t feel she can count on them noticing the struggle and intervening before a negotiator gets drowned in knee-high water. (edited)

That is exactly what begins happening as you get to within 20m of the fight. A leg sweep has the mission commander on his back, as bavid plunges him below the surface of the water- his mechanically assisted strength an incredible force multiplier when it comes to throttling

Ife doesn’t bother with anything sophisticated. She just keeps up her charge, building up speed, and throws all 100-some kilos of herself at Bavid in a brutal tackle.

(Exert/str)

(10!)

You are a whirlwind of force as you knock Bavid off his feet and all three of you go sprawling into the shallows kicking up splashes of river foam and blood. You're all close enough to reach one another, though Bavid and the Mission commander have not yet regained their feet , though Ife has. (edited)

Ife sits on Bavid, yanking his torso up by the collar so he doesn’t drown, and digs around in her toolkit with her free hand for zip ties, wire, cord, duct tape, anything to restrain this guy. She commands him through gritted teeth to, “Stay down, dumbass. It’s over.”

You’ve got some high tensile wire in your kit and if he struggles you can probably weld it later. Skirmishes along the bridge and the settlement itself are ongoing. Your shore battery is out of action for now, not willing to risk almost certainly hitting friendlies. (edited)

Ife secures Bavid with the wire and holds him down but not submerged while the mission commander gets up. “Hey, boss, can you walk? This guy needs to get back across into holding. Think I’m still needed here, especially if that gun hasn’t fallen over yet.”

(Physical save)

(failed!)

The triplicate cannon fires, the shockwave throws everyone back over, sending you, bavid, and the mission commander sprawling through the shadows once again. your shore battery has gone up in an explosion , a massive one, and there's no doubt that the entire mortar division has been killed along with who knows how many of the engineering team. The sound is muted as your ears are ringing from standing thise close to the gun, but you can hear the groan of the metal bending, and sagging, before finally toppling over and kicking up yet more dust- bringing down one of the habitation towers with it

Ife comes up sputtering, soaked with muddy, bloody water. The smell of the discharged gun, smoke, fire, blood, and choking dust from the collapsed building grip her with remembered terror. Old memories. Bad memories. When someone grabs at her she starts to lash out instinctively before realizing it's the mission commander trying to recover himself. She pushes herself to her knees. Takes in the destroyed battery, the distant ruin of the gun and tenement under it. More splashing reminds her that Bavid is still around. She tries to grab him before he can wriggle away, furious and vengeful despite herself. "You-- waste of air! Tell me why I shouldn't drown your ass right now!"

He uses the oxygen to force his lungs to function as a jet of water, trying to blind you for a few moments to wriggle out of your grip, but he has not downed enough water to do more than spritz you.

Ife's face goes stony. "This is not real to you. Those people on the mortar, your own people under the gun, anybody dead on the ocean without ships to defend them... Your actions don't have consequences. You make them go away." She pushes herself to get up while he's still struggling. Then she plants a boot on his faceplate and pushes down. She stands up on him, full force of her weight keeping him under the water.

He tries to rise but his injuries, fatigue from fighting, and your own sturdy frame keeps forcing him back into the water every time he gets leverage. The bubbles become less and less frequent, and eventually stop all together.

22:16

The smoke and general confusion gives way to the violence ending. Protectorate troops were never going to be kept out of the settlement for more than a few hours in the best case. You're coming home with casualties, perhaps more than expected, but who can say what the long term results of letting this dangerous group of renegades continue existing would have been- especially with a leader as careless and cruel as Bavi'd Dowie. (edited)

22:16

(6xp, 10,000 credits ,and i am so sorry your intro mission was so fucking dark

(I FUCKING FORGOT THAT WAS HIS NAME AGAIN. JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE)

22:28

Ife is quiet on the ride back in, having stuck with the battered negotiating team to get them back to the right side of the shore, once all that was left on the island was rubble to be picked through and fires to be put out. It's only as they near town again she says to the mission commander, "If I may make a request of you... please do not spread word that that man was killed by someone. Especially not by me. Let it be known as it was: a cruel man meeting a stupid fate. Found facedown in the mud. No one needs a martyr from a situation as pointless as that." Once she parts ways with them she regroups with what's left of the engineering core. She didn't know anyone for very long, but she's hoping she'll recognize some of those she met still living in the crowd. (edited)

22:28

(also totally no worries i'm the one who murked a dude brutally lmfao)

Level Up Level: 2 Focus: Hacker (Level 2) Old HP: 6 HP Roll: 7 New HP: 7 New Skills: Punch-1 (1 non-combat point banked) Current AB: 0

A good portion of the construction team is alive. Several were killed and a few injured when the rigged battleship gun fired , which was expected. They’re just happy to be alive and happy they won’t have to witness the scores of summary executions that the military is no doubt going to be forced to carry out now (edited)

01:33

It is dark by time you see the lights of Mytikas on the hilltop ahead , and the patrolling aircraft above it

Level Up Level: 3 Focus: N/A Old HP: 7 HP Roll: 12 New HP: 12 New Skills: Fix-2, Program-2 (banked point + points from char creation spent) Current AB: 0

01:40

Ife can't be quite as light-hearted with them, seeing as she still has the mud on her boots from the summary execution she performed, but she puts a smile on and shakes some hands with more giddy crew. She looks for the foreman-- if he isn't around, she asks who she should talk to about more permanent work and where to find lodging, now that she's proven her worth.

The foreman has survived and saw your heroism. The Protectorate is always looking for people willing to shore up its pioneer corps. Dozens of worlds around Heras have never been surveyed or explored and thus seems like the perfect mission for someone with such bravery and common sense

Ife isn’t as worried about her heroism being known as her technical skills, but then this wasn’t much of a technical job in the end. She makes a note of where he says she should check in to register for the Pioneer Corps, then wishes him good rest as she wanders deeper into Mytikas by night. Her new pay means she can rent a room with a window. Luxury.

(EP has a lot of unexplored worlds around it, they also have a colony project on a formerly abandoned world as well, i think either could use a technician)

Ife secures a room for the night and wakes late in the day. Her whole body complains about the stresses she put on it the day prior, but a long shower and some hot food from a street vendor quiet it down. Now that she actually has some credits to her name, she decides it's time to expand what stuff she has to her name beyond what fits in her jacket pockets or what she can attach to her belt. She looks for shops or a marketplace where she can purchase a better inventory of supplies before she signs up for a job with the Pioneer Corps. (edited)

19:07

(how is shopping handled? i presume most basic gear is available, and weapons/armor appropriate to TL? but idk how developed manufacturing is on heras)

(Anything TL4, as well as storm armor and shear rifles. I usually just have people list what they want and if it’s not available for some reason I’ll let them know)

(will do!)

Purchases Starting Credits: 10,100c Armor: Combat Field Uniform (1,000c) Weapons: Medium Advanced Melee Weapon (Monoblade Machete, 60c) Ammo/Power: Type-A Power Cell (x4, 40) Communications: Field Radio (x2, 400c) Computing: Line Shunt (x3, 300c) Field: Backpack (TL4, 50c), Atmofilter (100c), Binoculars (TL4, 200c), Low-light Goggles (200c), Navcomp (500c), Glowbugs (x10, 50c), Survey Scanner (250c), Survival Kit (50c), Rope (TL4, 20m, 40c) Total Cost: 3,405c Ending Credits: 6,695c

(edited)

06:29

(let me know if everything looks ok when u get the chance)

(Lift and Lazarus patches/ as well as all tl 4 meds are not available anywhere. The frontier medicine in the iron stars book is what we have instead for now) (edited)

(gotcha, fixed)

17:18

Ife rolls her shoulders as she situates her new, fairly heavy pack on her back. But it feels good to be properly equipped and still have some walking around money. Her next stop is the recruiting headquarters of the Pioneer Corps, where she evaluates her options. She isn't so much interested in more negotiation, let alone any kind of conquering or cultural assimilation, but the work on the abandoned world... that seems interesting. She arranges to be on the next transport out to it.

(if you need me to point you to our book let me know, i know we have an obscene amount of material now)

18:41

Tecmessa is your destination, where another Protectorate Operative named Joseph Clarke is about to deliver some excavation and construction equipment to the colony. With it in your hands, and the work team that comes with it, the holding there may develop into soemthing beautiful, and the desert may bloom again.

As the transport comes out of the clouds and Ife gets a look at the land unfolding under it out of her window, her eyebrows rise. The desert landscape is beyond desolate. The suggestion of ruins and old settlements are so infrequent as to be startling when they do appear. Whatever she'd imagined before doesn't compare to the lonely look of the actual planet. When she disembarks she tugs her bandana up over her mouth again to protect against wind and sand. She queues with other new Pioneer Corp arrivals for briefing and assignment to a place to sleep and work to do.

(and no im good, i just missed that part. reviewing the book now)

There is colony housing built here already in advance of incoming settlers, and although finished they've never had anyone staying inside of them before- previous pioneers simply established the habs and moved on to other projects on other worlds. It seems like a good enough billet, and nearby the construction machines have been delivered and are in working order for now. You do notice however that no building supplies have been left for anything else. Things will need to be sourced locally, at least for now.

With plenty of housing available for now, Ife lays claim to a modest hab, more a small cargo container with plumbing than a proper house. It suits her just fine. The dust on every surface and the melancholy smell of both disuse and recent construction don’t, though. She invests half an hour for settling in— using some shop towels to wipe down surfaces, wetting one to clean the interior and exterior of all two of her windows, and making her bed with the sheets and Aso-Oke blanket she left home with. The scents that unfold from it are deeply nostalgic. Plant dye, her old home, familiar laundry soap... "We can take root here," Ife promises to the air, or perhaps the blanket. She looks out the window. "...though the soil will have to be amended. I will work hard." She finishes putting away some of her heavier gear less likely to be used right away and heads back out the center of the abandoned village. At the place that seems to be the gathering point for tentative recolonization efforts, she takes time to read survey and scouting reports to get a better idea of the lay of the land, and its condition.

20:01

(i see on the map of tecmessa there's a settlement in the northwest-- i assume that's this place? and also a temple-looking structure in the middle, and a mining operation in the center north. is there any detailed information available about these sites?)

(yeah northwest settlement is where we are)

20:33

(no information on those sites. The central temple has a lot of water in and around it, like a big cistern, but no ones been at ground level)

(is there established leadership/an npc ife should be reporting to? or are people just kinda milling around? dont wanna step on toes but she'll prob want to put a scouting party together)

(They're disorganized. You've essentially got carte blanche from home to do what you need to do, so long as the place gets running)

(good deal!)

20:42

Ife reads the sparse reports with a frown, and studies the other workers as they file through, do so as well, talk in small groups, ask about various things or comment on the equipment. Eventually she nods to herself and collects a table from the side of the room. She sets it down in the center, places the existing reports to the side, and spreads out her navcomp. She sets it up to begin the creation of a draft physical map to be notated in the field, for eventual digital conversion. Then she says, loudly, "I am putting together a scouting party to the temple structure. If any are interested, please join me. We will set out in three hours."

(how many would you want, ideally)

(lets say 3 or 4. enough to be a decent squad but not so many it would be multiple vehicles. speaking of which, any exploration vehicles in with the equipment, or we walking? don’t need anything fancy if it can go above walking speed lol)

One of the construction vehicles is a large flatbed, and seems to be your best option right now.

15:16

You fill your team out with 3 more members, who seem handy and hardy enough to get by in the wild without causing you too much trouble

Ife ends up with three others-- Sanchez, Andros, and Park. Engineers like her, but with their own specializations from civil to electrical, for the most part quiet and apparently glad to have something concrete to do. Together they determine their approach route to the temple structure. With a brief break to grab any necessary gear not currently with them, which Ife uses to change into her new (to her) combat uniform, they reconvene at the truck. Ife lets Sanchez dibs driving and Park take shotgun, piling into the back with Andros. She unfolds her navcomp again as they set out. With binoculars and brief stops to take various measurements, she continues filling out the map. Eventually they come to a halt at their previously-decided first scouting point. About a kilometer from the temple and aided by the barren landscape, Ife passes around her high-powered binoculars so they can get a closer look at it from ground level.

18:18

(went ahead and gave them names to keep better track of them)

19:44

The view is an imposing one, with battlements carved into the lower reaches of this mountain range turned massive water repository.

"We should take samples of the water," Ife notes. "If it's potable, perhaps from an aquifer, we could work on drawing from it..." She watches for a while, looking for any sign of movement or animal life. So far she hasn't seen any birds, or even insects, which doesn't bode well. But this place being truly abandoned would make their survey simpler.

You’re seeing birds at the top post reaches of the mountain like collector, no doubt basking in the waters and algae that certainly must be growing up there. There is a drone of cicada wings on the air as well though these too seem to be concentrated higher up on the mountainside and away from the door

The stillness allows Ife to actually start picking up the wildlife. It’s good to know the planet isn’t absolutely barren, for future efforts to reverse its desertification. For now, the temple seems clear. Ife and the others get back in the truck and drive as close as they can without risking it getting stuck in the mud, then walk from there. Ife puts the navcomp away and gets out her survey scanner to start recording footage of the ruins. If the way seems safely passable, she’ll head for the temple entrance.

The doorway is a large stone arch with no physical door stopping you from getting into the vaulted foyer. Water gently trickles down the walls and collects into something like a reflecting pool in the middle of the room. This isn’t where the giant repository of the water is, but a side spring that no longer feeds it

Ife puts on her low-light goggles as the team enters cautiously. She collects a sample of the water running down the walls before moving towards the reflecting pool. She looks around as she does for carvings, murals, engraved writings— anything to indicate the history of the temple.

It’s human made. It dates back easily to the first wave of exploration. There’s grooves carved for piping and pumps but they were either never installed or stolen by looters. There is a lack of art or iconography and more resemblance of a project that just never got off the ground. The water is coming from natural springs below ground as well, however and this could be a base for getting water to the settlement, though the pipeline would cross hundreds of kilometers of land. (edited)

Ife approaches the reflecting pool and inspects it carefully before dipping a vial to take another water sample. “Why was the northwest chosen for the settlement?” she asks the others, idly. “Given the state of the planet... it seems it would be better to have built it near here.” That done, Ife continues looking around for any side passages or additional rooms.

There is a gentle tremor in the ground. Small stones bobble and rock across the ground, and a bit of dust falls from the ceiling above. No one loses their feet and after about thirty seconds of shaking the tremors end. The birds and bugs have all flown the area now, and it will be some time before they return.

00:44

There is a large annex to the west that has been carved from the rock with hand tools but there’s no evidence of machinery. One compad has been left behind, affixed to the wall set to just record tectonic activity

“Might be why there’s no settlement near here.” One of the experts with you suggests. Clearly trying to earn an extra scoop of melted ice cream at dinner later

Ife snorts. “Might be. Also might be why we’ve got groundwater seepage. Could be we’re on a fault line here...” She pauses at the compad and tries to make a connection to transfer data. She looks for both the long-term seismic activity data, as well as any other info on the site.

Routinely every three days there is a major tremor , followed by smaller ones at random intervals that happen every day. The large tremor is at noon exactly every day, and lasts for exactly 45 seconds

Ife's mouth twists in a frown. "This is no fault line. It's too regular. Machinery, maybe." She glances towards the passage to the west annex. "Let's keep going."

You can hear the sounds of running water at a good pace ahead as you make your way through the west annex passage , and descend into the ground on carved steps. They’re narrow and only permit single file movement.

22:03

Reaching the bottom you find yourself on a wide lip, and 10m from you, you’d be staring at a large pit in the ground

22:03

Something rattles and cranks rhythmically at the bottom of it.

"What the hell was anybody excavating under a structure?" Ife snaps as she takes in what she's looking at. For the benefit of the others she starts affixing glowbugs around the lip they're standing on to light the site and takes off her low-light goggles. Then she goes back to peering over the edge. "That looks like a... a Goddamn subterrene. Driller rig." She moves back and looks around carefully in the new light, searching for a control terminal or anything else in the area to indicate the purpose or operation of the drill.

The rig seems to be operating autonomously. You see a hatch on the side but nothing indicating there is a living or breathing crew. It has a tunnel it has emerged from, and another one ahead that it seems like it will go down momentarily, but these are old digs, nothing recent.

(how far below the lip is this thing? could ife jump down to it?)

(Ife could jump onto its roof pretty handily, Big target)

21:00

(and the drop isnt far enough to hurt you)

Ife digs her rope out of her pack and hands it off to Park. "Look for some place to secure this, or get ready with the others to haul me back up. I'm gonna have a closer look at this thing." With that she moves to the lip of the pit, sits on the edge, and eases herself down to drop onto the driller. Once there she moves to the hatch she spotted on the side and gives an experimental tug.

The hatch has a handle that pops up, allowing you to twist and open it to a clean interior. An expert system on a loop seems to be running the compact drill, and readouts of the endless caverns below the water collector slowly reform and re-generate as information from the last drill run.

18:03

The controls are meant for humans, and the pilot chair is something you could fit into with some comfortable reach of the handles for throttle, depth, and drill speed.

18:03

A small ore hopper in the back is empty for right now, though the furnace looks like it can be ignited if you run into a deposit of some kind

"Huh." Ife hauls herself into the seat and yells up to the others, "Scratch the rope. I'm gonna try to put this on the surface about half a klick closer to the truck, past the structure and the waterlogged ground. Hang tight." She shuts the hatch and takes a look at the readouts. Particularly, she studies the caverns and tunnels it has recorded, trying to suss out why this expert system is running-- what the hell was it drilling for?

The tunnels have been slectively drilled, and the map of them begins populating.

18:10

These patterns have been programmed into the drill heads, and have been carved for kilomters around the collector into the rock, in the hunt for minerals, water, or following (literally) the automated commands it was programmed with.

"What the fuck?" Ife mutters to herself. She doesn't recognize the symbols at all, but someone back at the settlement might, so she downloads the details to her dataslab. It occurs to her this driller might not be the only one running, and, if not, there may be some connection between the other autonomous machines to prevent them from running into each other or disturbing their designs. She checks for any such connection. After that, she takes the expert system offline and does as she said to her fellow engineers, plotting a route to surface the driller closer to their truck.

(program/int to see if any others are connected. They wouldn't be discoverable from one another as a routine function, lest a virus get in or something and take the whole network offline if there is one)

(that makes sense. i got a....... 12!)

11 other drills of this miniature size are connected to the network, you're able to find all of them, and slave them to the navigation controls of this unit.

Ife lets out a low whistle as her fingers punch at the keys of the driller interface. These are all great assets to have, of course, but the sheer amount of tunnels they must have put in the ground by now... She puts her driller on the surface, and as the other engineers make their way back out of the temple and over to her, begins pinpointing on her draft map where exactly the others will now have surfaced. She shares this info once the team has reconvened. "The way I see it," Ife says, thumb tracing the distance between driller sites, "we've learned two things. One, the crust of this planet is apparently lousy with tunnels. If we can collect the data from all these other machines, along with these... symbols... we should be able to avoid building anything vital over them. Last thing we need is to build a community center and two days later have it collapse underground." She mimes an explosion with her free hand. "Two, those symbols. Anybody know what these are, off the top of your head?"

One of them takes a look at the symbols. "These are from the human middle ages. I...I used to play this game. Vassals and Vagabonds...really nerdy, I know but there's this alchemist class, and symbols like this relate to different elements and processes. Not sure if they were looking to transmute gold, I guess, but the symbols are all the same"

Ife stares at him for a second, then cracks a grin. "You sound like my little brother. Guess I shoulda paid more attention to his files on all that." She looks back at the driller, appraising its appearance in the full light of day for the first time.

20:34

(how old does this thing look, approximately? fairly modern?)

(It would have been here before the scream, but since its the frontier out here, or was at least, it would be post-tech in capability. Fairly new though)

Ife kicks the treads lightly in lieu of tires. "These certainly haven't been here since V&V times. Seems like a pre-Scream project that got abandoned." She rubs at her neck. "So, since the whole planet was a loss, have to assume whoever was doodling all over the underground of this place had a reason for it, maybe psychic, but isn't around anymore to explain. I... can't say I like that." She looks down at the dataslab, zooming in and out on the glyphs. "Do we know if the Protectorate has a psychic academy? Or a connection to one?" (edited)

"The Protectorate is an academy affiliate, there is a campus in Mytikas on Heras, with only a few students in it"

"Good to know." Ife closes the slab and pockets it. "I'm gonna forward this data as soon as we get back to better connection. For now, you guys take the truck back. I've got all the diggers connected to this one, so I'm gonna tunnel in near camp. Get them all together." She slaps the part of the machine that contains the hopper. "Some of them may have raw materials we can go ahead and take. Between that and the data, this was a good trip. And doesn't hurt to have these when we start mining in earnest. Good job, everybody." With Sanchez, Andros, and Park dismissed and headed back towards the settlement, Ife looks back at the temple structure looming behind them. Without the drillers running it should be more seismically stable. But until they have an idea what these symbols are about, she puts a pin in her idea of setting up an outpost here. Better to hear back on that and the water first. She climbs back into the rig and starts plotting a course for home for her drill and the others mimicking it from their own starting locations. It's finicky work, but she wants to make sure she doesn't lose any of them, if possible, retrieving them from all over the planet. (edited)

The tunnels converge into one large one, as your conga line of drilling machines emerge outside the northern outpost, just as the sun begins to set over the endless dunes (6xp, 10,000 credits)

(just checking on goal: assuming this all counts as having found work for ife's goal?)

22:18

(gonna add some more after this now that she has a mystery planet to deal with)

(oh absolutely, I'll update personal goals for everyone after dinner tonight)

(no worries! gonna do some bookkeeping and then start a new thing)

Level Up Level: 4 Focus: N/A Old HP: 12 HP Roll: 12 New HP: 13 New Skills: Know-1, Stab-0 Current AB: 2

Ife spends the rest of that day pulling data from the other drills, plotting on the developing map of the planet where these symbols (which she thinks of as building hazards, mostly) have been tunneled, as well as unloading any collected materials from their hoppers and furnaces. By the time night falls she's tired in the way she knows will mean deep, dreamless sleep. She pushes herself not to fall asleep, though. Instead, she opens files loaded onto her dataslab when she first left home, and makes herself read until she can't keep her eyes open. The files are a mix of many digitized books. A lot of fiction, but far more nonfiction. Her most-read are practical manuals for engineers and programmers, things she visited over and over again as a kid and during her education, as her love of technology grew. Untouched are some she opens now. Foundational texts for terraforming, guides for community organizing, even a children's primer on psionics called Your Changing Brain! that proves totally useless on the symbol front. She almost wishes she had her brother's V&V books. But the only file archive she took with her was the one listed on the slab as ://take_root. In the morning she wakes up buzzing with ideas but also feeling overwhelmed. For the time being she decides, if nothing else, she can see about one of the other points of interest on Tecmessa's initial, bare-bones scouting reports. Transportation might be an issue, but to grow as a colony they need to get a look at the mining facilities across the sea to the north.

(if we wanted to explore something else for now we certainly can)

(nah this is a good pace. other projects will need raw materials and i wanna learn more abt the features of note)

(I know there isn't too much on the map. Our colony is where the crane is. The mass grave is to the west where Joseph recovered the construction vehicles being used now. The water collector is in the middle where you just were. The mountain ranges could be scanned and explored. Joseph did have an encounter with bandits so there's at least some people still kicking, but Tecmessa was leveled pretty thoroughly)

(ah okay i had gotten confused. in the south, are the forest and greenbelt accessible for exploration?)

(yes!)

(good deal. im crashing rn but prob gonna pursue that tomorrow

)

(sounds good! We can set something up)

Ife makes the first order of business for the day tying up the loose threads from yesterday. She uses her scanner to test the potability of the water samples she collected from the temple's walls and reflecting pool. While those results are collating, she composes a message to the psychic academy on Mytikas and attaches the symbols she discovered.

To whom it may concern, I'm one of the workers currently helping colonization efforts on Tecmessa. Yesterday around 1200 hours a survey team I was part of discovered an autonomous drilling rig running beneath a temple structure on the planet's surface. The temple seems unfinished, and I was not able to glean much information from it to explain its purpose, or the driller's. However, the rig--along with 11 others of identical, pre-Scream make--were set to tunnel specific symbols at various points around the planet. A member of the survey team has tentatively identified them as alchemical symbols. Given that this project is pre-Scream and somewhat esoteric, I theorize it may have psionic significance. If you can provide any insight on that theory, it would be appreciated, as we are hesitant to initiate substantial projects with this an unknown. Thanks, Ife Bialek

With that done, she makes herself a cup of coffee and pores over her map again.

18:12

(idk if theres a PC i should address here but figured i'd type the message out in case)

(the NPC i was going to use might end up becoming a companion for someone again so how you did it is perfect, as its all in flux)

20:07

(|thats why i never mentioned them, wanted to prevent confusion until we knew)

20:10

The water samples are collated and things look potable with some gentle filtering. The message will take about a week to get to Heras, round trip, along with a reply. You should be back in the colony by the time it comes in

Ife nods, satisfied with the morning's work, and heads back out to the sort-of central tent where people tend to break open the MRE packs and have meals. Her table hasn't been moved, so she grabs a breakfast to rehydrate and sits at it, and lets people wander by as they will. She offers greetings, answers questions about the trip out and the new equipment. She also spreads the word around she's putting together another scouting mission much further south.

(Did you want to keep the same people? It’s a good spread of skills)

(yeah that works!)

Ife isn’t too surprized when she ends up joined by Sanchez, Park, and Andros again. They make a good team. As they eat and she picks at a side she doesn’t care for, she outlines her thinking. “With so much of the landmass covered in sand and dessicated soil, the weather will never be conducive to conventional agriculture,” she says. “Besides sandstorms and droughts, rains will be torrential and destructive when they do come— the sea will maintain some sort of water cycle. On the landmasses, temperatures will stay high in the day and cold at night. What we need is...” She pauses, puts her fork down, and digs out her dataslab. She opens one of the books she was reading last night. “What we need are greenbelts. Large swathes of land planted not for harvest, but to re-enrich the soil with nutrients, change the— the micro climate. With that done we can begin agricultural practices in earnest.” She eats a little more, then adds, “We could gamble, order a variety of grasses and groundcovers from other planets. No telling if they would survive, though, and we might just burn precious resources planting species that don’t agree with the surviving wildlife. Or...” She taps on the south of her map. “We take a survey of what flora has endured all this, and spread it.”

Park perks up at the sound of this. “I was waiting to mention that small green belt but you said it first. Now you’ll never know I’m smart “

17:53

“We could also consider using them as erosion protection, if the propagate , and figuring out why they’re contained there could be good too. Maybe there’s no reason and now I’m rambling”

Ife cracks a grin at Park. "You're fine. And I'll know if you know any more than me-- all I know I read last night, and heard somebody talk about a long while back. Non-mechanical terraforming wasn't my primary field of study. Glad you have an eye for these sorts of things." She taps the map again. "Should be about as exciting as yesterday, albeit a lot longer trip. But what are you thinking when you say 'why they're contained there'? Soil parameters or something else? I read that there was some trouble with bandits, but I didn't figure them for gardeners. If that's what you meant, anyway."

"Soil would be my knee jerk reaction, but I've seen stranger. Guess I'll get back to vacuuming sand out of the car, since we're all going to be back in there in a few hours. I'll pull water too"

Ife laughs. "I can do that. I've already had coffee, and you all look half-asleep still." The comment on the water prompts her. "Oh, and the water from the temple thing, needs the usual amount of filtration but it's fine to drink. If the primary cause of the tremors in the area was the drilling we can start making plans for setting up a pump station. Maybe use it to irrigate the area once we have plants and seed to put down." She stands, gathering her trash, and nods to the team. "Same deal, let's prep and then meet back up in, say... an hour? Can always take a little more time if we need it. I'm gonna grab some of the leftover plastic wrap off the shipped-in supplies-- we can use that to wrap the bottoms of any larger plants we can grab. Anybody has any other good ideas for keeping samples alive, bring what you need." She gives them a wave and walks off to pack up again. At the appointed time the truck is livable again and loaded for the long trip, and she takes up her customary post in the back to continue her mapping efforts.

(If you wanted to check it on the way, we've got a lot of land to cover and that temple area thing is a good halfway point, you'd be able to check the readings to see if they're gone-gone)

(sounds good!)

Overland travel to the unnamed temple is a matter of routine now, with the route heavily traveled over the last few days. Any would be trouble makers keep clear, knowing to mess with convoy vehicles is a great way to be introduced to heavy weapons and people with the skills to operate them. The temple is quiet on approach, the bioluminescent fungus suckling on the wet rocks glows a pleasant blue in the night sky, like a column of contained moonlight to guide your final hour of travel to safety. It reminds you of a lighthouse, on a forgotten island in the middle of an endless sand sea.

"Now that's really something," Ife murmurs. She takes in the sight of the gently-glowing beacon as they approach with a quiet reverence. "Probably gets scoured off every few weeks, you have to think, with all the sand around. But it's hard to keep a living thing like that down..." When they pull in she waves for the others to stretch their legs and top up bottles and canteens they may have with built-in filtration. She dons her low-light goggles as she approaches the temple, the dusk making the transition from outside to the interior easy. There isn't much need, though. The glowing fungus illuminates a fair amount. She checks the readings on the old compad she left in place.

There has not been any seismic activity aside from some gentle settling of the soil since you removed the slave drill rig network

The problem solved, everyone settles in for the night, content that the temple isnt going to come crashing down upon them. Water is restocked, a night's rest is forcibly obtained from the jaws of insomnia, and with the rise of the sun, the second half of the journey into untraveled lands is set to begin.

(sorry i was sick, catching up)

19:36

The seismic stability is good news. Ife isn't much of an early riser, but she pushes herself to get up and do a little surveying for potential pump infrastructure. It's a bit in the future, yet, but it never hurts to have some notes and site photography. Once everyone is up and packed, she relieves Andros on driving and puts him in charge of the navcomp as they continue south.

(Hope you're feeling better now!)

(well im back at work so, by some definition, yeah

)

(d10 as we move on)

(gotcha)

The area south of the temple is open desert before heading east toward the green belt. You can see scattered trees on the horizon. They’re massive but very few and very far apart.

03:55

Animals of some kind , almost like an impala seem to be resting in their dozens in the shade cast by them

Ife lets off the gas so they coast to a soundless stop far enough away from the resting animals not to spook them. She motions for the others to keep quiet, but she doesn’t really have to— seeing animals other than birds and insects inspires a sort of reverance in them all. She uses her survey scanner to take footage of their behavior around the trees before eventually returning to the wheel. Slowly, so as to give the animals plenty of warning, Ife drives the truck closer to one of the massive trees.

(and since i ended up giving them names in the other thread. boop. some faces for the squad)

(your faces are always the best. The art for the original students one got lost and i regret not finding it again because it was so perfect)

14:53

The creatures don't seem to be spooked, or care much about anything, at all. A couple of them near the edge of the pack seem to have recently died from old age or exposure to the heat, but otherwise, they pant, eat grass, lounge, and otherwise show no indication at going anywhere

(oh no! hilariously i still have it in my dropbox bc im a file hoarder)

17:13

Ife parks the truck and climbs out with the others. She nods to Sanchez, who kneels near it to begin cutting some patches out of the grass to wet and take back to the camp. Ife, Park, and Andros push in towards the tree, carefully picking their way among the animals. Ife kneels next to one of the fresh corpses. She grimaces at the burgeoning scent of rot but takes pictures and makes a thorough study of it. Biology isn’t her field, but it’s probably somebody in the Protectorate’s, and having more info on these creatures can’t hurt. When that’s done she joins her other two teammates under the shade of the tree and gives that a thorough look-over too. “Think for propagation we’re gonna want newer growth. Smaller braches cut fresh and kept moist, and any seeds or nuts or... spores, whatever.”

(If you could hook me up with that when you have time I'd love you (more) forever))

17:16

(and then heal/int for the assessment, unless you've got a bioscanner on you)

(no bioscanner. but i did get a BIG 3, so, im golden death

)

This creature in its rotten state is dubious food, and likely eats plants. No other information is known. Also, it is a creature.

Ife makes these notes and then stares at them. She has a powerful flashback to middle grade biology class. This looks about like her notes then. Hopefully the pictures will be of more use to the informed, later. She surveys the tree looking for likely handholds. Then, with just a "stand back" to the others, she starts scrabbling up it to get onto a branch. (edited)

You’re able to get up to a low branch about 5m off the ground. A few of the beasts below you get up and move but only just enough to not be hit in a fall.

Ife makes herself comfortable, hooking her legs around the branch and then extending an arm down to help up anyone else who feels up to cutting in the tree itself. That ends up just being Sanchez, the older Park and heavier Andros deciding to go over the ground in the vicinity of the tree looking for any dropped seeds, sapling starts, or other interesting plants. Ife pulls a pair of wire cutters and a pair of metal snips from her tool kit, tossing the latter to Sanchez. Together they set about taking cuttings and wrapping the cut ends in dampened shop towels. The higher branches of the tree provide some shade, but the work is still hot and tiring. After a little while Ife reconvenes with the others at the truck for water and going over their finds.

This is a savannah like area , and the grass is hardy. The stalks are thin and reedy and seem to be getting water somehow. The plants are native and it’s not any kind of pretech keeping them here, just the rigors and ruin of the desert beyond. They can’t seem to expand outside of this small and somewhat contained area. this area

23:56

The desert is gradually shrinking it in especially bad seasons

Ife takes some soil samples to be thorough. She stays crouched in the grass for a while, carding her fingers through it. “This is what the whole planet should look like,” she observes. “Or most of it, anyway. You think of a healthy planet, you think a lot of green trees and mosses, maybe, but these grasses are holding water. The trees are clearly pulling it up, maybe from an aquifer.” She smiles, a little nostalgically. “Deep roots. Mom always praised trees with deep roots, like they did it on purpose, because they don’t fall over in storms.” She stands and stretches. “Well, let’s leave these guys in peace. Hopefully soon they won’t die like this.” She shades her eyes with a hand and looks further south. “There may be an oasis around here. Gotta be some reason this has been the holdout for the plants and animals. Ready to roll again?”

(What direction did you want to head)

(at the mo are we in the green patch on the map or the forest-y looking bit? bc whichever one we're in currently, wanna head to the other. if thats kinda all the same general region, might poke around in the foothills of the mountains for a bit)

(You’re at the green patch)

(gotcha)

23:24

Ife gets back behind the wheels once the cuttings, samples, and the others are loaded up. She points the truck towards a more densely forested area she can vaguely make out some distance off.

The forest is spotty and loose. The trees are jagged and reach toward the sky with the remains of withered leaves on them. They don't seem to be dying, but instead are in a perpetual state of dryness. You see hives of bugs on many of the branches in place of fruit, though none of the impala creatures are using this area as a nesting ground right now. Low shrubs, berries, and other ground hugging growth is able to anchor itself in the shade and protection from the heat the large branches offers.

Ife frowns at the lack of animals in this area. On a hunch, she pulls out her binoculars while they're still some distance away and closely inspects the insect hives.

Thousands of them swarm the trunks of the trees, the branches they're arrayed on, and the outside of the hives. They're waspish in size, though glitter in a rainbow hue like a flying oil slick

19:35

The hives seem slightly rock-like in appearance, and theyre ignoring the plant matter itself in favor of feasting on some of the small rock outcroppings nearby

Ife clicks her tongue against her teeth, thinking. "That... doesn't seem great. Looks like they're breaking down rock, at least from here. Could be it's something on the rock they're eating, but if they can, y'know, digest inorganic material, then I don't necessarily want to bring the truck or any of our gear in close. But there's definitely more plant varieties growing around there..." She looks to the others. "Thoughts?"

"Minimal gear, maybe get close and try to take some samples- get a better look? If they're not eating organic material there might be some moth holes in our clothes but we should be alright"

"That was my thought," Ife says with a laugh. "I just hoped somebody would have a better idea. Well, here goes nothing. If I start running, just hit the gas and meet me back at the other trees, 'kay?" Ife unloads her gear into the truck, starting to unpack pockets before finally just giving up and taking her whole bulky coat off. It takes a good five minutes to make sure she doesn't have any enticing/critical gear still attached to her somehow. Finally, she picks up a stray branch off the ground and sharpens it to a rough edge with her pocket knife to serve as a rudimentary cutting tool, should she get close enough to the trees and bushes to actually get her samples. Slowly, watching the hives closely, she advances on the trees.

With nothing on you they might see as food, the creatures do not leave the rocks they're feeding on. You're able to get an arms length from them before the shadow you cast on the rock gets a few to move. They buzz and chirp to one another but otherwise seem to have no reaction to your being there- especially as you've not acted in a hostile manner

"Huh." Ife starts to get down to study, but remembers belatedly to give the team a big thumbs-up so they know she hasn't been paralyzed by venom, or something. "All good if you lose the gear!" That duty done, she crouches to study the insects working on the rock. Are they actually eating the stone, or doing something to it to break it down and collect it for the construction of nests, like mud daubers?

There is a dull crunch now that you’re still , as they rhythmically eat the rocks and stones, crawling slowly over its surface before those that have fed return to the nest or wait on the branches around it if there is no space

“I wish I knew shit about biology, entomology, geology, or ecology,” Ife offers, apparently to the insects, “beyond what I can read real quick in my file archive. But as it stands, you’re pretty damn cool. Have to visit you again sometime with somebody who can really figure you out.” Amiable chat with bugs aside, Ife returns to her original task, and approaches the bushes and groundcover around the tree to take cuttings and dig up some errant sprouts.

(If you wanna name them though I’d love it )

(oh hell yeah. i'll think on it)

While she wets down her cuttings, Ife sits under the tree and contemplates the iridescent, swarming insects. She drops her finds off at the truck with the others and begins experimenting. She walks back over with a small spread of objects to present to the bugs: a plastic bottle cap, a small steel screwdriver, a scrap of carbon-fiber, a tungsten drill bit, a glass bottle. She sets the objects around one of the rocks the insects swarm over to see if they react.

They leave the plastic and carbon fiber alone, but seem to especially like the screwdriver, the drill bit, and the bottle. The bottle especially is devoured quickly

"Well, shit, gotta keep you away from greenhouses, huh?" Ife collects the pieces not devoured. She studies them a little more closely. "You... kinda look like beetles? Let's say in my notes... ogbara beetles. Until I find out whether somebody's already dissected and named you." With that done, she returns to the crew. "Let's make a loose loop and take note of these insects' range. They could be really useful for demolition or recycling, if we can control the area they enter, but for now they're a potential threat to colonization." She snorts. "Unless we wanna make everybody big plastic bubbles to sleep in."

21:59

(ogbara is the yoruba and igbo word for "erosion," which seems apt based on their interest in rock, metal, and glass. i hope that works!) (edited)

(works perfect!)

04:18

There are some bioscanners available in the vehicle that can be strung up at different intervals , which should allow you to get a radius of how far these things generally range. It is likely not far, as their hives are here

Ife sets up the bioscanners and plants stake flags for good measure, visually marking the perimeter of the area as they can see it. With that done she gauges the light left in the sky and the condition of their current samples, which are damp but not set for longterm life in their current containers of... whatever junk everyone dug up for this, from plastic wrap to old MRE trays. "Think it's about time to head back. Rather camp near the temple again than just out in the open."

The temple is a familiar site and yo're able to make it back before the sky has been dark for long. The readings on the scanners still show no seismic activity, and the patchy scaling of blue glowing fungus on the outside has the region lit up to guide you home once again reminding you of a lighthouse. There is a large dust cloud to the north, some sort of storm brewing, but it is over a hundred kilometers away for now

Ife joins the others in refreshing water for their cuttings and then using a little folding camp stove to heat their MREs. She's quiet while they eat, turning over the events of the day in her mind, the discoveries they made. Her eyes frequently drift to the storm brewing in the north as she zones out. After dinner is done she chats idly with the others, drinking water out of filtering bottles a sip at a time. Eventually she finds herself looking at Sanchez, Park, and Andros and asking, "What did you guys... want, when you agreed to come here?"

Andros speaks up first. “Poor slum kid back in Chiron. I remember the famine. I wanted to go explore and find worlds where we could grow all the food we ever needed. Nobody would have to go hungry again. Some dick in Mesopotamia Invented putting seeds in the ground and now thousands of years later I have a credit score. It’s a bum deal “

Ife laughs, deep from in her belly. “I hear that. We’re gonna be doing a lot of planting, so you’ll live that poor kid’s dream any day now.” She traces idle lines in the silty soild with a finger. “I grew up without too. Not that bad, just... a lot of people, not much to go around. Lived in everybody’s hand-me-downs and spent more time fixing anything I got my hands on than actually getting to use it. Guess it does motivate a life of striving.”

"mmm, that and being caught stealing during it." Park says "Was either join the pioneer corp or go to prison. "

Ife nods with no judgment in her face. “Stealing to live shouldn’t be considered stealing, if you ask me, but nobody ever has.” She leaves off her doodling and loosely shakes the dirt from her hand. “I wanna make someplace here where nobody has to steal. For what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re here.” (edited)

Sanchez doesn't really say much, and just continues looking into the fire. They seem like they're somewhere else right now.

"I was sent here," Ife says. She leans forward, crossing her arms on top of her knees. "By my family, by my people. Where I'm from, we're not wanted. Our beliefs and practices threaten the norm. For a long time we were too entrenched, too good at looking after each other, to be wiped out. But then the Scream happened. We lost... a lot of good people. Two of my uncles." She exhales slowly. "A niece. Lot of cousins. All the precogs who kept us a few steps ahead of the government, the telepaths who helped settle disputes, the biopsions that kept us on our feet... The ones that just died were a bad loss, then there were the others..." She clears her throat. "Anyway, we're done. Least, that's what our elders came to decide. No hope on the old homeworld. So they went back to our cultural texts and they pulled out a good one: 'the destiny of the Zerno is to take root among the stars.' I got enough credits for a ticket to another system, a file drive full of books on everything that mattered to our people, and whatever else I could carry. And that job. Take root. So... Yeah. Figured if I was cut out for anything, it was trying to make something out of a dead world. Guess we'll see."

'So far you;'re doing it. GHost fleet of drill rigs isn't exactly an easy thing to find"

21:58

"What do you think of those symbols , the ones the machines were making?"

"Shit." Ife kicks some of the dirt around by her feet, visibly agitated. "Nothing good. Carved all over the damn planet, but underground, so they're not visible on satellite or aerial survey. Some esoteric, ancient symbology. And don't think I forgot from the initial scouting reports-- there's a mass grave on this planet that seems to have been dug and buried by autonomous equipment! I wanna work, do my damn job, get this place fixed up, but part of me wonders-- is some psionic bullshit gonna happen tomorrow, turn us all into-- I don't even know, pure energy?" She rubs at her eyes. "It dogs me. Think about it any time I start working up ideas on where to site future construction."

“Oh the grave. That’s right. You didn’t join the Protectorate yet. This world was raided. Twice. Once by the Etxaurrens, who stole the defense platforms. Then by the Rachk, a race of alien raiders that we think the void wardens killed off a month or two ago

02:08

“But both groups did tremendous damage to the planet and killed most of the population. The few remaining people buried the dead and then left. I think a good chunk ended up with those bandits mr Clarke was handling “

Ife’s face falls from her aggravating venting to a more solemn expression. “Oh. That’s... Shit, that’s good to know. Hope some of those people survive whatever goes down. On the one hand, they have good info, on the other, just, where I’m coming from as a person—I hope we’re not the third and final raid, y’know?”

“Raids tend not to build colonies and fix social problems. This is the kindest raid they’ve ever experienced”

"Building colonies and 'fixing' social problems have been far from kind, down through history," Ife points out, "and we've all gone through being made into beggars--or thieves. What I meant was, I hope they didn't all get bombed to hell. But then if things had gone that way, figure we would've seen smoke." She stretches her legs out and yawns. "We should sack out. Thanks for humoring me. I'm... drawing something up. Figured it'd be better, me knowing some of what motivated people to take a chance on this rock from the jump."

Everyone seems to have a better appreciation for one another as it gets too dark to keep working and everyone gets too tired to throw another fuel pellet into the fire. The grey Dawn finds all of you awake again, if not rested

Ife turns over driving to Park and camps out in the back again, but instead of working with the navcomp she continues pecking away on her datapad, only pausing occasionally to open her file archive and read something. By the time they return to camp she's rubbing her eyes and clearly exhausted, but seems to have finished whatever she was working on. She forwards it to the others for their feedback before hopping out to drop her gear off at her hab.

18:09

(so here's my draft plan for working on tecmessa, if this is useful to you in structuring work to come https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0lt2nre1xytxudavcax6s/TECMESSA-REVITALIZATION-PLAN.docx?dl=0&rlkey=9xvngj4492622d2ihtp1w1rho)

(this is perfect)

20:35

As a final matter , as the bow is put on this survey plan, you see the insects do not range more than 3km from their oasis at a given time, and only two out of the brood of thousands even traveled out that far- possibly lost or disoriented. You can be reasonably assured that unless someone wanders directly into the thick of it , their metallic goods are safe. (6xp, 10,000 credits) (edited)

(good deal! i’ll do my bookkeeping and then i think next on the agenda is greeting those people joseph brought in)

(perfect! I'll be ready!)

Level Up Level: 5 Focus: Connected Old HP: 13 HP Roll: 18 New HP: 18 New Skills: Talk-0, Connect-1 (Focus), Know-2 Current AB: 2

The colonial settlement has become more of a welcome sight to Ife in a short time than she expected. She's happy to get back to her hab, crash for a while in her own bed, and heat an MRE for lunch. While she's eating she watches life pass by through her window, noting the arrival of many new faces. Eventually her curiosity overwhelms her desire to laze around for a bit and she wanders back out to see what's new.

Most of them are armed, and a few of them have rocket tubes showing recent use. Despite this, they come into the settlement with a bit of trepidation, looking around to see who might be in charge or what landmarks they might use to find their way- in other words, they appear both found and quite lost at the same time

Ife focuses less on the openly-carried weapons and more on the confusion and disquiet. She's seen that before, when her people took in new folks, usually homeless, thieves, political dissidents. People who've forgotten how to be around other people in peace. She heads for the main tent where the workers have been taking meals. On the way, she places an order for another substantial shipment of food from her personal funds, enough to replace what she's about to use when it arrives with the next shipment of supplies. Her father always said there was one cure for this kind of shiftiness: cooking and eating together. She starts slow, asking one or two of the newcomers to help her shift a crate or carry a package. She starts tagging in unoccupied engineers from the original crew to open cans, rig a makeshift kitchen from several portable heating elements, move some tables around. "What do you think, this pepper flake's kinda gray, huh? What do you use around here for seasoning?" she asks a couple of the newcomers. She grouses over some iffy expiration dates with the old guard. "Wow, the real primo stock, huh? Right balance of rehydration and thorough heat oughta revive it, though, you think?"

The work is beginning in earnest and you hear awkward conversation going on between the newcomers and some of the colonists you have giving you help. A Protectorate agent named Joseph Clarke paid these men and women off to abandon their ways of banditry and join civilization once again. These people saw the Etxaurren and Rachk raids just months apart , and survived when millions of others died or were carried off into slavery.

03:37

The reconstituted meal tastes and smells better than it should given the terrible stock you’ve had to make do with, though soon more people and facilities will make this region bloom again. All in good time as Project Root reaches its next stages.

People want to talk, especially people who've gone through hell. After her initial efforts to get things going and the different groups talking to each other, Ife is content to enjoy the fruits of her work when the meal is ready a while later, people sharing stories or disputing each others' points, most potential conflicts blunted by the soothing effect of a decent, hot dinner. She kicks back and checks her messages idly. Worth checking if the academy in Mytikas has had a chance to get back to her about the symbols she sent over.

So far they've been able to confirm that the symbols are ancient and alchemist in origin. They're also from ancient human culture rather than some sort of alien one. Why they were being carved under the surface, if they had metadimensional significance, and if they did, what it could mean, are things that the very limited staff there is still trying to work out. It seems increasingly likely that they're going to need to mount an expedition of some kind to look over things first hand.

21:29

An ETA on that is not forthcoming at the moment.

Ife chews the inside of her cheek briefly as she reads over the message, then shoots off a thanks for what they were able to offer and a promise to update them if more came to light. Then, seeing the meal winding down and one of the chemical engineers who's been 'secretly' working on a still return with unmarked bottles to share around, moves to an empty stock pot and gives it a bang to grab the assembly's attention for a moment. "Hey, so," Ife says, conversationally, "I've dropped a doc on the local intranet here. If you check with your own devices, or some of the public terms here, you'll see it's a plan I've been consulting with a few of the crew here on. A plan to get to work in earnest on getting this planet a little more livable. One of the big items is putting together a leadership group of interested people to lead the project." She looks between workers and ex-bandits alike. "Figure it should be open to anybody. So if people are interested, append your name to the project plan and we can meet up in a few days to make things more official." That said, she waves to the engineer with the questionable hooch and makes to rejoin the gathering. "That's all I wanted to say. Man, did you age that at all, or am I about to die? Don't even answer. Let's see..."

It’s strong but smooth. Either way for tonight it’ll work. Tensions seem to be ebbing a bit and the new arrivals are settling in. They’re keeping to themselves a bit still as one tends to do when you’re at a gathering of mostly strangers

02:50

A small blip shows a ship belonging to Joseph Clarke another Protectorate agent has also entered the system.

Ife notes this as she swigs from an old storage cannister cut down into tumblers, and shoots him a message.

To Joseph Clarke— You’ve got some decent timing. We just put together a cookout to get the new arrivals and the old crew mingling. There’s “booze” (homebrew one of the chem engineers cooked up) and “good food” (hot, better-seasoned MREs en masse). Swing through if you get a chance. - Ife Bialek

Joseph will head over to the landing site. He plans on stopping by the party to have some "booze" and "good food." He also plans on placing a poster by the gathering to see if anyone would be interested in helping him hunt down his bounty. He sends a message to Ife: To Ife Bialek— I'll be there once my ship lands. It sounds like a good time! From Joseph Clarke.

17:34

(if you guys wanted to meet, we could do that here)

(works for me! @fridge whenever u wanna come thru)

(ok im down to hop into this thread)

When Joseph arrives Ife is arm-wrestling with one of the Tecmessans, the local a grizzled-looking veteran who seems miffed they’re pretty well matched. Ife is a dark-skinned woman around six feet tall, hair bleached an orangey-blonde in twists that stand up from her scalp, laughing as she and her opponent trade trash talk. Her bulk seems to be what’s evening the odds here, with her equal parts muscle and healthy fat put on in places that reflect a life spent working hard and taking care of herself. The match ends with Ife the loser but grinning about it. She toasts the victor with a glass of homebrew and knocks it back. Then she catches sight of Joseph and waves him over. “Hey man, good to meet you. Ife Bialek, technician. Heard you’re the one who brokered the peace deal, brought in the new faces. You get a plate yet? The reconstituted beef is decent, but only because one of my team doesn’t go off-world without gochujang.”

"Nice to meet you too, I haven't had a chance to try out the beef, but the smell reminds me of my time working in a chemical plant. Quite nostalgic. Good drinks though. How are the new folks holding up? That peace deal cost me a small fortune, they better be holding up their end of the bargain." Joseph is wearing an EP jacket over a mag-spike proof vest. The jacket itself has a few burn marks from stray lasers, but otherwise is in good condition. The vest doesn't have any discernible markings other than a shield embroidered on the center of it, likely the marking of the company that produced it. He's just barely managing to keep an average body weight despite the fact that artificial gravity and space travel erodes muscles like nothing else.

Ife notes the slimness and the damage and seems to make some kind of call. She jerks her head towards the food line to grab seconds, in the process making Joseph load up a plate too. By the time they sit down again the sun’s almost gone from the horizon. A mix of glowbug light, old LED lamps, and a few regular fires keep the immediate area lit as other people talk, drink, and, on the porch of one hab, work up a tune on battered instruments. “Nothing to hold up yet. In a couple days we’re gonna put together a council and start assigning people to projects in earnest. If they spend your money on anything at this point, it’ll probably be net therapy.” Ife gets a perfect forkful of a little of everything, then washes it down with a sip of hooch. “They’re slowly starting to talk about what’s gone on here. First the Etxaurren, then the Rachk, planet slowly turning to sand, then new faces... I’m not happy they came for what our colonists had, but I get it.” She sips again, then makes a gesture to the west, and adds, “Mm. Figure get some kind of memorial up at the mass grave, get some apprenticeships going, get the ones who can’t bear to part with their heat organized into patrols... we’ll work together just fine.”

"Ah, that's actually what I came here for. I'm here to get some of those people who miss combat to help me with a bounty I'm working on right now. That Oscul Prel fella's got a bounty put on him by SCAF. I thought I could make the relationship between us and SCAF less tense if I helped them out in this regard." Joseph takes a sip of his chemical concoction. "I don't know if any of them want to give up their peaceful life here with its relatively low chance of death, but I'm willing to pay quite a lot for some competent fighters. Heck, if you also want to join the job to make some money I'd be all for it. Never know what skills we're gonna need. Pay is in the range of 50,000 credits per person." (edited)

“Sounds like a plan. You can ask around, or you could also drop a posting on the local intranet.” When Joseph names the cut, Ife raises her eyebrows. “That’s nothing to sneeze at. And the colony could use some more cash... What’s this guy wanted for?”

Joseph gets out his datapad and reads from the file Selgar sent. "There's not much out about him, but from the looks of it he betrayed SCAF and did it stupidly enough his bounty actually labels him as a 'Huge Dumbass'. Not sure what crimes or activities warranted that title, but it doesn't look like SCAF likes him very much." Joseph puts away his datapad and takes a bite of the reconstituted beef, a little shocked that it tastes better than he though it would. "The pay is high because I'm probably not going to take more than one or two people with me, since my ship doesn't have enough life support for more than that many people. I'm fine with making a deficit for this mission since far trading is by far the most lucrative profession in the galaxy. Gotta get rid of this wealth somehow, y'know." Joseph chuckles

Ife snorts. “Wonder if he also grounded a spike drive into an occupied ship’s hull. Then I’d be on a streak.” She stretches, popping her neck and rolling her shoulders. “I’m in. That’ll cover you for anything that needs to be hacked, fixed, professionally broken, or punched. Shouldn’t have any trouble filling out your extra seat among the folks here. Once everybody sobers up, anyway.”

"Hmm, if you're coming along then I've got no more need for combat capable people. If we need some extra hands, we can probably hire them from the planet our bounty's hiding on." Joseph opens his datapad to show a galactic map. He points to the planet Muntsaratz. "This is where he was last seen, where he refueled his ship and took off for another system. That's our entire investigation so far, so we'll need to do a little searching."

“Any other details on his ship?” Ife gestures to the device. “If he has fuel scoops it’s whatever, but if he had to stop at a station and thats how they pinged him, that narrows his options. Don’t wanna get three systems from civilization and run outta gas.” She opens her own compad to take some notes. “Info on his ship’s spike drive would also help, but if he’s a real dumbass and pissed enough people off, can’t imagine it’s that good.”

"No, it doesn't appear like it. We can assume he doesn't have a fuel scoop since he needed to refuel at the planet. To even get to Muntsaratz, you need at least a spike-3, otherwise you need to take the long way around. He wasn't particularly wealthy, so he probably only had a spike-3 instead of a spike-4 or 5. I think our best bet is going to Munsaratz and trying to collect more information on where he could have gone."

"Personally, If I was on the run without a fuel scoop, I wouldn't go to Andere since there's no civilization there. I also wouldn't attempt to go into UNW, SCAF, or EP territory due to high frequency of patrols. We can mark off Korra-S, since it's a lava shithole that kills anyone who enters, no fuel station either. I'd avoid Urreturre, ghouls rule there. Same with Yauvani. Currently, there's a civil war in Ziya Al-Gulam so that could be a good place to hide if he somehow got a spike-4 vessel. The most likely candidate for where he went would have to be Zerbino, since it's high tech enough to refuel his ship and is within his spike range. It's also currently not in any dangerous situation so it wouldn't have a chance of causing him to die, not like he cared about that in the past though."

Ife nods and knocks back the rest of her drink. As she scrapes up another forkful, she says, “So Muntsaratz, poke around, then Zerbino if nothing turns up. Works for me. Head out at first light?” She nods her head towards a cluster of habs at the edge of the rough settlement square. “Have a few things I wanna wrap up before we jet. Also, if you don’t wanna head back to your ship, I have a sofa that is... technically present.” She snorts. “That’s all I can say about it, but it’s there if you wanna crash here.”

"Sounds good to me, I'll make myself at home then." Joseph will crash outside his ship for the night. (edited)

The following morning the sun rises and several colonists have already put their names forward for Ife’s program, a matter to be picked through at a later time. The ship is fueled and supplied are loaded, and for now you’ve made all the pre trip preparations you can make

Ife leaves the keys to her hab with Sanchez, packing only her vital gear and her aso oke quilt for the trip. She waves goodbye with a casual, “Don’t burn the place down, but it’s fine if it gets singed.” As for Project Root, she appends her name to the project doc as an interested party for the council but with a note explaining she’ll be back as soon as she can, ’hopefully with more creds for this scheme, -IB.’ That done and loaded for the trip, she rendezvous with Joseph at his ship. Being an engineer, she gives it an obligatory visual inspection. Then, “Right. I’m set. You?”

07:57

(since this is ur mission joseph, im good to pop back over to your channel if you’d like)

Joseph can be seen organizing the armory one last time, making sure the explosives are not going to explode during the trip there. "Yeah, I'm ready. Setting a course for Muntsaratz. I don't know if there are any seat belts, so just grab whatever is bolted down and hope that it's a smooth ride." (sure, im fine with moving back to my thread)

Level Up Level: 6 Focus: N/A Old HP: 18 HP Roll: 22 New HP: 22 New Skills: Fix-3 Current AB: 3

Returning to Heras )I’ll total up downtime and add it when I’m back at a computer ) you’re returned right to the main station orbiting the planet. There isn’t any news from Tecmessa but you figure if there was an emergency they’d have found a way to get to you even if it meant dispatching someone via courier shuttle. The station is very busy and it seems like things are finally beginning to turn around in a positive direction

Ife's first order of business is dealing with her personal finances, which she doesn't have too much experience doing. She got a little money when she left home to get her a ticket off-world and some supplies, but she's never seen a bank account balance like this. First there's the bounty payout, her pay from the Pioneer Corps, then all sorts of other deposits: hazard pay, standard finder's fees for the recovery of the twelve pre-Scream automated drillers, some kind of grant about the beetles she named from a a scientific foundation... all told, she's come into over two million credits. It makes her head spin. She sits awhile on a bench on Heras One, just watching the slow play of light over Heras' surface, wondering what the hell people do with this kinda thing. And that's setting aside the dreams she's had since the bounty mission on Zerbino. Dreams of her mother, father, brothers, smiling as they wrestled on the ground like little kids. Then a sickening crack and the light going out of their eyes. She didn't think she'd be so precious about death. She's seen plenty of it. She drowned a man under her own boots not too long ago. But she's not inured to it yet, not totally, and she tries to tell herself that's a good thing. Eventually she gets out her slab and starts making a priority list. There's a lot of stuff they could use on Tecmessa. Even with no existing communal structure, setting an example of providing without expectation might do everybody some good. It's definitely not because she can't think of one single thing she really wants or needs right now, other than a stiff drink.

19:02

(i'm going ahead and consolidating ife's funds now, claiming the 1.5m credits from the polity reward from before formally. ive flavored it as those various payments. her updated credit total is now reflected on her sheet)

19:04

(as for purchases: she'll want to get an atmoflyer, several agricultural machines, and looks into either ordering robots or ordering the parts she'll need to build them-- as well as the necessary components to establish a TL4 workshop on tecmessa. from what i understand, vehicles should be designed using the omnibuilder and submitted to the garage channel for approval. how do i go about handling the workshop and robotics purchases?)

19:04

(if this is in a rulebook and i missed it please let me know, im happy to read more, haha)

(what kind of robots did we have in mind? We have drones, and i think the CRB has some rules for like, basically generic work frames, but Ai/Vi still arent part of the setting and won't be given their broken rules. I know you were around when we tried dabbling in that but i think were gone already by time we realized the totally busted scale. You're correct on the vehicles. Codex of the Black Sun has rules for sanctums which are like big compounds, which might fit what you're trying to do) (edited)

(kk i’ll check that out. and for the robots, totally basic automation bots. a few expert systems in a technical frame to do grunt work in green houses, maybe one heavy cargo loader. and im totally fine w the AI/VI restriction, totally get it. just a fan of ur basic robots assisting w manual labor)

(so i took a look at black sun and there's good base-building rules there, but i wonder if the costs of construction aren't somewhat inflated because the facilities are meant for arcanotech, not just... tractors? let me know what your thoughts are. it did occur to me at lunch, if you're good with it, we could use the prefab colony microbase from suns of gold already approved in the iron stars equipment guide, and then use the costs/description from the crb's TL4 tech workshop ship fitting as a modification to it? if we treat the microbase as functionally a frigate class hull, the total cost would be about 55,000c)

(or, did just review the building and modifying gear section in the crb where it lists purchase of a TL4 workshop on a given planet as 25k. that makes sense to me as well, so the total cost for putting down a base structure that would also have other livable spaces [the prefab] would be 50k, and refitting part of it to be a workshop would be 25k, for a total of 75k. however makes sense to u)

(197 of the core book has the robots. I’d have to review what’s in the prefab base because I’m pretty sure it’s a TL5 item)

(oop, that tracks. im also good to just pay the 25k and plonk down a warehouse, haha)

(The garage and workshop and stuff don’t have anything to do with archeotech but are a bit inflated because they never require upkeep for either the buildings themselves or the vehicles that are housed there $

22:49

(Aside from the vehicle being entirely destroyed )

22:49

(Same with the hangar fitting, its indefinite support for four shuttles or two frigates. They cost a bit more but you get a lot)

(oh right i did read that. ongoing maintenance is built into the initial cost. aaand the workshop there is also 25k. so ive gone in a big loop and come back to your original suggestion. that works for me!)

22:54

(so okay, looking at this, the mechanics here would support ife constructing a "sanctum" thats perhaps a larger public building than the basic colony housing, like a building with the workshop, a garage for the atmoflyer, a medical bay to serve as a starter hospital, a research lab for studying local organisms, etc. would you be okay with me mocking up a concept with the total costs per black sun and having a look at that?)

22:57

(and re: bots, ife would look to purchase a repair bot from the crb. 5k credits. i assume w her program skill she could set its routines, i.e. for gardening instead of vehicle repair?)

(That’s exactly what I had in mind. As far as the robots yeah you could re program it. The frames are basically just standard and you dress it up from there

(well i had a quiet hour at work so here's what i've banged out so far https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MLs78Qp2fY2pKnyqj_MXzmciLOYyvAxc9pcgC9gmJsA/edit?usp=sharing)

01:43

01:45

(my question marks rn are transportation, first off-- the voice of hermes is currently stationed at tecmessa, so if it can pick up my orders here and ship them back, that's good. otherwise shipping may factor in. and in black sun the research facility is related to space magic research. i assume thats transferable to staff making know rolls and etc, but let me know if not)

01:49

(oops landing bay staff should be 90. fixed)

(its transferable, and the voices of hermes is still on station)

(good deal!)

05:19

Purchases "Alejo" Atmoflyer: 105,000c Repair Bot: 5,000c PRC1 Materials & Equipment: 283,500c Total: 393,500c

05:20

(gonna hold off on the agricultural equipment until we've got some viable seed and just get everything loaded up and head back to tecmessa, start construction)

(alright, i think it was 10 days for the build if i read your sheet right?)

(18 with a crew of 10 plus the robot. ife’s building, so she’s going to hire 9 locals on tecmessa to fill out the crew)

(alright, we'll advance the time, ill post something suitably flowery, what did we want to get into after that so i have an idea of where to thrust all this)

(yeah and i figure between the travel around the bounty and this, kinda screws up the timeline a bit, so im good to hang if needed. but once this campus goes up, the next big things in motion will be the project root council, interviewing locals to finish filling out the planetary map and learning of any other points of interest, asking them as well if they know anything about the drilled symbols, and theeeeen. well, hiring the specialists to staff the campus and continue the work in earnest to propagate local plant species)

18:01

(but before that, i also have...)

Ife smiles as she disembarks the Voice of Hermes on Tecmessa again, some subtle tension falling out of her shoulders even as the arid, sandy landscape forces her to immediately reapply lip balm and put on shades. She checks in with her old team and gives them the high points of the bounty hunt before reclaiming her hab keys from Ariadne Sanchez. Only to, as her purchases continue to be unloaded, pack her belongings for relocation into her new atmoflyer, the Alejo. Her investment in its fittings doesn't quite reflect on the outside, where it's for the most part an unremarkable gray. She amends this in an evening of leisure after finishing the unloading. She mixes several cans of vehicle paint to her specifications and puts a bright pattern on the side along with stenciling the name. She admires her work with a grin in the dim evening light. Her hab has gone to the ex-bandits, a small family grateful to get out of cramped quarters. When Andros ribs her a bit about 'basically moving into her van,' she replies, "I grew up in homes that could move. It was a necessity. This... feels right."

18:11

(thats the general look i have in mind)

(its awesome! I dont think we need to skip any time, the timelines inevitably get a bit janked now and again)

(good deal then! im gonna do a bit of posting abt these purchases just to give them a bit of flavor like the flyer, then im down for whatever u want to do next)

(Sure thing! Just let me know so i dont cut you off )

The robot who disembarked with Ife is... honestly sort of silly looking. She had time in drill to tune it up and decorate it to her preferences, so it doesn't come down the ramp drab. Heras doesn't have a strong robotics manufacturing base, but there were plenty of traders on Heras One for her to shop with, and when she found one with a bot she liked--after the seller misjudged her knowledge of electrical and mechanical engineering and tried to sell her a barely-functional vid prop--she purchased it to begin tuning right away. Before the Scream, she'd heard of planets so technology-rich even the most mundane places, supermarkets, had robotic assistance. It's a stripped down version of one of these old bots she takes custody of: Automated Restocker Mark 10, its serial plate listing it as AR-10. Ife programs it the first night to alert on humans addressing it as "Arlo." Arlo's short, toy-like frame gets most of a fresh coat of paint and some cleaning in the belly of the Voice of Hermes, though Ife doesn't have anything like the one-way translucent pigments its manufacturer had, so leaves what's left of the face painted over its primary visuals camera in its damaged state. Some of the crew are unnerved by it. Its voice module is set for "perky customer service" and Ife doesn't bother changing it. Its arms are disproportionately long (all the better for stocking) and its chest cavity is a long-defunct free sample tray Ife stocks with myriad screws, nuts, wire coils, and solder. But Ife, who grew up making robotic toys for herself and later many other children, just seems to love the thing. Especially when she gets the expert system better calibrated to hold things while she works. Arlo follows her everywhere unless otherwise assigned.

21:57

(and here's arlo)

22:03

Arlo is put to work on the tedious but essential work of wiring the various semi-prefabricated components of Project Root Campus 1, little bot working with unerring precision and three times the speed of a human electrician to assist construction. Ife does more of the heavy-lifting, along with the human construction crew she hires from among interested and skilled workers on Tecmessa. She pays the same wage for the project work regardless of whether one of the crew is an Elysium Protectorate citizen or one of the newly-returned Tecmessa locals. She also doesn't discourage anyone interested from watching the shell of the huge structure start going up, offering their opinions, and, in the case of many of the younger people, taking up paints and messing around on its bigger blank walls.

22:04

(labor cost of 2430 has been subtracted on my sheet. and now im done!)

Labor on the campus has taken up a good chunk of the month and although you floated the idea of positions and elected officials - no serious discussion has been had about it, as everyone was so focused on getting the place workable again. As the campus powers up, and the lights make the settlement a beacon of shining progression amid the nighttime desert, people once again begin thinking about these more idle of thoughts.

22:11

Nobody has directly brought the issue up, but you can see now that there is something worth fighting over , some sort of authority and official plan needs to be formally drawn up, and strictly adhered to, or this will all come tumbling down.

Working like a dog day and night mostly around similarly-focused people left Ife a little ignorant of the growing tension. She has an audience as she bolts the plastic wall panels of what will soon be an assembly hall in place, and gets rudely acquainted with the issue as what had been a good-natured discussion of whether or not the bulk, low-pile carpeting set aside for living spaces would be best for this high-traffic area literally turns into a fist-fight. Granted, it's a sloppy fist-fight, but Ife's still bewildered as she yanks the two colonists apart by their collars and sends them to bicker somewhere else. Hopefully somewhere without active construction. She takes a break and lets Arlo take over paneling with a chipper reassurance it's "here to help any time, loyal customer of-- [PLEASE REGISTER BUSINESS NAME]!" and drops to sit on a plastic-wrapped pallet. She opens her dataslab and checks the Project Root proposal on the local intranet, and sends a message to those who appended their names as being interested in being on the leadership committee.

Hi all,

As PRC1 gets closer to being finished, it seems like it's time to take a serious run at assembling the committee and establishing leadership. Since you expressed interest, I'm inviting you to a meeting this evening over dinner to discuss concerns and formally draw up a roster. If you know anyone else you think would be a good fit, bring them by. 

- Ife Bialek

(edited)

(guess who finally looked up how to format code blocks

)

Twenty people have forwarded their names but lack positions to specifically apply for, they're none the less interested in trying to do something to make sure the place remains stable and safe for as long as there will be people on TEcmessa to live here.

Ife cracks her neck, glad to see the RSVPs but at a bit of a loss. She turns to her file archive again. Her finger hovers over a digital book her mother consulted often, a guide to consensus decision-making for intentional communities with some hit-or-miss advice but decent templates, and she hesitates. It would make more sense for her to just... upload this trove. Disseminate the information to the whole colony on the intranet, the way she grew up with them accessible to anyone with a compad or stopping by a public terminal, but... Not yet. She's not ready for that yet. Instead, she opens the book and a new blank document and busies herself knocking out an outline for some kind of committee charter before the meeting.

(alright, here's what ive written up. it's a bit utopian, but hey, ife's an anarchist proposing governance, so... lol. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LfwCJb2ETb2faeMwjY2tkZZx7jc_V-SYCqenBsW5OKQ/edit?usp=sharing)

02:00

(the tl;dr is that there are seven committee positions open: Environment Lead, Finance Lead, Housing and Public Infrastructure Lead, Public Health Lead, Agriculture Lead, Production and Industry Lead, and Transportation Lead. these leads, once chosen, can choose others to work with them at their discretion)

02:01

(so topics of discussion for the meeting are gonna be: who wants to volunteer or nominate someone for a lead, how we should go about presenting these people for colony approval, and executing the vote)

(Alright. Did you want to play that out ? It’s a solid proposal and you’ve brought them more stability than they’ve ever had. Wouldnt need to convince anyone this is a good idea because it just is)

(im good if you dont want to! ife would volunteer for production and industry lead)

The process of organizing a government is long, and as much as Ife favors themselves as an anarchist, they're surprisingly good at putting an effective system together. No one dares comment on the duality at work here. Ife is handily elected for her chosen position- who can argue with the success and prosperity this small number of people have been able to secure here. One day, this settlement will have a name, and have even more colonists and people from all over the Protectorate looking to get a new life.

20:17

The government will be here waiting for them, to provide light, shelter, and safety to all who may need it.

20:17

Something the people of Ife's clan never had.

The contradiction between writing foundational documents for the little government and how she was raised isn't lost on Ife. Days later, when the final touches have been put on the campus and a poll is out to give the settlement a name that isn't a string of letters and numbers, Ife muddles through some paperwork and a chat with the newly-elected Finance Lead. Her responsibilities as the P&I Lead are on her mind, but more pressing is the dissonance between her current life and the wishes her family sent her out into the broader sector with. She puts the final touches on the document, forwards it to Finance, and waits for final notes and approval.

I, Ife Bialek, hereby bequeath the structure at 51.6074° N, 0.1378° W (currently referred to as Project Root Campus 1 [PRC1]) to the elected council of Project Root and the colonists they lead. I relinquish all rights of ownership to the structure, with an estimated value of 283,500 credits, as a gift with no expectation of current or future compensation. I do not presume any undue influence or control over the use of the structure due to this donation.

In addition, I hereby donate the sum of 2,000,000 credits to Project Root to be used in the execution of the project and to provide for the colonists of Tecmessa. These funds will be administered by the Finance Lead with oversight from the other Project Root Committee Members, with all major expenditures to be voted upon by the colonists they lead. I do not presume any undue influence or control over the use of these funds due to this donation.

My one request accompanying these donations is that, whenever possible, they are not attributed to me. I understand total erasure of my role in providing the structure and funds is impossible, but I would request it not be overly publicized. 

Ife Bialek

(edited)

(They'll do all that. I'm a bit out of my depth i think, but there's no reason they wouldn't honor your request)

(no worries about running all of this, i don’t expect you to become a citybuilder game for me, lol! i just wanted to get this established before stepping back from this big picture stuff and moving back into more manageable missions. going forward i wanna refocus on exploring tecmessa, figuring out those drilled symbols, and tackling ife’s goals. just couldn’t for the life of me see how her character would hang onto that much cash. and i figure with that and a real city center bequeathed, tecmessa can now trundle along in the background improving until such time as you find something going on here should become foreground again. does that make sense?)

22:49

(oh speaking of which, would you say this accomplishes ife's goal of organizing tecmessa's workers and giving them a dedicated meeting space?)

(I'd say so, If i didnt assign XP let me know)

23:22

(I cant remember when i went through sheets last)

(theres xp. no worries!)

23:27

(frankly i need to go through and add/remove some stuff since things have changed a bit. i'm gonna do that and then i think refocus on finishing the map of tecmessa and traveling to some other places symbols were drilled)

The involvement of Ife Bialek is as erased as its possible to be in an electronic society and Park pulls you aside. “You ever thought of getting yourself a digital ghost ?”

Ife laughs and rubs the back of her neck. "Not really? Guess I always associated them with hackers. I can write code but I'm not much for cracking. Why do you ask?" Then she pauses. "Oh, shit, you saw my doc to finance, huh? It's not that I'm afraid of being found. I just..." She sighs and leans against the wall, taking the moment of rest and conversation. "In my culture, we aren't big on personal accolades. If you do something amazing, your reward is the benefit to your community, not personal glory. I've seen buildings and spaceports named after their donors. I... just felt freaked out at the idea of something like that happening with me. I'm not doing what I'm doing because I want my name on it. I'm doing it because you look less like a scarecrow now, Park-- the next shipment of food came in, huh?" She laughs, then makes a loose gesture with a hand. "But now that you bring it up, maybe I should. Name it 'Some Guy.' Imagine reading a plaque and it says 'funds to place this bench were donated by Some Guy.'" (edited)

“The name is whatever you want it to be. They are entirely fictitious persons but appear real when searched. They will have a paper trail, a legitimate looking job, all the fixings you’d expect

“Yeah, I have a general idea of what they are, they...” Ife pauses, apparently considering something, before finishing, “...they were something we bought, my people. They were necessary for brushing up against society when we absolutely couldn’t make or do something ourselves.” She squints at Park. “You know somebody who makes them?”

"Polychrome is the only place now, and the corps there willprobably want some favor if you can't find someone on the street to do it. Protectorate will probably help though, since you've given them a colony"

Ife nods. "I'll keep it in mind. For now I'm okay operating in the open-- like you said, I'm useful. Harder to disappear me now. I... hope." She forces a laugh. "On a different subject, have any of the locals been interviewed about points of interest we might have missed in our initial surveys? I want to make sure we've seen what there is to see, and I could use a lead on where to get mining operations started. Might also be worth showing them the symbols, seeing if they remember anything about them."

"It seems like we've found them already. This world was destroyed, twice, within a matter of months. That temple we were camping out in, the mass grave, those bandits in the mountains...even one of those things existing after everything this planet has been through it a miracle. "

"That makes sense," Ife says. "Then I guess the last issue to close is the sigils. I... think I'm gonna try to ask around, see if anyone had kin or friends who were psychics, or remembered a tunneling project. It's a longshot, but I want to check that off before I go further afield. To figure it out or track down a ghost."

21:39

(if it makes sense to you, i'll use my connected focus and have the favor be finding out if anyone has additional information on the drilled sigils)

The problems remain the same. Nearly the entire academy is very far away on a raid against the still lady, and everyone here in this settlement either discovered it at the same time as you, or had no idea what was down there at all. The academy on Heras only has two mages in it who are expats from the other side of the L-Gate, and have been ordered to remain there until such time that the still lady is defeated, as they’d both been in her service prior

Ife thanks everyone for their time and spends an evening digitizing the map she's been working on since first coming to Tecmessa. The next morning she takes the Alejo up with a few people who volunteered for Production and Industry and sets the ghost driver on quadrants they lay out to survey. Between them, a comprehensive map of Tecmessa's surface becomes available on the local intranet and is forwarded to the Pioneer Corps of the Elysium Protectorate for their records. With frequent stops for various measurements, they also pick a site for a new mining project, Ife helping the foreman get set up to control the autonomous drillers on his dataslab. Only when all this is done does Ife contact her team and the other Leads on the Project Root committee about traveling. With no real information available in the Protectorate on the sigils, she feels it necessary to travel beyond it. Most psychics in the sector may be occupied, but that doesn't mean more information isn't archived somewhere, and if there's a place she can recover it or just buy it, she intends to. That in mind, she coordinates with the P&I team and makes plans to travel to Polychrome on Park's suggestion.

(did you have a specifc route in mind, or stops along the way?)

(where specifically is it? im looking at the map now. since the alejo is terrestrial i assume she'll be chartering transport. dont want to treat the voice of hermes like a personal taxi.)

(polychromalu, and the voice can take you there)

20:17

(its east near Galatea)

(well that tracks lol. im not sure what the best route would be now given its safe to assume muntsaratz is a no-go and there's ghoul space in between, but i don't have any other particular stops in mind)

(Erdoza has fuel and is one jump away from Alcibiades which is UNW territory now. So you wouldn’t be leaving civilized space )

(gotcha. i'll plot a course in just a sec here)

(how's this?)

(perfect, Ive got 15 days of downtime from the route itself)

Ife spends the trip much as she did on her trip with Joseph: finding small projects on The Voice of Hermes from loose screws to faulty food dispensers, and helping out where she can. The bulk of her time is spent in the bridge. After getting permission from the pilots, she sits in and watches them work when entering and leaving systems, refueling, plotting drill routes, asking questions in lulls and taking notes on her compad. Towards the end of the trip she's allowed in the copilot's seat. She doesn't have much to do there, but familiarizing herself with the controls and readouts from that position helps a lot in contextualizing what she's been learning.

19:38

(good deal. as described, gonna keep putting those towards pilot skill)

(added a downtime total to the notes on my sheet. ive calculated 16 days total for the roundtrip from tecmessa to zerbino, which would put me at 31 total now. let me know if that sounds right)

(I've got 31 as well, we're square) https://www.worldanvil.com/w/iron-stars-nekosmash/a/polychronlou-article?preview=true

Polychronlou

Ife shares a wry look with the bridge crew as notices about caution due to the bioweapon in Polychronlou’s atmosphere flash on various screens. Taking discretion as the better part of valor, The Voice of Hermes docks at the orbital station. If it’s available, Ife will try purchasing protective gear and chartering a shuttle to the surface here, rather than endangering the crew by involving the Hermes further.

The Amala Linn spaceport is on the surface of the planet, within a protected dome, and is the only way to get transit to the underground city of Polychromia. No known protective gear is able to filter out the touch of what the locals call "the Stain" and thus none is available to combat this specific hazard. Some of the very elite locals have something called a Proteus Implant installed, which provides brief immunity, but they are obscenely expensive for even a megacorp CEO.

After making these inquiries Ife begrudgingly asks that the Hermes land. She disembarks in the spaceport into an environment truly alien to her. Ads flash from every angle, advertising a dizzying and completely unnecessary variety of food, drinks, clothes, compads, pharmaceuticals... Advertising isn't totally new to her, she's seen posters and holo-displays before. But the saturation here is visually nauseating. She avoids as much as she can and looks for passage down.

There is a massive elevator that makes the long journey down to street level. The spaceport is otherwise empty and the companies of polychrome have been trying to get their hands on a spike drive for a long time. It’s rumored that spies from the Galatea council have seen things deep within corporate leadership- though not specified - are bad enough to make the decision to withhold the tech a good thing. The protectorate soldiers aboard the voice will lock down the ship

Ife's skin crawls and her stomach sinks as she boards the elevator. The skin sensation is a lingering, pervasive fear of the bioweapon. The stomach sensation is fear of what a terrible situation she's put the Voice of Hermes crew in. But she's here, now, and it's done. She just has to hope what she finds below will be worth the doubled risk.

The twenty minute ride down to street level does nothing to help with the deluge of advertising. Hundreds of people are out doing their daily errands, going to or from work, and otherwise going about the business of existing in a massive underground city. Cyberware is common here, and almost everyone you see has at least some sort of augmentation- most- but not everyone.

Ife lets herself be taken by the flow, wandering aimlessly for a time but making an effort to stay on main thoroughfares. She doesn't have much experience with cities, but she knows enough to stay where the streets are broad, well-lit, and heavily trafficked. She eventually washes up at a food stand with some scattered seating and posts up on a stool there, working on some sort of fried dish as she people-watches. The augmentation is interesting, given apparently very little of it can do anything about the poisoned surface of the planet. What do people even need all of it for? She turns the question over idly as she unpacks her dataslab and boots it. Her first real order of business needs to be finding a place to stay the night and starting some research on where to make her desired purchases-- the ghost, and the information.

(connect, int or wis, your choice)

(same mod, so i went with wis. 8)

There are dozens of small hostels and bunk houses scattered throughout the city and most of them enjoy loft 2.5 star ratings with thousands of reviews. Lucid Industries owns most of them, known for keeping everyone here housed, even those with no employment which makes up 45% of the city. There is less information on the black market, but looking at police blotters and the movements of Lucid's heavy handed corporate stormtrooper teams, you can guess a few streets where an operation like that might be present

Ife books a room--more like a cell--a few blocks from one such street and starts making her way over, taking in what daily life looks like for people down here.

Most do what you did upon entering the city. Some eat from streetwise stands , a few seem to be running packages between various buildings. Some ply their trades dealing junk or offering unofficial services. Lucid industry troopers occasionally walk through the market but aside from shaking down an odd shopkeeper or two for “permits” they don’t seem to be too interested in curtailing what’s happening here

Ife notes all of this as she carefully cultivates some detachment. This place is as close as she can imagine to some kind of hell, even more so than arid Tecmessa or actively-burning Zerbino. She ducks and weaves around shops, ads, and corporate peacekeepers before finally reaching her lodgings. She checks in at an automated interface. With unemployment so high, its presence baffles her-- but then again, a tablet with some licensed software is probably easier on the bottom line than a person in need of wages and benefits. Once in her room she has a call to make. Leave her heavier, more valuable gear in the room in case her wandering into alleyways breaks bad, or take it with her in case the room's security isn't up-to-snuff. Eventually she stores her gear in the room. It's not like there's much staff to worry about. Lighter and with a headache coming on, Ife heads out to start casing those streets she identified.

There is someone who does compad repair in the marketplace and they seem like they’re doing a brisk business. Some of the items being turned over don’t seem to be too damaged or in need of much service at all

Ife hops into the line in a lull and tries to mimic what everyone else seems to be doing until she gets to the vendor. She doesn't try to hide the fact she'll clearly not a local. She offers a slight nod and sets her compad down, though she doesn't lift her hand from it just yet. "Afternoon. I think." (edited)

“Afternoon somewhere” she agrees. “Pad problem? Or something else I can help you with?”

"Pad problem, sort of," Ife says, tapping the screen with her thumb to bring up her ID. "I've heard there's a way to address how this displays."

"Ah, I see, some information like your name or address is not showing up correctly?" they add, instantly picking up on your verbal subterfuge.

"Afraid it's worse than that. Even other associated documents, history, aren't loading how they should." Ife sucks her teeth. "Might be a big fix. Can you swing it?"

"Patchy can swing it. Gonna cost you though. Whatcha got"

"Got creds, if those spend here. Can also offer skill trade, if Patchy has a mechanical issue needs addressed, or... a favor," Ife says, pausing before offering the last. Firmly, she adds, "Don't do wetwork."

"No need for wetwork. You any good with electrical work? Major stuff I mean, industrial scaled"

Ife nods. "I was trained as an engineer and just wrapped some major construction. Most else, I can figure out."

“Alright. Shops closed for the day!” Patchy shouts. She gently rubs her hand through the stubble on her chin. “Alright. Got sort of a unique problem here. Sounds like you can help me out a bit. “

Ife smiles and makes a gesture. “Would you like to discuss it here, or elsewhere?”

“Not gonna discuss it here. When you’re back in your room send an email to this address. It’ll go through an off site server first so if anyone’s listening they’ll go there and not where we actually need you

Ife gives a silent thumbs up and lets Patchy plug the address into her compad before non-chalantly turning on her heel and walking away. She takes a somewhat circuitous route back through the streets just to be safe and then returns to her room to do as instructed.

You're not followed on the way back, it seems this sort of business is unremarkable where you're discussing it right now, and everyone seems to keep their proverbial noses on their own faces

Ife appreciates the apparent self-interest, but there are old, old habits in her that are comfortable enough to slide back into. Expecting everyone you meet on the street to inform on any little strange detail is a way to live. Not a great way, but a good way not to die. Ife keeps her head down until she can draft and send the email. She does manage to keep herself from running the tap while she types to obfuscate key clicks.

An industrial generator stolen from Lucid Industries is being looked over in a warehouse belonging to Patchy, or at least the Digital Ghost they are presenting themselves as. THey'd like someone to accompany them from the warehouse to an undisclosed second site, where its going to be plugged into some industrial equipment to continue some off the books manufacturing and processing.

Ife indicates her acceptance of the job and arranges to meet at a location and time Patchy decides.

(Did you need to do anything before we get there as far as gear or anything ?)

(yeah, i think ife will look for a pharmacy and try to pick up either 3 medpaks or 3 healing powders, whatever's available, just to be safe. otherwise im good)

(they'd have 3 of both if you'd like both)

(i'll just grab the medpaks.

)

Medpacks in hand, Ife heads out to the warehouse in question where two other engineers, a quartet of gangers who appear to be security, and Patchy themselves are waiting. A trailer with a tarp strung over the payload is connected to a rusting dump truck, and everyone seems eager to be away from here

Ife loads up with no fuss, nodding to her apparent new co-workers. Everyone's general style and affinity for cyberware is still a point of cultural interest for her, so she strikes up pretty technical small talk with those willing to chat as they get underway. Why cyberware is so common and what most people use it for particularly interests her.

Most of them take whatever they can get. Survival in the slums is on a knife edge here. A hidden blade, or some sort of environmental adaption could be the difference between staying alive to gulp synth meat soup tomorrow, or ending up face down in a gutter with our pockets and guts turned out.

Almost all of them are after a fabled Proteus Implant, the only thing that can keep you safe from The Stain, but even corpo execs have a hard time getting their hands on a working one- especially now with allegations some of the most recent batch was sabotaged. Other people from the stars brought that issue to a close, but the council of corporations has turned the city over trying to flush out the Stained Freedom Front, as they've taken responsibility for the act.

Ife absorbs this in pensive silence after conversation peters out. An engineer to her core, she keeps turning over the hypothetical design of this implant in her head. If there is extant technology that meaningfully filters the Stain, has there been an attempt at larger-scale implementation? Maybe it wouldn't be feasible to drop wildly expensive cyberware on every inhabitant, but upscaling the design, given adequate materials, to a surface installation with the goal of long-term biosphere recovery... But that seems like an expensive investment in the public good that isn't a cultural norm for Polychromia. The truck and trailer go over a deep pothole, jostling everyone. In the brief moment of scattered light and motion, Ife spots seven different brand logos on the clothes, gear, and skin of the people around her. Unbidden, her brother's voice comes to her from memory: Take capitalism out of government, you get a bunch of people arguing. Take government out of capitalism, you get slavery. Pick your poison. She just sits back for the rest of the journey, mentally reviewing her electrical knowledge. (edited)

The truck comes to a halt outside a nearby warehouse and two of the more security oriented volunteers step out, concealed weapons now drawn, and they begin moving toward the door. One of them nods it is clear after taking a look inside, and the haul the two large doors open just enough to let the truck and trailed get through, before closing them again. Connection wires are draped across the floor, as are replacement parts, spools of cable, batteries, and other elements of an off grid electrical grid. A small map shows the local block, and this place will be powering a clinic, a cyberdoc, and a few other small cottage industries.

Ife makes a though inspection of the documentation available, then busies herself double-checking the integrity of the cabling, connection points, insulation, and regulating boards until someone grabs her to begin specific work. It's not that she doesn't trust the locals can check their own wires for fraying or melting, it's... well, no, on some level it is that she doesn't trust anyone but herself to prep a worksite for her. But it's also good due diligence. Once that's done she dons her rubberized work gloves and stands ready to start with the other hires.

Patchy is looking onwards, out the window every few moments and they keep discussing something with the security personnel here. The mood is somber, and quiet. The generator is dropped off the truck, and everyone together lifts it into place, though you can feel you['re providing most of the strength from your side. There is a clang, as its lowered into place, and the noise has Patchy making a sour face, before going back to looking out the window.

Ife tries to shake the contagious paranoia of the others and just focus in on the job. She checks first there's no damage from their man-powered lift, then moves on to the actual installation.

The generator seems to be functional , and finally, Patchy pulls you aside a few moments before the final connections are made. “Got your ghost all done. On this data card here. Plug it into your compad and anything you do on it, is done by the ghost. Take it out. It’s back to the actual flesh and blood you. Now get out of here. There’s a slim chance Lucid might notice a power spike, or any of the other companies. They’re going to be all over this place thinking this is Stained Freedom Front territory or something. Dont want you caught up in it should it happen”

Ife accepts the ghost card and secrets it into an inside pocket of her coveralls. The she crosses her arms. "If there's an attack on this place, you'll need someone to conduct repairs. That's part of the job in my book. I don't know about your local movements, but you're doing something decent here for the community. I will stay until you know for sure whether you're in the clear or not."

“They won’t stop coming until everyone’s gone. The mega corps don’t let anything happen they don’t approve of. I just want to make you aware the gravity of what you’re offering”

"It probably says something fucked up about this sector," Ife says, "but I'm passing familiar with eradication attempts. I appreciate the warning. Now, what's the play? You got an alcove to wait and see in?"

"Generator is running some clinics and whatnot, sure, but its also powering a data cracker below the factory here. Looking to get locations for weapon caches, credit hoards, and even temporary access to the courier drone network. We're taking the fight to the megacorps here, even if they don't want one"

Ife grins. "Then I guess we get down there, hole up, and keep eyes up here in case they do roll up. Then maybe you can tell me a little more about what's going down. Wanna be informed help."

"Informed? Informed is something most of us dont fit into either. Megacorps aren't managing anything but all of us on this dying planet. No supplies in, anything we make local is running out, nobody knows how to fix the Stain, and the spike drives Icharus keeps trying to make can't happen, because the board and corpos will just leave, and we'll be stuck here with nothing"

Ife's spreading grin does dip into a slight frown at that. "I see. This Stained Front, they aren't a centralized movement or a coalition, they're like... I don't know, a stand-alone cell?"

"Cell, or cells. Other people picking up the movement and carrying it forward. Word gets passed on the net. Messages, snippets of video, forum posts if you know where to look and have a Ghost decent enough to risk, things like that. We all seem to agree the megacorps need to change, and start taking care of things, or we're going to begin doing it ourselves"

"Okay, so it's at least a bigger movement, collaborative," Ife notes. She props her hands on her hips, still partially listening out for new tire screeches outside, and says, "You know I'm not a local. It's better if we don't know each other too well, but I'll say this: I was born in communist space and raised anarchist. My background in organizing is hit or miss, but if it's a technical problem that needs solving for the greater good, consider me on call. I hate... pretty much everything that's happening, on this planet, on a level I haven't really dealt with before. Been a lot of places; first time getting culture-shocked." Ife scrubs a hand through her tightly-coiled hair and adds, "I'm here for the ghost, and for information. Known pre-Scream psionic projects, or working texts, or whatever. If there's info cached here, I'll barter work for it. If there isn't, I can jump to Galatea, probably, because I am mobile. But before then... Seems like the place to start on your biggest technical problem, dealing with the Stain, is in getting specs and documentation on stuff that can already deal with it. That implant everyone was talking up. Hard to get, though." She's stone-faced and perfectly calm when she says, "How hard would you say snatching one of the big shots who already has it might be?"

"Searching them isn't difficult, but getting them to let you analyze it, or getting through all their security to try to take it by force-- and that's glossing over the fact you're going to have to murder them to remove it, that's where your problem comes in. The information we're looking for is more mundane. We're trying to see where corpo is hiding their money, their gear, things like that. Just making life a little easier for us, and a little harder for them. If we get into the financial system we can even generate some Joss so maybe we can afford a few luxuries for the month or get some bills paid before they realize the currency is flawed"

"And that's good, that's vital, but it's also short-term," Ife says. "I'm not, y'know, itching to murder somebody. But..." She sighs. "The problem of technology is that it metastasizes, right? The execs don't have drill ships yet because there's a lot of outside pressure keeping their money from buying a couple skiffs off some desperate pirates and reverse-engineering. But it's a holding pattern. Two days of accidental inattention and a shuttle vanishes into a lab to eventually become a fleet. So! Let's assume we're fucked. The boards and the corpos are going to leave, tomorrow or in ten years. No one knows how to fix the Stain. No imports, no exports. We're all going to die." Ife thinks for a moment. "Who can buy an implant, if they have the cash? And if I got one, and brought it back for study, could you get one of these clinics prepped enough so extracting or thorough study wouldn't kill me?"

"I...I don't know. We'd need to try to find someone on the inside. Like a corpo med tech. High level one"

21:47

"Only way we'd be able to get something out of The Glass Tower"

Ife stretches, rolls her shoulders. "From what I understand, me being here's both weird and rare, and I have something the corps desperately want-- they're not gonna get it from me, but they want it. I've also got kind of a history of being interested in planetary biospheres. And I have just... a stupid amount of cash. Maybe not enough for a straight purchase, but at least a down payment. Is this Glass Tower where I should start?"

"Its the best lead we have right now. And you might want to identify yourself with your ghost. If you cross them, they'll never stop hunting you"

Ife nods. "Okay. I'll wait with you here for a grip, then head out. If you wanna, uh, dig up a decent clinic I can come back to with the goods, I'd appreciate it." Ife pulls out the ghost chip and plugs it into her comms. "Thanks, Patchy."

(If you want to give it a name and all that we can. Not sure how important it will be but it will work anywhere)

02:37

There is a crackle over the radio. A group called the Winter Wolves is on the way over with serious military hardware. “We have to hold the building.” She says to the others. “They’ll be here before this is done. But not by much.”

02:37

They begin racing off to man hastily constructed defenses though what it will do against power armored soldiers no one is sure

(thats alright, i dont think its gonna figure that prominently. what are the conditions like around here? i know the city itself is subterranean, but is the light dim, area around the building mostly open or cluttered? i have some developing ideas but want to clarify)

(Dim lighting. The leftovers of neons. Lots of alleys and side streets , eventually will be cordoned if they put up a long fight but for now the winter wolves won’t have all the routes covered

(sry bogged down this week. will hop back in as soon as i can. basically im contemplating how to set up some traps/visual distractions to give the shooters an edge. would it be conceivable that there's access to water, like a hydrant or breakable pipe, and spare cabling around? dont wanna do some truly inconceivable shit lol)

(oh for sure, that stuff would be around)

Ife moves fast as the shooters take up their positions. Short on time and resources, and not exactly a tactical mind, it takes her a moment to realize all the workplace hazards she so carefully checked for at the beginning of the generator's installation might be ideal for, say, dissuading heavily-armored troops from running around wherever they like. Armed with a wrench from her tool kit, a heavy coil of spare cable, and her monoblade machete, she legs it between firing positions. She breaks water valves she can't wrench open, starting a steady gush of water in a few routes not well-covered by guns. As she goes she also drops cable, stripping insulation at random points with the edge of her machete. By the time she moves back into the warehouse housing the generator she's left a mess of wet ground to pay mind to, wild loops of wiring to catch feet, and, of course, the most important part: a whole lot of water over stripped wiring begging to be plugged in for the mother of all electrocution hazards. "Whistle when there's a good group in the water!" Ife shouts to rebels in higher firing positions. Out of breath and grimly resigned, Ife crouches in the shadows by the electrical panel-- machete held ready for anyone making it into the warehouse, ready to plug in her haphazard trap at the whistle.

05:57

(let me know what all you'd like me to roll or if i should tweak!) (edited)

(Your skills naturally cover everything you’re trying to do, so no roll needed.) A vanguard of five of the wolves breaks through the front doors of the warehouse and are too close to the generator and too close to friendly firing positions for comfort. “Now!” Patchy shouts

Ife shoves her end of the cable home and throws the switch to make it live. Then she takes cover behind some crates, watching for anyone getting past the firing line or the trap.

three of the wolves are unlucky, their pearl white power armor frying and baking the black/brown of food left in a heating element too long. They fall, rifles tumbling from slack fingers, while the remainder take a step back, retreating out the door to regroup and organize medical attention for them

Ife takes the moment to advance a bit and try to secure the doors, in hopes of keeping the wolves outside in sight of the gunners for longer.

(I'm thinking an Exert/Dex to likewise avoid your own traps, since you're dancing around them while also trying to Hodor the door)

(gotcha gotcha. if i get owned by my own trap im gonna absolutely die laughing)

18:42

https://tenor.com/view/ayy-lmao-haha-funny-awkward-gif-4809826

18:42

(3)

A pair of active wires connects over a puddle that you run through, jolting you on your way to the doors (6 damage)

Ife's breath leaves her in a hiss between gritted teeth as her nerves seem to ignite for a moment. Momentum carries her to break the brief circuit made with her body, but parts of her hair are smoking as she throws herself against the door and looks for a way to brace it or secure the handles.

There are some loose beams and boards fallen off either during the attack or from the general willing decay the warehouse went into before your arrival and use of this place as a resistance field base. They're within easy reach and it seems the wolves will counter in a moment to try to recover their wounded

20:05

Who are now cut off, inside the building with you

Ife makes for the sturdiest looking board and wedges it crossways through the door handles. Gingerly, mindful of her recent brush with lethal electrocution, she picks her way over to one of the wounded Wolves and conducts a thorough search, relieving them of any weapons or other useful devices to stymie their comrades.

He has a laser rifle, and several power cells to go with it. You're not going to be able to pry them out of their power armor with the time you have remaining to you before another assault makes its way forward

Ife collects the laser rifle and power cells, checking the charge on the one loaded before taking a new position in cover with eyes on the hastily-shut door. She starts to aim the rifle at about chest height but doesn't have much confidence about her luck doing much harm as an amateur gunman against power armor. She spends the precious few moments before the assault jabbing one of her new Medpaks into her bicep.

20:21

(let me know if that's feasible, otherwise she'll just take cover and aim)

(it works! there is a heal/int check to apply it since the ingredients are basically all things youd' skim off coolant tanks or essentially lacking any kind of medical refinement)

(well that's a 6. ife absolutely crushing it today lol)

(2d4+1 health restored)

(rolled 8 so i'm back at full)

20:56

Ife grits her teeth as she feels the injection bury itself less in her muscle than the tissues around her shoulder joint. Shit. She'll have a dead arm tomorrow, but for now she can feel a slight rush from the medications going to work.

The data-bomb is almost complete. "Buy us another few minutes! and someone cut that grate out of the floor behind the generator!" Patchy yells, trying to direct the rag tag group of resistance fighters here.

21:38

"We'll lose them in the underway!"

Ife feels palpable relief as a task she could be reasonably capable of is announced. She shoves the laser rifle and ammo in the hands of a fighter as they move downstairs. "Cover my ass and you'll never know there was even a grate there to start with." Bluster delivered, she moves fast to get to work. (edited)

There is a spark and then a flame as Ife lends herself to the task, cutting away the grates quickly as a tremendous bang at the front of the warehouse announces a Wolves hovertank blowing a hole into the building. You are halfway through, as the laser fire intensifies, and Patchy announces the success of the data bomb. "Got it!" they shout triumphantly as a laser bolt takes them in the chest.

Ife looks rapidly between Patchy's fallen form and her own half-complete work on the escape. They abandon the grate for now and crouch-run to Patchy, readying another Medpak, and try to find a pulse.

(I forgot we changed the frontier med rules, the DC is only to make more, so as liong as you're willing to spend an action, we'll get her patched up)

(yeah absolutely!)

Patchy hikes a bloody bubbled breath as the medication begins working. They roll on their side, and wipe their mouth before drawing back up to full height. "Alright. Time to go. Lets try to get some distance between us and them"

Ife nods grimly and takes back up the cutter, working as fast as she can to get the grate open. Once the way is open she sees Patchy through before she goes down into the dark.

Moving into the darkness you can hear the sounds of two more rebels splashing in behind you, while the gun battle continues upstairs. There is nothing that can be done for them now. The data has come through, and the SFF will be able to use this to take the fight to corpsec . The tunnels themselves are twisting and turning conduits for pipes, insulated wires, and all manner of ducting to ensure this sprawling subterrain settlement has everything it needs to allow some manner of quality of life. As the group runs past, Patchy begins rigging a bundle of grenades and a sensor to one of the pipes, prepared ahead of time

Ife hangs back with Patchy, standing ready to assist if Patchy's recent brush with death hampers her ability to fix up the explosive, but also wanting to stay close to someone who knew the tunnels and her for their eventual escape. She draws her laser pistol and keeps it trained on the tunnel past Patchy in case of a need for covering fire.

Patchy nods , satisfied the bundle is in place and taking you by the wrist you begin to wind through all manner of dark crawl ways . Your boot gets wet near the end. You don’t want to think about what you might have stepped through before you emerge in the back of a Thai restaurant’s dry good storage room. There is a muffled crump from far below as someone has found the grenades , but they’ll never figure out which way you’ve fled. The head start was too great.

The sudden craving for chicken satay is strong, but that's probably the adrenaline talking. Now that the immediate danger is over, all she wants is food, sleep, and maybe some of the chemical engineer's homebrew from Tecmessa. Not a good idea to linger here, though. "Keep that wound clean and your head down," Ife says to Patchy before they part ways. "I'll be in touch if I'm able to get the cyberware, and we'll go from there. The contact info you gave me before still gonna be good?"

“We are probably going to have to shut that down. When you come back, make a post for a lost dog using your digital ghost. I’ll make sure my data scrapers watch for the name. If I see it I’ll know you’re back and we will find you “

Ife gives her a thumbs up. Then she turns up the collar of her jacket, shoves her hands in her pockets, and heads back out on the street in the opposite direction from Patchy, letting the tide of pedestrian traffic carry her for a while before circling back to her rented room. There she decompresses from the fight, taking personal inventory. It's been a minute since she was part of armed struggle. She showers, changes, and takes stock of her injuries. There's a burn on her left shin where she made contact with the electrified water and the current discharged as heat. Her arm is really working its way towards intense soreness thanks to her inept needle jab. The injection site could use swabbing too. She cleans up these injuries and then sits on the bed. She needs food. But she's tired. Time to indulge in the convenience of a high-tech dystopia. She orders a modest delivery dinner of noodles for more than seems right or just. Then she turns her mind to her next steps. Sleep is the big one, but after that... Ife looks down at her backup outfit, some sweats and a tanktop screen-printed with a sunflower pattern almost totally destroyed by repeated washings. If she's going to walk into an upscale cyberware boutique, try to drop serious creds on an extremely in-demand piece of technology, and potentially leverage being from off-world to do it, she should probably look more like the Herald and less like a very lost part of the maintenance crew. She makes another purchase for delivery: a minimalist corpo suit in burnt orange to match the fading dye in her hair, plus a pair of suitable black shoes that (to her disappointment) have no steel-toe options. For a second as she lays back to sleep, she frets about having forgotten how to tie a tie. Then she remembers her options with this ensemble were printed plastic, clip-on, or holo. "Hope I got clip-on," she mutters as she drifts off to sleep.

Clip on is indeed what you receive as you awaken to the package and complementary breakfast awaiting on the stoop of your room. It’s addressed to your ghost. Not you specifically and it’s a good test. Your identity works. Patchy promised to teach you how to make Joss next time you return , for today you’re going to have to actually pay for the gear. The suit fits better than expected despite the misgivings about the shoes. For a few extra credits the cyber jock might be convinced to work as a cobbler while you handle the deals, or may at least know someone

(happy to pay, let me know what i should mark off)

(That was just for flavor basically it would be a trivial amount at best )

(kk no worries!)

04:37

Ife doesn't really recognize herself once she's dressed. She definitely feels too quiet-- no pockets full of jangly screws or clanking of a tool belt. But the details aren't quite right. She spends some time in the bathroom actually styling her hair, working leave-in product through the curls and neatening her edges, then uses a spare toothbrush to actually work long ground-in motor oil and dirt out from under her nails. Presentable, she sees about hiring a car to take her to The Glass Tower, where Patchy mentioned she could see about the cyberware. No point doing all this work just to walk up off the street.

There are many ground and grav models available for hire. For five extra credits you can deal with a ghost driver system instead of an actual human pilot if you want to ride in peace , making a ride either 30 or 35 credits

Ife decides paying extra probably makes... some kind of statement, here. She orders the driverless car, double-checks her bag, and then steps out for the trip.

It is a black sedan with grav plates that look fresh. The car is clean which is a rarity for this city and you step inside. The ghost driver greets you by your ghost name, and the doors close and pressurize behind you. Your destination appears on a map showing your location and the distance to your drop off. It looks like a fifteen minute journey by car for it to avoid the worst parts of the city

01:47

With a gentle push, the vehicle begins moving off in the direction of the glass tower where you plan to meet with your corporate contact

(Just an update since the time of return is close) A few months pass as Ife embeds herself in with the Stained Freedom Front. The jobs are technical, ranging from generating and spending Joss currency for supplies, deleting corporate databases of known resistance members, perpetuating digital ghosts so fighters can live double lives in peace, and occasionally finding more kinetic work fending off the various off-world mercenaries the corporations keep bringing to the world to try to clean your movement up. things take a turn for the worse when New Moon Cooperative noble Lord Horacio is killed almost as soon as he sets foot on the ground by "peacefully" trying to SWAT style breach a door to a known gang hideout. Within a day his spike capable ship aboard the world's platform is captured by corpsec. The council of corporations abandons the planet overnight, without a word to anyone. Order breaks down. Lesser corporate officials carve out fiefdoms where they can. They no longer cooperate with one another to ensure their city has its needs met. Violence and crime rises, and your revolutionary movement swells with eager new recruits

There’s a longer line for haircuts than you would expect in a rebel base. As it turns out, the first thing many would-be revolutionaries want to change on joining the movement is their hair. Sealed plastic pots of unexpired hair dye in every hex color code made are in nearly as much demand as antibiotics, Narcan, and ammo. The only reason Ife gets fast-tracked to the chair is because she’s unfucked clogged and broken hair clippers more than anyone else. “This would be a lot easier,” the barber, a steady-handed older guy who snipes when he isn’t cleaning up fades, says, “if you’d stop reading while I work. Thing one, you keep tilting your head, you’re gonna come out crooked. Thing two, you’re gonna be finding hair in your slab for days.” Ife snorts as the clippers continue their smooth strokes over her head. “If that’s the worst thing to come out of my slab it’ll be a good week.” “Oh, you got jokes.” The barber bends her ear away from her head to work behind it with more force than strictly necessary. “Shut up and sit up.” Ife sits up and focuses on holding her posture while continuing to pore over her encrypted email. It’s natural to want to slump, she thinks. Even with rigorous filters in place, her inbox fills up fast with dismal messages, and the neat little folders aren’t any more cheering. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

08:58

INBOX (341) STAIN BREACHES (23) DEATH NOTIFS (12) IT TIX (58) REPAIR TIX (20) R&D (0) AID REQS (66) CORP INT (3) PERSONAL (1)

She can’t bring herself to tap into the stain breaches folder. Fighting corporate mercs was one thing. Fighting the air itself is another—and now that the major corporations have jumped ship, seal after seal between the undercity and the poisoned planet’s surface are failing. With 23 new messages, at a guess, the HardWear offices finally failed wholesale. Their marketing department had thought their fashionable personal-use combat armor showed best under natural light, and unlike gauche startups that cheaped out with full spectrum UV panels, HardWear tunneled in skylights. Supposedly quadruple reinforced, Ife had been in the abandoned gallery two months back and negotiating drifts of broken glass. Likely they’d been barely holding out when HardWear made shifts of miserable interns maintain their frames daily. Now the skylights were probably venting death with starlight. First the gallery would test out fatal, then the public corridors, then the private offices, then, if the Stained Freedom Front and the surviving population of Polychromia were very unlucky, all of Ward 6. They’d already lost 3 and 14, and (Ife knew offhand) 4,782 people who couldn’t or hadn’t tried to get out in time. Ife taps PERSONAL (1). Hm. Incorrectly filtered. The subject is “FWD: DEATH NOTIFICATION – LIFE SIGNS NULL ON A…” which is a form subject line bleak in its objective disrespect of the dead. Ife kept meaning to recode the auto notifs to put the field [DECEASED NAME] before [METHOD OF REPORT], but there’s always a more pressing project. She taps the message to skim it and refile it to the correct folder. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ (edited)

08:58

FWD: DEATH NOTIFICATION – LIFE SIGNS NULL ON ANCRA, RUBY (FKA “DIGS”) Flagged as PERSONAL, HIGH PRIORITY Hey Fix, Just snagged this. I know you two weren’t super serious, but I figured you’d want to know ASAP. Aleph said Digs went down in the planned corridor collapse. Instant-like. And there’s no leaks, yet, so… Yeah. Sorry. - Imp ----------------------------------------------------- DEATH NOTIFICATION – LIFE SIGNS NULL ON ANCRA, RUBY (FKA “DIGS”) TIME – 20:41 LOCATION – WARD 6 CAUSE – DATA UNCOLLECTED DUE TO DAMAGE OF VITAL MONITOR FINAL WORDS - DATA UNCOLLECTED DUE TO DAMAGE OF VITAL MONITOR

A hot, damp towel falls over Ife’s eyes. She feels the barber take the slab from her. He says, “You sit and let that work on you, I gotta dig out a new jar of deep conditioner.” Ife sits under the hot towel and lets it work on her. By the time it’s pulled away she can give the barber some raised eyebrows and point out the half-full jar sitting on his shelf next to battered packets of powdered bleach. “Don’t you baby me,” Ife says, teasing and grateful at once. The barber smacks a cold blob of conditioner down on the nearly-bare crown of her head. She squawks and he laughs. “Somebody’s gotta, Fix.” ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

08:59

A little while later Ife gives the duct-taped barber’s chair up to somebody who wants their roots touched up before they get in another firefight, judging from the serious gear issuance tags they’re clicking together while they wait. Her slab folds into her back pocket after a quick acknowledgment to Imp. Her head feels so light it might float off, bob around in the dingy corridor’s ceiling, though whether that’s the fresh shave or the bad news, she can’t say. Nonstop bad news has a way of throwing off personal metrics. Ife thinks about the distress beacon the crew of the Voice of Hermes left with her. Sending them back to the Protectorate when the corps moved to seize the NMC ship seemed so straight-forward and smart at the time. Clearly her work was gonna take longer than any of them were comfortable making a ship’s crew wait around for. Clearly shit was about to get real. Ife didn't want anybody dying to hold a door for her, so to speak. But they hadn’t wanted to leave her. “There are times things have to collapse so you can see the lay of the land,” the captain had said, “but it’s best you aren’t inside when they do.” The beacon looks like a detonator, just a palm-sized device with a flip-cap and a bright plastic button, but it beats any other tech on planet for long-distance broadcast, and its automated message requests relay of any ships receiving it. One press, a few weeks, and Ife can pretend she never climbed down in this dismal little hole. But Digs didn’t have the option. Nobody in Ward 6 does, or any of the other buried neighborhoods left to rot on Polychromia by the companies who bought and sold and finally trashed their lives. So the beacon rattles around, taped-shut, in the bottom of her rucksack. And Ife checks her email again.

08:59

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ (shows back up to game late w starbucks right before u go on well-earned vacay. hi! let me know if i should edit anything and i'll try to get up to speed on bigger game stuff tomorrow) (edited)

(This is all perfect. I’m going to read this a couple more times and get a suitable reply up)

Organization and restoring services needs to happen again. The flow of problems coming in is so widespread because the various once corporate city states, the refugees caught in the middle, and the territory of the Stained Freedom Front all do not coordinate with one another and are thin from fighting one another, and fighting amongst themselves as new disasters crop up every day. Collapsing back to a concentrated area to organize, inventory resources, and take back the city ward by ward is the best way forward- your time building communities from the literal dust of worlds and experience in being successful at that keeps leading you back to this plan. Some sort of alliance, or at least understanding that cooperation right now is for the good of all needs to happen , and people need to be moved back to secured areas. For a time, The Stain is going to take most of the city. With careful planning, cooperation, and work, it will not remain that way. Getting in touch with the necessary people is the difficult part. Messenger drones still fly between various points, news services are regularly hijacked for waves of threats and invective between the various groups, but there has not been an established formal way to communicate things between the various factions at play here. There have been several regrettable blue on blue incidents over the weeks as line fighters and corporate troopers have fired on one another not realizing temporary alliances or cease fires had been set up by their seniors.

17:20

(if you were veering in another direction feel free to correct me, I am good with anything)

Triage is the daily work that never ends. It's familiar, fighting in a battle with no apparent good outcome, but Ife knows from experience just because something's familiar doesn't mean it's good for you. They'll all lie in this grave and kill each other if the larger issue of the Stain isn't addressed. But with initial forays into getting an implant stymied when the major corporations were still on-world, then left at an apparent dead-end when they left, that work has to take a distant backseat to the work of maintenance. First things first, communication has to be addressed. Working off local extranets building-by-building or private comm servers isn't cutting it anymore. There need to be neutral, accessible lines of communication that cross faction and company divisions. Then work can get done on consolidating the population into the most secure wards. With that in mind, Ife taps into her REPAIR TIX folder. She'd been messaging with a couple different field teams shooting her info on any discovered fiber infrastructure and some abandoned telecom offices. Hopefully somebody has an actionable lead.

18:27

(sounds good to me! i think this seems like a logical place to start?)

(foir sure!)

21:03

In the early days of settlement on this world buildings were physically connected to one another by comm lines. They needed to be manually plugged into various servers to build a network. Hard wires, strong physical communication lines, and a hub to house them made of reinfroced concrete, few windows, and enough backup supplies to run for months in the absence of outside food, water, and power makes this building perfect for the hub of a new neutral information network. The building would be perfect, but is deep within the remains of Icharus territory- the company had largely been left behind as they had failed for years to form a spike drive of their own. With no council of corporations to oversee their activities, purges of anyone who was not a company employee from this district began. Floods of refugees filled other wards for days before roadblocks were established to keep employees in, and shoot any non employees moving in either direction. The building in question seems to have avoided their use or notice, getting through to it remains the challenge.

Ife fires off her own encrypted message, a request for a team: anyone with inside info on Icarus (or a personal score to settle), and a seasoned fighter. She's looking to create at maximum a three person team, herself included, for initial recon and verification of the condition of the network building. Then she settles into a chair in the dim hall this SFF cell has been using as an improvised mess and begins checking her gear. (edited)

Icarus even before the flight of its senior leadership. Vehicles and drones. Icarus is a tight consortium of vehicle manufacturers that shared control over a nanofabber, and spend much of their time consumed with infighting. Many suspect that one of the main reasons that Polychrome had not been able to field a spike drive ship is because Icarus couldn't coordinate well enough to build one. The other megacorps were prepared to step in to “rectify” the situation before the Greyhound left here by the NMC fell into their lap. It's not hard to find someone who dislikes their former co -workers there who thinks about revenge. A fighter, one of the Winter Wolves who had seen one atrocity too many and decided to cross the lines is also able to be scrounged up.

Most of the Stained Freedom Front works with codenames, either glorified net handles or actual ghosts of varying intricacy. Ife's ghost is good work, has a real name, but she settled on going by "Fix" pretty fast-- the last Fix having been an actual fixer and killed in anti-corporate actions months back. The operatives she scrounges up go by Jump (the ex-corpo) and Tracker (the ex-Winter Wolf). That's all she needs to know. "The plan is this: get inside Icarus territory, get eyes on the potential network compound, and establish a safe route for future trips in," Ife explains once they've exchanged names and respectful nods. "If it's been overlooked this long it may be due to serious damage, dangerous squatters, difficult entry, or even Stain leakage. We need to be prepped for anything-- but mostly to stay quiet." She looks to Jump. "I read up on the initial purges and roadblocks. Has anything changed about the situation that you know of? And do you know of any entry points that might be harder to guard or have gone overlooked?"

"Roadblocks should be there still, though most of the guardians are robotic now- not many flesh and blood folks will willing to wear a uniform in that area of town, so they're kept back near Icharus HQ to respond to the real bad stuff, apart from the assigned bot-minders. Way I see it we got two paths forward, we try to spoof some Icharus credentials and pass as employees returning to the fold, or do our best to keep to the back alleys and hope to avoid the patrols. If we get spotted we will need to handle them quickly or we're going to drown in war-iron before we get anywhere close to our destination. I have two scrambler grenades left over from some past...work...that might buy us the time we need if we take that second route and don't have the luck we hope we will"

"I don't exactly like being so visible," Ife says, "but as the saying goes, work smarter, not harder. Seems like spoofing the credentials is the less-friction option, especially with robots at the perimeter. My major concern would be accidentally putting ourselves in a position to get swept off to HR. The less human security we see, the better. But..." She rubs at her chin. "Then again, if we can make something authentic enough, getting in deep and seeing how functional Icarus still is could be vital intel. They've been too belligerent for me not to like the idea of SFF taking their sector and setting up shop." She sits back, ruminating on the details. "Let me put out some feelers. If I can get actual names of deceased employees, maybe from other survivors of the purges, that will help us a lot in case we do get questioned more. Otherwise get your gear together, get requisition tags if you need them--I can sign off--and let's plan on heading out tomorrow night?"

Tomorrow night is agreed on. They’ll see about scrounging up gear or anything else that might offer some opportunity while you handle your end of the prep work and the plan undergoes it’s first revision

Ife gets to work talking to people and seeing what’s known about Icarus staff casualties. It’s half detective-work, half counselling. Corporates aren’t exactly beloved by many, but, they’re still people, many with family and friends. She does what she can to prise the info out gently. She’s looking for three names, appearances close enough to her, Jump, and Tracker to be plausible, and having to do it fast. (i figure i could roll connect on this or, if u thought it would work here, mark this as my Connected foci favor for the mission?)

(It can work here if you wanted to use it now)

(good deal, i'll do that then)

06:21

Ife comes up with her names and a few workable details. From there, she'll need to do a little work fabricating "damaged" company IDs. But she's gotten good at all sorts of physical and digital forgery since coming here.

(I think the damage and fabrication would likewise be covered by your background)

15:39

Your companions have done what they could to try to source some additional gear, calling in favors and so on. Jump has a data phase tap they didn't have beforehand, and Tracker looks to have had one eye replaced with a pan-spectral model. The wound is still red and irritated and there was not time for him to have had both taken care of- the other will have to wait until this is over, but he promises he is in good enough shape for what you hired him to do

(Archived )