The Long Night Ends (A Traveller T20 Game) (Inactive)

Game Master mdt

Assuming everyone does their shots.

"Thank you all, now, if you'll follow me, we have to have you taken to immigration and get you visas." The Ensign waves for the five to follow along, and leads the group away from the sick bay and along the corridor.

Once she leads the group a way aways, she stops in a hallway. "Please choose one of the rooms, one person per room, inside are immigration officers who will interview you."

Assuming you go into a room.

Each room is a small room with a desk and chair, behind the desk, is an immigration officer.

After being asked to have a seat, the immigration officials ask everyone the following questions. Please spoiler your answers

1) Name
2) Birthdate, in Standard You don't have to worry about the year
3) Planet of Birth
4) Planet of Citizenship
5) Name of Ship
6) Any affiliations or political appointments
7) Any medical speciality ratings
8) Any criminal records
9) Name of Ship's Captain
10) Name of ship's planet of Registry

Sickbay looks like it was put together recently, probably as a response to the ship.

Given how long the interviews are, I'm doing a 'take 10' on everyone's bluff to see how convincing they are. So, Ceres and MacVole are convincing, but Holt and Vathan hem and haw a lot, acting somewhat nervous all the time (18/16/11/11).

Finally the group is released. MacVole looks fine, Ceres also looks fine. Holt, Higs, and Vathan exit looking like they've been through the wringer.

Each person is given a wrist comp that doubles as papers on the station, while also providing guidance around the station (basically, a personal electronic map, communicator, and holds their permits to be on the station).

When the group moves away from the immigration area, MacVole pulls them aside and begins asking questions about their shots, and if anyone is feeling any side effects.

Do not respond, I cannot listen and project and guard against others and talk innanity at the same time. I'm using telepathy to communicate to you. The immigration people do not believe us at all. They aren't sure what we're lying about, but they know we're lying. They suspect we are agents for one of the two other political entities, at least one of which is hostile. I only got fleeting images of ships attacking. I can only read surface thoughts, and without asking specifically about these people, I can't get more information. But they've been careful not to mention them at all, so I can't ask without giving away my abilities or re-inforcing their suspicions. MacVole suddenly begins to look pale, and leans against the wall. "Oh my, I may have had a reaction to the shot myself..."

Vathan grabs the doctor to support her. "Now what?"

The doctor smiles. "Now, I go back to the ship and lay down, I'm exhausted, like I've been working for days..." She stands up slowly, and then waves off Vathan. "I need to nap for 8 hours or so. Enjoy exploring the station without me."

Vathan smiles grimly concerned that they all should have a similar reaction to the shot at the most inopportune time. (Mostly, hoping that it's an excuse for the DM to exit an NPC, and not a preview of our characters exhaustion.)

"Take care of yourself, Doc. Maybe Higs should escort you. Where to?" Vathan asks Holt and Ceres looking for a map or signs directing toward interesting places.

Actually, Vathan would probably know it's an excuse for her. She's exhausted herself using her psi abilities.

"I'm good, you enjoy."

@Wrist Comp - I assume they gave us a removable version and not one that locks onto our wrists : )?

Ceres gives the doctor an understanding nod.

"Better get some rest then. Just make sure to keep an eye on the symptoms. It would be quite ironic if our doctor succumbed to a vaccine..."

As the doctor and Higgs leave, Ceres takes the opportunity to look over her new souvenir.

"Hmm. I wonder if this thing has holo or video, or if it is just audio/text..."

Absent-mindedly she pokes around at the machine to see if she can manage a test call to Higgs. After satisfying her curiosity she brings up the map and looks around. Maybe they have a library or something ..."

"Well, standard procedures would be to head and grab something to eat. But I doubt our money is good here - yet. How about just a walk around to see what there is to it?"

The (removable) wrist comps have small holographic displays, but they aren't very good. The high definition screens, on the other hand, offer much better resolution. The holo looks a lot more like a gimick someone stuck on as a marketing ploy.

The communicators do work, and they do let you put in calls to the ship.

Looking at the map, it quickly becomes apparent that the 'beta ring' houses mostly admin stuff. Government offices, station control, and the like. Living quarters, shops, and civilian businesses are all down on the 'delta ring'.

Pulling up a request for 'library' indicates that the station library is part of the computer core. There is a 'library office' which according to the map has enough room for maybe 2 people in it, about a third of the way around the B-ring from Ceres' current location.

The library itself is accessible from any public terminal or kiosk. Lounges on the d-ring, per the cuff, often have reader panels available.

Holt smiles at the Doctor and say "Get some rest, we can take it from here."

Turning back to Vathan and Ceres, she replies "A tour sounds good. I'd love to see what they might have in the shops around here. It should prove really interesting." But even as she talks she turns to look at the wrist computer.

I bet this thing is bugged. Oh, I just want to take it apart right now and see how it works! Do they have any unusual design patterns? Are they just absent minded copies of older technology?

Looking at Vathan, she adds "What about you? Any suggestions?"

What about memorials or historical commemorations?

"Ideally, we should just download their copy of 'Wikipedia'* and spend the rest of the week going trough that..." Ceres chuckles.

*Insert generic space-encyclopaedia here!

Jane's Guide to (Freighters, Warships, etc, each a separate volume), Menderhall's Planetary Guide, Beckstrom & Fiant's Alien Species Anthology, Guildermann, Rissskath, and Smith's Weapons Almanac, take your pick. At least, those are the names that were respected 400+ years ago...

"Let's wander. What's the worst that can happen?" Vathan grins mischievously and starts walking around the ring. He starts to think about jogging, because it's been a long time since he has been able to run long laps.

"Well, some small rock with a high velocity *could* decide to hit this specific point of space right now ..." Ceres chuckles and follows Vathan's lead.

Sat working hard in her office back on the homeworld, for a moment she stopped an thought of her friends out there in space, she hopped they would call come back. She looked at her clock, time to have the Lunch with The good Doctor Ziirkaa or Aggy as she called him. She got up, and headed out the door not to be late.

Just a post to put this on my new account playlist

Was waiting for Holt to respond, but we'll move forward.

As the trio explore the area (Higs took MacVole back to the ship), they find it's both more and less than what they expected. The station is easily 3 times the size of the Telthani station, which was always supposed to be replaced long since now.

It's odd walking in 1/3rd gravity, but the locals seem to be acclimated, indicating they've been here for a while. The level you're on has a few restaurants, but that is it. Mostly it's offices and living environments.

Once the crew heads down to the Delta deck, they find things slightly more like what they expected from old holodramas. There's shops with everything from clothes to jewelry to tools and personal electronics. Restaurants are scattered around, as well as amusement arcades, and what appears to be a small redlight district. Bars also dot the area, along with transient accomodations. The smallest appears to be nothing but row upon row of 'coffin' rooms, each one 3 ft square and 8 ft long, stacked up 3 high and forty long in two rows. The upper end appears to be a 3 star hotel, with a real person behind the desk accepting people.

They also find the Exchequer's office, which once they check it, appears to be the money exchange for the station. There's a lot of people dressed unlike the rest of the station inhabitants in line there, arguing over the current exchange rate of currencies.

Vathan enjoys the shopping without purpose. He reviews the level of fashion and technology with home as well as attempts to identify an appropriate exchange rate from local currency to the universal credit chits that he carries.

(He'll take 10 or 20 on Appraise +5 for this review.)

When they get to the Exchequer's office, he will review his guesstimates with the going rates. Maybe bartering would be better than currency exchange. Ostensibly standing in line to exchange credits, he also observes the different people to determine origin, recent history, and pop culture, which presumably they would talk about. He will quit the line if Ceres and Holt have a better idea.

(He'll take 10 or 20 on Perception +12 and Sense Motive +5 for this review.)

(Vathan carries 324k worth of Universal Credit Chips. He certainly will not advertise that amount if it translates into a bunch. Also, the wrist watch he wears is worth 10k at home.)

Walking in 1/3rds gravity was annoying. There wasn't enough gravity to make her feel normal - but the weak pull was enough to foil most zero-g manoeuvres. Bleh! She glanced at the locals, trying to judge their health. Either they are low g adapted or their bones must be as brittle as glass by now!

Ceres makes a mental note of the stations dimensions and tries to estimate the rotational speed - the 2/3rds gravity seemed like a happy coincidence with the Mylthani's needs. And, if her people were to become spaceworthy again, they might need all of the station. So knowing what was practical and possible to construct could be useful!

Know (Engineering): 12 + 11 = 23 Taking 10 (12 due to trait!)

When Vathan spots the exchange office Ceres follows his example with a strange smile on her lips. After a few minutes of waiting she speaks up with a chuckle.

"I didn't think I'd travel this far just to stand in a queue!"

Vathan has trouble telling what his credit chits are worth, as he sees none of them available. The locals all use actual plastic money (thin sheets with complex patterns) or locally made electronic money rods about the size of a pen that plug in.

The local fashions are odd to Vathan and company, too many colors and strange bits of extra cloth sewn on for decoration, but it's not too outrageous, just, gauche to their tastes.

Once he gets up to the exchequer station, the woman behind the counter blinks at the Imperial Credit Chip he lays down. "Oh my, I don't... let me check to see if we take that..." She presses a button on her console, and after a minute, Vathan can see she's talking, although he can't hear her. Vathan would recognize this as a privacy screen, basically a computer is generating a wall of sound in front of her that exactly neutralizes her spoken words. She also tilts her head down so her lips aren't easily seen. Based on the long pauses, Vathan is guessing she's contacting the main world or the main starbase, probably via gravpulse relay, as radio would have taken 10 minutes or so per relay, rather than the 30 or 40 seconds it's currently taking

After 10 minutes, she finally nods, and looks up. "Thank you for the wait, sorry about that. I've been informed that we do take Old Imperial. I can't promise an up to date exchange rate." She punches up some buttons. "The last exchange rate we had for it was... Two point five three seven six Elle-Lira per credit. That's the best I can do, do you want to transfer any of your credits? There's a 2% exchange charge, and you'll need a local credstick to accept the L-Lira. Or I can give you plas, if you prefer, but only up to one thousand Plas."

"No, that's alright. I'll think about it." Vathan replies and steps away from the exchange.

Seems that I was unclear. While Vathan was shopping, he was looking at the prices in the local currency of all makes and models. From the various shops, he could determine what are luxury and what are regular prices. Then, he can guesstimate a rate between what he has and the local currency. If a shirt costs 47,000 gobble-di-gooks, then the rate would be about 1000 to 1 for shirts about $25 to $100. Ballpark. Cheers

Well, you can get a general idea related to your home currency, so with that, you figure that your local currency is probably worth about two-thirds the local currency. That is, a 2 credit item here costs about 3 credits back home. But it breaks down from there, the credits you have had variable rates depending on when and where you bought them, some were cheap, some expensive. Plus the credits you have are based on different banks. The ones you showed were worth the amount she quoted, but giving different bank notes might net different rates, or no rates at all.

Sorry, didn't realize I was being waited on. :/

Holt walks along with with the others, quire pleased with the level of gravity.

They are surprisingly come to how I feel when I work on the ships in development back home. Some grav, for the forging or to make the crew comfortable, and a good bit of anti-grav, for proper space adaptation. I wonder if they keep it like this all the time? What does it do to their colonists? Or do they have some sort of exchange program to keep them healthy?

When Vathan starts to stand in line for an exchange, so does Holt. When her tern comes she holds out a quarter pound of silver and another eight of a pound of emerald. Smiling happily, she asks for a cred rod.

Ok, first off, exchange this for some... slightly less gaudy, maybe even flea market clothing, and when nearly everything is spent, I can take apart the cred stick and see how it works...

Will attempt to see how their credit technology works later. In the meant time, how advanced to their parts stores seem?

Annara looked at around the meeting room

Politics, Politics, Politics.

That was her life now, she had been in meeting after meeting over this and that element of the world government's plans to expand. She looked over at the Minister of Justice, this meeting was all about Xeno-laws and now the new race, Psi-cats street slang called them should be covered by law. A dull meeting in which she had little to offer other than insights into how they think and feel.

As the woman who had been 1st contact some how that made her an export, the truth was other now know a lot more then her. But her rank and power meant she was of a respected level the pro-integration group felt they needed.

Fernán had also said it was for the best, it had been a shock to the public and her face was trusted on news shows. She just hated the fact she had to spend so much time away from Ophelia and Agamemnon the twins.

It was always hard to be away form them, but later tonight she would slip back to the estate and spend some time with them.

The meeting was coming to a close, she nodded at her secretary who had been taking notes and then rose with the security standing community.
Heading out her secretary passed her a tablet that had the presentation she was to give in 2 hours at the Psi-Corps Training Collage. More young minds seeking work out in the stars.

The world she was in now was not the one she had grown up in, there was close to full employment, a whole new wave of industry's expanding. There was a hopefulness in the culture there had not been before. A feeling things would get better, life would be richer. It felt good and the young had a "can do" out look that felt refreshing after the stuffy halls of power.

Once out at the landing she claimed into a Untoxier-Lee Jump-jet. Her security team was waiting in it for her. They nodded at her as she strapped in. Mr Xu the head of the team said.

"our ETA will be at 4:30 mama, It should be a clear run."

She nodded and leaning back closed her eyes, an hour ride was a good time to get some rest.

Her secretary said

"Mama you still have to review the draft of your Autobiography"
She opened her eyes again and took the offered smart tablet.
Flicking over it she sped-read the altered parts. This was another of Fernán ideas.

"It will be good publicity and cement your legacy Ann, also the public are clamouring to know what's it like out there. A book will do this and you can let them know just what its like, the Joy and dangers the whole thing."

Well it did have parts of the truth in, but she had had to clear it with state security, parts had been changed and it painted a far more romantic view of the reality, but they where selling the future here and so one had to do such things.

After reading the changed parts, She still had 40 mins until they planed so she closed her eyes and was soon asleep.

The exchequer regretfully informs Holt that they cannot exchange precious metals or gems. She will need to find a commodities broker or jeweler.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Beyond the line standing with Ceres and Holt, Vathan quietly asks, "The local currency appears to be 2-to-3 compared to us. Maybe we can setup a line of credit for the ship, instead of paying the exchange many times. We also need to discuss shore leave if that's going to be a thing."

"Aight." Ceres nods [smaller]"A line of credit would be useful, especially since it would be the first step to establish some trading proper. We also need to discuss shore leave indeed. If that is going to be a thing..." The Captain trails off and looks down at her wrist computer. Some things were better to take in private! With a grin she looked up again. "So, officer Vathan, it would seem as if you are the one with any local currency at the moment. Could you be intrigued in treating your dear comrades for a sample of the local cuisine ?"

"Apologies, captain. I didn't pull the trigger on the currency exchange. Maybe, we could find a pub that is frequented by pilots. It might have a higher chance to allow a line of credit. We could also look for a vendor to resupply our consumables."

Slightly annoyed at the exchange with the broker, Holt nods at Vathan and says "If we find a jeweler we can try and barter for some native credits. Otherwise, we could just look around. I'm still dying to see what kind of parts they have available... even if it is just window shopping."

"Captain, my apologies, but you need to return to the ship immediately." Montoya's voice crackles over the wrist comp, relayed by the station. "Montinegro and Higs got into another lovers spat after he brought MacVole back. Montinegro thought he and the doctor were getting friendly again, and she put him into the wall... repeatedly. Took three people to pull her off this time. You might want to bring Vathan and Holt with you, Holt's the only one she listens to, and Vathan's going to be pissed... she put Higs' face through his model ship collection."

Ceres quickly passes trough confusion anger and disbelief, but settles for worry. If this isn't a trick I don't know... But why would they need us back already ? Lifting the wrist computer so that she could speak easily she replied.

"All-right. We're heading back. Ceres out."

With a sigh, she glanced at her two officers.

"Well, lets see if we can't clean up this mess too. Vathan, do you remember if keelhauling is still valid nowadays...?"

Will there be any troubles moving back trough immigration? Ceres will also make sure to ditch the wrist-comp outside the ship, in case it listens when it shouldn't :P

Vathan follows the captain and growls, "Yeah, we can rig something up..."

Holt gives Ceres a raised eyebrow before saying "Well, I hope it won't come to that... It's so hard to get the debris off while we're still in space."

Holt will want to keep her comp, though she won't ask to. If she does, she'll be sure to let the others know and it isolate it in her room, away from any important discussions.

When the crew gets back the ship, Higs is on the bridge, looking good for someone who supposedly took a face plant into Vathan's (nonexistant?) model ship collection. "Sorry Captain, figured the station comms would be bugged. We have two major issues, and some minor stuff, the major's convinced me to call you. First, it appears our ship's AI hacked the station's computer about 37 seconds after we docked. We don't know what it did, and we don't have access to the station computer, but if they figure it out, we could be in trouble." Higs grimaces. "About 15 minutes ago, we picked up a coded transmission from the probes. They picked up a massive ship translation over here." He points to the other side of the system. "At least 30 ships. Also they picked up gravity fluctuations. McTavish picked up a gaggle of asteroids over that way, and we initially tagged them as just that, asteroids. But they're probably asteroid forts. Someone invaded the system, about 2 hours ago. Also, on the minor side, the probe at the warp point picked up some more asteroids, with massive power signatures, approaching. Looks like they're going to put forts around that one as well. Not sure where they pulled them off of."

"Well, at least it waited almost a minute this time before going rogue..." Ceres murmured in annoyance. Taking a seat, she rubbed her temple. "Okay then, we have three problems. A sticky-fingered AI, an invading fleet and a blockade around our warp-node. Do we know is the asteroid forts are Lisandren or if they too belong to the invaders? Nevertheless, we could simply inform our hosts about the approaching fleet. And if they ever notice our break-in, we'll play it of as seeking confirmation that the ships weren't theirs. Thoughts?"

"Ma'am, I seriously doubt they don't already know about the fleet that warped in. They have forts and communications, we're picking up broadcasts from our probes, and they had to relay them to us at light speed. It took an extra 6 hours for us to know about it, because it came through from the probe." Higs informs, throwing up the probes on the system diagram, showing the light speed delay.

"All-right. Still, relaying the information is a show of good faith - even if it is hollow. And they didn't seem to extend the courtesy to us ... We should look into getting ready to leave. If the invasion fleet comes this way, I rather not be a sitting duck."

Still, that is a few hours away. Lets deal with what we got at hand first ...

"AI, this is the Captain. I would like to know why you accessed the starbase computer and what you did while you were connected please."

If it took us 6 hours to get the message of the invasion, the correct eta for them would be ~8 hours ago?

Vathan is a bit stunned by the turn of events. He shakes it off and starts prioritizing. After removing and ensuring that all wrist comms that they were given on the station are left in the airlock between the McTavish and stations, he starts asking questions and making suggestions.

"Higs, is there any collection of manpower that we have on board that could coax the information from the AI as to what it did and why it did it? Two, can we get a display of the system and warp points? (Can we get a map of the system with planets, warp points, and ships? I'm a visual person) Can we tell from the communication signals of the fleets about who is in what group? I imagine that the aligned fleets would communicate on common frequencies. Are we facing one group, two or three? And third, captain, we should consider departing this station soon. If it is threatened by one of these fleets, we might receive refugees who would want our ship."

Will respond when I can make up the map, that'll be tonight, after work.

Holt goes wide eyed at the report, as she was starting to regret wanting to see something other than just ice and rock.

"And who ever they are, they clearly have a lot of resources on hand. Using an asteroid as a ship is cheap to manufacture, but fuel intensive to move, much less to jump. I'm not exactly a diplomat, but it seems like we should tell the station about this, but also have a foot on the pedal in case they don't understand that the timing of us arriving was simply... circumstantial."

No no no, confusion abounds. The asteroid forts were in the system originally. The point sources jumped in in the middle of them. The logical conclusion is that the forts were guarding the jump point, and belong to the locals. Also, the station would have to have it's sensors off to not have known at least 20 minutes ago. McTavish is inside the station, so it can't use passive sensors, or it would have picked it up 20 minutes ago instead of needing the relay from the probe..

It responds to everything except questions about it hacking into the local system. All it responds to with that is :

"Lost Colony Protocols have been followed."

Vathan attempts to ask, "Computer, can you elaborate on the Lost Colony Protocols? For example, what trigger's them?"

After any reply, he asks Higs, "Can you discover if the ship sent any signals without our knowledge? Possibly that may have been heard by the probes?"

"Lost Colony Protocols have been followed. Lost Colony Protocols remain Priority 0 requirement." The AI says unhelpfully. "Lost Colony Protocols activate when potential for Lost Colony increases to threshold level."

Higs shakes his head. "Nothing from here. If it used the station's radios, I wouldn't be able to tell without hacking into the system."

"Can you describe the threshold level for the Lost Colony Protocols?" Vathan asks wondering if he asking too many questions.

Holt says "Maybe it will be more helpful if we're more technical." Tapping her comms, she says "Ensign Shault, can you start querying the ship interface the old fashioned way, while I check the system diagnostic traces for any hints?" before walking over to a console and starting to type furiously.

We should Take 10 on T/Computers to get it to output specifics on the Lost Colony Protocol: how it works, when it goes off, what it does when it is triggered, if it logs what information it gathers, etc.

My T/Computers: 9 + 10 = 19 + any tool or ship bonuses available. I'll be assisting Shault, our resident (and scary) computer expert, who would have a 26 + tool and ship bonuses, given my assistance.

Vathan can actually aid on T/Computers +4.

preliminary result is that the lost colony protocols are hardwired into the ai core. Detailed physical tracing would take weeks and might damage the core.

-Posted with Wayfinder

"Bleh..." Ceres makes a sour face as the AI replies. "One day, I shall find the idiot that thought that script was a good idea..." But then, he/she is probably dead since long ago. Hmm, I wonder if the galaxy at large has invented resurrection by now?

"Okay then. Fiddling with that can wait for now. I need one team to check our docking clamps and see to that we can leave. Do a discreet check to see how we could disable the station-side link if needed, should our hosts want to keep us for longer. And another team to contact the station command itself, to notify them that we would prefer to not be shot at by their 'guests'. And that this includes not being stuck like fish in a barrel in here..."

"Aye, captain. I've the docking clamps." Vathan leads the team there.