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The cargo gets loaded into your ship with care by the warehouse workers, who adeptly avoid the containers flying on the ceiling tracks. You settle your checks and load up. With a few minutes of throwing switches, checking slurm-coated-duct-tape-patches, and pressing buttons you leave the Station's orbit and into the Drift.
You come together each third shift to eat and enjoy each other's company. It's funny. You spend less than 24 hours on Absalom Station and end up in a handful of battles and complete an entire job. Now here you are in the beauty, distortion, and silence of the Drift with days of time on your hands. Such is the life of a space trucker.
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After six days you pop back into real space. The blue ball of a water planet sits below you. Entha’s orbit teems with starship traffic supporting EJ Corp’s terraforming project, especially above Elysia, the large domed installation floating on the water planet’s surface. As the Last Chance approaches the planet, a small space station and EJ Corp Negotiator bristling with firepower monitor the queue of starships waiting to land.
Depending on who one asks, the Negotiator is either an aptly or terribly named ship model. While EJ Corp ostensibly created this ship to defuse tense situations, the Negotiator ultimately has one solution to any given problem: firepower. Often crewed by ex-military mercenaries pulled from the most hardscrabble corners of the galaxy, Negotiators are well known for not living up to their name; their crews typically issue hard ultimatums and resort to violence with little provocation. The Company isn’t known to waste any opportunity to acquire new starships, so standard operating procedure for Negotiator crews is to quickly blast through a “noncompliant” ship’s shields, then deploy a breaching pod full of combatants to convince the ship’s crew to stand down in person. Failing that, the Negotiator is expected to ram its target at full speed—but this is a tall tale spread by the Company to discourage resistance. The Negotiator’s bristling armaments are meant to intimidate—as well as to distract from its relatively weak defenses and complete inability to give chase. However, the mere presence of its weaponry is often enough to discourage dissent, and it is often accompanied by hardier, faster ships that can compensate for its limitations. Of course, if the Negotiator were all bark and no blasters, its reputation would erode quickly. The ship often proves its weapons’ effectiveness in brief, violent conflicts with competing interests in remote parts of the galaxy, where consequences for armed warfare are minor or nonexistent. The Company has deployed the Negotiator as a strikebreaker, breaking up would-be picketers with a few well-placed warning shots. A Negotiator’s high firepower, short effective range, and relatively low defenses make for explosive engagements that end quickly and conclusively—part of what makes them terrifying to those who dare to resist the Company. When not actively squashing dissent or engaging in literal corporate warfare with competitors, Negotiators are most commonly spotted in EJ Corp blockades, which the Company commonly uses to protect its interests on remote planets with active terraforming or construction operations, such as Entha.
An AI traffic control program regularly broadcasts queuing information. Eventually, the ship at the front of the line receives clearance for landing, then the Negotiator escorts it to the surface. Both ships shrink into dots as they approach the vast water world’s surface. While the Last Chance waits in the queue, an open emergency broadcast from the surface reaches the ship: “Attention: An RC-HPR-class ship in unauthorized possession of Company property has left Entha without clearance from the Evgeniya-Jaimisson Corporation. Parties able to detain these criminals will be well-compensated for their assistance.” Once the message ends, Melissa's scanners pick up a ship moving rapidly toward the queue—an Ulrikka RC-HPR called the Surnoch’s Tooth.
As the Surnoch’s Tooth nears the Last Chance, the captain of the vessel, a female ghoran, hails all nearby ships with a desperate message. “This is Captain Siovan of the Surnoch’s Tooth. The Company isn’t telling you everything. My crew and I are independent contractors. Our ship was ferried to Entha weeks ago for a mining operation, but the Company neglected to tell us Entha is a water world! The Tooth’s not rated for underwater operations, so I figured no harm done, we’d be on our way. But the Company called us in breach of contract and tried to seize my ship! Well, they can go to Hell!” The other starships in the queue don’t interfere, ignoring the message.
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Jaraduk spends his off-shifts locked up in his bunker, catching up on Xenomon. He'd completely missed the release of the latest game, Xenomon Gold-Press Latinum (which is much like the prior game with new creatures and a splash of paint). But, being a creature of habit, he was required to catch them all...
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Assist? Something tells me we don't want to be standing out in EJ space right now. Seems best to sit this one out.
Jaraduk sighs out loud. RC-HPRs are not the vessels of criminals. They won't be making much of a getaway. No drift capabilities. I suppose they will at least outrun equally-slow Negotiator. I wonder if EJ will bother putting something faster on them...
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During drift travel, Melissa wheels out a bottle of Rum for guess. Having gone for quantity over quality. "here, I don't want you getting the shakes and shooting the wrong person. or trying to ferment something in the sink. Again "
Melissa can't miss that computers check
"We sure hobgoblins don't Run EJ? They built their nuclear weapons platform with an engine duct taped to it along the same philosophy. At least these only LOOK like they have a ramming prow. "
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For third shift, Guess? shows up as the spitting image of Robo Santa!!
"Hello everybody! Among my tribe, and most goblin tribes, robo santa is a myth, a legend, a hero! It embodies our core values - namely that we are a tribe, we are a family and during the holiday season, we come together and express thankfulness and gratitude that we have each other..."
Guess? sighs happily, "...to cause mayhem together, to raid together, to lie, cheat and steal together. All for the greater good. Robot Santa Claus is a symbol of this ideal!"
Guess? looks around at everyone at the breakfast table, "And so for this shift, I've come dressed to the nines as none other than Robo Santa because after all that we've been through together, especially since Melissa joined the crew," (Guess? winks) "I think it is beyond fair to say that this crew, this tribe, this family has truly lived up to the ideal of mayhem and chaos for our greater good! I could never have hoped for a better band of crewmates than all of you! Cheers!!"
And to this, Guess? raises his traditional start of the day morning drink to everyone - a bottle of rum!
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Looking pointedly at Del and Melissa, Guess? says softly and calmly, "Look, I know what you both WANT to do. But it wouldn't be the smart move here. We're in a... ummm... borrowed EJ ship so the last thing we want right now is to draw attention to ourselves.
"Do I want the reward for taking down the Surnoch’s Tooth? Of course! Under typical circumstances, would that be the smart thing to do? Definitely yes!
"But given that we're trying to stay as incognito as possible, the best thing to do right now is to neither help nor hinder. We've got to blend into the background and not draw attention to ourselves, understand?
"AND in case for some reason we DO feel like drawing unwise attention to ourselves, let's be sure we target the correct ship - the one that will actually put us in a better position, not worse - the Surnoch’s Tooth, agreed?"
Guess? replies to Melissa, And nope, EJ isn't run by hobgoblins. The Company is in much better hands than that of course! It's run by CAPITALISTS!!"
Then a lightbulb goes in Guess?'s head as he opens up private 1-on-1 comms channels with as many other ships in the queue as possible with the following offer, "Hey there! This is Captain Howard of the Last Chance. Have I got a deal for you! A little wager actually!! Look at those ships - a puny RC-HPR pursued by crazy ass scary Negotiators! There's like a one in a million chance that hunk of junk hauler will get away from the state of the art military interceptor!
"But you know what? I'm feeling a bit crazy today! Maybe it's cuz I had a tad bit too much rum this morning! So I'll bet ya 1000 credits that the Negotiator won't be able to catch the RC-HPR! Crazy, right?!?! C'mon, bite quick! I won't be offering this wager for very long!!!"
When the rest of the crew looks at Guess? with the usual 'what-da-gob-are-you-doing?!?' look, Guess? explains, "Hey look, not everyone is gunna have the same bit of insight that our resident ship expert Jaraduk just shared with us! Some of these ships around here won't know that the RC-HPR will get away! And wherever there's an imbalance of knowledge, there's money to be made!! AMIRITE????"
Akh is still buried in a magazine covering the cuisines of Entha when the group pops out of the Drift and is immediately thrust into a potentially dangerous situation with the EJ "Negotiator" ship. He watches the viewscreen and hovers anxiously in the air behind the group, still clutching his magazine. "The one thing we're definitely not doing is shooting the EJ ship, yes? This mission is bad enough in how we're flying right into the dragon's open maw, we don't want them to squint at us too hard. No painting a target on ourselves. At least, no bigger than the target we already paint on ourselves thanks to our logo."
When it seems like everyone so far is on the same page, he settles down "In any case, doesn't it seem strange that the guys running away didn't even look up Entha before accepting their job? Their story seems a little fishy."
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Prior to leaving the Station, Guess? has a hard time finding product that would sell on a remote world full of workers with low wages. But the one thing that always does manage to sell in those conditions: beer. You fill up your second hold with crates of fermented beverages for 1200 credits. Hard to say how much you'll make on the other end, but there should be some profit in it.
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Somewhat surprisingly, there are no responses at all to Guess?'s friendly wager. You're taken back to your days as freight runners for The Company, when anything outside of the ordinary was dangerous. You had to keep your head down, or else the company would find some way to dock your pay. Perhaps that's why they're not interested. Or they just hate humans named Howard.
The captain of the slow ship keeps talking over the public channel. "Well, we're headed anywhere but here! No thanks to you lot! We figure the Company’s not gonna expend too many resources to track down this hunk of junk. Doesn’t do them any good anyway. It was just out of spite they kept us there so long—that and making us buy their overpriced rations in that damned store!" The ship slowly makes its way into the horizon, bound for quite the long journey to the closest piece of civilization. The negotiator flies past you, but stops rather quickly. The EJ captain doesn't even acknowledge the fact that no one helped, expecting it. The Negotiator returns to its post and you end up waiting 2 hours before being directed to land at Elysia, where you can unload your cargo.
During third shift, Strek shares stories, descriptions, personal quirks and pictures of Shan with the crew so everyone can more easily recognize her.
"I guess I never realized how much she takes after Tarika. Also, she always appreciated that my arm could double as a selfie stick."
When they pick up the distress call, Strek sighs. "Ayup, I'm here for Shan. Not to be some hero. But nice to know we can outrun them if we need to."
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Melissa sighs looking down at her WWSD t shirt and Guess? admontion.
"I know. We're here for shan. I just don't like that the decent person we know gets our help when the likely decent people we don't don't. " she grumbles "I thought the choices were supposed to be right and wrong, good and evil. Guess? or not Guess?...not wrong and wrong... "
She probably shouldn't be wearing that T shirt around here though. She slips out of the neck "we're hauling drills and beer. The EJ coveralls will work. We can do the power armor thing because you'll need it to move the drills. Would the heavy weapons be over doing it or would what happened to the last 5 guys bringing this stuff in warrant a little extra security? "
"I think they won't be able to blame us if we look a little armed." Akh nods "Will probably blend right in to all the other cargo haulers that have to also run all their own security. We were pretty armed last time we worked directly with them."
"I wouldn't be so sure they were decent people Melissa. They could have been cannibal androids, for all we know. Even cannibal androids can get ticked off by EJ's policies. And given that they're not Drift capable, it seems they're either that or undead, or they're going to run out of supplies long before reaching anything else."
"I wouldn't be so sure they were decent people.."
"The Captain is a Ghoran. I hear they have great taste."
"Great... taste...?" Akh ponders "Do they even have tastebuds?"
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Strek shows pictures of Shan, including a few extra-long selfies of the pair of them. In all of the photos the young brenneri carries a titanium-coated seashell. Her favored object is surprisingly durable thanks to its metal casing, but still contains the sounds of the sea.
Akh and Del resist the urge to turn around for some ethically questionable but nonetheless tasty goran meat and you head down to the planet's surface. You break through the cloud cover and fly above the stormy ocean surface. An enormous transparent dome encloses a small settlement built atop a massive floating platform on the sea, complete with a dozen modular and portable buildings of varying sizes. A few open areas feature artificial grass with gym equipment and an “outdoor” cafeteria. Several large, round landing pads surround the dome, linked by swaying docks. Additional landing pads are still under construction, and a mix of above-water and undersea scaffolding forms a wood-and-steel patchwork around the entire facility. The sea below the floating facility churns with heavy waves that sometimes climb to 30 feet tall before crashing harmlessly against the magically strengthened, transparent aluminum dome covering the entire complex.
The automated system welcomes you to Elysia. Del is directed to land on one of the floating landing pads attached to the dome city. Also attached to the invitation is a map of the facility. The digital file details how a long, low bunkhouse offers shelter to most workers on Elysia, while a well-appointed, multistory prefabricated home houses the management. The Company store sells necessities - which you immediately see all at an inflated price.
You notice instructions from the AI for preparing for a "routine contraband check" upon arrival. Your keen experience tells you that incoming cargo will be checked carefully, but not for “contraband”. They guards will be looking for products that would compete with the company-enforced monopoly.
A small saloon offers low-quality liquor and several gambling vidconsoles, all owned by the Company and likely meant to funnel workers’ wages back into its coffers. As your crew expertly lands the Last Chance, you’re greeted by a familiar sight: the Wintermourn rests nearby, on the other side of the gently swaying landing pad. It seems your fates are intertwined by some invisible hand of destiny. Jinx, Nemelith, Dizzy, and Dizzy’s drone, Digit, all wait outside the ship as captain Niva Rovo consults a datapad, her brow furrowed.
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Melissa can't miss that engineering check
"One of the big sisses, Cueball, was glued to a recording of a snooker game here for like a week. Nice work on the gyroscopic stabilizers Strek. Normally you try that much abyssium on a floating platform and you're gonna lose a member or 12 of the audience."
Melissa would like to run at Dizzy and give him a hug. But isn't sure how he'd take it. Instead she starts trying to play some star sugar heart love on her sax from on top of a few boxes to get his attention
...aaand swallows her reed and starts choking. Well that'll get their attention at least...
Strek wipes an eye as he stares out over the operation.
"Wish I could take credit for the fancy stuff, but.." he gestures to the metal scaffolding underwater.. "that was really all that was here back then. Hence all the Big Fish stories. I was one of the few workers who could breathe underwater. Now I guess they got a whole contingent of Kalo. But yep, mighty impressive. Even skumbag capitalists can be capable of greatness."
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Before leaving the ship...
Strek and company notice instructions from the AI for preparing for a "routine contraband check" upon arrival. Your keen experience tells you that incoming cargo will be checked carefully, but not for “contraband”. They guards will be looking for products that would compete with the company-enforced monopoly.
Suddenly the 25 tons of beer in your mystical bonus cargo hold are looking more difficult to offload... assuming you can get them past customs in the first place.
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After leaving the ship...
Dizzy runs up to Melissa, a flap of his wings bringing him up to her level. After a few heavy slaps on the back to dislodge the reed, the dragonkin envelops the ysoki in a large hug. "Why if it isn't my favorite little fluffball!" He releases and looks Melissa up and down. "Ooh, you've been busy since we last saw each other! Sick HydroJet mod, love it! I've been looking at getting some JumpJets myself; sometimes a guy feels too lazy to fly himself ya know?" He waves a large pink claw over the blue landscape. "This is quite the spot, right? A terraforming project on a global scale, it's incredible. I can't wait to get inside and check out the advanced technologies at work in there. And much nicer atmosphere than the last tropical spot we were at together! And that's saying something, seeing as this is an Evgeniya-Jaimisson facility." He sobers up for a moment, calling his drone Dizzy to his arms. "By the way, I don't think I thanked y'all fully for helping my crew get me out of there. It was horrible, like I was someone else. Thanks for being cool about that." He shakes the dark thoughts away, coming back to the moment. "Say, speaking of... where is your rascally crew? Did they come too?"
Before Melissa leaves the platform, Dizzy pulls her aside. In a stage whisper, he says, "I've got some scrap parts lying around here and some time on my hands. I was admiring your weapon. Want a quick tune up?"
You're 100% confident he's just being a nice guy. He can add a weapon accessory of 2nd level or lower to one of your weapons OR add an armor upgrade of 2nd level or lower to an empty upgrade slot. You know him well enough to know he pulled you aside because he doesn’t have enough spare parts for further modifications for everybody else.
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Akh lowers down to Guess?'s level and whispers "They'll be searching the ship for imported goods, since EJ wants to have a monopoly here. If we want to keep a low profile, we'll need to hide it or sell it before they check us. Or we can drink several tons of beer right now. Which seems fun, but tricky." He floats over to joins Melissa a moment later. He's still quite skeptical of the Wintermourne crew, if only because crossing paths so often can't possibly be coincidence. It was almost as if some greater force was triggering the groups meeting over and over.
How can you NOT sell beer anywhere in the galaxy? It's the universal language of love! Can our ship project movies? Free movie night in the spaceport, but beers cost! Well just... keep a low profile on that option...
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melissa tailthwaps the dragon
"Thats NOT funny. You could still be... "
and again
"And THATs for the tune pun. " at the last thwack coughs out the reed.
"Yeah they're around. I figure they'll let me know where they are by the explosions. And fire. And exploding fire. "
"We're bringing out some drills.. I don't know what they're hitting that they need to replace them but they're screwing something up. We're also supposed to check in on our bosses daughter, Breneri lady Named shan" She'll show a picture ""She may be in trouble for whistle blowing. So let us know if you see or hear about her but don't put her face on the milk packets. Also keep your head down, something aint' right right around here even by corporate sleeze standards. " "
A ysoki NEVER turns down an offer of scrap metal. "I keep having people come up closer to me than I'd like so..." She'll introduce Digit to the eels and show off her storm called "If we could get a bayonette bracket on there I'd at least be able to pretend i can stab people with it while my other dragon comes up behind to chomp them."
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Upon learning about the "contraband" ban, Strek immediately dusts off the company printer.
"I knew we'd never need this for legitimate receipts, but I got an idea."
He prints off a few dozen Slurm labels and sticks them on the outside packaging.
"If anyone questions why or how we could possibly drink that much Slurm, just show them the empty cans littering the floor of my personal quarters."
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Strek feels pretty confident about his forgery with the cargo that Akh identified. Nothing wrong with bringing in EJ's number one selling radioactive energy drink! How else would the workers pull double shifts three days in a row?
Dizzy listens intently to Melissa, nodding along. "I'll keep an eye out for her. Not sure how long we'll be here; this was supposed to be a simple job. We've been waiting for clearance to enter the city for a few days though, so who knows how long we may be delayed." The dragonkin just shrugs. "Probably more big corporate grinding of the gears working the approvals." He works for a few minutes, bending and working metal with the help of Dizzy's robotic arms. After his labors Melissa has a bright pink and green bayonet. "Ta-da! Stylish, too! Howdy, Akh! Good to see you again, and in less dire circumstances! About time we got work in a beautiful locale. That will cheer anybody up, even yourself!"
The rest of the Wintermourn crew stand closer to their ship, talking amongst themselves. Nemelith stands at the back, looking beyond bored and frustrated with the situation. Jinx stands behind her, the pair signing back and forth. He slowly tosses a pair of dice between his hands, swapping his 'speaking' hand back and forth as he does so. Their ysoki captain settles onto the top of a cargo box, typing onto her datapad. She looks extremely on edge. At one point she looks up and notices you. She gives a friendly nod, then looks back to her work.
"Hmm, I like it Strek." Akh briefly ponders whether Slurm would be as regulated as other goods. He also reflects on whether (as a fallback) EJ is likely to be willing to purchase a few dozen tons of unannounced beer, if the team is diplomatic in their negotiations.
Akh waves to Dizzy. "Yes, very beautiful. I've heard their food is quite good outside of the EJ cafeterias. Of course, we'll never get a chance to try it because this whole place is likely to collapse into the sea."
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Slurm, being an EJ brand...
When everyone raises an eyebrow at this revelation, Strek shrugs.
"Ironic that carbonated nuclear waste being the first and second ingredients isn't the primary complaint.."
*siiiipppp*
"How could I have forgotten Slurm is an EJ brand??? We could have been ingesting tracking nanites this whole time! It would explain so very much about our strangely consistent run ins with things that want to kill us, or oddly frequent traps." He shudders "All the more reason to sell this be- I mean Slurm quickly, isn't it?"
Akh floats over to hover near Captain Niva "I figured we should warn you about the nanites in the Slurm, but you look pretty nervous about something already. Want to fill us in?"
Del gets off the ship last—she had to sit on her own hands and remind herself LOUDLY that she couldn't help the other starships because they had to help SHAN, and shooting EJ ships was NOT going to make THAT possible.
Still a little upset and shaky, she takes in the scenery. After a moment, she waves at the crew of the Wintermourn, and heads over to say hi.
"Hi! What a coincidence! Didn't think we'd see you again so soon. What job brought you here?"
After a while, she focuses on Niva. "Are you alright? You don't look happy..."
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"I thought the choices were supposed to be right and wrong, good and evil. Guess? or not Guess?...not wrong and wrong... "
"Well friend, this is where you've got life pegged wrong. Life ain't about choices between binary options such as right and wrong. Life is about choosing priorities - which should be in the following order: crew/family, money, power, guilt-free meats of sentient beings, other foods, owning a private moon, other forms of shelter, and finally... other.
"Clearly, that ship fell in the category of 'other'."
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"They'll be searching the ship for imported goods, since EJ wants to have a monopoly here. If we want to keep a low profile, we'll need to hide it or sell it before they check us. Or we can drink several tons of beer right now. Which seems fun, but tricky."
Guess? whispers back, "Thanks buddy. Good thinking on the drinking tons of beer idea but I think we'll save that for plan B, okay? You just let me and Strek work on plan A." Guess? winks at Akh.
Talking to Strek, "Good thinking! We'll get these goods through customs as slurm, then we find the underground black market beer seller and sell our supply. I mean in a place like this where libations are far overpriced, someone's gotta be making a killing undercutting the official corporate prices, amirite?!? All we gotta do is sell to that gal!"
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Seeing captain Niva, Guess? walks past Del and right up to Niva. Then without warning, Guess? slaps Niva in the face! It's a firm slap but not TOO hard. Then Guess? extends his hand for a handshake.
"Sorry about that, Niva. But that was from Jackman, former captain of the Last Chance. Before he handed captaincy of the ship over to me, he made me promise that if I ever saw you that I'd give you a good slap and say the following: 'Considering we covered your ass and you left us for dead, this slap is the LEAST you deserve! Now buy my former crew the dozen rounds of drinks that they deserve for saving your life!'
"Now that that's out of the way, allow me to introduce myself! Name's Howard and I'm the current captain of this fine crew and ship! Seems you and the former cap had quite a history, eh?" Guess? as Howard chuckles.
"So! What's the problem here? You all seem a bit agitated! How about we discuss it over drinks? Drinks on you, of course!" Guess? winks.
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Nemelith and Jinx grin when Del walks up. "Well, look who we just can't shake!" Jinx signs a greeting and gives the sarcesian a rather dramatic wink. "Finally some fun around here! We've been stuck here for days!" Jinx's hands move quickly, and Nemelith translates. "He's right. Boss heard this was a potential source of high paying work, so we headed over with a hold of generic hardware parts with high hopes. Seems like they're more choosy." She pauses, watching the verthani speak. "Yeah, they're playing us now. Stupid negotiating tactic, making us wait out here."
Niva looks up to Akh with a confused face. "Nanites in the... what?" She shakes her head, regaining composure. "No worries, I would never drink that sludge.." She nods to Del as she approaches. "I just hate being here. I used to work for a big company, Abadarcorp. They tinkered with a global ecosystem when I was with them..." She sets her datapad to the side. "I'm ashamed to say I helped destroy a whole world, roots on up. I thought they were the 'fair' company. Guess those eco-terrorists were right after all." She sighs. "I've heard that the materials used for the drilling operations on Entha rate below industry standards and lack key redundant safety features. Officially we're here to deliver some minor parts. But they really reached out to me requesting services as a consultant for the Company drill engineers. My, uh, previous work made me something of an expert when it comes to drilling on the edge. " She doesn't seem proud of it. "But after our last few jobs have gone wrong, we needed a bit of an infusion." She looks ready to continue, but then "Howard" interrupts. The ysoki's mouth opens wide, shocked for a moment. "Hmmm... Here I was thinking you were going to sell me a time share on a Kasatha colony ship." She eyes Del and Akh. "I've asked around. Seems like y'all have really been through your share of captains." A pregnant pause passes. "Y'all must have a lot of mutinies." She winks at Guess?. "Watch your back, Howard. No worries about the slap. I've had worse from business competitors. Too bad, Jackman had something of a shine to him." She takes in a deep breath. "I wish I could buy us a round. I feel like I've been trapped on this saltwater spray coated pad for decades. Maybe once they let us in."
Nemelith snaps her fingers at Del, calling her over in a loud voice. "Oye, softie. Come over here." She pulls out a fusion seal. "Big softie like you, you need an edge." The red-skinned akitonian tosses Del a fusion seal. "I picked this off an enemy kasatha in my home reality. But I've outgrown it. Seems like it would be more fun with you." Del looks it over, finding a Unholy fusion seal. Her eyes gleam. "Put it on. Go kill some good guys for once. Show me. Then we can fight and test it out." Niva shouts over her shoulder, not even bothering to make eye contact. "NEMY. WE TALKED ABOUT THIS." Nemelith pouts. "Fine. Friend, not food. I'll go find someone else to fight then." She gives her characteristic smirk. "Want to join me?"
After you all speak for a few more minutes, a serious-looking kalo in business attire makes her way onto the landing pad, proceeding directly to Niva. The two exchange brief greetings; shortly thereafter, Niva says, “Well, looks like some of us are finally getting off the waiting list,” and she, her crew, and the kalo head into Elysia.
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"|Oh right, eco terrorirsts. with the possibility of adamntite ore, ancient ruins, company kickbacks, I forgot how dangerous drum circles can be to the equipment |Least till the right mining accident... "
"|Sorry, but that sort of chitter is only going to kill the workers, who the people actually making the decisions don't care about. |The Last thing any amature should be fiddling with is mininggear. |people are going to die and get trapped down there.
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Jaraduk seems a little stunned at mention of "helped destroy a whole world", but he chooses to not ask more about it, simply remarking
I hope they took good notes on it beforehand. There's little sadder than lost histories.
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Akh nods "Oh, we don't have mutinies. In fact, our full crew members have been unchanged for... well at least a few weeks now. Real reliable." When it looks like Niva and the Wintermourn are up to go in, Akh heads back to join the others.
Once the rival crew are out of earshot he comments "Sounds like they're doing a drill-related job too now that they're here. These drills are a big deal, seems like. Might even lead to the downfall of the whole planet. Imagine if we were the reason EJ managed to destroy a whole planet, thanks to our timely delivery. That would be pretty amazingly unlucky. So right up our alley." He ponders just how awful that degree of infamy would be.
Guess? gather's Niva's biometrics from the slap and the handshake and says with a laugh, "Glad ya didn't take it personally! And thanks for the advice, I'll be sure to harshly suppress any mutinies before they gather steam!"
And when their crew departs, Guess? says, "Hey, if you put together enough scratch, drop us a message! We'll meet in town for that drink you owe us!"
Turning to the rest of the crew, Guess? says, "Alrighty, let's get our drill parts through customs but leave the 'slurm' behind. Once through, we can arrange delivery of the cargo, ask around about Shan and find a buyer for the slurm. No sense bothering with clearing the slurm through customs before we have a confirmed buyer, amirite?"
Guess? is considering taking on Niva's identity when he goes to look for a buyer for the smuggled beer...
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"Aww, thanks for the gift! That's so sweet of... Wait, what?" Del holds the fusion out and pinched in her fingers like it's someone else's stinky sock. "Kill some good guys with it?! You're... joking, right?" She pales, pretty sure Nemelith isn't joking. "Uh, yes. Thank you... for the gift! Let's not fight each other. Kay, thanks, BYE!" Del waves and hurries off, her gift clutched in her fingers.
Once the crew of the Wintermourn is gone, she holds it out to her friends. "Does anyone want this... lovely.... gift? It's the thought that counts, of course.... but I'd like to see it get some use. I've shot a gun, like, five times ever."
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Soon after the crew of the Wintermourn depart, the sea near the landing platform foams and wells up. Four wavecutters emerge from beneath the water. As the vehicles bob to the surface, their bubble domes slide apart in two halves, rotating beneath the craft to function as gyroscopic stabilizers to keep the vehicles stable in the churning tide. A large, juvenile green dragon dressed in EJ Corp attire rides in the foremost wavecutter. She signals to the other vehicles’ riders—kalos wearing thin, black wet suits and carrying laser rifles—and they join her as she steps onto the platform. From your research, you realize that the dragon is Avarin, the director in charge of the Company’s terraforming efforts on Entha.
One kalo approaches your group and asks in a gurgling voice. "Ship and captain?" As he speaks, the other kalos move to board the Last Chance; Avarin looks on with a mixture of boredom and low-grade suspicion. The kalo greets Guess?, "Howard", with a terse nod. "Cargo manifest? Give my men permission to board and we'll get your cargo offloaded for you." He offers a waterproof datapad with a straightforward form to sign. When you inquire about the change in procedure, he looks over his shoulder and lowers his voice. "You might have noticed, we're a bit backed up here at intake. Boss fired the whole inspection crew a few days back, for being too slow. Problem was, she couldn't find replacements. So now we're here to clear up the clog best we can. Just sign the papers, bub. Then show my boys to your hold and they'll get it out and delivered for ya." The large dragon stands a few feet behind the pair, looking bored.
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"Unholy fusion seal?!? Yes PLEASE!" says Guess? raising his hand.
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Guess? replies in a similarly low, hushed tone, "Wouldn't it help you clear up the clog faster if we delivered the cargo for you? Less work for you, amirite?"
Guess? then raises his voice to a louder volume, ensuring that Avarin hears, "No problem!! Come on aboard! We've got drill parts here for delivery - we heard they're quite important to your operation here! But hey, our services include delivery of cargo to the designated drop off point."
Guess? then leans over to see past the kalo and looks directly at Avarin, "Hi there sir! You have the look of someone important. Now if your boys here don't want to take advantage of our delivery services, then that's fine by me. That's less work for us, after all.
"But for most, well all of 'em to be honest, delivery jobs we're responsible for transport of cargo off the ship and to the cargo receiver. Most ports won't deliver cargo for us because, to be frank, most ports don't have the manpower to deliver every piece of cargo that lands - otherwise ports get severely backlogged for weeks, maybe even months. In our experience, senior management typically doesn't look kindly upon such a situations and heads eventually roll.
"But hey! It seems you've got quite an efficient operation here so I'm sure none of that will ever happen here! Still, our crew, our company is ALL about professionalism! I would be remiss if I didn't ask and check just one more time. Are you sure you wouldn't like us to transport the cargo directly to free up some of your guys?"
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One kalo approaches your group and asks in a gurgling voice. "Ship and captain?"
Melissa is happy to point at guess and shuffle away, gulping. She was expecting to get the contraband past bored inspectors, not a trained merc squad with the boss looking over their shoulders. Try not to look delicious. Try not to look delicious..
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The dragon stands up tall, wings flexing. "“I am LADY Avarin Sacrion, EJ Corp’s director of operations for Entha and Elysia. I presumed it part of an errand runner’s purview to know to whom their deliverables are due. Perhaps you would be well served to do some research before embarrassing yourself with questions like that.” You're not sure about the rest of your crew members, but this is the first time many of you have met a dragon, rather than a dragonkin or a shiny metal draconic android, face to face. Her voice is so much lower than you imagined; the stories didn't do it justice. Though technically a juvenile, the dragon's presence still feels... ancient. "And heads rolled indeed. But, slow is steady and steady is fast, as they say. After all... there are liability issues at play here. This equipment is critical to the functioning of our operations here, and I am sure you would not want to accept any responsibility for damaging it in transit, yes? Assuming you have not damaged it already, of course." She rolls her eyes. "Turns out it's cheaper to pay for the labor to carefully move the cargo the last mile than to bring the lawyers in and chase you down for compensation. No, we shall handle it from here. Feel free to avail yourself of our cafeteria while you wait, or perhaps take one of our guided tours of the facility.” She gestures to a yellow submersible floating just inside Elysia’s massive bubble dome. “That should occupy you sufficiently while we ensure your cargo is present, accounted for, and properly offloaded.” She turns to walk away, not even bothering to raise her voice. “Your credits will be transferred once we have secured our equipment. I can offer you an advance of eighteen thousand credits on good faith.” She gestures to a kalo to transfer the credits to Captain Howard.
Avarin is a rising star in EJ Corp and recently won a prestigious award of accomplishment, given at the annual shareholder meeting; she has even appeared in promotional materials. Avarin headed a project codenamed Racetrack that raked in record profits for the Company but relied on cheap, high-turnover contract labor that ultimately destroyed several local economies.
Within her first few years at EJ Corp, Avarin has been brought to court on several worlds at least a dozen times. Charges have ranged from reckless endangerment to obstruction of justice to blackmail. In each case, a team of well-paid Company lawyers successfully defended Avarin, often through obscure legal technicalities.
You lead the crew of mercenaries to your regular cargo hold, casually distracting them from noticing your more mystical bonus hold full of counterfeit Slurm. They pull out some top of the line technomagical lifting equipment and set to work without complaint.
With your cargo, and the rest of your payment, tied up in company customs, you head through the security checkpoint to freely explore Elysia. It seems most of the encapsulated city is available to you, though other areas appear clearly off limits, marked with “Employees Only” signage or barred by biometric locks and portals welded shut. Most of the hallway doors lead to corporate housing, but there are multiple copy and pasted company stores where you can purchase basic food and necessities — including batteries, at prices 25% higher than usual. It seems the Company takes full advantage of its closed ecosystem, working to reclaim as much of its workers’ paychecks as it can. You notice there is no ammunition or weapons for sale. It seems the only items available for purchase at normal prices are minor magic items designed to aid working in aquatic environments.
Looking at your datapads, you notice that EJ Corp strictly regulates the infosphere on Elysia. Terminals connected to internal networks are scarce and often attended by one or more Company employees. Thankfully no one is immune to your charismatic crew.
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"“Perhaps you would be well served to do some research before embarrassing yourself with questions like that.”
Jaraduk grimaces and looks away. Ouch.
He suddenly gets the sense that they want to speak in front of her as little as possible.
Thinking on her name, he doesn't come up with much. He goes to search it up on his datapad but is distracted by a pop-up notification from his most important mobile game, Xenomon Go. He spends the next 10 minutes claiming their current physical location as a new training gym in the virtual world...
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Once their cargo is transfer and the party is clear of the dragon's presence, Jaraduk sets to work trying to get access to a terminal. Not being of the smoothest tongue, he attempts to network with the local bounty hunter scene to see if they can "do him a solid" and perhaps get them access.
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Akh hovers there, rather more glassy-eyed than usual, as the actual real 100% authentic dragon in front of him goes on about logistics in an exceptionally stuck-up fashion. He absorbs none of it. All he can think about... is that she's VERY COOL. Once the group is through the security checkpoint, he shares with the rest of the team "Why didn't they give me a cool voice like that? Isn't she amazing?"
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Replying to Avarin, Guess? says, "OH!! Lady Avarin! I'm so sorry! I didn't recognize you at first! So embarassing! It's been a long trip through the drift and I'm just recovering, you see. How could I have not recognized you?!?"
Guess? shoots finger guns at Avarin, continuing, "I'm a big, huge fan! You're the winner of the award of accomplishment! You've been on ALL the EJ brochures and recruitment ads! 'Be all you can be.. be Avarin!' I loved that tag line!" Guess? gestures with his hands as though it's a sign in lights as he states the tag line.
Then he continues to lavish on the brownnosing, "You've destroyed multiple economies, resulting in record profits! You've blackmailed, obstructructed justice, caused needless and reckless endangerment to multiple species - none of which were ever proved! In short, you're my hero!!
"You'd do me a great honor if you'd shake my hand and then we'll be out of your way!"
Guess? extends his hand, intending to collect as much biometric info on Avarin as possible.
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Later, attempting to gain access to a terminal, Guess? pulls Melissa in close and says to the Company employee, "Hello there!! We're really very sorry to bother you but me and the missus, we miss our kids something horrible, you know what I mean? I'm sure you totally understand, working here on this planet, isolated, long hours, limited communications. Don't you have some family back home that you miss? Imagine not having had a chance to check in on them for weeks, even months on end!
"Would you be a sweet dear and let my missus here use that terminal to check on any messages and send one out to our kids? You'd be a real peach!"
And when the employee balks at the sight of a human / ysoki married couple, Guess? adds, "Oh! Our children are adopted of course! But we raised them since they were larvae and we, especially the missus here, is especially attached to them!"
And later, when Strek approaches intending to assist Melissa with the computer hack, if the employee raises an eyebrow, Guess? will add, "Oh yah, he's the second husband. We're a modern family!"
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Should be more concerned than they are that that is in fact, a diplomacy check of genuine admiration rather than a bluff check....
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Melissa pokes around the web for a help wanted ad. Particularly any aquatic engineering jobs stressing some pap about company loyalty or willingness to think outside of conventions (ie, laws, morals, or safety standards). You can always tell what the last guy screwed up on by how they phrase the add.
And also looks for some anti nausea medication.
Yeah, hard to concentrate on a search while trying not to throw up an allan wrench set.... Hopefully whatever weird radiation wifi too many rads of slurm has given strek will let him search longer.
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Avarin squints down at Howard, taking him in. "You may be as dastardly as me. There's always a position for bright minds in the M & A division of the Evgeniya-Jaimisson Corporation." She casually waves away Guess?'s proffered hand. "But if you think I'm going to fall for the first trick in the Social Engineering handbook, you're a fool. The company didn't spend all of those credits on information security courses for nothing." She laughs as she walks away.
At the terminal, the employee practically glows with joy. "Of course! We've gotta look out for each other around here. You're lucky, having your spouse... er, spouses, working here too. My lot are back home." He walks away, heading to the company store for a cup of caff.
Melissa takes a stab at hacking in, but is unable to get around the company's security protocols. Thankfully no alarms sound, so the thruple are able to keep working on the digital problem.
You get into the core system, and it takes a few seconds to work through the complex file structure. Thankfully you have lots of time.
1 Round: The Company houses hundreds of employees on Elysia, with more on several mobile terraforming stations.
2 Rounds: Shan is stationed on Terra 5, one of the mobile terraforming stations, along with five other employees.
3 Rounds: Terra 5 is currently crawling along a deep-sea reef about 300 miles away; the crew can save its coordinates and general layout ().
4 Rounds: A mysterious automated data feed connects to something referred to only as Harvester 1. There's no more details about the Harvester on this system.
5 Rounds: Two Company employees were recently dispatched to Terra 5, though their names and the purpose of their visit have been wiped from the files.
The rest of the group wanders the area, trying to pick up rumors and the local culture. Those crew members notice that large posters throughout Elysia advertise tour services on the underwater tour boat Avarin mentioned.
You know that such boats commonly appear in large Company undertakings; they provide tours that cater to investors and potential clients, intended to instill confidence in their investments or to encourage future business.
You also know that very simple computers guide such tour boats, making them notoriously easy to hijack.
Akh floats about while the technical members of the team work their magic, drawing eyes and apparently interrupting all interesting conversations that might've been happening about the state of Elysia and EJ's facilities here. The underwater tour boat sounds interesting... or it would be if the group wasn't in a super dangerous situation with both their own and Shan's life probably on the line. Akh eventually makes his way to the center of the area and coils up, reflecting on Avarin and her coolness.