Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Iituem]

The Andaric Empire dominates this corner of the galaxy, a powerful and just meritocracy and centre of local interstellar politics.  From all across the local systems, you have come to join one of their embassies, to try your hand at the great game and change the very destiny of the stars.  This role combines the might of kings with the presence of the commons, the wealth of the rich and the society of the poor, the glory of the famous and the secrecy of the criminal.  This is the role of the Ambassador.

Spoiler: Ambassador's Briefing (click to show/hide)

MISSION ONE: TARNSWORLD (BRETLIN SYSTEM)
Embassy: Andaric Empire

CONFIDENTIAL: FOR THE EYES OF AMBASSADOR TALOS ASDATAN ONLY

Communication with Tarnsworld in the Bretlin system unexpectedly cut off 18 standard hours ago.  The jump gate shut down, killing interstellar traffic and effectively cutting off four-sevenths of the Empire from the Homeworld.  No messages have been received since and there was no forewarning of the disruption.  It is possible that this may just be a gate malfunction.  The gate on this side is fully functional, but programmed to conduct a safety shutdown in the event of gate failure on the linked end.  A jump-capable cruiser, the Baradan's Pride, has been dispatched to the jump point along with the embassy, a full engineer brigade to assist with repairs and a bay full of fighters in case of pirates or foul play.

Until the jump gate is restored, communication with the Homeworld will not be possible without sending the Pride or another jump-capable ship back to deliver messages.  You are granted autonomy in dealing with this concern, but should you require any serious use of resources that the Pride does not command, you will need to send it back for authorisation.

OBJECTIVES
+ Restore gate operation ASAP; while it remains offline, the Empire has access to only a fraction of its resources and trade and communication both are at a standstill.
+ Determine the cause of the gate shutdown.  Ensure it is rectified to prevent future occurence.
+ Communicate the concerns of the Council of Twelve to the people of Tarnsworld and reassure them that gate access will be restored as soon as Andarically possible.

RESOURCES
Baradan's Pride: You have the support of the Baradan's Pride, fresh from refits at the Kaladori shipyards.  Most of the Andaric fleet is stationed at Volnar 1, beyond Bretlin, so only the Pride and its sister cruiser, the Venture, remain at our disposal.  Obviously, this information is confidential.  The cruiser will provide protection for the embassy and the engineering corps, but you are to avoid engaging in any serious conflict with it.  Use it as a threat if need be, but do not start a firefight unless you are certain to win or have no other choice.

Dr Krell K'tark: K'tark is a doctor on loan from the Kersh.  Officially, he has joined your embassy to help deal with any injuries that might have arisen as a result of gate shutdown or other complications.  Unofficially, there is a large Kersh presence on Tarnsworld and the local orbital and off-world installations, mostly of Clan G'rit.  Many Kersh serve as engineers on Tarnsworld, some of whom worked at the gate station itself.  He may be able to help you get answers from the locals.
Cautions: K'tark has a colourful past.  Nothing has ever been proven, but he is believed to not be above the use of force to get answers where required.

Musha Shiro: Shiro is an Inaban envoy, here as an observer on behalf of their Empire.  They have requested his addition as an attache to the embassy.  He has acquired some reputation as being a thorough and capable investigator and will likely lend his skills to the embassy as required.  It is also known that he has substantial personal resources at his disposal.
Our telepathy does not work on artificial intelligences, so we have provided Shiro with a modified Translation slug; it will translate your words into sounds for him to hear.
Cautions: Shiro was built as a low-level assembly 'bot, a 'blackback' in their terminology.  He has risen to mid-level or 'greyback' status and acquired a diplomatic position, which is concerning as social mobility among the Inaba is almost nonexistent.  Watch this one for ambition.

Benevuto de Benetsiya: A banker and fraudster, but one of the best.  Benevuto was positioned as an advisor to the Homeworld embassy some months ago on behalf of the Republic of Benetsiya to assist in several complicated property negotiations and proved himself extremely useful.  The relatively Republic has been pressuring the Empire for some time now to strengthen ties and provide military assistance toward its expansion, but have been unwilling to meet our demands.  Sending Benevuto to us was a mark of good faith on their part.
Cautions: Benevuto's primary loyalty is to money, as is the case with many humans.  Whether that outranks his loyalty to his own government remains to be seen.

Eyu Sekhet: Sekhet is one of a handful of Envoys sent out by the Sorax Hives and will be accompanying you as another observer.  He is a capable investigator and can hold his own in a fight if need be.
Cautions: Officially, he is here to assist you and help in easing the Sorax our of their isolation.  Unofficially, he is probably here to assess our strengths.  Be careful what information you allow him access to.

Local Starmap

*****

In the comfort of your private quarters, you take a sip on one of the complimentary beverages provided by the hospitality staff aboard the Baradan's Pride and consider the mission ahead.  As thoughts race through your mind, you take a look out of the reinforced transparent plastisteel window that takes up one whole wall of the quarters.  The enormous metal ring of the Jump Gate fast approaches in the distance, giving you the fleeting impression that it is the gate that races toward you instead of the opposite.

The jump gate is dark today, showing only stars through its enormous hole.  Lights are of course still on at the attached gate station; you have no doubt the command deck is talking with them even now to arrange the coming jump.  Yet you know the gate is offline - when it is active, a distinctive blue light always seems to shimmer at the wormhole interface.  Someone once told you that it actually constituted quite deadly radiation, if you were out there in only a space suit.  Then again, if you were next to a jump gate in only a space suit one would imagine you had greater problems at hand.

You feel the distant thrum of the engines through the deck.  They must be spooling up the drive for a jump; without a gate, the process takes about an hour.  If there's anything you want to do, any part of the ship you wish to explore, now is the time to do it.  Once the ship jumps, the mission in earnest will begin.

Spoiler: OOC (click to show/hide)

Post fluff, action descriptions and normal conversations in ordinary text, like this.

Highlight actions you take in bold, like this.

Secret actions should be PMed to the GM (me).

[Urist_McDrowner]

Benevuto lounged in his executive chair he insisted they install in his quarters, idly checking market prices on his hypernode and making speculative trades, gambling with imaginary money as he watched the prices fluctuate. Of course, he rarely traded by hand anymore. That was mostly handled by his computers, which could buy shares and then instantly sell them the second their prices went up at fractions of pennies per share. Only on the very long-term investments did he actually get involved.

Eventually, this bored him, so he stood up and walked around the ship.

See what I can do to facilitate the repair of the jump gate.

[scapheap]

A robot colored white look out of his window. What could he do with a hour?

Musha Shiro goes to chat with the crew to get a feel on the state of play(enemies, allies and tension)

[Iituem]

A robot colored white look out of his window. What could he do with a hour?

Musha Shiro goes to chat with the crew to get a feel on the state of play(enemies, allies and tension)

[Persuasion: 9]  You rove around the guest decks, taking a tour through engineering and even the hospital deck.  Making conversation with the various Andaric crew members is slightly awkward because telepathy does not work on your race, but the translation slug provided soon alleviates the problem.

The Andaric Empire is known for its fairness of government and equality of representation, although the slightly divided nature of its colonies prevents it from being truly unitary.  Nevertheless, its presence of a local superpower has helped maintain peace in the sector for decades; even the militaristic Sorax Hives have been kept in check.  Although the only serious rival to the Empire is the Hives, there are no obvious enemies at this time.  Even the wars that plagued your own people are a thing of the past.

On the other hand, allies are limited as well.  The Inaban Empire is too isolationist to provide real support and even the Reetu and Benetsiyans only assist the Andarans through trade.  The closest thing the Andarans have to an ally are the disorganised and chaotic Kershic Clans; Kersh may be found throughout the Empire working at a wide variety of trades.  In fact, the cosmopolitan nature of the Andars means that every race short of the Sorax can be found on at least one Andaric world.

That said, not all is well within the Empire.  There have been recent allegations of corruption among the ruling Council of Twelve and colonial councils have been demanding greater autonomy in the last few years, likely in response to a coming economic downturn.  Members of the Twelve have passed laws to restrict said autonomy for fear of the Empire's descent into a looser confederate system, but some fear this has just made government more imperial in nature.

Benevuto lounged in his executive chair he insisted they install in his quarters, idly checking market prices on his hypernode and making speculative trades, gambling with imaginary money as he watched the prices fluctuate. Of course, he rarely traded by hand anymore. That was mostly handled by his computers, which could buy shares and then instantly sell them the second their prices went up at fractions of pennies per share. Only on the very long-term investments did he actually get involved.

Eventually, this bored him, so he stood up and walked around the ship.

See what I can do to facilitate the repair of the jump gate.

You head down to engineering and start talking to the engineers travelling with you en-route to the jumpgate.  They are only too happy to talk about their jobs, highlighting several possible flaws with the system on the opposite end and how they plan to fix them.  [Engineering: 10]  You nod and try to follow their explanations.  The information is all terribly technical, but the lead engineer is a good teacher and able to put things into layman's terms for you.  You learn several things about the jumpgate from him.

• Jumpgates work by maintaining a constant wormhole link with their corresponding gate.  The wormhole already exists between the jump points, but conventional jump drives have to expend a great deal of energy opening the wormhole before they can pass through.  Stable gates reduce the energy cost significantly, allowing smaller commercial trips to pass through.
• Witchspace travel through the gate or when jumping is instant, but otherwise Newtonian physics apply.  When a jumpgate is functioning, there is usually a small probe that flits back and forth between different sides of the gate (or a pair of such probes), usually once every ten minutes.  The probe stores communications aimed at the other side of the gate (or even further along the gate chain) and then transmits them via radio wave or other light-speed medium to receivers in the destination system.  Without a functioning jumpgate, "realtime" or at least close to realtime communication between systems is impossible; you would need to send a jump-capable ship back and forth to transmit messages, which might take as long as three hours per jump.
• Jumpgate stations have to retain large fuel reserves, not only to refuel local ships but to run the jumpgate engines themselves.  In the event of a fuel shortage, the station is automatically programmed to conserve fuel for jumpgate operation, or to shut down in the event of a serious deficit.  A fuel leak could be one potential cause of the jumpgate failure.
• While mechanical or electronic failure is possible, the most likely cause of a jumpgate shutdown is sapient error.  The engineer lists dozens of things that can go wrong because someone flicked the wrong switch or kept their eye off the dial, but most of them are avoidable by just keeping the automated systems online.  In the event of an automation failure, it would take a skilled engineer to get the gate working again or prevent it from collapsing outright.

As interesting as this is, before you can aid the repairs you'll need to cross over to the other side and see what exactly the problem is.  The engine thrum is getting quite loud, though - you don't doubt you'll be off in a few minutes.

[Ghazkull]

With nothing left to do during the Travel Time Krell visits the Ships Medbay, taking a look at the Crew and aiming at fixing any maladies that may have befallen them, while doing this he treis to get a better understanding of Andar Anatomy.

Tkae Careof any Illnesses,STDs,Parasites and other Maladies that may have befallen the Crew, at the same time try tog et a better understanding of Andar Anatomy.

[Digital Hellhound]

Eyu considered the communique in the quiet of his personal quarters, feeling the faint but increasing vibrations coming through the hull. The engines had to be quite large and powerful to cause such tremors. The envoy had never been on a large starship before - especially not an alien one - but assumed Sorax equilevants possessed much greater power.

That was an interesting question, actually, one he could investigate later. Right now, though, his mind was fully set on the message. He'd memorized and disposed of it and the accompanying equipment as expected, keeping the device hidden. The contents troubled him, but he would do the Hives' will. He would start work immediately.

Eyu exited his small room into the larger chambers. The bodyguards stood up and saluted and Eyu motioned them to listen. He couldn't know if the Andars were listening, so use of Kys-Han signs was preferable. All of his men had gone through the same academy and knew the code by heart. Eyu's hands moved in a complex pattern - Two Follow. Other Protect Here. - and the guards acknowledged. Truth to be told, he would rather go alone, but it was unlike the bodyguards would let him. They could be trusted to make themselves inconspicuous well enough. With the two in tow, Eyu headed out.

Find an information terminal/other knowledgeable source about Tarnsworld and find out everything I can. Learn about economy, defenses, etc. as well as criminal activity.

[Shootandrun]

Talos closed the briefing and thought for a moment. A jump gate shutting down was always bad news; that jump gate indicated something very alarming was afoot. While an engineering error was possible, it seemed like an unlikely coincidence for the situation: the shutdown was cutting off Kalador from its military ships and most of its colonies, in times were the Planetary Councils battled the Homeworld politically to acquire more independence. Pirate activity was very unlikely in that sector - Bretlin was only connected to other Andaric worlds, who generally suffered very little piracy.

He opened his personal computer before typing a short message to his four associates for the mission. He sent it electronically - while he probably could have sent mental messages across the ship for them, he preferred not to warn the entire crew of the ship about his plans.

Meet for briefing in my private quarters, fifteen minutes from now. All information to be given there is confidential; come alone.

Once that was done, he opened a starmap, studied it for a moment, and placed it on projection for the others to see once they arrived. He personally knew it by heart, for he'd been born in this sector, and he guessed most of the others knew it very well too, but it might help him in illustrating the problem at hand.

Summon the other four for a mission briefing in my quarters.

[Iituem]

With nothing left to do during the Travel Time Krell visits the Ships Medbay, taking a look at the Crew and aiming at fixing any maladies that may have befallen them, while doing this he treis to get a better understanding of Andar Anatomy.

Tkae Careof any Illnesses,STDs,Parasites and other Maladies that may have befallen the Crew, at the same time try tog et a better understanding of Andar Anatomy.

[Medical: 10+1] The Pride's medical bay is mostly kitted out for dealing with Andaric physiology and its equipment is somewhat lacking when it comes to caring for more 'conventional' races.  You set up a brief clinic there and consult with various crew members on their problems; many of which have very simple solutions and often involve lifestyle changes - one apparently dying Kersh need only wear his breathing filter properly when venting the engines!  The Andaric doctors had completely failed to notice this; the fumes from the engine vent process are only mildly intoxicating to Andars, versus their lethal effects on Kersh.

You give the medical staff a list of common complaints and cures so they can cut down waiting lists in the future and they are quite willing to give you a few pointers on their anatomy in return.  Despite their shared similarities with humans, Kersh and Sorax, they have a significantly different internal structure - tough cartilage-like substances in place of bones with rather more physical stress on their 'carapaces' than the thin exoskeleton would seem to indicate.  They have several organs analogous to humanoid organs, though the most similar is the brain.

You do learn a neat little trick, though; the lack of surface muscles also hides a lack of surface nerve endings.  They have fairly poor tactile sense aside from their fingers, but very good thermal sensors beneath the carapace.  The best way to cause an Andar pain would be to pry open part of the carapace and start jamming things into the unprotected flesh beneath; torture techniques that rely on applying pain to skin alone will be of little use on them.

Eyu considered the communique in the quiet of his personal quarters, feeling the faint but increasing vibrations coming through the hull. The engines had to be quite large and powerful to cause such tremors. The envoy had never been on a large starship before - especially not an alien one - but assumed Sorax equilevants possessed much greater power.

That was an interesting question, actually, one he could investigate later. Right now, though, his mind was fully set on the message. He'd memorized and disposed of it and the accompanying equipment as expected, keeping the device hidden. The contents troubled him, but he would do the Hives' will. He would start work immediately.

Eyu exited his small room into the larger chambers. The bodyguards stood up and saluted and Eyu motioned them to listen. He couldn't know if the Andars were listening, so use of Kys-Han signs was preferable. All of his men had gone through the same academy and knew the code by heart. Eyu's hands moved in a complex pattern - Two Follow. Other Protect Here. - and the guards acknowledged. Truth to be told, he would rather go alone, but it was unlike the bodyguards would let him. They could be trusted to make themselves inconspicuous well enough. With the two in tow, Eyu headed out.

Find an information terminal/other knowledgeable source about Tarnsworld and find out everything I can. Learn about economy, defenses, etc. as well as criminal activity.

You visit a public information terminal and scan the hypernet for information.  [Computers: 6]  You are more used to dealing with markets than data mining, but getting public encyclopaedia data is easy enough.

Tarnsworld is one of the economic hubs of the Empire.  The planet is a natural habitable, made perfect for Andaric habitation with only minor terraforming.  It is notable for being a largely agricultural planet, the 'bread basket' of the Empire, but the rich resources, high population and central location also made it a prime hub for financial transactions and several major banks have headquarters there.  It supports several academies, the most prestigous and influential being the University of Tarnsworld in the colonial capital of Tarnon.

At military drive speed, the planet is 6 hours away from the Kalador jumpgate and 4 hours from the Volnar jumpgate.  Commercial vessels keen on conserving fuel tend to travel at about half that rate.  This is probably for the best as there is only a token military presence in the Bretlin system; a refuelling and resupply base on the nearby moon and an orbital station mostly geared toward civilian refits and repairs.  The local military serves mostly to police the population and deal with minor piracy; anything serious requires the intervention of the Imperial fleet.

Crime is moderate for such a world, mostly contraband smuggling and white-collar crime.  Every now and again a greedy and stupid merchant might turn to piracy and prey on the trade lanes, but local police or the Imperial Fleet have always dealt with such threats swiftly.

Talos closed the briefing and thought for a moment. A jump gate shutting down was always bad news; that jump gate indicated something very alarming was afoot. While an engineering error was possible, it seemed like an unlikely coincidence for the situation: the shutdown was cutting off Kalador from its military ships and most of its colonies, in times were the Planetary Councils battled the Homeworld politically to acquire more independence. Pirate activity was very unlikely in that sector - Bretlin was only connected to other Andaric worlds, who generally suffered very little piracy.

He opened his personal computer before typing a short message to his four associates for the mission. He sent it electronically - while he probably could have sent mental messages across the ship for them, he preferred not to warn the entire crew of the ship about his plans.

Meet for briefing in my private quarters, fifteen minutes from now. All information to be given there is confidential; come alone.

Once that was done, he opened a starmap, studied it for a moment, and placed it on projection for the others to see once they arrived. He personally knew it by heart, for he'd been born in this sector, and he guessed most of the others knew it very well too, but it might help him in illustrating the problem at hand.

Summon the other four for a mission briefing in my quarters.

About ten minutes before the jump is scheduled to occur, the various members of your embassy trickle into your quarters.

[Urist_McDrowner]

In Benevuto's world, on time was late, early was on time, and late was broke. As soon as he received a message, he briskly walked, his decorative walking stick thumping along the ships grating until he reached the ambassador's quarters. He lowered his grip, and knocked with the solid gold handle of the stick. "Ambassador, may I come in? It is me, Benevuto, for the meeting?"

As he walked, he was thinking about the jump gate. Maybe they'd need him for something, and then he could convince them he was more than just a wealthy fraudster.

[Shootandrun]

Come in, Benevuto. Have a seat

As he entered, the economist could see the others were already here. Talos was at the end of the room, but he had disposed four seats in an arc in front of him, one of which was free. Andars did not need to see whoever they "talked" to to communicate, but it allowed them to evaluate the emotions of the others, and it was generally considered to be more polite.

And we are now all here. This mission is fairly straightforward and the chances that we'll run in any trouble are slim, but I want to keep this meeting confidential nonetheless. As you all know, the jump gate has been shut down on Bretlin's side due to unknown causes. We are tasked to turn the jump gate back online and to find out what caused the shutdown - and, if need be, to make sure it will never happen again.

The trick lies here: as you all know, Kalador's colonies have been asking politically for more independence from the council recently. Although I highly doubt the system government itself shut down the jump gate, it is not impossible that a nationalist organization may have attempted to cut the system off of the homeworld. If that is the case, we will need to act with extreme discretion in order to avoid a political scandal.

Because of this, if any party voluntarily shut down that gate, we'll want to frame them as pirates and not as terrorists, if that's what they are. Criminal activities in the colonies ended by the homeworld's envoys will only acquire us friends - both in Bretlin, and in Kalador. Nationalist activities ended by us, however, may have severe political repercussions later on. As such, I expect extreme discretion if any foul play is discovered.

In order to discover the initial cause of the shutdown, if it is not obvious as soon as we arrive, we will disperse in the system. Dr Krell, Musha and Eyu, you will visit the jump gate itself - if it is in a state fit to be visited - and attempt to find out if a mechanical error caused the shutdown. While the engineers can take care of the technical things, the three of you can visit the different parts of the station and investigate under the guise of a doctor making sure the crew is in good health and an AI evaluating the station's cybernetics. As for you, Eyu... Muscle and intimidation can make silent individuals speak, but actual violence is to be avoided unless you are fighting for your life.

Benevuto, and I will visit the system's authorities and discuss the matters of the problem. I will act as Kalador's envoy, but if my authority alone is not enough to unlock all tongues, I expect a few well placed donations to do the trick.

Any questions?

Andars had a tendency to speak for a long time uninterrupted - they did not run short of breath and dispensed no effort whatsoever in talking, which allowed them to last as long as they pleased.

[Urist_McDrowner]

"I have a question" Benevuto raised his hand coolly. "How are we sure it's on that end of the jump gate, and not this end, or both? Just because I'm curious. Have we even checked this end? If I were some kind of terrorist or nationalist or whatever it is blew this thing up, wouldn't you want to do it on BOTH ends, to make the repairs take longer?"

[Shootandrun]

Talos turned towards Benevuto and spoke again - nothing shifted in his face and he made no sign of body language indicating his emotions. Andars were usually good at keeping their cool, but that one was a master at showing nothing at all.

Our end of the gate has been searched from top to bottom, and it is simply on safety shutdown - as we all know, no one ever came back from a one ended wormhole, and Andaric jump gates are programmed to shut down when the other end stops working - I assume it is the case with all species, too. Their end appears to have stopped sending any signals across, which lead to an emergency shutdown on our end before anyone tried to cross.

Besides, there are multiple Imperial warships on this side of the gate, and the infrastructure is under high surveillance, as fits the system of our homeworld. It would have taken a master stroke to shut down both sides of the gate without anyone noticing... And finally, the most likely possibility is a simple engineering error that caused the shutdown on the other side. Foul play is, once again, extremely unlikely. Any other questions?

[Digital Hellhound]

Eyu masked his surprise at the Ambassador's words. Did he think the Sorax some mindless barbarians, incapable of controlling their aggression? His men were disciplined soldiers, the best of their class. He couldn't help but to feel insulted. There was also a matter of keeping up an impression of... professionalism - he was here as a 'diplomat', after all.

'I am not here to do your dirty work, Andari,' he hissed. Was that insulting to these aliens? Honesty was very much valued in Sorax society. 'Violence against the populace of this system is out of the question.'

It was a token objection, as dictated by his diplomat training. He had been taught not to give anything to the aliens for free.

[Shootandrun]

Talos turned towards Eyu and replied - again keeping an apparent absolute neutrality of emotions.

Someone may very well have to do it, Eyu, and you are the fittest amongst us for that job. I need someone to do it, and I need the others elsewhere. Besides, intimidation is generally more successful when delivered by someone who has the means to carry out his threats, and I doubt anyone would believe a Sorax is unable to handle his own in a fight.

[scapheap]

The AI red eyes glowed "A criminal of my people may be in the area. If I find him, what is permitted?"