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[Iituem]

Armage

[6 vs 3+2] You launch yourself forward and grab hold of the shredder pistol before Santiago can, lifting it up and pointing it at her head.  She freezes, then slowly draws back, raising her hands.

Around you, everyone else is unconscious.  You spend a tense sixty-five seconds waiting, trying to hold the gun straight at Santiago, who stands and waits patiently, never taking her eyes off yours.


Ford

Based on video reports, it looks like the mutineers have complete control over Bay 7, but with the fights at the armoury and medbay, their 'raiding parties' are currently neutralised.  They could be theoretically contained to Bay 7 for now.  The most secure location in that sense is right here on the bridge.

A more pressing problem is the fact that the ship is going to fall apart or explode within four days.  There is no place you can escape to, no safe location away from the breach to come, except the planet below.  At your current rate of speed you will reach it in thirty hours and fly past at such a rate that none of the cryopods might ever reach it to the surface.  On the other hand, firing the engines to slow the ship down enough for a stable evacuation might cause further damage.  What do you choose to do?


Nicolas

You lead your team down to medbay, taking just over a minute.  As you approach you find the doors already opened, and a single pair of forms standing amongst dozens of unconscious bodies.  One has a shredder pistol, one doesn't, but fortunately you recognise Santiago.

You and your team secure and bind Santiago as well as her mutineers and escort/carry them to the brig while med techs arrive to revive the survivors.  Meanwhile, a request comes for you and the woman who held Santiago at bay to head to the bridge.


Peter

You try to walk, but you don't have a body.  You sort of think yourself forward, and shapes appear out of the darkness around you.  Fronds, curls of purple and red.  Small worm-like shapes, slithering about.  Flowers bloom, presenting images of yourself, your childhood, the ship, your friends.  The darkness fades to reveal an alien sky, a slightly greener shade of blue than that of Earth.  The dirt beneath your feet is a reddish brown - and you have feet again! - and covered with mats and threads of a reddish-orange fungus.

earthpeter...

[Kilojoule Proton]

Hal suggests that the Captain begin a deceleration burn, judging that some losses are better than complete mission failure and consequent total losses.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

(Ummmmmm? Da heck?)

Peter attempts to move his new feet. If nothing happens he observed everything around him.

[Iituem]

Hello!  Life's been getting pretty hectic for me right now, so I'm afraid I'm calling a temporary Hiatus on all my games until December.  This is just an announcement so people know not to check threads until then.  Apologies for the delays/disruptions to your standard gaming, but RL priorities currently demand my attention right now. 

[IronyOwl]

((Well, good luck with that.

And oops, forgot to post. :x))


Armage was actually a bit shaken at the whole affair. It'd seemed like a good idea at the time, and it'd worked, but that woman had given her the creeps. It had been a dangerous situation with someone who was better than she was.

Still, there was no use dwelling on it, and she could continue to mull over it uselessly on her way if necessary. If she was requested on the bridge, she was going to the bridge.

[Iituem]

Summary

Soon enough, the mutineers are captured and interred in the brig, although more of their number continue to hold Bay Four.  Peter soon awakens, haunted by dreams of an alien world and a whispering wind calling his name.  After some congratulations on Armage's part, she is assigned back to Hydoponics to assist Dr Skye.  Nicolas is made Acting Chief in Santiago's absence by Dr Yang.  Ford begins the work necessary to slow the ship down enough to perhaps get some of the cryopods onto the planet below before everything truly goes to hell.

And in the midst of all of this, someone assassinates Captain Garland.  The crew fractures, there is little time for order to reassert itself.  A decision is made by the command staff, and they separate, each taking a pod and hoping to continue the mission on the alien planet below, ideally remaking it in their own image.

In the last hours of Unity, you are given a choice of who to side with.

+ Dr Skye, who promises to tend to world below as a garden, and see its beauty and power respected and preserved.

+ Dr Yang, who promises that the colony below shall be ordered, safe, peaceful and without disruptions.

+ Santiago, for those who at the last minute feel that the heavily armed survivalists represent the best chance of surviving the planet below.

+ Dr Zakharov, who promises the colony below shall be guided by science, exploration and discovery, unimpeded by petty politics.

+ Nwabudike Morgan, who has gathered quite the following and promises a colony below filled with wealth, and a life of comfort, security and luxury for those who throw their lot in with him.

+ Psych Chaplain Godwinson, who in the final minutes made it into the cryobay supposedly destroyed by the initial impact that woke the crew, and who promises to heal and look over them, and any others they find on the world below.

+ Dr Lal, who in the wake of Garland's death promises to continue the mission as laid out in the U.N. guidelines, and see peace upon this world.

Spoiler: OOC (click to show/hide)

Why the sudden shortcut?

Bluntly, this was getting dull.  SMAC is a great setting - once you're on Chiron!  Up here on the Unity, everyone's an NPC in the story of the main command crew, and all you can do is 'follow orders'.  So I'm ending this chapter and starting a new one, one where the players actually have something approaching independence!  Hopefully that will be lots more fun.

[Kilojoule Proton]

Hal chooses to side with Dr. Zakharov, hoping to begin research on Planet's life-forms.

(This should make things interesting and introduce some player-player conflict. )

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

(Was it doctor Lal that i saved from the mutineer with the shredder?)

[Iituem]

It was indeed.  A quick crew roster:

Dr Deirdre Skye - Chief Xenobiologist.
Dr Shen-ji Yang (technically Yang Shen-ji) - Executive Officer.
Corazon Santiago - former Unity Security Chief, head of Spartan Federation.
Dr Prokhor Zakharov - Chief Science Officer.
CEO Nwabudike Morgan - Stowaway, his company built the Unity.  Wealthy, persuasive.
Miriam Godwinson - Chief Psych Chaplain.
Dr Pravin Lal - Chief Medical Officer.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

Peter goes with Dr. Lal as he does not know who to trust but knows that this mission must not fail and he knows he has earned the doctors trust after having saved his life and almost lost his own.
(Will there be alliances between some of these people, like the ones with similar goals?)

[Iituem]

Also, a decision of sorts to make.  For the next game (if there is one), should the game try and focus on characters in different factions (essentially a nightmare of several single player games) or require rolling a set of characters in just one of the factions and make most of these guys NPCs for the future?

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

Several NPC's in one faction

Will this game keep going or get moved?

[IronyOwl]

Armage leaps at the chance to go with Dr. Zhakharov, and unleash the full force of scientific knowledge upon the planet and its new inhabitants.

Also, a decision of sorts to make.  For the next game (if there is one), should the game try and focus on characters in different factions (essentially a nightmare of several single player games) or require rolling a set of characters in just one of the factions and make most of these guys NPCs for the future?

((I think the nightmare issue applies to single factions as well. You'd probably want all the players to be connected in some way, which could be as disparate as managing nearby colonies or affecting different aspects of Planet's economy, but should probably be more concrete and coherent than "they're on the same team so I guess they should meet sometimes." The players don't need to be interacting at all times, but they're probably better off being significant and relevant to each other in fairly important ways.

Though as a personal note, I'd probably prefer a more indirect approach. Having to deal with the fallout of each other's consequences sounds neat. And fairly Alpha Centauri-like.))

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

Actually I change my vote to the first option the nightmare one

[Kilojoule Proton]

I'm fine either way, so it's an abstain vote. However, I would like those wanting the multiple single-player games option to remember that it is quite an ambitious one. Updating will surely be easier if we just pick a faction and NPCify anyone outside.

lituem: Do you have much experience with running competitive games?