Saviors of the Stars IC

[Eshkigal]

"I'll follow Strife, Caprice, Nagini, and the Twins on this."
Which likely met that he was in, but Laishe rarely cared about friendliness anyway.

[The_Snark]

Spoiler: Slightly Earlier

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A telepathic voice whispers in Tumbleweed's head as the bounty hunter vanishes into the crowd, rattling off a string of numbers. ~My comm frequency. Give me a call sometime, hon. We can swap stories, I'll try and throw you off my trail, you see if you can figure out what I'm hiding. It'll be fun.~

It's a bad idea, of course - she wouldn't be offering to get in contact if she didn't expect she could get something out of it. But Caprice's merriment is infectious: aren't you in this business for the fun of it, as much as the money? Sure, I've probably got something up my sleeve, but is that going to stop you? Don't you want to see what happens?

"Ooh, Cecelinus." Caprice lowers her psychic veil nonchalantly, dropping into the conversation as if she's been there all along. Which, of course, she has. "That's a high-class heist, all right. I approve. You're moving up in the world, Laishe. And you thought of us first!" She flashes him a grin. "I'm touched. Of course I'm in."

A moment later, it occurs to her to ask, "What's this about a missing paycheck?"

[Arcran]

Laishe can't help but smirk slightly as all three say they're in without even bothering to ask their cut. Oh well. They'd learn soon enough or have very empty pocketbooks.

"One of those slimy one-eyed freaks. Didn't pay me for the last job since apparently they're out of coin. I think I'll just help myself to a nice little slice of the profits from their new. And by nice little slice I mean the whole frakkin' pie," Laishe says, chuckling slightly.

"What about the rest of you lot? You going to help? Or do you need to find some new transportation?"

[Eshkigal]

"If you clarify why we should believe you can get us paid, or will not just ditch us for the police to catch."
Scrap leans back against a wall, and looks at him.
"Or you can explain how you plan to ensure the boss you're planning to stab in the goo sac doesn't have goons around Cecelinus to tail you in case you do exactly what you're plotting?"

[Arcran]

"Why you should believe me?" Laishe says, chuckling slightly. Maybe they weren't as naive as they seemed. "Why, you shoudn't until you see your own evidence. The first is simple. Why would I bother with a job that wasn't going to pay? The other is pretty damn simplistic too. If I turn you in to the cops you'll just cut deals to catch me or something and I'll have a crew that knows me hunting me. I'd rather not deal with that," Laishe says simply, not feeling that now would be a good time to mention that he'd kill them, not leave them for the police.

"And are you kidding me? Spire goons? On Cecelinus? Just keeping a force there would cost way more than the dumb bitch can afford. If they had enough of a force their to pull off the job they wouldn't have hired us. In space they can't do jack **** because, well, we've got a lovely lady on our side," Laishe says, patting the dashboard of his ship lovingly.

"Any other stupid questions?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

With the...ghost of an amused smile on his face at the cue he was responding to, Daniel raised one finger in the affirmative. "Are we going to be passing any interesting worlds on the way?"

Hey, it didn't hurt to ask...

[Queen Sapes]

Spoiler: Caprice

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The Dacani chips come from, obviously, the Dacani homeworld, and are the old form of currency on their planet. That is, it was their universal currency before they polluted and stripped down their planet so bad they had to branch out into the galaxy, at which point they adopted the galactic universal currency. Dacani chips are now a collector's item, only used in passing or occasionally for shady business on the Dacani homeworld. However, finding someone who collects obsolete currency is going to be extremely difficult. There were certainly some people you knew about back in Arcturan space, but it likely isn't a fantastic decision to head back there unless you have too. If you go deep enough into the underworld of space, there are likely some collectors fairly interested in the chips. And finally, Zodiac is always an option, although that is a problem on its own involving finding and meeting up with one of his or her agents (which could take months), making the deal, and then hoping you still don't end up on the losing end of the deal.

[Inspector Valin]

Strife has been quiet for most of the conversation, letting the others talk. Old habits die hard. Laishe's scheme seemed poorly thought out, and his fondness for making enemies was likely a bluff. And yet the pilot wasn't an imbiscile. He had a plan, and if he didn't think it would work, he wouldn't have gone as far as offering to cut them in on it. Unless he wants to make us his diversion, like Scrap suggested. None of them really had a firm hold over the pirate, nothing they could use to bargain with the authorities. Yet... Laishe wouldn't have brought so many of them in on this if he was intending to backstab them that blatantly. Why risk making all these people enemies?

Boil it down to the simple point. Mercenary work was how the ex-gladiator made money, money bought food and continued living. This wasn't something she could say no to. The red haired Terran sighed, taking a seat and nodding to Laishe. "I'm in. Subtle isn't my speciality, but you'll probably want some muscle on hand in case things go wrong. I can still deal with problems on the ground more quietly than a laser canon at least."

Plus... the twins. Scrap. Caprice could take care of herself, but the others could use someone on their side. Especially with Laishe calling the shots. Strife leant back in her chair, flexing her fingers as she rapped lightly on the armrest five times. "Plus I don't need weapons to do what I do. Metal detectors and EMP might be a problem, but short of those, I'm just a normal humanoid. Not someone who stands out in a crowd."

[Arcran]

"No idea!" Laishe says to the twins. "I haven't plotted out a course yet. If you two want to do that I'm sure you could find at least a single interesting world along the way, right?" the pilot says, more than happy to delegate that role. Plotting a course was always a pain.

"And one can never have too much muscle," Laishe states to Caprice. "Normal people are the best ones for these kinds of jobs."

"Anyways," the pilot says, turning to SCRAP. "How long would it take you to hack a computer and get the coordinates of the sources? Figure out exactly who we'd be selling to?" Laishe inquires, hoping the answer is in the neighborhood of under an hour.

[Eshkigal]

Well, if that was the way he wanted to play, fine. However, if this ended up being more than he could chew, Scrap saw no reason the others should burn with Laishe...
"Considering it's the Spire? Could be minutes, could be hours. It is a station's worth of information, after all. Now do you have a name of who I should start with, or do I have to just work with racial slurs?"

Spoiler: Actions

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Using Quickness 8 to take 20 on hacking the Spire with my brain, for total of 40. Should have some senses that allow for that possibility...

[Quellian-dyrae]

Daniel nodded, and Heather gave a bright smile. "We can do that."

"Err...as long as someone else can handle the actual, like, computer parts," Daniel said. "Pulling up the maps and entering the course into the system, or whatever." The twins had steadfastly decided they would not, under any but the direst circumstances, try and work anything more advanced than the toilets aboard the Silence. It wasn't that they were afraid of accidentally messing up the ship to such a degree that it was left floating helplessly in the empty void of space.

They are afraid of being trapped in the ship floating helplessly in the empty void of space with Laishe after doing something that caused his ship to be left floating helplessly in the empty void of space.

[Queen Sapes]

Spoiler: Scrap

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It only takes a minute for you to break into the access ports for the Spire's universal network, which allows the Spire to get in contact with the rest of the known galaxy. The protection on the system is laughably weak, likely a measure to save costs, especially with something open to the public. Quickly you receive a list of possible buyers throughout the galaxy, although very few of them meet the criteria or rich and reliable. There are also a few mentions of Zodiac within the system from various patrons of the Spire, although that's common for every spaceport. Zodiac likely has an agent or two on the Spire, although it's anyone's guess who they may be.

However, even for you, it proves impossible to gain access to the Spire's internal network exclusive to the administration, where Laishe wants you to get the information. Not only can you not gain access, you can't even begin to view the system. The Dacani, as well as many other races come to think of it, keep important files on isolated and independent systems instead of the main networks. In order to access Henah's files, you would have to break into the control centers of the Spire, find an access point, break the encryption which is likely much stricter, and then search through the files. All while hopefully avoiding the eyes of Dacani guards. Not exactly the safest plan, especially with the weapons the Spire is equipped with.

But, while you're connected with the universal networks, you do take the opportunity to plot several paths to Cecelinus for the Twins. There are more than a few options, but there are four that stick out to you personally: The Garden Worlds of the Zolvin-9 System, the abandoned planet of Ilstrus, the the eternal storm of Skryxia, and the shattered remains of what was the Polarot System. All unique sights in their own right, and each is along its own path to Cecelinus. A straight shot isn't regarded as a safe idea. The public charts are not the most reliable, but all indicators seem to place a black hole in-between the Spire and Cecelinus. Best not to die in that way.

[Eshkigal]

Scrap goes over to the computers, putting in several paths for the Twins to review in the navigation computer as well as the path to Cecelinus, arms blurring as it works.
"What I can access has too few names likely to pay us for anything rather than rob us blind, and the only way to get into the internal network is directly. Different systems, completely walled off from the outside. Only way to get into those is infiltrating a control center, break the encryption without getting caught, and search every file of their workings, and that's assuming they're public knowledge on their servers instead of something protected by your contact specifically, isolated to something they can keep on hand. That process would likely tip your contact off, and has heavy chances of flat out failure."
After getting all of them in, Scrap looks to the twins.
"Daniel, Heather, I have inputted several worlds for you to look over while handling the navigational coordinates. If you want, I can help you go through."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Thanks, Scrap. And yeah, anyone who wants to chime in on route preferences, feel free," Daniel said, as they walked over to start looking through the possibilities.

"Anything we should take into particular consideration, Captain?" Heather asked. "Refueling stations? Resupply points? Time constraints?"

"'Wanted' notices?" Daniel muttered with a slight smirk, although honestly it wasn't an entirely joking question. Who knew what sections of the universe one or more members of their merry little band were no longer welcome in?

[Eshkigal]

"I...have a few I like."
It pauses for a moment, before bringing up a few images of Zolvin-9's worlds, and the drifting debris of Polarot's system.
"There are a couple others, Skryxia and Ilstrus, but Laishe probably would object to an eternal storm due to the noise and I think Caprice would find an abandoned world boring. Though then again, there may be undiscovered items of value there. I do wonder what could shatter a solar system, though. And sometimes it is nice to drift across the landscape as a cloud."

[The_Snark]

"Laishe, darling," drawls Caprice, sounding amused, "I know you'd rather deal with computers than people, but that's what you have me for - knowing people is my speciality." She smiles. "I can think of a few buyers off the top of my head, though dealing with them may not be in our best interest, and I know who to ask to find more."

"Might be smart to do our asking before we do the job, though, just in case this fellow on Cecelinus is feeling vengeful." She glances at the twins, conveying a wordless request for at least one stop with a seedy underbelly.

[Arcran]

Laishe shrugs, looking to Caprice.

"Hell, if you know people that's much easier. Probably safer too since it probably won't tip off that bitch on the Spire," Laishe says, somewhat disappointed with the vaunted skills of the resident AI. "Just make sure they're not going to sell us out to the Spire."

"And no storms or blown up solar systems," Laishe adds at the question about the route. "We're not putting the ship through though unless we have to. Just stay a healthy distance from Grue space and get us at least one refueling station and we'll be alright. Probably," Laishe adds at the end, not entirely certain that things would be as easy as all that. Simple missions had a habit of going extremely badly.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The twins set themselves to it, considering Scrap's initial routes as a base, checking out a few possible permutations, adjusting to ensure they kept well clear of Grue space while kind of pinballing between other planets that either Scrap's information had as being potentially habitable, that including fuel and resupply points (aiming for at least two of those, in fact, more than willing to be paranoid on that subject) or that others recommended or that looked like they'd find interesting. They just kept track of each possible route and its various advantages, disadvantages, and points of interest in their heads, comparing them on the fly and making changes as they got new ideas or saw new pieces of information.

Hopefully it'd all come together as a fairly smooth trip, not so long that the more profit-centric members of the team got antsy, but not so straight that they couldn't have a bit of fun and see some sights (and maybe, just maybe, find some homeworld candidates to mark for more thorough examination later) along the way.

Spoiler

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Using Mental Quickness 4 to Take 20 on Expertise (Navigator) or (Cartographer) or (Flippin' Tour Guide), or whatever. 30 total. Maybe higher if Scrap's assistance counts as a Team Check.

[Queen Sapes]

Spoiler: The Twins

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The Garden worlds of the Zoldin-9 System or the Polarot system seem to be the best bet, with the Polarot somehow making the safest path to Cecelinus while still keeping sensible time. The Garden worlds are certainly beautiful and have a refueling station, but are also notorious for losing large vessels to pirates. Polarot on the other hand, is largely abandoned save for the fueling station and tourism. Pirates are hesitant to travel there, due to the danger of moving too close to the broken planets, which would offer the only cover. Otherwise, it's rather safe, as long as pilots aren't stupid.

However, these are just two of the three fastest routes to Cecelinus. The other is past Skryxia, but Laishe has already shot that choice down. Ilstrus is typically empty, although it lacks a fueling port if a ship is headed directly to Cecelinus. A quick stop on the endless farmlands of Crobos solves the fueling issue, but requires one to jump off the traditional route to reach it. Plus, Ilstrus is somewhat of an oddity in the galaxy. It's the only planet in its system, the rest is just empty space. By all accounts, Ilstrus is completely habitable, and has played host to several colonies. However, the colonies also have a tradition of disappearing without a trace, leading superstitious pilots to steer clear of the system, claiming it to be haunted. It certainly isn't helped by the fact Ilstrus' system is so empty, as that emptiness can play tricks on the mind. Still though, it's a safe route, but takes a bit longer than most.

[Quellian-dyrae]

After some back-and-forth and calculations, Daniel said, "Alright all, we've got two possible routes pretty much figured. I think we should go through the Polarot system. It's quick, low-risk, they've got a refueling station and apparently some tourist points but not much in the way of settlements so we can do a quick stop and move on or if we want to take a couple days off the ship we should be able to find something to do. And it's fairly empty, which...I don't know if that actually has a positive impact on spotting someone trying to tail us or not considering, you know, space, but if it does then cool."

"And I say we should take the Zoldin-9 route. The garden planets are supposed to be really beautiful, and it's more populated so there's more to see and do if we want to stop or while we're refueling. There's...some notes here about piracy, but if anything, that's a plus! 'Cause if any pirates try to attack us, when we beat them, we can return their ill-gotten gains to the prop- I mean take their loot for ourselves and it's all profit!"

Honestly, they really wanted to check out Ilstrus. A habitable world in a buffer of dead-empty space that people were superstitious about would be a nice place for their people to be able to settle without having to worry too much about intergalactic politics in the short term, and with mages on hand, whatever issues the other colonies had could probably be handled - especially if it was an actual haunting. It was definitely on their list of places to go, but they didn't want to be rushed along while considering it, and the extra travel time of reaching Crobos for refueling by that route would probably eat into exploration time. They figured they'd bring it up as an alternate route back, since it offered some advantages for that purpose in terms of detecting and maybe throwing off any pursuers they might or might not acquire as a result of this job.

[Arcran]

"Pirate fuel is free fuel," Laishe says with a grin. "And no pirates can even put a scratch on Silence," the pilot reiterates, lightly tapping the console loud enough to barely make a sound. "Anyways, the less worlds we're spotted on before robbing what would appear to be a significant galactic figure the better. Plus one of those bastards might have an EMP on them..." Laishe mutters, knowing pirate's penchant for big guns.

"The captain," the pilot says, putting some stress on the second word, "Votes we go the Zoldin route."

[Eshkigal]

"Zolvin-9 seems to have won, as my vote counted towards that or one other. At least the pirates will be interesting for Caprice."
Scrap sets the route quickly, before heading to the door.
"I have some preparations to make if we see Tumbleweed after us. If you need me, I will be in the cargo hold."
With that, Scrap drifts out the door, planning out a one seater craft for safely getting onto other ships without ending up debris in space again since they greatly out speed it.

[Arcran]

"We're leaving then," the pilot mutters, doing the final checks on the Silence and pulling out of port, preparing his FTL drive and everything else required for long-distance travel.

[Queen Sapes]

The Silence pulls out of the Spire's port easily enough, the magnetic locks of the port letting her go. The docking attendants send a quick message to the Silence that makes its way quickly to Laishe, reminding him to "Have a safe trip and return soon", and how much he had paid for the docking. The ship passes through the shields surrounding the Spire, entering the asteroid ring field beyond. Thankfully the rocks beyond the Spire keep to a rather level plain, more akin to the rings of a planet than an asteroid belt, so the Silence is able to quickly pick up over the rocks and head for deep space.

The Silence pulls to a slow crawl as its FTL drives warm up, leaving the group on the bridge staring into deep space, with not an object in their way. Even after so many times seeing it, the emptiness of space is a powerful sight to behold. It's a beautiful if lonely sight, the endless stars clustered in the black void, each holding some promise of life on it, as well as desolation. There was money out there for the group, chances to be heroes, or criminals if they must, and as the FTL drives warmed up and the coordinates were being set, all it would take now is one final push before they were on to the Garden Worlds, then Cecelinus, then wherever else they wished.

Spoiler: OOC

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Vehicle rolls from Laishe and anyone else who is in some way helping with driving.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The twins stood at the bridge for a time, hand in hand and watching space go by. Somewhere out there was a new world where their people could settle.

They cast a couple sendings out as they stood there, a short, professional one to their mentor informing him that they were taking off from the Spire and that they had a lead on a possible world that they might be able to take a closer look at semi-soonish. A longer one spent chatting with their family, giving them an account of what was going on that was high on excitement and making stuff sound cool and low on nit-picky little details. Things like "going to rob some random rich guy for no legitimate reason we can discern" became "going on a heist" and "we intentionally selected the most dangerous route because it's supposed to be prettier" became "and you know, we figured we might hunt down a few space-pirates while we were in the area". It wouldn't actually keep their parents from worrying about them, but it would make them sound, just, super-cool to their younger siblings. As duly appointed wizards of the Circle, it was their duty to present a proper representation of their noble profession for the younger generation.

Eventually they went to sit together and read the silly little comic book they had bought, poring over it as intently as if it were some ancient tome or arcane lore or lost spellbook of an older age. It was almost comfortingly familiar, seeing things like the shape of the buildings and cars, the street signs, even just the font that was used in the word bubbles. Heather left the little hula doll thing by the window, on the notion that that's where something like that belonged, darn it!

"Hey Strife! Come look!" Daniel called to the cyborg after they had gotten a few pages in.

"It's from Earth!" Heather added.

They knew Strife didn't have many memories of her home world - which drove them nuts, by the way. There was an Earth here. A full-fledged, honest-to-goodness, third-rock-from-the-sun, smack-dab-between-Venus-and-Mars-in-some-backwater-solar-system-of-the-Milky-Way Earth, and they were traveling with someone from there. There were only about ten thousand things they wanted to ask her about this universe's version of their planet, and couldn't. Maddening.

[Arcran]

"Everybody just sit back and enjoy the ride," Laishe says, giving a look that very clearly states that they better leave flying the ship to him.

"Let's go girl," the pilot mutters under his breathe as his fingers fly across the controls, effortlessly navigating the ship through through the vast emptiness of space. It would be a long trip but the massive payoff at the end would more than compensate.

Spoiler: Actions

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Skill Expertise Vehicles. Going to use that for a check of 30.

[Eshkigal]

After scrounging around, Scrap scowls. Of course the weapon systems couldn't have useful objects that wouldn't require dismantling them to create something with. With a sigh, it instead builds its plasma cannon, and begins looking at it while slowly taking it apart. Perhaps it could be modified into a ship grade disruptor, or an EMP bomb of sorts. It'd fry, but if it could be used to either take out an enemy vessel or the casino defenses, that would be useful...

Spoiler: Blueprint phase

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Since the Silence has no torpedoes I can make into a crazy boarding ship, I'm going to build an Affliction effect that only affects technology, still deciding on ranged or burst, as a likely one off weapon. Still working on general details.
(1d20+20)[36]-Inventor, Tech roll for the blueprint

[Queen Sapes]

Inside the Silence, the slightest of hums, even to Laishe's ears, fills the ship as the Silence prepares to take off into deep space and leave the Spire behind. For a moment, the ship hangs in the air, small asteroid bits bouncing against the hull, before the ship launches itself forward into the emptiness of space, disappearing in the blink of an eye. The space outside the windows of the Silence doesn't actually take on much of a change, as even while rocketing through space, it takes quite some time for stars to move out of one's sight. Still, the emptiness is rather reassuring, and Laishe sticks to his seat at the pilot's console to watch for anything on the sensors that would ruin the Silence's flight. The other four spread into the rest of the Silence, dropping whatever things they had in the rooms Laishe gave to them before lounging about the ship, talking mostly. Scrap dedicates himself to working on some sort of project to deter pirates, for better or worse.

Hours pass before the Silence automatically slows as it nears its current destination: the Garden Worlds of Zolvin-9. The nickname of the Garden Worlds is actually surprisingly accurate for the Zolvin-9 system, as the entire solar system is comprised of nearly twenty planets spaced within their sun's life-sustaining range. The planets are mostly uninhabited but all capable of sustaining life on them, resulting in twenty small planets with abundant plant life and nearly unexplored surfaces. None of the planets have official names aside from designations between Zolvin-9-1 to Zolvin-9-20, but the local pirates have given them a variety of names dependent on the pirate group. They're the main group within the Zolvin-9 system, and as such it is almost always a recognized pirate hotspot. The unexplored and bountiful planets make perfect homes for pirates in the system, and the active passage through the system always keeps them in business. Unfortunately, pirates aren't well known for keeping active and accessible records of their location or activity, so predicting and even finding the pirate groups has proven impossible. Some estimates place the pirate groups well into the hundreds. Aside from them though, there are a few dozen research sites on various planets, along with a small but decently active port on Zolvin-9-7. It's the only place in the system to get fuel from, along with the most heavily defended spot in the system. Nothing except a raid by every pirate group at once could take the port.

The Silence lurches into the system suddenly, the beautiful Garden Worlds in full view from every window, save for the pilot's. Rather, Laishe is immediately confronted with a large cluster of wreckage the Silence is headed straight for. The pirates don't tend to clean up the scrap metal, and unless a ship takes the direct lanes through the system, which change constantly as the planets spin around the planet, it's more than likely to run up against another ship's looted corpse. The mass in front of them is dead and old, with fires long ago going cold and metal chilling in the cold embrace of space.

Spoiler: OOC

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Vehicles rolls for maneuvering

Spoiler: Scrap

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You complete the blueprints of your EMP device just before the Silence enters the Zolvin-9 system. The weapon is expertly designed, but unfortunately still likely to be a one-use weapon. It will still take hours to complete, even with the immediately available supplies, which should hopefully be fine. As long as the Silence isn't swarmed by too many pirates at once for Laishe to handle, and he's willing to stop to buy his own fuel for the trip, you should be able to complete it in a number of hours.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The twins went eagerly to the windows to look out over the garden worlds. They peered at the planets intently, even "zooming in" a bit with their arcane vision, as they realized they weren't seeing much in the way of civilization on their surfaces.

"Might be another option," Daniel said. "Pirates could be a problem though."

"Meh. We've got mages. And who knows, maybe if another civilization was getting started around here it would bring in more travel, prompt people to actually deal with the pirates. Could be a good thing, in the long run."

"Oh I'm not saying we couldn't win, but I'd prefer for our people to be able to settle somewhere without having to fight for it."

"Ahhh right right right. Hm. Well, worth putting on the list for later exploration, anyway."

[Arcran]

"Stupid frakkin' pirates," Laishe mutters, beginning to put the ship through some evasive maneuvers. How hard would it be to clean up just a little bit? Of course, Laishe is fairly sure that it isn't just base laziness; a ship without an experienced pilot would certainly take at least some degree of damage after flying in, making them easy prey for the pirates.

Spoiler: Actions

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Skill Expertise for 30.