Elite roleplay: Off station

OFF STATION

Your ship, deep space, anything that is not happening inside the Citi Gateway or Ingaba...

General Roleplay Etiquette:

1. Control only the actions of your own character(s). (AKA: God Mode)
This doesn't matter how small the action is, even if it is as simple as scratching their nose or a direct reaction to something else that just happened. This applies to everything from casual conversation to full blown fight scenes. If you'd like someone to do something specific, PM that person, however keep in mind they are completely within their rights to say no. Especially if said action is inappropriate to their character and/or circumstance.

2. Don't brute force your way into another persons RP.
Approaching with a conversation starter is fine, or indeed some other small action. However charging in, guns blazing and disrupting the flow of another person/pair/groups conversation/arc is about as rude as doing so in real life. If something is going on that you'd like to participate in, be subtle about it. Put out a gentle hook for someone to take, but again, be aware that said hook may not be taken. If you fear it was simply unnoticed, PM the person or people it concerns. Or even leave a message in the OOC forums.

3. Good grammar and spelling is preferred.
We're not asking you to be perfect, but please at least demonstrate willingness. no1 iz gna tak u srsly usng txt spk. There's a wide variety of people here, many who speak English as a second, or even third language. There are even some with varying degrees of dyslexia and/or likely other issues that affect spelling/grammar. We accept them all here. However, people who aren't accepted, are those unwilling to accept polite correction. Remember that even a small thing like the placement of a comma, or the wrong use of there/their/they're can completely change the definition of an entire sentence.

4. Accept constructive criticism gracefully and politely.
If someone spots an issue with your writings, they may wish to help you improve that writing. They may do this through PM or even publicly air their thoughts on the OOC forum. If they have taken the time to be polite and explain what is wrong with your writing, the best way to behave is to respond in kind, using the same manner they have approached you with. It means they have taken an active interest in what you have written and wish to see more. Basically, you have a fan!

5. Don't take the actions or opinions of things done IN RP, to be directly relevant to the writers thoughts or opinions.
Basically, if some ones character calls your character a jackass, it doesn't mean the writer thinks you are a jackass. It's a ROLE they are PLAYING. Watch a movie. The argument between the characters isn't an argument between the actors involved. The same applies here.

6. It's not a popularity contest.
Your RP might be bustling with participants. You have 3 people off station in a fire fight, while another 2 are infiltrating the darkest areas of the station, meanwhile a group of 4 others are tracking your movements in an effort to stop you. Good for you, I'm sure it will be a thrilling read! But you know what? Sometimes the absolute BEST work, comes from two RP characters having a simple heart to heart. Both are valid, both are great, but NEITHER is categorically better than the other. Period.


Inara RP Etiquette:

1. Respect the setting and rules of the universe.
Inara is an Elite: Dangerous 3rd Party Tool. The RP Forums are set in the Elite: Dangerous universe. Elite: Dangerous has rules, as any fictional universe does from Lord of the Rings to Star Wars, or Game of Thrones to Star Trek. If you intend to RP within the Elite: Dangerous universe you are bound by the history and rules of that universe. Simply put, this RP forum is bound by the same rules as the game, so if it can't be done in the game, it is not permitted here. This applies to things from a 50Ly Jump Range on a normal, unmodified Sidewinder, to the destruction of entire stations.

2. Respect the characters created by others.
We have a wide variety of characters already here. It's expected that some will be similar, just as it's expected that two characters will be vastly different. Opinions of each persons character will naturally be varied, but all are valid provided they follow the rules of the universe. You are allowed to interact with, or avoid interaction with, any character in the RP forums. But you have no right to belittle others for their creation. You are not an authority figure on writing, nor are you directly affected by another persons imagination. You might not like it, but you MUST respect it.

3. Be caught up on current events before joining in.
You need basic things like character descriptions in order to interact with them. You also need to know what's going on in the surrounding areas. This is simply because the people you are hoping to RP with, might be gearing up to something that you might not want to be part of. Or simply that the most recent post, out of context, could leave a different impression on the goings on than if you gather that context. We don't expect you to read every single post from the beginning of the forums, just enough to get that basic understanding.

4. Either subscribe to, or frequently check, the Roleplay: Q&A and OOC forum.
People may be discussing something relevant to you there, or even discussing you directly. Perhaps someone asked what the general consensus on the existence or non-existence of a certain object. Or we're just chatting about random gibberish. Either way, be aware of it and use it. If you're unsure about something, such as how guns would look and or behave, or even the music selection, use the OOC forum to ask. We don't have all of the answers, but the collective knowledge and logic usually allows us to overcome an issue and come to a decision on what should be allowed. Frontier Developments, and even David Braben himself, don't have the answers to every possible question that can be asked.

5. Large Scale events exploding out of nowhere are a complete no go.
We get it. Everyone wants their character to be noticed and for people to be tripping over themselves to interact with them. In some audiences, an introduction involving you blasting in for landing in a fiery wreckage of a ship, before cart wheeling out and sword fighting 35 Ninjas before whisking off with the local celebrity for a glorious night of passion, is in fact, cool. This is not one of those audiences. It is generally considered better to build your character up slowly over time. Eventually, you might even have a legitimate excuse to fight those Ninjas. Maybe even with other RP participants by your side.

6. Perfect characters are boring.
The point of a character arc, is that it is in fact, an arc shape. One who is morally unquestionable, fully kitted out and an infinite fountain of knowledge, cannot go through an arc. Give your character flaws. Be it a tendency towards befriending the wrong people, or a bad knee that frequently gives out at inopportune moments. It gives readers something to latch onto and empathise with. You can give your character exceptional capabilities at something, but it requires balance. She's a damn good pilot with no equal, but can't drive an SRV for peanuts. It can lead to some very interesting moments between characters, be it heartfelt or comedic.


Other Notes:
It should be noted that there can be exceptions to these points. For example, good grammar when a character is speaking is actually rare. Few people in real life actually speak with perfect eloquence after all. Or previously arranged actions during a fight scene, such as someone stumbling back after a punch. What's key to remember is context.

All in all, remember this is purely for fun. We have some seriously talented writers here, and others whose writing history starts and ends at high school. But many are willing to help out in whatever way they can. All it takes is that you ask nicely.

Also keep in mind that many people who RP here, also have logbook stories related to the character, or characters, they portray. If it looks like there's an "in joke" going on that you're unsure of, it's probably in those.

In fact, some users have even gone to the trouble of creating "alts" to RP with. If you read back far enough, it's usually pretty clear who has and hasn't, and which ones are the "alts". It's therefore not unheard of to see the apparent seizing of control of other characters. If you do spot one, point it out in the OOC section. If intervention is needed, it will be sorted quickly and (hopefully) politely.

Most, if not all RP participants here have Logbook stories pertaining to their character(s). These are for the reading pleasure of anyone who wishes to do so. While it can be useful to read them in order to gain a bit of backstory on a character you wish to interact with, it should not be assumed that your character shares that knowledge. Within the E:D Universe, these Logbooks either don't exist, or are private diaries kept by the characters. Either way, without explicit statements to say otherwise from the writer, your interactions should reflect that your character is in the dark about any information you, the writer/reader, have gained from reading the stories.
28 Jun 2024, 11:10pm
Kasumi Goto"You go. I follow."


Slowly but steadily, I maneuvered through the minefield. We had covered a little more than half the distance to the installation when my scanner picked up something near the ship during a stop to map the next stretch. The object it detected wasn't a mine, though. To rule out any surprises, I meticulously scanned it. It turned out to be an escape pod.

An escape pod with contents. Its energy had long since dissipated, which explained why it hadn't made a peep. I wondered where it had come from and scanned the area again, but there was no shipwreckage in sight.

"What do you reckon? Some poor soul who tried to brave the minefield ahead of us? A scavenger, perhaps? Can't spot any remnants of a ship, though - no clue where this escape pod came from. Seems like it's been here a while - no power, no life signs."

I adjusted the optical zoom, focusing on the escape pod that had become a final resting place.

"Hmm. Pretty banged up, but you can still make out 'Janus Corp' on it. Maybe it's tied to the installation?"
28 Jun 2024, 11:22pm
I scratched my head, then shrugged... to myself.

"Cannot... say. Maybe. But, I would not risk picking it. Could be a decoy, or... something. Does it detect, any remains inside? Since, if there was, an occupant... they are, probably, dead."

I wouldn't have been tempted to pick the pod up there, that was for sure. For all that I knew of Azimuth, I wouldn't put it past them to do this kind of thing to slip a bomb, or something else, onto a ship, particularly one which made it this far through their mines... I had to presume it was theirs, considering these hadn't been here when I first was guided to the facility... whenever it'd been again. I just knew I'd visited, and had kind of forgotten when exactly that was.

"Maybe, we can investigate it, later. But, for now, I say... leave it. Not worth, the risk."
29 Jun 2024, 12:07am
"Whoever is in there has been dead for a long time. Any help will come too late, therefore I’m not going to pick it up. But if this is coming from the station, then maybe there was an accident. Or the system authorities have closed the place down and someone has tried to escape."

I leaned back in my pilot's seat and got back to plotting a course through the minefield.

"Whatever happened, there must be a reason why the installation has been abandoned."

I realigned my ship and set about tackling the next section of the route.
29 Jun 2024, 1:08am
"Not, an accident. I do not think.", I replied, at least partially knowing the course of events. "It was... I think, attacked, many years ago. After, its location, was leaked, maybe. Been here, before. And, the old logs, which I recovered, say that, at one point... somebody escaped. Unlikely to be who was... in that pod, as, I think, the location was shared on a news feed, or, something."

"And, I guess, some people... were not too happy. Give me a moment... will try to find."

I set my ship up to just follow the Clipper precisely, no deviation from its trajectory, and then began searching news feeds, vaguely remembering that I'd been told by someone the facility's - presumed - shutdown occurred six or seven years ago. The best I could find was a record from the Canonn organization created almost seven years ago, and it made no mention of the shutdown - if it occurred - or the reasons for its apparent abandonment. I still decided to share it for the time stamp alone, and that evidently no activity had been registered locally since.

"That, is all... I can, find. But, I could swear, I was told people attacked this place, back then, too. Related to Salomé, I think. One of them told me of this... some group that calls themselves, 'Children of Raxxla'. They, apparently, have an interest, in the Club. Not cooperatively... clearly. But that, would be, my only reason to work with them. They are in this... resistance, network, I told you of."
29 Jun 2024, 10:01am
"Got it. So, the escape pod might be linked to that attack, huh? The station could've taken a hit back then. Quite the tale, but the mystery of this pod... we're not cracking that one anymore... However, it does shed light on our current predicament, maybe the facility never came back online after the assault. The minefield and the message, they could've been set up later to keep scavengers at bay. Corporations, they're all the same, clutching onto things even if they don't use them anymore."

To keep my companion from getting jittery, I kept mum about the fact that pirates or smugglers might have set up camp in there. From my own savvy, I knew the more organized outfits often rely on deterrence to conduct their shady dealings undisturbed.

By now, we'd covered a good three-quarters of the distance. We were closing in on the installation, which loomed larger than I'd anticipated. Scouring the whole joint on foot would take an age. I hoped that we could narrow it down a bit.
29 Jun 2024, 12:02pm
"Maybe, it was set up later, but... then, it would not be used as the off-site storage, for Helix, data. And... I was here, maybe... a few months ago? Or, over a year. Cannot... remember. There were no mines, then."

I was beginning to consider that, maybe, this was not the storage for the Helix data, but just another waypoint on the search for it. Hard to tell when we weren't there, yet. I did know that this facility had been considered 'safe' to approach for a few years, not... this.

"I, think, the chance of Azimuth, being here... is good. Which is both good, and bad. But... I think you know, already."

At least, I assumed. The likelihood of it being pirates, raiders or smugglers over Azimuth at an old orbital facility with a history was... not completely out there, but something this fancy and advanced didn't exactly make me think a bunch of pirates had done this. Those mines were military-grade tech, at the very least, if not advanced even beyond that.
29 Jun 2024, 9:37pm
“I have a feeling that you might be right.“

Finally, we had done it, and left the minefield behind us. The last stretch to the installation was clear of mines, according to my scanner, which made sense to me. I made a beeline for the heart of the installation, but kept the pace slow, eyes peeled for any details.

As I got closer to the facility, it became clear that the attack my companion had heard about had indeed taken place. The damage pattern screamed of a massive missile barrage. The gangways, connecting the installation's various complexes, took the brunt of it; some were completely destroyed, their fragments drifting around parts of the facility like a small asteroid field. Even the residential and work areas had taken a few hits. Those were the spots my scanner picked up faint energy signatures from, completely shielded in the intact parts of the installation.

It was also obvious that no repair work had been attempted. Seemed like the damage from the attack had sealed the facility's fate. Maybe the repair costs were just too steep, and Janus never financially recovered from that event, because my ship's computer's quick search showed that the company didn't have a single operational station left to its name.

"Looks like your friends from the Resistance did a number on this place. Must've been a heck of a lot of rockets they fired at this station."
29 Jun 2024, 10:42pm
"May be.", I cautiously replied, given my lack of direct knowledge on the subject. "But, I, do not... know. It was, many years ago. I was not there. Still... they have claimed, responsibility."

At least the damage meant we had little to worry about in regards to defenses. Chances were anything but essential systems were off anyway, to minimize the chance of activity being detected. It would not escape these eyes, though... and my companion's scanner. Probably. The damage posed another problem of its own, though.

"Boarding that, may be difficult. Or, at least, unseen. Unless you would like to wander through the abandoned parts, and corridors exposed to vacuum."

Part of me was beginning to get that feeling there wouldn't be much of an option but to hop onboard the thing. While some systems - comms, namely - had to remain operational for this facility to receive a transmission, actually getting into it from the exterior required an intact point from which to do it. And I wasn't sure there were any, given the damage.

'Better hope we can turn off the mines from the inside, too. In case we need to get out quickly.', I added in thoughts.
30 Jun 2024, 9:52pm
My companion had just cut the comms when my scanner picked up more objects, real close to the facility. More escape pods, probably the cargo of some wrecked Type-9, now floating like a cloud over the ship that had crashed into a part of the facility. No signs of life here either.

And then, there it was - a larger landing pad right in our vicinity, capable of accommodating one large and two medium ships. What also caught my eye was the intact looking vessel sitting on one of the two smaller pads. We hadn’t spotted it earlier because of its systems being shut down. It was a smaller model, an Imperial Courier.

"Seems this is our way in, or at least a first attempt. Either way, it's a safe spot to stash our ships. You in?"
30 Jun 2024, 10:49pm
"Hm... maybe.", I answered, eyeing that landing platform.

It did have a certain allure to it, but at the same time...

"It would, leave our ships, exposed. I doubt that, like this, shielding works. On the station-thingy. This, would seem... a little, too easy. Unless, defenses of the platform, still work. Your sensors, please?"

'Would still have preferred not needing to waltz around in there on foot. But I guess there's really no other option.', I added in my thoughts.

I was also quite curious about that other ship present. A Courier could, technically, serve as a fast stealth insertion vessel, while retaining a surprising amount of shielding to protect it from fire. Or mines. But this could just as well be an Azimuth ship, so I remained wary of it.
01 Jul 2024, 12:40pm
Upon my companion’s request, I subjected the station to a closer inspection, this time up close and personal. No surprises there - the sections of the station that had taken the most beating were offline, their innards bleeding energy signatures from somewhere deeper within. The defenses seemed equally out of commission, where they hadn't already been destroyed. In the intact parts of the station, there was still an atmosphere, though whether it was breathable remained questionable.

I relayed these findings over the comms, adding: “The section of the station where this landing pad resides looks almost pristine. It’s got a shield, mind you, but it’s like flimsy, reaching not much further than the section itself. Good enough to keep rogue objects from causing more dents, but don’t expect it to withstand any serious firepower.”

With that, I turned my attention to the ship. Couldn’t tell how long it had been sitting there, but the first impression held true - it was unscathed.

“Inside the ship, there’s still an atmosphere, and not even a scratch on its white paint job. No life signs, though. All systems are offline.”
01 Jul 2024, 12:58pm
"Well, maybe... it is unoccupied. After the landing. And, everything turned off, to make it very difficult to notice."

I still didn't exactly feel enthusiastic about leaving my ship exposed on a barely protected landing platform, and remained stationary.

"Are you really sure, landing there, is... a good idea? I am not convinced, that it is. If somebody, less friendly, shows up, they are very easy targets. I mean... ships."
01 Jul 2024, 1:19pm
"I think you're right about that ship. And you're spot on, it's a gamble. But sitting ducks we'll be if we just idle here, and let's face it, we’re also not exactly invisible like this. Nor is there that much room to fight given the minefield nearby."

I paused for a moment, my gaze drifting to the installation beyond the cockpit, thinking about our options.

"If we couldn't spot that Imperial Courier before - and trust me, my scanner is top-notch - then it's a fair bet others couldn't detect us either after we've landed our ships and powered down their systems. But if you have a better idea, I'm all ears..."


Last edit: 01 Jul 2024, 1:25pm
01 Jul 2024, 1:26pm
"I do not, see, another option. Nothing... obvious, at least. So, maybe there is no choice."

I breathed in, and out, deeply.

"I hope, that you will be right. Even if just, because I would rather not fly, in somebody else's ship. Where would I sit?"

After a brief pause, I added something a little more serious.

"I will, need some time, to put on gear. Just, in case. Azimuth, are... probably, not going to be happy, to see us."
01 Jul 2024, 1:52pm
"It's a relief to hear you haven't lost your sense of humor," I replied, the corner of my mouth twitching into a smirk that spread across my face. The comment from my companion had struck a chord, and I couldn't suppress the wide grin that followed.

"I reckon I'll suit up in my Maverick. There's a good chance we'll need to carve our own path out there. But feel free to gear up in something with a bit more punch," I suggested.

"As for Azimuth, so far I haven't seen the slightest evidence that they're behind the whole thing, although I have to admit that the quality of the mines suggests that there's a larger organization behind it. But whoever is running the show on that station didn't make a peep when we approached. To be honest, I almost expected them to shoot at us in the minefield."

I corrected my course in the direction of the landing platform and, due to the size of my ship, headed for the larger of the two free landing fields. This left the other field, which was a little closer to the parked Courier, for my companion.


Last edit: 01 Jul 2024, 1:57pm

Post a reply

You must be signed in to post here.
ROLEPLAY ONLY! Respect the universe settings!
If you are new here, please try to at least partially involve in the ongoing stories and conversations instead of establishing a completely different "arc". You can always turn it to a different story later.