Elite roleplay: Off station

OFF STATION

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

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25 Sep 2024, 7:58pm
“Ok, so, how does this help, us? Unless, we give it to… Thargoids, or, whatever, if even finished… I do not think, this is, too useful. Maybe, we should just, move on.”

I looked at my companion, waiting for the answer, hopping on my heels impatiently. At least mag contact allowed for that, in here.
25 Sep 2024, 8:09pm
"Doesn't help us much, except that we now know that there might be soldiers who are immune to the Helix stuff..."

Azimuth stayed Azimuth and gained a home advantage by sacrificing some unfortunate people in human experiments, I reckoned. Not that it helped us much at the moment, but it did suggest that a meltdown was the more appropriate solution to really get rid of everyone.

Except... Dr. Kivinen had been killed in Lab 23. And there was something about the whole picture that bothered me, even if I didn't know what it was at the moment.

"Then let's go... back to the lift, and upwards. But watch out... below us are the conference rooms. When they're finished down there, they'll suddenly appear everywhere. And then we'll be right in the middle of the damn anthill."
25 Sep 2024, 8:18pm
Of course, I recalled the name of that doctor. Or… vaguely, in relation to Lab 23, anyway. Sounded like someone had found their conscience, but only a little too late. Nothing that I felt mattered much, right now, anyway… I double-checked the map to be sure about where we were meant to be heading. It was indeed up, but just by a floor.

“Then, we should go faster. Once security is off and out, and probably comms, too, it will take them a lot longer, to call for help.”

Just needed to get in there first. And somehow, I suspected it would not be nearly as empty as this admin level was without workers. Still, not much of a choice in the matter - so I began walking back toward the lift. At least that one was spacious enough to not cause any embarrassing moment.
27 Sep 2024, 6:40am
Vasil VasilescuVasil downed the first shot of whiskey and looked over the images being fed to the pad on his mav suit’s left forearm. He quietly went through the info and schematics that Maul had sent earlier, taking an occasional swallow of beer.

“You ever do an untethered EVA,” asked Vasil. “I don’t mean walking around on the hull with magboots, but actual free floating.”

Vasil pulled up a recording he made while circling the station and waiting for landing clearance, and forwarded to a shot of the Anansi in dry dock. “Right there,” he said. “There is still a good deal of structural damage from the collision. Judging by the flashes, it looks like there is plenty of welding and cutting going on.”

“Worker bees floating over with some equipment might not be noticed. Even if they were, they are just some Johnny Lunchpails doing their job. Once there, all they’d need to do to get inside is to cut their way in, or get in through one of the airlocks.”

Vasil shrugged. “Hell, maybe there is a functional data port that has been tagged out and just needs some juice to get functioning.”


"Mmm, thought a bit about that angle when I arrived and saw the FC out there. Kept my distance and monitored for a bit. Saw a few drones making passes over the exterior. Probably bot monitored but recording all the time. Besides that, there's the station security ships keeping their eye on things as well."

Maul became silent and watched the video of the Anansi intently again as it began to auto-replay.

"So this could probably work but we'd have to be quick about the drop off. If you could zip in close with an open cargo bay, I could pop out and get in there. Could wire a scrambler to my suit to fuck with the drone feeds if they get in range while I'm exposed. Between that and the micro thrusters, it'll drain the hell out of the battery though...and quick. I'll just have to pack light. Few energy cells, sidearm, couple extra mags and a lot of hope."

He looked over to Vasil and grinned. This felt like exactly the kind of half-assed plan he'd have proposed to his old friend Khelan years ago. Extremely risky, very dangerous, full of holes but exciting as hell.

"I'll still need a profile clone once inside to keep from fumbling with any auth-level restrictions. Will keep any auto scan security measures happy with me as well." He glanced briefly at the people around the bar. "Just gotta find a worker with a high enough access level." His eyes landed back on Vasil. "You ever done something like this before?"
27 Sep 2024, 2:53pm
Maul Montresor["You ever done something like this before?"



“Not really. I’m a fine, upstanding citizen.” Vasil downed the second shot of whiskey and glanced around the bar. “Just like everyone else here, I am sure.”

“Instead of free floating, what about hitching a ride on a limpet? It could carry you and any extra gear to a targeted location near an airlock. It’ll look like just another repair drone and should not draw any unwanted attention.”

“As far as personnel, all yards assign a PENG, or port engineer, to major work like this. They act as an engineering project manager, and they generally have unrestricted access to most of the ship. I looked into who it was while waiting for landing clearance. The Chief PENG is Helen Tam. You don’t look like a Helen, but I suppose that does not matter as far as profile access goes.”
30 Sep 2024, 7:11am
Maul crossed his arms and looked at Vasil for a moment as he thought about his suggestion about the limpet.

"Well, can't say I've ever done THAT before but it'd certainly cut down on the battery usage from the micro-thrusters and scrambler." He said with a shrug as he started to take a drink from his glass, catching the stench of it caused him to choose otherwise. "Fuck it, I'm down."

"But this Helen Tam you mentioned, might be able to pull some of her info from one of terminals near the worksite now that I know who to look for. If she's present on the FC I'll just have to find a way to get her out and nab a quick clone. Already got a few ideas if that's the case."

He tapped a short rhythm with his fingers on the bar top and nodded in Vasil's direction.

"Ya know, you're alright Vasil...for an uppity Imp." He said jokingly with a smile.
30 Sep 2024, 12:19pm
Vasil took a drink of his beer chaser. “I’ve always been something of a disappointment with regards to being pretentious and condescending. Because of that, I have nearly had my Imperial Asshole certification revoked on more than one occasion. Which, as you might imagine, would be terribly embarrassing for a family whose roots go back to the founding of the Empire.”

He lifted one of the empty shot glasses, indicating to the bartender that he wanted another shot of whiskey despite the the questionable smell and obviously synthetic taste.

“I don’t know how long you can keep a cloned profile, or how long you are willing to do so, but the PENG has to enter and leave the shipyard. If you can catch her while she is going to work, or leaving for home, that would prevent having to get into any restricted areas to find her.”

“Oh, and with a little creative rewiring, the limpet can be rigged for manual control so it becomes like a personal skimmer. Learned that from some roughnecks who would use them to hop between mining rigs.”
03 Oct 2024, 8:13am
"Well shit, Mr. "fine upstanding citizen", I reckon we've got ourselves a bit of a plan then, eh? Guess I'll get to crackin' on that clone while you work your magic on that limpet and then we'll— "

Maul was cut short by the bartender approaching with two shots of whiskey that appeared and smelled like the real deal this time. He gave the bartender a quizzical look.

"S'from that one." He nodded his head towards another patron sitting across the room. "Covered ya tab too."

After the bartender departed Maul swiveled on the stool to have a look at the generous stranger.

"Fuck. Knulus." He said turning back around. Keeping his voice lower than usual, talking to himself, suddenly oblivious to Vasil's existence. "Why the fuck is he here?" His eyes darted back and forth as thoughts tumbled around. He began tapping nervously on the countertop. "I haven't done shit...have I?" Knulus was one of The Networks most prolific blacklist hunters. If an ex member of The Network saw him, they usually didn't see much of anything else afterwards. In the past, Maul had reluctantly helped Knulus track down a lead on one particular blacklister's location but has tried to avoid his crosshairs ever since. He dug his data slate out of his pocket to check if his access had been revoked and sighed with relief at the realization that it wasn't.

Maul took a deep breath and grabbed one of glasses of whisky as he spun back around to raise a toast towards Knulus with a half baked friendly smile. Knulus responded with a raised a glass of his own and was presumably smiling. It was hard to tell underneath the chrome mask he was wearing that covered the lower portion of his face, leaving uncovered only his dark and unwavering eyes. Not a single telling sign of his emotions. He wore a fully custom modded Dominator suit, mostly black with golden accents and designs tastefully scattered around the torso. Around the neck of the suit a quote was written in the same gold design, "There’s no second I’ve lived you can’t call your own". There were no visible scratches or blemishes because things rarely came to the trading of blows with Knulus.

"An old acquaintance." said Maul to Vasil, acknowledging the strange reaction he just had. "Odds are slim that this is a chance encounter however, know what I mean? Prolly best we sit for a moment, enjoy the drink and then leave casually. If he follows, then I suggest to GTFO. He's a dude of few words."
03 Oct 2024, 2:09pm
The very fact that he and Maul were sitting in a bar on a station full of less than upstanding citizens was a consequence of him screwing over people for whom the law is an annoyance. The chain of events that had brought him to this particular place reminded Vasil that he should stick to negotiating contracts, and not the type of contracts that Maul hinted his chrome-masked acquaintance was involved in. He had no desire to increase the number of law-averse people looking for retribution,

Vasil turned, politely toasted Knulus as a thanks, and downed the shot. “He’s got good taste in whiskey,” he said to Maul. “And color schemes. Probably a good thing I did not wear my ERS flight suit. Two people in tasteful black and gold would have been awkward.”

Vasil placed the shot upside down on the bar, a subtle indicator that he'd not push Knulus' generosity beyond what had already been offered. It was damn good whiskey and did not need a chaser but Vasil took a swallow of his beer anyway. “In spite of his good taste, I am guessing he is not the type of person a fine, upstanding citizen usually has dealings with. So, whenever you are ready, we can go. And if you feel it is in our best interests, leave the station to, you know, go check on Willow or something.”
06 Oct 2024, 1:50am
Maul, having recently gone sober and trying to right his past wrongs, had chose to sit the shot back down on the table without drinking. "Go see if you can sort out that limpet and maybe contact Willow in the meantime to make sure she's alright." His eyes finally left Knulus as he turned back to the bar. "I'll see about Helen Tam. We really need what info they have on the Ophois before we split. But if anything happens, ya put full pips in engine and split, yeah? I won't be far behind."

Maul looked over his shoulder once more to see that Knulus had removed his mask and was enjoying his drink alone. A contemplative look on his face as he looked at his wrist computer. If Knulus wanted either of them dead, then he wouldn't have made his presence known. Something seemed off.

"I'll hang back for now and make sure no one follows and then head out myself. Keep in touch on comms."
06 Oct 2024, 2:53am
“Alright. Don’t do anything to cause me to haul what’s left of you back to Willow, or have to tell Lambast what happened. She’s already pissed off at me and I don’t relish the idea of explaining why I brought you to a mortician.”

Vasil tapped the paypad on the bar. Though Knulus had paid the tab, Vasil added to the tip. He felt odd leaving a bar without paying something. “Though, Lamb might bake a cake for you wake,” he said pushing back from the bar. “But, hey, don’t let that influence you.”

He gave Maul a friendly pat on the shoulder and headed out, weaving his way through the crowd and finding he had a sudden craving for cake.
06 Oct 2024, 4:05am
He watched the door as Vasil left to see if Knulus would follow. After a few moments he breathed a sigh of relief and turned to see if the hunter was still enjoying his drink. As he turned, Knulus was already approaching him. Without saying a word, Knulus sat down next to Maul in the seat Vasil had just left. Maul kept quiet and turned back to the bar, the both of them sharing a moment of silence.

"Has work brought you here?" Knulus asked, the mask he previous wore was dangling by wires around his neck, reveling the scruffy unkempt stubble of a man who was neck deep in "work". The kind that didn't lend itself to a consistent morning routine.

"Yeah." Maul answered hesitantly. "You?"

Knulus nodded affirmatively. "An outside contract." He noticed that Maul hadn't drank the shot he'd offered, which brought about this very conversation. "I take it that you've finally drowned the demon?" He asked, nodding towards the shot glass.

"Yeah, got sick of running from shit. Losing myself in whatever I could get my hands on. I ran so much that I wound up chasing it in the end."

Knulus' eyebrow twitched. Which just so happened to be the biggest reaction Maul had ever seen from the man. The two briefly sat in silence once again. The chatter of the crowd filling the void. Knulus turned to Maul and spoke earnestly.

"Beneath the cold earth,
Seeds dream of the sun’s warm kiss—
Life stirs once again.

Do not squander this renewed vigor. Take care, Maul."

He then drank Maul's untouched shot of whiskey and placed the glass upside down next to Vasil's and left the bar.
06 Oct 2024, 5:47am
Limpet parts lay scattered around the cargo bay like a child’s forgotten toys, each played with for a few moments before being cast aside for the next. Toying with a part to see if it worked and moving on to the next was much the same method Vasil had for modifying a limpet to be used like a personal skimmer. Maybe he should have mentioned to Maul that he’d never actually modified one himself. He’d only ever helped Rachael do it, and that was nearly 20 years ago.

What he ended up with looked even more Frankenstein’s monster than the modified limpets Rachael and her crew had used to move between mining rigs. For her and the other miners, shuttles were a luxury that ate profits, and using a mining ship meant less time in the rocks which risked not meeting quotas.

Vasil ran a final diagnostics to ensure all of the limpet’s automated systems were disabled so that it could be manually controlled. Everything came back good to go. It was ugly, but it would get the job done, and he was reasonably certain it would not kill whoever rode it.

“Babe, it’s kinda like sex,” he remembered Rachael telling him the first time he climbed onto one of the ‘skimmer’ limpets. “It ain’t fun unless it’s a little bit dangerous.”

Vasil started cleaning up the bay. While stuffing the extra parts into the carcass of a second limpet from which he’d taken some logic controllers and EMI shielding, he was reminded to check in with Willow. Once the bay was cleaned up and the limpet moved into position, Vasil sent a message to Willow

Willow. We are not dead yet, but Maul spotted someone that might change that. Hopefully you won’t have to stuff our guts back into out bellies and staple us shut. Anyway, we have a sort of plan that involves manually flying a modified limpet to a damaged part of the target and getting inside from there. With luck, Maul will find something useful and we’ll be gone before anyone knows we were even here.

On a side note, do you think a few extra layers of faraday fabric or ferro-magnetic shielding on the inside shell of a limpet would be enough to keep magboots locked onto the outer shell from jacking up the internals?
06 Oct 2024, 8:48pm
Pushing a Meaty Thin into the spiral of a Crunchy Jerky Twist was a delicate operation. The chewy case of the Meaty Thin could give out at any moment as she screwed it in to the Twist, but the real danger was cracking the Crunchy Jerky. A broken Thin would be held together by the Twist, but if she cracked the Jerky, it would fall off the Thin as soon as it got hot in the microwave.

So far she had a plate of 9 hand finished combos, all leaning on the the thickest Thin stuffed Twist. Two more would complete her tasty tipi of hyper processed meat-like product. What she didn't need right now was a text spoiling her concentration. The soft tone of Vasil's massage bounced around the silent cockpit of Willows Python, the Barb, with all the delicacy of a dropped steel tray. Her penultimate Crunchy Jerky Twist shattered in her fingers, sending crumbs whirling off in all directions.

"Fuck" said Willow trying in vain to catch all the crumbs before they were out of range of her chair. "Double fuck!" she said as her carefully stacked comb-twists wheeled away in a display of chaos theory.

Quicky moving to catch crumbs with a plate full of food on your lap in zero-G was a pretty dumb move. With a defeated sigh. Willow said

"Open Message"

Vasil Vasilescu
Willow. We are not dead yet, but Maul spotted someone that might change that. Hopefully you won’t have to stuff our guts back into out bellies and staple us shut. Anyway, we have a sort of plan that involves manually flying a modified limpet to a damaged part of the target and getting inside from there. With luck, Maul will find something useful and we’ll be gone before anyone knows we were even here.

On a side note, do you think a few extra layers of faraday fabric or ferro-magnetic shielding on the inside shell of a limpet would be enough to keep magboots locked onto the outer shell from jacking up the internals?


Well not being dead was a positive, but someone poking their nose in? Not really a surprise. The thing about putting out a lot of feelers to find some one, means its easy for others to know your looking. And a high up Imp's son is a POI to so many low down types.

Watching her dinner explore the cockpit out of the corner of her eye, Willow composed a response. She'd gather up that was good, and vent the cockpit later to take care of the shattered Twist.

Like, hi guys. Good to know your still vital. Cosmic. And like, cloak and dagger a little harder I guess, okay? Do you know who's on your back? Maybe I can look them up you know? See who your dealing with.

Okay yeah. So faraday fabric is mostly used to protect like, delicate electronics, or isolate transmitter/receiver type handwear. If you cover the inside of a limpet like that, it'll look sus on the scanners, you know? Like, get M to clone another worker limpet so your fake is just another blip, and put handles inside. Or like, Cargo strap your self in there and, keep the release by your hand, you know? Low tech, is real hard to detect, ok? Oh, and like, check your suit is space worthy first, right?

Willow stopped dictating to think about how she'd deal with the problem. Limpets had very mechanical flight paths that made it a fuckin nightmare being grabbed by one when you were in a pod. If she was there, she could rig up a..

Hey, is it safe for me to send you a synthesiser patten? I can send you the like, patten for your ships synthesiser to make the parts for a hand held limpet controller, and M will know how to pair it with the Show more dear-devil delivery system.
07 Oct 2024, 1:57am
Vasil had just finished approving the transfer of several tons of composites from the Umbrella to the station when Willow's reply arrived. After rejecting several other low bids for the composites and titanium he had on board, Vasil read the message and replied to Willow.


Maul called the person Knulus and seemed uncomfortable when he bought us a round of drinks. From what I gathered, this Knulus is the type of person who makes troublesome people disappear.

As for the patterns, send them over. I am sure they will work better than what I half-ass rigged up to hook into a datapad. Probably should not be driving something that could kill you with what amounts to a game controller.

Anyway, all of the auto vectoring and pathfinding has been disabled, so unless the driver goes crazy-ape bonkers it should not go darting off at right angles to its current path or make any sudden 180 degree rolls.

I guess you could call this a space bike EVA thing. Years ago, miner friends of mine would use them to hop between rigs on different rocks without having to disengage a mining craft to take the trip. Theirs had saddles or harnesses on the outside, but without time to mock up anything I was thinking of either using magboots, or welding on hooks for a harness.

Vasil attached an image of the repair limpet turned oversized EVA thruster. It looked like a homemade jet engine about to be duct taped to person’s back shortly after they told a friend to “hold my beer.”

The more I think about this, the more I am convinced that this limpet thing could be a legitimate racing series. Limpet Open License Classless RAcing Platform. LOLCRAP racing! Strap on. Go fast. Don’t Crash.

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