Dakota "Kodi" Smith Kodi is fascinated with space travel, other cultures, and stories her mama told her about the war. She sees fighting as an unfortunate burden she is taking on to spare others. More of a cat person. Drives
Investigate Everything, Pursue Truth Relentlessly, Be Merciful, Avoid Social Awkwardness Relationships
Friend -
Crush -
Rival - Selena Green
Montana "Monty" Smith Monty has always wanted to be an explorer, to tell his mom stories about far-away places. Though not inclined to violence, he never backs down. Loves dogs. Drives
Make New Friends, Be Forward and Direct, Try New Things, Be A Show Off Relationships
Friend -
Crush -
Rival -
Traits
Void-Born: You never take complications from 0g or space suits, but take -2d6 to feats of strength and double complications from high gravity.
Shifting Gears: You can spend 1 Determination to switch profiles. Costs +1 Determination each time per episode.
Well-Connected: You can spend 1 Determination to create an old friend, comrade, instructor, etc on any appropriate ship, facility, station, etc you might visit. They are always willing to help if you help in turn. Certifications
Wild Animal 5+, Physical Instrument 5+, Social Being 5+, Cosmonaut 4+
English 3+, Russian 5+, OSL 4+ Artillery Officer 4+, Drone Pilot 3+, Missile Plotter 4+, Space Marshal 4+ Diplomat +4, Leader +4, Bureaucrat +4, Social Scientist +4 Modern Small Arms 4+, Damage Control 4+
Hobbies: Animal Handling,
Star Patrol VesselYeager-1
Statline will be linked above when ready.
Features
Corvette Dock, Transmaterializer
Weapons
x1 Sandblaster, x2 250MW Laser, x2 Probe Bay
As the paratroopers got settled in, I made my way around the station to the control room to meet with the mission director one last time before we shoved off; we had to plan the route, after all. I arrived outside the doors to find them closed and a meeting in progress. Judging by the KDV goon posted outside, it was presumably something to do with the Star Force rocket outside. At first I thought he was just rigidly at attention, but then I realized he was staring, and I followed his eyeline curiously.
Leaning against the wall across from the door was a person in a yellow Star Patrol uniform, poking idly at a tablet. They weren't human, probably, but I wasn't sure what they were; their skin was a soft blue-green colour, with red starting to crawl up their neck, and as I could closer I could see their eyes were largely dark. They had a sweep of shaggy amber hair
It was only when I stepped up next to them and their eyes flicked to me, their skin shifting more toward a grey-green, did I realize they were Nariene. They stowed their tablet and reached out a hand, smiling warmly.
"Vehicle Commander Smith, right? One of them," they guessed. I took their hand and shook; their skin felt strangely smooth, like glass. "Avuk Tee, I'm VC of your support vessel."
"Oh hell, excellent! Monty Smith, one half of the system," I exclaimed, a little embarrassed I hadn't seen the name and put it together. "I was hoping we'd get to meet you before the briefing, we just-"
"Yeah, I know how it is. I blend in," they replied, and it took me a second to realize that the subtle colour change sweeping over their face was making them the same grey as the wall behind. I burst into an undignified guffaw, which I blame primarily on you and your weakness for dumb dork humour. Like I'm one to talk, I know. "It's good to meet you. I wasn't expecting to get to see you until our first resupply, to be honest, so good thing you got waylaid."
"I suppose, yeah!" I exclaimed. "Any idea what's going on in there?"
"I'm pretty sure it's our MC getting an earful from the Captain and some of the local military types about us poking around in their piracy sweep," Avuk said with a frown. "And I think their paratrooper isn't a big fan of me."
"Want me to have a word with him?" I asked. "It'd be good practice, I might need to learn how to chew out military types."
"Nah man, come on. Let's not make a scene. Besides, I get it. Most of what people hear about the Nariene in the IUR is, you know, the horrid fascist dictatorship turning people into fertiliser. Not a great reputation, you know?"
"Fuck. I mean, it's still xenophobia…" I said lamely.
"Well, yeah, but I'm doing better here than any of you folks would do over there. Xenophobic desantniks or no."
I stole another glance across the hall. The paratrooper was very distinctly not looking at us right now.
"Still ain't right," I concluded.
"Speaking of prejudice against origins, where you from, Smith? Armstrong City?" they asked, craning their head to get a look at our patches. I turned a bit and held out a sleeve. "Oh, L5?"
"L5. Though American too, I guess, just only room for two patches and we went with the ampersand," I explained.
"I've never been, but I've heard it's lovely up there," they said. I glanced at their patches in turn, having been thoroughly distracted, and was surprised to see a Japanese flag of all things. "Oh, yeah, my family ended up there after we defected. My dad works for the big FTL design bureau in Yokohama. Beautiful place, lovely city."
"Wait, shit," I said, something in my brain clicking. "Was your dad the Nariene defector who built our cloaking device?"
"Yep, that's the guy. God, he was so pissed I didn't end up on a stealth rocket," Avuk exclaimed, putting on a deep voice. "I put so much work into this, it'd keep you safe, and you're on a supply ship, no child of mine- etc etc, except imagine him swinging wildly between English, Japanese, and Northwest Nariene as he got angrier"
"Oh my God," I exclaimed, unsure how exactly to respond to that and trying not to laugh too hard and make it weird.
"He's mellowed out now, honestly, I get to tell him about all kinds of ships I saw on resupply missions. He's going to love Yeager-1, he's always going on about how undergunned we are."
"How'd you end up running supply?"
"Volunteered, it's my dream job honestly," they said. "Yeah, I know that seems weird, but look. I grew up in a military dictatorship where the only way to fly was on combat ships. I signed up for Star Patrol the moment they'd take me because it meant I could be a cosmonaut without blowing anyone up."
"Shit," I replied, not really sure what to say and feeling vaguely guilty. "Yeah, I get it."
"Don't get me wrong, though, if my cousins show up I really appreciate having a vehicle like Yeager-1 around. Not much danger of that here, though, it's all Aquillian pirates and Zinovian fanatics… what a galaxy."
There was a beep from across the hall, and the door to the briefing room opened. Captain Nkomo stalked out, followed by a trio of Aquillian officers in bright red uniforms, and the desantnik followed.
"I think that's us," Avuk said brightly.
---
"VC Smith, VC Tee, this is Calesius Abyss," Mission Controller Ra Hyun said, clicking the next slide in place. A holographic image of the stars flared into being above the table, dancing in the air. "Statistically, one of the most dangerous regions of space Star Patrol has ever entered. We're hoping to figure out why."
I stared in rapt attention at the dancing stars. Each one had been surveyed by tachyon telescope, but there was only so much those could do; the resolution degraded so quickly. Telescopes provided more information, but they were years out of date, and in any case the resolution wasn't that good. We could count the stars, knew if there were planets, but any more detail… somebody would have to go.
Vehicles had gone. They'd presumably learned. And then they'd stopped transmitting, whatever data they'd collected lost.
"Your job is not to explore every star in the Abyss. The problem is not big enough for that," Hyun continued. "What we need is a safe path as deep into the Abyss as you can. We can use that path to get more infrastructure deeper in, perhaps even a temporary beacon network, so that a more methodical exploration program can be assembled."
"Understood," I said. "What about the lost rockets?"
"If you can," Hyun responded heavily. "They'd have data which will help us piece together what's happened there, and the crew's families deserve closure. But it's not worth risking your own vessel or the mission."
"Of course," I replied numbly.
"Good. We have two obvious candidates for first stop, have you any thoughts?"
---
[ ] The binary system 4 LY away, with its signs of tachyon communication, is the obvious candidate.
[ ] The single star system 5 LY away, with its extensive detected exoplanets, is likely more interesting.
Some of the updates for the new system are in; character personality has been updated to drives, as have your core certs. More updates they are finalized.
[X] The single star system 5 LY away, with its extensive detected exoplanets, is likely more interesting.
I want to angle out flight path so we hit the sites of Nightingale-14, Collins-3, and Gagarin-7. It's a fairly straight shot and we get to cover 3/4 wrecks. I get that we don't have to, but I figure, this is the unofficial mission. That's why we're in a arsenal ship - to go and figure out what killed our colleagues and maybe pay it back if necessary.
[X] The binary system 4 LY away, with its signs of tachyon communication, is the obvious candidate.
The binary system seems a lot less busy compared to the one with exoplanets so it's less likely we'd get bogged down there. I'd rather not compromise the confirmed safe route home by starting it closer to the larger Zinovian military threat as well.
After we get to the binary system i believe we can get back to a direct route towards the last known position of Nightingale-14 with what looks like a pair of 6-8 LY jumps.
Also, is that dark spiky ball a black hole system?
Its a long way past, at the beginning of the thread, but I really want to commend you on the portrayal of the enemy marines that boarded us.
Their whole "We die on our feet, boot clamped to the floor" is exactly the sort of badass macho desperation you see a lot of in real militaries
I indicated to one of the stars, one circled with many small rings indicating over a dozen detected exoplanets, over the binary stars radiating orderly transmissions.
"I figure that's our best bet. If we want a safe path, avoiding signals is probably a good first step," I explained. "Besides, that takes us on a good route toward the last known location of Nightengale-14."
And, if we snaked through, we could investigate the other missing rockets too. I know what he said, but as far as I was concerned this was a big part of our mission. I'd want others to do the same for us.
"I agree, but-" Hyun said, then sighed. "Here's the bad news, and why I was just dealing with our Star Force counterparts. You may have heard about our piracy problem?"
"Vaguely. Aquillians, I hear?" I ventured.
"Probably funded by the Empire," Avuk added, shaking their head. "Being paid and encouraged to be very specific with their piracy. Hell, I bet all their officers are Starfleet."
"Star Force suspects the same. In any case, your starting point is going to take you through pirate territory to our last-charted system; it's just a trio of white dwarves surrounded by dust and asteroids. The locals mine it extensively and there's local defences, but their robot trains have been hit non-stop over the last few years, nevermind any passenger haulers for the work crews. Anything more valuable than ores has to go under escort."
"So we gotta go through there?" Avuk said, their mouth agape, the colour draining from their face. "Yeah, I'm glad Yeager-1 is so well armed."
"Star Force is not happy you're going, and says they can't spare the rockets to escort us while they sweep for the pirate base. They're pretty sure it's out in the void somewhere, dark, and the pirates only move under cloak. If somebody jumps you, they'll pour on the gas to get to you, but-"
"Yeah, might take them a while," I summarised. "Not even in the Abyss yet and somebody wants to blow us up. On the other hand, we're pretty well armed, maybe that'll be enough to deter them. If they're cloaked, they're probably just destroyers."
"Well, Yeager-A has an asteroid-breaking cannon and a single laser, so, uh, that's all on you, Monty."
"Ten days to the white dwarves, then five days to our first star," you calculated. "If they hit us, it'll probably be around here, that's the sensor dead zone. We'll want to get through there quick. Narrowest gap in sensor coverage, here, which also means help is close by."
"Except that's where everyone's been getting hit," Avuk pointed out. "Because it's the obvious place, it's where the robot trains go… What if we cut through one of the larger gaps? Take a little longer, but we're less likely to find trouble?"
"Hadn't thought of that," Hyun admitted. "Monty, Dakota?"
I wasn't sure. This was your wheelhouse more than mine.
---
[ ] Go the narrow route. (More enemies but lower odds of interception by any one of them)
[ ] Go the long way. (Less enemies but higher odds of interception by any one of them)
We'll be rolling a bunch of d6s, and each one is potentially a ship you run into.
