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IE Journal 22

Page history last edited by Michael 11 years, 8 months ago

back to the Index, or Journal entry 21

 

137 Apex 599

 

... or 6 September 12606 AD; or 21 April 2012 AD (back in the Contemporary Juncture). Burns, McClellan and O'Reilly are camping alongside the Lena River, in the Sukhu Rokikrad; Black and Macdougall are in the City of Heaven.

 

The Terrans camping in Siberia, being bitten by mosquitoes and living in a cave, decide to return to the City of Heaven to confer and clean up a bit. After a half-day of laundry, bathing, good dining, etc. the Terrans decide that, since Queen Ming (Monarch of the Darkness Pagoda) flew off to the west three days ago, they should go look for her in Europe. After a bit of fiddling around, they arrange transport to Rome aboard a chartered air bus.

 

All characters should take their experience checks at this point. Burns, McClellan and O'Reilly should each have checks in Climbing; Black gets a check in Computer Use; Macdougall gets checks in Psychology, Etiquette, and History.

 

138 Apex 599

 

The Terrans, along with the Chan nieces (Helen, Harriet, Harmony, Hildegarde and Hortense) arrive at Rome. Fleet Admiral Burns, Marine Colonel MacClellan, and Lance-Major Macdougall are back; but now they've got Death Lord Black with them! The party is put up in an Abode, with a staff and luxury grav sled at their disposal; they are invited to the Tyrant's Court that evening.

 

The Court hasn't changed much. The Tyrant's ravilar promises to find (or rather, have his apprentice find) where Queen Ming went to. Prefect Smegnall, head of the University of Rome, is interested in Death Lord Black, and his cult of Arioch; the Terrans are invited to a dinner at the University the next evening.

 

Università di Roma

 An academy almost entirely dedicated to educating the children of Roman nobility. Their library is respected, but otherwise they are ignored and indeed scorned (when discussed at all) elsewhere on Terra. Instructors and academic staff number about twenty; students number nearly 100, ages 10 to 18. Tellingly their motto is:  "Il futuro è passato qui":  "The future has passed here."

 

139 Apex 599

 

During the day, Lance-Major Macdougall builds his reputation as a fierce duellist and a proud member of the First Legion. Most notable is his duel with a brigadier of the Loyal Roman Hussars. In the evening, Macdougall, Black, and MacClellan attend the feast at the University; the professors and guests are a ghoulish, corrupt and repulsive bunch. "Ah, roast nebry, my favorite." Macdougall fakes the death of a servant to cement his apparent devotion to Arioch in the eyes of the academics. At the end of the evening, the Terrans decide not to leave the Gift of Polymer Nitrogen.

 

140 Apex 599

 

The Terrans learn from the ravilar that Queen Ming arrived in New York City on 134 Apex, and arranged to charter (it's unclear how or with what) a yacht.

 

  • Yacht "Dark Legacy":  4 crew, 4 to 8 passengers, some cargo. 12 points of armor. Fitted with a Model 1 bis computer, carries a Landing Boat; armed with a laser turret. Engines produce 3G propulsion, FTL speed is 18 light-years per week. Cost 1,250,000 Σ; cost to rent, about 5,000 Σ per month  if nothing dangerous is contemplated.

 

Queen Ming is headed to Mars ... her ship  departed on 135 Apex, and would have reached Mars a day or so later. The Imperial Navy, and local customs forces, are now being quite thorough about checking any departing or incoming ships or persons for Vaylen infestation, by the way.

 

Mars

First of humanity's colonies

system

eight planets, of which one (Terra) is in the life zone, and one (Mars) is on the outer edge of the zone. An asteroid belt, four gas giants, and vast quantities of debris, satellites, minefields, and other hazards exist. The sun is a G2V, slightly yellowish in color.

enviro

0.37G surface gravity, very thin breathable atmosphere, 40% covered by oceans, small polar ice caps.

port

multiple orbital stations and spaceports; many orbital tethers, and remnants of other systems (many unique or undocumented). Only minor repairs can be performed. Boron is available, but imported from quite far away and therefore expensive. Both moons (Phobos and Deimos) are covered by extensive ruins, with a few dozen inhabitants.

 

All of the other planets and moons in the system have remnants of former bases, colonies, industrial centers, etc.; few if any people inhabit these other worlds.

forces

the Darikahn Empire maintains system defense forces (several Hammer vessels of frigate size or less, and two squadrons of Hammer fighters) in the system, and a planetary aerospace defense (PAD) network on Terra. As of 120 Apex 599, enforcement of mandatory scans of inbound and outbound vessels for Vaylen, and searches for contraband, have stepped up.

 

Mars itself has a local Anvil battalion, and a couple of Hammer gunboats. There is an indifferently-maintained PAD network on the planet and in orbit.

society

 Index 1 balkanized world - population about 300,000 but no settlements of more than 10,000 persons. There is little to no trade or commerce except for salvage and antiquities. Fed is fairly well-known though not the first language of every settlement. There are scheduled commercial ships from New York City on Earth. The inhabitants are considered quite ruffianly and dangerous by the Darikahn Empire.

 

A comment by Hadrian Black:

 

     I've seen some bad stuff in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the last year or so (how long has it been?) has been weird and some of it disgusting [reference to Baron Chan omitted out of courtesy to the girls], but that takes the cake. No more "Deathlord Black" for me, I think. I don't know -- I suppose that there could be some tiny chance that the image would be useful so I won't burn the Elvis suit just yet (Macdougall -- where on Earth did you get that crap?!?  Or was it on some other planet?), but Brrr. Ycch.  

     I need to bead-blast my hide in a Kerrn bathtub after that dinner with those freaks. I would love to have given them all a good scouring with coil rifle, but I didn't have one and anyway they seemed too namby-pamby for summary execution (and as far as I could tell they were probably acting within what passes for the law around here).  I'll bet that they ARE doing things that are deserving of some kind of vigilante action -- handing off that serving girl for murder wasn't too nice.  

     I should have pressed them harder on their activities, but it occurred to me that might involve plugging in to their network for dream sequences and I wouldn't care to give them that much power over my brain. I'm no good at quick insults -- I should have asked you to provoke them more, Alistair. Or just thrown aside the veil and told them to their faces what a heap of rotten offal they all are, threatened them with firearms and hoped one of them made a move that would have allowed us to take them all off the board.  

     Which we might still be able to do if we act fast -- they're probably staying in town tonight. But that's off our mission, unless one if them is in fact hooked up somehow with the Queen of Night or whatever her name is [Ming - ed.].  There was that one guy from Russia with no soul who must either be a robot or a demon (I've forgotten -- do demons have souls? I guess they do, so he's a robot or something we don't know about yet. We should probably find out -- we've run into several of them now, and they bother me). If he IS  a demon, then he might be connected with the Queen of Night somehow. And if he's a robot, then it's probably just as well that we didn't start anything with pistols and grenades -- he's probably got armor and weapons out the ass.  

     Anyway, as I see things it looks like our best bet is to find the Queen, though we don't have our own space-ship. Could rent one I suppose. Or we could go after the soulless guy from Russia and see if he knows anything -- he might give us info that would justify killing the chancellor and his buddies which would be an added bonus.  

     Just a few thoughts. 

Hadrian

 

More from Hadrian:

 

     Since the guy from Russia has no soul I'm going to assume that he's a robot.  Which means that he is probably broadcasting everything back to whoever bought him, and we probably can't get anything out of him. The Queen might be interested in the sorts of things that the chancellor is interested in, so this could be her emissary. If so, we probably can't get any useful information from interrogating him, but we might be able to get useful information if we can disable and disassemble him, and maybe more if we can get hold of his personal effects. Long shot; he's probably not from the Queen, and even if he is, he probably won't have anything that will be useful in taking her out. But if we don't have the resources to kill her in space, it might be worth the gamble.

     Plus, it might give us an excuse to take out the chancellor! Oooh - I got an itch I need an excuse to scratch! Oh, and it might give us more information about these soulless critters.  

Hadrian

 

... and a response from MacDougall:

 

     "No need to thank me, Hadrian. Its just sort of what I do. Snake Clan and all? Hello, would you like an apple?"

     MacDougall is all for either BSUing Queen Ming's pagoda after sneaking through the caves in Siberia ... or, once the gang has their ship(s) back, chasing her down out by Mars. It would be very interesting to see what she is looking for, before pumping her full of high velocity objects.

     If Hadrian is really hot about the chancellor, we can pay the Assassins Guild another 1100 Standards, or just sneak into his home one night and pop him. Parasail onto his roof in heat suits ... Doctor of Death snipes the sentries ... heck, what could possibly go wrong?

 

Jason McClellan says:

 

     Yah, Hadrian - that was one nasty-assed dinner party. Makes the Taliban seem like nice boys ... Still, what we know about what that nest of Pervs have actually done (as opposed to dreamed about and talked about) didn't quite rise to requiring us to get seriously kinetic on their sorry butts. And remember, folks that are that plugged into the elite the way these guys are, you can't just piss 'em off. Like that dude Machiavelli said - you gotta either kiss 'em or kill 'em. And if we'd administered a little DNA-Police justice on 'em, the Blowback might have fu*&ed our primary Strategic Goal: shutting down the Worm Menace. So, nasty as it was, we found out that there is no obvious evidence to say they are hooked into the Worms, but we do know the Russian dude has no soul.

     And yah, Demons got Soul. Strong ones, usually. So far, Baron Chan had very little soul (but some), General Marx and his dog-robber have no soul. And now the Russian Scholar. Not sure what it all means, except maybe the tiny soul Baron is mostly Bionic, and the others are either AI's, or humans downloaded into robot bodies, or just brains in a robot body - too little biology, maybe? Too little information to make a call.

     I'm pretty sure The Nice Queen and Captain Thunder were not so certain if they could shut down the Darkness Pagoda with Her Darkness outta town, but they were sure they couldn't do it without being inside it themselves. Plus, Her Darkness may just have a mole in one or both Courts. You're right, MackieD - knowing why she's going to Mars would make it easier to decide if she'd be easier to cap in Space, or on her doorstep, or if it'd be possible to sidestep that whole thing and pull the plug on her Pagoda before she can get home.

 

"MackieD"? Heh. On General Marx:

 

You met General Marx and a couple of his aides (including Lt. Patel, also soulless) in Rome during Episode 13. Marx is a vassal of a Darikahn Forged Lord, Baron Thadd of Belem; that world is located about 50 light-years "east" of Terra Insula. Marx invited to join with the Belem Hammer fleet on a mission deep into Vaylen space; or even just to stop by and meet the Baron; you politely declined.

 

Fleet Admiral Burns has the following stirring orders:

 

ArrrH, mateys!
Lets get into space and start shooting!
We should be able to borrow a frigate from the Darikahn Empire.
“Mars, Bitches!”

How can we not?

 

Perhaps not quite on the cool, calm level of "You may fire when ready, Gridley," but I suppose it gets the point across. O'Reilly comments:

 

      So my sense is we're in a sound position to deal with the queen. Obviously our biggest gap is knowing her intended destination, but it seems unlikely she plans to leave system. She is much less familiar with this time than her siblings her gate apparently opening later, and for similar reasons likely has fewer resources despite her Siberian worshippers.

     She has no official position with the Darikahn empire, her powers off planet should be minimal, and her familiarity and adaptability to challenges in space are likely not going to be very well apt.

     I completely agree that our best plan is to prevent her from returning to the planet. Off planet and far from her portal she should be at her most vulnerable. Seeking the aid of the Darukan is a fine idea after the Lord of the Fire Pagoda.

     At the same time, any information we can gather about who she talked to in NY, if a manifest or flight path was filed, which firm she hired the ship from and where she hired them to take her (as she'd need a corvus wearer to pilot the ship) and such would be valuable information in case somehow she's found a new piece to add to the board.

 

As a note, the yacht is pretty slow, and only has a range of 8 to 10 light-years. Hadrian Black finished with:

 

     sigh ...

     Yes, cooler heads must prevail. Points well taken from all. A bit of New York recon does seem like a good idea, but given the Dark Queen's presumed lack of familiarity with the local times, and that she would be well aware of her increased vulnerability in space and far from her portal(s), I would guess that time is of essence if we want to catch her off-planet. It seems likely that whatever errand she is on will be a quick one, though it's hard for me to imagine why she would go to Mars in the first place (could there be another portal there?), so it could well be that there is a reason for a long errand. But well-considered haste seems the most prudent course of action.  

     Did we actually GIVE the assassin's guild 500 standards, or just pledge it? If the latter, would it be improper to retract the pledge? And if it is a pledge and we can't retract it, would it be a good idea to go ahead and give them the money so that they won't come hunting us down when others fill in the missing 1,100(?) standards and they carry out the job? I imagine that there's a good chance we'll be beyond their reach when that happens (if it happens right away we should be on hand to honor our commitment). No sense in having more enemies than necessary, especially relatively powerful, skilled and sneaky ones. As Brother Morrison says, "The future is uncertain and the end is always near"!  

Hadrian

 

You didn't give the Assassin's Guild any money, just discussed the outstanding covenants for various persons to be "invited onwards."

 

Onward to Journal entry 23 

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