<> <> (I shoot everyone! Valentine's Day Massacre only in May!) <> (So is Zeke the assigned mail sorter?) (That depends on if you think people are mailing you anthrax.) ( /headbang ) * Hestia is using whatever passes for a security scanner in THE FUTURE! on the mail because she works in computer security and that's how people think in that line of work. <> (That's reasonable!) * Tomas waves to the adoring fans as he wades through, eventually boarding the ship. <> Anything rotten in this batch, T? * Amadeus manages to fight his way through the crowd and board the ship, a bit out of breath. Outside of being somewhat flustered and ruffled, it's the same old Amadeus. * Zeke does not wave, case hanging off his back arm as usual as he goes inside. "This is getting bothersome, Amadeus." * Kyle looks at his mail. "More fanmail? Guess they can't get enough of us." * Amadeus flops into a chair and tries to straighten his hair and his glasses. "What do you want *me* to do about it?" * Tomas eyes Kyle and decides not to wait for a response, grabbing a medium sized piece of fanmail and ripping it open. * Hestia sorts out the traps. "Basically everything. How stupid do people think we are, anyway?" (Roll me a d3, Tomas) * Zeke tilts the holohead as he looks back at him. "I don't know there is anything that can be done. Which is... also bothersome." d3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Tomas (d3) and gets a natural 3 for a result of 3. (Am I going to end up with my bill on the back of my head?) <> * Tomas's eyes go wide as he peeks in the box. He quickly closes it and looks around suspiciously before slowly withdrawing to the other side of the room away from the others. <> * Hestia carefully collects the underwear packages and then deposits them in front of Zeke, because she has a sense of humor after all. "Wear in good health." * Tomas stealthily pulls a cookie from the box and takes a nibble. * Lexi is lounging about and shrugs. "I'm used to fanmail... Most of it is just losers who are telling you how much they love you and want to marry you. It gets old." She yawns. <> * Amadeus hits the button for great speaker and visual phone! * Kyle goes ahead and starts checking out his. Yay presents! (Do I have one?) (Everybody has at least one.) * Zeke gets to open presents. You can see the glee on his face. Not really. <> "Hey, if it isn't my favorite celebrities." * Lexi groans. "You know, P... Everytime you call it's NEVER good news." That's not technically true. Well. Maybe, yes. It's not always bad news, to his credit. "Every time I call, you get paid. I'm not seeing the downside." * Hestia picks up her package and rattles it. "The ice planet was a pleasantly dull change of pace, so I'm in the 'not all bad news' camp." Maybe I should stick you on a rock with some bugs or some xenophobic genocidal birds and your vision will be better. <> * Kyle will open his! (It's clearly conspiring against me. I throw it in the air and shoot it.) * Lexi takes her package and shrugs before opening it. "I think I'd like to avoid that, Lexi, which is why I pay you so generously for agreeing to do it. Speaking of, they're going to make an announcement about the Duekti soon. At least, they will to the other chainjumpers, but you know it will leak, so they're prepping for an official reveal." <> * Lexi nods. "Yeah yeah..." ($$$) (I think I've made out the best so far.) * Kyle whistles. "Woah, this is pretty cool." * Lexi looks over the ring, furrows her brow and then looks for who sent it. "What did I tell you? Always wanting to marry you or something..." <> (Ah, timing.) * Hestia leans back and crosses her legs, glancing at Preston. "Well, that's good news. Hopefully it's not on the heels of someone meeting them and being accidentally vaporized." * Zeke opens his anyway, birdsect watching Preston for him. * Lexi rolls her eyes. "Man they could at least have some taste!... Ah well... Can't expect too much from random fans I suppose." <> (I can't use that!) "I agree with the sentiment, Tia. I've pushed for telling the other chainjumpers as hard as I could, but the pay grades above me dither like you can't believe. Anyways! Would you like to hear where you're scheduled to go today?" * Zeke looks at it curiously, then reads the letter. As he does he replies, "Yes, please, let us find out." <> * Hestia looks at Zeke, unsure if that was robo-sarcasm or not. (... they sent me something for Tia?) (Did they think I had some pull with her?) * Kyle glances at Lexi's ring. "Wow, seriously. That's fugly." (No, I put all packages containing underwear in front of you.) (Tia gave you all clothing packages, yes.) <> "Arcturus IX! Star is the third brightest in the night sky, did you know that?" * Zeke puts the letter back, putting it aside. YOU WILL NEVER KNOW IF IT IS SARCASM. Next package. He does not respond to Preston's trivia. ( :( ) <> (I guess some people like mystery.) Third brightest from where? "Either Earth or Mars." * Amadeus lets out a small sigh and picks up a package for him, which he proceeds to open while listening to all of this. * Hestia digs under her package for a moment to produce her datapad, complete with the updated sleythinwiki crossref'ed to GalReg. Holding it up so the back is facing the webcam, she starts looking for Arcturus Mengsk. Er, IX. * Zeke sorts all the boxes by intended person. "Is that the system we are going to?" "Yup. It should be fairly simple. Arcturus IX is what they call a "captured planet". It's small and its orbit is out of the normal plane of the solar system, like Pluto is for Sol, but it's a weirder orbit, almost like a comet. The planet plunges in towards the sun for 50 or so Earth years, then shoots back out of Arcturus' habitable range - which is awfully large considering it puts out 110% of Sol's light." (... only slightly larger than what we have here!) <> <> * Amadeus eyes the brick. * Amadeus eyes the request. * Amadeus uses the brick as a paperweight to hold down the request. In the trash. (So what are the non-underwear packages?) * Hestia hmmms, typing away. "Doesn't sound like the sort of place that would support life... wouldn't it have drastic climate changes every 50 years?" * Kyle pats the Prof on the back. "bummer dude." It's only going to continue to happen, I'm sure. "It does, but someone wants it scouted. Due to its orbit, it flies right through some of the highest solar wind activity areas for Arcturus, so it gets some pretty spectacular magnetic fluxes and lightning storms. No telling what you'll find.>> <> <> * Zeke puts them in their respective piles. "Tomas, were you previously involved in... music?" * Tomas stops midbite, "Not that I recall, why?" * Zeke looks up. "Your packages are abnormally abnormal." He looks over to Preston. "Is that everything?" * Hestia tap tap tappity tap, then shuts her pad off and looks to the TV. Yes, Preston, is that *everything*. "Everything I know. Orbital data says the weather there should be comfortable. Consider it a nice vacation from the insanity of the Duekti." * Tomas closes the box of cookies and tucks it under his arm before heading to Zeke to investigate! (hahaha. Ironic foreshadowing?) * Zeke has piled up boxes for Tomas! He gestures at them for him. It's very helpful. * Lexi shrugs. "Okay. So what exactly are we supposed to be looking for here, P?" "The eggheads seem to think that the magnetic flux may have created some sort of unique materials." * Amadeus comments as he starts sorting through the job orders. "Perhaps it's because Tomas is unusually metal." He looks up. * Tomas sorts through his shirts and nods appreciatively at Amadeus, "Yes. I am quite metal." "Any other questions?" * Zeke doesn't say anything else as he gathers up his underwear-shaped rewards. It's like a no. (You make the worst nos.) (The high cost of talent!) * Hestia is clearly giving Preston the raised eyebrow of If There's Nothing Else Go Away. So we're looking for cool metal. a'ight. "Alright. I look forward to hearing from you when you ... oh! Did you ever decide on a name for the last planet you visited?" * Tomas looks up from his packages, "Icenorkia." Sure. "... come again?' Icenorkia. If you register that, Preston... Please be advised that I will kill you, once I've killed Tomas. * Hestia does not appear to be kidding. So you have some time. * Tomas nods to Preston, "I do run fast." "Having done the background checks on you all, I'm quite positive you don't run fast enough, Tomas." ...we'll get back to you on the name. * Hestia is also giving Preston a Very Calculated Look at the moment. "Okay. Better hurry, though, we need to get that into Galreg." <> "I'll let you get to it, then. Talk to you later." <> What's WRONG with Icenorkia? * Tomas strokes his chin and hrms, "Too metal?" Tia doesn't like it. And she'll kill to win her argument. * Amadeus pauses, then adds, "And I won't stop her, not that I could." (ICENØRKIA) I don't like it because it's stupid. Are you people five? (No no. 1C3N0RK14) (ICENØRKIÅ) * Zeke says, "Perhaps the plant should be a larger component of the name. All of the boxes are sorted. Are we ready?" Well maybe you should name it then? * Hestia shrugs. "I'll think of something. The sleythin found life on Arcturus IX, by the way, but not in the 'space birds are going to shoot us out of orbit' way." She gingerly picks up the package she kept that was addressed to her and starts unwrapping it. <> (Not grape juice?) * Amadeus picks up the various university shirts, along with the job offers, and goes to store them in his quarters before heading for the map room. * Hestia holds the bottle out in front of her and tilts her head to look at it for a moment. <<2064 vintage. This is not a cheap wine.>> * Hestia sets it down on the table and looks to see if a note was attached. Usually bribes are payments for services rendered. * Lexi shrugs and starts to head over to the cockpit. "So when are we leaving?" <> * Zeke carries his stuff off! What a haul! "Any time. Soon." (As a note, Zeke totally will sell off any underwear people don't want.) * Hestia stares at the note. "Well that's suspicious. Anybody want to poison test a glass of expensive wine?" Honesty is a good policy. <> * Amadeus eyes Tia and the wine, as he catches that on the way to the map room, and says, "... Sure." And takes the bottle to the lab, if she lets him. * Hestia glances at Amadeus for a moment, then shrugs and follows him. If it's NOT lethal, it's a shame to waste it. (I am assuming you're taking your sample via syringe through the cork.) (Yup!) <> * Amadeus runs a few tests on the small sample he took. "It looks drug-free," he says, handing the bottle back to Tia with a smile. "Enjoy." <> * Zeke is on the way to Arcturus! You can tell he's excited because he's holding onto a handle in the map area as two of his drones sit in the cockpit. <> * Hestia produces two wineglasses, and proceeds to pour both herself and Amadeus some wine. * Lexi pilots the ship! Yes! * Kyle helps by looking at screens and outside! Outside is good and pretty and wicked! <> <> * Hestia finishes her wine, seals the bottle in the galley, stows it, and then heads to the map room to observe from the... observation windows. "Pretty... though I imagine landing through those storms is going to suck." * Kyle whistles. "Dude, that's awesome." * Tomas looks on the planet, "wow. Does it always follow the comet?" <> * Amadeus whistles. And starts scanning like crazy, as well as looking for a decent place to land. * Zeke comms, "It is an... interesting confluence of phenomina." * Amadeus also hasn't really touched his glass of wine, outside of a small polite sip after Tia poured some for him. <> (DRINK IT OR ELSE.) (*gun safety click*) (What! :() <> (I'll finish it! Just not right now! I'm scanning and stuff. >_<) * Amadeus comms: "I think I found a decent place to land. It should be clear of storms for the next few days... forwarding coordinates to Lexi." * Lexi takes the ship on a nice scenic trip around the planet. "Any places look good to land, guys?" <> (Amadeus' place looks good!) (Are we far or close to Arcturus right now?) * Amadeus also comms: "Definitely picking up some carbon-based life forms down there, too." <> (So we're at the far end of the parabola) * Hestia glances out at the planet. "I wonder what this place is like closer to the star." * Lexi moves into the location that Deus forwarded to her. (YOU SHALL BE AS GODS) (YOU SHALL BE AS GODS) (YOU SHALL BE AS GODS) (... >_>) (We landed! Give us mroe data!) (The orbit is a stretched ellipse. You are on the closer end of the arc.) (Not the closest to the sun that the planet WILL get, but a good deal closer than the farthest point.) (Statement still valid, also [eff!] your science) <> * Hestia just shakes her head. She wouldn't mind a look at this first-hand, so she's heading for the door, but she does mutter, "They shoulda sent a poet." (Breathable?) * Zeke heads out too, drones with him. He doesn't actually care about breathable. (Breathable.) * Tomas heads out as well. Maybe I could take up some poetry after this... <> (Outside!) (Going outside! Once I suit myself up.) (Outside, yo.) * Amadeus works on suiting up before he goes outside. (OUT) <> (Senor Goatee?!) * Amadeus blinks and has himself a looksee. (It's not the Black Orchid. You don't recognize the ship.) <> * Lexi blinks and furrows her brow. "The hell...?" She opens up hailing frequencies with the other ship. "Hello out there. This is Lexi Calhoun of the Fatebreaker. Who's out there that's as crazy as we are?" * Amadeus finishes suiting up, but he sticks around and comms the others: "Another ship's coming in; not identified as of yet." * Kyle tries to get a better view of the ship up on-screen. There's probably some way to ID it if it doesn't want to talk. (Transponder ID? Consider me linked up to the computer sensors since I haven't wandered far yet. :P) (Although I forgot, I bought up my range to 100km anyway e_ea) <> "This is Captain Leo Waterhouse of the Apiary. Looks like we've got the same assignment. We're not looking for a fight; do you mind if we come down and talk this out?" Hey, some people who want to talk? I'm fine with not shooting stuff out. * Lexi shrugs. "Nah. Let's talk. It'll be a nice change of pace." * Tomas holds his position just outside the ship's door. * Zeke starts taking ground samples. What is he gonna talk about anyway? "Okay. We'll be touching down soon." * Hestia puts her hand on her hip, and makes sure her radio is off. "Mika," she says thoughtfully. "From the party. The delivery girl." * Amadeus doesn't hear that, since he's not near Tia. But he is heading out of the ship! Because one may as well get samples while waiting. * Kyle gets suited up to take a look outside. <> * Kyle heads out to help the Prof gather samples! <> * Lexi steps out and walks over to meet Mika. "Greetings. I'm Lexi Calhoun. We talked earlier." * Amadeus heads over to watch (and perhaps participate in) negotiations. Well, after taking a sample of this plant life. And that one, too. And boxing a few insects. <> "Hey, I remember. Hard to forget you, really." * Hestia is watching in the background. Only the second time this has happened, so it's rare enough that she wants to drink it in. * Lexi smiles politely and takes her hand and then turns to Leo. "So you're the captain? Who are you working for?" If you don't mind me asking, that is. "We're independent, actually. Mole drives cost a fortune, but we stand to make a fortune. At least, we would if we had your luck with planets." <> "Yet another oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere with carbon life. I have to say, I'm jealous of wherever you get your information from." * Hestia deadpans completely, "Funny how life works." * Lexi shakes her head. "Don't be. We don't get to pick where we go. We have some interesting stories that uh... are classified but man if we could tell you... you might decide to stay home next time." She grins. (Lexi Calhoun, SUPER spy.) (YES!) (How does she take her martini?) (Yes) ("I'd better not tell you about the hostile bird alien civilization we found, because you'd plotz if I did." "...yes, good thing.") Anyway... Would you like to come inside our ship? We have a hell of a kitchen. I'm sure Tomas wouldn't mind fixing us some lunch and drinks while we talk. <> "Thanks. We have one more crew member, but he'll... prefer to be on his own. Thanks for the invitation." * Kyle glances over and goes to talk. Or at least listen. * Hestia lets her gaze stray to the Apiary for a second. She could take it in 5 rounds, no holds barred. She then looks back to the crew. "Yeah," she says at Mika's comment, looking Zekeward if he's in eyeshot before looking back. "I know how that goes." * Amadeus snerks. "There's one on every ship." Oh look, that's a different plant. Snip. * Zeke doesn't seem concerned. His birdsect does look back at Hestia, though, as he samples. SAMPLEY. (gonna kill that thing) (before the end of the game) (just... blam!) (Speaking of. Visual rolls.) (Oh jesus that's mind + modifiers?) (Does heightened awareness apply?) 2d6+5 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Tomas (2d6+5) and gets a natural 3 for a result of 8. 2d6+14 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Amadeus (2d6+14) and gets a natural 5 for a result of 19. * Tomas bows slightly before boarding the ship again, "I'll see what I can throw together." (Plus etc. visions.) * Lexi motions for the others to follow her and heads inside the ship again. 2d6+7 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lexi (2d6+7) and gets a natural 6 for a result of 13. 2d6+8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Hestia (2d6+8) and gets a natural 8 for a result of 16. (Yes, it applies.) 2d6+7 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Zeke (2d6+7) and gets a natural 8 for a result of 15. 2d6+10 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kyle (2d6+10) and gets a natural 9 for a result of 19. << Carry on o/`>> (AFK for just a sec, need to switch to appropriate pants) <> * Hestia waves a hand at a bulkhead door as they head up. "Behind here is where we keep the anti-espionage slavering gorebeasts we found on Proxima Regulus IV." Deadpan. < (THEY EAT GIRLS, MONICA! HA HA HA! THEY EAT GIRLS!) * Lexi nods to Tia's comment. "Yeah. That was one hell of a trip. Can't discuss it though, of course." (What is Tomas cooking?) * Lexi heads towards the kitchen/bar area. "I can make us some drinks if you'd like? What do you drink?" (I hope it's from a book named "To Serve Man" to make this experience complete for them) <> "How about some of that wine?" (Tomas is browsing for inspiration.) * Amadeus makes a mental note to not mention that they tested said wine for poison. "I'm going to take more samples," he says instead, waving them on. After all, that's one of the fun parts! (Okay, this is important before I react: is said wine VISIBLE?) (No.) (That's the difference between "Not my super expensive vintage" and "GUN DRAWN") * Lexi rolls her eyes. "Wine...psh..." She hovers over a bottle of gin and some vermuthe and a shaker and some ice and begins mixing herself a martini behind her while she talks. "So do you often run into other chainjumpers?" * Hestia spins toward Mika so fast it can only be called 'whirling'. <> * Hestia doesn't even have to SAY anything. She just has to LOOK. (My Intimidate is so high my Perception checks have the 'Rattling' key word.) (Ha. XD) (Ba-dum ching!) <> "It ... was kind of a pre-apology gift. For following you guys." (How easy is it to actually copy an interstice?) (Not very easy at all.) * Hestia crosses her arms over her chest in the universal gesture for either "go on" or "troops are on their way." * Amadeus isn't there! He's taking samples instead! Ha HA! * Kyle raises an eyebrow at the statement. * Lexi finishes mixing the martini as she hovers over 3 glasses and starts to pour. "How come you didn't show up on any of our sensors?" <> "You really don't know how hard it is for us out there. We can find planets, sure, but 98% of them are airless rock, and mineral samples aren't going for much when teams like you keep raking in carboxy specimens... metallic creatures... artifacts! We had to know how you're doing it." Oh that's easy... we find chainjumpers with actual skill and follow them. Damnit! I just confused us with you, didn't I? <> (Now we're not gonna get waffles. :( ) * Lexi then floats a martini over to Leo and one to Mika as well. "Aw come on and perk up. Have a martini." I promise it's not poisonous. (Have a martini. You like Martinis?) (Then Lexi starts force-choking Leo.) (Bah she wouldn't do that. She'd just toss him in one of our holding cells) <> "We've got skill, you know. We didn't show up on your sensors because we stayed out of range and tracked you through the residue of your interstices. That's not exactly easy." I'll say. That's some tricky business. * Hestia starts for the wine. Suddenly, she really wants to drink all of it in front of them. "I can tell you're being honest because it was not the smartest move to TELL us that. * Lexi nods. "Yes yes... very good. Now drink up. I refuse to let perfectly good gin go to waste, and these guys won't let me fly on three martinis." (BECAUSE YOU WILL CRASH US INTO THE SUN AGAIN) (Yeah, there is some precedent.) (HEY! IT ONLY HAPPENED THE ONE TIME! AND I WAS SOBER!... mostly) (Okay not at all... but the point is... gin) For good reason. <> "Hey, this is pretty good." "I can see why after three of these they don't want you navigating interstices." * Lexi shrugs. "And there was an incident with us almost hitting the sun. You wouldn't think something so big would be so easy to sneak in front of you." When it's got that big of a gravity field, it's hard NOT to run into it. At least when you're as close as we were. Plus it looked like an anvil... <> <> "So where DO you get your information?" * Zeke comms, unhelpfully, "Initial geological survey complete. What is the status of discussions inside?" * Kyle rolls his eyes and gets on the com, walking off to have at least a look of privacy, much like a cell phone. "We're still talking. Keep it down, okay?" * Hestia leans on a counter and idly presses a finger into the comm button. "Discussion status is as Code Weird." Then she takes her finger off and twirls it in the air. * Tomas returns from the galley carrying a large unwieldy bowl of cheese and meaty chili dip and sets it heavily on the table in front of everyone, "It's my grandma's recipe! Enjoy!" ("... did she die of a heart attack?") Sorry, now we're upgrading to Code Ultra Weird. (Not *a* heart attack.) * Amadeus TSMcomms to Zeke, "Mind helping me with some samples? I found a few mammals over here." * Zeke comms back to Ama, "Certainly," and gets on the move. Althogh three of his drones go back in the ship to investigate the Code Weird. * Amadeus doesn't have drones, so he sends nothing. NOTHING. <> * Tomas turns to the guests, "so what have you guys been up to since the Clarity Day shindig?" I'll second that. (Cham: Are we actually allowed to tell people who we work for?) (I don't think we even know who we work for.) (Point. But insofar as we know) (We work for ULTRAMAN.) (Never let Kyle talk.) (Preston has never explictly said you couldn't.) (The sad part is that ICly I'm sort of WANTING to say 'we don't actually know and are slightly suspicious') <> "Uh, mostly we've been heading to balls of rock, taking samples, coming back and naming the place after our cousins." Important thing, a good naming scheme. * Hestia shoots Tomas a Look at that point. * Tomas realizes that he forgot the chips! and heads back to the galley, "ahh, good to hear you're keeping yourselves busy." * Lexi shrugs. "We actually don't know who hires us. But we work through sort of a contractor... It's all very corporate and confusing. Essentially we are given a mission. We do it. We get paid, we sit around and enjoy fame for a while and he hands us another mission. Sometimes they're easy, and sometimes we get attack by hordes of bugs... You know... shit happens." ".... you really don't even know who you work for?" * Zeke's drones join the dinner... on the ceiling. So stylin. He himself gets to Amadeus and looks at the mammals. "Very small." * Lexi shrugs. "Nope!" Not the slightest. But they pay well. (haha, the bugs thing wasn't public was it?) * Hestia just lays her head down on the counter at this point. Plus it's kind of fun. (Totally not.) * Amadeus approaches one carefully. It seems calm enough, maybe a little droopy. "It makes them easier to transport, at least." <> "So you've got no idea who's picking your planets?" I bet it's a dart board. Sorry, hun. No clue. I'm pretty sure it's multiple people, though. (I'm pretty sure Lexi's going to make that a general expression so it won't matter.) (Sometimes you luck out, and sometimes you get attacked by hordes of bugs) (Zeke likes this phrase.) * Tomas returns with a bowl of fresh flour tortilla chips, "There we go." "Wow, then we made ourselves look really bad for, like, no gain." * Hestia sighs and looks up. "Look, if it makes you feel better, we're not completely brainless. It's obvious whoever's handing this stuff down has some good source of info, but it's not like we can do a lot about it from here." * Tomas finally catches a bit of conversation and quirks the eyebrow. * Zeke nods at the 'easy to transport' thing and helps Ama gather them up or beat them over the head like field mice or whatever. <> "We were hoping you had some kind of sensor yourselves. A couple of the other crews seem to be having something close to your kind of luck." ...really. (Zeke smushes many species.) Dude, chips'n'dip! * Kyle will take advantage of the chips'n'dip. * Amadeus makes sure Zeke doesn't kill them. Yeesh. <> "Yes. The Cosmic Supernova's been having the same kind of run you have, albeit not with a dead alien species. Then there's the Black Orchid, which is much the same." * Hestia doesn't say anything, wavering between 'those jerks' and 'what would a NON-cosmic supernova be?' * Zeke doesn't get to kill anything. Shameful. (... wow, it's 11:10) (Yup! Yawn.) (We've been wording!) (Let's wrap up) (we can continue next week) (with the wording) * Lexi chuckles. "Ah yes... We we've run into the Black Orchid... They... weren't as friendly as you are." Foruntately... I was -very- friendly and their crew was -very- easily distracted. (I was just about to joke that in parentheses.) (I'm actually find with a crossfade, I've got kind of a massive headache brewing) <>S