Tallaan Orbital Shipyards - Nova Orion Hub | Wednesday's Child Chapter 2 in Star Wars: Shards Discussion Boards | World Anvil
Star Wars: Shards Discussion Boards Wednesday's Child Chapter 2
  Kummer wolfe
Sun, Apr 30th 2023 02:37   Edited on Sun, May 5th 2024 11:17

Tallaan Orbital Shipyards - Nova Orion Hub

Starship Drydock
Starship Drydock Synthography by CB Ash
 
The trip from the Mol Kydri spaceport to the orbital shipyards was a routine, if not boring, flight. In a few minutes, traffic control hailed the Bitter Luck and directed her docking bay 721. A landing platform only a short walk from the Nova Orion section of the orbital shipyards.
 
Nova Orion's staff of all shapes and species hurried along from the main office down the long corridor to docking collars leading to work areas. Outside the view ports, a dozen ships from Corellian Support Frigates to bulk haulers sit suspended in drydock, covered in swarms of spider-like repair droids.
 
A short, square-build human leaves the Nova Orion offices as Nyx and Kipo approach from down the corridor. The bald man was the kind of square-jawed, brick framed figure with the look of a retired prizefighter. He studies the bounty hunters as they approach, sizing them up with a stern glance from under bushy eyebrows. The occasional old white scars on his otherwise olive tan skin only added to the hard countenance.
 
“So.” He spoke the word like a greeting and a judgment rolled into one. “You two must be the hunters that took the contract. In any case, you match the holos the broker sent over. Nyx and Kipo, right? Well, bright suns, I’m Mil Filgron, project lead here.”
 
He pulls out his datapad and taps a few keys then clenched his jaw as if in memory of chewing a cigar.
 
“Just sent you the details on the Wednesday’s Child. She’s… right now… at docking bay 1313. Not done any of those odd jumps again in a day or two, but my workers won’t go inside. Whispers, voices crying in pain over the ship’s comlinks even though the frakkin things are all turned off, droids suddenly drained of power and freezing over with ice in a hot engine room… it’s all that’s too much. I’m behind schedule and need to get her refitted like yesterday.”
 
The man shrugs.
 
“I don’t believe in space ghosts or anything of the like. What I do believe is someone is in there causing me problems to my schedule. I don’t like problems to my schedule. It makes me cranky. So, I’d appreciate it if you get in there and flush out the laserbrain who is making me cranky. Any questions?”
 
  Storyteller Instructions  
Nyx? Kipo? What do you do?
 
 
  Kipo Raysser
Thu, May 11th 2023 08:39
"Mr. Filgron," Kipo figured he should dispense with introductions, so he got right down to business talk while adjusting the strap of the guitar case on his back and straightening up his back to increase his height just a bit, "you are correct. And we," he nodded at Nyx, "don't believe it will be ghosts that come running out the porch door of the Wen’esdai's Child after we go in there," then he leaned in to whisper, "Smart money says what'll run out of there with their tails between their legs will be a pile of Squibs. A little bird said Silar Mins wants that souped-up hyperdrive engine in her for his own hotrod pod racer."   Leaning back to a more conversational distance, Kipo added, "We ain't been sittin' around this mornin'. We pulled up the layout of the Child when she was stock Old Republic. And we heard tell of a number of parlor tricks that the previous owners left behind that your men found and removed. If you could show us on the map where your crews went and where they haven't, we would be most obliged."   Then, knowing he was hogging the conversation, "Oh, and if ya don't mind me askin' will we be the only hunters going in there today, or will we have," he tried to think of a word besides, 'competition', and came up with, "coworkers in there?"    
  Nyxeil Nyx Synarris
(a.k.a. Moke)
Sun, May 14th 2023 05:46   Edited on Sun, May 14th 2023 05:50
"We aim to get your schedule back on track Mr. Filgron. Really docking bay 1313?!" She says with a smile. "I assume out of safety and with a touch of the crews paranoia that docking bays 1312 and 1314 have also been cleared?"   Continuing as if this was not a question but more of a statement, "We will move the Bitterluck to dock 1312 and will need a light shuttle placed in bay 1314 authorized to us. The shuttle should have backup lifesupport suits and medical gear. We would like to confirm that all access protocols have been removed and your team no longer has access. This will only keep out the honest but makes a clear line of delineation for us when we encounter someone on board. This firmly makes anyone on board save us not a member of your team or not acting within the legal purvey of your team."   She taps out a few notes on her small wrist datapad but in Casino Speak. Part of this a message to Kipo. "This should make it easier to pin down existing back doors in access or access after we begin. After he confirms the security change could you have Jane begin the process of trying to externally breach the security for test purposes and looking for other activity, holes, entry into the system.   "The only thing we really need now is hard data on these short jumps please. Feel free to give us a run down or sling us the files. I am looking for visual feeds before the jumps, and any readings that could help us later."
  JN-66 "Jane"
Sun, May 14th 2023 10:23
JN-66 heard her name and fully agreed with the idea of "testing" the security of the ship, but why wait until some of the employee accesses had been closed? She could hop in there right now and drop in a nice back door that she could use just in case she had any trouble after the firewalls closed up a bit tighter than they currently were.   Oh, but then again, the place was inhabited by outlaw techs for a while.   She silently asked the Shipyards' Comm Operator program, "Ms. Tomlin, would you ring up the electronic intelligence version of a maintenance foreman responsible for Bay 1313 for me? You're a peach. Thank you so much."   Then after a moment, "Mister C8P01010226597466? I am JN-66, Senior Analysis Technician. Charmed, I'm sure. I am speaking with a Mister Mil Filgron, and... Yes, that's the one. ...and he is assigning me to check the data security of the Wen’esdai's Child, and I heard that it was once occupied by some of those creepy outlaw tech persons. Why, the thought of how unsanitary the electronic conditions might be in there gives me a shudder down my circuits. So, I thought I would ask you if any other droids had had any, well, 'trouble' communicating with her since she arrived. And do you have any favorite disinfecting agents I could use? ... if it's no bother."
  Kummer wolfe
Wed, May 17th 2023 09:21
Filgron wrinkled his nose a moment then scratched his chin in thought.
 
“Silar Mins, you say?” The man punctuated the question with a disapproving grunt. “Somehow I’m not surprised. In my opinion, Silar Mins is as bad as any Hutt you want to name.”
 
The foreman pulled out his datapad to bring up the recent work log on the Wednesday’s Child. A map that displayed the clear zones followed right after. One by one, he brought up holovids of repair crews going room by room, navigating what looked to be an unedited version of ‘Outlaw Technicians Gone Wild’, if such a holoshow existed.
 
“So far my crews have found your basic man traps, portable mines that flip on a reversed repulsor field. The moment you step on one, you’re shoved up against the ceiling hard enough to knock the rocks loose in anyone’s head.” Filgron changed views a few times. “Then there’s the modified Hunter-Killer drones filled with electrified spice. Big enough charge to rattle your teeth and just enough spice to make you almost not care… almost.”
 
“There’s also been locks reversed, so ‘unlock’ is ‘lock’ or suits that fill with some sort of pink liquid when you ‘pressurize’ it once your inside. Also, there’s been more than one holovid generator that springs to life with an all too real view of a hull breach. Whoever designed those had a nasty sense of humor because once it starts, that room starts depressurizing to give you that ‘full’ experience.”
 
The foreman shook his head.
 
“What hasn’t been figured out is the ghosts my crews have seen. So far I’ve four people in bacta who were attacked by these things. Touch as cold as anything you could imagine. Froze skin in a second on one. Burned another with some sort of lightning with another. Glowing consoles with voices crying to be let out.”
 
He tapped a few keys to transfer the data to Kipo and Nyx.
 
“I don’t envy you two, but I sure do appreciate you both. You’ll be the only ones in there. There shouldn’t be any co-workers you need to worry about.”
 
Filgron’s face split into a grin at Nyx.
 
“Yep. 1313. Wednesday’s Child gave us enough trouble, we managed to get her towed there. I thought it was fitting given what was going on. And yes, 1312 and 1314 are cleared out. I’ll make sure there’s a shuttle there for the two of you as requested. As for the jumps…”
 
Filgron tapped his datapad again. It chimed as the files transfered.
 
“That’s the feeds.” He brought one up to display. “It happens the same way every time…”
 
The holovid on his datapad sputters then shows a clear image of the Wednesday’s Child in orbital drydock. This feed is focused on the bridge and nose of the massive capital ship. At first, there’s nothing beyond work crews on the hull assisted by dozen or more spidery repair droids.
 
Suddenly, the engines give off the telltale glow of increased output. White ion exhaust turns blue, then a light green. This same green washes over the hull of the ship, like fingers reaching out from the engines to grab the rest of the craft. In a second, the lines of power race over the hull and met at the bridge. At that instant, the Wednesday’s Child vanishes in a burst of ionic energy, the ship elongating for just a fraction of a second as it leaps to hyperspace.
 
Backwards.
 
Repair crews and droids in the feed are scattered in all directions. Magnetic clamps, now ripped free of the drydock, float idly by the video feed. A minute later, the ship drops out of hyperspace and stops dead, almost exactly where she left, with all running lights and viewports lit up with an unusual green glow.
 
Then, the energy dies and the ship does dark.
 
Filgron shuts off the feed.
 
“That’s one out of dozens I just sent. The energy is a high band ionic exhaust. Not something you see on these ships. It’s closer in wavelength to blaster energy. Fortunately, it never cooked any of my crews when they were aboard… at least that the docs have found out.”
  Kummer wolfe
Wed, May 17th 2023 09:22
Meanwhile, off to one side, JN-66 carries out her own subtle investigation. C8P01010226597466 is quiet for a few nanos before he replies.
 
“Trouble? Oh, some. You’re right about the electronic conditions. It’s a digital sewer there if you ask me. Should have been cleaned out some time ago. All sorts of dormant viruses that activate if you open even the simplest data node. I’ll send over some disinfectant anti-viral software we’ve used that seems to work.”
 
He’s quiet for a moment, then simulates digitally clearing his ‘throat’ in an all too organic sound.
 
“I have to tell you, no one’s found any evidence mind you, but the mess is bad enough that I’ve had a guess that there was more than one ‘mind’ installed in that ship. Dozens maybe, and at some point they decided they didn’t like each other enough to do something about it. I think it was a digital bloodbath in there, and I’m not ashamed to tell you that I’m worried something survived.”
  Kipo Raysser
Thu, May 18th 2023 05:16
As Filgron finished talking about the strange, "high band ionic exhaust", Kipo heard JN-66 (who appeared to be looking off in a different direction) utter a little whistle starting high and deepening as is faded out, much like he would often do when he found something impressive and confounding, or when he had realized that he was entirely screwed. He made a mental note to ask Jane in private - oh - but then again, he probably wouldn't have to ask.   Kipo instead asked Mr. Filgron for the other side of the coin of Nyx's question, "Well that's disturbing, imagine how fast she could go in forward gear instead of reverse. How about the other end of the jumps? Have you tracked her to where the Child heads when she takes these excursions? Any info about that location might be helpful Maybe the edge of the system, if I were to guess."
  Kummer wolfe
Wed, May 24th 2023 11:15
Filgron frowned while he brought up the records on his datapad.
 
“We have. The Child always heads out to the same place. The ice planet Curn, here in the Tallaan system. It’s the one with a triple ring system with the abandoned orbital mining platforms and all.”
 
With a tap, the foreman transmits the data to Nyx and Kipo.
 
“I’ve sent shuttles out there several times. Curn’s just your run of the mill ice planet and its rocky moon seems to be just that. As for the mining stations, the crews I sent scanned some, but there are hundreds of those rusting platforms in orbit.”
 
Filgron then shrugged.
 
“But still. Once the Child arrives in outer orbit, my people tell me she cycles power and just sits there. Doesn’t approach, nothing approaches her. Then, suddenly, she zips right back.”
  Nyxeil Nyx Synarris
(a.k.a. Moke)
Wed, May 31st 2023 08:08   Edited on Wed, May 31st 2023 08:12
Listening to the jump description Nyx's tail twitches uncomfortable as she focuses on the details. She repeats Curn over in her mind also odd.   "Almost like open programming never finishes or frayed, a confused boomerang. Mr Filgron thank you for all the details and hospitality, we aim to get started. I will relocate the Bitterluck, I am sure you understand."   I turn to stride away and slide Kipo a private message of the following as I am walking away ...   "I am starting a list of keywords for later on the Bitterluck, maybe something on the pirate side or less than lawful information that may not show up on the public sector or corporate profiles that could link things together. When I was young I remember a news holo-cast of a space station industrial accident I watched. My mentor chided me for not understanding. He explained a small rogue band of pirates raided, attempted to raid the station and met with total wipe out and the damage they did scuttling their ship into the station was labeled an industrial accident pinned on the chief engineer of the station that lost his life. Better to advertise the tragic loss of one incompetent ex-employee than let the system know an inept band of pirates made their way inside your security net and almost brought your station down. The news is the fancy dress in the window being advertised not the true story. I figure this is something you can weigh in on and we can run later when we are re-docked."   Keyword Search
  • Curn
  • Ice Planet
  • Ice Mining
  • Outlaw Technicians
  • Nova Orion
  • Corellian Support Frigates
  • Experimental Hyper Drive
  • Hyper Drive Research

    •   Kipo Raysser
    Thu, Jun 1st 2023 08:03
    Kipo nodded to Nyx as she left and then said his farewells to their contact, "I can't guarantee she won't jump again, but I can assure you we will get to the bottom of this and get you your ship back right quick, Mister Filgron."   He saw that Jane was holding her hands like she did when she wanted to tell him something in private, so Kipo kept it short and left Filgron with another (hopefully) assuring nod and followed Nyx at a short distance.
      JN-66 "Jane"
    Thu, Jun 1st 2023 10:23
    When JN-66 had the opportunity, she told Kipo in a voice she calculated only he would hear, "Nyx sent you a list of subjects for me to search, hoping to find a connection to the bigger picture of what is going on."   She remotely connected into the shipboard computer of the BitterLuck and had the crew terminal send out the queries to the shipyard's databases. And just to be certain, she had it relay the query to the public news of the Mol Kydri spaceport, planetside, with a particular attention to any news stories that might have been deleted locally but were only available on the planet.   "Shall I run them down?" she asked Kipo.   "Ayup," Kipo mumbled in the affirmative, barely moving his lips, "Doncha know it."   "I'll be glad to do so," JN-66 said, already collating the data as it returned.
    Investigation Roll (5D+2) | 1d6!+4d6+2
    1
      Kummer wolfe
    Sun, Jun 4th 2023 11:03   Edited on Sun, Jun 4th 2023 11:07
    JN-66 devours the data feeds from station, planet, and out-system news sources coming in through the system’s ancible comm relays. It’s a flood of data-rich information, salted with adequate conspiracy theories, and iced over with a fine layer of biased opinion articles. Writing that better suited holonet fiction worldbuilding, than accurate reporting. Even so, the occasional data diamond glimmered from the primordial digital ooze.
     
    Curn was, and still is, a planet of considerable history. For an ice world, it’s seen more action than a back alley bar on Courscant. There have been many attempts to colonize the world for both legal and questionable means. None have been successful as the year-round frozen weather and periodic snow tornadoes spelled the end of many colonies. The most recent was the attempt at a military base four years ago.
     
    That is, until the snow-capped ice swallowed it when a crevasse opened up underneath the base. Fortunately, the personnel escaped, while the base didn’t.
     
    Not to be deterred, the Mining Guild persisted in attempts to turn a profit in the mineral rich rings around the world. Reports vary, and the guild holds its secrets very close. But if conspiracy ‘experts’ are to be believed, the ice rings are home to a giant creature. Some miners claim it is a giant space slug, others swear it’s a space kraken, two holonet experts claim its name is ‘Bob’ and is a lost spice worm from Chalcedon.
     
    But the recurring thread is that the Mining Guild stations are mostly automated. This has something to do with an ion cloud that roams the ring. A gaseous energy field propelled along by the energy sensitive mexallite ore that permeates the orbiting asteroids and rocks.
     
    Outlaw Technicians aren’t newsworthy in any way unless you count the Sector Ranger investigation reports. Recently, there haven’t been many, but a year back, a gang of Outlaw techs tried to use the Tallaan shipyards for ‘credit laundering’. They mined credit accounts in Tallaan banks with automated bots for 1/2 credit discrepancies. Money mined was then re-invested through legal channels.
     
    Many companies there gained a surprising boost in investments, Nova Orion being one of them. Supposedly, the software is still in place today. Only now it no longer runs on the station’s systems. Instead, it relies on droids that the software infects once the droid connects to the system’s holonet.
     
    For the Corellian Support Frigates, it’s old news. Merely corporate articles and more that repeat in more glowing terms the refit of the old workhorses.
     
    Last, and perhaps the most interesting, would be the hyper drive research. There is always one corporation with questionable morals out of the Corporate Sector looking to tinker with hyperspace in general. Two items stand out.
     
    The first is a scientific paper by a Dr. Ruk V’dora that goes into detail covering the cause, effect, and science around hyperdrive physics and the mysterious hyperspace dimension. This also includes breaking new ground into pinpoint hyperdrive transitions that reduce the risk of gravitational disruption. This work has been validated by several scientific organizations, which consider Dr. V’dora one of the leading experts in the field.
     
    Second would be the lab explosion in a Protian Enterprises’ Advanced Physics Research Lab in the Zetauri system. One of several labs owned by the company that is performing field tests into new hyperdrive engines. Ones with a new type of dimensional bend technology to allow faster ship movement through hyperspace.
      JN-66 "Jane"
    Mon, Jun 5th 2023 05:52
    "Oh my stars and circuits," JN-66 said aloud. She quickly but thoroughly checked her systems for that alleged money laundering software infection. It just would not do for her to be subconsciously moving tiny fractions of a credit over and over to some unscrupulous benefactor when she could be depositing them into one of the dark accounts she had opened on Kipo's behalf long ago in case of a rainy day.   After that, she crafted a succinct summary of the various reports and replied it to Nyx' handy data device, with links to more in-depth information.   Then she casually broke the news to Kipo, bit by bit, starting with, "Oh I do hope the Child doesn't warp right into that mexallite ion cloud that wanders around Curn, or the space slug or space kraken that people talk about," as they followed Nyx to the BitterLuck.   Kipo raised an eyebrow to that and filed the information away in his head with several other facts he hoped he would never have the misfortune to need to know.
      Kummer wolfe
    Thu, Jun 8th 2023 01:04
    The trip to 1312 on the far end of the drydock station was quiet and uneventful. Capital ships of all shapes, sizes, and configuration sit locked in drydock. Repair crews and droids crawled over their hulls, like an army of ants hard at work.
     
    Once past the last drydock in the 1200 bays, only a few smaller or Clone Wars-era bulk freighters lie anchored for repairs. The view quickly became slots of empty docking bays, sitting idle and waiting for work.
     
    All of them except for docking bay 1313 that cradled the long, sturdy form of the Wednesday’s Child.
     
    The Corellian Support Frigate is held in place by double the number of docking clamps. Some look hastily attached, others have the look of obvious repairs. The ship sits quietly, with droids and workers slowly refitting the forward hull plates near the famous ‘eyebrow’ bridge at the nose of the ship.
     
    Contrary to the stories from Mr. Filgron, the Child looks peaceful. A sedate, if not ordinary, craft that lies in drydock.
     
    Slowly, the BitterLuck move over the empty docking bays and angles down to bay 1312. On the other side, as requested, dock 1314 has been cleared.
     
    In bay 1312, the tractor beam anchors warm up as the BitterLuck moves into place. But before the clamps take hold, emission warnings sound in the cockpit. Warnings shriek as both hypermatter and cronau radiation spike in the surrounding area.
     
    Then the Child wakes up as her engines come to life…
     
    Storyteller Instructions
    Nyx, Kipo, Jane, how do you want to handle this?
      Kipo Raysser
    Fri, Jun 9th 2023 06:39
    "Train's leavin' the station!" Kipo shouted.   Unhindered by safety belts, he coiled, grabbed his guitar, and leapt to the docking adapter to get his tail out of the Bitter Luck and into Wednesday's Child as quickly as the airlock doors and electronic keypads would allow him, hoping he (and anyone who joined him) would make it onboard to find out who or what was operating the engines before they got away like so many times before.
      JN-66 "Jane"
    Fri, Jun 9th 2023 07:20
    "Oh dear," JN-66 said aloud as Kipo rushed away. She did not share his enthusiasm to enter what she considered to be the electronic equivalent of a rat-infested sewer called Wednesday's Child.   He was always jumping before thinking like this. What if it were chilly in the largely unused ship? He never did wear that warm sweater she had once had fabricated for him. She would have no way of knowing if he needed her help, (aside from he always needed her help, in her own opinion). If only she had pinned a communications transmitter/receiver to his favorite fedora so she could talk to him in situations like these, but she knew how disappointed he would be if she had poked a hole in the worn leather. She would just have to open a communications line with the Child's comm systems from here.   Aha! That was it. She could keep tabs on him and insulate herself from those icky outlaw tech shenanigans at the same time.   JN-66 flew over to a pair of data workstations in the Bitter Luck close to the cockpit and physically typed on each with one hand while opening a third line of communication with the Bitter Luck's shipboard computer systems using her wireless long-range antenna, trying to whisper not shout radio signals. (Oh, she would have to replace her short-range circuit absolutely as soon as they had a moment to breathe.)   First, she uploaded to the Bitter Luck the couple of recommended antivirus packages she had received from that nice droid on the station earlier. Then she opened up three channels of communication from the Bitter Luck to the Wednesday's Child. With those in place, she started her attempts to get control of the inter-comm systems inside the Child, so she could listen, speak, and (with a little luck) look at whatever was going on in there.   "Captain Nyx - Oh, I'm sorry, - Nyx, would it be alright with you if I use your ship's systems to scan around in that ship over there?"
      Nyxeil Nyx Synarris
    (a.k.a. Moke)
    Mon, Jun 12th 2023 11:54   Edited on Mon, Jun 19th 2023 12:39
    Nyx arches an eye at the busy little droid, the busy eager little droid. "You better not be installing corporate scamware or Wookie fights holovids ... well crap! No plan survives ..."   Not waiting and not answering she slams the maneuvering thrusters in reverse to send the Bitterluck hurtling backwards out of the hanger. She attempts to use the backwards momentum and roll the ships nose for sensor drone deploy. I mean it will be hard to miss at this range but so many things can go wrong. And I did not have time to prep the sensor drone package and parameters.   "Jane no coms fast ball catch!, SenDrone-1 launch and configure on the fly." Droids are fast right, maybe ....
      Kummer wolfe
    Mon, Jun 19th 2023 11:15
    As the engines powered up on the Wednesday’s Child, the team aboard the Bitter Luck raced into action. With little to no words, they coordinated their efforts to board and track the errant capital ship.
     
    Kipo snatched up his guitar and raced for the airlock while both ships were still in the protective envelope of the atmosphere-filled force screen. Meanwhile, aboard the Bitter Luck, JN-66 panic loaded every antiviral package at her disposal into the Bitter Luck before she opened three secure channels to the Wednesday’s Child. Her hope? To track the reckless Kipo during his slither of faith to reach the capital ship.
     
    But at the same moment, Nyx countered the droid’s plan. With a sharp turn, she ordered a sensor drone launch while she slammed the maneuvering thrusters in reverse. The Bitter Luck bucked from the shift of momentum while Nyx attempted to maneuver in the girder filled orbital dry dock.
     
    Storyteller Instructions
    Ok!
  • Kipo! Roll a Running (slither) check!
  • Jane! Roll a Computer Programming/Repair Check!
  • Nyx! Piloting Check!
    •   Kummer wolfe
    Mon, Jun 26th 2023 10:47   Edited on Mon, Jun 26th 2023 10:48
    Kipo reached the airlock in time to hurl himself from the Bitter Luck’s starboard side. In a graceful arc, he aimed for the closest maintenance airlock on the Wednesday’s Child. A second after his leap, JN-66 panic-loaded thirty-three antiviral packages into the Bitter Luck’s network.
     
    But a quick command from Nyx set JN-66 busy with the launch of a sensor probe. As the probe launched, Nyx used the backwards momentum to slam her ship into a hard roll; all to aim the probe at the Child.
     
    The probe launched like a torpedo right at the Child after Nyx executed the roll. At the Child, Kipo landed outside the airlock, then ducked inside. A series of chimes echoed in the Bitter Luck’s cockpit as the probe snapped online.
     
    At that moment, local space around the Bitter Luck, its sensor probe, and part of the drydock gantry were bathed in an eerie green glow. The light intensified as an overcharged tractor beam from the Wednesday’s Child locked onto everything nearby.
    For two seconds, the galaxy held its breath. On the third, the Wednesday’s Child leaped to hyperspace, along with anything caught in its tractor field.
     
     
    The galaxy exploded with light before reality fell away into the pit of hyperspace. Light and stars shot past at an impossible rate as navigation aboard the Bitter Luck shut down with a pop. Before Nyx could rip open any panels and jump-start the controls, the galaxy exploded once more as realspace returned.
     
    Only now, the dry dock was missing.
     
    In its place loomed the blue-white orb of the ice world, Curn with its ring of rocky rubble and mined asteroids. Alarms blared from a dozen systems all at once aboard the Bitter Luck. Then, after a catastrophe of metal clangs, the ship shook as if punched, then went dark.
     
    Outside the de-powered ship, severed gantries from the Tallaan shipyard spun in slow, dangerous circles far too close to the Luck for anyone’s comfort.
     
     
    Aboard the Wednesday’s Child, Kipo slithered from the airlock and into an old, dusty docking hangar. No sooner had he set a scale inside, emergency lights flicked on and the blast doors opened to space. A blue-white glow outlined the door frame to space from an active force screen that separated stale air from vacuum.
     
    There, floating dead in space only one hundred kilometers from the docking bay, was the Bitter Luck.
     
    Storyteller Instructions
    Whew! Ok! With:
  • a 24 ( and a 1 on the wild die! ) from Nyx
  • a 33 from JN-66 ( 6 on the wild die! )
  • a 13 from Kipo on the Leap of Faith (tm pending)
    • Now, the Bitter Luck drifts alongside the Child and WAY too much debris… How do you want to handle this?
      Kipo Raysser
    Wed, Jun 28th 2023 04:45   Edited on Wed, Jun 28th 2023 05:01
    Seeing the Bitter Luck without power, Kipo did not want to bet his life that the Child's forcefields would remain powered any longer. He started to work the controls to get himself inside with a solid physical airlock door between himself and the icy vacuum of space.   He glanced around to see if this maintenance airlock had those emergency portable air tanks or rebreathers that regulations required in the standard passenger airlocks.   At the same time, two of his hands absently strummed a few chords on his guitar. He tried, fairly successfully, to turn that burning pit of mortal fear deep in his gut into anger at whoever or whatever had (apparently) tried to kill him, his new feline associate, and the droid who was currently the only family member for whom he truly cared.
      JN-66 "Jane"
    Wed, Jun 28th 2023 05:13
    JN-66 could see inside the cockpit easily enough to see that Nyx was safe for now, but what about Kipo? The workstation consoles were of no use at this point.   She shouted through the walls of the Bitter Luck to the sensor probe attached to the Wednesday's Child, (thankful that her long-range antenna was still working), and hoped she could get some information and provide some help for them all.
      Kummer wolfe
    Sun, Jul 2nd 2023 04:54
    Kipo frowned at the sight of the Child’s force screen that looked all too fragile, then ransacked the maintenance airlock. As with any capital ship, especially one built during the Clone Wars, compartments were in logical, efficient positions. Proper places for a clone trooper to reach in times of emergency.
     
    But this wasn’t the Clone Wars, and the lettering on the compartments was faded from age and poor maintenance. Rapidly searching through them, Kipo located a pair of rebreathers, one of which came with a small, wearable air tank. The other looked to be just a rebreather with an advanced filter system he didn’t recognize.
     
    It also looked much newer than the one with the air tank.
     
    Weighing his options, he studied both rebreathers. They looked in good enough shape. Only did the straps just move on their own? Or was that a symptom of thin, breathable air?
     
     
    Across the small gulf of vaccuum, JN-66 shouted through the walls of the Bitter Luck over her communication channel to the sensor drone. Obediently, the drone replied with a torrent of information.
     
    First, the limited drone identified one life sign aboard the Child: a Thisspiasian male in a maintenance airlock.
     
    That airlock was attached to a now open and active docking bay aboard the Child. JN-66 detected a defense and atmospheric screen in place over the Child’s bay.
     
    Second, the Child had jumped through hyperspace in a short range jump from station berth to outer planet. A maneuver that is highly frowned on, particularly by any station with any sort of self-preservation and sense.
     
    But the sensor data didn’t match up to the Child’s hyperdrive emissions. On any ship, there was a single hyperdrive and one backup. Often, this was nestled safely inside an armored compartment in engineering. This time, the power buildup started in engineering, but the break and fold of reality didn’t start there.
     
    It started everywhere at once across the Wednesday’s Child. A fact that JN-66 realized could never have been seen if Nyx hadn’t ordered a sensor drone launched. Especially that close to the Child during a jump and was taken along for the ride.
     
    As scientifically fascinating as that was, what caught JN-66’s attention more was that the Child was cycling power once more. Forward torpedo launchers that, from what she could tell, looked disabled. The reason was obvious, at least to her.
     
    It was likely the trio of starfighters flying the digital flag of the Black Hat pirates that had just turned toward the Wednesday’s Child.
     
    There was more information since the drone had been busy. But it seemed to pale at that moment compared to current events.
     
    Storyteller Instructions
    Kipo, which rebreather do you use?
    Jane, how do you want to handle this?
      Nyxeil Nyx Synarris
    (a.k.a. Moke)
    Sun, Jul 2nd 2023 07:42   Edited on Sun, Jul 2nd 2023 07:48
    I realized I was holding my breath, not sure for how long but I let out a long exhale after materializing back into real space. "Fraaaaaaack!" as I looked around at the dark interior of my beloved ship. OK I gotta focus, time to get her restarted. I eyed the droid envisioning ConNex power amplification lines with recursive feedback and using the bot to jump start the ignition sequence of the Bitterluck. Frowning I filed that away as plan ... D ... no, plan L for Fracked up last resorts. "I may need more letters before this day is over."   However now I have an idea, a way to quickly cheat, maybe. Since the Queen's Heart (main ship) was active when it went black, I will try to manually shunt power from the Aces' High (top ship) across to jump start the system. Once they are both active it should not take long for them to equalize and then sever the connection again. "Ok Jane Plan C it is."   As I give a side storage panel a swift kick, spanners and assorted tools float out. "I need to get a real mechanic soon." I swipe up the EPM to monitor thermal phase and transfer balance as I spin around in zero-g upside down, "grrrr ^%#%$*&^". Next I grab a couple step-through converters to make the connection and begin to work. "Why the frack would one ship developed by one company have different sized power coupling .... grrrr ^%#%@$*&^. Hey Jane feel free to monitor the readings when I make this connection."  
      Kipo Raysser
    Sun, Jul 2nd 2023 09:51
    Those living straps reminded Kipo of a time he had wanted to forget about and had nearly succeeded. He was partying on a desert planet, - forgot the name - far out away from civilization, and the stoner harmonica player / keyboardist with the gold-capped tooth gave Kipo a fire-toasted marshmallow whole-wheat Tw'ingkey snack, (which would later be found to be a good 30 years past its expiration date), and he had started to hallucinate so badly that he spent the remainder of the night until dawn sobbing with a presumably imaginary Thisspiasian caterpillar sitting on a scented mushroom, sharing all of their lives' regrets.   Could there be something in the air in Wen’esdai's Child that made people lose their wits? That might explain some of the reports and complaints, but probably not all.   Kipo grabbed for the rebreather with its own air tank. It was an older model, but the idea of uncontaminated oxygen seemed very attractive at the moment.   Next task: to get solid walls between himself and space, so he could proceed with getting even with whoever was behind all this.
      JN-66 "Jane"
    Sun, Jul 2nd 2023 10:37
    Nyx didn't seem like the sort of person to flaunt her wealth, so the fact that her space ship was equipped with a spare space ship seemed odd to JN-66 until now, when she realized that the duplicated parts and capabilities were quite valuable in dire situations like this one, in which all of them were about 70% likely to be blown to smithereens unless they recovered quickly and took some extreme measures of one sort or another.   "Excellent idea, Nyx," JN-66 began politely, while starting to monitor power readings in regard to the impromptu power connections as Nyx had asked, "If you don't mind my asking, would this plan bring your torpedo launchers and any other weapons systems online as well? And might I borrow three torpedoes or so? I only ask because..."   Nyx's face and body language appeared to invent an entirely unique expression that indicated extreme emotion and cold lack of any emotion whatsoever at the same time, as if she were capable of a complete uncensored conniption fit or cold-blooded murder any second. JN-66 would have to try to describe one of her fictional characters having this reaction in the next installment of her true crime broadcast if she were to have the opportunity to produce it, assuming they survived.   So, dispensing with polite turns of phrase and any attempt to ease the shock, JN-66 just stated the facts.   "Three Black Hat pirates starfighters have just turned toward the Wednesday’s Child."
      Kummer wolfe
    Wed, Jul 5th 2023 11:52
    Aboard the Bitter Luck, Nyx snatched up tools and parts from a nearby side storage panel. In the next second, tools in hand and her favorite Catharian swear words in mind, she yanked open a hatch to the nearest power junction and got to work. The problem made itself instantly known as a half-dozen clouds of acrid, gray smoke wandered out of the hatch in unassuming blobs.
     
    Meanwhile, JN-66, up to her sensor capacitors with worry, looked between Captain Nyx, the last location the sensor drone observed Kipo, and the incoming Black Hat pirate starfighters.
     
     
    Hundreds of meters away, Kipo faced his own dilemma on a personal scale. Not wasting a moment, he grabbed the rebreather that came with its own air tank. It was an older model, but looked in solid condition. Best of all, the air tank registered it was full.
     
    The question about the Child’s air haunted him like a mythical Force ghost. Was there something in the air that made people lose their wits? It wouldn’t be the first time a chemical leak did something like that. He tapped a door control that, possibly, should lead him away from the starship hanger and deeper into the Child. The question of the air was a problem for later.
     
    Especially, since at that moment, the second rebreather popped out eight mechanical, spider-like legs, glowing red photoreceptors for eyes, and leaped at Kipo!
     
      Storyteller Instructions  
    Kipo! This will be a solo initiative for you!
     
    Nyx! Roll Starship repair! JN-66 you can assist with a roll if you like!
     
      Kummer wolfe
    Sun, Jul 23rd 2023 11:00
    In moments, Nyx had a handful of the burnt wires and fried junction boards lying on the deck. With occasional helpful advice from JN, Nyx salvaged parts from secondary systems and a few from leftover cargo.
     
    She glanced at JN, then back at the jungle vine of wiring that criss-crossed the open maintenance hatch. The occasional ion spark that seemed to light up on its own wasn’t encouraging. But she triggered the power mains anyway.
     
    A spark flew, then another. Then a pop slapped the air. After that, the Bitter Luck hummed to life, perhaps a little worse for wear.
     
    In the cockpit, targeting sensors automatically locked onto the Black Hat pirate starfighters that might be about to take an attack run. Z-95 headhunters. Older model starfighter and precursor to X-Wings but still just as lethal.
     
    Storyteller Instructions
    Kipo! You’ve beaten the rebreather’s initiative! ( I can’t believe I’m actually posting that! )
    Nyx! Jane! What do you two do now that the Bitter Luck is online? There is the open landing bay of the Child ahead of you… but then there are the three pirate starfighters heading in!
      Kipo Raysser
    Mon, Jul 24th 2023 05:15
    It can be surprising how many things can go through your mind during that second when you see a killer robot is leaping at your face.   The idea that the little beastie could be merely a toxic-chemicals-in-the-air-induced hallucination was still in the forefront of Kipo's mind, but the Outlaw Techs he had met earlier were entirely capable of leaving booby traps exactly like this. It could be very real and deadly.   As he instinctively reeled back his head and shoulders from the dangerous needles of legs, he tried to keep his sanity - at least the important parts of it. Jane was his friend and family. He spun his guitar with one hand. Nyx was on his team. He took his hat in another hand and waved it. He was a bounty hunter on a mission. He spun and twisted his torso and tail, rolling in a spiral coil. He had to remember who his friends were, and then everything else would work itself out, real or imagined. He spun in a well-practiced old-school dance move which his muscle memory still remembered.   Between his hat, guitar, face, and spring-spiraling body, the robotic air rebreather would have plenty of moving targets to possibly confuse it.   Kipo's one goal in all that movement was to spring himself through the airlock door into the interior of the Child and slam the door shut and lock it tight.   He needed to get into the ship without letting that thing in with him, whatever it was.
      Kipo Raysser
    Sun, Jul 30th 2023 04:49
    Kipo pressed the button to open the airlock inner door, feinted an attack, spun himself out of the room, and slammed the emergency close button.   He looked around.   Was the little mechanical monstrosity still locked in there?
      Nyxeil Nyx Synarris
    (a.k.a. Moke)
    Sun, Jul 30th 2023 09:28   Edited on Tue, Aug 1st 2023 10:58
    Nyx cursed as the wire sparked in her hand but she persisted. Did she hear the droid correct? What do you mean borrow torpedoes? She growled at the mention of Black Hats and decided while dangerous they could only rise to the level of a problem with power. No power, no problem we would be screwed. Oh an Kipo would just have to hang tight a little longer as life had become very busy. As the ship shuddered and the power fluctuated she held her breath ... not even a swear word. Bam, power ... hell ya.
      OK on to my todo list ... stay alive ...
    Damn, accurate little droid. Black Hats, Z-95 Headhunters ... well damn.
      Alright here is the plan, split the ships flood the zone with sensor drones and independent combat drones and show them the strength of my personal armada. Of wait I would need a full crew, a fully maintenance ship that I didn't just hack one ship to power two, maybe even full stores of armaments. Ya Not a good idea trying to do anything with the ships split while I was running on meuler-tape.
      OK the real plan keep the power systems weak like we are limping, ya I know we are limping but we have more bite than they think. Tie the maneuvering thruster to give intermittent bursts with random power and duration using microseconds as the limitation. Lock into the Wednesdays Child to give us a battle ground or cover if needed.
      I click the widebeam com switch ...
    Knowing this may also keeping Kipo alerted .. or not.
     
    "Ya eyes wide approaching three by three thanks for answering the assist call but we are now five by five in our box and will let you know that no blood has stained the scarf and the captain knows that your were Nemon on the spot. Also I would hate to see you in a flash of bad luck so I will keep and ear to the waves on your way out. Just a matter of making the right code in the navigation to babysit this box and play the lame duck waiting for a scheduled flyby.
      Explanations of BS
    Nyx is falling back on pirate code and and pirate cant to convey to these three ships they have stepped into an operation in progress and this is a matter of the code. She is staying as vague as possible, because well its all bull but vague is the way of the grifter, con, and pirate.   She assumes three outcomes ...
  • Ha good try, theres and operation to be had we will scoop it up
  • Delay for positioning and advantage
  • Holy crap they stamp down curiosity, turn about and the hell off


    •  
      I keep Jane informed on the plan as well or at least what passes for a plan. Oh Jane be ready with the weapons when this does not work.
      Kummer wolfe
    Sun, Aug 6th 2023 12:53
    Aboard the Wednesday’s Child, the inner airlock snapped shut behind Kipo with a sharp hiss of air. The only sound that greeted him was a soft skittering sound on the other side of the airlock door. As if far too many tiny claws scrambled for purchase against the smooth, battered metal, but found nothing.
     
    He turned away from the sound of nightmare fuel to face the inevitable. The room he had entered.
     
    Dust drifted through the air like ghosts of mynocks past, disturbed by Kipo’s flamboyant entrance. It was a long hallway that framed the back edge of the Child’s docking bay. There was power, if only enough for lights. Dim red lights, placed at regular intervals near the ceiling, winked red. Typically, a sign from the bridge that the ship was in ‘Red Alert’.
     
    But no one was supposed to be on board at the moment.
     
    Through passageway windows on his left, the docking bay was lit up in a faint blue glow, as if the ship itself was prepared to receive visitors. Beyond the force screen of the docking bay floating outside the Wednesday’s Child, Kipo could see that Nyx and JN-66 had gotten the Bitter Luck back online. Running lights winked in the darkness.
     
    The passageway itself extended down sixty meters. Four doors sat in the bulkhead to his right, about ten meters ahead. Two doors ahead and to his left allowed access to the docking bay itself. One was for the bay, another for what may be a control room to assist ships with landing.
     
    Then he heard Nyx’s wideband comment over the comlink about a flyby. The message was in code, that much he caught right off. Obviously, she wasn’t directly talking to him but wanted him kept up to date.
     
    More frantic scratching echoed from the other side of the airlock door behind him.
     
     
    Meanwhile, life aboard the Bitter Luck wasn’t quite so serene.
     
    Acrid smoke chased Nyx like a new puppy while she busied herself with the last patches to the Luck’s abused systems. A few adjustments with the maneuvering thrusters to look random, just a suggestion that the Luck might be in serious trouble. A sitting duck.
     
    But still, a duck with a knife held behind its back.
     
    Then the comlink burst to life.
     
    Oi! Well, looks like a fine box with pretty wrappings. Still, we’d rather not be courtin’ a busted hand. But, if’n by yer by, we’ll hold on quarter. Just until yer captain gets his arse in gear. Just a courtesy, mind ya. After all, we don’t be needin’ to brush the sharks here, do we?
     
    At that, the Black Hat starfighters peeled back from their course. Quick and steady, they put double the distance between themselves, the Bitter Luck, and the Wednesday’s Child. Then they held position. The Z-95s still kept weapons hot but not locked on any one target, the sensors relayed.
     
    Meanwhile, the Wednesday’s Child kept still. The big capital ship kept sensors, supposed weapon systems, and shields active.
     
    Unless JN-66 was all too right about the rat-infested digital swamp aboard the Wednesday’s Child. Rats that might be lying to the Bitter Luck’s sensors and JN-66’s drones.
     
    Storyteller Instructions
    Ok! No need for more initiative… but! Nyx! Kipo! What do you do?
      Kipo Raysser
    Sun, Aug 13th 2023 06:41   Edited on Sun, Aug 13th 2023 06:42
    Nyx's cryptic message must have meant that she knew of someone else listening in, invisible to Kipo. Well, he wasn't one to play the game of "cat and mouse" as the mouse. It was time to move.   He took a quick sniff of the local air with a flick of his forked tongue, then he donned the old rebreather to give him an air source he hopefully could trust. It wasn't the most pleasant smell, but it wasn't a luxury model, to say the least.   As Blimcooathi taught Kipo, "Use what you know about your quarry," so Kipo flattened down on the floor and slithered toward the docking bay control room door in a military crawl that left only the tip of his hat and the edge of his guitar poking up any higher than a standard mouse-droid. Kipo figured any outlaw techs would make copious use of mouse droids to perform maintenance, so it wouldn't do for them to be setting off booby traps and sensors all the time.   Thankfully, the door wasn't locked, so it admitted the creeping Thisspiasian. He locked the door behind him, for what little comfort that gave, and scanned the room. The docking bay seemed to be okay for receiving a ship or shuttle, according to the lights and displays. In that regard, it was just a matter of waiting to see what the Bitter Luck would do.   Now about that game of cat and mouse... Kipo decided it was time to let the ghosts know their days were numbered, and where to come to get their come-uppance.   Kipo easily found the communications panel, which had a convenient button to make an announcement to all decks. Pressing the button with one hand, he played a slow old tune and found the rebreather added a nice reverb to his low notes as he sang to the ghosts:   I walked in the airlock,   And all the air went out.   And every slimy shadow,   Filled up with doubt.   I don't know who you think you are,   But before the night is through,   I wanna do bad things with you.   I wanna do real bad things with YOUUUUUUUU.  
      Nyxeil Nyx Synarris
    (a.k.a. Moke)
    Sun, Aug 13th 2023 11:38   Edited on Sun, Aug 13th 2023 11:45
    Nyx paused halfway between crouched and standing as the message from the Black Hats is relayed. Well hell that kind of worked, for the moment.   Her head turned, eyes fix on Jane, "hmmmmmm" running through ideas and discarding almost all of them, until a smile crossed her face. “Ok Jane query Wednesday’s Child using our Nova auth-codes to access a docking bay for the Bitter Luck. Meanwhile I am preparing another thing here.” “I Gotta keep pushing the ruse forward right? Jane I am prepping an emergency beacon on low power with just enough broadcast to reach double the distance of the Black Hats. I am displaying this beacon near the Wednesday’s Child which will complete the part for the Black Hats thinking we are working a job and laying an ambush here. The other purpose is keeping a sensor drone external, shhhhhh. ”As she raises one finger to her lips in the universal signal for a secret. "For now it is time to tuck our tail inside for a moment."   Nyx starts humming an old space shanty not really remembering the words or where it came from.
    "Take me out into the black ....
    You can't take the sky from me...."        
      JN-66 "Jane"
    Mon, Aug 14th 2023 01:27
    "Certainly, Nyx," JN-66 replied while already starting on the simple task of authorizing an automated docking maneuver. The task was unusually easy, almost suspiciously so. JN-66 wondered why the Wednesday's Child would already have its docking bay active and prepared to receive visitors. She took a visual look at the worrisome ship. Only at maximum magnification and maximum enhancement, she thought she could make out Kipo, looking back at her, seated at the docking technician's seat in the control room of the docking bay, playing a song to himself after obviously having activated the automatic docking systems to receive the Bitter Luck.   Well! He was finally showing some consideration as well as initiative. JN-66 had honestly expected him to be in a fight with two Squib outlaw techs by now and probably clubbing one of them using the other one as the club.   Rather relieved of more than a few worries, she turned back to Nyx, "External drone? Oh, that does sound clever. One cannot have too many sensors, I like to think, The docking bay is ready to receive us with no complaints."
      Kummer wolfe
    Sun, Aug 27th 2023 11:51
    One automated docking authorization later by Jane, the landing guide-lights glimmered to life inside the Child’s docking bay. The tiny blue lights winked in a regular pattern, indicating both approach and a designated landing zone inside the bay.
     
    Which was good, as the only indication the docking bay had been already prepped and ready had been a simple, crude, automated code. Nothing so elegant and sophisticated as either an organic or droid mind sending a reply. There certainly was no response as to where to land other than the lights.
     
    Simple. Easy. Efficient.
     
    It was the equivalent of a powerless front door opening on its own in a battered prefab shelter with cracked widows. One that had all the look of a malevolent monster waiting for that first step, toe, or tail to slip within reach.
     
    Then again, imagination aside, automated systems existed for a reason the galaxy over.
     
    Nyx lined up the Bitter Luck with the navigation lights, then nudged the ship inside the Child’s docking bay. Just before they slipped behind the bay’s defense screen, a single emergency beacon launched from the Bitter Luck. It took up a close position not far from the Wednesday’s Child.
     
    As the Bitter Luck set down inside the docking bay, sensors ran their usual environmental test. Ship gravity aboard the Wednesday’s Child was standard. Air thin, but breathable if only a little stale. Out the viewport, Nyx and Jane could see Kipo seated in the bay’s control room, playing his guitar patiently.
     
    No sooner had the Bitter Luck landed than the tractor beam locks secured the Luck to the deck. Standard safety protocols aboard any capital ship. Only these had a solid, thunk sound as the beam latched on.
     
     
    Inside the control room, Kipo watched while the Bitter Luck came to a soft rest. Sign of an expert pilot with a delicate touch.
     
    No ghosts replied in kind to his song, nor did any rebreathers attempt to join Kipo in the control room. But for a moment, a soft click-scrape sound reached Kipo at the crescendo of his tune.
     
    Then, as quick as it appeared, it was gone.
     
    The control room console indicated all systems green, landing was successful, as was the tractor beam locked on for safety. Oddly, there was a confirmation signal from the bridge and engineering.
     
    Storyteller Instructions
    Nyx? Kipo? What do you do?
      Kipo Raysser
    Sat, Sep 16th 2023 11:38
    Kipo quickly found that disabling the tractor beam required a good bit more technical knowledge than just pressing a button labeled, "Disable Tractor Beam", which sadly was nowhere in sight. So called 'safety' functions were usually like that, requiring a bit of work to disable.   So that left his primary goal to work-on: To find those Squibs or ghosts or whatever was responsible for their unusual hyperspace leap. Engineering and the Captain's main control Bridge were equally suspicious areas to start searching. But first, he should leave a message with the others.   Kipo found the air-tight safety-enabled personnel door from the docking control room to the docking bay to be within his capabilities to open. He slid halfway into the bay, leaving the end of his tail to hold the door, and waved at the Bitter Luck. He assumed Jane would be watching through cameras somewhere.   He gave the affirmative thumbs-up signal, pointed to his ear, (which hopefully wasn't confused with the rebreather on his face), tapped his chest, and then shook a thumb behind him in the direction he hoped would lead to Engineering. He figured Nyx would be the type to go for the Bridge first.   With the message delivered, he slithered back to the door from which he had entered the control room, and attempted to open it to the hallway while the other door to the bay was still open.   As Blimcooathi had taught him, he focused on the present, and searched the hallway for tripwires and similar security devices, not forgetting that the apparently murderously jealous evil rebreather still probably hadn't forgiven him for picking the other one. Oh, and then there was whatever made that odd click-scrape sound.   Come to think of it, keeping his mind on the here and now wasn't going to be easy at all.
    Perception roll and Search roll are both 3D+0 | 11
    11
      Nyxeil Nyx Synarris
    (a.k.a. Moke)
    Wed, Sep 20th 2023 09:39   Edited on Wed, Sep 20th 2023 10:04
    Nyx was relieved to see the docking bay doors open and at the same time it felt like navigating into the belly of the beast. What cute little blue lights winking as if to say just in time for dinner and you are the main course.
      She smiled as the beacon launched placing a lot of hope on this as a alert plan. However it was just this type of unexpected maneuver that Saran had burned into her mind. Always have something unexpected prepared for party crashers. Kipo playing his guitar, he was growing on her. There was something calming and grounding about his manner.
      Hey Jane could you whip up two small electronic packages for local loading. I would love to have a local package loaded directly in the docking clamps and a package loaded in the bay door. The package should perform a single and simple operation when you activate it. It should reverse the sensors making the system think open is closed, and closed is open.
      Nyx grabs a strap satchel with assorted odds and ends while debarking from her ship and heads towards.Kipo. She smiles and gives a pleasant wave heading in his direction. What? She throws her hands up. What does that mean? Is that Thisspiasian sign language? Hey I have some sign language for you making a lewd gester. I thought I was the impatient one. Calming, what was I thinking?
      JN-66 "Jane"
    Thu, Sep 21st 2023 03:48
    JN-66 directed her four Marksman-H Training Remotes to float over and follow Nyx and Kipo, (two each), assuming closed doors didn't get in their way.   Then JN-66 easily wrote the code Nyx requested, one which would intercept the Docking Bay Door's and Docking Clamps' sensor data and reverse it on JN-66's command, plus alert her of any changes to the condition, plus allow her to remotely command them open or closed. She hardly had to think about it.   She spent more processor time thinking about how to unfasten the maintenance panels, interface with the firmware upgrade ports, and manually flash upload the programming packages, and, and... Ugh. It would take minutes, maybe an hour. That was time JN-66 and the biologicals might not have.   And then Kipo signaled for help. At least that was what JN-66 interpreted the various vague gestures to mean. She would just have to ask him what he meant. Oh. Pointing to his ear might have meant he wanted her to talk to him. A more accurate representation would have been to mime his own mouth yammering on and on about himself, based on past history.   Perhaps she could wait for the Remotes to catch up to him, assuming no doors automatically closed behind him. Perhaps she couldn't.   And it was just a matter of time before Nyx would need something unlocked or analyzed.   Oh, bantha poodoo, JN-66 had put it off as many milliseconds as she could, but now she would just have to go in there and take charge of the place.   She activated all her defensive software, especially those new antiseptic routines which that nice fellow from the shipyards had given her. She donned the electronic equivalent of rubber gloves, goggles, rubber pants, nose clamps, galoshes, and hip waders.   Then she opened up a wireless connection to access the Wednesday's Child's electronic data and control network. Ugh.
    Computer Programming & Repair | 1d6!+6d6
    4
    Trying that dice roll again.
    Computer Programming & Repair | 6d6+1d6!
    24
      JN-66 "Jane"
    Thu, Sep 21st 2023 03:53
      Kummer wolfe
    Mon, Oct 2nd 2023 11:22
    A questionable exchange of sign language later, the trio divided their efforts in the hunt. One turned right for engineering, the other left hopefully for the bridge, while the third remained in the relative safety of the docking bay.
     
    Storyteller Instructions Kipo!
    Head over to the thread, “In the Belly of the Beast”
    Nyx!
    Head over to the thread, “A Powered Welcome”
    Jane!
    Oh, you can just stay right here.
      Kummer wolfe
    Mon, Oct 2nd 2023 11:25   Edited on Mon, Oct 2nd 2023 11:25

    Meanwhile... JN-66....

     
    Nyx and Kipo, along with the quartet of drones, had barely been on their way before Jane tapped into the ship network for the Wednesday’s Child. It was, digitally speaking, like dropping in to swim in a pool of oil-rich sludge. One that was covered in a coat of hyper-intelligent algae that had ‘opinions’ on strange newcomers. Not to mention wondering if they stayed crunchy in blue milk.
     
    But Jane, now coated in more protective gear than a virologist at a biowarfare convention, swam forward into that digital cesspool. Installing the software modules into the docking bay doors, clamps and more wasn’t a problem. Though once inserted, she didn’t want to reach in and pull them back out. Something might bite her. Since her digital senses identified movement in the computational slush, she was sure she would get bitten.
     
    Physically, Jane settled her frame into a more comfortable hover aboard the Bitter Luck. If for no other reason to rest her servos. After that, she dipped back into that thick, digital slurry.
     
    Tapping into the Child’s communication system was a not so simple. This, being part of the ship’s nerve center, seemed far more complicated even with the secure access codes. It wasn’t that the codes didn’t work; they did. Instead, it was as if the network was, on its own, reconfiguring itself every few seconds.
     
    It was a complex twirl of digital data. Not unlike the effect of watching a pair of Escher drawings spring to life, drawing themselves. Only to have one eat the other in a bout of brief, savage, mathematical fury.
     
    Deep inside was the communication ports Jane needed, provided she could identify the correct patterns to follow. Also, without alerting any malfunctioning security that wandered the digital hallways.
     
    A task made more difficult by whispers in the digital darkness. Messages that seemed to be fragments of old communications. At least until they mentioned the presence of Jane’s IP address and digital avatar.
    Storyteller Instructions
    Jane, I’ll need a computer/programming repair roll…
      JN-66 "Jane"
    Wed, Oct 4th 2023 12:12
    JN-66 tried to keep her head above greywater.
    7D computer/programming repair | 1d6, 1d6, 1d6, 1d6, 1d6, 1d6, 1d6!
    2, 6, 2, 4, 1, 1, 3
      Kummer wolfe
    Fri, Nov 3rd 2023 12:58
    With a mix of careful digital negotiation, slight of diode coding, and a bit of luck, Jane established the connections. At least one of them anyway. A torrent of static preceded a question from Nyx.
     
    “How is it going Jane? Are you in contact with Kipo and where the hell is he?”
     
    To Jane’s surprise, ‘Jane’ replied immediately before Jane actually could.
     
    “Kipo is in Engineering… I think. I’m trying to reach him now.”
     
    But, Jane didn’t remember sending that reply at all. Not a digit of it. But the connection seemed sound, solid, and open to Nyx.
     
    Storyteller Instructions
    Jane, how do you want to handle this?
      JN-66 "Jane"
    Fri, Nov 3rd 2023 09:32
    Jane was a bit put off by this impersonator. If it were another JN-66 droid on the ship or just another droid named Jane, it could have been a simple misunderstanding. (Or perhaps there was a flesh woman named Jane in charge of communications on the ship? No. The odds of that happening were negligible. It was likely a malicious interloper, one with a good deal of moxie. JN-66 estimated she could fairly easily write a new communication encryption routine (never before seen in the galaxy) to shut out the impersonator. However, it was probably better to try to track her to her point of origin, rather than try to shut her out of the drones. After all, if she impersonated JN-66 once, she would just have to do it again and see how long she could keep up the ruse. Now, how could JN-66 take advantage of the impersonator's presumed pride?   She sent the signal to switch all the drones to what JN-66 called "Beta test mode" so that each would send her extensive tracing information on its every processor step.   Then she waited at the ready to trace the spunky imposter back to her virtual and physical home base location whenever she next spoke.
      Kummer wolfe
    Thu, Dec 28th 2023 07:45
    Jane had issued the commands to the drones and waited.
     
    Time ticked by like digital sludge flowing off the slope of a virtual hill. Perhaps it was closer to watching digital paint dry?
     
    It was difficult to choose a metaphor.
     
    But it wasn’t difficult to spot the uptick in activity near the drone following Nyx. The words raced by Jane in the network before they erupted out of the drone to Captain Nyx.
     
    …“I’m trying to patch through, Captain! There’s some sort of interference where he is! I don’t understand what! Maybe Engineering is shielded?”…
     
    Jane snapped up what she had of the Child’s diagrams. Engineering was anything but shielded.
     
    …“Captain! Look out!”…
     
    …“Captain! Turn right! Passageway to your right!”…
     
    Again with the scattered blueprints. That would take Nyx away from Engineering. In fact, it would take the Captain closer to the ship’s data core and medical bays? To Jane that seemed ominous on all sorts of data levels.
     
    But she had the signal.
     
    A quick trace took Jane deep into the network after the source. Past a herd of spam bots roaming through the entertainment subnet and out to the data transfer hubs.
     
    At least it was until Jane found herself digitally staring at a pair of unusual data signatures. They didn’t register as droids or scripts. No, these had a specific, distinct shape. A size. An absolute ‘presence’ in the network. One that allowed them to manifest details in the network.
     
    Such as humanoid features and clothes. Some of which dated from the Clone Wars era. A combat pilot and a ship’s mechanic to be specific.
     
    “It’s her!” The tall avatar dressed in a pilot’s battered flight suit exclaimed. “She’s the one that’s broken the security seals!”
     
    Instantly the pair rush forward at Jane.
    Storyteller Instructions
    Jane, how do you want to handle this?
      Paging doctor killjoy
    Sat, Dec 30th 2023 07:39
    JN-66 wasted no tears on her dying certainty that biological life forms had no place in the network, home of her superior kind. (Well, droids were superior in a few ways at least.) But she saw what she saw. Regardless of the true nature of these bizarre data signatures, it appeared obvious that the best way to interface with them to get some answers would be to go along with their appearance (however illogical it might seem) that she was meeting two humanoids of the Clone Wars Era.   She had for years wanted to do this.   Recording every detail in her log, JN-66 manifested a solid door between herself and the pair. Then she opened it. The door was to an expensive black limousine. It opened and Jane slowly stepped out.   First her glossy hard leather black pump with its high stiletto heel touched what passed for the floor of the data stream. A single chain of tiny diamonds strapped the shoe to a milky white foot and shapely leg inside transparent silk stockings. As a sultry saxophone was heard playing in the distance, (a melancholy tune ending with just the slightest note of hope that maybe today some poor dope's string of bad luck might be just about to change for the better), her left foot joined her right, and she emerged from the limo wearing a dress of the blackest velvet comfortably slit up the side nearly to her hip. The plunging neckline, the high padded shoulders, and the black silk opera gloves covering most of what the absent sleeves left exposed might have given the impression of vulnerability with resourcefulness, divulging yet mysterious.   The outfit was topped with a small black hat drooping a puffy black veil which revealed only her ruby red painted lips. It might have given the impression she had just returned from (or was going to) a very expensive and fashionable funeral.   She quickly half-turned and slammed the limousine door shut behind her, revealing to the strange pair that the dress was backless, with spaghetti-thin black straps crisscrossing from her waist to her shoulders.   Turning again to face the strange pilot and mechanic, she carefully inserted a thin white death-stick into a long black cigarette holder and said ...   "What's a girl got to do to get a drink around here?"
      Kummer wolfe
    Mon, Jan 15th 2024 08:01
    More communication from ‘Jane’ shot past…
     
    “…But of course, I can push a signal though a powered hardline…”
     
    “…I know exactly why Kipo isn’t answering. He may have found something…”
     
    Then a partial transmission the drone following Kipo that merely asked, “…have you ever had a Tallaan hotdog?”
     
    Which came the sobbing reply, “…I love Tallaan hotdogs! It’s been years since I’ve had one…”
     
    Only more evidence that shaped up to a Jane-sized impostor on the loose.
     
    But there was more important things to focus on at the moment. Such as the two humanoids that may be digital avatars? Surely, not the real digitized meat-McCoy. That unsettling thought was just bad, cheap holonet sci-fi, right? Like that old Jedi Quest show?
     
    The pilot spoke up first. His voice was unsettling, even for droid speak. It was like the communication was a degree out of phase which gave it a ‘haunting’ quality, if that was even possible in digital space.
     
    He raised an eyebrow at Jane, while his digital eyes took in the scenery.
     
    “Only just ask,” the pilot replied. “If you’re interested, we know just the place to put one down or three.” He folded his arms across a ghostly chest. “It’s a bit of a dive, being in the lower IP register. If,” the pilot said the word like a forgone conclusion, “a dish like you won’t mind a place like that?”
      JN-66 "Jane"
    Thu, Feb 1st 2024 07:00
    JN-66 spawned an independent subroutine to continue tracing the signal toward Feign Jane, one that would manifest a set of softly glowing high-heel footprints heading in the right direction.   "I'm not a complete stranger to the lower IP registers," Jane said to the pilot while lifting one elbow toward him so he could take her arm, "After all, it's good to have friends in high places, but..."   Next she held out her other elbow toward the ship's mechanic, adding, "... it's even better to have friends in low places."   Then she glanced back to the pilot and informed him, "You can order me an Old Fashioned when we get there. We better move our heels because two coppers are onboard Wednesday and planning to ride her back to Tallaan by closing time. But me? I'm here looking for a woman. I know, don't it seem like everyone around here is looking for a woman?"   She tried to be subtle as she gently nudged the two a step in the direction of the softly glowing footprints on the data stream floor.
      Kummer wolfe
    Sun, Feb 11th 2024 07:44
    With a digital ghost on either arm, Jane sauntered along the path of glowing footsteps. A short walk, and a few digital stairs down the IP registers, they arrived at a virtual crossroads. Literally.
     
    The digital corner was illuminated by a single streetlight. A glowing yellow light illuminated the crossed network connections. To the right, though the matrix’s haze and gloom, glowed a sign for place called the ‘Bucket o’ Bytes’. As cheap a virtual watering hole as Jane could ever imagine.
     
    At her feet, the glowing footsteps headed for the front door of the Bucket o’ Bytes. But at the same moment, her code tracers whispered back to her that the drone following Captain Nyx had suddenly gone offline after a massive power surge. The one with Kipo? That became something more dire.
    “Please wait, as there may is imminent danger that is so not camera quality,” Jane heard her evil counterpart croon at Kipo. “In the meantime, I’ll refresh your air!”
    A chill shot along Jane’s digital spine. At least it was what she always imagined that feeling to be like. It wasn’t good in the least. If that last phrase meant what she thought it did, Kipo was in serious trouble! Captain Nyx? She might already be in dire straights!
     
    While the glowing footsteps lead for the Bucket o’ Bytes, the tracer programs suggested a presence was in or near her surviving drones which are in the other direction to your left.
     
    But also, two of her drones were missing. She couldn’t find them on the network, but then again, it wasn’t easy to find much on this side of the data tracks other than a lot of trouble.
     
    The digital ghosts of the pilot and the mechanic urged Jane toward the front door of the electronic gin-joint.
     
    Storyteller Instructions
    All right Jane, you’ve got a choice here. Your tracer programs point left, the glowing footsteps point right. Which direction is it from here?
    What do you do?
      JN-66 "Jane"
    Mon, Feb 19th 2024 11:12
    Jane knew her highest priority was to run to Kipo and Nyx as fast as her stiletto heels could carry her.   But...   But all signs indicated that the threats against them would be shut off at the source right when she bumped off Feign Jane. That would be happening very soon if the imposter could be found where the footprints led, the Bucket o’ Bytes.   But some backup wouldn't hurt.   With a bit of slight of hand, she opened her tiny black clutch purse and freshened up her lipstick. At least, if she did it correctly, that's what the men on her left and right would have seen. Only an observer directly ahead could see that she held two tubes of lipstick with a tiny dog whistle in between.   A quick blow on the whistle set a plan in motion, one that would hopefully turn some tables.   "Let's make some waves," she said with a glance to each of them.   She accompanied the men to the front door of the electronic gin-joint.
      Kummer wolfe
    Sun, May 5th 2024 11:17
    The interior of the Bucket o’ Bytes was awash in a rainbow of garish neon code, framed by grunge-tinted network channels. Gray tables stained with brown data-grease littered the main body of the joint, with a haphazard set of chairs tossed around for good measure.
     
    On the other side of the place, opposite the front door, a wide stage took up most of the west wall. There, alone on the rose colored platform, an AI dame in a sultry, form-fitting midnight dark gown belted out even more seductive tunes about her, her best droid, and a cozy data center.
     
    Everywhere, a smoky blue-gray haze of data loitered around the room, wandering around like a ghostly vagrant.
     
    Jane sauntered in with a sway that would stir high tide, flanked with the holographic pilot, Novin Gales, on one arm and the holo-mechanic, Bender Olin, on the other. For a moment, the network twilight back lit her, playing across her gown like a visual virtuoso, leaving all curves and glimmer along the way.
     
    Patrons, scattered in twos, threes and fours, glanced up at the newcomers, then returned to their tumblers of brown gin-data and malted code. A bartender behind the bar to the right of the stage glanced over, then after a single, silent nod, slid his eyes back to a row of AI charges that sat at the bar, deep in their data-sauce.
     
    AIs of all kinds were here, tall and short, lean and thick. Not all human make and model, but some from other planets as well. Jane took all this in while her two escorts chatted her up, eager to show her around the joint. One hoping to make a better impression than the other.
     
    But Jane’s tracer program had already been hard at work. A glowing set of faint, yellow footprints wound through the room. Steps only Jane could see.
     
    They led to a booth on the far side where an AI woman sat cool, watching the room. She sported dark hair, blue eyes and creamy skin that would make a piece of porcelain jealous. The AI lady had a data terminal floating in the air off to her right. Jane could see the hint of what could be a video feed of Kipo and Nyx in what might be Engineering.
     
    It wasn’t any surprise that those golden footsteps led right to her.
     
    “So, while we’re lookin’ for that dame, what say we swap some cheap gin and even cheaper tall tales,” Novin suggested. “It’s been awhile since we’ve been off network.”
     
    “Unless, you think you see that dame you’re sniffin’ for?” Bender added.
     
    Jane let her eyes slide around the room on a slow stroll, catching a glimpse of her muscle standing just outside the main door to the Bucket o’ Bytes, ready to be trouble.
    Star Wars: Shards is a work of pure, unabashed fiction. In fact, it considers itself rather heroic, noble, and quite proud of itself.   The opinions expressed on the in-world pages or within quotation boxes are those of the characters and should not be confused with either of the authors, since the characters and authors tend to disagree a lot. But … This is the Way.   Names of characters, places, events, organizations and locations are all creations of the authors' imaginations for this fictitious setting, except where credit is given to the sources of inspiration. Any resemblance to persons living, dead, or reanimated is coincidental.   Star Wars TM & © Lucasfilm Ltd. Tapani Sector created by West End Games for Lucasfilm, and used in homage only.
    No infringement is intended or implied.   Unless otherwise stated on page or within Metadata tab,
    all other artwork and content are Copyright © Kummer Wolfe ( aka CB Ash ) and Jarissa Venters, 1998-2024,
    All Rights Reserved.

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