In Cisco’s Dewdrop Dining-Rooms
They tell the tale anew
Of a hidden sea and a hidden fight,
When the Baltic ran from the Northern Light
And the Stralsund fought the two.
- Rudyard Kipling, The Rhyme of the Three Sealers
New Hope, Late January '01
"Egregore," Ribeiro read aloud as she, Guzman and Makavan approached the boarding ramp, followed by their luggage. "What a strange name. Why is she called that?"
"Brokers tend to remember unusual names," Makavan said. "Makes them more likely to think of me for a job." He didn't add the real reason, which was his conviction that the Egregore would only fly if everyone on board believed really, really strongly that she would.
They walked up the ramp, a robot rolling past them into the port payload bay as they climbed, towing a cargo pallet behind it. As they entered the ship, a cheerful baritone called out.
"Well, hellooooo nurse!"
"Behave yourself, Greg," Makavan said, then to Ribeiro: "That's the ship's AI. I'm afraid it's developed something of a personality over the last couple of decades, but it's harmless enough."
"Step outside where I can get a target lock and say that," Greg said.
"Aren't ships considered female as a rule?" Ribeiro asked.
Greg shifted its voice to a husky contralto and said "I can be female if you like. Simon responds better to this voice anyway. He's shallow like that."
"Greg, please ready the ship for lift and hard vacuum, then get launch clearance and take us to low orbit."
"We're going to hang out our washing on the Kármán Line," Greg sang, baritone again. "Have you any dirty washing, Simon dear?"
"It's going to be a long trip," Guzman muttered to himself.
Ring 3, Late January '01
Approaching the New Hope Automated Transfer Point, the Egregore was hailed by a cutter from the Hapflorean Federation.
"Cease accelerating and prepare to be boarded," the cutter's captain radioed. "You are suspected of carrying contraband." Ribeiro, in the right hand seat on the bridge, looked at Makavan and shook her head.
"No can do, monkey boy," Greg called, and muted the channel as the zhuh-zhuh captain exploded in a fiery rage.
"I wish you hadn't said that," Makavan said. "You know how it upsets them."
The AI threw a course plot up on the main display screen. The marker for the zhuh-zhuh cutter changed from NEUTRAL to HOSTILE as its sensors shifted from scanning mode to trying for a targeting lock. A sheaf of potential intercept courses sprang onto the display.
"Punch it, Simon, you can beat them to the ATP," Greg encouraged. Makavan checked the Limiting Cone of Approach on the course plot; the AI was right. It had probably checked that before kicking off.
Makavan slammed the throttles forward hard enough that the ship's gravity momentarily couldn't cope, and as Guzman staggered to stay upright he splashed hot drinks from the tray he was carrying over the three of them, causing scalds and harsh language.
"Next time, a little warning," Guzman said. "Or I'll brain you with the jug."
Ring 4, Late January '01
Emerging from the ATP at Thalweg, Makavan noted a local cutter in company with an independent trader; as soon as it detected the Egregore, it disengaged and moved onto an intercept course.
"Strap in," Makavan called to the others, "And brace for manoeuvring." He didn't want to be brained with a jug.
However, orbital mechanics and pursuit curves being what they were, it was clear the Egregore would be in the approach pattern before the cutter had any hope of catching up. Its captain apparently decided the incoming trader was the Port Authority's problem, and turned in search of easier prey.
Next: Thalweg...
Status at End January '01
For the moment, I'm going to say that if the IRD would increase Simon's Rep, his Wealth die type goes up one, and if they would decrease it, Wealth goes down one. Lifetime Rep is tracked as normal for 5150, and I'll pretend his Rep is always 5 - the default for the player character - to avoid needing to track that; the SWADE equivalents of increasing Rep are Advances, and decreasing Rep - permanent injuries.
- IRD/DRD: 9. Dice rolls vs default Rep 5 give +1 Rep, so Wealth goes up to d8.
- Current IRD: 0. Lifetime IRD: 9.
- Bennies: 3 left, next refresh episode 004.
- Wounds: None.
GM Notes
I'm still mulling over the designs for the various ships in the campaign, but it seems to me that one reason 5150 abstracts the general crew might be that they are an AI with repair drones. More about the ships later.
Checking the Hauling Cargo encounter on NLMV pp. 41-42, it seems I can simply say I'm hauling two units of cargo to Thalweg, gaining a total of 8 Increasing Rep d6. That takes my total for the month to 15 IRD, offset by 3 Decreasing Rep Dice for ship operating costs. That's 12 left at the end of the month.
Simon needs to make a Science roll for astrogation, and it seems reasonable to let Greg Support him. The SFC says the basic AI has a d6 and a Wild Die, which roll 3 and 6+6+4 respectively; that would give a +4, but the maximum a single supporter can offer is +2. Simon has a d4 plus a Wild Die, which roll 4+2 and 3, then we add the Support +2 and the -4 modifier for jumping to another star system within the same galaxy, for a grand total of 4; success. Hmm, Simon will have to git gud at that. The jump transit time (SWADE p. 144) is 2d6=7 days, which is also how much energy the ship consumes; I expect the ship will wind up with about 30 once designed, so that's OK. (Note that although I've rolled that first, in the narrative it actually occurs between the two encounters.)
En route there are two Contact in Space encounters, using NLMV pp. 35-38; the first is a single PEF, the second is two PEFs. PEF 1 is a zhuh-zhuh military cutter with a Rep 4 captain; PEF 2 is a xeog cutter with a Rep 4 captain; PEF 3 is an independent basic trader with a Rep 3, which acknowledges us and then moves on, so we don't need to worry about that one. However, reading p. 37 carefully I decide that on a roll of 3-6 on 1d6, cutters will be hostile; both of them are.
Since I'm still thinking about the various stock ships, I ran the ship combats as Dangerous Quick Encounters based on Piloting; I allowed Greg to Support with Piloting (the basic AI is explicitly stated to be able to fly the ship).
- PEF 1: Support gives a +1, Simon rolls 5; total 6, success but with Bumps & Bruises (-1 for Fatigue).
- PEF 2: Support gives +0, Simon rolls 6+4=10, -1 for Fatigue gives a total of 9; success with a raise, no injuries.
No comments:
Post a Comment