Session 8

Session 8 Notes (Audio Recording available here)

4:20, recording starts

4:25: Recap

Thursday, January 4 (Sunday, January 7, we will exit drill space)

Janick monitors navigation, and Jedidiah puts protein gel in Aquila, but Aquila doesn’t notice.

Aquila is disassembling a drone that he bought (so he can know how it works) when Norah goes to talk to him. In the workshop, you can see the engine, where the system drive is totally shut off (in drill space) but the spike drive is chugging away. Norah asks where she can learn engineering like him, and Aquila says there isn’t much engineering up on Comedus in Sirimocos System (far west: 01.02), which is the “breadbasket of the far north”. Aquila learned engineering fixing farming equipment, and picking stuff up over time. He started traveling, and learned a lot more traveling than he did at home, to which Norah agreed.

Norah asks about the ship, to which Aquila says it seems durable and reliable (although he thinks there’s room for improvement, which he intends to do with Janick’s permission). Aquila says Janick seems reliable and that he’s happy with Janick, and then Norah does friendly banter for almost an hour. After Aquila asks, Norah says she and her brother are from the Zanad System (05.03), from the planet Banov. The brochures say it’s a utopia, but Norah and Oliver couldn’t stand it, and that Oliver is older than Norah (too many rules/regulations). The family “didn’t look too kindly” on them leaving, but now Norah says it’s better. After Aquila asks, Norah says they don’t stay in touch with the family, sending a message every once in awhile and nothing more.

Oliver finds Jedidiah hanging out in the bed of the cyber truck, when Oliver shows up. Oliver talks about Jedidiah being an unorthodox preacher, which Jedidiah usually laughs off and ignores. Oliver asks how the crew came together, to which Jedidiah says that the only thing the crew has in common is wanting to get off of Pharusa, and that Jedidiah wants to see the ‘verse and be wherever he needs to be. Jedidiah asks about what Oliver lives for, to which Oliver says he and Norah just want to get by, and that they’re good at it. Oliver says that Norah is smarter, to which Jedidiah says that you might be both strong and wise and just not know it yet.

Lorelai is in her room, practicing with her knives, when someone tries to get her attention by knocking on her door. Norah asks if she can talk, and Lorelai says “give me a minute”, shuts the door, and puts away all of the knives and targets. Norah thanks Lorelai, carrying one of the shiny crystals from the cargo bay (a geode with purples and light-blues), saying that she wants to keep it a secret from Rowan. Norah asks why she’s with a crew like this, to which Lorelai questions what crew she belongs with (and Norah has no answer). Lorelai says this crew makes sense for a time, and that she’s looking for her sister. Norah asks if her sister is lost or ran away, to which Lorelai says that her sister is lost to her, that her mother kept in touch with her for a time, but now she’s completely off the grid. Norah says that, with her information, she can keep a look out. Lorelai says her name is Leslie, that she’s blonde-ish, and that she’s wanted by more people than just Lorelai, and that she doesn’t want people she doesn’t know very well in on it. Norah understands and backs off. Lorelai might know how to make the rock into a blade, but not with what she has on the ship. The rock can either be sold for a good price or has some sort of utilitarian purpose (which is why they mined it). Aquila says that it’s not good for a blade, but it could be a good focus for a laser weapon (as a laser focal point, like the one in a laser weapon or a beam cutter). They’re going to get supplies when they get off-planet.

Rowan practices extending his telepathic mind in his room, creating a telepathic contact with Oliver just before he enters his room. Oliver says he’s getting kind of bored and wants to chat, and then Rowan proceeds to immediately try to break into his mind (and fails). Rowan still sees that Oliver is here out of curiosity. Oliver says he wants to ask a few questions, and says that Norah said to be careful around Rowan, and Oliver asks why. Rowan says that he didn’t agree with Norah, spoke out loud, and got off on the wrong foot, to which Oliver laughs.

Oliver talks about getting people to agree, to which Rowan says there are factions, some of which want to be charitable, but Rowan wants to take what he can get and always ask. Oliver’s grandmother talked about “hood-robin”, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Rowan says the crew has a strange view of fairness that he disagrees with. Rowan says that Norah got ticked off when Rowan wanted to go explore the ship, to which Oliver says Norah is just protective of the Eleven, and that things might be better the next time they meet.

Rowan asks if Oliver had met psychics before, to which Oliver says he’s met a few and asks if Rowan is one. Rowan dodges the question and, saying he had not been to other worlds, asks where Oliver has met other psychics (saying he’s in the brain guard). Oliver has never met someone in the brain guard, but has met his fair share of psychics, like biospyonics to heal people and telekenetics to “rough people up”. Oliver only met psychics in the service of others, and says they’re a weird bunch, hired by people “with important brains” to rough people up with less important brains. Oliver gives Rowan a fist-sized rock from his pouch, which is really heavy and “should fetch a fair price”: it appears to be a mineral rich piece of asteroid. Oliver says that he feels bad they got off on the wrong foot, and that he thinks there might be a good person in Rowan, and that he was giving the rock because he had the balls to ask.

Janick and Norah have a conversation: I was eating dinner, though, and didn’t notate.

Josh talks about the Katla system. Highlights include Oni station having two million people (TL4), the Throst on the highly-radioactive planet, bubble cities, and tons of other transponders in the system. It is possible to get to the surface, but most aren’t allowed (most people are biologists, xenobiologists, and botanists).

Janick responds to a ping from Oni Station, saying we picked up people. We get 200 credits from a Good Samaritan fund. Norah and Oliver leave, and they’re contacts we can connect with later. The party pays for 1000 credits worth of fuel and the ship is being refueled.

We picked a ship name: the Indeed It Does!

Rowan tries to confirm the information from the dossier on Dominic Floris using information in the public domain, but fails to. It’s the evening of Sunday, so he should be home at this time (he works the morning shift). The party decides to go to his apartment (which isn’t in a super nice, or a super scummy, area of the station: space is at a premium, though). On the station, you can either be planet-side or space-side (cheaper), and he lives on space-side in a large tower.

Dominic answers, and Rowan goes through a long list of things to try to get Dominic to answer, but Rowan mentions Zooey and gets Dominic to swear a lot, and then respond. Dominic won’t let people into his apartment, but says to meet tomorrow at 9AM in a very public restaurant.

Janick tries to find his buddies on the station, but can’t find anything until Rowan helps. Rowan gives him a list that includes references from the flight academy. The list includes professors that taught Janick, and military people that are still military, but contracting with the academy. Rowan looks for Asclepius people: there are definitely brain guard people that train here because brain guards often serve on ships. Everyone Rowan knows is a student.

At the restaurant (which is a café), Janick is at a separate table but everyone else is at the main table.

After the meeting, Rowan goes to talk to a friend that he served with, Jedidiah goes to play sci-fi-ball at a local field (the fields range from 0.5G to 1G: Jedidiah takes the highest-gravity option), and Aquila and Lorelai go shopping for lightsaber parts.

Jedidiah and Lorelai play sci-fi ball in 0.75G, and Jedidiah wins. They buy a punching bag and a sci-fi ball set for the cargo bay (the sticks, glowing ball, and rings). Janick goes to see a friend, Pombari “Pom” Ojo, a former instructor that he wants to go catch up with. Rowan asks for his name, but Janick says no, citing the fact that they’re probably not supposed to see each other as policy.

Probably can’t buy a plasma projector, a shear gun, a void carbine, or other very-precise things on the normal market, but magnetic/laser pistols/rifles can be found. Grenades are also not for sale, nor would a gatling gun for personal use (a gatling gun for a ship might be fine, but would require some signing off).