Move 19 (Chapter 1.19)
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hexarchate_rpg(Thanks to zuhrovet for keeping the Station Moongray Timeline on the game wiki updated.)
Year 361, Month Three, Day Seventeen (Monday), ~0550
Just outside of Medical
Sulen has just been abandoned by Mikodez, who has headed into the reception area of Medical. They can hear Fluffy chirruping now that she's finished gobbling down the treats that Mikodez has fed her. Would it be best to go after Mikodez and try to contain the damage, or stand guard outside with the voidcreature? Baby Crowned-With-Eyes is wriggling very alarmingly in the sack and making ridiculously cheerful humming noises--and the spilled coffee still hasn't been cleaned up, and is probably a slipping hazard.
In Medical: antechamber
A triage nurse gives Mikodez a distinctly unfriendly look as he approaches with a caged Fluffy in tow. "You've had enough warnings," he says. "I don't care if you're Andan Bokali's special guests, you're disturbing our legitimate patients." He reaches over to a desk and pushes a red call button marked SECURITY.
In Medical: the actual patient
Istradez is, despite being awfully cavalier about his own condition, smiling reluctantly at Iawa for their solicitousness. Meanwhile, although Alaric has instructed Mikodez to fetch a nurse with float chair and discharge paperwork, he hears the triage nurse shooing Mikodez out. If they want a float chair, they're going to have to wrangle on themselves; it's clear that relying on Mikodez is not...the best idea considering how annoyed Medical is with him.
[Assuming that Alaric has called the "Bumblebee," Ashari (running as NPC) responds via lokwor.]
Ashari sounds very concerned about Istradez's status. "Bad enough to need a float chair? I'll dispatch one of the Kel to prep Medical," they tell Alaric.
on the "Bumblebee": the thieving Rahal
Gerae, taking Virmad's silence as a license to spill all his emotional upsets, will continue babbling about what a stressful year he's had unless Virmad interrupts him. If Virmad doesn't bring up the topic himself, Gerae will add plaintively that he could use some coffee (or stronger stimulant) and that he hasn't had food for a full day and could they get an early breakfast?
on the "Bumblebee": "xeno"mathematics the Cartesian way
The moth ponders Sasha's symbols and graphs for several minutes, then returns a graph with y = log10x, y = x, y = x2, and y = 10x. Its humming has definitely quieted--perhaps the math is distracting it, or is taking more of its concentration.
[It's too bad I don't remember any LaTeX...?!]
Comms to EVERYONE, marching orders from Ashari
Ashari (running as NPC) calls everyone via lokwor, sounding grim, and instructs that they would like everyone to be on the "Bumblebee" and prepared to make a run for it within the hour. This means that Ashari expects Sulen and Virmad to prepare for a (remote) confrontation with the station administrator as per the plan.
zuhrovet for keeping the Station Moongray Timeline on the game wiki updated.)Year 361, Month Three, Day Seventeen (Monday), ~0550
Just outside of Medical
Sulen has just been abandoned by Mikodez, who has headed into the reception area of Medical. They can hear Fluffy chirruping now that she's finished gobbling down the treats that Mikodez has fed her. Would it be best to go after Mikodez and try to contain the damage, or stand guard outside with the voidcreature? Baby Crowned-With-Eyes is wriggling very alarmingly in the sack and making ridiculously cheerful humming noises--and the spilled coffee still hasn't been cleaned up, and is probably a slipping hazard.
In Medical: antechamber
A triage nurse gives Mikodez a distinctly unfriendly look as he approaches with a caged Fluffy in tow. "You've had enough warnings," he says. "I don't care if you're Andan Bokali's special guests, you're disturbing our legitimate patients." He reaches over to a desk and pushes a red call button marked SECURITY.
In Medical: the actual patient
Istradez is, despite being awfully cavalier about his own condition, smiling reluctantly at Iawa for their solicitousness. Meanwhile, although Alaric has instructed Mikodez to fetch a nurse with float chair and discharge paperwork, he hears the triage nurse shooing Mikodez out. If they want a float chair, they're going to have to wrangle on themselves; it's clear that relying on Mikodez is not...the best idea considering how annoyed Medical is with him.
[Assuming that Alaric has called the "Bumblebee," Ashari (running as NPC) responds via lokwor.]
Ashari sounds very concerned about Istradez's status. "Bad enough to need a float chair? I'll dispatch one of the Kel to prep Medical," they tell Alaric.
on the "Bumblebee": the thieving Rahal
Gerae, taking Virmad's silence as a license to spill all his emotional upsets, will continue babbling about what a stressful year he's had unless Virmad interrupts him. If Virmad doesn't bring up the topic himself, Gerae will add plaintively that he could use some coffee (or stronger stimulant) and that he hasn't had food for a full day and could they get an early breakfast?
on the "Bumblebee": "xeno"mathematics the Cartesian way
The moth ponders Sasha's symbols and graphs for several minutes, then returns a graph with y = log10x, y = x, y = x2, and y = 10x. Its humming has definitely quieted--perhaps the math is distracting it, or is taking more of its concentration.
[It's too bad I don't remember any LaTeX...?!]
Comms to EVERYONE, marching orders from Ashari
Ashari (running as NPC) calls everyone via lokwor, sounding grim, and instructs that they would like everyone to be on the "Bumblebee" and prepared to make a run for it within the hour. This means that Ashari expects Sulen and Virmad to prepare for a (remote) confrontation with the station administrator as per the plan.
Re: checking on the Rahal - paging Virmad
Date: 2018-03-26 04:34 am (UTC)Virmad's lokwor - paging Virmad and GM
Date: 2018-03-26 11:17 am (UTC)[I can think of various ways that Virmad's lokwor could be bugged without instantly dooming the mission. For example, a bug might need station grid access or a nearby receiver to transfer the information it has gathered. For medium levels of excitement, there might be something taking images of the screen rather than an audio bug, in which case Teo might have read Ashari's marching orders, and I'd be curious about their precise wording.
Though if nothing's wrong and Virmad just revises his estimate of Sasha's paranoia upward, that's fine too!]
Re: Virmad's lokwor - paging Virmad and GM
Date: 2018-03-26 03:42 pm (UTC)Re: Virmad's lokwor - paging Virmad and GM
Date: 2018-03-26 04:09 pm (UTC)[Does it transmit only lokwor audio or anything Virmad says? And would it be able to transmit from the Wasp to the station while the Wasp is docked?]
Re: Virmad's lokwor - paging Virmad and GM
Date: 2018-03-26 04:13 pm (UTC)Virmad's bug
Date: 2018-03-26 11:00 pm (UTC)She checks Virmad's lokwor to see whether he has made or received voice calls [I'm pretty sure the answer is no], then wipes it, resets the number, and puts it in her pocket. "I'll print you a new one," she tells Virmad, and heads toward the common room.
As they enter the room, she turns to Virmad and says, "You told me you maintained physical security of your device. I'd like to know why you lied to me."
Re: Virmad's bug
Date: 2018-03-28 02:55 pm (UTC)[THAT SAID: did they, like, security check our devices when we came aboard the station? it's been so long... that's the only time I can think of when Virmad's lokwor would have been, like, out of his reach/sight if not actually on his person.]
He pauses. “Who makes lokwor voice calls, anyway? Or, more to the point, who that’s engaged in any kind subversive activities do they expect to make lokwor voice calls?”
[the mystery of the bug]
Date: 2018-03-28 05:36 pm (UTC)Re: Virmad's bug
Date: 2018-03-28 10:21 pm (UTC)Sasha's face is so red she'd make a good wedding decoration. She does not want to talk Virmad through his precise movements in the last few hours.
"It's a physical bug. The kind you'd use to get someone's voice password, which is why solo voice authentication is a terrible idea."
She pulls the lokwor out of her pocket again to show Virmad, and notices a twitch. "... Oh. Fuck me through the thousand hells, that thing is mobile. Here, little buglet, let's find you a nice safe container."
She finds one in the galley, the sort of box you'd store leftovers in. The bug shouldn't be able to open the lid, but just to be sure, she instructs the grid to track the foreign communications device, and notify her and Yehan if it leaves its container.
"To answer your question," she tells Virmad, a bit more calmly, "people make voice calls if they're less worried about recordings than about a written record. Or if they're perfectly innocent time travelers who just have some interesting technology. Or if they need to hack the teenager's lokwor to find out where the fuck he is."
[Are condoms common in the heptarchate? If I needed to fumble around in a drawer to release a spy bug during an assignation, finding a condom would definitely be my excuse.]
Re: Virmad's bug [this icon seems weirdly apropos]
Date: 2018-03-28 10:26 pm (UTC)Re: Virmad's bug
Date: 2018-03-29 02:58 pm (UTC)Re: Virmad's bug
Date: 2018-03-29 08:40 pm (UTC)Sasha grabs some soup and starts heating it for the magistrate. She's trying to keep her voice even, but she slams the cabinet door. "Avrayen has Fluffy. I heard her when I called him. Sulen found Avrayen outside the medical center, and Alaric has gone to meet them. And before you ask, no, I don't know what Avrayen has been doing. Or why he didn't report Imsayed was hurt."
appropriate disposition of Virmad's bug
Date: 2018-04-01 03:32 pm (UTC)She tells Virmad, "I didn't destroy the bug because I think it's possible that you and Sulen or Ashari will want to make a call that you know the station's listening to. Do you want to keep the device, or should I give it to Ashari? This box should keep the bug from crawling off."
Re: appropriate disposition of Virmad's bug
Date: 2018-04-01 04:04 pm (UTC)[thanks, zuhrovet, for being willing to backtrack — Virmad may be distracted and sleep-deprived, but he's not THAT sleep-deprived.]
[sleep deprivation]
Date: 2018-04-02 06:34 pm (UTC)Re: [sleep deprivation]
Date: 2018-04-02 09:43 pm (UTC)Re: appropriate disposition of Virmad's bug
Date: 2018-04-02 09:52 pm (UTC)She rifles through the boxes in the galley's cupboards until she finds packets of instant coffee powder and sweetener, and lays them on the tray, together with hot water in an insulated mug. [If we don't want to subject Gerae to the horrors of Space Nescafé, a character who drinks coffee is going to have to make it.]
"As for Imsayed, Yehan's been on comms, so you'd have to ask her for the latest news. I know Iawa is with him, and is worried about the lokwors, likely because of a bug like yours."
[No problem! This timeline is clearly better for everyone.]
very virtuously reporting in - paging GM/Ashari
Date: 2018-04-05 11:33 am (UTC)[
Re: very virtuously reporting in - paging GM/Ashari
Date: 2018-04-05 10:51 pm (UTC)Re: very virtuously reporting in - paging GM/Ashari
Date: 2018-04-06 12:58 am (UTC)She knocks, waits for permission to enter, then steps inside and sets the transparent box holding the lokwor on Ashari's desk. "I need to explain this item," she says, "and then I have one question. This was Virmad's lokwor. He picked up a surveillance bug on the station. It's a classic design, powered by the lokki signal. It switches on and starts transmitting audio when someone makes a voice call. The rest of the time, it's using low or no power, so it likely won't show up without active scan. Which we've got, on the Wasp, but we have to be consistent about using it. This bug's a mobile variant. Someone could send a lokki signal to tell it to move, and it probably homes in on nearby lokwors, too. I've printed a clean lokki for Virmad, but I thought you'd like to keep this one, in case you want to make a call that you know the station will hear. Or tell Virmad to make one."
Ashari never interrupts; they just wait menacingly. This time's no exception.
Sasha continues, "I'm headed to the station now, to see what Iawa found; I expect it's another bug like this one. Can you confirm that you're expecting the Rahal to contact the station administrator from the Wasp? Sulen had asked me to provide them with a weapon, just in case something went wrong during that conversation. I could print one while I'm on station. But based on your message earlier, I'm guessing it won't be needed?"
[Sasha's infodump owes a great deal to a conversation with my spouse about microphones and The Thing.
Ashari may or may not want to warn Sasha not to make assumptions about their relationship with Sulen.]
Re: very virtuously reporting in - paging GM/Ashari
Date: 2018-04-12 01:12 am (UTC)Re: very virtuously reporting in - paging GM/Ashari
Date: 2018-04-12 01:15 am (UTC)Re: very virtuously reporting in - paging GM/Ashari
Date: 2018-04-12 01:39 am (UTC)And no worries! Long, uncomfortable stares from Ashari are very characteristic.]
Re: very virtuously reporting in - paging GM/Ashari
Date: 2018-04-12 01:52 am (UTC)They fix Sasha with an imperious eye. "You seem to have certain...ideas about my relationship with Sulen. I advise you to stick to your job." Ashari smiles toothily and reaches up, with almost exaggerated slowness, to tuck an imaginary strand of hair behind their ear.
Re: very virtuously reporting in - paging GM/Ashari
Date: 2018-04-12 12:23 pm (UTC)As she waits for Ashari's assent, Sasha imagines a vase flying over their desk, in a shallow, gentle parabola, and smashing on their face. The faint chiming she hears is her imagination; Ashari will have used putty to hold things down.