Move 1 (Chapter 1.1)

[yhlee]

Time: CLASSIFIED
Place: CLASSIFIED

The tan-skinned woman, your contact in the resistance, doesn't introduce herself, but she has that efficient way of walking that suggests some form of military training, and she leads the twelve of you to the hangar where a trademoth awaits. The moth is painted with some kind of stylized insect symbol. "Technically this is a reclaimed pirate vessel," the woman says abruptly, "but we prefer to call it an entrepreneur. We've named it Wasp, mainly because the technicians couldn't be bothered to repaint it."

She faces you fully, unsmiles. "Let me be frank. In an ideal universe we would send a fully integrated team that had trained together. We don't have that kind of luxury. The twelve of you are the people available for this particular mission, so we're sending you."

The woman's expression smooths out a little. "We have been informed of an opportunity to recruit a Nirai defector, who is going by the name Remi, from a certain time period in the heptarchate. Not only are Nirai valuable because they can always tell what the date is--useful when you're time traveling, as you might imagine--this one claims to have invented a method for detecting rifts and predicting where they will take us, possibly even generating them. As some of you know from personal experience, rifts are unstable and figuring out where they will take you is not...exactly a science. That being said, there's always the possibility that Nirai Remi is a heptarchate agent. Stay alert."

She continues giving you details: the twelve of you will be crewing the Wasp, which is thankfully largely automated, to go through a rift and recover Nirai Remi on the other end from Station Moongray. Her briefing materials include some photographs of Remi, a handsome young man with curly hair and striking ice-violet eyes. Apparently this isn't the first time he's run into trouble with heptarchate authorities, and he's much more interested in continuing his research than getting into yet more trouble.

Remi will be expecting you. The woman is happy to leave the details of his retrieval up to you. In particular, there hasn't been time to do a thorough reconnaissance of Station Moongray, as there's some concern that the particular rift leading to Remi's time and place is unstable and may dissipate soon.

[GM notes: At this point, you should feel free to ask the NPC questions about the mission. You should also feel free to organize yourselves either in-character or out of character--is there going to be a command hierarchy? who will specialize in what roles aboard the moth or during the retrieval? cover stories and identities?--and discuss preliminary plans. You can also talk a little bit about how your character ended up here, if you like. It's fine to have multiple threads going for simultaneous conversations. Given that this is a forum RPG and we're mostly in different time zones, some of that is inevitable. If you have any questions, feel free to ping me--I'll be watching the threads.

Once the characters get underway, there should be plenty of room for interaction and flirting and whatever you like--this is mostly to get us started.--YHL]

Comments

[smokedetective]

Ashari stands leaning against a large crate, sticking close to Sulen. As the woman speaks, they inspect their nails, immaculate in spite of the disaster that was the past couple of weeks. This was perhaps the second- no, third. Definitely third to last place they wanted to be. Accidentally falling through a time rift had been torture enough. Falling further into a rebellion they didn't particularly want to die for was even worse. Ashari sighed. Neither the clothes nor the accommodations were up to their standards, but weren't the worst they'd ever put up with. At least the "entrepreneur" ship seemed to be more their speed. Still, their only real solace was the fact that their old friend, Sulen, had somehow ended up not only in the same place, but on the same team. It was a stroke of luck the like of which they hadn't seen before, but they weren't going to question it. Yet.

Despite the reminiscing, Ashari carefully listens to what the woman had to say. Their life had always depended on having all of the information, now more than ever. The whole Remi situation sounds too good to be true, but they're stuck here, so there's no point in arguing with the mission itself. They don't like it, but they'll deal. Running out of hangnails to scowl at, they push off of the crate and lean against Sulen, using their friend's shoulder as an armrest.

Once the woman finishes talking, Ashari elegantly raises a hand in a parody of their student days and doesn't wait for the go ahead before they say, "Hello? Yes. A couple of questions. One, exactly when and where will we be going? Two, will we have the resources to fit in, or will we need to improvise? And three, who"--they turn to cast a dispassionate glance at the rest of their new team--"are all of you?"

[OOC: I'm figuring we'd all better introduce ourselves and get some information before arguing over the command hierarchy, though that should be fun when it happens. :))]

[venndaai]

Sulen doesn't mind being used as an armrest. There's a comforting familiarity to it. The entire rest of their life might be gone, but at least Ashari can be counted on to act like this is just another garden party.

"Those are questions I'd like answered as well," Sulen says. They're nervous, though this doesn't show on their face. This mission sounds like it's going to involve a lot of unknown variables. Not least of which is the Wasp. Sulen is not comfortable in civilian moths. Especially when they can't pull up the specs to reassure themselves that it isn't going to suddenly decompress mid journey.

They wait for the contact to respond. If the destination is a time period that they're well read on, at least they will know something of what to expect, will feel like they have a bit more control of the situation. They turn their head slightly to observe the rest of the team, automatically looking for everyone's signifiers. A bad habit, somewhat akin to a compulsion, but every bit of information helps. It's a ragtag group. What brought them all here?

Sulen will feel much better once preparations for the mission begin and they have something to focus on, though their anxiety over the Wasp probably won't recede.

[yhlee]

The contact nods at Sulen. "Ask," she says. "That's what I'm here for."

[lookingforoctober]

"Elesa Avery, historian and adventurer," she says in response to the question. "Call me Elesa. I'm not from around here."

She keeps it quick, because the question isn't one that she considers especially important under the circumstances. Introductions always make her impatient. But she does think that they should be symmetrical, if they're happening.

"And you?" she asks, pointedly.

[smokedetective]

Ashari snorts and gestures to the hangar. "Darling, no one's from around here. Even I'm not from around here." They smile generously. "You can call me Ashari. I must say, it's nice to have a historian on the team."

[lookingforoctober]

"Think bigger," Elesa says, but she's curious. "Even you?" Why is there an 'even' in that sentence?

"It's nice to be appreciated," she adds, cautious but a little mollified in spite of herself. Historian appreciation is not the most common thing she's come across, despite the intrusion of rifts into daily life.

[smokedetective]

Ashari sniffs. "Oh, I've been around," they say.

The truth, really, is that they've been with the rebellion for a while and have seen their fair share of missions and facilities, even if their presence in this one could be attributed to a dumb accident.

[yhlee]

The woman nods. "You are to set out within the next day--sooner if preferable, to the rift coordinates given in the briefing materials. It should take you five days to reach it. As for Nirai Remi, beyond his coordinates, you are picking him up in High Calendar Year 361."

[GM's note: For reference, the massacre at Hellspin Fortress is in Year 853. Ninefox Gambit's events take place in 1251. So 361 is during an earlier period of the heptarchate.]

Her expression turns sardonic. "As for resources, we've installed a matter printer in the Wasp so you can produce clothing and other basics as needed, but it's...an antique from the time period, so its output may be...interesting."

[zuhrovet]

Sasha can't entirely hide her grin. She's more of a software person usually, but who wouldn't want to play with a matter printer from the future?

[vass]

[OOC: I just noticed the timeline post.

So we're headed to 22 years before Kujen and Esfarel first entered the cradle. And we are looking for a Nirai. Hmmmmmmm.]

[yhlee]

[*looks innocent* I lie, GMs are never innocent.]

[smokedetective]

"Lovely," says Ashari. "Do we at least have any sewing or repair kits, in case the output is a little too interesting?"

[yhlee]

The woman's eyes flicker just slightly. "There's some Kel surplus kits in the cargo hold. Admittedly, it's the stuff the Kel didn't want anymore...but how badly can the they mess up needles and thread?"

[smokedetective]

For a couple of seconds, the expression on Ashari's face is pure terror. Then, they close their eyes and breathe in deeply, schooling their face to something more neutral. "I guess we'll find out," they say grimly, and mentally make note to search their own luggage for anything they could use.

[vass]

[AHAHAHAHA]

[lleullawgyffes]

"Eshegen Virmad," Virmad says, barely catching himself before he accidentally said "Rahal Virmad". Now that he knows he'll be working with this people, his instinct is to look around at the group and check everyone's signifiers; he notices Sulen surveying the group for what he suspects is the same purpose; a glance at their signifier confirms his suspicion, or at least doesn't refute it. Interesting. The others are...quite a mix.

He hesitates, not sure how much other information about himself to reveal. But then, if the asker and the other probably-(ex-)Rahal are as close as their body language suggests, they'll find out soon enough anyway. Their rebellion contact seems confident enough that their conspiracy is safe in this company, anyway. "I'm a student of...doctrine...s."

[Can I ask in particular what our nameless contact's signifier is?]

[yhlee]

[Your nameless contact's signifier is an Ashhawk Vigilant. It's a pretty common Kel signifier--even if she's not Kel or ex-Kel, it probably indicates that she has something like a military background.]

[lleullawgyffes]

[Good to know.]

[smokedetective]

Ashari raises an eyebrow. "What sort of doctrines?"

[Ashari's currently displaying Rose Burning Sweetly, showing that they care greatly for aesthetics and organization, and that their bark is worse than their bite.]

[lleullawgyffes]

Virmad takes a second to muster his self-control; he’s let himself get far too carried away by the situation. He’s supposed to be—or he was supposed to be—a professional.

He schools his expression into the calm mask he used during interrogations. “Heptarchate, of course” — he glances briefly at Sulen — “but I’ve also studied Gwa-an Poetics and, albeit in less depth, several other foreign doctrinal regimes. I have some familiarity with the history of our Doctrine — I was always more interested in Doctrine as a system of beliefs than in the mathematics of the calendar.” No need to bring up his interest in heretical doctrine, at least not until he has a better sense of the other Rahal, rebel though they may be.