hexarchate_rpg | Move 7 (Chapter 1.7)

Time: 361
Place: Station Moongray, at last!

[GM's note: If your characters wanted to make any preparations or do any interactions in between Move 6 and Move 7, that's totally fine--just start a thread here with an appropriate subject header so everyone knows. If it's more in the nature of character RP than plot-related RP, it's also fine to start a separate character RP post.]

The Wasp
The Wasp is securely docked under Kaliyan's guidance in one of Moongray's bays--pretty roomy, but Moongray must be used to receiving shipments of raw materials for any fabrication, plus any specialty equipment they can't make or replace with what they have on-station.

In response to Alaric's last communication with the Wasp [Move 6], it responds with a box containing the Wasp, a bag-of-water human figure, and the Rebellion's logo and a "1." Then it pauses and sends two juxtaposed illustrations, one of a moth inside a box with a specifically Nirai voidmoth logo, and one of three moths outside the box.

The welcome on-station
When anyone who's coming on-station emerges, Andan Bokali and Nirai Pavn lead the way.

The group is greeted by Station Administrator Nirai Paerani Shan--who watches them from behind a translucent partition. Shan is a short, stumpy woman whose every inch of visible skin is covered with tattoos and/or implants. The lenses covering her eyes combined with the colorful, shimmering shawl she's wearing makes her resemble a butterfly. "So what's this I hear about trade goods?" she says through an intercom system that distorts her voice.

A rather harried looking group of security workers appears at another door that is blocked by yet another translucent partition. Interestingly (and this was not mentioned in the briefing materials), their leader appears to be a broad, muscular lieutenant seconded from the Kel--the Nirai uniform looks like it only barely fits him, and the golden Kel ashhawk at his breast gleams in the lights of the docking bay.

"Before we start negotiating," the lieutenant says after an inscrutable look in Shan's direction, as if he's used to her jumping the gun (so to speak), "I will have to ask you all to submit to a security and medical scan, for everyone's safety. It might tickle if you have any implants." He holds up a handheld scanner.

Bokali looks bemused. "I always do love being the guinea pig for any bored diseases, but I don't even feel so much as a sniffle coming on."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Training history" was unambiguous, given how little of it he's done on the Wasp. Well. Explains Ankat, earlier, which means Ashari since no one's let their two Kel off their tethers, assume the same with Cousin Imsayed for now, and that Sulen either has the story in full and was testing him or that they (or Virmad) had done a spot of scrying.

He's going to miss this tablet, which had so much more storage (and show episodes) than the one in his pack. But bad idea to leave something contaminated on in the vicinity of his other devices, even if that contamination was a competent enough shooter with heretical targets.

Face perfectly straight, he asks after the creators of the game.

[What I'm getting is that Mikodez should steal an entire room of equiptment for Sasha to get into her OK graces.]

"Oh, this game won some indie prize around 410-- I just grabbed something with reasonable inventory code out of the grid. Enjoy!

Make me an air gun if you get a chance? And tell Ashari to check their messages."

[Sasha's former coworkers included quite a few would-be Shuos who couldn't hack the Academy; thus, Sasha's plan for dealing with baby Shuos is smite early and often. If Mikodez avoids getting anyone arrested he'll be ahead on her scorecard.]

Sasha can expect to find a beribboned box behind her door, inside her room, by the time the Wasp crew leaves for Station Moongray. They're labeled with her full name (as given on her card) on a 20cm long piece of tape, although the marker seems to have taken poorly to the material. Inside the box are three more pieces of tape and an airgun with a fairly short range.

[Despite the security engineering book I still don't know what computers can do?? So I'm having him plan to lose the tablet by making it explode, if the opportunity arise. The tape are the bugs that she asked for earlier!]

[The security engineering book is fun for ideas but we don't need to adhere to real life! This is a game. We can go with Rule of Cool. =) If it would fly in an episode of Leverage or Burn Notice or whatever, I'm game. ;) ]

"Hey, universe?" Sasha asks the air. "Next time someone decides to sneak into my bedroom, could they please be attractive?"

[Is this the tape that sends data through the grid, or the tape where you have to visit it to extract information? Or is Sasha going to have to spend an hour of analysis time to figure this out?

Please do either take the 3D printer onto the station-- it's so conveniently portable!-- or have your characters look up the consequences of violating Safe Manufacturing Act VZ-7195 & protest to someone; I would be sad if Sasha's crafting was for naught.

Explosions on a station sound terrifying, but the h*-archate must have some way to prevent casual use of invariant weapons from puncturing holes and letting all the air out.]

[uhh whichever one's convenient for plot! But Mikodez left two of the previously "defective" ones to her as well, although he'd be surprised to find some of them working again. Just showing...strange things. (In the description of move 3, there's a bit about rift effects, which I think might be fun to follow up on eventually, and these bits of variant technology would probably be most susceptible to fluctuations in the calendar.)
.....I wasn't thinking about depressurizing the station, which I assumed to be the size of a small city, if there's enough people there to warrant Rahal oversight? But that would be a good threat, even if the tablet's not big enough for it.

Re security engineering, (stares grimly at the concept of Mint/Cough Syrup flavored Vidona fidget spinner candies) I LOVE rule of cool. But I was mostly unsure about what reasonable actions would be taken to counter a compromised tablet, which is why it's going to be set on fire.]

[I'm guessing the things you do to deal with a compromised tablet are similar to the things you do to deal with an ugly virus, namely running a bunch of scans and then wiping and starting over if you have to? But Mikodez probably doesn't have access to a clean version of the operating system, unless he's been carrying a copy of Android Fruitbat around in his luggage or something, so giving up on the device is a valid life choice.]

[As far as canon is concerned, by Jedao's day they had a system using handwavy "gray goo" to seal shut any minor holes, which explains why everyone's wandering around wielding projectile weapons. We can handwave that even the very early heptarchate had it for simplicity of play. I'd have to double-check if "Chameleon's Gloves" says anything useful (which it might not), as I think it's the only thing set really early in the timeline--Kel, but pre-heptarchate.]

[Also, of course the replica 3D printer is safely packed with the rest of Ashari's exhibit! Mikodez printed the airgun on it in the cargo hold while the Wasp was docking. If Iawa remained with him, they would have learnt to operate it as well.

(Is the act a reference? The wax bulla things? The unicorns were an important cultural emblem to the programmers of the original printer? I got stuff about stem cells when I looked it up. )

With the tablets, Sasha could no doubt reintroduce the virus at anytime, so it's probably wiser to wait until she's far away. Like in a different march. A millennia from now.]

Edited 2017-08-27 06:37 (UTC)

[Did Iawa get a copy of the game, then? Are they rebellious enough to bring a tablet onto station?

No particular reference in the act number (and it's not a multiple of seven). Unconsciously it might be related to the US Hobby Protection Act, which is a warm & cuddly name for an anti-counterfeiting law.]

[Iawa's player had a very slack few days at checking on the game, and suddenly it exploded on them. They're sorry! And Iawa is definitely absent-minded enough to bring the tablet onto station, especially if Sasha feels like catching him and installing the security package and having Words with him about it.]

[Then he's also seen Mikodez making the airgun, and will have been sent the game. Whether Iawa wants to have a weapon of his own, otoh...
Space mace?]

[If Iawa gets the wriggly virus, Sasha's going to feed a randomly chosen handful of Ashari's pills to them, and their tablet to the matter printer.]

["quite a few would-be Shuos who couldn't hack the Academy" That is a truly terrible pun, and I congratulate you on it.]

Move 7 (Chapter 1.7)

Re: earlier, on the Wasp, with the printers - paging Mikodez

Re: earlier, on the Wasp, with the printers - paging Mikodez

Re: earlier, on the Wasp, with the printers - paging Mikodez

[hexarcomputers]

presents from foxes - also paging Iawa

Re: presents from foxes - also paging Iawa

Re: presents from foxes - also paging Iawa

[puncture vs. stations and ships]

Re: presents from foxes - also paging Iawa

Re: presents from foxes - also paging Iawa

Re: presents from foxes - also paging Iawa

Re: presents from foxes - also paging Iawa

Re: presents from foxes - also paging Iawa

Re: earlier, on the Wasp, with the printers - paging Mikodez