Mission 1: The Prisoner

[Spiderman]

Ugh. Well, I'd like some suggestions from everyone else, but right now, I'm thinking the non-Rogues pretend to be sick and move to the Medical Bay and the Rogues explain our presence by saying they picked us up from a drifting ship while in space.

Since there's no telling how much of the ship they'll inspect, I guess we have to assume they'll inspect all of it.

 

[Melkor]

The other issue, besides racism, is that only Rogues understand Hostile. The medical bay is a no go, the Hostiles will either kill us on sight or take us into their custody. The way I see it, we can either fight, run, or hide (and then fight if discovered). The other problem with hiding is that, even if they don't search the whole ship, they'll still look in the cargo bay and see that there isn't any cargo. Solution, have the two Rogues tell them that we're here to pick up cargo, not deliver it. If Skrath actually has a criminal record, he'll object to talking to the Hostiles. Worst comes to worst, we shoot our way out.

 

[Spiderman]

I looked at our ship plans and couldn't see the cargo bay... But yeah, that'd be a solution (telling them we're here to pick up) if we can either hide or disguise somehow the non-Rogues on the ship...

 

[turgy22]

Yeah, the ship really doesn't really have a cargo bay like a transport would. The largest storage area is probably in the room on the lower level with the ground access ramp, which is where you'll need to store large items and at present is empty.

 

[Oversoul]

I'm feeling really useful right now...

 

[Melkor]

What's not to like about this plan, we hide all of our smartest players, and our captain and me but I bring nothing, and then send our soldier (along with the character we can't trust) to sweettalk a hostile alien race into believing that our non-cargo vessel is here to pick up cargo.

 

[train]

Let me know what you all decide... any things you don't want me to say, etc...

 

[BigBlue]

As I said.... I'm a slave... They would never believe the ship to be run by just 2 people... If they have a problem with that, too bad for me.... but, I've never liked the hostiles much anyways...

In slave fashion, I'll be as submissive as possible in order to convince anyone that's the truth... Both to the rogues as well as the hostiles...

(* I'm pretty sure we haven't been completely set up to just DIE... he's trying to playtest his system... No worries... *)

 

[Melkor]

If the Hostiles allow Rogues to keep slaves, then I'm all in favor of that. Besides, we can always try shooting our way out if this doesn't work.

 

[Spiderman]

I don't see why a trader can't be manned by 2 people or 3 including a slave. What is the norm for a trader crew? I mean, it doesn't take much to fly from one planet to another, I assume.

I'd prefer not to get the planet all actively hostile against us right off the bat... but if it comes to it, so be it.

Okay, let's go with Melkor's plan. train, don't volunteer anything at the moment, but if they ask about the empty "hold", explain we're there to pick up some items (whatever items are hot right now for export... can we get that out of Skrath?)

Oversoul, your input to the plans are always welcome

** I didn't mean for turgy to set us up to die right away, I was just role-playing that as wonderment on the captain's part as to the wisdom of taking the mission

 

[train]

Ready if we can get that last info from Skrath... or not...

 

[turgy22]

Skrath informs you that there's no way a Thinker will be allowed on the Planet - even as a slave. If the Hostiles find out anyone's on board aside from him and train, they'll probably try to kill them.

As far as explaining the empty hold - he suggests that you say the ship is stolen - as it's not of typical rogue design anyway - and they're going to sell the ship itself.

So I assume this means you're letting the Hostiles on the ship - train and Skrath are opening the airlock to let them on. Where is everyone else going to be?

 

[Spiderman]

I'll be in the armory. If they enter, I'll use a Sonic Grenade to stun them.

Guys, if it come to battle, should we try to take their ship? Or just blow off their boarding tube and outrace or fight them in space?

 

[train]

As it is a patrol ship, I think we could take theirs...

 

[Oversoul]

I like Train's idea...

 

[BigBlue]

Well... As I see it we have three options...

Hide... but if we're found there will be a fight and we'll probably have to abort the mission unless we really feel we can take on a whole planet... If we are successful then we'll have the most likely success on the planet...

Run... Abort the mission for now, and try our luck once again - albeit with a much more difficult time given our ship will be known... I don't like this option at all...

Fight... Meet them at the door and kill them... Then I could rig their ship to crash and the hostiles may figure it was engine failure or something... of course another patrol ship would end that idea really quick... This is option #2 in terms of success, unless we feel we can effectively hide...

I don't particularly like any of these options or this mission... I just feel like we have been set up on a pipe dream... I will go ahead and try to hide...

(* Maybe it's just me, but you aren't giving your Hostile race any wiggle room... and I feel trapped by that... The Klingons and Romulans at least had honor and could be reasoned with... *)

 

[turgy22]

Just to get things moving again, I'll continue the story...

The Hostile pounds again on the airlock door. Thinking that an angry Hostile will be much more unpleasant to deal with than a normal hostile, train begins opening the airlock. Spiderman and Melkor hide in the armory - Spidey with Sonic Grenade ready in hand. BigBlue and Oversoul scurry off and hide in the Medical Facility - Oversoul squeezing into a medical supply closet and BigBlue suctioning himself to the far corner of the ceiling.

The airlock opens and the Hostile climbs in. In the actual airlock chamber, train gets a better view of him and sees that he has a Laser Rifle slung over his shoulder.

The Hostile enters the ship, removes his helmet and takes a look around.

"What took so long?" he asks train.

Before train can respond, Skrath comes in from the hallway and begins grovelling before the Hostile. He apologizes for the delay and explains that the ship has not been in their possession for long and they are still learning the controls. The Hostile doesn't seem to care and kicks Skrath out of the way, moving into the hall.

He removes a Portable Communicator from his pocket and talks into it: "Just a couple of idiot Rogues. This shouldn't take more than five minutes."

A voice responds: "I'll be waiting."

The Hostile returns the communicator to his pocket and opens the door to the Bridge. He pokes his head inside, looking around, but apparently doesn't see anything of interest. He then opens the door to the armory and sees Spiderman and Melkor inside. He immediately tries to get his rifle in his hands, but Spidey rolls his sonic grenade across the floor to the Hostile's position. Spidey and Melkor cover their ears and it explodes with a high-pitched shriek.

The Hostile passes out, slumped in the doorway to the armory, blood trickling out of one of his ears. He's not dead, but he's soundly unconscious. The wake of the grenade also seems to have caught Skrath, who was following the Hostile out of the airlock. He's unconscious in the hallway.

 

[turgy22]

Maybe it's just me, but you aren't giving your Hostile race any wiggle room... and I feel trapped by that... The Klingons and Romulans at least had honor and could be reasoned with...

Yeah, I thought that'd actually make it easier since you'll always know where they stand. Sort of like how D&D always has monsters that are just going to fight. They're not going to trick you or anything like that. They just hate you and want you to die.

 

[BigBlue]

(* Fair Enough... Because not all of us understand Hostile - nor do we even hear the conversations, it's probably best if you do those via PM... I don't want OCK (Out of Charachter Knowledge) ...*)

Assuming I hear the grenade go off... I'll come down from the ceiling to check out the scene... Is the grenade loud enough that the other ship would have been able to hear it with the airlock closed? (figure as a technician I might know that) I will make a statement one way or the other to the group stating that fact...

 

[Spiderman]

I go out to where the airlock is with my pistol in hand, in case they heard it over the communicator...