Terpsichore - User contributions [en]

Episode 13

2025-06-15T08:08:15Z

Spacegod:

= 01/09/2351 (Tuesday) =

== Phone call with Nikki and Fred ==
* Fred concerned about commotion on the Nauvoo, (dead bodies discovered) says debt is not settled.

== Package arrives ==
* Pip drags package that arrived at the dock for the Terpsichore, contains 400UND
* NoDot opens it, recognizes her own encryption, decrypts a file containing more files.
** learns that the data came from an air-gapped Tycho Station terminal

== Mack et al ==
* The ship needs to be taken to a Drydock and evacuated
* Crew makes plans to get Sofia off the ship
* Mack freaks out about his plants
* Alfie goes to verify with mechanics.
** They state it will be in Drydock for up to a week

== NoDot and Sofia ==
* Gets a red wig, and some contouring makeup to hide

== Alfie and Nikki ==
* Alfie declares that he has business with Nikki and says he'll be around

== Nikki and NoDot ==
* Nikki heads to the Hotel D121 and steals their cart with a hanger to bring her clothes.
* Nikki borrows the 1750 from NoDot

== NoDot and Sofia ==
* NoDot helps sofia pick out clothes.
* Nodot is trying her best to make Sofia feel good but not fuck it up
* Gives her long red hair and she raids Nikki's closet
* nodot mentally decides what anime she's gonna watch first

== Alfie ==
* Alfie tests his implants on the punching bag
* He punches it three times and destroys the bag
* Exits toad mode, manic and smiling
* Alfie goes to the pilot seat and hits the juice
* He fills his 4 autoinjectors
* brings clothes, banjo, and the other implant

== Mack and Kova ==
* Kova helps Mack with his plants
* Mack gives Kova a bite of basil
* Kova says its strong and that she'll stick to kibble
* Mack is excited about spicing up the food. he says kibble is what they feed to pets on earth
* They go to the hotel and nobody seems *too* bothered that they brought Mack's plants

== NoDot and Sofia ==
* Nodot notices a camera following her
* She tries to hack into it but it doesn't exist
* Informs Sofia that they're being watched
* They loop around and sneak up on the camera

== NoDot and Fred ==
* NoDot asks Fred about the secret Network
* Fred has no idea what's going on, says he'll forward it to his comms expert
* NoDot travels to the RadioShack to buy an antenna and then heads to Comics & Crafts to solder it together so that they can
** 200UND for the antenna hardware
** 100UND of TCG - 10x packs
*** Magic The Gathering - Sofia buys them.
* NoDot writes the software and Sofia solders it together with Kova's remote instruction
* They install the device and go to the movies to watch Wings of Steel Hearts of Scales the movie Forked Tongue Liberty

== Alfie ==
* Alfie Goes to the Information Brokers and asks the right questions to find an implant doctor.
* Alfie tells the doctor that he has one implant similar to the one he drops in front of the doctor.
* He attempts to get the doctor to explain that the juice is integral to the implant.
* Alfie feels a flash of anger once he learns even his Juice addiction is ultimately a consequence of the implant installed by the frogs. Is anything his?
* Doctor has never seen an implant like this.
* Alfie asks about scars healing. Doctor doesn't seem to think it's related to the implants.
* He asks Alfie to sit in a med chair and is adamant that Alfie doesn't have any implant inside him.

== Kova and Nikki ==
* Installing plants in hotel room with Mack when Nikki asks her to tag along to the scrapyard
* They discuss Alfie. Talk about his more recent unhinged behavior.
* Nikki talks about how there were times when he was more hinged, but she now doubts that's even the real Alfie
* Salvager One jobs is discussed.
* 150UND * 4? + 6000UND + anything on the ship
* It's around noon. Kova asks the crew to get food. They agree on McDonalds, except Alfie whose phone is off.

== Sofia and NoDot ==
* Test Camera
* Camera does not follow either of them.
* NoDot determines that the camera creep might be related to the package, but might not, and was actively / intentionally controlling the cameras.
* They decide to (???)

== Kova and Nikki ==
* Nikki orders a 10pc mc nuggets
* She recommends to kova
* Mack gets a burger
* NoDot makes a mess with their McFlurry
* Mack gives a piece of Basil to NoDot. She hates it.

== Bank ==
They make a quick stop-off at the bank to convert some currency to digital so that they can spend it at the McD
* 150 cash
* 700 digital - 45 for borgor

== Alfie ==
* Goal: three frogs, came to Tycho somehow
* Alfie agrees to bug Fred Johnson's office in exchange for the dock logs
* Alfie discovers the Dutchman's Pipe on the dock logs
* B133 - 12C - Dutchman's Pipe
* Alfie messages NoDot to hack the door open
* NoDot, trying to prevent another instance of causing unnecessary pain on a mass scale:
* wants to know what Alfie is doing and why
Alfie: it's the frog ship.
NoDot: Oh o_O
Are any of them there??
Alfie: Unknown.
NoDot: Uhhh :thumbsup:
* NoDot hacks the lock, leaving evidence that it was detective miller. They also get access to the ship cameras for Alfie. He doesn't notice anyone onboard, but the cameras, much like the Terpsichore, do not cover every square meter of the ship.

* Alfie boards, and ends up running into one Frog but manages to be the first to pull the trigger.
* Alfie finds information on the ship that helps him determine where the main frog ship is
* Stole data core from the ship
* Leaves for the hotel with what he can carry.

== Everyone ==
* Meets up at the hotel and discuss their day
* Alfie describes his concerns about knowing they killed 9 frogs, drawing a lot of attention to themselves
* Erase all evidence
* They all have a looting party on the ship
* Sofia sees the body and screams
* NoDot explains (what was I writing here?)
* Sofia asks if there is anything on the ship that is linked to her but they don't find anything
* They loot
** Medical Supplies
** 2 drones
** 1 pneumatic tube
** 2x transponder
** 4000 cash (alfie)
* In the smuggling holds, a frog terminal that has a picture of Sofia

== Hotel ==
* NoDot successfully cracks open the Frog terminals, and Alfie sends a message, stating that they've got the girl and they're returning the ship.

== Black Market ==
* Alfie buys a device to blow up the frog ship for 2000UND, using cash found on the ship.
* Alfie and Sofia go to rig up the bomb.
* Sofia asks if it could explode, Alfie says yes.
* Alfie works out the general position of the frogs main ship based on the telemetry information of their arrival
* Alfie has her put in the autopilot information. She does it all correctly.

== Tuesday 01/09/2351 Late Evening ==
???

Episode 13

2025-06-15T08:07:57Z

Spacegod: Created page with "# 01/09/2351 (Tuesday) == Phone call with Nikki and Fred == * Fred concerned about commotion on the Nauvoo, (dead bodies discovered) says debt is not settled. == Package arrives == * Pip drags package that arrived at the dock for the Terpsichore, contains 400UND * NoDot opens it, recognizes her own encryption, decrypts a file containing more files. ** learns that the data came from an air-gapped Tycho Station terminal == Mack et al == * The ship needs to be taken to a..."

# 01/09/2351 (Tuesday)

== Phone call with Nikki and Fred ==
* Fred concerned about commotion on the Nauvoo, (dead bodies discovered) says debt is not settled.

== Package arrives ==
* Pip drags package that arrived at the dock for the Terpsichore, contains 400UND
* NoDot opens it, recognizes her own encryption, decrypts a file containing more files.
** learns that the data came from an air-gapped Tycho Station terminal

== Mack et al ==
* The ship needs to be taken to a Drydock and evacuated
* Crew makes plans to get Sofia off the ship
* Mack freaks out about his plants
* Alfie goes to verify with mechanics.
** They state it will be in Drydock for up to a week

== NoDot and Sofia ==
* Gets a red wig, and some contouring makeup to hide

== Alfie and Nikki ==
* Alfie declares that he has business with Nikki and says he'll be around

== Nikki and NoDot ==
* Nikki heads to the Hotel D121 and steals their cart with a hanger to bring her clothes.
* Nikki borrows the 1750 from NoDot

== NoDot and Sofia ==
* NoDot helps sofia pick out clothes.
* Nodot is trying her best to make Sofia feel good but not fuck it up
* Gives her long red hair and she raids Nikki's closet
* nodot mentally decides what anime she's gonna watch first

== Alfie ==
* Alfie tests his implants on the punching bag
* He punches it three times and destroys the bag
* Exits toad mode, manic and smiling
* Alfie goes to the pilot seat and hits the juice
* He fills his 4 autoinjectors
* brings clothes, banjo, and the other implant

== Mack and Kova ==
* Kova helps Mack with his plants
* Mack gives Kova a bite of basil
* Kova says its strong and that she'll stick to kibble
* Mack is excited about spicing up the food. he says kibble is what they feed to pets on earth
* They go to the hotel and nobody seems *too* bothered that they brought Mack's plants

== NoDot and Sofia ==
* Nodot notices a camera following her
* She tries to hack into it but it doesn't exist
* Informs Sofia that they're being watched
* They loop around and sneak up on the camera

== NoDot and Fred ==
* NoDot asks Fred about the secret Network
* Fred has no idea what's going on, says he'll forward it to his comms expert
* NoDot travels to the RadioShack to buy an antenna and then heads to Comics & Crafts to solder it together so that they can
** 200UND for the antenna hardware
** 100UND of TCG - 10x packs
*** Magic The Gathering - Sofia buys them.
* NoDot writes the software and Sofia solders it together with Kova's remote instruction
* They install the device and go to the movies to watch Wings of Steel Hearts of Scales the movie Forked Tongue Liberty

== Alfie ==
* Alfie Goes to the Information Brokers and asks the right questions to find an implant doctor.
* Alfie tells the doctor that he has one implant similar to the one he drops in front of the doctor.
* He attempts to get the doctor to explain that the juice is integral to the implant.
* Alfie feels a flash of anger once he learns even his Juice addiction is ultimately a consequence of the implant installed by the frogs. Is anything his?
* Doctor has never seen an implant like this.
* Alfie asks about scars healing. Doctor doesn't seem to think it's related to the implants.
* He asks Alfie to sit in a med chair and is adamant that Alfie doesn't have any implant inside him.

== Kova and Nikki ==
* Installing plants in hotel room with Mack when Nikki asks her to tag along to the scrapyard
* They discuss Alfie. Talk about his more recent unhinged behavior.
* Nikki talks about how there were times when he was more hinged, but she now doubts that's even the real Alfie
* Salvager One jobs is discussed.
* 150UND * 4? + 6000UND + anything on the ship
* It's around noon. Kova asks the crew to get food. They agree on McDonalds, except Alfie whose phone is off.

== Sofia and NoDot ==
* Test Camera
* Camera does not follow either of them.
* NoDot determines that the camera creep might be related to the package, but might not, and was actively / intentionally controlling the cameras.
* They decide to (???)

== Kova and Nikki ==
* Nikki orders a 10pc mc nuggets
* She recommends to kova
* Mack gets a burger
* NoDot makes a mess with their McFlurry
* Mack gives a piece of Basil to NoDot. She hates it.

== Bank ==
They make a quick stop-off at the bank to convert some currency to digital so that they can spend it at the McD
* 150 cash
* 700 digital - 45 for borgor

== Alfie ==
* Goal: three frogs, came to Tycho somehow
* Alfie agrees to bug Fred Johnson's office in exchange for the dock logs
* Alfie discovers the Dutchman's Pipe on the dock logs
* B133 - 12C - Dutchman's Pipe
* Alfie messages NoDot to hack the door open
* NoDot, trying to prevent another instance of causing unnecessary pain on a mass scale:
* wants to know what Alfie is doing and why
Alfie: it's the frog ship.
NoDot: Oh o_O
Are any of them there??
Alfie: Unknown.
NoDot: Uhhh :thumbsup:
* NoDot hacks the lock, leaving evidence that it was detective miller. They also get access to the ship cameras for Alfie. He doesn't notice anyone onboard, but the cameras, much like the Terpsichore, do not cover every square meter of the ship.

* Alfie boards, and ends up running into one Frog but manages to be the first to pull the trigger.
* Alfie finds information on the ship that helps him determine where the main frog ship is
* Stole data core from the ship
* Leaves for the hotel with what he can carry.

== Everyone ==
* Meets up at the hotel and discuss their day
* Alfie describes his concerns about knowing they killed 9 frogs, drawing a lot of attention to themselves
* Erase all evidence
* They all have a looting party on the ship
* Sofia sees the body and screams
* NoDot explains (what was I writing here?)
* Sofia asks if there is anything on the ship that is linked to her but they don't find anything
* They loot
** Medical Supplies
** 2 drones
** 1 pneumatic tube
** 2x transponder
** 4000 cash (alfie)
* In the smuggling holds, a frog terminal that has a picture of Sofia

== Hotel ==
* NoDot successfully cracks open the Frog terminals, and Alfie sends a message, stating that they've got the girl and they're returning the ship.

== Black Market ==
* Alfie buys a device to blow up the frog ship for 2000UND, using cash found on the ship.
* Alfie and Sofia go to rig up the bomb.
* Sofia asks if it could explode, Alfie says yes.
* Alfie works out the general position of the frogs main ship based on the telemetry information of their arrival
* Alfie has her put in the autopilot information. She does it all correctly.

== Tuesday 01/09/2351 Late Evening ==
???

The Expanse

2025-06-15T07:50:52Z

Spacegod: /* Sessions */

Expanse TTRPG Wiki for the crew of the Terpsichore.

= People =
== Crew ==
=== Players ===
* [[User:Nikki|Nikki]]
* [[User:Alfie|Alfie]]
* [[User:NoDot|Number]]
* [[User:Kova|Kova]]

=== NPCs ===
* [[Mack Silva]]
* [[Sofia]]

== OPA ==
* [[Zuko]]
* [[Anderson Dawes]]
* [[Fred Johnson]]
* <s>[[Julie Mao]]</s> AKA Lionel Polanski

== Other ==
* [[Hecate]]
* <s>[[Jäger Kruna]]</s> - Richest person alive
* [[User:Talula|Lu]]

= Locations =
* [[Rhea]]
* [[Eros]]
* [[Ceres]]

= Sessions =
* [[Episode 1 | Episode 1: Rhea]]
* [[Episode 2 | Episode 2: The Terpsichore]]
* [[Episode 3 | Episode 3: Lionel Polanski]]
* [[Episode 4 | Episode 4: Welcome to Ceres]]
* [[Episode 5 | Episode 5: Santa Dawes]]
* [[Episode 6 | Episode 6: The Elysian Dream]]
* [[Episode 7 | Episode 7: Parallels in Ceres]]
* [[Episode 8 | Episode 8: Leviathan Wakes]]
* [[Episode 9 | Episode 9: The Eros Incident]]
* [[Episode 10 | Episode 10: Manhattan Strays and Runaways]]
* [[Episode 11 | Episode 11: The Nauvoo Mission Pt1]]
* [[Episode 12 | Episode 12: The Nauvoo Mission Pt2]]
* [[Episode 13 | Episode 13: Shipless on Tycho Station]]

= Map =

[[File:Sol-2350.png|none]]

Episode 12

2025-05-18T00:17:47Z

Spacegod: Created blank page

The Expanse

2025-05-18T00:17:26Z

Spacegod: /* Sessions */

Rhea

2025-05-10T05:53:05Z

Spacegod:

{{Infobox planet
| name = Rhea
| mpc_name = Saturn V
| pronounced = {{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|iː|.|ə}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Consulmagno |first1=G. |last2=Ryche |first2=H. |date=Feb 9, 1982 |title=Pronouncing the names of the moons of Saturn |url=https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Consolmagno-Reiche-Pronouncing-Moons-of-Saturn.pdf |journal=EOS |volume=63 |issue=6 |pages=146–147 |doi=10.1029/EO063i006p00146 |access-date=Nov 30, 2022}}</ref>
| named_after = [[wikipedia:Rhea (mythology)|Ῥέᾱ]] ''Rheā''
| adjectives = Rhean {{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|iː|.|ən}}<ref>Moore et al. (1984) "The Geomorphology of Rhea", ''Proceedings of the fifteenth Lunar and Planetary Science'', Part 2, p C-791–C-794</ref>
| image = PIA07763 Rhea full globe5.jpg
| caption = ''[[wikipedia:Cassini–Huygens|Cassini]]'' mosaic of Rhea
| discoverer = [[wikipedia:Giovanni Domenico Cassini|G. D. Cassini]]<ref name=space.com.Rhea/>
| discovered = December 23, 1672<ref name=space.com.Rhea>[http://www.space.com/20577-rhea-saturn-s-dirty-snowball-moon.html Rhea: Saturn's dirty snowball moon]</ref>
| orbit_ref = <ref name="NSES" />
| semimajor = {{val|527108|u=km}}
| eccentricity = {{val|0.0012583}}
| period = {{val|4.518212|u=[[wikipedia:Day|d]]}}
| avg_speed = 8.48 km/s{{efn|name=calculated|Calculated on the basis of other parameters.}}
| inclination = 0.345° (to Saturn's equator)
| satellite_of = [[Saturn]]
| mean_radius = {{val|763.5|0.5|u=km}}<ref name="Jacobson2022">{{cite journal |last1=Jacobson |first1=Robert. A. |title=The Orbits of the Main Saturnian Satellites, the Saturnian System Gravity Field, and the Orientation of Saturn's Pole* |journal=The Astronomical Journal |date=1 November 2022 |volume=164 |issue=5 |pages=199 |doi=10.3847/1538-3881/ac90c9|bibcode=2022AJ....164..199J |s2cid=252992162 }}</ref>
| dimensions = 1532.4 × 1525.6 × 1524.4 km <ref name="Roatsch et al. 2009" />
| surface_area = {{val|7337000|u=km2}}
| mass = {{val|2.3064854|0.0000522|e=21|u=kg}}<ref name="Jacobson2022"/> (~3.9{{e|-4}} Earths)
| density = {{val|1.2372|0.0029|u=g/cm3}}<ref name="Jacobson2022"/>
| surface_grav = {{Gr|2.306|763.8|3}} [[wikipedia:Acceleration|m/s2]]
| moment_of_inertia_factor = {{val|0.3911|0.0045}}<ref name="Anderson2007">{{cite journal |last1= Anderson|first1=J. D.|last2= Schubert|first2= G.|title= Saturn's satellite Rhea is a homogeneous mix of rock and ice|journal= Geophysical Research Letters |volume= 34|issue= 2|pages=L02202|year= 2007|doi= 10.1029/2006GL028100|bibcode= 2007GeoRL..34.2202A|doi-access= free}}</ref> (disputed/unclear<ref name="Anderson2008" />)
| escape_velocity = {{V2|2.306|763.8|3}} km/s
| rotation = {{val|4.518212|u=d}} ([[wikipedia:Synchronous rotation|synchronous]])
| axial_tilt = zero
| albedo = {{val|0.949|0.003}} ([[wikipedia:geometric albedo|geometric]]) <ref name="Verbiscer et al. 2007" />
| magnitude = 10 <ref name="Observatorio ARVAL" />
| temp_name1 = [[wikipedia:Kelvin|Kelvin]]
| min_temp_1 = 53 [[wikipedia:Kelvin|K]]
| mean_temp_1 =  
| max_temp_1 = 99 K
}}

'''Rhea''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|iː|.|ə}}) is the second-largest moon of [[Saturn]] and the ninth-largest moon in the [[Sol System]], with a surface area that is comparable to the area of Australia. It is the smallest body in the Sol System for which precise measurements have confirmed a shape consistent with hydro-static equilibrium.<ref>http://www.ciclops.org/media/sp/2011/6794_16344_0.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181223003125/http://www.ciclops.org/media/sp/2011/6794_16344_0.pdf |date=2018-12-23 }} {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> It was discovered in 1672 by Giovanni Domenico Cassini.

== Primary Outpost ==

Rhea's primary outpost (RPO) is a product of [[Belter]] ingenuity. Initially the site of the first Helium-3 mining operation on Rhea, it is now home to approximately 20,000 people. RPO is mostly insulated ice tunnels while the larger sections are hollowed out rock. Two separate companies with no discernible history have begun projects to expand in the north and south-west. Older RPO buildings were created from hollowing out the walls of the caverns.

=== Map ===

<div class="mw-collapsible">
[https://www.terpsichore.space/rhea/ Fullscreen Map] - [https://www.terpsichore.space/rhea/rhea_primary_outpost.png Mobile Fullscreen Map]
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<html>
<iframe style="width:69%" height="600" src="https://terpsichore.space/rhea/" title="Map of Rhea">
</iframe>
</html>
</div>
</div>

=== Airlocks ===
*'''Polaris''' - The north-most airlock, named for its relative vicinity to the star [[wikipedia:Polaris|Polaris]].
*'''Whitaker Dome''' - Central human accessible airlock. Named after [[A.J. Whittaker]], founder of RPO.
*'''Combine Repair''' - Opens directly into a repair garage inside of the Whittaker Dome
*'''Trellis Dome Airlock''' - North-western airlock and primary entrance to The Trellis.
*'''Old Town Airlock''' - Before this eastern airlock existed, it was just the entrance to Old Town.
*'''Delta Airlock''' - The south-most airlock in RPO. This airlock exits at the bottom of the Delta Crater.

=== Bike paths ===
Due to its small size, RPO is mostly traversed on foot and by [[wikipedia:Cycle rickshaw|human-powered]] and [[wikipedia:Auto_rickshaw|small electric]] vehicles. Bike paths exist to separate pedestrians from faster moving traffic.

* '''The Viadrome''' - RPO's highway connecting the north and south. Runs underneath old-town. It has one additional exit between the Redshift District and the Administrative District.
* '''Two Farm Trail''' - Connects north-west RPO with north-east RPO. Named for its vicinity to the Northern Autofarm and The Trellis.
* '''Outside Loop''' - Referred to as "Outsider Loop" by locals, Outside Loop connects the medical facility with U.N. housing primarily used by Earth doctors who have come to work on Rhea.
* '''North Star Road''' - Connects Little Ceres to the medical facility and Polaris air lock.
* '''Little Ceres Road''' - Spans from the north-most point of Little Ceres to Crater View Heights and the Delta Airlock.
* '''Rainbow Road''' - Traverses the south-most stretch of RPO. Connects Crater View Heights to Old Town Road and The Viadrome. Named for its proximity to Autofarm South, which grows various forms of edible fungus.
* '''Old Town Road''' - This path connects the north-east of RPO to the south-east, and runs along Old Town and the Administrative district.
* '''Inner Passage''' - Initially intended as an east-west highway, this path connects Old Town to Little Ceres. It stops short of reaching the west edge of RPO due to the encroaching tent encampment.

=== Old Town ===
Old town is the first permanent settlement on Rhea. After the initial mining operation, settlers who were mostly comprised of the original maintenance crew began a smaller operation to turn a natural cave into a habitable area beneath Rhea's cold surface. Originally, this neighborhood housed small airlocks at every ingress/egress point. These small airlocks were partially removed when the major RPO airlocks were constructed.

=== Little Ceres ===
Little Ceres was the first major settlement formed by new residents to RPO. These residents, who mostly came from Ceres, aided in installing the large airlocks at the ingresses and egresses left by the tunnel boring mining machines, and introducing artificial atmosphere to the entire interior. It contains RPO's largest flea market and it's a hub for much of RPO's arts and culture.

=== Administrative District ===
The administrative district is one of the newer developments in RPO. This area contains some of the first standalone buildings in RPO. Prior to its development, any non-public space larger than a kiosk was carved into a wall.

This district houses something resembling a shopping mall, as well as a large parking structure for vehicles. The multi-level parking structure is utilized by the people who work in the Administrative district as well as those in Old Town.

RPO Security, a loose analogue to police, operate primarily out of this area since they outgrew their Little Ceres and Old Town locations. A secret tunnel was created to connect their old location in Little Ceres with this one.

=== Redshift District ===
The Redshift District is Rhea's bastion for sex-work and sex shops. Lit mostly in red with an abundance of neon and holograms, it is lined with small windowed rooms where sex-workers pose in hopes of attracting a customer. The windows can become opaque if a customer prefers.

Several business owners in the Administrative district have run a campaign on abolishing the much older Redshift District, but the vicinity of these two neighborhoods did not occur by chance, and none of the campaigns have gained serious traction.

=== Nova Nexus ===
The Nova Nexus is a Night Market, Grey Market, and Black Market, in a hidden cave, operated by the inhabitants of the Nexus Commune. The cave contains exits into the commune and Redshift District, both concealed by buildings. One building in the Redshift District and one near The Nexus Commune. The Nexus Communists have an additional living space at the far end of the Nova Nexus cave.

=== Other Notable Locations ===

==== The Trellis ====
The Trellis is a farm-to-table full-board [[wikipedia:bed and breakfast|bed and breakfast]], [[wikipedia:vineyard|vineyard]], and [[wikipedia:winery|winery]] housed in the north-east most dome of RPO. In spite of sudden population growth and apparent influx of Earther tourism, residents of RPO insist that Rhea's distance from the inner planets will never allow it to become a hub for tourism, and consequently The Trellis is seen as a misguided concept. Reservation only.

==== The Hive ====
The Hive is a combination of short and long term habitations. It is four stories tall and carved from a natural cave with the rough shape of a hexagonal prism. The rooms exist in the interior and exterior walls, and it contains many amenities such as pools, gyms, and restaurants. The Hive is the second most expensive lodging in RPO.

==== Crater View Heights ====
This new development is the only non-dome location that receives natural light. These residences contain windows that overlook the Delta Crater. Several empty hexagonal buildings exist with the intention of housing restaurants, shops, and other amenities in the future.

==== Autofarm North ====
This dome farm supplies the majority of RPO's plant-based food. It consists of five concentric rings, each of which have several layers of vertical growing space. Although it is primarily managed by robots and machines, a sizeable human population is required for its upkeep.

==== Autofarm South ====
This deep farm houses the majority of RPO's edible mushrooms, fake meat, and other mushroom derived proteins. It is a maze-like structure that acts as a substrate for fungus. It is uncommon for people to venture into the farm, and most of the human labor is in processing what is supplied by the robots.

==== Whittaker Dome ====
Most of the Helium-3 mining is now done by large autonomous [[wikipedia:Combine_harvester|combines]] that roam the surface. The Whittaker Dome (Named after [[A.J. Whittaker]], founder of RPO.) acts as the primary repair facility for these machines. It houses two airlocks, one for human ingress/egress, and one that enters directly into a garage space for repairing combines.

==== Tent City ====
This area, once meant to be an east-west highway, was overtaken by the most destitute members of RPO. Most of the folks who live here were economically displaced when the medical facility began accepting wealthy foreign aid workers from Earth and rents and cost of living began to rise. Many of the residence of Tent City struggle with addiction and mental health problems.

==== North Development ====
This is one of RPO's latest developments. The purported goal is to expand the economic activity in the northern region of RPO by providing space for businesses that want to capitalize on future tourism.

==== South Development ====
The second of two ongoing developments, the south development purports to wish to expand Little Ceres and provide affordable housing.

== Notes ==
{{Reflist
| colwidth = 30em
| group = lower-alpha
}}

== References ==
{{Reflist
| colwidth = 30em
| refs =

<ref name="NSES">
[http://www.minorplanetcenter.org/iau/NatSats/NaturalSatellites.html Natural Satellites Ephemeris Service] ''Minor Planet Center''
</ref>

<ref name="Roatsch et al. 2009">
{{cite book| doi = 10.1007/978-1-4020-9217-6_24| last1 = Roatsch| first1 = T.| last2 = Jaumann| first2 = R.| last3 = Stephan| first3 = K.| last4 = Thomas| first4 = P. C.| year = 2009| chapter = Cartographic Mapping of the Icy Satellites Using ISS and VIMS Data| title = Saturn from Cassini-Huygens| pages = 763–781| isbn = 978-1-4020-9216-9| ref = {{sfnRef|Roatsch Jaumann et al.|2009}}}}
</ref>

<ref name="Verbiscer et al. 2007">
{{cite journal| doi = 10.1126/science.1134681| last1 = Verbiscer| first1 = A.| last2 = French| first2 = R.| last3 = Showalter| first3 = M.| last4 = Helfenstein| first4 = P.| title = Enceladus: Cosmic Graffiti Artist Caught in the Act| journal = Science| volume = 315| issue = 5813| page = 815| date = 9 February 2007| pmid = 17289992| bibcode = 2007Sci...315..815V| s2cid = 21932253| ref = {{sfnRef|Verbiscer French et al.|2007}}}} (supporting online material, table S1)
</ref>

<ref name="Observatorio ARVAL">
{{cite web
| author = Observatorio ARVAL
| title = Classic Satellites of the Solar System
| publisher = Observatorio ARVAL
| date = April 15, 2007
| url = http://www.oarval.org/ClasSaten.htm
| access-date = 2011-12-17
| ref = {{sfnRef|Observatorio ARVAL}}
}}
</ref>

<ref name="Anderson2008">
{{cite conference
| last = Anderson
| first = John D.
|date=July 2008
| title = Rhea's Gravitational Field and Internal Structure
| conference = 37th COSPAR Scientific Assembly. Held 13–20 July 2008, in Montréal, Canada
| page = 89
| bibcode = 2008cosp...37...89A
}}
</ref>

}}

User:Alfie/Implants

2025-02-03T17:40:05Z

Spacegod: /* Toad Mode */

= Fringer Implant Features =

''This implant passively disrupts surveillance attempts utilizing video and voice recognition.''


== Passive Effects ==


=== Camera distortion ===

The implant user is completely immune to facial recognition software. The TN for identifying the implant user by manually reviewing video footage or similar is increased by +8.

If the user is being tracked by reviewing photo/video footage, and a gap spanning 8 hours or longer occurs between instances of footage, the adversary will no longer be able to rely on previous facial features to track the user, and will need to succeed on a new test to identify them if there are no other blatantly identifying features (e.g. clothes, large exposed tattoos, carrying a unique object, brightly colored/heavily styled hair).

The user cannot control this effect or disable it.


==== Flavor ====

''This implant alters the reflective and refractive properties of the operator’s skin across various wavelengths picked up by digital camera sensors. These effects are imperceptible to the human eye, but will result in significantly altered appearance on digital cameras. Facial appearance in video playback may look distorted or uncanny, especially to those who are familiar with the operator’s typical appearance. The dermal alterations are constantly fluctuating, completely changing over the course of 8 hours. This adaptation is only skin-deep, and will be rendered ineffective by makeup. This adaptation will not prevent adversaries from tracking the operator by means beyond facial recognition.''


=== Audio distortion ===

The TN to surveil the implant user via voice recognition performed by software is increased by +6. A separate roll must be made for separate audio, as the implant also repeatedly changes the minor voice markers as to remain undetected.


==== Flavor ====

''The implant imperceptibly alters various aspects of your voice, preventing it from being identified by standard voice recognition algorithms. Your voice will not appear altered to the human ear, but the constant, continuous alteration will passively render automated analysis ineffective.''


== Implant Abilities ==


=== Audio Mimicry ===

The implant can alter the user’s voice over a minimum 5 minute warm-up / adjustment period. Returning to the user’s baseline voice requires 5 minutes of adjustment.

By actively mimicking 5 minutes of a high-quality voice recording, Alfie can reshape his vocal chords to that of another human’s voice for up to one hour. This effect will not deceive voice recognition software, but it will fool the human ear. An adversary will automatically succeed on rolls to determine the authenticity of the voice when aided by software, but they won’t be able to determine the true identity of the voice.

With 30 minutes of high-quality voice recording, the user can mimic another human’s voice for up to half an hour. This level of preparation confers all previous benefits, plus the user has a +4 to deceive voice recognition software.

Each time you use this feature to mimic another’s voice you must prepare by listening to and repeating the recording even if you have already heard it.


==== Flavor ====

''Through a series of targeted chemical and biological processes, this implant can temporarily re-shape your larynx and trachea, allowing you to alter your voice. This alteration can be used to create a unique voice, or to take on the voice profile of a target. A minimum of five minutes of clearly audible speech from the target is required to successfully impersonate them. Because this implant is intentionally designed to resist external interference, it contains no access port. It will analyze the the source audio passed in through your ears. Repeat what you hear until you can hear your own voice align with the target audio. To fool digital verification equipment, a minimum of 30 minutes of unique source audio repetition is required. The effects will begin to revert naturally after one hour in order to prevent lasting impact on your larynx. The implant will not affect your ability to mimic the vocal mannerisms of the target, so be sure to pay attention and practice.''

-----

= Combat Implant Features =

''This implant also augments the operators proactive combat reasoning, as well as strength, and speed. This implant contains experimental improvements made to attempt to avert the blood-poisoning and pre-mature health decline effects of its predecessors. The implant sits against the amygdala, and confers a number of benefits to the operator. As with all Predator Frog implants, this one cannot be removed without potentially fatal damage to the operator. This prototype implant has been shown to impede gustatory functioning in some hosts.''


== Passive Effects ==


=== Juice Addiction ===

Consuming Juice from a Crash Couch is necessary to reset your Borrowed Time ability (see below). It will also reduce the self-repair time of a damaged implant. Additionally, Juice fuels some of your abilities. You do not suffer from the negative effects of Bad Juice, and do not take fatigue or exhaustion when using juice. If you go too long without juice, the implant could malfunction in unpredictable ways.


=== Zero-G Adaptations ===

You do not require medicine or treatment to maintain the bone-density typical of a life in 1G, and the amount of exercise required to maintain muscle mass is similar to that of a human living in 1G. Additionally, you ignore penalties for moving and operating in free-fall, and cannot be disoriented by a lack of gravity.


==== Flavor ====

''The implant passively synthesizes bone-density drugs using Juice, and prevents rapid muscle atrophy common among belters. Regular exercise is still required. This implant augments your inner ear and sense of balance, significantly reducing disorientation from lack of gravity.''


=== Augmented Vision ===

You gain the Perception: Seeing focus.


== Implant Abilities ==

Abilities can not be used if the implant is in a damaged state.


=== Toad Mode ===

Using a Minor Action, Alfie may enter '''Apex Surge''' (Known colloquially as Toad Mode), allowing him to perform up to two additional turns before the next character can act. His STR becomes a minimum of 3, and FIG becomes a minimum of 5. Alfie is limited to specific Major and Minor actions, listed below. His unarmed attacks deal 1d6 damage.

At the end of the first additional turn, Alfie makes a TN 13 Willpower test to maintain '''Apex Surge'''. Alfie gains '''Fatigue''' after exiting Surge.

Available Actions:

- Major: Melee Attack, Charge

- Minor: Move, Activate, Ready

Apex Surge cannot be used while '''Fatigued''' or '''Exhausted'''.
==== Flavor ====

''A flood of chemicals wash over Alfie’s nervous system, briefly increasing his memory, cognition, strength, and speed to inhuman levels. The flood of biochemical inhibitors released in order to end this effect will leave Alfie in a state of fatigue.''


=== Electrolytes ===

Once per day as a Minor Action, injecting Juice intramuscularly will allow Alfie to recover from '''Fatigue''' caused by an '''Implant Ability'''. This action will not remove/reduce '''Exhaustion''' or remove '''Fatigue''' from other sources.


=== Borrowed Time ===

Alfie may instantly gain the benefits of a '''Breather''' (Pg 89) (restore fortune of 1d6 + con + lvl) during or immediately following combat. If available, this effect also occurs automatically the first time he would take an '''Injury''', which he avoids. He may use this ability once before consuming Juice from a '''Crash Couch''' is required to recharge the effect.

User:Alfie/Implants

2025-02-03T17:34:03Z

Spacegod: /* Fringer Implant Features */

= Fringer Implant Features =

''This implant passively disrupts surveillance attempts utilizing video and voice recognition.''


== Passive Effects ==


=== Camera distortion ===

The implant user is completely immune to facial recognition software. The TN for identifying the implant user by manually reviewing video footage or similar is increased by +8.

If the user is being tracked by reviewing photo/video footage, and a gap spanning 8 hours or longer occurs between instances of footage, the adversary will no longer be able to rely on previous facial features to track the user, and will need to succeed on a new test to identify them if there are no other blatantly identifying features (e.g. clothes, large exposed tattoos, carrying a unique object, brightly colored/heavily styled hair).

The user cannot control this effect or disable it.


==== Flavor ====

''This implant alters the reflective and refractive properties of the operator’s skin across various wavelengths picked up by digital camera sensors. These effects are imperceptible to the human eye, but will result in significantly altered appearance on digital cameras. Facial appearance in video playback may look distorted or uncanny, especially to those who are familiar with the operator’s typical appearance. The dermal alterations are constantly fluctuating, completely changing over the course of 8 hours. This adaptation is only skin-deep, and will be rendered ineffective by makeup. This adaptation will not prevent adversaries from tracking the operator by means beyond facial recognition.''


=== Audio distortion ===

The TN to surveil the implant user via voice recognition performed by software is increased by +6. A separate roll must be made for separate audio, as the implant also repeatedly changes the minor voice markers as to remain undetected.


==== Flavor ====

''The implant imperceptibly alters various aspects of your voice, preventing it from being identified by standard voice recognition algorithms. Your voice will not appear altered to the human ear, but the constant, continuous alteration will passively render automated analysis ineffective.''


== Implant Abilities ==


=== Audio Mimicry ===

The implant can alter the user’s voice over a minimum 5 minute warm-up / adjustment period. Returning to the user’s baseline voice requires 5 minutes of adjustment.

By actively mimicking 5 minutes of a high-quality voice recording, Alfie can reshape his vocal chords to that of another human’s voice for up to one hour. This effect will not deceive voice recognition software, but it will fool the human ear. An adversary will automatically succeed on rolls to determine the authenticity of the voice when aided by software, but they won’t be able to determine the true identity of the voice.

With 30 minutes of high-quality voice recording, the user can mimic another human’s voice for up to half an hour. This level of preparation confers all previous benefits, plus the user has a +4 to deceive voice recognition software.

Each time you use this feature to mimic another’s voice you must prepare by listening to and repeating the recording even if you have already heard it.


==== Flavor ====

''Through a series of targeted chemical and biological processes, this implant can temporarily re-shape your larynx and trachea, allowing you to alter your voice. This alteration can be used to create a unique voice, or to take on the voice profile of a target. A minimum of five minutes of clearly audible speech from the target is required to successfully impersonate them. Because this implant is intentionally designed to resist external interference, it contains no access port. It will analyze the the source audio passed in through your ears. Repeat what you hear until you can hear your own voice align with the target audio. To fool digital verification equipment, a minimum of 30 minutes of unique source audio repetition is required. The effects will begin to revert naturally after one hour in order to prevent lasting impact on your larynx. The implant will not affect your ability to mimic the vocal mannerisms of the target, so be sure to pay attention and practice.''

-----

= Combat Implant Features =

''This implant also augments the operators proactive combat reasoning, as well as strength, and speed. This implant contains experimental improvements made to attempt to avert the blood-poisoning and pre-mature health decline effects of its predecessors. The implant sits against the amygdala, and confers a number of benefits to the operator. As with all Predator Frog implants, this one cannot be removed without potentially fatal damage to the operator. This prototype implant has been shown to impede gustatory functioning in some hosts.''


== Passive Effects ==


=== Juice Addiction ===

Consuming Juice from a Crash Couch is necessary to reset your Borrowed Time ability (see below). It will also reduce the self-repair time of a damaged implant. Additionally, Juice fuels some of your abilities. You do not suffer from the negative effects of Bad Juice, and do not take fatigue or exhaustion when using juice. If you go too long without juice, the implant could malfunction in unpredictable ways.


=== Zero-G Adaptations ===

You do not require medicine or treatment to maintain the bone-density typical of a life in 1G, and the amount of exercise required to maintain muscle mass is similar to that of a human living in 1G. Additionally, you ignore penalties for moving and operating in free-fall, and cannot be disoriented by a lack of gravity.


==== Flavor ====

''The implant passively synthesizes bone-density drugs using Juice, and prevents rapid muscle atrophy common among belters. Regular exercise is still required. This implant augments your inner ear and sense of balance, significantly reducing disorientation from lack of gravity.''


=== Augmented Vision ===

You gain the Perception: Seeing focus.


== Implant Abilities ==

Abilities can not be used if the implant is in a damaged state.


=== Toad Mode ===

Using a Minor Action, Alfie may enter '''Apex Surge''' (Known colloquially as Toad Mode), allowing him to perform up to two additional turns before the next character can act. His STR becomes a minimum of 3, and FIG becomes a minimum of 5. Alfie is limited to specific Major and Minor actions, listed below. His unarmed attacks deal 1d6 damage.

At the end of the first additional turn, Alfie makes a TN 13 Willpower test to maintain '''Apex Surge'''. Alfie gains '''Fatigue''' after exiting Surge.

Available Actions: - Major: Melee Attack, Charge - Minor: Move, Activate, Ready

Apex Surge cannot be used when '''Fatigued''' or '''Exhausted'''.


==== Flavor ====

''A flood of chemicals wash over Alfie’s nervous system, briefly increasing his memory, cognition, strength, and speed to inhuman levels. The flood of biochemical inhibitors released in order to end this effect will leave Alfie in a state of fatigue.''


=== Electrolytes ===

Once per day as a Minor Action, injecting Juice intramuscularly will allow Alfie to recover from '''Fatigue''' caused by an '''Implant Ability'''. This action will not remove/reduce '''Exhaustion''' or remove '''Fatigue''' from other sources.


=== Borrowed Time ===

Alfie may instantly gain the benefits of a '''Breather''' (Pg 89) (restore fortune of 1d6 + con + lvl) during or immediately following combat. If available, this effect also occurs automatically the first time he would take an '''Injury''', which he avoids. He may use this ability once before consuming Juice from a '''Crash Couch''' is required to recharge the effect.

User:Alfie/Implants

2025-02-03T17:27:24Z

Spacegod: ''This implant passively disrupts surveillance attempts utilizing video and voice recognition. It is named for its ability to alter and camouflage identifying attributes of the operator.'' ## Passive Effects ### Camera distortion The implant user is completely immune to facial recognition software. The TN for identifying the implant user by manually reviewing video footage or similar is increased by +8. If the user is being tracked by reviewing photo/video footage, and a gap spanning 8 hours or

= Fringer Implant Features =

''This implant passively disrupts surveillance attempts utilizing video and voice recognition. It is named for its ability to alter and camouflage identifying attributes of the operator.''


== Passive Effects ==


=== Camera distortion ===

The implant user is completely immune to facial recognition software. The TN for identifying the implant user by manually reviewing video footage or similar is increased by +8.

If the user is being tracked by reviewing photo/video footage, and a gap spanning 8 hours or longer occurs between instances of footage, the adversary will no longer be able to rely on previous facial features to track the user, and will need to succeed on a new test to identify them if there are no other blatantly identifying features (e.g. clothes, large exposed tattoos, carrying a unique object, brightly colored/heavily styled hair).

The user cannot control this effect or disable it.


==== Flavor ====

''This implant alters the reflective and refractive properties of the operator’s skin across various wavelengths picked up by digital camera sensors. These effects are imperceptible to the human eye, but will result in significantly altered appearance on digital cameras. Facial appearance in video playback may look distorted or uncanny, especially to those who are familiar with the operator’s typical appearance. The dermal alterations are constantly fluctuating, completely changing over the course of 8 hours. This adaptation is only skin-deep, and will be rendered ineffective by makeup. This adaptation will not prevent adversaries from tracking the operator by means beyond facial recognition.''


=== Audio distortion ===

The TN to surveil the implant user via voice recognition performed by software is increased by +6. A separate roll must be made for separate audio, as the implant also repeatedly changes the minor voice markers as to remain undetected.


==== Flavor ====

''The implant imperceptibly alters various aspects of your voice, preventing it from being identified by standard voice recognition algorithms. Your voice will not appear altered to the human ear, but the constant, continuous alteration will passively render automated analysis ineffective.''


== Implant Abilities ==


=== Audio Mimicry ===

The implant can alter the user’s voice over a minimum 5 minute warm-up / adjustment period. Returning to the user’s baseline voice requires 5 minutes of adjustment.

By actively mimicking 5 minutes of a high-quality voice recording, Alfie can reshape his vocal chords to that of another human’s voice for up to one hour. This effect will not deceive voice recognition software, but it will fool the human ear. An adversary will automatically succeed on rolls to determine the authenticity of the voice when aided by software, but they won’t be able to determine the true identity of the voice.

With 30 minutes of high-quality voice recording, the user can mimic another human’s voice for up to half an hour. This level of preparation confers all previous benefits, plus the user has a +4 to deceive voice recognition software.

Each time you use this feature to mimic another’s voice you must prepare by listening to and repeating the recording even if you have already heard it.


==== Flavor ====

''Through a series of targeted chemical and biological processes, this implant can temporarily re-shape your larynx and trachea, allowing you to alter your voice. This alteration can be used to create a unique voice, or to take on the voice profile of a target. A minimum of five minutes of clearly audible speech from the target is required to successfully impersonate them. Because this implant is intentionally designed to resist external interference, it contains no access port. It will analyze the the source audio passed in through your ears. Repeat what you hear until you can hear your own voice align with the target audio. To fool digital verification equipment, a minimum of 30 minutes of unique source audio repetition is required. The effects will begin to revert naturally after one hour in order to prevent lasting impact on your larynx. The implant will not affect your ability to mimic the vocal mannerisms of the target, so be sure to pay attention and practice.''

-----

= Combat Implant Features =

''This implant also augments the operators proactive combat reasoning, as well as strength, and speed. This implant contains experimental improvements made to attempt to avert the blood-poisoning and pre-mature health decline effects of its predecessors. The implant sits against the amygdala, and confers a number of benefits to the operator. As with all Predator Frog implants, this one cannot be removed without potentially fatal damage to the operator. This prototype implant has been shown to impede gustatory functioning in some hosts.''


== Passive Effects ==


=== Juice Addiction ===

Consuming Juice from a Crash Couch is necessary to reset your Borrowed Time ability (see below). It will also reduce the self-repair time of a damaged implant. Additionally, Juice fuels some of your abilities. You do not suffer from the negative effects of Bad Juice, and do not take fatigue or exhaustion when using juice. If you go too long without juice, the implant could malfunction in unpredictable ways.


=== Zero-G Adaptations ===

You do not require medicine or treatment to maintain the bone-density typical of a life in 1G, and the amount of exercise required to maintain muscle mass is similar to that of a human living in 1G. Additionally, you ignore penalties for moving and operating in free-fall, and cannot be disoriented by a lack of gravity.


==== Flavor ====

''The implant passively synthesizes bone-density drugs using Juice, and prevents rapid muscle atrophy common among belters. Regular exercise is still required. This implant augments your inner ear and sense of balance, significantly reducing disorientation from lack of gravity.''


=== Augmented Vision ===

You gain the Perception: Seeing focus.


== Implant Abilities ==

Abilities can not be used if the implant is in a damaged state.


=== Toad Mode ===

Using a Minor Action, Alfie may enter '''Apex Surge''' (Known colloquially as Toad Mode), allowing him to perform up to two additional turns before the next character can act. His STR becomes a minimum of 3, and FIG becomes a minimum of 5. Alfie is limited to specific Major and Minor actions, listed below. His unarmed attacks deal 1d6 damage.

At the end of the first additional turn, Alfie makes a TN 13 Willpower test to maintain '''Apex Surge'''. Alfie gains '''Fatigue''' after exiting Surge.

Available Actions: - Major: Melee Attack, Charge - Minor: Move, Activate, Ready

Apex Surge cannot be used when '''Fatigued''' or '''Exhausted'''.


==== Flavor ====

''A flood of chemicals wash over Alfie’s nervous system, briefly increasing his memory, cognition, strength, and speed to inhuman levels. The flood of biochemical inhibitors released in order to end this effect will leave Alfie in a state of fatigue.''


=== Electrolytes ===

Once per day as a Minor Action, injecting Juice intramuscularly will allow Alfie to recover from '''Fatigue''' caused by an '''Implant Ability'''. This action will not remove/reduce '''Exhaustion''' or remove '''Fatigue''' from other sources.


=== Borrowed Time ===

Alfie may instantly gain the benefits of a '''Breather''' (Pg 89) (restore fortune of 1d6 + con + lvl) during or immediately following combat. If available, this effect also occurs automatically the first time he would take an '''Injury''', which he avoids. He may use this ability once before consuming Juice from a '''Crash Couch''' is required to recharge the effect.

Episode 10

2025-01-26T18:37:24Z

Spacegod:

'''Starting:''' Monday, 2351-01-01 
'''Ending:''' Saturday 2351-01-06 

= Placeholder Notes =

* Alfie turns on the spare transponder and sets the ship name to the Manhattan
* Alfie tells Nikki that he's not going to Ceres and wants to have the ship refit in Tycho
** Nikki tells the crew. NoDot acquiesces. Kova has objections but no agency in the decision.

* NoDot asks Kova for advice on whether or not she should delete all malware from Terpsichore
** Kova helps NoDot come to the conclusion that she should delete it, and she does, but makes Kova press the button

* Nikki finds Alfie tap dancing and gives him some pointers
** Alfie learns what a Major in college is.
** Mack shows up and wants to learn as well.

* Kova and NoDot spend time together repairing the Protogen Defense Robot
** They reprogram it to be cute and purr when you pet it
** Mack shows up and asks wtf it is
** They talk Mack into touching it, he chuckles when it purrs

* Kova and NoDot have a discussion with Hecate where Hecate says:
** The protomolecule was discovered on Phoebe, not engineered by humans.
** Eros was probably a demonstration

* Kova tells NoDot that she destroyed the Augustin Ghemorra with Marco
** Obsessed with freedom for belters and belter rights and it clouded her vision
** NoDot tells Kova about her time in the OPA (see nodot's diary, killed son of man who owned the mining company)

* NoDot and Mack play videogames each day in Mack's bunk

* On the final travel day, Nikki is working out and starts taking out her anger about the loss of Julie Mao. Sobbing.
** NoDot comes to talk to her after "giving her space" for 5 days, but sheepishly walks on the treadmill (very out of character)
** Nikki Collapses on the ground and NoDot turns and says. "Finally."
** Nikki shuts her eyes and sits on the ground silently. She looks unhealthy, upset, and sleepless. It's also possible Nikki hasn't eaten since leaving Eros
** NoDot shoves a plush in Nikki's arms
** NoDot goes to the Kitchen and grabs a big glass of water and makes a sandwich out of the various ingredients in the kitchen, and a bucket of cheesy puffs
** The bread, olives, hummus, and herbs are real, but the sandwich has too much going on to be truly delicious. NoDot has never made a sandwich before.
** Nikki takes the water and sips it, then, realizing she's thirsty, drinks the whole thing and thanks NoDot. She also eats the whole sandwich, and throws up into the bucket of cheesy puffs, apologizing.
** NoDot assures her it's okay and comforts her. Nikki laments "why did it have to be Julie. She's a better person than me. Did you know she's on anti-cancer meds for the rest of her life after helping save irradiated miners?"
** NoDot says "Oh my god, that's inspiring"
** Nikki says "I just came out here to run away. But she came out here with purpose. Why is she the one who ... Why not... why her?"
** NoDot says "If Hecate died I would space myself." And brags about how smart Hecate is and how she did her own feminization surgery and body modding. She pushed NoDot to be an activist and join the OPA. She was also the first to become uncomfortable when they realized the OPA was doing shitty things. She moved to Ganymede to do plant research and provide for people.
** Nikki says "We should go visit her. You should go visit her."
** They have a conversation about cheesy puffs where Nikki comes to the realization that NoDot buys cheesy puffs every time they dock at a station and says "I thought you were off doing hacker things." to which NoDot replies "... that is hacker things."
** Nikki dozes off and NoDot carries her to her room. NoDot hangs out on their laptop playing chess by mail with hecate.
** Nikki has pleasant and abstract dreams about Julie
** NoDot makes a looping gif of Nikki and Julie dancing on the Elysian Dream, creates a looping video frame picture of it in Nikki's room.
** Nikki wakes up to the ship docking and has a little cry over the video picture frame

* The players arrive on Tycho
* Alfie plans to talk to the dockyard about fixing up the ship
* NIkki plans to talk to Holden, Alfie informs her that they have arrived a day sooner
* Nikki decides to go talk to Fred Johnson instead
* ...NoDot and Kova plan to go shopping for drone parts
* Alfie and Nikki are the first to leave the ship. They are immediately greeted by Mormons.
* They do not respond and the mormon tells them he'll be around the dock
* Alfie goes to the local shipyard office at the dock and gets told it'll be 25mil UND and realizes they're extremely short on cash

* Kova and NoDot leave the ship to go shopping
** NoDot wants a backpack that they can wear that can launch multiple civilian drones. must look cool. can't look "like this" NoDot says while gesturing to Kova.
** The Mormon fellow tries to talk to them as they leave the ship and they keep talking to eachother and ignore him.
** consumer drones $1000UND each.
** nodot wants stuff to put a gun on the military drone (and repair it)
** nodot wants flame throwers * ~$80 each
** parts for fuel line for arachno * cheap
** Go looking for bank / ATM. current exchange rate is 100k UND: 1 EMC

* Nikki goes to find Fred Johnson.
** She can't figure out where he is
** So she asks a maintenance man who points her to the highest level near the mormovator
** She gets there but can't find Fred's office and asks NoDot to produce a mpa

* NoDot has a conversation with Nikki via text about how she's worried she fucked the EMC economy and it may have cost people their lives
** NoDot returns to the ship and encounters Mack talking to the Mormons
** Mormons are telling Mack about how the Nauvoo is a little slice of rural Americana
** NoDot openly tells Mack that they're abusive, and takes him back to the ship
** Mormons are very patient and try to save nodot, when she doesn't budget they say "When you're ready, we'll be available right out here."

* Nikki runs into Zuko while standing outside of Fred's office. He asks what she's up to, and then if he can bring the money to Dawes.

* Nikki talks to Fred Johnson, who recognizes that they changed the name of the ship by looking up the drive signature.
** Fred immediately recognizes her
** Nikki mentions Holden
** They talk about Eros
** They have a discussion about Dawes and how they work together to renew the reputation of the OPA
** Johnson shares that he has been using the antenna on the Nauvoo to track protogen related stuff and other weird happenings.
** Fronson asks why they changed the name of the ship. Says that they need ~15m UND to refit the drive on the ship.
** Offers full ship rebuild in exchange for their mission aboard the Nauvoo, including weapons.
** Tells Nikki that they'll need physical access to the comms array.

* Alfie looks for drugs.
** shoplifts Phaze from pharmacy. Promises to calm him down.

* Alfie uses spare hand terminals to text Sophia. Through code "If someone tries to recruit you, don't."
** Texts her "Someone recruited you."

* Nikki runs into Dawes coming back from the ship. He's messing with the Mormons and wasting their time.

* Nodot has been alone in their room learning about finance and finding streams about how fucked up Ceres economy is. They have their streaming light on to prevent people from entering.
** Messaged by Nikki to help them infiltrate the Nauvoo comms array.

* Have a meeting.
** Zuko, Mack, etc. are there. Fred Johnson sends a message to all of them with details of the trip.

* NoDot and Kova have a conversation where NoDot still feels bad about the money.
* Mack, Zuko, Kova, Mack and Nikki have a conversation about Mack learning poker face, and they go to a bar with Poker tables
* Nikki gets pulled away by Detective Miller and he interrogates her about Julie Mao. Becomes progressively more unhinged and actively convinces himself that Nikki is responsible for her death.
* Nikki gets a free drink at a bar with a free drink that she scores off of somebody by flirting.
* She teaches Mack how to spot tells, and by association he learns how to be a better liar.

* Alfie goes onto the The Nauvoo to get Sofia who is there on a tour with her adopted parents. She runs away from them to a cave, where a bear is, and Alfie shoots the bear and rescues her and tells her that they're going back to his ship.

* Alfie takes a moment to be in awe in this space now that he feels Sophia is safe.
* They get back to the ship and Sofia is in awe.

* She encounters Nikki who asks Alfie why she's here, and "should I be alarmed".
** Alfie replies "I abducted her. And no."
** Nikki is alarmed.

* Nikki shows her to her new room when she tells Alfie she wants to stay on the ship.
* Mack comes out of his room groggily asking why he heard voices. Nikki tells him that Alfie rescued a girl and that he should go back to bed.
* NoDot messages ??? (Hecate?) when she finds out about this. Opens her door and recognizes Sofia. "Oh boy! Oberto!"

* She explains to everyone that an old man took her to a mormon couple and they boarded the Nauvoo.
** The old man is not Zuko, or Dawes

* Nikki tells Alfie that they'll need to talk about this in the morning.

Sofia

2025-01-26T04:49:20Z

Spacegod: Created blank page

The Expanse

2025-01-23T23:13:17Z

Spacegod:

Expanse TTRPG Wiki for the crew of the Terpsichore.

= People =
== Crew ==
=== Players ===
* [[User:Nikki|Nikki]]
* [[User:Alfie|Alfie]]
* [[User:NoDot|Number]]
* [[User:Kova|Kova]]

=== NPCs ===
* [[Mack Silva]]
* [[Sofia]]

== OPA ==
* [[Zuko]]
* [[Anderson Dawes]]
* [[Fred Johnson]]
* <s>[[Julie Mao]]</s> AKA Lionel Polanski

== Other ==
* [[Hecate]]
* <s>[[Jäger Kruna]]</s> - Richest person alive
* [[User:Talula|Lu]]

= Locations =
* [[Rhea]]
* [[Eros]]
* [[Ceres]]

= Sessions =
* [[Episode 1 | Episode 1: Rhea]]
* [[Episode 2 | Episode 2: The Terpsichore]]
* [[Episode 3 | Episode 3: Lionel Polanski]]
* [[Episode 4 | Episode 4: Welcome to Ceres]]
* [[Episode 5 | Episode 5: Santa Dawes]]
* [[Episode 6 | Episode 6: The Elysian Dream]]
* [[Episode 7 | Episode 7: Parallels in Ceres]]
* [[Episode 8 | Episode 8: Leviathan Wakes]]
* [[Episode 9 | Episode 9: The Eros Incident]]
* [[Episode 10 | Episode 10: Manhattan]]
* [[Episode 11 | Episode 11: The Nauvoo Mission]]

= Map =

[[File:Sol-2350.png|none]]

The Expanse

2025-01-21T05:40:20Z

Spacegod:

Expanse TTRPG Wiki for the crew of the Terpsichore.

= People =
== Crew ==
=== Players ===
* [[User:Nikki|Nikki]]
* [[User:Alfie|Alfie]]
* [[User:NoDot|Number]]
* [[User:Kova|Kova]]

=== NPCs ===
* [[Mack Silva]]
* [[Sophia]]

== OPA ==
* [[Zuko]]
* [[Anderson Dawes]]
* [[Fred Johnson]]
* <s>[[Julie Mao]]</s> AKA Lionel Polanski

== Other ==
* [[Hecate]]
* <s>[[Jäger Kruna]]</s> - Richest person alive
* [[User:Talula|Lu]]

= Locations =
* [[Rhea]]
* [[Eros]]
* [[Ceres]]

= Sessions =
* [[Episode 1 | Episode 1: Rhea]]
* [[Episode 2 | Episode 2: The Terpsichore]]
* [[Episode 3 | Episode 3: Lionel Polanski]]
* [[Episode 4 | Episode 4: Welcome to Ceres]]
* [[Episode 5 | Episode 5: Santa Dawes]]
* [[Episode 6 | Episode 6: The Elysian Dream]]
* [[Episode 7 | Episode 7: Parallels in Ceres]]
* [[Episode 8 | Episode 8: Leviathan Wakes]]
* [[Episode 9 | Episode 9: The Eros Incident]]
* [[Episode 10 | Episode 10: Manhattan]]
* [[Episode 11 | Episode 11: The Nauvoo Mission]]

= Map =

[[File:Sol-2350.png|none]]

Episode 10

2025-01-21T00:00:05Z

Spacegod:

'''Starting:''' Monday, 2351-01-01 
'''Ending:''' Saturday 2351-01-06 

= Placeholder Notes =

* Alfie turns on the spare transponder and sets the ship name to the Manhattan
* Alfie tells Nikki that he's not going to Ceres and wants to have the ship refit in Tycho
** Nikki tells the crew. NoDot acquiesces. Kova has objections but no agency in the decision.

* NoDot asks Kova for advice on whether or not she should delete all malware from Terpsichore
** Kova helps NoDot come to the conclusion that she should delete it, and she does, but makes Kova press the button

* Nikki finds Alfie tap dancing and gives him some pointers
** Alfie learns what a Major in college is.
** Mack shows up and wants to learn as well.

* Kova and NoDot spend time together repairing the Protogen Defense Robot
** They reprogram it to be cute and purr when you pet it
** Mack shows up and asks wtf it is
** They talk Mack into touching it, he chuckles when it purrs

* Kova and NoDot have a discussion with Hecate where Hecate says:
** The protomolecule was discovered on Phoebe, not engineered by humans.
** Eros was probably a demonstration

* Kova tells NoDot that she destroyed the Augustin Ghemorra with Marco
** Obsessed with freedom for belters and belter rights and it clouded her vision
** NoDot tells Kova about her time in the OPA (see nodot's diary, killed son of man who owned the mining company)

* NoDot and Mack play videogames each day in Mack's bunk

* On the final travel day, Nikki is working out and starts taking out her anger about the loss of Julie Mao. Sobbing.
** NoDot comes to talk to her after "giving her space" for 5 days, but sheepishly walks on the treadmill (very out of character)
** Nikki Collapses on the ground and NoDot turns and says. "Finally."
** Nikki shuts her eyes and sits on the ground silently. She looks unhealthy, upset, and sleepless. It's also possible Nikki hasn't eaten since leaving Eros
** NoDot shoves a plush in Nikki's arms
** NoDot goes to the Kitchen and grabs a big glass of water and makes a sandwich out of the various ingredients in the kitchen, and a bucket of cheesy puffs
** The bread, olives, hummus, and herbs are real, but the sandwich has too much going on to be truly delicious. NoDot has never made a sandwich before.
** Nikki takes the water and sips it, then, realizing she's thirsty, drinks the whole thing and thanks NoDot. She also eats the whole sandwich, and throws up into the bucket of cheesy puffs, apologizing.
** NoDot assures her it's okay and comforts her. Nikki laments "why did it have to be Julie. She's a better person than me. Did you know she's on anti-cancer meds for the rest of her life after helping save irradiated miners?"
** NoDot says "Oh my god, that's inspiring"
** Nikki says "I just came out here to run away. But she came out here with purpose. Why is she the one who ... Why not... why her?"
** NoDot says "If Hecate died I would space myself." And brags about how smart Hecate is and how she did her own feminization surgery and body modding. She pushed NoDot to be an activist and join the OPA. She was also the first to become uncomfortable when they realized the OPA was doing shitty things. She moved to Ganymede to do plant research and provide for people.
** Nikki says "We should go visit her. You should go visit her."
** They have a conversation about cheesy puffs where Nikki comes to the realization that NoDot buys cheesy puffs every time they dock at a station and says "I thought you were off doing hacker things." to which NoDot replies "... that is hacker things."
** Nikki dozes off and NoDot carries her to her room. NoDot hangs out on their laptop playing chess by mail with hecate.
** Nikki has pleasant and abstract dreams about Julie
** NoDot makes a looping gif of Nikki and Julie dancing on the Elysian Dream, creates a looping video frame picture of it in Nikki's room.
** Nikki wakes up to the ship docking and has a little cry over the video picture frame

* The players arrive on Tycho
* Alfie plans to talk to the dockyard about fixing up the ship
* NIkki plans to talk to Holden, Alfie informs her that they have arrived a day sooner
* Nikki decides to go talk to Fred Johnson instead
* ...NoDot and Kova plan to go shopping for drone parts
* Alfie and Nikki are the first to leave the ship. They are immediately greeted by Mormons.
* They do not respond and the mormon tells them he'll be around the dock
* Alfie goes to the local shipyard office at the dock and gets told it'll be 25mil UND and realizes they're extremely short on cash

* Kova and NoDot leave the ship to go shopping
** NoDot wants a backpack that they can wear that can launch multiple civilian drones. must look cool. can't look "like this" NoDot says while gesturing to Kova.
** The Mormon fellow tries to talk to them as they leave the ship and they keep talking to eachother and ignore him.
** consumer drones $1000UND each.
** nodot wants stuff to put a gun on the military drone (and repair it)
** nodot wants flame throwers * ~$80 each
** parts for fuel line for arachno * cheap
** Go looking for bank / ATM. current exchange rate is 100k UND: 1 EMC

* Nikki goes to find Fred Johnson.
** She can't figure out where he is
** So she asks a maintenance man who points her to the highest level near the mormovator
** She gets there but can't find Fred's office and asks NoDot to produce a mpa

* NoDot has a conversation with Nikki via text about how she's worried she fucked the EMC economy and it may have cost people their lives
** NoDot returns to the ship and encounters Mack talking to the Mormons
** Mormons are telling Mack about how the Nauvoo is a little slice of rural Americana
** NoDot openly tells Mack that they're abusive, and takes him back to the ship
** Mormons are very patient and try to save nodot, when she doesn't budget they say "When you're ready, we'll be available right out here."

* Nikki runs into Zuko while standing outside of Fred's office. He asks what she's up to, and then if he can bring the money to Dawes.

* Nikki talks to Fred Johnson, who recognizes that they changed the name of the ship by looking up the drive signature.
** Fred immediately recognizes her
** Nikki mentions Holden
** They talk about Eros
** They have a discussion about Dawes and how they work together to renew the reputation of the OPA
** Johnson shares that he has been using the antenna on the Nauvoo to track protogen related stuff and other weird happenings.
** Fronson asks why they changed the name of the ship. Says that they need ~15m UND to refit the drive on the ship.
** Offers full ship rebuild in exchange for their mission aboard the Nauvoo, including weapons.
** Tells Nikki that they'll need physical access to the comms array.

* Alfie looks for drugs.
** shoplifts Phaze from pharmacy. Promises to calm him down.

* Alfie uses spare hand terminals to text Sophia. Through code "If someone tries to recruit you, don't."
** Texts her "Someone recruited you."

* Nikki runs into Dawes coming back from the ship. He's messing with the Mormons and wasting their time.

* Nodot has been alone in their room learning about finance and finding streams about how fucked up Ceres economy is. They have their streaming light on to prevent people from entering.
** Messaged by Nikki to help them infiltrate the Nauvoo comms array.

* Have a meeting.
** Zuko, Mack, etc. are there. Fred Johnson sends a message to all of them with details of the trip.

* NoDot and Kova have a conversation where NoDot still feels bad about the money.
* Mack, Zuko, Kova, Mack and Nikki have a conversation about Mack learning poker face, and they go to a bar with Poker tables
* Nikki gets pulled away by Detective Miller and he interrogates her about Julie Mao. Becomes progressively more unhinged and actively convinces himself that Nikki is responsible for her death.
* Nikki gets a free drink at a bar with a free drink that she scores off of somebody by flirting.
* She teaches Mack how to spot tells, and by association he learns how to be a better liar.

* Alfie goes onto the The Nauvoo to get Sofia who is there on a tour with her adopted parents. She runs away from them to a cave, where a bear is, and Alfie shoots the bear and rescues her and tells her that they're going back to his ship.

* Alfie takes a moment to be in awe in this space now that he feels Sophia is safe.
* They get back to the ship and Sofia is in awe.

* She encounters Nikki who asks Alfie why she's here, and "should I be alarmed".
** Alfie replies "I abducted her. And no."
** Nikki is alarmed.

* Nikki shows her to her new room when she tells Alfie she wants to stay on the ship.
* Mack comes out of his room groggily asking why he heard voices. Nikki tells him that Alfie rescued a girl and that he should go back to bed.
* NoDot messages ??? when she finds out about this. Opens her door and recognizes Sofia. "Oh boy! Oberto!"

* She explains to everyone that an old man took her to a mormon couple and they boarded the Nauvoo.
** The old man is not Zuko, or Dawes

* Nikki tells Alfie that they'll need to talk about this in the morning.

The Expanse

2025-01-20T09:29:00Z

Spacegod: /* NPCs */

Expanse TTRPG Wiki for the crew of the Terpsichore.

== Players ==
* [[User:Nikki|Nikki]]
* [[User:Alfie|Alfie]]
* [[User:NoDot|Number]]
* [[User:Kova|Kova]]
* [[User:Talula|Lu]]

== NPCs ==
* [[Zuko]]
* [[Mack Silva]]
* [[Hecate]]
* [[Sophia]]

== People ==
=== OPA ===
* [[Anderson Dawes]]
* [[Fred Johnson]]
* [[Julie Mao]] AKA Lionel Polanski

=== Individuals ===
* [[Jäger Kruna]] - Richest person alive

== Locations ==
* [[Rhea]]
* [[Eros]]
* [[Ceres]]

== Sessions ==
* [[Episode 1 | Episode 1: Rhea]]
* [[Episode 2 | Episode 2: The Terpsichore]]
* [[Episode 3 | Episode 3: Lionel Polanski]]
* [[Episode 4 | Episode 4: Welcome to Ceres]]
* [[Episode 5 | Episode 5: Santa Dawes]]
* [[Episode 6 | Episode 6: The Elysian Dream]]
* [[Episode 7 | Episode 7: Parallels in Ceres]]
* [[Episode 8 | Episode 8: Leviathan Wakes]]
* [[Episode 9 | Episode 9: The Eros Incident]]
* [[Episode 10 | Episode 10: Manhattan]]
* [[Episode 11 | Episode 11: The Nauvoo Mission]]

== Map ==

[[File:Sol-2350.png|none]]

Episode 10

2025-01-20T09:25:36Z

Spacegod:

'''Starting:''' Monday, 2351-01-01 
'''Ending:''' Saturday 2351-01-06 

= Placeholder Notes =

* Alfie turns on the spare transponder and sets the ship name to the Manhattan
* Alfie tells Nikki that he's not going to Ceres and wants to have the ship refit in Tycho

** Nikki tells the crew. NoDot acquiesces. Kova has objections but no agency in the decision.
* NoDot asks Kova for advice on whether or not she should delete all malware from Terpsichore
** Kova helps NoDot come to the conclusion that she should delete it, and she does, but makes Kova press the button

* Nikki finds Alfie tap dancing and gives him some pointers
** Alfie learns what a Major in college is.
** Mack shows up and wants to learn as well.

* Kova and NoDot spend time together repairing the Protogen Defense Robot
** They reprogram it to be cute and purr when you pet it
** Mack shows up and asks wtf it is
** They talk Mack into touching it, he chuckles when it purrs

* Kova and NoDot have a discussion with Hecate where Hecate says:
** The protomolecule was discovered on Phoebe, not engineered by humans.
** Eros was probably a demonstration

* Kova tells NoDot that she destroyed the Augustin Ghemorra with Marco
** Obsessed with freedom for belters and belter rights and it clouded her vision
** NoDot tells Kova about her time in the OPA (see nodot's diary, killed son of man who owned the mining company)

* NoDot and Mack play videogames each day in Mack's bunk

* On the final travel day, Nikki is working out and starts taking out her anger about the loss of Julie Mao. Sobbing.
** NoDot comes to talk to her after "giving her space" for 5 days, but sheepishly walks on the treadmill (very out of character)
** Nikki Collapses on the ground and NoDot turns and says. "Finally."
** Nikki shuts her eyes and sits on the ground silently. She looks unhealthy, upset, and sleepless. It's also possible Nikki hasn't eaten since leaving Eros
** NoDot shoves a plush in Nikki's arms
** NoDot goes to the Kitchen and grabs a big glass of water and makes a sandwich out of the various ingredients in the kitchen, and a bucket of cheesy puffs
** The bread, olives, hummus, and herbs are real, but the sandwich has too much going on to be truly delicious. NoDot has never made a sandwich before.
** Nikki takes the water and sips it, then, realizing she's thirsty, drinks the whole thing and thanks NoDot. She also eats the whole sandwich, and throws up into the bucket of cheesy puffs, apologizing.
** NoDot assures her it's okay and comforts her. Nikki laments "why did it have to be Julie. She's a better person than me. Did you know she's on anti-cancer meds for the rest of her life after helping save irradiated miners?"
** NoDot says "Oh my god, that's inspiring"
** Nikki says "I just came out here to run away. But she came out here with purpose. Why is she the one who ... Why not... why her?"
** NoDot says "If Hecate died I would space myself." And brags about how smart Hecate is and how she did her own feminization surgery and body modding. She pushed NoDot to be an activist and join the OPA. She was also the first to become uncomfortable when they realized the OPA was doing shitty things. She moved to Ganymede to do plant research and provide for people.
** Nikki says "We should go visit her. You should go visit her."
** They have a conversation about cheesy puffs where Nikki comes to the realization that NoDot buys cheesy puffs every time they dock at a station and says "I thought you were off doing hacker things." to which NoDot replies "... that is hacker things."
** Nikki dozes off and NoDot carries her to her room. NoDot hangs out on their laptop playing chess by mail with hecate.
** Nikki has pleasant and abstract dreams about Julie
** NoDot makes a looping gif of Nikki and Julie dancing on the Elysian Dream, creates a looping video frame picture of it in Nikki's room.
** Nikki wakes up to the ship docking and has a little cry over the video picture frame

* The players arrive on Tycho
* Alfie plans to talk to the dockyard about fixing up the ship
* NIkki plans to talk to Holden, Alfie informs her that they have arrived a day sooner
* Nikki decides to go talk to Fred Johnson instead
* ...NoDot and Kova plan to go shopping for drone parts
* Alfie and Nikki are the first to leave the ship. They are immediately greeted by Mormons.
* They do not respond and the mormon tells them he'll be around the dock
* Alfie goes to the local shipyard office at the dock and gets told it'll be 25mil UND and realizes they're extremely short on cash

* Kova and NoDot leave the ship to go shopping
** NoDot wants a backpack that they can wear that can launch multiple civilian drones. must look cool. can't look "like this" NoDot says while gesturing to Kova.
** The Mormon fellow tries to talk to them as they leave the ship and they keep talking to eachother and ignore him.
** consumer drones $1000UND each.
** nodot wants stuff to put a gun on the military drone (and repair it)
** nodot wants flame throwers * ~$80 each
** parts for fuel line for arachno * cheap
** Go looking for bank / ATM. current exchange rate is 100k UND: 1 EMC

* Nikki goes to find Fred Johnson.
** She can't figure out where he is
** So she asks a maintenance man who points her to the highest level near the mormovator
** She gets there but can't find Fred's office and asks NoDot to produce a mpa

* NoDot has a conversation with Nikki via text about how she's worried she fucked the EMC economy and it may have cost people their lives
** NoDot returns to the ship and encounters Mack talking to the Mormons
** Mormons are telling Mack about how the Nauvoo is a little slice of rural Americana
** NoDot openly tells Mack that they're abusive, and takes him back to the ship
** Mormons are very patient and try to save nodot, when she doesn't budget they say "When you're ready, we'll be available right out here."

* Nikki runs into Zuko while standing outside of Fred's office. He asks what she's up to, and then if he can bring the money to Dawes.

* Nikki talks to Fred Johnson, who recognizes that they changed the name of the ship by looking up the drive signature.
** Fred immediately recognizes her
** Nikki mentions Holden
** They talk about Eros
** They have a discussion about Dawes and how they work together to renew the reputation of the OPA
** Johnson shares that he has been using the antenna on the Nauvoo to track protogen related stuff and other weird happenings.
** Fronson asks why they changed the name of the ship. Says that they need ~15m UND to refit the drive on the ship.
** Offers full ship rebuild in exchange for their mission aboard the Nauvoo, including weapons.
** Tells Nikki that they'll need physical access to the comms array.

* Alfie looks for drugs.
** shoplifts Phaze from pharmacy. Promises to calm him down.

* Alfie uses spare hand terminals to text Sophia. Through code "If someone tries to recruit you, don't."
** Texts her "Someone recruited you."

* Nikki runs into Dawes coming back from the ship. He's messing with the Mormons and wasting their time.

* Nodot has been alone in their room learning about finance and finding streams about how fucked up Ceres economy is. They have their streaming light on to prevent people from entering.
** Messaged by Nikki to help them infiltrate the Nauvoo comms array.

* Have a meeting.
** Zuko, Mack, etc. are there. Fred Johnson sends a message to all of them with details of the trip.

* NoDot and Kova have a conversation where NoDot still feels bad about the money.
* Mack, Zuko, Kova, Mack and Nikki have a conversation about Mack learning poker face, and they go to a bar with Poker tables
* Nikki gets pulled away by Detective Miller and he interrogates her about Julie Mao. Becomes progressively more unhinged and actively convinces himself that Nikki is responsible for her death.
* Nikki gets a free drink at a bar with a free drink that she scores off of somebody by flirting.
* She teaches Mack how to spot tells, and by association he learns how to be a better liar.

* Alfie goes onto the The Nauvoo to get Sofia who is there ona. tour with h er adopted parents. She runs away from them to a cave, where a bear is, and Alfie shoots the bear and rescues her and tells her that they're going back to his ship.

* Alfie takes a moment to be in awe in this space now that he feels Sophia is safe.
* They get back to the ship and Sofia is in awe.
* She encounters Nikki who asks Alfie why she's here, and "should I be alarmed".
** Alfie replies "I abducted her. And no."
** Nikki is alarmed.
* Nikki shows her to her new room when she tells Alfie she wants to stay on the ship.
* Mack comes out of his room groggily asking why he heard voices. Nikki tells him that Alfie rescued a girl and that he should go back to bed.
* NoDot messages ??? when she finds out about this. Opens her door and recognizes Sofia. "Oh boy! Oberto!"
* She explains to everyone that an old man took her to a mormon couple and they boarded the Nauvoo.
** The old man is not Zuko, or Dawes
* Nikki tells Alfie that they'll need to talk about this in the morning.

Episode 11

2025-01-20T09:25:19Z

Spacegod: Created page with "'''Starting:''' Saturday 2351-01-06 '''Ending:''' TBD "

'''Starting:''' Saturday 2351-01-06 
'''Ending:''' TBD

The Expanse

2025-01-20T09:24:52Z

Spacegod:

Expanse TTRPG Wiki for the crew of the Terpsichore.

== Players ==
* [[User:Nikki|Nikki]]
* [[User:Alfie|Alfie]]
* [[User:NoDot|Number]]
* [[User:Kova|Kova]]
* [[User:Talula|Lu]]

== NPCs ==
* [[Zuko]]
* [[Mack Silva]]
* [[Hecate]]
* [[Sofia]]

== People ==
=== OPA ===
* [[Anderson Dawes]]
* [[Fred Johnson]]
* [[Julie Mao]] AKA Lionel Polanski

=== Individuals ===
* [[Jäger Kruna]] - Richest person alive

== Locations ==
* [[Rhea]]
* [[Eros]]
* [[Ceres]]

== Sessions ==
* [[Episode 1 | Episode 1: Rhea]]
* [[Episode 2 | Episode 2: The Terpsichore]]
* [[Episode 3 | Episode 3: Lionel Polanski]]
* [[Episode 4 | Episode 4: Welcome to Ceres]]
* [[Episode 5 | Episode 5: Santa Dawes]]
* [[Episode 6 | Episode 6: The Elysian Dream]]
* [[Episode 7 | Episode 7: Parallels in Ceres]]
* [[Episode 8 | Episode 8: Leviathan Wakes]]
* [[Episode 9 | Episode 9: The Eros Incident]]
* [[Episode 10 | Episode 10: Manhattan]]
* [[Episode 11 | Episode 11: The Nauvoo Mission]]

== Map ==

[[File:Sol-2350.png|none]]

The Expanse

2025-01-20T09:24:14Z

Spacegod:

Expanse TTRPG Wiki for the crew of the Terpsichore.

== Players ==
* [[User:Nikki|Nikki]]
* [[User:Alfie|Alfie]]
* [[User:NoDot|Number]]
* [[User:Kova|Kova]]
* [[User:Talula|Lu]]

== NPCs ==
* [[Zuko]]
* [[Mack Silva]]
* [[Hecate]]
* [[Sofia]]

== People ==
=== OPA ===
* [[Anderson Dawes]]
* [[Fred Johnson]]
* [[Julie Mao]] AKA Lionel Polanski

=== Individuals ===
* [[Jäger Kruna]] - Richest person alive

== Locations ==
* [[Rhea]]
* [[Eros]]
* [[Ceres]]

== Sessions ==
* [[Episode 1 | Episode 1: Rhea]]
* [[Episode 2 | Episode 2: The Terpsichore]]
* [[Episode 3 | Episode 3: Lionel Polanski]]
* [[Episode 4 | Episode 4: Welcome to Ceres]]
* [[Episode 5 | Episode 5: Santa Dawes]]
* [[Episode 6 | Episode 6: The Elysian Dream]]
* [[Episode 7 | Episode 7: Parallels in Ceres]]
* [[Episode 8 | Episode 8: Leviathan Wakes]]
* [[Episode 9 | Episode 9: The Eros Incident]]
* [[Episode 10 | Episode 10: Manhattan]]

== Map ==

[[File:Sol-2350.png|none]]

Episode 10

2025-01-20T09:19:26Z

Spacegod:

'''Starting:''' Monday, 2351-01-01 
'''Ending:'''Saturday 2351-01-06 

= Placeholder Notes =

* Alfie turns on the spare transponder and sets the ship name to the Manhattan
* Alfie tells Nikki that he's not going to Ceres and wants to have the ship refit in Tycho

** Nikki tells the crew. NoDot acquiesces. Kova has objections but no agency in the decision.
* NoDot asks Kova for advice on whether or not she should delete all malware from Terpsichore
** Kova helps NoDot come to the conclusion that she should delete it, and she does, but makes Kova press the button

* Nikki finds Alfie tap dancing and gives him some pointers
** Alfie learns what a Major in college is.
** Mack shows up and wants to learn as well.

* Kova and NoDot spend time together repairing the Protogen Defense Robot
** They reprogram it to be cute and purr when you pet it
** Mack shows up and asks wtf it is
** They talk Mack into touching it, he chuckles when it purrs

* Kova and NoDot have a discussion with Hecate where Hecate says:
** The protomolecule was discovered on Phoebe, not engineered by humans.
** Eros was probably a demonstration

* Kova tells NoDot that she destroyed the Augustin Ghemorra with Marco
** Obsessed with freedom for belters and belter rights and it clouded her vision
** NoDot tells Kova about her time in the OPA (see nodot's diary, killed son of man who owned the mining company)

* NoDot and Mack play videogames each day in Mack's bunk

* On the final travel day, Nikki is working out and starts taking out her anger about the loss of Julie Mao. Sobbing.
** NoDot comes to talk to her after "giving her space" for 5 days, but sheepishly walks on the treadmill (very out of character)
** Nikki Collapses on the ground and NoDot turns and says. "Finally."
** Nikki shuts her eyes and sits on the ground silently. She looks unhealthy, upset, and sleepless. It's also possible Nikki hasn't eaten since leaving Eros
** NoDot shoves a plush in Nikki's arms
** NoDot goes to the Kitchen and grabs a big glass of water and makes a sandwich out of the various ingredients in the kitchen, and a bucket of cheesy puffs
** The bread, olives, hummus, and herbs are real, but the sandwich has too much going on to be truly delicious. NoDot has never made a sandwich before.
** Nikki takes the water and sips it, then, realizing she's thirsty, drinks the whole thing and thanks NoDot. She also eats the whole sandwich, and throws up into the bucket of cheesy puffs, apologizing.
** NoDot assures her it's okay and comforts her. Nikki laments "why did it have to be Julie. She's a better person than me. Did you know she's on anti-cancer meds for the rest of her life after helping save irradiated miners?"
** NoDot says "Oh my god, that's inspiring"
** Nikki says "I just came out here to run away. But she came out here with purpose. Why is she the one who ... Why not... why her?"
** NoDot says "If Hecate died I would space myself." And brags about how smart Hecate is and how she did her own feminization surgery and body modding. She pushed NoDot to be an activist and join the OPA. She was also the first to become uncomfortable when they realized the OPA was doing shitty things. She moved to Ganymede to do plant research and provide for people.
** Nikki says "We should go visit her. You should go visit her."
** They have a conversation about cheesy puffs where Nikki comes to the realization that NoDot buys cheesy puffs every time they dock at a station and says "I thought you were off doing hacker things." to which NoDot replies "... that is hacker things."
** Nikki dozes off and NoDot carries her to her room. NoDot hangs out on their laptop playing chess by mail with hecate.
** Nikki has pleasant and abstract dreams about Julie
** NoDot makes a looping gif of Nikki and Julie dancing on the Elysian Dream, creates a looping video frame picture of it in Nikki's room.
** Nikki wakes up to the ship docking and has a little cry over the video picture frame

* The players arrive on Tycho
* Alfie plans to talk to the dockyard about fixing up the ship
* NIkki plans to talk to Holden, Alfie informs her that they have arrived a day sooner
* Nikki decides to go talk to Fred Johnson instead
* ...NoDot and Kova plan to go shopping for drone parts
* Alfie and Nikki are the first to leave the ship. They are immediately greeted by Mormons.
* They do not respond and the mormon tells them he'll be around the dock
* Alfie goes to the local shipyard office at the dock and gets told it'll be 25mil UND and realizes they're extremely short on cash

* Kova and NoDot leave the ship to go shopping
** NoDot wants a backpack that they can wear that can launch multiple civilian drones. must look cool. can't look "like this" NoDot says while gesturing to Kova.
** The Mormon fellow tries to talk to them as they leave the ship and they keep talking to eachother and ignore him.
** consumer drones $1000UND each.
** nodot wants stuff to put a gun on the military drone (and repair it)
** nodot wants flame throwers * ~$80 each
** parts for fuel line for arachno * cheap
** Go looking for bank / ATM. current exchange rate is 100k UND: 1 EMC

* Nikki goes to find Fred Johnson.
** She can't figure out where he is
** So she asks a maintenance man who points her to the highest level near the mormovator
** She gets there but can't find Fred's office and asks NoDot to produce a mpa

* NoDot has a conversation with Nikki via text about how she's worried she fucked the EMC economy and it may have cost people their lives
** NoDot returns to the ship and encounters Mack talking to the Mormons
** Mormons are telling Mack about how the Nauvoo is a little slice of rural Americana
** NoDot openly tells Mack that they're abusive, and takes him back to the ship
** Mormons are very patient and try to save nodot, when she doesn't budget they say "When you're ready, we'll be available right out here."

* Nikki runs into Zuko while standing outside of Fred's office. He asks what she's up to, and then if he can bring the money to Dawes.

* Nikki talks to Fred Johnson, who recognizes that they changed the name of the ship by looking up the drive signature.
** Fred immediately recognizes her
** Nikki mentions Holden
** They talk about Eros
** They have a discussion about Dawes and how they work together to renew the reputation of the OPA
** Johnson shares that he has been using the antenna on the Nauvoo to track protogen related stuff and other weird happenings.
** Fronson asks why they changed the name of the ship. Says that they need ~15m UND to refit the drive on the ship.
** Offers full ship rebuild in exchange for their mission aboard the Nauvoo, including weapons.
** Tells Nikki that they'll need physical access to the comms array.

* Alfie looks for drugs.
** shoplifts Phaze from pharmacy. Promises to calm him down.

* Alfie uses spare hand terminals to text Sophia. Through code "If someone tries to recruit you, don't."
** Texts her "Someone recruited you."

* Nikki runs into Dawes coming back from the ship. He's messing with the Mormons and wasting their time.

* Nodot has been alone in their room learning about finance and finding streams about how fucked up Ceres economy is. They have their streaming light on to prevent people from entering.
** Messaged by Nikki to help them infiltrate the Nauvoo comms array.

* Have a meeting.
** Zuko, Mack, etc. are there. Fred Johnson sends a message to all of them with details of the trip.

* NoDot and Kova have a conversation where NoDot still feels bad about the money.
* Mack, Zuko, Kova, Mack and Nikki have a conversation about Mack learning poker face, and they go to a bar with Poker tables
* Nikki gets pulled away by Detective Miller and he interrogates her about Julie Mao. Becomes progressively more unhinged and actively convinces himself that Nikki is responsible for her death.
* Nikki gets a free drink at a bar with a free drink that she scores off of somebody by flirting.
* She teaches Mack how to spot tells, and by association he learns how to be a better liar.

* Alfie goes onto the The Nauvoo to get Sofia who is there ona. tour with h er adopted parents. She runs away from them to a cave, where a bear is, and Alfie shoots the bear and rescues her and tells her that they're going back to his ship.

* Alfie takes a moment to be in awe in this space now that he feels Sophia is safe.
* They get back to the ship and Sofia is in awe.
* She encounters Nikki who asks Alfie why she's here, and "should I be alarmed".
** Alfie replies "I abducted her. And no."
** Nikki is alarmed.
* Nikki shows her to her new room when she tells Alfie she wants to stay on the ship.
* Mack comes out of his room groggily asking why he heard voices. Nikki tells him that Alfie rescued a girl and that he should go back to bed.
* NoDot messages ??? when she finds out about this. Opens her door and recognizes Sofia. "Oh boy! Oberto!"
* She explains to everyone that an old man took her to a mormon couple and they boarded the Nauvoo.
** The old man is not Zuko, or Dawes
* Nikki tells Alfie that they'll need to talk about this in the morning.

Episode 10

2025-01-20T09:18:55Z

Spacegod:

'''Starting:''' Monday, 2351-01-01 (Saturday 2351-01-06) 
'''Ending:'''*day, 2350-01- 

= Placeholder Notes =

* Alfie turns on the spare transponder and sets the ship name to the Manhattan
* Alfie tells Nikki that he's not going to Ceres and wants to have the ship refit in Tycho

** Nikki tells the crew. NoDot acquiesces. Kova has objections but no agency in the decision.
* NoDot asks Kova for advice on whether or not she should delete all malware from Terpsichore
** Kova helps NoDot come to the conclusion that she should delete it, and she does, but makes Kova press the button

* Nikki finds Alfie tap dancing and gives him some pointers
** Alfie learns what a Major in college is.
** Mack shows up and wants to learn as well.

* Kova and NoDot spend time together repairing the Protogen Defense Robot
** They reprogram it to be cute and purr when you pet it
** Mack shows up and asks wtf it is
** They talk Mack into touching it, he chuckles when it purrs

* Kova and NoDot have a discussion with Hecate where Hecate says:
** The protomolecule was discovered on Phoebe, not engineered by humans.
** Eros was probably a demonstration

* Kova tells NoDot that she destroyed the Augustin Ghemorra with Marco
** Obsessed with freedom for belters and belter rights and it clouded her vision
** NoDot tells Kova about her time in the OPA (see nodot's diary, killed son of man who owned the mining company)

* NoDot and Mack play videogames each day in Mack's bunk

* On the final travel day, Nikki is working out and starts taking out her anger about the loss of Julie Mao. Sobbing.
** NoDot comes to talk to her after "giving her space" for 5 days, but sheepishly walks on the treadmill (very out of character)
** Nikki Collapses on the ground and NoDot turns and says. "Finally."
** Nikki shuts her eyes and sits on the ground silently. She looks unhealthy, upset, and sleepless. It's also possible Nikki hasn't eaten since leaving Eros
** NoDot shoves a plush in Nikki's arms
** NoDot goes to the Kitchen and grabs a big glass of water and makes a sandwich out of the various ingredients in the kitchen, and a bucket of cheesy puffs
** The bread, olives, hummus, and herbs are real, but the sandwich has too much going on to be truly delicious. NoDot has never made a sandwich before.
** Nikki takes the water and sips it, then, realizing she's thirsty, drinks the whole thing and thanks NoDot. She also eats the whole sandwich, and throws up into the bucket of cheesy puffs, apologizing.
** NoDot assures her it's okay and comforts her. Nikki laments "why did it have to be Julie. She's a better person than me. Did you know she's on anti-cancer meds for the rest of her life after helping save irradiated miners?"
** NoDot says "Oh my god, that's inspiring"
** Nikki says "I just came out here to run away. But she came out here with purpose. Why is she the one who ... Why not... why her?"
** NoDot says "If Hecate died I would space myself." And brags about how smart Hecate is and how she did her own feminization surgery and body modding. She pushed NoDot to be an activist and join the OPA. She was also the first to become uncomfortable when they realized the OPA was doing shitty things. She moved to Ganymede to do plant research and provide for people.
** Nikki says "We should go visit her. You should go visit her."
** They have a conversation about cheesy puffs where Nikki comes to the realization that NoDot buys cheesy puffs every time they dock at a station and says "I thought you were off doing hacker things." to which NoDot replies "... that is hacker things."
** Nikki dozes off and NoDot carries her to her room. NoDot hangs out on their laptop playing chess by mail with hecate.
** Nikki has pleasant and abstract dreams about Julie
** NoDot makes a looping gif of Nikki and Julie dancing on the Elysian Dream, creates a looping video frame picture of it in Nikki's room.
** Nikki wakes up to the ship docking and has a little cry over the video picture frame

* The players arrive on Tycho
* Alfie plans to talk to the dockyard about fixing up the ship
* NIkki plans to talk to Holden, Alfie informs her that they have arrived a day sooner
* Nikki decides to go talk to Fred Johnson instead
* ...NoDot and Kova plan to go shopping for drone parts
* Alfie and Nikki are the first to leave the ship. They are immediately greeted by Mormons.
* They do not respond and the mormon tells them he'll be around the dock
* Alfie goes to the local shipyard office at the dock and gets told it'll be 25mil UND and realizes they're extremely short on cash

* Kova and NoDot leave the ship to go shopping
** NoDot wants a backpack that they can wear that can launch multiple civilian drones. must look cool. can't look "like this" NoDot says while gesturing to Kova.
** The Mormon fellow tries to talk to them as they leave the ship and they keep talking to eachother and ignore him.
** consumer drones $1000UND each.
** nodot wants stuff to put a gun on the military drone (and repair it)
** nodot wants flame throwers * ~$80 each
** parts for fuel line for arachno * cheap
** Go looking for bank / ATM. current exchange rate is 100k UND: 1 EMC

* Nikki goes to find Fred Johnson.
** She can't figure out where he is
** So she asks a maintenance man who points her to the highest level near the mormovator
** She gets there but can't find Fred's office and asks NoDot to produce a mpa

* NoDot has a conversation with Nikki via text about how she's worried she fucked the EMC economy and it may have cost people their lives
** NoDot returns to the ship and encounters Mack talking to the Mormons
** Mormons are telling Mack about how the Nauvoo is a little slice of rural Americana
** NoDot openly tells Mack that they're abusive, and takes him back to the ship
** Mormons are very patient and try to save nodot, when she doesn't budget they say "When you're ready, we'll be available right out here."

* Nikki runs into Zuko while standing outside of Fred's office. He asks what she's up to, and then if he can bring the money to Dawes.

* Nikki talks to Fred Johnson, who recognizes that they changed the name of the ship by looking up the drive signature.
** Fred immediately recognizes her
** Nikki mentions Holden
** They talk about Eros
** They have a discussion about Dawes and how they work together to renew the reputation of the OPA
** Johnson shares that he has been using the antenna on the Nauvoo to track protogen related stuff and other weird happenings.
** Fronson asks why they changed the name of the ship. Says that they need ~15m UND to refit the drive on the ship.
** Offers full ship rebuild in exchange for their mission aboard the Nauvoo, including weapons.
** Tells Nikki that they'll need physical access to the comms array.

* Alfie looks for drugs.
** shoplifts Phaze from pharmacy. Promises to calm him down.

* Alfie uses spare hand terminals to text Sophia. Through code "If someone tries to recruit you, don't."
** Texts her "Someone recruited you."

* Nikki runs into Dawes coming back from the ship. He's messing with the Mormons and wasting their time.

* Nodot has been alone in their room learning about finance and finding streams about how fucked up Ceres economy is. They have their streaming light on to prevent people from entering.
** Messaged by Nikki to help them infiltrate the Nauvoo comms array.

* Have a meeting.
** Zuko, Mack, etc. are there. Fred Johnson sends a message to all of them with details of the trip.

* NoDot and Kova have a conversation where NoDot still feels bad about the money.
* Mack, Zuko, Kova, Mack and Nikki have a conversation about Mack learning poker face, and they go to a bar with Poker tables
* Nikki gets pulled away by Detective Miller and he interrogates her about Julie Mao. Becomes progressively more unhinged and actively convinces himself that Nikki is responsible for her death.
* Nikki gets a free drink at a bar with a free drink that she scores off of somebody by flirting.
* She teaches Mack how to spot tells, and by association he learns how to be a better liar.

* Alfie goes onto the The Nauvoo to get Sofia who is there ona. tour with h er adopted parents. She runs away from them to a cave, where a bear is, and Alfie shoots the bear and rescues her and tells her that they're going back to his ship.

* Alfie takes a moment to be in awe in this space now that he feels Sophia is safe.
* They get back to the ship and Sofia is in awe.
* She encounters Nikki who asks Alfie why she's here, and "should I be alarmed".
** Alfie replies "I abducted her. And no."
** Nikki is alarmed.
* Nikki shows her to her new room when she tells Alfie she wants to stay on the ship.
* Mack comes out of his room groggily asking why he heard voices. Nikki tells him that Alfie rescued a girl and that he should go back to bed.
* NoDot messages ??? when she finds out about this. Opens her door and recognizes Sofia. "Oh boy! Oberto!"
* She explains to everyone that an old man took her to a mormon couple and they boarded the Nauvoo.
** The old man is not Zuko, or Dawes
* Nikki tells Alfie that they'll need to talk about this in the morning.

Episode 10

2025-01-20T00:35:50Z

Spacegod:

'''Starting:''' Monday, 2351-01-01 (Saturday 2351-01-06) 
'''Ending:'''*day, 2350-01- 

= The Nauvoo Mission =

Episode 10

2025-01-20T00:35:16Z

Spacegod:

'''Starting:''' Monday, 2351-01-01 (2351-01-06) 
'''Ending:''' Saturday, 2350-01- 

= The Nauvoo Mission =

Episode 10

2025-01-19T17:57:00Z

Spacegod: Created page with "= The Nauvoo Mission ="

= The Nauvoo Mission =

The Expanse

2025-01-19T17:56:43Z

Spacegod:

Expanse TTRPG Wiki for the crew of the Terpsichore.

== Players ==
* [[User:Nikki|Nikki]]
* [[User:Alfie|Alfie]]
* [[User:NoDot|Number]]
* [[User:Kova|Kova]]
* [[User:Talula|Lu]]

== NPCs ==
* [[Zuko]]
* [[Mack Silva]]
* [[Hecate]]

== People ==
=== OPA ===
* [[Anderson Dawes]]
* [[Fred Johnson]]
* [[Julie Mao]] AKA Lionel Polanski

=== Individuals ===
* [[Jäger Kruna]] - Richest person alive

== Locations ==
* [[Rhea]]
* [[Eros]]
* [[Ceres]]

== Sessions ==
* [[Episode 1 | Episode 1: Rhea]]
* [[Episode 2 | Episode 2: The Terpsichore]]
* [[Episode 3 | Episode 3: Lionel Polanski]]
* [[Episode 4 | Episode 4: Welcome to Ceres]]
* [[Episode 5 | Episode 5: Santa Dawes]]
* [[Episode 6 | Episode 6: The Elysian Dream]]
* [[Episode 7 | Episode 7: Parallels in Ceres]]
* [[Episode 8 | Episode 8: Leviathan Wakes]]
* [[Episode 9 | Episode 9: The Eros Incident]]
* [[Episode 10 | Episode 10: The Nauvoo Mission]]

== Map ==

[[File:Sol-2350.png|none]]

Episode 7

2024-12-02T22:58:21Z

Spacegod:

= Episode 7.0: Parallels in Ceres =

'''Starting:''' Monday, 2350-12-25 
'''Ending:''' Wednesday, 2350-12-27 

== 2350-12-25 (Monday) ==

=== Julie's Departure ===

Just after Nikki falls asleep in Julie's arms, she is startled awake again by a hand terminal chime. A notification on Julie's terminal informs both of them that the ship carrying the protomolecule left early, and that she would need to leave Ceres immediately or there would be no chance of intercepting it before it reached its destination.

=== 2350-12-26 (Tuesday) ===

=== 2350-12-27 (Wednesday) ===

= Episode 7.5: Parallels In Ceres =

Episode 7

2024-12-02T22:58:10Z

Spacegod:

= Episode 7 pt 1: Parallels in Ceres =

'''Starting:''' Monday, 2350-12-25 
'''Ending:''' Wednesday, 2350-12-27 

== 2350-12-25 (Monday) ==

=== Julie's Departure ===

Just after Nikki falls asleep in Julie's arms, she is startled awake again by a hand terminal chime. A notification on Julie's terminal informs both of them that the ship carrying the protomolecule left early, and that she would need to leave Ceres immediately or there would be no chance of intercepting it before it reached its destination.

=== 2350-12-26 (Tuesday) ===

=== 2350-12-27 (Wednesday) ===

= Episode 7 pt 2: Parallels In Ceres =

The Expanse

2024-12-02T04:05:40Z

Spacegod: /* Sessions */

Expanse TTRPG Wiki for the crew of the Terpsichore.

== Players ==
* [[User:Nikki|Nikki]]
* [[User:Alfie|Alfie]]
* [[User:NoDot|Number]]
* [[User:Kova|Kova]]
* [[User:Talula|Lu]]

== NPCs ==
* [[Zuko]]
* [[Mack Silva]]
* [[Hecate]]

== People ==
=== OPA ===
* [[Anderson Dawes]]
* [[Fred Johnson]]
* [[Julie Mao]] AKA Lionel Polanski

=== Individuals ===
* [[Jäger Kruna]] - Richest person alive

== Locations ==
* [[Rhea]]
* [[Eros]]
* [[Ceres]]

== Sessions ==
* [[Episode 1 | Episode 1: Rhea]]
* [[Episode 2 | Episode 2: The Terpsichore]]
* [[Episode 3 | Episode 3: Lionel Polanski]]
* [[Episode 4 | Episode 4: Welcome to Ceres]]
* [[Episode 5 | Episode 5: Santa Dawes]]
* [[Episode 6 | Episode 6: The Elysian Dream]]
* [[Episode 7 | Episode 7: Parallels in Ceres]]
* [[Episode 8 | Episode 8: Leviathan Wakes]]
* [[Episode 9 | Episode 9: The Eros Incident]]

== Map ==

[[File:Sol-2350.png|none]]

Episode 9

2024-12-02T04:05:22Z

Spacegod:

= Episode 9: The Eros Incident =

'''Starting:''' Sunday, 2350-12-31 
'''Ending:''' Monday, 2351-01-01

Julie Mao

2024-12-02T04:01:35Z

Spacegod:

[[File:Julie.png|thumb]]
Juliette Andromeda Mao

* Alias: Lionel Polanski
* Age: 28.
* Status: [[Episode_9 | Deceased - 2351-01-01]]
* Origin: Earth?
* Profession: associated with the OPA
* Family: daughter of Jules Pierre Mao, owner of Mao-Kwikowski Mercantile, the conglomerate that owns Protogen

While attending Yale, Julie joined the Far Horizons Foundation, a student activist group that has alleged ties to the OPA. She recently hitched a ride with the crew to Ceres, to aid [[Anderson Dawes]] in stealing the [[protomolecule]].

Episode 9

2024-12-02T04:00:02Z

Spacegod:

= Episode 9: The Incident =

'''Starting:''' Sunday, 2350-12-31 
'''Ending:''' Monday, 2351-01-01

The Expanse

2024-12-02T03:58:25Z

Spacegod: /* OPA */

Expanse TTRPG Wiki for the crew of the Terpsichore.

== Players ==
* [[User:Nikki|Nikki]]
* [[User:Alfie|Alfie]]
* [[User:NoDot|Number]]
* [[User:Kova|Kova]]
* [[User:Talula|Lu]]

== NPCs ==
* [[Zuko]]
* [[Mack Silva]]
* [[Hecate]]

== People ==
=== OPA ===
* [[Anderson Dawes]]
* [[Fred Johnson]]
* [[Julie Mao]] AKA Lionel Polanski

=== Individuals ===
* [[Jäger Kruna]] - Richest person alive

== Locations ==
* [[Rhea]]
* [[Eros]]
* [[Ceres]]

== Sessions ==
* [[Episode 1 | Episode 1: Rhea]]
* [[Episode 2 | Episode 2: The Terpsichore]]
* [[Episode 3 | Episode 3: Lionel Polanski]]
* [[Episode 4 | Episode 4: Welcome to Ceres]]
* [[Episode 5 | Episode 5: Santa Dawes]]
* [[Episode 6 | Episode 6: The Elysian Dream]]
* [[Episode 7 | Episode 7: Parallels in Ceres]]
* [[Episode 8 | Episode 8: Leviathan Wakes]]
* [[Episode 9 | Episode 9: The Incident]]

== Map ==

[[File:Sol-2350.png|none]]

The Expanse

2024-12-01T18:36:42Z

Spacegod: /* Sessions */

Expanse TTRPG Wiki for the crew of the Terpsichore.

== Players ==
* [[User:Nikki|Nikki]]
* [[User:Alfie|Alfie]]
* [[User:NoDot|Number]]
* [[User:Kova|Kova]]
* [[User:Talula|Lu]]

== NPCs ==
* [[Zuko]]
* [[Mack Silva]]
* [[Hecate]]

== People ==
=== OPA ===
* [[Anderson Dawes]]
* [[Julie Mao]] AKA Lionel Polanski

=== Individuals ===
* [[Jäger Kruna]] - Richest person alive

== Locations ==
* [[Rhea]]
* [[Eros]]
* [[Ceres]]

== Sessions ==
* [[Episode 1 | Episode 1: Rhea]]
* [[Episode 2 | Episode 2: The Terpsichore]]
* [[Episode 3 | Episode 3: Lionel Polanski]]
* [[Episode 4 | Episode 4: Welcome to Ceres]]
* [[Episode 5 | Episode 5: Santa Dawes]]
* [[Episode 6 | Episode 6: The Elysian Dream]]
* [[Episode 7 | Episode 7: Parallels in Ceres]]
* [[Episode 8 | Episode 8: Leviathan Wakes]]
* [[Episode 9 | Episode 9: The Incident]]

== Map ==

[[File:Sol-2350.png|none]]

Episode 9

2024-12-01T18:29:14Z

Spacegod:

= Episode 9: The Incident =

'''Starting:''' Sunday, 2350-12-31 
'''Ending:''' Tuesday, 2351-01-02(?)

Episode 3

2024-12-01T18:00:20Z

Spacegod:

= Episode 3: The Milk Run =

The crew of the Terpsichore head onward towards Ceres. They stop by Eros to pick up Lionel Polanski (real name: Julie Mao). They spend some time learning about CPM Security's sudden hiring spree on Eros, and they search for more info on the protomolecule itself. They agree to play along with Anderson Dawes' plan to steal what is believed to be the only sample of the protomolecule, but will they give it to him when the time comes?

'''Starting:''' Sunday, 2350-12-17 
'''Ending:''' Tuesday, 2350-12-19 
(3 days)

__TOC__

= 2350-12-17 (Sunday) =

== Mack's Lasers ==

'''Summary:''' Mack GMs a game of Lasers & Feelings for the crew, but Zuko doesn't join. The crew RPs that they're blowing up "the ProtoStar" where the Protomolecule is produced. They lose a few hostages and save a few hotties, but ultimately destroy the Protomolecule and escape with their lives.
<hr />

Four days remain to reach Ceres.

Mack spent the previous night browsing the feeds (space Internet) for old turn-of-the-millennium RPG rulesets, and finally comes across [https://johnharper.itch.io/lasers-feelings Lasers and Feelings]. Enamored by the extremely simple ruleset, he decides the next morning that everyone is going to play it with him.

That morning, Zuko dodges the invitation, making up an excuse about needing to take a call.

Mack turns down the lights to get everybody else in the zone. "Alright," he says, "so I've been doing some thinking on what the Protomolecule is. Also I've decided I'm going to call it the Protomolecule, because Protogen made it. And it's a molecule... I think. And if we're going to defeat it, we need to be prepared."

He reveals that he stayed up all night making a special hand terminal app for his game. It includes a dice roller and a character sheet.

Mack begins his RPG oneshot with the following exposition:
<blockquote>
Captain's Log, Stardate: 27483

The solar system stands at the precipice of an unprecedented crisis. As the United Nations of Earth struggles to maintain control, the influence of the Protogen Empire rapidly grows. During a recent battle, a group of OPA spies managed to steal a clandestine Protogen intelligence report, revealing the location of The ProtoStar: an unassuming asteroid, and Protogen’s only manufacturing station for their signature weapon: the Protomolecule. Witnesses claim wielders of this powerful substance can levitate objects as if moved by invisible force. Numerous accounts also suggest the ability to alter the emotions and memories of others, and even the ability to peer into the immediate future.

Disguised as ProtoStar assembly line workers, our intrepid OPA crew of the Ame-no-Uzume have successfully reached the center of the manufacturing facility and armed the thermonuclear warhead which will detonate in one hour. Just as they are preparing to make their escape, they are spotted by a ProtoDroid. “You’re not allowed to be here. Explain yourselves immediately,” he says, as he raises a weapon.
</blockquote>

{| class="wikitable floatright" style="max-width:20em"
|+ DM Note:
|-
| While figuring out how to GM Lasers & Feelings, I got a fair bit of my inspiration from [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-VTA5K1mvg this excellent one-shot] where one of the players was, in fact, some kind of cat-creature.
|}

Mack put his own custom races and classes into the app, and everyone makes a character. Nikki wants to be a plain-old cat, but Mack insists that she plays as one of the character concepts he spent all night coming up with, so she settles on cat girl. Nearly everyone protests about having to play as OPA.

They create their characters:

'''Nikki:''' an Empathetic Cat Girl Doctor named Hello Kitty 
'''Kova:''' an Android Explorer named Pip 
'''Lu:''' a Robot Pilot named Beep Boop Beep Boop 
'''Alfie:''' a Belter Soldier named Alfie 
'''No.:''' a Detective Cat Girl named Nyancy DarkDreams, with a sexy dress made of swords

Next, Mack presents a map of the ProtoStar.

[[File:Protostar-map.jpg|thumb]]

He then repeats the game prompt:

"...You're spotted by a ProtoDroid. 'You’re not allowed to be here. Explain yourselves immediately,' he says, as he raises a weapon."

Number's character Nyancy is the first to respond, saying, "We... being... who we are... from the organization that we're in... are just as cold and calculating as you are. So you should let us pass." Nikki's character Doctor Hello Kitty adds, "Yeah! We're all robots," and then does a little robot dance. Pip (the Lasers & Feelings character, based on the loveable Expanse RPG character, played by Kova) joins in, and they both give Nyancy an assist to her Feelings roll.

But the droid replies, "Not all of you are robots. Those are cat girls. One might just be a cat," while now pointing his gun directly at them. Alfie (the Lasers & Feelings character played by Alfie, the loveable Expanse RPG character) responds with, "I also have a gun. Don't you know? I carry a gun. I'm a soldier," and points it at the mustachioed robot, making a Feelings roll to intimidate him.

"Back off, or... I have a gun," Alfie shouts.

"Wait," the robot replies monotonally, "don't shoot!"

"Let us through!"

The robot backs up against the wall, saying, "I will report you!"

Alfie replies with "no," and shoots him, with a lasers roll with a minor complication. Others definitely heard the shot, as Alfie carries a bullet gun, not a laser gun.

The group decides to run. Pip makes an expert roll to find an air vent, and just in time, the group squeezes inside just before Protogen patrol arrives. They escape through the vent to the far side of the ring containing the Operating Room.

There, they witness doctors experimenting with their Protomolecule-given force grab abilities on human subjects. Suddenly, one of them senses the characters' presence.

Pip informs everyone with a "Hey. Guys. I think there's a problem."

Alfie reassures everyone that he has a gun, and Robot Beep Boop chimes in that they have a laser. Nyancy removes one of the knives from her dress. When Mack suggests that she have a gun instead of a knife, Nyancy responds with an upset "Nyo..."

Mack continues to not-so-subtly hint that he would prefer Nyancy carried a gyun, but Nyancy insists that cat girls carry knyives not gyuns, to which Mack eventually acquiesces.

The characters see the Protomolecule-force-sensitive doctors reaching for a big red emergency button, and Nyancy throws her knife, with a critical success. The knife hits a doctor square between the eyes. The rest freeze and put their hands up, backing against a wall. Nyancy prepares to kill them, and when asked for clarification, she says, "Yes, even the hostages."

Mack announces that there's about 45 minutes remaining until the bomb goes off.

Robot Beep Boop (played by Lu) pleads with Nyancy: "Don't do that... Let's just run!" Number looks to Mack, asking if she has to listen to Lu. Mack says it's up to her.

Doctor Hello Kitty interjects and says she wants to harness the power of the Protomolecule herself, and makes a roll to find some in the Operating Room. She finds a syringe lying on a table, most likely periodically used by the doctors to top off their powers. Doctor Hello Kitty uses it and now has force powers.

Nikki asks Mack what she can do with them and Mack goes over all of the different things you can do with Star Wars force powers in excruciating detail. Number wants Doctor Hello Kitty to join her as a murder hobo and become the "cat girl murder squad." But instead, Nikki rolls to use her force powers to convince the remaining doctors that they were never there. She rolls LASER FEELINGS. Rolling LASER FEELINGS means Nikki gets to ask Mack a question and he will answer honestly, clarifying immediately and nervously that the question has to be about the campaign. At that, Number looks disappointed.

Nikki's question is "Am I like... a superhero now?" and Mack says, "You're more like a Jedi," which only confuses Nikki, until he clarifies, "Space wizard." Nikki is excited that her character is now Doctor Wizard Hello Kitty.

Nyancy is upset that Nikki's critical success means she now has no excuse to myurder. Everyone wants to move on, so eventually she assents, insisting that she gets to murder the next doctor that they see.

The group heads up through the corridors, through the dorm area leading to the Research HQ area. They get some suspicious glances, but nothing more, because they're still in disguises. Nyancy announces that she already shed her disguise, stating, "I only want to wear all of my knives. So that when I throw knives there's like... less clothes. So it's like... hot." Mack is clearly very into that and does not protest at all. He wonders aloud why he didn't make "knife-dress cat" one of the archetypes for players to choose from. Then he says, "Why didn't I make that the ''only'' archetype?"

Nikki jumps in and tries instead to sell Number and Mack on the "allure of the unknown," to which Number counters, "But what if you were like, a cat girl covered in blood, and no clothes?" Now Alfie is getting into it but Mack suddenly seems a little squeamish at the mention of blood.

The players choose to avoid the random milling employees and go back to their ship to escape, but this would also involve ignoring a room full of hostage test subjects to the south. Robot Beep Boop tries to convince the group to stop and save them. Fortunately, not much convincing is needed. Doctor Wizard Hello Kitty quickly imagines the hostages could all be other space wizards, but Mack reminds Nikki that all of the space wizards around here want to kill them. Then Nyancy imagines the hostages might be hot and fall in love with her because she'll save them. So with that, the group makes their way over to the hostage test subjects.

Nyancy rolls Feelings to find the hot ones. Number asks Mack if Nyancy is an expert at hot people, to which Mack replies, "Yeah... Obviously. Takes one to know one, right?" Robot Beep Boop muses about how despite their lack of emotions, robots are probably the best at logically discerning objective hotness through a series of scans and procedures.

After Number makes their roll, Mack describes the scene. "You roll by the first one. No hotties. ...Continue on by. The second one? No hotties :(. The last one? Nothin'. You think, most likely, the hotties must be in the other Protomolecule operating room, not the test subject cells."

Nyancy makes a beeline for it. Mack describes, "There's like... two hotties in there getting force choked," receiving a "that's hottt" from Number.

In order to rescue the hotties, the crew will need to dispatch two droids and two Protogen employees, with about 35 minutes remaining. In tandem, Robot Beep Boop lasers one of the force chokers, while Nyancy knifes the other one. Robot Beep Boop rolls first, getting LASER FEELINGS. The question Lu asks Mack is: "What is the safest way to get back to the Ame-no-Uzume?" Mack says the safest way is to go through Central Command, as shift change is occurring soon, and people will be milling about, making it easier to blend in.

While looking at the map, Alfie notices and points out Antony Dresden's ProtoStar Vacation pool. He wants to take a detour there. Meanwhile, Nyancy DarkDreams makes her roll to knyife the second employee and critically misses, hitting a hottie instead. Number gets upset and shouts, "I hate this game!"

Mack states in response that the employee turns around and starts force choking her, so Robot Beep Boop shoots at them, while Number continues to be upset that Nyancy is good at knives so she shouldn't have missed. Alfie again turns the crew's attention to Antony Dresden's ProtoStar Vacation pool, suggesting that it might contain pool hotties.

Pip and Beep Boop work together to dispatch the second Protogen baddie, with another LASER FEELINGS. This time Lu's question is: "Are there hotties at the pool?" Mack responds "There are ''absolutely'' hotties at the pool. There are ''only'' hotties at the pool. And... also maybe Antony Dresden. He goes there sometimes."

Two droid baddies remain. Nikki wants to use Doctor Wizard Hello Kitty's space magic on them, but find out it only seems to work on biological lifeforms. Alfie shoots one. Pip starts opening the test subject cells full of average-looking hostages. Nikki makes a semi-successful Feelings roll to force-throw one of the dispatched humanoid Protogen employees at the droids, succeeding but injuring one of the remaining hottie hostages in the process.

Combat ends. Number decides to hack the terminal screen displaying Mack's map of the ProtoStar to say "Lame-ass mid hotties" over the cells.

After successfully rescuing the mid hostages, there's about 20 minutes remaining. Alfie is getting concerned that there won't be time to go to the pool. The characters all book it there, successfully rolling for all of Protogen to not notice them as they visit the pool. With only 15 minutes remaining, Pip splits off and opts to take the remaining hostages to the ship instead.

Nikki tries to persuade Mack into giving them extra time for the pool party. She says, "Well, we want to have some fun, but it wouldn't be fair if we blew up just because we wanted to have fun at a pool party."

It's during this very important conversation that Zuko wanders into the room. He begins intently watching everybody play Lasers & Feelings. He seems a little annoyed by what he's hearing, and the way they're all playing.

Mack doesn't notice and acquiesces to Nikki, saying, "Okay, you actually have 25 minutes, and you could probably run to the ship in about 5 minutes, giving you about 15 minutes at the pool. Because you want to be a little ways away before it explodes."

Meanwhile, Pip gets spotted by a group of droids while escorting the prisoners back to the ship, and rolls Lasers to attempt to hack one, but the droid notices and attempts to counter-hack. Pip rolls to successfully Laser the droids, but tragically loses a couple of prisoners in the process, and finally makes it back to the ship with the remaining survivors.

In contrast, back at the pool Robot Beep Boop makes a Lasers roll to decide who is the hottest at the pool party. Mack says, "You're not an expert, but you are prepared. You have all of the equipment necessary to scan faces." With a perfect success, Robot Beep Boop begins confidently rating each party goer, out loud, on a scale of 1 to 10, as well as some droids, because according to Mack "some of the droids are sexier than others." The first person to be rated is very proud of their 8/10, but their smile quickly subsides when the next rating is a 9.

Alfie hits on the 9. "Do you wanna get off this space... place... station?" They reply, "Oh... uh... my shift starts in an hour." Alfie tries really hard to remember to not announce that the station is about to blow up, saying, "My ship is more fun," with a flirty smile. Alfie rolls Feelings for flirting, and Mack adds, "And you have two cat girls with you, which I'm going to count as an assist." Alfie rolls LASER FEELINGS. He asks Mack if the hottie likes him. Mack thinks for a moment before answering, "Yeah! She's super into it. She wants to go back to the ship so badly, she is already getting out of the pool."

Nyancy rolls a prepared Expert Lasers to entice one of the other hotties, getting a LASER FEELINGS. She asks Mack, "How many girls here could I get to fall in love with me? With knives."

Confused, Mack says, "Uhh... well... you have about... fifteen minutes... five of which you're going to need to spend going back to the ship... another five you're going to need to spend leaving the station..."

"Just answer the question," Number interjects.

"Right... uh.. there's about twenty hot babes at this pool party, and you think that maybe if you had more time uh... maybe all of them... but with the time remaining, probably about three."

Kova interjects, "Aren't these the people doing experiments??" to which Number replies "Yeah. But I'm fucking OPA scum, so this is cool for me, I guess."

Doctor Wizard Hello Kitty, trying to get the party rolling, yells, "Free booze at the dock!" and rolls a prepared Expert Feelings check, getting LASER FEELINGS. She asks, "Do we actually have enough space for this number of people on our ship?" Mack immediately responds, "No. No. You have a pretty small ship. It was meant to sneak five of you onto a secret space station. It's like a closet. You're lucky it has a bathroom on it." Nikki replies that that was not explained to her beforehand, so she's just going to take as many of them as she can back to the ship. She starts a conga line with a bunch of Protogen swimsuit babes.

Everyone makes a final roll to get back to the ship. Alfie critically fails, Robot Beep Boop succeeds with complications, Robot Wizard Hello Kitty succeeds with complications, and finally Nyancy DarkDreams uses all of her knives except for three to intimidate people in the hallway. Nyancy gets a critical success, causing other hotties to break from the conga line and follow Nyancy, who dismisses them to impress her three hotties.

Lasers & Feelings Alfie gets caught in the conga line crossfire and doesn't make it back to the ship. He jumps in front of a bullet to save Robot Beep Boop. Robot Beep Boop says, "Oh my god. You saved my non-living non-flesh with your living flesh. Why the hell would you do that?! I have no soul." Alfie lets out a "Don't... forget... me..."

Robot Beep Boop replies "I do not forget. I have a very strong memory with lots of storage."

Alfie replies, "Excellent! I died in peace."

Mack says, "And with that, with five minutes remaining, you... do you sardine the babes in the ship? ...Okay, you clown car the babes into the ship, and you fly off, and they're all very, very glad that they didn't just blow up on the Protostar, and you save the world. And the Protomolecule can't be used anymore, except... for the sample that you have with you."

And thus, the game-within-a-game ends.

Zuko is fuming in the corner. "Do you all think this is a game?!" he asks, to which everyone confusedly replies, "...Yes?"

Visibly affected by all that happened, Kova silently gets up and heads to her room.

Zuko meanwhile beckons Mack into a nearby room and the crew can see him angrily giving Mack orders, who looks concerned but complies. He hands his hand terminal over to Zuko.

While waiting, Nikki decides to go check on Kova, but Kova does not answer her door.

Zuko re-enters the common room and says to everyone still there, "This time, you get fifteen minutes. And I'm setting a timer."

Number quickly retreats and joins Nikki. Through Kova's door, they say, "Hey, Zuko is doing the same thing as Mack, but... he's being mean about it..."

Kova still does not open up, so Number hacks the door open. Inside, Kova tries to look like she's sleeping.

Nikki attempts empathy, telling Kova, "You don't have to come back and play with us, but... I'm sorry if things didn't go... how you wanted them to."

Kova quietly replies, "It's okay, just play the rest without me."

On Nikki's way back, she crosses paths with Lu, who says that she's never been terribly good at bedside manner. Nikki replies that it's not a medical issue, and Kova is just upset and there's nothing they can do besides give her some space. Lu, with a confused stare, says, "Everything can be fixed," but ultimately decides not to pay Kova a visit.

Meanwhile, Alfie is telling riddles to Zuko in the common room.

Alfie: "I go on red but stop on green, what am I doing?"

Zuko stares at him.

Alfie: "I'm eating a watermelon!"

Zuko: "...What's a water melon?"

Alfie: "I... don't know. I'm just reading it out of this old book. What goes up but never comes down?"

Zuko: "...What?"

Alfie: "Your age."

Zuko doesn't seem to like that one.

When Nikki and Lu return to the common area, Zuko has returned Mack's hand terminal and Mack appears to be rolling up his own Lasers & Feelings character, and Alfie reads one of his riddles to her.

Alfie: "Hey Nikki. People buy me to eat, but never eat me. What am I?"

Nikki: "A fork?"

Alfie: "Cutlery! ...Is Kova alright?"

== Zuko's Feelings ==

'''Summary:''' Zuko runs his own version of Lasers & Feelings, where the rules are much more punishing and the game is timed. Initially everyone is incredibly upset with him, but it isn't long before they fall into their roles and manage to successfully complete their mission. Zuko is impressed with Number's ability to think laterally in tense situations.
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Once everyone but Kova is back in the common area, Zuko announces, "Okay I'm going to show you how this really goes. My rules are different. You can't roll 'laser feelings' in my game." Zuko makes mocking air quotes. "And if your left-most die matches your number, well... just hope that it doesn't, because the outcome will be unpleasant.

"You start in the same place as last time, but this time you only have fifteen minutes starting... now." He says this with an emotionless gaze, as he sizes up the crew. Then he starts his timer.

Nikki immediately bursts, "Okay! Holy shit we run!"

"Where are you running?" Zuko prompts, seemingly in exasperation.

"The same... air vent... there?" someone replies.

"No. There's no air vent."

Alfie says, "Ookay... let's run."

Lu says, "Didn't we start with droids pointing guns at us last time?"

Zuko, who wasn't around the first time, quickly adapts. "Yeah. There's a droid. He's pointing a gun at you. What do you do?"

Everyone in unison replies, "Shoot him and run!"

Zuko asks who is shooting first, and asks for a guns roll.

Alfie goes first and barely makes his roll, receiving a complication. The droid shoots him in the shoulder, but Zuko adds, "But not your shooting shoulder. This time."

The crew runs. They turn the corner and encounter five more droids.

They once again say, "We all shoot!"

Zuko states flatly, and coldly, "They're all droids. With impeccable aim."

Number, audibly and visibly upset, asks Zuko if he's sure he understands the vibe of a tabletop RPG, and Nikki agrees he's not making sure that this is fun for everyone.

"Fun?! This. This is not about fun. If we ever wind up in this kind of situation, we need to be prepared."

Number says, "Yeah. Well. I knife them. All."

"You don't have a knife, you have a gun." Zuko replies.

Number, now even more upset, doesn't even respond. After a long pause, Alfie breaks the silence, matching Zuko's seriousness, as if a switch has flipped, and on some level he understands and maybe even agrees with what Zuko is doing. "There's no time. We shoot them."

"Make me a shooting roll."

Number interjects, "Give me a knife."

To which Zuko replies, "Fine. You have one knife."

Number responds, "Just one? Fine then. Which nipple?"

After a long pause and a quizzical stare, Zuko says, "I think I... must have missed something."

And once again Alfie breaks the silence. "There's no time for this. We have to move."

Number attempts to hack the timer and add more time. Zuko is looking right at it and sets it back.

Alfie rolls another critical failure, managing to take out only one of the five before his gun breaks entirely.

Zuko asks, "Now... do any of you have actual military training?"

Having spent countless years as a combat medic in the UNN, Lu raises her hand.

"Good," Zuko says. "Then you already know the first thing to do in this situation is find cover. You definitely don't want to be just standing around letting them take pot shots at you. So, I suggest you all find some cover if you want to make it through this fight alive."

Number says, "I don't like this. This seems fucking stupid."

But Lu responds, "I like this. It's realistic," in a way that was surely meant as an exclamation, but came out in the same relatively matter-of-fact tone that Lu always tends to use.

"Did we win the fight?" someone asks.

"Not until somebody makes me a shooting roll to kill those four droids while you're behind cover," Zuko answers.

Lu says, "I will do that. Am I an expert?"

"You are a robot. You are always an expert at shooting," Zuko replies, without a hint of humor.

Lu manages to take out all of the droids, but not without suffering a complication. Lu's gun is destroyed in the fight.

Lu and Alfie ask if they can take guns off the droids but Zuko says they are built in, and can't be detached as there is no trigger mechanism.

"I walk over to the robots and re-wire them. If we're going to play this your fucking asshat way, I'm going to rewire them to work for us. That's what I do on a job," Number says.

Perhaps unexpectedly, Zuko responds positively, as if he didn't notice the venom in Number's voice. "Very good. Roll me Lasers. Are you any good at this?"

"Yeah, I'm the best in the fucking world."

"Then roll as an expert. And you're prepared, too."

"Yeah, I better be," Number replies, paying absolutely no notice to Zuko's shift from an exasperated demeanor to an inquisitive one.

"Alright, you re-wire all four robots, and they'll now follow you around with their guns."

"No, I have them lead."

Once again Zuko looks impressed. "Alright. You follow them, with their guns."

Alfie states, "We need to go out toward the research HQ."

"Alright, as you're heading towards the Research HQ, there's already people waiting for you in... this area." Zuko gestures to the map on the nearby terminal screen. "It's another gun fight. What do you do first?"

"I'm gonna take cover," Alfie says.

"That's right. You take cover."

"This is a space station, right?" Number asks.

"This is a space station."

"I hack into the fucking airlocks and open them in every room we're not in."

"Uhh... it is... not that kind of space station," Zuko replies.

"So it's not... in space?"

"...Uh... It's... Alright, fine then. Give me a roll."

Number succeeds.

Nikki asks, "Our room is sealed though... right?"

"Our room is sealed," Zuko replies. "However-- Now what do you do?"

"Well, now everyone else in this fucking station is dead. Let's go to our ship."

"Except now there's no air between you and the ship."

"Kay... well... fuck," Number says.

"You have 8 minutes and 55 seconds. Better think of something." Zuko taps his wrist. His inquisitiveness shifts further. Now it might even be impressed amusement.

"Okay, I'll just close the airlocks. How does air come into the station?"

"It normally just... doesn't leave. New air is not produced at a rate that will be breathable in the next 8 minutes and change."

Zuko gestures on the map to the entire dormitory region between the Protomolecule Operating Room and the Research HQ, explaining that the entire section they inhabit still has air.

The crew decides that whatever they're going to do, they might as well start the re-oxygenation process. Zuko begins to say how long the station indicates it will take before the rooms they care about become breathable, but pauses.

"Actually, I'm going to have you make a roll, Number. You can have three dice again."

Number succeeds handily on their roll.

"Alright, you manage to put the oxygenation system in to overdrive without overheating it. It says the other rooms will be stable in approximately 7 minutes. Prior to that, there is a risk of rupturing your lungs if you open the doors."

"The robots are still able to get through, right?" Number asks-- at this point significantly calmer, maybe even a little excited by their own ingenuity. Now everyone seems to be playing along, and even Zuko appears to be having a good time.

"Yes. The two rooms adjacent to you have airlocks between them, so robots can safely move between them without any risk to the rest of the crew."

"Yeah, all we have to do is let the robots out to find some suits. In fact, they can get the ones from our ship."

Lu asks if her character Robot Beep Boop would have enough time to reach the ship, and Zuko answers no. Nikki suggests that the suits might be near the airlocks, perhaps even right on the other side, so Lu agrees to search for them there.

"Okay. Give me a Lasers roll."

"Can my other droids assist?"

"Absolutely. I'm going to call that an assist, and prepared."

Lu rolls another success.

"Alright!" Zuko says, with a long pause. "You... find... suits... it takes you... a little... while... to find them... and... when you... finally do... find them... you are around... this area..." Zuko says, slowly gesturing to the map, intentionally running down the clock. "You find them in a storage bay just off Antony's little... wing... over here, and on your way to and frow, you pass a lot of suffocated corpses laying around. Some of them look truly horrified. But you do finally make it around, and back into the oxygenated dormitory wing."

"They were going to blow up anyway," comments Alfie, still in business mode.

"...And you provide the suits, to... your compatriots who need them. They do all fit, luckily."

"Okay, ''now'' it's time to book it." Alfie says.

"Yep. You book it. You make it out. You fly away, and the station explodes. I have to say, from the way this started, I did not expect this level of performance out of you, Number, and I'm very impressed. I call this a success. I thought for sure you would all die... but I'm glad to be wrong."

Number replies, in a much calmer manner than at the start, "Yeah, I mean, we've all had shitty times before. All of us have done things... this bad... Like, you brought the mood down a little. We got four more days on this ship together, let's have, like, a ''good'' time."

"Oh yeah, about that," Zuko interrupts, as if the remaining time was the only thing he heard. "We have been asked to make a milk run over to Eros. If we burn pretty hard right now we should get there around tomorrow morning."

"And what exactly are we doing there?" Captain Nikki asks.

"Boss wants us to pick somebody up, and bring him over to Ceres."

"Another person. And who is this?"

"Let's see... Log says Lionel Polanski. Anyone have any idea who that is?"

Lu asks, "Is this guy sketchy?"

"I... It wasn't a pop quiz. I ain't heard of 'em either. They might be nobody. Boss just asked me to pick them up on our way back."

(At this moment, Nikki's player asked to roll to know who he is, to which the DM replied "Oh, yeah! you can roll." And before the dice hit the table the DM said, "You've never heard of them.")

Nikki resumes her captainly duties and quizzes Zuko once more. "Does this change our bottom line?"

"I'm sure he'll pay you for it."

"Alright, strap in," Alfie says, heading for the intercom to let Kova know the Terpsichore will be pulling high Gs for a couple hours.

As they strap into their crash couches, Number shoots dagger eyes at Zuko, but the look he gives in response is one of both relief and respect. He already knew Number was a skilled hacker, but he was glad to see they're also a fairly quick thinker under pressure, even if that pressure is self-created.

Nikki, on the other hand, is mulling over her own feelings about Number's cold, and wholly un-calculated decision to suffocate everyone else on the station, knowing full well that there were innocents in the mix. She grapples with the quandary of whether or not it was the right thing to do, given that they wouldn't have had time to rescue them from the explosion anyway.

Everyone makes constitution rolls to avoid the hangover caused by the low-quality juice aboard the Terpsichore. Everyone fails except for Alfie, who always seems mysteriously unaffected.

They burn through the sleep schedule leaving them feeling wired but tired.

The next morning, about an hour out from Eros, the ship is back down to a leisurely 0.3Gs. With about a half hour to nap post-juice for those who so choose, Nikki makes some coffee in the recently-repaired coffee machine.

Nikki sits alone stirring her coffee, but not for long before Alfie sits down across from her.

"Nikki, listen. If we're ever in that kind of danger... I consider you a friend, so I'm telling you in advance. If it's ever a choice between my life and the crew--my life and ''yours''... I'm choosing mine," he says with an unnerving matter-of-factness.

But the next thing that comes out of his mouth is quiet, and tinged with a shame that he can't hide. "I don't wanna die."

"Well then," Nikki replies, pausing to wipe her tired eyes and take a sip of her freshly brewed coffee, "let's hope it never comes to that."

= 2350-12-18 (Monday) =

== Eros: Dock 2A ==

'''Summary:''' The crew takes the train to Old Town. Zuko wanders off, and Nikki, Alfie, and Number notice there's a ton of fresh CPM security employees milling about. Kova notes that CPM used to just be called Protogen Security.
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[[File:Eros-tube-map.png|thumb]]

The Terpsichore coasts into a large hanger bay entrance carved into the side of an oblong rock twice the length and four times the width of Manhattan. Matching its rotation with that of the asteroid, large mechanical arms reach out to guide into its berth.

Inside the ship, Alfie looks to Zuko and asks, "So. Where are we meeting this guy?"

"I haven't been given a meeting point yet. But they're scheduled to arrive in about 18 hours. Not a bad time to tour Eros if you've never been."

As they disembark through the airlock jetway, Nikki turns to Kova.

"You're from here, right, Kova? Do you have any folks you want to check in on or anything?"

"No," she says. "It's just me."

"Surely there must be something you want to do," Alfie prompts.

"Nothing in particular..." Kova replies. "It's kind of just... a big trash heap to me... I guess we could check out Old Town--see if there's anything going on."

They hop on the train from Dock 2A to 2B. Zuko parts ways to go take care of some business, and from there the crew boards the train that will pass by Agatoor, Cutty, and Tuggs Stations before finally arriving at Main Seteshang in Old Town. But as soon as they board the second train, everyone notices an unusual abundance of CPM security on the train and at each stop--many of them meandering about, rather than being stationed somewhere.

Standing huddled in the packed train, Alfie turns and whispers. "Uh, Kova, I don't remember Eros having this many cops, do you?"

"Definitely not." And after a pause, "Also, I don't want to profile but..."

Alfie immediately picks up on what she's getting at. Protogen normally expects a certain level of professional appearance from their security. All these CPM security guards are in uniform, but strangely, many look more like petty criminals than professionals.

Seated nearby, Number picks up on the same vibe. They scan the local area for unsecured terminals and gains access to one from a guard on the train. Inside, Number finds a series of DMs that reveal many of these new guards are in fact hired straight out of prison. Curious about how unusual this is for Protogen and wondering what's going on, they show the DMs to Nikki, and the two devise a plan to scope out a bar frequented by off-duty cops and find more information.

== Kova, Alfie, and Lu go to the Arcade ==

'''Summary:''' The three hang out and play some games at the arcade. Kova wins a plushie and an antique ford model-T hotwheel toy, but then gets kicked out, and Alfie and Lu are too distracted to notice. But in the end, Kova and Alfie get some classic belter comfort food and leave Lu to her VR House of the Dead 97 addicition.
<hr />

The group has an evening to kill before meeting with Lionel the next day.

Kova decides to stop off at an old haunt of hers, the arcade Time Zone, with Alfie and Lu in tow. She wins an alien plushie from a claw machine. Kova is an expert with a claw machine and gets it on her fifth try. A small child is upset that his dad tried over twenty times and failed. The kid tries to buy it from Kova, but she won't sell it to him. Then Kova and Alfie compete at .3g ski-ball.

Lu gets way too into a zombie shooting VR arcade game. She gets a pretty high score but isn't very familiar with VR arcade shooters and ends up feeding it quite a few credits.

Kova finds a broken Pachinko machine that she can influence by tilting the machine. An employee catches her and begins escorting her out while she insists that everyone does it so she shouldn't get in trouble. He tells her to come back tomorrow, but then realizes he recognizes her.

"Wait a minute. Kova?"

She doesn't recognize him, but he recognizes her from her childhood, back before her parents died. He talks her ear off about her childhood until she finally cuts him off.

"You know... you could let me back in?" she says, grinning.

"Listen, they have cameras here now, and I'll get fired if I don't kick you out. But you can come back tomorrow."

Alfie and Lu are both oblivious to Kova getting kicked out. Kova tries to send them messages, but the VR helmet notifications conveniently blend in with Lu's game HUD so that she doesn't get distracted from spending credits, and Alfie accidentally left his terminal on Do Not Disturb.

The employee comes back out and hands her the prize she got from cheating at the Pachinko machine. Kova isn't sure what it is, but it looks kind of like a very rudimentary car. And the keychain itself looks like it might be an antique repurposed as an arcade prize.

Once Kova finally manages to get her friends' attention, she wants to go for some classic Belter comfort food, and only Alfie tags along. Lu is still to engrossed with the VR game. Kova describes it as the only other good thing on Eros besides the arcade. The restaurant is called called Gold Star Kibble. Alfie and Kova both have the white kibble at Kova's recommendation.

== Mack's new threads ==

Nikki, wearing skinny jeans and a white crop top with a light pink jacket, heads off to scout out cop bars to get more information on the CPM situation, while Number takes Mack shopping for new clothes. So far he has only been wearing crew coveralls, and his bloody CPM uniform with the logo ripped off.

Number applies some temporary tattoos and buys a top with a mesh sleeve, pairing it with a short skirt.

Mack spends quite a while looking for clothes. He tells Number that he really wants something that stands out and makes him look good, but he also wants to blend in. Eventually he picks out a leather jacket.

== Nikki and NoDot go phishing ==

'''Summary:''' Nikki and Number go to a club and flirterrogate the cops there into revealing they were hired fresh out of prison and don't really know why. They seduce a cop and Number rootkits his terminal, sends out phishing emails to all his contacts, and steals all his credits. They find the cop's current orders to simply maintain peace and wait for further instruction, but also find that his superior made it clear there's a lax policy on abuse of power. There's no information about ''why'' they were hired. A few transmissions were send-to-all resignations stating that it's a mockery of the force to suddenly hire the very people who Protogen security locked up.
<hr />

While Mack and Number shop, Nikki finds a bar frequented by CPM security guards and starts pre-gaming on vodka red-bulls, but has a few too many. She doesn't have a lot of luck seducing anyone before Mack and Number show up. One guy drunkenly tells his friend that he thinks Nikki is a cop before his friend reminds him that ''he's'' a cop.

Number and Mack arrive and find a table, and while they wait for Nikki to come over from the dance floor, Mack tries on his new persona, going between acting like a guy who always wears a leather jacket, and being a guy who doesn't feel cool enough to be wearing a leather jacket. When Nikki approaches, she recalls back to when she was nineteen and used to date guys just like Mack, cringing.

Things aren't working out for Nikki's flirtation strategy. Number tries next and hits up the bar, waiting for someone to buy them a drink. After a few minutes a cop takes the bait. Number flirts with him, using probing questions like "what's a guy like you doing here?" and "how did you get so strong?" to try and learn some information.

Once Nikki has sobered up a little, she joins Number and they commence with a tag team strategy. The cop's guard is down as he is being hit on by two attractive babes. (Aside: Nikki rolled 5SP and used the "Good Cop, Bad Cop" Stunt on the cop. Nikki plays distracting cop, Number plays steal-your-phone cop.)

They determine the guard was in prison just before being hired, and hasn't yet been given any orders. At this point Number asks for his number to get him to hand over his terminal, which they promptly bug with a rootkit. Nikki steals his attention back, and he's far too drunk to realize how long Number has his phone. Number also looks into his criminal records and he had been greatly exaggerating his crimes.

For fun, Number then steals all of his credits, and sends transfer requests to all of his friends begging for rent money that also redirect back to Number's accounts. This takes quite a while so Nikki starts making out with him to distract him. Nikki stares Number down while making out with the cop, and Number tries not to laugh at her misery.

As soon as Nikki can safely stop making out with the guy, he passes out on the floor, possibly having forgotten to breathe. Nikki orders a minty cocktail called a Mouthwash to get the ick out.

Number seduces some more cops to for fun at a corner table. They each try to one-up each other by buying Number food and drinks, arm wrestle to impress them, etc.

== The gang's all here ==

'''Summary:''' The group hangs out that night, and each person ends it their own way. Mack flirts with a cute girl, Number has a slumber party at a motel, and Alfie learns that tensions on Eros are rising as the UN has recently upped the tax on water.
<hr />

After Nikki and Number wander back to the table, Leather-Jacket-Mack says, "Can we go somewhere else? Why did you guys pick this place? These people are ''not fly.''"

They leave and meet up with the rest of the crew at a non-cop bar called The Billie Jean.

Alfie wingmans for Mack. It takes a while and he fails a lot, but he eventually sits down with a cute Belter girl his age.

As if by cosmic irony, all Mack's failures swarm over to Nikki, who is looking to "get the taste out".

Alfie goes for a smoke in the back alley, and catches up on the local gossip. He learns that the locals are upset with the UN due to a tax hike on water that has left them rationing. Nobody knows the reason, but one of the smokers is sympathetic, saying that Earth supplies their air, so they should be grateful for what they're offered.

Everybody in the crew realizes Zuko never gave them the name of the motel he booked, and Nikki realizes The Billie Jean is a lesbian bar.

As it gets late, Lu, Kova, Nikki, and Nikki's chosen hookup Cher make their way back to the ship for bed. Mack and Number stay behind to have more fun, and Lu reminds them to practice safe sex with their dates. Alfie returns later in the night.

Number finds some new one-night girlfriends and continues bar hopping with them, eventually running into Zuko, and checking in at the dingy motel Zuko had booked for them. They have a fun hot-girl slumber party.

= 2350-12-19 (Tuesday) =

== The following morning ==

Nikki is making breakfast for Cher, a girl she brought home the night prior, while wearing an oversized button-down. Number returns from the motel. Zuko, Alfie, and Kova all come to the mess separately at some point. About 45 minutes after everyone else, Mack wanders in from the elevator with a different girl than he had met the previous night, but a moment later that girl also wanders out and heads straight off the ship. Mack returns alone about 15 minutes later and receives a high-five from Number.

Kova and Alfie do crossword puzzles. Nikki gives Cher her number and they part ways.

== Lionel Polanski is Julie Mao ==

'''Summary:''' The crew meets up with Lionel Polanski, who is actually Julie Mao, the daughter of Jules Pierre Mao, the man who owns the conglomerate that owns Protogen. She and Nikki catch up. It turns out they've both run away from their parents, but for different reasons. Julie learned about the OPA struggle in college and realized how much her parents were directly responsible for it.<hr />

Zuko states that Lionel Polanski is waiting at Hotebisu station, one stop away from the transfer back to Dock 2. When the crew arrives, they meet a young East Asian Earther woman (early-to-mid twenties) who Nikki immediately recognizes--not as Lionel Polanski, but as Juliette (Julie) Andromeda Mao. They've met many times at social events with their big-wig parents. Nikki is from the Kennedy family, who are forever fated to play a role in Earth politics, and Julie is the daughter of Jules Pierre Mao, owner of Mao-Kwikowski Mercantile, the conglomerate that owns Protogen.

Nikki stares at her. "Lionel, huh?"

Julie responds with a "Nikki?"

"Lionel... ...Do I have to call you that?"

"Uh. Yeah. Definitely if we're in public." Lionel replies in a hushed voice.

"Fine... uh..." Nikki starts.

And in unison, they both blurt out, "What are you doing here?!"

"Uh... I have a ship?" Nikki replies first.

Julie seems confused.

"I'm here to pick up Lionel Polanski... so... what is 'Lionel Polanski' doing out here?" Nikki elaborates.

"Maybe we should talk about this back on your ship," Julie says.

Nikki and Julie sit in awkward silence on the rail back to Dock 2A, with so many questions for each other that they dare not blurt out on public transit.

When safely on the ship, Julie explains that she began preparing to cut ties with her parents after learning about the Belter struggle in college, and for the past year she's been working for the OPA. She's passing through Eros after finally leaving Luna for Ceres.

Julie asks if Nikki is also OPA, but Nikki explains that they are only doing a job for Zuko, who is paying them a suspiciously large amount.

Number looks Julie up and learns about her pinnacle racing awards, and that her father is Jules Pierre Mao.

Then the conversation shifts.

== '''The Major Players''' and the Protomolecule ==

'''Summary:''' Julie tells the crew that the Protomolecule is being tested on humans, including children, and that it seems to fairly rapidly turn them into something else. She's meeting with Dawes to devise a game plan to get a sample so that they can study it. Mars might be in on it. Number is very against this idea. Nikki feels that their hand is already played and they have no choice but to see it through with Dawes.
<hr />

The crew takes off for the remaining three-day ride to Ceres.

{|| class="wikitable floatright" style="max-width:30em"
|+Sidebar: The Major Players
|-
!UN
| The United Nations. Earth's united government.
|-
!MCR
| The Martian Congressional Republic, the government of Mars.
|-
!EMC
| The Earth-Mars Coalition, also known as The Coalition, or just EMC, exists to police the Solar system (as in outer space) and prevent conflict between both powers.
|-
!OPA
| The Outer Planets Alliance. A loosely affiliated network of Belters sharing the common cause of Belter advocacy, with many factions envisioning self-governance. Due to differing opinions and their fractured nature, they have earned a reputation for terrorism.
|-
!Anderson Dawes
| The OPA liaison of Ceres. He hired Zuko.
|-
!The Belt
|A shorthand term that comprises both the inhabited asteroid belt, and the inhabited moons of the outer planets. It is, for the most part, controlled by various Earth- and Mars-based corporations who are interested in its natural resources. Tensions between Earth and Mars seem to be rising, and Belters have long felt that they deserve a seat at the table. But the OPA, their closest attempt at a government, isn't viewed by Earth or Mars as worthy of official recognition.
|-
!Protogen
| A massive Earth-based company owned by Mao-Kwikowski Mercantile. They are developing a mysterious and very dangerous new technology we're calling the Protomolecule.
|-
!CPM
| A security company secretly owned by Protogen. Security is the closest thing the belt has to "cops" and are often referred to as such, but they're not sworn officers-- instead they're paid by the corporations that operate out of the local station, and enforce rules/peace as defined by those corporations.
|-
!You!
|Our heroes come from various backgrounds and have different feelings about each of these factions.
|-
|colspan=2|The major players are complex and not necessarily categorizable as "good guy" vs "bad guy". Each group has its own official goals and motivations, and within each group there are politicians and/or individuals with their own goals and motivations.
|}
Julie fills them in on the human testing that has been performed with the Protomolecule--that it turns people into something inhuman. She also informs them that much of the testing is being performed on children. Though what exactly is being tested, and in what manner, she doesn't know.

When Nikki reluctantly suggests telling her parents, Julie responds that, being good friends with her father, they might already know. Julie also tells Nikki that Jules Mao is a megalomaniac who may want to utilize the Protomolecule for ultimate subjugation.

Julie tells Nikki she's already spoken with Dawes, to which Nikki replies out loud, "There are two other options we could've taken this to: the UN or the MCR. But unfortunately, Julie has now alienated both of them."

Julie replies, "Uh... the Martian Government... might be involved. A lot of the funding is coming from Mars."

Nikki responds that this would mean the UN has a vested interest in stopping it.

Julie reacts negatively, stating that the UN would only further subjugate Belters with power like this and that it would turn the brewing cold war between Earth and Mars into a hot war. "Plus," she says, "Belters should have the right to self-determination."

She confirms that Protogen is responsible, and when asked where their HQ is, she says it's on Phoebe, a moon of Saturn that has been under EMC control as of late.

Alfie asks to have a private chat with Nikki. He suggests getting the Protomolecule sample away from Protogen and then throwing it away, but Nikki voices two problems with that option. The first is that it wouldn't stop Protogen from developing the technology unaided. The second is that then the OPA would be after them, and they wouldn't be safe anywhere in the belt. But he manages to persuade Nikki a little.

When Alfie and Nikki end their sidebar chat, they return to the mess, where Kova and Number are teaching Yahtzee to Mack, Zuko, and Julie.

Nikki confirms that they're in, and Number storms off. Lu wants to ensure that there won't be any more human testing.

== Nikki has a chat with NoDot ==

Nikki says to Alfie and Number that she is on board to destroy the Protomolecule, but only if they can be confident it's the only sample in existence and Protogen can't produce more, because that is the only way they can justify burning their bridge with the belt. For now, it's best to go along with what Dawes wants.

Number dislikes the idea of working with the OPA, but Nikki successfully convinces Number of this plan. The three core crew members get on the same page about their goal.

Number then takes it upon themself to begin researching more about the Protomolecule, in the hopes of determining whether or not there could be more samples.

== Julie spends the night at Nikki's ==

'''Summary:''' Nikki attempts to convince Julie that it would be better to throw away the only existing sample of the Protomolecule. Julie is unsure. She is starting to realize the dangers, but also recognizes that there will never be a better opportunity for Belter independence.
<hr />

Zuko gives up on chaperoning Julie. She spends the night in Nikki's room, and they talk about their childhood. Nikki asks Julie how she feels about never being able to return to Earth. Julie has mixed feelings, but has ultimately decided she never wants to see Earth again.

Julie changes the subject. "You know, I was raised just like you, learning the ins and outs of the politics of the UN and Mars. But the Belters were always conveniently left out of the story. And when they weren't..."

"...We were told they were all filth and terrorists," Nikki finishes.

"I know that Dawes is a contentious proposition for a lot of your crew," continues Julie, "but I know without a shadow of a doubt that I would trust him a thousand times before I would trust the UN or the MCR once... And even if it did turn out that he's as evil as them, he doesn't have the same resources. He probably wouldn't get very far, even with the Protomolecule."

Nikki asks, "Julie, are you sure this is the ''only'' sample of the Protomolecule?"

"That's the intel I have."

"Then why give it to somebody? I realize that if it's not the only sample, then we probably don't want Protogen to be the only people who have access to it... Let's just... Normal people are going to get hurt. ''More'' normal people," Nikki pleads.

"All I know is that they're bringing it to Eros for ''something''. That and when they're doing it are the only intel I have. But they must have some big plan."

"Think about it, though."

"I'll give it some thought," Julie says, before pulling her blanket over her and yawning.

= Session wrap-up =
Nikki, Alfie, and Number debate holding off on filling in Kova and Lu of their plan to potentially destroy the Protomolecule, but ultimately decide it's best for everyone on the crew be informed. With the plan in place, Lu and Kova spend the evening helping Number comb through the data--both research, and all the emails and texts from the hacked CPM terminals.

The crew hopes to learn more about the Protomolecule soon.

Previous: [[Episode 2]]

Next: [[Episode 4]]

Episode 4

2024-12-01T17:58:52Z

Spacegod:

= Episode 4: Ceres =

Thanks to NoDot's genius girlfriend [[Hecate]], the crew learns more information about the protomolecule. They decide destroying it wouldn't be a good idea, so they'll play along with Anderson Dawes for now and see what happens. When they arrive on Ceres, they meet with Dawes--he tells them he doesn't want their help stealing the protomolecule, but he does want their help with a different job tomorrow. Everyone kills time on Ceres in different ways until tomorrow comes.

'''Starting:''' Wednesday, 2350-12-20 
'''Ending:''' Sunday, 2350-12-24 
(4 days and change)

=2350-12-20 (Wednesday)=

== Morning: Hecate breaks down the Protomolecule==
The session starts with Number/NoDot receiving a video message from their girlfriend [[Hecate]]. Previously, Number had sent her the files found on Emilio Castille's hand terminal--the real scientist whom Zuko was posing as on Rhea.

Hecate's first video message arrives early:

"Hi Dot. I hope you’ve been getting into all kinds of trouble. So listen, I kinda forgot about all those files you sent me until last night, and wow, I haven’t really slept. Is this a prank? Did you find somebody really smart to prank me? She better not be prettier than me.

"This thing is fucking ''wild''. It doesn’t borrow a single mechanism from our existing biology. There’s no way it would occur naturally, with all of the quantum chemistry involved. This thing is, like… fucking ''chef's kiss'' sleek, too. Peak efficiency. Peak beauty. It’s… kind of fucking terrifying. Okay, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

"So first off, what we’re looking at here is a macro-molecule, which is exactly what it sounds like. Most macro-molecules are dumb--like rubber, for example. Others are a little more complex, like proteins. But this? ''This?'' I’ve never seen anything like it. There’s basically a whole fucking, like, quantum computer crammed in there ready to do… well… something. The data you sent doesn’t include that. But what does this molecule do, you ask? So get a load of this.

"Cool thing it can do number one: it can build. At first I thought this mechanism just existed so that it can self-replicate, but I was thinking small. When I found that computer inside it, I realized... it can build whatever the fuck it wants. And of course, that brings us to cool thing it can do number two: it can deconstruct matter too, which makes sense because how could it build stuff without materials? But get this: ''nuclear transmutation.'' Which is, um… it’s literal fucking alchemy, Numbie. Like... it wouldn’t even need carbon atoms to make sugar. It could just pop the bits off a few hydrogen atoms and throw away the nuclei, or save it for later, or whatever! Doing this kind of thing is challenging on a large scale, but ''absolutely'' ''unheard of'' on a molecular scale.

"Now, I already know what you’re thinking: if this thing is just a molecule, where does it get enough energy to do any of that? And, well… I’m not sure yet. It ''is'' insanely efficient, and ''definitely'' has all the requisite functions to store some chemical energy, but that would never be enough for… fucking ''space alchemy''… I cannot get over that. I was actually just trying to figure out where the energy comes from when my chat reminder went off a minute ago. Until I figure it out, I really couldn’t tell you how fast it can turn a bicycle into a puppy or whatever... but it could. Eventually.

"Oh also, not to boast, but I’m not sure a room full of quantum biochemistry post-grads could’ve figured all this stuff out in one night. Hell, I’d be surprised if they could figure it out in a ''week''. I got a bit lucky with where I started my investigation, but also GOD I am at the top of my fucking game. It’s too bad I love sustainability so much because I’d fucking ''kill it'' in whatever quantum-bio-phys-chem fuckery sub-field this is. I really want to incorporate some of this stuff into my plants, but ah fuck who am I kidding, there’s no way I could synthesize anything like this with my equipment. Also I’d probably be in like… deep violation of some patent or imprisoned for life for IP theft or murdered by a hitman. Blech.

"Anyway, I digress. What else, what else… Oh yeah. So this stuff ''definitely'' had to be synthesized. There's just no way this molecule would have occurred naturally. But it would also be impossible to produce this thing with any lab equipment I’ve ever heard of. But obviously... the alternative is incredibly far-fetched, so what I wanna know is: ''who'' the fuck is making this and ''where'' the fuck they did they get their grant funding??

"Oh also, this goes without saying, Number, but if you have some of this stuff, ''don’t fucking touch it'' unless you want to slowly turn into a bicycle. And I wouldn’t bank on it turning you into a puppy, even though that would be pretty cute. Well… the puppy would be cute. The process would probably be horrific.

"So yeah, if you could ''cough'' ask ''cough'' whomever you got these files from for more of them, I really want to know what the designer’s intention is with this. The data you sent me only contains the raw structure, so... unless you have more of those files laying around, we’ll just have to use our imaginations regarding what the fuck the in-built computer is for.

"Soo, that’s just about everything interesting about that so far. I can’t wait to hear from you! Hope you’re having a great time with your space friends! I’m expecting to receive your first message in about… fifteen minutes, oops. I guess I started recording a little early. Ok. I should definitely go find some coffee and make some breakfast and totally not spend every second until your message arrives investigating this thing some more. Kisses, nerd. Hecate Out."

She ends the transmission with her signature CRT line-collapsing effect and sound effect.

NoDot sends a message in response:

"Well... ooookay. I understood, I'm gonna say, around 12% of that. But I'm gonna say I understood the ''energy'' of it around 80%. Um... Impressive, terrifying... So." NoDot sighs. "I'm gonna level with you, I'm a little out of my depth here. We told everyone on the ship about the molecule, and we're also talking about maybe... throwing it into the sun. Which... I mean, I hope it won't turn the sun into a puppy or something. That would be bad. Ohhh boy.

"You know I have control over our security channel lines and have been keeping them up. Just for a check-in, could I maybe root around a little bit in your base's security systems and try to make sure any information that you've researched has not flagged anyone? Please let me know, I don't wanna violate your space, but I also don't want you to be ''dead.'' That's probably number one to respond to.

"Number two: do you mind if I bring some other folks from my crew in here?" NoDot is clearly reluctant about this. "The clock is ticking, and we've been two days into space, and we're talking about sending this thing to the OPA, which, you know how I feel about ''that''. But obviously if it doesn't go to them, then it could go to Mars, or to Earth, or to the corporation that made it, which is called Protogen. You probably know their name.

"Yeah. So, that's--that's high level, umm... Let me know when you get this message, and also maybe take the rest of the day off. I would love to do a little chat with the other people on the ship who are all kind of in on this plan. Oh also, what if we pretended to throw it into the sun, and I told all of my friends that I did, but then I ''didn't'', and I kept the capsule and I hid it in my wall."

(At this moment, Nikki's player puts his face in a pillow.)

"What if I did that? Because practically, one of the big concerns we have right now is 'is this thing synthesized?' And you obviously are very smart and beautiful for noticing that as the big question. How is this thing synthesized? Obviously it was all black-box locked down, I can't even get into that info. It was made on Phoebe. And it was these Protogen people. And I think we should not use this thing for stuff, for the obvious reasons. So maybe we should get rid of it. But then what if they can make another one? So what if we didn't get rid of it, and... I just held onto it in case someone else made another one, so that we could we weaponize it politically, or physically? Also, they did testing on kids! So, gross!

"Okay, um, love you, I'm panicking. Let me know when you've got a chance to respond."

In Hecate's next message, she's holding coffee and seems a bit jittery. She still hasn't eaten. She replies:

"Boy, that's a lotta stuff to cover. So let's see, where to start, where to start...

"First of all, I have no fucking idea how they would synthesize this. Like I said, I'm not aware of any equipment that even hypothetically could do it. But what I can tell you is that if some ''does'' exist, it's... probably pretty trivial to produce more of itself. So I would not necessarily bank on it being the only one.

"As far as hiding it in your wall goes, it ''really'' depends on how you've contained it. I would say it's a bad idea, but giving it to the OPA sounds like an even worse idea, so... Just be fucking careful, okay?"

Hecate gives NoDot permission to root around in her research facility's security. Immediately upon hearing this, NoDot starts pulling up the greenhouse's systems and improving their security, and scrubbing Hecate's access records.

Hecate also says she hasn't told anyone about this, and NoDot can bring in their friends if they want, but she feels bad for not having more time to chat one-on-one first.

NoDot pings Nikki, Alfie, Kova, and Lu to come to their room to meet their girlfriend. They respond:

'''Nikki:''' OMG i've wanted to meet her for so long!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️🙌

'''Alfie:''' k

'''Kova:''' i'm on my way

'''Lu:''' It is emotionally healthy to have a partner of a romantic nature. I am happy for you.

The group gathers in NoDot's room. Nikki was mid-work out, training to fight with weapons in her hands, so she arrives in a sports bra and leggings and carrying knives.

NoDot gets everyone up to speed. With this new information about what the protomolecule is capable of, the group decides that destroying a sample of it would be useless, and might turn the sun into a bicycle. Right now it seems there's not much they can do but play along with the OPA, but they do care about the human testing and want to do something about it.

They briefly review what they know about Phoebe, the moon where the protomolecule is being developed: it's heavily guarded by Mars, and you'd need serious clearance just to be on it. There's only one station for the whole place.

When NoDot records a reply to Hecate, the group asks a couple questions.

*Is there a way to potentially destroy or deactivate the molecule without turning the sun into a puppy?
**Hecate responds she doesn't know, but wants to research it more.
*What is the molecule made of? Is it mostly tech, or biological?
**It seems to be both. It's like a quantum computer inside a single molecule. Nothing like Terran biology.
*How programmable or controllable is it?
**She doesn't know if it's already been programmed for something, or how you'd program it at all. She knows it technically has everything necessary to do anything, but she doesn't know how you'd infuse it with enough energy in a practical way.

*Do you think there's a way to turn it off?
**She hasn't the faintest idea. Without knowing anything else about it, it's impossible to guess.

* Does she have any idea who between Earth or Mars has possession of it?
** Not at all. She only has little pieces of the scientific data files.
*Nikki asks "What's the story of you guys' first date?"
**Nodot quickly interjects "Fuck off, fuck you, get out of here, oh it looks like that's the clock, we're done!"

"ILY, bye!" signs off NoDot. They proceed to kick everyone out of their room.

==Chilling on the ship ==
When Kova, Nikki, Alfie, and Lu return to the mess, they find Mack looking down. Lu asks if he wants a Pepto Bismol, which still exists in this year of our lord 2350, but Mack replies he's just gonna go lay down.

Hanging out in the mess, Alfie reads out a riddle. "Steven was looking at a photo. Someone asked him, 'Whose picture are you looking at?' He replied, 'I don't have any brother or sister, but this man's father is my father's son.' Whose picture was Steven looking at?" Nikki correctly answers "his son."

The next riddle: "The day before two days after the day before tomorrow is Saturday. What day is today?" Everyone is dumbfounded. Nikki doesn't bother thinking about it and throws out "Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday." She's correct!

The current riddles scoreboard for the trip is: Nikki has 7 points, Kova has 6 points, Lu has 2 points, and NoDot has 4 points.

Kova spends the afternoon armoring up Pip and giving him some urban camouflage paint.

Later, Alfie asks Lu for her opinion about a blue cheese ranch dressing he picked up recently. It tastes terrible. Alfie says he can't taste very well, so Lu reluctantly agrees to taste test his future food experiments.

==Nikki and Julie "catch up"==
Having exhausted topics related to the protomolecule, Nikki asks Julie how her life is going.

Julie joined a Belter advocacy group in college, and very recently got fed up with her parents and left Earth. She's dated a few guys, but nothing long term. "You know," she confides, "I've been considering for a long time that I might not just be into guys, and I think I'm kind of sick of guys right now. I keep telling them about the cause and that tends to make things peter out."

Nikki's player asks how cute Julie is. The DM shows a screenshot from the Expanse TV show, and Nikki's player responds "Holy shit, I have been doing this ''all'' wrong."

Nikki makes a move on Julie. Julie blushes, and they go to Netflix and chill in Nikki's room.

The players decides the Nikki/Julie ship name is Maonnedy.
==Mack's Conundrum==
At some point during the day, NoDot goes to check on Mack. Mack confides he's real bummed because he doesn't want to be kicked off the ship when they arrive on Ceres.

NoDot tells him if he wants to stay, he'll have to pitch himself to the people in charge about joining the crew. (The players notice at this point that Mack has stats rolled up, but they're all terrible.) NoDot throws out ideas: he could be a chef? Janitor? Hired muscle? Mack doesn't respond positively to these suggestions, so NoDot tells him to ask around for more ideas. But first they cheer him up by playing the video game Waifu Fighters 9: Demons from the Titty Dimension.

Mack goes to find Alfie, who's sitting at the pilot controls and hamboning. He asks for a job on the ship. Puzzled by the question, Alfie suggests Mack either pay rent, or cook, or clean and do laundry.

"Is there anything that's like, cool? Like, flying the ship--"

"No," says Alfie.

He suggests that maybe Mack could be a jester and tell jokes. Mack immediately leaves to go talk to Kova.

Kova suggests being in charge of hydroponics and growing food for everyone. Mack likes this idea. He asks her how to grow plants, and she replies "Uhh... that's not a skill... I have..." But she's willing to help him set up a hydroponics rig in an unused closet on the mess floor.

NoDot, watching the interaction over the cameras like a creeper, asks Hecate for information about botany and forwards it to Mack. It's very in-depth and includes a lot of links to videos.

==Evening: Gambling in the mess==
Alfie and Zuko sit in the mess and play cribbage. They gamble for doing each other's laundry. Zuko wins by a landslide.

Alfie is smoking. Walking by the mess, Lu stops and reprimands him. He's unphased, so she leaves in disgust.

Kova joins for the next cribbage round. Alfie shares a cigarette with her, and once again gets stomped. He has to do both Zuko and Kova's next load of laundry.

=2350-12-21 (Thursday) (retcon)=
A travel day. '''Add something your character does on the days that weren't explicitly covered in the session.'''

'''Kova:''' spends all day moving the passenger crash couches out of their current room (the one that was being used as a movie theater), with the intention of turning the room into a Medbay. She puts them in the cargo bay.

'''Nikki:''' Another workout, another netflix & chill with Julie. They watch a good chunk of the current season of Space Bachelor.

'''NoDot:''' Has an asynchronous therapy session in the morning that's so unhelpful and annoying (cuz its asynchronous, cuz of the time lag), that they get really depressed and decide to hop on stream all day. They play hentai strategy games with their subscribers while in pastel dominatrix gear. Nodot cheats and destroys and viciously mocks her biggest fans, which they are obviously in to

'''Alfie:''' builds a card castle in the mess. Does Zuko's laundry.

'''Lu:''' helps Kova move chairs, for fear of her throwing her back out.

'''Mack:''' watches tons of videos about plants.

= 2350-12-22 (Friday) (retcon) =
Another travel day.

'''Kova:'''

'''Nikki:''' Looks back at some of her old files, trying to check on direct connections between her parents and Protogen. She doesn't find anything convincing. Watches the rest of Space Bachelor season 139 with Julie.

'''NoDot:''' Does an all-day call with Hecate cuz Nodot felt bad last time she only talked about what was going on in Nodots life. they play strip chess-by-mail and Nodot listens all day to stories from Hecate's D&D campaign she's now playing with her coworkers at her femboy neighbors' house

'''Alfie:''' has important knitting to do. Also does Kova's laundry.

'''Lu:''' relaxes and reads medical journals.

'''Mack:''' reads tons of articles and gets way deeper into the specifics of plants than anyone at his skill level needs to.

==Nodot corners Julie==
Nodot tells Julie their formal complaint about the OPA: they had a bad experience with the OPA in the past, and have problems with them now, and want Julie to think critically about working with them.

Julie is confused why NoDot's telling her this. She's under the impression that the Terpsichore is just dropping her off on Ceres. NoDot counters that that definitely isn't true, the crew is complicit now and involved in the protomolecule situation. Julie says sure, but they can just go their separate ways.

"No we can't. What are you talking about, girl?" NoDot asks.

"What are ''you'' talking about?" Julie replies.

NoDot backs down and repeats that they just want Julie to think critically about the people they're going to talk to. Baffled, Julie says, "Okay, sure, whatever you say."

Later, Julie asks Nikki why NoDot told her about this. Nikki tells her that the crew wants to see the protomolecule situation through. Some of them might not like the OPA, but beggars can't be choosers. Julie says that Dawes' faction on Ceres has been clean for a while, ever since he broke ties with the faction run by [[Marco Inaros]], a man who has done a lot of terrorism in the name of the OPA.

=2350-12-23 (Saturday)=

==Ceres: Commercial Dock, Pier 2==
In the few hours before landing, Alfie prepares the ship for docking. Kova straps everything down to the ship. Lu eats a slow breakfast. NoDot puts on a full bimbo/harajuku getup, with a cute plush backpack and a neon green-pink ombre wig. Nikki's hair is in a messy-chic bun, and she's wearing a fashionable jacket, crop top, blue skinny jeans, and nice boots with chunky heels.

Mack pitches to Nikki his idea to be the plants guy in exchange for joining the crew. "And... I could clean I guess?" he adds reluctantly. Nikki latches onto that part and agrees to let Mack stay, believing he's now the ship butler.

The Terpsichore docks on [[Ceres]]. The fee is 10,000 credits a night, but Zuko assures Nikki the OPA will cover it while they're here.

Everyone on the ship rides the train into the city. It's crowded inside. Alfie vibes and listens to music. NoDot chews neon bubble gum. Lu keeps wiping her hands with sanitizer because the subway's dirty. As they ride further inward, the gravity gets lower.

They disembark in Midtown Stretch. Zuko leads everyone to Anderson Dawes' office, then splits off from the group.

==The Meeting with Anderson Dawes==
"Ah! Welcome to Ceres," Dawes greets. He offers everyone a seat and some glasses of water, which is a scarce resource right now on Ceres. Nikki gives him a Belter cheers and takes a sip.

Dawes pays the group 9,870,000 credits for their work with Zuko. 10,000,000 was the agreed price, but he had to take some out for the pay-per-view and room service NoDot used at their slumber party on Eros.

It's Julie's first time meeting Dawes in the flesh, so the two are happy to see each other. Dawes comments to Nikki that it's a strange coincidence she knows Julie already, and says the Terpsichore seems to be full of strange coincidences. Nikki doesn't respond to that.

Julie tells Dawes the critical new information she's acquired: she knows the protomolecule sample is being moved from Phoebe to Eros on the 29th.

"I wish there was a way I could've told you, but considering the sensitivity of the information..." Julie says.

"No no, you did the right thing. But this doesn't give us a lot of time. We need to come up with a plan ''tonight''."

Dawes tells the crew he wants to work out a gameplan with Julie, and they should all go enjoy Ceres for the day. Nikki protests that she'd like to be present for the planning process, because Zuko made it clear to the crew that they'd be involved. The crew assumes they were brought here to help heist the protomolecule, like they were hired to help Zuko do back in Episode 1.

Dawes responds with confusion. There's been a misunderstanding--Julie will be doing the heist with an OPA crew he trusts. The Terpsichore will not be helping with that. Plans got shuffled around on their way to Ceres when Julie appeared, and now she and her information are the priority. The Terpsichore's job became simply to bring Julie here.

Nikki attempts to pitch the group as perfect for helping with Julie's heist, because they are an unknown group of people not affiliated with the OPA, and good for plausible deniability. Dawes responds he's well aware of who the crew is comprised of.

He explains he did research into the Terpsichore itself. 30 years ago, only 7 ships of its type were made, built on Tycho Station in the belt and based on a Martian military design. They were ordered by Mao-Kwikowski and then disappeared almost immediately. "That's as much as I can find out about that. And what happens? One of them turns up on my doorstep, with a pilot that I can't find anything out about."

"Then that means people who might take offense to this ''also'' wouldn't be able to find out," Nikki says.

"It ''means'' as far as I know, you work for Mao."

Nikki laughs.

NoDot impatiently whispers to Nikki that their crew actually holds a lot more cards than Dawes thinks. Thanks to Hecate's research, they know a fair amount about the protomolecule and what it can do--likely more than the OPA does. Nikki indicates this to Dawes, and Dawes becomes suspicious. He ultimately refuses their pitch to join the heist, but seems to still want them involved somehow. He tells them to come back tomorrow to help him with something, as an olive branch. Nikki accepts.

"What can you do for the belt?" asks Kova next.

Dawes begins to respond, "What I want is independence and nothing more. I know the OPA has a bit of a bad reputation, but--"

NoDot coughs conspicuously, growing increasingly annoyed at all the diplomatic speeches. Alfie takes NoDot outside to keep them from disturbing the rest of the meeting.

"...But, it is about time we grow up," Dawes continues. "If we want a seat at the table, we must stop with some of the actions we've used in the past."

The meeting concludes with Dawes giving the crew accommodations in a nearby hotel for the night, along with water vouchers. The crew leaves his office, and on the way out, Dawes asks Nikki to send Alfie back in.

Everyone finds NoDot outside, ranting incoherently.

"I get it, but listen, I don't think we have much power here," Nikki tells them.

"''WE HAVE SO MUCH POWER''," NoDot exclaims back.

==Dawes talks to Alfie privately==
Dawes wants to have a chat with another Belter, and he knows Kova feels wary about the OPA, so that leaves Alfie.

Dawes asks what's up with the Earther captain, and if Alfie trusts his crew. Alfie replies, "No, but they can do the job."

"That's wise," says Dawes.

He tells Alfie that he knows Kova once had a bad experience with the OPA.

"You know about Marco Inaros?" Dawes asks.

"Yep," Alfie lies.

"Well, she spent some time with him a while back, and... Well, I just want to make it clear, I understand her reservations with the OPA. But I don't work with him, and I never would again."

Dawes couldn't find out anything about NoDot, so he asks about them. Alfie says they're a brilliant hacker who elevates the crew's capability tenfold, and Dawes hopes he can win them over.

"I do not underestimate the value of your crew. I think that there is a lot to say in having a Kennedy aboard, on a Belter ship," continues Dawes, referencing Nikki.

"Yep," lies Alfie again, but this time Dawes catches it. He explains the Kennedys are a very big name on Earth, with a political history spanning four centuries. Alfie replies that he thinks Nikki's a competent captain who makes good decisions.

Lastly, Alfie asks how Dawes knows what he knows about the Terpsichore. Dawes answers he had the OPA look into it after seeing it at the port. He knows where it was built because he has connections in Tycho. Based on everyone's reactions, he's believing more and more that they don't work for Mao-Kwikowsi, which intrigues him.

==An afternoon on Ceres==
Back outside the office, NoDot is holding a bicycle and shaking it and shouting to Nikki, "Is this what you want?! Is this what you want to be??!"

"Hey, that's my bike!" says a random guy on the street.

NoDot points at the bike and says to the guy, "That's you. That's you in like, ''days''." Then they go back to the ship and start up a camgirl stream.

Alfie chats with Nikki. He relays what Dawes told him about Kova. Nikki recognizes the name Marco Inaros and comments "no wonder she left. She's sane."

Then Alfie asks about Nikki's family, which is the first time he's ever asked her about herself. Nikki describes that her father is in the UN parliament, and her family is really famous because of how long they've been involved in high level world-leading politics--famous enough that Nikki's been pursued by the paparazzi a few times. Her parents groomed her to follow in their business/political footsteps and put her in charge of marketing at one of their corporations. But Nikki got sick of it, embezzled some of their money, and left. That money is how she hired him and his ship. When it ran out, she didn't have any more.

"Huh. Badass," Alfie says.

==Lu hangs out at a bar==
Dawes had said that alcohol was cheaper than water, so Lu goes to drink wheat beer at a bar across the street from his office.

After 3 beers, the bartender tells her she has to pay her tab before ordering more. It's their policy so people don't skip out on their bills. The tab is at about 1000 credits so far. Lu grumbles about the strange policy, but pays it without complaint.

She goes for a buzzed walk and heads to the hotel.

==Kova and Mack's Scrapyard Adventure ==

Kova spends the day helping Mack gather materials for the hydroponics rig in the closet.

They go around to a few different hardware stores to look for pipes, but Mack keeps pointing to one of his botany videos and saying, "I don't think that's the right kind of thing. It looks different. The metal looks wrong. We gotta keep looking." Kova heavily sighs, unamused.

Mack names a specific alloy he wants that Kova's never even heard of, because it's very specific to botany.

"Why," Kova asks.

"Because it's good for the pH of the soil! You have to have proper soil pH or the plants will die!"

"Does it need to be ''that'' specific, though?"

"''Absolutely!''"

Kova searches for a scrapyard in Medina, which Mack is reluctant about. Having grown up on Eros, Kova feels perfectly at home in Medina, but Mack feels nervous and out-of-place. Kova has to literally grab his arm and drag him.

They find an atrium-style place with a big pile of scrap in it. A bunch of salespeople are standing around doing business with passers-by. Kova goes to the nearest one and asks for Mack's specific alloy.

"Uhh... We just have scrap," says the salesman. "It might be that. It--it is that! What did you call it? Yeah, it's that."

Kova asks Mack once more about this alloy. He says that the videos he's been watching told him 'it's the only proper metal to grow stuff on a ship.' Exasperated, Kova asks the salesman just for copper, and gets confirmation they have some. She digs through the scrap pile and finds some copper pipes.

Mack is distressed by the copper. Kova just Googles it. She finds plenty of articles that recommend the special metal for botany, but just as many that say that's a load of crap. There's a lot of contradicting information. It's the internet, after all. Copper will be fine.

"I wanna keep looking for it," Mack presses.

"Alright, lead the way," says Kova.

"....Around here?" asks Mack nervously.

"Yep."

Mack asks a salesman for help. The salesman pulls a random metal from the scrap pile and declares it's exactly what Mack's looking for. Mack pulls out his terminal to pay--

Kova's now completely invested. She stops him and tells him it's the wrong metal. In a 180, Mack whines, "I dunno, it kinda looks right, doesn't it? We've been looking all over for it. You haven't even ''heard'' of the alloy."

"Yeah, and that's how I know this isn't it. I've worked with metal for years. It's zinc-coated steel."

"...Fine... I don't have any credits anyway."

Kova buys the copper pipes using the crew funds, along with some rubber tubing. It costs about 12,000 credits. That night, Kova uses these materials to build a lattice and hosing system for plants.

==Nikki and Alfie buy knives ==
Alfie fuels up the ship and restocks food and water. It costs 1.2 million credits in total.

Nikki texts the group chat asking nervously if anyone wants to accompany her to Medina to buy weapons, and Alfie replies he knows where to go. "Do you require assistance from a strong woman?" texts Lu. Alfie tells her to stay behind.

He leads Nikki through Medina down some mazelike alleyways, around a corner, down a long flight of stairs, into a place that looks like it has weapons, then through another hidden door in that storefront and into a backroom. It's a tiny room with low lighting, and just a counter and a guy.

Alfie and the weapons guy Jim greet each other with familiarity. Jim's able to hook Nikki up with half a dozen small, concealable, versatile throwing knives. They're carbon black with wrapped handles. "When you get good at throwing them, you wanna unwrap them," he tells her.

He starts to name a big price number, but then looks at Alfie and says, "Actually, considering you saved me that one time and I never repaid you, this one's on me."

Alfie makes plans later to bring his fragile sniper rifle into the shop to get fixed up. Then he and Nikki head to the hotel and hit up the bar.

==NoDot streams==
NoDot is streaming a drone strip. That's where drones strip off clothes from you, but also block the camera at the right places. Two of the biggest simps in chat start competing to out-tip each other. Since NoDot is using the local Ceres internet to stream, they're able to rake in the viewers and make 400,000 credits.

==Evening at the Hotel Bar==
The hotel is about 1 subway stop away from Dawes' office. Nikki, Alfie, and Lu all show up around the same time. Noticing Lu's already 3 drinks in, Nikki and Alfie order 3 shots each to catch up. They easily surpass Lu's level of drunkenness.

Alfie texts NoDot to meet at the bar. NoDot responds with a screenshot of their stream. Then he texts Kova, who sends back an image of Mack dragging a pipe onto the subway. Alfie responds to both with a 👍.

Alfie hooks up with a Belter woman at the bar. He doesn't even learn her name, but she gets enamored.

Nikki waits until Julie shows up around 8pm. Nikki buys them both drinks and they talk about Dawes. Julie's hopeful that Nikki realized Dawes isn't that bad, but Nikki's still trepidatious about him. As they down more drinks, Julie loses interest in talking about work. The two retire to a hotel room.

Kova spends the night on the ship.

=2350-12-24 (Sunday)=

==The Next Morning==
As they're about to leave the hotel, Nikki proposes to Julie, "You know, if we come with on this thing, then you and I..."

Julie just replies, "We should get going."

Meanwhile, Alfie kicks the nameless woman out of his room. On her way out, she steals his hand terminal. When Alfie notices he runs after her and punches her to get it back.

On the ship, NoDot showers, drinks gamer juice, and spends 3 hours getting dressed.

==Wrap-up: Meeting Dawes once again==
The five crew members returns to Dawes' office.

He shows the group 3 pallet dollies stacked with stuff. He tells them to split up into three groups. So Kova and Alfie pair up, NoDot and Lu pair up, and Nikki pairs up with Dawes.

"I've gotta get these gifts to the orphanages around Ceres," he says. He normally would've done it on the 23rd, but he was busy planning the heist yesterday.

Kova suspiciously opens a box of stuff. It's just full of supplies and toys, and seems to have no bombs or contraband.

In return for the crew's help with deliveries, Dawes says he'll owe them. He and Nikki shake on it.

Previous: [[Episode 3]]

Next: [[Episode 5]]

Episode 5

2024-12-01T17:58:11Z

Spacegod:

= Episode 5: Santa Dawes =

Anderson Dawes has refused the Terpsichore's request to help heist the protomolecule, but he wanted their help on another job instead. This job turns out to be delivering holiday supply packages to orphanages. The crew members make the deliveries and have adventures along the way. That's right, it's the Christmas episode.

'''Starting:''' Sunday, 2350-12-24 
'''Ending:''' Sunday, 2350-12-24 
(1 afternoon)

=2350-12-24 (Sunday)=

== Santa Dawes ==
The current mission: Anderson Dawes wants the crew to split into 3 groups and each deliver a pallet of supplies to a local Ceres orphanage.

"In order for them to recognize you as my associates, you'll need to dress up," says Dawes. "But I only have one extra Santa suit, so... you're going to have to split it up."

Kova wears the hat. NoDot wears the shirt. Alfie wears the pants. Lu wears the beard. Nikki wears nothing since she's paired up with Dawes, who's wearing a full Santa suit.

= Part 1 =

== Kova and Alfie: The Unusual Flight Simulator ==
The first group reaches the Hermes Orphanage with no trouble.

"You must be with Dawes?" greets the headmistress Everett Sloane. "I recognized you by your outfits!"

As Sloane unloads their supplies at the loading bay, she describes, "Dawes has been providing us with these holiday packages for the last 4 years. Toys, medicine, snacks, all sorts of stuff." She makes conversation by asking Kova and Alfie what they did before working for Dawes.

"I was a scrapper on Rhea. In the middle of nowhere," replies Kova.

"I'm a pilot," replies Alfie.

With surprise, Sloane tells them they have the perfect skillsets for something she needs repaired. She walks them through the mazelike orphanage, past a real deciduous tree decorated with LED holiday lights and handmade ornaments, into a small room. Inside is a flight simulator made from the hardware of a real freighter pilot bridge.

A 14 year old girl named Sofia is already sitting in the cockpit. She's reluctant to leave the room, claiming "but I've almost beat scenario 5!" Sloane is impressed but still dismisses her.

The simulator is stationary, not dynamic, but apparently the crash couches don't seem to think so. Sloane explains that they buck children out of them all the time. She asks Kova to repair them mechanically to behave like a stationary sim, and Alfie to recalibrate the scenarios.

"You should only need to play through the first two of them to get all of the calibrations set up, but if you want to play the third one, you're welcome. Even seasoned pilots struggle with the third one, so don't feel too bad if you don't solve it."

"Where'd you get all these parts? This is amazing," asks Kova.

"They were donations," Sloane answers with a smile. She leaves them alone to their work.

Kova examines the hardware. It's made of a mishmash of old parts from a variety of ships, but has a working, high-quality juice system and three crash couches. It's very well maintained. Kova notes it's strange to have working juice on a flight simulator, let alone juice 5 times higher quality than the juice on the Terpsichore. Injecting kids with drugs when they don't need them seems potentially bad for their health. She disconnects the juice and repairs the couches.

Alfie starts recalibrating. He breezes through scenarios 1 and 2. That's all he needed to play, but he keeps going for funsies. Scenario 3 is a slightly unusual undocking maneuver, which makes sense why it would trip up a lot of pilots, but he gets through it easily too.

== Number and Lu: A Chaotic Intervention ==
"So what's your deal, Lu?" asks Number/NoDot as they walk their pallet through the streets.

"Um, I'm sorry?" Lu replies.

"What's your deal?"

"That is not a specific enough question."

"Like, obviously you're... very--"

"Strong?"

"--boringly dressed."

NoDot tells Lu she's a little embarrassing to walk around with, and asks about her history with the military. "Why are you keeping it close to your chest? Are you embarrassed? Are you sad?"

Lu doesn't know how she feels. She hasn't talked about it because she hasn't felt it was necessary, since the crew already knows she's ex-military.

"I mean, fair, but it just looks like you might be bottling some things up, because you just look... sad."

"That is my face."

"Not your face, girl. Your whole ensemb."

Lu answers that she tries to carry herself with strength and pride, but hasn't thought about if she's sad.

"Well, you are. I can just confirm it," declares Number. "Did you even think about what you're gonna do when you left the military? Just fuck around in space until we all get shot someday? What if ''you'' get shot? Then we're all dead. So you're kind of in the riskiest position on the ship."

"I suppose I have always accepted the fact that I might die, at any point in time," answers Lu. "That's what I did when I joined the military. I agreed to put my life on the line every day. And so, death does not scare me."

"....Yeah."

"Did that answer your question?"

Number's tone is disapproving. "I mean, it did, but in the saddest possible way. You know? There was nothing about ''living'' in there."

"Well," Lu says, taken off-guard, "what I do with my life is keep people alive. So..."

"So you are never going to do anything for yourself, ever?"

"Why should I?"

NoDot erupts into laughter. "Because who the fuck else will do things for you if you don't?"

"I don't need anything."

"That's so untrue, girl."

Their words seem affect Lu, who relaxes.

"Like a new shirt, or something?" NoDot offers.

"Well... I wouldn't mind a shirt that's not scrubs."

Lu had only brought 3 sets of scrubs with her when she left Rhea. So the two decide to go shopping. Number redirects their route immediately, saying "I'm not showing up at an orphanage with you looking like that. They're gonna take you in, girl."

They start an intense conversation about what kinds of clothes to get for Lu, and what her aesthetic vibe is. Lu is into the idea of black-on-black, plain t-shirts and v-necks, nicely cut pants, flannels, and a good bomber jacket. Vintage 1990s-chic.

The two find a small boutique and leave their pallet outside. NoDot hacks into the ring camera to try to keep an eye on it while they shop.

("I'm glad that we did go straight to 'we do have to keep an eye on it,' because if it was just 'we leave it outside' I feel there's ''no way'' you wouldn't have that be stolen," says Nikki's player.

"Yeah I could've been mean about it," jokes the DM. "This could've been a big long recovery mission."

"Let the recording show that [the DM] nodded in a pleased way when I said that."

"It's not too late.")

NoDot and Lu buy 3 nice outfits made of basic things that can be mixed and matched. Some blacks and whites, some flannels, and a nice belt or two that can splash it up. Also leather shoes with orthopedic insoles. NoDot tries to convince her to buy a nice black ankle boot with a heel. Lu refuses.

They have an involved discussion about the military. NoDot is glad Lu left it because they believe it's a soul-sucking organization that destroys anyone it touches, and serves only to reinforce systems of power and crush the oppressed. Lu admits she's unhappy with the military right now, but she doesn't completely agree with NoDot's distaste for institutions and systems. She still values it for the structure and discipline and family it gave her, even though she's left that family behind now.

The boutique is small, so the lady working the counter overhears their discussion and starts getting riled, agreeing with NoDot's view. "The kid is right! Fuck the military! They're just a bunch of thugs!"

The clothes cost 15,000 credits. NoDot covers it and makes Lu promise to "spend a little time researching the atrocities done by the organization you were committed to. And think critically of the large systems of power of which you were a part, and how they contribute to the death of hundreds of thousands." Lu says "okay."

The conversation was so engaging, it's at this point NoDot finally notices on the ring camera feed that a thug's messing with the pallet. NoDot, Lu, and the boutique lady run outside.

"Hey, are you fucking with my customer's stuff?!" shouts the boutique lady.

"Ey fuck you!" the thug shouts back.

With her strong military muscles, Lu attempts to grapple him, but the wily thug slips out of her grasp. NoDot quickly hacks into his hand terminal and makes it overheat to burn a hole in his clothes. Then they hack into a tv across the street and broadcast it, to embarrass him. "No! This is my worst fear!" says the thug.

While they've been distracted with this guy, a couple other pickpocket-types have run up to the pallet and taken boxes, and are now running away with them. Lu notices and tries to run after them. They disappear around a corner.

Staying back to guard the pallet, NoDot traces the pickpockets' hand terminals and finds their location. Lu races down some alleyway twists and turns. She finds the pickpockets--there's a group of 4 of them, and they clearly look like gangsters. One is holding a big metal pipe. "Get out of here! This is ours now," says another one. Though she's outnumbered, Lu decides to go for it.

A fistfight breaks out. In a badass burst of adrenaline, she grabs the leader's wrist and twists the pipe away. It goes flying 20 feet. But the gangsters throw some hard punches in response, and Lu gets quickly overwhelmed with injuries.

NoDot helps from a distance by hacking into the gangsters' phones. They learn the group is called the Golden Boughs. NoDot sends some fake messages from their boss Leon telling them to stop beating the doctor up, and successfully manages to diffuse the situation. The thieves return the boxes. Lu carries them all the way back to the boutique with an injured limp.

== Nikki and Dawes: Getting to Know You ==
Nikki and Dawes make their way from Takashi to Vine Station. As they ride the subway with their pallet, they have a chat.

"Do you normally make deliveries like this yourself?" Nikki asks with confusion. Dawes answers that yes, he does. When Nikki expresses she's surprised he does it personally when he has an organization to run, Dawes says that he wants people to know there's a face behind the OPA.

He asks Nikki about herself. "I've never met a Kennedy before. How'd you wind up in this situation?"

Nikki tells him she was unhappy with how her whole life was planned out since she was born. She felt trapped and wanted something different.

"So you stole a ship? Made it for the belt?"

"No, I just stole money, which is now gone. But no, it's Alfie's ship. We met on Vesta. I hired him."

Dawes prompts with interest, "So you hired Alfie and the ship, but ''you're'' the captain."

She replies that Alfie weirdly doesn't like being in charge. "For a long time there wasn't much to be in charge ''of''. It was just the two of us for a while. Then we got NoDot in, and no one's in charge of NoDot, really."

"I can tell," says Dawes. He next asks her what she knows about the Terpsichore.

"I know that it's Alfie's, I know that it runs, I know that the juice is usually bad... I know we have plants now..."

"Plants?"

"Yeah, there's some kid growing plants on it."

Nikki continues that she thinks she naturally became the captain due to the leadership skills she's been taught her whole life. When Dawes asks about her aspirations now that she's in space, she answers she wants to have an impact somehow. "Then you might have come to the right place," says Dawes. Nikki agrees with a "maybe."

The two spend some time discussing the OPA. Nikki tells Dawes that her feelings are mixed about it. As a concept, the OPA is in a position to do a lot of good. In practice, sections of it have done a lot of not-good. She still hasn't figured out what section of the OPA Dawes is in charge of.

He replies that he's doing his best to make the OPA more equitable and less violent. The ultimate goal is independence for the belt. There are many offshoots and factions that don't seem to support that cause, so he doesn't consider them really part of the OPA. [[Marco Inaros]] is one of them.

Nikki expresses skepticism that the best way to change the OPA is from within it. Dawes responds that it's a big name with big influence, already in charge of most of the infrastructure on Ceres, and he'd gain nothing by calling the group something else.

When she asks what Dawes' short-term goals are, he answers he wants to continue to build alliances. Possibly outside Ceres, like with Tycho Station and [[Fred Johnson]].

At the end of the discussion, Nikki sighs. "Self-governance is one thing, actual autonomy is another."

"Would you not say that self-governance is a precursor for autonomy? At least if you want to have any success at it."

"Well, it's a step. But if I know anything about Earth, then... There's a lot of resources out here, and that wealth is something they won't give up."

"You're absolutely right. You're as sharp as any Kennedy I've ever met."

The two get off the train to make a connection. Off in the distant crowd, Nikki sees a man she recognizes--her uncle, Vice Admiral Draven Kennedy of the UNN.

"Oh," Nikki reacts. To Dawes she says, "Are you ready to meet another one?" She points him out.

"Are you sure that ''you're'' ready to meet another one?" asks Dawes.

"No," Nikki says solidly.

"Then here!" Dawes gives her his Santa beard and hat. Nikki puts them on with reluctance.

Neither Nikki nor Dawes can guess what a Vice Admiral of the UNN is doing here. But with the disguise, they sneak past him without incident. They safely make their connection to the next train.

= Part 2 =

== Kova and Alfie: Something's afoot ==
Scenario 4 of the flight simulator: you're the pilot of the cargo frigate Jasmine. You receive a radio transmission that you're about to be boarded. "If you do not comply," says the radio, "we will not hesitate to turn your ship into swiss cheese."

"Into swiss cheese!" echoes a voice. Around the corner, a 14-year old girl is watching--Sofia, who was playing the sim earlier. Alfie gestures her to join them and lets her take control of the helm.

Sofia knows exactly what to do. She punches the throttle right before the enemy ship boards and cleanly gets away.

"How long have you been playing with this?" asks Kova. "You seem experienced."

Sofia isn't sure. She says this sim is a new one. The old one wasn't quite as real. She thanks Kova for repairing the crash couch so it didn't throw her out of the seat.

"Were you taking that juice this whole time you've been practicing?" asks Alfie.

"I don't always use the juice, but sometimes when we do drills I'll use it."

Alfie asks what she means by drills. Sofia explains hesitantly that this flight sim has more than just freighter scenarios. It asks for maneuvers a regular hauler wouldn't need to know. Scenario 5 is about hiding the ship on an asteroid and not getting caught. She hasn't gotten past that one yet, but Alfie helps her, and the two work together to finish it.

It's clearly an unusual, bespoke flight simulator. Concerned, Alfie leaves Sofia to try scenario 6 and goes to talk to Headmistress Everett Sloane. Kova stays behind, but her robot Pip follows to listen.

Alfie asks what the deal is. Sloane is impressed to hear he beat level 5, as only one student has ever beaten 5 before. She then says the simulator was a donation from a benefactor of the orphanage. She's unwilling to say who. Alfie understands and returns to the sim room.

Without too much trouble, Sofia is finishing scenario 6: you must pilot the ship Hibiscus to intercept and breach another ship's hull. When she's done, Alfie asks Kova to give them a moment alone.

"Have you been talking to anyone about this? Has anyone been in touch with you?" he asks.

"Uhh, no," says Sofia.

"Has this sim always been here?"

"In some form, yeah. This one has been around for a couple years."

"I need you to listen very, very carefully to what I'm going to say," says Alfie seriously. He tells her this piloting skill is a big asset that will take her far, but she must keep it close to her chest. Someone will take advantage of it if they learn. "If anyone tries to talk to you about this, if anyone tries to recruit you... don't."

He gives her his contact info. Freaked out, Sofia leaves.

On their way out of the orphanage, Kova offers to be a listening ear if Alfie ever needs it. He responds with a confused "okay?"

== Number and Lu: More chaos, this time at a clinic ==
Lu is injured.

"Wow, you're fucked," says NoDot outside the boutique.

"All my organs are in place," says Lu.

The two continue on their way to the orphanage. Their path takes them through the red light district. As they pass by an alley, they hear moans of pain and a voice crying, "Help, somebody! Please!"

Without a second thought, Lu stops to help. An injured Earther man is doubled over in the alley. While Lu examines his injuries, his ID falls out of his pocket. His name is Rustin Youssef, a member of the UNN military. "Fuckin OPA thugs beat the shit outta me!" he grunts. "You gotta find a doctor!"

"I ''am'' a doctor," Lu declares with pride.

"Hold on," coughs Rustin. "Why do you have a fake beard on?"

"Don't worry about it," says Lu.

She finds space for Rustin on the dolly. NoDot asks a local sex worker where the nearest clinic is, and the two rush him there. On the way, NoDot becomes concerned he might be scamming them. To make sure, they check a security camera from the alleyway to see who attacked him, and learns it was the Golden Boughs again.

NoDot sends a clip from the feed to Zuko. "You know these shitheads?" they ask, to which Zuko responds a short time later, "I'm handling it."

The clinic is a small, clean room with a man sitting behind the reception desk. Lu asks if the clinic can help Rustin, and NoDot asks if they could at least provide a facility so ''Lu'' can help him.

"That's a bit... unorthodox.... but we ''are'' short-staffed," says the receptionist. "We got an operating table. Do you have any form of proof that you're a doctor?"

Lu doesn't want to show the receptionist her military ID because she's technically a fugitive. Scrambling, NoDot attempts to prove it by pulling up their shirt to show a stitched-up bullet wound scar from Episode 1. "See that? That's my art," Lu says. The receptionist doesn't buy it.

NoDot quickly attempts to make a fake ID on their hand terminal. To stall, Lu starts explaining to the receptionist all of Rustin's injuries in detail. The receptionist says he just works the front desk, he doesn't know any of that stuff, and he definitely still isn't convinced. After a few awkward minutes, NoDot finishes the ID and forwards it to Lu.

"Anyway... here's my ID," says Lu.

The receptionist replies, "Well, that's all I needed to see..." and lets them into the operating room.

It's a fully stocked room. Lu deftly stitches Rustin up. "Wow, you really are a doctor," Rustin says.

"Yeah. You didn't believe me from being a stranger that just said it out of nowhere?" Lu asks.

"I mean it was a little suspicious when you spent like 3 minutes talking to that guy at the front desk before producing an ID."

"I got distracted by your injuries," Lu tries.

"That seems like it would necessitate showing the ID sooner?"

"Hmm.... agree to disagree."

"Okay, well, I guess it's hard to argue with that," concedes Rustin. He asks where Lu learned how to be a doctor.

"The... doctor school in the belt," lies Lu.

"You shouldn't be talking right now, you need to rest," NoDot says to Rustin with a hand on his shoulder. Lu gives him some pain meds and he drifts off.

The cart is unharmed in the clinic lobby. Lu and Number take their leave.

"In the spirit of both of us learning lessons at the end of these little adventures," NoDot says as they walk, "maybe I should've looked before assuming he was going to scam us. Maybe a blind disrespect for all other people sometimes means I don't extend the charity that I ought to. So we both learned something here, we're both growing as people. Happy Christmas."

"I'm proud of you. Happy Christmas," agrees Lu.

They finally make it to their orphanage.

== Nikki and Dawes: The dumbest spot check ever ==
The two get off the train at Europa station. A Star Helix officer stops them and says, "I'm gonna need you to come over here. It appears that you have some stolen cargo."

Dawes looks annoyed. "Are you serious, man? Are you new?"

"Wh... no," claims the officer.

Nikki tells the officer they're just delivering supplies to Picatinny Orphanage. The officer doesn't fully believe her. He says he needs to look at their 'supplies' anyway, and sends the two of them over to a second officer, who asks them why they're hauling such a big package around, and why they're dressed like that.

"So... so this is a Santa Claus outfit," Nikki says. "Santa Claus, like, bring gifts to children--"

"I know who the fuck Santa Claus is, okay?" the officer snaps.

"Yeah, so, the idea is to bring gifts... to the children... for Christmas..."

"Eugh, enough with the children," says the officer, smoking a cigarette. "What are you carrying? Where did you get it?"

Nikki sighs. She describes water, medicine, blankets, and toys.

"Which orphans did you steal this from?" asks the officer once he confirms she's not lying.

"They're going ''to'' the orphans. You know, you're doing ''such'' a good job. You're ''so'' attentive. Your attention to detail is honestly so, ''so'' amazing," Nikki attempts to compliment, but he easily picks up on her sarcasm.

"Look, you're walking around in disguises. What am I supposed to think?" he asks.

"Well... in the spirit of Christmas, I think the best of you, and I think you should be thinking the best of me."

The officer seems persuaded. He admits they maybe got off on the wrong foot, but they still need to check all the boxes. Then he immediately tells his fellow officer, "Hey Jack, I'm gonna go get some donuts from the corner store," and walks away.

Nikki and Dawes sit around for 15 minutes waiting. Eventually a third higher-ranking officer comes in and asks what the fuck the first one is doing. "Do you know who that man is?" she exclaims, gesturing to Dawes. She apologizes to him profusely.

"It's okay, I completely understand, Shaddid," Dawes returns.

Donut Officer returns, and Shaddid looks furious. She swipes the donuts out of his hand as Nikki and Dawes make their exit.

The two approach Picatinny Orphanage. Dawes informs Nikki that in the belt, orphanages don't take care of children out of kindness. There's no such thing as free room and board. You live here as a kid, and then you owe the orphanage for the time that you spent, he explains. "They do perform some job placement, and... Well, they're not all bad, but they're really not good."

"How do they enforce collection?" asks Nikki.

"Various ways. Essentially just through wage garnishment. They have a pretty strong control of your identity unless you can get away from them. Obviously it doesn't really give you the leg up in life that you would hope an orphanage would want to provide."

"More of a leg down," Nikki agrees. "Out of curiosity, where did you get these supplies? No judgment."

"I just paid for them."

"Oh. Why did the guy think you stole it?"

"That guy was a knucklehead."

They successfully finish their delivery to the orphanage.

= Session wrap-up =
Everyone eventually reconvenes at Dawes' office.

"I don't know about ya'll, but we kinda crushed it," NoDot says.

"What the hell happened to you?" asks Alfie.

Lu and NoDot explain they went on an adventure where they saved lives and grew as people. "I'm gonna go lay down," says Lu. Nikki recommends carrying mace in the future.

Later that night on the ship, Alfie knocks on NoDot's door. "I need you to do something for me," he says.

"Ummmm, sure," expresses NoDot with surprise. "I think this marks the first time you've come to my quarters for a social call?"

Alfie asks them to hack into the system of Hermes Orphanage and try to find records of orphans who've been there, and where they've went, for the last 30 years. Though a little puzzled, and supremely lacking specifics, NoDot agrees to look into it.

Previous: [[Episode 4]]

Next: [[Episode 6]]

Episode 6

2024-12-01T17:57:19Z

Spacegod:

= Episode 6: The Elysian Dream =

Dawes requests the crew attend an Earth-Mars Coalition Fleet-Week Christmas Masquerade Ball on the luxury yacht Elysian Dream docked in Ceres. Lu parts ways with the crew to work at a clinic. The remaining crew members celebrate Christmas, then have an eventful night. NoDot wins a poker tournament by accident. Nikki and Julie dance and stab people together. Alfie and Kova foil a terrorist plot lead by [[Marco Inaros]]. Mars unofficially declares war on Earth by blowing up a civilian ship, and the crew narrowly escapes being trapped on the Elysian Dream in the resulting chaos.

'''Starting:''' Sunday, 2350-12-24 
'''Ending:''' Monday, 2350-12-25 
(It's Christmas!)

=2350-12-24 (Sunday)=

==Lu's Departure==

Lu discusses her departure with the crew, stating that she has found her purpose, post-desertion of her UNN role as a combat medic. She plans to offer her services to the understaffed medical clinic in Rosse Buurt, where she had previously borrowed an operating room.

==Paid With More Work ==

===The Fleet Week Masquerade (FleWM)===

Dawes thanks the crew for their help delivering gifts to the orphanages, and offers three tickets to the Fleet-Week Masquerade Ball taking place on none other than [[Jäger Kruna]]'s (the richest person alive) unmatched luxury yacht, the Elysian Dream. Dawes goes on to explain that the tickets are for Nikki, NoDot, and Julie.

Attendees include soldiers, politicians, rich business-folk, and their plus-ones and families. Doors open tomorrow at 18:00.

Dawes informs them that he has entered Nikki and NoDot into a poker tournament with a 5k UND buy-in (75k Cr), winner-takes-all at a 5 person table. Dawes says he will exchange the paper winnings for Cr, without taking a cut. His interest lies in the procurement of physical UN cash. The crew is suspicious of this, but Nikki's instincts tell her that Dawes is concerned about pending hyper-inflation of traditional belter currency.

Dawes mentions that no firearms will be permitted on the premises, and advises that crimes will be taken very seriously due to the nature of the event. He explicitly informs NoDot that the consequences of cheating in the poker tournament will not be worth the risk. NoDot chooses to interpret this as "the consequences for getting ''caught'' cheating." Dawes attempts several times to clarify that he really would prefer they don't cheat, but eventually gives up.

Dawes then informs them that he's called ahead to his tailor, who will know to give them his usual discount. They can get measured tonight, and the outfits will be guaranteed ready for the ball. Julie takes Nikki and NoDot to pick them up.

===The Real Job===

When only Alfie and Kova remain, Dawes informs them that they will need to sneak aboard as staff. Due to "increases in security," Belters are no longer permitted as guests, with little exception.

He has intel that members of [[Marco Inaros|Inaros']] OPA will also be attending the FleWM as well, and he is tasking Alfie and Kova with figuring out why, and preventing them from doing any terrorism they might be planning.

He tells the pair to head to the tailor to get their measurements taken for their staff tuxedos, and informs them that they will be fully comped as an apology for not being able to attend as guests.

==The Tailor==

The boutique tailor shop is operated by a sassy gay man named Gim Tunn.

Nikki requests a traditional black ball gown, while NoDot requests "the most hentai succubus strappy outfit with sex-mark tattoos," and the tailor protests heavily before they compromise on something that might not get his outfits banned from future FleWMs: a backless lavender silk dress with lace accents, side-slits, and matching glowing gloves. When NoDot requests a cat-ear headband the tailor informs them that one can be purchased at the novelty store down the street. NoDot does not appreciate this.

The discounted prices for the outfits are 75k Cr for Nikki's, and 125k Cr for NoDot's. NoDot incorrectly insists that Dawes said the outfits would be free, and Gim says Dawes was quite clear in his message that he would not be footing the remainder after the discount.

When Kova and Alfie show up, Gim swiftly takes their measurements, and tells everyone to return the following morning to pick up their outfits.

==Julie and Nikki's Heart to Heart==

Because it's Christmas Eve, Nikki and Julie spend the evening going shopping for stocking stuffers together.

Julie asks Nikki how the previous day went, and Nikki informs her of her encounter with Star Helix and her near-encounter with Vice Admiral Draven Kennedy, now realizing that he may be in town as a FleWM guest.

Nikki asks Julie the same, and Julie informs her that she had been drilling elements of the heist.

Before they part ways for the night, Nikki presents a hamster tube set to Julie, for her animatronic hamster to crawl around in. Julie finds it to be a very thoughtful gift.

==Back on the Terpsichore==

Kova succumbs to a panic attack over the thought of confronting Marco Inaros at the FleWM and retreats to her quarters.

Mack shows up asking to hang out because he's been feeling neglected. He talks to Kova too much about plants and all of his intricate future plans. They watch Scooby Doo together. Kova's never seen it before and she likes it. She fills him in on Lu's decision to work at a clinic.

That night, NoDot asks Kova to help move things out of their old apartment unit on Ceres. Nodot intends to give Hecate's old botany supplies to Mack. Kova agrees to help.

Alfie asks NoDot for the mysterious favor from the end of last session: to ''acquire'' all of Hermes Orphanage's records of orphans from the last 30 years, including where each one went when they left. NoDot agrees to do it, despite the limited information.

Alfie then goes to the mess to get smashed on some space whiskey by himself.

=2350-12-25 (Monday) =

==Stocking Stuffers==

Nikki blasts Kelly Clarkson's "Underneath the Tree" at 8AM to wake everyone up and give out gifts. They all meet in the mess, where she's making pancakes.

===From Nikki===

Everyone gets a chocolate orange and an additional gift in a stocking from Nikki.

'''Alfie: ''' Buncha cigars. Alfie immediately lights one to nurse his hangover.

'''Kova: ''' Beanie for Pip. Kova hugs Nikki and puts the clothes on Pip.

'''NoDot: ''' Bedazzled fidget spinner. NoDot is moved by the gesture and feels guilty for not getting anything for anyone on the ship. Then they try to do cool fidget spinner tricks but can't figure them out.

'''Mack: '''Nerf gun. Mack is already making a mess with with it and asking if he can shoot Pip as target practice.

'''Julie: '''A set of tubes for her animatronic hamster to run around in. She isn't on the ship but sends a picture that morning of it all set up.

===From Alfie===

Alfie gives Nikki a scarf he knitted, with a Nordic pattern he found when googling Earth designs. He started working on it before the other members of the crew showed up around half a year ago, and didn't have time to knit anything for anyone else.

===From NoDot===

NoDot wrote a personalized song for Hecate based on Hecate's furry goat girl D&D character that she plays in her campaign with her femboy neighbors. They forgot to get anything for anyone else and feel pretty bad about it.

==NoDot's Old Apartment==

NoDot lived on Ceres before leaving to live on the Terpsichore. They've kept their old apartment all this time, paying the rent every month. NoDot and Kova head there to empty it out, and Nikki offers to join.

When they arrive, it is "depression made manifest." It was not cleaned up before NoDot left. There is a single, sad, dead cactus. Unassembled furniture. And a bunch of server arrays that NoDot has been using remotely. Additionally, there is bunch of Hecate's stuff.

NoDot curls into a ball on the ground when they enter.

Nikki asks Kova to go down the street and grab basic cleaning supplies, while she stays to have a little heart-to-heart with NoDot. NoDot asks if they can "burn the place down," but Nikki talks them down from arson. The two agree to handle this challenge by hauling out what's worthwhile and having the servers moved to a colo (a server farm) on the edge of mid-town. The colo was recommended to NoDot's friend N3ko12 who works as a Security Engineer at Ceres U.

Anything of Hecate's that was botany-related goes to Mack. Everything usable gets hauled to the ship, and everything else goes into trash bags. It's a good amount of work, and they order delivery lunch. By the end the mold and grime is all that's left, as a gift to the landlord.

Kova takes some of the sentimental stuff that NoDot would've trashed and hides it to take back to the ship, knowing NoDot will appreciate it later.

==Alfie's Errands==

Alfie takes his sniper rifle in for repairs and upgrades, and has a chat with Jim the weapons dealer, who sold Nikki knives in [[Episode 4]]. Jim says it'll cost 350k, and to come back on the 27th to pick it up.

Kova had supplied Alfie previously with a list of pressing safety-critical repairs for the Terpsichore, that will need to be performed by a team of mechanics. Alfie finds a local dockyard that can do the repairs while the ship is in its current berth. One of the managers offers to take him out in a windowed skiff, where he is able to see the exterior of the Terpsichore as well as, off in the distance, the Elysian Dream.

Alfie is in awe of this thing, and has never seen any ship quite like it. He can see that even the exterior has design choices that serve no other purpose than a conspicuous display of wealth. It looks very Art Deco, and the skiff owner says that photos from a couple months ago showed it looking completely different. The skiff operator tells Alfie that it cost over 6Tn UND to build, and was built on a shipyard in Luna. And what's crazier, it was built ten times faster than similarly sized luxury yachts, completed in only a year.

He also tells Alfie that the ship is owned by the richest person alive, Jäger Kruna, and then jokes about how he only earned that title by killing his parents for their inheritance. Twenty two trillion.

Afterward, Alfie gets some street food for lunch near the dock. It looks like some analogue to french fries and various dipping sauces. Alfie can't taste it. He doesn't have a sense of taste.

==Pre-party Preparations==

Everyone, including Julie, meets up to prepare for the masquerade. NoDot picks a black wig to go with their lavender dress. Kova gets assistance from Alfie with tying a bow tie, which surprises Nikki, who didn't expect him to be so accustomed to formal attire. Julie's red gown is as close to sexy as she thinks she can get away with, while remaining black-tie formal. And they all, of course, wear masks. The ladies look stunning and the Belters look dapper in their staff tuxedos.

Nobody notices Mack is not on the ship.

='''The Elysian Dream''' (Monday Evening)=

==Taking in the Excess==

===Waiting in Line: Code Names===

The line to get onto the Elysian Dream stretches on for quite a ways. The dirty utilitarian vibe of the docks has been thoroughly hidden behind a façade of opulence that matches the Elysian Dream's art deco exterior. Most of the folks in line, which is not moving quickly, are young; military-age. The crew members go over their cover names before splitting up.

'''Nikki''' - Cassandra Gainsborough 
'''NoDot''' - Miss Lillith Asmodeous 
'''Julie''' - Isadora Landon 
'''Alfie''' - Connor [redacted] 
'''Kova''' - July McMillan 

Nikki, Number, and Julie join the line. Alfie and Kova follow the other staff, who appear to be skipping the line and going straight in. They successfully blend in, and are let onto the lift inside without question.

===Galley: Connor & July ===

The lift opens up into the top level of a large, circular foyer with an intricate hovering chandelier in the center. The decor has a timeless elegance about it that would stun most Earthers and Martians. Belters, however, might struggle to see it for anything other than a tasteless display of near-infinite wealth.

Before Alfie and Kova are able to exit the lift, a tuxedo-clad woman in an intricate fox mask blocks their path, and points behind them to the service exit. She pushes a button and the doors to the foyer close, and the rear service doors open. The elegant façade does not extend to this corridor, but it still gives the impression that no expense was spared in the high-quality construction of this vessel. The corridor opens up into a galley full of bustling staff, cooking and cleaning up spills, carrying boxes of ingredients, and finishing dishes on silver platters.

Another much shorter tuxedo-clad individual, this time wearing a deer mask and holding a clipboard, approaches them with an air of authority and says, “Oh thank God. Ashur, Caelis, you’re back! Ashur, take these dishes down service lift 2 and bring them to table six. Big impatient-looking tumang in blues. Can’t miss him. Hurry! Caelis, take this box of ''chips'' to our ''friend'' on the ''casino'' level.”

Clearly a case of mistaken identity, Alfie and Kova decide to complete their assigned tasks. They follow the signs to the service lifts and split up. Alfie takes service lift 2, while Kova locates the lift to the casino level. They plan to meet up again right after.

===Alfie Has No Taste, But He Smells Just Fine ===

Alfie stands in the lift, looking at the dishes to be delivered. They both smell like different varieties of kibble that have gone off. One of them looks like some small, hollowed out iridescent rocks, each with a slimy rotting mushroom inside. The other is something bright orange, presumably meat, covered in spices, with half a citrus fruit and some green tube-shaped vegetables on the side. (editor's note: the hilarious joke here is that Alfie has never seen oysters and salmon before, thank you GM)

===Foyer: Cassandra, Isadora, and Lillith Make their Entrance===

Nikki, NoDot, and Julie finally reach the front of the line and are let into the lift bay.

NoDot immediately hops on their hand terminal, and attempts to access the security cameras onboard the ship.

After a short moment, the lift opens up into the top level of the large, circular foyer with an intricate hovering chandelier in the center. Each of their names are read aloud by an Emcee as they enter the room.

The decor has a stunning and timeless elegance about it. A balcony surrounds a massive library-esque sitting area, reachable by a red-carpet-covered central staircase. Julie grabs Nikki's arm and pulls her down the stairs, in a superposition between awe and disgust.

They continue along the sprawling carpet through a set of imposing doors. Beyond is a wide, gently spiraling and sloping corridor. People are clustered about it in groups, admiring paintings and artifacts inset in alcoves.

Julie and Nikki meander down the slope, admiring the art and artifacts, which are mostly from Earth. NoDot follows along behind.

After what feels like several minutes of leisurely walking, the corridor levels out and a pair of doors open into a massive facsimile of a Venetian square. The space itself is difficult to define in size, as it appears convincingly outdoors; a hologram of Earth’s pink evening sky envelopes its outer boundaries, and a gentle evening breeze even passes through. The floor--or more aptly, the ground--is made of real paved stones.

The near side of the space is lined with a contiguous series of brightly-painted buildings, mimicking the architecture of Venice. Many folks in fancy dress, mostly Earthers, are littered in, around, and outside the shops and restaurants. Several waiters in Tuxedos dart about, delivering drinks and food. Some of the guests have their masks pulled up, eating and chatting quietly at tables alongside the flowing canal that divides the expansive space. Across the canal, reachable by a central bridge, is a grassy park with a lazily winding dirt path, and several of what seem to be ''real'' trees growing from apparently ''real'' grass. From the trees, a few birds let out melodious chirps that accompany the steady chorus of crickets.

A lone and remarkably brawny Martian woman in a Navy dress uniform takes drags from her cigarette, as she leans against the railing protecting the exterior edge of the park from an illusory cliff overlooking a vast sunset-adorned sea. If it weren't for the roughly 1/3rd gravity, and the inexplicable cliff, this space would be nigh indistinguishable from a real Venetian square.

Nikki sashays her way into the square, dragging Julie behind her. As she does, she notices Alfie and Kova in the distance, bringing dishes out to customers. The sight reminds her of the mission. She asks nearby staff where to find the poker tournament, and is assured the event will be announced over the intercom fifteen minutes ahead of time.

NoDot is deeply upset by the callous display of wealth, and also experiencing strong vertigo from the apparent wide-open space. They sit down at an empty bench to catch their breath and continue hacking.

===Alfie Goes to Italy===
As Alfie exits the lift and walks out from the façade of a Venetian building, he is entranced by the experience of being on Earth. He stands in the doorway looking up, stunned, until a man at table six begins to get impatient.

"Excuse me! Over here. I believe you have my oysters."

As Alfie sets the dish down, the lady across from him says, "Oh! My salmon smells delicious!" (this is the payoff for that joke, remember that? ha ha)

Alfie ditches the service tray nearby and wanders out across the bridge overlooking the canal, towards the cliff overlooking the sea. There he spots the remarkably brawny Martian taking drags from her cigarette. Alfie rarely passes up an opportunity to have a smoke with a stranger, and even a Martian in MCR dress is no exception.

Claiming he's on a short break, he asks the Martian for a light, and she offers him a cigarette made from the finest Ganymede tobacco. Strangely, there is something about it that ''is'' better than the cigarettes he carries, even with his lack of taste.

"Are they paying you good?" Bobbie asks.

"Dirt."

"That's a shame. Seems like the least they could do if they won't even let Belters attend as guests." She replies.

"The life of a Belter."

They both stare out at the ocean hologram in silence for a moment, probably without ever realizing they're just over a meter from a solid wall.

"How do we not fall into the sky?" asks Alfie.

"Sorry?"

"It just keeps going."

"...Gravity?"

"Oh," he says, scratching his head.

She sighs. "One day Mars will be just like this. Hundreds of years from now. Long after I'm gone."

"That's a shame."

"The life of a Martian."

When Alfie turns to leave, she says, "See you around. The name's Roberta."

"Ashur," he replies.

===Kova's Mystery Chips===

Kova's service lift opens out into the back corridor of the Casino. She begins to ponder who the Deer-masked person could've been referring to when they said to deliver these chips to "our friend on the Casino level." She looks around for anybody who stands out, before settling on the nearest bartender.

"I was asked to deliver this box of chips to a friend down here."

"Chips?" the bartender asks.

"Yep," Kova replies.

"Potato chips?"

"Poker chips..."

"Uhh... I don't think anybody is supposed to be handling poker chips. They're kept locked up behind the cage." He stares at the box in a puzzled manner.

"Thanks anyways," Kova says.

"Good luck, I guess?" he says, squinting.

She wanders off around a corner and peers inside the cardboard box. They're definitely not poker chips.

It's various electronic components, bottles with some kind of solution in them, various metal components, and a few spools of wire. Kova is not unfamiliar with components Marco Inaros would use to hijack a fusion drive, and these are those.

Heart beating rapidly, she hurries back to the lift bay and returns to the meetup spot with Alfie, but he's not back yet. An eternity seems to pass before he returns. Kova spends that eternity hyperventilating.

===Ballroom: Nikki and Julie Sitting in a Tree, NoDot hacks CCTV ===

Nikki scans Space Venice for people who might recognize her, and sees an impatient man and woman who are unmistakably waiting for their oysters and salmon. It's Vice Admiral Draven Kennedy and his plus one. Julie catches on and, in spite of her urge to stand around and gawk at the scenery forever, suggests it might be time to move on.

They double back towards the entrance they came through, and continue a much shorter half-turn down the spiral ramp. Music fades in as they approach another set of double doors. The ballroom is ''massive''. The ceilings are high, but not as high, and probably not a hologram. It's extraordinarily ornate, and the size of a football pitch. The front of the room is lined with banquet seating.

"Could we maybe sit down for a sec. Maybe find some... aperitifs?" NoDot asks, still nauseous.

"Yeah. Why don't you find a place? Julie and I will be right over. Save us a seat."

Nikki hands them her clutch purse, and NoDot plays along and wanders off to sit alone with their hand terminal for a bit.

"Would... you... want to dance?" Nikki asks Julie, somewhat sheepishly.

"I think I know this one!" Julie says, and grabs Nikki by the arm to drag her onto the dance floor.

They spend time dancing the Waltz, their black and red gowns swishing glamorously as they spin around the crowded ballroom floor. It's the perfect Masquerade dancing montage, and they have a wonderful time.

NoDot finally finds some time to sit and finish hacking into the ship's security cameras. They gain access to cameras in the foyer, Venice level, ballroom, passenger cabin floor, and a separate banquet hall. They set up a script to forward the video feeds to their server, and alert them if any weapons are spotted, or any violence occurs. With the server in a new location, it takes a little while to find new proxy routes to prevent attempts to trace the hack back to it.

==Things Get Tense==

===Service Lift Bay: Alfie schemes, Kova Panics===

Alfie returns to the meeting spot to discover Kova hyperventilating.

"What's going on?" he asks.

"It's not a box of poker chips. It's a box of parts that will turn the fusion reactor into a bomb," Kova explains, short of breath. "They'll have more. Spares. Having this won't stop them. Marco has done this before."

Nervously, she tells her story. "I ran with him for about five years. I was naïve. I thought he was the best hope for Belter independence. I... didn't know what he was capable of.

"He talked me into engineering a device that could control a reactor. Told me they'd just use it to stop their ships, so we could show up and look like heroes coming to the rescue. But after a few, he used the reactor access to blow one up. Two hundred innocent civilians died."

Alfie, looking at Kova in a new light, lets out a "Huh."

"Thousands could die. The explosion will take a chunk out of Ceres." With that, Kova begins to cry.

Alfie paces and thinks out loud. If Inaros' men are putting together a bomb-like device, his intuition and experience tell him they'd likely assemble it in a passenger cabin--where it's both easy to maintain privacy, and the closest public level to the ship's reactor.

"We'll need NoDot to help us find the right room. And we'll need a plan to stop it, which might not be as simple as just showing up and causing chaos. They thought we were Ashur and Caelis. We can use that. We'll walk right in like we belong, and then sabotage or steal whatever is necessary."

Then he notices Kova bawling on the floor.

"That means acting completely normal. If you can't handle this, stay out of it," he tells her directly.

"I... uh..." Kova begins to reply, with difficulty.

"Sounds like you should stay out of it. Sit tight. Guard the box. I'll be right back."

He walks down the corridor to the galley to have another chat with the Deer, the person from earlier who gave him directions. Posing as Ashur, he attempts to coax the cabin number out of them. The Deer, a little dumbfounded, tells him it's the same room he's been going back and forth to all evening. Alfie does his best to respond in a way that would diffuse any unwanted suspicion. He's confirmed that it's a hotel room, but not which one.

Returning to Kova, Alfie sends a ping to NoDot: "Meet outside bathroom. Venice Floor. 10 minutes."

Alfie takes the box of parts from Kova and finds a place to hide it, leaving her alone as he heads to the meeting spot.

===Venice: Alfie and NoDot Get Serious===

Alfie and NoDot meet up and take a stroll through the mostly-empty park. He quietly fills them in on the terrorism threat. He then asks NoDot if they have any cameras on the passenger cabin level, hoping to find which room could house the terrorists. NoDot confirms they do, and forwards the camera access to the crew feed. Kova chimes in the chat with an idea to check the power levels in each room, to see which ones are occupied.

Just as NoDot begins to investigate this option, the PA chimes: "10 minutes to the start of the Poker tournament."

NoDot swears. "Goddammit. They said they'd warn us ''15'' minutes in advance!"

Back in the ballroom, Nikki hears the same announcement and goes to find NoDot, who was holding her clutch. The clutch is sitting on the table, NoDot nowhere to be found. Nikki prepares to light up NoDot but notices about 45 messages in the crew feed and realizes something has gone wrong.

The latest message is from NoDot.

NoDot: julie isnt part of this bomb thing right?
Nikki: She hasn't said anything about it.
Alfie: No. She's not in on it. She doesn't like Inaros
NoDot: INAROS?? like MARCO INAROS???
NoDot: (⁠ʘ⁠ᗩ⁠ʘ⁠’⁠)
NoDot: kova if ur not busy u need to find an access panel nd plug in ur term
NoDot: this could take a while so find somewhere secret
NoDot: i hope its ok if i use my term at teh poker table

Kova goes to the bathroom to clean up and muster up some courage, and then she scours the lift bay directory for a floor that's both quiet and likely to have an access panel. Settling on the storage room just below the wine cellar, she hops in the lift to floor 8.

=== '''Poker Tournament''' with Nikki, NoDot, Julie, Bobbie from Mars, and Rich from Earth===

''Julie'' - Kova's player 
''Bobbie'', in Martian Marine Dress Uniform - GM 
''Rich'', a wealthy Earther - Alfie's player 

As everyone gathers around the poker table, Rich from Earth introduces himself, and Roberta the brawny Martian introduces herself as Bobbie. She offers everyone a cigarette made from rare Ganymede tobacco.

Then Bobbie looks around, looks to NoDot, and declares, "We're gonna kick these Earthers' asses."

NoDot accepts the cigarette and immediately starts coughing like crazy. Bobbie tries to explain how to take it into your mouth before your lungs, but NoDot can't quite get the hang of it.

As the first hand is dealt, a floorman comes by and opens a drawer in the table, asking players to drop in their terminals. They will be returned once a winner is declared, or when a player is out of the game.

Because of this rule, NoDot decides to lose as quickly as possible. They need their hand terminal ASAP to help out with the terrorism threat, and since Julie and Nikki are also in the game, only one of them needs to win the money for Dawes. Suddenly in an uncertain race against time, the poker game begins.

The game is six-plus no-limits hold'em. Each player starts with 5,000 UND worth of chips.

On the first hand, everyone stays in until the river. Rich is the first to fold, followed by Nikki. Bobbie thinks for too long before tossing more chips in the pot. She's already down a sizable amount. NoDot shows pair of kings, pair of queens. Nobody can beat it. The pot is theirs.

As the hands go on, NoDot's plan to lose completely backfires. Their strategy is to keep raising the bet higher and higher in the hopes of losing a lot of chips at once, but everyone else keeps folding, so with a few lucky hands NoDot actually ends up in control of most of the chips on the table.

All in all, the entire game only lasts about 30 minutes. Julie is the first to run dry, closely followed by Bobbie. Rich goes all in with the few chips he has left, and NoDot beats him with triple Jacks. In a tense final battle, it's down to Nikki and NoDot. NoDot takes Nikki's three remaining chips with a pair of Aces.

With that, the job for Dawes is done. The dealer calls for the floorman to unlock the hand terminals. NoDot collects the 40k UND winnings from the casino cage and hands them to Nikki in the provided discrete bag.

===Guest Cabin Corridors: Alfie Runs Into an Old Friend===

While the poker tournament unfolds, Alfie takes the time to do some investigation. He stands around the service lifts for a while, watching for any suspicious movement. After no discernibly nefarious activity, he makes his way to the guest lift.

Alfie presses 6, the last button on this guest lift. The lift quickly descends, and the doors open into the guest cabins level. To the left is a winding ramp that leads up to the banquet hall. To the right, a curved path that stays level, lined with high-priced rooms, some of which even have windows. Ahead is a straight hall that branches off perpendicularly in a few spots. Alfie camps out for a while at the lift, greeting the few guests who are taking breaks from the party.

He starts to get impatient. It's been quite a while without receiving a single message in the crew feed. He wanders down the corridors until he sees somebody in a staff tuxedo and tiger mask at the end of a hall, standing conspicuously in front of a door. As Alfie approaches, the figure notices he's being watched. He shifts his attention fully and walks back towards Alfie with a menacing gait. The man looks familiar. The two meet in the middle, and when tiger-man is merely feet from Alfie, he reaches for something tucked in his jacket, never averting his gaze. With his other hand, he attempts to lift Alfie's mask up. Alfie doesn't stop him.

"Fucking hell, Alfie. There's some fucker wandering around on the ship who looks just like you, and he's up to something," Zuko says in relief.

"Like me? He's down here?"

"Yeah, and earlier he was wandering around with someone else who looks like Kova. These fucking masks."

"Oh. Then that was me."

"You were carrying a bunch of boxes between the galley level and the guest quarters?" Zuko asks.

"Wait, no. That must've been Ashur and Caelis."

"Ashur and Caelis?"

"First, tell me what you're doing here."

"Me?" says Zuko. "I was just here to see what all the fuss was about. At least until I had a confusing-as-fuck interaction with Fake Alfie... Ashwin, did you say? He took the lift down here. I followed, but he slipped into one of these rooms before I could see. When I saw you coming... You're lucky I didn't shoot you."

"Ashur," Alfie corrects. "And Caelis. They're here to blow this ship up, and... wait, do you have a gun?"

"Better, I have two guns," Zuko says, and discretely hands one over to Alfie. "Keep it hidden. You said Kova was with you? Where'd she go? Is it just the two of you?"

"Everyone is here, but I haven't heard from them in a while. I think they're busy. NoDot was trying to figure out what room they've been going into. I could probably reach Kova... hold on."

Kova : Number?
Kova : Are you there? I can't find any panels
Kova : Number?
Kova : ...
Kova : What should I do?
Kova : HELLO? Remember about the BOMB?
Kova : Anyone?
Kova : Alfie??
--- End of Unread Messages ---
Alfie : Kova, you good?
Kova : No
Kova : I'm freaking out. I still haven't found a network access panel
Kova : I'm in the storage room now
Kova : Wait! Found it
Alfie : We have to wait for NoDot
Alfie : Hold position
Kova : Where's Number? Are they Okay?
Alfie : Poker
Alfie : Breathe.

Alfie relays to Zuko, "She's helping NoDot with some hacking thing. She was having a bit of a panic attack earlier before going off to find an access panel. Sounds like she just found it. Probably better if she chills there. Still haven't heard from the rest of them. How long can a no-limits poker tournament possibly last when three of the five players are colluding?"

"Uh... Maybe they're trying to not get caught. How long have they been at it?"

"Uhh... thirty minutes."

"Do they know about the bomb?"

"Yeah."

"Then why they fuck are they playing poker?"

"Dawes."

"Okay," sighs Zuko, "well... Let's see if we can't figure this out while we wait. Shouldn't be too much longer if they care about their lives more than the prize."

Zuko walks up to a nearby fire-exit map and points to several corridors. "I've already spent around 15 minutes standing at each of these intersections. That leaves these remaining three corridors."

"You go that way, I'll go this way. 15 minutes. If neither of us see anything, we assume the third corridor. You know how to reach me," Alfie replies.

===NoDot Remembers the Stakes===

NoDot gloats about their poker tournament victory, until Nikki taps on their shoulder and they remember their life is more important than the prize.

"Oh! Uhh... I gotta take a SHIT!" Number says, and takes off towards a bathroom.

...
Alfie : Poker
Alfie : Breathe.
--- End of Unread Messages ---
NoDot : shit im back plug in ur term (⁠๑⁠•⁠﹏⁠•⁠)
Kova : It is
NoDot : hold pls
NoDot : looking at power draw in hotel rooms
NoDot : eight rooms are occupied
NoDot : 112 121
NoDot : 201 206 221
NoDot : 343
NoDot : 434
Alfie : It's corridor 2. We've checked those other corridors already.
Alfie : Zuko just went that way. I'm going to follow him.
NoDot : zuko??
Kova : Zuko???

===Nikki Remembers the Steaks===

Nikki, catching up on the group chat, realizes she needs a weapon.

NoDot : zuko??
Kova : Zuko???
--- End of Unread Messages ---
Nikki : Hey guys, what did I miss?
Nikki : Wait Zuko is there?
Nikki : Oh shit. brt.
NoDot : two units are corpos and one room is pvt
NoDot : never heard of either corpo
Nikki : One sec. Getting a knife.
NoDot : enjoy ur steak (⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ⁠³⁠˘⁠)⁠♥
Nikki : How'd you know? lol. ;)

"Let's go." Nikki says to Julie.

"Go where?"

"I'm feeling steak. I think the banquet hall has steak?"

"Is this code?"

"No," Nikki says, miming a stabbing motion.

Julie stares at Nikki for a second. "Oh. Ohhh. Yeah, let's get steak."

===Corridor 2: The Room ===

Alfie turns the corner, and Zuko is already standing in front of room 206.

Zuko puts his finger up to his lips in a shushing motion, and whispers, "Do you hear that clicking? It sounds like a socket wrench." He pulls out his gun.

"Now's not really the time, but how were you able to smuggle these in?" Alfie asks, as he draws his from his pocket.

NoDot : guys my alarm went off
NoDot : guns in c2
NoDot : o wait its u
NoDot : wow ur both strapped (⁠・⁠o⁠・⁠)
NoDot : looping camera feed so nobody sees

"I just walked right in. They didn't even check. How do you think Inaros smuggled all of these bomb parts in? For all we know the dock workers are in on it," Zuko replies.

Kova : NoDot jam 500/1000mhz. Those are the frequencies we used for remote control
Kova : People will notice but we're running short on time
Kova : I'll go where you need me
NoDot : rgr

"I'm going to knock. They'll think I'm Ashur. Stay right here. If I cough loud, shit's gone south," Alfie says.

Zuko nods.

There's rustling from inside as the ratcheting sound stops.

Nikki : Heading to Corridor 2.
Nikki : Knives were brought out before the steak. :')
Nikki : God, I'm hungry.
NoDot : room 206 i think
NoDot : yeah
NoDot : far end of the hall

"We don't need housekeeping," a voice inside the room says.

"Hey it's me, let me in. Dropped my key card," Alfie says, hoping to pass as Ashur.

"Who?"

"Ashur. Let me in," Alfie says.

"Goddammit Ashur. Again? Now neither of us have key cards."

"Yeah."

The door pops open.

Inside is just one man, and a slew of mechanical devices on the coffee table. He wanders back to it and continues bolting something together.

"Where's the last box? I've been waiting for like two hours. Caelis was supposed to bring it," he says.

"I haven't seen Caelis in a couple hours."

"Come hold this down while the epoxy cures. I gotta take a piss."

==Shit hits the fan==

Nikki and Julie come stumbling down corridor 2, giggling and pretending to be drunk.

Nikki whispers, "That's Zuko, right? In the tiger mask?"

Julie replies, "I sure fucking hope so."

Zuko, who isn't in the crew chat, conceals his pistol and stares intensely at them through his mask, not yet certain who he's looking at. Nikki briefly lifts her mask and Zuko relaxes.

The lift softly dings behind Nikki and Julie, who are halfway down the corridor, and Zuko's eyes go wide. He begins jogging toward Nikki and Julie, and points behind them.

As they turn to look, clear as day, Alfie and Kova have just crested the corner and are walking right towards the three of them. They're about 15 meters away and closing.

Nikki confusedly whispers to Zuko, "I thought Alfie was with you."

"That's not Alfie. Those are the two fuckers I've been following around. Knives out. Alfie's in room 206 right now impersonating the taller one. If we let them in that room he's fucked," he whispers back.

Kova : Guys I can't see the feed
Kova : Somebody say something
NoDot : one sec

Nikki nudges Julie and lets out a loud giggle. "Oops, wrong corridor!"

She takes the hint and they both turn around, facing down Ashur and Caelis.

===Deep Shit ===

Alfie looks over the mechanical objects on the coffee table for the brief moment his new terrorist friend is in the bathroom. He finds an important-looking component that has no apparent spare, and slides it into his pocket to sabotage the bomb.

The terrorist comes out with his gun drawn and points it at Alfie.

"Do you think I'm stupid? I know you're not Ashur."

"Well, I tried."

Alfie draws his gun and fires it.

===Birth of a Killer===

Two quick gunshots can be heard from the corridor. And then one more.

Zuko lets out several obscenities as he turns around and races back to room 206.

Ashur and Caelis start running towards the room. Nikki and Julie wait until they're close enough to make contact.

Kova : Just a reminder I'm still here
NoDot : one sec
Kova : At least tell me everyone is okay
Kova : Welp. I'm just going to curl up into a ball.

Julie misses her stab on Caelis, but cleanly transitions into a chokehold as she flips her over. Nikki shivs Ashur in the side and he lets out a shriek. She tackles him and crushes his windpipe between her bicep and forearm. For several seconds he lets out a very unpleasant squelching sound, followed by unconsciousness.

For a moment, Nikki and Julie both lie there, exhausted. And then the adrenaline starts to kick in again.

NoDot : hah
NoDot : i locked everybody in their rooms ᕙ⁠(⁠ ⁠ ⁠•⁠ ⁠‿⁠ ⁠•⁠ ⁠ ⁠)⁠ᕗ
NoDot : except alifes!!!
NoDot : alfie*
Kova : Omg is he okay?

Throughout the hall, a couple of door knobs rattle, followed by muffled yells of locked-in passengers.

===Double Tap===

The first two shots heard from the corridor were Alfie and the terrorist firing at each other. The third was from whoever won; for good measure.

A fourth shot goes off. It's Zuko forcing the door open.

"Alfie!" Zuko yells.

"He missed," Alfie explains, standing over the corpse. "I didn't."

"What happened to the loud cough?"

"I had to improvise," Alfie says, already thinking about where he might have left his prints.

Zuko throws his tiger mask down and begins tearing apart the device on the coffee table.

"Give me a moment," Alfie says. Taking out some inner frustration over the orphanage incident yesterday, he repeatedly beats in the terrorist's face until it is an unrecognizable bloody mess.

"Okay, I'm good," he says, followed by, "Oh shit. Hold on, my terminal is going crazy."

NoDot : alfie*
Kova : Omg is he okay?
--- End of Unread Messages ---
Alfie : I'm good
NoDot : there couple of murders
Kova : gnlfjgls!@$%!$%

Outside in the hallway, Julie turns to Nikki and says, "No more gunshots. I think we're good. Let's get these bodies in there."

"I definitely heard another gunshot."

"That was Zuko forcing his way into 206. If there was a fifth shot I'd be worried," Julie says.

Nikki pulls Ashur into cabin 206, and his mask snags on something and falls off. Nikki tenses up, and then looks down.

Julie quips, "Huh. He really looks nothing like Alfie without the mask."

Nikki lets out a deep breath, like this was the outcome she needed. Then she slowly dares to look toward real Alfie. He's standing over a bloody mess of a dead man who has a hole in his chest and skull, which has been beaten until unrecognizable.

"You good?" he asks.

===Cut to Kova: Well, She Tried===

NoDot : there couple of murders
Kova : gnlfjgls!@$%!$%
--- End of Unread Messages ---
NoDot : no no everyone is fine
NoDot : nikki and julie died them
NoDot : did*
NoDot : did the murders haha
Kova : @$^%$##!@%$!!!!!!!!!
NoDot : can you call the other seven rooms and tell them theres a door malfunction
NoDot : kova?
NoDot : kova?
Kova : FINE
Kova : Send me the contacts.
NoDot : rerouting front desk to ur terminal (⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠)

"G...Good evening," Kova says to the first caller with a whimper.

"I want to apologize for any t...technical difficulties..." She becomes less intelligible by the word as she chokes back tears.

"What's going on?" the voice replies. "This better be comped! I want my money back."

"Yes... of... of course, sir--"

"Somebodyneedstocomegetusoutofhererightnow. Whatifthere'safirewecoulddie!"

Kova disconnects the call, and immediately gets another one.

Kova : I can't do this.

===Mackin'===

NoDot calls the only other person she can think of in the moment.

"Hey Mack. Just gonna need a hand from you right now."

"I... I'm not. Uh. I'm on the ship right now," Mack says nervously.

"Uh huh... Did you find two girls again? Are they hot? Are they cute?" NoDot teases.

"No but I saw somebody who looked like Alf--er... I mean, I'm on the Terps--"

"Wait. WHAT?"

"Okay fine! I snuck onto the Jäger... yacht... thing."

NoDot hastily fills Mack in. "Okay listen, we're going to have a chat about this later, but right now I have a job I need you to do. Pretend to be reception, you're going to get a bunch of calls, tell them there's a technical malfunction with the doors, okay bye."

"...What?"

===Back in Room 206: Rolling Out the Red Carpet===

"Okay, well... we shouldn't stay here," Nikki says.

"Yeah, you're damned right we shouldn't stay here," Zuko replies, helping Alfie clean up prints and smear bloody footprints until they can't be made out.

On the floor, fake-Alfie lets out a sputter.

"Get him in the tub. And give me your knife," Alfie directs.

"Y...yeah," Nikki says breathlessly.

Julie begins dragging him into the tub. Nikki can hear a few sharp stabs.

"Here's your knife back," Alfie says after a second.

"You... you killed him," Nikki replies.

"Jealous?"

"No! I've never... I've..."

"That dude was already dead," Zuko chimes in.

"What?" Nikki replies.

"Sure he was breathing, but the fanciest autodoc in the world wouldn't have saved him from the brain damage."

"I'll let you have that point," Alfie quips at Nikki. "Seriously though. You alright?"

"Uh..."

Julie wraps her arms around Nikki and tells her, "Deep, slow breaths."

NoDot : hows it going in there guys
NoDot : theres no cameras in there
NoDot : i cant see ರ⁠_⁠ರ
Nikki : everyone dead
Nikki : BAD GUYS
Nikki : BAD GUYS DEAD
Nikki : WE ARE FINE

"You two should leave first," Alfie tells Nikki and Julie.

He hands Julie a bottle of wine from the desk. She takes it and dumps it all over herself and Nikki to conceal the blood.

NoDot : guys i think were fucked
NoDot : my alarm is going off on
NoDot : every
NoDot : single
NoDot : camera
NoDot : wait no what the fuck
NoDot : turn on the desk terminal

=Escape from Elysium (Monday Night)=

== '''The Distress Call''' ==

Before leaving, Nikki turns on the desk terminal. A man's distress call is being played on repeat.
[[File:James Holden.png|thumb|275px]]
''"My name is James Holden, speaking for the remaining survivors of the Canterbury. Our ship was destroyed answering a bogus SOS from a ship called the Scopuli. We recovered a false beacon and identified it as Martian naval technology. It was a trap. We've been hailed by the MCRN Donnager. We intend to cooperate in the hopes that it means nobody will be harmed. Any such action will only confirm that the Canterbury was destroyed by Mars."''

{| class="wikitable floatright" style="max-width:300px;margin-left:30px" |
|+The Distress Call: A Summary
|-
|The UN and Mars have been locked in a power struggle over the Belt for years. In these tense times, James Holden is describing that a falsified distress beacon of Martian design lured out the Canterbury, an ice-hauler flying under the UN flag, to a remote location. When the crew left on a shuttle to investigate, their ship was destroyed behind them. Then, suspiciously, the closest ship around to help was the pride of the martian fleet; the MCRN Donnager battleship, which has now taken them aboard as hostages.

If anything happens to them, James Holden says, it will be proof Mars destroyed their ship unprovoked. But many watching this signal might interpret that as a forgone conclusion, and a declaration of war from Mars.
|-
|}

"Oh fuck," Nikki shouts.

Nikki : Well that explains all of the commotion.
Nikki : Kova?

Alfie is still meticulously cleaning when Zuko grabs his arm.

"C'mon kid. We gotta go. We've got bigger problems now."

"Huh?"

"Could be war. And this ship is shitty with soldiers from both sides," Zuko replies.

NoDot : ill send the lift to ur floors
NoDot : kova
NoDot : b rdy
Alfie : Roger
NoDot : KOVA
Kova : 053@#T%@#%T

==Wait, This isn't the Terpsichore!==

The distress call has been broadcasted everywhere, and Elysian Dream has become pure chaos because of it. All the guests from Earth and Mars are breaking out into fights and desperately trying to push their way off the ship. NoDot leaves the casino floor bathroom to a cacophony of fighting and yelling. From cameras, NoDot was prepared for this to be the rowdiest floor.

Standing half way between NoDot and the lift is a small boy with a new-found love for plants.

"What's going on!?" Mack shouts over the crowd, while sidled up against the wall.

"We're leaving. Come with me," NoDot replies.

"Okay," Mack says, followed by, "Am I in trouble? Is Nikki going to kick me off the ship?"

"Not the time for this discussion. Let's run. Please," NoDot answers.

"Okay!"

The two of them make it to the lift as chaos erupts around them. Fists are flying, chairs are flying, people are flying.

==The Lift Bay ==

Everyone exits the various lifts and meets up in the top-floor lift bay, adjacent to the Foyer. A familiar belter with a deer mask is standing in the corner of the lift bay.

As Alfie and Kova walk past, covered in blood, the Deer says "What the fuck are you doing? Did you get the device to the reactor? Now is the perfect time."

Alfie pulls out his gun. "You're coming with us."

The Deer holds their hands up and replies, "What the fuck is this?"

As they pass through the galley and turn the corner toward the single lift that takes people on and off the ship, it becomes clear that they will not be exiting this way. Belters, Martians, and Earthers are all fighting and being crushed, vying for a place on the elevator. Both lift doors are open and there are so many people trying to get in at once, that they will not close.

==The Only Way to Go is Out==

"There's a service door between the galley and the main elevator," NoDot shouts.

"Where does that go?" Zuko asks.

"I hope the suits fit us," is all NoDot replies.

Mack gulps. It's an airlock. "Guys... I've never been in open space before."

Alfie wrenches on the door handle but it won't budge.

"NoDot, you're up," Alfie says.

"I can't find the debug panel," NoDot replies.

"Stand back," Zuko shouts, and pulls out his pistol.

"Whoa whoa, no!" Nikki shouts.

"Is this the thing you're looking for?" Mack asks, pointing to the debug panel.

"Ten points Mack. You're crushin' it," says NoDot.

NoDot pops the door open. Zuko enters, gun drawn.

In the suit-up room is a lone Jäger Kruna, the richest man in existence and owner of the yacht. His suit half on, he yelps and puts his hands up. "Don't shoot!"

Alfie shuts the door behind everyone and quickly shoots the Deer in the back of the head. Jäger jumps.

"Who was that!?" Jäger asks.

"Don't worry about them," Alfie says.

"They were trying to blow up your ship," Nikki adds.

"So you came here to rescue me? You're not going to shoot me?"

"Well we weren't ''planning'' to shoot you," Nikki replies.

"The suits are right there." Jäger quickly points.

As everyone begins climbing into their suits, NoDot snatches Jäger's hand terminal. Alfie points a gun at him.

"What do you want? I'll give you anything. Money? Connections? Please just don't kill me!"

"Sit tight buddy. I'm just dumping all of the logs and passwords from your hand terminal," Number says.

"I'm starting to think you guys might've been the ones trying to blow up my ship."

"Be quiet," Alfie shouts.

"What are you guys doing!?" Mack asks, terrified.

Alfie momentarily points the gun at Mack. "Shut UP."

Mack, already fully suited up, is hyperventilating and holding back tears inside his helmet. He puts his hands up, too.

Everyone finishes donning their suit and helps each other check their vacuum seal.

"Everyone suited up? We're going," Alfie says.

He piles the remaining couple of suits into the airlock with the intention of chucking them out into the vacuum of space, including the top half of Jäger Kruna's. "So he can't follow us."

Nobody argues.

Julie is the last one into the airlock. Just before she enters, she punches Jäger hard enough to break his nose.

== Two Hundred Feet==

The ladder on the exterior of the elevator shaft is about 200ft tall. The trek is daunting, and Mack is crying into his comms.

"I've never been in space. What if I fall?" he asks.

"You're doing great, kid. One hand in front of the other. Just like that," Nikki replies.

After a long, nerve-wracking climb in the immense stillness of space, they reach the top of the ladder. Alfie notices that the leverage handle is already attached to the wheel. Somebody has used this hatch recently. On the bright side, it is easy to open.

Everyone climbs safely inside, pulls the outer door shut, and Alfie cracks the upper door to move a bit of atmosphere from Ceres into the emergency airlock. Once everyone's atmo gauge is in the green, people start taking off their suits. The upper door opens into a secluded area right next to the top of the lift in Ceres.

It's surprisingly quiet up here. It seems like the chaos on the Elysium has resulted in that elevator door never closing, and so nobody has managed to exit the ship at all.

"Let's stagger our arrival back to the Terpsichore to minimize attention," Alfie suggests.

Everyone agrees.

=Home Free=
==NoDot's 22 Trillion Dollar Idea==

NoDot spends the evening draining Jäger Kruna's liquid bank accounts into the accounts of the citizens of Ceres, taking care to do so in a way that won't be traced back to them or the Terpsichore. In total, 22 Trillion is divided up, mostly in the form of various crypto currencies which NoDot converts to credits before distributing.

== Everyone Else==

Kova goes to her room, and now that she's no longer on the Elysian Dream, the worst of her anxiety begins to subside.

Mack is hiding in his room.

Alfie retreats to the shower.

Zuko is hanging out in the galley, and so are Nikki and Julie.

==Can't Wash The Blood Away==

Nikki's washing dishes nervously. Julie begins helping.

"How are you doing?" Julie asks.

"I don't know... uh. Is it easier? For you? Now? Killing, I mean."

"I wish I could say no. It was them or us," Julie says.

"Yeah. That's what I try to keep telling myself but... Until the mask fell off... I just. It was like I killed Alfie."

Julie leans into Nikki and puts her arm around her.

"Maybe you should talk to him about it," Julie suggests.

"Alfie's not much of a talker."

"I can't stop thinking about that message," Julie says. "That James Harlin guy."

"Me neither. What if it's not a coincidence? The bomb, and that ship."

"What do you mean? The bomb was Inaros. James said their ship was destroyed by Mars."

"Yeah, but... why would Mars start a war that way?"

"Hmm..." Julie ponders.

==Breaking News ==

Martians being interviewed seem to vary from indifferent to excited about the attack, with some going so far as to say "It's about time." Martian officials are much more reserved.

Most UN networks are in damage control mode, stating that there is still no proof that Mars was responsible.

Nikki's father is on one channel, saying things like, "We all need to keep our wits about us," and to "not jump to conclusions" until "we know what's going on."

Nikki can tell he too is in damage control mode. The words coming out of his mouth indicate that he has no strong beliefs about whether or not Mars did it, but he feels it is important to keep everyone calm.

==Mack Attacked==

NoDot knocks on Mack's door. He does not answer. When they open it, Mack backs up against the wall before very slowly relaxing.

"What?"

"Hey Mack. Remember Hecate?"

"Yeah."

"She wanted you to have her old stuff."

Mack breaks down crying.

"I'm scared of Alfie."

NoDot continues, "I thought maybe you could help me sort through this stuff."

"Can you super lock the door while we're in here?" Mack asks.

"Of course," NoDot replies.

=Epilogue=

Nikki sits in the shower in her pretty masquerade dress. Julie sits down next to her and starts to speak. "I really wanted to go back to that Venice hologram."

"Me too," Nikki agrees.

Then Julie said what's really on her mind. "You know, the one thing that I didn't know how to deal with tonight... was the fear of losing you."

She leans in and starts sobbing on Nikki's shoulder.

Previous: [[Episode 5]]

Next: Episode 7

Episode 7

2024-12-01T17:56:44Z

Spacegod:

= Episode 7: Parallels in Ceres =

'''Starting:''' Monday, 2350-12-25 
'''Ending:''' Wednesday, 2350-12-27 

== 2350-12-25 (Monday) ==

=== Julie's Departure ===

Just after Nikki falls asleep in Julie's arms, she is startled awake again by a hand terminal chime. A notification on Julie's terminal informs both of them that the ship carrying the protomolecule left early, and that she would need to leave Ceres immediately or there would be no chance of intercepting it before it reached its destination.

=== 2350-12-26 (Tuesday) ===

=== 2350-12-27 (Wednesday) ===

Episode 8

2024-12-01T17:56:14Z

Spacegod:

Episode 8: The Anubis

'''Starting:''' Wednesday, 2350-12-27 
'''Ending:''' Sunday, 2350-12-31

Episode 9

2024-12-01T17:55:47Z

Spacegod:

= Episode 9: The Incident =

'''Starting:''' Wednesday, 2351-01-01 
'''Ending:''' Sunday, 2350-01-02(?)

Episode 9

2024-12-01T17:55:00Z

Spacegod:

'''Starting:''' Wednesday, 2351-01-03 
'''Ending:''' Sunday, 2350-01-04(?)

Episode 9

2024-12-01T17:54:52Z

Spacegod: Created page with "'''Starting:''' Wednesday, 2351-01-03 '''Ending:''' Sunday, 2350-01-04 "

'''Starting:''' Wednesday, 2351-01-03 
'''Ending:''' Sunday, 2350-01-04

Episode 7

2024-10-08T04:47:17Z

Spacegod:

'''Starting:''' Monday, 2350-12-25 
'''Ending:''' Wednesday, 2350-12-27 

== 2350-12-25 (Monday) ==

=== Julie's Departure ===

Just after Nikki falls asleep in Julie's arms, she is startled awake again by a hand terminal chime. A notification on Julie's terminal informs both of them that the ship carrying the protomolecule left early, and that she would need to leave Ceres immediately or there would be no chance of intercepting it before it reached its destination.

=== 2350-12-26 (Tuesday) ===

=== 2350-12-27 (Wednesday) ===

Episode 7

2024-10-08T04:46:42Z

Spacegod: /* Julie's Departure */

'''Starting:''' Monday, 2350-12-25 
'''Ending:''' Wednesday, 2350-12-27 

== 2350-12-25 (Monday) ==

=== Julie's Departure ===

Just after Nikki falls asleep in Julie's arms, she is startled awake by a hand terminal chime. A notification on Julie's terminal informs both of them that the ship carrying the protomolecule left early, and that she would need to leave Ceres immediately or there would be no chance of intercepting it before it reached its destination.

=== 2350-12-26 (Tuesday) ===

=== 2350-12-27 (Wednesday) ===

Episode 8

2024-10-08T04:43:39Z

Spacegod: Created page with "'''Starting:''' Wednesday, 2350-12-27 '''Ending:''' Sunday, 2350-12-31 "

'''Starting:''' Wednesday, 2350-12-27 
'''Ending:''' Sunday, 2350-12-31

Episode 7

2024-10-08T04:33:58Z

Spacegod: Created page with "'''Starting:''' Monday, 2350-12-25 '''Ending:''' Wednesday, 2350-12-27 == 2350-12-25 (Monday) == === Julie's Departure === Julie and Nikki are awoken just before midnight to a hand terminal chime. Nikki is informed that the ship carrying the protomolecule left a day early, and that she would need to leave then if she had any chance of intercepting it before it reached its destination. === 2350-12-26 (Tuesday) === === 2350-12-27 (Wednesday) ==="

'''Starting:''' Monday, 2350-12-25 
'''Ending:''' Wednesday, 2350-12-27 

== 2350-12-25 (Monday) ==

=== Julie's Departure ===

Julie and Nikki are awoken just before midnight to a hand terminal chime. Nikki is informed that the ship carrying the protomolecule left a day early, and that she would need to leave then if she had any chance of intercepting it before it reached its destination.

=== 2350-12-26 (Tuesday) ===

=== 2350-12-27 (Wednesday) ===

Jäger Kruna

2024-10-08T03:37:41Z

Spacegod:

<s>Elon Reeve Musk FRS is a businessman and investor known for his key roles in the space company SpaceX and the automotive company Tesla, Inc. Wikipedia</s> 
<s>Born: June 28, 1971 (age 53 years), Pretoria, South Africa</s> 
<s>Children: Vivian Jenna Wilson, Tau Techno Mechanicus Musk, MORE</s> 
<s>Net worth: 263.9 billion USD (2024) Forbes</s> 
<s>Spouse: Talulah Riley (m. 2013–2016), Talulah Riley (m. 2010–2012), Justine Musk (m. 2000–2008)</s> 
<s>Education: Penn Arts & Sciences (1997), Wharton School (1997), MORE</s> 
<s>Parents: Errol Musk, Maye Musk</s> 
<s>Height: 6′ 2″</s> 

Jäger Kruna was the richest person alive at the time of his death, 2350-12-25 with an estimated net worth of 160 trillion dollars. He was discovered dead, during a UNN rescue mission following the Elysian Nightmare incident. His body was found among a crowd crush at the docking elevator of his luxury yacht.

He was given the title of richest person alive after the very non-suspicious passing of his parents, in which the 22 trillion UND inheritance was added to his existing 104 trillion UND fortune.

He was known for keeping a large percentage of his net worth in various cryptocurrencies, which were discovered to have been automatically liquidated at the time of his death. For reasons that are still not clear, these assets were converted to EMC credits and distributed among the permanent residents of Ceres.

His former yacht, the Elysian Dream, is considered a crowning achievement in Luna shipbuilding technology. Its exterior and interior were redesigned several times per year, and its latest incarnation boasted a full-service casino, a full-size ballroom, an art gallery, and a recreation of a Venetian canal.

To him, it was a stunning majesty of a spaceship. To others, it's a disturbingly opulent display of wealth. Take your pick.

The Expanse

2024-10-08T03:05:52Z

Spacegod:

The Expanse

2024-10-08T03:05:38Z

Spacegod: