Episode 3

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)

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.

---

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 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:

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.

DM Note:

While figuring out how to GM Lasers & Feelings, I got a fair bit of my inspiration from 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.

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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

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.
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.

---

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.

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Next: Episode 4