Escape Trajectory: Makkuro — IC

[Scratcherclaw]

"And so now you'll never go back because some people from who knows how long ago might still hold a grudge?" Hikaru asks, eyebrow raised in curiosity and some level of disappointment. He releases a weighty sigh. "For one, feels like you owe us more of an explanation than that. But otherwise, consider this: you're in the presence of a pop idol and a girl with a fucking sniper. That gives you protection and a free crash course in how to blend in." He rests his hand on Tess's shoulder, flashing a signature grin. 

"Might surprise you how much sunglasses and a hat can fool facial recognition software. Throw in a fake beard and say you're Viktor Nakamori, regional manager for BakaCorp and no one will bat an eye. And that's not even getting to masks."

[ratwizard]

Cass shakes his head, his worry turning to irritation at Hikaru's apparent underestimation of the dangers. "It's not a grudge, beratna. It's a... a whole cover-up. Look, I came across an entire sex trafficking ring while working on some deep systems for the Navy. All based out of Alldis. Not just adults, either — they had... they were selling kids too." He looks past the captain, his eyes unfocused. "It runs deep up the League brass, even through some of the planetary elite in the private sector. People you do not want to fuck with."

He rubs his temple, his head aching. "The whole thing stunk. So I did what any other dumb motherfucker in my position would do: blew the whistle. Tried to, at least. That was when they shot my best friend in the back of the fucking head, left her dead in an alley." He remembers the news broadcasts, showing Mika's photos — some from school days, some from her family. "So I left. I... I just ran away." He frowns, the admission feeling guiltier than he remembered feeling at the time. Her parents still don't know what happened.

[Fialova]

Tess watches and listens and her friend and pseudo-lover go at it once more, sighing as the two voice their strong opinions on the matter. Her eyes go wide as Cass reveals the truth of his departure from the planet, and she frowns as the details are laid bare before her. No wonder he is so gloomy all the time, that is some heavy shit to deal with, and alone at that.

"We don't have to go if you really don't think it is safe for you, but, given that you have just revealed your own deep secrets, I suppose I could let you know one of my own. I didn't exactly work as a prostitute back on Strocho, that was mostly just a cover for my actual work, which was doing hits for a crime syndicate. Their targets would become my clients, and my clients typically didn't see anyone after me." She pauses, squirming in her seat as she considers her next words.

"The job Holland offered me, it pays a lot. 60,000 credits, to be exact. But that is because she learned of my line of work, and hired me for a hit. On Alldis. But if you say there are high ranking politicians and military personnel on Alldis who are involved in sex trafficking, then if we go, and if you still have names, maybe I can help rid that planet of those monsters as well." She looks to Cass, curious to see what the man has to say about all he's heard. Wonder if his crush will still hold up knowing all of that. I... hope so.

[greysigil]

Kate pauses, going pale at the mention of going to a planet in the heart of League territory. She looks between the others as they speak. I should say something. I don't even know how I would clear customs, plus I've never even been to a League planet before, it would be so obvious I'm an outsider. She thinks, trying to find an opportunity to speak up, but being entirely blindsided by Cass' history with Alldis and its occupants, and Tess' occupation, she remains silent.

At the mention of 60K credits, her interest is piqued, but she looks to Cass first to gauge his reaction, the worry on her face not exactly hidden.

[ratwizard]

Cass rubs his temples again, listening intently to Tess. "Hold on, you're what, an assassin? Holy shit," he manages, in breathless surprise. "And Holland — are you in danger if she somehow knew that about you? I guess that explains where the fuck you'd know how to use a sniper rifle. Just thought... I dunno, you were handy with a gun. It didn't really occur to me..."

Should I be glad we slept together and I lived through the night? he considers. Good thing she wasn't hired by the League Navy. I would have no chance.

He shakes his head, almost missing a point. "Wait, sixty kilo? Sixty, right? Not sixteen?" He blows air through this teeth, raising his eyebrows as he does. "It's pretty clear we've got a good thing going here on the Mak. That level of income could keep things running for at least a few months. But I gotta say to your other suggestion, I'm not in this tub on a moral cause. Those politicians, CEOs, Navy brass, they can all go fuck themselves, on their own behalf. I'm trying to fly away from it, not right back to it."

"Anyways, this job... who is it? I'm not saying yes, but I'm also not saying no. If it means I can sit in the reactor and keep my head down, I guess I don't even need to step foot on Alldis."

[Scratcherclaw]

"...I see," Hikaru manages solemnly, processing the heavy info dump Cass had just shared. He takes a deep breath, putting on his brave face as he sees the vulnerability Cass displays. "That's... a lot, wow." He pauses, considering his words. "...But you're not alone anymore. You don't have to carry that burden alone anymore." 

He looks to Tess as she responds, momentarily taken aback before he cracks a smirk at her reveal. "Just had to get cooler, huh. Giving me a run for my money," he whispers aside. Literally out of an action flick, holy fuck. He looks back to Cass, putting his arm over Tess's shoulder. "So you've a pop idol and a badass assassin then. Goddamn. Plus the rest of the Mak at your back." C'mon, dude. Sixty big ones. 

He shakes his head at Cass's hesitant apathy. "Nah, fuck that. Anyone abusing kids isn't gonna stop out of the goodness of their hearts. Either Tess pumps 'em full of lead, or." He exhales, composure growing serious. "I've got a few media contacts I could call on in the League. Can think of a few investigative news teams who could blow this open. And they know how to handle this kind of dangerous stuff. It'd be the case of the fucking decade."

[ratwizard]

"I know I'm not alone," Cass admits, managing a weak excuse of a smile at Hikaru's words. "I got some other misfits to travel the stars with now."

As their captain begins to idealize cracking open a big case however, Cass begins to shake his head frantically. "No, no," he says. "Glitt— look, Hikaru, just stop for a second. Listen to me. I have family on Alldis. I get it, worrying about these victims. I do. Trust me. I fucking saw what was going on. But my family is still there, okay? These people I said you don't want to fuck with? They're one bad day away from doing something that can't be undone."

He sighs. "Can we talk about this job? I doubt somebody like Holland's paying sixty kilocred to clean up the scumbags from the baseboard of a different planet anyhow."

[greysigil]

Kate studies Tess, doing the mental gymnastics to square her looks to her profession. "Guess it makes sense, yeah." She says quietly, mostly to herself. "Putting two and two together now. The looks, the weapons, the martial arts."

As the conversation continues, she gets more and more tense, building up to her breaking her silence after Cass finishes speaking. "Seconded, we should hear what the job is before getting too far ahead of ourselves. I'm not thrilled about the prospect, Alldis is central League territory, and pretty high profile at that. But, 60K is not nothing, so it might be worth the risk, depending on what the deal is."

[Fialova]

Tess can't help but to smirk as her friend talks her up, though it does not make up for the whirlwind of emotions she feels after hearing of Cass' past and the current danger surrounding his return to Alldis. No wonder he ended up so involved in drugs. I've seen plenty of junkies who turned to them for lesser stressors, but discovering something that fucked up... honestly is a surprise he's as well-adjusted as he is.

"It's not exactly a job I wanted or sought out," she admits, as the others react to her own revelation. "It was forced upon me by the Harlequins, and I am glad to be free of their machinations. But I have the skills, and Holland offered, and, as you said, that is a lot of credits. More than everything she's already paid us for the past couple jobs, and this one should be much safer. I'm the only one who even has to be in any danger." 

As the question turns to the nature of the job itself, Tess chuckles lightly before responding. "Honestly, it is the least interesting possible hit. She wants me to kill her ex-wife. A bit amusing she asked me after paying me to sleep with her, if you ask me. She's some politician on Alldis, no idea if she has any involvement in what you uncovered there," she continues, turning to Cass with the last words. If she does, that makes it much easier to swallow ending her life. A jilted lover is one thing, but a pedophile I'd honestly kill for free.

[FinalTemplar]

Creed wakes up late, curling up as he becomes coherent to some intense pain. He gets out of his bunk wearily, throwing himself together, slowly stepping his way to the washroom.
He splashes some water on his face and then decides to have a quick shower- That'll wake me up, and I'll feel better. He thinks.

---

A few minutes later he walks down, following the sound of voices. He fixes his hair a bit, pausing in the hall to mentally prepare himself to talk. Look good, feel good. Feel good, look- He heard the sound of metal clanging and he paused. He makes his way closer to the mess hall, waiting for further conversation as he decides if he should make an appearance at all. He heard a few words here and there, grimacing at the topic. He gulped - I guess there's a lot to learn about him, then... I wish I could hug him. He thinks, before quickly walking out into the mess hall, hesitating right before taking a seat. He looks between each of the others, his face looking a little worn out, between the lack of sleep and the partying the night before... and now the talks he walked in on the end of.
"Wait, you slept with her? Right on." He says, reaching out to give a high five to Tess. "A trip to Alldis sounds good. Probably shouldn't stay long, but... Change of scenery, at least, then off to somewhere new." Creed attempts to form a soft smile.

[ratwizard]

Cass nods at the chief's reasoning. "Alldis isn't quite Strocho, but certainly up there on the League totem pole."

He listens as Tess explains the job, finding himself uncomfortable with the prospect. Is she really that nonchalant about murdering somebody? I honestly can't imagine.

"Before, it sounds like you didn't have much choice in doing what you did. But now you do," Cass reminds her. "This politician ex-wife, does she, you know, deserve to be killed? Sixty kilo goes a long way, but Tess, that's blood money. Look, don't get me wrong — we've got a body-count and I'm sure it won't stay where it is. But every step up to this point has been to survive. The League, the Diktat pilots, the pirates. Taking a contract on somebody's a whole different story. Shit, where's everybody else stand on this?" He turns to the others curiously.

[Fialova]

"Holland knew about me," Tess begins, frowning as her own worries are thrown into her face by Cass. "I've made a point not to reveal this part of my life to anyone. Not this crew, not my family, not even my best friend," she continues, glancing towards Hikaru with the last words. He took it much better than I was expecting, now that I think about it. I expected disgust, not him thinking I'm cool for killing random strangers who pissed off some criminals.

"But somehow, this woman who now knows us - our crimes, the nature of our ship - knows my past, enough to know to offer me this job. A job she clearly wants done, given how much she's willing to pay for it. This doesn't really feel like something we can just say no to," she pauses again, looking down into her lap as she thinks of all the possible outcomes of refusing Holland's request, knowing the woman could reveal their crimes at any time. "Or at least I'm not sure I could. If she lets the Harlequins know where I am or who I'm traveling with, we'd have a third large group hunting us down, one with ties to the League navy and various other corporations. I don't see how that goes any way but badly for us."

[ratwizard]

Cass shudders. I figured Holland was well-connected, but I didn't think that well.

He twirls his fork in his instant noodle bowl idly. "So, what, then? We play her little game, become her lapdog? Kill who she tells us to and take her money when we do? Nah, fuck that. If she really knows that much about us, and she poses that great a danger to us by potentially blackmailing our location or our secrets, then tell me why we shouldn't just off her instead of her ex-wife?" He mimics a gun firing with his hand. "Probably wouldn't even be too hard. She's got a lot on her plate with the strike."

[Fialova]

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't consider it. The thought crossed my mind the moment she revealed she knew my talents, but I was in her home, on her station. It would have been extremely dangerous to try." She looks to the man with a mixture of concern and admiration in her eyes, surprised at his suggestion. He'd be fine killing the woman who allowed us to get this far just to protect us, huh? Or is he just aiming to protect me? Who can ever tell with him.

"We'd be making ourselves outcasts from yet another employer's home base if we were to do so. Is that more worth it than just doing the job? I'd love to hear what the rest of you think," she says, turning her focus from Cass to the rest of the gathered crew.

[ratwizard]

Cass shrugs. "Honestly, I don't know. That's hard calculus. What I do know is we're about to gain a shred of freedom once the Mak's out of dry-dock. For me, it'll be the first I've had in years. I'm hardly motivated to spend it on somebody else's behalf."

He looks off to the side, trying to envision the cluster as a whole. "There's a lot of danger out there. But there's also a lot of paying work. I'm sure we could find something. We don't need her."

Especially if she's going to aim us like her own loaded gun.

[Scratcherclaw]

Hikaru listens to the details of the job, frowning at the back and forth between Tess and Cass. He rolls his eyes at the brief proposal to turn against Holland, wondering what they'd stand to gain from that. Right, cuz a woman like that doesn't have a billion contingencies and dirt on literally everyone. He sighs, eyes moving between the two. "That star chart we found had Alldis highlighted too, so we're going to have to go there sooner or later. Maybe more pretech to make it worth our while, yeah?"

He moves his head side to side, weighing their options. "Could always go for that, and check out this ex-wife online when we get there. There's gotta be articles on her. For all we know, she could've cut funding for a little league team, breaking the hearts of thousands. And then laughed about it while dining on steak from an endangered animal." Or worse, directly tied to that sicko ring. He pauses and gives a quick shrug. "Or if she's not half bad, we can warn her or something. Holland'll probably send someone else if Tess doesn't do it anyways."

[Namelessjake]

"True, we've got a couple of reasons we could head to Alldis," Marko says in support of his beau - the first of the other crew members to chime in on the discussion.

"If League politicians are anything like the ones we had on Idarete before the Diktat, she's probably got a mass grave of skeletons in her closet," Pia says with a shrug, clearly not too bothered by the idea of assassinating someone.

"I'm sure we can find something else as well though, like Cass says," Martine adds. "You practically managed to walk straight into two decent paying jobs as soon as we arrived here."

The conversation is suddenly interrupted by an alert from the docking bay's intercom appearing on one of the screens in the mess. Two men stand in the docking gantry looking expectantly at the intercom. One a redheaded man in a flight jumpsuit, carrying a duffel bag with him, appears to have recently suffered a thorough beating, his face bruised and swollen. The other man is taller and more muscular as well as unwounded, however his hair and beard are unkempt and his clothes are scruffy and disheveled making him look like some of the homeless people that call the tunnels of Asteria's lower levels home.

Creed

Despite his swollen face, you recognise the red head as Mover - the out of work pilot you met a few days ago while working around the station docks. He was perfectly healthy then, however he seemed keen to get off the station and mentioned owing some people some money. You don't recognise the man with him.

Warner

After taking the credits from Mover, the two of you make your way back to the station docks. Reaching the docks, you pass the deserted commercial docks, locked down due to the strike, and soon arrive at the station's shipyard where the ship Mover mentioned is docked. As you step towards the docking gantry that leads to the ship's airlock, you are able to catch a glimpse of the ship through the windows, a sleek black patrol boat about 60 metres in length. The ship still bears some damage from whatever battle it was in previously but you can see that its repairs are well underway.

Mover leads you down the gantry and up to the ship's airlock, where he hits a button on an intercom. "Let's see if anyone is home," the pilot says.

[greysigil]

Kate listens quietly, trying to and failing to calm her nerves, her thoughts beginning to spiral. Shit, she probably knows about me too. And what kind of leverage does she have? There's too many unknowns, I don't like this. A well starts forming in her stomach, and she starts manually trying to relate her breathing. It feels too good to be true, what's her real angle?

"This may be a bit paranoid," she begins slowly, "But it might be a setup. Lure us in with a huge payout, for a relatively simple job, on a seemingly benign planet? I couldn't guess her motive, but I'm seeing some red flags. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it. I dunno, but--" Her focus is broken by the alert and the figures on the screen. "Who in the fuck? Were y'all expecting anyone?"

[ratwizard]

Cass follows along as the captain and the other crew discuss their prospects. Hardly convinced that Alldis is the right choice, he grows curious at Kate's line of thinking. A setup? I mean, she worked for Asteria. She'd know better than any of us.

His pondering is interrupted by the alert.

"No," he answers curtly. "Glitter, you want to handle this one? We got too much shit on our plate to deal with instead of whatever the fuck they're selling."

[Scratcherclaw]

Hikaru lets out an annoyed sigh as the intercom notifies them. Fucking solicitors. He glances at the screen, raising an eyebrow quizzically. He looks back to his crew for a moment. "Doesn't look like they're selling magazines for their local Junior Star Explorers troop..." 

He frowns, fixing his hair up quick before accepting the intercom call. He wears a neutral, somewhat serious expression, eyes inspecting the two at their door. "This is Captain Tsukiakari of the Makkuro," he begins with an authoritative tone. Can I call myself that? The others already did so... "What's the nature of your business?"

 

[Namelessjake]

"Hi-uh so I met your pilot, Creed, a few days ago down at the docks and he mentioned you guys might be looking to hire some crew," the red head replies via the intercom. "So yeah, we were kinda hoping to sign on," he adds.

[Scratcherclaw]

Hikaru glances over to Creed, hoping the pilot will verify the man's statement. If that's true, guess that checks one box off for our plan.

 

[ratwizard]

Cass raises an eyebrow, turning to their pilot. "You know these guys, beratna?"

They look like quite the duo, scruffy and beaten. Asteria Station certainly provides.

[FinalTemplar]

Creed frowns a bit, grumbling at the further discussion of becoming hired killers. "Well, I'd kill if I have to... to survive, y'know? But..." He finds himself cut off by the alert, looking over at the screen. "Huh." He mumbles under his breath, before quickly nodding, "Yeah, that's Mover. I tried to tell you about him last night, but we got drunk. He says he's a decent pilot, and it would be nice to have a co-pilot up here. Makes spike drills safer. Significantly safer." He says, glancing back at the screen. "I don't know his friend there."

[ratwizard]

Tried to tell us? Cass considers. Beratna, we had an entire conversation about hiring deets before the drinks really started coming out. Wake up, Creed! He shakes off the excuse, knowing the pilot doesn't mean anything by it.

"He doesn't look too safe with that shiner. Maybe this other homeless guy is his pimp or something?"

[Scratcherclaw]

Hikaru blinks a few times, dumbfounded at the pilot's odd excuse. The fuck? You said you could reach out, not that you already had... Whatever, not important. He bites his tongue, turning back to the intercom. "Seems like our pilot forgot to let us know, but your story checks out then. Who's your friend though?" He eyes the second man, apparently unknown to Creed.

[FinalTemplar]

Creed's face contorted slightly, feeling a little put off by how Hikaru phrased it. "In fairness, I didn't expect him to just show up at the ship..." He mumbles, fidgeting in his seat now as he wished for it all to be over.

[Namelessjake]

"This is er-Doc," Mover says hesitantly.

"He helped me out and now needs to get off the station too," Mover replies.

Warner

Mover gives you a quick prod as if to say "say something".

[BartNL]

"Good day captain, people call me 'Doc'. I'm a licensed and experienced medic." Warner says straightening himself as he speaks.

[ratwizard]

"That guy's a doctor? No shit?" Cass says, crossing his arms as he stares at the duo on the intercom vid feed. "Can't tell what's more surprising, that he looks like somebody I used to sling chems to, or that a pilot and a medic just showed up to be hired. Don't tell me there's muscle and a comms agent right behind them." 

As I said, hate on this shithole station as much as I want, it still provides. Maybe we shouldn't burn bridges with Holland. This place is like a good luck charm.

"We, uh, wanna interview them? Don't particularly want to have to vent them if they turn out to be scammers who don't know their way around a joystick or a needle."

[Scratcherclaw]

A medic? Convenient. Next thing, some kind of hired muscle's gonna fall in our lap too. Hope they don't expect competitive wages though. He glances at Cass and nods. Turning back to the console, he flashes a pleasant grin. "You two might be just what we were looking for. Hope you don't mind us asking you both a some questions though, to make sure it's a good fit for all of us." 

He looks to his beau for a moment, adding, "Marko, you wanna go see them in?" Can't do it myself. Gotta show I'm in charge and can delegate or whatever the hell captains do.

[Fialova]

Tess sighs as the others appear to mostly agree with heading to Alldis, even if not everyone has bought into the murder job. I knew it would be a hard sell for them. What is wrong with me, accepting such a job so easily, and without even discussing it with them first? The Harlequins have made me less caring than I'd really expected. As the conversation turns towards the strangers at the door, she rolls her eyes as bickering breaks out once more among the men. They can never go a day without arguing like siblings.

"Can't hurt," Tess responds with a shrug, at Cass' suggestion of an interview. "Remember, you've got me - the badass assassin - to solve any problems if they come up," she continues in a mocking tone, smirking in Hikaru's direction as she does so. "But really, there are a ton of us and 2 of them, they're not gonna start anything. And if they suck we can send 'em packing."

[Namelessjake]

"Sure, we'd be happy to answer your questions," Mover replies over the intercom.

"On it." Marko makrd his way out of the mess hall and down towards the mid deck.

Warner

A few moments pass with no further response from the ship's captain before a sudden hiss announces the opening of the airlock door. It slides open to reveal a young man with foppish brown hair, he is wearing a black hoodie emblazoned with the ships' name as well as a logo that resembles a black cat.

"Hey, come on in. I'm Marko Inamura," he says, gesturing for you to step inside. "The rest of the crew are upstairs in the mess," he says as he leads you from the airlock and into a large central compartment. A cargo lift sits in the middle of this room with a number of lockers and crates line the bulkhead. The ship's interior has a military utilitarian feel to it, however it lacks the sleek under currents of post scarcity luxury usually present on League vessels. He leads you astern, through a large door and into a long corridor which appears to run nearly the remaining length of the ship. Rather than walking up the corridor though, he instead turns nearly immediately and takes you up a narrow staircase, emerging in what you assume is the ship's mess.

A kitchen is nested in one corner of the room and a large sofa in another, while the centre is taken up by a pair of large tables where the rest of the crew sit, totalling eight in all including your escort.

A few moments after Marko departs the mess, you see the airlock door open on the camera feed and the two men step inside the ship. It is not long before Marko returns with your two visitors in tow.

Cass

As Mover steps into the mess hall, you notice that the duffel bag he carries bears the letters KCA - the same letters found on the collapsible laser rifle you took from the late Captain Hartjen.

[FinalTemplar]

Creed taps the table awkwardly and looks up as the two men enter, then takes a better look now that they're in front of him. I wonder what the hell happened to them? S'pose it's not my problem. He speaks up, "Pop quiz, Mover, we're in the middle of a spike drill and a Surge warning flashes across the console, what do you do?" He says, asking the first question that comes to mind. We could have a storm or energy surge happen at any time. I need to know he can handle it if it does.

[ratwizard]

Cass eyes Tess with concern at her riff on Hikaru's moniker. She's sorta leaning into the whole badass assassin bit. This is the same girl that I spent the night with? I wonder how she deals with all that shit... All the people she had assigned. Can't imagine the assholes forcing her to murder bigwigs were also providing a top-of-the-line therapist on call. He grimaces at the critique, remembering his escape from Alldis and the subsequent drug and VR porn addiction he had suffered during his rock bottom fall. Of course, I'm in no position to judge.

He watches cautiously as the two men enter, studying them as Creed begins the questioning. Peering down at Mover's duffel bag, Cass notices a familiar branding that takes a moment to sink in. "Hey," he says quietly in aside to Tess, Hikaru, and Kate. "KCA. On the pilot's duffel bag. Same manufacturer on the custom rifle I 'reclaimed' from Hartjen. I'll ask him next where he got it."

[Scratcherclaw]

"Welcome aboard the Makkuro," Hikaru says with a grin as the pair of newcomers arrive in the mess. "I'm Captain Tsukiakari, but you can just call me Hikaru. Make yourselves comfortable. And tell us about yourselves, yeah?" He gestures to the seats, taking a step back a moment while Creed quizzes the pilot.

"Interesting," he replies to Cass, eyeing the prospective crew member's bag. "Getting more of those would be pretty sick. And whatever else that corp can make."

[Fialova]

"Will make a nice stop before we head off-station," Tess replies quietly to the others, as she eagerly imagines having her own transforming gun. Bet they're expensive as fuck though. But we've plenty of credits now, I bet we can afford it. She waits for the newcomers to speak before introducing herself to them.

[Namelessjake]

"Surge warning? You'd want to check the electrical systems, see where it's coming from and try to isolate and shut down that system temporarily so it doesn't fry anything important. If your in a metadimensional storm though, well you should already be running some systems at low power to avoid an energy spikes being too much for the ship," Mover says as he takes a seat, answering Creed's question. The man talks quickly and is able to fit a surprising amount of words into a short span of time.

"I only met Doc here earlier today so I'll let him speak for himself," the pilot says with a laugh.

"But as for who I am. The name's Darilan Alders - though everyone calls me Mover. It's my old callsign from flying fighters in the Kurosawa-Callaghan Amalgamated Industries Fleet. First in the Forth Corporate War and then against the Mandate, well not THE Mandate, but anyway I'm going to guess none of any of that really means anything to any of you?"

Creed

Mover's answer to your question seems like a valid answer for your hypothetical.

[FinalTemplar]

Creed considers the pilot's answer to his question, then nods. "I like it. Good answer, Mover." He says, looking back at the others.

Mechanics

Know/Int to see if I know what Mover is referencing; [2d6]=4 not likely

[Namelessjake]

Creed

You do not recognise any of the events, entities or locations Mover refers too.

[ratwizard]

Mechanics

Does Cass know about any of the history that Mover's referring to? Know/Int: [2d6+1]=7+1=8

[Namelessjake]

Cass

You do not recognise any of the events, entities or locations Mover refers too. However you are able to surmise that, rather than this being a gap in your knowledge of the local star systems and their history, it is likely Mover is from another part of the sector the details of which are not common knowledge in the Cluster.

[ratwizard]

Sounds like he knows his shit, Cass notes, considering Mover's technical answer. His brow tightens in concentration as the man lists off unfamiliar military history. Hm, must be from elsewhere in the sector. Makes him harder to pin him to his word.

"You get in a scrap?" the tech asks, looking over the man's wounded face. "That how you ran into Doc, here? Gotta make sure we're not taking any heat, bringing you on. It's not exactly peaceful out there right now."
 

[BartNL]

"I patched Mover up today. He could barely stand up straight before I treated him, and look at him now." Warner replies, taking some pride in his work. "If there are any physical issues you have, just let me know. No need for shame, I can guarantee you I've seen worse." Now, let's hope that takes their minds of Mover's little problem.

[ratwizard]

Cass listens to the Doc's half-answer, eyeing the man's disheveled appearance. Down on his luck, or just eccentric?

He turns back to Mover to explain, an eyebrow raised in anticipation. "So what's the story?"

[Scratcherclaw]

"You sound like you've been around the block once or twice," Hikaru says to Doc, studying him carefully. "Mind if I ask where you studied?" Hopefully an accredited university or something and not just DIY surgery videos.

 

[BartNL]

"Strocho, never was top of my class or anything, but I'd like to think graduating from there should make me more than qualified for the function of a ships medic. Spend most time after graduating in places lacking the top of the line equipment I studied with on Strocho. So I've got plenty experience in frontier medicine too." Warner replies to the young boy. Fuck me if this little pretty boy doesn't think I am qualified.

[Namelessjake]

"Let's just say there's a few people I owe money to on this station - hence wanting to get off of it. One of them sent his men to grab me and then they weren't very gracious hosts," Mover replies to Cass. "Don't worry, none of them are big time enough to come chasing after me across the sector," he adds quickly.

[ratwizard]

Damn, Strocho-educated? What's a cat like him doing on a backwater station like this?

"Frontier medicine," Cass repeats, a smirk on his face. "Gotta say, it sure comes in handy."

He listens to Mover's response, finding it mundane enough to be believable. Sounds like we'd be doing them both a favor, getting them off Asteria and onto a ship like the Mak. They're both overqualified and underappreciated here.

[Scratcherclaw]

"Strocho, huh," Hikaru says, wearing a smirk as he crosses his arms. "Damn, what's a Strocho-educated man doing in the ass crack of the sector? Could've gotten a sick gig at a cushy hospital somewhere." He turns to Cass a moment, nodding at his own observation. "Yeah, I'm impressed. Are you one of those Doctors Without Boundaries types?"