June/July 1998 Official Responses

From:  John Groszkiewicz (Tork)

Hello everybody, it feel good to be back!

Just a couple of questions to start things off. :)

Back in the May issue Kare modified some old bot radios into audio-only communicators. 
Is the 'away team' in possession of any of these? I would assume that they are but just 
wanted to double check ( plus remind everyone about them  ).

On the robots that we fixed up: Will their storage compartments hold air? Tork is 
wondering if we could use them to get Spider ( or others ) without spacesuits to 
Metrosphere.

Which door did the 'away team' leave through? I am assuming the north door but want to 
make sure that any booby traps are on the correct door.

[OFFICIAL, kind of...] I'm bringing this stuff up here in a "semi-official" manner. 
You may see this repeated when Tork makes his [OFFICIAL] move but I wanted to bring it 
up now in case <1> Layne wanted to clarify anything and <2> the rest of the team had any 
comments.

When Tork and T'Klkk secured the life support room did they do a perimiter check? If 
not Tork will walk around the area ASAP to check for any traps or alarms, check all 
three doors to see if they are (somewhat) secure, and look for ways to disable the life 
support generator. Oh yes, Tork will also look for a safe place to hide Spider and 
perhaps the rest of the team.

Tork will look primarily for ways to shut down the generator without damaging it. He 
would love to vent some anger by cracking some skulls, the only problem is that the 
skull he most wants to crack is currently out of reach. Until we determine if these 
thugs are allies or enemies ( so far they have only defended their territory ) Tork will 
continue to try to not destroy anything. He will, however, look for a good place to put 
some charges to knock the generator out if things go bad.

Once Tork has checked things out he will check with Kare, Taanik, and Spider to see what 
equipment they have and what their ideas are on types and placement of boobytraps, and 
on how to shut down the generator.

[Question:]

Layne: IIRC the air in Lost Point is passed via grills in the walls. Do we have any 
materials at hand that we could use to close/cover the grills in H8? Perhaps we could 
leave the generator running, just not let any of the air out. :)

TTFN
John johngroz@velocity.net 
----------
"Can't say. Saying would be knowing. Don't know. So, can't say." - Zathrus

From:  Layne Saltern (GM)

John Groszkiewicz said:
>Back in the May issue Kare modified some old bot radios into audio-only
>communicators. Is the 'away team' in possession of any of these?

That's right. I didn't mention anything about that. But seeing as Kare got
them working, I think it would be crazy to send off an away team without at
least a couple of the communicators. It can be assumed that this was done.

>On the robots that we fixed up: Will their storage compartments
>hold air? Tork is wondering if we could use them to get Spider
>( or others ) without spacesuits to Metrosphere.

It could hold air, but of course the air would run out pretty fast if
someone were inside breathing it.

>Which door did the 'away team' leave through? I am assuming
>the north door but want to make sure that any booby traps are
>on the correct door.

The exited through the north door in H8 (the life support room) and followed
the air tunnel through H7, G7, G6, G5, G4 and G3...finally arriving at the
power generator in G2.

>When Tork and T'Klkk secured the life support
>room did they do a perimiter check?

The only security devices anyone could find were level 2 mechanical locks on
some of the doors.

>Layne: IIRC the air in Lost Point is passed via grills in the walls. Do
we have any
>materials at hand that we could use to close/cover the grills in H8?
Perhaps we
>could leave the generator running, just not let any of the air out. :)

Tork remembers seeing broken pieces of sheet metal and other kinds of junk
in the storage pod just south of the life support room (i.e. H9).

From:  Albin Johnson (Syzygy)

Syzygy stares into the darkness of the hallway extending away from him,
T'Klkk, and Urugg. The splashing sounds and ripples herald the approach of
something out of the ordinary. The large welt still present on his
carapace from his earlier beating at the hands of the invisio-freaks begins
pounding as he fears the worst. His head turns to say something. T'Klkk
looks concerned, Urugg looks slightly off-kilter, as if prepared to do
something rash. Syzygy would know - he's had that look himself since
puberty.

"Say guys", he offers at a whisper, "what say I just up the ante here and
see how they like it?" Syzygy raises a hand, producing a 2-kilo satchel of
TD-19 wired to a radio detonator. Without waiting for a response, he hurls
the satchel just in front of the nearest edge of the ripples. The satchel
lands with a 'kerplunk' and sinks into the dark waters. His hand then
reaches into over to use the improvised radio unit that Kare rigged
together from the construction robots and brandishes it for everyone to
see. His fingers dial the transceiver knob to the correct frequency, then
lightly brush the 'send' key.

His voice rises so that it can be heard for severl meters down the hallway.

"I wouldn't come any closer, 'friends'. I've just planted a 10-kilo charge
at your feet and if you try and fish around for it so help me Crysalis I'll
blow the living shit out of all of you!" Syzygy's voice is tinged with
anger, remembering the blows they dealt him before. "We're here to help
you, dammit, and I'm not about to let you kill us before we do it. Now
show yourselves or I'll be forced to remove you from the situation."

Syzygy looks over at Urugg. "I'm sorry if I'm jumping the gun, my friend,
but this is the only way."

From:  Andy Campbell (Urugg)

<< Syzygy looks over at Urugg. "I'm sorry if I'm jumping the gun, my friend,
but this is the only way." >>

OOC: Albin, you rat fink bastard ; ) Alright, now that you've forced my
hand... look for Urugg's reaction to this tomorrow night (real time). I'd
type it up now but I've got to finish the updates for the PBEM which I'm
"temporary GM" in... 

From:  Albin Johnson (Syzygy)

>In a message dated 98-07-28 21:25:00 EDT, fairhand@logicsouth.com  writes:
>
><< Syzygy looks over at Urugg. "I'm sorry if I'm jumping the gun, my friend,
> but this is the only way." >>
>
>OOC: Albin, you rat fink bastard ; ) Alright, now that you've forced my
>hand... look for Urugg's reaction to this tomorrow night (real time). I'd
>type it up now but I've got to finish the updates for the PBEM which I'm
>"temporary GM" in...

(hee hee) Sorry if I overstepped. Syzygy had no way of knowing with
certainty that Urugg was going to do something and he wasn't about to wait
until the last possible moment to find out what (he's contracted an allergy
to ass-kickings from inviso-goons). Besides, it's just a bomb (g) -
doesn't stop YOU from doing anything - it only limits THEIR options. Feel
free to do your wild and crazy thing - Syzygy will sit back and watch with
admiration!

- your pal AL

From:  John Whitfield (T'Klkk)

<<< Syzygy looks over at Urugg. "I'm sorry if I'm jumping the gun, my
friend,
but this is the only way." >>




Albin, you rat fink bastard. That certainly has a ring to it, doesn't
it? :-)

And to think, T'Klkk was going to do something dramatic like slam the
door and lock it. Silly me!!! :-)

-JWW

From:  John Whitfield (T'Klkk)

Well, what a fine mess we're in!!! :-)

Since T'Klkk will have no idea what the others are planning to do, her
first instinct will be to slam the door shut and yell for Syzygy to lock
it. If they're able to get away with such a maneuver, she'll then look
for any kind of heavy equipment or other braces that can be used to
further secure the door.

If that doesn't happen and Syzygy is able to toss the explosives (as
explained in my pal Al's note), T'Klkk will attempt to make the best of
the situation and will fully support Syzygy's demands. If combat breaks
out, T'Klkk will not hold back. And, if possible, she will open a radio
link to let Team 2 know what is going on. Maybe Tork will be able to
attack from behind while we're getting out butts kicked face to face. 
:-)

T'Klkk's hope is that this can all be resolved without combat, and her
first effort will be negotiation....from a safe distance of course.

It is really hard to plan from here since we don't know the outcome of
this confrontation.

I can't wait to see what others are doing!!

-JWW

From:  Ken Morefield (Zane)

Zane is deeply moved by Kyran. This strengthens his intensions to help
these people at any cost. He will question Kyran about what needs done to
make the air more breathable and water drinkable. He will ask about his team
mates and explain to Kyran that they possess the skills needed to fix the life
support systems and add/fix any water processing/filtering stations. He will
do all that he can medically for these people. If Zane is still in his
environment
suit, he will take it off so to seem more human to these people. It has to be
easier to move around and do his work without it. How much of his medical
supplies are left. Is there anyone with any skill(or common sense) that can 
help Zane. Someone who can follow simple directions like hold this or hand
me that blue thing. It would help Zane work quicker and more efficient.
Other
than that its just a waiting game. By the way any cute females around?

Ken and Zane(the Master Medic)

From:  John Groszkiewicz (Tork)

Hi Layne,

Sorry about the eleventh hour post. Besides getting use to my wife new job
and schedule I reformatted my hard drive. The reformat and reinstall would
have gone much better if I had remembered to offload a couple more things to
diskette.  Oh well, things are much better now.

=====

Tork's main concern at this point is securing the life support generator
area. This includes trying to find an on/off switch, rigging a way to more
permanently shut down the generator, and finding a place to hide Spider. He
will first do a walk around the generator room to get a overview of the
facility. Hopefully, during this time he will find a ‘master switch' and a
place to hide Spider. Tork would like to avoid a battle with the
inviso-goons so shutting the generator off is *much* preferred over blasting
the generator's main power junction. ( Although that would probably create a
rather pretty light show.  ) Tork is hoping to gain the Lost Pointers as
allies but if push come to shove will be more than willing to take out as
many as possible by whatever means are available.

Tork is dropping his idea of covering the grates that allow the air supply
to flow. I am assuming that the grates are rather large or numerous to
allow the life support generator to do any good. Any attempt to cover them
would take to long and/or be too noisy for Tork's taste at this point. He
may have made a passing comment to the other team-mates about the idea "Hmm,
I wonder if we could cover... Na, take too much time." type statement.
Depends on how you want the narrative to flow.

Tork will talk to Kare and Taanik his idea for using a cargo bot and a space
suit to get two people back to Metrosphere. I doubt we will be able to use
the monorail to enter Metrosphere without being caught on some camera.

=====

If/When the other team calls for help Tork will take a half step towards the
door and stop. He will then look to see what Kare is doing. If she is on
her way see the next paragraph, otherwise Tork will ask "Go or Stay?!" If
she replies "Stay" Tork will say "Fine" and start for the door and the other
team.

On a ‘GO' Tork will look to Spider and Taanik, "You two stay here and hide."
Then looking at Tannik "If things don't go well you need to get him",
pointing at Spider, "off planet as soon as possible by whatever means you
can."

From:  Ruben Rivera (Kare)

Hey layne,

Im sorry I just got back from vacation, I'm late and I don't remeber my
ideas for this installment. Sorry. Can you proceed without me
declaring, by the time I re read the story (and everyones responces) it
would be tuesday. Sorry...Kares down for whatever.

Ruben

From:  Clark Valentine (Taanik)

Having come up with no bright ideas of ids own, Taanik will just take orders
from anyone who seems to know what he/she/id's doing. However id wld like
to reiterate ids idea of sending one of the 'bots overland toward First
Landing, hoping to draw some of the Goon Squad away. Otherwise id will use
ids barium grenades to try to paint any aggressive inviso-thug, and ids
blaster (set on 5 SEU) as a last resort. If a fight gets really sticky and
close-range, Taanik will attept to leap onto the back of the nearest thug
and use ids appropriate skills (robotics? tech? 'puters? I'm not sure what
would fit) to see if id can disable the power armor somehow. Sort of like
trying to give a saddle bronc a hypodermic injection while riding it, but it
might be worth a try.

Taanik's bad (and I mean really bad) jokes for August:

"How you you catch a unique bird? You 'Neek up on it!!! BWAHAHAHAHA How
you you catch a TAME bird? The TAME way!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Hey, id IS a Dralasite, after all.

Hi all - I originally typed typed up my move on Saturday nite (I moved out of
my old apt on Sat and the computer stayed behind so I wanted to get it done
ASAP). Unfortunately, AOL dropped my connection & ate the damn thing and I
have verified with Layne that he did not get it >: /

So here it is again... 

In a message dated 98-07-28 21:25:00 EDT, fairhand@logicsouth.com  writes:
<<"I wouldn't come any closer, 'friends'. I've just planted a 10-kilo charge
at your feet and if you try and fish around for it so help me Crysalis I'll
blow the living shit out of all of you!" Syzygy's voice is tinged with
anger, remembering the blows they dealt him before. "We're here to help
you, dammit, and I'm not about to let you kill us before we do it. Now
show yourselves or I'll be forced to remove you from the situation."

Syzygy looks over at Urugg. "I'm sorry if I'm jumping the gun, my friend,
but this is the only way.">>

Urugg had been intent on the dark corridor ahead, not realizing what his Vrusk
companion was fumbling out of his pack. As Syzygy's defiant words echoe down
Lost Point's metal halls, the yazirian turns briefly to the vrusk, dark eyes
wide with shock. "Syzygy, NO!" he screeches, as the satchel charge arcs over
the murky water.

With a single catlike movement Urugg shrugs off his kit bag and the needle
rifle slung across his shoulder. The same fluid motion bleeds into a leap
which carries the yazirian down into the water. Urugg crouches a moment, one
arm popping his suit's helmet seal while the other works free the needle
pistol holstered at his side. 

Shaking his mane out, he spins to cast both helmet and pistol in the direction
of the hatch behind him. The light from his helmet lamp plays crazily over
the walls as it sails backward. Wary of the invisible figures up the hallway,
he whirls about quickly. To the surprise of all, he begins sloshing
carelessly forward into the darkness - shouting to everyone and noone as he
draws and casts aside his stunstick. "We can't let this end this way! These
are decent people!" 

He pauses a moment, eyeing the patterns of ripples ahead. "Lost Pointers! We
didn't come here to steal from you, attack you, or hurt your loved ones! We
breathe the same air, share your dreams of living in freedom! But you must
let us help you!"

Urugg's low-light irises widen in the gloom. "The First Landers say you are
criminals, thieves, saboteurs. You say you are not, and I believe you. We
should be helping each other, not fighting. What good will it do if you drive
us off but suffer yourselves? How many people can you afford to lose in
useless violence?" Urugg pauses a moment, gulping the thin air of the
derelict colony.

"You say you just want to live free - but your people are dying. I took a
chance and helped a poor yazirian women who hides in First Landing's park
domes and lives on scraps and handouts. Simeonne Ariel had suffered so badly
from the air here that she couldn't even remember her full name. Do you want
your women, your children to meet the same end? Take a chance, like I did
with Cimmy, and let us help you!"

"Or - choose violence, and prove the First Landers right. Maybe you are just
a bunch of thieves and butchers. If you are, then strike me down! I've
thrown aside my weapons. Either way, this confrontation ends here!" 

Unaccustomed to the thin air, Urugg hunches forward, panting heavily in an
instinctive attempt to get normal levels of oxygen into his slowly starving
lungs. his head feels light from the thin, stale air. I must be mad, he
thinks briefly. But Syzygy was right back in that filthy living pod. Thieves
they might be, but these desperate colonists have suffered too much already.
I will not add to their misery, even if it means... oblivion.

----------------------------------

OK folks, there's Urugg's desperate gambit (and they don't happen often). In
case your interested, as far as backstory / motivation... Our yaz friend has
been under a lot of stress lately. Between being stuck on this airless rock
for weeks and months, possibly betrayed by his own employer, and faced with
having to fight a group of colonists who're backed into a corner, he's decided
to take a stand. 

True to his oft-neglected Psych-Soc training, he's trying a grand gesture to
defuse the situation and get the colonists to at least hear us out. Layne, if
you allow it, please apply Urugg's skill mods for Psycho-Pathology and
Persuasion to his action. If the attempt fails, he'll try to retreat back to
his teammates at the hatch and make it back alive; should this occur, the
stunstick is almost certainly gone, the helmet and pistol being maybe close
enough to the hatch to retrieve.

So, that's it for now. Let's hope the sun also rises on our merry band of
heroes...

Andy / Urugg