Late October 1997 Responses

From:  Andy Campbell (Urugg)

Hi all... just checked out the late Oct. story - I'll be out of town from Fri
night through Sun night so here's my first reactions:

- There appears to be an Ixiol problem on Metrosphere (funny - they left that
out of the tourist brochure). I'm of a mind to grill our police liason on
this - are they aware of it? do they tacitly condone it (ie. a doped-up
population is a placid one; or it keeps the "troublemakers" in line to have
them hopped up)? are there any treatment centers (if the problem is formally
acknowledged that is) / has there been an increase in addicts of late?

- On a related note, it might be wise to get a general picture of where the
waves of new immmigrants are coming from. Ie. Are they all hard-luck cases
forced to seek work off-world on Metrosphere (might explain the Ixiol
connection - maybe it came with the addicts?)?

- The human female mentioned a dralasite Ixiol peddler over in a rec sector.
I'll stake all my credits that my blob Baab either is that peddler or knows
who id is; and Urugg intends to get that info one way or another from id
(more will follow on that plan as "OFFICIAL" later).

- This would have been discussed before / while we all gathered to meet, but
does Syzygy remember anythng at all between seeing the "water" coalesce into
forms and being knocked out? Anything at all - like form of
attacker/attackers (bipedal would rule out vrusk, should be able to tell
human / yazirian biped form from blob, etc), any weapons carried, distinctive
patches, etc? If Syzygy can't remember anything, maybe we could try hypnotic
regression (a la UFO abductees and cheesy TV shows) with his consent. 

- It is not specifically mentioned either in player email or the story - do
Tork and T'Klkk share their info about Kare with the rest of us or do they
keep it confidential for the time being? If they do tell the rest of us, it
will surely change our reactions to coming events.

- Our PC's (except Kare's) don't know this, but judging by the fact that the
vent she explored wound up in Selson's office, it seems very likely that the
life support center takeover was a cover for set-ups like the "loose panel" /
"broken camera" she found. It looks to me that whoever orchestrated the
protest did so to cover the vent set-ups, and modified the vents specifically
to either assassinate or kidnap Selson or one of his close staff. It is also
possible that one of his staff are co-conspirators against him ("sleeper"
agents as it were) and the vent is set up as an escape route for them after
they assassinate / kidnap him. I think our opponents are playing for
keeps...

- On the other hand... Syzygy's attackers could just as easily have killed
him (either by violence or rupturing the suit and making it look like an
"accident") as left him outside the rail tube. I assume they left him alive
as a) a warning to stay away or things get deadly, or b) for ethical reasons
(remember they've only stolen so far, not committed murder or violence except
for the Red Eye-infected). Since they left him without any gear, we'll
obviously need to reequip him. On a side note - they now have a nice sack
full of high explosive ("Danger Will Robinson! Danger!"); on the bright
side - if I remember right Syzygy'd rigged all his TD-19 for remote
detonation, so maybe we've some leverage there? 

- I think in future it would be a good idea to buy some emergency beeper and
locator devices (see Zeb's) and load them in our suits and kitbags just in
case; key them to a unique frequency rather than the factory presets (so
only we can monitor / track) and conceal them in the garments / bags. 

- Finally, my nightmare scenario:
The original saboteurs were the diehard mutineers from Lost Point. They
hooked up with some loopy environmental cultists in Metrosphere / First
Landing who helped them steal supplies. In the wave of immigrants arrived
members of offworld organized crime (Maltharian thugs or similar) who set up
a smuggling / Ixiol pipeline into Metrosphere. The Lost Pointers and the
criminal syndicate met through mutual contacts and came to an understanding
vis-a-vis the Lost Pointers' activities diverting attention from the growing
smuggling / Ixiol problem. They then came to an understanding that if Streel
were to be forced out, the Lost Pointers would take over and make Metrosphere
a "free port" in every sense of the word; perhaps the criminals brought in a
fugitive criminal famed as "the best compter expert in the sector" to help
set things up (the hacking of the Spire seems to have been successfully and
elegantly pulled off). They are now executing their plan to remove Streel
from the colony, perhaps by targeting Selson, a Streel family member. This
may involve a mole / double-agent on Selson's own staff (maybe we should do a
background check on F'lexx?). Sheesh - my head hurts now.

Well, those are my various thoughts for starters... [note: Urugg would
bring these up, but informally / in context - mostly during our meeting, but
some of it not till afterward - hence nothing tagged "OFFICIAL" above] 

I'll probably check mail again Thursday eve., then not until Mon. night...
If I miss everyone, have a good weekend : )

From:  Albin Johnson (Syzygy)

Fantastic. Just the kind of luck he should have expected, Syzygy thinks to
himself as he sits on the grass in the park dome. Knocked on the head and
taken for a ride just as he was getting somewhere.

Syzygy looks around carefully, trying to read the faces of his team mates
without being too obvious. The grass was soft beneath his bruised thorax,
and the surrounding greenery was admittedly therapeutic. But the ringing
in his head was playing to beat the band, and no amount of foliage could
salve his wounded ego right now. He checks the others' faces again -
T'Klkk is droning on about something but it's background noise to him. All
he can think about is the abject shame he was feeling. The failure to
contribute to the group. The irrefutable, ever-present Zed maxim that
loomed over him like an insurmountable wall.

The problem wasn't his team-mates. It was the fact he was working with
people at all. His ham-handed attempts at initiating casual intimacy with
T'Klkk stood out as a clear example of why it was best for him not to get
used to people to begin with. He thinks back to his escapade on the
monorail, relishing the brief interlude of independence, self-efficacy that
he demonstrated before it all went wrong.

What had gone wrong? An opening of airlocks on their own, followed by
funny shapes that moved and couldn't be seen. The shadows Tork and Urugg's
witch-woman spoke of? Or the cloaked intruders? Had to be.

Still, why hadn't his wrist pressure-pad gone off? He clearly wired his
satchels to go off if he were rendered unconscious. Part of his nihilistic
nature, maybe. The head-doctor back on Circe mentioned self-loathing as a
symptom - and why not when his culture shunned the Zed kind? It didn't
matter.

Syzygy waits. He sits silently during the meeting, listening for short
stretches until his mind wanders back to ideas of his next move. Before
too long he can't take the shame any longer and stands.

"You guys go on without me - I'm feeling a bit dizzy. Think I'll go lie
down for a while."

From:  John Whitfield (T'Klkk)

"Teammate-Tork. We must decide how we will proceed with the information 
that you have uncovered regarding Teammate-Kare's previous involvement with
a rival company. I believe that we should share this information with the
rest of our team. In my culture, a cell...er...team does not keep secret
from one another. It is the level of trust and mutualism which makes a 
...team strong. If there are secrets, then there is an inherent level of
mistrust which can lead to paranoia. I favour putting everything out in the
open. If we keep this information from our teammates, then we are no less
suspicious than Teammate-Kare if other members of the team discover this 
information. And, if you were able to discover this information, then we
can be sure that others can. 
How do you feel about this matter?"

If Tork objects to sharing the info, T'Klkk will try harder to convince him
that the others should be made aware. Let's see where it goes from here. :-)

Wow, Layne. I've never seen the group this speechless after an installment
of the story!! :-) If others were like me, they're still reeling from all
of the action and info contained in the last update. I'm in the process of
formulating my next moves and hope to post something in the next day or two.

Just thought I'd touch base with everyone and see if others are gearing up
for their moves as well.

I hope to hear from others!!

-JWW

From:  John Groszkiewicz (Tork)

Kveldulf@aol.com wrote:
>
> 2) Urugg will immediately suggest that 3 or 4 team members (including Urugg,
> unless he's heading to the hospital with Syzygy) head back out to where we
> found our injured teammate and scour the area for clues. I mean *scour* the

This sounds like a good idea but Tork will suggest that we scour the monorail terminial
where Syzygy was captured. In fact, Tork would prefer to start with the monorail
station and it's exterior -- its closer to home if something goes wrong. We could also
try planting some IR devices while we are checking the area out.

> 3) Now that Syzygy's verified (painfully) that the thieves are using some
> sort of optical / holographic camouflage, we need to equip ourselves with
> countermeasures - both for our safety and the colony's. Urugg will holo-dial
> up Fl'exx (sp?) and put in a requisition for IR goggles for the whole team.

Tork remembers an old J'Wan E'Quest cartoon where the good guys used balloons filled
with paint to 'bomb' and invisible energy beast and make it visible. Tork gleefully
suggests a trip to the local Toys 'R Everywhere (tm) to buy some balloons and super
soaker style water guns.  < Thats a Big Yazarian Grin ;) >

> 5) If Kare gets into trouble in the Streel offices, Urugg will follow the
> group lead reacting to it; he'll be a little distracted and off-balance at
> the moment (what with all the above going through his head) and will trust to
> his team-mates' judgements.

Tork would be in favor of helping Kare out ( if she calls for help ). Tork is unsure if
Kare can be trusted but we will never know if we turn our backs on her. Besides -
pulling her butt out of a jam may help Kare to gain some trust in the other team
members, especially one 'nosey monkey'.

TTFN
John johngroz@ncinter.net

From:  Layne Saltern (GM)

Q. When leaving the starliner Fle'xx says: "The Metrosphere
starport is too small to harbor a ship of this size...". How large
of a ship can land at the starport?

A. The landing area of the starport measures 180m x 180m. The largest
starship described by the Knight Hawks rules is a battleship, which has a
length of 600m and a diameter of 100m. This means that technically,
something as large as a battleship could fit in the starport if it is
standing upright. (For other starship sizes, refer to page 11 of the Knight
Hawks manual.) The problem is that several ships generally use the starport
at the same time. The starport could hold as many as 16 hullsize 10 ships,
but only 1 hullsize 20 ship. Due to the heavy traffic at the starport, the
landing controllers are pretty adamant about limiting larger ships. It is
rare for any ships with hullsizes larger than 3 to land in the
starport--with the exception of mid-size freighters.


Q. Snarr Ap-Rewann's police record states "leader of the original
Metrosphere revolt" but the Metrosphere Final Report says "
...58 of the recruits," ..."split off from our group". Did Snarr just
pick up and leave or did he try to take over Metrosphere?

A. According to more detailed records on the subject, Snarr opposed Maxim
Zek'et's ideas for leading the colony and opted to break off and start his
own colony. He made extensive efforts--to some success--to get the other
colonists to follow him, but at no time did he try to take over Maxim's
group or the city of First Landing.


Q. Acceleration strips - if Metrosphere were to experiance
an power failure would the strips slow down gradually or come
to an abrupt halt?

A. They would gradually slow to a stop.


Q. Is access to the Lost Point monorail and its airlocks restricted?
Is there any way we can find out who has access or who HAD
access at one time?

Access to the monorail terminal was open to the public during the Lost Point
reclamation effort (see Metrosphere Final Report). When the reclamation
effort was abandoned, the terminal was sealed off from First Landing City
with standard door locks (which Syzygy encountered). A number of city
leaders and maintenance personnel have access to the terminal, and it is not
heavily guarded. The airlocks in the monorail tube itself are not locked,
but accessing them from the outside requires passing through an
unpressurized section of Metrosphere's surface.