emptynesters | TEST DRIVE #1

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test drive

TEST DRIVE #1

LET'S GET (meta)PHYSICAL

WELCOME TO THE TEST DRIVE and thank you for your interest! Though the game hasn't started yet, we've put together a mini-mission with a few different goals for your characters to pursue. In the interest of flexibility and allowing players to experiment with the game mechanics, we invite you to pick your own broodmates, experiment with abilities and specializations, talk to each other and maybe make up some pre-established cr, and generally play around however you like. This test drive will not be game canon, so take this chance to go nuts!

For the full experience, we strongly encourage players to write up a short blurb about what their fellow characters might know about them either through shared time on the Station or through the Nest mental link. Handy links can be found at the bottom of this entry if you have any questions or want to place a reserve.

HELINOS TOZ
...is the smallest galactic empire located in the second disk of the Silver Halo Galaxy. For thousands of years, the neighboring CONFEDERATE OF BAL and INIVIAL COR(P) have eaten away at Helinos Toz's territory and now have reduced the once-great empire to a single moon ruled by the Last Empress. Though she is a child who owns little in the way of property on the galactic stage, the Last Empress still holds a precious seat in the shrinking Galactic House of Chairs. From this seat she and her allies have managed to keep a stranglehold on the throats of Bal and Inivial’s expansion efforts into the fourth and fifth disks of the Halo. She has accomplished this task by viciously excising loopholes in galactic regulation. Paradoxical though it may sound, the outer rings view the Last Empress as one of the few remaining heroes for the common man against the absorption of either the Bal or Inivial, a symbol of the dangers the two great empires present and a name and a heritage that even today commands respect. While Bal and Inivial may have radically different galactic goals and famously spend their time hounding one another in the house of chairs, they can agree on one thing: the Last Empress and her tiny moon kingdom are a thorn in their side. In an effort to pluck it, Bal and Inivial have joined forces to do away with the Empress and her moon forever.

While a direct attack on the ground empire moon would be an undeniable act of war, and would result in heavy sanctions which would only serve to set their goals back further, there are ways to destabilize the moon without actually putting boots on the ground. Inivial has decided to sacrifice one of their own assets to achieve this: the planet which the moon orbits. Helinos Prime is a cold, dead rock, without it's own atmosphere, as well as the site of a significant Inivial mining operation. It's this very operation that Invivial intends to utilize. By mining directly to the planet’s core, they will harvest a massive amount of heavy elements, cutting heavily into the planet's mass and degrading it's orbit in space-- making it a risk to surrounding inhabited worlds. Galactic regulation demands such a threat be absolutely absolved- by total destruction. Further, it states that these dangers must be dealt with in no more than eight hours, regardless of any other sanctions or treaties. The act itself is quite sterile: a beam weapon located in the first ring which is capable of destroying most planets in a single shot as long as alignment is correct. And once the planet goes, so too does the empire moon.

But even getting rid of the empire’s last land holdings wouldn’t do away with the Empress herself, which is why the Confederate of Bal’s massive armada has opted to choose today for a sprawling training exercise in their space above the empire moon. As is their right under the Secrets and Sanctions treaty, they have refused the operation of any other space traffic in that sector until their exercise has been completed. The paperwork is filed, notarized, and finalized. Under the guise of the Bal and Inivial’s mutual animosity, the two super powers mean to trap the Last Empress with the very rules and regulations she’s spent her young life manipulating to keep them both muzzled.

In summary: the Last Empress and what remains of her small royal envoy are stuck quite literally between a dissolving rock and the hard place of the Confederate of Bal’s guns with no diplomatic wiggle room. Should the empire of Helinos Toz fall, the majority of the house of chairs will turn in favor of expansion and it won’t be long before the Halo’s outer rings become the stage for a vicious war between Bal and Inivial. Those citizens of the outer rings will find their lives drastically changed as those two powers dash to make opportune land (and space) grabs. If the Last Empress can be saved, she might be able to successfully reveal this act of aggression for what it is, and use it as a way to rally the rest of the house of chairs, around her and the interests of the outer rings she stands for, against Bal and Inivial.

YOUR MISSION is to help the Last Empress escape the empire moon before it can be vaporized by Inivial, and to slide her and as many of her retinue as possible through the lines of Bal’s armada undetected.

PROMPTS
ONE • DEBRIEF: NOT AS SEXY AS IT SOUNDS
You've been given your mission file (see above) and outfitted with the appropriate gear to see it through. Today that means thermal suits designed to withstand face melting temperatures and a small cadre of ships that seem awfully familiar... if you're not mistaken they're the same ships currently in formation above Helinos Toz. You can ask Prince where he got them or Cathaway for some flying advice, but you probably won't get answers that makes any sense. Hopefully some of you know how to fly. Hug your friends, say your prayers, and wave Station 72 goodbye because it's time to...

TWO • HITTING ROCK BOTTOM
...sabotage a giant plasma drill! Down on Helinos Prime, Inivial's massive mining operation is a veritable labyrinth of tunnels and substations. Luckily you've been provided with schematics (if you feel like using them), and with some trial and error you should be able to navigate your way to key points in the mining operation. It won't be possible to completely stop the machine from coring the planet, but you just need to buy a little time. Suggested targets are the drill's targeting interface, its coolant systems, and its auxiliary stabilizer vents. How do you do that? Time to use your imagination. On the plus side, no one's around to stop you. Inivial already evacuated their on-site personnel which, come to think of it, might be a bad sign.

THREE • HURRY UP AND WAIT
With Inivial's drill momentarily on pause, it's time to rescue an Empress. Does she even know you're coming for her? Well, she'll find out eventually. There's room for six extra people on the ships provided, meaning you have exactly enough room to smuggle her and her closest advisers off of the empire moon. You've got six hours before you can (and really SHOULD) leave. Right now it looks like there's time to kill. Get to know the locals, the moon's bustling trade port, or its local population of cute dragonbirds. You have a collapsing planet below you and a veritable wasps nest of ships above you. Enjoy it while it lasts-- or bypass it all and wait for your window of opportunity with the Empress and her envoy.

FOUR • INTO THE WILD BLACK YONDER
The stealth ships can travel invisibly while in atmosphere, but there's no tricking the sensors of the Bal's ships. Luckily you fit right in-- almost. Pretending to be Bal ships might make the most sense, but what if someone notices you're out of drill formation? Even worse, what if someone detects you leaving the empire moon? No Bal ship is supposed to be down there. You could always try finding another ship to take into space, something with a little bit of stealth or maybe a harmless trading vessel. Then again, no one's supposed to be coming off the moon and into this space at all. Think fast, talk faster, or hope your pilot is really good.

FIVE • WILDCARD
Honestly? This is your show. Go surfing on some subterranean lava flows while stalling Inivial's mining efforts, try to take all the Empress's gold leaf dining room chairs with you when you evacuate the empire moon, or maybe you're done with this whole mission alltogether and want to try hijacking a ship from the Bal's armada and flying it out into space until this whole thing blows over. There's a whole galaxy out there; what else could be waiting for you?

NAVIGATION • PREMISE • FAQ • GLOSSARY • SYMBIOTIC SKILLS GUIDE • RESERVES

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ It doesn't matter how easy Cathaway stands. It doesn't matter that she doesn't make her presence a thundering one. For him, it will always be one. The fact that there is a certain... familiarity to her presence coming from within, from the symbiote, it only makes Parker want to reject it actively harder, that feeling. It isn't his. If there is something he clings to with everything he has got, it is his individuality, which he knows hangs by a fine thread. A very thin one.

He doesn't move from where he stands, fingers curled into a fist, tighter in her presence. The veins of his pale arm slowly growing darker, noticeable even in the dim light of the engine room. His jaw clenches, his upper lip curls slightly. Her words gut him. He knows this is something he can't hide forever, especially not from them, but pretending sounds... fine by him. ]

I'd rather continue pretending. [ He says through gritted teeth, feeling his mouth growing dry. A beat. ] What can I say? Diabetes is a hell of a disease.

[ He's hilarious. ]

[Of course he would. Cathaway makes a small, mild noise that's very near to a tired sigh. The look she gives him is one very similar to a mother's mild disapproval, a sliver of disappointment, but there's no disdain. Young hosts often have a habit of pretending they have secrets to keep; she sympathizes even if she cannot understand.]

Sweet hatchling, did you really think we were not aware?

[She doesn't move from the doorway of the chamber, but she does reach out with her mind - not to Parker, but to the Station. She is here already and might as well make the time count. She can do both at once.]

[ Those words. They leave a sour taste in his mouth. He keeps his arm still, his fist curled, his muscles slightly jumping. His heart races against the ceiling of his mouth. He knew, in a way or another, that his secret was not a secret, not from them, but it was something he wasn't willing to accept. He barely accepts it himself, much less admitting to others.

But the more he delays, the more he can feel it. The slow, slow turning of his stomach. The very gradual blurring of his vision. The way he can feel himself grow a little colder. Sweat running down the back of his neck. Tastes like iron in the back of his mouth. Heartbeat slowing down, erratic. ]

Like it fucking matters what I think.

[ Is she going to stand there? Leave a boy to inject himself in peace, no? Rude. ]

Of course it matters.

[She blinks slowly at him, patient and steady and true. It mattered because he was a piece of them, a piece of her. In time, what was true for him would be true for all of them. As with all things, this too was a matter of balance. His thoughts and feelings were tied to and shared by his brood and given time they would find their way through to the rest of them. That is, in essence, the best case scenario.

(She moves mentally through the engine room, through the Station's sequencing; there is a door to this sliver of the universe and she draws it halfway shut.)

The other is that he will simply die in the field. Neither is preferable. He has a good mind; she would prefer it in working order. Which is why, ultimately, she gives to the wave of offense she can feel sizzling up the link from him. Well, that, and she's finished her work here.]

We will stand outside until you've finished.

[Cathaway leaves the doorway and moves into the corridor beyond, setting her back to the wall. He will have to come out eventually.]

[ Parker feels the hairs at the back of his neck rise. He doesn't like the way she watches them. Doesn't want to be observed by her. He doesn't want anything from her at all.

His breath becomes rougher, ragged and slower. Almost imperceptibly so, a gradual change. One he can feel, every step of the transformation. One that grips him from inside and twists, twists, twists, like a knife in an open wound, drowning in fear. Becoming something else. Dead man walking. Images flash in his mind. Blood dripping down an open mouth. The wet sound of flesh ripped apart. The texture of teeth on wood.

She says something he doesn't quite hear. His breathing is loud in his ears. Everything seems to slow down. She exists. He shakes his head and focuses on the vein popping. Hand not very steady, but enough to push the needle in. Pump in the antibodies. The infection is not fought immediately, but he can feel the drowsiness settling in. He slumps back against the wall, head down, chin to his chest. It might take him a little while longer to come out.

And part of it might be because he wants to avoid her. ]

[Luckily she is both patient - with the adjustments made to the Station's position, this is the most pressing duty she can think of in this place - and more than capable of entertaining herself in the interim. There are a thousand small points of light which she might follow from her place here on the Station, a wealth of places that her mind might stretch to. There is always work to be done and satisfaction to be derived from it.

Sorry kid, you're not getting out of this one. She can out wait you.]

[ Lucky.

It takes him a while to readjust to his body pushing back the infection. The symbiote helps, not as slow as it used to be when he was home. Sometimes it took him an hour to be fully operational. Now, he barely needs more than twenty minutes on a bad day.

And he hates to feel the help the parasite provides.

He has his things packed, holstering the bag over his shoulder as he leaves the engine room. Stops, for a fraction of a second, when he finds her there. Eyes still a little red, like a bad night's sleep, but fading. Fingers gripping around the strap of his bag. Then he pushes past her, no words. There's nothing to say. ]

[While Parker may be under the mistaken impression that he an avoid an awkward conversation simply by walking past her, Cathaway has no intention of being outmaneuvered. She rolls her weight from the corridor wall and trails after him like a shadow, content to simply follow if he feels so strongly about avoiding the inevitable.

She is patient and there is a pleasure to watching someone's walls crack, even if it's born of irritation.]

[ That isn't very nice of her. It is irritating and rude. But he supposes she doesn't care about either - or if she does, she is doing it on purpose and he doesn't want to show her it's working. Because it is.

He keeps walking without a word, the constant chiming of her chains faint behind him as they walk. He grunts, sighing harsh through his nose and shakes his head. ]

What do you want?

[ Besides driving him insane, that is. ]

[His outburst doesn't cause her pace to falter; if he continues to move, so will she - a patient, chiming jingle of a shadow.]

We wish you would be honest with us. Your affliction is a detriment to your fitness.

[She can understand the sensibility of keeping it under wraps while out on mission, but here they should be as a family; if weaknesses were hidden from those closest, there would be no way to compensate for them when facing a stranger who might exploit it. It would be best if he simply came clean, wouldn't it?]

What will you do when your equipment runs out?

[ The way she says what she says makes him feel bile in the back of his throat. His shoulders tense, his jaw clenches. Affliction. That's a terrible way of putting it. But he feels absolutely no inclination in talking to her, any of them. He didn't talk to his friends back home about it - out of fear, which he will never admit out loud, only in the dark hours of the long nights, fear of rejection and abandonment - and facing this reality all by himself suits him fine.

Obviously, the fact that he does not consider any of them a part of himself, something he rejects as hard as he rejects the σ-virus.

The pertinent question, however, does leave a cold running down his stomach. He swallows dryly, the soft pulsing of the puncture wound in his arm seems to sting hotter. ]

The same thing everyone does.

[ Put a bullet in his head. ]

[Her attention doesn't waver - but rather goes laser sharp, pale eyes intent on him as she follows. There is something still and certain in her expression, inhuman and predatory in its arrangement.]

And that is?

[Please, enlighten her.]

[ He keeps walking, he does not turn, he doesn't look. One foot in front of the other, forward movement, shoulders so tense it feels like the ligaments could break at any moment. It is a reality that he has learned to live with for many years. It is not the reality that boils in his stomach, but rather her intrusion.

And then, he stops. Turns around to her and stares her in the eyes-- they leave him uncomfortable. Off putting to see something like that in a face so human. A glimpse of the future of many of them.

Not him. ]

I'll let you figure that one out. [ He says, and it doesn't sound nearly as stoic as he meant it to be. Like a stubborn child denying the satisfaction of a victory. ]

[He halts, so she does too. There's an easiness to it, a gentle sway of the chains and the small charms on them clinking and a casual set to her stance like she isn't thinking about how she looks or stands. Because mostly she isn't. She peers at him thoughtfully, facing down the small version of his will without so much as a batted eyelash.]

We find your lack of trust interesting. [Her voice is honey and milk, but there's no trace of a smile on Cathaway's face.] Given what we know of your condition and the symbiote relationship, we expect you will live untreated for considerably longer than if you were in your own world. A negligible point, by the way, considering had you not been rescued you'd be dead already.

[She does smile then: just as easy as the rest of her.] That said, your stubborn streak is compelling. We could almost admire the tenacity if we thought you were serious, but we suspect you don't have the guts to kill yourself. Either way, the thing you distrust so much [she touches a hand to her throat to indicate herself, the nest, the symbiotes, this place in its entirety] wins, doesn't it? Either you die and rid us of your disease and that lack of faith, or you allow yourself to be comforted and proven wrong.

We suspect you find this an unappealing arrangement. Unfortunately it's the one you're in. For the record, we would prefer if you made the best of it; we don't like being put on the spot, but as you can imagine: some things are necessary.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

TEST DRIVE #1

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