  
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?
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emptynesters2016-02-03 09:43 pm
no subject
She falls into silence as they walk, not much of anything to say to start with, her mind's taking up, thinking over the missions, the particulars of it. Destroying the mine would take some time, who knows what would they encounter down there?
Eventually she does turn back to her companion, and even if she's quiet - that doesn't mean much with the symbiotes, does it? They've all got skills, all got abilities that make them useful. ]
Are you expecting much trouble with this? Seems like the biggest trick with this is the timing.
no subject
Long term has always been the game she plays well into.
She speaks. Bambi returns to soft voice and gentle smiles. Shakes her head twice, barely moving it at all. She thinks a handful of the brood will cause trouble, that's for sure. But, ah...
She picks her words carefully. ]
I do not think they would send us if they did not think we were able to handle such task.
no subject
[ She is so often and so genuinely impressed at the variation of people here. Maybe it's her inclination to think better of most, as much as that wasn't always true - there was plenty to learn even then. About world's that are so different to her own. ] They're certainly giving us considerable reign to do as we will.
[ Whether that was because they trusted them, or because they knew that everyone was fairly good at being destructive, who was she to say? Either way, it would definitely get done. ]
no subject
Regardless, the genuine spirit of the girl gives her no inclination to open up. If anything, her enthusiasm is almost is enough to make her laugh. Instead, Bambi opts for a subtle approach. Tilts her head over to her, the smile and expression frozen in a sweetness that does not disappear. Closed off thoughts. ]
Perhaps they find the same as you, that we are capable.
[ Everyone likes to be agreed with. She knows well how to please and how to sound agreeable. She uses both to her advantage. ]
no subject
Neal isn't here, and she might be protective of her brood, but years of training had made her slow to show anything much these days. Her shoulder lifts and falls in a maybe sort of gesture as they walk. ]
A commander weighs what he has, to my reckoning. There's no good in giving us something we can't do.
[ Or at least, a good commander does that. Here too, commanders had an ability to know about their men's capabilities than any before she'd met. Less guess work. ]
no subject
So, the smile she gives looks more out of genuine delight for the girl and not the thoughts, closed off in their own little box in her mind, that swim in her head. ]
No, I suppose there is not. I trust we will do well. One would not want to disappoint our commanders.
[ There is some amusement in the word. ]
no subject
To a hammer, all the world is a nail. ]
Nor the people that truly need us.
no subject
Bambi is a damaged little bird. The pain caused to her tainted every part of her. Wills her to spread it. Like a disease, hidden behind sweet smiles and sweet words and gentle touches.
Which is why she smiles a little more when Keladry offers her thoughts. Bambi cares little beyond appearances' sake about what others need of her. If it does not aid her, there is little interest in others. She sighs through her nose, however, as if she had said something deeply touching. ]
Yes. It is kind of you to think as you do. It makes me feel at ease to have you with us.
no subject
Regardless, she's full of deflections, for compliments about that, shakes her head. The praise is - nice, she's not above it all, it's good to feel appreciated, to know she's putting others at ease. Especially with her being so sweet, about it, so kind and shy. But she turns to politely smile, a crinkle around her eyes, pleasant, but she's not turning up into it, either. She never wanted praise. She wanted to put her head down and work. ]
I am a knight. [ It comes with a shrug, a lift of one shoulder that rises and falls as if to say, she could not help it. ] It is what we are honour bound to do.