  
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
He tastes bile in the back of his throat, reminding himself that Kel's disorientation isn't his own. Holding the connection even when instinct demands that he drop it before he sends something of his own nausea back to her. There's nothing beneath his hands and knees except a few more meters of metal, his exit already in sight. She's moving forward and he doesn't remember stopping. ]
Sabotage. Coolant systems [ That's not a plan at all, that's barely a suggestion - but he's used to figuring things out as he goes. He focuses on the metal underneath his hands, cold and solid. Stable. Sends it forward, echoing Kel's mantra (his mantra) back to her as he continues crawling forward. ]
Wish we had fans like these in my apartment during the summer. [ Discounting the fact that he's yet to see an actual fan. Apparently it takes a bit more than that to keep a place protected against the heat of molten lava.
Figuring it out as he goes. ]
no subject
[ Realistically the bridge isn't so long, but it seems to stretch out into infinity. So she concentrates on the wall of the far side instead, even if it means taking her eyes strictly off her feet. Looking down is just compounding the issue at this point. Staring through the grate of the metal just seemed damn near idiotic a reminder.
Better to take this thread of stability he's offering, and run with it. ]
I know what you mean. [ And she draws that up instead, the times she wished most for half of the things she'd seen since she came to the station. An old memory, and it couldn't be more removed to everything they were doing now -- which is why she might share it at all, give them both something to look at, since their minds were feeding back and forth like this. Guilty as she felt for dragging someone else into this mess of old fears. It comes with the vision limited through a visor, the heavy smell of sweat, horseflesh and iron. Of a tourney field, cheer of crowds and most especially, the beating heat of the sun -- compounded under the weight of armour that was heating up in the height of the day, as she pulled her horse around under her, who from the sweat on him, was suffering the same from the heat as she was. ] It's just something you have to endure on the worst days, most of the time. [ never mind that fans hadn't even been invented. where she'd come from. ]
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Steve sucks in another breath. ]
He knows it too. [ The horse, poor fella. ] He got a name?
[ A grate blocks his path. He pulls an omnitool from his belt and starts getting to work. ]
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He was all of her temper she never let show, and the first time she told him to charge, it felt like riding a avalanche at full pace. She'd loved it. ] Peachblossom.
[ For his roan coloring, more than his temperament, clearly. It pulls a smile, and this is much better - she'd stopped throwing up years ago, sure, but this is something else again, his surety means she can risk a look up to see how much further there was to go. Gauge her distance to be half way across, work out how much longer to the other side, then again to his target. Her steps were still slow and measured for the moment though. Her fingers kept a grip on the railings still. Only a little further, don't look back. ] Best charger a knight could ask for. We've always taken care of each other. [ Means in the joust, with it's cheering crowds and it's fluttering banners and her making him promise to be good and not bite, means battle, when she's gripping by her legs as she swung a blade and Peachblossom brought hooves down onto someone's skull. Seamless movements that came from years of experience. ]
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Partners. [ He gives the grate a hard kick that rattles through his knee. It drops to the ground below with a clatter, and he slips right through. ] Like the Lone Ranger and Silver. [ There is an image - what appears to be a brightly colored drawing of a man in a hat and domino mask riding a white horse. ]
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It means some part of her loves it, when people show her these things. Things from their home. Normally there might be insistence on n ] Yes, a little like that. But we work for the King. [ Curious, and she flexes her fingers a moment to loosen the grip where it had gotten all seized up. ] Is it a story? ... Like... those moving pictures people watch a lot? Could we see it?
[ It's been years, sure, but the head's up display never became less strange to her. ]
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It's a book - and comic strips too. [ - a delay - ] Illustrated stories. [ He doesn't go into how it's also a radio show - and he doesn't yet know that it will later be developed into a television show. ] There's a few of them back at the Station. I can lend them to you. [ Not that they were his to begin with. The pages of the comic were old and yellowed, as though they'd spent many years in the rec wing before he dug them out from under a pile of even older anatomy textbooks. He liked the smell of the paper.
Too much of the Station felt sterile, like a hospital.
He waits in the room he's dropped into, scanning it. Sharing information about his world, once removed from the personal, is much easier for him to manage. ]
What do you do for your King?
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[ A small smile pulls at the corner of the mouth. ] I protect the realm, as any knight.
[ She is still not sure if she likes Jon - the man that appears briefly in her mind. Imperious, black hair man with sharp blue eyes, that accompanies the words she had to remember, Good kings are not always kind men. A woman more than his match at his side, who was achingly lovely to look at, even to Kel who'd never had much interest in those things. They poured with presence. ] If I am lucky, he will never ask otherwise of me.
[ Because the realm - if that was King Jonathan and Queen Thayet, then she protected and served them too. A good knight obeyed their orders. She did that... well, almost all the time. But because she believed in the realm, and had to believe they would see what was best for it. ]
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A good leader wouldn't. [ His thoughts are stark black and white. People are the realm, or country, and a good leader wouldn't ask their soldiers to do anything less than protect the people.
His brow furrows. ] You must be close.
[ To the end of her walk. ]
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Didn't matter here at least, which she liked. Here was simpler that way. No one got cross at her for what was between her legs, called her awful things, they just expected her to work. Thank the Gods for that.
Besides, now isn't really the place for it. Another nod, and this one is more for herself. Just a little bit. ]
Almost there. [ Another glance, a few more steps and one dragging foot after another she's back on far more solid ground.
Which is obvious from the immediate rush of utter relief that floods out from her. Like the dragging weight was suddenly lifted. Dizzy all over again, so she shuts her eyes, leans her hand on the wall and takes sobering breaths. ] On route to you. [ Just, in one more second. Getting her legs back under her after that. ]