TEST DRIVE #1

[onemind]

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

Comments

[svafa]

► CLASSIFIED. max chaucer was a member of her galaxy's military force, comprised of people from many planets and many governments, so in some ways this isn't much of a change for her. except that also she's spent the last several months investigating what she believes to be corruption and deceit deep within that organization that led to the near death of her husband and subsequent dissolution of her marriage so. yeah. she isn't inclined to trust, nor she is all that thrilled about people able to get anywhere inside her head.

she is a RHO-TYPE, having gained the ability of psychometry, being able to pick up residual emotional and sense traces from things she touches. so far it's still quite surface, since she's been fighting the symbiotic relationship. Mostly things that can be picked up from her are a strong distrust of just about everything going on, but a willingness to help those in need.

TWO.

[ the first thing she does is make her way to the auxiliary stabilizer vents. engineering was one of her main specialties, if she can't figure out a way to sabotage these badly enough that it stops the immediate destruction of this planet she has failed basically all of her professors. she can be found here at the controls for them, working on opening different valves and directing channels so that the air flow will trigger alarms that will hopefully shut down parts of the operation at least temporarily. only long enough for the computer to ascertain that they aren't real threats, but she can stall that too if she's given enough time at this console.

there's an entire planet and moon to be saved here, it seems. that's something she can at least get behind. ]

FOUR.

[ piloting she can do as well, and that's something she's more familiar with at this point than even trying to bypass controls, the years spent with her Valkyrie something that come to her with a familiar hum to her fingertips and the movements, even in an unfamiliar ship. while there is a chance to explore an unknown world, all she can really feel right now is the urgency to ensure that she knows how this ship works well enough to fly it past an entire blockade. the controls aren't familiar but they at least seem to go along basic lines that she's used to, enough that she can sort them out.

that is where she can be found for the rest of the time until take off, sitting in the cock pit of the ship running checks and looking at computers as she determines what she knows and what she still needs to learn.

is there a stealth option? there should be a stealth option. ]

( two )

[insurrectum]

[ It takes him a while to get to the engineering chamber, crawling through vents and trying to figure out the schematics of this too big mining facility, but eventualy, Parker does reach the objective. He isn't any expert regarding engineering, knows well enough about cars and motorcycles to get by, but this is a whole new thing. It is also a whole new technology, being alien and all that, but that doesn't mean he isn't willing to try.

The hiss and loud clang of valves attracts his attention and for a second, he thinks maybe someone is out there to screw this operation, but as he takes a peek, he recognizes the thermal suit as one of the Station's, and makes a move to get in the room.

A little too silent, though, feet hitting the floor like a cat on a thick carpet. ]

Need a hand?

[svafa]

[ Just a touch too quiet, and the words have her whirling around with a gun drawn before she relaxes for the same reason he just had - the familiar thermal suit that means he's (at least nominally) on her side. He looks familiar as well, after the first startled moment, and she re holsters the gun and gestures at the controls.

Someone she's at least run into on the Station, then. It's not coming back to her yet, but then she hasn't been exactly the most social of people. Or the easiest to talk to. ]

I've been creating distractions in the system, but at this point I think it might be time to start blowing things. Time's coming up to get out of here.

[insurrectum]

[ Force of habit. Being quiet kept him alive back home; he isn't about to let go of that when it has proved to be effective as well. But he is not so unaware as to be ignorant to the fact it can lead to some ill consequences. People with nervous, twitchy fingers carrying guns can be as bad as a hungry undead.

Given the lack of effort Parker puts on meeting people, though, it isn't surprising if she doesn't recognize his face. In fact, more often than not, the effort he puts on is to keep away from others. He is very sociable. Five stars.

He looks over to the control panel again and then to her. Gives her a one-shoulder shrug. ]

Then let's not waste any more time.

two

[flightforfreedom]

[Poe, on the other hand, is mostly there as her escape route, but he's still carrying an armful of charges as he runs behind her, his thermal suit cutting a much tighter figure than he would have otherwise preferred. The charges were a last resort - sabotage as its most basic, if finesse went astray.]

Alright, you've got at least seven minutes, but if you need more than that, we're going to have to come up with a plan b.