emptynesters | 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

[His continued prudence is pleasant. Her smile does not widen.]

Will you give us permission to touch you? You are very small and it will help us to find you.

[The mental link became more unsettling the more he thought about it, so considering they were stuck here Finn generally tried to avoid thinking about it. But comments like those, how even though he was the only person on the ship with her he was small? Those comments didn't help. But he had friends on board. Enemies, too. But it was the friends he thought about as he held out an arm to her.]

Don't make me regret it.

[Never, she wants to say. Maybe he feels it in her anyway: in the gentleness of her hands as she removes them from the controls and takes his hands instead. Stepping back, Cathaway cedes the gunner position to him and lifts his hands to the controls.]

( There. Square your feet. )

[She speaks directly to his mind, testing the channel between them as much for his sake as for hers as she shifts her touch to his forearm and shoulder. Her touch is firm, less easy than the quiet reshuffling of her thoughts that ekes warm over the link, but that is unfortunately necessary.

There's no warning before the line between them is tugged. It unravels like a braided cord; what once could've been mistaken for a single line shreds into ten, twenty, a hundred, and at the end of each is something different: the taste of salt, a game of cards, two suns rising, a reliable ship, a broken hand, a white helmet, a hundred soldiers with the same armor. All are at once familiar.

At the end of one thread are the Bal ship's controls and on them are hands. They share them, though they have no resemblance to Finn's or to Cathaway's. At the end of this thread, the controls shake under their hands. The recoil from a fully charged shot is incredible, they know, so instead they divide their targets with the weapon's lock and pepper them in bursts until the gun's power is forced on standby. Two full seconds, they know but don't experience, and then it is ready again. It takes all their weight to pull the yoke of the controls around to find their new slew of targets--

And the cord snaps back into its braid, disassembled one moment and shockingly closed the next. It's like a gut punch. Pain blooms behind her eyes as the connection is severed and divides them. She tightens her grip on his shoulder to support herself - and him. It is not unusual for the shock of uncoupling to come with some discomfort.]

[She grabs his shoulder, and Finn instinctively raises his arms to steady her. Damn good thing, because without that unconscious movement he'd probably be on the ground. His grip tightens, and for a moment she's the only thing keeping him up as he adjusts to the sudden...emptiness. He's not sure what's worse. That he allowed the endless connection to unravel in his mind, or that there's a pang in his soul at the sudden absence. He'd learned he was no Stormtrooper some time ago, but even as he'd fled the Order there had still been a part of him that longed for the kind of comfort such total conformity, such unity, provided.

That he could still feel that small part was enough to turn his stomach.]

You alright?

Well enough. [Which is perfectly honest. She could be better - there is a pleasure and security to exploring a link and the hollowness that comes from drawing back is... it doesn't hurt because the line between them is still there, unexpanded but hardly severed, but it's tempting and sweet and she cannot deny that she'd be better were they linked so close again.

Her grip unravels, lightens and then comes away from his forearm. She pats his shoulder and then draws her touch fully from him.]

In any case, it's finished.

The end of the beginning.

[No longer being used as a human support, something that honestly had be nice as it gave him a distraction, Finn brought up a hand to rub his forehead, like he could physically force the new information to settle in.]

You do that a lot?

When we are permitted.

[Which, given the current population of the Station, isn't as common as she'd like. But she is confident frequency will come with time; it's merely a matter of patience, and she has some practice with that.

Reaching past him, she takes the gun controls back in hand and hoists the yolk back up into it's drop down compartment. It secures into place with a heavy snap-thud and Cathaway closes the panel door after it.]

Right, right. We.

[He looked down at his arm, like expecting to see some physical left over from being connect to...we. There's nothing of course, a stupid thought. But he rubs his arm anyway.]

It never bothered you?

Us? No.

[He is speaking to the collection of minds, the unnumbered collection that forms the consensus housed - only in piece - in the body of Cathaway. It is difficult to be bothered by something which feels very necessary; is he bothered by breathing? By seeing with his eyes? Is he bothered by the touch of his hand against smooth, natural surface?

But she will allow a concession. She is not so unkind as to ignore what he means; Cathaway touches a hand to below her throat, the fine gold chain and its charms at her wrist jingling pleasantly.]

But this one once did. We must all adapt.

Big divide, between having to do something and wanting to do it.

[And usually a big one between what one person thought had to be done and what another did. But not a chat for just before a mission, when they'd all be relying on one another to succeed.]

[It is an insightful thing to say - and draws her attention from the overhead compartment to him. Her eye line is direct, the gentle lines of her expression still enough in the moment to be unsettling; Cathaway blinks slowly at him. After a moment's study, she nods slowly.]

That is correct.

[Clever child. Will being sharp do him any good? There's an inclination to touch his shoulder, some reaffirming moment of contact where she might feel some echo of his own uncertainty or fear or loyalty which (maybe) brims in him and he might benefit from the certainty in her own mind and skin, but she reins the temptation down. One lesson is enough for today; she hopes it will carry him successfully through this.

Cathaway's attentiveness gives, goes lax and truly gentle again.]

Stay close with your brood while you're away; they'll be better for it.

Ma'am.

[There's a lot more to ask, to say. But the mission came first, and clouding up his mind all over again with doubts before that won't help him, his brood, or the people on that moon. Later, he promises himself. Later he'll find her again and ask, rather than just burning off steam in training and ignoring the fact he wasn't a single entity any more.

Mission first. He gives a sharp nod and steps back, but hesitates as he turns to go.]

Keep safe.

[It's a sweet thing to tell someone who is relatively secure here on the station, who will see no danger today - at least this body won't. There's an anchor in that, a security in knowing that if she is reduced today it is only by the loss of the hatchlings who will actually be on mission. There's still a danger, but for her it isn't so absolute.

Cathaway's smile remains easy and simple for him. She nods.]

Of course. We wish you luck. Now, go; better to be close with your own than standing here talking to us, hmm?

TEST DRIVE #1

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