artisticCHARACTERS
Henri Calaxco (StevenR) - Space Technician
Jana Riffin (Tammy) - Interplanetary Pilot
March 15th, 2701 AD
The player characters emerge from the Stepship's airlock onto Gardenhome Station. The gravity on the station is slightly less than that aboard the Stepship during deceleration, and there are some odours in the air that the two cannot recognise. There are two armoured security-cum-custom agents, though they have no visible weaponry, and Jana Riffin sees that it's not overly crowded, as there are only one or two other ships currently docked. She notices several people with bright green clothes wearing a TFAD [Temio-Fargate Agricultural Development] logo on them. As Henri Calaxco debarks, he spots a secbot in one of the alcoves near the customs' area. He worries as to why they need it on Gardenhome Station...
Jana passes through customs uneventfully, and grabs a plasticine map cube of the station. She goes to pick up her luggage. Once done, she goes and books herself into the Chaufage Motel, but her compad AI ("Larry") suggests a more respectable motel where she might not be considered whorish. She agrees with Larry, and is booked into the Chateau Gris for 3 days. She sees Dr. Tenifort and the XO Kristin Hopkins of the Tamara Lee in the baggage area.
Henri finds his luggage without problems, after some minor difficulty at customs. He heads back to the information kiosk, and asks for a moderate motel accommodation for around 50 KB, and is given two options - the Chateau Gris and the Percival Lodge. He books accommodation at the Chateau Gris.
Meanwhile, Jana inquires of the map interface where her motel is, where the offices of Sarpeidon Transport Collective (STC) are, and where a decent restaurant is located. She narrows the restaurant down to a pilots hangout. She grabs her luggage, and learns from the station announcement that there are solar flares on the way, and that the Tamara Lee is not on station yet. She heads for the Chateau Gris.
Henri is standing at the info kiosk. He uses the plasticine map to determine the route to his motel. He looks around, but there's no sign of Jana. He accesses the station's transit tubes, and makes his way to the Chateau Gris. He arrives at the motel and registers, and is assigned room 205-B.
Jana arrives at the Chateau Gris, and books in to room 642-B. While unpacking her belongings, she notices that her stunner is absent; it was impounded by the station, and will be returned to her when the ship departs the station. She tries to access her compad, but after replacing the battery, Larry informs her that he can't access outside the motel due to severe solar flare activity. Insofar as her stunner is concerned, she should have read her contract in more detail. Larry mentions the Sophirian Moral Code of Conduct, and she learns that Gardenhome has a Buddhist philosophy and culture to it, which also applies on the station. Certain occupations and some parts of the station are exempt (primarily the tourist areas and diplomatic stuff and the like). She learns that The Gravitas is the nightclub most frequented by ships' crews, and that it has what are called quad-gravitic conditions. She heads for the Fusion Hatch, a mid-budget eatery for pilots and their ilk.
Henri freshens up and unpacks his belongings, and notices that his stunner is missing. He tries to access the station system, but can't due to the solar flares, that are expected to last for 6 hours. He accesses his plasticine tourist map, and asks it for restaurant suggestions. Seven of them meet his criteria, but one of them blinks off. He chooses to eat at the Yellow Flag, and gets its location from the map. Henri heads for the restaurant.
March 17th, 0855 hours: Jana is standing outside the station offices of Sarpeidon Transport Collective (STC), dressed to the nines as best she can be. She's amazed that outside the offices, its mimicking a planetary surface, and marvels at the money it must cost. Entering the STC offices, there is a wealth evident, and the fresh scent of the outdoors. She sees a human receptionist dressed in an STC uniform with Buddhist touches here and there. She introduces herself and the receptionist (she later learns her name is Melinda) welcomes her, scans her, has her remove the vibro-knife, and announces her.
Edward Harper-Yung is a mid-40s traditional oriental man with a business suit underneath a set of Buddhist robes. They get down to business and talk. He tells her that the typical voyage for the Tamara Lee is about 14 months. He tells her that Captain Vorachek is a good man, but can be a bit of a taskmaster. Harper-Yung asks her impression of XO Hopkins, as he knows they've met, and she tells him that she's good at hiding her real personality, and that she's a "manizer". Harper-Yung tells Jana that her CV is acceptable. The Tamara Lee is due to leave on the 18th at 1422 hours and is in docking port 62-E. He tells her that she'll not be just responsible for piloting duties, as most ship's crew are responsible for other duties as well due to limited crew sizes. He also informs her that the company has had problems with both TFAD and a couple of rival companies in the Alpha Mensae system, and that there are Tafuri raiders here as well, since the system has many resources that appeal to them.
He asks her why Henri Calaxco has not reported to the ship yet, and she tells him that she doesn't know. When asked what she thought of him, Jana says that he seemed competent and was able to fix the cryovault problems with ease. Harper-Yung reveals that the situation aboard the Tambour was a test for both of them. The Tambour is part of the House fleet of ships (despite what the Guilds may say), so it was easy to arrange. And Haas was a plant. He tells Jana that they both did well, and that if she accepts the job, she must take up residence on Sarpeidon and will have to learn French.
Harper-Yung has Melinda bring in the contract for her to sign. He uploads it to her compad, and says that she will need to sign it before she can take up duty on the Tamara Lee. It does not include anything about her citizenship in the Alpha Mensae system; she will have to take care of that on Sarpeidon or its orbital station. He tells her that it's a more temperate world than Gardenhome. He also says that if she doesn't take the job with STC, there's always TFAD or one other company that he doesn't mention by name.
Jana leaves the offices of STC, retrieving her vibro-blade, and heads back to her room at the Chateau Gris. She goes over the contract with Larry, and eventually decides to "sign her life away". She then proceeds to wait for Captain Vorachek's call, and gets her stunner back before heading for the Tamara Lee.
And that concluded Sunday's game session of the River of Heaven sf rpg. As the astute reader of this blog entry will have noticed, the game session was pretty...mundane. While some stuff involving Tammy's character did happen,
spross really didn't seem all that involved in the game session, and just went about things in a pretty rote fashion. While I'm trying to use the early game sessions to get the players into their characters, it's almost like he doesn't have a character to get involved in/with. Given that I wasn't feeling up to snuff, it was a relatively enjoyable session for me for the most part, though I was a bit frustrated at times about some stuff. Tammy seemed to have a good deal of enjoyment, particularly in her interaction with her compad AI, "Larry", so that was pretty humourous as well.In any event, I'm hoping that next week's game session, weather and health permitting, has a bit more going on in it, and that
spross is a bit more with and into the game than he seemed to be yesterday. Looking forward to next week's session.