Exoplanet!

[thomas.berubeg]

the Keepers vote Aye and Nay

 

[Seon]

Current Vote Count:

Proposal 1, Formation of Planetfall Authority
Aye: 11
Nay: 5

Proposal 2, Use of Command Codes to lock out Codes affiliated with the Keepers from Ship Functions.
Aye: 7
Nay: 7
Abstain :2

 

[Immaculate]

Mini-Update

Counter-attack upon the Keepers

With the Keepers locked into the stern of the spine they soon begin effecting repairs. Even as they begin to repair the coolant arteries and fix the damaged comptics-based control system, an alarm soon goes off. Someone or something has breached the perimeter and is eliminating parts of the defensive nannite swarm. Soon the breach is identified as being the work of Worker Syndicate commandoes, armed with electronic counter-measures and their own militarized nannites. The Keepers are soon forced to fall back in the face of armed soldiers armed with lasguns, flame-throwers and grenades.

The Keepers disperse, fleeing into side-channels and the labyrinthine conduits. The commandoes seem intent on following up their attack and soon enough are able to capture and kill a number of the Keepers. Losses are extensive however however; many Syndicate soldiers fall in the attack to the Keeper nannites and ambush attacks but the seeming willingness of the Syndicate to engage with heavy weaponry, and the Keepers apprehension in doing so, means that that for now at least, the Keepers are more focused on giving ground then engaging.

For now damage is limited to the telescope’s control systems (preventing its effective use until repaired) and several of the colonization modules (two of which are blown off completely) but continued violence in the spine is likely to result in a major catastrophe.


The actions of the Worker Syndicates of late has created some dissension in their ranks and a number of soldiers have completely refused to engage with the Keepers, some even renouncing their phyle citizenship.

 

[Shadowbound]

The Goodmen Obademi nominate Goodman Obademi Balduinus V for the position of Captain of Unity. He's served previously as the Economics Minister for the Goodmen Obademi phyle for five years.

He runs on a platform of
1) Effect emergency repairs to Unity and an immediate plan of action to secure Planetfall and avoid dying in the void of space.
2) Distribution of scarce resources in an equitable manner for Planetfall if we don't die horribly.
3) Sanctions on the Worker's Syndicate for possibly killing us all (twice!)

A vote for GO Balduinus is a vote for not dying (and possibly nukes)!

 

[thomas.berubeg]

The Goodmen Obademi nominate Goodman Obademi Balduinus V for the position of Captain of Unity. He's served previously as the Economics Minister for the Goodmen Obademi phyle for five years.

He runs on a platform of
1) Effect emergency repairs to Unity and an immediate plan of action to secure Planetfall and avoid dying in the void of space.
2) Distribution of scarce resources in an equitable manner for Planetfall if we don't die horribly.
3) Sanctions on the Worker's Syndicate for possibly killing us all (twice!)

A vote for GO Balduinus is a vote for not dying (and possibly nukes)!

The Keepers, through the voice of the Second Speaker, second this nomination.

 

[Sniiperman456]

I resign

 

[Immaculate]

Mini-Update:

Coup amongst the Workers' Syndicate

Many senior officers of he Workers' Syndicate army have met in secret emergency council and decided that the current leadership, after issuing orders to 'blow up the ship' have gone mad. New officers are chosen to lead the faction and these are eager to normalize relations with the remainder of the ship.

 

[Shadowbound]

If the Worker's Syndicate's new leadership wants to be taken seriously, they should withdraw from the Spine and return to their habitat. The Goodmen Obademi will dispatch repair teams to begin immediate triage and salvage operations in the damaged areas in the rear.

 

[Seon]

Empress of the Autumn Crown

Announce her nomination for the Captaincy of Unity and its Planetfall Authority.

Upon Election, the Empress promises action along the following platforms:

1. Immediate focusing of production and technological manufacturing within Unity to repair damages done to the vessel.
2. Plan a course of action in order to save further energy and salvage materials from unused or damaged portions of Unity.
3. Plan distribution of colonial materials and supplies onboard the ship in equitable manners.
4. Formation of a democratic tribunal to judge former leadership and officers of the Workers Syndicate.

 

[NinjaCow64]

Although we reject the designation of Phyle, we will participate in the Unified Planetfall Authority as it is the current manifestation of the Union of Humanity. As the Great Mother says, even a flawed Union of Humanity can be used to bring the Sixth closer.

We will be abstaining in the captaincy election as we believe that Phyliar elections are fundamentally undemocratic. However, we will comply with any reasonable demands made by the winner of the election. We also have a list of reasonable policy suggestions as well as a few demands to various parties.

We suggest that the time for vengeance is soon, but the time for repairs is now. We should focus on ensuring that our vessel will take us to the correct location before vengeance, as vengeance will likely cause more calamity for this vessel. All vengeance will ultimately be hollow if we cannot survive.

To this effect, Unity’s Sixthist Revolutionary Vanguard will assist all parties with repairs. Our repair teams will have bodyguards and we will attack anyone attempting to further sabotage the vessel. Do not test our patience any further, enemies of humanity.

 

[Immaculate]

Mini-Update:

Repairing Ship:

As the Keepers regroup a number of factions make their way to the stern of the spine and begin determining what resources will need to be deployed to repair the conduits for the coolant and the telescope. Both are repairable and will mostly require carbon stocks, of which you have plenty. Unfortunately the colonization modules are are much more damaged than originally expected, with two having their shielding and engine modules destroyed beyond repair and one have lost its high atomic weight 'islands of stability' batteries which would require a particle accelerator to repair.

 

[Kyzarc Fotjage]

I'd like to request that everyone chill for a few days, give those of us who can't write pages of stuff every day time to catch up with our RP before the next attempted genocide or shipsplosion. An awful lot has happened, all of which is ripe material for stories, and some of us prefer to write at a less frenzied pace. Several others have voiced a similar request over on Discord.

Addendum: I would also ask for a gentleman's agreement that people doublecheck with others before using their material in ways not explicitly stated in the updates/RP, make sure that they're getting it right. Noone likes their folks to be written the wrong way or for words to be put in their mouths.

 

[thomas.berubeg]

I'd like to request that everyone chill for a few days, give those of us who can't write pages of stuff every day time to catch up with our RP before the next attempted genocide or shipsplosion. An awful lot has happened, all of which is ripe material for stories, and some of us prefer to write at a less frenzied pace. Several others have voiced a similar request over on Discord.

Addendum: I would also ask for a gentleman's agreement that people doublecheck with others before using their material in ways not explicitly stated in the updates/RP, make sure that they're getting it right. Noone likes their folks to be written the wrong way or for words to be put in their mouths.

I'd like to second this.

 

[Robert Can't]

I agree with this sentiment

 

[Crezth]

A Terse Announcement from the Politburo of the General Assembly of Habitat 9
Habitat 9 will be locking down its own access to the spine except for Highly Qualified Exceptions, going both ways. Children of Habitat 9 who have found homes on other Habitats are welcome to return if they choose, but we note to them and all indeed that the Spine is currently a Theatre of War, and so all due caution should be exercised. Please do not solicit to Habitat 9 if you come to us armed with weapons. We originally sought to provide food supplies to help keep the Spine workers fed, and work with the Autumn Crown to this end and to strategize methods of overcoming the catastrophic loss of 300L of necessary coolant, but now it seems to us the situation is destabilizing rapidly. To avoid contributing to the chaos, Habitat 9 is locked down sans Highly Qualified Exceptions, and we will only deliver outwards supplies through the Pneumo.

We advise the Goodmen and the Autumn Crown and the Keepers all work together to establish a plan for punishing those responsible for the chaos in the spine, a condemnation we spread to the Order Militant, which should be slapped down. We can provide lunches for the spine workers if the situation can be seen to improve.

Ex-members of the Worker's Syndicate are welcome to seek refuge in Habitat 9 to avoid persecution Spine-Terrorists et al. These we shall make an exception of the lockdown for.

We abstain on the second emergency measure and vote YEA on the first. We vote for the Empress Alaria to be the Captain of Unity.

The Politburo will surely have to meet . . . to strategize a longer-term course of action . . .

 

[Zappericus]

A Public Announcement from The Office of the High Chancellor of The Order of Man

Our Habitat accepted part-blame for the damage inflicted upon the coolant artery in our section of the spine during our conflict with the Worker's Syndicate. We took up the mantle of responsibility and did what was right. We commenced immediate repairs, putting aside our differences and our very beliefs to ensure our continued survival - not just for the Sevens, but for all of the Habitats. We showed the ultimate sportsmanship by co-operating with Outermost aids and support from Crown and other major factions and phyla. In response to this, we are condemned. We are looked upon with worry. We are attacked and denied in performing our repairs. Whatever hopes for future cooperation and perhaps, even cordial relations the others had with us, are standing on thin ice. This betrayal will not go easily forgotten.

Even so,

Empress of the Autumn Crown

Now calls for an emergency session of the Consensus.

The Autumn Crown alleges that the Keepers have used their own command codes and nanite weapons in order to forcibly displace and entrap various inhabitants of the ship into the habitat modules in order to exert total domination upon the Spine.

However, this ship is run by the council between leaders of major factions, of which the Keepers are only a single part of. They do not have authorization to seize control of ship functions unilaterally.

Upon discussion with the Keepers and other parties, we propose the following be put to vote.

1. Establishment of Unified Planetfall Authority which will regiment and regulate life within the ship to direct repairs and control of the ship, with command over manufacturing and security resources of the ship and its groups. A new temporary Captain of the Unity shall be elected in the time period to help direct resources and personnel to where they are needed.

2. Countermending of Keeper Command codes through activation of command codes associated with major Phyles to retake control of ship's functions.

The Order votes Aye & Aye.

 

[Gurra09]

OOC: I'll take over the Workers' Syndicate now that Sniper has resigned from the game.

Declaration of a New Workers' Syndicate

The Workers' Syndicate issues the following declaration following an emergency meeting of the Security Council:

- Fadday Mikhailov and his officers have been permanently removed from positions of leadership within the Syndicate and are awaiting trial for critical endangerment of human life. We ask that this matter be handled internally by Syndicate courts without intervention from other factions.

- The Syndicate takes full responsibility for the consequences of the previous leadership's military actions and will aid in any way we can with repairs of damaged systems.

- To ensure that this disastrous situation does not repeat itself, the Syndicate government will take steps to separate itself from the military. The Commander-in-Chief position previously held by Fadday Mikhailov will be abolished in favour of a five-member Directorate elected by the Security Council to ensure civilian oversight in all matters of the Syndicate.

- The Syndicate is ready to renounce our right to bear arms and disband the majority of our standing army for as long as we remain on Unity, but only if the protection of Habitat 13 can be guaranteed by a neutral third party until planetfall. If such a measure is enacted, soldiers will be guaranteed reassignment to other positions within the Syndicate workforce.

The Workers' Syndicate votes Aye on both measures presented to the Consensus by the Autumn Crown. We oppose the anti-Syndicalist platforms of both announced candidates for Captain of Unity but are at this time not ready to present a candidate of our own.


Edit: Named Habitat 13 as the Syndicate's base on Unity.

 

[Crezth]

The Polituburo of the General Assembly of Habitat 9 volunteers to guarantee the safety and security of the NWS.

 

[Kyzarc Fotjage]

Package Delivery

Spoiler :

Karin dropped down another floor and took a suck out of the O2 bottle at her side. Her group of Crowners were moving slowly, their heavy rad-suits and oxygen-reclaimers making maneuvering tricky in zero-g, so she was moving on ahead and making sure the doors were open and damage was as expected. The heightened radiation levels towards the sternward Spine made the Crowners nervous, probably the way it killed off their nanites when they leave their protective suits. Truth be told it made her somewhat nervous too but she’d never admit it. She was assigned this task by the Glorious Stranger himself after all. Well, by one of the Inners, but that was effectively the same thing. Sure, the Inner in question had referred to the Stranger as the Ratfaced Madman, but everyone knew they were slightly unhinged. Something to do with their conditioning. Her mind was wandering again. This always happened when her body was dealing with excessive radiation, probably to take her mind off the godawful itch of cells regenerating. And now she was thinking about the itch and it was getting on her nerves and she couldn’t stop thinking about the-oh, there it is.

She turned and palmed the access port for the door she’d spent the past half hour making her way around. The panel beeped once and the door jerked partway open in a shower of sparks. It was enough for her to get through, but the Crowners and their equipment would be stuck cutting their way through with plasma torches. Unacceptable that. She sighed as a quiet voice appeared in her ear.

“Wet Cat, status update”

“Wet Cat here, status is itchy but fine. I’ve got a stuck door at 13-290-84. One panel took a lasbolt, overloaded the system. Please advise.”

“Breakers for 13 are at 13-278-81. Should be the next hallway clockwise. Looks like there’s a duct heading that way, though you’ll want to drop some weight if you go that route. If a hard reset doesn’t work then scavenge cable from conduit Red-13 and do a double bypass.”

“Acknowledged.”

Karin blinked, the walls fading as the superstructure of the ship superimposed itself over her vision. There, a grate covering a way into the ventilation system around the next corner. Another blink and she could see normally again. It was possible to move with the blueprint overlay, but doing so was an excellent way to fall down unmarked holes.

The speakers crackled to life as she went, making her jump. One would think five years of working in the Ossuary would’ve made her numb to that particular annoyance, but the static and semi-comprehensible whispers always managed to get to her.

“-why? Why? Why?”

“Not now, they’re on their-”

“-ill your fam-”

“Who turned out the-”

“-ere’s a power, there’s a power, in the hands of work-”

Karin shook her head and did her best to tune them out. Creepy? Yes, but she knew what they were and, as the Glorious Stranger said before stealing the Smithsonian, Knowing is Half the Battle. More troublesome was how the bursts of static interfered with her contact to the rest of the Outermost. If any more doors were broken she’d have to get creative with opening them which, in turn, would invariably lead to sharp words from the local Keeper. They were touchy about people cutting holes in their ship. That in mind she struggled with the grating for a solid two minutes before it finally popped off. The torch would’ve been faster, but rather harder to fix.

She took a quick breath from her O2 bottle, sucked in her stomach, and squeezed into the hole, satchel pulled along behind her. Superior in most ways the Inners may be, but they couldn’t do everything. She slowly squirmed through the duct system, dragging her satchel behind her. After five minutes of this she finally reached her destination, marked by a large red X overlaying her vision. She gingerly pulled her the lumpy, heavy package out of her satchel and molded it into a joint between two struts, the putty-like material taking on the appearance and shape of the joints it was stuck to. That was her last package of the day and she was glad to see it go. She didn’t pretend to understand the Stranger’s plans, from what she’d heard attempting to do so was a good way to drive oneself as mad as him, but she knew that it was probably the best one around. Probably.

The breaker box was easy to find and it only took a couple of quick cuts from her pocket-torch to remove the lock on it, revealing a mass of wires and switches. Her overlay lit up and labels appeared then disappeared as micro-motions in her eye dismissed them until only one remained. She flipped the switch and smiled at the faint crunch as the distant door forced itself the rest of the way open.

The return through the ducts was much faster, the missing weight making things easier. She got back just in time to meet the Crowner party, one of whom was prodding the still-sparking control panel. The lead one lowered their lasgun when they saw it was her. Their visor opened and the man smiled at her,

“You really shouldn’t disappear like that kid. You’re only supposed to guide us, not run on ahead.”
“I’m twenty eight you patronizing pig” Karin almost replied, to her surprise. It was no worse than she usually heard and was loads better than most. He wasn’t trying to cause offense and probably was just worried about her safety. She forced herself to smile back and spoke through her teeth at him instead, “Come on, we’re almost there.”

She then bounced on ahead before they could try and stop her. Two more corners and she was at the site of the damage. Looks like a Syndicate squad came across a group of Order goons beating a group of augments. She started checking over the bodies. Several of the Outermost had gone missing during the purge and one of her jobs was to find their bodies. She flipped one of the augments over and saw a vaguely familiar face. Stephen maybe? Stipan? She couldn’t remember. They danced once, back when they were kids. He was hardworking, always wanted to make everyone happy. He gave her a flower afterwards. It was purple. No, lavender, one of them. She could almost smell-

Karin shook her head violently, the whispers fading back into incomprehensibility. The man she was holding wasn’t anyone she knew, just a random stranger who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. A slight movement out of the corner of her eye made her whip around, sending the corpse spinning bowards until it bumped gently into a bulkhead. It was the Crowners, Mr Condescending up front with his low-intensity lasgun slung over his shoulder. She must’ve been really out of it for them to sneak up on her like that. Sloppy that, if they were some of the crazies she’d be dead already.

The thought was rather more troubling now than before. Maybe it was because of how much more real the threat was now, but she’d never actually worried about death before. Not even when that bulkhead sealed her in that leaky room for two hours, the air slowly being sucked into the hungry void, and her transmitter was busted from a scuffle with that Crowner boy. It was probably because of the Plan. The Glorious Stranger would need every Outermost, no, every Cascadian, for that’s what they were now for the Plan to succeed. Karin of the Cascade. The alliteration appealed to her. Karin of the Outermost was never felt quite right to her and now she was wondering why their guns were pointed at her. What? She started to raise her hands, but they were looking past her. One shouted something but she couldn’t hear it over the sudden burst of noise from the intercom.

“-ands belong to the dead”

“-ey won’t get aw-”

“-ire in the ho-”

“-ulu lies dreaming”

“-annot kill the Messi-”

“-and the Dead Keep them”

“Karin, DUCK!”

This last was a shout which sent her flying to the ceiling as her legs sent her flying upwards. She caught herself right as a sudden black cloud enveloped the corridor. Her brain instantly split into three distinct trains of thought as she clung to the ceiling.

The first was an analysis of her personal situation. She was alive and unharmed on the ceiling, the cloud ignoring her. Her comms were still down because of the whisper-static, so she couldn’t report back home. The lack of warning, burst of noise which disoriented and took out comms, and the overwhelming nature of the incident meant it had to be an attack. The attack wasn’t directed at her or she’d be dead already, but rather went for the armed Crowners. That meant it was targeting armed personnel. Barring a Syndicate betrayal, very unlikely, the only people who had reason to attack the Crowners were the Order of Man, but if that were the case she’d not have been spared. That meant a third party who wanted to secure the Spine for themselves.

The second was focused on the nature of the attack. Nanites? Were the Crowners using nanites to-no, they came from the wrong direction for it to be the Crowners, not unless they were attacking their own. The Syndicate and the Order seemed to prefer traditional weapons and neither would unveil a nanite hive unless they were desperate. The only other groups with the capability would be the Keepers, which would mean they were abandoning their pacifism.

The third focused on the voices. They were much more coherent than normal, hardly any static at all. The last especially, it had called for her by name and made her jump. The Stranger, she would bet her certification on it. He must’ve somehow gotten access to the coms and seen what was about to hap-, no that made no sense. The other voices though, it sounded like something she’d overheard a Keeper shout at a gang of particularly stupid teenagers when he was scaring them away. These lands belong to the dead and the dead keep them. They must not like people shooting up their home.

The thoughts rejoined as the cloud faded from view. The Keepers were shutting down the Ossuary, likely because of all the gun-toting crazies shooting holes in the engines and each other, and had repurposed the ship’s nanites to do so. This was confirmed when she saw that the Crowners were gone. In their place was a tall figure in the long, grey robes of a Keeper. They were watching her, well, facing her. The hoods made it hard to hard to tell. She cautiously stood up, facing the Keeper upside down, and raised one hand to her mouth and then to her heart, a greeting of respect she’d picked up during her time as an apprentice grease-monkey in the Ossuary. The hood ducked slightly, acknowledging the gesture, and a voice, low and gravelly came forth

“Outermost, you should leave this place”

She gave him a nervous half-smile and spoke carefully, “Sorry Keeper, I didn’t mean to intrude. I must ask, is the Ossuary being sealed from all?”

The hood moved slightly, “Only those outsiders who bear arms and care not if they doom us all with their foolishness.”

Karin nodded, “Makes sense. Would it be alright if we keep helping? We’re a bit more durable than you fo-er, than your people when it comes to radiation and oxygen.” When the Keeper didn’t immediately respond she continued, “We’re all unarmed, you can check if you want.”

The Keeper’s hood twitched again, “That will not be necessary. Your help, while not needed, would be appreciated.”

Karin grinned, “Hey, we’re all in this together, right? Only crazy folks try blowing up the lifeboat when safeties on the horizon.”

“Indeed.” Then, without another word, the Keeper began to leave.

Karin shrugged and turned to leave herself, heading to the remnants of Breakwater, then paused and called over her shoulder, “Well, it was nice meeting you again, Scribe 78. Sorry about the door.”

The Keeper hesitated for a second and for a second she thought she heard a cut-off chuckle, but it kept going. Karin smiled again and continued back to the meeting hall. Things were going crazy all right and chaos was always the Glorious Stranger’s calling card. His will be done.

Takes place after the Violence in the Spine P2 miniupdate and before/during the Keeper's lockdown of the Spine.

 

[Kyzarc Fotjage]

Faction List so far in no particular order(if I'm missing or misidentifying someone please say so):
Autumn Crown: Seon, Habitat 20
United Cooperative: Reus, Habitat 17
Outermost: Kyzarc/Sean Chevalier, Habitat 24
Goodmen: Shadowbound/Morrow, Habitat 1
Mormons (?): Robert, Habitat 4
Keepers: Thomas, No Specific Habitat
Sixth Revolution: NPC, No Specific Habitat (?)
Order of Man: NPC, Habitat 7
Apaurusheya: Christopher, Habitat 18
Tianyi: Crezth, Habitat 9
Gurra: Worker's Syndicate, Habitat 13
?: Ailed, Habitat ?
Ummah Al Salaam: Zappericus, Habitat 19
Atlas-Mitsubishi: Masada, Habitat ?