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Thread: The Starsong War (IC)
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2020-04-19, 07:45 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
---Rustport---
"Heh, wish it was that simple." Mako Replies. "Well, actually, if we were just about anywhere else it would be. Unfortunately, there's a lot of security measures to stop me from cloning our current database over to new hardware, unless it's a special Fujin-made server. It's meant to stop theft of data, but it makes maintenance of this kind far trickier if you don't have lots of spare hardware lying around. The backup data is a special format for the same reasons, and to reduce the amount of space it takes up, so I can't really do a selective rollback either." She sighs. "Welcome to the joys of working with systems designed by an accountant and a lawyer, rather than a programmer."
Spoiler: knowledge
A couple of quick tests at a spare workstation reveals the problem the Fujin employees have been struggling with. The entries in the database can be be accessed all at once, but any attempts to sort them just results in the entire list of entries seeming to get randomized,ad any attempts to filter or search the database returns nothing.
A couple more tests reveal no new info, but Yue does remember a bit of advice from a hacker that she'd worked with in the past, about trying to open anything giving you trouble in as basic a format as possible. It takes a bit of searching, but eventually she finds a way to open a database entry as raw text, which reveals something interesting: Eachentry has a whole bunch of random garbage symbols inserted at random places in the data. Fujin's standard programs don't display these, but it would explain why all searches and sorts tend to fail if the system does actually read the symbols.
---ISS Inferno---
The wreck of the Inferno looks pretty similar to that of the Messiah. Unsurprising, because the two ships are of the same class. however, the Inferno is in a significantly better state, for the most part. During the battle above Avron, the ship's engines had been disabled, and it's orbit had subsequently decayed quickly, preventing recovery of the ship. Still, the ship's captain had managed to have it land relatively softly, and most of its hull is still intact, though most of the ship's internal systems had been salvaged since.
On his way there, Revalk had sent a map of the ship to Adrian, including details of where they'd already checked, and which areas they still needed to go through. As it stand though, only about 20% of the ship had been thoroughly searched so far.Last edited by DeTess; 2020-04-19 at 08:10 AM.
Jasnah avatar by Zea Mays
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2020-04-19, 08:56 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
"I guess I'll just start from a side and go up from there" Adrian says to himself, before entering the inside.
Spoiler: OocLike before, I'm going to start from the reactor rooms I know could be used as bombs:
Knowledge (history) to remember which could be used: (1d20+11)[24]
Spot/Listen/Search checks:
(1d20)[6]
(1d20)[16]
(1d20+3)[13]
Starting from reactor rooms, then the main life support system room just in case they pulled the same stunt twice somehow, and then just generally exploring the ship's areas that are still unchecked. Will keep it up until new things come to Adrian attention or the search is finished.
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2020-04-19, 10:03 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
---ISS Inferno---
Spoiler: Knowledge(history)Due to the Inferno's relatively controlled crash, it had been one of the first targets for salvaging. Initially, plans had been made to try to repair the ship as a whole, but it was eventually concluded that doing so was infeasible, as the central structure of the ship had taken too much damage during the crashlanding. All four secondary reactors had been removed within two years of the ship's crash, and Fujin had brought in specialists and special equipment to fully dismantle the main reactors 5 years after the landing, something they where willing to risk as the Inferno's captain had followed all the proper procedures after the crash, including a full controlled shutdown of the ship's power plants.
Of note is that the Inferno's captain was never identified by the federation's forces checking over the wrecks after the battle. General consensus is that he or she simply disguised himself as a common sailor and joined the many other survivors of the crash, who were quickly repatriated to the empire after the peace-talks.
All 6 of the Inferno's reactor rooms lie completely empty, and unlike in the Messiah, there's not even a trace of elevated radiation left. The life support rooms are similarly empty, having been stripped completely of their equipment. Overall, the inferno gives the impression of having died a far gentler death than the Messiah. Time and the elements have still taken their toll as the ship slowly wastes away, but with the exception of several large rents and holes in the drive section, the ship is free of major battle-damage. As Adrian begins his search of the ship, he's soon joined by most of Revalk's crew, who are currently being led by Rief as Revalk is still over at Rustport.
Spoiler: innocuous roll
(1d3+1)[4]
Jasnah avatar by Zea Mays
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2020-04-19, 11:08 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
Zeke looks over the symbol, racking his head on where he had seen it before... Oh yea, Taking his phone out, he would take the best picture he could, the forward it to the other two, sending this message along with it, "So I remember something about seeing this while working a minor terrorist suppression operation. While it was federal space, they only worked against imperial holdings and colored themselves as freedom fighters. Don't think they were caught though."
He turns to Eiko, "Do you make anything of this? I only remember me minor details on a terrorist group."Last edited by YuweaCurtis; 2020-04-19 at 11:32 AM.
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2020-04-19, 11:41 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
"Hmmm, maybe?" Sergeant Eiko thinks for a moment. "Now that you mention it, I think I might have seen this emblem a couple of years ago in a briefing for a pirate suppression operation. That was before I was posted to Avron though, and I haven't heard of it since."
Jasnah avatar by Zea Mays
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2020-04-19, 11:46 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
Adrian mulled on the picture a bit before answering something.
Isn't that Ouroboros? Yue told us about a symbol of a hound with a spiked collar and flames on the background. Dunno about the flames, but that's a spiked collar around the lower side. On a ship.
Spoiler: OocNot sure I already tried making a history check on Ouroboros?
(1d20+11)[31]Last edited by Valmark; 2020-04-19 at 11:47 AM.
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2020-04-19, 12:00 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
Spoiler: knowledge(History) check
The picture of remains of the emblem jog Adrian's memory a bit. He'd seen it two years ago on a news-show about the federation's most-wanted. Apparently the terrorist group, known as 'Ouroboros' end' had tried to take large super-freighter and ram it straight into one of the largest cities on earth. Their attack had only barely been prevented by an imperial captain ramming a battleship into the superfreighther to knock it off course, resulting in the loss of both ships, and quite a few lives both in the imperial navy and near the final impact point of both ships. The group itself had mostly managed to escape the event though.
The potential magnitude of the attack meant that the federation was risking war if they didn't take action against the group. There hasn't been any sort of news about the group after that though, so they likely got either eliminated, or went to ground.
The emblem is the one associated with their ship, the Galm, a supposedly heavily modified medium freighter.
Last edited by DeTess; 2020-04-19 at 12:03 PM.
Jasnah avatar by Zea Mays
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2020-04-19, 12:26 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
After thinking about it some more, Adrian wrote something else to them:
Yes, I remember seeing something on television, that's Ouroboros' end's ship, the Galm. Or at least the symbol comes from them.
Looks like we know who the terrorists are. Did you check if they have a black box? It's unlikely they'd leave compromising information if they have one, but hey, maybe they made a mistake like with the blackboard.
This is strange though... Weren't they anti-imperialists? Why come kill us out of all people? Maybe it's Infamy because they are striking at the federation?Last edited by Valmark; 2020-04-19 at 12:36 PM.
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2020-04-19, 12:49 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
Let me see. Zeke replies be for address Eiko again. He wiiks ask I'd they checked the black box, and would be answered that it's has no info prior to it jumping into the system... Zeke would relay this then add a bit about him becoming suspicious this ship may be the thing detonating after all. He looks at the ship wearily.
~Thanks to AsteriskAmp for the Illya Avatar!~
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2020-04-19, 02:07 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
He looked at Zeke's theory, wondering. It made plenty of sense, in all honesty.
He added the portmaster and Revalk to the recipients of the next message.
Zeke's saying that the ship could be the thing that's going to explode. If we think they are Ouroboros, then it makes sense because they already tried crashing a ship on a planet once, this is similar. Can we kick the ship into space? After making sure it won't explode when you start the engine? For the portmaster and Revalk, not sure if you already know this, but Zeke uncovered that the Latrodectus has the insignia of the Garm, a terrorist ship. Same terrorists that seem to have made the bomb at the Federation ship carcass according to Yue and that Zeke found traces of under Rustport.
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2020-04-19, 03:02 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
Two messages arrive from the portmaster in quick succession. The first is send to Zeke and Adrian, in reply to Adrian's message. The second one is sent to everyone in the colony.
Originally Posted by Portmaster Iseri KamekoOriginally Posted by Portmaster Iseri KamekoSpoiler: OOC time-note
12:00 local time is 2 hours after noon (Avron's days are shorter than standard earth days), and 3 hours before the bomb is scheduled to detonate.
Jasnah avatar by Zea Mays
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2020-04-19, 04:00 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
"Proprietary, huh..." Yue muses quietl, nodding rather glumly towards Mako. Somehow, she already feels like she has a slight inkling of what that's like.
She sits down to get to work, and eventually digs deeper down in her methods; "Even a proprietary format has a basic structure, however, so if we dump this into the rawest format we can manage..." And it'll be ugly, but if she uses the basic shell tools and just decipher a way that a row would present itself... there.
"There," she murmurs. "Looks like there were incompatibility issues with these symbols... whoever tampered this knew the limitations of the software. If I remove all these and try again...?"
She looks towards Mako to say, "Do you have any tools to remove these incompatible characters? If we whitelist the known characters, I'd wager we could have some success."
But she gets a text not too long ago, and her face falls for a moment. The symbol on the Latrodectus... it can't be.
That is the symbol of the Galm, yes, but... is it the same ship? I would have to see it for myself to confirm...
Her blood freezes for a moment as she considers the possibility, as she looks towards Kameko's message. She lets out a heavy breath as she keeps typing, her fingers trembling a little:
It's possibly me that they want. If this is truly Ouroboros' End. I don't want to risk the colony any further. If you think sending me out will bait them, I will do it. Right now, I've found a way to gather more intel from Fujin's databases. I'll at least wait here long enough to see if that provides a lead.Last edited by Merilan; 2020-04-20 at 01:32 AM.
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2020-04-19, 05:00 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
Adrian stopped searching as soon as he red the portmaster's message.
ēIt probably was required either way, but still... This leaves less time to find Bernhard. What if... What if our evacuation had been the target all along...ē
It was only after Yue's message that he writed something.
If she plays bait I'm not letting her outta my sight with people mad enough to slam ships into planets. My Fluffy's stealthy enough either way.
Are we sure the long charge time isn't to let us evacuate? And you know, clean us up when we are all nice and concentrated? Not much of a problem not having fuel for your escape vessel if you commit genocide and leave plenty of ships to steal fuel from. How many working robots are there on Avron besides Fluffy, Ophanim and Strider to protect the population?
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2020-04-20, 02:49 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
The portmaster's reply comes quickly, but lacks here usual sign-off. It's likely she's quite busy organizing the evacuation right now.
Originally Posted by Portmaster Iseri Kameko
---Fujin's holdings---
"Huh, good find." Mako replies to Yue's suggestions. "I'd been checking all the search algorithms and database software itself, as the data itself had seemed intact..." She thinks for a moment, then nods. "I should have something whipped up to fix this within an hour or so."Jasnah avatar by Zea Mays
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2020-04-20, 03:52 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
"All right," Yue answers. "Could you send me a message when you are done? Given the portmaster's message, I..." She bites her lip. "I need to tend to the children."
She passes Mako her phone's contact details, before departing. There's still hours remaining, but she needs to at least make sure the orphanage children are ready.
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2020-04-20, 04:19 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
---ISS Inferno---
The through search of the Inferno is slow going. Adrian receives regular updates from the rest of Revalk's crew about which areas have been searched, and is expected to return the favor, but after the first hour or so they're only approaching the halfway mark, with no signs of Bernhard or another bomb.
---The galm---
Shortly after the Portmaster's evacuation message arrives, Revalk turns up at the Galm with several police officers, and they start their own investigation of the ship. They don't find anything new, even after a complete sweep of the ship, and are in the process of unlocking the controls so that the ship can be moved when a new message arrives from the portmaster.
This message is addressed to Zeke, Yue, Adrian and Revalk.
Originally Posted by Portmaster Iseri KamekoLast edited by DeTess; 2020-04-20 at 04:22 AM.
Jasnah avatar by Zea Mays
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2020-04-20, 04:33 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
Yue spends some time preparing the kids; just as Kameko says, she has to keep the panic to a minimum. "We might have to go for a while... but we'll all be together still, okay?" Her heart wrenches a little at a statement that may not remain true, and yet... what can she do?
The only thing she could have done was not stay here in Rustport, a year ago... and now, possibly, she has doomed an entire colony to be on the run.
She shouldn't be here. She doesn't belong anywhere. She should've known that.
Yue finds the message. Six bombs...? They don't have anywhere near the kind of manpower for that kind of search, given they can't even disarm one of them.
I want to see the Latrodectus as well. If it truly is the Galm...
She looks to Li, the eldest of the kids. "Look after the others, okay? Don't go out to play just now. One of Kameko's friends will pick you up. You remember Auntie Kameko, right?" The children nod; she smiles weakly and gets up. "You're all very brave."
Too brave...
Then she heads out, heart full of consternation; she then heads out to the site of the Latrodectus.
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2020-04-20, 04:58 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
There's an odd atmosphere in the streets of Rustport as Yue makes her way to the landing pads. People are quickly making their way to or from their homes, but there's very little conversation as everyone gets ready to evacuate. Everyone seems fairly calm though, and Yue sees several groups of people going door-to-door to help families and older people get ready to move.
The landing pad holding the ships Yue'd had been heading to is likewise quiet. Revalk is standing close to the entrance, talking on his phone, and Sergeant Eiko is still standing guard, though he looks a bit lost. Yue's attention is drawn to the ship's bow though, where the false hull has been fully stripped away. It looks pretty much exactly as she remembers it.Jasnah avatar by Zea Mays
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2020-04-20, 05:01 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
Yue bows her head to Revalk and says, "I'd like to do a pass of my own, if that is all right. Not that I believe you missed anything, just..."
Just, she needs some closure? Perhaps? Or... perhaps there will be some context that only makes sense to a once-member of Ouroboros' End.
She quietly enters, her heart still clenched at actually being in the Galm again; she quietly heads for the quarters she once used. If there's a call-out message...
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2020-04-20, 05:09 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
Adrian took his time coming up with all kinds of curses to scream while still alone, venting.
It had gone the worst way possible. Well, not the worst, but it was too close for comfort. Bernhard was missing, the terrorists hadn't been found and they had... What, two hours left?
And he was fairly sure Bernhard wasn't there at the Inferno, nor bombs for how much it mattered.
ēI'll just... Go fetch some clothes and food from home and pick up some toolsē he thought to himself, standing up and returning to where he left Fluffy.
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2020-04-20, 05:59 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
---The Galm---
Yue wanders the Galms stripped hallways as she heads or her quarters, the ship at once terribly familiar and almost unrecognizable.
Nothing distinguishes her quarters from the others on the ship anymore. The drawings that had once livened up the room's barren walls had been completely washed away, the small desk had been completely emptied out, and the crisp white sheets in the bunk gave no hint that someone had used this room anytime recently. However, in this barrenness there was also no sign that anyone had expected Yue, or anyone else, to return to the room.
---Rustport---
Bernhard's workshop appears as it always has when Adrian returns to it. The only thing that's missing is the sound of metal on metal and the whirring of tools.Jasnah avatar by Zea Mays
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2020-04-20, 06:11 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
Yue places a hand on the desk, looking at how clinical and empty this all was; it was almost heart-wrenching, to see all of those childhood memories be dashed away. But there seemed to be nothing here...
"Farewell, my childhood home. I have better places now."
She proceeds to two other places - Fariha and Leon's rooms, just in case. And if that still yielded nothing... she starts thinking about some of the quirks the Galm has. Was there anything used in an emergency, or something that she'd know?
Spoiler: OOCSearch, I suppose? (1d20+6)[22]
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2020-04-20, 06:14 AM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2017
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- Montevarchi, Italy
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
Adrian sighed, going through the motions with a somber look on his face. It wasn't leaving home the problem- it was leaving everything he had of his father.
He decided to give it another search- not so much to find clues, but to find something to keep close to him for confort.
Spoiler: OocSearch: (1d20+3)[21]
I want to find the Badger Badge, possibly. Failing that, any whatsover trinket of Bernhard will be good.
Actual things to pick up:
- Masterwork Thieves' Tools
- Let's make it 7 rations for a week (for food shortages) though I'm not sure one keeps in his house enough food for a week that doesn't spoil.
- A rapier.
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2020-04-20, 06:57 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
---The Galm---
Fariha's room is as barren as Yue's room was. Leon's room appears to be so as well at first, but Yue remembers a particular hiding spot Leon had made behind a light-switch, to keep some of his personal projects out of the hands of the crew. The hiding-spot contains a folded piece of paper. The ink on the paper has already faded somewhat, suggesting that it must have been there for quite a while already. It reads:
Originally Posted by Leon?
Adrian quickly finds the tools he's looking for, and the Workshop has sizeable store of non-perishable food, for those days when Bernhard would end up working around the clock. Finding a weapon is a bit more difficult, as Bernhard didn't want any weaponry in his workshop. However, after a thorough search, he discovers a well-hidden loose floorboard in Bernhard's office. Below it is a rapier with an ornate basket hilt shaped like a skunk against a background of interlocking gears. The blade itself also appears to be of exceptional quality. Below the rapier are the skunk-patch that Adrian remembers finding before, and a photograph.
The photograph shows three young men. Two of them are wearing a military uniform of some sort, while the third is wearing a suit. the man in the suit looks a bit like a far younger Bernhard, while on of the uniformed men has the same massive frame as Revalk. The last man in the picture reminds Adrian a bit of Rief. On the back of the photograph is a date: 07-09-2806, meaning that the picture must have been taken before the start of the breakaway war.
Spoiler: OOC note
Adrian finds the rations and tools he was looking for. The rapier is of masterwork quality, however, but also very distinct.
Jasnah avatar by Zea Mays
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2020-04-20, 08:36 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
Adrian looked over the blade. If that badge could have been a random trinket from his past, this blade was anything but that. And the photo...
ēCould these be really them? I was pretty sure Bernhard was some kind of military man in the Empire, but this... I must talk to them when I canē he slipped the photo inside his pocket, together with the rest of the things.
Looking at the rapier, he decided to not carry it visibly around. He searched for a bag big enough to carry it and hide at least the hilt, then decided to board again the Fluffy to go meet Zeke.
Spoiler: OocDo you want a Disguise check? When in doubt I'll roll. Trying to hide mainly the hilt with the symbol, though if I can somehow mask the whole weapon it would be better.
(1d20+2)[4]
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2020-04-20, 12:45 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
As the police proper had arrived, Zeke decides to go back to his places to pick up some clothes, food and personal items. It was great no one would have to get hurt, but the bit about Bernhard was still bothering him. He would then get the message about the possible of more bombs... That makes sense to him.
He sends Adrian a message, "Any where we haven't looked that sounds like a good place to look? We still have some time."~Thanks to AsteriskAmp for the Illya Avatar!~
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2020-04-20, 01:46 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
While on his way Adrian red the message from Zeke.
No idea- the only not properly searched place that I can think of is the Inferno, but we explored half the ship without finding anything at all
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2020-04-20, 03:50 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
Yue's held strong through all this, even for the children. But when she checks the lamp-post and actually finds something in there, her heart leaps out... and she stares to the message, for moments at a time.
Then she sits down on the bed, feeling herself begin to weep. The letter was so old. She wishes she could find it sooner. But Leon was right. It was better that she not find it, for it meant being back on this ship. How ironic...
London. That must be the large incident that was on the news, wasn't it... how twisted the Adder had become.
She quietly tucks the letter to her person, wipes her face, and keeps going.
I'm on hand if you want to search anything else, she messages Adrian and Zeke.
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2020-04-20, 10:06 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
After a while Adrian grabbed the cellphone to write something else to Yue.
I was thinking... If you were who they wanted I think we'd know. They kidnapped Bernhard and had the time to set up something like seven nuclear bombs. From what the portmaster told us they had like two weeks to do this, but no action was taken against you. Nor against the children that are the best way to get to you without risking a bullet to the head.
I don't know why they'd want you, but I doubt you are a target. At the very least, it's not your fault they came here. Hell, they might not even be the same people given this apparent lack of motive- the Ouroboros I heard of in tv were anti-Empire!
...so yeah, nothing useful to add to the matter, but I don't think it's your fault, whoever they are.
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2020-04-20, 10:20 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2007
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Re: The Starsong War (IC)
Yue pulls her head up and looks to Adrian's message.
Thank you. That does help a little...
The Ouroboros' End I knew was an extremist anti-Empire cell... but their methods got more and more extreme.
A few kids and I wanted to break away from all that. I was the only one who got out.
But you're right - it doesn't add up. I feel like we're missing something about the Empire here in Rustport...
It's time to head out again. But where?