Turn 6.0 "Taking Command of Things" 

 

 

    Having a look at the weapons and the motley crew around her Nola
thought to herself through all the proceedings, "Jeez, look at this
mess.  It looks like it's come out of one of those war holovids!" 

    She finally came to a hard decision, and said, "Look, as much as
I'd like to see if the guy that's bleeding down on Level Five is still
alive, with at the very least one madman on the loose, I want to secure
this station first.  To do that we'll need the help of the internal
security cameras, and I'd like to head from the top, down.  That way
we'll find it easier to use those grenades if we need them."

    "First, let's get these weapons distributed.  Doc, if you really
can fire a pistol take one of those stutter pistols.  If you can't, then
I'll give you an empty rifle.  That way, you'll at least look
threatening.  You too Zach, I'll give you an empty rifle.  Dimitrio, boy
you just get excited too easily.  But, just to make you feel a little
more confident, you can take the shotgun."

    The mechanic's eyes lit up at the site of the shotgun, "Oh yes, I
can sure use one of those and I'm tellin' you, you won't be sorry you
gave me one."  Dimitrio put away his charge pistol into its holster
flipping on the safety.  He then carefully looked at the rifle and took
aim just to feel the weapon.  He checked its ammo and popped a cartridge
into its barrel.  One hand near the trigger and the other holding the
barrel pointed upwards, left the man free to grin showing a healthy array
of teeth. "I am ready now, woman." 

    Dr. Lugwig, temporarily distracted by Dimitrio's toothy grin,
accepted the stutter pistol from Nola and asked, "Dr. Lugwig need two
pistolsss.  I do everything with both clawsss, yesss?  Dr. Lugwig once
champion ssshooter of  Batai-3."  Nola handed him the second weapon and
Lugwig checked both pistols before tucking them away.

    "I do not want to hurt anyonesss unlesss they try to hurt usss
firssst, right Dimitrio?" he asked.

    "Yeah, right you are Doc, but I wouldn't want us to be hurt first, so
I fire on intention.  I'd rather you patch them up than us, you know what
I mean?" Dimitrio responded. 

    The mechanic's head turned side to side while talking to the T'sa.  "I
mean I could be wrong, but so what.  The consequences are a lot worse if
I'm wrong and they fire first.  The way I see it is that, if they don't
drop their weapons when they see me, then they have bad intentions."  He
palmed his shotgun's barrel and said, "Guess what, Doc.  Meet
bad-intention-corrector." 

    Nola interrupted Dimitrio's flashy display of bravado by saying, "Doc,
don't worry.  These are stutter pistols.  They won't kill anyone!"  She
seemed to be getting a bit agitated at the small T'sa, as she was the one
that got shot, and now he didn't want to harm anybody.  She thought to
herself, "Maybe if I shot him he might rethink his attitude on shooting
back at dangerous people.  No that wouldn't work, he'd think I had a drug
problem, and then he'd be jabbering all over me.  When I get my next dental
checkup it sure ain't going to be him!" 

    "I sssee you have misssunderssstood me, Misss T'Sssharn," Lugwig
replied, "I sssimply do not want anyonesss in thisss group to jussst
ssstart firing at sssomebody for jussst walking around a corner.  I am
asssking you...no, wait, I am ordering you all, to ssshow sssome
dissscretion before blasssting away.  Of courssse ssshould you think we are
in danger you mussst do what you are paid to do."

    "Alssso remember, thisss ssstation isss in ssspace.  One nice hole in
outer wall and we could have big problem.  Finding the bad guyssss and
sssecuring the ssstation is the job of sssecurity and I ssshall not
interfere, but sssuch obviousss disssressspect from you Misss T'Sssharn
ssshall not be tolerated in the future.  Consssider yourssself on report!
Missster Haldig, you are in charge of sssecurity, ssso lead and sssecure
thisss ssstation!  I have but one requessst, asss sssoon as possssssible I
want a sssignal sssent to the Concord explaining our sssituation here." 

    "I know that all of you do not like Dr. Lugwig being the ranking
officccer in thissss sssituation, but until we find ssssomeone that
outranksss Dr. Lugwig, I am resssponssible for thissss ssstation.  Asss
Missster Haldig would sssay, 'It'sss my ssscaley butt.'  Ssso, now I mussst
quickly go down to my Sssick Bay and grab sssome sssuppliesss.  Remember, I
do not wissssh to interfere with thisss missssion directly unlesss I sssee
an obviousss missstake being made and I too hope that we find sssomeonesss
who outranksss me sssoon.  Being resssponsssible for thisss ssstation
makesss my ssscalesss crawl." 

    "One other thing. Missss T'Ssssharn...doing the fixey-fixey on your leg
wasss not easssy, no matter how insssignificant you might think it wasss,
however Dr. Lugwig would not hesssitate to do it again.  Lugwig will do
whatever it takesss to keep ALL of you alive until we sssee thisss thing
through." 

    Lugwig then moved to the center of the group and announced with squinty
eyes, "Before we leave and go much further, I mussst ssstop by Sssick Bay to
get more sssuppliesss.  Never know when Dr. Lugwig might need to patch one
of you up just like I already fixey-fixey Misss T'Sssharn."

    The very rare, serious look on the short alien's face suddenly left as
he walked toward the door leading back to Sick Bay.  As he went, he continued
talking out loud to himself, "Wow, I thought only humansss made thossse
dramatically long ssspeechesss.  I mussst do psssychological ssstudy on
thisss sssometime...now, where did Lugwig put that dental kit?" 

-------------- 

    Zach snickered a bit as the doctor took command of things.  He thought it
rather ironinc, given the situation.  He was just as happy anyway.  He had
always been a bit of a follower/loner than a leader.  It was easier this way.
He had been surprised when the doctor announced his two-handed shooting
ability.  That would be an interesting story, but they didn't have time for
stories.  Regardless of who was in command, and how much this was a mystery,
they had a job to do.  He nodded toward the Doc as the T'sa walked out,
determined to go along with the plan regardless of who was in charge.

    Nola also watched the T'sa doctor leave and then proceeded to take all
the extra clips and put them in a duffel bag.  "Dig, there's your zero-g
weapon you've been hanging out for.  You can take that and all the ammunition
you want.  Oh, and let's split the batons and the grenades between us...for
the moment.  I have an idea for the grenades once we get to the command
center." 

    Jake nodded and picked up the rifle and six clips of ammunition.

    "Alex, you take the other zero-g rifle, but I think you might want me to
unload beforehand," Nola said.

    Alex gratefully accepted the zero-g rifle, hefting it in his hands.
"Didn't do too much rifle training, but as a last resort it works out," he
said. 

    Nola grabbed an extra comm-gear headset, finding several in another
section of the weapons locker.  Alex looked on in interest as Cal informed
him of what Nola was doing.  "Hey, have any extra?" he asked.  There were
enough for everyone, and soon they were all keyed up on an open channel and
ready to go...except for Dr. Lugwig, who had already left for the Sick Bay.

-------------- 

    Creeping down the eerily-lit hallway, Dr. Lugwig opened the door to his
Sick Bay.  He took a quick look around, noticing that everything that hadn't
been tied down had drifted into the air during the gravity outage.  Once
Dimitrio had switched it back on, all of the items had come crashing to the
floor, many of them breaking.  Glass and spilled puddles of liquid were all
over the place.

    "What a messss," Lugwig moaned, "Oh, my molar collection---in sssmall
piecesss---oh the horror!"  After nearly crying, Lugwig slowly composed
himself.  He begrudginly began to clean up the mess.  And, finally, he got
busy packing a few items into his backpack.  He managed to locate enough
material to put together another trauma kit.  He also found his dental kit,
plenty of dental floss, and some more anesthetic.  "I wonder how much
medical sssuppliesss I can fit into thisss pack...?" he wondered aloud.

    "Approximately fifty kilograms of weight before the material begins to
stretch under the strain," a voice answered him in the darkness.

    Lugwig spun around and quickly brought his stun pistol up, his eyes
narrowing in the red light of the emergency lamps.  "What?  Who'sss there?"
he hissed. 

    A mechanical whirring answered him as a small robot maneuvered around
one of the examination tables.  It was only a meter and a half tall, small
compared to a human, but nearly the same size as a T'sa.  Small tracked
wheels served to move it about the room, and it waved its three arms around
in the air, not in a menacing way, but more as if it were frightened and
shielding the photoreceptors that served as its eyes.

    "Please...don't shoot...don't shoot!" It called out, "I'm a
non-combatant!  Non-combatant...that's me!  No, no.  Repo not designed for
combat.  Please, don't shoot me..."  The last few words ended in a pitiful
sounding wail as the robot begged for its life. 

    "Relax," Lugwig answered, his own hand shaking a bit at being startled
so soundly by the robot named "Repo".  "I'm not going to ssshoot...but...
you jussst ssstay right there where you are...don't move now.  Hold
ssstill." 

    The robot's tracks immediately froze, bringing it to a quick halt.  It
raised its three arms into the air, two of them large bulky lifters, but the
other one designed for finer manipulation.  "Yes, sir!  As you say, sir!
I'm not moving one bit.  A-are you with the...t-the t-terrorists?!" 

    "I'm no terrorissst!" Lugwig frowned, "I'm a doctor!" 

    "Oh wonderful!" Repo answered, "I'm saved!  Thank goodness."  The robot
squinted one photoreceptor and cocked its head at a forty-five degree angle.
"I am saved, aren't I?  The Concord Marines have come to save the day?  The
cavalry and all that...right?" 

    "Not exactly," Lugwig answered, "Look, where did you come from anyway?
I don't remember a robot by your dessscription on-board thisss ssstation."

    "Oh, I'm new," Repo replied, "I came on the last transport and resupply
ship.  They needed a new shuttle maintenance droid in the Hangar Bay.  I
heard that Nega-Nine blew a panel while working on the exterior of the
station.  The solar radiation fused his circuits up pretty bad.  So here I
am...his replacement." 

    "And I was just starting to get used to my way around this place when
the gravity cut out," he continued, "Do you know how hard it is to move
around when you all you've got are tracks for feet?"  The robot waved one
arm down toward his legs, then remembering that he wasn't supposed to move,
jerked it back upright.  "Anyway, I got turned around all wrong.  I barely
managed to make it into this place when someone turned the gravity back on.
Luckily, I'm properly weighted so I fell and landed on my feet again...but
I fell on top of a lot of other stuff.  I'm sorry if I broke anything..."

    Lugwig grumbled as he looked around the floor.  The darn machine had
probably squashed his molar collection.  "Alright, look...I came here to
pick up sssome medical sssuppliesss.  There are a few of usss that are
headed up to check on the ssstatusss of the ssstation.  There have been
sssome casssualtiesss, asss sssomeone isss obviousssly trying to damage the
ssstation.  You jussst ssstay right there while I finisssh packing and then
I'll take you back to the othersss..." 

    Lugwig proceeded to pack several more medically-related items into his
pack.  After that, he examined the medicine cabinet to make sure it hadn't
been tampered with.  Everything seemed in order...the only damage in the
entire room seemed to have been caused by the gravity outage alone.

    Moving to his computer terminal, Lugwig also brought up Akers's medical
file to check for anything irregular.  "I wonder how Akersss get drugsss to
sssupport habit", he thought out loud. 

    "Someone's been taking drugs?" Repo asked, "Aw, that's no big deal.
Back where I'm from, that's a normal everyday occurence.  In the StarMech
Collective, everyone needs a pick-me-up occasionally, you know?  Better
living through chemistry, they always say...and robotics, too.  After all,
they made me, didn't they?" 

    Lugwig glanced over at the robot and then back at his screen, his clawed
fingers directing the computer to look up Aker's medical file.  "Having come
from the SsstarMech Collective, could the robot have accompanied a
ssshipment of pharmaccceuticalsss?" he wondered, "Repo probably won't
know...but the manifessstsss kept in the Hangar Bay would have recordsss of
who received ssshipmentsss from the resssupply vessssssel.  Perhapsss that
blind fellow, Missster Alex, might asssissst in dissscovering the sssecret
to thisss particular myssstery?" 

-------------- 

    After finishing the tasks at hand Lugwig took a last quick look around
and motioned for Repo to proceed him toward the door, intending to re-join
the rest of the group.  As they both stepped out into the hall, they were
met by the leveled weapons of Jake, Nola, and Dimitrio.  To a lesser extent
Zach and Alex had also raised their rifles, although both held empty clips.
Nonetheless, they were just as frightening.

    "It's the terrorists!  Don't shoot!  Oh, please, don't shoot me!" Repo
wailed, his tracks inadvertantly carrying him across the hallway and
careening into the far wall.  The startled robot made a loud bang as he hit
and then bounced backward, nearly tipped over, and flailed his arms to keep
his balance. 

    Behind him, Lugwig poked his head out the door and turned to look at
everyone.  "It'sss okay...he'sss with me," the T'sa spoke, "Hisss name isss
Repo...and he wasss lossst when the power went out.  I think perhapsss we
ssshould keep him with usss for now..." 

    Everyone began asking questions, confused at the sudden appearance of
the mechanical Repo.  Lugwig impatiently answered everyone and put them at
ease.  The robot seemed harmless, if not even a bit childlike.

    "Let's head on up and we'll start securing the levels," Nola finally
answered for everyone, shaking her head in disbelief.  "What else are we
going to find along the way?" she wondered. 

    Zach nodded to everyone and put his pistol back in his holster, saying,
"Let me jack into the Grid and see if I can catch anything new.  If you
guys can get me up onto Deck One, I could have a lot more control.  Right
now, I can't change anything, I can only view through the cameras as they
are."

    And so, the group headed back to the lifts, filing into the only one
that remained operable.  Repo packed himself in as well, wheeling along and
staying close to Lugwig.  "Are you guys sure this thing is still safe?" the
machine asked, its head twisting about to look at the inside of the cage.
No one answered as Nola pushed the button for the top floor and the lift
began to rise... 

    The cage finally stopped before the Level One doors.  These particular
doors required a special security access ID to open.  Luckily, both Nola
and Jake had one with them.  Since Jake was closest to the reader, he
popped his card into the slot and the doors opened immediately.

    They stepped out of the lift and finally emerged on the catwalk
directly above the Comm-Pit...

    ...and into a scene of chaos. 

-------------- 

    Harsh lights flickered jarringly all around the chamber as computer
screens and displays flashed a multitude of confusing messages and warnings.
Alarms chimed from dozens of directions, adding a level of sound and noise
so bizarre that it could almost be felt as if it were a physical barrier of
some kind.  Picked out from among the noise, and somewhere ahead in the
strobing lights, a voice could be faintly heard coming from one of the
intercoms next to the main station computer terminals.

    "...out of the damn way!  Will somebody pick up, up there!  We're
freezing down here!  For crying out loud...who's on duty?  I'm gonna have
somebody's head for this!  Hello?  Pick up, you morons!"

    Nola and Jake both stepped forward almost at the same time to respond... 

    "Dimitrio, let's jam those lift doors open," Nola called out, "Who wants
to stand guard at the lift wells?  Someone needs to do this."

    "OK, OK, I'm going, I'm going," Dimitrio replied. 

    She handed him two plasma grenades and two stun grenades.  "If anyone
other than us tries to come up here, warn them off, and report it in.  If
they continue, use the stun grenades.  If they still persist, use the
plasma grenades." 

    "Got it.  Doc, cover me while I work on this," Dimitrio said.  Lugiwig
moved to accompany him, and Repo trundled along as well.

    Dimitrio put down his shotgun and dug into his tool belt for several
moments.  Lugwig looked on nervously, his attention directed at Repo, the
other lift's shaft, and the collosal level of noise coming from behind them.

    Dimitrio sighed as he lifted a tool in place, then paused and looked at
the access panel again.  Finally, he called out for help to his
nanocomputer... 

    

    Blue prints showing the circuitry of the standard lift door access
panel were pulled up with some highlighted parts as Julia spoke to him.

     she
told him, 

    Dimitrio smiled and asked,  

    Julia highlighted another part of the circuitry and replied,  

    Dimitrio frowned, then said,  

    Dimitrio went about juryrigging the device while looking out for any
surprises.  He then started putting his tools back in the kit and kept
part-A for future use.   he mentally spoke to Julia. 

     she responded, 

    "OK, Doc I'm set, thanks," Dimitrio called out.  He took a stun grande
into one hand while grabbing the shotgun by the barrel and keeping an eye out
for any surprises.  He then spoke into his comm unit in order to be heard
over the noise, "Nola, lift doors are set as you wished.  Nothing to report
on this side.  I'm keeping an eye out and my trigger-finger is gettin'
itchy..."

    "Okay.  Zach, can you get on-line and see what you see on the cameras?"
Nola yelled over the noise, "Jake and I will handle this..."  She pointed
towards the intercom. 

    Zach nodded, collapsed into one of the cushy chairs in front of a main
computer terminal, and proceeded to jack in again and check out any logs he
could access.  In addition, he looked out the various security cameras,
putting his own monitoring programs in place.  Perhaps a higher cyclical
sampling rate would be better.  His shadow could alert him if any of the
scenes changed and pull them up on a moment's notice.

    Alex paused as a thought occurred to him.  "Hey Zach!  Can you show me
what the hangar bay looks like right now?  I'm just curious if there's
anything there that'll clue us in on what's going on..."  He knew that if
there was anything amiss about the hangar, Cal would clue him in. 

    "Not only that, where can we get access to the security tapes?  That's
probably got something good on the opposition,"  he suggested.

    "Sure...," Zach responded, "It'll take a while for me to get the
security recordings queued up, but the system tells me they're available.
Of course, there's still going to be that missing segment that resulted
from the power outage.  I'll see what I can do about that.  In the
meantime..."  He made a gesture with his right hand and a computer screen
cleared off its warning messages and displayed a clear scene of the Hangar
Bay.  "There she is...," he said.

    The picture showed a scene of disarray, much like the rest of the
station.  The temporary gravity outage had allowed many items to drift about
the chamber.  Once gravity was restored, they had collapsed.  Notably
missing from the Hangar Bay itself was the shuttle launch...the only way
off the station until the next re-supply ship came to check on them.

    "Alex," Cal's synthesized voice emitted from his harness, her anguish
plainly evident, "The ship...it's gone!  And the rest of my programs...
they're stored in the ship's datacore!"  (OOC: If an Artifical-Intelligence
could express horror and shock, this one just did.) 

    Across the room, Jake switched on the intercom and spoke into it,
"Hello?  Who's there?" 

    "Well it's about damn time!" the voice responded, "This is Chief
Engineer Teri Reed!  Where's the Station Commander?"

    "He's not here," Jake replied, "There's a situation up here, though...
and all over the station...there's been some kind of attack..."

    "Well get us out of here!" Teri demanded in a frantic voice, "We're
dying down here!  Someone turned on the coolant systems and this place is
an icebox...a deathtrap!  We're in Crew Berthing Compartment Gamma!  Send
help!  Hurry!" 

-------------------------------------
---------- Turn 6 Comments ----------
-------------------------------------

    1.  Alright...another good long one...with lots more info...and a new
SCM (Supporting Cast Member...i.e., NPC).  Repo the Shuttle Maintenance
Robot, at your service.  :) 
    2.  I had to move some of your dialogue around in order to make things
flow more smoothly, but I was able to use everything that you guys wrote.
Keep up the good work.  This is getting more and more interesting.
    3.  Questions? 
    4.  Actions?

-- Neil

> 1.  It is very interesting playing an alien in this game.  As I understand
> it the human/alien ratio in this setting is about 40 to 1.  (Neil if I am
> wrong correct me).
>
Neil correct him here, I remember reading the population figures of the
aliens in the Star*Drive Campaign book (and send it to all of us!).  But I
don't remember even the approximate population stats!  You might want to
mention the number of Weren to human, Fraal to human, T'sa to human, etc.

See ya guys!

-- Jamie

    Hey Doc (Brian), I didn't know you could read my mind at will !? 

    Just an observation here...and this isn't meant as a rebuke of any kind...
but there have been a couple of times, Brian, where you've sort of had Lugwig
respond to another character's thoughts rather than their dialogue.  Usually,
I've editted some of that out in my turn summaries, but you might want to pay
closer attention to everyone's posts.  If they are clearly thinking something,
but not saying it aloud, it would be best if you roleplayed Lugwig as if he
was unaware of their feelings/thoughts/emotions.  I'm not exactly sure what
Nola said that made Lugwig feel the need to put her "on report".

    On a more positive note, I really like the level of roleplay that both you
and Jamie have been giving to your characters.  This particular scene of
clashing personalities is quite believable...and from my previous experiences,
inevitable as players get used to responding in-character to one another.  It's
okay for us to explore this direction...but let's not let it become personal.
For the interests of advancing the story, I'd like to see both characters come
to trust and care for one another.  They can have a rocky start, but they
should try their best to work those initial problems out.  It's up to you guys
to roleplay that change in attitude. 
   
     
    "Hey Doc, I do think we're in danger, and that's what I'm paid to do,
    defuse the situation.......Humans don't generally have the tireless
    energy of .. T'sas."  Nola finishes as a large grin comes to her face.

    For all practical purposes, this scene has been completed.  We can assume
that this conversation may have continued to take place, but obviously, it won't
make the turn summary since I've already sent it out.  As a result, there's no
need for anyone to respond to this in-character.  However, if you feel truly
inspired to do so...by all means, have it out.  I would just recommend that you
keep in mind my earlier comments above... 

[Brian:] 
    1.  It is very interesting playing an alien in this game.  As I understand
    it the human/alien ratio in this setting is about 40 to 1.  (Neil if I am
    wrong correct me).

[Jamie:] 
    Neil correct him here, I remember reading the population figures of the
    aliens in the Star*Drive Campaign book (and send it to all of us!).  But I
    don't remember even the approximate population stats!  You might want to
    mention the number of Weren to human, Fraal to human, T'sa to human, etc. 

    Actually, Brian is dead-on accurate.  The Star*Drive Campaign Setting
census statistics indicate that for every 40 humans in explored space, they
found only one alien.  Assuming you've got the Star*Drive book, refer to page
42.  Current totals are as follows (and the numbers are in billions, so keep
that in mind): 

Human:         9,577 
Fraal:            26 
Mechalus:         38 
Sesheyan:         17 
T'sa:             80 
Weren:            40 
Other:            31 

    If you do the math, the numbers actually come out to approximately a
41.28 to 1 ratio... 

    One other note that I'll mention...the Fraal statistics are a bit
misleading.  The 26 billion Fraal that are mentioned are spread out across
just the stellar nations.  Since many of the Fraal (specifically, the
Wanderers) chose not to settle down, but continued through space in their huge
city-ships, there are really many more than that number would indicate.  As
far as I'm concerned the Fraal are actually more populous than the Mechalus,
but not by much. 

Hope that helps, 

-- Neil

Woops!!  Did we just pull a cat out of the bag?

> >Hey Doc (Brian), I didn't know you could read my mind at will !?
>
>      Just an observation here...and this isn't meant as a rebuke of any
> kind...but there have been a couple of times, Brian, where you've sort of
> had Lugwig respond to another character's thoughts rather than their
> dialogue.  Usually, I've editted some of that out in my turn summaries,
> but you might want to pay closer attention to everyone's posts.  If they
> are clearly thinking something, but not saying it aloud, it would be best
> if you roleplayed Lugwig as if he was unaware of their
> feelings/thoughts/emotions.  I'm not exactly sure what Nola said that made
> Lugwig feel the need to put her "on report".
>
Give it to him Neil!  ;)

And if anyone is taking offense at my or my characters comments, don't.  If
you are, then give us a tinkle on the old keyboard and we'll duke sort it
out (that's not Duke Nukem!).

To everyone:  I'm enjoying myself roleplaying with you all.  (Maybe too
much!  Hey Brian you're reading my mind again.  Stop that.  Do I stir or
what?  Hey you're doing it again.)

Call me an Aussie!  Just remember I'm ~ an 8th generation bread thief!
Actually I don't steal bread, but most of the first people that were sent to
Australia did.

> [Jamie:]
> >Neil correct him here
        [Neil:]
> Actually, Brian is dead-on accurate.
>
BTW I wasn't suggesting he was wrong.  I was just suggesting you give us the
numbers because I remember reading them once.  The numbers I was after
being:
~350 Humans to 1 Fraal
~250 Humans to 1 Mechalus
~550 Humans to 1 Sesheyan
~120 Humans to 1 T'sa
~300 Humans to 1 Other Aliens
OR
41.28 Humans to 1 Alien                 

-- Jamie

Msssss. Warwick you may anssswer for me.................

How about hostile body language, ummmm just a thought.  I cannot imagine
thinking about shooting someone with a real calm look on your face then
again Nola is probably an expert at acting real hostile in a nice sort of
way.  I imagine Martha Stewart with a .45 behind her back.  Now that is a
'good thing'.  As far as the Akers thing, I am not saying in any way that
you should have let him shoot you. (Remeber, you let him shoot you!) By all
means if someone shoots at me I am gonna shoot back.  I was just trying to
say do not get too blast happy, as far as Star Drive, Alternity etc. I am
brand new to the game and I am learning as I go.  If you cannot respect that
then Neil reassign the Doc. to duty abroad.  (Perhaps ship's Doc. on some
wonderful pleasure cruise with Issac.)  At any rate feel free to be as
critical as you please Jamie, it has got to beat wrestling crocs.

-- Brian

1.  Apologize for the ruckus fellers as the 'discussion' may have slowed down
the story a bit.  It was becoming tiresome receiving veiled threats of getting
shot by a fellow party member.

    'Nola looked a bit uncertain, then said, "Okay..."

     She began to lead the others across the room, then paused to look back 
and say, "Oh and ...", pointedly looking at the knifes/stilettos that had 
been produced, "'Dig' you're such a man, why don't you cover my back, too.  
And if any one of them draws their weapon...shoot him..."

     Looking back to the engineer she continued without missing a beat', 
 
     She thought to herself, "Maybe if I shot him *(Lugwig)* he might rethink
his attitude on shooting back at dangerous people.  * - added by me.
 
Anyways, Neil I shall drop the 'discussion' here as requested and I will not
answer any further attempts to debate the matter in respect to advancing the
story and the GM's wishes.  I did reply to Jamie before reading your post...
sorry, guess I'm just a red-blooded American.  Only by 2 generations:)
 
2.  Thanks for the info on the Star*Drive setting.  I do not own the book.  My
question is should I buy it or would owning it take away from my gaming
experience?
 
That's all for now.
 
-- Brian

    Source: geocities.com/hainphan/rpgs/rverge