Finally having a moment to think, Julian decided to rename himself Julius, to bring himself out from under the shadow of his original.
He, Henry, and Samuel carefully scanned the area, using the remote and any sensors they could cobble together, but the nanites that escaped were well and truly gone. Whatever will come from that is anyone's guess.
Leaving the others to repair the ship, Julius headed in a spiral, keeping an eye out for any activity. As Amy warned, in a few days, interest would begin to pick up, and soon they would be overrun with government and military officials; he didn't want to get spotted early.
Up the road, he found a farmhouse and some outbuildings; there was a car in the drive, and he could hear music playing on a radio. Sneaking up to the building, he peeked in - a housewife was preparing dinner, it looked like. He crept around, then through the open back door and into the study. Finding a map, he began to leave, then paused. Pulling out his knife, he carved a "crop circle" into the wall of the house, then waited for the woman to notice. When she did, he revealed himself - a tall man in a power suit, standing in her kitchen! She screamed; he introduced himself. She dove for a gun, and he decided to head outside. After a bit of dialog, where he suggested she remain inside and stay away from the crash landing - the first she heard of it, by the way - she firmly requested he leave, mentioning she had a shotgun pointed at the door, so no funny business.
Julius circled the house, not finding any dish or communication equipment; over comms, he asked Henry, sho said to look for a box with a wire that ran into the ground. Julius found such a wire, pulled out his knife... and cut the wire to a blast of sparks. As it happens, he cut the power line, not the phone line; lucky for him, his knife survived. The front door... not so much. Startled, the woman of the house left a gaping shotgun hole in it. Julius continued around the house and found the phone line, and cut that with much less drama.
Unbeknownst to him, the woman had already called her husband, who returned from the far pasture with his head farmhand. Julius waited until sunset, when a car drove up, and the woman's husband stepped out, rifle in hand, and called out to her. After a bit of watching, he finally told the men to stay away from the field to the south, and left.
Meanwhile, Daisy continued to fix components. She fell asleep at 5, gently snoring into an access panel... and at 6 AM, a sharp knock sounded on the ship's door. Charles answered, finding a thin, bald man, wearing a black suit and tie. A Man in Black! The man suggested that, perhaps, could they finish repairs to their ship in the next 2 hours? Additionally, he asked Henry how Daisy was doing, and showed him his badge - a member of The Agency, with an identification number of AA-56.
Henry, groggy from missed sleep, found and woke up Daisy, and together they continued working on the ship, with Samuel assisting. The Man in Black - a member of the Agency, actually - bid them good day, and returned to his (spotless) black car.
Just in time, the ship lifted off, heading for a beacon that showed up on their screen.
Meanwhile, the Agent and several members of his team returned to the site, playing the rubber and metal to be found there later; he also paid a visit to the house just up the dirt road...
The beacon was, in fact, the warehouse. Oddly, it looked much the same inside in 1947 as it did in 2882; the door was blasted off its hinges, and the roof was slightly warped from where they had run into it, fleeing from AlSec.
There was one difference... Caelie Kay was waiting for them. She produced a part for Daisy to repair the time drive, and explained just why she had to be gone...
Captain Daneel Kaspar erased his past. He is, at the moment, a non-entity; while he can no longer return to his own time, there is no way to remove him from the time stream except by finding him and taking him out. Whatever his true mission is, it likely has to do with the Entity - AlSec has always planned on breaking the Entity out of its jail, and this is a last-ditch method to do just that. She also found their base of operations - they jumped around in time, setting up bases, all funnelling to this one location: 2268, in low orbit around Jupiter.
Julius wasn't quite ready to give up command, but Calie opened the ship's door, and gestured behind her. "Would you rather stay?"
Behind her, the walls of the warehouse were beginning to go gray; objects fell into nothingness. Grumbling, Julian agreed, and the ship lifted off. Behind them, the open roof of the warehouse fell inward, fading out like a hologram, leaving the warehouse untouched. No trace of the time-traveling interior remained; only a blocky street address: "Warehouse 13".
The ship finally in working order, all the guns and shielding intact and functioning, the party made their way to the base. They fired themselves out of the airlock, and using their space suits' controls, managed to make a perfect landing on the far door of the base. They were ready for battle... or at least as ready as they would ever be.
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Monday, July 30, 2018
Tempus Frigate: Oops, Did I Be That?
While Julian and Samuel explored the pirate base, the others cautiously filed out of their rooms. Daisy got upset at Julian, seeing as how he left the ship with only 8% working systems. It would take a drydock to get everything back online.
She, Henry, Charles, and Amy put on their suits (Charles luckily remembered to put his guns on the outside of his suit) and space-walked into the pirates' base. Whoever was there originally seemed to have either fled or died; there was no more noise from them, at any rate.
Julian and Henry picked a different door, and continued through it. This one lead to a large, heavy door - the entrance to the mining operation. Inside, they found a lot of broken and abandoned equipment, and a very well-secured door, with a strange image on it:
Of course, it wasn't labeled or anything, so they had no idea what it was... but if it needed a strong door like that to keep it from getting out, then chances are, it should be left alone. They headed back to the main entrance.
Meanwhile, Daisy and Charles were sorting through the parts, prioritizing what they needed. This being Daisy, she also took a lot of stuff she didn't need, but just in case, right?
Julian and Henry next found a row of offices, and then the security building. Meanwhile, Amy, Charles, and Samuel headed for the last door, and found some interesting treasure - artwork, books, and other tangible, but non-liquid items (as the accountant would put it). At the end of the hallway, they found several barrels, similar to the ones Julian had found earlier. These were marked Repair #37 (4), Repair #12 (1), Replication #7 (2), and Experimental #119 (1). Each had the same symbol as the door marked on it. The barrel they opened seemed to contain a fine gray dust. After some debate and experimentation, Julian tested out his remote - the barrels were full of nanites! Daisy immediately began using the nanites to repair the ship; Cleo suggested that maybe, they might want to make haste, as the pirates were due back any moment.
It was that moment Echo showed up. Just a kid, he had stowed away when they were last in their base, having arrived from the year 2107.
With some money, they take the ship to 2882, where Daisy continues repairs. Henry, meanwhile, gained some new eyes, and lost his fancy helmet; he was a little weirded out by the fact that the doctor that saw him was... not there. Remote, or android? You decide!
Daisy, tired of poking the nanites along, hooked the remote up to Cleo, and suddenly repairs were taking place in the blink of an eye! Once Henry returned, Julian called a ship meeting, suggesting that perhaps he should be made captain, with Henry as first mate. Daisy is not entirely for it; Henry seemed ok with it, and managed to convince Daisy that they will still be fighting the bad guys. Amy suggests that the next time they see Capt. Kay, they try again; Julian agrees, though likely with his fingers crossed...
In the warehouse, Julian and Henry poke around, eventually finding a small room at the back, with a cot and part of a timeline. Interestingly, even their recent escapades were noted on the timeline, as if someone had forecast their actions. They took the timeline, and were poking around some more when suddenly, someone tried to break open the door! Henry raced back to the ship, and Julian (in his fancy suit) zipped past him, grabbing the kid on the way past. The Tempus Frigate closed her door just as the warehouse door crashed open, revealing AlSec agents, who began pouring in! With the shields up, small arms fire did little to harm them; Cleo opened the roof of the warehouse, and gunned it the moment some agents began setting up a shield-busting weapon. Wrenching the doors slightly, the ship jumped for the past, narrowly missing a rather large battleship cruising in.
With the engines barely functioning, and the time drive on the fritz, they had no idea where they were heading... or when. The ship blinked back into the timestream about a desert; only Daisy's expert piloting managed to land the ship in one piece, though it temporarily shut down the shields and jostled everyone around a bit. However, the damage was enough to wreck some of the more delicate patches in place, and Cleo suddenly went offline. Worse, one of the barrels of Replicate #7 broke open, and the nanites escaped through the ship, heading into the wild!
Careful tracking found only that the nanites had been given some gibberish signals; they were well and truly gone. There was nothing left but to figure out where they were, and all they had was a set of coordinates, and no way to check them. At least they knew when they were: June 13th, 1947.
Amy racked her brain... why did that date seem familiar? Suddenly, she realized - they were in New Mexico. Specifically, Roswell, New Mexico. They were the Roswell Crash!
She, Henry, Charles, and Amy put on their suits (Charles luckily remembered to put his guns on the outside of his suit) and space-walked into the pirates' base. Whoever was there originally seemed to have either fled or died; there was no more noise from them, at any rate.
Julian and Henry picked a different door, and continued through it. This one lead to a large, heavy door - the entrance to the mining operation. Inside, they found a lot of broken and abandoned equipment, and a very well-secured door, with a strange image on it:
 |
| NANOHAZARD |
Meanwhile, Daisy and Charles were sorting through the parts, prioritizing what they needed. This being Daisy, she also took a lot of stuff she didn't need, but just in case, right?
Julian and Henry next found a row of offices, and then the security building. Meanwhile, Amy, Charles, and Samuel headed for the last door, and found some interesting treasure - artwork, books, and other tangible, but non-liquid items (as the accountant would put it). At the end of the hallway, they found several barrels, similar to the ones Julian had found earlier. These were marked Repair #37 (4), Repair #12 (1), Replication #7 (2), and Experimental #119 (1). Each had the same symbol as the door marked on it. The barrel they opened seemed to contain a fine gray dust. After some debate and experimentation, Julian tested out his remote - the barrels were full of nanites! Daisy immediately began using the nanites to repair the ship; Cleo suggested that maybe, they might want to make haste, as the pirates were due back any moment.
It was that moment Echo showed up. Just a kid, he had stowed away when they were last in their base, having arrived from the year 2107.
With some money, they take the ship to 2882, where Daisy continues repairs. Henry, meanwhile, gained some new eyes, and lost his fancy helmet; he was a little weirded out by the fact that the doctor that saw him was... not there. Remote, or android? You decide!
Daisy, tired of poking the nanites along, hooked the remote up to Cleo, and suddenly repairs were taking place in the blink of an eye! Once Henry returned, Julian called a ship meeting, suggesting that perhaps he should be made captain, with Henry as first mate. Daisy is not entirely for it; Henry seemed ok with it, and managed to convince Daisy that they will still be fighting the bad guys. Amy suggests that the next time they see Capt. Kay, they try again; Julian agrees, though likely with his fingers crossed...
In the warehouse, Julian and Henry poke around, eventually finding a small room at the back, with a cot and part of a timeline. Interestingly, even their recent escapades were noted on the timeline, as if someone had forecast their actions. They took the timeline, and were poking around some more when suddenly, someone tried to break open the door! Henry raced back to the ship, and Julian (in his fancy suit) zipped past him, grabbing the kid on the way past. The Tempus Frigate closed her door just as the warehouse door crashed open, revealing AlSec agents, who began pouring in! With the shields up, small arms fire did little to harm them; Cleo opened the roof of the warehouse, and gunned it the moment some agents began setting up a shield-busting weapon. Wrenching the doors slightly, the ship jumped for the past, narrowly missing a rather large battleship cruising in.
With the engines barely functioning, and the time drive on the fritz, they had no idea where they were heading... or when. The ship blinked back into the timestream about a desert; only Daisy's expert piloting managed to land the ship in one piece, though it temporarily shut down the shields and jostled everyone around a bit. However, the damage was enough to wreck some of the more delicate patches in place, and Cleo suddenly went offline. Worse, one of the barrels of Replicate #7 broke open, and the nanites escaped through the ship, heading into the wild!
Careful tracking found only that the nanites had been given some gibberish signals; they were well and truly gone. There was nothing left but to figure out where they were, and all they had was a set of coordinates, and no way to check them. At least they knew when they were: June 13th, 1947.
Amy racked her brain... why did that date seem familiar? Suddenly, she realized - they were in New Mexico. Specifically, Roswell, New Mexico. They were the Roswell Crash!
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Tempus Frigate
I have to admit... this is going to be a little bit long, because I took way too long to actually write all of this down. Nonetheless, onward!
Our adventure begins in... well, a lot of places, actually. Each hero received a message of some sort; Daisy, Henry, Charles Greene, and Amy Wilson each received a note from a mysterious figure in a duster. I'll get back to them.
Meanwhile, Clone-Julian, of Shifting Horizon fame, awoke in the year 2882 to the sound of gunfire. Trapped in some kind of cryo-pod, he could only watch through the viewing window as two figures floated into the room. They seemed to make some adjustments, then gave him a thumbs-up, and floated out. Not long afterwards... the ship cracked apart, sending him floating into deep space. He slept, and when he awoke... the pod was open, and a message played, beamed directly into his eyeballs by laser. A zoomed-in face appeared, sideways, then adjusted, revealing a young woman wearing a long coat. She nodded smartly and said, "Greetings! I am Captain Kay. I am putting together an elite team of heroes for a special mission. This message supersedes any prior orders; by responding, you will help protect the very foundations of our civilization! The meeting location is just across the walk-junction, at 1900 hours. Entry password is Umbra. Kay out!"
Somewhat confused, Julian stepped out of the pod, and into a busy city. He found the warehouse and used the password, then stepped down a set of stairs to find a ship, waiting within.
A few years prior, in 2152, a man named Samuel Green found himself in a bit of a predicament. He and his crew were to be the first successful pilots of a jumpship... but unfortunately, jumping was not entirely safe. After the first jump, he found himself staring out at a blanket of stars, far from Earth - in fact, far from his solar system. There was a celebration, but then... not so much. The second jump did not return them home. nor did the third, nor the fourth. The pilot snapped, and strangled the captain with his own seatbelt, leaving Samuel to scramble for the lifeboat. As oxygen ran low, his eyelids drooped... then he saw a ship suddenly loom in his viewport. When he awoke, he was in a large, white room, laying on a soft cot, next to a ship sitting in dock.
Back again, to 1982. Amy Wilson, an accountant with an eye for solving mysteries, met the mysterious stranger. Having nothing better to do with her time, she followed the instructions on the note - and found herself in that same hanger.
In 1937, two strangers - Daisy, a naive we-can-do-it mechanic, and Henry, a blind army vet, met the same stranger, followed the same instructions, and found themselves in the very same hanger.
Finally, way back in 1882, a gentleman gunslinger named Charles Greene (no relation to Samuel Green, by the way) followed the stranger's note, and found himself in a strange, white warehouse.
Julian, Henry, and Daisy met; Henry scoffed at the very idea of a "space ship," but Daisy was quite interested. Suddenly, the door swung open, and Captain Caelie Kay stepped out. "Greetings!"
It took a while to convince the first three; Captain Kay explained that she had brought them together to stop a threat, and she needed each of their particular skills. She gave the standard time-traveling hero spiel: while you won't amount to much in your own timeline, if you come with me, you can be awesome!
Clone-Julian, of course, was having none of it - he was sure he was the real Julian, and had been kidnapped. Henry didn't believe they traveled through time at all, even after encountering some space-pirates. Only Daisy seemed to trust the captain - and, frankly, Henry and Julian are both irritated with her bubbly personality.
While leaving the space-pirates, Julian caught sight of a logo on an approaching ship... AlSec. Swearing, he realized that somehow, some of them had escaped his wrath. Grudgingly, Julian accepted Caelie's offer, if only to destroy AlSec entirely. Henry only accepted after getting a set of digital eyes - not as fancy as the real thing, but they seemed to do the trick (though it was fairly painful getting them in the first place). Daisy accepted almost before Captain Kay was done speaking, and was soon tinkering with the railguns and lasers, managing to fix one of the guns.
In a slightly alternate future (past? I'm not actually sure), the other three met up together: Charles Greene, sure he was getting hired for something interesting; Amy Wilson, confused; and Samuel Green, saved from space. Once again, they attacked the ship, retrieving the same fluid link the good Captain had saved before. Interesting how that worked out...
Of course, this time, it wasn't a far-future spaceman with lasers and skills in shooting just about everything, but a cowboy, an accountant, and a astronaut with an AK-47. The enemies (this time on a different side of the station) were about the same number, but the fight took quite a bit longer. Finally, Amy managed to fire her dad's handgun through a pirate, and the two Green(e)s managed to finally spray everything with enough lead that it stopped moving. Everyone took a few hits, but even without armor, they managed to hold themselves together.
These three accepted right away.
Finally together, the six found themselves back on Earth. Well... Earth-ish. This was Earth during the cleansing of Earth - the great battle with AlSec forces. While the space battle raged overhead, the security forces on the planet were besieged by (the real) Julian's forces, backing up freedom fighters. Unnoticed in the fray, the group moved to a nondescript building. On the second floor, they encountered some guards, and made short work of them; continuing up, they met a few pockets of resistance, and eventually made it to the building core, where they found a safe, and Captain Kay began hacking some information out of the terminal. In the safe were the following items, some of which were used in the ensuing firefight:
2 EMP Grenade, 2 Frag Grenade, 2 Smoke Grenade, 1 Thermal Grenade, 2 Sonic Grenade
1 Sonic Shotgun, 1 Shotgun, full-auto
1 JumpVodka
1 Smartshield: +4 armor, negates AP; if it sustains 20+ points of damage in a round, it flickers off and needs a repair roll to fix.
Outside the security room, forces gathered. Those inside took up defensive positions, covering Caelie as she worked on the computer. After a rough battle, the Captain had finally gathered the information she needed. The party was forced to allow the commander of the forces to flee.
As it turns out, that man was none other than Captain Daneel Kaspar of AlSec; it seems he was in charge of a secret time travel device... built according to the specifications of a certain "mad sage," Dr. Vincentius Becly. The same man who was murdered on the Shifting Horizon. Kaspar worked his way up through the ranks with ruthless efficiency, and took over the time travel program. He set up bases in three time periods: 1992, 2082, and 2222.
The group finished looking over the documents, and suddenly... the papers began going gray. In a moment, they had fallen into gray powder, then even that vanished. Caelie sighed, dusting off her hands. That was the dangerous part of time traveling... paradoxes are not allowed to resist, and the universe will attempt to right any wrongs.
Every decision ever made existed at one time, but as time progresses, the "unused" decisions are lopped off. Even with time travel, it is very difficult to change the future, simply because the universe has built-in rules for holding itself together. Breaking those rules may result in you being lopped off. The papers were affected by something Kaspar had done - in that reality, at least, he never existed.
Of course, time travel is hard, and there is rather a lot of science that can't explain how it works, so suffice to say that while those papers ceased to be, the memories did not. Usually, no one would notice when things vanish, simply because they really had always been that way, at least for anyone who hadn't traveled through time. There is a great many papers written about the subject, but I'll leave it at this: changing time can be very bad for anyone after that point. Little changes are fine, and get reabsorbed without much fuss, but big changes can result in you never having existed in the first place.
Which lead to the next problem: Kaspar. The party knew he was in one of three locations, in one of three time periods. A little research later, they found the locations. Daisy, meanwhile, pulled up some tool manuals, and started working on the laser again.
The first time period, 2222, resulted in nothing but an empty ship. But 1992 turned up just what they were looking for. The Captain left them to fight on their own, staying back to pilot the ship. Inside, the team fought through several waves of goons... and after the first wave, found themselves fighting a very strange man indeed. He appeared out of nowhere, shouted, "In the past!", and opened fire. He took quite a lot of damage, and managed to nearly injure several of the crew, before popping back out.
Further inside, they found Captain Kaspar himself. After a rousing battle which included Kaspar mocking them all, Kaspar left them with a parting remark: "Check your histories!"
Daisy, realizing she wasn't going to be much good in a firefight, left to pilfer parts.
After the mission, Julian and the others used the Tempus Frigate's computers to search their pasts... and found just how ignoble their lives really were. Daisy was killed a day later in a gang war; Henry stepped out into traffic and died. Julian discovered he was a clone. Samuel found he died in space. Amy tripped headlong off a building. And Charles shot himself while cleaning his gun.
Julian, of course, decided the best course of action was to get drunk out of his head, then go fight pirates. Sans Captain Kay, who said she had another mission to work on...
After using the ship's guns to great success, Julian gained access to a pirate stronghold. Inside, he and the others found little to no resistance; apart from two voices on the radio, he met no one. Granted, his firefight with the station resulted in the ship gaining 3 wounds - it was in bad shape before, but at this point, it is barely hanging together.
Exploring the quarters, Julian and Samuel found a secret passage. Deeper in, Julian came face to face with a strange, fast-moving rock-creature, who left him alone. Finally, the two found the treasure trove, containing a bit of cash, some basic guns... and a set of light power armor: 8 Armor, Pace 10 with a Running Die of d10, and Stealth Systems, giving a -4 to hit or scan. It is also Self Sealing, so able to be used in space or underwater.
***
Whew. Join us next time, for more time-travel shenanigans!
Our adventure begins in... well, a lot of places, actually. Each hero received a message of some sort; Daisy, Henry, Charles Greene, and Amy Wilson each received a note from a mysterious figure in a duster. I'll get back to them.
Meanwhile, Clone-Julian, of Shifting Horizon fame, awoke in the year 2882 to the sound of gunfire. Trapped in some kind of cryo-pod, he could only watch through the viewing window as two figures floated into the room. They seemed to make some adjustments, then gave him a thumbs-up, and floated out. Not long afterwards... the ship cracked apart, sending him floating into deep space. He slept, and when he awoke... the pod was open, and a message played, beamed directly into his eyeballs by laser. A zoomed-in face appeared, sideways, then adjusted, revealing a young woman wearing a long coat. She nodded smartly and said, "Greetings! I am Captain Kay. I am putting together an elite team of heroes for a special mission. This message supersedes any prior orders; by responding, you will help protect the very foundations of our civilization! The meeting location is just across the walk-junction, at 1900 hours. Entry password is Umbra. Kay out!"
Somewhat confused, Julian stepped out of the pod, and into a busy city. He found the warehouse and used the password, then stepped down a set of stairs to find a ship, waiting within.
A few years prior, in 2152, a man named Samuel Green found himself in a bit of a predicament. He and his crew were to be the first successful pilots of a jumpship... but unfortunately, jumping was not entirely safe. After the first jump, he found himself staring out at a blanket of stars, far from Earth - in fact, far from his solar system. There was a celebration, but then... not so much. The second jump did not return them home. nor did the third, nor the fourth. The pilot snapped, and strangled the captain with his own seatbelt, leaving Samuel to scramble for the lifeboat. As oxygen ran low, his eyelids drooped... then he saw a ship suddenly loom in his viewport. When he awoke, he was in a large, white room, laying on a soft cot, next to a ship sitting in dock.
Back again, to 1982. Amy Wilson, an accountant with an eye for solving mysteries, met the mysterious stranger. Having nothing better to do with her time, she followed the instructions on the note - and found herself in that same hanger.
In 1937, two strangers - Daisy, a naive we-can-do-it mechanic, and Henry, a blind army vet, met the same stranger, followed the same instructions, and found themselves in the very same hanger.
Finally, way back in 1882, a gentleman gunslinger named Charles Greene (no relation to Samuel Green, by the way) followed the stranger's note, and found himself in a strange, white warehouse.
Julian, Henry, and Daisy met; Henry scoffed at the very idea of a "space ship," but Daisy was quite interested. Suddenly, the door swung open, and Captain Caelie Kay stepped out. "Greetings!"
It took a while to convince the first three; Captain Kay explained that she had brought them together to stop a threat, and she needed each of their particular skills. She gave the standard time-traveling hero spiel: while you won't amount to much in your own timeline, if you come with me, you can be awesome!
Clone-Julian, of course, was having none of it - he was sure he was the real Julian, and had been kidnapped. Henry didn't believe they traveled through time at all, even after encountering some space-pirates. Only Daisy seemed to trust the captain - and, frankly, Henry and Julian are both irritated with her bubbly personality.
While leaving the space-pirates, Julian caught sight of a logo on an approaching ship... AlSec. Swearing, he realized that somehow, some of them had escaped his wrath. Grudgingly, Julian accepted Caelie's offer, if only to destroy AlSec entirely. Henry only accepted after getting a set of digital eyes - not as fancy as the real thing, but they seemed to do the trick (though it was fairly painful getting them in the first place). Daisy accepted almost before Captain Kay was done speaking, and was soon tinkering with the railguns and lasers, managing to fix one of the guns.
In a slightly alternate future (past? I'm not actually sure), the other three met up together: Charles Greene, sure he was getting hired for something interesting; Amy Wilson, confused; and Samuel Green, saved from space. Once again, they attacked the ship, retrieving the same fluid link the good Captain had saved before. Interesting how that worked out...
Of course, this time, it wasn't a far-future spaceman with lasers and skills in shooting just about everything, but a cowboy, an accountant, and a astronaut with an AK-47. The enemies (this time on a different side of the station) were about the same number, but the fight took quite a bit longer. Finally, Amy managed to fire her dad's handgun through a pirate, and the two Green(e)s managed to finally spray everything with enough lead that it stopped moving. Everyone took a few hits, but even without armor, they managed to hold themselves together.
These three accepted right away.
Finally together, the six found themselves back on Earth. Well... Earth-ish. This was Earth during the cleansing of Earth - the great battle with AlSec forces. While the space battle raged overhead, the security forces on the planet were besieged by (the real) Julian's forces, backing up freedom fighters. Unnoticed in the fray, the group moved to a nondescript building. On the second floor, they encountered some guards, and made short work of them; continuing up, they met a few pockets of resistance, and eventually made it to the building core, where they found a safe, and Captain Kay began hacking some information out of the terminal. In the safe were the following items, some of which were used in the ensuing firefight:
2 EMP Grenade, 2 Frag Grenade, 2 Smoke Grenade, 1 Thermal Grenade, 2 Sonic Grenade
1 Sonic Shotgun, 1 Shotgun, full-auto
1 JumpVodka
1 Smartshield: +4 armor, negates AP; if it sustains 20+ points of damage in a round, it flickers off and needs a repair roll to fix.
Outside the security room, forces gathered. Those inside took up defensive positions, covering Caelie as she worked on the computer. After a rough battle, the Captain had finally gathered the information she needed. The party was forced to allow the commander of the forces to flee.
As it turns out, that man was none other than Captain Daneel Kaspar of AlSec; it seems he was in charge of a secret time travel device... built according to the specifications of a certain "mad sage," Dr. Vincentius Becly. The same man who was murdered on the Shifting Horizon. Kaspar worked his way up through the ranks with ruthless efficiency, and took over the time travel program. He set up bases in three time periods: 1992, 2082, and 2222.
The group finished looking over the documents, and suddenly... the papers began going gray. In a moment, they had fallen into gray powder, then even that vanished. Caelie sighed, dusting off her hands. That was the dangerous part of time traveling... paradoxes are not allowed to resist, and the universe will attempt to right any wrongs.
Every decision ever made existed at one time, but as time progresses, the "unused" decisions are lopped off. Even with time travel, it is very difficult to change the future, simply because the universe has built-in rules for holding itself together. Breaking those rules may result in you being lopped off. The papers were affected by something Kaspar had done - in that reality, at least, he never existed.
Of course, time travel is hard, and there is rather a lot of science that can't explain how it works, so suffice to say that while those papers ceased to be, the memories did not. Usually, no one would notice when things vanish, simply because they really had always been that way, at least for anyone who hadn't traveled through time. There is a great many papers written about the subject, but I'll leave it at this: changing time can be very bad for anyone after that point. Little changes are fine, and get reabsorbed without much fuss, but big changes can result in you never having existed in the first place.
Which lead to the next problem: Kaspar. The party knew he was in one of three locations, in one of three time periods. A little research later, they found the locations. Daisy, meanwhile, pulled up some tool manuals, and started working on the laser again.
The first time period, 2222, resulted in nothing but an empty ship. But 1992 turned up just what they were looking for. The Captain left them to fight on their own, staying back to pilot the ship. Inside, the team fought through several waves of goons... and after the first wave, found themselves fighting a very strange man indeed. He appeared out of nowhere, shouted, "In the past!", and opened fire. He took quite a lot of damage, and managed to nearly injure several of the crew, before popping back out.
Further inside, they found Captain Kaspar himself. After a rousing battle which included Kaspar mocking them all, Kaspar left them with a parting remark: "Check your histories!"
Daisy, realizing she wasn't going to be much good in a firefight, left to pilfer parts.
After the mission, Julian and the others used the Tempus Frigate's computers to search their pasts... and found just how ignoble their lives really were. Daisy was killed a day later in a gang war; Henry stepped out into traffic and died. Julian discovered he was a clone. Samuel found he died in space. Amy tripped headlong off a building. And Charles shot himself while cleaning his gun.
Julian, of course, decided the best course of action was to get drunk out of his head, then go fight pirates. Sans Captain Kay, who said she had another mission to work on...
After using the ship's guns to great success, Julian gained access to a pirate stronghold. Inside, he and the others found little to no resistance; apart from two voices on the radio, he met no one. Granted, his firefight with the station resulted in the ship gaining 3 wounds - it was in bad shape before, but at this point, it is barely hanging together.
Exploring the quarters, Julian and Samuel found a secret passage. Deeper in, Julian came face to face with a strange, fast-moving rock-creature, who left him alone. Finally, the two found the treasure trove, containing a bit of cash, some basic guns... and a set of light power armor: 8 Armor, Pace 10 with a Running Die of d10, and Stealth Systems, giving a -4 to hit or scan. It is also Self Sealing, so able to be used in space or underwater.
***
Whew. Join us next time, for more time-travel shenanigans!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)