Post 79

Into the Void, Season 1, Episode 2

Previously on Into the Void: Phoebe led an engineering effort to disable tracking devices on their scout ship so that her and fellow crew member Rubin could defect from the Magnan Empire.

Leaving Lavene

• Ship Encounter: None
• Crew Reaction Throw 8+: (6,6)+0 = 12
• On-Board Event: Power failure — several tripped fuses, shuts down power in parts of engineering

“Would it help if I got out and pushed?” quips Rubin.

“Shut-up.” says an annoyed Phoebe.

“Is it possible that when you re-routed around the quantum core you crippled the jump drive?”

“I may… have overcharged the particles. Look, why don’t you go play a game with Turick.”

“Yeah, why not. As luck would have it, we are so far into the void of nothingness there’s very little traffic out here.”

---

“Turick, buddy. You know how to play Burst? Oh, well from the face you are shooting me that’s a no. Do you know any card games?” Rubin wonders if Turick has ever had a moment of fun in his life.

“I can teach you how to play Olinka. Are there perhaps something like stones onboard?”

Rubin fetches a few things that pass as stones, mostly assorted replacement bearings. The two play a game that resembles something like “marbles.”

“This is cool, is the main jam on Lavene?” asks Rubin.

“It is a story about our history. Lavene was not always where it is now, it has moved across the galaxy.”

“I’m going to stop you there and teach you how planets orbit their suns.”

“I understand that concept but the legends say Lavene was not always orbiting the same suns.”

“Right. Well that’s kookydooks but it is a good to have a legend.”

Jumpspace, Leg 1 of 2 to the Gamma System

• Crew Reaction Throw 8+: (4,3)+0 = 7
• Stubborn. A choice has been made and the PC does not like it. They refuse to co-operate unless things are changed. This may not be the result of a large ego, but a passionate belief, a sense of safety or moral duty. It all depends on the current situation.
• On-Board Event: Cargo containers have shifted due to grav compensator malfunction. Need re-setting.
• Plan: Phoebe’s Jack-of-all-Trades-3 skill allows her to be suitable to just about any plan if not particularly skilled. She’s going to pull rank and let Rubin know that under no uncertain terms will they be reversing the work done to disable the Magnan tracking systems. It is a “solid” plan and not dangerous. No other modifiers are appropriate.
• The Plan succeed (2d6: [6, 3] = 9) and there was a good consequence. Suggested consequence: Find a useful or valuable piece of kit

As the scout ship exits jumpspace there is a large shudder and all manner of items fall from their overhead storage berths.

“Phoebe, I think we need to consider … undoing your handywork with the quantum core? It seems to be causing problems and one of these jumps we’ll just end up somewhere unpleasant, or dead. Do you want to die, is that it?”

“Rubin we are not undoing the work. We’ll keep figuring out how to make it work but if unless you want to follow another commander’s orders you’ll follow mine. Stow that loose cargo and prepare for our next jump.”

Rubin sighs and nods. It is much less than the expected salute in such a situation but Phoebe chooses not to press the issue.

• What does Rubin find when he goes to stow the cargo? I’ll just pick a random table from Mark Humphreys’s Superluminary
• Weapon: Massive bomb

“Uh, Pheebs?” yells Rubin “Why are we carrying this massive box of energized crystals? And why are they vibrating?”

Phoebe walks back to the cargo hold and Turick joins the two as the conversation has piqued his curiosity.

“Where did you find those?” asks Turrick.

“Do you know what they are? Do you finally know the answer to something I don’t?” says Rubin.

“Those crystals are infused with Way energy. Something has positively charged them and they are excited.” Turrick responds.

“Excited? Like, what they are dancing for joy?”

“Rubin, we must have picked those up on Tiverete. That spooky ass volcano world. We were delivering personal packages to the excavation crew and that box was supposed to contain their letters for their families back home.” Phoebe interjects.

“Interesting. If left to the wrong hands they can be highly destructive.” notes Turick.

“Like, what they explode?” asks Rubin.

“Yes, if you were to hit them with a plasma blast in this raw excited state they’ll cause a explosion that would level anything for miles.” Turrick says as he kneels down and waves his hand over the crystals. They begin to settle down.

“That changes things.” Phoebe says as she walks back to the bridge.