Outcast Quest [Updated 10/10/18 - Turn 14]

[dragoongfa]

[X] All Hands On Deck

Preparing a fully informed 'briefing' for the passengers takes some preparation and we still don't have the full picture of what is going on in the ship. Furthermore Dr. Campos may have an idea about the prolonged jump nausea, something that the passengers will want to know about. Then there is the Navigation 404 which the captain has kept in the back of her head by now.

[sunphoenix]

Hmmm... I smell a 'cultist'...

[X] All Hands On Deck

A lack of information can kill. Your house is in order but you still don't know the full situation. Meet with your senior officers and Colonel Pierce and find out how deep the rabbit hole goes.

And...

[X] Have a THOROUGH system check on whatever computer access the destroyed console could have had to see what may have been tampered with looking specifically for any time released data viruses. Include in that an equally THOROUGH Search of EVERY Inch of Environmental.. something Else much more vital may have been sabotaged! Also have the computer logs searched for ANY other anomalous computer access that might have been logged during the time 1 hour BEFORE the jump and arrival with the crew being unconscious when Kelley might have been awake.

I don't believe this is what it seems... I think something was done to the data-systems of the ship or Environmental and this sabotage/destruction of the console is meant to hide something else going on.

[Suederwind]

I don't think Kelly was a cultist, but sunphoenix has a point here. The whole thing smells fischy.
So:
[x]All hands on deck

And:

[x] Truth enough

I am not sure if this was already adressed, but we don't know enough about Kelly. We should therefore:

[x] Find out more about Kelly

Let two marines Check his quarters and his personal computer logs. Let the doctor check his remains for clues and let a technician find out whatever he tried to hide by shooting that console. A clue about his motive could be very usefull. Maybe he sabotaged the jump drive or knew something we didn't. Also try to find out _how_ he could do that and if this was a plan with more people involved than just him.

[Razor One]

Preliminary findings into Kelly's actions will be presented at the meeting in [X] All Hands On Deck.

All hands and Seeing to your passengers are exclusive at this time, so the sub-options attached to that are invalid if you vote for All Hands.

The basic idea here is whether you get more info before seeing to your passengers, or seeing to them first and then getting more info. There are pros and cons to either approach.

[joestej]

Well, that could have gone better, I suppose. Ah well, Kelly has obviously fallen prey to the dreaded SPACE MADNESS! A regrettable occurrence, but sadly a well-documented hazard of interstellar travel.

On a more serious note:

[X] See To Your Passengers
-[X] Truth enough to get them by, keeping the more sensitive or alarming portions to yourself for now.

Leaving the passengers alone for another hour or two seems like a bad idea. The longer we keep these people in the dark, the harder it's going to be to calm them down, especially when we've got armed marines keeping them locked up. A riot in the hold is the LAST thing we need. We give them the basics (there was a malfunction in one of the jump engines, several major systems are offline), leave out the parts we don't fully understand or that would be disturbing (basically everything about Kelly). Stress that we're working to get everything fixed and in order to do so we're going to need them to remain where they are for now, and that we'll update whoever is leading the colonists as soon as we know more. ...do the colonists even have an official leader?

Once that's done we can get everyone together and figure out what to do next.

[dragoongfa]

What a surprise, an other vote switch

[X] See to your passengers.
-[X] Truth enough to get them by, keeping the more sensitive or alarming portions to yourself for now.

The reasoning behind this choice and why it made me change my vote is simple. Seeing to them now and telling them just enough to calm them down lets your subordinates investigate things further and has the added benefit of hopefully cooperative specialists if Volkova needs more manpower to fix certain parts of the ships quickly.

It's a win-win-win, with the only con being that the time used to talk to the passengers could be used to better coordinate things. It could take some time but our subordinates will inform us immediately if something big happens.

--[X] Write in.

Busy people in the passenger module are people who are not bothering anyone. Let's find something small to occupy the passengers in a way that could be helpful later (have passengers cross reference the passenger manifest between themselves for example) and ask them if there is someone between them with Medical or Engineering expertise that could help Dr.Campos or Volkova if needed.

[Nugget]

[X] See to your passengers.
-[X] Truth enough to get them by, keeping the more sensitive or alarming portions to yourself for now.

Leaving the passengers alone for another hour or two seems like a bad idea. The longer we keep these people in the dark, the harder it's going to be to calm them down, especially when we've got armed marines keeping them locked up. A riot in the hold is the LAST thing we need. We give them the basics (there was a malfunction in one of the jump engines, several major systems are offline), leave out the parts we don't fully understand or that would be disturbing (basically everything about Kelly). Stress that we're working to get everything fixed and in order to do so we're going to need them to remain where they are for now.

Basicaly this.

[joestej]

Busy people in the passenger module are people who are not bothering anyone. Let's find something small to occupy the passengers in a way that could be helpful later (have passengers cross reference the passenger manifest between themselves for example) and ask them if there is someone between them with Medical or Engineering expertise that could help Dr.Campos or Volkova if needed.

I like the idea of keeping them busy, but I do have some concerns as well. With the current plan, we're holding back some information from the civilians, and anyone we bring in to help us is almost certainly going to learn more than we want them to about that.

The marines we can likely trust to keep their mouths shut (at least in the short term), but I doubt the civilians will be so cooperative. As soon as word gets out that one of the crew went nuts and shot up our life support, things will get ugly. The fact that we hid it from them will make it worse. The extra hands won't be worth the paranoia and ill-will that'll buy us.

Also, if we do choose to address the colonists first and leave out some details, is there a way we can leave ourselves some wiggle room regarding any information omission? We're going to have to tell them about Kelly sooner or later (it's a small ship, SOMEONE will talk), and things won't go well if it seems like we directly lied to them. Maybe something vague like "an investigation is ongoing" and promises to release all the details once we have a full report on the situation?

[dragoongfa]

Busy people in the passenger module are people who are not bothering anyone. Let's find something small to occupy the passengers in a way that could be helpful later (have passengers cross reference the passenger manifest between themselves for example) and ask them if there is someone between them with Medical or Engineering expertise that could help Dr.Campos or Volkova if needed.

I like the idea of keeping them busy, but I do have some concerns as well. With the current plan, we're holding back some information from the civilians, and anyone we bring in to help us is almost certainly going to learn more than we want them to about that.

The marines we can likely trust to keep their mouths shut (at least in the short term), but I doubt the civilians will be so cooperative. As soon as word gets out that one of the crew went nuts and shot up our life support, things will get ugly. The fact that we hid it from them will make it worse. The extra hands won't be worth the paranoia and ill-will that'll buy us.

Also, if we do choose to address the colonists first and leave out some details, is there a way we can leave ourselves some wiggle room regarding any information omission? We're going to have to tell them about Kelly sooner or later (it's a small ship, SOMEONE will talk), and things won't go well if it seems like we directly lied to them. Maybe something vague like "an investigation is ongoing" and promises to release all the details once we have a full report on the situation?

Asking to see if there are specialists among them is not the same as having them drafted on the spot. It's just a short term measure to keep them 'busy' and have them think that they have some power to help themselves and everyone on board if needed. We will have to tell them about Kelly in the long run (secrets have a way of spreading and soon all of the marines will know about Kelly) but for now we will have to keep them calm by saying that they are not in any danger while in the passenger module, that the ship is under no further danger, that we have found out what is broken and are in the process of fixing it, then we say that a preliminary investigation to discover what exactly happened is ongoing but regulations forbid us from disclosing what we find to them for security and legal reasons. Something that is true since Kelly looks like to have sabotaged the ship which would involve a criminal investigation whenever the ship would reach port.

Remember that at this point no one on the ship knows that they won't return home and the captain is still legally bound to TCA regulations in regards to criminal investigations. Her talking about Kelly is a serious breach of these regulations. If they insist for the time being she can site those regulations and point out that in time all proceedings in regards to this incident will be made public but for now they have to maintain secrecy in order not to complicate the jobs of TCA naval investigators when they return to port.

EDIT: Hell, lets point out that them being cooperative will help them get through the legal debriefing quicker when they return to port. People will jump through hoops in order to get to their destination quicker after such an ordeal.

[joestej]

I largely agree with your assessment, though odds are good none of these colonists would ever see investigation even if we could get to our original destination.

With what we're carrying, I can only assume our mission was to either supplement a starter colony or establish a new one ourselves. In either case there won't be any investigators there, and the colonists wouldn't normally be coming back to port with us. I can't see dragging all these people back, unloading them, interrogating them, putting them back on a ship, and shuttling them away again to be an option the TSA would realistically consider for this situation. The colonists will likely know that. Bribing them with 'shorter delays' won't be a carrot we can offer.

Still, 'not dying' and 'not being adrift for weeks' are very much carrots we can dangle if we need them.

[dragoongfa]

I largely agree with your assessment, though odds are good none of these colonists would ever see investigation even if we could get to our original destination.

With what we're carrying, I can only assume our mission was to either supplement a starter colony or establish a new one ourselves. In either case there won't be any investigators there, and the colonists wouldn't normally be coming back to port with us. I can't see dragging all these people back, unloading them, interrogating them, putting them back on a ship, and shuttling them away again to be an option the TSA would realistically consider for this situation. The colonists will likely know that. Bribing them with 'shorter delays' won't be a carrot we can offer.

Still, 'not dying' and 'not being adrift for weeks' are very much carrots we can dangle if we need them.

If the TCA works anything like a combination of air traffic controllers and port authorities then standard procedure will be to have the ship limp to the nearest spaceport that has a repair facility that will repair and confirm that the ship is space worthy again. Such a spaceport will certainly be big enough to hold a port authority with more than a handful of officers who will not allow people who may have information about a crime leave without a debriefing.

The possible debriefing of the passengers will be something along these lines:

Where were you and what were you doing when the incident happened?
Can you describe the incident?
What happened after the incident occurred?
Why did you leave your assigned area? (if applicable)
Did any TCA personnel exhibit unacceptable behavior towards you or others?

Short and sweet that wouldn't take more than 10 to 20 minutes per passenger but it would take at least a day to process all 393 passengers, the 114 marines and the 24 crew members.

Its mostly bureaucratic but the eye witness accounts could provide clues to a possible investigator that will spend weeks over a desk going through everything

Such a procedure is followed whenever passenger ships that have suffered a particularly heavy accident. The ship is towed to a fully equipped port while the passengers are not allowed to leave until debriefed (which is something that the authorities always do quickly as a matter of course).

[joestej]

If the TCA works anything like a combination of air traffic controllers and port authorities then standard procedure will be to have the ship limp to the nearest spaceport that has a repair facility that will repair and confirm that the ship is space worthy again. Such a spaceport will certainly be big enough to hold a port authority with more than a handful of officers who will not allow people who may have information about a crime leave without a debriefing.

Your supposition depends on the existance of a fully equipped port where we were going. For a spaceport to be useful, it would need expensive spare parts, hundreds of trained engineers, tons of fuel, and a boatload of other resources. Whereever we were going apparently doesn't even have enough algae and yeast, much less the mines, factories, fuel plants, and other infrastructure that makes a spaceport function. What are the odds they would ship out all the resources a spacedock needs BEFORE they send any colonists?

Sure, we could abort the mission and go home, but that's a whole different debate and somewhat pointless.

The passengers won't be debriefed either way because now we're LOST IN SPAAAAAAACE!!!

[Logannion]

[X] See to your passengers.
-[X] Truth enough to get them by, keeping the more sensitive or alarming portions to yourself for now.

[alpha]

I guess the environmental was the time-sensitive issue, despite everyone thinking otherwise.

Devious.

[X] See to your passengers.
-[X] Truth enough to get them by, keeping the more sensitive or alarming portions to yourself for now.

--[X] Write in.

Busy people in the passenger module are people who are not bothering anyone. Let's find something small to occupy the passengers in a way that could be helpful later (have passengers cross reference the passenger manifest between themselves for example) and ask them if there is someone between them with Medical or Engineering expertise that could help Dr.Campos or Volkova if needed.

[Absalom]

If the TCA works anything like a combination of air traffic controllers and port authorities then standard procedure will be to have the ship limp to the nearest spaceport that has a repair facility that will repair and confirm that the ship is space worthy again. Such a spaceport will certainly be big enough to hold a port authority with more than a handful of officers who will not allow people who may have information about a crime leave without a debriefing.

Your supposition depends on the existance of a fully equipped port where we were going. For a spaceport to be useful, it would need expensive spare parts, hundreds of trained engineers, tons of fuel, and a boatload of other resources. Whereever we were going apparently doesn't even have enough algae and yeast, much less the mines, factories, fuel plants, and other infrastructure that makes a spaceport function. What are the odds they would ship out all the resources a spacedock needs BEFORE they send any colonists?

Sure, we could abort the mission and go home, but that's a whole different debate and somewhat pointless.

The supposition depended on aborting the mission and proceeding to the nearest reachable spaceport. Notice what dragoongfa mentioned about "standard procedure"? Such things exist for reason.

As for algae, that was being transported for a criminal investigation into possible abuse of intellectual property. Yeast can be written off as diversifying genetic stocks, testing possible replacements for a product you deem inferior, or may be part of an effort to colonize a different area of an already colonized planet (or asteroid field, or whatever). The yeast might even just be to raise the destination's yeast stocks to compensate for the very colonists that you're carrying, or be part of a regularly-scheduled sample swap, or any other ignominious and bureaucratic task.

Also, between the cargo and the marines, it honestly looks like the ship was scheduled to travel to multiple systems, not just one.

And frankly, assuming both a serious colonization effort, and that this is not one of the earliest runs out to it, it is indeed very possible that a fully functional spaceport has been setup, and is operational... and probably one of the very first things to be moved in-system, for the sake of acting as a staging facility for all future efforts. Those data drives the ship is carrying? Intended for just such a facility. Hundreds of trained engineers and all of the replacement parts you could need, they wouldn't have. But enough engineers to service the various in-system craft, and possibly even serviceable replacement parts (or, gasp, a small FTL courier for emergency communications!) they likely would have.

Informative to the level of development of this colonization push is the presence of both bees, and cacao saplings. They could be just replacements, and it isn't as if either of these are the most space-demanding biologicals that could be transported, but if the effort was in the very earliest stages then the colonists wouldn't even have the room to have them, so they never would have been sent. Their presence within the manifest speaks to at least one fairly large biome room, presumable coming in at some decently large fraction of an acre, or even larger than an acre. In fact, judging from the livestock, someone at the destination was doing well enough to be gearing up for a biological facilities expansion.

Really, the only problem with dragoongfa's point revolves around things that the captain and crew can't know yet, regardless of what suspicions the navigational error rouses.

[joestej]

The supposition depended on aborting the mission and proceeding to the nearest reachable spaceport. Notice what dragoongfa mentioned about "standard procedure"? Such things exist for reason...

Absalom, you skipped the only important part of my post:

The passengers won't be debriefed either way.

We could argue this until we're all blue in the face, but it will still not be relevant to the game. Honestly, I'm sorry I brought the topic up in the first place.

[Razor One]

[X] See To Your Passengers
-[X] Truth enough to get them by, keeping the more sensitive or alarming portions to yourself for now.

You pull out of your thoughts as one of Dr. Campos nurses rounds the corner.

“Captain?” she asks.

“In there,” you indicate, trusting the good doctor to send his best.

She moves in and begins checking over the body and the scene. You leave her to her grisly work.

Now that the immediate danger has passed, it's time that you filled in your passengers on the situation at hand. They're almost certainly aware that something is wrong by now, between the abnormally bad jump sickness, the sound of that flashbang likely carrying as far as the passenger module or the presence of marines to keep them inside.

And they deserve to know what's going on from the person in charge. Just not everything.

“Colonel Pierce,” you radio, “Please inform the passengers that I'll be down there to inform them of our current circumstances personally.”

“Understood. Your presence would be most welcome,” he says with a slight strain in his voice.

“Is something amiss, Colonel?” you ask.

“A minor disagreement with the passengers. It's best you see for yourself,” he says.

“Alright, I'll be there soon,” you say and quicken your pace, your marine escort in perfect lockstep.

Soon enough you've navigated your way through the bowels of the ship to the pressurised portion of the cargo bay. The passenger module is mostly self-contained and modelled somewhat off the train cars of old, with separate portions for dining, communal showers and even some private quarters. It's large enough to contain all your passengers in somewhat cramped but otherwise comfortable lodgings for weeks or months at a time.

Two marines stand guard at the entrance and upon recognising you as the captain admit you without challenge nor complaint. The moment you cross the threshold however you can hear a low argument coming from what seems to be the dining section of the passenger module.

You're sure as hell not going into an argument blind, so you stop and listen, using your long experience living in cramped stations during your youth to find the sweet spot in the corridor that carries the sound right to your ears.

“The situation is intolerable! Armed marines outside our door? What the hell is going on?”

The voice, though distressed, isn't familiar to you. A passenger.

“As I have explained to you, sir, I am acting under the captain's orders and for your own safety. She is on her way right now-”

“We have a right to know what is happening and to leave this module when the situation warrants!” persists the first voice.

A second voice then pipes up, lighter and female.

“Would you please calm down Richard? It's obvious that whatever is happening has their hands full. We should sit tight and wait until-”

“Until what?” snapped Richard, “Until they fumble again? No. Get the captain on the line I want to have words with her right now.”

You smirk at that. He's practically given you your cue and the timing to show up couldn't be more perfect, now that you know what the sides are.

“What seems to be the situation here?” you ask upon entry.

“Captain on deck!” declares Colonel Pierce.

His marines stand to attention and salute. The two arguing civilians, Richard and a woman, both start at the marines suddenly stiff and formal behaviour before turning to you.

You can tell that Colonel Pierce was trying to establish that you were in charge, but it seems that all he's managed to do is transfer their attention, and Richard's ire, towards you instead.

“Ah, the good captain finally deigns to appear,” says Richard sarcastically.

“Is there a problem here, Mr?”

“Mr. Richard Hughes,” he says. He almost manages to continue before the woman next to him elbows him sharply, “...and my wife, Vanessa.”

“Pleased to meet you, captain,” she says with a disposition far sunnier than her husband.

“As I was saying to your underlings here,” he thumbs the marines dismissively, “we have a right to know what is happening.”

“And that's precisely why I'm here,” you say, “I assume you're the leader of the colonists?”

“Joint leader,” he corrects, “my wife also leads, together we're in charge of the expedition.”

“How do you break a tie?” you ask instinctively.

“Messily,” says Vanessa with a wan and knowing smile, “Still, we'd like to know what's happening, captain. Most of our people are unconscious or very ill. A few of them were having dangerous hallucinations. We had to put them outside for the safety of others.”

“Does that explain why I had intruders in subsection twelve?” you ask.

The colonists nod in unison with Colonel Pierce. Finally. Something everyone can agree on.

“Alright, let's start from the beginning then,” you start.

“At 11:27 hours we made the jump from Tau Ceti to Hip15689. We experienced a jump abnormality that damaged the ship and resulted in severe jump sickness for everyone. Upon awakening, I instituted measures necessary to secure and repair this ship.”

“Does that explain the marines at our door?” asked Richard.

You could swear he's echoing your words sarcastically, trying to bait you. Amateur.

“As captain of this vessel I am responsible for the safety of everyone, passengers especially,” you explain, “With most of my crew down with jump sickness and an, at the time, unknown and potentially dangerous situation at hand, I felt it prudent to use all my resources to ensure your safety.”

Richard opens his mouth as though to argue but a short, sharp, and apparently quite painful elbow into his ribs courtesy of his wife stops him short.

“Thank you captain, that was a most reasonable explanation,” she says with a venomous look towards Richard, “Now that we know the situation, is it necessary for the good Colonel to be here? I'm quite certain he's tired of our hospitality.”

“I take it that the hallucinating passengers have been secured?” you ask the Colonel.

“The passengers were secured without harm, Captain,” he confirms, his expression unreadable.

“Very well Colonel, thank you for your assistance in this matter, if you could please wait outside while I wrap up this matter?”

“Yes captain,” he salutes and then files out with his men.

You nod to your marine escort and they follow their commander out. Richard noticeably relaxes when they're gone.

“They're finally gone,” he sighs in relief.

“They were here for your protection, Mr. Hughes,” you say crisply, “that being said, we're still assessing the situation at large. As such, marines may remain posted outside the passenger module to prevent further excusionary ventures.”

“Please understand, Captain, we were trying to protect the others,” pleads Vanessa.

“It's perfectly understandable, Mrs. Hughes,” you say, “The marines will provide you with whatever protection you might need from now on. If you require their assistance, please just ask for their assistance politely.”

Her husband glowers at that but a solid dig from her elbow stops whatever lingering argument might have been on his lips.

“Thank you, captain, I'm sorry we've troubled you so much,” she apologises, “What are you going to do now?”

“I'll be meeting with my senior officers and the good Colonel to discuss the situation and plan our next move,” you say.

“Would it be possible to have someone sit in on this meeting? They won't get in your way and there are plenty of people under our care who'd be willing to lend a hand,” she offers.

It's a tempting offer, the way she puts it, but you can see what she's playing at as plain as day. If anything, you're forced to revise your initial assessment of her up from “hen-pecking wife” to something a bit more dangerous. You're almost certain now that Richard is the forthright and more public face of the duo while she's very much the power behind him.

A flicker of doubt on her face tells you that she knows now that she may well have overplayed her hand but can't back down without looking like a fool.

“I'll take your generous offer under advisement,” you say.

Oh you love that phrase. Admiral Taylor especially loved it. It let her shoo people off without ever needing to give them an answer. At the very least it allowed her to ward people off for long enough to give a well considered and informed response.

“Thank you, captain,” she says, beaten.

“I'd like to announce the situation for the rest of the passengers,” you say.

“Of course, captain, the intercom is just here,” says Richard, now well cowed by his wife.

You more or less repeat what you told Richard and Vanessa, that there was a jump abnormality resulting in damage to the ship and that you're currently effecting repairs. Apologising for the delay, etc. etc. So much of it is generic 'this is your captain speaking' dreck that it almost seems rather boring... but of course, that's what you want. A boring delivery makes for calm passengers, after all.

You leave the passenger module after your announcement and let Colonel Pierce know about the time you plan to have your meeting. He leaves two of his marines to guard the door to the passenger module.

“Attention all senior officers,” you announce on your way back to the bridge via the restored ships intercom, “A meeting is to be held at 17:30 hours sharp. That is all.”

--

Your Intrigue Roll vs. Argument: 76+12 = 88 = Supercrit
Pierce Diplomacy Roll vs. Entrance: 28 + 12 = 40 = Minor fail
Richard Baiting Roll vs. You: 6 vs 69 + 16 = 85 = Great Success
Your Intrigue Roll vs. Vanessa's offer = 86 + 12 = 98 = Great Success
Passenger Address Roll: 69 +16 = 85 = Great Success

Will write up the meeting tomorrow. Feeling tired.

{Edit}

Information hidden from passengers:

Full extent of the damage to the ship
Ensign Kelly's death
Navigation error 404

[Logannion]

Hey, would you look at that! A solid first showing rolling for our MC!

[alpha]

Hey, would you look at that! A solid first showing rolling for our MC!

Nice supercrit.

Which reminds me, how do rolls/skill checks work? What's the threshold for Supercrit, crit, Great success, minor success, minor failure, major failure, critical failure, etc?


Also, I recommend inviting Vanessa to meetings if the colonists need a representative. In addition, if Richard insists on coming, Vanessa needs to be there to keep Richard reasonable. Richard is trouble.

[Razor One]

1 - 5 = Critical Fail
6 - 10 = Terrible Fail
11 - 30 = Fail Badly
31 - 49 = Minor Fail
50 - 69 = Success
70 - 90 = Great Success
90 - 95 = Amazing Success
95 - 100 = Critical Success
100+ = Supercrit, Special Bonuses unlocked
88 = Automatic Supercrit.

Some skill checks will be a straight up adding of your stat to the roll, others will have a balance factor in. If you tried to electronically snoop on the meeting, you'd have had your intrigue stat halved, since that doesn't match up to your background and training. Because you grew up in tightly packed colonies where sound carried though, you have a knack for finding spots on starships and such where sound carries better. Because that matches your background, you had the full benefit of your intrigue.

Sometimes you'll be rolling vs. someone else, as you can see from Richard's baiting roll. That will probably need work though, because I can't really imagine him baiting you successfully anyhow, given your background.

Some rolls will require a minimum DC to pass in order to succeed. Roll above and you're all good, roll below and you fail to varying degrees.

I was originally going to institute a vote to accept or decline Vanessa's offer, but your intrigue crit versus that basically allowed you to see completely through it. I also figured that since you were limiting information being released to the civvies at this time that the vote would unanimously be to decline since that would obviate that prior choice.