Better A Rat In The Drift…
Camiri, Part 1
Welcome to Dark Star Adventurecast — a high-stakes Stars Without Number actual play. You are entering the dangerous Veridian Expanse; join the crew of the Scapegoat on their first mission below.
THORNE
HALEYY
FELIX
ROBERT
Next time: The crew must pull a prank on the Neon Fangs, the nicest gang on the station. Can they overcome their own morals to free their ship?
CONTINUE_ADVENTURE: LISTEN TO EPISODE 2-
[00:00:00] Star Master Jeff: Welcome to Dark Star Adventures. Tonight we journey deep into the shadows of the Veridian expanse, where danger lurks at every turn and no one can be trusted. You've tuned into an adventure where the stars are cold, the enemies are many, and every decision could be your last
[00:00:18] on tonight's adventure
[00:00:19] cast,
[00:00:21] ma'am, I can.
[00:00:21] I could find her, but saving people, I mean. I work with machines, not people.
[00:00:27] Thorne: You're crazy. I'm not giving our credit to these bumbling gangsters.
[00:00:32] Robert: I might just roll around in some grease and spike out my hair real quick, make it look like I'm a neon lame.
[00:00:39] We're
[00:00:40] Haleyy: gonna punch 'em. They're 10 feet up on a giant wall after they come down.
[00:00:44] Star Master Jeff: Now buckle up. The stars are waiting. And the meridian expanse. Never forgive the unprepared. This is the Dark Star Adventure cast.
[00:00:57] Yeah.
[00:00:58] Star Master Jeff: Here we are, [00:01:00]
[00:01:01] doc Adventures.
[00:01:03] Woo. Here we are with our four brave adventures, Scott, Brian Doja, and Stephanie, thanks so much for joining me tonight for the first episode.
[00:01:16] Yeah. Okay. We're gonna dive right into it. I got a great adventure for you guys tonight, so let's go.
[00:01:28] Kfo hangs in the black like a forgotten coin, spinning slow at the edge of inhabited space. No beacon, no welcome message. Just a rusting tall the size of a city block in the faint glow of docking lights that someone forgot to shut off years ago. As your transports drop as bike drive, the station fills your view.
[00:01:50] Port up close. It's even worse. Corridors of pitted metal antenna, bent at the wrong angles, cargo containers welded to the hull where they probably [00:02:00] shouldn't be. This was a research hub. Once someone was proud of it, that was more than 20 years ago it, now it's something else. The airlock hisses open and the smell is what hits you first.
[00:02:15] Rust, old fuel, something burning. The corridor head is dark. Half the lights are dead. The rest flickering in that particular rhythm that says nobody's coming to fix them. No government here, no authority, just people who've run out of options moving through the dark like they own it. Somewhere in the station, there's an office with a name that matches the one on the invitation you've received not that long ago.
[00:02:43] A message is waiting, a message that may change everything. The four of you come from many different walks of life, but something that you all share is that you received a cryptic message from your employer, omnitech Corp, [00:03:00] telling you to head on out to a gas mining office on a recluse deep space station on the outer fringes of space called Kari four.
[00:03:12] For those of you that may have investigated Kari four, you find it odd. That there's actually no Omnitech presence on this station at all. In fact, omnitech isn't a very powerful megacorp. It would've been weird if they did have a presence here, but you do find it odd that they would ask you to come here.
[00:03:31] Thorne: I didn't think my TPS reports were that bad, but I guess they're relocating me already. You
[00:03:36] Star Master Jeff: find yourself with three other people at the front of the gas mining offices, a recruitment center. To hire low skill workers to work in the gas mines on various gas giants or high atmosphere density planets. The door is locked, but as the fourth of you arrives, you hear the door snick as [00:04:00] it unlocks and slowly creaks open on rusted metal hinges hearing inside.
[00:04:07] You see a Spartan office, no chairs. A single metal desk on two metal legs behind it. A robot that is welded to the floor, unable to move from its position. This robot is not meant to look human. It is simply a trapezoid with a speaker in front of it.
[00:04:30] Please enter the gas mining
[00:04:33] offices of crime area four.
[00:04:36] That's, uh, that's quite an old model bot there. Felix says as I walk in cautiously,
[00:04:43] Robert: yeah, I don't think we should, uh, offend it, if you know what I mean.
[00:04:51] Thorne: Thorn strides in and up to the desk, uh, and he says, yes, this is thorn drax, this reporting from Echo [00:05:00] three about some blackout one.
[00:05:03] Haleyy: Haley walks in. All six five of her and just stares at this awkward, awful machine wondering why they're there.
[00:05:15] Star Master Jeff: The door shuts behind you and you hear it lock. The one window, which is already frosted over now has a metal shutter come down, plunging you with the darkness. A light turns on a low blue hum. Emits from the droid.
[00:05:34] Welcome to the Secret Omni Tech Offices on Crimea four A.
[00:05:41] Small shoot opens up in front of it and a tiny pincher claw comes out holding an SD card.
[00:05:48] The tiny arm telescopes out to the wall where there is a slot with a speaker above it. It inputs the SD card into the slot immediately a voice fills the room. [00:06:00]
[00:06:01] Welcome members of Blackout one. This mission briefing
[00:06:06] is classified. We trust you. Understand the importance of. A few months ago, a deep space outpost intercepted an encrypted transmission from outside the sector, a transmission which resisted all conventional forms of decryption.
[00:06:25] We found and employed some of the sector's best hackers, and out of their efforts came a string of numbers we now believe to be coordinate coordinates leading to an uncharted system at the far reaches of our own sector, the Viridian expansion. Your mission is to travel to miss. There you'll retrieve a Zeno linguist named Dr.
[00:06:49] Vo. Now, the good doctor is not an employee of ours, and she may require some convincing. Once you have her in your service, [00:07:00] figure out how to get to the uncharted sector and discover what there is to learn. There to aid you in this mission of free merchant class space Ship has been purchased and awaits you in docking Bay 72.
[00:07:14] Now, although this ship has not flown in close to a decade, it exists in no known registration, allowing you some anonymity. A false ship identification has been uploaded on a chip, which has been provided to you. At this point, the little pinch or claw retreats back into the robot and comes back out.
[00:07:34] Holding a small envelope and it hands it to, uh, yeah. Robert Ross. Yeah, I It goes to hand to Robert Ross, but then th snaps it in.
[00:07:42] Thorne: Nope, I don't grab it. I grab it.
[00:07:44] Star Master Jeff: Peeking inside of the envelope, you find a thousand credits represented in physical form and a small SD card.
[00:07:53] Dumb have also been provisioned for a food and additional supply.
[00:07:59] We [00:08:00] are likely not the only group or corporation to have interest. This signal be wearing for those you'll meet on your travels may be searching for the same thing as you. You will have no contact with us until your mission is complete. We will be in touch. The transmission ends. A curl of black smoke rises from the port that the ST card was inserted into the shutters rise and the door unlocks.
[00:08:32] Well, this is all a bit cloak and dagger, isn't it?
[00:08:36] Thorne: I can't say that. This is what I expected when I woke up this morning.
[00:08:40] Star Master Jeff: What's in that envelope? Thorn,
[00:08:42] Thorne: uh, thorn dumped out the contents like into his hand and holds it out. Well, these are the credits that they mentioned and one of the data chips.
[00:08:50] Star Master Jeff: Now
[00:08:50] lemme take a look at that.
[00:08:52] Thorne: Hand it over.
[00:08:53] Star Master Jeff: It's a standard high capacity SD card. You're not sure what's on it, but according to the [00:09:00] transmission, it's some sort of. Identification profile for the ship. So assumably, once you get to the ship, you'll have to upload it into its systems.
[00:09:08] Yeah. This must be that, uh, that Id they're talking about for the ship.
[00:09:12] I'll hold on to this. I'll get us loaded up when we get there. Hmm.
[00:09:14] Thorne: License and registration.
[00:09:16] Star Master Jeff: Apparently. So, by the way, thorn, good to see you again. Haven't seen you since that last mission. With that, go three.
[00:09:24] Thorne: Yeah, I'm surprised they put us together after the, that whole thing went haywire last time.
[00:09:29] Star Master Jeff: Well, you know, it was nice to have a break, but I'm glad to be back in the action.
[00:09:32] Haleyy: When you say haywire, we're supposed to save Dr. Foss. You guys can do that, right? Find her.
[00:09:41] Star Master Jeff: Uh, uh, ma'am, I can, I can find her. But saving people, I mean, I, I work with machines now. People, you look more like you could save somebody.
[00:09:52] Haleyy: Just gotta get to before anyone else does.
[00:09:55] Star Master Jeff: So I know I threw a lot of paragraphs at you and [00:10:00] I can give you like a high level version of it.
[00:10:02] Your mission for tonight is to go get your ship from Dawkin Bay 72 and then go to Misrata four, which is a research facility on the planet Waa in the VAR meat treatise system. So that is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 systems away. So you're looking at. 20 to 30 days of spike drives.
[00:10:25] So I wanna make sure we've got good supplies on this ship when we get there.
[00:10:28] Robert: Yep. And for that, I'm uh, gonna take a look around. Good look around. Make sure that, uh, if there's anything that we can harvest out of this base while we're, uh, making our way to the dock, uh, I'm gonna see if I can grab it.
[00:10:43] Star Master Jeff: Absolutely. So as you leave the false front of Omnitech here on Crimea four and start making your way towards.
[00:10:52] The docking bay, at least some of the docking bays, uh, one through 100. 'cause you're looking for 72. You [00:11:00] are encountering this. Horrible space station that was once a hub for research and development, but has since over the past 20 years, turned into a haven for black market drugs and illicit activities.
[00:11:14] The corridors are dark with many of the lights burnt out or, or broken. It's grime. It's run down is obviously no governmental entity here. There's no cleaning staff. There's simply anarchy. The air smells of rust. Old fuel and the buzzing of malfunctioning lights flickers overhead. It's not a very pleasant place.
[00:11:38] In fact, like many space stations, it feels as if you are underground. But here it's particularly claustrophobic. All of the luxuries that even the cheapest space station has are not present here. Windows into space, or at least illusionary pictures to make you feel like there's a actual planet outside with blue skies and green grass.
[00:11:58] Here you are deep [00:12:00] underground, even though you are floating in the middle of space.
[00:12:05] Robert: Well, I'm certainly gonna be looking out for ammunition, rations, fuel, and any drugs I can find just to keep him out of Felix's hands.
[00:12:15] Star Master Jeff: And you don't know me yet, man. How does, just outta curiosity, um, do we know how like supplies work on ships?
[00:12:23] Is it just based on the life support?
[00:12:25] I'm not gonna run a very crunchy game.
[00:12:27] Okay, cool.
[00:12:28] But the one thing you will need is fuel.
[00:12:31] Okay.
[00:12:32] We're gonna probably wanna like track fuel because that's impetus for you to take on jobs. A hundred percent. To keep blind.
[00:12:38] Yeah.
[00:12:38] Yeah. But for food and stuff, I don't care.
[00:12:41] If you have fuel in your tank, then I assume you have enough food to eat as well.
[00:12:44] Okay. That makes sense.
[00:12:46] So are you guys making your way towards docking base 72 while just looking out for other things? Or are you intentionally going away from docking base 72 to shop or to search?
[00:12:58] I think we should, I mean, we're here [00:13:00] for a reason.
[00:13:00] I wanna get off this station.
[00:13:01] Thorne: Mm-hmm.
[00:13:03] Star Master Jeff: Elk around. Y'all ready to go? I, I mean, I assume one of you can pilot this thing.
[00:13:08] Robert: Yeah, I'm, I'm moving with urgency here. I'll, I'll happily pallet us away, but, uh, I'm definitely just, uh, keeping a strong eye out while as we head towards the, uh, dock Bay 72.
[00:13:21] Star Master Jeff: Yeah. You good?
[00:13:21] You keep safe, man.
[00:13:23] Thorne: You know, when I heard we were going to crime, I thought we were just getting demoted. Now I feel like this is a suicide mission.
[00:13:29] Star Master Jeff: When is it anything different with Omnitech?
[00:13:32] Robert: I mean, they've been trying to kill me for years. They haven't done it yet.
[00:13:36] Haleyy: Look, it's still a bit of a sensitive subject.
[00:13:40] Guys know about my sister.
[00:13:43] Robert: Of course we do Now. That's it. I mean, they've been, you know, they've been trying to do something funny to us. There's a reason they put us all together
[00:13:54] Haleyy: so that we can serve. 'cause we're the best.[00:14:00]
[00:14:00] Thorne: I like your attitude, Hailey, with two y.
[00:14:05] Haleyy: Thank you.
[00:14:06] Star Master Jeff: I haven't been here long, but, uh, I definitely don't think we're the best that Omnitech has. Hey, don't sell
[00:14:12] Thorne: yourself short.
[00:14:13] Haleyy: Speak for yourself.
[00:14:15] Star Master Jeff: I wanted to sell on myself. Short man.
[00:14:16] Thorne: Wow.
[00:14:18] Star Master Jeff: So the four of you make your way to docking Bay 72. You're going through this dingy, crappy space station that probably cost trillions of credits to make and have since been abandoned by whatever entity made it and taken over by the gangs that have sprung up here.
[00:14:33] You count your way up to docking bay. Passing corridor after corridor. The first one is for docking bays one and two, only then three through 10, then 10 through 20. Sometimes the docking bay corridors are just for one or two massive docking bays that are meant for frigate clash ships. Other ones are a bevy of smaller docking bays all crowded together, fitting most likely in its heyday.
[00:14:55] 2, 3, 4 strike fighters per docking bay. Meaning that there would be a hundred for a single [00:15:00] corridor leading off to one of these docking bay sets. You make your way up to the 50 through 80 section. You're looking for docking Bay 72 in this section. Like all the other sections, it's full of grime and refuse dirt.
[00:15:13] It smells of stale recycled air. But something different about this area are the course marks on the wall, the dried blood on the ground, weeks, if not months old. Barricades have been built in various places along these corridors. A war broke out at some point. Massive battles. Along these corridors, there is a barricade directly across the entrance to docking bays 50 through 80.
[00:15:36] It's built of stacked storage bins and metal sheeting. Two armed guards wearing hacked together armor painted in bright greens and yellows stand behind the barricade. The barricade is about 10 feet tall and they're on some sort of ledge behind it. On each of their left shoulder pads is a red emblem of a fierce rat.
[00:15:56] One wheeled a semi-automatic pistol, which he [00:16:00] brandishes at you as you approach. And the other sports a saw off shotgun, which he holds at the ready.
[00:16:06] Thorne: Ah, the welcoming committee,
[00:16:07] Star Master Jeff: they both also have knives in, uh, bandier across their chest. Their shoulder pads are spiky but not as spiky as their hair as each sport, identical green and yellow.
[00:16:18] Mohawks, one of them speaks up and just, Hey, hi. This area's off limits to the likes of
[00:16:25] Thorne: gentlemen. Gentlemen, we're here on official business. We're looking for 72, and I like, I very gregarious step forward and like. Put my arms out like this Doesn't have to be, uh, a shootout.
[00:16:36] Star Master Jeff: He's brandish. The one that's talking is just brandishing his semi-automatic pistol around pointing it at each of you and then scratching his head with it.
[00:16:43] He's like, oh yeah, well I don't see those 72 here. So why don't you 72 yourself, uh, away from us and they high five each other.
[00:16:54] Robert: That was good one gentlemen. Now, I mean, we might have to take a little, little step away. 'cause I [00:17:00] mean, I was just trying to show off around here all these barriers y'all put up to, to keep, keep back the orphans.
[00:17:07] I, I know you that you, you, you have a whole bunch of orphan barriers around here. Is that right? I.
[00:17:12] Star Master Jeff: Often, what the hell are you talking about? Orphan barrier. I was an orphan. I don't, my friend, my friend here was an what? What do you mean? What the fuck do you mean? Orphan barriers? And now he's pointing his gut at you.
[00:17:26] Robert: I mean, I'm just showing her, look. Look you, y'all got such a nasty looking barrier here. Uh, didn't, didn't mean to disturb. Now what a nice little, little, little rat. Oh, that's a sparked hair.
[00:17:37] Thorne: I think what my friend is trying to say is, we don't mean any offense, but we do need to get beyond your barrier. Get
[00:17:44] Star Master Jeff: beyond our barrier.
[00:17:46] Listen to these fancy gentlemen coming in from the south side of the station. You don't know who we are. You're obviously not from around these parts because where are the drift rats? We drift [00:18:00] like rats all around this side of the station. And you think you're gonna come in here and get across our barrier, you're in drift rat territory, or do you not understand that yet?
[00:18:11] Because I could pump you full of lead and maybe that'll give you a little bit of an idea where you are.
[00:18:17] Robert: I didn't know that. Drift rats. I didn't know where. In drift rat territory. Y'all should have said something earlier. I mean, that's my boys
[00:18:26] Haleyy: Hailey's just standing off to the side, starting to do upper flex routine crunching her knuckles.
[00:18:33] We know where we're, we're on our way to 72 move,
[00:18:37] Star Master Jeff: so I need you to roll talk Robert Ross, which is not a skill you're good at.
[00:18:42] Robert: Well, um, I, I, I, I tried to talk him up real good and I rolled the five.
[00:18:49] Star Master Jeff: So as you guys approach the 10 foot barrier and you're, you're crunching your knuckles, cracking your knuckles, and Robert is basically trying to ingratiate yourself to them, right, Robert?
[00:18:58] Robert: Or at least let 'em know [00:19:00] that, I mean, I, I respect the drift rats. The drift rats are a, a, a maing game.
[00:19:06] Star Master Jeff: So unfortunately you didn't roll very high. So as you approach, they, the shotgun guy also points his gun and he says. Hey, yo, I don't like, uh, that they're getting so close to us there. And the other one says,
[00:19:18] what do you think you're gonna
[00:19:18] do?
[00:19:19] Get over this wall? And he pats it really hard back up. You're not allowed in drift rack territory. You're probably working for them neon fangs anyway, huh? And he spits on the ground neon fangs more, like more, and he looks over at his friend more like, uh. He snaps his fingers looking for help. The guy just looks at him.
[00:19:38] Thorne: Neon lames.
[00:19:39] Robert: We hate them.
[00:19:40] Star Master Jeff: Ah, the neon lames. I'm glad I thought of it. The neon lames. You're a bunch of them. Neon la
[00:19:48] Thorne: Listen, we're not with the lams. We respect the drift rats and we're on official business, and I'm telling you too, that it would be in your best interest. To let us through.
[00:19:59] Star Master Jeff: Oh, [00:20:00] okay. Well, thorn, why don't you roll a talk?
[00:20:05] Because you're trying to intimidate them.
[00:20:11] Thorne: Uh, I rolled a 12.
[00:20:13] Robert: It got darn.
[00:20:14] Star Master Jeff: So yeah, with a 12, you say that and they go, Hey, uh, you know, box, I think these guys are serious. Ah, shut up with ya. Okay, tell you what, y'all look pretty serious. Why don't you just stay there and I'll get old Rust Claw. He'll talk to you and he'll, he'll, he'll, he'll sort this out.
[00:20:32] He'll sort it out. You stay here and he'll sort this out.
[00:20:35] Thorne: I'm sure
[00:20:36] Star Master Jeff: he hops down off the back of the wall and the, the guy with a shotgun just keeps it kind of trained on you. And his face is just completely blank. It's obvious that there's not a lot of lights on in there,
[00:20:46] Thorne: so I just kind of smirk at him and then I turn back to the group and I like huddle up real quick and I'm like, what the fuck are we gonna do?
[00:20:52] Haleyy: We're gonna punch 'em.
[00:20:53] Thorne: They're 10 feet up on a giant wall
[00:20:55] Haleyy: after they come down.
[00:20:56] Star Master Jeff: Sorry. Sorry, y'all. I mean, I'm gonna have to let the muscle take care of this one. [00:21:00] Um, these boys are low tech.
[00:21:01] Thorne: What do we just tell 'em? We, uh, I don't know.
[00:21:04] Star Master Jeff: I mean, we could go the lowest tech route. I mean, we got a thousand credits.
[00:21:07] I mean, what, what kind of bribe these boys want? Probably not very much. They don't look like much. I think anything could make a difference in their lives. You know what I mean?
[00:21:14] Thorne: You're crazy. I'm not giving our credit to these bumbling gangsters.
[00:21:18] Star Master Jeff: You wanna tell the boss at Omnitech that we got stopped before we even got to the ship?
[00:21:22] Thorne: I don't think we'll get to tell him much when we're dead. Maybe you're right.
[00:21:25] Star Master Jeff: Intruders, welcome to the lower docking bays. You turn to find a hulking, heavily scarred man. His nickname of Rust Claw comes apart quite clearly as his left hand is missing and has been replaced with a mechanical cybernetic claw.
[00:21:46] He looks like a beast built for she strength, and he has a very commanding presence. Box tells me that. Well, you wanna get through to Docking Bay 72. Look at me. I'm a poet. Everyone. [00:22:00] Good one, boss. Good one.
[00:22:01] Thorne: Uh, if it isn't the great and illustrious Lord Rust Claw, thank you for taking the time to meet with us.
[00:22:07] Yes. We would like to get Docking Bay 72. Very important business.
[00:22:12] Star Master Jeff: I see, I see, I see. Well, you're in drift rack territory. You can't just Huh. Walk on through. That's not the way this works.
[00:22:21] Thorne: Of course, of course. I'm sure.
[00:22:23] Star Master Jeff: What do you want in docking Bay? 72?
[00:22:26] Thorne: Oh, uh, I, I nervously look back at everybody else and then, uh, I look back at, at Rust Claw again, and I say, uh, that's where we parked.
[00:22:36] Star Master Jeff: We've been in control of these docking bays for years now. What do you mean that's where you parked?
[00:22:43] Thorne: Oh, I think that this is just a big misunderstanding and uh, we just need to pay the toll. Right, Felix? Uh,
[00:22:51] Star Master Jeff: yeah,
[00:22:51] boss, you gotta, you gotta pay the toll
[00:22:53] Robert: as this is happening. Um, I'm, I'm, can I, can I size him up compared to Hailey?
[00:22:59] [00:23:00] Um, because I, I want to give it the old, Hey, what about an arm wrestling contest?
[00:23:04] Thorne: Ooh.
[00:23:04] Star Master Jeff: And Miller size? It's Hulk versus Thanos.
[00:23:08] Thorne: Is he on the wall or is he down where we are?
[00:23:09] Star Master Jeff: He's on the wall.
[00:23:10] Thorne: Yeah. Okay.
[00:23:11] Star Master Jeff: Atto, you say, well, docking Bay 72 is one of the ones we've been, uh, unable to open these past several years.
[00:23:21] Tell me what's in there and maybe you can do a favor for me in exchange for the goods that I own.
[00:23:26] Man, we just
[00:23:26] told you it's where we parked. What kind of ship is in there? You daft fool,
[00:23:32] Thorne: a spaceship. And what kind of favor are we talking about?
[00:23:35] Star Master Jeff: It depends on what kind of spaceship is in there.
[00:23:38] Robert: So you're telling us YY y'all don't even know what's in, uh, your docking bay.
[00:23:43] Star Master Jeff: There's, uh, a lot of security in here. Unable to open all the doors to all the docking bays. We've gotten a lot of them open. Don't get me wrong. This one we haven't quite opened yet.
[00:23:53] Oh, well, well, I, I could, I could open one of the other ones for you in exchange for you letting us through a 72.
[00:23:58] Thorne: And it's nothing special.
[00:23:59] It's just an [00:24:00] old, you know, small ship. It was, it was left to, for Felix, his uncle just passed and he left it to him in his well, so we're here to pick it up.
[00:24:09] Robert: I'm just curious. If, uh, my big strong friend over here, uh, can, can open the door with her bare hands. Felix, y'all gonna need to hack this. If she can open this with her bare hands.
[00:24:22] Uh, will you let us take the contents of what's inside?
[00:24:27] Star Master Jeff: No. What do you, take me for a fool. Do you think I became the leader of the drift rats by just giving things out based on feats of strength? Boy, I am a feat of strength. I care not for seeing such musculature. Then he points down to you and he says.
[00:24:41] You tell me what type of ship is in there and I'll proportion a favor. You do this favor, we open those doors based on, I'm assuming you have the code to get in. And if that type of ship is in there, you weren't lying to me. Ipso facto, you can take it away because the favor has been rendered in full. And a drift rat is always worth his word.[00:25:00]
[00:25:00] Thorne: It's just a free merchant. And yes, we have the codes.
[00:25:03] Star Master Jeff: A free merchant that's been sitting there for how long?
[00:25:06] Thorne: Who knows? How old was your uncle Felix?
[00:25:08] Star Master Jeff: Well, let's see. Uncle, uncle Roger died. I mean, I, I, I've moved planets a couple times. You know how hard it's to keep track of interplanetary time. Um, how old did you say y'all had been here five years or so?
[00:25:19] I think it was about six years ago.
[00:25:20] If that thing's been sitting there for longer than two weeks without maintenance, it's probably a rust bucket that's not flyable by now Anyway, I'll tell you what, I have a small favor for you. Obviously you've heard of the drift rats, but have you heard of the neon fangs?
[00:25:34] You mean the neon wave? And
[00:25:36] neon lames.
[00:25:37] Thorne: Hey boss,
[00:25:38] Star Master Jeff: that was my joke I made to silence you. If I wanna know who said a joke, I'll ask the neon lames. That's a good one. Yes, the neon. The neon lames. The neon lames are, uh, well, they're another gang. A lesser gang. They're a bit more south of us. They have some of the docking bays and they've been trying to expand their reach.
[00:25:57] They've, uh, forgotten exactly who [00:26:00] is in charge of this side of the space station and they need to be reminded. Do you have someone with you that can hack?
[00:26:07] Uh, yeah, you could say. So.
[00:26:09] I've been hacking a little plan for a while now, but, uh. Our hackers are, uh, not really up to the task. They're not fighters.
[00:26:18] And this requires going behind enemy lines.
[00:26:20] What's the hack exactly?
[00:26:22] Moving into the neon lames territory. Neon lames. And you're gonna try to take down their systems from the inside. Of course, all of their ports are firewalled, so you're gonna have to actually move into their territory to use one of the unprotected ports, blaster, the drift brats, insignia all over every screen on the station if you can access them with the message on it Better, A rat in the drift than a king in a cage.
[00:26:48] That's our motto, and we live by it. Remind them who's in charge of this station. If you could do this and we see the proof on our own screens, you can come back here and we'll let you into, well, we'll let you access to Dock base 72 opening. [00:27:00] The door will be up to you. We'll give you a hardy handshake and a glass of brew if you wish it, because you'll be honorary drift rats.
[00:27:07] If you can make the neon lams look, that fang, I mean lame.
[00:27:12] Do you have a, do you have a copy of this program you want run?
[00:27:15] No, no, no. You gotta write your own program. What do I look like? Someone who writes programs? Do I? Do I look like I'm wearing glasses?
[00:27:22] Well, your logo and then, what was it again?
[00:27:24] Better A rat in the drift than a king in a cage.
[00:27:29] Finish his box.
[00:27:30] Alright. All right. All right. Yeah, that'll be no problem.
[00:27:33] Robert: That's great stuff, by the way. Great stuff.
[00:27:35] Star Master Jeff: He waves his hand, dismissively and hops off to the back of the wall, and you can hear him moving back off into the docking base box waves. His semi-automatic you, and he goes,
[00:27:44] all
[00:27:44] right, now you heard the boss.
[00:27:46] Get the fuck outta here and do the job, or you're gonna get shot in the head a couple thousand times.
[00:27:53] Thorne: All right. All right. I turn around and I look, I look at Felix, this is no problem for you, right?
[00:27:59] Star Master Jeff: Yeah, no, that, [00:28:00] that'll be fine. I, we just need to get to the right, uh, the right interface. So let's, uh, he said, what did he say south of here?
[00:28:05] I never know which direction it's which in space
[00:28:08] Thorne: it's all rotating.
[00:28:09] Star Master Jeff: So you leave docking bays 50 through 80. Unable to get into Dock Base 72, and you're gonna go try to figure out where the neon fangs are. How to infiltrate them. How to hack them, and do exactly what, uh, Russ Claw needs to allow you access to your ship.
[00:28:27] So have at you,
[00:28:29] Thorne: Felix, how long is it gonna take you to write a program that does.
[00:28:32] Star Master Jeff: Oh, I could do it while we're walking. It'll, it'll just take me a little bit of time. But, uh, I mean, to get into their system, I mean, if you let me prep for, for a bit here, we, we could, you know, I could do it. No, no problem. Um, I need like, I don't know, a good hour, hour and a half to sit down and work through this, but, you know, make sure I got the right routes through their protocols.
[00:28:50] Um, or you know, we just go in there and I wing it.
[00:28:53] And I will say you're on a space station that has accommodations, so if you guys need to, it is getting on in the day. It'd be nice [00:29:00] to spend the next night on your spaceship, but if you can't do things fast enough, there are hotels, CD and non CD here on the space station.
[00:29:08] Yeah, I mean, listen. Thorn it. You know, you've seen me in action. I I can do this. No problem. This is a baby hack. Like, the fact that their guys couldn't do it. I mean, I wouldn't even call them hackers. They're, you know, kids playing around. Just gimme 10 minutes in front of one of their terminals and I'll be fine.
[00:29:22] Robert: I mean, 10 minutes might be a little, little bit of a time. Uh, do you know what, what kind of security we're going through here?
[00:29:29] Star Master Jeff: No, that's what the 10 minutes is for.
[00:29:31] Thorne: Hopefully not a big 10 foot concrete wall.
[00:29:34] Robert: That's what I'm worried about.
[00:29:36] Star Master Jeff: Oh, you mean physical? Yeah. I don't know about any of that stuff. You, y'all gotta figure that out.
[00:29:39] Cybersecurity. Yeah. Like I said, that's the 10 minutes, you know, 10, maybe 15 minutes tops.
[00:29:45] Robert: Yeah. That, that's, that, that's that, that click of the clock part. Now I'm talking about what am I gonna have to deal with to, to make sure that you have the, them there 10 minutes.
[00:29:55] Star Master Jeff: Well, a, a slightly crazy look. Flashes crossed my
[00:29:58] eyes.
[00:29:58] Why don't I go find out. [00:30:00]
[00:30:00] Robert: That's what I'm talking about. That's my boy, Felix.
[00:30:05] Star Master Jeff: Okay, so tell me how you want to approach this. You're heading towards Neon Fang territory
[00:30:09] Thorne: and we have a decent idea of where that is, right?
[00:30:11] Star Master Jeff: Yeah. So you know that they hold some of the docking bays south of 50 through 80.
[00:30:18] Thorne: Alright, so we're looking for the 30 through 50 area or whatever it is.
[00:30:21] Star Master Jeff: Yeah, so you eventually find the neon fangs are holding. You don't quite know the extent of their holdings, but you do know that they don't start to hold until the low forties and they hold multiple corridors, but they're smaller. They're not like the big neon rat, uh, the big, uh, drift rat section of 50 through 80, where it's one massive corridor with a bunch of stuff behind it.
[00:30:45] They hold many smaller corridors with only a few docking bays behind each one. So as you approach this area, it's less of a barricade that's stopping people from going in and more of a residential area and lots of stalls and [00:31:00] merchants and the Neon Fang sort of patrolling the area more like armed guards and preventing people from going down certain dock, big corridors.
[00:31:06] But other than that, they've seemed to have built a community that they're the protectors or perhaps exploiters of. Here in the lower areas of the docking bay.
[00:31:16] Thorne: Okay. What I was gonna say was that we should keep our eyes peeled for anyone that looks like they're with the fangs, but it sounds like we can see that.
[00:31:23] Star Master Jeff: Yeah. So the neon fangs are dressed in similar like street armor as the drift rats, but their colors are different. They're spray painted red or black, uh, red and black, all over their armor, and they have. Uh, an emblem of a rat that looks very similar to the drift rat Rat, but it has two giant fangs on the front, like coming out of its rat like mouth.
[00:31:44] So their emblems are practically identical, but one has fangs and I'm sure there's some sort of message in there about how we're all actually alike.
[00:31:50] Thorne: Yeah. I'm sensing some politics.
[00:31:53] Star Master Jeff: Yeah. I wrote pages, reams of history about these two gangs and how they splintered from the same No, I, I didn't, [00:32:00] no, no, no. Or did I?
[00:32:05] Haleyy: I'm like, where's the Romeo and Juliet story here?
[00:32:08] Star Master Jeff: Yep. If you guys wanna stick around in this space station, I'm sure you could find that story.
[00:32:13] Thorne: That guy with the handgun was clearly cio.
[00:32:16] Star Master Jeff: Yeah. Um, I mean, so as, as we're moving through this area and we, we kinda see all the things you described, the stalls, the guards, I'm looking around for any, like, access points that seem like they're tied into, you know, that they, um, that I could check out to see if they're tied into the right network and, and begin doing some analysis of the system here.
[00:32:35] Sure. So you're moving down essentially what is the main corridor? All the docking bays have other corridors that branch off of this one. This main corridor with all these stalls and people is the same corridor you've been following. That goes all the way back to drift rat territory and also goes all the way to the lifts to bring you up to the upper levels where you actually went to like the Omnitech gas mining front.
[00:32:56] So this is just the main thoroughfare there is you do spot a port. It's [00:33:00] currently in use by a merchant who has a small stall. Selling handmade rugs and towels. It's, he has a laptop looking device plugged into it with a, a great ribbon cable.
[00:33:12] I nudge. I nudge Thorn eight. I just, I gotta get on that, that exact one.
[00:33:18] I mean, have you seen any others, Hailey, Rob, you seen any others?
[00:33:21] Haleyy: Sure. We can keep look looking. I mean, he's just a merchant.
[00:33:25] Star Master Jeff: He looks, he looks nice. Like somebody should go talk to him.
[00:33:28] Thorne: You want me to distract him?
[00:33:29] Haleyy: I can go ask.
[00:33:31] Robert: Yeah. Um, before y'all do that, uh, I'm, I'm kind of curious just to give 'em a little bit of distraction if, uh, I might just roll around in some grease and spike out my hair real quick.
[00:33:42] Make it look like I'm a a, a neon lame.
[00:33:46] Star Master Jeff: I mean, don't, don't see, yeah. I mean, you do you Bobby,
[00:33:52] Robert: I turned my afro into like the most gigantic spiked, dreadlock, frow [00:34:00] thing you've ever seen.
[00:34:03] Star Master Jeff: Uh, I'm just curious, what method of adhesion are you using to turn your Afro? What color is your Afro?
[00:34:11] Robert: It is, it is, uh, a, a white afro that has been just dunked in floor grease.
[00:34:17] Just like, I'm just like rubbing it up against a wall.
[00:34:21] Star Master Jeff: Oh
[00:34:21] Robert: my God.
[00:34:24] Star Master Jeff: Your Afro touches a wall and immediately turns into shoulder length hair. That's how greasy it gets instantly. So you spike it up the best you can with floor grease and, uh, whatever else is rubbing off of the floors and wall. It's a disgusting, it's less of an afro and more of a block of hair.
[00:34:43] Now that is, it's a trapezoid of hair. Uh, but you are, you are missing the red and black spray painted armor.
[00:34:53] Robert: Well, the black's coming from the grease 'cause I'm now just rolling around in Grease. Hailey, can you, can you try to make a little little rat up [00:35:00] in here somewhere? No. Can you just like, draw, draw, draw a rat up in there?
[00:35:03] No,
[00:35:04] Star Master Jeff: people are looking at you a bit funny here in this main thoroughfare of the space station as you roll around on the floor and rub your head against the wall.
[00:35:11] I, I kind of, as he's doing this, I kind of feel kind of, you know. Limps over, and I lean against the wall near where the merchant's computer is plugged in, as close as I can get to it and kind of like, you know, make it obvious that I'm rubbing like a painful part of my body.
[00:35:26] Like, and I, I kind of like hiking up my pants so people can see my robot legs and I'm like rubbing my, my, the joints where my legs meet, my, my hips and it's, I, I'm just like leaning against the wall for a quick little rest.
[00:35:38] Okay, we're gonna roll a couple of skills here for both of you.
[00:35:42] Haleyy: This is der. Yeah, Hailey is terrified right now of what is what's going on on the floor.
[00:35:49] Star Master Jeff: I have nothing to do. I have nothing to do with that. Robert just went for it and I just like trying to take advantage.
[00:35:57] Thorne: He walks up and he's like, I've got an idea, and he starts break [00:36:00] dancing.
[00:36:00] Haleyy: No, I love it. My sister. It. I'm like, this is what my sister experienced and I'm, I'm just going through a whole lot of reshaping what I thought.
[00:36:11] Strike unit. I was like, I'm like, is this a normal strike unit six adventure? Robert,
[00:36:17] Robert: lemme tell you, this is, this is the least weird thing we did.
[00:36:23] Star Master Jeff: So Robert, I'm gonna have you roll, perform dexterity. No, no. Let's do perform. Yeah, no, perform dexterity is perfect. So you're. Rolling around the ground, rubbing your hair everywhere, trying to get it into an approximation of a neon fang's, armor and hair style, which is obviously never gonna happen.
[00:36:43] But unbeknownst to you, you are causing the exact distraction you wish to cause by becoming a neon fang. So with a roll of eight, you meet the DC and you have captured the attention of the nearby rug and towel merchant. Who is saying who? Uh. [00:37:00] Felix who's right next to him, next to the port on the wall, can hear her say what the places that young man's lost his mind.
[00:37:08] And Felix, I need you to also rule perform because you're trying to act like you have a reason to be leaning against the wall. So it's do perform
[00:37:17] I
[00:37:17] Star Master Jeff: I have in pain, I have in legitimate pain as well.
[00:37:20] Yeah, but you're trying to mask your true intention of, yeah. So go ahead and rule, perform charisma.
[00:37:27] Double A six.
[00:37:29] Sadly.
[00:37:30] Okay, so, but you get a bonus from the distraction. The merchant is not looking at you, you're just another, you know, uh, man with, well, I guess you have prosthetic legs, but you're another, you know, another older gentleman that's having problems rubbing his legs and he's attention is just purely captured by this white Afro man rolling around on the ground.
[00:37:51] In fact. He's capturing a bit too much attention as two neon fangs down the corridor seem to have noticed him and are starting to make their way towards him.
[00:37:58] Well, I'm not gonna have enough time, [00:38:00] I think, to myself to do the hack here or will I, so first thing first, I'm gonna unplug his laptop and plug in my data pad,
[00:38:10] okay?
[00:38:10] He is too wrapped up in what's happening to notice.
[00:38:14] So I performed like the handshake and like it, can I tell that this is a neon flame? I forget their actual name. Neon flame Fs. Neon fangs. This is an actual neon fangs, um, like connected to their systems.
[00:38:28] So to determine that, I'm gonna need you to make some sort of exploratory computers role.
[00:38:34] So you plug in, you grab, what kind of device are you using? Are you opening a laptop or is it a data pad?
[00:38:39] No, I have it. It's a data pad. It's like a, a slab. It folds out. Into like a three, A three screen thing. It's called a data slab.
[00:38:47] Awesome. So you plug your ribbon cable into the port and you slide open your data slab and you hurriedly type on, is it a virtual interface or is it actual like physical keys?
[00:38:58] It's like a virtual interface.
[00:38:59] So using the [00:39:00] virtual interface click, although you are within the neon fang's territory, this court is in the main corridor and thus is not part of their firewalled uh, Franet.
[00:39:12] Okay. Um. Realizing that I'm going to try to pull out a, like a network map of the local area.
[00:39:22] Okay.
[00:39:23] I'll keep your roll from before. This is all a single hacking attempt, so you continue typing as the neon fang guards are. You can see outta the corner of your eye. They're now conversing with your group and uh, Robert Ross has stood up from the ground and they're all talking, so you're typing, they're continuing to distract.
[00:39:43] And you pull out a network map that tells you how many different ports are here in this corridor, but also that the ports that are firewalled, you can tell because you can't reach, ask those ports and figure out what's on the other side of them, which means they're firewalled. That is where the neon fang's ports are, but you do have their [00:40:00] physical locations.
[00:40:01] Meanwhile, two neon fangs walk up to you, Robert, while you're on the ground. They each have pistols and knives. But holstered and sheathed and one of the neon fangs says, citizen, you are causing alarm. Please stand,
[00:40:17] Robert: sir. Yes, sir. Happy to stand up for y'all. Love the neon fangs, by the way.
[00:40:24] Star Master Jeff: They go ahead and they, they help you up and they're kind of dusting you off and trying to get the grime off you a little bit, but they don't try too hard.
[00:40:30] They, they turn to, uh, captain Thorn, who just happens to be the closest one and says, is this your friend?
[00:40:37] Thorne: Yes, my apologies. He's having a bit of a traumatic stress episode, but I think he's coming on the other side of it now. Thanks for your assistance.
[00:40:46] Star Master Jeff: Absolutely understand. Well, I haven't seen you around here before.
[00:40:49] This is neon fang's territory. We try to keep the peace the best we can. Obviously your friend wasn't hurting anyone, but we can't have him rolling around in the streets. Are you new in this area? [00:41:00]
[00:41:00] Thorne: Um, yes, actually.
[00:41:02] Star Master Jeff: Well, welcome to the neon fangs territory. We keep everything as safe as we can from the other gangs.
[00:41:08] Uh, essentially from here down to Docking Bay 20, I don't know if you've gone that south yet. If you need lodging, there are several hostels as well as one more upscale hotel. A lot of residents have been moving in and taking shelter in what we unfortunately are calling a shanty town, but. There's plenty of space there if you simply need the bed somewhere outside and you are, you know, bereft of credits, let's say.
[00:41:34] Thorne: Well, that's extremely helpful, thank you. And, uh, if I could ask, I don't suppose the fangs have like a, a central base of operations in these areas, do you?
[00:41:45] Star Master Jeff: Uh, it depends what you're looking for now. If you need some sort of help navigating the area or you want to talk to our leaders about some concern with our community, uh.
[00:41:55] You can go two docking bay corridors down, that's two [00:42:00] on the port side. Whenever we say a number of corridors, we're talking about port side corridors, go two down and then it'll be that next corridor.
[00:42:07] Robert: And, um, theoretically if we were having some, uh, the of course did not necessarily happen. Issues with Drift, Brad.
[00:42:18] Uh, would y'all be able to help us with that?
[00:42:21] Star Master Jeff: If drift rats enter this territory? We kindly ask them to leave. We don't take them as a legitimate threat. Uh, of course, they've harassed our citizens before and interrupted our supply lines, and they've taken a section of docking bays to the north that are largely useless.
[00:42:40] Which is why we haven't attempted to move into them ourselves. But of course they are a problem from time to time. Yes. Uh, we wouldn't move against them though, based on something that happened outside of this area. No. But if you've had trouble with them, I would simply tell you, stay away from them.
[00:42:57] There's plenty of stable sections of the Space Station where you can [00:43:00] call your new home and welcome to c mbia. Four.
[00:43:03] Thorne: Well, it's been a delight speaking with you, gentlemen. Thank you.
[00:43:06] Star Master Jeff: Oh, if you're gonna be. Picking a place to live on crime four and you end up staying in the neon fangs community. My name is Roger.
[00:43:16] Um, I actually run a pool hall just down, well, I guess I thought I'd be running it, but, uh, as a, as a guard with the neon fangs aren't that much time, so I suppose it's, it's probably more fair to say my wife and my eldest Axel run the pool hall. So if you play billiards or if you like to gamble a little bit or just want a good place to drink with a few friends, it's called Rogers.
[00:43:43] That's my name. It's down there four corridors, and you'll find it.
[00:43:48] Thorne: Well, thank you.
[00:43:50] Star Master Jeff: Thanks. You're so kind.
[00:43:52] He shakes each person's hand and turn.
[00:43:56] While that, while that goodbye is happening, I, I'm unplugging my data pad and, and plugging [00:44:00] it back in the merchant's laptop.
[00:44:02] Robert: And I give him the most long and awkward greasy handshake.
[00:44:07] Star Master Jeff: Oh God.
[00:44:08] He does show on his face that he thinks it's awkward and greasy, but out of politeness, he waits for you to finish the handshake. He obviously thinks that you are suffering some sort of like emotional trauma when you release his hand. He, he, he grips you by the shoulder for a moment and he says, my friend.
[00:44:27] Whatever's happening, it will get better. It will. And he claps you on the shoulder to stay with your friends. They're a good lot.
[00:44:33] Robert: You, sir. Are a kind man and I will absolutely. Matter of fact, I love failures. I've been playing since I was a boy. I'm gonna go by Roberts. Rob,
[00:44:45] Star Master Jeff: it's Rogers,
[00:44:46] Robert: uh,
[00:44:47] Star Master Jeff: my name's Roger
[00:44:48] Robert: Rogers.
[00:44:49] I totally knew that. I knew that the whole time. I'm not suffering from a mental break. You're are
[00:44:53] Star Master Jeff: suffering from a mental break. Its okay. It's a common problem. People call me Robert all the time. Don't worry about it. They sound it's, it's fine. [00:45:00] So, yeah, Rogers just down and I can't wait to see you there.
[00:45:03] All are welcome. First round is on me of pool and drinks. If you don't drink, we have water too.
[00:45:09] Thorne: Wow. Thanks Roger. Thanks Roger.
[00:45:11] Star Master Jeff: And Roger and the other guard who was standing a little bit off just kind of watching the crowd during that, uh, leave. And as they leave, the second guard gives you kind of a half-hearted wave, like he regrets not being more part of the conversation and they, they move on into deeper, into neon fang's territory towards Rogers billiard hall.
[00:45:31] Haleyy: Guys. Guys, what the fuck? Sorry, that was rude. What? They're awesome here. Yeah. Like what, what, what's in this code? I, I don't,
[00:45:40] Thorne: well, I kind of feel bad now. Yeah. Haley's right
[00:45:43] Star Master Jeff: guys. It's a, it, it's a, it's a prank. Do you not get like, I'm putting up a picture in some words. It's, it's a prank.
[00:45:49] It's just a prank, bro.
[00:45:50] It's so we can get access to our ship.
[00:45:52] Haleyy: It it, are we sure
[00:45:53] Star Master Jeff: I wrote the program. Haley.
[00:45:55] Haleyy: Are is it a nice prank?
[00:45:57] Robert: Yeah, but we're still the bad guys.
[00:45:59] Star Master Jeff: Yeah. [00:46:00] It's a picture and some words from some dumb ass gang. These are just people. We're never gonna see them again. These
[00:46:06] Robert: are just people. These are just people. I think that diminishes what they
[00:46:10] Star Master Jeff: are.
[00:46:11] Haleyy: If we go to that pool hall and drink their beer, they're not just people anymore.
[00:46:16] Star Master Jeff: What pool hall? What are you talking about?
[00:46:17] Robert: You missed a
[00:46:17] Thorne: whole
[00:46:18] Robert: thing.
[00:46:18] Thorne: Felix
[00:46:18] Haleyy: did. Did you not hear Roger?
[00:46:21] Star Master Jeff: I got a map of where all their ports are. We can go now and, and finish. This
[00:46:24] Robert: is one in Rogers because let me tell you, that place sounded great.
[00:46:28] Star Master Jeff: What? What is Rogers?
[00:46:30] Haleyy: What are you talking about?
[00:46:33] Star Master Jeff: Oh my God. Who are you people?
[00:46:36] Haleyy: There's a free beer. Like,
[00:46:39] Robert: wait, I was too busy rolling around in Greece. It's free beer.
[00:46:42] Haleyy: He said he'd get us the first round free.
[00:46:45] Thorne: He did say first round is on him. And that did constitute a verbal contract.
[00:46:49] Star Master Jeff: Where? Where did he say, where did he say this place was
[00:46:51] Thorne: or corridors down?
[00:46:53] Star Master Jeff: I checked, I cross-referenced that against my map of ports.
[00:46:56] So to get to any of the firewalled ports, [00:47:00] you're gonna have to go through one of these locked doors. Either a barricade or a shut door. Um, but there there is a barricade and a shut door, basically every corridor that you pass.
[00:47:09] Listen, like we can go there if you want, but we're not here to have a good time.
[00:47:13] Excuse me. Excuse me.
[00:47:15] I'm sorry.
[00:47:15] Thorne: Yes.
[00:47:16] Star Master Jeff: Yes sir. Man,
[00:47:17] it's the carpet towel cellar.
[00:47:19] Thorne: Ah, yes. Carpet towel salesman. How can I help you?
[00:47:23] Star Master Jeff: Would you like to buy something? You've been in front of my stall for a long time now. Yeah. My
[00:47:26] Thorne: business, I believe we were just leaving.
[00:47:29] Star Master Jeff: Oh, okay.
[00:47:30] Thorne: Your textiles are lovely.
[00:47:31] Haleyy: I'll, I'll, I'll take a towel.
[00:47:33] Thorne: No, don't pay that much. Don't pay that
[00:47:35] Haleyy: much. Well, how much? How much is it?
[00:47:36] Star Master Jeff: Yeah, that'll be three credits for the towel theory.
[00:47:38] Thorne: It's too much. Come on. Just walk, walk, walk, walk. Or just walk it away.
[00:47:42] Star Master Jeff: But your towel.
[00:47:44] Haleyy: My s
[00:47:49] like, we all need towels for space. Adventures.
[00:47:52] Star Master Jeff: So are you heading to Rogers? Is that what I've heard? Uh,
[00:47:56] listen, I found this, I, I pulled up this map of the ports. We gotta get through one of [00:48:00] these locked doors
[00:48:00] and you guys are walking down the main thoroughfare right now as you talk,
[00:48:03] talking in hush tones.
[00:48:04] Listen, you see all these, and I'm pointing out the locked doors and like the barricades as we walk past, we, we gotta get in there. That's where I could do my work. Somebody like, somebody's gotta get me in there.
[00:48:14] Robert: Will, can you hack one of these doors? I'm in perfect Neon fang disguise, so I could easily watch the door.
[00:48:22] Thorne: Robert, I dunno how to tell you this, my friend. But the disguise is not that great.
[00:48:27] Robert: I don't know. I don't know about that.
[00:48:32] Haleyy: I think it's worth one beer
[00:48:35] Thorne: and maybe there'll be, uh, is, listen, Felix, is there one four corridors down? Can we check that corridor to see how close it is?
[00:48:41] Star Master Jeff: Yeah. Like here's like every corridor.
[00:48:44] Thorne: Alright, let's go.
[00:48:45] Star Master Jeff: Alright. Alright.
[00:48:47] Thorne: So in an attempt to kill two birds with one stone, we're gonna go four corridors down.
[00:48:52] And see if we can find the door that's there or doors, I guess, and see what their proximity to Rogers is. [00:49:00]
[00:49:00] Star Master Jeff: Well, we'll have to head on off to Rogers another time, guys. I'm sorry, but we are out of time for tonight. But before we go, let's take a moment to hear some thoughts from our crew.
[00:49:13] Well, the group is dragging me to some God's forsaken billiards hall.
[00:49:18] Uh, more people I guess. But I think there's a chance I could find one of those. Access points that I need. We'll see what we turn up.
[00:49:27] Haleyy: You know, this has been a weird mission so far. First there's that robot, which weird then, you know, unexpected from Omnitech. Then we, you know, can't even buy towels after dealing.
[00:49:43] You know, watching Robert roll around in oil because of the neon flames. And thank God we've met one nice person on this place, but you know, people are, seem to be hell bent. Hopefully, uh, we can just finish this mission before [00:50:00] someone messes something up and also get Robert clean.
[00:50:04] Thorne: It's a shame we ran into the crazies on this station before we ran into any normal people.
[00:50:08] But at least we're on our way to getting that ship. Did you see what they were charging for rugs on this thing? Oh boy. It's a good thing these drinks are gonna be free.
[00:50:18] Robert: Felix and uh, Haley with one wise sister. Mm. Love working with a crew that ain't a bunch of randos that said, these here drift FRAs, but they seem like a bunch of chumps, but.
[00:50:33] The ship's a ship, and we need her.
[00:50:36] Star Master Jeff: Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Dark Star Adventures. The story just heating up and our cruise challenges are only just beginning. Will they find a way to outsmart the neon fangs and get the docking base? 72? You'll have to join us next time to find out. Until then, stay sharp.
[00:50:54] Keep your engines running. And remember out here among the stars, [00:51:00] survival is the ultimate victory. See you next time on Dark Star Adventures.
[00:51:13] Welcome to Dark Star Adventures. Tonight we journey deep into the shadows of the Veridian expanse, where danger lurks at every turn and no one can be trusted. You've tuned into an adventure where the stars are cold, the enemies are many, and every decision could be your last on tonight's adventure cast, ma'am, I can.
[00:51:34] I could find her, but saving people, I mean. I work with machines, not people. You're crazy. I'm not giving our credit to these bumbling gangsters. I might just roll around in some grease and spike out my hair real quick, make it look like I'm a neon lame. We're gonna punch 'em. They're 10 feet up on a giant wall after they come down.
[00:51:57] Now buckle up. The stars are [00:52:00] waiting. And the meridian expanse. Never forgive the unprepared. This is the Dark Star Adventure cast. Yeah. Here we are, doc Adventures. Woo. Here we are with our four brave adventures, Scott, Brian Doja, and Stephanie, thanks so much for joining me tonight for the first episode.
[00:52:29] Yeah. Okay. We're gonna dive right into it. I got a great adventure for you guys tonight, so let's go.
[00:52:41] Kfo hangs in the black like a forgotten coin, spinning slow at the edge of inhabited space. No beacon, no welcome message. Just a rusting tall the size of a city block in the faint glow of docking lights that someone forgot to shut off years ago. As your [00:53:00] transports drop as bike drive, the station fills your view.
[00:53:03] Port up close. It's even worse. Corridors of pitted metal antenna, bent at the wrong angles, cargo containers welded to the hull where they probably shouldn't be. This was a research hub. Once someone was proud of it, that was more than 20 years ago it, now it's something else. The airlock hisses open and the smell is what hits you first.
[00:53:28] Rust, old fuel, something burning. The corridor head is dark. Half the lights are dead. The rest flickering in that particular rhythm that says nobody's coming to fix them. No government here, no authority, just people who've run out of options moving through the dark like they own it. Somewhere in the station, there's an office with a name that matches the one on the invitation you've received not that long ago.
[00:53:56] A message is waiting, a message that may [00:54:00] change everything. The four of you come from many different walks of life, but something that you all share is that you received a cryptic message from your employer, omnitech Corp, telling you to head on out to a gas mining office on a recluse deep space station on the outer fringes of space called Kari four.
[00:54:25] For those of you that may have investigated Kari four, you find it odd. That there's actually no Omnitech presence on this station at all. In fact, omnitech isn't a very powerful megacorp. It would've been weird if they did have a presence here, but you do find it odd that they would ask you to come here.
[00:54:44] Thorne: I didn't think my TPS reports were that bad, but I guess they're relocating me already. You find yourself with three other people at the front of the gas mining offices, a recruitment center. To hire low skill workers to work in the gas mines [00:55:00] on various gas giants or high atmosphere density planets. The door is locked, but as the fourth of you arrives, you hear the door snick as it unlocks and slowly creaks open on rusted metal hinges hearing inside.
[00:55:21] Star Master Jeff: You see a Spartan office, no chairs. A single metal desk on two metal legs behind it. A robot that is welded to the floor, unable to move from its position. This robot is not meant to look human. It is simply a trapezoid with a speaker in front of it. Please enter the gas mining offices of crime area four.
[00:55:50] That's, uh, that's quite an old model bot there. Felix says as I walk in cautiously, yeah, I don't think we should, [00:56:00] uh, offend it, if you know what I mean. Thorn strides in and up to the desk, uh, and he says, yes, this is thorn drax, this reporting from Echo three about some blackout one. Haley walks in. All six five of her and just stares at this awkward, awful machine wondering why they're there.
[00:56:28] The door shuts behind you and you hear it lock. The one window, which is already frosted over now has a metal shutter come down, plunging you with the darkness. A light turns on a low blue hum. Emits from the droid. Welcome to the Secret Omni Tech Offices on Crimea four A. Small shoot opens up in front of it and a tiny pincher claw comes out holding an [00:57:00] SD card.
[00:57:01] The tiny arm telescopes out to the wall where there is a slot with a speaker above it. It inputs the SD card into the slot immediately a voice fills the room. Welcome members of Blackout one. This mission briefing is classified. We trust you. Understand the importance of. A few months ago, a deep space outpost intercepted an encrypted transmission from outside the sector, a transmission which resisted all conventional forms of decryption.
[00:57:38] We found and employed some of the sector's best hackers, and out of their efforts came a string of numbers we now believe to be coordinate coordinates leading to an uncharted system at the far reaches of our own sector, the Viridian expansion. Your mission is to travel to miss. There you'll retrieve [00:58:00] a Zeno linguist named Dr.
[00:58:02] Vo. Now, the good doctor is not an employee of ours, and she may require some convincing. Once you have her in your service, figure out how to get to the uncharted sector and discover what there is to learn. There to aid you in this mission of free merchant class space Ship has been purchased and awaits you in docking Bay 72.
[00:58:27] Now, although this ship has not flown in close to a decade, it exists in no known registration, allowing you some anonymity. A false ship identification has been uploaded on a chip, which has been provided to you. At this point, the little pinch or claw retreats back into the robot and comes back out.
[00:58:47] Holding a small envelope and it hands it to, uh, yeah. Robert Ross. Yeah, I It goes to hand to Robert Ross, but then th snaps it in. Nope, I don't grab it. I grab it. Peeking inside of the envelope, you find a [00:59:00] thousand credits represented in physical form and a small SD card. Dumb have also been provisioned for a food and additional supply.
[00:59:12] We are likely not the only group or corporation to have interest. This signal be wearing for those you'll meet on your travels may be searching for the same thing as you. You will have no contact with us until your mission is complete. We will be in touch. The transmission ends. A curl of black smoke rises from the port that the ST card was inserted into the shutters rise and the door unlocks.
[00:59:46] Well, this is all a bit cloak and dagger, isn't it? I can't say that. This is what I expected when I woke up this morning. What's in that envelope? Thorn, uh, thorn dumped out the contents like into his hand and holds it out. Well, these are the [01:00:00] credits that they mentioned and one of the data chips. Now lemme take a look at that.
[01:00:05] Thorne: Hand it over. It's a standard high capacity SD card. You're not sure what's on it, but according to the transmission, it's some sort of. Identification profile for the ship. So assumably, once you get to the ship, you'll have to upload it into its systems. Yeah. This must be that, uh, that Id they're talking about for the ship.
[01:00:25] Star Master Jeff: I'll hold on to this. I'll get us loaded up when we get there. Hmm. License and registration. Apparently. So, by the way, thorn, good to see you again. Haven't seen you since that last mission. With that, go three. Yeah, I'm surprised they put us together after the, that whole thing went haywire last time. Well, you know, it was nice to have a break, but I'm glad to be back in the action.
[01:00:45] Haleyy: When you say haywire, we're supposed to save Dr. Foss. You guys can do that, right? Find her. Uh, uh, ma'am, I can, I can find her. But saving people, I mean, I, I work with [01:01:00] machines now. People, you look more like you could save somebody. Just gotta get to before anyone else does. So I know I threw a lot of paragraphs at you and I can give you like a high level version of it.
[01:01:15] Star Master Jeff: Your mission for tonight is to go get your ship from Dawkin Bay 72 and then go to Misrata four, which is a research facility on the planet Waa in the VAR meat treatise system. So that is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 systems away. So you're looking at. 20 to 30 days of spike drives. So I wanna make sure we've got good supplies on this ship when we get there.
[01:01:42] Robert: Yep. And for that, I'm uh, gonna take a look around. Good look around. Make sure that, uh, if there's anything that we can harvest out of this base while we're, uh, making our way to the dock, uh, I'm gonna see if I can grab it. Absolutely. So as you leave the false front of [01:02:00] Omnitech here on Crimea four and start making your way towards.
[01:02:05] Star Master Jeff: The docking bay, at least some of the docking bays, uh, one through 100. 'cause you're looking for 72. You are encountering this. Horrible space station that was once a hub for research and development, but has since over the past 20 years, turned into a haven for black market drugs and illicit activities.
[01:02:27] The corridors are dark with many of the lights burnt out or, or broken. It's grime. It's run down is obviously no governmental entity here. There's no cleaning staff. There's simply anarchy. The air smells of rust. Old fuel and the buzzing of malfunctioning lights flickers overhead. It's not a very pleasant place.
[01:02:51] In fact, like many space stations, it feels as if you are underground. But here it's particularly claustrophobic. All of the luxuries that even the [01:03:00] cheapest space station has are not present here. Windows into space, or at least illusionary pictures to make you feel like there's a actual planet outside with blue skies and green grass.
[01:03:11] Here you are deep underground, even though you are floating in the middle of space. Well, I'm certainly gonna be looking out for ammunition, rations, fuel, and any drugs I can find just to keep him out of Felix's hands. And you don't know me yet, man. How does, just outta curiosity, um, do we know how like supplies work on ships?
[01:03:36] Is it just based on the life support? I'm not gonna run a very crunchy game. Okay, cool. But the one thing you will need is fuel. Okay. We're gonna probably wanna like track fuel because that's impetus for you to take on jobs. A hundred percent. To keep blind. Yeah. Yeah. But for food and stuff, I don't care.
[01:03:54] If you have fuel in your tank, then I assume you have enough food to eat as well. Okay. That makes sense. [01:04:00] So are you guys making your way towards docking base 72 while just looking out for other things? Or are you intentionally going away from docking base 72 to shop or to search? I think we should, I mean, we're here for a reason.
[01:04:13] I wanna get off this station. Mm-hmm. Elk around. Y'all ready to go? I, I mean, I assume one of you can pilot this thing. Yeah, I'm, I'm moving with urgency here. I'll, I'll happily pallet us away, but, uh, I'm definitely just, uh, keeping a strong eye out while as we head towards the, uh, dock Bay 72. Yeah. You good?
[01:04:34] You keep safe, man. You know, when I heard we were going to crime, I thought we were just getting demoted. Now I feel like this is a suicide mission. When is it anything different with Omnitech? I mean, they've been trying to kill me for years. They haven't done it yet. Look, it's still a bit of a sensitive subject.
[01:04:53] Haleyy: Guys know about my sister. Of course we do Now. That's it. I mean, [01:05:00] they've been, you know, they've been trying to do something funny to us. There's a reason they put us all together so that we can serve. 'cause we're the best.
[01:05:13] Thorne: I like your attitude, Hailey, with two y. Thank you. I haven't been here long, but, uh, I definitely don't think we're the best that Omnitech has. Hey, don't sell yourself short. Speak for yourself. I wanted to sell on myself. Short man. Wow. So the four of you make your way to docking Bay 72. You're going through this dingy, crappy space station that probably cost trillions of credits to make and have since been abandoned by whatever entity made it and taken over by the gangs that have sprung up here.
[01:05:46] Star Master Jeff: You count your way up to docking bay. Passing corridor after corridor. The first one is for docking bays one and two, only then three through 10, then 10 through 20. Sometimes the docking bay corridors are just for one or two massive docking bays that are [01:06:00] meant for frigate clash ships. Other ones are a bevy of smaller docking bays all crowded together, fitting most likely in its heyday.
[01:06:08] 2, 3, 4 strike fighters per docking bay. Meaning that there would be a hundred for a single corridor leading off to one of these docking bay sets. You make your way up to the 50 through 80 section. You're looking for docking Bay 72 in this section. Like all the other sections, it's full of grime and refuse dirt.
[01:06:26] It smells of stale recycled air. But something different about this area are the course marks on the wall, the dried blood on the ground, weeks, if not months old. Barricades have been built in various places along these corridors. A war broke out at some point. Massive battles. Along these corridors, there is a barricade directly across the entrance to docking bays 50 through 80.
[01:06:49] It's built of stacked storage bins and metal sheeting. Two armed guards wearing hacked together armor painted in bright greens and yellows stand behind the [01:07:00] barricade. The barricade is about 10 feet tall and they're on some sort of ledge behind it. On each of their left shoulder pads is a red emblem of a fierce rat.
[01:07:09] One wheeled a semi-automatic pistol, which he brandishes at you as you approach. And the other sports a saw off shotgun, which he holds at the ready. Ah, the welcoming committee, they both also have knives in, uh, bandier across their chest. Their shoulder pads are spiky but not as spiky as their hair as each sport, identical green and yellow.
[01:07:31] Mohawks, one of them speaks up and just, Hey, hi. This area's off limits to the likes of gentlemen. Gentlemen, we're here on official business. We're looking for 72, and I like, I very gregarious step forward and like. Put my arms out like this Doesn't have to be, uh, a shootout. He's brandish. The one that's talking is just brandishing his semi-automatic pistol around pointing it at each of you and then scratching his head with it.
[01:07:56] He's like, oh yeah, well I don't see those 72 here. So why [01:08:00] don't you 72 yourself, uh, away from us and they high five each other. That was good one gentlemen. Now, I mean, we might have to take a little, little step away. 'cause I mean, I was just trying to show off around here all these barriers y'all put up to, to keep, keep back the orphans.
[01:08:20] Robert: I, I know you that you, you, you have a whole bunch of orphan barriers around here. Is that right? I. Often, what the hell are you talking about? Orphan barrier. I was an orphan. I don't, my friend, my friend here was an what? What do you mean? What the fuck do you mean? Orphan barriers? And now he's pointing his gut at you.
[01:08:39] I mean, I'm just showing her, look. Look you, y'all got such a nasty looking barrier here. Uh, didn't, didn't mean to disturb. Now what a nice little, little, little rat. Oh, that's a sparked hair. I think what my friend is trying to say is, we don't mean any offense, but we do need to get beyond your barrier. Get beyond our barrier.
[01:08:59] Star Master Jeff: [01:09:00] Listen to these fancy gentlemen coming in from the south side of the station. You don't know who we are. You're obviously not from around these parts because where are the drift rats? We drift like rats all around this side of the station. And you think you're gonna come in here and get across our barrier, you're in drift rat territory, or do you not understand that yet?
[01:09:24] Because I could pump you full of lead and maybe that'll give you a little bit of an idea where you are. I didn't know that. Drift rats. I didn't know where. In drift rat territory. Y'all should have said something earlier. I mean, that's my boys Hailey's just standing off to the side, starting to do upper flex routine crunching her knuckles.
[01:09:46] Haleyy: We know where we're, we're on our way to 72 move, so I need you to roll talk Robert Ross, which is not a skill you're good at. Well, um, I, I, I, I tried to talk him up real good [01:10:00] and I rolled the five. So as you guys approach the 10 foot barrier and you're, you're crunching your knuckles, cracking your knuckles, and Robert is basically trying to ingratiate yourself to them, right, Robert?
[01:10:11] Robert: Or at least let 'em know that, I mean, I, I respect the drift rats. The drift rats are a, a, a maing game. So unfortunately you didn't roll very high. So as you approach, they, the shotgun guy also points his gun and he says. Hey, yo, I don't like, uh, that they're getting so close to us there. And the other one says, what do you think you're gonna do?
[01:10:32] Star Master Jeff: Get over this wall? And he pats it really hard back up. You're not allowed in drift rack territory. You're probably working for them neon fangs anyway, huh? And he spits on the ground neon fangs more, like more, and he looks over at his friend more like, uh. He snaps his fingers looking for help. The guy just looks at him.
[01:10:51] Thorne: Neon lames. We hate them. Ah, the neon lames. I'm glad I thought of it. The neon lames. You're a bunch of them. [01:11:00] Neon la Listen, we're not with the lams. We respect the drift rats and we're on official business, and I'm telling you too, that it would be in your best interest. To let us through. Oh, okay. Well, thorn, why don't you roll a talk?
[01:11:18] Star Master Jeff: Because you're trying to intimidate them.
[01:11:24] Thorne: Uh, I rolled a 12. It got darn. So yeah, with a 12, you say that and they go, Hey, uh, you know, box, I think these guys are serious. Ah, shut up with ya. Okay, tell you what, y'all look pretty serious. Why don't you just stay there and I'll get old Rust Claw. He'll talk to you and he'll, he'll, he'll, he'll sort this out.
[01:11:45] Star Master Jeff: He'll sort it out. You stay here and he'll sort this out. I'm sure he hops down off the back of the wall and the, the guy with a shotgun just keeps it kind of trained on you. And his face is just completely blank. It's obvious that there's not a lot of lights on in there, so I just kind [01:12:00] of smirk at him and then I turn back to the group and I like huddle up real quick and I'm like, what the fuck are we gonna do?
[01:12:05] Haleyy: We're gonna punch 'em. They're 10 feet up on a giant wall after they come down. Sorry. Sorry, y'all. I mean, I'm gonna have to let the muscle take care of this one. Um, these boys are low tech. What do we just tell 'em? We, uh, I don't know. I mean, we could go the lowest tech route. I mean, we got a thousand credits.
[01:12:20] Star Master Jeff: I mean, what, what kind of bribe these boys want? Probably not very much. They don't look like much. I think anything could make a difference in their lives. You know what I mean? You're crazy. I'm not giving our credit to these bumbling gangsters. You wanna tell the boss at Omnitech that we got stopped before we even got to the ship?
[01:12:35] Thorne: I don't think we'll get to tell him much when we're dead. Maybe you're right. Intruders, welcome to the lower docking bays. You turn to find a hulking, heavily scarred man. His nickname of Rust Claw comes apart quite clearly as his left hand is missing and has been replaced with a mechanical cybernetic claw.
[01:12:59] Star Master Jeff: He looks like a [01:13:00] beast built for she strength, and he has a very commanding presence. Box tells me that. Well, you wanna get through to Docking Bay 72. Look at me. I'm a poet. Everyone. Good one, boss. Good one. Uh, if it isn't the great and illustrious Lord Rust Claw, thank you for taking the time to meet with us.
[01:13:20] Thorne: Yes. We would like to get Docking Bay 72. Very important business. I see, I see, I see. Well, you're in drift rack territory. You can't just Huh. Walk on through. That's not the way this works. Of course, of course. I'm sure. What do you want in docking Bay? 72? Oh, uh, I, I nervously look back at everybody else and then, uh, I look back at, at Rust Claw again, and I say, uh, that's where we parked.
[01:13:49] Star Master Jeff: We've been in control of these docking bays for years now. What do you mean that's where you parked? Oh, I think that this is just a big misunderstanding and [01:14:00] uh, we just need to pay the toll. Right, Felix? Uh, yeah, boss, you gotta, you gotta pay the toll as this is happening. Um, I'm, I'm, can I, can I size him up compared to Hailey?
[01:14:12] Robert: Um, because I, I want to give it the old, Hey, what about an arm wrestling contest? Ooh. And Miller size? It's Hulk versus Thanos. Is he on the wall or is he down where we are? He's on the wall. Yeah. Okay. Atto, you say, well, docking Bay 72 is one of the ones we've been, uh, unable to open these past several years.
[01:14:34] Star Master Jeff: Tell me what's in there and maybe you can do a favor for me in exchange for the goods that I own. Man, we just told you it's where we parked. What kind of ship is in there? You daft fool, a spaceship. And what kind of favor are we talking about? It depends on what kind of spaceship is in there. So you're telling us YY y'all don't even know what's in, uh, your docking bay.
[01:14:56] There's, uh, a lot of security in here. Unable to [01:15:00] open all the doors to all the docking bays. We've gotten a lot of them open. Don't get me wrong. This one we haven't quite opened yet. Oh, well, well, I, I could, I could open one of the other ones for you in exchange for you letting us through a 72. And it's nothing special.
[01:15:12] Thorne: It's just an old, you know, small ship. It was, it was left to, for Felix, his uncle just passed and he left it to him in his well, so we're here to pick it up. I'm just curious. If, uh, my big strong friend over here, uh, can, can open the door with her bare hands. Felix, y'all gonna need to hack this. If she can open this with her bare hands.
[01:15:35] Robert: Uh, will you let us take the contents of what's inside? No. What do you, take me for a fool. Do you think I became the leader of the drift rats by just giving things out based on feats of strength? Boy, I am a feat of strength. I care not for seeing such musculature. Then he points down to you and he says.
[01:15:54] Star Master Jeff: You tell me what type of ship is in there and I'll proportion a favor. You do this favor, we open those doors [01:16:00] based on, I'm assuming you have the code to get in. And if that type of ship is in there, you weren't lying to me. Ipso facto, you can take it away because the favor has been rendered in full. And a drift rat is always worth his word.
[01:16:13] Thorne: It's just a free merchant. And yes, we have the codes. A free merchant that's been sitting there for how long? Who knows? How old was your uncle Felix? Well, let's see. Uncle, uncle Roger died. I mean, I, I, I've moved planets a couple times. You know how hard it's to keep track of interplanetary time. Um, how old did you say y'all had been here five years or so?
[01:16:32] Star Master Jeff: I think it was about six years ago. If that thing's been sitting there for longer than two weeks without maintenance, it's probably a rust bucket that's not flyable by now Anyway, I'll tell you what, I have a small favor for you. Obviously you've heard of the drift rats, but have you heard of the neon fangs?
[01:16:47] You mean the neon wave? And neon lames. Hey boss, that was my joke I made to silence you. If I wanna know who said a joke, I'll ask the neon lames. That's a good one. Yes, the neon. The neon [01:17:00] lames. The neon lames are, uh, well, they're another gang. A lesser gang. They're a bit more south of us. They have some of the docking bays and they've been trying to expand their reach.
[01:17:10] They've, uh, forgotten exactly who is in charge of this side of the space station and they need to be reminded. Do you have someone with you that can hack? Uh, yeah, you could say. So. I've been hacking a little plan for a while now, but, uh. Our hackers are, uh, not really up to the task. They're not fighters.
[01:17:31] And this requires going behind enemy lines. What's the hack exactly? Moving into the neon lames territory. Neon lames. And you're gonna try to take down their systems from the inside. Of course, all of their ports are firewalled, so you're gonna have to actually move into their territory to use one of the unprotected ports, blaster, the drift brats, insignia all over every screen on the station if you can access them with the message on it Better, A rat in the drift [01:18:00] than a king in a cage.
[01:18:01] That's our motto, and we live by it. Remind them who's in charge of this station. If you could do this and we see the proof on our own screens, you can come back here and we'll let you into, well, we'll let you access to Dock base 72 opening. The door will be up to you. We'll give you a hardy handshake and a glass of brew if you wish it, because you'll be honorary drift rats.
[01:18:20] If you can make the neon lams look, that fang, I mean lame. Do you have a, do you have a copy of this program you want run? No, no, no. You gotta write your own program. What do I look like? Someone who writes programs? Do I? Do I look like I'm wearing glasses? Well, your logo and then, what was it again? Better A rat in the drift than a king in a cage.
[01:18:42] Finish his box. Alright. All right. All right. Yeah, that'll be no problem. That's great stuff, by the way. Great stuff. He waves his hand, dismissively and hops off to the back of the wall, and you can hear him moving back off into the docking base box waves. His semi-automatic you, and he goes, all right, now you heard the boss.
[01:18:59] Get [01:19:00] the fuck outta here and do the job, or you're gonna get shot in the head a couple thousand times. All right. All right. I turn around and I look, I look at Felix, this is no problem for you, right? Yeah, no, that, that'll be fine. I, we just need to get to the right, uh, the right interface. So let's, uh, he said, what did he say south of here?
[01:19:19] I never know which direction it's which in space it's all rotating. So you leave docking bays 50 through 80. Unable to get into Dock Base 72, and you're gonna go try to figure out where the neon fangs are. How to infiltrate them. How to hack them, and do exactly what, uh, Russ Claw needs to allow you access to your ship.
[01:19:40] So have at you, Felix, how long is it gonna take you to write a program that does. Oh, I could do it while we're walking. It'll, it'll just take me a little bit of time. But, uh, I mean, to get into their system, I mean, if you let me prep for, for a bit here, we, we could, you know, I could do it. No, no problem. Um, I need like, I don't know, a good hour, hour and a half to sit [01:20:00] down and work through this, but, you know, make sure I got the right routes through their protocols.
[01:20:03] Um, or you know, we just go in there and I wing it. And I will say you're on a space station that has accommodations, so if you guys need to, it is getting on in the day. It'd be nice to spend the next night on your spaceship, but if you can't do things fast enough, there are hotels, CD and non CD here on the space station.
[01:20:21] Yeah, I mean, listen. Thorn it. You know, you've seen me in action. I I can do this. No problem. This is a baby hack. Like, the fact that their guys couldn't do it. I mean, I wouldn't even call them hackers. They're, you know, kids playing around. Just gimme 10 minutes in front of one of their terminals and I'll be fine.
[01:20:35] Robert: I mean, 10 minutes might be a little, little bit of a time. Uh, do you know what, what kind of security we're going through here? No, that's what the 10 minutes is for. Hopefully not a big 10 foot concrete wall. That's what I'm worried about. Oh, you mean physical? Yeah. I don't know about any of that stuff. You, y'all gotta figure that out.
[01:20:53] Star Master Jeff: Cybersecurity. Yeah. Like I said, that's the 10 minutes, you know, 10, maybe 15 minutes tops. Yeah. That, that's, that, that's [01:21:00] that, that click of the clock part. Now I'm talking about what am I gonna have to deal with to, to make sure that you have the, them there 10 minutes. Well, a, a slightly crazy look. Flashes crossed my eyes.
[01:21:11] Why don't I go find out. That's what I'm talking about. That's my boy, Felix. Okay, so tell me how you want to approach this. You're heading towards Neon Fang territory and we have a decent idea of where that is, right? Yeah. So you know that they hold some of the docking bays south of 50 through 80. Alright, so we're looking for the 30 through 50 area or whatever it is.
[01:21:35] Yeah, so you eventually find the neon fangs are holding. You don't quite know the extent of their holdings, but you do know that they don't start to hold until the low forties and they hold multiple corridors, but they're smaller. They're not like the big neon rat, uh, the big, uh, drift rat section of 50 through 80, where it's one massive corridor with a bunch of stuff behind it.
[01:21:58] They hold many smaller [01:22:00] corridors with only a few docking bays behind each one. So as you approach this area, it's less of a barricade that's stopping people from going in and more of a residential area and lots of stalls and merchants and the Neon Fang sort of patrolling the area more like armed guards and preventing people from going down certain dock, big corridors.
[01:22:20] But other than that, they've seemed to have built a community that they're the protectors or perhaps exploiters of. Here in the lower areas of the docking bay. Okay. What I was gonna say was that we should keep our eyes peeled for anyone that looks like they're with the fangs, but it sounds like we can see that.
[01:22:36] Yeah. So the neon fangs are dressed in similar like street armor as the drift rats, but their colors are different. They're spray painted red or black, uh, red and black, all over their armor, and they have. Uh, an emblem of a rat that looks very similar to the drift rat Rat, but it has two giant fangs on the front, like coming out of its rat like mouth.
[01:22:57] So their emblems are practically identical, but one has [01:23:00] fangs and I'm sure there's some sort of message in there about how we're all actually alike. Yeah. I'm sensing some politics. Yeah. I wrote pages, reams of history about these two gangs and how they splintered from the same No, I, I didn't, no, no, no. Or did I?
[01:23:19] Haleyy: I'm like, where's the Romeo and Juliet story here? Yep. If you guys wanna stick around in this space station, I'm sure you could find that story. That guy with the handgun was clearly cio. Yeah. Um, I mean, so as, as we're moving through this area and we, we kinda see all the things you described, the stalls, the guards, I'm looking around for any, like, access points that seem like they're tied into, you know, that they, um, that I could check out to see if they're tied into the right network and, and begin doing some analysis of the system here.
[01:23:48] Star Master Jeff: Sure. So you're moving down essentially what is the main corridor? All the docking bays have other corridors that branch off of this one. This main corridor with all these stalls and people is the same corridor you've been [01:24:00] following. That goes all the way back to drift rat territory and also goes all the way to the lifts to bring you up to the upper levels where you actually went to like the Omnitech gas mining front.
[01:24:09] So this is just the main thoroughfare there is you do spot a port. It's currently in use by a merchant who has a small stall. Selling handmade rugs and towels. It's, he has a laptop looking device plugged into it with a, a great ribbon cable. I nudge. I nudge Thorn eight. I just, I gotta get on that, that exact one.
[01:24:31] I mean, have you seen any others, Hailey, Rob, you seen any others? Sure. We can keep look looking. I mean, he's just a merchant. He looks, he looks nice. Like somebody should go talk to him. You want me to distract him? I can go ask. Yeah. Um, before y'all do that, uh, I'm, I'm kind of curious just to give 'em a little bit of distraction if, uh, I might just roll around in some grease and spike out my hair real quick.
[01:24:55] Robert: Make it look like I'm a a, a neon lame. [01:25:00] I mean, don't, don't see, yeah. I mean, you do you Bobby, I turned my afro into like the most gigantic spiked, dreadlock, frow thing you've ever seen. Uh, I'm just curious, what method of adhesion are you using to turn your Afro? What color is your Afro? It is, it is, uh, a, a white afro that has been just dunked in floor grease.
[01:25:30] Just like, I'm just like rubbing it up against a wall. Oh my God. Your Afro touches a wall and immediately turns into shoulder length hair. That's how greasy it gets instantly. So you spike it up the best you can with floor grease and, uh, whatever else is rubbing off of the floors and wall. It's a disgusting, it's less of an afro and more of a block of hair.
[01:25:56] Star Master Jeff: Now that is, it's a trapezoid of hair. [01:26:00] Uh, but you are, you are missing the red and black spray painted armor. Well, the black's coming from the grease 'cause I'm now just rolling around in Grease. Hailey, can you, can you try to make a little little rat up in here somewhere? No. Can you just like, draw, draw, draw a rat up in there?
[01:26:16] Robert: No, people are looking at you a bit funny here in this main thoroughfare of the space station as you roll around on the floor and rub your head against the wall. I, I kind of, as he's doing this, I kind of feel kind of, you know. Limps over, and I lean against the wall near where the merchant's computer is plugged in, as close as I can get to it and kind of like, you know, make it obvious that I'm rubbing like a painful part of my body.
[01:26:39] Star Master Jeff: Like, and I, I kind of like hiking up my pants so people can see my robot legs and I'm like rubbing my, my, the joints where my legs meet, my, my hips and it's, I, I'm just like leaning against the wall for a quick little rest. Okay, we're gonna roll a couple of skills here for both of you. This is der. Yeah, Hailey is terrified right [01:27:00] now of what is what's going on on the floor.
[01:27:02] I have nothing to do. I have nothing to do with that. Robert just went for it and I just like trying to take advantage. He walks up and he's like, I've got an idea, and he starts break dancing. No, I love it. My sister. It. I'm like, this is what my sister experienced and I'm, I'm just going through a whole lot of reshaping what I thought.
[01:27:24] Haleyy: Strike unit. I was like, I'm like, is this a normal strike unit six adventure? Robert, lemme tell you, this is, this is the least weird thing we did. So Robert, I'm gonna have you roll, perform dexterity. No, no. Let's do perform. Yeah, no, perform dexterity is perfect. So you're. Rolling around the ground, rubbing your hair everywhere, trying to get it into an approximation of a neon fang's, armor and hair style, which is obviously never gonna happen.
[01:27:56] Star Master Jeff: But unbeknownst to you, you are causing the exact [01:28:00] distraction you wish to cause by becoming a neon fang. So with a roll of eight, you meet the DC and you have captured the attention of the nearby rug and towel merchant. Who is saying who? Uh. Felix who's right next to him, next to the port on the wall, can hear her say what the places that young man's lost his mind.
[01:28:21] And Felix, I need you to also rule perform because you're trying to act like you have a reason to be leaning against the wall. So it's do perform I I have in pain, I have in legitimate pain as well. Yeah, but you're trying to mask your true intention of, yeah. So go ahead and rule, perform charisma. Double A six.
[01:28:42] Sadly. Okay, so, but you get a bonus from the distraction. The merchant is not looking at you, you're just another, you know, uh, man with, well, I guess you have prosthetic legs, but you're another, you know, another older gentleman that's having problems rubbing his legs and he's [01:29:00] attention is just purely captured by this white Afro man rolling around on the ground.
[01:29:04] In fact. He's capturing a bit too much attention as two neon fangs down the corridor seem to have noticed him and are starting to make their way towards him. Well, I'm not gonna have enough time, I think, to myself to do the hack here or will I, so first thing first, I'm gonna unplug his laptop and plug in my data pad, okay?
[01:29:23] He is too wrapped up in what's happening to notice. So I performed like the handshake and like it, can I tell that this is a neon flame? I forget their actual name. Neon flame Fs. Neon fangs. This is an actual neon fangs, um, like connected to their systems. So to determine that, I'm gonna need you to make some sort of exploratory computers role.
[01:29:47] So you plug in, you grab, what kind of device are you using? Are you opening a laptop or is it a data pad? No, I have it. It's a data pad. It's like a, a slab. It folds out. Into like a three, A three screen thing. It's called a data [01:30:00] slab. Awesome. So you plug your ribbon cable into the port and you slide open your data slab and you hurriedly type on, is it a virtual interface or is it actual like physical keys?
[01:30:11] It's like a virtual interface. So using the virtual interface click, although you are within the neon fang's territory, this court is in the main corridor and thus is not part of their firewalled uh, Franet. Okay. Um. Realizing that I'm going to try to pull out a, like a network map of the local area. Okay.
[01:30:36] I'll keep your roll from before. This is all a single hacking attempt, so you continue typing as the neon fang guards are. You can see outta the corner of your eye. They're now conversing with your group and uh, Robert Ross has stood up from the ground and they're all talking, so you're typing, they're continuing to distract.
[01:30:56] And you pull out a network map that tells you how many different ports are [01:31:00] here in this corridor, but also that the ports that are firewalled, you can tell because you can't reach, ask those ports and figure out what's on the other side of them, which means they're firewalled. That is where the neon fang's ports are, but you do have their physical locations.
[01:31:14] Meanwhile, two neon fangs walk up to you, Robert, while you're on the ground. They each have pistols and knives. But holstered and sheathed and one of the neon fangs says, citizen, you are causing alarm. Please stand, sir. Yes, sir. Happy to stand up for y'all. Love the neon fangs, by the way. They go ahead and they, they help you up and they're kind of dusting you off and trying to get the grime off you a little bit, but they don't try too hard.
[01:31:43] They, they turn to, uh, captain Thorn, who just happens to be the closest one and says, is this your friend? Yes, my apologies. He's having a bit of a traumatic stress episode, but I think he's coming on the other side of it now. Thanks for your assistance. Absolutely [01:32:00] understand. Well, I haven't seen you around here before.
[01:32:02] This is neon fang's territory. We try to keep the peace the best we can. Obviously your friend wasn't hurting anyone, but we can't have him rolling around in the streets. Are you new in this area? Um, yes, actually. Well, welcome to the neon fangs territory. We keep everything as safe as we can from the other gangs.
[01:32:21] Uh, essentially from here down to Docking Bay 20, I don't know if you've gone that south yet. If you need lodging, there are several hostels as well as one more upscale hotel. A lot of residents have been moving in and taking shelter in what we unfortunately are calling a shanty town, but. There's plenty of space there if you simply need the bed somewhere outside and you are, you know, bereft of credits, let's say.
[01:32:47] Thorne: Well, that's extremely helpful, thank you. And, uh, if I could ask, I don't suppose the fangs have like a, a central base of operations in these areas, do you? Uh, it depends what you're [01:33:00] looking for now. If you need some sort of help navigating the area or you want to talk to our leaders about some concern with our community, uh.
[01:33:08] Star Master Jeff: You can go two docking bay corridors down, that's two on the port side. Whenever we say a number of corridors, we're talking about port side corridors, go two down and then it'll be that next corridor. And, um, theoretically if we were having some, uh, the of course did not necessarily happen. Issues with Drift, Brad.
[01:33:31] Robert: Uh, would y'all be able to help us with that? If drift rats enter this territory? We kindly ask them to leave. We don't take them as a legitimate threat. Uh, of course, they've harassed our citizens before and interrupted our supply lines, and they've taken a section of docking bays to the north that are largely useless.
[01:33:54] Star Master Jeff: Which is why we haven't attempted to move into them ourselves. But of course they are a problem from [01:34:00] time to time. Yes. Uh, we wouldn't move against them though, based on something that happened outside of this area. No. But if you've had trouble with them, I would simply tell you, stay away from them.
[01:34:10] There's plenty of stable sections of the Space Station where you can call your new home and welcome to c mbia. Four. Well, it's been a delight speaking with you, gentlemen. Thank you. Oh, if you're gonna be. Picking a place to live on crime four and you end up staying in the neon fangs community. My name is Roger.
[01:34:30] Um, I actually run a pool hall just down, well, I guess I thought I'd be running it, but, uh, as a, as a guard with the neon fangs aren't that much time, so I suppose it's, it's probably more fair to say my wife and my eldest Axel run the pool hall. So if you play billiards or if you like to gamble a little bit or just want a good place to drink with a few friends, it's called Rogers.
[01:34:57] That's my name. It's down there four [01:35:00] corridors, and you'll find it. Well, thank you. Thanks. You're so kind. He shakes each person's hand and turn. While that, while that goodbye is happening, I, I'm unplugging my data pad and, and plugging it back in the merchant's laptop. And I give him the most long and awkward greasy handshake.
[01:35:20] Oh God. He does show on his face that he thinks it's awkward and greasy, but out of politeness, he waits for you to finish the handshake. He obviously thinks that you are suffering some sort of like emotional trauma when you release his hand. He, he, he grips you by the shoulder for a moment and he says, my friend.
[01:35:40] Whatever's happening, it will get better. It will. And he claps you on the shoulder to stay with your friends. They're a good lot. You, sir. Are a kind man and I will absolutely. Matter of fact, I love failures. I've been playing since I was a boy. I'm gonna go by Roberts. Rob, it's Rogers, uh, [01:36:00] my name's Roger Rogers.
[01:36:02] Robert: I totally knew that. I knew that the whole time. I'm not suffering from a mental break. You're are suffering from a mental break. Its okay. It's a common problem. People call me Robert all the time. Don't worry about it. They sound it's, it's fine. So, yeah, Rogers just down and I can't wait to see you there.
[01:36:16] Star Master Jeff: All are welcome. First round is on me of pool and drinks. If you don't drink, we have water too. Wow. Thanks Roger. Thanks Roger. And Roger and the other guard who was standing a little bit off just kind of watching the crowd during that, uh, leave. And as they leave, the second guard gives you kind of a half-hearted wave, like he regrets not being more part of the conversation and they, they move on into deeper, into neon fang's territory towards Rogers billiard hall.
[01:36:44] Haleyy: Guys. Guys, what the fuck? Sorry, that was rude. What? They're awesome here. Yeah. Like what, what, what's in this code? I, I don't, well, I kind of feel bad now. Yeah. Haley's right guys. It's a, it, it's a, it's a prank. Do you not get like, [01:37:00] I'm putting up a picture in some words. It's, it's a prank. It's just a prank, bro.
[01:37:03] Star Master Jeff: It's so we can get access to our ship. It it, are we sure I wrote the program. Haley. Are is it a nice prank? Yeah, but we're still the bad guys. Yeah. It's a picture and some words from some dumb ass gang. These are just people. We're never gonna see them again. These are just people. These are just people. I think that diminishes what they are.
[01:37:24] Haleyy: If we go to that pool hall and drink their beer, they're not just people anymore. What pool hall? What are you talking about? You missed a whole thing. Felix did. Did you not hear Roger? I got a map of where all their ports are. We can go now and, and finish. This is one in Rogers because let me tell you, that place sounded great.
[01:37:41] Star Master Jeff: What? What is Rogers? What are you talking about? Oh my God. Who are you people? There's a free beer. Like, wait, I was too busy rolling around in Greece. It's free beer. He said he'd get us the first round free. He did say first round is on [01:38:00] him. And that did constitute a verbal contract. Where? Where did he say, where did he say this place was or corridors down?
[01:38:06] I checked, I cross-referenced that against my map of ports. So to get to any of the firewalled ports, you're gonna have to go through one of these locked doors. Either a barricade or a shut door. Um, but there there is a barricade and a shut door, basically every corridor that you pass. Listen, like we can go there if you want, but we're not here to have a good time.
[01:38:26] Excuse me. Excuse me. I'm sorry. Yes. Yes sir. Man, it's the carpet towel cellar. Ah, yes. Carpet towel salesman. How can I help you? Would you like to buy something? You've been in front of my stall for a long time now. Yeah. My business, I believe we were just leaving. Oh, okay. Your textiles are lovely. I'll, I'll, I'll take a towel.
[01:38:46] Thorne: No, don't pay that much. Don't pay that much. Well, how much? How much is it? Yeah, that'll be three credits for the towel theory. It's too much. Come on. Just walk, walk, walk, walk. Or just walk it away. But your towel. My s[01:39:00]
[01:39:02] Haleyy: like, we all need towels for space. Adventures. So are you heading to Rogers? Is that what I've heard? Uh, listen, I found this, I, I pulled up this map of the ports. We gotta get through one of these locked doors and you guys are walking down the main thoroughfare right now as you talk, talking in hush tones.
[01:39:17] Star Master Jeff: Listen, you see all these, and I'm pointing out the locked doors and like the barricades as we walk past, we, we gotta get in there. That's where I could do my work. Somebody like, somebody's gotta get me in there. Will, can you hack one of these doors? I'm in perfect Neon fang disguise, so I could easily watch the door.
[01:39:35] Thorne: Robert, I dunno how to tell you this, my friend. But the disguise is not that great. I don't know. I don't know about that.
[01:39:45] Haleyy: I think it's worth one beer and maybe there'll be, uh, is, listen, Felix, is there one four corridors down? Can we check that corridor to see how close it is? Yeah. Like here's like every corridor. Alright, let's go. Alright. [01:40:00] Alright. So in an attempt to kill two birds with one stone, we're gonna go four corridors down.
[01:40:05] Thorne: And see if we can find the door that's there or doors, I guess, and see what their proximity to Rogers is. Well, we'll have to head on off to Rogers another time, guys. I'm sorry, but we are out of time for tonight. But before we go, let's take a moment to hear some thoughts from our crew. Well, the group is dragging me to some God's forsaken billiards hall.
[01:40:31] Star Master Jeff: Uh, more people I guess. But I think there's a chance I could find one of those. Access points that I need. We'll see what we turn up. You know, this has been a weird mission so far. First there's that robot, which weird then, you know, unexpected from Omnitech. Then we, you know, can't even buy towels after dealing.
[01:40:56] Haleyy: You know, watching Robert roll around in oil [01:41:00] because of the neon flames. And thank God we've met one nice person on this place, but you know, people are, seem to be hell bent. Hopefully, uh, we can just finish this mission before someone messes something up and also get Robert clean. It's a shame we ran into the crazies on this station before we ran into any normal people.
[01:41:21] Thorne: But at least we're on our way to getting that ship. Did you see what they were charging for rugs on this thing? Oh boy. It's a good thing these drinks are gonna be free. Felix and uh, Haley with one wise sister. Mm. Love working with a crew that ain't a bunch of randos that said, these here drift FRAs, but they seem like a bunch of chumps, but.
[01:41:46] Robert: The ship's a ship, and we need her. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Dark Star Adventures. The story just heating up and our cruise challenges are only just beginning. Will they find a way to outsmart the [01:42:00] neon fangs and get the docking base? 72? You'll have to join us next time to find out. Until then, stay sharp.
[01:42:08] Star Master Jeff: Keep your engines running. And remember out here among the stars, survival is the ultimate victory. See you next time on Dark Star Adventures.
Dark Star Adventurecast is a Stars Without Number actual play podcast.
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