Terra Nova First News!

Further Developments on the Senator Lehman Case!

Action reporting teams have confirmed that the staff of Senator Lehman was in fact kidnapped by those who objected to his stance SR 18939832, also knows as the Xenoc Genetic Exclusion Act. Evidently a team a freelancers lead by none other than Maria Latham found the missing persons joined Senator Lehman in an after hours party at The Bluelight

Rumors have emerged that the 'Project Purity' Action Committee may have been involved in some why but neither Terra Nova PD nor CPH Federal Investigators have commented. The President of Project Purity, Kelvin Fitzsimmons issued a fierce denial . However, one police investigator has been reported to comment that the general destruction of the area where the Staff Members were found will most likely prevent the discovery of more relevant information.

"This is what happens when amateurs do Police Work", stated Chief Investigator Geraldson of Terra Nova CSI.

Not that we'd expect anything less from "Crossfire" Maria.

Comment vblogs are rife with rumors and speculation, days after the event, with several ongoing flamewars between supporters of 'Project Purity' and those who oppose their agenda - with more radical groups denouncing 'Project Purity' as nothing but a front organization for CKI (Chung Kuo Intelligence).

First News will continue to report on this story as it develops!

/UniverseNewsFeed endSig>

It's about time ye learned a lil' about me

My name is Walter Montgomery MacGibson, and this is my story. I was born and raised in an experimental biosphere on earth. The project was started in 2052 and construction was finished in 2064. The aim was to make self contained ecosystems to open up habitation to previously thought uninhabitable locations as an alternative to the then inefficient interplanetary colonization as a means of combating overpopulation.

Although there were several nations involved with the project, the vast majority was contributed by the USA. The Genesis Complex, the place of my birth, was located deep in the Mariana Trench. With a population of 150,000, at a depth of over 10 kilometers, the complex was a technological and engineering marvel that knew no rival.

Eventually contact was lost with the surface. The last transmission received was a news clip in 2105. The USA had dissolved. With out communication with the station it was eventually forgotten....

Ha ha, I had you goin' didn't I? Did you actually think I was from Earth? I don't think anyone has made it off of that radioactive rock in decades! Here's my real story. Not nearly as exciting, but you can't have everything.

Saying I'm from earth isn't TOO far off. I'm actually from Luna. Due to the low gravity I didn't grow as tall and my muscles didn't develop nearly as well as they could have. However I was gifted with a keen mind, and I made use of it. I graduated from high school at the age of 12 and got a full ride scholarship at API on Europa. I spent the next several years learning all I could. By my 22nd birthday I had four masters degrees; a Masters in Chemistry, a Masters in Computer Engineering, a Masters in Mechanical Engineering, and a Masters in Business. With my education in hand I decided to head back to Luna to make a name for myself and started MacGibson Electronics, Inc.

My first venture failed horribly. As it turns out people have this notion in their head that a Scott couldn't know much about technology. With this newfound wisdom I decided to start a new company, Armitage Robotics and Cybernetics, or ARC. To avoid the stigma of my heritage I take it to Nippon. Who in their right mind would question a Japanese technology company?

Apparently nobody. Business boomed. With a focus on miniaturization many advances were made with regards to both a civil and military technology. Ironically, one of my crowning inventions utilized many obsolete technology. Mr. Sandman.

Mr. Sandman is a prototype military droid that makes use of an older/cheaper/hardier robot frame, take your pick. By combining this old technology and applying recent advances to it I was able to make a monster. Able to unleash out an extraordinary amount of ordinance in a short period of time makes Mr. Sandman a terror on the battlefield. Unfortunately the design was too expensive for it to be a "practical soldier replacement" and was never bought into. Could they be so stupid!? This would not replace soldiers, but replace entire squadrons! I decided to take the prototype model and enhance it further, add in parts that made it even more "impractical" and make it my own, personal bodyguard.

It's been 10 years since I founded ARC and I've found myself getting... bored. So I decided to retire (while maintaining 51% ownership of ARC, of course) and go have some fun! Luckily it didn't take me long to find the Rubato, and now that I've joined the crew I couldn't be happier... other than the fact that I've had to completely repair Mr. Sandman TWICE now. I think I'll have to leave him on the ship from now on. I think I'll bring along cheaper robots from now on.

I'm not much of a journal keeper, but if anything important comes up I'll make a report of it.

Rubato Tales 6: Enter Sandman, exit Sandman...

Rubato Tales STELLARDATE 111808: Enter Sandman, Exit Sandman...

After our clean up of the mess on Nippon(Note to self-never ever take another bribe for any reason!) Maggie took us back to Mars to deliver some cargo and then to Ceres again to meet up with our next shipment, which was going to be there several days after we arrived.

Hoowoo, vacation time!

For reasons I am not quite certain of to this day we all decided to go to the Deathdome to watch some Exteme Battle Matches. Three of my lady friends from our last trip joined me, Angeliqie, Shawnee and Desore and we were having quite the fun time watching various modern day Spartacus's eviscerate each other when Wally's spybots on the ship informed him it was under attack. And so were we!

Several thugs in the more than rowdy crowd decided to attack us at that point in time and after some fisticuffs and weapons fire they fled through the crowd just as Maggie collapsed to the ground. We quickly headed back to the ship to check up on her and it.

Now at this point I should mention that I had the suspicion since my chat with Maggie on Nippon that there was some sort of connection between her and this ship, I even suspected she was an avatar of it, perhaps some for of AI, which turned out to be fairly close to the truth, but I am getting ahead of myself here. The Doc determined that she was definitely suffering from some sort of loss of mental power and Zechs and Wally detailed that a certain not-particlular-important looking bit of computer gear was all that was missing. Oh that and his robot Mr. Sandman had killed two of the intruders down in the hold.

Doc salivated at the chance to autopsy something else and Maria and I went to see if we could track down those responsible. We naturally suspected Haddington Industries but could find no direct lead to them. Instead we both discovered that a security company named Magnus was apparently responsible for the theft, I from checking out surveillance tapes and Maria I am not quite sure how, Magnus, who was apparently a high end security contractor had an office in the bad part of Ceres near the core named 14C. Meanwhile Doc had determined that the intruders were half cybernetic half biological killing machines! They had no skin but were various organs grafted into their combat suits and were definitely more advanced that even most experimental modern tech would allow, the only things that matched them seemed to be some known Evolvist designs. Weird, Evolvists are not known for attacking people.

Meanwhile Maggie had managed to come around and decided it was time to fill us in on some information.

Apparently her father and Everard Schmidt had worked together on doing some projects for Sol B, the Evolvist Colony far out in the Sol System. They had some sort of falling out and the upshot of it was that her body was killed while she was still and child and her mind was uploaded into the Rubato's computer system. She later learned how to manufacture her body and had become accustomed to having the human avatar and computer link. This did explain her tendency to dislike leaving the Rubato for any length of time and also why she was acting so odd, as a large part of her onboard systems and memory were what was stolen.

Naturally we all felt that we had to get this back ASAP and at all costs.

So we loaded up on the firearms and made our way to Magnus, intent on recovering Maggies brainbox no matter what.

I thought I was well armed for such an excursion as Maggie had fabricated energy weapons and combat armor for us but boy was I in for a shock.

Maria insisted on trying to talk to Magnus first and went in to chat with the robotic secretary.

She returned a few minutes later mumbling things that would cause most dockworkers to bow their heads in shame at hearing spoken. Apparently she never got beyond the front desk.

We then decided to try another approach.

While my remotes could not penetrate the Magnus compound they did find the back door into it and what we concluded must be the emergency escape exit as it lead to the surface and had a few well secured vacuum doors sealed shut as its only entrance.

After some fiddling I managed to get my nanobots inside it to open one of the pressure doors and we carefully made our way up to Magnus's base.

Once we got to the base they asked if I could similarly open the back door there, but alas I had used up nearly all my nanobots on the first door. So we used explosives.

The fight that ensued was a massive affair, all I remember doing was taking a few pot shots and then running across the room and trying to find Magnus or Maggie's parts while VERY large amounts of heavy fire permeated the room.

I remember Tyson bashing things, Maria unloosing barrages of laser fire, and Wally's robot, Mr. Sandman, firing off several barrages of missiles that seemed to blow up an awful lot of things, such as other robots, robotic secretaries, doors, walls and several cyber-warriors. It was both impressive and terrifying. Good thing we were in the bad part of Ceres!

Doc had stayed behind at the ship to oversee Maggie's health but other than that the rest of the team seems far better equipped, armed and skilled at combat than I, eh, each to their own.

I did manage to find Maggie's parts but the rest of the computers and information had apparently been wiped. Magnus succeeding in escaping after blowing up Mr Sandman, although judging by my friends comments apparently Mr. Sandman did quite a bit of damage before going boom!

We quickly hustled back to the ship and restored Maggie's bits, Doc and Wally used some schematics that got brought up and while I helped them mostly I just ended up handing off tools and clearing clutter. Nevertheless Maggie was restored to 100% functionality and while Magnus and whomever had hired him remained a mystery at least we had learned quite a bit more about our boss, her history and that of the ship as well. Good enough for one day!

Postscript: This adventure did serve to remind me of some facts about my childhood, Mom and Da told me that I had been found in an unusual escape pod and showed me records of it. When I return to New Wellington I will have to look those up. Why might you ask, well the parts and pieces of Evolvist technology we encountered in this last episode on Ceres seemed to bear a remarkable resemblance to some of the technology shown in those pictures. Very curious. Will have to check it out.

Anaraugs' Diary: Entry Three

I had an interesting adventure last week. Turns out that the only person that I can really trust is an honest criminal, and unfortunately for me the number of those kind of people on the ship seems to be diminishing. I can't even trust myself anymore. And although I like to think that me and my companions are completely legitimate, the truth is that we have on more then one occasion been involved in not 100% legally congruent activities. Oh well, at least I'm not working for some high profile corporation like tajih t Tajihiro... Mr T. Goddamn it writing this stuff is hard. I'm supposed to the smart one, why do I have to put up with this crap? And why couldn't they have been Chinese? I can at least speak Chinese. A full report has been enclosed in the sealed envelope opposite. What I could not procure a hard copy of has been filled in with what I believe to be a reasonable extrapolation of the events. Also, just for the record, you've got to be one stone cold bastard to kill your own father, whether your successful or not.

Episode 5: Corporate Espionage on Nippon.

So the Rubato makes her way to Nippon after the brief and amusing stop over at the sludge ball of plasma leeches and Popsicle people. It is wonderful to get back to civilization; clean baths, hot showers, good food, antibiotics, directed marketing spam barely filtered by your cybernetic firewall....

It seemed to be a milk run. Set down deliver some data and furniture then catch a show or whatever the crew does to relax in civilization. But nothing is ever that easy. AS it turns out, the data delivery was subverted. Jacques and Aerick misrouted the delivery based on a bribe offer from root@sapporo.net.

Aerick returned to the Rubato and told Captain Platt of what had happened. Jacques.... jumped ship. The group was forced to go inform Nashuro Tadjusumi of Tadjusumi Industries what had happened. Mr.Tadjusumi saw fit to not prosecute the group, rather hire them as an action team to track down who was undermining his corporation.

This lead to significant amounts of investigation and misdirection. On further research the group found out that the payment and initial contact was routed through – thanks to the expert hacking team lead by Ninjasatui Hostings There were two interesting results of all of this - the account that had been responsible for the payments and the misdirection was owned by onreJames Tadjusumi, and an employing of Haddington Industries blew up the secure server farm of Manjasuro Consultings.

Of course, one of the interesting asides of all of this was that Aerick was investigated for fraud as random bytes of credits were being added and subtracted from his bank account forcing his holding company to freeze his assets for a time.

In the end, the party confronted James Tadjusumiin a local tea shop. There was significant opportunity for mayhem, but in the end they decided to back off in exchange for the release of Aericks assets. Having escaped by a hair's width from violence, the group reported their findings to Nashuro Tadjusumi – who promised to have a conversation with his son.

A few days later, Tadjusumi Industries announced a new self-repairing carbon-fiber which sent its stock soaring. One would assume that Nashuro and James came to some sort of agreement.

New Luxury Toroid With Open Slots in Earth System!

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Rubato Tales 4: Tyson's Worm

Rubato Tales STELLARDATE 110408: Tyson's Worms

After leaving Grunweld we skipped to Mars and dropped off some cargo. Next we were on our way to make a deliver of information to Nippon and we skipped into the LAC9532 system. Maggie had acquired some information that an extralegal, or wildcat, mining operation existed on one of the slushballs that orbited the red dwarf star.
We found the facility easily enough and made our explorations. Maggie checked out the containers and Jacques went to investigate the processing plant while Doc and I hacked the living habitats airlock. Nothing particularly interesting was found outside so we all entered, except for Zechs who flew around outside in his mech. Inside my remote discovered a throughly empty base except for a locked room in the back. We made our way there and discovered a disturbing scene. Apparently 10 of the miners had somehow gotten involved with some sort of Heaven's Gate space alien/comet death cult writing and the Doc smiled as yet more autopsies were about to occur.
We left him to investigate the bodies and Zechs went to find out where the tractor the miners used had gotten to, which should also be were the other missing miners were. His trek took him to a crevasse and a cave where he found the other 15 locals all whom were simply standing at the end of the cavern itself. They were also, and sadly, quite dead.
Jacques, Maria and I busied ourselves with looting while Tyson went to track down some of the rarer electronics. The Doc revealed that the found holes in the bottom of the feet and suits of the dead and Zechs confirmed the same at his location among the 15 locals he discovered. This made us all examine our feet and it was then that Tyson yelped!
Gunfire erupted from the computer room and Tyson was screaming about being attacked by parts of the electronics!
It seems that somehow whatever it was that got out of the people had grown and developed a taste for metals! This quickly made me think that some sort of silicon lifeform might be involved and our later investigations would bear this out. In the immediate future however we had a gunfight with blue colored plasma spewing space eels! It seems the 10 people inside each had one of these little terrors burrowing around inside them, which, at least, explained the loonie death cult they had invented.
As we tried to make our way to the airlock plasma shots erupted from nearly every airvent, electrical conduit and doorway. Their was a LOT of weapons fire next, sadly my talents in such regards are poor and while able to shield myself and Jacques for a bit it was mostly due to the rest of the crews marksmanship talents that we survived. At the end the critters were all slain, one by being slapped around by Tyson no less!
The Doc took this one and ran off to his makeshift lab to attempt to revive it, apparently, while I collected sample of the odd lifeform. It must be worth something to someone I figured. Doc was also able to confirm that the lifeform was native to the deuterium rich slush and was indeed a silicon based lifeform. Would make a great genetic source for plasma weapons I guessed. The larvae were endemic in the slush and this explained the behavior of the last 15 colonists who were controlled by the space eels and taken to a migration route.
More gunfire erupted from the lab and the Doc reported he had succeeded in reviving it and then Javques blew it apart before it killed them both. One wonders about Doc sometimes. He did decided to name it “Tyson's Worm” after its discoverer, at least the first one to live.
Now knowing what to look out for we gathered what was valuable and making sure to not drink anything from the planet we took off and headed for Nippon where we were able to make a routine Information Mail delivery without further ado. Jacques wanted to help out with the transfer and we split the security code between the two of us I sure hope he entered his half properly but hey he's a fellow crewman, we have to trust each other!

Rubato Tales 3: Grunweld-Doc gets boned!

Rubato Tales STELLARDATE 110408: Doc gets boned!

Once again I begin this tale with a deletion. All files related to our recent discoveries on Grunweld and what we discovered during our investigation there regarding the cybertake named Dr. Travis Clark. But I am getting ahead of myself.
When we first arrived on Grunweld Maggie informed us that she would be seeing to some negotiations upcountry privately and we were to take on two tasks. The first, arranging for some contracts for rare hardwoods and furniture made from them, which were fairly common on Grunweld, and hunt for the criminal cybertake named Dr. Travis Clark who was hiding out on the planet.
After numerous, and hilarious, attempts to get the local clothing put on properly we made our way to Customs. While the locals may want to keep things low tech on the rest of the planet the scanning stations were rather up to date and they made sure to keep the number of weapons and technology we were permitted to carry onto the rest of the planet fitted in with their laws. While Jacques chaffed about this, Maria, Jackson, Doc, and I had no problems. In hindsight the high technology station should have been our first clue about what was going on here but so it goes.
The train ride to the city took an hour and was quite enjoyable. Scenes of idyllic life and apparently contented and happy villagers passed us by. Quaint carriages, well laid out fields and plentiful woods and trees dotted the landscape. It was very relaxing and scenic. We were all quite lured into stupidity and underestimating the locals as a result of this trip, cunning these Grunweldians.
Once at the city of Grunweld we decided to enjoy the local fare, the food was delicious and the local brew quite potent and delicious. Much tastier than the processed FoodTM stuff we typically eat to much these days.
Appropriately lubricated and feed we asked some questions and found out that Mansfield and Associated were an excellent source for hardwood furniture. We made our way over to their factory and were all quite impressed with their work, I used my business skills and we negotiated an equitable contract for hardwood and furniture. We contacted Maggie and she was pleased by our negociations as well but was having more difficulties on here end. We decided to take the night off and enjoy the local scene by drinking, eating and singing with locals. What a night!
The next day we took on the task of finding the nefarious Dr Clark!
Little did we know what this would result in.
Especially Doc.
Poor guy.
He got better.
We decided to split up into pairs for safety.
Maggie went to look up local police and criminal information while Doc and Jacques and Jackson apparently went out to examine local steam technology and do more drinking, again, and the Doc and I went off to the University.
At the University the Doc was throughly disgusted by what he saw. He offered to write a paper on the procedures that they were apparently quite proud of. He saw enough there that it intrigued the rest of us and we decided to check it out the next dayThe Doc arranged for us to watch a local surgery and talked with the head of the Medical Staff who looked familiar but much older that Dr. Clark, which made me suspicious. I was stymied by some of the local technology and I could not see how it could work but detected no nanomanipulation. We contacted Maggie again that night and she was still “in the midst of negotiations” and did not need any help. Good enough for us.
It was that night that the Doc decided to go back to the University Library by himself. When we work up he had not returned.
That got us all curious and we made our way to the Library while Jacques went back to the ship to get some bigger firepower.
At the Library it took us some time to find out where the Doc had been and using my enhanced sense of smell I was able to track him to a stairwell and then downstairs.
This lead us to a door in the basement marked NO ENTRANCE at the bottom of the emergency exit stairwell. Unable to hack or open the door I tried to us nanomanipulation to get it open, this caused a great deal of alarms to go off. That was a surprise, how could a steamtech society even detect such attempts. Curious I manifested a Remote on the other side of the door and looked around, a hallway with a a half dozen doors on either side lead to some pipes at the other end of the room that traced back to a security room. I was able to see that all the fire alarms were going off and that at least was a good thing. I sent to eye downstairs to check out the rooms and found what looked like a morgue. The rooms had 20 plus sliding beds that I was able to get a look inside before time ran out on the Remote.
What I saw was a huge surprise.
The beds were not a morgue but instead were very up-to-date, very high technological,very advanced nanomanipulation based organ farms.
These were patently illegal by local laws.
The facility was patently large enough that many, many local people had to be in on it.
Some of those would have to be the Dean, local police and government officials.
When Maria asked what I found I simply replied “We are in so much trouble!”
We made our way back to the rooms to collect our stuff and found that Jacques had returned and found the Doc sleeping in his bed. He had NOT been there before.
We collected him and rapidly returned to the safety of the ship.
Once there we discussed what to do next. Jacque was all in favor of loading up on the weapons and head in shooting. Maria wanted to bring the criminal to justice and Doc wanted to know what had happened to him. He apparently found some sort of implant in his head and was quite understandable upset by it. Right as he returned I stated that while we could go in with guns blazing and assuming the local police would be on our side but might want to have a backup plan like we give what we had found and then delete our information and Dr. Clark takes the chip our of Doc's head and call it even, Thats when Doc said, in a tone of voice not quite his own “Agreed, but you have to give me copies of, and then delete the data on the Ogres from the ship as well”
“Hello Dr. Clark” I said and the rest of the crew looked confused so I explained that the Doc was a puppet for Dr. Clark now due to the chip. Doc was even less pleased by this but really what choice did we have. Apparently Dr. Clark did not want to get too much attention brought to his little, and obviously profitable, enterprise. We made the exchange later that day via electronics and Doc confirmed that the chip had been burned out. Maggie returned that day and with her up to date we left Grunweld behind.

Anaraugs' Diary: Entry Two

We have decided to stop at a small "slush ball" out in the boondocks of space. We don't know what is waiting for us down there, but hopfully it is a lot of money and not some horrid space zombie ogre magi thing. I replaced all of my pin ups with pictures of peeled sliced vegitables today. No one has noticed yet. I have got eight of them, all lined up on one wall. I stuck them up with pins and I don't know why I did it. And then I had some toast with jam. I don't even like jam. I turned the lights off while I ate it too. I hope my ship mates don't find this. If they do then they will probabaly ask me some question about it and I wouldn't be able to answer them. If we do encounter some kind of horror show today, then I will take detailed notes and seal them to the opposite page with wax as usual.

P.S. It turned out to be people eating computer cable lazer snakes. The details are enclosed along with the address of a site were you can view a video of the operation.

Anaraugs' Diary: Entry One

I have decided, in light of recent events, to keep a diary, and not just any old diary, but an actual honest to god paper diary, in a book, with pages. I shall try to explain. Several days ago... or was it several weeks ago? I had my memories and computer files erased. I am still not sure how much or how many times, but I find myself with gaps and insufficiencies both long and short. What I do remember of the events leading up to the incident and what the rest of the crew has been able to fill in for me has been included in a wax-sealed envolope. I feel silly writing this; sitting on my bed and scribbling words onto a page like a school girl, but it is the only way that I could think of to be absolutly sure that if something should befall me again, I will have a hard record that is difficult to erase. My name is Dr. Anaraug Evas Ortem, I have been operating under the assumed name of Dr. Andy Erick Osmond and this is my diary.

Image of the week: Grunweld

VRNet search, Keyword “Tony Clark”;

Dr. Anthony “Tony” Clark, MD, PhD.

Born: June 26, 2255, Terra Nova, Mars.
Graduated Solarian Technical Institute, 2273
Graduated Solarian Medical Institute 2275
Enlisted in the CU Marine Corps, 2278
Assigned to Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, 2280
• Coresearcher: Project Name Unavailable, 2280
• Coresearcher: Project Name Unavailable, 2281
• Director: Project Name Unavailable, 2282
Granted Honorable Discharge, 2285
Founded Advanced Wellness Concepts, LLC, 2285
Last known news item 2287

Associated records:
Internal Security forces raided and subsequently shut down the R&D offices of Advanced Wellness Concepts, LLC in 2289. A warrant for Dr. Clark for ‘questioning’ has been issued by Colonial Internal Security is currently outstanding. Several ‘bounties’ currently exist for the arrest of Dr. Clark as the result of not appearing at several Civil lawsuits resulting from the actions of Advanced Wellness Concepts, LLC.

More details to follow…

Rubato Tales SD102108-Space Zombie Ogre Magi!

Rubato Tales STELLARDATE 102081: Space Zombie Ogre Magi!
Note: The following article does not in fact exist anymore, Aerick's journal instead details a short passage about Victorian clothing and the fashionable aspects of the wimple and corset and a rather vitriolic dialog with Maria about the need to wear one shortly, and why rib removal will make life so much easier for a bit, and besides the Doc can put one back in anyway when we leave, seesh does no one on the ship care about decent clothing when visiting new ports of call.

begin
initiate
SCANNING, SCANNING...
Capn Maggie decided we should engage in a series of short skips to our next destination, a mining operation in the LAL 21285 stellar system, aka Grunweld.

The habitable planet of the system is a throwback world, something like a luddite style theme park, ren faire and loonie bin for people who thought the Austro-Hungarian Empire during its Victorian Era was the height of civilization. The apparently eschew modern technology even more than my companions, none of whom seem to have the vaguest idea what a nano-manipulator is or why the Cyberdyne Widgetnanodock is the coolest thing ever. Still to each his own.

Delivering the cargo was not a problem as we pulled into the gas mining operation around the 4th planet in the system a Superjovian class world. It was during this time that we picket up a distress beacon from a ship in a higher and more distant orbit. Naturally we went to help the crew of such a distressed ship and headed right over.

The ship turned out to be a Drake Class Marine Escort Picket named the Hawkins and we could pick up very few signs of life and a ship with virtually no external damage or life signs, although it is hard to scan military ships. Maggie maneuvered us near it and we shot a line over and then spacewalked over to it. The hatch need some convincing to work but a bit of nanowizardry was all that was needed and some coding.

Zechi went in first since he was in the mech and it seemed safe enough so the rest of us entered. Along with my companions from our Ceres adventure, Maria, Annarug, and Jacques, the rest of the crew joined us, our pilot Leslie Tyson, some sort of self styled “spacetrucker,” the aforemention Zechi a mech operator and Jackson Fillmore Clinton our superstitious engineer.

Upon entering we discovered that the ship was essentially running on minimal support and although it had a breathable atmosphere only Jacques and Annarug decided to fold their helmets after Annarug said the air was clean. Something he did just after Jacques had already tested it by opening his helmet!

I summoned a remote and quickly scouted the science deck and found no signs of life. We decided to split up into pairs and search out the rest of the ship. Jacques and Jackson checked out the main deck while Zechi and his mech headed for cargo, Annarug, Maria, Tyson and I headed ot scan different parts of the science deck after we ascertained the bridge had been locked down.

Annarug discovered some weird biopods that had apparently been opened and was perusing medical records about the ships activities while I am Maria checked on the computer and security. They were suppose to deliver a cargo to Grunweld 4A and distant moon of the Superjovian planet although we found it off no emergency response had come from there. Many possibilities for a lack of response were discussed with Jacques ”its' Space Zombies” being as likely as any.

While Maria and I looked into the security data, which all when blank after one of the pods was spotted opening, Jackson discovered bodies of 8 of the 12 crewmen in their bunks, dead. Annarug discovered that a small puncture wound on their necks was the killing blow and I ascertained that some bloody nanomanipulation was going to preserve the bodies by draining them of oxygen apparently we were to discover, for who knows what reason. Although Jacques did insist this was proof of Space Zombies...

We decided to use the torch on Zechi's mech to cut our way into the Engineering compartment as both it and the Cargo bay were sealed off. Meanwhile Annarug, whom we all decided was best to call Doc at this point did autopsies on the bodies. He seemed overly fond of autopsies in my book but eh.

When we finally got into engineering it was a gruesome scene, the chief engineer lay dead splatted against the far wall and a huge arm, obviously both cybernetic, synthorganic and nanoactive lie on the floor.

After Jackson, Jacques and Tyson made their was to the bridge I and Maria, who insisted that we safety-link ourselves to a rope she attached to the wall, hacked the system and got it to open the door to the bridge with help from some of the others, I dunno what we expected to find but a 7 foot tall ogre doing a performance art piece of interpretive dance which involved the captains internal organs remaining bits was NOT IT!

I quickly closed the doors again but this triggered some sort of preset AI program which activated the ships thrusters, opened every hatch of the ship and vented the air throughout the whole ship. It also let all the space ogres loose. This was not good.

Fortunately I was able to get into the security system which we had looked into earlier and relay all of this to the rest of the crew. It seemed there were 4 of the horrors running loose. One outside the ship apparently shooting at the Rubato, which caused Maggie to back off, way off, as she told us about the Hawkins thrusters firing. Two more from the cargo hold were coming up different hatches and the one in the captains quarters apparently decided to replace interpretive dance with interpretive gunfire.

Things got kinda messy at this point.

Jacques and his rail gun along with Jackson and Tyson engaged on a shootout with the Ogre dancer while Zechi headed to hold the one off coming in a airlock. I managed to convince the computer to shut off the gravplating in the airlock, preventing it from being able from getting enough leverage to rip the door open and between that at Zechi's gunfire it decided to try another airlock instead. Jacques and crew managed to blow apart the one in the bridge and while he headed to help out Zechi, Tyson and Jackson went to work getting this ship under control. Maria also headed to help Zechi while I was trying to aid the computer programing that Jackson was doing. After I finished helping them with that I saw a nanoremoter begin to appear which revealed that one of the ogres must be a nanomanipulator too, fortunately a round of gunfight dispersed it and I left to help out with the firefight developing in the stairwell, meanwhile the Doc seemed to have vanished!

Several railgun slugs, laser blasts, a few shots from some handguns and an awful lot of ducking and dodging later, along with a quick healing on Jacques and we managed to blow apart the violent but apparently creative creatures. Along the way Jackson and Tyson managed to get the ship back under our control and deactivate the AI that had taken over.

Later we found the Doc hiding in one of the Biopods and he revealed the extent of the bioweapons program and testing they were apparently doing. With the fight over we were left with a dilemma.

Do we turn in the ship for salvage and thus get a rather hefty boost to our wealth but run the risk of being “mindwiped” or worse for having stumbled on a Military Black Op or do we loot what we clan, clean off the material and take a few goodies for ourselves before programing the ship to skip over and say hello to LAL 21285 itself for a quick incineration to cover our tracks. While I felt that as good citizens of the Confederation we should do the right thing apparently most of the rest of the crew were less than convinced of the stellar reputation of the government itself. In the end Maggie let us vote on it before making her mind up and I was for the salvage plan Jacques was for the loot idea, while Zechi, Tyson, Jackson and the Doc were waffling. After more discussion Jackson and the Doc were for the loot plan as well and Maggie sided with them at this point. So the others went about grabbing what they could while Maggie programed the Hawkins for its last voyage.

Jackson was able to score one of the ships small fighters while the Doc grabbed medical gear and Jacques headed for the weapons. I decided not to take anything and went to erase any and all records and evidence I had of this adventure which brings me to this moment

...SCAN COMPLETE
all
run
initiate
nanowipe
quantum
end

Zechs Marquise Journal Entry 10/21/2290

When I saw Captain Platt's posting on the VRNet for a salvage expert, I wondered how likely a little clunker like the Rubato would come across worthwhile salvage. Well, within a couple of weeks of coming on board, I definitely stopped wondering. A military frigate! I've done some dangerous jobs these last few years, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw on that ship. I'm almost too afraid to write this in my journal - I'd rather just pretend it didn't happen, but I refuse to let it fade into a nightmare.

Those creatures, they reminded me of those ancient and horrific children's stories about Shrek, the blood-thirsty ogre. I'm thankful that we have some experienced military people on the crew; Jacques sharp-shooting was probably the difference between life and death for most of us.

But there are so many questions. Where were those things bound? How were they created? Who could be sick enough to want to study them? And what was their ultimate purpose?

At least we destroyed everything that remained of the abominations. It amazed me to hear the arguments that some of the others were making to turn the ship and its contents over to the military for a reward. They claimed that the government was "good", that they protected the people. If they are as good as they claim, then why would they be experimenting with these monsters?

Besides, if we had turned in the ship, it could have become...difficult - we'd certainly be investigated thoroughly before being rewarded. I can't afford that level of scrutiny if I want to stay safe, though it may soon be time to reveal myself. I realized something after Aerick mentioned neuro-transfer "resurrection". My parents must have had a similar arrangement, but someone must have interfered with the transfer. I was so distraught at their deaths and rushed away so quickly by Duo, that it never occurred to me to look into it. I will have to investigate when we return to a more civilized society.

Episode 1: Ceres-the Adventures of Inappropriate Man!

Rubato Tales: The Adventures of Inappropriate Man!
The captain just picked up a couple of new passengers at our last port of call, Jacques Berlioze, a mercenary from the Jovian moons and Annarug Orgen, a computer specialist. Along with Maria, an ex-law enforcement expert with a rather well known past, just check out the video on the Interstellar Net, it's not pretty...
Captain Maggie set course foe the asteroid Ceres. Never been there myself but heard about it of course, as its a rather well known transshipment point.
After Skip we got our first look at Ceres. Its an old settlement now and thus the asteroid have virtually entirely been mined out, built up, wrecked, ravaged and rebuilt, over and over again. The Surface shined with enough lights that it looked like it was filled with stars!
That view did not last as we closed to our docking port and cranes, piers, gravitic generators, gas jets, radio towers, docking tugs, maintenance shafts and equipment, local; transport vehicles and small space tugs seemed to arrive, dock and depart in what can only be described as looking like a beehive on steroids and speed.
We docked without further trouble and, after buying our air for the day (hello business marketing opportunity! The cannister air was awful...) made out way to Francois Deleiur, a dolphin headed man with a french accent! I tried not to stare and mostly succeeded. It was his very civilized manners that made the statement that our shipment had been stolen vaguely more easy to take.
Fortunately he had caught the thieves on camera and we reviewed the recordings. What was odd was that they specifically went for our shipment, someone had in it for the Capn. We called Maggie and she had no idea other than that some previous owners of the Rubato might have issues with her but heavily encouraged us to retrieve the cargo.
The thieves looked a like like local gangers and I was able to chat up some locals about just blokes while Maria looked into the legal side of things and Annarug did some computer diving. We all collaborated and agreed that the center of the asteroid was our best bet as the center of the local raver community and party center.
After Jacques made sure to procure his weapons we headed down to the wrong end of the gravity well. I managed to hook up with some local ladies, Angelique, Desere, Mona, and Shawnee, who called themselves the Angels of Ceres, and my what fine ladies they are! The seemed well connected and promised to show me the sights. They were not wrong, the dance floor was jumping, the light show incredible and I am pretty certain various gaseous rave chemicals were released... regularly! I kinda lost track of thing when the ladies bought a round of shots called Ceres Supernova's and well... woke up the next morning the ladies apartment, lacking various pieces of clothing but with most of my money and a lot of one credit deposits into my account and a lot of drinks bought that used them all up. The rest of the details for the evening will not be going into this account! Apparently Annarug managed to hack the parties video feed and broadcast porn which lead to his new nickname of Inappropriate Man, and tried to track the shipment but I kinda missed most of that on account of the ladies soo....
Annarug, Jacques and Maria had managed to stay on point however and tracked the pictured thugs they had found back to their turf. After saying my goodbyes to the ladies, although I will be sure to meet see them again, they all seemed pretty well connected and very very agile....
We decided to ambush the leader of the gang on his way to some meeting or another and force the bloke to tell us where he took the cargo.
The fight was short but intense. Maria acted as a distraction as she apparently danced with the guy at the rave. Just after she walked over and started chatting with him Jacques used his military grade hardware and blew the chest out of the female bodyguard, the boss thug and his remaining bodyguard turned and started shooting at Jacques and Annarug while I tried to taser the bodyguard but missed.
It was then that Maria apparently wished something about shoving weapons at tender portions of his anatomy-he had pushed her behind him in order to protect her! Good work Maria! Annarug and hacked the stations lights was causing the lights to go crazy and thats when I added in a comment about him not knowing exactly how many weapons were actually pointing at him, his name was George by the way, at the time. He saw the wisdom of our words and was convinced to tell us about where he took the goods, which turned out to be a ship run by Hoddington Industries Freighter docked 317B. As they departed and the others cleaned up I went an puked in a corner. I ain't squimish about killing, seen that before, but to see it done so blatantly and her life regarded as so disposable, well I can only hope she had a Res Policy but I kinda doubt it.
A little research revealed that it had a crew of 6 and was a small private freighter. We decided that since we had no idea how long it would be in port we had better act fast. While I gathered some basic supplies and maintenance gear Maria joined the Station Basic Maintenance staff so we could get a basic security pass. Maggie gave us the RFID code for the container and we proceed to head over to the ship pretending to be maintenance. The ships guard fell for the ruse and after a quick tasering, a boot to the head and spilling of a little booze over him while Annarug blanked the sensors we quickly retrieved the cargo and headed out. Jacques suggested we take out the rest of the crew but I am not ready to become a pirate! Fortunately the others agreed and we got out without bloody trouble. Maggie was pleased and we shoved off without further incidence.
Blimey, buy your air. What a universe.
More later, thats all now from Ceres.

You guys need a grease jockey, right?

Hey. Right. Here, I got my papers here somewhere. No, wrong kind of papers. Here, these are the ones. Says right here: Uhura Colony, New Zion. Freeport City. Accredited to work on all manner of vacuum engines. Even cleared to work with radioactives. See? Right there.

No, really. It's a check mark. The paper's just folded funny there. Yeah, I know it looks like it was written in pen, but it's legit. Trust me, no fool is going to mess with glow sticks unless they know which way the rays are shooting. And I'm no fool. Four months cleaning Xenon out of the reactors on the Marcus Garvey, and it wasn't my fault what happened. Some hot-shot pilot gets juiced and doesn't remember that gravity is stronger when you get closer to the rocks and everyone on board gets blamed.

Never mind. I can pilot, too. Some ships, anyway. So, is this your dingy? No? The shuttle?

Oh. Well, it's a fine looking ship. No, really. A lick of paint and she'll look right out of the movies, you bet.

Listen, don't take this the wrong way, but I'm probably going to be keeping my suit on for the first couple weeks. It's like a nervous habit. No big thing.

Oh, yeah. Back at New Zion I used to do some work for Vinnie the Weasle Escrow company. Nice place. They'll even refrence me, if you want to pay for the call. But there's this guy. I guess it's a guy, all I did was talk to him over the phones, you know? So, this LolKraut293 was behind on some payments, and... Well, I don't work the phones anymore. But if you hear of this dude, let me know right away, OK? I mean, I don't think that LolKraut293 is going to blow the ship out of the Black or nothing, and I mean - really - how's he going to know I'm here? But I like to be careful, you know?

Oh, and if anyone asks about Dave from New Zion, I never heard of him. But let me know if anyone asks, all right?

Oh, yeah. My tools got scattered in the Marcus G. incident. I think they're coasting in to the sun from Ceres. I hope you have a spare set.

So, dude, when do I start?

Oh, yeah, I'll need to bum a suit off you, too. It's all good, bro.

-Jackson Fillmore Clinton. Certified mechanic.

Ceres Security Notice

To all points of entry, Ceres:

One Jacques Berlioz is to be denied entry until he can be questioned by Ceres Internal Security in the role of his firearm in the death of one Jane McGowan. The composition of the tungsten alloy residue left at the scene of her death matched with 96% likelihood that of his weapon. This is not considered a warrant at this time.

The Adventures of Inappropriate Man

see above

Image of the week: Procyron System

Profile: Haddington Holdings, LLC

Founded: 2278, Mars Office of Incorporation.
CEO: Diane Mitchell
CIO: Devon Rutard
CFO: Niles Perthington VI

Known Subsidiaries:
Haddington Transshipping, LLC
Mitchell Fab Systems, Inc.
Berkshire Colony Corporation
Burlington Genomics, LLC

Recent news items:
Haddington Transshipping LLC wins contract to service Morris Industries L4 Station in Earth system.

Berkshire Colony Corporation, a fully licensed colony of the ICC and The Nippon Space and Exploration Agency records record profits as GenMod terraforming plankton colonies increase the O2 content of Berkshire to 2%, in 2 years – a new terraforming record!

Haddington Holdings LLC announces a 10% shareholder gain on better than expected profits due to their AI and Genetics subsidiaries.

Greetings From Aerick

Greetings strangers, and welcome to my journal of the tales of the fine starship Rubato. Allow me to introduce myself, Aerick MacKenzie is my name. I joined the Rubato awhile ago when the Capn made port in New Wellington, which had been my home up until then. After arranging for a number of supplies and due to his sudden lack of supply specialist, something to do with legal proceeding, beer and too many women I think on part of their last specialist, the Capn asked if I would fill in for awhile, or at least until their next port, promising a fair share of the profits and this enough money to get back should I wish it. That was many ports ago! It;s far more interesting here than New Wellington ever was so I think I will stick around for a bit.

A bit of background, me mum and da, Ula Marial and Chen MacKenzie were settlers on New Wellington from a mixed Anglo/Maori and Chinese family, they were both a bit elderly and had given up on having kids when the chance to adopt me came along. I am something of a orphan ya see, I was found abandoned apparently in a market in New Wellington and while rumors of a crashed space pod around that time seemed to indicate and off world origin nothing much came of the investigation, such as one was. The Dr's said I was healthy enough and was placed in an orphanage after quarantine. Ula, or mum, was the sister of a nurse there and she fell in love with me at first sight, so my stay in the state run facility was brief.

Mum and Da raised me right and I grew up in the relative isolation and comfort of a small coastal town of New Port just outside of the big city. It was nice enough and I enjoyed it and even stuck around to help run the family businesses, a small pub, seafood joint and sheep farm up in the hills. A few years ago the inevitable happened and I went over one Sunday to find them having died peacefully in their sleep, neither had been in great health for while so it was hardly unexpected, still it hurt and I grieved for a time, but as they would say, life goes on.

Before I knew it a couple years had passed and when the Spaceport opened a new hub near the New Port I started a business in delivering sandwiches and lunch to the workers and travelers. I was lucrative and I got my first look and heard my first tales from travelers to other worlds. Of course I knew about them but never thought I might go to see them. Still I was bored with the businesses in New Port and everywhere I looked I remembered Mum and Da. Moping around town was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and I found myself hanging around more and more at the Spaceport. It was there that Capn and I hooked up and given my abilities and contacts he offered me a place on the ship, I have not looked back. Don't get me wrong, I have a nice place to retire too and a good, if quiet, life waiting for me back there should I want it, but for now its to the stars that my road takes me.

Teddys' character

Anaraug Ortem was born on Zion to an immigrant family. Several generations before his birth, his great grandparents on his mothers' fathers' side and his grandparents on his fathers' side had made pilgrimages to the planet in order to live among their own people. They were all fanatics and they were all religeous, but at least they were not fanatic about their religeon.

In his youth Anaraug was both intellectual and athletic, although not particularly popular. This is largly due to the fact that although he he has no special talent for any of these things, he is an exeptionaly hard worker. Perhaps it was this which worked in concert with the stories he had heard of earth and other places that prompted him to flee his home world in search of adventures in space and on other planets.

His journey began at the age of 25 when he abruptly left his doctorate program in order to study abroad. Thereafter he spent his days hopping from planet to planet, never staying in the same place for more then a year or so, teaching and studying his craft as he went. By the time he had reached the age of 26 Anaraug had finished his doctorate in integrated medical hardwear. this field of medicine shows a lot of potential, but so far nothing ground breaking has been done. The cost of medical tech is already so high that it is usualy not cost efective to impliment such devics for anything less then military application.

After visiting several universities and realizing the absolutely stifling amount of knowledge which would be required for him to be counted amongst the leaders of any field, he almost resorted to cybernetics in order to further improve his mind. The procedure would have been simple enouph and affordable, but the avoidence of the downsides to having cybernetics required the implimentation of several other pieces in order to return the subject to a lifestyle identical to the one he had before.

After deciding against the procedure Anaraug had what can only be described as a mid life crisis. Anaraug fled the world of academics in order to pursue new and exiting fields.

Enter Jacques Berlioz

Born and raised on Europa, Jacques lived a fairly normal Jovian childhood. Days spent schooling and frolicking fill up the majority of his early years. The one thing always on his mind, however, was hunting. He had heard stories and watched film of big game hunting and African safari's in Earths history. At an early age he got a low power target rifle from his father as a gift and spent many an afternoon at the target ranges.

When he reached manhood he was finally able to put his skills to work by joining the Jovian militia. He received many marksmanship awards in boot camp and was accepted into sniper school, where he further honed his skills. He eventually became a candidate for a top-secret "super soldier" program.

A bizarre cocktail of chemicals and nanobots were injected into his body, the primary goal of which were to increase his perceptive capabilities. Over the course of several days the mixture accomplished what it was supposed to do. All of Jacques' senses skyrocketed; he was suddenly aware of things a normal human would be unable comprehend. He noticed minute details with remarkable speed, his sense of smell rivaled most canines, he could even sense the presence of others by sound, much like the echolocation employed by bats.

However there were serious side-effects. His immune system and several organs completely shut down. His body was no longer able to remove basic toxins, such as alcohol or even the compound he was injected with (which was known to be toxic by it's developers, however the military decided to ignore the issue). The chemicals had actually bonded with Jacques marrow, meaning there was no "cost-effective" way of removing it from his system. Worse yet was the fact that his body no longer healed it's own wounds. The only way to counteract these drawbacks was a daily dose of Antitox and the application of a Body Repair Weave.

This was not the end of the damage the procedure caused. The sudden influx of sensory data to his brain caused a minor overload. The shock caused a minor psychosis to settle in. There were two things going through his mind as his body was overhauled: his promised monetary compensation, and his desire to kill the ones responsible. These two emotions, greed and blood lust, were permanently embossed into his psyche.

Money and murder. Henceforth these would be the two driving forces that he based all of his decisions on.

After his medical discharge for "accidental contamination with a hazardous substance" he found money was scarce. To remedy this he got a job with one of the local crime syndicates in Atlantas. The jobs he was assigned provided him with copious amounts of both wealth and blood. Eventually he found that there was a profession that allowed him to get these things in a more legal fashion. Jacques would become a mercenary.

He ended up joining Mifune-Leonhard, LLC., a PMC (Private Military Company) opperating off of Callisto. As a soldier of fortune he made friends with many people, both upstanding and unsavory. Everyone was able to appreciate his efficiency. You give him enough money and he would do just about anything.

Jacques worked for the PCM for several years, but yearned to leave the system and, hopefully, get an opportunity to kill new, unique people from around the galaxy. He turned in his resignation to Heinrich Leonhard, but after a long discussion he instead took an “extended leave of absence." He got a job working on the Rubato in hopes of seeing some action out of the system.

This information is kept to himself unless it is required. All of his experiences with the military and the mob are kept to himself regardless of circumstances.


Contacts:


Napoleon DuVerger, a childhood friend of Jacques, shared in his friends fascination with hunting. However he was born with a rare condition that causes his bones to be exceptionally brittle. Due to this ailment he was unable to enlist with his friend. Even though he was unable to fight he developed a love for weapons. After a attaining a degree at the Atlantic Polytechnical Institute he started a business manufacturing and distributing military grade weapons and munitions.

Sgt. Lucas Brandel was Jacques' instructor while he was undergoing sniper training. Over the course of the program he and Jacques became good friends. He was also the one that recommended Jacques for the "super-soldier" program, thinking it would be an excellent oppertunity for him. Jacques was never made aware of who gave him the recommendation. After the incident Sgt. Brandel resigned to help Jacques recover. Eventually it became evident that recovery would never come. He blames himself for what happened and still seeks penance for what happened.

Before getting a job at Mifune-Leonhard, Jacques worked for Anthony “Tony” Smalls, a local crime lord in Atlantas. He worked as a contract killer and as a personal bodyguard to the Don. It was Tony that suggested Jacques get a job as a merc and provided him with a means to do so (as the mob boss had several connections in Mifune-Leonhard). The two are on very good terms.

Heinrich Leonhard, Co-CEO of Mifune-Leonhard, is on particularity good terms with Jacques. Whenever Heinrich needed a job done that he didn't want anyone to know about he came to Jacques. He has cleaned out his bosses closet more than a few times.

(Note: I've already modified this several times, mostly for ease of reading and continuity. Hopefully this is the final product, however things may change. Nothing major will change, however minor details may be altered, added, or omitted over the course of the next week.)

Maria Latham, Gun Toting Martian

A former infantry member of the CPH Defense Force, Maria Latham's employment was terminated following a public SNAFU on her home-world of Mars several years ago. Finding employment afterward became difficult leading her to a series of mind-numbingly boring security details which she continued with despite offers to join a morally-flexible mercenary outfit made up of former DF members. Eventually, her hard work paid off and she was recruited for a six month stint body-guarding a minor celebrity. The job lasted four weeks, two weeks later Maria woke up unemployed with a couple of "new and improved" organs. For the last year, Maria's kept her head down and her mouth shut about past events. Though the Rubato is her first transport vessel protection detail, she's been there for two months and looks forward to ignoring new recruits. However, she makes it crystal clear upon meeting you that if you're into anything illegal, she doesn't want to know about it and you sure as heck don't want her knowing about it.

Introducing Zechs Marquise

Zechs Marquise (Zeks Mar-kee) has been a professional salvager since he was 16 years old. During his 5 year career, by taking on the most dangerous jobs in the farthest reaches of the galaxy, he has earned enough to buy his own mecha, the Tallgeese. Though Zechs has little formal education, he has managed to get by on his wits and willingness to take risks. This combination of abilities and equipment has earned him a lucrative contract on the Rubato. He looks forward to working with the crew of the Rubato, some of whom he's worked with on other ships and missions.

In the news...

Text of proposed legislation SR2290ZA12893 presented to the Martian Office of Colonial Affairs, for review of the Full Senate.

Submitted by Marcus Lehman, MP Concordia and Sin Jhou-Xiayn, MP Etrusca, Technoprogressive Party

Such that cloning technology has provided the means to incubate fully formed non-cloned bodies for individuals, and such that flash imprinting allows for the incorporation of an individual’s meta-intelligence onto these bodies, this legislation will allow for the creation of ‘adults’ utilizing randomizing algorithms and recombination techniques against current neural maps wile selecting against predatory and anti-social behavior. In this way, fully functioning members of society can be introduced to fulfill the needs of society without the painful, and wasted time of childhood distracting capital and labor of society.

This legislation is the next logical step in allowing for parents to avoid the pain and suffering of natural childbirth, and the loss in productivity inherent in raising children.

Opposition commentary by Francois Bertand, MP New Caladoina, Democratic Union Party

Developmental neurophysiologists have clearly demonstrated a link between the process of childhood and the development of an individuals unique neural – map that defines who and what they are. To imagine that this process can be any way replicated by some sort of randomizing algorithm coupled with requirements toward certain ‘desirable’ mental states is absolute madness. What the proponents of this legislation are proposing is nothing less than the development of socially acceptable zombies who will service the ruling caste in their pre-programmed manner. We cannot allow legislation like this to be passed.

Excepts from VRNet Lecture series

On Scarcity In the Modern Economy

Or

Why do we still have jobs when we have Fab’s that can utilize nanoengineering to manufacture things?

This is one of the fist questions generally asked in Collegiate level economics. Before the advent of nano-scale engineering and assemblers Scarcity was the primary determinate of all economic activity. This is still true today. However, we live in many ways what has been described as a post-scarcity economic environment. Individuals still buy and sell goods, but the most important determinant for adding value is no longer labor, but rather efficiency of design. However, this still does not tell the entire story. While assemblers can rearrange common atomic structures into more useful strata, they cannot assemble the atoms themselves. So Carbon is still carbon, silicon is still silicon, palladium is still palladium.

This is the fundamental root of modern scarcity: uncommon material. Adding value is no longer simply adding a mine to a parcel, as a mine can be assembled and disassembled automatically. Rather it is the need to acquire atoms that are not naturally abundant (barring cyclotronic atomic fusion which is energy intensive and this does not really address the problem satisfactorily) and the ability to create a plan for their assembly that will meet demand.

So while it is effortless to fab a chair, or a concrete house from dirt, it is nearly impossible to fab a flexi screen from dirt. You need a few more essential ingredients, and thus demand.

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The story of the ‘Rubato’

The story of the ‘Rubato’ (musical term: Rob the time, or set your own tempo)

The Rubato was commissioned during the first production of the Shinzuku Class of Light Assault Transports in 2226 at Koi Shpyards, New Nippon at the behest of the Colonial Marine Expeditionary Force. She saw service for 30 years as a recon mech dropship for the marines, seeing action notably in the Ross 128 incident, and deployed against the Williams Cartel in the Beta Oort quadrant. She received both the alpha electronics and beta armament refits in 2235 and 2241, before being decommissioned, stripped of military grade hardware and electronics, and auctioned as a civilian transport in 2251.

The Rubato has served under three captains in her time as a civilian vessel. Her original owner was Margal “the mechanic” Platt (service 2251 – 2282). No outstanding warrants or citations exist within ColUnionFedNet from this time period.

Her next captain was officially Margal Platt from 2282-2286, but there is no confirmable biometric or electroforensic data of Margal from this time period. It is suspected that the ship was run by some third party during this time – reinforced by several citations of illegal salvage operations and failure to pay berthing fees at various ports of call.

The Rubato’s current captain is Maggie Platt, biological granddaughter of Margal (see ColUnionFedNetAttachment:https256//SecRegSupAuthID/Registry). The Rubato’s fees are up to date, and registered as an independent cargo, passenger and mail courier, with a class 1 (basic) security clearance for InfoTansClearanceAuth.

(stats to follow)

Rules RC1 now available

Latest RC of the ruleset now available.

Feedback will definitely be appreciated. Lets also make this an open thread to talk about what everyone would like to get out of the game.

New Player's Handbook uploaded

Get it here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LightningHand/files/2290AD%20Players%20Handbook%20\
alpha2.zip

Changes:
Lots of formating cleanup, I've expanded the setting information, and cleaned up the mechanics a bit on nanomanipulation. I need to finish off a couple of spell descriptions but it's all basically there.

Let me know what you think!

- Mike

What level to start?

Initially I was thinking you all would start at level 3.

The other option is to start at 4th, just beginning your Advanced Class.

Thoughts?

AmiFed Security New Offering!

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Communications and the Economy

As it turns out, Science Fiction about Gray Goo nano-assembly and faster than light communications was just that: Fiction.

Economics is still driven by scarcity. There is no magic end around that allows us to convert Hydrogen into Rembrandts and Palm trees. Assemblers and cybernetics can help, but you still have to build things. Core worlds can manufacture and afford more than the Outback. The outback still has easier access to minerals, rare-earths, radioactives and Hydrogen. This is where we come in, moving raw materials to the core, finished goods and fresh rations to the Outback. Supply and demand. And we aim to fill it.

Now as to communications. There are those who have watched old style vids of space empires projecting real time holograms halfway across the galaxy. And well, we’ve got the skip drive so why not instant communications. Turns out the Skip drive is some sort of hole in Einstein’s Law’s. Don’t ask me how it works because I don’t know. I just own the ship.

So it turns out there’s good money to be made in delivering mail packets. Turns out that some of the best payouts can be if you have an encrypted server to deliver official mail to some far-out in the Outback – never mind the pay you can make if you deliver an official Colonial Courier to another system.

Some useful things

Cybernetics
Gadgets
Mecha
Vehicles

*note: The setting is Progress Level 7 (PL7)

'Evolvists'

--Accessing Colonial Union Infobase archive....

What follows is the full text of what is commonly called 'The Evolvist Manifesto' by the lay public.

A Solution to The New Holocaust
Dr. Sundaj Markim Rao

Humanity has reached a turning point in the course of our history. We have the ability to elucidate the nature of complex nuances of chaos systems in synergistic interaction. Unfortunately, we have yet to shed the hubris that allows us to ignore the philosophical ramifications of these interactions. These interactions will soon reach immeasurable proportions on the new colony worlds throughout the near sector. What interactions am I speaking of? Those between the native species of the colony worlds and the flora and fauna we introduce.

On the newly settled world of Procyron, there is an interesting species of insect, Victus Aboreum Insectus. They seem to have a hive mind structure much like the conventional ant. However, they seem to have on marked difference (other than their size): they seem to be able to override their hive ingrained behavior due to individual stimuli. What does this mean? Researchers are not certain. However, we do know that we are racing the clock to learn what we can about this new species. Why? Because their main source of food is a type of grass on Procyron B. A grass that is rapidly being predated by our engineered Terrestrial flora.

You see, by colonizing and terraforming Procyron B with our flora and fauna we are condemning the native species of that planet to eventual extinction. Terrestrial species have no natural parasites of predators on these worlds; aside from what we introduce. The result is the eradication of all native flora and fauna.

We have all ready seen this occur near the main colony of Procyron B. How long until the rest of the world is similarly affected?

It is, in a nutshell, another holocaust. We are eradicating some of the genetic diversity of the universe by our actions. Who are we to play God with what may one day become a truly sentient species? The 'Ant-Lions' of Procyron B seem to have intelligence at least that of a chimpanzee. Who are we to condemn them to eradication? Are we, in our hubris, as evil as the Zealots of Earth made us out to be?

There is a better way. Our knowledge has progressed to a point where planets are no longer necessary for our survival. We can easily procure oxygen, water, hydrogen, complex carbohydrates and minerals from the Ort cloud bodies. That which we cannot acquire we can grow or synthesize.

It is time for a social evolution. Or brains have become capable of complex higher order thought. There are even studies demonstrating the viability of Extrasensory Perception. We live in marvelous times of technological marvels, but we are still blind to our true potential.

We have no need of planets. Let us leave these incubators for the future intelligent races. Let us not fall to hubris and prejudice and exterminate potential friends. We have discovered the Chilranti and the Xitichui. Who knows what else we may find? Who knows what we have all ready found, but are busily destroying?

Only we can save ourselves. Only we can save our (dare I use the term) souls from what we are about to do to the future of the sector. I hope the Ant-Lions of Procyron B are given the chance to survive and evolve. I would like our decedents to be able to look them in the eye without guilt or remorse.



15 years later, 100,000 Evolvists (as they are now termed) moved into a privately funded spherical construct orbiting the Brown Dwarf Sol B.

They have become nomads of sort, traveling from one ice body to the next in search of resources. Their construct has no spin gravity, and their bioengineering has restored hand-like feet and prehensile tail in some, and wing like structures under the arms of others. More than sufficient physical modification to thrive in a weightless atmosphere. It is said that their construct is the most beautiful thing imaginable, with artificial rivers and lakes flowing through variable artificial gravity fields with uplifted cetaceans thriving in the zero g environment.

Could this be the future of Humanity? We don't know. But their lifestyle does have appealing qualities.

--- End search results.

Far out in the Sol system Ort cloud is a brown dwarf star, roughly 10 times more massive than Jupiter. While it does not produce light, it creates massive electromagnetic fields and bombards nearby space with energy. It is in orbit around this dwarf that the they have built their main habitat. They have discovered way to convert the solar energy of this failed star into electricity, enabling them to lead what they consider normal zero-g lives on the edge of deep space.

The Evolvists are convinced that to understand science - to know the universe it to look at the face of God. All that we of the Colonial Union do know is that thy have abandoned most human 'morality' in the name of progress, genetic utility, and planetary independence.

A map of known space

Character Creation Guide

Necessary SRD's

• Cybernetics (53k RTF)


• Equipment (348k RTF)


• Mecha (250k RTF)


• Mutations (92k RTF)


• Robots (241k RTF)


• Vehicles (140k RTF)

d20 Modern SRD

Introduction

So here it is. Earth got used up. It wasn’t one thing, but a whole raft of things; the ice melted, religious wars, to many nukes got used, the collapse of the ocean food – chains, take your pick of disasters they all happened. We can still look at it, its still there. The astronomers say that those who stayed behind are still nuking each other. It’s only been 200 years since the exodus – maybe they’ll get tired of fighting some day, but not yet.

When the wars started lots of people fled to the colonies and the outposts. Seems we invented fusion powered pulse engines just in time. Lots of people got out of earth as it all came crashing down. 5 million. 10. 50. We don’t rightfully know. Still just a drop in the bucket.

Lots of nations had official plans. The North American Colonial Union sent their people to Mars. United Galactic Spaceways and El Israel gathered the survivors of the General Exchange in the Middle East and loaded them into the L4 Hilton.

But what really saved our asses was the Skip Drive. Imagine all these refugees in space, with no where to go. Some cultures like the Turks and Chinese started to cobble together Generation ships out of their national space stations. But then we got lucky again. A scientist on Mars created the Skip Drive. Making light years take weeks instead of centuries.

The mostly completed Generation ships were retrofitted into Skip Ships while they watched Earth burn. And then they disappeared.

The Chinese headed to Alpha Centari, the Turks Barnard’s Star, the Australians Procyron. And so on. Europeans, Brazilians, Chinese, Japanese, African Unionists, Indians - cultural seeds scattered to the six winds.

Now we're in the now. Humanity has pushed out to about 25 light years from Sol system. The Martian terraforming project is complete, and the NorthAm’s are getting started on Venus, Europa and Enceladus. Planets populated by people, some main line, some genejacked to be more compatible with their new homes. And some who have stayed out in the beyond having decided planets are retroburn.

It also turns out that we aren’t alone out here. Turns out there are habitable planets everywhere. And any place with liquid water has life of some sort. We found a moon colony of a species that suffered the same fate as Earth just barely scraping by. Found a species of pre-industrials. Found other places with wrong – handed DNA folding, making the life there the most toxic thing in the Universe for us. Leave those alone.

But everywhere we go, we start terraforming and populating and building.

Some say humanity’s numbers are back to where they were before Earth died. But now we're spread. And we're still humans – same old problems. NorthAm Colonial Union and Chinese sparring for control over territory and resources. Pirates operating off map and preying on traders. Mercenary companies and Security teams helping raw planets fight off pirates and natives and whatever else comes their way.

You’d think we’d learn.

Anyway. I’ve got a Trader. Shinzuku Class out of New Nippon, 10KT displacement. It isn’t pretty but it moves cargo nicely.

Here’s what I need by way of crew:

Pilot / Navigator.
Hacker
Machinist / Engineer / Robotics
Security
Doc.
A fixer or faceman.

Overlap is good because then you can catch some sleep in shifts. I’ll let you know once we’re ready to ship.

(OOC: we’ll be using d20 future / modern. Get yourself to 3rd level and we’ll specialize down the road. And no, I’m not sure when we’ll start this, but I figure if we get it up and ready it can be a one off now and then for those days when the Tuesday night game isn’t able to go).