Osiah Carroll

NPC: Katlyn Walsh
Location: Main Lobby

* * * GRANTS MISSION * * *

Mission Data
Combat XP: 0
Explore XP: 0
Trade XP: 0
$ Earned: 754
Reputation: InfinitiCorp Traders (goes up)

Katlyn Walsh: Hi there! I'm Katlyn Walsh, but most people around here call me Kat. I'm the Executive Assistant to the VP of Sector Affairs. It's a very important job. Lady deWinter once gave me a personal commendation. Have you had a chance to talk to her yet? You should, she's wonderful. I've learned so much working around her.

Reply: My name is Carroll.

Katlyn Walsh: I just love Progen. You're so hunky. But don't go thinking you're in Lady deWinter's league. She can have anyone she wants. Anyway, working for InfinitiCorp is lot of responsibility, so you better not be some freak or nut or fleb. Anyway ... How can I be helpful to you?

Reply: I need information...

Katlyn Walsh: Well, New Edinburgh is the seat of InfinitiCorp, which is run by Lady deWinter, of course. You'll want to impress her if you are looking to move up the ranks. I just love Lady deWinter. We've been having some trouble with pirates, especially around the construction yards. Also the Grek are restless. Grek are nasty little critters, but they do have their uses. It's getting harder and harder to harvest them, though. Um ... That's about it, I guess. Unless you want to do a job for me. I'm the one with Lady deWinter's ear. How can I be helpful to you?

Reply: I'd like some work...

Katlyn Walsh: A real go-getther, huh? Lady deWinter is a go-getter. She practically saved this sector single handed. If you're nice to me, I might try to introduce you some time. But for now let's just put you to work. Lady deWinter is waiting for the latest status report from Inverness Down Station, inside the gas giant, Inverness. That's InfinitiCorp's big gas processing station, by the way. The Stationmaster is Maks Babin. He's a bit of a fleb if you ask me. Anyway, I need you to go get the datacube with the report on it and bring it back here. If you do that, I'll put in a good word for you. Do you want the mission?

Reply: Yes..

Katlyn Walsh: Wonderful. Go to Inverness Down and talk to Maks to get the report. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you so he can get this little task off his plate. Hurry, now.

Maks Babin is located in the Main Lobby at Inverness Down...

Maks Babin: What?! WHAT!? Oh... you're new, and it's not hard to tell you don't really fit in. We mostly see fellow traders around here. My name is Maks Babin. I'm the Stationmaster, if you can call this a station. You better not cause me any trouble, 'cause I've got enough as it is. You've got a beady little look in your eye. I suppose deWinter sent you to check up on me.

Reply: Sort of. Katlyn sent me to bring back your status report.

Maks Babin: Katlyn? That little toady? So deWinter can't even do her own errands, AND she wants my report a week early. It's not enough I don't have the funding I need, and now this... Excuse me a moment.

Maks Babin: Hello? I'd like to leave a message for deWinter: WHERE is my funding, you WITCH?

Reply: Uh... the status report?

Maks Babin: Right, right, fine. Here it is. I'm sure it will be riddled with errors because it wasn't ready. I don't suppose you deal with deWinter directly at all do you?

Reply: Nope...

Maks Babin: Sigh... alright then. I have emergencies to get back to.

Later... back at Somerled Station...

Katlyn Walsh: Carroll, you're back! Received 754 Credits. Oh, you've got the datacube. Wonderful! I'll send this report to Lady deWinter right away. She'll be so happy. I just love it when she's happy. You're in my good books now, Carroll. Is there anything else I can do for you?

Reply: No thanks, I think I'll be going.

Osiah Carroll

NPC: Dinh Thi Anh
Location: Bridge behind Market

Dinh Thi Anh: Get away from me. You've got one butt-ugly aura. That's a pirate-hating aura. I'm Bai Leung tong, so don't mess with me, or I'll have a Needle Wasps do a number on your sorry ass.

Reply: You've got me wrong. How can I show you my good side?

Dinh Thi Anh: Here's one easy lesson to make pirates like you, fleb -- take out a bunch of Sabine ships. Then find our leader, Shou Tzu, and get HIM to like you. After that, maybe I'll think your aura is okay. Now vamoose.

Osiah Carroll

NPC: Restorer Duty Officer
Location: Genetic Repository:

Restorer Duty Officer: I acknowledge your return, Versatile Carroll. Are you here in the service of the First Charge?

Reply: I have questions to ask.

Restorer Duty Officer: It's not my duty as a Restorer to instruct. Tovar Maxe should have done that. But very well, you may ask a few questions.

Reply: Those who are Called Forward or Re-Iterated... do they have souls?

Restorer Duty Officer: Such a prickly question. It's a debate I'm forbidded to enter. As a Restorer, I have one purpose and one only - to use the gene-maps to restore a being to life. I restore the body and with it whatever I can of the memories and emotions.

Reply: What is this place?

Restorer Duty Officer: Surely you understand that by now? This is the Genetic Repository for the Progen Race. It's where we, the Restorers, use the stored gene-maps to recreate the life that was lost. A Centuriata who is found worthy is Called Forward to continue serving the Republic as a warrior. A Sabine who has given good service to the Republic may be Re-Iterated and continue in that service with a new life. In this place, we guard and cherish the future of the Progen race. Now you should understand why gathering the gene-maps is so important, and why they must be brought here to our care. Is there anything else?

Reply: What is the First Charge?

Restorer Duty Officer: It would be shameful for any Sabine to admit ignorance of the Three Charges, the very reason for which we were engineered. The First Charge is to preserve the Warriors and return them from death, through the Call Forward. The Second Charge is to improve the Warriors and bring them closer to perfection. The Third Charge is to improve all Progen and seek perfection in all its forms through exploration and discovery. Is there anything else?

Reply: Where can I find viable gene-maps?

Restorer Duty Officer: Since genetic material degrades quickly in an environment, it's better to search old battlefields in space. The hulks of Progen vessels are usually a good place to prospect. Often of our Reclaimers has been there first, but you could find something that was overlooked.

Reply: Thanks. I'll be on my way now.

Restorer Duty Officer: Remember the First Charge. If you find a gene-map, bring it here as soon as possible. Go in honor.

Osiah Carroll

NPC: Chief Engineer Joven
Location: Chief Engineer's Log (near the Ruins of the ECS Serpe)

Chief Engineer Joven: Log. Acting Chief Engineer Joven. We were attacked today by vile beasts coming from that strange maelstrom near the ancient gate. Of course those things managed to blow up the only part of the ship with our Chief Engineer in it. Now I have taken control of the engineering corps of this vessel, go me. I should have stayed in cryo-sleep. I need people, I need supplies, I need a bath, and I need the first officer to get off my back.

Chief Engineer Joven: . . .

Chief Engineer Joven: Log. Chief Engineer Joven, two days after the attack. He's all over me again, he just won't leave me alone. I'm trying the best I can. The plasma conduits port side are shot. The attacks from those things are chewing up our replacement parts faster than a Jenquai on a comet. What am I supposed to do? Weld my boots to the hull and start flapping my arms? We've stopped receiving reports from the colony on Risco. I'm not sure if that has to do with the slag we're calling a communications tower or because the beasts decided that they needed more friends. If this keeps up, we may need to send a message to Earth and let them know what's going on here and what we've learned. If anyone else comes out here, they'll need that information, and it looks like I will have to provide it.

Chief Engineer Joven:. . .

Chief Engineer Joven: Log. Chief Engineer Joven, day five of what the captain is calling 'the hounds of war', should be more like the 'lunch for the hounds'. The beasts returned for a second time today. This time, they took out a large portion of our secondary systems. I have teams reinforcing the life support, defense, and weapons systems. The science officer is asking for power to the sensor array and she just doesn't understand that data is no good if the computers aren't functioning to report it. What does she want from me? I can't twitch my head and make energy appear. Maybe the former 'great' chief engineer could, but I can't! The whole universe is against me, maybe I'll just resign my commission... if I have one after all this.

Chief Engineer Joven:. . .

Chief Engineer Joven: Log. Chief Engineer Joven, day seven. I talked to the captain for a while today. I had an idea on how to quickly send information to Earth. It doesn't seem that difficult. Using our warp drive, I may be able to open a nano-wormhole back to Earth and send information through it. With great success maybe we can open it far enough to get some supplies though. I talked to the captain for a while today. I had an idea on how to quickly send information to Earth. It doesn't seem that difficult. Using our warp drive, I may be able to open a nano-wormhole back to Earth and send information through it. With great success maybe we can open it far enough to get some supplies through. Of course... with our conduits patched together with nail polish and a prayer we'll just have to hope we don't rupture the coolant system when we try it. Still no word from the colony. Captain is getting restless to send a probe but I have a team on the communications system looking for a problem.

Chief Engineer Joven:. . .

Chief Engineer Joven: Log. Chief Engineer Joven, day ten. Well, the beasts haven't returned yet, but they may as well have done so. The fools I sent to work on the communications system didn't heed all my warnings about the instability of the computer systems and wiped out a lot of the memory core. The captain lost a portion of his logs. He wasn't too happy about that, and the first officer made sure I knew it, of course.

Chief Engineer Joven: . . .

Chief Engineer Joven: Log. Chief Engineer Joven, day fifteen. I launched the probe to Risco today. Don't know why we even bothered. Can't everyone see the obvious? Can't we just realize we're alone out here? There's no way we're getting good news back. That would just be too lucky for us... and them.

Chief Engineer Joven: . . .

Chief Engineer Joven: Log. Chief Engineer Joven, day seventeen. Just when we thought it may be over... NO! They come again, hitting the main control, power and gas conduits to the sick bay. I guess I can take what's left of my crew that were working on that problem and put them somewhere else. Maybe they can try to get more than a third of our weapons working. Then again, our hull is starting to look like a bee hive. Maybe I can get a few of them to weld some of the sick bay beds over the holes.

Chief Engineer Joven: . . .

Chief Engineer Joven: Log. Chief Engineer Joven, day nineteen. We've just been told that they are coming again. I guess it's time to stop worrying about how I'm going to keep this rig afloat and just try to keep the people inside of it alive. If we don't make it, the captain gave me the go to turn on my nano-wormhole generator and get tactical information to Earth. As much as I can't stand some of the people on this boat, it's been an honor to work as chief for just a few days. <static>

Osiah Carroll

NPC: Nostradamus Smythe
Location: Main Lobby

* * * GRANTS MISSION * * *

Mission Data
Combat XP: 0
Explore XP: 500
Trade XP: 3,820
$ Earned: 786
Reputation: Unavailable (goes up)

Nostradamus Smythe: Don't tell me. You were sick of the home worlds so you signed up for the colonies -- the danger, the excitement, the chance to make history. Then somebody sent you to this dump. Now you're asking yourself -- Oui, je sais! -- why the hell do I bother? Have I got that right?

Reply: I wanted to come here. I volunteered.

Nostradamus Smythe: You volunteered. Hmmm. Would like more to go on. Volunteered for what? With whom? I have to ask. I'm duty-bound to investigate, as I may. With judicion, if I can manage. And delicacy, should it come to that -- and I admit the job is more enticing when it does come to that. You see, events have taken a turn for the worse on Aganju and I need some new friends real quick.

Reply: I could use some new friends myself.

Nostradamus Smythe: Then you've come to the right place . . . Have you ever worked with someone different than yourself and become close? Pitched over a boundary? Gone in through an out door?

Reply: What are you getting at?

Nostradamus Smythe: It's a yes or no question.

Reply: Of course I know different people. Everyone's had that experience.

Nostradamus Smythe: Not everyone . . . But some of us assigned to Aganju have begun to feel that way about the Psis. Naturally, we don't much like the way they're treated. Which is why I need a favor. . .

Reply: I hate deWinter.

Nostradamus Smythe: The most tolerable of offenses. Here's what I want you to do . . . Go over to Tau Ceti and see deWinter. Be forthright and presentable. She'll offer you a mission. Take it. But instead of delivering that crate of weapons to Praetorum Mons, bring them here instead. Sound like your kind of trip?

Reply: I'd love to.

Nostradamus Smythe: Wunderbah, baby . . . Remember, if we can't improve things in this little pocket of stars, what in the name of the Ancients are we doing here? Good luck and whatever you do, don't let on when you see deWinter. I just want to hurt her. I don't want to enlighten her.

After rerouting deWinter's shipment and re-docking at Kinsasha-Mbali...

Combat XP: 0
Explore XP: 500
Trade XP: 694
$ Earned:
Reputation: Unavailable (goes up)

Nostradamus Smythe: Ah, Aganju. There's no place like it. Don't discard that as the joke you probably take it to be. We're seeing one of a kind wonders here. Derrangement. Disaster. But what falls down may soon cause what else to rise up?

Reply: Another cave in?

Nostradamus Smythe: Yeah. And very much like the last. Very sudden. Three tunnels. No explanation . . . It usually starts deep in one of the shafts, then propagates upward to the planet surface. We can't control the fires.

Reply: Backfill the shaft. That's usually the best way to stop a mine fire.

Nostradamus Smythe: It is if you can remove the nitrogen components in the fill and, say -- you're not a subsidence engineer are you?

Reply: Looks like you've figured me out.

Nostradamus Smythe: I blame deWinter. She ends up with Aganju -- the greatest supply of weapons ore in our power mad galaxy, but she never takes precautions. Mine cheap, sell dear -- a theme becoming so prevelant in Terran space we might dare call it policy.

Reply: Could you use more aid?

Nostradamus Smythe: You can get an aid mission in Alpha Centauri. Go to Jagerstadt Station and see Herrera.

Reply: I'd rather take a mission here.

Nostradamus Smythe: Why? What are you? Some kind of outlaw? Misanthrope? Daredevil? Skeptic? Are you a cynic? Or . . . know what? I should find out. Why don't we find out if you are what I hope you are . . . But just as lessons are learned they must also be taught and it seems you've done some teaching in Tau Ceti . . . To a job well done . . .

Combat XP: 0
Explore XP:
Trade XP: 3,126
$ Earned: 786
Reputation:

Nostradamus Smythe: We'll see the Psis get their freedom everywhere in this galaxy. The sooner the better.

Reply: And you think you'll need guns for that?

Nostradamus Smythe: Don't look so surprised. You're almost one of us now.

Osiah Carroll

NPC: Warden Orphant:
Location: Detention Center Onorom

Warden Orphant: Yes, citizen?

Reply: What is this place?

Warden Orphant: This is DET Onorom, citizen. Surely you know it.

Reply: No. Tell me about it.

Warden Orphant: <sigh> It is called a place of confinement, citizen. In reality, it is a racial panacea. A rug, under which we can sweep our imperfections... the mistakes of genetic science. We hide them here, and we pretend we can ALL reach perfection.

Reply: Are there any criminals here?

Warden Orphant: Criminals, citizen? What would be the point? Criminals can be re-iterated and 'fixed.' Criminality is a disease. It can be cured. Only the Luddite Terrans would dispute that.

Reply: What do you do here, exactly?

Warden Orphant: I welcome our new tenants, citizen. The raving, the slavering, the insane. The mistakes. All too many brought to this place, citizen. Though it's better than the alternative.

Reply: The alternative?

Warden Orphant: Death, citizen. The Real Death. Not something a Progen would inflict upon his fellows, even those poor slobbering abominations that come to Onorom.

Reply: The Real Death?

Warden Orphant: Yes, citizen. What manner of Progen ARE you? The Real Death. The death that LASTS. The one we Progen think we've defeated. We're wrong, though, citizen. The Real Death only bides its time, waits a little longer for each of us. It has to be craftier, now, to snare us. But it WILL, in the end.

Reply: Your work sounds satisfying.

Warden Orphant: Indeed? Observing the horrors of genetic science, the MISTAKES that one never sees? The warrior whose vat went bad, whose latest iteration has only half a skull, and no flesh to conceal it? Or the scientist whose emote-map was savaged by the Manes... who now can speak only gibberish, though he believes his nonsense is profundity, and he sobs and screams because no one understands? And of course, when their friends and loved-ones come looking for these 'missing' people, I have the honor of turning them away, insisting that they're not here. "No, not here, certainly.' Yes, citizen. My work is 'satisfying,' indeed.

Reply: I should go.

Warden Orphant: So you should, citizen, if you value your sanity. No one ought to come here willingly...