Starlight:Our Time is Running Out

<EpisodeNavigation> name=Our Time is Running Out date=5/5/2017 episodenumber=16 </EpisodeNavigation>

Game Outline

1. Last game, PC’s tracked down second part of the gate, and were pursued by Deimos. The cloud of nano machines pursued them until the starlight fired it’s gravity cannon at the cloud. The cloud drew back into itself and exploded, knocking the PC’s out.
2. Jerias Slover
   1. You are sitting in the living room of your sister’s flat on Mars, flipping through one of your father’s journals. You had pulled it out of one of the six boxes Mike Hawley, a fellow associate of your father, had left on the coffee table with a sigh. Jeremiah Slover had been missing for 6 months now, with no explanation of why. Hawley was didn’t say much when he was there. He just introduced himself with a curt “greetings”, and mentioned he’d known your father. He didn’t answer any questions, just that he “worked with” your father. You flip through a few pages, dated 5 years ago. You can see plainly in his scribbled handwriting when he turned to drugs or booze to ease his pain. His handwriting worsened sometimes to the point of illegibility, and he frequently complained about the paltry workers comp settlement he received from UK Mars Expansion Corp after his accident while piloting a Mechanized Worker during the construction of a mining camp. Then you got to the parts where he mentioned you. Lamenting his quiet and reserved son as a disappointment. “Sometimes I wonder if the boy is even my son” he says in one particularly scathing entry.
      Ophelia will be home soon, and you need to explain what the deal is with all of this junk. You’ll also need to explain to her why her older brother has spent another day sitting on her couch, day drinking beers with his dog and watching 24 hour news. “I am a disappointment” you think for a moment, finishing off another can, this one still cold from the opening.
      “We have some breaking news from earth orbit,” a frantic anchor says, interrupting a commercial about Jupiter pleasure cruises. “This footage, from about 20 minutes ago…” and you see the UES Starlight break away from the moorings of its construction dock. It clears the dock and, as the anchor narrates, begins drift away. A yellow swirling vortex “of unknown origin” according to the anchor, opens in front of the ship, and you pause half way through your newly opened beer. The starlight gets pulled into the vortex, twists and spaghettifies and disappears. Arcs of electricity start to shoot out from the vortex, and the ships around it begin to break apart and explode into thousands of small, silver vessels. “Those are Type 1’s” you say to yourself, not knowing fully what you mean.
      The image pixilates and cuts out, and the anchor, just stares forward in stunned silence for a moment. They snap out of it says “We can confirm we’ve not received any new transmissions from earth in the last 5 minutes. The Mars Government has not released any statements…”
      “Why am I sitting here doing nothing,” you think. This isn’t your usual drunken listlessness. This is has more feeling behind it. “This isn’t right” you think, “none of it’s right.” You look down at the dog you haven’t seen in months, dozing at your feet, and think upon the words of your father, words you’ve never read in any of his journals. You hear the keys of your sister jangling in the door, somewhat panicked. She must have seen the news on her way home.
      “No, this isn’t how things turned out” you think to yourself.
      Ophie bursts through the door in a panic. She sent mom a message a half hour ago and after seeing what happened on earth checked her communicator it was showing an odd error “COM-SAT-442 NO RESPONSE”. She doesn’t ask about the boxes, or the say anything about the pile of empties. The panic in the voice of the news anchor has ratcheted up. Strange signals have been detected from earth and defense satellites have detected some unknown force moving to Mars and the colony ship, USS Astrid which had stopped at Mars for supplies before leaving for Mu Arae has departed early in response to the crisis. The next few hours go by in a confusing blur as the city descends into panic. Officials instruct civilians to shelter in place, but there aren’t enough police to keep the peace. You insist on finding a secure place to hole up, and bring Ophelia and Keio with you, and somewhere along the way the dog disappears into the panicking crowd. Your search is in vain, however, and fear overtakes you as you see the strange silver vessels (Type 1’s, you remind yourself) descend upon the city.
3. Rafael Lopez
   1. “Raf, there’s a call from your dad.” You snap out of your reverie, gazing out the window of your work truck.
      Joao (jo-auuw), your assistant is standing next to the driver’s side window, holding out his communicator to you. “He says he tried calling you but couldn’t get through. You alright, parceiro (par-SAY-ro)?”
      You rub your eyes and look over to the dash, seeing a missed call and several missed messages. “Yeah, I’m… fine” you respond, not feeling fine at all. “Tell him I’ll call him back.” Joao just nods and wanders back towards the generator, speaking into his communicator. You place your hands on the steering wheel and think about how much easier it would be if you could control this like your MS… no, what MS? You’re a field manager, not a pilot, not like that woman you…
      The truck’s communicator rings breaking your train of thought, and you answer the incoming call. “Raffy, about time you answer.” Your father is short and to the point, going down the list of unprofitable generators you’re tasked with taking offline, complaining that you’re behind schedule, which just means more money lost. A part of you wants to cut him off and give you a piece of his mind, but you realize he’s probably under a lot of pressure too. After a good 20 minutes of this, he simply ends the call saying “your mother is looking forward to seeing you tonight. Dinner is at 7” and he hangs up. You grab the steering wheel of your work truck again, and your mind wanders.
      “You shouldn’t be here” Lt Cmdr Reid says from aside you.
      Your entire body tenses as you recognize the voice. The last words she spoke to you, angry hissing words “No you idiot don’t drive around to the front, you don’t know who else it out here” echo in your head. You look over to her and she looks no different then the last time you saw her alive. Attractive, early-40s, short hair tucked fully under her helmet.
      “Mr. Lopez, did you hear me? You shouldn’t be here.” She repeats.
      You don’t completely disagree with her, something about this is completely wrong, not just that a dead woman stands next to your truck.
      “I told you this morning we had some increased guerilla activity in this sector. You haven’t listened to a single thing I’ve told you in the last 3 years, Mr Lopez. At least tonight after I ship out to Starlight you’ll be someone else’s problem.”
      Your mind fills with a thousand questions you want to ask her, and you don’t understand why, over the last 3 years you haven’t asked them.
      “We’re… here to shut down some poorly performing H3 reactors.” You start with the simple facts.
      She begins laying into you once more, something you’ve gotten used since UK Stellar, Corporacao Solares de Brasil’s largest client, assignd her company to protect your corporation against terrorist activity.
      Joao (jo-auuw) starts running over to your truck, waving his arms. “Senhor Lopez! Quick, turn on the news!” he calls out. Reid stops in the middle of her sentence, and you flick on a live news feed on your dashboard.
      “Starlight has disappeared into the strange… vortex and… my god…” you see a familiar scene – the Starlight’s construction dock, and a yellowish vortex hovering near it, somewhere in orbit overhead. Electricity arcs from the swirling mass and the other ships nearby begin to burst into a flurry of strange, silver teardrop shaped vessels burst from them.
      “Jesus Christ” Reid rasps.
      “Those are Type 1’s” you say
      “Those are what?” she says
      “I… don’t know.” She doesn’t give you much time to respond, as she’s already running towards her MS, barking commands into her comm. You look up towards the sky, not noticing as the video feed pixellates and your truck’s screen goes black. Looming in the sky above is the ever-expanding yellow vortex, and for a moment you believe you see a pair of red, burning eyes that you swear are looking at you.
      “I need to get to my MS” you think, as the Type 1’s descend upon your position.
4. Finn MacNeil
   1. “Boy? BOY! You got water between ya’ ears?” your father shouts, tossing an empty glass at you. You barely dodge it, and the glass shatters on the wall behind you. “Finn, for heaven’s sake! Bring me another drink and clean that mess up.”
      You feel yourself teetering on the edge of rage, but stifle it down and shuffle into the kitchen wordlessly. You grab the bottle of glenlivet, a fresh glass from the cabinet, and a bottle of club soda, loudly slamming each down on the counter in the process.
      “BOY!” the old man calls from the living room, “You break another glass I’ll have your damn hide.” You don’t know what set him off this time, but this is the worst he’s been in weeks. You mix your father his drink and silently bring it to him, longing to be with Paige. She always – wait. What were you doing here? This isn’t right. You look toward the TV as you hand your father his drink and see a live image of the UES Starlight. The reporter mentions that tomorrow is the inaugural launch of the ship, and several different ships from various nations gathered around probably means it will be a huge event.
      “This ship is the stupidest thing I’ve seen. How much of our tax dollars have gone to this boondoggle? Prime Minster Hartness must me out of ‘is damn gourd pitching all that money into this.”
      “This isn’t right” you say out loud and the old man looks towards you with a puzzled look.
      “You… you’re damn right!” he finally settles on, surprised that you agree with him for once.
      The news story goes on as you shuffle away, confused, to clean up the broken glass. You should be on that ship, you’re certain of it. You ran away from home after all... or did you… you recall resolving that you would, but then chickening out at the last second. Since then you’ve barely held a series of terrible low paying jobs, while not caring for your increasingly abusive and drunk father. You’ve stopped going to the pub, embarrassed to show your face among your mates, who have all embarked on more successful paths in life. So you’ve instead resorted to sitting in your room, playing video games and drinking yourself into a blur when you’re not working. Even now you can’t wait to get back to your room to numb yourself more this evening.
      As you sweep up the remains of the high ball glass, you turn back to the TV, the story still about the Starlight, and think of Paige. But there is no Paige. You met her after you ran away, which you never did. Confusion clouds your mind, as you see the Starlight begin to move out of it’s mooring.
      “That’s odd” the anchor says. “It appears as though the ship is leaving dock early. We… we’re going to keep on this shot for now, and let you know what’s happening when we find out-what the hell.”
      “It’s about to happen”, you think to yourself, and a yellow swirling vortex opens in front of the ship. The Starlight gets pulled into the vortex, twists and spaghettifies and disappears. Arcs of electricity start to shoot out from the vortex, and the ships around it begin to break apart and explode into thousands of small, silver vessels. “Those are Type 1’s” you say to yourself, not knowing fully what you mean. The image pixilates and cuts out and your old man turns to you “What the ‘ell was that about.”
      You ignore the old man and run outside, looking up into the afternoon sky. Looming in the sky to the south is the ever-expanding yellow vortex, and for a moment you believe you see a pair of red, burning eyes that you swear are looking at you.
      “I need to get to my MS” you think, as the Type 1’s descend upon your position.
5. Spirits of the Thanatos
   1. You three awaken next to each other, your MS’s no where to be seen, in a bright while featureless void.
   2. The three find themselves before five large birds
   3. Speak. Who are you?
   4. Why do you disturb our resting place? Explain yourselves.
   5. Time ebbs and flows and has no meaning here. What you see are possibilities.
   6. We are the spirits of the Thanatos. We have resided here for centuries, possibly millennia, our consciousness trapped within the Deimos cloud. You were enveloped within the Deimos Cloud and thus we are able to speak to you.
   7. Our Homeship, Pouli, was destroyed here long ago. We came here looking to study the part of the gate that was here. When we found it, the Deimos Cloud attacked us and began absorbing our ship and killing us all. We five had began experimenting with nano machines like the Macedonians use – and are all that remain of the Pouli. Here our consciousness has resided since.
   8. But now you have destroyed the Deimos cloud, and our time here is coming to an end. Even now this place is dissolving around us. If you have questions for us, ask and we will answer however we can.
6. Deimos attacks them one last time – the tentacles.
   1. Need to mark down 1st, 2nd, & 3rd defeated player.
7. The girls’ video.
   1. You see a teacher standing at the front of a classroom. What you see has the quality of a hand-held video. On the wall behind him is a very familiar sight, the Starlight disintegrating into the yellow vortex. “That’s right, Joseph. The reason it’s called the Starlight Event is that the only video we have of the incident – you can see stills if you go to bookmark 5362 – shows the destruction of the UES Starlight. It’s unknown why the captain chose to break free from the mooring when he did. One of those mysteries of history we’ll ne -” the image pixellates and you see a girl, maybe 10 or 11 gazing directly at you. Behind her head, you see a metallic ceiling pass by. “Okay” she says “I think I’m going to start use the video on this for more than school.” She looks up momentarily and you hear someone curtly say “watch where you’re going, kid.” She meekly mumbles “sorry” and presses herself up against the wall. “Well maybe I’ll start later”. Next you see her, she’s a few years older. She’s laying on a bed, looking directly at you. “My Astrid Adventures, Monday, June 22nd 2854. Tomorrow is my 13th birthday. Tomorrow, is the day I’ll be expected to pick my Lifework. This is the biggest decision of my life. I realize that it’s important we all pitch in to keep the ship running, but I just don’t know. Denmother says I like talking so much, I should go with communications, but I think she’s teasing. It’s an inter- dangit, Fury.” A meow is heard and the girl disappears, you are left staring at the metal ceiling of a vessel. It looks worn and frequently patched, and several light ballasts are dark. “You’re not supposed to be in the living area Fury, you know that” another meow, followed by the sound of a door opening then closing. The girl returns shortly after. “where was I” she says, stopping to think a moment. An alarm interrupted her thoughts and the color runs out of her face. “oh no.. no they’re back. The Devourerers oh no no no no.” you hear a loud explosion, a shattering crack and the sound of rushing air. The image tumbles around the room, giving you a brief glimpse of a spares living area filled with 10 or so beds. You can hear the girl screaming from fear, and from pain. The sound cuts out as the recording device appears to be sucked out of a ship into the vacuum of space. The image tumbles several times and you get glimpses of a jagged scar in the side of a massive vessel, and a formation of several red lights zip by. The last image you see is the glowing eye of a Type 1 looming, and the recording ends.
8. Awoken by the Macedonians.
   1. First PC (to be defeated in the encounter with the tentacles)
      1. You come to with a gasp, hearing “The hell are you-[PC1] can you hear me? Are you with us?” Dr Coll shouts at you, standing directly over you.
      2. To your side is Jenbo, a small wand-like device in his hands. He shuffles over towards [PC2].
      3. “Jenbo, what the hell is that thing?” Andersen says sharply.
      4. “No time, sir. No time. Need to restart nanomachines.” The Macedonian says, pressing some buttons on the implement. The doctors stop in place as Barcoa shuffles to [PC2]. He presses the end of the implement against [PC2’s] head, and the air is filled with a high squeal. [PC2] sits bolt upright with a scream, and nearly falls out of the hospital bed. He needs to be restrained and takes a few minutes to calm down. Barcoa then shuffles to [PC3] and repeats the process, and [PC3] comes too as well.
9. Several days later
   1. You’ve all been given a clean bill of health. There appear to be no lasting negative effects from the incident with Deimos, or the subsequent revival. Barcoa has explained that Deimos’ destruction sent out an energy spike that knocked out all of their nano-machines. Thankfully, the ship’s shields protected those on the ship, but no so much with the PC’s
   2. You have all been given a week to convalesce with a major reduction of duties. The Commander stops by at least once a day to check on how you’re doing. Meanwile, your MS cores have been badly damaged, and the repair crew has been working a rotating 24 hour shift to get them operational. You hear that several Macedonians have arrived and are assisting with the rebuild.
   3. Goldstein comes by one day to visit. He makes some pleasant conversation (as pleasant as Goldstein is capable of, anyway) He thinks you’ll all be excited at some of the updates the Macedonians have been able to incorporate into the MS cores, and says they’re actually ahead of schedule in getting them re-built. He’s about to leave then says: “Oh, I almost forgot. One of the other mechanics found this in the wreckage of your MS, MacNeil.” He reaches into his tool pack and pulls out a slightly twisted and burnt data pad. “It was in this condition… so don’t blame me. He figured you’d want it back so… here you go” he hands the data pad to MacNeil. “Well, anyway… I hope you guys feel better.”
   4. Goldstein leaves and MacNeil: you never took your datapad with you, so this can’t be yours. As you touch the screen, it flickers to life. What you see if a video of a little girl, looking down at the camera. “Okay” she says “I think I’m going to start use the video on this for more than school.”

Game Files

• File:Video.docx

Musical Inspiration
Song:	Time Is Running Out
Artist:	Muse
Album:	Absolution
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