Rush Marshal game

Setting: post-AIF

Referee: RooK

Player(s): Dave - playing the 3-being crew of an escourt class corrival

---

---

SETTING

The normal AIF continuum has progressed for an additional 16x10¹⁰ seconds. Most of the old socio-political structures have been rendered into obscurity and myth, and have little to no bearing on anyone's current existence. Functionally, the same levels of technology exist, but with less cultural inertia from previous lower-technology eras. As such, the distinction between biological and mechanical constructs has been blurred by nanotechnology. Medic and technician skills are largely interchangeable (except that medics are more combat-capable). Biologists and physicists are similarly merged, other than aesthetic preferences. Mortal wounds no longer exist for any being with nanoscopic robots. Everything with nanoscopic robots heals at a minimum of 1 stamina per hour - including robots, ships, and gear.

The story begins in a region of space called the "Disclosed Space", and it has been claimed by the Timoria Federacy as trade space. It exists as the interstitial systems between the 5 main member systems of Timoria Federacy (Timoria, Oleracea, Sproul, Hagen, and Galvan). While the main member systems have their own dedicated navies and police forces, they cooperate in a force of "Rush Marshals" to enforce profitable law and order for trade inside the Federacy and across Disclosed Space. The governments on the interstitial systems (for those that have them) have varying levels of involvement in law enforcement, but are all considered subordinate to the jurisdiction of the Rush Marshals.

---

CHARACTERS

•	BARNEY	FRED DEAD	BAM-BAM
Occupations	Mover 3	Sharpshooter	Striker / Technician
Notes	• wings! • the smart one	• highest innate awareness • no turret die yet...	• a striker on a ship? • is rather large (300 kg)

---

ESCOURT CLASS CORRIVAL - "PROCYON"

•	PROCYON
Size	222cp
Stamina	202
Shields	188 manipulated
Combat Speed	4km/turn²
Superluminal Speed	1.5 P/h
Maneouverability	2
Durability	15
Weaponry	7D6 150 km
EM range	100 km
Etheric range	0.1 parsec
Cargo	2.2cp
	tools (ship 2D) 1 patches (ship) 24 missiles (seeker +3 2D) 12 tactical nuke (20D 3km) 1 escape pod (2 tons) 1

---

PLOT 000 - One day in the void...

Yeah, I'll get to this. Really.

---

Clearly, I was being sarcastic.

---

2018.08.10 - Doughnut Of Doom

Most of the session was actually spent clarifying the underlying ideas of the Movement Rules testing, plus some reality-tweaking the game mechanics of how sensors work.

The crew of the Procyon set out on their initial cruise, and started by paralleling one of the major circumnavigation lates linking the ring of major Federacy systems. A distress call was passed along, and the Procyon responded to two medium-range fighters assaulting a large shuttle. A brief one-sided battle left the two fighters, and their pilots, as drifting ash. The shuttle provided a polite but curt thanks, and left hastily.

---

PLOT 001 - We Don't Need No Stinking Plot

Procyon: "So, were you guys all grown in adjacent vats? Or is this just some horrible case of a new trend in biological fashion? Or are your creators just old-school Scalzi fans?"

---

Procyon: "Talkative group. Let me interrupt your dense banter to suggest that we continue our cruise along this spacelane to make a pit stop at Oleracae. There we can purchase any individual items that might be needed. It doesn't seem like you were issued much."

---

Barney: "Might be difficult since we don't have any cash."

Fred: "Damn! We should have extorted those fools before we slagged them."

Bam-bam: "BAM! BAM!"

---

Procyon: "Yeah, I get an operational stipend that's meant to cover the necessities. And having my crew able to function is probably pretty necessary. Anything too expensive would have to be authorized, of course, but that's generally more along the lines of ship-scale items. What sort of gear do you think you might need?"

---

Barney: "Well, at the very least a rifle for Fred and a supply of patches. Maybe a sword for Bam-bam."

Bam-Bam: "Bam-BAM!"

Barney: "A club? Really?"

Bam-Bam: "Bam-BAM!"

Barney: "All right. All right. We'll get you a club."

Fred: "And if the budget allows, shields and move boots could be useful."

---

Procyon: "Would a 2D blast rifle be acceptable? I can get a deal on those. I assume that 20 patches each should be sufficient. Wouldn't Bam-Bam be able to simply make a blunt weapon? Clubs are not listed among the available inventory online. As for move boots... that's a bit pricey. Especially for Bam-Bam. Still, I would like the technician to be able to get to damaged areas quickly. And would everybody want shields? My discretionary budget would be completely blown with all three of you having even half-decent shields. And I'm not too keen on being broke already. We haven't even bribed anybody yet."

By plotting a course to Oleracae close to the main spacelane from Sproul, the Procyon can proceed with minimal disruptions and even daisy-chain communications to make arrangements in adavance.

---

Bam-Bam pulls out the club he would have obviously made already. "Bam-BAM!"

Fred: "I do NOT want to know where you pulled that from."

Barney: "Right... a 2D blast rifle for Fred. 20 patches each. Med/Tool kit each. Let's hold off on the shields for now and get Bam-bam some x2 move boots."

---

The Procyon pulls into into Oleracaean space, and is accompanied by a honour/paranoia guard fighter escourt to the system hub. A sprawling space station in orbit around a gas giant, the system hub houses the only large scale foldspace in the Federacy (usually inactive) and the premier centers for technical development in the Federacy. The Rush Marshal base, as with most of the main 5 systems, is co-located with their naval base. This affords a great deal of convenience to accommodate simple material requests. But the extremely high levels of security also make it unexciting. And what the Oleracaeans lack in a sense of adventure, they make up for by an even greater lack of culture. It's deadly levels of dull and boring, and even visiting makes the crew of the Procyon yearn for being cramped up in a small corrival again.

Procyon: "Egad. Those station AIs are so zarking smug. And the naval ships wouldn't even deign to acknowledge my existence. At least Timorian ships have enough class to be polite in their pompousness, even if they're not actually as cool as Sproulish ships. Let's get out of here. We should keep our inaugural cruise close to the main spacelane, so I guess we're heading to the Timorian system next."

---

2018.08.23 - Distributed Annoyance Array

• heading vaguely towards Timoria
• distress call from minor system
  • pirates in asteroid field
  • space trailer park
  • fighters 5 - 3 splutted, 2 skulk away
  • small hopper
  • ornery freighter

---

PLOT 002 - Timorian Space

Barney guides the Procyon back into the spacelane towards Timoria.

Procyon: "Soooo... are we turning our etheric beacon back on indicating that we are a Rush Marshal, or should we wait for 0.1 parsec so that the shuttle that asked for our help doesn't know that we just abandoned the scene?"

---

Let's just assume that the Procyon skulks further down the space lane with its telemetry beacon active. As the corrival gets within a couple parsecs of Timoria, another corrival jumps to hyperspace nearby and lights up its own Rush Marshal identity beacon and transmits its coded authentication.

"Hailing vessel Procyon claiming to be a Rush Marshal, this is Rush Marshal vessel Führung. Please transmit your authentication code."

---

Let's just assume that the Procyon skulks further down the space lane with its telemetry beacon active. As the corrival gets within a couple parsecs of Timoria, another corrival jumps to hyperspace nearby and lights up its own Rush Marshal identity beacon and transmits its coded authentication.

"Hailing vessel Procyon claiming to be a Rush Marshal, this is Rush Marshal vessel Führung. Please transmit your authentication code."

---

The Procyon gives the crew a raised-eyebrow emoji over the wiki before transmitting the authentication, just in case anybody wanted to be a smart-ass about it. "Greetings RMv Führung. Is there anything you want to appraise us of, or are you just being paranoid?"

Führung: "Please forgive our apparent brashness, Procyon - just following protocol. We did not recognize the designation."

Procyon: "Understood, Führung. This is a new crew on our inaugural cruise."

Führung: "Ah, so you do not necessarily intend to patrol this area. It is pretty dull here, with the Timorian Navy so frequently operating maneuvers. You should definitely check out the Marshal station in the Timoria system, though - it's quite pleasant."

Procyon: "Thanks Führung. Procyon out."

Procyon [wiki]: "They must be pretty bored to bother pinging us."

---

2018.09.13 - Yacht Of Doom

• head past Timoria, onto Galvan
  • social media information about an ship being attacked
    • ...goes quiet after a short while
• yacht with surly pilot and a murderous inclination
  • negotiations do not go well
  • find the punished freighter
  • get asses handed to them by the yacht goons
  • rescue 3 survivors from the wreck
  • FLEE

---

PLOT 003 - The Rescued

Procyon: "They look a little... unsavoury."

Indeed, the trio retrieved from the blasted freighter are filthy and have limited decorum. Although, hygiene and manners matter a lot less in a cargo hold.

---

Barney: "As your rescuers, we claim right of naming. From henceforth you will be known as Betty, Wilma, and Pebbles."

Bam-Bam: "Yeah, ignore him. Anyone need immediate medical attention?"

---

The member of the trio that you have talked to so far tilts back the faceplate of her exosuit. "Funny. Yeah, my compatriots here have some flash burns from the reflected heat of those nasty zarkers blasters ripping our ship apart. Corinn, Dequa - roll back the exosuits so that the Marshal's can see that we're not a threat and help us out."

The second one (meta-tagged as Corinn) pauses in its stream of swearing to retract its faceplate and peel back its exosuit to reveal a lack of significant weapons (just a simple blaster for modesty) and an abundance of crispy dermis. The third one (Dequa) seems hesitant then follows suit; it's somewhat less crispy.

Dequa: "But how did they know your name is Betty?"

Betty (apparently): "It doesn't matter. And Corinn? Stop trying to mask the tightbeam conversation with swearing. They can replay sensor logs in here and decode it eventually. Besides, it's not like we want to hope that the Akchani family is going to not try to kill us anyway."

Dequa looks horrified. Corinn: "They don't care about us. If we just lay low, they'll probably just forget about us - we're not worth it. But if we start making trouble, they'll hunt us down!"

Betty: "We're witnesses, and the Akchani don't leave witnesses. These Marshals are clearly not on their payroll, so even if they might not be able to take down any Akchani, they're at least in the same boat as us."

Corinn: "Literally. OK, fine. Marshals - we are getting the fuck out of here, yeah?"

---

Barney: "Yes, we're going to travel at sub-light for a while and then crank it to hyperspace."

Bam-Bam enters the cargo hold, smiles and heads over to Corinn with his med pack.

We travel at sublight in a random direction - though probably heading away from both the comet and battle. Wait until at least are shields are up to full and then jump to superluminal.

---

Aside: It appears that the extra line breaks are not needed within quotes for this version of wikimedia.

The jump to hyperspace is uneventful, as is streaming back to the security and anonymity of the spacelane.

Corinn is very still while Bam-Bam administers medical assistance. Without any personnel scale patches, it will take at least an hour to start addressing the 9 points of repair that Corinn needs. Dequa positions itself similarly to Corinn, to await similar attention. That it would be an hour of waiting adds to the air of submissiveness that exudes from them, faintly at odds with their surliness.

Betty: "OK, so where are we actually going?"

---

2018-09-19 - Throbblebroxian Freighter Horror

• heading to Galvan, but bypass when they find out about all the mafia
• heading tangentially to Hagen
  • distress signal XENOMORPH Anophthalmolabis from Throbblebrox
  • 7 people leave in space suits
  • #5 is a problem
  • barney gets infected
  • Fred gets infected
  • barney extracts infection
  • barney kills Fred "KASLORP!"
• Betty hired on as new gunner

---

This one deserves a bit more description, because -wow- not a whole lot of action happened, but it sure as shit happened in a very spectacular way.

First of all, the Procyon was just going to blithely forge on to Galvan, with it's trillions of people and incredible throngs of population. But before they could experience any of that, the rescued trio freak them out by dire warnings of how much power the mafia have in that system. The crew of the Procyon NOPE NOPE NOPE their way to bypassing Galvan entirely, and heading to Hagen instead. So it goes - time for random encounters.

The very first random encounter is a distress beacon forwarded to the Procyon by informal communications. Upon arrival, the stricken vessel turns out to be a large bulk freighter, and the crew are barricaded in their command deck hiding from some sort of alien invader. A careful inspection of the outer hull reveals some sort of limpet that had impacted and breached the hull. Reviewing what little information that the surviving crew had, the Procyon team decided that "we're more of a ship batter bunch, and not so much about the personnel combat - sorry". The freighter's crew are terrified of being left behind, so the Procyon team decide to evacuate them - very very cautiously.

They are asked to spacewalk away from the derelict, and the Procyon scans them carefully before allowing them on board. The first three seem OK, but the next four all seem a bit... off. They pick up the first three, and then have #5 loaded for a more careful inspection. After a few tense moments of examination, Bam-Bam discovers some rather alarmingly suspicious marks, and then things go to shit. #5 turns out to be some sort of infection agent, and stabs an INFECTOR into Bam-Bam. Bam-Bam then has to simultaneously worry about the progress the INFECTOR is making towards his spine, as well as bludgeoning the annoyingly-difficult-to-kill #5. So Fred comes down to help with his blaster rifle. Then the shit hits the fan.

Once Fred arrives and participates in the fight, #5 pulls off his own digits to hurl at Fred. The first one misses, but the second one bingoes Fred in the eyeball - which turns out to be important, for graphic reasons. Bam-Bam bounces around, trying to extract his own INFECTOR, and Betty joins in to help blast #5. Bam-Bam succeeds in ripping it out of his chest, but it's messy. Then BB slaps himself with a patch, and he and Betty tag-team #5 into charred paste.

With the threat dealt with, BB intends to extract the INFECTOR from Fred, but Fred declines, saying that he thinks he'll be OK. Which is massively un-subtle, considering that Fred is nominally a character run by the player, and a clear sign of Not Good Things. BB and Betty immediately swing into combat with Fred, who is healing at an alarming rate and becoming quite problematic. Nevertheless, they manage to overpower him and pin him down. Sort of. They try to get the Procyon to pin him down with the cargo bay's force beams, but it only manages to cover his legs. So BB turns him over to be face down, to make him less of a threat, and gets the Procyon to immobilize Fred better - which it does without accidentally flattening him.

The situation turns into a grisly contest between BB's med-tech tampering in Fred's head versus the extremely aggressive biotech horror that has implanted in Fred's brain. To keep Fred docile, Betty has to occasionally administer burning hits from her blaster, relying on the biotech horror's vaunted ability to make Fred's nanoscopic robots heal him beyond normal levels. BB does exploratory surgeries through the back of Fred's head to find the core of the INFECTOR, which he then rips out with much accompanying gore and important-looking bits of the insides of Fred's head. Except Fred's still healing a bit too fast - there's still part of the INFECTOR in there. So BB does even more exploratory surgeries... Where is it? There it is! It's in his optic nerve and his eyeball (obvious in retrospect, perhaps). So BB does a final tamper to remove it, through the entirety of Fred's highly messed-up head, and out the back. The tamper does not roll particularly well, and most of Fred's brain comes out with it.
KASLORP!

At the end of the desperate efforts, Fred is left without the vaunted healing power and is at a negative greater than his total stamina. Farewell Fred - to all the strewn splattery bits of you.

With the position of gunner now vacant, Barney and Bam-Bam unanimously elect to offer the position to Betty, who quite possibly doesn't really know what she's getting into. But whatever it is, she feels confident that it's better than being a 2-bit goon on smuggling vessels. She's a 2^nd-stage aggressor with +6 to hit and +6 damage.

---

PLOT 004 - And Now For Something Completely Different

Procyon: "There's quite a mess in the bay. Who's going to clean that up?"

---

Betty: "Is the ship always that thoughtless? I mean, that's just horrible. It's like it's been programmed by some truly awful person to coyly mock people in the most insidious way possible for its own malicious amusement."

Procyon: "And you sound like you're being puppeteered by a whiny, soft-hearted crybaby who feels butt-hurt about being abandoned."

A palpable tension exists.

---

2018.09.26 - Mining Bar Brawling

• head to the nearest habitable planet to drop off passengers and clean the hold
  • planet louis
  • dunk ship and rinse
• head to throbblebrox
  • come across the loser of a dispute
  • rescue a service droid from a large freighter
  • turns out that throbblebrox is a horrific corporate hellhole
• head to mining planet nearby instead
  • gyun
  • orbital habitat
  • head to a bar random bar
  • 3 largish beings take exception to B-B-BB's non-miner-ness
    • flee after getting butts kicked
  • 4 ambushers
    • murder 1, 2, and 3 - kidnap 4

---

Plot 005 - Interrogation Time

Ambush Goon #4 is an 80-odd kg humanoid with short velvety brown fur that was in vogue a couple decades ago. His external gear is shabby and well-worn, including a holster for the medium blaster he was wielding, grimy cloak, goggles, battered med kit, and 5-meter length of thin grip cable. His internal kit is more comprehensively adventurer standard, including a vacuum exposure shield, extended respiratory reserves, reinforced grip points, and internal high-capacity energy conduits.

---

We leave the asteroid orbital habitat and head well out of range of his personal communicator. Bam-bam then makes him paralyzed, helps to regrow his communicator, and then wakes him up.

Barney: "Dude, that was incredibly rude back there. You stand accused of, well, attacking us. Your sentence is determined by how apologetic you are. What do you have to say for yourself."

Meanwhile, Bam-Bam starts making a life supporter appropriate for his potential long sentence in deep space.

---

Leaving the habitat in orbit around planet Gyun, there is no convenient distance to get the hostage out of communication range - due to the ability to connect with etheric comms, which the Procyon confirmed as having a full Parsec of range. However, the Procyon can phase its hull to block transmissions, preventing anyone who doesn't have access to the ship's comms to reach out.

Please clarify where the Procyon actually goes.

1. Stay in the current (huge) docking bay.
2. Move to (one of many) different docking bays.
3. Move some distance away from the orbital habitat.
4. Move to a different orbit of planet Gyun.
5. Move to some random section of the system-spanning asteroid fields.
6. Leave the system.

The Hostage flickers awake and scowls suspiciously at whomever is in the cramped bay with him, limited by however much the paralysis affects his scowling muscles. "Muuuch respeeect, Maarshaals. Weee made the riiisky gamble that weee could capture youuu, and force youuu to haaand over your shiiip. Suuuch a shiiip would have made us... formiiidable." His tongue tries to move in cadence with his odd accent even while transmitting simulated voice. "The boss said that youuu were greeeen - so maybe an eeeasy target. And he assuuured us that Maaarshaaals would only arrest us iiif we faaailed... and that heee could affooord to paaay our baaail."

Making emergency life supporters is something that Bam-Bam can conjure rather quickly.

---

Betty eyes the ship-scale airlock from the crew compartment. "Should I be ready to rush in there and play 'bad cop' or something?"

Procyon: "Let me just set this stage for you. The only surviving members of the intended crew for this mighty combat vessel have decided to hang out in the cargo bay with a hostage they're threatening to murder, leaving the nominal command compartment with a gun-toting flake they just met. Well-thought-out tactics are not at play here."

Betty squints. "You are also an asshole to them? It's not like their control and access to any system is limited by where they are within the hull."

Procyon: "My mistake. Clearly, you should burst into that cargo bay right now. Make sure you strike an intimidating pose near the bay doors, with an unobstructed view of the bay force beams."

Betty paints a 'calm face': "You have to know that I can't tell if you're joking. And in case you're not, you should know that ejecting me into space without good reason would have dire consequences with your crew."

Procyon: "Ohhhh nooooo - they might start taking me seriously. Not seeing a down-side here, girlie."

Betty: "I see how it is."

---

2018-10-05 - Pirate Hunting

• arbitrarily throw the hostage into space - because bored now
• start partrolling for pirates
  • inner belts - corporate stronghold
  • in system plane - beacon off
  • meet "waterhead" of HEBRON corporation
• head to the nebulae belt
  • escourt the Taluk-der
  • 3 more miners join up for the escourt
  • rocks have varying field density - 3-12 modifiers for movement/stealth
  • scout ship spots the convoy
  • AMBUSH
    • 6 fighters - 3 slagged, 3 flee
    • freighter - inks 40 missiles and flees (good pilot)

---

PLOT 006 - In Which A Giant Space Goat Eats Everything

Procyon: "That worked out pretty well."

Betty: "Mostly thanks to Barney. Holy shit greenie, you got some serious moves on you. You made this heavy girl out-dance those fighters through a motherzarking asteroid field."

Procyon: "We did burn through most of my shields, too."

Betty: "Yeah, big girl's big skirts definitely were necessary. But if we had gotten flanked, no way we could have sunk into the shadows to gather dice for heavier hits back. Even with our over-compensating-class main gun, we were definitely out-gunned back there."

---

Bam-Bam: "I feel the need to go back to that bar."

Barney: "Hmmm... celebratory drinks seem like a good idea. Though we might be questioned as to what we did with that other guy."

Bam-Bam: "That might be fun."

Barney: "Yeah.... but with so much space to explore, I think we should find someplace new."

Barney pulls up a star chart of the local area and throws a virtual dart at it. "How about here?"

---

2018-10-10 - BEEEEER

• heading to class-7 system (Skûtsje) on the way to Hagen
  • transponder on
  • visit the for-show bar : have a polite fistfight
  • approached to participate in some corrupt police action - maybe not: ditch the slime and move on
• arrive in Hagen pick Hagen-1 : cheese and hospitality
  • head to Hagen-2 : BEEEEEER
  • upload a field report
  • BAR BRAWL (initiation)

---

PLOT 007 - BEEEEEEEER

With a tonne of class-12 beer loaded into a specially-constructed mega-keg, and Bam-Bam's med pack overflowing with self-deploying patches, the question is where to go next.

---

I believe there was another planet in the system recommended for a good meal. We go there next.

---

Right: Hagen-3.

Entering the vicinity of Hagen-3 reveals it to be the only planet in the system that appears to have traffic that looks more important than bulk freighters or hoppers. Luxurious yachts, interstellar passenger liners, and escourt-class Federacy cruisers. The Procyon heads to the orbital Rush Marshal station, which is overall a rather modest but serviceable old ring configuration of a vintage likely from a previous civilization. And while the accommodation might be simple, the Hagen-3 government apparently makes it a point of pride to have it staffed with a first-class kitchen.

The docking of the ship is seen as a formality, while considerable fuss is made about arranging for Barney, Bam-Bam, and Betty to have a 5-course meal. It is the gustatory equivalent of the willpower-bending beer of Hagen-2, except non-portable. The need for significant personnel travel to Hagen-3 becomes obvious, as the Procyon crew find themselves thankful for being physiologically immune to systemic obesity.

Even with the amazing food and the heavy flux of prosperous gourmands, Hagen-3 is essentially another quiet agricultural planet, with little need for much active Rush Marshal work.

Procyon: "Where to next?"

---

Betty: "Well, obviously, we should follow the same pattern that you've been following so far. Go on to the next Federacy member planet in the loop. Right?"

Procyon: "No, Betty. Wrong. We need to be more sophisticated in our strategy. We're not just going to blithely blunder along randomly encountering whatever is in front of us."

Betty: "Bullshit. You're just being contrary because you're an asshole."

Procyon: "Wrong again, Betty. I'm being contrary because I don't like you."

Betty: "Asshole."

Procyon: "Cuckoo."

Betty makes a pained face. "What does that even mean?"

Procyon: "It apparently means, in addition to my original meaning, that you suck at interpreting allusions."

---

2018-10-17 - Pirate Piracy

• heading to Sproul
  • beacon off, outside of space lane
  • hyperspace projectiles
    • 2 scanner ships
    • 5 small fighters - 1 insta-fried
    • Procyon demands tribute of 5 missiles
    • rest of ships flee after leaving tribute
  • shadowing ship starts shadowing Procyon
    • pirate freighter
    • pirating the pirate - modify to have a slave control
  • other Rush Marshals arrive
• change direction to another nearby system : Angela System
  • class-8 system
  • try to sell the pirate freighter on Craigslist @ 50kilocredits

---

PLOT 008 - Buying And Selling

ANONYMOUS 1: "What's the history of this ship, and will you take a barge full of Gorphian Badgers as trade?"

---

"The ship was bestowed upon us by our patron saint Olaf. We're using the proceeds to build a temple in his honour. As for the Gorphian Badgers, if you can certify that they are all virgins, we may have a deal."

---