First Session - Welcome World Lubber

[SolEiji]

Fat-in-a-Jug!  Fat-in-a-Jug!  Who can deny your Fat-in-a-Jug?  *Jingle*

"D000000000d....." he waved, muttering something in dazy that roughly translated as "I could eat the whole store."

"Ok ok... two of those.  I'll save the drinks for later...."

-7 credits.

Give him his goods,  and he'll rejoin the others munching on his newfound meal without a care in the world.  The guys were looking as a piece of paper he spotted before.  "Heeeey, wassup?"  He'll peer over someone's soldier.  "Daaang.  Whaddaya thing happened to him mang?  That note seems downright raw."  Slang, he means the writer sounds angry.

[the_taken]

Using his massive intellect to navigate the twisting corridors of the colony, Nikolao approaches what he hopes to be the most likely candidate for the Primary Trade Desk, hoping to get the group's trade license quickly.

The layout out underbelly of the station is artistically designed to both confuse and dazzle. Every point of interest is within a hemisphere of metal, each of which has three corridors which lead to three other points of interest. All of the corridors bend clockwise once. While traversing between places is expedient, it makes navigation extremely difficult.
After passing a multitude of sealed airlocks in the floor like those the Space Hoopty is attached too, Nikolao is about to give up and admit that he's lost when he happens apon an archway at the end of a corridor to the words "Introductory Administration Office" have been plated in gold on. The constant tapping of a half dozen key boards fills the dome.
Conveniently, the first desk that catches Nikolao's attention has "Trade Desk" printed in gold on its front. A heavy old man stares blankly at the screen on his desk, one hand holding his chin as his hand strums the same four keys chaotically. He quickly sits upright, and presses Alt+F4 as Nikolao approaches.

"I'll be quick. I need a trade license. What do I need to tell you to get that?

He awaits the reply to his question, absentmindedly strumming his fingers on the desktop. "I hope I have the right desk...what idiot designed the layout of this place?"

The man's eyes widen slightly. He taps a dozen keys before responding. "Okay, the quick version...

• "What ship did you come on?
• What do wish to name you business?
• Are you seeking local investors?
• How long will you require to setup?
• How long do you plan to conduct trade?
• Will you be selling anything biological?
• Will you be selling digital programs or services?
• Are you providing vice services?
• Will you be selling intently dangerous equipment?
• Do you wish to lease a stall or an entire mall?
• Will you be inviting guest onto your ship?
• Do you wish to purchase storage time?
• Are you expecting a cargo vessel to deliver goods?
• Do you intend to hire local labour?
• Have you ever conducted any Piracy or Pillaging?"

-------

Fat-in-a-Jug!  Fat-in-a-Jug!  Who can deny your Fat-in-a-Jug?  *Jingle*

"D000000000d....." he waved, muttering something in dazy that roughly translated as "I could eat the whole store."

"Ok ok... two of those.  I'll save the drinks for later...."

-7 credits.

Give him his goods,  and he'll rejoin the others munching on his newfound meal without a care in the world.  The guys were looking as a piece of paper he spotted before.  "Heeeey, wassup?"  He'll peer over someone's soldier.  "Daaang.  Whaddaya thing happened to him mang?  That note seems downright raw."  Slang, he means the writer sounds angry.

The pimply young man crouches to reach under the counter and pulls up two 4L jugs filled with a thick grey swill.
"That's 7 creds, man..." the server requests. He slurs "Stay cool, bro," in functional dazy.

The "fat" is very sweet, very salty and very thick. It pours slightly slower than molasses, but dissolves quickly in Buddy's mouth. It is cool to the touch, though not actually refreshing. It wont be long before thirst sets in.

[AlterFrom]

• "What ship did you come on?
• What do wish to name you business?
• Are you seeking local investors?
• How long will you require to setup?
• How long do you plan to conduct trade?
• Will you be selling anything biological?
• Will you be selling digital programs or services?
• Are you providing vice services?
• Will you be selling intently dangerous equipment?
• Do you wish to lease a stall or an entire mall?
• Will you be inviting guest onto your ship?
• Do you wish to purchase storage time?
• Are you expecting a cargo vessel to deliver goods?
• Do you intend to hire local labour?
• Have you ever conducted any Piracy or Pillaging?"

"Damnit," Nikolao thought. "Well, at least it isn't as bad as Omicron 7's licensing scheme. 'Demonstrate your practical knowledge of any two martial art styles'? Thank goodness Patch was able to distract the clerk while I tapped their system."

"Very well. In order:

• What ship did you come on? - Private vessel Space Hoopty
• What do wish to name you business? - Hoopty Doo: Mobile Pawn Shop
• Are you seeking local investors? - Not at this time
• How long will you require to setup? - No more than 2 hours, hopefully...
• How long do you plan to conduct trade? - 1 or 2 days, tops
• Will you be selling anything biological? - Knowing Buddy, unfortunately yes
• Will you be selling digital programs or services? - Certainly
• Are you providing vice services? - No...
• Will you be selling intently dangerous equipment? - Not today
• Do you wish to lease a stall or an entire mall? - A single stall will suffice
• Will you be inviting guest onto your ship? - Possibly. I'll assume yes to avoid problems later should the situation arise
• Do you wish to purchase storage time? - Not necessary today
• Are you expecting a cargo vessel to deliver goods? - No
• Do you intend to hire local labour? - Not this time
• Have you ever conducted any Piracy or Pillaging? - ...No."

[the_taken]

The man furiously types as Nikolao responds. At the end, a tiny crackling sound can be heard from somewhere within the desk, the a synthesized bell chime. Nikolao is handed a small rectangle with glowing green lines. "This is a touch pad. It's being loaded with the forms you'll need to fill out. Just poke the the answer to each question and the next will show up. At any time, hold down and move your finger in a circuear motion to load up the glossary, if a term you don't understand shows up. When you're done go speak with the Forms Manager at that desk over there." The only empty desk in the dome is pointed at. A small sign hangs from the monitor.

Out to Lunch

-------

Greetings and welcome to the Albatross Trade Systems Agreement Form. You probably have to fill this out due the a deficiency in your ship's ISSID. Don't worry. This process in entirely painless, and only requires a marginal amount of time based apon your business's needs.

To begin, select a form form you desire to fill out.

Several Icons have appeared beneath:

• Bio-hazard symbol: Trading Biological Goods
• 10
  01 : Trading Digital Goods
• A Door Knob: Getting the Store that Suits You
• : Making Sure Your Ship is Safe

[AlterFrom]

With a sigh, Nikolao settles down on the floor next to the wall. "Let's start with the Electronic Goods," he thinks to himself, tapping the corresponding icon. However, just before getting a start on the forms, he decides to see if he can learn anything else of worth.

It'd no doubt be a pain in the rectum to try and navigate the corridors again to find a proper terminal, so Nikolao simply attempts to hack the pad, doing a little hotwiring if need be. First thing he'd look for is a proper map of the station, then any non-classified information on current goings-ons in the station.

[the_taken]

Nikolao discovers that the OS is very easy to manipulate without tearing the device open. Apparently, drawing a triangle instead of a circle accesses the systems directory, and few obvious pokes and lines from there brings up the Mainframe Download Protocols. He discovers that the download directory contains hundreds of text files describing the regulations and procedures, and information bulletins. Strangely, a map of the station doesn't exist.

The five most recent bulletins:

• Exterminator Balmarcus Trombone is still missing. His ship is still docked, and the only things missing from the equipment manifest list are the things needed to handle our vermin problem. We've sealed the airlock, and made the information panel request him to come to the security to regain access.
  - Security
  Posted Today
• "WacTreveor's" occupying unit 7 in food court 33AA has passed the Sanitation Inspection. It may continue to conduct its business as the product samples are tested for the health and safety portion of this cycle's examination.
  - Health Inspector Edwin Hourglass
  Posted Yesterday
• Gelly Mack has terminated her lease of unit 12 in food court 33AA, due to an inability on the part of Exterminator Balmarcus Trombone to perform his services. Her circumstances are understandable, however, this leaves the station without a grocery store. I don't want to eat(?) fat from a jug any more than the pigerats do. The next ship that leaves the system will also be paid to file a request for a high performance vermin extermination team.
  - Your Station Overseer, Ganon Maxly
  Posted four day ago
• Our clients have sent another envoy enquiring as to why our shipments are trickling out, despite the 200 worker increase they've sent us. Our medical staff are speculating that with the closure of so many grocery stores, the Fat-in-a-Jug^tm diet is causing the workers to become lethargic. Also, we're still short several thousand short the mandatory worker population of 30,000 to move all the materials they're requesting.
  Would somebody please volunteer to bring a labour request to Albatross 9, 10 or 16? None of the freighters are scheduled to go to those colonies for another three years.
  - Your Station Overseer, Ganon Maxly
  Posted four days ago
• Bob's Guns in unit 29 of trade court 30AA has failed to pass its Sanitation Inspection and has been shut down. Pigerats were nesting in his snack fridge, and his excuse was being too intimidated to evict them. It is important for every one to understand that just because you don't provide food to customers doesn't mean diseases do not travel.
  Bob's Guns will be reviewed in 8 days.
  - Health Inspector Edwin Hourglass
  Posted four days ago

[spoiler]Nikoloa has discovered an exploit. He has gained technician level access to the Seventh Colony of Albatross's computers.[/spoiler]

[AlterFrom]

Nikolao smiled. "Good...at least we won't be bored on this hunk of metal." He added the information to his own PDA-like device, then promptly finished filling out the rest of the forms. "Odd that there's no map, though...not all that surprising, I suppose, considering how convoluted the layout of this colony is. Couldn't pay me enough to map it out, that's for sure." Lazily, Nikolao crosses back to the desk and holds out the touchpad to the receptionist.

"Done. Anything else before my crew can set up shop?"

[spoiler]
I'm assuming Nikolao is able to finish the rest of the forms without any holdups?
[/spoiler]

[SolEiji]

(Sorry for the delay, computer issues.  Shouldn't last too much longer hopefully but I'll be brief for now.)

Buddy glided his way to the others, looking at the work between bites, and that note.  "D00d, is that the only grocery here?  Sounds grody.  You know there aren't many people here, 'cept the d00d with the fat.  Oh, want some?"  It's good.  He's thirsty though, maybe he will get a drink, in a moment.

His dog yawns and starts to wander.  Lol won't travel far but it has a mind of its own, time to explore the immediate area, idly searching (if a Search check is required, by all means).

[the_taken]

"Done. Anything else before my crew can set up shop?"

Noticing Nikolao finish the forms, the Trade Desk man places a Conspicuous Little Sign up, walks over to your destination desk, and sits down behind it. "Well, let's see..." he says as, he strums the key bad and draws on the touch pad. The desk hums for several second before making the bell chime again, then a rhythmic screeching noise. The man places the touch pad in a drawer, and pulls out a legal sized sheet of paper. "This is your receipt. It is proof that you have obtained a trading license. Follow the instructions on the back to access your venture's information. When the license expire, or if you cancel it early, you will be charge a processing fee amounting to... negative 0.04 credits? That's unusual... anyway, you can obtain your processing claim at the Small Claims desk.
"Thank you for your patience. Have a nice day."

------------

His dog yawns and starts to wander.  Lol won't travel far but it has a mind of its own, time to explore the immediate area, idly searching (if a Search check is required, by all means).

Lol finds nothing interesting. The floor and furniture are perfectly clean, holding no odour.

[AlterFrom]

"Thanks..."

Nikolao takes the paper from the clerk and promptly walks off back down the corridors. He prays to whatever Omnipotent Metaphysical being that may be listening that he can make it back to the rest of the group. As he walks, he reads through the next set of instructions printed on the backside of the paper.

[the_taken]

The back of the receipt contains strait forward directions, beginning with "Find an one of the station's Information access panel. Touch the green rectangle." It would be safe to safe to assume these information panels are simply bigger and immobile touch pads.

Nikoloa easily track down his companions. They seem to have taken an interest in a piece of paper tapped onto a window.

[AlterFrom]

"There you guys are. What are you...?

Nikolao notices the paper the rest of the group is gathered around, and leans in to take a look.

"No way...vermin...pesticide resistant...exterminator has failed to show up...
Hmm. Interesting. No exterminator, and WacTrevor's is the only shop to pass sanitation inspection of late...

Oh! I got our trade license. We just gotta find a wall panel and run through the last setup steps. I snagged a few interesting info posts off the network, as well as some decent access to the Colony's computer systems. Anything you guys wanna do before we unload our stuff?

[Mohji]

"All that I have is on in my backpack, so I wont be needing to run back to the ship for another run, but I am more than capable of helping anyone else get thiers.'

"We still need to check in on the status of visible weaponry, and I have yet to see any vermin that "Sorrow" and "Loss" can't deal with, so we might check if we can do some exterminations while we are here for some extra spending money."

With that Mohji patiently waits for the groups consensus before adding anything else to the conversation.

[SolEiji]

"D00d, you wanna play with bugs?"

Buddy gave Mohji a funny look and put down the rest of the lard for Lol to cheerfully scarf through.  That can't be good for the canine, but he eats it anyway.  "That's grody man, but I'll do it.  Probably just need to pour some Drain-e-o or something in there, give it a swish.  You think they'd pay us?"

He shrugs with a smile.  "You're the boss, boss.  Eh heh heh.... "

[ShaggyShaggs]

"You guys want to take temp jobs as exterminators, is it?  Hmmm... not sure how well I can help with that but I'm up for trying, though I'll definitely need to change into something sturdier first.  And yeah Buddy, we definitely ought to check into whether or not folks will pay an amateur crew to do the job.  Er, Mohji, do you know something I don't know about vermin growth potential?  Because if these guys are going to need to be shot, well..."

Patch rubs his chin, glancing around dubiously at the decided lack of hustle and bustle around the spaceport.  Maybe the colony won't be so bad, if we haven't already been accosted by petty criminals looking to score easy victims from disoriented new arrivals.  Going out alone if need be should be safe.  Then again, giant bugs and rodents...  He rolls his shoulders and flexes his neck, loosening up tense muscles, and takes a deep, calming breath.

"I think I was going about this the wrong way before, looking for a terminal to pull information from is probably the right way to go, rather than looking for lowtech signs or natives to point the way.  We do still need to find out if there are any weird regulations that could make real weapons a problem, that could probably be handled while crossing the Ts on Nikolao's forms.  Oh, Nikolao, question."

Patch lowers his voice, it probably wouldn't be good for folks to eavesdrop on this.

_{"How thorough is that access of yours?  Do you think it would be possible to interface the Hoopty's computer with the colony systems and use the ship's terminals for our business, without setting off any red flags in the colony systems?"}

[AlterFrom]

"Do you really need to ask? Gimme two minutes. 

Nikolao swings back into the Hoopty with a slight grin. Within minutes, he has the remote interface set up*. In addition, he attempts to see if he can pull up a listing of the network security protocols and regulations** using the access level he already has.

[spoiler]
*: Taking 10 on the Computers check if necessary (19)
**: Looking to assess the risk factor in seeking higher network access
[/spoiler]

[SolEiji]

He yawned, nabbing his floating storage cube out of mid-air and giving it a twist.  It hissed, and opened up into a complex geometrical shape that hurt looking at it for too long, with glowing ribbons of light seen just below the metal surface.  He began to mess around with a small hologram which projected from it rapidly, almost randomly.

"Hey, while you're lookin' that up, think you can find out what kind of bugs?  I'll need some time but I bet I can just poison them, especially if they're genes are squishy."  I think he means they're easy to poison, but it'll be a while until he can prepare a new batch of drugs.  He gives a quick look around, nervously almost, then slips out a small red pill like a skittle, from one of the cubic faces with a soft click.  He popped it in his mouth before anyone saw him geeeeettttt hiiiiiiiisssss fiiiiiiixxxx...... isn't that right, happy caterpillar people, Mojohojo and Nickolodean, yeessss....



: D~

: D~~

[Mohji]

"Well without any pictures or further information I won't be sure on what we might be facing if we take this exterminator job but give me a sec, and let me see if I can think of any notable vermin that fit the mold.*"

"And of course where poision, smashing, and flaying doesn't work a clear shot to the head always ends any problems that we can run into doing this."

[spoiler]
Taking 10 on Knowledge(Biology) for "Intimidating" "Pesticide Resistant" Vermin (18)[/spoiler]

[the_taken]

Nikoloa discovers that creating a remote connection to the colony's systems was only a slightly greater difficulty that he anticipated. However, while he is confident that he has a stable and risk free connection, whatever the file system the colony is using, it's not compatible with Nikoloa's systems at this point. He could figure out an emulator/translator, but that would take time, more so without an example program to dissect.

-------

Long version: Mohji's understands that a common trait of all vermin is their frequent reproductive cycle, there reproductive rate, and their inexplicable ability to frustrate any trap maker into madness. It's possible the species evolved to be resistant to the poisons that this colony uses, before or during their infestation here. He can't grasp why people are afraid of creatures one can kill with a single fist, but he does know that people are afraid of small harmless animals.

Short version: These varmints are tough. Bob is a wuss.

[AlterFrom]

"Wierd..."

Nikolao swings back out from the Hoopty, being careful not to fall on his face this time.

"Alright. I've got a connection going, but I'm not sure what we can manage with it. It won't be noticed at least.

What's the plan, then?"

[spoiler]
What's the status of the connection? Can the group access and read files using Nikolao's clearance, requiring a time investment for an interpreter program to download the files to the Hoopty? Or is the connection just enough to transfer data, but not in any usable form?
[/spoiler]