Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Categories
- 965 All Categories
- 17 Games
- 1 aw2-mapbp
- 365 Richland
- SDHSR
- 4 two-detroits
- 96 aw2e-dvfp
- 53 ISS Tsiolkovsky
- 82 Fury
- Urban Shadows
- 24 LadyB
- 11 AnR
- 4 Junk World 2.0
- 68 PnR
- 23 DRYH
- Jeffland
- The Few
- 11 Other
- 11 General
- 576 Complete
- 12 burning-empires
- 8 aota-jam
- 17 Uncharted Worlds
- Uncharted
- 23 nullptr-veil
- 9 ajax-motw
- 2 tqy-am
- 52 NOVA
- 11 Serene Apocalypse
- jenn-soti
- 63 SWAW
- 13 Blades
- 2 Fall Of Magic
- 12 Generations
- 25 LA Monsters
- tqy
- 32 nupocalypse
- 120 Snowpocalypse
- 136 Junkworld XIII
- 27 Big Maul
- 6 ESC
- 1 Murderous Ghosts
- 17 ANN_pilot
[Junk XIII] Approaching Ascendant (K 4-11, S 4-9)
The next morning's ride to Armour was easy and relaxed. You reached the "container town" in a few hours before the heat of the sun hit you. Everyone spent some time gathering up supplies, then you headed on the three day ride east to the Ascendant.
There are no roads, just scrub. Long klicks of scrub. The sun beat down on you as you rode. Stitch, did you ask Metro to come, or did he just start driving with the gang and that was that? Is Hump with you, or did Jemma keep him on her bike? And lastly, did Trojan ride with you? If not, who is he riding with?
Finally, after seeing it on the horizon for far too long, you reach the shelf of scrub before a mountain range rises up, and nestled there is the crashed remains called The Ascendant:
Stitch, you and Metro both recognize this as a Weyland Yutani corporate ship, a heavy-class frigate that can often be fitted out for military purposes. The standard deckplans for this ship includes a small hospital. This would be a true gold mine of technology and supplies, enough to work miracles, assuming it's all intact.
Kiddo, you pick out that the place still has power, and there is at least one capital-class cannon moving and tracking you as your little gang rides in. Hundreds of people could be inside this place.
Both,
There is no welcoming party here, but also, there are no armed guards coming out to intimidate you or lay down any sort of law. If anything, you feel like ants crawling up onto an elephant with hopes of causing trouble.
What once was a hangar door for dropships now stands wide open, and a long set of steps as well as a ramp stretch p from the scrub to the hangar that is four decks, or about twenty meters up. You can see some people milling about up there, maybe a half dozen of them, but none are paying much attention to you.
What do you do?
There are no roads, just scrub. Long klicks of scrub. The sun beat down on you as you rode. Stitch, did you ask Metro to come, or did he just start driving with the gang and that was that? Is Hump with you, or did Jemma keep him on her bike? And lastly, did Trojan ride with you? If not, who is he riding with?
Finally, after seeing it on the horizon for far too long, you reach the shelf of scrub before a mountain range rises up, and nestled there is the crashed remains called The Ascendant:
Stitch, you and Metro both recognize this as a Weyland Yutani corporate ship, a heavy-class frigate that can often be fitted out for military purposes. The standard deckplans for this ship includes a small hospital. This would be a true gold mine of technology and supplies, enough to work miracles, assuming it's all intact.
Kiddo, you pick out that the place still has power, and there is at least one capital-class cannon moving and tracking you as your little gang rides in. Hundreds of people could be inside this place.
Both,
There is no welcoming party here, but also, there are no armed guards coming out to intimidate you or lay down any sort of law. If anything, you feel like ants crawling up onto an elephant with hopes of causing trouble.
What once was a hangar door for dropships now stands wide open, and a long set of steps as well as a ramp stretch p from the scrub to the hangar that is four decks, or about twenty meters up. You can see some people milling about up there, maybe a half dozen of them, but none are paying much attention to you.
What do you do?
Comments
Metro parks the van by Kiddo's bike and we get out.
Metro pulls you aside as Kiddo talks to her gang, and says, "Take a look at the control room near the back." He gestures with his head, not pointing. It's too far off to see in the dim light of the sun. "It's still functional. The power plant is active, and even more, some repairs have been made to the wiring, too. Out of spec, with panels still removed, but they're keeping this running, Stitch." He seems, well, excited.
Kiddo,
Spree says, "We got you, boss. If we hear shooting, we'll ride up to you."
VB, Hump and Jemma follow you in, Kiddo. Jemma says, "This place is one hell of alot bigger than I'd heard."
Both,
You hear the high motor sound of a dirt bike as Sapphire comes up the ramp. She'd been riding behind your gang the whole trip. She zips up past the large space between where the gang has parked and comes up by you, Stitch, drops her kickstand and slips off her bike. She pulls her pack up over her shoulder and walks up beside you.
Jemma opens her arms wide and says brightly, "C'mere, Saff. Give us a hug!" She hesitates only a step before she moves forward into the hug. A brief one. Jemma pulls her back, "I still don't know why you wouldn't ride and talk with me, little girl."
"Because your grand-daughter hates me, and I don't want any trouble," she quips. She turns to give you a smart-alek smile, Kiddo. Then she asks, "Stitch, did you want to try and find the hospital or somethin? I know a few assholes in here."
I ignore the opportunity to rebuke Saff's snide remark, opting instead to stay on task. "Where'd you spot my Ma' last, Saff?"
Jemma looks away, unable to meet your eyes. This is what she was hiding, Kiddo.
Frak me...
A frakking year of wondering where my Ma' is, and now I've got to go bargain for her freedom with the most notorious brain frakker in the whole frakking world... I shift my pack uncomfortably, trying to remember just how much jingle I have on me... "Where is he?"
I don't care if she's doped up, and turned into one of his dolls. It's been a frakking year! I'm so frakking close! ... I'll bribe my way in if I have to. I need to see my Ma'. I need to see my Dad!
At the end of the bay, you pass by a machine shop, inside are a couple guys working on a weird-looking bike with no wheels, one guy is spot welding while another has a big buffing machine. You recognize equipment like you've seen at Remy's, stuff for making bullets, powder, stuff like that.
Sapphire leads you down a corridor about three people wide, takes a sharp right turn. There are open doorways to the left and right down the hallway here, and maybe a dozen folks in grubby, ill-fitting olive drab uniforms, obviously toughs, a gang of some kind. Bored and itchy for something to distract them. They leer at you as you pass. One of the girls, in a red bandanna, says to you, Kiddo, "Hey sweetie, wanna come in my bunk? Then COME in my bunk!" She turns when one guy with a weird tat on the side of his head laughs and they high five.
What do you do?
Stitch, the bunks this gang is in, they're actual crew's quarters, designed for bridge crews during shift hours. Three bunks to a room, and inside they have light and you even catch one skinny guy watching something on a tablet screen, some kind of movie. What is the movie, Stitch?
Sapphire slips between a couple folks milling about, and you all follow suit. You know, you're a pretty sizable little group, aren't you? This gang, they see your boomstick, Kiddo, and Jemma's lil hand cannon and they haven't patted you down or anything. Weird, isn't it?
Sapphire reaches the end of the hallway and there's a big hulking guy standing by the one closed door in the hall, the only one that isn't wide open.
The guy, you know him from somewhere Kiddo. When did you see him last? He looks down at Sapphire, then up to you all. "What do you want?"
Sapphire says, "I wanna see Branigans, Audi."
He asks back, "You got his jingle?"
"It aint about that, some other folks wanna see him," she says while looking back at you.
Audi looks over the lot of you, but he fixes his gaze on you. "Well, hel-lo, Kiddo. Figured you'd be around some day."
What do you do?
Audi's the same as he's always been... He was a scav back in the day that Ma' and I occasionally ran into. He was the one that told us about the junkship that landed north of Oasis — the one those Raiders also found? ... The one Ruth died in... I haven't seen him since he gave us the location of that ship. I guess this is where he holed up...
What do you do?
Audi takes a bit of time with VB, checking all around her leg, really. He doesn't seem to give a whit about feeling any of you up. He pats down Metro, who has nothing interesting in his pack or on his person, just tin for trade and some gadgets. Stitch, he pats your down, do you have anything interesting?
That takes about ten to fifteen minutes all told. During the time, Audi is thorough, makes no snide comments. Of course, the gang down the hall is making enough for him.
Once he's done, Audi says, "Alright, Kiddo. You leave one person with me, just so I know there's no chance of you all doing anything."
What do you do?
Audi accepts that, and opens the door. Inside is another one of the three bunk quarters, but all of the bunks have been removed, leaving an open space. Sitting at a Victorian-style cushioned chair and leaning over a fine wooden coffee table is this woman, Nesbitts.
Also in here is du Maurier, aka "du", a dark-haired man in his early thirties and Santi, a woman in her late twenties with lots of fairy tattoos. They're sitting on a couch, her leg over one of his. They look zoned out on something.
Audi says, "Kiddo's here to see her parents, Nezzy."
Nezzy looks up from what she was doing, which was cleaning a big-ass hand cannon. She's got a fine sliky cloth laid out on the table and all the parts broken down and placed on top in neat order. She says, "A whole crew, hunh? And Sapphire, too. Well, it's a frakkin reunion with the castoffs of people I hate. Come in. Come in."
Audi closes the door behind you. VB and Hump stick sorta close. Metro stands in front of you, Stitch.
What do you do
I spot Nezzy cleaning her gun and instantly regret the decision of coming in here without Rinso... And she's still got that sharp wit I see... Frakking fantastic.
I step into the room and stand kind of at ease with my hands on my hip. "Hey Nezzy..." Frak... Do I really need to explain why I'm here? "I don't wanna keep you any longer than I need to. I just wanna see my parents, and talk about what needs to be done to get them home..."
I don't have much for Audi to find- I give up my stun gun- with the Lego Fairy hung on a chain from it. I left the knife back in the van. I've got my med-pack, though.
I put a hand on Metro's back when he steps in front of me. I'm not sure how this meeting is going to go, but without weapons we are at a disadvantage. Kiddo's brave, but she's not stupid.
Then Santi cuts in with, "And your Ma's all shacked up with Branny. Guess she traded up." du huffs a laugh at that.
Stitch, Sapphire caught sight of the Lego on your stun gun. She grinned a tiny little grin.
Nezzy turns to you, Stitch, glancing at Metro and then you, "Aint never seen you two before. Who the hell are you? You don't look like part o' Kiddo's crew. What you after?"
Then she turns back to you, Kiddo, "I'll let Branigans know you've come calling. For now, you and your crew will wait out in the bay. When he's got time to speak with you, I'll send someone for you. In the meantime, if you got trade, or if you want to earn your food, talk to Whiskas. He's in charge of the bay. He'll tell you the rules. Follow them. Or we'll shoot one of your crew and kick the rest of you out, the hard way. Understood?"
I could run for the gun, shoot Du and Santi, let Gramma deal with Audi, drag Nezzy to Branigans' feet, put a bullet in his head, have the girls take care of the gang outside, and waltz out of here like we own the place... But I feel paralyzed.
Maybe it's not so bad... Maybe Ma's just doing this... Maybe she's miserable with Branigans, and she's just doing this to pay Dad's bills... Maybe Stitch could fix him!
Gods, I think I'm gunna be sick...
I nod. "I understand... Anything I can do to put me at the top of the line? Or maybe see my Dad, wherever he is?" I shake my bag for effect... Nobody's above bribes.
Santi giggles and slaps his arm. But then she smirks at you and says, "You know what? Go ahead, Kiddo. I hear you're a real good lay. Show me a little something. We'll show you old broken-assed Ollie."
Frak you, I hear myself saying... Maybe I walk over there and bite his frakking dick off. Then again — you are a slut, aren't you Kiddo? What's a frakking blowjob to see your frakking Dad again... Whose dick would I suck to see Rinny again?
My eyes are glassy. I hate this woman. I hate her for dangling my parents in front of me like a carrot. I hate her for being a useless cunt that just bows down to a heartless cocksucker like Branigans. I hate her for hiding behind a gang of wild animals, and acting like she owns people. I am going to kill this bitch — and I am going to frakking enjoy it.
She must have a weakness...
(Rolled: 2d6+2. Rolls: 4, 1. Total: 7)
Then with that, I'll turn and leave... Something tells me this is going to be an expensive trip — I might as well go make some actual jingle.
Audi escorts you out, gives you your stuff and you are free to head to the bay.
And wait for the king to summon you.
--END SCENE--