Prologue

[jedion357]

The formation of Royal Marines, resplendent in their dress uniforms and the precision of their drill marched through the wall of colored smoke to the awes of the spectators in the stands. The stands were packed with family and friends attending the graduation ceremony. With the bland blaring the formation wheeled and marched in front of the stands. Many of the watching civilians left their seats and rushed to the front of the stands to see their loved one despite prior instruction not to.

The band reached a crescendo as the formation came to a halt in front of the Queen’s pavilion. The sudden silence was slowly broken by the low base rumble of an approaching flight of air cars trailing colored smoke matching the colors of Clarion’s flag. After the flyover a few senior officers addressed the cadets and their families followed by the Queen. The ceremony followed its course and ended with the national anthem and the tossing of the berets.

In a milling crowd of celebrating marines Spacer Dudd turned to those next to him and said, “Hey, Grelude, Syranno! A bunch of us are hitting the Raptor’s Roost latter to cut loose with a little drink and dance; you coming too?”

Elsewhere in the crowd R’teck S’reck twitched his antennae at the cheering and commotion. Turning he spied Alyssa Blue and Tanar Daagron, “Congratulations. I am glad for you and us this day.” He paused, still not completely comfortable with relating to humans and yazerians, then tried, “I believe it is traditional to share drinks at one of the many establishments dedicated to that purpose. Perhaps we can meet later at the… Raptor’s Roost?”

OOC: obviously it a bit of a stretch that enlisted and officers will share the same graduation ceremony but done for artistic license by GM fiat. You may pursue your character's personal interest even writing in responses from NPC you know (family or friends) if your character is going to the Roost you have roughly a half a day's worth of time. The RM base is considered part of Port Royal but is on the out skirts. Just off post is a monorail stop and the robotic ticket vendor isn't accepting money from Royal Marines in uniform today. you haven't been issued your side arm yet but specify what your carrying and how your dressed.

the bouncers at the Roost are typical of their profession (big) they are screening for weapons (none allowed inside) and there's a 10cr cover charge. Anyone declaring their weapons at the door can secure the in a eversafe locker along the wall opposite the bouncers stool - anyone trying to smuggle in weapons will likely be turned away and his cover charge pocketed.
I think Dudd said something about buying the first round of Yazikazis.

[jedion357]

Dieter Gerard lost track of who he had shaken hands with after the graduation ceremony. Making his way to the edge of the parade field he over heard several conversations concerning celebrating at local clubs and bars tonight and wondered what he should do with himself for the next couple of days till he was posted to a ship.

Near the reviewing stands he bumped into a vursk he knew. It was Spacer 1st Class Niss. He had dealt with the medic during his clinical hours at the hospital and knew her to be very competent and dedicated by painfully shy and introverted. Others assumed she was aloof but his physche training told him a different story. He suspected that her social awkwardness was getting the better of her in this crowd but then if she was going to be a Royal Marine she better learn how to deal with people and learn it soon.

OOC: same comments in OOC above apply to Dieter.

[Will]

Second time around's almost twice as fun, Alyssa thinks to herself, after sharing a warm hug with her Aunt Chloe...she isn't staying for the celebration, her consulting job with Guardall reuqires her to be in Valentina before morning, security matters of some sort to discuss with Leotia, her PM, and the Lords Commander of the Guard and Marines.

Midshipman CRM R'teck S'reck asks her and BrigiadierTanar's son if they want to go to the Roost.

"As long as it's non-alcoholic, I'll be glad to go," Alyssa answers. "That, and some pub grub, I haven't a thing to eat all afternoon."

She glances at young Tanar, trying to see the father in the son...she's reasonably sure that happens a lot with him, at least when people aren't derisively calling him "the brat," or "the kid," cos he's smarter than they are.

Yes, she's a bit protective of him, and not just because the Brigadier asked her to be....hopefully, she's been discreet about that, he may be just a kid, but he's still a Yaz, and a Yaz's pride wasn't anything to be trifled with.

"Come along, Tannar," she says lightly, heading for the monorail station,"we don't want to be late for our own party."

GM EDIT: Changed a rank designation- I wasn't clear R'teck S'reck was just another midshipmen in the crowd.

[Shadow Shack]

Glancing at the crowd, Grelude is emotionless. He didn't expect Ri-kono to come, he's not exactly the parade type anyways. Far away from friends and family, it's time to make new acquaintances. This graduate, Dudd was his name? He invited me to "Raptor's Roost" for drinks. Might as well...

"Sure, I'm game." With his dress uniform (civilian skeinsuit) and stunstick stashed inside, he follows the group boarding the monorail. Really not looking forward to relinquishing it at the door though. I'll have to be quick to locate something appropriate in case something breaks out...


{edited for spelling}

[BD Cerridwen]

In a milling crowd of celebrating marines Spacer Dudd turned to those next to him and said, “Hey, Grelude, Syranno! A bunch of us are hitting the Raptor’s Roost latter to cut loose with a little drink and dance; you coming too?”

"Not right now, Dudd," says Ajax. "Gotta sponge a free meal off my sister first. She got my family reservations at the Derby. I'll meet up with you losers after hangin' with some movie stars!"

The raw recruit makes his way deftly through the crowd without wrinkling his crisp dress uniform and joins his family near the reviewing stands. He receives a hug from his parents, and two younger sisters immediately. Adonia, as usual, is surrounded by a handful of fans seeking an autograph. She breaks free to give the new marine a dramatic embrace. "You look great Jax, in that uniform, you could upstage even me!" Everyone laughs pleasantly. "Come on, the stretch air-car is waiting." She laces a long arm through Ajax's and saunters through the throng, exchanging pleasantries with fans and posing for holo-images from fans and paparazzi alike.

The family piles into the air-car, and it takes off for the swanky Derby lounge. They run a small gauntlet of paparazzi and are soon seated at a large table near the middle of the dinning room. The family makes small talk as they order and eat, interrupted only occasionally as other holo-vid notables take the opportunity to get a publicity shot hanging with a Clarion Royal Marine. Ajax handles it with the professionalism expected of a Marine.

After a couple hours, they leave the restaurant. With more hugs and well wishes, they split up to return to their separate lives. Ajax takes advantage of the free monorail service and grabs a train headed in the direction of the Raptor’s Roost. He pays his 10cr cover and begins a quadrant search of the place looking for familiar faces.

[Will]

Lyssa chuckles, as she watches young Ajax Serrano being whisked off by his more famous sister, the one who played Carla Conner for a bit on Coronation Street, before landing the role of Nikki Forrester von Neumann on The Young and the Bold, tho Ajax is anything but overly dramatic...a bit too serious, Constable Binn-Tann Frazzur serious, even to the point of saying "thank you, kindly," in almost every sentence.

Of course, she remarks, he isn't a Yaz like Frazzur, or should I say, P'aal Grozz, but still...

Poor Dudd, she observes, as she watches Grelude sidling up to him,he has no idea what he's in for.

Oh well, she thinks, smiling, I won't be the one to tell him.

[Terl Obar]

Scanning the crowd, Tanar doesn't immediately respond to R'teck's invitation or Alyssa's response. Finding who he was looking for, he lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and visibly relaxes.

"Sounds like a plan to me," he responds, reorienting his mind on the immediate vicinity. "I'm with Alyssa on the non-alcoholic tonight, I think I'm going to get enough of that tomorrow at the home front. You two go ahead, I'll catch up, there's someone I want to talk to first."

Without waiting for a reply, he strides off across the parade grounds towards the review stand. As he crosses the field he unconsciously straightens his dress uniform, adjusts his sungoggles and checks his stunstick by his side. Stopping directly across from a grizzled old Yarzarian in a highly decorated Royal Guards uniform he snaps to attention and salutes. The old Yaz slowly rises to his feet and returns the salute. Then Tanar's father's face breaks into a grin and reaches down to ruffle his son's mane. "Get up here you little rascal, there's someone else here I think you'd like to see."

Placing both hands on the banister, Tanar vaults over the railing up onto the stand. As he stands up, his father places one arm on Tanar's shoulder and they turn toward an elderly human approaching from further up the stand. Tanar's face lights up as he recognizes his old friend. "Dr Zinasta! What are you doing here?" he asks, surprised at seeing his old mentor.

"A little birdie told me the prodigy was graduating today," he responses with a twinkle in his eye and a wink at Tanar's father. "I thought I'd dust off my knighthood and come down to congratulate you. Since they foisted it off on me, I might as well exploit it every now and then."

Rolling his eyes behind his sungoggles at the prodigy comment, Tanar grins at his friend's familiar deprecating remarks about his knighthood but before he can reply his father chimes in. "Now Albrec, you know you earned it, it's nothing to be ashamed of ..."

Before he can really get going, Dr Zinasta cuts him off, "Let's not get started on that, I'm just being my cynical old self. Today's about young Tanar here. Let's not ruin it by getting back into that old argument. Congratulations son," he says taking Tanar's hand. "He won't admit it, but you've made your father proud. And I will admit it, you've made this crotchety old man proud as well. That uniform looks good on you."

After some more small talk and questions about plans and happenings, Tanar's father effectively ends the conversation. "Well, Albrec, I think we've kept him long enough. If I remember correctly, protocol dictates a long night of partying with fellow classmates on graduation night and we wouldn't want to keep Tanar from his duty." Grinning and giving his son a casual salute, he adds "Go have some fun Midshipman. That's an order."

"Yes, sir!" Tanar replies with a grin and salute of his own, "With your permission Brigadier Daagron, Sir Zinasta" he adds with an emphasis on the Sir to needle his old friend. With that he vaults back over the railing before Dr. Zinasta can cuff him for the Sir and heads off to see if any of his friends are still around. If they are, he'll join up with them and head over to the 'Roost. Otherwise he'll make is way there himself.

[jedion357]

OOC:
There is a Port Loren inspired map of down town Port Royal- I reduced the size of the image to cut down on the scrolling, which I found annoying, but some of the text now seems to small to read so there is another copy in the architecture project on the starfrontiers.us site
see: http://starfrontiers.us/node/3818
Though the download there seems tough to read too; I may have uploaded the wrong edition of the map. I could always delete the one on this site and reload the larger if you all dont mind scrolling.

None the less the scale is 4m / square

The Roost map is 2m/square. Once inside, past the bouncer's station and scanner the dance floor is the dominate feature and the bar is directly across from the door. Booths line the walls and there are 2 hot tubs (popular with dralasites who prefer to absorb intoxicants directly through the skin. The Hot tubs flank the door and out of direct LOS of the door. The Kitchen is behind the bar, the bathrooms are to one side and the DJ booth is to the other.

[Terl Obar]

OOC: I don't mind the scrolling. Also, I don't know if you noticed, but if you click on the images that have the scroll bars, the scroll bars go away and the post is expanded vertically so the entire image can be seen. Of course if the image is wider than area allowed by the browser window, the right side gets cut off but you can always expand your window or click again to get the scroll bars back.

[jedion357]

Niss fretted over the commotion and easy public displays of affection happening around her. She had been stiff in her embrace of the few who had spontaneously hugged her. The easy affection was both shocking and gratifying which surprised her. She found she liked it but was afraid to initiate it herself.

Niss scanned the reviewing stands one last time and heaved a sign. She was feeling a bit dejected but then she really had known that her parents would find some drilling emergency more important than a boring graduation. A slap on the back broke her out of her gloom, "Come on we're going to the Roost!"

She let the natural flow carry her along with a loud group that boarded the monorail. Eventually she found herself on the same street as the Roost and alone. She looked toward the line cuing up to the dance club door with longing but just couldn’t find it in her to press into the crowd.

After wandering and window shopping she ended up at Gimpy’s Bar N Grill feeling hungry. Gimpy's had a neighborhood bar atmosphere and only a few customers at the bar. After ordering a vegetarian dish she began reading the novel "The Hive" that she had down loaded to a file computer she picked up at the gift shop across the mall from Gimpy's. She was thoroughly immersed in the book when her food came and Niss idly picked at it while continuing to read.

The dralasite barkeep observed her for a while then shrugged and went to check on the customers at the bar.

OOC: gonna give Jaguar time to get his first post in - For future reference, if everyone's post is in I'll advance the game with a new turn/post from the GM otherwise I'll do one a week unless the action is critical for player response I'll just keep things moving every week.

[Will]

OOC: Sounds good to me.

IC: Lyssa smiles at the byplay between father, son and the Professor(a friend of her father's as well), waiting til he teases poor Professor Zinasta with his well-earned noble title and starts to scarper away, before yelling out,"come along, Tanar, I'll be ninety before we even reach the Roost, way you're going."

At the same time, she nods politely to the Brigadier, before heading for the monorail.

Once on the monorail, Lyssa takes in both the sights and sounds of the night city flashing past her, and the excited buzz of newly-graduated Royal Marines, her mind drifting to what Mum and Dad....

...Miss Dearborn is just about to call the children together for story time, when a white flash turns the day care into a roar of screaming and whimpering, Lyssa fumbling about blindly, something wet and sticky running down over one eye, trying to pick out Chloe Jane's crying out of all that bloody squalling.

Her foot goes out from under her, something slick on the floor, Lyssa falling onto her back, realizing, for the first time, that there's a bit of metal stuck in her arm.

Then she struggles to her feet, able to see out of her left eye...,.

...wishing to all the gods she hadn't, Lyssa shivering at Miss Dearborn's face, lifeless eyes staring back at her, half her body disappeared underneath what remained of the ceiling.

No, gods-damn it all, not tonight, not tonight, she tells herself over and over, focussing on the sounds and sights of life all round her.

[jedion357]

OOC Ok gonna move the story along on Thursday (if not during the day then when I get home close to midnight) so in the interim describe where you are in the Roost and what you're doing. I may add in some NPC comments to specific PCs between now and then once I know where people are congregating. jedion/tom

PS: Thank you all for being game for this game: I'm rather enjoying myself an we haven't even done much yet.

PPS: dont forget that the bouncers are fairly competent, know their business and are use to dealing with Royal Marines.
Oh yeah if it matters the bouncers are contract employees from Guardall (subsidary of Eversafe- they respect the demilitarization order to all corporations but will be firm and diligent about their job) and they are licensed to carry weapons but try to use firm redirection of rowdy behavior they're likely equipped with stun and sleep weapons or have them close to hand.

[Shadow Shack]

Grelude is not deterred in the least by the presence of these bouncer goons. It's graduation day, and he's here to celebrate. Some party, others socialize, but Grelude carouses without the assistance of intoxicants!

Where is the Roost map? All I saw at that link was the Port Loren-esque city map.

{EDIT} Never mind, I found it.

Grelude will enter the Roost, whip out his StunStick, twirl it around and offer it up pommel first to the nearest bouncer goon and ask "Where do I check this in at?"

Once checked and admission paid (was it 10Cr?), he will shuffle over to the SW corner booth (just north of that private "juke box" room), sitting with his back to the south wall, and begin to assess the patrons within.

[jedion357]

BIC: The bouncer opens a small locker in the bank of lockers opposite his stool and allows Grelude to put his weapon in there and impress his dermal print into its scanner.

As Grelude sits in his booth he estimates 30% of the patrons to be civilian and the rest Royal Marines. His eye spots notice Dudd sitting on the edge of the western hot tub with his feet dangling and his pant legs rolled up. Dudd is obviously absorbed in a conversation with a naked dral and a nearly naked human female in tub. From the twitch of Dudd's movements he suspects that the tub has a stimulant in it which combined with the Yazikazi in his pod would mean that Dudd is trying to "0 sum" his alcohol with the stimulant. Grelude shook his head, Dudd was likely to have a massive body ache for his efforts but to each their own.

A human waitress came over and asked him something but the volume of the music drowned it out. But then it didn't take a genius to figure out what she asked.

[Will]

OOC Ok gonna move the story along on Thursday (if not during the day then when I get home close to midnight) so in the interim describe where you are in the Roost and what you're doing. I may add in some NPC comments to specific PCs between now and then once I know where people are congregating. jedion/tom

PS: Thank you all for being game for this game: I'm rather enjoying myself an we haven't even done much yet.

PPS: dont forget that the bouncers are fairly competent, know their business and are use to dealing with Royal Marines.
Oh yeah if it matters the bouncers are contract employees from Guardall (subsidary of Eversafe- they respect the demilitarization order to all corporations but will be firm and diligent about their job) and they are licensed to carry weapons but try to use firm redirection of rowdy behavior they're likely equipped with stun and sleep weapons or have them close to hand.

Oh, gods, Lyssa thinks upon seeing the tall, muscular Human female and her shorter, much-skinnier Yaz male partner working the front door of the Roost, it's Dee and Dum, just voggin' great. One will want to pinch my cheeks and the other will hit on me. Talk about embrassing the dignity of the uniform.

"Hey, darlin'," Dee's Laconian accent grates on Lyssa's nerves, the older woman hugging Dee tightly, but briefly, letting her go, as Twedal Dungris scans her thoroughly with the wand in his hand.

"Sorry, girl," Dee says<'but, rules are rules, even with you."

Dum adds, slyly,"I kinda prefer pattin' ya down myself."

"And, you know what will happen if you touch anything on me, don't you, Dum?" Lyssa replies, all sugar and spice.


"You're clean," Dum growls, Lyssa walking past them, and sitting down at a table with R'teck and young Tannar.

It's only a few moments after that, before she orders fish and chips and a glass of Upper 20 from ta Human girl who doesn't even look old enough to be of legal drinking age.

[Terl Obar]

Tanar rides in silence as the monorail coveys them through the city. He notices the flash of pain that crosses Lyssa's face but doesn't say anything, not wanting to intrude or let her know that she's not keeping it as hidden as she would probably prefer and wondering what the painful memory was, probably something to do with the scars she still bears.

Arriving at the Roost, he surrenders his stunstick and pays the cover charge. He sees several others from his class but opts to join Lyssa at the table. Suddenly feeling ravenous, he orders a rack of ribs, rare, and a large Royal Cola.

While waiting for the food to arrive, he surveys the room, identifying Grelude ("Need to keep an eye on that one" he thinks) and Dudd. "I wonder where Niss, Dieter and R'teck are," he thinks to himself when he doesn't see them in the crowd. "I expected to find them here already."

[jedion357]

After the waitress brought Lyssa's and Tanar's food [R'teck is not to be seen] a 6'6" tall human male stops short as he's passing the table. He has blond hair shaved high and tight and blue eyes and is wearing civilian clothes with the shirt left unbuttoned down to his pecks.

"Hellooo," he says as he pushes into the booth next to Tanar.
To Tanar he says, "Hey, how you doing." Then with his eyes on Lyssa's flight wings on her uniform he says, "An angel with wings! Did I just die and go to heaven? My friends call me Buzz but you can call me Buzz."
Beaming a hull size 20 smile he continues, "So what do ya fly angel?"

[Shadow Shack]

A human waitress came over and asked him something but the volume of the music drowned it out. But then it didn't take a genius to figure out what she asked.

Grelude stretches his neck towards the female human and bellows out "I'll have a Roller Burger, well done...and a frosty liter of yaz soda." He flips her a pair of credits in advance. His full attention, however, is centered on this lug nut that invited himself into Lyssa & Tanar's booth. Before the waitress can leave, he adds "Better yet, I'll have a bottle of Anker Ale as a chaser to that yaz soda."

For the couple extra creds, that beer bottle can serve as his first of weapons...and if this lug nut proves to be any kind of trouble, he'll need a few weapons.

[Will]

After the waitress brought Lyssa's and Tanar's food [R'teck is not to be seen] a 6'6" tall human male stops short as he's passing the table. He has blond hair shaved high and tight and blue eyes and is wearing civilian clothes with the shirt left unbuttoned down to his pecks.

"Hellooo," he says as he pushes into the booth next to Tanar.
To Tanar he says, "Hey, how you doing." Then with his eyes on Lyssa's flight wings on her uniform he says, "An angel with wings! Did I just die and go to heaven? My friends call me Buzz but you can call me Buzz."
Beaming a hull size 20 smile he continues, "So what do ya fly angel?"

"Idiots like you into orbit," Lyssa says sweetly, after getting up from her chair and stabbing the fork she had in her hand into Buzz's left eye, both in a single motion.

"Without all the mucking about with spaceships," she adds, smiling, grabbing his hair and aiming her fork towards his left carotid artery.

"Now, why don't you go back to you boyfriend," she says,"and call this a draw, eh?"

[jedion357]

"Idiots like you into orbit," Lyssa says sweetly, after getting up from her chair and stabbing the fork she had in her hand into Buzz's left eye, both in a single motion.

"Without all the mucking about with spaceships," she adds, smiling, grabbing his hair and aiming her fork towards his left carotid artery.

"Now, why don't you go back to you boyfriend," she says,"and call this a draw, eh?"

There was a roar of sound in Lyssa's ears and she wanted to smash this pompous idiot. She could feel the cold sweat beading on her forehead and her pulse in her head. She could feel the ...
"Idiots like you into orbit," Lyssa says sweetly, after getting up from her chair and stabbing the fork she had in her hand into Buzz's left eye, both in a single motion.

"Without all the mucking about with spaceships," she adds, smiling, grabbing his hair and aiming her fork towards his left carotid artery.

"Now, why don't you go back to you boyfriend," she says,"and call this a draw, eh?"
She could feel a pressure on her wrist as she tried to pull the fork from his neck for another thrust but the pressure clamped tighter and it enraged her even more.
Then a voice snapped her back to reality, "Easy Angel, we're all on the same side here."
Buzz's hand was a vice grip on her wrist barely holding it in place with its improvised weapon. His smile never wavered as he slid out of the booth before releasing her wrist. He batted a wink at Tanar before half shouting over the music, "See ya round the solar system, Angel."
Buzz moved off into the dance crowd eating one of her fries. Soon he was dancing and lost from view in the crowd.