159 replies to this topic

[kropotkin41]

'I hate meetings' Osman Jones mutters somewhat conspiratorially to Stettler, 'Come on, let's go and get something to eat. I'll pay attention to the rest of the Galaxy; you pay attention to yourself. Just remember Stettler, you are a rational and intelligent man; you have nothing to be frightened of.'

[Ghost]

Stettler gave a start when Jones suddenly appeared at his elbow. Or perhaps not so suddenly; the doctor had been deep in thought. "Rational... I remember 'rational'. Seems to be a long time ago. Before going into space and catching all sorts of bugs, but physical and mental..." He hated the selfloathing in his voice, and drained his glass to chase it away. "Before we grab a bite, maybe you can tell me, since no one else seemed to think my question was worth answering - which either means there is general resentment on all around because I countermanded the Marquis's order during our fight, or maybe only Margaret and the Marquis know why we're checking up on Kreeg. So, are we thinking he's involved in smuggling the prisoners from Tanoose? Or are we simply flying blind here?"

[kropotkin41]

'I gather from the others that Kreeg's operation is one of the three most likely leads we have to follow up; he is thought by the Marquis' Imperial sources to be someone who would not be above trading in slaves; hiding political prisoners or working with the Zhodani, perhaps all three.'

Jones walks alongside Stettler now........ Do you hear this Doctor? he doesn't say.....

'For the record, I think the rest of the crew respect you implicitly; I just think that in that particular meeting most of them were wrapped up in their own thoughts; as for Lady Margaret, I think that she was a little put out by the way in which Shraneal and Arrago just upped and left. Let's you and I look out for ourselves for a while, you never know we might find out things that others, shall we say, less circumspect than us, prove unable to discover.'

Now my friend, you are in more than one sense in unknown territory. It is important that you trust your own abilities, and, of course, that you allow yourself to trust at least some of those around you.

Edited by kropotkin41, 15 January 2011 - 04:09 PM.

[Ghost]

Stettler stopped in his tracks, glanced sideways at Jones, the resumed his walk. "I'm not sure 'hearing' is the right word for it, but yes... I certainly 'received' that." The doctor's words were quiet, not wishing to share with the universe what had just transpired. "I suppose I need to get used to this whole other dimension, and soon. Now, any chance I can try and do the same without accidentally giving myself, or you, a brain aneurism..."

[kropotkin41]

Jones laughs lightly. 'Well yes I would certainly like to avoid that. We shall take it nice and slowly, but for now, be sure to try to listen to yourself, what is happening in your head. Don't become obsessed by it; I am here to make sure nothing goes terribly wrong. Also remember, you are not some mightily endowed adolescent likely to start ripping places apart, you are coming to this late. I promise you, nothing too dramatic is going to happen.'

Jones leads the way into one of the shipyard's small eating establishments; the place smells good and looks friendly; there are only five tables and only one of them is occupied by a human couple.

So, what would you like to eat?

[Ghost]

Stettler paused in the doorway, seeing the number of non-humans inside; wasn't the chances of any of them being a psion much larger than with humans...? "So, we can do back-and-forths without being picked up on by other psions? Because if not, maybe we shouldn't be doing... you know, this... out in public." He still spoke 'normal-speak', although quietly, not quite ready to try the 'inner dialogue' yet, despite Jones's assurances.

[kropotkin41]

'I am doing nothing that could just be picked up, someone would have to be trying to intrude. Don't worry. I'll give it rest for now. Let's just eat here and then maybe we should go to a bar and see if I can overhear anything that might prove useful.'

Once you are sat at a table and have menus in your hands, Jones adds 'You can watch my back later just by noticing if anyone is paying me undue attention whilst I am concentrating.'

[Ghost]

Stettler nodded, then scanned the menu. He realized that he really, really wanted some fish. Then he had to grin, as he realized why. He consentrated, although he tried being inconspicuous, and directed his thoughts towards Jones:

Fish is brainfood. My mother used to say that.

Then he looked at Jones: "Do you know what my mother used to say about fish?" he asked casually.

Edited by Ghost, 16 January 2011 - 07:20 AM.

[kropotkin41]

kropotkin41 rolled 2d6 ± 4 and obtained 9 ( 1,4, ). Reason : Stettler to learn Telepathy

kropotkin41 rolled 2d6 ± 0 and obtained 9 ( 6,3, ). Reason : Stettler: Send Thoughts.

Jones looks up from his menu, his eyebrows raised and a broad smile coming to his face. 'Very good Doctor, very good indeed. Now, drink some water and take a few deep breaths; right about now you will have an idea just how much effort it has taken for you to tell me about your mother's dietary beliefs.'

Even as Jones speaks Stettler realises that he is feeling just a touch of fatigue behind his eyes; there is no pain, no real discomfort, more like something between the way he might feel after a large whiskey and being disturbed from sleep a quarter of an hour before his alarm goes off.

'Be careful my friend. At your age much of your latent strength will be gone, you must find your boundaries; if you cross them you will know it. What you have just done is but one aspect of a very useful discipline. From today, you can reckon four months training to pick up the other aspects.'

OOC

Okay, you may mark a new characteristic on Stettler's character sheet: Psionic Strength. He has a score of 6 (very good for someone of his age) and thus a mod of 0.
He is also in the process of acquiring a new skill: Telepathy 0. You can add that to his list of skills.
Your Doctor has just become a psion....... oh and by definition an outlaw in the Third Imperium.

[Ghost]

Stettler squeezed his eyes shut when the fatigue came creeping in. It felt a little like having a slight fever, but without the temperature. "Ugh... That was unomfortable... Had I known it would feel like this, I'd have told you something worthwhile, at least." He blinked a couple of times, took the water glass before him, and drained it in slow deliberate gulps. When he had done so, he whiped his mouth with a napkin, then ordered food; he wanted fish more than ever.

"So... this is really happening, isn't it? It'll take some getting used to, that's for sure. I'm going to hold back on thanking you for what you have done, at least for a while. Until I know if I really should be grateful. You know what I mean?"

OOC

Doc Psionic! Crazy stuff I'll try and not betray your trust with this. "With great power comes great responsibility", etc. Of course, if I do start going overboard, just hit me with that aneurism

Edited by Ghost, 16 January 2011 - 12:26 PM.

[kropotkin41]

'If you had been born in another era or in another society, by this stage of your life you would be a very accomplished practitioner. Now, I am afraid that you will have little more to be grateful for than improved scientific and medical insight, and a glimpse of what might have been. Well, so be it, if nothing more comes of it than this, you will forever understand something more of human potential. Between meeting me and discovering that you can unlock these natural capabilities nothing has really changed in your nature; you are as human now as you were then.'

OOC

Oh I don't think we need worry about "great power". Stettler may live long enough to develop some handy talents, but his Psionic STR of 6 is fairly limiting. His intuition is perfectly right: he will always have to be careful to use his skill in worthwhile ways and to conserve his energy. It is doubtless the case that in the history of psionics in the Third Imperium there have been other investigators who have come close enough to the secret lives of their subjects to be influenced and even trained to some degree by psions....... of course for every Stettler there will be another "non-psion" who will never stop in their efforts to destroy this "aberrant" phenomenon.

[Ghost]

"Well, who knows; maybe I can one day use these new abbilities of mine to rid myself of another problem I have... Medicine alone sure doesn't seem to cut it." Or heck, maybe it'll go the other way; who knows what effect, if any, the parasites could have on psionics? Weren't they all about affecting the brain? Stettler shook the idea out of his mind, not wanting to focus on what he couldn't know. He'd have to do more testing in the coming months...

"Anyway... I suppose we should start focusing on this other thing; our smuggler friend. I would be helpful if we could get hold of a list of ships that have been out of the system in recent months, preferably in the direction of Garda Vilis space. Of course, We don't if the transport ship or ships went all the way to Tanoose and back - might have been exchanges mid-way - but it might be a place to start. If it turned out that Kr-... that our friend never does business beyond Quare, for instance, we could very quickly start looking elsewhere...."

OOC

Mohahah! Parasites plus Psionics equals Super-psion!

Edited by Ghost, 16 January 2011 - 05:53 PM.

[kropotkin41]

'I'm not sure how much of that we might be able to do on this shipyard. I take your point, but to be honest I wouldn't even know where to start. Now if, on the other hand, we can find someone who works for or with the fellow, well then we might be able to piece together some of what he does; as you say, whether he even has contacts outside this system.'

The food is ordered, it is the kind of fare that makes you long for the fresh food you ate whilst staying on the coast back on Tanoose....... it fills a hole and tastes as if someone has tried hard to impart flavour to a sheet of cardboard. It is with great pleasure that you are able to wash it down with some half palatable wine that Jones insists on buying "to celebrate".

[Ghost]

The lousy fish sent Stettler's mind back to Tanoose, and as it followed, to old Yuvraj, to Annie DeSilva and her family - young Beth, Vincent and the others. He suddenly felt how far away he was from everything his life had been about, up until very recently, and he had to to take another swig of wine. His life had changed and changed again, drastically, in the last year. The trip on the Bosker's and it's aftermath, his stay in Jardis, Roseanne's request and what that sparked; his run-in with Gabe and Felix, Olivier, Nealson and 'George' and the GV folk who had so wanted to arrest him at the station. And now he was here, a billion miles from his home planet, his mind apparently revealing secrets it had kept from him since childhood, if not forever, and him part of a secret group looking to uncover the smuggling of political - and mentally incapacitated - prisoners from his homeworld.

"The universe is a strange place," he volunteered to Jones, as he finished the last of the 'fish', washing it down with yet more wine. "About Kreeg... " He had an idea, but realized he wasn't too keen on following it through, since it was likely to ruin what reputation he had. Still... "We might... I could try and put it out there that I was interested in certain drugs. Longevity drugs. On behalf of a client. They're not exactly legal, and it might be the sort of thing Kreeg deals in. On account of it being for the rich and vain, and thus worth quite a bit."

[kropotkin41]

'That sounds like a plan that involves a certain amount of risk' Jones replies doubtfully, 'even more risk than eating the food on this station. It seems likely that if you want to go looking for controlled substances then someone like this Kreeg would be.........'

Jones pauses and looks momentarily worried before purposefully re-setting his face to a more neutral expression.

He seems to wait as the waitress goes back into the kitchen from a nearby table and then says quietly 'Our waitress has been responding quite worryingly at the mention of Mr Kreeg. Do you think it is worth poking around a bit to see what we can find out?'