Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Salamat Pantang, everybody. You are now tuned in to another exciting installment of Mekong, the southeast asian space opera adventure of epic proportions. We have a fantastic episode for you folks coming up, filled with political intrigue, passionate romance, generational trauma, and most importantly, some dope ass anime giant robot battles brought to you here by the folks here at Queen's court games.
Seeing that it's episode three, you probably know who we are, what Mekong is. It's a little bit of Star Wars, a little bit of dune, a little bit of Gundam, a little bit of evangelion, little bit of iron widow. For all of you on book talk, lots of lore and world building based on the rich wellspring that is southeast asian history and culture, and a metric ton of hindu buddhist cosmology. This story will be seen through the eyes of warriors called taenong, a caste of mech pilots who operate uniquely powerful mechanized chassis called DC. Say Comusta pilots.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: Comusta pilots.
[00:01:05] Speaker A: He set it up.
[00:01:06] Speaker C: We're gonna do it. And it's unfortunate we're on Zoom, so it's not. I don't know how unison that is.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: Not even a little.
This series is a story of how, through their deeds, decisions, and dice rolls, they will shape the fates in the stars that make up the seven sectors of the Mekong constellation, grapple with the obligations that drove them to this line of work, and perhaps change the course of this cosmic river forever. My name is Jerry La. I'm your storyteller today, and we're here to make a real cool picture with the help of this daring cast of Tandong. Mech pilots mustered here today. We'll be suiting up and taking our steps into our little space adventure in just a moment, but let's meet our cast.
First up, playing Kallax and bulak. Klak, we got Ryan Omega.
[00:01:52] Speaker B: Hello, everybody. I'm Ryan he him. I am playing Klaxon Woolak la kee. Him, who is a mecha race or kisi racer and has an obsession with dogs and is currently on this vessel missing his Miss misfit, who I know is in good hands with hope, but I think he is going to have a little bit of a breakdown just trying to figure out what is he going to do without a dog.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: How many stress points are you at right now? He's at six. Okay. Yeah.
This breakdown, I feel like there's a breakdown on the horizon for a lot of you guys, so it's good. Anyways, second up. Coming in as brown Phoebe Bridgers. We got Pooja sorry, I saw the skeleton pajamas, and I was like.
[00:02:51] Speaker C: I'm.
[00:02:52] Speaker D: Sorry, it's cold in my house. And the gas bill was really expensive last year. Or month last month. Rather SoCal, where natural gas is more expensive than gold.
[00:03:06] Speaker C: Who you playing? Pooja.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: Priorities.
Sorry, did I throw you off?
[00:03:16] Speaker D: Hi, I am Pooja Sheher playing rupiah Payang. Also she, her, you know, just a small town girl who wants to be an actress, but just can't seem to get out of the grasp of her family of honey smugglers.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: What can you do? Right?
What are you gonna do?
Third up on base, as in his own words, an ice cold can of WHOOP ass. Playing Roman Maxillon. We got Andrew Landy. Oh, what is up, everyone?
[00:03:52] Speaker E: Yes, Andrew here checking in pronouns. He, him, playing Roman. Also he, him. Yes, a nice cold can of WHOOP ass. Also feeling like the world's worst dad right now. Still not worse than Goku, though. So that's.
[00:04:06] Speaker A: Let's just keep that. Let's just keep.
Roman is not in top ten anime worst dads. You know, like, there's, like, dendo, Atari's up there. Goku's up there. Aunt Roman not on that list.
[00:04:17] Speaker E: Not on list, but yeah.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Yet he's, like, hovering at, like, number twelve right now, but.
And finally, our lovely producer playing the exile princess of Chow fry already. Wum. Clara.
[00:04:37] Speaker C: Hi.
I don't even know where to start on today.
You're like, oh, our dice rolls are gonna define what we do here. And I'm like, no. Like, no, I have. I don't know what it is. My computer's cursed, or rule 20 is cursed. But no, we're gonna die.
We're all gonna die. And it's fine. It's gonna be fine. Well, it'll be fine.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: You know, it's. You know, seeing that the rule of the cosmology in this setting is. Is, you know, some. Sorry, reincarnation. You'll get another turn on the wheel. It'll be fine. Thanks God.
We'll be playing Mekong using the beam Saber RPG, a forge of the dark system written by Austin Ramsey, with additional supply drop playbooks written by Jay Lo, Filohazzard, and Alfe DeMille. You can find links to the cast's assorted social media accounts by sending exclamation point cast to the chat. And if you'd like to purchase Beam Saber for yourself and your own gaming group, exclamation point system will point you that way.
The name of this campaign is Symphony for the devil. It is an adventure written by Moi. And contains themes that some viewers may find disturbing. There will be depictions of blood, gore, body horror, drug alcohol use, politically motivated violence, warfare, sexual themes, excessive use of english and non english profanity, and, you know, as stated before, generational trauma. It's on the package. It's there. You all know it's there, you all know it's gonna happen, and it still just sneaks up on you every time, right? Like, so hot right now. So hot. Yeah. The cast and I have discussed our lines and veils and confirmed that everybody here is comfortable playing, but we want you at home to be safe as well. All right, I think that's all for me. I'm ready. I'm ready to get into it if you guys are ready to deploy. Are you guys ready to deploy? Pilots?
[00:06:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:06:34] Speaker A: Bring it here.
All right.
Long ago, when the rays of stars flowed like a river across the heavens, the rumors are true. With the crash of Freya starways flight 1138 and a great storm flooding the Prabang river, it's become more than clear that the forces of oblivion draw close, and Mekong's oldest adversary, the Quen Ma, are soon to be on the horizon. Having delivered the warning given to her by Kuntilanak, the herald of Block Kapdin, Princess Orodivun can only help but watch as the kingdom she long called home tear itself apart at the revelation with a contingent of the masses. Spurred by paranoia, the Atma chauvinist coalition, led by Archduke Sara van Deng, along with key allies Lady Rubina Bulakhlak and the Chow Phrayan royal Marines, moves to overthrow the standing rulers of this planetary kingdom in the name of replacing king Vyseon with a ruler more suited to defending Chow Phraya from the Kunma threat.
Over dinner with the king, it is revealed to our heroes that in order to defeat Bokapdin, the bureaucrat Zhun Zi tells them of the sword Chandra Hasa, the blade used a thousand years ago in the old oblivion wars to first vanquish the scorpion demoness. Before he could finish questing the group to the task, a battle breaks out in the palace between the house guard and the revolting royal marines, while the great houses of Mekong continue to bicker and spill blood over who power belongs to. The spacers quarter, where the most vulnerable citizens of Chow Phraya live, is washed away in the river torrents, its people left to drown in the downpour.
The Vianchan sector is now in its most desperate hour, and every tan Nong on this world feels it forced to flee the world. The four pilots that rescued flight 1138 are reunited, but now in a much worse position from when they started. The aging legionnaire Roman Maxillon finds himself separated from his adopted daughter Hope and his prize Gisi Archangel, lost in the chaos of the battle. The ex smuggler rupiah Taiyang, the d? Va and Sol Tan Nong to assist the poor laborers of the spacers quarter sustains a critical wound and significant damage to her ma Durga. You see the copper pod and both Kallaxin bulak lak and Oradee Vuong finds themselves on opposite ends of a coup with their own blood siblings. The group now flees a chow phraya engulfed by yet another bloody succession war. Their only hope for restoring balance being their task to locate Chandrahasa on a distant jungle world called celu dong and defeat Bokgap Din before the Khonmat titan can make landfall. The fates of their loved ones remain uncertain and in the balance. And a numbing sense of anxiety washes over our motley squadron of Tanrong pilots.
Its a long journey to Celadang. Will they even make it to the end? Can they trust this scholar bureaucrat named Zheng Zi? And what obstacles await this band of warriors out in the cosmos?
Find out this week on Mekong symphony for the devil.
We open on the stars and then this big, like Microsoft word 3d graphic spins in with newscaster music playing and it cuts to a reporter standing in front of Manjushri Sana palace.
The Chiron.
You know the little like words at the bottom?
Yeah, I know how to pronounce words. The little chiron at the bottom beneath. The reporter reads, the House of Vuong has lost the mandate of heaven.
And the reporter is now standing for this camera. And he begins, like, sets up justice. Ty. Are we live? Are we live? Thanks for tuning in to this exclusive young news broadcast. I'm Jazim Kapli. An astonishing chain of events has been set alight here in the kingdom of Chow Phraya. Several weeks following the disappearance of beloved Princess Anousha Vung, the phraya starways passenger vessel flight 1138, carrying Princess Anusha's sister Oradi, came crashing down in the palace courtyard. And it cuts to, like, really like to cellphone footage from the street level of this ship coming with a big smoke plume behind it and all four of your mechs, like, trying to lift it and people are shrouding a scream. Oh my God. What's going on?
The following day, at an emergency session of court, the princess already made her first and last appearance as the heir to the Makuta crown, accompanied by three tenong that were also on board the ship during its crash. The entourage consisted of mechracer Lord Kallaxan Bulaklak of Lancashire, Roman Maxlum of the Chow Phryan Foreign Legion, and a peasant.
The statements of the day's events shocked the kingdom. According to Princess already's testimony, their ship was attacked by Kuntul Anak, a cosmic entity believed to be the herald of a greater space demon invasion. The atmocentris coalition of Chowfrey's nobility, led by Archduke Sara van Deng. You see, like the little, like, portrait, like, come on. Of.
If I.
If I were to illustrate what the archduke looks like, he kind of has, um.
That smug, square jawed, uh, definitely makes a big hassle when you get his milk wrong. And his latte businessman kind of look, you know, uh, every. Every food services worker's worst nightmare, right?
The. The late Archduke Sara van deng harshly excoriated the princess and her off world birth on the parliament floor, going so far as to label her a void child, a controversial term used against those of stellarian birth, associating their proximity to the vacuum to susceptibility to the influence of Mekongs age old adversary. After a lengthy and chaotic deliberation period, the coalition motioned to banish house vungs second daughter. Chancellor Chai Siriwan, the queen consort, immediately adjourned the court session. After failing to recognize Archduke Saravans call for exiling the princess, declaring the kings inaction for grounds for immediate removal. The dengs, along with a handful of other affiliated noble clans, stormed Manjushri Sana palace here at these steppes last night. Earlier yesterday, with the aid of the royal Marines that ran the royal family out, save for their youngest biological son, Crown Prince Kanawa. In the chaos following flight 1130 eights crash, the Prince Kanawha had quietly initiated procedures to be adopted as a child of house dang proper. Those proceeds finalizing the evening of King Vaisoun's deposal from the throne. So what of the state of the kingdom now? Representatives from the royal palace have announced earlier this morning, Prince Kanawa Deng will be placed on the throne in interim as regent until the imperial ministry of Rights on Dong sun formalizes his rule as the new king of Chao Phraya. At a press conference earlier today, Archduke Saravad issued the following statement. And it cuts to the archduke standing behind, like a big podium with the Chow Frian royal seal on it. And behind him is like the entourage of several nobles from the atmosphere chauvinist coalition of the parliament. And next to him is Lady Rubina, also standing with her hands clasped together, looking out at the. And they all have very pr trained looks as they look out at the throng of reporters standing before them. And he, like, leans into the 20 mics, like, that are in front of this podium, and he says, today is a new day in the history of our great kingdom. Once our King Kanawha is crowned and with his guidance, we will purge this planet of the Kunma threat and all who dare bring about chaos to our beautiful world. Tomorrow, we shall make Chowfreya great. And the screen cuts and rupiah, you're like, laying in this bulkhead with, like, with bandages around your rib on the ship, the marigold, and you change the channel and it goes to basically the Mekong equivalent of, like, Turner classic movies as it plays an old movie of you. Like, right now you're kind of just laying here and, like, recovering. Everyone else is, like, in the rest of the ship. But you're watching this film, and it's definitely the kind that you remember watching with your parents as a little one, right? It's one of those old films where, you know, classically handsome romantic lead. They're like, standing and the light looks all.
[00:17:10] Speaker D: That glow of old film.
[00:17:12] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. And you begin to reminisce a little bit, right?
And as you kind of, like, scoot up and, like, watch the holovision, we fade from this cabin to the past.
I want you all to imagine there's a planet in the Jabba doo system called Nanyang.
It was once a dusty old moon, but through centuries of development has become another important hub in Mekong society. But here, rather than, you know, being a city based, based on cash industries or growing crops and that sort of thing, what was once a nondescript ball of rock orbiting this big oceanic world of great Sunda. It's been, like, redeveloped from this desert into a wide, sprawling metropole of.
Of movie studios and amphitheaters, and just like a hub of culture, right? Like, this is the city of Silhouette, and in this city, we see a much younger rupiah, kind of like going about her day to day as a, you know, as a tanong in this community, but also you make your way to through these, this web of streets where you pass by different movie crews running around. They're like, setting up even like the KC are being used in their own little epic picture, right? And they're all being set up across different backlots, different green screens. And this is your life, right? Like, this is where your family moved to because while everybody else in Mekong has their place, the one place where, you know, the outsiders, the outcasts, the dreamers, they came to see Luong, and they're all working on their dreams. How old are you at this point, rupee?
[00:19:45] Speaker D: I'm, you know, about 1819, I'd say, still with the stars in my eyes, literally.
[00:19:58] Speaker A: The reason why your family clan moved here is what? Like, you know, every immigrant family's like, we're here for opportunity, right? But in this case, the opportunities in what they call Nollywood. You see this big fucking mountain on the side of this big town? There's standing it on the side of Mount Malacca, facing defiantly at the oceanic blue world that it's orbiting, is this big sign that says Nollywoodland.
What I want you guys to imagine is golden Age Hollywood, but also Bombay in the fifties, right? Like this kind of where. Where this big creative swell of energy radiates throughout the whole city.
And you pass by, like, marquees of theaters and different posters and so far, rupiah, you've had a very good life here, like, even through your tandong training and your schooling and that sort of thing. But the reason why you kind of, your pockets are very full is the family business. There's like, as you pass by different movie sets you see in, like, the tucked away corners, different crew members and celebrities all smoking up little sticks of honey and drinking tea with additives in them.
Because alth tonics. Tonics, correct. Because here in Nollywood, the movie stars and the screenwriters and everyone, they rely on a steady stream of drugs and debauchery to get to keep their.
To keep them fueled. And what you and your family provide is that service. But to you, that also gives you access, gives you an outlet for things beyond just being an ace pilot, right?
But you get to one theater on the outskirts of town, right? Because your most recent project has been with your partners, Devinder and charain. There's an old theater on the outskirts of siliwung that it seems that the landlords have been neglecting. So you guys have mostly been squatting here as like a secret hangout kind of thing. But also this is the place where you walk in and you see techies running back and forth, lights being moved around, all that sort of thing. Like you guys are setting up like a secret illegal show, more or less here. But when you walk in, it's in this chaos where you feel the most at home. Maybe even more so at home than your actual house, right?
But the second you walk in, dev kind of, like, ambushes you from the side. He's like, there you are. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Um. Did. You. Did.
[00:23:04] Speaker D: Spit it out, man. Spit it out.
[00:23:06] Speaker A: Where's Charaine? You know where she is.
[00:23:09] Speaker D: She was supposed to be backstage coordinating the lighting install.
[00:23:15] Speaker A: Okay, okay. Like, um, we'll just. We're gonna get re. Like, you see, he's got, like, Devinder. He's about, like, half a head taller than you. Triangle kind of. Kind of jaw of high cheekbones, scruffy hair, headset mic, stage blacks, and, like, while he does seem exasperated in this moment and, like, you guys are like, that's just the nature of the chaos of being entertainers, right?
Like, you tell. You kind of, like, lift a head, and you, like, you can tell he's. He's like. He's going a million miles an hour, and.
And he's picking at his cuticles.
[00:23:54] Speaker D: He's like, do you need. Feels like you could use a little relaxation.
[00:24:02] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's. It.
You're right. You, like.
[00:24:12] Speaker D: Like, just chill. Everything's going well.
We're all set. It's gonna be the best opening side door opens.
[00:24:23] Speaker A: I'm here. And Shirane walks in. Very curly hair, half. She's half gin, half jabba duen, but, like, she's known for this. She has this big kind of, like, poof on her head, and she's like, okay, rupiah, are you ready to fucking kill this show, bitch? Yes. Yeah, we're gonna fucking do this. We're gonna, like, grabs you by both the hands, and she's like, oh, you two. You two, Dev. And you all kind of, like, huddle up as, like, the three of you. The dynamic between the three of you is, like, rupiah, you're the cool comic, collected one. And Dev is, like, the one that's, like, in charge of all the coordination, all the planning. And Shireen is, like, the spirit, like, the life, the. Let's fucking go right? Like, this wouldn't. This show wouldn't have happened if it weren't for her. Like, kind of pushing all three of you to like. No. Like, it doesn't matter how broke you guys were. It didn't matter. Maybe. Maybe these people in Sila Wong wouldn't give a shit about three hood rats trying to make what a stage show, right? But I'm sorry.
[00:25:27] Speaker D: We're going to revolutionize live performance.
[00:25:32] Speaker A: We are going to upend the whole thing. It's gonna be sick. It's gonna be sick. And she, like. She, like, grabs both the back of your head's, like, we're gonna do this. We're gonna do it.
It's this kind of youthful energy that really sustains you. Right? You're away a lot of times doing jobs out in space, moving. Moving cargo and that sort of thing. But every time you come home and every time, you know, you see these two people to be value so much, it makes your heart flutter a little.
But, yeah, we cut to, you know, the dress rehearsal. So, rupiah, when you think about a show that. The kind of show that rupiah would be the lead in, right?
What kind of story plays out here? Right? Like, what's the general outline?
[00:26:30] Speaker D: I think that we're really going to key into that epic, like, noir genre.
Black, white, like, all the shades of gray in between.
And we are performing a stage production of a classic spy thriller that you would normally only see in the theater, in the film theater, but bringing it to you live, so you can feel that energy, you can feel that tension. You can feel the sexual tension between the leafs right in your face.
[00:27:17] Speaker A: This whole thing is done in combination with, like, traditional jabba doo and shadow puppetry happening in the background, too. So you see, like, these big cityscapes move in the back, and you see, like, it's called weyang. And, like, the way that these puppets have been constructed, they look like that's how you guys are pulling off. Like, the car chases and the gunfights and the men running around in combination with the human performance.
So you guys begin the dress rehearsal. Everybody takes their. Their ones on the wings of the stage. And you hear dev shouts, like, okay, places, people, places. And he, like, starts pointing at lights. He's like, okay, we go over here. Soundboard we get. And it's everyone. All right, this is it, people. We got one week to opening day. Let's kill it this time. All right? All right.
And the show begins.
It's you and charaine as, like, these, like, romantic leads. It's one of those, like, enemies. It's a classic enemies to lover spy drama kind of thing. Like, you guys are both espionage agents for rival kingdoms. But then with repeated interactions and encounters, it becomes it. Like, there's, like, a little scene. Like, you know, I thought I couldn't understand you, but she, like, takes a drag of a cigarette.
I see a lot more clearly now.
[00:28:43] Speaker D: The way the sunlight hits your eyes has changed me.
I used to be a person of the shadows.
I have never been rich or idle, but I've been very busy all my life, and I expect to be busier quite soon with you.
[00:29:13] Speaker A: The music swells.
Like, you grab each other and, like, you go in big old movie, kiss, like, strings going in the back, and then the curtain drops.
Okay, everybody, that was fantastic.
Let's do it. And everyone kind of, like, comes out, practices the bow, right? Like, the whole crew. Like, you lock arms and rupiah as you are doing the usual end of show routine.
There's a single person clapping in the audience. Just in the very back row, in the very back row of the house. There's just a single silhouette going.
Stands up.
And you can tell by right away that this is the silhouette of the frame of an older woman. Like, an elderly woman even. Right in her early seventies.
She has a cane leaned on the side of her chair with.
With the scepter piece being a honeybee encased in amber.
And, like, dev freezes, and he leans over, like, do my ass. Your grandma, isn't it?
[00:30:36] Speaker D: You know what? I think I'm just gonna go talk to her. Y'all break down. Okay? Like, not emotionally.
[00:30:45] Speaker A: I do that already. All right. Okay. Like, let me do the emotional breakdown. You. You go, uh.
[00:30:53] Speaker D: I'm sure it'll be great. Yeah, I'm sure it'll be fine.
[00:30:54] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he looks at shreen. He's like, are you good? And she's. I'm good. Okay. And they all kind of, like, go off towards the wings and start, you know, breaking everything down. And you take this long way, walk up to the back of house, right? Or to the back of the. Of the. Of the.
The audience, the auditorium.
And as you get closer, you see Dadiji, she is. She's not wiry. Like, she's thin.
And in the way that, like, you know, someone who grew up not getting a hot meal every day would be. Right. Um, has silver and white hair that's, like, neatly tied in a bun. In the back. She wears a black silk caballa with sheer shoulder sleeves. And her white hair is near. Is neatly pressed. And as you walk up, she, like, digs into her. She digs into under her seat and hands you a bouquet of flowers.
[00:32:02] Speaker D: Reach down and touch her feet. I didn't think you'd come.
[00:32:08] Speaker A: I didn't. You didn't tell me you were working on upstage play.
[00:32:11] Speaker D: I mean, you know, you've been so busy, like, I didn't want to overburden you.
[00:32:19] Speaker A: Her voice is very, like, husky and raspy, you know, but.
And, like, years decades of smoking sinner's honey has definitely. You can hear it in her throat. She talks, but it's warm, you know? Like, this woman you grew up with her, every time she came to visit, she always brought you all these, like, little exotic treats from different worlds, right? But also, she'd give you little jalebis and little trinkets that she'd see on her travels. Right? But she runs, you know, this is the family matriarch. She runs the business. Like. Yes. While you do love your grandmother, it seems that the last few times you've had conversations with her, it always ends in, like, I need something from you. And so you're kind of, like, mentally preparing for, like, is she about to ask me to go out again?
[00:33:17] Speaker D: I mean, that is the overweight. Yeah, 100% expecting, like, the whole, okay, we have a job to do. But in the meantime, I'm gonna soak up this faint praise.
[00:33:34] Speaker A: You do? And she says, like, well, it was a wonderful show. I'm sorry I can't make the opening day, but. So I thought I'd drop by and see the dress rehearsal.
[00:33:44] Speaker D: It makes me so happy to hear you say that, Taditi. Thank you so much.
[00:33:48] Speaker A: It was. It was wonderful. But listen, Samya, there's some family business I need you and Copperpod's help with. If there's a shipment that needs to get moved through New Bakur, I know it's short notice, but you are the family's best pilot, and it shouldn't take any longer than a few days.
She pulls her cane close and puts her chin on it.
[00:34:17] Speaker D: I understand, I understand.
But I'll be back in time for the opening, right?
[00:34:25] Speaker A: You are fast.
You are very fast, and you're very good at what you do.
I don't think there should be any problems. No, not with a tanrong of your caliber. You're my flesh and blood, you know. Okay.
This family breeds greatness.
[00:34:45] Speaker D: Of course, of course.
How could we do anything less coming from you? Taking direction from you?
[00:34:52] Speaker A: That's my girl. She, like, rubs your shoulder, and Dev and charaine walk up just because, like, it's respectful when they see an elder, like, they go up and they, like, you know, do the traditional greetings like a bow.
And Daraji's like. And she, like, nods at them. She's like, you must. You must be Rupiah's.
She, like, looks over at you like she's still trying to, like, wrap her head around the poly thing, but she's very understanding. Like, these are your. Your partners? Yes, yes, partner. Partners, plural? Yes, yes. It's lovely to meet both of you. And they. Did you enjoy the show, man? Like, oh, I did, very much. Yes.
Well, I must. I must. She, like, goes to stand up. Dev, like, goes over, tries to help her. No, no, I'm fine. I'm fine. And.
[00:35:43] Speaker D: And they have that little dance where it's like, no, help. Let me help you. No, I don't need your help.
You. No, I don't need your help.
[00:35:49] Speaker A: She says, tomorrow morning, and she points at you. We ship off, and she makes her way out to the lobby and to a car waiting for her outside and drives off the second the door closes. Shireen, like, clicks her tongue.
How long has she been sitting there?
Like, did she just.
She just, like, shows up, right?
[00:36:15] Speaker D: Yeah, I've never. I've literally, in my life, never met a sneakier person than that. Did you?
Like, seriously, don't try to, like, sneak up on her either. I think she's got extra eyes installed back there.
[00:36:31] Speaker A: Dev being the worry work that he is, like, he looks at you, he's like. And he knows that. He know. He also knows every time you have a conversation with Dutch, especially at this point, he knows that you're gonna go out and smuggle again. He walks up to you, he's like, rupiah, you know how I feel about you doing this.
[00:36:48] Speaker D: I was like. I put my. I put my hands on either side of his face. It's like, dev, this is who I am.
This here.
[00:37:00] Speaker A: Yeah, but look, Ruby, I is who I am.
[00:37:03] Speaker D: But how we fund this is by me going out with my family.
[00:37:09] Speaker A: Yeah, Rupert, I was fine with this being, like, a side hustle thing. Like, you know, just like a family chores. But, like, you know, you have to get out of this game. You know? I hate it when you keep putting yourself at risk like that. You know what they do to honey smugglers, right?
[00:37:27] Speaker D: I mean, it's. It's funny. Fine. Daddy plans all the routes to the.
[00:37:31] Speaker A: Last, you know, new backcourt. Like, there's. That place is swarmed with hornets, all right? Like, they just had a bust. Like the thwitfi. You know, that thwitfi is like a. Like a rival honey syndicate. It's like, you know, like, they just had a bust over there. They're gonna be swarming that place.
[00:37:54] Speaker D: I mean, daddy, she has it all under control. She pays off all of that stuff. That's just part of the base going through a mission. Just think of it as just another mission, just another training exercise like we used to do in school, remember?
We are not going to be stuck here forever. I won't be doing this forever.
We just need enough to get off the ground, and then we can run this place. We can revamp it.
[00:38:36] Speaker B: We can.
[00:38:37] Speaker D: We can buy it outright.
That's what we always talk about.
[00:38:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, we can buy it. Yes. Yes. Look, I.
I just worry about you, okay?
And I love it.
Like, charaines off the sides, like, yeah, Dev, don't be such a fucking. Don't be such a, like. Look, she's gonna go out, she's gonna move some honey, and then she's gonna write an award winning autobiography about the whole thing, and then we'll make a movie. We'll make a movie about it. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be fantastic.
[00:39:12] Speaker D: Just think of it as fodder for the next.
[00:39:14] Speaker A: Exactly. Exactly. See, that's what I could just. Right now and. Okay. Deb's like, okay, fine, fine. Okay. I'll take your word on it, rupiah. All right? Just.
[00:39:28] Speaker D: Just trust me, babe. Put the two of you to come home to. I'm never going to stray far.
[00:39:37] Speaker A: Okay? All right.
And, um.
You haven't let me down yet, so.
All right.
[00:39:58] Speaker D: Everything will be okay. I promise.
And I'll meet you back here, and we'll have the best opening night ever.
[00:40:13] Speaker A: We fade back to the present.
You're still watching this movie on the hollow screen. And you look down at your sabai. That's still on you. And as you kind of, like, pull it away from where your wound is, you see that?
The fabric that you took from Dev and charain, the one you promised.
You see the part where you. You sewed it in? It's soaked in your own blood, like, you can't even make out the colors anymore.
[00:40:45] Speaker D: And you kind of pick at the edge of it, like, I may have broken that promise to have.
She broke yours, too.
[00:40:56] Speaker A: As for the rest of you, you, all the four of you, find yourselves on the starship the Miv marigold.
It is an aging halong class star corvette. And ships like these, they were issued to one bureaucrats and were meant to carry diplomats to and from sectors.
But this is a particularly older model, and you can tell we can just buy the rust in bulkheads and the hollow metal noises, the creaking noises that kind of echo throughout the ship.
But it's been about, I want to say, 12 hours since you departed chow. Freya. It's just been the four of you, and Zhongzhi and two other crew members.
The first one that you met, uh, we cut out to the hangar bay. Right? The rest of you are kind of, like, doing routine maintenance on your mechs that are not too shabby looking right now.
[00:42:05] Speaker B: I know Klaxon is working on a workshop. So the stuff that he has on him, which is, um, a basic set, even though it's basic, it's pro, it's racing gear set of tools for repairing and fixing the various kisi he has on him. So he is making an impromptu workshop. And the hanger, he is very methodical about where the wrenches are, where all the drills are, because you have to have one table for drills. You have to have one table for wrenches. You have this particular organizer for your nuts, your. Your nuts, your screws. Anything that has to be plugged in has to be right here. So it is weirdly, not just methodical, but almost obsessive in how organized it is. There is nothing out of place. Everything has a label because he has one of those print out labelers, and he is labeling where everything is including little signs of spare parts go into this bin and these drills going into this bin. And he is now creating the little outlines made of tape that show which wrench goes on which hook, I think.
[00:43:32] Speaker C: Already is, like, fixing. I assume you got to clean out some of that, like, plasma.
[00:43:38] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely. You got.
[00:43:42] Speaker C: Yeah. So she's working on that.
[00:43:44] Speaker A: Like, you gotta, like, scrape it. Scrape out the dried plasma and, like, sweep it off. Off the floor.
[00:43:49] Speaker C: Like, all the, like, dried, melted metal. She's just, like, hacking it off, like, barnacles.
[00:43:55] Speaker A: Like, I imagine. Ordi's also, like, the kind of person that, like, plays music while she works on her mech. And so you're playing that boy band. They're called Mei Tang kao, which translates to boys who cry.
[00:44:10] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:44:10] Speaker A: Like, I want you to imagine, like, you've ever been to an automotive garage, like, where, like, the music, like, the acoustics, it's, like, echoing around. You just hear all that kind of ambience of general maintenance work. While you two are, like, working on this, Zhong Zi kind of comes back into, like, the main bay with two young women at his flanks. To his right, about 20 years old, square shoulders, black lipstick, bulky figure, mechanics jumpsuit with, like, side swept hair. And then to his other flank is another young woman about half his size, like, 411 ABG band t shirt, same boy band. And he looks down, like, hey, guys, this is my niece's.
This is Jack, chulung and ni, but you can call her Jackie and Nina. Jackie's the taller, muscular one. Nina's like the short one. They're here to help if anybody needs anything. And, like, Nina's like, are you. Is this okay? But it's fine. Look, we just go down there, say hi to the ten rong, and, you know, make yourselves useful, or. Do you realize these kinds of ships usually come with, like, crew personnel, like, professional crew personnel with, like, hired help, like, like a crew of ten. The vibe here is like, this is an uncle and his two nieces on a road trip in their rv, kind of. But their rv is like a. Is a whole ass starship that he, like, comes down the stairs. They're a little. It's, like, kind of awkward at first because, like, they don't know what to say. Roman, where are you? Actually? What's going on with you right now?
[00:45:44] Speaker E: Roman's sort of separated himself away in order to blow off steam and try to help himself gain some semblance of control over his situation. He's sort of co opted the machine slot, the machine shop slash storage room, into, like, a makeshift workout room just for himself. So you could see Roman, and he's, like, frenetically going between stations as he's made, like, a circuit room for himself where there's a tire and sledgehammer that he's. He's at that spot, and as he's, as you go in, you see him slamming the sledgehammer against the tire over and over and over again. And then you see him moving from station to station in just this attempt to get some of this nervous energy out because for him, he has, he's lost his daughter and his mech. So, like, the two things that mean the most to him in the world right now, he's sort of in his own zone right now. You see that his usual jacket has been hung up. He's literally just in a drenched t shirt now with whatever workout pants that he's had on. And he hasn't stopped for, like, the past 3 hours as he's been training.
[00:46:57] Speaker A: So zooxie in the hangar bay, like, looks at everybody working. He's like, uh, by the way, um, if we could all gather in the. The, uh, we could usually. Usually we have group dinners on this ship. So, like, you guys want to be there at, like, 1900?
That. That'd be fantastic. I just putting it out there, just. Just letting you guys know, and I'll leave you to it. Uh, uh.
Am I forgetting something? And, like, Jackie looks at him like, uncle.
Oh, that's right. Yes. Jackie, she's. She's a yantakara, she. She's a German. Yantakara. And for, for those of you in the know, the yantakara are like a special type of technician in Mekong. They are. They're the ones who build the gisi. They're the ones who maintain them and do all the, like, the rituals around them. Most of the time, though, like, they kind of come a dime a dozen, right? Most people go about and you get, like, your standard usual technical training and that sort of thing. But Yantakara have a much more almost, like, religious significance. And you notice this when she approaches sparky first Kallaxin, and she looks up at it, examines it up and down, sees all the advertisements, coding it.
[00:48:18] Speaker B: The moment he mentions that, that she's a yantakara, he drops the. The wrench and the box of screws that are in his hand because he realizes this is someone really important.
And he takes out his hand, introduces himself. Hi. My name is Claxen Bulak lock. It is so good to meet you. I respect a lot of what you do. We have one.
[00:48:50] Speaker A: She's, like, looking away while she's shaking her hand. Like. Like, looking. Still looking at, like, your workshop and your mech. What? Like, you're shaking.
[00:48:56] Speaker B: Yeah, we have one at our, at a workshop. And I know what you do is valuable.
[00:49:09] Speaker A: What happened to your wing?
She's, like, she doesn't even, like, introduce her. Like, she, like, you can see the hyper focus, like, kicking in for her, and she, like, walks up and. And, like, already starts actually not walking up. I forgot to mention, since you guys are in space, everything is zero g right now, so you guys. Yeah, so I should have. I should have led with that. Where.
That does change your workout, right? Like, it doesn't change. Like, you could still be hitting stuff with a sledgehammer, Roman. But.
[00:49:42] Speaker E: I'm going to be. It's going to hit. It's going to, like. And the force is going to bounce it. So now I'm just going to be slamming in the air.
[00:49:50] Speaker A: Target practice. Yeah.
So, like, the way ships work in me cog, is that, like. Yeah, everything is zero gravity until, you know, make it to atmosphere and that sort of thing. There's, like, little handles on the sides of the wall so you can, like, grab on and, like, move about the cabin as you need, but most. But seeing that all of you have been to space, it's. This is normal, right? Like, this is just how. How it is. But, yeah, you see Jackie kind of, like, float her way over to the wing and she, like, looks up and down. And Mister Bulak lock, I just gotta ask here.
You wouldn't happen to be, you wouldn't happen to come from a faith where dogs are really important, are they?
I've seen all sorts of heraldry on, on these types of machines. But what is baby back booster?
[00:50:45] Speaker B: Baby back booster? Yes, baby back boosters. They are well equipped to serve your TC.
[00:50:53] Speaker A: Well.
[00:50:53] Speaker B: If you want to go fast and you wanna go fresh, go to baby back boosters. Baby, baby. And it just like. Oh, wait, sorry, sorry, sorry.
These are our corporate sponsors for our racinekisi.
[00:51:10] Speaker A: Oh, you're a racer?
[00:51:12] Speaker B: Yes. We have to pay for the races and to feed my championship dogs, which is why you see about a third of them, including the one right here. And it points at the butt of. Sparky has a very big face. That's actually my championship dog, Miss Misfit.
[00:51:35] Speaker A: This Yanta car is very confused. She's like, it's very clear she's never been to a racetrack in her life. She's never, she knows what an advertisement is. But the fact that your particular mech is coated in it, like, it almost feels like she, like she opens her mouth, she's like, this feels blasphemous a little bit. But also.
[00:52:05] Speaker B: Think of them as tattoos on a living body.
They're not quite that different. And how we adorn RKC speaks to our personality. You know, Sparky is fast, not great at coordination now that he doesn't have a clipped wing. And I will work on that as soon as this workshop gets fixed because we need a proper workshop in order to fix our, our case.
[00:52:38] Speaker A: I mean, I'm more than happy to help. It's just she's still so exasperated by how big this dog is on the butt of your Meg.
Tell me, Lloyd Klaxon, I must ask, how did you come to be this machine's pilot? It's just so elegant. I just.
She won you many races?
[00:52:58] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Like, Sparky's definitely won me several races. Enough to start my own racing team with other kissy racers. And it was just kind of a fascination that I had with, like, mechanical, mechanical things. And I liked just tinkering with things. And then eventually a lot of my time was just building things and then I need some break from that. And then that's where all the doggies came in because you need to balance work and enjoyment. And then they just kind of like, meshed together like all things do, you know, like.
Yeah.
So I don't know if that made any sense. Just kind of.
[00:53:42] Speaker A: And you know, I understand. No. Right.
[00:53:49] Speaker B: Is there anything I could help you with? Because, like, you know, if you're here, like, you gotta be doing.
[00:53:54] Speaker A: I was going to. I was going to start.
She, like, she's like trying to find like, the thinking me Kong term for it, right? Because it seems like you can tell from like, the way that she's communicating being the fact that the ritualistic portion of Gisi building means that there's a lot of terms in Sanskrit, a lot of terms in ancient languages that she has to know and she's trying to find the right description for what she's about to do.
[00:54:25] Speaker B: Can I roll either a study or engineer that I would parse what she would be saying?
[00:54:32] Speaker A: Yeah, go ahead, roll a study.
All of the, like. Okay, so. Klaxon. You. Let's just say you have a very bad social faux pas right now. Got it. Like, I want you to, like, you see her mouth moving and she's saying stuff and you kind of want to say something snippy about it, right? Or something of the, like, what kind of social faux pas do you.
[00:54:59] Speaker B: I think the faux pas is that he is so over eager to communicate that as she tries to say the word, I keep guessing what it is and it's. And it's wrong because I think I know better.
[00:55:18] Speaker D: And we all take.
[00:55:19] Speaker B: So, yes, I mansplain.
Oh God.
[00:55:24] Speaker A: Oh no.
[00:55:25] Speaker E: Oh no.
[00:55:26] Speaker A: Oh no.
[00:55:27] Speaker C: Yeah, we all take psychic damage.
[00:55:30] Speaker A: Like, she nods at you while you're like, yeah. So, you know, the thing about. About these machines is that they got like you started like just listing statistics and different performance. Like, think two pc gamers talking about their builds, right? Except it's just one. It's just like, yeah, yeah. And she like nods.
That's great, lord, luckily.
May I show you something?
[00:55:58] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:55:59] Speaker A: She kind of like gestures you over to an area of the hangar. It looks like just like a panel on a wall. And she taps it and it opens to reveal.
Many ships in Mekong come pre built with shrines to the botat Acasekoa. People give him offerings in exchange for like, safe space travel, more or less, because space out here, super dangerous, very hazardous. So many ships come pre built with a shrine already in there just for as like a selling point feature. It just makes sense, right? And she explains this to you. I don't get the sense that you're a very religious man, are you?
[00:56:46] Speaker B: No, no, not at all. I know. I've totally heard of this. I just have never really seen it.
[00:56:53] Speaker A: Ornie, you're like seeing this entire exchange happen while you're working on the Krasue? And, like, you've met Yonta car before, you know that, like, you've been on the front and that sort of thing. And so are you just, like, observing Calaxa get an education right now?
[00:57:12] Speaker C: Truly, I have been.
I'm so fucking miserable right now. I think. I don't think I have the ability to, like, separate myself from what I'm working on. I am listening, though. I've had, like, a lifetime of sitting behind people in, like, parliament and listening. So I think I'm very good at doing both. But no, definitely not, like, in the room for sure.
[00:57:38] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. So Jackie, she finishes her explanation of the shrine. She's like, usually before I begin repairs on a unit, she pulls off from a bunch of the walls in the ship, have velcro on it, because that's the only thing you're gonna. That can stick things in zero gravity. So she pulls what looks to be like an orange vestment from the shrine and, like, wears it around her neck, and she's like, would you like, would you like to join me for this ritual?
[00:58:07] Speaker B: Uh, sure.
[00:58:08] Speaker A: Okay.
I'll.
[00:58:10] Speaker B: I'll need a refresher course.
[00:58:11] Speaker A: It's okay. Just, you could just. Your presence alone is enough.
[00:58:16] Speaker B: Thanks.
Alright.
[00:58:18] Speaker A: There's a little bit of bite in your presence alone is enough, but, like, you can't tell if she means that in, like, a backhanded way.
So you're just, you just roll. You just roll with it.
[00:58:30] Speaker B: Oh, he's clueless that she's giving any kind of intention to this. Just more like, oh, that's. That's her communication style. Okay.
[00:58:42] Speaker A: Yeah. She puts on the vestment, and she pulls out a small, round wooden drum about. About like this big.
And she takes her hand and she says, okay, breathe with me.
Vuta utta vahana.
[00:59:01] Speaker B: Vahana.
[00:59:02] Speaker A: Yantra.
[00:59:03] Speaker B: Yantra.
[00:59:08] Speaker A: And once she, like, taps the drum at the base of the Akasakoa statue in the shrine, it projects out on the floor where you guys are, like, hovering above.
It projects a hologram of, you know, those TiBetan sand mandalas.
It creates one of those on the floor beneath you that RoTates, and you look down. It's a gorgeous piece, like, all these colors arranged in a way. She says. So the thing you need to understand about Yantakara Lord Bulok LOck is we facilitate the divine machine's connection to us as humans. If you look beneath us here, I can show you.
At the very center of this mandala is like a pictograph of a human. Right.
And there's an S cuRve. It invokes the Tao. Right. The yin yang. At the center is humanity. On the far end of one, DiAMeteR is the aleph. It's the symbol for the gisi. And on The Other side of the diameter is an asura, a demon, or in this case, a kanma, the universe.
We exist on a spectrum.
In the center is humanity.
Over here are machines, entities created for a singular purpose.
ANd over here, monsters. Chaos, disorder.
And the word I would use here, or at least the little translation, is nothingness. But it's not an exact. It's more like anti existence.
Wow. The machines exist for a sole reason, and we, at the center, we find our own meaning. We are the balance between nothingness and material ness.
Do you want. Do you see what I'm saying?
[01:01:21] Speaker B: Yes, I'm. I'm trying not to be disrespectful at all. That's why I'm not.
[01:01:31] Speaker A: You're not being disrespectful. As a caste, you're wearing. You all have been existing for over a thousand years, since, you know, since the gun math first appeared. But we've drifted from the ways. The reason why my uncle brought me out on this little expedition is there's more on our shoulders than we realize.
This. She points to Mandala, everything.
And I hope that you see where you are as a part of that.
[01:02:09] Speaker B: Okay. I.
I hear your words. I. I don't really understand it. I'm sorry.
[01:02:17] Speaker A: It's okay. It's fine. It's. It's. It with time. With time. With time. And she, like, shuts the shrine, and the mandala goes away. Let's. Let's just get to work. Yeah. Now. Now that we've.
You've gotten a little bit of an education, I think we can just get straight at it.
[01:02:36] Speaker B: Listen, maybe it won't, like, be immediate, but I would be willing to listen some more and figure out what this all means. Because obviously, if there's.
There's a timing for everything. Just like in racing.
[01:02:52] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:02:52] Speaker B: You know, just like when you have to hit the curve, you have to steer at a certain point, because if you don't maneuver correctly, things just crash.
But. And sometimes there's the drift. Like you mentioned a drift, right. Like, sometimes you use the drift to use that to your advantage when you want to turn in a race.
So, I mean, if you're here and we're dealing with the gun ma, and we're dealing with. Or these empire, kind of like being all losing the mandate of heaven, there's a reason why you're here and there's a reason why we're learning this stuff. So I'd still like to talk. I just don't get it.
[01:03:31] Speaker A: Yes, I understand. I see that part of myself in you as well, Lord Kallaxon, like I too was, grew up a tinkerer and figuring out the parts. And I always loved these machines. That's why I guess, I went down this path.
These pc, they're remarkable marvels of engineering, each and every one of them. And the fact that we built them, the second we built them, they changed the course of history.
They've become such a mainstay of our culture here in Mekong, tied to our identities, really. So I guess what I was trying to get at is, you know, showing you that mandala, showing you the shrine is, um.
I want you to ask yourself, Lord Klaxon, who are you as a tandon? Not just the dogs, not just the track, but who you are.
Because the machine sees that.
[01:04:34] Speaker B: Can I say something here?
I know from just studying mechanics that when we look at our KC, they are not really the most efficient machines that we have. If we want efficient machines, they're spherical, they're cubed, they don't look humanoid as the Kisi do. So the fact that they look humanoid is why we were like to them. At least that's kind of what I've always thought, right? So I think maybe it's something like that. Because if we wanted efficient machines, they won't look like things that we could identify with.
Maybe.
[01:05:14] Speaker A: KLAXon you notice that the music has stopped and now it's just the two of you. Your voice is just echoing throughout the chamber. Jackie, like, turns around. Like, I was listening to that. I really liked it.
[01:05:29] Speaker C: Already has been eavesdropping. She turned it down to listen to them, forgetting that it was attached to the whole shop.
And so has been gradually, like, wheeling it down and then Jackie, like, catches it. She's like, oh, fuck. And, like, turns it back on.
[01:05:46] Speaker A: We cut to Puja. So you're in one of the passenger cabins, you know, still resting, trying to recover. The door opens and Nina, the 411 small niece of Zhongsai, comes in. She floats in and she has like, a tray with a steel thermos and she brings it over to your bedside.
The way beds are on the ship. It's more like a sleeping bag attached to the wall so you don't float off in your sleep. So she kind of floats over to you and velcros it to the counter. She's like, I brought you some ginger tea.
Bak soon. So. Bak is vietnamese for uncle. Bak soon just told me this helps. When.
[01:06:32] Speaker D: When you shot.
[01:06:34] Speaker A: It's okay.
[01:06:35] Speaker D: You can say it. When you've been shot and are still acting.
[01:06:38] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. When you've been shot. Yes.
I was. Her hand back. Her head's like, yeah. Wow. I can't you believe I.
That's why I dropped out of med school.
You came in, leaving a trail of blood. So, like, I hope the bleeding stopped. Yeah.
[01:07:06] Speaker D: Looks down, mostly.
[01:07:09] Speaker A: Okay, good. I'm glad.
[01:07:11] Speaker D: I mean, that's gotta be a good sign, right?
[01:07:13] Speaker A: I couldn't bear to see to, you know, um, watch someone die.
That would be awful. That would be.
[01:07:21] Speaker D: Yep, yep. I can imagine that that would be very traumatizing for you.
[01:07:25] Speaker A: Yep, yep.
I don't know if you heard, but we're having dinner together as a ship, as a. At 1900, so I just wanted to. If you're feeling well enough, you should come join us.
[01:07:41] Speaker D: Well, you, uh, know what they say is that a touch of honey can be most efficacious when dealing with mortal wounds, you know, from the adventures of Viceroy Saipang.
[01:08:05] Speaker A: Yeah, the classic. Yeah, yeah, yep. Yeah.
[01:08:08] Speaker D: On the vidscreen right now.
Okay, I'm sorry. This conversation was just getting too depressing.
[01:08:19] Speaker A: I was trying. Yeah, no, it was. No, that's on me. I should. I should. It's.
I'm Nina, by the way. Uh, I don't think we got the chance. I got the chance to introduce. Because you were kind of like, oh, my God, I'm gonna.
[01:08:36] Speaker D: Yes.
[01:08:36] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:08:36] Speaker D: I like to think it was more.
[01:08:38] Speaker C: Oh, my poor wound.
[01:08:41] Speaker D: How will I ever survive?
[01:08:43] Speaker A: You're funny.
You should be an actor.
[01:08:49] Speaker D: Yeah. Yeah, that's what they always said.
[01:08:52] Speaker A: I was never big on this stuff. I like those encore dramas where they hug and then she gets pregnant, like, nine months later for some reason. And you know what I'm talking about. Yes.
[01:09:05] Speaker D: The immaculate conception story.
[01:09:08] Speaker A: I was never big on movies or anything like that, but I love Angkor dramas.
They're good.
[01:09:15] Speaker D: Yeah, they are wonderful. I mean, and what would you do without, you know, half of the family members scheming to split them up and then somehow kissing.
[01:09:25] Speaker A: Oh, my God. Yeah. And then there's, like, the bad boy, and you're not supposed to. She's not supposed to be with him, but she gets anyway, and it turns out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, I'm gonna go now because I feel like I'm embarrassing myself. And she, like, slowly floats back out into the corridor clicks the button. Bye, Roman. I imagine you're grunting, and.
[01:09:51] Speaker E: There'S a bunch. So with the revelation that we're working out in zero gravity, there's a lot of Velcro around everywhere, and that's. That's how it's working. And. And Roman, part of. Part of the workout, realizing the futility of trying to slam a sledgehammer against the tire, he's actually, like, throwing the sledgehammer ahead of him, and then he's trying to launch himself to try to catch the sledgehammer before it hits the other wall. So he's trying to train himself that way, and he's trying to get really inventive and also, like, failing hard. So he's visibly even more frustrated now because he can't train like normal, because it's zero gravity.
[01:10:40] Speaker A: Watching from a doorway is zoom. He's no longer in his, like, bureaucrats robe, like, his flowy bureaucrat robes now, just because, you know, space would kind of go everywhere. So now he's more in a more modest looking gray mao suit almost, and he's just like. He, like, floats in. You know, what would help?
[01:10:59] Speaker E: The response is delayed as Roman's feverishly trying to catch up every time to the launched sledgehammer that's going back.
[01:11:08] Speaker A: What'll help?
[01:11:09] Speaker E: What'll help?
[01:11:10] Speaker A: He floats into, like, the cabins, and he, like, digs around before coming back, and there's a wrestler's belt, you know, the kind that they lifted.
I know lifting doesn't work the same out here, but I feel like when I'm, you know, grinding in space, if I wear this, it makes me feel like it's just. It's gotta be a placebo thing. Just try it. He, like, tosses it over to you, and it bobs through the air, right?
[01:11:38] Speaker E: So I'm gonna, you know what? We're gonna roll to see if Roman actually catches the belt. It's a three. He fumbles the catch, and it just keeps going.
Oh, God.
But to be. To be fair, though, to be fair, Roman hears Zongzi, and the use of a weight belt actually is.
[01:12:04] Speaker A: Is correct.
[01:12:05] Speaker E: So he looks at Zhong Zi after he's been hit in the head with the belt that's not on you. That's.
That's fine. Wasn't expected, that. And Roman's gonna go over, float, retrieve the belt, and actually, you know, fumble with it, putting it on as it helps embrace his core as he continues. As he continues to try to work out. But, I mean, it's a little smaller. Than I'm used to, but, you know, it's not a bad fit. I appreciate that.
You wouldn't happen to have any other gear like this on here?
[01:12:39] Speaker A: Not that would work in these conditions. Maybe when we get to planet, but otherwise, you're doing. You're doing it. Hard mode, my friend.
[01:12:49] Speaker E: This is completely new to me. I'm not used to this whole. This is how.
I mean, I'm used to clanging and banging, you know, it's the iron paradise. And, well, you got to be up for a challenge always, so I guess. And as you look around, you'll see that there's marks, there's dents in the wall from every time he's missed catching up to the sledgehammer. Oh, by the way, it's fine.
[01:13:16] Speaker A: It's an old ship.
[01:13:17] Speaker E: I mean, that's why I'm a little worried. I mean, old ship, she's hardy.
[01:13:22] Speaker A: I wouldn't have taken her if she wouldn't last the journey, that's for sure.
[01:13:28] Speaker E: But that's. That's under. That's understandable.
[01:13:30] Speaker A: And these corvettes, they, they. You can put them through the wringer and they'll. They'll still fly. You're fine.
[01:13:36] Speaker E: I appreciate it.
[01:13:39] Speaker A: Look, I'm just glad that you're working up and you're working out up an appetite.
We're having dinner together at 1900. Can you. I'll see you there.
You should be there. You know, it's. I think it's important for morale, like, especially on these long journeys that we all.
[01:13:55] Speaker E: Do you have somewhere I could, I guess, wash? You know, you point the motion to himself and.
[01:14:04] Speaker A: Yeah, the refreshers up front.
[01:14:07] Speaker E: Appreciate it. How much time do I have?
[01:14:10] Speaker A: You guys have like, a couple hours. Yeah, so you guys have a couple hours to do your thing before I, like, cut to, like, the dinner scene, but, yeah, appreciate it. Before he goes, he's like. He stops in the door and he looks back and says, I looked into your record, Roman.
It says here you served alongside commander Fung maestro back in around 15 years ago.
You wouldn't happen to have any insight on him, would you?
[01:14:58] Speaker E: You see that song? Zi has said this, right? As Roman was about to launch the sledgehammer one more time, you see him actively stop. He pauses at hearing the name Maestro.
The only thing I can say about him is he's dedicated to his work.
And you see, as he's saying, dedicated to his work. You see that Roman's grip on the sledgehammer is slowly beginning to tighten more and more.
He's he's dedicated to his job, and he gets it done.
[01:15:44] Speaker A: Sounds like you had.
I don't want to speak for you, but just going off the tone of your voice and the. How tightly you're gripping that sledgehammer here, you.
Sounds like you guys don't have a very good history together, even though he was your commanding officer. If. I'm not sure if I.
[01:16:07] Speaker E: A good soldier follows orders. That's all I know. I have to say. A good soldier follows orders.
And you see Roman grip his, you know, the muscles finally relax, and he doesn't throw the sledgehammer anymore, but he just kind of lets it troop to his side as, uh, he's remembering everything about.
He's remembering everything about Francis's last moments and just the conflict of orders and what he chose to do.
And all he can think of is just, it was the past, you know, it's.
[01:16:55] Speaker A: It.
[01:16:55] Speaker E: I have to look. I can't.
[01:16:58] Speaker A: You know, it's.
[01:16:59] Speaker E: It's in the past now, and he's. He's, you know, he's an efficient soldier. Maestro. Maestro was. Maestro is, you know, we won battles. That's all. That's all we need to know is we won battles. And if it weren't for him.
If it weren't for him, we.
If it weren't for him, we probably wouldn't have survived out there, at least some of us, anyway.
And you can tell that Roman's clearly conflicted about how to really respond about maestro anyway. Anyway.
Just know he's efficient. Just know he always gets his job done.
[01:17:51] Speaker A: We fade to Zhung Zi, Jackie, Nina, at the head of. At the head of this table.
It, like, yeah, the table is attached to, like, the ground of the. Of the common room. And there's little velcro strips crisscrossing the. The table so everyone can, like, put down. There's no plates, so. So the thing about space food is like, yes, you guys are all doing it family style. But in this case, the ship didn't get a chance to resupply completely because they had to flee. So right now, tonight's fair consists of freeze dried mre noodles, tofu cubes in sauce from a vacuum sealed bag, some bone broth, some bone broth that you drink like a capri sun. Like, you gotta, like, untwist it. And so, like, you would, like, take a bite of noodles and you slurp a little bit of broth. Even though you guys are in zeo gravity, zung tries to go the effort of, like, setting it up to make, like, a real thing. Nina is about to bite in, but Zung, like, stops. Like, you know, you have to mud. You have to ask the elders permission first before you start eating.
Okay, my back. Zug.
Rupiah. Roman Kallaxin, we invite you to this meal. Do you accept?
You guys know that, like, eating tradition is the youngest have to wait for everyone older than them to eat. So you see her, like, floating there with her food in her arms, like, waiting for everyone to give the unanimous, like, okay, eat already.
[01:19:28] Speaker C: Having been in the situation of being, like, a younger sibling is just, like, immediately shows food in her mouth.
[01:19:39] Speaker A: I think. So, yeah. Zung is the first to serve himself, and then he looks to you, Roman. Cause you're the second oldest of the group.
[01:19:46] Speaker E: Yeah, Roland's. Roman's. Good to go.
[01:19:48] Speaker A: Yeah. Kallaxin. And then. And then everybody else is like, okay, all right, everybody dig in. And so it's actually a very cozy kind of meal. Even. You all are just kind of, like, floating around this table with, like, these eating out of these, like, free these packs of, like, sealed food that you, like, tear open. Like, you at least get chopsticks so it doesn't feel like you're being a total gremlin at the table.
And because you guys are in space and your fluids aren't being held down by gravity, everyone's fluids are, like, in their heads. So you all have a little bit of a stuffy nose going on.
The taste isn't all there, but what makes up for it is the company. Right? It's like, it's just a group of people taking this meal together, even though none of it was home cooked. Right. It's all just pre packaged stuff, and you eat together.
[01:20:56] Speaker B: Kolaxan takes some of the food, and using the food utensils, shapes a little Dalmatian.
[01:21:08] Speaker A: That is cute.
[01:21:10] Speaker C: I feel so bad.
I feel, like, incredibly awkwardly quiet.
[01:21:20] Speaker A: It doesn't help that, like, because water doesn't boil as at a high temperature. Like, at as high of a temperature as everyone's used to. Like, the food comes lukewarm and then gets cold over the course of the meal just because also, space is cold. What makes up for it, though, is that half the consumables in the storage of the marigold, there's a ton of hot sauce. And so everyone's, like, drenching their stuff in hot sauce, because if you can't taste anything, all you can feel is the sensation of burning heat in your mouth.
[01:21:51] Speaker B: Sriracha is the real currency at this base.
[01:21:53] Speaker A: Exactly.
[01:21:54] Speaker E: I was gonna say liquid gold.
[01:21:56] Speaker A: And I think Zhong also knows. He knows that the four of you have lost a lot. And so he tries to, like, at least play up the homeliness of the meal, right? And he even, like, does the dad thing of, like, trying to make small talk with your kids. Kids with you guys. You know? It's like, so how about the. How's the racing scene looking? Like Kallaxin and anything. Any new insights you could provide on the circuit these days?
[01:22:36] Speaker B: Sure.
So I have a racing team right now, and we were just studying drift in order to make handling more efficient, and two of my racers suddenly decide that they're going to go along with my sister. Even though they were with me, in the end, I discovered them. And my sister is like, what was.
[01:23:14] Speaker A: Let's.
[01:23:15] Speaker B: Let's have you join this side. We're going to ambush the royal family. I'm like, what the fuck are you thinking about, sister trying to cash in on this thing and kicking out my friend and disowning them because they're some kind of void child, which is really important to us because of all these stupid, like, superstitions. And racing is fine.
[01:23:43] Speaker D: I mean, I guess they were right when they said the most important thing in life will always be family, huh?
[01:23:50] Speaker A: Sure. Yeah.
[01:23:51] Speaker C: Apparently not, because I apparently no longer have a brother, which is fine. I used to wish for that. Now I don't think I have a family anymore because, you know, the whole, uh. I don't know, place got destroyed, and I don't know if my dad is alive. I don't know if my mom is alive or my other dad is alive. And also. Yeah, I don't know if you noticed, my brother was adopted by, uh, the family that. That I guess, usurped. Did I get usurped?
[01:24:16] Speaker D: Did we get to.
[01:24:17] Speaker C: Did I get to post?
I think I got to.
[01:24:21] Speaker D: Are you really sad about that, though? Because it feels like you weren't really sad about that.
[01:24:25] Speaker C: I. Well, I, uh.
And, like, as she does this, she squeezes the bone broth bag, and it just, like, bloops out, and now there's.
[01:24:39] Speaker A: Just, like, a blob of bone broth just, like, floating around and, like, jack's like, I'll get that.
Like, floats up and, like. Like, scoops in her mouth.
[01:24:47] Speaker D: It's like that whole thing where you look at it because it's like.
[01:24:53] Speaker A: Like you hear a loud gulp.
[01:24:56] Speaker B: I pass Nina a straw here.
Don't just do that with your mouth.
[01:25:05] Speaker A: I'm so sorry. I should not have done that in front of my elders.
And, like, you see zoom, like, leaning back, it's like, yes. That was very rude of you. You should have some manners, please. She's like, sorry, uncle. I like bone broth, all right?
[01:25:20] Speaker D: I mean, there's nothing really brings you back quite like the taste of the standard issue bone broth.
[01:25:32] Speaker A: Zoom finally speaks, like, okay, everybody, I got a confession to make.
[01:25:42] Speaker B: None of us are priests, so choose your words.
[01:25:45] Speaker A: No, I.
Okay. I know. I said, okay. So we're currently going to sell a dang. We're going on a quest to go get the sword and feet. Walk up then, and all that. And that. That's all true. I I know I said, the emperor has quested you this.
That part I might have fudged a bit. I. Yeah. Like, yeah, okay.
He, like. He, like, pulls out his little, like, placard, identifying himself as a coin. Yes, I am a sub commissioner for the Ministry of culture and rights. That is true. But he, like, looks at Nina and Jackie for support, and they're. And Jackie's like, what are you looking at me for? I was like, okay. He, like, strokes his beard.
That's. That's my cover job. I.
I work.
I I'm actually one of the last analysts, historians of a group called the Gilded Order of the inevitable spring. Like, the words, like, kind of, like, dribble out of his mouth, but. Orady, you know what? That you've heard the name gilded order of inevitable spring before, but in the way that it's like he just said, the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. Like, you've seen, like, several. You're, like, cycling through, like, the different historical periods and groups and elements that you learned in school, right? And you're, like, the guilt.
[01:27:27] Speaker C: That's, like, ceremonial now. It's, like, not a thing. Right?
[01:27:32] Speaker A: It is a thing. It's. It's.
[01:27:35] Speaker D: Is this supposed to be, like, the masons? Do you kidnap and switch out heirs and stuff?
[01:27:43] Speaker A: No, no, no. We think of it like. Like, a. The thing is, is that, like, where there's been several different.
Let's just say our relationship with the imperial structure is tenuous.
But the guild, as we're called, gild guild, we've been around since basically the beginning of tanong history. Like, you see in the beginning, right before tandong, with tandong, before they were racers, before they were royals, before they were, you know, we were farmers. We were miners. Laborers. Salt of the earth people. And this is the part that gets erased in the history books.
She might have heard of us. As you know, what? Sorry.
When the gun ma first appeared, you, like. He, like, waits for the thunder. Oh, we're in space. Okay. When. When the adversary first appeared, you know, us regular salt of the earth people had to take our. Basically, our tractors, our buffalo, our, you know, tools that we used to, you know, live our lives. We armed them, we modified them. We had the Yantakara build these so we can, you know, fight off the con man. And we didn't do it to build an empire. We didn't. We did it because. Or at least the first ones, they did because they swore what's called the vow of the inevitable spring. That's where it gets its name.
It's the idea that all tandong. We're not in this because, you know, of obligation, because of familial ties, because of all the societal stuff that the four of you may know as the responsibilities of our case today.
You note that Zhongzi saying our. Like, he himself is also a ta nong or was at one point, but, like, you never saw him wear, like, the savai in the traditional retired sense or whatever. But he says in that in those early centuries, when we all came together and we, you know, became what the empire now knows as Tandong, we swore that we would fight to sow the seeds of a garden we'll never get to sit in right of a. We get to plow the fields of a harvest we'll never get to reap. Because I'm sure you all know this. This line of work is extremely dangerous.
It's lethal, and it takes a lot out of you. It takes a lot out of everyone. And what the guild was designed to do was that one. You know, my job was to record our history, one not affected by the extolling and lionizing that the imperial archivists do. Like, it's our history. It's from the ground, just like where our machines come from. The ground. Right? They're made of carbon. They're made of silicon. So we're doing this to do our parents proud. And I'm not saying parents as in, like, your biological parents. I'm talking about the spirits that brought us here. Right? Like, everyone has heard the story.
The fairy queen and the dragon king and came together, laid all those eggs.
They left us a paradise, and we've wasted it.
Destroying each other, killing each other. And what that was. What the guild was for, was to eventually bring it to an end. But obviously, we, the emperor, didn't agree with that. And they've scattered us to the wind dozens of times, and so that's why they need everyone to know that we're just a bunch of myths and legends, right? That we're just another footnote in the history of Mekong. But I've gathered you here because I.
You know, Boca thin is bad for all of us. It will destroy not just chow Fria, but, you know, if it continues on uninhibited, it could do miss all.
So that's why I'm here. That's why. That's why I had. That's why, you know, I'm not here with an entourage of other gun. I'm here with my fucking nieces. Like, I'm doing it because I guess I still believe in the mission to sow that garden. We might not ever see those flowers bloom, but.
[01:32:49] Speaker D: And even if we did see those flowers bloom, we would never be allowed to sit near them.
[01:32:56] Speaker A: But our children will. He looks at you, Roman.
Those that come after us.
So the three of us here, me, Nina, and Jackie, we've already.
By going on this quest, we understood that risk. And I'm hoping that the four of you here also can be on board. When you've been in the bureaucracy as long as I have, and you see the rampant corruption, all the careerists, the ladder climbing, all the people, the rat race. Right?
It wasn't supposed to be like this. And I'm thinking maybe if we just fight this one good fight, we can at least change it a little bit.
[01:33:49] Speaker B: Okay, I have. I have something to ask.
[01:33:51] Speaker A: Sure.
[01:33:54] Speaker B: All right.
Can you, while we are handling your mission, guarantee the safety of that which we lost back on the place where we just left?
[01:34:15] Speaker A: Right.
Yes.
[01:34:18] Speaker B: Because that will determine what my answer is.
[01:34:23] Speaker A: Well, Lord Blue lock, I'm only one man.
[01:34:27] Speaker B: You are only. You are one man. But obviously you have craftiness enough to get all of us on your ship, which means you have connections to make sure that some of what we love back in Chow Fria is kept safe.
I know you have that.
[01:34:43] Speaker D: You had the craftiness and the.
You had the balls to lie to an entire emperor like royal family.
[01:34:54] Speaker A: I did that because they're old friends, me and Ordi's parents.
I previously served them as an advisor. Very briefly. I just.
[01:35:08] Speaker D: Well, let's put it this way, then. You believed enough to condemn scores of innocent people to death.
You need to believe enough to save some of them, too.
Figure it out.
[01:35:38] Speaker A: Like you see. Like a grim, fresh and light wash over Zim's face. He, like, rubs his beard again.
I can make my. I can make some calls. I'll pull some favors.
[01:35:54] Speaker C: You think? It was never supposed to be like this. We weren't supposed to have, what, an empire?
[01:36:03] Speaker A: No, it.
We were never.
So there's a theory that the adversary, the Qun ma, are.
They don't just come from nothing, right?
I'm sure Jackie here can give you the speech and everything about the continuum, right?
The three part spectrum of it, all, right, that we're all existing on the.
[01:36:32] Speaker C: Same, and we are the point between the Konma and Dharmax, right?
[01:36:38] Speaker A: We were supposed to find that balance. That was what we were supposed to do, not be, you know, cold blooded killers and mercenaries and hunters and all that sort. I mean, those. Not that those professions are invalid or anything like that, but we shouldn't be fighting to put more suffering in the universe, is what it is. And that's what the guild was meant to circumvent.
[01:37:12] Speaker C: And you think that by finding this sword and fighting more, we're going to end or rebalance suffering.
You understand how hard it is for me to follow this logic?
[01:37:28] Speaker A: Here it is. I. Look, I might be talking nonsense here, right? Like. But maybe. And maybe I'm talking because, you know, as a historian, as an analyst, right, maybe I believe in fairy tales too much, right?
But think about how we became a people. We were a product of a fairy tale, of a literal fairy and a trekking, right? That's. That's where our blood comes from.
And it seems like in this last thousand years, we've lost sight of that part of ourselves.
And so maybe.
Maybe my idealistic hope is that we just get one good happily ever after for once. Right?
As abstract as that may seem, but.
[01:38:35] Speaker E: The loud sound you heard was Roman placing his food down.
You see him turn his head to Zhongzi.
Truth be told, I'm not interested in.
Not really interested in some happily ever after.
I'm be very frank with you.
Whatever it gives me back hope, I'm willing to do.
You see, there's hinted duality in that because, yes, he's talking about getting his daughter back, but also maybe, in the slightest sense, hope means more than just his daughter. So you hear him say again, whatever gives me back hope, I'm willing to do.
[01:40:07] Speaker C: It's hard not to feel like I've got nothing to lose here. I'm not gonna lie.
But I. If you think this is going to bring about more good than anything else we can do, we have to try it, right?
And I look at Rupiah. Rupiah was right.
While all of it was happening, people were dying.
Doesn't really matter who's on the throne as long as they're taking care of it? They weren't.
[01:40:48] Speaker D: Happily ever afters are for the movies, but this is the job, right? So we do the damn job.
[01:41:00] Speaker A: Zhong picks up his drink, pulls it off the velcro. Like you can hear the terror as he picks it up.
I propose a toast.
The kin word for how you say family is Yaddin.
But it also means another thing.
To fellowship.
To Yadin.
[01:41:45] Speaker C: Already finds like, a bubble of the broth, and, like.
[01:41:51] Speaker B: Galaxy is reluctant to raise his glass, but eventually does so, like, not even looking at anyone.
[01:42:01] Speaker A: And just as all of your cups clink together, the entire ship fucking shakes as.
[01:42:07] Speaker C: God damn it.
[01:42:11] Speaker A: And you see her, Jackie, like, oh, I know that sound. And you see her, like, get out of her seat and like, dip for the engineering.
Nina also gets up, like, kicks her off the table and floats all the way to the cockpit. As you guys look down the way towards, like, the bridge, you see that the familiar white streaks of being in jump space are slowing down before coming to a complete halt. And you even hear Jackie from the engine room shout, doom. Laugh. God damn it.
Maksum, we got a problem back here. What? What is it?
Fucking reactor coils melted.
Kallaxin. You would know this first thing, right? Like, usually reactor coils don't melt in, like, either in a mech or in, you know, or a spaceship either.
Especially not to this classic jump drive. Unless some degree of electromagnetic charge struck the fuselage directly. Right.
[01:43:24] Speaker B: Ah, shit.
[01:43:27] Speaker A: Does anyone go to the bridge? Bridge.
[01:43:29] Speaker B: I go to the bridge.
[01:43:30] Speaker A: Okay. And Nina's like. Like, she just sits down and she, like, takes a seat in her chair and she's pulling up diagnostic screens. She's like, oh, she even pulls up, like a little star map to determine where you guys are. And zung like, goes like, I need a systems report. She's like, yeah, I got power failures in the jump drive.
Sensors, a lob band. Sensors are shot. There's. There's a lot of electromagnetic activity here. Where are we? She, like, sorts through the star map and then. But rupiah, you know exactly where you guys are. Because when you look out at the cockpit from the view, uh, yeah, the front viewport, you see a former. A corpse of a space colony.
And you know this space colony because it's new Bakur, the place where everything went wrong for you.
It's a graveyard of its former self, right?
Because you know what happened that day? You know, it all starts coming back to you. This entire time you've you know, suppressed it. But then you hear, in the back of your mind, you hear the laser fire, the missiles, the mechs, your mech being chased around by squadrons of hornets, just peppering the walls of this colony.
Zhong is like, okay, well, what would we do about the hierarchical. Well, we gotta go find some. So this is a bad position to be in.
Zhong looks back at everybody else. He's like, okay, guys, here's the sitch. We're sitting ducks here until Jackie can get the jump drive back in good shape. But I'm gonna, I guess.
[01:45:38] Speaker B: Tell us where to get reactor coils. Send us there now.
[01:45:42] Speaker A: He points at the colony.
We're gonna have to do some scavenging because I didn't. We didn't resupply when we left chao phraya. We're gonna have to go.
[01:45:56] Speaker C: Is there anything left? It's a piece of junk.
[01:45:58] Speaker D: Salvagers don't want to come here.
They're a superstitious lot.
[01:46:03] Speaker C: Why?
[01:46:07] Speaker D: Because of what made it this way.
We need to get in and get out.
There should definitely be something left down there, because only the only, the most foolish or the most brave will go in there.
[01:46:32] Speaker B: I'm dumb enough to go, and immediately.
[01:46:35] Speaker E: Roman stands up to.
It's the job, right?
[01:46:38] Speaker D: That's the job.
[01:46:41] Speaker A: All right, let's suit up, people. Yeah. And with that is where we're going to break.
As you guys find yourself stranded in the derelict colony of New Bakur with a failed jump drive, an electromagnetic storm that has somehow pulled you out of jump space, and a sinking feeling in Rupiah's gut.
So we'll be back with more mekong after the break.
Stay tuned, and thanks for tuning in to queen's court games.
Thanks for tuning back into Queen's court games. You're here for some more mekong. When we last left our intrepid Tan nong pilots, their vessel, the Marigold, has been pulled out of jump space due to some sort of electromagnetic pulse that struck their jump drive, melting the reactor coils, stranding them in the derelict shattered space colony formerly known as New backor.
Or I guess, currently known as new backcourt. Either way, nobody lives here anymore, as far as you know. But your mission is as follows. In order for the merry ghoul to continue on its journey to Celudang, the four of you have been tasked to go out in your GC on a little spacewalk to go scavenge for a reactor coil and hopefully get the ship patched up and back on the road, as they say. So before we do that, it's time for everyone's favorite role of the whole game, the engagement role. So I would ask for volunteers, but, rupiah, I believe you.
Oh. Because you have backstory ties to this place, I'm volunteering you to make the engagement role.
I would ask you how you feel about that, but we already know how you feel, and it's only gonna get worse from here. Okay?
[01:48:50] Speaker E: GM is evil.
[01:48:52] Speaker C: I know. I've never seen anyone like.
[01:48:56] Speaker A: I'm not being vindictive for nothing, people. I'm just making it so when you win, it means something. Okay? But I'm not. I'm not. I will say I do take a little bit of pleasure in the.
A little bit. A little bit. A little bit in your suffering. But it's a necessary suffering. One that we will all come out stronger in the end. Okay? Is this a bold mission? Yeah, I think it's pretty bold. It's abandoned space colony, lots of debris.
So that's two die is the mission complex. Not really. You're just snooping around.
No subtraction there.
Do you have external support? You do. The marigold will be kind of, like, trailing behind you.
And be there to provide any support as needed. Not as. Not a lot, seeing that's only operated by three people and not a full crew. But they'll still try their best. So I think that puts us at three die. Yeah.
[01:49:58] Speaker D: Okay.
[01:49:59] Speaker A: Is anyone interfering with the mission?
I don't think so. So, yeah, that's a three die. So, rupiah, you can have three die for this engagement roll.
[01:50:10] Speaker D: As we all know, that means nothing. To roll 20.
[01:50:16] Speaker A: That's a six.
[01:50:17] Speaker E: So the goal is to mess with roll 20 and say no?
[01:50:21] Speaker A: Is that how this works?
[01:50:22] Speaker D: I think so, yeah. If we smack talk it more.
[01:50:26] Speaker A: All right. You have to be better with the results. So right now, roll 20 is what.
[01:50:30] Speaker B: We call a brat.
[01:50:33] Speaker A: If you know, you know well. So a six gives you controlled circumstances or controlled position right now. Because, rupiah, you know the smuggling routes. You know, you know the lay of the land a little bit. That gives you guys a bit of confidence that this spacewalk isn't gonna be. Is gonna go without too much of a hitch. We cut to the outside as the marigold slowly. As it makes its way towards this colony structure. It's an O'Neill cylinder that's been cracked open. And with lots of debris all scattered about, free floating. Because the local star is a bit distant.
Many chunks of the larger debris create big shadows. There's a lot of places to hide here. But as the marigold crests its way in, it activates a big searchlight towards the front, starts making big sweeps of the interior of the colony infrastructure. And from beneath, we see four little lights of the Gisi launching. Who wants to go first?
[01:51:47] Speaker B: Can I roll a survey to get an idea of where are more likely places where I could find the materials for reactor coils?
[01:52:01] Speaker A: Yeah, sure. Go ahead and roll a survey. It's going to be a controlled position, so the consequences shouldn't be too bad. Right now, everything's really quiet. Everything's. But you guys are sticking to a close formation right now, so.
[01:52:18] Speaker B: All right, so just one d six or survey oh, six.
[01:52:22] Speaker A: All right, so Sparky activates its boosters and kind of like, pushes forward past the group towards further into the colony structure, till it, like, we pass through one of the cracks on the side and peer in and do a big sweep. With your headlamp attached to the top of sparky, you make sweeps of the various decrepit buildings and you pass by hotel lobbies, apartments, offices, all frozen in time.
It's very clear that everyone had to get up and leave very quickly.
And you're also the only new things in here.
Otherwise, nothing in this decrepit wreckage has been touched in years.
[01:53:32] Speaker B: You.
[01:53:32] Speaker A: You see some street signs that have, like, you know, you see. You see some street signs navigating you around this colony and they. And they're all, they're all. They all have text in. Did the different scripts, think in Bahasa, Jabad, Malayu and all that sort of thing. You can tell that this was a diverse place, right? There were people from all over the seven sectors that once lived here. The first sign that catches your eye is one that points you towards, like, the industrial zone, Kallaxton. You zip ahead, you go through a little crack at the bottom. This looks to be like a manufacturing colony. Their primary industry is components would come in, they'd assemble them here, and then they would ship them back out to wherever it needs to. Your first sense would be, oh, there's. There's obviously reactor machinery up there, so I'm sure you could find a coil floating around in that area. Area.
[01:54:28] Speaker B: I head in that direction. Yeah, I guide the group to that direction.
[01:54:33] Speaker C: Is there any reason we should be stealthy with this? It's weird that it's so empty or.
[01:54:41] Speaker A: The site of a shattered colony like this is not an unfamiliar one to you when you were serving out in frontier space, you know a lot. You've seen a lot of stations get devastated by, you know, an errant gun attack in this manner. Right. Or some sort of conflict that happens between two warring parties.
And because of the fragility of space infrastructure, these things are uncommon. But they are around in the empire.
And the reason why there's a kind of quiet to this is sometimes when you look in the places where it's darkest out here, if you're not listening, something could get the jump on you.
And especially since there's all that electromagnetic interference. Like, you look at your sensor, like your radars and everything, and, yeah, you're not going to be able to pick up anything beyond your immediate vicinity and your squadron squadmates who are nearby.
But the only thing you can trust out here is whatever other senses that you have, because clearly, the technology is the tech in your mech is not going to locate the enemy for you if there is one out here.
[01:56:04] Speaker C: As we move through this space, I think, and this kind of a bad idea, probably I'm gonna turn down as many of my, like, censors as I can because it doesn't sound like they're gonna be helpful. Yeah, as long, but, like, comms and stuff, obviously for each other. Kind of asking more to myself than, like, the group.
What happened here?
[01:56:30] Speaker D: You know, one of the major differences between hornets and honeybees.
[01:56:35] Speaker C: Are we talking about metaphors or.
[01:56:37] Speaker D: Hornets can sting again and again and again without dye.
The barbs on their stingers are so small that they can pierce and it doesn't get ripped out of their body like it does bees.
[01:56:57] Speaker A: As you say this we see, like, a wide shot of just the devastation that's happened here. Roman, you pass by, you know, several gaping holes in the colony infrastructure, right? Places where you would recognize where, you know, missiles exploded, charges were fired, plasma melting steel and carbon from a laser blast.
You are familiar with war zones, and it's almost a bit perverted to you that it happened here where people lived, where people had lives and jobs and loved ones.
You remember reading about it in the newspaper one morning? Right, okay, like, the morning after the battle happened. Right, right. Like, you would know that the battle of Nubakur was one, was a battle waged between the judiciary forces, or the hornets, as people call them these days, and some errant criminal Hyundai syndicates that were active in the area.
There's a series of really bloody skirmishes between the forces of the law and the forces of the organized crime in Mekong. And it was enough that it shattered the colony, more or less. The damage was so much that those who held its charter went bankrupt, folded, and then everybody else just kind of wrote it off as just another. As just another day in the empire. Right?
[01:58:40] Speaker E: So while Kallaxin is, I guess, taking point, my job then will be right directly behind Kallaxin. I'm sweeping both left and right to make sure that our flank is covered. So, taking note of the electromagnetic interference, we don't have scanners or sensors. So if we're doing this the old fashioned way, somebody's got to keep eyes out.
[01:59:04] Speaker A: You hear Jackie on the comms? Like, man, this place gives me the creeps.
[01:59:08] Speaker C: Yeah, I'll take up the rear, unless someone else wants to.
[01:59:15] Speaker D: I've been working as a guard for a long time now, and people are afraid to come here still.
They don't think it's worth the risk.
[01:59:26] Speaker C: If it was just a hornet raid, why are people scared of the place that's like, this is, you know, entity kind of.
[01:59:37] Speaker D: When you have very little, which I know, I mean, just imagine that you have nothing except a roof over your head and sometimes some food to eat, and then one day and you're going about your business, your entire world explodes around you.
Not figuratively, literally.
It doesn't have to be the adversary to ruin somebody's life forever.
[02:00:22] Speaker A: You guys get to the industrial zone.
It looks to be, you know, a pretty widely spread out complex of assembly facilities and factories and warehouses.
Roman, you kind of, like, bring Apalachi down and, like, land on one of the roofs of these places, and you, like, rip open off one of the roofs, like, toss it aside carelessly, and you peek in, and it looks to be a manufacturing facility for holographic displays. You descend in and make landfall and apowaki, kinda like, around walking past different assembly lines, different machinery, all long dormant, right? You accidentally pass one that still has power, like it's a motion sensor, and it clicks, and all of a sudden, a giant hologram appears, like, right before you, a circus tent. And set big, like, big tents. A big text appears, giant use pc tent sale.
Jesus. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Like, all of you can hear this, like, this. This announcement, like, playing out, and it echoes and it, like, catches you by surprise at first, right? That, like. And now this tent is, like, circling around and there's. And different flags fly and, like, phone numbers start flying at you. While it does make you jump, it doesn't completely, like, throw you out of your element. You, like, you kick it again and it deactivates.
You have to exhale to catch your breath again.
Some things still have power in this colony. You get to what looks to be the main power generator for the facility. And, wow, looks like you came exactly what you came here for. There's some coils sticking out. Inactive, but in your experience, maintaining gec, you're like, oh, yeah, these are perfectly usable.
And you hear Nina's like, did you find anything? What do you see down there?
[02:02:41] Speaker E: I think we've got something usable here.
How many cores do I see?
[02:02:47] Speaker A: Like. Like three? You can just, like. You can even have apple likely come down.
[02:02:51] Speaker E: Yeah, I'm gonna. Yeah, I'm in fact, going to do that. Go to the cores, tear them out. We've got three what look like. I think these are our reactor cores.
[02:03:02] Speaker A: You hear, Jackie? That's more than enough. No, yeah, go ahead. Return to base, guys. We are. I think we came exactly what we're looking. We came for exactly what we were looking for.
[02:03:13] Speaker E: Okay, cool. I'm gonna. I'm going to disperse. I'll take one of the cores if any of the other pilots would like to take one. That way. Not all of us have all of them.
[02:03:24] Speaker A: Or all of.
[02:03:24] Speaker E: Yeah, you know what I mean?
[02:03:25] Speaker C: Copper pot has, like, five arms, doesn't she?
[02:03:28] Speaker A: Yes.
[02:03:31] Speaker D: You owe me an army.
[02:03:38] Speaker A: Klaxon.
[02:03:39] Speaker E: You were in front, so I might hand you a reactor core as well.
[02:03:44] Speaker D: And then you can stash one in my auxiliary airlock.
[02:03:50] Speaker A: Wow, that looks wrong.
[02:03:55] Speaker B: I will also take the. I will also take the sensor that goes Sunday.
[02:03:58] Speaker A: Sunday.
[02:03:59] Speaker B: I'm like, wait, I think I have a use for this. So he will get.
[02:04:02] Speaker A: Also.
[02:04:03] Speaker B: He will also get this.
[02:04:05] Speaker E: Nice.
[02:04:06] Speaker A: You now have a motion activated advertisement for a giant used TC tent sale.
[02:04:14] Speaker E: And I'm going to look at the others.
For what? Well, I guess let's head back. This is a victory, correct?
[02:04:28] Speaker C: I think you see, literally the cross suit also start to fidget with its claw as Oradie is unconsciously, like, about to start messing with her fingernails and, like, oh, not out just yet.
[02:04:47] Speaker E: Oh, let's get back. Yeah, let's.
[02:04:48] Speaker B: Let's head back.
[02:04:49] Speaker A: Mm hmm.
[02:04:50] Speaker D: Eyes open.
[02:04:53] Speaker A: So, appalachian, copperpod, and sparky, you all ascend out from the hole in the roof that Roman made.
But already as you bring the Krasue out holding the rear of the formation, something catches your eye on the v screen.
It looks like movement at first, and then you see something out of focus, like, totally block your line of vision.
You adjust the view screen to rack focus.
It's just a girl's doll. It's just.
[02:05:38] Speaker C: I'll fucking kill you. I swear.
[02:05:40] Speaker A: It's just she's got a little pink dress button eyes, just like.
[02:05:47] Speaker C: Oh, no. I.
I think for a quick moment with the Krasue already, like, kind of grabs it, like, at the end of a clock, it's again big and has, like. I'm gonna describe this really sad, poorly. It has kind of that Mulan moment where, like, she's holding, like, the little doll, and she sort of looks back at the.
The colony.
I can't put. I don't, like, a pocket on this thing. So I think she just, like, lets it go back into the. Into the void before, like, the. Hey, guys, hold on. Like, oh, there might be something. And it's like, oh, it's nothing. And, like, crawls out after them.
[02:06:36] Speaker A: You put the doll back down, and as the doll, like, as you like, your gaze follows the doll a bit as it floats away and it passes something, like, sticking out from behind one of the machinery.
Something looking like a spacesuit almost, right? Like, you see, like a helmet. And as it floats back outward, it looks to be just someone, a person still in their suit, still suspended there.
[02:07:10] Speaker C: Oh, man, I'm too sonar I wear for this.
Hey, guys.
[02:07:17] Speaker A: Yeah, what's up? This is Marigold. What's going on?
[02:07:20] Speaker C: Are there supposed to be people down here?
[02:07:27] Speaker A: I don't detect any life forms on our scopes. On the short band scopes anyway.
[02:07:37] Speaker C: And to the rest of the party, I'm just gonna say, hey, can I get a little backup just in case, and I'll see if I can move the body out.
[02:07:48] Speaker A: Anyone take her up on that?
[02:07:50] Speaker D: I do.
[02:07:51] Speaker C: Don't fucking leave me behind.
[02:07:52] Speaker D: I'm super fucking jumpy in here, by the way.
[02:07:55] Speaker C: I'm terrified. I'm too genre aware for this, but I gotta know.
[02:08:00] Speaker B: Klaxon at this point takes sparky back to Marigold immediately to make sure one reactor core is there before he darts back out.
[02:08:11] Speaker E: Okay, that's two of us, by the way, getting two. So, yeah, I mean, two out of three ain't bad, right?
[02:08:17] Speaker C: We're all gonna die. It's fine. I shouldn't have done this.
[02:08:21] Speaker A: Yeah. So you two start flying towards the berry gold, or you begin to make the initial approach towards the body.
Rupiah copper pod, kind of like, is trailing behind, you know, your head constantly moving just to check all your corners, check all your exits, make sure you know where to get out in case this gets messy. And orty, you get over to. As you get closer and closer, at first, the space.
The space suited person is facing away from you. And right when you, the mannequin, turns, you see there's no face under the helmet. It's just a mannequin modeling a spacesuit.
[02:09:13] Speaker C: Jerry.
[02:09:16] Speaker A: I fucking swear. I fucking swear.
[02:09:21] Speaker C: All right, it's nothing.
I'll calm everyone. It's nothing. I'm just jumpy. And if I can still, like, if the doll's still sort of around, I think already kind of shifts some of the debris and will leave the doll as an offering to anything that's left out here.
[02:09:41] Speaker A: Okay.
[02:09:43] Speaker C: In that superstitious way that you honor the ghosts in space where you can.
[02:09:51] Speaker A: It's. It. I mean, it's good practice as tampon. You know, it's cut map prevention. It's theoretically. Theoretically right.
All right, guys, mister accomplished, I think we can all just. Yeah, all right.
Did you find anything already? Was. Was everything okay down there?
[02:10:12] Speaker C: Just truly just two dolls, and I'm, like, crawling out of the, like, hole in the top so we can pop out.
[02:10:21] Speaker A: Rupiah, are you still down there, or did you already go back up?
[02:10:26] Speaker D: No, I think I, like, after already.
[02:10:29] Speaker C: I see where you put the doll.
[02:10:31] Speaker D: Down, and I kind of, like, just want to take a minute.
So I let you go out first, and I.
I just say, like, not overcoms, but. But just.
I'm so sorry for my part in this, and I'm sorry that I could never make it up to any of you.
[02:11:06] Speaker A: Hey, rupiah, do you need a check for me?
[02:11:13] Speaker D: What kind of check?
[02:11:15] Speaker A: Survey.
[02:11:17] Speaker D: Okay, that's a one. Because operating at the minus one that I am, I have zero in survey.
So I rolled two d six and took the lowest.
[02:11:28] Speaker A: While you took the time to pay your respects down here, you left already completely open.
As all of you hear a. The sound of what?
A whipping, pulsating bolt of plasma from some corner of the. Of the. Of the. Of the colony. Weren't looking. It strikes the Krasue.
All your fucking view screens. Go.
Go black or d. Go ahead. You're gonna take a level three damage. You are headless.
You're still. Okay. You're in the cockpit. You're still in the chest compartment. Uh huh.
Cross you, come in. Cross you. What are. Are you okay out there?
And, like, Klaxon and Roman, you, like, stop and, like, turn around, and you see, like, this whole thing transpire.
And now the Krasue is just like a chicken with its head cut off, right? But instead there's just this gaping, like, this big in the face of the Krasue with just the jaw hanging down.
Roman, you are familiar with snipers, and clearly there's somebody in this field, taking advantage of the electromagnetic fear, and so you can't detect them on the radars. And so.
So you're trying to, like, triangulate, like, where the hell that shot came from and everything.
But Oradi, I will also say something that you're. The cross would just, like, had its whole head blown to pieces. Your.
Your head. Orty's head is, like, the worst headache you've ever had times 20, right? Oh, my God.
All of your comms are suddenly filled with already screaming in pain.
[02:13:34] Speaker D: Not again. Not again.
[02:13:35] Speaker B: No, no, no, no.
[02:13:38] Speaker A: And just.
[02:13:40] Speaker D: I'm gonna jump to the Karasu and try to drag it into cover.
[02:13:50] Speaker A: Go ahead.
Make a maneuver. Or that would be a manipulate, I think. Yeah, just cause you're trying to definitely move things with your vehicle.
[02:14:02] Speaker D: Oh, maybe I should do something else, then, because I did think that was gonna be a maneuver.
[02:14:06] Speaker A: You have sparkly, and you can put. And you can also.
You have collateral die, as well. I just want to remind everybody here that you don't have to roll at negative die all the time. There are ways of adding dice to your pool.
[02:14:19] Speaker D: Let's do this. I'll use my spark. I'll use my blinding boosters.
[02:14:28] Speaker A: You also have a grapnel anchor tool. I don't know if you could. If you. If. If you have that still declared on. I do. Okay. You can add a die. If you have equipment here that helps specifically with your situation, please bring it up, and I will factor that into the role.
[02:14:45] Speaker D: Okay. So, I'll use my grapnel anchor tool and my blinding boosters to try to confound the sniper while I grab ordie and move her to safety. And that should give me one die.
[02:15:05] Speaker C: To try to do this.
[02:15:08] Speaker A: Welcome to risky. You're in a risky position now. You're seeing that both of you are exposed, and there's a sniper around, and you don't know where it is, so you are no longer in control position.
Just wanted to make that clear so you know what the consequences are if you fail.
Nice roll.
[02:15:26] Speaker D: 20 felt bad for me.
[02:15:27] Speaker A: Wow. You guys have been rolling a ton of sixes this game.
[02:15:30] Speaker C: Okay, cool, because I haven't been rolling.
[02:15:32] Speaker D: I mean, I did just roll a one, so I don't feel like it's too much.
[02:15:38] Speaker A: You take out your copper pot, pulls out this grapnel hook, and, like, latches it onto the more or less headless grasshopper by one of its connecting points. You make a beeline back towards the merry goal. As you do so, you hear from behind you several grapnel hooks fire.
Trying to latch onto the Krasue, but narrowly missing. You don't know where those grapple hooks are coming from, but it seems like someone's trying to hunt this mech. Klaxon or Roman. Do you guys want to do anything in this case?
[02:16:18] Speaker E: Wait, wait, did I see, so did I see the direction that the shot came from?
[02:16:22] Speaker A: Could I have told that?
[02:16:23] Speaker E: Could I figure that out? Based on the way where Karasu's position was and the way the shot hit its head, could I tell the direction the shot came from?
[02:16:35] Speaker A: You would have to make a survey check.
[02:16:37] Speaker E: I will take a survey check on that then.
[02:16:39] Speaker A: Okay, go ahead and make a survey check. Yep, those are fives. 55 with a five. That's a success with a consequence, with some sort of effect. Right? So, like, roman, you're like, you're quickly looking around at the infrastructure of the colony. Like, you're like peak. You're checking every single debris, feel debris and building that's kind of like floating nearby. And you're trying.
And then you spot it. That little, like, reflection, that flash reflection of a scope several clicks away towards the top. It's hiding in the walls of the colony, but with a five.
You also know that when you see that little reflection of light off the scope, it also means it was aiming again. And another, another blast grazes the side of Apu locki.
It misses, but it does knock off, like a shoulder pull. Oh, okay. But it was like this close to Apalachi's head, like, you.
[02:17:45] Speaker E: Okay, if that's the case, I know where it's firing from. Can I provide cover fire?
So what? Appalachia has two things that you told me, which are it's plasma auto shotgun and a ray shield. Can I, am I able to dual wield those?
[02:18:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
[02:18:04] Speaker E: Okay, in that case, I'd like to have the shield up, but I'm going to fire the auto shotgun in the direction of this. Of the sniper. Not to hit the sniper, but it's cover fire to get to help both rupiah and oridy get to safety.
[02:18:18] Speaker A: Okay, go ahead, roll a battle check.
Oh, my God.
You're having a very good day today.
Yeah. So you pull out the shotgun and you switch it to the slug setting and the muzzle flare is enough to, like, let the enemy know. It's like, oh, shit, they're shooting back at us. It becomes a whole exchange of fire, like another sniper bolt. Just like, nearly gets you sprays off the ray shield galaxy you try to pick up on. If there's, like, enemy chatter and see if there's, like, other people in your by.
And you do hear a voice. Shall's like, fuck. We missed Nargis moving now. And that's when you see this Gremlin looking man kind of, like, pop out from, like, one of the walls of the colony and just make a beeline towards Kasu and try to tackle it.
[02:19:20] Speaker D: More or less come for me, bitch.
[02:19:25] Speaker A: Try to tackle it and, like, sever it from the anchor grapnel. And that's gonna be.
And just. It. Wow. I'm having. I'm having one of those days where I'm having just one of those days it, like, goes in, zips through, and, like, tries to, like, bear hug the cross suit and just totally. You kind of, like, keep pulling, pulling the mecha log and just watch this thing flounder and keep floating. Ah. Ah. I almost shot it.
[02:19:57] Speaker D: I like to think I, like, did one of those weird lasso moves where you pull the thing that you're. You've been pulling and you jerk it really hard so it winds up on the other side of you.
[02:20:08] Speaker C: Hey, hey, hey. Precious cargo.
[02:20:10] Speaker A: Anybody else trying to do anything? There's. There's one. There's one and a half confirmed targets.
[02:20:15] Speaker C: I'm not gonna lie. I'm angry and I, like, truly, I'm like, come grapple me. I am a grappling mech.
I'm waiting for, like, the next one. I think I'm gonna keep, like. Is there a way to, like, prepare an action? Kind of. I don't know.
[02:20:28] Speaker A: Can you just tell me what you're trying to do?
[02:20:29] Speaker C: And then, honestly, I wanna grab. Like, I'm mad. I'm gonna grab. See if I can get that little guy and just, like, rake him across the face. I'm gonna roll poorly. Cause we know. Know me. I'm gonna try.
[02:20:41] Speaker A: You have a level three harm.
[02:20:43] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. Fuck.
[02:20:45] Speaker A: But if you wanna push yourself, you wanna spend stress, if you wanna get assistance from someone, so somebody has to assist you before you can make the roll.
[02:20:52] Speaker C: Can I use Rupiah's lasso move to, like, kind of, like, swing around?
[02:20:57] Speaker A: Yeah, go ahead. Okay, so you have a die from that.
[02:21:00] Speaker C: I'm gonna take it. I'm just taking a pot shot.
[02:21:02] Speaker A: Great.
[02:21:02] Speaker C: I'm gonna fuck this up real bad.
[02:21:04] Speaker A: I know.
[02:21:05] Speaker C: That's a five.
[02:21:05] Speaker A: That is a five.
[02:21:06] Speaker C: Roll 20 wants us to succeed today.
[02:21:09] Speaker A: I guess so. Yeah.
[02:21:10] Speaker D: Don't let it hear you.
[02:21:12] Speaker A: I said nothing as this little yellow kind of. It's got a dome head. It's got a short body and little legs. It almost resembles a beetle. Almost, right? As it tumbles, you kind of grab one of its legs, and as the copper pot swings you around on the grapnel, and it's like you hear all the local cops, she's got me. She's got me. I thought we played this through better. On the other line, rupiah, you hear a familiar voice shouts, like, just stay right there. I'm coming.
A voice that you haven't heard in a couple of years, shouting the same way an angry theater director would. From its hiding spot, you see this mech emerge, revealing its position foolishly, but also out of genuine concern for its comrade. From the chest up, it kind of looks like halfway between a fighter jet and a machine, right? But the nose is painted to resemble a kite bird, and the wings have, like, a feather pattern also painted on it, so it resembles a gerudo.
And it. It zips straight at this little gremlin guy and makes a strafing run at the two of you.
So, like, while you do have. While you successfully grappled onto little Akshay over there, Ori and rupiah, you were both peppered with as this kind of jet like, zooms past you. They don't hit you like, they all kind of, like, all these, like, little vulcan rounds kind of, like, break apart beneath your feet almost, but it's a five, so you still maintain grip onto the akshay.
[02:23:01] Speaker C: I was gonna say, I would like to. I will wait my turn to do this, but my intention is to yeet that little fucker.
[02:23:06] Speaker A: Okay, anybody else have anything they want to do here?
[02:23:10] Speaker B: How close is sparky to the marigold compared to the rest of the action?
[02:23:17] Speaker A: You have about, like, 200 meters before you can get into the hangar.
[02:23:23] Speaker B: And how far am I from the rest of the action? Because that'll determine what I will do next.
[02:23:30] Speaker A: You're equidistant. You're, like, halfway in between the melee that's happening right now and the merry goal, but also, you're exposed. And so who knows if that sniper will hit you next, depending if they. Because it might be repositioning right now. Now that Roman's returning fire at it.
[02:23:51] Speaker B: Is it possible for me to shoot my reactor core to the marigold so they get it and then return to action? Because then I'm not holding onto it. And they at least have one reactor core.
[02:24:04] Speaker A: You see, like, the. Like, one of the airlocks of the marigold open, and you see Jackie come out in her spacesuit. She's like, I'm open. I'm open. Throw here.
[02:24:13] Speaker B: I throw it like a football.
Go long.
[02:24:19] Speaker A: All right, let's see. What check would that be to yeet this thing?
[02:24:23] Speaker B: I guess. Would it be manipulate?
[02:24:25] Speaker A: It would be minute. It could be finesse, I guess.
[02:24:28] Speaker B: I don't have any finesse.
[02:24:29] Speaker A: Okay, if you want to do manipulate.
Yeah, fine. You know, go ahead, roll, manipulate. I will. Um.
[02:24:35] Speaker B: Am I down a die because of my clipped wing?
[02:24:39] Speaker A: Even though if it doesn't. If it doesn't use your wing, it doesn't affect you. Okay.
[02:24:43] Speaker B: And I'm gonna, um, add the quirk. Delicate handling, because I don't want to miss.
[02:24:48] Speaker A: Yeah, go ahead. Add a die. That's a four.
[02:24:52] Speaker B: It's a four. This is not a one.
[02:24:54] Speaker A: Not a one.
Go along. You throw it like we see it spinning in space, and, like, Jackie's there to catch it, and she's like. And it gets right here. Okay, all right, I got it. I got it. And then with a four, another strike, but this time, from the rear of the marigold, happens. You see another laser bolt strike the underside of the ship where Jackie is standing, and it sends her flying out in her spacesuit. And she's now, like, flailing with the coil. She's like, no, wait. No, no, no.
Great. So now you have one of your crew members floating out here in the war zone, right? And you hear Zung on the rose like, Jackie. Jackie. Holy fuck.
And because the. The shot had to come from somewhere, and another mech emerges that apparently was tailing your six here. Klaxon. You can now make out like, as this mech kind of like, swings. Swings around and starts flying at you.
The colors on it indicate that these are.
You've traveled around a bit. You know that certain Jabba duens take up the career of privateering. And, you know, being a privateer means sporting certain colors to let people know that you are doing less than stellar work, less than honorable work as a Bajak pirate.
[02:26:38] Speaker B: He yells out over the comms, fucking pirates.
Give them no mercy.
And he. Even though it's not my turn, and I realized that.
That Jackie is kind of, like, floating around, I try to position myself between.
I basically turn around so that I'm facing in the direction of the thing that took a shot and making sure that Jackie is behind me and protected with Sparky's body.
[02:27:15] Speaker A: Great.
You put yourself between Jackie and this attacking mech raka, and it immediately crashes into you and engages you with melee, pulls out a beam saber, and Sparky puts hands together, and now, like, holding back this sword before it, like, digs into you. So that's where you're at now, as I just said, the voice of the person trying to retrieve the little Akshay piloting this Garuda sounds like someone you know.
[02:27:48] Speaker D: I am going to go. Because they're in general columns, right? That's why I heard.
[02:27:53] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess they went.
Or at least at this point, now that open engagement has started, they're on the open broadcast or the open channel.
[02:28:14] Speaker D: Diva for Dev, do you copy?
[02:28:26] Speaker A: The Garuda, as it, like, comes around to make another attack run, cuts its boosters.
That's not a name I've heard in a long time.
Akshay is screaming, boss, what are we doing out here? Can you please.
And we hold on this shot of the copper pod making eye contact with the Garuda and rupiah. You stare at the Garuda knowing that whoever's in the cockpit unit of that is also staring back.
That's our episode today. Thanks again so much for tuning into Mekong. If you like this game, please be sure to check out the beam Saber RPG on itch IO. If you like us and you want to see more, be sure to follow Queen's court games on all socials and on Patreon and otherwise. Players, if this is your time to sign off, tell us about whatever project's got going on and we'll go from there.
[02:29:47] Speaker B: All right, so for me, you could see my socials as posted. Some things that are coming up. I'm still doing a Shakespeare adaptation, which is like, ongoing. And I'll be doing some appearances at cons, at various panels, and also running various games, so check those out on my social medias.
[02:30:11] Speaker C: I am Clara. I'm all over the Internet as clearly golden, unless you're into mermaids, in which case you can find me on Instagram. As mermaid clarity, I am usually found in my natural habitat. Over at Happy Jack's rpg podcast, playing rpg's, we have multiple sessions and a vast backlog that you can plunder if you'd like.
And then I'm also over here on Queen's court games, mostly playing the all night society, which is our vampire. The masquerade audio podcast situation, where I also play a character who is often missing parts of her face, except for me, because I can't roll for shit.
[02:30:54] Speaker E: What is up, Andrew J. Andy? Here you can find me on the Internet, Instagram, Twitter, and Twitch. Whenever I get that running again at Andrew J. Allende, just follow me on there. Would love to hear from you all would love to meet y'all. So again, treat yourself nicely today and every day because you, the viewer, deserve it.
[02:31:14] Speaker D: And I am Pooja. And you can find me on Twitter la daceygirl. That's l a D e s I, girl. And that's where I plug most of my TTRpG stuff. Where you can hear about twelve sided stories, podcast edited music, drama, all the good stuff. And then happy Jackson RPG, where I play hot messes as well.
But as Clara said, happy Jacks has a massive backlog. Go check it out. All the things we play. All the things. And then huge backlog.
And you can find me pretty much everywhere else on the socials has forgotten saves posting about my cats.
I mean, let's be real. It's all about the cats.
[02:32:06] Speaker C: And who are you? Director, sir?
[02:32:10] Speaker A: Yes, it's me. Yes, I'm Jerry La. It's been a privilege and an honor being able to tell this story with all of you. All. You can find me at myjeriamore on Instagram and Twitter. Otherwise, everybody, put your hands together for our lovely cast. And that's our show. Once again, I'm Jerry Law with Queen's court games playing Mekong. Catch us back next time for our next installment. Fare thee well, stay hydrated, watch your head, and tell someone you care about that you love them. Peace.
![Beam Saber - MEKONG: Symphony for the Devil, Episode 3 [Good Kids, m.A.A.d Sector]](https://episodes.castos.com/6000e2e35c6bf9-73200712/images/1604925/E3-POD.png)