Mission Planning

If Hawkings radiation can get out of a black hole, and this thing is not made from atoms,( don't understand how that would work) then its just as likely that a black hole would not contain "Psi radiation" it produces. So leaving it in jump space is prb the best option. We can actually test to see if Psi can penetrate for, Get our power telepath to send some a psi message from hyperspace. if they cant be herd then the universe should be safe.

 We can actually test to see if Psi can penetrate for, Get our power telepath to send some a psi message from hyperspace. if they cant be herd then the universe should be safe. "For many generations, my people have been running that experiment to see if telepathy can be received ship to ship, before precipitation and ship to just-jumped starships.  No positive results,.....Gentlemen." - Prof. Isis

so if it is not made up of atoms or anti-atoms, ie matter anti-matter.I asked some seriously smart geeks i know, after a while we came to the conclusion that there is only 1 place of origin. Following the Occams razor principle, " Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected. " the only answer we came up with had only 1 assumption, we came up with "It must be gods left testis. football shaped and not made of this universe. yer ok the left 1 was also an assumption but the usually hang lower and are easier to loose. If  you believe in god then thats not an assumption, We know that god is not of our realm. and we know he is crustie about some thing or we wouldn't be is the pickle the universe finds itself constantly in. so from now on we call it "GLT" or Gods left testis. so it clear how to get rid of it. we go to the head of the imperial church and ask him to ask god to take it back. or we kick it into hyperspace as it is where god is likely to live and let him find it. meh

Personally, I think that the fact that none of tests produced results doesn't prove that the thing is of made of "non-atomic matter." Seems a lot more likely that there is something about the case's design that none of our comparatively crude sensors and tests can fathom. It is an Ancient Artifact , after all, and one that is specifically designed to goad the curious to open it. Considering the other capabilities of the thing, making sure nobody can learn anything about it without opening it doesn't seem all that far-fetched. EDIT: That's not to say that it couldn't be God's Left Testis...

Hawking Radiation doesn’t come out of a Black Hole; it’s produced on the periphery, just outside the Event Horizon. The last time I looked into it was High School, up to two decades ago; the theory at the time was that virtual particles, one regular particle and one anti-particle, would be produced near the edge of an Event Horizon, and that usually the negative particle would fall in; the positive one would spin out into space as Hawking Radiation. There are other explanations with similar results, but just about all of them say that Hawking Radiation does not escape the Event Horizon; it’s merely produced outside. Does Isis have anything to say about the extent to which gravity fields do, or do not, affect Psionics? Wolfen, all matter has spectrum lines. ALL of it. Usually , you can easily tell what the constituent atoms something is made of from its spectrum lines; the only exception I know of being this fictional Artifact. :P Even if it were made of atoms we hadn’t heard of yet, it would still have spectrum lines ; just not in any of the patterns matching anything we know. The fact that it exhibits the behavior of an ideal blackbody radiator, something that should only be theoretical , firmly pins it as non-atomic matter. Now, if someone else wants to run tests on it, and they get a different result, fine... ish. I’ll just have to repeat to myself over and over again that not everyone enjoys hard science enough to get the minutia correct at the spur of the moment. But genuine atoms are going to have spectrum lines.

Tech, you're still making assumptions that are based on a very limited understanding of physics. Spectral lines are about how a photon interacts with matter. This crystal by it's nature seems to radiate and reflect light in a very alien way. The fact that light doesn't behave as it usually does in regard to this object doesn't mean that it isn't made out of matter. It means that it does weird things with light. Doing weird things with light means that it baffles the usual means of detecting spectral lines. You've also got to take into account the effect of plot energy created by the McGuffin effect that is emanated by most Ancient artifacts. The McGuffin field radiates plot nodes and anti-nodes that disrupt the usual emission of photons and thus make it impossible to detect spectral lines in the object.  It's made out of candy. Tasty, plot flavored candy. Except for the purple side. That's grape flavored.  As for whether or not psionic signals can escape from a black hole, Runt may have a suggestion...  "Well we have a few psions down we? Best way to test it would be to shoot them out at the black hole. See if they can't do their psionics past the event horizon then we're good!"

Atomic matter is limited in how it radiates and reflects light to the spectrum lines of its constituent atoms. The only way it can do that is if the matter is non-atomic. When Pakkrat was asked to pick between the artifact having spectrum lines and it being made of non-atomic matter, he said it was made of non-atomic matter. Pakkrat, would you please reiterate that? Admittedly, Artifacts do weird things. But, if we as players are going to puzzle them out as best we can, we have to leverage what we know to be true as far as it will go. Charoux will remind Runt that the Psions would die before they would make it past the Event Horizon to perform their role in the experiment.

Oh, so we are allowing  Isis' input now, eh? "Gentlemen, if the thing is so solid as to look and feel like matter and be indestructible, wouldn't locking in a black hole, open or closed, still be in our universe and still an astronomically miniscule chance of being a danger that we can no longer even get close enough to shut closed or turn off?  Ask sleeping Zenobia if she can reach across an event horizon with her Fifth Power telekinesis." "So you say the artifact isn't made of matter and yet cannot seem to test if it's non-atomic.  Instead, all instrumentation has failed up against this thing.  Looks like your Imperium and lauded Darrian sciences have failed.  Poor scientist babies.  Running around this ship like angry ants." "Looks reflective to me.  Feels solid were I to be allowed to hold it in my hands.  Jeff and Charoux have looked inside it.  Nobody tells me what they have seen.  It's been, 'back to Female Country with you, Isis'." "Fifth Power telekinesis can slide its planes open, exposing it's internal, psionic energies normally contained by its pink and purple poles and facets.  When opened, it pulses the psi-waves - what?  Every thirty seconds or so, detectable by your psi-alarms and yet is too powerful to be even hindered by your psi-disruptors.  Oh dear." "Let us ladies, meaning Zenobia, the Vargr secretary Uthka and myself pull-..... put our heads together as we head out to the Jump point.  You boys go play with your newest toy map or whatever Darrian plaything it is." "Oh, that's right.  You boys don't trust us, do you?  Hmm.  Send in Jeff Scardack.  He has the most unfolded consciousness of you males." "We should have an answer by 100D.  Not that anyone will believe us or take- shall we say....... a leap of faith."

"No offence Ms Isis, but I trust you even less than Zenobia. Less than Bob . And what ... you and Zenobia and the tea bag prophet what to open this thing up again? Of all the fraked up ideas that have been floated so far, that ... no offence intended ... is the most fraked up yet . Opening that thing up again is like .. two-credit-Startown-whore-during-peakhour-fraked. We're busy trying to think of a way to destroy the thing and you want to turn us all into pullers. Shite.  ... on the other hand ... someone did say earlier that we needed expendable psions crazy enough to dig into the thing...  The last time psions opened this thing up it was a total bloody disaster. What makes you think opening up again is going to be any different?

Jacob would be willing to go along with letting the three Weird Sisters take a look and give us their opinion. (We should really at least check on the status of the frozen folks regardless). Naturally, some precautions should be taken. The examination should be conducted in a room that's locked and monitored from the outside, maybe with a bunch of disruptors in the room and hooked up to activate remotely if anything goes sideways.  No offense to Jeff, but I'd rather not chance exposing him to the artifact again. If Gev wants to be in there with them, that would be fine. Or one of us closed-minded males, with a psi hoodie on. Don't know if we really need a direct observer, though, if we take the other precautions.    EDIT: I'm not okay with opening it, if that's the plan. Just look, and maybe touch.

"Oh no, Gentlemen.  We won't be opening the thing.  That would be stupid. So, no argument there.  But with us females unhindered by ignorant males, maybe we can shed some li-...pull some-.....get answers for you gents." "Or maybe not and let neaderthals try some trial and error."

Pakkrat said: "...  But with us females unhindered by ignorant males, maybe we can shed some li-...pull some-.....get answers for you gents." "Or maybe not and let neaderthals try some trial and error. * Kayleb to Crow * "Yeah ... I'm going to leave this one with you Captain. I better exit this conversation before I tell this Zho witch to go Frak herself."

Pakkrat, Charoux would never disregard Isis’s opinion on anything , with the one exception being how her ticket and Sebastien’s ticket are mutually exclusive, and, therefore, there are things he’s contractually obligated to not share with her about his ticket... which she knows he was against to begin with. While Charoux may exhibit his usual spy-like caution around her, that doesn’t mean he believes she’s a threat; only that, until some proof can be found one way or the other, he should make sure she isn’t. If the material genuinely has no spectrum lines, which are generated on account of electrons giving off light at wavelengths particular to that atom, then it has no electrons. If it has no electrons, it probably has no protons either, otherwise, it would be a static-electric nightmare of collecting random detritus... which would be rather obvious by now; the only other way (without extremely unusual subatomic particles) to balance out the static charge of protons is with antiprotons... and matter and antimatter don’t mix well. It could be made of neutronium, but we’d need some sort of subatomic particle smasher to test that, and neutrons are notoriously difficult to move. Now, if it had protons and electrons in it, we could ionize samples of it and subject it to mass spectrometry... which depends on a magnetic field tugging on the protons perpendicular to their momentum to sort nuclei by mass... but it doesn’t , so that’s out . Lack of spectrum lines pretty much is a test for whether something is made of atomic matter or not, and rules out the viability of other mundane tests. We could try renting a subatomic particle smasher, but Charoux doesn’t have the experience needed to run it. Crow can build a nice little mechanical cage to keep the crystal from being opened, and a nice immovable pedestal for the thing to be mounted to. Then the girls can inspect it, with Simone watching. That should be safe enough. The problem I have is, what good would it do? They can’t destroy it... they could deactivate it, or maybe even siphon off its psionic power, but we’d still have to destroy it afterward. And if they found some sort of self-proclaimed built-in self-destruct sequence, are we actually supposed to trust that it isn’t just another trap ? Now, I recognize that this was likely your intended end-game, but I just don’t see what good it is. But, Charoux is always willing to gather more verifiable facts, and we’re getting nowhere as it is. Zenobia might as well get a chance to prove she means well, while we find her some more permanent accommodations more suitable for the duration of our missions.

After talking to Professor Isis, Crow will catch up to Kayleb. "I appreciate and approve of your initiative and passion, Kayleb, but remember that Professor Isis is a passenger and a patron. I don't need you to like her or trust her, but I insist you treat her, and any other passenger on this ship respectfully. Understood?"

"Aye sar.  But between you an me, respectfully, I'd like to say that it's a titanic mistake to trust her.  I mean think about it, Zho society is all about using psionic powers to dominate those who don't have them. What do you think you saw back there? She's gaining control over this ship's actions purely based on the fact that she's a psion . I keep saying this - they don't even have to use their powers to take control of us. They simply need to assert their superiority over us " stupid neanderthals " by generating fear and superstition ....  ... and what the shite is a " neanderthal " anyway? She's not in charge here Capt'n. You are. Gev is. Shroo is. Not her. Not her posse of psion witches . Don't let her start calling the shots sar. * quietly * It's a mutiny sar. It's happening. 

Honestly, I would rather be there when they experiment on the crystal, this "Ark" has really made me curious and I'd like to see the results as it happens... besides if we lower the gravity a bit in that room I could dual wield my laser rifles, do you really think they'd try to do anything then? Besides I owe Isis a favor, if Isis would prefer to have me there due to me being less "close-minded" I'm fine with that.

She's not in charge here Capt'n. You are. Gev is. Shroo is. Not her. Not her posse of psion witches . Don't let her start calling the shots sar. "Shroo" Kayleb, you know that there's two syllables in Charoux's name right?

After whats seems to be years of circles, you find Izek in the missile store room banging his head on the tip of a nuke missile, mumbling "this hurts better now, this hurts oh so much better now, mmmm this pain is goood". He takes the sedative the doc offers him and goes back to bed.

Buddah said: She's not in charge here Capt'n. You are. Gev is. Shroo is. Not her. Not her posse of psion witches . Don't let her start calling the shots sar. "Shroo" Kayleb, you know that there's two syllables in Charoux's name right? Yeah ... I abbreviated it down to one. Didn't have time for two.

Gevaudan posts this latest contribution via the Comm net of the Artemis Group through their handcomputers, Comms, or whatever they use to access company records and notices. "Now that Imperium Nobles take away Zenobia and Isis, less 'risk' but less resources to use on Wypoc.  Not even sure if this one allowable on Assault Team.  Artemis needs reconfigure the Ticket(s).  Make a do.  Jump-4 from backside of Lanth Abyss so be thinking about early arrival if flying in this one's ship.  Finestkind, but for Adjustments to Ducal Ticket.  Thinking Sebastien humie for that job.  Oh, and watching out for crazy, spotty female.  Teeth bare always with a hunger in image-captures.  Says dangerous to this one."

Charoux will message back, “We’ll keep an eye out for your crazy fangirl stalker, Gev; we’ll be sure to let her know that it was Archduke Norris’s fault that you weren’t here when she shows up.”.

"Gentleman Charoux, you speak as if Artemis is here when she arrives and this one is not.  Is there a separation this one wasn't informed of, before Wypoc?  Is this one fired?  If so, well.....gotta say, this one had personal investment in Quest.  But if Artemis want distance from this one, s'okay, supposing.  Go on merry.  Make a do."

“Not at all, Gev, we’ll keep you on for as long as we’re allowed; but we’ll never know when she’ll show up. And if we’re not being stealthy enough to keep her from knowing where we’re going, we’re not being stealthy enough to keep Maarg from knowing when we’re arriving.”

So now that we have the details of the Ducal Wypoc Ticket, as opposed to the Isis Wypoc Ticket, we should be able to start working towards a more specific plan. I'm thinking that we can grab the Attack Shuttle early and take it with us to Wypoc, so that we've got two solid vehicles for the mission. Are we all set with deciding the specs for the shuttle? We should think about how we want to approach Wypoc, so we can try to arrange the appropriate vessel with our patrons, or hire/charter/buy one as needed. We should also work out exactly what kind of evac ship and/or transport back to Lunion we can set up for afterwards. In the discussion at the end of meta on Wednesday night, we decided to set around 110-1110 as our departure date for Wypoc.

110 is about a month after the Horizon is ready to fly (060-1110). Does that create an issue for us? I was suggesting earlier that a stealthy advance party go ahead to check things out before the rest of us show up. Gev leaving early means that he could be the ideal taxi for an advance party. 

not fussed when we leave but i need to learn how to shoot before i get there, hahaha

VIC e. said: not fussed when we leave but i need to learn how to shoot before i get there, hahaha If you need gun combat laser rifle training, Jeff is somewhat decent when it comes to laser rifle shooting.

Na thanks it Gauss rile 1 I'm am going for and grenade launcher 0, but thanks any way.

Launchers Kayleb can help with.  May  be worth keeping in mind that there are probably going to be a lot of different roles in this show. Shooting up the place is only one of them.  I get the feeling we're going to need computer hackey skills, leadership/persuade skills to round up the students, and small craft or Grav vehicles skills to fly them out. Making this work is probably going to require a lot of non combat cleverness.  

Jeff is a very hands on guy(12 DEX) so his role will be more "shooty" and more "at the moment" his DEX will help a bit with flying and gunnery, but he still fulfills his job better when it comes down to being at the site of doing things.

Buddah said: Jeff is a very hands on guy(12 DEX) so his role will be more "shooty" and more "at the moment" his DEX will help a bit with flying and gunnery, but he still fulfills his job better when it comes down to being at the site of doing things. I'd really love to find a way to use your remote ops on this mission. With Wypoc's atmosphere and brain popping psions running about, remotely operating a drone to do combat chores seems like a better idea than sending meat in.  I tried to get combat drones on Tenalphi. Failed. Maybe we can get a few as a part of the ticket's pre mission equipment perk?

Alby said: Buddah said: Jeff is a very hands on guy(12 DEX) so his role will be more "shooty" and more "at the moment" his DEX will help a bit with flying and gunnery, but he still fulfills his job better when it comes down to being at the site of doing things. I'd really love to find a way to use your remote ops on this mission. With Wypoc's atmosphere and brain popping psions running about, remotely operating a drone to do combat chores seems like a better idea than sending meat in.  I tried to get combat drones on Tenalphi. Failed. Maybe we can get a few as a part of the ticket's pre mission equipment perk? That's actually a really smart idea because we can have recon done without having to worry about one of our psi shields being overpowered and one of us getting attacked psionically.

They'd also be immune to things life "life sense" and other psi powers.  Even if we have just one of them, that's at least one asset that isn't prone to psionic mind rape. Also means that one of us gets to avoid going out into the acid atmosphere. 

Combat  Drones are a sticky wicket on most populated worlds, especially drones with any Intellect rating. That said, I'm sure we can pick some up once we get through some red tape.

Dont forget Jeff, we have a 50% on implants so instead of 5 mill for +3 to either Str, Dex,or End, its only 2.5 (ish) and Izek is going to get that stuff even if he has to sell half of the imperium to the Zods, hahaha

Why do we get 50% off?

It's a perk of the mercenary contract we just entered into. "Pre mission medical treatment" or some such. If you wanted to get borged up now is the time to do it!  Problem with high end cyber gear is that we've got to find a TL 15 chop doc to install it. I think Lunion is only TL 13? Rhylanor is only a slight detour on the way to Wypoc. Maybe that'd be a good place to get cybered up?

The Ducal Ticket is still conflicting with the Isis Ticket over the fate of the students. And if Sebastien wants to argue that the Isis Ticket wasn’t formally fleshed out, that’s fine, but that doesn’t mean he gets to up and decide to take the Ducal Ticket first; that’s a company decision.

Gevaudan is going to tap the Combat Implants 50% discount from the Ticket Incentives that Sebastien rolled on Wednesday's (07/20/2016) meta-session.  He will purchase: Combat Reflexes , Level 3, EMP Shielded, TL10, Cybernetics pg. 65, as his second of two maximum Heighteners, (his first was his Piloting Heightener installed by Dr. SIMone just after Darrian), 1,875,000Cr after the discount. sexSTENT Module , Cybernetics  pg.71, TL10, since he's going to be helping train future Concubines in his future line of work.  This purchase is not halved under the Mercenary Ticket.  It's just an add-on purchase of 35,000Cr.

Sebastien's not making any decisions about anything, TT. You were there and oversaw the negotiations. Looks to me, though, like Isis isn't going to have the ability to take care of the students anyway. Or do you think that the Duchess will let her house and train a bunch of rogue psions against the Arch-Duke's direct orders? By all means, we should vote, which means that you guys who want to cash in on the pre-ticket goodies will have to until after we settle the matter of Isis' "ticket," and vote to accept either or both of the tickets. I'll see if I can get together with Pakkrat to give Sebastien a shot at compromising with Isis. If not we'll have to choose between the two tickets. EDIT: Sebastien was able to negotiate the Isis Ticket while she and the Duchess are headed outsystem to 100 diameters. She still wants us to take her Ticket, formally now. She wants proof that Maarg is dead and she wants a hard copy, sans insignia, of the psionic institute training material. In return she will give us 35 million credits. She also seemed strangely calm and even relieved. 

I thought you were rolling for the Isis ticket, since that took precedence anyway. By the time I realized it was the Duke’s Ticket, all I could do was suggest which of the things you were rolling in would be better. :P The conflicting issue over what will be done with the students is a problem.

This is partly me trying to justify last night’s recon of Isis’s Ticket against how Charoux would have handled things, since, had he known there was no formal ticket, we never would have left port until there was . It’s also me trying to outline Charoux’s issues with the precedence of one ticket over another, and issues with the Archduke’s ticket, as proposed. “Oh, come off it , Charoux, what’s the problem now ? This is a phenomenal deal I negotiated!”; Sebastien was clearly frustrated at yet another business decision that he and Charoux didn’t see eye to eye on. Charoux himself was irritated as well; to Charoux, if no one else, any time Imperial Law or Imperial Nobles were involved, Sebastien’s head seemed to swell. “The problem, is that while it’s a great deal financially , morally , it’s pretty careless. Once again, a ticket you’re at the center of conflicts with the Isis Ticket.”. Sebastien, incredulous, scoffed at Charoux’s adherence to the Company’s agreement with Isis. “Isis has no formal ticket with Artemis Group. It’s nothing more than a mutual agreement of words in foreign space! It has no legal standing within Imperial Borders!”. Charoux countered, “Do you really think I’d let a potential foreign agent on board the Ares without a formal legal agreement binding for what purpose and under what terms she was there?”. Sebastien chided, “That was Darrian Space! Darrian Law doesn’t apply here!”. Charoux, frustrated by the Imperial Bureaucrat, insisted, “The finest Darrian mathematicians consistently conclude that Darrian Contractual Manifolds are superior legal protection mechanisms, and...”. Sebastien, frustrated by Charoux’s Darrian gibberish, insisted, “The existing Treaty between the Darrian Confederation and the Imperium does not cover enforcement of Darrian Contracts outside Darrian Space ! If the legalese isn’t Imperial , it has no bearing !”. Since Hane was serving as the Company Lawyer at the time, Charoux called Hane in; apparently, the matter was simply neglected on account of the flurry of new hires. Annoyed, Charoux concluded, “Fine; but that’s our mistake, not our client’s . Isis’s Ticket, legal details notwithstanding , still has precedence. We can’t be seen as throwing out a client’s job just because a big influential whale comes by with a better offer. It would mean we have no integrity. Our clients wouldn’t be able to trust us to hold our ground in the face of temptation. The Duke’s Ticket will conform to the existing terms of Isis’s Ticket, or we won’t accept it.”. Suppressing the urge to throttle Charoux for his obstinateness, and trying to remain convincing, Sebastien tried to impress upon Charoux the advantages of fulfilling the Duke’s ticket as outlined; “Charoux, I put a lot of work into getting us this ticket with the man, who, like it or not, is going to be running this entire sector ! He may not be the Archduke we wanted , but he’s the Archduke we’ve got ! And, what’s more, we’ve got a fantastic deal here! We’ll be making out like bandits, and we’ll be the first in line with a fantastic bonus, if he needs another job done! And Maarg will be dead, so Isis will get what she wanted too!”. Perceiving that, once again, Sebastien had neglected a few key details, Charoux took it upon himself, once again, to do the tedious job of reminding him; “Isis hired us to get justice for the Colonel; that means whoever executed it, and whoever ordered it. What happens if we find out the Archduke was behind it? Or if Maarg is just a convincing scapegoat, and not directly responsible? How do we get justice for the Colonel then , if we’re fulfilling the Archduke’s Ticket of suppressing all that information? She also wants the students to be set free , whereas the Archduke wants them shipped straight to him . You know what we call keeping sophonts against their will and shipping them from one place to another in Darrian Space? Sophont Trafficking. What do they call it in Imperial Space?”.

It's really not a problem. She can't take the students. She's cool with us to bring them to Regina. I told you exactly what she wants. That is the Ticket she wants us to do. You just look for arguments.

Sorry, TT, my last post was written before I read yours. You really need to stop writing posts assuming that you know whatother players and characters are thinking, would say, or would do. You're REALLY bad it. Everything in that post was disgusting and insulting. We've discussed this before, and I'm done trying to be polite and discrete, so I'm going to do this in the forum publicly. Stop assuming that you're smarter than everybody else. You're clearly not. Stop assuming that we haven't already considered and discussed the the things that you're reiterating, over, and over again. Because we did, and you were there, and clearly you weren't paying attention. If you'd stop trying to cast yourself as the hero while disrespecting every other player, you might not be such a completely negative and destructive influence in the game. You were there. The Duke's Ticket is specifically to bring those who were willing to be evacuated to Regina. There is certainly nothing  in the Ticket about forcing anybody to go anywhere. How dare you assume otherwise?!

Right; to Regina , as opposed to wherever they want to go.

So we're a taxi service, now?

No, but if we’re taking them to Regina, and they don’t want to go, that’s pretty much human trafficking, right there.

The thing is, instead of asking, “What exactly does the Archduke want us to do?”, “Does that fit with the existing Isis ticket?”, “Are we willing to accept these terms as posed, or do we want to negotiate over doing or not doing this or that part?”, and “Are we willing to accept this ticket under their final offer of terms?”, you jumped straight into “rolling for profit”, as if it was any other trade deal. For instance, insisting that the rescued prisoners may be taken to Regina if they so choose , may have cost us some negotiating points, or it may have killed the entire deal . I only got a clear answer to how the prisoners were going to be handled when I outright asked after most of the rolls were already done , instead of before . But what am I supposed to do, bring that up after everything is already half-rolled? All I can say is, we didn’t ask the basic questions I sure as heck would have asked if I had thought we were rolling the Archduke’s ticket before the Isis ticket, which was already fully discussed: “We find evidence of who killed the Colonel; if Maarg is clearly the one responsible, we kill him. If Maarg is just a patsy, and the evidence points at someone else being responsible, we reevaluate. If Maarg provided material support, we consider whether or not to kill him. In all cases, we free anyone who wants to leave, and destroy his operations on Wypoc, since it’s an illegal black op, and he’s abused his power in attempting to fight us on two occasions already.” In-character-wise, I can’t see how we would otherwise have ended up here. Maybe you have your own point of view on that you would like to share.

Pakkrat says.... I can imagine Charoux standing in the Council of Elrond and firing off What-If questions at them.  "What If the volcano doesn't unmake the One Ring?"  "What's our exit strategy?"  "What if Sauron survives to sue us for property damage?"  "Why does HE get to carry the Ring?"  "I don't buy this Wizard crap.  Where's the proof?  Show me your Wizard College degree."  This line of questioning goes only so far.  This is the same hesitation that lost Charoux the Pepper Ticket from inside Red Wizard.  It's like Moses standing on the mountain, before the burning bush asking it, "Hey, waitaminute.  What if they don't go for these Commandments?" Charoux cannot seem to take any leaps of faith, trust a GM to tie things up story-wise, and has fears of finger pointing after everyone signs on the dotted line.  What is the core of Charoux' hesitations in these matters?  Is it his Agent training?  If so, James Bond is turning over in his grave.  Is it his Darrian culture of uber-scientific gotta be 118% confirmed by God that this Ticket is risk-free and on the level?  If so, then let Admiral Galen take over, for age/experience/wisdom's sake.  Or Izek for worldliness. Adventurers take risks.  Corporations take risks on certain margins.  Soldiers take risks on tactics, strategic and tactical.  Citizens take risks stepping out their front doors, on a daily basis. You don't see Gevaudan demanding details of the Darrian Confederation on the Star Trigger, safety, who is it pointed at currently, weapon viability, credible history of the device and its science, (gimme it on paper so God can verify it please), and other banality minutiae.  The Special Arm would laugh him out of the parsec.  But Gev has an Intelligence of 14 and should be able to..........poppycock.  It doesn't serve story.  "A critic is someone who creates nothing and therefore feels qualified to judge the works of other men.  He is unbiased.  He hates all creation equally." - Lazarus Long  (Robert A. Heinlein) While I have been very much a Causality GM, avoiding the archetypical Reactive GM; I do try to tie things up so the credits can roll with a majority of the audiences' satisfaction of having doled out money and their time at the box office.  I am also trying to go by rules laying on the table, to my favor or not, e.g. Central Supply Catalog, Merchant Prince, Mercenary, Cybernetics, Psion, et al.  This is so that we all have a codified set of reality in the Traveller Universe.  What If questions, at least to me, only bog down the game, instill the evils of Audience Disbelief and generally amplify the effects of gearheadedness, erode story and enjoyment. I challenge anyone who can do better than I have to step up to the Chair and let me hand the reins over to them at the end of the Fifth Frontier War. EDIT:  Charoux:  "I am not simply going to walk into Mordor on what has been presented here." One does not simply walk into Mordor.