[Game] [OOC] Into the Black (Firefly-verse)

[Exile]

Ok, I forgot about all the various ships in Cortex Shipyards Volume I & II. Didn't like anything in Six-Guns & Starships but there's a lot of possibilities in the afformentioned fan books. Anyone who doesn't have them let me know and I can e-mail them to you.
For those who have them (or when you get them from me) I personally like the following vessels;
Volume I:
DC-88 Drake (p.39, probably paint over the Lady Liberty)
Type 413 Class Midbulk Transport (p. 130)
Type 593 Class Cargo Sledge (p. 131)
Volume II:
Narwahl (p.33, but only if we call it the Midnight Bacon Express!)
Raptor/Ripper Class (p.34)

Note: I forgot how big the crew is on an Independent Blockade Runner, nix that idea.

[Exile]

This is as best I remember it... (With some minor additions.)
Name: Zhānmǔsī "Zhan" Cook
Homeworld: Burnadette, City: New Tombstone
Possible Crew Roles: Captain

Description: Late 30's (but could pass for mid-late 20's), medium muscular build, short brown hair, 5'11", dressed in current Core World semi-formal and casual fashions, pressed clean and ironed to razor creases and mirror shined. Charming and affable demeanor, with blue eyes that belie the fact that he is always scrutinizing to gain the best advantage possible and a keen analyzing mind to go with it. Zhan is a truly masterful mountebank, able to bluff through almost any situation, but has a strong weakness for the ladies and always to help people whenever it is feasible. Truly does believe in a greater good, and works towards it above all else, often to a point of breaking rules to do so he otherwise would never consider. Doesn't relish in killing, in fact avoids it when possible, but not unwilling to when necessary.

Backstory: Zhānmǔsī Cook grew up in New Tombstone, a town known as the starting point for settlers heading Rimwards. It was the good that he saw done in helping families settle the untamed planets and moons to give them the ability to strike out on their own that first inspired Cook's desire to join the Anglo-Sino Alliance in order to provide further support for those settlers. But soon after he joined the Unification War began. He had already made it into officer's training and soon after graduating began rising in the ranks due to the war. He soon became Captain and gained his first command. He could have risen further in the ranks but refused further promotions feeling that commanding a ship is where he could make the most difference. After the war Captain Cook requested transfer to aid, transport and relief missions to help the reconstruction following the war. There he did his most gratifying work and when the Alliance reconstruction missions (too early in Cook's oppinion) he mustered out. Retiring his command within the Alliance he soon sought out a ship and a crew in order to continue his aid and relief work as well as serve as a transport ship in order to deliver needed supplies to Border and Rim Worlds, where he feels he is still able to make a big difference. After the Miranda transmission Cook started to become dissillusioned with the Alliance, wondering if he had accepted a High Command position could he have done something to prevent it. He still believes in the foundations of the Anglo-Sino Alliance but knows that some of the higher-ups are not fit to govern if they will risk innocent civilians in an attempt to force peaceful behavior upon the populace. Cook believes that people are inherently peaceful when their needs are met and are free and able to pursue happiness without hurting others, not forced.

Five Facts:
-Captain Cook has a one-of-a-kind Cíbēi jīguāng MSMPL-X1 "Mercy Laser" that was once a proposed weapon for the Alliance military. No one knows how he got it or the liscense to carry it legally, but he has been Bound-by-Law for carrying it more than once and has always been released without being charged and the authorities have always returned it to him. He never speaks as to how he got it or why the Alliance allows him to have it.
-Zhan cheats, without mercy, at any chance he can get. (With the rare exception of commited relationships and the far more common strategy games...) He even cheated in military training, so well in fact that on the rare occassion he was caught he managed to cheat the system forcing them to either let it pass or even give him awards for "creative thought".
-Captain Zhānmǔsī Cook was the youngest man to recieve the rank and refused further promotions. Despite this he is still, even now, in high regard by the Alliance military.
-During officer's training Zhan was often referred to as a "Sourcebox with legs" amongst instructors and fellow cadets alike, studying constantly and retaining a great deal of information. After the war he even spent a short ammount of time as an instructor and developed a "think or sink" reputation amongst the cadets.
-Zhan is a masterful beguiler/deciever, yet he doesn't enjoy card games,or most other games that one ganbles over. Finding them to be tasteless. He instead prefers strategy games such as chess and go.

Notes: First ship Cook was stationed on was Gònghéguó, his first command was Shìyè.

[Chanlin]

You also have to account for passenger capacity on ships too. Not everyone has to stay in crew quarters. Also keep in mind the Crew number in the stats is the minimum number of crew needed to run the ship, not the max. The number of crew quarters listed are also all double cabins unless otherwise stated.

So any of the ships with a Crew of 3 and at least 3 crew cabins would work.

[Exile]

Another possibility is the ship from "Freedom's Flight" chapter 2 of Serenity Adventures from the table top RPG. I don't know if you've read that Jay but Xi Wang Black and his "Sift Justice Bounty Hunters" were double crossed by Corporal Rejovic on Perdition when a crew (the PCs if one runs it) causes a prison break and steal the ship. Who's to say afterwards that afterwards they didn't decide that a flashy looking one-of-a-kind hot vehicle was too much trouble and turned it in for a reward or sold it and it didn't end up in our crew's possession? Maybe through government auction or once again altered to resell it buy a less than reputable dealer? It's a nice ship, pricey to upkeep forcing us to stay busy and has a floor plan. It also resembles a backwards Bird of Prey based on the floorplan funnily enough.

Another possibility that could get us into plenty of trouble is an Alliance confiscated and refitted "Lady Pirate" which one might know from the Serenity RPG main rulebook as being former Independent blockade runners. Plenty of hijinks to ensue when diehard Browncoats see us "Purple Bellies" running around in what was once a proud Independent military ship.

Keep in mind that while these ships mentioned currently have weapons that doesn't mean that they would by the time we get them. (Especially if the go through Alliance military first.)

Also decommisioned Alliance military vehicles refitted for civilian use are also possibilities.

Food for thought.

[Exile]

Note on the ship, I didn't find anything that I liked that worked with our current crew count. Even then I started to come up with a design. I'm trying to get it on paper but I am having problems. If only I'd paid more attention in that Auto-CADD class... Unless you all want a detailed description until the I'd suggest someone else decide on a ship honestly.

[Chanlin]

Exile, your version of how Tucker came to be on the ship works for me

As to ship names I like:

Dan Li
Deucalion
The Ally

[Exile]

I think we should all look into possibilites for what ship to use, I have myself an will later post some suggestions once I am done compiling all of them.
As to the ship's name I have a couple of suggestions;
Dān lì, (translated from Endeavour, Captain James Cook's first command http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cook)
Astroner (or some variation adding an adjective) (sci-fi update to one of the most common ship names of Earth-That-Was)
The Ally (a reference to Alliance origins and also a friendly name to put people at ease)
Deucalion (the name of Prometheus' son, Prometheus here refering to the ark ship that settled Burnadette my character's homeworld)
The Illustrious (ok I might be spitballing here)
Josselyn (feminisation of the series creator's name, definitely spitballing now)

Anyone else got any ideas post them.

[Exile]

Something to bear in mind-- personnel records and archives and whatnot are not going to be so easy to get into for ex-military guys like Zhan. Even if he left on his own terms, his access to records would have been terminated. Calling in favors with people who still have that access only goes so far.

I'd argue that's half true. The information as to why he was discharged would be available. The rest however wouldn't be readily available, however some information that would give leads to follow would. Who his CO, next of kin could easily be found, and not everything is classified, and eventually things deemed unimportant become declassified. Yes it would take a lot of legwork, but in an age with an interplanetary internet and illegal broadcast points like Mr. Universe's it's not impossible to get that information, just depends on how bad you want it. In the end it is up to you how much Zhan could find out, but I ask that you not dismiss it out of hand. After all, it could add an interesting layer to interelations between our characters.

[Jay 2K Winger]

if you send me an email I have copies of the PDFs of the source books, and a few extras...exile and I were in a game here in town few years ago.

I have copies of them, too, I just don't have access to them easily here at work. I have to find a way to get them somewhere I can d/l them on the network here. (Google Drive and most other file-sharing sites like that are blocked here at work.)

[Sarlon]

oh...any kinda background check on Sama, will reveal just a few minor warnings, mostly bored mischief while in port with parents. nothing more serious then being in the wrong place/off limits.

[Sarlon]

if you send me an email I have copies of the PDFs of the source books, and a few extras...exile and I were in a game here in town few years ago.

[Jay 2K Winger]

We'll probably begin later this week. Still waiting to see if we'll pick up at least one other player, preferably a gun-hand or something. We can skip an official 'first mate' role, for now, perhaps. Figure that out later.

Exile-- I like the Mercy Laser. (And yeah, I'll probably simplify things for me and just call it by that name.) Good choice, and well thought out, its settings and drawbacks.

Something to bear in mind-- personnel records and archives and whatnot are not going to be so easy to get into for ex-military guys like Zhan. Even if he left on his own terms, his access to records would have been terminated. Calling in favors with people who still have that access only goes so far.

I'll need to reacquire my Firefly sourcebooks to refresh on the ship types, I seem to have misplaced my PDFs for them.

If we haven't gotten any other bites from interested parties by next Sunday, I'll throw up a quick gun-hand type to fill the role.

[Exile]

I figure Webb is on the ship for one of a few reasons:

1: Saw Cook was in need of a pilot, recognized the name as someone who had a reputation in the Alliance for being a "good man."

2: Cook being in need of a Pilot heard about Webb and recognized Webb's name and sought him out.

3: Webb being in need of work saw Cook advertising for need of a Pilot and won out the job by impressing cook with his skills. Neither really recognizes the other, but they recognize the demeanor of a former alliance military man in one another.

Unless Exile has an objection I'ma go with option 3 for Webb. As in: Webb got the job as Pilot by answering a help wanted ad. Webb and Cook recognize the military bearing/lifestyle in one another but don't really recognize the other.

With that being the case we still need to settle on ship type and name, unless that has been decided and I just missed it

While I wouldn't normally have a problem with option three, there is one problem. Being former military, and an officer no less, Zhan would likely do a background check, spotting him as military and the likelihood of the CO leaving out that no Independent soldiers were killed on the ship Captain Cook would only see an insubordinate unless he had a reason to dig further after the initial report. As a result it seems more likely that Zhānmǔsī would have known of Tucker being a pilot who came from a long like of military men who uncharacteristically deserted. Having heard he was now looking for work he would check into his background and the circumstances involved. Finding he was dishonorably discharged and finding it suspect he would look more into the exact nature of his insubordination. Finding that it was based on an unwillingness to fire on a civilian vessel and Cook's background in disaster relief and reconstruction beliefs would find him an optimal pilot to suit his needs. He would then place an ad on the planet where "Spider" was currently residing and wait for him to answer. In order to keep him at ease he would never admit that he knows about his discharge or desertion and never mention it, feigning ignorance if Webber ever came clean about it.

[Exile]

Ok. I'm going to be spending what spare time I have today to reply to what I have left unanswered and repost what I can remember of what had been posted before. If all goes according to plan you all will probably be tired of reading my posts by the end of the day, but at least I'll have caught back up.

First thing is one I had posted but never made it onto the page; the laser pistol. This was all made up by me as there is very little official material on lasers. (Really just Rance Burgess' and The Lassiter.)

Cíbēi jīguāng MSMPL-X1 was a design brought to the Alliance that was supposed to meet every need the government could have for a weapon. It had four settings; a standard laser pulse that delivered a dealy laser but would only stay on for a fraction of a second, designed to kill targets and conserve energy, a cutting setting that delivered the same laser blast but would stay on as long as the trigger was held, it could be used to cut through armor but drained battery quickly, and a heat setting that diffused the laser into a slightly wider beam that could cause heat flashes and sudden dehydration or even unconciousness in living targets or heat metal causing it to cause burns to flesh touching it or melt plastic. Due to expense of the creation only one was made.

The manual was considered too much to introduce to veteran soldiers when adequate weapons already existed with which they were already proficient and the top brass didn't want to add it to basic training for similar reasons. The cutting setting was considered a potential unneeded expense due to the battery drain and once again the brass didn't like it due to the added danger of giving a potential anti-armor weapon to the every rank and file soldier. Finally the heat setting's affects in field tests was considered too unreliable as many effects could be stalled by overhydrating before an attack and prolonged exposure could cause death similar to fire burns which had long been banned since the Geneva Convention of Earth-That-Was. As such it was not considered for further reevaluation and never put into any further production. (Which is a shame because making it a pulse-only weapon could have solved all of those problems and in the long run made it the most energy-efficient laser weapon to date.)

High density batteries are not prohibitively expensive from what I have read also, and considering their potential use in other technologies would likely not even be a controlled product. It would make more sense for the government to control the flow of the weapons themselves and the weapon specific circuitry rather than the versatile power supplies. Also, if anyone's interested Cíbēi jīguāng means "Mercy Laser" according to the all-knowing oracle Google. MSMPL-X1 means Multi-Setting Military and Police Laser-Experimental design 1.

[Exile]

Ok, I'm apparently back. Thank you everyone who spoke out for me. I wish the mods would return my posts because I don't remember them word for word but at least I can get back on. Sorry I haven't been following the thread for a few days but I should be able to catch up soon. Currently though I have a barbeque, so I'll get back to you. Thanks again and see you all soon.