Lets Play - Falcon 5: The Dying Sun

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 11:26 am

Thirded.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 2:31 pm

You type in the course co-ordinates, A few seconds pass and then the computer flashes up a message on the screen:

COURSE CHANGE INITIATED

DESTINATION: M43 star cluster ETA: 500 years

Sending the ship around a sun will enable it to utilise the sun's gravity to increase the speed of the ship in a 'Slingshot' effect. Sending it through two suns causes a 'double slingshot', enough power to accelerate the ship to the required speed without using up any more fuel. You have saved the Ark and probably the Federation. Breathing a sigh of relief, you race back to the storage hold and to Falcon's Wing. Quickly you instruct CAIN to set course for the Eiger Vault in 3034 AD, before the Ark takes you out of the timehole. Falcon's Wing fades into the grey nothingness of null-space. You are on your way home. During the journey you may lie in your Autodoc and regain up to 12 points of lost Endurance.

Falcon's Wing rematerialises in its bay at the Eiger Vault. You step out and catch the hovrail to the centre of Alpolis and your office in the TIME building. Sitting in the hovrail car, the breathtaking panorama of the sprawling mega-city is spread below you. You are high above the city. After a half hour you arrive at the Alpolis terminus. From here you will have to take a lift to one of the lower levels and take a city hovrail car to the TIME building. Much to your disgust you find that the lift has just broken down. You will have to take the stairs.

138
You descend the stairway. It is dirty and unused. Soon you arrive at a stairwell, surrounded by a chest-high wall that is open to the air. The view is dramatic, all around you tower the many buildings of Alpolis. To your left a thin Maintenance Droid walkway arcs through the air to the hovambulance landing tower on one of the city's hospitals - its highest peak. To the right stretches a hovcar landing park. Beyond it lies a hovrail terminal from which a monorail curves slowly down to the lower levels, supported by huge stanchions that disappear into the bustling city below. A hundred feet above your head a hovrail car hums past, following another monorail that spans the whole length of Alpolis. Straight ahead of you, about fifty feet up, is the highest flyover in Alpolis, Highway 1232. Ground cars race along it and pedestrians, mostly sightseers, amble along its edges. It is supported by massive pillars, ringed all the way down by many floors, bearing restaurants, shops, offices and so on. Some are open to the sky, others are encased in glass, glittering brightly in the sun. From the nearest stanchion one of the city's communication towers rises up above Highway 1232. Looking down you can see hovcars floating through the air, the whole scene criss-crossed with monorails and highways, descending in many levels to the bottom of the city, where the low-lifers live. It is a beautiful sight. But this is, of course, the wealthy end of the city, elsewhere it is not so pretty or so clean and well developed.

Suddenly there is a flash of ruby light and a laser shot drills into the concrete by your foot with a flash of incandescent heat. You are shocked out of your reverie in an instant. Someone is trying to kill you, no doubt a CYBERNET assassin sent by Yelov. Will you:
Duck down and stay where you are, so you can find out where your would-be assassin is?
Run down the stairs?
Leap over the wall and try to find cover behind one of the hovcars in the hovcar park?
Climb onto the Maintenance Droid walkway and duck down behind the stairwell wall?

(There is a picture here)

(This again, but people might want to try something else this time.)

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 7:42 pm

Thal. Tags.

And duck.

Pariah Dog · Post by **Pariah Dog** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 12:22 am

Ok so I'm not the only one seeing his post squished then.

Shot seems to imply the sniper has the high ground so the chest high walls MIGHT work. Running into the open is what they want so they can pick us off. IIRC from last time we were here theres a guy with a lascannon coming up the stairs. Climbing might work but we don't have the auto win with the grapplepoon anymore.

My money is on climbing up.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 1:12 am

Hide behind hovcars.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Sun Mar 18, 2018 1:34 am

Change vote to climb to break the tie.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Sun Mar 18, 2018 10:05 am

178
You slither over the wall as quickly as you can as another laser- shot drills into the wall beside you. The maintenance walkway is only five feet wide; looking down fills you with vertigo. Carefully you peer over the edge of the wall. A flash of light catches your eye up in the Communication Tower on Highway 1232. It is a reflection off a laser rifle. You can see your assassin but it is too far to make out his features. Unfortunately, he is out of effective range of your plasma pistol. It is also too far to target a hunter/seeker, if you have one. The man in the Tower fires again and you duck down, the laser beam boring into the wall. Suddenly there is an explosion and the stairwell is filled with a blinding flash. You recognise the effects of a portable laser cannon. You can hear the sound of pounding footsteps, another man is running up the stairs, presumably the wielder of the laser cannon. If you have a harpoon/grapple gun and wish to use it, turn to 188. Otherwise will you:

Stay where you are?
Run across the maintenance walkway to the hospital?
Stand up and use your blaster on the man running up the stairs?

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Sun Mar 18, 2018 10:37 am

RUN FOR IT

Pariah Dog · Post by **Pariah Dog** » Sun Mar 18, 2018 6:29 pm

Agree with Omegon. Staying makes us bait for the Lascannon. Standing up to shoot the Lascannoneer makes us an easy target for the sniper.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 3:37 am

You dash out across the walkway, not daring to look down. Then a loud roaring fills your ears.To your left, swooping down towards you, is a jetcopter. Mounted on one side is a pulse laser, illegal of course. The jetcopter is plain and unmarked, also illegal. It almost certainly belongs to CYBERNET - only they have the resources to deploy such equipment. A wave of panic washes over you as you realise it is going to attack and that you are in a very exposed position. The pulse laser spits a spray of energy shells at you. Make a Chance Roll.
If you score 2-6...1 and 1, so:

An energy pulse explodes into your shoulder with a flash. You are hurled backwards off the walkway to plummet helplessly to the ground far below. At least your death will be instantaneous.

Re-roll, or try something else?

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 7:14 am

Nothing's changed. If we stay put they won't stop shooting until they see the body. Reroll.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 11:30 am

Keep moving.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 2:29 pm

You dash out across the walkway, not daring to look down. Then a loud roaring fills your ears.To your left, swooping down towards you, is a jetcopter. Mounted on one side is a pulse laser, illegal of course. The jetcopter is plain and unmarked, also illegal. It almost certainly belongs to CYBERNET - only they have the resources to deploy such equipment. A wave of panic washes over you as you realise it is going to attack and that you are in a very exposed position. The pulse laser spits a spray of energy shells at you. Make a Chance Roll.
If you score 2-6...5 and 6, so:

250
All you can do is continue on and hope for the best. Incredibly you are not hit and the jetcopter sweeps past above you. You make it to the hospital ambulance tower. To your left, a ladder leads up to the ambulance landing pad - directly in front of you is a skylight. You can hear the wail of a Citpol jetcopter siren, the Enforcers are arriving at last. But the CYBERNET jetcopter is wheeling in for another attack run. Will you:

Dive through the skylight?
Open fire with your plasma pistol?

Pariah Dog · Post by **Pariah Dog** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 6:01 pm

Well, figures, why send a sniper and a guy with a piece of portable artillery when you can send both AND an attack chopper.

Pull a Batman and go through the skylight.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 7:23 pm

Dive into the light - if our pocket piece was good for taking out attack helicopters that would've been mentioned by now.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 3:34 am

The jetcopter swoops in, pumping energy pulses at you. Make an Evasion Roll, as you smash through the skylight.

If you score 2-6...1 and 5 (+1), so:

You are hit in the thigh as the skylight shatters around you Your clothes protect you from the glass, but not from the energy pulse. Lose 8 Endurance points. You crash into a clean white corridor of the hospital. A medtech orderly stares at you in astonishment. You get to your feet, saying, TIME police Where's the nearest holophone?' flashing him your identity card. He points wordlessly down the corridor at a door. You dash through it into an office filled with several computer banks - a records office. Using the holophone, you place a call to the TIME building, ordering a security hovcar to come and pick you up. Then you call Citpol, informing them of the situation Bureaucratic procedure requires for a full report but you can leave that until Yelov is caught. Your wound will also have to wait, even though you are in a hospital. Citpol will be handling the CYBERNET team by now and you make your way to the hospital reception area. It is not long before you are back in the High Security wing of the TIME building.

You breathe a sigh of relief when the plexiform couch in your office moulds around your form. If you are wounded, you order 3 TIME medtech orderly to apply some field first aid to your wound, whilst you call your secretary, Ameena, for an update on the current situation. If you were wounded you may restore up to 2 lost Endurance points.

A report on the polybdenum raid is flashed up on the screen for you. It seems that Dark Star and her pet led a team of CYBERNET agents on a raid about an hour ago. Dark Star used her teleportation powers to break into the warehouse, despite extensive security. About twenty CYBERNET agents, ex- tensively equipped and well trained, an elite squad, raced into the warehouse. The Enforcer squad were overwhelmed and a battle ensued between the Dark Star and agents Sparrowhawk and Leopard. Leopard began to get the upper hand, stunning her pet, but the Dark Star teleported behind Leopard and blew his leg away. Leopard is currently undergoing repairs and will be operational again very soon, once his new bionic leg has been fitted. Sparrowhawk reports that she launched a powerful mental attack, but was repulsed by strong psychic defences. Interestingly, Leopard has left an unofficial message for you in which he says he felt Sparrowhawk did not try hard enough with the Dark Star. However, the official Enforcer report states she was responsible for getting several of their men out of the warehouse alive, and that she caused many casualties among the CYBERNET team. However, the survivors escaped with 24 rods of polybdenum. Note down that the polybdenum raid was successful.

A report flashes up on your screen. Chameleon and Cobra arrived in 1194 BC at the siege of Troy. There was much fighting outside the city between the bronze clad, spear wielding Achaeans and Trojans. Chameleon and Cobra, dressed Achaean warriors, wandered the battlefield in search of the cause of the timehole disturbance. They were attacked by the Symbiont who used his mental Ego Whip on Chameleon. He fell to the ground, temporarily paralysed from the intense mental agony. The Symbiont tried the same on Cobra but he was able to shrug the attack off. The Cobra proceeded to take the Symbiont 'apart', (his own words) and was soon chasing him about the battlefield of Troy. Chameleon is able to verify this. However, eventually the Symbiont was able to escape in a Time Machine which Chameleon was able to recognise as Yelov's. It seems Yelov has trained the Symbiont to use it. Chameleon is currently staying overnight in hospital for rest. He is a little shaken by his experience, but is very resilient and should be fit for action tomorrow. The report ends.

There is nothing else you can do for now, so you decide to get some rest, as night falls over the city of Alpolis. You lie back in your plexiform couch and soon you are asleep. At dawn you are awakened by the sound of your holovid bleeping insistently. You may restore 1 point of Endurance for your rest if you have lost any. Accepting the call, you see that it is Po-Ling, looking bleary eyed and sleepy. 'Something just came in, Section Chief. Yelov has been sighted on Sirius Secundus, his homeworld. That's all we know. Goodbye.' You are taken aback by Po-Ling's unusual taciturnity, he is usually irritatingly verbose. Anyway, his news is momentous. It would not be fair to send any of your agents to deal with such a deadly opponent as Yelov alone. In any case, it is almost a personal duel between the two of you after all this time. The driving force behind Yelov's insane behaviour is his single- minded desire to kill you. Indeed, he has tried destroying the whole Federation just to achieve that one goal before now. You decide you will have to go to Sirius and decide to send Leopard and Sparrowhawk on ahead. She is a Siriun and her contacts may prove useful. You take a shower and ready yourself for the trip. You may take any item from your list given in paragraph 100, but not any you may have already used, nor may you carry more than three.

Losing no time you board a strato-cruiser at the Alpolis Stardome that will deliver you to the Calgary spaceport within thirty minutes. You commandeer the pilot's holovid and open a link to Agent Sparrowhawk who, with Agent Leopard, is awaiting your orders at the spaceport. She looks fit and alert and seems pleased when you tell her that they are to fly to Sirius Secundus, her homeworld, on the nearest available nava cruiser, without waiting for you to arrive. 'We can leave a message for you at the alien immunisation centre,' says Sparrowhawk.

'I would prefer not to have to observe customs formalities,' you reply but Sparrowhawk replies that even she cannot arrange for you to be treated as a Siriun.

The Siriuns are a fiercely independent lot who are unlikely to make things straightforward for you, but you order Sparrow- hawk to arrange a meeting with the Siriun Enforcement Agency who have been alerted about Yelov, then fall to remembering your most recent encounters with the insane Siriun who was once your boss.

Soon after landing at the wide open glasteel expanse of the starport on Sirius Secundus, you are waiting in a long queue of merchants and trippers, mostly Earther stock, although directly behind you are two Clyss, tall insectoids from Cygnus Alpha 3. You are waiting to be cleared for contact with the Siriun population. As the line shuffles slowly forward, you find yourself blaming Sparrowhawk for the delay, though in all probability she could have done nothing to speed you on your way. At last the spaceport's Deputy Commander strides up to you, apologising profusely for the breach of etiquette that has kept you waiting. Agidy Yelov has brought disgrace to the Siriun race, but you can tell that there is an irrational resentment towards you as if his criminal doings were in some way your fault. At last your ID has been checked and you are hovcarred to the immunisation block.

You walk through an airlock into the spaceport's immunisation block where a smiling Siriun medtech gives you an appro- priately sized pill to place in each of your bodily orifices. Then she politely asks you to remove all articles of clothing which she then places inside a sterilisation chamber telling you that they will be returned to you on the other side of the gas chamber. This is standard procedure when visiting Sirius Secundus so you step into the chamber. Inside the sterilisation dome all foreign microbes on your skin and in your guts will be killed so that you do not bring a crippling offworlder disease to the population of Sirius Secundus.

337
As you walk into the chamber which is in fact a small white dome, your body is sluiced in jets of water. Next, there is a spoken command to close your eyes, which you do, followed by a flash that glows white even through your closed eyelids. When you open them you see that the outer layer of your skin has turned to a fine powdery white ash. You are sluiced once more and then the dome begins to fill with gas which is intended to sterilise your lungs. You detect the unpleasant smell of ammonia. Will you:

Run back to the Siriun medtech to ask if there is some mistake?
Inhale lightly and wait for the signal to proceed?

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 4:01 am

They did say we were being way the fuck too sterilised instead of just made to wear a HAZMAT suit for the duration of our stay. Sniff and hope it isn't an instadeath.

It's so heavily foreshadowed that one of Sparrowhawk or Leopard is a traitor that it'd actually be an interesting subversion for them both to just be fuckups.

Pariah Dog · Post by **Pariah Dog** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 5:00 am

My money is on the gas being a trap. If someone else wants to vote nope the fuck out, I'll go with that. Otherwise huff ammonia and die.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:28 am

Better be safe than sorry. Run.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 1:01 pm

347
You bolt out of the sterilisation dome like a scared rabbit and the Siriun medtech looks up enquiringly. 'Is something the matter?' she asks. You explain that you thought you smelt ammonia and that this is harmful to humans. She clicks her tongue reprovingly and tells you not to be so silly. 'I am well aware which gases are noxious to Earther stock. Have you taken your pills?' You reply that you have. Will you:
Enter the dome once more?
Wait for half an hour while the gas cylinders are checked?

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 3:47 pm

If we're going to make a scene, we'd best commit to making a scene. Have the canisters checked.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 4:21 pm

Safety first!

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 3:15 am

377
You settle down to wait and are taken by surprise when a door opens suddenly behind the medtech. A Siriun wearing a black unisuit bursts into the room and shoots you in the side with a laser pistol. Lose 10 Endurance points as you instinctively dive for cover. If you are still alive, will you:

Thinkstrike him?
Use your Powers of Will on the medtech?

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 3:37 am

Thinkstrike, I don't think the medtech will be much use here.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 6:59 am

Agreed.