Author's Note: Corporate Affairs is the name given to the version of The Forge that my friend and I created together. This game, Middle Management, is a solo journal for the character Bingo that I generated using this universe as its basis. More details on both can be found here.
Behind the scenes, I generated a new sector called Morien Limits in the Terminus region.
Memorandum of Assignment
From: Senior Acquisitor Manga
To: Acquisitor Kobayashi
Assignment: Extract SVI Operative Trelaney Erendal (callsign "Casablanca") from Raider mobile fleet Rampart
Priority: Immediate and Necessary. Failure to act in a timely manner could result in unintended death, for which SVI and its associates are not responsible.
"If the company has an operative inside of a scumhole like Rampart, they must be getting prepared to take some action. I’m more worried about the company’s reaction than the raiders. They won't hesitate to blow me up if I don't get out fast enough," Bingo thought to himself.
He sat in the cockpit of his Silver Veil, Incorporated transport vessel, serial number 8L7K-CH3K, or "Blank Check" as Bingo thought as a joke to himself sometimes.
He was reviewing the file that had been given to him at Utopia, the secret underwater SVI base on the ocean planet Dead Sea, so named to prevent others from seeking the water and other resources from the planet. According to her file, Trelaney was an expert in infiltrating organizations by proving her usefulness to them and ingratiating herself into the processes. "A real pretender, this one. Maybe I can learn a thing or two."
Bingo flipped through the files on his commpad and watched the fuel gauge on the Eidolon drive as it ran. Soon he would be in view of Rampart, or at least its last reported location. He accessed the file on Rampart, remembering now that the settlement itself was a slow-moving fleet of stolen starships from different corporations all across The Forge. No doubt there were SVI and her downtrace companies’ assets within their fleet, and this had been the driving force behind SVI choosing to take action.
The E-drive sounded a warning beep, letting Bingo know that the ship would soon be entering real space. The transport vessel’s dumb AI, Ashkelon, made an appearance on the dashboard’s holol. A pseudo-emotionless emoticon, the voice came from a speaker while the facial expressions reported back with a smile, “Entering realspace now, no problems detected with transport vessels subsystems.”
Move: Undertake an Expedition (Journey to Rampart - Dangerous Rank)
1d6+wits(3) = 6 versus 10 / 3, Weak Hit.
Waypoint Reached
Suffer Move: Withstand Damage (-2)
1d6+integrity(4) = 8 versus 9 / 5, Weak Hit.
Burn 1 Momentum in exchange for 1 Integrity
Oracle: Space Sighting = Mineral Asteroid Field
A resounding THUMP occurred the moment that the ship dropped out of FTL, and Askelon’s face dropped into a frown as she spoke, “Collision detected. Subroutines indicate operator error”
“Blasted AI,” Bingo thought, “As if this could be my fault.”
Bingo tapped a few buttons on the control console to steer the ship clear of the visible larger asteroids but soon found that they had landed in real space near the outer edges, and they were well clear, but there was no sign of Rampart in sight. Bingo sighed.
“Ashkelon, assess where we are,” he said as he consulted the star charts. Following in the wake of a mobile fleet of raiders wasn’t going to be fun, but it was necessary.
“Long-range scan unavailable. However, bearing 37 by -51 at a distance of 48 kilometers reveals large amounts of faint traces of Eidolon radiation.”
“Good. Recharge the drive and head to that location. Determine what direction the ships jumped in and we will follow.”
Bingo fumed, worried that the damage to the ship might come out of his next paycheck but after a few moments of reflection decided to fill out an incident report now listing Ashkelon as the cause of the accident, thinking, “Better to get ahead of the problem now.”
Soon it was time to make the jump again.
Move: Undertake an Expedition
1d6+wits(3) = 6 versus 4 / 5, Strong Hit
Mark Progress.
The drop into realspace was much smoother this time. As the ship began to recharge the drive, Bingo did a reading for E-rads, and found that his vessel was seemingly swimming in a much larger pool. A thought crossed his mind, “If any of those ships are equipped with experimental FTL, it could trigger a balefire event if there are any problems with my Eidolon drive. Best that I hustle to catch up.”
Bingo broke out a Spogurt ration pack, a tube of nutrients labeled on the box as, “A delicious and healthy meal for spacers on the go!”
He squeezed the tube into his mouth and the taste was like licking plasteel. If it weren’t for the fact that Spogurt was a brand of SVI’s downtrace companies, he wouldn’t have bothered. Hopefully, it was at least nutritious. As he forced himself to down the meal, he punched numbers into the navigation system and stretched out for a nap. When he awakened, it was time for the next punch through E-space.
Move: Undertake an Expedition
1d6+wits(3) = 9 versus 4 / 1, Strong Hit.
Mark Progress.
Bingo was still drowsy from his nap and the harsh transition in spacetime, which facilitated the need for him to rub his eyes at what he saw now: a large ship cleaved nearly in two, perhaps by balefire. He squinted hard, analyzing the designs. From the shape and design, perhaps Taxcan Intergalactics.
Bingo moved the ship closer to the wreckage, listening for distress hails on all frequencies. Nobody was calling for help. As his SVI shuttle moved across the TI colony ship, Bingo had Ashkelon perform a sweep for lifeforms while he contemplated what to do.
Move: Explore a Waypoint:
1d6+wits(3) = 5 versus 1 / 1, Strong Hit with a Match.
Make a Discovery. Mark progress on Discoveries Legacy Track.
Person or lifeform with extraordinary abilities.
It was balefire that had done the ship in. Remnants of the storm flickered with red lightning where the ship’s experimental FTL drive had been.
Ashkelon’s avatar appeared on the dashboard, the face wearing a nurse’s cap. The AI’s scanners had detected signs of life, but Bingo was puzzled as the location was plotting in the void of space near the derelict. Still, he maneuvered the ship towards them and saw them: a person in an EVA suit frozen, motionless.
Bingo tapped some commands into the terminal, and the ship began to maneuver to open the airlock on the cargo bay to capture the body. Ashkelon appeared wearing a hardhat and Bingo heard the loud metallic sound of the airlock closing, indicating that he had received the cargo. He reactivated the artificial gravity and wheeled a medcart to the cargo bay.
Bingo found the person on the floor of the cargo bay, still apparently frozen, and picked them up and put them on the medcart, wheeling them to the medical suite of the vessel. Though he was only equipped with bare facilities, Bingo thought that he may be able to thaw the person out and monitor their lifesigns. Any help was better than no help.
Bingo studied the suit. It was, as he thought, a Taxcan Intergalactics suit. He mused to himself about their end-user license agreements, wondering if they had a clause about dying and being revived. If not, then this person had just become the property of SVI and its subsidies. At any rate, they could charge Taxcan for the effort and litigate about it in court. Perhaps a bonus was in order for himself, if he could get Senior Acquisitor Manga to agree.
He hooked the EVA up to the medical suite, remembering that if he tried to remove the suit now he may end up taking chunks of the person inside with them. It would take time for them to thaw out, time that he didn’t have. He left the person in the medical suite and returned to the cockpit. He made a note about the coordinates, approximating his location as best as he could given the jumps between known locations.
He realized that it was time for the next jump. He steered well clear of the balefire rift and jumped to follow the path of the Rampart raider fleet.
Move: Undertake an Expedition
1d6+wits(3) = 6 versus 1 / 10, Weak Hit
Mark Progress, Envision a Peril
A warning klaxon played, and Ashkelon appeared, a look of distress on the emoticon’s face. Bingo felt himself floating in his seat as if the -
“Warning, multiple susbsytem failures. Fuel lines frozen, grav generator frozen, eidolon drive frozen.”
“Cease your useless chattering,” Bingo said to the AI, fearing a hul breach and throwing on an EVA suit with air tanks and floating the length of the ship. Moisture was beginning to collect on the sides of the hallway, but there was still pressure in the ship. Bingo followed the signs of the cold, which led him to the medical suite door, shut and frozen solid.
Bingo cleared the fog away from the viewport and saw inside a naked woman on the opposite side of the door, attempting to open the frozen door herself. The look on her face was one of shock, terror, and confusion. The door would not budge.
“Miss,” Bingo said, “Everything is going to be okay. Try to control your breathing, you will run out of air in there.”
Bingo watched as the woman backed away, not listening to his advice as her breathing was still erratic, causing her chest to rise and fall rapidly. As she collapsed to the medical suite’s bed, Bingo saw in the flooring a swirling, shimmering vortex of black and red that seemed to be set in the floor. The woman still heaved on the bed, tears now forming on her face and freezing.
The gears turned in Bingo’s head, “The balefires…this woman is touched. Gifted. Profitable.”
He activated the speakerphone on the outside, speaking to her in the medical suite, attempting to calm the woman down.
Move: Compel
1d6+heart(1) = 6 versus 8 / 10, Miss
Pay the Price: The most obvious consequence is that cargo is damaged or lost.
-1 supply
The ship shuddered, and the swirling vortex disappeared below the deck, passing into the cargo area and leaving no sign that it had ever been there. Bingo panicked, making his way to the cargo area by pulling himself along handholds and down the ladder to the airlock, where it opened with no difficulty. The orb had passed through here, the signs of its passage reflecting in frozen and shattered boxes and containers. Bingo canvassed, searching for signs of the vortex orb but found nothing, not even a sign that it had passed through the ceiling above or passed through the outer deck below.
Bingo returned to the medical suite door, grabbing a repair torch from its dock and moving to defrost the door. It was difficult in zero-g, but nothing that he was incapable of doing. Soon, the door popped open and Bingo was able to enter. His new guest was hovering in a circle over the bed, still naked and with her head in her hands, curled up in a bit of the fetal position.
“Er, Miss?” Bingo inquired, “Could I get you some clothes? I imagine that you’re quite cold, with all of this…unpleasantness.”
“Unpleasantness? Unpleasantness? That’s what you call being left for dead and becoming a freak?!!” the woman shrieked, throwing her arms to the side as she wailed.
Bingo floated silently, unable to process how to respond. He moved to the closet and withdrew a white blanket, bringing it to the guest and offering it to her folded.
She huffed and took it, opening it up and throwing it over her shoulders, returning Bingo’s silence.
“I will leave you alone. You appear to need some time. I have to check on the status of some of the ship’s subsystems, to make sure that they weren’t damaged just now. You can reach me via the shipwide intercom, here.” he gestured at the wall.
The woman looked up, “Thanks.”
“My name is Curtis Koboyashi, but you can call me Bingo.”
“Tara,” she said sullenly.
Bingo withdrew and checked on the damaged subsystems. They appeared to be fine, just needing some time for heat to take care of the cold. After this was done, and the lost cargo catalogued, Bingo returned.
“Are you an employee of Taxcan Intergalactic?” Bingo inquired, “That is who the ship that I recovered your body from was affiliated with. I don’t believe anybody else survived.”
Tara spoke, “No, I wasn’t an employee. I was an end-user. Forced to do research there on their deep space station Ferrous.”
“Oh, how fortunate!” Bingo exclaimed excitedly before realizing what he was saying, “Your contract likely expired upon death! Congratulations on achieveing freedom!”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Tara asked, “Just leave me alone.”
“Very well, Miss Tara. More clothing can be found in the cargo bay. I will continue on my course.”
Bingo departed the room, completely un-self aware at his behavior and the information that he was missing out on, having alienated his guest. “Ashkelon, status update on subsystems, if you please,” he said, making his way down the corridor.
“Systems returning to previous state. Jump-ready in approximately 2 hours.
The grav-drive dethawed shortly after returning to the cockpit, but Bingo had secured himself into his chair already, “Company won’t reimburse my estate in the event that I die while not using proper safety protocols.”
He sat staring at the void of space, wondering how best to proceed. A new passenger could complicate things, especially given her status as touched by the balefire. He began to type a report for the company, but saved it as a local draft on his commpad instead of sending it. He found the wake of E-rads and charted a course to follow, hoping that they would arrive soon.
Move: Undertake an Expedition
1d6+wits(3) = 5 versus 6 / 1, Weak Hit
Mark Progress.
Suffer Move: Endure Stress (-1)
1d6+spirit(4) = 5 versus 8 / 1, Weak Hit.
Exchange 1 momentum for 1 spirit.
Suffer Move: Lose Momentum.
Move: Finish an Expedition
10 progress versus 4 / 10, Weak Hit
Mark 1 tick on Discovery legacies
Reach a Milestone: Extract Casablanca
The vessel shuddered as it reentered realspace. Before Bingo floated a massive fleet, hundreds of ships ranging from the size of a shuttle all the way to a captured Taxcan dreadnought class. They hadn’t seemed to notice him, perhaps his arrival had been cloaked by the E-rad and other experimental FTL wakes.
Bingo was suddenly aware that his mission was vulnerable; he had no idea how he was going to infiltrate the massive fleet in front of him, there was a desperate stranger in his medical suite, and worst of all, he had no real plan.
Bingo unbuckled his seatbelt, telling Ashkelon, “Just sort of keep pace. Don’t respond to hails or pings without me.” The emoticon mocked a salute with an oval-shaped hand rising up.
Bingo walked down the main corridor to the medical suite, looking for Tara. She wasn’t in there, so he began searching the ship for her, finding her in the galley, empty ration wrappers on the table and a Spogurt tube in her mouth.
“This tastes like shit, but I’m so hungry,” she said to him. She had on an overly large Dimedon logo jacket, having intentionally not activated the fitting seals on it.
“Spogurt, it’s delicious and nutritious! Everything that a spacer needs!” Bingo said, doing his best to imitate the advertisements both in an attempt to make a joke and for the onboard microphones that he was sure were around.
Tara smiled unsurely, the first time that Bingo had seen her do so.
“If you would like to talk about what happened, I would like to know more about the fleet of raiders that attacked your ship,” he said, taking a position near the cooking counter, “I will make us some hot tea, it will make you feel better.”
Move: Secure an Advantage
1d6+heart(1) = 4 versus 9 / 5, Miss.
Pay the Price: Most obvious negative outcome is that Tara doesn’t want to talk
“No thanks,” she said, a frown forming on her face, “To the tea or to the talking.”
“Please, Miss,” Bingo pleaded, “I’m about to have to take action against that fleet. We are in their wake right now. My company is preparing to take adverse action against them, I assure you that there will be retribution, and if you would tell me what you know, it can affect the outcome of their strike. Besides that, I feel a sense of duty outside of my sworn capacities as an Acquisitor to help you.”
Move: Make a Connection
1d6+heart(1) = 5 versus 4 / 6, Weak Hit.
+1 momentum, Rank = Dangerous, Envision what they reveal or demand
Tara sighed, “Okay. I guess you’re the best bet that I have, for now. I was onboard the Ferrous as a researcher. Experimental FTL drives, like the ones that brought humanity to The Forge but even more advanced. More frequency, more amplitude, less tears and chances for balefire. We were attempting to make a longer, faster jump by folding the spacetime blanket up when the FTL drive blew, spawned a mini black hole in the engine room. I had volunteered to take care of it, attempting to contain it. I almost had it, but that was when that fleet of raiding ships dropped out of E-space. I don’t know what happened to everyone else. Maybe they were killed, captured, whatever. There was an explosion and the bulkhead ruptured, and I was exposed to the black hole and space before I passed out from lack of oxygen. Then you found me, I guess.”
Bingo dipped his teabag into a mug of hot water, steeping a cup for himself, “Well, the scans didn’t detect any lifeforms, but they could have been captured by the raiders. Is there anyone close to you that I can look for when I infiltrate the raiders?”
“You’re going to do what??” Tara asked incredulously.
“My employers have contracted me to extract somebody within the raiders. I believe that after I do so, they will be sending a strike force to eliminate the threat and recover stolen property, or to at least deny it to the thieves. It’s pretty standard protocol, really,” Bingo blathered.
“Well, okay then…” Tara said, wheels inside her head visibly turning, “Well, there is one person from my team that I care about. His name is Levi but he calls himself “Wheeler,” on the Weave. If he’s in the fleet or captured or whatever, will you tell me?”
“Yes. You want to leave him there, so that he will be there when my company takes action? Is there anything else I should know?”
Tara seemed hesitant.
Move: Compel
1d6+heart (1) = 7 versus 9 / 10, Miss
Pay the Price: It seems like Bingo’s insistence in questioning calls for a Test Your Relationship move
Move: Test Your Relationship
1d6 + heart (1) = 6 versus 5 / 6, Weak Hit
Develop Your Relationship with a Demand or Complication
“You’re a persistent son of a bitch, aren’t you?” Tara asked, “What do you do? Which company is it that you work for?”
“I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to say,” Bingo replied, an almost default answer by him at this point. When she stared at him, unblinking, Bingo decided to break protocol, but only a little.
“Let’s just say that I’m not with Taxcan, and my skills are related to the…shall we say recovery and elimination of people.”
Tara’s eyes widened, “I knew it. You’re an inhumane killer. One of those Silver Veil freaks that they suck the heart out of, wind them up and point them after a target. Is that it?”
Something stirred within Bingo. Is that how she really thought of him?
“Those words,” Bingo stammered, “They…they wound me. I…never thought of myself that way. I’ve been with the company since before I was born. It’s all I know.”
He leaned against the counter and put his tea down, feeling disarmed and raw.
“Yes, I’ve killed people. Many people, but for the good of Silver Veil and the interests of humanity that they protect,” he said, defaulting back to protocol.
Tara stared at him, a look of concern on her face, “Well, in that case, I would like to take out a contract. If you see Wheeler, kill him. I’ll pay you and I’ll tell you why afterwards.”
Bingo retorted, “How can you say that my services are inhumane and then request them in the same breath?”
“Do you want the contract and reward, or not? Another success on your employee record?”
Bingo lifted the Black Iron necklace from under his uniform, emblazoned with the SVI logo, holding it aloft. “Very well. But I want half the payment up front. I swear I’ll kill Wheeler, but you have to tell me why first.”
Move: Swear a Vow
1d6+heart(1) +bounty hunter(1) +connection (1) = 8 versus 1 / 7, Strong HIt
Rank - Troublesome +1 Progress, +2 momentum
“He’s a spy. Embedded into Taxcan, likely an employee of Merprises, a rival FTL engine maker. And he was the last one I spotted on security logs accessing the engine room. He won’t be much trouble, he’s an old man.”
“As you wish,” Bingo said, downing the rest of his tea, feeling like he needed a relaxant drink, “Standard rate. Please input your chaincode into my commpad.”
Bingo presented his pad to her and she signed, a resounding cha-ching came soon after.
“Strange. I wasn’t expecting a Weave signal out here. I can use this.”
He connected to the network, dialing up Senior Acquisitor Manga and dumping his reports onto them.
He walked out of the kitchen, thinking that his stowaway should not be known to his boss.
The two connected, talking to each other via holo displays. Manga’s face floated above the commpad.
“Yes, what is it Mr. Kobayoshi?”
“Sir, I have a request. Rampart was not where we thought it would be. I have tailed them and am now in close proximity. Can you scan Casablanca’s embedded chip remotely using my sensors so that I can know what ship she is on?”
Move: Secure an Advantage
1d6+wits(3)+connection(1) = 5 versus 4 / 7, Weak Hit
Take +1 on your next move
Move: Gather Information
1d6+wits(3)+connection(1)+saa(1)= 6 versus 2 / 7, Weak Hit
+1 momentum, Envision what complication you find
Move: Reach a Milestone (Extract Weaver) +1 progress
“What? Yeah, I’m busy here just do it. You need anything else?”
Bingo, with permissions granted from SA Manga, was able to perform a covert scan of the fleet, finding that Casablanca was on a smaller vessel in the fleet, one with a permeable airlock that he could fly right into, if he was feeling adventurous.
“Yeah, one more thing boss. I need schematics on a Merprises Scuttlebug class ship, that’s where she is.”
Move: Secure an Advantage
1d6+wits(3)+connection(1)= 5 versus 3 / 9, Weak Hit
+2 momentum
“I don’t have time to sort. Here, find it yourself.”
A flood of Merprises schematics made its way to Bingo’s commpad downloads, “Thank you, sir. I will be going dark here soon. Wish me luck.”
Bingo hung up the phone before he annoyed his superior. Bingo sorted through the folder, throwing the schematics up on the dash after he had found them. He became lost in thought, looking for the best route. He didn’t even notice when Tara joined him in the cockpit.
“Merprise vessel huh?” she asked, looking at the floating holo schematics, “Think it’s a coincidence?”
Bingo thought about it for a moment. He wasn’t sure if he had ever contemplated the nature of circumstances and coincidence. He gave an answer, “Logically, no. We are following a causal chain. The raider fleet attacked your ship after it had been sabotaged. There was a ship in the raider fleet that happened to be stolen from Merprises. Corporations such as my own often steer raider fleets towards desirable targets as a form of proxy warfare. It’s plausible, likely, even, that Merprises engineered the attack on your ship, and that this Wheeler had a pickup arranged for himself. I don’t know how the Rampart fleet would have found your ship otherwise.”
Tara fiddled with the holoschematic silently, chewing on what Bingo said.
“I can feel that he’s in there. Make him pay,” she said, “I can help you here from the ship. What’s your ploy?”
Bingo answered, “I haven’t got it figured out just yet. A lie, undoubtedly. I have a surplus of relaxants on board. I’ll say that I’m making a delivery. Something about a boss, ignorance with a free reward is always a good excuse. I’ll find who I’m supposed to find, tell them about our bonus contract, we’ll carry it out together and then make it back here, signaling my boss that we’re free and clear.”
Tara raised her eyebrows, “Your plan is ‘wing it’?”
“Sometimes that’s the best that you can do,” Bingo said, “Now if you’ll excuse me I need to make some preparations.”
Move: End a Session
+1 Momentum
The next session will focus on facing the dangers and perils of entering a possibly corporate-backed raider ship to extract one person and kill another.
Love this.
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