Editing Last Voyage of Delilah, Episode 212: Mission/Creep

<br>
<span style="color:#800000"> '''''Trying out a new format. Not too keen on it. Sound file available on request.—Maer'''''</span><br><br><br>

''Air Date: 22 Oct 2014''<br>
''Present: Andy, Kim, Maer, Matt, and Terri''<br>
''Verse Dates:''<br>
*''Tuesday 31 Jul 2525 – Monday, 03 Sep 2525: Brisbane, Meridian''
*''Monday, 03 Sep 2525 – Wednesday, 05 Sep 2525: Travel to Yànwō, Fury''
*''Wednesday, 05 Sep 2525 – Friday, 07 Sep 2525: Yànwō, Fury''
*''Friday, 07 Sep 2525 – Sunday, 09 Sep 2525: Travel to Shepherd's Mission, Muir''
*''Sunday, 09 Sep 2525: Shepherd's Mission, Muir''<br><br><br>

For a definition of the term "mission creep" go [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_creep here]. I think it works on several levels, thematically and as a title.—Maer<br><br><br> 

The game was a good bridge episode, even as it started off two long term arcs and possibly a third and a fourth, where it's too early to tell if  they're long or medium term arcs. <br>
#'''Long:''' We need 20,000.00 in repairs. A [[Meridian|Brisbane]] salvage yard/merchant, Colin Banfield, will give us the parts we need IF we do 20,000.00 worth of cargo hauling for him. Valentine agrees.<br>
#'''Long:''' We need to sell the surf records—we don't want to be in hock to Banfield one second longer than necessary—and Valentine reveals them to Mary Ann Valmont. She has contacts in the insurance and auction industries and can fetch us a good price. However, she wants to be very careful about it. Once word gets out that a cache of Pre-Exodus artifacts has been found, the Feds will want to appropriate them for the State as Cultural Artifacts under the Antiquities Act … to say nothing of less savory characters chasing us down for the sheer street value. And that's before we even worry that Mary Ann might either flub the sale or swindle us somehow.<br> 
#'''Med/Long?:''' We meet [[Shepherd_Faria|Shepherd Faria]], who steps in on our deal with Banfield and wagers us more favorable terms. Indebted to him, we ask what we can do  for Faria in return. He flat out hires us to take him to [[Muir#Shepard.27s_Mission|Shepherd's Mission]] off [[Muir]]. He'd been staying in Brisbane counseling our Reaver survivors from New Bruges and once he's finished, he needs to go back to tend the flock on Shepherd's Mission. <br>
#'''Med/Long?:''' Nuri's been acting ever more strange and …. creepily menacing. She's been deeply affected by the Reavers. She hasn't slept since the 31st of July. She insists that to fall asleep is to die and hints strongly that the Reavers don't sleep at all. It's part of what makes them what they are. She says they looked in her eyes and left her alone because they recognized themselves in her. She insists that Tian has the same thing but implies that it's blocked behind the blank spot in Tian's memory. Nuri exhibits a chilling detachment regarding life and death and handling people's insides. states that she and Tian are a danger to the crew. Tian and the crew are not sure what they can do to help Nuri recover … or even if she can recover. Shepherd Fari offers to counsel her. <br><br>

Other points in the game:<br>
#Poco and Vikki effect repairs and thanks to the parts from Banfield, we're spaceworthy again.<br>
#As we've taken on Faria as a wheelchair-bound passenger, Vikki rigs up a manual chain driven hoist system using gear ratios and pulley sets to make the elevator work across all decks. It requires someone to man the drive wheel outside the elevator in addition to the passenger riding inside. <br>
#Rachel has Vikki flying ''Delilah'' on the straight stretches and as part of her training, she has her fly to [[You_Ge|Yànwō]], the small moon off Fury formerly owned by [[File:Ge_you.jpg|You Ge]], owner of [[Corporations#You-Go|You-Go Enterprises]], now in the hands of Qing Long Gas Co. Due to her empathy with the ship, she does it beautifully (one of my two dice rolls, BDH d6).<br>
#Vikki tinkers with Faria's mechanical prosthetics and manages to improve their performance. <br>
#Mary Ann Valmont disembarks at Yànwō  to pursue her job and to start the authentication process on our surf records. 
#We are unsuccessful in finding cargo on Yànwō to add to our income. Yànwō  is a stratified business community and we're a little too low class to do business with. We fly on for Shepherd's Mission on Muir (with Banfield's Muir cargo). <br>
#Faria admits that the Mission is essentially a penal colony and that the people there might be dangerous. They are, however, seeking atonement and living under the threat of Reaver attack keeps their otherwise dangerous egos in check. Our ship, Faria fears, might be too great a temptation for some of the inmates to resist and they might try to steal it and escape.<br>
#Valentine and Poco are of the same mind: We need better locks on our ship. Valentine  orders Poco and Vikki to make strong mag locks for our entry points. Vikki suggests bypassing the hijack risk to ''Delilah'' and simply deliver Faria in the shuttle. It's mil-spec hardened and faster on landing and take-off. Valentine vetoes the idea as he feels the shuttle's small size and crew make it more vulnerable to hijacking, not less.<br>
#Rachel lands ''Delilah'' on Shepherd's Mission. We arrive just in time to be met by one of the lay brothers with an urgent message for Faria: Father, we have a problem.<br>
#The game ends on that note.<br>

<br><br><br>
----
Return to [[Delilah Episodes|'''Episodes''']] | [[Last Voyage of Delilah, Season Two|'''Season Two''']] | [[Firefly-RPG|'''Firefly-RPG Homepage''']] | [[Delilah_Crew|'''Crew Page''']]