Perpenheimer

Parallel

* * *

The shutters covering one windowed wall begin retracting as you and your new crewmates slowly shuffle out of the briefing room. Despite the tinting of the thick polycarbonate, the rays of the Sun shine through, and the lounge's overhead LEDs begin to dim in response. A couple of your compatriots skip over to the bar, maybe in celebration, maybe to numb the reality of coming five years. You instead opt to plant yourself on the couch facing the windows. The Sun is bright, but despite its brilliance, you can see the bluish globe, swirled with white, set among the stars.

So close, yet so far, Earth was a permanent fixture in the dark skies above the Apollo Memorial Space Centre, always watching over the hundreds working and living there. It had been that way for just about a hundred-and-fifty years, since the Centre had started construction in the 2030s. There were hundreds more living just a train-ride away in Armstrong. Maybe you'd ride down there and have something good to eat before you shipped out to Titan.

Titan - an invisible speck around a dim point of light, at least from Luna. The Martians might have a better view. Titan - The next great leap in human discovery. In orbit around Luna was the LES Christiaan Huygens, your future vessel to the outer Sol system. Your candidacy for the mission was not unexpected - as Freezer Babies, you and the rest of your crew would skip most of the journey in cryostasis, thanks to the nature of your genes. Titan - a far flung land, but not unreachable by the human grasp.

You'd be there soon enough. But, unknown to you, you've already been there.

* * *

PARALLEL is, at its core, an RPG about space exploration and the mysteries that come with it; it is about teamwork and the willingness to work together despite each other; it is about the unknown becoming known.

You will play as one of six international astronauts on a deep-space exploration mission to Saturn's moon, Titan. However, something there is waiting for you. I cannot say more.

If interest in this RPG is high and I get more than six applications, I will choose the six strongest characters.

Thank you for reading. If you have any questions, feel free to post them.

The Treasure of Emily Gray

Location: Royal Palace Landing Pad, Mars

The Havikka unclasped herself from her flight seat, having meditated throughout the journey. Apart from the ascent and descent periods, space travel was very quiet when one was by themselves. The opportune time to meditate on one's life. She had relaxed and allowed her mind to wander, until she made her peace with the images it brought forth. She saw her parents, her comrades, men she'd killed and people she'd saved... and failed to save. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

Mars. Home of the Grays. Once red, now green.

She felt it was time to get herself more acquainted with everything. She proceeded out of her cabin, and ascended the latter. Once again following the signs, Mdazi made her way to the medical bay, where she had stowed her equipment before. That was the focus of her current endeavors - putting every medicine, every tool, every scalpel and syringe in its place.

Satisfied, the doctor focused her mind on her next task. Remembering Harlow's notes on ship comms, she sought the medbay's comms panel, and dialed up a connection to Abigail herself.

"Harlow? Please report to the medical bay at your convenience."

---

* * * * *

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Location: Space, en route to Mars

"Well, Barca, you've made a mess, and caused us undue danger. I want you to keep a low profile from here on out, understand? You do what I say, when I say it. I'll have no more nonsensical violence unless absolutely necessary. Anyway, let's get on-task, shall we?"

Killchain powered up the ship as everyone took their seats on the bridge. Soon, the ship took off, got clear of Saturn City, and engaged lightspeed. As soon as that was done, Killchain ran his mouth off again, asking for a briefing before his ADHD-raddled mind once again turned to weaponry. She couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Can you focus on the mission, Killchain? We can discuss kit later. When we need it. IF we need it."

She cleared her throat, and turned to the assembled crew.

"Our first task is simple. We're not going to get anywhere near the grave, but we have a contact who can. Once we get to Mars, Killchain and Kobayashi will park us in low Martian orbit, with an inclination so that we will orbit above the Royal Palace. Once there, I will make contact with Carter Addison, who will proceed to the grave and send us pictures and descriptions of anything of importance."

She gave Killchain the side-eye. "We are not strafing anything or anyone, nor are we exhuming the body."

Carly turned back to the crew. "That is the plan. Once we have the data beamed up to us, we'll determine the location of the next clue and proceed there with haste. Any questions?"

---

* * * * *

---

Location: Space, en route to Martian Transponder Buoy

Savis rubbed his temples. "Fine. We'll go with that. I'm not fond of the Shadowguard, but we'll just have to see how they react."

He moved one hand down to his belt and the other to his chin, giving it a good rub.

"Here are your orders. Goodchild, I want you to start running infiltration simulations based on every piece of data we can pull on the gravesite. Astorix, you're going to help her with that. Goodchild can link to your HUD if necessary to give detailed boots-on-the-ground strategy. Archle, keep monitoring comms, especially so when we get close to that buoy. If this 'Trinity' does ring us, patch it through to Matia, but monitor the transmission as well. I don't want any shady shit tracing back to us. Once Matia finishes her shower, if she sees you before I catch her, tell her to that she'll be helping with you, Astorix and Goodchild. I want her to focus on specific combat scenarios."

With that, Savis put both hands on his belt. "In the meanwhile, I'm going to be tinkering with our weapons systems. You have your orders. If one of you encounters an issue, inform me immediately. Dismissed."

The Treasure of Emily Gray

Location: Saturn, Saturn City

The Agent furrowed her brow. "I hope you're satisfied with what you've done, because Gray Security Forces won't be. You know that cop you KO'd on the street? He ID'd you."

With that, Carly closed down her datapad, and turned to sit at the command console once again.

"Nice work," she said sarcastically over her shoulder.

---

* * * * *

---

Location: Callisto Orbit, The Carrion

Savis seemed to mull the options over for a bit, crossing his arms and pacing the bridge for a few moments.

"The first option is interesting, but keep in mind we're going to need to do groundwork either way. There's no way any ship - even a stealth ship - is getting close to the Palace without getting turned around or shot down. So we could distract them by ushering in a little chaos, but then we'd have to worry about the Royal Shadow Guard being put on alert, potentially complicating infiltration to a degree that would be... unhelpful."

The mercenary stopped his pacing, arms unclasping and refolding behind his back. "So, I think the question is, do we want to play it smooth and steady, or fast and loose?"

The Treasure of Emily Gray

Location: Venus, Aphrodite

She took the proffered hand in the traditional Human greeting, listening to the girl's ramblings with keen interest. There was much praise for Mdazi for someone she had just met. Perhaps she was a xenophile.

"Hail Abigail, of the clan Harlow," she said as the girl finished her speech. "I am Mdazi of the clans Vekko and Liia, born free and formerly of the Resplendent Glory. You may call me Mdazi, if that is suitable."

---

* * * * *

---

Location: Saturn, Saturn City

"Riiiiight..." She pulled up a page on her newsfeed. "So, you're telling me-"

She turned the 'pad around so Barca could see. It was an article complete with video of a police chasing a ship around Uranus, which then jumped to lightspeed. "-this isn't you?"

The Treasure of Emily Gray

Location: Venus, Aphrodite

The first thing to do was to drop off her cases in the medbay.

Following the ship's signs, she made her way into the clean area of the ship, where some equipment, tables and tools were already present. She set the two cases onto one of the shelves, opting to come bac and sort out her tools later. Following that, she made her way to the next room aft, where there were hatches to the lower deck.

She carefully took a couple of steps onto the ladder with her feet and her spare hand. Satisfied that she was in a suitable position of balance, she released her legs from the rungs and used them to grip the sides, sliding down the ladder and landing with a thunk.

Making sure her backpack was secure, the Havikka selected the cabin across from the one marked 'A_HARLOW'. Opening the dorr itself was rather embarrassing, as she had to reach over her head just to hit the switch. Once inside, she spent the next few minutes unpacking her belongings. Last of all, she set her rifle on top of the dresser, bipod extended, with the spare magazines arranged just in front.

Satisfied with her work, the Havikka about-faced and headed back into the corrior. The one called 'Harlow' was loitering in the doorjamb into her cabin. Curious, Mdazi approached.

"Hello, Engineer girl," greeted the Havikka, humbly.

---

* * * * *

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Location: Saturn, Saturn City

Things were quiet on the bridge of the Darcy for the next hour as Killchain kept his chattering to a minimum, and Carly browsed idly on her datapad. There were a few articles here and there that piqued her interest, or made her frown in frustration.

Soon, she heard more boots clanking down the main corridor, followed by a greeting from the one she immediately identified as Kobayashi.

"About time! What kept you?" She held up a hand as soon as the words left her mouth. "Scratch that, I don't want to know."

Her eyes swept over the three, and narrowed, settling on the man in the back. "You..." she started, pointing to him, "you're Sevro Barca, right?"

The Treasure of Emily Gray

Location: Saturn, Saturn City

She smirked a little bit, knowing exactly how punks like this worked. They'd dance for you if you dangled a credit or two extra over their head. All the big talk was for naught when you had more than a speck of... insecurity...

Or irony. Either or.

Killchain was severely lacking. If he didn't want his paper punched, sure. She was fine with that.

"Yeah, it's protected. But I don't think raiding the Royal Palace guns blazing will be kosher with the Grays. Besides..."

She moved her clean boots off the console and onto the floor.

"We have a man on the inside."

The Treasure of Emily Gray

Location: Saturn, Saturn City

Carly gave the... thing that was supposed to be their pilot a good stretch of the side-eye.

"I'm thinking, no. Not at all. The name of the game is discretion. I know how rowdy you PubSec types get, and I will have none of that here."

She grimaced, mentally going through the personnel files in her head again and wondering how AdCorp thought it would be a good idea to put this group of people together in an enclosed space. And, on top of that, how she was supposed to wrangle this lot. Might get tricky...

"If you promise me you'll cooperate, I'll see to it that you get a bonus on top of your payment. You keep your piece and the ship for now, but if you get outta line, that's grounds for termination. In other words, don't make me have to write a report."

---

* * * * *

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Location: Callisto Orbit, The Carrion

Juddworth grumbled in acknowledgement. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too."

He returned his attention to the console, keying up some information he'd procured from the 'net.

"It's especially odd since the Will was written in eighty-one, but James Gray died around, say, sixty-three? Something like that. And that's his signature on the Will. Could be forged, but who knows?"

The Hologram zoomed on the signing date of the Will, before shifting to a portrait of James Gray. A few more keystrokes and the projector brought up the image of an elaborate cemetery.

"Unfortunately, if our theory is correct, James Gray's grave is located within this graveyard here." He pointed at the hologram. "It's contained within the grounds of the Royal Palace, on Mars, which, as we know, is heavily guarded."

He scratched his beard in frustration, taking a moment to catch his breath.

"On top of that, if they Grays have figured it out, which, we should assume, they have, they're not going to let anyone they don't know anywhere close to the Palace, let alone the graveyard."

Savis stepped back from the console, making sure the rest of the crew were paying attention.

"Any wise ideas?"

The Treasure of Emily Gray

@Zoey White You can, but you can just do short posts as well.

The Treasure of Emily Gray

Location: Venus, Aphrodite

clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk...

If anything were to be said about the old Havikka, it was that she was definitely not a pushover.

Sporting an overfull backpack almost as big as herself, as well as a shoulder-slung rifle that was actually bigger than her, and carrying two cases, one in each hand, Mdazi made short work of the task as she clunk-ed her way up the Wight's boarding ramp. The ship was fairly small and bland, but from the brief handed down to her she knew its true purpose and potential. All that remained to be said were the commands issued forth from the one they called Strade.

After a few moments of trundling through the airlock, Mdazi made her way into the ship, still burdened with all her gear. She remembered having to do similar carrying in the time of the Harbinger's enslavement, which had strengthened her and removed her desire to complain after years of servitude. But this as a different assignment - a nobler cause, one that the Queen Emily Gray had demanded of the Empire. To search out for treasure was not the most fulfilling of tasks - to Mdazi, at least - but one that she felt could occupy her time all the same. Her work in the interim, patching wounds and mending bone, would satisfy her.

Soon, the Havikka came upon the briefing room, where a few fellows occupied the space. She stopped her clunk-ing, and took in the surroundings.

"Hello," she said simply, and waited to be addressed.

---

* * * * *

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Location: Saturn, Saturn City

The evening lights of Saturn City danced across the artificial horizon as the nightlife sprung up and flitted about the streets in a rancorous spill of bodies and spilled drink. Surely SCS would be around and haul a few off to the holding cells tonight, as they did every night. For all the sin spread about the city, the Addison Corporation still had to keep the peace.

She went over her files again. The PubSec grunt - the pilot - was due aboard the Darcy by now. As she kicked her feet up on the console of the aforementioned ship, Carly settled into the command chair, her boots now obscuring the artificial setting sun projected from the City's dome. If that Killchain fucker didn't get here soon...

It didn't matter. The others were off-world. Once Kobayashi dragged the other two to Saturn, the real work would begin. She glanced at the Will again, noticing its obvious clue. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard to find this treasure. Maybe she wouldn't get paid as much if it was... Eh. She could just claim gross incompetence on the part of the others and claim more of their pay for herself. AdCorp as good like that.

...

What kind of a name was Killchain anyway?

---

* * * * *

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Location: Callisto Orbit, The Carrion

"Astorix, you fucking twit, how many times have I told you that I'm to make the announcements here?"

Savis' jaw was clenched in annoyance as he stomped his way onto the bridge. He huffed briefly and scanned the faces of each of the crew members. They were a fine crew, eager and prepared for anything, if a little bit too unruly and unwilling to follow orders. That was his job. He was here to rein them in, and by god would he make sure that they did not, under any circumstances, fuck around. No, not on his watch. The boss wouldn't put up with monkeying around and neither would he.

Nevertheless, he moved up to the main console where Paladin was seated, where the bounty hunter had brought up the scan of the will. Leaning over the console, Savis keyed in a command and put the image of the Will up on the main monitor where the rest of the crew could see.

Making sure the crew's attention was on the will, Savis himself briefly scanned the first bit, before concentrating on the direct words of Emily Gray. He was almost at the end of the paragraph when he noticed a small detail. Finally finished with it, he turned around to the rest of the crew, scanning over them once again before addressing them.

"Well? Don't tell me you don't see that."

The Treasure of Emily Gray