Adventure Overview
Players: Mr. Rhyze, Morton.
Enemies: Papa John's Delivery Boys, obnoxious gansta rap and all referances to Mortal Kombat.
Started: As the Epsilon officers cleaned up the remains of the Army of Darkness.
Ended: With an invitation to meet the 'New Guy in Town'.
This adventure began where the last one left off. The Epsilon fleet had just defeated a raging Space Drakkhaan, and was returning to the military bay. Having gotten the kill for the monster, Falco was swift to declare himself the Maverick to Morton's Goose. This resulted in a loud vocal disagreement that was only resolved by the declaration that Mr. Rhyze was clearly the Goose of the station. The two pilots considered this particularly apt since Rhyze had often stated his preferance for merely operating the weapons of a Thunderer and avoiding the actual piloting, a role identical to the one played by Top Gun's Goose. Unfazed by these comments, the communications officer was busy in a game of Free Cell. However, his enjoyment was interrupted when Commander Zaya ordered him to help with the clean up. The defeat of the Army of Darkness had left behind a bunch of bones and other zombie matter, and without a permanent janitor, it was up to the officers to deal with this mess. Furthermore, Faust had claimed possession of all the undead remains, and wanted them taken to the morgue. Reluctantly, Mr. Rhyze set to work on this task, despite the fact that it clearly wasn't a part of his contract.
Upon their return to the station, Morton and Falco were soon put to a similar task. Their first step was to clean up the mess in the Military Bay Lounge. This included the remains of several zombies and a couch. Rather than discard the pieces of this couch, each pilot claimed one for themselves. Throughout this work, the lounge was also occupied by Johnny The Man, who was watching Top Gun on the large TV. Not being part of the military, he also wasn't obligated to help with the cleaning. The Man also interceeded in Morton and Falco's Top Gun debate by declaring himself to be Maverick. Morton, on the other hand, believed Johnny was 'The Ice Man' of the station. Johnny was very satisfied with this title, especially if you exclude the 'Ice' part.
By this time, Mr. Rhyze had made a trip down to the morgue. He found both Sam and Vance already there. The science officer was holding a vial of zombie remains, and declared his intention to study them. In fact, he declared that he might soon be having fun while analysing the zombie particles. Mr. Rhyze wasn't nearly as enthused by this notion as Sam, and quickly made his return to the bridge. Falco and Morton had already reached it, and soon all were collaborating on removing the last remnants of the Army of Darkness. At that moment, the Turbolift opened to reveal a swarm of media. Or Tintin, who entered at a dead run. He was followed by Penny and her camera crew, all vying for news on the undead assault. When Mr. Rhyze and Morton tried to brush off several embarassing questions, Tintin accused them of attempting to silence the media. Positive that this was a conspiracy, and equally determined to get to the bottom of it, Tintin rushed from the room. Noting that this conspiracy theory might make an interesting story, Penny and her crew followed him out. This left the officers free to return to their 'work'.
Work log: Your memories of the past few days are little more than blurs. It somehow feels like a long time has gone by, even though such is not actually the case. That's probably due to the fact that you've been occupied with communication duties. Since reinstalling your station's OS, you've been forced to adjust a bunch of settings in order to get things working properly. In fact, only recently did you get the mouse speed to the perfect level for your Free Cell games.
Incoming Transmissions:
Transmissions these days are full of Blitzball news, and you're only too willing to tune into these broadcasts.
-Preparations are underway for the upcoming match between the Electran Currents and the Deksiilan Crescent Moons that will be held on Starbase. You've already obtained both tickets and permission to attend this event. Commentators seem to favor the Currents, although Don Cherry believes they don't have the hitting power to win the match. And Don surely knows Blitzball like no other commentator.
-There's also more information about Backstreet to Frontstreet, the newly released rap album. Contrary to some expectations, this recording bombed horribly. Some critics have dubbed it the worst release since the movie Kazaam. You've never much liked this genre anyway, although you've heard of some famous french rapper named Manau who is able to create decent, if incomprehensible, rap.
-Rumours from several major space news networks suggest the presence of many criminal hideouts among the Spheran asteroid belt. These bases are supposedly managed by the smugglers that frequent the region, and since jurisdiction is often fuzzy in deep space, few authorities bother the hideouts.
Outgoing Transmissions:
-You've sent a message to the Deksiil Crescent Moons about the upcoming Blitzball game. You mentioned both your performance against the Yankees as well as your availability for the coming game.
Personal Notes:
-All this fighting is really starting to get tedious. You didn't enjoy the recent battle with the undead, or any of the other fights you've been involved in since coming to this station. This sort of combat can't be found anywhere in your job description, and you've decided to avoid it as much as possible. Of course, you're willing to fight if your life is at stake, but otherwise you're more than happy to leave that sort of thing to others. Like Morton. He seems to get a kick out of it, whereas you'd rather not end up exerting yourself.
-There seems to be big hype for an upcoming movie called Cage Match. You even found a poster pinned to the door of the Hydrosphere. The film features Johnny Cage, a reknowned martial arts star, and will soon be opening at theaters near you. Since such theaters don't exist, you'll simply have to wait before seeing Cage in action.
Mini-Objective:
-Avoid participating in any sort of combat unless it is truly necessary.
Work Log: You have spent the last few days fixing the station's fleet. Finally, your Falcon is back in good condition after the unfortunate conclusion of your race with Johnny. Speaking of The Man, he has also been working on restoring his ship. He seems to be using a lot of fancy gizmos and custom additions, as well as lots of posing. Of course, you've been too busy in the lounge to pay much notice.
Space Fleet Status:
-3 Falcon Fighters, all finally fixed.
-1 unarmed SG-3 military transport capable of holding 20 people.
-1 fully armed Thunderer, belonging to Fayde.
Military Supplies:
-11 'slightly-used' Falcon missiles purchased from Crazy Sam.
Docked Flights:
-The Scoop, a specially designed Starstreak transport belonging to N.E.W.S. news, is still at the station. The Irish Chef competition and the attack of the undead has apparently provided Penny with a huge scoop, and she has decided to remain on the station for a while to check up on further stories.
-Johnny's ship has mostly been reassembled, and now only a few parts are missing. It should soon be ready to fly.
-A single occupant escape pod has docked in Space Bay 2. You're not sure to whom it belongs. The only clue would have to be the depiction of some kind of french pastry on the side of the pod.
Personal Notes:
-You're eager to pick up the new ship promised by Daikon-7. Next time you swing by Starbase, you'll have to see to it. That could be fairly soon, considering the upcoming Blitzball championship game.
-The Military Bay Lounge has now been transformed into the ultimate entertainment destination. This is partially due to Falco's purchase of the new Macrosoft game console, the Y-Box. (It seems to be selling particularly well in Sector Y.) Although you spend most of your time playing flight simulators, you've also been trying your hand at Street Fighter Gamma Beta 2, a new fighting game. Your skills in this game almost match your own actual fighting abilities! All in all, Street Fighter seems much better than its rival series, Mortal Kombat. Johnny claims your hatred for Mortal Kombat stems from the string of losses you acquired when playing him. Preposterous! You are convinced that Mortal Kombat is a cheap and poorly designed game, with terrible control.
Mini-Objective:
-Take down any referances to the Mortal Kombat series through any means necessary.
As could be expected, the adventure resumed as Mr. Rhyze and Morton stepped into Bennigan's for the afternoon meal. As could also be expected, they were forced by the crowds to sit with Falco and Jamal. Mr. Rhyze was eager to tell Jamal about the crash of Backstreet to Frontstreet, the new rap album. Jamal wasn't surprised, and attributed this failure to the real bad recording labels behind the release. Mr. Rhyze replied that he didn't much like (c)rap anyway, except for possibly that produced by this Manau guy. It turned out that all the people at the table recognised the name of Manau, although none had heard of him. More comparisons between various people and Goose followed, and only abated when Lucky arrived to take the orders. Determined to prove himself a great pilot, Morton ordered many drinks. Amazingly, after downing all of them, he actually felt more sober than when he had arrived in the pub. Mr. Rhyze took this opportunity to mention his desire to see Cage Match, the new Johnny Cage film. Lucky replied that he had found a poster for that movie within the kitchen of Bennigan's as well. Morton was outraged by this mention of Mortal Kombat, and stalked from the room, intent on tracking down and destroying all these posters.
Morton's search began on the main level, and he soon encountered Cage Match posters on the doors leading into Security and the Hydrosphere. He was quick to remove these offending documents, despite the protests of nearby Red-Shirts. After only a few injuries, Morton continued his search of the station. Meanwhile, Mr. Rhyze had decided to go play some Free-Cell on his laptop. However, when logging onto the Interweb, he was assailed with dozens of pop-ups, all advertising the upcoming Cage Match film. Of course, these adds didn't really annoy the communications officer, but their effect on Morton was quite different. The pilot discovered these pop-ups when he was checking the computer labs for more posters. Diego Zapata was simultaneously working on one of the terminals and complaining about the prevalence of the pop-ups. Enraged, Morton demanded that these advertisements be removed. Diego was just the man to do it. For a small price, he would create software that would transform the Cage Match advertisements into links to sites with the history of computers, including the Abacus. Morton agreed to this proposition, though only after Diego reluctantly agreed to cut out the creation of diagrams, which would have added two months to the project length. As it was, Diego's Yava program took only seconds to create and use. Once this was done, Morton went down to the Military Bay lounge to destroy all the Cage Match advertisements. He had barely finished this task when an announcement over the intercom summoned him to the briefing room.
Morton was not the only one summoned to this meeting. The other participants included Falco, Mr. Rhyze, Fayde, Vance and Blank. As could be expected, this meeting was officiated by Commander Zaya and Jean-Luc Picard. However, when both heroes had gathered, they noticed a stranger in the room. In fact, it was the stranger's arrival that had triggered this meeting in the first place.
Sergio The events on Sergio's most recent trip were thus somewhat predictable. While on his way through the Asteroid belt, Sergio's Croissant had been attacked by a number of armed ships. The captain could only assume they were pirates of some sort, and quickly escaped in one of the Croissant's escape pods. As he made his exit, Sergio happened to pick up some of the transmissions being sent by the attacking ships. They talked about their plans to take the trading vessel and its cargo to a place they called only 'Gangsta's Paradise'. Now, Sergio was looking for Deksiil's help to recover his cargo. Many officers in the room had heard rumours about Gangsta's Paradise. It was reputed to be a lair of villainy established by smugglers within the asteroid belt. Since most of these hideouts were built in grey areas, jurisdiction over them was rather fuzzy. As a result, the Spheran military generally tended to ignore them altogether. Sergio had already contacted the Electran station, hoping for help from his countrymen. However, the Electrans informed him that they did not have the resources in Sector Y to spare. As a result, it was up to Deksiil's Starfleet.
Commander Zaya had already received permission to perform a covert operation from Star Fleet High Command. Picard was sceptical about this whole thing, but once all the forms had been filled out, he had no chance but to go along with it. They would send a few officers to Gangsta's Paradise to search for the Croissant. Once they had photos or other evidence that the transport was on the premises, they would be able to force the Spheran authorities into some sort of action or face an international incident. Zaya was careful in her selections for this mission. Obviously, the communications skills of Mr. Rhyze would prove to be an invaluable asset. And Morton's eyepatch would surely allow him to fit in well with the other scoundrels on Gangsta' Paradise. Fayde also volunteered for the mission, explaining that he would serve as the Electran contribution on this mission. This made sense, since the Croissant was an Electran ship, after all. Since a smaller and uninjured group would have an easier time slipping in unnoticed, Zaya decided not to send any Red-Shirts. The group would travel in the SG-3. Falco would escort them in a Falcon fighter until they approached the criminal hideout, and then swerve away. Letting the gangsters see the Deksiilan military markings on any of the Space Fighters would lead only to disaster. In total, this plan took care of all details save one. And it was a big one. No one knew the exact location of Gangsta's Paradise. Even Vance's computer search proved to be little help, and only provided information on the rap song of the same name. However, the door to the briefing room suddenly burst open to reveal a glowering Shaimus. He admitted to eavesdropping on the whole conversation, and offered to guide the group to Gangsta's Paradise. He had been there before, and between ominous swings of his lead pipe, assured them that he knew the way.
Race: Electran
Occupation: Captain of the Croissant Trading Vessel
A vaguely french fellow who certainly seemed to have a taste for french pastries. In fact, he had even named his trading ship after one such specimen. Sergio was a rather arrogant Electran, who had a curly goatee and a red barret. His other main characteristic was his uncontrollable urge to use a bad french accent at all times. As the captain of an independent trading vessel that often operates on the routes between Sphere and Electra, Sergio often has to make a stop at Space Station Epsilon. This is partly due to the fact that the Electran Steel Star station is closed to all but military personnel, but mostly because Sergio has an unfortunate habit of running into trouble during his travels.
Not one of the travellers was reassured by the idea of being guided by Shaimus. Nevertheless, they seemed to have no choice. So, though none trusted him, all three still followed Shaimus down to the Military Bay, where they loaded into the SG-3. Morton was quick to take the pilot's seat, and Mr. Rhyze was equally quick to occupy the passenger's seat. This left Fayde in the back with Shaimus, a prospect that slightly unnerved the Electran. Especially considering the way Shaimus started welding inside the ship moments after take-off. Once Shaimus had informed him of the proper coordinates, Morton began the bumpy journey to Gangsta's Paradise. Along the way, Fayde proposed that they come up with disguises and fake identities, since revealing their affiliation with Epsilon would clearly be a bad idea. Morton changed his appearance by removing his vest, thus making himself unrecognisable. He also elected to go with the name of Magnus Magnusson, and would serve as the pilot of the group. Since his usual outfit consisted of a Starfleet uniform, Mr. Rhyze definitely needed a diguise. He went with a black coat and hat that perpetually hid his eyes. During the stay at Gangsta's Paradise, he would be known as Mr. Ezyhr, an independent businessman seeking good help. Fayde would serve as his accountant, and go by the name of Shayde. No one bothered coming with an alias for Shaimus, since all would beware him anyway.
Considering the speed of the SG-3, the trip to the Gangsta's hideout took quite some time. Still, without incident, they were soon within visual range of Gangsta's Paradise. It was truly amazing the way a nearby asteroid hid the neon glow from all the signs covering the station. Although smaller than Starbase, it was still considerable in size. The station was also covered with signs and advertisments, including some for Coca-Cola and Papa John's, which promised to always deliver the 'perfect pizza'. There was also quite a few ships coasting around the station and doing random fly-by-shootings. The SG-3 was soon hailed by the station, at which point a gangster informed them that they permission to dock. Of course, if they got shot while doing so, it really wasn't his problem, see? Despite this overt danger, Morton managed to successfully land in the main visitor parking. As the officers stepped out of the SG-3, they were given their first glimpse of Gangsta's Paradise.
The first thing to be noticed was obviously the extremely loud gangster rap that was playing through giant speakers mounted near the ceiling. The interior of the station seemed to be built to resemble the streets of Chicago, circa 1930s. The people moving through these streets all looked to be either mobsters, rich or simply criminally inclined. A few black sedans drove slowly through the streets, occaisonally pausing to machinegun someone. The next thing to be noticed was a pair of mobsters in brightly colored trenchcoats carrying autoblasters. These two gangsters approached the newcomers to 'welcome' them, although they let Shaimus pass with no questions asked. After inquiring about the group's purpose on Gangsta's Paradise, the two finally received the bribe they were waiting for. Surprisingly, it came from Mr. Rhyze, who planned to count this as a job-related expense. In fact, this bribe was so large that the two mobsters instantly declared Mr. Rhyze to be a 'player', apparently a title of great status on the station. After advising the newcomers not to get in the way of the mob bosses who run the station, the 'welcoming committee' allowed them to go on their way.
Now free to roam the station, the three quickly decided on a course of action. Of course, there was no sign of Shaimus, but no one really trusted him to help anyway. Fayde suggested first finding some accomadations and then splitting up to search for the Croissant. The other two agreed with this sensible plan, and they were soon searching the streets for a hotel. They found one eventually, after passing several interesting locations. Some of these included the Chicago Nightclub, the warehouse district, the Monte Carlo casino, and Papa John's Pizza. Finally, the three came upon the Moosejaw Hotel. Once inside, they were confronted by James Coburn, the owner of the hotel. He promised one of the safest environments in all of Gangsta's Paradise. Apparently, the hotel was not run by one of the three major mob bosses, and thus was considered basically neutral territory. As such, there would still be the random shootings, but the Moosejaw hotel was usually exempt from any sort of gang warfare. Mr. 'Ezyhr' was much more concerned with the prize, and upon discovering it to be reasonable, declared that they would take a room. Soon, all three had gathered within the room to plan their operations. Explaining that he worked best alone, Fayde declared that he would check the space docks and the warehouse district for any sign of the Croissant. Meanwhile, Morton and Mr. Rhyze would try to gather information from the locals. They would all meet back in the hotel at supper time to pool their information.
After splitting up, Morton led Mr. Rhyze to their first destination: Papa John's Pizza. Both were curious to check out this restaurant. Once inside, they found that the building seemed to be little more than a front. The interior was only a barren, concrete room. Its only furnishings included a phone. Standing next to the phone was a goon, who asked if they wanted to order some pizza. Morton replied that he had a problem, so the guy told him to call the Papa. In moments, Morton was on the phone with Papa John. The Papa really didn't seem interested in helping with any problems, but rather with finding out Morton's room number at the Moosejaw hotel. Finally, in desperation, Morton gave the Papa the number for the room beside his and hung up. This concluded their dealings at Papa John's. Next, Mr. Rhyze wanted to check out the Chicago Nightclub and see what sort of rumours were floating around Gangsta's Paradise. Before long, the two had entered the club. It was filled with gangsters of all sorts, and included a pit in one corner that appeared to be some sort of fighting arena. In additin, a bronze statue of a dragon, with ruby eyes, leaned ominously over this pit. With rage, Morton realised that it had a startling likeness to the Mortal Kombat logo. The pilot knew he had to remove this symbol from his sight, and he saw to it quickly. Grabbing a nearby tablecloth, Morton draped it over the dragon. A beefy bouncer seemed upset about this, but since he clearly had a problem, Morton told him to go call the Papa. Needless to say, that bouncer caused no further trouble.
Meanwhile, Mr. Rhyze had seated himself at a table. It took only a few large tips for him to both become known as a 'player', and to get into contact with Jimmy the Shoeshine boy, an informant who knew a great deal about Gangsta's Paradise. Jimmy assumed that Mr. Ezyhr must have come to watch Gang Wars, but when the latter denied the notion, the shoeshine boy explained the coming event. Gang Wars was a fighting tournament held each year in the Chicago Nightclub. The major mob bosses would sponsor fighters to battle each other, and the winner would eventually receive quite a large prize. As he shined Mr. Rhyze's boots, Jimmy also gave details about the mob bosses in charge of the station. Originally, Gangsta's Paradise had been run jointly by three major mob bosses, and most businesses belonged to one of the bosses. The Chicago Nightclub was owned by Big Boy Caprice, the Monte Carlo casino was the property of Flat Top, and Papa John's was obviously the property of the Papa. However, things had recently changed with the arrival of a New Guy. No one really knew his identity, but he swiftly rose to become foremost amongst the mob bosses of the station. This New Guy in Town had occupied a sizeable portion of the station, and anyone trespassing on his turf would rarely be seen again. Even the other mob bosses seemed afraid of this New Guy. Mr. Rhyze asked several more oblique questions about the Croissant, but Jimmy didn't seem to know much about it. However, he offered that he might be able to arrange a meeting with this New Guy. Considering the dangerous reputation surrounding this stranger, Mr. Rhyze decided that such a meeting wouldn't be necessary at this time.
At this point, Morton returned to the table, and Jimmy scurried off. However, the two didn't sit alone for long. The people in the nightclub seemed to part before the approach of three men. Morton and Mr. Rhyze were not at all pleased to recognise the Star Wolf squad. With a smirk, Star Wolf seated himself across from them. The Great Leon, apparently not great enough to deserve a chair, and Andrew stood behind him. After a bit of banter, Wolf threatened to reveal the officer's true identities if they did not tell him why they had come to Gangsta's Paradise. Reluctantly, Morton explained their mission to recover the Croissant, and demanded to know if Star Wolf had anything to do with its disappearance. Star Wolf replied that he was otherwise employed, and knew nothing about this transport. After a few more warnings for the Deksiilans to clear out of Sector Y, Wolf led him men from the nightclub. With the conclusion of this conversation, Mr. Rhyze decided it would be wise to leave the area immiediately. As such, the two made their way to the glitzy Monte Carlo casino. Mr. Rhyze increased his reputation as a player by making insane bets, while Morton went over to the card tables. Many people seemed to be playing the popular Psychic: The Gathering, but the pilot finally found a table playing his desired game of poker. After quite a bit of shooting, and some random gunfire, Morton came away with some extra cash. In the process of this gambling, the two also met Flat Top, the owner of the casino.
Flat Top After earning the respect of Flat Top, Mr. Rhyze and Morton hastened back to the Moosejaw hotel for their meeting with Fayde. On the way into their room, the two happened to notice that the door to an adjacent room had been smashed open. Of course, considering the crime rate in this place, neither was surprised. Upon entering their room, the two found that Fayde had not yet returned. This gave them a chance to consider which one of the mob bosses might have been responsible for the theft of the Croissant, and they used their deductions to fill out the following chart.
Race: Deksiilan
Occupation: Mob Boss and Casino Owner
One of four major mob bosses that rule Gangsta's Paradise, Flat Top was the owner of the sleazy and highly profitable Monte Carlo casino. A man in a well-pressed green suit and tie, with a thick gangster accent, he acquired his nickname due to his extremely flat haircut. He seems to greatly appreciate big spenders and 'players' who gamble with alot of money. He is also a collector of Psychic: The Gathering cards, and is said to be quite skilled in that game. It has also been suggested that he has a penchant for randomly firing tommy guns, although this has yet to be seen.
Not much goes on here at Gangsta's Paradise without at least the authorisation of one of the major mob bosses. Now that you've had a chance to learn a bit about these criminals, it's time for you to predict which one may have been responsible for the hijacking of the Croissant. Please mark your top suspect from among those listed below. With a correct guess, you could have already won the sum of 200 XP.
Nya! Go to page two for more details on this adventure, see?
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