Session Four — Authority¶

Played: 2026-03-06

The crew learns they're not guests on someone else's mission. They're in charge. Then they act like it.

What Happened¶

Prelude: Kai and the Night Shuttle¶

Around 0300, Kai woke to the sense of mass passing overhead — a shuttle arriving at the station. His kinesis doesn't have an off switch; the station's movements are his movements. He went to the landing hangar and found Kamaka on duty.

"Couldn't sleep?"

They talked briefly — the shuttle was a routine supply run, water ice and Belter produce. Kai was quiet, absorbing. Kamaka left him to his space and kept an eye on unloading. Two spacers sharing a hangar in the middle of the night, Mars glowing through the viewport.

Morning: Invitations and Intentions¶

The crew woke to two invitations: lunch on the Sagan with Captain Iyer at noon, and a 1500 mission planning meeting with Leonidas. Book Club decided to meet at 1000.

Victoria sent Kai a message — an apology for being abrupt the night before, and a carefully structured note that moved through three registers: as his primary physician, she'd noted he was struggling and was concerned it could impact his work; as his doctor, she recommended he find someone to talk to before they went surface-side; as his friend, she was there to listen if he wanted. Three voices, one person, all of them caring. Kai thanked her in person when he saw her.

Then Kai sought out Azure. Without using the words "therapist" or "confidante," he asked for exactly that — someone to talk to about the weight of everything. The demands on his time, the work on the Sagan, mission planning, his emotional struggles, Book Club. Too many things pulling at a young Talent who's still figuring out what he is.

Azure's response was precise and kind: a therapist and a friend are different things. He asked Kai to be explicit about which mode when they talk. He'd default to friend.

Book Club: The Explosion¶

Azure opened the meeting with the plan: Kyle would teach them Double-Talk — the Talent skill of maintaining a telepathic conversation and a verbal conversation simultaneously without revealing the telepathic one is occurring. Dr. Tanaka was present by invitation.

Azure established the telepathic link with Tanaka first, filtering her from the others. He'd done this before — the vision still hit, but it was expected. Manageable. Then he linked the rest of the group.

Tanaka told them to call her Yuki.

The Double-Talk rolls: Ob 3, but they're still learning, so effectively Ob 6. Azure's telepathy dice served as help dice for the entire group.

Azure: 8 successes
Rin: 5 successes
Victoria: 3 successes
Kai: 2 successes

Azure rolled a ridiculous number of successes on a Talent-adjacent skill while simultaneously filtering Tanaka from the group and providing telepathic help dice to everyone. The circumstances were perfect. The dice knew.

Azure's Talent exploded.

He started bleeding from his eyes. Splishy Splashy intervened immediately — reaching through the station's walls to protect the minds connected to Azure's link. Tanaka, seeing the blood, began having a PTSD flashback — her first girlfriend, the one who ended up in the hospital, the reason she hasn't let a telepath touch her mind in years.

Everyone moved at once, and everyone moved right:

Victoria leaped to treat Azure. No hesitation, straight to medical response.
Kyle, knowing he was out of his depth in a room full of exploding telepaths, got the fuck out of the way and went to guard the door. Perfect spy instincts — control what you can control.
Rin reached out empathically to Tanaka. Four dice. Six successes. The dice said yes. The first caring mental touch Tanaka has felt since her girlfriend.

The aftermath was quick — Azure's recovery felt like growth more than loss. Session Two had the night terror nosebleed; that was cost. This time he pushed further and came through it. The bleeding is his body catching up to what his Talent already knows it can do.

The whales felt it. They'd been waiting.

Then the tension broke.

Kyle: "I want you all to know I hate you."

Tanaka, bewildered: "Are you people friends?!?"

Victoria: "Don't tell Kyle!"

Kai officially opened the Double-Talk skill.

Lunch with the Captain¶

The crew arrived on the Sagan buzzing from the morning's events. Iyer had food and answers waiting.

She addressed Rin and Victoria's questions about the observers first: Director Yaw and Elias Vance are observers. The word was chosen carefully. They observe. They advise. They do not command, and they do not approve or deny mission decisions.

Then she said the thing nobody had said plainly yet:

This mission belongs to the University of Mare Serenitatis. The crew are not students on a field trip. They are the most qualified team in the solar system for what they're about to do. The decisions they make on the ground are theirs. Iyer is there to support them, protect them, and make sure they have what they need — not to do their thinking for them.

The crew absorbed this with shocked realization. Then they immediately dove into planning — not asking what to do, but discussing how to use this authority properly.

Rin shared her Belt correspondence with Iyer — the letter to Cristina, Cristina's response, and the draft of her next exchange. She trusted the captain with the biggest political grenade on the station: a Belt clan potentially staking a claim on Mars.

Azure, on Director Yaw: "Who was the guy in blue pajamas? Oh, Director Yaw."

Individual Scenes¶

Azure and Iyer: A private word after lunch. Azure shared his suspicions about Yaw — what the Director might be planning, and what Azure would do if those suspicions proved true. "I'll burn his brain out of his skull." Iyer did not flinch.

Kai and Tanaka: A conversation about Talent as burden. Hers: precognition, the future as weight rather than gift. His: kinesis, feeling every mass that moves around him, no off switch. Two Talents mirroring each other across a generational gap. Tanaka eventually: "I've done more than my share of talking for the day." She'd opened up more than she intended. Kai gave her space to close the door gently.

Rin and Sarah: Rin met the station's highly ADHD administrative assistant, comms officer, and flight controller — Sarah, doing three jobs because Phobos is understaffed and she's the kind of person who says yes to everything. Sarah surfaced two problems: lack of full engineers, and supply chain concerns. She asked Rin to make sure they were making the right deals with the right people Belt-side — not everything comes through Vance.

Mission Planning: The Crater¶

Leonidas and Noor had the holographic table set up with a topological map of the crater. Dr. Al-Rashid was present, letting the other two hash it out. Kai video-conferenced in from the Sagan, still recovering from the explosion aftermath.

The standard tension was on display: Leonidas wanted to land near his archaeological site, Noor wanted to land near the water signs. Al-Rashid didn't care much — she could do her job either way. She was there for the other decisions.

Victoria rolled Observation — Ob 5, six successes on five dice. She immediately recognized the shape on the horizon from her dream.

Then the PCs took control. Victoria asked the obvious question: why not a midpoint landing? Leonidas objected — there was only a single rover, and he didn't want to lose time swapping between sites. Victoria turned to Kai: "Can we just print another rover?" With the advanced fabrication equipment on the Sagan, the answer was yes — but it would take considerable time. Someone suggested asking Vance if he had a rover to sell instead. Then Azure cut through Leonidas's remaining objection: "There's no reason I can't fly you and the rover to your site via shuttle once we've scouted out landing areas."

The crew leaned into site selection, narrowing it down to two possibilities. At that point, Leonidas — seeing that the crew had a plan and the logistics were being handled — left them to it. Noor expressed relief and thanked the PCs. Kai reassured her: they were supportive of both missions, archaeology and colony assessment alike.

The crew split up: Victoria and Azure headed to medical for a post-explosion checkup. Rin and Noor went to speak with Vance about acquiring a second rover.

The Spice Road¶

The Mars Consortium's Beta Class supply ship MC Spice Road arrived in orbit during the planning session. Reds and sandy browns. No spinning section — a trade and cargo vessel. A disguised railgun along the bottom, because Vance isn't naive about the world he operates in.

Vance's offer: a rover in exchange for a ride to the surface.

Rin, suspicious, pushed back. Vance promised there was no catch — and then went further. If Rin and her team disapproved of his actions on the surface and could convince a neutral arbiter, he'd sign over his interest in the Spice Road to them.

Vance's angle: there isn't one. He wants to walk on the surface of Mars while it's still wild.

Noor found the whole thing overwhelming but went along with Rin's judgment.

Evening: Quiet Moments and Strange Ones¶

Rin and Victoria played cards, talking about Talent and Mars and the absurdity of their situation. Rin finished her letter to Cristina and sent it off before bed — a proper political briefing wrapped in sisterly banter, answering each of Cristina's questions from the previous exchange, assessing the political players (DCA and Mars Consortium), and catching the family up on life, sparring with Kamaka, adopting Kai, and the growing Talent presence on the mission. See Rin's Family Correspondence for the full exchange.

Victoria received a vision from the whales. Now that Splishy knew about the Tiamat artifact, the whales chose to show her something: a fragment of the Deep Dream — a vision of one of the artifacts in Earth's deep ocean. Ancient, alien, grieving. She wouldn't understand what she saw. But she'd know it was connected.

As Rachel contemplated Victoria's reaction, she discovered something about her character: Victoria had always wanted to explore the deep oceans, to see the secret places of cetacean civilization. The pull toward the water was as real as the pull toward the crater rim — different vectors of the same longing. And at the end of the vision, the whales left her with an impression — not words, but sensations, motions, emotions: when your time to rest comes, visit us.

An invitation to the deep places. From a civilization that doesn't invite anyone.

Kai woke up after sleepwalking to the reactor. Hand on it. Feeling the pulse of the station's power just out of sync with his own body and mind. Feeling that if it was just in sync, he could touch the power somehow.

He rolled kinesis. Ob 8. Four successes. The dice said not yet. But he felt the shape of what's possible.

Then the reactor electrocuted him across the engineering bay.

Tanaka called Victoria. Sent Splishy to pick her up.

Tanaka: "What did you do?"

Kai: "I woke up with my hand on the reactor."

Tanaka: "So you tried to mind-meld it!?!?!?"

Kai: "It's not my fault. WEIRD STUFF IS HAPPENING TO ME!"

Victoria: "I know. I think the whales talked to me. Good night."

She injected him with a sedative.

Rin dreamed. Tanaka's trauma bled through — empathic residue from a week of operating at emotional high. When Rin interrupted the cycle, she got the cracks and light: her Talent pushing limits, just like Azure, just like Kai.

The Next Two Days (Montage)¶

The crew spent two more days on Phobos preparing for surface operations. Two high points:

The Yenni Expedition: Azure, Dr. Yenni, Noor, and Kai took a flight down into the Martian atmosphere. The weather patterns at the proposed landing sites looked good — viable for their purposes, with trace signs of moisture. All encouraging for the mission.

Then came the harder conversation. Azure needed to ask Yenni for consent to scan her for telepathic manipulation — without accusing anyone of telepathic manipulation or raising suspicion about his own abilities. He played it carefully, leaning on his reputation as a therapist, implying her undue stress might be something more than just being put in a difficult position.

Yenni is smart. She read between the lines — she knows one of the observers is under suspicion. She consented to the scan, but under one condition: when she puts in for transfer, Azure supports it, and if he can, gets Iyer's support as well. Not a request for protection. A decision already made. Even if there's no telepathic influence, the suspicion alone is enough for her to draw the line.

The scan was successful and clear. No manipulation. Which left Azure with an unexpected feeling: obligation toward Yaw. He'd assumed the worst — prepared to burn the man's brain out — and it wasn't true. That recalibration will linger.

Rin and Kamaka Spar: Rin took Kamaka up on the sparring invitation from last session. Predictably, Kamaka handed her her ass — 8 successes to Rin's 4 — but it was thoroughly educational and Rin didn't embarrass herself. They fought in microgravity, where Kamaka's zero-G combat training and cybernetic limbs gave her an edge that bordered on unfair.

Between rounds, they talked. Belt stories, shared history, how Kamaka lost her limbs and gained new ones. They bonded over cheating corporates out of money — Rin making ARC pay for her education drew a laugh. Two spacers finding common ground through bruises and honesty.

About halfway through, Yaw showed up in the gym. Ostensibly for his own workout. Actually watching them carefully, sizing Rin up. After the observer meeting, he'd stopped underestimating her. Now he wanted her measure.

Kamaka noticed immediately. She finished the session and said: "Hey Yaw, if you want to see my tits you gotta take me to dinner first." Then led Rin out for a quick run.

The Observer Meeting: Victoria and Rin played two different angles in perfect coordination. Victoria came in with hard copies of the observer agreements and printed reports of exactly what information the observers were entitled to under those agreements. Rin came in with hard copies of where the observers had been crossing the lines — accessing information and areas they weren't entitled to.

Victoria was vocal, proper, and precise: proposing changes to the cadence and structure of the meetings to align with the actual agreements. Rin was silent, wearing her best security face, letting the silence be the threat underneath Victoria's absolutely proper etiquette.

Vance's reaction: amusement and open acknowledgment. He knew he'd been outplayed, and he respected them greatly for it. Yaw was actually off-balance for once — he'd dismissed Rin as a child, but she was giving him the kind of stare he used when dealing with badly behaving ensigns. He'd dismissed Victoria as a mere medic; instead she came in with deep knowledge of the legal and political situation.

Yaw absorbed quietly, and as he was preparing to speak, Vance couldn't help himself: "Face it, Absalom, we've been outmaneuvered. Time to retreat and lick your wounds. Ladies." He left. Yaw held the room a moment longer: "I'll see you at the next meeting."

Azure's Final Reach: As the crew settled in for the night, James announced that Azure had one more thing to try. Knowing now that distance isn't just a matter of space but of connection, he reached out — not to someone nearby, not to the Sagan, but all the way to Luna. To Silence Before Dawn. His therapist. His healer. The whale who put him back together.

He connected. Then immediately lost consciousness, because reaching to Luna is still far beyond what his body can sustain. But for a moment — he was there. The limits aren't just self-imposed. They're artificial. Telepaths have been constraining themselves to a fraction of what's possible, and Azure just proved it twice in one day.

Next session: boots on Mars.

Notable Moments¶

Kai sensing the shuttle at 0300 — his Talent is always on
Azure setting the therapist/friend boundary with Kai — mature, precise, kind
Azure's Talent Explosion during Double-Talk — the dice were undeniable
Kyle guarding the door — the spy who knows when he's out of his depth
Rin's 6-on-4 empathic reach to Tanaka — the first caring touch in years
"Don't tell Kyle!" — Victoria, winning the session
The crew's shocked realization during Iyer's authority speech
Azure immediately dismissing Yaw as "the guy in blue pajamas"
Victoria recognizing the crater from her dream — 6 successes on 5 dice
Vance wagering the Spice Road on his own good behavior
Victoria receiving the Deep Dream fragment from the whales
Kai electrocuting himself trying to mind-meld a reactor
"WEIRD STUFF IS HAPPENING TO ME" / "I think the whales talked to me. Good night." sedative
Rin and Victoria turning the tables on the observers
Azure reaching Kai telepathically from Phobos to the Sagan — the constellation of minds
The whales inviting Victoria to the deep places: "when your time to rest comes, visit us"
Azure navigating consent for Yenni's telepathic scan — and finding her clean
Victoria and Rin's coordinated takedown of the observers — hard copies and silence
Kamaka to Yaw: "If you want to see my tits you gotta take me to dinner first"
Azure reaching Silence Before Dawn on Luna — then passing out. The limits are artificial.
Victoria's neural monitor capturing data during Azure's lunar reach — accidental breakthrough

Other Notes¶

Azure's Telepathic Reach: After his explosion, Azure attempted something new. Using his Deep Mind Wise skill to box up everything he knew about telepathic range, he reached out to Kai on the Sagan from Phobos Station. Base Ob 8 for distance, reduced by 4 for deep mind preparation and familiarity with Kai. Seven successes. He saw minds as a constellation of stars — the ones personally close to him burning brightest and nearest. Kai, so close in every way that matters, was like talking to someone in the next room. Splishy was right: the limits are self-imposed.

Azure and Kai's Conversation: While the observer meeting played out, Azure and Kai talked privately through their new telepathic link — the players running the scene off to the side while the GM ran the political confrontation. Two friends working through Kai's stresses: the weight of everything, the demands pulling him in too many directions. Kai also shared what he'd felt at the reactor — something just out of reach, a sense of power he could almost touch if he could just get in sync. He didn't have a word for it, but Azure heard the shape of something new on the horizon. A friend being supportive, and a young Talent learning to share his struggles instead of carrying them alone.

Victoria's Healing Hands: Victoria used her microkinesis and microsurgery specialties to work on Kai's electrical burns. Ob 5, success — reduced healing time to a couple of days.

Rin and Kamaka: Kamaka took Rin to meet "Sleepy" in Supplies and bought her some Loonie candies. Sleepy said "give me a day." The Belter-spacer connection between Rin and Kamaka continues to deepen.

New NPC — Sarah: Phobos Station's administrative assistant, comms officer, and flight controller. Highly ADHD, doing three jobs, keeping all the plates spinning through sheer chaotic energy. Knows every problem on the station because every problem crosses her desk.

The MC Spice Road: Mars Consortium Beta Class supply vessel. Colors: reds and sandy browns. No spinning section. Disguised railgun along the bottom. Vance's ship, Vance's idealism, Vance's pragmatism — all in one hull.

Artha¶

Character	Fate	Persona	Deeds	Notes
Azure	4	+1	1	Persona: "blue pajamas"; Deeds: shared — stepping into authority
Victoria	4	+1	1	Persona: "Don't tell Kyle!"; Deeds: shared
Kai	4 +2		1	+1 Tanaka conversation, +1 reactor/sedative exchange; Deeds: shared
Rin	4 +2		1	+1 trauma dream, +1 Kamaka scene; Deeds: shared

Quotes¶

"Couldn't sleep?" — Kamaka, to Kai at 0300

"Don't tell Kyle!" — Victoria, after Tanaka asks "Are you people friends?!?"

"Who was the guy in blue pajamas? Oh, Director Yaw." — Azure

"I'll burn his brain out of his skull." — Azure, on what happens if his suspicions about Yaw prove true

"It's not my fault. WEIRD STUFF IS HAPPENING TO ME!" — Kai, after electrocuting himself on the reactor

"I know. I think the whales talked to me. Good night." — Victoria, injecting Kai with a sedative

"I want you all to know I hate you." — Kyle, after surviving Book Club

"Face it, Absalom, we've been outmaneuvered. Time to retreat and lick your wounds. Ladies." — Vance, conceding defeat with a grin

"I'll see you at the next meeting." — Yaw, not conceding anything

"Hey Yaw, if you want to see my tits you gotta take me to dinner first." — Kamaka, ending a sparring session and a surveillance operation simultaneously