Gumball Wishes and Taxicab Dreams

[thespaceopera]

[On today's episode of the Drift Fleet:

The cargo holds are full of mysterious crates! The crews are filling beyond capacity with new faces! Official alerts are informing the passengers that they are signed to contracts that they've never agreed to! They are docking at the dazzling FS Starlight, but are flat broke!

What are they going to do!? Stay tuned to find out!


...Meaning, this is a kickoff mingle for you all to enjoy the beginning of the latest plot setting. This is a convenient place to start threads relating to the first week of the event-- meeting new crewmembers, reacting to the mysterious cargo, arriving on the station and discovering that you're all broke, etc.

Tag around, start whatever you'd like, have fun. And, as always, feel free to make your own posts and mingles from here on in, as this will be the only mod-posted one for this event!]

Comments

[mikangirl]

Well, if they let me back in again. But either way, I'm more or less set for cash now, anyway. [She peers over her glass at Kirito.] What about you?

[huaaaaagh]

I'm managing okay. I'd be doing better if they'd let me play a little.

[He'd done so well on the desert moon, he was hoping to clean out a table or two.]

I hacked a couple of ATMs to get myself started, but I'd really like to pay the funds back before someone notices.

[mikangirl]

Hacked an A-T-M? [The way she draws it out, she's never heard it before.]

What does that mean?

[huaaaaagh]

Have you seen those machines around the station that people can use to take out credits? On my world they're called ATMs- automated teller machine. Like going to a bank, but with computers. If you can get around the system, you can get access to all the money it carries.

1/3

[mikangirl]

[Oh, those big boxes she sees around the place. Got it. That are full of money. That Kirito knows how to get.]

[mikangirl]

[....!]

[mikangirl]

[She drains her beer and slams it down on the table.]

Okay. Show me how hard it is.

[It's totally a simple walk in the park right MAKE HER MONEY KIRITO]

[huaaaaagh]

[THAT WAS STARTLING]

Wh- you want to learn how to hack?

[mikangirl]

Yeah! It sounds like fun! Not to mention useful. This sort of thing could happen again in the future, right?

I'm only looking out for my welfare!

--our welfare.

[huaaaaagh]

...Riiiight.

[Yeah, he totally believes you. Not. But he also doesn't care, so with a grin he downs the rest of his cider and smacks the glass down on the table, leaning forward.]

Okay, you're on. How good are you with computers?

[mikangirl]

[She breaks into a wide grin because yeeesss that's the spirit. And then--]

Computers... not so great. Everything I know is via augment. But I'm a fast learner!

[Clearly she can go from can conduct general file searches to hacking them in just a few easy steps, right? Being so greedy should...help...]

[huaaaaagh]

...Well, okay. Maybe you can learn on the fly. Lucky for you, I'm well-supplied.

[He shrugs a flat-faced bag he'd had slung around his shoulder, unzipping it to reveal a laptop, which he promptly opens and turns on. There's a big sticker pasted above the keyboard that says Property of Club Karma.]

The first step is to get access to a network. Sort of like our communicators, every system that connects together with another has to have a network. Some are wired, but the best ones to work with are wireless. Like this bar, for example- it's connected to a few things, I bet. Back home a lot of places come with free wi-fi, digital payment systems- heck, even the radio can be linked to some other network.

[mikangirl]

[Did you steal that from Club Karma or are you a member-- no wait, she's distracted by all the technospeak. Um. Ah. She followed it a little to begin with. Then he starts talking about wiring and--]

Okay! With you so far.

[No she's not. But she lives in hope he'll say something that makes more sense. :|]

[huaaaaagh]

Great!

[Does he believe her, or is he too buzzed to care? Who knows. Maybe not even him.

But since she understood that much-]

The easiest way to get through a network is to use an existing code or program, modding it as needed to fit your goal, but if you can't do that, it's possible to write your own. If you're really good at it, it only takes a couple of hours at most and you've got a system up and running that can track all kinds of information. I was practicing outside a club the other day with this one code designed to connect to the company's music set-up, and it's a pretty common system around here, so it's easy to make it work with other locations. Look-

[He loads up a window and turns the laptop at an angle so she can see the screen. It's covered in illegible code.]

[mikangirl]

[Oh my god help numbers and symbols and--

--ah. Yeah she's good at navigational equations on the fly, but she has a knowledge base for that and--]

....right.

[She didn't understand any of that at all. Possibly this look might clue Kirito in. Depends how buzzed he is, really.]

[huaaaaagh]

[He's starting to get that impression, but he's too deep into the groove and it's a bit too tempting to show off.

Type, type, type, type-]

Okay, so here I've triggered the algorithm I wrote to unlock their system. Once that's up and running, it's just a matter of inputting some basic command codes, and their entertainment is at my mercy.

[A couple of system codes later, and the computerized jukebox in the corner bursts into song.]

you just rickrolled me in tags HDU

[namisan]

[Look at that, her hair found this way too confusing. Shh just pretend She leans forward anyway to watch him, as if squinting at the screen might make it suddenly resolve into anything that makes sense. She gets the gist of what he's doing but--

Then she jumps as the jukebox whirs to life with some... insipid dance number. Someone across the bar even boos and throws an empty peanut packet at it.]

Was that you?

it was that or the pussycat gag and idk if he'd know that one |D

[huaaaaagh]

[Have a grand shit-eating grin. Yes, he's very pleased with himself.]

Yep. That's hacking, in a nutshell. Generally inconveniencing other people for entertainment.

[namisan]

[She can't help grinning at that.] Or for profit. [Very important.]

I guess it'll take longer than a few minutes to learn. Most of that last part flew right by me.

[huaaaaagh]

Most likely, yeah. It can take a long time to learn how to code properly.

[He might've been a child genius at it, himself, but he still had to take the time to study for it. Doesn't happen overnight.]

But technically you don't have to- how about a partnership?

[namisan]

[She gets the most little kid gleeful grin at that.]

I like the sound of where that's going. What did you have in mind?

[huaaaaagh]

Well, you're good at the casinos, right? And the best payout comes by offering up a hefty starting bet. If we hit a few of the ATMs and you use those funds at the tables...

[See where he's going?]

[namisan]

[Does she ever.]

You're right! I could make a massive return for both of us! [Assuming the casinos hereabouts let her back in again, but DETAILS. There's bound to be other stations, too.] You've got a fine head for business, Kirito!

[She'll split with you like. 80-20.]

[huaaaaagh]

[Minimum of 60-40 or he's out, gurl.]

I think they word you're looking for is "crime". And I'm trying not to make a habit of it, but they definitely pushed us into a corner.

[namisan]

[70-30?]

Business, crime. It's all the same thing when you're a pirate.