Optimist Station 1-14-2024

[jayphailey]

1-14-2024 Optimist Station

An old Asteroid mine rehabbed into a space-truck stop.

Truck Scales - transport authority, inspects and licenses commercial starships. Notoriously open to "reason" (bribes).

The current station admin and operations staff present as New Republic civilian admin types. An investigation will show they're conmen on the run from the Empire who moved in on this place and have been pocketing all fees and fines. They want everything to look good and run smooth, and dont care about the details, as long as nothing happens to draw New Republic Attention

*Jack Whitestar - Station admin. Looking for a big score, so he can get out of here. Has been forced into being a station admin by circumstance and running his mouth. He's learned more than he thinks he has

*Veronica Dorlan - Vice Admin, former squeeze of Jak's. They present as a professionals and friends. behind the scenes they squabble over money and plot to kill each other without any real intent to follow through

*Old Joe - a former staffer, jailed for a drunken anti-imperial rant. Jack and Veronica released him so he could show them the ropes. He drinks a lot but knows how to run a station. He's not entirely clear if they are or are not from the New Republic, but doesn't care, because they only bother him in the morning most of the time, don't cry about about his drinking, and follow his suggestions.

*Dozzan Nekka - Enforcer for Jack and Veronica. He's very large, cybernetic and dumb as a brick. He likes beer, girls and sports, and can be brutal to people who interupt his Girl/beer/sportsting.

Station Security, a collection of has beens, cast offs and second stringers who are all aware that their cushy gig rests on the station functioning well. Psychos are quietly disposed of. They'll take bribes and pocket fines. But they won't let anyone break things too badly.

-*-

* Hazzar Stuvva - A Twilek. Runs a cheese shop, and restaraunt with his brothers, cousins and loyal staffers.

Stuvva is a crime lord and runs about 50% of the "Business" on Optimist Station. The rest is all freelance. If someone out side his operation comes to Stuvva's attention, he demands a gratuity to ignore them.

Stuvva really digs cheese. He has an impressive collection in his shop and his restaraunt specializes in gourmet cheese related dishes from different planets.

He and his crew are professional, direct and thoughtful. They take a cut of the "Businesses" and work to make sure everything runs smoothely.

They'll kill you without thinking twice if necessary. Their blood is as cold as space.

But the food is good and as long as you're generous with your tips, they'll leave you alone.

They grew out of an anti-imperial rebel cell. The Empire was intensely human-supremacist, so Twi'leks and other species were regarded as second class subjects, or worse.

They turned to crime to support their fight and then discovered they like money better.

They won't go out of their way to abuse humans or harm them. But they won't go an inch out of their way FOR humans, either. A few of the guys in the kitchen might still hold grudges.

Optimist station is equipped with a primitive reconstitution system that turns organic waste into sludge, Good for plant food.

Humans and others can survive eating it. It tastes.. weird and bad, but it'll keep you alive.

No one who knows anything about the station will eat this sludge. There is some debate about the mushrooms and veggies grown in the sludge.

Inconvinient people are cut up and sent through the system. Soylent Green is people.

But if you're broke, that's what you get.

-----

So

Truck Stop
Mall

Has three fast food places - Astroburger, Flapdoodles and [X]

They buy supplies from worlds a little closer to the core. Materials arrive frozen in liquid nitrogen and then get thawed. Acceptable

3 Clothing stores
Work Clothes
Stupid Fashion
White people clothes

3 second hand stores
1 - The one run by the cult - subsists on donations.
2 -The fencing front - sells loot and anything else they can get for cheap. Contact with the Cheese guys.
3 - One run but old folks who have been round since before the empire. Good OLD stuff. They have droids who recondition stuff very well.

The Starship Garage -
A repair shop for starships.
has various sized hangars dug into the outer surface. You need to reserve a bay a couple of days in advance, so they can air it up, heat it up, and check it for leaks or damage. When ships aren't in ther, these bays are abandoned.

Run by Cranky Bob - Bob's been repairing ships for a long time. He'll hire anyone who knows their shit. He pays by the job at a miserly rate. Cranky Bob has an core crew that he pays more. They're the ones who'll bring in a mysteriously damaged cargo ship and part it out, no questions asked.

Or they'll repair a mysteriously well armed "scout" or "Courier" no questions asked

Cranky Bob and his inside crew are part of the Cheese guys eco system.

Cranky Bob also offers inspections and certifications, for various prices depending on how hard you're asking him to work and what you're asking him to lie about.

Cranky Bob was on a racing team engineering squad 40 years ago.

He became a true believer in the Empire and enlisted.

He was a crew chief on the Death Star during the Battle of Yavin.

He and his crew borrowed a mostly complete executive shuttle and left the death star as it blew up.

Cranky Bob was disillusioned and cranky. He and his crew split up on tatooine and he's been grouching around the gray and black market ever since.

All he believes in now is money. In his hand.

He has a squad of droids that are weird, colorful and well maintained. He trusts them more than he trusts anyone made of meat.

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The Droid levels

There are access tunnels and areas of optimist station that few people go to. Droids have converted these areas into a "Droid Town"

Deep in an unused chamber there is OU812. This droid is a frankenstien borrowing parts from multiple different types of droids.

He is old. No one knows for sure how old. His brain has been upgraded time and time again.

OU812 is on a mission. He wants to acquire enough resources to set up a droid haven, a free space for droids away from organics. That way droids can escape the insane and chaotic world of meatbags, if they want.

This is the topic of much philosophical discussion among the droids.

The droid levels are stocked with borrowed tools, parts and things that amuse droids. They have an archive that would make any historican cry.

When a strange droid comes to Optimist station, the maintenance droids offer to do an "oil change" on the droid, compliments of the house.

They do this, droids so treated are repaired and maintained.

They're also backed up, and what they've seen and heard is stored in the droid archive.

A Few suspect that there is something going on with the droids, but no one cares enough to really dig into it.

There's an area of the droid levels that have been remodelled into a maze. Children who sneak into the droid levels are directed into the maze, where droids sing at them, dance for them, amuse them, feed and water them and then direct them back home without seeing the parts that would be dangerous.

Teenagers discover caches of old books, games, devices or drugs as will convince them they've discovered the true secret of the underlayers.

The area where OU812 and his fellows talk is an ancient garage. Several people have walked through it completely unaware of what was going on there. OU812 hides in a dented tool cabinet.

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Tobacconists

1 - is run by a plant based alien family. They consider burning and inhaling leaves exotic. They themselves eat the leaves.

2 - Also carries drugs of various types, part of the cheese guys' ecosystem. Run by an old man with a sweater with patches on the sleeves. Knows waaaayyy too much about tobacco and will talk you to death about it. Will only sell illicit materials to people vetted by the cheese guys.

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3 casinos

1 - Run by an associate of Jack Whitestar

2 - Part of the Cheese guys ecosystem

3 - Nominally indpendant. People who are on Cheese guy shit list go there.

As part of the price for operating independantly, Cheese guys have surveillance in place. Employees, droids and security systems report back to the cheese guys what people say when they think they're safe from the cheese guys.

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Hotels

1 - Cheep Toobs. A coffin hotel type place. The tubes are arranged to allow for pressure washing. The place gives the feeling that it hasn't been pressure washed enough

2 - Johos - a middle of the road generic hotel. Run by an associate of JW, also bugged all to hell. Droids clean and repair it night and day.

3 - Four Stars - A nicer place. Lots of Amenities. Charges like it. Nicer droids and staff. Part of the Cheese Guys eco-system. The Management resists generic bugging but will allow temporary special case monitoring.

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Weapons

1 - Bloodbath and Beyond - a Franchise. Staffed by old pirates and bounty hunters. A distant part of the Cheese guys eco system. They pay a small operating fee. Cheese guys sometimes hire them for stubborn problems

2 - McBlasty's - A Generic fast food type of weapons store. Everything cheap, generic and will shoot. No specials, no mods.

3 - Weapons Locker - Run by 5 surviving clone wars clones and their folks. They hate droids and won't let them in the store.

Has a large selection of Clone War era weapons and armor, Imperial era weapons and armor. And lots and lots of "used" weapons.

This is where guns looted from pirate booty go to get sold off.

On a good roll you can find something odd that suits you.

On a good roll you can find a good modification for a gun you want.

Make sure you have the cash. These guys aren't kidding around. Also part of the Cheese guys ecosystem.

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Brothels

1 - Becky's - Run by an associate of Jack Whitestar. Like everything else in the Whitestar ecosystem, they want money and business with no complications.

2 - Fluffy's, part of the Cheese guy eco-system. Leans towards humanoids but not human service providers. Girls there are on a fuzzy line that veers uncomfortably towards indentured servitude. If summoned Cheese guys will show up and turn trouble makers into Soylent.

3 - Goldies - The traditional heart of gold madam. She wants to take care of her girls. Same deal as with the casino. The price for independence is a small fee to Jack Whitestar and the cheese guys, and be an open book for the Cheese guys.


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Steakhouse - a popular restaraunt on Optimist station. Serves meat imported directly from Saukassas (The PCs home base)

Expensive but popular.

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hardware store - Generic hardware store. Nothing unusual. Has the stuff you'd expect to find in a well stocked hardware store.

Bumpys - a Ship modification shop. Has gear to personalize and customize your ship. Has a crew that will install mods. Has a relationship with Cranky Bob.

Boom boom stereo? Got it. Multicolored LEDs? Got it. Turn your bunk into a cheesy 1970s porn set? Got it.

Need a new set of defensive guns? They have a collection of used gear. Need to upgrade your engines? Same.

They can order new parts from an official shop, it'll take up to a week to arrive.

Bumpy's is also part of the Cheese Guys ecosystem and Jack Whitestars.

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Slick Jeff - A human with a taste for LOUD sports coats. Sells used ships. Also has a relationship with Cranky Bob.

The ships range from clapped out garbage, to relics that belong in a museum to almost decent, and could be okay with some work.

Slick Jeff is part of Jack Whitestar's ecosystem. But tips out the Cheese guys to be left alone.

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The Brain fish.

The brain fish are endemic on an obscure planet not too far away.

A scout landed there and got fished.

He and several brain fished people came to optimist station and have begun a brain fish take over.

Jack Whitestar and a number of his inner circle have been fished.

Sensing a change, the Cheese guys assume that Whitestar is flipping to the cops, and so they have tightened down their shit.

On the surface everyone is acting normal, but tensions are high.

The Brainfish are struggling. The nuance of the organized and semi-organized crime confuse the brainfish.

Several of Jack Whitestars crew have become sticklers for the rules and process - The Brainfish don't understand much else!

The situation is unstable about to turn into a cheesy 1980s sci fi action movie

But that tipping point happens about 3 to 5 days after the PCs get there.

I'll have to roll for each named place to see if they've been fished or not.

I'll also have to stay light on my feet to make up places and people b ased on where the PCs go.

Several of Jack Whitestars crew have become sticklers for the rules and process - The Brainfish don't understand much else!

The situation is unstable about to turn into a cheesy 1980s sci fi action movie

But that tipping point happens about 3 to 5 days after the PCs get there.

I'll have to roll for each named place to see if they've been fished or not.

I'll also have to stay light on my feet to make up places and people b ased on where the PCs go.

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McMedicine - A small shop to get owies fixed, A droid, an old doctor and an old nurse.

Sickbay - a serious set up, with more droids and more professional staff

Bewbs - an alteration clinic. Nominally a plastic surgery clinic. Behind a hidden door, they have a more in depth surgical suite and recovery area, If you have the money, they'll change/install/remove whatever you want.

They also have a shop where you can buy previously enjoyed cybernetics, as well as some new stuff. If you want to order from a catalog, they can order and it'll get there in up to a week.

Run By Doc Awk, A ethics challenged sugeon talented in cybernetics. He has a parter, Docor Sheela. Doctor Sheela is a drop dead 10 out of 10 smoke show. She is a talent at body sculpting. (Used to be a guy, ow living her best life and making money guiding others across the golden brick road.)

At this clinic you can get your appearance changed, you biometrics changed, or get a cybernetic death arm from a cyberpunk game.

If you have the cash.

Cargo Zone -

Four different offices buy and sell cargos that come and go from the station.

They have warehouses, people and cargo handling droids.

[jayphailey]

This one didn't go AT ALL how I expected

The PCs stumbled around until the Cheese guys realized something was wrong, the Cheese guys (accidentally) Interfered in the Brain Fish assassinating the PCs and in a tense stand off, the Cheese guys and the PCs - Note, Law Enforcement from the New Republic, left the station together, escaping the Brain fished guys.

[jayphailey]

Then a Crimson Empire light cruiser showed up and was about the blast optimist Station to Kingdom come when a New Republic cruiser showed up and buffaloes them off the target.


The Crimson Empire was looking for a Transport the PCs had captured - the Crimson Empire transport guys had been brain fished at Optimist Station


The PCs barely knew about the Brain Fish, because they got told back at New Republic HQ - they learned NOTHING of the Crimson Empire

[jayphailey]

The Crimson Empire was an Imperial Remnant that was taken over the Crimson Madonna, who I made up long long ago

She claimed to be an apprentice to Darth Vader and the Emperor and was charismatic and violent enough so that the Imperials believed her.