Episode 6 - New Job, Who Dis?

Intro
Matt: Hello and welcome to Celestial Expanse, a real play D&D podcast set in the Celestial Expanse universe, my name is Matthew, I'm be playing your dungeon master tonight, playing with me today is Ben, who plays as Rell... Ben: Hello. Matt: Jason, who plays as Theran... Jason: Hello? Matt: Rebecca, who plays as Martle... Rebecca: Hallo. Matt: Boston, who plays as Juniper... Boston: The magical bean will find its destiny. Matt: Oh my god. Matt: I'm gener... I regret saying those words. Jason: Ever saying anything? Matt: Natalia who plays as Z. Natalia: Ewo! Matt: How's everybody doing today? Natalia: Excellent. Jason: Good. Boston: I have a cookie. Matt: Did you bring enough to share with the class? Boston: No. They're my cookies, fuck off. Jason: Wowww. Rebecca: I will personally fight you for those cookies. Boston: There's only one cookie left. Rebecca: I will personally fight you for that cookie. Boston: Too late. *noms cookie* Natalia: Aaaaand a beautiful PVP. Jason: Yeah. Boston: You're up. Let's go. Matt: So, Rebecca - So Rebecca, are you saying when we hang out I need to make cookies? Rebecca: Yes, obviously!
 * laughter*
 * laughter*
 * laughter*

Episode Description
It's been a year since the events over at Starbase Cronus and the crew are low on funds and out of luck, that is until an old friend leaves them a message.

Summary
The episode begins a year after the events of episodes 1-5, in which the party met each other and received the Torog. Martle is captain and Juniper is the engineer. They receive a message from Ashley Deacon requesting their help with some excavationers on Iepetus in the Ara system. The Ara system is in the Marauder cluster of the galaxy, which is unregulated and full of pirates. Iepetus has extremely strong gravity (~8x Earth's), necessitating special equipment to survive. Ashley's job would pay them 50,000 credits, enough for five jumps between star systems. Martle consults with Theran and Z steals the captain's chair. Martle yeets her, and Rell pilots the ship to Iepetus with the last of their fuel. Iepetus settled by humans; most humans belong to the coalition of planets, governed by three powerful AIs known as ATLAS, MINERVA, and HERMES, worshipped as gods by the humans in the coalition. Some humans dislike this arrangement, and have broken off to other, "free" planets. Iepetus is one such planet.

The planet has forests of petrified trees, a swathe of which have been cleared for a harbor. Rell lands the ship, and they are informed that Ashley is at the hospital, and a taxi will take them there. They each receive anti-grav bracelets, which are needed outside of the shielded harbor. After an hour, an offensively bright taxi arrives. The driver, a Mentaru named Gregson, smokes heavily, and the taxi is disgusting in every way. He almost crashes constantly, and his registration expired two years ago. They survive the trip, however, though Z emerges with chewed gum on her face. Theran only has enough credits for the ride, but Gregson is interested in Martle, so Theran offers to set them up, giving him advice likely to result in Martle murdering him. He gives Martle Gregson's number, only telling her that it's the number to call to get a ride back.

They enter the hospital, Z staying hidden behind Rell's cloak. Theran claims to be Ashley's brother-in-law, Rell. The nurse says Ashley is unconscious and can't see anyone but family, and that she's a single child. Z sneaks behind the desk and sees that Ashley is in room 305, so they take the elevator to Ashley's room. Z slaps her awake and asks her what happened. The episode ends with Ashley saying the job was a bit bigger than she had anticipated.

Memorable Quotes
Rebecca: Duct tape is the one true god.

Ben: Well, I was expecting when she told Theran to pay the guy he was just gonna kill him, this was not the way I was expecting him to do it.

Trivia

 * It was established that duct tape is a constant in the universe, and therefore never changed to spuct tape.
 * Ben got inspiration for a reference Matt appreciated.
 * The taxi driver Gregson was introduced this episode.