Jump 137: The Polity

Jump #137: The Polity
>King of Swords (Perfect clarity of thought, excessive use of force, and mastery of language as a tool for deception.)
Gee, that doesn't sound like LITERALLY EVERYONE WITH ANY AMOUNT OF POWER that I might run across in this jump. Maybe I should try to take it easy this time around.
>Age: 28
>Location: Coloron
>Identity: Drop-In
And if you think I'd take drawbacks here... yeah, no. Practically godlike AI is not something I want to take lightly, not when they have the firepower and plot armor that they do here.
>Runcible Technician (Free, Drop-In)
Well, knowing how these work can only be helpful to me. While I can assemble one from the parts, I can't do it without them. Hm, I'll have to study and figure out exactly how these are made... then figure out how to adapt them to other settings, where that applies. Leaving behind legacy tech in jumps that can't be replicated when I WANT it to be replicated is a problem, after all.
>Eclectic Bunch of Screwballs (900, Drop-In)
Charisma! Besides, as odd as the various people in the Polity are, they don't hold a candle to some of the shit I've seen.
>Prototyper (600, Drop-In)
Oh. Here we go. This'll work nicely with runcible technician, I'm sure, but thinking in directions I've not been thinking before with tech... that should be interesting. In fact, come to think of it, I wonder whether I could use a reactionless drive offensively rather than as propulsion...
>Let's Be Civilized (500)
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!"
>Unlikely Alternatives (300)
Ah, and better research techniques. Theoretically. Can't do any harm, anyway.
>Forged Digital History (Free, Drop-In)
This is important. It keeps the aforementioned AI from knowing I don't belong here, unless they feel the need to investigate me deeply.
>Experimental Aug (0, Drop-In)
You know, I'm not quite sure why I've got this, except perhaps for the ability to assume direct control of a Runcible or jump-capable ship when need be, without an AI to assist. Apparently this increases my computational abilities... could be useful, after all.

But yeah, most of this jump? Keeping my head down. Blending in. Not breaking out ANY out-of-jump technology if I can help it, unless it is flat-out magic and I'm in an hour of dire need, because the way things work? It could be replicated. No point contaminating the universe, prime directive and all.

Which I freely ignore when I feel like it.

I admit to blatant hypocrisy, but some places need a helping hand, and I'm starting to hesitate less to give the help that they need to not be as crapsack a world as they are. Which, yes, may take the form of an iron fist in a velvet glove.