Month: June 2022

After helping the injured to the resort’s medical facility, many questions were asked that night and the following day.

There turned out to be two very different types of smuggling operation…

The first was the sort they expected – contraband being distributed by Hank, the staffer in charge of the Diving for Doubloons event. After extracting an admission that he had been solicited by the Free Trade Guild, and securing a list of names and some physical evidence, they handed him over to Alan. The REC would organise a sting to apprehend as many of those involved as possible.

So’ledrei, while tangentially involved in the Free Trade Guild’s scheme, was working for a more altruistic cause. He was channeling funds from Ayla Vych-Taron to an underground railroad transporting sesheyans from the Stellar Ring to the Verge. The investigators decided to omit this from official reports.

All they could uncover about whatever Michael Taron found before his apparent assassination was that it had something to do with VoidCorp. (Rule of thumb: It always has something to do with VoidCorp.) Ayla failed to come through with a contact for his secretary. As she and her parents are now out of reach of both the Thuldans and the party, due to a deal brokered by Insight to maintain the status quo, this generated another dead end. It’s still not clear how the Nariac cyber-mariner fit into things, or why the Thuldan sweeper operation was triggered. Still, Cinque got a new aqua-laser to play with, so it all ended well.

Until Mayhem informed them that he’d added a few extras to the refit and signed them up to a convoy to cover the cost. Preparations began for what would undoubtedly be a long, strange trip.

Cinque and Conrad manage to sober Wayne up overnight. A quiet day out at sea with Alan and Megan lasts until another boat, Alder’s Pride, impacts one of the resort’s proximity buoys and explodes. Twice. Through the smoke, Wayne sees a heavily cybered individual searching, who jumps overboard when spotted. Also, there are sharks. With frickin’ lasers.

After the survivors are rescued, Agent Donald Gettys arrives on scene to take credit charge. He leads them north to an island he knows has a medical facility. The Thuldans working there are the friendly sort, so only fire one warning missile at the approaching grav-cruisers.

The team apparently arrive at a bad time, as a kill squad show up shortly after to purge all evidence of the illicit experiments taking place there. Dr Artemus Vych is at a loss to explain what could have triggered a security breach. Jeremy Garond and his team make a valiant stand in Vych Manor against the Thuldan warlions, allowing the others to run away evacuate the non-combatants.

Things are not a whole lot better down below in Nereid Outpost, where Thuldan saboteurs have killed all the techs and are preparing demolition charges. Fortunately, the cyber-mariner from Alder’s Pride has already killed several of them. Unfortunately, he seems to want to kill all the Thuldans, including the evacuees, which the team politely object to. Gus hangs back a few moments to “tie her shoelaces” next to the mainframe in the research lab.

One cyborg kill-switch EMP later, everyone flees aboard the mini-sub kindly provided by the Thuldan saboteurs. (There may also have been something about Conrad exploding a satchel charge in the elevator shaft behind two approaching warlions.) The outpost explodes as the sub exits the undersea tunnel. A small group of deepfallen approach, communicate briefly with Megan, then swim onward into the tunnel, looking for “one who was lost”. The surface-dwellers head back to the resort.

With the Sparrow still grounded, the crew decide to hit the beach. Except for Wayne, who hits the bottle. Gus and Megan accept a mission from Alloy to investigate a smuggling operation, bringing Conrad and Cinque (and Wayne) along.

Conrad meets one of their fellow guests, Alan Quinn, whom he introduces to Megan. While initially claiming to work for security, after a few drinks he says he’s with REC (Regency Enforcement Command; essentially the police, though technically military).

Mixing pleasure with business, the crew surreptitiously interview staff members. There is hardly any hacking of resort servers or breaking and entering other guest cabins.

After 2 days of investigation produce indeterminate results, they accept Alan’s invitation to spend the next day out on a grav-cruiser. Conrad has made plans for the day after that, so clearly nothing can possibly go wrong…

A plan is formed to assault the station’s command centre. A plea from Administrator Javier Augustine, aka Zero Shock, to rescue survivors from the military med lab costs him his life. Gus pulls off a significant hack, registering herself as joint-secondary commander and making friends with the station AI, Sally. This allows the team to slow down enemy movements and reach the med lab before reinforcements.

After freeing the remaining station personnel, Gus re-reprograms a security bot which is then used as cannon-fodder, allowing them to stomp onwards and secure the shuttle bay. During this foray, SK (employee NQ771 SKD9B) realises the jig may be up and hightails it for the VoidCorp assault ship. Belatedly, the crew give chase, but the remaining invaders escape. In a parting message, SK promises repercussions for today’s interference:

“Such a pity it had to end this way. As a reasonable man, I’d much rather have reached some kind of understanding. Now, VoidCorp will have to add you to its list of corrupted assets, and I, Sato Klaude Dexter, will take great personal pleasure in expunging each of you from reality’s balance sheet.”

Wayne locates the abandoned aquatic shuttle, which Conrad retrieves in more-or-less one piece. Madame Exo is contacted and the other shuttle returns from its hiding spot beneath the polar ice on Walin III. Injuries are healed. The dead are put on ice. The Momotaro makes ready to leave, at which point Kurch announces he will stay in case VoidCorp return before Insight reinforcements arrive.

Back on Bluefall, Dr Nuna is escorted safely to Haven 6. Alloy releases the agreed fee. Gus hands over captured VoidCorp armour and weapons, with a suggestion that they might be useful for a certain kind of operation. Cinque asks for Foxy Lady’s hand but she refuses to allow him to detach it and offers him a tour of the cybernetics lab instead.

On the taxi flight back to Hughes Island, Mayhem informs them the Sparrow’s refit is still in progress. Also, there may be a small shortfall in funds, which will be required to get it released when they are completed…