Month: February 2023

Wayne gets a call from Loralai later that evening and disappears in a hurry muttering something about “urgent” and “back later”. Nate gets a call from Sasha at 2am (while still at the marshal’s) informing him that Sonya is missing and her three friends are in hospital.

Kat gives Nat a ride while he calls the others. They meet Yala, Cinque, and Gus there. Brie tells them it was gang members of Mr Big, a dealer arrested when Sonya tipped off the goldies about a sale, after he made trouble for Mags. Kat confirms he was broken out from a holding cell 2 days ago. Even though he had been arrested several months back, there had been multiple delays getting him to trial as various witnesses were tracked down, some of whom subsequently disappeared. Gus manages to trace Sonya’s communicator to a warehouse in a rundown industrial area.

Upon arriving, they get a call from Sasha. A ransom demand has been received. They ask Kat to arrange a drop. This succeeds in splitting the gang members – almost half head to the drop while the rest stay in the warehouse. Yala contacts Sonya telepathically and a plan is hatched. Cinque is able to pinpoint everyone within using his drone’s thermal sensors. The crew rush the guards on the front door, managing to incapacitate them just as those inside burst forth. A short but intense firefight ensues, from which a single gang member manages to flee. Sonya has been badly beaten. Yala transfers away enough damage to allow her to walk and they vacate the warehouse.

After bringing Kat up to speed, they decide to send the drone as backup. Cinque spots Mr Big’s second and helps Kat pin him down in an alley. Armoured troops arrive; the alley is stormed and arrests are made.

Sonya is informed of Conrad’s demise. She and the other Valkyries accept an offer to visit Bluefall aboard the Sparrow. Kat confirms the gangsters were working for Mr Big, who the department is now trying to track down. Next time he’s arrested, she will intervene to make sure his trial is expedited.

Mayhem and Cinque secure a discount on a load of rhodium. Mayhem arranges a loan of over a million Concords but neglects to inform the others of the fine print.

Preparing to starfall, they receive a hail from Thomas Kind. He offers thanks for delivering Ysala Rho into his hands last time, and gives them a free pass on their current rhodium shipment. Next time though, it will be business as usual.

Back on Bluefall, a short update on Concord’s expedition to Vethril awaits: Two pirate vessels near Lithius fled as soon as the scout hailed them. Once the main retrieval vessel arrived, rescue of the sleepers began.

The crew takes the Valkyries to Kaheina Beach Resort for a short vacation. Cinque brings enough of his workshop equipment with him to keep busy. While lugging a delivery of parts, he is intercepted by a petite platinum blonde in a StarMech uniform. “Cinque Zeroh, your nation needs you…”

To bury both past identities, Conrad applies for citizenship on Bluefall as Nathaniel Gates. Wayne applies as himself to secure dual citizenship.

Relations sour between the Thuldans and VoidCorp, with the Thuldans switching their few external support contracts over to Insight. Publicly, everyone denies the existence of an unauthorised surface-to-space laser and a rogue AI operating on a shadow Grid. The short-lived chaos is attributed to various terrorist groups. CFN release a statement taking credit and threaten more action if Concord do not close their embassy on Bluefall.

The Sparrow picks up a few passengers for the trip to Oberon – Gemini McCarthy and a pair of StarMech engineers, who Mayhem granted passage in return for a better repayment deal on the most recent repair bill.

En route, Cinque discovers a suspicious device has been installed as part of the stardrive refit. Gus confirms it is waiting for an external signal. Cinque disconnects the link from the comms system to prevent this.

In Tribon, Gus receives a bunch of 3-month-old messages from Lissa, the part-time office admin managing Carpe Noctem. Gus visits the office and discovers that Lissa had to make a costly decision in her absence. However, because of this, the contract was completed on schedule. Payment is secured, in addition to a smaller ongoing maintenance contract.

Nathaniel meets Kat and allows her to read between the lines regarding who he is. She agrees to nudge a few office staff to process his “inheritance” of Kier’s assets. They arrange to meet up that night to… finalise details.

Wayne gets a call from Loralai, who he can’t remember but whose contact details are stored in his comm. She offers in on a job she needs more hands for; recovery of some stolen documents. Wayne accepts and ropes in Nathaniel and a reluctant Cinque. Loralai will send them details of the meet as soon as she has them.

Gus is approached by Jako’bek, who asks her to deliver a crystal to a t’sa called Tripwire at the Steel Grid. She was apparently recommended to him by “the Spark she employs”. She agrees but decides to check the 3D’s contents. Discovering an unencrypted cache of illegal documents – leaked classified files, banned publications, and the like – she takes a copy before going to meet Tripwire.

At the Steel Grid, Wayne and Nathaniel discover Gus and Tripwire are their targets. Before they can start trying to figure out what to do next, a trio of armed thugs enter and head directly for them. Nathaniel finally gets to try out the hallucinogenic grenades P’zu cooked up for them. They are super effective.

As the dust settles, Loralai shows up to claim the 3D. Wayne uses his personal charm (no, really) to sweet talk her into accepting a payoff instead. Gus hands the crystal over the Tripwire, who needs the data for some undisclosed, but not-at-all-nefarious, research project. Gus learns the assailants likely knew nothing about the 3D but were actually after Tripwire for an outstanding debt; he had borrowed money to pay the original data thief up front.