March 5, 3123 - Auction Day

    DKI Group 146 reports for the first day of work in the great lobby of DKI Village 7 on Terek.  The Dramatis Personae:
 

    The group is auctioned off for an incredible 6 million Credits to the winning bidder; Iris Renstat of the Loss Limitations division of DKI.  Among the losing bidders is yet another mysterious person, Max Riven from the Intrinsics division of DKI.  On the return train ride back to Haramu, San Holo is approached by Mr. Riven, who asks if San is interested in a job with Intrinsics, a division of DKI.  Riven offers no helpful description of the job, nor does he shed any light into the Loss Limitations organization.  He does state that he needs an answer tonight, and San, with little to go on, politely refuses the job offer.

[ no points awarded]

March 6, 3123 - The Mission To Everin

    The following day, Group 146 reports for work in the L2 building of DKI Village 7.  They are greeted by Sinjon Meadows, who introduces himself as Administrative Assistant.  The group is brought to a conference room where they are briefed by the Personell Director, Iris Renstat, had been at the auction on the previous day.  Ms. Renstat informs the group that the primary mission of Loss Limitations (L2) is to recover company assets that were lost during the war, almost 100  years ago.  This mandate includes the recovery of physical assets, such as company real estate and other property, as well as information, such as company records, technlology data, and the like.

    During the next meeting session, Ms. Renstat goes into detail on the mission for Group 146.  The group has been assigned to go investigate a former DKI research program on Everin called the Radiant Energy Curve project, which was being conducted at a research facility on the southern continent of Kehara.  Not much is known about the details of the project, but the facility was the former DKI Headquarters, and was known to be a 'skunkworks" of sorts, founded by no other than Dalton Kess himself.  Also during the meeting, it becomes known that the DKI facility is in an area prone to Polar Storms, and that the facility may be located in a desert / sandy region.  The group is told they will leave in two days time (March 8).  Several other facts are established at the meeting:
 

The Mission will be led by a team member named Gary Wilcoxx, who will join the group at Vember.

Second in Command to Gary will be Cable. Cable is the only player who holds an E-2 Rank (vs. everyone with E-1)

The group will be outfitted for equipment on the following day. (March 7th)

It is hinted, but not firmly established, that there may be bonuses for successful mission completion.

    After lunch, the team is introduced to Harry Sault, captain of the Fin M'Coul, a 250 ton Far Trader  vessel.  Harry is a somewhat elderly man of short stature, with a friendly disposition.  We also learn but do not see, his only other crew member, his wife, Fanny. Harry agrees to allow members of the team to bring their personal firearms on board on the condition that they be kept in the weapons locker.  He also encourages the group to help out where possible while on the ship.

    At the end of the day there is a security briefing (note - retroactive placement here, we didn't actually roleplay it). During this briefing it is established that group members are not to discuss L2 missions with personell outside of the L2 Division.   After this, the group is sent to housing, where they are assigned to subsidized apartments in The Block.  Catelyn Summers chooses to alter her housing assignment to more luxurious quarters in Sky House, a high-rise complex also within the DKI Village.

    The group has dinner together in the village, with the exception of Harvey Brown, who politely declines.

[no points awarded]

March 7, 3123 - Launch Day

On the following day, Group 146 reports to Mission Logistics, headed up by Robert Evans. Evans is ex-marine and immediately gets along with Cable, but appears to be a bit of a male chauvanist, judging by rude comments he makes to Catelyn.   At Logistics, the team is issued personal gear, including:
 

backpack

med kit with ascepaline, analgine, quickheal.

survival watch, knife, blanket, lantern

light monocrys armor & helmet (group members pay $200 each to upgrade to medium)

outdoor  survival wear (jacket, shirt, pants, boots)

entrenching tool

flare

long range communicator

hygiene kit with mirror, canteen

thermal sleeping bag.

3 days rations

$50 credits in Minjini Currency

Advanced Combat Rifle with RAM grenade launcher & 10 clips ammo.

Autopistol with 5 clips hollowpoint ammo.

The group was also issued group equipment, including:
 

Three 4-man survival tents.

45x Military Binocs with Light Intensifiers

Ground Densitometer

Handheld Neural Activity Sensor (NAS)

Watchdog perimeter alert system

Vapor Still

2 Light Plasma Torches

50 Rations pack

Group Mess Kit

5 packages Demo Brick Explosive (5lb) with 30 minute timers

300 feet high tensile rope

A folding ?????

Robert discovers that there are  immediate issues with the slugthrowing weapons; several members are not proficient with them, and many lack the strength to use them at a sustained fire rate.  The group insists on keeping them though.  Catelyn asks for a Laser Rifle so she can practice with both the ACR and Laser, and choose later.  The group is taken to a firing range to practice weapons use, and and for the most part, things go well.  Unfortunately, they go a little too well, because Catelyn does so well with her target using the Laser, she decides to heave her ACR, fully loaded and armed, onto the ground.  Through particularly bad luck, the weapon discharges, shooting her in the foot.  First aid is administered by her teammates until she can be taken to the local hospital, where she is sent immediately for reconstructive surgery for her foot.

Froedrick accompanies her to the hospital, and consults with the local doctors about her care and recovery.  Froedrick also picks up a few miscellaneous drugs for his medical kit...  After having a very bad night in the hospital, Catelyn is transferred to the Fin M'Coul,
her foot well on her way to recovery, but her mind in a delusionary state, possibly a bad combination of drugs and nightmares.  She is strapped into bed in sick bay for the first day of the journey, and this concerns Harry Sault (the captain) to some degree. Harvey Brown also inquires on how she is doing.  The rest of the group shows up as well, with their single carry-on item.  The exception is Quincy, who has two items, and immediately gets into an argument with Ms. Renstat about it until Harry shows up and says it's OK.

The group also meets Fanny Sault, Harry's wife, for the first time.  Fanny is an overweight, elderly woman with white curly hair, but she appears to have plenty of energy, and is generally agreeable.  She is the ship's engineer, cook, and until Froedrick's arrival, the default Doctor.  The Fin M'Coul is a well worn, but well maintained vessel, full of the accumulated belongings from the couple's 50 years of space travel.  One odditiy is that the security cameras inside the ship seemed to be shot out by energy weapons.

After boarding, Harry gives each team member an assignment for where to be stationed if the ship goes to General Quarters Alert.  After the crew buckles in at their stations, the vessel takes off, and most people avoid grav sickness that sometimes accompanies the switch to artificial gravity.  Cable however blows chunks at his station below decks, although noone sees him.
The ship spends the rest of the day making for the jump point to go to Aggida.  The ship enters jump, after Harry plots a jump course using a curious / outdated method of jump navigation that he claims was developed in the old days to cut time off the jump and to bring the ship in closer to it's destination during emergence.

[1 point awarded]

March 8-9, 3123 - The Security Camera

Catelyn makes a recovery from her psychotic state and Fred frees her from restraints, although she continues to bunk in the sick bay.  Cable has to sleep in the Galley, because he is too big for the stateroom beds.  San trips over Quincys extra luggage in their tiny double room. Harry starts handing out chores to people who are willing to help.  Cable moves cargo around in the cargo bay to make room for a shipment that Gary Wilcoxx, the team leader who will be picked up on Vember, has requested.  San helps out with navigation duties, and notices that Harry is modifying the course while the ship is in jump, another non-standard practice.

Krau Li was given the task of investigating whether the security cameras could be fixed.  After disassembling them, Krau discovers that they are older military camera models that contain holographic storage from their last use.  After some skilled electronics work, Krau is able to view the recording and discovers that both Gary Wilcoxx (the mission leader) and Max Riven (the mysterious man from Intrinsics) were on the ship.  Aftter a conversation with Fanny, Krau learns that Gary and Max were on the ship on the previous mission, and had shot out the cameras.  He was told that they had brought cargo and crew with them, but returned alone; Max to Terek, and Gary to Vember.   Krau makes a copy of the recording and sends it anonymously to Cable with a note describing what Fanny had told him.

Eventually, Cable, Krau, and Han all learn of the events, and get together in the Astrogation Room to discuss the matter.  There is a general agreement that Gary Wilcoxx should be watched carefully.  The idea of using one of the cameras as an audio or visual bugging device is brought up.  The group decides to install an audio only bug in the navigator stateroom, but nobody is particularly happy with any of the spots that are found to do it.

The group eventually lets Catelyn in on the plan, and she is able to find a more optimal spot to place the bug.  The audio is directed to a listening station in engineering.  The second fully working camera is reinstalled into the common area, but with the audio portion separated into a different unit.

In a search of the room, San also finds a scrap of paper with the printed words:

"Release Landing Gear Lock before Folding Wing"

[1 point awarded]

March 12-14, 3123 - Agidda

Late on March 12, the Fin M'Coul emerges from jump, very close to the 100 diameter point of the Agiddan System Homeworld. The rest of the day is spent getting in to the orbital starport and berthing.  On the thirteenth, several members of the crew foray out into the starport, including Cable, Krau, Han, Catelyn, and Fred and Quincy.  Catelyn and Cable manage to smuggle laser pistols past the starport security.

Krau and Quincy go to the local electronics retailer (Fusion Shack) to buy supplies.  Meanwhile, the others go to Brubeck's, a common spaceport franchise, for  a bite to eat off the ship for once.  While there, a Vargr with several companions barges in on the meal, and takes an interest in San.  The Vargr makes reference to San being on Riljer, and that he should come to a meeting, alone, with the Vargr and/or  some unnamed third party.  When San refuses, the Vargr then tries to get San to pay $1000 so that the Vargr will "forget" he saw San.  At some point in the conversation, Cable (not-so-subtley) spins up his laser pistol, which eventually encourages the Vargr and his friends to leave.

San decides it might be a good time to start disguising himself, and he buys black hair coloring and skin dye.  Fred shops for drugs he can buy wholesale, and trade later along the trip, but doesn't find the prices and selection in the starport to his liking.  Krau spends some time in the Solar Church chapter at the starport, worshiping with Fanny.  Meanwhile, the rest of, the group decides to see about going to the Agidda Downport at Kettax.  Fred is out looking for better drug prices, while Cable is shopping for new ammo.  San goes along for the ride.  Krau decides to go down separately to see what he can of Streland Systems, a megacorp and big competitor to DKI.  Krau manages to see the outskirts of a large corporate star town, and do a little scouting around, hopefully learning something about Streland Systems, or perhaps DKI from the outside viewpoint.  His presence as a DKI employee arouses suspicions however and he is forced to leave.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group lands on Agidda near the end of the 17 hour Agiddan day.  Agidda starport is hot and arid, and packed with small one story commercial buildings, separated by narrow alleys.  Fred buys a supply of drugs for use and trade on the trip in one store, financed in part by Cable.  At another store, Cable manages to find rubber bullet / practice round ammo in the 7mm variety that could be used for gun practice.  He also finds a supply of Tranq, or tranquilizer rounds.  These are breakable caplets that scatter in the body and put the victim to sleep.  They are restricted and not entirely legal on Agidda, and are expensive ($200 / 10 rounds).  Cable negotiates a way to get the ammo shipped to the Fin M'Coul before departure.

Later in the evening, the group gets together for dinner at a different restaurant in the starport.  Harvey Brown comes along, but does not eat.  Catelyn orders a chocolate dessert, and an extra one to go for Harry as well. She offers Harvey offered some chocolate, which he tries, but then immediately excuses himself and returns to the ship.

On the 14th, the ship departs for Vember.  Harry takes on Xmail, but no additional cargo.  Catelyn gives Harry the chocolate, which he enjoys.  Harry however is still suspicious of Catelyn because of something that happened on the bridge during jump..   Krau succeeds in getting two more cameras working using the parts he aquired, and installs them in Astrogation, and in Engineering.

[1 point awarded]

March 15-21, 3123 - Non Aligned Forces

The Fin M'Coul enters jump on the 14th.  During the next week, the crew settles into a routine. Krau Li assembles and installs cameras on the ship.   Catelyn starts hypnosis treatments with Dr. Flintstone in an attempt to rid herself of the constant nightmares she is having.  (Cable does TBD retroactive things; Tom not present for start of game). San spends some time undoing damage to the ship's lighting systems done by Quincy.  Harvey remains out of sight in his quarters, prompting an investigation to make sure he is OK.  He is found in his room, surrounded by corn flakes on the floor.  After assuring everyone he will be OK, Harvey is left to  himself once again.  Dr. Flintstone, citing xenobiology references he had previously read, says that Brauletter often eat by trampling over their food and absorbing it through their feet.

Late on the 21st, the ship exits jump in the Vember system.  Upon exit, San's danger sense unexpectedly goes off; and the reason becomes immediately apparent after the General Quarters Alarm sounds throughout the ship.  The Vember system is under  attack!   Harry pipes over an announcement from Vember Orbital Control, stating that the system is under attack by "Non Aligned Forces", a term known to spacers to be synonymous with the Eristicon.  Everyone goes to their stations: Cable and Catelyn at lower deck with Fanny, Fred in sick bay, Krau in engineering, Quincy in the common room,  Harvey Brown in his stateroom, and San in Astronavigation.  Harry begins evasive manuevers, and instructs San to spin up the missile rack.   As San checks the scanners, he realizes that a small 100-ton vessel is within range, and firing on them with missiles.  San launches a missle salvo, but the enemy suddenly dissapears from sensors before impact.  Harry warns everyone to brace for impact as he tries to evade the incoming missiles.

There is a sudden thud off the starboard side... but no explosion.  Cable unbuckles and gets up to investigate.  As he walks toward the hatch to the upper deck, the gravity field on the ship suddenly fails.  Lights flicker, and then go out.  Inter-ship communications go dead.  Most on board reach the simultaneous, horrifying conclusion that the ship has been infected by the Eristicon.

Cable begins to suit up in his vacc suit while Catelyn unbuckles herself.  Krau begins shutting down systems on the ship.  Suddenly, the airlock on the lower deck opens, and everybody tries to grab something to avoid being sucked out of the lower deck. Fanny fails to get a handhold, and is swept out of the ship and into open space.  Catelyn, deciding that she is dead if she does nothing, deliberatlely lets go and heads toward the airlock, and successfully grabs a handhold before getting pulled out of the ship, placing her nearby the control panel.  After some work, she manages to close one airlock door.  Upstairs, Harvey comes out of his room, using pseudopods to grab and pull himself slowly along. He tells San that he needs to get to the bridge, and San begins helping him get there.

Meanwhile, Harry has noticed that Fanny has been sucked out of the ship, and makes a frantic attempt to open the hatch to the lower deck.  San manages to convince him not to do it, so Harry decides to go to the shuttle bay and try to get a shuttle out of the bay.  Harvey has made it to the bridge, but needs the Procmod Key in order to shut down systems, which Harry has.  Krau, who has shut down systems in engineering and in Astronavigation, goes to retrieve the key.

Downstairs, the airlock doors reopen, and Catelyn struggles to shut the doors again, but she is losting health and strength quickly from the partial vaccuum.  Cable grabs her and helps her into a life bubble, inflates it, and ties it off to somewhere to prevent it from being sucked out.  He then locates the manual crank for the doors and locks them down, breaking the electronic control in the process.

Krau gets the key, and with it, Harry manages to purge the Eristicon from the ship.  The lower deck is repressurized, and Harry is taken to sick bay where his is tranquilized so he can rest.  San and Cable go out in the shuttle and retrieve Fanny's body, storing it in the cargo hold.

Once control is regained on the ship, the group responds to a distress call by the Lady Tiger, a 200 ton Empress Marava class far trader that has lost a critical  life support component.  San and Cable give the crew the spare part they need via the airlock, but do not stay around too long to chat given the danger level.

After this, San pilots the ship to an SDB Base in the Slot 7 Asteroid belt for refuelling.  Cable has to pay for the fuel, since Harry's ID and information is not available.

[1 point awarded / 2 for Cable]

March 22-23, 3123 - Meet Gary Wilcoxx

By exaggerating their injuries, the group is able to gain access to the SDB base.  After spending some time at the SDB Base trying to find dig out clues on what happened from the Vember military, the Fin M'Coul heads in to Vember station. Upon approach, they can clearly see damage to the base; ruptured external fuel tanks, and repair crews struggling to seal holes in the hull.  After docking with the station, the airlock opens to reveal a man standing at the entrance to greet them.  It is Gary Wilcox, and he impatiently asks what has taken them so long.  After boarding, he announces that the ship will leave in 1/2 hour, giving the group very little time for exploration.  San heads to the stationwith some of the others  to find some hair dye, (to replace the near-deadly concoction that Krau accidentally creates for him).  The central market of the station has been converted to a temporary hospital an morgue, and most shops and stores are closed.  An acrid smell of smoke lingers in the air, and repair crews are swarming the building.  San gets what he needs and returns to the ship.  Fred and Catelyn manage to find a restaurant that will deliver steaks to the ship.

Back on the ship, Gary supervises loading of cargo.  To the port side, the cargo crews load several large shipping containers with minimal markings on them.  On the port side, they load a high-tech landing shuttle which features, among other things, a plasma cannon and stealth armor technology.

Gary tells the group that they will meet at 0800 hours the next morning to discuss the mission, and that the jump to Bastil will take place this evening.   Harry asks Krau to preside at services for Fanny before jump.  Per Fanny's wishes, she is launched into the Vember sun in a classic Solarist service.  The ship then jumps for Bastil, with San and Krau running the bridge, as Harry does not feel up to it.

During the night, Gary makes a personal log entry into some sort of personal recording device.  The audio of the log is picked up by the bug the group has planted in his stateroom and recorded:
 

" Wilocox, Gary, E5.  Voice Print :  Frolicking Pansy.   Mission Day 1.  Mr. Fields and Ms. Renstat have secured Flintstone as requested; he is of course key to the mission.  The Brauletter was a bonus, it was just our luck that he was starting his Year of Trials now.  If I had a complaint, it would be that there is still not enough firepower in the group.  Cable looks OK, but has probably spent all of his time in powered armor, so I am not sure he will do with light arms.  Holo might be able to fill in that gap, hopefully. He seems like he's been around and should be OK in a fight.  For Crypto, Fields packaged Catelyn Summers, although the Brau might be better, if he can be converted to our side it would be a bonus.  The Solarist, Li, is an extra, but he has extensive Black Sector knowledge.  This might come in handy for phase II someday.  He also has good mech/electrical skills, which are always useful.  Then there is Savant. He's clearly fluff.  Fields has to move the merchandise; but this guy is another story. I will interview them all tomorrow. More then. "

Next, Gary briefs the group on what they are after.  These details include:
 

During the week in jump, Gary has private, 1x1 meetings with each member of the group.  The meetings however take place in Gary's room, so the contents of all of them are recorded by Krau, and shared with San and Cable.  Summary Items from these meetings:
 

[no points awarded]

March 24-April 8, 3123 - AutoNav 4.0
 
 

The Fin M'Coul arrives in the Bastil System on the 28th, landing at North Port, one of several Bastil downports on the mainworld.  San contacts the local  FTA chapter house and makes arrangements to investigate whether the logs from his ship can be salvaged. Catelyn goes to the starport for a nice hotel room bath, and dinner, and invites Gary to come along.  Gary misunderstands the invitation to be something more than just dinner, and leaves frustrated, after Catelyn rebuffs him.

The night of the 28th, Gary makes a log entry which is overheard on the bug in his room.  Gary muses about the fact that his former partner, Max Riven, has not yet figured out who the descendant of Dalton is, and that if he had before the mission team left, he might have been able to steal him away.  Gary also privately gloats that the money used to buy Group 146 apparently came out of the local Terek DKI Intrinsics budget; ie, Max was essentially bidding against himself.

On April 1st, the Fin M'Coul prepares for jump to Everin.  Gary announces that he will use an "AutoNav" program to make the jump to Everin, something that is usually considered forbidden by terms of the Stanton Resolution.  Harry finds out what Gary is up to, and the two get into a fight on the bridge over use of the program.  Harry attacks Gary, claiming it is people like him who are at fault for relapses like the attack that killed his wife, Fanny.  Gary is knocked down briefly but recovers, and backhands Harry.  Stunned and beaten, Harry is once again taken to sick bay by San and Krau, where he is once more sedated.  Gary gives Cable instructions that if Harry leaves the sick bay, he should shoot him.

The ship jumps for Everin, using Gary's AutoNav program.  During jump, Krau attempts to monitor what the program is doing, or at least whether the ship is actually going to Everin.  Krau finds that the program is generating frequent sequences of random jump coordinates within the Everin system, making it difficult/impossible to determine where the ship is going within the Everin system.

During Jump, Catelyn studies the Brauletter code she took from the computer during the Eristicon attack, and discovers that it is self-modifying and seems to respond to external input, but she cannot determine whether it is sentient, or simply evolving code.  Eventually she makes a mistake and causes code "death", and the program stops modifying itself.  She later approaches Harvey and asks if he would be willing to spend time explaining Brauletter coding and cryptography. He agrees,  and the two arrange regular evening meetings to discuss it.

Harvey also pays a visit to sick bay, to look in on Harry.  Harvey informs Dr. Flintstone that he believes Harry may be losing his will to live.  When Flintstone checks, Harry's vital signs are stable, but the doctor worries that Harvey might be right all the same.  Flintstone puts Harry under hypnosis, and begins to talk to him about his feelings.  Harry feels he has no reason to live any more.  Flintstone suggests he could be useful to the rest of the crew, who also distrusts/dislikes Gary.  During the rest of the week, the doctor and Harry spend time together, and eventually Harvey visits again and gives the opinion that Harry seems to be a little better.

Days go by, and the ship does not emerge from Jump.  By the 8th, the crew is very nervous and suspicious of the AutoNav program, and there is discussion about shutting it down or bypassing it.  It is agreed to wait one more day to see what happens.  On the 9th however, the ship finally emerges from jump, far out in the Everin system.  There are several sensor contacts; large military vessels, at least one of which is plotting a course to intercept.   Gary gathers the crew, and says that within the next few hours, the Minjini trade ambassador will be docking.  Everyone is to be out and visible in the common area when the ship arrives, as the Minjini will board, and they supposedly get nervous if the entire crew is not present and accounted for.
 

[no points awarded]

April 9-10, 3123 - Everin

While awaiting the arrival of the Minjini Trade Ambassador (Lo Jos), Krau gets curious about the transponder ID of the approaching Yacht, and does some research in the computer database.  He discovers that the ship was originally a republic ship, the Star Raven, and originally belonged to the Duke of Sol prior to the Eristicon war.  With some help from Dr. Flintstone's eidetic memory, they discover that the ship was known to be captured by the Eristicon during the war, and never found.

Gary nervously gathers the group as the Minjini ship docks with the Fin M'Coul, escorted by two 800-ton Mercinary Cruisers. The Minjini Ambassador boards, accompanied by an entourage consisting of two Gormelites in Battle Dress with plasma rifles, an Minjini assistant, and a naked, human male pulled along on a chain as sort of a pet.   The Ambassador asks if everyone is present, and Gary notices that Quincy is missing.  A quick search finds him sleeping in his quarters; he is thrown out into the common room by the Gorm trooper... to the amusement, surprisingly, of the Minjini Ambassador.

The Ambassador demands to inspect the cargo, and takes everyone along with him.  Gary and Cable open one of the cargo containers, revealing the contents.  The containers are full of gravitic actuators used for the production of robots. These amount to what can be considered a controlled item within the Republic.  The Ambassador is very pleased with the bribe, and confronts Gary as to why he would pay such a large price for the privelege of orbiting Everin.  He further speculates that the crew might be trying to communicate with someone on the planet, or perhaps might be trying to start an insurrection there.  He also warns that an attempt to land on the planet would be foolhardy, and that those attempting it "would find their descent to be more rapid than they had intended."  Gary responds to these questions by saying that he has his reasons, and that the price paid was sufficient such that no questions need be answered.  The Ambassador seemed displeased with the response, but does not question any further, but does warn that the group should be gone from the system in two days.    He offloads the cargo to his yacht, and departs.

Once back on the bridge, Flintstone and Krau notice that the coordinates they jumped to have a unique distinction; the moon from the neighboring gas giant occludes the view from the mainworld.  This leads to speculation that the spot was selected by the Autonav program to allow a discrete rendezvous without detection from Everin.

The group readies their equipment as the Fin M'Coul approaches Everin.  Gary puts Harvey in charge of the ship, also leaving Harry behind.  When they arrive in orbit, they are pinged several times by various ships and orbital defense satellites, but are then subsequently ignored.  San prepares the stealth shuttle (the "Hour Hummingbird") for takeoff.  San notices that it will be a tight fit trying to redock into the cargo bay due to the other launch in the bay, so he asks Harvey to move the remaining shutttle to the port bay while they are gone.

San takes everyone in for a landing on Everin.  The ride is very bumpy, and multiple people get sick, including Gary (who gets briefly annoyed at San's piloting).  While on approach, active radar attempts to lock on to the ship, and a missile is even fired, but fails to lock on.  San lands the shuttle safely in a scrub area to the west of Dalton Station.  Cable exits the ship to check for any hostiles, but finds only animal life.  Gary also gets out, and begins talking on a communicator in Minjini.  He tells Cable to expect company at sunrise, from the southwest.  In checking back with the ship, the group finds communications to be spotty due to local atmospheric interference.  Harvey reports that the polar region is active/stormy, but no immediate storm has formed in their area.  Despite this, the local conditions are quite windy.  The group camps for the night (10 hours), and only encounters various nocturnal birds.

At sunrise, a group of four approach the campsite, riding a large, fifteen-foot-high animal known as a Bondee.  Bondees have up to 18 legs, some of which are immature and do not touch the ground.  The riders sit in seats that are glued to the bondee's hard shell back.  The driver steers the animal by poking a stick into one of the creature's twelve eyes, on either the left or right side.  This annoys the bondee, who moves in the opposite direction in an uneven, scuttling-like motion.  Average speed for the animal is about 6MPH, (averaged between bursts of up to 18 MPH and rest periods)

The four dismount the bondee. They are all Minjini/Human mix; two males and two females.  It becomes known that the four are Bondsmen, indentured servants who have worked their way up from basic slave status.  They are owned by Gary, and refer to him as "The Master."  Two bondsmen are left behind to guard the shuttle.  They carry primitive bolt-action rifles, and a communicator.  Before leaving the shuttle, Gary installs a relay program from his special software collection, locks it into the shuttle's console, and takes the Proc Mod key.  He says this will allow them to relay messages back to the Fin M'Coul, and to control functions of the shuttle remotely if need be.

The two remaining bondsmen, Sorat (M), and Orna (F), accompany the group as guides on the two hour hike to Dalton Station.  Orna makes it known she is interested in Cable, and to some extent, Catelyn.  Sorat, who is somewhat disgusted by her behavior, explains that Minjini females who trace their ancestors to Everin have reproductive cycles linked to the largest of the three Everin moons, and are in effect insatiable during a four or five day period when the moon is at perigee.  (Hormonal swings taking place after this period cause them to be rather difficult to deal with later. )

The group comes within sight of the Dalton Station complex.  The once-tall perimeter wall has been invaded by dunes, which breach the western side in a large hill of sand.  Sorat and Cable go up for a look, using the Neural Activity Sensor (NAS) to probe the area ahead for signs of life.  When they reach the top of the wall, they immediately spot (and, are spotted by)  two Minjini guards standing around near the wall.  The two reach for their guns, while Cable opens up with a HE rocket propelled grenade from his ACR.  The shot is short, but does some shrapnel damage, knocking the two guards to the ground.  Sorat then finishes them off with a RPG from his own launcher.

The explosions from the grenades attract further attention as a group of Gormelites come streaming out of one of the buildings in the complex.  Gary in the meantime orders everyone to advance after hearing the explosions.  Fred is afraid to get too close, so he stays back.  Krau rounds the top of the hill and spots the grisly aftermath of the grenade attack, which causes him to freak out.  San and Catelyn ready their laser weapons to shoot at the new targets.  Cable lets loose with another HE grenade, and hits the entrance of the building squarely, killing an unlucky Gorm on the threshold, and injuring several nearby.  San and Catelyn manage to hit targets as well.

Cable gives Sorat his ACR and switches to his laser pistol, then sneaks off to the right to try to flank the Gorms, who have now taken cover.  An incoming grenade lands close to the group, sending shrapnel flying.  San and Gary, and Krau avoid damage, due in part to their monocrys armor, but Catelyn gets tagged, and Sorat takes a fairly substantial hit even though he successfully dodges due to lack of armor.  San drags Sorat down the hill to the Doctor, but Gary orders everyone to pull back behind the hill and flank left since the Gorms seem to have gotten a fix on them.

The group takes up a more defensive position left, while on the right, Cable manages to find a good angle on three Gorms who are dug in behind barricades and rubble in the complex.  Now at a safer location, the doctor administers Quickheal to Catelyn and Sorat.  Orna stays back and worries over Sorat, but also seems to aquire a new appreciation  for the doctor as well.   Cable and the rest of the group get the Gorms in a crossfire, killing two of the three.  The third flees and vanishes, despite efforts to take him down on the retreat.

Cable searches the bodies and finds a communicator on one of the Gorms, which he gives to Gary.  While they are considering it, a voice comes over the line, speaking Gorm.  Quincy volunteers that he speaks Gormelite (!) , and he is able to reply in a convincing enough way to get the Gorm on the other end to fall into an ambush set up by Cable.  The Gorm is immediately killed.  Gary then directs the group to advance on the building where the Gorms originally came out of.  The building is a remnant of an office building which has been boarded up to form a rudimentary keep.  Cable is sent in.  Using the NAS, Krau detects a life form on the other side of a door inside the building. Cable opens up with a spray of automatic fire, killing the occupant.

The group enters the room and finds a female Gorm dead on the ground.  Inside, they find more rifles, ammo, grenades, and another grenade launcher.  There are signs that this is the bunker for the Gorms; food, sleeping nests, as well as a bashed-in radio transmitter and a checklist of guard duties, written in Minjini.  On an upper floor, the group finds a slightly more organized room which probably belonged to the Minjini guards.  There are papers in the room as well, which Krau takes.

The group has a discussion about the forces they have just defeated.  Gary says that the force was more than simple wastelanders, and looks to be (possibly) a squad from the Minjini army on Everin.   It is agreed that they should get on with the mission ASAP.  The group proceeds to the objective -- the remains of a large communications tower in the center of the DKI complex.  The area is strewn with wrecked trusswork and concrete, half buried in 80 years of sand, but the concrete base area of the tower is still exposed.  Quincy runs the densitometer and locates a large air pocket below the surface that is consistant with an access tunnel.  Cable then molds part of the demo brick into a shaped charge and detonates it, creating a small crater that has an opening to a passage below at it's bottom.

[2 points awarded]

April 11, 3123 - Radiant Energy Spheres

The hole to the passage below needs to be enlarged, and several attempt it, but in the end it is Catelyn who does the best job of making it big enough to pass through.  San finds the sun to be too hot for his fair complexion, and has to lie down and rest. The digging process takes several hours, and Gary sends Fred back to the guard area to investigate whether the water containers there are potable.  Cable goes along as protection, and Orna also tags along as well.  Once back at the guard building, Fred gets to work on the water testing.  While waiting, Orna makes a pass on Cable, and beckons him upstairs for a quick romp in the Minjini quarters.  Cable agrees after some internal debate. Later, during some pillow talk, Orna lets it be known that Gary killed off the previous party that landed on Everin.  She makes Cable promise not to tell anyone, which he agrees to.  Meanwhile, Fred has concluded (possibly erroneously) that the water is poisoned, and upon hearing strange noises upstairs, leaves the building.  The two slink back to the transmission tower, after finding that Fred has left the guard building without them.  The arrival of Cable and Orna together is met with disgust, but not anger, by Sorat.  (The others, to varying degrees, also suspect what went on as well.)

After throwing a fragmentary grenade in the hole for good measure, Cable descends down into the chamber below.  It is a cylindrical room about 3 yards across, filled with wires, rubble, and the remains of machines once associated with the transmission tower that once stood above.  A small three foot diameter access tunnel leads off to the rest of the complex.   The rest of the group enters the chamber, and Cable slinks forward in the lead down the access tunnel.  Part way down, the tunnel is found to be blocked.  Sorat helps dig it out, and Krau devises a set of supports to hold up the collapsed ceiling.

During this time, Krau picks up intermittent readings on the Neural Activity Sensor (NAS).  After digging through the collapsed area, Cable ventures forward and is immediately attacked by a large, carniverous, burrowing eight-legged monkey-like creature called a G'nak.  Cable is bit but his armor protects him, but later is bashed by one of the legs.  San fast-draws his laser pistol, and takes several shots, eventually killing the beast.

The group then proceeds through the tunnel, into a small equipment room. The machinery here is rusted, broken, and looted for the most part, but Krau determines that this was once a communications room of some sort.  Beyond the room, a long hallway branches to either side.  Krau intuitively selects a door in the hall to enter, but his decision is overriden by Gary, who seems to know where he is.  The group rounds the corner of the hallway and begins to hear a strong humming noise.  San feels that the situation is dangerous, and backs off.  Fred also senses something strange, some sort of whispering voice in his head, asking "Who are you?".  Gary commands everyone to continue, warning everyone not to touch anything.  Fred is apprehensive, causing Gary to become very angry and draw his weapon.  Fred still refuses to go despite threats and promises of his safety, and so Gary takes Cable forward to investigate and prove that it is safe.

When Gary and Cable arrive in the room around the corner, they discover a large, fifteen-foot diameter sphere, humming and glowing red, swirling with strange undulating patterns on the surface.   Gary states that it is a Radiant Energy Sphere, the central component of the Radiant Energy Curve project.  The body of a human, wearing clothes remarkably similar to the DKI-standard-issue the group is wearing, can be seen frozen in place inside the sphere, a look of horror permanently set in his face.  The group confronts Gary on the matter of the previous party that came to Everin.  Gary replies that certain people got careless and touched things they shouldn't, but otherwise dodges the question.  He does confirm however that productizing this technology was the last project Dalton Kess's group worked on before the war.   Gary is also dissapointed to find that another sphere in the room has been removed, apparently recently, through a cargo elevator shaft to the surface.

Gary goes back to retrieve Fred, who reluctantly follows him back to the sphere room.  Once there Fred comes into contact with an intellect that again asks who he is.  Fred feels the urge to enter the sphere but resists successfully.  The sphere states that Fred is not an "Original" or "The Second"; and asks again who he is.  Fred replies he is "The Great Grandson", and the sphere asks "You are the third?", and Fred replies that he is.  The sphere asks who the person inside it is, and Fred replies he does not know.  The sphere states that it wishes to be free and leave, and asks to have the body removed from it, but Fred tells it that he does not know how to remove it.    Gary states that it is his understanding based on previous information found that once a body enters a sphere, it cannot be removed.

The group has many questions for the sphere, including ones regarding it's origin, who was present when it came into being, etc.  The replies it gives seem to indicate that it has limited knowledge of the world, and possibly has never left the current chamber.  It is learned however that the sphere was spawned, and that "The Father" was present, along with "Kevar".  During subsequent discussion about Kevar, it is generally learned that Kevar was a partner of Dalton Kess when Dalton formed DKI.  There is a park in the DKI Terek Village named for him.

Fred learns that the sphere can project certain images into his mind, and the sphere projects the image of the Fin M'Coul in an effort to convey a mesage to him about travelling.   Fred also asks to see an image of "The Father", and he is shown the image of a jet black scout ship, without markings.  Fred also sees the image of the second sphere being removed by unknown people, using large rings placed above and below the sphere somehow.

Various questions, side discussions, arguments ensue at this point.  It is finally decided to complete the search of the complex. Everyone is tired, and the group camps out in the hallway and gets some sleep.  Six hours later, the group goes to the large door first recommended by Krau; it is a secure bulkhead/pressure door,  with "Eschelon 5 - Secure Area" written on it.   Krau uses the plasma torch to cut through it.  On the other side of the door, another series of hallways and labs.  The group finds one lab in particular has a more elaborate security / airlock entrance, and cuts through into it.

Inside, they find three more spheres, smaller in size (10 feet in diameter vs. 15).  Fred hears crying in his head, and feels an emotional sense of "need".  This leads the group to speculate that the spheres are perhaps less mature and/or younger than the first ones.  While in this lab, Quincy uses the densitometer to discover a hollow space behind a wall.  The group searches and finds a secret door, opening to a hallway beyond....

[1 point awarded ]

April 12, 3123 - The Bad Day

The group ventures into the hallway behind the secret door.  They discover that the door is equipped with a one-way window, allowing a person in the hallway to observe what is happening in the lab on the other side.  On the opposite end of the hallway, there is an ornate wooden door, slightly ajar.  Krau, San, Gary, and Cable venture forward into the room beyond, while the others stay back and work in the lab to decode some of the holocrystals they found there.  Krau finds a Fuel Cell in a locker and powers up an tinkers with an old workstation to get it working.

The room looks to be a living room of some sort, neglected but ornate furniture and expensive paintings and artwork fill the room.  Cable immediately begins searching the walls behind the paintings and discovers a safe.  San uses the plasma torch to cut through the safe.  Meanwhile, Krau has gotten the workstation running and Catelyn begins using it to decode the contents of the disks they found.   The first three disks have lab data concerning handling of the Spheres, Electromagnetic stimulus and response testing done on the Spheres, Mechanical requirements for creating a harness around them.

The safe is breached, and the contents inside are as follows:
 

6 holocrystals

Small silver-plated body pistol with ivory handle

Bottle of liquid labeled in Vegan, translation: "The Bright One"

Vial of pills, labelled "Oma Liun"

5 envelopes, containing various incriminating material on individuals, including Kevar

1 envelope with stock certificates for Sternmetal Horizons, LIC. (150K shares)

1 velvet pouch containing a strange object.

 

Outside, it is dark, and there is no sign of Gary.  The wind is whipping up in the start of what is unmistakeably a large (polar) storm. It is discovered that Gary has dropped the shuttle remote in the sand.  Orna communicates with Feno back at the shuttle, and discovers that the shuttle has taken off on its own, powered up weapons, and killed Burlap.  The shuttle is now circling the transmission radius of the remote, trying to break free.  (The remote is later brought back down to the complex for Catelyn to look at by Krau)

Cable dons his night-vision goggles, and spots a heat signature moving between buildings. He moves to follow.  Meanwhile, Sorat has informed the rest of the group about the explosion, and they decide to open the elevator shaft and clear it of sand to perhaps find a different escape route.  Back outside, Cable tracks Gary to a small quonset hut, where he is fumbling with a lock.  Gary and Cable spot each other, and Gary reaches for his rifle, but Cable gets the jump on him and shoots him in the leg. Gary goes down but is still holding the ACR, so Cable takes an aimed shot and shoots out the Rifle.  Still Gary refuses to give up, despite Cables warning to surrender.  Gary reaches in his jacket for another weapon, and Cable shoots him squarely through his chest, severely wounding him.

Sorat, Orna, and San have caught up to Cable, and try to administer quickheal, but it is ineffective and Gary later dies.  Cable and San enter the quonset hut, and find a Nightwing Ultralight, a two seated small aircraft that can be easily disassembled.  It is together and ready to fly, and bears labels stating: "Release Landing Gear Lock before Folding Wing".

Down below in the complex, Dr. Flintstone resumes talking to the larger sphere.  He questions the sphere about whether it knows about the Eristicon, and after some explanation, receives the response that the sphere has "heard the songs in the air", but that they are "pale imitations of the Father".   Krau brings the remote to Catelyn for analysis.  Catelyn hacks into it enough to get the position display running, and discovers that the shuttle has turned back toward the center of the map, in an apparent attempt to destroy the transmitter limiting it's movement.

Outside, the group at the quonset hut hears and sees the shuttle flying in, and decides to make a break for it and get back to the nearest underground entrance. Each will split up to maximize the chance of someone getting back.  On the way back, Orna is targeted by the shuttle's plasma cannon and killed.   Down below, Catelyn and Fred come up with the idea of giving the sphere access to the remote so that it can attempt to purge it of the Eristicon.  Catelyn flings the remote into the sphere.  The sphere is able to deactivate the shuttle and land it, much to the surprise of Cable and San who are nearby.  Cable goes to the shuttle and opens the exterior door using a key found on Gary.  Krau comes up, enters the shuttle, and begins deactivating systems on the shuttle.   San makes contact with Harvey and the Fin M'Coul, and also learns, via Sorat's translation, that a the Minjini military is preoccupied with a large, 5000-ton destroyer which has entered the system and is making it's way toward the planet.  Sorat also talks with Feno, who is en route to the DKI facility by Bondee.  Feno mentions a prediction / preminition she had that this place will be "eaten by the white light" before dawn.   Quincy shows up at the shuttle and wants in, but San asks him to go out and check on Gary first.  Quincy gets lost in the blinding sand, and is never seen from again.

Back in the sphere room, Fred continues his conversation with the sphere.  He learns he can reach out and talk to the shuttle and even sense, via the shuttle, other ships in orbit.  Cable and San, now nervous about the incoming ship and dire prediction of Feno, decide to risk flying the shuttle in the storm, and instruct everyone to get aboard.  The team  boards, including Feno, who shows up at the last minute on an out-of-control Bondee being flung about in the wind.  Fred however stays behind, to continue talking to the sphere.  He finds that the sphere can radiate energy allowing doors and lights in the immediate area to activate.  He investigates the room across the hall, and finds it full of computer equipment, and racks of holocrystals.  Cable and San give Fred a last warning to come aboard, and then they take off, leaving Fred behind.

The shuttle reaches orbit in the middle of a pitched battle between the Minjini defense forces, and the destroyer.  The destroyer fires on the planet, obliterating the southern end of the Keharan continent.  The shuttle proceeds to a discrete rendezvous point behind one of the Everin moons, and San takes the shuttle in hot to the docking bay successfully.  They are pursued by a system defense boat, but Harvey manages to fire a missile volley from the Fin and takes them out.

Back on the planets surface, Dr. Flintstone stands alone in front of the glowing orb.  An immense rumble cascades through the air, destroying everything in it's path.  Fred jumps into the sphere....
 

[2 points awarded]