After recovering from the shock of being given command of the Infinity's Rainbow, San and Rath get to work putting together a new crew, using rosters of available personell provided by Max. Krau makes preparations for the lab and orders equipment, and Mr. Brown looks for specialized equipment he needs.  The Doctor is put in charge of sick bay on the ship, and is given several staff members.

The group learns that the ship is currently being repaired at a Naval space dock on Vember, and all but the engineering crew has been offloaded to Ishimshulgi.  The plan is to leave in one week's time for Vember, spend a week there, then leave on the diplomatic mission from there.  The group is given several objectives for their foray into Minjini space:
 

1. Deliver diplomats to the Grand Trade Embassy Minjine, protect them during their stay, return them safely.
2. Contact the Vegan Tehuir that Mr. Gtringee was a part of on Muan Issler.  Find out if they still exist, what their nanotech capability is, and ability/inclination to assist the Republic is.
3. Visit the ancestral home of Dalton Kess on Merganser.  Determine if there are any living relatives or other information from Kess's past that may be useful to the Committee, especially with regards to sphere technology.

 

The group is also given a tour of the Shield Star Class experimental starship, officially named Shield One, but sometimes called "Farnsworth's Folley" by some from the DKI team.  It is an 800-ton spherical vessel with a ten man crew, led by Captain Groves.  The ship is capable of generating a shield capable of engulfing a 5000 ton ship, and resisting a 10-foot diameter energy sphere.  It also has signalling equipment designed to lure spheres to it, and some rudimentary conventional defenses, including lasers and sandcasters.

A week later, the group, along with their ship's crew, boards a Navy troop carrier and jumps for Vember.  The trip is unenventful, and the group uses their time to catch up on training.   At Vember, they rendezvous with the Infinite Wakes...

[ 1 point awarded / 2 for San for putting up with us ]

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San is piped aboard the Infinite Wakes, with full Captain's honors. Rath posts security details for the Marines, and Krau begins unpacking his lab.  Mr. Brown boards as a diplomat, and begins settling in as well.  After some time to take on supplies and settle out crew matters, the ship is underway for a shakedown cruise.  The plan is to head out to the asteroid belt, leaving the Shield Star behind due to it's much slower 1G acceleration.  On the trip out, Rath begins drilling the marines on various scenarios; boarding, battlestations, security and the like.  Mr. Brown takes up on a forbidden adventure in the Officer's Mess with one of the female enlisted crew, Petty Officer Torres. He is caught, but manages to hypnotise Revine into forgetting the incident.  Rath and San are not fooled however, and give Brown a talking-to.

On the second evening, San is awoken by a page from the Bridge.  When he arrives, he learns that there is a communication from the Infinite Wakes' sister ship, the Eternity's Deadline.  Captain Woods of that vessel has sent a message, apparently to the (deceased) Denu, thinking him still in command.  He requests a rendezvous.  San makes a note of it, sends a brief reply telling Woods he is now the captain, and on the next morning, learns that the Deadline has been out on manuevers with the Navy in Minjini space for the past several months.  Arrangements are made to rendezvous to exchange information.

Woods and his XO arrange to come aboard the Infinite Wakes via a small shuttle, but as the craft approaches, San gets an immediate feeling of danger.  He puts the ship on alert, and signals the shuttle to stand by.  Rath is informed, and he arranges for his Space Team to go out and take readings for Bio-Eristicon.  The crew goes out and gets a positive result.   After a short conference, the group agrees that it is possible that only one of the two are infected, or that the reading may be in error, and arrange to allow them aboard with a marine squad armed and at the ready.   Woods and XO come aboard, looking somehat convincingly angry and confused.   Psitectors are used to scan the two immediately upon boarding.  When the reading is postive on both, Rath wastes no time in ordering his marines to fire, killing the two instantly.  Revine is more than concerned, but before he can raise an objection, the Eternity's Deadline begins powering up it's meson weapons.

San orders the ship to maximum acceleration, as meson screens and weapons are powered up.  Several meson volleys are exchanged, with one hitting the starboard cutter bay, destroying the fueling cutter there, but luckily not hurting anyone.  Repair crews race to the scene but Krau is already there, and quickly patches the hole, much to the surprise of the engineering team.  The Infinite Wakes flees with the Eternity's Deadline on it's tail, but since the two have equal acceleration and the Wakes has higher starting velocity, the two ships drift apart.  Missile fire is exchanged with little practical effect, and eventually the Wakes slips out of range, and the Deadline breaks off, damaged but still operational.

The group discusses going back after the ship, but San rejects this, citing the overall mission parameters and danger involved with reengaging the vessel.  Emergency messages are sent via meson comm to the Vember base.  The Wakes slips back around and picks up the shuttle from the Deadline.  Bodies are sent for autopsy, where the doctor finds some curious devices implanted in the brains of the men.  A data pad is also found on the shuttle, with interesting content from someone named Lo Kivan:
 

ID 1178 - WOODS - Objectives Priorities List

Valid through 9/1/3124
 

1. Proceed to Vember via Vega. Contact Roj Misaru. Misaru will relay latest intelligence from Lo Jos at the Predictive Center.

1a. Provide Misaru with needed Hassata and Booster for redeveloping the Vember presence.

1b. Minimize contact with other biologicals except priority targets. Priority targets include and command members or starships belonging to the resistance movement. This includes the Riven DKI teams in the 300-ton Fin M'Coul ship and the 4000-ton Osiron ship. The resistance rotates transponders too frequently to track. Use the supplied sensor signature data on these craft.

2. If Misaru instructs it is safe from his intelligence data, you are to proceed to Terek to prepare Rowley's team for the sphere invasion. Terek ground teams should coordinate with central control to seize targets after
the naval command is disabled.

2a. If Misaru advises otherwise, or if you are exposed, you will proceed to the alternate target, resistance base operations at Ishimshulgi. You will rendezvous with the primary sphere transport and participate in the preemptive
strike at that location. Jivii will assume your command input function at that point.

Lo Kivan
 

Lo Kivan was originally from a rich Trade Ambassador family on Minjine, but he chose a military career, and quickly made it up through the ranks of
the Navy, eventually becoming an Admiral.

Kivan's military career effectively ended 3109, when he was put in charge of the Minjini Fleet that invaded the Republic and (briefly) occupied Bastil;
the so-called Minjini Bastil Raid. This campaign turned out to be a fiasco for the Minjini, who apparently underestimated the force of the 101st Fleet
and the unlucky confluence of three Azhanti High Lightning class cruisers in the system at the time.

Kivan's forces were devastated, effectively destroying the offensive Naval capability of the Imperiate. Kivan returned to Minjine, defeated and
expecting to be court marshalled. Military commanders however stood behind Kivan, with many of strong opinion that the Imperiate had forced him
into an ill-advised campaign, limiting his authority and effectively sending him to a suicide mission at Bastil. The ramifications of the raid and the split
between the military command and the Imperial Throne threatened to throw the Imperiate into civil war.

Rather than see his empire be torn apart, Kivan accepted what was effectively exile, taking a position as Territory Overlord, in charge of the remote
and sparsely populated world of Everin. While the popular sentiment is that Kivan acted selflessly for his empire, others believe it was a calculated
move to rebuild his power base from the civilian side.

Not much is known about Kivan after this point, although he is believed to be in the inner circle of Trade Ambassador dealings in the Imperiate.
Kivan is widely thought to be a brilliant tactician, with strong leadership skills, and a driven personality. Kivan also, at least in his past, has been
known to have an obsession with the Republic, possibly viewing it as a prize that escaped his grasp...

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The Infinite Wakes returns to Vember Naval Station, effecting repairs on the cutter bay while under way.  They are met on the way back by the Wheelock, a Miotos Class Battleship, and it's task force.  Also in the group is the Shield Star.  San is debriefed, and the crew is Psi-scanned for Eristicon.  Dr. Watson goes off to do some analysis on the infected crew of the Eternity's Deadline.   A new cutter is brought in to replace the cutter that was destroyed.

The group also meets Armando, the Halo Foundation Naval Liason, who is on his way to Ishimshulgi.  He bears a message for San from Celine in the form of an interactive vision that San experiences.  Celine  thanks the group for it's efforts, and Feno also appears to thank San and the group as well.  She appears to be normal, and has no memory of her experience.  Celine says that she is undergoing therapy, and her memories have been blocked.  Her Psionic power is also being suppressed, and she has had no visions to share with the group.

The group is informed that the Wheelock will be accompanying them back to Ishimshulgi, which everyone seems to agree is the most likely location of the next attack.  The small fleet of ships is to be put under the command of Admiral June Mestler, who will use the Wheelock as her Flag Ship.  The fleet includes the Wheelock and a small supporting task force, the Shield Star, and the Infinite Wakes.

Preparations are hurried along, and soon time comes to depart.  Dr. Watson is dragged back aboard reluctantly, as he is in the middle of consultations with the Medical staff on Vember.  He informs the group that he has discovered that the Eristicon Vaccine given to the crew on the Eternity's Deadline was tampered with, and is not effective. He has narrowed down the lots to a set produced on Barnard by SuSAG several months earlier.

The fleet departs Vember Station and jumps for Ishimshulgi.  The jump is uneventful, excepting for another incident involving Mr. Brown and Krau.  San and Rath hold a staff meeting, where the crew is rated on their performance during the battle, and basic information on the attack is given to the staff.  Krau is not invited, since he is not officially on San's staff, and becomes extremely jealous.  He convinces Brown to help him sneak into San's quarters and plant various electronic devices.  Brown, perenially bored due to being cooped up on the ship, readily agrees.  Once in San's quarters, Brown cannot resist taking San's one remaining shiny, shiny Captain's pen and pencil set.  Unbenknownst to Brown however, San has bugged this set in order to track down the person who filched his last set.  San returns to his quarters, about the time Brown engages in more Monkey Business with Petty Officer Torres, getting caught again on the Marine Firing range shortly after the act.  San activates the homing signal, and gets Rath to track it down to Brown's quarters. Brown is summoned, his quarters searched, turning up both pen sets. He claims to have no knowledge of how they got there. The items are returned, and Rath gives Brown another warning about behavior on the ship.

After a week passes, the Infinite Wakes comes out of jump, near the Ishimshulgi mainworld.  A system-wide alert for Non-Aligned Forces is in effect, the Wheelock already in the system and moving to engage several vessels in orbit around the mainworld.  Sensor contacts handed off from the Wheelock indicate a vessel consistent with the Nova Catalyst / Holy Crucible is in orbit around the Gas Giant in the neighboring slot.  The Infinite Wakes heads out to intercept.  Upon arrival, sensor contact is made with another ship as well, a 2000-ton Stromali Escort Destroyer.  A battle commences, with the Stromali-Class ship and the Wakes exchanging Meson fire, and the Wakes also firing missiles and Meson weapons at the retreating Crucible.

During the attack, the Stromali ship is destroyed in a devastating meson barrage, but not before getting several direct hits on the Wakes.  The shots hit engineering and crew quarters areas, killing a Marine, and critically wounding Rath and another Marine.   Krau and the engineering staff struggle to get engines back on-line, finally succeeding after the Stromali Destroyer is taken out.  Fire directed to the Crucible has crippled the ship, and it drifts through space, with no power reading from engineering.  A sphere emerges from the crippled ship.  San instructs decoy missiles to be fired.  The sphere veers off and destroys the decoys, then heads inward, towards the Shield Star...
 

[ 2 points awarded ]

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San, reacting to the sphere's appearance, orders the launch of decoy missles, set up to emit signals to attract the sphere.  The sphere collides with the missiles, and then heads away, toward the mainworld. Krauis launched in Zephr, one of the two small shuttles on the Infinite Wakes.  He brings with him the slime suit, the strange device, and his usual assortment of tools.   San orders the Infinite Wakes away to a presumably safe distance, and they sit and wait to see what the sphere will do.  Several hours later it intercepts the waiting Shield Star.   Communication is lost with the Shield Star as the Sphere collides with the shield being generated by it.  The Wheelock and other observing craft report that the Shield Star is still intact, but without power, and the sphere rebounded away.  The group confers and decides to use the strange device.

Krau passes his slime-suited finger over the ridges on the device, and there is a loud CRACK, as all power goes out on the shuttle.  Aboard the Infinite Wakes, the power goes out as well, due to a massive EMP surge.  Basic radio comm is restored, and San gets word from the Wheelock that the sphere has changed course and is heading towards Krau.  Krau attempts to get his shuttle working again, but many systems have been damaged from the pulse.  After some point where he is distracted while working on the engines, he looks up and sees a massive sphere outside of his window.

Armando senses the presence of the sphere.  After some time, Krau finds he can sense it as well, and eventually, communicate with it.  The sphere wants basic information on who Krau is.  The sphere states it wants to unite with "The Father", and that "The Others that sing" are helping it to achieve the goal.   Krau tries to convince the sphere that he can help with this goal, and that this would be a better option.  The conversation reaches an impasse however, and the sphere states that it must complete it's task, apparently to finish destroying what is in this system.  It states that it will return after doing so, and then Krau, "The Others" and the sphere will discuss the matter further.  It heads out a maximum speed to the mainworld again.

The group talks over the options.  San really wants to board and search the now derelict Holy Crucible, for information about it's mission, and for signs of Dalton Kess.  Since Rath is still in critical condition under the Doctor's care,  Lieutenant Smith is put in charge of the boarding mission.  He and his squad, along with Mr. Brown are sent over to recon the ship, entering via a forward cargo bay.  Inside, they encounter several living people, who fare as expected under sudden decompression conditions.  Brown uses his skills to unlock doors and get access to various areas of the ship.  As they enter the bridge area however, they are ambushed by two people in Vacc Suits with Laser Rifles.  Brown is shot in the head and killed.

The marines take out the two shooters, but retreat from the bridge area, instead concentrating on the forward cargo hold for signs of Kess and any data crystals with log info.  They make their way into a massive life support machine room, massively redundant and still servicing several low births in other areas.  The marines proceed through a service hatch, entering a large cathederal, at the center of which is a huge, multi-faceted diamond disk, with a human figure mounted in an "X" position inside.   It isDalton Kess.  The information is relayed back to the Infinite Wakes, and the Doctor and his staff are consulted on how to run the dehibernation process.  Kess is pulled out alive, along with the Vegan named Argun Wor from a neighboring chamber.    A subsequent search of the ship turns up lots of data crystals, and a strange, egg-shaped device matching the description of the Artifact of the Palm, a Solarist religious artifact reportedly stolen by the Bertranites.

The marines go back to the Infinite Wakes, and go through thorough physical, mental, psionic inspection, inside and out.  San assigns guards to follow Kess as he is wheeled, (still unconscious) to sick bay, and he is restrained as well.  The sphere has made it's way to the mainworld, forcing the Wheelock and whatever ships are jump capable to retreat to Bastil.  It attacks the remaining ships, as well as the mainworld surface, and begins it's return trip to presumably meet Krau.   The boarding party returns before the sphere makes it back.  A shuttle is sent to Krau in the meanwhile with vital supplies for the engine, and with the Artifact of the Palm, which Krau believes will help in negotiations.  Krau gives the pilot any belongings he wishes to keep safe, and awaits the return of the sphere...

[ 2 points awarded / 3 for Krau ]

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As, Krau awaits the return of the sphere from it's deadly mission, San has the Infinite Wakes take Meson practice on the remains of the Holy Crucible, blasting it into itty, bitty pieces.  He contemplates what to do next; to stay in-system and see what happens with Krau, or to leave.  As he is pondering this, Dr. Watson calls to the bridge to inform him that Rath, Dalton Kess, and the Vargr marine in sick-bay need serious medical attention, and there is a good change they would not survive a week in jump.  Options are discussed and in the end San decides to go to the mainworld and see if any of the medical facilities on the planet can still be used.

Krau meanwhile is met by the sphere again.  It repeats it's intention to have a discussion between Krau, "The Others" and itself, despite Krau's attempt to convince it that his team has the sphere's interests at heart more than "The Others" do.  Krau blacks out as the sphere engulfs his shuttle.
When he awakes, he is naked on a cold, metal table, with a robotic probe inches from his face.  A toneless voice demands he arise and walk.  As he gets up, Krau spots his belongings, unceremoniously heaped on the floor beside the table.  Pieces of the slime suit are there, cut open.  Also, the "Strange Device".  Thinking quickly, Krau reaches down and grabs a piece of the slime suit, and the device.  The robot moves in rapidly and demands he drop the objects, but it is too late.  Krau runs a slime-suited finger across the black bands of the device, sending a huge EM pulse blasting through the ship.  The robot drops to the floor, it's electronics fused.  Krau quickly picks up his clothes and gear, including the plasma torch, and a deadly, poison-filled squirt gun prepared by the late Mr. Brown.

Krau uses the device to send an "S.O.S." using pulses, which is picked up by the Infinite Wakes.  Readings also show that the Crucible has lost all power.  Using the plasma torch for light, Krau makes his way through the darkened hallways. He passes several zombie-like figures, apparently disoriented or confused about what to do.  Eventually however, he runs into someone who seems more lucent.  The person asks him who he is, and if he serves the machine.  When Krau replies he does not serve the machine, the man turns to run, but Krau shoots him squarely in the face with the squirt gun, sending him into an instant, convulsing death.

The sphere communicates with Krau.  It is nearby, and is not pleased by the fact that it's "ride" has been disabled.  Krau promises it that his group can provide similar transportation, and the sphere agrees, offering to push him in a craft, or otherwise escort him to the Infinite Wakes.  Moving quickly, Krau picks up what data crystals he can, disables the engines, and finds a small shuttle to ride in.  The shuttle is inoperative, but the sphere is able to push it without destroying it to the Infinite Wakes, which has taken up a position in orbit around Ishimshulgi.

As the Infinite Wakes approaches Ishimshulgi,  several distress signals are active, including some from the surface.  A marine squad led by a Sgt. Gung Ho is battling warbots in the DKI complex, but is able to supply information about the medical facilities.  Ho's team has secured one of the garages and has been working to evacuate DKI employees.   San orders the marines to send down a squad to help Ho, and check out the medical facilities.   A team, including the battlesuited space team, is sent down.  Ho's squad and the IW marines get into combat with several bots, but secure a larger area, closing off bulkhead doors between modules to isolate the medical lab, which has been mostly spared by the Sphere attack and subsequent bot invasion.

San communicates with Skinner, who is leading the evacuation.  Skinner's group is guarded by marines, some in battlesuit, but are being pursued by warbots who are picking off scores of people.  San learns that Iris Renstat, Dr. Ripley, and Riley Kee are among the dead from the DKI team, that Chixonna Bunn and Dr. Bowman were among the wounded, and that Max was not there, having left for Terek several weeks earlier.   Skinner gets the details on what the group has been doing and the information gathered, and offers his grim assessment:  The Republic is losing the war.  Skinner has information that Terek has been attacked by spheres, and also lets San know the second shield-star, along with the  infrastructure to build more, has been destroyed.  Skinner says the group should consider using it's resources to find the Father sphere, if evidence warrants it, and the situation continues to deteriorate.  He cannot offer any further prioritization of other objectives, such as the diplomatic mission, essentially saying that the group will need to act on it's own, at least for now.

Communications break off with Skinner as his group is forced to stay on the run.  San instructs the sensor team to target any bots on the surface by their neutrino stream, and the ship is able to laser several.  Within a few hours, Skinner reports all known bots have been destroyed.

The IW marines and Ho's squad fight more bots in the medical lab, and then work to get it powered on.  A plan to power up a dormant reactor at a nearby nuclear waste dump site is considered, but when Krau, Argun Wor,  and Dr. Watson arrive, Krau is able to convert a power source from one of the disabled, but not destroyed bots.  Dr. Watson operates on Rath, Kess, and the Vargr, with better than expected success, owing partly to the advanced equipment available in the lab for the purpose.

San receives a call from Sinjon Meadows, who is with Skinner.  He requests that items be removed from Max's safe.  San relays this to the marine teams, and a group, including Ho, is sent to his quarters.  Inside, they discover an animal resembling an Agiddan Sand Dog.  The animal is friendly, especially to Ho.  A small velvet bag containing another "strange object" is removed from the safe, along with cash, and some data crystals.

Back in the medical lab,Kess awakens.  He is confused and seems to be partly under the delusion he is a god.  He wants to know where he is, what is happening.  He is asked direct questions about the Father sphere, and it's location by Krau.  Kess's reply is that he "sent it back to Stannon so that bastard Kevar wouldn't get his hands on it."

[ 2 points awarded / 3 for Krau ]

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Events from last week's session included:
 

[ 1 point awarded ]

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The group weighs their options for dealing with the loss of the Infinite Wakes, but in the end decides not to fight Admiral Stanton's orders.  They begin the process of trying to find an alternate ship, so they can begin investigation of the leads given to them by the Komar Servant.   Rath contacts the Naval Fleet Reserve office looking for small vessels, and his request for surplus starship information is initially laughed off, but he eventually discovers an 800-ton Khorfooz Class Raider in the Navy mothball yard, captured some time ago from Vargr raiders operating in Minjini space.  The ship is flagged as possibly infected with E, and the Navy also wants no part of restoring a Vargr ship.

San goes into action, and visits Admiral June Messler aboard the Wheelock for dinner.  She is sympathetic to San's cause, but tows the Navy line and tells San flat out that the Navy wants the Sphere kept and studied under a controlled environment, and not taken away by the group.  She proposes a compromise:  The sphere will be taken back to Ishimshulgi with Naval escort, and a Navy science team.  Skinner will direct the operations at the lab, but the Navy scientists will participate.  The Navy will work to provide increased security at Ishimshulgi.  San manages to get Messler to transfer the Khorfooz vessel to his group's control, along with the stealth shuttle.

San and Rath work out crew details, deciding who to keep for the new ship.  Meanwhile, Gung-Ho has been getting a series of suspicious questions from his canine companion, Spooky.  Spooky wants to know, among other things, who the captain of the ship is.  Gung eventually gets too suspicious and begins to intimidate the dog if he does not come clean on what he is up to.  After a short man/dog battle of will, the dog gives in, and admits that he can send and receive X-Mail via wireless link if he is close enough to an X-Mail terminal.  He has checked in with the local office of Dept 409 and sent in names of people he knows in an attempt to keep his doggie job.  Dept 409 has responded by providing a list of people they wish to find, but Spooky unfortunately has to say  he doesn't know where they are.   Gung reports these developments to the Captain and staff.  There is a debate about getting rid of Spooky, but eventually they decide to embed a jamming device under the skin to prevent him from sending or receiving messages.

Krau and team inspect the Khorfooz class ship, now tenatively named Doggie Style.  It is more or less in good shape but has some weapon system damage.  San gets permission to search the debris fields, and the group manages to scrounge up a complete laser turret, much to the chagrin of the Naval authorities who consented to the trip.

The Navy plans a mission to take the Infinite Wakes back to Ishimshulgi with the sphere, along with the Shield Star and the Doggie Style.  San and crew make preparations to leave.  Dalton Kess and Argun Wor will come along aboard the Style, the Admirals, while finding the story of Kess's revival curious, have no real interest in him.  Armando says his goodbyes, as he plans to stay on Bastil.  Krau begins pondering the question of what to do about the sphere, and more accurately, how to keep it away from Navy hands..

[ 1 point awarded ]

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Before the jump, there is a debate regarding whether or not to warn the Infinite Wakes and the Navy in general about the possibility of a sudden, unannounced sphere explosion.  This fear is based on the observations of the Komar Servant, who has calculated a 1 in 216 chance per day of a spontaneous sphere explosion, and a 1 in 36 chance of such an explosion due to retrieval from the storage device.  Such an explosion would reportedly destroy all matter within a 460,000 mile radius.  The decision is reached to tell Admiral Messler, who immediately orders the Infinite Wakes out beyond the potential blast radius.  She summons San and Krau to come give a more detailed explanation of the problem, and possible solutions.  Krau works up some suitably-difficult-to-fix-without-jumping-to-Ishimshulgi type problems, and proceeds to subdue the Admiral and scientists with the data.  The upshot is that the Doggie Style, now officially named the Back Door,  is ordered to rendezvous with the Infinite Wakes, and take aboard the sphere for transport to Ishimshulgi.

 The Back Door  jumps for Ishimshulgi.  Crews are reorganized and Rath starts the marine training schedule again.  Upon arrival at Ishimshulgi,  the group gets in touch with Skinner, who informs everyone that Max Riven is also in-system, (much to everyone's relief.)  Everyone heads down to the planet, and San even orders shore leave for the next several days.

Max greets everyone but has a shocked reaction to Gung Ho.  He later recounts a story concerning the Hivers at Terek, who's ship was destroyed in the Eristicon attacks there.  The Hivers said they attempted to employ the Fugue Device, but it malfunctioned and they were unable to escape attack by several spheres there.  The Hivers escaped in a 5000-ton, extremely stealthy/fast ship, but met briefly with Max before leaving.  At the meeting, the captain handed over the small silver cube, referred to by the Hivers as The Nexus.  The Hivers claimed this device was the reason that the Fugue Device malfunctioned, and that it should be returned to its first owner, a "Large muscular bald man" who is now travelling with Max's associates.  The Hivers claim to have seen him present in at least one Fugue.

The cube is given to Gung Ho, and he is asked for an explanation.  Gung Ho says it is his lucky charm, and that he's had it since he can remember while on Burath.  He goes on to say it was lost during a military campaign on Averon, when a small squirrel snuck into his APC and ran off with it in his mouth.

Several very long meetings occur with Max, where the group fills him in on their latest info, and their objective to head towards Quaver in search of the master sphere.  Other developments:
 

[ 0 points awarded, 10 fako points to Krau, 1 mini3D dice cube to San ]

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The Back Door  jumps for Vember, to pursue the mission to assassinate Roj Misaru, an Eristicon Coordinator.  The jump is uneventful, and the ship refuels at the Vember Gas Giant, and proceeds into the mainworld.  Once in the Vember system, Krau picks up messages left for the group from Zima, the anti-Eristicon AI entity created by Catlyn.  The message states that Eristicon infections were detected at Arnold's Landing, but the system disconnected before further analysis/cleansing could take place.

The group decides to reuse their old Bedrock Mining Co. identities, and is carefully inspected by the RSF when they approach the mainworld.  There is a bit of trouble when Sgt. James, the man removed from the Komar storage device, turns out not to have any papers.  The RSF also seems a little suspicious about the fact that humans are travelling in a heavily armed Vargr ship.  This leads to questioning, and eventually, the group has to produce their Committee identifications to show they are on a special mission. San and Krau go over to the highport to meet with higher level RSF personell, and they essentially say that they are on a secret mission to track down Eristicon agents, and need RSF cooperation.  The RSF Colonel agrees to allow them access to Vember, and to RSF records, but says his personell are stretched thin protecting Evalo/Minsk and the highport, and cannot participate in any operations elsewhere on the planet.

The Back Door lands at Evalo Groundport, after a bit of excitement when San has to assume control of the landing from Krau, who is not used to the strange Vargr ship dynamics in the atmosphere.  After landing, San, Krau, Rath, and Gung-Ho go out to rent a grav vehicle from Blarco, and opt for the armed version, complete with laser turret.  The weapon is disabled inside city limits, and Blarco assumes no responsibility for it's use otherwise.    The group heads into the city to find Tony Baka, the contractor that helped them during their earlier  Vember mission.  After a short while, they discover they are being followed, and as they try to evade, they are fired upon.  Krau dives under the dashboard to hotwire the turret, as Rath readies his laser rifle (aka Bettsy III ).  Gung-Ho mans the turret as their car is hit by laser fire.  Gung returns fire, hitting the vehicle and causing parts of it to come flying off.  Rath then fires an aimed head shot, nailing the driver.  The vehicle goes spiralling down and crashes in a school yard.

San drives the car down beside the wreckage, as school kids flee the area for the safety of the building.  Searching the crash site, they recover some remains for medical analysis, and a vehicle identification.  They leave quickly, and slip into city traffic as local law enforcement arrives.  The group then proceeds to see Tony Baka.  Tony runs the vehicle ID via some of his friends, and finds it is a Streland Systems vehicle, from Arnold's Landing.   Using their RSF data connections, Krau begins researching shipments to Arnold's Landing, and discovers that the Eternity's Deadline shipped various cargo through that location to someone named Wylon White.

With help from Tony's contacts and the RSF, the group assumes the identity of RSF inspectors.  Their Blarco car is painted to look like an RSF vehicle.  San goes back to the ship to sell cargo, while Krau, Rath, and Gung-Ho go on a recon mission to Arnold's Landing.  They arrive at the shipping complex that handled the packages from the Eternity's Deadline.  Gung-Ho intimidates the local shipping management into providing access to the records, and the three stage a mock audit of their procedures.  They discover that the package in question was shipped to a remote island chain called Bonico Station.  This small island was part of the vast undersea tunnel network on Vember, and is currently not in use, and not in a managed district on Vember.

On the trip back, the group is followed again by a vehicle, and fired upon.  Rath mans the guns and gets a very good shot off, and the vehicle plunges into the ocean.  The group returns to the Back Door.  Krau checks the records recovered from the Eternity's Deadline, and finds mention of parts for something called a "Supernode" being shipped to Vember.  Watson comes back with his analysis of the remains recovered from the crash.  They are infected with Biological Eristicon virus.

[ 2 points awarded ]

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A recon mission is put together, led by Gung-Ho, Rath,  and a team of Marines. Krau researches the island, and comes to the startling conclusion that the inter-island monorail has been repaired and is functioning.  San pilots the stealth shuttle to the back side of the main island in Bonico Station, and drops off the team.  The Marines make their way through the forest, noting a small but active power substation.  They approach a warehouse, but catch the attention of rooftop guards, who flip a floodlight on and search for signs of intruders.  The Marines back off and successfully evade detection, and take an alternate route around.   After passing the remains of an obviously non-functioning monorail, the Marines approach a central building.  Gung-Ho goes in while Rath covers.  Inside, Gung-Ho finds a building with a set of stairs down, and several large cargo containers.

The Marines take note and then move on, finding a cargo yard with building material, and a landing area with several camoflaged modular cutters.  Moving to the front side of the island, they find another building with electrical noise coming from it, and cables coming out.  In a nearby fenced in area, they spot a cluster of guards, some manning mobile missile launchers.  Also, several people seem to be clustered around what looks like a warbot.

The recon is completed and the team calls San in, and they leave the island, and go up to the orbiting Back Door.  Krau meanwhile has been cooking up plans for an EMP device, but he needs a fusion power source to pull it off.  RSF records are consulted and eventually they find a set of damaged modular cutter modules in storage at a nearby Lagrange point.  The Back Door motors over there, and Krau is able to find and remove a small fusion plant used to power a lab module.  Over the next few days, Krau and San manage to locate a drop capsule, control systems, and electronics and coils required to build a guided EMP bomb.  The device is assembled and checked out, and connected to remote guidance controls.

The invasion plan calls for all marines to land, but the group does not want to risk putting the Back Door in the line of fire, in case the EMP device fails to have effect.   To solve the problem, a small fleet of Blarco grav vehicles with turret weapons is rented from various Blarco sites from around the city.  Half the Marines are tp fly in the grav vehicles, while the other half is to come in on the stealth shuttle.  Krau drops the bomb and San guides it in to a perfect "landing" over the island, and it goes off with expected results.

Shortly thereafter, the Marines come in.  They do not encounter enemy fire on the way in, and land again on the back side of the island.  Charlie and Sniper teams form air cover over the island.  Alpha Team moves in to secure the main building and meets resistance, and sustains casualties from an RPG attack.   Odd Squad moves in on the building with electrical noise, and finds it to be a Meson Comm station.   The occupants are easily taken out.  Bravo team moves to the landing area, where they are attacked by guards with ACRs and RPG launchers, sustaining several more casualties.   Alpha team moves on to secure the main building, which is unoccupied.  Rath opens up the cargo containers to find them filled with strange, high-tech computer components.

The Casualty List from the Battle so far is:
 

[ 2 points awarded ]

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Grav Cars are sent to patrol the remainder of the island.  One team investigating the power station takes fire, and crashes into the sea.  Two marines, Nina Perez and Wayne Little escape, but Nina goes under while removing monocrys, and Wayne drowns as well trying to rescue her.  The power station and control tower are later bombarded from a distance by RPGs, with unknown results.  Gung-Ho checks out all the crates in storage and finds   :
 

The team evacs the wounded via a shuttle dispatched from the Back Door, and Dr. Watson joins the ground force for medical support. A team of marines, led by Gung-Ho and Rath, enter the stairwell down from the main building, and then down a darkened underground tunnel, which ends abruptly in a massive steel door. San takes NAS readings and finds nothing, so Krau begins cutting through the door with a plasma torch.  His work is interrupted however part way through, as the door suddenly opens, revealing a pair of attacking warbots.   Gung-Ho his LAG, and the rest of  the Marines make quick work of the Bots.

The team proceeds into a large undersea station, directly below the protruding 5-story tower.  They enter a large open lobby structure with several doors.  NAS readings indicate life behind one or more.  As the group formulates an attack plan, San gets the sense something is going wrong.  He immediately alerts the rest of the team.  Gung-Ho notices that one of his men, Basil Krepps, has a blank look on his face, and has is finger on the RPG launcher trigger, aiming directly at San.  Gung wastes no time; he turns and fires on Krepps with the LAG, killing him instantly.  The door is then blasted open,  and a stunned man inside is immediately attacked and killed. A search of his body reveals an ID:  Evann Ceja.  Inside is an office, and on the computer the team finds a set of power controls for the complex.  The controls indicate an area of the complex called "Super Node", and a "Docking Ring", which San powers down.  San also finds a communicator, keyed to an encrypted frequency.  On it there are calls for all personell to report to the Docking Ring, and that someone needs to work on getting the power on for the ring.

Krau meanwhile has begun examining a major control room found in an adjacent hall, with many operating monitors, showing different first-person views from various remote places.  Cables from the control room lead off down another hall, which Gung-Ho and the remainder of his team investigate.  They follow it to a large, multi-story room filled with strange computer equipment, towering over their heads.  Gung-Ho correctly surmises this is the Super Node.   Another set of cables lead off down another hall, which Gung-Ho cannot follow to the end.

Krau opens another door off of the lobby area reveals a large number of warbots, sitting near a glowing green pool.  Rath throws in a satchel charge, which blows the door out, and spreads smoke and debris around the lobby.  Soon after, Krau and Rath begin feeling sick, and Dr. Watson confirms they have been exposed to radiation.  He gives them anti-rad treatment and they move away from the area, exploring the final door off the lobby.

In this room, there is a small jail and a prisoner, who claims to have been captured but is "willing to cooperate".  The group leaves him and continues through to another room, where they find armored vacc suits for underwater use,  a crude operating theater, and more samples of Hasataa.  Beyond they see the docking area, guarded by two figures in armored vacc suit.  Krau overrides the door and Gung-Ho and Rath engage them.  Gung-Ho is hit critically in the leg, and goes down.  The men are killed however, and Rath investigates the docking area.

Inside he finds a missing access panel, as if someone was working there recently.  As he checks it out, the whole section of the complex shakes violently, and there is a screeching of metal noise, and the whir of machinery.  Rath is knocked to the floor.  There is a sudden snap, and then all is quiet.  Rath gets up in time to see a small sub retreating from the complex.  He quickly checks nearby docking ports and finds two other subs still docked.  Making a quick decision, he and San enter the larger of the two subs and power it up.  They radio to Krau to restore power to the docking ring, and then undock.

San is able to follow the sub, despite a general lack of expertise at underwater craft.  Rath finds the weapons systems and powers them up.  Several torpedo shots are exchanged before Rath is able to get a clear lock on the target. He fires two torpedoes directly into the fleeing sub, destroying it.  San then pilots the sub successfully back to the docking ring.

[ 3 points awarded (!) ]

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