S19 Slavers’ Bay

Jasper’s Flat, Gold Coast, Shadira Arcology, Collace/District 268/Spinward, 302/1105

After some discussion, the players decided on a different start point for this week than declared at the end of last session. As nothing had happened for this to invalidate, all fine.

Leaving the flat carefully closed up and undamaged (aside from some nice items unaccountably disappeared), the PCs headed back to the starport, where they tucked the gig into the cargo hold and set to work.

MS Short Walk, Shadira Downport, Collace/District 268/Spinward, 302/1105

Feng was bundled into Wombat’s robodoc and put lights-out for a few hours while it regrew some skin and eased a few bruises from her being blown up.

Nevada took her battered combat armour down to the workshop and took it apart, servicing it for the same reasons, leaving cosmetic wear which Feng felt added to its’ intimidation value

Moath Haftab, Scoute

Wombat got in touch with Moath Haftab and asked him to arrange for a slightly better study of the cave; ten hours later, images and sensor data came back showing the cave more clearly. No traces of traffic in or out were visible. The mountain above contained a high percentage of metal ores, which stopped sensors dead. All of which made it more likely as a location.

MS Short Walk, Shadira Downport, Collace/District 268/Spinward, 303/1105

The next morning, they planned. There seemed to be four main possibilities;

Try and buy her back
Straight-up independent assault
Turn it over to the police and send them in
Contact the PAN number Jasper had for Charlie Burnell and threaten them to see what happened

Though they discounted 3, they updated the police on their progress and plans. In the end, Nevada made the call to Burnell. Despite him dropping Jasper’s name and insisting they just wanted to buy their crewmate back no-questions-asked, Burnell steadfastly held to the “sorry, you have the wrong number” line. It had never been especially likely to work, given Collace was trying really hard to “be Imperial”; selling the merch here wasn’t a sensible idea.

Lt Bertram Reddish

When they alerted Lt Reddish to their plan to go in, that latter offered to bring a force along to back them up, which they accepted gladly - knowing that the detective’s other reason was going to be to ensure that witnesses didn’t have accidents. Swinging around pas the police station they collected Reddish and his six SWAT troopers. Feng gave them a rousing speech as to their reasons for rescuing Feaysen, which Nevada amplified by lending out Gauss rifles instead of the ACRs they’d come with. Feng loaned Reddish her own personalized - pink! - gauss rifle. All the coppers seemed much heartened by this.

Slavers’ Bay, Somewhere Outside, Collace/District 268/Spinward, 303/1105

The first thing the PCs did at the mouth of the cave was send Nevada’s drone in. The laser-melted tunnel at the back of the cave zigzagged several times before running straight for half a mile and opening into a cavern.

The base was in point of fact nicked from a modern horror Antarctic base plan off Pinterest, so some handwaving was involved...

In this cavern was a low, windowless building with an entrance at the front and a landing pad on top at the back, occupied by a 20-ton launch. Above it a tunnel continued up at 45 degrees. Nevada sent the drone around the edge of the cavern and up the tunnel, to find it ended in heavy doors rigged with separation charges to open out of the far side of the mountain. There were robot sentries on the landing pad and one at the front entrance, each equipped with twin machine guns.

Autoturret

Sniper Gauss Rifle

[sniper gauss] [turret] The police were dropped at the cave entrance to make their way in that way, while the Short Walk flew around to the other side and triggered the charges with a turret laser. Wombat, Feng and Nevada drifted down the tunnel on their grav modules, stopping 500m or so from the landing pad. While the others took full cover, Nevada took aim with his sniper’s gauss rifle. It took two rounds to silence the first turret, by which time both were firing back despite the extreme range. Gauss rifles are silent, but four 12mm machine-guns in an ice cavern are anything but, and the noise was indescribable. Wombat plugged the second one with his laser rifle, but by then two human guards with gauss rifles were on the pad, in cover, shooting back. There was a furious exchange of fire, but the terrifying sniper rifle was too much for their armour and both went down.

Reaching the pad, the three split; Nevada and Wombat went up and low over the building until they could get a line on the front turret; Feng went down the sloped tunnel into the building, following a rolled grenade.

Nevada and Wombat reached the front of the building, to find that the police had responded to the din of the gunfight and moved in. The front turret was down, but one copper had paid the price of the open approach and lay still on the ice. Reddish reported that the cops were handling the eastern end of the structure, so the PCs went for the west.

Low Berths

Finding a room filled with modular low berth units, Wombat and Nevada searched them, finding 12 occupied but no sign of Feaysen. All the inhabitants were either very good-looking, very physically fit or both.

Further on, they found a staff recreation room; dartboard, pool table, holovid game consoles... and a large, sleazy rumpled bed for testing the mechandise. Feng’s mouth compressed to a thin line.

Further on, they located a second room racked with cryoberths. Four men in white medic coats, terrified out of their wits, fell over themselves to surrender. A search this time located the lost steward in one of the berths, and Wombat set to reviving her, always ticklish with this kind of berth.

Charlie Burnell

Descending the stairs at the end, they found Burnell’s personal quarters. On impulse, Nevada called Burnell’s com, and it answered from his office, where they found it on a desk. Hunting around, they found a hidden climb shaft leading up to the cavern above. Nevada kicked in his grav and rose through the shaft, followed by Wombat. As they emerged, they spotted a figure sprinting towards the mouth of the tunnel; Burnell. Nevada overtook him, lifted him 20 metres or so and dropped him, wincing as the man’s legs shattered with a hideous crackle of breaking bones. Wombat left him to it and went to see if he could help the downed policeman at the front of the building - which he couldn’t - then the wounded policeman shot as the cops cleared the power plant.

With Burnell turned over to the police for his own protection - from Feng - they went over the contents of his office. What they found was quite interesting.

Burnell’s computer contained the details of his relationship with a Captain Via Peng of the a ship called the Strawman. It sent a subourdinate craft down to collect the assembled “freight”. Burnell had clandestinely recorded images of some of the crew, and Wales recognized three of them; Gaza Hands (Captain Beefheart’s 1st Mate) and William Bonney and Patrick Grayson, also crewmembers of the Torquilstone. His past came back in a rush.

Starport records showed a 1,200 ton merchant ship identified as the Strawman visiting around once a year and trading; both Wombat and Feng realized that it didn’t trade nearly enough to make a living. The last recorded visit was 321/1104.

Nevada made Lt Reddish a present of one of their spare gauss rifles, earning that worthy's deep appreciation.

Feaysen Bentsen

Discussing the next step with Reddish, the plan emerged for the police to stake out the base at Slavers’ Bay, and the PCs to plan a boarding action on the Strawman - or Torquilstone - when it returned; most likely in 15 days or so. They also started making enquiries through Cmnr Ostergaard as to taking ownership of the base when the dust settled.

Feng drew Feaysen aside into a quiet corner, and asked if she was all right. There was a moment's pause, and then the girl began to cry. Feng comforted her the best she could, and Wombat gave her something to make her sleep. Quin Feng's face was dark as they planned the next stage; someone was going to be really sorry this had happened. She brightened when she remembered Jasper, still on ice in his own Gig, and unbeknownst to the police.

Session Date: Aug 8, 2023