The Hypnotape DeliveryTrip to MugorokBefore heading to Mugorok, we want to:
Other things we would like to do as and when time and money permit:
Leave Glennga, heading for C-4206-1003-2771, a system which our maps indicate as uninhabited and is a reasonable half-way point on the trip to Mugorok. While travelling:
Deserted system is not so deserted. Considerable military presence and movement suggests this is not where we want to be. Leave a drone to log comms chatter, and head off to G-1205-7009-1353. On trip across, Tsai establishes that the Mugorokans have a very strong religious taboo against gambling games. Mugorokans have been carving their quarters. The carvings of the Glennga Six have a very religious feel. Bnarch seems to be the head deity, generally shown subduing his enemies and so forth. Tsai relegated after breaking taboo, has probably become the evil tempter or something like that. Nik-chub and The Ambassador are a source of confusion, and the resulting carvings are really, really disturbing. Top up tanks a bit from a handy ice asteroid (of which there aren't any others visible here), and test fire the big gun at a handy mid-cruiser sized rock. Results:
Latte's project seems to be related to music. Head off to Mugorok system. Mugorok SystemSystem is a lot busier than we expected. Much more development than star charts indicate and so on. Refuel in helpful rings of the furthest out gas giant (Aglarok) Head in towards Mugorok, monitoring comms to learn what we can. There a strong "pull ourselves up by the Imperial-provided bootstraps" vibe going on. Major conflab with the Foreman about the fact that we are heading towards their home world. Latte appoints a Foreman of Cultural Affairs. Agree that Foreman of Exploration and Foreman of Personnel will accompany us to the planet, and look around. After our business is concluded, those who want to can stay behind. Cover story for trip: prospectors looking to start something in the Mugorok system. Excuse to visit and use facilities, and hopefully learn stuff. Head to planet - traffic control directs us to the seedy business district. Pass and impressive statue with a working antigrav orrery as part of it. Browse tourist brochure of info. Learn that imperial support guess is correct. Statue is of Empress who started the "let's embrace technology" kick. Mugorok cityGo to a info booth and get caught up on news and such. Interesting facts:
Head over to junkyard to look for parts. Talking to owner, doesn't have many bits for bus shuttles. Recommends that we replace the engine, but we don't currently have the cash. Find:
Junkyard owner gives us a tip on someone who may be able to give us a job. "Import/Export" style work. Head over the the address, which is a bar with office space above. Bar is a bit of a dodgy dive with dancers (male for female audience (matriarchal society thing)). Lose Shar to the temptation of drink. Meet with prospective employer (Rudamyantri). Sounds like a fairly simple milk run smuggling job. Pick up bits at point a, deliver them to b, don't get caught in between. Negotiate a reasonable price, with option to take some of the price in goods, and some advance payment Use advance on:
BoborokHead over to Boborok slowly on the The Ambassador. We can do it in about a day, but we take 2.5 so we don't reveal to much and have time to do some work. Fix military shuttle. Generally works. Guns track, but we don't test fire them, due to odds of attracting unwanted attention if things go wrong. Shuttle has 2 guns, each fully loaded and 4 spare clips. 20 rounds per clip. Simple dumb ammo, so finding more hopefully not hard. Latte and Foreman of Cultural Affairs test the supplies. 3 Drinks good for the Mugorokans (the very expensive one is foul to us, but goes down a treat with them), some shampoo and some cleaning fluid. The Ambassador sets up synthesized pods of the good stuff for the Mugorokans. Latte takes remaining drink, which seems alcoholic. The Plan: Park the Ambassador about an hour away (out of sight and scan range). Head over in the bus shuttle and load up (Shar & Utan will go to maximise cargo space). We think we will need 3 trips, but if we're lucky can get away with 2 (removed seats, etc. to maximise cargo space). Arrive at factory, sending recorded message from out employer to the factory. Park in hanger and are "asked" to talk to person in charge of factory. Said person is relative (sister?) of employer (Emejshinecfi). Seems to be stresses on the family business, and goods have not been paid for. This is a problem of the "I'll send your heads back" life-threatening sort. Some negotiation between Bnarch and sister. Buys some time. Utan and Shar taken on a tour of the factory. Seem to be making slot machines (high quality, not rigged). Doesn't seem to be a huge force around on the factory. Utan and Shar then locked in a broom closest, with possible supplies for a chemical bomb. Much negotiation between Bnarch and employee, in the quest for more money. Further discussions between us and Emejshinecfi, which don't lead anywhere, until she has an idea and agrees to let us ship a bunch of slot machines to her sister as the original run was meant to be. This is awfully suspicious, and we suspect the machines are rigged, but examination doesn't show any obvious signs of this. She is very taken by Bnarch, and Shar and Tsai arrange a Mugorokan carving of Bnarch for her. She responds be giving us what she claims in an unmodified slot machine. Contact Rudamyantri. Arrange to drop off slot machines at a deserted field outside reasonable scan range of the city. We don't exactly describe how we secured them, and don't indicate that they may not be completely kosher. Much suspicion on our side. Latte, Tsai & Nik-chub spend time rigging up some of the torpedoes to operate as possible orbital bombs (manipulating their antigrav units and some funky maths to ensure they fall in the right place). On reaching orbit, send Nik-chub, Latte and a lizard clone down in a walnut shuttle to survey the area - they see no obvious traps. Contact Rudamyantri, negotiate to deliver in three shipments, being paid 1 third for each shipment. Rudamyantri sends a large ship with crew which parks a little way off from target location. Exchange goes far too smoothly for our liking, given the way the rest of the job has gone. Items are offloaded from our bus shuttle, money looks genuine, and not obviously traceable. Between trips, large ship comes to collect goods, which are loaded quickly and it moves off again. Once all goods delivered, large ship returns to Mugorok city, somewhere in the posher northern section. Money is in 3 briefcases, all smallish imperial credits. We resolve to spend the money fairly quickly. After some sleep, most of us head down to the planet to acquire goods. Tsai stays on the ship - he hooks up to the local comms net (via paranoid relay) to search for information on Quavladayti. Finds 8 possible matches - 4 just have phone number, 1 is a law clerk, 1 is a doctor, 1 is an information broker and one is an artist. We establish that the Ambassador can speak Mugorokan, but, since the Ambassador doesn't grok written text, and we can't read Mugorokan text, this doesn't help us much. The rest head planetwards, carrying 2 briefcases of money. Aims are:
Buying of parts and engine replacement goes well (we think). Bargain price down to 3/4 of a briefcase. Will need to leave the shuttle there for a day or so. Nik-chub and Utan go off to buy electronics for datapad and look at star chart options. Utan also finds a "guide to the pronunciation of Mugorokan words", which will hopefully be useful when combined with the Ambassador. Rest of the party decide to try and contact Screethli consulate to learn more about Ustkratac-Fel, and hopefully get lead on correct Quavladayti. Since current gear not suited to paying calls on consulate staff, they find up-market clothing boutique to buy new clothing. Tsai turns up the following bits of information on the consulate:
Also turns up that the only organisation that looks promising for repatriation discussions is the "Union of Offworld Mugorokan workers", which seems to be a private organisation. There's a vague air of embarrassment around off-world Mugorokans in much of the available info. Tsai also searches for evidence of the secret police (given the universally positive view of all government actions in the available reporting, they must be there, after all), but they cover their tracks very well. Great debate about calling the consulate ensues, but, due to the odds of the embassy phones being tapped, we decide against that. Nik-chub and Latte will survey the consulate and see if anything interesting happens. Shar goes off on official tour of the city and statue to learn more. Shuttle is empty except for some tourists from nearby At-Yaj - farming planet in nearby system. Pumps tour guide for info about various things, such as other aliens and returning Mugorokans. Doesn't learn much new. Bnarch and Utan go and visit the Union of Foreign Workers. Learn that there is much paperwork involved in returning groups of Mugorokans, and we shouldn't do so in groups of 200 or more, but multiple groups are OK. Generally government not so keen on the whole idea, but can be made to work. Take the form. Nik-chub and Latte stake out the building - Nik-chub in coffee shop at one entrance, Latte in park at the other. 2 Imperial officers at Nik-chub's shop - he overhears more about the various sexual goings on in and around the Imperial embassy than is perhaps healthy. Latte spots one of the human translators leave the consulate around closing time and follows her. Awkward encounter on the tube/train station platform - she seems to be warming to him, but a crack about Imperial forces gets her hackles up. Nik-chub's officers leave at about the same time and go the same tube/train station - Nik-chub goes to join up with Latte, so ends up following them. Latte and Nik-chub disembark at same station as our consulate employee. Latte finds local hotel (via Tsai's guidance), then follows target. Identify her flat. Nik-chub and Latte survey area, discover that one of Nik-chub's officers are in flat immediately opposite our target's flat (surveillance?). Also see 2 Mugorokan ladies of the night go up in that building and show up in officer's flat (incompetent surveillance? Weird coincidence (unlikely)?) Incompetent surveillance quite possible - if surveillance since Urst's disappearance, has been ongoing for months). Tsai detects large Imperial carrier as entered system due to hole created for it in traffic. No official word, but heavily coded transmission on frequencies known to be used by the Imperial inquisition are observed. Shar spots a large Imperial vessel landing in north of the city about the same time (presumably launched from the carrier). On leaving the tour, Shar sees a large wanted poster for her (old photo) being broadcast on the walls. Hides her face and grabs a pipe from a building site in case of need. Latte and Nik-chub are accosted by prostitutes exiting the Imperial officers quarters - general agreement is to meet up at the hotel Tsai booked for us and discuss options. Price is large for alive, and half price for dead. Bnarch's face joins Shar's not long afterwards, at a somewhat lower price. Tsai has call from Rudamyantri about our bus shuttle - arranges to dump it in orbit as she will almost certainly add tracking devices and sell us out to the Empire. Plan is:
Latte grabs a large stick for use as weapon if need be. Reach Te Hannow's flat OK - Imperial observers seem to have conked out for the night. Latte breaks down the door and Shar subdues Te Hannow to stop her screaming. Te Hannow very upset, convinced this incident will attract lots of Imperial pressure on her. Doesn't have much useful, but confirms that Urst was dealing with info broker Quavladayti. Smuggling ring sort of thing - Urst used courier status and fact he had Screethli tech implant to hide from scans, sold stuff to/via Quavladayti. Was talking about "something big", then vanished. Te Hannow's surveillance started shortly afterwards. Says Empire pretended not to know where Urst was, but questions made it clear that they had taken him. Nik-chub goes to info-broker's office. Encounters people who are not the Quavladayti we were looking for. Also info brokers, but suspect us of being Imperial sympathisers due to involvement with Rudamyantri. By hauling in Shar and Latte, mange to convince them otherwise. Learn that Q has fled to At-Yaj, due to pressure of situation. Given the name of a trader, Voncathl, on At-yat who may have connections to Q. Also convince info broker (Sidiyendori) to take Mugorokans form our ship and to buy star chart from him (for 3/4 of our remaining money, leaving us with 1/2 of a briefcase). Arrange drop location and everyone legs it. Latte mentions to Sidiyendori that Ta-Hannow may be in trouble, Sidiyendori says they will take care of it and ensure she gets away safely. All head up to the Ambassador on a walnut shuttle. All seems well. Present option of going with Sidiyendori to our Mugorokans. 254 want to go, leaving us with 68 (including Foreman of Exploration and Foreman of Cultural Affairs). Nik-chub and Latte take better walnut shuttle to observe bus shuttle and search it for bugs. Utan and Bnarch take other walnut shuttle and ferry 4 senior Mugorokans and Foreman of Exploration (to report back) to surface. Also take money to buy star map. Nik-chub and Latte search bus shuttle. Find 3 tracking devices. Bump it to different orbit, leaving trackers behind, and watch shuttle for a while. Sidiyendori happy to take Mugorokans. Wants us to take Ta-Hannow away, as he can't arrange other options. Te Hannow has been kidnapped by Sidiyendori's people, and is not happy with things. Get 10% discount on starmap price in exchange for this. Te Hannow really not happy, but agrees (under duress) that we can give her a lift to At-Yaj, where she will make her own way away from the Imperial forces. We try to avoid showing her too much of the ship and drop her off in a room. Generally aim to keep an eye of her while she's onboard. Nik-chub brings other walnut shuttle - start ferrying Mugorokans onto the planet. Latte stays watching bus shuttle. All goes smoothly, so bring in bus shuttle, then jump out. Trip to At-YajGo to Lothima system to retrieve our drone. and then jump to At-Yaj. Go over bus shuttle with fine tooth comb. All seems well, but we do still want to swap it for something not associated with us if the opportunity arise. From drone, learn that Lothima is secret shipyard and mining for military, but learn no real tactical details. Carrier was through the system on way to Mugorok, but not sure if that's just coincidence. Caused major upset, so clearly very high rank involved. Double-plus ungood all around. Jump to outskirts of At-Yaj system and refuel while scanning for info. Jump to outskirts of At-Yaj system and refuel while scanning for info. System is difficult to scan due to hyperspace noise caused by "disruption bomb" at some point (lots of microscopic holes into hyperspace around). Nik-chub takes walnut shuttle to hack into beacon at close range. The Ambassador also tells us that we are low on certain elements, so Shar & Tsaijix take the bus shuttle and some Mugorokans to mine them from some of the surrounding Oort cloud objects. The ambassador tells us that someone wants to talk to us, with guarantees about their safety. Bnarch agrees, with some caveats about us being allowed to retaliate. We've been relying on tree ship being really hard to spot, so being hailed shortly after arrival is rather worrying, especially in a rural backwater system like At-Yaj. Hold meeting in deserted Mugorokan quarters. Other party turns out to be Imperial special services person who snuck on board from following our bus shuttle. Sees us as a way to get out of the Imperial Forces. Gives her name as (62). Raised entirely by the Imperial armed services. Bnarch christens her Tier, as being easier to use than 62. After much arguing, we decide to keep her around, as she seems likely to be useful for hitting things we don't like. Discard her clothes, as likely to attract unwanted attention. The Ambassador makes fur suits for Tier, Bnarch & Latte. At-YajParty of 5 (Latte, Utan, Bnarch, Tier and Te Hannow) head down to At-Yaj. Plan is to land a walnut shuttle near'ish the main settlement and fudge some story to get in. Try to land shuttle in water near land - turns out this is a bad idea as it attracts some VERY large crocodiles. Tier shoots one, which seems to be an effective distraction, as the others turn on it for food. On "solid" ground, we squelch our way towards the main settlement. Lots of interesting wild-life (various sizes of lizard, big snakes and the crocs) and lots of mushrooms, with some evidence that they are harvested. The wildlife inspires the "big game hunter" ploy. Latte shoots a large snake, which we skin, and then carry skin and head off. Dead snake attracts a lot of attention from the local wildlife, including the sounds of what we think is one of the crocs. Carrying the skin & head of snake attracts a couple of small lizards as followers. If we stay still, crowd of followers increase, and larger lizards start arriving. We decide to move quickly before followers get too large. Find markers on the trees - seem to mark path towards the town. Meet party of 3 hunters/gathers who don't speak Imperial Standard. Point way to town - matches marker path. Seem rather startled when Latte points to Snake head and run off in great haste. Reach town. Fortified with guards. Guard pretty upset by Snake head and demands we leave it some way away from the town to avoid attracting undue attention. Also demands we have a bath. We agree, so we can get in. Find bath house in middle of the town. Pay 5 credits and wash off. Fur washes off really well, we discover. Bnarch has a smile and nod conversation with and old man he doesn't understand, but does coax out symbol for a bar out of him. After bath, Te Hannow heads off to explore on her own, and we find a bar. Bar is run by Yu-ta, and she offers us either "the strong drink" or "the weak drink". Latte and Bnarch take the strong drink. Utan takes the weak drink, while Tier has water. Much discussion about settlement and planet. Basically, a planet where everything has teeth, and any dead animal attracts carrion eaters which attracts trouble. Also nasty insects and fish around. We do get a lead on the trader (Voncathl) - is working with hypno-tape machines in a village to the south to help them learn Imperial culture. Get the symbol for the village. Imperial presence is quite light. Governor, his family (wife + daughter seldom seen, son often seen at the local brothel and is considered something of an ass.), some additional bureaucrats and a small Imperial guard force. Local brothel is also best place to hear local music. Strong drink has interesting side effects that kick in after 30 minutes or so. Looks like a good trip, and Utan is very interested in introducing this to civilisation. Yu-ta is happy to discuss trade, and is quite interested in the white fur coats, so a bargain is struck. Yu-ta also identifies Fe-la as the person to speak to about the local mushrooms. Once Latte and Bnarch recover from their trip, head off to speak to Fe-la and learn a bit about the local mushroom options. Some interesting ones - the green one which reacts horribly with alcohol catches Latte's fancy. After learning much about mushrooms, Bnarch and Tier head off to local weapon maker (Su-ra) who carves knives out of various teeth. They acquire a couple of knives and arrange a special order for Tier (nasty little hidden knife). Latte and Utan go visit the brothel (for the music). Governor's son is in the audience, and is an ass. After a decent meal, with good service by our waitress Ku-na, and some interesting local music, Utan goes over to the local gaming table to lose money, and Latte goes off with the Ku-na, who spins a sad sob story about her limited prospects on the planet. Tsaijix and Shar discover that the area of the Oort cloud they started prospecting in had already been mined for the elements of interest, and had to go quite far to find an un-mined section. Nik-chub reached the comms satellite and discovered a device of unknown origin that seemed to be piggy-backing on the transmission section of the beacon - Not interfaced with the storage bit. Successfully extracted the comms cache from the beacon, and hooked up something to record messages going through the piggy-back device. We will need to revisit this to retrieve satellite. Nik-chub, Shar and Tsaijix make it back to the ambassador and then head in system so they can contact the rest and find out what's happening. First contact is with Latte, who awakens with Ku-na, and is not currently keen on the whole continue the quest to get rid of the hypno-tape thing. Second contact is with Bnarch, who is somewhat distracted by receiving a message (in Imperial shorthand) from Tier, explaining that she is off ensuring that there is a suitable stock of weaponisable teeth for the special order, as apparently there is a shortage. Third contact is with Utan, who is at least able to provide some details about what has happened in the recent past, and asks them to meet up south of the main settlement as business in the settlement is largely complete. Utan also warns them not to shoot stuff, as that attracts things with teeth. Tier is briefly mentioned, but details are not discussed. Bnarch and Utan have a leisurely breakfast in the hotel/brothel, and then Bnarch goes off in search of Latte, while Utan goes off to collect stuff from Yu-ta. Latte has breakfast with Ku-na in the other restaurant in town and then they head off for a casual stroll along the wall, with obligatory encounter with the guard from our entrance into the city. Given the sob story, the expected conversation occurs, and Ku-na doesn't seem adverse to the idea of joining us in a life of crime. Plan is to collect her after Voncathl is found and that part of the quest is concluded and we return to collect Tier. Bnarch meets up with Latte and Ku-na, and is introduced. Utan asks for the shuttle to meet people near the settlement, but failed to request adequate care, so shuttle pops up and attracts some attention from people on the wall. Shuttle is convinced to duck out of sight. Plan is changed to "leave note for Tier saying 'call us when you're done' and take Ku-na now" as unwarranted attention makes returning less attractive than previously. There is no evidence of Te Hannow, but also no evidence that she's run into trouble. We (without discussion or objections) decide that it will be easier all around if we don't try to find her to say goodbye, and just assume she's successfully made her own way to safety. Successfully make it to the shuttle without (apparently) creating any new problems. The small lizard pilot is throughly charming when dealing with Ku-na. Shar, Nik-chub & Tsaijix survey the jungle using the Ambassador and find likely looking settlement about the right distance away from the town. Meet up in the two walnut shuttles near there and have the huge argument about Ku-na. Doesn't resolve into anything useful. We do establish that the settlement is the correct one. Settlement consists of tree-houses with lots of spikey bits to discourage teeth and ladder which need to be lowered. Attract attention of small trouser-less male child (Je-ma), who is avoiding his (probable) mother with considerable skill. Child speaks Imperial Standard (hypno-tape learning accent), but adults do not. Explain we're looking for Voncathl, who is actually in the village. Voncathl is called to discuss stuff with us - mentioning Sidiyendori gets us into the village. Further discussion and negotiation reveals that Quavladayti is also here. We arrange deal for delivering the hypno tape. Hypno-tape is "telepathy" tape. Enables ability between people of the right genetic background. Only usable between "compatible people". Limited number of copies of the tape exist (maybe 5). Voncathl seems convinced At-yat people have the right background for this to work. In exchange for the tape, we accept Voncathl's spare hypno-tape player, copies of 6 tapes, and the use of a couple of tapes while we wait. We could have negotiated for more tapes, but time taken to copy a tape (5 hours), cause us to restrict ourselves to only 6. Tapes selected for copying:
Latte goes off with Ku-na to the Ambassador to collect the hypno-tape. Takes the shuttle without the lizard pilot. Shar discovers the local alcohol (the weak drink), and is much happier than she's been for some time. Tsaijix requests something to help him forget he's on the planet. Receives a souped up version of Yu-ta's strong drink, and is out of it for quite some time (most of which is spent examining a caterpillar). Bnarch takes a tape on advanced combat piloting. Utan takes a tape on human genetics, as adjutant to biochemistry tape. Interesting notes from the genetics tape:
Latte returns with tape. Ku-na is left on the Ambassador in the care of the Foreman of Cultural Affairs. Exchange is completed and all seems to have gone well with no troubles. Latte spends considerable time in discussion with Voncathl and Q. Voncathl suggests he is high up (or head) of an organisation with aims that Latte finds appealing (overthrow of the Empire and all that). Much discussion about how we could be useful to them ferrying goods and probing for information. Voncathl says he will provide means for us to identify ourselves to interested parties. This method turns out to be an apparently plain ring. On leaving, Nik-chub suffers a severe headache, very similar to his first experiences with the Ambassador (target for mind reading attempt?). Remembers seeing something (probably in Q's office) which reminded him of something, but can't find it again on a quite search and can't place exactly what it was. On returning to the Ambassador, realises it was something very similar to crystal object from Glennga. Tier successfully finds teeth in the usual graveyard visited by the knife merchant, doesn't kill anything. Finds exposed edge of hidden concrete bunker in the jungle on her way back. No door is visible. Calls us, decision is to investigate the bunker. Shar, Nik-chub & Bnarch go down in walnut shuttle, plan to meet up with Tier and get directions to bunker. Utan talks to the Ambassador about synthesising the drinks for Yu-ta, and discusses the possibility of growing some more, larger shuttles. Net result is a bit inconclusive. Latte is off with Ku-na. Away party reaches the bunker - shipboard scan reveals it to be hexagonal, very dense materiel, so interior is unknown, and possible entrance lock in the middle of the roof under a fair amount of mud. Send down second walnut shuttle with 5 large lizard-things (2 large, 3 medium) and crude wooden shovels to dig a path to the entrance. Digging happens, and entrance is uncovered. Looks like a hatch with a handle, which doesn't budge, and a cover which opens to reveal a button and a small hole (about finger width and a finger length deep), with something button'ish at the button. Poking at hole with stick does nothing, so we have a lizard stick a finger in the hole. The finger is pricked and the door opens (which is very surprising). Bunker is a few stories deep, and appear to be a giant warehouse with lots of crates. Most of the crates are labelled in Imperial Standard using a Scholar caste alphabet, but there are a large number labelled with an unknown, but probably somewhat pictographic, alphabet. Readable crates appear to be designed to equip a guerilla campaign. Lots of weaponry, old long-life rations, some comms equipment, etc. Limited transport options - only some assembliable ground vehicles which look likely to have a short usable lifespan. Rations expired 30 years ago, which, given the 30 year half life, dates bunker contents to around 60 years ago. Weaponry looks similar to state of the art weaponry from 60 years ago as well, but is now slightly obsolete. 60 years ago matches period of purges in the Scholar caste - Glennga family fell, some connection to Tsaijix's family it appears (most interesting), and so on, so this facility may be related to political state then. Start shipping some weaponry and misc equipment up to the treeship for Latte to examine. Tsaijix wants to go down and have a look, so will take the shuttle down immediately afterwards. Explore the alien marked crates. Several different symbol combinations, of varying length. Most common is the shortest symbol string. Crates with this string contain 12 metal cylinders carefully packed. Pulling out a cylinder starts a blue blinking light. Medium length symbol string crates have 4 large cylinders, while the longest symbol string holds 1 single very large cylinder. Missiles or bombs of some kind? Weaponry arrives, Tsaijix leaves. Latte examines guns. Non-Imperial manufacture, although similar to Imperial designs of the appropriate time. Could be scholar caste prototype, but model and serial numbers suggest much larger production run than for usual prototype approach. Shortly after Tsaijix departs, the Ambassador informs Latte and Utan that a hostile person has arrived in the same sort of ship Tier used, and that attempts to communicate have resulted in gun-fire. Utan takes party of small lizards and guns to go an investigate ship, Latte grabs weapons and waits for more info, Ku-na and the Ambassador hide. Mugorokans warned to be alert for stranger. Utan finds ship. Small single person powered space-suit. Disables it. Details two lizards to patrol the shuttle bay looking for more ships and proceeds cautiously up the tunnel with 3 lizards looking for intruder. Nik-chub, Bnarch, Tier & Shar head up to the ship in one shuttle to help. Also crowd in some more supplies (including one crate with 12 cylinders, and some samples of the rations). Patrolling lizards discover one more small intrusion craft. This also results in the death of a small lizard. Latte goes to investigate. Finds craft and small lizard with throat slit. Sees intruder going up access way, but misses his shot. Is met by some panicked Mugorokans. Leaves them at small ship with grenade and instructions to destroy it if intruder returns and goes up to follow. Shuttle arrives shortly afterwards. Tier heads up to meet Latte, rest stay in shuttle bay for now. Latte finds intruders are in the engine room, overhears them planning to destroy equipment. Is met at entrance by Tier, Utan and party of lizards. 2 Intruders in the engine room, 1 male, 1 female. Both look human'ish, but show distinctly non-human features - weird knees and teeth for the woman, bug-eyes and grey skin for the man. They start shooting up equipment in the engine room. The shooting match - charge is led by Latte, then Tier, then lizards then Utan. Male intruder is shot dead by the lizards. Female dodges a few shots and hides behind something. Latte throws a grenade (without removing the pin) as a distraction and follows up to shoot her. She is pretty badly hit, but not dead. Nothing critical in the engine room destroyed, but we now have less redundancy than we did before. Tier identifies the two as fellow Special Forces operatives - "55" (female) and "28" male. 55 tells her "Too late - we've set off a beacon", and passes out. Bnarch treats 55, but she's in a bad state and probably not enough. Post fire-fight cleanup. Hand Tier, 55 & 28 over to the Ambassador to be scanned for implanted devices. Offers to "store" 55 until she can be treated / interrogated. Scans show no beacons on them (or Tier), but does show they have lizard DNA crudely spliced in. Nik-chub sans for beacons and signals, without success. From discussion with Tier, it's likely that the two were dropped off from a medium (10 people) sized scout ship. May still be in the system, but may well have jumped out to send a message given nature of system. Send Nik-chub & Shar to look at system comms relay and see if Nik-chub's bug has picked up anything interesting. Nik-chub analyses data:
Having seen details of the beacon, Nik-chub modifies detector, and a beacon is (eventually) located in a room along the path of the intruders. Send beacon off in a custom drone, with a plan to detonate it on the far side of the system to suggest we've jumped. Send Tier to the main settlement to collect her knife and leave a "we've been rumbled, you may be questioned. Our abject apologies. Hope this doesn't sour our business relationship." message to Yu-ta. Ask her to warn Te-Hannow is feasible. All seems to go off without a hitch. |