aka Raiders of the Lost Grob
Play date: October 6, 2012
Game date: February 6, EY218
Location: Providence system, McNeely Station
Previous events: Stealing from the Bureau of Xenobiology
The drive back from the Bureau of Xenobiology offices on McNeely Station is uneventful and Gabi and John are dropped off at their apartment before Malcolm drives the car to the Steel Hummingbird and parks it in her cargo hold. Once on board the ship Jillian hides the map in her secret hiding place and everyone gets some sleep.
February 7, EY218
Everyone's feeling better when they get up the next morning. Even Volkova's recovered from her exertions of the previous day and starts to laboriously make copies of the plans. While she's working on that Jillian calls up Gabi and the Resplendent Dragon to invite them over to scheme. While they wait for the guests to arrive Bishop and Malcolm head off to sell the car. It's not too difficult to do so with their relatively low asking price and the work that Volkova put into it and they come back with a reasonable pile of cash that's to be split between Bishop and Volkova as a bonus, since they get the smallest share of the income.
Gabi and the Resplendent Dragon's crew are already on board the Steel Hummingbird when Bishop and Malcolm get back. Gabi, Olivia, and Volkova are already going over the plans looking for any weaknesses to exploit and Malcolm makes them some tea to keep their energy up. The platform has four generally squarish levels: on the bottom, about 30m to a side, is part of the space drive and the enormous research computer. Up a level is more of the space drive and computer, the flight bay, a cargo bay, and animal pens that are a good place to look for prisoners. That level is about 75 x 75m; the third level up is the largest at 125m a side, octagonal, and mostly filled with greenhouses, labs, and another cargo hold. The top level measures 50 x 50m and contains living quarters and the control centre. Sets of enclosed stairs run though the whole platform, an elevator works the top two levels, and a large open cargo lift connects the three lowest levels. Volkova notes that it's a model known for its speed and silence. That could come in handy!
Gabi focuses on the security systems while the two engineers look for flaws in the physical systems. It takes several hours but in the end they have several aspects that they can hopefully take advantage of. Of course, it's likely that Hoax has made at least some alterations to the platform!
After the plans have been pored over Jillian introduces Gabi to the grob after informing Gabi in full about the first contact with the Iof on Ingraham and about the D'vor as well. Quiy and Vob ask Jillian if Gabi is "hot" and Jillian, sighing, says yes. Gabi takes the aliens in stride; she already knows about their existence and Jillian's getting good at preparing people for the Grob.
The plan is to leave the Steel Hummingbird on McNeely Station for deniability, as her crew will be immediately suspected by Hoax after the raid. A Clegship will enter the upper edge of Limbaugh's atmosphere and fly to under the platform, coming up in a sensor blind spot near an exhaust port. The assault team will cut through the hull there and come up in the platform's space drive compartment, making their way up to where they think it's most likely that prisoners would be kept. The Iof will be elsewhere in the system, having already made the calculations for jumping over to the platform if a distraction or support is needed. The Resplendent Dragon will loiter in the area near the platform, far enough away to not be suspicious but close enough to render help if necessary.
The boarding party will consist of Gabi, the Steel Hummingbird's crew, and four Grob. Quiy and Vob immediately suggest Difig, Ensig, Quiy, and Rans for the job. Neet and Olivia will be on the Resplendent Dragon and Xao will sit at the Clegship's controls while the raid is going on, surrendering them to Malcolm once he's back on board.
Xao tells Jillian that he'll ask his business contacts about supplies that have been sent to the von Däniken to get a feel for how many people might be on board and if they have any particular equipment to be worried about.
When Malcolm suggests carrying out a flyby of the platform in a Clegship to see if any obvious alterations have been made Bishop suggests getting the Eggen Observatory to take a look for them. After all, Roberta Kirshner invited them over for tea and research. The Dragon needs to be fitted for flying through the slide points anyway and that's what Kirshner was interested in, so they can do that at the Observatory while it observes. Everyone agrees and Jillian calls the Observatory to tell them to expect the crews in a few days. If they only take the Resplendent Dragon over there it will support the Hummingbird's innocence that much more.
There's no reason to not head off immediately and so preparations are made. They won't be back on the station until after the raid, so Jillian decides to leave Ghost with John on the station just in case things go horribly wrong. He agrees but obviously doesn't know how to take care of a cat, asking how many times a day to walk her, so Jillian gets a ride over with Malcolm and gives him a quick rundown of what to do while dropping off food, litter, and cat toys, then heads back to the Dragon to work out the best route to Eggen. She and Neet both do their best and once again he comes up with a more optimal solution, turning a three-day flight into two; he's got a gift for these sorts of calculations.
The Resplendent Dragon's never been so crowded: in addition to her usual crew of three she's got the four Hummingbird, Gabi, and Quiy and Vob to boot. Good thing it's just a two-day flight! Bishop and Olivia are more than happy to share her bed. Neet offers to share his room with Volkova but no one's sure if his bed is included in that and she refuses with thanks. Xao does not offer his room to Jillian, which gets thoroughly analyzed by her crew. Everyone not in a bed sleeps in the spacious cargo area as comfortably as they can. Malcolm cuddles with the Grob, a novel and not unpleasant experience.
February 9, EY217
Docking with the Eggen Observatory happens flawlessly. There is a host of introductions as the entire crew of the Observatory gets to mingle with the combined crews of the Resplendent Dragon and Steel Hummingbird as well as Gabi, Quiy, and Vob. Jörg Bauer, the resident engineer, has a happy reunion with Volkova and their passionate kiss gives Bishop the shivers. Ester Weiß, the Observatory's pilot, is happy to finally meet the Grob, having been away the first time that they visited.
After the greetings there is an upper-level meeting about the von Däniken platform and Roberta Kirshner has no problems with observing it while the Resplendent Dragon's space drive is converted to allow for travel through the slide points. She's got a fair amount of leeway on what to do with the Observatory's gear and is happy to help.
The next week goes well. The Iof shows up on the 10th, having been called by Bishop with his "egg", and the Grob start modifying her for fighting and escaping and not much else. There is a thorough examination from afar of the target platform while Jörg, Neet, and Volkova work on the Resplendent Dragon's space drive; Olivia may be the Dragon's official engineer but she's never managed to really get her head around the bizarre workings of space drives and so that job falls to Neet. Volkova spends time with her paramour and Bishop, with visions of Whang still in his head, resists Claudia Schmitz's attempts at seduction and stays with Olivia -- not that Olivia would have minded had he taken the Observatory's technician up on her offer! This is a big step for Bishop, given that Claudia is both younger and physically more attractive than Olivia.
February 16, EY218
After a week of observation it's clear that Hoax is more serious about defence than Box was, given the two large cannons on the upper hull and one smaller one on its bottom, but at least there aren't any fighters in evidence. It looks like the Clegship will still be able to come up under the von Däniken in it's blind spot unless someone observant's manning the lower cannon full-time, which is unlikely. The glass ceilings on half of the main hull's upper surface still show enough leafy colours to show that the plants are being taken care of. A regular eight-hour work schedule is likely based on the pattern of light in the upper living quarters. There's also a new set of exterior doors to the upper cargo hold. Xao's sources confirm that the firepower on the platform isn't a mockup. The fortnightly shipment of supplies sent up would suggest a crew of approximately 40, more than the original plans would indicate. Perhaps most worryingly is the purchase of two of the very new ED-009 remote-controlled weapon platforms from the OCP corporation, well-armoured and with machine guns. Anything powerful enough to destroy them would be a general danger on a pressurized ship and so it's decided to avoid them rather than take them on.
As Quiy and Vob said, the Iof will send Difig, Ensig, Quiy, and Rans on the raid. Their specializations seem to be as follows: Difiq, who wears clothing in a very distinct style from the rest of the Grob, is the sniper. Ensig, of a frighteningly muscular physique and extremely high-pitched voice even for a Grob, is generally very competent in all things lethal. Quiy, who seems best suited to lead the assault due to skill and knowing some of the human language, is also a well-rounded combatant but apparently not on the scale of Ensig. Rans shares Ensig's excessive musculature and seems most confident in hand-to-hand combat. In addition to their obvious weapons they also have all manner of minimal exoskeletons, pills, and other strange equipment.
February 18, EY218
At last plans are finalized and it's time to stage the main event. After farewells on the Observatory the Resplendent Dragon undocks. The flight back to Limbaugh takes two days and the Dragon stops briefly at McNeely Station to let most of her passengers get onto the Clegship before flying off with only Neet and Olivia on board. The Clegship comfortably holds six for extended flights and currently has six humans and four Grob on board; it's a little tight but nothing to complain about on such a short trip.
Malcolm flies the Clegship as low in Limbaugh's atmosphere as she can manage; without atmospheric engines there isn't a lot of leeway before gravity interferes with the space drive to the point that she'll drop out of the sky. It's a good sign that the lower turret doesn't fire at them and Malcolm settles the ship on the underside of the platform's hull belly to belly, hidden from the cannon behind the curve of the hull and the exhaust port, with the lightest of touches. When Volkova opens the lower hatch the rubber gasket and tight fit keep the atmosphere from escaping. She hauls out the oxygen lance she's brought along for this and gets to cutting. The hull's thick and it takes just over two hours to cut a piece large enough for a person to climb through. Ensig and Rans help her to lift the heavy piece of metal quietly onto the deck; their spindly-looking exoskeletons apparently help them with lifting and carrying.
With access to the von Däniken now possible the gang clambers aboard into the guts of the space drive at three am platform time. It's an odd feeling and physically awkward to go from one gravity field to another that are aligned a hundred and eighty degrees to each other! Olivia and Volkova picked the right spot for entry without cutting through any machinery. Xao takes the stick in the Clegship and stays there on his own. He's nowhere near as good a pilot as Malcolm but if they need to get out of there quickly he'll hopefully be adequate.
The Grob take the lead, followed by the Hummingbird's crew with Gabi in the middle of the humans. Bishop is unarmed as always, Jillian has her shotgun and a bandolier of shells, Malcolm an assault rifle and Blingmaster 5000 heavy pistol with lots of extra magazines for each, and Volkova has her pink Khnuta and pink grenade launcher with non-explosive rounds. The aliens have a variety of projectile weapons and a dazzle box in Quiy's hands.
Everyone climbs up from the lower drive level to the upper one, Volkova staying behind a moment longer to be sure that the particular electrical conduit that she found on the plans is here in reality. Satisfied, she rejoins the others on the upper drive level and takes up the rear. They go through an unlocked door to the tool room where the readouts for the space drive, life support, and such are found.
The door to the cargo hold on this level is also unlocked; opening it, everyone is surprised by an only slightly less surprised guard who reacts first and lets loose with a burst from his hefty submachine gun. Against humans this would have put several slugs into chests, but the bullets fly over the Grobs' heads and he's quickly dazzled by Quiy and then punched into unconsciousness by Rans before he can recover. Volkolva drags his body into the tool room, noticing that the knuckledusters that Rans has have left impressive burns in the guard; the alien technology is strange indeed.
With no guards left here attention turns to getting into the room with the animal pens on this level. There's a roundabout way into it via the storage room and then through the pantry. Gabi picks doors as they go and there's nothing unexpected in either room; the freezer in the pantry contains meat but definitely not human parts. Noises are audible in the animal pen room and after the lock is picked the animal-loving Ensig is chosen to check them out. There are indeed animals in the pens. Worms from Ingraham, lizards from Beck, and more, but neither Seo nor Tigd are here. The pens are more lit than the rest of the room and none of the creatures notices Ensig's quiet tread.
They backtrack through the pantry and supply room to the cargo room. Gabi picks the lock to the stairs, as the cargo lift is on the upper level and its use will likely be much too noticeable. She remains behind the door as she opens it, so it's the Grob who see the guard coming down the stairs, SMG at the ready! Luckily for them she's glancing back over her shoulder as the door opens and Quiy and Rans sprint up the few stairs and beat and burn her into unconsciousness before she gets a shot off. Unfortunately, there's another guard at the top of the stairs! This guard reacts with surprise at the aliens but more at their sudden appearance than their existence. She runs up to the door at the top of the stairs and slams it shut. Rans gets there just after but she's locked it and the safety door, meant to withstand vacuum if necessary, is more than the Grob can shove open. Difig solves that problem by leaning up against the wall, aiming with a long rifle for a second, and shooting out the lock.
Dashing through the door Rans fires a strangely quiet automatic weapon at the guard, injuring her as she races shouting across the upper cargo hold, and as she tries to limp to the far door Ensig shows up at the top of the stairs and guns her down in a long stream of projectiles, obviously killing her outright. Everyone else gets to the top of the stairs and then stops in surprise. There's a large dark structure in the cargo hold, perhaps fifteen metres long, that looks like a large gnarled cone with a twisting aspect to it. It's obviously been heavily damaged by weaponry. The new doors in this cargo hold are obviously how it got in here. The Grob identify it as a ship of the "small, smart worms" and are surprised by its appearance here. There's nothing much to be done with the ship; it's damaged and the Grob say that it's interior is much to cramped for even their frames. Only the worms can fly it, if that's even possible given its damaged state.
At this point the humans are realizing that the Grob are a frighteningly efficient and lethal military team. They'll have to ask them about that later, as they were under the impression that the Grob were a very united species and unlikely to engage in wars. In the meantime, though, there's the mission at hand. Gabi picks the lock to the zoology lab, finishing that at about the same time that Jillian finds a set of keys on the dead guard, and everyone skulks in. It's deserted, with lots of lab benches, vials of chemicals, and research equipment that no one has the knowledge to identify. There are several large terraria to the side, one of which contains a culture of "small, smart worms"! The Grob don't think that there are enough to fly their ship, but Bishop starts to scoop them into a bag anyway.
The dead guard's keys don't open the door to the pens and so Jillian and Malcolm cover the doors while Gabi picks the locks to where the animal pens on this level are, the Grob staying near her. Volkova sees a door labelled as a -80C freezer and hastily dons a warm suit from a hook next to the door and walks in to explore, turning on the light. The door shuts behind her, but the release is obvious and she spends some time poking around, looking for people and trying to resist the urge to lick the metal shelving in here.
When the door opens to the lab everyone scrambles for cover and the recognizable shape of an ED-009 glides in. Without anything else near enough to give him concealment Bishop dives into an adjacent terrarium, landing in a nest of stinging insects! At least he manages to keep quiet and still, though it's a painful experience. The remote-controlled weapons platform does a slow tour of the room, pointing its large lens this way and that, but it's slow and clumsy and everyone manages to keep out of its line of sight by slowly moving behind things as it comes close. It eventually leaves the room once its operator is apparently satisfied that the room is unoccupied and everyone returns to their prior position, Bishop brushing insects and dirt off of himself. Volkova comes out out the freezer, convinced that there aren't any human corpses in it, and wonders aloud why Bishop got so filthy and bumpy.
The door to the animal pens is of good quality but Gabi eventually picks it and Ensig again heads in on his own. There are more animals here like in the lower pens but happily both Seo Yee and Tigd are also here! Their locks are smashed open and they are freed. Seo looks ragged but is otherwise in reasonable shape, while the wretched-looking Tigd can't walk and isn't entirely conscious. Volkova carries the freed Grob, whose crewmates now have grim and determined looks on their faces. There's much more of the platform to explore but their goal was to rescue these two and it's time to go. Bishop uses the "egg" to call the Iof; this would be a good time for a distraction to aid their escape.
Exiting the research lab and walking into the cargo hold, the group suddenly finds themselves in a firefight against two guards and an ED-009. It's just the Grob who have made it into the hold when the chaos erupts. Knowing that the ED-009's too tough to shoot up Difig fires into its sensor cluster, blinding it. In the next few seconds the guards are both injured but the farther one, taking cover behind the worm ship, sprays a long burst into the group of Grob, chopping Difig up badly. It seems that the ED-009's operator isn't sure what to do without any feedback and it lurches forward in spurts, plugging away largely at random with its machine gun.
Quiy guns down the other guard and Malcolm, leaning around the doorway, badly shoots up the guard behind the ship. Jillian shoots as well but her shotgun's not up to hitting someone at this range. Ensig runs towards the far guard, shouting something in a high-pitched voice while spraying her with fire and messily killing her. There's no way that anyone on this level has missed all this noise and reinforcements are likely on the way. Quiy gets everyone on the cargo lift, keeping low to keep from getting hit by the ED-009's fire as it continues to lurch and aim randomly, and Volkova operates the controls. The life is indeed quick and quiet, though a bullet from the ED-009 clips Bishop before it drops to the next level. Ensig runs back and jumps down onto the lift as it plunges.
As they descend there's a definite sound of cannons and the platform shakes, probably the doing of the Iof and possibly the Resplendent Dragon as well. They stop suddenly but smoothly at the lowest level and everyone gets off just as the ED-009 smashes down onto the lift from two levels up, having made one forward lurch too far and falling the whole way before the doors at each level closed.
As the group climbs into the Clegship Volkova takes a minute to wrench the electrical conduit she'd examined earlier from the wall. It doesn't supply anything that's vital but several secondary systems, like lighting and the lifts, are inoperable. She's the last one into the Clegship, where Xao has already surrendered the pilot's seat to Malcolm. Jillian's on sensors and Volkova womans the cannon. The hatch seals and the ship pulls away from the platform, the space drive compartment now depressurizing and adding one more problem to the von Däniken's crew.
Malcolm makes sure to pull away in a straight line that keeps the exhaust vent between them and the hull cannon. When she clears the lower hull everyone in the Clegship can see the Iof and Resplendent Dragon pounding away at the von Däniken in a very one-sided match. Malcolm's upset that the Dragon got involved; she's now been seen and likely identified, making things more complicated for everyone than if it were just an alien ship that seemed to have carried out the raid. The coded message "all packages found, rendezvous point one" is sent and all three ships head away from the platform, turning directly out of the orbital plane once they're far enough that the change in trajectory won't be noticed.
Convinced that they're not being followed for the moment Jillian takes a look at Bishop's wound. It's not bad and she patches it up as best she can. Once he's bandaged -- with no slugs, leaves, or fungal plugs at all -- he takes a look at Seo.; she gives him a big hug when he comes over to her. She's exhausted, filthy, and not a little bit beat up, but in reasonably good shape all things considered. The Grob have clustered around Difig and Tigd and make it clear that they'd like to be left alone.
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Bishop's Bedpost Notch Count: 1 (running total: 17)
Jillian's Bedpost Notch Count: ha! ha!
Malcolm's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 1)
Volkova's Bedpost Notch Count: 1 (running total: 3)