Session 58: A Black Rose by any other name
Play date: August 17, 2013
Game date: June 20, EY218
Location: iLanga system, isiBhakabhaka space station
Previous events: curry face
Everyone's drawn to Jillian's office by the loud crash of the safe on the table and the deliciously spicy smell. Bishop, once he's told of what happened, wants to head off to Commander nKosi's office right away and lie their way out of the situation. Jillian wants to turn her anger from Malcolm to Volkova but can't quite manage to make it convincing. Malcolm is happy that someone took the fight to Flint Cardesco's people. Xao just covers his face and shudders.
Jillian decides that the first thing that they need to do is open the safe. Volkova lugs it down to her workshop and gets started on that. It's much more difficult to crack than to pull out of its place on the ship was but she manages to remove the door after about a quarter of an hour. Partway through the process she notices something suspicious and proceeds cautiously. It's a good thing that she does: the safe is trapped! There's a pressurized container of some sort of liquid in the top of the strongbox but she avoids the trigger and manages to remove the contents without incident.
The contents are: a small unlocked cashbox; a heavy revolver; several boxes of ammunition for the pistol, a heavy submachine gun, and shotgun; and two unmarked manila folders. The cashbox doesn't hold the thirty-two thousand Bleaghs that Cardesco stole from them but instead a measly four hundred. On a hunch Jillian feels for a false bottom and finds another twelve hundred Bleaghs.
Much more interesting are the folders. One contains drab information about the cluster but Jillian recognizes this as Black Rose code, removing any doubts that Flint Cardesco is part of the syndicate. Translating the code it's a partial map of the slide points in the cluster! This is exciting news and extends their knowledge of how to get around sneakily.
The second folder is likewise in Black Rose code and provides information on getting through the slide points. It's nothing that they don't already know after their experiences and all their intense poring over the data but there is a tantalizing bit about not landing but instead moving to the exit that Jillian can't quite make heads or tails of.
Volkova hand-copies the information and Jillian then hides everything, including the safe itself, in their hidden compartment. It hasn't been long since the groups first split up on the station and went to the commander's office and the Gallatin and hopefully no one has noticed Olivia and Volkova's work. The quick plan is for Olivia and Xao to guard the Steel Hummingbird and for the Hummingbird's crew to go to nKosi's office and try to defuse the situation before it gets any worse. Seo and the Grob, who have been in their cabin this whole time, are brought up to speed and agree to stay on the ship. Their presence could only make things worse if they're discovered.
Malcolm is in the lead as they head to the office with his Blingmaster at his hip and his assault rifle in his hands. Bishop and Jillian follow him and Volkova, this time armed only with Khnuta, takes up the rear.
About halfway to the office they turn the corner just in time to see Flint and a woman with gigantic, teased hair round another, nearby corner. Jillian and Malcolm immediately recognize the very tanned Flint, who squints at Volkova's Devereaux Daredevils uniform with a dim awareness. Malcolm scowls, raises his rifle to his shoulder and takes a quick shot at the woman: she's got a big revolver in a holster and a shotgun slung over her back, making her likely the bodyguard. His rushed shot goes wide and the woman and Flint quickly duck back around the corner before he can aim properly.
As soon as Malcolm raises his rifle the unarmed Bishop reflexively scrambles back around the corner and Jillian tries to do the same but can't get quite enough traction. Volkova grabs her captain and heaves her back around the corner to safety, then gets Khnuta in hand and rushes up the corridor to help Malcolm as best she can.
Malcom's in a standoff at the corner, not wanting to rush around it into the likely line of fire, and instead trades some insults with Cardesco. He uses the rhinestone-encrusted mirror attachment on his Blingmaster to peer around the corner and sees that his enemies have taken refuge in a shallow doorway not far down the hallway. The woman is aiming her shotgun down the corridor and Cardesco's behind her, knife in hand. It's not a good situation for anyone so he keeps up the taunts while wondering what to do.
While Malcolm and Volkova are at the corner Jillian, terrified of being shot, continues to huddle. Bishop decides to help out as best he can and rushes down another hall to get behind Cardesco and his bodyguard. Bishop spent enough time on the station while waiting for some ship to take him away that he knows his way around fairly well. Taking the long way around will take too long and he decides instead to wriggle through a large air vent as -- hopefully -- a short cut.
No one in the hallway is in a position to do much and so the insults are still flying as Bishop forcefully wriggles through the confined space and gets to a grille that's above and just behind Cardesco's location. The grille is quietly removed and, poking his head out he sees Malcolm's mirror at the corner and decides that the best thing he can do is cause a distraction. He digs through his first-aid kit and digs out the biggest, wriggliest beasties that he can find and, confident that Malcolm has seen him, hurls the grubs onto Cardesco and the woman with a shout, dropping the grille with a loud clang for good measure.
Malcolm has indeed seen Bishop and waits for his cue. As soon as he hears an outburst from Bishop, Flint, and the bodyguard he leans around the corner and shoots the distracted woman in the leg. The bullet punches solidly into her thigh and she goes to the ground with a strangled cry. He then charges down the hallway while dropping his rifle and pulling out his pistol, with Volkova powering ahead of him, Khnuta in hand. The woman fires at Malcolm but is too distracted by pain for her shotgun's pellets to connect and then Volkova's right there, smashing Flint's arm into his chest with the crunch of broken bones; the fight goes out of him and he slumps to the ground, his knife clattering to the ground beside him.
The shotgun is too big for close quarters and the bodyguard draws her pistol and tries to shoot Volkova from point-blank range but the engineer knocks the pistol out of line and Malcolm ends the fight by kicking the sidearm out of the woman's arm and placing his pistol up against her head. Both of their battered foes surrender and Volkova roars triumphantly at them for good measure, waving her bloody wrench in their faces and further terrifying them.
Now that the fight is over Bishop clambers awkwardly out of the vent, replaces the grille, and begins treatment on the wounded... using the grubs on the floor as much as possible. Once he's stopped the bleeding Volkova drags Flint and his bodyguard back to the Hummingbird while Malcolm menacingly keeps his Blingmaster in hand and Jillian stays out of the way.
Back on the ship Bishop finishes his treatment, surreptitiously looking for and failing to find Black Rose tattoos on his patients. The woman, who gives her name as Alex, tries to hit on Bishop as he's patching her up. Though she's undoubtedly attractive in a brazen strumpet sort of way she's too old -- mid thirties! -- and not as attractive as Warden Whang. Oh, and she's evil, too; Bishop resists. Volkova then binds the two with far too much cord and locks them in separate guest quarters.
It's decided that Olivia and Volkova should go to the Gallatin and bring back the man they knocked unconscious while Malcolm and Xao go clean up the mess in the hallway. There's not much they can do about bullet holes but the blood can be cleaned up at least and maybe no one will notice the damage in the dim corridor for a while.
Malcolm sneaks but Xao doesn't seem to know the meaning of the word and is easily spotted, all showy pirate outfit with mop and bucket in hand, by an attractive young woman with long dreads in a coverall standing by the pool of blood and looking at it with a concerned face. Before she has a chance to say anything Xao quickly comes up with an explanation of all the blood: his friend's gun went off by accident and wounded one of his shipmates. Figuring that there wouldn't be a surgeon on a space station this small they got their own medic to look after the wounded shipmate; Xao even points out the grubs that were stepped on in the fight as proof that they have a competent iLangan medic with them! He plays at being embarrassed on behalf of a friend and hoping that he could clean up the place before anyone found out. Xao's charm and the woman's apparent apathy about a mess that's not her concern soon has her merrily on her way much to Xao's relief. Once she's gone Malcolm steps around the corner with an impressed look on his face and helps with the mopping.
While lying and mopping are going on elsewhere Olivia and Volkova head to the Gallatin for the third time today, kitted out for only a minor war. Olivia has limited herself to her pistol and naval sword, Volkova to Irina (her grenade launcher) and Khnuta as well as a sheet to wrap the man in. They too meet someone on the way to their destination, a man in his mid-40s with an apron and sporting a gigantic afro. Thankfully he just says a cheerful hello and keeps going.
At the Gallatin Olivia lays out the sheet and covers Volkova while the latter covers up as before and enters the still-cloudy interior of the ship. The man's has neither moved nor regained consciousness and Volkova drags him out and roughly dumps him onto the sheet before bending the damaged door back to look superficially undamaged even though it's no longer air tight. She and Olivia head back to the ship with their package, thankfully not coming across anyone on the way.
With everyone on the Steel Hummingbird again it's time to talk to the prisoners, or at least to Flint Cardesco. Jillian's got no doubts that he's working for the Black Rose and hatches a plan to make her past work to her advantage for once. She rips the sleeves off of one of her black tops and gets her scowl on. Volkova, trading in her Devereaux Daredevils outfit for a boiler suit, heads in first, dumps the still-tied Cardesco on a chair, moves behind him, and hitches Khnuta tight against his neck, all without a word. Then she gruffly says "Ok, boss!" When Jillian enters she makes sure that he sees her tattoo, beautifully preserved in the midst of faint scarring from the blob in Labrys City.
She uses the tricks she learned over a lifetime to pass herself off as a high-ranking Black Rose and it works; he's obviously terrified when he sees her tattoo and she works with that. With Cardesco definitely on his back foot the interrogation begins:
Q: Who sent you?
A: Venla Inberg. (Jillian knows the name from Zartosht, her home cluster. Inberg was a big member of the Black Rose from the Suomi system)
Q: What are you doing here?
A: Business.
Q: Why did you rip me off in McNeely Station?
A: I didn't know you weren't just a rube!
Q: I want my money back!
A: It's gone...
Q: What were you talking to nKosi about?
A: Just about using this place as a base! Keeping it off the records!
Q: Did you tell him about the slide points?
A: No, no!
Q: Is nKosi ok with us being here?
A: [Cardesco shrugs; noncommittally]
Q: What about the squidships?
A: Huh?
Q: How should you report back to Inberg?
A: In person.
Q: Where?
A: Telushkin.
Jillian then nods at Volkova and they leave the room.
Telushkin! The supposedly destroyed refinery orbiting the Prager gas station in Providence! If the Black Rose somehow has a base on the Telushkin there's a very good chance that the crew of the Deccan Driller, whom the Hummingbird convinced to investigate the refinery, is dead by this point.
There's another meeting in the mess while Olivia guards the prisoners. Unsurprisingly, Malcolm makes tea and Volkova has removed her boiler suit to expose the glory of her Daredevils outfit. The Steel Hummingbird crew doesn't see any way out of this but to kill the Gallatin's crew quietly, something that Xao forcefully disagrees with. Chig doesn't seem to care much what happens to the humans but desperately wants to go down to the surface. A little chillingly, Seo also seems unconcerned about the potential murders.
A preliminary plan is hatched: Fly the Gallatin away and destroy it elsewhere, making it seem like the ship left quietly of its own accord. Have Volkova convert three of the guest quarters into makeshift prisons. Olivia and Xao keep watch over the prisoners while the Steel Hummingbird's crew goes down to the surface with Seo and the Grob to see about this stupid death. The final fate of the prisoners will be decided later. There is a tense and likely temporary peace on the ship.
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Bishop's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 17)
Jillian's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (not surprisingly)
Malcolm's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 4)
Volkova's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 3)