Play date: January 11, 2014
Game date: September 1, EY218
Location: At jump gate Ferret in Providence
Previous events: Leaving iLanga
The closest thing that the ship has for a home in this system is McNeely station, so Jillian plots out a course and they head for Limbaugh, planning a stop at the water planet of Carlson, four and a half AUs away, to refuel. She's pretty sure that they could make it all the way to Limbaugh in one go but it would be uncomfortably tight.
September 6, EY218
Carlson's surface doesn't really have anything but water extraction equipment on the surface, so they dock at its smaller moon, Aquafina. Thanks to the incident at Prager the system doesn't have an accessible gas giant, so fuel is more expensive than usual, though nothing like the prices they paid in iLanga! Jillian takes advantage of their stopover to check out the navigators' board and put up some D'Vor warning posters. The board doesn't have much that's interesting on it and the posters she pins up hardly make a dent in the stack she and Volkova had printed up in Labrys City. Maybe a thousand was too large a print run... It's too late to do anything about it now, so she boards the Steel Hummingbird and they set off for Limbaugh proper.
September 9, EY218
Once at Limbaugh they head for McNeely station, making a slight side trip to steal a look at the von Däniken platform. It's got obvious signs of new pieces of hull and some patches of Space Bondo™ are still present but it appears fully functional. There are no signs of security being beefed up: as far as they can tell it doesn't have additional armour plating, weaponry, or defending ships.
After docking at McNeely late in the local afternoon, while everyone else sees to refuelling, topping up the life support, and maintenance, Jillian dons her giant sunglasses to stay incognito and goes to check the navigation board and her mailbox. The navigation board is as disappointing as Carlson's this time but there's a package from Olivia dating to July 10th at the postal station! Jillian signs for the package and hurries back to the ship.
Everyone gathers around when she opens the package to reveal envelopes and smaller wrapped boxes inside, all individually addressed.
Bishop's box contains a box of extra-large condoms.
Malcolm gets a letter with a lipstick kiss -- interesting, as she doesn't usually wear makeup of any kind -- on cardstock inside as well as a sizeable gift certificate for the Victoria Tea House.
Volkova's small box contains a paper kiss as well, though after a bit of investigation it's found to be made with engine grease and sprinkled with gunpower as a pounce. Olivia's also included a bag of "Comrade Zhukov's Vodka-Flavoured Crisps", which Volkova finds interesting.
For "our small grey friends" is what feels like a wrapped book, but no one wants to open it and it gets put aside until they meet the Grob next time.
Ghost gets a package as well! Or at least it seems to be for Ghost; Olivia's drawn a cat on the box -- or at least it's probably supposed to be a cat. Ghost gets her own bag of chips: mouse-flavoured and stamped in the shapes of animals. Ghost is unimpressed with the treats; they get put into a drawer and immediately forgotten.
There's a letter for Jillian in Olivia's writing that reads "Were here, found new restaurant (Bollywoodland, in Victoriaville. Great vindaloo everything!). Our new "friends" are being taken to A. as X. (sullen) wants them to work for his family (?!!!!). Plan is to stay in A. until the Chemota run is done (September 3rd or so); sorry you'll miss it! We love winning bets against you! Unsure of what we'll do afterwards. Because I'm not the captain. N. seems scared." Disappointingly, there's nothing personal for her in the package.
Everyone's in a bemused mood after the impromptu XMaS and Jillian decides to call Gabi's apartment to see how they're doing. Her silent prayers as she listens to the ringing on the other end are answered when it isn't Emily who picks up but Gabi herself. They chat for a bit and Jillian offers to take them out for dinner, which Gabi readily agrees to. Going by Olivia's recommendation Jillian suggests Bollywoodland and a time of early evening to meet.
It's been a little while since they've had a chance to go to a nice restaurant and Jillian and Volkova dress up a bit in their uBuntu dress and wig with Vishnu sari, respectively. The boys, in contrast, don't make much of an effort. Malcolm just wears his usual clothing and Bishop dresses in the worst outfit he has to put off Emily. Bishop dressing poorly is a relative term, of course, and objectively he still looks quite good. Unlike many places in Providence weapons are frowned upon at the station, so Malcolm satisfies himself by bringing a knife just in case of trouble.
It's nice to see familiar faces at the restaurant and it looks like Gabi and her gang have dressed up a bit too. Bishop makes a point of sitting as far from Emily as he can and Emily makes a point of not fawning over Bishop. Not too much, at least. It's reassuring to see how much she's changed for the better. Somehow a cat burglar and ex-secret policeman seem to have become decent foster parents. Better than an inbred murderous clan! Jillian pointedly asks Gabi about the Black Rose. Gabi is unable to tell her anything other than she's heard about them; she avoids dealing with organized crime and so goes to individual fences that she knows about. John is likewise unhelpful.
The food ends up being a mediocre affair; Olivia's tastes run to the hot end of the spectrum without caring too much about the tasty side of things. As they leave the restaurant Gabi asks the crew if they want to come over for a nightcap and they agree. On the way back to the apartment Malcolm notices that they're being followed. The pair that's following them are wearing bright yellow bomber jackets that belie their attempts to be subtle. When the crew passes the Rampant Lion pub they duck inside and try to casually look out the windows as the yellow goons pass by. The goons do their own show of casually walking by and their jackets have the name "Electric Eliminators" in large letters on the back. Gabi knows that they're a minor gang who usually don't venture out of the low-class Zenger hub.
A plan is quickly hatched to have the Steel Hummingbird's crew head out first and Gabi's gang afterwards to see who's being followed. It's quickly evident that it's the Hummingbirds who are the targets, so they keep to quiet streets and duck into an ambush-ready alleyway when they find one and scramble to hide. The dim alleyway runs behind several apartment buildings and based on the overfull dumpsters and boxes that fill the space it looks like garbage day is not far away. Volkova starts to rub herself with filth to blend in with the surroundings but it's Emily, John, and Gabi who come down the alley to tell them that the Eliminators found the alleyway ambush too obvious and avoided it.
They decide to head down the alleyway and to take a circuitous route back to Gabi's apartment. When they get to the end of the alley they notice the Eliminators peeking around a corner a block away. This is just silly; what's the use of trying to follow people who obviously know that you're following them? Volkova decides to have a smoke out in the open to see what the goons will do and Emily -- not entirely converted into a good girl -- joins her. When the Eliminators keep up their peeking Volkova decides to just run them down and question them. Ducking back into the alley she strips out of her sari so as not to ruin it further and passes it to Jillian. At least she wore underwear under it! Gabi offers to join her in the chase and Jillian, John, and Malcolm start down the alleyway to the other end to hopefully cut off the Eliminators' retreat. Bishop and Emily will stay where they are; neither one want to get involved in fisticuffs, but they keep an awkward distance from each other. Malcolm thinks the situation is in good hands and decides to hang back and make sure the youngsters don't do anything stupid.
Volkova keeps low and close to the cars to try to maintain the element of surprise but subtlety isn't her strong suit; the Eliminators see her right away and she has no option but to flat-out sprint at them, Gabi on her heels. Volkova's sprinting speed is frankly terrifying and she quickly closes with the fleeing goons, Gabi on her heels. The others, heading down the alley, find that the poor lighting and piles of debris that made it such a good place to stage an ambush makes for slow going.
Volkova and Gabi catch up to the goons and Gabi pretty much acts as a distraction for one of them while Volkova pounds the other into unconsciousness with her meaty fists. The other Eliminator, seeing Jillian, John, and Malcolm coming to help, tries to flee but Jillian and John use Volkova's sari to tangle him up and he's unable to free himself before Volkova's steel arms grapple him from behind; he quickly surrenders.
Surprisingly, no one in any of the apartment buildings comes to a window to see what's going on. Whether it's because the fight was relatively quick and quiet or no one cares doesn't matter; the gang quickly bundles the Eliminated into the alley and start questioning them while Volkova finds to her delight that the jacket and jeans on her fallen foe fit her pretty well. The other goon's jacket is also grabbed but no one wants to wear it.
The still-conscious goon quickly spills the goods: they were tasked to follow the Steel Hummingbird's crew by "Big Johnny", their gang leader. The two of them apparently screwed something up badly enough to be thrown out of the gang and this job was their one chance to stay members. He also gives them the address of the Electric Eliminators' headquarters in the rundown Zenger hub where they can find Big Johnny. The building is five stories tall with the gang's headquarters on the top floor and innocent families on the lower floors. There are about twenty Eliminators in total.
Once they've gotten all the information they tie up and gag the two goons and dump them into a small dumpster, Volkova heaving another dumpster on top for good measure.
Leaving the alleyway they try to see if anyone else is following them but it doesn't seem so. As it turns out Gabi knows the block where the Eliminators have their headquarters pretty well; one of her fences is just around the corner from it! She's always checking out for escape routes wherever she is, so she knows the layout of the block surprisingly well. They decide to sneak in on Big Johnny and surprise him with no need for bloodshed and find out who's hired his gang.
They split up: Gabi and John will take Emily home, get their equipment, and take their pickup to the Steel Hummingbird, where they'll meet the others who will have taken the subway there. Once everyone's geared up and dressed appropriately they'll all head to the Zenger hub and visit Big Johnny.
It's late when everyone's together and they nap a bit before going out to be as fresh as possible and to strike in the middle of the night, when everyone should be asleep. Bishop takes a backpack of healing grubs and herbs, Gabi's got her second-story gear and lockpicks, Jillian brings her shotgun for show more than anything else, John borrows Jillian's .45 pistol, Malcolm opts for his assault rifle, Blingmaster, and ten large in bribe money, and Volkova goes for the relative subtlety of Khnuta and the outright ludicrousness of Irina, her grenade launcher. They head out in the minibus with John driving, as Malcolm's roaring along in his superstealthy motorcycle. Fortunately, given the neighbourhood a motorcycle is entirely in keeping with the local character and roar of its engine will fit right in.
The trip to Zenger is uneventful and they arrive at around three in the morning. They park their vehicles and assess the situation. No one wants a frontal assault on the Eliminators' hideout: they're here to talk, there are four floors of innocent people under Big Johnny, and heading in the front door means having to fight the whole way. The block is made up of apartment buildings, several with stores on the ground floor and one on the corner with a billboard currently advertising the McNeely Post ("Headless body found in topless bar: you read it here first! Get the news you need to know now!"). There is a courtyard in the centre of the block and the only gaps are for narrow alleyways with fire escapes.
The best way to gain surprise would be to go along the roof and drop in, and Gabi knows a fire escape where they can get up to a roof elsewhere on the block and walk across the adjoining buildings. There's a chain link fence between the roofs at one point but she's got the tools to cut through that. This block has buildings that range from four to six floors in height but with Gabi's climbing equipment this shouldn't be a problem. Bishop doesn't have much to contribute if conflict arises and so stays in the minibus. Exposing your medic to possible gunfire is foolish, after all. Everyone else slowly makes their way up the fire escape past thankfully dark windows; doing this in the middle of the night has its advantages!
Peering over the roof Malcolm notices that there's someone on the platform on the back of the billboard and judging by his shotgun he's on watch. Big Johnny's place has its own fire escape -- with a blacked-out window on the top floor, of course -- that leads down into the courtyard but the chance of breaking unnoticed into a window directly under the sentry is low and there's a good chance that there will be guards on the other side of the blackened window. The current fire escape is directly in the sentry's obvious line of sight, so Gabi and Volkova make their way back down and over to the other fire escape, where the plan is for them to obliquely sneak up to the guard and deal with him while the others wait at the first fire escape.
Volkova's not the quietest person even when trying to be, so Gabi coaches her with hand signs as they go. Even so, a more alert guard would have heard her long before she started to clamber up the wooden ladder to the platform on the front of the billboard but the sentry's either tired, bored, or incompetent and it's only when Volkova's weight makes the ladder creak loudly that he perks up. Gabi's made it onto the roof with the billboard and is hiding in plain sight -- a knack she has -- on the roof right in front of the sentry but doesn't have a line of sight to Volkova and can't relay information to her. By the time the guard notices something's up he and Volkova are separated by just a few metres and a billboard. She briefly thinks of punching through the wood and grabbing the guy but isn't sure just how thick it is, so she instead prepares Khnuta in her hand and when he comes around the end of the billboard into the glare Gabi distracts him by making some noise directly behind him while Volkova lunges from ahead of him and smashes his shotgun from his hand. It skitters off the platform onto the roof and once he recovers from his surprise he grapples with her, a singularly bad idea. She quickly lays him out with her wrench and she and Gabi motion for the rest of the group to join them.
While Gabi and Volkova jump down to the Eliminators' roof the others come from the fire escape on the opposite side, cutting through the chain link fence between roofs with the cutters Gabi left them. Everyone joins up by the roof access door, which Gabi quickly picks. She then descends the stairs and picks the doorlock that leads to the top floor. Squeezing to the side, she quickly opens the door and lets Volkova through with Irina at the ready. There are two guards in the hallway who are very much intimidated by her glare and the 40mm maw of her grenade launcher; they slowly put their pistols on the floor. Good thing that they don't know that grenade launchers need a good distance to arm the grenade! As Malcolms shows up with his also-intimidating Blingmaster whatever fight they had in them evaporates completely: they lie facedown on the ground and quickly point out Big Johnny's door when asked.
John covers the sprawling pair with his heavy-calibre pistol, making a very intimidating and blood-thirsty growl to ensure their silence. Gabi picks Big Johnny's door and then heads back to the roof; her part is done and given her profession it's best if she's not seen by underworld figures in McNeely. John stays in the hallway but stays away from the door and keeps his back to it to likewise not be recognized.
Volkova throws open the door and points Irina inside... at Big Johnny, obviously named for his girth, sitting in a lazyboy wearing a thrash metal band t-shirt and jeans and looking unsurprised, flanked by four of his bomber jacket-wearing gang with handguns and shotguns. There is a heavy silence until Jillian mentions that they're here to talk, not fight, and weapons are slowly lowered on both sides.
It turns out that the two gang members who were clumsily following them earlier were in turn being followed by more competent gang members to see how they were doing; when Big Johnny found out what had happened to his men he assumed that the followed would be paying him a visit and prepared, hence the ultimate lack of surprise. He's relieved to know that his gang member on the roof hasn't been killed.
Big Johnny isn't personally interested in them, as it turns out. His gang's been put on retainer by a "Mr. Johnson" who hired them through a flunky in a nice suit a while back. He's made a few desultory attempts to find out who Mr. Johnson is but they didn't pan out. Through dead drops his employer tells him people to follow and to report back on where they've been and who they've been seeing. Malcolm offers him a sizeable sum to not report them to Mr. Johnson and to tell them who he's followed in the past. Johnny passes on several names and has been doing his own checking. These people are almost uniquely scavengers and prospectors. There is another lump of money waiting for Big Johnny if, when they are about to leave the station, Mr. Johnson still hasn't made any moves on them.
All this seems just fine with Big Johnny; he's not terribly interested in Mr. Johnson except for his money and seems honestly impressed with this gang who has come through his door, only hurt one of his men doing so, and is offering him lots of cash. He knows that he can deal, you know.
----------
Bishop's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 17)
Jillian's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (and she prefers it that way)
Malcolm's Bedpost Notch Count: briefly taking a break (running total: 5)
Volkova's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 3)