Play date: February 22, 2014
Game date: September 13, EY218
Location: the Eggen Observatory, Providence
Previous events: chilling on the observatory
September 13, EY218
After a couple of days relaxing on the observatory everyone's ready to travel to Prager and see if they can find any trace of the Deccan Driller. Roberta Kirshner and her team have been using BRAINIAC, the Eggen's computer, to its limits, pushing the overheating machine to its limit, and has an idea of where the Telushkin might be. There is a spot in between two storms on Prager's surface that would be fairly safe from debris due to the storm sweeping rocks away from the spot between them, and BRAINIAC has detected some deviations in the gas giant's magnetic field that a metal refinery the better part of a kilometre on a side would produce. As a gas refinery would be in the clouds to get at the hydrogen it's not a surprise that the refinery itself can't be seen with telescopes.
Jörg has taken a good chunk of the visit to spend time with Volkova but has taken the time to compile a list of the tools and parts that he'd need to get the jump drive assembled and running. While this is good news the jump drive is on the back burner until the Steel Hummingbird gets back from Prager.
It's important to make the approach to the Telushkin as sneaky as possible given that the station probably has sensors with a much greater range than the Hummingbird's, and Jillian spends a good long time working out a path that will take them behind as many moons and moonlets as possible. It's a terrific piece of plotting and she proudly makes a good copy of it to show to Neet the next time she sees him.
The 13th is also Malcolm's birthday! He's all of twenty-nine years old and Jillian presents a cake that she got Kieran to bake, complete with Victoria XIII's coat of arms on it. The coat of arms is recognizable as such: Kieran obviously did the icing, not Jillian.
The gifts that the Hummingbird's crew gives their pilot are eclectic. Bishop has some uBuntan tea and a very nice white Homburg hat that really works for Malcolm
Volkova spent much of her shopping time on McNeely looking for something that would appeal to Malcolm and, if he doesn't like it, would be just fine for her. In the end she found a bottle of Pemberton-Gogol's "Dead Tea Souls" tea-infused vodka. Malcolm's touched and frightened by the bottle and promises to save it for a special occasion.
Jillian presents Malcolm with a set of four teacups that she got him on McNeely Station. She saw a paint-your-own-pottery store and couldn't help but make her own personalized set for her friend using her skills to their fullest. It's as hideous as it sounds and the rim's painted to look like nothing one would ever want to put their lips on. Malcolm pretends that he likes it and Jillian tries her best not to read his real feelings on the matter. At least Kieran's cake is tasty, and they both focus on that.
After the party the Steel Hummingbird preps for departure. Jörg and Volkova emotionally say their goodbyes and Jillian gives Kieran a big hug for his listening to her. Having been passed-out drunk during the conversation he's surprised and seems to take it as a sign that she has deeper feelings than he thought, but before he can get the truth the ship is off to the outer system. It's a quiet departure and no one is sure that they'll ever see each other again, but Jillian has to know what happened to the Deccan Driller.
Over the four day trip Jillian paints the corridor by the "murder room" with a rose garden. The roses are all black and look carnivorous as well as being mostly thorn. They look a fair bit like her tattoo, actually.
The mood on the ship is a bit grim given their mission. Malcolm decides to throw a tea party with full Piccadillian pomp and to use the cups that Jillian gave him. It's a pity that she used water-soluble paint...
September 17, EY218
As the Hummingbird loops around moons on its roundabout path to where the Telushkin lies, everyone stays sharp. Jillian's on sensors, Malcolm is flying, Volkova's on Lyudmilla, and Bishop is in a jump seat on the bridge in case he needs to take over someone's station. The danger that debris in Prager's orbit poses hasn't been exaggerated: Jillian has to call out several warnings to Malcolm, who effortlessly dodges pieces of ex-moon, some as large as the minibus. Tragically, during an unnecessarily violent dodge the teacup set falls from the precarious place Malcolm set it in the mess and shatters.
Things get much less debris-laden as they drop into the clouds between the two storms, just as Roberta Kirshner predicted. The Telushkin would be deep in the atmosphere, likely near the lower limit of where space drives would work, which means that navigation is based on purely on sensors and that diving down in case of trouble won't be possible: there isn't anywhere near enough oxygen in the ice giant's atmosphere to allow the atmo engines to work once the space drive gives out. Malcolm's not happy to have to pilot based on Jillian relaying data to him but they've been together long enough that the flow of information is very smooth.
Jillian notices what must be the Telushkin based on its readings, as well as another ship between them and the refinery. This ship is a fair bit larger than the Hummingbird and not especially headed their way but before Jillian can work out more about it she's got another problem: a second ship has come up right next to them, undetected. She only gets any readings on it when it opens fire at point blank range! She barely gets half a syllable out before Malcolm twists the ship in a tight spiral purely out of reflex at the tone in her voice and the ship that had them dead to rights misses its point-blank shot by a hair. Volkova fires back at the ship that has just loomed out of the clouds and scores a glancing hit, not enough to do any real damage. The fight is on!
Jillian calls out locations for the two ships as Malcolm starts heading up out of Prager's atmosphere at maximum velocity, muttering that this wasn't the most planned-out expedition while he hits the "panic button" that Volkova's set up to automatically transmit a distress call. There's obviously some communication going on as the larger ship lower in the atmosphere guns its drive and pursues them as well.
Without visibility it's a matter on both sides of relaying sensor readings to gunners -- the advanced sensor suite is useful here -- and although much ordnance is expended no one scores a hit over the first few exchanges of fire. The ship that ambushed them isn't anywhere as nimble as the Hummingbird and its large turning radius keeps it largely out of the fight. Much more dangerous is the larger ship, which doesn't just keep pace with them but drops a few fighter craft as well! Malcolm kicks in the afterburner to gain some distance on his pursuers and after a few seconds is flying in clear space, out of the atmosphere.
Things seem to be going well until one of the fighters manages to get a perfect firing solution on the Hummingbird and fires a massive salvo of rockets. Jillian can't relay enough information about the cloud of rockets and with most of their flight taking place in the opaque clouds Malcolm's unable to avoid them by sight. He keeps the ship from being completely destroyed but there are just too many rockets to dodge and the Hummingbird suffers several direct hits. The atmospheric engines are wrecked, along with much of the delicate stealth covering the Grob mined for them on Ingraham. At least the advanced sensor suite is still functional!
One rocket hits just below the cockpit windows and although the armour holds there's a terrible spalling inside the cockpit as Jillian's console explodes with fragments. Many of the instruments are damaged, including those for the advanced sensor suite. Worse, the bridge crew ends up badly injured. Bishop's able to flinch away from the worst of it but his face gets badly cut up by flying pieces of metal. Malcolm's avoids being too badly bloodied but being right next to the point of impact the shock wave that travels through the air ruptures his eardrums and perhaps gives him a concussion. Jillian gets the worst of it, catching fragments from the sensor panel in her face and collapsing in a bloody heap on her smoking instrument panel without a word. Only Volkova, in the turret, is unharmed, though she's rattled around a fair bit.
Malcolm knows that this is a terrible situation. Nothing absolutely vital to flight has been damaged and he might be able to escape yet, but ship and crew have been badly damaged and another decent hit means she'll come apart. With none of the crew in EVA suits that's death, plain and simple. Unwilling to flip a coin for their survival and reeling from the awful pain he calls out for Bishop to call out their surrender and Bishop leaps to Malcolm's side to do so. The pursuing ship calls for them to stop their space drive, don EVA suits, and enter its airlock. With no other choice, they agree to do so.
Before getting on their suits there's a mad scramble: Bishop and Volkova move to throw certain items into the hidden compartments and make sure that the compartments are sealed up properly. Bishop's "egg" and crown from the Grob, Irina, the Blingmaster, Volkova's copy of the calendar, Khnuta... all are hidden away. It takes longer than usual to do so; with the space drive shut down there's no gravity and no one on the ship is very skilled at micro-g maneuvering. The floating pointy pieces of teacups in the mess are especially annoying.
While they're doing that Malcolm checks on Jillian and, finding her not dead, carries out first aid on her. He manages to stop most of the bleeding but her eyes are a mess. Once he's done the best that he can do Malcolm looks out the cockpit window and sees that the ship that's emerged from the atmosphere is none other than the Gurg. He scowls at the ungrateful craft -- the Hummingbird saved the Gurg and this is how they get repaid? -- and notices that the ships it disgorged are military gunships. At least he doesn't feel too bad about being taken out by them. He knows their abilities and their heavy rockets are justly feared.
Once everything's hidden away Malcolm and Volkova awkwardly stuff the unconscious Jillian into her EVA suit and then they all pile into the airlock. Malcolm cycles it and they float out into space. The Gurg has come up very close to the Hummingbird and it's obvious which open airlock they're meant to enter. Once they're inside the outer door is sealed and air is let in but they're not let inside the ship proper and it's obvious that they can either behave or get shunted out and die. They choose to behave but keep their suits on anyway. There's a fair bit of clunking and clanking and they see that the Gurg is using its scavenging equipment to grab the crippled Hummingbird and carry it along.
The flight back into the atmosphere is slow with the extra mass but after a while they see lights through the atmosphere and what looks like a refinery emerges out of the clouds. It can only be the Telushkin. With the gases and a small porthole they can't see much but they notice it's been banged up a a fair bit by collisions and has some big flight bays and a pair of guns that remind Volkova too much of the models she fired in Walküren at "asteroids".
Exiting the airlock into the Telushkin via an umbilical and entering the refinery proper, everyone is told by several guards armed with submachine guns to slowly get out of their EVA suits and lie on the ground. Now conscious but unable to see, Jillian manages to disentangle herself from her suit with some help. Volkova feels that she’s in shape to do something about these goons but given the state of her comrades she submits along with them. The guards aren’t the talkative types and don’t react when Jillian identifies herself as the captain.
Once they’re all handcuffed and searched Volkova is led off to a makeshift cell by two nervous guards while the others are taken to the medical bay, which is thankfully free of crapbark, and handcuffed while treated. The medics are surprised when they find Jillian’s Black Rose tattoo. Seizing the moment Jillian states as clearly as she’s able in her current state that Flint Cardesco sent them to talk to Venla Inberg and that the uBuntans are in for the deal. Both Bishop and Malcolm hear this: despite the damage to his hearing Malcolm’s still more alert than the average person! The medics have a hushed conversation with a guard, who goes off to report.
Malcolm’s surprised and relieved to notice that the medics are treating them properly: they’re not just being patched up to stop them bleeding on the floor and keep them alive until a vigorous interrogation. Before too long they‘re all covered with little bandages and stitches all over their faces and Malcolm and Jillian have much larger bandages as well.
After treatment Jillian is cuffed to a wheelchair and taken up an elevator to what from the echos sounds like a large room – she’s floating on painkiller, one eye is completely bandaged over, and the other is in no shape to make out much in the way of details. A woman with a Suomi accent starts talking to her and she can only assume it’s Venla Inberg.
It starts with Venla taking a good look at Jillian and saying with surprise "You're Zandi's girl! We thought you were killed by the Bloody Imams." Jillian, realizing she's been made, doesn't try to deny it. Instead, she asks whether her father is still alive; Venla doesn't answer, just says "do you care?" to which Jillian replies "of course I do." Then Jillian asks whether Rashid is around. "That psycho?" asks Venla dismissively. Jillian makes a pretence at taking offence but swiftly concedes the point.
Venla questions Jillian about why she'd left (thirteen years ago) and Jillian simply states that she was married to Rashid; Venla seems to take that as enough of an explanation. Jillian also presses Venla about whether Rashid is around, and Venla finally says that he is in the system (or maybe the cluster) but not actually on the Telushkin. Jillian asks Venla not to tell Rashid that she's here, and Venla seems to agree... for now.
Venla then asks Jillian why the Hummingbird came to the Telushkin. Jillian leads with Cover Story A, which is that she'd run into Flint Cardesco at isiBhakabhaka and had made a deal to bring his report back to Venla for him while he went to pursue other business. And then the Hummingbird got shot to pieces trying to approach the Telushkin; the injustice! Venla doesn't seem at all convinced of Jillian's story, and asks Jillian where Flint is now. Jillian claims to have no idea, but Venla presses her, and so Jillian gives up on Cover Story A and instead out-and-out brags that she shot Cardesco (because he'd stolen money from her) and sent him flying into a sun. Brazenly, she asks Venla "He wasn't important to you, was he?"; Venla replies, annoyed, "He was useful," and Jillian retorts "Not to me, he wasn't."
Venla still wants to know why Jillian has brought the Hummingbird to the Telushkin, so Jillian switches to Cover Story B: she came because there's a threat of alien invasion, and the Black Rose might be less useless than the Navy. Jillian reveals that she knows what happened to the Gurg, and also explains that the D'vor were the reason the Leary exploded -- the Leary blew themselves up when they saw that a D'vor ship had followed them here. When Venla asks how Jillian knows these things, Jillian says she learned them from a survivor from the Leary: Nanda Reddy, whom the Hummingbird crew had met while scavenging on the Leary. Venla asks if there are other survivors from the Leary; Jillian tells her that what she learned from Nanda is that there were other survivors initially, but when the Navy picked them up from the wreck the survivors were imprisoned and tortured; Nanda escaped, alone.
Jillian also tells Venla that she'd found the Leary's Captain's Log, which has more details about the D'vor, and which can now be found on Jillian's own desk; Venla sends a minion to retrieve it. Jillian also shows Venla one of her anti-D'vor posters, with Volkova's accurate line drawing of the D'vor ship; the drawing of course matches the Gurg survivors' descriptions of what they saw.
Venla wants to know if there were any other aliens, and Jillian denies having knowledge of any.
Jillian also explains that she'd been trying to get the Navy to take action against the D'vor, but that Hoax was actively suppressing information -- Hoax had even threatened the Hummingbird's crew with arrest if they kept talking to people about the D'vor ship they'd seen. Jillian keeps pushing the idea that this is why she really came to the Telushkin, and for now Venla seems to be buying it.
Also, Venla reveals to Jillian that she found the stuff hidden in her locker (Venla calls them "personal items," with audible quotation marks, and Jillian asks that Venla treat them carefully because they're important to her -- and that's all that is said about that) -- and Venla also agrees to have somebody feed Jillian's cat.
After a while it’s obvious that Jillian’s wounds and painkillers are making her incoherent and she’s taken back to the med bay, where she tells Bishop and Malcolm as best she can what she and Venla talked about.
September 18, EY218
Everyone’s feeling slightly less pained the next day, if not any more certain about their fate. They have a surprise visitor when Massoud, the acting captain on the Gurg the first time they met it, stops by the med bay! He’s friendly and apologetic about what happened the previous day but he never got a visual on them before the fight was over. He doesn’t have too much to say other than he’s happy they’re alive before Venla shows up and he skitters away, obviously intimidated by her presence.
Venla’s got a watch for them that was found in one of the Hummingbird's atmospheric engines. Jillian and Malcolm both recognize it by the engraved teddy bear on the lid: Ted! One of their former engineers, who got sucked into the turbine a few years back and spit out in a twenty-metre-long smear. The engines never worked quite the same way after that… It’s obvious that Venla’s had their ship searched but it doesn’t seem as if the hidden compartments have been found. If so there would probably be some questions about the jump drive parts, D’vor tech, V’s calendar, and the group photo with the Grob from Ingraham!
More importantly, says Venla, she’s read much of the Leary’s log and wants to know more. Jillian comes clean and gives up Nanda Reddy’s name and her location on the Dobbs Habitat; the Black Rose knows about the habitat but finds it unimportant enough to leave alone. She lets slip that there are other survivors but not the rendezvous plans they have with Nanda. The capture of Nanda and the Wyrms with her and the subsequent torture does get a fair bit of play. Venla seems very interested in meeting with the survivors.
Bishop’s been making noise about doing some proper medical treatment instead of all this inane stitching and antiseptic and so Jillian asks Venla for permission to have Bishop get his medical things from the “terrarium”, as Venla describes it. The Telushkin’s commander looks over Bishop, realizes he’s not a threat, and agrees.
Jillian also demands to see Volkova and is taken by wheelchair to the cell that Volkova’s in. The engineer is in fine form, if worried about her more fragile comrades. They’re feeding Volkova and have even given her two new romance novels to read! Volkova admits that the stories are actually much the same... but at least the names are different!
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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: 0 (running total: 5)
Volkova's Bedpost Notch Count: 1 round of secret-compartment nookie (running total: 4)