Present:
- Buzz "Cut". Solomani Soldier from Seven – Shane
- MARMALADING Dr Paczki Knodel. Sword-Worlder Scientist from Seven – Darryl
- Stella Cauthon. Solomani Rogue from Seven - Richard
- Anton Tositova. Solomani Gunner from Entrope - Ian
- Sang "Spanner" Hoang. Sword-Worlder Mechanic from Winston – Jeff
- MARMALADING Hoff Ende. Sword-Worlder Scientist from Winston - Kevin
- Heidi Vasovagal. Solomani Scientist from Seven - Steven
- Itzy Ende. Sword-Worlder Soldier from Winston - Chris
- Jon "Crash" Straker. Solomani Pilot from Seven – Jamie
by Richard
The mission to Vilis has been meant to cure the mutations of Anton, Sang and Itzy.
Anton's fungoid member and secretion of formic acid appeared to have been cured or at least on its way to being cured, through our nano-bot medical examination and internal adventure, however entirely new questions about the Ancients' technology and the nature of the infection itself had been revealed.
Powidła Knodel - Head of Genetic Medicines at the Vilnius Medical Institute, and Paczki's brother, was rubbing his hands with glee. Never had such an amazing opportunity for scientific research at the cutting edge of technology been at his fingertips.
"Ve vill need ze assistance with ze research on zis portal" Powidła proclaimed.
"I have such a man – ze Head of ze Physics Department at Vilis Institute of Technology and Management. His name is Dr Faworki Knodel" [ pronounce "fah-VOR-key" ]
"Don’t say another brother?" asked Anton.
"Ya, of course – I have six brothers – seven of us in all – all in ze sciences except Gołąbki who is a market gardener."
"I need you to take zee portal to Dr Faworki. He vill be very helpful".
"Best you take the monorail – there is a station at zee Institute. You three (pointing at Anton, Itzy and Sang) vill need to vear masks to reduce the impact of the prions."
"Can't we get a driver and car?" asked Stella, having woken up from her marmalading state.
"Nein. Zis is a big city with 25m people – car is too inefficient"
Stella thought about arguing. She hated public transport but thought better of it and with a sigh acquiesced.
 |
| Buzz gets the briefcase |
The trip would be a little over an hour with several station stops.
About 30 minutes into the journey, and between stations, the train came to a abrupt stop. Shortly after, the door to our carriage was forced open by four Zhodani.
[ DM note: Zhodani make up about 10% of the normal Imperium population (along with pointy-eared Daryens and Viking Sword-Worlders), so despite the diplomatic incident at Winston, there is little anti-Zhodani sentiment in normal society, apart from the normal latent racism. ]
They had side-arms and were yelling for everyone to get down. Everyone did.
Buzz tried to slide the brief case under a seat and attracted a bullet that intentionally missed him by a few millimetres.
"Hey – no need for that!" Buzz yelled, and immediately attracted two more bullets this time to the chest and abdomen. Buzz fell back, a pool of blood forming around his unconscious body.
"Can we tend to him?" Stella asks in her most appeasing tone.
"Get on with it" grunted one of the Zhodani. "And give us that briefcase."
Heidi attended to Buzz, stopping his bleeding. In the commotion caused, Anton [with a superbly successful Stealth roll] opened the briefcase and discretely removed the microscope slide containing the portal and secreted it on himself.
On the Zhodani command he slid the briefcase across to them.
"What's the combination?" they grunted.
"1,2,3,4,5,6" responded Anton
The Zhodani open the now empty briefcase.
Angrily looking back at us they demand "where is the slide?!"
At this point Stella speaks up (being the one with the highest appearance and Persuasion).
"We do not know of any slide," she quizzically responds. "We are on instruction from the Vilnius Medical Institute to travel to the Vilis Institute of Technology and Management to pick up a package and deliver it back – we know of no slide."
Stella said this in the most eloquent and non-confrontational manner using a limited amount of Zhodani.
"We were told you were delivering a slide to the Institute," grunted the Zhodani.
"Well, I can't possibly know what you were told, Miss, but unfortunately that information is not correct. We are to pick up a package, and we don’t even know what that is," continued Stella.
The sounds of sirens can be heard getting closer above the Zhodani tirade and the even louder feminine-like squealing of Buzz in agony.
The Zhodani glance at each other, leave quickly, climb down the monorail pylons and disappear from site.
The monorail resumes its journey and at the next station the police swarm on board and quickly gather us in one carriage to question us. An ambulance is also called for Buzz.
We are fully cooperative with the cops, and remain consistent with the story we told the Zhodani (that we are travelling to the Vilis Institute of Technology and Management to pick up a package).
Sang with her photographic memory was able to describe the Zhodani perfectly and the carriage had CTV which confirmed what happened. It did not however pick up the fact Anton had surreptitiously opened the briefcase. It also did not pick up Stella's claim that her Rolex had been stolen.
After the police left the party quietly discussed next steps.
"Clearly someone is a leak – we can't completely trust anyone"
"Let's get the slide and its contents to the Cauthon Institute for safe keeping"
"That’s a good idea – how?"
"We can call Dr Strangelove and ask that a lower functionary meet us at the Cauthon stop and we can discretely deliver them the slide – Anton could do that – no one expects a fat man to be discrete."
"Also ask for a radio frequency monitor"
"And then we carry onto the Institute and look to pick up the package"
"Good idea – we need to stick with our story"
And so, the plan was laid, and Stella rings Dr Strangelove and agrees that we will discretely give the package to Cauthon operative Jane Wally at the Cauthon Institute monorail stop. A picture of her is sent to us, and we send back a photo of Anton (taken on wide lens).
"I don’t like the look of her," comments Stella
"Why?" asks Itzy "She's gorgeous."
"Exactly!!" [Stella has an appearance of 17 and Jane was 18 – creating a not-so-easy-to-like jealous Stella].
 |
| Jane Wally at the Cauthon Institute monorail stop |
Our monorail stops at Cauthon Institute Station, and Anton uses his stealth to deliver our package to Jane, and pick up the cigarette-packet sized radio frequency monitor. Where Jane hid it was anyone's guess.
We carry on to the Institute of Technology and Management and head to the Physics department and find our way to Dr Faworki Knodel's office. His Zhodani(!) assistant meets us and asks us to wait. We all look at each having the same question running through our minds – is this the leak? (all except Anton whose mind is 6 and has very little running through it)
Knodel, like all the Knodels we have met, is eccentric and loud, with a strong accent. But eventually we get him to listen to us away from is assistant's keen ears. For extra precaution we use Anton's Hall Pass. (This is an Ancients' technology bracelet that he picked up months ago - pre Rose - that stops all devices that use the Hall effect - i.e. transistors, ICs, MOSFETS - within a 3m radius. Note that vacuum tube valves don't use the Hall effect. )
Deciding that we have little choice but to trust Faworki we tell him our stories – both the truth and the fabricated one we told the Zhodani. We ask him to play along with the fabricated story, which he agrees to.
Faworki's main concern is cooperating with the Cauthon Institute, which he lambasts (he doesn't think much of Strangelove) until Stella is fully introduced to him. She then, as she is apt to do, works to convince him the Cauthon Institute would willing form an alliance with the Physics department and fund valuable research. Stella loves contracts.
Playing along with our façade, Faworki gets a slide from the biology department and has it delivered to us. This is in front of his assistant and we will soon see where her loyalties lie.
We then start our monorail journey back to the Vilnius Medical Institute, a journey which is uninterrupted (maybe we can trust Faworki's assistant after all).
Getting back, we rejoin with Buzz, who had luckily been brought by the ambulance to this very hospital facility, and quickly regroup with Powidła Knodel.
We use the radio frequency monitor to detect for bugs and find several through Powidła's office and on the office phone. Itzy writes a warning down for Powidła to read and asks him to go along with us.
"Yes, we will take the slide in two days" we say, over-emphasizing the point. "We will be back then".
We now head to the Cauthon Institute and are welcomed by Dr Strangelove. The slide had been placed in a secure safe in Stella's apartment and with a guard on the door at all times.
"We need to work with the physics department and Dr Faworki" says Strangelove after lengthy discussions. "They have the technology and the scanning transmission electron microscopes that we don’t, and which will be needed to property investigate and observe the micro portal."
"I think we should tell Admiral Ramsbottom" suggests Crash and Itzy.
"Yes, we probably should"
We send a message to Ramsbottom, leader of the Villis Imperial Forces, explaining the circumstances, and quickly get a reply advising that a Sergeant Bates will be at the Cauthon Institute shortly.
"That was prompt" muttered Anton and indeed within two hours Sergeant Bates and four heavily-armed Imperium soldiers arrive. Bates, who we smirkingly in a teenager-type of matter, refer to as Master, is fully up to date with who we are and our backgrounds.
We inform him fully of what has occurred emphasizing the Zhodani plot to steel the micro portal and feeding on the Imperium's paranoia of the Zhodani ambition to take Imperium space using Ancient technology.
We explain that we need to take the micro portal to the Institute of Technology and Management to be fully assessed utilizing their technology.
"We need to ensure the Zhodani don’t intercept us"
"There are 800 million on Vilis Prime" explains Bates, "they aren’t all bad."
"Nevertheless, we need to be careful"
"Would you like an armed escort of Imperium soldiers? – maybe a squad"
"How about a platoon" suggests Stella fluttering her eyes.
"That would seem appropriate" responds Bates staring at Stella's ample cleavage.
 |
| The Imperium help out |
We quickly connect with Dr Faworki and search the facilities for bugs. We find several and destroy them. Clearly the Zhodani have been watching these facilities for some time suspecting they were investigating Ancient technology.
Now the investigations begin on the micro portals.
And do Sang and Itzy also carry then? given they are suffering the Rose Planets DNA modification.
And will Stella's attempt at a contract between the Cauthon Institute and the Institute of Technology and Management, Physics department reap reward?
And will we meet another Knodel brother?
These questions and more will be answered next week.
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