Run #6: Where No Chummer Has Gone Before

[John]

Max snickers a little, and quips,

"Sounds like you boys must be union employees! Am I right? But nonetheless..."

A look of delighted epiphany washes over his face, as the elf exclaims,

"Ah! Found him!"

Max draws his shotgun and fires on the elf in a single, fluid motion.

[GM Nick]

Combat, Initiative Pass 1

[ Doc = 52 ]
[ Guard 1 = 46 ]
[ Guard 3 = 41 ]
[ Rawhide = 37 ]
[ Max = 36 ]
[ Guard 2 = 35 ]
[ Tyros = 12 ]

The security guards reach for their weapons as Max produces his.

[Drew Buddy]

His hand already on the SMG, Doc aims at the nearest guard and fires.

(( SMG still has stick-n-shocks, and is set to semi-auto ))

[GM Nick]

Ranged Combat

[Submachine Guns (6) + AGI (7) + Smartlink (2) + (2) = 5]
3 6 1 2 2 3 3 1 5 1 3 5 6 4 2 4 6
[REA (6) = 2]
3 6 5 2 3 3

Damage Resistance

[BOD (5) = 1] **13P DAMAGE**
1 6 1 4 4

Doc pulls down the hammer, his SMG shredding the first guard into a bloody pulp and earning him the kill.

[Drew Buddy]

(( I'm going to assume that was Guard 1 ))

Doc swings the barrel to Guard 3, and and fires again.

[GM Nick]

Ranged Combat

[Submachine guns (6) + AGI (7) + Smartlink (2) = 8]
6 3 6 3 4 6 5 5 6 2 4 3 6 5 4

Damage Resistance

[BOD (5) + Armor (6) = 3] **13P DAMAGE**
5 4 1 6 4 5 1 4 4 2 2

Doc whirls, finger still white-knuckle against the Cobra's trigger as it kicks out another trio of bullets.

The plasteel walls are painted crimson as the second guard is riddled with bullets.

[John]

(( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBwS66EBUcY ))

[GM Nick]

"Let's take one alive as a bargaining chip!"

Rawhide throws his arm out to clothesline the last guard.

Melee Combat

[Karate (6) + AGI (6) = 2]
4 3 6 4 2 4 1 5 1 3 4 1
[Unarmed Combat (3) + AGI (5) = 1]
1 4 3 2 1 1 6 2

Damage Resistance

[BOD (5) + Armor (3) = 1] **4P DAMAGE**
5 2 4 3 2 3 1 1

The guard falls to the ground, clutching his shattered face.

"...oops."

[John]

Max shakes his head,

"No prisoners. We need to get through this as fast as possible."

Getting down on top of the guard, Max holds his knee over the guard's throat to knock him out.

[GM Nick]

The final guard chokes and eventually goes limp.

"Ya coulda let me do that," murmurs Rawhide, looking a bit dejected. "I do so love a good choke."

[John]

Max shakes his head,

"No time for strangler's etiquette. There's no telling how long we have before those nanomachines eat this station from the inside out. Let's move."

Max takes off after Tyros as they continue to search out the fourth canister.

[Drew Buddy]

Doc recalls the Fly-Spy to himself, and commands it to stay a constant 20 meters behind the group, watching the side passages for anyone trying to sneak up behind them.

"I was beginning to wonder when things would turn to drek. Things feel much more comfortable now that we're on a decaying space station full of hostile guards."

[John]

Max dismisses Doc's concern,

"Bah. At this point, can this really be considered 'turning to drek' for us? This is just how we do things. Perhaps it's time to embrace it. They do call us 'The Burn Down Boys,' after all."

[Drew Buddy]

Doc grunts.

"I suppose they do at that. I can picture Mr. Lo sitting in a lawn chair on the roof right now, with a telescope and popcorn."

[John]

Max chuckles as the group moves down corridors,

"Heh. Do you suppose the aperture on his telescope is slanty too?"

[GM Nick]

The science lab appears to be deserted. A circular aperture swivels open when approached, revealing a cluttered laboratory but nary a soul to be seen. Various measuring implements are anchored to the wall and several rows of specimen containers line the interior of the room.

[John]

Max does a quick scan of the room and speaks decisively,

"Let's fan out. We should find this thing and get the frag outta' here as quickly as we can. Be on the lookout for any kind of map of the station so we can get to the escape pods quickly."

[Drew Buddy]

Doc starts pacing the room, looking for signs of heat, or the lack thereof.

[GM Nick]

Doc, whilst searching a cupboard of specimens, stumbles across a small safe bearing the Renraku logo.

[Drew Buddy]

Doc waves the others over.

"Got something here!" He inspects the safe to determine what kind of locking mechanism it has.

[John]

Max runs over to the safe and gives it a hard look. His first thought is one for the quickest egress from the doomed space station,

"If we can't crack this thing quickly, can you just levitate the entire safe out of here Tyros? We can always break into the safe later."

[GM Nick]

The aperture-entrance slides shut and seals with a hiss. Movement near the observation window facing the hallway catches your eye. On the other side a gaunt, ashen face examines the team with a very unnerving expression. It's Daniel Whitelock. The puncture wound on his throat is curiously devoid of any blood.

[Drew Buddy]

Doc walks up to the window. He keeps his stare neutral, concealing his surprise.
Not sure if sound can travel through the glass, he opens a wide-frequency, short-range channel on his comm.

< Mr. Whitelock, fancy seeing you here. You're looking surprisingly well.
Someone seems to have sealed the door on us. You wouldn't happen to know about that, would you? >

[GM Nick]

Whitelock seems to look at Doc... maybe past him, hard to tell. His eyes are largely unfocused.

His lips move as if by great effort and his voice is hoarse.

"As far as coincidences go, this is the most unpleasant I could have expected. I can't say I'm sorry for Daniel, he was the most insufferable of people. I will definitely regret the loss of my primary prototype..."

[Drew Buddy]

A frown works its way past Doc's defenses.

"I... See. Who are we addressing?" He asks the puppet.

With his internal commlink, Doc sends a short command to the Fly-Spy drone, that had been following at a distance behind them. It flies up to the hallway across from the door, and remains hidden from the view of Daniel's walking corpse.

[GM Nick]

The faintest flicker of a smile flits across Daniel's bluing lips.

"Bell. Marcus, Bell. Formerly Colonel, although I doubt the UCAS would refer to me with that title. Now it's just Mr. Bell. Or Legion, if you like."

The marionette-esque Whitelock raises his hand and his fingers dance along a touch-panel located adjacent to the observation window.

[John]

Max steps up to the observation window and blurts out,

"Bell! What the hell is going on here?? Why are you trying to destroy this station???"

Over his subvocal commlink, Max implores the team,

<I'll do my best to keep him talking. Search this room for other exits. Vents. Windows. Anything. Also, I hope it's just a funny feeling from watching too many old spy movies, but try closing up any ventilation ducts we can't fit through; he could try to gas us.>

[Drew Buddy]

Doc steps away from the window.

Sending another signal to the drone, he has it move slightly so that it can see the panel that Bell is using. (( Roll perception or engineering to figure out what he's doing ))

"Bell... Last time we saw you, you were sporting a fairly standard issue corporeal form. You wanna explain what the frag is going on?"

[GM Nick]

"Don't tell me you still believe that the sole purpose of the nanites is shutting down cyberware... that technology has been around for years. It's not viable, anyway, cyberware can be modified quickly and inexpensively while nano-machines take time to manufacture."

"I wouldn't if I were you," says Daniel, casting a haunted look at Rawhide, who is reaching for his revolver. "I've altered the level of oxygen in that room. Any sort of combustion would roast everyone inside."

"No," says Not-really-Daniel to Max. "My ambitions aim much higher than that. For starters, you're probably wondering how it is that I'm talking to you from inside a dead man..."

[John]

Max's gaze remains stony and unmoved,

"Yeah, the curiosity crossed my mind. In my experience the only way to make a dead man talk is to stick your arm up his ass."

[GM Nick]

Zombie Daniel lifts an arm and examines it.

"These nanites--originally designed to carry microscopic voltage cells--now carry a rare mineral compound. I won't bore you with details, except to say that certain scholars had ventured to suggest the compound was highly potent in astral energies. They theorized this energy could be located and bridged by ritual magic. Ultimately, to be used in spells. They were right. Working in conjunction with one another, these nanites form an astral field in Daniel's blood stream. One that can be turned on and off at will."

He sneers through the glass.

"I'm currently a hundred miles below you. My image--my actions--are being projected by one of my employees, a rather talented shaman. Daniel was the guinea pig. It was all too easy to convince him to inject himself with the nanites he believed he designed."

[John]

Max doesn't quite follow,

"Oh-kaaaay... I still don't understand what this station has to do with nanomachine puppeteering, or why this is something you're even pursuing. What's the endgame for you, Bell? What are you after here?"

(( If Bell is really flooding the room with enough oxygen to be combustible, shouldn't we be getting high? ))

[GM Nick]

"Are you that obtuse, elf? Imagine soldiers, all being controlled by master statisticians who never even have to step foot on a battle field. A single micro-liter in a politician's food and you have a puppet. I don't need to be part of a mis-managed and misguided military institution... I can start my own. The perfect military force. Every single member following my direct order, to the letter."

[John]

"I still don't see why you had to come to space to accomplish this goal of yours. And what's the point? What has your thirst for power gotten you other than disgrace and civilian status?"

[Drew Buddy]

Doc looks through the eyes of the drone, looking for a simple button or switch that can open the door from the outside.

"So, you have the perfect zombie army. What's your goal? Is it something as laughable as world domination?"