Run #6: Where No Chummer Has Gone Before

[GM Nick]

Whitelock stirs and spits out a couple more teeth. He cranes his neck and glares up at Max and Doc.

[Drew Buddy]

Doc marches over to Whitelock and keels down. He shoves the disc a hairsbreadth from the man's nose, and says,

"Tell us what you were going to use this for."

[John]

Max pulls out his own medkit and retrieves a pair of latex gloves from it. Taking the disc back from Doc and being careful so as not to rip the glove, Max shimmies the disc inside and ties a tight knot at the wrist. Looking up at Doc as he slips it into his skin pocket, he says,

"Better than nothing, right? Let me know if you come up with something better. Any idea how much longer until we arrive at the space station? I want to get off this damned thing."

Turning his attention to Whitelock, he puts his knee on the Brit's throat and says,

"Talk, motherfragger. If you don't, you will have wasted your last opportunity."

[GM Nick]

"I guess there's no point in clamming up at this point."

He sighs.

"Six months ago, I completed my work on a nano-machine that targets and disables the energy conduit used in almost all modern cyber-ware. I'm sure you can appreciate the implications. Imagine the security potential... the military potential. Cyber-ware could be regulated, even forbidden. Clinical trials were successful... for a while. Even after our test subjects were given clean bills of health, they begin to exhibit symptoms similar to exposure to biological agents. I imagine that the body begun rejecting implants after they had been disabled--some kind of reaction between the nanites and the white blood cells. An alliance, perhaps?

We quickly fixed the problem, but the damage had already been done. News of the symptoms reached our potential customers, one of whom was the UCAS. Our product was already lingering in a gray legal and ethical area. I guess the complications were too much. The project was dropped. My life's work was gone. Without a client as large as the UCAS, I wouldn't have the funding needed to build a proper network of manufacturing and distribution. And with the knowledge that the UCAS had taken a look at what we had, none of the mega-corps were interested. We had a few small security corps approach us, but none could promise an order large enough to give us the capital we needed."

Daniel smiles in spite of himself.

"So I reached out to a prominent albeit reclusive nano-machine expert named Doctor Grugheim. The doctor and I shared similar ideology. He took my design and incorporated his own theory for nano-machine self-replication. The result was a hive of self-replicating, cyberware-disabling nano-machines. Brilliant, right? The only problem was that we could only afford the smallest of hives..."

[GM Nick]

"It was at that point that I was contacted by a man who called himself Bell. He said that he had heard about my work and wasn't interested in any legal or ethical hurdles. He recognized the potential and said he wanted to be our one and only customer. He promised to bank roll the operation and get me whatever I needed."

[Drew Buddy]

"Well, we can verify that Bell has no legal or ethical compulsions," Doc mutters to himself.

"That still doesn't explain where this hijacking comes in."

[John]

Max leans in close to Whitelock,

"I don't know what kind of arrangement you worked out with Bell, but he's the worst kind of news. We've encountered him before, and you don't want to be affiliated with him in any way. He's a former UCAS colonel who is hell bent on grabbing as much power as humanly possible, and he'll do anything to get it."

Max thinks a brief moment and-- lying-- continues,

"He's got something of a history of eliminating those who helped him who know too much, which sounds to me like a category you'd fit nicely into."

[GM Nick]

Rawhide scratches his head.

"Doc is right. Why the hijacking? Why not just release these nano-whats-its on the unsuspecting public?"

[Drew Buddy]

For a moment Doc looks sick. He stares at Whitelock with hate.

"That thing isn't a normal nanohive, is it? That thing is designed to start off a cascading, out of control reaction. You couldn't find a large enough nanohive, so you needed something that could be turned into a nanomachine breeding ground that would be cut off from the rest of the world."

Doc looks up in the general direction of the approaching station.

"A space station would have more than enough raw materials to manufacture all the nanomachines you could possibly need. No wonder you weren't planning on staying there. By the time the colony was finished constructing itself, there wouldn't be much of the station left."

Doc spits in his face, and hisses,

"Give me a good reason not to drag you to the airlock."

[Elliott]

((I'm assuming my Control Thoughts has worn off by now?))

Tyros has been glaring malevolently at Whitelock the whole time, waiting politely for his partners to finish out the dialog before he exercises his hatred.

Sliding Doc out of the way, Tyros hoists Whitelock up and puts him in a headlock, beefy arms almost chocking off the Britt's air supply. "I don't need another reason to eject this bastard. He earned the void a long time ago..."

Tyros drags Whitelock towards the airlock.

[GM Nick]

"We needed to hijack the shuttle so that we could dock near the aft airlock--the private one that Mitsuhama uses for high-clearance employees. There's a resonance filter in the public airlock, designed to eradicate certain bacteria known to be troublesome in aeronautic environments. There's a chance that the filter might destroy the nanites or--even worse--initiate the reaction early. That, and we anticipated the nano-machines disabling the station's security initially, leaving us free to refuel and return Earthside."

Whitelock grimaces as Tyros grabs him.

"So you see, you have to hijack this shuttle. If not, you run the risk of the shuttle and the station being destroyed."

[John]

Max cries out,

"Frag! For once, can we not encounter resistance that has nothing to do with us?? Just once?!"

[Elliott]

"We are moving into zero gravity." Tyros says to Rawhide jovially as he continues to haul Whitelock towards the airlock.

"I don't see how we have to do anything if we just shoot you and that nasty little nano device out into empty space. Seems like that solves all our problems. Any one object to that?"

[John]

Max snaps,

"Objections? Yeah, here's one, opening that hatch may well depressurize the entire shuttle and blast its entire contents into space."

[Drew Buddy]

"We don't know enough about this thing to be certain," Doc says to Tyros.

"Whitelock, how were you planning on activating the device? Is it specifically needed to maintain colony growth?"

[GM Nick]

Whitelock struggles against Tyros' grasp, a feat rendered futile by the lack of gravity.

"I won't tell you anything else until you guarantee my safety!"

[John]

Max lies through his fraggin' teeth,

"I can promise you that no harm will come to you if you tell us everything you know and deliver us safely to the station."

[Elliott]

((Doesn't this ship have its own airlock? How else would it dock with the space station?))

[John]

(( ^ Good point. It certainly seems like it should. ))

[GM Nick]

(( It has an airlock. ))

Daniel turns to Doc.

"The hive is set to time-release. I was going to leave it near the communications array, as that's the location with the most concentrated materials for reproduction."

[Elliott]

"Boy, I'm still not hearing anything that would convince me not to toss you and the nanohive out into space." Looking at his partners, "Seriously, how do all our problems not go away by giving this fragged and his little device what they deserve?"

[Drew Buddy]

"And it would prevent them from calling for help as the station disintegrated around them. You know, you're a really endearing sort of fellow, Whitelock.

So when is it supposed to go off?"

[GM Nick]

Daniel gesticulates wildly towards the airlock.

"Any sudden change in pressure will probably destroy the hive's casing. Those airlock doors will take, what, ten seconds to open? Twenty? By that time, the nanomachines will have quadrupled. They'll recycle this entire shuttle in a matter of hours."

He glances at his wrist-watch. "We have, maybe, two hours. Listen, maybe we got off on the wrong foot. Why not help me? I get what I want and I'll deliver Bell to you."

[John]

Max says to Tyros, giving him a sly wink in the process,

"I said we wouldn't harm him. Put him down, please."

[GM Nick]

Rawhide snorts contemptuously.

"We may be muscle for hire, limey, but we ain't cold blooded murderers."

[Elliott]

"Bullshit, those doors will open instantly without an atmosphere on the other side. I say we flush them." Despite his words Tyros releases his hold and lets Whitelock fall to the floor.

[John]

Max responds,

"The bigger issue here is the hive. I'm sure they have some means of waste disposal aboard the space station, so we'll find a way to destroy it."

Max returns his attention to Whitelock,

"Just because we're not going to kill you doesn't mean we can't make your life uncomfortable. WHEN IS THE HIVE OPENING???"

[GM Nick]

The co-pilot looks over his shoulder.

"Get into some safety webbing, we're approaching the station. And keep that terrorist subdued! Station security is waiting to apprehend him."

Daniel clenches his teeth.

"If you're going to act, you have to do it now."

[John]

Max approaches the pilots,

"Here's the situation, fellas. He's brought something aboard that poses a threat to the passengers on the shuttle if we dock at the main airlock. His intention was to hijack the shuttle and dock at some rear, high security entrance. I suggest that you radio ahead and let them know that we're going to enter the station there to be on the safe side."

[GM Nick]

The co-pilot looks through Max, as his current attention is on the VR input in his brain.

"No, that's not protocol. Whatever the situation is, I'm sure station security can handle it. Initiating primary docking procedures."

[Drew Buddy]

Doc thinks for a moment.

"Daniel, you weren't going to just waltz into a secured area without clearance, were you? You have someone on the station who is taking care of things on their end. Am I right?
So, what's waiting for us when those doors open?"

[John]

While Doc continues to question Whitelock, Max puts his hands on the pilots' shoulders and squeezes slightly. The elf is insisting,

"Look, you guys don't know what you're dealing with here, and this drekbag has brought a technological doomsday device on board that your protocol doesn't account for. I don't want to do this by force, but if you guys continue being this fraggin' dense, we'll have to. If you dock us at the main door, we're all dead, and so is everybody aboard the space station."

[GM Nick]

Intimidation Test

[Intimidation (2) + CHA (5) + Pheromones (1) + First Impression (2) = 5]
3 6 5 4 3 4 6 4 5 6

The co-pilot nods nervously.

"I'll uh... we'll just maneuver around the side.. Rick, we're maneuvering around the side."

[Drew Buddy]

Doc breathes a sigh of relief. He addresses the pilot,

"It's unlikely that these men were doing this alone. We need access to the cargo hold. There's no telling who will be waiting for us on the station."

[John]

Max agrees,

"He's got a point. This asshole undoubtedly has somebody on the inside. He wasn't just going to show up at high security and elbow his way through. Can you please unlock the cargo hold? You have my word, our weapons will be used exclusively for protecting the interests of the space station, the shuttle, and their passengers."