Run Synopsis
Further description of the transient areas on Aurora Station include a boarded up and guarded area between our area and that where we presume the sphere-staff is housed. The entrances thereto require a special pass. We resolve that, no doubt, when we need to function there, either Sam or the Station Commander will provide.
We do spend some time garnering some familiarity with the station "regulars," the most interesting of which seems to be a Russian émigré called Piotr who has paid his air tax for 40 years and, though apparently without duties, knows everyone on the station. But he does not talk about himself albeit he is a fluid conversationalist.
On the return flight we shepherd a cargo of rare earths, mostly Lanthanum, and one box of ashes for Earth-side burial.
Back at Star Port the big news is the revolution in a NAF member nation (Italy). *sigh* Other news from Sam is that the APS agents are infiltrating back into Star Port and Special Catering hasn't been able to keep tabs on all of them.
The 2nd circuit is basically uneventful. The team notices upon return to Star Port that there's a sphere near the port that has changed its position to further out: Section 15. We presume that the "special project" is on schedule per the adjusted schedule to which we are working.
As we prepare for the 3rd circuit the manifest at last reads "Deep Space Survival Equipment." :-) Per usual Boris takes the load lifter to the warehouse which is maintained in low-G. This time he takes Robert to ride shotgun, and Lyle takes a different route so to provide surveillance. Lyle finds a spot where, manifestly, someone else was waiting: the coffee in the cup is cold. In the main area are 2 armored goons guarding a military shipment. Nearby are the boxes our team is to transport. Robert and Boris load of the first of three loads and return to the ship where Chantal maintains watch.
Meanwhile Lyle spots a shoe in a nearby ventilation duct. He attempts to ascertain the condition of the person wearing said shoe without attracting undue attention from other warehouse workers and the military guards but finds it somewhat limiting. He attempts to radio for help from Sam and discovers that the normal lines are being jammed. He reaches the ship and has Chantal bounce a fairly innocent message in clear to Sam via that (unofficial and unacknowledged) Warp Research Station, and asks that Robert return ASAP. It is possible that one of the armored guards has been replaced by an enemy.
Robert arrives only to be hassled by the guard at the gate because he does not have Boris and the load lifter. Eventually he is allowed in at about the time a machine seems to accidentally cross the line between the security and non-security areas of the warehouse. Amidst the alarums, Robert insists that non-authorized personnel stay away from "his" boxes --- and a box between the military cargo and ours explodes! Boxes scatter and workers rush to help. Lyle manages to snag one of our boxes and put a gyro-jet round into someone who appears to want to contest the ownership. Robert takes out one person who seems to be entangled in our webbing - and, seeing another figure approaching through the smoke, fires as that person seems to throw something. Having no other recourse and fearing the worse - a grenade - Robert launches himself at the projectile.
There is another explosion and Lyle sees a body (Robert's ) hurtle out of the smoke and into a wall. By this time Boris has returned to the warehouse, been hassled by the entrance guard, and driven into the smoke and up to the cargo. The armored guards won't let him load, but he does maintain guard while the remainder of the military team appear to clean up and sort things out.
Lyle tries to get the military to find and keep a hand on a man with a gyro-jet wound; Robert recovers consciousness in time to put a similar cautionary out for someone with a blaster injury. Neither enemy agent is found. The body in the ventilation shaft is one of "ours", as we feared.
Chantal waits in the ship, wondering what's going on with the team.
Query: Was the gate guard the actual plant? Was one of the military also a plant - or some fast-moving warehouse worker - that the injured disappeared so effectively?
EPs: 1 each
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