The Marshall Cooperative (T20)

We rescued RDS Sather from Sage's complex (which Sather was using as a lab) and he agreed to come with us. He knew where Cassul and Constance were and it was nice to meet them. Rainwind and the rest of her crew were also there, so we had a delightful reunion. We also decided that we needed more fresh kelp and planned a trip to the kelp world to fetch a batch. Then we'll complete the pair of kelp-based communication and show it to someone important in the Imperium.

However, we also came across another old friend who departed the system shortly after we arrived...and we're not sure where the INS Invincible is headed. Hopefully not Uzdiki, or there may not be any Imperial bigwigs to talk to when we get back.

Follow up:

February 14, 2010

Mike will play Angel because Korey is on IR.

We have stabilized the guards that we iced, took their stuff, and we are to advance somewhere. We drag the guys into the empty storeroom.

The guards are carrying tasers (which are melee touch); if you zap someone, they need to make a save.

Central command calls for Team 2 to check in; Jose calls back and says everything is ok.

There are three doors we’ll pass going to the hatch room. There is a supply room at the end of the hallway and some rooms off the side. At some point nelson finds a weird looking section of wall; he slides it to the side. A cloud of dust greets us, and we find a 3-m wide passage going 12 m in. It looks like there’s weaponry and emergency supplies here, all coated in dust. We check quickly – six pistols (all early Third Imperium – TL 11 (gauss pistols with limited shots); twice as many powerpacks, all dead. Quite a bit of food and some old vac suits. Also some gauss rifles – probably the ammo is not compatible with modern ammo. Nelson grabs a rifle as a museum piece.

Going farther, we find an alcove with a small refresher (snacks only) and four computer terminals. They are ancient and not powered on. It appears that someone has apparently wiped them down lately but nothing else. Refresher is also not used.

Farther on, there is a four-way intersection and a door to one direction. Door is locked. We try one of the keycards and get inside. Modern cleaning supplies in here.

To the right, we find another panel on the wall partway down the hall. We open it up and find more dust, and a passage to a dark room. We look around and find some shelving…on the north wall is a bunch of small pots. There are bottles and strange equipment on the other walls. The lights are trying to come on in here but can’t we use a cold-light lantern to look around. We look at the special stuff first – dust covered urns; first one is labeled, “Sgt. John Shipton, 1st class. Lt. Cmdr…blah blah blah”. These are Imperial Navy burial urns from the 3rd Imperium. This is surprising because the Navy normally spaces casualties. The equipment around here is for dealing with the dead – two coffins, embalming equipment, official flags of the 3rd Imperium in their cases for the Marquis dela Uzdiki. We leave this stuff alone and go back in the hallway.

We find another door in the passage off to the left (that goes north). The end of the hallway has an access panel. It’s decorated, but it’s definitely a panel for some electrical stuff. Pipes with wires go up and down. We close it up and proceed to the door. We open the door and find shelving and some contraptions. Looks like this is a small cargo mover that goes between floors (both up and down). Power light is on. Stuff on the shelves appears to be food and refresher supplies, all current. The table has a prep area. This is the first elevator we’ve seen. It appears that whoever designed this complex must have been some kind of starship-designing moron…who else would use access hatches?

We go back to the intersection and continue to find a door on the right. We see the universal symbol for a bathroom. Nelson uses it and finds it to be normal. Door on the left has a hallway (lights come on ) and leads to a smelly room 24x24 meters. Waste recycling and wastewater treatment. Down the hallway further we find the hatch room. Ahead (since the hatch room is off the main hall) is a larger room. The room appears to be old furniture storage. It’s been moved somewhat recently but stuff is just in a pile.

To the hatch room – it’s in a very large room with no door. Looking down, we see two tables flipped over, but no one is hiding behind. Hm. Hallways go east and west. Jack descends and hides behind the south table; Nelson goes behind the north table to cover the hallways. We get another check-in, no problems. The hallway to the east has a passage north and a door. The west hall has a passage south and a door.

We are on the third level of four. There used to be plaques on the wall but nothing now. It’s hard to say how many times this place has been abandoned and reclaimed. Going east, it splits to the north or a doorway 12 m ahead. We check the door and hear talking behind it. There are people talking and laughing. Angel uses her clairvoyance to look into the room.

The room has a couple of tables, a sink, and three security guards sitting at a table telling stories. They’re packing, but not paying attention. These guys are either Team Three or central control.

We pack the door and Angel pushes the button and we’ll attempt to intimidate them. She calls out, “Freeze! Hands on the table where I can see ‘em!” We move in and cover them…Sergey confiscates three weapons, three tazers, and three weapons.

Jose takes Team 3’s radio; they call in every half-hour.

Jose: We’re not here for you.
Team 3: You’re here for that crazy guy? He’s in the cell to the north.

They’re pretty cooperative, although they’re in a disadvantage. Just them and the prisoner on this level. Scientists and other guys are on level 4; “They’re keeping them down there.” There is a lab down there; “they are trying to see what they can salvage from the crazy guy’s work. That thermal charge did it up pretty good. The crazy guy set it off on the equipment.”

They ask us where we were hiding; we don’t answer. We follow down the hallway to the north 40 meters or so; door ahead and hallway to the left. We go through the hallway; door at the end of that room and another doorway. We find an armored door and they motion that the crazy dude is in there. And he bites. We use their security card and open up the door.

Bed, bowls of food, the room smells funny-bad, a toilet, and a dude sitting on the bed with a straightjacket on.

This dude is the kelp scientist. He recognizes Angel. Nelson cuts him loose; he’s happy, and asks for a comb. He doesn’t say much but says he helped Constance and Cassel escape. He says that he (and his scientists) are captives here and they’re his boys. This was his facility…

A: Whose place are we trespassing in?
RDSS: I found this place; it’s mine. The guards are Sage’s.

Sage never ran this place. Sage found him, though; he located the place when he was borrowing John’s cabin on vacation.

10 years ago he used the cabin; Sage hasn’t been here in a long time because the cabin’s too small. Out hiking, he found the entrance and explored it; two reactors in an old, stupid military place. He set it up just in case, and it turns out now was the time. He came here and about ¾ the way through “the project…and you know which project”, Sage told him about the advantages he’d have. He figured he’d be emperor in five years. He’s like a cockroach in a suit…but we got along. I made him rich, and he put up with me. It worked for a while, and his hands have never been clean before, but to destabilize the Imperium or secede? Pff! There’s been enough war. And this, more than anything I’ve done, could make a difference.

Do you want to get out? We’d need to be pretty violent to get the rest of your people out.

He’s tempted to get his people, but no. He says we don’t need notes or anything because Cassel and Constance left with the prototypes. C and C left here around the time we came back from Angel’s planet. He’s surprised that they haven’t tried to communicate with us.

There is a second way out other than the front door, so he tells us to follow him and starts to run. We go through a secret passage into a hidden machine room. There’s a stack pipe with a hatch; it’s an anti-grav chute built out of the minivan’s engine. Perhaps Constance and Cassel are dead in the top of the chute? We send Jack first.

Jack hurtles up and out of the chute, hits a deflector, and lands in a pile on a rocky plateau. He’s bruised but alive. We all fly out unceremoniously.

He points out all the crushed vegetation and says something was here; Jose figures it could be as big as a fartrader. RDSS looks at one of our throwaway communicators, hacks on it, and checks his voicemail…3000 new messages.

The reactor went critical and blew up around 2 months ago.

RDSS’s phone rings, and he answers it. He says we’ll wait. Turns out it’s Edward Derkins, and he’s got a lady Amaryllis with him.

Jose: I guess we’ll wait, then…

Angel: Where would Cassel have gone?
RDSS: What would you do with it? Empress?
Angel: I get shot at enough as a Marquesa, thank you.

We see a large air car land, and Derkins gets out. A lady looking like Amaryllis is in the front seat (maybe). We hop inside the car and depart; Derkins says there is a lot of radio traffic.

Amaryllis is ok; she was not near the blast. We mention we have a starship, but the Pocahontas is apparently being inspected by a division of Sage Enterprises. Arthur is a few minutes from here.

Derkins: I don’t like you, but this isn’t about 100k credits. But things don’t appear to be what they seem. I’ve been removed from the case, and am on leave of absence to “regain perspective”.
A: I’m sorry to hear that.
Jose: What have you come here for then?
D: You know what it takes to get a senior IFIS agent off a case?
J: You’d have to be wealthy and powerful…one man comes to mind.

Sather’s phone was a way to contact Derkins, but Bump was the key to find us…Derkins was in orbit watching ships waiting for us. He found the ship’s boat and then found Mr. Bump.

Derkins broke Amaryllis out, but he doesn’t think that the deception’s going to last long. The one in charge of the investigation is now near retirement and is known to be “flexible”. The ass’t DA assigned is young, ambitious, and driving a new expensive vehicle.

We’re going to find Arthur, then we’re not sure where we’re going.

Derkins says he’ll be wanted shortly. He says that Rainwind disappeared from the registry around the time of the blast—no departure notice—and our men are not dead. No bounty on her, either. It’s as if she didn’t even exist. The commandant of the up-port is closed-mouthed and hostile; I’ve never been escorted off by Marines before. Something bad happened, and I don’t know what. So what’s so important?

Jose: We needed to find Cassel to clear our names. And the doctor has worked on something interesting.
Nelson: The doctor has recreated intergalactic communication—virus-free.
RDSS: Yes…

Sage wants to become emperor, and he can either buy prestige or get it by setting up a new galactic net.

It turns out the Sage’s daughter (the altruistic one) and Cassel have a prototype. We need to leverage these pieces (doctor, prototype, etc.) and get them out of Sage’s hands and into the Imperium, hopefully with enough gratitude to clear our names—and maybe slap Sage down a bit.

Perhaps Rainwind rescued Cassel and Constance…but we have no idea where they went.

Of course, RDSS has an idea…he’ll tell us if we take him with. No problem! Do we know what Longbow is? Jose does…research stations set up on the rimward edges by Emperor Straephon (last emperor of the 3rd Imperium).

These stations were set up to study the Empress Wave (only Avery knows what that was and he’s not telling). The stations were forgotten or abandoned, so RDSS borrowed one – Cromartey Longbow Research Station. A sim friend of his runs it.

We would address Derkins as Inspector.

We could use a starship, and the Pocahontas is probably being watched. Scouts, trader ship (near or far), rich friends, mercs.

Jack calls “old Snouty”, his Scout friend Jim Denvers.
Snouty: Jack? Aren’t you wanted? I’m just kidding, I know you’re wanted.
Jack: I’m looking for some transport.
Snouty: I got a spare system boat if you’re interested.
Jack: Need something a little longer-range than that.
Snouty: A starship, eh? Hm. Can you come by and talk about it? I might be able to do something, but I don’t know, son.
Jack: I could probably arrange a meetup.
Snouty: I’m out in the desert, I’ll send you the coordinates now.

Snouty is the local busy-body and is pretty well connected. He might not rat out Jack; he seems like he can’t get out of the game. We pull up on Snouty’s place; there’s a ship’s boat and a big ranch.

Jack and Snouty drink some cheap beer and discuss a ship. It turns out Snouty and some “Canterbury” have one; it’s a scouter, but it’s pretty old. I would probably be ok to take out of system. But it’s truly vintage, and almost certainly spaceworthy.

Jack: What would it take to get her for a couple months of use?
Snouty: I normally wouldn’t give it up for nothing…but you and that blonde woman have been in the papers and tri-d’s…you behind her in that burning car, and the thing with the Rainwind and Gigakuuli. You never asked anyone for nothing, ever. I assume this is important and more than just for you?
J: I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.
Snouty: I reckon you can take her. It’s no gift; it’s a 300-year-old used starship. I will warn you I disconnected every radio I could find, but there’s no virus cutouts. It shouldn’t be able to receive anything. I installed a comms I scavenged, and I replaced the old transponder because that was direct-connected to the computer. In theory, the computer’s isolated but you never know—back in those days, stuff was radio-controlled. We also messed with the hyperdrive just a little.
J: Like what?
Snouty: It was a little slow (1x). It should be 3x now, in theory. Haven’t tested it yet, though. Imperials have been awful sticky about near-orbit experiments you know. Low-berth is in good order though. Everything important to men like us is working.

Snouty asks Arthur why he’s not in the scouts; Arthur says it’s because they do dangerous stuff; Jose says it’s because they do background checks.

We pull up on a porcuswine barn and find a starship. Sides of the ship are scarred; there is a lot of new plating, but this sucker is meteorite worn. It looks more or less ok. Central computer is called “hog”, and it’s got some quirks. We head into the barn to check things out.

We try to pressurize the ship to see if it holds pressure. It *does* hold, but the scrubber doesn’t work too well. The ship smells funny. The scrubber isn’t Imperial (it’s in a different language) but it’s working, mostly. It’s of Aslan design. And the hyperdrive has a big orange box on it…a friend of his who races yachts put it on and claims it will get ‘er up to 3x. There are a lot of areas converted to fuel storage, with bladders at least.

While we’re looking, Derkins walks in and tells it that someone turned on the GPS on the aircar. We probably don’t have much time.

Jose: We’ll take it. Start coming up with your excuse about someone stealing your starship.
Snouty: Don’t worry about me. My time in space is done anyway, it makes my back hurt.

Arthur starts to fire it up and is dismayed when the ship talks to him. Snouty hands us a card with the master password for the computer (HMS Walkerton), then hops off because some aircars are coming.

Sather is unhappy, but straps in. Amaryllis also straps in. The ship has brand new vac suits (the expensive ones) – Rigatos manufacture, of course. We all get in our respective suits (those of us with tailored suits do so).

The university has a 600-ton research freighter; it needs a crew of 30 (jump 2, though). We may not need it…

There is an aircar in front of us; Arthur says he can go over or through it. The ship has an autocannon turret on the front and missile turrets below. 100 rds for the autocannon; the missile rack shows fully loaded and armed even though it’s not deployed.

Nelson gets on the comms and tells the aircar, “We’re armed. Move!” Except the external speakers are offline. We edge forward gently…Jack attempts to fire a couple rounds with the autocannon over the aircar’s roof, but it aims low…and paints it. We have a paintball aircannon. The ship also loses some air when this happens.

The ship says we have incoming communications, but the ship can’t access it. Jack answers; it’s the sheriff who tells Snouty he’s not authorized to fly this. A blue and white aircar floats nearby but can’t stop us.

Sather plots us a course, then we remind him we’re low on gas. He sets us a new course.

Alvik up-port hails us; we let it go to voice mail. Arthur says he doesn’t have any sensors, so he has to look out the windows. Nelson tries to fix them, but apparently the sensors themselves are broken. Once we’re in orbit, we notice that the Naval base is launching ships. We tell Arthur to hit it because close enough to see is close enough to fire. The inertial compensators kick in and out; Derkins is white-knuckling it, Amaryllis pukes, and Sather hisses.

We try to kick in the plus-light drive and apparently you need the big red button *and* the extra control panel. The ship is really rough…Amaryllis and Derkins are both puking violently, and Sather finds this most amusing.

It takes three times as long as expected, but once the plus-light is reached, we find we’re going 3-x. Nice.

Sather asks Angel what she’s going to do with the prototype and the plans.

A: Turn them over, and possibly you, over to the Imperials.
Jose: We need to find the right guys to turn them over to, or they’ll do the same thing that Sage was going to do.

Sather finds this amusing and wants to know what Jose used to do.
Sergey: Hard time.

Nelson fixes the sensors (which weren’t plugged in). The ship wants to know who the commanding officer is; we tell it Angel Rigatos. It knows she’s a Marquesa. The ship has been on 4374 missions, it tells us.

The ship has no idea how far to the fuel station…the hyperdrive controls are not hooked up to the main computer.

Nelson calibrates the sensors once we’re out of hyperdrive, and we prepare to nab some fuel and food. Nelson, Jack, and Jose go to get fueled up and borrow another autochef. Arthur checks the ship for fuel leaks and finds nothing. We break in and get us an autochef. The ship also fills up with water; it was apparently empty. We fill to the point of overloading the toilet. We get an autochef. The station is going to take our picture, has recorded our registration (which is out of date), etc. Sather says he’ll repay Snooty later.

Sather programs us in another hyperspace route that will bring us in outside the research station; we need to be careful because there are more criminals there.

Derkins: You’re all criminals…me too.
Jose: Thanks for saving me the breath, Derkins.

Several weeks pass with us sleeping in shifts; there are hammocks (some of us are feeling at home). Sather and Nelson fix the wastewater reclamation.

Nelson fixes up the fuel scoops, but the air reclamation system does not reveal its problems. It still smells like cat in here.

We eventually come out of lightspeed at a gas giant to fill up, and it appears that there is something there. Something is scooping gas way lower than it should be able to. It’s a ship, and a big one. It does not have a transponder signal. Is this thing virus? Well, it’s bigger than anything currently produced.

Sather comes up, keys in some coordinates, and says the Cromartey research station is (that way). We don’t get a power signature from the station. Uh oh!

Apparently the big ship wasn’t here last time Sather was here. Either the ship is either really well shielded or it’s not manned, or the crew would be dead.

Sather asks why you’d go deep in to the star? The ship would start losing its skin integrity. The ship would flood and pressurize anyone in a vac suit, killing them.

That ship is not moving. Sather says it’s been a decade since he’s been here, but he’s had contact since.

We figure we can either screw with the ship in the sun (not happening) or go for the research station and find out what’s going on.

Missile rack contains fuel, no missiles.

We cruise up to the station, and after 7 hours we find no power signature. Sather hails them and waits for a response. We hear a doorbell go ding-dong over the speakers.

S: Cute. Wharton has such a sense of humor.

The response from Wharton was minimal; this could be because they’re trying to hide from whatever’s sunbathing. We pull into an internal dock; the other three bay doors are shut. We don’t get a response when we dock, and the door doesn’t close.

We run a cable back for Sather to hook up to Wharton. He chats with us briefly. Wharton asks about “it”, a superdreadnought, and it disappeared. We say it went into the gas giant.

The visual shows a heavily damaged but repaired ship. It doesn’t appear to be Navy repair. Nothing like this has been made in 150 years. They shut down the station when that ship came into system to hide. It’s been here for three days. We will have to go out in suits to get into the station because the station doesn’t have power to close the doors.

We get inside and meet Sim Wharton. We introduce ourselves, and it recognizes the two soldiers and Angel. Wharton shows us the video of the superdreadnought passing by with its running lights on. Jack recognizes the sequence as an old Solarian Naval code that a lot of scouts use for distress or radioless commo: “I AM LUCAN”. He doesn’t tell us this, but as far as we know there was only one Lucan SD left after the battle of Gateway. Avery’s ship left the INS Invincible behind as it left…no one saw Invincible die, but everyone thought it was destroyed. That was probably the most advanced battle computer ever made…and that’s why there is a statue to Lucan on Uzdiki. Without Lucan there wouldn’t have been the Virus or the Dominate, but Lucan broke mankind free as well.

Wharton tells us that Rainwind is here, so he gives her the comms. She greets the party and “the new meatbags”. She says that Captain Vos would speak with us directly. She wants to know how Cade is; we tell her he’s dead. She says that Vos will have a reunion once the other ship leaves or kills us; Old Bill is despondent. Rainwind won’t tell us who else came with her.

Wharton takes over and tells us to follow the blinking lights, and he’ll show us the rest of the crew. Then he tells Rainwind she’s most rude and that he doesn’t even *have* that orifice, like no Sim does.

We see Cassul and Constance there with the rest of the crew. Cassul starts apologizing almost immediately. He says that the money went to drugs and gambling; Constance slugs him, then he mentions that it was a communication system.

Sergey: IF you ask your father pretty-please not to kill us, would that work?
Constance: Honestly, he’s got a bit of a temper.
Nelson: Megalomania too?
Constance: (looks upset)
Cassul: Please? It’s hard enough.

Old Bill pulls Jack away and they start whispering.
OB: Did you see that MF ship and the MF running lights? Did you tell them that?
Jack: …shakes head no…
OB: What are we going to do?

Sather laughs and asks if there’s trouble. Jack says no.

Cassul: So do you want to see it?
Jose: Sure. What’s the plan?
Cassul: Well I had a plan and left some clues, until some people tried to kill us a lot?
Angel: What was in the box? Scouters damaged it.
Cassul: That explains why you never came to get me. Well, it wouldn’t have worked anyway. IT had a microchip with a readout of the plans for the product and a note from me about what was happening. That turned out to be correct; we didn’t know if Sage would release it or share it. We thought that would just be commercial, but Constance (puts his hand on her shoulder) found out differently.
Cassul: If it was just making a ton of money I wouldn’t have done anything. But subverting the Moot and declaring himself Emperor by right of assassination was too much. He had the rank to do it, just kill Avery by his own hand if he had the Moot in his pocket.
Jack: He’d have stepped right in?
Cassul: If you own the Moot and have the money, yes. I ran a simulation that showed 3-5 years; I’m friends with the Ampanan city sewer Sim, and it said five years that way to get the money and power. If he kept the tech for himself, he could have bought some Dukes and done the right of assassination sooner if he subverted the Navy.
Jose: have you slowed him down?
Cassul: Well, yes.

He shows us the contents of his case – it’s got a commo rig with “the magic” inside…Sather laughs and says you’d need a larger one for high throughput – but this would be enough for shipboard use. This one will work for testing—but you need a second one. The second one was built, but he burned it (along with his lab). He’s got the plans…but the kelp needs to be modified and grown. Proper facilities and a kelp sample – three to four months to get enough for another demo unit—and plus-light speed radio equipment (subspace radio). That can be found – many hulks from older eras (like the Invincible) have subspace radios.

There’s a lab here – the Longbow research station. The Empress Wave is six years from here, and he doesn’t know what’s going to happen when it hits. We need to ask Avery that.

No unmodified kelp here, but there is a sealed sample of modified kelp in the first unit. But it’s not appropriate to grow more of.

We can’t just go to Avery (or whoever) without a working pair because it’s not real yet. We need kelp to make one.

We could take our jalopy (x3) or Rainwind (x2, but more reliable—but with less fuel capacity).

Vos says that he’s friends with a high-ranking Rear Admiral…if we had something to show him, he could get us an audience with the Grand Duke or the Emperor. But Sather’s word isn’t worth much. Sather says, “there are always doubters…”

Vos says he thinks we’d need to get a working unit to show the Grand Duke etc. There is kelp on Uzdiki but it’s in Sage’s facility.

Nelson asks Bill how far we could jump Rainwind if we added fuel capacity. We *can* convert the internal compartments, and the easiest way is a bladder. This will allow Jump 4 all the way; external tanks may give us Jump 5. However, we’d need to use the upper or lower ladder exits. If we put a lab on the ship for growing kelp, we wouldn’t be able to add fuel.

If we depart at Jump 4, it will take us 14 weeks each way. We’ll have to stop for food every 28 days but we’ll have time for that. Jack has a course plotted that allows reprovisioning.

Rainwind doesn’t want to add bladders but she’ll do it. She says she’s unhappy with the Navy’s psychological assessment sim.

Vos: She cleared the assessment, then one of us stole her.

Jack: There was no record of you existing in the spaceport, by the way.
Rainwind: Well, we were clearly chased. And the commandant is probably in trouble for being unable to keep a Fartrader in port.

As far as the residence, Reginald Vos was surprised to hear it was blown up. Shelly is now happy that she came along.

Bill wants to talk to Arthur and Jack, and will talk to Nelson later. He leaves nervously. Rainwind is unsure why there is all the fuss and says, “didn’t my kind almost kill you all over this kind of system?”

Wharton: Rainwind, it’s not “my kind”.

Sergey goes to check the medbays on Rainwind in preparation for some work. Wharton talks to Vos and Angel and mentions that Walkerton has left the bay.

Angel: Who took it?

Apparently Wharton’s sensors are down because they’re in low power. The mandoor is cycled.

We start looking for Jack; he doesn’t answer his comms. Rainwind says that she can scan if we open the door, which Jose does. We keep calling for Jack and don’t get an answer. Rainwind says that the Walkerton is on an intercept with the gas giant. Rainwind says we can’t catch the Walkerton, just blow it up. All Rainwind’s missiles are accounted for, and the Walkerton couldn’t have actually mounted one anyway.

Nelson starts working on fuel bladders. Jose starts pondering trade opportunities for the trip to the kelp planet.

Jack, Bill, and Arthur start coasting when the SDN starts to emerge from the gas giant. They turn on the lights when they cut the engines. When the transponder beeps, they check the code and it’s “INS Invincible, Flagship of the Imperium”. It’s got the markings of the Emperor’s personal ship. Transponder automatically responds.

Jack signals: All hail Lucan!

The ship turns and points out-system and flashes a message: I WILL RETURN. AWAIT ME, LOYAL SUBJECT.

Upon a profile view, it has the wrong silhouette. It’s been added to.

About an hour later, Wharton responds that there are transponder codes and is freaking out. It starts answering, “Yes, um, never mind. Mistake.”

Sather says Wharton is a lousy liar. Rainwind says she “Received it as well”…but she’s withholding the information for Angel and Vos only. It’s pants-crappingly frightening, as Jack would say. She says it’s the INS Invincible.

Jose: Would someone fake it?
Rainwind: You could fake the codes, but it’s hard to fake a SDN.

Rainwind suggests we check the transponder codes for a viral seed. Nelson checks the transponder seed and it *is* a baby Lucan, but it’s apparently been modified from other Lucan seeds. Rainwind analyzes a visual copy and says that no one other than Lucan is Lucan—this would be a “son of Lucan” if it flowers. Nelson purges both Wharton and Rainwind.

Transponder codes were the original way the virus spread until Humaniti started to separate transponders from ship controls.

That’s all for tonight…500 XP for last week and this week.