04/12/2014 – Fighting their Way Up (3)
The crew check these two men out. They are wearing the combat flak armour of Federation Marines, although they are almost certainly mercenaries. They are carrying little of interest except guns and communicators.
It is clear they used some large, cargo grav lifts that appear to still be working to come down here from the upper levels. They decide to use these to get up to the upper levels of the station.
As they ascend, they are able to see that the large amorphous blob has a large super structure of support around it, some of which has recently been broken. It seems its shape was not compatible with the shape of the station. There are a number of large construction machines and robotic arms on the top part of the upper level and the bottom part of the lower level, but they are currently inactive.
Another Fire Fight
When they reach level 3, the grav lift is stopped by what looks like another Federation Mercenary at a console. They are then covered by three other Merc with laser guns pointed at them. Behind these three, Clegg is stood and he tells them to surrender.
Ace suddenly says to Clegg who he is, and Clegg knows his name. Ace orders him to have his men put down their guns, he is a Colonel and they should follow his orders.
Clegg and the former Marines hesitate. Ace tries to give an explanation to Clegg about how they ended up here, but this just seems to leave Clegg less impressed. So Ace fires at him, wounding him.
A fire fight then ensues. Drent is wounded by laser fire, and so is Ace despite his armour. These Marines are good shots and hold their ground, but Ace does what he can to draw their fire while the rest of the party overwhelm them with fire.
Clegg flees during the battle.
Ace gets the final Marine to surrender, and he puts down his gun, giving his name, rank and serial number.
Ace uses his authority as a Colonel to get the marine to tell them what is going on. He doesn’t seem to know much, but says they are making a ship, but the scientists turned on them and had to be killed. The remaining scientists are barricaded up in the power plant. He says Clegg has most likely retreated to the Command Centre.
They spend some time unsure what to do with this guy. Ace wants to take him with them as a useful source of information. Grant suggests they tie him up. Finally, Cyrus takes out a tranquiliser and puts him to sleep for several hours.
The station suddenly begins to shake, which lasts a good five minutes. They look out and see the amorphous blob is changing shape, becoming thinner and more defined. Mary says she can sense something about it is alive, not in a sentient way, it has no mind, but it feels alive.
Level 2
They proceed up the stairs to level 2. They pass some large engines for manoeuvring the station and move towards the sound of the power station. They enter a dormitory / habitation area, which is in darkness because all the lights have been shot out. Ace begins to check the dorms one by one, something that bores Grant, and he gets Cyrus to lead off checking the other direction. Mary stays with Ace.
Cyrus passes the power plant, with no obvious sign of how to gain entry. He reaches another section and is surprised by an unknown figure who puts a gun to his face. About the same time, Ace sees with his infrared a figure watching him from the end of the corridor.
The guy with the gun to Cyrus’s face has him drop his weapon and tell his friends to back off. The figure asks who the hell they are and what they are doing here.
Cyrus grins and says he’s not really sure himself, they just stumbled on the place by accident. This guy is incredulous - this is hardly the place you find by accident. Well it’s not as simple as that, says Cyrus.
Cyrus makes out this man is wearing what looks like similar Federation uniform to the others, but it is a different design. Dirk recognises it as Space Navy uniform – he’s not a marine but a pilot.
Tarrant
The figure asks if they are with Clegg, which they all deny and say he tried to kill them. He seems to relax at this, and then Cyrus notices he appears to be in pain. He offers him medical attention and this is accepted.
He takes them into the dark dormitory area and into a little place he has been using as home. He says his name is Captain Del Tarrant. He and his friend Kerr are the only survivors of the Navy Officers on the station, after Clegg tried to kill them.
Tarrant was Clegg’s second in command. He had orders to kill all the scientists on the station when the mission was over, but he seemed to get crazier as time went on and decided to kill them off early. Things went wrong when one of the scientists realised Clegg was going to kill them. Enough of them survived and locked themselves in the Power Plant, switching off all the power to the station and setting the power plant on overload when Clegg tried to gain entry, which caused him to back off.
Tarrant sabotaged the Endurance, the Heavy Freighter docked below, but he knows how much damage there is and what is needed to repair it. He is also pleased to hear they have their own ship. He is told about the attack by fighters and says Clegg has no pilots. They are all dead. It must have been Marines piloting the fighters. No wonder they could not hit.
Anyway, Clegg seemed to blame the failure to kill the scientists on Tarrant and it was clear he was coming to distrust him. Tarrant planned to escape, but Clegg seemed to realise this and shot him by surprise. Fortunately, Tarrant was able to shoot his way out with the remaining Navy Officers, most of whom were killed. Only he and Kerr survived, hiding in this lower section. His wound has been getting worse and he has been surviving on stims and painkillers, but he has ran out.
It is clear that Kerr is young and inexperienced but loyal to Tarrant and knows how to move about quietly.
Clegg has about 10 men working for him, and they think they have killed about 5 of them. He always leaves some watching the power plant, so he can’t have many men left.
Tarrant suggests they get out of here as fast as they can. This place drives people crazy. Leave Clegg to stew.
Ace is filled in on the situation and they all meet up. Tarrant is given medical attention by Cyrus while Ace and Grant discuss what to do next, whether they can trust Tarrant and whether to leave or try to deal with Clegg and rescue the scientists.
Ace is inclined to finish Clegg off and Grant wants to rescue the scientists and learn more about the ship.