As the party approaches the main reactor, they encounter an unknown man floating in the hall with his throat cut. A little further along, they encounter two of Cooter’s men talking. They overhear mention that one of them is a former member of the Ryoken – the elite guard of the Draconis Combine. The man in question, Lev Arris, hears the marines approaching and surrenders on behalf of himself and a young man named William. The party disarms them both, and shortly thereafter Sergeant Major Barrett drifts out of the dark, having been stalking the two intruders. He informs Becker that he’s fairly certain Torres is dead, and that Millet and Cottle are holed up in the sleeper bay. He had no knowledge of the whereabouts of Chief Fagan or Chief Kim. He also mentions that he and Summerville parted ways several hours previously, he to secure the reactor and Summerville to disable the ship’s computer.
Lev Arris is of no particular help to the party, he insists that he is an Outreach mercenary under contract and will not betray his employer until his contract is concluded – but, he adds, he’s under no particular compulsion to escape captivity, especially if said captivity gets him out of Persephone. He does mention that the leader of the boarding party is a man named Victor, who he mentions is “violent, dangerous, and stupid”. Becker leaves three marines to secure the reactor, and then drops off the two prisoners at the Wild Card on their way to the centrifuge.
They find Millet and Cottle in the sleeper bay, none the worse for wear, and move on to the CIC. In an attempt to break out of the small lounge they used to enter the deck, Janks accidentally make a noise, but as the guards approach, there’s a burst of gunfire from down the hall, distracting them. The party uses the distraction to invade the deck. During the ensuing firefight, an intruder attempts to flank the party and take out Becker, but is stopped by Summerville, who definitely looks like he’s had better days.
The party engages a number of men int he process of securing the CIC – in the process several marines are killed, and Jack, Janks, Stella, and Geers are all critically wounded. They also find Chief Fagan, naked, raped, beaten, and nearly catatonic. Corbet and Barrett rush to stabilize the fallen while Becker checks in with all of her men. The session ends with Gerst and Bramer noting that one of the marines who went forward to secure the rest of the deck hadn’t returned.
Colonel Becker’s log, 31st of May, 3020 (cont)
That went better, I suppose, than I had the right to hope. Granted, we have lost people, and several down with injuries, but considering how many we were up against, so far, we have come out ahead. Unless, of course, they have killed the ones who still are sleeping. Let us hope not; it makes no sense, even, or especially if they want the ship operational, they need people who know her.
We still need to purge the ship of enemies, and figure out, if possible, if they sent any signals to Cooter about us yet. If not, well, we have, I hope, a little bit more time. But we still need to get this ship operational. Fast. And then, then we’ll see.