Prison Pit
- Characters
- Prison Library
- Logs 1
- Logs 2
- Jailbreak
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Paradise Hotel, Shelnat Island, Inversar, 09:30 local time 156/1106
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Martha and Alice had taken one each of the more sensible of the civilian survivors and trained them as loaders, to hand prepared gauss rifles with RAM grenades to them as they fought, and to retrieve the ammunition should they be forced to retreat. Alice had not neglected to return to the blasted landing and re-lay her effective trap.
Just after dawn, the sentries reported sounds of rapidly approaching Model Vr 'saurs. Alice and Martha were roused and split up, arriving one at each end of the fortified floor just in time to hear the savage flat crack of the flechette grenades detonating and the wavering eldritch shriek of a wounded Vr. There was no time to celebrate, however. More of the monsters were scrambling up the stairs towards the defenders.
East Lobby, Fourth Floor, Paradise Hotel 09:30 local time 156/1106
The doors between the lobbies and the stairwells were long gone - mostly to the barricades - so Alice was able to get a bead on them as soon as they cleared the stairs. Her rocket grenade flew neatly through the doorway to strike a Vr on the upper foreleg. The explosion blasted most of the limb off, but apart from screaming and bleeding this didn't seem to slow the 'saur's advance. "Reload!" she snapped, pushing the rifle into her loader's hands and grabbing its' replacement.
West Lobby, Fourth Floor, Paradise Hotel 09:30 local time 156/1106
 DM Note: Gord took on the role of Martha's Guard, and Derek that of Alice's Guard. Despite this they seemed to do quite well! :). |
At the other end of the fortifications, Martha launched her own grenade. Her aim was just a bit off, however, and her missile struck the wall to the side of the door. Drilling more than half-way through the concrete, the grenade exploded, sending chunks of concrete tearing through the stairwell. Two of the Vr's were struck and lightly wounded, but not enough to make them even pause. Martha grabbed her second rifle from her loader. "Open fire, you fool!" she screamed at the white-faced Tallis security guard standing next to her. Settling his shoulders, the man raised his gaussrifle and fired a long burst, battering the 'saur backwards. It smacked into the concrete wall and slid down it, leaving a long bloody smear. The guard stared in disbelief, then released his magazine to bounce across the floor and slapped in another one.
East Lobby, Fourth Floor, Paradise Hotel 09:31 local time 156/1106
The guard at Alice's barricade was also doing well; his first burst ripped into a 'saur at about waist height and tore upwards, nearly splitting it in half, and his second finished off the one wounded by Alice's grenade.
West Lobby, Fourth Floor, Paradise Hotel 09:31 local time 156/1106
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The final Vr padded menacingly across the lobby, its claws scraping on the polished marble floor. The security guard was still reloading and the oncoming 'saur was too close for another RAM grenade. With an earsplitting yell, Martha thrust her rifle towards the beast, jammed the trigger down, and held it there until the weapon clicked to empty. The wild, half-panicked fusillade sent the 'saur staggering backwards, jerking and twitching as the bullets tore though it, to drop into a boneless heap when the ammunition was expended.
East Lobby, Fourth Floor, Paradise Hotel 09:32 local time 156/1106
As the last of the three Vr's closed on Alice, she stayed calm, taking the next rifle from her loader's shaking hands. Drawing a precise aim, she sent the grenade straight into its neck. The explosion sent its head flying up to smack into the ceiling before dropping to splatter on the floor. Quiet fell, broken only by a whoop of victory from one of the guards.
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With the bodies pitched down the stairs and the traps re-set, Alice and Martha left their now-ebullient troops on watch and went to find Dr Harohi. He was in the bedroom of Gripper's suite, in bed and bandaged. "You told us there were twenty of these buggers," grated Martha, "and we've just killed the 22nd.... How many are there really?" Harohi sniffed. "I never told you that," he said honestly enough, "one of my less bright technicians told you that. There are 25 in the current hatch. I just hope enough have survived for us to save the project; you people have destroyed a fortune in product."
This was too much for Martha. Grabbing the oriental by his collar she heaved his thin form bodily out of the bed and dragged him screaming to the window, shaking off Dr Blake as he vainly tried to intervene. She was just lifting him when Alice called sharply; "STOP!" Martha paused, and Harohi looked hopeful. Alice went rapidly through Harohi's pockets, then patted him gently on the cheek. "All your fault, you know," she murmured, then nodded to Martha. With a heave, Big Bird pitched the scientist out of the window. Screaming and flailing, he plunged four floors to a messy death on the concrete car park. Staring in horror, the doctor scuttled out of the room.
Lab Three, SHelnat island, 10:30 local time 156/1106
Manx shook his head. The guard 'saur's tail strike had ripped right along the side of the speeder, tearing through quite a few important systems. The vehicle wasn't going anywhere for a while.
The vehicles parked at Lab Three weren't much better; for some reason the Sg's seemed to have regarded them as a threat and had stomped them into scrap. One yielded a toolkit, though, and spare parts were possible. Manx rolled up his sleeves and set to. "Couple of hours," he said thoughtfully. Gripper turned his attention to the buildings.
As he did so the surviving Model Sg struggled up onto its' three remaining legs and started to limp towards him. Almost casually he launched a RAM grenade at it, which struck just between the rear pair of legs and disappeared inside. A heavy muffled explosion made Gripper wince. The rear of the Sg's body shuddered and appeared to change shape, and it collapsed into a pool of blood. "You won't be having any more trouble with that," commented Gripper. Manx chuckled, and made a quick call on his helmet comm to update Alice and Martha on the situation.
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The easiest way in was through the large doors - or where they'd been, before they escaping saurs had trashed them. Peering cautiously in, he discovered a large open loading area, backing onto the huge ramps leading down into darkness below. The upper area was lit by the morning sun coming in through the doorway - and through the gaping hole in the back wall where Manx' miss had blasted a chunk out. The main doorway where he stood had been guarded by a ten-bar laser fence, now cold and useless, as had the entrance to the other half of the building. Gripper walked slowly and alertly across the bay to the doorway and through to the laboratories.
In the centre the second area was a cluster of labs, glazed on all four sides and packed with computers, gene sequencers, electron microscopes and smaller gear. The neatness and order was marred by extensive damage, where several large creatures appeared to have smashed through the flass partitions. Battered and broken equipment was scattered everywhere, mingled with the ripped corpses of several scientists. Gripper glanced around, but there seemed no sign of any survivors. There seemed no sign of 'saurs either, so Gripper felt safe in calling out in case anyone was hiding. Rather to his surprise, he heard a faint response from the offices to his right.
As he walked over, his nose wrinkled. Apart from the expected stench of death, a strange, appetizing scent caught his attention, increasing as he approached the offices. It was.... curry?
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As he reached the office, the door opened and a short, thin man of asian appearance came hesitantly out. He was a remarkable sight; his white coat and pinstriped trousers were covered in what appeared to be a variety of different coloured powders. The smell of curry was overpowering, and Gripper realized that this was what had saved this man; he'd had the presence of mind to douse himself in the stuff, completely masking his own scent.
Anil Singhvi was the company rep from Gujpurat Defence Systems, the customer who'd commissioned the 'saurs for low-tech wars on the largely asian planets of the Rishi Main. He was, Gripper thought, possibly the most frightened person he'd ever seen - piracy victims notwithstanding. It took quite a bit of coaxing to get him to leave his office, but once he did, he secured the keys from Harohi's office and led the way to the stores at the other end of the building. Sliding back a door, he revealed a rack rather like a rifle rack, stocked with twenty long prods.
As Gripper emerged pushing a lab trolley piled with prods, Manx straightened from where he was working and rubbed his back, then eyed Gripper's companion with amused curiosity. Like Gripper, he was struck by Singhvi's state of utter terror, now mingled with some horror at the number of the creatures his company had paid for that had been killed. "Show us how they work, then," said Gripper and Singhvi picked up one of the prods. "It's really easy," he said, advancing on the dead Sg. "Just press this button as you poke it." There was a sharp electric snap and a crackle of energy, and Manx started. "Excellent," he said. "Now get up on that wreck there and keep a watch out for more monsters. If you don't warn me when they attack us I'll shoot you before I do them." Gripper turned the trolley around and headed back for another load.
Paradise hotel, shelnat island, 10:00 local time 156/1106
| DM Note: The initial vid selection of Aliens wasn't, on reflection, ideal! |
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Still unable to believe that the designers of the island had put all their fusion eggs in one concrete basket, Martha had located a battery-powered holovid player and set it up for the survivors, playing an assortment of light entertainment to improve morale. Next she turned to one of the robot staff. "You! Go down to the kitchens and prepare food for these people. Cold will do if there's no power. The 'saurs don't seem to regard you as food or a threat." The robot produced a waiter's order pad from some internal pocket and started asking people what they'd like. Martha left it to it.
Alice located Dr Blake. "Wake Ms Wallis, please," she said. The medic eyed her a little coldly. "Are you proposing to throw her out of the window as well?" he asked in a low voice. Alice frowned. "I'm not a murderess," she said, "I don't hold with unneccessary killing. But this mess is largely Harohi's fault, and he didn't care two credcents. He deserved it." The doctor shrugged, but his voice was normal again a few minutes later when he told Alice that Wallis was conscious.
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Rosalie Wallis was groggy but clear-headed when Alice sat down beside her bed. "How bad is it?" she asked faintly. "We've saved 32 here," said Alice, "there's at least four alive at the Complex and one at Lab Three - your customer I believe. Don't know about the landing pad. Harohi didn't make it." Wallis grimaced. "That's a big blow. He'll leave a big hole in the project." He left a big hole in the car park thought Alice. "How do you do repairs here?" she asked. "The maintbots take care of it all," replied Wallis. "Can you get us power diagrams so we can splice in a replacement supply?" Wallis nodded. "They're in the Complex computer," she said. Alice drummed her fingers. Great, if we had power... " Who's chief of Security?" she asked. "John Dexter," replied Wallis, "he'd have been at the concert; he's a big Veed fan." She described him, and Alice shook her head; she'd not seen him.
lab three, shelnat island, 12:30 local time 156/1106
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With the prods secured, Gripper took one and returned to the Lab, descending the ramp to the fetid lower level. There he found a huge underground cavern filled with sunken pits evidently to house the different types of 'saurs. A few remained in place, but even in the fitful light of his rifle-mounted torch, he could see that these were the genetic rejects; sluggish, slow-moving and in some cases horribly deformed.
Working his way around, looking for clues, he paused and looked down. There were scorch-marks on the concrete, emanating from a maintenance panel in the wall. Opening it, he found a junction box, unless he missed his guess the main feed into Lab Three from the island's power grid. This explained how the 'saurs had got loose to bring down the power before the power had gone down - sabotage. Gripper turned and headed for the surface to call the hotel.
paradise hotel, shelnat island, 13:00 local time xx/1106
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"So - do we stay and investigate, or call for help and get off the island?" asked Martha, looking around. "Investigate," voted Gripper, and there were nods of agreement from the others. "No reason not to call for assistance, though," added Alice. They tooled up and collared the two maintbots, returned from their abortive trip to the power farm, and headed down the hotel stairs towards the hotel's Business Centre, location of the best communications gear in the building.
Once there, she turned to one of the maintbots. "Go and dismantle one of the speeders, and bring the power plant in here," she said. The other one she directed to lay bare the power feeds to the commo suite so as to allow the plant to be connected to it. There was a brief problem when one of the maintbots wired the other to the powerfeed instead of the commo unit, but soon the screens were lighting up and needles moving and the two bots went outside, one of them for a smoke.
Checking the presets, Martha put a call through to the Tallis offices at Beidness Spaceport. "I'd like to speak to your Managing Director please," she said. A brisk, efficient voice replied politely enough. "Do you have an appointment, Madam?" "No," said Martha, "I'm a guest of your company on Shelnat Island." The voice was clearly taken aback. "Oh! Well... Ms Bidwell is on Shelnat at the moment, engaged in some negotiations." With us, thought Martha, I wonder if she escaped? "Would you like to speak to Planetary Vice-President Stubbins instead?" Martha smiled. "That'll do nicely," she said.
After a pause, a second voice appeared. It was the voice of a man in the zone before his first cup of coffee; slightly slow and not entirely focused. "Yes, can I help you?" it said. Martha sat back. "I want to complain about the quality of the service on this island," she said levelly. "There's no power, there are man-eating dinosaurs on the loose, half the staff are dead or dying; and the only thing keeping any of us alive is the military prowess of some of your guests, to whit, us. We require immediate evac for up to 40 people, medical supplies, a backup power generator in the twenty megawatt class, and bacon sandwiches for four."
There was a moment of stunned silence. Then: "Fort up where you are, don't take any risks, and we'll be with you in two hours."
"Time to pack then," said Manx, making a mental note to add the room's bathrobes to his case in the process.
Central Complex, shelnat island, 13:30 local time 156/1106
Half an hour later, the four pulled up at the Central Complex in the second of the two working speeders. A watch had been set, and they were spotted as soon as they emerged from the jungle by men with rifles at top-floor windows. More human forms were visible, torn bodies scattered around the doorway at the front of the building.
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There were eight survivors in all; six civilians and two security guards. Once Martha had explained what she wanted, they took her to their security office. A repeat of the process she'd used on the comms suite provided some power, and one of the guards brought up the video recordings from Lab Three's cameras. Scrolling backwards at high speed until overall darkness flicked to overall light - the moment the charge went off - was easy, and then she slowly rolled it forward towards that event until a furtive figure came into sight, four days previously. Slowing to half-normal, she watched as it walked quickly to the panel, opened it, and installed several objects before closing it and turning to leave. As he turned, his face came into view.
It was John Dexter.
Session Date: 10th August 2011 (221/-2507 Imperial) |
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