Prison Pit

Tooling Up

Central Complex, Shelnat Island, Inversar, 15:57 local time 158/1106 

All the uninjured cons had part-completed training interrupted by the dinosaur attack. In most cases, the instructors were still alive, and they settled in to work at them while they waited for the ship, the weapons, and Gripper. A skilled instructor was among the marines Stubbins had brought, and he ran classes to teach the complex art of wearing battledress without -among other things - the strength-enhancement servos pulling you apart. 

Tallis Private Hospital, Beidness, Inversar, 09:04 local time 160/1106 

General Burkins

Gripper's Cyber Arm

Gripper and Burkins spent much of the next few days playing cards. Once the synthetic skin was added to Gripper's replacement arm, the slow and frustrating process of learning to use it had to begin; as did the process of learning to see again for Burkins. Most of the early games were marked with showers of cards as one or the other fumbled them, but as time passed, their reactions returned to normal and they began to function normally. 

Central Complex, Shelnat Island, Inversar, 10:01 local time 161/1106 

Then, one fine morning, the ship returned, descending smoothly to the battered landing pad. Externally unchanged, once they boarded the modifications became apparent. The diplomatic suite had been removed, and an extra two staterooms squeezed in. Bunks had been retained forward, providing a total capacity of eight without double occupancy of the staterooms. Martha was a little unimpressed by the size of the vessel, but perked up a bit when she discovered the TL 15 regrowth berth crammed into the tiny sickbay astern. 

Benkin the Forger

There was a brief hiccup when it was discovered that the ownership papers had been inadvertently made out to the same owner as the fake ones for the Hand of God - Gripper Tee. They were sent back to Stansky Downport for revision to show the (new) names of the command crew. Those names had been created and delivered in a separate packet containing ID, documents and backup prepared to such quality that Benkin the forger was practically in tears of rapture reading through them. 

Leviathan Class - click for more info!

Also aboard were schematics and ship specs for the Leviathan class merchant cruiser, the ancient Solomani design of which the Snow Goose was an example.

Central Complex, Shelnat Island, Inversar, 08:43 local time 165/1106 

Five days later, a shuttle landed with supplies, equipment, replacement personnel and the largely recovered Gripper and Burkins. The old man especially was a changed person, no longer hesitant and dependent but alert, confident and brisk. 

Repair and rebuilding on Shelnat was well in hand. Lab Three remained closed, but the other facilities were coming back on line. The marines had finally hunted down the last Vr's, and several now sported tooth or claw trophies. The hotel was closed for refurbishment while it awaited replacement staff robots. 

Central Complex, Shelnat Island, Inversar, 12:57 local time 168/1106 

Instellarms

Enarming Process

Three days later, a transport ship marked with the logos of Instellarms landed at the pad. Two salesmen and two technicians emerged, and started directing half-a-dozen loaderbots to unload a variety of promising-looking crates. An hour later, Wallis appeared and invited the cons and their crew to the main conference room to view the results of their order. 

The first order of business, as requested, was military-grade powered battle armour. Each was provided with a suit of Instellarms Spartan-III battledress, with plenty of extras and the full maintenance kit and warranty. The two skilled technicians ran efficiently through the process of tuning the armour to its' new owner and (for those not accustomed to such equipment) teaching the basics of the enarming process. 

Sniper Gauss Rifle

While waiting their turn for this, the ex-cons were treated to a sales presentation of some of Instellarms' other products. Tipped off by Rosalie Wallis, they had brought some of their best-selling hardware along, and soon Martha was hefting an FGMP-15 with a malicious grin, Alice was examining the optics on a long, sleek sniper's gauss rifle, Gripper was nodding favourably at the reduced weight and increased performance of the latest TL 15 gauss rifle - especially the 5-round tube launcher for RAM grenades - and Manx was picking out stun and stealth weapons from the catalogue. 

"Do you have any experimental prototypes, anything new?" someone asked. The salesman grinned. "I thought you'd ask that," he said. "As it happens, we do have a new line in development, and I was intending to ask if you'd be interested in trialling it when it's ready. We'll be in touch!" 

Alice's interest in the armour was fairly limited; once she'd mastered the chameleon surface she did her best to project a naked pin-up on the outside, disarmed and went off to sight in her new rifle. Martha went too to practice with her new fusion gun, a process that was to significantly diminish the number of trees around the complex over the next few days. 

Central Complex, Shelnat Island, Inversar, 09:47 local time 180/1106 

FGMP-15

Over the following weeks, each of the cons worked hard at their training courses. Most went well, though Gripper and Alice had a great deal of trouble mastering the FGMP and Alice came close to throwing it in the sea on several occasions. Manx took to advanced communications system training remarkably well, and it occurred to him that, vile though he'd been, Hurker had taught him some useful things. The ordered items began to come in, as did the revised ship's papers and their Mercenary Unit registration, required in many places for ownership of the sort of hardware with which they were now equipped. 

Each had claimed a stateroom aboard the new ship, and personalized it accordingly; Martha rigging her door so she could jam it open - she still tended to nightmares of being back in her cell otherwise - Alice initially putting a bag over the internal camera in hers, then removing it along with Manx and Martha's and mounting all three next to Gripper's one night as a joke. 

Martha checked over the internal security, noting it was far superior to that on the Exismolia, then checked herself into the regrowth berth under the care of the FIN-LE model robodoc for a few days, to sort out some long-term injuries suffered during her initial capture.

Manx had explained to Arba that he would be off on a mission soon, but would be back in a few weeks. She refrained from trying to get him to stay, but indicated quite clearly that she'd be interested in coming along when he finally left Inversar. Manx carefully didn't commit himself, and bade her farewell with a kiss. After all, he'd always got the holorecordings to look back on....

High orbit, Inversar, 10:08 shipboard time, 185/1106

Gripper eased the slender starship into orbit with a small smile of pleasure, and Manx tapped the faintly luminous holographic controls to engage the Jump drives. The drives aboard the Exismolia had been the old ship's best feature, but even so the transition had always been a bit noticeable. Now, the process was as smooth as cream.  

jumpspace Inversar-tirrya, 10:32 shipboard time, 185/1106

Once into Jump the cons turned to the usual upkeep jobs suited to a week of enforced waiting. Gripper worked the last unfamiliarities out of his new arm, while the others unpacked and checked over their various toys, loaded, cleaned and prepared them. Martha continued to tutor Alice in the use of her new armour, although the latter's heart wasn't in it; she preferred the freedom of movement to the powered protection.. 

butidfi gas giant (tulicru V), Tirrya/Menkor, shipboard time 15:50, 192/1106

There was no reason anyone could see for stopping at the Tirrya belt itself, so the course Manx had plotted brought them out close to the small gas giant planet Butidfi instead. Gripper performed a sublimely successful skimming run to fill the tanks, and after idling back to Jump point while the purifiers processed the fuel they jumped straight off for the supposed location of the Snow Goose...

	Session Date: 31st August 2011 (246/-2507 Imperial)