Prison Pit
- Characters
- Prison Library
- Logs 1
- Logs 2
- Jailbreak
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science base, odegra, 20:48 local time 110/1106
 DM Note: With Allan joining the party, his character has simply appeared 'where she's now/always been' alongside the others. Elements of temporal paradox have been submerged in a wash of nice cheesy fudge.Derek was unable to make it so Gripper was 'bubbled' for this session. |
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With access through the iris valve permanently unavailable, the idea of getting into the Terbium Wing via the roof was re-examined. Although Hurker's expert opinon had been that disabling the transmitter dish wasn't going to be enough to guarantee knocking out long-range comms, Alice pointed out that it was going to prevent the occupants of the science base from calling for help, allowing them to make more noise in the process of doing what they needed to.
With that in mind, they retraced their steps to the airlock and cycled out. Looking around, they realized that the easiest part of the wing to climb was the sides of the Maximillian Hall, which was around a metre lower than the main wing and helpfully ridged, as well as not being overlooked by any of the Terbium Wing's large windows. For all her bulk, Martha was first up, scrambling agilely and quietly onto the roof without seeming to break stride.
Once on the roof, they looked around for a way in, and Alice's eyes were caught by the observation gallery on the south-west corner. Standing slightly above the main roof like some sort of greenhouse, it was glazed on all sides and had what looked like an openable window on the side facing them. She and Martha went to take a look while Manx headed the other way across the roof to the transmitter dish.
Carefully tracing the cables that connected the dish to the comms systems below, Manx followed them to where they ran along the roof - out of sight from the ground - and carefully cut out a metre-long section, which he tucked in his backpack to prevent its' replacement. Chuckling, he stood up, patted the dish in mock sympathy, and headed off after the ladies.
Alice and Martha had discovered that the window hatch was secured by an electronic latch, designed to prevent casual opening if the gallery beyond was pressurized normally, and to sound an alarm if it was. If that could be disabled, they could open the window - with a higher pressure inside than out, no tell-tale poisons would leak in - and slip in unnoticed. Right on cue, Manx joined them, and a few moments later announced that the safety interlocks were disabled. Alice jemmied the window open with such skill that it left no mark, and the three slipped through against the rush of escaping internal air before carefully closing the hatch.
As they descended the stairs and found themselves in a dimly-lit corridor, the sounds of quiet conversation and a smell of cooking came to their attention. Exchanging glances, they saw that each was remembering the fact that they'd last been fed early that morning, on the standard prison fare which was pale grey and largely unidentifiable. As one, they turned towards the source of the voices, and opened the door to what the plans on the Governor's handcomp had designated as the kitchen.
Three men in long white coats, each holding a coffee cup, turned to look at them as they came in. They seemed only mildly surprised at Martha and Manx in their warden uniforms, but as Alice stepped forward and asked brightly "You got enough for three more?" one of them pointed a shaky finger at her mine-stained orange jumpsuit and croaked, "You-you're a prisoner!" Alice's sawn-off shotgun came to rest on his nose with a gentle bump. "How about putting some more burgers on?" she asked quietly. "You others, sit down over there."
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As the first scientist loaded foodpacks into the autochef with shaking hands, the other two were being questioned at pistol point by Manx and Martha. They seemed a bit sleepy and vague, typical of late-working techies, but eventually agreed that - other than the three of them - there were two (maybe three) guards and Chief Technician Altman and Director Straub in their offices. Each was divested of his white coat - Alice and Martha shrugged into one each - ID badge and handcomp, before being tied up with some strapping from bales of foodpacks and shoved into the store cupboard at the back of the kitchen. The autochef went bing at that point and for quite a while there were no sounds other than enthusiastic eating. Although there were supplies for one, they couldn't find a coffee machine, but other than that they were in paradise.
Finally satisfied, Alice picked up a clipboard and snapped some papers onto it, before tucking her sawnoff under the white coat. "Look, I'm a doctor," she chuckled. Martha tried to do likewise, although her uniform stuck out in several places; the coat was rather small for her. "So there's five more need killing," she said. Alice rocked a hand. "Maybe not killing if we can help it," she said, "decommisioning sounds better." They left the kitchen with Manx still stuffing food into his face and considered the options.
Corridors led either side of the impregnable central Atrium, and Alice and Manx took the south corridor while Martha wandered off to the north.
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Martha walked past the jammed iris valve into the Atrium and turned right towards the admin and management offices. There, she was sure, she'd find the last two scientists. What shewasn'texpecting to find was two armed guards walking towards her down the corridor. Unlike the wardens who'd been making her life miserable for the last four years, these were dressed in light combat armour and ominous full-face helmets, all in black with a neat white Maximillian Industries logo on the chest, and armed with gauss rifles. CorpTroops employed directly by Maximilian by the look of it. Martha was caught completely by surprise, and her carbine was pointed uselessly at the floor, while the guards' rifles were slung horizontally at hip height, ready to use in an instant. "What are you doing here?" asked one of them, seemingly taking her for a warden - initially at least.
Martha gathered all her confidence and hurried towards them looking as much as she could as if she was supposed to be there. "Ah, I've found you," she said briskly. "There's been an escape," she continued, "they sent me over to check here; insisted I dress like this," she fingered the lab coat with disdain. "Have you seen anything suspicious?" she asked, mentally crossing her fingers that the answer wouldn't be not until you showed up.
"No," said one, "but if there's an escape and a chance of contamination here, we need to call it in." His hand was rising towards the comm buttons on the side of his helmet when Martha lifted a hand in negation. "No!" she said sharply, causing both guards to stare at her. "The bigwigs don't want a general alarm; we don't want to frighten the eggheads and if any cons have got in we don't want to tip them off that we know. There's only two or three of them." The two guards looked uneasy. "This is breaking SOP," one said uncomfortably. "Never mind," sald Martha, "let's go bag them and then we can stop worrying." Shrugging, one of the guards set off back down the corridor the way Martha had come, while the other fell into step next to her.We'll find them all right, she thought, let's hope they're up to tackling these two when we do!
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Manx and Alice walked carefully down the south corridor, rather more alertly than Martha, and so when the door of what the handcomp listed as 'Suit-up Room' opened and a young bespectacled man in a white coat came out balancing a handcomp, several dataslugs, a heap of papers and a coffee mug, they were ready for him.
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"Ah, there you are," said Alice, "come with me. Donovan says you can settle this." The scientist, clearly deep in the zone, blinked a few times. "Ok," he said vaguely, and followed them back down the corridor, unaware that the question he was to answer was how many scientists can you fit in a cupboard.....
They walked into the kitchen and Perkin glanced around. "Oh, Stan must have gone back to the core," he said. "Never mind; what was the question?" Alice levelled her shotgun at him. "If I point this at you, will you do as you're told?" she said. Perkin's mind started with stimulus and response and only gradually did reality seep in. "That's... a gun, isn't it?" he asked curiously. "Put your hands behind your back," directed Alice. Perkin did so readily and appeared quite surprised when Manx tied them together.
As she and the two CorpTroops checked doors and corners, Martha chatted with them in a comradely fashion, but it became clear that the CorpTroops viewed the prison wardens as lower forms of life rather than as colleauges. "What do they do in here, anyway?" she asked conversationally. One of the Corptroops looked at her. "You don't need to know," he said dismissively. She shrugged, and slowed her pace fractionally with the intention of allowing them to get ahead of her... but the one flanking her slowed as well, possibly without even concious thought.
They entered the common room, laid out with chairs, tables, entertainment systems and the missing coffee machine. "It's nicer here than in the prison," she commented, still trying to relax their suspicions, "any jobs going in your unit?" A contemptuous snort as her only answer as the front guard opened the door into the kitchen to discover Alice and Manx standing over by one wall. Alice was just closing the door of the cleaning store, but reversed it and opened it instead. "Look what I've just found in the cupboard!" she said brightly, gesturing towards it. Somehow, the sweep of that gesture drew the first CorpTrooper inside the room and the second to the doorway - and then Manx shot the first one with his gausspistol.
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Most of the needle bullets glanced off the man's light combat armour, but some penetrated, and he grunted in pain as he swung his rifle up to return fire. Alice slammed the cupboard, turned her head, and screamed into the CorpTrooper's ear at the top of her lungs. This startled him into pulling his trigger as he was raising the rifle, and the single round punched through the fleshy part of Manx's thigh instead of his head.
Martha had already lifted her laser carbine, and now fired at close range, the bolt striking the man in the chest with a sizzling thump. Continuing the movement, she hurled herself behind a nearby sofa. When the CorpTrooper spun to confront her, he couldn't see her. Hefting his gaussrifle, he scanned the common room for a target as she squirmed frantically for a better position.
Manx backpedalled frantically, struggling unsuccessfully to fire his pistol again before he was drilled. Another gauss round smacked into him, low in the belly, and he gasped in pain. While the CorpTrooper who'd just shot him was concentrating on him, Alice whipped her shotgun up, pressed it to the side of the man's helmet, and fired.
Laser and gauss weapons are pretty quiet; the noise of their rounds striking and the targets' reaction was as loud as the battle had got so far. Sawn-off shotguns are not quiet, though; the roar of the shot was incredible in the confined space. Most of the blast was deflected by the target's helmet, but the simple noise and impact must have rattled his head around inside like a pea in a whistle; he staggered and stopped trying to shoot Manx. Taking advantage of this opening, Manx stepped back to him, put his weapon against the other side of the CorpTrooper's head, and fired. The four-round burst tore through the helmet and buried itself in the man's brain. He dropped dead without a sound. As he fell, Manx scooped up his rifle and flicked the selector to Full Auto.
Martha popped up from behind a sofa and fired before ducking back down again. A bullet smacked into the furniture and disappeared somewhere as she waited a moment and then rose again. This time there was no mistake; her bolt struck the CorpTrooper squarely in the centre of his chest and he slumped sideways, coughing and choking. Martha strode across the common room to snag the man's rifle.
Retrieving the helmet from the man she'd killed, Martha listened carefully, but there were no transmissions from any third CorpTrooper asking what the noise had been. It seemed likely then that there'd only been two CorpTroopers - which left just the two managers. Dropping the helmet, she joined the others as they hustled up the corridor again towards the admin offices.
Passing through the empty Admin office, Alice led the way into Chief Tech Altman's office. "Hello, I'm a doctor," she began, and stopped. It was the office of a man with real self-esteem problems; overly-macho office décor, massive chair with boost cushion, wall plastered with citations and certificates. What it didn't contain was a person; the other door through to the meeting room had been flung open.
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A quick glance onward to Director Straub's office showed the same story; papers and desk items strewn across an otherwise elegant and tidy office with an open door indicating a sudden departure of the occupant. The three looked at each other. Where had these two gone? They searched the offices and cupboards, but found no-one. "Maybe they slipped past us towards the Atrium," suggested Manx, and the three backtracked the way they'd come. As they passed the comms room, Martha's keen ears picked up voices from inside, and she opened the door. Inside, two figures - one quite short - were huddled over the comms rack, frantically pressing buttons and yelling into the pickup as they tried to call the warden depot through the dish they hadn't got. Alice, still in her white coat and (unlike the others) unwounded, hefted her clipboard to boost her disguise and asked, "Can we help you?" Straub, however, was a good enough manager to at least know the faces of his team. "Who the hell are you?" he snarled.
"Don't you know who I am?" demanded Alice in an offended tone. "No!" snapped Straub. "That's handy," commented Alice, and delivered a single thundering punch to the man's jaw, sending him sprawling unconscious over the commo desk. She turned to Altman. "Pick him up," she said threateningly. Altman struggled for a moment and then turned a fearful face to Alice. "uh, can I drag him instead please?" he asked timidly. She nodded, and she and Martha herded the pair down to the kitchen where the two tied them and stashed them in the cupboard with the others - it was now getting quite full. Packing the dead CorpTroopers into a different locker, they dug out some cleaning equipment and did their best to erase the blood and mess from the fight in the kitchen - scrubbing floors had been part of both women's Marine basic training.
Meanwhile, Manx had called Hurker and taken his advice on disabling the comms equipment. The damage he inflicted was done with such cunning and subtlety that only a real expert was likely to be able to sort it out. As he finished, Alice and Martha returned from the kitchen, each lugging a sack of food supplies. They'd reluctantly left the coffee machine.
Returning to the executive offices the cons looted what they fancied from those, including the bottles from Straub's liquor cabinet and his cigars from the desk. In Altman's office, the whiteboard caught Manx's eye. Unlike his three companions, his time aboard starships hadn't simply been troop transit, and he knew a little about drive system engineering. The equations on the board looked very similar to the ones that the eggheads had shown him when they were trying to teach him why Jump drives worked as well as just how. He peered closer and racked his memory. Not quite the same.... He walked a little closer and concentrated.
These equations were wrong. No... not wrong - different. Jump physics equations calculated slighltly differently, as if designing a Jump drive using... er... ah! a different metal in the grid a starship had laid over its' hull. Something other than the lanthanum used universally. Hmnn... Terbium? Suddenly the name of the place they were in... The Terbium Wing .. and the strange rooms marked on the plans, made more sense.
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One of the items on Altman's desk was a handcomp. This looked like something special; it was half again the size of a normal one (like Altman's chair and desk...) and looked powerful. Alice picked it up and looked at it. There was no keyboard, only an on/off control, so she flicked it. A plummy voice spoke from the unit. "Good evening. I am Minion. You are not my user." Alice grimaced. "Tell me what I want to know or I will smash you to bits," she said. There was a pause. "My reading of your voice tones and heart rate indicate that you mean what you say. My destruction will not achieve anything. What do you want to know?"
Slightly surprised by this victory, Alice said the first thing that came into her head. "Everything!" Minion didn't bat a verbal eyelid. "That will take four point three years," it said. Alice reconsidered. "Do you have all the data on the experimental work being done here?" she asked. Minion paused for a brief moment. "I do now," it said primly, "data has been downloaded form the central core." Alice considered. "Can you download everything from the Core to your storage?" she asked.
Unlike robots, hand computers aren't programmed to show emotion; but it almost seemed as if Minion was reluctant to admit the answer to this. "No." it finally admitted. Alice chuckled. "OK, take all the experimental data for the current research and anything on security," she amended. There was no pause this time as petabytes of information were transferred. "Done." announced Minion. Martha chuckled. "If this works," she commented, "it's worth a fortune. Or possibly a lifetime's pursuit."
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Session Date: 4th May 2011 (124/-2507 Imperial) |
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