On Palindrome the party decide to get the far trader (formerly belonging to Ferrik Redthane) fixed. This takes 9 days or so, and that means shore leave for the crews, and plenty of time to buy cargo and find new crew.
When fleet leaves it consists of the Harrier (The Phoenix), the salvager, the far trader and the far scout. The crew on board is at minimal levels, and there is an assortment of cargo that can hopefully be sold for a tidy profit.
Arriving at the fuel dump in empty space, the ships refuel and realise that the resources here are limited. Perhaps in future they should bring some fuel? The refuelling is not without incident, but very little can go wrong if they take things slowly.
The next jump is to Borite. There they manage to sell all the cargo at the starport above this primitive planet and make a tidy profit. No crew can be found to hire, nor any useful cargo to buy, so they jump to Thebus after refuelling.
In the Thebus system the lab ship is known to be in orbit around an uninteresting distant rocky planet. Arriving in system near this planet the lab ship is found (eventually) and then before exploring it the party make the decision to refuel in case they need to make a run for it, which means a few days travelling to the nearest gas giant, refuelling, and returning.
Back at the lab ship the party scan for signs of life, which requires that the ship be very close. Numerous life signs are detected but the resolution is not fine enough for more details. A visual scan of the ship is made which detects three possible entry points; the two air lock hangar doors or the pinnace docking ring. The latter is selected.
Slaid attempts to open the door which takes 40 minutes, needing to use computers to break in. There they find an elevator shaft which leads from the zero-G pinnace ring down to the normal gravity of the ring.
Emerging into a partly lit reception area the party ask for signs of life and are told that there appears to be something 15 metres away, but that scanning is difficult.The party also quickly realise that the circular nature of the vessel makes it difficult to see more than 10 metres in either direction. The furthest that can be seen - if they lie flat on the floor and look up - is less than 15 metres.
Moving through the ship the first section consists mostly of staterooms. Some have had their lights destroyed and others are intact. Some have bedding removed, and even mattresses. In one a dead body is found in the cupboard.
Other rooms are found, including mess hall, private lounges, a scientist library (the contents of which made their way back to the party ship thanks to Sparrow taking them there), and a galley with a freezer full of dead crew.
In the middle of that a small herd of escaped lab animals are encountered. Some are stunned, but the effects wear off quickly enough that conventional weapons are used to dispatch them.
Exploring further the party find the bridge and the first drive bay. In the bridge Slaid breaks into the computer and is able to unlock the iris doors throughout the ship. He gets to work on more information about the ship. Unter and Nitrane explore the drive bay, and in the upper deck they find a living crew member.
The figure is crouched over and appears to be paying no attention to the players. Nitrane tries to get his attention by hitting the wall, but while the figure appears to have heard the noise it does not look up.
After some closing of airlocks and moving around the figure sees the party and freaks out. He starts shouting but because they are wearing vacc suit helmets they can't make out what he is saying. Nitrane grabs him in a bear hug while Unter departs to find something to bind their captive.
While this is going on Slaid is assaulted in the bridge. Minding his own business he is hit by another wandering crew member. Not one to put up with that kind of rubbish he shoots a her, killing her.
Sparrow, who left earlier, returns with an improvised speaker to allow the party to communicate with the captive. He understands what is being said but unfortunately the party still will not open their helmets to hear what he is saying. They eventually bind him in a stateroom and Sparrow stands guard.
Unter and Nitrane continue exploring the ship. They find an air/raft dock, cargo bay and the main laboratory. At the far end of the lab is a mound of tables, chairs, mattresses and anything else not bolted down. This appears to be a lair for one of the unfortunates on board. Breaking into it the party find a hatch cut into the floor that leads into one of the fuel tanks.
Breaking it open reveals nothing else of interest so they continue. A second lab is found and in the corner of this, another assemblage of furniture makes another lair. It seems that the people affected by whatever happened on board have some animalistic urge to create protected homes.
To be continued...
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