The story continues in the Thebus system before heading through Oghma and Torpol to Clarke.
Nitrane and Unter continue to investigate the lab ship. They find another air/raft bay (empty) and what appears to be another engine room (door blocked) and then a secondary bridge.
At this point however they hear Sparrow say "Uh, guys!" and then the link goes dead. An alarm in the vacc suit systems alerts them to the fact that Sparrow's suit is suddenly very low on air. They decide to push ahead as it would be the quickest way to where Sparrow was guarding the lab ship crewmember.
Passing a row of stateroom doors they come across one that is open and a figure lurches out at them. A fight ensues in which damage is taken by the party thanks to a giant metal club that the inhumanly strong crewman is wielding. They are forced to kill him.
In the meantime Slaid had reached Sparrow's body, out cold from nasty blunt force trauma to the head. The visor on the vacc suit helmet badly cracked. Slaid tapes up the helmet and then shares air with Sparrow, meaning both now have only a little air left.
Deciding to rendezvous at the lift up to the docking ring, and appraising the ships waiting nearby that they have encountered some problems, Nitrane and Unter come across another lab ship crewman coming out of the kitchen locker that held corpses. This person is wielding a frozen human leg as a weapon.
This person, the one they captured originally, is inhumanly strong as well but is eventually killed.
Going up the left the party find that they have next to no air left. Sharing the air keeps two alive for a bit longer, but means everyone is now in a precarious situation. Luckily Ben Parr and Adro Venniser arrive with spare air bottles and some quick changing brings everyone's air levels up.
Krssh arrives in an air raft and makes it easier to bring across the still comatose body of Sparrow into the Harrier, where the best medical bay is waiting for him. Extreme quarantine and bio-hazard procedures are in place just in case he's infected, or able to infect others. Sparrow is stabilised and brought around. The head wound is treated.
Professor Jim Cheese has been looking through the data brought back hours earlier. With some clever insights he has determined that the danger is passed. The research in the lab ship related to combat drugs. An explosion, the cause of which is unknown, caused multiple experimental drugs to be released in to the air vents simultaneously. These killed 80% of the crew and researchers instantly. The remaining crew were affected in different ways but with a common theme of periods of lucidity, periods of inhuman strength (and inhuman behaviours) and then periods of exhaustion.
Any active reagents have long ago dissipated, been scrubbed by the air system, or are in other ways totally inert. This reassures the party and work is put in motion to clear out the lab ship for sure (the shipboard marines take this task), the engines are checked and maintenance performed, the fuel tanks are resealed and pressure checked, and the hull repaired. That last required some planetside work so a course is set to Thebus.
Thebus is a safari tourist world. There are plenty of spaces in which to land that are well away from prying eyes and the work is done.
Jumping to the Oghma system there is hope that the ships crews (all of which are at absolute minimum levels) can be bolstered by new additions. Also this is a good place to pick up more cargo to sell on Torpol to pay for improvements to the ships in general.
Oghma is a warlike space-faring planet. The inhabitants are renowned for their slaving, raiding and pillaging, and indeed a good number of crew are hired here. A number of suitable cargoes are found and the jump is made to Torpol.
Arriving in Torpol Captain Slaid advises Provost Falx that they have returned. When they reach his office he is there, drink in hand and dressed in his bright orange robes (with tony golden fez with scale model of the starport on top). He welcomes them profusely, offers drinks, and is then wowed by Captain Slaid's amazing presentation of the proof that the mission has been completed. A round of applause is followed by Falx asking two colleagues (each with their own tiny structures on their heads) to also see the presentation. They are likewise amazed and the reward money duly handed over.
The matter of Vii Lon is also raised. Unfortunately she almost died when the low berth was opened (she had been in there for 20 weeks, way beyond the normal expectancy). As luck would have it she was roused in an advanced (even for TL15) medical bay. It turns out that she was indeed an official representative of Torpol, with a very senior position (if her health insurance cover is any guide). With her needing expert medical care (and the planet only being TL8) the party are asked to look after her a little while longer.
The cargo from Oghma is sold for a tidy profit, and with making the jump to Clarke with empty holds something to be avoided, more cargo is found and loaded into the ships.
The jump to Clarke is uneventful. Arriving, it is still a dark, depressing place. Keeper Malos is less impressed by the presentation by Captain Slaid and he moodily takes the proof to show his colleagues. The cargo is sold for more profit, and the party wait.
To be continued...
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