Rule of Law
The Team landed the Proud Mary back at the colony quickly, hoping to precede the news of the failed assassination. There was some discussion about how to proceed; Buck didn’t trust the Director on principle, and every potential move they could think of left the Team vulnerable in some way or another. In the end, Ella went, escorted by Haank, the only Team member who was authorized to carry weapons inside the colony walls.
The Colony Director received Ella and Haank, and listened intently as they told the story of the Aslan find, the warning from Mr. Duushii, and the attempted murder by Astro-Core security. Even as they explained the matter, they knew that the Director would be in a weak position to do anything about it; he seemed to believe their story, and wished to do the “right thing,” but limited by his Imperial office, he could do little more than file a complaint when the next ship arrived insystem. Haank commed ENS Smith and Jones, still on a “scenic route” back to the colony, and asked them to proceed to the Director’s office on arrival to tell their side of the story. After some discussion of their legal position, it was decided that it would be best to remain aboard the ship under the protection of the Extrality Zone—the limits of which were a bit fuzzy in this situation.
During the conversation with the Director, the two rollers driven by ENS Smith and Jones arrived at the colony gate, but Mr. Duushii was there to greet them, presumably to enquire about the status of the “mission.” ENS Smith commed back to Haank to inform him, and ask for recommendations on how to handle the situation. Haank suggested that if their passengers (the kill-team members who surrendered) were likely to keep quiet, to play along, and if not, pass him up—he would learn of the results soon enough either way. ENS Smith’s impetuous nature won out, and he gunned the roller past Mr. Duushii without a word of explanation, making haste to the Director’s office.
Ella and Haank knew they didn’t have much time before Mr. Duushii would make a move, so they thanked the Director for his time and hurried out to meet the incoming rollers. They released their captives, and as they were about to pile into one of the rollers, they heard Mr. Duushii in the distance, yelling at his men to arrest them; Ella growled, “Don’t even think about it,” while Haank shook his head sternly, and their former-captives decided to let someone else handle it. Haank slipped behind the wheel of the roller and spurred the vehicle toward the gate, where Mr. Duushii and a handful of armed security personnel had spread out across the path, blocking their exit. Haank opted for a game of “chicken,” counting on their opponents’ sense of self-preservation to win out. Mr. Duushii didn’t blink, but held his ground, and the security personnel raised their gauss rifles. Ella was convinced their opponents would not budge, and rather than be party to vehicular-homicide, shouted for Haank to stop, but as Haank aimed the vehicle for the right-hand guard, he read “jump” in the man’s body-language, and proceeded through despite Ella’s orders, scraping the buildings that bounded the path; the guard dodged the speeding vehicle as predicted. Ella was less than pleased, but held her tongue for the moment. Seconds after, as they continued speeding toward the gate, Mr. Duushii and his men in pursuit on foot, they spotted the gate closing; Haank mentally timed the closure and sped through with nary a scrape. The rest of the Team had been prepping the ship for departure—just in case—and Buck opened the ramp to receive the speeding roller, and closed it after them.
The Team was settling in for a long bout of waiting when Sam received an incoming comm: Mr. Duushii, demanding they return their “kidnap victims” and turn themselves in to face murder charges, and Sam hung up on him; he continued to call, but Sam refused to answer further. Abe had done what he could with the wounded Astro-Core men, and as LT Richards was healthy enough to drive, they were put in the roller and released—there was little more to be done with them, though the Team agreed that they would likely run afoul of these men again. LT Richards sneered and quipped as he drove off, not knowing that Buck had removed a necessary part of the roller; the Team watched as he reached the colony gate, only to break down, forced to walk the rest of the way.
Some time later, the Colony Director commed—Astro-Core had demanded extradition, and the Imperial authority needed to take statements from those involved to determine whether or not to grant it; he also informed the Team that they may need to be legally detained. Of course, there was much discussion of the relevant law, and what could and could not be expected. Buck was adamant that the Director had been bought off, and that this was merely an attempt to put them in a position to be “silenced.” Running away would be seen as guilt, and crossing Astro-Core would mean they might face blacklisting in this sector, at the least. They had no indication as to how high up the Astro-Core chain-of-command the cover-up went. ENS Smith brought up the involvement of the Death’s Head Hussars mercenary unit in the early days of the colony; this might be important later, but didn’t serve their situation at the moment. Ella eventually agreed to allow Imperial reps to take statements, at least; they also offered up copies of their video evidence of the Aslan site and whatever else might be helpful. Some time after the statements were taken, and reviewed, the Director commed again to inform the Team that those who had discharged their weapons in the incident—Buck, ENS Smith, and ENS Jones—would need to be detained, at what Imperial facility was available, or on the ship, providing it was landlocked; he gave until the morning before he would send men to arrest them or landlock the ship. The Team was still concerned about safety, knowing that Astro-Core had all the power here—they could easily be framed as guilty of murder and/or accessory, and little could be done about it. In the end, the only plan they could come up with was to raid the Astro-Core offices for evidence that would exhonorate them, before the detainment deadline.
Notes
- It was fortunate that I had spent a point in Driving (Tracked) from Kella’s Rescue, as Haank would need to make emergency use of it several times. His knowledge of Law (Imperial Astronautical) was also leaned upon quite a bit
- This session tested the limits of those characters that had the Honesty Disadvantage—it would have been far easier otherwise—and it will be tested more next time, as the chosen course of action is definitely not “legal” (though certainly “justified”); this would not have been a hard call for the crew of the Emerald Monarch, I think 😉
- We were a little surprised ENS Smith didn’t just shoot Mr. Duushii—“Day ain’t over yet”
Buck used the woman’s radio signal to guide them in, keeping her providing as much information as she could about her location; her name was Kella, an independent archaeologist studying the various old-world ruins on the planet, who fell afoul of the sudden storm while surveying the mountain area. They arrived without incident at the foot of the mountains, taking the vehicle as far up as they dared, and then set out on foot. The Team secured a lifeline to each other for safety, which turned out to be quite necessary, as the climb proved to be rather difficult for all but Ella, who was the most experienced in such matters; they arrived at the avalanche site mostly-exhausted. Buck used his biosniffer, and Haank, his handheld sensor pack, to attempt to narrow down the woman’s position, with little success through the interference of wind and snow, so Buck resorted to “yelling,” which, miraculously, yielded better results. With some improvisation, they dug out the snow and uncovered the crevasse where the woman had fallen. She was effectively uninjured, though she had lost her backpack in the fall. Ella climbed down into the crevasse with the aid of Haank’s autograpnel (from one of the Titanic VII’s lifeboat survival kits), which he used to winch them both back out, individually. (The backpack was not found.) After a few moments of rest, they began to descend back to the roller—which proved an equal challenge to their ascent, and might have ended in disaster if not for Ella as the group’s anchor. Further down, Buck, in the lead just ahead of Kella, slipped and broke through into another crevasse that opened up into a larger cavern, taking Kella with him. The two dangled at the lip of the crevasse while Haank secured the autograpnel and winched them back up; during that time, the two could make out what would later be identified as an oddly-recent Aslan colony ruin dug into an old cliff-face. After being pulled up, Kella begged to be allowed a closer look, but the Team convinced her to return later, Buck having marked the location on his inertial compass.
