Introduction
Dirk Yang, Jr. is easily the dumbest smart person I have ever met.
I’d never seen him in love before.
And holy shit did it make him even dumber.
-The Memoirs of “Gentleman” Jack Cartwright
23 September, WY602 – Sunrise Bay, Foxglove
Cutscene
An explosion and thirty seconds of automatic gunfire in this relatively small promenade and now thirty people are on the ground.
The soldiers and law enforcement among you quickly police through the bodies, making note of the dead or unconscious, kicking weapons out of the way. The hodgepodge of men from station security and the local Marine detachment scatter to ensure the area is secure.
Cara’s got the last conscious assailant spitted on the end of her sword, and he’s holding real still to keep that blade from slicing through anything more vital.
Vivek Chatterjee isn’t the tallest belter you’ve ever met, but he’s the biggest. The man obviously decided at a very young age he wasn’t going to tolerate the issues with bone density and muscle mass and very obviously spends a lot of time in the gym. He’s easily 6’8” and built like a linebacker. He’s wearing a military-issue set of combat armor and carrying a military issue infantry rifle. He picks his way across the bodies to the definitely-not-squirming survivor.
Dirk - you have a tiny razor-cut across your cheek from where Jack whacked you upside the head with his sword. As your vision clears you see him kneeling in front of you, trying to pull you upright, but struggling. He used to be so strong… You think to yourself. The disease is eating away at him.
You get your arms under you and sit up, and Jack leans in close.
“We’re going to go get her, son,” he whispers, “We’re going to get her out of there, but you need to be smart. Let Cara do her job.”
He gives you a very meaningful, pointed, if you run off again I’m going to fucking shoot you look, then stands up, wobbling a little bit on his hastily-patched bullet wound, and hobbles over to the rest of the crew.
As the station team secures the promenade, Vivek and Cara interrogate the prisoner. Vivek recognizes him as simply “Venkat”. It appears that all of the insurgents are young men, mostly teenagers. Venkat says he was recruited by “Cobee”, who turns out to be one of the dead in the promenade. They’re answering to someone named William who, presumably, is taking the lead in the ops center.
During the battle, Aidan received a voice message from Smitty, one of the security personnel from Praetorian Security that the crew had hired to watch over Legitimate Salvage. He reports that a small team of insurgents attempted to approach the ship, but were repelled. He reports that Kevin was shot in the engagement and is being moved to a medical facility near the shipyard. Additionally, he states somewhat sheepishly that the “ship’s ghost” has told them that the ship is in no danger, but they’re staying alert.
Vivek brings up a schematic of the ops center while Angelica attempts to get some control of the local computer. Angelica manages to get control of the doors and environmental sensors of the ops center, learning that there are likely two dozen people in the area, but little else. Vivek says it’s unlikely the hostages are wearing environment suits.
The crew forms a plan to breach the ops center through both access hatches and through an exterior window in the director’s office. Cara and Angelica will go through the window, with Din and Julian close behind in an emergency airlock that will be put in place by two of Vivek’s Marines.
Dirk uses one of the insurgent’s comms to start a negotiation with William, who himself seems to be very young. Cara and Angelica observe William in the director’s office holding Governor Karthik hostage. The negotiations go poorly. It is clear that, regardless of what William’s recruits may believe, William doesn’t expect to get out of the situation alive. At a critical moment, Tomoe comes into the channel attempting to help, but it injects enough confusion and distrust into the conversation that William appears to be ready to execute the Governor and Cara orders the breach.
The breach into the ops center goes as planned. Cara and Angelica go through the window and kill William and the Marines get the airlock in place before the Governor comes to any great harm due to decompression. The rest of the crew enter the Ops Center through the main door and engage in a firefight with the other insurgents. Vivek and his team enter through the back stairs and attempt to secure the conference room where Polly and Director Chin are being held. Seeing a man with a suicide vest, Vivek tackles him but the explosives detonate, killing the security chief but saving his wife and the director.
The workers at the ops center rise up and help, attacking and distracting their captors, one of whom is killed in the process. After less than fifteen seconds the fight is over, with all of the insurgents dead or dying, as well as Security Chief Chatterjee and a member of the ops staff.
As the crew are attempting to finish securing the room, Roland sees a parked distress recording on the Orbital Traffic Control station, and plays it. The recording is an extremely wounded Captain Stephen Gregory from WDF San Jacinto, reporting that he has lost control of the ship’s computer. It unexpectedly accelerated from a thrust secure state, likely killing most of the crew. He’s not sure what’s happening but declares that WDF San Jacinto should be considered hostile.
