The records Darth Gallagher got from the Dharma raid on the Zenobian "Angels of Mercy" Medical Research Facility (which was stockpiling PAX), plus what he was able to recover from the corrupted data chip we got from the Bland Corporation ship, cross referenced with the information Gallagher was able to glean from his access to some Alliance records, he determined that Ardra has made transshipment for the "Angels of Mercy".
As the unregistered organ transplant operation on Zenobia was linked to both the "Angels of Mercy" and the illegal organ harvesting we uncovered some months back, we decided that we could maybe get more leads to track Ardra if we went back to the derelict ship where we first discovered the organ harvesting.
The Bihar Sanctuary curator, Feargananym, originally uncovered Ardra as being hired to transport the coveted "Coffin of Saint Zenobius" to Splintered Rock. How they are all linked together is not clear. Why the "Coffin of Saint Zenobius" is going to Splintered Rock is also a mystery.
I was not happy about going back to the derelict ship, named "The Persephone" I discovered. Necessity is not just the name of my ship and my company, it’s a way of life.
It is an abandoned ship and merely a fact finding mission, but Gabe, Emma and Zade agreed to accompany me anyway. Our objective was to find the main medical lab and the command center and download whatever files we could and take whatever samples we could find. Stay together and don't sit on anything. Seriously, DO NOT SIT ON ANYTHING. Easy Peasy, right?
Right out of the airlock, Emma and I got separated from Gabe and Zade. And found a vivisected Saint Peter.
We were still in radio contact with Gabe and Zade and there was only one exit. I went first, all clear. I radioed back for Emma and she somehow got slipped out to the other side of the ship. She is the fallingest girl I have ever met in my entire life. We told her to stay in radio contact and we would meet up as we worked our way thru the ship.
Emma required some occasional prodding to speak, "EMMA!" was frequently heard dialogue.
Safety Begins with Teamwork. YOU GUYS READ THAT? Nooooo. Zade got separated from Gabe and I less than 10 minutes after we got separated from Emma.
Z stayed in radio contact and we would catch up. Gabe found what she thought was a command center. Turned out it was the crew lounge. The vending machines had been inoperable for years, poor bastiches.
Gabe found a medbay....
....and dead bodies.
We were briefly attacked by a replicant. Looked like the same make and model as Krenshar, but this one seemed to have a female body shape, kinda. She wielded a pipe and attacked us both. It did not seem very motivated in the attack, just attacked us as she fled from the room. She headed to where Z was last seen, we lost radio contact with Z around that time.
"Your Safety is In Your Hands". Yes, it is also in your butt. Do not sit anywhere. The last time we heard from Emma, she said something about being bit and attacked after sitting on something. With both Z and Emma out of radio contact, we had to prioritize finding them. Especially now that we were not alone.
Elevator shaft, ladder, ventilation shaft, hallways, tunnel, ladder, chute. Or some combination like that. I found the biology center and the replicant found me. We were in a small room and I was able to hold my own against the pipe thrashing replicant. I normally go down quickly, but in this smaller room, I was able to keep the attack on. We were both pretty close to done and one pipe hit before I could activate the heal stims, I radioed that the replicant took me down as I hit the floor.
I was in that dreamy place where I am a foreign exchange university student when Emma found me. It was all over by the time I found my feet working again. Emma went boot knife kung fu on the Replicant and apparently Ardra.
Ardra did not really look like the Ardra I was shown in the pictures. Previously Ardra had an organic body. Ardra was KO when I got there, but came to within a minute or so. Activated a self destruct and attached herself to Emma. Emma ran around and was finally able to use a doorway to separate herself from Ardra. In the meantime, I was able to stop the self-destruct and abort the data dump.
Gabe caught up with us as the Replicant dissolved and the automated part of Ardra fled. Emma laid down as Gabe and I ran after Ardra. She lost us quickly.
We downloaded all the files we could, and even stopped the EVIL RickRoll Virus from corrupting the remaining files. If you ever go to hell, Rick will be waiting for you. We took as many bio samples as we could and found an Incubator Unit.
It was time to get out of there. Z was stashed somewhere safe and we found everything we could.
Emma said something about being scratched or taking off her helmet in the quarantine area. Emma had very little interest in doing anything except laying down, until we mentioned food.
By the time we were near Hale's, it was clear that Emma was symptoming. I called for emergency landing near the medbay. Emma avoided the medbay and ran around like LilyBell (on all fours) looking for food. She ran out of steam in the Hemlock and crashed out. Then up and running a bit. I put out an open wave for a doctor and kept an eye on Emma while Gabe went to get something for Emma to eat.. Dr. Footpad came and in desperation I brought her to the Hemlock. I was just briefing her about what happened when Gallagher came.
Gallagher was angry that I brought an outsider to the Hemlock. He obsessed a bit, but we were able to get him back on track of paying attention to the patient. We were able to move Emma to the medbay and Gallagher initiated containment and quarantine conditions. There was a lot of medically stuff involving adrenaline, antibodies, tests and comparisons. Mixed in with a few lectures about bringing outsiders to the Hemlock.
Fortunately Emma had been inoculated several times by AuroraBlue bites. AuroraBlue bit Emma often because "she smells funny". She will mostly recover in a month or so. Doctor Footpad gave Emma an treat for being a good patient.
Emma was still exhibiting LilyBell type behavior and contrasting between aggressive manic food obsessing and extreme lethargy. She was chilling on the couch when I left her.
I left a copy of the files with Gallagher to see if he can figure out anything more.
I hooked up with Z later, he was grumpy but fine.
I will check with folks tomorrow to see if they want to go to the wastelands and track down further.
Posts
