Mothership Mission Log - Springing the Trap and the Battle For the Ghost - Session 6
ROSTER:
- Vegas Hemmings - Marine (Jack)
- Dr. Kirk Kawaguchi - Scientist (Jason)
- Anders Togurtson - Teamster (Matt)
Contractors Aboard the Ship:
- TANAKA - MARINE
- SOBOL- SCIENTIST/ENGINEER
- RENFIELD - TEAMSTER/PILOT
- GATHERS - MERCENARY
- HOLT - MERCENARY
EVENTS:
- After stashing the drop ship with the Syncorax, the crew first sets course (Transponder off) to a point between Prospero’s Dream and the jump point to the Hope System. Once at this point they engage the transponder to transmit the Metamorphosis Ship ID and enter a standard burn to the jump point which is approximately 3 weeks travel time away.
- Within a couple of days the ships computer detects an anomalous contacts from within the usual traffic in the Tempest System. This Class-II contact originates from within the asteroid belt, its flying dark (no transponder) and on an intercept course with the Ghost.
- The crew surmises that this is a Stratemeyer ship taking the bait and uses the time to plan and prepare for the counter-boarding operation. However, at about one week from intercept the ship splits into two contacts - the second being a Class-0 vessel. The Class-II contact is now identified as a J1C-II Military Grade Patrol Craft (The Gun Boat) alters its course slightly to come along side the Ghost at firing range, while the smaller boarding skiff continues into contact range to intercept and board.
- The ship hails the crew and demands they maintain course and prepare to be boarded. The crew decides to make a bit of a show of it and takes evasive maneuvers and fires the laser at the skiff - missing. The Gun Boat returns fire with a shot across the bow with its auto cannons.
- Having realized that directly boarding the Gun Boat will be impossible the crew adapts and prepares to ambush the skiff’s boarding party. Kirk rigs a smart linked flame thrower to the roof of the main airlock and disguises it by tack welding panels and spare ship parts to make it appear as bit of normal machinery in the airlock. They then tack weld the inner door shut. The Crew positions themselves behind partially opened hatches in adjoining modules to have clear fields of fire to the inner airlock door and wait…
- The skiff docks with the Ghost and the outer airlock doors open revealing four mercenaries wearing vac suits, and led by an officer.
- The officer attempts to use in the airlock controls to open the inner door and they do not respond. He has one of the mercs bring up a cutter to breach the door. As he starts to cut, Anders cuts loose with the flamethrower, catching the merc cutting and the officer next to him. The officer is engulfed in flames and dies, as his lungs are torched from the superheated fumes of his burning vacsuit. The merc attempting to cut the door is badly burned and falls away from the door.
- One of the mercs, recognizing they are on killing ground, is able to place a breaching charge on the door, it blasts the inner door, injuring two of the mercs and damaging the Ghost’s O2 systems leaving 52 hours or oxygen for the crew.
- The crew is protected from the blast behind the hatches and presses the attack, resulting in the last two mercs recognizing there is no way out and they surrender.
- Kirk quickly starts interrogating the two captives saying “the one who talks first gets to live.” When neither talk he shoots one in the head. The second guy decides to talk.
- The crew learns from the merc (named Hanazawa) that Stratemeyer has hired mercenaries to pull down Teamster Local 32819L ships carrying syncorax. He knows a little, that the ships and crew are separated and stashed within the belt. Not being involved in navigation, he is not sure where. And he does not know what the syncorax is used for by Stratemeyer.
- He also tells the crew that the ship he’s been working on is called Deimos and the skiff is called “the Bucket.” Deimos has a crew of 12 spacers and three more mercs.
- The crew begins to formulate a plan to use “the Bucket” to get aboard the Deimos and take her…
NEW CONTACTS:
- HANAZAWA - Stratemeyer Syndicate employed mercenary, last survivor of the Buckets boarding operation.