As part of their
package for winning the Danger Room Exercise, the group earned a shuttle pass
to the orbital arena entertainment station known as Outlaw Station, they
also earned a free "cup of joe" at The Emerald Brew, a coffee shop on
Outlaw Station popular with adventurer types and known for having the best
coffee in Riot, as well as, a frequently updated job's and rumors board.
On
the shuttle journey, Varlo quickly found he
had earned a bit of celebrity with his fellow Riotians. The vid feed on
the shuttle, showed a replay of him "gunning" down everything in
sight in the Danger Room, including his fellow companions. Able just
sneered. Osric seemed
preoccupied, his companions, didn't yet know he had "liberated" the
Hybrid Mergence from the Battle Tower. He felt he needed to let the
others know, and after indicating he needed to chat privately with the group.
Bras Hombre a known gunslinger stared down the other passengers on the shuttle
so that the other passengers gave the group space to talk. No one wanted
gunplay on a shuttle. Osric showed the group
his new "friend". Varlo a fellow psychic
was interested and examined the creature, he was immediately flooded with a
stream of images of an alien world, and the word? Sha'Kuun flooded his mind.
The creature wanted to go home and Sha'Kuun was his
home? Able was not pleased with the acquisition of this creature and said
as much.
Osric looked up and noted a dark robed figure on the other end of the shuttle
apparently watching them...it was one of the Shadow Priests...that strange cult
that was often seen around spaceports, that said little, and most everyone
ignored. The Shadow Priest, its face hidden in the dark recesses of its robes,
seemed to be watching them but Osric was uncertain. Bras Hombre and Able were
both uncomfortable that both Osric and Varlo claimed that this plant-thing was talking to them, but were more
concerned about the trouble this acquisition would cause the
group. There would be further discussions. 
Inner Halls of Outlaw Station
Arriving at Outlaw
Station, Osric was nearly
overwhelmed by all the people, sights and sounds, his low-tech forested world
of Bohemond was nothing like this place. Osric was thankful that Bras Hombre and Varlo seemed to know
their way around this chaotic place. The four companions soon found themselves
seated in a quiet booth at The Emerald Brew, and having some of the best coffee
they had ever had in their lives...well it was the first cup of coffee Osric had ever had so...
Bras
Hombre scanned the jobs/rumors board...it was in the process of being updated,
he noted one job just added, a group of science types were looking to hire on
some extra muscle (security) to accompany them to the planet Hennessey...they
were looking for the fabled lost outpost of El Dorado. Bras Hombre had never
been to Hennessey but knew it to be the source of some amazing whiskey...brewed
old school, they had to the freakish storms on that planet wreaked havoc with
most modern electronics systems. While he did that Able chatted with Emma the
proprietor of The Emerald Brew, he noted the green haired woman, didn't seem
concerned at all that he was an uplifted chimp, she seemed to be used to having
a wide assortment of customers come into her shop. Using his abilities with
people, Able asked about jobs. Specifically offworld jobs. Emma smiled,
she nodded at the extremely well dressed man(?) in the corner booth. A massive,
heavily muscled individual, with a greenish hue to his skin and an almost
Neanderthal-like sloping brow. Able made his way over to the man...a Mr. Grimm.
Mr. Grimm had apparently seen the groups actions on one of the vid-casts, and
had a job that just might be of interest to the group. But speed and discretion
were required. Mr. Grimm, a type of middle man for patron's that wished to
remain anonymous, needed the party's buy in before he would provide additional
information. After a brief discussion (they all knew getting away from
Riot was a good idea, since Osric had basically now
stolen an alien lifeform from the Battle Tower) the group agreed that they were
interested and wanted more information about the job. Able went back to discuss
terms with Mr. Grimm...
To
summarize the exchange between Able and Mr. Grimm...seems that Cleopatra
Station, a Genesis Combine Orbital Research Station in orbit above the Thieves
World of Slough Feg (and by concidence Able's homeworld) went gone radio silent about 40+ hours
ago. Mr. Grimm's undisclosed "business associates" needed intel
on the station, why had it gone quiet, what was Genesis Combine really up to?
The public statement was that Cleopatra Station was working to develop a
genetically engineered type of grain that would grow on the harsh only
partially terraformed world of Slough Feg. Mr. Grimm made it clear...
get in, find out what was really going on, bring back real data to show what
G.C. was really up to on the station. Mr. Grimm would provide a (loaner)
system shuttle for Varlo to pilot to get
the group to the station. Nothing fancy just a baseline, basic-factory equipped
model. A set of encrypted comm codes was given to the party to use to contact
Mr. Grimm when they had anything useful and with that they headed to one of the
many docking bays on Outlaw station, provided the dock attendant with the
shuttle passcodes, provided by Mr. Grimm and within the hour they were shuttle
bound to Cleopatra Station.
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