Editing Episode 215: Trafalgar

''Present: Maer, Terri, Andy, Bobby, and Tony''<br>
''Air Date: 10 Nov 2009''<br><br>


'''Saturday, 22 Jun 2520'''<br>
'''Salisbury Abbey'''<br>
'''Fristonweald Range, Salisbury'''<br>
'''Kalidasa (Xuan Wu) system'''<br>
'''09:02 hrs, local time'''<br>

After a week of downtime, either at Mike’s cabin or on the ship, Christian finds us 6 2nd class passengers bound for Trafalgar.  And since the Abbot made mention of taking cargo to Trafalgar from the Abbey, Rina and Nika convince the rest of the crew to at least see what sort of cargo it is. It turns out to be 2 independent engineering contractors and we agree to take them on.  The Abbot apologizes for the lack of money in payment for commission and offers goods or services in trade.  we agree to that as well.



'''Wednesday, 26 Jun 2520'''<br>
'''Tohoku class IAV Trafalgar'''<br>
'''Somewhere in the Black'''<br>
'''02:00 hrs, ships time'''<br>

We arrive and off-load our passengers and since the ship is in a state of low-grade chaos due to the on-going reduction in force and services, we use it to cover our slipping into an off-limits section of the civilian decks.  Arden wants to get Lem to a medical lab to do a neural scan of him.  We’d noticed that he’s undergoing a significant growth spurt and want to ascertain if it’s normal or a side-effect of the cure Dr. Lawrence performed on him.  Arden also wants to run test on the texturized protein he’d made in his research into the TSE disease.  So we ride the transport from one end of the Trafalgar to the other, find a suitable lab and get to working.  We don labcoats to camouflage ourselves as medical crew—not the greatest of disguises, but enough to pass a cursory glance.

The lab module we’re in is one of two situated in a hangar-like medical research floor.  The lab modules exit onto the floor and they are also set with an airlock to the Black.  On the floor itself, there are observation windows showing outer space just beyond and one gets the sense that the airlocks are meant to accommodate space ambulances docking to deliver the sick and the injured.  

While we’re in our windowless lab unit running our tests, a ship docks with the airlock of the other lab.  A man wearing the uniform of a naval officer, accompanied by six marines and two personnel in RBC suits enter the other lab and open it to the ship.  The naval officer senses something on the research floor and investigates, looking around the machines and free-standing equipment and the packing boxes.  He finds a young female janitor and she fesses to being there to loot the place for portable goods—they’d fetch a good price on the Rim and she’s got a family to feed.  He takes her into custody and starts moving her to the side….right next to our lab, where we’d be visible plain as day through the viewport.  Which is exactly what happens. 

Before we can do more than acknowledge seeing and being seen, we get a panicked call from the other lab. There are Reavers aboard the docked ship, they have gotten out of their containment and they are coming in.  

And the Reavers go through the six marines despite their firepower and come straight for us.  Nika, Rick, the janitor and naval officer stand their ground and shoot at the Reavers, hoping to kill or hold them off so Rina can force open an exit door behind our module to the transport tracks beyond.  Arden keeps Lem on the scanner bed as long as possible to get as much information as he can.  When the Reavers cover half the distance across the lab floor, two other figures emerge from the crates and equipment—the janitor had friends hiding with her and they now add their fire to hers.  One of them has a camera—apparently they are here to film the Reaver operation.

The fight, such as it is, doesn’t go well.  The Reavers absorb the bullets we pump into them and keep advancing.  The janitor’s two friends fall to them, their flanking maneuver come to naught.  And the two RBC suited personnel strip off their suits to reveal the Blue Hands pair we’ve met before: Blondie and Brunette are back and Blondie has her sonic weapon out and turns it on.  

Meanwhile, Rina has managed to cut through the locks and force the door open with Jake’s (the cameraman) help, at which point she gets Arden and Lem safely to the other side.  At the moment the door is just beyond the sonic weapon’s range and as long as Blondie keeps her distance, they’ll be safe.  

Rick goes to town on the Reavers, shooting one dead and pistol whipping another to its demise.  He calls out to Blondie all the while, announcing he’s killing the Reavers for her.  Nika has two Reavers on her at once and has run out of bullets. She uses the pistol as a melee weapon.  The Browncoats’ camera falls to the deck in the melee and Jake runs back out to grab it.

The Browncoats fall to the sonics and the Reavers. Jake and Rick fall shortly thereafter.  The naval officer pulls out an injection gun and injects himself and Rina with a chemical that lessens the harmful effects of the sonic weapon.  And Rina goes back out there to help recover her friends.  Naval officer grabs Rick, Rina grabs Jake…and halfway to safety she falls to the sonics.  Those that are still up manage to take out the last Reaver standing and get everyone evacced behind the exit door.  Blondie puts away her weapon, the damage already done.  The naval officer comes with us, his position now compromised. We call the transport and jump aboard it when it arrives and get the hell out of there.  

We’re still on the Trafalgar, half our crew is unconscious and in serious condition, we have a Fed who’s not quite our prisoner and whom we cannot quite trust as a friend.  We have evidence that BS has captured eight Reavers for purposes that are unclear and the Blue Hands were also somehow involved.  We have no guarantee we’ll even get off Trafalgar and if we do, we haven’t a place to go.

Still, the naval officer with us seems to have been in charge of the Reaver business and since he’s now thrown his lot in with us, we may have a chance at getting some answers.  But for the nonce, we have to evade capture and get our crewmates on their feet again.



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Back to the previous episode: [[Episode 214: Salisbury Agendas | '''Salisbury Agendas''']] | Foward to: [[Episode 216: Losses and Gains | '''Losses and Gains''' ]]<br>
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