SPACE HORSE
SESSION SUMMARIES AND STORIES (96-147)
<<< PART ONE (1-95) | PART THREE (148-End) >>>
Space Jammers Incorporated, as of Session #80. Art by Foxinshadow.
If you haven’t already, please consider checking out the Space Horse stories HERE.
Space Jammers Incorporated are a small freelance crew operating out of an infamous freeport in the lawless region of space known as the Periphery, hoping to pay off their debts and become fully independent owners of their own cargo frigate, Claudia.
During their travels, the Jammers stumbled across a pair of clandestine agents from opposed factions - the hard-edged Whisper Step of the New Lunar Republic and the mystical Tundra Gem of the Solar Empire. The two agents each hired the Jammers to assist them in investigating the Sidewinder Syndicate, a galaxy-wide criminal organization suspected to be working on a high-profile scientific project. In the process of this investigation, Whisper was captured by a devious Sidewinder agent known as Cascavel.
Following some unsavory dealings with a Periphery crime lord calling herself the Countess, and with the tacit assistance of Tundra Gem, the Jammers managed to track Cascavel down and rescue Whisper. However, her time in captivity had not been kind. Overtaken by a murderous vendetta against Sidewinder, Whisper manipulated the Jammers into assisting her in setting up a devastating terrorist attack against one of the syndicate’s cover businesses aboard Crystal Heart, the Crystal League’s station-capital. Though the Jammers succeeded in averting the massacre Whisper had planned, Tami was severely injured in the process. Claudia was badly damaged, and now the crew are on the run...
Campaign GMing and world design by Napalm Goat.
Stories credited individually. Session summaries by Snipehamster.
CONTENTS
STORY: The Mongoose, by Napalm Goat
Session #96 - Pondering and Painkillers
Session #98 - Hey There Stranger
--- Project Snowdrop: Site One ---
Session #99 - Bad Neck of the Woods
Session #101 - Night of the Living Robots
Minisession - It Never Rains But It Pours
--- Into the Æther ---
Session #109 - The High Priestess
Session #118 - Cannons and Cheeseboard
Session #119 - A Danger to Herself and Others
--- Project Snowdrop: Site Two ---
Session #120 - In The Shadow of a Star
Session #121 - Drones in the Dark
Session #122 - Shooting Gallery
Session #125 - Off With Their Heads
STORY: Without the Masters We Always Had, by Napalm Goat
--- Return to Heraklion ---
Session #127 - Bacon and Eggs and Riddles
Session #129 - Dangerous Fugitives
Session #130 - Periphery Problems
Minisession - A Whisper in the Shadows
--- Griffons in Red ---
Session #134 - Risky Solutions
--- The Dame Vermillion Sting (Part 1) ---
Session #137 - The Morning After
--- Hospitality ---
--- The Dame Vermillion Sting (Part 2) ---
Session #140 - Two Percent Chance to Explode
IMPORTANT NOTE: In order to include certain characters and plot elements, the following stories take liberties with the campaign’s timeline. As such, they contain various spoilers for major events that take place between this point and Session 161. If you want to read to the end of the summaries unspoiled, save these for later.
STORY: That Fragile Bubble of Joy, by Fuzzy
STORY: The Great Recollection of Assets, by Fuzzy
--- Ashes to Ambush ---
Session #142 - Location, Location
Session #144 - Graceful as a Gazelle
Session # 146 - Hundred and Sixty Six
SESSION SUMMARIES
STORY: The Mongoose, by Napalm Goat
Session #96 - Pondering and Painkillers
Forty-five minutes after the narrow escape from Crystal Heart, clear of apparent pursuit and safe for the moment amidst an m-space jump, the Jammers finally have time to take stock of the situation. Blitz and Donner have retreated to the cargo bay to take a nap, relying on their freakish healing abilities to treat their own wounds. Tami is bedridden; Smile and Patch haven’t left her side.
Kerfuffle enters the bridge to give Trigger a preliminary damage report: most of it is superficial, but engine #3 is still in very bad shape. It’s hard to tell for certain without a proper inspection, but the entire engine might need to be replaced. Kerfuffle is unusually ruffled - even angry - now that the reality that Whisper used everyone for her revenge plot is settling home. He’s particularly upset that in the end, Tami and Claudia were the ones that ended up suffering the most for it. Trigger feels much the same way, voicing her own regret for having not seen it coming. As captain, she feels responsible for everything that went wrong.
Kerfuffle leaves the bridge to check on Donner and Blitz and fetch Trigger a drink, and returns to find that the captain’s taken her pent up frustration out on the bridge furniture. There’s scuff marks all over the instruments. Unable to stay angry when those around him are so miserable, he tries to console her. Eventually, the pair of them share a little hug and shakily resolve to do what they can to make things better, even if it’s just in small increments. First step: getting the blood-soaked pool table out of the room where everyone eats and giving it a proper clean.
In the makeshift infirmary, a combination of sedatives and the sluggishness that comes after a massive adrenaline rush has left Tami semi-conscious. She’s deeply upset, having finally begun to realise just how close she came to dying. Smile does her best to console the hippogriff - Tami did save everyone’s lives, after all - but it’s clear that she’s also struggling with a heavy burden of guilt and shame over her own role in things. For perhaps the first time, the crystal pony’s aloof and professional veneer has broken completely.
Patch, to Tami and Smile’s immense relief, reports that though her wound is severe, Tami shouldn’t have suffered any permanent damage. The bullet grazed several major organs and badly bruised her ribs. Full recovery is likely to take a couple of weeks, and in the meantime she’ll have to stay on painkillers and off solid food. Unable and unwilling to sleep, Tami asks Smile to fetch her multiband; she wants to write to Midnight and her parents to let them know that she’s okay.
Smile runs into Trigger and Kerfuffle in the common room, and they can clearly see how badly shaken up she is. She informs them of Patch’s prognosis, and they both agree to visit Tami shortly - difficult as that may be given the limited space in the ‘infirmary’ and the severity of Tami’s condition. In the meantime, Smile returns to Tami’s bedside and, rather than allowing her to strain herself by typing, takes her messages as dictation instead.
After hauling the pool table into the cargo hold and making a start on the cleaning, Trigger and Kerfuffle remember that they still have matters outstanding from the events on Crystal Heart. Kerfuffle - not wanting to be impolite - contacts the CHUM mare who gave him her number to apologise that he and his boss won’t be meeting them for drinks after all. More importantly, Trigger recalls what Whisper told her: the agent left her tablet aboard Claudia, and she went out of her way to tell Trigger the password. Trigger locates the tablet easily enough, but what she finds on it just raises a dozen more worrying and confusing questions.
The only file Whisper left behind is a message that was intercepted by the New Lunar Republic Intelligence Office a couple of months ago. In fact, the message was sent roughly a week before the Jammers first met Whisper. What’s strange is that the message addresses the Jammers directly, begging for rescue and promising information on Project Snowdrop. The interception of this message was what prompted the NLR to send Whisper to seek out the Jammers in the first place. But at the time the message was sent, the Jammers had never even heard of Project Snowdrop, nor antagonized Sidewinder. While the source and sender of the message are unknown, it points them to a remote moon in the Periphery, in a system far removed from the usual travel lanes…
***
Two days later, finally passing into the relative safety of Confederate space, the Jammers gather for breakfast (none too appetising in Tami’s case, given that she has to ‘eat’ it intravenously). Morale is still pretty low, but everyone’s interest is piqued when Trigger raises the subject of what Whisper left for them. What catches everyone in particular is the timing - it’s probably no coincidence that the message was sent so close to their investigation of the Starweaver. It also occurs that the Starweaver was a geological survey ship; in hindsight, Sidewinder have a lot of influence in the field of interstellar geology. Was Snowdrop - whatever it might be - aboard the Starweaver? Responsible for the crew’s disappearance? Connected to Jelly Biscuit? There are still so many unknowns. Smile still has the drives secured from the data vault on Crystal Heart, which might hold further information, but going through those will take time.
Speculation, ultimately, will have to wait. The Jammers and their ship are in no condition to go careening around the galaxy chasing after mysterious messages that were sent months ago. They need a safe haven where they can resupply, recover, and get Claudia repaired. The Empire and Republic are probably bad ideas given their interest in Snowdrop, the League is a no-go, and Alyssum wouldn’t appreciate them bringing Donner and Blitz right back to Port Medusa.
Smile tunes in to the League’s recent news to find out what the media are saying about what happened at Crystal Heart. Strangely, while there are indeed reports and even video footage of the mad chase through the streets of the capital, there’s no sight or mention whatsoever of Sidewinder, their interceptor, Regulus, or even the identity of Claudia or the Jammers themselves. It seems likely that someone leveraged a lot of influence to obscure as much of the story as possible. Sidewinder trying to minimise scrutiny into their cover business? Whisper’s people covering for her? It’s impossible to say for certain.
One positive and very welcome piece of news is that no civilians were seriously injured. There were a few hospitalizations, but nothing that warranted more than a brief stay.
Session #97 - Heraklion Haven
The Jammers eventually decide to stop in Heraklion, a relatively minor Confederate system adjoining the Republic border. They dock at a port station orbiting the local capital world, and the minotaurs settle to repair Claudia for forty-five thousand credits. For once, Smile simply accepts the asking price without negotiation. She’s stayed by Tami’s side for the entire trip, morning and night, sleeping only when exhaustion strikes and spending much of her waking time combing through Sidewinder’s data.
Incidentally, Heraklion is also Kerfuffle’s home system. Being so close to home buoys his mood, even though the crew’s present situation as fugitives - from the League authorities as well as Sidewinder - precludes him from going to visit his family.
Some time later, the Jammers are gathered in the common room when a delivery arrives; Smile’s ordered a plant for Tami. It’s a genetically-modified strain of amaryllis that can live on artificial light. Tami appreciates the thoughtful gift, even though her initial reaction is exactly what you might expect when you give something colourful to someone in her condition.
The pair decide between them that once Tami can paint the flowers, she’ll be officially healed. Smile has a second gift for her, but it’s a secret - one that’ll keep until then.
Noting that Tami hasn’t been able to see the stars for a few days, Kerfuffle has an idea to try and cheer everyone up. Confederate stations tend to make many of their external cameras public access, so with Trigger’s permission he taps into the local network and shows off various scenic views of local space and landmarks of the system at large. At Smile’s suggestion, he zooms in on his home city of Labyrinth and reminisces a little about his family history. He’s trying to live up to the legacy of his father, whom he admires for his conscientiousness and diligence. More specifically, Kerfuffle’s father went out of his way to save the life of an abandoned baby griffon, later adopting her as Kerfuffle’s younger sister, Galena.
Aside from the little show Kerfuffle’s putting on for everyone, Tami asks Trigger if she could perhaps share her bed - platonically of course - until she gets better. She’s tired of having to sleep in the cramped quarters-turned-infirmary and waking up to Smile watching over her looking depressed. On that note, Kerfuffle suggests that he could try and arrange somewhere a little more comfortable for Donner and Blitz to sleep. They deserve some recognition for their assistance at Crystal Heart, after all. The pair appreciate the thought, and leave the Jammers with a riddle to ponder while they leave the ship to do some shopping.
How do you make the number one disappear?
While the Jammers agonize over Donner’s riddle (and Kerfuffle takes advantage of his proximity to home to ask Galena), there’s a loud jingle from Trigger’s room. It’s Tundra Gem’s device - he’s trying to contact them. Trigger brings it into the common room and plugs it into the projector.
Tundra was just calling to check on the Jammers, having completed his own relatively minor reassignment, but reacts with shock and concern as they explain what happened in his absence. Of course, he’s also particularly interested in the strange message that the Republic intercepted. He quickly pledges to join them as soon as he can and render assistance; if whoever sent that message is connected to Project Snowdrop, they’ll be needing someone who knows magic.
Once the call is over, the crew discuss amongst themselves. Nobody’s particularly enthusiastic about rushing off on another mission in the immediate future, especially with Tami’s recovery still far from complete. They speculate a little on the nature of Project Snowdrop and Tami makes a salient point: if Sidewinder are looking for a way to somehow bring magic back to the galaxy, there’s no wonder the Empire and Republic are so interested. With a magically capable population at their disposal, Empress Nightmare Star or Princess-Regent Luna could quickly turn the tables on the other. Trigger supposes that perhaps everyone would be better off if Snowdrop were destroyed. Kerfuffle, on the other hand, suggests that magic could be used to benefit the entire galaxy instead. With so many questions still open, there aren’t any clear answers yet.
Smile notes that she’s still working to decipher the information on the drives they stole from Crystal Heart. Perhaps those could offer more insight. Put on the spot, she also explains her last-minute modification to the heist plan: stealing a second drive containing Sidewinder’s financial data. If Sidewinder come after the Jammers again, she wants to be ready to blackmail them - hard.
Session #98 - Hey There Stranger
Two more days pass. Tami begins to show promising signs of recovery, but she’s still on the fragile side. Smile happily announces that she’s made progress on working through the drive related to Project Snowdrop. Unfortunately the data they’d hoped to recover was distributed across several separate drives, but she’s nonetheless managed to recover fragments.
The information recovered so far discusses the ‘Snowdrop Site One Disaster’. Backing up what Whisper told them about Snowdrop before, it seems that the original site of the project suffered from some sort of catastrophic security breach and was totally abandoned, pending relocation. Allegedly Sidewinder suffered enormous losses, but the cause of the calamity isn’t specified. Smile also manages to recover a number of security clearance codes that used to apply to the now defunct site. Tami tries her best to draw out more information, but with little success.
There’s some further speculation on the possible Snowdrop-Starweaver connection, but it’s interrupted by Tundra’s arrival. He’s pleased to see everyone in (relatively) good condition, and Trigger in particular is pleased to see him too. There’s a few hugs and some catching up to do.
Nonetheless, Tundra is eager to investigate the source of the strange message requesting the Jammers’ help. It seems likely at this point that it was sent from Site One itself, probably before or during the incident that destroyed the facility. Whisper’s people may have already combed the site, but it’s the only lead Tundra and the Jammers have. There is, of course, plenty of trepidation - even in ruins, the site is likely to be dangerous; Claudia’s still grounded and Tami’s in no condition for a fight.
However, Tami herself points out that it’s only a matter of time until Sidewinder figure out what information the Jammers stole from them. If they wait for her to fully heal and for Claudia to be completely repaired, Sidewinder will have used that time - a week, at least - to get ahead of them and prepare. For the first time, they may actually have the upper hand. It’s an advantage they shouldn’t throw away casually.
Despite his eagerness to get underway, Tundra takes Trigger aside to talk in private for a moment. He feels bad about potentially rushing the Jammers back into danger, and wants to give her an exit strategy in case the worst happens. He explains that the brooch on his cloak - fashioned to look like an ornate chalice filled with red fluid - is a magical artifact. If something goes horribly wrong, he or Trigger can focus their magic (even Trigger’s very weak magic) on it and it will give them a way out. He admits that having Whisper Step along on this mission would be very helpful too, but nobody’s seen or heard from her since Crystal Heart.
Eventually, a decision is reached - using the Lady of the Lake, Tundra and the Jammers will investigate the source of the message. For the first time, they also decide to take Patch with them to keep an eye on Tami and offer assistance in possible emergencies. Donner and Blitz can stay behind to keep Claudia safe, and Smile insists they take some time to reflect on where they might like to go in the future. Tami thanks them again and gives Donner a goodbye hug. Blitz, of course, leaves everyone with a parting riddle.
If a blue house is made out of blue bricks, a yellow house is made out of yellow bricks and a pink house is made out of pink bricks, what is a green house made of?
There’s a little trepidation amongst the Jammers as they gather their things and board the Lady, considering what happened last time they were aboard. If anything, the ship is even more of a mess than it was before, with warding circles drawn on the floor and even more wizardly junk scattered around. Tundra apologises for the mess and assures everyone that they’ll be fine so long as they don’t break the circles. The crew are distracted, however, by the sight of a group of tiny, fairy-like ponies gathered around a bowl of beetroot juice.
Tundra shoos the little creatures away through an appropriately tiny portal and explains that they’re a race of capricious beings that live in another dimension. Spellcasters like him occasionally call on them for favors or assistance, as he did for something while he was away, but these particular ones overstayed their welcome to try and steal food.
With the thieving breezies successfully banished to their magical realm, it’s time to get underway. Much to Tami’s delight, Tundra lets her join him on the bridge. He gives her the honor of helping him to set course for their latest destination - a mysterious moon in the middle of nowhere...
Session #99 - Bad Neck of the Woods
A day and a half later, the Lady of the Lake emerges from FTL in an uncharted Periphery system. There’s no sign of intelligent life, but the message coordinates point to a small, tropical moon covered with dense jungle. By all appearances it’s a lush and untouched alien world. Tundra does however locate some form of abandoned structure on the surface - likely the source of the message - so he brings the Lady in closer to investigate. The Jammers gear up for a fight just in case, which includes Tami bringing Tsunami and her ‘little agent’ outfit.
Once the Lady penetrates the moon’s thick atmosphere and drops to the level of the dense, moist jungle, everyone gets a better look at the facility. It’s shaped like a dumbbell - two bunker-like structures either side of a deep chasm, connected by a closed skybridge. There’s a very large landing pad on one side - as good a place as any to land.
Tami insists that she’s fine to come along, especially given the alternative of staying aboard the Lady alone, so everyone disembarks - Patch included - to take a look around. The atmosphere is unpleasantly hot and moist, and it’s clear that the complex has been left abandoned for quite some time. All around them is crumbling concrete and rusting equipment, quickly being claimed by the hungry jungle. There’s even some native life wandering around - giant crablike creatures - but these seem to be docile and more interested in feeding on the abundant plants than anything else.
As the group move closer to the building, they notice the hulks of some familiar security mechs rusting away amongst the foliage. A short time later, they find the body of a long-dead pony crushed under some fallen debris, dressed in equally familiar armor. Even abandoned and in a rapidly advancing state of decay, this is definitely a Sidewinder installation. All but certainly the abandoned initial site of Project Snowdrop. Trigger finds a functional security radio on the corpse; naturally, it isn’t picking up any signals.
Tundra points out that he feels the influence of some sort of strange, powerful magic in the air. It doesn’t seem to be dangerous, but it’s unlike anything he’s encountered before. He suggests that the Jammers should check the main building while he stays behind to analyse the magic; it’s likely related to Project Snowdrop, and perhaps the reason why the facility was left to rot.
The Jammers enter the building and find themselves in a large reception area. It would be dark if not for the numerous holes in the walls and ceiling letting in abundant sunlight - plus moisture. Large sections of the building are crumbled and broken, blocking off doors and stairways alike, but there’s no signs of fighting or attempts at demolition. Behind the reception desk, a pony-like robot attempts to greet them, rambles off a few lines of gibberish, then collapses. Kerfuffle takes the time to examine it - it’s a fairly standard protocol robot, broken down like the rest of the facility due to time and exposure.
Tami hears something moving in the shadows and spots some kind of native animal, but it runs swiftly away as soon as it’s noticed. Whether it’s a skittish herbivore or stalking predator is hard to tell, but the Jammers move to keep her at the center of their formation for safety’s sake as they proceed further into the ruined structure. With Kerfuffle’s claws and muscle power serving as stand-ins for a crowbar, they force their way through a sealed door and into the following corridor. There’s strange burn marks on the walls and floor, even going straight through the outer surface in places, but still no sign of a potential cause.
As they proceed through the next door, though, Tami’s fears are validated as a large cat-like predator lunges at them from the darkness! The hippogriff tries to shoot it as it makes to pin Smile down, but it’s too fast and her shots go wide. Smile, reacting quickly, manages to roll clear of the creature’s claws and lands a solid hit on it with her rifle. While Kerfuffle does his best to hold it at bay in an appropriately feline standoff, Trigger gets a clear shot with her pistol and puts it down.
The crew take stock. Fortunately nobody is injured, but it’s clear that the native life isn’t limited to peaceful herbivores and plants. As they proceed further into the building, passing through a partially collapsed series of offices, they encounter a second creature. Rather than attacking, it quickly runs once it realises it’s been caught in the open. All the holes in the walls and ceiling offer a variety of potential escape routes - and ambush positions.
A short time later, the Jammers arrive at what looks like a large lounge or waiting area. The far wall is reinforced glass, offering a panoramic view of the canyon and the skybridge passing across to the other half of the complex. Tami can’t resist crossing the room to the window and taking a few pictures, while Kerfuffle’s attention is drawn to a pile of wreckage in the center. Amongst the debris is a broken-down robot that resembles a griffon. Unlike the cutesy pony-like model they found in the reception area, it’s clearly a machine designed for combat. Perhaps left over from the facility’s security force? Before he can examine it more closely, Trigger notices an uncomfortable feeling rapidly building at the base of her horn and-
*** FLASH ***
-suddenly, the room changes. No longer in ruins, the walls and furniture are pristine. The wreckage is all gone. The Jammers aren’t given time to get their bearings - a PA system loudly announces a security breach, and several vertical cylinder-shaped pods mounted along the wall open up to reveal half a dozen of the griffon-like robots. These, however, are in perfect condition and begin advancing on the Jammers with hostile intent.
Smile reacts quickly. On a hunch, she runs to a nearby door and tries using the Site One security access codes she recovered from the Sidewinder drive. The door opens. She follows up by tossing a frag grenade at the mass of robots for good measure, yelling for the others to get through the door. One of the bots goes down in flames, but the others keep advancing. One raises its wings and, with a burst of its mounted jets, lunges at Kerfuffle with wickedly sharp beak and claws outstretched. He’s too slow to react, and an instant before the robot makes contact-
*** FLASH ***
-the robots vanish. The Jammers find themselves back in the ruined lounge, reeling at the sudden transition. A door that was once closed is now open, and the charred wreckage of a security robot is now lying where it wasn’t before.
The Jammers don’t get time to think about what just happened - the badly damaged robot Kerfuffle was examining turns out to be less defunct than it looks. Around the room, more badly worn - yet operational - griffon robots claw their way out from under rubble and furniture. One swings at Kerfuffle, digging solid metal claws into his armor, until Trigger pops its head off with a well-aimed pistol shot. She takes aim at a second as it advances on them, but despite a solid hit it forgoes attacking and simply self-destructs! Trigger and Kerfuffle scramble for cover.
The ruined furniture near Tami shifts and breaks apart as another mechanical griffon lunges out at her. She jumps away, but not fast enough - its beak sinks deep into her neck and retracts with a terrifyingly large spray of blood. Smile responds, bringing the machine down with a prompt burst of fire from her laser rifle. The last two robots continue to harass Trigger and Kerfuffle, keeping them from moving to Tami’s aid. The hippogriff tries to raise her submachinegun to cover them, but quickly lapses into unconsciousness from rapid blood loss and collapses (Note: Tami is critically wounded and passes a death save here).
Patch responds to the medical emergency, hurrying to Tami’s side and working to stop her from hemorrhaging. Suddenly feeling far less inclined towards his usual gentleness around machines, Kerfuffle brings down his assailant with a point blank shotgun blast followed by a heavy swing that takes its head clean off. Trigger follows suit and dispatches the last of the robots with her pistol.
With the immediate threat dealt with, the Jammers gather around their stricken pilot. Patch has her stabilized for now, but it’s not looking good...
Session #100 - Dark Omens
While Patch works to seal and stitch Tami’s wound, Trigger tries to contact Tundra but to no avail. Communications aren’t working, perhaps blocked by the strange ambient magic of the ruined facility. Kerfuffle and Smile, angry and deeply upset at what just happened respectively, start to break down what’s left of the room’s furniture to try and build a makeshift stretcher.
With Patch’s prompt assistance and some (more) medication, Tami regains consciousness over the next few minutes. Trigger announces that they’re heading back to the ship - no matter what secrets might be hidden in these ruins, they’re not worth risking Tami’s life for. Bringing her along in such poor condition was a mistake. Despite her mounting injuries though, Tami is adamant that this is their only chance to get an advantage over Sidewinder. She insists the crew carry on despite her - if they abandon the mission now, all of Whisper’s work and suffering (not to mention their own) would be for nothing.
After some heated debate, Trigger relents and agrees to carry on provided that Tami stays with Kerfuffle at all times. Smile is indignant and Kerfuffle grudging, but the decision is made. Tami climbs up onto Kerfuffle’s back, taking cover between his wings. They proceed through the door Smile opened, emerging into a glass-faced corridor that overlooks the skybridge. There’s another broken down ponybot lying in the corridor - they seem to be all over the place - but as the Jammers pass through the corridor-
*** FLASH ***
-they find themselves once again walking through a pristine and fully functional version of the facility. The first thing that catches their eye is the familiar figure walking away from them across the skybridge below: Cascavel. Trigger’s looted radio crackles to life, with a voice announcing a security breach in the administrative area and requesting security teams to investigate. Tami starts to have a panic attack at the sight of Cascavel somehow alive and well, and-
*** FLASH ***
-then he’s gone. Once again, the crew are in the sodden, broken down ruin they originally arrived at. Trigger’s horn hurts again. Smile has Patch run a scan for hallucinogenic gases or other mind-altering phenomena, but it comes up negative. Whatever’s happening is clearly magical in nature. At Tami’s request, they hurry to the end of the corridor to get away from Cascavel before speculating further. Strange as it may sound, they seem to be travelling back and forth between two distinct periods in time.
Passing through another broken door, the Jammers enter what looks like an auditorium. Like the rest of the complex it’s completely wrecked, but-
*** FLASH ***
-suddenly it’s clean and new. The seats are occupied by scientists, watching as their colleague wraps up some sort of presentation on the basics of Project Snowdrop. Smile unlocks the next door with her security codes. Trigger takes a photo of the conference, but there’s no time to pick up any useful information on the project because-
*** FLASH ***
-the Jammers quickly find themselves back in the present. Trigger checks her camera and sure enough, the photo’s still there, but the date and time assigned to it are corrupted. Despite initial skepticism, the whole crew are forced to agree that there’s definitely some kind of temporal anomaly surrounding the facility.
Proceeding through the door Smile opened, the crew find themselves in another run down set of offices. Trigger pokes her head through a doorway, only to be met by a loud roar as two of the feline aliens pounce from the shadows! Tami reacts first, pumping her wings to launch off Kerfuffle and loosing a long burst of fire from the air. After a followup shot from Smile, one of the big cats drops dead. The second cat claws and bites at Trigger, but most of its blows scrape harmlessly off her armor. Not at all in the mood to be used as a chew toy, the captain all but shoves her pistol into the creature’s mouth and dispatches it with a single shot.
As Tami returns to her perch on Kerfuffle’s back and receives a gentle reprimand for straining herself, Trigger takes the opportunity to search the nearby desks for clues. The computers are all waterlogged and what used to be paperwork is just rotting mulch, but luck strikes and she finds a functional tablet computer. The batteries are long dead, but the device should work if given a little juice. Smile encourages the group to keep moving - the better to avoid getting ambushed again.
As if on cue, a cylindrical port in the wall of the corridor opens up and a dilapidated griffbot lurches at Smile, screeching incomprehensibly through a broken voice box. The Jammers scramble to defend themselves… and the robot collapses harmlessly in a heap.
They carefully move past it into the corridor, and-
*** FLASH ***
-suddenly find themselves back in the past. Ahead, a pony in Sidewinder security armor reacts with shock at their sudden appearance, raising their rifle and calling for backup. More of the wall cylinders open, releasing two pristine griffbots that quickly move to attack. Trigger is fast on the draw, downing one of the bots and wounding the guard with three swift shots.
Smile tries to follow up, but something goes wrong with Cascavel’s rifle. The power cell begins to rapidly overload and overheat, burning Smile’s hoof as she scrambles to eject it before it can damage the rest of her weapon. Tami plays turret from her position on Kerfuffle, turning to fire on a griffbot approaching them from the rear, but it swiftly dodges out of her line of fire. She has to hunker down and hold on as Kerfuffle moves to try and finish it, landing some solid - but not quite decisive - blows with his own claws. The robot’s eyes glow red, accompanied by an ominous beeping as its self-destruct engages and-
*** FLASH ***
-there’s a loud roar as a big cat lunges out from amongst the ruins! Trigger turns on a dime and shoots it dead. There’s a pretty substantial scorch mark and heap of wreckage where the robot used to be. Finally clear of attackers for the moment, the Jammers take a minute to catch their breath. Despite the surprises, Trigger’s quick reflexes meant that they came out of that last engagement without injury. Kerfuffle apologises to Tami for the bumpy ride.
Given a moment to think, Trigger has an idea. She pulls out the tablet she recovered from the office and asks Tami if she could use her tech kit to power it up. She can, and after a little hacking she manages to access the device. Most of the data on board is corrupt, but she does come across two intact files - profiles for “Specimen Eleven” and “Specimen Six”.
There’s more, including psychological profiles and lists of cybernetic implants installed in both subjects. The Jammers take some time to process this new information. Several disturbing facts are now clear. Project Snowdrop is Sidewinder’s attempt to foster magical power in unicorns. To this end they’ve spent years abducting young unicorns, wiping their memories, and subjecting them to scientific experimentation - no doubt of a highly unethical sort.
With a renewed sense of purpose, the Jammers proceed deeper into the ruins. In the next office along, Trigger spots something glinting under some rubble - a security keycard marked ‘AMBER’. She pockets it; there’s no telling when it might come in handy. Kerfuffle wonders why they’d use a yellow card for security; isn’t that a hoofball thing?
The next door they open leads to a room whose floor has completely collapsed. Aside from a thin ledge leading around to the only exit, all that’s left is a deep hole filled with rubble, wreckage and a whole lot of stinking, fetid rainwater. The entire ceiling is gone. Carefully, the crew shimmy along the broken ledge without incident. Kerfuffle even makes it while carrying Tami; it really does pay to be half cat sometimes. The following door gives way to a good solid pull, leading them even deeper into the facility...
Session #101 - Night of the Living Robots
Tami furiously scratches her head, trying to figure out the implications of Snowdrop and the crew’s own intermittent jaunts through time. Given what they just learned, perhaps the facility was destroyed by an escaped test subject? It’s hard to say for certain, but who knows what a pony might be able to do with enough magic running through them?
The Jammers find themselves back in the building’s reception area. Only this time, they’re on the far side of an otherwise-impassable wall of debris, and have access to a staircase leading to the lower level of the facility. At the base of the stairs is a door, which Trigger carefully pries open-
*** FLASH ***
-revealing two more Sidewinder guards! Luckily for the Jammers the pair are just as surprised as they are, fumbling with their weapons. Trigger knocks one off their hooves with a quick shot, but curses as her gun proceeds to jam on the second attempt. Tami fires to cover the captain before the second guard can return fire and lands a solid few hits, dropping them on the spot. She begs them to stay down, hoping it’s just a flesh wound. The first guard screams into his radio with a request for backup, and-
*** FLASH ***
-there’s a chorus of loud clanking and grinding sounds. A small horde of decrepit griffbots advance from the darkness of the lower floor where the guards were just standing, eyes glowing eerily in the darkness. The Jammers hold their ground, using the doorway as a natural chokepoint to funnel the machines into a crossfire.
Smile brings one down, as does Trigger. Tami badly batters another with the Tsunami, but it carries on advancing even as the weapon clicks on an empty magazine. Kerfuffle finishes it with his shotgun just before it lays claws on the captain. A fourth robot lumbers out of the darkness despite the hail of gunfire and lands a painful slash across Smile’s chest. The crystal pony finishes her opponent at point blank range, and a quick reload allows Tami to bring down the last straggler before it gets close enough to do any more damage.
When the gang of neglected robots finally falls silent, the Jammers pause to take a breath. Tami gets down from Kerfuffle’s shoulders to make sure Trigger is okay, while Patch and the big griffon check on Smile. The sheer volume of threats in this place - and the disorientation caused by the seemingly random time jumps - are quickly wearing down the crew’s stamina.
Smile waves off the offers of assistance, insisting that her wound is only minor, and turns to more practical concerns. She asks Kerfuffle if he could open one of the robots up and see what makes them tick; that might let the Jammers bring them down more quickly and easily if they attack again. Kerfuffle’s none too happy about it - and the idea of a griffon engineer taking apart a griffon-shaped robot gives the eerie impression of a field autopsy - but he sees the logic in the suggestion and grudgingly agrees.
The reason for the robots’ uncanny resilience soon becomes apparent. While their more sensitive and advanced systems like thrusters and precision sensors are long gone, their core systems and frames are made from starship-grade steel. They’re incredibly wear-resistant, and no doubt they were extremely expensive too. They don’t seem to be very well-shielded against electrical attacks though; perhaps Tami’s taser could be of use if they show up again?
Tami mounts back up and the Jammers continue into the lower level of the admin building. They soon reach another door, this one marked 'Lab A-01: Cybernetics and Transplants'. As soon as they force open the door, sludgy, filthy water leaks out at hoof level. The lab is completely waterlogged - any sensitive machinery in there is utterly ruined. It also looks like Sidewinder made an effort to at least partially clear the lab out. There are containment tanks and small stasis pods, presumably for cybernetics awaiting implantation, but they’re either broken or empty. The dots are easy to join, though: the inductees for Project Snowdrop - all of them foals and none of them willing - must have once passed through here.
The Jammers make a somber examination of the room’s contents, but if there’s anything of interest left they’re either too disturbed by the situation or not observant enough to find it amongst all the damp and overgrowth. Trigger, possessed by morbid curiosity and a need for closure, checks inside the body bag, but whatever was inside is too badly decayed for even Patch to identify. It’s not clear if the contents were even a pony, or some other small creature. All she gets out of it is a cloud of rotten gas and an overwhelming urge to gag. The Jammers - suddenly in possession of some very morbid thoughts - quickly vacate the lab.
Across the corridor, another door is marked 'Under construction. Access forbidden’. Kerfuffle, not feeling particularly beholden to the commands of an obviously evil syndicate, does his best to force the door. It’s a tough one, and eventually Smile and Trigger join in trying to pry it open too. At first, all they accomplish is Smile painfully pulling her fetlock. Eventually though, the doors give way to reveal… a wall of rubble. The ‘under construction’ room has already collapsed completely. Whoops.
With nowhere else to go but further down the corridor, the Jammers find themselves emerging onto the skybridge across the canyon that they saw earlier. Halfway across, Trigger’s horn starts to ache-
*** FLASH ***
-and the Jammers once again find themselves in the fully operational facility of the past. The PA system is announcing a code red security alert and lockdown. As far as past Sidewinder know, they’re under attack by armed intruders using some form of advanced cloaking technology. It seems like the time jumps are taking the Jammers back the exact same distance in time, both back and forth.
Unwilling to risk getting trapped on the bridge, and with Tami terrified at the possibility of encountering Cascavel again, the crew hurry to the opposite side. They pass through the door into the R&D block, and-
*** FLASH ***
-emerge into a sodden and ruined foyer. With pretty flowers grown rugged and wild from around a broken fountain, it’s almost comfortable. Or it would be, if not for all the creepy snake-themed statuary and the many dormant griffbot cylinders lining the walls. They pick a door and investigate, finding a small laboratory and yet another broken down ponybot. There’s little of interest to be found that hasn’t been broken down by the harsh conditions, but Trigger does come across a fragment of some documentation that seems to be a visitation list: Taipan, Adder, Asp, Cascavel.
Moving on, the next room they check is blackened and charred - it looks like a large fire took place inside. Trigger and Tami notice what looks like an impact mark on the far wall, but it doesn’t appear to have been caused by any weapon they know of. Smile identifies it, though.
Kerfuffle wonders whether perhaps it was caused by magic - maybe one of the test subjects? As is becoming depressingly common, there’s simply not enough left of the room to tell for sure.
Proceeding down a nearby corridor, the Jammers eventually come to a large, wide open chamber two stories high. Light is coming in through a jagged-looking gap in the ceiling, and a large set of tanks on the wall are leaking some thick, iridescent fluid. Like everything else, it’s coated in thick, damp vegetation. Speculation ensues, but-
*** FLASH ***
-thrown back into the past, they quickly recognise that it’s a hangar. A hangar now occupied by a very familiar red interceptor. Specifically, the one that chased them across Crystal Heart. A griffon is working on the ship - one that Tami and Smile quickly recognise. He was the one they saw leaving the Sidewinder Security Solutions building with Asp, and must be another Syndicate agent. Likely the pilot that harried them during their escape. The griffon turns and spots them, yelling for security-
*** FLASH ***
-but a moment later, his yell is replaced by an animal roar...
Session #102 - Time Crisis
Two more predatory cats leap at the Jammers from the darkness. Trigger and Smile bring one down quickly, but the second lands another painful blow across the crystal pony’s neck and upper chest. A burst from Tami’s Tsunami finishes it off.
Pausing for a minute so that Patch can disinfect Smile’s wound, the Jammers discuss the situation and their next move. Smile’s injuries are starting to take their toll - she’s visibly tired and in pain, and requests a stimulant shot from Patch to keep herself going. It’s clear that the big cats they keep encountering moved into the facility once Sidewinder vacated it. Kerfuffle suggests the possibility of backtracking to meet up with Tundra and bring the Lady of the Lake into the hangar, but the exterior doors are rusted and overgrown shut.
From this point on, Trigger orders Patch to record everything he can. With nothing else for it but to continue, the crew return to the corridor and enter a small seating area. Like the foyer, what were once pretty arrangements of exotic flowers are now growing wildly. Trigger feels an uncomfortable pressure building at the base of her horn-
*** FLASH ***
-and the Jammers find themselves surrounded by Sidewinder guards. They scatter for cover behind the suddenly clean and intact furniture, opening fire before the guards can pin them down. Trigger wounds one of them with a clean hit, but a burst of SMG fire comes back at her and batters her armor. Another guard closes in on Kerfuffle, bringing their weapon to bear for a close range shot - and it jams. The big griffon promptly bowls them over and mauls them unconscious. Smile pins down another guard with a couple of hits from her rifle, ducking away from automatic fire-
*** FLASH ***
-and straight back into the hot, damp ruin infested with large, hungry catbeasts. Three more of them come at the crew from all directions. Trigger fells one, and Tami continues to play turret from her place up on Kerfuffle’s back, but the spray of bullets she sends at the second goes wide. The third leaps over the lounge’s sodden furniture, swiping at the captain. Her armor deflects its claws, but it keeps on coming and sinks its teeth into her. Swearing in pain and frustration, Trigger-
*** FLASH ***
-is once again face to face with Sidewinder’s security team.
The Sidewinder personnel are just as disoriented by the Jammers’ sudden appearances and disappearances as they are; it’s the only reason they haven’t fully consolidated their numerical advantage and boxed the crew in yet. They’re caught flat-footed, tending to their own wounded. The firefight continues - Smile drops one of the guards but is hit in turn. Trigger feels even more bullets ping off her armor. Kerfuffle staggers another guard with his shotgun, and-
*** FLASH ***
-suddenly they’re back with the claws and fangs of the present. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before the Jammers start to drop due to sheer attrition. Trigger promptly kills one of the three attacking catbeasts, but that leaves the other clear to attack Smile. The crystal pony takes another bad hit, but maintains the presence of mind to bring down her attacker with a frenzied point blank volley from her rifle. The final creature goes for Kerfuffle, fiercely clawing away at his heavy armor, until Tami finally puts it down from above.
At last, if only for a moment, silence falls. The fight is over. Smile, fighting to stay conscious, insists that they should move on before the time anomaly drops them into another engagement with the past facility’s guards. But as they gather themselves and prepare to move, a wall-mounted cylinder creaks open to reveal yet another screeching security robot.
The griffbot crumples to the ground, but a moment later, so does Smile. The combined claw and blunt trauma wounds finally prove too much to bear, and the crystal pony passes out...
Session #103 - Surrounded
Tami clambers down from Kerfuffle’s back, distraught at Smile’s condition, as Patch moves to render assistance. Her wounds aren’t life-threatening, but she’s out cold.
Trigger takes point, leading the crew further into the ruins in search of some kind of safe haven while Kerfuffle brings up the rear carrying Smile. Any sort of side room or maintenance area clear of guards in the past version of the building would do; they need a minute to catch their breath and tend to the crystal pony’s injuries.
Suddenly, in the distance, the Jammers hear what sounds like a distant, muffled explosion. Did some piece of decaying equipment catastrophically fail? Is Tundra blasting his way through the facility with his magic? Eventually, they come upon the remains of an abandoned laboratory room and the source of the sound - torrential rain is pouring in through a large hole in the ceiling. The sound wasn’t an explosion, it was distant lightning. And now the mysterious moon’s tropical atmosphere is showing its true colours by lashing down with a full-scale monsoon. This being one of Kerfuffle’s first times seeing terrestrial rain - let alone a tropical thunderstorm - he’s put on edge by the suddenly hostile weather. The storm is getting worse, too; it isn’t long before the rain pouring through the broken roof is all but a wall of water. If this is normal, there’s no wonder Site One fell to ruin so quickly once it was abandoned.
What remains of the lab equipment mostly looks like storage or stasis containers of some kind. Tami takes a closer look, and-
*** FLASH ***
-the Jammers scramble for cover as the lab transitions back to its pristine state. Fortunately there’s nobody else inside save for a couple of ponybots, who seem content to ignore the crew and carry on with their mundane tasks. They’ve got that quiet moment they were hoping for. Tami takes the time to examine the lab computers and, with a little hacking expertise, gains access to the storage system. Most of what’s kept in the lab is valuable but not immediately useful: rare earths, miscellaneous cybernetics, various chemical and biological samples.
What really gets her attention though is a synthetic substance marked ‘Medical Solution 115’. A newly developed metabolic compound designed to substantially accelerate healing when applied with regular medicine. After retrieving it from the storage unit and giving Patch an opportunity to scan the contents and ensure it’s safe, the Jammers lay Smile on the floor and apply a dose - along with some general first aid supplies - to her wounds. The crystal pony coughs, opens her eyes, and-
*** FLASH ***
-the crew immediately find themselves getting utterly drenched. The spot they picked to tend to Smile just happened to be right underneath the great big hole in the ceiling back in the present. They hurry out of the torrential rain, but fortunately Smile seems to have mostly recovered.
Tami gives herself and Trigger shots of the healing compound for good measure, stowing the rest away in her bag, and the Jammers carry on further into the facility. It’s no substitute for a qualified doctor and a proper rest, but anything that keeps them alive and moving is welcome. The corridor turns back on itself, passing over the top of a large, waterlogged staircase that appears to lead underground. It’s not immediately accessible however, being blocked by a large sheet of reinforced glass. Even if the glass were broken, there’s enough of a drop between levels to make jumping quite risky, and flying in a thunderstorm isn’t the brightest idea. The Jammers decide to carry on and find their way round to the top of the stairs instead.
The corridor continues to loop back on itself, and before long the crew come face to face with a wall of thick, viny vegetation. It takes a lot of effort and a few attempts, but eventually Kerfuffle manages to create a hole large enough for everyone to pass through. It’s a tight squeeze for some, but it’s not like they can get any more wet or uncomfortable at this point. Patch gets his rotors tangled in the vines, so Smile has to double back and free him. Perhaps she really does care about the “annoying” drone…
Next, they find a mirrored version of the lounge they passed through earlier - and attached to that, the remains of a security room. Trigger and Tami find a locked drawer under one of the desks, which poses no challenge to Kerfuffle’s toolkit. Inside is a sealed box of ammunition and a few batteries for energy weapons. Some of them haven’t been ruined by the damp yet, so Smile quickly grabs them.
As they leave the security room and pass back into the lounge, however, there’s a sudden sound of grinding metal. More wall cylinders slide open, the griffbots inside activating and-
*** FLASH ***
-suddenly being replaced by an entire squad of Sidewinder guards. Though taken by surprise they have a clear positional advantage this time, and flank the Jammers from every direction! The crew duck into what little cover they can find amongst the benches and raised flowerbeds, their only objective to simply survive until the anomaly triggers again and sends them back to their own time.
The guards quickly take up positions behind whatever cover they can find, trading fire with the exposed crew. Trigger’s plate vest takes a glancing hit, and another guard starts bearing down on Tami, weapon raised. Kerfuffle - well and truly fed up with seeing his friends get hurt today - manages to put himself between the bullet and the hippogriff, and it harmlessly deflects off his armor. A giant griffon has a way of drawing attention however, and more bullets soon start flying his way. More through luck than anything else, most of them miss. The Jammers are holding their ground, but are stuck in such a poor position that it’s only a matter of time until they’re overwhelmed.
The Site One security PA announces level two lockdown, ordering all personnel to prepare for a possible containment breach. A stray bullet grazes Smile, and-
*** FLASH ***
-the Jammers find themselves back in the present, greeted by the roar of the monsoon and the shrieks of several dilapidated griffbots...
Session #104 - The Next Step
Trigger, practically channeling her headache through her gun at this point, drops two of the griffbots before they have time to react. Kerfuffle brings down another with his claws, and the combined fire of Tami and Smile finishes off the last one as it lurches at them from the darkness. Finally free of assailants for now, the battered crew quickly move on before they can be thrown back into the Sidewinder crossfire. By now, every single one of them is enduring their own diverse combination of bruises and freshly bound wounds.
Kerfuffle pries open a door, and the Jammers finally find themselves at the top of the stairs they saw earlier. Outside, the monsoon is growing even more intense; rain hammers down through the cracks and holes in the ceiling, and the occasional boom of thunder is both louder and more frequent. They spare a moment to catch their breath and spare a thought for Tundra Gem. He’s got the Lady and his magic, so he should be safe on his own - right?
Proceeding down the stairs and through another door, they enter-
*** FLASH ***
-a comfortable-looking lobby area that-
*** FLASH *** FLASH *** FLASH *** FLASH *** FLASH ***
-finally, mercifully, settles into the clean, meticulously maintained environment of the past. Trigger isn’t the only one getting a headache from the unpredictable transitions at this point. Whatever’s causing the Jammers to jump back and forth between Site One’s ruined present and functional past must be getting close.
The security radio Trigger picked up earlier crackles to life - One of the Sidewinder teams is requesting advice; a scientist has locked himself in his office and refuses to come out. Tami wonders whether that particular doctor might be the one that sent the Jammers the mysterious request for assistance. It seems plausible; perhaps he cracked under the pressure of secrecy and unethical practice and chose to defect from Sidewinder? Finding the doctor’s office seems like as good a plan as any.
Skirting around a marked security checkpoint, the crew enter another lab similar to the one they found upstairs. The passcard they found in the admin building comes in handy here. In this lab, though, the containment pods are filled with some kind of glowing energy. It’s hard to tell exactly what it is - raw magic seems the most plausible option - but the computers resist Tami’s hacking attempts and Trigger’s intuition tells her that opening them by force would be a very bad idea. The Sidewinder guards continue to chatter over the radio, raising a disturbing question - are the Jammers’ sudden appearances the reason the facility was abandoned, or is there some other factor at play? Just thinking about the implications of time travel is giving everyone a headache on top of a headache, so they swiftly carry on.
Up next is a set of heavy doors, flanked by a small control room. They quickly identify it as a decontamination airlock, which carries a notice that anyone passing through should be kept in strict quarantine for several days. Whatever’s on the other side, Sidewinder weren’t taking any chances with it.
One moderately uncomfortable spray and blow-dry cycle later, the Jammers emerge into an enormous chamber on the far side. It looks like an underground hangar for vertical takeoff vehicles, with raised catwalks all around forming an upper level and a set of reinforced security doors down below. It’s completely empty, and-
*** FLASH ***
-depressingly overgrown and damp. Not particularly sterile. The hangar door overhead is wide open, admitting a gargantuan torrent of rain. The airlock is completely collapsed in the present, blocking off the crew’s retreat. Tami has a minor panic attack at the thought of what might have happened if they were still inside when they jumped between times…
The Jammers proceed through a door on the upper level; it takes Kerfuffle, Trigger and Smile all working together to force it open. Beyond lies-
*** FLASH ***
-a clean, sterile-white corridor. One wall looks to be composed of reinforced glass, but whatever lies on the opposite side is hidden by heavy metal shutters. They look enormously strong - the sort of thing you’d expect to see on a warship, not in a lab. Kerfuffle comments that it looks like some kind of observation room, like you might find in a surgical hospital. Whatever it is, Smile notes that Sidewinder wouldn’t be using that level of protection without good reason.
As the crew carry on down the corridor they hear voices ahead. Two Sidewinder guards are cutting through the door to an office - likely the one belonging to the scientist that refused to evacuate with the rest. The crew get the drop on them; Trigger stuns them with a flashbang before they can react, and she and Smile quickly restrain the pair, depriving them of their weapons and gear. The guards don’t resist, but they don’t talk either. Kerfuffle does his best to reassure them that the Jammers aren’t looking for a fight before the crew turn their attention to the office instead.
On the door, there’s a plaque that reads 'Doctor Wide Horizons. Head of Research.'
After some consideration, Dr. Horizons agrees to open the door and talk face to face. He’s paranoid and extremely jumpy, insisting that he’s armed and will shoot if he so much as sees a weapon. The Jammers comply, putting away their armaments, and as promised the doctor opens the door. A middle-aged unicorn stallion of imperial descent, Dr. Horizons doesn’t seem interested in defection or escape. Holding out a large and obviously quite powerful pistol, he demands to know who sent the crew and how they made it so far into the facility.
Trigger does her best to explain that they were - essentially - sent by both the Empire and the Republic, and that they managed to access the facility through some rather spontaneous and unreliable time travel. They’re from a couple of months in the doctor’s future. Horizons, of course, is quick to ask for proof, though he seems intrigued rather than incredulous. Trigger sends Patch to download his various recordings to the doctor’s computer, which Horizons watches in deathly silence, still keeping his weapon trained on the doorway. There’s a long, awkward wait, but then…
Horizons dies instantly. The Jammers recoil in shock and fright, quickly turning away from the scene. Kerfuffle gathers Tami up for a hug - for his own benefit almost as much as for hers. After the immediate shock and outrage settle down, Trigger goes to examine the doctor’s office. His computer is wiped clean - likely in anticipation of the intruders reaching him - but there’s a solid black security lanyard hanging around the doctor’s neck. Trigger appropriates it; given the doctor’s position it most likely gives access to everything in the facility.
Smile attempts to interrogate the two guards for information - the Jammers aren’t the only emergency Sidewinder’s dealing with, are they? Sadly, the guards are disciplined and well trained - they flatly refuse to say anything informative or useful.
Tami suggests that the crew turn around and get out. With the person they came for gone and more guards probably on the way, why stick around? But with the doctor’s access in hand, there’s still one place that they haven’t checked. Trigger vents her mounting frustration by having Kerfuffle tie the two guards together in the 69 position, then storms off back in the direction of the hangar and the heavy security doors down on its lower level. Fortunately for his own dignity, Kerfuffle himself doesn’t quite comprehend the meaning of the gesture.
The Jammers loop back around to the landing pad and descend to the lower level. The heavy security doors are covered with caution and quarantine warnings - whatever’s inside is likely highly dangerous. Sure enough, the doors grind open in response to Trigger flashing the black lanyard, revealing a short corridor. On the ceiling, no less than six heavily armed turrets beep ominously and turn their weapons on the Jammers-
*** FLASH ***
-only to be replaced by silent, overgrown wreckage. Using the opportunity while it lasts, the crew hurry through the death corridor. Kerfuffle pries open the door at the far side, which leads them into a large chamber of some kind. Up above, the walls make way to the reinforced security shutters they saw upstairs; it’s an observation area-
*** FLASH ***
-crossed with an ultimax prison. There’s another heavy door straight ahead, but on either side of them are large but very sparsely furnished cells sealed by forcefield barriers. The left cell’s occupant isn’t visible straight away, but there’s a distinct sound of a mare’s voice crying from somewhere inside. In the right cell is a unicorn stallion, whose appearance can only be described as ‘perplexing’. His horn is curved, and his mane and tail flow and crackle with unstable-looking energy. He greets the crew warmly - they must be the intruders the PA has been blaring on about. Which means they must be looking for anything incriminating they can find about the facility. Things like him.
While Trigger and Smile address the strange unicorn, Tami and Kerfuffle split off from the others to investigate the crying sound. The left cell contains a dishevelled and malnourished-looking unicorn mare; she begs to be let out and, when queried, identifies herself as Asset Lambda Orange Three.
The stallion bids the Jammers to ignore his neighbor’s crying for attention and explains what he knows - which is frustratingly little. His only memories are of the facility and the harsh treatment he receives there. He doesn’t know who he was before or even what Sidewinder are trying to accomplish, only that he’s a test subject. He wants to be free - to get as far away from the facility as possible. He’s also not the pony that sent the Jammers the request for help. He notices the black lanyard around Trigger’s neck, pointing out that the captain has the power to free him, should she wish, then promises not to hurt anyone should they let him out. However, his jovial tone and apparent smugness suggest that there’s more to the situation than there first appears.
Tami, overcome with emotion at the situation these poor ponies are in, asks Trigger to let them out. The captain hesitates - then crosses the room and opens the cell containing Orange. The stallion watches her with a content smile - and it soon becomes clear why. The moment Orange sets hoof outside her cell, a containment countermeasure activates - in a matter of seconds, a massive charge of electricity passes through her body. She slumps to the ground, clearly dead.
But that’s not all - with a flash of red flame, she transforms into a different creature; tall and black, shaped like some bizarre fusion of insect and pony. The Jammers, completely ignorant of the nature of changelings but taken off guard by this one’s sudden and painful demise, react with shock and horror. The strange stallion, of course, planned for this. He explains that the shock system has a recharge time - if the Jammers could just open his cell, he’d be free to leave safely. While Kerfuffle does his best to console Tami, Smile turns on the stallion. He’s clearly a psychopath, to have manipulated them into killing another prisoner just to secure his own freedom.
Quickly, his smugness turns to begging - anything’s worth getting away from the life of a test subject, and he doesn’t want to be left to starve if Sidewinder abandon the site. Trigger, struggling with indecision and anger, acts on instinct and moves to free him too. Smile emphatically disagrees with the captain’s decision and tries to snatch the lanyard before it can be used to open the cell, but she slips and falls over the small unicorn in her haste instead.
Fortunately for everyone, the prisoner keeps his word. He asks the name of his savior and in turn introduces himself as Specimen Three. Pledging never to forget what Trigger’s done for him, he lights his horn, transforms into a ball of crackling energy, and swiftly disappears.
Still reeling at the implications of what just happened and needing time to process things, the Jammers reconvene in the center of the room. Without another time jump they’re trapped behind a wall of turrets, which means there’s just one door left to check...
Minisession - Specimen Eleven
Cautiously, the Jammers prepare to open the final door and face whatever horrors Sidewinder were keeping behind it. Smile apologises to Trigger for her attempted insubordination, and the captain accepts it without much regret.
There’s no time for the crew to be arguing amongst themselves. With a swipe of the lanyard the heavy security doors slowly slide open. Behind them is a forcefield, followed by yet another door. The lanyard continues to grant access, opening the second door and-
*** FLASH ***
-revealing what looks like a large, well-furnished apartment, wild and overgrown as the rest of the ruins. Water is seeping from the ceiling. Puzzled, the crew move inside and begin to explore. The space inside is quite large, split into multiple rooms; it looks more like a recreational area, or somewhere you’d expect a rich pony to live, than a prison for dangerous specimens. There’s board games, a small kitchen, rows of bookshelves and even a rose garden. If not for the rapidly encroaching jungle, it’d be quite comfortable.
The one exception to the homely atmosphere is a robotic arm that dangles from the ceiling, attached to a criss-crossing series of rails that would, were it still functional, allow it to reach virtually anywhere in the room. The arm ends in a sinister-looking metal spike that’s easily ten centimeters long. Kerfuffle can’t figure out what it might be for, but everyone’s glad it isn’t moving.
Tami recalls the documents they found in the admin wing describing Project Snowdrop’s subjects - specifically, the notes on Specimen Eleven. Sidewinder had already noted that Eleven put great value in a number of hobbies, which were to be provided to her for the sake of her sanity and stability. This, it would seem, was Eleven’s ‘home’. Further exploration reveals a complicated medical chair - which triggers Tami’s flight response - and a large, detailed painting of a barren, rocky red landscape. But there’s no sign of anyone inhabiting it any longer, nor of any sort of transmitter that might allow someone to send the Jammers a distress call.
The Jammers settle down in the overgrown rose garden to take a breather. Tami, unable to sit still, heads back into the main room and-
*** FLASH ***
-comes face to face with a teenage unicorn. The young mare shrieks in fright at the hippogriff’s sudden appearance (as does Tami) and runs into one of the other chambers - now once again clean and comfortable. The robot arm follows her, connected to a cybernetic ‘plug’ in the back of her head.
The Jammers cautiously follow, and find Eleven hiding behind a sofa. With a mechanical arm connecting directly from the ceiling to the back of her head, she’s not a difficult pony to find. She’s just as scared of the crew as they are of her, and it takes a little while for all involved to make some careful introductions. Eleven introduces herself as… Specimen Eleven. She doesn’t recall having any other name, and Tami quietly calls the crew’s attention to the files they found before. Eleven’s memories of her life before Project Snowdrop were almost entirely remapped.
Aside from a mechanised spinal implant and the plug in the back of her head, Eleven seems to be an entirely normal - even curious and friendly - teenage unicorn. She’s very intelligent, if literal-minded and naive due to her isolation, and expresses great interest in the Jammers, their profession, and how they came to get inside her home. Trigger does her best to explain, but quickly frustrates Eleven with her comparatively miniscule understanding of magic.
Eventually, they manage to figure out - more or less - what’s going on. Eleven, while experimenting with her magic in a way that Sidewinder would not approve of, attempted to create a space-time gateway that would allow her to escape containment. She points out the large painted landscape on the wall of her room; it’s a place she remembers and dreams of - perhaps the sole link she has left to the outside world. Unfortunately, it would seem that her spell didn’t have the desired effect. Rather than sending her to the location in the picture, it created a space-time anomaly that drew the Jammers to her location - from her future, and into their past.
Most importantly, now that the unstable magical fluctuations have been identified, Eleven can fix them. She wants out - to find out about the world beyond her containment room; something that the crew would be all too happy to help her with.
The first matter is getting the robot arm out of the back of Eleven’s head. She insists that it’s safe to remove, which gives Kerfuffle the unenviable task of unlocking it and pulling the several-inch-long metal spike out of the back of the unicorn’s skull. It’s not the most pleasant or comfortable of procedures, but aside from a bout of serious motion sickness Eleven seems mostly fine once it’s done. The plug was merely a monitoring and data upload device; unlike the other specimens, she’s far too valuable to have been given a kill switch or means of suicide.
The Jammers show Eleven the mysterious distress message they received; she didn’t write it, but it looks like something she would write. With that in mind, the young unicorn quickly formulates a plan. Neither she nor the Jammers can stay in the other’s time period for too long (or else they’ll disintegrate); they need to get Eleven out of the facility and into a position to send the message and wait a couple of months until their time, then collect her.
It’s all horribly convoluted and confusing to the crew of space truckers, but getting out of the facility sounds like a wonderful place to start. Even with the assistance of the healing compound they found in the lab before, Tami and Smile in particular are enduring some substantial injuries. The poor hippogriff can barely keep her hand away from her neck.
Still, glad to finally be helping someone rather than wading through tragedy after tragedy, the crew give Eleven some time to gather her things and prepare to leave. It seems they’ve made a new friend - a terrifyingly powerful and potentially unstable friend, but a friend nonetheless. Now all that’s left to do is traverse Site One again, but backwards. Easy!
Eleven gathers the Jammers around herself and lights her horn. With a flash, she transports them back to the present...
Specimen Eleven, by Kalemon
Minisession - It Never Rains but it Pours
Eleven takes a minute to look around the soaked, overgrown ruins of her room, resolving that if she truly wants to see what lies beyond the gilded cage, she needs to take a leap and leave ‘home’ behind. Smile notes that they now have all the evidence and information they need to incriminate Sidewinder, and Kerfuffle and Tami take some solace in the fact that in the end, they finally have the opportunity to help someone in need - the reason they followed the strange message in the first place.
Eleven gathers the Jammers around, explaining that accurately moving people through space-time requires them to be in close proximity. There’s a slightly awkward group hug, and with another flash Eleven creates a magical gateway - not unlike the rifts that Claudia uses for FTL travel - that transports them to the other side of the heavy door. Importantly, it transpires that she can only jump in space and time, only between her time and the Jammers’ time, and only across short physical distances. As such, they emerge in the past once again, in the containment area that held Three and Orange. Three is nowhere to be seen, having made good on the opportunity to escape, but Orange’s smoldering, strangely insectile corpse is still there.
The Jammers reiterate to Eleven, who’s still shockingly naive and ignorant about what lies outside her containment, that this is not a safe place. Tami suggests she stay near to Kerfuffle. As if to provide an object lesson in this fact, Trigger - disoriented by the repeated shifting back and forth between past and present - uses the black lanyard to open the doors at the far side of the room. The phalanx of heavily armed turrets defending the only route out of the containment center access turns to face the crew, taking aim. Whoops.
Reacting quickly, Tami grabs Eleven and dives to one side of the doors, out of the guns’ line of sight. Kerfuffle does likewise with Smile, and Trigger grabs Patch. Trigger frantically tries to close the doors again, but the console ignores her command due to the security lockdown. All of a sudden, the crew are presented with an unexpected problem: Tami and Eleven are on one side of the door, in Three’s old cell. Everyone else is on the other side, in Orange’s cell. They’re cut off from one another by six automated machine guns - more than enough firepower to shred anyone foolish enough to try and cross or exit the room.
Tami does her best to keep herself - and Eleven, who’s appropriately shocked and frightened at being suddenly thrust into mortal danger - calm in the face of the new threat. In order to use Eleven’s magic to get past the turrets, everyone needs to be on the same side of the room, and she can’t simply recast the spell twice more in quick succession to get Tami and herself across to the others - the more she casts it without a chance to rest, the less stable it becomes. Not to mention the fact that she’s flat out terrified, which does her spellcasting no favors.
Eventually, it’s Smile that comes up with a daring plan to get everyone back together. The turrets are likely programmed to track motion, so if they throw things out into the corridor they might be able to draw the guns’ fire long enough to get across. There’s only a few things in Orange’s cell - two flimsy metal stools, and what’s left of Orange herself.
Smile gives one of the stools to Kerfuffle, who - on her count - tosses it into the corridor. A volley of bullets slices the fragile piece of furniture to ribbons, but Smile manages to sprint across without being hit. Trigger goes next, following the same plan, and makes it across too. Kerfuffle, left with only Orange’s body to use as a distraction, reluctantly tosses the dead changeling into the line of fire. She fares no better than the stools, but Kerfuffle makes it across unscathed (with Patch under his arm) despite a couple of near misses.
After a brief pause to double check and then reassure themselves that everything is fine, the Jammers gather round Eleven once again. Her magic sends them back to the present, where the turrets are once again defunct and harmless. Tami promises Eleven that once they’re out, they can take her to see all the different places she wants.
The group emerge back into the ruined underground hangar, and Trigger tries once again to contact Tundra. Unfortunately, there’s still no signal. Eleven is captivated by the sight of rainwater pouring in through the ceiling. She steps out into the rain, staring up into it in wonder: her first sight of the outside world. Kerfuffle joins her, empathising somewhat with her sense of the unfamiliar. The moment is not to last.
Kerfuffle spots an enormous shadow descending through the rainy sky. With a cry of alarm he grabs Eleven and runs, just in time for a gigantic winged reptile to dive through the open hangar doors and land heavily where they were just standing. Apparently the catbeasts aren’t the only - or worst - predator the strange moon has to offer! The wyvern - itself easily as large as a small ship - turns its attention on the crew and roars threateningly. Kerfuffle flies Eleven up onto the catwalk overlooking the landing pad while Trigger and Smile open up on the creature with everything they’ve got.
Small arms fire just seems to piss the wyvern off. It lowers its head and charges, smashing a section of the catwalk and using its muscular neck as a bludgeon against everyone in reach. Tami and Trigger are both hit, knocked sprawling by sheer force. Tami, feeling the darkness of unconsciousness encroaching once again, makes a clumsy flight to where Patch is waiting in an attempt to get some help. The drone gives her another shot of the healing compound the crew found earlier - enough to keep her on her feet for the time being.
Eleven, panicking completely at the sudden and mortal danger, wriggles free of Kerfuffle’s hold and lights her horn. With a flash, she creates a rift to her own time and dives in. Kerfuffle, acting faster than he can think, rushes through after her.
Trigger and Smile carry on hosing the wyvern with their laser weapons, the crystal pony taking cover behind a set of fuel tanks, but the wyvern shrugs off the bulk of their fire. To make matters worse, Trigger’s weapon jams. The wyvern’s attention turns to Smile, and it headbutts the machinery she’s hiding behind over and over in an attempt to get at her. It holds - for now - but the crystal pony is well and truly cornered.
Back in the past, Eleven and Kerfuffle emerge into the cleaner, brighter version of the hangar. Fortunately for them Sidewinder haven’t responded to the containment breach yet, but Eleven is terrified bordering on inconsolable. She asks him to go back through the rift and get the others to join them, insisting that it’s safer. Kerfuffle, knowing that Sidewinder will likely be all over the hangar to react to the containment breach soon, does his best to argue the opposite; they’re not safe at all, and abandoning the others just makes the situation worse. He holds out a hand, appealing for her to come back with him - he may not be the brightest, but he has a plan...
Session #105 - Monsters
Eleven insists on staying, but reassures Kerfuffle that she’ll come back through to the Jammers’ time if anyone comes after her. With no time to spare debating, Kerfuffle heads back on through to rejoin the others, emerging in a different spot than where he entered, some distance away from the ongoing fight. Turns out repeated space-time jumps really are unreliable if carried out in quick succession.
Trigger and Tami are blasting away at the wyvern to try and distract it from attacking Smile, but only score some minor wounds. To make matters worse, Trigger’s pistol unexpectedly malfunctions. With a roar of anger, the beast slams its head directly at Smile in an attempt to simply smash the machinery she’s hiding behind aside and grab her in its jaws. Snapping and thrashing, it only manages to wedge its head in between the fuel tanks. The crystal pony capitalises on this opportunity, turning her laser rifle on the wyvern’s eyes. Suddenly finding itself blind and in extreme pain, it struggles to back up and dislodge itself.
Kerfuffle, yelling for the others to head through the rift and join Eleven, executes his hastily concocted plan. Using his own wings to get the necessary height he pounces on the wyvern’s back, digging his claws into its shoulders and swiping at the back of its head to get its attention away from his friends. It backs out of the broken machinery trapping it and easily throws him off, apparently relying on its senses of smell and hearing to replace its lost sight. Tami does as instructed and hops through the rift, but Smile and Trigger carry on firing at range to try and give Kerfuffle some cover. Finally - after so much concentrated fire - it starts to stagger and show signs of exhaustion.
In the end though, Kerfuffle’s efforts to distract the creature end up being what brings it down. Again using his wings to make up for the size difference, he goes for its face and lands a powerful uppercut sufficient to stun it (and cause a tremendous nosebleed). Between that and its various other injuries, the wyvern finally crumples to the floor of the hangar. Not willing to take chances, Smile takes several more precise shots and puts it down for good.
Safe for the moment, the trio rejoin Tami and Eleven in the past. They explain what just happened - with Trigger and Smile being particularly impressed by Kerfuffle having just punched the not!dragon square in the jaw. The griffon’s less enthusiastic about it, but for now the priority is to keep on moving. Up first is the decontamination airlock; it’s just as unpleasant as last time, particularly for Eleven, who’s not at all prepared to be suddenly sprayed with antibacterial fluid.
With any luck, Specimen Three might be carving a path of his own through Sidewinder’s security, making their exit easier. Sure enough, Trigger’s security radio all but says as much - two of the security teams have dropped out of contact with the rest, and a full evacuation is now underway. The only way out is the way they came in: The Lady of the Lake, still parked out front in their present time. Progress is surprisingly easy from then on, and the group make their way back out of the containment center, back to the large staircase leading back up to the R&D building above ground. Eleven is fascinated and excited by the novelty of stairs.
R&D seems deserted and backtracking is fairly quick, even despite the fact that parts of the facility are now blocked off by security forcefields. It’s enough to make the Jammers drop their guard for a moment. Suddenly, two doors open either side of them quickly open, revealing a small squad of Sidewinder guards - an ambush! One of the guards grabs Eleven, trying to drag her into an adjoining room while the other three engage the crew.
The Jammers hold their own; despite being under fire, Trigger scores a devastating headshot on the guard holding Eleven with her pistol. Kerfuffle pins another, laying into them with his claws. Another guard tackles Eleven, dragging her into an adjoining room by her mane and dropping a flashbang behind them. In the ensuing confusion, the guard grappling with Kerfuffle escapes and the remaining Sidewinder fighters retreat into the room with Eleven, sealing the door. The crew fight to shake off the effects of the flashbang, Tami once again struggling to stay conscious. Smile and Patch attend to her while Trigger orders Kerfuffle to get the door open so that they can rescue Eleven. Pulling the doors apart with his bare claws, he reveals a delicate scene: the three surviving Sidewinder guards are cornered, and one of them has a gun to Eleven’s neck.
There’s a tense standoff - the three guards have the advantage; all they have to do is wait for backup to arrive. The Jammers try to appeal to the guards’ sense of self-preservation; they really don’t want to piss Eleven off. Recovered from her latest brief bout of unconsciousness, Tami joins in with an angle of her own, accusing the guards of simply wanting to lock Eleven back up and take all of the things she enjoys away. Eleven’s already deeply distressed by the situation and struggling to get free, but this pushes her over a line…
Eleven passes out from the magical exertion, several of the machines around the room shorting out and catching fire due to the discharge. Kerfuffle quickly heads inside to grab her and get her clear of the flames, while Trigger checks on the last surviving Sidewinder guard. The captain briefly considers leaving them to die in the fire, but a disapproving glare from Tami (of all people) quickly changes her mind and she hauls the unconscious pony out into the corridor.
Reviewing the situation, several things become clear. First of all - this was the burnt out room that they visited in the present; this explains the “lightning” and the fire. But more importantly, and even more disturbingly, what happened here lines up almost perfectly with the fate of the Starweaver. Electrical damage, blood but no bodies; were the Starweaver’s crew killed by Eleven’s magic? What’s abundantly obvious is that the young unicorn was in high security containment for good reason.
Kerfuffle picks up Eleven and the crew quickly hurry onward before Sidewinder reinforcements can arrive. They pause at the entrance to the skybridge to heal up with the metabolic compound once again. Eleven recovers fairly quickly, and after some initial disorientation they discuss the loosely formulated plan to meet up with her in their time. One way or another, Eleven’s going to have to spend a couple of months on her own. The Jammers make sure to promise her a good time as soon as they get back to Claudia.
Finally, the group emerges from the admin building and onto the large landing pad. The last dregs of the Sidewinder personnel are finalizing their evacuation, and don’t notice them. Everything is being loaded onto a shockingly familiar ship - the Starweaver. With a sudden burst of horrible understanding, they realise that it’s Eleven’s only route offworld; she likely wouldn’t survive the catbeasts (and worse) living in the ruins of Site One on her own. The disappearance of the Starweaver’s crew, Jelly Biscuit’s parents included, was - will be - Eleven’s doing.
Insisting she’ll find her way back on time to meet the Jammers, Eleven creates a rift to the present; from there, she can simply jump aboard the Starweaver and stow away, and the Jammers can return to their own time. Despite Smile and Tami trying their best to dissuade her from boarding the ship, Eleven’s mind is made up. With little choice left, they share a group hug and insist that Eleven be careful.
The Jammers return through the rift Eleven made for them, finding themselves once again in the overgrown ruin of Site One’s present. They find Tundra in the lobby, still examining the ambient magic and apparently ignorant of the absolute nightmare everyone else just went through. There’s some very, very thankful greetings and a lot of very awkward explanations. The Jammers do their best to bring Tundra up to speed on the time travel shenanigans they’ve just experienced, and more importantly, that they need to find Eleven right away.
Patch also pipes up with an announcement - the healing compound found in the lab is beginning to denature outside of its containment field. It won’t be effective for much longer. Tami takes a shot and talks Kerfuffle into taking one as well; better safe than sorry.
Tundra suggests that everyone should head back to the Lady and consider their next step. Everyone’s injured and in desperate need of a good rest, at the bare minimum. They head out to the ruined landing pad, back into the lashing rain. There’s a small maintenance shack on the far side, and in the doorway, a familiar teenage unicorn. Seems Eleven made it back after all. Before they can go to her however, it turns out that Site One isn’t out of nasty surprises just yet.
From above, there’s a loud boom, and some kind of transport pod falls from the sky, impacting hard against the pavement between the Jammers and Eleven. Eleven hides in the shack as two ponies emerge from the pod and approach the Jammers: a heavily augmented pegasus and a masked, mute mare who follows her with near-mechanical stiffness.
The pegasus’ voice is familiar; she doesn’t even need to introduce herself. She’s Cobra, Cascavel’s direct superior in the Sidewinder Syndicate. The one that ordered Whisper’s capture and torture, and who knows what else besides. More importantly, she has no interest in small talk - she’s looking for Eleven. The other pony, who Cobra refers to as Coatlicue, stands chillingly silent and still; she matches the description of Specimen Six, the previous star of Project Snowdrop whose overwhelmingly powerful magic drove her wildly insane. To round off the perilous situation, three deadly-looking combat robots uncloak all around the Jammers - they look similar to the canine robots Cascavel used, but they’re bigger, sleeker, better equipped and clearly far more advanced.
Trigger attempts to play dumb and stall for time, but Cobra’s not having any of it. To punctuate her seriousness, she calls in a strike from the ship no doubt hovering above - a flurry of high velocity rounds descends from above the clouds and tears the Lady of the Lake in half. When Trigger still refuses to tell her anything, Cobra sighs and orders her lackeys to kill everyone but the unicorns. Tami almost breaks and tells her about Eleven on the spot.
Smile has one last trick - something that makes Cobra hesitate and rescind her kill order for a moment. Between the financial data stolen from Crystal Heart and the evidence taken from Site One, she has all the information she needs to blow Sidewinder wide open in the eyes of the galactic media. Information that will be automatically released if Smile doesn’t actively prevent it from going out.
Cobra doesn’t call her bluff - she doesn’t need to. Snidely pointing out that public relations aren’t her department, she amends her order to Coatlicue and the robots: kill the griffon and hippogriff, capture the others. Cobra vanishes, merely a projected hologram, leaving her subordinates to do the dirty work.
The robots take combat stances. Coatlicue advances slowly, and Trigger feels a terrifyingly powerful buildup of magic at the base of her horn. Tundra pushes Trigger aside, squaring up against Coatlicue. He can handle her, he says - but the crew still have three highly advanced assassin robots to deal with, Sidewinder control the sky, and their only way out just went up in flames...
Cobra and Specimen Six/Coatlicue by Kalemon
Session #106 - Unleashed
Tundra and Coatlicue face off. Rather than a bombastic showdown of magical projectiles, they simply appear to stand and concentrate - a bubble of empty air forms around them as they focus intensely, the rain literally repelled by the energy radiating from their invisible battle.
The Jammers have more immediate concerns. The robots stumble back from the magical emissions, giving the Jammers the initiative. Tami’s the first to fire, opening up on the nearest robot with her submachinegun. The weapon jams, and the machine seems unfazed thanks to its heavy armor. Between the open ground and driving rain, Kerfuffle doesn’t have the range or visibility to fire effectively with his shotgun. Trigger and Smile both follow up Tami’s shot, and the robot re-cloaks to avoid the focused fire.
The second robot takes off running, strafing Trigger with its inbuilt assault rifle as it moves. The third and furthest digs its claws into the ground, firing a long, concentrated stream of automatic fire at Kerfuffle. The griffon’s heavy armor shows its value, but even so the stream of bullets is almost overwhelming (Note: before armor reduction, this one attack would have been enough to knock Kerfuffle out or critically wound any other member of the crew from full health). He stumbles and almost falls. Tami runs to his side and does her best to give him covering fire, while Smile yells for the pair of them to get into cover. She runs behind a chunk of debris, closer to the admin building. Kerfuffle takes Smile’s advice to heart, grabbing Tami and flying the pair of them back to the cover Smile took. He’s badly shaken, in no state to fight back for the moment.
Trigger retreats to join them, and the pair carry on trading fire with the two visible attackers while Tami gives Kerfuffle a stimulant injection for the pain. Smile takes a couple of glancing hits, but stays standing for the moment. Suddenly, the cloaked robot reappears - much closer - and lashes Trigger’s shoulder with its bladed tail.
With a dramatic flash of powerful magic, Eleven joins the battle. A rift opens overhead, showering the landing pad with rocks and hefty chunks of debris. The robot laying down long range fire is smashed to pieces under a boulder; falling wreckage blocks the other shooter’s line of sight. Tami shrieks in fright and unloads the Tsunami point blank into the machine attacking Trigger -, this does the trick and the robot collapses in a heap. Kerfuffle grabs it, making sure it’s completely dead, but can’t learn anything else from examining it in such poor conditions.
Eleven emerges from another rift amongst the Jammers, confused about what’s happening. Trigger hastily explains what’s going on, and Kerfuffle advises her to keep her head down. Even though two of the robots are out of commission, Smile’s struggling to remain conscious now that her injuries have started accumulating again. The third robot leaps up onto the debris blocking its line of fire, aiming down at the crew, but Smile and Trigger react quickly, destroying it with a couple of well-placed shots before it has a chance to open up on them.
Struggling to keep her eyes open, Smile orders Patch to give her a stimulant shot. It’s a risky gamble - the crystal pony’s already had one and risks overdosing, but it’s that or pass out...
The gamble doesn’t pay off. Rather than receiving the burst of energy she’d hoped for, Smile slips into a state of deep unconsciousness. Patch soon confirms that she’s entered an induced coma. She should be alright - at least in theory - but probably won’t wake up for a couple of days. Provided the crew even make it out of Site One.
While Tami and Kerfuffle do their best to look after Smile, Trigger and Eleven address the other immediate problem: the ongoing magic duel between Tundra and Coatlicue. Even getting close to them makes the pain in Trigger’s horn spike unbearably. Trigger tries to take a shot at Coatlicue, but the bolt of energy dissipates harmlessly in the magical field surrounding them. The pair are locked into an invisible battle, oblivious to the outside world. Fighting the pain in her horn, Trigger struggles closer, desperately ordering Tundra to come back to her. With Eleven helping to break up the hostile magic, she finally reaches the wizard’s side.
Desperately trying to buy time, Eleven opens another rift - and drops an entire tank on Coatlicue. The sinister masked mare disappears under several tons of solid metal.
The rest of the crew hurry to join up with Trigger and Tundra, with Kerfuffle carrying Smile. Patch’s assessment isn’t good - Tundra’s critically injured, suffering from extensive internal bleeding. But before the Jammers can do more than query about his condition, the tank Eleven dropped begins to shudder. Coatlicue, alive and well, unmasked and visibly livid, blasts out the entire turret and stands triumphant atop the wreck.
Trigger remembers what Tundra told her before, about his brooch doubling as an escape device. With the demented and incredibly powerful Specimen Six bearing down on them, she focuses her own insignificantly weak magic on it as he instructed before. The brooch reacts, and Trigger feels a strange sensation that reminds her of… motherly love? A portal opens - a hole in space quite unlike Eleven’s rifts. With only seconds to spare before Coatlicue’s surging magic blasts them all into red mist, she ushers the entire group through.
With the comatose Volatility Smile slung over Kerfuffle’s shoulder and the critically wounded Tundra Gem carried on Trigger’s back, Eleven and the Jammers rush into the magical gateway - their only hope of survival, which leads to who knows where...
Coatlicue unmasked by Kalemon
Session #107 - The Moon
For an indefinite amount of time - though it feels like forever - Eleven and the Jammers hurtle through a strange magical void. With no frame of reference, all they can do is hold on to the wounded and wait to see what happens next. Dire as their state may be, at least they’re leaving Coatlicue’s wrath and the monsoon lashing Site One behind.
But, eventually…
Tami’s first to vocalise the realisation of where they are - Tundra’s pendant carried them all the way across the galaxy, to Equestria’s moon. They’re in a place that, officially, doesn’t exist: the top secret headquarters of Empress Nightmare Star’s Æther Corps. The dome seems deserted, but a disembodied voice orders everyone to remain still.
Seconds later, a vaguely familiar unicorn mare appears in a flash of magic. She demands to know who the crew are, but her mood quickly softens to clear and genuine concern when she sees the state Tundra’s in. She addresses the disembodied voice - ‘Twilight’ - ordering a trauma team to be sent right away. Trigger tries to explain what happened, but is cut off - for the moment, Tundra and Smile are the only concerns. Eleven hangs back with Kerfuffle and Tami, completely lost and confused by what’s going on. Tami quietly suggests that the unicorn should stay quiet; the Æther Corps don’t need to know that the Jammers brought a magical prodigy with them.
Another unicorn, this one a stallion, appears in a flash of magic accompanied by two enormous stony constructs. He has little time or concern to spare for anyone or anything but Tundra, even the older mare who called him in, and flatly refuses to allow her to come with him and see to Tundra’s treatment. He confirms that Tundra is critically injured - liable to die without immediate surgery - and orders Twilight to prep his equipment. With little fanfare, he and the two golems take Tundra and Smile and swiftly teleport away.
Reluctantly left alone, the older mare introduces herself as Dean Blood Moon of the Æther Corps School for Gifted Unicorns, Tundra Gem’s former mentor. She apologises for the frosty reception, assuring the battered crew that no harm will come to them, and asks Twilight to prepare quarters for them to stay in. For the moment though, they’ll have to remain where they are. It’s not exactly normal for random spacers to teleport into top secret Æther Corps facilities, and she must discuss what’s happening with the other faculty before they can decide what will happen in the long term.
Trigger asks who - or what - Twilight is, and the dean smoothly half-answers the question. She’s a “groundskeeper of sorts” for the school. With concern for Tundra still at the forefront of her mind and exhaustion from the day’s events quickly creeping up, Trigger doesn’t have the energy to inquire further. Kerfuffle is excited at the possibility that she might be a full-blown magical AI, but his own injuries likewise neuter his curiosity for the time being.
Unfortunately, Blood Moon can’t stay and chat for long - she’s already being called away to talk to her colleagues about the situation. She thanks Trigger personally for bringing Tundra back to her, and - seeing as nobody else is critically wounded - allows the remainder of the crew the opportunity to rest in her office until they can be granted access to their own quarters. On the condition, of course, that they don’t touch any of the magical artifacts dotted around the dome. With that, she teleports away and leaves Trigger, Tami, Kerfuffle and Eleven under Twilight’s supervision.
With everyone exhausted and battered, nobody has the energy to do much but try and settle down and make the best of the situation. Twilight responds easily to questions - provided the answers aren’t classified - and seems to know a disconcertingly large number of details about the crew. Names, ages, places of birth, known family - she even points out that Tami’s father has an outstanding bounty (fortunately expired) of over a hundred and fifty million credits. Which prompts a quick change of subject.
Looking for something else to draw their attention, the Jammers take a look at some of the artifacts and items on display. There’s plenty to see - Blood Moon has quite the extensive collection. Eleven seems distracted, or at least not very interested, and nobody else knows the first thing about magic, so all they can really do is wonder what each item might do. At the center of the collection is a big gold crown thingy with a purple star gem set in the top, surrounded by what Twilight helpfully informs them are magical stasis crystals. Trigger wonders aloud if they’d be shot for touching it - Twilight confirms that they would indeed.
While Kerfuffle and Tami speculate over the purpose of the heavy-looking bronze bell in one of the displays, and whether ringing it might give Tami a horn or something, Trigger sits down with Eleven to check on her. After all - from Eleven’s perspective she hasn’t seen the Jammers in months. She begins to explain what happened to her after stowing away the Starweaver, but then stops, awkwardly clamming up. The memory is obviously quite traumatic. Trigger gently pushes for more, but all that Eleven’s willing to say is that she hid for several days and almost starved. When she risked revealing herself to steal some food, she was found by the ship’s captain, who tried to force her to do something that made her scared. Thinking back to the bloody mess they found in the captain’s cabin back when they boarded the derelict ship, it’s not hard for Trigger to piece together what likely happened next.
Trying to get Eleven to recall further turns out to be a mistake, however; she starts crying, and reacts harshly to Trigger’s attempt to give her a hug, even lighting her horn for a moment on reflex. Eleven runs off to be alone. With the stimulants she took during the fighting earlier starting to wear off and exhaustion starting to overtake her, Trigger’s in no position to follow.
Noticing the sudden upset from a distance, Tami and Kerfuffle check in with the captain. She suggests they try and cheer Eleven up - a task she’s evidently failed at. Tami responds that Eleven’s distress is understandable; she’s emotionally hurt, lost in a strange place with no sense of direction, with people she barely knows. She goes to do what she can, while Kerfuffle sticks around for a moment to make sure Trigger can at least pass out comfortably.
Tami does her best to comfort Eleven, reassuring her that eventually, the Jammers will be able to take her to the place that she remembers. That they’re there to help and support her as much as she needs. Eleven doesn’t seem particularly comforted - what if Sidewinder are waiting there for her? What if she has to defend herself again, and her magic reduces more people to bloody mist?
For the time being, all Tami - and Kerfuffle, joining her - can say is that they trust Eleven’s motives and character. If she can’t trust herself, perhaps she could at least trust them? That’s how Tami fights her fear at the controls of Claudia, at least. One way or another, this isn’t a problem that can be solved quickly and easily - certainly not while everyone’s badly injured, comatose or worse.
With few options left but to sleep off the exhaustion of the day’s mission and wait for news on Tundra and Smile (and their own fate as unexpected guests of the Æther Corps) everyone retires for some food and a desperately-needed rest...
Session #108 - The Tower
The Jammers don’t get to sleep long - two hours later, Twilight wakes them up with news. They’re to be transferred to a vacant dormitory, where Blood Moon and Volatility Smile are waiting for them. Still exhausted from their ordeal at Site One, they gather themselves and assemble by the door. Eleven is still despondent after her outburst earlier and has little to say.
Rather than opening the door as expected, Twilight simply teleports the group to their dormitory. It’s another round structure similar to Blood Moon’s office, but rather than a dome overhead there is - at least as far as anyone can tell - nothing but the open void of space. Strange, colourful jellyfish creatures float through the air above. Eleven is entranced by the sight, while Kerfuffle is worried that he might float away into the black if he uses his wings. Blood Moon greets the group, explaining that this is a dormitory area usually reserved for the Corps’ junior students. Smile is in one of the beds on the upper level.
Blood Moon can’t stick around long - she has duties to attend to and promptly teleports away. Kerfuffle fights vertigo and Eleven chases the jellyfish, while Tami gets into an unusually heated discussion with Twilight about how the room makes no sense. Twilight refuses to explain, citing Tami’s lack of fundamental magical knowledge. Meanwhile, Trigger hurries upstairs to check on Smile. The crystal pony is awake, if disoriented and nauseous, being watched over by the two strange golems that accompanied the doctor earlier. Trigger gives her a hug, grateful that she’s okay, and briefly explains what happened since Smile fell unconscious. The pair of them move to the balcony overlooking the lower level to inform the others that Smile is fine.
While Tami carries on indignantly bickering with Twilight, Kerfuffle heads upstairs to join Trigger and Smile. Disconcertingly for the magically-challenged griffon, the school doesn’t use stairs or elevators - it uses portals. Smile asks after Tundra Gem, at which point Trigger starts to crumble emotionally. As far as anyone knows, he’s still undergoing surgery. It isn’t clear whether he’ll make it. Smile and Kerfuffle do what they can to reassure her; he’s likely receiving the best treatment he could possibly find. They’re in an Æther Corps facility, after all.
Eleven chips into the conversation with an observation of her own. She’s convinced that Twilight is a robot or, to put it another way, a full-blown magical AI. Twilight neither confirms nor denies this, and politely reminds everyone that they are being recorded. There’s little further discussion of her nature or origins, but she does at least point out that she was named after a famous pioneer of magical research.
Trigger quickly comes to the conclusion that the Jammers are in a place that they really, really shouldn’t be. It seems unlikely that the Solar Empire would allow civilians - let alone citizens of other nations - to roam free and potentially spread the knowledge of their magical facilities and functional AI. Best case scenario: everyone ends up working as a moon janitor for the rest of their lives. Twilight again refuses to confirm or deny this, only stating that a hearing with the facility staff will be held once the Jammers have recovered from their injuries. Tami quietly encourages Eleven to act dumb; the Empire doesn’t need to know who - or what - she is, and who knows what they might do to her if they did?
With little energy or possible recourse left, the Jammers retire to bed. For a proper rest this time, with any luck. Kerfuffle stays awake just long enough to ask Twilight a question, though - if magic can heal what happened to Tundra, could it heal Galena as well? Twilight lacks the information to give a definitive answer, but offers to request an appointment with Clean Cut, the facility’s doctor, to inquire further. Kerfuffle accepts.
***
Ten hours later, after a deep and much-needed sleep, Twilight wakes the crew once again. Aside from one of the golems waking Smile to tend to her wounds and an update for the captain on Tundra’s condition, nothing’s interrupted them. According to Twilight, Tundra’s surgery is complete and his condition is stable. One of the golems is cleaning Tami’s neck wound with its telekinesis when she wakes up. Eleven is still fast asleep, curled up on the sofa on the lower level.
Twilight informs the crew that they’re due to receive an unspecified visitor within the next twenty minutes. In the meantime, they’re free to get some breakfast. Tami is worried that her neck injury is going to scar, but as far as Kerfuffle can tell it’s healing quite cleanly. The Jammers gather at a table on the upper level; Twilight’s already taken the liberty of providing a variety of food and drink, thanks to the uncanny ease allowed by magic. The Jammers gratefully settle down to eat some much-needed breakfast and build their strength back up.
Midway through eating, however, their visitor suddenly appears - a dark-furred, violent-maned mare in a long cloak. Cards that resemble tarot float in the air around her head. She keeps her eyes closed, asking Twilight to give her and the crew some privacy. Twilight complies, disengaging her surveillance of the room - the newcomer clearly has some influence. The stranger introduces herself, at least in part. She’s not with the Æther Corps, and represents a third party who have an interest in the Jammers’ current situation.
Soon, the stranger explains, the Empire will figure out that Eleven has incredible magical potential. Eleven’s abilities are unique - she can see things that others cannot, and this has the potential to tilt the balance of galactic power. Specifically, she could help the Empire find something very important; something they’ve been seeking for a long time. The stranger represents a galactic-scale organisation with a vested interest in maintaining the balance of power, and would prefer that Eleven not fall under the control of the Empire, Republic or Sidewinder. To that end, she wishes to help Eleven and the Jammers to escape - in a manner of speaking - from the Empire’s control.
Tami objects. In the end, the decision of where Eleven goes should belong to Eleven herself. When Smile tries to offer a counterpoint, Tami asks whether she thinks Azure Myst is out of the Countess’ control yet. Smile is cowed by that, but the group nonetheless agree to at least hear the stranger out.
The mysterious pony gives them one of the strange tarot cards floating about her head - one that depicts a dragon curling around a tower - and asks that they have Eleven use her magic on it. Doing so will reveal information that the Empire is desperate for, and will give the Jammers leverage with which to negotiate. At the very least, this might get them off the moon and onto the trail of… something. Whether for the sake of staying enigmatic or genuine ignorance on her part, the mare refuses to explain further. All that she asks is for the Jammers to keep Eleven out of the hands of the organisations chasing her. Especially the Empire. The mare prepares to take her leave, so Trigger asks for at least her name. She asks to be referred to as Akra, then promptly teleports away once again.
The Jammers are left scratching their heads at the weird encounter. Tami’s first to bring up the strangest thing - despite using magic, Akra had no horn. Another mystery to add to the pile. Kerfuffle points out the darker implications of Akra’s suggestion: keeping Eleven out of the hands of Sidewinder, the Empire and the Republic wouldn’t just be difficult; if anything it would be very likely to make them enemies. Even friends like Whisper and Tundra might turn on them if their respective organisations wanted Eleven’s power for themselves. Could they honestly expect Whisper to oppose Luna, or Tundra to betray Nightmare Star?
One way or another, it’d be difficult to proceed without discussing the situation with Eleven herself. At least for the moment, the crew have a direction to follow: explain what they can to the young unicorn, then - maybe - find out what secrets Akra’s card is hiding...
Session #109 - The High Priestess
A short time later, Eleven wakes up and joins the crew at breakfast. The mood is a little tense, with Tami in particular being uncharacteristically quiet. Once Eleven’s eaten, the crew inform her of their encounter with the mysterious visitor. After a little deliberation amongst the group, she agrees to investigate the odd tarot card that Akra left behind.
As Eleven focuses her magic on the card, it glows and begins to levitate, transfixing her with a bright golden light. The Jammers stand by to assist her if something bad happens, but aside from the card self-destructing in a puff of gentle flame after a few seconds, nothing dramatic seems to occur. Eleven immediately becomes more energetic and animated; true to Akra’s word, the card has informed her of several things. Using a grapefruit and a large knife to crudely and messily demonstrate her thoughts, she babbles and rushes to get everything out.
Firstly, and to nobody’s great surprise, the Empire has been working on its own in-depth research into fostering magic. Dean Knowledge Base, a peer of Blood Moon’s, was the head of the Æther Corps’ research, but went missing almost two years ago. Sidewinder kidnapped him, which explains where they got the knowledge necessary to advance Project Snowdrop so far recently - to create powerful unicorns like Three, Six and Eleven.
Importantly, the card also created a sort of magical connection between Eleven and Knowledge Base - one that she can use to find him. This must be the valuable information that Akra promised the crew could use to negotiate with the Empire. But there’s also a catch: Sidewinder have done something to Knowledge Base, something that corrupted his very soul. Eleven speculates that he might not even qualify as a pony any more, such were the lengths that Sidewinder went to to extract his knowledge and create experiments like her. To everyone’s surprise, Eleven expresses a desire to find him.
Tami is terrified by the prospect - surely something like that should be handled by the Æther Corps and the Empire navy? But on the other hand, as Trigger and Kerfuffle point out, this situation isn’t something the Jammers can simply walk away from any more. At the very least, the Empire has no love for Sidewinder. It might be possible for the crew to negotiate their release in return for helping the Empire extract their missing scientist from Sidewinder’s control - alive or otherwise. Also, Eleven assures everyone that the magical bond she has with Knowledge Base is actually quite low-level magic. Even if they went ahead and used her to track him down, she wouldn’t have to reveal her true power to the Empire.
There’s one more chilling piece of information revealed in the conversation, however: Empress Nightmare Star isn’t just the supreme leader of the Solar Empire, but also the rector of the Æther Corps. Their upcoming hearing with the school’s faculty might just end up involving her. This does little to ease anyone’s nerves.
***
The following day, after Twilight’s presence returns and the Jammers take some still sorely-needed rest, Blood Moon teleports into the dorm with news and an update on Tundra’s condition. He’s out of surgery but still in intensive care, having come shockingly close to dying of his injuries. For the time being he’s being kept isolated from visitors in an induced coma; his health is still very fragile but the prognosis, apparently, is ultimately positive. It’s possible that they (Blood Moon included) will be able to visit him in a few days’ time.
More immediately, the Jammers’ meeting with the Æther Corps’ faculty is due to begin in a few hours. The crew ask a few tacit questions, not revealing any of the things they found out the previous morning. They’re likely to be meeting with the deans and department heads, with an optional appearance by the facility’s rectors. Blood Moon assures them, for what it’s worth, that things will be fine so long as they remain civil.
Once her message is delivered, Blood Moon disappears once again, leaving the Jammers under the watchful ‘eyes’ of Twilight as they prepare themselves for the hearing. Despite Kerfuffle’s attempts to cheer her up, Tami mumbles and worries at her partially-healed injuries. Even though the Jammers have a trump card and a plan, there’s a strong atmosphere of unease...
Session #110 - Judgement
The time of the hearing is close at hand, and the Jammers make last minute preparations. Eleven is nervous and Tami is practically catatonic with fright at the idea of taking the spotlight in front of the Æther Corps’ leadership. Smile encourages everyone to focus on the immediate moment. All they have to do is be polite, answer whatever questions the faculty have, within reason, and hopefully things will proceed with a minimum of fuss.
Twilight reroutes the dorm’s portals to elsewhere in the facility and the crew carefully step through, finding themselves in a grand-looking but darkened auditorium on the other side. Surrounded on three sides by a raised podium, they come under the scrutiny of a number of cloaked, hooded figures whose identities and voices are hidden by magic. Aside from Doctor Clean Cut, who took Tundra and Smile away for treatment earlier, and the mysterious Akra, it’s hard to tell who or what they might be dealing with.
The council thank the Jammers for attending the unprecedented hearing - the Æther Corps are a secretive organisation and under other circumstances, the punishment for intrusion into their school of magic would be quite severe. As things stand, the circumstances of the crew’s arrival and their saving of Tundra Gem’s life have encouraged their hosts to be lenient. They request an explanation of the events that led the Jammers to the moon, so Trigger does her best to recount the past few days. She mostly talks about what happened at Site One, minimising the Republic’s involvement and omitting the true extent and nature of Eleven’s powers.
Nonetheless, the fact that Eleven was a Sidewinder test subject gets attention, as does the presence of Asset Lambda Orange Three, the strange pony-insect creature. Eleven tries to deflect the subject from herself by insinuating that she met Knowledge Base during her time in captivity, but that just draws even more scrutiny onto her. The faculty begin to doubt whether she’s trustworthy - or even stable. Smile intervenes and manages to vouch for Eleven’s character, and the council permits the crew some time to confer amongst themselves - they will need to make a convincing case that the young mare is trustworthy before her information can be considered.
Kerfuffle and Tami suggest that Eleven talk about herself - specifically, the parts of herself that don’t involve magic, and the others back them up. Sidewinder were keeping her in a pretty gilded cage; discussing her hobbies and interests might convince the magisters that there’s more to her than meets the eye. Nervous but emboldened, Eleven does just that - she steps up and gives an account of her time in captivity, along with an explanation of how she came to realise that the researchers didn’t have her best interests in mind. She wants to use the freedom the Jammers gave her to help others that Sidewinder has trapped and harmed.
There’s a brief but polite smattering of applause, and the group are dismissed so that the council can confer. They return to the dorms, and Tami finally lets out all the pent up nervousness and worry she’s built up over the past week with a tearful emotional outburst; how did Eleven manage to stand up in front of all those powerful ponies and defend herself like that? Eleven offers her some conciliatory words and a hug, and the pair take some time to cool down. To everyone’s relief, Trigger lightens the mood by asking Twilight for some cooking ingredients. Everyone can take a break and relax with some hoof-made pizza - and perhaps not mention to Eleven that pineapple is an objectively bad favorite topping to have.
Session #111 - The Chariot
With the assistance of pineapple-tainted pizza, the Jammers nervously await the Æther Corps’ verdict. Eleven wonders if she’s escaped Sidewinder’s prison only to walk straight into another, and Kerfuffle feels as if the crew’s only value to the Corps is in their potential usefulness. They briefly discuss how Tundra might feel about the Corps, and whether he was ever given a choice.
Suddenly, Akra reappears in a flash of light. She commends the Jammers on the commotion they have caused amongst the school’s faculty - it seems that opinions are highly polarized, but evenly divided. She advises the crew to prepare themselves to meet the council again, then vanishes as suddenly as she appeared. Trigger idly wonders if Akra might be a dragon in disguise or something; it’d fit with the general scale of weirdness the crew have been dealing with lately. Even Eleven is baffled by Akra’s apparent ability to teleport around without a horn.
After some further speculation on that front, the conversation moves on to what Eleven might do once she’s free to do as she wishes. Trigger jokes that she might make a good babysitter, which prompts Eleven to point out that she doesn’t even fully understand what a baby is. Twilight chimes in with an interruption before things can get too awkward - the council are calling the Jammers back in.
Once the group goes back through the portal to the hearing chamber, the anonymous faculty members waste no time getting to business. Though intrigued by the possibility that the Jammers might be able to help them recover Knowledge Base, they still have their doubts; releasing the Jammers might compromise the Corps’ security. Trigger responds by arguing for the crew’s ignorance - of what they’ve seen, how much could they possibly understand? And if they stood to gain something by talking about the school publicly - despite the inevitable repercussions from the Empire - who would even believe them without proof? A secret unicorn magic school on the moon? Ridiculous. The others speak up to support the captain’s argument.
Eventually, the council relent - they will allow the Jammers to leave the facility, on the condition that they use Eleven’s connection to Knowledge Base to find and retrieve him. Though there are, of course, some conditions. They’ll be accompanied on this mission by an Æther Corps operative to ensure their compliance. Tundra would be the preferred choice, of course, but he still has a long recovery ahead of him and won’t be fit for duty in some time. In addition, several members of the faculty have submitted requests to speak to the Jammers in person, without the formality and anonymity of a council hearing.
Tami is terrified at the prospect of personal interviews, but is reassured - just a little - by the understanding that they don’t need to be one on one. Smile asks whether the Corps plan to keep tabs on the crew for the foreseeable future, and is informed that they do. If they retrieve Knowledge Base from Sidewinder and prove dependable allies, they’re promised a clean slate, a (possible) end to any surveillance, and the Æther Corps’ support, should that be necessary in the future.
Considering that this offer is probably the most reasonable they could expect under the circumstances, the Jammers offer no further questions and the meeting is adjourned. They’re returned to the dormitory - again - to await further instruction.
Back in the dorms, Eleven thanks Trigger for speaking up in her defense. Tami is leery about the prospect of having to work for the Empire, and Smile jokingly comments on how they always seem to make everything especially dramatic.
Suddenly, another unfamiliar unicorn teleports into the room. She’s a strange one - smaller than even Trigger, with a crystalline-looking horn and a silly, oversized hat. She introduces herself as Professor Razzmatazz. She’s huffy and impatient, apparently not one of the council members inclined to support the Jammers’ appeal for leniency, and has been sent to ascertain what they might be needing for their mission.
Anything left on the Lady of the Lake is irrecoverable; whatever wasn’t destroyed has probably been salvaged by Sidewinder. Claudia’s on the other side of the galaxy, and probably not a good fit for an extraction mission besides. Smile shuts Kerfuffle down quickly when he almost mentions that Donner and Blitz should still be looking after her.
The Jammers still had most of their combat gear when they fled from Site One, though it was of course confiscated from them shortly after their arrival on the moon. They’ll get it back when they leave, along with a full resupply. Razzmatazz suggests that she’ll throw in something extra as well, but it’s still too early to say precisely what resources the Corps will be mobilizing. Tami bristles at the suggestion that she and the others are mercenaries and being treated as such. Of course, Eleven will be needing something too; they can’t exactly expect her to go after Sidewinder naked.
Eventually, Razzmatazz admits that she doesn’t have high hopes for the Jammers’ mission, but the Corps has nothing to lose by sending them after Sidewinder. Nonetheless, she’s willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now. Her business concluded, she teleports away once again, leaving the confused crew to await their next visitor.
Session #112 - The Star
A short time later, Twilight informs the Jammers that they’ve been granted a heightened level of security clearance and now have access to more of the school. Several of the faculty have open spots in their schedules and have extended requests to meet the crew. Kerfuffle asks whether they’d be able to visit Tundra in medical, and Twilight suggests that they should ask Doctor Clean Cut. They’d need his permission to see Tundra. Kerfuffle asks whether the doctor had responded to his earlier question, but Twilight has nothing to say on that matter, which upsets him more than he’s willing to let on straight away.
The Jammers proceed through the portal once more, and emerge in one of the school’s main buildings. In keeping with the theme established so far, it’s very ostentatious - mosaics depicting ancient Equestrian history on the ceiling, open construction with multiple levels and floating platforms, and a giant statue at the center.
The statue is strange. It looks like a unicorn, but appears to have been assembled from an incomplete set of broken fragments. The plaque at its base announces it as a memorial to ‘The Broken Princess’, who sacrificed her physical body in a battle against dark magic.
Helpfully, another plaque displays the names and specialties of the Corps’ faculty. Nightmare Star is the rector at the top of the organisation, Blood Moon and Knowledge Base are the deans, and below them are a number of unicorn professors including Razzmatazz and, surprisingly, a single zebra. For some reason, many of them seem familiar to the crew. Even more puzzling is that Princess Luna is listed as vice rector. The Jammers speculate - a formality dating back to before the War of the Two Crowns, or something more complicated? Portraits of the deans and professors are also included.
Twilight helpfully chimes in and lists the names of the ponies that want to speak to the crew: Solemn Thought, Austere Almond and Black Mirror. In addition, Doctor Clean Cut is also present. The Jammers are free to use the available time to meet with whoever they wish. Tami, still nervous about meeting these powerful ponies face to face, tries to gauge from the portraits who might be the calmest and most approachable, and settles on going to see Solemn Thought first - the professor of Augury and Clairvoyance.
The crew carry on through the school on hoof, following Twilight’s directions to Solemn’s office. Some of the students they pass by do double takes or stare - particularly at Tami and Kerfuffle. Trigger feels especially self-conscious about her impotent horn. At one point they pass by a couple of students tinkering with one of the large golems patrolling the halls, which promptly transforms into a tiny, shockingly cute sheep. Before Tami can rush over and hug it, the spell dissipates and the adorable sheep turns into a jumbled heap of rocks. The two unicorns run off giggling. Smile, likewise, finds the whole absurd scene hilarious.
Leaving the golem to carry on with its duties, the Jammers arrive at Professor Solemn Thought’s office. There’s no answer when Smile knocks, so she tries the door and finds that it leads into a corridor. A long, winding corridor that, as the Jammers soon discover, appears to lead to a dead end. Then, suddenly, with no indication of even a teleport, the crew find themselves somewhere else.
Solemn Thought’s room is star-shaped and bright white, entirely bare save for a set of cushions arranged in a circle around the professor herself. While Tami protests that their means of entry makes absolutely no sense and breaks half the laws of physics, Solemn calmly invites everyone to take a seat.
The professor briefly introduces herself and thanks everyone for coming. She has a few questions for them that may not have been addressed during the hearings - but first, an offer. Her magic allows her to view people’s futures, though only vaguely. If the Jammers wish, she could try to see what lies ahead of them. Each of them may ask her one question, which she will answer as best her magic allows. Smile is skeptical but elects to play along for now, while Kerfuffle and Eleven both need time to think of appropriate things to ask.
As such, Trigger goes first. While she asks her question, Solemn plucks one of the captain’s hairs, which bursts into flame. Immediately afterwards, Solemn’s eyes begin to glow pale white, and she gives her answer.
"Are we ever going to be able to go independent after all of this?"
“Roads, I see many roads ahead. A lot of them arduous, treacherous, even covered in dense smoke. There is a boat at the end of some. A boat with its sails unfurled and filled with the wind. The wind pushes the boat in any direction the rudder dictates."
"Wait. The water. It is no water. Not always. Sometimes, it’s liquid gold. Sometimes. Blood..."
Smile finds the whole thing in rather poor taste and volunteers to go next - perhaps out of genuine interest, or perhaps simply to get it over with.
"How do we get the Sidewinder Syndicate to leave us and our friends alone?"
"Den of snakes, whirling, cramped, suffocating. Some wish to leave, but they cannot. Chained. My heart goes out to them. They wish to leave, but cannot. Not without help. They hate the denmother. She made them what they are. And they hate it. Control. Control is all they know. Control over others, and control of them. They long for peace. It is their only wish."
Smile is more satisfied with the answer than expected - if nothing else, it gives her a few ideas. She thanks the professor and allows her to move on. Kerfuffle is next, though he looks agitated and wonders whether his own question might be considered selfish. He even interrupts himself midway through asking, though it’s not clear whether that’s a last second change or just nerves.
"When all this business is over, will my folks be proud of what I've done?"
"A deep mine in the heart of the mountain, black and dirty. It chokes with fumes and dust. Deeper and deeper. Two, no, three lanterns. Their radiance lighting up the mine, all the way to the top. Seeking the fourth one. It is not there. It is. It is not. Shifting and weaving in the corridors, chasing something. But the warm light always shines on it, no matter where it goes. No matter where it ends."
Kerfuffle finds himself getting choked up, and the others reassure him that he wasn’t being selfish at all. Finally it’s Tami’s turn, and she has so many questions that she blurts out the first parts of several before finally calming herself and settling on one.
"Will she be okay again?"
"The crippled mongoose. Burned bridges light its way. Heart filled with pain, confusion. Void. Purpose. Not one step back. Madly ahead, always ahead. To seek, to kill. To find peace. Blood for blood. It is the only way. But..."
"Another. Another the mongoose doesn't see. Doesn't care to see. Not until it is shown. Taught what it forgot."
Smile gives Tami a bit of side-eye for bringing up Whisper, but if Solemn sees any issue with looking into the future of a Republic agent she doesn’t say. Given a lot to think about, the group turns at last to Eleven...
Session #113 - Justice
Eleven struggles with insinuation and metaphor even more than Kerfuffle does, and the group gently encourages her to ask something. Eventually she does so, but in private - Solemn carries out her magic as she did for the others, but the pair of them speak in whispers. Nobody takes issue with this, and Solemn points out that she’s used to students coming to her with personal and private questions.
With the future reading (or fortune telling, as the still-skeptical Smile might call it) complete, they can move on to other matters. Solemn has an unexpected request for everyone - it’s not an interrogatory set of questions as they might have thought. Instead, she has more magic to perform, promising that it might help the Jammers in the future. For their part, all they need to do is talk about recent events that caused them self-doubt. It doesn’t have to be anything specific, but - as Solemn puts it - words have power. The more they can comfortably share, and the more sincerity and genuine emotion they offer her, the better. The Jammers immediately get (more) nervous, particularly Smile and Tami.
After a little time to think, Kerfuffle is first to say something. He admits that he’s been bottling it up since Crystal Heart, and couldn’t find an appropriate time to bring it up with the others.
Trigger approves, and Eleven quietly assures him that everyone’s better now. With the ice broken, Smile follows up.
Tami is a little too caught up in her own worry over this new question to notice that Smile is talking about her. As they speak, Solemn Thought closes her eyes and incants under her breath, a faint but growing glow surrounding her horn.
Eleven goes next, expressing regret that death and suffering seem to follow her wherever she goes. First at Site One, and then aboard the Starweaver - she doesn’t want to hurt anyone, but fears that it’s all but inevitable for as long as Sidewinder keep hunting her. Trigger and Tami go next; everyone’s opening up quite fast now that their conversation with the professor is turning into an impromptu group therapy session on top of a test of character.
Finally, once everyone’s finished speaking, Solemn Thought completes her spell. She speaks a few words of advice, cryptic as ever: when the crew smell peaches, they’ll be safe, hidden, and have time. There’s something about safety, a curse of greed, and a warning to be wary of a puppeteer. It’s all a bit much for anyone to parse, but carries weight as something that sounds important, if ominous.
Fortunately for everyone’s patience and emotional stamina, Solemn is finally done with them. She has no further questions, and pledges her support for the Jammers’ upcoming endeavour. After a short, lighthearted farewell they suddenly find themselves back outside the professor’s office. Once again, to the eternal frustration of Tami’s understanding of physics, there’s no sign of a transition.
As it happens though, there’s little time to stop and catch a breath. They’re awaited by an older unicorn stallion and recognise him as the doctor who came to receive Tundra and Smile when they first arrived. Quickly identifying him as Dr. Clean Cut, they exchange introductions. Smile in particular is thankful for his assistance. The doctor responds politely, but gets straight down to business - he points out that one of the crew requested to speak to him. Kerfuffle speaks up, nervous about being put on the spot.
Kerfuffle asks Dr. Cut whether the Jammers will be able to visit Tundra, to which he responds that Blood Moon is currently visiting him and desires privacy. The crew might get an opportunity to visit during the evening. In addition, Kerfuffle also asks if he could speak privately about a personal matter. Dr. Cut agrees, and the others decide to move on to their next appointment in the meantime.
While Kerfuffle and the doctor head to a nearby seating area, everyone else moves off in the direction of Austere Almond’s room - the professor of portal magic and spirit projection. Fortunately there’s no inexplicable translocation this time - in fact, the professor’s room looks much more like an ordinary classroom, complete with a small number of unicorn foals, most of them younger than Jelly Biscuit. Just in case they’d forgotten that the moon base is, in fact, also a school. Professor Almond wraps up her class, eagerly inviting the crew to come inside and take seats. After some brief greetings - particularly awkward in Eleven’s case - Professor Almond dismisses her class and addresses the crew directly. She was intrigued by the display they put on at the hearing, and seems eager to meet the Jammers in person.
Back in the main concourse, Kerfuffle and Dr. Cut find a quiet spot. Kerfuffle asks the doctor whether he’s ever heard of his sister’s condition, and whether it might be possible for magic to cure it. He outlines what he knows - that certain compounds used in aggressive mining operations have taken root in her lungs, growing crystals that will eventually kill her. The unicorn responds that he’s heard of the condition, though it’s rare in people as young as Galena. He admits that he’s never heard of it being cured by magic, but that it might - in theory - be possible. It’d take Galena’s direct involvement, some intense study and a lot of investment, but perhaps if the Corps were willing to spare the necessary time and resources? Say, if they owed the Jammers a favour…
Kerfuffle takes the hint and thanks Dr. Cut profusely for taking the time to speak to him. It’s far from a guarantee, but it’s a potential avenue to saving his sister nonetheless. The doctor also points out that other experimental treatments might exist elsewhere in the galaxy - not just in Avalon or the Empire. Unfortunately, he’s not aware of any specifics. For now it looks like cooperating with the Æther Corps would offer Galena the best chance. With their conversation concluded, Dr. Cut wishes Kerfuffle luck and teleports away to resume his duties. After taking some time to collect his thoughts, the griffon hurries to catch up with the others.
Meanwhile, now that she’s alone with the rest of the crew, Professor Almond explains that she’s largely responsible for the school’s security. She’s wondering what the crew’s stake in things is, and would like everyone to pay attention to her while she “reads their auras”. Trigger feels a faint sensation at the base of her horn, but the feeling passes as soon as it appears.
Session #114 - The Magician
Kerfuffle catches up and Professor Almond welcomes him inside to join up with the others. Addressing the crew as a whole, she wonders aloud just how far they’re willing to go - either in breaking with their values or following them to the letter. Eleven seems quite uncomfortable at this, and Tami points out that the question is meaningless without context. Almond clarifies, with a little hint of smugness, that it’s not her they need to answer. Nobody can see any indication that she’s lying or messing with them, but it’s a little uncomfortable even so.
Smile suggests that Almond is beating around the bush, and the conversation moves on. Almond points out that there are dangers beyond comprehension out in the cosmos - then clarifies once again. If the Jammers go after Knowledge Base, it’s entirely likely that they won’t just be facing standard security. They’ll be going up against magic. Perhaps Coatlicue, other Snowdrop subjects, or even Knowledge Base himself. As such, Almond is willing to offer the crew an artifact of some kind which will help to protect them against potential magical threats. It ought to be prepared by the time they’re ready to leave.
For some reason, Eleven seems quite shaken by the whole conversation, and once they’re done the crew make their way out of Almond’s room with a lingering sense of trepidation. Tami offers to speak to Eleven about what’s troubling her, and even sasses Trigger on her poor sense of direction, but for the time being they still have one last appointment to attend - Black Mirror, Professor of Illusion and Conjuration.
The corridor to Black Mirror’s room is… irregular, like a miniature maze. Stranger still is the floor, which seems to be a patchwork of different environments - from barren stone to warm sand. Chaos ensues when the crew reaches an icy section. Trigger loses all sense of balance and goes sliding off around a corner. Smile, for the sake of her dignity, turns down an offer of assistance from Kerfuffle only to fall flat on her face. Tami, uniquely equipped with hooves for sliding, claws for traction and wings for balance, introduces an excited/terrified Eleven to the wonders of skating.
While the pair have their fun, Kerfuffle takes a more practical approach. Using his larger claws like cleats, he rescues the captain (but not her self-respect) and inadvertently provides a cushion for Smile to slip and slide her way into at the far side of the ice.
A little walking later, including through an inexplicable muddy bog, they come to a swirling portal. By this point, Smile in particular is absolutely fed up with the Æther Corps’ flashy displays of magic. Trigger, likewise done with the mystique by now, doesn’t even hesitate to step through. Tami’s last to go, nervous about walking into a swirly energy thingy that makes no physical sense, but the only thing that makes her more nervous than that is the prospect of being left alone. She flings herself through with a little shriek of terror and emerges - still shrieking - in a pleasant-looking sunlit field with the others.
Professor Black Mirror is a snow-white, androgynous-looking unicorn stallion with impeccable Imperial fashion sense. The flamboyant look is only accentuated by the fact that he seems to be having a picnic by himself. He welcomes the Jammers and bids them sit with him, even offering them coffee and croissants. He begins with a little small talk, jovially assuring everyone that while the corridor to his office may have been filled with illusions, the food and drinks are real.
Soon, though, he turns serious. Professor Mirror is Knowledge Base’s direct subordinate and, for the time being, acting dean in his place. He asks the crew whether they have any idea why Sidewinder would have kidnapped Knowledge Base - after all, they have quite a bit of experience with the syndicate by this point. The answer is more or less unanimous: Sidewinder must have been after the dean’s magical knowledge; just another potential means for them to expand their influence across the galaxy. Mirror, however, scoffs at that. Magic, he says, is purely chaotic by nature. It cannot be controlled - only guided. If Sidewinder believe they can control magic as if it were a mere tool, they’re on a path to annihilation.
It seems the professor has his own theory, but Tami quickly speaks up. Sidewinder’s annihilation perhaps, but how much collateral damage might there be? Why isn’t the Corps taking the issue more seriously? In fact, when Mirror’s noncommittal response doesn’t satisfy her she starts getting downright angry. How much is the Empire going to let Sidewinder get away with? They knew Whisper was being tortured within their borders and did nothing until it was expedient to send the Jammers in to solve the problem for them. She’s motivated by more than that, though - her experiences with the Empire both before and after her time with the Jammers has built up a great deal of contempt for their elitism and complacency, and it all comes bubbling up in a rush.
The professor doesn’t budge, but Smile fortunately manages to step in and put the conversation back on topic before it can escalate into a full-scale shouting match. Trigger sits by and serenely sips at her coffee throughout, proud of Tami for sticking up for herself and glad not to be the designated angry one for once.
Professor Mirror points out that even if simply dismantling a multinational galactic megacorp were a viable option, the Empire’s focus is currently elsewhere. While the crew’s been confined to the moon, a situation has arisen in the Periphery. The New Lunar Republic has moved into the region in force, supposedly to protect their interests there, and the Solar Empire has responded in kind. They are, of course, attempting to negotiate and de-escalate.
Despite the obvious concern this poses for Port Medusa, Smile swings the conversation back on track once again. For the moment, the crew have more pressing issues. The Corps might not be able to release their information on Sidewinder to the entire galaxy, but surely it would be of use to the Jammers now that they’re set on finding Knowledge Base. Mirror says he’ll do what he can, but the information is highly classified. No promises.
Mirror returns to his own questions for the crew - specifically, whether they’ve encountered any unusual magical phenomena. He already knows about the mishap with Tundra’s orb and the chaos that took place at Site One, so they have nothing new to tell him, but this leads into his own suspicion about how Knowledge Base came to fall into Sidewinder’s custody.
Specifically, he believes that the dean may have been possessed...
Session #115 - The Lovers
Faced with a whole lot of blank stares, Black Mirror explains. Shortly after Knowledge Base’s disappearance, he was approached by Jhaziea - Professor of Alchemy and Demonology and the sole zebra on the Æther Corps’ faculty. After performing an independent investigation, they uncovered circumstantial evidence that Knowledge Base had been taken over by some kind of evil spirit. This hypothesis, however, was met by widespread skepticism amongst the other staff. There’s not been a documented case of that happening since the Wyrm Wars.
Eleven looks restless, but says nothing. Mirror continues, explaining that a briefing for the rescue mission is due to take place tomorrow. Even further outside their usual comfort zone than before, the Jammers agree to attend and hope for a more substantial explanation. It’s not like they have much choice in the matter, given the circumstances.
The conversation is soon interrupted, however - Twilight has news for everyone. Doctor Clean Cut is preparing to wake Tundra Gem from his induced coma, and the Jammers are permitted to attend should they wish. There’s little argument or hesitation - Trigger in particular is very eager to see Tundra again - and the crew are quickly transported to the school’s medical wing. It’s mercifully free of the flashy magical decoration that characterises most of the facility, and the nervous Jammers are quickly directed to Tundra’s room.
Tundra looks quite well, all things considered, for someone fast asleep in a hospital bed. Aside from a shaven and bandaged scalp (no doubt following a course of surgery) and a drip feeding into one of his forelegs, he looks almost normal. The injuries inflicted by Coatlicue’s magic were purely internal. There’s a large collection of flowers and gifts at the end of the bed, likely thanks to students and other faculty. Blood Moon is also curled up next to the bed, the older mare likewise sleeping deeply. From the book nearby, it looks like she’d been reading to Tundra. Kerfuffle notes that she was probably at his bedside all night and most of the morning, too.
Tami, Trigger and Smile quickly gather around Tundra’s bedside, careful not to disturb him or Blood Moon. Kerfuffle and Eleven hang back at a respectful distance, clearly uncomfortable in the hospital environment. Trigger fusses over Tundra a little, crying openly at the sight of him alive and well.
Doctor Clean Cut arrives promptly and greets the crew in his usual businesslike fashion. He gives Tundra an injection to wake him up, and discusses what he knows about the magister’s condition while they wait for it to take effect. Tundra suffered from severe internal bleeding, particularly in his cerebral cortex. Had Trigger not used his brooch to create the emergency portal, he would certainly have died before reaching appropriate medical help. Fortunately, his prompt retrieval and surgery should - all being well - have prevented any permanent damage. With enough time and perhaps some rehab, Tundra should be fine in the long term. There’s a long road to recovery ahead, though, and it goes without saying that he’ll be out of action for the foreseeable future.
Trigger gently wakes up Blood Moon, who tidies herself up a little and apologises for her less than formal state - and not allowing the Jammers to visit Tundra sooner.
A short time later, Tundra stirs and wakes up. Though weak, hungry and still a little groggy from the drugs and brain injury, he’s lucid and articulate. Trigger and Moon briefly fill him in on what happened since he lost consciousness, but that’s quickly swept up by the sheer emotion of their reunion. While Moon prepares some simple food, Smile suggests that perhaps the three of them should be left to have some private time, but Tundra insists everyone stay for now. Tami makes sure to thank Tundra for his assistance back at Site One.
A short time later, Eleven steps up to speak to Tundra as well. Still very unfamiliar with the concept of people getting hurt for her sake, she tearfully thanks him for his role in freeing her from Sidewinder - even though they’d never met or even spoken before. Emotionally overwhelmed, she quickly retreats back to Kerfuffle once she’s said her piece. Tundra thanks her for her concern and the group make small talk for a while. Tundra’s at least healthy enough to exchange a little banter with Smile and bamboozle Kerfuffle with some vague language.
Eventually though, Doctor Cut announces that visitation time is over - he has tests to perform to make sure that Tundra is recovering properly. It may be possible for the Jammers to visit him again the next day. Tami helps Trigger, who’s still deeply upset, out into the corridor, followed by Blood Moon and Smile. Kerfuffle suppresses the unpleasant feelings he gets in hospital environments and - with permission - carries the still-tearful Eleven out on his shoulders the way he sometimes carries Tami.
Outside in the corridor, Moon sympathises with the captain and encourages everyone to get some rest. In the morning they’ll be briefed on the operation to recover Knowledge Base. As if on cue, Twilight chips in with a message - the Fafnir has entered high orbit, likely preparing to once again serve as the Jammers’ transport to their next mission.
Minisession - The Hanged Man
The Jammers return to their assigned dorm, mentally and emotionally exhausted after their impromptu tour of the Æther Corps’ school. Kerfuffle drops off Eleven to sit with Trigger and offers her some encouragement, but it’s also clear that something’s bothering him.
Smile quietly approaches Tami with a request - would it be possible to alter or hide the footage Patch recorded in Site One? The Corps still don’t seem to understand just how powerful Eleven is, so it wouldn’t be wise to leave video evidence lying around. Tami’s not certain of what she might be able to accomplish, but agrees to give it a go. The pair of them notice Kerfuffle loitering nearby - he has a question, mostly for Smile, but Tami reads him well enough to guess what he’s worried about and suggests the three of them sit down on the sofa to talk it out.
Meanwhile, Eleven thanks Trigger for putting herself and the crew at risk to help her. She’s still badly shaken by the fact that people keep getting hurt because of her. Trigger doesn’t have a solution to offer right away, but assures Eleven that she’s always welcome with the Jammers aboard Claudia if she wants. Eleven continues to mope, but the captain does eventually manage to get her to lighten up with a little humor.
Tami and Smile sit down with Kerfuffle, who explains to Smile what he told Tami about his family situation back when Claudia was left drifting. Specifically, that he started freelance work to try and fund a cure for his dying sister, Galena. Speaking with Doctor Cut presented a new potential option that he’d never considered. The crew’s tenuous relationship with the Empire means he’s torn between hoping for the best or being cautious about trusting the Corps. Smile asks whether there are conventional alternatives available, but this elicits an unusually bitter response from the normally placid griffon. He’s bottled up a lot of frustration over this subject, and it shows.
Some comforting from Tami calms Kerfuffle down, and Smile changes her angle. The Jammers’ relationship with the Solar Empire might be somewhat strained, but you don’t need to like someone to do business with them. Perhaps it would be possible to negotiate treatment for Galena in exchange for the Jammers’ continued help against Sidewinder. Even Tami agrees - she’s willing to set aside her misgivings about the Empire if it means helping someone in need. Surprised by the unanimous support for what he thought might be a selfish request, Kerfuffle gives the pair of them a bear hug and works to rein his emotions back in.
Smile jokes that, of course, a couple million credits wouldn’t go amiss as a bonus, to which Tami promptly orders Eleven to throw a pillow at her. It catches the crystal pony square in the muzzle, leading to a very theatrical display of mock distress. Once the silliness is over, Smile reassures Kerfuffle that he isn’t selfish at all.
Eventually, their spirits raised a little by solidarity and good cheer, the Jammers retire for the evening. Twilight permits Kerfuffle and Smile to access one of the base’s gym facilities, Trigger and Eleven continue to talk, and Tami sets to work on Patch.
Session #116 - The World
The following morning, the crew meet for breakfast. Tami shows Eleven a video of her dog Orbit on her multiband, but the unicorn doesn’t see the appeal of living with a noisy, messy creature. Tami promises that she’d come around if she ever met Orbit in person. Twilight notifies them that Blood Moon is ready to begin the meeting to discuss Knowledge Base’s rescue, so everyone heads to the lower level and gathers round a table.
The dean arrives promptly, accompanied by several others. Professor Razzmatazz, a zebra mare that can only be Professor Jhaziea, and Commodore Corona Gleam, who the Jammers haven’t seen since the mission to rescue Whisper. There’s also another two unicorns they’ve not met before - Professors Paper Clip and Twin Peaks. Peaks in particular makes a point of warmly introducing himself. Once the brief initial introductions are done with, everyone takes a seat and gets down to business.
Naturally, Eleven quickly becomes the center of attention. Blood Moon asks her to refresh everyone on how she came to know about Knowledge Base’s capture and location. Eleven maintains the lie she told at the hearing - that she met Knowledge Base while still in containment at Site One and struck up a friendship with him, along with a magical connection. Akra’s involvement in things isn’t mentioned, of course. She also describes how that connection allows her to sense that there’s something wrong with his magical signature - some form of hateful presence alongside him. Jhaziea points out that this strongly supports her theory that a possession may have taken place. In turn, this suggests that Sidewinder may have access to dark, perhaps even daemonic magic. Whatever that means.
Next, the discussion turns to the question of Knowledge Base’s location. Given a starmap, Eleven points it out as best she can - to the collective frustration of everyone present. The best she can do is narrow his location down to the Passion system, deep in the territory of the New Lunar Republic. The Empire had been willing to commit the Fafnir and a small task force, but that complicates things. There’s no way the Republic would allow an Empire warship past their borders.
Corona suggests that they could take Claudia instead, but Smile quickly nixes that. Sidewinder are familiar with Claudia now, and besides - though she doesn’t say it out loud, she doesn’t want to lead Empire agents anywhere near Donner and Blitz. Eventually, a new plan takes shape: the Fafnir can bypass the Republic’s usual border patrols by making a difficult jump from the Confederacy to an unclaimed system off the standard transit routes. From there, the Jammers may - with a borrowed ship if necessary - jump straight to Passion. The uncharted system can act as a waystation and rendezvous.
Trigger and Kerfuffle raise the question of what the actual rescue might entail. Nobody’s looking forward to attacking another Sidewinder operation after the messy raid on Cascavel’s hideout and narrow escape from Site One. Surprisingly, Eleven interrupts. So far as she can tell from her magic, Knowledge Base is… alone? Perhaps he escaped from Sidewinder’s clutches, or perhaps they abandoned him when he stopped being useful - or controllable.
As the Corps’ demonology specialist, Jhaziea volunteers to join the Jammers on their mission. If her suspicions are correct, her knowledge of the relevant magic might be the only hope to recover Knowledge Base alive and intact. Blood Moon is skeptical, however. Going after her colleague on such a shaky base of information carries a lot of risk. Jhaziea insists that this might be the only chance to get Knowledge Base back and she eases off, tensely advising caution.
Razzmatazz explains that the Jammers’ gear is already aboard the Fafnir and ready for their imminent departure, along with necessary supplies and the information on Sidewinder that Smile requested earlier. In addition, they’ve been forwarded a generous payment. Smile, however, has an alternative suggestion. In lieu of monetary compensation, she asks whether the Corps could take Kerfuffle’s personal request more seriously. The rest of the crew back her and Kerfuffle up, and while Professor Razzmatazz looks wary, Blood Moon is sympathetic. She offers to speak with Doctor Clean Cut and see what they can do.
The meeting is adjourned and the faculty take their leave, leaving the Jammers alone with the commodore. Any further briefing is expected to take place on the way to the Passion system. Kerfuffle is delighted that the others spoke up on his sister’s behalf, and for the first time expresses an open and genuine hope that Galena will be alright. He realises that he’ll be free to commit himself fully to his friends and crew - Eleven included - in the long term.
Corona informs Trigger and Smile that Vortex Twist will come to collect them in the afternoon. After that, they’ll be leaving promptly. Vortex is currently visiting Tundra, and quite upset about his injuries. They take the opportunity to ask the commodore about what’s been going on in the Periphery, particularly with regard to the Empire’s seizure of Isla del Dragon. Sadly, apart from confirmation that that Countess’ pirate enterprise is now well and truly under the Empire’s control, there’s nothing new to report. They were hoping to hear about the possible release of Azure Myst, but Corona’s not privy to the details of that operation.
The Jammers begin preparing to finally leave the moon. Trigger makes sure to excuse herself and visit Tundra once again while time allows.
Session #117 - Night’s Bride
As the evening goes on, Tami takes Patch aside to work on covering up the video files he recorded at Site One. Though the job’s not as thorough as she’d like, she does manage to hide the files deeper in his drives - at the very least, they’ll be harder for anyone to find. Eleven continues to express guilt over the suffering that seems to follow her, but the crew reassure her in no uncertain terms that the fault lies with Sidewinder.
The following morning, the Jammers - Eleven included - are ushered aboard the Fafnir and meet Corona Gleam, Vortex Twist and Professor Jhaziea in the observation room. Their first stop will be a nearby Empire shipyard so that the Jammers can borrow an appropriate ship, followed by a week-long trip across the Empire, through the League and into the Confederacy. After that, they’ll jump to the waystation system bordering the Republic and the Jammers will be set loose to do their thing.
Naturally, Kerfuffle and Tami immediately pipe up with questions about the ship they’ll be using. Vortex is coy about it, but informs them that her name is Night’s Bride. Tami deduces from the name that it must be a Republic ship - better to remain inconspicuous. Corona steers the conversation back on track, and she and Jhaziea lay out their plan so far. Jhaziea will be joining the crew for the time being; hopefully, with Eleven’s assistance, they’ll be able to locate Knowledge Base. If it’s true that he’s been possessed, Jhaziea’s magical knowledge will be invaluable in getting him back safely. The Fafnir will remain outside the Republic’s territory unless absolutely necessary, but can provide fire support or infantry assistance if the worst happens.
If Knowledge Base truly is possessed, Jhaziea explains, he’ll have access to powerful magic - particularly personal enhancements and psionics. All being well, she’ll be able to gather enough insight beforehand to deal with the problem quickly. Eleven wonders whether the situation might be some kind of trap set by Sidewinder. It seems unlikely, given Eleven’s connection to Knowledge Base and the supposed secrecy of their mission, but caution is warranted all the same.
Unfortunately, there’s simply not enough information to form a solid plan just yet, and everyone agrees that a careful approach would be for the best. Something to talk about in greater detail once they’re closer to their objective.
With the briefing over, Jhaziea has a personal request - she’d like to spend the trip aboard the Jammers’ ship to try and get to know them better. Nobody has an issue with this. Kerfuffle asks whether they’ll be allowed to send personal messages during the trip, and gets an okay.
A short time later, the Fafnir arrives at the nearby space dock and the Jammers are introduced to the ship they’ll be using for the immediate future: Night’s Bride. The Bride is roughly the same size as Claudia, but she’s a patrol ship rather than a freighter. Sleek and angular, she’s clearly a very different vessel to the one the Jammers are used to. Everyone - Tami in particular - is eager to get aboard and take a look around. The interior is well-equipped and clean, with much more crew space than the Pioneer.
Kerfuffle notices that Eleven’s staying very close to him and asks if she’s alright. She says - with a perfectly straight face - that she just likes being close to him. He doesn’t object.
Meanwhile, Vortex introduces the others to the Bride’s bridge. There’s seats for several crew, a high-tech projection table, and even weapons controls - though they’re disconnected for now. Smile inquires as to where exactly the Empire got the Bride. “Legitimate salvage”, apparently.
Vortex has work to get on with back aboard the Fafnir, so he leaves the Jammers to get acquainted with their vessel, promising to return and talk them through the ship’s weapons at a later time. They’ll be staying docked with the destroyer for most of the trip, but there’ll be opportunities to undock and practice flying her between jumps. Tami, practically bursting with excitement, quickly runs off to explore at the first chance she gets. The Bride’s layout is very different to Claudia’s, with distinct upper and lower decks and the large bridge in between.
Upstairs, Tami quickly draws Eleven’s attention to the large kitchen. The young unicorn leaps at the suggestion that she could prepare dinner once everyone’s settled in. There’s also a rec room, captain’s quarters, bathroom and engineering access.
While the others head on through to take a look at the impressive reactor room, Trigger tries to settle down in her new quarters, only for Tami to mischievously call dibs on the big bed. The captain meets her pilot’s insubordination with a flying tackle, and before long the pair are grappling on the floor. To the surprise of both, Tami winds up getting the upper hand and pinning Trigger. Donner’s advice really has done wonders for her confidence and assertiveness.
Tami gets increasingly flustered - especially when Trigger starts playing along with the joke by giving her clothes a tug. The hippogriff stammers and fusses, blushing deeply, admitting that there’s something important she’s been meaning to ask Trigger for a very long time. Something sensitive - something difficult and deeply personal.
At that moment, Kerfuffle and Eleven pass by the door and see the blushing hippogriff straddling the captain - they quickly hurry past and downstairs to join Smile, with Kerfuffle covering Eleven’s eyes the whole way to protect her fragile innocence.
On the lower deck, Kerfuffle and Eleven find Jhaziea and Smile discussing an interesting discovery: the Bride even has a small hydroponics bay, which fascinates both mares. Everyone’s impressed, save for Eleven, who’s had more than enough of plants recently.
Kerfuffle finds that the crew quarters are a little different than aboard Claudia. While Claudia had many small rooms each fit for only a single person, the Bride has larger ones with bunk beds. Trigger and Tami catch up with everyone just in time to discuss who’ll be sleeping where. Eleven asks if she can bunk with Kerfuffle, who happily agrees - it’ll be an adorable and perfectly innocent adventure for the both of them.
Last on the tour are a medical bay where Patch is soon stationed, a small gym, and the more minimalistic cargo bay. The Bride really does come across as a jack of all trades, especially compared to Claudia’s heavy specialization as a cargo hauler. Trigger heads back up to the bridge and Jhaziea excuses herself - she’s lacking sleep after being up all of the previous night doing research. Everyone else meets in the cargo bay to discuss their thoughts.
While Kerfuffle struggles to recover even the slightest scrap of dignity, Smile suggests that Eleven might be able to help her look through the data on Sidewinder forwarded to her by Imperial Intelligence. Everyone’s willing to help her find a way to fit in. Tami, after reassuring Kerfuffle that he didn’t just horribly offend everyone, heads back upstairs to join Trigger on the bridge.
As it happens, they’ve already received a message from Corona Gleam. Specifically, it’s Imperial news coverage of the situation in the Periphery. The Republic has moved a substantial force into the region, much of it centered around the Saphiban system - Port Medusa. There’s been no direct conflict yet, but tensions are high and both nations’ militaries are in a heightened state of alert. Of course, the Empire is presented as the reasonable party in the situation; no mention is made of how they escalated things first by seizing Isla del Dragon.
Session #118 - Cannons and Cheeseboard
A short time later, with the Night’s Bride safely docked, the Fafnir departs from Equestria’s moon and makes the first of many jumps to m-space. The crew meet up with Vortex Twist in the cargo bay, as he returns with two large crates of equipment for the Jammers to use on their mission. Alongside their own combat gear, there’s also an impressive and extensive collection of weapons, ammunition and grenades - some of them even questionably legal, as Tami points out.
Most interestingly, it looks like Professor Razzmatazz came through on her promise to provide the crew with some magical protection. They find a small collection of amulets, along with a note on their use. Supposedly they protect the wearer from being taken by surprise, and react when they detect any magical form of deception, such as illusions, in the surrounding area. In addition, Vortex forwards some of the Empire’s intelligence regarding Sidewinder to Smile’s multiband.
Naturally, once Vortex has left them to their own devices, the crew seek out Eleven to get her opinion on the amulets. Her knowledge only goes so far; she’s enormously powerful, but that doesn’t make her a trained magister. Still, she confirms that they’re enchanted, primed to react under specific circumstances. Kerfuffle compares them to smoke alarms.
Smile heads upstairs to take a look at what the Empire dug up on Sidewinder, and the others join her - Eleven included. Unfortunately, there’s very little there that they don’t already know, save for the fact that the Empire suspect Sidewinder are receiving support from some kind of powerful but secretive benefactor.
Unsatisfied, Smile resolves to spend the next few days doing extensive research. Now that they’re away from the moon they have access to galactic communications again, so it’s a matter of chasing down every single lead or loose end she can find online, perhaps with Eleven’s help. She puts a request for extra stationary through to the Fafnir.
Session #119 - A Danger to Herself and Others
Two days later, somewhere near the League border, Smile’s efforts finally get results. She presents them to the Jammers and Professor Jhaziea over breakfast while Eleven busies herself in the kitchen. By cross-referencing the Empire’s information with the leads and theories they already have, she makes a dangerous suggestion. In short, the amount of money Sidewinder must be spending on Project Snowdrop is far more than their corporate assets could provide in secret. The only way they could be running such a large operation unnoticed is if someone else was funding them - either a private benefactor of truly absurd wealth, or a national government.
Naturally, this causes quite a stir. Kerfuffle points out that if a government is funding Sidewinder, it can’t be the Empire - they already have an extensive magical research and training program in the Æther Corps. Tami doesn’t want to rule it out, but Jhaziea is incredulous about the possibility, insisting that there’s no higher authority on magic than the Corps. They report directly to Nightmare Star herself, after all.
Jhaziea leaves to carry on with her preparations, and Tami - with some reluctance - makes another suggestion. Whisper Step believed that someone within Republic Intelligence was sabotaging her; perhaps a partership with Sidewinder was their way, desperate as it may seem, of evening the playing field with the Empire? Smile points out that regardless of the possibilities on hand and how they might line up with the facts, they’re still dealing in pure speculation. It would be unreasonable to jump to conclusions, so she’s going to keep working and see if she can dig up anything else.
Kerfuffle changes the subject. Something’s been bugging him, so he asks Tami if he can take a look at the file they found on Specimen Eleven while exploring Site One. His fears are realised as he scrolls down to the details on Eleven’s cybernetics; she has a tracking device in her somewhere. It’s not clear how precise or long-ranged such a device might be, but it’s still a major problem - Sidewinder could be homing in on her already.
As if on cue, Eleven emerges from the kitchen with a giant stack of pancakes for everyone, and Kerfuffle quickly tries to change the subject rather than foul her obvious good mood. As the crew tuck in, Eleven asks what they were talking about. Kerfuffle is reluctant to discuss it, but given the importance of the matter Trigger and Smile tease it back out. Eleven hastily apologises, once again expressing great regret for bringing the crew so much trouble, and rushes off downstairs. After an awkward moment at the table, Kerfuffle gets up to follow her. Trusting the griffon to help her, the rest of the crew commiserate on the difficult situation.
Downstairs, Kerfuffle finds Eleven at the entrance to the Bride’s medical bay. She’s gone to see whether Patch can find the tracker, but stopped short at the door. When the griffon offers to accompany her, she breaks down in tears of anger and frustration.
At first, his attempts to calm her only seem to make things worse; Eleven furiously laments her own guilt and shame, while her horn crackles and sparks with enough energy that even the Bride’s automated systems pick up on it and sound an alert. Fortunately, his words do get through eventually; as the rest of the crew scramble downstairs to respond to the alert, Eleven gets a handle on her magic and falls against him, collapsing into hysterical sobbing. He does his best to comfort her and gently reassures the rest of the crew that everything’s fine.
While Kerfuffle does what he can to console Eleven, taking her into their room so that she can sit down somewhere a little more comfortable than a cold metal floor, the others wisely decide to give her some space and head back upstairs. Trigger tells Jhaziea that the alert was just the ship’s sensors being oversensitive. It’s not clear if she buys it, but either way she doesn’t inquire further.
To try and ease the tension, Trigger busts out a little alcohol. Sadly, all the Bride’s stocked with is generic beer. Tami demonstrates a little ingenuity by using one of the Bride’s coolant lines to frost some glasses. With a bit of added fruit she can at least make the cheap drinks look like a decent cocktail. Smile, on the other hand, has her thoughts drift elsewhere. She brings up her multiband and starts looking for information on Azure Myst....
Minisession - Past Sins
Some time later, Smile calls a meeting of the crew. She admits that her leads on Sidewinder seem to have run dry for the moment, but nervously raises another topic: Azure Myst. She’s been unable to find any information that would suggest he’s been returned home, which suggests that he may still be a captive of the Countess. Smile surmises that even with her base under Empire control, the Countess must still have some say in how her organisation is run. That, or Azure simply slipped through the cracks during the takeover. Either way, nobody is happy to hear this. There’s a lot of collective guilt amongst the crew for their role in his kidnapping.
Tami and Kerfuffle both suggest anonymously tipping off the League authorities, but Smile argues that the simplest option would be to make use of their new Empire connections. If nothing else, there’s no harm in simply asking. Trigger agrees, so they contact Corona Gleam. Fortunately, the commodore has a little time to spare. Smile explains the situation and asks whether anything can be done to get Azure out and back to his family. Corona listens with detached curiosity as the Jammers explain the reason for their interest - and their own role in things.
Eventually, Corona confirms that Azure is indeed still aboard Isla del Dragón. As Smile suspected, Karmelita’s operation is still somewhat functional even under Imperial occupation. Azure Myst is currently being held in a state of indentured servitude, doing logistics work. Imperial Intelligence wants the Countess as cooperative as possible, which means leaving her personnel and command structure mostly intact, illegal or otherwise. The Empire is merely interested in using the Isla - or Naval Station Draco, as they call it - to cement their military power in the Periphery. Sadly, Corona has little influence over the Empire’s operations there. However, she’s understanding of the Jammers’ concerns and points out that people ‘go missing’ in that area all the time. A subtle rescue by certain non-Imperial independents wouldn’t be out of the question. She claims to have a friend assigned there - once the current mission’s dealt with she might be able to arrange something. They can consider it a favour.
Once the call concludes, the Jammers discuss amongst themselves. The mood is somber; there’s not much that they can do, at least not right away. Eventually, some light banter between Trigger and Tami breaks the ice and the hippogriff goes to fetch everyone some ice cream. Kerfuffle heads downstairs to let Eleven and Jhaziea know that ice cream’s on the menu, and Smile takes the opportunity to speak to Tami privately.
Smile feels especially guilty for her role in things back at Isla del Dragón, and personally obligated to make things right. She asserts that she should have found a better way to handle the situation than simply taking whatever orders the Countess threw at them. Tami doesn’t strictly agree; with Donner and Blitz onboard Claudia, Karmelita was in a position to give whatever orders she wanted. And even so, Tami reminds Smile that the great advantage of working together as friends and crew is that everyone can help correct the others’ mistakes. Smile agrees, with some measure of uncharacteristic surprise and shame, and the issue is shelved for the moment.
Session #120 - In The Shadow of a Star
Two days pass. In the intervening time, Eleven submitted herself to an examination from Patch. With a little non-invasive study and technical help from Tami and Kerfuffle, he confirmed that she does indeed have some sort of tracker amongst her implants. The signal it puts out can be picked up within the radius of a given system, but only transmits Eleven’s location with moderate accuracy - an area of several thousand square kilometers. Unfortunately, precisely locating - let alone removing - the device would require complex and potentially dangerous surgery from a medical specialist.
Jhaziea spent much of the trip preparing to potentially exorcise Knowledge Base, keeping to her room except for a few brief appearances to ask small, esoteric favours from the crew to assist in her magic. Blood samples and the like. When questioned, the zebra simply pointed out that these were to act as a sort of IFF system for the exorcism she may need to perform.
Eventually, everyone gathers on the bridge of Night’s Bride as the Fafnir prepares to jump into the Confederacy. Corona Gleam contacts them - there’s a problem. Apparently an unidentified cargo vessel has been tracking and following them ever since they left the Empire. Nobody mentions Eleven’s tracker, but it seems plausible that the pursuers are with Sidewinder. Smile flexes her bureaucratic muscles a little and surreptitiously contacts the Confederacy’s border guards, informing them of some (false) criminal charges against the other ship. It’s unlikely that they’ll stick, but perhaps the other ship will be mired in red tape for a while. Sure enough, as they pass through the Confederacy over the next couple of days it seems that the pursuer has been shaken off their trail.
Shortly before they jump to the off-grid system between the Confederacy and Republic, the commodore calls the Jammers together for one last meeting. First, she introduces a mare in heavy armor - Second Lieutenant Pinpoint. Pinpoint is the leader of the marine detail assigned to the rescue operation aboard the Bride. The Fafnir itself will be remaining outside of Republic space; the consequences could be disastrous if an Empire navy warship was sighted in Republic territory.
When the Jammers express concern over the Republic authorities looking too closely at the Bride, Vortex Twist assures them that the Passion system is a backwater. Security should be light to nonexistent, and if necessary, it may be possible to pass off the Bride as Republic navy. Vortex explains that the Bride’s weapons - automated point defense turrets - are now operational. Once they’re in the system, Eleven should be able to zero in on Knowledge Base’s location. After they find him, securing him from whatever influence has taken him over is up to Jhaziea. Smile asks if there’s a backup plan in case the exorcism fails, to which the zebra coldly states that Sidewinder cannot be allowed to continue exploiting him. No matter what.
The Commodore dismisses everyone and they prepare to make the final jump to the Passion system. Eleven and Tami are both nervous - the former because it’s her first time heading into a potentially dangerous mission, and the latter because she’s dreading getting shot again. Kerfuffle is quietly focused, eager to get on with it, and Trigger and Smile do what they can to keep morale up.
With Pinpoint and her squad of half a dozen marines on board, the Bride departs from the Fafnir and makes the jump to the Passion system. Sure enough, the system is quiet and sparsely populated. Nobody appears to notice their arrival. With some discomfort due to the FTL jump interfering with her magic, Eleven locates Knowledge Base - very close to the system’s sun. Pinpoint quickly figures out that there must be some form of ship or space station there.
Sure enough, as the Bride approaches the massive blue star, the ship detects a small orbital structure. Its signature is very faint - without Eleven, it’s unlikely that anyone would have ever stumbled across it. Soon enough, they get close enough to take a look: it’s a small, square space station that appears to be abandoned or dormant. There are also signs of damage. Tami warily brings the Bride into the one functioning dock, and judging by the debris floating freely around the hangar space, the station has neither power, air nor gravity. It looks to have been abandoned for some time, but Eleven is certain that Knowledge Base is still inside.
Pinpoint and her squad suit up and head out into the hangar to survey the damage and ensure that it’s safe, advising the Jammers to follow them with Eleven and Jhaziea when they’re ready. Nobody’s particularly comfortable; the eerily abandoned-looking station brings back memories of the Starweaver, and Eleven has no experience whatsoever with moving around without gravity. The suits’ magnetic boots assist in movement, but they’re still bulky enough to slow everyone down. Tami and Kerfuffle have the additional handicap of not being able to use their wings or claws. The crew gear up with the equipment provided to them previously, as well as what they had left over from Site One, and carefully disembark their ship to join the soldiers.
The interior of the station seems safe enough for the time being, so the Jammers quickly catch up with Pinpoint’s team. The squad specialist is busy scanning the station’s layout with a sophisticated intelligence drone, and confirms that while it seems abandoned, there are still active security drones on patrol. A lot of security drones. Dozens, in fact. The drones are mostly confined to the lower level for the time being, where the security station that controls them is also located. Eleven pipes up - Knowledge Base is in the reactor room, in the center of the upper level where they docked. Jhaziea speculates that the being likely possessing him is keeping itself alive by feeding on the energy from the reactor. Of course, any attempt to actually breach the reactor room would bring the drones running.
Pinpoint proposes a strategy: she and her team will make a push for the security station and deal with the bulk of the drones with the goal of shutting them down. The Jammers, meanwhile, will find a way to the reactor room and escort Eleven and Jhaziea there while the drones are distracted. With luck, they might also be able to restore power. Nobody has any objections, particularly since the only other option is probably a battle of attrition. The imperial soldiers are good, but not so good that they can take on an entire station’s worth of security drones at once.
With their plan decided, the two groups check their gear and prepare to continue. Even so, some among the Jammers notice the ominous words written on the floor of the loading dock: Site Two.
Session #121 - Drones in the Dark
Before heading into the station proper, the Jammers perform a quick weapons check. In addition to their own equipment, the Commodore outfitted them well. In particular, Kerfuffle has a bulky automatic shotgun and Tami has a light, energy-based stun rifle. Also, everyone’s loaded up with a handful of different grenades each. The spacesuits that came with the Bride are bulky and restrictive, but offer reasonable protection in lieu of actual combat armor and are sophisticated enough to automatically seal minor breaches. Smile brings Patch along just in case; the absence of atmosphere and gravity means the poor rotor-motivated drone is practically helpless and has to follow her on a tether like a particularly grumpy carnival balloon. Fortunately for everyone else, his normally booming voice doesn’t carry through vacuum.
Jhaziea advises that her exorcism may take some time, and suggests that the marines meet up with her and the Jammers at the reactor room once they’ve disabled the drone controls. Failing that, the obvious rendezvous point is back at the ship. Eleven sticks close to Kerfuffle, still very nervous and unfamiliar with spacewalking. Pinpoint’s marines hack their way through the hangar’s large inner doors - one of the few things still functioning on the station’s emergency power - and reveal a large, dark chamber filled with floating debris, but no sign of life or security drones to be seen.
As the group proceeds inside, they realise that they’re entering a cargo and logistics area. An empty monorail track runs through the center, and anything of use or value seems to have been cleared out long ago. In addition, they quickly locate a stairway to the station’s lower level. Following the plan they agreed upon before, Pinpoint and her marines head down to make a push for the security center and distract the drones, while Jhaziea, Eleven and the Jammers are tasked with finding a way to the reactor room - and Knowledge Base.
Trigger lays out a simple strategy: she and Tami will scout ahead, while Smile brings up the rear with Patch. Kerfuffle will safeguard the two noncombatants at the center of the group. All they have to do is find a way to the reactor room at the center of the station. Of course, this turns out to be a taller order than expected. The clunky spacesuit gives Tami trouble hacking the next major door, and even after Trigger helps her with her telekinesis, the effort appears to have been fruitless. The following set of doors, which should lead towards the station’s core, don’t have any apparent means of control. Kerfuffle suggests that forcing them might be a bad idea - prying open an airlock on a damaged space station is asking for trouble.
The Jammers take some time to explore the adjoining rooms, hoping to find a secondary route, but to no avail. Aside from floating debris - including a very creepy empty spacesuit that floats right towards Tami and catches her by surprise - there’s nothing of interest to be found. Dead ends, breached hull sections, and abandoned furniture are all there is to see. The view of space through the holes is impressive, if nothing else. Smile double checks the schematics of the station Pinpoint’s marines shared earlier; it’s square in shape with a radially symmetrical floorplan, and the cargo monorail runs around the outside of the structure in a circular loop. With that in mind, there ought to be primary reactor access corridors on each of the four sides. One of those should, with some luck, be intact enough to grant access to the reactor room.
The Jammers proceed to follow the monorail, but soon find that it too is blocked by a large security door, locked down due to the damage to the station. There’s nothing for it but to follow the tracks in the opposite direction. Still struggling to navigate the near-total darkness, the group stumbles right into a security drone drifting towards them. After an initial moment of shock, the drone turns out to be offline. While the others take a momentary breather, Kerfuffle uses the opportunity to examine the drone and get a look at what they might be up against.
The drone is quite simple, at least by the standards of Sidewinder security machines: jet-propelled, lightly armored, and armed with a single weapon more or less equivalent to the average pistol. What really stands out is the sophisticated master/slave communication and logic unit. Kerfuffle deduces that the drones likely operate on a singular network, constantly communicating and following a unified strategy. In other words, swarm intelligence. Trigger calls up Pinpoint to inform her of this, and the lieutenant responds that it’s consistent with what she and her soldiers have encountered on their end. So far the marines haven’t met much resistance, but they have some way to go.
Just as the Jammers approach the opposite end of the cargo area, faint, eerily silent muzzle flashes light up in the monorail tunnel ahead! Tami and Trigger barely react in time as three drones open fire on them, most of their shots missing or grazing as the pair duck and dodge frantically in the bulky suits. One does manage to wind the hippogriff with a hit to her breastplate. Using their jets to maneuver effortlessly through the airless space, the drones quickly move in for the kill.
Fortunately, the crew are quick on the draw and make their shots count; Trigger swiftly obliterates a drone with a pinpoint shot from her pistol. Tami’s new rifle disables the second, and Smile’s long-ranged accuracy brings down the third before they can fire again. Kerfuffle, still somewhat hindered by the bulk of his suit and new weapon, catches up too late to help after seeing Eleven and Jhaziea into some nearby cover. Still, nobody was seriously injured despite the surprise attack.
Now moving with greater caution, the Jammers proceed into the monorail tunnel. It’s filled with debris that makes progress slow and awkward. Another fat-fingered hack later, Tami and Trigger open the way through another blast door and into a long tunnel section with broad glassteel windows, curving ninety degrees around the outside of the station. The stars - particularly the blue one close by - are on full display through the massive seethrough panels. Despite the station’s general spookiness and the dangerous drones potentially lurking around every corner, it’s a beautiful sight that catches everyone’s attention for a short while.
At the crux of the tunnel, the light allows the crew to spot another pair of drones hovering in the distance ahead. Sensing the opportunity to turn the tables, the Jammers quickly disable them with long range shots. They come upon another blast door, likely leading to the next cargo area on the monorail line. Pinpoint calls them with an update - her soldiers have the attention of the bulk of the security drones by now, and are making good progress. No casualties to speak of.
So far, so good...
Session #122 - Shooting Gallery
Carrying on, the crew quickly come across another blast door at the far end of the tunnel, leading into another large cargo area similar to the one that adjoined the hangar. The controls are busted, but fortunately the absence of gravity and power mean that Kerfuffle can lift it open enough to pass through.
Much like the first, the cargo area is a wide open space with no light and minimal cover. Trigger and Tami move ahead, using containers and defunct machinery for what little protection they can offer while the others bring up the rear. The deep darkness really highlights the Jammers’ mistake in not bringing flares or stronger flashlights. Pinpoint radios in to inform everyone that her team’s starting to meet stronger resistance, but still making good progress. Trigger barely gets a moment to reply before another group of drones suddenly attacks from the darkness!
This time, something’s different. From far in the distance, a golden bolt of energy lashes out and grazes Trigger - the security system’s packing more than just small arms this time. Tami and the captain scramble for cover behind an abandoned forklift as regular drones close in, returning fire. Kerfuffle and Smile usher Eleven and Jhaziea into cover behind a large cargo container.
Pinned in place by the small drones and sniper fire, Trigger and Tami hold their own but take several hits - mostly minor, cushioned by their suits, but enough to inflict meaningful damage. Smile joining the fight with her precision shooting allows the crew to finish off the pistol drones attacking up close, but the long range energy weapon - weapons, judging by the volume of incoming fire - carries on blasting away at their position. Frantically looking for options, Tami spots something - a thin red laser beam focused on Trigger from somewhere in the depths of the darkness. The sniper drones must be using a spotter. To make matters worse, they seem to be getting more accurate the longer they’re zeroed in on their target. Trigger’s hit again, and another pistol drone moves in to land a nasty wound on Tami as well.
Leaving Eleven and Jhaziea under Smile’s protection, Kerfuffle moves up into the open to try and draw fire away from the pair. Still unable to see where the shots are coming from, he becomes the drones’ new target. Smile, taking a gamble as she often does, tosses her multiband across the room to try and illuminate the attackers. It floats steadily in a straight line thanks to the lack of gravity and - by sheer dumb luck - bumps straight into one of the sniper drones currently making the crew’s lives miserable. A couple of quick follow-up shots put it out of commission.
While Trigger sticks to cover, Tami moves up to try and cover Kerfuffle’s advance. The pair of them find their way to some debris that can serve as cover, but the remaining shooter remains frustratingly hard to locate - as does the spotter giving it targeting data. Attempting to recreate her earlier stunt with the multiband, Smile orders Patch to switch his lights on and tosses him out into the room. Sadly for her and what little dignity the drone still had, he tumbles through the airless chamber without revealing anything new. Tami copies the gesture with her own multiband, to similarly futile results.
With nothing else for it, Kerfuffle once again moves out into the open and pushes ahead, trying to use the trajectory of the incoming fire to find the shooter. He takes several hits for his trouble, suffering nasty burns despite the armored spacesuit, but - fortunately - finally manages to spot the remaining shooter at the very edge of his suit’s light. And though running, carrying a bulky weapon and getting shot at stop him from landing any hits on it, Trigger’s aim is on point and finishes it quickly.
To the Jammers’ surprise and dismay, the sneaky spotter drone at last takes the initiative to reveal itself, approaching the nearest source of light - Patch - and lashing out with a short range shock weapon. The Jammers’ medical drone sparks and twitches, his lights suddenly flickering out. Smile and Tami rush his last visible position, cornering the spotter and destroying it with a quick flurry of shots between them.
Finally, it appears that all the drones have been disabled and the Jammers have a moment to collect themselves. Several of the crew are sporting injuries, and Patch appears to be offline. In particular, Kerfuffle’s moving more slowly after taking several hits from the sniper drone. He insists he’s fine though, and prioritizes repairing Patch.
Fortunately, Patch isn’t badly damaged. His capacitors are simply overloaded, much as they were when Tami tazed him months ago. It’s a relatively simple question of part replacement, and the dead Sidewinder drones have no shortage of spares to offer. While Kerfuffle carries out the repairs, the others take a few minutes to treat their injuries as best their spacesuits allow, using copious amounts of medication.
Before long, Patch is back in working order. His lack of a transmitter means the Jammers can’t tell whether he’s grateful for the repairs or annoyed at being damaged in the first place. Tami fetches Smile’s multiband, and her own, from floating around the cargo area, and the crew prepare to move on.
Eleven notices that Kerfuffle’s walking with a limp, and insists that he stop and receive some medical assistance as well. The griffon tries to play off his injuries as less severe than they actually are, but Tami quickly joins in and he’s no match for two sets of puppy eyes. Not wanting them to worry, he submits and lets Tami give him a stimshot as well.
Jhaziea cautions the crew not to dawdle - Pinpoint’s soldiers are still fighting, after all, and there may be some distance still to go…
Session #123 - Reactor Rumble
Following their understanding of the station’s layout, the Jammers look for another way into the center. The layout of this cargo area’s much the same as the last, just mirrored ninety degrees.
To everyone’s frustration however, the main doors through to the core of the station are completely collapsed, leaving only a few side rooms with little of interest to be found. Broken computers, bare workbenches and empty storage units abound. The station clearly used to house more Sidewinder labs, but just like at Site One there’s precious little left intact. Tami does come across the burnt remains of a folder floating amongst the random junk; it’s a badly damaged cargo manifest for deliveries made to the station. Aside from the obvious - medical equipment and a whole lot of security drones - it also makes mention of “Quetzalcoatl - Class V”, but all the relevant details are missing. Nobody’s entirely certain what it might mean, though Tami notes the similarity to Coatlicue. Another test subject, perhaps Knowledge Base himself, or just a project title?
The Jammers return to the cargo area and carry on following the monorail track, hoping to find a way into the core from the side opposite their point of entry. Just as before, there’s a blast door blocking access to the tunnel. And just as before, Tami struggles to hack the controls on account of the spacesuit fattening her fingers. It takes a little help - and a small, painful electric shock - to get the door open.
....sort of. The doors open, then close again, repeating at a dangerously high speed thanks to a short circuit in the controls. Trigger fetches a metal spar to try and prop them open, but fortunately a little more tinkering gets the doors to stop in the open position.
As the group traverses the next glassy, curved tunnel towards the station’s north side, Eleven asks Jhaziea precisely how she intends to save Knowledge Base. She explains that if he’s possessed, as she fears, she’ll be able to exorcise the being inhabiting him. He should recover, provided he survives the process. It’s impossible to predict exactly what will happen during the exorcism, but the professor is confident in her ability to perform it successfully.
While Jhaziea and Smile converse, the group reaches yet another door leading to a third cargo area. Once again, Tami gets to work, and once again she winds up needing help with the fiddly wiring. Eventually though, the doors open to reveal another pitch black open area much like the last. Trigger cautions everyone to be on the lookout; there’s almost certainly more drones lurking inside.
This cargo area offers more cover. Several large containers are scattered about, along with the remains of a fallen crane. The light shining in from the glassteel tunnel behind them allows Smile to catch a glimpse of a drone lurking in the distance, and she destroys it with a single carefully aimed shot. Inching forward after the apparent lack of response, she takes aim at another - but the drones are better prepared than they appear!
A sniper drone’s energy bolt hits Smile square in the chest, sending the whole group scattering for cover. This time though, the whole crew are also better prepared. Once they’re in relatively sheltered positions, they use Smile’s trick of throwing their multibands to act as impromptu lights. Several reveal nothing, but they afford the crew enough visibility to trade fire with the small group of drones floating up ahead. One of the standard pistol drones advances, trying to flank Tami, but she responds with a surprisingly quick reflex shot and disables it before it can fire. The spotter for the local sniper drones makes a move on Trigger, narrowly missing her at close range, until Tami puts that one down too. Without its spotter the sniper drone is virtually harmless, allowing Smile and her laser rifle to take swift revenge.
With the room apparently clear, the Jammers move forward to check for new routes forward. Partly pinned beneath the crane is the monorail train itself - a flat, open vehicle clearly intended to carry heavy cargo short distances around the station. Kerfuffle notes that it’s not all that badly damaged - it might even still run if the station’s power was restored.
At last, it appears that the crew are in luck. The main airlock separating this cargo area from the station’s core is intact, as are the local control systems. All that’s needed is to find the correct console. While exploring the adjoining rooms, the group happens upon a strange glass tank. Eleven pipes up excitedly - it’s a sensory deprivation tank (or “quiet room” as she puts it). To her it’s something fun that she recalls from Site One; to Tami it sounds utterly terrifying. Jhaziea points out that its likely purpose is so that Sidewinder’s scientists can study the brain activity of their test subjects in a controlled environment.
After a little more fruitless searching, Tami comes across the controls for the main airlock and gets it open. At last, the way is open to Site Two’s reactor core - and Knowledge Base, and the thing inside him.
Trigger calls up Pinpoint to inform her of their progress. As luck would have it, the marines are close to the drone control center as well. The core is separated from the outer ring of the station by more glassteel tunnels and a second airlock, likely for safety reasons. The door ahead is jammed open by debris, leaving only a single door between the Jammers and their objective. A short door hack and some psyching up later, and they’re in. What they find is both entirely surprising, and exactly what some of them were expecting.
Aside from the possessed unicorn floating eerily inside the central reactor, the circular room seems clear of drones or other security systems. There’s plenty of defunct control panels freestanding all around, offering a limited degree of cover. Pinpoint expects that the drones will focus on her team as they attack the control center, but it’s all but certain that some will come running if the Jammers tamper with the reactor. As Jhaziea suspected, the daemon possessing Knowledge Base is drawing on the reactor to keep itself and its host alive despite the lack of air (not to mention food and water), so any attempt to rescue him would likely disrupt the system and register as a security breach.
At Trigger’s order, Kerfuffle closes the door behind them and the crew take up positions around Jhaziea as she prepares to begin the exorcism. Tami finds a console on low power mode, with limited access to the reactor controls. As it turns out, the reactor is fully functional, just trapping its generated power for Knowledge Base’s unwelcome guest rather than feeding it to the station itself. Rerouting it would be a simple task, and the station’s still intact enough that air, pressure and light could be restored to most of it.
Jhaziea sets up a place for herself in front of the reactor, surrounded by various magical paraphernalia. For their part, the Jammers have mostly given up on trying to figure out how magic works and simply stand by until she’s ready to begin. Kerfuffle advises Eleven to find somewhere safe to take cover. Jhaziea assures them that so long as she’s not interrupted, she’ll be able to carry out her task without issue.
At last, everything’s ready. With a little radio coordination, everything kicks off at once. Pinpoint and her squad assault the station’s security control center downstairs, Tami begins the process of restoring air and power to the station, and Jhaziea starts her enigmatic exorcism ritual, speaking quietly in a language - presumably an obscure zebra dialect - that none of the Jammers are familiar with. There’s no time for speculation; even with the doors sealed the security drones have ample access to the reactor room through vent passages in the ceiling, and despite Pinpoint’s heavily armed distraction elsewhere they arrive in force to defend the reactor room. Pistol drones, snipers and spotters alike descend all around, quickly engaging the crew. By pure fluke, one of the snipers lands a dead center shot on Kerfuffle the moment it arrives. Trigger takes some fire, but her suit soaks up the worst of it.
The Jammers respond in kind, Trigger even tossing an EMP grenade into the fray, and down a couple of the drones with return fire. As the fight goes on around her, Jhaziea remains focused on her own task, and power continues to return to the station. With a disorienting lurch, the artificial gravity switches back on; the drones crash to the ground (Patch included) but quickly right themselves and take off again using mounted jets (Patch excluded).
Giving the crew no time to capitalise on their momentary advantage, yet more drones emerge from the vents overhead and lay down a barrage of bullet and energy fire. Trigger and Smile scramble for cover, avoiding the worst of it, and Trigger’s snappy response downs two more of them. Even so, there’s plenty left, even after Kerfuffle apologetically downs a small group of them with his own EMP.
The Jammers faintly become aware that they can hear what’s going on around them; the room’s air is slowly refilling. As Jhaziea continues to work her strange zebra magic, Knowledge Base - or what’s become of him - begins to twitch and squirm in place, obviously quite agitated by what she’s doing. Whether or not the exorcism is actually working isn’t yet clear.
Pinpoint radios in over the growing sounds of the firefight, and it’s not good news. Despite her team’s assault on the security center, a large group of the drones actually peeled off from engaging them and headed straight for the reactor room. Until they’ve found a way to disable the entire security system, the Jammers are just going to have to hold out. And it’s only a matter of seconds before the new wave of drones joins what remains of the last; almost a dozen snipers, spotters and pistol drones descend on all sides, forcing the Jammers to fight for their lives. Eleven screams in terror as a bullet clips her suit. Another pings off the side of Kerfuffle’s helmet, almost knocking him out cold. Trigger takes a bad hit and falls prone. Even another grenade - this time from Smile - does little to thin the horde.
Even with many of the crew seriously wounded and dangerously close to panicking, there’s no end to the drones in sight...
Session #124 - You Can Run...
As air refills the room, Patch finally has enough pressure for his rotors to function correctly. At Smile’s direction, he quickly attends to Trigger’s injuries. Tami carries on trading fire with the drones using her Tsunami, while Kerfuffle steps up to intercept a sniper taking aim at Jhaziea - only for his shotgun to jam at the worst possible time. Even wounded, Trigger’s aim is on point; two more drones fall to her pistol. An energy bolt grazes Kerfuffle’s wing-
And then, finally, the drones fall silent and drop to the ground, disabled. Pinpoint and her team got through to the security controls. The lieutenant radios in to report, but the signal’s garbled; the best the Jammers can make out is that they’re on their way to meet up with the crew.
Now that the station’s repressurized, the Jammers take the opportunity to remove their spacesuits and receive some proper medical attention. Kerfuffle’s bleeding from a head wound, and Trigger’s struggling to remain conscious thanks to multiple burns and bruises. Eleven and Smile move to help Kerfuffle, while Tami assists the captain. With Patch free to work his figurative magic on the injured, everyone’s attention turns to the actual magic taking place at the center of the room.
Free to complete her exorcism uninterrupted, Professor Jhaziea sets out a number of magical foci and continues to speak - now more belligerently - to Knowledge Base in her strange zebra dialect. The possessed pony writhes in place, making horrible and otherworldly noises of defiance as it attempts to defend itself, even in its weakened state. The whole station shakes, and all of a sudden thick, jagged crystals begin to erupt from the floor and walls, seemingly at random. Computers, disabled drones and anything else that happens to be in the way is smashed aside; the crew scramble for cover. Trigger barely manages to warn Tami of one before it can skewer her, though it still knocks the hippogriff sprawling..
Finally, in an exchange of shouted incantations, the exorcism reaches its climax. Shadowy figures emerge from the crystals, crashing into Knowledge Base at blistering speed. With a final cry of rage the thing possessing him is banished, hopefully for good, leaving an ordinary unicorn stallion behind.
Knowledge Base is in bad shape, however. He’s deeply unconscious, horribly emaciated, and Patch quickly confirms that he’s suffering from muscle atrophy and extreme malnourishment. He’s not injured as such, just starved and exhausted to the brink of death. Jhaziea, herself somewhat drained and shaken by the ritual she just carried out, affirms that the spirit did the barest minimum to keep its host alive. Even so, he should be able to recover, given sufficient time and care.
With Knowledge Base carefully loaded onto Kerfuffle’s shoulders, the group prepare to make their way back to Night’s Bride. But with the station powered back up and repressurised, and the security systems completely disabled, it should be a straight run back to the ship. Simple - right?
The crew receive another communication from Pinpoint’s squad, but this time something’s off. Communications are still garbled, likely due to the damage inflicted on the reactor, but Pinpoint’s not the one speaking, and the soldier on the other end sounds frantic and desperate. Even through the interference, it’s clear that they’re in trouble. They say something about new drones, meeting back up at the hangar bay, then cut out. Trigger tells everyone to hurry.
Suddenly, the entire station shakes violently. An automated PA warns of structural damage. Jhaziea wonders whether the crystals conjured by her exorcism did more damage than they thought; Smile suggests that perhaps Sidewinder rigged the place. To the Jammers’ relief, Kerfuffle’s assessment of the monorail back in the cargo area was correct; it should run now that the station’s powered back up. The crew quickly detach the cars pinned under the debris and pile on. It’s just a simple flat-topped vehicle with only a control panel for furniture. Hardly quick or comfortable, but it’s faster than running and that’s the important thing. Nobody’s keen to stick around.
But as the monorail comes to life and carries the battered crew into the next segment of glassteel tunnel, they spot something out in space...
The train passes into the fourth and final cargo area, one last tunnel away from the one connected to the hangar - only for said tunnel to simply explode ahead of them as the torpedoes rock the station. Kerfuffle slams the brakes as the train hurtles towards the void of space. A blast door closes to seal the breach, and the train simply crashes into that instead, sending many of the crew sprawling. Kerfuffle’s wings help him keep himself and Knowledge Base steady, but Trigger lands badly (angrily, swearing profusely) and once again finds herself struggling to stay awake.
The station’s PA system crackles to life with a terrifying revelation: that ship outside might be a League model, but it belongs to someone completely different.
The Jammers quickly realise that their only chance of escape is to head back through the center of the station and look for another route back to the hangar. But Cobra isn’t going to give them the opportunity to take their time - a drop pod crashes through the ceiling, letting out one of the dog-like assassin robots Cobra deployed at Site One. With the station under fire there’s no time to fight and most of the crew are too badly injured even if there was - there’s no choice but to run, and they barely make it through the nearest door before the robot gets a bead on them with its rifle.
The Jammers flee through several side rooms, forcing open a number of uncooperative doors on the way, while Cobra’s torpedoes continue to batter the station. With a lot of fumbling around and a little luck, they find a route to the far side of the uncooperative airlock door connecting to the first cargo area. It’s still unresponsive, and too heavy to force without extreme difficulty. Kerfuffle and Smile manage to open it a crack - just barely enough for a particularly small pony like Trigger to get through - but the Sidewinder robot is gaining on them. It slips into view at the far end of the corridor behind them, then cloaks itself from sight.
Trigger crawls through the gap and fumbles with the controls inside the airlock; on the other side, the illusion-detecting amulets given to the crew by Professor Razzmatazz begin to vibrate - as the killer robot invisibly advances on them. Trigger gets the door open and everyone rushes inside just as it reappears, mid-lunge, centimeters away from taking a chunk out of Smile’s back leg. The door slams shut, pinning the machine by its neck. Smile and Tami unload their weapons into it at point blank range, but quickly turn and flee as it reveals a new weapon of its own: a mouth-mounted flamethrower.
The crew emerge into the cargo area adjoining the hangar, Night’s Bride coming into view at the far end. Pinpoint’s marines have set up a hasty defensive position at the main door, under pressure from an entire group of the deadly robots. The station shakes and rumbles, more drop pods crashing through the ceiling to deploy even more. With nothing else for it, the crew make a desperate run for the ship at full sprint. Tami flies, airlifting Eleven, Kerfuffle runs with Knowledge Base on his back, Trigger stumbles, half-conscious, and takes another stimshot to try and keep herself awake. Like Smile before her, the gamble doesn’t pay off and the overdose makes her collapse in a heap.
Behind the barricade, the Jammers spot Pinpoint - and the reason she stopped communicating by radio. She’s unconscious too, bleeding profusely through her armor. Eleven gets Tami to let her go and grabs Trigger by the tail with her magic, dragging her towards the ship, while Smile grabs Pinpoint. What’s left of the imperial squad holds the line as they hurry aboard the Bride.
Tami’s first to the bridge; she starts to fire up the ship so that they can get moving, but the newly-powered station is holding them in place with magnetic locks. While she sets up a local hack to get them free, she tries to get a handle on the Bride’s weapon systems to give the soldiers some covering fire. Patch and Eleven attend to Knowledge Base, Trigger and Pinpoint in the small medical bay.
With their defensive position crumbling, Pinpoint’s marines make a run for the ship as well; the Bride’s point defense turrets are effective against the Sidewinder robots, pulverising one of them in a barrage of automatic fire, but casualties are already mounting. One of the marines, already injured and with their weapon damaged, gives their life to seal the doors separating the hangar from the cargo area despite half a dozen robots bearing down on them. Tami’s hack succeeds, freeing the ship from the station’s hold, and once the survivors are on board Tami takes advantage of the momentary calm to begin backing the ship out of the station.
Sidewinder, of course, have other plans.
The doors to the hangar buckle, then simply explode - flanked by the remaining assassin robots is Coatlicue, Specimen Six. Worse, though the Bride’s free of the clamps and in full reverse it simply isn’t moving, gripped in her magic. Tami panics and unloads the ship’s full complement of point defense guns, choking the hangar with a haze of smoke and debris. Slowly, the ship begins to pull out of the station and into open space.
Six, unmasked, unharmed and very, very angry, hurtles out of the cloud of wreckage and lands on the bridge canopy, protected from open space by her magic. To Tami’s absolute horror, the canopy starts to crack as the insanely powerful test subject makes to simply peel it off. Tami tries to spin the ship and throw her off to no avail, but at the last second, and with a hateful glare that makes even Jhaziea recoil in fright, Six stops and leaps clear of the ship instead.
...because Cobra’s ship just achieved target lock on the Night’s Bride.
Session #125 - Off With Their Heads
Cobra isn’t even trying to be subtle; her ship’s running an open transponder that identifies it as a privately owned light cruiser - the Queen of Hearts. The Queen is much larger than the Bride, larger even than the Fafnir, and bearing down on them with obvious malice. The Jammers are badly outgunned, and to make matters worse their proximity to the nearby star prevents them from jumping to M-space straight away. Tami backs the Bride out of the station and turns to make a run for it, and the Sidewinder vessel is all too willing to give chase, launching missiles.
Smile takes control of the Bride’s guns so that Tami can concentrate on flying, and downs most of the first salvo coming at them. A near miss briefly interferes with the ship’s systems; Cobra’s using electromagnetic munitions - she wants the Jammers alive!
...for a given value of ‘alive’, at least. As the Bride flees, the Queen turns side-on to present a full broadside of flak guns to the Bride’s rear. Even as Tami jukes and weaves to disrupt their pursuer’s targeting, the ship shakes and rattles as it’s pelted by clouds of white-hot metal. Shrapnel chunks make it through the hull - a console in engineering explodes moments after Kerfuffle moves away from it, and a shard embeds itself in the headrest of Smile’s seat. Pushing the Bride beyond its normal limits allows the Jammers to outrun the Queen’s targeting for just a moment, barely long enough for Smile to put out a distress call to the Fafnir. But between the Queen’s jamming and interference from the star so close by, it’s unlikely to have gotten out. There’s no response. Jhaziea takes over while Smile continues to man the guns.
The Queen’s guns adapt and converge their fire on the Bride once again, this time landing a more severe hit. Hot metal shards bounce dangerously around the interior of the bridge, striking Tami in the thigh, Smile in the side and Jhaziea in the shoulder. Noting the damage, Kerfuffle calls Patch to the bridge to assist, but the drone’s already tasked to capacity keeping Knowledge Base, Pinpoint and Trigger alive, dispatching Eleven with a first aid kit instead.
Though painful, the injuries of those on the bridge aren’t immediately life-threatening. Smile redirects Eleven up to engineering, where Kerfuffle is working alone. Though yet untouched by the shrapnel, the injuries he suffered in Site Two mean he’s only conscious thanks to the stimshot Tami gave him earlier.
It’s all Tami can do to keep ahead of the brunt of the Queen’s ongoing barrage, but with nothing but open space to run to and a steep disadvantage in both endurance and firepower, it seems to be simply delaying the inevitable. And Cobra isn’t out of tricks either.
Suddenly, two things happen all at once. The Bride shudders and loses speed as it’s caught by the Queen’s gravity well, slamming Kerfuffle and Eleven hard against the wall and engineering console. And in the far distance, Tami sees a growing point of golden light.
The Fafnir’s main gun.
A lance of energy passes the Bride and strikes the Queen’s bow, dealing visible damage, and the larger ship turns to engage the greater threat. It’s all the distraction the Jammers need; Tami wrestles the ship clear of the gravity well and jumps to M-space the moment she’s able, leaving the commodore to offer Cobra’s cruiser a more even fight. Eleven eases a semi-conscious Kerfuffle down to the medical bay, and everyone - at least those still able - breathes a long overdue sigh of relief.
An hour and many medical procedures later, those still capable meet on the bridge as the Bride arrives in the uncharted system where they had planned to meet up with the Fafnir. Eleven, Jhaziea, the Jammers minus Trigger, and the handful of survivors left over from Pinpoint’s squad. There’s a difficult decision to make: wait for the Fafnir, assuming it survives its battle with the Queen of Hearts, or try to make it back to the Empire without them? Smile favors leaving right away, especially given the possibility that if the Queen is victorious, it might simply trace the Fafnir’s route and jump in on top of them. The marines are adamant, however, that they shouldn’t abandon the commodore. Most of the others agree - the Bride’s still mostly functional, but they’d be far safer travelling with the Fafnir if at all possible. As such, Smile - acting captain with Trigger out of action - instructs Tami to hold position. Nonetheless, the Bride is to remain on notice for an immediate jump if necessary; if the Fafnir doesn’t show within the hour, they’ll be leaving.
While they wait, there’s some time for people to wind down. Knowledge Base is free and alive, so the mission is technically a success despite the losses incurred. Jhaziea is particularly thankful to Eleven for her assistance, as is Kerfuffle. Now that he’s recovered a little, his mood has improved enormously.
Tami and Eleven go to prepare some food for everyone, while Smile takes some time out to check on the wounded and commiserate with the marines.
Finally, after a long and tense delay, a large M-space signature is detected nearby. Bearing heavy battle damage, the Fafnir emerges from a jump and hails the Bride. Even Tami is relieved to hear the voice of an imperial officer as Corona Gleam reports the situation. The Fafnir, though battered, still has all its critical systems in working order. Following an exchange of firepower between the two ships, they were forced to withdraw. It’s not a total victory, but it’s good enough. Smile briefly fills in the commodore on the situation while Tami hurries to dock the two ships together so that they can get underway before Cobra gets any ideas about tracking them down.
Docking is trickier than before thanks to the damage both ships sustained, but Tami manages to pull it off without incident. Kerfuffle makes a last minute check on the injured and finds them stable - but Patch is running on the very last dregs of his internal battery and all but nonfunctional. Smile congratulates Tami on her flying, though the hippogriff is despondent at the fact that ultimately, someone else wound up bailing the crew out of trouble yet again.
Once the ships are docked together and safely underway, Corona Gleam comes aboard to host a short debriefing. She’s pleased to hear that Knowledge Base is alive, and despite his horrendous state of health Jhaziea is confident that he will recover eventually, given enough time and care.
The discussion turns to what will happen next. As far as the commodore is concerned, her business with the Jammers is all but concluded, so there’s no point taking them all the way back to Equestria’s moon. Instead, she offers to drop the crew off where they last left their own ship. As a happy coincidence, that’s the Heraklion system - Kerfuffle’s home. As such, they’re also willing to uphold their side of the deal and pick up Galena for her own medical treatment in the Empire.
Overcome with emotion and soon openly crying with joy, the griffon attempts to excuse himself, but Eleven intercepts him with a big hug. It’s not long before Tami joins in. Smile makes a few final confirmations with the commodore - that they’re cleared to return to normal operations and no longer in debt to the Solar Empire. Corona offers her the Fafnir’s contact information for future use, just in case, and notes that they ought to be able to contact Tundra again before long, too. With all that out of the way, Smile hastily excuses herself. She has a big group hug to join.
STORY: Without the Masters We Always Had, by Napalm Goat
Session #126 - Like Family
Two days pass before Fafnir arrives back in the Heraklion system, and the Jammers prepare to say goodbye to Night's Bride. Trigger is back on her hooves thanks to Patch's assistance and a copious amount of coffee. Kerfuffle has spent much of the intervening time in contact with his family, arranging for Galena's passage to the Empire for treatment. He's utterly exhausted, but also happier than anyone's ever seen him. He declares to Eleven and the rest of the crew that for their help, he considers them family too.
Vortex Twist comes to see the Jammers off on Corona Gleam's behalf, and to clear up some of their lingering questions - particularly how the commodore knew to come to their assistance when she was forbidden from bringing the Fafnir across the Republic border. He can't share the full story, but informs them that she was made aware of the Queen of Hearts' approach and made an on the spot decision. It's unclear why the Republic didn't respond to a battle taking place within their borders. Sadly, there's very little information publicly available on the Queen itself. Vortex speculates that it's officially owned by a PMC. Naturally, Imperial Intelligence and the Æther Corps will be carrying out their own investigation in the future. For the moment, they have repairs and preparations to make before returning to the Empire.
A short time later, the Jammers - and a very excited Eleven - find themselves back on Claudia for the first time in weeks. She's looking good; the confederate repair crews appear to have earned their pay. Tami and Kerfuffle quickly offer Eleven a tour of the ship and take her upstairs to see the bridge, while Trigger and Smile go in search of Donner and Blitz. They're briefly waylaid by a couple of odd sights - a pair of small, unfamiliar cargo containers in the hold, and a large bucket on the common room table. Trigger peeks inside the bucket, and...
Furiously angry, Trigger storms into her quarters and finds the two giant cats fast asleep on her bed. And with them is a familiar but far less welcome face - Specimen Three, the manipulative unicorn stallion the Jammers freed from Site One just before meeting Eleven. He assures Trigger and Smile that the head belongs to nobody important and was part of a deal he made with Donner and Blitz. A bounty, carried out to fund Claudia's repairs. In fact, he goes on to claim that he had no idea that the ship was related to the Jammers at all. What a coincidence! Neither Trigger nor Smile are willing to put up with him any longer, and angrily insist that he leave immediately. With some reluctance (and much sarcasm), he eventually does. Perhaps he has better places to be. Trigger and Smile share a drink to calm their nerves. The two big cats carry on sleeping.
Upstairs, Eleven's literal-mindedness makes the tour a little tricky - she doesn't think much of Tami's artwork - but she appreciates the others' willingness to include her. Between her youthful enthusiasm, impressive intellect and esoteric magical knowledge, she's soon brimming with ideas to improve and optimize the ship despite her total lack of technical skills, and Kerfuffle is more than happy to hear what she has in mind. She's especially excited at the prospect of getting her own room; conveniently, the one next to Kerfuffle's is free. Tami offers to help Eleven get a multiband of her own for easy communication with the rest of the crew.
Trigger decides to get Blitz's side of the story and flicks water on his face until he wakes up. This incredibly intelligent decision almost gets her gutted by the massive cat's claws, but upon realizing who it is, Blitz and Donner are actually quite happy to see the captain and the others back. They explain, more matter-of-factly than Three did, that what he said was more or less accurate. The severed head is proof of a bounty, awaiting retrieval by the client. The pair of them needed money and could find no other way of obtaining it - it's not like a pair of terrifying ex-pirate genetic chimeras like themselves could simply get a day job. Trigger's a little more understanding, but insists that they settle accounts with Smile and put the head somewhere more discreet before anyone else sees it.
Before long, the others come back downstairs with Eleven and introduce her to Donner and Blitz. They take particular interest when Smile points out that Eleven is very intelligent; they have ways of testing such things.
Some small talk follows, and the subject turns to the two new cargo containers in the hold. According to Blitz, a courier drone brought them a couple of days back. One is addressed to Smile, the other to Kerfuffle, and according to the courier the codes to open them will be sent "later". For the moment though, everyone's focused on getting settled back on Claudia. It's good to be home.
Session #127 - Bacon and Eggs and Riddles
The following morning, the Jammers wake up in their own beds and find Eleven already up and about. She's eager to help out, as discussed the previous afternoon, and has started experimenting with 'improving' unnecessary parts. Like Patch's transponder. Judging by the state of it (a complete mess), she has a lot to learn. Luckily, Patch doesn't seem to mind one of his secondary circuit boards being reduced to a mass of spare parts and solder. Kerfuffle digs out a heap of mechanics-related reading material for Eleven to look through in hopes that it'll help.
Over breakfast, the crew make a little small talk. Tami feels a little uncomfortable still calling Eleven by a number rather than a "proper" name, but the unicorn doesn't seem fazed - to her, it's just what she's called. Kerfuffle wonders whether Eleven knows of any family she might have somewhere in the galaxy, but thanks to Sidewinder's memory tampering she remembers very little, and what she does recall is vague and distressing. Trigger quickly and wisely changes the subject by offering everyone a round of bacon and eggs, and things quickly turn back to more pleasant matters.
Tami goes to fetch Donner and Blitz, catching them in the middle of a very feline staring contest. They congratulate her - in their own way - on the scars she picked up at Sites One and Two. She tries to playfully turn the tables by asking *them* a riddle, and even seems to have stumped Donner, but Blitz answers it easily - to Tami's disappointment and Donner's outrage. Blitz joins the others in the common room, revealing a surprising and unfortunate allergy to eggs when they offer him some of Trigger’s cooking, while Donner stays to discuss things with Tami a little more. She's pleased at the hippogriff's growth in confidence and assertiveness since their last meeting.
Though perhaps Tami isn't quite up to murderkitty standard just yet. Nonetheless, Donner praises her progress so far and promises that soon, she'll be stronger than ever.
Session #128 - Life Goes On
(Note: Galena is technically an NPC, but as Kerfuffle’s sister the same person plays both.)
The following morning, the Jammers pay a visit to Kerfuffle's home on Heraklion IV and meet his family, leaving Donner and Blitz to keep an eye on Claudia. The crew enjoy a pleasant - if awkward - brunch hosted by Kerfuffle's parents, and then return to Fafnir with Galena in tow. It's the teenage griffon's first trip off planet, let alone halfway across the galaxy. Before long she's given an examination and bed aboard the ship, and the crew gather round to say their goodbyes.
Galena’s distinct appearance and sharper wit clearly demonstrate that she’s not related to Kerfuffle by blood, but the strong familial bond and (mostly one-sided) banter they share renders that moot. Her poor health limits her ability to talk at length, but it's clear that she's eager to meet everyone and has a lot to say. She takes a particular interest in Eleven, who's been quiet so far, and not-at-all subtly suggests that she and Kerfuffle (or 'Fuff', as she calls him) go well together. There's some well-wishing, light-hearted banter and small talk between Galena and the crew, and she offers them a small gift: a music disk. Eventually all the excitement starts to wear her down, so the Jammers make their farewells and prepare to leave - but not before a very emotional Kerfuffle has taken the time to hug everyone.
Once Galena’s said her goodbyes and gotten settled for her trip, the Jammers go to meet up with Corona Gleam for a final debriefing so that the Fafnir can get underway. On the way they meet First Lieutenant Pinpoint, somewhat recovered from her brush with death back at Site Two. There's a brief exchange of thanks and condolences, but Pinpoint remains professional and quickly directs them to the commodore's office.
Inside, Corona expresses her well-wishes for Galena's health and informs Kerfuffle that he'll be able to contact her at any time once she arrives in the Empire. She'll be receiving top-quality treatment at Equestria itself. With that resolved, the commodore moves on to the subject of the encounter at Site Two. She admits that the element of surprise was likely the only reason Fafnir was able to fend off Cobra's cruiser; the latter would likely have won a direct engagement.
Smile is adamant that this is the first time the Jammers have had a tactical advantage over Sidewinder - something they ought to exploit - but Corona recommends that they lay low for a while, and that seems to be the prevailing mood amongst the rest of the crew. If necessary, Isla del Dragon - renamed to Naval Station Draco now that it's under Imperial occupation - could serve as a safe haven. The Jammers, of course, are rather skeptical about the possibility of going anywhere near the Countess again, but it's an option. Lastly, Corona warns the Jammers that the Republic navy is becoming more active around their side of the Periphery. It may not be a problem per se, but tension in the region is rising and has been for some time. Something to be aware of. Though there's no opportunity for a formal goodbye between the crew and Professor Jhaziea, Corona assures the Jammers that by all accounts, Knowledge Base should eventually be able to recover from his ordeal.
With their business finally concluded, the Jammers bid farewell to the commodore on cordial terms. They return to Claudia with Eleven in tow, while Fafnir begins its long trip back to the Solar Empire.
Session #129 - Dangerous Fugitives
Once the Fafnir and Bride have departed, the Jammers return to Claudia and Smile wastes little time in calling a meeting to decide what they should do next. Everyone aboard attends, even Donner and Blitz, with the sole exception of Eleven who's off doing yet another of her unpredictable engineering projects in the upstairs corridor.
After clarifying a few things, like Donner and Blitz's ongoing difficulty with learning to think and act for themselves and Kerfuffle's undying gratitude for everyone going out of their way to help his sister, the most pertinent point of discussion is what to do next. It's soon decided that the best course of action would be to return to Port Medusa, for a number of reasons. Between fighting through two abandoned Sidewinder bases and making an accidental visit to Equestria's moon, it's been weeks since the Jammers were last in contact with Sweet Alyssum. There's a number of ways she could potentially help them get things they need - most urgently a surgeon to find and remove Eleven's tracking device. She might also be able to point them towards Whisper Step, wherever she may have ended up after the fiasco at Crystal Heart. On top of that, there is of course still the issue of the Jammers' outstanding debt.
While Smile grills Donner and Blitz on what they got up to while the Jammers were away (and receives very candid answers), Kerfuffle heads upstairs to see what Eleven's doing. To his surprise, she's been tinkering with one of Claudia's secondary generators. Not only that - she's removed several key components but somehow kept the generator running smoothly without them. Impressed, he simply asks that she let him know next time. And let him watch. Tami once again tries to playfully ambush Donner but she's having none of it, easily pinning the hippogriff and then carrying her off for a catnap. Frustrated wiggling ensues.
A couple of hours later, Claudia emerges on the first stop of the journey back to the Periphery, the New Lunar Republic system of Envy. Almost immediately, Smile receives a message from an anonymous source. It's the code to one of the mysterious crates dropped off at the ship while the crew were at Site Two, marked 'FOR YOUR EYES ONLY'.
Naturally, she wastes no time in opening the suspicious box and showing Trigger and Tami the contents. Inside are a blank credit chit and a disturbing bounty notice. Sidewinder are offering a hundred million credits for information leading to the apprehension of Specimen Eleven. Worse, it seems completely legitimate. Smile quickly concludes that the crates can't have been sent by Sidewinder - this is a warning. But from whom?
The Jammers get little time to ponder, as they're shortly hailed by an NLR border patrol ship, the Imperishable, with orders to hold position and prepare to be boarded. The ship's looking for a dangerous fugitive - one known to have been sighted travelling on a ship matching Claudia's description. Naturally, there's a moment of panic - the obvious conclusion is that they're looking for Eleven. Tami contacts the Imperishable to double-check their credentials; anything to buy time. Trigger orders Kerfuffle to hide Eleven in the hidden compartment near engineering while she gathers everyone else in the hold.
Eleven is obviously quite nervous about needing to hide in a cramped and dusty section of the ship by herself. Kerfuffle does what he can to reassure her, and she hides away as ordered, though it's obvious that she's not at all happy about the situation. He joins the rest of the crew in the hold to await the Republic soldiers. Donner and Blitz are there too - their sheer size makes hiding impossible. Trigger asks them to simply stand quietly and look intimidating. Getting into a fight with the navy would be a bad idea.
A few short minutes later, a team of Republic soldiers board Claudia and begin to search the ship while their leader grills Trigger with standard border patrol questions. The Jammers play dumb, until naturally the questions turn to the elephant in the room. Or rather, the two enormous genetically engineered cat creatures. Luckily, Smile has a line of bullshit ready - Donner and Blitz are merely exotic pets! To demonstrate, she treats Blitz like a giant... cat. He returns the gesture in kind.
Incredibly, the ruse seems to work. Further awkwardness is cut off when one of the Republic soldiers reports a suspicious finding upstairs. The crew hold their collective breath until it turns out he's talking about Patch, who's unregistered and technically illegal. In theory Claudia is absolutely loaded with illegal things at this point, but fortunately for the Jammers the soldiers are only interested in looking for the fugitive they're after and let them off with 'only' a sizable fine. When Trigger asks for more information, it becomes clear that the NLR aren't looking for Eleven as they had thought, but rather for Whisper. And by the sound of it, she's wanted badly. There's an all points bulletin on her head throughout the entire Republic.
With their inspection concluded, the soldiers return to their ship so that the Jammers can get underway again. As soon as they're gone, Donner bursts out laughing at how Smile treated Blitz. Naturally, the pair of them are rolling around on the deck in a big noisy catfight moments later.
While Kerfuffle hurries upstairs to tell Eleven it's safe to come out, the others discuss what they've learned. Smile ponders the apparent fact that Whisper really did go rogue from the NLR, but Tami argues differently - she's convinced that Whisper was betrayed by someone within the Republic; she got too close to finding out the truth about Project Snowdrop and now she's being thrown under the bus completely.
Kerfuffle finds Eleven where he left her. She's scared and covered in dust, but thankfully safe for the moment. He does his best to commiserate and explain things to her - she has little to no concept of bounty hunting, national borders or interstellar law thanks to her extremely sheltered upbringing at Site One. Eventually she heads off for a shower, leaving Kerfuffle feeling somewhat guilty about having had to make her so uncomfortable. He heads to the bridge and runs into Tami as she prepares to get the ship moving again. She shares her concerns about Whisper, and admits to feeling helpless for not being able to help her. Between them, they resolve to at least try and be there for her - even if nobody else is.
Session #130 - Periphery Problems
The remainder of the trip back to Port Medusa is slow and arduous. The NLR have ships and checkpoints all over the Periphery, leading to an inordinate number of stops and delays, though fortunately no more inspections. It's early morning when Claudia finally arrives in the Saphiban system, and the Jammers awake to find Eleven, Donner and Blitz already up. Eleven is watching a golf tournament on the television with rapt attention. Apparently it took her less than half an hour to learn the rules of the game through observation alone. The crew go through their normal morning business, until Smile discovers that something's wrong with her electric toothbrush. As it turns out, said toothbrush's battery has wound up in Eleven's ever-growing stash of salvaged components.
When confronted on this, Eleven is shocked and apologises profusely, quickly hurrying away to get it back. Kerfuffle takes this opportunity to speak to her privately and apologise for putting her through the unpleasant experience of hiding away under the floor. She thanks him for keeping her feelings in mind. Unfortunately for Smile, Eleven didn't just take the battery out of her toothbrush - she took the entire power unit. Meanwhile, Tami tries to make contact with Midnight Haze again, agonizing over what to put in a message.
A short time later, Claudia arrives at Port Medusa. Republic ships are all over it and the surrounding area, including the familiar stealth carrier, Princess Cadance. Sweet Alyssum and Verbena Mint come to meet the Jammers at the hangar, so they invite them aboard Claudia to talk in private.
While Tami catches up with Verbena, the others speak to Alyssum about her perspective of recent events. She's none too happy about the Republic's presence. Once the Empire took possession of Isla del Dragon and moved into the Periphery, the Republic likewise moved on Port Medusa to stake their own claim on the region. Their new operations in the sector border on a full scale military occupation, disrupting commerce both legal and illegal, and the Periphery has no higher authority or central government to which they could appeal. In other words, there's little Alyssum can do about it, and it'll be some time before things return to normal - if at all. For the moment, all she can do is wait it out and hope the sabre-rattling simmers down.
In the meantime however, Alyssum has some news. She's been contacted by Whisper Step once again and granted her refuge on Port Medusa, where she remains in hiding. As the Jammers are one of the few groups she still trusts, she's willing to share Whisper's location in return for assistance in securing Verbena's safety. Who knows when one of her many enemies might take advantage of the rough political situation to come after her again? Specifically, she wants Donner and Blitz as bodyguards. With the Republic cracking down in the region there's little chance of the Empire coming to take them back. The pair are asleep for the moment, so Trigger agrees provisionally on the condition that Donner and Blitz get the final word.
Following some brief, nervous introductions to Alyssum and her sister, Eleven's quest to collect seemingly random machine components continues. Kerfuffle finds her removing various parts from Cascavel's old motorbike. Like the generator before it, it still appears to work perfectly - though by all conventional logic it probably shouldn't, and there's no way it'd pass an MOT.
Alyssum has one further piece of curious information for the Jammers - she's received a job offer for them, by name, from an anonymous source that traces back to a ship called the Dame Vermillion Sting. The message is terse, simply requesting their presence in the Marid system on the border of the Zebrahan Caliphate. This all seems extremely suspicious - at least at first - but Tami remembers something. Dame Vermillion Sting was the name of Duke Midnight Haze's deceased mother. The ship is likely named after her. This isn't a job offer as such - it's a clandestine invitation to meet, and perhaps work for, the duke himself. And that changes things. Tami becomes excited, then nervous and worried. Trigger agrees that as soon as their business on Medusa is concluded, they should respond as soon as possible.
Minisession - A Whisper in the Shadows
Some time later, once Donner and Blitz have woken up and - by their own choice - accepted the bodyguard job for Sweet Alyssum, the director points the Jammers to Whisper Step's hiding place. She's been hiding out in an old hangar not much different to the one where she and the Jammers attempted to confront Cascavel months ago. The crew arrive to find the hangar dark and seemingly abandoned, but wandering deeper in they soon encounter what looks like a small campsite.
Whisper ambushes them by suddenly turning on the hangar's floodlights. Standing atop Regulus with her weapon drawn, she demands to know if the Jammers were followed. She's messy, tense, and more than a little paranoid. Once the Jammers point out that they’re alone and intending to try and help her, including a very relieved Tami rushing across to give her a hug, Whisper tries to push them away. Verbally and physically. She's in too deep, she says, and joining back up with her would only put the crew in greater danger.
Surprisingly enough it's Kerfuffle who pushes back first, arguing that after what happened at Crystal Heart and to the Jammers after following Whisper's own information, she's hardly in a position to tell them not to get involved. Despite wanting to help, he's still angry at her for putting the crew in danger and almost getting Tami killed. Whisper responds with a rant - the tension rising between the Republic and Empire, Sidewinder's machinations in the background, shadowy organizations ready to pounce - it's all too much for her to bear any more.
Eventually, Whisper manages to calm herself. She admits that with everything that's gone wrong, the Jammers are the only people she can rely on to look out for her. She couldn't handle them getting hurt again because of her own reckless actions. Eventually, with a lot of tense words between Whisper and the crew, she relents and calms herself. The group all sit down to talk. Whisper points out that even if she were to rejoin the Jammers and if they were to smuggle her out of Medusa past the Republic fleet, that still leaves the question of her ship, Regulus. Tami points out that since Regulus is small enough to dock with Claudia, it might be possible to conceal it with some clever modifications. Doing so is liable to take a few days, though.
As the group settle and try to catch up on recent events, Whisper admits that now she's gone rogue from the Republic, who may or may not be working with Sidewinder directly, she's got nothing left to live for except to see the syndicate dismantled. All dead, ideally. Trigger points out that everyone's got a stake in seeing Sidewinder taken down, and nothing short of a few bullets to the head is liable to get Cobra off their backs at this point. Smile asks Whisper what's next for her - in the future, after Sidewinder. The former agent shrugs, not having thought that far ahead, and Trigger cheekily points out that technically, the Jammers still have an opening for a security specialist aboard Claudia...
Minisession - Girls' Night
The Jammers lay low for the next few days, working on disguising Regulus and preparing to sneak Whisper off Port Medusa on their way to Marid. One evening, Verbena treats Tami to a fun shopping spree aboard the station. As fun as shopping can be when there's Republic soldiers everywhere and Donner is tagging along to play bodyguard. Eventually the unlikely trio return to Claudia, where Tami and Verbena settle down on the bridge for some good old-fashioned girl talk. Donner, not one for gossip, stands guard outside the door.
Naturally, top of the list for discussion is the impending invitation to Duke Midnight Haze's ship. Tami's still excited, nervous, worried and everything in between. Meanwhile, she's preparing the new multiband she bought for Eleven.
Kerfuffle also has some downtime, and takes a walk around the ship, unusually deep in thought. Eleven is meditating quietly in the hold, so rather than bother her he heads upstairs to speak to Donner. Now that Galena is hopefully on the mend, he's feeling a little lost as to what to do with his life next. Her answer is simple: now that his original purpose is fulfilled, he will need to find a new one. The conversation only goes so far, though - Donner and Kerfuffle are too different to see eye to eye on the purpose for which she was made: killing. Eventually, she simplifies his problems to a riddle and leaves him to ponder:
Though blind as well, can lead the blind well.
On the bridge, the subject of discussion turns to Eleven. Verbena can't help but have noticed that she's very unlike other ponies. Satisfied that the new multiband is ready, Tami calls Eleven to join them up on the bridge.
As it turns out, Tami's prepared a clever surprise. The password to Eleven's new multiband is the solution to a particularly complex and difficult equation. Something that should keep the young genius occupied for a week or so. Eleven reacts with glee (it's not clear if the cause is the gift or the math problem) and immediately gets started using nothing but a notepad. While she works, Tami puts on the mysterious disc she got from Galena. It turns out the teenage griffon is a pretty skilled guitarist, and hastily put together a small collection of her own music to give to the Jammers in return for their help. Between tracks, there's a small dedication from Galena herself, thanking the Jammers for all they've done for her.
The topic of the three mares’ gossip changes subject rapidly - Midnight (rich, connected, hot), Eleven (smart, unique, full of surprises), Kerfuffle (the goodest boy) until, to Tami's shock, Eleven solves her little slice of stellar mathematics in just a few minutes. She can't even fully comprehend how Eleven managed to solve the equation, let alone so quickly. After some incredulous boggling at how a mere teenager can carry out supercomputer level maths in only minutes with nothing but pencil and paper, the hippogriff gets up to fetch them all some drinks and snacks. Ahead is the equally difficult task of getting Eleven up to speed with the deep mysteries of selfies and social media. She meets Kerfuffle on the way, and makes a point of suggesting that he listen to the disc too, when he has a moment. So he does, and manly tears ensue.
Session #131 - Roid Rematch
Some time later, as the Jammers finalize their plans, Sweet Alyssum visits once again for an update on the situation, and to complete her hiring of Donner and Blitz. While the modifications to disguise Regulus are simple enough to carry out, the Jammers were unable to find anyone to deal with Eleven’s tracking device. Alyssum is pleased at the prospect of the Jammers taking Whisper and Regulus off her hooves - the Republic would be none too pleased if they discovered she was harboring a rogue agent of theirs. Unfortunately it seems there’s no way she’ll be able to get the Republic to back off in the near future - there’s nothing for it but to make do and hope the cold war doesn’t turn hot on top of her station. In the meantime, she’s able to provide the crew with a forged ID for Eleven - at a greatly inflated cost due to the ongoing economic troubles.
Donner and Blitz begin settling into their new roles as bodyguards for Verbena and Alyssum respectively. Not the most active of jobs on the face of it, but who knows when an opportunity for violence will arise? They all bid farewell to the crew for the time being, only to be interrupted by a massive crash from inside Eleven’s room. Eleven insists she’s okay - just a minor miscalculation involving her ever expanding secret project and/or pile of junk. Even Kerfuffle doesn’t have the faintest idea of what she’s trying to accomplish, and for no lack of trying.
A short time later Claudia departs from Port Medusa with Regulus docked to her belly and Whisper laying low aboard. Thanks to the modifications to disguise the smaller ship and a little subtle assistance from Medusa’s traffic control, they bypass the Republic fleet and set course for the Marid system in Zebraha. It’s far enough away to need a couple of days’ travel, but looks like an otherwise mundane transit.
Tami certainly isn’t expecting to be woken up in the middle of the night by a master alert in the middle of a jump. The m-space drive seems to be draining. At first she assumes it’s something to do with Eleven’s bizarre projects, but it’s getting worse - and quickly. She wakes up the others and does what she can to correct for the problem, but it’s no use; the ship begins to shake and rattle ominously as the jump becomes more and more unstable. Kerfuffle can’t solve the problem either. There’s nothing for it but to make an emergency transition back to realspace, and a rough one at that. Whisper’s the first to figure out what’s going on - Claudia’s being interdicted. She makes a run for the airlock to suit up and board Regulus, preparing for a fight.
Emerging from the jump is clumsy and painful for all involved, tossing the Jammers around and causing substantial damage to Claudia’s interior. By the time Kerfuffle finds his footing, several fires have broken out in engineering - and worse, the reactor’s leaking raw magic into the air. As he struggles to get the damage under control, Tami takes stock of where they are - the icy planetary rings of Tisslium VII. Or, in other words, the middle of nowhere. But the true worry is the lone contact nearby: the powerful red interceptor that tried to shoot the Jammers down at Crystal Heart. This time, it’s brazenly displaying an IFF designation - Taipan. Regulus launches and moves to engage the Sidewinder agent, buying the Jammers precious time to try and get Claudia moving again.
Trigger and Smile hurry to the bridge to assist Tami, while Eleven heads to engineering to try and help Kerfuffle. Though he’s got the fires under control, the leaking m-space drive is causing its own problems, and repairs are taking a long time. The loose magic is making him woozy and causing trouble with concentration, and while he’s grateful for her help, Eleven’s much greater magical sensitivity makes her especially vulnerable to the effects.
As if there wasn’t enough to worry about already, Patch arrives to report that an additional fire has broken out in the cargo hold. Tami and Smile go downstairs to deal with it, leaving Trigger at Claudia’s controls. She does what she can to keep the ship clear of the ongoing dogfight between Whisper and Taipan; neither seems to have taken the upper hand just yet, but Taipan’s smug taunting suggests that he likes his chances.
In the hold, several of the ship’s secondary components and wiring conduits are ablaze. Tami and Smile do what they can to fight the fires, but it’s a risky and time-consuming task. The hippogriff narrowly avoids some falling debris, only to be caught by a thin spray of molten metal as a battery explodes. Her injuries are thankfully minor, but the pain and fear put her out of action for the moment while Smile finishes off the flames. The crystal pony does her best to console the pilot and restore her courage while Patch tends to her wounds.
Up in engineering, Eleven and Kerfuffle do their best to seal the leaks. Noticing her obvious discomfort, the griffon suggests that Eleven get somewhere safer, but she refuses to let him face the task alone. As it turns out, she doesn’t have a choice in the matter - another emission of loose magic leaves Kerfuffle reeling and Eleven unconscious. He quickly carries her clear of engineering to get some help, leaving the issue of Claudia’s crippled m-space drive unresolved.
Out in space, things go from bad to worse. Whisper finds herself losing control of the engagement and radios Trigger for help, but there’s little the captain can do - there’s a distant explosion, and Regulus’ blip disappears from the sensor readout. Crowing over his kill, Taipan turns his interceptor towards Claudia, rapidly closing the distance on the stricken, unarmed freighter.
Session #132 - Knife Fight
Taipan’s interceptor begins rapidly closing the distance between the two ships. Trigger flies Claudia on an evasive course, doing whatever she can to put the icy asteroids between them. She attempts to use the rocket winch to smash the rocks together and put obstacles in Taipan’s path, but his fighter’s superior speed and agility mean that he’s hardly deterred.
Kerfuffle, Smile and Tami meet up in the primary corridor, hastily trying to decide what to do next while Patch examines Eleven. The unicorn’s not seriously hurt, but the magical overload has rendered her unconscious - and probably with the mother of all headaches besides. Kerfuffle explains the situation in engineering; there’s no hope of escaping to m-space unless the leak is fixed. Smile carries Eleven downstairs to recover in her room and then returns to assist in the emergency repairs, while an increasingly desperate Trigger calls Tami back up to the bridge to take over piloting. The hippogriff hesitates at the fact that Whisper may well be dead, but there’s no time to mourn and barely enough to think.
With Smile’s help, Kerfuffle finally manages to complete the repairs to Claudia’s m-space drive. But it’s too little, too late - the system is almost completely discharged and preparing for another jump will take hours. Just as they finish, Smile’s crystal pony constitution gives out amongst all the loose magic and she slips unconscious just as Eleven did. Kerfuffle, only conscious due to his absurd level of stamina, delivers her to Patch and tries to shake off the worst migraine he’s ever had in his life. The drone gives the crystal pony a powerful shot of painkillers, waking her back up with a jolt.
Finally, Taipan’s done playing around. Claudia registers some form of ordnance launching from his ship, heading straight for them. Tami does whatever she can to shake it, but the missile - or whatever it is - is much faster, more agile and more intelligent than anything she might have trained for. It behaves more like a miniature ship than a missile, quickly gaining on Claudia even as she weaves through the asteroids with Tami at the helm.
Suddenly, the Jammers receive a garbled transmission from Whisper. She’s badly wounded but alive, and Regulus is crippled. While most core systems are still intact, the cockpit canopy is gone and the flight controls are in ruins. Whisper has an idea and hastily talks Tami through it: Regulus can be controlled remotely, and the VR interface used for that purpose is still aboard Claudia. Trigger takes the controls once again while Tami scrambles to take control of Regulus. The spy’s ship is still just about functional enough to resume a dogfight with Taipan and get it off Claudia for just a little longer. Tami muddles her way through familiarising herself with remote piloting - choking down a powerful bout of fear at the thought of battling against an ace pilot with Whisper’s life on the line. Meanwhile, Trigger does her best to stay a step ahead of the incoming missile.
Taipan turns to engage Regulus once again, but the missile draws closer and closer to Claudia… then disappears. The ship rattles for a moment, but there’s no explosion. Instead, Eleven screams in terror from the cargo hold. Still not fully recovered, Kerfuffle and Smile hurry downstairs to respond, followed briefly by Trigger. In the darkness of the cargo hold, Eleven is cornered by some kind of enormous robot or military drone - the ‘missile’ from before, having hacked its way inside through one of the airlocks. With a rounded central body and many flexible limbs, it resembles a terrifying hybrid of squid and spider. (Note: Readers of Castle of Glass may recognise these from a rather unpleasant memory of Whisper’s...)
Trigger and Smile had the quick thinking to arm themselves when the interdiction began, but Kerfuffle had no such opportunity. Nonetheless, he hurls himself at the machine threatening Eleven and leaps on its back, gouging out one of its eyes with his claws. Trigger and Smile open fire, attempting to damage the limbs grasping for Eleven. Despite suffering some damage, it manages to shield itself from the worst of their firepower with several of its tentacle-like limbs and grabs the young unicorn, forcing her inside an airtight fluid-filled sac attached to its body that quickly renders her unconscious once again. Additional metal limbs, many of them ending in claws and sharp tools, lash at Kerfuffle and tear open a deep gash in his back.
On the bridge, Tami gives her all to the fighter engagement. She’s a highly capable pilot, but unused to controlling a ship remotely, and Taipan’s an experienced and canny dogfighter. The two ships joust head on, both dodging at the last moment and evading one another’s fire. For a moment Tami manages to get Regulus onto Taipan’s tail, only for him to duck behind an asteroid and swing round, lasers blazing - another near miss.
In the hangar, the abductor drone decides to make an escape now that it has what it came for. Grabbing Kerfuffle with its multitude of limbs, it hurls the griffon across the room directly at Smile, and uses the momentary distraction to squeeze up the ladder to the upper deck. Smile ducks out of the way, but Kerfuffle crashes painfully into the cargo crane and slumps to the ground, bleeding heavily. Down but not out, he staggers to his feet and steadies himself, following Trigger and Smile upstairs to intercept the deadly machine before it can make off with Eleven or deal any further damage. Trigger grabs an EMP grenade on the way; anything to shut it down quickly.
Realizing that she’s not going to beat Taipan through conventional flying, Tami tries to feint the cocky syndicate pilot into thinking she’s running for it. It’s a good attempt, but Taipan’s quick reactions put him one step ahead - once again, both ships fail to damage the other. Tami apologises profusely to Whisper; the high-G maneuvers can’t be good for her. Whisper insists that she focus on flying and suggests a new approach - Taipan is skilled, but cocky; he’d try to pounce if it looked like she’d made a mistake...
Smile, Trigger and Kerfuffle find the abductor drone hunched inside the engineering corridor, trying to cut through Claudia’s hull with a number of the tools built into its many limbs - if successful, it could open itself an escape route and gut Claudia in one move. They quickly move to try and stop it - Smile has some limited success, severing an arm with her laser rifle, but the drone cleverly forms a barrier against her fire with the arms they’ve already damaged. Kerfuffle tries to get in close, outraged at the sight of Eleven in captivity, but his claws can’t penetrate the machine’s armor. It responds in kind, lashing out now that he’s in range and scoring further hits - bad ones. The griffon is soon bleeding profusely from deep wounds to his chest and shoulder. (Note: Kerfuffle is critically wounded and passes a death save here.)
Trigger arrives with the EMP grenade she fetched, but it seems only moderately effective against the sophisticated intruder. Several of its limbs fall limp, but it keeps on fighting and cutting into the hull. In fact, setting off an EMP inside Claudia was perhaps the precise wrong thing to do, as Tami’s link to Regulus is momentarily disrupted and Taipan manages to land several glancing hits. Even so, Tami commits to Whisper’s plan, apologising profusely to the agent as she has Regulus carry out a series of high-G maneuvers, eventually sending the ship into what looks like an uncontrolled spin. Just as expected, Taipan makes a move. Tami rapidly corrects for the spin, allowing Whisper to nail Taipan with a barrage of autocannon fire that sends him scrambling for cover, trailing smoke.
Despite his severe wounds, Kerfuffle carries on fighting; Trigger and Smile urge him on, but he just doesn’t have what it takes to penetrate the drone’s defenses and tear Eleven free. For all his effort, he just gets hit again, this time upside the head. The two ponies carry on firing, scoring damage and disabling some of the abductor’s many limbs, but it just doesn’t stop, now dangerously close to depressurizing Claudia’s entire dorsal corridor.
On the bridge, Tami manages to take advantage of the damage she scored on Taipan’s interceptor, chasing him down. He’s ready, but Tami has one more trick - remote control means she can push Regulus into high-g maneuvers she’d never be able to pull off from the cockpit. The ship’s autocannons jam from overuse, but Whisper has other weapons at her disposal. She fires again, landing a laser shot dead center on the Sidewinder ship’s engine. Suddenly, Taipan finds his interceptor spinning out of control.
A well-placed coup de grace from both Tami and Whisper working in concert turns Taipan’s interceptor into a blazing fireball, which explodes into shrapnel amongst the icy asteroids.
Within Claudia, the abductor drone, now severed from its mother craft, finally - mercifully - shuts down and falls limp...
Session #133 - Hasty Repairs
(Note: Session begins with Kerfuffle passing a second, more difficult death save.)
Even with Taipan and his deadly robotic assistant defeated, there’s no time for anyone to relax. The abductor drone didn’t breach the hull entirely, but the damage is severe enough that the dorsal corridor is starting to lose air. Kerfuffle clings to consciousness despite a number of devastating wounds, but lacks the strength to pull Eleven free. Smile ushers him away from the downed machine and calls for Patch while Trigger takes over the rescue attempt. A careful point-blank shot from her pistol splits the sac open, dropping the unconscious young unicorn on the deck amidst a mess of foul-smelling fluid. Trigger drags her clear and seals the engineering corridor, containing the damage for the time being.
On the bridge, Tami begins the process of bringing Regulus back to dock with Claudia. Victorious or not, the smaller ship’s badly damaged and Whisper likely isn’t faring much better. Additionally, as the adrenaline of combat begins to wear off the hippogriff finds herself struggling with the realization that while Whisper was the one who pulled the trigger, this is the first time she’s wilfully, consciously killed someone. Whisper urges her not to think about it for the moment.
As the two ships draw close, Tami heads for the cargo bay to meet Whisper when she arrives, but is waylaid by the state of things in the dorsal corridor. Aside from the dead spider/squid combat robot and Eleven lying in a soaked heap, Patch and Smile are struggling to stabilize Kerfuffle, who’s lost an enormous amount of blood and is struggling to do much of anything.
While Smile and Patch tend to the griffon, carefully easing him downstairs to the pool table which must once again serve as an impromptu hospital bed, Trigger makes sure that Eleven’s still breathing and carries her down to lie on the common room’s sofa. Tami attends to Whisper in the hold; she has various burns and bruises from having Regulus’ cockpit come apart around her, along with a few fractured ribs thanks to Tami’s high-G flying. There’s nothing life-threatening, but it’s clear that the agent is in a lot of pain.
Smile alternates between encouraging Kerfuffle and scolding him for being so reckless. It isn’t clear that he fully understands what’s being said, mumbling vague responses and asking her not to tell his family that he got so badly hurt. He asks after Eleven, and Smile does her best to keep him talking. Patch works quickly - he has a lot to do - and the massive amount of painkillers being put into Kerfuffle’s system (and massive amount of blood missing) finally renders him unconscious. Smile panics a little, until Patch reports that the griffon is stable for the moment. The drone’s attacks missed his vital organs, but severe blood loss and muscle damage mean that his condition is very fragile. He’s unlikely to recover without professional treatment.
In the hold, Tami renders basic first aid to Whisper and confesses her conflicted feelings about killing Taipan. In a rare display of empathy, the agent gives her a careful hug and tells her the straight truth, speaking from experience - killing is wrong; it’s against a pony’s nature, and she’s unlikely to ever forget it. Time, at least, will make it easier to rationalize and work through.
Trigger checks on Eleven and manages to wake her up - apart from coughing up a whole lot of fluid and feeling like she drowned, she seems to be alright. Trigger explains what happened - how the abductor drone almost managed to recapture her, and that Kerfuffle wound up badly injured. She’s at his side in an instant, but there’s not much to be done for him at the moment.
Eventually the entire crew reconvene in the common room to try and recover and come up with a plan of action. Kerfuffle needs to be taken to a hospital, and quickly, but Claudia’s supply of raw magic is completely drained; it’ll be hours before they can jump again. Eleven, unwilling to risk waiting that long, has an idea. She quickly begins to mutter to herself about all manner of stellar mathematics and magical theory, working out some form of plan. Whisper is baffled, so the rest of the crew decide that now’s as good a time as any to let her in on the truth: Eleven is a magical prodigy and product of Sidewinder’s experimentation. In a sense, she is Project Snowdrop. All things considered, Whisper’s reaction is surprisingly calm - now that she’s no longer with the NLR, Project Snowdrop doesn’t really mean a lot to her any more.
Eleven’s plan is simple, at least in principle. Claudia’s m-drive is still functional - it just needs to recharge. Regulus is jump-capable and fully charged, but in no condition to take passengers. All she needs to do is transfer the magical energy from one to the other. Normally something like this requires specialist equipment to act as a conduit between ships, which the Jammers don’t have. Eleven believes that her own body can work as a sufficiently effective conduit instead. Smile cautions her against acting recklessly - that’s what got Kerfuffle into such a mess - but she insists that she’ll be careful and can pull it off safely.
While Eleven prepares the things she’ll need for her ambitious idea, Tami and Trigger head back upstairs to deal with the damage. Smile takes the opportunity to wash the blood off her hooves and settles down to talk to Whisper, who is trying to rest off her own injuries with the help of what little attention Patch can spare. Whisper asks Smile to keep an eye on Tami. Trying to take their minds off the dire situation, the pair go on to discuss what they’d like to do in the future - assuming they ever escape from Sidewinder’s pursuit. Smile admits that she’d like to give up spacing and go home; Whisper’s thought isn’t much different. Smile suggests that perhaps Whisper could come back to the League with her...
The pair decide to keep the conversation between themselves for now. It’s not exactly the best time or situation for potential relationship talk.
Upstairs, Tami and Trigger suit up to deal with the breach in the engineering corridor. As soon as they enter, Trigger takes her pistol and unloads an entire magazine into the inert abductor drone at point blank. If it wasn’t dead before, it certainly is now. As the two of them work, they discuss what just happened with Taipan. Tami remains conflicted over her kill, and Trigger agrees that she’s not the skittish, easily terrified young pilot she used to be. Nonetheless, she’s crew - and in Trigger’s eyes, that means family. She’ll get all the time and support she needs to work it out.
Once the breach is fixed, the pair return to the common room. Tami momentarily gets the feeling that she missed something important - something like… the beginning of a relationship? But no. Not between these people, surely, and not in this situation. That would be silly. She settles down to watch over Kerfuffle with Patch. For now, there’s little left to do but wait and see what comes of Eleven’s plan…
Session #134 - Risky Solutions
Patch continues to do his best to keep Kerfuffle alive, but Tami realizes that the medical drone simply can’t keep up with the workload alone. Assisting where she can with her own limited knowledge, she manages to keep him breathing for now. Even so, it’s clear that his life’s on a knife edge. Eleven’s right - there’s no time to waste.
In the cargo hold, the young unicorn begins to put her plan into action, having crudely connected Claudia’s m-space drive to Regulus’ with some heavy cables. Trigger and Smile attend to ensure everything goes well while Whisper heads to her room for some desperately needed rest. Tami arrives just in time to see Eleven light her horn and get to work, funneling raw magic from one ship to the other.
Aside from the ship violently shaking, everything seems safe - until suddenly, tears in reality not unlike the ones Eleven opened in Site One begin to spontaneously appear throughout the ship. Smile yells for Eleven to stop, but the unicorn is far too deep in concentration to hear her. Both Smile and Trigger are forced to dive aside as a rift opens almost right on top of them. Another appears in exactly the worst possible spot - Smile tumbles right through it and vanishes. A moment later, the rifts all snap closed again. Oblivious to Smile’s disappearance, a dizzy, tired but triumphant Eleven happily announces that the procedure was a success. She’s quickly shocked, then horrified at the realization that her magic had unintended side effects and sent Smile… somewhere else.
Tami manages to calm the unicorn a little, enough to try and figure out where Smile might have gone. Eleven doesn’t know for sure - after some pondering, she suggests that she might be able to use an item that’s personal to Smile in order to track her. Many of Smile’s possessions were lost when the Lady of the Lake was destroyed, but Tami remembers the amaryllis plant Smile bought for her after Crystal Heart and goes to fetch it. Anything’s worth a try.
When Smile regains her bearings, she quickly recognises where she is - it’s familiar, in the worst way. She’s alone and unarmed, light years away, back in the wet, overgrown ruins of Eleven’s containment cell in Site One. Worse, it quickly becomes apparent that the dangerous catbeast creatures inhabiting the remains of the base have turned it into a nest. With careful trepidation, Smile does her best to calm the two large kittens that respond to her sudden appearance with belligerent curiosity. The juveniles are harmless, but their parents can’t be far…
Back on Claudia, Eleven hastily improvises a spell to track Smile, using the houseplant as a basis. To everyone’s relief, she manages to reopen the rift and bring her back. And not a moment too soon - the sound of the rift reopening attracts the kittens’ mother. Smile scrambles back through to the ship with an angry roar right behind her and the rift quickly snaps closed again.
Exhausted by the back to back spellcasting, Eleven collapses, wracked with guilt that her idea put Smile in danger. The crew do what they can to comfort and console her, even Smile. Her idea worked - Claudia is jump-capable again - and nobody was hurt despite the complications. But it would probably be best to never do that again.
Trigger and Tami head up to the bridge to plot a course for the nearest inhabited system. Luckily they’re just two jumps away from Marid, where they were hoping to meet Midnight. That said, it’s entirely possible that Sidewinder sent the message that drew the Jammers towards Marid in the first place, so Tami calls Midnight directly to double check. Thanks to timezone differences she catches the young duke in bed, but he’s still pleased to hear from her. He quickly picks up on Tami’s state of distress. He is indeed in Marid aboard his father’s ship, but hadn’t successfully sent any messages to the crew, via Medusa or otherwise. The “job offer” was a trap all along.
Tami briefly explains the situation, particularly the medical emergency, and Midnight points out that his father’s personal physician is aboard the ship, along with an emergency medical suite. He promises to ask the doctor to prepare, and sends the coordinates for his exact location momentary. Tami thanks him and hangs up, but then quickly falls back into worrying again. Sidewinder must know about her association with Midnight - if things continue to escalate, he could be put in harm’s way.
Trigger does her best to comfort the hippogriff and keep her focused - the immediate priority is getting Kerfuffle the help he needs. It wouldn’t hurt to get Whisper looked at either, despite the irony of having to rely on the services of an Imperial noble. For the moment, they just have to stay the course and address things as they come. Recognising that Tami’s exhausted after such a stressful day, Trigger offers to take over flying for the time being while she gets some sleep.
Session #135 - Love Boat
The following day, Claudia arrives in the Marid system. It’s heavily populated with civilian traffic, and sure enough Midnight’s ship, the Dame Vermillion Sting, is present in orbit over Marid II, a tropical world with picturesque rings.
While Trigger guides the ship towards the rendezvous, the rest of the crew gather in the common room to check on Kerfuffle and get ready. The griffon’s still holding on, but even Patch has no idea how long it might take for him to wake up. Eleven and Tami spend a lot of time by his side, in between Tami frantically washing and psyching herself up to finally see her rich boyfriend again.
A short time later, Claudia meets up with the Dame and after a brief exchange of information the two dock together. The Dame is a gorgeously appointed luxury yacht befitting an Imperial noble, notably larger than the Jammers’ freighter, and the interior is no less opulent. Midnight greets everyone warmly at the airlock - particularly Tami - and introduces his family physician, an elderly pegasus stallion named Doctor Wirbelwind. The doctor wastes no time, joining Eleven on Claudia to assess Kerfuffle’s condition, while everyone else is ushered aboard the immensely expensive yacht.
Midnight already has a number of guests in attendance, some new and others familiar, leading to a round of (re)introductions. There’s Skip Go and her assistant Rádala 'Rad' Spéir, whom the Jammers last met months ago at the beach party, and the zebra Lady Ykina - one of the rich celebrities who was following Midnight around at the Silver Dome. Ykina is accompanied by a second zebra named Vezr’n, whom Midnight introduces as something of an adventurer. There’s also a rather bizarre deer doe named Réalta 'Rea' Guail, a pioneer in cybernetics both medical and aesthetic. Her body appears to be largely mechanical and highly sophisticated. Midnight’s bodyguard, Felix Copperbeak, is also in attendance doubling as a butler.
The group welcome the Jammers aboard, making small talk with the help of copious alcohol and catching up where applicable. Skip makes a point of pulling Trigger aside and admonishing her for never calling back after their one night stand on the beach, hoping to reconcile over a couple of beers. Rad is saddened to hear that Kerfuffle was badly hurt. Tami - with some subtle emotional support from Smile and Whisper - does her best to fit in and mingle without falling apart due to nervousness. Ykina insists that Rea show off what her cybernetics can do, leading to an impressive display from the augmented deer.
Despite the severity of recent events and the urgency of their greater situation, the Jammers jump at the opportunity to relax and socialize a little. Whisper keeps a close - and suspicious - eye on practically everyone. Picking up on the crew’s hurried state, Midnight suggests that they move the gathering to the pool instead. Because of course the ship has an indoor pool. A very fancy (if suggestively shaped) pool with a selectively transparent roof.
As they travel through the Dame, the Jammers start to get the impression that the ship isn’t just a luxury yacht - it’s a pleasure boat. Portraits of Princess Celestia line several of the walls, most of them featuring the princess making suggestive faces or indulging in less-than-noble pastimes. There’s even a larger than life (and anatomically correct) statue of the princess at the center of the pool. Midnight sheepishly points out that the ship technically belongs to his father, and was originally gifted to his great grandmother for service to the crown decades back, before Celestia became Nightmare Star. The lewd environment does little to calm Tami’s nerves; Smile finds it hilarious and barely holds back her laughter.
Pool shenanigans are briefly interrupted by Doctor Wirbelwind’s return. The elderly pegasus has news on Kerfuffle’s condition, and the prognosis is mixed. On the one hand, the griffon’s life is no longer in danger. On the other, the damage to his body, particularly his back muscles, is still severe - without extensive surgery it’s unlikely he’ll ever fly again. With that in mind, the doctor wants to take Kerfuffle to a planetside hospital for proper treatment, and Eleven insists on accompanying him.
The Jammers are naturally dubious about the prospect of letting Eleven go off more or less on her own, and Kerfuffle too in such a fragile state, but Wirbelwind is adamant that the hospital only accepts singular visitors for critical patients. Midnight interjects that he trusts the doctor with his life and that both Kerfuffle and Eleven will be in good hooves, so the crew reluctantly agree.
Session #136 - Boldly Coming
Doctor Wirbelwind takes a little time to attend to Whisper’s injuries, then departs for the surface with Kerfuffle and Eleven aboard a small shuttle. While Trigger and Smile carry on gossiping with Midnight’s increasingly drunk guests, the duke takes Tami aside to speak more privately by the bar. She’s very happy to be with him again, but also she has concerns about what the state of the Dame might mean.
To put it bluntly, the ship is a tacky, overtly lewd sex boat. A very pretty and expensive one, but still something built for wild parties and casual shagging amongst the super rich. Tami’s concerned about what this might imply about Midnight’s attitude regarding their relationship. At first he doesn’t quite take the hint, but once he picks up on her meaning he’s immediately apologetic and admits that he actually finds it a little embarrassing. His father was the playboy in the family in his youth and is still technically the Dame’s owner - Midnight’s just using it as a sort of mobile vacation spot. He actually starts to gush and stammer at the thought that he might have offended Tami. They eventually settle on an even trade to settle the matter: he’s seen her scars, she’s seen his father’s embarrassing ship. The pair settle into more relaxed talk - until they notice both Whisper and Felix keeping a close eye. They resolve to take their conversation somewhere that’s actually private.
Meanwhile, Midnight’s other guests are getting drunk. Very drunk. Except Rea, whose efficient cybernetic liver allows her to cheat. Trigger and Smile manage to get a little interesting information out of Vezr’n - as it turns out, he was once contracted by the Manehattan Galactic Archaeological Society to carry out a planetary survey in the outer reaches of the Periphery. Though he’s unwilling to share precise details for professional reasons, he does let slip that they were planning to build a research installation on a remote jungle moon. The Jammers keep their cool, but this information is significant. It’s a direct link between the MGAS and Site One, which means Sidewinder. Smile’s suspicions from back at the Silver Dome are all but confirmed.
Midnight takes Tami to visit his office. It’s surprisingly austere compared to the rest of the ship, and includes a large and intricate clockwork model of Equestria’s star system that captivates the hippogriff for a little while. Now that they’re in more comfortable surroundings, Midnight asks how Tami’s work is going, particularly as it pertains to her passion for spaceflight, but she admits that she’d rather not talk about it. Much like how Midnight values Tami’s company as an escape from the boredom of noble life, Tami values his as an escape from stress, danger and more recently, moral conflict and guilt. The subject of their conversation turns back to the nature of their relationship, this time with a more intimate slant...
While Trigger continues to indulge in drink, gossip and good cheer by the pool, Whisper and Smile step aside to discuss the situation and their findings on Sidewinder so far. Whisper’s convinced that Rea has connections to the syndicate as well, if only as an unwitting supplier. If she can be trusted, the cybernetics expert might be of some assistance with Eleven’s tracker (and in fact, Trigger manages to confirm that exact question meanwhile). Still, Smile feels like there’s one big piece of information missing from the whole picture. Whisper playfully admonishes Smile for adopting her own investigative spy role and suggests they take a break and do something fun instead.
The two mares abscond from the party to tour the Dame and get some time to themselves, though not without Trigger noticing. Given the opportunity to explore a little, they discover various facilities towards the rear of the vessel including a fitness center and a small casino. Also, it slowly dawns on them that the ship is shaped like a penis. If it wasn’t already the daftest, most juvenile ship they’d ever seen, it is now. They keep looking.
Gradually, Tami and Midnight’s interactions progress from quiet, personal talk and light smooching to rather more suggestive things. Using some of her newfound assertiveness, she winds up sitting on top of him and, amidst a lot of stammering, blushing and awkward expressions of their feelings, the two agree to take things further… and so they do. Tami indulges herself in the opportunity to forget all her worries for a while and concentrate on nothing but the pony who loves her for the evening.
Meanwhile, Smile and Whisper finally come across the privacy they were seeking. A small, intimate viewing room that looks out on the gameroom through a one-way mirror. Whisper is far less subtle or self-conscious about her intentions than Midnight or Tami. Not that Smile minds...
For her part, Trigger is happy to while away the evening with strong cocktails and a number of equally (or more) drunk (conversation) partners, feeling a distant and inexplicable sense of happiness for her friends.
Session #137 - The Morning After
The following morning, the crew awaken to varying levels of comfort, afterglow and/or hangover.
Everyone slowly reconvenes at the bar, most of them desperate for some coffee. Tami takes her time, hanging around with Midnight in his office for a little while before hurrying off to catch a quick shower. She briefly overhears Felix informing the duke that he’s received a message from Doctor Wirbelwind. Kerfuffle’s surgery is complete but it’ll still be several days before he’s fit to be discharged from the hospital. Still, any news is good news.
In a brief moment of vulnerability, Whisper asks Smile if she took things too far. Smile answers bluntly in the negative - she’s quite happy with this new direction in their lives and what it might mean for the pair of them in the future.
The other guests are in varying states of fast asleep, crashing hard or totally wasted. Ykina is passed out in the bathtub, which gives Tami a bit of a scare. Rad is barely able to stand. Skip doesn’t even try to get out of bed, and Vezr'n is slumped over the bar counter, drifting in and out of sleep with a half-finished glass of whiskey. Only Rea is up and active, and after some brief morning greetings and gossip takes her leave to make sure the other guests are doing okay.
While candidly discussing the events of the previous evening, everyone is pleasantly surprised to learn that Whisper has re-remembered how to make coffee. Vezr'n wakes up, slurring and incoherent, and Smile seizes on the opportunity to talk him up and try to get a little more information on his potential Sidewinder connection. He mentions something about the Manehattan Galactic Archaeological Society having some kind of big money sponsor with a pretty crystal pony as their representative - a government type. He mumbles a few more things, lapsing in and out of zebrican, then promptly falls asleep again. Nobody present speaks the language, but Whisper thought quickly enough to record everything. She forwards the recording to Smile and jokingly suggests that she’d make a good interrogator with a little training.
Tami takes some time to thank Trigger for her help in preparing to see Midnight again, and shares the news about Kerfuffle’s surgery with everyone. There’s a common desire to go and visit him as soon as possible, not to mention making sure that Eleven is safe and hasn’t dismantled half the hospital’s equipment for parts in the meantime...
Minisession - Outpatients
The last thing Kerfuffle remembers is falling asleep while Smile scolded him for being reckless. He slowly wakes up in an unfamiliar bed, to find Eleven urgently shaking him. The young unicorn is on the verge of panic, and lets him know why as soon as he starts to stir: Sidewinder have tracked her down again, and they’re here in force.
Struggling to shake off days of unconsciousness, Kerfuffle notices several things - his chest and wings are tightly bound with medical dressings, but the pain of his injuries has largely receded to an array of dull aches. They’re in a small single-patient room in a planetside hospital, several stories above ground level. There’s a zebra in the room as well, sprawled unconscious on the floor next to a potted plant that was clearly used to hit them over the head, along with an ominous-looking syringe of purple fluid clutched in their hoof. Eleven explains that she barely managed to evade capture and that the zebra was attempting to poison Kerfuffle while he was helpless in bed. Sidewinder’s agents also managed to capture Doctor Wirbelwind.
Considering the circumstances this is all too much for the griffon to take in and process straight away, but the immediate problem is clear enough: the pair of them need to get out of there, and fast. Eleven insists they also find the doctor - they owe him for saving Kerfuffle’s life.
Escape is a difficult proposition - all their possessions are back on Claudia, and for all Kerfuffle’s physical and Eleven’s magical strength, there’s not much they could do against an entire Sidewinder kill team. He’s still not even fully recovered from extensive surgery. To make matters worse, the zebra’s earpiece makes it clear that they’re communicating by radio. It’s only a matter of time before more show up to check on her.
Kerfuffle’s first instinct is to go through the window, which leads out onto a parapet encircling the building. There’s just enough room to move, though slowly and carefully. It’s not much of an escape route - with the griffon’s wings tightly bound flying is out of the question, and neither of them would have much chance of surviving a fall. With Eleven biting his tail tuft for safety, he makes his way around the edge of the building, past a couple more patient rooms, and eventually comes to a massive wall-length window offering vision of the city below to a large lobby area. There’s a heavily armed pony-like robot patrolling inside that would spot the pair for certain if they tried passing across. They backtrack to the patient rooms, where Eleven’s magic comes in handy for opening a window from the outside, and re-enter the building.
Peeking out of the patient room’s door reveals a concerning sight: several Sidewinder agents gathered in the lobby close to the primary elevators, administering first aid to the mare that Eleven knocked out earlier. Their apparent leader barks orders to get the wounded zebra downstairs and continue searching for Eleven, dispelling any possible doubt that the situation is just as dangerous as it appears.
The Sidewinder agents split up to continue searching while the leader turns away to coordinate things on her multiband. At Eleven’s prompting, the pair take the opportunity to slip past and take momentary refuge in a janitor’s closet. There’s nothing of any use, but it’s a welcome opportunity to get their bearings and breathe. Eleven’s hyperventilating and on the verge of panic, so Kerfuffle tries to talk her through their options. He’s not doing too well himself, having barely grasped where they are and that he’s been through an extensive surgery. All Eleven knows is that Sidewinder were planning on taking the doctor to the roof. Opening a rift to another time or place would be an easy out in theory, but it took months to prepare the spell that let her jump through time at Site One - and that didn’t even work correctly. That leaves finding some way to communicate with the outside world, or finding an elevator or set of stairs. Easier said than done in a large, unfamiliar building full of hired assassins and combat robots.
Deciding that for now the best plan is simply to get as much distance between them and the main body of Sidewinder personnel as possible, Kerfuffle and Eleven quietly exit the closet and try to avoid the main corridors by moving from room to room. Some are locked, but they make it into a medical lab - unfortunately they both lack the skill to crack into the computers.
Narrowly dodging around one of the robots, they move on to a staff room. Inside is a plaque that displays the layout of the floor, revealing the location of a second set of elevators and stairs on the far side of the level, behind the library.
Kerfuffle tries the door to the staff room’s attached kitchen and finds himself mere feet away from one of the Sidewinder ponies... whose head is buried in the fridge.
He’s so busy slacking off to make himself the mother of all sandwiches that he doesn’t notice the griffon, who hastily backs up and leaves him to it.
Moving swiftly on, the duo next arrive at a small but densely arranged library. Eleven spots an approaching robot that Kerfuffle missed and narrowly manages to close the door behind them before they’re seen.
It’s no surprise that Eleven’s an avid reader, but she’s delighted to find that the library is filled with fiction books, not science as Kerfuffle might have expected. She laments the fact that they’re unable to stick around or take some books with them; reading about and imagining other places fascinates her, even if they’re not real. Kerfuffle promises to get her a digital library subscription once they’re safe - easy enough now that she’s got her own multiband. That gives him another idea too, but he decides to keep it a secret for the moment.
On the far side of the library, Kerfuffle and Eleven re-enter the corridor and find the secondary elevators and stairs, just as the floorplan promised. They hurry into one of the elevators just in time to narrowly avoid one of the combat robots as it climbs the stairs - it spots them, but the doors to the elevator close just before it has a chance to fire.
Happy sentiments aside, both of them take a moment to catch their breath as the elevator rises towards the top level and - hopefully - the place where Doctor Wirbelwind is being detained.
...until it suddenly stops, then begins to descend. Fast.
Minisession - Postmortem
The elevator plunges, slamming into the bottom of the shaft several stories below. Kerfuffle manages to shield Eleven from the worst of the impact, but it’s forceful enough to hurt and stuns him for a few seconds. Once he gets his breath back and recovers his senses, the pair start looking for a way out. The elevator wouldn’t move like that by accident - it’s all but certain that Sidewinder know where they are.
Kerfuffle manages to pry the doors open, and fortunately there’s enough room for both of them to clamber out of the elevator into the hospital’s basement level. There’s doors here and there - offices, another elevator - but all appear to be digitally locked. Only one way forward presents itself: through the hospital’s morgue and prosectorium. The basement is eerily silent, faintly cold, and disconcerting in general. Many of the lockers are clearly in use. In the center of the morgue are several slabs, one of which bears the dried corpse of a long-dead earth pony mare. Probably left behind when the hospital was evacuated. The pair make a point of moving on as quickly as possible.
Of course, things couldn’t possibly be so simple. The Sidewinder zebra who had been giving the orders earlier enters from the far end of the morgue. Surprisingly, she’s alone and apparently unarmed. With a level, businesslike tone she introduces herself as Urutu, singling out Kerfuffle and stating that she’s come to talk. Still warily looking for other exits while shielding Eleven with his body, the griffon lets her say her piece.
Urutu lays out an offer - and a warning. First, she claims that Sidewinder would be willing to help treat Galena - far more quickly and comfortably than anything the Empire could offer - in return for Eleven. Continuing, she argues that Eleven is dangerous. Incredibly dangerous. Kerfuffle has seen first hand the damage her powers can do. What if a similar disaster were to take place in a populated area, like Port Medusa or a planetary capital? She claims that only Sidewinder have the means to handle that power safely. Under other circumstances, Kerfuffle might have been shaken by the mention of his sister. But from someone who ordered his death just minutes ago, denigrating his close friend to her face and offering the ‘help’ of the organization behind so much death and needless suffering - Urutu’s attempts to sway him just make him angry.
Kerfuffle retorts that Eleven is in control of her own life and that he trusts her - any danger she might pose is Sidewinder’s fault, not hers. As it turns out, Urutu doesn’t take rejection well. Deriding the griffon as simpleminded, the sinister zebra draws a strange-looking wand and switches off the lights remotely using her multiband. It’s not clear what she’s planning, but faint, low-pitched chanting and unnatural, glowing purple mist begin to fill the air. Eleven exclaims that she can sense magic, running for cover. Kerfuffle tries to pin the zebra down before she can do... whatever she’s doing, but she nimbly darts away.
Catching sight of Urutu on the far side of the occupied mortuary slab, Kerfuffle jumps on top of it and tries to pounce at her - something catches his leg, sending him tumbling facefirst to the ground mid-leap. To his horror, that something is the dead pony, reanimated by Urutu’s magic. The corpse clambers to its hooves and attacks, tearing a painful gash across the griffon’s chest. Even without her robots and assassins, the zebra has him outnumbered.
Kerfuffle defends himself, striking back at the reanimated pony and breaking its fragile neck. He turns his attention back to Urutu before more can close in from the morgue lockers around the room, but the zebra matches his weight advantage with speed, agility and skill, dodging and counterstriking with trained precision.
The pair trade blows as more animated corpses advance from the darkness, the zebra taking and holding the advantage. A stray swipe from Kerfuffle’s claws grazes her cheek, drawing blood, but this only makes her more excited. With her own fresh blood as a new source of power, she begins casting another spell - one that engulfs the griffon and begins to choke the life from him-
-until a sudden bolt a magical lightning lances from the darkness, blasting the wand from Urutu’s hoof and incinerating her entire foreleg up to the elbow. The zebra stares blankly in shock and pain, giving the griffon a momentary advantage. He grabs one of the approaching corpses and hurls it bodily at her, the impact knocking the would-be necromancer sprawling and, finally, unconscious. Without their caster to sustain them, Urutu’s spells fail entirely; the advancing corpses collapse and the room slowly returns to normal.
Eleven emerges from her hiding spot, panting with fear and the exhaustion that always comes after casting her lightning spell. Kerfuffle catches his breath and goes to check if she’s okay, but the unicorn ignores him at first - instead she advances on the wounded zebra, picking up a scalpel that got knocked to the floor during the fight and putting it to her neck. Shaken and muttering, Eleven insists that if Urutu is allowed to survive she’ll just come after them again. Killing her is the only way to be safe. Kerfuffle disagrees, less for Urutu’s sake than because he doesn’t believe Eleven is the sort of person to kill in cold blood. The young unicorn battles with her emotions, coming dangerously close to cutting the zebra’s throat.
It takes a few minutes for both of them to recover enough to move on. Fortunately there’s a first aid kit on the wall for Kerfuffle’s wounds, which he also uses to stabilize Urutu a little. He appropriates the zebra’s multiband, which contains the codes for all the building’s digital locks and grants the pair a way out. In addition, she has the keys to some kind of terrestrial vehicle. He locks the wounded zebra inside the morgue office in the meantime. She’ll live, and someone will no doubt find her before long, but she won’t be going anywhere for quite a while.
The morgue is located close to the hospital’s garage and the bulk of Sidewinder’s forces are still searching the main building. In a stroke of good fortune, Urutu’s black SUV is conspicuous amongst the ambulances and Doctor Wirbelwind is bound and gagged in the back seat. It turns out that the original plan had been to take him away by helicopter, but the local authorities would have asked too many questions. Sidewinder’s change of plan works against them in this case. Once the doctor’s free, Kerfuffle gets the vehicle moving and drives the three of them away from the hospital at best possible speed, making for the starport.
Session #138 - Skulljacked
Later the same afternoon, back aboard the Dame Vermillion Sting, the rest of the Jammers are talking through their next move in the lounge. Getting Vezr’n’s drunken ramblings translated would be a good next step, so Whisper’s working on that in private.
Everyone’s surprised by the sudden arrival of Doctor Wirbelwind’s shuttle and the reappearance of Kerfuffle and Eleven. The doctor heads off to find Midnight and inform him of what happened, while the Jammers eagerly welcome the other two back. The emotional reunion stutters a little when the reason for their early return comes up. They’d been expecting Kerfuffle to be bedridden for days. He explains what happened in brief, but neither he nor Eleven are in much of an emotional state to discuss the details, and he’s completely exhausted. Smile proverbially kicks herself for not expecting Sidewinder to make a move, but the prevailing emotion is simple relief. At Kerfuffle’s request, Tami fetches Eleven’s multiband so that she can get set up with a library subscription. He did promise, after all.
While Kerfuffle attempts to get some rest and Eleven quickly changes the subject of conversation away from what happened at the hospital, Rea arrives. There’s some brief introductions, but the cybernetic deer takes a particular interest in Eleven and her own modifications. She’s very impressed - Sidewinder spared no expense on the parts they put into Eleven’s body. Her metal spine is unnaturally flexible, made with military grade materials and technology well in advance of the mainstream (also, highly sensitive where it meets her flesh).
Tami once again raises the question of whether Rea could do anything about Eleven’s tracking device, and the deer proposes a trade. Locating and removing the tracker through surgery would be extremely difficult and require specialist tools not present on the Dame. However, she offers to interface with the software of Eleven’s implants and disable the tracker directly. In return, she wants permission to make a copy of the schematics and system information for her own use.
Kerfuffle is a little protective at first, asserting that the decision is entirely up to Eleven. For her part, Rea explains that it’s not without risks and is patient while the Jammers confer. Ultimately, Eleven consents to the procedure - which can begin immediately. Rea asks Tami to play wingman with her own hacking equipment - backdooring a neuromuscular interface is neither easy nor without risk. Nobody’s particularly happy with the specifics of the procedure either, as Rea must interface directly with the port on the back of Eleven’s head that was once occupied by a foot-long metal spike.
Rea carefully navigates the onboard software of Eleven’s implants, but the security is more sophisticated and deadly than expected, isolating and threatening to purge Rea's own body's code within itself. Tami does what she can to assist using her own computer, but it takes Whisper’s fortuitous arrival and the addition of her own hacking knowledge to finally defeat the electronic defenses. Despite the scare, the rest of the process is carried out without a hitch. Eleven’s tracker is disabled and Rea gets the software she wants copied. There’s a palpable feeling of relief among all involved.
Smile gets Eleven a bucket in case she suffers another bout of nausea, though Tami ends up needing it more than she does. The small electronic war that just took place inside her nervous system leaves the unicorn jittery, sweating, and in need of an urgent shower.
Session #139 - Prognosis
A short time later, the crew meet with Midnight and Doctor Wirbelwind to discuss what happened planetside. The only one not present is Eleven, who returned to Claudia to do “stuff”. The doctor, naturally, is concerned that the young duke may be in danger, particularly if he gets more involved in the Jammers’ ongoing problems. Midnight, on the other hand, chooses to offer his substantial finances and connections to aid Tami and the rest of the Jammers in spite of the risk. As a result, the crew end up laying out much of what they know about Sidewinder and Snowdrop so far. Midnight’s willing to trust them in spite of the outlandish story. The problem is, it isn’t clear what they should do next.
Smile raises an important point. Sidewinder may not be able to track Eleven directly any more, but they know who the Jammers are. That means that the syndicate may well start going after their friends and allies to draw her out. Even their families might be at risk. She proposes two ways of striking back before that happens.
The first option is to carry on following the paper trail to Sidewinder’s ultimate sponsor and source of funds, then reveal the whole ugly partnership to the galaxy at large. However, the growing evidence that Sidewinder are working for the Republic means that if the connection goes high enough in their government, that knowledge going public could start a galactic war. Whisper adds further credence to this by pointing out that the Republic didn’t even try to help her after her capture. They sold her out completely once she got too close to Snowdrop.
The second, more short term option would be looking for a way to release Coatlicue - Specimen Six - from Sidewinder’s control. At the very least, this would deprive them of yet another test subject, as well as a powerful weapon. On the other hand, Six is both enormously powerful and, as far as anyone can tell, violently insane. Based on the information the Jammers collected in Site One, Doctor Wirbelwind points out that she’s likely enormously repressed. Freeing her from Sidewinder might improve her mental state, but that’s merely an educated guess.
Tami points out that Six appears to have two states - with the helmet closed she’s cold, passive and obedient to Cobra, like when she fought Tundra. With it open she’s demented and violent, like when she tried to tear the bridge windows clean off Night’s Bride. She also has cybernetic implants similar but different to Eleven’s, including another tracker. It’s possible that Cobra uses the helmet, implants or both as a means of control.
Above all, what the Jammers need for the moment is time to plan and prepare - or recover in Kerfuffle’s case. He’s still weak and grounded from the surgery and several days behind on current events. The meeting is adjourned for now, and people split up to address various things. Trigger returns to the main room to rejoin the other guests, who are chatting amongst themselves about the previous night’s party.
Tami sticks around to thank Midnight for his offer of assistance once the others leave, but the conversation soon turns to a discussion of her feelings. She’s still struggling to come to terms with killing Taipan. The duke assures her that hopefully she won’t have to do anything like that again, and guides the conversation to more agreeable subjects, like the prospect of visiting him again once the whole ugly business with Sidewinder is dealt with to take a holiday. Perhaps just the two of them...
Whisper and Smile find a quiet room to work on translating the information they managed to talk out of Vezr’n, briefly gossiping about Tami and Midnight’s (adorable) relationship. What’s truly on Whisper’s mind, though, is what she brought up at the meeting - thoughts of the circumstances surrounding her captivity. Somehow she knew that it would be Trigger and the others that came for her, not the NLR. She’s not yet ready to drop her vendetta against Sidewinder for what they did to her. Smile suggests that it wouldn’t be healthy to hold on to an obsession with revenge for the rest of her life, and assures Whisper that she’ll be there to support her while she heals.
Kerfuffle and Doctor Wirbelwind find a secluded spot to discuss the griffon’s state of health and check on his injuries. The main problem is the wound to his back, which badly damaged the muscles supporting one of his wings. If the blow had landed just a little closer to the wing itself he’d have lost the limb completely. Thanks to the doctor’s intensive surgery and the wonders of modern medical science, he ought to make a full recovery - eventually. For the foreseeable future he’s strictly forbidden from flying or straining his wings at all.
Finally faced with a chance to fully understand his situation and how close he came to death, Kerfuffle is deeply upset. The thought of having to burden his parents with the news that he was almost maimed and that they might be in danger themselves hits him like a brick. The doctor commends Kerfuffle’s bravery for putting himself in danger to help someone important to him, and leaves him with an opportunity to vent his feelings in private.
Minisession - Tech Support
While the others go about their business, Trigger approaches Rea. Her first priority is to thank the deer for helping Eleven. The second is to ask a potentially tricky question.
Trigger explains that she takes the emotional wellbeing of her crew very seriously. Helping Tami build up the confidence to commit to her relationship with Midnight was something of a personal project, one that seems to have met with success. Now she’s starting to see something similar beginning to form between Eleven and Kerfuffle. Trigger asks Rea how expensive it might be to get cybernetics similar to Eleven’s for Kerfuffle so that the two of them could ‘interface’, so to speak.
Rea is quick to point out that Trigger’s proposition is far more difficult than simply buying parts. The medical and ethical questions involved are enormously complex - even hypothetically, such a procedure would take months and carry many risks. She reiterates that Eleven’s cybernetics, though impressive, are also enormously invasive. Connecting anything to someone’s nervous system isn’t something to approach casually. Rea’s own extensive cybernetics are something of a passion project - by her own admission, she’s an artist, a designer, and something of a narcissist who puts form over function. Trigger appreciates the result.
Restrained flirting aside, the captain quickly acknowledges that her idea’s been shot down and thanks Rea anyway, asking her to take extra care with the software she copied from Eleven.
The deer agrees, and cautions Trigger in turn. While she was connected to Eleven’s cybernetics, she couldn’t help but notice the young unicorn was struggling with strong feelings of fear and guilt. Addressing them will be difficult and require a careful approach. Unfortunately she has to cut the conversation short to return to an important teleconference, but the two part on good terms.
Session #140 - Two Percent Chance to Explode
A short time later the same afternoon, the Jammers gather to say their goodbyes to Midnight and his other guests. Both ships would be safer getting away from Marid as soon as possible. The duke generously forwards almost a million credits to their business account. Tami and Midnight share a dramatic kiss in front of everyone, and Smile asks him to send his father her regards.
Returning to Claudia to prepare for undocking, the Jammers find Eleven hard at work. She’s moved whatever esoteric engineering project she’s been working on to the cargo hold, where it’s concealed under a large tarp. An entire chair is missing from the common room, and the unicorn is busy digging through the innards of the abductor drone for even more parts in the hold. They leave her to it, and Trigger and Tami head up to the bridge to get the ship underway. The Jammers need to formulate a plan and Kerfuffle needs time to heal, so they find a cargo hauling job with decent pay in a nearby Avalonian system. Hopefully well off Sidewinder’s radar.
With the ship underway, Smile and Whisper confer in the common room. Kerfuffle joins them, though he’s more sullen and lethargic than usual. Smile raises the question of the strange cargo crates the Jammers received in Heraklion. Whisper agrees that the one addressed to VS was likely intended as a warning or a test of the crew’s loyalties, but the one addressed to Kerfuffle hasn’t been opened yet. They’ve not received the code to its digital lock, but whoever sent the crates obviously has a deep knowledge of Sidewinder’s activities, at the very least. What if there’s Sidewinder tech inside - another tracker, or worse? They decide to crack open the crate by force, just to be safe.
As Kerfuffle prepares to cut open the crate, he asks Smile if she’s angry at him for his actions during Taipan’s attack. The last thing he remembers from before waking up in the hospital is her scolding him. Smile explains that while it’s good that he wants to protect others, she’s concerned he doesn’t think enough of his own well-being. He’s no help to anyone if he ends up dead. Kerfuffle reluctantly agrees, explaining that he’s scared of what might happen to Eleven - or what she might be pushed to do - if Sidewinder ever get their hands on her again.
Meanwhile, once Claudia’s in the midst of an m-space jump and comfortably flying on autopilot, Tami and Trigger visit Eleven in the cargo hold, curious about her project. Eleven, still waist deep in what’s left of the abductor drone, advises them not to touch it or even move the tarp.
The young unicorn isn’t particularly forthcoming about what her creation is or even what it’s intended to do. Without engineering training she’s having to wing a lot of it. Nonetheless, it should help when it’s done. At least... that’s the idea.
Eleven asks the others how their visit to the Dame went, having been planetside for much of it. She’s happy to hear that Tami had a good time with Midnight, and admits that it must be nice to get close to someone like that. She doesn’t feel like she understands people well enough to go pursuing that kind of relationship just yet. Trigger says she’ll be happy to advise once that happens. Tami, on the other hand, picks up on a little awkwardness in Eleven’s body language and posits that she might already be thinking of someone. The unicorn quickly dives back under the tarp and gets on with her project without another word.
Leaving Eleven to her work, the pair briefly discuss what went on aboard the Dame, particularly Tami’s conflicting feelings about recent events - embarrassment and happiness clashing with guilt and fear. It’s hard to deal with, but she’s slowly improving.
Back in the common room, Kerfuffle cuts the lid off the mysterious crate. The contents are surprising: a copy, or perhaps spare model, of Six’s helmet. Inside the helmet is a short message, hoofwritten on a post-it note:
Help us.
Sunset Dreamer
Nobody’s ever heard of Sunset Dreamer, or has the faintest idea of who or where they might be, but on the face of it this looks like a call for help similar to the one that drew the Jammers to Site One. There’s still all manner of unanswered questions about how they might have gotten ahold of the helmet or sent it to the Jammers specifically. And if it’s a request for help, why had they not also sent the code to open the crate yet? Still, there might be useful information to be gleaned from the helmet itself…
Snowglobe Eleven by Frecklesfanatic
Session #141 - Phone a Friend
A week passes, in which the Jammers work to consolidate the information they have while staying under Sidewinder’s radar. Kerfuffle makes a lengthy and difficult call to his parents, which sinks his mood even further, but he also opens up to Eleven with the idea he kept to himself back at the hospital. Now that she has access to literature, the pair of them spend some free time reading as a pair.
More importantly, Whisper, Tami and Eleven spend a lot of time studying Six’s helmet and come to a few conclusions. The helmet is designed to receive a complex signal, likely sent directly from Cobra’s ship. This is probably an important part of how Cobra controls her, but might also be used to detect her location, similar to how Sidewinder were tracking Eleven’s own implants. Smile theorizes that if they could separate Six from the control signal, perhaps by sedating and capturing her, they could free her from Sidewinder’s control.
Eleven points out something else that’s been puzzling her - a bizarre pattern on the inside of the helmet’s faceplate, right in front of where the wearer’s eyes would be. It resembles the magical runes the Jammers saw previously in Tundra’s ship. Though obviously magical in nature, it seems to be inert. The logical next step is to contact the Æther Corps for their professional opinion.
Trigger fetches the communication device Tundra gave her months ago and patches it into the common room’s monitor for the whole crew to see. The timezone difference means that they accidentally catch Tundra in the middle of the night, but once he’s up he’s actually very happy to hear from them again. Trigger’s especially pleased to see that he’s showing promising signs of recovery. The crew briefly fill him in on recent events and then show him the helmet, particularly the markings inside.
Tundra recognises that the markings are magical, but lacks the knowledge to interpret them himself. Fortunately, he knows someone who can - Professor Jhaziea. As luck would have it, the professor is up late and available to take a look as well. She identifies the pattern very quickly. In essence, the inside of the helmet is a magical seal, designed to suppress and contain a spirit or daemon similar to the one that possessed Knowledge Base. In other words, Sidewinder’s control of Six is double-layered. She’s possessed by a spirit of some kind, likely a malevolent one, which is in turn kept in check by the helmet and the rest of her implants. It’s unlikely she has much control of her body at all, if any. Removing or destroying the helmet ought to unshackle whatever’s inside her, but there’s no telling what might happen after that.
With that disturbing fact out in the open, the Jammers take a moment to inquire after Knowledge Base and Galena. According to Jhaziea the dean is showing positive signs, but his road to recovery is likely to be even longer than Tundra’s. Galena’s gotten the opportunity to visit the moon and is in good spirits, though her treatment is still ongoing.
Jhaziea cautions the crew that whatever they decide to do about Six, they should be extremely careful. Sidewinder are obviously playing with some powerful and exceptionally dangerous forces - ancient powers derived from zebra disciplines, not just unicorn magic. It’s possible that Sidewinder’s focus on geological surveying was intended to find ancient places of power around the galaxy that might facilitate summoning and binding. Regardless, even the most benign daemons are masters of manipulation, and whatever’s possessing Six probably isn’t there out of its own choice - all the more reason for hostility if it gets free. Tundra joins Jhaziea in advising caution. Six’s magic is extremely potent, even disregarding whatever’s possessing her. A straight fight won’t work - capturing her will take cleverness and probably a lot of improvisation.
Lastly, Smile seeks Jhaziea’s opinion on the drunken ramblings she and Whisper talked out of Vezr’n. He was definitely talking about Sidewinder having a patron of some kind - an individual with very deep pockets - but nothing more specific than that.
Eleven speaks up next. Knowing about Six what she does now, she’s newly invigorated to try and free her. If things had turned out differently, they could both have been subjected to the same thing. Six isn’t necessarily evil - she’s being manipulated and suffering immensely as a result. In a sense, she’s almost like the sister Eleven never had. Liberating her should be just as important as depriving Sidewinder of a weapon.
The Jammers thank Tundra and Jhaziea for their help and end the call, with a new objective and the bare skeleton of a plan: lure out Six, subdue her, and free her from Sidewinder’s control.
Trying to lighten the mood a little, Smile remembers something. After Crystal Heart she brought another get well/apology gift for Tami along with the amaryllis plant. It’s revealed to be an incredibly detailed and very expensive cake… which, unfortunately, has been sitting in the fridge for over a month and isn’t exactly edible any more. Whoops.
Tami is still overjoyed by the gesture. Meanwhile, Trigger has to stop Eleven from impulsively eating a chunk of the extremely stale cake. Kerfuffle suggests that perhaps they could make a new one if they find the time - one that’s actually safe for consumption, rather than a very fancy brick.
Minisession - Lean on Us
Over the next few days, the Jammers make preparations for what promises to be a very dangerous undertaking. Naturally this includes another visit to Leopold, the arms dealer. While most of the crew busy themselves with shopping for weapons and ship parts, Smile finds herself with a little downtime and comes across Whisper carrying out some limited repairs on Regulus.
The pair talk briefly, with VS turning a self-deprecating remark from Whisper into a more playful compliment.
Still, it’s obvious that the former agent has a lot on her mind. Since they have some privacy for the moment, Smile offers Whisper a back rub to try and ease the tension - and may or may not have a vested interest in Whisper’s finely honed musculature. This carries on for a while with some casual back and forth flirting, but in the end the conversation loops back to Whisper’s personal struggles.
This time, the problem isn’t her desire for revenge on Sidewinder but a more personal, intimate feeling of weakness. After everything Cascavel did to her and being betrayed by her own agency, she doesn’t feel like she has the strength to go on any more. Smile emphatically disagrees, and asks Whisper to be willing to lean on her and the others if she needs to. Claudia’s crew is nothing if not supportive. Whisper promises Smile that she’ll let her know if things start getting too difficult and apologises for killing the positive mood they had going. The pair share a gentle kiss, then abscond from the cargo hold to simply cuddle for a while.
IMPORTANT NOTE: In order to include certain characters and plot elements, the following stories take liberties with the campaign’s timeline. As such, they contain various spoilers for major events that take place between this point and Session 161. If you want to read to the end of the summaries unspoiled, save these for later.
STORY: That Fragile Bubble of Joy, by Fuzzy
STORY: The Great Recollection of Assets, by Fuzzy
Session #142 - Location, Location
Several days later, now over a fortnight since the Jammers left the Dame, Midnight contacts them with some useful information. He’s been putting out feelers amongst his own business contacts and managed to find a rough location and heading for the Queen of Hearts. Cobra’s passing through the outer rim of the Empire, most likely heading for the Periphery. The Jhurope system is on her projected route, a largely barren system whose first planet is highly volcanic and home to a number of abandoned mining bases. Between the thick, hostile atmosphere and remote location, its surface would make a good spot for a potential ambush.
Using the large quantity of time and money available, the Jammers have stocked up on a large array of new equipment along with upgrades for Claudia. Key to the developing plan are a jury-rigged device designed to emulate Eleven’s tracking implant, several darts of potent paralytic toxin, and a powerful (if highly illegal) “jabberwocky” signal jamming device entrusted to Tami.
While making last minute preparations, Tami quietly takes Whisper aside to discuss the mission. The last time Whisper encountered Cobra was likely while she was trapped in Cascavel’s hideout, and Tami is worried that the former agent’s strong feelings about Sidewinder might disrupt things as they did back on Crystal Heart. Whisper’s none too happy about the prospect, but reassures Tami that her mind is set on the objective.
Downstairs, Smile wonders aloud whether Eleven’s secretive project has anything to do with the present goal, but Eleven waves the question off; it’s just something small that will be revealed when it’s ready. Kerfuffle points out that since Eleven’s the closest thing to a magical specialist on board, her understanding could be crucial to freeing Coatlicue from what Sidewinder’s done to her. Though concerned for her safety, he wants her to feel included as well.
A few hours later, Claudia arrives at the hopeful ambush site, Jhurope I. Sure enough, it’s a fiery hellhole whose upper atmosphere is choked with sooty clouds, radiation and lightning storms. The surface is more hospitable, but hardly pleasant. Tami has a little difficulty navigating the hostile weather at first - there’s even a near miss from a lightning strike that saps Claudia’s auxiliary power. Analysis of the air outside the ship suggests that it’s uncomfortably hot and contaminated with all sorts of unpleasant chemicals. Breathable, barely, but staying planetside overnight without suits would be a bad idea.
Thankfully the rest of the descent takes place without further incident, and Tami locates an abandoned pit mine that looks fit for purpose. The geologically active planet has reclaimed much of the structure since. A large, deep circular pit with a small lake of molten rock at the center is rimmed by the corroding remains of various pipelines and raised gantries, as well as several clusters of jagged basalt columns. A large cargo container hangs over the lava, attached to the remains of a crane. There’s a landing pad too, but it’s not large enough for Claudia. Fortunately there’s enough open space to set the ship down nearby. Whisper points out that there’s no way a larger ship like the Queen could navigate the constant storm overhead - Cobra would need to keep her distance and remain in orbit.
Covering their faces with makeshift masks and bandanas to protect themselves from the hot, filthy air, the crew disembark to get the lay of the land and try to plan ahead. If Cobra comes after them as they hope, it’s unlikely she’ll be sending Six alone - preparations need to be made for a fight with more assassin robots, and possibly worse, followed by a swift retreat once Six is captured or if something goes badly wrong. If Cobra starts sending down troops, she’ll most likely be sending them straight down in drop pods like she did at Site One, so there’s no clear point of entry. At the very least, there’s plenty of elevated positions with passable cover and wide lines of sight for the long range fighters.
As the only flight-capable member of the crew, Tami gets airborne for a better look at possible vantage points. All the heat makes the air windy and turbulent. Whisper suggests that she could wire up a few EMP grenades to act as proximity traps and dot them around the area. Fortunately, the crew have no shortage of them. Preparations are briefly interrupted by a worrying rumble from beneath everyone’s hooves, followed by a large spout of lava shooting up from the nearby lake. It soon subsides, but serves as a strong reminder that the area they’ve chosen isn’t exactly what anyone would call safe - or even stable…
Specimen Six/Coatlicue helmet concept by Kalemon
Session #143 - Hot Dogs
After a little more deliberation, the crew decide on their positions. Tami and Trigger take a raised position on the catwalks to the crater’s western side, where the ruins and basalt pillars provide relatively good cover. As Tami’s easily the most mobile of the group at this point and Trigger’s easy to carry, they’re well positioned to flank whatever comes. Whisper and Smile, plus Patch in case of medical emergencies, take similarly elevated positions to the northeast, with less cover but excellent coverage of the crater. Kerfuffle is assigned to look after Eleven, and the pair of them take a well-protected position not far from Whisper and Smile. Claudia is left a fair distance away, running silent for when the crew need to make their getaway.
The Jammers fetch their gear, including conventional rifles loaded with tranquilizer darts for Smile and Tami. Whisper’s EMP traps are dotted around the crater in what look like important chokepoints, and the makeshift transmitter is placed as close to the center of the crater as the lava lake allows. After that there’s nothing left to do but switch on the bait, take positions, and wait. Kerfuffle and Eleven pledge to protect one another and not take any dangerous risks - their objective is to help Six above everything else.
Unsurprisingly, the crew have to wait a long time. The dirty, stiflingly hot air starts to take its toll over the next hour, particularly for Kerfuffle and Trigger who both invested in heavier armour.
Finally, Whisper announces that she’s picked up a ship pinging the transmitter. It looks like Cobra’s taken the bait. Everyone readies themselves for the worst. Whisper and Smile share a quick kiss for good luck. Tami, the crew’s resident matchmaker, remains completely oblivious to the fact that they’re a thing now.
Minutes later, a holographic representation of Cobra is beamed down to the surface. The planet’s atmosphere is clearly interfering, distorting the image. Though she can’t see any of the crew directly, she nonetheless announces her intentions - if the Jammers give up Eleven, they’ll be allowed to leave with their lives. Nobody responds, save for Trigger who answers with some choice language. Cobra makes it clear that Sidewinder have put no restrictions on how she retrieves Eleven - nothing and nobody the Jammers hold dear are safe until she does.
Frustrated by the lack of meaningful response, Cobra terminates the transmission and immediately follows through. Small drop pods fall from orbit, deploying a squad of her signature canine assassin robots. They attack immediately, spreading out to strike from different directions. Some break away and cloak while others open fire at range to try and pin the Jammers down.
Whisper’s stuck in place under suppression fire, and Kerfuffle and Eleven are forced to run for better cover. He cautions her to save her magic unless they get into serious trouble. One of the robots makes a move on Trigger and Tami’s position, but concentrated shooting from the pair of them disables it quickly, at the cost of only a minor wound to the captain. Smile manages to throw the one shooting at Whisper off balance with a well placed rifle shot, allowing her to promptly finish it, then down a second one approaching from a different angle. Kerfuffle has more trouble; his shotgun is useless at long range so he switches to taking potshots from cover with his pistol, but this lacks the precision or raw firepower to do any lasting damage.
One of the cloaked robots makes a move on Trigger and Tami’s position, but its attempted ambush is foiled as it runs straight into one of Whisper’s EMP traps. Tami does her best to capitalize on its stunned state, but her shots glance off its armor - and the hippogriff is sent scrambling for cover as it recovers and returns fire! Trigger leaps out and finishes it off with her pistol.
Kerfuffle’s amulet begins to vibrate, alerting him to one of the robots sneaking up on him, but try as he might he can’t figure out where it could be coming from. The devious machine climbs the basalt column he and Eleven are taking cover behind and lunges down at them from above! Smile reacts quickly, landing a solid hit on the robot’s side, but it lashes Kerfuffle across the chest with its tail. The blow is painful, though luckily his thick armor takes the worst of the damage. Before anyone else can react, Eleven blasts a chunk out of the robot with her lightning spell; it collapses in flames, and doesn’t seem likely to ever get up again. The young unicorn starts to hyperventilate from fear and exertion, which does her no favors in the hostile climate.
Fortunately, that was the last of the robots - for now. While Kerfuffle tries to calm Eleven down and get her breathing properly again, the rest of the crew find themselves with a momentary break to reload and prepare themselves for whatever’s next. The plan’s worked so far - they just need to hold on until Cobra sends Six after them.
Meanwhile, Trigger and Tami notice something strange. There’s a voice - a garbled transmission - coming from the wreck of one of the robots they took down...
"She's comi.....o what you must.....eep goin......lp us......"
Session #144 - Graceful as a Gazelle
There’s little opportunity to consider the source of the message - it’s only a matter of time until Cobra tries something else. Whisper finds it odd that she only sent a small group of robots; they may have been scouting ahead for a larger force. It’s likely that she knows their positions now. With that in mind, the Jammers begin to seek better cover. Trigger and Tami move to higher ground. Eleven recovers from her magical exertion after a little time to rest, and Smile suggests she and Kerfuffle go somewhere else too.
Kerfuffle and Eleven begin traversing a large raised pipeline, moving towards the structure that Trigger and Tami are using. And at that moment, Cobra makes her next move.
The Jammers easily recognise the mech - Sidewinder used them for security at Crystal Heart and Site One. But this one is fully functional, heavily armed, and clearly hostile. Yelling for Kerfuffle and Eleven to get out of the open, the crew open fire. Tami’s stun rifle glances harmlessly off its armour, though Smile and Trigger have a little more success by aiming for the head and sensor cluster. Neither seems to inconvenience it very much.
Caught in the open with no cover and meters of equally exposed pipe in either direction, unwilling to try his luck against the mech’s heavy gun, Kerfuffle’s forced to take a risk. He scoops up Eleven in his arms and hops off the pipe, hoping that his wings can handle gliding for a two storey drop. An abrupt burst of pain argues otherwise, and the pair crash-land awkwardly on the ashen ground.
Luckily for the two of them, the mech turns its attention elsewhere. Using powerful jump jets to reposition itself, it fires several small missiles at Trigger’s position with a shoulder-mounted launcher. They don’t detonate on impact - instead they simply embed themselves in the ground and begin beeping ominously. Smile lands a hit on the launcher, only for her rifle to jam on the second shot thanks to the inclement weather. Tami suffers the same problem - even energy weapons are getting clogged and overheated by the thick ash.
With Eleven’s help, Kerfuffle gets back on his feet and the pair of them seek cover behind a large boulder. He tosses an EMP grenade to stagger the mech, followed by a smoke grenade to try and conceal them from return fire. This turns out to have been a wise move - the mech’s primary weapon begins hammering their position with a barrage of heavy rounds, pinning them in place.
Near Trigger and Tami, the missiles’ harmless beeping rises into a continuous shrill tone. They recognise what’s happening at the last possible second: the missiles aren’t explosive munitions, they’re triangulating and transmitting a position. From up in the clouds, a high velocity shell screams down at them - an orbital strike from the Queen of Hearts! It impacts the basalt pillars neighboring their position with a massive explosion, sending the two of them sprawling with a terrifying near miss. They split up, scrambling for new cover in case of a second shot.
Whisper and Smile deduce that the mech must have weaker armor on the rear and underside - if the crew can surround it, they’ll always have someone able to hit it where it’s vulnerable. While Smile keeps up the long range fire and begins to see genuine damage, Whisper moves closer in an attempt to flank.
The mech ceases its stream of fire and reprioritizes, unable to land effective hits on Kerfuffle with the smoke and boulder in the way. Instead it launches another spread of triangulation missiles at an increasingly panicked Tami, stomping up and onto the landing pad towards Smile’s elevated position. Whisper puts the hurt on with a spray of bullets to the machine’s backside, only accentuated as it stumbles directly into an EMP mine. None of this stops it however, and it unleashes a withering hail of fire up at Smile. She’s fortunate enough to avoid being hit, but the heavy rounds quickly shred her limited cover.
Tami flies for her life, making it clear just in time for a second orbital strike to level the structure she and Trigger were previously using as cover. As the mech carries on barraging Smile’s position, the crew unload on it from multiple angles. Whisper uses the opportunity to take a risk and get in close, while Trigger and Tami take up a new position together behind a rocky outcrop. At last the crew’s concentrated attacks start to see success - the mech’s heavy rifle takes a decisive hit from Smile’s own laser weapon, bending the barrel to the point of uselessness. Whisper clambers onto the machine’s back, looking to land a finishing blow.
The mech, of course, has other ideas. With Whisper still clinging to its chassis, it fires its jets again and launches aggressively at Trigger and Tami. Trigger attempts to dodge aside, but finds herself swept up in the (literal) iron grip of the machine’s remaining arm. She quickly realizes that it has more than enough strength to crush her to death with ease - but despite her furious kicking and squirming it simply holds her tight. It projects another hologram of Cobra, who’s quick to deliver another ultimatum - do as she says, or she’ll have the mech squeeze Trigger in half.
The crew cease their attacks (minus Trigger, who’s kicking and screaming as much as the vice grip allows) and Cobra makes her demands clear: abandon Eleven where she is, get in Claudia, and leave. While Tami buys time by trying to reason with Cobra, the rest of the crew rack their brains for a solution - they have no intention of giving Eleven up. Kerfuffle surmises that the mech must have weak points in its articulation, and Smile spots just such a point close to its elbow. It would take a very precise shot from extreme range. She grits her teeth and sights in.
Cobra’s patience quickly begins to wear thin. She orders Whisper to get off her mech, disregarding Tami’s arguments completely. The hippogriff makes like her resolve is cracking, quietly reaching for the “jabberwocky” signal jammer she bought from Leopold. If her hunch is right, Cobra’s controlling the mech directly with a remote signal.
Smile takes the risk first. The entire area shakes with an eruption from the lava lake, just as a single laser rifle shot rings out - and misses, instead hitting Whisper square in the collarbone...
Session #145 - Six
Smile curses the ill-timed geological event throwing off her shot, not yet realizing the magnitude of her mistake. Whisper crumples immediately, tumbling off the mech and landing hard. She’s out cold, at the very least. Cobra snidely derides the Jammers’ little accident and Smile’s attempt at guile, only to be cut off as Tami activates the jammer.
Sure enough, the mech’s connection to the Queen of Hearts is cut. The hologram of Cobra winks out, and the mech falls still. Trigger’s still helplessly trapped in its grip, and it’s only a matter of time before Cobra re-establishes control or its automated programming kicks in. The crew hurry to Trigger’s rescue. Tami jams her Tsunami into the weak point in the mech’s arm - can’t miss at point blank range - and Kerfuffle arrives just in time to help her pry the machine’s fingers apart.
Trigger falls to the ground unhurt, just as the mech starts to stir. Kerfuffle hesitates, but Smile, Tami and the captain unload as much firepower into every exposed section of the machine they can see. The mech staggers. One of its knees gives way completely, and then it begins to topple over - towards Whisper. Kerfuffle grabs her and pulls her clear, but not quickly enough; instead, it falls on him. For a moment it looks like the griffon was crushed under several tons of steel.
As it turns out, Kerfuffle got lucky. Though winded and hurt, he managed to avoid falling under the mech’s massive torso and is instead pinned in place between the body and one of its arms. Smile makes her way to join the group while Trigger, Tami and Eleven hurry to free him. However, even in death the mech has one last trick up its sleeve. Sidewinder robots do have a habit of self-destructing...
Eleven’s magic may be powerful, but lifting heavy objects isn’t in her skillset. Trigger manages to shift the mech’s arm just enough for Kerfuffle to move, and the crew hurriedly flee - barely fast enough to escape the enormous detonation that soon follows. Even so, they’re blasted off their hooves and pelted with shrapnel. Tami and Kerfuffle both suffer further wounds from the debris.
Dazed and bloodied but with little time to spare, the crew turn their attention to the next emergency. Whisper is unresponsive, and Tami and Patch do what they can to assess her injuries. Though the stray shot was somewhat mitigated by her armour, the fall from the mech hurt the former agent quite badly. She’s burnt and concussed; though easy enough to stabilize, she’s out cold and in no condition to carry on fighting.
Smile puts the pieces together and belatedly realizes that she just shot Whisper. Even though it was by accident, the realization hits the crystal pony hard and she sits down on the spot, stammering in guilt and disbelief. Trigger orders the crew to get Whisper back to Claudia as soon as possible - it’s only a matter of time before Cobra tries something else. A small trauma module was party of the ship’s most recent round of upgrades - one that’ll certainly be helpful.
While the others make their way to the ship, Smile lags behind. Eleven stops to try and comfort her - she knows how it feels to hurt people she cares about without meaning to. Eleven insists on a hug and the pair commiserate a little. Smile does her best to put on a brave face, but it doesn’t last long.
Eleven gives Smile a short pep talk, and fortunately it’s just what the crystal pony needs to set aside her emotions and focus - at least until the mission’s done. Once the crew are finished getting Whisper secure aboard Claudia, there’s little to do but resume their prior positions and prepare for Cobra’s next move. Smile passes Whisper’s tranq rifle to Tami. Their objective is still the same as before: bait out Six and subdue her.
Trigger and Tami return to what’s left of the elevated structure they were using for cover, while Smile heads back to the high ground with Patch. Kerfuffle and Eleven get back to the rocky cover below the crystal mare’s vantage point. There’s another long, tense period of waiting - several minutes pass where nothing at all happens. Then, finally, a familiar transport pod falls from above and comes to rest near the center of the crater. Coatlicue steps out, all alone but no less intimidating for it, slowly scanning her surroundings.
The Jammers stay low, observing their target from concealed positions. Tami and Smile carefully take aim, while Eleven remarks that she can feel Six’s presence. There’s something fundamentally wrong about it, just as there was with Knowledge Base before. Not yet aware of the Jammers’ locations, Six begins to lift rocks and debris in her telekinesis, spinning them rapidly around herself as an impromptu shield. Recognising that this is clearly intended to block their shots, the Jammers pause to steady their aim.
Suddenly, Six springs into action. In a moment of dread, Trigger realizes that Six located her without even looking. The entire cargo container hanging from what’s left of the mining base’s crane is seized in Coatlicue’s telekinesis, torn from its mounting and hurled across the crater at Trigger and Tami. Acting on reflex, Tami takes her shot before scrambling for cover with the captain, but her dart bounces harmlessly off the stony shield. Smile likewise misses. The container crashes into a set of stone pillars just in front of the pair, a little too low to hit them dead on. Tami takes a second shot, and this time lands the tranquilizer dart accurately. Not that it seems to slow its target down at all.
Trigger and Kerfuffle fire at Six from a distance using their pistols, aiming to damage her shield or at least draw her attention away from the ones trying to knock her out. The griffon’s inaccurate shooting does nothing, but Trigger lands a hit on Coatlicue herself, scorching her side. Six returns fire with her telekinesis, pelting Trigger’s position with high-velocity rocks before turning and hurling one of the yet-undetonated EMP traps at Smile. Though the crystal pony avoids being hit directly, the device hits the wall behind her and detonates, shorting out most of her equipment - and Patch. The Jammers’ medical drone falls to the ground, completely disabled. Smile grabs him and attempts to reposition for a better shot.
Kerfuffle doesn’t have the range to contribute effectively with his own weapons - and engaging a powerful telekinetic at close range next to a pit of molten lava might not be the smartest idea - so he attempts to cover Eleven while she prepares to cast something. Meanwhile, Coatlicue repositions by levitating herself closer to Tami and Trigger, trading hurled rocks and barrels for their bullets and laser blasts as Tami is forced to switch to her Tsunami. The hippogriff takes a solid hit from a flung barrel and sprays wildly, struggling to stay conscious, but the pair seem to be doing more damage than they’re taking. In fact, they begin to notice something - Coatlicue’s wounds reveal not flesh and blood, but a layer of subdermal armour. She’s far more heavily augmented than Eleven, built specifically for combat.
Even so, the Jammers ultimately gain the upper hand. Eleven’s spell turns out to be unnecessary, as Tami and Trigger’s combined firepower finally breaks through Six’s shield and knocks her to the ground, badly wounded. Smile takes the opportunity to put a second tranquilizer dart in her. Finally, to everyone’s great relief, the sinister helmeted mare’s magic cuts off and her body falls still...
Session #146 - Hundred and Sixty Six
Tami attends to her injuries along with Trigger’s - Six’s barrage of rocks and metal objects left them both badly battered. Once they’re ready to move again, the crew carefully advance on the fallen test subject. Six is an unpleasant sight - nude aside from the near-featureless helmet completely obscuring her head, her injuries reveal extensive modifications beneath the skin that protected her from the worst of the damage. She’s alive and unconscious, though her vital signs are weak.
The Jammers quickly discuss a plan of action. Tami wants to try and find a way to get the helmet off of her quickly, but it’s heavily integrated into her body and doing so would take quite some time. If they’re to save her, she’ll need medical attention. Smile cautions that it’s only a matter of time before Cobra makes another move - they need to take Six and get away from the Queen as soon as possible - Six can be stabilized aboard Claudia once they’re clear.
Trigger agrees, so she and Smile grab Six between them while Kerfuffle takes Patch. Tami is still unsettled to be around her, and lags behind a little. (Note: the GM asks everyone for a willpower save and Tami critically fails.) As the crew hurry back to the ship, the hippogriff finds herself gripped by an inexplicable and ever-worsening feeling of dread. She begins to panic as the sensation grows, causing the group to hesitate. At the same time, Eleven points out that she feels something wrong as well - something magical is going on, and it isn’t good. Tami screams in terror as whispered threats invade her mind.
Smile quickly deduces that the daemon inside Six must be trying to lash out, yelling for the group to scatter and take cover. She and Trigger run for some nearby rocks while Kerfuffle herds Eleven and Tami in the other direction. Six begins to levitate, as do the rocks around her, hanging limp in the air like a puppet. Tami breaks away from the others and flees, incoherent with terror. The Jammers go for their weapons but hesitate for a moment, uncertain of what to do next. Barely thinking, Tami opens fire with her stun rifle.
The rest of the crew follow suit, shooting at Six’s new magical shield with little effect. Eleven cowers behind cover, momentarily overwhelmed at the powerful sensation of dark magic in the air. Even Trigger’s weak horn picks up enough of it to give her a headache. With the crew’s guns apparently ineffective, Six - or rather the being possessing her - takes its time preparing a counterattack. The nearby lava lake bubbles, then rises up and crashes towards Trigger and Smile in a massive wave! The pair scramble to climb up the nearby rocky pillars and get above it. While they avoid the bulk of the lava, droplets of it still splash up to painfully burn them and melt portions of their armor.
With Tami firing blindly in panic and Trigger and Smile preoccupied, the daemon turns on Kerfuffle. It rapidly lifts the ground beneath him with enough force to launch him some distance into the air, though fortunately he manages to land with minimal injury. He takes cover behind a boulder with Eleven and the pair try to figure out some kind of strategy; if casting magic can exhaust Eleven, then surely Six and the daemon possessing her must have limits too? There’s no time to strategize beyond that - the magic being thrown at them is simply too powerful for anyone to divert their attention.
With her gear still smoking, Smile looks for a new position and takes careful aim, trying to line up a shot directly at Six’s head with her laser rifle. A good hit would hopefully put the mare back down, or at least do enough damage to drop her magical shield. Noticing this, Kerfuffle takes the brave but ill-advised risk of attracting the daemon’s attention, stepping out into the open and goading it to try attacking him again. Eleven cries out for him to come back, but it’s too late, and she once again starts winding up a spell to try and assist.
Kerfuffle prepares to dodge another telekinetic attack, but isn’t ready for the daemon’s magic to simply seize him around the chest with bone-crushing force and fling him away like a toy, its disembodied voice mocking him as he goes. He lands hard close to Tami’s hiding spot, battered and badly winded. Cursing the griffon’s idiocy, Smile takes advantage nonetheless.
The beam cuts straight through Six’s shield, striking her squarely in the head. Her lifeless body reels from the hit but carries on moving. And the daemon turns its full attention on Smile. Six’s horn flashes and she suddenly vanishes, only to reappear close to the crystal pony who feels a sudden pain deep in her chest as the daemon’s insidious magic goes to work on her.
Tami musters up the presence of mind to try and help Kerfuffle - his injuries aren’t severe, but the pair of them are out of the fight for the moment. That just leaves Eleven with her half-finished spell, and Smile and Trigger in close combat with the possessed mare. Dropping her weapon in desperation and cold, impulsive rage, Smile lunges at Six to try and damage her helmet further, followed quickly by the smaller unicorn. Though weakened, Six’s shield is still strong enough to lash out at the pair with magical feedback. Their attacks have little effect, but they do accomplish one thing - by grappling with her, they hold her still. Trigger and Smile both call out for Eleven to release her magic, regardless of the risk to themselves. She hesitates, but the pressure of the situation and the insistence from the captain and crystal pony ultimately win through.
Eleven unleashes the spell she’d been holding back - another jagged blast of magical lightning. It narrowly misses, rebounding off one of the basalt pillars and then arcing to hit Six with overwhelming force. Six, Trigger and Smile are blasted in different directions by an explosion of unstable energy - and none of them are left in any state to get back up afterwards. The daemon’s influence and Six’s magic rapidly fade.
After a brief moment of shock and realization, Tami and Kerfuffle quickly move to try and help the wounded. Eleven huddles in place, overcome with sorrow, and can only tearfully urge the others to do what they can. While Kerfuffle hurries to perform on the spot repairs for Patch, Tami carries out a hasty evaluation. Trigger is barely conscious, staring blankly into the air and mumbling, but her injuries aren’t immediately life-threatening. Smile on the other hand passes out just after Tami reaches her, with a frighteningly large burn wound that covers much of her side. Six is bleeding profusely on top of everything else, completely still. (Note: Smile is critically wounded, but Tami stabilizes her before she needs to roll a death save.)
Working quickly, Kerfuffle manages to jury-rig a fix that gets Patch up and running again, then sends the drone to assist Trigger. Tami stabilizes Smile before moving on to Six. Even with her protective cybernetics it doesn’t look good for her; she’s on the verge of bleeding out, and it takes Tami and Patch working together to finally get her into a state to be safely moved. The medical drone points out that she’s in dire need of a blood transfusion - and that only Tami is viable as a donor. As if that wasn’t enough pressure, Tami gradually begins to realize that with Trigger and Smile both incapacitated, she’s technically in charge. To her credit, the hippogriff manages to swallow her fear and anxiety well enough to coordinate things.
Eleven is beside herself with guilt and shame over what she’s just done, crying openly and avoiding contact with the others at first, but eventually Kerfuffle manages to coax her into getting up and helping carry the casualties to the ship. There’s no time to process things - only an immediate and urgent need to get everyone aboard Claudia and fly as far away from this place as possible before things get any worse…
Session #147 - Out of Control
Tami, Kerfuffle and Eleven hurry aboard Claudia to do what they can for the others. In a moment of impulsiveness, Tami calms her nerves over the newfound leadership position by appropriating Trigger’s hat. Fortunately it doesn’t take much to get the captain back on her hooves, but she’s still disoriented and in a lot of pain. Meanwhile, Eleven takes Smile to her room and Kerfuffle leaves Six in Patch’s care at the small trauma center set up in the hold. He finds Eleven at Smile’s bedside, still in a state of despair over having hurt her friends, and tries to reassure her that nobody will blame her for what happened.
Eventually, Tami helps the semi-conscious Trigger up to the bridge so that she can get Claudia airborne. Given the dire situation, Kerfuffle also does what he can to wake Whisper, hoping that she has medical training. The agent is hardly in good shape, but she can stand and is lucid enough to comprehend the situation. While the griffon heads up to the engine room to assist Trigger in getting the ship moving, Tami, Eleven and Whisper congregate around Six’s bedside to do what they can for her.
Whisper expresses skepticism over whether bringing a possessed cyborg wizard supersoldier on board is really a good idea. Tami - preparing herself to donate blood with no small amount of nervousness - counters that Six is just as much a victim as Eleven. She deserves to be freed from Cobra’s control and the things that Sidewinder have done to her. Discounting the heavy injuries and cybernetics, she at least looks like a perfectly normal unicorn mare...
Trigger gets Claudia moving and flies low rather than gunning straight for orbit, using Jhurope I’s dense, clogged atmosphere to conceal their escape route. As Kerfuffle joins the others in the hold, Tami admits that there’s a lot they don’t know about the specifics of Six’s abilities or how to help her, let alone how she might react to waking up aboard a strange ship, and Whisper suggests tying her down as a precaution. Kerfuffle obliges and binds Six to the trauma table with some spare cables while the group discuss what might come next. With so many unknowns and the entire crew ranging from battered and exhausted to teetering on the verge of death, there’s few solid conclusions to be reached straight away. What’s needed more than anything is an expert opinion - on magic, cybernetics or both. Not to mention a doctor for Smile’s burns.
Tami joins Trigger on the bridge and the pair manage some playful banter to try and cool off, having Claudia circumnavigate much of the planet at subsonic speed so that they can emerge back into orbit somewhere Cobra won’t be able to predict.
For the next few hours, things carry on without further incident. Six and Smile remain unconscious and bedridden, so Eleven and Whisper take turns at the latter’s bedside.
Kerfuffle and Patch keep an eye on Six, and the griffon tries to glean whatever information he can from a surface-level examination. Aside from making a few simple observations, he finds himself way out of his depth. Skilled with machines as Kerfuffle may be, advanced equipment that interfaces with a person’s flesh and bone is something entirely different. Six’s cybernetics are mostly internal, save for a large cluster of electronics at the base of her skull with an interface port similar to Eleven’s. The helmet links to this cluster with a collection of cables and mechanical attachment points. In theory the helmet would be relatively simple to remove, but considering that it plays a role in controlling the daemon inside Six, doing so hastily would probably be a very bad idea.
Eventually Kerfuffle calls Eleven over, both for her opinion and her company, and because he’s at risk of passing out after such an exhausting and difficult day. She expresses concern for Six’s future and asks to stay with her, to which Kerfuffle agrees. For Eleven’s sake, he’s committed to helping Six as much as she can be.
Twelve hours after the battle at the abandoned mining base, those still conscious have worked in shifts, taking the much-needed opportunity to rest (not to mention bathe). Trigger - who was the most severely injured aside from Smile and Six - is still sleeping when Tami brings Claudia back up into orbit. Relying on Jhurope I’s filthy, stormy atmosphere to conceal their escape route seems to have paid off. There’s no immediate sign of the Queen of Hearts, only a single faint and unidentified signal at the edge of sensor range, but Tami takes no chances and jumps the ship to M-space as soon as she’s able. For the moment she sets course for Port Medusa, but that’s purely for the sake of having a direction. It wouldn’t be wise to bring Whisper and Regulus straight back to a station under Republic occupation.
Kerfuffle and Whisper join Tami on the bridge to try and figure out their next destination. Kerfuffle suggests returning to the Confederacy, but is quickly shot down - that would take them back through the Republic. Eventually, Tami comes up with a more inventive solution that impresses even Whisper. By sending a lightly coded message to Verbena and having her act as a third party, they can arrange to meet back up with Midnight, Doctor Wirbelwind and hopefully Rea with minimal chance of somebody intercepting their communications. The discussion, however, is cut short when Eleven calls the bridge from the cargo hold - Six is waking up, and judging by the clattering of metal in the background, she’s not taking her new situation calmly.
Tami and Kerfuffle hurry down to the hold, followed shortly by Whisper who pauses to pick up her SMG. Six is awake, her helmet once again closed, thrashing against her restraints amidst a cloud of medical tools and other small objects being flung in all directions by her telekinesis. Eleven has a bloody nose thanks to the wild projectiles but is mostly fine, so the group try to calm Six down.
Kerfuffle quickly double checks the files on Six that the Jammers found at Site One, recalling to the others that Six’s traumatic experiences under Project Snowdrop led her to lose her voice. Though Tami’s kind words do get Six to stop thrashing quite so badly, it’s clear from her body language that the mare is terrified and in a lot of pain.
With the situation getting no better, Eleven hurriedly recommends removing the restraints binding Six to the medical table. Precaution or no, this must be just like the treatment she would have received under Sidewinder. Whisper argues that releasing such a dangerous pony would be unwise, but Tami and Kerfuffle are both convinced, making it three against one.
As soon as Six is free she pushes herself clear of the table and runs blindly, behaving much like a wild, cornered animal. When Whisper moves to try and fetch a blanket for her at Tami’s request, Six grabs the already wounded agent in her telekinesis and slams her into the ceiling, then bolts for the ladders up to the central corridor.
Delegating Patch to look after Whisper (who is still conscious but unlikely to be going anywhere in a hurry), Tami, Kerfuffle and Eleven carefully pursue Six upstairs. Unfortunately, she seems to have vanished. After a short search, they deduce that she must have hidden somewhere in Engineering. It’s a difficult situation - a terrifyingly powerful and badly frightened magical prodigy loose on Claudia calls unnerving parallels back to the Starweaver. Ultimately the group decides that for at least the immediate moment, it would probably be best to let Six have some space. Tami leaves a blanket and some food outside Engineering and gently calls out to tell Six she can come and get them whenever she’s comfortable.
Unsurprisingly though, there’s no reply or even a sign of movement at all…
