During the flight to Elixabeth, the crew passed the time gambling. One member did particularly well as the stakes went up (decide the stakes; make Endurance + Gambling checks all around; lowest pays the highest the stakes, next lowest pays next highest the stakes, odd out breaks even, split contributions for ties). Durion passed the time practicing his shooting in the cargo bay but accidentally hit one of the caged animals with a ricochet (simple skill test). The one in particular was Draculin.
Shane, curious about these strange mammalian creatures, proceeded to examine them. He noticed that each cage has a drug name under it and an identifier string of numbers under that. Using his sketchy knowledge of first aid and familiarity with some standard medical equipment, he gave the dead one a cursory examination with a common medical analysis device aboard.
The examination revealed sections of DNA encoded with what appeared to be computer files. Capturing the string and bringing it up on a computer revealed the equivalent of a Word document or text file containing medical jargon explaining how to manufacture Draculin (a pharmaceutical) using humanoid “biofactory protocols”. The particular creature under examination also showed obvious signs of cancer and of mutation.
The Hotep emerged from jumpspace at Elixabeth, very close to the 100 diameter limit of the world and luckily a day out. Suddenly the sensor operator discovered a 300-400 dton mass spacecraft quickly heating up and vectoring toward them. Additionally, the Hotep had unluckily popped out inside a standard combat engagement envelope (Close Range).
The craft’s optical profile did not match any freighter, tramp, cop, or liner configurations, but that’s the best that could be resolved with the skill, equipment quality, and pressure (“fine” quality sensor gear: -2 DM, sensor skill, time requirement to identify).
Shane hailed the craft and got in contact with a Captain Abraham of the Razor. They hit it off well, with Captain Abraham politely ‘asking’ that a ‘donation’ of some kind be tossed out the airlock his direction or else he was going to cut the ship open with a laser. During this exchange, it was revealed that a few weeks ago Del had asked around at Noctocol What Luck Casino about any hazards or nefarious types at Elixabeth, the direction they were heading. Voicing the info to Shane helped him to resolve who this Captain Abraham might be (+1 to Reaction check).
The crew debated what to do. Durion proposed seeing them off with a threat that their ship was biocontaminated (which was very probably true given past events) while Del argued that they should turn the tables on these guys after they attack and capture their ship! At this point, nothing was completely settled on.
After a time allotment, Captain Abraham called in repeating his ‘donation request’. Shane, opting to try stalling a little longer, thought it might be a great time to try giving him a proper journalist’s interview (character background is Journalist).
“If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?”
This held him off a bit longer, flattering him, and the crew learned something important about the other ship’s crew: they were well prepared to handle bio-contamination, learning that they douse their returning suited men in cleansing low-intensity bursts of plasma from the engine as a matter of course, having seen a lot of weird, creepy shit in this back end of space.
“If you were to die and come back as a thing, what would you want it to be?”
The team ultimately refused to give in to the pirate’s demands and so two outboard passenger staterooms promptly vanished in a flash of light, swirling trash, wires, and mattress chunks. Alarms sounded and emergency doors slammed. Shane on the flight deck spied a molten gash through which naked stars shined beyond. Shadows began appearing and moving in the camera’s gloom. Suddenly three space suited figures appeared in the gash. They crossed the vacuum of the room to the now sealed passenger room door.
“If you were writing your epitaph, what would you say?”
At this time, Del, Durion, and Rus T., already suited up and prepped with shotguns and gear from the ship’s locker, sited themselves in the ship’s salon across from the soon-to-be entry point and began taking a bead on where the intruders where about to enter (+6 aim bonuses all around).
“Thank you for a most entertaining interview.”
Falling to a plasma torch, the door instantly disappeared, sucked out of the ship by the gale force wind. When pressure equalized, the intruders emerged, but the massed fire of shotguns and Durion’s scarfed snub pistol with HEAP rounds dropped one almost instantly. The remaining two intruders fell back rapidly with surprise, fleeing their now fanged but still deliciously juicy yacht target. In the exchange, Shane notified the others that a signal was received from the other ship directing the men to get out of there.
(55 minutes to naval intercept, 69 days remaining on deadline)