Reliquary Report: Agent 437761-Hallow
Raider threat to Astra engaged and neutralised. Awaiting meeting with contact.
Maven Khosla Personal Log
I set off with as much speed as I could get out of this strange ship towards Astra once I heard the distress signal. I found one large raider ship docked and another smaller one running hot in geostationary orbit. The orbiting one opened fire on me before I could react and the ship started wailing and screaming at me as it took a battering.
I of course used my intuition and understanding of the ship systems to mash buttons wildly trying to discern what to do. I succeeded in getting the ship to start tumbling end over end which was, obviously, very useful…
I eventually manage to mash the right buttons and lo and behold I see the image on the ship overview change. It showed me those weird appendages rearranging themselves into a different configuration and a new display popping up. A ring starts flashing around the enemy ship on screen so I hit it and the ship comes out of its spin to fly level and the appendages arrange themselves to all point at the enemy ship before unleashing eight intense beams of energy at them.
Awesome!
I powered the ship forward, bearing down on the enemy as the weapons kept up their energy onslaught, tearing through the enemy ships defences. The enemy exploded. I’m starting to really love this ship. Granted, I hadn’t meant to wipe them out entirely but as I didn’t know how to control the weapons there wasn’t much choice. Ah well.
A new symbol popped up that seemed to disengage the weapon systems and I managed to bring the ship in to land in the docking bay. The multifunctional umbilical luckily found the ships airlock and connected. I grabbed my pulse rifle and pistol and hobbled through the passage into the facility. Scorch marks on the walls showed there’d been some defensive action and from the look of the three bodies slumped against the airlock in a mix of spacer outfits, the raiders had taken the brunt of it.
As I moved slowly through the corridor I see a blinking light and a hear a high pitched whine and leapt down a side corridor just as a pulse grenade goes off. The bastards had laid traps to protect their rear. The leap cleared the blast zone but the searing pain in my leg leaves me lying gasping on the floor. It takes a few moments for it to subside enough to try and get up and move on.
I moved ahead slowly and with caution only to reach a blast door sealed tight. The damn panel beside it had been fried and no way I’m getting that open. I had to backtrack and find another route.
I stumbled through what appeared to be a tech lab with an large polished metallic ring, about half again as tall as me, hooked up to a lot of monitors and machinery. Many of them were flashing red. When I looked into the ring it seemed like the air was shimmering and blurring before me and I started coughing as the air felt harsh and burnt my lungs. I shuffled out of there as fast as I damn well could and sealed the doors behind me. No idea what that was, why would someone make a poison gas ring? Though the technology didn’t look human. I’ll have to ask about that later.
Leaving the room I had to stop and breath in a few lung fulls of good recycled air before continuing. As I continued on, I rounded a corridor only to run straight into a couple of the bloody raiders. Just my luck. I pulled back round the edge of the corridor and raised my gun as they started blasting at me. I managed to land a few solid shots on both and take them down but one of them grazed me in the process. Now my arm and leg are done for and I don’t know how much more punishment I could take. I stumbled down a few more corridors until finally I spot the sign I was looking for.
MEDICAL BAY
Finally, some good luck. I stumbled inside to find myself confronted with a shaking doctor holding a scalpel at me and screaming in fear.
I tell her to calm down, I’m not a raider, and flash my Reliquary credentials but she’s not for believing me. I drop my gun and kick it over to her, she snatches it up and points it at me. I raised my hands to show I’m no threat knowing full well the gun is locked to my DNA and wouldn’t fire for her. Plus she hadn’t even toggled the safety.
Eventually I convince her to take a look at my wounds but she insists on using my own medpack rather than waste base supplies.
Great.
The arm is easily healed as the graze was minor and the pulse blast cauterised it. My leg, thankfully, was just dislocated and the doctor was able to get it into place and give me some meds to help with the pain. It all took time though, time I didn’t have. Eventually she had me back on my feet and grabbing my gun, left her to it and suggested she lock the door after I go.
I never even got her name.
With my leg sore but mobile again I set of at a good pace heading deeper into the facility only to hear a woman screaming far behind me.
The doctor!
I rushed back to assess the situation, finding a raider with their back to me holding the doctor at gunpoint. I raise my gun to the back of their head and blast them away. I had no time for niceties.
“Lock the door!” I shouted to the doctor as I ran out again. The thought of what I just did troubled me. I could have threatened him, locked him up. My pace slowed and I looked back. No. There was too much at stake, too many lives.
I charged on, reaching the communal area, a wide open space and ducking in behind a large planter. I heard firing and shouts ahead and can see a few dead bodies, mostly raiders, but a few security uniforms too. Regardless, whoever is running security on this station has some serious chops to withstand so many. They can’t have more than five or six security in a place this size.
I looked around and saw a ramp leading up to a walkway overlooking the commons, it seemed like it would give a good view. I made a run for it and charged up onto the walkway. Everyone was too distracted to even notice me. I got a clear view of the raiders and had a chance to line up my shots.
I unleashed a barrage of shots into their midst, taking out at least two, but they round on me and start firing up at the walkway and I realised just how exposed I really was as I dived flat for cover. The pulse blasts are blowing up all around me and I’m pinned in position. This is it, I’m thinking, this is where my story ends.
But it wasn’t.
The security guards started firing back at the raiders distracting them and allowing me to get into a better position and start blasting back down at them. Caught between the crossfire the remaining raiders start shouting their surrender and dropping their weapons.
The security came forward, only a few left, guns levelled at the raiders. I made my way down the walkway to join them, the security chief nodded in thanks to me though frowns in curiousity when he doesn’t recognise me. Just as we’re closing in on the raiders one of them opens his hand to show a remote trigger and laughs.
A huge rumble reverberated through the facility, clearly a bomb blown somewhere. Alarms start blaring and lights flashing and in the chaos the raiders jump us, drawing knives and batons in an attempt to overpower us once again.
I reacted fast despite my pain, smashing the raider leaping at me in the face with the butt of my rifle and bringing it up to bear on the others, but there was no need. The security guards easily overpowered the raiders.
I whistle, impressed as the security chief throws the last one to the ground with a heavy thunk. He brushed his big hands together and nodded to the two remaining guards to secure those raiders still breathing. He stepped forward and offered a hand.
“Chief Holland, I run security round here. You can call me Ike.”
I take his hand gladly and shake it.
“Maven Khosla, Reliquary agent. You did a damn fine job with so few against these bastards.”
“This isn’t our first scrap.” I could see as much. He was a big man with a few scars and mottled patches of skin that showed he’d been on the wrong end of a pulse blast on more than one occasion. Even after the fight he remained poised and barely seems to have broken a sweat. The other two had a similar bearing, ex-military no doubt.
He scratched his chin a moment then said,
“Reliquary agent? You’ll be the one Christa mentioned then.”
“Yeah, she was to be my contact, is she okay?”
“She’s fine, she’s back there with the others.”
He indicated a door leading away from the common area that he and the guards had been defending.
“Did you encounter any more of these bastards on your travels?”
“Yeah, there’s two in a corridor back there and one in medbay. Eh…your doctor might be a bit spooked…”
“Doc Adler? She’d hide from her own shadow, no doubt she’s a nervous wreck. Good doctor though.”
“Yeah she is”, I patted my leg, “any more of the raiders about?”
“Don’t think so, sounds like between us we got them all. You came just in time, we were in a tight spot.”
“You looked like you were handling it fine.” I said, genuinely impressed.
He grunted and shook his head.
“Thank you, seriously, it was a close run thing.”
He turned to the guards.
“Hobbs, escort these scum to the brig and show our new friend here where the researchers are hiding.” He nodded to the tall lean woman with the shaved head then turned to the other, a burly, heavily tattooed woman.
“Silva, with me, let’s assess the damage, make sure there’s no more lurking about and check on the good doctor.”
I thanked him and followed Hobbs towards the door at the rear. She led me down a few corridors, keeping the gun trained steadily on the cuffed raiders. We reached a door and she banged it a few times with her other hand.
“We got the bastards, you can come out now.”
A few moments later the door slid open and a large woman with sunken eyes and pale clammy skin stepped out followed by a number of other sallow faced people. I was able to hear voices and murmurings from beyond so assumed the other researchers and families were there and these were the lead scientists.
“Dr Chrisa Kain?”
The large woman in the lead scowled.
“What of it?” She replied grumpily.
“My name is Maven Khosla, I’m an agent of the Reliquary. I believe you were expecting me?”
“Hmph. Took your time didn’t you. Damn near all got killed in here.” She sounded petulant, clearly someone with a chip on their shoulder.
“And yet here you are before me, being so charming, while good people lie dead out there protecting you.”
“Doing their jobs.”
I swear I nearly punched her for that one, but I bit my tongue and let it slide. I needed to not make her an enemy. I was just glad Hobbs had already moved away with the prisoners.
“Indeed. We have much to discuss, perhaps we could go to your office.”
“You can damn well wait, there is a lot to be done first. Go find somewhere out of the way to wait and I’ll call for you when I’m bloody well ready.”
My fist clenched at that but I gritted my teeth and walked away, and here I sit, waiting for Her Majesty to summon me.
Maven out.
we all have our roles to play 