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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ptolemy" data-source="post: 9386854" data-attributes="member: 1412">Along with the stern-ward entrance to the lounge there was an iris valve to the starboard and doors to the bow and port. We cut through the port door into a corridor running stern-bow. There were cabin doors on the port side and a door at each end of the corridor. We started moving towards the bow, checking cabins as we went. There was another iris valve which probably led into the space the bow door out of the lounge led to. Hurgen told us that they thought that there were life readings from that way so we doubled back and cut through the bow door from the lounge. This port-starboard corridor ended in iris valves and there was a third in front of us. Lily started cutting through as the panel was fried and I still couldn’t get a remote link into any systems. As she worked I “looked” into the room beyond, which turned out to be the bridge. It was chaos in there. A survivor was standing on the opposite side of the room to the valve holding a snub pistol looking terrified and exhausted. There was a a corpse on the floor near the port wall. Damage to chairs and control stations suggested a fire-fight had taken place.Lily finished cutting and kicked the out the remains of the door. We heard a man cry “Hold it right there, I’m armed and will shoot”. He was agitated and afraid. Giving his name as Captain Laslic he was obviously near collapse. With some conversation he handed over his weapon with an air of resignation. He gave an involuntary start when Pete and I started the remove the data chips from the computer. Lily stepped towards him pretty quick and the story came out. This wasn’t the Amishi’s first visit to Gorram. They had been charging exorbitant fees to give wealthy patrons a taste of the illicit. People paid to be brought to a “Red” world, take some selfies, pick up a few souvenirs from the wrecked sail ship and basically have some bragging rights in an otherwise pampered existence. Derisson got a cut in exchange for Dindy codes and making sure no one looked too closely at the Amishi when she came through the system. Some more ruthless members of the underworld had found out about the scheme and had infiltrated the ship’s crew with a view to taking hostages and probably stealing the Amishi. The bodyguard of one of the passengers became suspicious and barged onto the bridge and accused the captain. During the ensuing argument a kidnapper intervened with a shotgun. The resulting fire-fight killed the pilot, which caused the crash, and the bodyguard fled to find their charge after putting a bullet in the kidnapper. The captain had locked himself in the bridge and the subsequent kidnapper’s attempts to take control of systems had resulted in a shut down. The data chips would contain comms. messages and other incriminating evidence against the crew, Derisson and other out-of-system “investors”. The captain appeared to feel some responsibility for the whole situation and was a broken man.Laslic said that he has been in contact with the chief engineer for a little while. He thought she would still be in the forward lounge. An unknown number of kidnappers were still on the ship and would pose a threat to anyone who could identify them. Hurgen told us that a steady life signal was coming from an area between the bridge and the forward lounge, where another life sign was present. A few others came and went, according to Hurgen, which I assumed meant they were moving. The captain handed over his multi-pass. He insisted on coming with us to look for survivors as it was “my duty as a captain. At least I can do that!”.We moved with greater caution knowing armed gangsters with a lot to lose were on the prowl. The nearer life sign turned out to come from a lift which was jammed. It was the ship’s medic. We all felt suspicious at first as she looked too young to be a shipboard medic. She also looked too terrified to be a threat. We took a few minutes to cut through the roof of the lift, hindered by the difference between our level and that we had to cut through. Saress (as she was named) was nearly hysterical by the time she got to us. The ship had lurched a couple of times during the rescue and she became ever more frantic. I checked her over quickly and gave her a mild sedative. She joined out little party and we entered the corridor running the length of the cabins to starboard. Movement caught my eye from farther down the corridor and Lily and I moved to investigate while Peter and Helena kept an eye on our rescued ship’s crew, just in case. The doors of most of the cabins stood ajar. We moved as quietly as we could and paused to listen at the door. Lily went in first with me on her tail. Another young woman, this one dressed as a servant but not in the ships livery, cowered behind the bed. I started to coax her out as Lily undermined me by looking as threatening as possible, as usual. This one turned out to be Yenaffi Outeir, the personal valet of Marin Suwa, one of the paying customers and a kidnapper, if she was to be believed:“He just shot Pons in the back and turned on me! I couldn’t believe it. And I was...” She dissolved into tears.</blockquote>

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