Session 3

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**An Evening with Michael Bishop**

Michael Bishop, Director of Special Projects for Weyland-Yutani's Bio-Weapons R&D division, convinces the *Otago* to dock with the *Patna* so he can meet with them in person. He invites the crew to dine with him while they talk, and an armed escort of commandos herds them into a secure conference room. There, Bishop calmly asks the crew to share the story of their mission to Arceon station.

Michael Bishop is impassive during most of their account, only interrupting to ask for clarification when needed. His fingers constantly tap at a datapad to his right, although his eyes keep firmly on whoever is speaking. Once the strange black monsters are mentioned, he leans forward and actively grills them about the creatures. When told that Brother Anthony was an android, he shows no surprise. But when Phillipe mentions revealing this to the monks rather dramatically, Bishop frowns. He speaks into his datapad, ordering the 'droid to be recovered and taken to the holding area for a memory dump and dismantling. Before he can be reprimanded by Bishop, Phillipe tells him he located a trove of sensitive material, banned by W-Y, the copies of Robert Morse's *Space Beast*. After hearing Phillipe rightly confiscated the entire collection, Bishop seems mollified. He tells them that the robust security camera system installed through Arceon wasn't sufficient to keep an eye on the facility. Brother Anthony had been introduced into their population ten years prior to spy on the monks from ground level, so to speak. He rationalizes this as necessary, considering the threat the brothers of Arceon station had once posed to Earth a century ago.

After the story is finished, Bishop leans back and is silent. Finally, he pops a monitor screen out of the table and spins it around for the group to view. He pulls up live security feeds from Arceon station as he speaks. He tells them that each monk unknowingly has a personal data transmitter implanted during transit to Arceon, allowing W-Y to keep an accurate census for the station of potentially dangerous technophobes. Next, he shows them 276 actively transmitting PDTs currently on the station instead of the expected 283. He knows that six monks and Brother Anthony are aboard the *Patna*; all are accounted for. Next, he switches the feed to show inhabited and uninhabited areas of various station parts. He specifically brings up a feed showing the massive power core and terminal platform. He then brings up feeds from each storeroom, including the previously unviewable ones. There are no corpses in any of them, human or otherwise. The rooms are all clean, and there are no signs of the black ribbed substance that they had seen on the walls. Most importantly, there is no proof that the black beasts were there.

Bishop postulates that, with zero physical evidence to support their story, they all seem to have suffered from a remarkable shared delusion. However, he does allow that if there is any truth in what they say, they all need to undergo medical scanning and possibly even quarantine, as stated by ICC guidelines. He sighs and adds that includes him, now that he's been in contact with them. He tells the group that he's already had his team enter the *Otago* and escort the monks and remaining crewmembers to isolated holding areas until the necessary medical scans can be completed.

Bishop then relays the facts as they currently are: the *Otago* crew were to deliver cattle and leave. Instead, they entered restricted areas aboard the station, obtained W-Y company secrets, fomented unrest in the indigenous population, and willfully damaged and subsequently stole an expensive company asset. He tells them in no uncertain terms that he can make them disappear right now and no one would ever find them. He then smiles for the first time, a cold smile that never reaches his eyes. Finally, he offers them a deal. If they go retrieve something for him, he will not only overlook their possible corporate espionage but also reward them with a generous amount of hard cash and cushy positions within Weyland-Yutani. To Phillipe, he offers the possibility of significant promotion. The crew agrees with little hesitation.

Bishop tells them they are to head out into a sector of uncharted space and locate a dark pulsar named Exeter. They will dock with Barghest station, a community of outlaws and undesirables who live free of corporate or government control. They are to seek the station's administrator, a former Colonial Marshal named Jonathan Otaka, and obtain a specific item from him by any means necessary -- a Neuro Visor that belonged to an ex-Lasalle BioNational executive named Salvaje. As an added incentive, he offers bonuses to anyone who can gather information on Salvaje's whereabouts.

Bishop tells them that trip will take 29 days one way. He already knows of the *Otago's* nonfunctional cryodeck and has had his technicians work on repairs. He also supplies the crew with a generous cache of supplies for their journey, including food, water, and fuel. After a brief trip through a medical scanner, they are escorted back to the ship. The *Otago* disembarks from the *Patna* and plots a course to Exeter. The crew then settles in for hypersleep.

**Black Dog**

The crew is awakened an hour before the reaching Barghest station. They all miraculously stave off the side effects of hypersleep. As they near Barghest, they're hailed by Traffic Control. An extremely bored woman asks them about their ship and purpose, then gives them docking directions and clears them for approach. Unfortunately, the *Otago* is too large to land at the spaceport on Deck C, so they orbit around the station and dock using an umbilical tube.

They enter the station and briefly chat with Traffic Control, finding out her name is Mallory Bourne. They ask her about Otaka, and she tells them he's in his office on Deck B, which is usually off-limits to visitors. Her shift ends, and she offers to escort them down to his office. After riding the elevator down to Deck B, she points out Otaka's office but is called away to deal with an issue in the cargo bay.

After knocking, they enter his office to find it completely bare, lacking even a computer terminal. Otaka sits at his empty desk, reading an old-fashioned paperback book. He puts his revolver on the table to indicate he's not in the mood for nonsense but lets them speak. They get along quite well with him, and, after asking about the Neuro Visor, he's forthcoming about it. He reveals that the machine belonged to an odd ex-corporate executive in a robe who called himself Salvaje. Salvaje and several of his followers traveled as refugees, staying in the cargo holds of ships as they made their way throughout the Frontier. Salvaje and his group stayed onboard Barghest for a week or so, passing out copies of their holy book and recruiting more followers. Then one day, they abruptly left aboard a Bison class transport. Otaka doesn't remember the ship's name but says he can find out. Otaka mentions that most of the people on the station thought Salvaje was full of shit. He hands a copy of the holy book over to Bullock -- Robert Morse's *Space Beast*.

Otaka leads the group back to the elevator, and they head up to the habitation area on Deck E. He gives them a brief rundown of the station, including the areas off-limits to visitors and the completely abandoned areas. He shares that the station used to be called Novgorod and owned by Seegson. It even orbited a star in a completely different system. But the station, being deemed hopelessly unprofitable, was decommissioned and sold to a pair of eccentric corporate executives. The pair, dressed in obnoxiously bright suits of red and green, bought the station sight unseen and had it towed to Exeter. The original staff, including Otaka, were offered sizable bonuses to stay on and cater to a surprisingly lively population of "independents." A massive shudder vibrates throughout the entire station. The lights and the elevator fail and then start back up again.

Arriving at Deck E, Otaka leads them through the apartment area to the room Salvaje had rented. He takes them inside and digs the Neuro Visor out of a dresser drawer. He holds it out for someone to take but finds he's having difficulty actually letting go. He tells them he's had nothing but nightmares since Salvaje first arrived and wants them to be sure what they were doing. He eventually lets go, wilting in visible relief. Finally, they convince him to let them take Salvaje's other abandoned personal effects, including an attaché briefcase. After all is said and done, Otaka asks the group if they want a quick drink at the bar on Deck C before they leave.

A few minutes later, they sit at a table in an otherwise empty bar, with a meek-looking bartender busy polishing some glasses. Otaka orders two bottles of Kentucky Red bourbon for the table and then hammers back several shots in a row. They pump him for more information about the station and its owners. He reveals they were also Lasalle BioNational executives, which is one of the reasons he allowed Salvaje to stay as long as he did. However, Salvaje never brought up if he knew the owners, and Otaka never asked. As they talk, Phillipe indicates to Ricky to try to snag Otaka's keyring, currently hooked to his belt. With a surprisingly deft sleight of hand, Ricky pulls the heist off without a hitch, until he noisily tosses the keys to Phillipe under the table. Otaka, however, is too drunk to notice. Another shudder vibrates the space station.

Mallory Bourne calls Otaka on his communication and curses when she sees how drunk he is. She tells the group there's been a disturbance in the cargo hold, and a few people have been killed. Otaka and his security team are needed ASAP. They gather Otaka up and take him toward the elevator, but he is so drunk he actually mistakes them for his security team. As he stumbles to the side to vomit, the group notices that people are exiting the various shops and elevators around the Concourse and crowding around the transfer gate. A meek but harried clerk is trying to calm them down. There are screams as a few people burst from the elevator covered in blood and violent gashes. Otaka waves his revolver around and tells the group it's time to be heroes. Ricky deftly snatches the revolver and, after a warning glare from Bullock, passes it to Maverick. Otaka passes out.

The group approaches the crowd, trying to get anyone's attention to determine what's going on. The clerk leaves the Traffic Control office and enters the crowd, pleading for order and threatening to drop the security bulkhead if they grow out of control. Another shudder vibrates through the station, and the mob becomes a riot. The clerk triggers the security door but is pulled along by the crowd and trampled underfoot. The security door slowly descends, with people ducking and diving underneath it to get to their ships. The door catches the prone clerk and begins to crush his chest. The group can't reverse the security door, but they halt its descent. Through the station's viewports, they watch the chaotic exodus of ships and several small explosions as a few of them collide. One larger ship, an ore hauler, begins to pull away from Barghest with the transfer umbilical still attached. The vessel is yanked out of its escape trajectory, and the people still inside the station watch helplessly as the transport plows into the spaceport, completely demolishing the remaining ships.

They hear bloodcurdling screams from the transfer gate hallway beyond the door, and the clerk's cries grow more desperate. The *Otago* crew and the remaining people in the Concourse all work together to try to lift the security door. They raise the massive metal bulkhead a few inches, but before the clerk can even take a full breath, a monstrous black hand appears from under the door. It drives its long talons down into the clerk's chest with a spray of blood, then yanks him underneath the door as if he weighed nothing. Horrified, the group backs away from the security door, allowing it to drop to the floor. They listen as the clerk's screams get louder and cut off with a horrifying finality.