The Anti-Matter Facility - Carbon 2185, Part 3

**The Anti-Matter Facility** is the third episode in the side quest adventure of *Another Bad Side Quest*. The Dead Stars mourn the loss of a friend before continuing their time sensitive mission.

## The Anti Matter Facility - Carbon 2185, Part 3

### **Synopsis**

**Pre-Show Shenanigans**

Regular ads without the slides on the screen.

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### **Part One**

*"Last we left the Dead Stars, they were in a bad place. They'd made contact with the hacker from Nightingale Exploration, Dec0, got the information from him and managed to get into a Yakuza bar, found a synth companion friend named 23, that got them into the black market at the top of this tower owned by Detroit Industries. In aspect of trying to buy this large grade EMP from a weapons dealer by the name of Cho, a couple of things happened. There was a belief for the group to be stealing from Dec0, but his companion robot squirrel, Rin noticed, and in an exploit of aggression and anger, a grenade exploded and a fight broke out, killing Dec0, saving the EMP, but in the long run of a Yakuza operation, Cairo was stabbed to death...his last words calling Connor a reptile.*

*As the Dead Stars gathered what they could, Connors revealing some information that the Yakuza back off from and they returned to their ship and just immediately took off to get away from the scenario as the Khostov brothers, Hans and Sven, are taking care of their now dead friend's body. We come to the Dead Stars, floating a little out past Mars, on the Decryptor. It's been a couple hours, some of you have quickly fallen asleep after the encounter you've had, but Hans, Sven, what have you been doing?"*

Hans and Sven had taken the time to place Cairo's body in the empty chamber of a torpedo, loaded him in and around with momentos from his room, the picture of Cairo and his brother on their first day on the SFPD force notably missing from his room, and an absurd amount of explosives. When the twins finished preparing Cairo and his torpedo casket, they had Scarlett call the others into the bay to give their last goodbyes. Finn entered first, drunk off her ass and smoking two cigarettes simultaneously with Connors right behind her, who looked to be fine but anyone close to him they might smell harsh liquor under the several breath mints he tried to cover the scent with. Shae entered next, wearing an all black suit and never before seen aviators, with D0C following slowly behind her. Sven tried to say a few words, but both the twins end up crying before they could get anything out. Shae said the best flattery was imitation as a tribute to Cairo, as Connors quietly apologized to Cairo for being too slow, prepped the torpedo for launch and sent Cairo's body out in a true blaze of glory. Connors gave a proper salute when no one was particularly watching and Finn soon passed out on the floor.

Just as the explosion has died out, Scarlett told the remaining crew that they were receiving a transmission, a message from Space Sweden, that said

*"Boys, it is time. I will be waiting in the fountain at the Listburg Theme Park. Time to pick me up."*

The twin got excited at the thought of was contacting them from Space Sweden. Connors alluded that the message referred to the twins and Scarlett in response asked if she should make it their next destination. Connors called for her to slow down and an explanation from the twins, who appeared clueless. Connors asked Scarlett how long it would take to get there as they had a time sensitive job to do and when Scarlett revealed the destination was less than two hours away, Connors called it a happy distraction. The party killed time, with Finn still passed out in the bay. When they arrived at the theme park, Connors asked for a brief history on Space Sweden and Scarlett explained

"*After the destruction of Space Sweden, or Alpha 495-0 planet, found off the Alpha Centauri System, people from that planet originated and came here to the galaxy to hold up in the asteroid belt about 147 years ago. It is known to be a tourist attraction."*

As the Decryptor landed, connecting itself to pressurized, habitable buildings connected by walkways across the asteroid's surface, Connors told the twins they had an hour when they arrived there. The twins stepped off the ship and found a large stone fountain at the entrance of Listburg Theme Park, filled with neon lights and buildings of all shapes and sizes. In the fountain they saw a figure sitting within, observed the size of their physique, questioned if this was another brother, before remembering that they were twins, but as the figure stood from the water they noted he was much larger than even the twins. The twins prostrated themselves in front of the drenched taller man, who told them it was time and to give "Papa" a hug as he pulled the twins to him. The man asked for their name as it had been years since he saw them, and noted his pleasure in their progress in their growth of their sons as the twins shyly flexed for him. The twins told their father that they had lost a friend and needed help for a mission they were on and their papa readily agreed, picked the boys up in a football carry and took them back to the ship.

The crew still on the ship saw as this "Swedish god", standing at 9'2", with a beard down to his waist, wearing a ranger's hat and khakis and called himself a permanent resident when Scarlett announced to the crew they had a visitor. Connors, shocked and afraid of the implications of their now being three of these strange Swedes on his ship, went to his cockpit and not keen for the idea of another one of them, before he came back out, introduced the crew and learned the new guest was named Vivian. Connors offered Cairo's old room, but the twins insisted Vivian would stay with them in their room together and was accepted. Scarlett told Connors they would be returning to Earth's orbit and Connors asked to make it as fast as she could, before sitting Finn's body on a seat to strap her in while she was still passed out. Once they arrived, hovering just outside the atmosphere, Connors called the crew together, took the time to wake Finn who snapped awake at the scent of her drugs and warned Connors off from touching her lab noting that she only let D0C in because she didn't want to end up in his "organ trunk".

Once they were all together, and Vivian was introduced to those he hadn't met yet, Connors made it clear he didn't want what happened in the blackmarket to happen again and no one was dying again, doled out 300,000 Wonlongs to each of the crew, except Vivian, and told them to focus on defence first, then firepower afterwards before they attempted the Anti-Matter Facility. He added that they had four hours as he dropped them off in District 4 to go shopping. Notably, Finn bought a helmet like what Connors has to improve her AC, Sven and Finn bought a variety of grenades and Hans got military police armor. The crew think of getting Vivian some armor, but came to realize that he had a kevlar vest on that he had spray painted his skin color to maintain the illusion of being shirtless. Connors still handed Vivian 200,000 Wonlongs to arm himself with called it as a "signing bonus" as a new member of the crew, which he used to buy himself a grenade launcher and a few grenades as well.

While they shopped Connors took the Decryptor out 85 miles over the ocean and in the direction of the Anti-Matter Facility. As he flew, Connors asked Scarlett what they knew about the Anti-Matter Facility and if there were possible aerial defences to worry about. Scarlet replied that due to proximity to San Francisco it was unlikely they would have air defence to take down a proper ship. She also added that the facility was once an abandoned oil rig now used for research and development. When they arrived Connors noted it was a large square structure with multiple levels and a few landing pads for ships, but overall looked rather plain. On closer observation he noticed the building didn't look heavily guarded and wondered why they needed such a hefty EMP to get in. As he attempted to fly over, he felt a pull on the bottom of the ship and quickly backtracked as Scarlett noted there was a shielding field around the facility which would require the EMP to take down.

As Connors noted that they wouldn't be able to enter quietly, Scarlett suggested they could detonate the EMP four miles out from the facility, noting the EMP had a five mile range, then fly closer to two and a half miles away to drop the crew into the water, while Scarlett would hover in one spot over the water and then they all could swim to the facility with the atmospheric suits they had on the ship. She added they also could drop directly into the facility, but that would run the risk of being caught on video and traced back to the Dead Stars. She finished with a last option which would be using a ferry service that travelled daily to the facility, while they detonated the EMP as they made their way across the water. Connors took in all the information before heading back to District 4 to pick up his crew, stood at the top of the ship ramp and checked them each for armor, refusing to allow anyone back on if they weren't wearing armor of some kind.

While Connors and Scarlett explained the options, Finn handed Connors special made bullets to help overcome resistances in case Connors needed to use them despite their lesser damage. Connors, Finn and Sven all took time to try and hide the grenades on their person to avoid another incident like with Dec0 who hacked into the grenade Connors had on him. The crew immediately nixed the first option of going guns blazing and not everyone loved the second option, so they discussed the logistics of the third. They would take the boat in the morning and have to find a way to hide the EMP from the driver or pay him off, then set it off along the way. As they discussed how this all would work together, Sven got an idea to combine plans two and three by buying a boat of their own to drop into the water from the Decryptor and then shuttle them to the Facility without the risk of having a driver involved. Connors mentioned that he saved 300,000 Wonlongs for Scarlett that he would be willing to put down to buy a boat for them to use, which sparked several concerns from the crew about Connors relationship to Scarlett, but eventually hushed them all up before leaving the ship and the crew at the landing pad and returned having bought a boat and loaded it into the Decryptor.

The crew then decided to take their long rest now, in the late afternoon, so they could be awake and ready to take on the facility in the dead of night. After waking and while Connors flew the ship within four miles of the facility, Connors called over the comms to the crew from the cockpit, told them that some of them might have heard things in that last fight with the Yakuza they never had before, referring to his use of his Special Agent title near the end, and promptly said he didn't want to talk about it, that it was janitor work as far as they were concerned and shut down all further questions. When they eventually arrived within the EMP strike range, Sven used his hacking abilities to help Scarlett send the EMP out. When Connors checked if the ship would have any issue from the EMP, Scarlett assured Connors that her shields had been accounted and they wouldn't take damage, though it would take 40%. After The EMP went off, Connors flew the ship in closer to the facility before they all made their way to the boat and had it drop into the water, while Finn noted it might be a bad time to mention she couldn't swim.

The crew was briefly rattled by the force of the impact with the water below, causing Shae and Sven to vomit over the side of the boat. Connors took the helm of their boat and started their journey to the Anti-Matter Facility. As it appeared in the distance ahead of them everything was dark as the EMP presumably knocked out all the lights. They took the boat underneath the building, which was held aloft by a sort of dock-like structure and made it to a structure underneath with large doors, where they presumed cargo was loaded in and out of the facility. As they got closer they noticed the doors were partially cracked open, as the EMP had knocked them off their seal, and Connors directed Hans and Vivian to pry it open as he brought the boat up alongside the doors. The two Wormers opened the doors enough for everyone to step through, while the others moored the boat, then all made their way inside the Anti-Matter Facility.

### **Break!**

Cast and viewers learn that occasionally Darrin waits until after Jon is done with his cereal before coming back to break! If Darrin sets a time frame (such as "we'll be back at the turn of the hour") he commits to it, but if its a time window (like "we'll be back in 15-20 minutes!") he will just wait for Jon to finish.

That's some quality ABSQ Behind the Scenes info!

### **Part Two**

From within the cargo deck, that held all kinds of disorganized crates and barrels, the crew saw a metal staircase that presumably led up to the first floor. Connors headed up the stairs first, but told Sven to track him with his HUD while he would scout the next level, where the lights were pulsing as the facility tried to return power to itself. The room Connors entered was metal walled and well maintained, and seeing it was empty called over the comms to tell the others to follow. The Docs split up in the marching order while Hans stayed towards the back with his noisy armor. As Connors continued forward he looked down the side hallways and saw containment rooms for sterilization or pressurization before it leads to the outside. Along one of the nearby walls he found a sign that said "Research & Development : Augmentations". Connors kept moving until he came across a doorway where he could hear something coming from the other side and he listened closer noted it as a muffled and repetitive noise, but no voices. Connors let everyone know over the comms and Sven suggested it was a Mech. Connors kept walking around and found more hallways with singular doors and walls labelled with things like "Robotics" and "Cybernetics".

Connors continues to the third floor, as the cargo bay they entered was treated as the first floor, while Sven noticed while he tried to find a computer to interface with that the lights are likely going to come back on in a few minutes. Sven, curious about the noise, peeked into the Augmentations doorway and saw the noise was an automatic door leading outside that couldn't close because a dead body had fallen in its path, and let the others know over the comms. Finn pushed her way around Sven to look and determines the cause of death was related to the giant gash across his front reaching from the shoulder to the hip. Sven suggested grabbing whatever identification the body had to help them get deeper into the facility and everyone prepared themselves before he stepped inside cautiously. Sven stepped deeper inside and managed to take the man's ID, with the name "Dr Watanabe", and noticed the door the man was stuck to leads to a platform outside where bigger cargo would come and go. Looking around the room he was in Sven noticed half finished robotics and cybernetic parts, some of which had some flesh attached, then grabbed the Doctor's ID, and handed it to Shae who altered her clothes to be a long white lab coat.

Connors continued moving upstairs and found himself in a sitting room of sorts, with two glass paneled doors on the walls to his left and one straight ahead which were both smashed to pieces. Looking through the rooms Connors found rooms that appeared to be operation rooms with several dead people inside, slashed from shoulder to hip, with some who looked like surgeons and others that look like guards. Over the comms, Connors told the crew that he thought something these people were experimenting on must have escaped and killed everyone, and wanted them to pay attention. Back on the floor below, Finn took a dose of *Tiger* to enhance her ability to see in the dark just before she and Hans spotted a shadow, possibly human, figure dart past the constantly opening and closing door and out of sight. While Hans headed to the door to find Connors, Finn peaked out the door and saw a person climb up the side of the facility and head for the third floor and immediately warned over the comms that Connors might have company.

Connors having been warned and on the alert, noticed a noise from behind a side storage door he hadn't seen before. As Hans made it up the stairs at that moment, Connors came signalled for Hans to back up and hide and quickly dived behind a couch to hide, as a sword cut through the storage door. At the same time, Connors heard the sound of faintly mechanical steps from the floor above, then the sound of a crash, and quickly warned everyone over comms there was more than one of them. When Shae asked what they were, Connors peeked around the side of the couch and saw a human, with with kevlar plate armor with mechanical-like legs and a helmet that came down over the face in a gasmask-like shape and wielding a gnarly phase katana. As the figure turns to head back up the stairs toward the noise, he spotted Hans and the newly joined Sven in the stairwell going down.

Combat started with Connors as he peeked above the couch he hid behind, shot the mechanical person for a massive amount of damage with his submachine gun, then ducked under a table across the room to try and hide again. Finn rushed up the stairs, having known something was about to go down, pushed past the twins, activated her new helmet and seeing the target Finn didn't hesitate to blast a hole through his chest with her shotgun as Sven reached out with his hacking ability *Redistribution* to add his unspent hit dice to add to the damage, leaving the person peppered with holes through its chest limp, as it powered down and was on the ground. Sven, aware there could be more danger coming, instructed everyone to hide as he scooted around to dip into the staircase going upstairs to stay out of sight and readied to fire if anything surprised them. Sven then heard the sound of heavy feet running before a flash of something above him and foot coming down on his head, and fired on them but missed as the new assailant as he is kicked him in the face and knocked him out of the stairwell and left him *Prone*, which also caused pain for Vivian as he saw one of his children hurt.

D0C rushed up into the room, and seeing Sven knocked *Prone*, healed him quickly, as they both look up at the new figure and saw "Elysium-09" printed along the side of the kevlar. D0C tried to see if this enemy was human, but without a face and covered in body armor it was hard to tell, then took out his vibroknife "scalpel" but his stab was deflected attack by the new enemy's katana who didn't even appear to pay him any heed. Shae rushed up the stairs, with her fake lab coat flapping in the wind, as she made it into the room, stood beside Finn and took a moment to determine their assailants would take considerable damage from electric based weaponry because of their mechanical nature. Vivian squeezed his way through his allies, made it around to the stairwell going up and grappled the mechanical person and in an aggressive "hug". Hans stepped forward, activated his *Fury* and took a swing at the enemy with his phase sword.

Connors looked for anymore incoming threats trying to assess the situation, and noticing the body that he and Finn destroyed has just twitched on the ground prepared himself to fire in case the corpse moves again, while hiding himself further in a corner as he did. Finn, noting that shooting the grappled enemy might hit her allies, moved back and to the side, then warned Sven to step out of her way as she loaded two ionized shotgun shells into her gun and prepared to fire. Sven nodded his understanding, but first dropped an EMP grenade at the man's feet before Sven moved out of Finn's way, but the grappled enemy managed to kick the grenade up the stairs before it went off, although he was still hit by it, which allowed Finn to blast him with her ionized bullets, but Vivian also took the electric damage as he was still grappling him as well and both locked up in the shock of it.

The body on the ground started to spark and move up to stand, as Connors released his held action to shoot it, hitting for a decent bit of damage as the man turned to face where Connors was hiding. The grappled enemy wriggled in Vivian's grip and kicked off of the his chest to get away. D0C moved in to heal Vivian, and finding his cybernetic finger he used for his more advanced healing had also been impaired by Sven's EMP grenade, pulled out a small needle to Quick heal him, then dipped and dodged away from the fray by the stairs and hid under a rug across the room. Shae, now caught between an enemy she thought was taken care of and another, now abandoned by many of her allies who had previously been surrounding it, pull out her revolver and shot the one who she had thought was dead, but shot wide as she saw the black and blue blood gush from the large wounds left in this cyborg-like person.

Vivian backed up the stairs from the one he had previously grappled, taking a large hit, before he turned back around to shoot the enemy with his shotgun, but the blast of little pellets was mostly deflected by impossibly fast movements as the mono-edged katana cut through most of the projectiles and Vivian backed up further in annoyance. Hans called out for his father to be safe, awarded him a *Rally Die* for Vivian to use on attacks and saving throws, then rushed the newly standing enemy with his sword and sunk the blade into his existing wounds. Connors rushed on the other side of this enemy, pulled a hacker's device out of his coat pocket and attempted to hack into the cyborg but was almost instantly shut out, then disengaged from the cyborg and ran out of range and shouted to Sven that the enemies could be hacked. Finn, seeing Vivian was heavily injured, rushed past the cyborg in her way, dived up the stairs, to heal Vivian which gave an extra kick healing Vivian even more thanks to it, and tried to shoot the cyborg over her shoulder, but missed horribly.

Sven approached the second cyborg, and assuming that there was some sort of computer integrated into it that he might be able to hack, fought to find a port to plug into at the juncture of his neck, but the cyborg dodged out of the way aware of what Sven and Connors were trying to do. The cyborg that had stood up again, headed for Hans as the closest person and struck with one of his two slashes with his katana. The cyborg that had been engaged with Vivian, angered by the pot shots from him and Finn, stepped up the stairs, made two attacks on Finn, even though Finn used *Combat Medic* feature to impose disadvantage on the first strike, but both attacks still hit as Finn went unconscious on the stairs. Both cyborgs disengaged from their current encounters, backed themselves into the corner to try and rally for their next attack.

D0C, having heard Finn cry out as she fell, rushed from under the carpet, up the stairs to heal and revive her. Shae moved around the backside of Hans to get a clear shot on the cyborgs who barely failed to deflecting the bullet piercing him heavily. Vivian delicately scooted past the Docs to the bottom of the stairs while pulling out his grenade launcher, and fired the EMP grenade between the two cyborgs causing them to stutter and spark. Hans rushed the two cyborgs, encouraged Connors and giving him a *Rally Die,* then swung with his sword at the first cyborg but missed as they parried it away. Connors approached the cyborg Hans was engaged with, and with Hans's support, managed to reach up, plug into the cyborg and hack into them causing them to stop in his tracks and drop limp, then dashed to the other cyborg and pulled out his own katana.

Finn, freshly healed but no clean line of sight on either of their enemies, stepped down from the stairs, positioned herself with line of sight of both the cyborgs from a distance, then healed herself as she kept an eye on the both of them. Sven followed Connors to the remaining cyborg, used Connors as a distraction to plug into him and found there was a person under the suit, not just a fleshy robot. Sven then gave Connors two options, either Sven could find out who this person was or try to free the mind and Connors told him to free the mind. The cyborg attempted to tries to break free, but Sven's hacking ability was too strong for it to resist, while the other cyborg that had been stopped drops to the ground lifelessly. D0C looked between Finn and Vivian, and noting the many stab wounds in Vivian's physique, moved to heal him. Shae moved it to the cyborg that Sven and Connors had surrounded, pulled out her vibroknife and snipped the wires along his neck causing the body of the cyborg to go limp and useless.

Vivian stayed put posing for his teammates, while Hans moved to the next level of stairs. Connors left the last remaining cyborg for Sven to awaken and talk to, while he ran up the stairs after Hans. Finn followed after the two up the stairs and healed herself, but became locked up in a drugged haze momentarily when she made it to the top. The three that were upstairs found an elegant hallway that led to an open area where they found three dead bodies in nice clothes. Back on the third floor, Sven attempted to hack the cyborg and read his mind, but when he pushed through, the body began to scream in pain, only muffled by the mask he was wearing. Sven, not entirely understanding what was happening but feeling bad, tried to comfort them, causing the screaming cyborg to get louder for a moment, before the sound cut off and the head became limp and quiet.

D0C ran to help Sven try to find a pulse on the cyborg, but finding none instead tried to remove the mask and helmet and mask, and found a man with cybernetic eyes, stitches and staples across his skin and the neck seemed to be stitched and bolted to this robotic body. D0C's laughter stopped, his perpetual smile faded and his un-constricted as he looked over for any remaining signs of life and found one last connection still sparking a bit, which he determined would require more of an electrical shock and mechanical knowledge, as the man had been forced into augmentations and cybernetics so many times that the only thing human element left was the head on a robotic body. D0C resolved to try his best, when Sven stopped him gently and reminded him that he should ask for the patient's consent first. With the last bit of hacking ability, Sven asked the cyborg through his computer interface if he wished to live and after a long pause the only response is a simple "no". Sven mercifully unplugged the last connection, told D0C of the person's decision and D0C agreed noting he wouldn't wish to live that way either.

On the fourth floor, Hans asked Connors if he knew where the echo drive would be and suggested if they didn't to check the bodies for clues first so they didn't walk into a trap. They looked around and noted that the glass walls were labelled CEO and CFO and determined this echo drive was most likely in the CFO's office. They headed inside and spent some time looking around until they found an echo drive, unmarked and check it finding 333 trillion Wonlongs were loaded onto it. Finn told Connors that she had a bad feeling about all this and Connors replied that he didn't think Rajesh would keep his end of the deal considering what they did to Dec0. Finn took a minute to look through some files and confirmed what they already mostly expected, that this place was off the books illegal augmentation research facility part of Dubai Space Co., that experimented in augmentations that had little regard for humane practices.

At that point, the building fully powered back on as the lights came and drummed up to a hum.

1. ↑ This marks the third setting in which Jon's character has carried Haelley's character for one reason or another. The first being their audition one-shot, the second being Seren carrying Quincy across the chasm.
2. ↑ Jon had just gotten a nat 20 plus Sneak Attack damage and then Haelley rolled a nat 20 as well