Timeline: 111-1143 to 112-1143

The captain had heard enough. She and the ret of the crew would keep a keen eye on the XO, but she’d served with him for years and his ‘betrayal’ was far from clear. If Walken wanted to complete his assignment he’d need to shut up and accept Karl’s participation. Walken, calming down, reluctantly assented.

As the Rocinante made towards the mainworld the group hatched their plan. They would secretly deploy their survey probe as an orbital communication relay and, during atmospheric entry, leave the ship at high altitude using gravitic vehicles. The ship’s computer would then pilot itself towards the starport and set down. Kemp spent the next few hours running sims of the drop while Neel re-tasked the probe.

The probe was deployed successfully just before entering Umber’s atmosphere on approach vector. Upon hitting the stratosphere 15km up, Kemp slaved the two grav bikes to the air/raft computer and (with everyone attached securely to their vehicle) opened the bay doors. The -40°C wind at Mach 6 meant the manoeuvre was dangerous, but Kemp’s simulations had prepared him well. The decelerating ship flipped to allow a rear exit from the bay and Kemp took them out. The group free-fell for 6km before Kemp activated the contra-grav effectors and levelled them off. Helena connected to the probe: they were all set.

They were 1,000 klicks from the Mastarsais Sea where they’d encountered ‘Ortega’ previously, with about six hours ETA. While the Rocinante landed, Walken sent his custom worm via the probe uplink to Umber’s quarantine database so that Jesus was kosher. Jesus, the only member of the group not to have met Ortega, called him to arrange a game fishing trip that evening. Ortega sounded pleased at the innocuous charter...but Jesus had told him he’d arrived 24 hours ago. That was a mistake; Mr. Franco’s quarantine details didn’t match – and Neel’s forgery had been poor. If Ortega really was Mears, he knew something was up. And a storm was coming – quite literally; a Scale 14 weather system was due to hit Navaru Island in seven hours.

The group arrived at the island as the winds and waves started to whip up. Jesus immediately went into Erin Bay looking for the Vigilance – and got lost. Karl and Kemp (keeping a suspicious eye on him) had better luck, managing to find a table at a Turkish coffee house within sight of Ortega’s boat. However, Kemp managed to insult – unwittingly – the fat and hairy man who owned the establishment. Satisfaction was demanded, in the form of traditional nude oil wrestling. A crowd formed, bets were placed, and Karl beat him easily...but it was enough to distract Kemp from the appearance of Ortega, who put a gun in Karl’s back and took him hostage. While Kemp searched the area for Karl, Ortega bundled his captive into a submarine and headed away.

Jesus noticed the Vigilance moving off and started to follow it on his grav bike as it headed towards the incoming storm at speed. Walken believed the time for caution was past. He contacted Governor Myan and revealed his High Council warrant, asking for all vessels to be prevented from leaving the starport and for the Rocinante to be granted full leave of the system. Helena ordered the Rocinante to rendezvous with their position via rapid parabolic vector. Twenty minutes inbound, a nuclear missile launched from the Mastarsais sea bed targeting the Rocinante. ECM failed to jam the missile, but the captain ordered a decoy be deployed and this was successful. The missile detonated a few kilometres from the ship, bathing it in radiation; fortunately the Rocinante had been hardened against EMP risks and appeared to suffer no ill effect.

Meanwhile, Jesus couldn’t follow the Vigilance into the storm and tried instead to hypothesise its vector from above the maelstrom. He was called back to the ship; the probe had tracked the missile’s origin and so been sent in for an underwater scan – it had picked up the submarine on sonar. The Vigilance was likely a diversionary tactic. The submarine had reached a small undersea habitat near the island.

The group boarded the Rocinante and took her down to the habitat. After debating tactics, they opened fire on the habitat. Inside, Ortega was hit in the leg and started losing blood rapidly. Karl applied a tourniquet and took him to the sub, sending it to the surface. He opened the hatch and contacted the ship. Dr. Hendricks ignored Walken’s prohibitions and went down to treat Ortega’s injury, which was life-threatening. Walken believed Karl had been in league with Ortega and ordered Kemp to protect the doctor – and shoot the XO. Kemp saw no need for that. He took a stun gun instead. When Karl saw it he leapt at the bodyguard, throwing him overboard while being stunned into unconsciousness himself. Jesus fished him out.

Ortega was sedated and taken to sickbay, with Karl restrained in a nearby bed. The captain ordered everyone out except Dr. Hendricks. It was time for answers...