The marines (and marshal) made an arrangement with the UPP commander. They would go down into the Fort Nebraska sublevels and clear out whatever was killing off the soldiers that the major had sent down there. In exchange, Major Liu promised he would not nuke the colony. And he would allow them all to leave with any of the remaining USCM forces.
The group loaded up with gear from the armory and made plans. They didn't trust the UPP major. So instead, the plan was to visit the nuclear storage and set some of the weapons to blow up the base. Then go to the reactor and restore the power. Then head to sublevel 3 in search of some answers and medical assessment.
The main question was how to get out of there alive. Iona revealed that he knew a way out. He told them about his encounter with Mallory Eckford and how she offered them an extraction through the UPP blockade - if they could get to the orbital platform above the colony. Everyone was deeply skeptical of Iona's clandestine activities. But nobody had a better idea. So they decided to take their chances with that plan.
Act III Agendas
Iona: This might all come together. Play your cards right and you could come out of this with a nice little payday. Go back to Earth and get a nice little shack near the beach somewhere.
You just need to: 1. Find that black goo 2. Get the base and space elevator powered up 3. Find a good radio to call your new friends for a pick-up 4. Ride off into the sky.
Zmijewski: This is actually pretty fun. What's left on the bucket list? How about killing something with a fire axe. That smart-ass UPP Major would be best. But maybe you'll find something else.
Carvalho: You can't trust the UPP Major. But you can make him regret sending USCM marines to do his clean-up. Between the reactor and the base's nuclear stockpile, you should be able to make this place useless to the UPP and clean out any "special projects" in the bargain.
Marshal Hyram: The people left on the colony need to come first. With Imre Botos dead you might be able to find your way to a decent future for this place - even if it means cutting a deal with the UPP Major.
Dante: You just need to get through this. Just stay alive. Nothing else matters.
GM's Plan: I wanted to have some time for some tense, but uneventful movement through the base. And then bring on the xenos. I had plans for 2 egg-cluster nests. One in the SL2 reactor maintenance pits. The other, with Jaell in SL3 isolation ward B. I planned for five xeno drones: One would guarding the SL2 nest. One would be hunting solo. The remaining three would be hunting in a pack. I figured I would introduce them as needed and play them as very dangerous. I also wanted to finish the base run in a single session.
The group entered sublevel 1 through the sallyport, cut through the dispatch office, and went over to the arming station - which had ladders and elevator platforms that allowed them to slip into the SL2 ammo depot.
They used the batteries from a power lifter to power up the blast doors to the nuclear storage and hacked them open. They then found one of the nuclear missiles, removed it from it's housing, and rigged it to detonate in 3:33:33.
The marshal wasn't entirely comfortable with the nuke-the-base plan. He climbed back up to SL1 and secretly called Major Liu. Marshal Hyram tried to convince the UPP major to transfer all the captive USCM soldiers to a ship they could leave on. Despite his lack of leverage, he was somewhat successful. The major promised to uphold his end of the bargain and would let the marshal know when things were ready.
With the nuke rigged to detonate, the marines tried, unsuccessfully, to hack or bust their way into the munitions room. Failing that, they elected to travel via the maintenance shafts - which they entered from the northern end of ammo depot, next to the door to munitions.
Iona took the lead as they traveled west along the shaft towards reactor control and maintenance. At the turn in the tunnel, Iona heard the soft hiss of a xenomorph lying in wait around the corner. He swung around the corner and emptied his smartgun - sending round after round into the startled xeno. Iona breathed a sigh of relief as the monster flopped down in the maintenance shaft. It immediately jumped up and dragged him around the corner.
The marshal and Carvalho stepped forward to see the beast poised to finish off Iona. They fired with their pulse rifle and incinerator and watched the flaming creature bound off into the maintenance room.
After that, there was a prolonged discussion about whether to proceed down the shaft. The group felt it likely they would all be killed. But also lacked a better plan. The conversation was cut short when another xenomorph bounded into the shaft and promptly crushed Iona's skull with the piston-strike of it's powerful inner jaw. Dante and the marshal fled down the maintenance tunnel. The alien pounced on Carvalho but didn't inflict serious damage before Zmijewski was able to shoot it off and the two of them killed it with rifle fire and flame.
The team regrouped and made their way down the maintenance shaft. They found $10,000 UAD cash on Iona's body and a plastic calling card for " ICSC Calypso". They continued to the reactor maintenance pits.
There they saw the smoldering xeno corpse and shafts filled with eggs - along with marines, scientists, and UPP soldiers encased in black resin. A young UPP soldier called out to them from the nest, seemingly alert and alive. They pulled the soldier free from the resin. Later she would introduce herself as PFC Li Xiu Ling. They then burned the remains of the nest with their incinerators.
The nuclear power plant was under emergency shut-down due to damage to the cooling loops. Carvalho was able to bypass safeguards and restarted the reactor. As the reactor was spinning up, and power was being restored, they noticed another xenomorph entering the reactor from the east maintenance tunnel. It was time to go.
They closed the door to the maintenance pits behind them and started running down the power walk towards the elevator loading dock. The alien came crashing through the door in pursuit. Dante lined up a shot with her M5 rocket launcher and hit the alien squarely. It burst through the explosion and landed next to Li, but then paused and hissed at her, hesitating to strike. Li fired the pulse rifle the marines had given her. She emptied the magazine at the monster with little effect. It attacked, clawing at her. Zmijewski blasted it off. Li and Dante fired their pistols into it to make sure it was dead.
Carvalho and Marshal Hyram reached the elevator loading dock and were immediately pounced upon by another pair of aliens. They were both knocked to the ground, their weapons sent spinning away from them, the aliens staring at them with almost playful menace. Zmijewski rounded the corner and shot the alien on the marshal, driving it back. Hyram drew his magnum fired into the face of the alien blowing it to pieces.
The xenomorph on Carvalho tore into him, lacerating areas unprotected by his armor. The marshal and Zmijewski blasted it, and the acid splash burnt through Carvalho's boot and melted away a portion of his left foot. The beast sprinted off and disappeared back into the maintenance shaft.
Carvalho was blind with pain. Once again he could feel the force within him telling him to rise up and fight through his injuries. Marshal Hyram saw black bile streaming from his eyes and the cuts on his body, leaking through the thick bandages around his abdomen. He told him to relax and let them tend to his wounds. Carvalho sank back down and tried to remain calm.
Power was being restored and the floodlights on the space elevator turned on, illuminating the elevator airlock and beckoning them to climb aboard and escape.
Session 5: played on 5/6/2021
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