Gradient Descent - Session 003

26/06/2025

Our third session of Mothership felt like something of a milestone. Afterward, one player told me he had the distinct impression we'd reached the end of the prologue and the real story was now underway.

Crew manifest—addition

Photo	Crew member	Loadout
	PVT Frank Horník Marine Archaeology, Art Athletics, BMT	Tank Top and Camo Trousers “Powered By Sarcasm and Coffee” Combat Knife Stimpak (5)

Preface

4 of the 5 players remaining at the end of the last session returned and a new player joined us. Dr Zahir's player couldn't make it, so I had to manufacture a reason for him to be incapacitated. I was up-front about it from the start, and nobody seemed to mind. I also fast-forwarded PVT Frank's waking sequence so that he could meet up with the others as quickly as possible.

Biometrics

What happened

Dr Zahir starts laughing manically, saying "They did it! They did it!" over and over. PVT Louis's HUD warns him that the Cybernetist is about to have a myocardial infarction and recommends immediate sedation. The crew grab Dr Zahir's tranq pistol from his belt and use it to knock him out. They take turns carrying him as they follow the small drone along the corridor to the Furnaces (33D).

Meanwhile, PVT Frank awakes from cryo and grabs his belongings from a locker, realising that his personal item is missing. He wanders through Gym (33B), remarking on the signs of a firefight, and eventually finds himself in the Furnaces, where he encounters the other crew members. PVT Minerva confronts him (with an empty shotgun), but ultimately decides to let him join them.

The drone leads the crew down another corridor, to a meeting room (31C) and displays a holo-sign asking them to wait. They consider peeking out the other two doors from the room, but a bell dings and an apparently blank wall opens to reveal an executive elevator (22C) containing Sal and Dr Jasone (unconscious) and soft Muzak.

They enter, the drone leaves, the doors close, and the elevator starts to ascend. (K3-V1N notices the L3 button has keycard slot next to it.) Yancy mouse crawls out of Dr Jasone's vaccsuit and climbs up EGLÉ-2's leg into his neck ring. They seem fine with it.

PVT Minerva has another memory resurface about the time she dubbed her shotgun "Gavin"—she'd grabbed it from her recently deceased CO and took out a hostile who was about to kill her (on that same nameless planet).

The lift passes L2 and PVT Frank gets on EGLÉ-2's shoulders to open the roof hatch. He has time for a quick peek (nothing exceptional) before it arrives at L1. As the doors open, the crew see a short corridor leading to Reception (22B). They deposit the 3 civilians behind the reception desk and EGLÉ-2 spends several minutes trying (unsuccessfully) to power up the embedded terminal. Meanwhile, K3-V1N wanders down the corridor opposite the lift, looking for a toilet, and enters the Meeting Room A (22D).

The 3 marines approach the stairwell leading up to the Visitors Dock (22A) and hear muffled sounds of military-sounding voices. PVT Minerva goes up a few steps and announces their presence. A team of soldier reply, instructing them to get on their knees and put their hands on their heads. They comply and a roughly ten-man fireteam descend the stairs (fully kitted out in black body armour, laser scopes, &c), zip tying each in turn. EGLÉ-2 slumps down next to the civilians and pretends to be powered off.

A member of the fire team, one PVT Pryderi, seems to recognise and addresses PVT Minerva, but accidentally calls her "sergeant" before correcting himself. This triggers another memory of a massive demotion that evokes strong feelings of resentment in the marine, who up to this point had generally assumed a leadership role for the crew. Meanwhile, sounds of approaching security androids come from the opposite stairs (to 23E).

PVT Minerva surrenders her weapon and hurriedly tells the soldiers about the civilians. They begin retreiving them, while a few set up a defensive line against the approaching patrol.

K3-V1N, finding nothing of interest in Meeting Room A, steps back out into the corridor. One of the soldiers spots him and immediately opens fire, just missing him. Nonplussed, K3-V1N ducks into Meeting Room B (22E), grabs a backpack he spots laying on a table in there, and then returns to the hallway. He complains loudly that everyone is being very rude to him today. [NOTE: K3-V1N looks exactly like a security android wearing a hazard suit.]

Preplexed by its behaviour, a grenadier immobilises K3-V1N with an EMP grenade and drags him up the stairs. They entire group retreat to a shuttle connected to the Visitors Dock (22A) by an unbilical.

The soldiers herd/carry the crew into the shuttle, dumping the civilians and 2 androids on the floor, as the security androids arrive in Reception and open fire. Some of the rearguard fall in the hail of SMG fire. The remaining soldiers drag the wounded into the shuttle and detach from the station before their position is overrun.

From the relative safety of the shuttle, the crew get their first glimpse of the CLOUDBANK™ Synthetics Production Facility, including its cast-off thruster cone, orbiting an ice giant. They also notice the cordon of ships blockading the station. The shuttle docks with the nearest troopship, and the 3 marines and 2 androids find themselves in a holding area whilst the civilians are taken to the ship's med bay.

A corporal performs a preliminary debriefing/interrogation, mentioning that Cmdr Kilroy will arrive shortly. PVT Louis reflexively mutters "killjoy" under his breathe and vaguely recalls that it isn't the first time he's done so.

Each marine submits to a medical orderly, who makes a small incision on his hand, watching to make sure that blood flows and begins clotting normally before steriling and sealing the wound. The crew guess (correctly) this is to verify that they are human.

Cmdr Kilroy enters with her bodyguards to continue the interview. PVT Minerva freely volunteers all the information she has and gives a succinct account of the past 6-8 hours: awaking from cryostasis with no long-term memory, the battle with the security androids, and so on.

Cmdr Kilroy reveals that the 3 marines had been sent to the Deep (as the station is commonly called) on a reconnaissance mission over 3 months ago, but had not returned. Dr Zahir was embedded with them as a cybernetics expert. They'd been presumed dead for some time. It is unclear who the other civilians and androids are or how they came to be there.

Cmdr Kilroy explains that Monarch is developing hyper-realistic humanoid androids; she instructs that this information must be kept secret. PVT Miranda offers the theory that Monarch is trying to keep anyone from interacting with Silas (presumably another AI) and that K3-V1N must be a prototype for a human-like personality. (K3-V1N continues to object that he is not an android!)

A scientist arrives carrying a small case, which he opens to reveal the android finger that Dr Zahir had taken from the station. Cmdr Kilroy explains that it is an "artefact" of the type that smugglers (called "Divers") often infiltrate the Deep to recover. They are unsure what this is, but it is very data-dense and could fetch as much as 1M␍ on the black market.

Satisfied for the moment, Cmdr Kilroy invites the crew members to undertake a mission to neutralise Monarch. She explains that the blockade is under strict orders not to attack the station under any circumstances. However, she beleives that the rogue AI is the single greatest threat to humanity and must be stopped at all costs.

They agree, including EGLÉ-2 who volunteers to help with computer hacking as needed; they will also return K3-V1N to the station to see how it behaves.

End-of-session vitals

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