Episode 8 - Adventures in Smuggling
Whatever deal Angelus has made with Fred Johnson gives the group access to a small tramp freighter called the Happy Wanderer. It often does the Ganymede/Callisto route delivering Organics so the group set off to Ganymede delivering some random mechanical supplies en route as cover. Joe takes it upon himself to appoint himself as ship pilot on top of gunner, torpedo officer, chief engineer and Ambassador. Angelus is not amused but lets him fly for now.
En route the group discuss their next steps. Reuben and, despite his previous loyalties, Thatch are not comfortable with Tito OR Fred Johnson getting their hands on current Martian Tech plans and, thankfully, the rest of the group agree. Lots of plans are discussed and the author kinda sorta lost track but thinks a plan was hatched where Reuben, using his first hand experience of Martian tech, will help Thatch create some very real looking but very fake data. This will be encoded onto a datachip that matches the one Tito is expecting but purposefully "damaged" to make it look like transfer corruption or similar. This will be swapped with Tito's real data and then, when they get backt o Tycho, they can conveniently let Fred know where Tito will be so he can pick him up and get the data himself. this can definitely not go wrong.
At Ganymede they stop over for a few days shore leave both for appearances and also to give Thatch time to create the data. Joe enlists the good doctor in trying to find a genuine MCRN datakey to put the data on incase this is what Tito is given. the Doctor somehow wins one in a very dodgy cardgame from some MCRN officers while, in the background, the news reports on a build in tensions between the MCRN and UNN "protection forces" in orbit...
Thatch creates the data then spends some time decrypting the MCRN data key Victor acquired. On it he finds reports from a team of Auditors investigating shipping discrepancies in arms shipments from Callisto all signed off by one Dutch Hogan... It seems our contact is already being watched. Thatch then encodes our "real" data onto the data key as well as a standard model one just incase.
With 10 days to complete the transfer they reach Callisto with 2 days to spare, calling ahead to let Dutch know their ETA. On the way in the ship is boarded for a standard inspection. Most of the crew pass fine however Reuben, ex Marine that he is, flags up despite his fake ID (pesky DNA) and is told not to hang around too long. Tito and his deadly shadow are told they must not leave the ship while docked. Orbital space is full of various MCRN ships as you'd expect but one dark ship with no transponder draws the eye...
Ziang convinces Tito to give him the datakey so he can do the exchange with Dutch on their behalf. Joe and the good doctor take the datakey into town along with he dummy one and convinces a local to help him swap the case over while Ziang and Reuben head in to explore the area and to make it look normal. Thatch puts on his armoured Vac suit ("only one I've got") and heads out to "supervise" the unloading of the supplies by the local dockhands as he keeps an eye out for Dutch who was supposed to meet Ziang at the ship. Angelus has a long conversation with Tito to "get to know him".
After two hours Thatch radios in to confirm no one has approached the ship. Angelus informs Tito who seems very agitated at the news. Thatch quickly looks up Dutch's address and sends it to Reuben and Ziang in the dome before heading there himself.
They reach the door to find it shut and wait for Thatch to arrive to pop the door (
One job). Inside they find signs of a struggle, blood on the floor.... Oh and a belter woman strapped to a bed with an arm full of needles. Signs point towards Dutch leaving under his own steam rather than being dragged. The Good doctor is called who quickly examines the patient. It seems she is getting treatment on the MHS (Martian Health Service obviously) for some sort of deblitating bone disease. She's about two hours away from the end of her treatment but, at a loose end, the group decide to wake her early...