On the mission this week were:
- Captain Evelyn Shaw - captain of the Haimai (Manoj)
- Yusuf Qadir - pilot of the Haimei, born and bred on Mars (Stefan)
- Dr Arjun Malik - ITRC scientist, specialising in artificial intelligence (Kelvin)
Malik is contacted by Rosa Vega and asked to a covert meeting in abandoned mining tunnels on Phobos. Although very suspicious, the crew meet with Vega who reveals she was busted out of ITRC custody by Red Echo, an organisation whose ideals she says she is now aligned with. Vega is able to provide the crew with a direct comms link with senior Red Echo operative Samantha del Toro to prove her bona fides.
Red Echo wants the Haimei to investigate Project Black Glass, a secret ITRC installation on Mercury, near its north pole, which Vega heard about while in ITRC custody. They claim they don't have the resources to do it themselves, but say they need to know what is going on there, and ideally gain evidence that could perhaps be broadcast publically ("People need to know what's going on.") Vega offers to come with the crew on the mission and they agree. She also provides them with a covert transponder which would allow the Haimei to operate under the assumed identity of a research vessel from another corporation. She apologises to Yusuf Qadir for betraying him on the Moon.
Returning to his lab, Malik carries out additional research into Black Glass. He finds it has been present on Mercury for over three years, and is loosely described as the Helios Deep Materials Laboratory. It went silent six days before the meeting with Vega and ITRC is in the process of equipping a ship to go and investigate. Malik also finds evidence of a determined and sophisticated effort to break into his data storage systems, although this failed. It originated on Phobos.
Haimei blasts off having manufactured a fake mission out to Jupiter, then doubles back towards Mercury under its assumed identity. Landing at the Project Black Glass base they find all the lights on and life support operating normally. The same cannot be said for the three resident scientists and their bodyguard, who seem to be under some kind of mysterious influence.
They all keep talking about 'the message' and how the PCs need to listen for it. They seem unstartled by the arrival of the Haimei at the base nor are they troubled about being tied up. They have an ability to end each other's sentences and even anticipate questions before they are asked. Malik senses a similar influence to the one NODE had over the crew of the Tianlu. Dr Sana al-Haddad, the neuroscientist, offers to show the party the Message on her EECG monitor (which she had been connected to when they found her), but the offer is refused.
Investigating the AI lab, Malik finds no evidence of NODE, but can see the scientists were developing a new and similar AI, although work is not complete. Although not able to see onto the lowest level of the Black Glass complex using the base security systems, the crew discovers that Black Glass has some kind of large crystal on that level which has been mined from a larger seam on Mercury, and which the scientists were studying. This seems capable of receiving and amplifying some kind of mysterious message. The decision by Professor Viktor Reznik to radically amplify that transmission precipitated a sudden cessation of further record keeping and indeed communication with the outside world.
The scientists encourage the crew to go down to the next level to talk to the crystal and hear the Message - the crew refuses. Malik downloads all the data from the base servers and makes two copies.
The crew decide to set up an alert in case another vessel gets too close to Black Glass and immediately detect the approach of an armed ITRC assault shuttle which is only 30 minutes out. They decide to evacuate the base with their captives but worry that they are not going to have the thrusters to escape the ITRC vessel [GM note - they are correct in this evaluation]. Vega sheepishly admits that Red Echo has a ship in orbit on the other side of Mercury and that the party are being used as guinea pigs to investigate Black Glass in advance of Red Echo entering the facility - del Toro did not want to risk her own people, she explains. Vega communicates with the Red Echo ship at Shaw's urgent request, which says it will come to try to intercept the ITRC shuttle.
A discussion is quickly held as to what to do with the base - the crew eventually agree on Vega's plan to override the geothermal reactors, giving them 15 minutes to get out before it all goes up. With the reactors heading towards overload, the crew head to the surface with their captives. The Haimei blasts off from the launch bay just as the ITRC ship is touching down, depositing six troopers in combat armour on the surface of Mercury, who start running towards the entrance to the base. The corporate vessel then begins to take off in pursuit of the Haimei. Yusuf Qadir - using a voice scrambler concocted by a stressed Malik - warns the pilot of the shuttle that the base is about to explode. Luckily [GM note - VERY luckily], the pilot disobeys orders and goes back down to the surface to extract the assault team. This gives the Haimei time to escape and rendezvous with Red Echo outside sensor range.
Del Toro turns out to be on the vessel and takes custody of the prisoners and data files. Vega also decides to go with her, despite her feelings for Qadir, as she is still a fugitive from ITRC. Del Toro tells the crew it would be better if they continue to operate inside ITRC rather than defect to Red Echo outright. She says she will be back in touch soon. She provides Malik with a suit of combat armour at Shaw's request.
Returning covertly to Phobos the crew deposit the stolen data files with Malik who analyses them further. He discovers that Project Black Glass found evidence of more than one organic 'receiver' in the solar system, including the crystal organisms on Europa, which seem to have grown in response to external transmissions. Reznik ordered the crystal samples be sent to Black Glass for analysis but the Erasmus base was destroyed before they could be dispatched. The most powerful receiver was the one under Mercury, however. All the 'receivers' are responding to a signal coming from outside the solar system...
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