Syndicated Politics

The crew meet up with Rajani Van Dorne expecting Lucas McCrary, but end up finding more than what they had bargained for

Short Summary
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Detailed Summary
The date is November 1, 3200. Two days are left before the Swan Song’s spike drive is upgraded. It is currently night time and Prosper Trudeau and Mr. Sicarian are walking to the Swan Song.

Pi’s Deed
Prosper looks at his grotesque, beat-up reflection in a puddle on the ground. Seeing his face this way reminds him of recent events; the destruction of Andoni, the struggles that he is having with Pi...

Mr. Sicarian and Prosper walk into the dismantled Swan Song, unprotected from the rain that assaults them from above. Pi whispers over the intercoms to be quiet because Piani Pic is sleeping in her room. Prosper goes into his room, pours himself a drink, and then explains the story to Pi of how he had recently gotten jumped by goons in his hotel room just half an hour ago. He explains how he thinks Pi may have taken information from Lucas’ brain, information that the goons were after. Pi tells Prosper that human memory is not like an AI’s memory, that humans only remember highlights, bits and pieces of information that they find significant. Pi then says that they had helped Lucas remember various access codes from the Cabralese government, and then stripped them of that information.

Connor Wu Will Not Remember This
It is currently 4 am and everyone is asleep... well almost everyone. Wilbur Higgins III hears a knock on his door. He opens it and standing in front of him is a completely wasted Connor Wu. Wu smells like he had been bathing in the liquor that was once in the empty bottle that’s in his hand, he also has a trace of blue on his lips. Wu staggers into the room and asks Higgins to get him another drink. Higgins returns with a glass of water and Wu drinks it as he tells Higgins a story of how he had never shot a man up until this day and how he never meant to kill anyone. Once the story is finished Wu begins to sob. Higgins sees this and “slaps the shit out of him”. With a clearer mind, Wu wanders over to the toilet and eventually falls asleep. Before Higgins goes to sleep however, he sends an email to captain Buford that reads, “Hey captain, told a story about you the other day, would be nice to see you on Cabral. –Higgs”.

Rajani’s Package
The next couple of days pass uneventfully and the Swan Song’s upgrade finishes. Before departing for the ship, Higgins gets a call from Rajani Van Dorne who tells him that she has something of his and that she would like for him to come down and pick up ‘the body’. Sniffing out a trap, Higgins tries to convince Rajani to bring the body to the Swan Song but is unsuccessful. Higgins then informs the rest of the crew of Rajani’s call and tells them to prepare for the worst.

The crew find themselves in a deserted sector in the industrial mining fields of Majid. They are surrounded by plenty of smoke and fire, but no civilians can be seen aside from the occasional cargo truck that drives by. The building that they were told to meet at is a large parking garage that has two visible entrances. Prosper gets tucked away into an eagle’s nest looking down at both of them through the sights of his sniper rifle, Amélie. Before entering, Piani uses ‘omen’ and determines that there is a high probability that they will get into a fight if they enter the garage. Despite the warnings of danger, Higgins knocks on the door.

A man in camo-fatigues opens the door [he has a patch of two red scimitars that cross one another] holding his combat rifle to the ground. Higgins tells the man that if Rajani would like to have a conversation, they can have it outside. The man turns and yells some words in an unknown language into the room and after a few moments, Rajani appears in the doorway. Mr. Sicarian tells Rajani about how Prosper got ambushed by goons the night before and that he thinks they were sent by the Syndicate. Rajani tells him that she has no knowledge of any sent goons, but that she does have an associate of hers that would like to speak to all of them.

[Prosper is left alone in the tower] The inside of the building looks deserted aside from a couple of armed guards pacing around. Rajani puts on a respirator from a nearby wall and beckons for the crew to do the same. Once everyone has on a respirator, Rajani leads the crew downstairs into a ‘sweat shop’ type room where there are many younger kids processing Blue Fever. The crew then get lead down a couple of floors until they arrive at a large submarine door. Everyone goes inside and the door is closed behind them. Aside from the crew, inside are four armed guards, Rajani Van Dorne, Kalaya Bia, and Mustafa Lee. Rajani clears her throat and says, “Well, I think everybody knows each other.”

The Meeting
Kalaya looks at Higgins and tells him that he is a hard man to track down and that she is happy that the two of them are finally able to have this conversation. Kalaya then gets right to the point and asks Higgins where the access codes are [At this point, Piani and Prosper are the only ones that know about the access codes that Pi stole from Lucas’ brain, and only Prosper knows that they are codes that come from the Cabralese Government]. Higgins asks Kalaya what access codes she is talking about and Kalaya tells him that McCrary had the codes at some point, but ever since being in contact with the crew, he doesn’t have them anymore. Without properly knowing, Mr. Sicarian tells Higgins that Pi took the access codes from Lucas’ brain back on the ship right before they handed him over to the Syndicate. Higgins tells Kalaya that getting the codes from Pi will be more complicated than it seems, that Pi may not listen to him or any of the other crew members and that he may require their help. It is at this point that Kalaya slides her comm pad across the table and shows Higgins a video-feed of a beat-up Connor Wu contained in a prison cell somewhere with a guard pointing a gun at him. Kalaya then calmly asks if that will be motivation enough for Higgins to go get the access codes that she needs.

Higgins says to Kalaya that he doesn’t care about the ship’s mechanic and that they can pull the trigger if they want to. Kalaya shrugs and orders one of her guards to do something in an unknown language. As the guard begins to talk into his radio, black tendrils leap out from Mr. Sicarian’s suit and plunge themselves into the guard’s body, filling him with terror and causing him to drop to the ground immediately. Rajani flips over the table in front of her causing there to be a wall between Higgins with Piani, and Kalaya with Rajani. Mustafa Lee who is on the opposite side of the room from Mr. Sicarian calmly reaches into his belt and activates a shield that encompasses his entire body. Before anyone else is able to act, Higgins pulls out the pin to one of his ten grenades, holds it above his head, and yells for everyone to listen up. Everyone points their guns at one another but nobody shoots, knowing that if the ten grenades go off in such a small room, no one will be getting out of there alive. Mustafa tells Higgs that it doesn’t have to be this way, that no one has to die, and that they just want the access codes that their Artificial Intelligence has.

Meanwhile Outside
“Crew of the Swan Song... Piani... Sicarian come-in... Sicarian we agreed not to joke like this...” Not getting a response, Prosper tries to connect with Pi but immediately after, he begins to hear the tones of his comms trying to re-establish a connection with the ship’s router. He then grudgingly spends the next few minutes resetting his connection through voice prompts. Once the connection is made, Pi tells Prosper that an EMP went off and that they think someone came and took Wu. Prosper says that he needs Pi at his location and Pi tells him that it will take a few minutes to boot up the ship before they are able to head over.

The Meeting
Still holding up the grenades, Higgins continues to insist that he will not be able to get the codes from Pi, and suggests that someone come with him to verify just how impossible it is. Kalaya then says something to Rajani in the same unknown language and Rajani responds with a very angry tone, but then turns to Higgins and tells him that she will go with him to his ship. Everyone then goes back upstairs and once their comms are connected again, Higgins tells Prosper not to shoot at Rajani and that they are coming out of the building.

Prosper says over comms that the Swan Song is on its way and asks to be filled in on the situation. Mr. Sicarian tells Prosper that they are having a rough time with negotiations and that they don’t have time to completely fill Prosper in on what’s happening, but that the Syndicate have Wu detained. Prosper then says that he will tell Pi to remain where they are unless he is told more information. Mr. Sicarian simply tells Prosper that it is his decision to make whether he sides with the crew or not.

Pi then says over comms that they are flight-ready and asks if they should bring the Swan Song over to the crew’s location. Higgins tells Pi that everything is okay and that they’ll just be taking the jeep back to the ship. The crew then get into the jeep and head towards Prosper’s location, but before they arrive, Prosper tells them that he won’t be accompanying them back to the ship. Higgins obeys and then the crew turn around and head to the Swan Song. As they are driving, Mr. Sicarian says to Higgs that Prosper made another choice that went against the crew and that he thinks it’s pretty obvious which side Prosper is on.

Prosper Trudeau
Prosper says to Pi that his time with the crew is finished and that Pi is able to contact him whenever they need, but that he will be heading back to Cabral. Pi tells Prosper that they don’t understand and Prosper responds that neither does he. Pi says to Prosper that he is supposed to protect them and that he should come back to the ship. Prosper says that he can’t trust his fellow crew members anymore, and that he will come back to the ship as quickly as he can, but that it probably will not end very well. Prosper then climbs down from the tower and begins to run for the Swan Song [which is not terribly far away].

The Access Codes
As the crew [aside from Prosper] walk onto the deck of the Swan Song, they see visible blood-stains on the ground and what looks to be drag marks from a bloody body. Immediately, Piani goes into her room and asks Pi what the access codes are for. Pi explains to Piani that the codes deal with the Cabralese government but that they are old and don’t work anymore. Piani says that it isn’t their problem and to just give the Syndicate the old codes.

Pi then connects with Prosper and says that La Phantome has already changed the access codes because the old ones were compromised. Pi then suggests that they make new, working codes and give them to the Madari Syndicate so that they can get Wu back and then Prosper can come back to the ship. Prosper says that sometimes, relationships go so far that they can’t be taken back, and that if Pi is able to keep La Phantome safe, then he trusts Pi’s judgment.

After Pi explains the situation to Piani, Prosper says to Piani that he can’t come back to the ship because he can’t go along with the plan of handing over access codes that will endanger both his home planet as well as the Order of Annunciation. Piani explains the entire situation to the rest of the crew and Pi explains to everyone that giving the Madari Syndicate the access codes is very dangerous and that it could endanger the lives of thousands of people.

Piani goes up to Rajani and asks her where Wu is. Rajani tells her that she doesn’t know, that ‘they’ don’t tell her anything. Piani says that they will give her the access codes but that they need to know where Wu is first. Rajani simply shrugs and Piani walks up to her, slaps her, and tells her that she is at witt’s end with all of the bullshit and that if ‘they’ are going to treat her crewmates (Wu) like shit, then she will treat her (Rajani) like shit. Rajani says that she is sorry, but that she doesn’t know where Piani’s friend is. Piani then storms out of the room. Rajani explains to Higgins that Mustafa and Kalaya have been at each other’s throats for years and that this gig is supposed to help them out in some way and that they usually don’t do things like this. She also warns Higgins that if they were to cross the Syndicate, then there would be no running away. Higgins asks Rajani if it was her who sent the goons after Prosper and Rajani says no, that it was probably Mustafa or Kalaya trying to one-up the other and get the codes first.

Piani comes back to the crew and explains that they have a choice, they can either give the codes to the Syndicate and save Wu which will get many people killed on Cabral, or they can refuse to give the codes to the Syndicate which will cause Wu to die. Higgins immediately says that they will give the codes to the Syndicate but Mr. Sicarian interrupts him and says that there is no way that they can give up the codes, sacrificing thousands just to save Wu. Mr. Sicarian then says that if they don’t give the codes to the Syndicate, Kalaya Bia and Mustafa Lee will be hunting them down forever, so they just need to go back to the parking garage and kill them first. Mr. Sicarian then asks to borrow Higgins’ bandolier filled with grenades and says that he will go handle the situation. Higgins tells Mr. Sicarian that he doesn’t wish to die today, hands over the grenades, and then says that he’ll have the ship ready to quickly come and pick up Mr. Sicarian if the situation calls for it. Mr. Sicarian then goes with Rajani into the jeep and leaves towards the parking garage. Piani looks at Higgins and goes, “What the fuck?” and then looks at the jeep pulling away and goes, “What the fuck? and then quickly runs out of the ship, steals a nearby motorbike, and follows behind Mr. Sicarian.

The Engagement
As Mr. Sicarian drives the jeep back to the parking garage, he comms Prosper that he is en route back to the facility, that they will not be handing over the codes to the Syndicate, that Wu may die, and that he would really appreciate any help that he could get. Prosper pauses for a moment and then simply says, “Affirmative” as he begins to run back to the parking garage. Rajani suggests to Mr. Sicarian that once Kalaya and Mustafa die, a new position in the Syndicate will be opening up, and that she would love to fill that position herself and have the crew on her side. Mr. Sicarian tells Rajani that she seems to be a decent human being aside from working with the Madari Syndicate. Rajani pulls out the chamber of her gun, spins it, and then locks it back in.

Mr. Sicarian and Rajani pull up to the warehouse and walk in. Once inside, Rajani speaks an unknown language into her comms and then tells Mr. Sicarian that they are coming up to meet them on the floor below. They walk down into the room where blue fever is being processed and Mr. Sicarian pulls the pin on one of the grenades (without priming it) and waits. Up from the ladder, Connor Wu appears bloody with a bag over his head. Behind Connor are four guards as well as Mustafa Lee and Kalaya Bia. Half way across the room, Mr. Sicarian tells them to halt and says that he has the access codes out in his jeep and that he wants Rajani and Wu to go get them and that he will remain as collateral. Mustafa looks at Rajani and says that she can go get the codes herself. Rajani then walks towards the exit but before she leaves, she looks back at Mr. Sicarian. Mr. Sicarian nods and she immediately begins to run. Mr. Sicarian says to the remaining people, “You know, it’s a shame when innocence and good people have to die for a better cause. You understand what I’m saying don’t you?” The guards begin to pull their guns out but not before Mr. Sicarian mumbles under his breath, “I’m sorry Wu.” Mr. Sicarian throws the bandolier of grenades out in front of him and the scene ends with the slow motion of the grenades and their pins bouncing off the concrete floor.

Recap video

Crew Status

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Ship Status

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Criminal Activities

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Business

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 * Debt Paid Off On Swan Song:
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