Hypocrisy & Purity

The crew makes a hasty retreat off Onintza and Erik learns that members of the Purity Initiative may not be as pure as they seem.

Short Summary
News Report Recap by Lauren-Danger

While the crew are going to their ship to get off Onintza and take Loren Desoto to Vinaya (although he thinks he's going to Strophios), the crew get attacked by goons and Alpharius gets hit by an EMP. Standing by the ship at the time, Erik uses his psychic powers to float Alpharius over to him. This gains the attention of the goons and Erik gets knocked unconscious. Higgins, Piani, Ichiro, and Desoto are nearby in a limo and decide to circumvent the goons by driving the limo into the swan song's cargo bay. Alpharius ends up regaining consciousness and takes Erik into the cargo bay before the goons have a chance to catch up with them. Pi then uses the ship's sand thrower to kill all the goons. Taking advantage of Ichiro getting knocked unconscious due to the car crash, Higgins walks over to him and shoves a piece of metal into his neck, ending his life. Higgins then takes off with the ship against the police's wishes. The Swan Song gets hit with a SAM, but it does not go down. Three ships then chase after the Swan Song. One of the ships gets destroyed by the sand thrower and another is able to land a hit on the Swan Song before it makes its retreat into space. While travelling to Vinaya, Erik uses morphine to help make Desoto compliant after the traumatic car crash. He later finds out that the Purity Initiative exemplar had previously been addicted to morphine. As a result, Desoto goes crazy and rushes out of the medbay only to get locked into the airlock and pass out. In his newly compliant state, the crew hand over Desoto to Rajani without any problems and she thanks them for a job well-done.

Detailed Summary
The date is January 30, 3201. The crew are currently on a mission for Rajani Van Dorne to take Purity Initiative exemplar Loren Desoto from Onintza to Vinaya. The ruse is that they are pretending to be escorts taking him to Strophios.

Premise
The scene pans through space until it becomes fixated on a grey and red planet. The title reads, 'Strophios'. Once the title fades out, the perspective zooms onto the planet but only blackness can be seen. The only things discernible amongst the dark are the voices of a large crowd. Gradually, the shroud of blackness is unveiled, revealing a stage with several men and women kneeling with black hoods over their heads and their hands tied behind their backs. Behind the line of detained people stand a group of men in red robes, representative members of the Purity Initiative. One of the red-robed men walks to the front of the stage and sermons to the crowd below that purity is no longer the concern of just one planet, but every planet in the system. That purity will be important to guide humanity through the dark times to come, and that he is thankful to be given the gift that the New Prophet has given him. The robed-man then holds up a rivet gun, walks over to one of the tied up men, and begins to dismantle his cybernetic arm. To the sound of the rivet gun's echo, the crowd begins to chant, 'Purity Now, Purity Forever'.

Let's Get Off This Planet
A new scene fades in, but the echoing of the rivet gun never fades out. A goon holding up a rivet gun lunges towards Alpharius who has been made immobile due to a recently fired EMP. From the cover of the Swan Song, Erik Fretheim uses his power 'Complex Manipulation' in order to lift Alpharius into the air and float him next to where Erik is standing. Five other goons who were also going after Alpharius then turn to take shots at Erik. Just as Erik brings Alpharius over to himself, he gets perforated by lasers and knocked unconscious. Alpharius re-gains mobility just in time for the limo containing Ichiro, Desoto, Piani Pic, and Wilbur Higgins III to completely pass by he and Erik and crash directly into the newly set-up passenger seats in the Swan Song's cargo-bay.

Thankfully for Piani and Higgins, they had put on their seatbelts before the crash. Unfortunately for Ichiro and Desoto, they had not, and as a result, both of them are knocked unconscious and bleeding. As Higgins and Piani stumble out of the limo, they hear the spin and pop of the ship's sand-thrower. Outside, small pieces of silicon shoot out in all directions at ultra-fast speeds, relinquishing the entire group of goons in a single shot. Due to the cover of the Swan Song, Alpharius and Erik are both unscathed.

With several ships in the area having their windows broken, the crew hears the cacophony of many loud car alarms going off all at the same time. With a cigar in his mouth and a jagged piece of metal in his hand, Higgins begins to walk over to Ichiro. Not conscious enough to know what's going on, Ichiro attempts to swat away the encroaching danger, but he is too weak as Higgins is easily able to jab the sharp piece of metal into Ichiro's throat. Wanting to get off-planet as soon as possible, Higgins un-docks the ship and begins to leave the atmosphere. Seconds after lift-off, the Swan Song receives a hail from the planet's police-force saying that all air-traffic in the area is prohibited and that all ships will have to remain grounded until police arrive. Over comms, Higgins pretends that his connection is full of static and that their ship is currently under attack. He then closes the connection and continues to leave despite the police warning. Soon enough, the bridge HUD flashes red as a missile locks onto the Swan Song. Seconds after, the crew hears a loud pop as the ship tilts sideways, wobbles a little bit, and then continues to climb out of the atmosphere. Not wanting to give up that easily, three Purity Initiative fighters give chase to the Swan Song. Queue Mad Max: Fury Road Flamethrower Guitarist

All three pursuing ships fire at the Swan Song, but only one of the projectiles hits as the Swan Song retreats into another phase. In response, Higgins aims the Swan Song's sand-thrower and releases a gout of sand into the air. Not having time to evade the attack, one of the pursuing ships enters the cloud of sand from one side, but only pieces come out the other. With its newly upgraded spike-drive, the Swan Song is able to make a hasty retreat and leave the two remaining ships in the dust.

Loren Desoto
Desoto wakes up, groaning in pain. Erik who is in the room with him, asks Desoto how he is feeling. Groggy and confused, Desoto asks what had happened. Erik explains that they had been pursued by members of the Purity Initiative but they have successfully gotten away. Desoto sits up and cautiously asks where Ichiro is. Erik solemnly says that Ichiro couldn't make it. Hearing this, Desoto lies back down and falls unconscious.

While the crew travels to Vinaya, Erik keeps Desoto docile with the use of morphine from the auto-doc. This is both to keep Desoto from feeling pain due to the crash, as well as to make him cooperative in their attempt to take him to a place he is not intending to go. After a couple days have passed, Erik goes to check up on Desoto and finds him sitting on a table with his shirt ripped open. Desoto is breathing very heavily. He looks exceptionally sweaty as well as the slightest bit green and sickly. Desoto tells Erik that he doesn't think the drugs are doing the job and that he wants more medicine. Erik acquiesces, but decides to only give him a portion of his regular dose for the day. As Erik goes to stick the needle in, he only now notices several old puncture-wounds tattooed into Desoto's arm. Being an exemplar of the Purity Initiative, Loren Desoto has access to things that the crew may find valuable. Desoto had previously told the crew that he will give them access codes to get them onto Strophios. Erik attempts to gain these codes by lying to Desoto, saying that they are currently at Strophios and that they are in need of his codes. In the delusional state that Desoto is in, he chooses not to give Erik the codes. Not wanting to give up so easily, Erik uses his psychic powers to forcefully intimidate Desoto in his current weakened state. Desoto feebly fights back for a little while but eventually gives in and hands over the information that Erik is seeking.

Arrival to Vinaya
It takes the Swan Song six days to reach the Stasi System, refuel, and then arrive in the Geaxi System. After another two days pass, the crew finally arrive at Vinaya on February 6, 3201.

Now in-system, Higgins receives a message from Rajani containing a subject line that reads 'WTF'. In this message, Rajani links to a GNN news article with a headline that reads, 'Terrorist Forces Kidnap Purity Initiative Exemplar'. The corresponding video is of a woman explaining how Purity Initiative exemplar Loren Desoto has been kidnapped by four people belonging to a freighter ship known as the 'Swan Song'. The video then gives blurry, but discernible, pictures of the four members of the crew. At the end of the video, the woman mentions that there is currently a 100,000 credit bounty for anyone who has significant information regarding Loren Desoto, the Swan Song, or its crew.

Higgins messages Rajani back, telling her that they have Loren Desoto. She seems happy to hear from Higgins and gives him coordinates on where to meet. As Higgins pilots the ship, Pi comes over the speakers in Erik's room and tells him that there's a problem in the ship's medbay. Erik stops what he's doing and goes into the medbay only to find Loren Desoto rocking back and forth while muttering to himself. At closer inspection, all of Loren's fingernails appear to be broken off and his hands covered in blood. There are also blood-marks all along the auto-doc which has obviously been tampered with. Erik goes over to Desoto and attempts to pick him up, but the exemplar pushes Erik away and tells him that he cannot go to Strophios looking like he does. Erik lies to Desoto, telling him that he will take him to a rehabilitation center to get clean. Desoto then mumbles that he had been fine just a couple of days ago. He then brings his bloody hands to front of his face and says to Erik that he needs medicine. He looks over at the auto-doc and points to it, yelling that he had tried to get some but that the auto-doc won't give him any. Desoto then rips open his shirt and exclaims he can't breathe and that he needs to go outside to get some fresh air. With tears in his eyes, Erik puts a hand on Desoto's shoulder and tells him that they will breathe together. Erik then apologizes to Desoto, saying that he didn't know that Desoto had been addicted to morphine and that he was only trying to help. Delusional, Desoto calls Erik, 'Magnus' and then goes on to exclaim that he had paid off 'the cops' and that the two of them don't need to worry, that he will take them to his estate... As soon as Desoto says estate, he looks around, realizes that he is not where he previously thought he was, and begins to panic. He grabs a nearby scalpel and lunges at Erik who dodges out of the way. Desoto then runs past Erik, goes into the ship's airlock, and shuts himself in. Piani quickly locks the door so that Loren is unable to vent himself out into space. For a minute, Loren pounds the airlock, yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs, but eventually he loses energy and collapses onto the floor.

Rajani greets the crew and then extends her hands outwards, asking how they like her new asteroid. The crew hand over Desoto and after quick inspection, she tells them that they have given her exactly what she needed. A couple of goons then drag Desoto away. Erik mentions to Rajani that he is addicted to morphine and Rajani tells him not to worry and that they know how to handle addicts. She then gestures to Higgins and asks if he would like to have a drink with her. When Higgins asks if there is a gun at the end of that drink, Rajani throws up her hands and asks why everyone is being so tense. She explains to the crew that they had done exactly as she had asked and that it is a job well-done.

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