The Lunar Orbital Resort

Proof of the deception being staged by Pratt is available at the orbital resort itself. Runners who take the shuttle up to it, delivering cargo, will find a crew building a space-going ship, not a bubble-built AE. Construction is far enough along that it will be recognizable from shuttle ports. The shape is a cylinder, not a sphere. The crew doing the construction will be the pirates when it is finished.

This is not a place to be obviously nosy. Taking some surreptitious images from the shuttle will be easy; getting to wander around will be harder. A ship's officer will escort an off-duty crewman around, pointing out what is supposed to be the resort's facilities—guest rooms (really crew quarters), recreation areas (every ship needs them, especially pirates, but part of these are actually planned to be a holding area for captured prisoners and a torture chamber), the open side which is said to be the lunar viewing area but which is merely the unfinished part of the ship.

As long as the new crew member on tour goes along with the pretense of the resort facility, she will be able to ask a lot of questions and might get a lot of information. But pointing out the obvious—that this isn't a bubble-built AE—will make the officer huffy and cut the tour short. If pressed too hard, the guide will summon the mage partner to deal with the troublesome vacuum biter, or maybe just some regular guards who will administer a painful beating in ways that won't leave obvious marks, as a warning.

The mage partner is a third grade initiate Hermetic mage who is using the circumference of the pirate ship as a conjuring ring. He will not be able to get any elemental except fire, and that only with extreme difficulty, hence will not use them to take care of troublesome people from the freight crew. The mage's name is Dylan Powell. Instead he will use mana spells that affect the mind, trading the bad memories for false ones that confirm the artificial environment lie. He is too busy to do this with everyone; only the most persistent who can't be stopped any other way. People who at least pretend not to care as long as the freight is accepted and they can return to geosynchronous orbit on schedule will be ignored.

Portions of the ship are already pressurized, areas where the crew live and the bridge, wherein the controls are being installed. The structural members are being moved into place on the open side facing the moon, so that pretense won't be able to be held much longer. That area will become the cargo hold when it is finished. The places where the weapons are being installed are covered from view by freight crews.

The clincher for the condemnation of the pirates is the giant Jolly Roger flag (skull and crossbones) which is to be applied to the hull when it is finished. This will be aboard the freight shuttle when the runners are its crew, rolled inside a tube but with a miniature image of it on one end of the outside. This is a thin plastic film that will adhere to the skin of the pirate ship when attached. The tube is only four feet long, so it will fit exactly inside a crewman's locker. It is about three inches in diameter. Stealing it will be another way besides images that will betray the Pratt partnership. It is something that won't be suspected of being missing until after the runner is safely away.

More Shadowrun ™ in Space

Shadowrun ™ in Space: Introduction
Shadowrun ™ in Space: One Lone Hero (fiction)
Shadowrun ™ in Space: GM Notes and Set Up
Shadowrun ™ in Space: Tying the PCs into the Adventure
Shadowrun ™ in Space: PCs in Space
Shadowrun ™ in Space: PCs on the Ground
Shadowrun ™ in Space: PCs in Lunar Orbit
Shadowrun ™ in Space: Payoff