Rust! S1E1: Harlots with thorns.

Context

This is the Rust! campaign launch session. We start small in the Maestro, a 7-storey tall space elevator car crewed by 3 low-sapiens AI, 2 ZA-3 bioroids, a Valkyrie series security guard and Horatio, a PC and uplifted astropus. They are around the midpoint of a 10K miles long descent from Deimos to New Shanghai: a day's travel to destination. 

Story

Malfunction in Cargo Bay 1

The space elevator.

Horatio is awaken by the whisper of his LAI. The Chief Operator, a LAI itself, is ordering him to take care of a situation on Cargo-bay 1. Horatio, an astropus, swims his way down a service shaft to the cargo area. While he transits, he gets an encrypted message from the Martian Triad that the cargo must escape the Maestro before getting to New Shanghai and must not be seized by the authority. Horatio, incurious by nature, fails to wonder what's behind all this and simply takes the order for granted.

Four Eros series bioroids are drifting slowly in the microgravity. They are still attached to the deep space pods by the intravenous tubes and electrodes. The freighmaster's LAI informs him that they require resuscitation. Horatio tasks his LAI, XKCD, to fetch some tutorials on the topic. However, none of the material online assumes that the rescuer is an astropus.

Eros series bioroids are sex-trade bred and trained, license officially for the service industry. Humans would find them disturbingly attractive, but Horatio has no sense of beauty for bipeds. One of the four roids is dead, the LAI confirms it with flatline vitals (off goes the first PC of the campaign). He does his best to assist in the revival, under the conflicting instruction of the LAI freightmaster and his own LAI. The male Eros (Effix) pulls through with heavy disorientation and tremors, another seems to have lost motor control of one leg (Lux). A third one (Rose) awakens without his help. 

Effix and Lux are no ordinary harlots. They have been trained to kill. Valencia, one of their team mate is now dead. The fourth team member, Po, is still under anaestisia in a sealed deep space pod. The forth roid, Rose, is a regular wench. Horatio establish a vitual chat with the roids and explains to them that he is tasked to get them off the Maestro through an excape pod. Lux, tries to get some clarification on the meaning of this. They convince Horatio to convince the LAI to awaken Po from the pod. Po awakens on his own, ready to roll.

Pyjama party, service deck 2, Maestro. 

As microgravity still prevails some 5000 miles from Mars' surface, the Eros roids and Horatio make their way up a shaft with a single push. They are received on deck 2 with a stern elf queen. The elf queen is an augemented reality trick as she is really a Valkyrie series roids (mainly used as body guard and dominatrix). Paz, the valkyrie, tosses pyjamas at the naked Eros roids and lead them to the kitchen area. She is suspicious of the roids, and refuse to leave the room. 

Effix, Po and Lux kick Rose from the chatroom as she is not a team member and their are not sure that they want for her to stick around much longer. The two roids and Horatio are discussing through their Virtual Interface, in complete silence in the real world. Horatio explains the instructions: escape and don't get caught. They come up with a plan to cause a catastrophic decmompression on deck 3, where there are many passengers, and unlock a pod at that time. 

Setting up the plan

Horatio is ordered by the chief operator to clean up the dead roid in cargo bay 1.  Unsure of what makes the roid valuable, he decided to at least get the roid's head into the escape pod. Lux and Effix explains that they are equipped with flesh pouches containing ceramic vibroblades. While he is drifting down the service shaft to the cargo, he tries a few things and get access to pressure control valves. He finds a way to make them jam in the open position in a way that would look like a malfunction that cannot be traced to him. A missing piece of the  plan is sorted out.

Po goes all out to convince Paz to let them down on deck 3. He has to use the Eros' old trick: pheromones and manly ways until the Valkyrie get swayed and agree to treat them as guest rather than prisoners. They make their way down to the first passenger deck. 

Rose: a victim of circumstances

Deck 3, under Augmented reality, looks like a wall-less crystal palace. There is little to no light in the real reality, so everyone stick to AR there. About 7 guests are sipping on spheres filled with colorfull liquors. The passengers, seeing a group of Eros roids showing up in light pyjamas, assume that the Chief operator is offering to them a complementary orgy. Rose takes the lead to turn the sleepy lounge into a party place. Lux, Po and Effix are following suits. Liquor is flowing and the company gets cheerful as, down below, Horatio is doing his grim business. 

Down in Cargo Bay 1, the astropus slips a tentacle into the dead roid's flesh pouch and pulls a ceramic vibroblade. The LAI freightmaster, responsible for cargo questions Horatio's body disposal technique. Horatio dismisses the concerns with a threat and the LAI backs down, moving on to other processes. Horatio hangs-on to the blade, activates it and behead Valencia's corpse. The hope is to be able to posthumously recover her secret (whatever it is) with a brain scan. He tucks the head near his mouth, and propels himself back up the service shaft.

Critical decompression

Horatio passes across the bulkhead of deck 3 and sends a notification to the assassin roids. They decide to leave Rose behind. Horatio activates a script causing maintenance valves to open and jam in that position. Everyone's ears pop violently as the air leaks out of the deck. The bulkheads to deck 2 and 4 shuts, the AR flickers off, revealing a drab and featureless interior. Security overrides the lock to the escape pods. 

Amids the panic, most of the revelers scatter, many going unconscious. Lux, Effix, Po, Rose and Paz all head to the same escape pod. Although designed for 3, 5 fit in it uncomfortably. Lux has her face against the pod's control. There is a single button on the touch display: eject. 

Horatio fights the panic of the dropping pressure and tosses Valencia's head towards the escape pod. The head bump on a pole and ricochet away from it. But it is too late to retrieve the head. Luz triggers the ejection procedure while Paz and Rose are screaming in terror. The pod, filled with people like a Tetris board, separates from the Maestro and begins a controlled fall down. 

Meanwhile in virtual Russia...

Anatolye is enjoying a long street fight in a virtual recreation of the tumults of old St-Petersburg. While he is smashing storefronts, his VII pops a bubble in his field of view. His avatar glitches out of the scene. A free Mars agents explains to Anatolye that the Triad attempted to circumvent a seizure by triggering an escape pod entry. Anatolye, most intrigued by something the Triad is willing to go to this length to save from the Chinese, orders the Search-And-Rescue (SAR) team to recover the content of the pod and hide it in a safe space. The SAR commander signs off. Anatolye resumes his virtual malfeasance. 

Meanwhile on Board of a cargo freighter inbound for Deimos...

Fredreich, an SAI insurance underwriter, gets activated by a notification on the Ceres Mutual job board. There was an incident on board of a space elevator, hardware failure causing multiple causalities. Fredreich places a bid right away and gets the gig. Mutliple casualties... sounds like its best gig in a long while is about to begin.

End State

• Rose and Paz are in the same escape pod as the killer roids.
• Valencia's head didn't make it into the escape pod.
• Freightmaster onboard of the Maestro has witnessed Horatio severing Valencia's head.
• The Free Mars sleeper cell has seized the escape pod and take its content to a secret location.
• Fredreich has taken the job to investigate the Maestro hardware failure for the valve and the escape pod. 

Character cast

• Horatio -- an uplifted astropus officially working as a mechanics for Xiao Chu Corporation. On the side, a Martian Triad hitman. (Jason)
• Anatolye -- the ghost of an Ares conspirator now turned Free Mars officer for the New Shanghai area. (Martin)
• Lux, Po and Effix -- Three Eros series bioroids modified and trained for assassinations. (Zaahirah, Dan and Michael)
• Rose -- A regular Eros series bioroid accidentally awaken with the others. (Sophie)
• Paz -- A valkyrie series bioroid pulling security on the Maestro and accidentally ejected in the same escape pod as the others. (NPC)
• Fredreich -- A SAI working as freelance insurance underwriter for Ceres Mutual. (Dan)