Two separate and apparently unallied forces were guarding the Pandemonium side of the jumpgate: a small fleet of Decados ships, who let the BJL through with a stern warning to stay away from the research station at the second jumpgate, and a matching fleet of Muster ships, which lurked ominiously.
On the inward flight, Matsushida managed to convince everyone that the closest they could come to having the key used for the good of all would be for it to be in the hands of the Emperor. Plans were laid to hand it over in exchange for (hopefully) massive rewards at some point in the future, probably after the wedding.
The one remaining spaceport and city on Pandemonium, The Hub, was unsurprisingly filled to overflowing with refugees from the wastelands caused by the failure of the terraforming engines. Cursory investigation into Fars Ikoru's whereabouts produced nothing, but a large army could have been lost in The Hub.
Eskatonics being notoriously in good with the Decados, Jaana was elected as the one to see what information about Ikoru could be obtained from Count Ennis Sharn's government. Halley went along inseperably, of course. Throwing sublety to the winds, Jaana informed the count that her employers, a Li Halan and a Hawkwood, wanted an audience with him. Surprisingly, he agreed.
Meanwhile, Matsushida sent a message to his cousin Misao, the Li Halan representative on the jumpgate research station. After that, he and Gwen went out to see the city.
While wandering the streets, they happened to see the crowd part for a couple of grim-faced Avestites reeking of used napalm. Interrogating a bystander elicited lots of information about hordes of Avestites congregating on Pandemonium to burn anyone who looked cross-eyed at them (especially the Engineers the count had brought in to fix the terraforming engines and the Muster troops hired to guard them), zombie plagues infesting the countryside, and some gang of local terrorists called the Grange Militia running around blowing up terraforming engines.
There being no lodging available in the city, our heroes spent the night aboard the BJL.
The next day, they met with the Count and presented their petition. Count Ennis knew of no one by the name Fars Ikoru working on the terraforming engines, but was willing to have his minions investigate.
In exchange for this favor, Count Ennis asked for Matushida and Gwen's help with a problem of his own. Within the next couple of days, he was expecting an attack on the city by zombies and on a nearby terraforming engine by the Grange Militia. The addition of the Muster troops and the Avestites gave him enough manpower to hold off both attacks, but he didn't have enough trained officers to fight both battles.
Saving civilization on Pandemonium was deemed a goal worth cooperating with Engineers and Decados to achieve (although not with complete whackos like the Avestites), and Matsushida and Gwen agreed to lead the defense of the terraforming engine.
At the strategy meeting was the senior Engineer on Pandemonium, Ison Caffald, and his three flunkies: Jim, an old Engineer with many irrelevent anecdotes; Broder, a laid-back Engineer with long hair; and Tracey, the token female Engineer. Also present was Sergeant McCarthy, commander of the Muster troops. There was some friction between Halley and the Engineers, but differences were set aside until after the fight against the common foe.
The plan finally decided upon is to block off the access shaft from the cave to the engine itself, with Broder and a few Muster guards inside in case the engine needed emergency repairs. The Muster forces, led by Gwen, would be in the cave, and Matsushida and the Decados troops on the surface, with strong firing positions, perimeter patrols, and all the other tactical bits Matsushida remembered from school. Halley wanted to be down with the Engineers, but they didn't trust her near important machinery, and for the sake of the alliance they were deferred to. Instead, she joined Jaana and Electra in the special forces/prisoner-taking detachment.
In due course, the plan came to fruition. The Grange Milita showed up, armed mostly with swords and crossbows, and assaulted the site with the usual success of an infantry charge against emplaced automatic weapons. A few did get through to hand-to-hand range, and fought their way into the tunnels, where they were killed by the Muster troops or taken prisoner by Gwen.
Jaana, as chief bad-ass of the special forces detachment, assigned herself to go light the Grange Militia's jeeps on fire. It wasn't hard, but while exfiltrating, someone tapped her on the shoulder and said, "Fars said to tell you you're on the wrong side.". Jaana let herself be taken to the GM headquarters so she could get a fuller explanation.
Suddenly, there was a huge explosion! The cavern above the access shaft started to collapse. The Muster troops tried to evacuate, but most of them, including McCarthy, were caught in the cave-in and didn't make it out. The few that did reported that some of the Milita saboteurs had slipped past them, although Gwen had not seen anything to indicate this was the case.
Although Gwen had ordered the wounded Milita soldiers to be taken prisoner, she discovered on the way out that they had been shot dead and left behind. When she confronted the senior surviving Musterman about it, he said his men weren't going to leave dying men to turn into zombies (ignoring the fact that Gwen's prisoners had carefully not been mortally wounded), and hinted broadly that she wouldn't complain if she knew what was good for her.
Meanwhile, having been "captured" and taken to the Grange Militia camp, Jaana has learned that the Engineers are systematically destroying Panedmonium's terraforming engines to turn it into a ghost world like Pentateuch, and the Militia are trying to stop them. She radios this back, suggesting that Halley pick up any "spare parts" she finds lying around, and makes a daring escape.
Caffald ordered an immediate evacuation of the area, on the grounds that the terraforming engine was about to blow. Matushida went along with this, but had Decados soldiers stick close to Caffald. He also had them disarm the Muster survivors and keep them under guard, although only the senior survivor was placed under arrest for threatening Gwen.
Several large earthquakes triggered by the disintegrating engine added excitement but not difficulty to the journey back to The Hub.
The count was disappointed but not surprised to receive reports of the Engineers' treachery, and immediately dissolved the alliance. He even gave Halley permission to loot the Engineers' guildhall library, and to inspect the terraforming engine underneath the city (one of four remaining).
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