285: The Mortal Diamonds

ENTRY 285: The Mortal Diamonds

"And when they die, their end shall be as the sparks that fly from the hammer of God as it strikes the anvil of creation, seeds of stars cast off to reflect the divine."
- Lynn of Mitchell

There is a treasure that few would have the heart to steal. One million carats or more of high-pressure diamonds, created from the Lucifer's Hammer project on Jupiter, crafted from the cremains of some of those who died during the Fall. They are the honored dead, transfigured to immortal carbon, for that is all that remains of them. One of the great treasures of the Jovian Junta, the Mortal Diamonds are on perpetual display in a memorial-shrine at Liberty on Ganymede.

Seeds

• The Planetary Consortium asks the PCs to take on a daring mission: infiltrate the Junta on Ganymede, and swap out some of the Mortal Diamonds for fakes that contain passive spy bugs.
• Within the Junta, a gauche faction in The Castle is planning on making their own memorial, the Mortal Diamonds II. This seems sacrilegious (as well as extremely poor taste) to some of the more restrained Jovians, and through an intermediary they approach the PCs to disrupt this effort by stealing the diamonds intended for the second memorial - the PCs, as outsiders, are utterly deniable, but the media outrage at their crime could have serious consequences if they are caught.
• Five years ago, transmissions from the Junta reported a failed attempt to steal the Mortal Diamonds, and the pirates had fled to the Court of Zeus. Now, a friend of the PCs approaches them with a carefully pieced-together map, supposedly showing where the thieves landed - and of course, a story about how they must have gotten away with something, or the Junta wouldn't have wasted so much effort for so many years trying to track them down.
• Miracles! is the word of the day on Ganymede...a debate has erupted in the Holy See on accounts of visions that have occurred to pilgrims who have visited the shrine. Scientists are examining the chamber and combing through the case histories, looking for what phenomena may be behind the rash of hallucinations, while a faction within the populace and the church urge the pope to declare it a true miracle. The PCs are asked to investigate by a minor mediacorp, which is willing to pay their expenses as they pursue the story...up to a certain point, anyway.
• The PCs are hired to assist the Planet Killer (entry 048) in stealing the mortal diamonds - and thanks to his plan they succeed, and get away clean. Only to discover that the Planet Killer intends to use the diamonds as ultrahard shrapnel in an antipersonnel weapon designed to wipe Liberty off the face of Ganymede. Can the PCs stop the Killer in time? Will they?
• Not all the Mortal Diamonds lay in the Junta's hands. The artist-engineer who designed the memorial kept two two-carat diamonds crafted from the cremains of his parents, and took them with him when he later defected to the Planetary Consortium. The Junta is eager to have these final diamonds to complete their memorial, and are willing to go to great lengths to retrieve them...even murder. Corned by the Junta's agents, the engineer passes them on to the PCs. Now they hold some of the most precious stones in the solar system, and everyone will be looking for them.