Intermission

April 13-14, 3123 - Exit Strategy

All is dark.  Fred slowly comes to the realization that he is alive.  Strangely, he notices he's not breathing, and cannot feel his body. He is aware of the Sphere's presence, and the other body inside with him.  The Sphere conveys to Fred that they are "hiding".  Eventually, the Sphere makes it possible to see out, and Fred finds himself hovering over a large crater.  With some work, he is able to dislodge the other body in the sphere with him, and then learn how to move and control the sphere.  He discovers that the sphere cuts through rock and other matter in a seemingly effortless fashion.  The sphere tells him that he still hears the "songs" in the distance, and Fred moves the sphere to investigate, passing through a devastated landscape and eventually, to a city.  When they approach, they begin to attract the attention of military forces in the area, who attempt to intercept, and fire upon the sphere.  Fred at first tries to hide from them, but later, he learns that the weapons used against the sphere seem to be ineffective, so he ignores them.   He closes in the source of the songs at a military base outside of the city.  There, he finds a large flat fenced compound area, several football fields in size. Inside the compound are thousands of robots, hovering in place, and all singing the Eristicon "song" to each other.  There is a large building with some sort of transmitter on it, which is also communicating with the robots.

Fred is interested in getting inside the building, but does not want damage the building, at least to start with.  He cannot attempt to enter the building without exiting the sphere first.   He decides that he should try to determine whether he is able to exit the sphere or not, so he flies to a remote island.  He forces himself out of the sphere, but the shock of transferring out causes him to pass out.

Meanwhile, back on the Fin M'Coul, Harry attempts to pilot the ship out from behind the Everin moon to the closest Gas Giant without being detected.  The ship is spotted immediately however by the nearby destroyer, which sends a tight-beam transmission to the Fin, instructing them to rotate to a special frequency used by DKI for encoded messages.  San complies, and then the voice on the other end asks who is there.  When San gives his own name, the voice says: "Put Gary on."  San replies that "Gary is not here", and the voice asks "Where is he?".  San's reply is "He's on the planet."  There is a long pause from the Destroyer.  Eventually, instructions come to rendezvous at "Slot 6, LaGrange 5" in 8 hours.  The crew sets course for the coordinates, which is an orbital position around the gas giant.

The group begins dicussions of the previous events on Everin, their possible meaning, and their future plans. Harry takes Cable aside and makes him an offer.  He says that he has essentially decided he still wants to live and travel in space if possible, for it is his only home.  He admits he is too old to be running a ship anymore, and that with the loss of his wife, he is dependent on others to do it anyway.  Harry offers Cable control of the ship in exchange for being able to stay aboard.  He says that if, at a future date, his needs or desires mean he wants to leave the ship, then the ownership/disposition of the vessel will be decided then.  Cable agrees to this pending discussions with the others. (This discussion takes place subsequently, and there are no objections).

Catelyn, for her part, begins decode of the six holocrystals from the safe.  She has trouble with five of the disks, but the sixth one decodes, revealing a series of archived SENT email messages from Dalton Kess.  This information is eventually shared with the rest of the crew.  With help from Harvey Brown, Catelyn is able to decode the other five crystals.  One contains an electronic Deed to a property called Crystal Peak on Merganser, a 26 square mile estate with a 30,000 square foot compound built on it.  Two others contain pictures of Dalton Kess's daughter.  One contains pictures of a desert mansion and planet called "Stannon", which is not on any star chart.  And the last one contains a series of documents and research papers authored by a team of people led by someone named Dr. Chips.  These are highly technical works, dealing with topics such as "Tensor-B Transformations of Hyperdimensional Splines", and "Methods of Calculating Deterministic Slew Factors in Hyperdimensional Space."  (These works are written in another language, but have been translated to Ganglic.)  Copies are made of these disks, and they are stashed in various places.

San, Krau, and Cable hatch a plan to rig the stealth shuttle to be remotely pilotable and to be able to overload the fusion core of the shuttle via remote command.  The shuttle is sent out in front of the ship, and ordered to orbit the Gas Giant.

Back on Everin, Fred wakes up.  He is OK, and the Sphere is nearby.  He reenters the Sphere.  The Sphere conveys the idea that it wishes to go out to see the stars.  Fred thinks, and decides to let the sphere follow it's wishes rather than go back to investigate the previous discoveries on the planet.  He ascends into orbit,  but does not find any ships around.  The Sphere has a desire to plunge into the sun, that Fred cannot easily resist.  They accelerate to a very high speed, eventually entering into the corona of the Everin sun.  The Sphere finds the experience to be pleasurable, where Fred does not, even though he is protected from the hostile environment to an almost complete degree by the sphere.  Fred eventually convinces the sphere to leave the sun, and to head out to the nearest Gas Giant, where Fred (correctly) assumes the Fin M'Coul may have gone next.

On approach to the Gas Giant, the Sphere begins to overtake the Destroyer, which is en route to rendezvous with the Fin M'Coul.  The Destroyer hails the Sphere with no success, probes it, and eventually attempts to fire on it.  The Sphere senses the energy buildup and Fred commands it to "hide" before it is shot, and the Destroyer makes several sweeping attempts to blindly hit the Sphere.  With no measurable success, the Destroyer stops the attack, and after a few moments, proceeds at rapid pace out to the 100-diameter limit of the Gas Giant, and Jumps.

The crew of the Fin M'Coul notices the Sphere when it reappears from hiding (after the Destroyer Jumps), and sends a message to it using the EM frequencies they found on one of the crystals in the lab.  This irritates the Sphere, prompting Fred to reply "Stop It.". The next message is on a tight-beam on a standard frequency, and soon Fred and Sphere dock with the Fin M'Coul.  Fred does not feel comfortable with leaving the sphere just yet, so he remains inside.

Debate/discussion over the future plans of the group ensues.  What destination to jump to?  Who should be given / told about what things that were found?  Who could be trusted, and who would likely be the enemy?  The final decision for destination is the Riljer system, an independent world outside of the Republic known to be a busy trade port.  The Fin M'Coul enters jump.

[1 point awarded]

While in Jump, Catelyn's nightmares continue, and Feno also has a disturbing dream.  She warns that "There will be a Fire in the Sun, tomorrow.", and although Sorat dismisses her, Cable is cautious, and asks Sorat to convey what is worrying Feno.  The group discusses the cryptic message, and decides that "Sun" may refer to the Fusion reactor or some or ships engines.  Krau begins a detailed diagnostic, and discovers that scavenge pump #3, which had priming problems in the past, was beginning to overheat and fail.  Krau and San shut the pump down and take it off line, leaving two other redunant pumps.  The next day however, there is a fire in the Reactor Core, and Pump #2 has to be put out, causing some minor smoke inhalation injury to San.  Pump #2 is also taken off line.

The group worries about the remaining pump, for if it goes, the reactor shuts down and the ship misjumps.  Harry assures everyone it will hold.  Also during Jump, the group listens to a log entry from Gary Wilcoxx from before he boarded the Fin M'Coul, (March 1st.)

" Wilocox, Gary, E5.  Voice Print :  Frolicking Pansy.   March First.  Just finished going over the details of the cleanup operation with Captian Greene.  He was asking too many questions, wanting to know why it was needed, what was going on.  Stupid Fleet Ops space monkeys. If they had any military discipline at all, they would shut up and follow orders.  When I get back, I will recommend to staff that Intrinsics grow it's fleet so that it can internally support all of it's field operations.  It's late. Time to pack for the trip to the Vember office. Wilcoxx out."

On the 20th, the Fin M'coul comes out of jump in the Riljer system without incident, just as Harry had promised.  The ship needs fuel, and the gas giants are not acceptable.  The ship also needs repair parts for the pumps as well.  The group learns that there is a general strike of the Lighter Aboard Ship (LASH) Operations Union.  LASH freighters ship cargo from large cargo tenders to the mainworld, and ferry goods to other tenders headed out to different systems.  Because of this, the Fin M'Coul is instructed that the High Port is closed to routine operations, and to land at Esport, the Riljer Downport.   Before landing, it is decided that Dr. Flintstone and Sphere should hide in a neighboring asteroid field.

On approach to Riljer, San receives waiting mail from from the FTA, explaining that his starship has been placed in storage at the scrap yard, and his title has been retained to it.  He must personaly visit to claim any goods, or send an authorized representative.

The ship lands without incident.  At the Starport, Catelyn goes out in search of a computer station old enough to be able to run the software she found back on Dalton Station / Everin.  She meets a shop clerk named  Delvin who takes a liking to her, and offers to help her find what she needs at Reef City, a Riljer coastal town outside of the starport, after he gets off work. Cable goes in search of ammo and grenades, eventually finding a supplier who will sell him some HE grenades, and gyroc ammo.  Meanwhile, San, Krau and Harry head outside of the starport to the FTA Chapter House on Riljer, and to find a parts store that has the needed pumps.    San is looking for details on how to authorize a representative to retrieve the logs from his ship for him.

Exiting the starport requires going through immigration and customs, and Riljer also requires each group to be assigned a Hospitality Clerk.  The clerk's job is to follow the group and provide any needed assistance, and he is paid $500 credits for the privelege.  In reality, Harry and San know from experience this is really kind of a way of keeping tabs on foreigners, and less to do with hospitality.  To prove the point, the group's clerk, Freddie, is rude and unhelpful, preferring to ride with them in the submarine car without interacting with anyone.  The sub takes the group to Esport Under, an undersea urban center nearby.

The first stop is the FTA, where Harry introduces the group to Stan, an old friend from Harry's younger days.  Harry and Stan spend a long time swapping stories.  San inquires about getting a representative for retreiving items from his ship, but is told he will have to inquire on Bastil.  The proper forms are given in triplicate for him to fill out.  Harry and Stan are still at it, and Freddie gets tired of waiting and says he'll "be right back", and "to stay here till he comes back".  He then abandons his charges.  San and Krau get tired of waiting too, and decide to head over to the parts store, which is within walking distance.

The narrow streets of the underwater city are sparsely travelled, and the lighting is dim at best.  The two venture through a diverse and gritty mix of alien shops, restaurants, and low-rent buildings.  Eventually, San's Danger Sense goes off, and he spins around to find a Drakaran aiming a gun at him from a distance down the street.  Krau jumps into a side alley, and San goes to follow but is tagged on his hand by laser fire, instantly burning the center of it to a crisp.  Krau fumbles to get a nearby door open as San is stunned.  The two manage to slip into the back of a restaurant kitchen before being hit again by the Drakaran, who has rounded the corner.  Dodging laser fire, the two run out the front of the restaraunt past dozens of startled (and mainly Vegan) diners.  Weaving in and out of the people on the more travelled street paralleling their original route, the two make it back to the FTA house before San collapses.  An ambulance is called, and he is taken to the hospital.

Local law enforcement shows up next, wanting to know why the two were out without a Hospitality Clerk, but when it is learned they were abandoned by their Clerk, a search is made, and Freddie is found in a local drug den getting high.  Under the circumstances, San and Krau are let off with a stern warning, and assigned a new clerk, which costs them an additional $600.  San stays the night at the hospital, having his hand regenerated.  Catelyn meanwhile manages to find a used military computer console from the Imperium days, and also gets lucky with her date, to boot.

New pumps are installed, San and Catelyn make it back to the ship.  Dr. Flintstone is contacted and rendezvous with the ship.  The course is set for Bastil, in the outer system.  The group is still discussing returning to DKI versus investigation of various things on their own.  The option of heading to Ishimsulgi is also discussed, since it is a DKI owned world that is on the way.

[1 point awarded / 2 for San and Krau]

While in jump, Catelyn and Krau begin working on the computer system Catelyn bought on Riljer.  It is part of an old military defense network, dating back to the start of the Eristicon war.  The holocrystal core is removed and powered on, and the contents seem to suggest that the equipment was used to perform some sort of threat analysis of ships that had entered the Riljer system. Top on the list was a ship called Sky Horse, a 200-ton Empress Marava class trader, which entered the Riljer system from Everin on 3026.  The analysis was based on date the ship entered relative to the start of the Riljer Eristicon attacks, sophistication of the ship, it's behavior, and communications analyses.  A plan is hatched to bring the two Minjini slaves into the system using forged passports, provided by Dr. Flintstone, who has left his bubble for a while.

The Fin M'Coul arrives at Bastil system on April 27th.  The stealth shuttle, with any suspect cargo is hidden in the asteroid field.  Dr. Flintstone is also released in his sphere, and he participates in an experiment whereby the strange object is thrown into the sphere.  The sphere has a very strong reaction, causing Fred to (briefly) pass out.  The message he gets from the sphere is that the object is "Of the Father", but "Meant for Men."

After this, Fred goes out to the outer system to inspect the dwarf star there, while he waits for the rest of the crew to conduct business on Bastil.    The Fin M'Coul makes for the Bastil mainworld.   Fred approaches the dwarf star, and gets a peculiar feeling via the sphere.  There is another presence here; a second sphere.  Approaching further, Fred finds he can communicate with the second sphere via his sphere.  The two spheres talk and exchange information.  Fred learns the second sphere is here to wait for the Bastil Fleet to arrive, so it can destroy it.  When Fred asks why, it says "To protect the Minjini."  Fred enters the dim light of the dwarf star, and finds he can tolerate it long enough to let the sphere bask in it's energy.

The second sphere heads off for the inner system, and Fred follows.  The second sphere wants to know why he is following - Fred claims it is to help.  The sphere challenges him to prove it by destroying an upcoming defense boat.  Fred complies, and the two spheres destroy the incoming vessels - two 400-ton Dragon Class system defense boats.  In an especially vindictive finish, the second sphere comes round and finishes off the life bubbles that appear.  The two spheres approach to the Lagrange 4 point of the Bastil system, where they hide to wait for the incoming fleet...

Meanwhile, the Fin M'Coul makes its way to the mainworld - a six day trip from the outer system.  They learn of an attack on the defense boats.  The details are sketchy, but the story is the attack was repulsed, but the invaders got away.  There is a routine inspection of the Fin M'Coul by the Navy, but nothing bad comes of it.  The Fin M'Coul obtains permission to land at Miners Port, an industrial starport used by scrap miners who recycle old ships and space material.  A giant grav elevator operates here, sending a beam to orbit so that materials can be broought down in a controlled fashion.  Giant plasma furnaces burn with the heat of the sun in the ship yard, melting down the exotic metals into their basic components.

San meets with the yard foreman, and fills out the needed paperwork to go to pick up his belongings.  The yard foreman is asked if anyone else has inquired about the ship, and the answer is that a few weeks ago, "a couple of Vargr" came by wanting to see the ship, but were refused.  A short taxi ride in a grav car takes Cable and San to the area where the Decade Duck is being stored. A large hole through the vental fuel tank attests to the damage inflicted on the ship.  Entering cautiously, they make their way to the bridge, and collect data crystals from the ships computer.  San also retrieves some personal belongings, including (NC17 warning:) reading material and his good pants.

The 101st fleet arrives into the Bastil system.  The other sphere comes out of hiding, and heads off to intercept, with Fred following.  It instructs Fred to take a set of ships on one side, while it takes the other.  Fred pauses to think, then decides to blockade the sphere from attacking.  The sphere demands he move aside, but Fred holds his ground, and the two collide, causing massive shock waves through space.  Inside, Fred and the other sphere pilot, a human resembling Dalton Kess, but younger, begin a mental battle for survival, each one trying to push the other out of the (now combined) sphere.

After an epic stuggle, Fred succeeds in dislodging the other occupant, sending him tumbling through the vacuum of space.  The sphere is now unstable however and cannot guarantee Fred's safety, so he heads in for the mainworld, taking fire from the fleet as he passes it.  Fred enters the atmosphere rapidly, choosing a remote island for a landing spot.  He forces himself out, and the sphere ascends into orbit, where it bursts in a brilliant explosion of light and energy.

[1 point awarded / 2 for Fred ]

The effects of the sphere explosion are felt world-wide.  Back at Miner's Port, the crew of the Fin M'Coul receive an alert from the starport warning of failure of the Grav Elevator operating there.  Catelyn, Krau, Harvey and Cable abandon ship, and head for the underground shelter, while San and Harry try to get the ship's systems up and running quickly so they can leave the starport.  Objects in transit in the grav beam begin falling everywhere, crushing buildings and raining debris.  The group makes it to the shelter however, and San and Harry manage to fly north to a remote airport.

Back on the island, Fred contacts San on the ship, and lets him know he is alive.  San lets him know that he will not be able to immediately pick him up, and to hold tight.  Fred decides to explore a little while he waits.  Using data from his survival watch, he finds some plants that provide basic moisture and energy.   He beds down for the night on the beach, amongst a pile of driftwood.

San is met by officials who are basically unhappy he has left the starport without following immigration procedure, but under the circumstances, they do not hassle him further.  He is advised of a moratorium on orbital takeoff/landings, and given a flight path to Northport to follow.  San informs the others to meet him there, and after some debate, the rest of the group makes plans to immigrate and then head to northport via the train system.

On the ship, Feno has a new vision.  She sees a large building falling into the ocean, with many dying.  Cable searches the local attraction archives, and discovers that the largest Vilani building on Bastil is the Shurinshar Aspect, a hotel located on the edge of a prominent ocean cliff.  Indeed, the next day the building falls into the ocean, killing many, including noted famous Bastilians, and members of the Centrist party.  The early news reports reveal that the hotel knew of stability problems with the underlying cliff, and were using gravitic stabilizers to keep the cliff wall from failing.

The next day, Fred goes exploring down the beach, eventually encountering a river inlet.  Following the inlet upstream, he enters a salty marsh area.  While making his way through the tall grass, he encounters an enormous nest.  It is in fact the nest of a Giant Philcatcher, an enormous bird native to Bastil, known to be very territorial.  To prove the point, a rather largish specimen comes at Fred, and grabs him by his monocrys vest with it's sharp talons.  Now flying in the air with the bird, Fred attempts to hit the legs of the bird, but then tries injecting it with Suspend, a hibernation drug.  After some  false attempts, the needle goes in, and the effects are immediate.  The bird begins to spiral down, releasing Fred from it's grip.  Fred falls to the ocean with little harm, but then must try to keep afloat while wearing armor.  Fred struggles in the water; he has no swimming skill, and he goes under.  Almost exhausted, he makes it back for one last gasp of fresh air, but then he succumbs to exhaustion while trying to remove the armor.  His body slips silently down to the bottom of the Mistrigal Sea.

Unaware that Fred has died, San and Sorat set out on a series of search and rescue attempts, using any available data on his last location.  He eventually finds the island where Fred landed, and spots the semicircular depression in the sand left by the sphere.  After some tracking, San begins to worry about his fate, and decides to return the next day with weapons.  Before this however, San also contacts local natives of the islands, the Kizmar.  They are primitive people, but the chief understands ganglic enough to be bribed for information.  San is told that there is no sign of Fred.  On the next day, he returns to the island with Cable, and smuggled laser pistols.  They eventually track Fred into the marsh, and to the nest.  Checking with Krau back on the ship, they learn of the territorial nature of the Philcatcher, and decide to beat a hasty retreat.  Before they can leave they too are attacked by one of the big birds, but manage to kill it with their pistols before it grapples one of them.

Later, on the beach, San finds an empty syringe belonging to the doctor.  The conclusion is eventually reached that the Doctor has probably been carried off to sea by the bird, and has most likely drowned.  The group sadly leaves the island without his body.  The next day the ship receives clearance to depart.  The Fin M'Coul leaves North Port, and heads to the outer system to retrieve the stealth shuttle.  San and Krau set course for the Ishimshulgi mainworld.
 

[ 1 point awarded ]

The Fin M'Coul breaks jump on the 21st, near the inner gas giant.  After refueling, the crew heads to the mainworld, but not before being challenged by a 1000-ton Hawk class Destroyer Escort, which eventually clears them for landing at the mainworld.  On orbital approach, the group is asked what their final destination on Ishmishulgi is, and when they do not have a clear response, they are put in touch with Director Vishminu, who heads a DKI facility known as Double Star Farms on the planet.  Vishminu clears them to land, and the ship touches down on an airless landing pad, which then recedes below the surface into an undergroun hangar.  The roof door is closed, and the hangar is pressurized, and ground crews connect the ship up to external power and life support, after whichCable and Sango off the ship and are led to a conference room nearby by eerilie identical security guards.

Four people enter the room, the leader is a tall, straight haired woman in her late fourties, who introduces herself as Director Vishminu.  She also introduces three others:  Dr. Ripley (F), Dr. Bowman (M) and Dr. Poole (M).  Vishminu does all the talking, and generally seems perplexed at the groups decision to land here.  She is told of their mission, and given a copy of the mission report.  Vishminu apologizes that she is on her way to an off-site meeting to discuss the construction of the new starport, but she plans to return the next day, and in the meantime promises to read the report, and offers the group off-ship quarters and access to the facilities.

After she leaves, Poole directs Ripley to take San and set up the housing arrangements, while he remains to talk with Cable.  The offer is relayed to the ship, and all aboard, excepting Krau, decide to accept the offer.  Krau remains onboard to guard the ship.  Ripley and San hit it off in a big way, leading to prolonged whopee in San's quarters.  Meanwhile, Cable is confronted by an suspicious and possibly angry Poole.  Poole believes that the story Cable and San told about why they stopped here was preposterous, and that they were actually sent as Intrinsics spies to check up on his project.  Cable at first tries to explain some of the more subtle reasons they had stopped on Ishimshulgi (afraid to go to Terek), but when this gets nowhere, he eventually feeds into Poole's paranoia, confirming his suspicions that he is indeed there to check up on "The Project".

Poole takes Cable to a remote lab in a high security area.  The lab is filled with cloning equipment, and Cable is shown a growing pod with a person in it resembling Nathan Trimble III, the DKI CEO. Cable mentions a requirement for genetic markers, and also complains about the skin tone, which annoys Poole, but also serves to deepen the illusion that Cable is an Intrinsics agent.  Cable is asked what the rest of the crew's purpose is, and he replies "window dressing".  Cable leaves with a copy of Poole's report, and goes back to the Fin M'Coul where he calls an immediate meeting with Krau.

Cable begins to fill Krau in on the details, when the two notice a funny smell coming out of the ventilation.  Both fall asleep quickly.  Back in his quarters, Ripley has left, but San gets a familiar, but always bad Danger Sense.  He gets up and tries the door, but finds it locked.  San searches the room desperately for a weapon, but only finds a pen.  There is  a knock eventually, and Dr. Poole replies to the "who is it?"  San opens the door, only to find Poole has a gun aimed point-blank at his chest.  San is taken to the lab, where he sees the rest of his crew, with the exception of Harvey, standing in pods along the wall in cryogenic suspension.

Poole questions San about how to deal with the Brauletter, whether he is immune to gas, etc, but San has very few satisfying answers for him.  Eventually Poole gets frustrated and then attempts to shoot him with his pistol (which turns out to be a tranquilizer dart gun).  The dart however misses and sticks into San's Monocrys vest.  Melee ensues, with San making a valiant attempt to fend off Poole using his ball-point pen.  In the end it does not do sufficient damage to disable Poole, and Poole eventually gets a clean shot in.

When San wakes up, he finds himself in a cage in the lab, without clothes.  Poole now wants information on how to remotely pilot the ship, and seems worried about having it sitting around as evidence.  Poole seems to indicate he plans to keep the crew around as lab rats for his experiments.  The interrogation is interrupted several times.  Poole talks to a security guard, Wolf, who appears to be identical in many respects to other guards around the building.  Wolf is told to go attempt to capture Harvey.  Later, there is a call from Vishminu, announcing she will return earlier than expected at 6AM.  This sends Poole into a small panic, and it becomes obvious that Vishminu is not in on the conspiracy.  Poole continues to question San about various things but gets frustrated at him and tranquilizes him again.

When San awakes, there is a large, gelatinous pyramid staring down on him.  Harvey elduded capture, and was able to create a distraction by breaking a water main in the corridor.  San hastily collects his clothes, and he and Harvey retreat to an adjacent (empty) lab space.  Harvey helps break the security code on the phone, and places a call to Vishminu via her direct line.  He states that there is a radiation leak, and that his name is "Harvey", then deliberately cuts the call short, in the hopes of convincing Vishminu to return as soon as possible.  The two discuss what to do next , and eventually settle on going for a nearby access stairway to a lower level.  The area is crawling with Wolf-clone security.  The two continue to sneak their way through the complex, eventually hiding in a bathroom in the commercial section of the station.  San goes out and makes another call to Vishminu, and eventually arranges a meeting.

Vishminu and Ripley arrive, and San relates the story.  Vishminu mentions previous problems with Poole, but does not go into any details.  Vishminu takes San back to her office where they contact the orbiting Destroyer, and she requests an RSF detatchment be brought down to deal with Poole and his security force.  After a brief firefight, RSF announces the area clear.  The group goes down to the basement level, and people are shocked to find the experiments going on there.

The group members are thawed out under the supervision of a doctor. Everyone goes through the process without incident, except for Catelyn, who has some minor complications, and Harry, who unfortunately dies in the process.  Vishminu is very upset at what has happened, and is anxious to keep the group from discussing the incident with outsiders.  She offers the group the option to be "brain taped" in exchange for their silence. In the procedure, the person is scanned and their patterns put on file, and they can be cloned later and reloaded, as long as sufficient proof of their death can be given.  She also agrees to make Feno and Sorat DKI employees on terminated contract, which will make it easier to get them onto Terek or hired for the company.  Everyone takes up Vishminu's offer, except Catelyn.

The group leaves Ishimshulgi, taking Harry's body with them.  Harry's room is searched.  Harry apparently has some sort of small animal in his quarters as a pet, named "Mr. Nibbles."  Beyond this,  there is no evidence of any children or family to inherit Harry's ship or belongings found.

[ 2 points awarded / 3 for San ]

During the jump to Vember, it is decided that San will move into Harry's quarters.  On the first night there, San hears a voice in the night say "You're a good boy".  After some investigation, he finds that it is Mr. Nibbles, the furry pet found in Harry's room.  It is soon learned the little creature has a habit of whispering little reminders, such as "Time to take your pills".  Or "Time to Make Breakfast." This habit sufficiently annoys San so as to convince him to pawn the creature off on Krau, who eventually takes him, perhaps against his better judgement.

This works satisfactorily, until one night when the little creature whispers "Time to reset the self-destruct timer", which causes Krau to call out on the intercom for an immediate ship-wide meeting.  The problem is discussed, and the self-destruct timer/keypad, and charge are both eventually located, with 53 hours left on the clock.  But how to disarm them?  Several searches are made for numbers, etc. and Catelyn is successful in hacking into Harry's captain log entries as well.  By using the bioscanner, it is determined the digits 0,2,7,8 are used frequently on the keypad.  It is also determined that Harry's anniversary is July 28, or 0728.  Taking a chance, the code is keyed in by San, resetting the desctruct timer back to 1000 hours.

The rest of the journey proceeds without incident.  Team members practice various skills along the way.  The ship jumps to Vember,
then Agidda, then to Terek.  X-Mail is sent to Loss Limitations, asking for advice on how to proceed given the mission status (various members killed, in posession of non-L2 equipment belonging to intrinsics, etc.).  The reply comes that the group should land ASAP on Terek, and that the matters concerning logictics/property will be settled later.

A preliminary debriefing follows a quick medical exam of the team.  Renstat, Skinner, Farnsworth, and members from Assessments and Mission Planning attend the meeting.  Basic info on the mission is given, and a copy of the report.  It is agreed the group will reconvene at 8AM next morning for a full debrief.

In the intermediate time, the team splits up, but keeps communicators handy.  Krau goes to the Solar Church and gives his contact, Erica Edson some of the details of the trip, and exchanges info.  He also picks up the envelope left by the crew of the Lady Tiger, a ship they assisted during the Vember attack.  The contents turn out to be a set of four tickets to the Windstone Island Resort for a two week stay, expenses paid.  (This resort is a property managed by Tukera Lines, Inc. and a popular vacation destination on Terek.)

Cable goes to a stock brokerage in the DKI village to try to determine the status of the stock certificates for Sternmetal Horizons, LIC.  If they are worth the current trade price of Sternmetal, they could be valued at as much as 22MCR.  Cable is told it will take a week or two to get an answer on this.

San gets a call from Max Riven, from DKI Intrinsics requesting a meeting.  San agrees, but takes Sorat, and also holds it in an open cafe, and gets everyone else to lurk around at tables nearby.  Max is interested in Gary, and how the mission went.  He offers some interesting information, if true, including:
 

The next day, the group meets and is debriefed again by Loss Limitations.  L2 seems pleased on the one hand with various material brought back, including the Fission Chips white papers, and the DKI logs.  There are many questions about the incident on Ishimshulgi leading to Harry's death.  Skinner orders Renstat to send Xmail to Vishminu about the incident.  Harvey does not show up to the debriefing; he has decided to leave the company, and it is learned that Brauletter have special priveleges in the Republic that allow them to be essentially immune to corporate contract.

The group is awarded 2 weeks compensation time, and 50K credits, to be distributed by Cable.  Information on the next mission will be discussed after return from vacation.
 

[ 1 point awarded ]

Before setting out on vacation, San and Cable arrange another meeting with Max Riven to get further details on the offer from Max Riven; they want assurances that Loss Limitations will not come after them, and some insights into the work they might be doing.  Max reiterates that the group would initially be useful in helping to deal with the Intrinsics office on Vember, and offers that he will make sure their contracts are transferred without problems.  San and Cable go to L2, and tell Renstat and Skinner that they are transferring.  Renstat does not believe it at first, but despite L2's protests, the paperwork goes through.

The group then departs on vacation to the Windstone Island Resort, a vacation island chain owned by Tukera Lines.  The trip gets off to a nervous start, as they are ferried away on the maiden voyage of the Gravitic Hoverboat  Titania. The trip proceeds without incident, except for some unfortunate skeet shooting which sets the cabana on fire.  On the boat the group meets another group of four, Fred, Velma, Daphne, and a Gormelite named Norville.  Krau is jealous of Fred, since he is so handsome, and has a cute girl (Daphne) with him.  Meanwhile, San starts eyeing Daphne as well.

Upon landing on the island, the group checks into a rickety old hotel that is independently operated.  The local natives are on strike because of fear the hotel is haunted; several apparitions have appeared, and people are missing.  Also on the island, an 8-eyed, brown doglike animal known as an Ooby.   A beach party is going on, so San tries his hand riding a Lesser Luskapedo, a fifteen foot long, five foot high leathery worm native to Dismal that can be domesticated and ridden.  In this case however the worm is quite undomesticated and writhing violently in the sand.  San does an admirable job of staying on board, impressing Daphne.  Catelyn decides to keep a low profile, and spends most of her time alone, elsewhere on the island doing god-knows-what.

Cable decides the bulk of the trip should be spent at the poolside bar, so he parks himself there and proceeds to drink.  At the bar with him is someone claiming to be Peter Blazonis, a name matching that of the infamous Blazonis Crime Family.  Peter takes a liking to Cable and begins to tell him family secrets,  (none of which Cable is ultimately able to remember due to the blindingly drunk state he ends up in).  Among other things Blazonis is unhappy with is a mysterious woman at the end of the bar, who eventually gets fed up and leaves.  Cable attempts conversation with her in passing later, but fails to win her attentions.

While San tries to steal a kiss from Daphne on the beach, a horrible scream comes from up on the lawn of the hotel.  Everyone races to see what happened, but Cable arrives first, finding a pool of red liquid on the ground.  Another worker is missing and everyone assumes the worst.  Cable dips a finger in the fluid and tastes it; it is a yummy sweet syrup, made to look like blood.  When everyone is over being disgusted by Cable tasting the "blood", he lets the local police (who have now arrived) in on the deception, and they chalk it up to a spilled Daquiri, and leave.

Fred and Velma however spot someone heading off into the woods.  San, Krau, Fred, Velma, Noriville, Daphne, and the Oooby follow the mysterious figure up into the woods, where they find an old cave.  Meanwhile, back  at the bar, Cable has decided to go back to his room, and he empties out the minibar half spilling, half drinking its contents.

In the cave, Fred and Norville proceed cautiously.  Until Norville finds a lever on the wall and says "Hey, Like whats that?", and pulls the lever.  The group falls as the floor gives way, people dangling in a human rope from top to bottom.  Only minor injuries occur, so they press on into what appears to be a mine.  They find plans to mine the area for exotic metal, and a copy of the Deed for the land, showing the ownership of the land going to the hotel owners.  The group also finds a holographic projector that projects an image of the tribal monster that has been scaring the natives, and Fred finds some captives being held below.

The concept that the whole thing is a staged event to scare the hotel owners away and sell the land cheaply to whoever is mining here crosses peoples minds.  They head back down to the hotel, where Cable has bought several bottles of Vegan Liquour (The Bright One), which turns out to be a mildly hallucinigenic substance.  Cable hears noises outside his room, for not the first time that evening.  He stumbles out, a bottle of Bright One in each hand.  A figure dissapears around the stairwell.  Cable pursues, but trips on the stairs, tumbling down on top of the figure - it is an old man.  Drunk and confused, Cable begins pouring booze down the old man's throat.

The gang arrives with the local police.  Police identify the man as "Old Man McReedy" who lives "up in the hills".  McReedy is now panicked himself, and beginning to feel the effects of Cable boozing him up.  He spits out a mouthful, and confesses to staging the haunted events in order to pick up the hotel property cheaply.

San and Daphne go back to a room to explore each other's mysteries.  The rest of the time on the island is spent uneventfully, with various members of the group picking up a few handy outdoor skills.  Upon returning to DKI, Max has everybody over the office to sign the official paperwork, making them Intrinsics employees.  He also tells the group that he has secured Harry's old ship, for use in future missions.

[ 1 point awarded ]

When the group returns to Intrinsics, they inquire about the Fin M'Coul, only to find it has been decommissioned, officially, in the records.  Max  informs them that the ship has been renamed to Fortuna Major, and that due to risks of being tracked from Terek by Intrinsics, it will rendezvous with them seperately at Vember after the mission starts.  The group is also informed that Cable is to be reassigned to the External Affairs branch of Intrinsics, where he will serve aboard a Q-Ship.  These Q-Ships are military vessels disguised as cargo ships that are used to trap pirates and enemy company ships when they attempt to attack DKI shipping.  In Cable's place is a new hire named Rath, who is assigned the job of mission leader, based on his years of tactical planning experience with a Special Ops unit of the Star Service.

Next step is to go interview candidates for Flight Surgeon; Max has arranged for a number of candidates to be interviewed at the Medical Field Office of the DKI village.  The group interviews Dr. McDougal, Dr. Smith, Dr. Bombay, Dr. Pulaski, and Dr. Watson, and after some debate, settles on taking Dr. Watson.

The group is then sent off to training for four weeks, at a different area of the same training grounds L2 sent them to earlier.  This time, the trainer is a man named Karkarov, a well dressed, thin, man with graying hair.  Karkarov informs the group that since they have already had rudimentary weapons training, the excercises will focus on other aspects.  The one required skill that all must practics is Grav-Belt  [1 point min expenditure, people with surplus points to spend may spend up to 3 other points on the following:]
 

After training, the group goes to meet with Max again, but he is out for the day.  He leaves a message that the group must meet with Loss Limitations again to help brief a new team being sent on a field mission.  When they arrive, they are met by Director Skinner, who cautions them about mentioning certain aspects of their last mission, including Gary, the Dalton Kess office, or any of the notes or artifacts found there.  The group meets the new L2 group - John, Paul, George, and Ringo.  Their mission is a recon/recovery mission to Bastil, and Everin to see if there are any traces of the large and/or smaller spheres left.  They have been given a set of containment rings built by Farnsworth's group from plans the group brought back.  The questions are answered, and the group is dismissed, but not before a number of very unhappy stares from Iris Renstat, their previous boss.

The next day Max is back again, and he finally gets to the details of the new mission.  In brief, the mission concerns dealing with Internal matters at the Vember office.  Max informs the group that internal review of the matter has escalated to the CEO level, but Nathan Trimble is unavailable to make a decision due to a Field Visit to Ishimshulgii.  Max has constructed a mission consisting of three parts.  As an incentive, he has offered the group a 33% vesting in the Fortuna Major for completing each part.  The three parts are:

1. Abduct the Director of the Vember Intrinsics Office, Curtis Rowley, and bring him back to Terek.  Max wants him for questioning, and believes that removing him will also help to disassemble the Vember office.  Since this is not strictly a sanctioned operation, the group will be given material to frame another Vember employee, Roj Misaru, for the Abduction, and to make it seem as if he were a Streland Systems spy.

2. Bring back records on the original Everin mission, including if possible contact information and associated info on the Minjini contacts used to plan the mission.

3. The group must escort a Max employee, codenamed "Mr. Brown" to Vember and position him so he can infiltrate what is left of the Vember office.  Details of how he will do this are not given; the group is told they must safely deliver him to the City of Minsk on Vember.

To accomplish these goals, Max has arranged for the group to operate initially as geo-prospectors, running an orbital/field-team tandem pair on Vember so the group will be allowed to transfer personell from orbit to the ground without going through the starport.  The operation will be allowed to take place in the vicinity of where Curtis Rowley's house is.  In order to accomplish the second goal, the group will need to stop in the outer Vember system where auxilliary computers for the X-boat storage system are maintained.  The group must insert updated DKI transmissions from Terek to zero out their employee status and records from the Vember office.  Max has also arranged for members of the group to pose as building contractors, working on the office, to provide a method for entry into the building.

The details of the mission planning are left up to Rath, and the rest of the group to decide.  The group will be travelling via a DKI owned Osiron Class Destroyer (4000 Tons, Jump-4) to Vember, within the week.

[1 point awarded]

Max arranges for the group to outfit with needed supplies for the mission, including tranq darts, micro-recorders, camoflage gear, and local maps and data, including a map of the Vember Office.  The group heads off in separate directions to take care of last minute details before departure. Catelyn goes into the DKI Village commerce area to attend a meeting of the Roger Oak Society, but finds that they are foregoing the usual meeting to celebrate the recent  Alliance of Commerce Court Victory over the Republic.  After leaving the event, she heads back to her apartment, where she notices an old friend waiting for her on the street.  As she gets closer, however, she realizes the "old friend" is actually nothing of the sort, and the man pulls a gun from his coat and fires several shots.  A Tranq dart hits Catelyn in the neck, and she collapses within a few seconds from the fast-acting sedative.

When she awakes, she finds herself handcuffed inside a cargo container.  She attempts to esacape, to no avail.  About a half hour later, a man comes in, removes the cuffs, and instructs Catelyn to remove her clothes.  She begins to comply, but then attempts to grapple the man suddenly with her shirt.  After a brief struggle, she is subdued, and re-tranquilized.

At launch day, the group impatiently waits for Catelyn, who does not arrive.  Calls to her on her communicator and at her apartment go unanswered.  Eventually, the group informs Max that she is missing, and Max launches an immediate investigation, worried she might be a spy, perhaps.  A search of Catelyns quarters confirms that she had a guest staying there, so Max takes some of the personal belongings from the apartment and brings group to a biolab, deep in the bowels of the DKI campus.  Runs on the samples show DNA from Catelyn, Bob the guy from finance, and Feno (who briefly stayed with Catelyn for a while)

Max sends instructions to the Intrinsics office to round up Bob and Feno, who eventually arrive, nervously, at the lab.  While Max grills Bob, San and Krau talk to Feno.  Rath is clearly displeased at having a Minjini in his presence.   Feno has improved her Ganglic, but they eventually need to send for a Minjini translator.  She is asked about new premonitions concerning Catelyn, and her eyes widen, and she blurts out that she has seen her being put in a cold coffin in a metal room, yet she is alive.  The group concludes she is perhaps in low berth, and explain Feno's vision to Max.

Max is surprised, and a bit annoyed at the group for withholding the fact that Feno has Psionic power, and tells them that she is considered to be an Esper, a term for Psionic with ESP gifts.  Max  concludes that if Catelyn were in low berth, it would likely be aboard a starship, and since it would be difficult to smuggle someone out through DKI perimiter security, that starship would likely be at the DKI starport itself.  Max orders a lockdown of the starport, and sends in a team to search ships there.

Meanwhile, the group is left at the biolab, where they attempt to weasel things from the people who work there, to varying degrees of success.  Eventually Max calls to say that they have found her, and to meet at the starport.  Catelyn is aboard a small scout ship in suspension, and Dr. Watson is brought in to revive her.  The crew of the ship is taken into custody by RSF agents for various crimes including forgery of immigration documents and impersonating a multistellar corp. employee.

The group is told to hang low until the next day, so they go to a hotel.  Eventually, Max comes by and questions Catelyn in private about her past.  Max is eventually satisified, and allows the group to go on their mission.

The group is met at the starport by Chief Petty Officer G'Nak, a Vargr male who is the pilot of a modular cutter that will take the group into orbit to rendezvous with Infinity's Rainbow, a 4000 ton Osiron Class Destroyer that will be taking the group to Vember.  The group is brought aboard, and introduced to Commander Lou Revine (human), who is the executive officer (XO) for the ship.  Later, the group has dinner with Captain Denu (human), and Lt. Maskers, a Minjini woman who is the ships Chief Navigator.    Rath, again displeased at the sight of a Minjini, takes the captain aside and asks if she can be trusted.  The captian seems a little taken aback by the suggestion, but reassures Rath.

The Infinity's Rainbow goes into jump, and a day later the group is invited again to dinner with the captian, and they are introduced to Mr. Brown, who is the agent the group is supposed to implant into Vember.  Brown is an unlikely spy, looking rather "nerdy", and he is fairly soft spoken as well.  Details of his drop off are discussed at dinner, specifically the need to be placed at Minsk without going through public transportation beforehand.

Later in the week, several members of the group have occasion to bump into another member of the Infiinty's Rainbow crew.  He is a shorter, stocky man with black hair, cheerful disposition, and thick (unidentified) accent.  He is Corporal Orzocquid, or "Orzo".  Orzo asks Krau if he is "The Captain", and Krau shakes his head.  He later asks San the same, and San admits to having been a captain once, which Orzo takes as a "Yes".  Orzo says not to worry, that he has been taking good care of the ship.  San and Krau take this to mean that the Fortuna Major is onboard somewhere.   They begin to worry about the state of the self-destruct timer that they had previously pointed out at Loss Limitations.  They let Rath know about it, and Rath which worries him enough to call Commander Revine to let him know as well.

Revine is reasonably unhappy about the information, and has GN'ak bring the group down to the cargo deck, where he meets them along with Orzo.  A door to a large hangar bay is opened, revealing the Fortuna Major.  The ship has only slight resemblance to the Fin M'Coul, as it has been repainted, and a front-spar has been added to bridge the two hardpoints, forming a third (smaller) hardpoint.

Inside, the ship remains much the same, but the central cabinets have been removed in favor of four low births.  Orzo shows the group the new weapons configuration, which features a laser turret where the sandcaster had been, and the sandcaster has been moved into the new front-spar area.  Orzo also points out a small 5 foot by 5 foot hidden chamber on the lower deck, that had been in the ship since the start.   He also casually mentions that there is some small animal loose on the ship that can talk. (aka Mr. Nibbles)  It apparently bit someone trying to remove it from it's cage, and escaped into the ship.
 

[1 point awarded / 2 for Catelyn ]