October 10 - November 2, 3123 - Ys and No

The group prepares to leave on the mission to Ys recover Farnsworth.  Max supplies Gauss Rifles to San and Rath. Dr. Watson stocks up the new, expanded sick-bay with drugs, including Quickheal, STR and DEX adders, and Purge.  The team is issued respirators to deal with the thin atmosphere of Ys.  It is also disclosed that the analysis of the dead Brauletter shows that the virus he carried is an airborne variety, that also infects humans.  Humans however are immune to its effects, but act as carriers.  The members of the group now carry the virus, and there is no developed antidote.

It is learned that Farnsworth is at Vihinuu University on an island kingdom called Yimu.  The Kingdom is ruled by King Taromar Felsar II, Protector of the temple of Karathk, and Ruler of the Kingdom of Yimu.  He is a minor noble of Vilani descent who's family influence was probably minimal even during the height of the Imperium.  The Kingdom of Yimu is limited to a small island on Ys, surrounded more or less by a large prison continent.  The non-prison remainder of Ys is governed by a Solomani-sympathetic government that has what can generously be described as cool relations with Yimu.

Aline is questioned as to why she is coming along.  She replies that she needs to meet with someone at the university named Mr. Gtringee.  No further details are given.

The Fortuna Major jumps for Pondii.  A week later, they arrive and refuel.  San hunts for drop tanks for the ship to enable them to  jump into Ys fully fueled, but the best deal they can find is for a CR40,000 set, with a two-week lead time.  They decide this is too long, and jump without the tanks.

After another week, the ship arrives at Ys.  A standard Republic Amber Zone warning is broadcasting on a guard band channel.
Present in the system are several large 30,000-ton sleeper ships, ferrying sleeping prisoners in low passage to the Prison colonies.  There are some remnants of the Naval fleet at Ys, but most of the force has left for the Minjini front.

The ship docks at the highport and refuels. Permission is obtained to land at the downport, and San pilots the ship to a landing without incident.  Once on Yimu, the group obtains permission to pilot their shuttle to Yimu from the downport.  This is a long flight across the world, and takes San a gruelling 10 hours to pilot the shuttle, with Rath and Krau aboard.  Catlyn and the Doctor remain behind on the ship.

Upon arrival at Kingdom's Crown in Yimu, the group is greeted warmly and supplied guest accomodations.  (Rath however becomes suspicious of a person of apparent Minjini heritage, and follows him for a while.)  The island seems to be in the midst of preparing for an upcoming winter celebration to honor the 28th anniversary of the King's coronation.  They try to place a call to the University and contact Farnsworth, but run into an operator who directs them to the DKI reprentative for Ys, a man by the name of Havar Sakot.  They arrange a meeting for the next morning.  San and Rath try unsuccessfully to get into trouble that night after a heavy dinner of Baktrak Steak, but nothing much develops.

The next morning, the group takes a taxi to the government offices at the palace, where they meet Sakot. Sakot is an older man with greasy black hair.  He seems nervous, and the condition is not improved by the grilling he is given by Rath, who presses him for access to the University using his Intrnisics/L2 credentials.  Sakot promises to get back later in the day.

The group heads back to the Hospitality Suite, but San notices they are being followed by a car that dissapears once they arrive. Rath hangs around to see if he can spot any lurking spies.  Several hours after their arrival, they indeed receive a call back, as promised by Sakot.  They are expected at an audience with the King in three hours!   Sakot sends over some courtiers from the palace to assist in dressing the group appropriately, and instructing them in royal ettiquite.  A short time later they are sent to the Palace.

While being searched at the Palace, one of the guards comes across Krau's Solarist Bible, and gives him a horrified look as it is confiscated.  The group is ushered in to meet the king.  King Felsar is a grey-bearded man in his early 60's, and he sits at a large table where the team is ushered to.  Rath begins explain their desire to visit the university and DKI manufacturing site, but the King launches into a tirade about how DKI had promised to expand the facilities.   When the conversation is directed to Krau to discuss the academic merits of their mission, the stuttering engineer barely gets a word out before the King slams the Solarist Bible on the table and begins another furious speech about how the Solarists at the University are a bunch of radical terrorists intent on overthrowing the government.

Just as it begins to look really bad for the team, with talk of dungeons beginning to creep in to the King's tirade, Rath catches an off-hand comment about how DKI promised to help with the "Aslan Problem" as well and never delivered.  Rath indicates that the group could possibly help if they knew more.  The King motions to Edlar Ven Ossik, the Defense Minister, to take the group into conference to explain the specifics.

Ven Ossik explains that the Kingdom has recently been invaded by a small band of Aslan ihatei.  Ihatei are wandering colonies of Aslan, led by the landless second sons of established clans.  The ihatei in this case consists of a group of 30-40 adult males, and an unknown number of females and children.  Ossik said that the Kingdom originally sent out an army expedition with air cover to attack the colony, but the King did not authorize a sufficent sized force, and the raid suffered heavy losses.  After the failed attack, the King became convinced the ihatei were a major force, and would  not consent to any follow-up attacks using his forces.  His obsession with ridding the Kingdom of the Aslan however was undiminished, and he asked first the Republic, and then DKI for help with the problem. Both requests went unfuffilled, which led to his current state of mind.

Ossik thinks that the Aslan are not as insurmountable a challenge as the King might think, but warns that they do have energy weapons and armor, and have built up fortifications.  He also mentions that the females of the clan are suspected of being involved with black-market trade activity with the Batrakians, the local denizens of the neighboring continent which hosts several large prison colonies.

[No points awarded]

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Later that day, Krau and San try to contact Philo Farnsworth using a special DKI radio frequency.  They are able to contact a lab at the University Manufacturing Center, and a woman named Chixonna Bunn answers.  She informs them that Farnsworth had been taken by the King's royal guard a few hours ago.   She gives them a name of a local contact in the city of Kingdom Crown where they are staying, and arranges a meeting in a Vilani Classic Theatre across the street from the Hospitality Suites where the group is staying.

San, Krau, and Rath go to the theatre.  Rath lurks in the shadows as usual, while San and Krau talk to the DKI contact, a woman by the name of Susa Meeko.  Meeko tells them that Farnsworth is being held by the King, and that she is working to see if they can get him out.  She urges the group to stay put for now in the city, and to wait to hear from her.  The team returns to the hotel, where they have a waiting message.  It is an invitation to dinner with King Felsar.

In the meantime, interesting things are happing up north on Tumis, the continent that the downport is on.  Civil unrest between hardline Solomani and the Republic sympathetic government has broken down into rioting and disorder in Por, the capital city of Tumis. Catlyn and Dr. Watson monitor the situation nervously from the Fortuna Major, which is sitting in a slip at the downport.  Some time later, Catlyn and the Doctor hear explosions and gunfire nearby at the Starport.

Back on Yimu, Aline, San, Rath, and Krau go to dinner with the King.  At the Kings table is Havar Sakat, the DKI representative, Edlar Ven Ossik, the defense minister, an older woman introduced as Madame Snowe, an unidentified cabinet member, and Philo Farnsworth.  Very little in the way of private conversation takes place at the table, as the King begins querying the group about their intentions with DKI, and their plans to deal with the Aslan Problem.  At one point, the King mentions that the Aslan have a ship, but he is corrected by Ossik, who denies this.

At about the halfway point through the dinner, the King is intterrupted by an aide with some message. The King is greatly agitated, but then beckons to someone to lower a gigantic screen from a hidden recess in the ceiling.  The screen comes alive with television reports of the Solomani uprising on Tumis.  Felsar is furious, and exclaims that it will ruin his coronation celebration.  He then turns to the group and accuses them of being somehow involved, ranting about how the timing of their arrival is too perfect, and how he never trusted DKI or the Republic.  He orders the entire group thrown in jail, and the palace guards comply.

At the downport, Catlyn and the Doctor become more concerned when an armed hijacking party shows up and begins to break into the ship.  Catlyn stands her ground and when the door is finally forced open to the ramp, she fires on the intruders, taking one down.  Later, the intruders throw in a hand-grenade, which she throws back out in time.  It explodes on the ramp, severely damaging the mechanism.  Catlyn tries to make a dash across the open doorway to escape, but she is gunned down by opportunity fire and goes unconcious.

When she awakes, she finds she is somewhere on the ship, with the Doctor.  The doctor had come out of hiding to find an escape route after the hijackers went to the upper level of the ship, and found Catlyn.  He dragged her into the Life Support room.  The ship has been started and is now somewhere off the planet.  The Doctor gives Catlyn a potpourri of drugs to keep her going, and she heads out to take on the invaders.

After arming with weapons from the weapons locker, she sneaks to the upper level of the ship, stopping by sick-bay to pick up neuro-gas for possible use within the ship's life support system.  The ship is under fire from outside attackers (possibly Republic Naval forces)  and there are explosions and alarms going off.  Catlyn sneaks into engineering, and is able to sniper one of the Hijackers and take back her Blaster, which the man had taken for himself.   She then sneaks back down to the life support room.

After some discussion, Catlyn and the Doctor realize that neither one of them knows much about the life support system, or where to inject neural gas.  Catlyn alters her plan and decides just to try and go shoot them.  She sneaks back upstairs, and into Astrogation.  A surprised Hijacker yells for help, but Catlyn gets off a couple of Blasts, one destroying the Navigation console, but the other hitting the Hijacker.  Another shot and he is finished.  There is another tremendous explosion from the aft section of the ship, and the ship begins to drift.  Pressure begins to drop.  Catlyn gets on the comm system and sends Signal GK, the distress signal.  She also makes contact with a Naval vessel, and explains her situation.  She is told that she is to wait and that boarding is about to commence.

Catlyn turns and heads over to the Bridge where she briefly encounters the last Hijacker, but he retreats and closes the door.  She heads back to the Doctor, and the two rig a neural-gas molitov cocktail.  Catlyn hacks into the security system and overrides the Bridge door, throwing in the gas and quickly shutting it again.  In a short while, she greets an SDB boarding party at the Airlock, and they take her and the Doctor on board.  The boarding party secures the ship, presumably dealing with the last Hijacker.  Catlyn suddenly remembers Mr. Nibbles, and she convinces the Marine guard to escort her back onto the ship to collect him.   After this, she and the Doctor are taken to a bunk room, where Catlyn collapses as the stimulants wear off.  The SDB leaves the Fortuna Major floating in the dead of space.

Back in their Jail cells, San has fallen asleep while Krau stands guard.  The two have managed to scrounge a buckle, some string, and a pin from various parts of their costume, and found that they can unlock the door.  They decide to wait it out though as a guard has mentioned that the King sometimes changes his mind about imprisoning guests.  As Krau watches, bleary-eyed, from his bunk, he sees a shadow in the hall.  He gets up to investigate.  It is Aline, she is out of her cell.  Krau wakes up San, whispering "Time to go"...

[1 point awarded / 2 for Catlyn]

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Aline opens the door to the cell, and lets San and Krau out.  Next is Rath, followed by Farnsworth and Sakat.  Aline is asked how she got out, and she says that two guards entered her cell and tried to assault her, and she "stopped" them.  When the group checks her cell, they find a gruesome scene.  One guard has his head cracked open after hitting the bunk, the other's head is completely twisted the wrong way.   Rath and San take a billy-clubs from the guards, and the group proceeds onwards.

In one cell, they come across a Drakaran who they let out.  He introduces himself as Grind. Grind is apparently in jail for "causing trouble" in the town.   In another cell, a man by the name of Bertel Miser is let out.  After some questioning they find out he is the Lucentor of the Solar Church of Yimu.  On their way out, the group comes across a guard station, and they decide to attack it.  Grind leads the way, luring a guard to the door and then punching him in the face.  Rath and San go for the other guard before he has a chance to sound the alarm.  After a brief brawl, the surprised guards are subdued.

The room is ransacked.  In a locker, they find shotguns, vests, uniforms, and helmets.  They suit up, and somehow convince Grind to play the "Wookie Prisoner Game".  They head up the stairs, Rath leading the way.  Rath tries to fool another guard on the next floor that he is another guard, but it goes sour and he has to shoot the guard before he escapes.  The noise however attracts the attention of kitchen workers nearby, who set off the palace alarm.   Moving quickly, the group heads up the next level, after Rath scavenges the dead gaurd's pistol.  They reach the ground-floor level, and Krau intuitively picks a direction to lead them quickly out of the palace.  Grind disagrees with the plan and demands a shotgun, swearing vengeance against the king.  The group decides this is a decent method of distraction, and gives him a weapon.  Grind heads out in the opposite direction, never to be seen again.

Down the hall they enter a lobby area where they startle coat-check attendants.  As they enter, one attendant tries to send for help on the intercom, and receives a point-blank shotgun blast from Rath for the effort.  The second attendant becomes very cooperative, and helps the group with coats and respirators.    Shortly thereafter a firefight breaks out in the hallway, as reinforcements have arrived.  Rath is shot squarely in the chest and takes some damage, but is saved by his Kevlar vest.  The tear gas is thrown into the hallway, providing a temporary barrier.  Krau shoots out the window, causing rapid depressurization to begin.  The group leaps out the window, one-by-one.  Most make it without incident but Farnsworth is cut badly in the process, and Sakat also get some cuts.

Dashing across the palace lawn, Rath guides the group to avoid detection.  Krau tries to climb the fence but runs into trouble, so Aline jumps to the top (!) and helps pull the others over.  On the other side, they are chased by police vehicles but manage to lose them in an alley.  Lucentor Miser eventually leads the group to the home of a Church Prior, who is part of an underground railroad of sorts that assists church members in trouble within the Kingdom.  The group hides out in a secret crawlspace as Kingdom security sweeps the city.

Back onboard the 400-Ton System Defense Boat Fidelity, Catlyn has fallen into a comatose state, exhausted from her battle and her wounds.  She falls into an uneasy sleep for some time.  At some point later, Watson tries to wake her, urging her to get up.  She does not respond to him, despite several doses of stimulants.  Watson begins to carry her (and Mr. Nibbles)  through the ship.  She sees the blurry shapes of crewman running, hears the warbled sound of klaxons going off, and feels the familiar sense of dropping pressure.

Catlyn reawakes after another unspecified period of time.  She is in a life pod, along with Watson and four Navy members. The Fidelity was apparently hit by some weapon which bored a circular hole through the reactor core, forcing an abandon-ship order. Corporal Roth and Corporal Hagar are at the pilot controls, arguing over the best course of action.  A Seaman nicknamed "Cap" is on the communicator, trying to raise a rescue ship.  Another older Seaman, Ridder,  is sitting in his seat, glassy-eyed.  Roth and Hagar are arguing over whether to stay in space and wait, or to attempt a planetary landing.  Roth, who wants to wait in space for either a rescue or rendezvous with a lifepod flotilla, appears to be winning out the argument, at least to start.  Catlyn tries to add her two cents  (which is to land), but she is told to sit down.   After some debate, she borrows a tranquilizer hypo from the doctor, and shoots out Roth.

If Hagar is relieved to be rid of Roth, he is not showing it because he orders Cap and Ridder to search both the doctor and Catlyn, confiscating the medical kit.  Hagar does set a course for the planet however, and six hours later they are on close approach to deorbit.  By now though the drugs wear off, and a very angry Roth orders Catlyn and the Doctor to be tied up and strapped in.  Now the crew begins to argue over where to land.  Cap reports that comm traffic indicates the downport is still under Solomani Rebel control, and the Highport has been destroyed.  The SDB crew is Republic, and has no connection or information on Ys, and they reluctantly turn to Catlyn and the Doctor for advice.  After some confusion and attempts to contact DKI receivers, the Roth (who is piloting)  is talked into attempting a landing on Yimu, after Catlyn mentions the University and having friends on the island.

On approach, Roth asks Catlyn for approximate location of the University on the island.  Catlyn initially had pointed to the west on the map, but during the landing she insists the university is to the east.  When the life pod is below the wispy cloud deck and the view is clearer, the only thing that can be seen in the eastern region is a vast expanse of desert.  Catlyn then corrects her directions, saying she "meant west".  Panic and chaos ensue, as the two Corporals argue again over whether to vector at the last minute back west, or to continue down on course in hopes of finding a settlement.  In the end Roth actually loses control of the craft during a violent maneuver to the west, but regains stability just in time before a jarring but non-fatal impact with the planet.  Catlyn is knocked out again.

The next morning, back in the safe house, the group catches the local and global news.  They find they are wanted within the Kingdom as Solomani Infiltrators, blamed for the deaths of five guards and a palace staff member.  The Prior has a plan to move the group that night to a neigboring port-town via truck, in groups of two.  They eventually make it there without being caught, but Rath has a close call when a guard inspects the trunk, but does not dislodge the luggage hiding the stowaways.

Along the way, Krau confronts Aline, and wants an explanation of how she was able to leap the fence and to kill the guards.  She is upset by the question, and begs them not to reveal any of last nights events to anyone.   She eventually admits she is from a planet called Quaver where there are others like her.  She was rescued by Max ten years ago on Altair.  She has no recollection of how she got to Altair, but Max took her in and has treated her essentially like a daughter...
 

Catlyn opens her eyes, and is able to see out the pod window.  They have landed;  outside is the white of deep winter snow.
 

[2 points awarded / 1 for Catlyn]

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In a small seaport north of Kingdom's Crown, San, Rath and Krau discuss options for getting to the University with the Solarists who have sheltered them.  Also present is Aline, Farnsworth and HavarSakat, the DKI liason to Yimu.  After some analysis it is decided the safest route to avoid detection is by boat, across the Oceo Bay.  While the Solarists make arrangements for the journey, Farnsworth takes Rath aside and expresses privately concerns about Sakat, and his loyalty to DKI and the group in light of their recent fugitive status.  Sakat was apparently appointed by King Felsar, not by DKI, to the position.  It is also learned via news reports that Madame Snowe, the King's Consort, was killed in the attack in the Palace, presumably by Grind. The King has vowed to capture punish the criminals, and to continue with his Coronation Ceremony on the following day.

The group sets sail on the evening of the 5th, aboard the Mauritania, a cargo ship captained by a man named Hazelton.  While onboard over the night, the group notices that Sakat is missing.  Rath and San go to investigate, and find him on the bridge talking to the Captain.  He seems startled to see San and Rath, but quickly recovers.  Rath asks if the Captain can provide someone to give a tour of the ship, and the Captain calls up his first mate, Gilligan, for the job.  As the group is guided around the top deck of the ship on the tour, San distracts Gilligan, while Rath pushes a surprised Sakat overboard.  Sakat vanishes into the foamy sea below and is never seen again.

Meanwhile, in the Northern regions of Yimu, an escape pod from the RNS Fidelity has landed hard in the snowy forests of Meheva, activating an automatic locator beacon in the process.   Catlyn has come to and surveys the scene.  Dr. Watson is working on Cap, the communications officer, but his head has been crushed by falling equipment and he cannot be saved.  Mr. Nibbles is intact, although his cage seems to have been battered severely.  The two Corporals, Roth and Hagar, are collecting survival supplies, and arguing over who should go out to look for help.  There is only one respirator unit in the supplies, so only one may journey out at a time.  The other man in the pod, Ridder, continues to stay in a corner, talking to himself.

After long debate it is decided that Hagar will go out.  Catlyn scans the radio for signs of a rescue party, but gets poor reception, owing to the fact that the capsule has landed upside-down, destroying the main antenna.  While Hagar is out exploring however she comes across a strange set of signals she recognizes to be military, but in a foreign tongue.  Roth recognizes the language to be Aslan.  A short time later the landing site is overflown by a strange looking grav vehicle, which eventually lands.  An Aslan figure emerges and surveys the capsule.  Several others come as well, and follow the tracks left by Hagar.  Hagar however tries to elude the Aslan and some undetermined conflict occurs, resulting in Hagar's death.   The Aslan eventually show up with a larger vehicle, and they cut open the capsule, depressurizing it.  Catlyn, who is already in poor health, passes out from lack of oxygen.

The Mauritania sets anchor in the port of Vihinuu, near the university.  Waiting for the group with a vehicle is the buxom Chixonna Bunn, the second in charge at the DKI research laboratories of Yimu.  She drives them down a deserted road to a small canyon, which appears to have been used at some point in the past as a junkyard.  Beyond the junk heaps is a very large hangar door, leading into a wide tunnel into the side of the canyon.  Inside, the tunnel opens up into a large hangar, filled with scientific equipment.  The partially constructed skeleton of a starship is present, along with a large set of radial interlocking rings that Farrnsworth states is part of a test apparatus for a new defense screen against Spheres.  Farnsworth also shows Krau an experimental new star drive based on the principles of Dr. Fission Chips, which he calls a Tensor-B Drive.  In theory this drive should allow faster transits between star systems if it works.

Also at the site is Mr. Gtringee, a Vegan who is the contact Aline was sent along to meet.  Farnsworth had previously expressed concern over whether Gtringee could be counted on to help the groups cause (ie, getting the team off of Ys), but he is at least for the moment in a good mood when he sees Aline, and the two go off for a private meeting.

Catlyn awakes in an oval room, with strange smells in the air.  She is naked, and an Aslan woman is leaning over her, running instruments across her.  Mr. Nibbles is in the corner, mumbling about pancakes.  The woman identifies herself as Kitiskeao("Talks with three Spirits"), the clan healer.  She tells Catlyn that the Doctor, Roth, and Ridder are all well and staying in other rooms.  The Clan leader or Lahkt ("Land Holder") is named Hleaknayes("World Strider"), and he is upset that Hagar attacked their landing party, and he challenges Roth to a duel to demonstrate that the group is honorable.  Roth fights with Hleaknayes and begins to lose, so he takes a cheap shot at the groin.  Hleaknayes is infuriated, and kills Roth.   Catlyn, Ridder and Watson are considered prisoners/slaves, who may try to work their way up to some higher status within the clan.

Catlyn gets the idea to exchange information about King Felsar for her and Watson's freedom.  She manages to get a meeting with Hleaknayes, where she tells him she has friends who know the King and who would be willing to help him attack the kingdom.  Hleaknayes is very skeptical but gives Catlyn one chance; she will go with Tlankhu ("Fifth Counsel") , another Aslan male of dubious honor and possible interest in Catlyn as his next conquest.  The two will leave the landhold and go out in a grav vehicle to a remote location and Catlyn will attempt to contact her friends.  If she succeeds, and they agree to come help, Hleaknayes will free her and the Doctor.  Otherwise, Tlankhu will do as he sees fit.  The two head out and about an hour later, Catlyn nervously tries to raise her friends.

To her relief, she is able to contact the DKI lab and talk to San, Rath, and Krau.  They arrange for a rendezvous in six hours at predetermined coordinates.

[1 point awarded]

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Preparations for a meeting with the Aslan get underway at the secret DKI materials facility near Vihnuu University.  Krau attempts to make explosives, and Sansearches for any weapons that might be available, coming up with an autopistol.  The explosives experiments are a failure, but not a spectacular one; in the end, the group manages to create a fuel-air explosive device, which they load onto the air raft.  Workers at the materials lab also install nanofiber armor plating all around the vehicle.

Krau has a brief meeting with Bertel Miser, the Solarist Lucentor that they rescued from prison.  Miser informs Krau that the King has rounded up several hundred Solarists from the University and is holding them at Karathk Temple.  Miser plans to go organize the remaining resistance and work on a plan to free them.  Thanks Krau and the group and bids them farewell, giving Krau a parting gift of a new Solarist Bible.

San tries to contact other ships in orbit, using transmitter facilities available to the lab.  He manages to contact a 100-ton Type-J Scout, in orbit around the planet.  The Sensimillia is captained by a man named Chong, and his easy-going crew, including Parish, Harrelson, Garcia, and Hoffman.  They are searching for a landing spot after taking damage to their vessel, and the group provides them with coordinates nearby to land at.  They also contact another ship, the Nebula Gale, an outbound free trader.  San asks a favor of the captain, requesting that he try to find the transponder signal for the Fortuna Major.

Rath meanwhile is watching the news.  He learns among other things that the city of Por, capital of the northern continent of Tumis, has been recaptured by local forces from the rebels.  Also, in local news, the Security Forces of King Felsar announced the capture of one of the insurrection instigators, Grind.  Grind is paraded among jeering crowds, and is scheduled to be executed on November 10th.  The King carries on with the Coronation Anniversary, giving a long speech remembering Madame Snowe, rallying the crowd against the Solomani, Republic, and DKI, and vowing to capture and punish those who caused the insurrection.

The time comes to leave for the Aslan Rendezvous.  The group tries to find Aline, but she is still  in a lab area with Mr. Gtringee, who comes to the door and says she is indisposed.  Krau, San, and Rath leave on the air raft for the designated coordinates.  When they arrive, they find that it is an island in the middle of a vast, swampy ice-field, well defended from unseen approaches.  Hovering over the area is a large grav vehicle, below are two Aslan warriors.   Catlyn is not to be seen.  Rath communicates with the Aslan and asks where Catlyn is. They respond that she is not at the Rendezvous.  Rath wants assurances she is still alive, and he is told to approach and they will allow communication with her.   Rath asks for the Aslan's word they will not be harmed, knowing their word is their honor.  The Aslan consent, and Krau and Rath get out and speak to the warriors.

The Aslan notice that Krau and Rath are the men wanted by the king, which raises their assesment of the group.  Rath speaks to them as a warrior, and displays the Aslan Warrior glyph on his clothing.  Rath is allowed to talk to Catlyn and Dr. Watson, and after some discussion the group is invited to come back to the Aslan Landhold and negotiate with Hleaknayes, the Aslan Lahkt (Leader).   When the group arrives at the Aslan compound. There they meet Hleaknayes, and his immediate inner clan members.  Catlyn and the Doctor are also present.  Hleaknayes says that he is interested in what the group knows about the King's defenses, but is unsure of the group's honor due to past dealings with Humans, including the Naval members killed several days earlier.  Hleaknayes invites Rath to participate in a ritual combat to prove his honor, and Rath accepts.  The duel is not to the death, but until an opponent falls to the ground.

The clan is again gathered to watch Hleaknayes battle another visitor.  The mood is a bit more celebratory than last time, and food and spirits are provided to the non-combatants, including a fruit dish laced with Dust Spice, an Aslan-favored drug that induces a sense of euphoria.  The battle commences, both sides armed with padded polearm weapons.  Rath puts on an impressive display, despite the superior strength and skill of his Aslan opponent. Rath eventually goes down, but not before getting in an impressive shot that nearly topples Hleaknayes.  Happy with his victory and impressed at Rath's performance, Hleaknayes helps Rath to his feet and declares the group to be welcome visitors.  Parties commence through the evening, but only Catlyn participates, the others preferring to rest until morning, when negotiations would begin in earnest.

The next day the group meets with Hleaknayes and his Warrior chiefs.  Rath and company provide detailed intelligence data on King Felsar's forces, based on their previous briefings with the King and his defense minister.   In exchange for the information, Hleaknayes agrees to let Catlyn and the Doctor go, but makes a proposal.  He states that since the King appears to be an enemy of both the "Clan of Rath", and the Aslan.  Getting rid of him benefits both clans.  He asks if the group can provide a distraction that would lure a significant number of the King's forces out of the city, to allow the Aslan to act.  Rath says he will try to consider ways to do this, and they agree to meet on the following day.  The Doctor and Catlyn are allowed to leave with the group, but Catlyn chooses to remain behind for the time being.

The group returns to the DKI complex, and gets an update on the landing of the Sensimillia from the DKI security team, led by Susa Meeko.  The ship has landed and the crew is, well, very informally organized.  The group goes over and checks out the ship, and meets the crew. The members are generally friendly and looking for a good time, as well as repairs to the ship.  San and Krau assist with this, while inspecting the ship for spaceworthiness.  It is decided that there is a chance for surival in this ship.  The group hatches a plan to distract the crew by taking them to a university party.  Everyone goes along except Hoffman, who remains on the ship.

They return to the base, and Meeko is given the task of taking them somewhere at the school as a distraction.  Rath and the Doctor come along with the group back to the ship; the Doctor is instructed to prepare a tranquilizer, but he is out of it.  He finds however some animal tranquilizer that he attempts to dilute to human tolerable dosages.  Once at the ship, they quickly tranq the suspicious Hoffman, who does not appear to be in as altered a state as the rest of the crew.  Hoffman unfortunately has a bad reaction and flatlines immediately.  Krau and San dump the body outside the ship, along with various drug cargo found in the hold.  Krau, San, and Rath then pilot the ship into orbit, and proceed to the last known coordinates of the Fortuna Major.

They arrive at the ship, and Rath and Krau don Vacc Suits and head across to the ship. Krau unfortunately gets out of control and goes spinning off into space, and needs to be rescued by Rath.  Inside the ship, there is much damage. There are breaches in the Hull aft and starboard; the fusion plant has shut down and has leaking coolant.  Life Support lines have frozen and broken, the Bridge and Astrogation also have severe damage from energy weapons fire.  Engineering is hardest hit, the apparent recipient of a direct missile hit.  There is little left of the Jump engines and the manuever drives are damaged.    While surveying the damage to engineering, a frozen corpse floats by Krau, causing a panic attack that is only ended when Rath comes over and cleans up the bodies from the ship.

The good news is that the Fusion drive is operational for the short term, but will need maintenance.  The Gravitic drives are also OK, which means the ship can be landed once inside the Gravity well of Ys.  The team devises a plan whereby San will pilot the Fortuna Major back to the surface, after being towed by the Sensimilla, piloted by Krau.  Rath collects his combat armor and reentry pod, and rides along in the cargo hold of the Sensimilla, ready to jettison if something goes wrong.  Remarkably, nothing does, and the two ships land back at their starting point.

Work commences on estimating damage and repair time.  Krau and San disagree on how long it will take, estimates varying between weeks and months.  Another discussion emerges about what to replace the Fortuna Major's jump drive with; the Sensimillia has a Jump-2 Drive, or, there is the Tensor-B drive that Farnsworth and team have been testing..
 

[2 points awarded]

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San wastes no time in piloting the Fortuna Major into the Canyon where the secret DKI facility is located.  Krau follows in the Sensimillia, moving that ship into the canyon.  Krau instructs workers to move the prototype ship in the huge underground hangar out of the way to make room.  Farnsworth has a meeting with Krau, where he expresses concern about leaving behind most of the team.  He wants the team to come up with a way to bring everybody, namely by installing low births for the twenty or so other team members in the cargo hold.  Farnsworth is quite agitated and stressed out in general, prompting concern from Dr. Watson and others.  Chixonna Bunn, who has been spending lots of quality time with Krau, is asked to go speak to Farnsworth about taking it easier.  This conversation has mixed success, but Farnsworth promises to take it easier.

Susa Meeko calls in from the University and warns that the remaining crew of the Sensimillia are coming down from their high, and want to return to their ship.  Plans have progressed on the exit strategy, and it now includes use of the Sensimillia as a flying bomb which will be a key element of the distraction Hleaknayes and the Aslan want in order to attack the King's forces.  Krau and Rath discuss what to do, and decide it would be best if Rath discretely takes care of the problem of the Sensimillia crew.  The four members of the crew are ferried to the remote landing spot, where Rath picks them all off using "Betsy", his favorite laser rifle.  The bodies are gathered and blown up to help confuse the crime scene.

San and Krau decide that they will spend time training in Tensor-B Engineering and Piloting, leaving most of the work of the actual installation of equipment and repair of the Fortuna Major.   The Sensimillia is stripped for parts, and it's fuel tanks are used for temporary storage of hydrogen that is electrolyzed from water using power from the fusion reactor.  Catlyn is contacted at the Aslan camp, where she has chosen to spend her time.  She given the task of working out a deal with the Aslan females to obtain 20 low birth units.   The Aslan reply the next day that these can be obtained from the Prison Colony, for a price of 200,000 credits.  A deal is struck where these will be provided in exchange for 5 SIM-10 missiles from the Fortuna Major, and a laser turret from the Sensimillia.

On November 10th, Grind is executed in a public beheading at Kingdom's Crown.  In a separate announcement, the King declares a bounty of one million credits a head on Krau,San,Aline,Farnsworth,Rath, and Sakat.

Catlyn tries to Tlankhu and Rath to stage a rescue, but is unsucessful at convincing them.  The following week is spent repairing the ship.  On the 15th, the Low Births arrive, and mechanics begin installing them in the cargo bay.  Dr. Watson is concerned about the workload involved with keeping these units stable without a centralized computer control, so another deal is struck with the Aslan to obtain the needed software, and it is loaded into the computer core from the Sensimillia, now installed in the cargo bay of the Fortuna Major.

Catlyn decides that she can improve on the automation of the software by combining it with AI code from her software stash.  This experiment is flawed however, and crashes in the middle of a test run using a cat from one of the lab workers.  Word spreads through the lab about the failure of the low birth, and rumors fly that the units are unsafe.  Krau and San arrive from their training and chastise Catlyn for her experiments, forces her to reload the original software, and then instructs Meeko to round up more cats.  Subsequent experiments pass on all but two of the low births, making the team feel a little better.

On the 16th, Rath sends a warning as he works lookout above the canyon about incoming drones.  Everyone heads into the cavern, but the drones circle the area, transmitting encrypted code to parts unknown.  Copies of the transmissions are recorded, and Catlyn is called to decode them.  She has no luck doing the task on Aslan computers, so she heads to the Lab, and looks for a computer station there to use. She knocks on Mr. Gtringee's door. Gtringee has been uncooperative, and has spent most of the time in his Lab, presumably with Aline, who has not been seen since they arrived.  In this case though Gtringee lets Catlyn in, apparently curious about the encrypted code.   There is no sign of Aline in the lab, but there are several smaller locked rooms inside, one of which Gtringee goes back into after Catlyn complains about being watched while she works.  Catlyn is unable to decode the message, even on the lab computers, so it's content remains a mystery.
 

[1 point awarded]

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Since nobody in the DKI facility is able to crack the encryption on the probe message, San and Krau get the idea that they should send it to the University "web site" or equivalent, and see if hackers can crack it.  They have Catlynbreak into their systems and insert the bait, along with some other interesting links to attract people. Catlyn returns to the Aslan camp after doing this work.  In the meantime, Rath continues with security watch duty, spending 8 of every 12 hours in his Battle Suit, watching for an attack.

Work continues on the ship without incident until the 19th, when the transmitter at the university that is used by the facility goes down unexpectedly.  Meeko, the security chief for the facility, goes out to the University to investigate.  She comes back later that evening with a holocrystal of an encrypted recording of a transmission prior to the breakdown.  (Meeko secretly had a number of recording devices set up on the DKI transmitter for security purposes).  The recording is given to Mr. Gtringee for analysis; he takes it and goes back to the lab, refusing to allow anyone to accompany him while he decrypts it.   Several people are suspicious of Gtringee, and it is decided to have Catlyn decrypt the message in parallel.

Catlyn is able to break the code on the message, and discovers it is a video recording of Gtringee, addressed to the Royal Security Forces of the Kingdom of Yimu.  It is a short message with content that is basically:
 

"My name is Sevar Gtringee, I am a scientist at Vihinuu University.  I am being held captive in an underground lab at coords {8867:4409} by armed insurrectionists, including the group wanted for escaping the King's prison and the killings at the Palace.  I am sending detailed maps of the facility and surrounding area but worry that I may soon be found out. Send help soon!"

In the meantime, Meeko,Rath,San, and a few other workers handy with weapons assemble outside Gtringee's lab.  The plan is to storm the lab, but the worry is Aline; nobody has seen her, and nobody knows what side she is on in this conflict.   Rath has Meeko open the lab, and he steps in with his Gauss rifle.  Gtringee turns around, surprised, and asked what the meaning is of the intrusion.  Rath responds by opening up with a burst from the Gauss gun, which instantly pulverizes Gtringee and the surrounding equipment into small, messy bits.  The group then searches the lab, looking for Aline.

In a small operating room inside the lab, they find her.  Aline however bears little or no resemblence to her former self; her flesh has been stripped open, revealing a gleaming cybernetic interior.  She is unresponsive, and there are many probes and other wires connected to her.  It appears that she is in fact mostly a robot, with only her exterior layer being biological.    San and Rath disconnect all probes except for a "life support" system they assume is responsible for keeping her in stasis, and then take her and the computer directly to Sick Bay on the Fortuna Major.

While preparations for departure continue, someone from the staff assigned to keep watch on the outside reports seeing movement in the forest above the canyon.  Rath heads out with his favorite Laser Rifle, Betsy, to investigate.  The sensors in his Battle Suit quickly lock on to two targets, and after a brief, lopsided battle, Rath kills both of them.  There are two other contacts seen on the other side of the canyon, but Rath loses sight of them and cannot reaquire on sensors.    Sensors do pick up four approaching fighter aircraft however, and this information is relayed to San and Krau, who quickly load whatever else they can manage into the cargo bays and head out.

The fighter aircraft engage the two starships, but San shoots down two of the craft and their incoming missile volleys in short order from the gunner station of the Fortuna Major.  The other two craft abort the mission and attempt to escape, but these are destroyed as well.  San and Krau then make a cross-continent sprint towards Aslan territory.  Along the way, San shoots up several radar installations that attempt to track them.

When Rath contacts the Aslan, they are less than enthusiastic about the prospect of a visit.  They do not want to attract the King's forces to the Aslan compound, and tell Rath to have his clan set down out in the swamp for at least a day.  Rath/San comply, and the two ships land at the spot where they originally met the Aslan.

The doctor calls San in and tells him that in the process of checking out Aline, one of the connections slipped, and she briefly started to regain conciousness. This worries San, and he has a small remote-controlled explosive device attached to her back-side as a safety measure, and tells the doctor to refrain from disturbing her.

The next day, the Aslan call and indicate that the ships can come to the Aslan compound. The Aslan hangar is very large, mostly underground, and is found to contain an 800-ton Aslan ship.  The Aslan ask for more missiles to use during the assault on the King's forces, and there is an agreement(?) to give them 3(?) more.

[1 point awarded]

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On the night of the 21st, Hleaknayes, the Aslan leader, calls Rath aside to discuss the upcoming attack on the King's forces.  Hleaknayes is concerned about his lead warrior, Tlankhu, and the possibility that he will be overconfident in battle and overstep his bounds.  He says that he has assigned Tlankhu to the task of creating the distraction in Krathk, and he would like Rath to watch over Tlankhu if possible and make sure he sticks to the mission, and returns when it is time. Rath agrees, and also asks Hleaknayes for grenades and ammunition for the mission, which he provides.  Hleaknayes also provides a crate of pistols for distribution to the Solarists once they are freed from prison, and two TDX (two-dimensional, graviticly shaped) explosive charges.

On the Fortuna Major, work continues in spite of shortages of parts and equipment.  Krau draws up a list of these things and asks the Aslan Females if they can obtain the needed items.  The response is that someone from the group would have to "come shopping" with the Aslan next time they go over to the Prison Colony continent of Batrak.   This option does not immediately appeal to Krau, so the matter is tabled for the time being until after the attacks.

Dr. Watson visits Rath with an awkward problem.  Aline, currently in electronic stasis but still ripped apart from Gtringee's experiments, has large pieces of disconnected and decomposing flesh still attached to her.  The doctor wishes to operate to remove this, but there is a slight chance this will somehow cause some unexpected outcome.  Rath consents however, and Watson operates.  He is able to remove the dead tissue.  His findings from crude analysis of the living tissue is that it is surprisingly "generic" in terms of DNA structure, is not prone to infection despite the proximity of the dead/contaminated tissue, and her "blood" is only semi-normal; it seems to lack white blood cells for one.  He also detects evidence that tissue is regenerating at a much faster than normal pace.

The attack is planned for the dawn of the 23rd.  Rath heads out to Krathk (in battle dress) with Tlankhu and several of his warriors, who are outfitted with combat armor and plasma rifles.  San, Catlyn, and Krau remain behind to help defend the home base and monitor communications.  On the dawn of the 23rd, Rath and team have reached the grounds of the Temple of Karathk, and Rath sets up the TDX explosives in a parking area he guesses will be used as a command/staging area following the destruction of the temple.  Back at the Aslan compound, San and Krau prepare the Sensimillia for it's last flight.  In addition to checking out the remote controls, they fully fuel the craft to it's capacity with hydrogen, and load on several barrels of flammables for good measure.

San pilots the Sensimillia to an accurate and spectacularly destructive impact straight into the center of the 20-story Temple of Karathk, causing a massive explosion and shock wave that even knocks Rath over in his powered armor.  Dust and debris spread everywhere.  Rath and team proceed towards the city of Karathk on a small ATV unloaded from the grav-APC they arrived on.  Moving quickly and stealthily they make their way into the city, passing numerous emergency vehicles headed out to the temple.  Catlyn provides information from police and military channels (that she has compromised) back to Rath, and when it seems that many forces are near the temple, he detonates the first TDX charge.  Some time later Rath detonates the second charge at another clearing, and this appears to take out even more of the command/control in the area.

Deeper into the city, Rath and the Aslan encounter police forces who attempt to stop them, but they are quickly taken out by plasma fire from the Aslan.  Radio messages relayed from the base inform Rath that military aircraft and ground forces have been scrambled from Kingdom's Crown, and are inbound to Karathk within 1/2 hour.  The team works their way to the prison complex, where they are able to defeat the guards and release all prisoners (most but not all of which are Solarist detainees).  Rath hands out the pistols to anyone who claims they will fight, and tells the rest to regroup at "The Bright Basement", a secret location previously specified to Krau by Bertel Miser, the Solarist Lucentor.

Upon leaving the prison complex, Rath and squad are engaged by fighter aircraft, equipped with laser cannons.  Two Aslan are shot dead while attempting to cross the prison yard.  The squad takes out one fighter craft, but the other pursues them as they break for the woods in the ATV.  At the edge of the wood line however the fighter scores a direct hit on the ATV, and all the remaining Aslan excepting Tlankhu are killed in the explosion.  Rath is protected by his battle-suit, and gets to his feet, grabbing the wounded Tlankhu and heading off into the woods.  He is chased closely by the aircraft, which launches missile volleys and laser shots in an attempt to take him out.  Rath is able to leap out of the direct path of harm, and eventually uses his stealth and camo skills to hide in the woods with his suit shut down until the fighters lose his trail.

Some time later Rath determines that the craft have left the area, and he makes a run for it, using a roundabout path to get back to the APC.  As he crosses an open area however, he is spotted by nearby aircraft, and as he attempts to run for cover, he takes a direct hit from a laser cannon.  Tlankhu is killed instantly.  The resulting damage also destroys most of the Battle Suit, and inflicts severe burns on Rath.  Barely conscious, Rath is able to put on his respirator but he cannot free himself from the damaged suit.  He passes out, to awake later...

While the battle of Karathk is going on, Hleaknayes and the rest of the Aslan warriors head out in their 800-ton battle cruiser to Kingdoms Crown to attack the King directly.  The moving of ships attracts the attention of the Republic Navy, who seems to be more in control of the Downport and showing more signs of organization.  Although the Navy seems to notice the activity on Yimu however, they take no apparent action.  At the end of the day Hleaknayes radios back that his forces have sustained significant losses, but they have captured the King, and destroyed most of the King's army currently at the capital.  Hleaknayes is concerned about Tlankhu and Rath, since he expected an update earlier and did not receive one.  He asks San and Krau to take an APC out to the landing site at Karathk, and see if their APC is still there.

Rath wakes up in pain.  He is locked in a windowless room, and is surrounded by army personell.  They administer truth serum and begin to interrogate him.  Rath is able to resist it's effect to varying success, due in part to his strong will and fanatacism toward his mission.  The army captain wants details on the nature and size of the attacking forces.  Rath answers incompletely in many cases, but does mention that he works for DKI.  He also lies and says that there are 20 other warriors in powered armor, a comment that seems to worry the army members watching the interrogation...

[1 point awarded / 2 for Rath ]

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San,Krau and Catlyn prepare to head out to Karathk to determine what happened to Rath and the other Aslan.  They debate who to take along, and finally decide to take a risk and have Dr. Watson attempt to revive Aline.  As it turns out, Aline's biological tissue is rapidly regenerating, and threatening to cut off the wires connecting her to the stasis generator.  San and Watson take her to a cargo bay, and the Doctor disconnects her.  She comes around, and begins to remember everyone in the group. Soon she notices her exposed mechanical innards, and she is horrified, apparently unaware that she is not human.  San and Krau try to console her and then ask if she could accompany them on a mission to rescue Rath.  She absently agrees to come along, and then returns to sick bay.

The group heads out in the Fortuna Major in search of Rath.  They find the APC that Rath took on the mission, abandoned.  While searching the area, the Fortuna Major is locked on by local radar, and attacked with missiles.  San shoots down the incoming volley and then destroys the Radar installation and Missile Depot, setting off a massive explosion.

In a building in the nearby Military base, Rath is being escorted from his cell to the interrogation room for a second round of questioning.  When the explosion goes off, the escorts are momentarily set off balance, and one even falls from the seismic shock wave.  Rath seizes the opportunity and stealthily pickpockets a sidearm from one of the guards during the confusion.  Acting quickly, Rath shoots the two guards and quickly releases his handcuffs using a key from one of the men.  He takes the other sidearm and extra ammo, and heads out towards the exit.  Narrowly dodging a shot from two more personell that have been alerted, Rath shoots and takes them both down, then sprints up the stairs.  He finds his way to an exit and steals a jacket and respirator, briefly stopping to salute an incoming officer who is oblivious to the escape.  Rath runs out into the military compound.

Overhead, San has engaged the military base, striking at various targets on the base.  The Fortuna Major is hit by ground fire but is not seriously damaged.  While making low passes over the base, San is able to spot an individual who looks out of place, and who is waving at the ship.  San takes the grav shuttle out to look for the person, thinking it to be Rath.  Some time later San and Rath are able to rendezvous outside of the base, and San takes him back to the ship.  The Fortuna Major departs at best speed back to the swamp, where they land to repair the ship and work on Rath.

Watson operates on Rath and is able to work his medical miracles on Raths severe burns and wounds.  A new wrinkle surfaces though when a Republic Navy cutter is spotted on the Fortuna Majors sensors, coming down from orbit.  They soon learn it is a search and rescue craft, looking for the downed life pod from several weeks back.  The Navy crew contacts the Fortuna Major, and asks questions about whether they have dealt with the Aslan, and whether they know what happened to the life pod.  The Navy personell are told that the group has been trading with the Aslan, and that they have not seen the pod and think it to have been found/attacked by a rival Aslan clan.  When pressed for more detail, they bid for more time and promise to ask the Aslan for details on the "rival clan" and then get back to the Navy cutter.

They return to the Aslan camp, and discuss strategy with Hleaknayes, who would very much like the Navy to just "go away."  It takes some convincing to get Hleaknayes to agree not to just kill the Navy personell, and they ultimately arrange a fake "rival clan" site, where they deposit the remains of several humans along with parts of the life pod.  San then contacts the Navy and relays the coordinates to them for investigation.  This seems to satisfy them for the time being, but they do mention they will contact them again with questions if need be.

Hleaknayes has unloaded his booty from the raid, which consists of the King, several nobles, and a large supply of gold taken from the King's coffers.  Hleaknayes plans to go on a shopping expedition to Batrak to buy military weapons and equipment on the following day, and members of the group are invited along to do some shopping for their ship parts.

At the end of the day, Hleaknayes invites Rath to attend a ceremony to honor the fallen warriors from the battle of the previous day.  There are some dead brought back by the Aslan, and some honored in absentia.  The remains of the dead are placed on large funarial pyres, created from special wood soaked with oxidizers to allow it to burn hot in the thin, Ys atmosphere.    The warriors chant a haunting Aslan song as the flames leap high into the sky...

[2 points awarded ]

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On the 26th, Rath,Catlyn,Krau, and San accompany the Aslan on a shopping trip to Batrak, the continent with the prison colony.  Hleaknayes is looking for military hardware, and has offered to subsidize some of the needed purchases for the completion of the Fortuna Major repairs. Flying by Aslan APC to Batrak, the group heads toward a small city near one of the prison colonies, where there is a large trade market.  The group enters a 20 story structure, full of merchants, traders, rogues, customers, travellers, and other local denizens.  The Aslan go immediately to one of the upper levels which are not open to the public, while the rest of the group shops in the various markets for electronics gear.   San and Krau manage to find the remaining parts they need, Catlyn picks up some interesting software, while Rath finds new toys, including force shields, and a "hand flamer", a small plasma gun.

While shopping Rath notices they are being followed by a Drakaran, and the group calls for backup from one of the Aslan warriors.  The Drakaran is not found during a subsequent search, and the group heads down to the APC following the shopping trip.   At this point, San has an immediate sense of danger, and he cautions Hleaknayes not to open the door to the APC.  A search of the vehicle uncovers an explosive charge stuck to the underside of the APC, rigged to go off when the door opens.  Rath is unable to disarm the trap, but Catlyn quickly disconnects it.    A search of the area fails to uncover any culprits.  The group then has dinner with Hleaknayes and an arms dealer who is selling armored vehicles to the Aslan, and it is uneventful.  Afterward, the group heads back to Yimu, with San piloting one of the new APC vehicles bought during the trip.

After returning to the Aslan base, the group concentrates on completing repairs to the Fortuna Major.  Hleaknayes meets with Bertel Miser, the Solar Church leader, who wants to negotiate a power-sharing agreement.   Also during this week, the group is contacted once again by Republic Navy Search & Rescue, who want more details regarding the dissapearance of their crew members, and they demand a meeting with Hleaknayes.  Rath reluctantly sets this up, and the Navy meets with the Aslan that evening at the Aslan compound.  As a precaution, the group preps the ship for takeoff in the event things go badly.

During the meeting, the Navy investigator makes a critical Aslan faux pas by implying that the Aslan may be lying in their accounting of the events surrounding the escape pod landing.  This sets Hleaknayes into a fury, and he draws a weapon and shoots his visitors in distinctly unhonorable fashion.   Rath heads to the door during the melee and makes a quick exit, sprinting across the Aslan compound to the hangar during the confusion.  The Fortuna Major blasts out of the compound and into orbit.

The ship still needs three more days of repairs before a jump can be attempted, so the crew decides to land on a moon of the neighboring planet Ovos.  The moon is quite large by satellite standards and has a thin, CO2 atmosphere.  A neutrino source is nearby, but cannot be pinpointed.  After landing and working on the outside of the ship, Krau and Rath notice small humanoid flying creatures nearby, which Aline later identifies as Droyne.  The Droyne establish contact with Rath, and tell him that their ship was destroyed during the attack in the Ys system, and they need help sending some of their people to Yimu.  Rath indicates that their ship cannot help them because they do not plan to return to Ys, but that he would be willing to contact the Navy to see if they would send out a shuttle, if the Droyne would like.

The Droyne says that he they will  have to cast Coyns to determine the answer, and invite Rath to their camp for the ceremony.  Rath accepts.  They take him to an underground complex that is apparently a Lanthium mine, and the Droyne leader begins the casting ceremony by pulling a shiny metal disc out of a large jar.  Rath is asked to participate, and draws the "Warrior" coyn.  Several other coyns are drawn, and the Droyne say that they will provide an answer the next day.  Rath goes back to the ship, and on the next day the Droyne contact them, and decline the offer of help.

The day after that the Fortuna Major lifts off, ready for the first test of the Tensor-B drive.  While reaching the 100-Diameter limit, the ship is intercepted by a 200-ton vessel, which launches a small, sphere-shaped object.   The crew works quickly to activate the sphere shielding device, and they brace for possible impact.  There is a loud buzzing noise, followed by power failures and fires in engineering.  After a period of chaos, Krau gets the ship back on line.  The shield device is damaged, and several circuits are overloaded.  After sensors are brought online, there is no sign of the sphere.  The group suspects they have destroyed it, but cannot prove it.  They quickly work to complete repairs and calibration so they can leave the system as soon as possible.

Eventually the time comes,  Chixonna navigates, while San pilots and Krau works the engineering station for the monumental moment.  The Tensor-B drive is engaged.  The drive hums to life, creating the familiar hydrogen jump bubble, which collapses into a hyperspace field.  Instead of a starless void that is the usual jump space view however, the screens are replaced with a complex display of hyperspace currents and eddies, that San now has to pilot through,  using his previous simulator experience.   Two days go by, and the drive disengages.  The ship emerges at Pondii, at the exact navigation coordinates!

Relieved, the group approaches to refuel and jump again.  They are stopped by a Naval SDB, and the marines that board are interested in the ships previous adventures on Ys, so they take a copy of the ship's logs.  The Fortuna Major is cleared for docking at the highport, and refuels.  Not long after however, RSF agents take San and Rath to be questioned regarding their previous jump, and the account of the sensor information during the sphere battle. San and Rath basically do not not cooperate with the authorities or disclose any useful details to them, and the frustrated RSF locks them up until a DKI representative can come and explain further.

The group sends mail to Max Riven, explaining their predicament.  Two weeks later, Sinjon Meadows, the former Loss Limitations admin assistant, now Intrinsics assistant, shows up to bail them out.  He has come aboard the Infinity's Rainbow, a 5000-ton DKI ship from previous adventures, to take them home.  The group briefly considers going separately via their ship, as it gets them there faster, and they wish to be back prior to Trinity 3, the date which Feno predicted an attack on Terek.  Captain Denu and Meadows are against the plan, as they are under orders to return the group safely to Terek, and after doing some calculations of time required to recalibrate, fix shields, etc, it is not clear how much time they will really save, so the group decides to go with the plan.  The Fortuna Major is loaded aboard the ship, and course is laid in for Terek.
 

[2 points awarded ]

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The Infinity's Rainbow enters Jump on the 23rd.  While in Jump, Krau, San and the rest of the engineering team work on repairing the Sphere Shield, which was damaged during the previous Sphere encounter prior to their jump to Pondii.  Captain Denu authorizes use of parts from his stores for the repairs, once he is informed of the nature of the project.

Also while in Jump, the crew engages in a battle of practical jokes.  It starts as Catlyn plants a device to make "French Horn Noises" into the Jump Drive of the Fortuna Major.  Every once in a while, a soulful melody is heard coming from the engine room.  The group suspects it might be Farnsworth, who has become increasingly eccentric. DNA tests by Dr. Watson however definitively point to Catlyn.  Rather than confronting her, San and Krau modify the device to emit "spider noises", which they know she is terrified of.  That night, Catlyn is terrorized by a series of spider/nightmare incidents, and gets little sleep as payback for her prank.

On the same night (December 28), the crew of the Infinity's Rainbow throws a big party for Coronation, an annual holiday that roots back to the days of the Imperium.  Rath spends his time practicing Judo, but Catlyn, Aline, and even Krau and now-obviously-girlfriend Chixonna Bunn go there to dance and have fun.  Krau amazes everyone with his incredible dancing ability (???) while Aline strikes it up with Orzo, the gifted but often entertaining mechanic of the Rainbow.

The next day (Trinity 1) , the ship comes out of Jump in the Terek system.  Operations shift to refuelling while San and the group take the Fortuna Major out of it's berth for testing and calibration of the new, improved Sphere Shield.  The captain of the Rainbow informs Rath and the rest that the Republic has stationed a battle force in hiding within the Gas Giant's system.  Late in the day,  the group  receives a commincation from the Rainbow that there has been contact with the invading fleet, predicted by Feno to attack Terek on Trinity-3.  The fleet has emerged at a neighboring gas giant and is inbound to Terek.  The Republic fleet moves to intercept, and the Infinity's Rainbow follows.

Communications from the enemy fleet are intercepted but cannot be decoded.  When the Captain of the Rainbow learns that Catlyn is a cryptologist, she is sent to the bridge to help crack the code.  She is unable to do it there, but asks to take a  sample back to the Fortuna Major, where she is able to break it using Brauletter coding techniques.   The intercepted data confirms an earlier suspicion that the invaders are Minjini, not Solomani, and also provides a wealth of tactical information.  The Navy does not respond to Hails from the Rainbow however, so San has to pilot a cutter out to a Navy ship and deliver the decryption key in person.  Once the Navy has the code, they are able to press their advantage during the attack.

By Trinity-3, the two fleets have intercepted each other, and the battle is joined.   The Republic starts with the upper hand, having both the element of surprise, superior numbers, and crucial intelligence information from the cracked codes.  The Minjini fleet however unleashes their secret weapon, a familiar energy sphere, which wastes no time at drilling through the fusion core of a Republic Cruiser guarding Terek.   The crew of the Fortuna Major heads out to try to attact the sphere.  Using special frequency codes proven to annoy Spheres from the Everin mission, they are able to attact the weapon once it emerges from the stricken Cruiser.  It makes a direct line for their ship, and impacts on the Shield, dissapearing.  No harm is apparently caused to the ship.

This in turn attracts conventional missile fire from other ships in the area, and Meeko attempts to destroy the incoming missiles via point-defense lasers, but misses one.  The missile is destroyed at point-blank range by the Infinity's Rainbow off the port bow.    With the sphere gone, the Republic once again gains the upper hand, but not before a Minjini Cruiser, running on a suicide mission, manages to drop ordinance on Terek, scoring a direct hit on the continent which is home to the DKI headquarters...

[2 points awarded ]

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