| Date | Title (and link) | Synopsis |
| 6-24-2000, 24/1120 | Pregame | Character descriptions, adventure background |
| 8-1, 25/1120 | Welcome Aboard | The crew meets, the ship departs. |
| 8-8, 44/1120 | Planetfall Yurst | Crew Briefing, planetfall, liberty, and cargo deliveries |
| 8-15, 44/1120 | Bye bye Yurst, hello Paya? | Hangover time. Fun at the private starport at Paya. |
| 8-22 52/1120 | Paya | In which some people have dinner, and some people shoot guns. |
| 8-29 | Forcaline | Economic warfare on the range |
| 6/28 | Heguz and Pavanne | A little fishing, a little fear |
| 7/3 | Nasemin | The duct tape incident |
| 7/10 | Rugbird, Highport | A meeting of captains |
| 7/17 | Rugbird, Bumble Bee Island, Cylinder A | Life got you down? Try drugs! |
| 7/31 | Rugbird, Bumble Bee Island, Cylinder B | A party to be remembered. |
| 8/14 | Rugbird, Bumble Bee Island, various places | Aftermath |
| 8/21 | Rugbird, Bumble Bee Island, Cylinder A | Assasssin! |
West Nicholson (Carlos). A landlubber kid. Bridge Crew. Plays handball. Well, everyone has to start somewhere. I remember my first trip into space - what a blast! If someone hadn't given me a chance, especially without any formal training.... Well, we'll see.
Max Snow (Bill). Ex-Marine, ex-prisoner of war. Cargo handler. Mr. Wilcox isn't sure about this one- he thinks there may be some problems left from his time in prison. I like military men, my self. I've done my time, too. I've been captured, too. It takes an inner strength to survive as long as we did. I've put out some queries in my military contacts to see if there are any concerns that aren't on the public record.
Rralph (John). Vargr. MedTech. Mr. Wilcox surprised me on this one. He was concerned about Rralph's furry hands! I had to laugh! He was pretty indignant when I suggested he might be prejudiced. Well, we haven't had such good luck with the Vargr's we have employed. The last was that engineer Phydoe who built the still behind the power plant. Why the hell would he do that when there's no restriction on alcohol on the ship? Dumb!
Smedley de Butler (Dan). Ex-military. Accountant. Mr. Wilcox thinks he's sharp. Maybe he can help us make a bit of a profit on this trip. Without the need to worry about making ends meet, we can afford to speculate. I've already got some cargoes planned, maybe he can help. Mr. Wilcox is concerned with having too many "older" spacers. He finds the younger ones easier to control. Tough.
Boris Putkin (Bob). Engineer. Hmm, no age, background, quirks. What's going on here, Mr. Wilcox? You say he knows both M and J drives, but are there any disadvantages? Any personality quirks I should be aware of?
Ronda Wilco (Jim). Passenger services. Just out of college She can sing and dance, and seems good with people. A check with the firm she used to work was met with praises for her ability to get things done, even though she wasn't given the material support she needed - she was able to acquire things through unusual channels. That's a useful skill.
Ted Sanders (Jeff). Pilot and Navigator. Has some strange ideas about joining the star navy, but I checked w/ his former ship, the livestock transport BBQ and they say that he's good at his job, despite his quirks. He also has a hunting laser, but no one seems to know why.
Harcourt Mudd (Dave) Pilot and Navigator.
Shumma the Aslan (Tom) - Planetologist, strongman.
The lawnmower is fixed. Damn! those things are expensive.
If we were closer to Core or Sol I'd just get it replaced!
Regina. What more can I say. Subsector capital. Home world of now Archduke Noris Aella Aledon. We pick up some cargo, a crew, and a passenger.
Yori. A hot, dry, unpleasant place. We won't be stopping, except to refuel at the middle gas giant.
Yurst. A warm, wet, chlorine tainted world. Pop over 8 million, but what they do, I don't know. But Rick's is there, and everyone goes to Rick's. We'll need to do some fancy footwork to get to our contact and make the trade.
Paya. A starport and naval base. Forget the natives, no one sees them anyway. There are only about 650 anyway. But this is a class V starport, owned by the Oberlindes Lines, and will have all the amenities. And if there's going to be any professional sabotage, this will be the place.
Forcalin. Cold, wet, icy. Class I starport, nothing in the way of entertainment. There are 4 GG's in the system. Perhaps we should look at getting some groat. The new MedTech will like that. And there should be plenty of Vargr at BumbleBee to trade them to.
Heguz. With no GG in system, we'll need to refuel from the planet surface. Wonderful. Over 90,000 people have vanished from the surface of the ocean without a trace. I'm not superstitious (I don't think we can be) but I get a bad feeling about that planet. We could bypass it and add two weeks to our journey by taking a double jump to Carsten.
Pavanne. Not on the itinerary if we go to Carsten, but.... Just a refueling stop. No one lives in that system.
Nasemin. A water world, pop 60K, mostly in orbital stations. There is a Scout Base, so we better watch it. If we can pull a deal, a byssal gland would probably pull a high price at BumbleBee - it's already used in a medicine, so some of the drug companies on BB would probably like to get their hands on it. Very speculative, though, and would probably have a heavy initial outlay.
Rugbird. Our first real goal. We can drop our passenger, sell whatever we have in the hold, and pick up cargo #2. Here's where the real interesting stuff starts.
(8/1)
24/1120 Capt. Newer
After an E-Mail from Mr. deButler concerning ship's provisions, I called
him up and we discussed the culinary arts. At last we get someone
who knows more about cooking than Groatburger Helper! I added his
suggestions for spices and herbs to the grocery order, as well as increasing
the order for fresh vegetables. He seems interested in being the
cook full time, and if he's as good at cooking as he is at talking about
it, we'll eat well.
25/1120-0900 (local time) Mr. Wilcox
Ship docked at high point.
25/1120-1000 Mr. Wilcox
The Captain's in the hospital! Shortly after lunch he collapsed
with lower abdominal pains, and was taken to the hospital.
His large stomach was pumped, and he felt better, but weak, right after.
He was able to contact me and we have to get a replacement right away.
I've contacted Interstellar Security, our insurance company, and requested
their help. Of the captains available, one was on the IR list, Captain
Garnig Roverts, a Vargr. That should make our medtech happy.
Why does he always go to that K'ree restaurant?
25/1120-1025 Capt. Newer (remote from the hospital)
Because it's the only place this side of the Core that serves ale similar
to what they brew at home. I've spent the last 15 minutes dictating
instructions for Capt. Roverts. I think I've given him enough information
to get through to Bumblebee. I've already arranged transport on the
passenger liner Star Queen. Got to go, the police are here.
25/1120-1100 Mr. Wilcox
The cargo has started arriving, the new crew is en-route on the shuttle
from downport, the new captain is due momentarily. Can anything else
go wrong?
25/1120-1130 Captain Roverts
Yes. The police are asking a lot of questions about Captain Newer's
enemies. Since I've only met him once at a conference held by World
Watch several years ago, I was of no help to them. They talked
w/ Mr. Wilcox for a long time. Crew should be here at any time.
25/1120-1500 Capt. Roverts
Crew and passenger on board. Cargo secured below. Ship
has left the highport, and is en-route to the jump point.
Cargo includes Dr. Stein's crates - classified as scientific and laboratory
equipment; boxes of food and alcohol destined for Yurst; The main
portion of the current cargo is divided between tools and boxes marked
Lego. According to the invoice, the Lego's are a special order built
to Capt. Newer's specifications. These also are destined for Yurst.
26/1120-1830 Capt. Roverts
We have successfully entered Jump Space.
Mr. Wilson has been busy briefing the crew on equipment and procedures.
They seem competent and no weirder than some spacers I've been with.
Mr. Sander's does have a dino-laser. It's safely in the weapons locker.
I also found a larger laser in the captain's cabin. That's also been
put in the weapons' locker. It has two battery back packs -
wouldn't want to have to lug that around.
I sat in on a lot of the briefing sessions. Mr. Sanders seems
to have an attention problem. Pretty standard stuff for a small
ship.
I've never been on a ship so small that had a lawn - the main lounge
and the captain's cabin have grass. There's a 30cm diameter
turtle shaped robot that maintains it.
The entertainment files look OK. They seem to have an unusual number of 2d movies. Ms. Wilco was surprised to find some of them are not even in color. Checked one of those - something called Manhattan. It looked very old, and had some humorous parts, but really, I just can't get into romantic pictures where the leads are human. Give me a good Hravee Chordon and Lwen Rorough love story any day. I mean, humans' ears don't move, and they don't have tails, so how are we supposed to believe that they're in love when they can't signal it?
33/1120-2100 Capt. Roverts
We arrived at Yori without problems. Checked in with traffic
control, and are moving to the gas giant for refueling
34/1120-2230 Capt. Roverts
Refueling proceeding. Crew performing flawlessly.
35/1120-1030 Mr. Wilcox
Refueling complete, heading toward jump point.
36/1120-1200 Capt. Roverts
Successful jump. Next stop, Yurst.
43/1120-1200 Capt. Roverts
Random observations from the last two weeks:
That Mr. deButler is strange. Every time we jump, he pricks his
arm with a needle. He appears to be creating one of those barbaric
skin-art things - a tatoo, one pixel at a time, one pixel per jump.
He is the official cook. The food has been pretty good - not
always enough meat, though.
Mr. West seems to spend all his time punching a rubber ball against
the cargo hold door. At least that keeps him out of trouble.
Mr. Snow and Mr. Putkin have pointed out some unusual features of the
ship - the M-drives are better than most commercial ships (but not as good
as the military grade ones on my ship, the Dark Fang). They also
noticed a space behind the fusion reactor that you can only get to by removing
some extra shielding and climbing over the equipment.
Mr. Ralph hasn't had much to do as a MedTech, which is the way I like
it.
Ms. Wilco has been pretty quiet.
Final score for two weeks of poker with Mr. Wilcox, Mr. Snow, Mr. Putkin,
and Dr. Stein: Mr. Wilcox plays the odds very well, and came out ahead
overall; Mr. Putkin lost some money; Dr. Stein lost about Cr. 100 and now
just sits and visits rather than plays; Mr. Snow pulled off some amazing
hands and came out over Cr. 200 ahead; most of that was mine, down Cr.
200.
While talkative, our passenger, Dr. Stein, has given no clue to why
he's making this trip. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to
figure out why an entomologist would be going to Bumblebee Island.
Which may be why he's taking _this_ ship. He's asked me to tell the
crew not to mention him while they're on shore leave. That'll be
one of the things I'll go over at the formal dinner tonight.
(8/8)
43/1120-1300 Capt. Roverts
Briefed the crew on the coming planet fall. Capt. Newer left pretty
good instructions. We have two cargo modules of food and booze to deliver
to a restaurant called Rick's. And we have three containers of cargo to
go to the Ursty. The trick there is to do it without being seen - otherwise
more people will learn that the Ursty have something to trade.
43/1120-1800 Capt. Roverts
Landed pretty hard, seems our pilot made a slight mistake. So far,
the ship looks to be in good shape.
No trouble with the local officials. Seems the only contraband they care about is shipments of fluorine. Since this world has a chlorine taint, fluorine can be used to make a pretty good bomb. Even unintentionally.
44/1120-0130 Mr. Wilcox
Went to Rick's. He greeted me with his standard quote from that old
movie "Hey! We don't serve that kind here! Your Robot will have to leave!"
Some of the crew gave me a strange look, I'm not sure why. I replied with
my standard quote "Of all the gin joints in the galaxy, I had to walk into
this one." We embraced and I introduced the rest of the crew. Most went
to the casino room, but the captain, the pilot, and I sat around talking
to Rick. I told him what I know about the Captain, or "Old horse-face,"
as Rick calls him. He was surprised to find out that someone poisoned the
Captain, but I can't tell him who or why.
We had a wonderful dinner, on Rick.
From what I heard, Mr. Snow had a successful time at the blackjack table; Mr. Nicholson didn't; and Mr. deButler ran into a friend of his mother. From the way he quotes her, she must have been something.
After diner I went to the government office, and contacted the Ursty ambassador amid strange looks from the native humans. Just as long as they don't get too nosy.
We also went to a grocer that Rick suggested, and made arrangement for delivery of provisions for the next leg of the journey.
Mr. Snow worked on some repairs near the cargo hatch so they wouldn't open. He made sure he didn't finish until after dark. Then we began unloading our cargo. Mr. Snow used one of his toys to spot some onlookers at the edge of the landing field. The first cargo module we unloaded was for Rick's. Meanwhile Mr. Snow monitored our uninvited guests. It appears that someone from the ship went over and talked to them. No one is owning up, but Mr. Snow thinks it was Mr. deButler. His communicator was off during that time, and he couldn't be found. He claims he was in his room. Whoever it was, shortly after their meeting our guests left, and we were able to make contact with the Ursty.
We delivered their shipments of Lego's and tools. There were a lot of devices for converting large moves, as might be made by tentacles, to small, precision movements. It must suck to lack fine manipulators. We collected our payment, "local building materials" - a cargo module of pearls of various colors and sizes, and a second filled with slabs of mother-of-pearl approximately 2X3 feet, 2 to 4 inches thick. This would be a really lucrative market, except that the specially treated Lego's (designed to resist becoming homes to barnacle-like creatures) and the anti-corrosive tools are very expensive. And the Ursty will take years to replace the shipment we took. I know the Captain has tried to negotiate less expensive trade goods, but they _really_ like these. We'll be back in 7 years to make another trade with the Ursty. We took the last cargo module to Rick's, returned the lifter, and the Captain and I turned in. The crew has liberty for the rest of the night.
(8/15)
45/1120-1200 Capt. Roverts
The crew woke late this morning. We accepted delivery of our
supplies, delivered on an cart pulled by a large, green furred animal.
Rick showed up to say good-bye. It appears that he used to be
a crewman on the 'Penguin'.
Ship and crew performed well, we have entered jump.
52/1120-0300 Capt. Roverts
Ship has returned to Normal Space. The crew has had fun this
last week with a jerry rigged shooting gallery in the cargo hold.
Mr. Snow is a gun enthusiast, and may have infected the rest of the crew
with his hobby. Mr. Sanders seems obsessed with weapons. Sometimes,
he worries me.
Mr. Wilcox made sure to show two 2d movies this past week. The first, Casablanca, turned out to be some sort of basis for Rick's restaurant. He never gave his last name, and now I'm not even sure if Rick is his real name. His restaurant was definitely based on the one from the movie.
The other movie Mr. Wilcox insisted on showing was something called
"Star Wars", where we found where Rick's comment to him came from.
Turns out Mr. Wilcox is a Dellian. Mr. deButler said that there were
special units of Dellians in the military because they're immune to Zhodani
mind control. I didn't know that.
I talked w/him later, and I must say, I don't know if I would
ever be close enough to someone to allow them to call me "Doggie".
I'd probably deck even my friends if they called me that.
52/1120-0900 Capt. Roverts
Landed on Paya. Got the ship refueled, and gave the crew the
day and night off.
Mr. Snow led a group of the crew to a gun shop. Mr. deButler
took off to explore the "city." I hear he's checking out various
churches, then went to lunch at the "Hammer and Anvil" with an expensive
Socializer.
He tried to get her on board, but I draw the line!
(8/22)
52/1120-1130 Mr. Wilcox
A quiet afternoon. Mr. Snow and Mr. deButler took the tube train
to the naval base. I hear Mr. deButler almost talked his way
on to a flight on a fighter spaceship.
Mr. Sanders went to the gun shop where someone offered to modify one
of his weapons illegally. He turned down the offer.
Mr. Nicholson and Mr. Putkin went to the "Hammer and Sickle" for some
drinks. From what I can gather, they almost got into a fight with
some fuel-tech's, but Mr. Nicholson diffused the situation, and later,
the fuel-techs help they carried Mr. Putkin back to the ship.
Lord Peter Kace, one of the ArchDuke's personal trouble-shooters, landed
in a yacht. He stopped by to inspect the cargo, and accepted our
documentation, without needing to see the stuff. Good thing
he knows me, it might have generated some questions if he found out that
"Native building supplies" means large slabs of mother-of-pearl.
He's been following the trail of some guns used in a crime, and it's
led him here. Since he's not sure if there's any official involvement,
he asked me if I could get some extra support people if he needed them.
I told him that some of my crew were gun enthusiasts. He'll use them
when and if his investigation requires it.
Since his men were attempting to arrange a weapons deal, we went to
dinner. Neither us of have been back to Dell-Pacifica in years, so
there wasn't much we could tell each other about home. He says he'll
probably go back for a visit in the next few years. We'll keep in
touch, in case he does, but I have the feeling it's one of those "we'll
do lunch" things. I'd like to go back, but who can take a year just
to get there? I wonder if the Captain ever feels like crossing the
width of the Imperium to visit his home.
We received word that the deal would be going down in the park.
We found Mr. deButler and Mr. Nicholson at the Alley Pigallee piano bar.
They seemed busy with some women, Bunny Graham a neurosurgeon, and Bamby
Galloe, a lab technician. Since they were busy, I contacted some
other members of the crew. Mr. Snow and Mr. Sanders were available.
We wandered into the park, set up positions around where the meeting was
going to take place, and waited. The deal went down, some of Lord
Kace's men tried to arrest the dealer, and some thugs tried to silence
the dealer permanently. Mr. Snow and Mr. Sanders took down the thugs with
tranq rounds, but not before the dealer had been hit, and Mr. Snow took
a bullet in the arm. He was patched up and should have no lasting
effects. Isn't modern medicine wonderful?
The dealer will live, which is likely a stroke of luck on his part.
He was probably going to be killed that night, anyway. According
to Lord Kace, the dealer had been acting rather amateurishly, and could
have been seen as the liability he was.
One other entry - while Mr. deButler came back after the bars closed,
Mr. Nicholson went back to Miss Galloe's place.
(8/29)
53/1120-1200 Mr. Wilcox
Ship left Paya without further incident. Mr. Snow and Mr. deButler had a joke to play on Mr. Nicholson when he came in. They told him he had a chick waiting for him in his room. When he checked, there was a baby foul chirping in there. Capt. Roverts deferred to me on whether it can stay or not. As long as he keeps it clean and takes care of it....
Ship jumped without incident.
60/1120 - 1200 Capt. Roverts
Arrived Forcaline without incident. Landed, refueled. Mr. deButler checked into picking up a cargo of groat. He found that most of the ranchers were in one of two economic coops, and they have contracts with a shipping line for regular shipments. deButler then was contacted by an independent group. There was some threats from the bigger co-ops, but we flew the Penguin to the packing plants (on a smaller island), and there was no unpleasant incidents. We now have a hold with 12 containers of frozen groat, and two containers of groat wool.
After we finished loading, the crew was invited to their meeting house - a large wooden building that serves as restaurant, bar, party hall, etc. These people are culturally Sword Worlders, which explains why they don't get along with their neighbors. At the party Mr. Snow met a veteran of the Fifth Frontier War, but from the other side. Luckily, they weren't in any of the same battles, and seemed to get along fine. Mr. deButler searched out a local religious leader, in this case a priest of Thor. Mr. Putkin managed to stay on his feet longer than usual, but was eventually escorted out to the ship. Mr. Nicholson disappeared with one of the local women.
61/1120 - 0900 Capt. Roverts
Lift off from Forcaline. Was informed by ground control that armed
ships will no longer be permitted anywhere on the planet except the starport.
Sounds like they're trying to put more economic screws to the Sword Worlders.
This sounds like something the Spacer's Guild should publish as a trade
opportunity.
Once again, just before he would have been in trouble, Mr. Nicholson
shows up. One of these times he'll be late, and I'll dock his pay.
61/1120 - 1600 Capt. Roverts
Jumped. No problems. Next stop Herguz Oh joy.
63/1120 - 1800 Capt. Roverts
During dinner the alarms went off. A water pipe between decks burst. We pulled up some access panels in the salon, and found the pipe. Looks like some faulty insulation allowed the pipe to freeze, and caused the problem (since we're keeping the hold below freezing to preserve the groat meat). Interesting, the floor panels are one meter square, and with the dirt and internal equipment for maintaining the lawn, they're pretty heavy. It took three people to pull them up, two on one side, and Mr. Wilcox on the other. The pipe was repaired, and Mr. Snow has put checking all the insulation on the work schedule.
(The part of Ms. Ronda Wilco is now being played
by Emily)
Arrived at Herguz Everything ship shape. The station's
fuel reserves are mostly depleted, seems there's been a lot of scouts through
lately. It will take them a couple of days to process enough fuel
from the planet to fill us up, so it looks like we're going down to process
our own.
Since a submarine disappeared last year, they have greatly reduced the amount of on-planet time people are allowed. They have dropped hundreds of sensor buoys looking for the cause. None of that stopped some of the crew from bribing the local cutter pilots to take them down for a fishing trip. Seems there is a marina filled with boats for use by the someday-to-be colonists, and they used one of them. All reports say that it is a beautiful world (if a bit wet) but no one dares live on it. As far as I can tell they had a good, but uneventful time fishing. Meanwhile, Ms. Wilco decided to set up an aquarium, got some sort of fancy looking fish, and a second tank to breed the food minnows for it. We sold 7 cargo containers of frozen groat. Dr. Stein complained of cabin fever. I can't blame him, he's been cooped up on board for 55 days. I suggested he leave the ship, but his sense of duty won't let him. He's tired of being on board, and can't leave, he feels trapped by the situation. I suggested to Ms. Wilco that she try some different activities to get his mind off things.
69/1120 1800 Capt. Roverts
We left the space island early this morning. In an unusual development, Mr. Nicholson slept on board last night and was around for more than the last few minutes before lift off. Mr. Putkin also came home on his own power. We dropped to within a few meters of the ocean, lowered the fuel feed tube, and started processing. To replenish the J2 tanks takes about 8 hours. Things went fine for about 5 hours; Mr. Snow even tried fishing from the lower airlock, while monitoring the feed tube. Then he noticed it seemed to be in some sort of current. The ship was stable, but a storm was forming in the area. Communications with the station were getting a lot of interference, too. We pulled up the tube, traveled a few hundred klicks (out of the storm), and continued fuel processing. The station wanted to know what we did, because the sensor buoys for a hundreds of kilometers were definitely moving our direction. We don't know what we did, but I have the feeling we just avoided disaster. The rest of the fueling was uneventful.
70/1120 0015 Mr. Wilcox
Entered jump space without incident.
77/1120 0200 Mr. Wilcox
Exited J-space to Pavanne. We are in the wrong place. Someone made a mistake in plotting our course. There are 5 gas giants here, so we will refuel at the closest one. We won't lose more than a day.
77/1120 2120 Mr. Wilcox
Fuel reprocessing completed without incident. Entered jump space without incident. Mr. Sanders is complaining about Mr. Nicholson's bird. Ms. Wilco's minnows are not faring well, and many seem to spend a lot of time floating on the top of the tank on their side. The colorful fish, she calls a Paranakeet, is doing as well as a fish can be expected to do.
Exited J-space without incident. Docking at Nasemin in three hours.
85/1120 1230 Capt. Roverts
Docking complete. Mr. DeButler has sold another 4 containers of groat to the locals. Living at a water world, they have plenty of fish, but were happy to get ahold of the groat. On board, we've been enjoying a lot of groat, too, even though I'm not particularly fond of the sauces Mr. DeButler puts it in. The crew has liberty for the rest of the day.
85/1120 2243 Security Audit
Under the authorization of Harcourt Mudd the internal
security cameras were turned on in the private cabins of the crew and passenger
cabins. Explanation "Possible intruders on board."
85/1120 2245 Security Audit
Under the authorization of Harcourt Mudd the door to passenger
cabin 2, authorized to Dr. Juan Stein, was locked and removed from
local control. Explanation "Hostile intruders in the cabin."
85/1120 2247 Security Audit
Under the authorization of Rralph the Medtech the door
to passenger cabin 2, authorized to Dr. Juan Stein, was unlocked
and opened. Explanation "Terrorists in the cabin."
85/1120 2330 Mr. Wilcox
Exciting events. But lets start at the beginning.
Earlier today, while shopping, Mr. Putkin met up with two people who offered to buy him a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. He went to try it out.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sanders and Mr. DeButler noticed they were being followed.
They contacted Mr. Snow and Mr. Nicholson, who were gun shopping.
They arranged a place to meet - a tattoo parlor in a lower class part of
town. An attempt by Mr. Nicholson to make any followers' they had
was unsuccessful, and got a warning from a local police officer.
Mr. Snow spotted the people following Sanders and DeButler.
Around that time, I was having dinner with Ms. Wilco, Mr. Mudd, and Dr. Rralph in the "Hammer and Anvil". We finished up, and went back to the ship.
Shortly before we arrived at the 'Penguin, Mr. Putkin was being carried/led by his new friends, who were dressed as dock workers. They half carried him aboard the ship, and the Captain let them bring him up the elevator. He went to collect Mr. Putkin at the elevator, not realizing they he had been rendered unconscious, and the dock workers would be waiting with guns drawn when the door opened. The captain was quickly subdued, and duct tapped to a chair in the control room. His snout was also duct taped closed.
At the tattoo parlor, Mr. Snow gained access to the roof of an unfinished building. When Mr. DeButler came out of the store and the tails started to move off, Mr. Snow tranqed them. Moments later, he was tranqed. The party regrouped, loaded the unconscious bodies on the cargo mover they had with them, and brought them back to the ship.
When we reached the ship, the outer airlock was open. Ms. Wilco and Mr. Mudd entered through the lower airlock; Dr. Rralph and I moved a ladder and entered the upper airlock. They reached the engine room first, and used the security cameras to find that the captain was tied up, and four intruders were in Dr. Stein's room, interregating him, and trying to break into his computer. We freed the captain (by cutting the tape - none of us wanted to be the one to pull tape off his fur), armed ourselves, opened the door to Dr. Stein's room, and opened fire with tranq rounds.
Soon after, the rest of the crew appeared with some more of the corporate spy ring. We were able to determine that Spores, Inc. had hired these guys to find out what the professor knew about Bumble Bee Islands' products, processes, and problems. We turned them over to the starport authorities.
Meanwhile, the captain retired to his cabin to remove the duct tape. The fur around his snout and wrists isn't quite as long as it used to be.
86/1120 0600 Capt. Roverts
Left port.
86/1120 1200 Capt. Roverts
Entered Jump Space without incident.
Re-entered Normal Space without problems. This week has been a bit subdued. The Captain is still upset over the incident on Nasemin. Mr. Putkin appears to be, too. Most of the others have taken the clue from the Captain, but I had to talk to Mr. Snow to keep him from bothering the Captain with security suggestions.
Moments after leaving J-Space, we were hailed by the Imperial Naval cutter, Protector. Sensors showed half a dozen navy ships near the 100 diameter mark where we came out of J-Space. We were boarded, and searched. They commented on Mr. Snow's armament, but didn't find anything that really troubled them. A Mr. McGinness from Bumble Bee security was with them. It seems that Prince Varian Paulo Alkhalikoi, nephew of the Emperor Strephon, on a grand tour of the Imperium, is visiting the space island. Mr. Mudd asked if the prince was going to be at a public event, and he is giving a speech at the local college, open to the public. The search didn't appear to find anything out of the ordinary, and we were allowed to travel to the Imperial Starport. It would be a "high port" on a world where people actually lived on the planet, but here, it is just another orbiting structure.
93/1120 1130 Mr. Wilcox
We docked at the starport. After the docking bay was re-pressurized, a delegation from the government/company that runs Bumble Bee came in. They were very happy to see Dr. Stein, and he was very happy to be anywhere off the 'Penguin. The delegation wanted him to get to work right away, and he seemed eager to do it. I suppose I would be anxious to work after 70 some days of forced inactivity. His equipment was unloaded from the hold, and taken away.
A second group was at the airlock - a pair of guards with a box. A seven year supply of the drugs for the Captain and me. One of the guards who brought it, an Aslan, will be joining the crew.
And then, finally, the Captain showed up. None of the crew had
ever seen a Dillean before. Captain Roverts turned over the 'Penguin
to Captain Newer. The crew was given the task of selling the rest
of the groat cargo, and most of them went off to do that.
93/1120 2330 Mr. Wilcox
Mr. Putkin, on hearing that we'll be in dock for a few days, started doing some maintenance work on the Jump Drive. He found the antique Occilation Overthruster we use. It was there when I first signed on; it's never given us any problem; and it will probably still be there after I'm gone. He didn't recognize the name, "Banzai, Hikita, Lizardo, Inc" but then he remembered that the original Buckaroo Banzai was said to have developed the first J-Drive on old Sol. We do have a spare, just in case, but I don't think we'll ever use it.
The captains and I went to the salon to fill in Captain Newer on what has happened so far. His news is that they found the K'ree that poisoned his ale, and who may have been an intelligence agent for the K'ree government. They're still mad at him for leading the revolt and contacting the Imperium to free his planets from them. He's a little worried that his movements are becoming too predictable.
Captain Roverts took the opportunity to apologize to Mr. Putkin for not being more alert, and following the normal procedures, which got Mr. Putkin a knocked out. Mr. Putkin felt it was _his_ fault. Well, I think he learned something from this.
The crew sold the groat meat, and had an appointment for a garment manufacturer to check the groat fleece tomorrow. They called us, to let us know the status and then said they were going to the Hammer and Sickle to celebrate. We collected Mr. Putkin, and went to join them. Captain Roverts bought a round, and said his good-byes. He said he wouldn't mind flying with most of the crew again :-)
The captains and I returned to the ship. The rest of the crew has continued drinking.
94/1121 0730 Capt. Newer
The crew returned late last night, and was not feeling their best this
morning. But they still had to handle the cargo. We unloaded
the groat and delivered it to the Vargr ship. The groat wool was
successfully sold. We received the shipment of packing crates.
The crew has liberty until day 99, 0800 (except for Mr. Putkin and Mr.
Wilcox who are not allowed to go until the J-Drive is back in working order.)
I've hired some security, and will be returning to my hotel room in Sunside
City. I wonder if the crew is interested in going to a reception
in honor of the Prince? Just one more thing to do before we head
to Bacchus.
From what the crew tells me, they had a fairly relaxed day yesterday. Rralph went shopping to resupply the ships pharmacy.
Most of the crew (and the captain and I) went to listen to the Prince's lecture. He gave a humorous talk relating many stories of his travels across the Imperium. Sounds like it's been an eventful, but not dangerous, trip. Mr. Putkin was on the news, briefly giving his whole hearted approval for the Imperial family.
After the lecture, the Captain and I started making phone calls. We got three tickets to tomorrow's reception for the prince from Dr. Stein. I was able to find an Imperial Naval officer I grew up with who got me two more. The Spacer's Guild supplied one for the representative of the Guild Bank on board the ship. The Starport authority provided one for the representative of the owners of Wantwitch Starships, Inc, as did the Bumble Bee chamber of commerce. Then we ran into a number of rejections. Finally, I called the Prince's secretary and asked, and he supplied us with the rest of the tickets we needed. I doubt any other cargo ship will have its complete crew at the reception.
The big news is Mr. Putkin has taken and passed his Assistant Engineer test at the Traveler's Aid Society, and is now Certified. It sounds like they went out to celebrate that. The only two things I heard was that Mr. deButler somehow got Mr. Sanders to drink a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, which turned him into a screaming, panicked sophant when he left the bar, looked up, and saw part of the city a kilometer "below" him. The cops almost threw him in jail for disturbing the peace. The other thing I heard was that Mr. Nicholson found another woman to keep him company.
The crew rented appropriate attire for the occasion, we gathered at the B.B. Island offices where we were to transfer to the other cylinder. Mr. Snow and Mr. deButler were discovered acting strangely around the Vargr Consulate. Something about planting tracking devices in the plants around the building. Doesn't make sense.
After passing security (they kept Mr. Snow a long time) we took the unpowered transport between the cylinders. On the normally restricted cylinder, we found ourselves at a large mansion/convention center. Inside there were three rooms where the action occurred. One contained tables of food, the second was a formal ballroom, complete with orchestra (but no one was dancing), and the third was the reception room where we got to wait in line to meet the prince. Most of the crew was somewhere in line when the stained glass windows blew in. A dozen or so terrorists wielding automatic weapons came through - some staying on the window ledges for a good view of the room, others jumping down. Most of the guard were taken out in a few seconds, and panic and chaos broke out among the several hundred people in line. Some guards, especially near the prince, were able to start returning fire. The crew behaved admirably! Mr. Mudd and Mr. Snow armed themselves from some downed guards. Mr. Snow took out several of the terrorists, while Mr. Mudd was shot. Dr. Rralph and Mr. Nicholson tried to knock one of the attackers down, but failed; luckily I was able to leap on the attacker before he shot them. He didn't enjoy having 190 kg dropping on him. Mr. Wilcox threw one of the plastic posts that held the ropes that defined where the line went, and knocked one of the terrorists on a ledge out the window. He then disarmed a terrorist, and tossed him into the wall. Ms. Wilco attempted to reach the prince, but the battle was over before she got there. Mr. Shumma tried to knock one of the terrorists through a door, but missed. He slammed him into a wall, himself falling to the floor. He probably would have been shot if the marines hadn't shown up at that point, killing most of the remaining terrorists.
We are being held in the room waiting for developments.
After the fight the bodies, both living and dead were carried out. Included with the wonded were the prince, Mr.Mudd, and Mr. Wilcox. I later heard that the prince and his personal guard had been shot with tranq rounds, and were unhurt. 28 wounded, 14 dead, and they're blaming the Ine Gavin. We were held in the reception room for a while, and Naval security talked to various people to get an idea of what happened. Then we were each individually interviewed by the Secret Service. I may have come under some suspicion for getting the whole crew tickets to the reception, except the terrorists they have captured all infiltrated the island about six months ago; not that long (travel time taken into account) after the prince decided to come here. The fact that I reserved docking space for this time 5 and a half years ago also went towards calming their suspicions. Mr. Snow's erratic behavior, Mr. deButler's half cocked economic theories, and Mr. Sander's snide comments didn't help matters, though.
On a lighter note, Mr. Mudd, while hurt pretty bad, is reacting well to the quick heal drugs. He won't be better, but will be moveable when we leave on the 99th. Mr. Wilcox will be released tomorrow morning. The prince stopped by the hospital, and visited with all the wounded, so at least two of the crew met him.
It appears that all the mail addresses at gossamerpenguin.com, including unused ones like postmaster, owner, harvey, and "world.watch" received a threatening e-mail warning us that World Watch will be second against the wall after the nobility. I checked the logs, and found the request for the e-mail directory, and the location where it was sent from - a flower shop in one of the smaller towns on a central plane. I took a tube train there, and talked with the owner - seems someone broke into his shop last night. They disabled the security systems, used the computer and left. The police arrived while I was there. I contacted the naval forces, and the Secret Service agent I talked to, Michael Prince, showed up with some assistants. They found no obvious evidence, like fingerprints. I admitted I was a World Watch member. I also was a Save the Cetaceans member until they joined Green Peace and blew up that tanker on Ogerrgh, killing 12 sophants.
I contacted the crew, and set them the task of picking up a small cargo for our next stop, the mining colony Feneteman. I thought we might also stop at Aramax, but there is a world war going on there, and I can't afford to break the cargo. We can go to Carsten instead.
I hear Mr. Nicholson is still hanging out with the B.B.I. exec, and went flying. He hears from her that the government is pretty nervous about the terrorist attack, and the way they bypassed so much security. This thing was planned in great detail, and probably only failed because they didn't have enough people at the end for the actual kidnapping. The Starport Security people called and are wondering why Mr. Snow is trying to buy a troup support weapon. I have no idea, but, I think, especially with the breakable cargo, that all guns will be in the weapons' locker for the next few jumps.
I also hear that Mr. deButler received a suitcase BioChem lab. I wonder why?
I spent the afternoon at the wave pool, surfing at one tenth G. It's probably the only way I can get my mass to stay on a surfboard.
Rather busy day yesterday. I invited the crew to breakfast to hand out the certificates of appreciation from the Prince and to talk about a small cargo for our next port of call. While eating, we were attacked by an assassin. We dove for cover, and spotted the gunman. While Mr. Shumma raced towards him via the alley parallel to the street, those of us with guns protected ourselves. While Ms. Wilco and I kept him from getting another good shot off (i.e.. we missed), Mr. Snow shot him down. He was quite dead when we reached him. Mr. Shumma noticed someone else nearby, and it turned out that that woman was with the shooter. Later the police confirmed that both were part of the group that attacked the prince.
Mr. Snow suggested, and I had no objections, that we leave early, and try to find the missing assassin before we go. I went back to the ship, arranged to get Mr. Mudd transferred from the hospital to the ship, and making sure things were ready for departure. I would guess that they were gunning for a Dillian; we are rather rare. Unfortunately, I have to make at least one more trip back to B.B. Island.
The crew started investigating the workplace of the assassin's accomplice (McNeil the newscast said her name was). They were able to get a copy of the restaurants' security tape for the last 14 days. From that, Mr. Mudd was able to spot someone who appeared to be aquainted with both the terrorists; as well as other members of the group who have been killed or captured already. One group went off to try to find the mysterious older man, while another went to find Ms. McNeil. The first group found where he was staying, and that he shipped out shortly after the attack; he wasn't at the reception. They also got a name: Vern Delos.
The other group stumbled on McNeil near an apartment of one of her co-terrorists. They captured her, brought her back to the 'Penguin for interrogation. Immediately after bringing her in, one of the secret service agents, Mike Prince, showed up, and participated in the interrogation. McNeil was quite confused about the whole affair - her answers made no sense, but she didn't seem to realize it. She has no knowledge of Delos, claiming she never met him, despite video of them talking. Mr. Prince says she's acting like all the others that they captured. Mr. Snow thinks it's a Zhodani plot, and I cannot disagree with him. Mr. Prince and some other agents took Ms. McNeil away.
I then went back to B.B. Island to have dinner with Prof. Stein. While at dinner, he gave me a present, which is the last bit of business I have here. In the corridor outside the hanger, I ran into a woman with a letter of introduction. After reading it, I hired her, and sent Mr. Snow to help her get her stuff on board.
Mr. deButler made some phone calls and got us a small shipment of Blarts' Beer. Low class stuff, but we may be able to sell it at Feneteman.
Time to ask for the hanger to be depressurized, and leave Rugbird.