Game date: October 1st, EY217
Previous events: Surviving the most dangerous game that does not involve riding grizzly bears while playing tennis with lit bundles of dynamite
Location: Providence | Beck | Mechanicville
Driving through the near-abandoned streets of Skousen everyone discusses their next plan of action and the unanimous decision is that stopping Kel Varnsen is an imperative. It's not just a matter of revenge, either. Who knows how many other people have been killed and will continue to be killed until he's stopped? With so many Varnsens in positions of authority in the area it's not a given that reporting this to the authorities will stop him. It's up to the Steel Hummingbird.
Without any decent anti-vehicular weapons a land-based assault against two pickups with bed-mounted machine guns is unlikely to work. The crew may have grenade launchers and rocket launchers but no one has any training in them; far better to go after Kel's murderous band with the armoured Hummingbird and use its 30mm autocannon against the much smaller pickup trucks.
The beat-up pickup is strapped down in the ship's hold and, safe for the nonce, everyone takes a turn in the shower to scrub off the grime and oil. Even Volkova takes a turn getting clean: the oil is gritty and feels wrong to her. While she showers Jillian and Malcolm hold a hushed discussion in the captain's quarters and Bishop takes some time to write a letter to Warden Whang back on Daebak detailing his mission to apologize to Emily Varnsen and the horrors that ensued from this. The letter is all part of his long-term preparations to win over Whang. He also wants to quickly call Emily Varnsen and explain what happened to him; he was supposed to meet her two nights ago and never did. No one wants to give the Varnsens any hint of what's going on, though, and they convince him to hold off until they've done their grim business and are ready to leave.
While the showering is taking place Bishop and Volkova work on getting the Hummingbird ready to fly. The maintenance work is almost done, so it only takes them a few minutes to get her ready. There are are still some nonessential parts missing and calibrations and adjustments to do but as long as they don't do anything too stressful she should hold up fine. What could go wrong? She lifts off with only a slight juddering and heads towards Kel's camp. Bishop is crammed on the bridge as an extra pair of eyes and giver of directions. Jillian is on sensors, Malcolm flying, and Volkova in the ball turret anxiously waiting. Without anything to contribute, Gabi and Harry sit strapped down in the common area.
The plan is to come in low out of the sun and use the VTOL capacities of the new atmospheric engines to hover outside of the pickups' effective range while Volkova shoots them up with the cannon. When Malcolm flies low he doesn't do it by half measures; it's nerve-wracking enough for Bishop and Jillian in the bridge, but in her ball turret Volkova sees her life flash before her eyes as the broken terrain rushes past just metres beneath her.
Kel and his gang have probably figured out what the Steel Hummingbird's crew will likely do and have decided to make a run for it. The terrain and low altitude gives the ship's sensors trouble and they detect the caravan at about the same time that Bishop makes visual contact. The two armed pickups bracket the RV and all are heading for the highway, but the remoteness of their camp works against them and the little-used track that they're on makes for slow going. The Hummingbird is coming in low and out of the sun. The pickups don't see her at all. Volkova lines up the fancy pickup in the lead -- probably Varnsen's -- and lets fly with a burst from the autocannon. She misses but comes close enough to let the convoy know that they're being fired upon. Both pickups have someone manning the guns and they return fire, missing as well.
Everyone trades fire for a few tense seconds with little effect and Malcolm, in a fit of annoyance, rushes the ship towards the pickups. Cannon and machine guns again fail to connect and Malcolm skill allows him to come in low enough to try to ram Kel's pickup! He clips it on the first pass and, lining up for the second pass, smashes squarely into it. The Hummingbird is far larger than the pickups, ruggedly built, and armoured to boot. She's tough enough to do this a few times, at least, before she risks any real damage. It's not enough for Malcolm to simply crush the pickup, though; he shows off by pinning it against the slope of the ship's bow and carries the pickup high into the air.
It's an extremely tough truck and doesn't simply disintegrate upon impact. Pressed up against the front of the ship it partially blocks the the view through the forward window... allowing Bishop to look into the cab and see a battered but conscious Kel Varnsen futiley holding onto the steering wheel with white knuckles and a terrified look on his face! Bishop and Kel lock eyes for a second and then Malcolm banks and bombs the pickup that's still on the ground with the one pinned to his ship. His aim is off and Kel and his truck smashe into the ground about twenty metres off target, but it's disheartening for those on the ground nonetheless.
The other pickup and Volkova fire at each other and again fail to connect. She shouts in frustration; she's a better gunner than this but has never really taken the time to really get used to the Hummingbird's archaic autocannon. Their general tactic is to run away from trouble, after all! The second pickup fares no better than the first and the impact with the ship hurls its shattered wreck into a steep slope. The Hummingbird's holding up well under the stress but the ramming is starting to take its toll.
The flybys have taken enough time that the RV has made it to the highway, but it really has nowhere to go. Unarmed and pursued by a much faster flying vehicle with an autocannon the driver decides to try for mercy rather than keep running. He stops the RV and announces his surrender over the CB. The Hummingbird is really in no mood to grant anything other than death and as passengers jump out and start running from the RV Volkova fires again. This time she has an effect and cuts down the two who ran to the right of the RV. She doesn't actually connect directly with any of the rounds, but the shrapnel from a rain of 30mm explosive shells as well as the chunks of asphalt that they send flying are enough to do for the pedestrians.
Malcolm, impatient as always, simply lands on the two pedestrians to the left of the RV. The RV's driver, knowing his end is near and wanting to see his life as dearly as he can, points an assault rifle out the RV's window and fires a long burst into the side of the Hummingbird as it sits on the highway right next to him. Under normal conditions small arms like this wouldn't have any effect against a ship like the Hummingbird but she's taken a beating from ramming the pickups and the driver has time to fire at point-blank range into a buckled section of the hull, doing more damage than the pickups managed to! Malcolm responds by lifting off and setting down on top of the RV, crushing it like a tin can.
Their self-appointed mission competed, the ship flies back to Mechanicville with a silent crew. The whole business has been completed quickly and there's time enough to do some hasty repair work before the maintenance crew shows up. It's lucky that the pickups didn't manage to hit the ship; dents are easy enough to pass off as something innocent but damage from .50cal rounds would be difficult to hide. Bishop takes a look at Malcolm's leg. The wound isn't as bad as they first feared and Bishop inserts a segmented worm of some sort from one of his terrariums into the hole. Despite Malcolm's disgust it fills the space nicely and numbs the immediate area. Pleased with the effect if not the tool used he finally makes his way onto the top of the hull with an assault rifle, parasol, and tea, as he'd intended to do before the beginning of Bishop's quest to make amends a very long day and a half ago.
When the maintenance crew shows up an hour later they're annoyed that someone's been playing with their work. Nothing's been ruined, though, and it will only take a few hours to finish the job. Jillian makes sure that they stay to the rear of the ship so as to keep them from noticing the bent bow. Bishop decides not to call Emily Varnsen now that he's participated in the murder of several of her relatives. There's no way that it would not be awkward and the crew wants to keep things as low-key as they can. The maintenance is finally completed and the Hummingbird can leave Mechanicville.
Everyone takes some time during the flight to Skousen to write an account of what happened with Kel. Two copies of each letter are written, one for the navy and one for the Beck authorities. The only exceptions are Malcolm, who's too busy flying to write, and Harry, who doesn't want to write a letter for some reason. He seems slightly paranoid after their experience. There has also been talk about getting a tattoo for the crew to represent their bonding over the last day. Jillian takes some time to work on a design which ends up every inch a piece of Jillian Grey art.
There's some conversation about what to do with the guests on board. Gabi wants to return to her home of Brünhilde in the Walküren system and Harry decides that he'd like to go there, too. He claims to be from Olberman but has decided to travel. Walküren is on the way to Vishnu and it's much easier for the crew than to take the shuttle all the way to Olberman, so they're happy with his decision.
Once they're in Skousen the letters are posted, including the one that Bishop wrote for Whang. Then it's time to sell their load of pistols and buy some ammunition before they quickly leave the system. Skousen is a very large city with no public transportation so they decide to use the pickup that they've acquired from Kel. It's beaten up but not terribly so, should be unknown here, and is street legal. Malcolm drives, being the only one able to do so, and Bishop and Jillian ride with him. He'll do the business part of the deal and she'll work the bureaucratic angle to keep their sale on the down low. While they're gone Volkova prowls the alleys of the city looking for some sort of crate and padding that they can use for the pistols.
Raygun Arms is a good place to sell the pistols: they buy firearms in bulk and don't keep terribly good records. While Malcolm waits in the pickup Bishop and Jillian head inside. The interior has a single large room with a couple of guards, a large number of posters from arms manufacturer on the walls (Connor Arms, the company that manufactured the pistols in question, advertise themselves as makers of decent weapons for decent people at a decent prince. "If you're a decent shot, we're all you need."), and a Vishnan woman behind a protective grille. Bishop turns over a pistol as a sample and begins working on a deal while it's checked for quality. Jillian is excited to notice that the woman is reading Art! magazine and strikes up a conversation with her. They're both fans of John Smith, a notoriously reclusive artist who lives on Beck. Jillian reveals that she's an artist and excitedly produces a postcard of her work. The woman behind the grille doesn't say anything but it's obvious from her frown and the curl of her lip what she thinks about Jillian's art. Her heart broken, Jillian leaves Raygun Arms and climbs into the back of the pickup's cab, refusing to talk to Malcolm.
The pistol's quality turns out to be like new, as Bishop knew it would, and the promised inclusion of manuals, spare parts, and cleaning kits helps with the price he's likely to get. He jumps on the topic of the art conversation to work towards the best deal that he can get. Looking to get on the Vishnan's good side he slams Jillian's art and does an amazing job at wheeling and dealing, even avoiding having to fill out much of the paperwork... providing he can get the rest of the pistols to Raygun Arms quickly. He leaves the storefront and gets in the truck. It's an awkward, silent drive back to the ship but at least Volkova is in a good mood. She's found crates and foam padding and has lugged them back to the ship on her own. She's almost done packing them when Malcolm pulls in with the pickup. Jillian stalks off to her quarters and sulks in front of an empty canvas. For the first time that she can remember she's bereft of inspiration.
The pistols are quickly loaded, driven back to Raygun Arms, and sold. Bishop and Malcolm then continue to Spencer Ammo with cash in hand and buy a goodly assortment of ammunition for the rest of the firearms. They don't buy anything for the Hummingbird's 30mm autocannon, though. It's still got a few belts left and they don't want to leave any more of a trail if they can at all help it.
When they return to the Steel Hummingbird they've got weapons, ammunition, an armoured pickup, and two guests on board. Not a bad trip to Beck, all told. Now they just need to get out of the system without being arrested, if at all possible. On the way to the gate they plan to stop briefly at Limbaugh's McNeely station, where they have some mail waiting for them.
Bishop's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 10)
Volkova's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 1)