Session 33

Date: February 11, 2012

Game date: November 8th, EY217

Location: Providence system, Beck

Previous events: Hopefully resolving things with the Varnsens; Jillian gets cut up

The rest of the day passes uneventfully. Jillian tries to see what Vob thinks about the works of other artists by sharing her art magazines but Vob is more intrigued by the holes in the paper than the artwork.

The next day Bishop takes a break from schooling Vob and catches a lift with Malcolm and Volkova, getting off in the mediocre downtown that Mechanicville has. There's a Rears and Soebuck store there and after going through their catalogue he purchases a white suit that not only meets his exacting stylish demands and will be tailored but is one that he can for once afford! The downside is that it will take a week for the suit to be made on Limbaugh and shipped here but he's in no special hurry.

Therapy is working out for Malcolm and by the end of his session he's pretty much in his usual mood. All he's suffering from these days are depressing dreams but they're not as bad as his constant nihilism was. He decides to continue therapy and fully rid himself of whatever the blinding device put into his head back on Ingraham. Volkova's not quite as far along as Malcolm but the reptoid quotient of her conversations has been dropping.

While waiting for Malcolm to finish his session Volkova decides to do something nice for her captain. She wanders into various stores until she gets her hands on a gigantic block of Bakelite and a handheld rotary tool to use for carving said block. She picks up a second block for herself; why not? Maybe anyone can be an artist.

Jillian is happy to get the massive cubic gift when the three of them get back to the house. She's been spending a good part of the day sketching new art to fill up the Steel Hummingbird with while Vob has been watching her at work. Although Jillian's not immediately going to start sculpting Bakelite Volkova decides to wade into this sculpture business right away using Khnuta as a tool. It doesn't go well and she's happy to have put on safety goggles before starting to art.

With everyone home Vob has enough company for stir-crazyJillian to skip out of the house for a bit. She decides to head over to the Dragon's house and after a lurching, staggering trip to the great amusement of mean-spirited neighbourhood children she is all too happy to take a seat once there. It may be just three blocks away but she feels like she's run a half-marathon. There's a good amount of chitchat but Jillian zooms in on a chance mention about Sly Fox by Neet, who saw a comment from the mysterious navigator on the navigation board in Skousen. It mentioned something about a new species of whale seen in the Vishnu system and was accompanied by a "your mother" joke scrawled by someone else. Jillian suspects this is the squid ship that the Hummingbird saw in that system but can't get enough remembered details out of Neet. He's not too fond of Sly Fox's ambiguity, literary allusions, or habit of writing using glitter marker with hearts over the "i". Neet would rather just have the information, thank you.

The news gives Jillian an idea and she decides to head home soon after. Xao offers to walk her home given her state; she accepts but insists that he can't come in when they arrive on account of how messy the place is. When they leave the house he's armed with a pistol and sword. As much as he likes how they emphasize his piratey fashion sense he also uses their presence to keep the children out on the street at bay. Both he and Jillian agree that they're nosey and more than somewhat feral. Xao is a gentleman and doesn't even try to sneak a peek inside the house when he drops Jillian off.

Inside, Jillian gathers her crew together and brings up the idea of asking Vob some actual questions; their guest seems to have learned enough of the human language to make this possible. Bishop and Malcolm both want to be there but Volkova bows out, feeling that she's not able to keep reptoids out the conversation enough to prevent things from getting confusing.

Vob is perfectly happy to talk but without a real grasp of the language it's slow and imperfect going. What the crew manage to find out is the following:

• Vob's species call themselves the Grob. They have one sex and grow their offspring in "boxes".

• Upon being shown the photos taken of the squidship that upset the Grob so much back on Ingraham Vob calls it a D'vor and insists that it's bad. When pressed on the matter Vishnu is declared doomed, and the crew go to some length to make sure that the Grob's use of doom is the same as theirs. It is.

• Are there more Grob? No, the D'vor destroyed them all. Vob doesn't know how many D'vor there are but they are rapacious killers.

• What the D'vor look like is something they can't get out of Vob.

• The Iof is a D'vor ship that the Grob "found" and in which they've been travelling for an unspecified long time. The ship may or may not have weapons. It has a "brain" that the Grob are hesitant to use because it's dangerous in some way. Vob draws the "brain" when asked and does an extremely good job of it, indicating various connections and some of its internal architecture. The drawing is more than detailed enough that Volkova can guess that it's some sort of very advanced computer that could potentially fly the ship itself.

• What about other species? There are the "small squishy ones" and the "worms"; the D'vor seem to have killed off the worms.

News that a phenomenally dangerous alien species might well be making plans to invade the cluster is terrifying. Everyone discusses their options and it's agreed that there's nothing to do but to contact the navy; this is too big to keep under wraps. Jillian remembers that her and Malcolm's former superior officer, Paige Egan, is stationed on Colt, Beck's moon, and has done very well for herself, rising to the rank of Vice Admiral. Jillian saved the Schmetterling, the ship all three of them were on, when the captain at the time insisted on flying too close to the deathtrap of Loge in the Walküren system many years ago and came down with a sudden mysterious case of food poisoning, allowing Jillian to point out their course and for Commander Egan to give the command to keep a sane distance. Surely Vice Admiral Egan can help them!

Once the information about the D'vor gets to the navy there's a good chance that the crew and house will be investigated and thus Vob needs to be elsewhere. It's a good thing that the Resplendent Dragon is living close by. It's a sign of trust to turn an extremely illegal alien over to them but everyone agrees that it's the best thing to do. Volkova takes a measuring cup in hand and stalks over to the Dragons to ask them if they're interested in coming by for drinks. She's more than intimidating enough to keep the children from bothering her. While she's gone the situation is quickly explained to Vob and the alien is hidden in Jillian's bedroom.

Volkova soon comes back with the Dragon in tow. They've brought along a few bottles of liquor and are happy to finally spend some time with the Hummingbird. After all, the Dragon are taking a mini vacation on Beck precisely because their friends are here and thus far the Hummingbird haven't been especially social. After a few drinks all seems forgotten. Volkova enjoys her newfound lack of reptoids in the head and uses the opportunity to make some -- to her -- sly comments about Bishop and Olivia. Olivia flashes a glare that catches Volkova off guard and after a second she smiles slightly, leans over to Bishop, and whispers "I like your girlfriend!" in his ear.

Jillian steers the conversation around to the aliens that they met on Ingraham and eventually brings up the fact that they have one in the house. The Dragon, not surprisingly, doesn't believe this until Vob is indeed brought out. There's instant pandemonium; Neet and Olivia find this absolutely amazing and are ecstatic to meet a real alien. Xao's reaction is more guarded.

When things calm down and the Dragons are filled in on the full story and Vob's revelations they are asked if they'll keep the Grob safe when the Hummingbird tell the navy what's going on. They agree with the same relative enthusiasm they did when Vob was revealed to them. The rest of the night is cut short and Xao gets the Dragon's rented car to allow a secretive garage-to-garage transfer of Vob that seems to go off without a hitch.

Once the Dragons are gone Jillian calls the military base on Colt. She remembers enough of the ways of cutting through the military bureaucracy to get through. It's late on the planet but she has no idea what schedule the Vice Admiral is keeping on the moon and it's not too much of a surprise when she manages to speak to Paige Egan directly. The Vice Admiral takes a bit of reminding of who exactly Jillian is and doesn't seem too convinced by a tale of imminent alien danger. Jillian gives some details and drops Phoebe Rubin's name before asking the naval officer to look into it. Egan agrees and says that she'll call Jillian if her story seems valid. That's all Jillian can get for now and a slightly inebriated household goes to bed and tries to get some sleep. Malcolm's night is filled with dreams of squidships destroying his family's ships in mid-show.

Volkova is a new person the next day. She starts to pour most of her liquor down the sink, proclaiming it to be a distraction and that now more than ever she needs to be focused, given her "mission" of defeating the D'vor. She also admits that the reptoids were all a figment of her imagination and that they too were a distraction from what really needs to be done.

The day is spent on tenterhooks waiting for the Vice Admiral to call. Jillian calls the repair outfit to make sure that the repairs on the ship are going well; they claim that all is on schedule but she asks Volkova to pass by before therapy and check things out to be certain. Malcolm and Volkova leave for therapy earlier than usual to give Volkova time to see what shape the Hummingbird is in. All is fine on that end, as far as Volkova can tell.

While they're on their own Bishop changes Jillian's bandages and can't keep himself from secretly slipping a grub into her ear to speed up healing; just one, to help the process along. They don't have much else to do and to keep herself from fretting too much while Volkova is away Jillian putters about trying to see why, exactly, everything tastes like crapbark to her. Once she finds enough evidence it's all very obvious: Bishop seems to have been slipping the horrid-tasting stuff into her food! Luckily for him the phone rings and it's the navy. Vice Admiral Egan is willing to see them that evening and she gets an access code-cum-trip chit for her and her crew; all she has to do is present it to a shuttle at the spaceport and they'll get a free ride up to Colt without being shot down. She gives names and ID numbers for everyone making the trip and then waits for the other two to get home, Bishop's culinary crimes forgotten for the moment.

When the time comes the crew takes a shuttle up to the "Death Star". Bishop has the Grobs' "football" in a bowling ball bag, Jillian has a cane picked up by Volkova on the way back from therapy, and Volkova has gone to great lengths to scrub herself clean in an effort to be presentable.

They're soon on Colt. Their IDs are checked and they are physically patted down to make sure that they don't have any weapons -- which no one was foolish enough to bring. The "football" is taken away from Bishop. After this they are led to a meeting room with no decorations or furnishings other than a large table and many chairs. They are told to sit on the far side and wait for the Vice Admiral.

Egan shows up after a little while with two obvious guards, an assistant, and -- surprisingly -- Inspector How of the Homeworld Office for the Acquisition of Xenotechnology! Bishop remembers her from the time he tried to sell their squidship data to Professor Rolf Fisher in the Aiscapo system and she threatened him with arrest. She's brought her own assistant and looks at each of the Hummingbird's crew in turn before sitting down; they can't help but feel that she's going over their dossiers in her head as she does so. Introductions are made and Egan doesn't seem to remember Malcolm at all.

How places what looks like a small abstract sculpture on the table. Bishop gets a definite Dreamscape vibe off it and asks her if it's a piece of xenotechnology but she ignores him and starts asking questions herself. She was in the system to debrief Jagadeep Singh and Shaila Shah, the two technicians from Aiscapo University that the Hummingbird took to Ingraham to examine the alien ruins found there. She harasses the crew about all the laws they inadvertently broke there when they met the aliens and let Seo Yee go with them but Jagadeep and Shaila were both fooled by the crew's attempts to hide the two-way nature of the exchange and to the crew's relief How makes no mention of it.

Jillian explains that the "football" is a device used to communicate with the aliens and that they'll use it to tell the Hummingbird where to meet. Volkova talks about how it works a bit but How seems to be able to pick out every lie that the engineer tells and Bishop takes over to explain that only he can use the device to communicate with them. He mentions that Seo has very recently contacted them through the device to warn them about the dangers of the D'vor after finding out about them from the Grob and that's why they've come to the navy. How knows that he's lying about some details but lets them continue. Jillian mentions the Gurg and that ship's account of being attacked and trounced by squidships, which is worrying given how well armed and armoured it was. Sly Fox's mention of what may be a squidship in the Vishnu system is another data point, and all of these incidents took place in the Vishnu system.

The Vice Admiral makes an attempt to steer the conversation but the inspector from Hoax dominates the meeting. Jillian feels for Egan and sends subtle signals of support, only partially for political reasons. How asks about the date of the next encounter and the completion time of the modifications on the Hummingbird -- she seems to know an awful lot about the crew's activities -- and when they sheepishly tell her that the repairs will be done only *after* the meeting date she dismissively states that she'll make sure that they're done on time. She feels it's important to have the same ship as last time meet the aliens. When the time comes for that meeting How will come with the Hummingbird, which fills the crew with dread. How are they going to transfer Vob to the Iof with How on board? To add even more discomfort How flatly tells them to expect to be followed in the meantime. The Homeworld Office for the Acquisition of Xenotechnology is not a trusting organization.

Bishop makes a case for keeping the communication device and How allows him to do so. If it's difficult to use then he should have it to ensure that any message that is sent gets through; there's no sense in having techs fumble with the thing and miss something important.

When the questions die down the crew is thanked by the naval officer, threatened a bit more for good measure by How, and then gets incident report forms to fill out as everyone but the guards leaves the room. The forms are detailed and take a few hours to complete but they knew that they'd have to do something like this and Jillian has prepped everyone on what to say. The story that they tell is very uniform, the lies all the more so.

When they're released and heading back to the shuttle bay to go back to the surface they all agree that Egan and How didn't seem to like each other much; Bishop in particular noticed how they sat as far apart from each other as possible and the looks that they exchanged.

As they're being escorted by the guards Egan's aide appears and asks them to come with her. They are led to another, smaller meeting room with a slightly homier feel and two paintings facing each other across the room of the King Shark, a battleship of the system. One painting is of the much earlier sailed ship that held that name while the other is the modern version. Egan is already there waiting; How is nowhere to be seen.

Vice Admiral Egan is much more open without Hoax in the room and the Hummingbird's crew is also more inclined to volunteer information. Egan is worried that if all this is true and an alien invasion is in the offing Vishnu will be hard-pressed to defend itself. It's never had the population or troubles to deserve a major naval presence. More ships could be funnelled in but that would be unfortunately obvious.

When asked about the Grobs' capacities the crew admit that the Iof didn't look like much and was basically a piece of junk. It's unlikely to be much of a help.

The Hummingbird's crew brings up something that wasn't touched on at all in the previous meeting: the ships that have been seen flying out of the elliptical and disappearing, including the one that the Hummingbird followed in this system. Jillian mentions Jinjing Wei and the Eggen Observatory having seen them in Aiscapo and Providence, respectively, Volkova mentions the space drive modifications that may allow this and the fact that Maurice Clegman has engines with just such modifications. All this fascinates Egan, it having obvious important ramifications. She'll try to contact Wei in Aiscapo, which she should be able to do unobtrusively as they're both in the military, but Clegman is another matter. It might be better for the Hummingbird to talk to him if they can do so without Hoax noticing.

Jillian brings up the existence of a duplicate of the first squidship data wire that they have and offers it to the navy. Egan quickly agrees to take it and will send a pair of escorts down with them in the shuttle to get it from the house that very night. With that the meeting breaks up and the exhausted crew heads to the shuttle. it's been a long day.

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Bishop's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 13)

Volkova's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 1)