Date: February 18, 2012
Game date: November 11th, EY217
Location: Providence system, Beck
Previous events: finding out about the D'vor, meeting with the navy, surprise Hoax
Malcolm's happy that he doesn't have to fly the shuttle down to the surface given how exhausted he is. The others aren't in much better shape; it's early in the morning for all of them and the meetings and paperwork have taken a lot out of them. Two burly naval men accompany them to pick up the data wire down on the surface. They're not especially social and the Hummingbird's crew takes advantage of this to talk quietly about events on Colt.
Bishop brings up his belief that How's little sculpture was actually a piece of xenotechnology that lets her see through lies. Jillian worries aloud about how the Seo-Vob exchange will go with How on board. Maybe How can be non-lethally poisoned? Maybe they can fly off without her after giving her the wrong date?
Jillian's scheming is interrupted by Bishop, who has suddenly realized that it's his eighteenth birthday! He takes Volkova's flask from her and makes an impromptu speech:
"Today is a special day as I finally reach full adulthood. It is a wonderful day as new opportunities open up for me and I will finally be taken seriously and my opinions will be valued. Unfortunately, it is also a somber day as we now know of the D'vor menace thanks to our good friend Vob. I think we should all take this opportunity to reflect on our lives and decide what is important to us. We must prepare for the coming onslaught and plan for a new future, we must protect those who are dear to us, and we must warn as many people as possible.
"As such, I think, no I insist!, that we need to go to Daebek in the Aiscapo system and save my dearest Whang as soon as possible. I am sure that with the engine modifications V. is about to make will permit us to weather the coming storm. I am so confident in fact, that I am willing to learn engineering to help out with the modifications and the maintenance of our mighty steed! I am even willing to stop putting crapbark extract in the captain's food!
"With our new quarters we should have enough space to save those who are important to us. I suggest we all try to keep that list to a strict minimum as we have limited space (and resources). We should tend quickly pick-up all those people are find a quiet place far, far away where we can hide.
"So, I present a toast to the Steel Hummingbird and the ones we care about!"
Perhaps his crewmates are touched but they also have an immediate concern about his continued obsession with Whang. Volkova brings up the evidence she found that Whang is involved in a drug smuggling operation on Daebak but Bishop dismisses her. He talks about how wonderful she is and that he's been continuing to write letters about what he's done to her. This news worries everyone and they press him on what, exactly, he's been writing her. Has he written about Jillian's involvement with the Black Rose Syndicate? No. He bends to peer pressure and does, however, admit that he did write her about meeting the aliens and taking Vob on board. Everyone flips out over this!
It's a grumpy, quiet drive to the house after the shuttle lands at Mechanicville's spaceport. When they get home their late night takes a turn for the worse: the house has been burgled. It looks fine from the outside -- someone's picked the lock and closed the door after they've left -- but inside everything's a mess. Everyone guesses that it was the Homeworld Office for the Acquisition of Xenotechnology taking advantage of their absence. The navy dudes don't want to get involved and wait while Jillian checks in her room, hoping that whoever rifled through their things missed the hidden compartment in the locker she keeps in her room. Luckily, the compartment was installed by one of the best at this sort of thing and her treasures are safe! In addition to her personal items the data wire and photos of the squidship Volkova took in Vishnu are safe. Ghost is also untouched, bounding out from behind a couch to be with Jillian.
Jillian turns the data wire over to the navy guys and Malcolm drives them back to the spaceport to grab another shuttle back to Colt. Volkova comes along to keep him awake. While they're gone Bishop and Jillian go through the house seeing what was taken. The crates of guns and ammo in the basement has been opened but none of their contents are missing. The wall safe that they've been using has been opened without any obvious traces and emptied of the personal cash that was kept there along with the pearl necklace that Volkova had found during her prison stint. Luckily they've put their large amounts of ship cash in the bank! Other than what was in the safe nothing has been taken and everyone's happy that they made the decision to move Vob over to the Resplendent Dragon's house. Hopefully they managed to collect all of the Grob items and food before the move...
Bishop decides to write a letter to Warden Whang. He's been thinking about what everyone's been telling him about her. Added to the wrecked house this tips his thinking has changed. She's quite possibly involved in things that are no good and it's probably time to play things closer to the vest in any case, so the letter contains wild stories about how he's become king of the aliens. Hopefully this will be enough to convince her that he's been lying about his adventures all along. He hopes that the rest of the crew will understand the sacrifice that he is making.
While Bishop's working on his letter Jillian calls the police to file a report. She doesn't think for a moment that they'll be able to do anything about Hoax but hopefully she'll at least not have to pay for repairs to the house. The crates of guns are sealed up before the cops arrive at the door. To her relief neither one is a Varnsen. She shows them around the house, steering them clear of the guns in the basement, and fills out a report on the situation.
As Malcolm and Volkova drive back from the spaceport after dropping off the naval men they swing past the Dragon's house where everything seems fine. The police are still at their house when they pull into the driveway and they give their statements as well. When the police leave they say that someone will call the next day about checking out the safe.
With the police gone Jillian calls How at the number she has for the Hoax investigator to complain about the break-in. She leaves a message about what happened and mentions that the police are involved, making sure to specify the amount of cash stolen and the pearl necklace as well. There's no doubt that Hoax was here but stealing cash seems unprofessional and if at all possible she wants to use that to drive a wedge between How and whoever did this job.
The sun is now well up above the horizon and everyone can finally get to sleep. It's hard to do so with slashed beds but they're tired enough to throw some clothes into a pile and pass out no matter how uncomfortable it all is.
Everyone's up by sometime in the afternoon, still groggy but unable to sleep any more. Afraid of the place being bugged Jillian writes a note about not talking freely and shows it to everyone. To make sure that the phone doesn't have anything suspicious in it Volkova disassembles it -- with proper tools, not Khnuta -- but can't find anything other than the usual phone guts inside. The line might well be tapped, of course, but there's no way to find that out at the moment. It's agreed that the Resplendent Dragon should be told about this and Bishop silently volunteers to go.
When he gets there they are all fine. He tells them about the house being ransacked and their money being stolen. With Hoax present and willing to go to these lengths it's only a matter of time before they find out about Vob and everyone gets into monumental amounts of trouble. Bishop suggests bypassing Inspector How's future trip on the Hummingbird by making the exchange now, ahead of schedule. After all, the only solid fact was the date of the transfer. Hoax should be waiting for that date with the Steel Hummingbird still being worked on in the shipyard; a trip into space with the Resplendent Dragon almost two weeks before then should pass under their radar. The Dragons agree and will bring Vob to their ship in the trunk of their rented car. They'll prep for a launch, claiming an urgent and private delivery job if anyone asks, and plan for Bishop to sneak on board in two hours.
Bishop heads home while the Dragons prepare. To try to keep things as secret as possible and stay out of sight of any Hoax watchers he passes through backyards and climbs fences; it's not his strong suit and he arrives home a mess, though at least no one living in any of the houses he passed by seems to have noticed his skulking.
His own crew is quite happy with his idea and they start to scheme as a group. They'll go about their day as per usual: Malcolm and Volkova will take the minibus to therapy but will leave early so that they can pass by the shipyard to ostensibly check on the progress of the Hummingbird. Jillian will accompany them to do so as well and in fact actually wants to see when she can start painting the ship. Bishop will hide in the minibus and they'll get him into a crate that they'll have delivered ASAP to the Resplendent Dragon without Hoax knowing... hopefully.
Bishop gets the "football" and some personal effects together for the trip while Volkova checks the minibus for bugs and comes up empty. Just before they leave Bishop quickly changes Jillian's bandages and surreptitiously removes the grub that he slipped in there. No use having everyone freak out about medical treatment that they don't understand and who knows how long he'll be away, anyway. If they don't trust the healing properties of crapbark tea there's no way that they'll see the positive side of a grub in the ear.
No one notices anyone following them on the short trip to the shipyard. It's not standard procedure for clients to drive their vehicles into the hangar but a bribe ensures that the bored man at the gate decides that he doesn't care. Once inside Jillian starts asking about painting the ship and convinces them to let her start in five days, a week and a half or so before the upgrades are completed; at that point they'll be working on the interior anyway and don't much care what she's up to. They've gone to some effort to remove the "stains" and "odd markings" on the ship so the hull should be a completely blank canvas for her. This is both thrilling and a little intimidating.
While Jillian's discussing things with the forewoman Volkova's found a crate large enough to hold Bishop and gathered some spare parts that will pass a cursory inspection if anyone does open the crate to take a look inside. Malcolm's parked the minibus very close to a wall and it shields the crate from view while Volkova gets to work. She gets him inside and layers some burlap and parts on top of him before nailing the lid on. For the finishing touch she paints a label but in her haste and excitement at all this skullduggery accidentally misspells it as "ГЯAБILE" on one side and "FARGILE" on another.
With the crate ready to go and time running short Jillian finds someone with a good-sized van who is willing to make an urgent delivery of a crate of "SPARE PANTS" to the Resplendent Dragon, especially with the decent payment given the short trip to the spaceport right next door. He takes his afternoon break from working on the ship and heads off immediately.
After a little while the uncrated crew of the Hummingbird leaves the shipyard in the minibus. Malcolm and Volkova need to get to therapy; on the way they don't notice anyone following them, possibly because they're busy watching the Resplendent Dragon lifting off into the sky. They drop Jillian off at a paint store, where she finds an amazing sale on glittery hull paint. She forgets about all else for a minute and starts thinking of the possibilities of glitter...
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Bishop's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 13)
Volkova's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 1)