Play date: December 1, 2012
Game date: March 23, EY218
Location: Aiscapo system
Previous events: Reunited in Aiscapo
Jillian feels much better and now that she doesn't have to worry about falling out of the universe she recalls Maurice Clegman's data. Adding that to the Steel Hummingbird's sensor data from inside the slide point that Malcolm has finally printed out and going over this additional data doesn't add any revelations: everyone finds that it only strengthens the previous conclusion that there was only one way into the slide point and one way out, the way that they came. But if the Iof came to Providence from Vishnu why did the reverse trip take them to Aiscapo instead? Stranger still, Arba and Jillan work out that there is something *inside* the slide point. Not another exit, but a distinct location.
The Black Rose Syndicate certainly knows how to use slide points. Olivia suggests waiting at a slide point for one of their ships to come out and jumping them with all three ships they've got. There's little chance that the Black Rose ship would be able to escape and, once captured, they could be questioned. Jillian remembers that they still have the copy of the Gurg's navigation data from back in August of last year and suggests examining that. When she pulls it out from the ship's safe it shows that the Gurg was built in Zartosht, which they knew already. More interestingly, although they deleted their navigation data after coming into the system -- most likely a standard security measure -- it's obvious that they entered it from 2AU off the orbital plane… *below* the orbital plane. Interesting!
There is a jump gate from Aiscapo directly to Vishnu but getting the Iof through the gate without setting off all sorts of alarms will be extremely difficult. The Grob are convinced that they can modify the Iof to be stealthy enough to sneak right through the gate when it's open, either passing through undetected or quickly enough that even if detected no one will be able to stop them in time. Both human crews convince them that this is a bad idea and the Grob eventually resign themselves to trying out the slide points, mapping them as they go.
The Resplendent Dragon and Steel Hummingbird will in the meantime fly to Vishnu and deal with their business there. Labrys City is still waiting for their weaponry and the Dragon's crew have loved ones in the system, so everyone says goodbye, heads back to their ships, and head off in their directions.
Both human ships fly slowly to jump gate Busan, which won't open until the 25th. When they get to the gate -- in plenty of time for once -- they find the Suncheon, a frigate, waiting there. With the jump ship Zheng He in the cluster things are more secure than usual. Both ships are boarded and searched but for once they don't have any aliens on board. The search is also fairly cursory; as with most border crossings more effort is put into keeping an eye on what comes in than what goes out.
March 25, EY218
Vishnu at last! It takes two days to get to Kali and Labrys City, and everyone's happy that the two days pass uneventfully. Jillian has a couple of sleepless nights as dreams of falling through the fourth spatial dimension but gets over them. Sane at last!
March 27, EY218
Malcolm hails Labrys City as they approach Kali and the city seems happy to see them again. He asks for Disha Malach, the city's head of security, to meet them so that they can finally pass over the weapons that they've been carrying with them for what feels like geological time. Jillian can't find any suspicious ships on her sensors and the flight through the atmosphere continues their streak of unmolestedness. Taking a small flyby of the city Jillian and Malcolm note that there's been some attempt to make the place better-defended, with thicker walls in evidence. Not much can be done about the fragile domes, though.
The Resplendent Dragon and Steel Hummingbird are assigned two hangar bays but, after letting Neet park the Dragon Malcolm decides that if he's going to be trapped in a hangar bay he'll want more company than just Bishop and edges into the same bay as the Dragon, ignoring Neet's loud protests over the comms. It's a ludicrously tight fit as far as everyone else is concerned but there's at least half a metre between the ships and Malcolm doesn't know why Neet's being so whiny.
Once the ships are shut down everyone disembarks and Malcolm ignores Neet's comments. Sara Pettigrew, the city's official greeter, meets them again and news is exchanged. Not too much has been going on in Labrys City since the military showed up and the mysterious other installation on the planet was hastily abandoned by whomever was there. Everyone knows the deal with men being confined to the hangar bays, so once Disha Malach and her crewcut show up Sara says her goodbyes.
Bishop negotiates with Disha once she's examined the crates of weapons and ammo and although the crew agreed to limit their negotiations to 10% above wholesale he can't quite control himself and gets 20% above wholesale. It's still a good deal for the city, he reasons. Since the Hummingbird got the weapons free the money is all profit! Even with three-quarters of the money going straight into the ship's safe it's still enough to make the individual crew members well off for once. Having agreed on the price the matter of training with the heavier weapons comes up. Labys City is large enough to have a good number of women who know how to use rifles and pistols but training in grenade launchers and rocket launchers is rare indeed. Although Volkova could do it she suggests that Olivia would be a better choice and the Dragon's weapons mistress is called over from the Dragon -- Malcolm thinks smugly to himself that it was a good idea after all to put both ships in the same hangar.
Not surprisingly, Olivia and the security chief already know each other fairly well. Olivia's willing to run some training sessions starting in a few days. For now, though, she'd like to spend some time in the city. To that end she invites Jillian and Volkova to join her and Neet in Labrys City proper. After Jillian quickly asks Xao to keep Bishop from seeing them leave, just in case.
Labrys City is as Jillian and Volkova remember it and they enjoy their stroll. Neet's large badge indicates that he's got dispensation from the city's laws due to birthright but that doesn't stop him from getting more than a few hostile glares, something he takes in stride. He's off to see his mother while Olivia's bringing the Hummingbird's women to a bar. They do not object.
As they walk Volkova more-or-less accidentally lets drop the fact that Jillian was homeless for a while in university, making use of the school's free resources to get by. Jillian's upset at this knowledge becoming public but Olivia mitigates the damage by talking about how she was part of a wine and cheese club at her university that would slip into social events and consume whatever they could as subtly as possible. Volkova later embarrasses herself when she brings up the cheesecake calendar that she posed for in her youth. All in all it's a pretty revealing conversation.
Neet eventually says his adieus and goes to see his mother. Jillian's interested in meeting her as well, but Neet doesn't want his friends to meet her drunk and suggests that they get together another day.
The bar that Olivia leads them to -- Pinktone's -- is friendly and comfortable. Olivia's girlfriend, Katsuri Karwal, is waiting for her there and introductions are made. She doesn't seem to like Jillian and Volkova much and makes a bit of a show of keeping close to Olivia but talks to the visitors nonetheless. She unfortunately drinks more than her small frame can handle and gets fairly drunk. When Volkova finds out that Katsuri is a computer engineer she brings up the Iof's "brain", which she suspects is a complex, very small computer. Katsuri's skeptical at the possibility that a computer could both be so small and run a spacecraft but Jillian, working out that Katsuri enjoys intellectual challenges, manipulates the situation and soon has her practically salivating at the chance to look at the "brain" when she gets the chance.
As the hours pass Katsuri drinks well beyond her capacity and an apologetic Olivia has to help her to the bathroom, briefly returning alone a little while later to say goodbye to Jillian and Volkova and saying that Katsuri doesn't usually drink that much and that she may well not remember anything the next day. Jillian feels sorry for Katsuri but is pleased to not be the one dry heaving for once.
Jillian and Volkova return to the Steel Hummingbird to find Malcolm in his chair on top of the ship. Bishop, Malcolm, and Xao spent the time chilling and chatting. Xao seems happy to have some company while here; he's normally on his own when visiting. Malcolm tried to pry into Xao's feelings for Jillian but the Resplendent Dragon's captain is a hard nut to crack and Malcolm didn't get anywhere. When Jillian tells Malcolm about revealing the D'vor, Iof, and Grob to Katsuri he asks her if that's wise, but if they're going to try to get the word out about the D'vor Jillian doesn't see a problem with it.
That night Jillian works on a painting representing the gap between herself and Xao and comes to the realization that when he said that he's not her type he really meant it. Nothing is going to happen between them. This revelation releases her own pent-up feelings for him, feelings that -- safely -- won't ever be reciprocated now, and a black tide of despair washes over her. She gives in to the black dog of depression and in an extended fit of nihilism begins to paint her room black before emotional exhaustion pushes her to sleep.
March 28, EY218
Jillian shoves everything that's not bolted down out of her personal quarters into her office and not willing to leave her room until she's done getting it -- and it's furniture -- properly black Jillian doesn't notice Volkova head out to buy the treat of fresh produce. Bishop spends the morning moping in his room while Malcolm continues to enjoy being up on top of the hull. Not having seen or heard from his captain in a while he knocks on her door to check on her and is frightened by the look on her face when she opens it as well as the pile of clothing, mattress, and personal effects crammed in her office. They talk about her mood and her newly-developed love for Xao at some length. He tells her that she needs to open up to someone about her feelings, but quickly adds that this someone should not be him. The conversation doesn't seem to be making things better so Malcolm does what he does best in these sorts of situations: make some tea. Jillian refuses his comfort tea and fights off his halfhearted attempt to hug her, something they're both relieved didn't happen in the end.
Malcolm stays with Jillian for many hours as she spins her emotional wheels. It's all very draining for him and he's relieved when Volkova comes back laden with fresh fruit, vegetables, cheese... yum! It's too bad that no one's in the mood to appreciate it. Malcolm is at wit's end and asks Volkova to take care of Jillian for a bit while he returns to the top of the hull and calms down.
Seeing Jillian's state and her newly-painted black quarters Volkova decides that Jillian needs some cheering up and that a change of scenery is a good idea. She leads the captain to what she considers a more upbeat part of the ship -- the engineering deck -- and the two proceed to drink and talk. Jillian sneaks in lots of extra drinking when Volkova's distracted and true to form gets plastered. They decide that Malcolm's heart and soul are black, enough so that his room's walls should match his soul in the same way that hers matches her despair. Volkova definitely thinks this is a good idea; why would it not be? All of Jillian's personal matte black paint went onto her own walls so they'll have to use the hull paint that she bought on Beck a while back. It's all glittery but will have to do. To speed up the process Volkova grabs a compressor and some tubing. The compressor's will handle the paint well enough and she can pump some solvent through it afterwards to clean it up.
Up on the hull, Malcolm thinks that it would be a good idea to see how Volkova's coming along with Jillian but then decides that he'll take care of that soon. It's so much calmer up on the hull...
Jillian and Volkova empty out Malcolm's quarters, moving everything into the corridor. Volkova neatly stacks things but Jillian heaves things out in the same way that she's heaving sobs. The room is soon empty and Volkova fires up the compressor. Up on top of the ship Malcolm hears something mechanical chugging away inside the ship and decides to investigate. It doesn't take him long to get down but the compressor is powerful and by the time he's frantically picked his way through his possessions in the corridor his room is almost completely coated in glittering black paint (thinking back on it later Volkova estimates 94% coverage). He can't be heard over the noise of the compressor and it takes a few seconds for Jillian and Volkova to notice him. They remove their pink protective earmuffs and pink respirators and Volkova turns off the compressor; in the sudden silence his shrieks are deafening. Jillian panics and vomits on the floor. Volkova suddenly decides that Jillian should see Xao to resolve all this once and for all and the two of them hastily make to leave the ship. Malcom tries to physically stop them but Volkova lifts him up and apologetically hangs him from his belt on a hook on the wall that cabling loops through.
With the Resplendent Dragon right next to the Hummingbird Jillian is soon banging on the hatch to Xao's ship. When Olivia opens it she takes in Jillian's state and tries to convince her to go back to her ship and sober up, but Jillian's not to be dissuaded and dashes past Olivia into the ship. Olivia tries to grab Jillian and Volkova tries to grab Olivia's belt to restrain *her* but no one catches anyone and Jillian sprints towards Xao's quarters. At Olivian's cries Neet appears before her and also makes an attempt to stop her but then she's in Xao's room, slamming the door shut behind her with terrific force and quickly locking it.
Xao's quarters are much like hers, with a small office leading to his personal quarters, though the contents are different. As Jillian stops in the former for a moment to catch her breath he peers quizzically from the latter. He's dressed in a casual corsair getup with a paperback novel in his hand. She blurts out how she's been painting and she's been thinking and she knows that he doesn't love her but she loves him and how it will never work out and he asks her to sit down. Olivia shouts through the door, asking him if he needs help. Xao responds that everything's fine and he and Jillian have a conversation. He only offers her non-alcoholic drinks at this time, as he knows her well.
In the corridor outside Xao's room Olivia turns to Volkova and demands to know what's going on. Volkova explains what she knows, what happened, and casually mentions that Malcolm's hanging on a hook in the Steel Hummingbird. Olivia briefly berates Volkova, who should know better, and sends Neet to help Malcolm down. Once he's out of sight she quickly gets a glass and puts it to the door to listen in on the conversation within.
Jillian expands on what she'd said before and also brings up the recent painting shenanigans in her and Malcolm's quarters. Xao explains that he did tell her that she wasn't his type and, more importantly, that she needs to open up to someone about her feelings, but quickly adds that this someone should not be him. But seeing that so much of this comes from her background with the Black Rose, who can she talk to? It takes a while but she eventually convinces him to be her extremely reluctant therapist. For now, though, she needs to sober up, apologize to Malcolm, and make things right with him. He goes to open the door for her and finds that it's stuck.
Olivia quickly hides the glass behind her back when the door is fiddled with and, when Xao asks through the door about why it's not opening, takes a quick look and replies that it's broken. After telling him to back away from it she kicks the metal door hard enough to smash it open. Xao sternly sends Jillian and Volkova home.
Malcolm's likely on top of the hull of the Steel Hummingbird, potentially with an assault rifle, so Jillian and Volkova choose a path back that stays under wings. To their relief he's not in the ship and Volkova works on his room while Jillian retires to her quarters to rest, emotional exhaustion turning physical. Volkova runs solvent through the compressor to hose off his walls, cleaning them and the compressor all at once. Very efficient. The original colour is missing from his walls too now but bare metal is better than glittering black.
Jillian locks her door, drinks much of her personal liquor stash, and proceeds to cut up all of her clothing, sheets, and towels into small shreds. She forms these shreds into a nest, curls up in it, and falls asleep.
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Bishop's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 17)
Jillian's Bedpost Notch Count: ha! ha!
Malcolm's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 1)
Volkova's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 3)