Play date: April 27, 2014
Game date: October 3, EY218
Location: Telushknin Refinery, Providence
Previous events: Being made an offer they couldn't refuse
Jillian shares what she's found out about the slide points with Olga Aleksashkin, one of the Black Rose techs, and finds out that she and they know about the same amount of information; the readings that come out of travelling through them doesn't much help when pooled. From what she looks at it seems that the Black Rose doesn't seem to have any idea about the mysterious location in the slide points, but that's assuming that they've given her all of their information. Jillian's definitely held back the best of her data so it's likely they did, too! She is given some unambiguously new information, though: slide point routes to and from Bashois/Crapworld. The path in is from Piccadilly using the "top" point and the path out is via the "bottom", taking them to Vishnu. Information about the disposition of Crapworld's defence net and location of the scientist will be revealed later, when they're in the Crapworld system.
When Venla asks about the green material that the Steel Hummingbird was coated in Jillian immediately cops to it being a stealth coating that came from Ingraham. She's too tired to try to lie and wants to just get out of here as soon as she can.
When they're finally ready to go Ester Hahn (with a prominant assault rifle) and Samiksha Sharma board the ship and they fly off to Limbaugh's McNeely Station to pick up supplies. The Black Rose has been good enough to fill up their fuel tanks from what are likely copious supplies but they're otherwise on their own.
Ester and Samiksha are quartered in two separate cabins. Definitely not in the "murder room", which Jillian finds out to her dismay someone has not only painted red but furnished with completely red accoutrements. How did someone manage that?
McNeely's just under ten and a half AUs away and they make it in a remarkable eight and a half days: Jillian's got enough data about the route here from her sneaky navigation to plot an extremely efficient trip back. On the way the crew discusses how best to proceed. There is the option to simply kill the Black Roses on board and dump the bodies into the sun, but the Steel Hummingbird's not crewed with stone-cold murderers -- recent history notwithstanding -- and they really don't need yet another group hunting them down. Besides, this mission could be truly valuable in terms of fighting the D'vor. They decide to carry through with their mission.
With a week's worth of time they also decide to get to know Ester and Samiksha better. Jillian breaks out a deck of cards and teaches everyone âs nas, a game from Zartosht and uses the game to break the ice. It seems that Ester Hahn is at heart a simple soul. She comes from the Walküren system and worked in heavy construction while younger; her still-muscular build shows that she's kept in shape despite being in her mid-forties. She was eventually transferred to "irregular operations", meaning literal corporate warfare, and was happy to have her contract bought by the Black Rose. Despite now working for organized crime she doesn't have to kill nearly as much as she did while working for completely legal corporations. In many ways her life has been similar to Volkova's, whom she takes an obvious liking to.
Samiksha is disturbingly bony and seems generally bored. She's more tight-lipped than her muscular partner and the impression that they get is that she's got a much more varied skill set than the somewhat brutish Ester; a jill of all trades. She's not the most personable character and seems to get along best with Ghost, though she also seems to think that Bishop's not too terrible. Not that he'd have too much to do with someone well into her fifties! He does work his charm on both of them, partially to make up for the trouble he caused by not sleeping with Venla Inberg back on the Telushkin, but thankfully they don't seem interested in him physically.
The impression everyone gets is that the Black Rose hasn't sent its best people on this mission. This makes sense, as they likely don't entirely trust Jillian's return to the fold and wouldn't want to risk their top people. Maybe this mission isn't as important as the Steel Hummingbirds first thought?
October 11, EY218
Bishop does a very good job taking care of Malcolm's damaged hearing and by the time they dock the pilot's ears are back to their proper state and no more smelly pastes need to be smeared in them. This pleases everyone. Jillian's eyes are still a mess, though.
McNeely Station feels like a second home and it's nice to be back. Everyone picks a task when they pull into an interior docking space. Bishop volunteers to get the supplies they'll need. Samishka offers to go with him and pulls out several copies of the information and survival guide that new convicts to Crapworld are given, complete with a list of the contents of the survival pack they'd be issued. If they want to try to fit in it might be a good idea to get items that match those on the list as closely as possible. The guide is also a form of ID on the planet, though papers are not generally asked for by criminals and maniacs. Upon examining the sheet Jillian suggests filling in the Cheap Bastard as the ship that brought them. She also insists that everyone keep their receipts for purchases on the station; she's going to try to get reimbursed for this mission, damn it!
As Bishop heads off with Shamishka Volkova takes on the task of getting the ship refuelled, resupplied, and also dealing with whatever maintenance still needs to be done, mostly replacing the advanced sensor array. She enlists Ester, who happily joins her.
With the two Black Roses occupied Jillian and Malcolm can deal with more sensitive issues. Jillian goes to check on any messages that they may have received while Malcolm heads off to find some sex.
After all the time he's spent on the station Bishop knows where to go and how to negotiate; in a surprisingly short period of time he's got all the supplies they'll need, including some cammo netting that should work on Crapworld to hide the Hummingbird, and pays to have them delivered to the Hummingbird. It's still a long process but Shamiksha is impressed with his efficiency.
Malcolm has a bad day of it and strikes out in bars both straight and gay. The afternoon isn't the best time to pull, but he thought he'd have more luck than this.
Volkova knows where to go after her many trips here and she gets a good deal on the sensor suite. It's still specialized enough to be an expensive piece of kit but at this point she knows how much it should cost, balancing out her general social naïvité. Then again, two frighteningly muscular women also make for a good negotiating bloc. She and Ester lug the suite back to the Hummingbird and start to work on installing it.
Jillian's day takes a turn for the strange. She asks for mail at the postal station and finds out that there isn't any for her; the Resplendent Dragon probably hasn't come back to Providence yet, though it should any time now, she reasons. She then hears her name being called and recognizes Xao's voice. She's standing right next to him but couldn't make him out! He's shocked to see the state she's in and, paranoid about the Dragon being linked to her by the Black Rose, tells him to meet her in an hour at the bar they hid from the Eliminators in, then stumbles off as quickly as she can.
It takes her the better part of an hour on public transportation to get to the Rampant Lion and she finds Xao already there in a booth, a rum drink of some sort in hand. No tiny umbrella. She gets a drink herself and slides in opposite him. Now that he's recovered from the shock of her eye he's cold towards her again. She quickly explains what happened to her and her ship when they investigated the Telushkin in their attempt to see what happened to the Deccan Driller. She spins what she admits was a dangerously foolish flight as a good thing, showcasing her guilt over what she did to Flint Cardesco and an attempt at redemption by saving the Deccan Driller's crew if she could. Surely Xao can see that she's moving back into the light! The fact that she didn't actually find out what happened to them doesn't work in her favour, nor does the fact that she's now working for the Black Rose and is on a mission for them to Crapworld.
Since the Black Rose likely doesn't know about the relationship between their ships Jillian suggests that Xao keeps the Resplendent Dragon away from the Steel Hummingbird. He thinks for an instant, agrees that it's for the best, and abruptly leaves the pub without another word. Suddenly abandoned and not in a little shock, Jillian orders another drink. A double. Do they serve triples?
A while later, Bishop and Shamiksha are back on the ship, taking delivery of the various supplies that Bishop has purchased. He's concerned that Jillian's not back yet. Wasn't she just going to check the mail? The post office is right near the docks. He walks over there and is soon inquiring of the old man behind the counter if he's seen someone with one eye that is white and the other one that is crazy. Even though the postal worker deals with uncounted multitudes in the course of a day Jillian's eye made her memorable, especially when she was having a conversation with an attractive piratey-looking man before they left separately. Bishop tries to get more information from the man behind the counter but lets an insult about ugly, wrinkly old people slip and suddenly finds himself ignored by the elderly employee with a lined face. He heads back to the docks: the Resplendent Dragon is docked somewhere on McNeely, likely in an internal space, and it's such a beautiful ship that it should be easy to spot.
Roughly the same while later, on the way back to his ship, a frustrated Malcolm spots the Resplendent Dragon in its berth out of the corner of his eye -- it's hard not to notice such a beautiful ship, even if it's been pretty heavily modified. They've gotten a bigger cannon! And the atmospheric engines looks like they've been upgraded, too. These are pricey additions. He's not sure how they managed to afford it, but that's not his focus right now. He shrugs at the improvements and heads over. Maybe Olivia will be in the mood for some fooling around. This day might not be completely wasted after all!
Malcolm buzzes the intercom and Neet lets him in. The Dragon's pilot is looking haggard and Malcolm's newly-sharp ears can hear Olivia and Xao fighting up on the main deck. Malcolm can make out that they're screaming at each other about Xao's feelings, Jillian, and whether or not Xao is being an idiot. Neet gives Malcolm a tired look and tells him that the two of them have been like this since iLanga; Malcolm decides to see if he can calm things down. When he gets to the galley they do indeed quiet down, mostly because Olivia motions for them to wait for a minute and heads off to her quarters. She comes back with the industrial-sized tube of lube that Malcolm left for her and squeezes it hard, right into his face. She's in a generally upset mood and didn't seem to understand that the lube was a gag gift. A feeling of gloom comes over Malcolm: is she much more serious about him than he is about her? And it looks like he won't get any today in any case.
Bishop comes up the stairs while Malcolm's wiping the gooey mess off of his face -- not the sort of gooey mess he'd hoped for today -- and tries his best to calm things down. Xao tells them about how Jillian wanted to have a conversation with him and told him about how they're working for the Black Rose and how the Resplendent Dragon may now be in trouble by association. Maybe they've followed Bishop and Malcolm to his ship and the Dragon's crew is already in trouble. Olivia comments that in that case she should get her grenade launcher and heads to her quarters again.
When Xao mentions that he left Jillian at the Rampant Lion both Bishop and Malcolm are horrified. He left Jillian alone in a bar? Malcolm stalks off the ship to go find her. Bishop hangs behind for a bit to yell at Xao about how he's so bottled up that he can't can't see the bigger picture, or the effect he's having on Jillian. He gives it to Xao with both barrels and storms off. As he heads out of the galley he passes Olivia -- who's heading back in with her grenade launcher -- who gives him a high-five for his tirade.
As he heads back to the Hummingbird Bishop sees Malcolm roaring off on his motorcycle. So much for teamwork! He will have to take public transport to Little Piccadilly to look for Jillian. He climbs into the Hummingbird and convinces both Volkova to keep working on installing the sensor suite and the two Black Roses to help her, keeping them from following him. He then heads to the subway station.
By the time Bishop makes it to Little Piccadilly Malcolm's already asked at the Rampant Lion and been roaring up and down the streets, but to no avail. The roar of Malcolm's motorcycle is obvious and Bishop quickly flags him down. If Jillian's so paranoid about the Black Rose finding out about the Resplendent Dragon she won't have gone to Gabi's place and with her inability to hold her liquor she won't have gone far. Together, the two of them walk the neighbourhood for hours, checking out every possible spot before finally finding their captain long after the sun's gone down and the street lights have come on sleeping it off in the very same dumpster that they shoved the Electric Eliminators into three weeks ago.
She reeks of rotting garbage and Bishop hails a taxi to take her to the ship in: she'll just fall off the motorcycle and Malcolm would rather keep his motorcycle unstained. On his steel horse Malcolm rides back to the ship. The cabbie insists that Bishop wrap her in a tarp he's got in the trunk of his cab so she doesn't foul his interior and when they pull up by the Hummingbird some time later he tells Bishop that he can keep the now-stinky tarp. Bishop pays the cabbie -- he feels very grownup that it's with his own money -- and enlists Malcolm to help carry Jillian into the ship as the cabbie hangs a few more pine tree-shaped air fresheners from his rear-view mirror before driving off.
Samiksha sees and smells the tarp-wrapped captain and can't help but mutter something snarky about how professional they are. Malcolm ignores her and gets Volkova to clean Jillian up -- without any industrial cleansers or equipment, he insists -- and put her to bed. He also asks Volkova to make sure Jillian drinks a lot of water before falling asleep and specifies *just* water when Volkova comments that 80-proof vodka is mostly water.
It's been a frustrating day and Malcolm just wants to get to bed, but he picks up the phone and calls the Resplendent Dragon to inform them about the situation. He's pleased that Olivia is the one who picks up the phone and they talk about where Jillian was. She seems to have calmed down and apologizes for the earlier lube attack; things have been tense on the Dragon for a while and she admits to overreacting. They talk about Xao, about Jillian, and about the situation with the Black Rose.
Olivia's perfectly happy to try to convince Xao to come along with the Hummingbird on their mission if they want more muscle but Malcolm demurs. it's best if the Dragon's not known by the Black Rose and besides, the Dragon doesn't have VTOL capacity, making it useless on Crapworld. If they aren't back by the end of November, though, he asks Olivia to investigate what happened. She agrees and the two of them engage in some phone sex before finally falling asleep. The last thing that Malcolm thinks before falling asleep is that at least it wasn't a totally wasted day...
October 12, EY218
Miraculously, Jillian wakes up late the next day without a hangover. She doesn't remember much about the previous day after Xao left her and she's confused when she blearily walks into the common area and Volkova starts making "subtle" comments about dumpsters. Malcolm fills her in on where he and Bishop found her and his conversation with Olivia last night. Jillian decides that she needs to talk to Xao -- again -- and drags Bishop and Malcolm along with her as Volkova finishes up the installation, which she insists she absolutely needs the Black Roses to do properly.
Jillian tries to go incognito with her giant and very dark sunglasses as they walk through the dimly-lit, completely-enclosed underground spaceport to the Resplendent Dragon. A still-haggard Neet opens the door for them and lets them in with a minimum of eye-rolling. Once inside she and Xao have a more civilized conversation in which she lays out the reasons why they're working for the Black Rose and their various theories about the Black Rose's activities relating to the black ooze in Labrys City, their potential base on Ganapati, and more. He's still not impressed by Jillian but at least he's willing to listen. Bishop and Olivia stay in the room to keep things civil.
While Jillian and Xao have their conversation Neet takes Malcolm aside. He can't help but show off the new capacities of the Dragon: an improved space drive, new atmospheric engines, rejigged electronics, and -- not surprisingly -- a better cannon for Olivia. While Malcolm can't help but figuratively drool about the ship's improvements he's much less impressed with the fact that Xao's parents paid for most of the changes. He does wonder how it is that Olivia keeps managing to convince them to get bigger and better weaponry for the ship. Although he doubts it the rumours about her sleeping with Neet and Xao to get her way is understandable.
After Jillian's done explaining herself to a Xao who seems to have an eyebrow permanently cocked sarcastically over his eyepatch she lifts her spirits by showing Neet the spectacular route she planned to surprise the Telushkin. He is indeed extremely impressed by her work. Given everything else that's going on it's a small victory indeed... but she'll take it.
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Bishop's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 17)
Jillian's Bedpost Notch Count: 0
Malcolm's Bedpost Notch Count: 0.5 for phone sex (running total: 7, rounding up)
Volkova's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 4)