TC's journal

[Adam]

Dear journal,
With a number of the crew incapacitated by illness, (you humans are so frail) it falls to me to keep a note of our journeys. That and spending even longer cooking the food. Apparently, when humans fall ill they insist on having their food immolated even more than usual. No sense of food artistry these monkeys.

On to the journal:

I will start our tale following the rescue (yes I think that is the right phrase) of Agent Cryer. It's nice to have a fellow chef on the ship even if he does insist ion frying things (really that's no way to treat meat – I do keep telling him). The poor man was also quite isolated from the other agents (perhaps they were avoiding his fried breakfasts) and the only individual he is aware of is the top of the local espionage tree but Cryer feels he may have been compromised.
We had a big discussion at Lyssen and decided to split our efforts. He deigned to travel by charter to some of the more distant planets in the sub-sector. Gathering information about the Zhodani infiltration of the liberation front and their attempts to ferment unrest across the Imperial planets within the sector. We were to meet him in twelve weeks at the Pequa system I believe that's how you spell it.
It was our mission to travel to two of the independent planets. We travelled to a dreadful system with no name, just a numerical designation. (No sense of poetry these humans). They might as well be male.
So we travelled to 871 (or some such). It's an Amber zone because of it's infamy as a haunt of pirates. Well they were warned and not just by me I might add. On arrival in the system we went to refuel from the gas giant and we were attacked by yes you guessed it pirates.
Apparently it is human etiquette  not to shout “I told you so” whilst under enemy fire. So many rules.

We saw the buccaneers off with some accurate fire . I must look up the word “fluke” as in we fluked it. Something to do with water creatures I gather although I'm not clear on the sense it was used in there.
Yes so we received some structural damage (well they were warned) but we weren't as badly damaged as the pirates. Some clever negotiation forced  the damned privateers, to hand over some goods by way of apology/ recompense. Advanced vehicles -very nice. We also held out for permission to enter the space station at 871 or whatever.  Ramshackle place There we met his Grace. Oddly dressed fellow but don't tell him (that's not etiquette that's common sense man's  a powerful thug).
Lyle got pain-sticked (is that a verb) for not kneeling. His Grace then spaced the captain we defeated as an object lesson.
A decent round of trading saw the ship's ledger swell briefly and so we negotiated to buy some nar... petrochemicals yes petrochemicals (you never know who reads these things). We also heard tale of a trader called Mishaka. Apparently he was set to deliver two high spec laser rifles to Jewel (the planet) which is odd given how secure it is. Also they are prepaid and to be delivered in 24 weeks which seems odd. Lea attempted to infiltrate Mishaka's card game but accused another player of cheating and thus caused a minor scuffle.  Gunny and I had to step in. No guts for a protracted fight these pirates and they believe all those stories about Aslan eating humans. Damn egotists as if they taste nice. Any way it soured our attempts to get close to Mishaka that and the fact  that someone (possibly kids) attacked our surveillance probe: Lyle 3000. Anyway we got a description of Mishaka, his crew and his ship. We also arranged for it to have an unusual energy signature so we could spot it again in a hurry.
So back to Lyssen to sell our petrochemicals and technical gear. Fortunately we weren't stopped by customs and so could made quite a killing selling the petrochemicals to a back street dealer. Excellent.
We the stayed in port waiting for the repairs.

Our bounty hunter friend (that was meant ironically), Jellic Josen, turned up and kept an eye on us. We decided to play it cunning and made noises of going to Nakege to buy armour and defensive systems. Carrying radio-actives and some other bits  we jumped with a Nakege entry vector but jumped to deep space and then in-flight refuelling jumped to Gougeste. There, Captain Jones got off his sick bed long enough to join the local Arkesh Spacers trade alliance giving us  good deals on Gougeste. We located a local agitant (by the name of Jessica Nash) who had a habit of fermenting ill feeling towards Imperials and starting fights. So we sent sneaky Mr Jones (he changes his name every few minutes) to gain her acquaintance. We arranged for the very Imperial looking Gunny to enter the bar they were in shortly afterwards and this allowed Mr Jones to gain some currency (metaphorically speaking) with the young woman. With her trust somewhat gained and her tongue loosened (a little) by alcohol she gave us enough clues to confirm that she was probably our woman. She was recently very flush and receiving outside funding probably Zhodani credits.
We then spent a week on maintenance prior to our flight to Pequa.

[Adam]

I do apologise my last journal was somewhat I gather the expression is time pressured.  I had to rush off and clear sick bowls and make some toast they didn't even want em to smear animal fats on the damned thing which is the only reason I can think of for bread. I agree that when you are ill unfussy foods are best.  My mother used to serve us what I gather you humans call blue steak, although  clearly it's not blue.
Any way I digress. Yes some information that I left out of my last writing. During both our recent visits to Lyssen we saw a substantial build up of Naval assets, I believe they are called. A capitol ship, a dreadnought, a strike carrier and six strike cruisers. Two of the cruisers set up in orbit around Lyssen as if garrisoning the system. Gunny got a bit over excited at the display of military power, so I gave him fresh sheets as a precaution. Anyway it is interesting. Could the Navy be strengthening their position because of the unrest, concern over a Zhodani threat or could it be a piece of pageantry - a show of strength ahead of the regime change .. oh sorry getting ahead of myself.

In my last musings I mentioned the two high spec rifles which would serve well as sniper rifles and with a delayed delivery date to Jewell. Well cross referencing that delivery date with possible sniper targets of interest to the Liberationists / Zhodani would readily suggest the forthcoming coronation - is that the right word for Dukes,? I'm fairly sure it works for high ranks: Kings, Queens, Emperors and the like. It is also the name of an easy but flavoursome meal for poultry. Anyway the current duke is retiring. You would never catch a high ranking Aslan male retiring. Die with your sword in your hand you wim.. sorry got carried away. Any way the new Duke Benito Zahn is also rumoured to be high up in the regional secret service. Therefore he is quite the tempting target although quite frankly either Duke would be quite a nice trophy above the fireplace of any Zhodani funded Liberationist.

I also did not mention last time how excellent our trading was. We bought ahem-petrochemicals for I think 8o% of their current market value and sold for 180%. We then bought radio-actives for I think ninety percent of current market value and sold for two hundred percent of this base value). We invested some of the profits in updating our sensor arrays which appear to have let us down in the combat with Pirates I mentioned. Is now an appropriate time to say I told you so? The clue is in the title 'pirate system' as in system frequented by pirates. It's amber for a reason. You wouldn't need a superior sensor array if you just listened to me or thought about the places you were visiting. Anyway now with our increased sensor array we are less likely to be surprised by Pirates well I wasn't surprised in the first place. As if it being widespread common knowledge that it was a Pirate system wasn't enough!! How forewarned do you want to be. Yes forewarned is a needless repetition, a tautology if you will as was that but I don't think it is unnecessary emphasis.  Pirates, next time don't be so surprised; I wasn't.

Hmm I think I have got that out of my system.

So we travelled to Pequan via a brief stop in the outskirts of the Zircon system some good trading but fairly low priced goods as it is a tech level four planet with more advanced stuff being illegal.  We travelled to the safe house meeting point by horse and cart. It seems strange getting the creature to work for you rather than just eating it but I suppose in the long term it results in leaner meat. That said there is something to be said for a marbling of fat on a joint. Sorry another digression. It was nice to be in the Plains again even if we were out of season for the elk like creatures. Maybe next time. We smuggled comm dots across the border and our intrepid pilot Chase took his entertainment system and proceeded to scare the locals with it. We used the ship to do some long range reconnaissance from the stratosphere using our new sensor array and piloted by Vince and assisted by Lyle.  En route we heard tale of an off-worlder also heading towards the safe house and ahead of us An off-worlder of whom it must be said that he does not fit the description of our contact Cryer. So we approached the building cautiously  I say cautiously but hmm, well part of our plan was to distract them frontally whilst Gunny and the sneaky Mr Brown (another name change)  approached surreptitiously from the rear. As we closed, Mr Brown ranged ahead and it became apparent that Cryer was tied up and being held prisoner by a Zhodani (who incidentally fit the description of the off-worlder).  It also became apparent that approaches other than the frontal path were booby trapped including some illegal explosives. Therefore the rear teams had to approach with some caution.

So as the distraction I approached the building frontally and openly and asked directions to the nearest herd of elk creatures. I was posing cunningly as a hunter including authentic Pequan spear. The Zhodani refused to open the door but talked through the walls at me like some common outcast. I asked for some water as an attempt to get him to open the door but he directed me to the outdoor pump. I again attempted to engage him in conversation by suggesting erroneously - well mendaciously actually (I love all this espionage cloak and dagger stuff) that the pump was leaking. In response the rogue fired at me twice with an illegal laser pistol (there is after all a downside to the cloak and dagger aspect). I may have passed out from the second shot. You will have to ask the others what happened after I was shot but the back door was clearly devastated in fact blown to smithereens, probably by explosives. The Zhodani was dead with a deep chest wound as if by an axe and also he had been decapitated also possibly by an axe. His head was lying some yards away well low gravity planet. Did I mention that Gunny and chase had taken an opportunity to buy wood axes whilst I was buying my authentic Pequan hunting  spear souvenir.

We disposed of the Zhodani by floating him down stream (a waste of good meat) and headed back to the star port.
Cryer informed us that the majority of the Federation of Arden was neutral as regards the Empire and its liberationists. We confirmed that the Arkesh Spacers were on the whole similarly neutral. Cryer noted that nearby Zenopit had a large cell of anti-empire sympathisers. So we agreed to travel there to investigate further before going to Gougeste to deal with Jessica Nash.


So it's twelve weeks to the coronation (if that is the right word) and therefore the possible assassination attempt and we are off to Zenopit with a hold full of ethnic textiles: head scarves, rugs and broad brimmed black hats.