Spoilers
(Planet Real Life and certain technical difficulties have made me a bit scarce lately. Due to said technical difficulties, this is all text. I am a bit overdue and there is a lot, so it is long. Juicy stuff though. Totally fly.)
A week or so before Krenshar left Hale for Caliban, a Weyland Futani Replicant Repair Ship visited Hale. Shortly thereafter, Krenshar exhibited some peculiar behavior and his highlights changed to Alliance Purple.
Krenshar went to Caliban and in addition to making the abandoned medical research base habitable, began some experimentation. This reported involved shipments of reavers and other biological materials. He was cloning something and working with genetics.
His stated goal was to “fix” what was wrong with Aurora and Lily, make them how they were “meant” to be. Krenshar explained, “Lily” is not supposed to be like me, Aurora is not supposed to be like you.” It had to do with combining organic and synthetic I think.
Lily stole a brain from Krenshar’s lab or got it from someone who stole it from Krenshar’s lab.
I finally tracked down the broker that screwed me up with that botched salvage mission on the derelict ship which was being used as a staging area to harvest the organs from people. Mercedes led me to believe that they had been shipping “materials” to Caliban. Also, that Ardra was the pilot. She was also particularly interested in LilyBell for some reason.
Rumors abounded that Krenshar was cloning AuroraBlue LIttleboots and selling them off to the Alliance. His broadcasts over the Firefly Channel had several people concerned. He even threatened x0x0 if she did not deliver Mindo to him. People that had known him for a long time and even regarded him as a friend wondered if they knew him at all. I worried if Weyland Futani was influencing his programming. There was evidence that he had dealings with the Alliance. Maybe the base was not so abandoned.
Meanwhile, the Alliance, and Major Salmionedes in particular, was making a greater presence in the Rim. Usually the Alliance operates thru private military organizations and just conduct oversight. Pepper’s frequent presence and Sentry’s arrest in a crowded Bootlegger’s Bar on MacLaren’s showed that they were taking a direct hand.
Sentry is rescued. Akasha is wounded during the rescue, sloppily leaving a dna sample that the alliance can trace.
Sentry is now a wanted fugitive. A 100 Credit reward is published. I heard 300 Credits, I don’t know why it was lowered.
I also hear from my sources that there is a warrant for Cody too.
I know the location of the encrypted data disk that the alliance is looking for. Might need it pay Cody or Akasha’s ransom.
I was tipped off by a high ranking officers that a policy of “Quid Quo Pro”, an exchange of value was being employed in the Rim.
Someone stole a cloned brain, heart and eyes (I think) from Krenshar’s Lab. These ended up in the possession of Mercedes Celestalis.
Lily at this point thought that Krenshar had harmed AuroraBlue and was selling her parts to the Alliance.
Lily stole the cloned fetuses and burned down the lab. Cody had the misfortune of being her ride. He is new, he doesn’t know about Lily’s fire habits.
Krenshar is furious, or the replicant equivalent. All of his research Krenshar and Miya had to fix Aurora’s degenerating DNA and the synthetic fusion was up in smoke. Also the genetic sample Krenshar needed to give to the Alliance to pay for his equipment and material and weapons like the Ion Cannon.
So it begins.
Cody and Lily are hiding. I am not sure where Cody is hiding at this point.
I find Lily hiding in the mountains at MacLaren’s Drift. She has the fetuses in jars with her. Lily was ravenously hungry, I brought her raw meat every day so she didn’t need to hunt and expose herself. The dead dog found around MacLaren’s shows that it was insufficient. They still have not found Rebel.
I did not know where Aurora is. I check with Seana and check who I can.
Mercedes, an unlikely source, let me know that Aurora was alive and unharmed and visited Bihar briefly.
Lily is reported to have been abducted by Mindo. I check and her hiding place and her stockpile of fetuses were cleared out.
I find Aurora in MacLarens, she has a bloody nose and not feeling well. She needed some medication that Mindo had. She also tells me that her bear and coin are missing. Her DNA was degenerating. Gallagher comes and we search for Mindo. We find his room in Prosperity and finally at Windy’s bunker. I go to get Aurora, she screams seeing the dog corpse in the greenhouse. Gallagher finds the dog skeleton near the orange tree to be suspicious. The oranges left where Lily used to store the robot babies added to his concerns.
I find x0x0 in Hale, target practice. Unnerving. We discuss her upcoming real estate projects and frequently absent personal assistant. She lets me know that she has hired two men to bring Mindo and Aurora to Hale. She wanted me to make sure that Aurora was not harmed or even scared. I guess correctly that she hired Windy and Travis. Taken aback, she shows me how to kill Windy dead if I have to. “Head shot, 3 shots at 3 feet in 3 seconds” Always learny time with x0x0. She wants me to kill Windy if Aurora is harmed or scared. I wondered if she knew that Windy worked for Krenshar. I know that Aurora likes Windy, so I don’t expect troubles.
Krenshar takes it up a notch. Krenshar offers a 1000L reward each for Cody and Lily being delivered to him.
I go to Caliban to find out what Krenshar is talking about and find him in a heated exchange of words with Kitten.
Emberzz, JJ, Coop, Me, the Swashbucker cousins, Cody, Kitten and Akasha are in and around Bootleggers. I give a partial update to people who were kind of in and out of the conversation. Cody is having trouble seeing.
I find out that Krenshar agreed to accept Kitten’s DNA (just a brain and heart sample) in exchange for Cody’s warrant being released. Kitten was already at risk, because she was the means to collect Cody. I perform the laughing chicken experiment to verify that Kitten is special. (nope, not explaining it. You understand the reference or you don’t)
Emma comes for a visit, then x0x0. X0x0 talks to Cody. Emma, Kitten and I eavesdrop. Kitten is trigger itchy. X0x0 explains about the chip implanted in Cody’s eye that is transmitting pictures. I do not find out who did this to him.
To protect the safety of others, Cody agrees to let x0x0 hide him. Kitten is distraught and Akasha is visibly shaken up.
My ship in Hale is parked at 128 128 4000 in Hale, right up against the black. X0x0 naively hid Cody on her ship in plain view of my ship. Yeah, her ship was partially cloaked, but not well enough. I used the equipment from the Zenobian Consulate to set up a secured channel with Cody and coach him about locations for hiding if he becomes uncertain about x0x0’s intentions.
I visit MacLaren’s and hanging with Windy, when a call comes over the open channel that Bounty Hunters have landed in MacLaren’s. Windy and I mount up on turbine flyers and go see the hubbub. Alliance, Bounty Hunters, Reavers and some crazy albino octopuses.
I know that Cody is gone, but Kitten was the probable target. I set up a secured patch of Kitten and Cody, he tells her to let me take her to Hale. Coop comes about but we leave before he finishes asking me question s.
Once Kitten and I are on my ship, I contact Coop on a secured channel and let try to inform him as best I a can and give him the coordinates so we can rendezvous. Jn the meantime, I show Kitten where Cody is out the front window of the Behemoth.
Cody flees x0x0’s ship before Coop arrives.
Coop, Charly, Akasha and Jax come in Coops Firefly, which actually fits in the hangar bay of the Behemoth. He starts to lecture me. I remind him that I am not on his crew and not subject to his orders. He dialed it back before I had to remind him that he was on my ship.
I explain that Cody went with x0x0 voluntarily. We discuss possible places where he might be hiding out.
Windy’s ship is in Hale and only a few hundred meters away. We depart quickly.
We finally catch up with Cody on Bihar. Akasha gets bit by a cobra. Charly takes the poison out. When she is safe to be moved, we go to the infirmary.
When Akasha is out of danger, we discuss hiding places. We decide that Paquin would be a good place.
We take the space tether to ground and are shocked to see Krenshar waiting for us. Cody has run off and Coop is trying to bring him in. Cody was at the Blackburne Smuggler’s Den when Jax hits him square in the chest with a dart with enough tranquilizers to quell a horse. Cody Is not a horse. Somehow Coop is wounded and the retrieval is botched. Akasha runs to Cody while I stall Krenshar. Windy arrives looking for Cody. He sees an opportunity and rushes Cody and Akasha with shotgun drawn. I rush ahead and snatch Cody before Wind can put a bullet in Akasha or Cody.
I take Cody up to my ship and in high orbit over Caliban. I refuse to give Cody over to Krenshar. He offers to raise the bounty. I have items that Krenshar wants more than Cody, but he says he cannot. He wants the bear and Lily for Cody. I refuse.
X0x0 comes in and has not so good words with Windy. Totally unproductive meeting.
Windy is getting antsy and she shuttles off just as Gabe shuttles in. I sense that negotiations are breaking down and I don’t want anything to happen to Cody. I have Gabe take my firefly and take Cody to New Delphi to hide him.
The autopilot takes Gabe and Cody safely to New Delphi, but Gabe crashes on the landing. No one hurt. Gabe is not a pilot.
Once I confirm that Gabe and Cody are “safely” away, I break off communications with Krenshar and go to seek out LilyBell.
I find LilyBell on Hale in the tunnels by the bank. Completely feral, doesn’t even recognize me. I quickly throw raw meat at her. I try to talk to her and find something that will get thru her feral rage. She takes off in a ship and I pursue. She fired upon me, Left aerial mines and even launched mines. Luckily, I am a better pilot that Gabe. But ultimately, she escapes from me.
I forget about LilyBell and head to New Delphi. Gabe explains about how she wrecked the firefly and that it is in about 10 pieces, she thinks. Cody says he can fix it. Cody is having trouble seeing. I explain about the chip in his eye. He doesn’t believe me or recall anything. He requires reminding that he is not a horse.
Gabe finally has to leave. I stay with Cody. Cody is able to contact Lily who was finally coherent. We give up the location and Lily hides out in New Delphi.
Lily hatches a plan. It involves Cody and Lily being married and turning themselves in. I don’t understand how the plan would work, but Lily’s plans are rarely coherent but they have worked in the past. So, who am I to judge.
I provide the wedding rings. Like many Hale residents, I regularly keep meat, candy or shiny things for Lily. I am only licensed to perform same sex marriages on Zenobia, so I pronounce Cody and Lily wife and wife and we leave for Hale, so the happy couple can see their kin.
Seana is not around but Cody is happily reunited with his sister. We go to Firefly’s Bar so that the newly wedded couple can have their first dance. Lily announces her marriage and Champagne is circulated. Nack gives a toast and some warnings. Lily explains her plan which no one there understood either. I am not sure, but she says she will have a new cub. She tells everyone that she and Cody are turning themselves in to Krenshar, but because they are married and having a cub, it will all be ok. Many shrugs.
We go. They freely walk in to the cell Krenshar has for them. He says that they have to stand trial. A lot of angry talk followed. I was numb at this point. This had been 24 hours of craziness.
Krenshar explains that he was never selling Aurora’s dna and that she was safe and unharmed. He was taken aback from Lily’s marriage. He goes to pieces.
A lot of angry words followed. I was taken aback at how many people were so blood thirsty. JJ ultimately pleads with Krenshar for leniency.
I recognize the signs, seen it in him before. Krenshar was already gone. His thoughts were elsewhere and he made his plans.
I manage to take Krenshar’s necklace, I know what it really is. The Alliance SIU officer, Pepper, comes. She was going to exchange the Teddy Bear Krenshar needed for Cody. Krenshar refuses and turns himself in to the Alliance. The presumably disassemble him.
Meanwhile Lily overloads the forcefield and escapes. She is electrically charged and lying in a pile in the courtyard. Some attempt s are made to move her, but she was still a damage shield.
I try to get Lily to go to Hale, but she just crawls into Aurora Blue’s bed on Caliban.
I get Cody up to my ship and over to Hale.
Krenshar is the Replicant Order. No Krenshar, No Replicant Order. They are free.
Some people are unclear on the details and are a little peeved at me. Someone burned down two of the CATZ offices. The one on Hale and the one on MacLaren. A giant black raven is left as a calling card.
After dealing with the fire in MacLaren, Emma and I convince Mindo to come to Hale to see his lab and for Lemon Pie. We lock him up in the boarding house filled with his old lab equipment. x0x0 slaps him around. Blue Sun Family Values? Mindo gets his pie.
Coop, Gabe and Akasha came to Caliban looking for blood. I am unarmed and talk to him. I should have been more respectful, but I was tired. I speak defiantly. I explain everything, mostly what you have read herein.I explained how I got Lily, Cody, Kitten and Aurora safe. All he did was make threats and burn down my offices. The plain evidence is that Cody and Lily are free and unharmed.
I explain how Cody needs medical attention and ask them to take Cody to JJ. Coop left grumbling. Emma shot Gabe in the leg for some reason.
After I thanks the battle droid for posing, I found Cody, Akasha and Gabe talking in the landing bay. Coop gave the Reveinn to Cody. I think maybe Coop was taking a break. They leave.
I chat with Cody for a few. We agree where to hide the coin and how to deal with it.
I do some aerial recon and find where the alliance ship is where Krenshar is being kept.
Now if I can convince people to rescue Krenshar.
(OOC: Many many people were involved in this over the last day. Dozens. A few just IM’d me in character to tip me off that they saw someone or gave me information. You all rocked. This only worked because we all did so much. This is only the tip of the iceberg. The parts I got to be directly involved in. There were many subplots and other parts that involved many people on many sims. THIS WAS TOTALLY COOL! Thank you to everyone.)
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