Crying Over Cargo

Only one picture today.

No crying, it is against the Cargo Requisition Allocation Protocols (C.R.A.P.).

One drawer of a standard morgue coldbox used to ship the dead. Mass of 100 kilograms including the box and bodybag, with an optimally loaded cargo bay, about 2.1 Credits per AU with DeuTylium fuel. First out to the SNG (Space Navigator Guild) transit nexus terminus then to Colchester in White Sun. Travel is relatively cheap if you're inert.

Just one drawer, one of 18 in the morgue coldbox container, one of many coldbox containers, of many kinds of cargo we are hauling to 34 Tauri today. Just doing the rechecks before we unmoor the frigate and head out. Procedure, protocol, stuff like that. I don't normally check all of the drawers.

I work the numbers in my head to keep from thinking about the cargo. I make jokes or I work spreadsheets in my head when I am stressed. No jokes today.

This is Jade, she's cargo now.

Jade lived her life with the world against her, born a 'moon-baby', her mother's exposure to some mine chemicals caused her to be born albinos with a wonky immune system. The superstitious people on the moon gave her to job of being the disposable child. "What is the life of one moon-baby?" I never liked it when she said that.

They sold her off to some organ-leggers to buy farmland for their village on the surface of the moon. These organ-leggers planned to exploit the Jade's unique moon-baby immune system to grow and harvest organs for other people. The organ-leggers told them a fanciful fairy tale of a life of education and for Jade to ease their conscience, but in reality they sold her to a life destined to be lived out in vats and cutting tables.

Jade got lost and robbed in Persephone, but in this case that was fortunate. Good fortune smiled on her with Calina, Darrian and some other decent folks on Eavesdown Docks. Jade lived out of Calina's fine dress shop back then and Jade helped her out plus busy with whatever odd jobs and such she could find in the ugly backwater of the famed gateway to the rim. I bought a great outfit from her, she even knew my favorite color. Jade time in Eavesdown Docks was colored by fear that the organ-leggers would find her or that her village would have to give back the money and lose their land or that that the law would....you know....crap that happens.

I lost touch with her when she moved to Botany Bay, although I knew she was there as it was part of my regular route, I never ran into her while I was there. I am sure she made lots of friends. I saw her on Hale a couple times during that period. When she came to Al Raqis is when we got to see each other more often. She quickly learned how to prospect for the Araxes desert spice, how to gather water from the vaporators and fix the refinery and all sorts of things. Plus always busy with some project or another that she found around. Soon, she was a top prospector and mechanic. She worked on other projects too, a great sand-glider. We watched bats fly and beetles scurry around attacking mercenaries, good times.

Jade ran afoul of the Orions and the Orchid, she was attacked and hospitalized. Public opinion moved strongly against them after that.

Calina was looking after Jade, but this was a systemic problem. It was becoming too dangerous, we had to find better ways to deal with the problem.

Jo was kidnapped shortly thereafter. We were shocked, this was a big deal to us. No one had harmed any of our people before. Jo, Opine, Calina, Jade, Tiller, etc, are not Zenobians, some were even their own factions. But they were from 34 Tau and we felt responsible for their welfare. We were the de facto local consulate for the Union of Allied Planets, we had to change how we operated in the area.

We mobilized what assets we had. Increased surveillance on certain persons, worked our network of contacts, even military recon. We had been adverse to mobilizing military personnel, but this was 2 citizens in 2 weeks. We activated a Condoterro to contract third party assets to intervene. Zeno used her seat on the Landsraat Council to lobby for an anti-slavery act to punish the Orions and people who think like them.

None of it was not enough, we had to find a better way to change things.

Opine, Jo and I made a decision that ultimately led to Jade's death, we encouraged Jade to run for elected office. The Imperium had recently decreed a democratically elected council as a counterpart for the Landsraat in the Al Raqis legislature, the Beit Dawla. Jade knew a lot of people because she spent more time on the ground than almost anyone. She won by a landslide, more votes than the next 3 candidates combined.

Jade was timid at first, but when AR Pharma began producing a cure for the blackpox that used the blood of natives, it was an issue very close to Jade's own personal tragedy. Jade was on fire with rage, you were with her or against her. And many were against her. She swore she would protect the people of Araxes with her own life as necessary, "What is the life of one moon-baby?" I wished she wouldn't talk like that.

The Landsraat did what maneuvering they could to circumvent the issue, condescending and arrogant in their position of power. Finally, Jade swore out an arrest complaint against the entire Landsraat Council. A political gesture, I don't think anyone expected anything to come of it, including myself. It was a heart stopping surprise when an Imperial Inquisitor decided to endorse the warrant albeit for his own purposes. Even Zeno and Calina were put under arrest. With the endorsement of the Imperium, even the Chief Magistrate quietly submitted to house arrest.

That is probably what put the wheels in motion that led to her death. It was an affront that certain murderous minded people couldn't let stand.

It was out of our hands now, with the Imperial Inquisition in place neither the Chief Magistrate, the Landsraat, the Beit Dawla or even Jade could undo the arrests. It would have to play out by Imperium rules. I have no idea what those rules are, but they involved following the forms.

With the Landsraat under arrest, the Beit Dawla took over the running of the government. We passed the legislation outlawing police actions without government authorization and outlawed the blood cure and made the cure freely available, then we lifted the blockade.

I focused on trying to find a way to get Zeno out of jail, I did not think about keeping Jade safe. She was very cavalier about it. Then she was murdered.

I still don't have any clue who murdered Jade. A fellow delegate on the Beit Dawla, Lady Skhmet, is aggressively investigating the murder. I don't know how Lady Skhmet feels about Jade, she is fairly inscrutable, but she seems very sincere about finding the murderer. She has some leads, haters who were angry about the Beit Dawla in general and Jade in particular. There are other suspects, I left it to Skhmet to deal with. Today, I am just hauling cargo.

With Jade dead, the case against the Landsraat was severely weakened. The Landsraat resumed their seats with an oath to please the Imperium. The revolution was over. My last act as chairwoman of the unitary governing body was to order Jade's autopsy.

The UAP made a separate deal with the Inquisitor, so Zeno was finally out after 33 days in jail. We didn't really say much, welcome, hugs, then back to the Maison. Zeno got something to eat, then took a bath with the teddy bear named Tillery that Jade gave her while she was in jail.

We failed Jade.

I got the coroner's report today and Calina agreed to let me transport Jade to Colchester. I sent off a copy of the coroner's report to Zeno and Calina and left.

Jade was a good person, a dear friend, a heroic public figure....but now she is just cargo. I guess not JUST cargo, I don't cry about other cargo.

Friday December 2nd, 9:30 am SLT (Standard Local Time) I departed Araxes and headed to Colchester with a full load of cargo, including Jade. She's cargo now.

Pestilence and Death, 2 out of 4 horsemen

I have a recurring dream that I am on old Earth That Was, looking up at the night sky at the constellation of Orion. I trace the belt from his right to left and I find Aldebaran, the brightest star in the Constellation of Taurus. Down a smidge and to the right of Aldebaran is 34 Tauri, the five stars that makes up the ‘verse star system. In my dream I imagine traveling the 40 light-years and 500 some-odd years into the future to 34 Tauri, then I wake up and here I am.

I have been traveling a lot and got a bit disorganized. Once I finally got home, I was able to download my notes and pictures to one computer and organize.



I really hadn’t been back much except for transshipment since Unification Day. Well, orthodox Unification Day, regular Unification Day is in May I think.



The Cortex News Service has a broadcast studio on campus now.



In the previous trip, Zeno and I got to stay at one of Lord Sen’s summer home.



Lord Sen has been our benefactor for years. Zeno deals with him more than I do, but he still treats me very nicely. He always makes sure I have a very nicely furnished room. I told Beaumont that I want our bedroom to look just like this one, I will even take my boots off first.



Frigate entering orbit around Zenobia



Zenobia facing White Sun, Qin Shi Huang and Lux. (Awesome picture courtesy of Serendipity Undercroft. Thank you.)



We make a lot more trips to Paquin nowadays. I think Colonel MacMoragh of UAP Special Projects and Pepper Siamendes of UAP Special Investigations Unit are based here. We have warehouses by the landing bay. (Awesome picture courtesy of Serendipity Undercroft. Thank you.)



On our route back to Araxes, we make a stop off in Talmont. (Awesome picture courtesy of Serendipity Undercroft. Thank you.)



And Araxes with Krelin and Arvon. (Awesome picture courtesy of Serendipity Undercroft. Thank you.)



The Blackpox virus has owned the news lately. The first I heard of it was with Ari and Suzanne. There was talk of a crashed probe, a weaponized vitus and also a version spread from a pair of transplanted eyes. Ari took exception that I would not let her jam a needle in my butt for the cure for one of the viruses. She could give the cure to Manda or Moira or Natirra, then maybe. Lately it seems that there are a whole buncha folks all anxious to poke my butt.



Suzanne had found a barricaded weaponized virus capsule. She competes with Zenobia for selling water in Araxes. For over a year, we controlled the market on refined spice and water trade. Suzanne extracts water from waste, kinda creepy, but she is able to sell water at a discount. She is a champion prospector. She has helped me with a lot of projects and is a good friend.



Doctor Eliza, who had visited Zenobia with Zeno was working on a cure for at least one of the viruses, the one from the transplanted eyes. She worked with Professor Al Bert Starsmith at the Misrim Lab.



There was a quarantine put into place to prevent the spread of the virus, but someone used a diplomatic evacuation shuttle to circumvent the blockade quarantine. I will let Cody remain nameless. I will just refer to Cody by his initials CW for Cody Winterwolf.



CW had made his way to Colchester, Paquin, Hale and Washtown before coming down with symptoms in Dragon’s Egg Moon. The outbreak also spread to Zenobia because of cross contamination.

Fortunately Doctor Natirra was on hand and confirmed the diagnosis. She packed CW up into stasis tube and I hauled him back to Araxes for Quarantine. Natirra started her own search for the cure using local facilities and I think facilities on Ariel or Osiris. I can’t remember. She administered shots in Zenobia.



I was able to get Doctor Eliza to examine CW and to administer what was one of the cures in the experimental stages. CW responded well to the treatment but had to be kept in quarantine with other patients. He was attacked while in quarantine.

Cody says he is not a MuDraco spice addict. I traded some premium fuel cells for some refined spice. He was a little vague about the client. No worries though, right?

I ran into Trooper Gage at the Zenobian Aegis Barracks and let him know about the security issues. He looks a lot like the old Earth That Was Bollywood actor Sharukh Khan, Nanna’s favorite.



The Nicomedian Holy Sisterhood increased their presence locally. The sisterhood reveres the Saints of Nicomedia like Saint George and Saint Adrian, the patron saints of soldiers and Butchers. The Nicomedian Sisterhood also make sure that Alfred G. Packer brand S.P.A.M. and Smeat meet the legal limit for consumption by humans.



Although I am part of the Zenobian trade mission, we have been busy with a lot of sciency things. The Zenobia Institute Polytechnique pays a bounty for captured meat beetles, land lobsters and steak spiders. I get stuck inspecting them.



Saygar and Ito are champion bug hunters. They have each found one or more of each of the 34 varieties





WHODAT?



When I was back at Dragon’s Egg, I ran into Harry Potter….I mean Venice. I hadn’t seen him about since he, Coop, Gabe and Emma crashed on Hale’s after a reaver attack. He got a job with x0x0, he is the lapdog of Satan now. Good to see him around.

I got an encoded message from a salvage broker, x0x0 wasn’t overly helpful or enthusiastic. Something about project Day Dream. The salvage broker tried to entice me saying something about Unit 481



I might have considered following up with it, but x0x0 got herself blown up.

Now I don’t know what has to do with what. But Professor Al Bert Starsmith hired Dave Gaffer to deliver some of the Misrim Labs Cure to the Consolidated Associated Traders of Zenobia in Dragons’ Egg. I was off planet and Zeno was in jail, so Gaffy delivers it to x0x0 our biggest competitor. This guy runs a business? The Serenity Trade & Freight Union (STFU) stays open. Seren Undercroft and Gaffy must be doing something right. Misrim later got me some more of the Misrim Labs Cure. A little bit of spice goes a long way. Professor Starsmith says the amount of spice in the Misrim Labs Cure is not enough to be addictive. We went about collecting all of the various cures that were floating about, 5 or 6 at last count.

It was suspicious that Blue Sun ends up with its own watered down cure. I might have followed thru with it, but then I got a misdelivery meant for x0x0….from Niska.



Doctor Natirra’s research had been stolen, then Niska comes up with a cure meant to for Blue Sun. It gets misdelivered. X0x0 gets blown up. Coincidence I am sure. Why call her x0x0, why not just x0. It’s like Mahi Mahi, can’t the waiter tell after the first Mahi?



Lily got married, I think, maybe, possibly, sorta …. you get the idea. There was dancing I am told. I am not sure it matters. Well, LilyBell and KrakenAres produced a kid who is very very needy. Lily is a great mother except unwilling to bathe the kid. Nice name, Kraken Two - Destroyer of Worlds. Cody did not seem interested in being the nanny to another one of Lily’s cubs. Lily is covered in blood a lot, but wouldn’t say whose.



Despite that, she seems to take more interest in this cub than the previous one.



The situation with the epidemic and the blockade degenerated into Jade swearing out arrest warrants on the legislative council that Zeno served on. Calina was also arrested. It was madness I helped Zeno pick out what dress she would wear to turn herself in and we have been incommunicato since.



The Inquisitor allowed Zeno to have her food prepared by her chef, Rose, one of the Nicomedian Sisters. We sneak messages back and forth, but it is not the same. I lean of Zeno a lot for advise, she has been a mentor to me since I went to work with the Consolidated Associated Traders of Zenobia. I feel bad that I couldn’t see her, protocols. Jade got to visit her, gave Zeno her favorite Teddy Bear named Mister Tillery to keep her company.



We spent time, effort and resources trying to find something that the Inquisitor would accept to get Zeno released. It is still in process. The UAP Special Investigations Unit, Special Projects and the Zenobian Aegis Initiative really took over that project. I got some info from paying tribute to the Space Nav Guild, but nothing that got the job done.

With the Landsraat arrested, the Beit Dawla Council took control of the government to maintain lawfulness. I was the chairwoman of the Beit Dawla Council, little more than the advisory position like Miss Calina’s in the Landsraat except I keep the order of speaking, make sure the forms are obeyed and I get to vote when there is a tie. We outlawed vigilantism and the blood based cure, lifted the blockade, made the cure freely available and told the Myrmidon Order that they could not have roving death bands meting out bloody justice as they saw fit. All good things I guess. The warrants were out of my hands, I couldn’t do anything to help Zeno, Calina or Ms Deren.

Apparently, I couldn’t even help Jade. Things went from bad to worse. Jade got murdered.

Doctor Westminster performed the autopsy, she is the only medical examiner of record in the area. She specializes in identifying faked deaths, clones and other death related mischief. The results are not official yet, either her face exploded when she fell or she was shot in the face several times at close range.



A lot of people were angry with Jade over swearing out the complaints and the subsequent arrests. LilyBell even said that she threatened to kill Jade and is not sad that she is dead.



I have been avoiding getting emotional about it until I get the coroner’s report, but I am not really prepared for someone I know to be dead. There were others, but I did not believe it. I am trying not to believe this one, but I am not doing a very good job.

I’ve known Jade since she worked in Miss Calina’s dress shop on Eavesdown Docks.

I am dealing with it by working. Arranging for Calina to take Jade’s body back to 34 Tau, looking for a will, tidying up. Winding down the revolution Jade started, preparing for the election. Picking out a nice dress for Zeno for when she gets released from jail.

I will miss her a lot. We’re all sorry to see you go, Jade.

Dragon's Egg

Dragon's Egg:







(Yudhishtira, Bhima, Nakula, Sahadeva and Glynis)

Desert Days

The first I heard of meat beetles was by a coupla bank robbers named Ziggy and Rottengirl out of Victoria in Kalidasa. You can pack a lot more tons of meat-beetles in a container than you can cattle, hogs, sheep or even chickens. You get used to the screaming....eventually....supposedly....theoretically....or so Ziggy told me.

If you have been eating S.P.A.M. or Smeat rations for a month, you might kill for some meat beetle.

They had been seen in the catacombs of Evangeline Island on Avalon, Zenobia's moon, the wettest place that is above sea level.


Yet meat beetles are very water use efficient, so they adapted very well to the deserts of Mu Draconis. Arilla Aeon, the former head of the UFS diplomatic mission to Mu Draconis briefly had a meat beetle ranch, but the beetles jumped the corral and they ran off into the desert wilderness.

That was a year ago.

The first sign of their return was the bats. They liked to circle high overhead in Deep Desert, but near the Al Raqis settlement, they preferred to flit about the lowport landing pads. Jade and I sat around watching them, blissfully unaware that they were the heralds of the coming infestation.


The new bugs were much different than the ones Arilla raised. They ranged further and they were less docile, these bugs fight back. They have been reported to attack armed soldiers and even some low flying aircraft. Acid, fire, electricity, reports are inconclusive.

Bambinator was the infestation's first victim, his words as he fell forward onto the sand as the sad victim of an arc beetle, "What the hell was that?" Bambinator was not down for long, called for reinforcements and gave the bugs hell and what for.

The bugs dominant habitat is Desert Basin East, although they have been sighted repeated near the UFS, USM compounds near the Splintered Rock Settlement and Clan Misrim Outpost near the sacred totem in Deep Desert.

I have made a few visits to Albert and Mocha out by their trading outpost, and we have traded a few odds and ends.


The desert has been a hopping place lately, not just bugs.

Vega and Gallagher came out for an important test of the cutting edge rocket propelled chainsaw and to discuss deputy Neelix's drinking and smoking problem.


Nova set up a telecomm dish which she says is not necessarily used to destroy spacecraft. The dead bodies hanging from the edge of the dish are for ballast.


Nova has been having a hard time of it lately. A few misunderstandings about salvage procedures, admiralty law, and whether a broad interpretation of a Good Samaritan Law requires her to wait for the occupants of a ship to be dead before she begins salvage. A lot of legal precedents are being set by the trial, so people are paying attention.


Also, how many innocent civilians are you allowed to kill to retrieve your personal property? Mu Draconis awaits breathlessly...

I testified about salvage procedures. Another fellow testified supposedly in rebuttal and all but agreed with me.


LilyBell testified, she was a witness to one of the salvage incidents in question.

It required a lot of effort on my part to keep LilyBell calm and focused. A lot of hair brushing, candy and shiny paper. Lily was so tired afterwards, she took a nap in one of the holding cells.

Lily has been staying as a guest of House Morloch, been hanging out with Lord Krakie and been looking for Ardra.

Albert and Mocha were witnesses too I think, but they don't get involved in outworlder drama.

Pepper came by, she is in town for the week I guess. I have not been briefed as to the purpose of her visit. Mr. Tevya left some books for some light reading for the Major.


It has been good to see Mr. Tevya and Trishy in town. I am not sure why they are here either. Has to be something more important that dropping off books and making a few tarot card readings.

It was good to see that Jo was still alive. She said that she was at some offworld party in her honor that involved electrodes and lots of trivia questions.


Cody was in the 'hood too. He said he took a break in one of our guest houses and he is house sitting for House Morloch. Some Orchid folks shot at him for some reason. He picked up some liquor from our favorite party girl and dropped it off in Colchester. He is also supposed to be picking up some sushi to be shipped in stasis. He is a bit overdue. That boy is always late with some excuse.


The last remnants of the Orchid pirates (?) asked us for an alliance. They asked Zeno and I separately. We are a bit coy about so-called alliances, most of them end badly. I imagine it ending especially badly with a desperate group that couldn't restrain themselves from angrily calling me names and has already fired on our people.

WHODAT!

The present Orchid rep said that McFoxx applied for membership with them. She has been staying at our guest house in Al Raqis.

McFoxx has a cute desert fox as a pet. Zeno and Tillery got to see it while visiting.


Zeno has been staying up in the Zenobian Long-Bow Frigate a lot lately. She says its satellite surveillance is actually very illuminating. Zene was a long time spacer, she probably finds the wide spaces comforting. A lot of traffic out by the Trojan meteors. One or more pirate groups, some terrorist group's blockade, Nova's short lived salvage sale station until the STC deorbited it, and even a ship belonging to Umbrella Corporation. They obviously hired the same decorator as Sir William Branson, they loooovvvveee logo placement.


/me sighs...."United Federation Starfleet (UFS) is not affiliated, associated or related to nor take any responsibility for the actions of Starfleet Torchwood Command. United Federation Starfleet (UFS) is also not affiliated, associated or related to nor take any responsibility for the actions of Galaxy Fleet Command, Section 9 or the United Federation Starfleet (UFS) Marines that blew up the Orion Space Station."

The presence of Umbrella might be why Pepper is here or why Gallagher gave me this Zombie Preparedness Poster.


I saw AuroraBlue around too while I was going over fusionable fuel inventories. It took a while to make it thru the mime act, but I think she meant something about the Spacing Guild Navigators giving her headaches and wanting her arms and legs. Kids these days.

I had some business in Zenobia. Zeno wanted me to move the Kirk's Brain AI from the Zenobian Polytechnical Institute to Al Raqis.

I think those dizzy bims from Sigma Draconis uploaded a copy of him somehow. He's a bit Denny Craned in my opinion, being decoporealized maybe doesn't agree with the good captain so well.

Doctor Qui was very late, so I took the down time to sit out on the causeway.


I ran into Kate in Hale, she says that Cody still doesn't believe she is his "Little Kate". Sure seems like she is. I showed her our new and improved Officebot AI with less spam. I mentioned the theory that x0x0 is a clone before I found out that x0x0 had adopted Kate as her heir. Clones are usually unstable you know.


Hale has been having snake issues. Mikie looked like she got a blanket party beatdown.


I did what I could with the salt and grain alcohol. I couldn't find my stun gun to cauterize the wounds.

Lily gave me the keys to the medicine cabinet so I could get the adrenaline syringes to plunge thru her ribcage and into her heart. I saw it in the old 20th century documentary "Pulp Fiction", it's my nanna's favorite movie along with Reservoir Dogs and Grindhouse.

Amazingly, Mikie regained consciousness before I could plunge the syringe thru her ribcage. Lily said she had to break Mikie's nose in order to fix it.