Busy Busy Busy

So many things to do on any given day.

Jump up and down on LilyBell's Bed to see if she is awake.


Listen to Gallagher explain the evils of tobacco. He gave a slide show later with 6 years of pics from Hale's Moon. Some secret stuff too. It was very cool. There was also presents. Gabe came by for part of the slideshow.


Went shopping with Gabe to help her pick out a Hoohah for the Fook Me Hookah Lounge. This is not the final hookah, another post for that when Gabe installs it. IT'S GINORMOUS and seats 8.


A little sushi and saki at the Fook Me Hookah Lounge. Don't be thinking I spend all of my time on a couch. It is however, CHILLTASTIC.


A little picnic with Mikie and Sandra in front of the Post Office in Shadow. Sandra now flies with the Independent's 12th Air Cavalry.


Ooh, there was a big dog too. It doesn't talk like Gallagher's dog pal, Victor the wonder dog.

Jai: "What do you call the top of a house?"
Victor: "Roof"

Jai: What is the name of the planet where Gallagher was trapped 2 weeks ago?:
Victor: "Ralph"

Jai: "How would you describe the texture of sandpaper?"
Victor: "Rough"

Victor: "Jai, this won't be as funny written..."
Jai: "Really? But its a classic...."

Victor: "Whatever, I'm outta here."

Programmed my replicant secretary in my new shipping office. Its name is "NOT KRENSHAR MAGIC". Check out the map, cool eh? I have a chilltastic couch in there too. But don't be thinking I spend all of my time on the couch. These offices actually belong to Consolidated Associate Traders of Zenobia (CATZ), but Zeno lets me put things here because I am doing some shipping for them. I get to use the GINORMOUS Behemoth Ship, makes faster trips than my Firefly Mini 01 Aught One (could be an 00 Aught Aught)


This is not to be confused with the news hologram in front of the Hale's Moon Herald. Hemoine Hale (News Hologram) gives out the news of the previous week plus any events that I am made aware of. Serves coffee too. Leave me a message with the feedback button and there is a free gift. This week its a 1024 by 650 pixel map of the 'Verse, the flip side shows the planets. Shiney.


Did a little work on the Behemoth, 80,000 cubic meters of cargo space. 100 meters long.


Here it the Behemoth again next to a full sized firefly for comparison.


Follow LilyBell deep into the mines to see what she is doing. She was digging something and said for me never to go into the mines again, because it is too dangerous.


I met a man that is supposedly dead, he looked a little sleepy. I blew stuff up for Tabitha and Lerch. The big dog came around again. There's also a puppy.


LilyBell was working on a nifty ship she found. Pic didn't come out though, sorry.

Found Coop asleep in Firefly's Bar next to a companion named Pandora, he probably didn't know. He gave me a cool radio earlier. I gave him a bulletin board. Every day is Christmas in Hale's Moon.

Desmond in Paradiso

Sheriff Gallagher told me that his old war buddy from the Dharma Initiative, Desmond Serenity, came by. Gallagher asked if I wanted to tag along to Paradiso to help track him down. He had a lead.

Of course, almost always start searching for anyone at the bar.



After searching around the Paradiso spaceport, we found Desmond in a rebuilt Firefly. It was a beauty, I glowed several shades of jealous.



Desmond was lounging in the bridge of the ship, we made some idle chit-chat, mosly evasive banter between Gallagher and Desmond while I searched for a working outlet to brew a cup of coffee.



Alto Grande Course Ground, pan-roasted, Italian Moka Pot brewed. Mmmmm. These two crazed workaholics refused a cup, madness I tell you. Um, uh, moving on. Sorry.



Apparently this was a completely authentic Series Three Firefly as modified by the crew of the "Serenity" that sent the signal about the Pax and Miranda from Mr. Universe's home. Can't stop the signal.



Rebuilt to its original condition by the Independence Museum and containing an exact copy of the logs. I unplugged my coffee maker in respect. I waved my hands over the controls, but did not touch anything. Ooooh, pretty. The caffeine helps take the edge off my envy. Oh, an a touch of powdered vanilla, none of that bottled cra....moving on.



The other day Desmond told Gallagher that he had found something that would blow the lid off the whole reaver situation.

Desmond's only interest in historic boats is if it can help prove his theories. In this case, he wanted to look at the original logs of the Serenity.

One of the ship logs recorded a tale of a man found aboard a derelict ship that became a reaver without ever coming into contact with the Pax. It was his theory that he was in fact the first recorded case of the reaver virus.

It wasn't, a complete waste of time. The man wasn't a true reaver, just a man driven mad by what he saw.

Gallagher was a little peeved that Desmond didn't at least send a wave to save his time, effort and resources.

Desmond had a consolation prize, he had a lead on the whereabouts of the other Cryo-Stasis body, the female victim, and where and when we might be able to retrieve it.

Gallagher let Desmond know that he revived the old Dharma Initiative Hemlock Base and that the male Cryo-Stasis body was being stored there under replicant guards.

Gallagher and Desmond formed a preliminary plan, it sounds like it will require some manpower, diversion, decoys and timing. Gallagher will probably have to involve the other new Dharma Initiative folks.

New Job at Hale's Moon Herald

I have accepted a post with The Hale's Moon Herald to report news and events from around Hale's Moon. I am flattered and honored that they asked me to help out. Cool new office with a nice desk and a pretty door....and breakable windows,....ummmm uh... ok moving on.



I will do my best to be informative and impartial for the benefit of residents and visitors. I will continue to be partial and biased in my own blog.

I have been a resident of Hale's Moon for a few months, and I have been tracking news and events for my own benefit and for my friends.

I will continue to post my own misadventures here at Jai's Necessity, but the Hale's Moon Herald is public information for all to know and disseminate.

I will be grateful if folks will IM news pictures to me, as I am not a sophisticated bot that is online 24-7, despite what Zade thinks.

The Hale's Moon Herald

Emma Kidnapped

Anyone who complains about Mondays should come visit Hale's on a Monday to know what rough mondays are like.

Ships and folks come and go thru the week, no big deal. Heck, drop by on Wednesday, Friday or Saturday night and you will find folks is so nice its like they want you to marry into the family. But Mondays are special, not in a good way.

I don't know what it is about Monday. Do the independents and alliance patrol other areas on Monday? Are we on a calendar by reavers or pirates or somesuch? Dunno.

A couple of profanity-spewing rough openly hostile guys who were armed to the teeth with assault weapons land in an empty firefly without radioing for permission to land.



If the regulars in Hale's Moon are a little jumpy and twitchy on Mondays, its a conditioned response.



Gallagher approached them in the usual, "What's your business in Hale's?" attitude and the rest of us watched on. We gathered about the same way Emma and I did just a couple days earlier to look at Reese's Firefly. Emma observed the Alliance Logo on Reese's ship and the Blue Sun Logo on this one. "Wow, they really do make everything," she said.

Sandra, Emma, Gabe and I were a little on guard, but Gallagher and LilyBell were wired for sound. LilyBell called for the locals to disperse and hide.

There are a few things I learned about coflict avoidance:
1. LILYBELL IS NOT A CAT
2. Give LilyBell candy
3. Give Lilybell shiny things.

They should have it posted or put it in the brochures.

Regretably, one of the bad guys got to calling LilyBell a cat, very persistently so.



Lily MAYBE got a little pushy in explaining that she is not a cat. Push quickly came to shove and the other Raider immediately armed up and then there was a firefight in the street.



The firefight got away from Emma and I at one point and we doubled back to check out their firefly and see if maybe we could prevent their departure. No such luck. They had no cargo and no candy, this did not bode well.

The fight continued after a brief pause and I ended up taking a red puddle nap in front of the Mayor's ship. I dreamt of being a girl working at a dull job at a bank on an island back on old Earth That Was. As I lost consciousness, I saw at least one of the raiders take off in his Firefly. Thanks to Ash the Medbot for patching me up all peaches.



When I was finally all medbayed and medpacked, I found Gabe and Sandra in the neighboring wastelands. Sandra and Gabe filled me in on giving the raiders hell and "what for". Sandra then left for Shadow and it all seemed to be over except for debriefing with Emma, Gallagher and LilyBell.

We not did find Gallagher or LilyBell, I supposed they were searching for the raiders or whatnot. And we searched about for Emma, she climbs rocks and spelunks mines and caverns for fun, so she can be as difficult to find as it is to chase Gallagher or LilyBell.

We get a ransom demand on the Hale's Resident channel for 2000 platinum from the raiders in exchange for Emma.



The interplanetary cortex wave is down and I can't find anyone local either. It's Gabe and I, with no backup or cavalry. A certain overarmed imp would have been helpful. I couldn't find Krenshar or reach Duncan either.

We accept the limitations of the circumstances, shuttle up and find the Raider base.



I park the ship at a discrete distance, but neither Gabe or I see anyone out in the open. I use my EVA grapple/tether to get to the top of the building while Gabe keeps her rifle trained for someone on the ground.

I find Emma, sorta. I am quickly gunned down face down in yet another red puddle. This is why I wear kevlar undies, else I would have been dead a long time ago. When I come to, Gabe is still holding her own and I am on my feet just in time to see Gabe defeated and dragged to where they held Emma.

I was too far to hear what is being said and they neglected to shout for my benefit, hardly surprising. I move my shuttle into position and put a grapple line in position for a quick evac. I am in no condition to fight, so my only hope is that I can get Gabe and Emma to make a break for it while they are chasing me.

Sadly, this did not work out so well. Turns out that they put some sort of exploding collar on Emma, so we couldn't just run away without her head being blown off.

Emma and Gabe were herded/dragged into holding cells in the raider base. Slavers I suspected.



After a few more pathetic laps around the camp, I finally go away enough that I could get in my shuttle and try and get backup. None was available, I medbayed up and made a second go.

On my approach back to the raider camp, I was fired upon by a raider fighter of some sort. Remarkably I evaded with only a partial damage to my shuttle.

Turns out that running around like an idiot is a valid strategy. Strategic Maneuver 1&2, Run & Hide.

Mostly being chased around their basecamp some more. At one point I am able to get to Gabe and Emma's holding cells and let them out just in time to be gunned down again. Sigh, I really am no good at this. At least Emma and Gabe were able to fight them off. When I came to, one of the raiders were down and I promptly handcuffed him.



By the time I staggered outside the building, Gabe and Emma had taken down the other raider. I promptly handcuffed him also. I, uh, found the handcuffs if Gallagher's desk drawer, I figured he wouldn't mind. Hey, I'm like militia or something, right? yes? no? dunno? Anyway, I gave out a few other pairs of cuffs to Emma and Gabe, for security or recreational purposes.



One of the raiders said to Gabe as I was off in the distance, "...tell that ranger that I rememeber him from the old days, and there's going to be a reckoning coming."

Anyone feel like clueing me in about who the ranger is, please let me know.

I called around again to see if I could find someone who could get the exploding collar off Emma. After a few incentivizing rounds of "Guess how many toes the Raider has", one of them volunteered how to remove the collar. The raiders were deposited in the jail and a bag of mixed toes were left in the medbay freezer for Bel. I hope Gabe or Emma left a note.

I medbayed up and went to sleep it off in Desse's nice soft bed. I dreamed of being an obscure little girl that no one ever shoots at and whose friends are never taken hostage.

I drop by Fook Yoo's later to check on Emma, she's healed up ok. Turns out reavers attacked also in the evening. I didn't get much in the way of details and I think battle fatigue had people not feel like talking about it.

Caravan Escort Request

Dear Major Cooperstone,

Recent events have weighed heavily on my mind. The bloody lawless trafficing in human organs that we discovered on that derelict ship. The attack on my ship over Shadow. The tremendous increase in reaver activity. Last week Reavers were particularly dangerous at Hale's Moon.

These are not the usual brand of Reavers.



I enjoy cheap dockage in Hale and now there's no trade trariff's or duties paid to the Allaince for ships running out of Shadow, but the pirate, loyalist and reaver situation and the added military tension is escalating and shipping in near space is treacherous

The giant operators and the small operators are around. The hardest hit is the Lux/Murphy Persephone Hera run. It is too long for most small operators and too expensive for most folks to hire the larger faster well armed large carriers. A small ship like my Mini Firefly Aught Aught doesn't make much profit on 45 tons over a 3 week haul, and the medium ships can't really arm themselves well enough.

The Consolidated Associate Traders of Zenobia (CATZ) are can increase shipping between Zenobia in the core and Murphy in the rim (Hale, Shadow, Washburne, Weisshorn and Bagworm), but they need more protection for the incoming ship to the rim.



As you mentioned in our conversation, the Independents can't assign anyone to run for a three week stint and can't go outside of their patrol route without prompting a full scale war with the Allaince. There are private paramilitary vessels, but many I have spoken to so far have links to the pirates themselves.

The Consolidated Associate Traders of Zenobia (CATZ) have proposed a solution that maybe the Independents can accommodate.

Pirates and even reavers dwindle out at about 4 AU (Astronomical Units) from Murphy and it is too much space to cover at that point. If the Fleet can't work a caravan escort themselves , they could provide a valuable service by lisencing a few honest caravan escort private military vessels to escort a weekly caravan out to about 5 AU and then shepherd in the incoming caravan that would be coming in from Zenobia. A weekly run would be all that is needed. Keeping the 12th Air Cavalry as backup would be a big help. the Independents could make a lot of allies with the medium sized operators if they could accommodate a trade caravan.

The Consolidated Associate Traders of Zenobia (CATZ) is willing to support their end of the venture, so it will be self funding as most insurance carriers will also give discounts to trader vessels protected by armed escorts.

A lot more trade between the core and the rim goes thru Zenobia, as there is too much hassle on Persephone by Alliance, they treat everyone like they might be a spy or a terrorist. Most folks just want to make a living. This kind of heavy handed attitude is why so many people vote with their feet and their guns.

I appreciate the find the pirates and kill them, but us traders gotta make a living in the meantime. I think this is a good solution for the time being.

Please get back to me or contact the Consolidated Associate Traders of Zenobia (CATZ) directly.

Sincerely,

Jai Raghilda Oyl
Pilot and Proprietor of the Necessity

Happy Solstice, Midsummer and Litha

Happy Solstice, Midsummer and Litha (or Yule for those of you in southern hemispheres).

Let us not forget that it is also Humanist Day, Aboriginal Day, Father's Day and Martyrs' Day. I don't know if there is any relationship between them.

Today is the Feast of Saint Albans and the Feast of John the Baptist.

St. Albans is an icy world about two days away from the Space Bazaar Sky Plex. A single Federal Station located somewhere on the planetNamed after the city of St Albans in Hertfordshire, England of Earth that was. St. Albans was martyred in Roman Britain, the first British saint. Patron Saint of converts, refugees and torture victims.

The Feast of John the Baptist is one of the few that is based on his birthdate rather than the date of his death. Whether this is done to coincide with the solstice of Old Earth or because he is one of the few saints whose birthdate is known is a matter of debate. John opposed the existing powers of his day and paid for it with his head. Try not to think about it, Coop.

The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John the Baptist of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Knights Chevaliers of Malta claim to still have his head. What kind of people talk about having a head?

Javelin has been around, testing her new ship. Presumably looking for her misplaced prisoners.

I heard that Sandra is now a pilot for the 12th Cavalry.



Gabe and Emma has been around a lot. Maybe they've always been around. The improtant part is that they are around WHEN I AM.

Lain, a highstrung girl I hung out with a few times turns out to have a metal underskin.



I've spotted a new gal a few times in the past couple week, Kailyn Somerset. She's staying at Lily's Boarding House by Fook Yoo's. A little on the evasive side.



A once scarce face of Reese Shawbridge showed up for a visit. He's been laying low for a while for reasons unrevealed. Emma and I were practicing with our ponies and got to check out Reese's fancy horse.



He also gave us a tour of his fancy shiny Firefly Aught-Three Series.



Still has an Alliance emblem on the side, but Reese is okay. You gotta do what you gotta do to survive.



I have been spending more time out by the black, enjoying the luxuries of the fancy Behemoth Heighliner from the Consolidated Associate Traders of Zenobia.



Since I was a total bust on my attempted salvage run and have to make repairs on my Firefly Aught-Aught Mini from the gorram frakkin' loyalists, I had to get side work. Fortunately the Consolidated Associate Traders of Zenobia hooked me up with a Behemoth Heighliner run. 80,000 cubic meters of usable cargo space, 100 meters long by 140 meters wide and 50 meters tall. Very rapid transit between the core and the rim, not like the three week hellrun in my inherited Firefly Aught-Aught Mini (not the fancy Aught-Three) that is still in the ship in Zenobia.

Blue has Escaped

I was visiting Lily in her tower and jumping on her new bed (it's pink). She googled something on the computer and said that Blue was out and something about AuroraBlue.



Then she stopped responding, then a digital blue man emerges from her computer. I try to turn it off, unplug it, yelled "Shoo" and "Scat" and even asked the blue man to excuse us. Nothing helped worth a damn or even a darn.







I call Krenshar and Gallagher and tell them that Blue is out and that he appears to be in Lily's Tower. They were not around, so I was on my own. I pulled what things I could from my ship. A generator, a tesla field and a faraday cage. Even a curtain to put in front of the screen.



I couldn't tell anything one way or another. Krenshar finally arrives and says that LilyBell is commicating with Blue about AuroraBlue and that the Faraday Cage will prevent that.



Krenshar leaves. I put out candy and a LilyBell-Is-Not-A-Cat-Nip Ball and something shiny. She comes too and gets out of the faraday cage. I try to get her away from the Computer, but she is very persistant and probably 10 times my strength, etc.



Lily finally snaps to as if nothing happens and Blue emerges from her computer.





Everyone can see Blue, except LilyBell.

Mondays are Hell

Monday started out well enough, I made a few new friends. Sandra, Javelin and Esperanza.



Sandra has a coolio fighter jet, she came to Hale's from Shadow, but is originally from a small rim colony. I also found her digging in the greenhouse, that place gets a lot of traffic.

Javelin's ship crashed and her prisoners escaped into the wastelands. She is repairing her ship and hoping to aprehend her prisoners.

I don't know much about Esperanza, the reaver's attacked before we could really speak.

Sandra provided both ground and air support when wave after wave after wave for Reavers attacked. We held our own for hours. Duncan and JJ from the 12th Air Cavalry came in and Duncan ended up needing some stitching up.

Gallagher was pursuing some scientific analysis on the reavers, taking tissue and blood samples. I disposed of the bodies the way LilyBell showed me.

At one point the battle drifted away form the township and into the wastelands, and then someone came up with the idea of trapping one of the reavers alive in the old bunker so Gallagher could study it.

Somehow Emma and I were the bait, "Come and get it...All you can eat....I'm not wearing anything except barbecue sauce." Emma fell down the pit when the door opened, she got banged up a bit. Krenshar had to put the reaver down, but we got Emma out OK.



Sadly, that was not the end of it. I was gone offworld, but several hours laters, more waves of attacks hit again. I don't know the details, but it sounds like it was bloody. Some of the reavers escaped, bad news for us if they come back for seconds.

Met a strange large hairy man named Feargananym. He couldn't speak properly and was very large in a moon full of tall men and women, its hard to stand out in the height department. He was nice enough and Desse liked him. I fed him and Desse gave him a hug and a kiss on the nose. He danced for a while.



The next day we ran into him again while a Companion's Doctor Jeannie was visiting. He gave her a doctor's note stating that he was aflicted with giantism which caused his unusual appearance and ruined his vocal apparatus. Apparently he is a mechanic.