Laundry Day

Laundry Day

My friends have been having a rough time about things recently. Gabe was given the shakedown treatment by and alliane goon.
http://gabeyazimoto.blogspot.com/2009/08/thats-what-you-get.html

And Emma gets spooked by another Alliance goon, who gave her a note during a terrorist bombing on Hale.
http://halesmoonherald.blogspot.com/2009/08/loyalists-terrorizes-hales-moon.html

Emma kept low for a couple days, then hit the black:
http://emmaditko.blogspot.com/2009/08/alone-in-crowd.html

Finally, she comes back, just in time for us to find the missing Desmond.
http://jairaghilda.blogspot.com/2009/08/finding-desmond-previous-day-sheriff.html

Emma told Gabe and I about her trip to the asteroids and said that there might be some good salvage. Gabe and I were game and happy to supplement my salary from CATZ. We went about making our preparations.

Gabe tried out some options for her space suit. We call this one "Darth Gabe". The Hips Ahoy Captain Cleavage look is not so provocative while wearing the body armor. It makes a good underarmor under her space suit. She tried to freak out Krenshar about it, saying she got tired of her "soft bits". Krenshar was too distracted by his recent hobby of women's shoewear to notice.



I tried to get my Aught-Two ready, so we could use it for the mission. Emma and Gallagher tried to help me rotate the main engine.



Zade came along, we could always use the help.

We set our radios to a channel, checked our vacc-suits, loaded up and a longer than usual discussion about "Is everybody seated?"



Emma gave me the coordinates and we took off.



We found a ship, a mid-bulk cruiser on a small seemingly abandoned base. Emma said that the ship had not been there before. Seeing no signs of activity, we picked a relatively safe landing spot.

Gun Turrets. Emma, Zade and Gabe were pretty efficient about dealing with them. I shot at one for a while, but seemingly to no effect. I just just say I'm a pacifist for how effective I am with a gun.

We managed to make it to the bay where the mid-bulk cruiser was parked, some sentinel replicants were activated. I managed to defend myself successfully against one and get on board the mid-bulk cruiser while Gabe, Emma and Z held back the rest.

At this point, there was smoke and fire in the ship. We didn't bring a mechanic with us, but I am willing to bet that it is a bad sign.



Most of the cargo was damaged, I am not sure what it hauled.


Unable to find anything to stabilize the ship, we went onto the main bridge. We struggled with finding any active console. It was manufactured by the "Bland Corporation", producers of generic goods. When acceptable is all you can afford.

Somehow we activated a voice control thingyawhatzitchamacalitwhoozitdooddle, and the computer seems to take some of Gabe's instructions after a fashion. Which was mostly not at all, but we managed to download some data onto a chip before the Bland Ship decided to activate the self destruct.

At this point, I spotted two mean looking guys sniffing around the burning ship. Predictably, I quickly ended up face down in a red puddle. As such, I am unsure what happened next.

I came to at some point, Zade had carried me to safety. Then Gabe was down. Z dispatched the uber reaver. Oh yeah, at some point I guess there were reavers, I missed that, I was KO.



Z carries Gabe to safety. By this point, I can walk and we make a break for the ship.


I am not sure if Emma was down or if she thought she could operate the burning ship, but another longer that should have discussion which was essentially "Is everyone seated yet?" The answer was no, Emma jerry-rigged the other ship. We took off finally and headed for safety. A transmission came over the radio "If you like this demonstration of the Bland Corporation's Self Destruct Mechanism, visit our showroom or check us out online."



We towed the ship back to Hale's and went dirtside without even changing clothes, our reply to inquiries, "Laundry Day.



Someone comped me for fuel, I don't know what profit we'll see from the burned up midbulk and Zade found a really cool uber-wrench of doom. I think everyone but Z got beat up a bunch. A typical salvage mission.

Just Another Salvage Mess uh Mission







Journey to Planet Ralph







WHODAT?























Saint Zenobius Relics Cast











Krenshar Not All There

Finding Desmond

Finding Desmond

The previous day, Sheriff Gallagher put out a notice that Desmond Serenity had been reported missing.

I was being scolded by Araya about why I shouldn't just press any old button, just because it is red and big and protruding and ... She's out of her mind, who has that kind of impulse control. She expects me to just ignore a big red butten. Mechanics, meh. Pilots know that anything important is in plain sight and easy to access. If they don't want you to press it, they hide it, or put it under a panel or under glass.

I digress. Sorry about breaking your engine, Araya. PAINT THE BUTTON BLACK! She's new to Hale, dropped off by her disgruntled crewmates due to some incident resulting from an over-the-counter pleasure med dosed in her Captain's soup and a previously unknown allergy. So, she's new to the impulse control issues of the locals. She was not yet acquainted with LilyBell at this point.

Anyway, Araya was scolding me, so I didn't hear the hows and wherefors and whatevers about how we got a lead about Desmond near some space debris. We loaded up in the Shuttle and headed off. Sheriff Gallagher flies his shuttle a lot better than he drives his deathmobile, uh van.

Gallagher tried to keep order, but it was like trying to herd cats, or worse a herd of not-cats. We scampered about like elves on crack until someone found a huge blood stain.



Gallagher took samples.


At this point, it looked more like the leftovers from a reaver picnic.


A clue ... a can of beer ... Dharma Beer. I was happy to find something besides blood.


This is why no-slip boots are always in fashion in Hale's Moon


Emma jumped and slid down this like a crazy kook and called the rest of us wimps. I don't have to wonder why she is always bruised and cut up.

"I have 7% to spare, plenty of room for error. WIMPS!"

Emma falls down enough that she can calculate her breaking points that accurately?

I used my EVA tether. WIMP AND PROUD OF IT!



At this point, Araya proposed her cow theory. That this was way more blood than Desmond could possibly hold in his body on a good day, that maybe it is a cow. Gallagher continued on.


A shuttle ticket to MacLaren's Drift, Not London. A bona fide clue.



We discussed the significance of shuttle tickets, Dharma Brand beer and the relative merits of Araya's Cow Theory. We decided to take a transport to MacLaren's Drift and hope to pick up the trail there. Emma fell down and got knocked out on the way back to the shuttle. Apparently 7% is not a sufficiently wide margin. What did we learn, Emma?



One dirtside on MacLaren's Drift, we spread out like a herd of cat, that is, not like a herd at all. I heard a shout, someone found Desmond.



Gallagher carried Desmond all the way up the windy path to the clinic.



Gallagher revived Desmond at the clinic and between chocolate, beer and a lot of profanity, told us how he had been attacked by two raiders and that the raiders had been attacked in turn by reavers. One of the raiders was "a fat cow". Araya's Cow Theory is vindicated.



Desmond had been coming to warn that the Alliance was going to give Gabe the shakedown treatment. Unfortunately because he was attacked, he never got the chance to deliver the warning.

Read the details of Gabe's Shakedown by the Alliance here:
http://gabeyazimoto.blogspot.com/2009/08/thats-what-you-get.html

Gabe was still shaken up by it. She didn't even want to hear it from Desmond, just went off and consoled herself with a bowl of noodles.