A day off the ship

18 Flowermoon 4639 AC
 
Well, today Captain Wintermist gave use middies an assignment to help load the Colony ships with supplies for their journey. We will be making three gold a day for an eight-hour shift each day until we have everything loaded. This gives us an opportunity to see the planet of Arhianrod and has the added bonus of getting us out from under the LT's attention. I am afraid that once we return to the ship after this assignment is over, however, that the LT is going to be more of a dick than usual and accuse us of shirking our duties and trying to get out of latrine duty.
 
During the first two hours of our shift loading the crates for the freighters a number of us noticed some unseemly actions being taken by what appeared to be enlisted in the loading of the crates just before they were sealed and sent off for loading. After discussing it amongst ourselves for a minute or two Selene and I decided to approach Quartermaster Whiteoak about our observations. He was not too pleased by the news and decided to investigate himself. A couple of hours later he ambled over to inspect the crates in what appeared to be a routine inspection and noticed the contraband which was being quietly inserted into the crates. I, unfortunately, had just kicked one of the crates and I think I may have broken a toe at the time so I was unaware of exactly what it was he had found until we were informed. We were then tasked with the removal of the crates from the ship to which they had been loaded. Honestly, this is going to be the best payday for a single day's work in a while as there is a bonus for which we will be benefitting from. On our fifth trip from the ship to the armoury where the crates were to be stored we were approached by a shadowy figure in an alley, trying to compel us to allow him and his colleagues to remove the contraband before returning the crates to the armoury. Neither myself nor Selene considered this to be of tactical value and so prepared to do what was necessary to prevent the items from falling into the wrong hands yet again.
 
Unfortunately, they decided to make a run for it and attempt an ambush on a portion of the party. Once they realized that an ambush was inevitable they ceased pursuit. We had already captured a couple of the individuals, which the MP took custody of. They were marched into the brig in the armoury where we were depositing the crates from the Hand of Bridget. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful until we were relieved of duty for mess. During Mess I noticed we were being watched. They were trying to be covert about it unfortunately for them, I am no amateur when it comes to noticing details.
 
Later that evening we decided to investigate the possible ambush sight. Leaving Alva and Ardan in the barracks we left. I was alert to anyone following us just in case due to the scrutiny we were under during mess. The only one I caught following us was Alva at which point Selene and Ruaval headed back to the barracks because it is unwise to leave anyone alone while away from the ship and Ardan is our responsibility as Ensign. Upon arriving back to the barracks Ruaval and Selene noticed that the door was ajar, which is not how we had left it and so took defensive actions. During which they captured a number of people in our barracks trying to plant conflict diamonds in our gear in hopes of framing us; or that is my theory. Meanwhile, Xerxes, VonVin, Alva, Crowley, Yazma and myself continued to th0e park where we figured the ambush was to be staged. None of us being trained in actual tracking we lost the trail, however, we did notice that we were being watched. To which we decided to investigate who or what was watching us. Crowley being a catlike being decided to take the direct approach which may have caused more harm than good. When we lost sight of the creature I began to listen for anything out of the ordinary. What I heard was a tearing sound, which had me considering that we may be dealing with a sylvan creature. Considering that, I decided to try speaking in Sylvan. I didn't mean any harm to the creature was just interested in any information they could offer and informed them of such. We talked for a few minutes and received a small amount of information for which I was grateful. After thanking the creature, a faun I later learned, I asked how we could repay it. The response was not to come any closer to which I agreed and called off the rest of our party. Upon leaving I left a few chocolate-covered coffee beans, which was the only sweets I had on me at the time.
 
After foll0wing the path as the faun had suggested we lost the trail at the edge of the golf course. At which point we decided to return to the barracks and regroup. Once we got there we saw the MP's dragging off the intruders. I recognized a couple of them from the mess hall as those who were watching us. Once we had regrouped we discussed the night's activities and searched our dunnage upon which we found the contraband.
 
 
 
19 Flowermoon 4639 AC
 
We took the contraband immediately to Lt Commander Whiteoak in order to inform him of the situation. We knew we could end up being in big trouble for waking him in the middle of the night, however, we understood that if we delayed there could be further complications, so we took our chances. After disclosing the night's activities and the situation he was glad we had interrupted his sleep with this news. He was the one who informed us that we had encountered a faun named Alia, and that he was glad we had apprised him of the situation. After our discussion, he dismissed us to barracks to get some sleep until our next shift whereupon we were to report to him directly in the morning for a briefing as to our duties for the day.
 
We all headed back to the barracks where we all responsibly fell asleep, except for myself who had to write in my journal of the day's events. I fear that if I do not keep accurate records of the going's on of each day while we are away from the ship the Captain or ExO could call into question our conduct which I feel could bring further complications to our assignments.
 
As an aside Lt Commander Whiteoak asked us what we knew of the Goldenbough family as it seems Captain Goldenbough was implicated in the plot to smuggle the conflict diamonds off Arianrhod.