Spatial Relations: Eleni Benacor
General Summary
We were returning from a trade negotiation summit – Danar's on board. Herglic stuff. Bringing a cargo shipment to the Mentat colony. Vanya and I have been instrumental in helping to set up a very good bar not far from the hangar. Vanya is angry because there's no beer. The mentats have a problem with making beer correctly. Grapes and tangerines? Not beer. I agree. The bartender has one bottle, no label, imported. Ooh. Recovered as salvage. Gold trim, blue bottle. Maybe old Corellian script. Danar says that it is 20 year old gold label Corellian whiskey. Mentat bartender doesn't know what it is. Danar told them the truth, but not the whole truth. 2 clone troopers are present for Danar's propriety. They are Rico and Sparks.
Danar comes highly recommended by the Council of Counts. Illyan says he's adept at alien cultures. Danar's been studying Herglics quite intensely.
Ok, so after we taught the Mentats about beer...
KitKat is there, but did not go on the Mismatch. He went ahead of time to set up.
((note: at some point, talk to GM about requisitioning better hyperdrive and guns from Tapani government)). ((edit: seems like the opportunity has presented itself to do so NOW.))
Heading back to Pelagon System, and House Vorpelagia. I'm flying the ship.
Pressure regulator needed fixing, but when I did, the whole ship shuddered, we dropped out of hyperspace, and I fell ON MY BUTT. Power went out, then went back on again. Gravity went out, but also came back on. Emergency systems seem to be working.
Back in the cockpit, the lights are all on RED – everything's messed up. I scanned the ship. The main power couplings are offline. The hyperdrive is nonresponsive. Backup couplings don't register as being connected. They are missing.... Running back to the engine room. Sparks are flying out from everything. Blue ionization lightning. I shut down power to the engines. A cable fell in front of me with round bite marks. Mynocks. Yay.
Danar calls. I explain the situation. Danar agrees to call in for assistance. Vanya asks Sparks to do a scan to find out if they've come from the inside out or the outside in.
I call for Rico, and there's blasterfire. Ah. He found one. Danar dodges out of the way as a Mynock comes soaring out of Rico's room. The mynock smacked into Danar, kept going, then headed for the cockpit.
(Sparks tells Vanya that there are three holes in my ship. Sparks thinks they were with us when we left the planet.) I asked Rico to walk out in space and clean them off. Sparks says there are 3 of the buggers. I go with Sparks to work on the engine.
(Danar approaches the cockpit with his stun saber (not of Vorboccioni design). He activates his shield, and stealthily enters the cockpit. Slowly, carefully and cautiously. It's dark in the cockpit. Red glow from all of the emergency lights. One of the ceiling plates looks slightly out of place. Danar opened the panel, swiped his stunfoil into the cavity, and it screams, falling right on top of him. He pushed the Mynock to the side and stood up. )
With Sparks: the power conduit for the hyperdrive is completely chewed apart. I mentioned the extra supplies to Sparks, who opens the container and makes a face. Our spare parts have already been chewed and slimed. Great. Sparks thinks that there's no power on but backup. Great. R5 and I head up to the cockpit to find out just what is going on with the power.
(Vanya finds that the mynocks have chewed into at least 2 of the smuggler compartments. They were empty. Vanya patches the holes that she finds pretty easily. She keeps searching. )
Danar tries the comm system, but it's shorted out. He tells me that, and shows the mynock to me. This one is one of the rare two-mouthed varieties. (some scientists believe that they have a hive mind, and they are a delicacy to some twi'lek clans.) I know from word of mouth that it's always rumored that mynocks come from Ord Mandel, the Hutt homeworld. Also, during the early parts of the clone wars, the separatists used to use Mynocks as a terrorist weapon – used to damage republic ships. The trade alliance used to use them to cause accidents to occur in order to sell repairs. This does not appear to be some kind of Vor trick.
Eleni: it can't be vor – if it were vor, it would have ribbons on its head.
Danar cuts it up into lots of pieces.
Eleni: who did I piss off.
(Vanya goes back to the cargobays. The trail goes back to a personal belongings storage area. Danar's stuff. His formal wear is alllll slimy and gross. This seems to be the source of the mynocks. Aha. I didn't piss anyone off. Vanya finds restraints, serial numbers are etched off. Vanya finds there is a lingering odor of acid used – so this was definitely sabotage. Usually used by Hutts. So the Hutts don't like Danar. Or THE Hutt, as there is only one in this area. Danar had been treating us to a nice meal at the time of the last date stamp on the clothes trunk locks. )
Ok, so I MAY have brought this upon myself with that little slave uprising that I helped with a while back – I was subcontracted out by the Hutts, so.... time to think more about this and get some repairs done – at least enough juice to get a call for help out there.
Sublight engines are ok. I fixed communications for now, so Danar could send out a distress signal. Climbing out from under the dashboard console, I sat down and started moving the ship towards some of the other derelicts in the area. Hm. Lots of derelicts... this just looks worse and worse.
2ndary dialect of Ithorian comes back from the distress signal: It will be with us momentarily and will see if appropriate replacements can be harvested. From a ship nearby. From what I know about Ithorians, they can be shrewd gamblers – don't play sabbaac against that one in the bar I can't mention. They have an odd religion bound up in an urge to terraform and rebuild destroyed worlds. Something special about their ships. Herd ships. They are pacifists.
Vanya tells about the landing gear being broken and Danar's clothes. It's dismaying, but there's nothing that can be done about it now. The enormity of fixing up my home is outweighing my anger.
From 2 old republic cruisers, an imperial frigate, and the fourth is a strange ship. Bigger than the others and much older. The imperial frigate has the most intact hyperdrive, so I go there. As I approach, I notice it's pretty damaged. Try to dock near the maintenance hatch near the engine room. I bumped the other ship. Attach the airlocks. (rolled perception) the big turtle looking ship that was weird has pods off to the side.
Danar takes out his iphone and takes a pic of the turtle looking ship and runs it through his “jayne's fighting ships” app. It's an Ithorian Herd Ship -older model.
Vanya speaks to the turtle ship of the Ithorians. They are happy in mother jungle. They are where they want to be. That's great. We are not. They want to help us on our way, and will gladly share in the harvest with us. Not sure what that means, and we're so paranoid on this ship that we're automatically thinking the worst.
Danar checks on how much our bounties are worth. Tsu's is at 3million. mine is at 600,000. Sheesh. I don't recall doing anything extraordinarily bad. Danar's googling. Something about a ship disappearing 20 years ago and pirates being blamed. Ah. Vanya and I get it. “These might not actually be Ithorians on that ship.” AH. Revolutionary terraforming technique that the Ithorians still do not talk about. (I think they form land out of metal/trash). (Vanya has the sense of an impending moment of enlightenment.)
Landing gear – odd wear patterns on all of the hydraulic cabeling that supports the landing gear. Something was applied to it. Every joint and connection, screws, everything is weaker. Whatever was used to weaken it, the landing gear will eject up into the ship and ruin things inside. A weapon, of sorts.
Vanya says I should chew R5 out about surveillance. hm.
I find a canister in the landing gear as I take it apart. It's a tube – open. The etchings are recognizable. From Geidi Prime. Lethally done. There's something on the ship. I remember, dimly, from the academy days' assassin training. This tube contained a Hunter-seeker. Yep, it did. I said shit, too. And I don't care what punishment RM gives me, either. We're all still alive, so it hasn't found its target. I wonder if it could be on board to deal with Khun, or someone else that might be visiting at a later date. That would frame us for the murder quite nicely.
(Vanya's having the ship parts she puts in a box to bring back disappear.)
(Danar has the idea to make a holovid of himself and use it to try to track down the Hunter-seeker.
Clones in Tapani Sector are owed an amount of gratitude. (this is the news). Vorboccioni is trying to create a new house. House VorCadriaan. For the clones. Only one man can truly appreciate and guide them, but he will also propose that some of the protectorate land should be overseen by Vord'arcy, who will mentor a suitable candidate into Vorhood.
Danar hears a mechanical whine in the corridor. He's still playing a holovid of Khun. (he stutters as he's typing very fast to argue with Khun and others, and makes a bureaucracy role).)
I didn't get attacked, so it's not after me. The docking clamp didn't release! The landing gear is now repaired, but had it failed, it would have gone right through the life support and fuel cells, making my ship explode. Grr. Sparks and Vanya have an idea to grab a power coupling off of some of the weapons.
The docking clamp looks new, and has been “fixed”. The wiring is not attached to anything on my ship. The hunter-seeker is wandering around the ship, searching. I start to attach the wires and warn everyone about the hunter-seeker. I fixed the wiring. All of the docking clamps are brand new, clean and completely refurbished. I will probably have trouble finding parts – no serial numbers.
There are nanobot-type-things from the Ithorians that have fixed the docking clamps. Vanya is now able to talk to them. They want to fix the three derelict ships and use them for fuel, because they want to keep going and fixing worlds. Vanya tells me that we are very low on the repair list. We're going to need to grab parts from the weapons systems and repair it ourselves. I warned Vanya about the hunter-seeker.
In the weapons area of the Frigate, the temperature seems muggy. We approach the defense batteries, (and Vanya gets a strange feeling of a greater sense of the Force. Not sentient, just big. Where once there was no life, now there is. In the defense batteries). Sparks can lift double his strength in his armor.
Very impressive.
Vanya says I need to ask Simon out on a date.
Anyway, there are vines and all kinds of living things around that were not here 10 minutes before. Very young bushes. The ship is being terraformed. It is very unnnerving. Probably all of the ships are being terraformed. Vanya finds a panel under a bunch of vegetation. She has to rip the moss away, to reveal hundreds of fiberoptic cabeling that is actually making up the moss. Biomechanical.
(Danar is still arguing with the Vor. D'Arcy (scratching the Vor part of his name out on his nametag) calls for a point of order, and makes some amazing points for the Vor'ing of all of the clones – making them all of the house. Danar is arguing some more. D'Arcy has been reading the rules. OH, I think he's going to get his way :) Brings up inheritance of the Vor title. By elevating one to vor status, all of his brothers would be elevated as well by inheritance. Spar is, defacto, the clones' ruler, and royalty. Vanya is helping Danar with his argument. Emperor Gregor Vortapani speaks up and asks the other Vor to pick someone. Spar is proposed. Razak is discarded because he is the Emperor's Armsman-Commander. That leaves Lod Zorad, Yeager Lexics, and Loren. Strong deliberation with an extended vote. Proposal that, since it's difficult to choose between the three, their progenitors must be discovered to show their lineage. Gregor declares all three Heir Apparents. hm. Then, he declares that they will have an advisor to teach them – Danar. Khun looks very pleased with himself. Danar turns to the hunter-seeker, and says “you might as well kill me now.” )
We find the power couplings (plus a spare or two), and Rico's working on other parts that the Mynocks damaged. Rico is the hunter-seeker's target, which means all clones are probably its target. Vanya locks on with tk, but it's slippery and tries to wiggle out. She looks for an off button. Rico got behind me, and I grabbed the thing, wrestling it to the ground, where it broke and shocked me. Using the postcognition, I found someone trying to hide within the other memories. I find it behind a fake memory. A picture of a young lady with long dark hair and a black tattoo on the side of her face. She's speaking to a very slackjawed, mesmerized tech. The tattoo looks like Hana's. Possibly Matres Merglin, whom we've never met. She instructed the tech to ensure that we died. He is the one that sabotaged the landing gear. A bio organic acid, applied over time. He worked at the docking bay. He also arranged for the mynocks in the luggage, the thumbprint was taken from the kitchen staff. Hunterseeker was supposed to kill Rico, because she says “I will not allow his royal blood to remain running around loose. It is bad enough one of them is a Count again. I will not have that troublesome house bother my plans again. One is bad enough. If that misbegotten lost son discovers his heritage, it will be more than I wish to contend with.”
It wasn't the Hutts. Whew. I tell the others, while Rico's away. I repair the ship with Rico, and we head back to find the Tech. I want to have a talk with the tech.
Also, I will take the poison and hunter-seeker to RM for analysis. Maybe it will provide a clue as to how to find this mattress Merglin.
Tech's name was Ivar Morrison, and he was incinerated before we could 'talk' to him.
Piotr is the dishwasher that gave Ivar the thumbprint. He's a mouse of a man. Vanya is being too nice. A tech came through for a post-dinner explosives check of the glasses. Yeah, I don't want to eat with Danar any more. Vanya, again, is being too nice. She called me a pilot of an excellent courier service. I guess that sounds better than smuggler.
Piotr has a nosebleed, as he struggles to remember. This Merglin woman's face is full in his mind. She gave him a kiss. She was there. She IS there. As I get the memory disconnected by using the Voice “remove that memory”, she starts screaming obsceneties as the memory fades, and I can see her angry face. As she fades out, I say “Don't touch my ship.”
Piotr is very tired, and needs to rest. He tells us about this Matress, and we get him the day off (Danar), and Vanya helps him sleep. Vanya directs him to leave the planet soon. He has been questioned and cleared of any wrongdoing. Piotr:“I don't want her to talk to me any more.” Eleni:“I don't think she will” We decide to stay for 24 hours so that he can get his family and his brother's family onto the Mismatch, and we can get him to Procopia.
We get a full description of Merglin. He tells us where a good bar is. She had promised to come back to see him (she had seduced him). She was going to make him a man-e gesserit. I ask him to come to church to meet the RM so she can look him over.
The royal navy is going to inspect the Ithorian issue.
En route to Procopia: Danar gets a message confirming the location of the derelicts. They spoke with the captain, and they don't look very derelict. Fully repaired and crewed. He's in bandages, recovering from burn wounds. Matches the personnel files. They are asking for political asylum.
Eleni: they are hippies!
Vanya: we're the hippies. I don't know what they are.
Eleni: they're the Grateful Dead!
These newly undead imperials seem like they have been fully restored, but confused by what has happened. He looks rattled. The expression on his face (to the jedi and the bene gesserit ) is childlike and innocent. Vanya thinks they are newly formed people but might not have the memories.
I asked Danar to pay for the repairs to my ship. He said he thinks he can get Simon Illyan to pay for most of the repairs. Vanya offers Anakin Skywalker to help with anything that can't be paid for.
Piotr got settled, and everything seems to be ok.
The end
Rewards Granted
Character(s) interacted with
- assorted Ithorian terraformers
- Admiral Angelo d'Arcy
- Emperor Gregor Vortapani
- Count Tsu Vorboccioni
- Matres Merglin
- Captain Eleni Benacor
- Captain Rico
- Private Sparks
- Lord Danar Vorpadaran
- Jedi Padawan VN Ysadora
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