Khadyr Sabah
Khadyr Sabah
My name is Khadyr Sabah. I am 39 years old.
I was born on Coriolis, but shortly after that we moved to the spacestation Nájera. My father was an engineer and got a job at the shipyard Darkos.
When I was 23 my parents died. Something I don't want to talk about. Since then I have no place to call home anymore.
Like a nomade I roam the The Third Horizon, making the Galaxy my home. Searching for something ...
I discovered that I had a talent for finding things. Reading planets surfaces. Tracking lost ships.
To make a living I take missions to search for all Horizons riches, from ice ore to Helium-3, shipwrecks, etc.
I'm a private person. I don't talk a lot. But when I say something I expect people to listed.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
I am tall and slim, but strong/muscled build because of the rough life I've lived
Facial Features
Short dark hair and green eyes. The skin of my face is weather beaten.
Identifying Characteristics
I have a small tattoo on the inside of my left wrist showing a small cartouche with the letters DS written inside
Mental characteristics
Personal history
I am born in the Kua starsystem, on the spacestation Coriolis.
After my bith my parents moved to spacestation Nájera, where I grew up.
My father was an engineer who worked at the shipyard Darkos.
When ever I had the chance I would go with my dad so I could see all those spaceships up close.
My biggist dream was to become a pilot, and fly an spaceship of my own.
Sexuality
Bi
Education
Because of surcomstances I never ended my education. When I was in my first year studing Geology I had to drop out.
Employment
I don't have a regular job.
I go from one mission to the other.
Mental Trauma
Since the event that killed my parents I am possessed by the Dark.
Intellectual Characteristics
I can find (almost) everything someone is looking for. Artefacts, natural recourses, shipwrecks, you name it
I am a good judge of character. I can read people
Personality Characteristics
Vices & Personality flaws
I have a terrible morning mood.
Personality Quirks
I have a twitch. When ever I get stressfull or tiered, I twitch my head to the left.
Social
Contacts & Relations
My parents are dead and I have no other relatives.
Family Ties
I have no family ties.
Mannerisms
Every morning I do Tai Chi exercises
Hobbies & Pets
Recently a cat adopted me. Now she follows me everywhere. At first it irritated me, but now I've grown attached to the little critter. I even named her. (Jezebel) .
Wealth & Financial state
No wealth, just enough to keep me trough the day.
Trailblazer - Prospector
View Character Profile
Age
39
Birthplace
Kua system, Spacestation: Coriolis
Children
Current Residence
None
Gender
Female
Eyes
Green
Hair
Dark, short
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Tanned, weather beaten
Height
5 ft
Weight
70
Quotes & Catchphrases
The day isn't over yet!
Surviving the Nannites
Captain Lysia Wada and I were looking at the computerscreen and there it was. The sequence had accelerated and now we only had 30 minutes to get off the station or we all would be dead. We only had 30 minutes to get off this planet. But that was easier said then done. The Zeluba Brigade controlled most of Dhaab 1, so we were more then likely to run into some of their soldiers on our way to the shuttle.
Just as we were getting ready to leave the command centre a woman called Niema entered. Moses had contacted her because she knew all the ins and outs of the the computer-systems on Dhaab Station. Together with Shamus, who was getting more and more focused, Niema was able to enter the computersysteem and slow down the sequence. It gave us an extra hour, to get away.
Now we had some more time we decides to try and stop the Zeluba brigade from taking the Nannite technology off the planet. We went to the basement where the labs were. But first we ties up the three Zaluba soldiers in the relaxation room. But first we took their smoke granites, their frag granite, the shock stick, a communicator and a vulcan carbine to take with us. Lysia Wada and Niema stayed behind to keep checking the mainframe.
And as expected, in the basement we ran into a Zaluba soldier. Suddenly Shamus went completely crazy. Before we could stop him, hen ran to the soldier fiercely attacking him, shouting something about a Leeroy Jenkins. And before we knew what happened he killed the soldier. It was a bloody mess. Shamus laughed demonically and Moses told him that he was a good Red Hyena.
I was shocked about what Shamus did but I had no time to think about it, because the soldier was not alone. Quickly I threw a smoke grenade. Shamus and Moses attacked the first one. This time with the shock stick, stunning him. Then Armand shot the second one dealing some dammage, so I could kill him. The Red Hyena's only managed to hit one of the soldiers but not killing him. The soldiers fought back wounding Armand and me. Shamus went wild again and with the help of Moses killing the remaining soldiers. Armand and I couldn't believe our eyes. Was this the Shamus we knew and loved. While Moses calmed Shamus we saw Jussuf lying on the floor in the vaults behind the dead soldiers. We checked him and found oud he wasn't dead.
After Armand did some first aid he regained consciousness and asked us to take him of of the planet with. In exchange we would share in the reward for the Nannite technology. We didn't trust him with the very dangerous Nannite technology so we said he could come with us, but he had to give us the Nannite technology. Suddenly Shamus asked me if he could have my gun. He wanted to take a look at it he said. When I gave it to him, he walked up to Jussuf and shot him in the head. " So..." he said, "That's settled".
I got a message from Wada that we lost an hour. We had only thirty minutes left. Our only option was to go into the Laboratory to try and access the subroutine again and give us some more time. Because we didn't know if there were Nannites in the lab we threw a Nannite grenade. When the damp it produced was gone, we went inside. We hailed Wada and Niema, but Niema said she needed Shamus to get into the mainframe again. We got Shamus and together they managed to give uw two more hours.
This was enough time to put Shamus into one of the scanners in the Lab. First Shamus was not very eager to go in. Moses kept asking him if this was what he wanted. But eventually he got into the scanner. It detected the Nannites and started to remove them. The computer showed that it would take thirty minutes. After that Shamus wad finally back to his "normal" self, or so we thought.
We now had no more then five teen minutes left. I contacted Wada en Niema and asked them to joined us quickly. But before we could get to the shuttle we had to get passed three Zaluba soldiers, with two automated Dial gun's, at the platform. We were outgunned and Armand and I were wounded and we also felt sick. It turned out we suffered a mild Nannite infection we caught at the laboratory. To try something I threw a smoke grenade followed by Armand who threw a frag grenade. The frag grenade hit one of the dial-guns. Moses tried to get closer hoping to take out one of the soldiers. But he walked into Raquel, who stepped out of the shuttle. She put a knife to his throat and demanded that we hand over the Nannite technology to her or she would kill Moses. Moses shouted not to give her the Nannite technology and he cried out to Shamus.
Before Raquel or anyone else could act. Shamus raged towards Raquel. She and the Zaluba soldiers were so shocked by his frantic move, they forgot to do anything. While again shouting the name Leeroy Jenkins Shamus killed Raquel and the remaining soldiers within seconds. Moses gave Shamus a big hug. We stared at Shamus in disbelieve. He singlehandedly saved us.
We suddenly heard Timon's voice over the intercom system, urging us to leave. We quickly boarded the shuttle and took of. While captain Wada flew over the the station we could see a chain of axplotions, destroying Dhaab-2 en Dhaab-2 entirely and taking the Nannite technology with it. We sight with relieve that we survived and that the Nannite technology was destroyed as well.
While we were talking about all that had happened, Moses and Wada were also talking to each other. After a while they came up to us. Wada told us that she was going to work with Moses. She had nobody left she could trust, but Moses. After they dropped us at Sesame, Wada would go on to Djachrum with Moses to join the Red Hyena's!
Because Wada was thankful for our help, she gave us her ship, the Mantella! She had no use for it anymore and maybe we could use it well.
This adventure wasn't as easy as we thought. We had to fight for our lives an we nearly lost Shamus. Shamus who looked pretty normal again, showed us a site of him we never saw before. Were it really the nannites or.....
Before heading to Sesame, we first have to make a short top on Surha to pick up Shamus his barrel of junk and Jezebel. We didn't have any money to pay for the repairs of the Black Moth, but we did have two extra ships now, and more importantly we made new friends, Lysia and Moses. They assured us that if they had an interesting mission for us, they would get in contact.
But first some rest and a prayer .....
Infected
When I woke up I still heard the wind hauling around Dhaab 2. I looked at Armand. He looked like he had a rough night. Anxiously I also looked at Shamus. Still sleeping like a baby. I wondered how the nannites effected him. When Shamus woke up didn't act like a fearless fighting machine, but more like a small child, babbling incoherent about coffee.
Because Armand was the only one I could trust we discussed about what to do next. We decided to to talk to Timon again, maybe he had some more answers. First Armand had to fixe Timon's software. Because Shamus was in no state to help, he had to do it alone. luckily he managed to repair Timon's software so he could give us some answers. Shamus was infected but not seriously. We had to wait and see what effect the nannites had on him. Right now he was more like a baby than a fighting machine. Timon said that one of the effects could be that he saw no danger anymore.
Timon also said that he Shanzidar sequence was again and would result in the death of everything living on the station within 24 hours. Because we slept through the first 12, we only had 12 hours left to get to safety. No time to waist. blizzard of no blizzard, we had to get tot Dhaab-1 and our shuttle to get u as far away as possible from this dead threat. We wanted to take Timon with us, but he convinced us to leave him behind on Dhaab 2. Before we left, he told us where we could find 3 nannite grenades. The nannite grenades, when fires, produced a cloud of some kind of dust that made the nannites inside the host go crazy, eventually killing themself but also the host. So we had to be carefull not to expose Shamus to this.
This time we took the tunnels to go back to Dhaab-1 this time. The weather outside was simply to bad to go by crawler. Besides Shamus was in no condition to drive. It would take us about an hour and a half before we would reach Dhaab-1. Moses said there was an alternative route through a service tunnel, but because we didn't completely trusted Moses we decided to stay in the main tunnel.
When we reached the main entrance of Dhaab-1 we encountered 3 members of the Red Hyenas. The were walking towards us. We told Moses to talk to them to make sure the would not harm us. They were eager to get to Dhaab-2 saying it was annoy safe for them to go back. I told them that moving on to Dhaab-2 like signing a death sentence and that they should come with us. After some hasitation they decided to go back with us to Dhaab-1. When we reached the big entrance doors, we found out that he entry code had been changed by Jussuf. Even Armand was not ably to retrieve the new codes. He did find that we could go inside using te emergency entry hatch in the ceiling. The hatch could be opened manually.
I went through the hatch first. The biggest problem was to get Shamus trough the opening. Me pulling on one side and Armand and Moses pushing on the other, we succeeded to get him trough.
When we entered the controle room and there we saw captain Wada. She was talking franticly into the communicator. Trying to reach the Mantella, but no answer. She looked surprised when she saw us enter. Suddenly we heard the Jussuf's voice through the communicator, shouting "Traitor!" Then we heard a gunshot and then everything went silent for a minute. Then we heard gunshot and then rapid machinegun fire. Moses managed to activate the camera's and we could see that the Zeluba brigade were fighting heavily. Suddenly a Zaluba soldier stepped into the room. But before he could shoot one us, we shouted at him to stop. We outnumber him so he lowered his machine gun. He told us that the Zaluba brigade was trying to take over the station. At the same time a consul came to live and Captais Wada asked me to take a look at the message that was send.
Oh my god, the Shanzidar sequence was somehow accelerated and we had now not more that 30 minutes to get away from the station, or we all would be dead....
Dhaab 2
Nothing was going easy on this trip, and something told me our mission was just starting. We had to go to Dhaab 2 in order to get the system up and running again. We had tw0 option. One was by foot, using the tunnel, and the other was by snow crawler. We chose the latter. We had to move the snow crawler over a small road through the canyon. Shamus drove the crawler and of course we got stuck in the snow. How he ever got is drivers licence let alone his pilot's license is beyond me. It took some effort to get the snow crawler back on the road again. After that we helped Shamus navigate so we would get stuck again. We ran into an abandoned snow crawler parked on the side of the road stuck into the snow. Because of the fierce conditions, the blizzard still ravaging, we decided to move on and let the abandoned snow crawler be.
After a few hours we arrived at Dhaab 2 and disembarked at the garage. To our suprise we found out that dr. Farra wasn't with us. For some reason he apparently stayed behind on Dhaab 1. But there was no time to dwell on that, we had to move on and find the mainframe. Before we left for Dhaab 2 Dr. Farra gave Armand a copy of Dhaab 2 station on his tabula. When we walked on the station appeared to be abandoned. It looked like everybody had tried to leave the station in a hurry. There was garbage, boxes and suitcases all over the place. We also saw unreadable scribblings on some of the containers and also on a Zero G shuttle. We saw two man inside. Armand end Anjil went inside to find out that the two man were dead. According to the information on Armand's tabula the scribbling had something to do with DNA sequences on atomic level.
Talking to Moses Umbara about what happened on Dhaab 2, he told us the station was in the same state as they found it. To our surprise he also said that if we wanted more information we should talk to Anjil. Turned out that Anjil was a member of the Red Hyena's and worked for Moses. How was that possible. Well there was no time to get into that. We had to press on. Armand found the way to the control room and after starting up the reactor, the mainframe came to live again and so did the power. Shamus, not a very good pilot but an excellent datajin, found in the stations logs that Dhaab 2 was flooded with a type of radiation called The Shanzidar Sequence, and causes to kill all organic matter. No wonder everyone wanted to get off the base in such a hurry.
We also wanted to leave but found out that the conditions outside were to horrid. Because of the blizzard the temperature outside now dropped to -100 Celsius. Because only I was rugged, it was to risky for the rest to go outside. We decided to wait out the storm. In the meantime we could check the rest of the station. We went through the airlock to entered the Laboratory. The Laboratory was empty and nothing of value was left. When Shamus got cose to the airlock he suddenly fell ill. I did find a strange object. When I approached it, it suddenly came alive. It contained some sort of hologram of a scientists called Timon Gehmet. He was trapped in this hologram, but told us some interesting things about the station.
At the station they worked for a man called Borna Jalet to create a medicine that could cure all diseases. But that wasn't enough. He wanted to make something that made a person a invincible fighting machine, the perfect soldier. This led to the production of a serie of nanites. Timon Gehmet said that Shamus got sick because he was infected with these nanites. Probably it was a mild infection, with no consequences. Probably ..... what if Shamus turned into an invincible fighting machine.... I shook of these thoughts and listened futher to what Timon Gahmet was telling us. He was very eminent that these nanites should never leave this planet an should be destroyed.
I decides to search the laboratory some more. Maybe we could find out more about what happened here. I suddenly had the feeling that that I was being watched. As I turned around I saw two bended figures looking at me. When I tried to look at them closer they disappeared quickly.
We searched the system further and found that the nanites are practically indestructible. Timon put in a fail-safe. An injection that could kill the nanites. Looking through the files we also came across a photo of Borna Jelet. Wtf.... we stared right into the face of ...... Dr. Yussuf Farra.
We went back to the snow crawler to get some sleep and wait out the blizzard. Hoping and praying that when we wake up Shamus was still his old self.
On our way to Dhaab
A new mission. Hopefully it will result in us getting enough Birr to repair the Black Moth and getting Jezebel! Just to be sure and prepaired we took our two ancient thermal machine guns, our lantarn, Armands Tabula and Shamus cigarettes.
After the Mantella had set of to Surha, there was a briefing. Aya, whom we met before, was also present. And as we found out also mambers of the Zeluba Brigade (mercenaries). We first learned that it would be a bumpy ride to Surha because there was a hurricane blowing at the surface. Secondly we where told that is was a IO-NQA-DSC mission. In other words In and out, no questions asked and sultans at the cantina! Our target was the station Dhaab on Surha. Dhaab was presently used by a gang of smuggler's called the Red Hyenas. A few of them would leave Dhaab for a couple of day's, but there still would be Red Hyena's present at the station. We would enter the station in 2 different teams.
Team 1 was called: Scorpion. Comprising Raquell (leader) and the members of te Zeluba Brigade
Team 2 was called: Frog (I wonder who came up with that name). Comprising besides us three, Captaim Wada, Dr. Jussuf Farra, who had a map and security codes, and Anjil, a combat engineer . For some strange reason they thought I had the most fighting experience so the made me the leader of Frog. Team Scorpion would create a diversion so we, the frogs, could make our way to the controlroom. Dr. Farra was having the necessary maps and tags/codes to unlock the doors.
We were provided with survival masks and suits because the temperature on Surha could drop to minus 80 degrees and the gravity on the planet was 2. And to make things worse there was a blizzard ravaging the very the planet at the very place we were about to land. The landing was very bumpy because of the blowing blizzard. Being used to Shamus his landings, we were not that worried. Armand however thought it wise to pray to the deckhand, just in case.
We entered Dhaab 1 and Dr. Farra led us through the tunnels. At some point Anjil took a different turn so he could to disable the power and meet u with us later. While we were walking through tthe tunnels we heard shooting. It seemed that team Scorpion ran into some Red Hyena's. As we approached the stairwell, there were two soldiers guarding it. We took advantage of a moment when they were destracted by the gunshots to sneak past them.
When we came to the control station we heard voices. We peeked through a small opening of the door and saw three people talking to each other. Having the element of surprise we overpowered them. One of them was Moses Umbara, the headman of the Red Hyena's. We didn't really know what to do with them, so we locked them up in the relax room. Armand remained at the door to make sure the wouldn't escape. Dr. Farra immediately started working on the computer system, while Shamus and I checked the other rooms. Dr Farra was able to to establish communications with Team Scorpion. The ran into some heavy fighting, but were able to overpower the Red Hyena's. Those who weren't killed they locked up so the would bother us anymore. Just when I was thinking the worsted was over, there was a flash of light and a fire broke out in the control room. Armand and Anjil tried to repair the system and the generator but without succes. We managed to put out the fire but the system was down and so was the power. The only way to fix things was to go to Dhaab 2. There was the mainframe that controlled everything. We decided to take Moses Umbara with us.
Why did I have a feeling that this was just the beginning of what was to come!
A new ship...
When we walked back to the ship we were a bit depressed. The cost to get the Black Moth up and running again were enormous. We didn't have that amount of cash. When we walked up to the ship I was overwhelmed by its size en shape. She looked simply beautiful. I considered our self very lucky that we found this ship, or did it find us? Now all we needed was enough money to repair her.
We didn't have the chance to explore the ship so that was the first thing we did when we came back. We entered the ship on the upper deck. On the upper deck there was a chapel and an audience chamber. Armand took some time to pray to the Deckhand We also located a security office. On the table I found a tabula. The information however was unreadable. It had the same strange hieroglyphs we saw in the rest of the ship. We took the tabula with us. Maybe Carl was able to deceiver it. After taking the time to say his prayers, Armand also stayed in the audience chamber. At first we thought he was just looking around a bit more, but he found some sort of mini bar and he decided to quench his thirst. When Armand joint us again he was a bit unsteady on his feet. Probably a bit tipsy from the alcohol he drank.
There was a lift that took us to the middle deck. Beside the bridge there was a stasis hold with stasis beds. Probably this ship use to have a crew of eight people. There was a mess room, a sanitary facility with a bath and showers. There also were four cabins. For some reason there were already nametags on the doors of the cabins. Because al the cabins looked the same we decided to leave it as is was. My cabin was next to Armands. To our surprise there also was a mining station and Armand was overjoyed to see that there even was an archeology room. The maintenance unit, the reactor chamber engine room and graviton projector were in the stern of the ship.
The lower deck could be reached by lift but also by ladder. We saw an largely an open space for cargo, surrounding the hangar in the middle. There were crates containing non-perishable food and drinks. By the look of it this food could last us for months. We saw cargo doors on either side of the cargo hold, but no air-locks. This meant that these door could only be used in atmosphere. Tucked away in the back there was a small workshop and an unpressurized service module that could be accessed from outside the hull through a hatch if needed, for the purpose of repairs.
After exploring the ship we couldn't believe that this was ours. Carl in the meantime had managed to find out more about the ship. Carl told us the following:
"THE BHAMUT If someone is familiar with this old, obscure and exceedingly rare ship, chances are they learned about it from the works of Bijan Zandi. Zandi was a prospector turned artist who was part of a crew that discovered a seemingly abandoned spaceship in the iron deserts of Raqus in the Erequ system. Although described as abandoned, the run-down ship occasionally served as a place of refuge and worship for a group of humanite settlers that called that barren landscape their home. Some of them can be seen standing next to the monumental hull as it catches the starlight in the painting titled Bhamut, one of Zandi’s most famous works. It has since been established that the Bhamut, like the slightly more common Tanapur, heralds from the lost shipyards of Khiravo. The lack of a verified designation for the model has led to the widespread use of the name given by Bijan Zandi in CC 14. The motif of the painting, and how it came to be, has become just another chapter of the mystery surrounding the forgotten shipyard. However, the larger size of the Bhamut compared to other known Khiravo ships has led some to re-evaluate both the historical significance of the Khiravo shipyards and the chances of actually finding it.
The real purpose of the Bhamut class of ships is shrouded in the same mystery as its origin, but in general terms it may have been trade, exploration or diplomacy. At the end of the day, the Bhamut is capable of all these things, and is used in a variety of ways by the few who still run them. In typical Khiravo fashion the hull of the Bhamut is heavily armored. But in terms of the propulsion systems there is less to compensate for the additional mass than on smaller Khiravo ships, making the Bhamut more of a challenge to manoeuvre. That being said, it handles very smoothly, but requires a little more forward planning to pilot successfully. The central graviton projector does nearly all of the work and is supported only by relatively low-powered auxiliary projectors underneath the front half of the ship. With such a setup, the aerodynamics really come into play during atmospheric flight. Fortunately the hull is smooth and rounded like an aquatic creature and the foldable wings can adapt to different atmospheric densities to generate just the right amount of lift to balance the craft. Like many aspects of this ship, it is unusual, but it works."
We were more and more impressed by the ship that was now ours. But what to do next. Shamus came up with the idea of selling the shuttle. The ship had atmospheric landing so we didn't really need the shuttle. Meybe Aziz was interested. Unfortunately Aziz turned out not to be the enthusiastic buyer we hoped he would be. There was someone who was looking for a crew for a short mission. Maybe that was a way to make some money, Aziz said. That was an interesting possibility. We walked up to the person Aziz pointed out to be the captain. We introduced ourselves to her and she said her name was Lysia Wada, captain of the Mantella. She was indeed looking for a second crew, as she called it, for a short mission to Surha. The reward would be 60.000 Birr. That sounded promising. She was however not very informative about the details of the mission. We would be briefed as soon as we accepted it.
Taking some time to think about it, we considered our other options, to come to the conclusion that we had no other options. We were sandbagged! To see if we could find out some more, we walked toward the Mantella There we saw someone just embark. It turned out to be Aya, a deckhand on the ship. She couldn't tell us very much about captain Wada and the ship because she herself had just recently joint the crew. She dis tell us than the mission was to Dhaab. A remote station on the planet Surha. The purpose was to collect something for Yussuf Farra. He is the son of Abdul Farra, a scientist who worked at Dhaab and was researching nanites..
A mission to Surha could not only provided us with enough Birr to repair our new ship, but also gave us the opportunity to collect Shamus his piece of junk. Not that I was very attached to this rust bucket, but I did want to collect Jezebel, who was still on the ship not knowing where we were and when we would come for her. There were also all kind of important stuff on-board the banger we could use.
We told captain Wada that we would accept the mission and be the second crew on the condition that on the way back she would stop at Surhani to drop Armand and Shamus. The could fly back the ship to Sesame. I would stay on board of the Mantella, to make sure we would get our reward. Captain Wada agreed to these conditions.
Aziz then promised to order the parts he needed and that as soon as we came back from the mission with enough Birr's he could start immediately.
"I love it when a plan comes together" someone ones said :)
What's next
There we are, together again, but on a strange ship and at the mercy of Carl. The ship needed repairs and Carl flew us to god knows where. In the meantime I was worried about how Jezebel was doing. She was all alone and didn't know when I would be back. Luckily I left her with enough food to last her about a week. Still a little bit week from the radiation poisoning and with sore muscles from all we had been through, I took a good look at the bridge from our ship. There were strange signs I couldn't read or understand. What kind of ship was this, where was it from and why was it abandoned?
Carl flew us to an asteroid belt and suddenly out of nowhere we saw a black space station. It looked ominous and not very welcoming. Why was it so hidden? If Carl hadn't brought us here, we never would have found it. Carl assured us that this was the place were we could get the ship repaired. We tried to scan the space station to see if we could get some more information, but with no success. We only found out that de space station was called Sesame.
We docked at an airlock outside of the station. We entered the space station to see and our first stop was the workshop. We talked to a man called Aziz. He agreed to take a look at our ship to see what was wrong and how much it would cost us to get it all repaired. He told us that it would take him several hours so we had some time to check out this space station. Azis called a boy, who could show us around. He took us to the lower level and in the meantime told us that this station was only visited by those who knew of its existence. The station was run by a woman called Ataman. Because we were all very hungry, we first looked for a place to eat. After a good meal we continued our tour through the station. We visited the living quarters, where it was dark, messy and not very clean. There were all kind of people there. It didn't look like a normal space station. The boy then told us that this indeed was not a normal space station but a pirate station, everything made sense. The way it was hidden in the asteroid belt, it's dark color. Until now we were treated very friendly so we didn't worry to much. Everyone probably thought we were pirates also.
Before going back to the workshop, Armand wanted to see if he could get some more information about the weapons he found on Morji. Het had some pictures with him, and showed them to an arms dealer. The man was very surprised when he saw a picture of the weapon. "Where did you get this weapon from" he asked. Armand gave some vague answer, because he didn't want to tell. This is a very special weapon. He offered to buy it from Armand for 15.000 Birr. That was quit a lot of money. Armand said he would think about it, and we went back to the workshop. There Aziz told us that he had a look at the ship and that she needed major repairs. He estimated the cost between 65.000 and 75.000 Birr. If we only did what was necessary to get the ship at least flying properly, it would cost us about 45.000 Birr. This was a great setback. we didn't expect. We had some money but not nearly enough to pay for the repairs. What could we do. Out of jail but now stuck on pirate station Sesame. One thing was clear to me, we had to get back to Surha soon to get Jezebel and all of our stuff from Shamus his scrap heap. So we needed this ship repaired. What were our options?
Because it was a long day and we were all very tiered, we decided to get some sleep and see if we could come up with a plan in the morning.
Saved by ..... Armand
Well that wasn't a smart move. Getting into an area with a high level of radiation. I found myself not only contaminated with radiation but the guards also found us and took us back to our cells. First we were allowed to take a shower to clear ourselves of this radiation, but then the locked us up and said that if we were found wandering of again, it would be solitary for us.
Shamus and I felt very depressed. We were not even near of finding Armand and we had know idea how to get out of our predicament. Suddenly we heard a noise on the other side of the wall. Like something was trying to get through. The noise was getting louder en louder. Suddenly the wall crumbled and in front of us stood two droids, behind them we heard the voice of Armand. Man was I happy to hear him. We had no time to talk he told us to that he found an escape route. We followed the droids through tunnels not knowing were we where end up. But we trusted Armand. We were not out of danger yet, because we were followed by armed guards. One of the droids started shooting, keeping them at a distance until we arrived at some kind of outpost from a long long time ago.
A third droit called Vera took some well aimed shots and made the tunnels cave in. Armand had managed to get his hand on Carl, an Artificial Intelligence. Carl gave Armand all kind of information. At the outpost Armand found a shuttle that could get us out of this place. He even had HEV suits that we could put on. After plugging Carl into the Shuttle terminal, the shuttle came to live, and just in time the shuttle blasted of into space. Morji was getting smaller every second.
Armand told us a little bit about what had happened to him, but we didn't have much time. We new that they would follow us, so what now. Carl was communicating with Armand and told him that the next stop would be "the Mothership". Armand seemed to trust Carm, but Shamus and I were scaptical. Could we trust this Carl. Where was Carltaking us.
Suddenly we saw a little shimmering light in the distance. As we moved closer saw it was hidden in the Asteroid belt around Xirhaa. When we got closer we indeed saw a rusty spaceship. Carl told us that this was the mothership, a Class III Bhamut ship, PRe-Zenethian, so very old. As we got closer the hangar opened and the shuttle landed inside the ship. It was dark inside. We used our headlights and the lantern so we could see our surroundings. Carl gave us a schematic of the ship and there was ladder and elevator to bring us to the upper level. There was no power so the elevator didn't work. We had to take the ladder. It seemed that the shit was slowly coming to live. More and more lights went on. It was a big ship.
We decided to go to the bridge, hoping to find the power. In the meantime Carl was asking, or better saying commanding us to connect him to the concole of the ship. Because we were stil suspicious of Carl, we put a firewall between him and the console. We couldn't read the language so we didn't understand anything. Shamus found out some of the controls, but nog what was what exactly. Carl urged us to take away the firewall. The ship could fly but needed some repairs.
As we suspected we were followed and a destroyer and it was getting loser by the minute. Carl said that no one of us could fly the ship. Our only hope was to connect him directly to the console. We hesitated, but when the destroyer locked on to the ship with torpedo's we knew we had no other option then to remove the firewall. Immediately CARL took control of the ship and within seconds the ships flew off. Shamus quickly tried to occupy the captains seat, but I kick him of, telling him to get his but into the pilot seat. We moved quickly through the astroids shaking of the destroyer. Out of danger Carl told us the ship would take us to a hidden space station for repairs.
While flying through the astroids we had a change to think about everything that had happend. Happy en releaved we were save and together again. Together but nog complete. Jezebel was still at Suhra, and so was our personal stuff. Our next mission was to get this ship repaired and then .........
In jail!
There we were, in cellblock three. Still shaken from what had happened. Niya decapitated by Massar after betraying us. We thrown in jail. What was next. Our first night was cold. The bed was much sleep. The next day I woke by the noise of the doors of our cells opening. All the prisoners left there cell We were told that we could eat some breakfast before we were put to work.
Breakfast was no more then some kind of grey and undefined substance. I saw Shamus looking at is with some disgust and I couldn't blame him. We decided to sit at a table with on other person. He did not want to say his name, only his number. He called himself number 7943. We asked him if he knew Armand. He told us that he knew of him, but that he was gone now. Gone ..? Whereto0..? How...?
We didn't get much time to think about it. We were ordered to go and work at section 6 of the mines, together with an other prisoner 28...?? Shamus took a pick axe and I took a shoffel. Guards were watching us constantly. And there were camera's everywhere. Shamus saw that not all the camera's were working. He managed to examine one of the camera's while I distracted one of the guards. He found out that it wasn't connected to the computer but to a mainframe. We also tried to get to another level but unfortunally we failed.
At the end of the day we were tired and hungry. Again we got some kind of grey substance on our plate . I wanted to sit at the same table as that morning trying to get some more information out of 7943, but Shamus wanted to sit next to 20.... As soon as we sat down, a loud voice asked us who gave us permission to sit at that table. And with one blow smashed Shamus his plate on the ground, with the grey substance face down. Shamus got angry and before I could do anything he said "Nobody touches my food". The man, known as Big Rolf, turned out to be the biggest man in prison. He walked up to Shamus and gave him a big blow with one o his enormous fists. Shamus flew trough the air, bus somehow he managed to kick Big Rolf in his balls. Big Rolf growled with his hands holding his sore nuts. Quickly Shamus and I cleared of taking our plates elsewhere.
The next day we again were put to work. This time at an other site. We came u with a plan to get to the lower level were according to Shamus the mainframe should be. Wo got past the guards and made our way to the lower level. There we saw in one of the hallways a sign with a radiation warning. Because we had no choice we decided to walk on. Nothing happened. The sign was false. Because the hall way ended we had to turn around and go the other way. Again we saw a radiation sign. This time we also noticed two people in protective suits. Shamus urged us to press on, and so we did. Not a good idea......... I instantly felt very sick, and there was no other explanation, I suffered from radiation poisoning. And to make things worse, we were found out.... again.
They were not amused and make us take a shower to wash of the radiation. After that I immediately felt better. Then the put us back into our sells with the warning that if they caught us wandering o again, it would be solitary confinement for us. It felt that we were getting further and further away from our friend Armand. I felt hopeless. And for the first time in my life I didn't know what to do. Hungry and cold I curled up in my bed. Hoping I could get some sleep. Saving my strength for what was to come. .....
Betrayed
We arrived at the mining station where Niya guided us trough the gate. There we met assistent warden Voller. A very unpleasant man. He told Niya there was an incident with an elevator and a man called Paul Hindin was seriously hurt. She quickly went to look after the man, but there was nothing she could do for him anymore. He died right there and then. We didn't have time We find out that the miningstation had a lot of trouble wirg its computer. Causing all kind of systemfailures. This was probably also one of the reasons the elevator came down.
Although I hate to admit it, but Shamus does know something about computers. We suggested that he would take a look at it. In the meentime hoping we could also find out more how to free Armand. We had to have permission from Warden Grice because the computer was on an other level and only auterized personal had acces. I managed to persuade him with my natural charme but we where escorted by two unfriendly guards.
We, that is Shamus, Niya an myself, went to the computer room. When we walked in we were shocked to see the man who stood near the computer. It was Massar. The only one who wasn't surprised was Niya. She walked up to him and he thanked her for bringing us to him. We looked shocked at Niya. "I'm sorry" she said with pain in her voice. "But he has my little brother, and promised to free him if I would bring you to him". We couldn't believe she betrayed us. Suddenly Massar turned to her. With a cruel smile on his lips he said, " Well girl, you served your purpose, we don't need you anymore". Then with one slash of his sword he cut her throat and she fell dead on the ground.
We didn't have time to think about what we just saw, because Massar ordered the guards to lock us up. The threw us into jail. So instead of freeing Armand, we were now captured ourselves.
Help from Niya
When we woke up the next morning, we again went to the Cantina for some breakfast. We had to come up with a plan to get more information about the whereabouts of Armand. We ordered some pancakes and where talking about where Armand could be. Suddenly a young woman walked up to us. She introduced herself as Niya. She heard us talking about our missing friend and she told us that she met him. Niya, who is t learning to be a doctor, treated him because he had a painful ankle . We found out that Armand was being held prisoner on de moon Morji. The reason for his imprisonment Niya couldn't tell. On Morji there is a mining station and the prisoners are forced to work in the mines. Although we finally knew where our friend was, we still had no idea how to get to him or even free him.
Niya turned out to be very helpfull and told us a lot of things about Morji. It would be very difficult to get to Armand, but Niya agreed to help us. We came up with a plan to get the mining drones from our ship and take these with us to Morji. Niya would go with us. The plan was to pretend to be traders, trying to sell our mining drones, and in de meantime trying tot find Armand. Niya could introduce us and show us the way onMorji.
We went to our ship to collect the mining drones. Jezebel was happy to see mee. She rubbed her face against my leg and couldn't stop purring. I gave Jezebel a hug and put down some extra food because we didn't know how long our mission was gonna take. Jezebel looked very disappointed when we left, but we simply couldn't take her with us.
After that we went to the shuttle that took us Morji. Hoping and praying that we would finaly find Armand.
Surha
During our trip to Surha, we prayed to the icons, assuming we could needs their help. hamus to the Messenger and I to the Merchant. Jezebel slept like a baby through the whole journey. When we arrived at the planet Shamus tried to scan for a landing place. I don't know what he did exactly bur he couldn't find a landing pad. Ofcourse there is a landing pad so I also scanned the planet and found one near the outpost called Surhani.
The landing Shamus treated us to was ones again very bumpy. The ship was moved to a hangar. Jezebel stayed behind while we were on our way to check ourselves in and see if we could get some information. We also took the invironmental scanner with us. A terminal agent told us that this was a very cold an informed us about the planet. Surha turned out to be a very inhospitable planet, with temperatures of -40 degrees and a gravity of 2 G. fortunately I am rugged and Shamus has very warm clothes, so we can stand this cold for some time. We had to pay 300 birr to leave the terminal and still no sign of Armand. We took the snow crawler to Surhani where we could find a place to eat.
We drove for a while through a cold, snowy and windy landscape. We reached Surhani were we also read a sign “Hope’s End”. It made me shiver a bit. We saw a large dome and we got off of the snow crawler. and first looked for a place to eat. We went to “Adila’s Cantina” and ordered a meal. Although we asked around no one had seen Armand.
We decided that there was nothing we could do right now anymore, so we looked for a place to sleep. Maybe we had more luck tomorrow.
Where is Armand?
After a restless night I woke up, Jezebel still sleeping at my feet. I did my chai chi exercises to clear my head and stretch my body. Then I made my way to the ship. We agreed to meet up there. Shamus was enjoying his pancakes and coffee when I arrived. We waited for Armand but he didn't come. This was nothing like him. I tried his communicator, but no reaction. After some time we decided to go back to the hotel.
At the hotel we found out that Armand had checked in. His personal things were still in his room, but the bed wasn't slept in. The only thing we could think of was that he went out to get something to drink. Our first choice was to go to Jana's cantina. The bartender hadn't seen him but he pointed out a man hanging at the bar who had been there all night. Maybe he had seen Armand. After offering him a cappucino he told us that he did see Armand, but he left with some friend. This friend , a dark shortisch kind of guy, paid for all the drinks. Allthough Armand could hold his liquor, he looked completely waisted when he left with his friend.
We became more and more worried. This wasn't Armand to just disappear from the face of the earth. Maybe our 'friend' Sayat the harbormaster, could tell us more. He said he did see Arman with some one passing him but he didn't want to tell us where he went. We decided to take a chance at the terminal, but before Shamus could login, we needed to distract the three other harbormasters who were standing near the terminal. While trying to come up with a plan to distract them, Ahamus all of a sudden hit me on the nose with a small club. Jesus.... that hurt. My nose was bleeding heavily. Shamus shouted: "Help, help my friend. Someone hit her. I think her nose is broken." The three men came to my aid, trying to stop the bleeding. Shamus then rushed to the terminal. He found out that Armand had boarded a spaceship called Jalinta. The spaceship was owned by no one other then Jihan ...... I tried to contact Jihan, and asked him where he was, but there was no reply . The log said that the Jalinta had taken of to Surha, with Armand on board.
What the fuck was happening here. Armand wouldn't just leave us to take of to Surha. We considered our options, and there was really only one. We had to go after the Jalinta. We went to our ship and plotted a course to Surha. Shamus made us coffee and crackers and we were on our way.....
Intermezzo at Djachroum
Happy we docked safely, we said our goodbye's to Jihan. I gave him a hug and we promised to keep in touch. We made our way to the Cave of the Hanging Bridges. We suddenly noticed that Shamus was walking very funny. Turned out his monocle was broken, so he could not see anything with one of his eyes. How he managed to dock the ship this way, is still a mystery to me. He most defently has een lucky bird on his shoulder. Shamus needed to get his monocle fixt, but we also needed a drink, or better so, Armand needed a drink.
We set down at Janna's Cantina. A lot had happened since we last visited the cantina, almost a week ago. We met our new friend Shamus, we went on a mission and found ourselfs in a most amazing adventure.
Armand ordered us drinks and the barlady gave Armand a warm welcome. "He you, tall one, there you are again". She told him she heard about the discovery of Spacestation SS-18 from two guy's who came in the cantina yesterday. Hmm....... news travels fast in the Third Horizon, we thought.
All of the sudden, Shamus cried out: "Poffertjes, I want poffertjes" We all felt hungry, so we all ordered poffertjes, with poeiersuiker and veganbutter. We talked about what we should do next. We decided to stay together as a team. We needed each other. Armand and I want our independence and Shamus wants to proof to his father he can make it on his own. We didn't know exactly what kind of missions we wanted to do, although Shamus did say something about diamonds.
While enjoying our drinks and the poffertjes, I recieved a message from Jihan. He told me that he found out more information about what had happend at Spacestation SS-18. He would keep me informed if he had more information. After finishing our drinks, Shamus went to repair his monocle and Armand said he would check out if he could learn something about other missions we could take on and maybe a place where we could buy some new gear. I took a stroll over the Bazaar, to take my mind of things. I bought some things for Jezebel to play with.
When I met up with Armand he told me about an interesting mission he had found. A man called Dr. Samah was looking for a crew who would take him to the Mining Baron's Palace on asteroid D14465 in the Ashala's Belt. He wanted to do research on a recently discovered 200 year old building, probably built by the Firstcome. Although we wouldn't recive any money for bringing Dr Samah to the astroid, we could keep everything we found out there. For us two things made it interesting. We could mine Maghdan ore there, but there was also the possibility of finding rare archeological artifacts. I could see Armand eyes light up when he told me about the possible archeological finds.
Suddenly we heard someone shouting our names. It was Shamus. His monocle was repaired so he could see us from afar. Shouting and franticly waving his hands he made his way to us. We looked a little embarassed and told Shamus to keep his voice down. We didn't want to attract to much attention to ourselfs. Although Shamus still had diamonds in his head, he also agreed in taking on this mission.
After a good night sleep and a refreshing shower, we went to the to the Mining Office to get more information about mining Maghdan Ore. Although there wasn't much enthusiasm about our plan to mine Maghdan ore at the Ashala belt, they did sell us the necessery equipment. Two prospecter drones and eight collecter drones. Armand paid 1.700 Birr and the drones were ours. We then bought a compass, bionoculars, some spare parts and a breach charge. The ship needed some maintenance, so we took care of that and Armand contacted Dr. Samah, who agreed to meet us the following day.
Back in my hotelroom I again recieved a message from Jihan. This one made the hairs on the back of my nack stand up. Jihan told me that he found out that the Task Force Massar had spotted Armand disarming the nucliar bomb at SS-18 using a little spycam. He urged me to tell Armand to be carefull. After that message I couln't sleep very well. What did this mean. Who could be after Armand. Should I tell him.......
The end of a new beginning
Although we made it just barely, and two of the soldiers escaped, we managed to safe the station and ourselfs from being obliterated. We decided to go back to Wahina to tell her that the bomb was disarmed and that she was safe also.
We made our way back to the service units, to find out that Wahina had moved to the lab. How she got her enormous body into the lab, still ceases to amaze me. She was franticly moving her tantecles around like she had no time to spare. When she saw us walk into the lab she was very greatfull that we helped her, but she looked in a hurry. "I have no time to wast": she said. " I finished my work here, so it's time for me to go. The mini-portals are ready to be used. You will not see me again. But I'm leaving a gift. A gift that made me sacrifice the lives of some, but will safe the lives of many."
We said our goodbyes and walked back to the recreation area. Wahina warned us that there was reinforcement on the way, so we also had to leave as soon as possible. We were hoping to find the ship we were looking for, so we could take it to Djachroum in order to claim the full reward. Passing the Zero G gym, we took some weapons from the dead soldiers, because they had no use for them anymore. We noticed a bloody trail leading to the dockingstation. At the docking station we saw the ship we were looking for. Bus we also saw a Kobu finishing of one of the two escaping soldier. The other soldier, who was named Jina Aud Massar we found out later, we saw running towards the ship. There was no way we could stop him. He jumped on board, started the ship and flew of, leaving us empty handed.
Disappointed we walked back. The only way to make it of the station now was the same way we came, with Shamus's ship. Walking towards te elevator, we bumped into the beautiful Wahina. She barely looked at us and walked straight to Armand. "I want to thank you so very much for what you did. You safed us. I couldn't leave without saying goodbye." she said . Then she gave him a long hug. Pressing her body thightly to Armand. Then she turned around and walked away, leaving Armand a little bit flushed.
We reached our ship without further delay. Shamus directly went to the bridge and Armand to the engine room. I first had to see if Jezebel was alright. I found her sleeping in one of Shamus's boots. After giving her a cuddle, I also went to the bridge. After Armand gave us the go, we took of. But with a pilot like Shamus, taking of is always a bumpy ride.
Being clear from the station we saw a big destroyer from the Legion coming our way. We had to get out of here fast. I urged Shamus to put his foot on the gas. Suddenly Jihan cried out: "Guy's you have to come and see this". Looking through the window, we saw an incredible sight. The biodom was lightning up and turning. Suddenly it detached from the station. Leaflike things were surrounding the biodome, creating some sort of sail. With a flash of light the biodome then disappeared into the astroid belt. Then we saw pods flooting out of station, also making there way to the astroid belt. Could this be Wahina's gift? We didn't have time to thing about it, because the Destroyer was closing in fast.
While leaving behind the station and hopefully the Destroyer, we passed some astroids an saw that on some of them a pod had attached itself and started rooting. Those astroids were like glowing bulbs. Leaving the astroid belt, we noticed that the Destroyer wasn't following us. We were in the clear. Because everyone was very tiered, I decided that we all could do with some sleep. I took the first watch and Armand the second. During my watch I was contemplating about everything we had been through, all the things we had seen, people and creatures we had encountered, and how close to death we had been. While softly stroking Jezebel, who found her way onto my lap, I prayed to the traveler.
After docking at Djachroum, Jihan diceded to leave us. He was planning on taking up his studies at Dabaran. Armand cashed the 10.000 Birr for us and we treated ourself to a drink. Maybe the ending of this adventure was the beginning of a new one.
The story continues
There we were, in the Biodome jungle. Still seperated from Armand. Shamus, although very proud of his enormous jump, was anxiously looking around, while frantically rubbing the Lady of Tears in his hands. Suddenly the Talisman began to glow and vibrate. Shamus pushed on the Talisman to stop it from glowing an vibrating. Well, the glowing stopped alright, but instead the Talisman began to transmit a holograpgic videomessage. Before us we saw four people at some kind of inauguration in a stadium. Jihan cried out: "Look that's my father". Next to him stood a very beautiful woman. Before we could really make out what we were looking at, the holovideo stopped. Jihan was very upset and cried out: "Father". Suddely I heard gunshots! Oh my god, we weren't alone at the station. No time to loose. We had to find Armand.
Luckely Armand wasn't very far away. But ... he wasn't alone. He was talking to a very beautiful woman, called Wahina. It was the same woman we saw in the holovideo standing next to Jihan's father. She seemed to take a liking to Armand :( She told us a most incredible story of what had taken place at Station SS-18. It was Wahina who made all those strange creatures and the little children, she called the Charab. The Charab were her eyes and ears. That's how she knew we could be trusted and weren't out to kill anyone. She also created the Kobu, her soldiers, moving around like shadows. The Charab told Wahina that there are others at the station, with no good intentions. Then I remembered the gunshots. Where did we get ourselfs into, I thought. We had to get out of here as soon as possible.
In answer to our question if Wahina could get us out of the Biodome, she took us to one of the service units that lie beneath it. Entering the service unit we saw an enormous creature that seemed to be completely one with her surroundings. When we stepped a bit closer we saw a face in the enormous pile of skinlike tissue. Shamus, peeped from behind Armand's back, said: "But, that's the face of Wahina". The creature smiled. "You are right little one. I'm the real Wahina. The Wahina you met is a clone of my DNA". We moved futher into the room and noticed there were also three Kobu present. The kobu, who were untill then only vague shadows to us, turned out to be real fearsom creatures.
Wahina, the real one, told us that she always had been obsessed with life in all it's form. And when she got a chance to work as doctoral student with the famous bionic engineer Ferida Kaar, who was responsible for the operation of the biodome of SS-18, she took it. Once on the station, Wahina realized the full potential of the station she began to experiment with completely new research in the lab. The other scientist however didn't agree. Because she knew her research was very important and could be a huge gift to humanity, she saw no other possibility than to kill the entire crew. Her face was griefstricken and I could see tears in her eyes when she told us what she had done to the crew. We had to hold Jihan back, while he cried out: "Murderer, you killed my father". Wahina spoke remorsefull when she said: "I know, and I'm sorry. But there was no other way. The would have destroyed my work. If it is any consolation to you, his genetic codes still lives on." Because of wahina's actions, the Legion ordered to destroy the station, but they failed. After that Wahina continued her work, using the Khayaala’s Gardens as her big inspiration for the gift she was working on. While she was telling us her story she sometime closed her eyes ad if she was going back to her memories.
Suddenly it looked like Wahina woke up into reality. She begged us to help her from the treath that was now present at the station. The Charab foun out that a Task Force of the Legion had entered the station in order to destroy it by planting a nuclear bomb at the recreation area. The Kobu she send out to protect the station weren't able to fight them of. Armand and I looked at eachother. Our first thought was to save ourselfs, because there was no way we would survive if the Task Force accomplished their objective. We had a common goal and that was to neutralize the soldiers and disarm the bomb. So we agreed to help Wahina, because by doing so, we would also save ourselfs.
Wahina gave us the keycode to the armory where we found a working weapon with ammunition. The Kobu, Wahina send with us, led us quickly to te recreation area. Even Shamus knew the situation was serious and he no longer looked scared but determined to make it out alive. Bcause the door was blocked, we crawled through the air shaft. We sneaked up on the Task Force who were holding up at the Zero-G Gym.
The Kobu, who Wahina send to stop the Task Force, were pinned down in one of the hallway's because of a defensive perimeter that had been established by the Task Force with a Dayal gun turret and some mines. We were just in time to see that one of the blasting technician placed a thermonuclear mine in the whirlpool alcove and an other one placed smaller bomb to make an explosive exit through the floor.
We saw no other way then to fight. First we had to nutralize the two soldiers nearest to the Dayal Gun, so the Kobu could get through to help us. We had the advantage of a sneak attack, but the Task Force was very strong. I was hit serveral times, and barely made it. After two attempts Armand and Shamus were able to disarme the nuclear bomb. Unfortunately the other device exploded, giving the Task Force an escape route. The Kobu quickly followed the running soldiers. Still trembling on our feet, we followed. Relieved that the eminent threat was gone, we realised that the fight wasn't over. We had to follow those soldiers in order to prevent them from doing futher harm to the ship, to Wahina or to us.
The first adventure begins
And we're off. We had ourselfs a mission and a ship. That the ship came with the likes of Shamus Loaded, couldn't be helped. Fortunately there was Armand to keep the ship flying. With a bit of luck we would find the ship and bring it home to collect the 20.000 Birr
It was a good day's travel to the location where the ship was last seen. I used this time to do some Chai Chi exercises to clear my body and mind. The rest of the day I spend mainly on the bridge. Keeping an eye on Shamus. Officially he is the pilot but my confidence in his flying skills isn't great, to put it mildly. Besides he looked at Jezebel funny.
When we reached the place of de given coördinations, to our surprise we didn't find a spaceship, but a spacestation. Badly damaged and covered in a black growth of some sort. After some hesitation we decided to investigate the spacestation. We found a small airlock that seemed to be working. Shamus tried to dock it, but failed miserably. With more luck then skill, the second attempt was successful! We put our exo-suits on and entered the airlock not knowing what we were getting ourselves into.
Entering the spacestation through the airlock Armand scanned the place and gives us a thumbs up. We could safely proceed, so we put of our exo-helmets. When we moved forward we found ourselves surrounded by darkness. The only light was the light from our exo-helmets. Armand threw a glowing sugar globe into the blackness. While the sugar globe filled the the corridor with light, we saw that the whole corridor was covered with black garlands, roots, branches and foliage, overgrown with vacuum organisms! Armand and I looked at each-other. We never saw anything like this. Shamus wanted to eat some of it. Luckily we could stop him. Silly man. We walked through the dark corridor, Shamus hobbling behind us.
At the end of the corridor there was a promenade. Flickering light strips in the ceiling gave it an ominous glare. Looking for information, Armand found a door to an appartment. In the apartment I saw a small green light blinking. Yess we were in luck. A computer and it has power! Shamus was the only one with Data-Jinn magic so he could logon. In this computer we found information about the station and there was a map. We wanted to find the way up and we didn't want to stay on this station longer then necessary. We quickly continued our path on the promenade.
Then we stumbled on a sight that startled me. And for a moment my heart was stricken with grieve. There before us was the naked body of a dead child, face down on the floor, half melted into the ground. The child could be no older then five. Not much older then ...... His body was partly covered by a moss-like black carpet. Still with my mind somewhere else, I heard Shamus suddenly said: "Can I Kick it". What the fuck! Are there no brains in that mans head. "No" I said. "What we can do is examine this body." Gently we tried to turn the body, but its face staid stuck to the floor. Suddenly with a crack the body came loose from the head. The sound was horrifying. A chill ran down my spine.
Still tooking at the severed body, we heard Shamus squeaking. "I have the feeling we are being watched", he said trembling. "I also saw a strange shadow moving away." Not taking Shamus completely serious, we still decided to move forward. The whole scene in this station made us all feel very uneasy. Leaving the severed child where we found it.
We hoped that we would find an elevator. Armand and I were making our way to the end of a corridor where we saw some lights. Shamus, with his short legs, had trouble keeping up. When I turned around to push Shamus to walk a little bit faster, I saw him looking down, standing knee-high in a pile of bones. And not any bones, human bones, bones from little children. There was something terribly wrong here. With memory's haunting my mind, I wanted to leave this place as soon as possible. Shamus started running making te bones flying about. It was a gruesome sight.
Suddenly Shamus stood still. Het turned toward an air-shaft and walked toward it. Shhhtt he said: "I hear a voice, ands it's comming from that air-shaft". We joint him and looking into the air shaft we saw a man. He looked as if he hadn't had a bath in ages, long hair and smelling terribly. His hands were holding something, while he frantikly called out "Kiran" "Kiran". We asked who he was and what had happened. He said his name was Jihan Darim. We looked at each other suprised. He was the captain of the missing ship. Shamus, more interested in what the man was holding in his hand, asked him what it was. It turned out to be the talisman " Lady of Tears" . Bringing luck to the beholder for a year. Without any shame, Shamus asked if the man to give him the Talisman. The man said that he would give it to Shamus but than we had to take him with us. He looked very afraid and didn't want to be left behind. He said something about faceless children and that his whole crew was dead. We really couldn't make heads or tales from his story, but his fear looked genuine.
We took him with us as we walked back toward the elevator. Jihan told us that the elevator didn't work, but never underestimate the skill of Armand to fix things. He found out the elevator was sabotaged. Armand and Shamus tried to bypass whatever was blocking the control panel. The first attempted failed. When they started heir second attempt we heard noises. I stepped out of the elevator to look what was causing the noise. There I saw a dozen of faceless children. Their faces only had eyes. I startled. They where moving towards me. I shouted out to Armand for help.. The children didn't look angry or something. The were just observing me. One of the children moved closer. I took a step backwards. Armand tried to step between us with his Axe. This made the children look suspicious at him, but they didn't attack. They were just sitting there, looking at us. Shamus called Armand to helped him, so Armand stepped back into the elevator again. That was our way out so that had to be fixed. The child that had moved toward me, moved a little bit closer en tried to touch me. I stood with my back against the wall. Suddenly the child layed his hand flat on my upper leg. I froze a little. just at that moment, Armand pulled me into the elevator and pressed on the button for the Docks.
The elevator moved up, on our way to the floor where the dock was. But when the doors opened, we turned out to be on the upper floor "The Biodome". It turned out that the elevator could only move all he way up or all the way down. We couldn't make any stops in between. Jihan became very nervous and didn't want to enter The Biodome. But I told him there was no other option. So he could stay behind, alone, or he could come with us. Because he didn't want to stay behind alone, he followed us. We had to look for a way to get to the floor below us where the ship of Jihan was docked.
The biodome was like a jungle. Entirely overgrown. Hot, Humid and we heared animal sounds everywere. Armand used his Axe to cut through thick branches and foliage's as we were talking and Shamus and Jihan followed silently. Suddenly we saw a spider, a very strange one. This was a spider resembling a human hand: fingers, nails, everything. Very strange. Then a bird landed on Armand's houlder. This bird had wings looking like human skin and entirely made of human parts. We started moving more quickly. We didn't realized that we gradually moved uphill. Suddenly the ground became very slippery and before we realized what happened we all slided to the bottom of the hill further into the jungle. We got separated from each other. When I stopped I didn't see anyone. I only heard Shamus. He was standing on the other side of some sort of ravine. His fear of the jungle gave him extra strength and motivation to jump over the ravine. I never could have guest that those little legs had it in them to jump so far. Or was it the work of the Lady of Tears?. Now we had to find the rest.
To be continued !
The meeting
After a difficult mission we, that is Armand and me, arrived at Djachroum. Eager to get of the ship that had been our home for the last few months, we walked from the spaceport to the dockingstation. Armand was already looking on the map to see is he can find a tavern to get a drink. Jezebel followed me as usual, looking like the queen of Sheba :).
But before we could leave the dockingstation, one of the harbor masters, a real Nazi, stopped us. We had to register en pay 25 Birr each for our registration. Just as he was about to let us pass, Jezebel decided she didn't want to be ignored. The nazi, allergic to cats, almost got a fit. "Whats that" he shouted. "You can't just let that beast run loose here. Take her back at ones." After a long discussion, we finally got to take Jezebel with us, but we had to put her in a small cage, I had to rent for 5 Birr.
While we were talking to the Nazi, a line was forming behind us and we could hear some commotion. There was fierce discussion going on between an other harbor master and a small man on wellies and in a baby sael fur coat. Glad we could finally walk on, we didn't pay any futher attention to the commotion. I put Jezebel, who didn't agree with her temporary confinement ofcourse, in the small cage and we walked off to Djachroum.
Armand wanted a drink, and to be honest I could use one too. We made our way through the slums of Djachroum. Jezebel still disagreeing loudly in her cage. We stopped at Jana's Tavern. Armand orders a Wodka and Iwent for a cafe Marakesh from the lady behind the bar. We talked about finding a new mission.
While we were enjoying our drinks, suddenly the man in the baby seal fur coat walked in the tavern, his hands filled with all kinds of things he bought at the market. He also ordered a drink. Not long after that, a man called Rahim Gulda entered te Tavern looking for the man in the fur coat and his willies (sorry his Wellies hahaha). We found out that this man was called Shamus Loaded and that he had a big problem. His spaceship was smoking the hell out of the spaceport dock. His ship needed to be repaired immediatly. Armand, the good soul, offered to help. As a thank you we bouth got our 25 Birr registration fee back.
Quickly finishing our drinks, we walked with Shamus, Rahim an some men from the purple guard to the smoking spaceship. One way or the other Shamus pulled it of that the men from the purple guard carried all his packeges on to the ship. Armand tried to find out what the problem was. He found some strange things, like some dentures, that might have caused the problem. Armand fixed the smokingproblem, but the ship was a flying disaster, according to Armand. Big repairs were needed, for wich he didn't have the money. Shamus couldn't fly this ship without a backup plan. But that was his problem.
Making our way back to the Tavern, we passed a mission terminal with on it a notification of a promissing mission. We looked at each other in agreement. This was our ticket to independence. All we needed was a spaceship. We heard Shamus behind us still grouching over his broken no good ship. And than a plan formed. We walked up to him and made him an offer he could not refuse. We were going to do the mission in his space ship. Armand could make sure that the ship kept flying and with his share of the profits Shamus could repair his ship. Win - win. Shamus agreed. So now we had our selfs a ship en we could set out to go on our very first independent mission.
We all boarded the space ship, off to our new adventure. Jezebel, happy to be out of her cage, walked around the space ship as if she owned the place. Purring contently with her new home.
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