The crew bought more fuel and decided to try and make
contact with the law firm representing the estate of Josiah Flint. Eleanor
contacted the firm and got a hold of the secretary who informed her that Alvin
Crump was unavailable at the moment but might be able to see them later in the
afternoon. From her knowledge of Mr Crump she remembered his fondness for
whisky and decided that in all probability he was probably drunk and the
secretary was covering for him.
So the crew went about their business and agreed to
meet up at the appointed time. Bau completed repairs on the ship. Joe went to
his secret storage to recover much of his equipment including his armour vest.
Eleanor had time to go and visit her uncle Jeremiah whilst she was on
Persephone. He was delighted to see her and make tea and traditional food for
her. As they ate conversation turned from the light hearted to something
deeper. Jeremiah told his niece that he had been disturbed recently as the
spirits of the lost members of their tribe were calling out to him in pain. As
a spiritual leader of the tribe he could detect these things and felt the pain
of his people. It seemed that most of the tribe fled Earth that Was in the same
ark which never arrived with the other ships. Nothing has been heard of the
lost ark since and it was deemed a great tragedy. Only a few of the tribe who
went on other ships remain, and Jeremiah asks Eleanor to try and find them and
help them. Eleanor accepts not fully understanding how Uncle Jeremiah can know
these things, but accepting that his power as spiritual leader is beyond her
understanding.
Around town there are a number of complaints about a
security lockdown by the Alliance due to the Browncoat terrorist General
Emerson. It seems that General Emerson has been in hiding for years since the
war and has gradually been rebuiling his forces. Recently his attacks have been
getting more and more high profile and recently he destroyed an Alliance ammo
dump on Shadow.
Whilst the crew are walking around town an arrow suddenly
is fired and hits Joe in the shoulder. The crew draw guns and turn to face
their enemy but it seems that the assasin is gone. There is a note attached to
the arrow that Joe reads to himself. It warns Joe that if he is seen around
here again the next arrow will kill him. Joe's armour saves him any serious
injury, but Louis Wu insists on looking at it.
Pinto and Eleanor continue looking around town until
they are due to see Alvin Crump, Pinto looking nervously over his shoulder
occaisionally. They passed a carnival booth advertising the amazing hairy man
beast, but slightly distracted they ignored it.
The crew arrived at Mr Crump's offices to find him
drinking coffee and still slightly drunk. Eleanor helped him play the video
will which gave most of Josiah Flint's share of the Serendipity to his wife
Fey. Unfortunately he owed a gambling debt to a man called Badger that was only
part paid back. This meant that on his death the remaining debt went to him in
shares of the ship. Full details of the will can be found here. It was decided
to go and find Badger and tell him the news.
The crew were led in to see Badger with various of his
goons surrounding them. They told Badger of the will and he seemed quite
pleased. Badger said that he had a little job that needed doing and that it was
something that Captain Flint with her ship would be just perfect for -
transporting an Alligator called Matilda to Verbana. A deal was struck whereby
Badger would give up 1% of his shares in the ship in exchange for them doing
this little favour. It was agreed that the crew would do further little jobs to
recover their shares in the ship. Badger told them that they could gain more
money by taking on another job - he didn't mind since Matilda would only take
up a small space.
Joe tried a few of his contacts in town and it seemed
that a man called Jergen Vals wanted to transport some twenty horses to
Verbana. Pinto was keen on the idea of transporting horses right up to the
point when he heard who it was for when he went back to the ship and refused to
go and help citing "local troubles".
Eleanor was assigned the task of finding some
additional passengers for the trip to Verbana. Using her charm and professional
manner she was able to find a married couple who were going to the fair on
Verbana. She also managed to pick up a Catholic Novice called Brother Murphy
who was going to a Religeous conference there. They decided to put Brother
Murphy in the spare cabin, the married couple in one shuttle and the Alligator
Matilda in the other one. The Alligator was sedated by Louis Wu and sign put on
the door saying "Beware - Alligator" so that there was no mistakes.
Unfortunately Dr Wu was not a vet and gave the Alligator a slow acting
stimulant instead.
Joe and Nathaniel went to Jergen Vals ranch to pick up
the horses. They were installed in the cargo bay with straw matting put down.
Pinto briefly spotted Nancy running about the ship, as no-one had secured her
in a cage from the Will.
Part way through the journey Bau feels a stabbing pain
and the power goes down on the ship. He begins to investigate and heads for the
cockpit. Fearing for the horses Pinto heads down to the cargo bay and he
notices that one of the horses is looking a bit sickly.
Meanwhile the Aligator Matilda panicks in the dark.
Fuelled by the drug cocktail that Louis Wu gave him that made him hyper he
escaped his chains. The passenger Ray not able to see in the dark went back
into the wrong shuttle and was savaged to death by Matilda.
Bau takes off the panel underneath the main flight
deck and begins to investigate. It seems the main power cable has been gnawed
through. He reports this to the captain and Nancy is imediately suspected. He
also notices that there is a secret door behind the wiring. Fiddling about he opens
it and finds a crate behind there. He decides to leave this for later and fix
the broken wiring. As he is fixing it he notices a bomb hidden to the left of
where he is working. The counter on the bomb reveals that they have about 3
hours left before it explodes.
The Captain orders Joe to go and check on the
Aligator. Joe finds that the door is open and the young man they took on as
passenger is dead in the shuttle. The chains are lying in ruins on the floor,
but there is no sign of the beast. Nathaniel goes down to help Joe look for the
Aligator, whilst the Captain heads to the bridge to look at the bomb. Bau
deterimes that the bomb has a signal that goes out to two other bombs on board
the ship. If they are dismantled in the wrong order then they will blow up. Bau
having fixed the wiring gets the power back on. He works out that by
traingulation that the other two bombs are in the engine room and the cargo
bay. A search of the cargo bay reveals nothing, but Bau finds the one in the
engine room.
Just as he does so there is a comm from an Alliance
Cruiser - the Utopia. They wish to come aboard and inspect the ship as part of
a routine search. Captain Flint tells them that they have problems with
Navigation and cannot comply, setting a course away from the Cruiser. The
Utopia closes in on them and orders them to stop else they will be fired upon.
A warning shot is fired and the Captain is forced to take evasive action ....
Meanwhile down in the cargo bay on the top gantry Joe
and Nathaniel have found Matilda. The Alligator is looking not at all happy and
snarls at them. They decide to attempt to grapple the Alligator and as they do
the ship takes evasive action. This slams the 'gator into the gantry knocking
it unconscious. Louis Wu catiously administers some sedative and Joe and
Nathaniel carry Matilda back to the shuttle where she is tied up again and
locked in. Pinto notices Nancy chasing a rat in the hay. It seems that Nancy
has been unfairly maligned as the straw was infested with rats.
Captain Flint apologises for their non compliance and
says she has shut the engines down so that the Alliance Cruiser can board. She
confesses that they have bombs on board and request help from the Alliance with
bomb disposal experts. Lieutenant Ash Hunter says that he will bring some
people whilst he is searching the ship to verify Capatin Flint's story. He
sounds very distrusting. They will be able to dock in some fifteen minutes.
Meanwhile the search in the cargo bay for the last
bomb narrows down on the sickly horse. Electrical readings confirm that it is
in the belly of the horse. Bau decides to take action and shoots the horse in
the head. This leads to a confrontation with Pinto who felt that they could
have removed the bomb in a more humane way. Bau said that they didn't have
time. The stand off over a gun battle continues for a minute or so, and
eventually Pinto tells Bau that he won't forget this.
Bau determines that the horse bomb is the first one
that needs deactivating. He together with help from Joe and Nathaniel spend
time deactivating the bomb. Meanwhile the Captain goes to meet the Alliance
contingent who are about to board. Lieutenant Hunter is very distrusting and
slightly obnoxious. He orders his men to search the ship for contraband as he knows
that "These Fireflies have lots of little boltholes to store stuff
in." He orders two other men to go and help Bau, but they don't seem to be
particularly knowledgeable about deactivating bombs. Lieutenant Hunter spots
Nathaniel Grade and sarcastically refers to him as "The hero of
Athens". He goes on to deride the traitor who couldn't follow orders.
Nathaniel bites his lip and doesn't rise to the bait.
Pinto heads back to his quarters and sees a Tell from
Persephone. It is from Jergen Vals gloating that this is what happens to people
who steal from him. He trusts that Pinto will be happy in hell. It seems that
Jergen Vals, unhappy that Pinto stole his prize racehorse found out that he was
on the Serendipity and decided to take some revenge. Pinto decided it best to
inform the Captain of his discovery.
Eleanor decides to go and give the bad news to the
young man's wife and try and console her. She determines that she needs the
woman to waive any liability in case she makes a claim against the ship. The woman
is very upset, but Eleanor's smooth manner manges to calm her down and see that
it was her husband's fault for entering the wrong shuttle.
Bau with help from Joe and Nathaniel deactivates all
the bombs with 40 minutes to spare. Bau decides to keep the explosives for his
own use later. Lieutenant Hunter declares that the search has revealed nothing,
but warns Captain Flint not to be evasive when faced with an Alliance Cruiser
again. Bau then heads up to the bridge to "finish up repairs" and he
takes the box from its hiding place. The box is marked "For the Attention
of Dr Kinsala" and contains one hundred flasks labelled with numbers and a
encoding. Bau decides to show his find to the rest of the crew. Louis Wu
determines that they are some type of genetic samples. A few of them seem to
have spolied. Captain Flint determines that there is not much that can be done
with them now without the correct equipment, so they are hidden again until
later.
The ship lands on Verbanna and the Alligator handed
over. It seems that Matilda is going to be used at the fair for a bit of
Alligator wresting for money. Joe and Nathaniel feel they've already done
enough of that as it is. The horses are handed over to the guy running the
fair. He pays them (less the one missing horse who died) and does not seem
suprised to see them. It seems that he was not involved in the plot to kill
them with Jergen Vals. Having been paid for a successful trip Captain Flint
says that they can visit the fair for a bit of R&R ......
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