In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 516):



The copilot spoke into the microphone of his flight helmet.

"Ok, I got an answer. I'll put it on speaker.

"We'll be landing soon."

He switched the sound to external speakers.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:36, Sat 21 May 2016.

In reply to GM (msg # 517):

Those in the cutter's cramped cockpit recognised the voice of the Scout they'd released from capture at the hands of Kalamanaru and his Hegemony stooges.

"Ken! I'm glad you guys made it!

"Look, I'm sorry. We waited at the laager point behind the hills as long as we could, keeping an eye on the dome. We picked up in-bound Hegemony choppers on the LIDAR. When they landed we got out of there without being seen.

"After, we got your transmission about the RV point but I didn't think we could make it safely. Instead, we headed straight for our territory. Once we were there we contacted the Navy. Told them the Hegemony was in breach of treaty. The navy got here about a half-hour ago and tried to stop Kalamanaru's ship from taking off but couldn't and he got away.

"The Hegemony is denying they knew what Kalamanaru was up to. Otherwise, there'd be war. They were in their rights to pursue you, as you were trespassing on their territory. They claim you are tomb raiders. But Kalamanaru kidnapped me and transported me all the way from Alzenei. No way they could explain that away. They decided to disavow Kalamanaru instead and blamed corrupt officers here. Some have been arrested, some went with him."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:06, Sat 21 May 2016.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 514):

Walker looked at Blake.

Good idea.  He cleared his rifle, put the magazine and the spare round back in his coat, and put his hat over the muzzle of his rifle.

Then he too, put his head back and closed his eyes.

In reply to Dumaer (msg # 518):

Lorrain poked her head in the cockpit door and spoke so she could be heard over the radio.

"Dumaer, you might be interested to know the Sky Raiders built that temple and we found what looked like an actual Sky Raider vessel. in the bottom of the catacombs. But it wasn't a ship. It looked like a non-jump capable space craft. Like something carried on a larger ship. The temple, it started out as some kind of system defence complex. Like a series of hardened bunkers and silos. We actually probably come up on the hill you were hiding on before you left.

"We found some computer modules. We'll need to take them to an archaeological cyberneticist to analyse and decode. I think we'll find out where the Sky Raiders really came from.

"And your girlfriend... she misses you. She'll be so happy to find you alive and well!"

"And that archaeological cyberneticist would be on Alzenei?" queried Ollie.

In reply to Oliver Oliphant Oksasaellllozae (msg # 521):

"Not coincidentally, yes!"

In reply to Prof. Lorain Messandi (msg # 520):

Over the comms, Dumaer asked, "my girl? Margayl? Yes! That's wonderful. I didn't know if she'd... well, let's just say I really want to see her."

Ken sighs in relief as Dumaer comes over the speaker. "Don't worry about it Dumaer, you guys did the right thing going for help.  It saved us from having to steal another ship after all."  He glanced over at Lorain and nodded.  "It'll be good to get back to Alzenei.  We'll just have to make sure that you don't get kidnapped again Lorain."

Soon, they landed at the Free Suns research station.

Their ship, the Empress Victoria, was fueled and waiting to go.

In reply to GM (msg # 525):

Lorrain disembarked, greeting the research staff plus Dumaer.

"Next stop, Alzenei! With the right equipment maybe we can see of the Sky Raiders are from here after all. That's what I'm leaning towards now with the finding that was a non-Jump capable ship.

"There could be a base hidden somewhere in the system. Like in the asteroid base. Or elsewhere on Qarant. Inside we can finally get some answers as to who the were and where they ended up. So far all we know is they were an unidentified Human subspecies that spoke an archaic Vilani dialect and had access to Vinali technology and designs. Not much more than that.

"Maybe now we can find out more."

She could hardly contain her excitement.

Linus smiled. One of the most joyous sights he knew was an excited academic!

Blake smiled too, getting off this dirtball - space time.  He confers with Mariel as to ship status and what they did while twiddling their thumbs ...

He also checks in with flight control as to where the Hedge craft are these days.  Mr K also left the system, any indication as to where he went ??

And finally, an interview with Dumaer for any last tidbits he may recall.  A busy day ...

Ken breaths a sigh of relief when they return to the base.  He smiles at Lorain as she bubbles with the excitement of digging into their find.  That their adversary had escaped ahead of them bothered Ken but he hoped that they could finally shake him off as long as the maintain adequate security and vigilance.  As for the ship he could trust Blake and Mariel to see that it was ready to go.

"We'll need to tighten things up on the security side Lorain.  Kalamanaru will surely try again knowing that we got away with something from that ship."  Ken frowned;  "Do you think that this is their home system then Lorain?"

The professor says something about an asteroid base.  Any asteroids in this system ??  Gas giant moons ??  Comets would be too far out pus they heat up when incoming/outgoing.  Blake will ask the navy for a system survey data base to look through ...  Now if an older starship crashed on planet ...  He checks into imperial engine designs for likely radioactives, does a half life calculation - any surveyed radioactive planetary findings ??

Neva kept her eyes closed as she listened to the conversations around her.  She had to bite back a sigh as she heard how excited Lorain was.  THEN she had to bite back a snort when she heard the comment about trying to prevent Lorain from being kidnapped again.

Lorain was a disaster magnet.  She knew a couple of people like that.  It didn't matter what they did, sooner or later something was going to happen that was bad for the magnet.  Of course they could be lucky sometimes but sooner or later disaster would happen.  When the magnet liked to go out and explore the bad news usually happened sooner rather than later.  Still Neva couldn't hold back a little bit of excitement as well.  Everybody was still alive so the missions had been successful so far.

"Ahh! Back the the old lady!" says Ollie and hurries towards her. "I'm going to check her over and make sure she's ship shape."

"Are we leaving straight away? Or do we chase lumps of rock?"

In reply to Oliver Oliphant Oksasaellllozae (msg # 532):

"I can't analyse anything here, I don't have the equipment, access to the Institute's database and computers. All of my team is back on Alzenei. We'll figure out what we have.

"I am not willing to guess if this is their homeworld. Based on the linguistic evidence of Ancient Vilani the Sky Raider homeworld is likely somewhere to Trailing, closer to the First Imperium, maybe in the Spinward Marches. Another theory is that a Vilani starship or that of a Vilani-influenced minor race misjumped here or near here and settled Qarant.

"So maybe we're coming back here, maybe not."

Night had fallen completely by the time they boarded their ship. The landing pad cut out of the forest was lit by portable lights. Everyone was tired and dirty after over a day sneaking around the ruins, infiltrating the Hegemony base and then underground, running and fighting and climbing for the last 24 hours.

They completed their preflight checks quickly enough. Mariel and Jaxxon had spent their idle time on ship maintenance, at least covering what they could do. Ollie was the ship's main engineer. She needed his attention before they could lift off.

I know everyone needs a rest, but lifting off now is also important.  Blake looks at Ollie, You want to check the ship out now or nap first ??

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 535):

With some prodding, the crew performed the necessary maintenance to prepare the ship for Jump. Their course was set for Alzenei. After, maybe they could find some answers to the mystery of the Sky Raiders!

Finally, space-bound ...

Ken sighs as they get the ship off planet and out of the system.  "We can rest once we get into Jump everyone.  We've all done well."  He'll spend the time doing what he can to help Lorain sort through the initial data and artifacts.

Ollie sits in the engine room nursing one of Linus's wonderful hot black coffees and listening to the smooth hum of the engines.

Blake 'takes in' the wonderful interstellar views ...  He assumes there's some equally tasty choco chip cookies to help with that coffee ...

He pipes in some of that 'drive music' as well.  Yeah, pilots can be a strange breed, especially those Scout ones.  If there is any singing, Blake has thoughtfully turned the cockpit comm off.

In reply to Oliver Oliphant Oksasaellllozae (msg # 539):

Walker sits at one of the terminals, hands in his lap, watching the data crawl across it.