Ken nodded and let Neva give him directions to the place.  "When we get there let's give the teams a call and see if they've found anything."

Blake and Ollie make their way back to the SS Diamond to check if there are any marks left in the flour that they had spilled earlier.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 375):

Neva nodded as she navigated around the streets and finally stopped.  "We're here.  Come on up."

Neva entered the building and did a quick look around to make sure it was like she had remembered.  If it was she went to the door and pulled out a key and opened it up after listening at the door to see if she heard sounds.

As soon as it was open and she was sure it was safe to enter, she motioned Ken to enter and close the door.

In reply to Oliver Oliphant Oksasaellllozae (msg # 376):

Alz Atl Starport

Blake and Ollie returned by Monorail to the starport from the Joint Scout Base.

Unfortunately, a maintenance/cleaning bot had been by to sweep up the spilled flour at the mouth of the entrance tunnel leading to the Diamond. Damn you, automation!

Looking up the corridor towards the ship's lock, he could see a white smudge, it looked like a partial footprint. Someone had definitely passed by in the last few hours. But due to the cleaning it was difficult to determine how many and what direction.

Startown (Alztop)

The condo was undisturbed. None of the tell-tales Neva had set up were triggered. Due to the dust no one had been inside for months, and this was expected.

Ken went on inside with Neva.  "It sounds like Dumaer and probably Lorain have been taken to Qarant.  I'm not sure what the others have found but I'm about ready to jump straight there.  Maybe we can find some League or Institute cargo to take there to pay our expenses but even if it bankrupts me I want to find Lorain."

In reply to GM (msg # 378):

"Well, we know that their still around," commented Ollie wryly. "I was hoping for a bit more of a trail."

Ollie shrugs and heads back with Blake to meet up with the rest of the crew at the ship.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 379):

Neva nodded to Ken after she locked and secured the door.  After checking the windows, she went around the room and pulled out a couple of duffle bags and some hard weapons cases.  Opening them up she double checked that everything was there as she left it.

"You are right Ken it looks like we need to leave again.  I have to admit that I'm impressed with your determination to find Lorraine.  Not many would do that."

Ken could see that Neva was (for some reason) in possession of a shitload of weapons. There appeared to be a sniper rifle with starlight scope, a submachinegun, various pistols, all suppressed. As well, there were bundles of cash, ID documents (name unknown) and various bits of paramilitary gear and equipment in black.

Wouldn't happen to have a spare mini-cam sitting around somewhere ??  Blake looks around after passing by the ship for a viable location to place it ...

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 383):

"I'll have a look through my bits and pieces then we get back to the ship. We will need a transmitter as well if we want it to work properly."

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 381):

Ken sighed.  "I'm surprised myself at my dedication to finding and rescuing Lorain.  I knew I liked her but it didn't really hit me until I realized she was abducted and in danger.  I just hope that my quest to find her doesn't drag the rest of you into something very dangerous."

Perhaps to distract himself from an emotional topic he looks around the room.  "You have quite the set-up here Neva.  Are you running a private war?  Some of this might actually come in use if we have to infiltrate the Hegemony base on Qarant."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 385):

Neva smiled at Ken's question about planning for war.  Perhaps at one time she was.  Her own personal one person war but now it seemed so far away and the person wasn't worth it.

"Oh I don't know.  I have a few places around for emergencies.  It helped when I was undercover.  Of course getting these out to use might be a problem.  Most of the weapons are illegal."

"You have other safe houses like this?  If you mind if I ask, what were you planning to do?"

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 387):

Neva sat down on a chair after she had brought out stuff and shrugged.  "I'm not sure what I was planning to do.  This was gathered when I was on the force and going through a rough time.  Part of it was necessary for the cover but I think that some time in the whole thing I knew that I wanted to be covered for a way out.  When I was framed and kicked out of the force I went to a darker place but didn't track all of this down.  I think I knew that the time wasn't right.  If I had I might have actually turned into the person that people thought I was.  I have a more places like this.  I didn't want to be on the streets forever."

We assume Captain Ken comms us with an address, so we head over for a recap session ...

Ken nods understandingly.  "I've seen lots of people under incredible pressure in the field.  It drives you to do all sorts of things.  It's good that you've got places like this set up as a back-up.  If we can make this all work out, perhaps none of us will need to be on the streets."

He pauses for a moment and comms the others to let them know that he and Neva are in one of her safe houses and passes the address along.

Jaxxon and Linus returned to the ship, somewhat wet from their trudging through the business district in the cold torrential rain.

Blake and Ollie made it to the safe house in one piece, but the rain hadn't let up. They were dripping wet as soon as they exited the underground train tunnel station.

In reply to GM (msg # 391):

Thomas returned to his observation post and watched the rain come down.  He kept an eye on the cameras covering the entrances to the ship, and sipped tea.

"Come in, come in," Ken motioned Blake and Ollie inside. "You're soaked to the bones.  Neva, do you have hot tea or coffee for these two?"

"Brrrrgh. It's raining cats out there!" says Ollie as he comes in, shaking off the rain and looking around the room. "You sure have a cosy place here, Neva."

"I would love something to warm me up while we share our titbits. We certainly got a few interesting items from our rounds."

Neva's old habits kicked in when she heard the knock on the door.  She had just started to close up the weapons cases but stopped and pulled out the gun.  She wasn't even sure what gun it was she pulled out.  All of them were capable of shooting anybody who came through that door.  By the time that Ken had opened the door and Blake and Ollie walked in, they found themselves facing her defenses.

The duffle bags of supplies and money were on the bed as well as various weapons.

Neva rolled her eyes but didn't lower the gun until the door was closed and locked again.  Then she put back on guns safety.  "Ummm.  Sorry about that guys.  Come on in.  Haven't had a chance to go shopping but there used to be some tea in a tin in the cupboard.  The only food I keep around is canned so that it won't spoil but help yourself to anything in the cupboards that you find."

Neva waved a hand towards the kitchen area and then looked at Blake.  "So what did you get?"

Like spiraling into a black hole.  and he relates his findings &  Ollie's use of very good pizza dough to discover someone is still hanging around.  But Blake is staring at the shooting assortment that ever-so-quiet Neva has while babbling along.

Are you a collector or is this where the fireworks start??  Blake then turns & starts looking for the canned goodies, Anybody else want some warmed up chow ??

"Something hot would be good Blake, I can help get some tea going if you want to cook some soup or such."  He sets some water to boil and finds the tea.

"Well, we found out a lot about Dumaer the scout.  He has a steady girl and we were able to track her down.  He's worked for just about all the governments around as well as Kalamanaru.  He contacted someone at the Institute about his half of an artifact and then disappeared when he left to make a meeting.  I think that Lohkav, Lorain's assistant was a mole for Kalamanaru and had Dumaer taken." He frowned, angry.  "I would say that Qarant is where we need to go.  The artifact came from Qarant, Lohkav was screening Lorain from hearing much about the place but she left a note with the name of the planet on her notebook.  We have a map of the diggings made by Dumaer."  He was pacing now.  "We also have a picture of the lower half of the artifact that we have.  Let's get it translated and prepare to head to Qarant."

Neva gave Blake small fire as she lowered her weapon.  "Yeah, well keep this place to yourselves.  It's just one of my safe houses but I don't want to have to change if I don't want to.  These are some things that I got when I was on the force.  Unfortunately most are illegal so getting them out now would be a pain."

There was a box of rations in one of the duffle bags, along with a set of night-vision goggles.