The next phase of our adventure
08 Dec 2020Sheronimo
I Sola Prospect, Located on Brestla, deep in the heart of the Empire. The largest selection of modules and ships in the galaxy. There is 2 other places where nearly everything you want is available, but I Sola is the rich hangout. Everything here, but, you pay more due to location. No obvious Black Market, or underground, but, we all know its there. All that tells anyone is that crime and villainy is all in the dark corners, and under the streets, not open and obvious. I enjoy coming here, the money floating around makes for some kick butt parties and opportunities. Ironic that slaves are illegal here, to sell. You can still own one without anyone batting an eye. I personally do not agree with the practice, but, I am in the wrong place to vent that opinion. I tell myself how well they are treated, and I sleep well with that. I don't know how I would react to someone being abused right in front of me. Let's hope it doesn't happen.After we arrive in orbit of Brestla, I tell the Captain to allow crew members to take time off on the surface if they wish. No need keeping everyone stuck in the ship when there is fun to be had. We are not a military or commercial carrier. There is no need for a lockdown, as long as we keep our little adventure to the command staff. After a 10 minute staff meeting, Jeff and I head to the surface in his Clipper, escorted by 2 armed guards from the ship, Captains orders. As we approach the landing pad, suddenly, the onboard computer says the ship is wanted by the local faction. "Uh oh," says Jeff, "The word is out." "Someone wants us dead." I smile, so, what else is new, kinda used to it. We touch down, and I let Jeff go off and look for, well, whatever he is looking for. I stay on the ship for now, working the Galactic Data Network, and Galnet, trying to find out what I can while plugged into the Imperial database. I find the bounty posts, Jeff's ship is listed as "Extremely Dangerous." I laugh to myself. I access the storage key that John gave me, says his owners names were Douglas and Diana Loren, born here, 30 years ago. When I try to get something on their names in the database, I hit a brick wall. The name only shows up in historical archives, nothing current. I search last name only, and I find a new mystery to add to our plethora of them. The Lorens are thought to be all dead, a distant relative of the Duval's, Royal, but, unknown. Last surviving member of the bloodline thought to have died in 3303. OK, so, we now have Johns owners being, possibly, on the run for more than one reason. So, technically, that means we have a royal slave on board the Glaurung. I pull the Loren history from the database and store it on the key. Good reading here for later.
My data search is cut short by one of the guards saying cargo has been delivered and is being loaded, invoice says delivered to Mr. Morgan. A few seconds later, I see the ships shields light up from an impact. The guards pull their weapons and head to the door. I see Jeff, enter the hanger bay, running as fast as he can, with 2 armed men chasing him, firing wildly toward him, hitting our shields. He flies up the gangplank, and yells, "WE HAVE TO GO!" I spin around in my chair and take the controls, in 3 seconds, we are airborne, and headed skyward. We are scanned twice as we try to leave the airspace around the port, but, we go to Supercruise before they can complete scans. Back at the carrier, I look to see what Jeff had loaded, its the Loren's belongings, at least, that's what the labels say it is. That would explain us being chased away, as, I am certain someone would have been monitoring, waiting for someone to claim it. GREAT, more things on the Glaurung to bring the authorities. Getting thick around here. I have the cases unloaded, and I call John to the landing bay. To be fair, I will let him go through it all first, then, I will look at it with Jeff and see what we can learn. Jeff is not happy that I push him out of the bay so John can have some privacy, but, hey, small things make a big difference when you are in a place like John is. I only hope he appreciates the effort. Jeff seems to think John, or someone, will take something he needs, so, I allow him to monitor the bay remotely to ease his fears. I sit, and watch as John goes item for item, some he crys, some, he sets aside. Poor boy, then, he pulls out a uniform, and holds it up to look at it. Yep, he is a royal slave. Its a Royal cloak, worn only by Royalty in the Empire. Oh boy, if the Duvals only knew we were here, and who we have with us.
I spend a few hours, watching John, and scanning the key at the console, trying to read through it, see what info is on here that is so important. Cross reference this, double check that, and then, I see a set of coordinates, said to be on a planet in the Prism system. It is labeled as the home of the Lorens. Oh boy, now I see why this is so important. The Lorens were drummed out of royalty years ago, and, any remaining members of the family are wanted by Denton Patreus. This key shows where they are, or were, and how to get through the security system, lower shields and scanners remotely, the works. WOW, this is it. This is why Jeff wanted this data, maybe not specifically, but, yeah. It will allow us to find the forbidden home of the Lorens, and access it. This is big. Could be filled to the top with gold, jewels, salvage, who knows. My brain goes off on all the riches I could be rolling in, or, maybe all the bounty hunters we will find, waiting in orbit of the planet. Either way, I know where we are headed next. I walk to the Bridge, Captain tells me the crew still have people on shore leave, so, I will have to take a smaller ship to Prism. Sounds like a job for my Chieftain. She is set up for silent running and almost zero heat emissions.
Time for another meeting.....