Personal Log 43: 10th - 16th August, 3301 (Part Two)
23 Sep 2016Jemine Caesar
10th - 16th August, 3301 (Part Two)The voyage back to Lokitaka Mu was uneventful, apart from some heat damage to my starboard point defence. I made two brief stops, the first at Appel Terminal in the LP340-547 system, and the second at Allen Refinery in Wolf 1373. I picked up several stellar cartography scans, too.
Once docked at Maclean Station, I booked a double room, and checked out the presents I had been given by Marcus Trelawney. Later I sent Marcus a holofac to let him know I'd got back.
"I really can't thank you enough for the gifts," I said. "The clothing canister has made some lovely additions to my wardrobe. The House of Lalande high heels are particularly welcome. A girl can never have too many shoes! I'm going to give Sam a bottle of the Leestian Evil Juice. I don't think he's ever had it before. I hear it's quite strong."
Marcus replied shortly afterwards: "I'm glad you got back safely. Yes, I am sure Sam will like the Evil Juice, but he might be wise not to take more than a single shot for his first taste! I just got back to Gooch from the Hui Mines, and got a good price for the Palladium I had brought. To celebrate I spent a couple of hours at the Cantina Bar. Wow, did I get a reception from some of the regulars! 'Who was that woman you were with last night?' and, 'Gosh, Marcus, you just went up in my estimation!' One guy admitted getting a slap from his girlfriend because he was staring across at our table. The bartend even gave me a free whisky, for attracting more customers to his place. I think most were disappointed that I was alone this evening, though."
Then Sam called to say he was on his way in from Lawd 60 after making a series of trade runs. By the time he arrived I was floating around our room in red lacy undies. Sam's magboots were off in a flash. After some highly imaginative outercourse, I was very much in need of the zero-g shower.
Next day, I took The Last Thing to Algreit. Maclean Dock's outfitters couldn't fix it, but they recommended the facility at Algreit's Smith Exchange. While waiting for the repairs, I put a k-cast call through to Sam, but for some reason the call wouldn't connect. Then, spotting the name of Stanchion Ra on my contact list, I sent a k-cast hail to him instead.
"Hi, Jem," he asked. "How are you?"
"Very well, thank you," I replied, adding, "or I will be when my treatment is finished." I briefly told him about my recent hospitalisation, and then asked him what he was up to.
"I've leased myself out as a mercenary for the Alliance," he said. "There is a civil war in the system next to my home, and a criminal organisation is trying to take control." Stanchion asked me if I had taken part in the Kumo affair.
I had read on Galnet about a big military action against the infamous Kumo Crew. The article included a listing of pilots missing in action. I scanned the list for names of people I knew and was horrified to see the name of my good friend Nagita.
"Me? No!" I said in response to Stanchion's question. "But my friend Nagita did, and now I've learned she's listed as missing in action. I'm worried about her."
After a brief exchange of comments on politics and war, we lightened the mood with talk of music, holovids and sport.
"I never had any friends when I was a little girl, " I said. "We were always on the move, so team sports just passed me by."
Stanchion sympathised. "Did you not have a pet? he asked.
"No," I replied. "Papa wouldn't allow it. He wasn't being cruel, it was just that we could barely afford to feed ourselves, so keeping a pet was a burden we could do without."
Stanchion asked if I had been lonely as a child. I told him not, but deep down I knew that wasn't true. Stanchion said he often felt lonely, exploring the galaxy. I told him he should invent an imaginary friend, as I had when I was small.
"Her name was Tessa," I said. "She had blonde hair and blue eyes. We played for hours together with our rag dolls." I don't think Stanchion was totally convinced that having an imaginary friend in the depths of space was a good idea.
*****
It occurred to me that Sam might have been called away on another Navy mission, which would possibly explain my having been unable to contact him earlier. So, instead of returning to Lokitaka Mu, I took on another delivery job, this time carrying Algreit Tea Bags to Aeternitas. Shortly after leaving Smith Exchange, a call came through from Marcus Trelawney. I told him that I'd given Sam a bottle of the Leestian Evil Juice.
At Houtman City I was relieved to finally have a holofac message from Sam. He'd heard that a nearby Empire system, called Mutj, had a demand for terraforming technology. At Mutj he had met up with his sister, Sarah, who was on a field trip in a remote part of Mutj 2. A violent electrical storm had knocked out power and communications for several hours, stranding them on the surface.
The following day, August 16th, I took on a job delivering a canister of washing machines to Rothfus Holdings in the Vesper M4 system. Noticing the system had an extraction economy I filled my remaining cargo space with mineral extractors, with the intention of selling them at Slough. Unfortunately, Slough Orbital had little demand for the extractors, so I left them in my hold until I could find a better price.
Something about Slough Orbital nagged at the back of my mind, but try as I might, I couldn't put a finger on why.
Sam called to say he was on his way to Vesper M4 from Serrot, having been discharged. That didn't sound good, and when I met him at pad 3 I saw he had one hand bandaged up, and a visor device over his eyes.
"I had a near total throttle failure on dropping out of witchspace," he explained, "and got a little too close to the star." He assured me he was feeling up to pressing on towards Beta Hydri, however, so, after a meal at one of the station's restaurants, we set off.
Our route initially took us through Linteris and CD46 12902, only for me to be interdicted as we tried to reach Searfoss Orbital. Sam had already reached the station, so I was on my own against a well-armed and very agile pirate ship. He cut through my shields and reduced my hull to 48% before I was able to turn and get a target lock on him. I could see at least two beam lasers and two pulse lasers firing at once, so I decided running was the best option. With full power to my engines, dodging laser fire while allowing my FSD to recharge took what seemed like an eternity. I was very relieved when the FSD engagement countdown began, and I escaped back into supercruise. Repairs at Searfoss Orbital cost me almost 1,000CR.
The next system was LFT 1442, where we decided to take our first stopover. I put on my green knee-length dress and new House Of Lalande shoes, and met up with Sam at our chosen bar, The Compass. Over gin & tonics we discussed the Galnet news story about Ricardo Bentonio, presenter of "The Hidden World". Bentonio had been making outrageous claims that President Halsey had been abducted by aliens. "That man's a fruitcake," concluded Sam.
"I'm looking forward to reaching Beta Hydri, Sam," I said. Sam promised me I would enjoy my visit to Homeland.
"We can go and see a couple of shows, if you like," he said. I confessed to Sam that I had only ever seen one full live stage play.
"It was when I was 14," I said. "Papa took me to see "Titus Andronicus", a Shakespeare play, We only went because he'd won the tickets in a card game!"
Later, as we undressed for bed, Sam told me that part of the visit to Beta Hydri would need to include a stay at the Black Mausoleum. "My brother, James, is interred there," he explained.