Chasing the Wild Goose
12 Dec 2017Greybeard LXI
Fred, at the Black Angus on Gilliland Ring, LTT 1798 told me some agent from a brothel called the Organ Grinder had picked up my sister Penny. No station name, no system name. It was going to be a long search.I thought about just going from station to station, checking the business listings and seeing if anyone in the bars knew anything. But which first?
I decided to accept an invitation I received from Elvira Martuuk. She was widely traveled and might know something.
First I needed a hostess gift. She likes Soontill Relics so I made my way down to Ngurii to pick some up. After I left Ngurii I stopped in Toxandji to fill my cargo hold with Toxandji Virocide and made my way to Khun.
Ms Martuuk really liked the relics I gave her. She was so grateful that she upgraded the FSD, thrusters and shield generators on both Fearless and Saladin.
Boy, can Saladin put light years behind her now!
Unfortunately, most of her traveling was in the black. She didn’t know about station businesses. She gave me the names of Zacariah Nemo and Marco Quent as possible contacts, but recommended I talk to the Dweller first because he’s more into the shady side.
Those extra relics and Virocide? They sold like hotcakes in Shute. Glad I stopped to pick them up.
I had an invitation to visit the Dweller, so I made him my next stop. It was a wonderful visit. We talked about bouncing, bars, brothels and black markets while he upgraded my lasers and distributor. He didn’t know about the Organ Grinder, but thought The Eurybia Blue Mafia would be a place to start. Also, Lei Cheung was a tramp trader and might know the stations better than Ms Martuuk.
While planning my route to Eurybia I noticed how close I was to Todd “The Blaster” McQuinn. He’s the greatest CQC champion around and my boyhood hero. This seemed to be the perfect time to accept his invitation to visit.
Todd (He asked me to use his first name!) and I discussed the sensor logs from some of my recent combats. He thought I did pretty good and I got lots of hints and pointers on how to use my multi-cannon more effectively. He even overcharged it for me!
Todd’s the greatest!
I asked Todd if there were any good commodities I could buy to have a good excuse to visit Eurybia. He told me to stop in Mokojing for some Beast Feast. It’s an exotic treat that was over hyped and doesn’t sell well in the local area but people further away think it’s really great.
When I got to Eurybia I sold the Beast Feast and did a few odd jobs for the Mafia.
One of the guys I was drinking with one night had been to the Organ Grinder. He said it was a real dive and he wouldn’t go there again if you paid him. He still had a scan of their business card he could give me.
Finally, a solid lead!