back to the Index or to Journal Entry 5.

Extreme remedies are very appropriate for extreme diseases.

-- Hippocrates, Aphorisms

     It's 139/597; the Spirit of Vinland is sitting on a minor moon of a gas giant planet (Planet VI)  in the Pretesh system, a few hundred meters from the secret bastion of Baron Chan.

not to scale

     The Terrans discuss what to do, and how they will soak Baron Chan ... er ... offer noble assistance to the Baron and his lovely relatives. They return to the bastion -- with MacDougall this time -- and more facts are learned.

     There are other bastions present in the system:    Baron Chan knows of at least two bastions he's pretty sure are empty of people (that is, nobody made it to them); and five he is pretty sure are 'bad' (probably detected by the Vaylen). That leaves three to explore; he knows there were others which he never knew the locations of. The three possibly worth investigating are:

• on another moon around the gas giant next in-system, Planet V (Baron Ignatieff, a Hammer lord). "I had little contact with Baron Ignatieff and his clan," says Baron Chan, "we were engaged in a very long rivalry."

• below the surface of Planet II, one of the hot, inner-orbit worlds (Baron Mead, an Anvil lord). "Baron Mead is a very strange fellow," says Baron Chan.

• on yet another moon, around Planet IV -- the inner-most gas giant in the system (Baron Nemec, an Anvil lord). "Baron Nemec is an accomplished Anvil lord, and quite ruthless."

The two empty-but-probably-undiscovered ones are:

• on another moon around this same gas giant (Baron Butzi, an Anvil lord)

• out deep in the cometary halo of the system (Count Gomez-Singh, the Forged Lord of the system)

     The Terrans put MacDougall in charge of negotiating with the Baron; eventually he agrees to provide five of his nieces, some goods from his stash here, and 2,000 Σ as ... well, payment would be a crass word, but probably better than extortion! The Spirit of Vinland is also offered all the boron it can take. The Baron and his people will prepare for a rapid departure in the gunship Fetter of Judgement.

Utility and Service uniforms from Baron Chan's Hammer supplies;

a variety of PT uniforms, dress uniforms, cold and hot weather uniforms,

rain ponchos, etc. are also available; belts and holsters, small pouches, and some

other minor load-carrying items are also available. Some insignia are also

included in the stores. Note that the pants do not have pockets.

     Other discussions about Pretesh reveal some ugly facts about how the Toptanishi aristocrats expected to keep the Vaylen at bay; and that a bioweapon of hideous potency (plus a few other nasty WMDs) will detonate automatically on 180/597 if not countermanded by one of the senior lords of Pretesh. Baron Chan himself has blood of artificially-enhanced anti-naiven-ness; the women can alter their blood chemistry to drive naiven out of their skulls. The women are apparently part of some failed (?) Vaylen attempt to replicate psychological powers.

     After a few hours loading boron (with the assistance of the women), the Spirit of Vinland  takes off on a slow trip (6 hours) to the bastion of Baron Butzi, on another moon of the same gas giant; the five "nieces" go along as crew. Upon arrival, the bastion entrance is located easily; but the entry codes aren't working. At the bottom of the entrance shaft, a nasty trap involving two deeply-embedded fusors and an armed robot causes a bit of trouble. After getting past those pests, the Terrans enter the bastion interior, and find:

• a lot of 'survival' equipment, such as food, water, air filters, chemical toilets, etc.

• about 200 cryoberths, built-in to the walls

• about 100 persons in the cryoberths

     A couple of the people are revived and interviewed; it becomes clear that the frozen people are all lower-class types from Pretesh. About 80 of them are former (female) concubines, 12 are offspring of the concubines, and 8 are various non-concubine adults who somehow offended or inconvenienced the Butzi clan (but not enough to be exiled or killed). The Terrans and nieces revive all of the frozen people (however, 2 of the concubines and 1 of the non-concubine adults do not survive the revival process), move them to the Spirit of Vinland, get their names and brief information, dose them with cesso, and stow them in the ship's lifeboat. This process uses up most of the day. The 97 persons have a total mass of 4.75 tons, by the way.

140/597

     The Spirit of Vinland takes off and heads to a moon of planet V, to investigate Baron Ignatieff's bastion. Upon arrival, there is evidence (a large melted area on the frozen methane icecap) that another spacecraft has been present in the last few ... days? weeks? hours? The Terrans land on a rocky area, and proceed on foot to the bastion entrance (a large opening under a rocky overhang). Many footprints and a few vehicle tracks are seen in the snow ... the meaning of the tracks and any information about who made them, etc. is not understood by the Terrans.

     (Of course, what the Terrans missed were the distinctive prints of wierd Ksatriyen Iron suits)

     Black goes to open the door, and is somewhat surprised by how easily it opens -- because, of course, the Vaylen are waiting inside! Technically, a half-dozen or so Vaylen in Anvil armor, and three Ksatriyen wearing Iron. A short, nasty firefight ensues! The three Iron suits are knocked out first; before the Vaylen can shut the outer door, some Terrans slip inside. About the same time the last Vaylen are subdued, a powerful radio signal goes out from the bastion -- the Vaylen fleets have been alerted!

     McClellan observes one of the Vaylen prisoners with his Buro equipment -- the worm shows clearly with the ghost goggles!

     The crew of the Spirit of Vinland quickly returns to their ship (with a few spoils from the bastion -- most notably, two Vaylen fusors and a Vaylen heavy assault laser). Since the time before any Vaylen ships arrive is unknown (they'll receive the signal in anywhere between 20 and 40 minutes), they're in quite a hurry. They radio to Baron Chan to lift off in his gunship, also; the two ships briefly meet to transfer some of the Baron's women to the Spirit of Vinland's cryo-berths, and then both ships engage hyper-expansion drives, heading for Meles. 

on to Journal entry 7