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"The most part of all princes have more delight in warlike manners and feats of chivalry than in the good feats of peace."
— Thomas More

140/597

     The Spirit of Vinland and the Fetter of Judgement (Baron Chan's gunship) are bound from Pretesh to Meles, a 14 light-year trip. The gunship can only make 10 light-years a week, so it won't arrive before 150/597. In about 40 days (on 180/597), the various bio-warfare devices on Pretesh will detonate, probably dooming the 88 million inhabitants (and any other vertebrate land animals on the planet) -- unless the "negative action" code is broadcast before that date. One of the various bio-weapons is C. diemos:

Information on C. deimos (from Preteshi library data program)

C. deimos is an anaerobe bacillus, capable of forming an endospore and surviving in the open for many months. It is related to C. botulinum (the common botulism bacillus) and C. welchii (the organism responsible for gas gangrene). Transmission from contaminated soil, wounds, and bodily fluids are all possible vectors. After an incubation period of 1 to 8 hours, the victim's limbic system is affected. Over a period of a few days, hallucinations, heightened emotions, and increased adrenalin production occur; these begin as brief episodes, but increase in severity and duration, leading to a berserk outbreak for up to half an hour. After this stage, the victim is subject to increasingly powerful seizures, and is dead within a few hours (usually from cardiac arrest). The infection may be treated with powerful antibiotics or hyperbaric oxygen; however, in the later stages there are also massive amounts of toxin in the bloodstream, causing the hallucinations, seizures and tachycardia.

thanks to Mike Sweeney for info on C. deimos

     Both ships left the Pretesh system loaded up to the bulwarks with fuel; this includes a couple of tons of boron carried in the Fetter of Judgement's cargo hold, to give it the needed range. Four persons are awake, aboard the Fetter of Judgement (the Baron, and 3 of his "daughters"), along with 2 more daughters and the 2 boys in the cryoberths. The other 5 daughters and 25 neices are on the Spirit of Vinland -- 5 of the nieces are now part of the frigate's crew.

150/597

     The two ships arrive at the Meles system. News of the Terrans' visit to the bastions at Pretesh has probably already passed through this system, carried by Vaylen courier vessels. Meles is an unimportant system, with only a couple of mined-out asteroid belts circling a dim red sun. Before the invasion, 50 persons manned a station, providing fuel and repairs to passing ships; now, the station is a waypoint on the Vaylen invasion route. A few ships are near the station; others are coming and going, often without stopping at the station (but sometimes contacting it by radio).

     There is some discussion about whether to send the de-activation signal for the Preteshi WMDs.

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    The crew decides to head for Daragas, by way of Zulfikar and Uzun-tra ...

180/597

    The Daragas system:  lots of Karsan League warships are gathering here. Baron Chan, his daughters and most of his nieces are deposited here, along with his gunship. He's very grateful, and presents the crew of the Spirit of Vinland with some tokens of his esteem.  All Terrans have an opportunity to make experience checks at this point. The Spirit is refueled, at a discount provided by the League military base commander:  cost, 5 Σ per ton for 107 tons = 535 Σ.

182/597

     The Spirit of Vinland lifts off from Daragas, headed for Zulfikar and perhaps out into Vaylen space.

197/597

     Arriving at Zulfikar, the Terrans interrogate the sensor torpedo they left in this system back on 124/597. The torpedo reports that a smallish ship is lurking "nearby" in low-observables mode, with its reactor powered down. The Terrans decide this must be a Vaylen ship looking for raiders (such as themselves) and decide to capture it sneakily. O'Reilly, Black, Captain McClellan and Ned (one of the Kerrn) gear up and board the Spirit's lifeboat; the lifeboat is sent drifting silently towards the Vaylen ship, followed by the Spirit at a safe distance. Once within 50 meters or so of the Vaylen raider, the Terrans launch themselves across (with some amusing moments due to Black's lack of zero-G experience). The Vaylen are caught by surprise -- most are killed by decompression as the doors and bulkheads are breached. A couple manage some faint resistance, but are quickly swept aside; one briefly escapes in the escape pod, but the pod is vaporized by the Spirit of Vinland before it can send a distress signal.

     The raider Neola's Claws proves to be nearly fully-fueled, and the damage does not prevent her from being flown away (though any high-speed atmospheric travel would be dangerous). The holes are patched enough to contain a half-pressure atmosphere, and the Terrans decide to carry their prize to Kermian, both for some repairs and to hire a few more crew members for their little fleet. Seven assault lasers are among the booty from the Vaylen ship, along with route information used by the Vaylen in their invasions of the Karsan League, and some route information within Vaylen space.

209/597

     Having skulked past Beilan, the Terrans arrive at Kermian, and pass through the various layers of security and escorts. Besides repairing the Neola's Claws (cost 200 Σ), seven human Hammer crew are hired (4 gunners, an astrogator, and 2 engineers, to receive a total salary of 300 Σ per month), a suit of Index 4 Iron is purchased (12,000 Σ including shipping container, etc.) -- the Iron is nominally for Lord Black, at least on the books of the Artificers' Guild. Two bomber guns and two auto-bombers are purchased, as well, along with magazines and a couple more cases of ammo (cost 200 Σ).  Both ships are loaded up with boron, at 5 Σ per ton (60 tons for the Spirit, and 20 tons for the Claws - total, 400 Σ). Time spend on Kermian:  6 days, including one day of "full rest". 

     All Terrans have an opportunity to make experience checks at this point.  

     The Terrans and Baron Chan's nieces take command of the Claws; the Kerrn and the new Hammer mercenaries operate the Spirit of Vinland. The two ships head off towards Lambda Cassiopeia ...

250/597

     Again having skulked past Beilan and Zulfikar, and having decided to leave the investigation of New Mornac for their return voyage, the Spirit and the Claws arrive in the Lambda Cassiopeia system. Except for some distant cometary objects, there seems to be nothing of note in this young solar system. The ships turn towards Cralc and the Freehold Worlds.

253/597 ... about 4 months till the Vaylen portal is completed

     The two ships arrive in the Cralc system. All Terrans have an opportunity to make experience checks at this point. There are some rather ramshackle customs vessels present, which challenge and approach the Terrans' ships.The customs crew comes alongside and board the two ships; they do some skimpy checks (looking in the larger compartments, waving integrity scanners at people's heads) and charge 60 Σ per ship for this service.

     Once the customs check is complete, the two ships go into orbit over Cralc itself. It's a red-brown world, mostly desert with small seas at each pole. The Spirit of Vinland descends to the north polar starport town, to spend about 18 hours purchasing boron and looking around; the plan is for the Claws to land once the Spirit of Vinland has returned to orbit. The port is pretty much just a flat spot near the colonial town. The Spirit needs 80 tons of boron, the Claws will need 70 tons; the 150 tons will cost the Terrans 7500 Σ -- this represents most of the boron available on the planet right now, including some purchased out of the fuel bunkers of local ships!

     In fact, the 150 tons of boron represents the vast majority of the boron available in the system. Ships came in from other planets in-system, the customs guys showed up at the port to sell some of their own fuel, fuel was flown up from the south polar settlements ... from just about anywhere within range. The prices offered ranged from 20 Σ per ton in a couple of early cases, to 100 Σ by a couple of opportunistic people. Starships from beyond the Freehold Worlds only show up here once or twice a year! 

     Northport has a population of about 800 persons, with a pretty wide set of ethnic types for a backwater world. Besides "ordinary" humans, the most notable minority are short, stocky types, immigrants or visitors from Junquert (a 1.23 G world). A fair amount of the town's infrastructure is clearly salvaged material -- water tanks, piping, building materials, furniture, etc. from old Federation-era cities or spacecraft. It's a hot, dusty town, but does have some features not seen in the Karsan League, such as public telecomms and various news services.

Northport News Best news for your money! Contact telecomm #6

Two starships have arrived from the Karsan League today:  the Spirit of Vinland (a frigate, captained by Lord Jason McClellan) and the Neola's Claws (a captured Vaylen raider). The score or so of crew members include five Kerrn. The ships are "just visiting" according to Captain McClellan.        The Neola's Claws grounded near Northport at 1350 hours, and the crew began negotiating for boron. The Spirit of Vinland will land tomorrow at 0750 hours, probably also at Northport. Supplies began pouring in, and offers have already been accepted as follows: Chandal's Service:  7 tons @ 22 Northbank credits Henrik Sulzer:  12 tons @ 35 Northbank credits, or 400 Tire Coupons customs vessel Great Cosset:  6 tons @ 75 Junquert Council Francs Rudy:  1 ton at 30 Karsan Standards      Contact Lord Alastair MacDougall to make further offers; the two vessels are still in need of over 100 tons of purified boron. Lord MacDougall has presented himself at all five local currency-issuing firms to enquire about rates; he has stated a preference to trade in Karsan Standards, however.      Selectman Fred Lomolon made the spacefarers welcome at Degan's Tavern, after which several of them have begun visiting our notable sites. Some of them have taken rooms at the Cralc Lodge and Sauna.   Andrew's Patrol Services Best Source of Northport Enforcement 3 Constables Always On Duty contact telecomm #11     Noof Treznik's Hauling Service Boron Transport A Specialty Low Rates, Most Major Currencies Accepted contact telecomm #144     Special Rates For Spacefarers At Lowry's Brothel and Pezro-Style Curry Restaurant Dine In, Take Out or Delivery Come For The Food Front Street - contact telecomm #120

     After obtaining fuel, the Terrans meander through the streets of Northport. Present are warehouses, grain mills and storage silos, repair shops, vendors of agricultural supplies and equipment, a few bars and restaurants, a brothel or two, junkyards, a couple of small medical clinics, a pharmacy, a theater, fuel depots, a small spacecraft repair/construction yard, a volunteer fire department, a couple of small schools, a swimming pool, a couple of general stores, a small Mundus temple plus a couple of other religious shrines ...

    McClellan puts on the ghost goggles and scans along the main drag of Northport -- a person with a naiven in their skull is immediately apparent! He and the other Terrans follow that fellow around a bit, and spot another one. They go and find one of the Civic Selectmen (Fred Lomolon), and ask him about the local rules and laws on worm infestation.

     "It's a violation of free choice and your ownership of your own self; but it's hard to tell what happened long ago, of course. In a general way, if they let us know about their wormey-ness when they land, we don't take any official notice; but anyone else on-world with a worm in their head is gonna get shot. None on world now officially, though.

     Oh yes, we can spot them -- a worm's got no sense of how to act."

     Black, McClellan and O'Reilly begin a search of the town in the evening, going from bar to restaurant to dive, checking out the inhabitants. MacDougall is dealing with the local merchants, and Burns is in charge of security at the ship. Soon enough, they enter a seedy bar, with a few torpid customers watching a young woman perform a salacious dance. The Terrans order drinks, just as McClellan detects a worm in the skull of the dancer. After a bit of discussion among themselves, one of the Terrans approaches the obvious pimp and arranges for an encounter with the dancer (the pimp is also carrying a worm).

     The Terran (which one? I forget) goes into the back with the woman, and his friends follow close behind. Guns and large knives are obliged to be left in a locked drawer behind the bar. Pretty quickly, the social encounter turns into a tactical encounter -- the dancer, the pimp, the bouncer, the bartender, and another prostitute are all Vaylen, and all end up dead -- stabbed, neck-broked, shot and generally mauled by the Terrans! The other customers of the bar are quite dismayed, of course. A couple of the customers offer to call various law enforcement services.

     Several constables (from two different agencies) and a different Selectman (Northport has two) arrive ...

forward to Journal entry 8

Thanks to Michael Sweeney for info on C. deimos.