Chapter 2: The Wayward Wind

Alerio tosses some scrap paper down onto the table for the other two to look at. Scrawled on it are several of the things she wants to get shipped over before Seally wakes up:

"Alright, I’ve put together a list."

Life Support Mask. 1000cr
Electronic Binoculars. 750cr
Mobile Comms. 150cr x ?
Medkits. 125cr x ?
Trauma Pack. 750cr

"It’s not everything. And well, I don’t know what’s available. I also… was wondering about some of these. For this place…" she waves her hands around the ship. She pulls another piece of paper and presents it.

"Make it feel more homey…"

Autochef. 200cr
Hair Styler. 800cr
Environment Replicator. 2000cr
Holographic Play Table. 750cr

"Figured Seally might like at least some of that… when she wakes up, I mean. Oh!"

And finally, a last:

"And, well… this is for me."

Sniper Rifle. 700cr
Ammo. ?cr

Zuni isn't much for shopping. Never liked it and decided to leave that to the women. Still, he was interested in the shopping list and had a gander. Nodding his agreement with the more practical items, indeed some were necessities, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow or two at a few things on the list.

"Hair styler? Play table? Can we afford such ... toys?"

"You tell me." Alerio says with a shrug.

"We’ve been in jump for, what… a month total since the volcano? You enjoy our company that much, Hot Shot?"

Hot Shot, an affectionate name, but also a chiding reminder of how Zuni had them jump after he shot that Sword Worlder.

Zuni hangs his head in shame, his lips tight with tension. She was right of course. He had let them down with his rash behavior. For once no smartass retort was in the making.

He opened his mouth to say something nice but thought better of it because no matter what he said, it would sound wrong. Instead, he fixes his eyes uncomfortably on the list wondering how he can make it up to all of them.

The 24 hours goes by slowly. The bustling Forine system plays out around you, with hundreds of vessels coming and going at every hour. You count three more distress signals in this period hour, all of which are too far for the Wayward Wind to effectively respond to. Meanwhile, uncaring enforcement ships prowl the space lanes, only concerned with keeping the wheels of industry turning smoothly.

Fortunately, there is never a dull moment on a starship, and the crew is kept extra busy with the lack of 1/4 of their small crew. You do manage time to place an order with Guardian Arms and Armour, which sends an automated delivery shuttle loaded with your order. Seally emerges from the metabolic acceleration completely healed. Her hair is a month longer, but an automated manicure/pedicure has left her nails in perfect condition. She feels strong, but despite the docs supplying thousands of calories an hour via intravenous nutrients, she is ravenously hungry.

Alerio couldn’t help but think back on what was said at the bar; about hunting pirates out in the black. Distress signals rang in every few hours, which meant a) that one crew was earning a lot in a single day or b) that every approach to this station was being preyed upon separately.

Once they get the all-clear on Seally, Alerio claps Zuni on the back.

"Let’s go see if she’s alright!" she offers.
"She’ll be glad to see you. And to hear about all the money we just blew through!"

Fallon spends most of the time playing with Zuzu and napping, and a minor portion shopping. She figured her antique revolver was not very suitable for her current skill set and stows it away for future use when she has much more experience. She also worried about a hole getting put in her as well and decides some armor wouldn't go amiss.

Hearing Seally has been released, she heads down to greet her with the others.

"Yeah." Zuni is glad for the pat on the back from Alerio. He snaps out of his funk and vows to himself that he will make it up to the women.

"I bought some useful things. We will be much better equipped next time to deal with whatever comes our way I think." The once overly self-confident man is learning to temper his behavior.

"I feel for all those ships out there being preyed upon. It angers me. And worse, enforcement couldn't give a shit. We won't ever lose sight of our humanity, right?"

As he follows Alerio to see Seally, he feels grateful that she will be alright. "Fuck it, let's get that hair styler."

Picking at her hair, It's long enough to be the style from two years ago. I'd never be able to live that down, she gathers her things and thanks the med staff. "5 by 5, would recommend!" she jokes.

Her stomach is empty. Not just empty, but a veritable vacuum, and she wonders if you is hungry enough to eat ZuZu's nutrient rich slop.

Seeing her crewmates, she gives them all hugs. "Thanks for splurging on the medship. I feel strong and ready. Did my armor and shield come? Oh forget that, I'm literally starving!"

Seally heads to the common room where she downs some grub. She notices that their food stores are getting low and will need replenishing within a week. Maybe less, given her current appetite!

The crew unpacks their shiny new purchases. Although you paid top dollar, the Guardian products do seem high quality. Trying on the new vacc suits, they have that distinctive new-armour smell that never lasts long.As time for your meeting with Savine Nguyen is drawing near, a few hours away, you notice the whole system lights up with comm traffic. That's usually not a good sign, especially in a system like Forine. But you are pleasantly surprised; something amazing has happened.

A pod of three Alo'hei - giant, spacefaring organisms that appear as a gossamer rainbow of tendrils and protoplasmic matter - have just arrived in the system from Jumpspace. Each one is massive, nearly a kilometer long. Seeing one Alo’hei is a widely thought of as a privilege for the starfarers, a cosmic sign of good fortune. Witnessing a group is a life-changing experience for many. Whilst almost everyone who sees an Alo’hei considers them the most beautiful thing in the universe, a small proportion – of various races – react with stark terror at the sight, describing it as a primal fear originating beyond conscious thought.

You bring these breathtaking creatures up on long-range scopes:It seems like the whole sector slows down with the arrival of the Alo'hei. Many ships start drifting toward the Alo'hei, which are moving toward the system's yellow star at a rapid speed. It is almost like the pilots are drawn like iron filings to their magnetic beauty. This is possibly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and some might be moving in to get a closer look. But, others might be aware that so little is known about these creatures - the right buyer might pay a hefty sum to get their hands on sensor data from a close encounter.

Fallon looks at the view from one of their screens. "Well I'll be," she whispers. "Ok, I guess this is technically better than a beach paradise planet. We made the right choice." Fallon begins writing down what she's seeing and feeling, hoping to turn it into a news article in the very near future.

Alerio starts to laugh as she gazes at the things.

"Looks like things are on the up for us!"

Still, with news of the pirates out there, and all those ships dashing towards the sight… she does feel antsy. She knows that the Wayward couldn’t do anything about it anyway, if someone tried something funny.

"Things are on the up!" she repeats.

She pokes Zuni hard and repeatedly. "Oh, oh, oh, plot a course, let's get some scans then burn for the Nguyen asteroid. I'll run the math." She's looks at the front of the ship. "Goldie, run the math! How close can we get to them and then still make our appointment at maximum thrust."

"Youch, Seally. What did they give you in sick bay? Strong arm pills?" He playfully jabs her back and does as told. "I'm on it and waiting for Goldie's calculations. If we nab some good scans we might be able to retire, like next week!"

Goldie chimes in. "At once, Dame Seally. I have plotted an intercept course and routed it to the main pilot's con. Estimated time of arrival: 42 minutes."

Zuni returns his comfortable pilot chair, Goldie's flight path lit up on the holographic displays. He throttles up the manoeuvre drive to maximum, and gently nudges the Wayward Wind on course.

You can determine that the Alo'hei are moving fast, equivalent to a Manoeuvre-4 drive. It far outstrips most of the Manoeuvre-1 and 2 ships that make up the majority of the vehicles in the system. Those ships get a short fly-by as the Alo'hei race past them on their way to the sun. However, the Wayward Wind, with its powerful Manoeuvre-6 drive and skilful pilot at the helm, quickly makes up ground.

When you are 10 minutes away, the Alo'hei begin to decelerate and fan out their tentacles toward the sun. Basking in the star's rays, they truly begin to glow. In moments, they are so bright that it is difficult to look directly at them.

Watching the Alo'hei through scopes, you record everything. However, sensors are having a hell of a time pinning down any details.

"The creatures' unique biology emits a powerful field of quantum energy that creates a hyper-dimensional resonance, thus making it nearly impossible to isolate any meaningful data from the sensor readings," Goldie explains, somewhat helpfully.

"I bet if I scan through the readings I may find a pattern. Biological lifeforms can have consistent patterns just like artificial ones. If I can find a pattern, we can attune the sensors to mask out the background noise." Fallon sits at the sensor station and searches for meaning in the noise.

"Let me see if I can get the sensors a little extra juice. Shouldn’t cost us much, if it’s only for a short time. Give me a minute here."