Chapter 2: The Wayward Wind

Zuni paced feeling guilty and useless while the two ladies worked until Alerio came in with the bad news, "Shit. Girls, hurry. We need to skedaddle like yesterday. There's a back exit we can leave from."

"Ship?" she asks, as they stand as a four, by the back exit.

"Just to be safe? But we need fuel, and repairs."

Fuel, more than repairs, Alerio thought.

The crew dashes out the back exit and tried to make themselves look scarce. With the security detail so close, they try to disappear before heading back to the Wayward Wind.

Fallon's quick thinking takes you all down through the Cogs - the lower levels of a starport, made for maintenance and the transport of goods. You hitch a ride on a cargo conveyor to the backside of the station, then circle back to the private docking ring. Stepping through customs feels dicey, but they don't give you any hassle. Doesn't seem they've tagged you leaving the bar - probably still wasting their time running the security footage you scrubbed.Once back on the Wayward Wind, you can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Zuzu is very happy to see you all, and Goldie materializes with a formal greeting, and awaits commands.

With fresh fuel and time to let their heartrates settle, Seally goes back to reviewing the repair logs. The damage is so extensive, and the ship is veritably crippled in so many ways, she can't help but fret over what repairs they should embark on first. She doesn't know what the others feel is the most important either.

The hull microfractures, and the general system disrepair are both worrisome, but not dire.

The missing hardpoint is something they could get fixed, which would give them robust defenses, but that would chew up most of their resources.

The M-Drive is what most concerns her, but the total cost could be astronomical, easily five times what they can scrounge.

The J-Drive has a similar concern, and a similar cost. They simply can't afford to address those now.

The Holographic Hull, however, seems like something they could manage.

During their flight, Seally gathers the other three (and ZuZu) into the lounge for signature cocktails. "I think we need to hideout from the longarm of the law, so Forine might be the best bet. If we can get a birth in the station, and not get chased off prematurely," she elbows Zuni playfully, "I think we could get the Holographic Hull fixed, and maybe the turret as well. That would tap us out. Or we could fly as we are and save up to repair the M- or J-Drive. What do you think?"

When they escaped the authorities and Elixabeth was finally behind them, Zuni gave the crew the space equivalent of high fives, all around.
"That was some exctiment, huh? I do regret losing my pistol though. I feel kind of naked without it."

Later when they all meet for drinks, Zuni listens carefully to Seally's proposal. Thank the stars you didn't say Dawnworld, Seally! I think I would have been forced to leave you lovely ladies to fend for yourselves. Anyway, I don't think we should fly as we are. But those are big ifs. I promise to behave but will we get a berth?"

When Zuni mentions he feels naked without his pistol, Fallon gives him a grin and wiggles her eyebrows teasingly.

Once in the lounge, she can't feel help but feel disappointed at the lack of enthusiasm for Dawnworld. "Oh sure, who wouldn't want to spend time in a brutal and oppressive mining colony instead of a paradise planet? I bet the travel agencies are tired of booking so many trips to Forine. I think Forine's tourism slogan is 'Come for the ship repairs, stay for the shrapnel lungs!'"

"We also lose the benefit of the Lleywn name out there." Alerio says with a furrowed brow.

"Back at the bar, before it all went to shit, I was talking to a crew. They said that piracy is on the rise out here. Sword Worlders, too. If someone puts two and two together, they could be looking for us."

Alerio sighs, and leans into the repair logs.

"What I’m saying is that we might need weapons more than we think…"

With the course plotted for Forine, the crew dims the lights, shutters all viewports, and prepares for jump. Seally's jump equation is sufficient for the task, and Alerio easily opens the way. You settle in for the week-long journey.This week in Jump space is much quieter than the last two weeks, with no passengers or cargo to manage. You have plenty of time to pursue your studies. Zuzu loves this time in jump space, since he's the most entertaining thing aboard the ship and gets lots of attention. Fallon attends to her wound from the scrap with the Sword Worlders, and everything heals up nicely. It probably won't even leave a scar.When the week is up, Alerio brings the ship out of Jump space, and you arrive in the Forine system. A vast asteroid belt is arrayed before you, covered in a vast mining operations. Once an asteroid is hollowed out of minerals, it is converted into a factory complex. Some complexes are consist of many asteroids banded together. According to the library data on Forine, over 3 billion sophonts live and work in this belt.



A variety of ships stream in and out of the system, hauling out manufactured goods and mineral wealth, and hauling in food, water, and other essentials. Within the system, there are many prospecting operations scattered throughout the belt. Some operations of made up of many specialized vessels working together, while others consist of a single ship operations hopping from rock to rock in search of a valuable claim. Shuttles criss-cross the belt, taking passengers across the system.



At one of the largest asteroids in the system is the Forine Starport. You can tell it is overloaded by the cloud of orbiting ships waiting to access it.


As you are approaching, you catch a priority message on comms - a distress signal. It's coming from a Type R merchant freighter near your position, a ship about twice as large as the Wayward Wind. It looks like it was on it's way to jump.

This is Type R Merchant Astrogirl, calling anyone... Mayday ... mayday ... armed passengers attempting to hijack the vessel. They've taken life support controls ... innocent families are on board ... please help! This is Type R Merchant Astrogirl, calling anyone... Mayday ...

Zuni smiles at Fallon. It was all in good fun.

"You are probably right Aliero. I don't particularly want to meet up with any more Sword Worlders."

Later he calls up whatever info he can find on their destination, looking for mining output, popular trading items, fuel depots and the like. "Let me see what I can find out about Forine. It might not be so bad. Sorry. Fallon. I know you were jonesing for Dawnworld."

When the ship finally approaches the starport, Zuni whistles. "Heck, that's a busy place." But then he catches the Mayday. "Uh oh. Everyone see this?"

"Oh wow, that's crazy. Fallon, Alerio, I want to rescue that merchantman, are you with me? If so, prepare for boarding, grab your weapons and meet me at the main hatch."

She claps Zuni on the shoulder. "We're up big boy, tell them to let us dock and helps on the way. Unless the girls come up with a good reason not too, of course. Then, grab your stuff and run for the airlock."

Not waiting for an answer, she leaves it to the others to agree, but rushes for her cabin and grabs her sword and other weapons.

Fallon turns to Alerio. "If we survive this, I'm gonna need some combat training. I knew journalism could be a dangerous profession but I didn't expect to be so much fighting." Fallon dashes to her quarters to grab her meager weapons.

"I can probably help you with that Fallon. Contact sports are my specialty." After a large pregnant pause and a shit-eating grin he adds, "Karate and the like."

Then he gets down to business. "Ok, let's be heroes."

Zuni alerts Astrogirl and prepares to dock. "Uh ... ladies? Can I borrow a weapon? Or maybe someone has a wrench?"

Seally hands Zuni her flechette pistol as they wait by the airlock. She shows her the usage of it, the safety and the 20-round magazine. "It's quiet, which is why I like it, and not likely to punch through hulls."

"Thanks, Seally. You might be a lifesaver." He listens to the quick lesson while they wait. "Ok. Sounds good. Let's smash some hijackers."

He sounds like he is making light of the situation but in reality, he is thinking about what they might be confronted with and how best to deal with the possibilities that might erupt.

"Ummm, aren't you going to pilot us to dock with the merchant freighter?" Seally asks, wondering who is controlling the craft.

"Or are you leaving that to Goldie? Also, should we pick another name for her? Goldie was just an immediate thought."

"Of course Goldie is on the job. Do you think so little of me?"

Zuni feigns being hurt. "Yeah another name that fits better is a good idea. How about Hal? You know, from that old relic of a movie."

Goldie swiftly sidles the Wayward Wind up to the Astrogirl, and patches Seally and Zuni's comms into the channel with the Astrogirl's bridge crew.The Astrogirl's crew tries to give you some idea as to what to expect. The ship's life support has been disabled, and the hijackers are threatening to blow the airlock and let the air out of the ship if the crew doesn't open the reinforced blast doors to the bridge and surrender the ship. They are armed with autopistols and stole vacc suits from the ship's locker. There are probably two teams; one on the main level, messing with the power plant to disable the life support systems, and another team waiting for the bridge to open the blast doors.Goldie helpfully displays a hologram of a standard Type R deck plans while you wait for the airlock to cycle (the red arrow indicates the airlock location). Beyond the airlock, Goldie will only be available via comms.



The magnetic bolts clang loudly as your docking ring secures to the Astrogirl. The airlock door opens to reveal the industrial interior of the Astrogirl. An automated message is playing over the ship's intercom: "This is a code red - all passengers, please lock yourselves in your cabin and remain calm. This is a code red ..."


Interior hallway of the Astrogirl

You are currently on the rear end of the upper deck, and have access to lifts going to the lower deck and to the launch above (a separate shuttle). A long hall 27m in length has doors that branch off to the left and right - these are the passenger quarters. The doors are all locked and show no sign of forced entry. At the end of the hall is an iris hatch that separates the ship's crew area (and the bridge) from the passenger area. The hatch is closed and has scorch marks across its surface, indicating forced entry has likely occurred. There is likely some amount of hostiles beyond that door.

"On a scale of one to ten, how bad of an idea would it be to split up? I think I should head down to the deck below and try to restore life support systems. That will relieve some pressure when it comes to time."

Alerio nods when Seally asks if she’s in, and spins on her heel to go get suited and booted.

While they’re being brought in, she makes her way to the docking hatch, with her H.A.R.C ready to go.

"On a scale of one to ten? Maybe a six." she says, stern faced now that combat was on the cards. She wants to make the others feel safe, but she knows that things can get hairy. She’d been on this side of a breach one too many times back in the day.

"Keep your heads down. If you see something, call it out and I’ll light them up.

Are we taking prisoners?"