Serro's Ship Log

Entry 212

We caught word of work available on one of the lesser known vacation spots in Primeus space. Tenion, a remote world in the Zeyus system. While its stellar location is well within known space, its considered a 'remote' world merely for the slow tourin lanes leading to and away from it. Anyone wanting to take an expensive off-world vacation rarely has the time. One other thing that makes the world stand out is it's natural luminescent forests. Few people use wood furniture, and those few are after some retro or art-deco look only the wealthy bother to try. Apparently the wood from the trees here retain their shimmer even after construction or treating. The local government is really into conservation so exporting the lumber tends to be erratic and limited. It's impossible to establish any consistent trade with the world for the lumber, making it a rare commodity for unique furniture. Which is what brings me here.

Gra'zeknum was in the process of getting a small load of the shimmer lumber on the Needle when I was approached a quiv asking for transport off the world. He claims he just missed his flight, so when I asked for his flight ticket to see if his claim was legitimate, that was all the documentation i needed. I'm not the transport authority. Besides I figured any quiv trying to get off any Primeus world would be a worthy cause. It didn't stop me from overcharging him a little though.

He called himself Jin'kins. His gear suggested some Primeus military training, especially the long range rifle slung on his back. I just had Gra' lock his gear away and keep an eye on him. We finalized the trade documents and went on our way to Krutos in the Fellos. The cost of the trip really doesn't make the job that profitable, but it's on our way, and I hear Krutos has more business opportunities.

Entry 213

Just as it was getting to Tenion, the trip away was long and uneventful. We took a lane change when things turned weird. Our ship signaled that there was something obstructing the lane up ahead, I had to quickly pull the grip to prevent us colliding with whatever it was. When the ship slowed down I found the free-floating asteroid field. Usually these are pushed away by gravity emitters, but our sensors told us one of the emitters must have been out. As I got closer to maneuver through the field we get a distress signal. A courier class ship is floating in the field. Usually this happens when inexperienced pilots try traversing the fields they can end up space hulks when they're not careful. I called back for confirmation and they gave a response believable enough.

I called Gra' to suit up in case there was trouble. Jin'kins offered to help as well. But as our ship got closer, the scanner finally picked up an emblem on the ship it didn't recognize, but I did. The Moon Spiders. A pirate clan of quiv that emerged before the quiv rebellion. Things weren't working fast enough for them in getting out from Primeus control, so they escaped. Nobody would offer amnesty for fear out of making an enemy with Primeus, so they could only survive through piracy. When the quiv finally won the rebellion and formed Melthos, they refused to join. Whatever reasons they had for it, they never said, only that their raids and captures stay frequent enough to reach the ears of any independent trader, but not too frequent, so as to require a call for action against them by any major nation.

I immeditately called an alert, turned the ship about, and pushed the impulse full power. If there was one thing the Needle was good at, it was getting away. But this small courier apparently had the same idea. They stepped up some sort of short-lived booster and kept on our tail. I had Gra' take shots at them with our plasma cannon, but he's definitely a better shot with the personal firearm than the ship-mounted. With a chase getting nowhere in open space, Gra' opted for the boarding pod, apparently so did the pirates. Gra' took the new guy and boarded the enemy ship and gave them hell. Meanwhile I had to deal with 2 pirates that boarded my ship, alone.

I securely locked my systems to buy some time in case they tried to take control. When they found me I was ready. I took a few ineffective shot, but my purpose was to lead the 2 invaders through our cargo hold and space them. Meanwhole Gra' and Jin'kins were fighting through the enemy forces of the ship to the bridge. After spacing my own invaders, I made my way back to the cockpit and got the ship up and running. Through some creative hacking I was able to take control of the Moon Spider ship, and get to their captain's CAF (combat assist frame), which provided enough a challenge to halt Gra' and Jin'kins' progression, but luckily Gra' has experience and is geared to take on heavy powered armor.

After Gra' killed their captain, and the rest of the crew, we salvaged what we could from their ship, I wiped their computer to get rid of any evidence of us being there, and moved on. Gra' reported to me the capabilities and actions of our new guy. I'm going to need to question him and find out what his intentions are aboard my ship, or get rid of him as soon as I can. Whatever it is we'll need to figure it out before we hit Krutos.