Characters: All
NPC: Captain Nokh Khoen, First Officer Gunderson, and crew
Location: The Seeker of Prime Hunting Grounds
(Aengkfaertoezthuedou)
System: Llaedh
It's been another good week aboard Aengkfaertoezthuedou. The new
crewmembers continue to make inroads with the old crew.
Onguk is actually showing signs of liking Mazun's company, provided that they
stick with engineering and physics. Getting to know the ship's doctor continues
to be a formidable task, primarily due to Mazun's busy list of chores. Arthur
continues to supervise Mazun's gun maintenance, but by the end of the jump
Arthur gives Mazun a passing grade. "You've got the hang of it. You don't need
me anymore."
Arthur continues to pick up a few basic Gvegh words by hanging out with Joe and
the gunners, Rrokoth and Doukhken. Their space combat sim games have developed
into a friendly rivalry. The combat chatter is sinking in.
Joe continues to sleep well in jumpspace, the hum of this ship's engines putting
him at ease.
Upon Nokh's recommendation, Darrurz takes part in some of the space combat sims
with the gunners. Gunderson supervises. During his downtime, he reads up on the
Pack's economy through the ship's newsfeeds.
After emerging from jumpspace, all crewmembers are at their requisite stations.
There's a bit of tension on the bridge; Gunderson explains to Darrurz in a
whisper that it's because Llaedh is on the Pack's border with the Wilds. The
ships on patrol here are wary of every ship that enters the system. Darrurz
notes that his display shows three Thaksoeghuksaknag class frigates
converging on their position.
Nokh handles contact with the local defense network. After a few minutes of
terse exchanges, Nokh visibly relaxes and gives the order to decelerate.
Upon landing, Nokh disembarks first. He explains that he has a meeting to
attend. He has the box that Darrurz brought to him from Warden Uegallae.
Gunderson finds the comm number for the Starport Warden's office so that Darrurz
can drop off the relief supplies for Irkoetae.
Gunderson announces that after the crew have finished their assigned arrival
tasks they're free to disembark. "This is our last safe port before we head out;
the Captain says you guys should take advantage of it."
Mazun shouts out, "Planet walk! Planet walk! Who's in?"
His enthusiasm generates friendly guffaws from the vargr gunners. With all the
chatter, it seems like everyone will be leaving the ship to take advantage of
the restbit.
Joe replies, "No way, Mazun. I took a walk with you last time and nearly froze
my ass off." He smiles widely to accentuate his humor. "This time I've got a
different Idea."
Mazun laughs. "Have fun!"
Joe turns to Gunderson "Hey Gunderson. When you had me audit the survival locker
while we were in jump I noticed something very familiar to me. Would it be
possible to borrow a fishing rod and some lures? I remember some day long ago
sitting on a river dock with my grandfather and learning to fish; it looked like
there was a river near by I could go tap."
Gunderson cringes. "You need a fishing license." Joe looks at him with sad,
puppy dog eyes. Gunderson quickly crumbles and sighs. "Aw hell. Go for it, but
keep a low profile. If you get caught, I'm going to deny everything."
"Thanks, boss," Joe says with enthusiasm.
It takes the crew a couple of hours to finish their arrival chores, but once
they're done, people split into groups.
The gunners, Rrokoth and Doukhken, are headed out to the hills for a run. They
promise to get Joe to the river beforehand and pick him up afterwards.
Onguk states that he's going on a hike.
Mazun says, "Hey Onguk, long time no hike for me. Mind if I tag along? I've
hiked my share of Lishun mountains."
Onguk tilts his head to the side, an ear drooping. "Sure. Come along."
Mazun stocks up with hiking shoes, a backpack, water, more water, food rations,
sunglasses, a cap, and a water-proof jacket at the ship's locker, and happily
tag along. Triple-check the shoes, take more water than needed.
He notes that Onguk doesn't bring anything along except for his comm. Mazun
raises an eyebrow and asks innocently, "No equipment or supplies?"
Onguk chuckles. "I said I was going on a hike, not scaling a mountain. I'll be
sticking to the trails. And I don't believe it gets any higher in altitude than
200 meters."
Mazun laughs. "I see, you said 'hike' and I thought 'mountain'. Never mind, I'll
take the backpack anyway to get back in form."
Onguk laughs, too. "You erred on the side of preparedness. Nothing wrong with
that."
Dathuel and Aru don't say where they're headed.
Gunderson will be headed out with Doctor Arkummu to pick up medical supplies.
Arthur and Darrurz opt to join Rrokoth and Doukhken on their run. Both figure it
could do them some good.
The general consensus is that everyone will meet up later at a restaurant called
"Vargr Siesta".
Characters: All
NPC: Captain Nokh Khoen, First Officer Gunderson, and crew
Location: The Vargr Siesta
System: Llaedh
An enjoyable day was had by all.
Arthur and Darrurz enjoyed their run with Rrokoth and Doukhken. At times, Arthur
had a feeling of deja vu. Darrurz felt invigorated.
Joe had a calm, relaxing day fishing. He got caught, but the park
rangers—one human male and one vargr female—didn't bust him.
Instead, after hearing Joe's story, they let him go with a verbal warning. They
also hung with him for twenty minutes or so before moving on. He didn't catch
much, but he let them all go anyway.
Later, Rrokoth and Doukhken laughed when they heard how Joe talked his way out
of a ticket. Gunderson looked relieved.
Mazun's hike with Onguk went well. While it wasn't what Mazun would consider
challenging, it was a decent warm up for someone who hasn't hiked in several
decades. He enjoyed the scenery and left Onguk to his thoughts most of the time.
He noted that Onguk snacked on wild berries and drank from streams. When he
looked receptive, Mazun engaged in friendly chatter, inquired about good hiking
locations in the Pack's worlds, and offered his top ten Lishun hike accounts.
"I will never see those worlds, those mountains," Onguk said, somewhat somberly
while they rested at a scenic overlook. He rattled off a few Pack worlds for
Mazun to try: Tagan, Gvunaeknun (if he's willing to deal with the cold), and
here on Llaedh. He pointed to some mountains in the distance. Mazun scrutinized
them, making a mental note to check them out in the future.
Onguk asked him if he's ever done any mountain climbing on vacuum worlds.
"Funny you should ask. I was planning to just when the war broke out, had my
next shore leave all planned and a nice large gas giant moon chosen. Then all
went down the sink. Have you done it?"
"No, never had the chance. That's a completely different experience. I often
wonder if it evokes the same feelings. For vargr, part of the allure of hiking
is the chance to partake of the myriad scents of a world. But on a vacuum
world...it may be a feast for the eyes but the nose will be starved."
Mazun nodded. "Never thought of that. I guess the ears will be starved too. I
like the sound of nature almost as much as the humming of a well-tuned engine,
not much of that on a barren world through your suit. Unless you put on a
symphony in the audio system to go with the sights."
"Yes, yes. The ears." He looked skyward. "While a symphony has its merits, it
still wouldn't be the natural environment. But what choice does one have?
Listening to one's own labored breathing? Hardly inspiring."
Fortunately, everyone has had time to shower before heading over to the Vargr
Siesta. The new guys are informed that the place serves up Solomani food from
the North American continent. The place is a hit with both humans and vargr and
has spawned many imitators.
Mazun wrinkles up his nose. As far as Solomani food goes, North American cuisine
was not his favorite.
Nokh was apparently the first one there and has grabbed all the tables on 1/3 of
the backyard patio. A warm breeze blows through, bringing in the scents of the
city and the kitchen.
Dathuel and Aru are the last to arrive and are dressed in some rather nice
street clothes.
Nokh is at the head of the table with Gunderson on his right and the ship's
doctor on his left. Mazun sits next to her and Onguk sits to his left. To the
right of Gunderson is Darrurz and Arthur. The gunners sit next to Arthur while
the vargr ladies sit across from them and next to Onguk.
Mazun looks around while sitting, and in an awful imitation of the worst
Solomani accent, he says, "Hey doc, how'd ya doing?" and smiles.
"I'm good, thanks. How was your hike?"
"Very nice, thanks for asking. It was good to stretch my legs again after all
these decades," he jokes. "We went past through this beautiful valley..." and
adds a couple of brief comments about the sights.
"Sounds wonderful. If I ever get the time, I'll have to check it out."
Mazun nods. "Let me know! I sure hope you do not get too busy, doc. Although I
guess you have enough on your plate even if none of us is injured or sick, it's
not a small crew to keep track of."
She nods. "There's always routine physicals, air and water samples to analyze
and document, status reports to file. A doctor's work is never done." She adds
a smile. "But I love it."
"Thank you for joining me," Nokh says. "This is our last friendly stop before
our hunt in the Wilds begins, and so I'd like to share this meal with my pack.
"I've been in meetings," he rolls his eyes, "all morning, but I have good news.
Tomorrow, the results of the expeditions to Unarsukhgnargvo and Korstsouth will
be publicly announced. Unarsukhgnargvo came through relatively unscathed. Being
a beach bum world paid off. Korstsouth took more damage but is also relatively
intact."
Some cheers go up among the crew.
Nokh's voice drops to a lower level such that no beyond the table can hear him
above the music and the din of the crowd. "But what won't be in the news reports
is that we weren't the first to contact them. Pack Security wants to wait and
see how our mission goes first.
"It seems that our target world has sent out some ships of their own. Locals on
those two worlds told our recon teams that the Tsougak Trade Federation is alive
and well and that Unarsukhgnargvo and Korstsouth are members. But from what our
recon teams could smell, it seems like more bark than bite."
Onguk raises his paw. "So does this mean the mission has changed?"
"No, it's still a first contact mission, but it does change the nature of how
we'll go in. While it's a relief that it won't be a Vakh world, we don't know
if these wolves will greet us as allies or a rival pack trying to steal their
food."
Joe says, "Yes, this is both good and bad news in one. Did you get a full copy
of our scouts' report or just an abridged verbal heads-up? And did the scouts
report back anything more about the nature of the Tsougak Trade Federation and
the current situation of Tsougak as relayed by this TTF to the people at
Unarsuki... errr whatever, and Korstsouth?"
Nokh replies, "I have the full report and it's all in there."
Mazun quickly asks, "Did the scouts get any info on whether the TTF knew about
the Tagan's Pack? Was it a surprise for them, or should we expect expeditions
going the other way right now?"
"The people on both worlds were surprised to meet our scouts. The TTF made no
mention to them about us so we either have the element of surprise or the TTF
know about us and didn't want these other worlds to know. If TTF expeditions
come through, they'll encounter our patrols at Ourrgkhuzugh, Guekha, and Khugz."
Once the questions have been put to rest, Nokh picks up a shot glass and raises
his paw. Everyone has one at their disposal. A quick whiff reveals that it is
tequila. "To a successful hunt."
For those who have never seen a vargr do a shot, it's different than when they
have a regular drink. With the latter, they normally lap up their drink from a
bowl. With the shot, they slam it into the base of their mouths from the side.
It looks a little weird, but it's an adaptation they've managed to make over the
centuries to go shot for shot with humans.
Joe looks at his shot glass with interest and then following the example set by
the others downs his shot. "Kurrphh—wow—Krek." He pats himself on
his chest. "Wow, that's good stuff. Sure beats the juice they served at the
hospital. What did you call it?"
"Tequila," Gunderson says while wincing. "Some actually call it 'ta-kill-ya'. I
try not to have too many of them myself. Back to beer."
Joe makes it a point not to have anymore Tequila and switches to water to wash
out the taste. It reminds him of something he'd rather forget.
The bulk of the menu is variations on meat, cheese, vegetables, and beans in
some form of crunchy corn meal shell or soft corn meal based wrapper called a
tortilla. There are other dishes that avoid this combination, particularly those
that involve seafood, but it seems like refried beans comes with every meal.
The vargr gunners quit doing shots after about the fourth one. Arthur keeps up
with them (he has to!) and Mazun does as well. Joe begs off but the gunners
don't tease him.
Mazun socializes with the whole bunch, even the tight-lipped techs. He even gets
to chat with the doc, who admits to being curious about the Imperium and what
medtech they had ("I've heard stories.").
Mazun drops a couple of comments about the med suites from the higher-tech-end
and tries to answer the doc's questions.
The doctor is intrigued by Mazun's stories and expresses her hopes of finding
something salvageable out in the Wilds. "I suppose those of us who know about
people like yourself, revived people from that time, hope that you can help us
recover what was lost."
"I hope to be of help. I haven't really internalized how much has been lost. I
mean, I know it intellectually, but not a day goes by without me looking up for
some TL-15 piece of equipment in reflex or wondering why the computer does not
anticipate my wishes."
"I'd imagine that it does seem hard to grasp. You went to sleep in one world and
woke up in another. Maybe we'll come across something in the Wilds that will
make it sink in."
After a pause in the conversation, Mazun says, "Say, if you could have a choice,
what kind of equipment would you really like to recover?"
"Wow, that's a tough one." She taps her lips with her index finger. "I think I'd
love to see one one of those advanced automeds. I heard that they're able to
treat brain trauma with minimal intrusion into the cranium. And the broad
spectrum retrovirus treatments sound fascinating. Limb regeneration, too. Maybe
that one would be better. We have rudimentary organ cloning, but it has to be
done in a hospital, and it takes months." She laughs. "You asked for one and I
gave you about half a dozen. Let's make it an automed. But we'll need two: one
to use and one for the engineers back home to take apart to see how it works."
All-in-all it's a fun evening, and after a few hours, the crew make their way
back to the ship for a good night's sleep.
Characters: All
NPC: Captain Nokh Khoen, First Officer Gunderson, and crew
Location: The Seeker of Prime Hunting Grounds
(Aengkfaertoezthuedou)
System: Llaedh, then jumpspace
The crew wakes and prepares for departure.
The ship lifts off from the starport. Nokh requests a jump plot to be laid in for Guekha's gas giant.
Jump!
As promised, Captain Nokh distributes a copy of the reports that the Tagan
Security recon teams filed for Unarsukhgnargvo and Korstsouth to the crew. He
gives everyone six hours to review them. At which point, there will be a meeting
whereupon the crew will be welcome to discuss the reports.