Thunderchilde season 2: ThunderParrotCast:
Josiah Farmer
Captain of the new ship, He is a man who keeps hard candies on hand and offers them to just about anyone he meets. Tries to stay on the good side of the law, but mostly because he's bad at lying.
Lester Camp
He is the ships pilot. He is a workaholic with somewhat of a bad temper. This can be quite bad as he REALLY likes guns. An expert astrogator and computer programmer. Also a pretty darn good cook.
(Re)Gina Marianis
Ships Surgeon. She is a Companion academy dropout. She is on the run from a powerful coreworld politician who wanted to add her to his harem, as she is a striking beauty. Also a bit of a weapon aficionado, she owns a 40mm grenade launcher and a newtech Monomolecular-edged Katana.
Amber Tobin (Formerly Geena Goodspring)
Ship's Engineer. No longer Wanted by the law, her faked death was engineered by Violet Wu. A brilliant technician with good looks and a gambling problem. She has a steady "Gentleman-Friend" in the chief engineer of Graingers Garden, an Utat class Space Station.
Violet Wu
A recurring passenger and sometime (unofficial) crew member. She supplied the crew with newtech radios with frequency hopping and gigabit encryption. She owns a silver mine on JiangYin. She has shown considerable skill in the art of forgery.
Episode 1……………………………………………………………………………………………7-8-2017
The scene opens where last season left off, with the crew gathered around the dinner table aboard the new Mantis class freighter. The discussion continues about what to name the new ship. Several names are suggested, but none garner much support.
Violet comments that she liked the name of the original ship, the Thunderchilde, " So… what? Thunder Parent?" Captain Farmer mishears. "ThunderParrot… I like that!" Amber, Gina, and Lester all agree. It's just strange enough to appeal to all of them. ThunderParrot it is. After the meal, Captain Farmer Accesses the cortex and registers the new ID, and Gina goes outside to paint the new name on the hull.
Lester, realizing that the new autocannons are worthless without the ability to aim them, writes a targeting program for the ships computer. He gets the job done, but does not like the ships computer's operating system. It's "user surly". He also buys upgrades for the programs that they already have. Amber, finding that Scarab class shuttles such as the ones that they used to have on the Thunderchilde are comparitively cheap and plentiful here. She purchases two of them and spends a week adding berths cut from scrapped Firefly class ships into the sides of the ThunderParrot.
Soon thereafter, they start discussing their first destination. Violet says she has an upcoming job to do on Beaumonde, so she hopes they choose to head there, but says she doesn't want to influence the crew's decision. They allow as Beaumonde is as good a destination as any, and start looking for a cargo and maybe some passengers. Captain Farmer asks around and finds that there is an industrial firm that needs 500 tons of magnesium stock ferried to Beaumonde and is offering two credits per ton to have it done. A bit of further searching finds a 400 ton shipment of office equipment (Mostly photocopiers) going the same direction at three credits per ton. Amber advertises for passengers and gets an elderly ex-con and a young alliance corporal whose hitch is up. He's going home.
The journey to Beaumonde is swift and uneventful. Violet waits at the ramp with her luggage. She says goodbye to the crew, and says she'll try to send work their way. To Gina she says "Take good care of them, xiao mei mei; They're good people." She gives the Captain a peck on the cheek and heads down the ramp. Lester says "Bet she'll be back before we lift." Captain Farmer says "I'd count on it."
The crew deliver their cargo, then look into spending some of the profits of the trip. Amber goes shopping for robots. She buys 2 cargo bots, and a love bot reprogrammed for cooking and housecleaning. She starts setting up inductive flooring to keep the love bot charged without having to use a power cord.
The crew settles on Hera as their next destination. They figure there should be some good cargos available going from an industrialized world like Beaumonde to a highly agricultural one such as Hera. Captain Farmer locates a cargo of livestock embryos in their own life support systems that will pay three credits a ton. The only stipulation is that the corporation's people load and unload the cargo. It's very fragile. Amber locates a party of 10 settlers that need a ride to Hera. They can pay 50 credits per person. They have 10 tons of homesteading supplies, and ask the Captain what he will charge them to haul that as well. The captain says "No Charge."
Once everyhing is ready for liftoff, Josiah and Lester are somewhat suprised that Violet did not show back up. (Probably a good thing, as there are no more staterooms available. She would have had to share a bunk at best.) The planets are at a particularly advantageous conjunction and the trip only takes 90 hours (3.75 days). They deliver their cargo and start to look for their next one. They decide that since Beaumonde and Hera are so comparatively close right now they should probably take advantage and do a return trip. The Captain gets a wave from Alliance Federal Marshall Eustace Danforth (Season 1 Ep 3). He asks if Captain farmer knows the location of Li-Jing Goldfarb (an alias of Violet's) The Captain states (truthfully) that he doesn't know where she is, or even if she's alive or dead.
The Captain locates a 400 ton cargo of industrial diamonds that are needed back on Beaumonde at 3 credits a ton. The crew decides to try their hands at a bit of speculation. Gina buys ten tons of extracts and spices, the Captain selects a ton of live flowers (Potted), Lester, checking for shadier cargos finds that there is a 49 ton load of fireworks (Black Cat Firecrackers!) that the recipients are willing to pay 5 credits a ton for if delivered to a certain hunting camp. Amber and the captain select 400 tons of specialty cheeses. Amber is approached by an agent in a dark suit and sunglasses. He wants to do a security check of the ship prior to purchasing passage for his patron aboard the ThunderParrot.
After a thorough sweep of the ship, the agent requests Three first class passages. He and a fellow agent bring aboard a striking blonde in a black dress and hat. Gina recognises her as the star of a show on the cortex. She is a valuable property, so the security makes sense.
The ThunderParrot returns to the New Dunsimir spaceport on Beaumonde, and escort the starlet and her guards from the ship. They unload the diamonds and deliver them to a local warehouse. Once that's done, Lester files a local flight plan then immediately deviates from it. He flies stealthily to the hunting lodge to deliver the fireworks, then returns to the starport the same way. The crew spend the next few days shopping around for buyers of their speculative cargo. They have read the market correctly, and make a hefty profit. Amber shops around for seven electric 7.8mm Gatlings. She finds them, but has to have the Captain bring the ships papers and sign for them. She plans to mount them at the cargo ramps and airlock.
While they are still on Beaumonde, Violet calls them on their encrypted comms. She noticed they had come back and wants to offer them some work. She has found a buyer for all the lead that is a byproduct of her silver mine. She offers 2 credits per ton that they haul, and there is enough for three trips. Plus Amber can complete the maintenance and repair of the silver mine operation that was interrupted by the destruction of the Thunderchilde (Season 1 Ep 4,5,6). She also has an aquaintance, a master machinist and gunsmith, Arlo Cooper, who wants to emigrate from Beaumonde to somewhere settled but on the frontier. Violet has recommended Nineveh on Jiang-Yin.
The crew of the ThunderParrot decide it's easy money, and since they'll be deadheading half of the round trip, they can engage in more speculation at basically no additional cost. They decide to agree to the deal
Episode 2……………………………………………………………………………………………7-22-2017
Violet brings Arlo to meet the crew. Her hair is bright white, and she has small white feathers in her eyelashes. She explains that that is the style here.
As the group discusses what cargo to take to Jiang-Yin, violet recommends mules, the hydrogen powered four wheel drive all terrain vehicles. She says that those are always in demand there. They also opt for some small portable hydrogen cracking sets, to provide a fuel source for the mules. The Captain suggests they get a few of the large five ton industrial versions as well. Gina gets several tons of junk food and a few tons of spices and extracts. She also lays in a supply of ribbons, laces, and cloth by the yard. She buys tons of spare parts for industrial equipment, and tons of both high and low tech lubricants. Ten tons of assorted ammunition rounds out the cargo, and Amber has a bright idea. She decides to purchase twenty more assorted Lovebots, and an additional five of the male version to see if she can arrange a deal to create a robot whorehouse on Jiang-Yin. Violet gives her a letter of introduction to a "Miss Betty" in the town of Nineveh.
They find out it will take a week and a half to get the bots, so Amber spends her time mounting the electric Gatlings in the cargo ramps and the airlock. Captain Farmer is standing in the open rampway when a squad of alliance troopers show up, led by a Major Gruenwald. He asks to speak to the Captain. Amber finishes bolting the Gatling that Josiah is holding up. Major Gruenwald notes that with the recent resurgence of terrorism by the so called "New Resistance", he couldn't help but notice that Captain Farmer had just purchased ten tons of ammunition, seven Gatlings, and less than two months ago a pair of autocannons. He inquires as to who the autocannons have been sold to. Josiah assures him they were never sold, they are mounted on the top deck of the ThunderParrot. He takes him up into the ship and shows them off.
The Major is still somewhat suspicious, as the ammunition for the cannons is fin stabilized, and therefore is only effective in atmosphere. This would be great for ground attacks, not so much for anti-ship defense, as the major points out. The captain did not realize that was what Gina had bought, and makes plans to replace the ammunition with high Explosive Squash Head rounds.
The crated bots finally arrive, and the ThunderParrot lifts for Jiang-Yin. Lester calculates the trip will take 7 days, 20 hours, and 33 minutes. In the middle of the fourth night out the Captain and Lester are both sitting on the bridge (They are both insomniacs) when the communications system picks up a faint recorded distress signal. Changing course slightly to intercept, they find the very front end of an Alliance patrol boat tumbling through the black. Josiah awakens the rest of the crew, and they don vacc suits "just in case". Lester maneuvers the magnetic grapples at the rear of the ship to connect to the derelict.
They find two corpses still strapped into the control couches. They loot the ships locker for 5 rifles, 5 pistols, several trauma kits, the ships computer (an Asimov Cybernetics model 1292-E), and cut out the wall safe from the captain's office. From the wardroom on the lower deck they recover some MRE's and a five gallon polyethylene container of everclear (ethyl alchohol). Captain Farmer cracks the safe and finds the ships orders as well as a codebook. Using the information in the codebook, he finds a data frequency that is still in use. He notes the frequency and the access codes, then Amber flushes the codebook out of the airlock. Lester sends out a wave announcing what they have found, and stating that it appears to have already been looted. They opt to tow it with them and park it in orbit around their destination. Lester calculates the path to the origin of the derelict, and Josiah recognizes it must be from the battle of Sturges.
The ThunderParrot arrives at Nineveh, and the crew notices the old starboard shuttle of the Thunderchilde sitting right where they left it. When they open the cargo ramp, they find a young man waiting there to speak to them. He introduces himself as Agamemnon Wu, and asks if they are by any chance planning on going to Bernadette any time soon.
When Captain Farmer indicates that they are not, he then asks are they going anywhere that he might be able to get transport to Bernadette. Not many ships come here, and he needs transportation. He says he had a difference of opinion with the captain of the freighter he was serving on, and elected to leave the ship. Captain Farmer inquires as to whether it was an amicable parting and Ag says yes, and his old captain cashed out his share of the ship's fund, so he has no problem paying for passage. Josiah offers to let him stay aboard until they are ready to lift. Ag goes and gets his gear, a duffel bag and a shotgun. He asks if the Captain would like to put the shotgun in the ships locker. Josiah tells him to keep it in his cabin. On the off chance he should need it, access would be quicker that way. The crew contact Sheriff Chang,
who had already been waved by Violet to assist in getting Arlo, the new gunsmith settled in. Lester and Amber take a shuttle out to the silver mine to complete the troubleshooting of the systems there. Amber solves the mechanical aspects of the issue, Lester works on the computer side. Amber discovers that the holographic terminal here has connections to every major library in the 'Verse. Lester opts to copy the accesses at Amber's suggestion to be able to get the same service on the holoterminal that Violet had installed on the ThunderParrot. The lead has been cast into ingots and is waiting in the bins. Four hours later, the mine's efficiency is back up to par and Amber and Lester head back. Meanwhile, Gina has set up a booth in front of the ThunderParrot, and (Un)dressed in a bikini, is selling ammunition, snack foods, cloth, extracts, etc. The Captain gets on the local network and strikes deals with a local lumber firm to sell a logging truck as well as one of the large hydrogen crackers. He also arranges to sell a hydrogen cracker to a large ranch at a hefty profit. When Lester and Amber return, the crew opts to dress up and go out to eat at the Gan Bai(Season 1 Ep 5-6).
Gina continues to schmooze during supper, and strikes a deal to sell all of the mules to Johnny Dury of Dury's Livery. They also strike a deal with the owners of a series of quarries for industrial parts and a hydrogen cracker. The next morning Gina opens the booth, and there is a lot more traffic. Word has spread. Johnny Dury arrives in a HUGE 'grav truck and hauls away the mules and their spare parts kits. Amber heads out to get breakfast, and waits until around noon to go see Miss Betty. After getting directions from a deputy, she knocks on the door of "The Scarlet Lantern". The Butler (probably also a bouncer) escorts her to a drawing room where Miss Betty arrives shortly.
Amber provides the letter of introduction, and puts forth the idea of a robo-brothel. Miss Betty is many things, but not indecisive. After much discussion she agrees to a partnership. Amber, noticing the open lot next to the brothel suggests installing a hydrogen station over the well there, as there is about to be much more demand for hydrogen with all the mules they brought. Miss Betty, a sharp businessperson agrees.
Episode 3……………………………………………………………………………………………8-19-2017
On the third day, Gina realizes that a bikini on a planet so close to it's primary was not such a good idea. She has an intense sunburn. The crew notes the arrival of a Sandfly class spaceship with Alliance mail service markings. One of the crew of the new ship drives a mule with a loaded down trailer into town, as the Captain comes over to the ThunderParrot. Gina welcomes her, and she introduces herself as Jess, the Captain of the Bellflower. She asks if Captain…(checks her datapad) Farmer is available. Gina calls for the Captain, and in the meantime sells her four credits worth of sundries. Captain Farmer arrives, and Jess informs him that Major Gruenwald of Beaumonde has ordered her to check to see that the gatlings and autocannons are still mounted within the ship. She doesn't like it any better than he does, but she shows him her orders on the datapad. He reads through them, then tells Gina to take Jess through the ThunderParrot to see all the guns. After gossiping over a cup of tea for a bit, Jess takes her leave.
The next morning, having sold pretty much everything, Gina puts away the improvised display tables and the ThunderParrot lifts for the mine. Agamemnon Wu is quite impressed by the concealed mine entrance. The cargo robots, working with the mine's robots have the lead loaded in just over two hours. Lester pilots them up and out of atmo. As Lester is plotting the new course, he notices that the front end of the Alliance patrol boat is no longer where he left it, hanging in orbit. Someone has already scavenged it.
The trip back to Beaumonde is fairly uneventful. Amber takes the Asimov Cybernetics model 1292-E that they scavenged from the patrol boat and jury rigs it to run connected to the port shuttle. It powers up and states that it detects that it has been installed in a Scarab class shuttle with no registered name. It asks if it should assume normal ship's functions. Amber tells it yes. It then says two programs are detected, it requests permission to recompile them to more efficiently run with it's hardware. It notes that the originals will not be overwritten. Amber gives it permission, and seconds later it reports completion. The programs are now D8 when run on this particular system.
When the ThunderParrot approaches Beaumonde, Lester gets a wave from Violet that says to let her know what docking bay they get from spaceport control and she would have the 'grav trucks waiting. Lester texts her the bay number. Since it's about 3:30 am local time, Lester is somewhat surprised that the trucks are waiting. Violet, with a functionary in tow, meets the Captain at the cargo ramp. She still has the white hair and little white feathers in the eyelashes. She says she'll have the bots start unloading the lead, and if the Captain would care to step into the common room, she'll see to the payment. As soon as the door closes behind them, all trace of formality evaporates. She hands Captain Farmer two 500 credit notes, and the remaining 850 she does via a credit chip transfer. Once that's done, she looks around and spies Agamemnon. "Guh Guh!" she shouts and tackles him. He barely manages to stay upright. He looks very confused, and evey member of the crew draws a weapon and points it at him. He looks at her, and it finally clicks. "Violet? What in the world are you doing in that get-up?" She says it's the style here. Captain Farmer says "So he's okay then?" Violet replies "Of course he is. He's my brother!" They finally realize that what they heard as "Guh Guh!" was in fact "Ghe Ghe", informal for elder brother in mandarin.
The two spend a few minutes catching up, then Violet, obviously torn, tells Gina that they need to speak privately. She makes Agamemnon promise not to leave, then takes Gina into the Medical bay. She tells her that when Gina was last on Beaumonde she had triggered a facial recognition program. Senator Grimes had been alerted that she was on planet. Violet says she has connections, some above board, some not so much. She asks if she needs to arrange an "accident" for Senator Grimes. Gina says not necessarily, but if she could arrange to have the site of his "harem" raided with some planted evidence of wrongdoing, that would probably get the women there freed. Violet promises to see what she can do. Violet goes back to the common room, gives everyone a hug, then leads Agamemnon off the ship, chattering excitedly.
Amber goes to a junkyard and gets the proper connection module for the new computer. She wants it properly mounted and connected in the shuttle. She also works on connections between the shuttle's computer and the ship's computer so that in the event the main computer takes a hit, the Asimov 1292 can take over.
Lester has an idea. The 700 ton cargo bay at the back of the ship is a replaceable module. The ship is designed to be able to pull more than one module, but cannot land or take off with more than one. Lester gets on the local cortex and finds a Mantis class that's under repair, and negotiates with the owner to rent their cargo module for a round trip to Jiang-Yin. Josiah, Amber, and Gina like the idea, and Gina tracks down a used cargo module. Amber is able to repair it, so now they have a second module of their own. The ThunderParrot takes off for Jiang-Yin towing two extra cargo modules for a staggering 2350 tons capacity. This brings their cruise speed down from the normal class 6 to class 3. It will take longer, but now they can carry all the remaining lead plus the 200 tons of hardwoods and 350 tons of quarried marble they got as part of the trading on the last run that is still waiting at their destination in a single run.
They cross paths with a BlueSun unmanned megafreighter, and keep their distance so as not to be fired upon by it's automated defenses. When they pull into orbit around Jiang-Yin, they note another ship is here. It is a Devon class salvage ship. The ThunderParrot leaves two cargo modules in orbit, manned by Amber, and lands on the sod field next to the town of Nineveh. Amber chats with the pilot of the Devon class, and learns that the captain of the ship has a salvage yard here on Jiang-Yin. She makes note of the coordinates.
The crew leaves the original module to be filled with their cargo of wood and marble. A ten year old girl comes up and asks if Amber is aboard. Lester says no, but asks if he can help. She says no, Miss Betty sent her over with a package for Amber Tobin.
Lester calls Amber on the ships Comm, and lets her speak to the little girl. She tells the little girl it's ok to give the package to Lester. He opens the bag and finds 350 platinum pieces. He gives one to the little girl, which makes her day. The ship returns to orbit without it's cargo module, then ferries the other two down to the mine for loading with lead. Finally down, Amber delivers mail to the local post office sent from Violet. She goes and checks with Miss Betty and makes sure all is well with the business. She reports that the little girl did a good job, and thanks the Madam for the platinum.
At one point, while Lester is at his usual location in the pilot seat, Amber comes in and tells him she's going to be doing some maintenence and testing. She shuts down the ship's computer and pulls it from it's 3 foot by 2 foot socket and sets it on the floor. She goes back to the shuttle, and throws the lever that connects the Asimov 1292 into the main ship's systems. It states that it detects that it has been installed in a Mantis class ship with the registered name ThunderParrot.
It asks if it should assume normal ship's functions. Amber tells it yes. It then says five programs are detected, and it requests permission to recompile them to more efficiently run with it's hardware. It states that the originals will not be overwritten. Amber grants it permission, and minutes later it reports completion. The programs are now D8 when running on this system.
Lester has noticed that the ship is back up, despite the fact that the computer is lying disconnected on the floor. He has figured out what is going on. Amber comes back in and reseats the original computer into it's port. It only takes a moment for the new computer to negotiate network connection the original computer. Gina, hearing of what the new computer did with the software, asks it if it can recompile the programs so that they will run on the original computer as D8's. The new computer runs several hundred thousand simulations, then says that it can. Gina says to do so. The computer is busy for several minutes then reports job completion.
Lester ferries the original cargo module, now containing wood and marble, to the mine. The last of the lead is loaded while he ferries the other two loaded modules to orbit. Once the remaining lead is loaded, the ThunderParrot links up with the other two modules and heads back to Beaumonde. Once there, they bring the modules down one at a time to be unloaded. Violet returns, and asks if the crew would be willing to go to Bernadette next. Agamemnon is still headed that way, and Violet says she needs access to the advanced medical facilities there, as she has some scars she needs to have regenerated. The crew agrees, and Violet asks them to let her know exactly when they plan to leave, timing is going to be somewhat critical. Agamemnon comes back aboard. Violet quotes a specific time she would like to leave, since the Captain can't give her a set time.
The ThunderParrot returns to orbit, leaving a crewed shuttle. Violet arrives at the shuttle at precisely the time she quoted. She shows her ident card to Gina, and says that her name is Ingrid Tanaka. She says she is taking her ill mother to Bernadette for medical treatment. Accompanying her is an advanced medical bed on wheels containing an elderly unconscious female. Gina plays along until the hatch is closed. Once rendevous is made, the ThunderParrot leaves orbit. Captain Farmer tells Violet that the crew has decided to go back by Jiang-Yin on the way to Bernadette if she doesn't mind. She has friends there that she'd like to see, so she's quite content with that.
Episode 4……………………………………………………………………………………………9-2-2017
The ThunderParrot pulls away from Beaumonde, and Captain Farmer is startled by a voice he has never heard before. "Captain Farmer, this is the auxiliary computer. I'm detecting a short range radio transmission within the ship. Should I block it or allow it to continue?" The Captain says "Oh, great. Now I'm hearing voices." and looks at Lester. Lester says "Block it." Seconds later, the two hear the slam of a door on the upper deck, then the running footsteps of Violet. She flashes past down the stairs and dashes aft to the passenger quarters. The Captain follows at a slower pace, arrives at Violet's quarters, and asks what's going on. She tells him that she suddenly lost radio contact with the diagnostic computer on the medical bed. He looks at the unconscious elderly lady, then back at Violet, and decides not to ask any questions.
Instead, he asks Lester and Amber, who have by this time arrived, about the computer. Amber explains that it is the one they salvaged from the patrol boat, and that it is supposedly an experimental expert system, as close to artificially intelligent as anyone has ever been able to make. Amber notes that it needs a name. She decides to call it Delphi. Delphi formally acknowledges it's new name. Captain farmer has Delphi unblock the radio link.
The next day, Violet goes in to see Gina during the regular hours she normally spends in the Medical bay. She has gotten rid of the weird white hair and has gone back to her normal brunette look. She reminds Gina that she had said she would look at the scars that Violet needed regenerated. She has her hop up on the table, and she removes her blouse. Her back is covered with whip scars. Gina suprises her with a dose of tranquilizerthat puts her unconscious. With Violet out, she examines the scars. There's only so much she can do for them with the equipment on board, but what she can do, she does.
Violet wakes up in a grumpy mood. She does not appreciate being put to sleep. Gina asks where she got the scars. Violet tells her it was the Magistrate of Lilac. Gina expresses concern, and Violet replies he's dead now. She saw to that personally. In fact, she says, she had to wait until the Thunderchilde arrived on Lilac to give her a way off world before she could actually kill him. She describes exactly what drugs she used on him, and it was definitely not painless. She made sure he suffered, and understood what was happening before she let him die. Gina sees a new, vindictive side of Violet. Gina steers the conversation around to the elderly woman in the high tech medical bed. Violet tells her the woman is just plain evil. She gives several examples of the horrible things the woman has done, and because she is politically well connected, the Law won't do anything about it. Gina states she would be tempted to kill this woman herself. Violet says, no, she wants justice. She explains that a group of relatives of the woman's victims, and in a few cases some of the victims themselves, pooled their money and contacted an organization in the underworld to have her kidnapped and delivered to them. Violet heard about the contract, looked into it, and decided it was the sort of thing she could feel good about doing. "Besides," she adds with a grin, "they're paying me well for it."
The next time Amber passes through the common room the love bot pipes up with "Good afternoon, Amber. Would you like for me to fix you something to eat?" Amber is speechless, the love bot has never spoken on it's own initiative before. Delphi's voice comes from the ship's intercom,"I have assumed control of all three of the ship's extensionals. Was this incorrect?" Amber tells it no. She rather likes the fact that the bot is more like a real person now. The next morning Lester is grumpy because the bot has been cooking, and has not put things back exactly as it found them. Delphi has the bot rearrange every item to the way it was before the it started cooking. Lester is mollified.
The journey to Jiang-Yin is uneventful, other than several "discussions" between Agamemnon and Violet about her choice to be a law breaker. She puts forth that being a vigilante becomes necessary when the Law can't or won't act. She eventually brings him around to her way of thinking. As the ThunderParrot lands in it's now usual spot, Lester and the Captain notice a long range shuttle parked on the sod with markings for All Worlds Cortex News. Violet notices the Thunderchilde's old starboard shuttle with surprise. She asks if the crew would be willing to sell it. She wants to put it in the hangar at the mine. Lester doesn't want to sell it, but is perfectly willing to store it at the mine on indefinite loan. Gina goes to the local hardware store in search of a paintball pistol and paintballs. She plans to create a new martial art based on the simultaneous use of pistol and katana, and wants to be able to practice safely.
While she is gone, Sheriff Chang brings a couple of young folks over to the ship. He introduces Jennifer Hendrix of All Worlds Cortex News, and her cameraman, Matt Puckett.
She wants to interview the crew about their victory over the infamous pirate Gaston Li, and the crew of the Purple Dragon. (Season 1 Ep 6) She invites them over to the Gan Bai for lunch and an interview. Captain Farmer and Amber take her up on it. Violet joins the interview since, as she puts it, "It was all my fault." Lester elects to stay aboard the ship. When Gina returns, Lester tells her the Captain is in the Gan Bai, and wants to see her immediately. As she walks in the door, she sees the holocameras and immediately goes to the old shuttle, and flies off to see about some exotic woods and stone for cargo to Burnadette. She is fuming that Lester sent her into the Gan Bai knowing full well she needs to avoid publicity at all costs. She lines up the cargo, but elects to stay the night in the shuttle to allow plenty of time for the reporter to leave.
When Gina returns in the shuttle the next morning, Violet takes it, and with Agamemnon, goes out to the mine. She shows him all the land she owns, then stores the shuttle in the hangar at the mine. She calls on the radio and requests a pick up at the mine when the ThunderParrot is ready to leave. Amber receives another 175 platinum pieces from the 10 year old courier (Lacey) at the behest of Miss Betty. Once again she gives the girl one of the platinum pieces for her trouble. Soon they have their load of exotic wood and stone. They put the cargo containers in orbit, pick up Violet and Agamemnon, and head for Bernadette. Violet gives Amber a big hug and tells her she is her good luck charm. Since Amber and Lester repaired the systems at her mine, the robots have struck platinum. The value of the mine's output has gone up.
Violet later asks Amber if she copied the accesses from her terminal in the mine and put them on the terminal on the ship. Amber says "Am I in trouble if I say yes?" Violet says of course not. Amber says "Then yes." Violet shows her the one part she missed. She says to always route any of these accesses through a virtual private network she gives her access to. That way it cannot be traced.
Other than a clogged filter in the atmospheric scrubber, it is an uneventful trip. Once at Bernadette, the crew have their choice of skyplex, or ground based starport. They opt for ground docking. Traffic control asks for their reason for coming to Bernadette. Lester replies that they are bringing a native back to his home, and that they also are carrying a passenger from Beaumonde, and her mother who is coming to Bernadette for medical treatment. They are asked to scan and transmit the idents of the aforementioned passengers. Agamemnon runs his ident through the scanner, and Violet scans the idents for Ingrid and Maryann Tanaka. They are cleared for landing. By this time Violet is back in her white wig and feathers disguise. Once they are down, Agamemnon thanks them not only for the transportation, but for all the good things they've done for his sister. He goes to the exit of the docking bay, rents a locker to store his shotgun and pistol, and goes through the scanners that constitute customs.
Gina gives the Captain the contact information she had gathered when selecting the cargo originally, and he begins the process of marketing the exotic materials to customers here on Bernadette. Lester and Amber elect to go shopping while Gina elects to go along with "Ingrid" in the role of doctor to deliver her patient.
Lester locates a store that supplies hospitals and such, and Amber decides to surprise Gina by upgrading the medical computer. They had already settled on a new one when Amber finds an Autodoc. This is a computer operated robotic surgeon. It consists of a box five feet square by ten feet long. The patient is put into the box, and the Autodoc analyzes the patient, and administers any treatment necessary. By itself it can handle anything from a gunshot to an appendectomy. In the hands of a skilled doctor, it can do anything up to and including transplants. Unfortunately, it costs a hundred thousand credits, roughly a quarter of the cost of the Thunderparrot itself. After a quick conference with the Captain, they decide to pull the money from their Fidelis Financial account (Season 1 Ep 5) Amber arranges to have it delivered.
Meanwhile, Gina and "Ingrid" wheel the medical bed through customs. The false idents stand them in good stead, and they are met by an ambulance with full medical crew. The "Patient" is loaded into the ambulance, and Violet and Gina climb aboard as well. The ambulance flies to an undisclosed location, and lands in an underground parking area. The bed is unloaded, and the ambulance and crew leave. A large bearded male of mongolian heritage approaches. "Welcome home Violet" he says. He looks through the glass at the elderly woman. "Yep, that's her" he comments. He punches several buttons on the medical bed, reads the results, and nods. He hands Violet a credit chip. She reads it with her datapad, to verify the amount, Shakes his hand, and he wheels the bed away with the help of several friends that were standing by. Violet tells Gina this place is run by a local tong that she has a little pull with. If there's anything out of the ordinary that she needs, this would probably be the place to get it. She asks if Violet knows of any good hackers. She leads her to the "office" of the self styled "Black Skull". He appears to be all of 16 years old. She explains that she has already been removed from all the major databases, but recently on Beaumonde, she triggered a facial recognition program. She wants to know if there is any way to prevent this in the future. Black skull gets the reference code of the facial scan from Violet. He pulls it up, tracks it, and blocks it from happening again. Gina says Minister Grimes has quite a few pictures of her, and might try to use another one as the reference. Black Skull sets a facial recognition program of his own, with the original reference image. If anyone tries to use any image of her as a reference for facial recognition this program will cause it to automatically fail. She doesn't ask a price, just hands him her credit chip. When he hands it back, it's 1000 credits lighter.
She then has him go in and put in a bulletproof background for her current identity. He hacks her old medical school. Her medical credentials are once again valid under her current alias. She contacts an old friend from her companion academy days and tells her to give Black Skull a VERY good time.
She visits an electronics booth and asks about some specific experimental processors. They are a rarity, as they were created for an experimental project: the Asimov Cybernetics model 1292-E. The fellow looks through his inventory index, then expands the search. He sends the two of them to a competitor at another booth. They arrive to find this gentleman has two of the experimental chips still sealed in the original packaging. Gina buys them both, as well as several other related processors. She purchases nine Asimov 9000 series chassis with maxed out memory. She has the chassis' delivered, but she carries the processors herself. Violet returns from the restroom, finally rid of the white wig and feathers once and for all. They go back to the doors of the entrance and Violet requests the door guard call a taxi for them. While waiting, Violet buys two boxes of hot fresh donuts.
They arrive back at the ThunderParrot just as the Autodoc is being delivered. When Gina sees it, she has to fight to keep from squealing like a schoolgirl! Agamemnon calls Violet on her HoloWatch, and says that Dad is off planet going mountain climbing. Mom insists she come for dinner, and bring the crew. The donuts are set down and forgotten. Gina is torn. She wants to meet Violet's mother, but she wants amber to install the Autodoc. Amber says she's hungry. Eat first, then install. The crew puts on their finest duds and violet calls a GravCab(tm). They arrive at a middle class (for Bernadette) house in the suburbs. The crew is introduced to Agamemnon and Violet's mother, Li Li Wu.
Violet is exited about getting homemade squid again. Li Li asks insightful questions of each member of the crew, and in return tells hem about herself. She is a professor of ancient greek at the University of Bernadette. Agamemnon points out that she taught Dad how to speak greek so as to speak in front of the kids without being understood. That backfired quickly when their older sister learned it and taught it to her younger brother and sister. Li Li shows them a picture of her eldest, Melanthe. She says Melanthe is currently on Londinium, working for Military Intelligence.
Gina implies that Lester and Amber are an item, Amber implies Gina and Violet are an item, and Lester implies that Captain Farmer is an alchoholic (None of which is true). Li Li sees what they're doing and doesn't believe a bit of it. After a huge meal, Li Li insists her children stay the night. When the crew makes as if to leave, Violet calls a cab for them and prepays it. The crew returns to the ThunderParrot. Since it's so late, Amber decides to install the Autodoc in the morning. They decide to install it in the area formerly allocated for the ships locker, across from the medical bay. Reading the specifications, Gina suddenly realizes that with this Autodoc, she could fully regenerate Violet's scars. Amber has to remove a wall and then reinstall it to get the Autodoc where it needs to be. Once it's installed and connected, Gina loads the reservoirs with the appropriate medicines.
Captain Farmer gets a request for passage from a freshly graduated student who wants to take his new minifac home to Verbena. Violet reccommends they apply to the Alliance Colony and Settlement Authority to be certified to carry colonists, and see if there are any colonists headed that way. It turns out they have a group of 56 colonists and 700 tons of gear going to Charity, a moon of Beylix in the Kalidasa system, not far from Verbena. An inspection crew comes and thoroughly examines the ThunderParrot. It doesn't hurt that the ship has been endorsed by a local native that has flown in her. Agamemnon made that call.
The cargo is loaded into one of the two cargo modules at the skyplex, The passengers in the other. Gina calls Violet and tells her she can regenerate her scars with the new equipment. Does she want to come along? She makes record time getting to the ship. After laying in sufficient food and life support for so many passengers, the ThunderParrot heads for Charity. Gina has allocated all the staterooms for mothers with infants so there are none left for Violet. She elects to stay in the central shuttle, at the top of the ship between the autocannons. As a bed, the fold down seats leave a lot to be desired, so she mainly sleeps in one of the padded chairs in the crew commons.
Her back constantly itches from the sessions in the Autodoc. Captain Farmer has told Delphi to play dumb while there are passengers aboard. Violet asks him to allow Delphi to speak normally while she's alone in her shuttle. He is just too useful an assistant in her correspondence courses on business and law. The Captain relents. It takes just over 15 days to arrive at Charity. Amber stays with the module full of cargo in orbit while the rest of the crew take the passengers down to the preplanned colony site. Gina flies a 10 mile radius search pattern to make sure there is no immediate threat to the colonists.
The module with the colonists and Gina stay on site while the ThunderParrot goes back up and retrieves the module with the colonists's supplies. Once the colonists are settled in, the ThunderParrot continues on to Verbena, roughly 23 hours away. They set down next to the small town of Deadwood. They return Conley O’Sullivan to his home and help him get his minifac unloaded and installed. Gina sells medicines to the town doctor
Episode 5……………………………………………………………………………………………9-16-2017
The crew decides to head to Beylix since they're only 13 hours away. Once they're in transit Violet calls a meeting. She says she realizes that when Gina invited her to come along when they were leaving Bernadette, she probably did not consult with the rest of the crew. She doesn't want the crew saying "Great Bhudda! Why won't she go away?" behind her back. She just wants to make sure she's welcome here. They all assure her she's welcome. In that case, she has a proposal for them. She wants to replace the Crossbow class shuttle she has been staying in with a Longbow class by the same manufacturer. It is larger, but has it's own pulse drive and would make a good life boat if something were to put the ThunderParrot out of commission. She'll buy it if they'll carry it. They agree. She gets on the cortex to a firm on Beylix to purchase it and have it outfitted to her specifications. It's an expensive bedroom, but she won't have to sleep in a chair any more.
The ThunderParrot docks at the main Skyplex over Beylix. Amber, with the best of intentions heads out to find parts for the ship but sees a casino right across the docking ring from the ship. She knows she has a gambling problem, but can't resist. She compromises. She goes back and gets Captain Farmer. She separates out 200 credits, gives one hundred to the Captain to gamble with while keeping an eye on her, and takes the other hundred to gamble with for herself.
Meanwhile Gina looks up an engineering firm, and goes to talk to them about a feasability study for adding a framework and pulse engines to allow the fully-loaded, double-moduled Thunderparrot to travel at her normal speed rating, and to be able to land and take off with both modules. She has them start the study, then goes shopping. The Skyplex is basically one big mall.
Lester goes carousing. He goes to a bar called The Sterling Mug. He winds up Striking up a conversation with a young lady who is assistant engineer and alternate pilot on an '03 firefly class that's docked at the ring, the Brittania. He invites her back to the ThunderParrot.
Violet is surprised to be left alone on the ThunderParrot, but is cheered by the fact that they trust her that much. She sits down at the table in the passenger commons and works on her correspondence courses. Eventually Lester comes through the passenger commons, giving a tour of the ship to a young lady with blue dyed hair. She seems to have an almost unhealthy interest in advanced technology. She has explained to Lester that she is from a low tech back-water world where she never saw anything more advanced than the wheel until a ship landed near there. She stowed away and never looked back. Lester takes her to see the rest of the ship. Eventually they wind up back in Lester's cabin. Thoughtfully, Violet makes a "Do not Disturb" sign, and tapes it to the door.
Eventually Amber loses the hundred credits that she had alotted herself. Captain Farmer, however has gained a hundred and five credits over and above the hundred he started with. He tips the dealer five credits, then gives the two hundred back to Amber. They're right back where they started, but have had free food and drinks. They arrive back at the ship about the same time as Gina, who is loaded down with new clothes. Some of these are for Amber, who's fashion sense is nearly nonexistent (according to Gina). Violet alerts them that Lester has a guest.
As it gets on toward evening, local time, Gina decides to cook dinner. She starts frying bacon. The smell permeates the ship. Lester steps out of his cabin and says "Get the hell out of my kitchen!" and takes over food preparation. A few minutes later, the young lady with blue hair comes out as well. Lester introduces her as Naomi Hale, and after chatting for a while, Captain Farmer offers her a job on the 'Parrot. She appreciates the offer, but she believes her crew's firefly would fall apart without her. Lester demonstrates his skill in cooking, and Naomi is impressed.
The next morning, Amber makes plans to go down to Beylix to shop for docking connectors for Celestine shuttles. She plans to mount them on the top of the Cargo Modules. They will keep the original shuttle that Violet is replacing, and dock it to one of the modules. The crew has decided to also get one of the pulse drive capable Longbow class shuttles such as Violet is buying, and mount it to the other. Since the whole crew is going, they invite their guest to accompany them. Violet carries the white umbrella she was carrying when the crew first met her. Captain Farmer asks "Do you know something we don't?" "Not as far as I know," replies Violet. They find the parts and have them ferried up to the Skyplex.
Their guest informs them that the Brittania is about to leave, so she has to go. She and Lester share a private goodbye, then she heads out. Amber gets to work on the docking mounts. Two days later, they're good to go. The crew ride down again in a commercial passenger shuttle to pick up the new shuttles (Violet's is finished the customizing she ordered.) Gina buys a hovermule, and Captain Farmer and Lester fall in love with a huge Wheeled all terrain vehicle. (Think LandMaster from the movie Damnation Alley)
They arrange to have the vehicles ferried up to the ship, and Amber and Violet pilot the respective Longbow class shuttles up to dock with the ThunderParrot.
The crew elect to travel to Newhall since it's less than an hour away. Since that's Lester's homeworld, he decides to visit his parents. On the way to Newhall, Violet receives her last scar removal treatment in the Autodoc. The Autodoc informs Gina that the syntheskin that has been sprayed on Violet's back should begin peeling in two to three days.
Newhall's main export is water. Captain Farmer checks the cortex to see where water is needed. He settles on the Motherlode asteroid belt around Red Sun. He buys a load of water in one ton polyethelene containers. He also buys salt, since it's so cheap here (a byproduct of the desalinization). Violet decides to buy some frozen squid, which gives the Captain an idea. He buys frozen seafood. It should sell well in an asteroid belt. Amber advertises for passengers. They get a group of four, three men and a woman that need a lift to the Motherlode. Two are brothers, the other two are unrelated.
Lester goes to visit his parents, and Gina and Violet tag along. Gina acts as though she and Lester are an item, but Lester flat out denies it.
Once the cargo is loaded and passengers and crew are back onboard, they head for Red Sun. The trip starts out uneventfully. Violet's back starts to peel. She goes to Gina to have her remove the remaining strips of syntheskin. Her back is now unblemished. She expresses her gratitude to her doctor. As she is interacting with Violet, Gina's latent psionics become active, and she realizes she is detecting Violet's emotions directly. She mentions this to no one.
On the second day of the trip at precisely 3:27 pm ships time Lester gets the feeling that something is not right. He checks that his monocrys armor duster is still hanging on the back of the pilot's seat, and checks his .44 magnum revolver, a reproduction of the classic Smith & Wesson model 29. He hears a footstep, turns and sees the four passengers approaching the bridge with weapons in hand. He shuts off the artificial gravity throughout the ship, slaps the intercom and says "Intruder Alert!" as the lead passenger shoots him with a stunner. He shakes it off. The one that shot him seems to know how to handle himself in freefall but the other three don't. He aims up to try stunning Lester again and Lester fires three shots as fast as he can pull the trigger. Conrad Underwood (That's the name he gave to the Captain) takes a round to the right arm then the left leg, then the left arm. One of the rounds continues through and catches the female passenger (Genevieve Stanford) square in the chest. The Townshend brothers (Phillip and Nicholas) toss their stunners away and cry out "Don't shoot!"
Meanwhile, Amber who was working on the outside of the ship in her armored vacc suit didn't notice anything wrong. Captain Farmer, who was taking a nap, awakens when the ship goes into freefall. He grabs his Schofield revolver and goes to investigate. Gina, in the medbay, swims over to grab her katana. Violet hears the intruder alert announcement, and grabs her umbrella. She still has artificial gravity since she's in her shuttle, but tumbles out of control with a burst of adrenaline and a startled cry when she exits the shuttle's G-field.
Lester turns the gravity back on, and holds the brothers at gunpoint. Violet is the last (barely) to arrive and the crew laughs that she grabbed her umbrella until the captain notices the green dot of a laser targeting system wherever the umbrella is pointing. "It's a weapon!" he says incredulously. "Damn straight," replies Violet with a fierce grin.
Conrad and Genevieve are dead, but the twins are quite interrogatable. Phillip is a simple thug who knows little beyond the objective of hijacking the ship and capturing the crew. He knows that they were ordered specifically to take the doctor alive because she is worth the most in the slave trade. Nicholas knows that the ship was going to be taken to Verbena for sale. Searching Conrad Underwood's possessions, they find a security case.
Opening it, they find an assassin's poison kit, a memory with a list of ship registries and a vidcapture with a message from a man saying they will move against Magistrate Higgins as suggested and that they should meet on Paquin at the Bonadan spaceport lounge for payment. The message includes a date, time and booth number.
The crew discusses what to do with the surviving hijackers.
Episode 6……………………………………………………………………………………………10-28-2017
While the rest of the crew are interrogating the Townshend brothers, Violet goes upstairs and returns dressed in waterproof neoprene hunting boots and a denim jumpsuit she got from a locker in engineering. it says TEMPEST in yellow letters across her shoulders and, under that, Shakespeare Enterprises in smaller letters. She is carrying a pre-packaged tarp from the emergency kit in her shuttle, a shop-vac, a snow shovel, a stapler, and a bag of Oil-Sorb (basically kitty litter) she found in the same locker in engineering. She proceeds to open the bag and pour the absorbent grains everywhere there is blood. She opens the tarp and spreads it aft of the mess, taking care not to get any blood on the bottom side. she picks up the two bodies, one at a time and drags them over onto the tarp (a messy procedure, all their sphincters have relaxed in death). She goes back and picks up Conrad's severed arm and adds it to the pile. "Yep,: she mutters, "I'm gonna have nightmares again tonight." She folds the forward end of the tarp and the two sides, leaving the aft end open, and staples the edges of the tarp in place. She then sits on the steps and removes her now bloody boots. Stepping carefully to avoid any more blood, she goes around to the aft end of the stapled tarp and proceeds to drag it down the hall, through the (carpeted) common room, through the cargo bay and stops when it rests on the bomb-bay doors at the aft end. Lester gets a second tarp, and eyes the two remaining hijackers significantly. Violet shovels the bloody oil-sorb into the opened shop-vac, then closes it and proceeds to vacuum up any bits she missed. She tells Delphi to send the love bot ("We've really got to give her a name.") with a mop and bucket to get up the last little bits of blood. She then goes to take a shower in the bathroom there in the hall, because she's not about to risk tracking blood all the way up to and into her shuttle.
After a bit more discussion, they come to the conclusion that the brothers have told them everything they know. Josiah draws his Schofield and asks Phillip why he should let him live. Just at that moment Violet is coming out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. She cries out "Hey! Don't do that! I just finished cleaning up the mess HE made!" She points at Lester. Lester belies his grumpy reputation and elects to drop the two off on Pi-Gu in the outback, but not too far from a settlement. He even gives them ten credits each, to give them a new start.
The ThunderParrot docks at Bonadan Highport at Paquin, and the crew take a Scarab class shuttle down to the planetside port. Violet surprises Captain Farmer by showing up with a red wig and green contact lenses.
She says she's been here before, and while she doesn't think anyone would be looking for her, she prefers not to take any chances. Her ident card reads "Hildegarde Hernandez". They have roughly 24 hours until the time specified, so they go scout the booth.
Amber goes off to find servomotors to upgrade the gatling mounts, then is dragged along by Gina (and Violet) to shop for clothes. Violet comments she's tired of living out of a suitcase. Captain Farmer visits a candy store and discovers a newtech candy called Giggle Drops. They have audio somehow encoded in the layers of candy, and emit a variety of laugh sound effects as the layers dissolve. The next day the crew go to the meeting site on time, but there's no one there yet. The booth is marked RESERVED. The crew take up positions at the bar and wait. Fifteen minutes later, a woman comes up to the Maître D' and tells him the booth has been reserved for an hour, surely whoever reserved it decided not to show. She wants to sit there.
The Maître D' consents, and she orders a bottle of wine and two glasses. The woman pours two glasses of wine, then catches the eye of Captain Farmer. She inclines her head in a "Come on over" manner and offers him a glass as he sits across from her. She calls him Conrad, and asks how the trip was from Newhall, clearly mistaking him for the hijacker. She asks if he has proof of delivery, he replies he does, but not here. She says this place is a little too crowded to transact business and slides him a card. She asks him to meet her at the address on the card in an hour with the proof of delivery. Lester walks up and says "Boss, we need to get out of here. I think we were followed." Josiah agrees to meet the woman (who introduces herself as Fiolla) at the appointed time. Fiolla leaves money on the table and departs. Amber discreetly follows her and watches her catch a cab.
When they get back to the shuttle, Amber notices fresh scratches on the lock. Violet had asked Delphi to monitor the shuttle by remote while they were away. Delphi reports a single male had tried to gain access. He had used rather sophisticated electronics to crack the access codes, but Delphi was able to block him. He then tried physical means, but was unsuccessful there as well. He left muttering something about coming back with a fusion-cutter. The crew brainstorm and try to figure out what "proof of delivery" could be. Captain Farmer reasons that since they were hijackers, perhaps it was the ship itself. He has Violet draw up a convincing but invalid bill of sale for the ThunderParrot. He places it in a box of Giggle Drops, and they head out for the meeting, leaving Amber and Violet to guard the shuttle this time.
They arrive at a rental hangar, the address on the card and Fiolla walks up about the same time. Fiolla asks if they brought proof of delivery this time. Captain Farmer says yes and offers her the box. She draws a small maser pistol and a badge and says "Interpol. Freeze. You're under arrest!"
In a perfectly calm manner the Captain asks what for. Fiolla says trafficking in slavery. Gina mentions to the Captain that one of the hijackers did say that they were to be sold off into slavery. Fiolla is confused. She's trying to dominate the situation, but the crew seem to be practically ignoring her. Coming to the conclusion that she has the wrong folks she cries "Who ARE you people?" The Captain tells her the full story of the attempted hijacking, the vidcapture and their subsequent meeting with her. She in turn tells them of how she was doing research trying to track a rumored slaver ring when her datapad gave out. She borrowed the datapad of her assistant, Magg Murphy, and continued her research. She stumbled upon a message that a ship was going to be hijacked on the way here from Newhall, and the crew was to be sold into slavery. She found the date, the time, and the booth number where payment for the slaves was to be delivered. Contact man was to be Conrad Underwood. "The rest you know" she says. Captain Farmer shows her the vidcapture, and her eyes grow wide. She says she knows the man in the video. That's her assistant, the aforementioned Magg Murphy. No wonder she stumbled on that message. There's no way of knowing how far up the rot goes, so she will need to get evidence. She has one contact that she believes is incorruptible, but will need proof before she can call that in.
Captain Farmer notices a group of thugs approaching with a variety of improvised weapons, from lengths of pipe to a fusion-cutter. Fiolla aims her pistol and pulls the trigger. Nothing but a click. The Captain and Lester each pop a Giggle Drop in their mouths and wade in. Captain Farmer regrets not being legally able to carry his Schofield here. He throws a knife, severely wounding one thug. Lester uses his bullwhip across the eyes of the one with the fusion cutter. Gina uses her whip to entangle the feet of the one with the knife in his chest. He falls and drives the knife further in, killing him. The remaining thugs break and run. They didn't expect such organized resistance. They interrogate the remaining blinded thug. He tells them they were sent by "Jimmy two-fingers". Pretty much all he knows. Gina gives him a shot to put him out for a few hours.
Lester breaks down Fiolla's maser, and determines it was sabotaged. He reactivates the weapon and returns it. He asks if she still has Magg's datapad, she says no, but it should still be back at the hotel. She sent Magg to watch the player's shuttle. They go to the hotel to find the her room has been professionally tossed. All of Magg's possessions are gone as is Fiolla's old datapad. Gina reminds Fiolla to call the local cops to pick up the blinded thug. Fiolla asks if she can charter the ThunderParrot to take her to Higgins Moon. She needs solid evidence that she can take to her contact. The crew agrees. Lester borrows her current datapad and, since it had at one point linked to Magg's 'pad, is able to get sufficient information to search the cortex for it. He finds that it's not currently connected, but when it last was, it was aboard a ship that took off 20 minutes ago. Fearing that he might be trying to beat them to Higgin's Moon, Fiolla and the crew shuttle up to the ThunderParrot at Bonadan Highport and depart on hard burn. They leave both cargo modules at the Highport to increase their speed. It's a 28 hour trip. Not long into the trip, Captain Farmer detects an approaching vessel from directly astern. It is a small Derringer class dropship, speedy, but unarmed, carrying a well armed Santini-Hawke Attack Bug in place of it's drop pod.
The ThunderParrot receives a hail. It's Magg. He says he wants the memory that Conrad was carrying when he was gunned down or he will shoot down the ThunderParrot. Captain Farmer, says sure, he can have it. Fiolla says "What!?! That's our evidence against him!" Captain Farmer says "Nope, Sorry Magg, but you can't have it."
Lester opens the weapon bays for the two autocannons and does a "Crazy Ivan", turning the ship 180 degrees to face the enemy. The attack bug launches two missiles. Delphi prints across the bottom of the screen "Point Defense Program Activated" and the autocannons fire, destroying the incoming missiles. Lester angles the ship slightly nose up, belly toward the Derringer an braces for impact. Magg tries to evade, but narrowly misses. the two ships scrape belly to belly doing a lot of damage to each. Magg elects to make his escape (He didn't know the ThunderChilde was armed) and goes full burn. Lester shoots the autocannon at him one last time before he gets away, and hits, but does minimal damage. Once Magg believes he's out of sensor range, he changes course, but Captain Farmer does, in fact, detect the change.
As they approach Higgin's Moon, Fiolla calls ahead. She identifies herself as Agent Fiolla Hart of Interpol. She requests a meeting with Magistrate Higgins. They are given permission to land and she is told that Magistrate Higgins will be expecting her. Josiah, Lester, and Gina elect to go with Fiolla to meet with Magistrate Higgins. They wear monocrys armor, dusters, and sunglasses. Weapons are illegal here, but Fiolla is an interpol agent, and "I'm with her" they each say. They carry plenty of weapons under their dusters.
They go up to the "Big House" and are ushered into the office if the Magistrate who is sitting behind his desk, but turned away looking out the rear window. Fiolla says that there is reason to believe his life is in danger. He pivots around and we see its Fess Higgins in the chair, not his father.
He says his father died recently of a heart attack, and he cannot imagine why anyone would have any interest in seeing him dead. Gina says there might be more to his father's heart attack than meets the eye. Fess asks what she is implying. She says he might want to check for certain substances in the toxicology. Fess asks "Are you speaking of… poison?" She nods. He says that it's a very closely held secret, but the medical examiner did in fact find traces of a synthetic chemical known to mimic the effects of a heart attack. Fiolla tells him the story of what led them here, and asks if she may access his father's private records. Fess is somewhat uncertain, but decides to trust her. She and Lester go through the old Magistrate's files, and find a hidden section. Inside are records, dates, and names that align perfectly with the ship's registry data taken from Conrad Underwood's security case. This is the evidence she is looking for. She copies the files, and goes back to Fess. She thanks him, and says that this evidence will destroy the slavery ring. Lester tells him that he believes that the man that actually poisoned his father died by Lester's own hand, a man named Conrad Underwood. Fess is startled by the name. "Yes," he says, "Conrad was here often. He and my father were close. I'm glad you did what had to be done" The crew return to the ThunderParrot and Fiolla asks to be carried to the nearest Interpol office on Harvest, the planet that Higgin's moon orbits. She doesn't think this is something she can trust to the cortex. Captain Farmer agrees that transmitting this data would be a bad idea. They lift and almost immediately are hailed by a Victoria class corvette.
It's Magg, and this time he's brought enough firepower. The ThunderParrot evades, but is slowly gained on. Fiolla works busily at her datapad for a few moments then shows Lester the screen and says "Go to this course. Trust me!" He does and they make a dash along that course. The Victoria follows. A pair of missiles flash past the ThunderParrot and impact the Victoria. They are EMP missiles, and large ones a that. The Victoria loses power and starts to drift. An Ocula class ship, The IAV Lionfish emerges from some sort of stealth mode and begins launching boats to board the Victoria.
Fiolla requests that the ThunderParrot move to the aft end airlock of the Lionfish and dock. She and the Captain go to the airlock, where they see a female Alliance officer in fighter pilot combat gear, including a helmet.
Fiolla says "I'm glad you got my message." The officer hands her five thousand credits in cash and a data rom.
Fiolla gives them to the Captain, and has him check out the rom. It's a digital certificate exchangeable for the complete repair of the ship, any place that does business with the Alliance, which is to say, almost anywhere. Fiolla says "Well, I'll leave you here. If you run into anything you think I need to know about, cortex me. I'll do the same if I run into anything I think you need to know about." The Captain agrees and turns to leave. He can't shake the feeling that he's seen the Alliance officer somewhere before…
Thunderchilde Season Two close
A day or two later, Captain Farmer gets a wave from Jennifer Hendrix, the reporter that interviewed the crew back on Jiang-Yin. She has been talking to Interpol special agent Fiolla Hart and wants to intrview the crew about their part in the bust up of what is being called the Murphy Gang Slaver Ring. She interviews everyone but Gina, who still refuses publicity.
The Crew have been discussing upgrading to a larger ship. It has occurred to them that they could pay to repair the ThunderParrot, sell it, then buy something bigger that's been sold for scrap, then use the digital certificate to have it refurbished to factory specs. Gina has her eye on an old blockade runner she saw back on Boros…
Amber wants to name it ThunderFerret.