When the ghost docked with Skyplex Li Xing, the ship shuddered almost as if she were
in pain. Willis went with Chan and Marsh
to check on repairs, while Cindy and William went looking for work. Li Ming and
Xavier each went out on their own for different reasons, Li Ming to reassert
her confidence that she could handle anything and Xavier to check on her quest
to become Miss Universe.
Xavier had some difficulty
finding an access node for the cortex, but eventually tapped in and after
bypassing station security, where she found that she had failed! Another super
hacker had beaten her out to become the new Mister Universe. Xavier returned to
the Ghost crushed by the failure. She slashed apart a half finished painting
and trashed her cabin before finally collapsing in exhaustion and tears. In the
meantime, Li Ming managed to check her wilder impulses and left the gambling
house with much more than she started and returned without getting into a
fight.
Searching for reasonable
repairs proved to be difficult. Willis however, managed to out negotiate the
yard foreman with Buddha’s teaching and getting costs down, but repairs were
still going to be nearly 340 credits. Li Ming insisted on covering nearly half
as it was her relentless enemy that was responsible for most of the damage to
the Ghost. It was Li Ming that found Xavier in a pile crying on the floor. Li
Ming was not able to console Xavier, but called for Willis, who was able to
comfort the distraught woman. Xavier then explained her secretive campaign to replace
Mister Universe as the supreme hacker of the ‘Verse. Xavier made up the
difference to repair the Ghost, which left the crew short on funds again, but
would get their ship fully operational again.
However repairs would keep them on for two days without access to their
ship.
Chan was able to skillfully
barter the last of the special gear captured from the monk Li Shen Fung to pay for enough rooms
for the crew. William and Cindy returned to the ship late, having struck out
looking for work. Chan sprung for drinks that night and while at the bar, a
stocky woman wearing an eye patch and from the Dyton
colony offered the crew a chance to earn some coin with a simple theft. While
Chan and Xavier were interested enough to at least listen, the rest of the crew
was strongly against the plan and thus Chan decided to honor their opinion and
reject the offer.
Cindy and Marsh ran into an old
army buddy of Cindy’s that had a job that would pay two hundred credits. More
than a little suspicious of any possible connection to the Neo-Browncoats, Chan
insisted on inspecting the cargo first. While Donny Higgins was not pleased to
have to talk with the “coward,” Chan spoke so well that he agreed despite her
reputation. Higgins did speak with Cindy alone later and Cindy was again asked
to join the cause. Higgins managed to keep Cindy from mentioning this little
chat and the rattled medic left Higgins with her mind in a whirl.
The ship was ready on
The Ghost touched down in a
remote area of the harsh planet, all but under control of the notorious gangster
Adelai Niskia, the old
man’s reputation for brutality being known to Chan, but the location of the
drop was not the gangster’s skyplex. However, while Niskia was not involved, it was patently clear that despite
their precautions, they had been duped again. The rendezvous was with neo-Browncoats.
The landing point was covered
by gun emplacements and openly staged fighters. The cargo however, belonged
here and, while furious, Chan could only have Marsh touch down and have the
cargo transferred to a smaller Basurero-class
freighter. Chan kept her temper in check, but made it clear that Cindy was
going to have to stop making contact with ex-Browncoats because too many were
now neo-Browncoats and the last thing they needed, especially now that they
were free of the Blue Sun influence, was to get tagged as neo-Browncoat
supporters by the
The neo-Browncoats worked
quickly despite the lack of proper load-lifters, but before three fourths of
the cargo had been transferred, a piercing siren sounded. Chan grabbed the
nearest neo-Browncoat to demand what was going on and got a bone chilling
reply. “
Chan ordered Marsh to begin the
power up sequence, but when she had the crew check in,
William, Willis, and Xavier were off ship. William was alone three kilometers
north of the ship buying a garden bunk, while the other two were a little
closer to the northwest looking at coveralls to replace Xavier’s paint
spattered wardrobe. Chan knew they would either be destroyed on the ground at
the very worst or identified at the very best if they waited for the others as
Marsh got a good sensor scan and knew the
Chan ordered Li Ming to get to
her shuttle to help with the pickup, as Cindy ran to help speed up the Ghost’s
start up sequence. Despite being nowhere near as gifted as Willis, Cindy got
the ship to respond within three minutes. In that time, the neo-Browncoat PT Boat Hammer and
the four Derringer-class fighters lifted to fight the
Just as the Ghost was ready to
lift, Li Ming reported she was ready as well. Using the distraction provided by
the neo-Browncoats resistance as cover, the Ghost lifted and Li Ming detached
her shuttle to rescue their fellow crew members.
The initial burst of
The neo-Browncoat pilots proved
to be extremely good and the Barracudas found themselves in trouble. As did the
Mandrake, two Barracudas attacked the cannons destroying one, but taking damage
to both fighters, Marsh and Li Ming roared away at top speed as the Shellback
began launching fighters. Deciding to stay low and use ground clutter to avoid
being identified, as soon as Chan reached the bridge, she took over piloting
from the co-pilot’s position to allow Marsh to concentrate on spoofing any
Chan pushed her piloting skills
to the limit, but successfully kept the Ghost low and out of the dirt long
enough to evade battle area. Marsh matched Chan’s success and jammed the