Introduction
It wasn’t just one tipping point, it was many. 603 was the Year of the Fucking Tipping Points. A tipping point in the struggle for independence. A tipping point in my own heart. A tipping point in our understanding of the universe and humanity’s place in it.
The sheer chaos of it all.
And my friends were in the center of the storm. They certainly didn’t cause it…well…not all of it. But those specific people, in those specific moments, on that ship. We all were coming to grips with how profound these events were, but in context of the larger tapestry they changed everything.
-The Memoirs of “Gentleman” Jack Cartwright
25-26 April, WY603 – Canto
Current Contract: We’ve Got Them
The crew responds to the master dive alarm, which indicates that the ship has gone off-course in the dive. Aiden attempts to troubleshoot from his cabin, but the readings are too strange and he rushes to engineering. There he finds Dirk and Tomoe both unconscious. Dirk is dressed in his ship suit and attached to the deck with his mag boots, but Tomoe is in pajamas and barefoot, drifting in the cabin.
Calliope quickly relays that Tomoe had come to the compartment and appeared to have been meditating, but the gravimetric readings started to become peculiar, so she wok Dirk to come speak with her. Shortly thereafter, the readings became even more peculiar and the master alarm went off. Before anyone could investigate further, the crew feels the extreme dive feeling similar to when they travelled through the Helena gate and the ship surfaces.
After a mad scramble, it’s discovered that the ship has surfaced in Canto, three whole parsecs from their origin at the separatist shipyard, but almost exactly where they had intended to travel. Tomoe and Dirk are rushed to the med bay while the rest of the crew conducts extensive diagnostics on the ship. Cara informs the rest of the crew who remain in the dark about the Helena gate that the ship had mis-dived, but through incomprehensible luck had arrived where they had intended to go in the first place.
Aiden examines Tomoe, who appears unhurt, but is in a sort of coma. Her brain activity indicates a dream-like state. Dirk regains consciousness after a brief time and relays the story of how he and Tomoe somehow mentally accidentally manipulated the dive. Dirk voluntarily confines himself above deck 10 to stay clear of the dive system. In the subsequent hours, Aiden works to correlate the data captured from the mis-dive with his prior research.
The crew burns for twenty hours to arrive in orbit of Canto. There are no ships in the local vicinity, and no clear indication of how they would go about finding the prisoners. They begin a set of scans, searching for signs of reactors big enough to support the number of prisoners that could conceivably be held here. After discovering several, Roland and Daniel take a squad of marines and head down in the shuttle to investigate. Their first pick appeared to be a group of scrappers. In the second location they find a number of planetary habs that had been cobbled together into a small complex, and there was no sign of ships or other external activity.
They land and hack their way through the sole exterior airlock in the structure. Inside, they find a vestibule for supply transfer and an uncharacteristically-reinforced interior door. Unable to get through, Roland cuts a hole in the wall with a hull repair kit from the shuttle. Inside they find a bunkhouse and dozens of captives, including Charity Cartwright. All are weathered, but in decent health, having been given suitable supplies to stay fed in their captivity. Charity is curious about how they were found, as she and her crew had only been dropped off at the prison two days beforehand, but the thread is lost in the rescue.
All told, every missing Consolidated spacer that the crew is aware of is present, minus a few confirmed fatalities from when the ships were initially captured. The prisoners are shuttled up to Legitimate Salvage and provided accomodations and the small amount of medical care required. After all is said and done, the crew sets course for Roberts.
Dirk is in his quarters as the ship enters the dive, and finds himself suddenly surrounded by fireflies.
