Introduction
It’s not uncommon that decisions impacting the future entire civilizations rest on just a few. I mean really, it happens all the time. We just never expect it’ll be on us. But sometimes…sometimes it is.
As I was escalating a war with my own government, my friends were fifteen light years from home with an even bigger decision on their shoulders. Was the risk from these “sea monsters” real…and immediate? Could the device be used more tactically to cool The Council’s dreams of empire?
I’m unsure what I would’ve done. But then again, my confidence in the “tactical brilliance of Gentleman Jack Cartwright” had been quite shaken.
-The Memoirs of “Gentleman” Jack Cartwright
30 July - 13 August, WY603 – Trilby, Jericho
After a brief conversation, in which both Dirk and Cordova become increasingly uncomfortable about the return of the creatures, the crew decides that stopping the Council’s aggression would be the best use of the device. Dirk extends the bubble to one parsec from Whistler, which would envelop Roberts, Storey, and Rebekkah, and engages the machine.
At Whistler, Cartwright and Toussaint break apart revealing massive planet-sized gyroscopic machines made of arnite. Both machines accelerate in their orbits before diving. Some minutes later, they both surface a parsec from Whistler and begin new, extremely fast, unnatural orbits.
With the controlling device seemingly inert, the crew hurries from the underground caverns. They make it to the surface and back into orbit without incident. Once there, Din goes in for medical care and Cordova goes into a freezer to prevent any psychic accidents.
The crew discusses their next move, and all roads seem to lead to Jericho. They make arrangements with Harrington and make the two-jump journey to the capital of the Republic.
Their arrival is somewhat disorienting, as news of the bubble has not yet reached as far out as Jericho. They parse some news out from the feeds:
- The Foxglove Colonial Congress and The Republic of Grove have formed a new governing body called the Whistler Union, with Nicole Wahpetonwan and Divyash Shaw co-chairing their council. More notably, this Whistler Union has been formally acknowledged as legitimate by the Republic of Jericho - a move that threatens the long-standing peace between the Council and the RoJ. The Council has responded, calling the Whistler Union “just another separatist terrorist organization”, reiterating that Council law prohibits secession, and efforts will continue to “assert the rule of law on our wayward colony”.
- The economic sanctions against Foxglove are taking a serious toll, with four out of five of the system’s multi-generation population under serious risk of starvation. Insurgent attacks against Navy forces enforcing the embargo continue, enabling smuggling in and out of the system to skyrocket.
- The WDF Damocles has joined the picket over Grove, it’s said its silhouette can be seen with the naked eye at night from the surface. At this point it’s not “if” there will be a second invasion, it’s “when”.
Eventually they receive a call from Benny and the crew requests a private meeting. Benny arranges for them to meet at Beacon Point station in orbit around the Jericho moon and naval headquarters of Caldwell. They meet in a secure conference facility on Beacon Point and brief Benny on what they’ve done. They also agree to take the job to retrieve the artifacts from Solace. Benny offers a weapon systems upgrade that will take two weeks, and an armor upgrade that will take another month. The crew ops to take the weapon upgrade now and receive the armor upgrade after the job. They also negotiate for the Republic of Jericho to honor their assets and debts as they re-incorporate both Legitimate Salvage and the Peach as RoJ corporations.
“Well then,” Benny says at the end of the negotiations, “welcome to the Republic of Jericho, Indomitable Bastards!”
