Onward Toward Lutray
Having disarmed the Verity situation and passed off their intelligence to the Collective Fleet, the science ship Peter Weller proceeded on to Myaril without incident, but on arrival, they caught the glimpse of an Aritai ship as it jumped out. They noted several Collective ships orbiting the Garlan colony in that system, but nothing appeared unusual.
The in-system news network reported that the ship jumped in and took some shots at the Garlan colony before the Collective ships returned fire and the alien vessel jumped out again. Their educated guess was that the ship jumped toward the dark point rimward of Cariel.
Bletherin sent an official commuinique to the planets surrounding that dark point, as well as headquarters, of the hostile intent of the aliens toward Garlan. He also sent a message to the Garlan homeworld to expedite the activation of the sentient AI they found en route to Iliari.
Kovak jumped the ship to Cariel. There was nothing unusual in the high-traffic system, and no reports of alien hostilities. Traffic was down as the cruise ships were not traveling through the popular tourist port because of the commandeering of the ships for the evacuation of Lutray.
After next jump to the next dark point, they discovered a debris field from a propable freighter. There was agricultural machinery floating among it. The initial assessment was that it was the result of a pirate attack. The victim ship appeared to have jumped out to Cariel or Lutray.
At Lutray
The jump to Lutray was also uneventful, but the system was the hornet’s nest it had been. The G’frar ship was in-system, with its escort, the USS Missouri. The Peter Weller was also tasked with transporting refugees. They received a complement of Lutrayan raccoon beings en route to New Latray, as well as a manifest of the species’ requirements.
While in system, Grendel downloaded the data from tap on the moon relay they had planeted on their last visit. However, the only messages were recriminations about having to haul refugees. There was nothing suggesting anything related to the Avalon conspiracy. The was a message stating to “meet where it began,” but no indication as to what it meant or who it was meant for.
One of the refugees found Grrr’s collection of old Earth pulp noir stories and wanted copies, but Bletherin’s YA teen romance novels remained classified.
On to Ventar
Kovak jumped the Peter Weller to Ventar, but thought she saw a shadow in the distance. On arrival, she checked the extra sensors she had mounted to detect the hyperspace entity, and it confirmed that there was a presence, but no further details.
Contact with Nessie
The final jump to New Lutray was bumpy. The Peter Weller evaded “space Nessie,” but the drive spines scratched Nessie’s belly. The pilot managed to prevent premature materialization and jumped to New Lutray. He was exhausted from the exertion and declared unfit for duty.
The damage was superficial, but too significant to repair at New Lutray. They would have to jump back to Ventar to affect repairs.
Alex examined the sensory data on space Nessie. His drones recovered some dark purple fluid from the drive spines for analysis in the quarantine lab. The results showed it to be organic, probably blood, but not comparable to any known Collective species.
They unloaded the refugees to New Lutray and returned to Ventar with scientific data collected there. The quarantee on the moon for the gray ooze was still in effect.
Raiders of the Ventar System
Upon arrival back in the Ventar system, there was a raid on a domed colony under construction. There were no other ships in range. The Peter Weller pursued the attackers.
The raiders attempted to flee toward a jump point that was not on the regular star map, but was on the G’frar map. Grrr surgically fired and disabled their engines. The Peter Weller towed the ship into the system and handed them over to the local authorities.
Alex hacked into the raider’s computer and downloaded their data. They had a portion of the G’frar charts as well as evidence that they had attacked the ship at the dark point with the agricultural machinery. There was also references to another raider. Then he reformatted their navigation charts.
Once in space dock, the crew was on shore leave for several days on the Ventar III domed colony called the City of Peace.
Kovak’s further analysis of the Nessie data suggested that she was following the black hole.
Grrr asserted his Harth dominance at a bar and took up with a Harth female for a few days with an ample supply of the local beer. He liked it so much that he bought stock in the brewery.
Bletherin took in the City of Peace tourist attractions.
Grendel made contacts in the local academic community with expertise in black holes. He also prepared the drones that would be used to assess the hostile atmospherics they would be examining.
Other crewmember were returned to the ship in the custody of the local authorities. Everyone was accounted for prior to departure.
On Toward Imhotep
On the jump back to New Lutray, Kovac sought out space Nessie, but did not find her. Nothing unexpected on arrival.
The next jump progressed smoothly and they arrived at Delta Blerreon. There was a small trade station where they traded the mail they carried for mail bound for Imhotep.
The final jump went smoothly though the pilot, who had been flying during the contact with hyperspace creature, was still shaken.
The Imhotep star was the color of a desert sunset, which was how the system got its name. There was a relatively new mining colony under contruction by humans. There was no other traffic there.
As this was the final stop within the Collective, so the Peter Weller refueled and resupplied before heading into non-Collective space.
Into the Unknown
Kovak jumped the Peter Weller into the CH 3847 dark point. There was a Hirilian science ship there. The cat-like people hailed the Peter Weller on their way out of the cluster. As there was a Garlan on board, Grendel warned them of the hostile aliens in the area.
The Hirilian’s shared their survey the 12th planet of the CH 1617 system, which was two and three quarter times the size of Earth, and looked like a solid ball of ice that might defrost at any moment.
From this point, the most likely planet for the Avalon interest in hostile environments was in CH 1573. Bletherin charted a court via CH 1234 and CH 1117 on the way.
Kovak made the jump to CH 1234, which was a dark point. There was G’frar scout ship there, but it ignored the Peter Weller. They jumped out in the direction of CH 1617.
The Strangely Frozen Planet
The next jump to CH 1117 went without incident.
Bletherin ordered a survey of the sixth planet, which had been previously reported as 1.3 times the mass of the Earth that looked like a habitable world that had frozen over, though that seemed impossibleas there was evidence of tidal heating from a large moon that was more than four times the size of Earth’s moon.
They also sent probes to the fourth planet’s moon to collect microbe samples.
Grendel broadcast a signal using the protocols from the crashed Garlan ship they had found, but there was no response.
Grrr and Grendel accompanied some of the scientists to planet six to collect samples. The frozen atmosphere was not composed of water, it was frozen liquid oxygen-nitrogen. It was so cold that even in their heated environment suits, they would not be able stay on the planet very long. The surface was very smooth with a dusting of powder. Cross-country skis would be the best mode of transportation.
Grendel helped the scientists to take core samples while Grrr kept watch. No space yeti’s attacked, though the stars were cold, unyielding, and aligned. The heat of their environment suits caused meltage that immediately refroze, preserving their footprints. There were no signs of any other preserved footprints.
The scientists were too distracted to make hypotheses about the structure of the planet, but Grrr’s suggestion as to the composition of the planet’s core impressed them.