*ACTION* The paranoid sector of the Universe

Who:- Jay, Joe Craggins
Where:- Jay's office
When:- After the Worm Battle.
"You did good out there" said Jay, looking over his desk at Craggins. "I
think we could use you..."
"Thank's Commander" replied Joe, "I won't let you down!"
"Probably not" answered Jay "That Job's usually reserved for Dean.." he
gestured out of the window that looked out into the Flight Deck, where a
group of Flight Technicians were lowering a battered Space Eagle on a crane
into a maintenence deck.
"Damn fool crashed it already!" Jay turned back to Craggins, "Anyway,
Welcome aboard.." Jay held out his hand for Joe to shake, and passed him his
Blue Dwarf flight insignia..
A tannoy announcement was made by the Drive Room, "All hands, prepare to
cross the barrier...."
<Tag Joe, didn't want you thinking I'd forgotten you! Anyway on with the
action!!>
Who: Captain Calvert, Peter Marwood, Mike Gostuk and Kurt Crover
Where: Blue Dwarf’s Drive Room
When:
Peter Marwood regained his seat at the navigation computer, as himself and
most other pilots had been out in the Space Eagles fighting the giant worm.
The Blue Dwarf entered the closed off sector of space they knew as the
‘Nouveau Terran’ sector. As they headed through the clear hole in the thick
nebula that acted as an impenetrable wall around the entire region, it
seemed like they were entering a secret garden. Due to the difficult way of
entering or exiting the region, only one person on the Blue Dwarf had ever
visited the sector properly.
That man took off his cowboy hat and watched the viewscreen as they entered
the sector.
“Ahead full speed.” Captain Jed Calvert said as they entered.
The sector was busy, hundreds of spaceships could be seen immediately. Each
of them hurrying around their business of transporting things to and from
the many planets in the sectors. But every ship in proximity seemed to slow
down as soon as the Blue Dwarf entered.
It was like a stranger entering a local pub, it was so unusual for these
people to see a stranger, all eyes would turn to see the newcomer.
The feeling in the Drive room was tense.
Kurt Crover sat at the sensor computer and checked the scans. “I’m reading
200 ship scanning us all at once! Why the sudden curiosity in us?”
“We’re newcomers. Folk ‘round these parts ‘aint used to seeing newcomers,
‘specially those of us with big flashy ships like this!”
“This ship’s flashy?” said Kurt sarcastically.
“Maybe not, but it’s big. And the people ‘round here ‘aint used to that.
They’re all very private modest people, see them all scurrying around in
their small ships. They tend to keep themselves to themselves in this
sector. It was paranoia of the universe that lead them to settle in this
secluded area, where they could feel safe, locked away in here.” Said
Captain Calvert.
“Private and modest?” Peter muttered to himself. In the short time he’d
known the Captain, ‘quiet’ and ‘modest’ were definitely not words he would
use to describe him.
Calvert chewed on a grotty stick of chewing tobacco and spat into a nearby
bin, whilst resting his flamboyant leather cowboy boots on the back of
Marwood’s chair.
But Calvert had keen hearing. “Nah, Pete me ol’ gringo, You’re right. I didn
’t fit in here. That’s why I left. That and the hundred fellas wanting to
shoot me.”
“Shoot you?” Peter turned around.
“Yeah fella. And the lawmen wanting to stick me in the calaboose, but that’s
another story. One I can tell you over some bug juice, beans, and a
campfire.”
“And you agreed to come back?!”
“Reluctantly, but now I’m a starship Captain, the law ‘round here can kiss
my hairy ass!”
There was a pause in the Drive room as everyone waited for the Captain to
make an order.
“So where do we go captain?” asked Marwood.
Kurt Crover piped up while the Captain made his decision. “I’ve downloaded
information about the area from a nearby satellite. There are many empires
in the area, each with their own clearly defined borders, governments and
internal politics. It seems that every world around here is suspicious of
the others.”
“Damn straight they are!” Said Calvert.
“Captain, I’m receiving transmissions from every nation in this sector,
there’s hundreds all trying to come through at once!” said Mike Gostuk at
the Communications desk.
“Saying whut?”
“Well most of them just demanding to know who we are, several insisting that
we stay within public areas, the Hungarian Federation want us impounded, the
Iranian Government want us to submit to chemical weapons searches, the
German Rhineland government are insisting that we slow down of they’ll give
us a speed ticket, and the French Federation wants to give us a job. Shall I
get our Ambassador to reply to them?”
“Nah, he’d be too polite. Tell them all the screw off, send a photo of my
hairy buttocks to the Krouts and ask the French how much they’re paying!”
Mike grinned and typed up a response back.
-----------An hour later---------
Who: Captain Calvert, Ambassador Niples and a French cargo trader Captain
Where: BD’s Meeting Room
When: An hour later
“Bonjour Captain, J’mapelle Seymo-” Started Seymour, holding his hand out to
the French trader Captain in greeting.
“So, down to business. What’s the job?” Asked Captain Calvert, interrupting
and spitting some chewing tobacco across the room, narrowly missing the
Frenchman.
“I have several crates of Cargo I’d like delivering to the planet of New
Texas.” He said in an outrageous French accent.
“That’s the planet where this entire sector’s space fuel comes from right?”
asked Seymour.
“Oui, oui. But all the planets in the sector are currently disputing over
the oil, some planets receive more than others so certain groups are
rebelling and making political statements.”
“What kind of political statements?” asked Seymour.
“Terrorism.” Said the Frenchman.
Seymour bit his lip.
Captain Calvert however was unphased. ‘Terror’ was a word he didn’t seem to
comprehend anymore. During the course of his life he had seen so many
terrible things that he had been numbed to the horrors of life.
“We’ll do it. So what’s the cargo?”
“Fantastique! It’s three crates of onions.”
“Onions?” asked Seymour. “How very stereotypical!”
“Perdon?” Said the French trader.
“Nothing!”
----------------------------------------------
Where: Flight Deck
When: Same time
Security grunt Dimitri Vladivar guarded the French cargo trader’s ship. He
rubbed his eyes as the smell of onions reamed out of the small cargo ship,
with an odd aftertaste of Welsh rarebit.
Dimitri didn’t hear a single thing as a hand covered his mouth and pulled
him backwards.
He felt a sharp pain as he was hit over the head and pulled back into the
ship. The last thing he heard before he passed out was “Cymru am byth!”
---------------------------------
Where: Medibay
When: A few minutes afterwards
Doctor Keto had left the surgery for a few hours to catch up on some sleep.
He’d been having nightmares every night after Vanessa appeared in his
medibay.
Tara was left in charge, a task she was more than competent at. She let
Jenny Bond and her baby daughter into the surgery.
“Hello Jenny, thanks for coming for a check up. Its important to make sure
you and the baby are in good health, this close after the birth. Nurse
Harris will see to you today, I’ve got a lot of important filing to do.”
Jenny walked through into the medibay and met Nurse Melissa Harris, who gave
her a big grin. But before she could get out a stethoscope, something was
thrown into the medibay and the door slammed shut.
“What was that?” They looked down to see a small onion on the floor, a split
second later it exploded in a plume of eye-burning smoke. They all wheezed
and dropped to the floor, Jenny desperately clinging onto her baby.
--------------------------------------------------
Who: Captain Calvert and Shane O’Riley
Where: Flight deck
Calvert watched as the French trader’s cargo ship took off and leave the
flight deck into open space.
Shane had been helping unload the cargo containers off the cargo ship, and
now stacked them against the wall.
“We better get paid extra for this!” Said Shane. “These crates are huge!”
“Don’t worry feller, you’ll get your cut when we drop them off at New
Texas.” Said Calvert.
He then picked up a wall-mounted phone to speak to the drive-room. “Calvert
to Marwood, full speed to-”
Security Chief Harris running into the Flight Deck cut him off.
“Captain! That ship, call them back! They’ve kidnapped Melissa, Tara,
Dimitri Vladivar, Jenny Bond and her baby!”
“Belay that order Marwood. Follow the ship that just left, and get a wriggle
on!”
There was a pause, and then finally Peter Marwoods voice came back.
“I can’t sir. There’s too much traffic around. They’ve disappeared!”
“Lilly livered mutton-punching cowards, nobody messes with my crew. Ah’m
gonna knock ‘em gallery west!” Calvert said.
Chris was already sharpening his knife.