The group had followed the Scribe's instructions and detonated the Necromancer with some of Gasco's Francium. To celebrate (or maybe just because they needed money), the group landed on a small starport world and went looking for work.
Eldon headed to the local pub, hoping to find a cargo job, while Gasco tried to unload the rest of her Francium, and the others tried to find a magic shop where they could pick up some useful magical items. What they found was George's Magic Emporium: Magical Gags and Bizarre Items, a place filled to the rafters with bizarre magical jokes, useless items, and a lot of things which were just weird. On top of all this, though, the shop also sold quite a bit of legitimate magic items, so the group decided that it would have to do.
While Heian picked up a magical lyre, the others went through the store's selection of enchanted rings, amulets, and neclaces, looking for something useful. As they watched, a strange-looking man in one corner, covered with tattoos, tried to pull a fast one on the store owner by buying something with illusionary gold, but the store's magical theft-protection system alerted the clerk to the attempt.
Meanwhile, Ashimar had struck up a conversation with a young female warrior who wore armor similar to Gaspar's, and invited her to join up with the crew. The two returned with the others to the pub, looking for Eldon. Eldon, on the other hand, had run into an old friend: Magnus, the dual-pistol wielding gunfighter, who had left the group several months before to pursue his own destiny. Magnus agreed to go with the group once more for old time's sake, and Eldon went about trying to find a job to make some money.
He didn't have to wait long: as he watched, a young female pilot sitting at a table next to him, a moon-elf, was approached by a man who asked her to protect him while he transported something valuable to another planet. The moon-elf refused the offer, but the man went next to Eldon, who asked to find out what the cargo was before agreeing. The man took Eldon into a back alley and showed him the cargo -- a datapad with the formula for a highly deadly explosive on it. He told Eldon that he was trying to sell this, but that a group of pirates were after him. The moon-elf, walking by, heard this and became more interested in the offer. When Eldon asked what the name of the pirate group was, the man told him it was the Red Falchions, and both Eldon and the moon-elf agreed without a second thought.
Everyone returned to the ship, and Eldon introduced himself to the moon-elf. She told him she was a starfighter pilot named Midnight Tsunami, and was going to fly along with Chrysalis to protect her from the pirates. She seemed to have some history with the Red Falchions as well, though she didn't tell Eldon what it was. As everyone loaded up, Magnus and Kenzi decided to ride with Midnight, riding in her Wyvern Assault Fighter's gun ports.
The convoy took off and starcast to the first stopoff point. As they prepared to starcast, the man told Eldon to be careful, because the pirates would likely attack them there. Just as he had said, a familiar corvette, the Scimitar, appeared in the distance as they arrived at the stopoff point. Four interceptor fighters launched, and the crew of Chrysalis and Midnight's fighter prepared themselves for battle.
After a brisk battle with the interceptors, the ship was rocked as a boarding boat attached to the hull. Eldon waited in the cockpit, while the others tried to search the ship for the pirates' entry point. Gasco found them, but was captured and barely managed to talk them out of killing her. They took her hostage and began making their way to the bridge. Eldon, from the ship's cockpit, tried to slow them down with an adhesive grenade, but the orcs managed to avoid it. Finally, though, Gasco, making use of their distraction, managed to take the orcs out with an ice storm from the new magical necklace she had bought. With the threat gone, the ships continued on to their destination...
TO BE CONTINUED...
