Episode 27 - You'll Shoot Your Eye Out

Episode Description
The Crew successfully complete their task and go receive what they deserve...

Summary
The episode begins just after the figure of the man's soul told them to prepare for war. The figure fades, and tells them to beware of Lilith and the creatures she's fighting, because between the two of them, the galaxy will burn.

Juniper loots Inugad's pistol, a very nice model called the Lightcaster made by Shadowcast Systems. She doesn't know how to use it, so she gives it to Theran. He checks the body for identifying marks, and sees ritualistic scars on his hand that seem to depict crystals in a circle around a dot.

The crew discuss how much the pirate ship might be willing to give them for the emitter, and decide to bide their time a little when they leave the cave. Z collects crystals before they go, and Martle doesn't sense anything from them with Divine Sense. While they sleep, Theran steals the emitter from Juniper and puts it in Martle's pack.

When they get to the surface, Iming calls them. Martle answers. Iming says the jamming signal stopped, and hopes for good news. Z tries to pull the screen down to see Iming, but only succeeds in hanging off Martle's arm. Iming says the children they left are being troublesome, and asks if they can be back soon. Martle negotiates for another tank of fuel in addition to the fuel and payment they had already been promised. Theran also wanted assurance that they would meet with Lelia, but was told that she's second in command of the pirate fleet, and would be sure to wait for her sister.

A shuttle comes to fetch them. Z had suggested they wrap a similarly shaped object as the emitter in case they need a decoy, but Theran says to just not get more specific than Juniper's pack. The shuttle is extremely shoddy and dirty, patched with duct tape. An android opens the window a bit. One of his eyes is patched over with metal. He tells them to hurry up, because it's almost dinnertime and he's very excited about oil Wednesday. Martle sits next to Rell again. The android, Morgane, tells a human, Elvios, to give Z a crate to sit on to be the right height for the seatbelt. She can't reach down for the belt and looks pitifully at Martle. Martle orders Juniper to help her, and Juniper whines but complies. Theran steals some duct tape. Martle holds Rell's hand and tells him it'll be okay as they take off, though avoids looking at him. He relaxes once they leave the atmosphere.

They land safely, though jostled, in the hangar of the Rhea. Morgane escorts them to Captain Iming's throne room. The door snaps shut behind them, and the room is dim. Iming claps slowly, praising them as heroes who saved the ship - and as a big payday for her. Thirty or so pirates emerge with rifles trained on the crew, and the kids can be seen being held hostage with pistols to their heads. Iming tells them they're worth a lot to Abaddon Systems, and they hired the pirates to capture them. Pirates come to arrest them, and the crew can see they have heavy artillery aimed at them as well. Z pretends they want to go to Abaddon Systems after all, and requests their fueled ship. Iming says it's already refueled, but it's going to become one of the Rhea's fleet. They're leaving the Raiders and are starting their own pirate alliance. Martle threatens to call Lelia, and Iming says she'd be glad to shoot Lelia herself. She knows Martle is her sister, and that Martle is being hunted by the Inquisition as well as Abaddon Systems. Abaddon Systems bid higher. Z manages to call Master Ryu as she drops her computer, and the crew drop their weapons. They're handcuffed and taken to a group of prison cells with the children.

A month goes by. The crew and children are split among several well constructed cells, and have no way to escape. On the fortieth day of their imprisonment, they hear laser fire and shouting. Theran's cell opens and he sees Lelia in leather armor. The episode ends with her saying, "Theran. You're late for our date."

New Information

 * Shadowcast Systems is a good company, part of the Mercantile Senate.
 * The Mercantile Senate is a conglomeration of different companies, and it created the currency system CE uses.
 * Shadowcast Systems specifically creates firearms for special ops soldiers
 * Abaddon Systems is really bad. They're known for making weapons and doing research for militaries. They're also one of the few corporations able to break away from the Mercantile Senate. They're willing to assassinate other CEOs, perform humanoid experiments, and bombard whole planets for a single asset. They're the worst of the worst of the corporations, as bad as the Inquisition.

Memorable Quotes
Matt: You guys are horrible. Rebecca: Yeah? And? Jason: This took you awhile to figure out.

Martle: Yes. You go, kid, make chaos.

Martle: We're in a bit of a pickle down here, you see, we're poor. And we don't want to be.

Iming: What is it that you're wanting? Z: You!

Morgane: Elvios, go get it! Elvios: You're not the captain. Morgane: No, but I slept with your mother go do it!

Martle: We'll probably be bought, and then we'll be taken to a secret lab, and then we'll be experimented on, and then we won't be human anymore! It'll be great fun. Natalia: Z looks over at Martle and goes, "No, we will be bought, we will be put on a ship, we will take over that ship, it will now become ours, and we're going to blow up this stupid ass planet with the stupid ass ho who broke my heart."

Trivia

 * Rebecca rolled a nat 1 on Martle's insight check on Iming being truthful about their deal.
 * Matt blatantly told the group to surrender. They tried very hard to avoid doing so.
 * Morgane and Elvios were introduced this episode.