Homecoming 0.1 Arrival on Alell Enrico and Aaron secured the cargo and Kemphit and Bartie “dealt” with the passengers for Alell, the Rainbow’s End set out on the long trip. Five weeks later after a series of pretty non-eventful jumps they arrived in the Alell system. The surface of Alell was largely jungle, and after Bartie secured permission to land at the downport near the capital of Barcelona, he brought them up to speed with what to expect on his homework. The cities were largely walled enclave around the coast, with only a few smaller settlements inland. The jungles that surrounded the settlements were primitive and full of predators, roughly equivalent to the Jurassic jungles of old Terra.  He also warned them that because of the prolific native flora and fauna, biohazard controls on Alell bordered on the paranoid! On arrival they cleared customs, debarked the passengers and then headed for Biohazard Control. With the exception of Bartie, all had to go through medical assessments where they were questioned, poked, prodded, and thoroughly decontaminated. Kemphit in particular, with his lack of documentation concerning his past and origins, was subjected to a particularly lengthy series of tests and medical assessments before a doctor informed him he was of Solomani heritage. Bartie dealt with the paperwork around Uncle Vlen’s remains, being informed that the import permits required that the casket be removed from the spaceport and delivered to it’s destination – the settlement of Vaca Goya – within 24 hours. After a while Bartie got bored of waiting for the others and headed off into town to sample the local nightlife! After the others were cleared of any possible contaminants to the biosphere they met up in El Dave’s where Bartie was well on his way to squiffydom. After everyone had eaten, and discouraged Bartie from taking to the dancefloor, Clarissa arranged rooms for everyone at a local hotel, the Casa del Oro, though Aaron preferred to return to the ship. Next morning, an ever so slightly hung-over Bartie, arranged with a local courier firm to ferry the party and uncle Vlen’s remains to Vaca Goya. They met the courier at the spaceport at noon, who observed in passing that she had actually met Uncle Vlen and had dropped him off in the jungle several times. The flight to Vaca Goya took several hours across the trackless jungle, but eventually they arrived at the settlement perched precariously atop a cleared hilltop. On landing it was suggested they take head out with Vlen’s casket to the Meeting Hall, where they were met by Porter Sajan, the village headman and part-time cleric who welcomed them to Vlen’s “Homecoming”. He assured them that everything was in place and the mourners had assembled, though he did seem slightly wrong-footed when after he had asked Bartie for Vlen’s will, Bartie told him he didn’t have it! Entering the Meeting Hall, they looked around. Apart from the enthusiastic local who had turned up for the free beer and food, there were several distinct groups of mourners. One set, Bartie immediately recognised as Backetts  - his remote cousins. Another group was dominated by a loud-mouthed woman who appeared to be complaining about something – presumably another set of more distant relatives! The third group consisted of an angry-looking heavy-set man accompanied by what were clearly a couple of bodyguards. The last and most curious group of all were a bunch of green-robed, shaven-headed monks, who were chanting quietly in a corner! 0.2 The Homecoming Once uncle Vlen’s casket was safely stowed in a side-room, the party moved in to enjoy the wake. Bartie went to greet his distant relative Tomas Backett , who was lamenting the lack of decent port at the affair to his other distant cousin Hans. As they chatted it quickly became apparent that as the nearest blood relatives to Vlen they were expecting to be the main beneficiaries of his death. Clarissa meanwhile had gone to join a second group of distant relatives, the Jocell’s,  led by Marissa, an elegantly clad woman, with her son Bard. Marissa seemed intent on securing Vlen’ ship – the Star Hunter as her son’s legacy, although Bard seemed mostly interested in bagging some of the local fauna on his trip to the jungle! Kemphit made his way over to the monks, from the Brotherhood of Humaniti, discovering that Vlen had joined the order some years ago before doing a moonlight flit form the monastery along with one of their precious artefacts, he had also apparently signed-over all his worldly wealth when joining up! As the party carried on there was a sudden disturbance when one of the locals, started drunkenly accusing a heavy-set man accompanied by bodyguards - Yusal Parad -  of being a murderer and criminal. His bodyguards soon escorted the drunk off the premises, however the altercation had put a bit of a dampener on the party which started to wind down.  Suddenly there was the sound of a flier landing outside, and everyone rushed outside to see who the later arrival was. This turned out to be piloted by a woman in a black jumpsuit, with laughing eyes and the close-cropped hair of a spacer. To everyone’s surprise, she introduced herself as Arisa – Arisa Backett! Vlen, she claimed , was her husband – and she had the marriage licence to prove it! After Sajan had scanned the document Kemphit managed to secure a look and confirmed it appeared to be genuine – and had been issued on Regina! On this somewhat surprising note the party broke up with the various guest being escorted to the huts where they would be staying the night . As they trooped off to their huts, somebody took a pot-shot at Bartie, but with typical savoir-faire, he simply shrugged off the incident and headed off to bed! Next morning, Vlen’s funeral was a simple affair rather than the complex ritual urged by the Brotherhood at which Sajan and Bartie both gave moving eulogies. After the niceties had been observed, they all repaired to the headman’s house to discuss the more pressing issue of Vlen’s estate! He explained that no valid copy of Backett’s will has been found, but he believed that there is a copy in existence. He has searched Backett’s house in the village to no avail. Tomas mentioned that he had heard that  Vlen had a lodge somewhere in the jungle and it  may be a possibility. Sajan requested that they travel to the lodge and search it for the will. The exact location of the lodge is not on record, so they will have to hack through the jungle and search the area. The lodge is likely to be covered in vines at this point, and may not be visible from the air. Kemphit recalled that the pilot who had dropped them off yesterday had mention ferrying Vlen to the jungle in the past and a call was swiftly put in secure her services. Hans Backett volunteered to go as a guide, and Arisa offered to accompany the expedition too. Yusal Parad said that he will send one of his bodyguards, and Bard Jocell, claiming to be an expert woodsman, demanded to be included. The courier arrived that afternoon and ferried them deep into the jungle, there was no where to land so they had to rappel down lines while the pilot hovered above the canopy – unsurprisingly Bartie managed to injure himself crashing through the tree cover! The jungle was a thick primal humid wilderness, and they were soon sweating profusely. With no real idea which way to go Hans picked a random direction and they set off, hacking through the dense undergrowth. It was hot, heavy and soul-destroying work, and they were plagued constantly by the local insect analogues! The first obstacle to confront them was a 20 metre shelf of shifted rock that ran as far as they could see. Fortunately Kemphit had though to bring a rope and the hazard was negotiated with only minor injuries.  As they travelled on, Bartie managed to wander off the path and into some quicksand. Kemphit and Clarissa had a dreadful time extricating him at one time he was up to his neck, but eventually they pulled him out. Exhausted by their strenuous efforts in the heat and humidity, the called a halt and set up camp for the night – just as a thunderstorm burst above them! The night passed relatively peacefully, but next morning their rest was disturbed by visit from the local fauna - a lambdragon which lumbered into the camp. Clarissa fired a couple of shots at it from her mister gun then hid behind a tree – as did Bartie. Kemphit lay on the ground very quietly as the huge reptile lumbered over to him to ascertain if he was edible slobbering all over him as it sniffed at him suspiciously -   Kemphit, in retaliation, breathed on it! The lambdragon obviously not enamored of his tobacco-laden breath, gobbed on him and deciding he obviously wasn’t a good source of nutrients  lumbered off into the jungle. 0.3 The Big Muddy When he awoke, Aaron discovered that his body was covered in tiny bites and his skin was itching furiously, the others also had a few bites but didn’t seem to be suffering the same bad reaction to them. Once breakfast was taken there was a quick conference where Hans basically admitted he hadn’t a clue where to go now. Clarissa advised that she though she remembered seeing a river to the north and it might be worth trying that way. No one had any better ideas so following Clarissa’s lead they began hacking through the jungle. The morning’s march war pretty much without incident save Kemphit being accidentally lashed across the face by a liana that extruded some kind of acidic sap – causing his face to swell up painfully. The arrived at the river, which was swollen and disscoloured. They  began following along it’s banks Just as the regularly scheduled afternoon downpour began. The path became increasingly swampy underfoot and, somewhat concerned, Kemphit began looking out for mudslides. It was luck he did as suddenly a nearby embankment gave way in a torrent of mud and filthy water. Kemphit managed to shout out a warning, but even so Bartie and Enrico lost their footing and were swept into the river. Enrico was swiftly swept away downstream but Bartie was managing to swim to the shore when a croco-beast, unseen in the mud-stained water, lunged out at him - fastening it’s impressive jaws on his ankle. As the croco-beast tried to drag him back in the muddy river , Bartie kicked ait it’s snout with his other foot – through as he was wearing sandals in preference to stout boots he was making little progress. Fortunately it wasn’t long before  the others rushed forward and began swinging their machetes at the croco-beast, killing it.  As Clarissa began treating Bartie’s mangled ankle, Aaron and Kemphit headed off downstream to see if they could find Enrico. About half-a mile downstream Enrico finally managed to get to shore as he did he spotted what looked like a partially sunken structure further downstream and began making his way there – discovering it was a sunken rope bridge.  By the time the others caught up with him it was close to nightfall. Kemphit scouted around and found a likely campsite in what looked like it had been a cleared area, though it was now heavily overgrown. As they settled down for the night he speculated that this might have once been a landing area for a flyer. The night passed peacefully, and next morning they began attempting to cross the river. From Aaron's Log:    Kemphit valiantly swam across the river trailing a rope behind him whilst most of the group watched out for more crocobeasts. Sure enough after only a few meters a crocobeast was spotted submerging itself prior to an attack. Heeding the warnings he increased his pace and was hauling himself out as the creature made an unsuccessful lunge towards him. After catching his breath and tying the rope to a tree stump he made a quick investigation of the pathway,Whilst Kemphit was checking out the situation on the far bank, Hans was setting up for a kill shot on the offending crocobeast hindered only by the fact that it had submerged again. Enrico, asking what the problem was in killing it, was informed tersely that he "need bait" in a heavy germanic accent.  Enrico promptly hurled the remains of the previous nights dinner to the crocobeast. Eliciting no reaction to this, Hans commented "Need live bait!" Cue Bartie.  The party's favourite inbred, unobservant, aristo appeared from the jungle following the most recent of his reactions to last nights fare.  Asking why everybody was waiting on this side of the submerged bridge and being informed about the waiting crocobeast.  Declared that he couldn't see anything. Mistaking my sarcasm that he must be correct and the rest of the group wrong and the offer to let him be the first to go across as the politeness due to his social rank and position, he proceeded to do so. Halfway across,  the crocobeast attacked. Hans firing a head shot that killed the beast outright, should have been justly proud of his marksmanship.  Barty recoiling from the experience was showered in bits of bone, gristle and teeth receiving some minor damage and let go of the rope. Flailing madly Bartie fell into the river for the second time. I held my head in my hands and turned away from the sight - vowing to never use sarcasm arround Barty again. Kemphit showing his heroic streak once again launched himself back into the river and demonstrated that his time spent as a part time lifeguard was well spent! Kemphit’s other discovery that morning was that the tree-stump he had been sitting on was artificial and underneath it was a chromesteel hatch! With no way of opening the hatch, they started moving along the overgrown path, when Kermphit suddenly called a halt. Nestling in the hollow of a large tree was a desiccated corpse. On closer inspection the cause of death was fairly obvious – three bullet holes in the chest! As Kemphit moved the body to check behind it, a swarm of flesh-eating insect few out – covering him. The other immediately leaped forward drawing their mister guns and began firing at the  biting insets attempting to burrow into Kemphit’s flesh. Eventually the swarm was dispersed, but not before he was badly injured. 0.4 The Lodge After Kemphit had received medical attention, they suddenly noticed that Morgan was nowhere to be seen. Scouting around they discovered that he had apparently gone on up the trail by himself and they quickly followed. As they moved forward, Clarissa spotted another couple of the mysterious hatches covered in undergrowth. Suddenly they heard the sounds of screams from ahead and speeded up, readying their mister guns. Ahead in a small clearing they could see Morgan being attacked by four vicious looking raptors. Suddenly the screaming stopped to be filled by an awful silence, followed by the sounds of tearing flesh. Enrico, shot at one of the raptors, but this only served to draw their attention, and the swift-moving predators sped towards them. The raptors proved hard to kill, and in the ensuing battle Hans was badly wounded, before the raptors were slain. After a pause to treat the wounded and allow Bartie to direct Enrico in burying Morgan, they moved on eventually reaching their destination – the Lodge. They approached the heavily overgrown lodge carefully, Enrico and Kemphit scouting the area thoroughly before approaching to close. They found many motion sensors and cameras and a partially overgrown low-slung electric fence. But no signs of mines or any more lethal defences, though there were several of the mysterious hatches nearby.  Given the all-clear the others began clearing the undergrowth from the front of the lodge, revealing a door. Bartie was able to open the door by placing his hand on a panel in the centre of it and they finally entered the lodge. Within, the lodge was a veritable treasure-trove. While Bartie headed for the shower and Enrico made everyone a nice cup of tea in the fully-equipped kitchen, before sitting at the computer and trying to crack Vlen’s encryption. Clarissa Kemphit and the relatives began searching.  There was a huge amount of literature about the Ancients. Clarissa recognised a holo of the statue they had retrieved from the smuggler’s space station back on Regina and snaffled it and some associated data-tapes. She also managed to find a folder of Vlen’s personal paperwork including various false identities. Some of the IDs dated back 600 years, and one of them was in the name of Ven Yasha! She also managed to find the long-lost will, but refrained from mentioning that! Kemphit meanwhile discovered a gun cabinet containing pair of gauss pistols, a plasma rifle, an ACR with underslung RAM grenade launcher... and a FGMP (TL15), and sat back , cradling it and basking in his good fortune! Just as Bartie emerged from the shower, announcing casually that there was a trapdoor in the floor of the bathroom, Enrico managed t crack some of Vlen’s encryption, discovering a programme monitor the local military net  that recorded the appearance of an Imperial cruiser, the Alahir,  in orbit that was engaging in a local “police action”. They were just settling down for a well-earned rest when suddenly an electronically boosted voice came from outside ‘ATTENTION! SURRENDER IN THE NAME OF THE EMPEROR!’ Bartie and Bard opened the door, to a see an Imperial marine sergeant, in full battle armour descending to the courtyard, tow other hovered about 40 feet in the air above! Bartie accompanied by his cousin Bard strode out. Bard immediately began haranguing the marine about intimidating imperial citizens. The marine, maintaining a cautious distance patched them through to his captain, who was just informing them that Vlen was wanted for treason and they were all under arrest as accessories, when one of the two marines exploded in a welter of hot metal and gore and a missile impacted into him. As Bartie and Bard stood in shock, a second missile trail rose out of the jungle and slammed into the other hovering marine. The sergeant ducked into cover, levelled his plasma rifle and shot Bartie! Bard squealed like a girl and headed for the trees! Hans, watching through a window also took to his heels heading towards the trapdoor in the bathroom. Kemphit and Clarissa followed, grabbing weapons from the gun cabinet. Enrico, realising things were not going well, quickly copied Vlen’s encrypted files to her hand- computer, as more imperial marines dropped from the sky and more missiles rose from the jungle to meet them. Bartie staggered back to the Lodge, to find Arissa talking urgently into a small transceiver. As she saw Bartie she produced a snub pistol from her jumpsuit and took a pot-shot at him. Bartie dived for cover, following Enrico into the bathroom. They headed down the stairway, Bartie closing the hatch above them as the unmistakable sounds of heavy ordnance impacting the cabin above began. The stairway led to a huge cavern where a battered but apparently functional starship stood, the name ‘Star Hunter’ was emblazoned on the rear engine cowling. There was also a huge weapons console the screen above which was tracking multiple incoming targets and outgoing missile strikes. The others were heading for the ship and beginning to prep for take-off. Hans meanwhile was disappearing out through the cave entrance and into the jungle, Bartie and Enrico quickly scanned the weapons console and confirmed that the Star Hunter was logged on the system as a “friendly” before joining the others on the ship. Bartie took up position in one of the turrets while Enrico joined Clarissa on the bridge, taking on the sensors. Down in engineering Kemphit was desperately trying to remember his three-month stint as an engineering mate on a tramp cruiser and was powering up the main engines and the jump drive. Clarissa finished her pre-flight checks and hit the ignition, slamming them out of the cavern at breakneck velocity. Narrowly missing a flight of birds, (doubtless aided by Bartie's firing of the sandcaster to disperse them) they headed into a sky filled with explosions and energy weapons fire! Enrico was desperately trying to plot a rote that would avoid the cruiser above them when there were two dull thuds on the hull. Two marines had latched on - Clarissa immediately began a gut-wrenching series of twisting turning manoeuvres that eventually managed to shake them off. Just as she succeeded, and they began to get some series altitude Enrico informed her there were three incoming fighters! Bartie began firing salvoes of smart-missiles off in their general direction, somehow managing to hit two of the incoming bogies – probably due to the volume of missiles expended rather than any particular skill on his part! They left the atmosphere, heading for the jump-point, Enrico reported that the cruiser, the Alahir was lumbering towards them, wallowing in the gravity well, but bringing it’s main weapons to bear. Suddenly the sensors lit up. There was something else out there, something that sent a burst of energetic particles cascading through the system. It was like the burst associated with a ship, a really big ship, jumping in, but it happened well within the jump limit... which should be impossible. Neither Clarissa nor Bartie nor Enrico could see anything on visual, but the sensors were telling them that something bigger than the warship below them was out there. The Alahir seemed equally confused. Enrico picked up bursts of unencrypted transmissions between her and the starport – and then communications and sensors went dead, drowned out in a flood of static. A section of the atmosphere below was warped by an invisible force that whipped up a cyclone in the already turbulent atmosphere. Clarissa took the opportunity of the distraction to kick-in the jump drive and the relative tranquillity of drive-space replaced the chaos from which they had fled.

Annals