At last - the Akhashuua

(0201/1105, Sod/New Rome/Glisten)

As Ramona Lasky moved through the crowds around the Damage arena, Dliiavrnt's clairvoyant viewpoint followed closely. He tracked her to, and through, one of the access tubes connecting the underwater dome containing the arena to the much smaller one containing the hotel. When the arcology had been inhabited, there had been several large domes with barracks-like accommodation for the colonists, and a couple of small dones with hotels for visitors and contractors. The main housing domes had long since collapsed, but the hotel one was still usable and the Damage Cabal had refurbished it for the occasion.

Lasky crossed the open floor of the dome, and let herself into room 509. Dliiavrnt "followed" her effortlessly, observing with satisfaction that Dreng and Marlor were already there, Dreng watching holovision and Marlor writing in some kind of journal. He scanned the room in some detail, and spotted the stubs of three mid-passage starship tickets sticking out from under a pile of papers.

The name of the line and the flight number were concealed, but the tickets themselves had numbers, and Dliiavrnt was able to make them out; 17200, 17201 and 17202.

Dliiavrnt recalled his probe, and the group returned to the Baranduin and took stock. Fred Nose and Gvn remained on Sod, going back into the dome to keep tabs on Dreng. Meanwhile, Dliiavrnt, Stpierb' and Lasnus, along with Doug Eagle, took the gunned gig and headed back to the mainworld to try and identify where Dreng had left the Akhashuua - as he obviously hadn't brought it to New Rome.

Landing back on New Rome, the group split up. Lasnus went to a public library, intending to try some hacking, while the others went for a more direct approach. First of all, they contacted the starport Admin information comms number, and, identifying themselves, asked for access to the starport logs database. An automated response told them curtly that this information was not divulged under any circumstances.

Lasnus had located a public data terminal, and started to work his way into the starport security services' systems. Although their regulations were tough, their security was fairly mediocre, and he was soon inside the SPA security system databases for New Rome.

First he launched an internal query for the ticket numbers. Then he unleashed a filtered search based on his own keys of interest; Brett Lehman, his name, and so on. Finally, he pulled up a list of companies registered to carry interstellar passengers to and from New Rome, intending to check each one for ticket numbering schemes matching the stubs. To his horror, he discovered over seven thousand companies registered, ranging from single-ship tramp outfits to the giant Destri and Al Morai combines.

While he was doing this, Dliiavrnt and Stpierb' had gone to the nearest office of the SPA security service. The staff there were dressed in standard SPA uniform, with commo hats, sidearms, handcuffs and assorted scanners. The Zho Bros identified themselves. Encouraged by the fact that the personnel there seemed familiar with CB-LIC and its operations, they then revealed that they had information about a Damage game happening somewhere in the system. This electrified the guards, who immediately passed the two up to the main office in the control tower. There they were introduced to the Officer of the Day, a Security Major named Obidiah Morgan.

Taken to a private interview room, the pair were given the chance to explain themselves. They told their tale, leaving out surprisingly little, and requested that Morgan wait three days before reporting this to the local COAFC, as they had agents in the dome on Sod that they wanted to rescue; after that, they had no further interest. Morgan pointed out - rather selflessly - that Dreng, Marlor, Lasky and Poulter had a reward of Cr10,000 each on their heads on New Rome; something about trying to sell radioactive dust as "SuperSand" and a failed kidnap/ransom attempt that left the victim dead. The reward specified half value for "information leading to" and Morgan promised to make sure this was correctly awarded.

Back at the library, Lasnus was making more progress. He'd found a place in the data system where the SPA collected flight information from each of the listed carriers. Funnelling this through a filter set for the ticket numbers, he got a match in less than ten minutes. The line was Prince Lines, a subsector size merchant line with seven ships, and the tickets had been for a flight, number PR37, from Trane to New Rome.

Satisfied, Lasnus packed up his kit and was just standing up when the screen went blank. A huge message appeared across the display:
"ATTENTION: ILLEGAL ACTIVITY HAS BEEN TRACED TO THIS DATA OUTLET. REMAIN WHERE YOU ARE. THE POLICE WILL BE WITH YOU IMMEDIATELY!"
Lasnus got out of there fast.

Meanwhile, Dliiavrnt and Stpierb' had been freely given the same information by Obidiah Morgan; they could hear him muttering puzzledly that the network seemed very slow today. Thanking him, they left and met back up with Lasnus at the gig.

Keen to practice his piloting skills, Stpierb' handled the flight back, managing well, but landing very heavily on the unusually unsteady platform of the floating spaceport. Nose and Gvn were very glad to be retrieved from the Damage arena; they were fairly sure that they'd managed to arouse Dreng's suspicions by being a little too zealous keeping an eye on him. Together again, they jumped for Trane.

(0208/1105, Trane/Glisten)

As the Baranduin descended towards Trane's starport, Oscar Blackwood perfunctorily ran his usual set of sensor checks - and nearly fell out of his chair! There on the screen was a positive match; the Akhashuua was parked neatly at one of the starport parking bays. Triumpantly, the team brought the Baranduin down and landed at a nearby bay, then settled in to observe their target. Scanning it passively, and with the aid of their portable NAS sensor, they established that it was securely buttoned down, the power plant was running in low but active mode, and there were two human beings aboard.

At last!