Mission to Xenon

Mission Summary

An excited band of nine pilots set a course for the New Hampshire Galaxy, through Davis Constellation and into the wormhole. The food was out in force on a sunny day, and quite appreciative.

On the Minuteman Wormhole, Starhustler dropped out of warp for the first time. It was a foreshadowing of many mechanicals to come. In general, the Minuteman portion of the trip was smooth, and morale was high, as the shade of the botanical androids sheltered our intrepid pilots from the wrath of the day star.

First shore leave was taken in the Lexington System. The Admiral went over to Luna Ride Studio Cafe to say hi to his boss, and several other pilots took advantage of the fuel dump opportunity.

The next mechanical hit shortly before the mission reached Bedford. Epoxy and DeadBride had brought many food molecules along with several mission bags in the capacious cargo holds of Starhustler. Among these was a large watery gourd known for its pink flesh and succulent flavor, which spontaneously ejected due to a cargo hold falmunction. Cries of "Mechanical! Mechanical" were followed by "Vegetable!" "No, it's not! That's a fruit!" "Yeah, but that sounds more like mechanical!"

The next very brief mechanical was an opportunity to interact with food. One of Metoikos' attachable cargo holds came loose due to an emergent fault, forcing the fleet to stop at the transport docking field of a follicular arrangement luna. The fault was quickly repaired, but one client and one professional arranger were struck by adoration and had to come and speak to pilots and get their picture taken with the fleet. Stickers were handed out, and the fleet once again entered warp.

Upon sighting a luna for the consumption of frozen dairy products just outside the Chelmsford system, Dr Claw spontaneously lead the fleet to stop. This was an opportunity to engage in radiation treatment to fend off the rage of the day star.

Shortly after the fleet entered Chelmsford, a hideous creaking began to emerge from the primary thruster of Centurion. The fleet stopped to investigate this probable mechanical and the Admiral discovered that the the hub of said thruster had been riven in two by gravitational stresses after many fine years of service. MomClaw responded to distress hails, and she arrived in some time with her extralarge transport and a Unibagel civilian craft for Red Squirrel to continue in flight with.

This support and the resulting rest spell in a shady place recharged the pilots who continued in good morale toward their destination. One particularly awesome moment was when they were riding through a beautiful wormhole infested with pretty botanical androids and followed by a resonant deep space warp rift, which echoed astoundingly with the sounds of happily yelling pilots and the sonic stylings of Chaka Khan.

In the Lowell system, Excess took a spill out into space as the fleet turned and went down a posi g-well, after a navigational trajectory conflict occurred between his primary thruster and the secondary thruster of ReFLEX. He stood up again with alacrity and hopped on his ship, appearing to be unharmed, but soreness and marks appeared later . . .

As the heat of the day star grew ever more oppressive, mechanical after mechanical dogged our pilots' approach to their destination. Starhustler had developed a chronic tendency to drop out of warp, and despite the Admiral's attempt at an intervention it continued to falmunction. Tempers began to fray, but our fleet pushed on. The cover on Metoikos' primary thruster detached but was held in place by the ship's cargo bay. The food was digging us all the way.

Before too long, the fleet passed a sign indicating their arrival in the New Hampshire Galaxy, and welcomed it with hearty cheers.

Upon arrival, they proceeded to imbibe food molecules and enjoy the pleasant distractions of Luna Pinball Wizard, welcomed with pleasure by the Pinball Wizard herself, who proceeded to hand out some shiny enchanted rings which shed an unearthly light much like that emitted by many of our ships in flight.

Momclaw arrived, unheralded, bearing sweet food molecules and a new primary thruster for Centurion! The Admiral, Red Squirrel, and XXXIII set about repairing the damage to Centurion, and Momclaw entered the luna to enjoy its wonders as well.

Excess grew tired and strung his portable hibernation pod between two pillars and hibernated.

After the Luna sealed its docking ring for the night, pictures were taken inside the Wizard's domain to record this historic encounter. The Wizard also showed our excited pilots much favor by demoing for them the new and very special Stah Trek projectile android, dispensing free plays and then proceeding to demo its more complex functions, including a very awesome laser mode.

Afterward, the somewhat tired fleet said their goodbyes and returned to flight, as the Wizard and a companion watched in wonder. Metoikos fell behind, discovering optical sensors had begun to falmunction due to fatigue and varied light sources to an extent that rendered speedy flight impossible, so ejected out an airlock in consultation with XXIII and intended to hail Dreadflint. The fleet went on, then circled back and returned to keep Metoikos company. This was good, as it was discovered Metoikos' subspace communicator was unable to connect with any signal towers. Dreadflint was summoned by Excess and came to Metoikos' rescue. As Dreadflint and Metoikos left, an ecstatic ST arrived, told the pilots they were really cool, and took a bunch of pictures. When they arrived at Dreadflint's fort, they set about emptying tanks of steering dampener and outpost supplies from his heavy transport, and setting up camp. The rest of the fleet arrived not long after, and the bonfire was started, Cloudbuster was set up with quiet sonic disruption, a movie selected, dampener savored, and additional food molecules were ordered by Metoikos from a nearby luna. Cloudbuster provided audio support for the film which was projected on a fabric attached to two botanical androids. Pilots were joined by Phage and android Aspen.

Sunday the daystar began to bake pilots in their habitation pods, and they awoke early. Shotgun gave pilots beautiful food molecules and she, Phage, and Dreadflint were excellent hosts. Pilots also observed their awesome fort as well as aquatic androids within.

And an aeronautical device manned by an unknown person did awesome acrobatics in the sky.

Around midday, pilots launched and proceeded to a nearby heavy nebula where they engaged in radiation treatment.

In that place, a courier of the local broadsheet, the Lowell Sun, questioned the pilots with interest about their activities. They got video. Maybe they'll be in the papers! It was a hot and arduous journey back, but pilots remained positive. After a massive g-well that caused even Dr. Claw to spacewalk, they stopped to refuel on frozen dairy refreshments.

The friendly food offered them a hearty welcome, and they arrived back at base as the day star began to set.

Metoikos had to burn up for the second day of the mission before launch due to outside obligations. Dr.Claw was Acting Mission Leader, XXXIII Acting Tailgunner, and Dogi Acting Comsat to allow for the change.

Medals were awarded to:
Red Squirrel - Artifact
Momclaw - Patronage (no Skynet entry, but we'll give one to her anyway the Fleet Admiral says)
Dreadflint - Patronage
Excess - Strength
Skunk - Strength for the gwell before the minigolf place
All pilots - Intergalactic
The fleet awarded a Medal of Valor to Metoikos upon returning to the launchpad at end of mission