Run Of The Mill

Mission Summary

The night lay hot and humid over the fleet yard at Fort Antwerp, as a small but mighty crew of pilots gathered for what Mission Leader Ziqqurat had somewhat misguidedly termed a "standard ops" mission. After some initial wookiee problems, the mission was begun, and the fleet was off, bound first for the quiet starpaths of our new (old) home turf.

However, the good times did not roll for long, as DB Cooper, piloted by Johnny Five, suffered a plasma failure while transiting the treacherous narrows of the Starpath Cambridge Hyperspace Byway. While the rupture was quickly resolved, it took a few false starts before the crew was on its way again, dashing down Starpath Harvard through the Brookline System, bound for the farthest reaches of the Boston System.

Alas the ravages of deep space proved too much for Johnny Five, who burned up after a particularly persistent g-well along the Jamaicaway Wormhole -- the first victim of Ziqqurat's elastic relationship with the words "standard" and "ops". The diminished squadron continued onwards, eventually reaching the Southwest Starcorridor and the smooth wormholes running along the Arborway. But the peace was not to last -- after running through a quiet set of starpaths off of the main transport corridors, the fleet encountered a g-well that had not appeared on the starcharts and astral altitudinations that Ziqqurat had consulted while planning the mission. Cosima led the fleet onwards, the skipper of this crew led by a -- if not mad, at least poorly informed -- captain. The g-well was fearsome, and at its apex the squadron rested and informed Ziqqurat that "standard ops" had a definition that did not encompass the current activities of the mission.

Thankfully, shortly after what would happily be the most challenging obstacle of the mission, the crew encountered a lonely luna, just a few starminutes before they closed, and obtained snax while Ziqqurat attempted to rectify the interference WFNA was encountering, with life support at times failing and being superseded by an unknown signal. With a few adjustments, the stability of the life support system was restored, and the fleet was able to resume travel.

As Cosima led the fleet into the Neponset Wormhole, all visual sensors went completely offline until Gritty was able to activate an extremely powerful laser, singlehandedly saving SCUL from a terrible fate and meriting a Medal of Patronage.

However, as the fleet crossed a hyperspace byway across the Neponset Asteroid Belt, it appeared that illumination may not have been the only effect of the laser, as the wormhole appeared to lead not just across the asteroid belt but across the decades as well, as antiquated guided transports rattled in the distance. Stunned by this revelation, the fleet rested on the well-lit hyperspace byway, and Ziqqurat frantically scanned the remainder of the starcharts to determine a safe route home more free of g-wells than the original plan.

After this period of relaxation, in the serene setting of a beautiful crossing of the Neponset Asteroid Belt, the fleet pressed on towards the Dark Satanic Mills of the mission objectives, the former manufactory subsystem of the Walter Baker Chocolate Company. Not content to merely torture pilots with unexpected g-wells, Ziqqurat presented the present pilots with a dastardly challenge -- to determine which chocolate was semisweet, and which was unsweetened baking chocolate. Pilots were displeased and discomfited by this trick-and-treat, but survived long enough to exit the timewarp and return to the present via a turbulent passageway to the Lower Mills Subsystem.

The squadron returned home via Starpath Dorchester and Nubian Constellation, with significant ST activity along the way. Many civilians clamored at our passing, as we were passing through relatively unfamiliar territory. Passed through the Longwood Infirmary Subsystem, and returned to the Fort, finally, and tiredly, via Starpaths Beacon, Harvard, and Cambridge.