Chapter Five

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(Into theme song: Purple Sun, Cannons)

Whale Song

Characters

Stratis "Rocky" Crystallo Sedimeti Enomorph, Ph.D.
Rikard Hightower, captain of the C.E.V. Sherwood Forest
Theme song: Skating Away On the Thin Ice of the New Day, Jethro Tull
Rosalind "Rosie" Neisseria Linnaeus, Ph.D.
Sherwood, geist of the CEV Radiant Black
Theme song: Rainbow Fields (Upbeat Instrumental), Robbins Island Music Group

Previously On "Have Spaceship, Will Travel"

The gang hung out at Fred for a few weeks while the Radiant Black was refurbished and brought up to Fred's standards.

They stopped at a few former Cetacean Protectorate worlds. One, Polnapel, was entirely dead: the entire biosphere was poisoned by the Instrumentality during the Fall.

The crew arrived at another former Cetacean Protectorate world, Rockford (current star charts refer to it as the Rockford Naval Research Center "sponsored by Lastimar"). The crew was initially met by armed security, due to the recent incidents of sabotage against Lastimar facilities.

Coincidentally, Rockford was also the current assignment of Doctor Went's "human friend Chris". Doctor Went wants the captain (Rikard) to hire Chris as the doctor's nurse.

It turned out that Chris' name is actually Carl Yor. The crew met him on the Eridani Hypernet Relay Station, some months before, and they had gotten along well. He is not a nurse, although he used to be a combat medic. He is a former mercenary who has decided that he no longer wants to be on the front line, which was why he was working as corporate security.

(Fun fact! "Carl" means "foot" in Doctor Went's native language -- a particularly vulgar word, in that culture. So Doctor Went calls Carl "Chris". Carl, meanwhile, has not told Doctor Went that "went" can also be a vulgar word. "Do you need to go? No, I already went.")

Carl volunteers to be the security escort for the team during their visit. After the security chief confirmed that the crew was an Encyclopedia Galactica SME team, he requested the crew's help in solving an incident of corporate sabotage wherein dozens of people were made ill and three people died. The crew deduces that the sabotage was a last-ditch effort by one of the research team to prevent their invention from being used in warfare. The ISC arrives to take command of the situation. The crew deletes the plans for the invention, and takes the prototype with them. As far as they know, they got away with it.

Carl was happy to join the Radiant Black, although he made it clear that he has no interest in being a nurse. ("If I never have to put my hands into someone's viscera again, it will be too soon.") The crew hired him as a general crewman, but he typically sits at the tactical station. Doctor Went refers to him as the Chief Tactical Officer, and so far, he has seemed competent at it.

The cetaceans on Rockford were happy to see the Radiant Black arrive. Sadly, all of the AIs on Rockford were infected and had to be destroyed, but the Rockford cetaceans did not blame the AIs for this. On the contrary, they mourned the AIs as victims of whatever had happened. The end result being that the cetaceans on Rockford had no desire to destroy Sherwood, which was a relief.

They then went to the GPA impound lot where the Radiant Black had been stored, and liberated three of the four involuntary salvage workers. One of the workers, a Bha'atar engineer name Frank, asked to stay with the Radiant Black. He is competent, but not up to Alex's level.

The crew visited a space station which was the venue for a Blgderza wedding. The Blgderza are friendly, amorphous, slimy, and everywhere. The crew decide not to hang around.

As the Radiant Black made ready to depart the system, a Bha'atar escort (Class 4, slightly smaller than the Radiant Black) arrived, and the crew was hailed by Razaphine Nyx (alias "Katarin Xuan"), the granddaughter of Yzma Nyx. She wanted the Radiant Black, and she made it clear that she was willing to kill the current crew to get it.

However, she didn't open fire, and the crew escaped.