Jam Session #14: Sonata for a Cowboy
Tango with the Past Arc Theme Song: “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” by Muddy Waters // Session Into Song: “Wild West” by Lissie
The session opens up with most of the Crew (and Charlie Khan) sitting in the waiting room of the Nobumoto Hospital on Catapult Station, hoping that their captain comes too before too long. A few hours pass and the doctor arrives, letting the Crew know that Sirius pulled through, although they’re going to keep him overnight for observation. The Crew heads up to room 513 to check in on their captain, who is flying high on all manner of painkillers. Not having stayed conscious through to the end of the firefight, Sirius asks some follow up questions from his Crew, such as “Did that piece of shit [Glenallen] make it?” and “Did we win? Did everyone pull through?” and “Well did you manage to loot anything good off of Madonna?”
The Crew spends the night in Sirius’s room passing the time with card games, cigarettes, and general shootin’ of the shit. A doctors comes in to check on Sirius in the morning to go over his vitals before discharging him. As the Crew readies to leave they’re accosted by a member of the billing apartment, who sticks them with not only their own medical bills, but Glenallen Mixon III’s as well - as it turns out the cad managed to pull a final fast one on the Crew by sneaking out of the hospital before anyone could charge him.
Annoyed, but not wanting to deal with impound or a long legal battle, Sirius pays the hospital bill before returning to The Mississippi Queen to relax before finally meeting up with Miss Wonderly to hand over the Provecta holodisk. Charlie parts ways with the Crew, but promises to catch up with them to say goodbye before they leave Catapult Station.
A few hours pass before Monty alerts the Crew that an Imperial Khanate frigate has arrived in Docking Bay HL and a regiment of mardets has been deployed in the station for reasons unknown. Sirius, doing his best not to panic, gives Mifune a call to relocate the meeting place with Miss Wonderly. The fixer picks up but lets the Crew know that he doesn’t have the ability to contact Miss Wonderly - she calls him when she’s good and ready.
Rather than call off the meeting, Mifune recommends they purge the system of all traces of The Lucky Old Sun from the ship’s databanks (since that was the callsign the ship was using back on Xihe Station). Alternatively, for a small fee the fixer can get them a new callsign and identification. After little deliberation, the Crew opts to go with the first option.
“That should buy you more than enough time to get the job done and get off world,” Mifune says before signing off. “Good luck, amigos.”
Satisfied, Monty disconnects the ship from Catapult Station’s network and begins the purging process, which takes about an hour. While the cycle is carried out a member of the docking administration comes to check in on the Crew to make sure everything is okay. While the man’s intentions were good, his arrival nearly gave everyone a heart attack. Almost immediately after everyone was able to relax, a second knock on the door occurs, this time thanks to Charlie Khan. The former Junker’s Guild mechanic is carrying all of his worldly possessions in a duffle bag and asks the Crew if he can join them for a bit until he can figure out what to do with his life and find a place to settle down.
“I don’t have anything here on Catapult Station anymore,” he tells them.
Scruffy welcomes the young man onto the ship and the rest of the Crew follow suit, happy to have a mechanic amongst their number, even if only for a few months.
With Charlie onboard and all traces of The Lucky Old Sun purged, the Crew finally decide to meet up with Miss Wonderly at the Silver Falcon Saloon. They arrive only to find the bar closed (its owner having run off during their gunfight with Madonna’s hired guns) and are met by J.D. Sanchez, who claims to have a message from “a new employer.” They hand over a business card to the Crew and let them know that their contact is waiting for them in Docking Bay HL.
The Crew heads to Topside and make their way to the docking bay indicated by the business card. Sitting before them is perhaps the finest, most elegant ship any of The Mississippi Queen’s Crew had ever seen. An android devoid of most human feature glides toward them, inviting them on board and letting them know that their “mistress” is waiting for them.
Somewhat nervous, the Crew follows the android into the ship where they are greeted by a nearly identical creature. They are invited to take a seat in the ship’s lounge and served drinks while the first android goes and fetches Miss Wonderly. A stunning woman arrives and takes a seat across from them before dismissing the androids.
“Gentlemen…” she says. “This meeting is long overdue. Did you bring the holotape?”
“Yes,” Sirius says, cutting off a remark from Scruffy. He slides the holotape across the table to Miss Wonderly.
“Excellent,” the woman replies, placing a cred chip on the table before placing the tape in a datapad.
“I’d be careful,” Sirius warns. “That thing fried a hacker we knew.”
“I’m counting on it,” Miss Wonderly replies as she boots up the tape. Within seconds the datapad is fried, but the smile on her face tells the real story as she slides the money across to Sirius.
“I’ve taken the liberty of giving our mutual friend his cut,” she says, standing up. “You are welcome to relax here as long as you’d like, but if my sources are correct, there are some mardets out there looking for you. I wouldn’t waste any time.”
Miss Wonderly leaves without another word, no doubt leaving the Crew with more questions than answers. However, not a group to look a gift horse in the mouth they hightail it off the ship and tell Monty to arrange a depature.
“Where are we heading, boys?” Sirius asks.
“Y’know, I’ve always wanted to see the Belt,” Scruffy replies.
“Chart a course for Ceres, Monty,” the captain tells the AI. “We’ll be back soon.”
The scene cuts away to a pair of Imperial Khanate agents stepping into Inspector Stirling’s office. The good officer appears to be ready to tell them all to jog off when a third figure steps in, their features obscured by the room’s poor light. Stirling stands up and offers a sharp salute before the scene cuts to a dozen heavily armed mardets stream out of the Imperial frigate and race to Docking Station HM where The Mississippi Queen is waiting for take off.
On the ship the Crew prepares for their skip - Scruffy gives Charlie a tour while Courtney and Quinn buckle up in the cargo hold. Sirius and Kuru Toga are at the helm going through the final checks before launch. The mardets grow closer and closer, rounding the corner, shouting for the dock master to lock down all flights. Mag locks are engaged and the mardets close in on The Mississippi Queen…
Which enters skip space, having left the docking bay minutes earlier to queue up behind a mercantile caravel. The mardet captain curses and radios back to her commander to give them the news: The Mississippi Queen got away…
Lissie’s crooning vocals begin as the credits roll. Sirius Wang, Scruffy, Kuru Toga, Courtney, and their new friends set off into the wild space of the Belt, ready to take on their next adventure. We’ll be taking a break from our Orbital Blues campaign, so I guess now is the time to say: “See you space cowboys (and cowgirls), someday, somewhere!”
You can listen to the full Orbital Blues: The Mississippi Sessions playlist on Spotify.
