Jam Session #4: Starcrossed Serenade, Pt. 2

New Galveston Beat Arc Theme Song: “Getting Down” by The Kills // Session Intro Song: “Heroes” by David Bowie

If you would like a recap of the previous session, check out Jam Session #3: Star-Crossed Serenade Part 1!

As the Crew regroups upon The Mississippi Queen, the ship is hailed by one Major Alphonse Derringer, commanding officer of the Baumbach Pharmaceutical frigate. Upon threat of destruction, Maj. Derringer recommends the Crew hands over Satine and Christian, at which time they will then be arrested, undergo an expedient trial, and then either be sentenced to a labor camp or summary execution. With 30 minutes to mull over their options, Glenallen makes a case for handing over the young couple and trying to escape. It seems that the rest of the Crew is coming around to the idea - no one really wants to go back on their word, but they absolutely do not want to get killed over the two young lovers. As they continue their debate, Christian and Satine enter the bridge and overhear the conversation. Not wanting to go back to her father, Satine grabs Christian’s gun and jams it under her chin, threatening to kill herself on The Mississippi Queen, which she explains “Would not be a very good look” for the Crew. Kuru and Glen draw their pistols in response while Christian throws his hands into the air.

At this point Maj. Derringer tries hailing the ship again, but is ignored. Sirius takes control of the room and with the help of Scruffy and Satine works out a plan. The Baumbach Pharmaceutical frigate, like many ships of its particular size and class, had a sizeable blind spot where its on-ship weapons couldn’t accurately fire. The Crew were a few clicks outside of that spot, which Monty, The Mississippi Queen’s onboard AI, calculated would take about 90 seconds to fly into. Alarms start going off as the frigate begins charging up an ion cannon that would disable the ship and send it careening into the sea where it could be captured by the frigate.

Thinking fast, Sirius and Scruffy jettison the septic tank and blow it up with a remote charge, filling the air between The Mississippi Queen and the frigate with all manner of waste. Banking hard, The Mississippi Queen avoids the ion pulse and pushes forward, quickly making it inside of the blind spot. However, Maj. Derringer scrambles his fighters, sending a dozen small craft out to capture and disable the Crew’s ship. As the radar lights up with enemy fighters, Sirius catches six fighters behind them. The Mississippi Queen gets hailed, and the voice of Chilong of the Fu Syndicate crackles over the bridge’s speakers.

Turns out, Mei from the Train to Neo Edo ramen shop is the “kid sister” of Chilong, a capo within the Syndicate. Enraged that von Baumbach’s actions got her shop destroyed, she called in a favor from Chilong to help The Mississippi Queen escape. With the approval of Syndicate higher-ups, Chilong scrambled a few of his own fighters to buy the Crew some time. However, Chilong informs Sirius that “if you fuck around with my sister, I’ll cut your fucking balls off” before he and his fighters surge past The Mississippi Queen to engage the enemy ships. With most of the enemy fighters occupied, the Crew squeezes past the frigate with only a few dents and scrapes for its trouble and has a shot at the New Galveston Gate.

However, the Gates don’t work like highway on- and off-ramps, but rather function more like airport runways. Ships have to queue up to use them, often waiting hours for their turn at the busier Gates. The Mississippi Queen didn’t have hours. Hell, they barely had seconds. And as luck (most of it bad) would have it, a cruiser was about to leave New Galveston. It would take some fancy flying, but The Mississippi Queen could squeak into the Gate before the cruiser and get away from Maj. Derringer. They’d have no idea where they’d wind up, but anywhere is better than here!

As proximity alarms scream in their ears, the Crew hangs on as Sirius lines up the nose of The Mississippi Queen and guns it, pushing the ship to its absolute limits and threading the veritable needle to escape the space around New Galveston. Lights streak around the Crew as their thrown into skipspace and after a few minutes they find themselves in space orbiting Jupiter, staring down the planet’s infamous eye. With a minute or two to breathe the Crew ponders what to do next. Maj. Derringer would no doubt be on their tail, so they’d need to get to Lassell City on Triton (Neptune System) fast. They weigh the risks between a public Gate where they can be tracked and reconnecting with Ripley to use her Black Gate. It didn’t take long to determine that dead spacers can’t spend Cred, and they opened up a line with the enigmatic AI, deposited the funds, and were on their way to the greater Neptune system.

Finally feeling safe, Sirius allowed himself a moment to relax. He notices a message in his inbox titled “Wangster” and opens it up, forgetting for a moment that his account is the ship’s primary account and prompting Monty to read the message aloud, which goes as follows:

Wangster,

Hey, it's me, the Wolfman. Bet you didn't expect to hear back from me after I got thrown in the chokey for ten years after you ditched me on Ceres. Truth be told, I never thought I'd talk to you again unless it was to deliver some badass line right before I put a bullet in your skull. But honestly? Going to jail was probably the best thing to ever happen to me. I can't go into detail here, but let's just say I was adopted by a well-known family, ya dig?

So with that in mind, let's call bygones what they are and move forward with our lives. There aren't any hard feelings - honest. But I do feel like maybe you owe me one and more importantly, I think you want to make a nice chunk of Cred and have my family owe you a favor. They're good people to have in your back pocket. I've heard of some of the work you've gotten done, and you were always a sneaky little bastard back when we were kids, so I think you're the right man for this job.

If you're interested, let me know. I'll even come to you to talk details. Pick the place and time.

(Somehow Still) Your Friend, Aurelio

The journey from Jupiter to Neptune takes a few days, even with the Skip Gate expediating travel, and tensions run high onboard. Sirius, guilt-ridden over the death of Cher Pepasi - which he feels was his fault for taking on a job clearly above the Crew’s payday - sequesters himself in his quarters and overindulges in his many vices. Glenallen locks himself away in the cargo hold to work on a variety of art projects. Holding Sirius responsible for the death of Cher, the two avoid each other as best they can, with their sole interaction during the flight being a screaming match between the two (or, perhaps more accurately, Glenallen screaming at Sirius) in the mess. Scruffy, worn down by years spent spacing from one planet to the next, was content to pour some bottom-shelf whiskey (it’s all he could afford for so long, and eventually he grew a taste for it) and had a drink in his old pal’s name.

Meanwhile, Kuru Toga - ever the professional - begins plotting revenge for his fallen friend. He does his research, planting the seeds for a potential future harvest. If Richard von Baumbach was going to take share from the Crew, the Crew was going to take everything from von Baumbach. While investigating Baumbach Pharmaceuticals’ many holdings and security assets, the man named “Rose” notices an encrypted message sitting in a secured inbox he had used in years. Only a fellow Golden Girl would have access to it. Curious, he opens the message:

Rose,

It's been awhile. I know I haven't reached out since that job on Ceres, but I thought it'd be better for all of us - especially Dorothy - if I kept my mouth shut and went no contact. I hope you haven't been losing sleep over my fate these last few years.

It's a lot to ask, and you don't owe me anything, but I need a favor. I was doing an op for a big client. Real big. A tech giant, if you will. Don't want to get any further into than that until we're in person. I know this channel's encrypted, but you never know, right? Anyway, the job went tits up and I'm in a bind. I have some savings I can use to disappear, but I don't trust anyone but you to get my ass out of the fire. Dorothy went straight and I can't pull him back into the biz and Sophia was always an asshole to me.

If you're willing to help me out, you can find me where we first became brothers. It doesn't have to be right away if you need to take care of other business first, but I won't be able to hang out here forever.

And come alone, for everyone's safety.

Blanche

Always one to play his cards close to his chest, Kuru keeps the message to himself for the time being.

Blues abound as each member of the Crew coped with Cher Pepasi’s death as best they could.

The Mississippi Queen arrives in Lassell City during one of its countless rainy days. Scruffy, ever the gentleman, orders the couple a cab and helps load what little luggage they have into the car. Christian, stressed and burnt out, remains distant during the good-bye, but Satine takes a moment to speak with each member of the Crew. She gives Scruffy a hug for his help and compassion, shakes Kuru’s hand, and gives Glenallen a stern nod. Finally, she says good-bye to Sirius, thanking him for not turning them over and offering her condolences for Cher’s death. While she doesn’t have any money to spare, she tells Sirius that once she and Christian meet with someone called the Changeling and settle down off the grid she will try to help the Crew in any way they can. Not really expecting to see the couple again, Sirius thanks them, waving as the cab disappears down a rain-soaked thoroughfare.

Scruffy suggests the Crew hits up a club to honor Cher Pepasi one more time. Kuru and Sirius take him up on the offer, but Glenallen remains on the ship, still not ready to spend any real time around Sirius. “Getting Down” by The Kills starts playing as the camera follows the trio to a club where they swap stories about their fallen friend over drinks while some dancers “who ain’t got shit on Cher” perform in the background. The scene switches to Glenallen, engrossed in an anger-fueled painting session while Cynthia the Very Ugly Kitty watches from the rafters.

As Sirius, Scruffy, and Kuru drunkenly stagger home the camera moves away to a broad-shouldered individual walking down the street, their face obscured by shadow. Finally, the scene cuts to Sirius sitting in his quarters typing up a message. It reads:

Hey M,

I got into a bit of trouble and had to skip town. Turns out the pill pushers ain't very understanding. But, I want you to know I didn't forget about my promise. Thanks again for what you did back there. And thank C, too. Even though I know he's gonna make good on what's owed him. Sometimes I wish I could drop this life and settle down but I don't know anything else. I hope you understand. I'll be back as soon as I can.

Fearless

Thus ending the New Galveston Beat Arc and beginning the Outer Rim Rhapsody Arc.

You can listen to the full Orbital Blues: The Mississippi Sessions playlist on Spotify.