Jam Session #9: Downtown Freestyle
Interlude Theme Song: “Mississippi Queen” by Joyous Wolf // Session Intro Song: “Lovely Day” by Curtis Mayfield
If you would like a recap of the previous session, check out Jam Session #8: Dunhaung Hustle!
The Mississippi Queen II docks in New Galveston as Curtis Mayfield begins telling us about the lovely day to be. Sirius heads downtown to make good on his promise to take Mei out, picking her up before charting a course from New Galveston to Nouveau Bordeaux (better known as “NoBo”), the jewel of Ganymede, the Jovian System, and arguably all of New Khanate space. They spend most of the skip between Europa and Ganymede in Sirius’s quarters partaking in undisclosed activities while the rest of the Crew plans out their vacation.
Kuru Toga, ever the businessman, is determined to get the suits acquired in Lassell City tailored and with Monty’s help learns about Cornwallis & Sons, the premiere tailor in NoBo and calls ahead to schedule a meeting. Figuring the rest of the boys will have their own plans, he acquires their measurements - asking Courtney and Scruffy directly while getting approximations for Sirius from Monty, not wanting to interrupt the captain and his visitor. With his appointment scheduled, Kuru looks back through his messages and rereads the one sent by his old pal Rosco "Blanche" O'Reilly.
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
Le Polidor… That’s where Rose and Blanche had gone from colleagues to true friends, and it was right here in NoBo. After a moment’s hesitation, Kuru hit reply, typed in a time, and hit send. A check-in with an old friend was long overdue…
Meanwhile, Courtney decides that a deep sea fishing adventure is in order, but rather than plan ahead decides that he’ll head out to the wharf when they arrive on Ganymede and see where his feet take him. Scruffy simply prepares his fishing gear for a quiet day of coffee and contemplation as he casts off from the Queen herself.
The Crew departs once The Mississippi Queen II lands, each going their own way after agreeing to meet up in the evening for dinner at Club Pompei. At Mei’s behest, Sirius visited the Hermès Art Museum in the city’s Riche Quarter so they could check out a Neo-Cubist exhibit. With a background that could politely be described as “street urchin,” Sirius wasn’t much for any kind of art he wasn’t paid to steal or smuggle but he wanted to make a good impression with Mei and agreed to check it out. They spoke at length about their respective childhoods and what they each hoped for in the future, with Mei making it clear that she liked Sirius very much but wasn’t going to commit to anything more permanent while he was working as a “spacer,” which was completely understandable given the dangers in that line of work.
While Sirius pretended to understand art, Kuru met with Neville Cornwallis of Cornwallis & Sons. What he expected from that visit was to walk away with a finely tailored suit for all occasions. What Kuru did not expect was that Mr. Cornwallis was quite familiar with men in Mr. Toga’s line of work and that he was willing and able to provide some “upgrades” in the form of ballistic fiber and a few handy tools (specifically a shoe-mounted switchblade and a garrote wire hidden within a trilby. The work would take a few hours, so Kuru stepped out after getting his measurements and made his way to Le Polidor to grab a drink and wait for Roscoe.
As Kuru gets his suits and Scruffy is content to fish from home while “pouring drink out of that cuppie,” Courtney is left to his own devices to find entertainment. He heads on down to the boardwalk to pick up a ridiculous shirt, settling for a tie-dye t-shirt with a copyright-infringing “parody” of a popular anime character getting high on his own “nimbus cloud.” Overjoyed at the find, Courtney dons the shirt and makes his way to the nearby wharf to charter a fishing boat. He encounters one Thomas Wake Jr. and his faithful hound Argus and after a few minutes schedules a pickup for himself and Scruffy in a few hours’ time.
Their trip to the museum wrapped up, Mei takes Sirius to an event a little more his speed: the band Shiti Wop is playing at the Salted Peanut, a well-known club where pretty much every major band in the Jovian System got their start, including the now System-famous Deltas. The musical stylings may not have been Sirius’s first choice, but it was hard to deny the energy and vibes Shiti Wop brought to the table and the two spent a few hours drinking overpriced beers and jamming out to some excellent music.
Back at The Mississippi Queen II, a small vessel pulls up just as Courtney joins Scruffy on the observation deck. They are hailed by Thomas Wake Sr., who speaks with a seemingly unironic New England longshoreman’s accent. Without a second’s hesitation Scruffy agrees to the deep sea fishing venture and the two mates climb aboard the Wakes’ ship and set sail for the heart of Ganymede Sea. They quickly bond with Wake Sr., much to the chagrin of his put-upon son, and also decide to rename the dog Argus “Thomas Wake Jr. Jr.,” or “Jr. Jr.” for short while pouring beers into his water dish. During the entire trip Wake Sr. continues to speak about “the Great Fish” that he’s been hunting for decades, an obsession that cost him his marriage, nearly cost him his relationship with his son, and will probably cost him his sanity and life before it’s done. Immediately intrigued, Courtney and Scruffy agree to help Wake Sr. find and bring low this mighty leviathan.
As those two search for the great white fish, Kuru grabs his old favorite table at Le Polidor and is quickly joined by Roscoe, who had evidently been waiting for him with a strawberry daquiri in hand. Both men are a little wary of one another, but eventually Roscoe opens up and confesses that he’s in some deep shit and he thinks Kuru is the only man who can help him out. Turns out that Roscoe had been working for one of Satori-Korkoro’s rivals and had been part of a crew that stole some valuable corporate information. Retaliation was swift and terrible, with the rest of Roscoe’s crew wiped out within days. It was only thanks to a rather hefty savings account and a few friends from his Golden Girl days that Roscoe was able to hide out in NoBo and get a message to Kuru.
“I need you to get me to Lassell City on Triton",” Roscoe told Kuru. “I need to speak with the Changling and have my past erased. I’ve got 8 Cred with your name on it if you help a brother out.”
Whether out of loyalty or a desire for more money, Kuru agreed. They decided to pop out of Le Polidor early and make their way to Club Pompei where they could rent a private cabana, stopping back at Cornwallis & Sons on the way so Kuru could collect his suits.
Back with the Wakes, Courtney and Scruffy were both piss drunk and catching everything dumb enough to swim within a few hundred yards of the boat. Just as Wakes Sr., Jr., and Jr. Jr. were ready to give up the chase a massive blip appeared on the radar. Within a few minutes the source was visible to the eye: a massive white fish. Wake Sr. cast aside the rods and reels and sent Jr. below decks to collect the auto-harpoons, which were subsequently passed around to every man and beast aboard. The fishermen opened fire as the fish approached, seemingly hellbent on a collision course that would capsize the fishing vessel. Sr.’s shot went wide while Jr.’s first shot skipped off the fish’s scales. Courtney and Scruffy both landed mighty blows, but it wasn’t enough to stop the fish until Wake Jr. lined up a second shot and drilled the leviathan right in the eye with a spinning harpoon.
Captain Wake Sr. fell to his knees in shock as his life’s mission finally came to a close. He insisted on refunding Scruffy and Courtney’s charter fee as they plotted a course back to land, arriving back at The Mississippi Queen II with an hour to spare before dinner at Club Pompei.
Each of their days complete, the Crew reunited, swapping stories of their mini-vacations with one another over seafood and beer. A little loose from his day spent downing daquiris, Kuru waxed poetic about his glory days - signing up for the Imperial Khanate Navy right out of school and serving three tours before going into the private sector. Of course the life of a legitimate businessman was rather dull after years spent in space fighting pirates and insurgents, so it didn’t take long for Kuru to apply his skills in the System’s underworld. He eventually met Clark "Dorothy" Wiethoff, who in turn introduced him to Maurice "Sophia" Barboza. And finally after a few jobs together they rounded out their number with Roscoe “Blanche” O’Reilly, thus forming the Golden Girls.
The credits roll as Joyous Wolf’s cover of “Mississippi Queen” blares in the background. The camera pulls away from the Crew’s table, leaving Club Pompei before turning to watch another sunset in Nouveau Bordeaux. Join us next time, space cowboys…
You can listen to the full Orbital Blues: The Mississippi Sessions playlist on Spotify.
