It’s funny how a short jaunt through the Black can go so wrong, so fast. Working/riding on some passenger freighter one moment, wake up in a cell the next. The crew found themselves in stony cells with cold floors and recycled air that tasted like it was an asteroid mine. The 4th wall was bars and they weren’t alone. Shylock and Gale found themselves locked in a cell with an older man wearing a patch, and Lindsay was alone in the cell across the way, and they all had odd collars around their necks.

You’re in the black, having dodged a Reaver ambush that only cost you your dorsal airlock, assembly (them things ain’t cheap).

Capt Lindsey Buckingham (Lyrette’s new and recently hardened ID) made the call to at least investigate the Reaver treasure, given that she’d taken a bullet to learn about. Two cry babies and some white-knuckled piloting later, the Lucky Break bumped up against the cargo ship and the crew started flinging random goods into the hold.

At the start of our adventure, it was early evening on the ocean planet of Rambha. Bob and Pat were sleeping off the prior evenings excesses in their cabin, Hart and Henry were still not to be found, Capt Buckingham was lounging around the ship, basking in the glow of her evening’s conquests, Shylock was working the ‘tex, trying to drum up business, Mikki was making repairs and Gale was loitering about the ship. The young-and-overwhelmingly-smitten Mr Andrew von Stevens arrived in the early evening with a bouquet of flowers, a box of candy, and a rather attractive engagement ring. He stood at the entrance of the docks and awaited the attention of his hopefully- betrothed.

We began this session in space, headed to Constance, orbiting Kalidasa, with a hold full of cheap consumer goods (affectionately referred to as tiny umbrellas) and 8 large crates of dubious origin and content. Regarding the crates, Capt Buckingham asked Hart’s opinion about them as she noticed he seemed concerned at them being loaded. Hart explained that each crate was worth 250k each, minimum, and the contents could be priceless, and that no one travelled with those type of crates on a ship like this unless they didn’t want their movement tracked.

En route to Ita, Marcus took the time to do a thorough search of the ship, knowing the kind of “presents” the Alliance likes to leave behind when they do an “inspection”, and they did not disappoint. Right where he expected to find it, there was a kill switch on the main power conduits which would allow the Navy to detonate the conduit and disable the ship remotely, should they need to pursue it. He easily removed it and set it aside, for future mischievous use.

Following the debris trail and adjusting the headings based upon Marcus’ calculations, the Break found the derelict 9 days out of Whittier. From a 100m standoff position, the crew hit their lights and examined what they had found.

When we last left our heroes, the Not For Hire (aka the Lucky Break) was making its way to Gonghe with a load of expensive wine. The trip was uneventful, though the orbital inspection was a bit colourful as Gayle seemed to have issues with the Alliance inspector, who drug his feet in response. There were concerns about security when on Gonghe as they were known to be heading here, so the crew was on high alert.

The Not For Hire approached Ita proper and established an orbit, and Gale awaited to be hailed by the planet. After a few moments of not being hailed, he hailed them, only to receive the response “whaddya want?” Not being a commercial hub and privately run, Ita did not receive a lot of visitors and treated each with more than a little disdain. After a bit of convincing, the NFH entered Ita’s stormy and chaotic atmosphere and settled down onto the only landing pad at the colony.

The Not For Hire floated in space, it’s dorsal airlock missing (again) along with a good portion of the hull around it. Butch lay in sick bay, his leg braced and broken in multiple places. Mikki was on the outside of the ship, trying to patch the holes while Markus and Gale worked to re-run electronics and avionics cables to the bridge to give the ship navigation again. The crew worked for several hours restoring the ship to some semblance of functionality, and finally got the NFH fixed enough that Gale could fly her.