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Today's Topics:
1. Re: William Shatner (Kelly St.Clair)
2. 'splainin' ?
3. Re: 'splainin' ? (Kelly St.Clair)
4. OT: Chess Set
5. Ash and Atmosphere (was : Re : Eta Carinae Supernova)
(Robert O'Connor)
6. Re: OT: Chess Set (Robert Gilson)
7. Re: Ash and Atmosphere (was : Re : Eta Carinae Supernova)
8. Re: William Shatner (John Hamill)
9. Re: Wherever Google Takes You (Tim Dougherty)
10. Re: TML Digest, Vol 2003, Issue 2 (Jeff Rowse)
11. My Thanks (Loren Wiseman)
12. RE: Holilday Greetings!! (DeGraff, Jesse)
13. RE: Skills of the little ones (John T. Kwon)
14. RE: RE: Skills of the little ones (DeGraff, Jesse)
15. Re: RE: Skills of the little ones (Anthony Colosetti)
16. Fiction: Friends in High Places, Part Ten. (Leslie Bates)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 01 Dec 2002 14:15:26 -0800
From: "Kelly St.Clair" <kellys@efn.org>
To: The Traveller Mailing List <tml@travellercentral.com>
Subject: Re: [TML] William Shatner
Message-ID: <5.2.0.9.0.20021201141425.00b8a198@pop.efn.org>
In-Reply-To: <5.2.0.5.0.20021201082704.009eba10@192.168.0.1>
References: <20021201.041816.2I9.rnr.w165w@krypton.rain.com>
<5.2.0.5.0.20021101233347.009ebb00@192.168.0.1>
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Message: 1
>Let's just say she doesn't get a lot of child acting roles anymore.
Or, to be a little more clear, puberty was VERY kind to Miss Ricci.
@_@;
--------------
Kelly St.Clair "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagn'nagl dominos."
kellys@efn.org (In his house in R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits for the
pizza guy.)
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 1 Dec 2002 19:00:46 EST
From: GDWGAMES@aol.com
To: tml@travellercentral.com
Subject: [TML] 'splainin' ?
Message-ID: <7a.320da1ed.2b1bfcae@aol.com>
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Message: 2
"John T. Kwon" <jtkwon@jtkgroup.com> sayeth:
>LKW asks
>>"Meatier?" What do you mean?
>>
>There's a lot of canon that doesn't fall neatly into a
>sourcebook like Nobles. Or First In, or Ground Forces, or
>anything else. And there are a lot of questions raised by
>canon that could be fleshed out (at least a bit).
I'm still not sure I understand quite what you mean. Are you talking about
the sidebars we at SJ Games call "flavor text" which is included to make the
background more realistic?
[deletions}
>A fair amount of these "bits and pieces" appear throughout
>the GURPS Traveller book, and one can also read them
>throughout Ground Forces. But there are other bits and
>pieces (one wonders if there should be a GT Pirates,
We are looking into that.
>and a GT Merchants).
There is -- GT Far Trader
>But aside from the major categories (First In,
>Ground Forces, etc), there's a lot that merit only a few
>paragraphs each. And you could fill books with these
>disparate paragraphs.
Somehow, I don't think I could sell enough of a 500-page book of unconnected
paragraphs, let alone several of them. Besides, the TML would take issue
with almost every one of them, I think . . . : )
LKW
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 01 Dec 2002 16:16:55 -0800
From: "Kelly St.Clair" <kellys@efn.org>
To: The Traveller Mailing List <tml@travellercentral.com>
Subject: Re: [TML] 'splainin' ?
Message-ID: <5.2.0.9.0.20021201161619.00b64ca0@pop.efn.org>
In-Reply-To: <7a.320da1ed.2b1bfcae@aol.com>
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Message: 3
Sounds to me like he wants a Big Book of Library Data.
--------------
Kelly St.Clair "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagn'nagl dominos."
kellys@efn.org (In his house in R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits for the
pizza guy.)
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 1 Dec 2002 19:45:51 EST
From: GDWGAMES@aol.com
To: tml@travellercentral.com
Subject: [TML] OT: Chess Set
Message-ID: <168.17df68ca.2b1c073f@aol.com>
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Message: 4
OK, you folks may remember me mentioning that I built myself a replica of the
famous Lewis Island chessmen -- I've made another, and am offering it on
E-Bay. Go to the "other items offered" for a couple of other items of more
direct interest to TMLers.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1922709502
LKW
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Date: Mon, 2 Dec 2002 12:12:37 +1100
From: "Robert O'Connor" <robocon@ozemail.com.au>
To: "TML" <tml@travellercentral.com>
Subject: [TML] Ash and Atmosphere (was : Re : Eta Carinae Supernova)
Message-ID: <000001c2999f$e74e66c0$de9f67cb@robert>
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Message: 5
Doug Berry wrote:-
>>I'd make volcanic ash a candidate for "insidious" atmosphere.
>
> Tainted at the very least. Would make for an interesting place,
> if there was enough ash present on a regular basis to change the
> atmosphere code.
Particle concentration Effect
75 microg/m3 Typical rural atmosphere
260 Typical urban atmosphere, TL 6-8
375 Mild hazard in susceptible individuals
625 Moderate hazard in susceptible individuals
875 Moderate hazard in otherwise healthy
people
1000 Severe hazard, all persons
[mcg/m3 air at 1 atm and 25C]*
Using standard indices of air quality, I'd plump for at least
625 micrograms particulates per cubic metre of air (at 1 atm and 25 C).
That's enough to greatly increase death rates from cardiopulmonary
disease, and guarantee that chronic exposure leads to asthma or worse in
previously healthy people.
You could drive the figure downwards by postulating very fine particles,
but these tend to be produced by industrial and transport activity
rather
than geology or wildfires.
Now the question arises how the planet got that way in the first place:-
1. Geology - more radioactives in the crust and core leading to more
violent tectonic and volcanic activity?
2. Astronomical - tidal effects e.g. Io and Jupiter?
3. Ecological - frequent wildfires ?as a result of climate change
?introduced flora/fauna ?war
Robert O'Connor
Medico, gamer
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 01 Dec 2002 21:18:59 -0600
From: Robert Gilson <rgilson23@mchsi.com>
To: The Traveller Mailing List <tml@travellercentral.com>
Subject: Re: [TML] OT: Chess Set
Message-ID: <5.2.0.9.0.20021201211116.01d23898@mail.mchsi.com>
In-Reply-To: <168.17df68ca.2b1c073f@aol.com>
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Message: 6
At 07:45 PM 12/1/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>OK, you folks may remember me mentioning that I built myself a replica of the
>famous Lewis Island chessmen -- I've made another, and am offering it on
>E-Bay. Go to the "other items offered" for a couple of other items of more
>direct interest to TMLers.
>
>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1922709502
>
>LKW
Very very nice. Wish I could bid on them but I'm working on a set like that
myself for an SCA
event. Mine will be carved out of wood and I hope they will look half as
good as yours.
Very impressive.
Robert Gilson
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 01 Dec 2002 21:52:07 -0800
From: shadow@shadowgard.com
To: The Traveller Mailing List <tml@travellercentral.com>
Subject: Re: [TML] Ash and Atmosphere (was : Re : Eta Carinae Supernova)
Message-ID: <3DEA8487.26738.3AF952B@localhost>
In-Reply-To: <000001c2999f$e74e66c0$de9f67cb@robert>
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Message: 7
On 2 Dec 2002 at 12:12, Robert O'Connor wrote:
> Doug Berry wrote:-
Wasn't Doug, it was me.
> >>I'd make volcanic ash a candidate for "insidious" atmosphere.
> >
> > Tainted at the very least. Would make for an interesting place,
> > if there was enough ash present on a regular basis to change the
> > atmosphere code.
>
> Particle concentration Effect
> 75 microg/m3 Typical rural atmosphere
> 260 Typical urban atmosphere, TL 6-8
> 375 Mild hazard in susceptible individuals
> 625 Moderate hazard in susceptible individuals
> 875 Moderate hazard in otherwise healthy
> people
> 1000 Severe hazard, all persons
> [mcg/m3 air at 1 atm and 25C]*
>
> Using standard indices of air quality, I'd plump for at least
> 625 micrograms particulates per cubic metre of air (at 1 atm and 25 C).
>
> That's enough to greatly increase death rates from cardiopulmonary
> disease, and guarantee that chronic exposure leads to asthma or worse in
> previously healthy people.
I was thinking more of particle size as being the problem. Volcanic ash is nasty for
two reasons. It contains a lot of very small particles, and they tend to be *sharp*
rather than rounded.
> You could drive the figure downwards by postulating very fine particles,
> but these tend to be produced by industrial and transport activity
> rather than geology or wildfires.
> Now the question arises how the planet got that way in the first place:-
> 1. Geology - more radioactives in the crust and core leading to more
> violent tectonic and volcanic activity?
Even earth has had episides with major volcanic activity.
And you forgot "asteroid winter".
> 2. Astronomical - tidal effects e.g. Io and Jupiter?
> 3. Ecological - frequent wildfires ?as a result of climate change
> ?introduced flora/fauna ?war
Terraforming gone wrong.
Take a world with a CO2/N2 atmosphere that isn't overly dense, seed with terran
organisms. Have something kill the animal life and watch the O2 levels soar to the
point where even wet vegetation burns.
Given the right "wrong" circumstances you'd get one *hell* of a series of fires.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 1 Dec 2002 21:55:06 -0800 (PST)
From: John Hamill <jwdh71@yahoo.com>
To: The Traveller Mailing List <tml@travellercentral.com>
Subject: Re: [TML] William Shatner
Message-ID: <20021202055506.69067.qmail@web21501.mail.yahoo.com>
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Message: 8
--- "Kelly St.Clair" <kellys@efn.org> wrote:
>
> >Let's just say she doesn't get a lot of child
> acting roles anymore.
>
> Or, to be a little more clear, puberty was VERY kind
> to Miss Ricci.
> @_@;
>
>
> --------------
> Kelly St.Clair "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu
> R'lyeh wagn'nagl dominos."
> kellys@efn.org (In his house in R'lyeh dead
> Cthulhu waits for the
> pizza guy.)
Or, to put it still another way, Miss Ricci's puberty
was very kind to all those in the heterosexual male
human category.
BTW I actually met her once. When I lived in Austin I
had a friend who was involved with the South By
Southwest Music and Media Festival, she obtained
passes to see some great bands that were playing. At
one of the shows I saw this cute little girl ( She's a
bit short), and when I turned to get a better look I
realized it was her. She was very kind as I gushed at
her, not showing the usual nausea that most women do
when I try to be cool. She is even cuter in person
than in film.
As always, YMMV
John Hamill
jwdh71@yahoo.com
__________________________________________________
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Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
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------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 2002 01:22:36 -0800
From: "Tim Dougherty" <irishdoh@hotmail.com>
To: "The Traveller Mailing List" <tml@travellercentral.com>
Subject: Re: [TML] Wherever Google Takes You
Message-ID: <OE15eFUtLch9wPiyAph00004ad7@hotmail.com>
References: <200211290219.QEG90361@vmms1.verisignmail.com>
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Message: 9
This explains so much about professional sports! So, does anyone think that
in the 3I, someone may have thought to make it mandatory for the referees of
professional sports to actually read and know the rules? For that matter,
exactly what sports would really cross all boundries to be popular in many
societies on may worlds? What would be the range of a professional sports
league, 1 world, 1 subsector, 1 sector? And, by the time the 3I has rolled
around, would the Tampa Bay Lightning finally have put together a good
enough lineup to win the Stanley Cup?
----- Original Message -----
From: "John T. Kwon" <jtkwon@jtkgroup.com>
To: <tml@travellercentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 28, 2002 6:24 PM
Subject: [TML] Wherever Google Takes You
> I was googling around for Frank Chadwick, and it turns out
> there's an NHL referee of the same name, who has a hilarious
> quote.
>
> "I never knew the rules. I used common sense. It's really the
> only way to run a game. If officials called every penalty
> they saw, there would be no players on the ice and no one in
> the rink."
>
> So did he have an alter ego - dress up at night as a referee
> and skate out onto the ice?
> ________________
> You go left, you go right, you go up the middle, you over there, and I'll
go back to the ship.
> Not in a PBEM? E-mail me about Corridor.
> _______________________________________________
> TML mailing list
> TML@travellercentral.com
> http://lists.travellercentral.com/mailman/listinfo/tml
>
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 02 Dec 2002 13:08:28 +0000
From: "Jeff Rowse" <jeffrowse@hotmail.com>
To: tml@travellercentral.com
Subject: [TML] Re: TML Digest, Vol 2003, Issue 2
Message-ID: <F20GD7VvIf0Jb9gi1Y60001e92a@hotmail.com>
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Message: 10
"You young'uns don't know when you got it good! I rem'mber some years
ago, '82 or thereabouts, I was on an old air-breathing intercontinental
flight when the pilot accid'ntly flew near one of them volcaney-things.
Filled the cabin wit thick gray smoke, all the littl'uns and wimminfolks
coughin' fit to bust. Some of the men, too.
"Then the jets decided to quit runnin' - ain't been so near to death
since. The airplane dropped nigh-on twen'y tharsand foot afore the pilot
relit the burny bits an' we began climbin' agin.
"There were a few drinks for the crew tha' night, I can tell ya!"
Thanks to Mr. Berry (and the person who started the topic - sorry misplaced
your name) for the following seed:
>Tainted at the very least. Would make for an interesting place, if >there
>was enough ash present on a regular basis to change the >atmosphere code.
(Based on the "mishap" encountered by BA flight 009 running Kuala Lumpur to
Perth, June 1982)
Jeff (Rowse. Not to be confused with the sheep, 'Mutton' Jeff).
"Well, there was a doorway there a minute ago! Who took it? Come on. own
up or *nobody* gets any supper!"
_________________________________________________________________
Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*.
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------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 2002 11:27:11 -0600
From: Loren Wiseman <lkw@io.com>
To: tml@travellercentral.com
Subject: [TML] My Thanks
Message-ID: <l03010d0bba1146bbefd1@[192.168.1.67]>
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Message: 11
OK, for those of you who want a Segway human transporter, here's your
chance to get one:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00007EPJ6/homepagforlorenk
First come, first served, only $4,950+relevant taxes & shipping . . . $495
down . . . limit two per customer. Get in on the ground floor of . . . er .
. . whatever this is.
: )
Seriously, however, anyone who ordinarily buys stuff from Amazon.com can
get me a kickback by ordering through my link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/XXXX/homepagforlorenk
Where XXXX is the ISBN number of the book involved. It doesn't cost you
anything extra and I get a kickback.
My thanks to those of you who have already been ordering through my link
(you can also get to it by clicking on the button on my website at
http://www,lorenwiseman.com -- anything you order through the link counts
to my benefit.). The payments are subsidizing my reading habit.
Loren Wiseman
Traveller Senior Line Editor/Traveller Guru-in-Residence
Senior Editor, Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society
http://jtas.sjgames.com/
SJ Games
lkw@io.com http://www.io.com/~lkw/
(512) 447-7866 VOX
(512) 447-1144 FAX
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 2002 09:26:48 -0800
From: "DeGraff, Jesse" <Jesse.DeGraff@netapp.com>
To: "'The Traveller Mailing List'" <tml@travellercentral.com>
Subject: RE: [TML] Holilday Greetings!!
Message-ID: <5D4EA4C196F27046B1E79E281B4CE4340157E766@SVLEXC04.hq.netapp.com>
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Message: 12
> > Ditzie's Jewish?
>
> Sound's more like the girl from the third one of Ringo's
> Posleen War books. At least
> up to night 8.
>
Yes indeed :) John's daughter sounds more & more like her all the time ;) When she starts carrying a concealed Walther I'll really start to worry :D
Jesse
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 2002 12:50:34 -0500
From: "John T. Kwon" <jtkwon@jtkgroup.com>
To: The Traveller Mailing List <tml@travellercentral.com>
Subject: [TML] RE: Skills of the little ones
Message-ID: <200212021750.QEJ57592@vmms1.verisignmail.com>
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<tml@travellercentral.com>
Message: 13
DeGraff, Jesse says
>Yes indeed :) John's daughter sounds more & more like her
>all the time ;) When she starts carrying a concealed
>Walther I'll really start to worry :D
We were in the store this weekend, and she had the clerk
showing her the Walther P99 QA (Quick Action). She wants it
because "it fits right", "James Bond uses it now", "it's a
nice shade of green", and "the trigger pull is nice".
I remember when I was at Ft. Campbell, there were some
civilians who came to shoot highpower at Range 14 (a known
distance range). One guy showed up in a Winnebago and a 14
year old girl - she was the shooter, not him. In a short
demonstration, we found out that she was extremely good -
with an M1A.
If we're going to have girls like this (Ditzie, etc.) in real
life, how do we account for this in the various character
generation systems? Do we assume that they are exceptions,
or do we find some way to make an allowance?
I hear that during the days of clipper ships, there were
captains and first mates as young as age 12. Not sure if
this was the exception, or extremely uncommon, but how do we
account for that?
And how do Olympic gymnasts achieve skill levels far higher
than any adult alive? And their skills falter and fade as
they grow up?
A gymnast might have as much as 10 years of practice and
training before going to the Olympics - and might be winning
medals based on skill 6 to 8 years into that window if they
plan on making the Olympics. How do we account for that?
Don't tell me, let me guess: "There are no 14-year old
adventurers".
________________
You go left, you go right, you go up the middle, you over there, and I'll go back to the ship.
Not in a PBEM? E-mail me about Corridor.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 2002 09:57:53 -0800
From: "DeGraff, Jesse" <Jesse.DeGraff@netapp.com>
To: "'jtkwon@jtkgroup.com'" <jtkwon@jtkgroup.com>,
"'The Traveller Mailing List'" <tml@travellercentral.com>
Subject: RE: [TML] RE: Skills of the little ones
Message-ID: <5D4EA4C196F27046B1E79E281B4CE4343DA796@SVLEXC04.hq.netapp.com>
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Message: 14
> We were in the store this weekend, and she had the clerk
> showing her the Walther P99 QA (Quick Action). She wants it
> because "it fits right", "James Bond uses it now", "it's a
> nice shade of green", and "the trigger pull is nice".
<slaps forehead> D'OH!!!! You guys REALLY gotta' head out to Oregon for the May ARPC shoot, assuming they get enough volunteers to run the thing this time. She'd have LOTS o' fun :)
> I remember when I was at Ft. Campbell, there were some
> civilians who came to shoot highpower at Range 14 (a known
> distance range). One guy showed up in a Winnebago and a 14
> year old girl - she was the shooter, not him. In a short
> demonstration, we found out that she was extremely good -
> with an M1A.
ROFL!!!
> If we're going to have girls like this (Ditzie, etc.) in real
> life, how do we account for this in the various character
> generation systems? Do we assume that they are exceptions,
> or do we find some way to make an allowance?
<snip>
Heck if I know :)
Jesse
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 2002 13:20:32 -0500
From: "Anthony Colosetti" <acoloset@kent.edu>
To: <jtkwon@jtkgroup.com>,
"The Traveller Mailing List" <tml@travellercentral.com>
Subject: Re: [TML] RE: Skills of the little ones
Message-ID: <002301c29a2f$807a3bf0$9241a618@gideon>
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Message: 15
The last few weeks I've been fleshing out a merchant crew for some Traveller
short stories I want to write. One of the charcters I had to design was the
10 year old daughter of the Captain who has been with the crew since birth.
As I wanted to have stats for everyone onboard it took some thought as to
how I was going to generate her character. I first referenced the only
canon source I knew of for a child, Expedition to Zhodane. But after some
additional digging around I found an article in The Travellers' Digest #15
on Children in MegaTraveller. Though not canon per se, I found it to be
very useful. Though I didn't follow the letter of the article, I did use it
as a reference.
One thing I stuck with though is the concept that a child character can
never rise above skill-0 before age 18. I know this does not seem to fit
the real world much at all, it, for me, keeps a sence of balance to the
universe. Perhaps over the next few days or so I'll present the crew. I
had been waiting for the character contest to be over as the crew and the
ship they are on are inseprable. One whole character to say and much to
wordy for the contest. Just as a teaser I'll drop the stat line for Amanda
Hayes, the child of a Free Trader...
Amanda Hayes
Child 5A7A79 Age 10 0 Terms 0Cr
Computer-0, Streetwise-0, Medical-0, Steward-0, Autopistol-0
Anthony Colosetti
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 02 Dec 2002 13:00:01 -0600
From: Leslie Bates <lesbates@minn.net>
To: tml@travellercentral.com
Cc: submissions@freelancetraveller.com
Subject: [TML] Fiction: Friends in High Places, Part Ten.
Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20021202130001.00b2a560@minn.net>
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Friends in High Places
Part Ten
Lisa was standing guard in another dream.
Her scarred suit of Marine assault armor had the external
surface set in a mottled multi shade gray. She held her gauss
rifle in the port arms position. Behind Lisa the lifeless
planet's dim red primary appeared to sit motionlessly on the
horizon and cast long shadows over the landscape. Her own shadow
ran over the frost covered ground to the edge of the cliff,
beyond which there was total darkness in the shadow cast by the
meteor-scarred cliff.
Lisa could hear the muffled roar of the wind through the
helmet of her suit. She felt the chill of the planet's thin and
unbreathable atmosphere penetrate her suit.
Lisa mentally sensed a familiar and unwelcome presence close
to her. She turned around and watched as an individual in a suit
of Marine recon armor with the surface set for black and carrying
an ACRS walk up behind her. It was Dennis.
"Does the abyss really stare back?" He asked her.
Lisa did not answer him.
Dennis took a position to her left at the edge of the cliff.
He faced the abyss with his ACRS in the ready position.
"Go away." She told him.
"We serve the Imperium." He replied.
Lisa stood silent and stared at him for what seemed to be a
minute. Then she asked him a question.
"What do you really want?"
Dennis quoted a verse from an ancient coffeehouse song.
"'I want to live as an honest man. To get all I deserve and
to give all I can. And to love a young woman who I don't
understand.'"
Lisa said nothing. She and Dennis simply stood guard at the
edge of the cliff with the muffled roar of the wind the only
sound they heard until she woke up.
...
It wasn't every day that the Imperial Mercenary Ship
CHAUCHAT received an escort out from the planet to the jump
point, especially when the escorting vessel was a furball.
Al Macdonald, the Captain of the LIONESS, was as surprised
about his orders as Dennis was about his.
"Damn," Said Al, "you really do piss people off."
"I seem to have a natural talent for that." Replied Dennis.
From her seat in the navigator's station on the bridge
Ditzie eyeballed the spherical form of the TIGRESS class
battleship that was flanking, along with a swarm of heavy
fighters, the CHAUCHAT to starboard.
"It needs work." She said.
"Well, yes." Said Dennis from the pilot's seat. "She's only
a first line tech-fifteen dreadnought, there are bound to be some
deficiencies."
Dennis continued to speak.
"Of course, it's not every day that we're ordered to leave
an entire stellar system. You wouldn't know anything about that,
would you?"
"Nope." Replied Ditzie.
"Nor would you know anything about the bomb that went off in
Akbar and Jeff's gift shop in the main terminal last night?"
Dennis had been called in by the local Marine Provost
Marshall to answer some interesting questions about the bombing.
"I can't say that I do." Replied Ditzie.
Gosh, what a surprise, thought Dennis.
"And then there are all those people, about a couple dozen
or so, that the Marines caught trying to sneak into the landing
bay. The Provost Marshall was not at all happy about that."
"Too bad." Ditzie replied with a note of petulance.
"And we STILL don't have a penguin for the main holotank."
"And whose fault is that?" She challenged Dennis.
Dennis gave Ditzie the thousand-klick stare again.
"Oh. Right." She said sheepishly.
The LIONESS and its group of fighters vectored away to
starboard. CHAUCHAT received clearance from system control to
make a jump.
Dennis keyed the intercom switch.
"All hands, prepare for jump . . ."
...
Under an inflated dome at the Marine stockade, there were
three clumps of civilians. A band of Bargerites, a gaggle of
people in red robes with shaved heads, and a small group in black
turtleneck sweaters and black pants.
"It's your fault that we're in here with the raw meat."
Whined the leader of the turtlenecked group.
"Why don't you administer the personality test to them?"
Ensign Juan Enleshkaadshar of the church's Star-Org whined back.
"Oh, you think you're SO funny." Snapped the leader. "Just
for that, you get to do all your O.T.-levels all over again."
The leader paused, and then spoke again.
"The Commodore is not going to like this."
"Well what does the Commodore like," said the Ensign, "apart
from underage girls?"
"THAT'S IT!" Screamed the leader. "You are now a suppressive
person! Get away from us before I exteriorize your ass!"
The former Ensign walked away from the turtlenecked group,
perhaps some of the red robed folk would talk to him. No one else
in the black clad group spoke up, they were already assigned by
the mission leader to the church's Reformation Project Force as a
result of their being caught by the Marines. They didn't want to
make their own personal situation any worse.
...
In a pressurized G-speeder parked on a hill overlooking the
Marine stockade two Zhodani agents were killing time by
performing a language drill. The drill quickly turned into a
gripe session.
"I want to go home." Said the shorter and balder of the two.
"Just what would be accomplished by going home?"
The next sentence had to begin with a word starting with the
letter K. The shorter Zho went into brain-lock.
"Loser." Said the taller of the two agents.
...
Juan Enleshkaadshar, no longer an Ensign in his church's
Star-Org, walked over to the group of man and women in the red
robes. They were sitting in a circle, clapping their hands, and
singing an ancient Terran folk song. Two of the men were abusing
their harmonicas. He caught last verses of the song.
All along the watchtower.
Princes kept the view.
While all the women came and went.
Barefoot servants too
Outside in the distance.
A wildcat did growl.
Two riders were approaching.
The wind began to howl.
"Hi." Said Juan. "Why are you guys here?"
The leader of this group started to tell Juan about the pre-
contact Terran Prophet Charlie and the coming of Helter Skelter.
...
Now that the CHAUCHAT was in Jumpspace, Daevagh needed to
speak to Dennis. He knocked on the Captain's Cabin door.
"Enter!" Dennis yelled.
The door slid open and Daevagh stepped in.
Dennis was sitting across the lower bunk with his back
against the wall. The screen over the desk across the cabin was
showing what appeared to be a documentary program.
"What are you watching?" Dav asked.
"A recent episode of a Solomani documentary series." Said
Dennis. "It's called 'Man's Crisis of Identity in the Latter Half
of the Twentieth Century.' The subject of this episode is the
question of whether Yoko Ono was actually a fifth Beatle, or just
a talentless and inscrutable bore."
This was almost completely beyond Daevagh's comprehension.
"So which was he?" He asked.
"She." Said Dennis. "I personally favor the talentless bore
point of view."
"I must confess," Dennis continued, "that I've found a roll
of duct tape, a high quality audio headset, and one of her early
recordings to be quite useful when questioning a prisoner."
"Um . . . okay." Said Dav.
"Did you need to speak to me about something?"
"It can wait." Said Daevagh as he slowly backed out of the
Captain's Cabin.
...
Juan Enleshkaadshar was now speaking to some of the
Bargerites.
"The Commodore believes that Ditzamer Spofulam is the
reincarnation of Xenu."
"So you were gonna waste the little bitch?" Asked the
biggest of the Bargerites.
"No, that wouldn't work." Said Juan. "Xenu would have come
back in another body."
Some of the Bargerites grunted and nodded in agreement.
"We were going to grab her and stick her in a low berth in a
secure location so she wouldn't drop her present body."
"Uh huh." Said the lead Bargerite.
"So why are you guys here." Asked Juan.
"Sterling wasted some of our brothers on Regina."
"He's also wasted," Juan pointed over the red-robed group,
"some of the Family, over there."
The leader of the Bargerites snorted.
"Who cares about them?" He said.
Good point, thought Juan.
...
At a corsair base in the Uthe Subsector, the GHAVUENG DHORR
settled on her landing legs. What was left of her scarred surface
coating showed the loud red-yellow-black parade colors of a Vargr
Corsair. Her two drop tanks had been shredded in her last fight
and dumped. The landing craft, a standard gig found aboard an
Imperial close escort, was also wrecked in the last fight.
GHAVUENG DHORR had begun life as the Imperial COBRA class
escort DENEB THREE-STEP, upon privatization and conversion to a
CRUSADER class mercenary transport she was re-christened
LIONHEART. Unfortunately, the LIONHEART had been betrayed by two
of her engineering staff to the corsair band known as the
Kforuzeng. She had been operated, with increasing difficulty, by
the Kforuzeng as a privateer for the last eleven years.
Taezarr, the corsair base commander came out on an air/raft
to meet the captain and his special Imperial Human passenger.
"What happened to you?" Taezarr asked Captain Fougzueng, in
Gavaegh, their native language.
"We were ambushed by some race-traitors." Said Fougzueng.
"Why am I not surprised?" Said Taezarr, he turned to the
human and spoke in Galanglic.
"Lord Marc Oberlindes has increased the price on your head
to a full million Imperial Credits."
"No shit." Said Showa Lakidgussar. "I'm not the least
bit surprised."
As far as his hosts knew, Lakidgussar was the sole survivor
of a group of crew members who attempted to hijack the EMISSARY
and sell her to the Kforuzeng. What was not known to his hosts
was that Lakidgussar was an agent of Santanocheev's Office of
Naval Information whose mission was part of a plot to advance his
patron's position in the Imperial naval hierarchy. His naval
officer's salary still accumulated in Lakidgussar's personal
account on Regina.
"You are not concerned?" Said Taezarr.
"Of course I am." Said Lakidgussar. "There isn't anything I
can do about it right now."
Lakidgussar looked around at the battle-scarred buildings at
the corsair base.
"What a dump." He said to Taezarr.
"The base was raided by Imperial Marines dropped out of a
KINUNIR class frigate, the one they call the Gash, about twenty
years ago." Replied Taezarr. "We try not to repair the buildings
too openly. The Pinks . . . er . . . the Impies might notice and
hit us again."
"Good idea." Said Lakidgussar. He barely concealed a smirk.
"You know something about that raid?" Asked Captain
Fougzueng.
"Just some rumors I heard when I was in the navy."
Lakidgussar was actually an engineer aboard the Imperial Navy
Ship GAESH eighteen years ago when she dropped her Marines on the
corsair base. The naval spook in charge of the mission had given
Lakidgussar a bloody nose when he had insulted the spook's bitch,
the Marine troop commander. But he didn't want to mention that to
his hosts.
"My father was killed in that raid." Said Taezarr. "I would
like to hear some of those rumors."
"Yes." Said Lakidgussar. "Of course."
Captain Fougzueng spoke up.
"Can I move my ship into the hangar for repairs?"
"No." Said Taezarr. "We have a Zhodani scout-ship in there."
Both Lakidgussar and Fougzueng stared at Taezarr.
"We found it drifting in the system." Said Taezarr. "There
was one survivor of the crew on board."
"So are you going to ransom him to the Zhos?" Asked
Fougzueng.
"No." Said Taezarr. "The Zhodani Consulate is not known for
their tolerance of our business. I was thinking of selling the
Zho and his ship to the Impies."
Lakidgussar briefly thought about sending a message up the
rat-line to headquarters. And then he thought of a better idea.
"Why don't you," he said, "quietly contact the Imperial
Naval Attache on Pandrin?"
Taezarr briefly considered the idea.
"I will think about it."
Captain Fougzueng spoke up again.
"So what about my ship?"
"We have some camouflage netting." Said Taezarr. "If you can
set the surface of your hull to green or brown it would help."
"There should be an old Terran camo pattern in the shipboard
files." Said Lakidgussar. "It's called Woodland."
==================================================================
Leslie Bates (Yes, *That* one.) LESBATES@MINN.NET
P.O. Box 581211, Minneapolis, MN 55458-1211
------------------------------------------------------------------
Stuart Smalley's Daily Affirmations for the Inner Pirate
Thursday: I will express my feelings today. I will not hide them
behind my eyepatch. My eyepatch is not a mask for my feelings,
but rather a small swatch of leather that covers a hideous scar.
-- http://tequilaresearch.com/pirate/
==================================================================
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End of TML Digest, Vol 2003, Issue 3
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