I need to see a man about a horse – Part 2

2013-09-12:

The rest of the trip to Three Hills was uneventful. Captain Mitch received a wave from Twitch, a pilot he was referred to on Three Hills that arranged a deal on fuel. Meanwhile, Doc James tended to his equine patients, John checked The Hera for damage and the rest of the crew cleaned up the mess caused by the battle and the Alliance search of the ship.

The Hera set down in the empty field used as a port for the town of Oak Ridge where Twitch was waiting with the fuel truck. Twitch is a buxom blonde with impressive piloting skills that are often overlooked or underrated by the men that can’t see past her other “assets.”

Mitch refueled The Hera and settled in the new pilot while the surviving passengers disembarked vowing to never fly again. The rest of the crew explored the town during the couple of hours they had before the buyer was scheduled to inspect and take delivery of the horses. James and John came back with food, medical supplies and some scrap that must have been a maintenance robot in an earlier life. Rook came back with some clean laundry and a spring in his step. The Security and Comms-Op never returned.

When the buyer arrived to take possession of his merchandise, he threw a bit of a fit owing to the fact the horses were still recovering from their illness and had seen better days. Seeing their boss in such a state caused some of his hired guns to get a bit jumpy and draw on the crew making the exchange. The Captain was too quick for the gunmen and got his shot off first. Luckily, the shot headed the Doctor’s direction missed and Rook was able to talk the gunmen into lowering their weapons and calming down. The Doctor tended to the wounded man while the other two tried salvaging the deal, but no deal was to be made. The buyer insisted on taking the matter to the local Magistrate.

The proceedings appear to be a form of local entertainment as most of the town seems to be in attendance at the saloon/courthouse. James makes a convincing case and the Magistrate rules in favor of the crew ordering the buyer to pay for the arranged transportation costs (Ȼ1,500) and Ȼ100 per head for the damaged horses. The crew senses that the buyer is not pleased with the outcome and expects their troubles are not quite over. So they decide to leave the horses secured outside of town and give he buyer the coordinates after the money is transferred.

After confirming the money is in his account, Captain Mitch ordered the pilot to make way to Greenleaf where he got word of another job to be had. As Twitch tried to take off it was discovered that the ship was Land-Locked and several Alliance ships were landing in the “port”. Turns out the “Magistrate” wasn’t really law and been working with the buyer to take unwarranted legal action against folk–without paying Alliance their due, so they were there to rectify the situation.

The horses had not been picked up before the Alliance nabbed the buyer. And since we hadn’t torn down the stalls yet, we gave them ride a couple towns over to someone else that the Captain heard might be interested in them. Mitch negotiated a price of Ȼ125 a head for the eight horses before leaving the planet. The crew divvied up up their shares and prepared for the next job…
Got new job: pick up lumber on Green leaf and transport to New Melbourne (who is paying 1credit / ton)

Game recap written by melinate