Following a tradition as old as the earliest days of the First Imperium, the crew take one last meal together before preparing for jump.

Blaxton is seen to kiss the key he hangs round his neck as a totem of luck. Some of you may practice similar rituals, or mutter a hushed prayer…

Just prior to engaging the jump drives, the lights are dimmed and the viewport shutters are trundled down with a sequence of metallic clanks. Then with a roar and a tremor that can be felt throughout the ship, you enter a different dimension…

While in Jump space, the ship is completely and utterly cut off from the universe. It hangs in a shimmering bubble of boiling hydrogen, a pocket dimension from which nothing can escape. It cannot communicate with the normal universe, not even by psionic means. It is utterly alone.

Regina Ground Control, this is FT Jasper Milo, berth 94, with customs clearance number Alpha-Romeo-two-zero-zero-one. Request taxi instructions for orbital departure.
 Jasper Milo, this is Regina Ground. You are cleared to air taxi via lane Charlie to departure pad 4 North. Exercise caution for oversize traffic passing to your front on lane Delta. Contact Tower holding short.
This is Jasper Milo, traffic in sight, roger.

Regina Tower, this is FT Jasper Milo, holding short of departure pad 4 North, bound outsystem to Ruie with a block time of 21:00. Request you open my flight plan; standing by for instructions.
 Jasper Milo, you are cleared onto departure pad 4 North; clearance on request.

 Jasper Milo, you are cleared to the Ruie jump point as filed; flight plan is activated as of 21:34:40-050-1105. Squawk 3237. Maintain heading 090 on climb-out until intercepting standard orbital profile; contact Regina Departure Control on channel 5 passing through 5000 feet. Have a safe trip.
Regina Tower, this is Jasper Milo, transponder set to 3237, on the go. Frequency change to Departure Control at this time; thank you and good day.

Regina Departure Control, this is FT Jasper Milo, climbing through 5000 feet, bound outsystem to Ruie.
 Jasper Milo, Regina Departure has you in radar contact. Continue standard departure profile; remain this channel until passing 100D, no need to contact Orbital. Current weather advisory is for a storm front with moderate turbulence and tops greater than 45000 feet, 50 miles south of your current course.
Regina Departure, Jasper Milo has the storm front in sight; passing through 50000feet, no factor.

Regina Departure, this is Jasper Milo, passing the 100D limit, jumping outsystem to Ruie at this time, no estimated time of return.
 Jasper Milo, I show you departing Regina System at 16:05:15-052-1105. Jump approved; squawk 0000. Come back and see us some time.
Regina Departure, this is FT Jasper Milo, squawking all zeroes; will do. Thanks and out.

Reports received from the Regina subsector in the Spinward Marches tell of an unidentified starship of markedly unorthodox design which has been making use of unauthorized transmission frequencies. Originally sighted in 1103, the ship immediately came to Imperial attention by standing off Heya (0802-B687745-A) and transmitting on a restricted military band. Interceptors scrambled immediately, but the ship jumped outsystem while the fighters were at extreme range.

Later reports have placed the ship at Kinorb (0602-A663659-5) where it stood off for nearly five weeks without any contact, then jumped. The lack of local bases or traffic made interception impossible.

Last known contact took place off Dentus (0601-C979500-A) where the local scout base immediately set five Type S scouts on contact duty. Although the unknown immediately jumped, some basic data was recovered from scanners.

Reports of additional sightings should be forwarded to the local Travellers’ Aid Society for central consolidation.

SCANNER DATA
Mass Displacement 500 – 800 tons
Jump at least 2
Maneuver 2G(?)
Armament unknown

Goodbyes are said to Olleneg Agate, to Merv Dobry and to Sar’s colleague at the University of Regina

Sar’s colleague, a xenobiologist (age 58, 692CC9) has been researching the previous cultures which have inhabited this region (prior to the arrival of humans). His inquiry has lead him to believe that Knorbes (0207) and Shionthy (0706) are both former hubs of such cultures. Unfortunately, Shionthy is interdicted, and Knorbes is a game preserve with no records, and strict travel restrictions.

As he gets merrier, he shares his thoughts that interdicted worlds are interdicted because the Imperium is trying to conceal its mistakes in social and political planning.

And…

The Imperium has been suppressing political dissent in order to keep peace in the Regina subsector.

Overhearing him, a fellow at the bar (age 34, 397479) says that he once accompanied the Emperor’s cousin on a hunt at Knorbes (0207) at the Imperial game preserve, hunting vicious tree krakens. He insists that the liver of these little beasts is used in the Emperor’s own anagathic preparations.

Meanwhile when Olleneg Agate asks how you spent your time on Regina, she is surprised to hear you mention her putting in touch with an executive from Oberlindes Lines.

“Not me, dearie – I never sent anyone your way!”

… a secret is worth 100 hit songs. Gerry Gallows, one of Dermy’s rivals, has found out about his debilitating allergy and would like nothing better than to tamper with the supply that the you are about to deliver.

“Did you get what you went for?”
__
“Darling, it’s impossible to keep a secret in this industry! Why don’t I buy you a drink? You look like you could do with one!”
__
“You lickspittle lackeys! You’ll be sorry you refused me!”

… with Khel woozy on a cocktail of painkillers, saw you meet up with Madrid Straaker music-lover and business manager to the stars. One particular star under his wing, Dermont ‘Dermy’ Calaway inventor and pioneer of the aerosynth, had a rather delicate problem which needs a discrete but firm touch. He flew you out to his private villa to explain it.

It all involved an exchange of one of Dermy’s trademark aerosynths for a consignment of anagathics with a rather odious green-skinned fellow, nicknamed ‘The Goblin’ at a disused private landing pad on the outskirts of Credo. The exchange went as planned, and all seemed well as you headed back to the city…

Dateline 046-1105

… you all set off back for Credo, where Jan gave Myles Nerim the go-ahead to acquire you 80dtons of cargo for freight to Ruie. You decided you didn’t want the grief of carrying low passengers but Ari secured a 5dton mail container, also bound for Ruie, via Rey Galadden which will net you a cool Cr25000 alone.

You met the-man-with-no-name to handover the first part of your part of the bargain and he fronted you Cr50000. Sar had another go at getting the rest of the information you needed from the University of Regina data network, but ran into his archenemy, Sidell Nuri who called Security and necessitated a hasty retreat. Not to worry, the next day Sar proved his mettle by tracking down just the data you needed – via a public terminal, no less. Another meeting with your mysterious patron, and you were another Cr100000 richer – much of which went straight towards helping refurbish the Jasper Milo.

While all this was happening, Merv Dobry was introducing Blaxton Zagger to your captain, and she was very impressed with what she saw, hiring him as ship’s engineer on the spot.
Khel, however, after a night celebrating your big score, was not so lucky. He ran into an old ‘friend’, Udeh Ivo who, it transpired, was working together with an associate, Tansy Alameda for Rocco ‘The Rock’ Nelek of ‘Revenge Unlimited’ fame. Udeh drugged Khel, and (apologetically) delivered him into Rocco’s clutches where he first had to endure a mildly sarcastic tongue-wagging from The Rock, then a thorough beating from Tansy with a martial arts flail. Udeh: “Sorry, brother, nothing personal, it’s just a pay-cheque. You’d have done the same to me.” With his last conscious breath, Khel swore revenge against Udeh: “I look forward to it!”

TNS 319-1104
Heroni/Mora Over the last 25 months, Selim hault-Sevigny’s travel schedule shows visits to a Jenghe oceanic trench, the treacherous out-dome badlands of Boughene, and a fly-by tour of Trin’s Veil. As his fellow members of the Traveller’s Aid Society will tell you, it’s a schedule that would challenge the stamina of even the most robust traveller. However, hault-Sevigny doesn’t mind the frequent shifts in gravity and atmosphere – it’s his ashes which are journeying across the Marches, courtesy his fiancée and his friends in TAS.

Tiny portions of hault-Sevigny’s ashes have been making their way to various sites of scenic or historic importance across the Marches since his death in 1101, each visit meticulously logged by the TAS member carrying them. In some cases, where permitted by local law and custom, the ashes have been scattered on location. Another set of ashes is slowly making its way along the Spinward Main, with a stated goal of visiting each world along the fabled trade route. “Rather than having people mourn him, he wanted to motivate people to have adventures,” stated his fiancée, Chloe Virkusshagan. Hault-Sevigny certainly lived up to that goal himself, having served as an Imperial Marine, founded a space-jumping school and working as a cameraman for several holoseries production companies.

TNS 004-1105
Rhylanor/Rhylanor A shuttle on its way up into orbit was yesterday forced to turn around and perform an emergency landing because 72 farting porkers — a genetically enhanced species of meat animal derived from Terran pigs, but weighing about 800 to 900 kg apiece — activated the shuttle’s fire extinguishers. The shuttle was also carrying about 300 people when the porkers’ urine, stomach gas, and body heat created a crisis in the stratosphere. 15 award-winning pedigree porkers were asphyxiated when the cargo hold’s automatic fire extinguishing system went on. A member of the crew later described the resulting smell as ‘indescribable’.

TNS 018-1105
Regina/Regina ≡ The IISS scout cruiser Normal Victory has failed to return from an extended survey and is presumed missing. Its crew of five was making detailed planetary surveys along the Imperium-Zhodani border. A Naval task force has been dispatched along the Victory’s planned route.

Firstly, though, you all did well to convince the salvage yard people (good thinking, that!) and the WPA that you were an innocent bunch of aggrieved tourists. Ari & Sar got medevacced back to Charlestown – and charged some rather hefty hospital bills – and the WPA gave Jan & Khel a lift.