Prisoner Passage

Please hold
11/16/2517
After getting everyone taken care of by the Syndicate street doc on Paquin, Captain David Windsor and Ruan sit down with the crew to discuss if Locke is a threat. Ruan says that Locke is probably on the run, his failed attempt to recapture Ruan was a huge botch, the Academy will be after him and he will have to flee. Ruan is far more concerned with Niska's reaction. Locke is going to be very busy hiding, his resources are thin and will be devoted to escape. The captain agrees and he and Ruan sit down to call Niska and report on what happened on Persephone. Niska is somewhat pleasant; he is not very happy with Ruan's performance, but Ruan did kill his target. He compliments the captain on how well they handled rescuing Ruan from the tong, he is particularly impressed that they burned down the building to conceal all the evidence. The captain is still digesting the realization that Ruan was there on a contract killing for Niska, neither of them tell the truth about what really happened in the rescue. Niska tells Ruan their debt is squared and he should give Magda a call sometime. Niska signs off.
With no current work, Windsor sends Cid out to line up a job and they get a cargo bound for Beaumonde. The ship is mostly quiet for a few days, Silas is recovering from his wounds and Ruan is still processing the memories he Read from Locke. Junior and Naomi spend time with Junior's dog.

References
On Beaumonde, the crew handles the mechanics of offloading cargo and looking for new work. Junior heads out to a beach front resort to do some serious drinking. Ruan is concerned about the dog and feels he is being mistreated and used just like he was. He steals the dog and smuggles it off the ship, then sets it free and returns to the ship. After cargo is unloaded, the captain takes everyone out and they meet up with Junior. Everyone drinks except Ruan, the captain makes a new friend and leaves to spend the night with her.
The next day Junior realizes the dog is missing and starts searching the ship. Once Silas gets involved, he thinks things are a little suspicious and he confronts Ruan who admits to having set the dog free. Naomi put a tracking beacon in the dog's collar, she and Junior grab her motorcycle and track the dog to an animal shelter and reclaim it. The captain returns, very cheerful from his date and walks into the argument. He gives Junior permission to move out of the room he shares with Ruan and into an empty passenger cabin. No one is very happy with Ruan.
Cid gets a cargo bound for Gonghe and loading and preparations for departure begin. During the loading, an unmarked van pulls up and a very tough and ugly woman approaches the captain, looking to hire passage. Her name is Janet Washington, she and her partner Hulin Thomas are bounty hunters looking for passage to Osiris with a prisoner. She mentions that Roy Hwang gave the ship and crew an excellent review. She knows the ship is bound for Gonghe, if they can take them to Osiris afterwards, that would be good, if not just getting to Gonghe will take them most of the way. She offers to pay double rates for two cabins and the captain agrees. Hulin brings their prisoner, Peter Fung, aboard and they get settled. Cargo is loaded and the ship departs.
In the middle of the first night, Naomi is on the bridge and Ruan is patrolling the ship. Alarms sound and the pulse drive dies and the ship drops to normal speed. They roust out the crew, Cid takes the controls and the captain, Silas and Naomi head to engineering. Naomi diagnoses the problem; the primary coolant pump broke and is venting coolant into the reactor spaces. The three of them suit up, repair the pump and vent the coolant to space, then re-pressurize. They have sufficient reserve coolant, but will need to replace the lost quantity at the next stop. Cid replots their course and realizes his first one was crappy and added an extra day to the trip. He recalculates and gets the ship underway.

Not a hijacking
On Gonghe, cargo is unloading. Silas is sent out to get a coolant refill, Cid is looking for work and Ruan and Naomi are out shopping for a new gun. Windsor and Junior are overseeing the unloading when an Alliance inspection team, an officer and three troops arrive. The officer reviews their paperwork and Silas returns with a port repair crew who replenish the coolant. The officer asks to see the passengers and their prisoner so he can verify their paperwork also. The crew leads them to the passenger quarters, but as soon as Janet comes out, the "feds" raise their weapons and open fire. Fortunately, most of the crew is wearing body armor. Unfortunately, so are the bad guys. Silas kills one with a double machete attack and its a close quarter gun brawl as the bounty hunters help. Two of the attackers are killed and two more wounded, the bounty hunters stabilize them. The crew has a few minor wounds and the captain calls everyone back. They begin checking the attackers, the uniforms could be stolen, the helmets and armor are Alliance surplus and the weapons are random, not Alliance issue at all. Hulin runs their info through his criminal database, one of them is in the gang the prisoner is from. When Ruan arrives, the captain tells him to "do your thing" and Ruan Reads a survivor, then pulls his pistol and finishes off the two wounded. The bounty hunters are a little shocked, Naomi is stunned because she has never seen Ruan kill with his casual efficiency. Since no one outside heard the shots, they decide to conceal the bodies and space them later, Junior is put to work cleaning up the evidence. Once things are cleaned up, cargo is loaded for Osiris and they depart. Ruan gets a chance to tell the captain the attackers were criminals sent to rescue the prisoner. On Osiris, the cargo and passengers are unloaded and the captain buys an identicard scanner to help check for fake and forged identifications. Cid gets a small cargo and two passengers headed to Liann Jiun and they put the new scanner to work. With the passengers checked, they lift ship for Liann Jiun.

Quotes and Smart Remarks
Kevin is wearing a bright yellow Hawaiian shirt and looks like Wash
Jim "I promise not to kill your character with a giant spike through the chest"

Matt "I don't use deodorant"
Jim "Your new seat is in the next room"
Matt "I don't sweat"
Raleigh "Do you pant?"

Discussing concerns that Locke will return to attack them
Lee "Are we using any anti-Locke measures?"

The captain is out on a date
Raleigh "The captain is learning to trust"

They can't get a hold of Naomi and Ruan who are out skinny dipping at the beach at night
Lee "They're the two people most likely to be kidnapped"

After being confronted about stealing Junior's dog, Emily gets tongue tied
Emily "We shouldn't keep pets and call them dogs"

Talking about how ugly the bounty hunter is
Raleigh "She has what we call city miles…"

Matt "Space Termites"
Jim "Spermites… That's a bad word…"

Jim "You send Silas to get more coolant"
Lee "Is that what we're calling beer now?"

Raleigh "Law is not science"

Lee "You got to kill someone with two machetes and pump coolant. How cool is that? <pause as Lee considers his dumb pun> I totally didn't mean that"

Junior doesn't do a very good job cleaning up the blood
Lee "What kind of anarchist doesn't know how to clean up blood?"
Matt "The kind that uses explosives"