Blood of the Saviour
The crew of the Mystic Shark finally arrived in the Common Entente, slightly frazzled after the week of strange happenings in hyperspace. Unity and Relena headed off to see if they could find some suitable light armour. They both felt under-prepared for the amount of hand to hand combat they found themselves involved in, and while their weapons were good they posessed little in the way of defenses other than their natural speed and agility. However, it soon became apparent that while flak jackets and infantry armour were cheap enough and in ready supply, neither the captain nor the doctor were actually comfortable wearing them. They restricted movement, made it hard for the Blade to access her weapons and hampered speed with their weight. Unity found a personal shielding device that suited him and the Captian, used to training with somewhat archaic gear on her homeworld, decided on some metal vambraces and an open helmet. Not exactly cutting edge but practical. Relena left Unity wandering as usual among the local religious sects and checked up on Noumalia, who had managed to find a replacement for the replicator unit they'd fried earlier in the week. She was also burdened with a number of expensive-looking packages, one of which appeared to contain something suspiciously frilly.
Unity returned to the ship later that afternoon, in a state of solemn agaitation. Calling the crew together he told them how he had met with the head of a local religious order - Adoltin, High Priest of the Holy Rite - who had a job proposition for them. The order was reclusive, isolated, but had recently suffered a great loss when the 'focus' of their devotion had been stolen from them. He and his monks needed to get it back urgently or their order would fall apart. Sensing adventure, and more importantly, profit, Relena sent the doctor back to obtain more detailed information. Specifically she wanted to know what it was, who had taken it where, and how much they were going to be paid to retrieve it. Trust Unity to get so caught up in the theology of the thing that he forget to ask such basic questions of a prospective employer!
Unwilling to let the Doctor wander off alone after the earlier 'incident' with the briefcase, Kelda followed at a discrete distance, observing as he entered the compound. When he returned, Unity looked worried but refused to say anything much until they were back on the ship. Crew gathered together again, he informed them that the order could not afford much, only 1000 credits. The captain laughed and told him to forget it. The others seemed to agree until Unity let on the final piece of information: the 'focus' of their religion was their messiah - a ten year old boy. He'd been kidnapped by a break-away sect and was being kept in a compound further out in the desert. The crew decided they had to take the job but would not be returning him to the priest until they'd had a chance to work out who he was, how he was being treated and what he wanted. With that in mind they formulated their plan.
Unity made contact with the leader of the break-away sect (named Xylete) and by playing the 'spiritual seeker' card manged to wrangle an invitation to speak with him in his compound. Kelda and Relena went shopping to try and source some knock-out poison, the aim being to keep this little rescue mission as non-violent as possible. Lance took the ship into orbit, ready to land and collect the crew one the deed was done. The remaining four crew took the desert hover-vehicle to the compound, Kelda and Noumalia hiding in the back and Relena posing as Unity's driver. After discreetly dropping Kelda off to find a stratigic position, the vehicle was met at the door by the leader and two very able-looking monks. Once Relena and Noumalia had driven away, Unity was searched for weapons and had his communicator confiscated. Kelda made contact, alerting them that she had seen a child's face peering out of an upstairs window. The two women were just debating whether they could make the two-story climb with the aid of rope and grappling hooks when an explosion rocked the compound. Kelda spotted an armed vehicle approaching and Unity was able to find out that the attackers were none other than the crew's employers - the monks of the Holy Rite!
Managing to get his communicator back with a promise to rescue the child, Unity met Noumalia and Relena at the back door, which a now limping Relena admitted to having kicked down. The party made their way upstairs, only to be confronted with a locked door. Their attempts to speak to the child were met with a petulant reply, "Are you with Adoltin?" at Unity's reply that they weren't with anyone exactly, he responded defiantly, "Then go away!!". Hearing the sounds of fighting downstairs the party decided there was no time to reason with the child and Noumalia pushed the door in with a psionic blow.
The boy was furious, and when Relena approached he planted a decent blow to the side of her jaw. Taken aback and bloody annoyed Relena used one of the vials of knock-out poison to quiet the child and proceeded to carry him back into the hall where they were met by their employer, Adoltin, and two of his loyal monks, ready to fight.
After a quick call to Lance to land the ship asap, Relena tried to talk her way out of the situation but was simply told in no uncertain terms that they weren't trusted and that they knew too much. Patience and options running out, the Captain drew a knife and threatened to kill the child if they weren't allowed to pass. However the high priest called her bluff and just when she and Unity had resigned themselves to the fact that they were going to have to fight their way out of there something amazing happened: Noumalia's eyes took on that tell-tale psionic glow and all of a sudden Adoltin was swept off his feet into a wall with enough force to crush his skull. Taking advantage of the absolute bewilderment of his lackeys, the party manage to push past them and reach the back door just as Lance and Kelda converged on the scene. Though they were followed, one look from Noumalia sent the two monks running for good.
Bluebook: Mid-Blood: Adoltin goes Splat
The crew quickly boarded the Mystic Shark just as the child in Relena's arms began to awaken and struggle. Patience at an end, the captain administered the remaining dose of knock-out poison to buy Unity enough time to put the child in the spare cabin - in handcuffs. It was touch and go for a while as Relena struggled to make the astrogation calculations while Kelda fast-talked the authorities who were ordering them to land after their breach of protocol. Luckily they managed to jump into hyperspace before the starport authorites sent ships after them.
Is he really the messiah or just a very naughty boy? Stay tuned for the next adventure of Relena Horvath and the crew of the Mystic Shark!
Bluebook: Mid-'Blood" write it
Bluebook: Post Blood of the Saviour (note: this one is a little messed up due to cross-posting. Hopefully you can follow the sequence ^_^)
Quote of the session
We don't have a stateroom suitable for housing a god!
- Relena
