"Tales From Where Angels Fear to Tread" A White Spa Lines Publication, A Division of Orbital Spa and Cruise 12 February 827 A.S.
A Lesson in Manners
Orbital Spa and Cruise strives to make space travel both more accessible and more civil. The luxury fleet is known for its warm greetings of passing ships as they strive to fly through friendlier skies. Orbital pilots like to think they bring out the best in even the most jaded ore haulers and navy pilots, but it seems even hardened freedom fighters are capable of polite discourse with the corporation's liners.
Captain Caitlyn Cross of the newly branded OS&C vessel Red Velvet Club found herself in Shikoku when her Palace class liner was cornered by several Golden Chrysanthemum ships. A tense stand-off with the radical feminists ensued when the pilots "Blades of Autumn" and "Oniyuri" were refused docking privileges on the luxury liner. However, distrust turned to mutual benefit when the GC ships agreed to put on a show for the passengers in exchange for some free drinks and payment for their entertainment. As the liner departed, one of the ships attempted to shake down Captain Cross for more credits, which Blades of Autumn quickly put a stop to with a firm but unquestioned, "she has no manners."
When asked why the GC pilots had been denied landing privileges in the first place, the luxury fleet's newest captain simply smiled and said, "I am the only armed lady on my ship."
A Way to Stay Busy
As the Boundless_Pleasure continues its preparations for its VIP trek to Gallia, Captain Jack Ashton found himself all dressed up but with nowhere to go. Orbital captains are selected not only for their skills with handling both ships and people, but also for their innate drive to go out and discover strange new places. So when Captain Cross found herself an escort short for a risky trek through the Omegas, Captain Ashton found himself mooring his modified Democritus and taking off in a Taurus class fighter.
While the extra friendly ship in the formation probably comforted the nerves of some passengers, a fighter-escort was a poor match for most of the hazards encountered along the way. From punching through minefields in Omega-5 to timing a zero-G performance in front of Omega-41's famed neutron star to avoid radiation poisoning, this trip saw Captain Cross fighting the ambient dangers of Sirius itself for the sake of her passengers. Of course, not all of the passengers aboard necessarily saw such dangers in a negative light.
"I would have liked to be longer in the system, but I understand that not all are willing to take health risks for the science," said Dr.Markov, the leader of the scientists on board. Others, such as Brent McFaden, an Astronomer from Cambridge, found themselves distracted by other heavenly bodies. "I couldn't choose what was More fantastic; the sight behind the windows or the young woman on the stage."
Fortunately, the Junker-born captain is more pragmatic and not as easily distracted as her charges. "As much as i can understand [Dr. Markov's] scientific curiosity, the health of my passengers will be always come first."
The ships returned to Manhattan space via Rheinland and the Red Velvet Club is scheduled to return to regular service after decontamination and inspection protocols are complete. With any luck, Captain Ashton will be back aboard the Boundless_Pleasure before then.
A Round Trip Rescue
Captain Jonathan Seabourne of the OS&C Liner Breezewood had just unmoored from Planet Curacao when disaster struck. A large explosion on scanners revealed some sort of docking mishap can caused a Crayterian freighter to hit the resort planet's thick atmosphere and disintegrate. With multiple distress signals from life pods detected, the Breezewood immediately went into Search and Rescue mode.
"We were a full up vessel," said Seabourne, "so we started by jettisoning some wine and liberty ale to make room for casualties. Then we carefully maneuvered to allow our tractor to make pick-up on the survivors." The liner made pickup on several civilian pilots and crew and continued on its original heading towards Bethlehem in Pennsylvania. En route, the pods were opened and basic first aid provided to those who ejected. However, one pod remained unopened.
The Crayterian Pilot's pod was badly damaged in the accident and given the technological inconsistancies between Crayterian and House technologies none of Breezewood's engineers felt confident enough in their ability to extract the injured pilot without possibly damaging the life support systems keeping him stable. It was decided to keep him aboard as the rest of the rescued survivors were discharged on the zoner station Bethlehem until he could be formally repatriated.
Fortunately, the liner did not have to carry its unwitting stowaway for long. Dr. Doreen Naggar, Chief Medical Officer for the Crayter Republic, was coincidentally attending a medical conference on Curacao. After Seabourne made contact with the good doctor, the Breezewood turned around and headed back to where the whole ordeal started. The pilot was transferred over to Curacao's chief porter and planetside logistics took care of things from there to get the pilot back in friendly hands.
When asked if the Crayter Republic would be billed for the round trip provided to the downed pilot, Captain Seabourne laughed before saying, "The man was unconscious in our cargo hold for the duration of the flight. It would be inappropriate to charge him for a passenger ticket."
The grinning captain jokingly added, "We'll bill him as freight."
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OS&C|Breezewood
Captain Jonathan Seabourne, Editor-in-Chief, Wanderlust Magazine