As the Old Speckled Hen prepared for departure to Slough, she was met in high orbit by a shuttle which delivered her passengers, Don Raul Guzman – a Triffid diplomat experienced in Bwap relations, and his cook and manservant Jacopo Ortiz – plainly a soldier or special forces officer with minimal culinary training.

Preparations were made for jump, introductions made, and Captain Chavez initiated the jump sequence. As the lights dimmed to denote that jump had commenced, Don Guzman paled, broke out in sweat and then passed out. This distracted the captain, who failed to notice red warning lights on his displays which had to be pointed out to him by young soldier Juan Marquez. As the captain tried to split his attention between the diplomat and his displays, messages came through from hydroponics of structural problems and mounting stresses on the ship systems. Marquez hurried down to hydroponics, where Velasquez was urgently inserting breathing tubes into the livestock then surrounding them with impact gel.  As gravitational waves rippled through the section, Velasquez was hurled against a bulkhead and knocked out, Marquez relieved pressure in the section and rescued Velasquez, and Chavez managed to complete the remainder of the jump without further incident.

Don Guzman was taken back to his room, where Captain Chavez deduced that he had suffered a minor heart attack. Velasquez appeared to have suffered concussion. Discussion ensued, as Guzman might not survive a week on ship but equally might not survive cryogenic storage. Guzman came to and asked to be left alone, but was clearly distressed and far from recovered, insisting that the ship be turned around and returned to Triffid (which was wholly impossible even were the crew willing).

Shortly after, Don Guzman asked for Marquez to come alone to his cabin. Suspecting that Guzman might be about to do something unwise, Marquez took his rifle and CFO Ugo Sardini also came along. Sure enough, Guzman produced a concealed firearm and took Marquez hostage (Marquez choosing not to resist).   Guzman was persuaded to enter the escape pod, apparently believing he could use it to return to Triffid, and once inside was cryogenically frozen for later treatment.

The journey continued to pass, Velasquez remained unconscious, Ortiz was discovered to have been assigned to the mission as part of his sentence for killing his wife’s husband with his bare hands, which curtailed discussions about inviting him to join the crew, eventually the ship reached the Slough system.

In system, the crew were hailed by the ship Where Are We Again?, whose captain indicated a need for tightband communication. As the Old Speckled Hen approached the inner system, a communications laser was set up between the ships, and Mbarga of the Where revealed that a Concordat cruiser was in orbit and had confiscated his entire cargo of illegal bioweapons. Also in system, was a Mercantile League trading vessel, a local battleship and a Pacifier – a gigantic menacing alien ship looking rather like a vast black and spiky sea urchin, which was apparently a pacificistic craft left by a previous interstellar civilisation which helped clean up the galaxy and which was presently clearing orbital debris from around Slough.

With Mbarga’s warning in mind, the Old Speckled Hen contacted the Concordat vessel, the Appropriate Response, and arranged to hand over the prisoners held in the hold as believers in a proscribed faith. Captain Gotxikoa boarded, a tall man with eyebrows that met in the middle, together with Concordat agents Castro and Escriba. Escriba telepathically interrogated Captain Chavez, and afterwards the entire ship was searched for contraband (of which there was none). As the Concordat agents prepared to leave, Sardini surprised them with the gift of a carved wooden fruit bowl filled with Walky fruit, this so pleasing the agents that they took Don Guzman onto their ship for medical treatment.

Proceeding down to planet, the OSH landing craft took further damage from orbital debris, before landing in the now familiar cleared field that characterises space ports on the poorer planets. The ship was approached by a local welcoming committee, with marching band, guards, and General Tavares himself being carried on a palanquin borne by four bearers. He greeted them, made them welcome and sent them for local processing as part of which they were given copious guides to the local amenities and facilities. It became evident that Tavares had duplicated himself through cloning and personality downloads and that no fewer than five versions of himself (two female, one of whom he had married) being in the system.

Sardini began negotiations with Trade Officer Don Felipe Hauptmann, while the rest came uneasily to terms with their two child soldier bodyguards one of whom was revealed to be over 120 years old. These guards even accompanied the crew to the starport bar, where they met with some of the crew of the Where and the Mercantile League ship the Golden Pavillion Temple – engaged in an exploratory trade contacts mission in Imperial space. After gifting the barman with another fruit bowl (the third so gifted, as one had been provided to the general earlier), he agreed to help see if any potential crewmen were available on planet.

Talks continued, the crew attended a ball at which the General displayed his fruit bowl for a film crew so that it could be seen on television during the hours such was broadcast and thus make it easier for the crew to sell them – the general being a helpful sort, and arrangements were made to visit a city of the local indigenes by zeppelin. Marquez was accompanied by a local beauty the General had arranged for him as a date, part way through the evening Marquez realised she was married and though she had no intent of returning to his chamber with him short of that she was under orders to keep him entertained, a realisation which rather dampened the evening for him.

Surviving Captain Chavez’ go at the piloting controls, and the indigenes custom of firing artillery at the out of range zeppelin as it passes, the crew visited the capital of the friendliest indigence nation, where a Vegan translator with a poor grasp of Spanish assisted the crew in dealing with local customs. In the course of their visit, the crew witnessed alien ethnic dance displays that seemed curiously tailored to visiting humans, endured repeated requests for guns, narrowly avoided Marquez being married to a local beauty (for a tentacled starfish thing) and traded two assault rifles, some ammo and grenades for a ton of a locally produced liquor.

Back at the starport, preparations were made for a second ball, discussions were had with locals, trade negotiations were finalised (including the taking of a General Tavares as a passenger to Lucidus) and the crew began to prepare for departure, hearing first however that three potential crewmembers (a human, a Vegan and an Aslan) were available for interview and hopeful that these would be potentially useful additions to the Old Speckled Hen’s manifest.