December 20. 2018
Thursday 07:45 Paladin calls Harold Leland, his attorney in New York,
and has him reach out to the Alabama division PRIMUS to alert them of the
impending battle. Big Tuna approaches Salazar’s door and knocks. The man
answers and confirms he is Salazar. Tuna grabs him and tosses him into the
street so the rest of the team can pile on him. The dragon was exceedingly tough and had many powers at
his disposal including its flame breath, tail slap, and magical spells (Sleep,
Assume Gaseous Form, and Invisibility). Salazar stood his ground in single combat against the
entire team for quite a while before being forced to withdraw. He managed to
make good his escape. The girls in the basement were unhappy about their
rescue. They violently resisted being freed by the heroes, being more
interested in murdering their rivals (fellow prisoners) than being released. The girls are turned over to local police and PRIMUS. The heroes stay and have a large and satisfying lunch
before returning to New York. 3PM The temperature is below freezing and there is a light
freezing rain falling on the city. They reach the Bunker and see a pink, triangular,
spaceship parked beside the building. It is the Lovely Angel the spaceship of
the Lovely Angels (Kei and Yuri). A pair of bikini clad women are loitering at
the bottom of the ship’s entry ramp. As the team come to a stop near the ship Yuri runs over,
throws her arms around Paladin’s neck, and plants a big kiss on him full on the
lips. The pair tell the group that they are here to: 1) fill out the last page
of their report from their last visit (having died and not knowing what
happened), 2) get their Air Raft back, and 3) Kei needs to get the lust-worms
that she left here back. Yuri keeps mentioning that they need to be finished in
the next seven to ten days but Kei keeps shushing her each time she mentions
it. Paladin starts negotiation the purchase of their air
raft. Yuri says it is worth 14 million credits and earth money is (currently)
useless in the Empire as there is no exchange rate between the two. They settle
on letting Namo (their robot) calculate the value in gold, gold is acceptable
currency in the Empire. Paladin says he would be happy to help them finish their
report which takes care of everything except Kei’s lust-worms. Basically, the story goes that when they were here last
time is was on the pretense of a working vacation. They were looking for the
Galactic Marauder pirate crew led by Captain Richaal and enjoying some well-deserved
Rest and Relaxation. Kei brought a few lust-worms with her to enjoy. Yuri, to
Kei’s annoyance, keeps mentioning that lust-worms are illegal in the Empire.
Kei retorts each time that Earth isn’t in the Empire! Paladin, who was unaware of the contraband, wants to know
where she last saw the worms? She let Bear borrow them. Bear is in jail for his role in the murder of Boris
Antonov, the leader of the Antonov Bratva (Russian mob). His room at the Bunker
has been emptied. The logical place to look for the worms (small yellow maggot-like
creatures last seen in a white plastic box resembling a match box) would be
with Bear’s parents in Little Odessa. Yuri can no longer contain herself. She basically yells,
‘Do you know why we need to find them in the next 7 to 10 days? Because
lust-worms are illegal in the Empire and the Imperial flagship, The Glorious
Heritage will be here to annex the Earth!’ Kei being responsible for lust-worms being on Earth would
look bad on her record. Yuri’s revelation opens up a much larger discussion. Lust-worms have been responsible for the destruction of
several planets. People place them on their bodies to enjoy a rush of ecstasy.
One worm is great but the creatures feed on the emotions they induce and
multiply. The more worms the greater the euphoria until the victim stops doing
anything except riding the high. Eventually the victim starves to death. The
worms then seek new hosts starting a epidemic that could (and often does) go
world-wide. Without a host lust-worms can go dormant for years,
centuries maybe. No one knows how long they can lay fallow. What
would happen if the lust-worms aren’t found? New York would be nuclear
sterilized from orbit. If that did not stop the spread the entire surface of
the planet would be sterilized. The
Brooklyn Brigade is very unhappy with Kei but it gets worse. The
reason the Empire wants to annex the Earth is because of the Star Gate that
exists in the system. The people of Earth call it Jupiter. To cement their
control the Thalok Empire tries to take control of every Star Gate that they
can. They will destroy ones that they can not control unless the species that
are in control are powerful enough to secure it. Star Gates, being gas giant
sized machines masquerading as planets, can only be destroyed by a super nova.
Luckily for the Empire their ultimate weapon is the Nova Bomb which causes
stable stars to explode. This is not considered lucky for the races the weapon
is used on. The
group suggests turning the Star Gate off. Yuri says this is impossible as you
would need a Dimensional key. She describes a key as being extremely rare,
having been built by the same ancient race the built the Star Gate network.
They look like small crystal pyramids with four sides. They are all but
impossible to find. Paladin
says they have one. Yuri tells them to use it you need to be in orbit of the
gate and then just will it to shut off. The crystals are semi-telepathic. She
also warns that this might not be enough to stop the Empire from coming. The
Emperor has a key too and can reactive the gate if it gets close enough. The
gates allow for instant transport between star clusters making insane trip
feasible. The Lovely Angel , their ship, would take about 3 thousand
years to get from Earth to Thalok Prime. The Glorious Heritage has a different type of star drive and
can make the same journey in about two months. Deciding that at the very least it
would buy Earth more time they will shut the gate down. Kei and Yuri want to be
on the far side of the gate before it gets deactivated. They would like to go
home. Kei is pleased! If the Star-Gate is
shut down and the Empire decides not to come to Earth then she won’t get in
trouble for possession and distribution of contraband. All is well and they can
leave! Not so fast, they created this
problem and Paladin wants them to help clean it up. Kei pouts but is doesn’t
help so they agree to do what they can to help find and stop the infestation. (someone) wants to know how the
Empire even found out that Earth has a Star Gate. The Lovely Angels admit they
told the Empire, it was one of the details in a previous report. The group blames all of this on the
pair. They brought the lust-worms, they informed the Empire about the
Star-Gate, they are the reason the planet might get invaded or destroyed.
Paladin claims the air raft as compensation for the trouble they caused. Grumbling the Pair agree that this
more-or-less fair. They point out that it isn’t entirely their fault though.
Xela and her brother used the Star-Gate to get here (in violation of the
Red-Zone designation imposed by the Guardians of the Universe) and the Brooklyn
Brigade used it to come to the Thalok Empire (to rescue Xela’s parents from the
Galactic Marauders), and the Lovely Angels used it to come to Earth to retrieve
Xela’s brother Taveer and three of his friends. So, there was a record. Each
time a ship uses the Thalok Prime Star-Gate (arriving or leaving) a System
Defense Boat records the use and collects the tolls. It is not (entirely) our fault the
Empire knows of Earth’s Star-Gate. They continue pouting about the situation. Suggestions are made to inform the
United Nations about the possibility of an alien invasion, but Paladin wants to
avoid a worldwide panic if the Brigade can defuse the situation themselves. Paladin has had contact with Bear’s
parents before, so he leads the group to their bakery. The father, Solfron, is
working the counter and gives Paladin a very cold reception. Solfron is
unwilling to help Paladin. He claims that his son was protecting the
neighborhood from the Antonov Bratva. He was a good boy and hero. After he and Constable were arrested
for the murder of Boris Antonov, a public service in Solfron’s opinion, the
Bratva resumed collecting protection money from the businesses in the
community. Paladin tried to reason with him
about the threat that the world was facing but Solfron ignored him. ‘We came to
this country looking for a better life for ourselves and our son. Because of
you we lost are son, our only child, we have nothing left to live for so let
the world burn.’ At this point his wife Uliana took
him by the arm and led him back to where the kitchen was. She told the group
that after Bear was arrested and his name released to the public the Bratva
came to them. They wanted everything that Bear had left behind. The took
everything by force. They have nothing left even to remember him by. After Paladin thanked her for the
information she asked one favor in return; that he would never come back.
Paladin said that he understood and would honor her request.
The session ended with Paladin
recalling that Boris Antonov conducted his criminal enterprise from his
restaurant The Tea Room .