Episode 2.4
From HOTGT
The Crew of the Mao's Claw assembles briefly for a late night conference as they decide how to proceed. They have negotiated a deal with the local Construction Workers Union to sell their cargo, but they don't know whether it will be honored in light of recent events. They know they want to leave Angel quickly, so it is decided that they will fuel up, restock supplies, and try to find a job out of here.
As they are preparing to leave, they make note of some suspicious activity around the ship. This cements their urge to leave, and leave quickly. The cargo is off loaded without incident, food and fuel is purchased, and they begin their normal preflight. Then a wave comes across the emergency frequencies.
"This is the Nu Du Shen one day out of Angel. We've suffered a catastrophic systems failure. All hands have abandoned ship. Out shuttles are en route to Angel. Repeat this is the Nu Du Shen, we've suffered a catastrophic systems failure. All hands have abandoned ship, 22 Life boats are en route to Angel."
The crew continues their pre-flight activities more worried about the eyes watching them, then events in the Black. Then another wave is issues from Angel Space Authority.
"Attention all vessels. Attempt no salvage on the Nu Du Shen. Salvage rights are owned by United Reclamation. Any unauthorized salvage operation is in violation of code 234 section A. Attempt no salvage."
This sealed the deal for Nadie. She ordered the ship in the air as soon as possible. The Mao's Claw was not the only ship to launch quickly two others launched as well: The Wilma (a Mantis class salvage vessel)
Midway into the trip Nadie realized that there might be How Shi Sung Chung when the three ships arrive simultaneously. But, given that that Nu Du Shen was undoubtedly rich with wealth, and the time would be short to harvest it all. It would be best to try to work out something with the other ships before arriving.
Her attempts to negotiate with the smaller, faster vessel proved hopeless. No doubt it was a small pirate vessel unaccustomed to talk'n things out. The Wilma was also not very friendly like, but they were, at least, willing to talk. There was little room for negotiation, and the Wilma's captain was a hardened type, confident his larger crew could defeat the Mao's Claw's smaller one. He asked her how much blood she were will to lose for the chance to evenly share the riches. Nadie wasn't sure he was serious, but it did give her pause. How much was she willing to lose, just to chance some riches. She agreed to keep to the Cargo Holds if it meant the crews wouldn't be exchanging bullets. The Wilma's captain agreed.
When they reached the Nu Du Shen, they could see why it were abandoned so quickly, it looked like power surges in the engine room had damaged the ships systems, and caused a radiation leak. They'd need to be careful. The unidentified ship was already docked on Deck Four Aft, so the Mao's Claw coupled with the larger ships main Docking Ring to its Cargo Holds on Deck One (forward). With stale air, cold temperatures, and a somewhat troubling amount of radiation, they opted to work quickly to empty the cargo holds of everything they saw, they'd investigate what it was later. James and Bob set to work on Cargo Hold one with the forklift moving palettes into the Mao's Claw's cargo bay.
Del and Vincent went into Cargo bay two, further amidship. The picken's were easy enough, but not near exciting enough for Del. She convinced Vincent (no hard task there), that they might find more bountiful wares on a higher deck, perhaps in the staterooms. Vincent gave passing objection that the Captain would not approve, but Del pressed him upward. They took the grand staircase, with its crystal chandeliers, and velvet curtains up two decks before running into two members of the Wilma's Crew. There was a short stand-off, but Del managed to convince them to let them go up a deck. They had to promise to split any loot they found on the way back, which they agreed (for now) to do. Who knows whether those terms would be honored on their return, but Del wanting to show she could be decisive, pressed on fearlessly. They followed the signs towards the VIP staterooms, on the aft of Deck Four, forgetting for the moment that this was where the unidentified ship was docked. They bumped into one that ship's crew who was defending its claim. He scored a good hit on Vincent before he too was shot and he quickly retreated around corridor. Shortly thereafter, Del and Vincent found themselves in a crossfire. The small ship's one eyed captain (Jack Morgan) came up behind them, and bade the drop their weapons. Not wanting to do that, Del dodged into a nearby room. The man shot Vincent and the two pinned into a corner of the ship.
By now Nadie had come looking for her missing crewmates. She'd broken her comm tried to break through the radiation, and had to track them on foot. She'd been allowed passage past the Wilma's guards and snuck up behind One Eye'd Jack. A stand off ensued. Del tried to make a break for it, she got winged by a woman covering the corridor, but her armor absorbed most of it. Nadie threatened One Eye'd Jack, he threatened Del. Vincent was threatened by the woman, and Nadie was threatened by the first man (who'd been wounded by Vincent). Cooler heads prevailed, One Eye'd JAck let Vincent and Del leave (they hadn't taken anything after all). And Nadia herded them all back to the ship.
Meanwhile, back in the cargo hold, James caught sight of another person sneaking about on the upper level of the hold. The man, dressed in a dapper white suit, eventually came out from some hidey-hole lugging a small suitcase. They exchanged pleasantries and James let him leave. Later he investigated and saw that the man had broken into the ship's safes which were hidden above the holds. He did find some non-transferrable deeds and bonds and pocketed them, but any 'liquid' wealth had undoubtedly been removed by the man.
By then, the rest of the crew returned and after a brief scolding from Nadie they set to work emptying the second cargo hold. They had barely begun when the ship's proximity alarm went off heralding the arrival of the massive United Reclamations ship, undoubtedly bearing troops to secure the salvage. They spend a few minutes getting the last stuff into the Mao's Claws. By the Freighter had positioned itself blocking the Mao's Claw's egress. But the freighter was even less maneuverable than the Mao's Claw, and their pilot had nothing on Vincent Locke, who deftly swung the Mao's Claw under the Nu Du Shen just kissing the Freighter's hull on the way down. He put the Nu Du Shen between the two vessels and hit the accelerator. After a short ride to put some distance between them, he blindly hit the pulse drive and sent the ship rocketing away from the scene. It was then that Bob insisted he look at Vincent's wounds. When Vincent was all sewn up, he returned to the bridge to see their pulse had taken them perpendicular to the plane of planets and systems. They'd need to do another pulse burn to return to the Verse. At least there was no sign of pursuit, but they were pretty sure the UR ship had gotten a good look at them, before plotting a new course.
