Editing The Spinward Blues (section)

=== 202-1110: The Emperor's Birthday ===

Our story opened on the 202nd Day of the Imperial Year 1110. Or as some Solomani call it, the middle of the 57th century A.D. The Fifth Frontier War had just ended, and so the Imperial Auxiliary Naval Vessel "Dunk & Egg", a positively ancient freighter, was on its way home, carrying decommissioned troops, wounded, freed POWs, and repatriates from the Sword Worlds. The ultimate destination was a processing center on Lunion; the ship was currently in Jump, en route to Biter from Sting. 

It being the Emperor's Birthday, there was a party on board. Several parties, actually; the lower ranks were enjoying a good old-fashioned brawl, and the upper ranks were enjoying a meal at the Captain's table. PCs Sunrise Dawson, Jeffrey Harkness, and Col. Highway were down in the brawl; Vargas Delaney and Count Sir Doctor Ishugi Gevin Lightfoot were at the Captain's table; and Magellan was taking the day off in his quarters. 

The party was ruined when a former POW, Eneri Perkins, flipped out and pulled a laser pistol, starting a conflagration. While the rest of the PCs performed crowd and damage control, Colonel Highway cornered and disabled the insane young spacer.  Searching his quarters for clues, Sunrise discovered Perkins's diary, kept on his comm. In the Zhodani POW camp where he had been kept, Perkins had witnessed the Earl of Lunion, an Imperial noble, making frequent secret visits—and once, caught him "negotiating", doggy-style, with a Zhodani woman. They did ''something'' to his mind, preventing him from telling anyone; Perkins finally broke under the strain. 

The party agreed that, true or not, this is info that should be kicked up to the next level of command. Let the authorities handle it, right? 

==== Notable NPCs ====
* Captain Kepler (Hum/M), the plain but youthful-looking Merchant CO.
* First Officer Radzhir (Hum/F), the striking Vilani XO and Kepler's wife.
* Third Officer Pucelle (Hum/M), ship's navigator.
* Glavd (Var/M), ship's engineer and brawler.
* "Lieutenant Colonel" Mari Seldokova (Hum/F), nominally of Army Communications, actually a Special Agent for the Ministry of Justice.
* PO3 Jzeri Dishum (Hum/F), Naval Hull Technican, recently freed POW, giggling menace.
* AS2 Eneri Perkins (Hum/M), Naval Comm Technician, recently freed POW.