At this point, there was a major fire going on in the starport. The RV was rather a major fire in itself, as a good portion of it was actually molten (ships lasers at close range are capable of delivering a good deal of energy, even in an atmosphere). So there was a bit of a diplomatic hiccup.
And Alexander, who was the one who would have been able to get the entire party out of these troubles, was currently in denial that he had been rescued. He just kept looking at his compatriots and saying things like "Oh, that's good. That's just what I would have expected you to say".
The Captain, however, had a plan. They had Alexander, who was quite compliant about signing things at this point. So they drew up documents that would allow them to act in his name. It became one of the in-jokes of the campaign - whenever someone would do something that needed explaining, they would grab a piece of paper and hold if forth like a shield, exclaiming "I have a writ!"
This served, if not to get them out of trouble entirely, to at least keep them out of jail pending the investigation. (Remember, many of the major nobles of the Domain had been blown up earlier this evening, finding one of them alive was very, very important.)
So the next game starts with the events I detailed in an email to Chris:
_______________________________________________
The final injection complete, you close the low berth over the body of your captive and engage the preservation sequence. You have your prisoner! The capture systems of your ship have worked *perfectly*!
Exhaustion
overwhelms you - you have had a *very* rough week. The hum of the ship threatens
to lull you to sleep here! Waving Mick over to assist
you, you make your way back to your cabin and your very own, safe bunk.
*sigh* Comfort. Relaxation. Safety. It's over. You'll have them all soon.
*hunger*
*sleepy*
*hunger* *hunger*
You send Mick
off to make a breakfast/lunch/dinner for you, while you
relax.
*sleepy*
Just before
you drop off to sleep, you are reminded by the ticking of the clock on the wall
that you have to get your order in before the bookstore
closes! Half asleep, you stumble over to your personal comunit and dial
the number.
"Mayfair
Books, how can I help you?", audio only - how annoying.
"I am
Alexander Grissom", you reply, "I wish to purchase a copy of 'Reciever
in the Sorghum', please."
"Very
well Mr. Grissom. Would you like the electronic version? It would be immediately
available to you."
Yes - you need
a copy right away. "Yes. That would be best."
"Is your
computer patched to this commline?"
*sigh* It isn't.
You quickly input your codes to bypass the security lockouts and patch the terminal
in.
"It is
now".
"Very
well Mr. Grissom. Go to sleep. We'll take care of everything from
here."
Happy, you
stumble back to your bunk, and fall asleep with the comforting
sound of the clock in your ear.
*Tick* *Tock* *Tick* *Tock*
______________________________
The captain (I have *got* to get him to give me a name I can use for his character!) noticed the active comm-link for Alexander's cabin (all communication on the ship is tagged by the ship's computer and while the content is not presented, certain data is displayed on the bridge - it's one of his SOPs, the paranoid git) The high data content of this communication drew his attention, then his concern, and he overrode and terminated the call. 'They' only got about half of Alexanders private database.
This also made the party very nervous about leaving Alexander alone for any length of time (indeed, Mic was raked over the coals about this incident, and hasn't really been trusted since either). It also really torqued Chris, as he now really got a grasp of just how damaged Alexander might be at this point. :-D
At a rough guess, the party determined that quite a bit of truely critical data had been obtained in that download - including major portions of the Captain's actual resume' - including his real name and previous rank in the Imperial Navy. This added quite a bit of urgency for the player, as I have made it very, very clear what would happen if the Imperial Navy should have the opportunity to 'repatriat' him. And the star system that he was currently parked in had a large contingent of the Imperial Navy parked in it.
A number of clues, given over the course of the adventure, now came together for the party. The Baron was definitely involved - the phone number that Alexander had been programmed to call was to the Baron's personal residence - the phone the majordomo always answered first.