Char Li's Angels: The Skull of Saint Diana - Part V

News reaches The Blessed Saint Horace that the fleet’s jump will be delayed.  It transpires that a small Imperial flotilla of about a half dozen Lekaf escorts are making a priority jump to Manitou.  The Troupe speculate on what that might mean.

While waiting to jump to Kish the Troupe busy themselves aboard ship.  Bas maintains and cleans his kit while occasionally sparring with Kibri, Zillah meditates over the koans provided by Colonel Fa Zhou, Sir Ulrich works on his research and writing, Alexi(u)s prays and ministers in the chapel and Belvoir runs illicit gambling games amongst the crews of the fleet (although Bas takes the opportunity to get in on the action too).

The Lord Admiral and Bishop Arcellius contact the ship with news.  The Admiral has made a decision as to who will take interim command of The Blessed Saint Horace. He would prefer a Li Halan Noble, or failing that a military officer, to take command but he does not have the luxury of a viable option in that regard. After discussion with the Bishop, who has proposed that Alexi(u)s has the strength of moral and spiritual character to act as a counsellor to the appointed commander, the Admiral appoints Bas as the ship’s new captain. The bishop then charges Alexi(u)s with the responsibility to ensure the morality of and spiritual well-being of the captain and crew. All except Bas are then dismissed and the Admiral speaks directly to the Muster Guildsman, alluding to his understanding that some members of House Li Halan have taken to wearing masks in the past and hiding their identities for good reason. He is happy to presume that there is good reason to do so until proven incorrect. He will be keeping an eye on things.

Alexi(u)s suggests that the captain ought to start his new role “right spiritually” and invites him to confession. Bas concedes and confesses both to gambling with Belvoir and that he was exiled from their family, and that this is how the Admiral must have recognised him.  This satisfies Alexi(u)s to that point that they pledge to pray for him in his new role.

Bas then wastes no time in trying to organise things aboard ship.  He arranges for Sir Ulrich to have access to the ship’s command codes and they unlock and then re-secure the secondary bridge controls in the chapel, ensuring that they have the new codes to unlock it. The captain then speaks with Master Smmey and assures him that he will need his support and will not be looking to remove him from his station aboard ship, but that he will also appoint Zillah as First Officer alongside him. Bas speaks with Zillah to explain his planned changes and to ask his support as First Officer.  The Thana knight agrees.

The crew seem generally accepting of the new order (as is typical of Li Halan subjects who accept their place in the Celestial Order) but they obviously bear some resentment towards the Troupe as they blame them for the loss of their captain (whom many of the crew have served under since the Emperor Wars).

The flotilla makes the jump to Kish and rejoins the outbound queue. It isn’t long before Bas and the Troupe are called into a flotilla wide comms conference.  It appears that the pilgrims aboard The Triumphant Passage have insufficient supplies for the rest of the journey. The ship’s captain, the Charioteer Guilder, Mistress Venus D. Kilometeo, attempts to place the blame on the jump delays, the poor preparations of her passengers and infers that the Lord Admiral needs to resolve matters if he doesn’t want a ship full of dead pilgrims on his hands.  The Bishop agrees; these souls are on a sacred pilgrimage and it is their responsibility to bring them safely to their destination.  The Troupe suggest two possible solutions; to contact other ships in the Jumpgate queue to see if there are any Merchant vessels or supply barges who might be able to provide emergency supplies, and then stop over in the Criticorum system. Bas is aware of a decent sized way station near the Criticorum gate and convinces the Lord Admiral that it may be of benefit to all the flotilla to stop there, especially as the Jump queue may take some time, considering how busy the Gate can get with seven jump roads connecting to it.

Following his appointment as captain, Sir Ulrich’s research has switched to trying to learn more about the mysterious Bas Kaide. However all he is able to learn is that he is a well travelled Private in the service of the Muster Guild. A fact that the Torenson scholar still finds hard to reconcile with his recent promotion to command.

Once some additional emergency supplies are arranged and brought onto The Triumphant Passage the flotilla continues their wait to jump to Criticorum. They finally make the translation through the gate and then make for the way station.  Bas arranges a watch schedule so that all the crew get some shore leave but Sir Ulrich volunteers to remain aboard ship for the duration of their stay.

The Troupe increase to Level Three.