18/05/2024
I bit my lip and looked to Tokushima. She didn't think we were going to make it out of the Core, and was feeling an enormous sense of dread. Sadness for the Princess, AND sadness… sadness that I would not live. That was disturbing, but I smiled anyway. I was determined to prove her wrong in this assessment.
"We were attacked twice. Once near the palace, and once near Fort Oort in the Oort clouds. The first attack has shed no clues—we suspect any number of Multi-stellar Corporations in the armament industry. It's a big list. The second attack we were able to trace at least the origins of the attacking ship's last place of sale—and I just met with him and he provided us a lead."
"We're flying a Royal frigate. Flying the law's colors into the heart of darkness. Our quarry is a man who goes by the name of No-Deal. Mel "No-Deal" DePaulo". When the pirates of the Core give you the name, "No-Deal", chances are you've earned it. His ship is emblazoned with the logo of an evil mutant monkey with a bayonet in is sharpened teeth.
If you’re captured, don't expect mercy—they won't be taking any prisoners and they will probably stick you in a pain simulator—possibly for years, in some ungodly humiliating position like a coffee table."
Simultaneously everyone in the room had an ugly feeling that Hammerstein had seen that little horror before. No one wanted to know.
"So be sure and do not allow yourself to be captured. You're all going to be issued a gravity bomb. If the time comes, take out whatever vermin infested radioactive dome we find ourselves on, but do NOT allow them to take you alive." -No Deal DePaulo and the Core Pirates.
Young Winteroud Sole and Detective Hammerstein have traced No-deal Depaulo to a series of crimes against the Star System and the Royal Family at Caldris. Their search has led them to the Galactic Core, where Marauders, Piracy, and a grim underworld surrounds their suspect... They were waiting for...