Two of the players, James and Mike, weren't able to make it this week, and so their characters, Goresh and Morgan, were run part way by me.  It started as the heroes rode the starship Silver Ray to their destination: the Sol system.  Nothing really happened on the ship other than them watching a news broadcast detailing the latest scandal in the unstable Aleerin government.  They docked and were taken to see Admiral Danov.  Danov and three colleagues of his (Dr. Frakes, a League mathematician, Pixor Meunor of SmartCo., and Petra DeLonge of StelTek) were waiting to greet them.  Danov praised them on a job well done in the Nibelheim system, and let Dr. Frakes explain the League's current expansion problems to them.  As the League grows, its borders grow exponentially, and thus its military isn't able to protect colonies as well, Dr. Frakes explained.  He also insulted Whooshra a couple of times, resulting in Whooshra levitating him an inch or so off the ground.  Dr. Frakes did not make any friends this day.  What the League wants from the heroes is that they become "silent employees" of the League.  They will be awarded a ship with an AI, and should concentrate on keeping the peace, but generally the League high-ups will leave them alone.  However, the League may contact them at any time with a job, and they are bound to do it.  Several benefits are explained to the heroes, and they accept the offer (to get the ship, if nothing else).  They are then taken and given a tour of the ship's interior.  They are told the ship will be completed in one to two days.

After this, they are contacted just outside the docking port by one Manny Hoffmin, agent of action film star Brett Maddox (who none of them have ever heard of).  He wants them to show Brett what its like to be a freelance explorer, as Brett is going to be starring in a movie where he plays one and would like to research the part.  He'll pay the heroes 10,000 credits now, and 15,000 when they get to the film set (located in the Last Reach system).  Ezekiel changes the deal to 15,000 now, 10,000 on arrival, and Manny agrees.

The party then goes on a bit of a spending spree.  Morgan hits the casinos while Dalek and Ezekiel do some weapons shopping.  After getting some new hardware, the group retires to a hotel.  In the morning, they are notified of two things:  their ship is ready, and Morgan has been detained for cheating at cards.  Goresh decides that he will help Morgan out of this legal predicament while the others go to Last Reach, telling Dalek he will be safe here and the group will need him more.

They remaining heroes got to their ship to find a mob of teenage girls around it, screaming and yelling Brett's name.  They pushed their way towards the ship and introduced themselves.  Brett asked who was captain, to which both Dalek and Ezekiel both answered they were.  Brett seemed to think Ezekiel was, but the matter wasn't really resolved.  At any rate, Brett saw Whooshra's primitive clothes and thought he was a baggage boy!!  He said to Whooshra in a condescending voice "Now bring my bags onto the ship and there may be a nice tip in it for you".  Whooshra was confused, then insulted, and it was explained that Whooshra was a member of the crew.

The crew and Brett got on board the ship, at which point the ship's AI, Atrus, introduced itself (and confusing the heck out of Whooshra yet again).  After much explaining to Whooshra about the nature of AIs (to little or no avail) Brett went to unpack and the rest went to the command bridge to get the show on the road.  Shortly after they left the spaceport, Atrus told them that he found it highly irregular that someone who wasn't the captain was using the captain's quarters.  Apparently Brett was unpacking in "his" quarters while he had thrown his stuff on the "shelves in the closet" (actually the bunks in the crew quarters).  Ezekiel called him to the bridge where he gave them a bit of a bonus payment: a complete Brett Maddox holocrystal film library (whoopie!).  After Whosshra tried eating one of the crystals (and finding it not to his liking) it was explained to Brett that he was to sleep in the crew quarters, which he eventually accepted, saying "Ooo... very rustic, but ok."

Anyways, the ship still hasn't even left the Sol system when Brett, while wandering around the bridge, begins playing with some controls that remind him of controls he once used in a movie he did.  Ezekiel notices, but not before Brett acidentally fires off two shots from the plasma cannon on the ship.  Atrus reminds them that firing a weapon in a potentially crowded space lane is against the law and is punishable by a sizeable fine.  As Ezekiel orders Dalek to remove Brett from the bridge, a League patrol vessel approaches and hails them.  The wish to know why their ship fired.  Ezekiel explains that they have an idiot on board, and finally, the patrol vessel demands to see Brett.  Brett is brought back onto the bridge, where he tries to bribe the League officials with autographs and Brett Maddox film libraries!!! (I love playing clueless NPCs!)   At this point, Dalek almost literally throws Brett off the bridge while Ezekiel does some very fast talking to get out of an even more serious charge.  Finally, the fine is halved from its true amount:  5000 credits per shot fired!  10,000 credits in total!

Finally, they make it into warp speed going to the Last Reach system.  During this time, Ezekiel and Brett occasionally spar in unarmed combat in the cargo hold.  Also, upon being very bored, Ezekiel watches a bit of one of Maddox's movies, only to stop it after the first ten minutes, preferring boredom.

After six and a half days at warp, they reach the Last Reach system.  This is where things got kind of crazy.  As they headed towards Last Reach III, a ship moved to intercept them.  It was a bounty hunter who claimed Brett Maddox and his agent owed the Snake Consortium a large amount of money (in excess of 10M credits!) and demanded they hand over Brett or else they would open fire and settle for a dead, depressurized Brett instead of a living one.  The captain of the ship also noticed Dalek and told him there was a reward on his head as well (although it wasn't as large as Brett's).  As Ezekiel was trying to negotiate with the hunters, Dalek fires a missle at the hunters' vessel!!  So much for negotiations!  Unfortunately, Dalek used the manual controls.  Considering he didn't even have the systems operations broad skill, let alone the weapons specialty skill, his shot went wide (if he had told Atrus to do the firing, the AI almost certainly would've hit).  Ezekiel decided the vessel would make a run for the planet.  At first, his vehicle ops check failed, as did Atrus' system astrogation check, causing the hunters to get a free shot in, damaging the command compartment and those inside.  Then, Ezekiel got an amazing roll and Atrus a good one while the hunters' pilot failed his, thus putting enough distance between the two vessels the the heroes could land on the planet (the hunters didn't follow, but stayed in orbit).

They landed at the colony's starport and wanted to get paid immediately.  Brett had a hover-limo waiting for him, so they climbed in and were off.  Just as things seemed to be going smoothly, Dalek noticed the driver bail out.  A quick look over the horizon showed that the limo was headed for a large, deep crater.  With only seconds before they plunged over the edge, the heroes and Brett jumped out, taking some light damage (Brett took the most, while Whooshra simply glided).  To make matters worse, a skycar showed up.  The limo driver was running to the skycar, as Dalek ran after him.  Whooshra flew as fast as he could to get close to the skycar, while Ezekiel and Brett stood back at long range (Brett hiding behind a rock and being of no use).  Immediately, Dalek shot the skycar to the ground with a 9mm ch. SMG.  Three guys got out, two with laser SMGs, one with a laser rifle.  A brief fire-fight ensued, as did a series of flukes concerning Ezekiel.  First of all, Dalek was firing burst mode at max. range at the guys with the SMGs.  Whooshra flew even closer, while Ezekiel only got a single action (marginal success on his action check).  He got an amazing hit on one of the SMG wielding thugs, doing 4 points of mortal damage, and effectively removing him from the fight.  Next round, Whooshra got within 30 meters and hid behind a rock while Dalek continued to fire in burst mode at the two remaining guys (the limo driver hid behind the skycar for the rest of the fight).  Whooshra then set fire to the two remaining guys using pyrotechnics, hurting both.  Ezekiel, who got a marginal success yet again, got a good hit on one of the guys who Whooshra just nailed, sending him into la-la land with accumulated wound damage.  The remaining thug managed to wound Dalek a bit, but Dalek also returned some of that pain.  Yet again however, Ezekiel, who got a good success on his action check (finally something other than marginal), got an amazing hit, doing 3 mortal to the last guy.

Whooshra flew over the skycar and landed quietly behind the limo driver, who surrendered.  Whooshra then proceeded to tease Brett about why he was cowering behind a rock when they were doing all the fighting, claiming that in seshayan society, Brett would be thought of as a woman.  The there was a small debate, as Whooshra thought the two men who were mortally wounded (and basically dead) should be left behind as "their spirits have left" while Dalek and Ezekiel thought they should go to the authorities in the colony and tell them what happened.  So, they repair the skycar (it wasn't severely damaged) and then do something odd.  They load the two dead men into the trunk, put the knocked out guy in the back seat with Brett, Dalek, and the limo driver, and head into town.  Then, they pull up in front of the colony's police headquarters, unload the two dead bodies from the trunk and the knocked out guy, and walk into the police station!!!  To top it all off, Dalek is carrying about 6 different weapons as they enter!!!  Many officers reach for their weapons as Whooshra claims that he has nothing to do with Dalek and Ezekiel.  The police listen as the group tells them what happened, then detains them for several hours until they can do background checks on the men (dead and living) that the heroes have brought in.

Finally, the authorities let them out and return their gear.  The dead men and the wounded men were wanted on several charges in several systems (although this was the limo driver's first offense).  The authorities did keep the party's DNA on profile though and warned them that if they were brought in again, they would almost certainly face jail-time.

The party then headed out to the film set to get paid (this time renting a skycab).  As they got there, they wanted to find Manny and demand their pay but he was nowhere to be found.  Apparently he had gone into town to get some supplies for himself.  The group waits for him; Ezekiel goes to sleep while Dalek and Whooshra wander around the set.  Whooshra then gets a postcognitive vision.  In it, he sees a paniked Manny talking on the phone, saying that someone is going to ice him if he doesn't get offworld soon.  He then says that he needs the ID stuff done soon.  With that, the vision ends.  They heroes and Brett gather and gain access to Manny's trailer.  Dalek finds a lightly encrypted file on Manny's computer that shows various transactions he's made over the past little while, such as putting a down payment on a sizable estate in the Odin system.

Brett tries to pay the group out of his own pocket, only to find his accounts are all empty.  The group races to the starport, and finds Manny eventually.  He makes a break for it, but Whooshra is able to tackle him, causing quite a commotion in the process.  They take him back to their ship where they interogate him.  Whooshra gets an amazing postcognitive flash on Manny, showing him talking to an associate back on the spaceport in the Sol system.  In it, Whooshra sees that Manny hired the heroes not to protect Brett, but really just to provide a diversion for any Consortium hitmen, so that he could make a clean getaway unnoticed, changing his identity and moving to the Odin system.  Ezekiel and Dalek decided that Manny was to be turned over to the bounty hunters in exchange for the hunters forgetting about that little incident of firing a missle off at them.  Ezekiel made an interaction check, and the hunters reluctantly agreed, landing at a neighboring docking pad and escorting Manny onto their ship.  Brett wasn't there to watch this, as the hunters would've gone after him too.

Finally, the heroes hire workmen to repair their ship while they wait for Goresh and Morgan to get things resolved and head out their way on a transport.