PROJECT REPORTS

After a long trip in space from the planet of Sentinel II, the gang arrives to their destination of Heifong. After a brief chat with everyone Suzuka leaves the group, saying that she needs to take care of some business and that she will return after a while. The rest stand around and wonder what Suzuka is up to, but eventually realize how tired and hungry they have become after their long voyage.

Gene, Jim and Melfina decide go out for dinner at a restaurant, and a casual conversation between Jim and Gene explodes into a full-blown argument. Gene makes a comment about Jim being lucky he is a kid. Gene says all that ladies are nice to kids. Jim gets very upset by this remark but still manages to keep his cool, even though Gene is being very immature about it.

After dinner Gene explains to Jim that he is going to try and find a man named Zomba, who has a reward of 10,000 Wong over his head. The team could use this large amount of money, especially since they are getting deeper and deeper into debt the longer they leave the Outlaw Star in the docking bay.

Gene travels to a saloon where Zomba is known to frequently visit. Gene casually walks up to someone and demands to know where Zomba is, everyone in the bar stops and looks at Gene for a very awkward moment until someone walks up to him and tells him where Zomba is. He is lead upstairs to a small room and finds Zomba reading a book, the criminal agrees to fight Gene, but only if he takes the fight outside so his room won't get dirty.

Zomba takes Gene to an empty church to fight, while Jim hides behind some rubble. Gene has a communication device on his ear so he can keep in contact Jim. Zomba initiates a knife battle with Gene, and Jim points out that Zomba's back is his weak point. Gene stabs Zomba in the back, and suddenly he begins to shoot electrical sparks out of his body. Gene thinks he has killed the enemy and turns his back to him while walking away. Zomba gets up, and without warning metal spikes come out of his body. Gene shoots Zomba quickly and finally kills him.

Gene and Jim take the body to the police station, but it turns out that the person they fought was not the real Zomba; he was actually an android. Gene is mad because he only gets 2,000 Wong instead of the 10,000 he would have gotten for killing the real Zomba. Later they find out that Suzuka found the real Zomba, took him down, and got the 10,000 Wong. Suzuka approaches Gene and Jim outside the police station saying that she killed the real Zomba and received the reward money.

On a video screen a report on a popular race being held in a few days is showing while Gene notices something special about one of the ships in the race, it is the same ship that belongs to the people he believes killed his father, the McDougall brothers!

The Project is Set to Launched on September 12, 2004

The crew of the Outlaw Star watches as Gene lies on his bed, reeling in pain. Suzuka comes to the conclusion that the enemy has poisoned him, and Gene needs the antidote before he is killed. A communication transmission comes through from the enemy. He offers to make a deal. He tells Jim if they would abandon the Outlaw Star, he will give them the antidote. Gene refuses to agree to the demands, because he knows that abandoning the Outlaw Star will not put an end to their troubles. Suzuka agrees with Gene that they should not negotiate, but she believes they could be able to take the antidote from the enemy if they are clever about it. They begin to argue amongst themselves for a few moments, and the point is made that they don't even know if the enemy (obviously pirates) has an antidote.

Melfina takes Gene out of the ships bridge, hoping she can find a way to heal him without the antidote. Jim takes control of the Outlaw Star while Suzuka stands guard. Suddenly Jim becomes aware that the Kei Pirates are sending their mechanical soldiers, piloted by human beings to attack the Outlaw Star. Soon after Fred Luo contacts the Outlaw Star, telling Jim that The Kei Pirates are going to Sentinel III!

For some reason Gene and Melfina are sitting alone in a room, probably in the Starwind and Hawking Building. Melfina grabs Gene's hand, and tells him that she believes that she can clean his blood and remove the poison. After a short and intimate moment of holding hands and staring at each other Gene says that he is beginning to feel much better, the poison is being removed. Melfina gives Gene a big hug and promises that she can save him, Gene shakes his head in agreement while Melfina is doing this.

The mechanical soldiers attempt to enter the ship, and Jim has no idea what to do without Gene there. At that moment Gene arrives on the bridge and still weakened from the poison. Gene is able to prevent the soldiers from entering the ship using its grappler arms while Suzuka destroys one with a few slices from her sword. The leader of the Pirate robots begs Suzuka to spare his life, and when she drops her sword he opens fire upon her. Needless to say, the man doesn't live for very long after that moment. The surviving pilots of the robots run away while the dead ones just lay there (dead people don't tend to do much.)

With yet another problem taken care of Gene decides to leave the planet and hopefully escape any further attacks by the Kei Pirates. The men who operate the docking bay inform Gene that he does not have permission to leave yet, and it would be dangerous for him to take off now. Gene ignores these warnings, and decides to leave the planet right away. The docking bay crew hasn't had the time to prepare for the Outlaw Star's exit, and the ship's engines manage to cause millions of Wong in property damage.

Once in space Gilliam notes that pirate grappler ships are approaching them. The Outlaw Star destroys all of the enemy ships with a combination of missiles and grappler arms after a long battle. Now the crew (Suzuka included) must decide where they are to go next. Gene wants to go to Heifong and Jim agrees, saying there are many opportunities for them to make money there. There will be very little problems with the Kei Pirates on Heifong, since another rival pirate group occupies that space. Suzuka and Melfina have no objections to going to Heifong so they decide to come along as well.