SPACESHIP GRAVEYARD - mission 025

TIME-FIX:  20.08.2011

GEO-FIX:  The Magda, VAN, BC

CREW:  Jethro Filipchuk (sonic frameworks, navigation, synthesizers), Ugo Fist (sonic frameworks, Monotron, electric guitar, mastering, design), Mobius Mim (synthesizer), Shane Smith (synthesizer), Major Rim (electric guitar & synthesizer on Tardkraft III)

MISSION OBJECTIVE:  Emergency transport for Tucanaean ambassador.

ARTIFACTS:  1 - Tucanae Versus Canis, 2 - Planet of the Vampires (Released 22.08.2011 as Wreck 022 - The Dog Ate My Alien).  Supplemental artifacts:  Wreck 023 - Tardkraft III - Something Stupid This Way Comes (Released 26.08.2011).

While working a debris field in the Tucana system, the Magda received a call from Gamma Tucanae IV requesting transport for their ambassador.  A tense political situation had manifested and the government were concerned for the ambassador's safety, so they wanted to evacuate her from the planet until the situation could be brought under control.  Little information was offered regarding the nature of the danger.  The Magda was the only ship in the area and the situation was apparently urgent.  G.T. IV was known to have a climate that was a mixture of tropics and swampy marshlands.  It was popular in the system as a vacation resort, but recent reports had mentioned strange incidents of tourists mysteriously disappearing.  The crew considered that this may be connected with the current situation.  Accompanying the crew on this particular mission was the loyal space dog, Chester.  He was a favorite mascot of the crew although he was known to be somewhat rambunctious around certain alien species.  Upon arrival at G.T. IV, the crew were greeted by a group of executive assistants for the ambassador who provided some instructions on where to take her and some areas in the system to avoid during the trip.  They then ushered in the ambassador herself.  Just as she arrived, space dog Chester somehow managed to trip the Magda's exit hatch, allowing him to exit the ship.  As it happens, the Tucanaeans fall into a particular class of species which seem to trigger a natural predatory response in Chester.  Before anyone could do anything, the dog leaped onto the ambassador and, with one swift chomp, bit off her head.  Needless to say, the crew were mortified by this event and immediately secured the dog back in the ship before any more Tucanaeans could be harmed.  The executive assistants were devastated as they explained the ambassador was involved in critical talks with a recently discovered intelligent species who lived in the subterranean caverns of the planet.  It was explained that this species were an advanced form of vampire mole who had been isolated from the surface for unknown millennia until a recent construction project on the surface exposed their cavern city.  These vampire moles were responsible for the recent rash of disappearing tourists.  The ambassador was attempting to secure some kind of non-sentient food source for the vampires in order to restore the tourist trade so vital to the Tucanaean economy.  Unfortunately, a radical Tucanaean religious sect were violently opposed to negotiations with the vampire moles and threatened to assassinate the ambassador.  The tragedy now was that Chester had unwittingly served their purpose and put the whole planet in jeopardy.  Fortunately for the SG crew, the Tucanae representatives were understanding that the situation was purely accidental, but the crew still felt it necessary to try to help the situation which they had inadvertently aggravated.  To this end, a call was put through to SG command where the galactic database was accessed in order to try to find some farmable and nutritionally compatible food source for the vampire moles.  The database was able to identify a suitable food species originating from a nearby system and arrangements were made to transport breeding stock to G.T. IV.  The SG crew were more than happy to provide the transport for the stock and extra precautions were made to ensure that Chester would be properly secured on all future missions.