GEO Censures MacLeod The GEO has censured MacLeod for its growing trade in advanced weapons. Specifically the GEO accuses MacLeod of selling weapons "only suitable for government entities" to private parties.
Hundreds of Zionites land on Babylon Operations at the NIS colony of Pearl on Babylon have been hampered by hundreds of Zionites arriving in small boats. "We start our fight against Babylon on Babylon" say many. Strangely, they are non-violent. When repatriated to Kingston, they are released by authorities.
SneezeFrog The FurFrog causes allergic reaction in many (1 percent of) children and is being recalled.
"They didn't kill us. They just embarrass us." - Float, in reference to the aborigines.
Pilot receives a message from a dolphin named "Coordinator" offering 10K in GEO scrip to sell native arts and crafts and pick up dolphin. On a deeper layer of meaning, this is a front for some sort of operation. On yet a deeper layer, this is supposed to be a decoy for the real sneakiness (but more on that later). Dolphin language is like that. Buckman Charters decides to take the job, dubious as it is. Whitney is designated to be left to mind the store, not being much in favor of jobs of dubious legality.
They build a spare dolphin tank, spending 1000 scrip on supplies to do so. They also buy 2000 scrip worth of native crafts for use in their cover. Meanwhile, Regina does some research and finds that she doesn't appear to have arrived from Earth with her parents (although her siblings are listed as having arrived with them.) They are to be in Dyfedd on 120.101 and leave (probably) on 122.101.
On 115.101 Sammo turns up "just passing through" and mentions that he is heading down to Dyfedd. Jenny immediately mentions that they are too, and despite a bit of suspicion on some people's part, he is offered a ride (his fare pretty much covers gas money). They'll even leave a day early to help him out. From 117-119.101 they are traveling to Dyfedd, with good flying weather.
When they get there, they find that it is easy to sell their crafts, eventually making about 3000 in Lavender Organics scrip after applicable taxes (and not selling quite everything). Jenny and Pilot go shopping, buying a new underwater CICADA for Pilot and a spare stealth hover remote. This costs 10000 scrip, plus 1000 from Pilot's personal savings to pay for special color-changing paint.
Dive/Float goes drinking in the evening and finds out that the main computer system - HUGO - has been giving people some trouble. Later hacking by Jenny confirms that there are some notices up about system trouble. She isn't about to try a real hack, however - Sammo has mentioned that the computer security here is extremely good.
Pilot spends a couple evenings cavorting with dolphins in dolphin fashion, getting a good tour of the station. Later, he aids a dolphin named "Femme Fatale" as she breaks into a maintainance station underwater. They are good enough together to convince an orca patrol guard that they were having sex rather than doing something more dubious. Perhaps the orca's natural prejudices helped as well.
The next day - 121.101 - they get the signal to go. Sammo comes by to help them pack up, and leaves bugs in the native crafts which are found later. There's a bit of commotion - he wouldn't mind a ride back - but Coordinator refuses to allow this, telling Pilot that Sammo is a spy. He's polite about their refusal - they already have a passenger.
They load their dolphin passenger, named "McGuffin", and await departure. Two fast jumpcraft leave without clearance, drawing local patrol fliers, before the Buckman plane (and another) leave normally. They fly normally to Kingston, where they must refuel.
In Kingston, they are refueling when a small boat comes alongside and demands dolphin tax - they have two, and have to give up one. They don't like that, and Pilot tries to leave quickly, but gunfire seizes one of the engines. He is able to taxi over the boat on the water and capsize it. As he taxis away, the real harbor patrol arrives and demands they stop.
The harbor patrol is willing to believe that they are innocent-ish, but still demands to search the plane. They find Float knocked out in a smuggler's hold, having gone in there because it was thought originally that the thugs were after him, and there is a tense moment before he's brought around and can tell the patrol that these are in fact his friends. They also find that McGuffin is carrying a large metal box in a concealed smuggler's pouch. They demand that this be turned over, and it is. Jenny and Regina successfully argue with them that the data (because the box is obviously a data storage module) wants to be shared. The Zionites are generally in tune with this, and allow Jenny to make a copy. She takes the opportunity to fry the original in an apparent accident, and it is pitched into the bay.
They return McGuffin to Haven after repairing the plane a bit and give him a copy of the data (trying to give him the impression that he's got the only copy). Then they return home. Later, Sammo offers to buy anything they might have found on their expedition, and there's some debate but in the end the team decides that it is best to stay bought, as it were. Not that this prevents Jenny from decoding the data, discovering that it is dolphin porn, information on nanotechnology experiments, and the code for a huge computer program - Jenny surmises it might be HUGO, but has no computer large enough to run it, or even unpack it.