002A Jenghe/Regina [The Play & Aftermath] Act One

[Eris]

As the party left the restaurant tickets to the play were purchased online. It is well into the run of A Squid with a Lid here on Jenghe, so the seats are no longer sold out at every performance, well in advance, but you can see there are only a few left and as it is you'll be seated in two groups, rather than all together.

The utility air/raft dropped onto the top of a parking lot right next to the Royal Oprah House and slid into a spot.

You went down the elevator and entered the Oprah House by the wide front doors. You were quickly waved through into the hall when you showed your online purchase and found your seats.

The theatre is a large one with boxes up on either side and a broad gallery. A live orchestra, just in front of the closed curtains of the stage is already seated and tuning up.

Looking at your playbills you see that this is described as an Operetta in two acts by Gebart & Sulleman. Everyone but Sigrun recognizes the names as G&S are well known producers of musical comedies and operettas, widely respected throughout the Imperium.

The lights drop, the orchestra moves into a soaring tune and the curtains begin to rise.

--ACT 1--Scene 1--

As a group of actors dressed in Imperial Navy Blues come on stage and begin to sing, you quickly learn that Squid is a nickname for members of the Imperial Navy and a Squid with a Lid refers to an officer, usually a young officer of lower rank. Specifically, Left-tenant Eneri Henry in this case. Eneri is young, bright and respected by his men...or so they say in song as he directs their work.

Entering stage left are a gaggle of giggling girls! Twelve to be exact, ten maids and two young ladies from their dress and demeanor. A swinging cable almost clips one of the young ladies, but Henri leaps forward and catches it just in time...the cute meet. Songs and dances proceed to get everyone acquainted. Henri's young lady is Etta, small, dark haired with exaggerated eye folds marking her as exotic with a pleasing contralto voice. Her half-sister Gretta, tall, blond with piercing blue eyes who sings up in the soprano range moves among the crewmen, but doesn't seem to find any of them "up to her standards"...from her song she's looking "someone bigger than her, strong, brave, loyal, and darn good-looking!"...and none of the crew meet her criteria. The other ten young women are described as Etta and Gretta's "companions" on their trip to Regina and they enthusiastically giggle and flirt with Henri's crew sweeping around Etta and Henry, with Gretta making a figure eight around the couple in the center of the stage.

Before the scene is over all but Eneri and Etta have moved to the edges of the stage and in a spotlight the couple are beginning to sing what is surely the "Love Theme" of the piece, but they don't get too far before the arrival on stage of "The Captain" breaks things up. Etta and Gretta, it seems are the daughters of "The Lord Admiral of the Spinward Marches" and must be addressed as My Lady and are entirely off-limits to a nobody like Lt. Henry! Besides they are boarding their ship for Regina and Henry and crew have a mission in entirely the other direction. The crew and the gaggle separate with wistful looks and glances off different sides of the stage as the curtain drops.

--ACT 1--Scene 2--
As the curtain rises, we see Eneri and his crew re-entering the stage in a cheerful mood and learn through song they are returning from their short mission victorious against the Zhodani. The Captain greets them on stage and hushes them in a deep bass and sings them the bad news. Etta and Gretta's ship has been taken by Swordy Pirates and they must surely "face a fate worse than death!" Some singing among the crewmen over in one corner of the stage describe what a "fate worse than death" might entail while some decidedly PG vignettes flash on and off in spotlight behind them featuring various of the Companions.

Eneri shouts, WE MUST ACT! and insists that the Squadron take flight. The Captain shakes his head no, "we must wait for The Lord Admiral to arrive with the rest of the fleet." Eneri pleads that he be allowed to go in pursuit with his small ship, but again he is ordered to stand down. The Captain leaves the stage, and there is some singing and frantic dancing with vignettes becoming more PG-13 as the music becomes more strident, finally Eneri takes center stage and declares that some orders must be disobeyed! He will take a ship and pursue the pirates anyway, even if it is mutiny! His crew cheers, agrees to join him, and off they go!

--ACT 1--Scene 3--
The curtain rises showing a very stylized bridge of a starship with gaudily clad pirates lounging around drinking mugs of ale and singing a bawdy song insulting the honor of Imperial Squids. At their center seated on a tall "command chair" is the Pirate Captain, who leads the singing with his baritone voice.

Onto the stage bursts Eneri and his crew armed with cutlasses and chaos ensues with much yelling and running around before getting organized into what becomes a rousing dance and song fight. The outnumbered Imperials hold their own, but slowly the tide turns against them and they are clearly losing the fight....until Eneri shouts "WAIT"...and everyone pauses so he can make a speech. He says he always heard that Sword Worlders were honorable, even pirates, and the honorable thing to do is have a duel between himself and the Pirate Captain to decide this fight!

Actually being honorable pirates, this is quickly agreed to in song among the pirate crew and the two leaders (baritone vs tenor) square off. They dance around the stage clashing swords, pausing to trade witticisms and perform elaborate jumps and gymnastic feats to impress each other...and the audience. There are oohs and ahhs and more than a few laughs as all this takes place not only among the actors on stage, but in the audience as well.

Against all odds, Eneri wins the duel by disarming the Pirate Captain, but refuses to kill him, saying instead he must listen to his story and do the honorable thing Whereupon he sings of his Lovely Etta, her sister, and her Companions, how they parted, how she was taken, and how he must get her back!

Being, not only honorable, but also romantic, the pirate crew all join in with Eneri's crew as they sing of the need to "Save the maidens 'from a fate worse than death!' Though they agree to help Eneri in his quest, the pirate crew keep adding lines stating that it is far too late to save them now."

Their Captain shakes Eneri's hand and says they will do it together! We discover that his name is Gunnar and that Etta and Gretta, and their companions, were taken to a Zhodani's base...which they just happen to know the location of and it's just a single jump away, too!

So with the combined crews joining together on the stage Act 1 ends in a rousing song of the fight ahead of them!

 
The curtain falls, the lights come up and you have a 30 minute interval to eat, drink, and mingle!

All around you people rise smiling, laughing, and excitedly chattering as they head to the lobby.

[Eris]

Lights in the Lobby flash indicating it is time to return to your seats and you join the crowd trooping back into the theater.

--Act 2--Scene 1--

The curtain rises as the orchestra opens with what amounts to a dirge. The scene is set to a gray room with the Companions scattered around on benches or standing with slumped shoulders. Sobs, sniffs and tears fill their song of woe as they describe their capture and being confined in this prison cell. Their clothing, colorful and bright in the opening scene is now tastefully tattered and stained. The only difference is the two sisters.

Center stage Etta and Gretta talk. We learn that their mother was half Swordy and half Zhodani with Gretta singing that she got the guts and Etta singing but I got her brains. They decide they have to save themselves, so with overlapping songs Etta goes from girl to girl singing and pulling them out of their despair while Gretta follows behind slapping backs giving hugs and punching arms rousing them to take control of the situation and save themselves. Both the sisters are making headway as the Companions begin to join them center stage one by one, but this doesn't last as with the sound of a loud gong the stage lights go out and then flash back on.

--Act 2--Scene 2--

Discordant music rises as the twelve girls huddled in center stage are now joined, stage left, by a dozen burly men dressed in black and silver uniforms all armed with cutlasses. A thirteenth man steps out stage right to swelling music, discordant and disturbing. He is tall and thin, dressed in black and silver with a tall hat with two points rising up from it. He is dark, has exaggerated eye folds and a black goatee! He begins to sing in a deep bass voice telling the women their fate is sealed and resistance is futile.

We now get exposition as well as song from the man who is clearly the "major villain" of the piece. Karl Zhodat tells them that they will be returned to the bosom of their families, but only after they have been broken in both mind and body and then programmed to be the agents of their families' destruction. Gretta cries out "Never!" and begins to sing a defiant song! Etta joins her and so do the Companions...at first...but the music changes, colored lights begin to dart around the stage, smoke puffs up here and there. Zhodat extends the staff he is holding and a light flashes from it hitting first one woman and then the next causing each to drop out of the song, entranced by his powers.

The entranced woman begin to move and gyrate. Their actions grow more and more out of control. Only Etta and Gretta appear to be unaffected by Zhodat's psionic powers! Both try to break his hold on the other woman going from one to another trying to keep up their defiant song, but it is no use. What was PG-13 before is beginning to move toward an R rating as the women and the burly Zhodani guards begin to engage with each other. In center stage Gretta begins to lose control. She throws out her arms and shrieks in despair, voice rising up, up, up, to ear an ear bleeding high before falling to the floor! You think that might have been the highest note you've ever heard! It might not have made it to Vargr only hearing, but dang if it didn't get right up there!

This leaves only Etta confronting Zhodat, shaking her head and swaying, but not succumbing to his psionic powers. She takes center stage standing over fallen Gretta and sings the Defiant song for all she is worth as Zhodat continues to pulse blasts at her and the dancing people around the stage get more and more explicit in their movements...though never really reaching a serious R, if you know what I mean.

Just as Etta is starting to lose her voice and beginning to twitch, chaos erupts on stage. Eneri, the Pirate Captain and their crews bound on stage and engage the Zhodani guards, pulling the gyrating women away from them and fighting breaks out.

The spell clearly breaks as all the women begin to regain themselves, Gretta stirs and rises to her feet with Etta's help. The dance fighting swirls around the stage in and out among the woman as they begin to join in the fight and the good guys are winning, but Zhodat isn't finished! He raises his staff and it pulses shooting out streaks of light taking down man after woman after man.

Eneri seeing Zhodat turn his staff toward Gunner jumps in front of him so he doesn't get hit with the pulse of light, taking it instead. He falls. Gunner rushes toward Zhodat, but Etta and Gretta beat him to it! Etta bashes Zhodat's arm with a convenient chair leg she happens to have to hand, causing him to drop the staff. As he bends to pick it up, Gretta runs him through with a cutlass!

Zhodat eventually falls to the floor dead, but not before he gets in a dying monolog declaring that only if the Sword Worlds join with the Imperium can the Zhodani be defeated!

Now everything stops and everyone freezes as Etta rushes to Eneri's fallen body and holds him. The audience sees the wink he gives her as he says, it's just a flesh wound. She helps him to stand. Gretta rushes up to Eneri and gives him a big kiss! She says, "I knew we'd get out of this!" Etta looks like she wants to kiss Eneri as he looks longingly at her, but the pair end up shaking hands and turning away from each other instead.

Gretta runs around the stage kissing everyone left and right, ending with Gunner and when she moves away from him the audience can see he is smitten...really smitten by her.

Stepping aside into a spotlight, Eneri sings of his happiness for rescuing Etta, but his sadness because it changes nothing. When he takes her back he will be court-martialed and sent to a prison planet.

Gunner on the other side of the stage is singing of his love for Gretta, but clearly she is the woman that Eneri loves and as an honorable man he can do nothing.

Center stage, Gretta is telling Etta that Gunner is just the sort of man she could marry and Etta is telling Gretta that they are going to have to rescue both of the men from their father or they'll have neither. Behind the four principals, there is cheering, singing and hugs all around and as the principals join the rest, the scene ends.

--Act 2--Scene 3--

The curtain rises to soaring music as the stage is set as the throne room of an Imperial Palace. We learn from some exposition that this the Duke of the Spinward Marches is seated on the throne here and the old man dressed as an Admiral standing next to him is the Lord Admiral of the Spinward Marches...and Etta and Gretta's father as if you'd forgotten.

The crews, Eneri, Gunner, Gretta, Etta, and the Companions all troop on stage and bow and curtsy before the Duke. Etta and Gretta rush to either side their father kissing him on the cheek. They are seen both whispering in his ear and this continues as Eneri steps forward to speak.

Eneri explains his actions from beginning to end and take full blame for disobeying orders. He extolls the virtues of the Sword Worlders that assisted in the rescue and begs for mercy for everyone, but himself. Etta and Gretta, now speak up and lead all the Companions and both crews in song extolling the merits of both Eneri and Gunner and both their crews. In song Etta makes clear she won't live without Eneri and Gretta takes over the song turning her eyes on Gunner naming him as her one and only if he will have her. By the end of the song both the Admiral and the Duke have joined in and it is smiles all around.

Everyone is pardoned! Everyone is promoted and rewarded. Eneri is made a Baron and given a fiefdom on some world that you won't find in the Imperial Library. Gunner, who now reveals he is the Crown Prince of the Sword Worlds and heir to the throne there, agrees to take a Treaty of Alliance to his father the King of the Sword Worlds. Stage left Eneri and Etta finally complete their love song. Stage Right Gunner and Gretta are doing the same with their similar, but more robust song.

Love songs completed, the whole cast...sans Zhodat and Zhodani...join together to sing a rousing conclusion praising Honor, Loyalty and Love! The audience rises as the orchestra plays the Imperial Anthem and joins the entire cast...now including the actors that played the Zhodani and Zhodat...in song!

 
The cast bows, the curtain closes, and the theater erupts in cheers, cries of huzzah and shouts for curtain calls! Three times the curtain opens for curtain calls allowing various actors to take special bows and praise. Both fully energized and completely exhausted, the audience begins to stream out of the theater into the cool evening air outside.

[trawets]

Doug applauds and shouts Bravo! Bravo!. He the proceeds to exit with the rest of the crew. That was rousing and a bit ridiculous but good after the last few months I think.

[ateno]

?"Very nice!"

Karcsi stands with the applause and does the same and lets out a couple of his tribes cries of appreciation.

Karcsi

Very Nice GM!!

[joertexas]

Very Nice GM!!

Seconded

Zaki sits through the performance, viewing the story though her outsider's lens. She uses her HUD to retrieve references on the Sword Worlds, the Zhodani, and the Spinward Marches in an attempt to parse the play's message. It's meant to be lighthearted, so she takes in the historical high points to make sense of the story.

"That was interesting," she says as she follows Sigrun out of the theater.

[helvorn]

Donovan is clearly enjoying himself. He laughs uproariously at the funny parts and hums along with the tunes. "Very nice, everyone ended up in their places." He turned to Sigrun and smiled. "So did the handsome Prince of the Sword Worlds meet with your approval?" He followed the others outside and looked about for a flower vendor.

Extremely well done Eris!

[terrymixon]

Flighty stands and claps wildly

Good job, Eris! Now get this produced and on Broadway!

[Eris]

The ship's crew emerges into the cool evening air. The streets are dim with only occasional streetlights casting a wide low light close to the ground. You can see up into the clear black sky without too much difficulty. The two moons of Jenghe are glowing a faint red in the sky, one nearly overhead and the larger a crescent with upward pointing horns that remind you of the hat the actor had been wearing, only reddish not silver.

Looking around you can see there are a number of bars and restaurants still open on this block and the ones around it if you want to visit one of them. The dive bar spacers frequent is about two miles west of here near the Starport gate.

Flighty feels his trouser leg and jingles the keys to the air/raft.

[terrymixon]

The ship's crew emerges into the cool evening air. The streets are dim with only occasional streetlights casting a wide low light close to the ground. You can see up into the clear black sky without too much difficulty. The two moons of Jenghe are glowing a faint red in the sky, one nearly overhead and the larger a crescent with upward pointing horns that remind you of the hat the actor had been wearing, only reddish not silver.

Looking around you can see there are a number of bars and restaurants still open on this block and the ones around it if you want to visit one of them. The dive bar spacers frequent is about two miles west of here near the Starport gate.

Flighty feels his trouser leg and jingles the keys to the air/raft.

"Where to, folks?"

[joertexas]

"Where to, folks?"

Zaki sighs. "As much as I'd like to hang around, we may want to lift out of here."

[ateno]

"Are we all set with all cargo uploaded? If so we should order some whiskey for the ship and head out. Did we take take that transponder and put it on another ship?"

Karcsi

[terrymixon]

"Are we all set with all cargo uploaded? If so we should order some whiskey for the ship and head out. Did we take take that transponder and put it on another ship?"

Karcsi

“We didn’t, I don’t think,” Flighty said. “Let’s have whiskey delivered and attach it to the delivery vehicle.”

[ateno]

“We didn’t, I don’t think,” Flighty said. “Let’s have whiskey delivered and attach it to the delivery vehicle.”

"Sounds good boss, let's do it and drink after when you say its alright. Otherwise, lets go have a beer!"

Karcsi

[Eris]

"Are we all set with all cargo uploaded? If so we should order some whiskey for the ship and head out. Did we take take that transponder and put it on another ship?"

Karcsi

You were scheduled load cargo and freight tomorrow morning with a lift off scheduled for that afternoon. Doug took the transponder apart and examined it, but it can be reassembled quickly enough, if you wish.

[Eris]

“We didn’t, I don’t think,” Flighty said. “Let’s have whiskey delivered and attach it to the delivery vehicle.”

"Sounds good boss, let's do it and drink after when you say its alright. Otherwise, lets go have a beer!"

Karcsi

So, as Flighty asked, "Where to folks?" or as I edit it...Where to, right now this evening, folks? To a bar in the Theater District, to the dive bar near the Starport, to the Bar at the Octagon Building, or straight back to the ship for a beer there?

[terrymixon]

“We didn’t, I don’t think,” Flighty said. “Let’s have whiskey delivered and attach it to the delivery vehicle.”

"Sounds good boss, let's do it and drink after when you say its alright. Otherwise, lets go have a beer!"

Karcsi

So, as Flighty asked, "Where to folks?" or as I edit it...Where to, right now this evening, folks? To a bar in the Theater District, to the dive bar near the Starport, to the Bar at the Octagon Building, or straight back to the ship for a beer there?

Flighty awaits their decision and then takes them there.

[trawets]

Doug speaks up and says It's been a good night. Let's not tempt fate. I say we head back to the ship and have a drink there. I can put that transponder back together and we can mount it elsewhere. I don't know that it will transmit before we leave. I'll see if I can get it onto a ship and it transmits once in space.

[terrymixon]

Doug speaks up and says It's been a good night. Let's not tempt fate. I say we head back to the ship and have a drink there. I can put that transponder back together and we can mount it elsewhere. I don't know that it will transmit before we leave. I'll see if I can get it onto a ship and it transmits once in space.

"That would put another ship at risk," Flighty said. "Leave it on the ground."

[helvorn]

Doug speaks up and says It's been a good night. Let's not tempt fate. I say we head back to the ship and have a drink there. I can put that transponder back together and we can mount it elsewhere. I don't know that it will transmit before we leave. I'll see if I can get it onto a ship and it transmits once in space.

"That would put another ship at risk," Flighty said. "Leave it on the ground."

Donovan speaks up. "Let's put it on a Ling Standard ship. That might tangle our friends up with a megacorporation that can defend itself." He shrugged. "Let's go to the spacer bar and see what information we can find. We need to be up early tomorrow load cargo."

[Eris]

Arriving back at the air/raft in the parking lot, you all pile in and prepare to lift up.

OOC: Seems to be a shortage of votes: 1 Vote back to the ship for a nightcap by Doug, 1 vote spacer bar to gather information by Donovan, as far as I can tell, no votes on this subject by Joxi, Sigrun and maybe not Karsci or Flighty except it might be that both of them want to go back to the ship and order whiskey sent there...not positive.

IAC, Flighty is at the wheel and it's driver's choice, so Terry, where is Flighty flying this indecisive bunch?