The Half-Born Fleet has been recruiting, offering large signing bonuses to experienced spacers. Some of your crew go missing while on shore leave; they turn up on the rolls of a Half-Born cruiser, whose captain says they volunteered, but their mates claim they've been pressed.

The automated logistics and celestial navigation network of the Sevata System has been sending ships on unusual courses, slightly lowering the efficiency of each journey. When you are asked to analyse the data you realise they are systematically scanning the outer asteroid belt

Mondefo Station's complex docking and service fee arrangements has lead to several ships being impounded, the owners claiming they were deliberately targeted. An inspector sent to audit the situation has been arrested for debt and your ship has been sent to retrieve them.

New evidence has proved the innocence of an officer convicted of lethal incompetence in battle and you have been sent to the prison colony of Butterfly VII to release them. However on arrival you find there has been a mass escape, the administrators faking dispatches rather than admit it.

Several covert teams have activated on Sokong station, apparently chasing after a valuable data disc. Overwhelmed by system hacks, fights and mysterious events the station has asked your ship for help. As you approach two courier ships leave.

For Sunday a review of the 1960 adaption of the Arthur Conan Doyle novel The Lost World. nightofthehats.blogspot.com/2023/04/i-wa...

For Saturday our space opera serial continues as the team re-enter the dimensional gate to learn what happened to Spy Machine. www.patreon.com/posts/spy-ma...

An anonymous source aboard a deep space resurrection vessel, operating outside of local jurisdiction, has sent a covert message. It seems that someone is making unauthorised clones of the rich and powerful who are being brought back to life and ask you to investigate.

While docked at Spartan System two of your crew are arrested. There has been a murder and the locals are happy to pin the blame to some strangers. You must solve the crime and find an alternative suspect - while on a deadline of 36 hours to departure to make an important rendezvous.

A touring arts collective has been arrested for public indecency on Harlen VII. A neat bit of diplomacy has got them released provided they take the next ship out, and you and your crew now have to fit them and their gear in with the supplies you are hauling to Conservatoire Observatory.

The newly independent Greville System is organising a space force militia. Having requested advisors you and your ship have been sent but the Grevilles, skilled pilots, are sceptical, and challenge you to a target-practice-race through the asteroids.

A group of cadets are being hassled by local space apprentices aboard Kai station. After breaking up a brawl you arrange for a space yachting competition between the groups to channel their aggression - only for sabotage attempts to begin.

For Sunday a brief review of horror film The Awful Dr Orlov nightofthehats.blogspot.com/2023/04/i-wa...

Our Space Opera serial continues as the team assess what they've learned through the dimensional gate - and worry about Platform Conspiracies. www.patreon.com/posts/platfo...

As a ship was leaving the Dogwood system a beacon lit up deep within the Orchid Ring. Unable to stop they left word on a message buoy and you and your ship have gone to investigate. As you arrive in system you catch just one message fragment before it stops.

A contraceptive failure on an outpost in a Red Zone has required your ship to evacuate several expectant parents. However as you carefully make your way out of the danger area there is a distress call - one that would put your ship at hazard if you answered.

An escape pod with the frozen survivor of a shipwreck ten years ago has been discovered. The cause is still mysterious so when revived their testimony has been added to the model. However the causes do not add up, so you have been asked to re-create the simulation from scratch.

For Sunday a review of old science fiction monster film The Creature With The Atom Brain nightofthehats.blogspot.com/2023/03/i-wa...

For Saturday our space opera serial continues as the crew enter the fourth dimensional portal on the TetraHedron and find themselves A Mote On The Unbounded Plain www.patreon.com/posts/mote-o...

A small craft training exercise has wrecked the admiral's barge so they requisition your ship's launch. When they send a crew over to pick it up you discover they are not qualified on it, indeed they do not seem to have passed basic training. You send a coxswain and flight engineer to operate it.

You have found a derelict hulk and towed it back. On arrival at Spittelfield Station it's revealed that it is the notorious pirate vessel Morningstar and rumours spread that it contains clues to the location of the stolen plunder hidden in it's databanks.

A robot thought lost ten years ago has been found during a inventory check on Handrope Station. When you arrive they hand it over to you. The robot appears to have no memories of the time, but a routine data check reveals enormous files hidden in it's system.

The traveling buildings of Modesty V have all begun moving towards the North Pole. They refuse to accept new programming and simply walk around obstacles. With the hostile environment the inhabitants can't leave so they have requested help from you and your ship.

A salvage ship has taken a wrecked torpedo boat in tow, hoping that some of the military technology can be extracted in a dry dock. While bringing it to close to the station the boat's systems activate and begin targeting nearby ships, including yours.

For Sunday a review of shortlived time travel TV show The Peripheral nightofthehats.blogspot.com/2023/03/i-wa...

For Saturday our space opera serial continues as the crew enter the third dimensional gate. Shattering Discoveries. www.patreon.com/posts/shatte...

A medical emergency has incapacitated several members of a exploration team. Your ship has diverted to offer aid. On arrival you are able to stabilise them. However they do not have an explanation of how they became injured or what they are looking for.

Smugglers in the Stone Edge Reach have turned violent, their huge profits enabling them to buy armed ships. You and your ship have been sent to investigate, only to find yourselves being stalked through a nebula by a squadron of raiders.

A new data sharing agreement has revealed passenger manifests are changing between Grilton Station and Halcyon III, with new names appearing. You have been sent undercover as a steward on board one of the suspect ships to try and learn more.

Once every 12-year orbit the deep pressure habitat in the clouds of the Hercules Gas Giant rises to where ships can rendezvous. You are approaching when you receive a signal, that it has risen early with a great prize from the depths and other ships are swarming it.

Quadrillionaire P Spaghetti-Spaghetti has bought three star systems in the Gallant Arm and refuses to state his intentions. You have been sent undercover as crew aboard his yacht The Saucy Sue - a former divisional troop carrier now refitted as a luxury spaceborne palace - to try and learn more.

For Sunday a review of The Princess, NP by Brian Hugenbruch in Escape Pod in which Jana is a data analysis princess in thrall to the queen - yet to follow her orders may doom more people to the illegal data princess training. nightofthehats.blogspot.com/2023/02/i-re...

For Saturday our space opera serial continues as the crew explore a second dimensional gate to an even more hostile environment. In Silence www.patreon.com/posts/in-sil...

The Gerderian Empire has unexpectedly withdrawn from the planet Greensward and you have been sent with a scratch force to keep order. Although some of the locals welcome your arrival, others agitate for independence, despite the dangers of other powers taking your place

Exiles from the Ganean Republic have been pirating Ganean wildcat colonies across the Sifonian Reach. The Ganean's are willing to grant them amnesty to stop this; as a neutral party you and your ship have been sent to find them, only to be rejected by the colonists.

A new sector commander has arrived, and to your surprise it is an old comrade who nearly washed out the fleet when the two of you were on your first cruise. They don't seem any more organised, and you receive three mutually unintelligible sets of shipping orders.

A former solar yachting champion has come out of retirement and is winning on the local circuits. Now the current leaders are seeking to challenge him and with their entourages and fans are encroaching on the usually empty race lanes. You and your ship are sent to keep order.

A dispute over artefacts salvaged from a wrecked ship has been decided in favour of the government of the planet they were made on. Your ship is scheduled to transport them, but they are stolen while in transit to your dock.

For Sunday a review of one of the many adaptions of the story; The Two Faces Of Dr Jekyll nightofthehats.blogspot.com/2023/02/i-wa...

For Saturday a new volume of our space opera serial opens. Gunn and crew go through one of the four dimensional portals that make up the TetraHedron and find a warm Welcome To Novapolis. www.patreon.com/posts/welcom...

Colonists on Doyle II scatter across the land during the warm season, but return to the great tower complex during the rain and cold seasons. Now the younger generation are proposing building more sheltering buildings causing strife; when you visit they ask you to consult on the debates.

Your ship has been converted to transport low-gravity adapted humans to a sector-wide conference. Everything goes to plan for once, but on arrival you are ordered to re-convert for a patrol mission which would leave the delegates stranded.

A jailbreak from the infamous Asteroid Prison of Shall has struck fear across the quadrant. One of the escaped prisoners, known only as 34, claims he has committed no crime yet was imprisoned for 17 years. You are sent to arrest him; he offers to surrender if you will investigate his case.

After ten years away building stations around the gas giant of Mons Frigia, the first batch of workers are returning home to the planet of Saint Martin. However several of them seem to have completely changed and you have been asked to investigate if they are imposters.

A courier ship reports being fired upon and so failed to deliver its message. You and your ship are dispatched to investigate; on arrival the outpost claims they have seen neither courier nor torpedoes and offer to let you verify their scans records for the periods.

For Sunday a review of Futureworld, the sequel to Westworld, set in the outlandish future year of 1983 nightofthehats.blogspot.com/2023/02/i-wa...

For Saturday our space opera serial comes to the end of the first volume - by returning to the start. Gunn and crew return to become Partial City Protectors www.patreon.com/posts/partia...

A Zodiac tour ship has called for assistance and you and your ship have responded. At the twin planet system of Gemstone and Jewel several passengers have vanished while on shore trips. The two planetary governments each claim it was the responsibility of the other.

A notorious assassin had killed the previous six Archons of Golgotha V. They citizens have conscripted a new one; having failed to protect the previous Archons the new Archon has requested off-planet assistance and you and your ship has been dispatched.

A diplomatic courier ship has broken down, and you and your ship have gone to render assistance. The crew refuse to abandon her, due to the sealed data vaults, and despite massive damage insist on stringent security while you assist with repairs.