Madness as usual

[Funkz]

Almost every boy and every girl dreams of flying to the stars one day. Maybe because he or she lives in a large city, near a spaceport and there are hundreds of vessels taking off to the skies everyday. Huge, bulky freighters that slowly climb the atmosphere with tons of cargo from various sun systems. Small fighters shooting up to countless adventures, hunting pirates down deep in dangerous nebulae and debris fields. Maybe because he or she lives on a farming planet, thousands of miles from any city. And then, one day, a cruise liner drifts majestically across the sky, promising a life far away from the monotonous daily routines.

Logan and Lewis Sinclair had their own reasons to long for the stars. These reasons were quite smelly and to the nose of a child from the New London upper class probably insufferable. "Sinclair Sewer Services" had the responsibility and - as their father had always stressed - the great honor to ensure the proper disposal of everything the human body needs to dispose. And with two billion people inhabiting Leeds that' quite a lot of honor to earn. Their small, specialized familiy business led to an upper middle class lifestyle for the Sinclair family. However, that does not help if you're being bullied in school because of your rather peculiar fragrance.

After their father had died tragically in the self-inflicted decompression of a public toilet facility, Logan and Lewis inherited the familiy business. They sold it and reinvested: "Sinclair Shire Services" was their dream coming true. They now carried cargo for contractors throughout the Bretonian Empire and beyond instead of carrying heavy machines through the sewers of Leeds. The "Queen Elizabeth" and the "Queen Victoria", two ships from the first line of Shire Transports, became their new homes, each brother a captain of his own.

These are the personal log files recorded on the Queen Victoria by Logan Sinclair and his crew:

LOGAN SINCLAIR
Captain

Captain of the Queen Victoria, co-owner of Sinclair Shire Services and self-declared gentleman-trader. Likes to teach pirates lessons in Bretonian manners and is a little overconfident when it comes to women. Some crewmembers say he is a little too much into the whiskey from Dublin and Newcastle, Logan says he drinks only on special occasions. You don't argue with your captain.

PAUL KIRKPATRICK
First mate

A patriot through and through, Paul served several years as chief gunner on a BAF gunboat. However, his hand-eye-coordination was damaged in the destruction of his ship and now he's only a shadow of his former skill. He is the heart and soul of the Victoria, although he scents conspiracies against the crown a little too often.

SOLOMON
Chief engineer

The wizard in the engine room, Solomon's in love with the Queen Victoria. If he can't fix her, nobody can. Logan picked him up in a Junker bar near the Leeds spaceport. Don't tinker with anything on the ship without asking Solomon first. Nobody denies that he is crazy, but nobody wants to miss his extraordninary skills with his dynamometric screwdriver either.

MS. GATES
Weapon officer

Ms. Gates joined the Victoria's crew just recently. Logan promoted her to weapon officer instantly, though nobody knows much about her except that she lost an ominous job on Leeds a few days before she met Logan. She seems to be an experienced gunner, but that makes her only more mysterious.