Alimonte brushed her long, blond hair behind her head as the wind whipped through it’s tendrils as she held tightly to Dumond’s rippled chest.  The space horse took them swiftly across the beaches of Zegema.  She-

HRRRROOOONNNKKKKK-CHRRREEEEE!

Dammit, no.  The stupid mission can wait, this is getting good.  You tuck back into your book.

Relaxed from their couples’ massage at the resort earlier, they rode off into the sunset to find a perfect picnic laid out for them at the most romantic lookout spot.  Alimonte dismounted their steed, and Dumond did the same, but immediately knelt on one knee and produced a two-carrot space diamond.

She screamed, “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!” and they passionately embraced.

A tear falls from your eye.  This moment has been a long time coming.

“Zoinks, man, what are you reading?” cracks a scraggly voice behind you.

You scramble to hide the book as if you were hiding contraband from the vogons, and the punishment was poetry.  “Uh, nothing, nothing, just some space trash someone left on my ship a while ago… so, who are you, anyway?  And… uh… what’s your pet’s name?”

“Ruh, rhello, I’m Scooooooly Doooly Doo!”  Of course the dog spoke.  This is only about the twelfth weirdest thing that’s happened to you in the last 24 hours.

The scruffy looking gentleman waved.  “And I’m Scraggy!”  He looked as if he had rolled out of bed after a few years in stasis, and hadn’t done a thing to straighten himself up.

“Nice to meet you.  So, why are you on my ship?” you question, just a little bit annoyed to be interrupted from Passions on Zegema Beach III: The Beachening.

He points to the printout.  You read.

Scraggy and Scooly (yes, the dog) have hired you to get their gang back together and solve a mystery.  Just follow their lead!

Great.  You’re at the whims of a dude who looks like he’s had a little too much space cabbage every day for the last ten years and a talking dog.  It pays the bills, though, so whatcha gonna do?

You sigh quietly.  “Ok, so, where to, Scraggy?”

He shrugged.  “Jinkies, I dunno.  Delphne and Frank got in a big fight, and Vlema took off looking for them and never came back.”

Yet again, it’s up to you to figure it out.  Maybe, just maybe, this one will be easy?