The Gazelle took up station much like the other escort had held many days before. The Patrol Corvette joined it, but the repair ship landed. Time passed. The two imperial ships were in geosynchronous orbits about the space station so there was little chance of the traveller's Harrier being detected as they were right on the horizon.
After a few hours the Patrol Corvette also landed. And a few hours after that it was up in orbit again, although this time it was in a higher orbit than the Gazelle, and unlike the other imperial ship it was moving.
Some careful sensor scans later it became clear that the patrol corvette was making a scanning sweep of the planet, and that it was likely that the Harriers would be noticed.
Making a plan on the spur of the moment the travellers moved the ships around the far side of the planet such that they would not be detected by either imperial ship as the patrol corvette made its first few orbits of the planet. The idea was to pounce on the patrol corvette once it was on the other side of the planet from the gazelle, and take it out without the other ship knowing.
When the time came to engage the enemy the Harriers had the element of surprise and this time, with the corvette not picking them up on sensors they killed the crew with radiation damage, leaving it still in orbit. Boarding the ship confirmed that there were no survivors strong enough to put up a fight and a crew was transferred to pilot the ship down to the planet surface and hide it.
In no time all the travellers' crew was burying the bodies, covering the ship, and transferring to the Harriers anything that might prove useful. This included the ships logs and records, battle dress and weapons from the marines, and a full cargo manifest. Other items such as the ships boat and gcarrier were ignored for now, and a more thorough search of the ship for salvage (or to repair it sufficiently to keep it) were postponed.
The Harriers took off again, and observed that the gazelle was still in place. What to do next. Hmmm.
To be continued.
Saturday 30 June 2018
Fast times at Arunisiir Port
The Harriers arrived in Arunisiir and headed to the planet. On the trip a Gazelle class escort was detected, although it seemed that the Harriers had not been detected. Captain Slayed directed two of the Harriers into position on the opposite side of the planet while the party landed to see what had happened.
The spaceport gave permission to land, and the Harrier headed to the surface of the planet. On drawing close it became apparent that the treasure ship was at the space port, but had clearly landed heavily. The ground was cracked in places, and soot and fire damage was visible on the aft of the ship. Landing a little way away the party considered their options.
Day 1
The spaceport authorities seemed to be represented by a lone Aslan who stalked up to the ship. Meeting him the party discovered that he considered himself the owner of the land and so demanded that the party pay him say 100Cr per ton of ship. Captain Slayed, fresh from his authoritative command of the situation with Klowaaar on Paradise, used the same alpha male approach and made this newcomer, called Ekaft, stand down and sullenly trudge off without payment.
Goff headed out to the salvage yard to see if there was anything interesting, while the others headed to the bar. There, Slayed met Chief Engineer (acting) Polo who eventually opened up and admitted that there had been an accident on the ship and there had been many fatalities. It might be possible to be hired on to help out in the engineering bay, but any prospective employees would have to be vetted by the captain (she rolls her eyes at this) before they could start.
Lady Nitrane and Unter remained in the bar while Slayed went to find Goff.
In the bar the more people caught their eye. One was a scout who was loudly proclaiming is awesomeness, and was sitting next to a battered robot. It turned out that the scout, called Van, had saved the day, and was gladly receiving drinks from any who would buy them for him. As Nitrane and Unter approached he said in a mock-exasperated voice that he supposed he could recount his heroics just one more time. This he did, at great length, and in summary all he had really done is jump back to Fist to tell the authorities and then return, but to the crew of the treasure ship he was a hero. His robot, called Bucket, sat impassively through this.
Slayed in the meantime had found Goff and broached the subject of what to do with the Imperial Treasure Ship. Initially the conversation skirted around the desire on the part of the party to make off with whatever was in the treasure ship vault, but it turned out that Goff disliked imperials and had also worked out that the party were more pirate then philanthropist, which he didn't mind. After all, he had been a friend of Lady Yemar for 'more years than she'd care to remember'.
Back at the bar two imperial crew members had joined the small crowd around Van, and proceeded to loudly join in. They were called O'Leary and Ilin, and they were gunners who liked a drink. Lady Nitrane and Unter took them to another table and discovered from them that the ship was looking for engineers. At this point Slayed returned after his talk to Goff and the imperial crew noticed his bearing and demeanour and decided enough was enough.
With not much else to do, the party headed to the ship, all except for Slayed who headed to the trading offices to get a feel for what might be available for sale. After making contact with a couple of traders he too headed to the ship to make plans.
Day 2
The next day, the crew decided to head to the treasure ship and offer the services of engineers for the purpose of helping repair the ship. It had been discussed that some kind of sabotage might be appropriately pulled off in order to make the ship mis-jump (although where to find it afterwards) or to stop it jumping (more plausible) or even pay with the manoeuvre or power plant to blow at a specific time. With no specific plans in place it was decided to at least get someone on board to look around.
Approaching the ship the marines on duty stopped the party and asked their business. Slayed said he had some crew who might be useful in the imperial ship repairs. The marine radioed in and a short time later Second Officer Halbinar disembarked and met with the party. Yes, the services of experienced engineers would be appreciated, but they'd have to see the engineer and personally check their identity and their expertise levels. It was agreed that some time later the engineers would approach the treasure ship for these checks.
Before the scheduled meeting, the party, and Slayed in particular, decided to have a look around the space port. Noting the System Defence Boats and many missile turrets, their state of repair and effectiveness was a significant point of interest. It seemed that this planet, which was nominally TL6, still managed to mount an effective missile defence, although the SDBs were significantly less impressive, merging low and moderately high technology in their construction.
At the appointed time, the party and Goff approach the treasure ship. Goff is first interviewed by Second Officer Halbinar, and then Chief Engineer (acting) Polo asks some questions about his experience and capabilities, which Goff seems to have passed as they agree he can start work the next morning.
That evening is spent planning what Goff might be able to do to the treasure ship drives. One approach was to make the ship mis-jump, another to prevent it from jumping at all. With there being no actual working jump drives any tampering might be found when they were repaired. Alternatives were discussed but without someone on board to take advantage of the situation there was not a lot that could be done effectively.
Day 3
Goff reported for duty in the morning and boarded the treasure ship. The rest of the crew had an uneventful day. They purchased supplies for the three Harriers for 4 weeks each, putting the supplies for the other ships in the cargo hold.
Other than that, the party got into a routine of visiting the bar and speaking to whichever crew they found there.
Day 4
The next morning the spaceport was woken by a ship buzzing low over the port then heading back up to orbit. This unusual event was made more interesting by the realisation that it was a scout ship that was last recorded on the ships logs in Theev, and belonged to Hrol Irontooth, a proper pirate's pirate. It was known to the party that Hrol's flagship is a 1,200 ton Halaheike-class pocket warship.
In addition, the Harrier picked up a short, encrypted message coming from the treasure ship to the scout as it buzzed the port. It seemed that the pirate had someone on board the treasure ship. Could the drive explosion have been sabotage?
Deciding to try to use this to the party's advantage, Slayed approached the treasure ship and demanded to see the captain. The marine on duty was persuaded to fetch the first officer, and First Officer Jagad, when she arrived, was persuaded to allow Slayed to see the captain.
On arriving in his office there was a long delay while the captain finished some essential paperwork and then focused his gaze on Slayed. As the information was relayed to the treasure ship captain that a possible saboteur was on board it became quickly apparent that the message was not at all welcome. the captain flatly refused to believe that a message could have come from his ship, and furthermore there was no chance that some upstart vagrant ship captain like Slayed could tell him otherwise.
At this point Admiral Slayed informed the captain that he had been in the Imperial Navy, to which the captain asked what rank. Slayed refused to answer. The captain asked to see his ID to confirm who he was. Slayed refused to hand it over. At that point the captain asked that Slayed be escorted out and resumed his paperwork. Slayed made a snide comment about the importance of pushing bits of paper around and left, escorted by First Officer Jagad and the marine.
While Slayed got the impression that Jagad sympathised he was informed that there would be no more access to the treasure ship for him.
Day 5
The next morning Goff was refused access to the treasure ship due to the unsavoury company that he kept. This seriously curtailed some of the plans that had been considered. Now, any information about the treasure ship, its cargo, how to open the vault and what its destination or route would be would have to be gleaned from talking to and befriending people in the bar. Slayed's assumption that the captain had the means to open the vault would also be harder to test or put into practice.
At this point there were discussions about what to do about the Gazelle escort ship in orbit. It was decided that when the repair ship arrived, presumably with the other escort, it would be easier to proceed without there being two escorts.
A message was sent to the other two Harriers to carefully and stealthily attack the Gazelle, fleeing should there be difficulties. They sprung into action. Approaching from over the horizon, the Harriers got a sensor lock and fired their particle barbettes before the Gazelle even knew they were there. They fired again, the Gazelle diving for the relative safety of the planet surface where they would be in range of protective missiles. The imperials fired wildly, now knowing where the Harriers were.
The Harriers increased speed, chasing the Gazelle and firing again. And again. And then the Gazelle impacted with the ground and the Harriers returned to the other side of the planet. Job done.
Back at the spaceport the travellers were making themselves conspicuous. LAdy Nitrane was sunbathing on the wing of the Harrier. Slayed and Sparrow were playing ball, and Unter was shirtless riding backwards on a bicycle. They did not hear the Gazelle crash but they found out that they had been successful when the Harriers reported in, and at the same moment activity around the treasure ship burst into frantic action.
The turrets on the treasure ship were activated and all marines brought out onto the apron. Other crew ran to the central spaceport offices and seemed to be demanding vehicles, as soon enough they were heading out in the direction of the crashed escort. A strange tension filled the air.
Some time later the vehicles returned, the crew somewhat dejected looking. The ship was still on a heightened level of alertness for most of the day but it eventually relaxed as no further threats were detected.
Day 6
The next day things seemed to be more or less returned to normal, which was slightly odd given that clearly the threat had not been eliminated. Sparrow went to the bar as it opened and found the treasure ship's astrogator Osha there, already drinking. She seemed to be a little shaken up by the events of the previous day.
Sparrow got talking to her and they seemed to hit it off. Osha had the distinctive gills and blue skin of a Dolberg native. She started talking about her life growing up on Dolberg and how she joined the navy. After a while, and noticeably more relaxed, she observed the time and made her goodbyes, voicing a hope that they could meet again soon, or as soon as her shore leave came around again.
That night the party discussed the fact that they'd been on Arunisiir for nearly a week and that soon enough there would be questions about why they were still there. The questions seemed so worrying that the plan was made to pretend to jump to Exocet (where the party had been before) but in reality to stay stealthed in orbit around Arunisiir and observe from afar. They said their farewells and informed the relevant authorities of flight plans and took off. They headed out towards the 100d limit but made a large loop around the planet and returned to the opposite side from the spaceport whereupon they landed and distributed supplies to the other Harriers.
Day 7
Establishing a routine of one ship up and two ships down, one day on station and two off station, the travellers began waiting for things to happen.
Nothing else happened that day that the Harriers could detect.
Day 8
A ship was detected arriving and landing. It registered as a type of trading ship.
Day 9
Nothing happened
Day 10
A ship took off, identified as the far trader Hopeful Wanderer
Day 11
Another ship took off, this time the far trader Fafnir.
Day 12
Nothing happened
Day 13
Nothing happened
Day 14
Three ships arrived. A Gazelle Escort, a Patrol Cruiser, and a Fleet Tender. The Imperials had finally arrived! What had happened at the space port was anyone's guess, but at last things were happening.
To be continued...
The spaceport gave permission to land, and the Harrier headed to the surface of the planet. On drawing close it became apparent that the treasure ship was at the space port, but had clearly landed heavily. The ground was cracked in places, and soot and fire damage was visible on the aft of the ship. Landing a little way away the party considered their options.
Day 1
The spaceport authorities seemed to be represented by a lone Aslan who stalked up to the ship. Meeting him the party discovered that he considered himself the owner of the land and so demanded that the party pay him say 100Cr per ton of ship. Captain Slayed, fresh from his authoritative command of the situation with Klowaaar on Paradise, used the same alpha male approach and made this newcomer, called Ekaft, stand down and sullenly trudge off without payment.
Goff headed out to the salvage yard to see if there was anything interesting, while the others headed to the bar. There, Slayed met Chief Engineer (acting) Polo who eventually opened up and admitted that there had been an accident on the ship and there had been many fatalities. It might be possible to be hired on to help out in the engineering bay, but any prospective employees would have to be vetted by the captain (she rolls her eyes at this) before they could start.
Lady Nitrane and Unter remained in the bar while Slayed went to find Goff.
In the bar the more people caught their eye. One was a scout who was loudly proclaiming is awesomeness, and was sitting next to a battered robot. It turned out that the scout, called Van, had saved the day, and was gladly receiving drinks from any who would buy them for him. As Nitrane and Unter approached he said in a mock-exasperated voice that he supposed he could recount his heroics just one more time. This he did, at great length, and in summary all he had really done is jump back to Fist to tell the authorities and then return, but to the crew of the treasure ship he was a hero. His robot, called Bucket, sat impassively through this.
Slayed in the meantime had found Goff and broached the subject of what to do with the Imperial Treasure Ship. Initially the conversation skirted around the desire on the part of the party to make off with whatever was in the treasure ship vault, but it turned out that Goff disliked imperials and had also worked out that the party were more pirate then philanthropist, which he didn't mind. After all, he had been a friend of Lady Yemar for 'more years than she'd care to remember'.
Back at the bar two imperial crew members had joined the small crowd around Van, and proceeded to loudly join in. They were called O'Leary and Ilin, and they were gunners who liked a drink. Lady Nitrane and Unter took them to another table and discovered from them that the ship was looking for engineers. At this point Slayed returned after his talk to Goff and the imperial crew noticed his bearing and demeanour and decided enough was enough.
With not much else to do, the party headed to the ship, all except for Slayed who headed to the trading offices to get a feel for what might be available for sale. After making contact with a couple of traders he too headed to the ship to make plans.
Day 2
The next day, the crew decided to head to the treasure ship and offer the services of engineers for the purpose of helping repair the ship. It had been discussed that some kind of sabotage might be appropriately pulled off in order to make the ship mis-jump (although where to find it afterwards) or to stop it jumping (more plausible) or even pay with the manoeuvre or power plant to blow at a specific time. With no specific plans in place it was decided to at least get someone on board to look around.
Approaching the ship the marines on duty stopped the party and asked their business. Slayed said he had some crew who might be useful in the imperial ship repairs. The marine radioed in and a short time later Second Officer Halbinar disembarked and met with the party. Yes, the services of experienced engineers would be appreciated, but they'd have to see the engineer and personally check their identity and their expertise levels. It was agreed that some time later the engineers would approach the treasure ship for these checks.
Before the scheduled meeting, the party, and Slayed in particular, decided to have a look around the space port. Noting the System Defence Boats and many missile turrets, their state of repair and effectiveness was a significant point of interest. It seemed that this planet, which was nominally TL6, still managed to mount an effective missile defence, although the SDBs were significantly less impressive, merging low and moderately high technology in their construction.
At the appointed time, the party and Goff approach the treasure ship. Goff is first interviewed by Second Officer Halbinar, and then Chief Engineer (acting) Polo asks some questions about his experience and capabilities, which Goff seems to have passed as they agree he can start work the next morning.
That evening is spent planning what Goff might be able to do to the treasure ship drives. One approach was to make the ship mis-jump, another to prevent it from jumping at all. With there being no actual working jump drives any tampering might be found when they were repaired. Alternatives were discussed but without someone on board to take advantage of the situation there was not a lot that could be done effectively.
Day 3
Goff reported for duty in the morning and boarded the treasure ship. The rest of the crew had an uneventful day. They purchased supplies for the three Harriers for 4 weeks each, putting the supplies for the other ships in the cargo hold.
Other than that, the party got into a routine of visiting the bar and speaking to whichever crew they found there.
Day 4
The next morning the spaceport was woken by a ship buzzing low over the port then heading back up to orbit. This unusual event was made more interesting by the realisation that it was a scout ship that was last recorded on the ships logs in Theev, and belonged to Hrol Irontooth, a proper pirate's pirate. It was known to the party that Hrol's flagship is a 1,200 ton Halaheike-class pocket warship.
In addition, the Harrier picked up a short, encrypted message coming from the treasure ship to the scout as it buzzed the port. It seemed that the pirate had someone on board the treasure ship. Could the drive explosion have been sabotage?
Deciding to try to use this to the party's advantage, Slayed approached the treasure ship and demanded to see the captain. The marine on duty was persuaded to fetch the first officer, and First Officer Jagad, when she arrived, was persuaded to allow Slayed to see the captain.
On arriving in his office there was a long delay while the captain finished some essential paperwork and then focused his gaze on Slayed. As the information was relayed to the treasure ship captain that a possible saboteur was on board it became quickly apparent that the message was not at all welcome. the captain flatly refused to believe that a message could have come from his ship, and furthermore there was no chance that some upstart vagrant ship captain like Slayed could tell him otherwise.
At this point Admiral Slayed informed the captain that he had been in the Imperial Navy, to which the captain asked what rank. Slayed refused to answer. The captain asked to see his ID to confirm who he was. Slayed refused to hand it over. At that point the captain asked that Slayed be escorted out and resumed his paperwork. Slayed made a snide comment about the importance of pushing bits of paper around and left, escorted by First Officer Jagad and the marine.
While Slayed got the impression that Jagad sympathised he was informed that there would be no more access to the treasure ship for him.
Day 5
The next morning Goff was refused access to the treasure ship due to the unsavoury company that he kept. This seriously curtailed some of the plans that had been considered. Now, any information about the treasure ship, its cargo, how to open the vault and what its destination or route would be would have to be gleaned from talking to and befriending people in the bar. Slayed's assumption that the captain had the means to open the vault would also be harder to test or put into practice.
At this point there were discussions about what to do about the Gazelle escort ship in orbit. It was decided that when the repair ship arrived, presumably with the other escort, it would be easier to proceed without there being two escorts.
A message was sent to the other two Harriers to carefully and stealthily attack the Gazelle, fleeing should there be difficulties. They sprung into action. Approaching from over the horizon, the Harriers got a sensor lock and fired their particle barbettes before the Gazelle even knew they were there. They fired again, the Gazelle diving for the relative safety of the planet surface where they would be in range of protective missiles. The imperials fired wildly, now knowing where the Harriers were.
The Harriers increased speed, chasing the Gazelle and firing again. And again. And then the Gazelle impacted with the ground and the Harriers returned to the other side of the planet. Job done.
Back at the spaceport the travellers were making themselves conspicuous. LAdy Nitrane was sunbathing on the wing of the Harrier. Slayed and Sparrow were playing ball, and Unter was shirtless riding backwards on a bicycle. They did not hear the Gazelle crash but they found out that they had been successful when the Harriers reported in, and at the same moment activity around the treasure ship burst into frantic action.
The turrets on the treasure ship were activated and all marines brought out onto the apron. Other crew ran to the central spaceport offices and seemed to be demanding vehicles, as soon enough they were heading out in the direction of the crashed escort. A strange tension filled the air.
Some time later the vehicles returned, the crew somewhat dejected looking. The ship was still on a heightened level of alertness for most of the day but it eventually relaxed as no further threats were detected.
Day 6
The next day things seemed to be more or less returned to normal, which was slightly odd given that clearly the threat had not been eliminated. Sparrow went to the bar as it opened and found the treasure ship's astrogator Osha there, already drinking. She seemed to be a little shaken up by the events of the previous day.
Sparrow got talking to her and they seemed to hit it off. Osha had the distinctive gills and blue skin of a Dolberg native. She started talking about her life growing up on Dolberg and how she joined the navy. After a while, and noticeably more relaxed, she observed the time and made her goodbyes, voicing a hope that they could meet again soon, or as soon as her shore leave came around again.
That night the party discussed the fact that they'd been on Arunisiir for nearly a week and that soon enough there would be questions about why they were still there. The questions seemed so worrying that the plan was made to pretend to jump to Exocet (where the party had been before) but in reality to stay stealthed in orbit around Arunisiir and observe from afar. They said their farewells and informed the relevant authorities of flight plans and took off. They headed out towards the 100d limit but made a large loop around the planet and returned to the opposite side from the spaceport whereupon they landed and distributed supplies to the other Harriers.
Day 7
Establishing a routine of one ship up and two ships down, one day on station and two off station, the travellers began waiting for things to happen.
Nothing else happened that day that the Harriers could detect.
Day 8
A ship was detected arriving and landing. It registered as a type of trading ship.
Day 9
Nothing happened
Day 10
A ship took off, identified as the far trader Hopeful Wanderer
Day 11
Another ship took off, this time the far trader Fafnir.
Day 12
Nothing happened
Day 13
Nothing happened
Day 14
Three ships arrived. A Gazelle Escort, a Patrol Cruiser, and a Fleet Tender. The Imperials had finally arrived! What had happened at the space port was anyone's guess, but at last things were happening.
To be continued...
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