Having slipped away from the starport opening ceremony, the travellers made their way through the corridors of the starport towards the vault. Lady Nitrane was able to navigation through the corridors and ensured they kept on the right track. Soon they were in areas of the station that they should not be in.
Pushing on, the party encountered occasional station crew and decided to bluff it out; walking nonchalantly past. Where they encountered locked doors the used their card and Slayed's electronics skills to open the doors. Finally they reached their destination - the vault.
The Vault
They looked up and down the corridor. There were no guards in sight, only distant construction droids welding panels. Next to the door were two security access panels; one for the DNA reading and the other a simple card access port. Nitrane put Hiver Jim's wriggling larvae to the DNA panel and a green light appeared. Then Slayed, carefully considering his approach, worked his magic and the second light lit up green.
A low clunk and whining of gears resulted, and the vault doors moved slightly in and then across, and a gap appeared. At first it appeared as if the vault was unlit inside, but a second look showed objects that could be only dimly perceived. Some kind of holographic distortion was at play.
Again looking left and right along the corridor the travellers decided they would be quickly seen if they stayed in the corridor, so they stepped into the vault.
Conversation with a Hologram
Immediately upon stepping in a huge hologram appeared of an old man - well dressed, with a thin, devlish beard. He spoke:
‘I am Professor Jaskarl. I don’t know who you are, but you fit a very specific psychohistorical profile. I can say with 89.4% certainty that you are or work for a resurgent polity within the Trojan Reach. You have used piracy and economic pressure to garner influence over neighbouring worlds, with the eventual goal of forcing concessions from a major power. I commend you on your efforts thus far.
‘How do I know this, you might ask? I don’t know if you’re asking – my predictive methods apply only to large populations, to entire star systems and civilisations, not to individuals. I do not know anything about you, I can only know the probable shape of history.
‘The larger the population, the more accurate my predictions. Applied to multiple sectors, probabilities become certainties. Some time ago, a consortium of concerned Imperial citizens hired me to apply my techniques to the future of the Spinward Marches. In brief, my conclusion is that, without active intervention, the Aslan Hierate will inevitably expand to conquer the entire Trojan Reach and Corridor sector, cutting the Marches off from the main body of the Imperium. Trillions will die.’As he spoke, more holograms appeared in darkness. The stars of the Trojan Reach – neutral stars in white, the deep purple of the Imperium, the cool blue of the Florian League, and the bloody red of the Aslan. The red expanded, swallowing system after system until it crashed into Tobia and Pax Rulin.
‘This disaster can be prevented. The General Development Company’s secret purpose is to prepare the Trojan Reach. By uplifting and fortifying key civilisations, we turn them into... caltrops, into tiger traps that will disrupt and slow the Aslan advance. By labouring in secret over many generations, the company can alter the otherwise inevitable future.’The hologram rolled back, then displayed another potential future. In this version, the Aslan advance rolled forward much, much more slowly, then stopped.
‘My predictions show an upcoming intersection between your efforts and ours. As conflicts grows within the Aslan Hierate between their trader and warmonger clans, this pressure manifests as incursions into neutral space. You may have already experienced such attacks; they are but a small taste of the conflict to come.
‘I have a proposition for you. Let us make your polity our lightning rod. We will fortify you, lend you our aid. This will draw the Aslan onto you.
‘You will endure. You will fight bravely – but in the end, you must lose. Your destruction will have consequences that ripple out across the Trojan Reach, inspiring other systems to prepare for the Aslan assault. The General Development Company will protect you or a small few individuals of your choice, but the destruction must be otherwise absolute and... memorable.
‘Refuse this proposition... and events will transpire as the mathematics dictate. There is still an 88% chance that the Aslan strike at you, even without GeDeCo assistance.’With that he stopped, seemingly waiting for a response.
Decisions Made
Instantly Lady Nitrane said "we accept". Before anyone else could say anything the hologram nodded and said. 'Thank you. Your response has been noted. This is the wisest course of action. You will be hearing from us.' and disappeared.
The holographic cloaking also dissipated, revealing all manner of objects on the floor and tables around the room. Most were large and impossible to carry, but there were many dozens of very small objects that could be seen. These ranged from computer datapads and cards to gems, jewelry, and credit chips. Boxes and containers might also have contained small objects although it would take some time to open them. Among the items in the vault there was nothing that particularly stood out however, especially nothing that could be pointed to as being something that might embarrass or halt GeDeCo.
Desperate to be out of the vault, Lady Nitrane declared that she would take nothing because if they were caught it would be very difficult to explain it away. Unter thought about this and agreed, followed by Sparrow and Slayed. So they left the vault empty handed.
As they stepped out of the vault the doors started to slowly close and with a final thump the vault resealed itself. The walk back to the ceremony was again relatively uneventful. The locked door was still open from earlier, and there were if anything fewer starport crew to bluff their way past.
Return to the Ceremony
Arriving back at the ceremony they went directly to where Lady Yemar and Jagad, imitating Nitrane, were deep in discussion and surrounded closely by the others they had left behind. Upon reaching the group they were absorbed as if nothing had happened. Lady Nitrane said that they should return to their quarters and that they should meet up again within an hour at the Harriers for a discussion. Lady Yemar told them that she and Tiznee would be leaving the station immediately after that and that the party should consider doing the same.
As the group went to leave Ammun Ko reappeared and escorted them back to the docking area, where Yemar and her sister Tiznee left the group and returned to their own ship. Ammun Ko then took the travellers back up to their own quarters, all the while exhorting the wondrous benefits of signing up to a GeDeCo contract, and seemed unaware of the momentous decision made in the vault. The party feigned tireness and told Ammun they wound not be needing her again any time soon.
Open Discussions
An hour or so later they left the quarters and headed to the docks to meet with Lady Yemar. Upon arriving at the Harriers they prepared for the arrival of their friends who didn't keep them waiting long. When they were alone Lady Yemar again thanked the travellers profusely, hugging them each in turn. Tiznee watched beaming.
Lady Yemar asked how their little trip had gone and what they had seem. Nitrane told them everything, including what the hologram had said and her response. Lady Yemar asked what the exact wording had been and the group between them agreed on the exact wording, whereupon Yemar went pale and said that they had perhaps been overly hasty to agree.
Nitrane countered that she had been sure that they would be trapped in the vault if she had not agreed, and that anyway it was probably not meant for them, and might have gone off for anyone who had entered. Yemar pointed out that there were so many specifics in what the hologram had said that it was not really in question. Nitrane thought that they could trick GeDeCo somehow.
As for why the party had not taken anything, even small and easily secreted about their person, Nitrane said that she thought they would be caught and anything on them would be found. Yemar seemed if anything disappointed that they had not caused GeDeCo even the slightest trouble, but if they were going to be allies up until the destruction of Drinax then perhaps it was for the best. She didn't seem very confident though.
About the Treaty
In addition to the trip to the vault, Nitrane and the others described the contents of the treaty found on the treasure ship. This meant that they had trouble on two fronts but Yemar could also see advantages in the short term. Telling the systems nearby would give a good incentive to side with whoever opposed the treaty, and may also be something that GeDeCo would approve of regardless of whether they would honour their agreement with the holographic scientist.
Yemar provided the travellers with contacts on a number of world in the reach who they could talk to about the treaty and what response seemed appropriate. Some of them the party knew already, but adding Lady Yemar's name would improve their standing she felt.
(Game mechanics - improve standing with systems by one or more steps, up to a total of 18 steps overall).
Leaving
Yemar insisted that the travellers should leave the station immediately, and that perhaps they could return to Drinax on her ship with her and Tiznee. Given that Yemars ship had jump 4 this seemed a good idea as they would want to be the ones to tell King Oleb and the princess about the deal they had agreed to rather than they find out from someone else.
The Harriers were told to return to the Space Station near Salif and the travellers bade farewell after retrieving all their possessions. Hopefully everything was still under control there, but it would be nearly a year since they left there.
Boarding Yemar's much larger ship they were impressed with the size and comfort, although Slayed noticed that with very little work a large bay weapon could be installed and the comforts quickly removed to turn it into a capable quasi-military vessel.
So they jumped first to The World, where Yemar seemed to know many of the crew, and then jumped to Drinax, all the while Nitrane wondering what she would tell King Oleb.
To be continued.
