Ferrik Down

The story continues in the Vume system.

In orbit around the icy moon of a distant gas giant, the party start scanning for signs of Ferrik. Unter mans the sensors and directs Sparrow to orbit the planet so as to maximise coverage and minimise time. Course promptly plotted, the ship starts its search.

After an hour, and with the scan nearly completed, Unter detects an anomaly. It doesn't show up as anything in particular but there is something there. Satisfying himself with another series of orbits the ship continues, and sure enough there is the anomaly again.

Unter now directs a geostationary orbit be taken, and closer to the surface, in order to scan the anomalous are more thoroughly It's at that moment that a ship is detected.

Seemingly unaware that the party's ship had ceased its orbits, a small ship, around 200 tons, is detected flying low and fast over the surface. It appears to be making a break for it by using the planet as cover. Unfortunately the party are sitting in orbit watching it go.

Captain Slaid takes charge and immediately requests that the ship be identified. It looks like a far trader, just like the one that Ferrik is known to use. Slaid releases the Phoenix and directs it accelerate and catch the fleeing ship. The Mercifuge remains in orbit tracking the ship.

Satisfied with the identification of the fleeing ship, Slaid orders both ships to open fire. The far trader returns fire, but the Phoenix is much more manoeuvrable and armoured and is barely scratched. The Mercifuge joins in and between then they cause significant damage to the trader.

Captain Slaid opens a comms channel to the ship, demanding that it stop. A response, sounding like Ferrik, indicates that the ship will do no such thing. Slaid directs another attack. The Phoenix opens fire causing catestrophic damage to the power plant. The trader falls to the planet surface and flips end over end.

Landing close to the wreck, Captain Slaid requests that Unter perform a detailed scan of the downed ship. As luck would have it the ship has come to rest right-side up. The scan reveals the internal structure, which is a common layout for such ships.

Slaid and Unter enter the wreck, manually cranking the iris door. Inside they find a person moaning and barely conscious, badly thrown around by the crash but kept alive by the armour of his vacc suit. They make sure he will survive, bind him, then move through the ship towards the bridge. There another person is found, along with a dead body. The living crew member is also checked and bound. The dead body is Ferrik Redthane.

Searching the rest of the ship they locate another one living crew member and three others dead

Deciding that the ship may be worth something to salvage, they use the Mercifuge to grasp the trader and then prepare to leave. Slaid considers it worthwhile to check where the trader took off from in case there is anything interesting there.

Making their way slowly over the surface of the planet then reach the general area where Ferrik took off. Transferring to an air/raft then search for any signs of where the ship had been resting. Some time later then discover the tattered remains of a camouflaged covering over a tunnel entrance. It would seem that in his rush Ferrik had decided to flee without taking it down.

Entering the cave in the air/raft the party find another ship -a Far Scout - a habitation module, a crane, spare parts and supplies, and a large cylindrical container which could be the one taken from Torpol.

They land the air/raft near the habitation module and enter, surprising three men who are sitting around drinking caf and reading. The men are totally surprised and raise their hands in response to seeing the armed and armoured party enter. Asked if they have any guns they gesture to the next room where some low tech shotguns are found.

The men were hired on Theev to repair this ship and are expert engineers, although they were not aware at the time that the ship was on an icy moon in the next system. Now that they are here they can fix the ship and perhaps go home. It depends on how things pan out with the party though.

Considering that the repair of the Far Scout is a good idea, Slaid gets everyone to work. The Mercifuge can enter the cave but the Phoenix has too wide a wingspan so it is left outside in the canyon.

The days pass more or less uneventfully. Repairs are made to all ships using the spare parts that were in the cave or in the Mercifuge. After seven days they detect a ship arrive in system near the gas giant. After nine days, and very close to finishing, a ship flies close overhead. Who these people are, or what they want will have to be discovered.

To be continued.

Hunting Ferrik

The story continues on Theev, but moves to the Vume system.

The party have just docked on the Skull on the trail of Miria Silverhand's ship, called The Mercifuge. Within  that ship's computer they hope to find the whereabouts of Ferrik Redthane.

With no time to lose, the party head into the station. It is large and busy but they find a terminal and do a quick search for The Mercifuge. All they can uncover at this time is that it is in the Orange sector, which is some distance away. They pedestrian transit across to that sector and search again. This time they enter the ships codes and locate it in a hanger 500 meters further along.

Quickly entering the codes the party enters the hangar. There is The Mercifuge resting on supports to keep it upright. Ramps lead to the cargo doors on the side, and to the main airlock at the front of the vessel. Sizing up the situation the party leave Pilot Sparrow outside and make their way in using the security codes obtained from Miria's computer.

They immediately find themselves on the bridge, with a number of iris valve doors, and one normal internal door, leading out. Concerned that there may be crew on board the first action is to set up guards to cover the doors, and Sparrow is brought inside to assist.

Needing to power up the computers, Captain Slaid attempts to power up in a hurry, but by skipping through power up routines he misjudges and in the end takes slightly longer than the normal powering up would take. Next he attempts to change the security codes for the ship, which would give the party the edge in the ability to open and close doors, but this is unsuccessful. Considering that there may be cameras throughout the ship Slaid brings these up and the party are astonished to find that while there are personal possessions throughout the ship there are no crew onboard.

Heaving a sigh of relief Captain Slaid prepares to leave port with the ship. Silent Unter mans the comms and requests clearance to depart. He also makes contact with the Phoenix and Krrsh responds that they too will leave. A rendezvous point of the 100 diameter limit is agreed.

As the ship leaves Lady Nitrane checks the cargo bay. On the cameras a number of crates and other cargo canisters are noticed. Checking through the manifest and visually checking the crates Nitrane determines that there are 25 tons of jump drive, crated up and seemingly brand new. Also located in the cargo bay are numerous tons of spare parts, hundreds of days of rations, tools, a modular habitat, and more. It seems that whoever picked this cargo had in mind to repair a ship somewhere away from a port.

Meeting with the Phoenix the Captain decides how to jump to Vume. The Mercifuge could grasp the Phoenix and jump. This would leave The Mercifuge low on fuel, but the Phoenix would still be fully fuelled. In the end though it is decided that both ships will jump independently, and upon arrival may dock to present Ferrik with the appearance that The Mercifuge has brought more salvage.

The Phoenix arrives only one hour ahead of The Mercifuge and when the latter arrives Krrsh, with the better sensors, initiates primitive signalling comms using lasers rather than radio communications. This approach means that should any other ships be nearby they would not be alerted by sudden bursts of static.

With the two ships at close range it is communicated that the salvager will grasp the harrier and approach the icy moon where the planetary sensors on The Mercifuge are about to start a sweep of the planet to see if they can find any sign of Ferrik.

To be continued.

I'm not accepting that

The story continues on Theev.

The dinner at the Rose Pavilion over, the party head back to the ship. Time is short and with the location of Miria Silverhand now known the party need to take advantage if they can.

Considering the approach they will take, Lady Nitrane starts looking for non-lethal weapons. Given it is the middle of the night Silent contacts Davon who agrees to provide what weaponry he can. Some time late a tranq rifle, sonic pistol and assorted flashbang and tranq grenades are delivered to the ship. Some tactics are discussed also: hit Miria first with a flashbang and then follow up with a tranq grenade. If necessary Silent can use the tranq rifle and Nitrane can use the sonic weapon.

Suiting up, everyone is wearing the advanced boarding vacc suits that have stood them in good stead so far. In addition to the non-lethal weapons the party are also carrying a variety of laser pistols, laser rifles, arc swords and the like. One can never be too careful.

Leaving before dawn they head out and arrive just before first light with the intent of performing a scouting run, with an option to proceed or back out depending on how things work out. Sparrow waits with the air/raft a kilometer or so from the known location of Miria Silverhand ready to move should the need arise.

The three remaining party members head towards the large assemblage of downed ships that makes up a warren of hiding places. They see nobody as they approach but are certain that they are being watched.

Just at the entrance to the complex jumble of ships that Miria calls home, Silent holds up a fit to halt, and a figure in battle armour appears in front of them. Turning off the advanced camouflage that helped him blend into the surroundings, the figure gestures to Silent that the target is 30 yards ahead, up one level but remain silent. The figure departs without uttering a word. The party surmise that it is one of Admiral Darokyn's men.

Making their way carefully, the party find a large open area that was once perhaps the cargo bay of a merchant ship. The floor is covered in grimy grey water so passing it will be difficult. The party split up, Lady Nitrane to the left, Captain Slaid to the right, and Unter directly through the middle. The arrive at the bottom of a ladder, and above is an open iris valve.

Slaid checks for anything that may be recording their arrival, but the darkness hinders him. Is that a small mirror up in the corner though? Or just an exposed end of a piece of metal? Wordlessly, Silent takes the lead.

Unter peeks over the lip of the ladder well and sees a very dimly lit area. Formerly staterooms they have been pulled down for scrap leaving rubbish and rubble, and some pools of dirty water. He emerges quietly and takes a position from where he can cover the door at the far end. Nitrane climbs next, taking a similarly tactical position. Then Slaid.

Crossing over from side to side to maximise fields of vision, and talking only in whispers over suit-based intercoms, the party approach the door. Silent lies prone and trains his tranq rifle on the door. Slaid take a position adjacent to a wall, readying a grenade. Nitrane takes a position just next to the door and then hits the small open button that has been recently wired in.

The door opens. Nitrane, Slaid and Unter enter silently. The corridor here is just as dark as before. There are doors this time to left and right - staterooms perhaps? And at the end another iris door which is closed. Unter takes up a prone position on the floor, training his gun on the end door. Nitrane opens the first stateroom door which Slaid covers her. The room contains only the junk left over from when the valuable contents were removed.

Lady Nitrane moves to the next door. But then...

Immediately the deafeningly loud blasts of an autocannon on full automatic fire fill the corridor as the end iris valve opens. Nitrane and Unter are hit. Slaid, around the corner, is not.

The dark corridor is filled with smoke from the firing of the gun.

Unter squeezes a shot into the smoky darkness and rolls to one side.

Nitrane's trauma kit, recently installed, injects serums into her to give her a burst of endurance. She fires the sonic pistol through the doorway, hoping to hit something.

Slaid throws a flashbang grenade, but in the darkness and smoke misjudges and it bounces halfway back to the party. Nobody is affected by it due to their suits.

Unter fires again into the darkness. No firing is coming from the autocannon. This seems odd.

Nitrane decides that while the corridor is free of high velocity lead bullets she should approach at speed. As she arrives at the door she sees in the darkness a form sitting behind the gun. The head looks up, noticing her, and the world turns white from an explosion that knocks Lady Nitrane from her feet.

Ears ringing, even in the armour, the party look in to the room. The explosion has ripped the body apart and damaged the autocannon. Belongings, bedding and rubbish have been thrown about. Assuming that this was a ruse they immediately look for other exits, and get Sparrow to fly over the Scrapyard looking to see if Miria is fleeing.

Nobody finds another exit. Slaid gathers up the possessions, trying to see if there are any recent entries on a personal computer pad. The computer contains the codes to Miria's ship, and there is a clear indication that the location to Ferrik is in the ships computer. Unter collects the body and noticing the helmet, cracks it open. People peer in. It kind of looks like Miria, but with the explosion damage it's not definitively possible to say that it's her.

With the body collected up in a sack, and all possessions gathered up, the party head out. Sparrow reports that with the gunfire and explosion there are dozens of people fleeing the scrapyard. None appear to have a silver arm, but a simple disguise like wearing a coat would hide it from sight.

Jumping down after the body sack the party splash through the cargo hangar lake, and out into the early morning daylight just as Sparrow lands the air/raft next to them. The body and possessions are thrown into a crate that was brought in case they needed to being Miria into the spaceport unseen.

The party make their way back to the ship as quickly as possible without drawing attention to themselves. There they quickly prepare to leave, but not before a small sample of tissue is sent to Davon for analysis. There is no time to ensure that it gets to the intended party though.

Nitrane heads to the medbay while Sparrow requests that the hangar doors be opened. He takes off, clipping a door on the way out. They head to orbit.

Slaid has a better look at the computer that was retrieved. As the ship heads to orbit it becomes clear that the next step has to be to get aboard Miria's ship and retrieve the jump locations from the ship's computer. A course is set to the Skull, and landing permission is granted.

Sparrow lands the ship, and while Unter is being treated in the medbay a plan of attack starts to be formed.

To be continued...

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What follows is a transcript of the video and voice recordings taken from the computer and helmet of the person suspected to be Miria Silverhand. No voice analysis has been performed on the voice recordings to determine if the voice heard is in fact that of Miria Silverhand.

Camera 1: Three figures are seen approaching. Each wears heavy armour, all identical. No insignia is visible. Each has what looks like sacks of grenades on their waists. Many guns are visible. They approach stealthily but are too arrogant to skulk or hide. One holds up a hand in a military gesture indicating a halt. Another figure emerges and seems to communicate something using military gestures. The fourth figure leaves. The original three proceed in.

Voice recording: Female: "Krud. That's Darokyn's scout. Double Krud. Looks like Darokyn's making his move". Sounds of movement, effort, as if putting on armour and dragging something heavy.

Camera 2: The three figures enter the cargo area. With military precision they split up to avoid booby traps. They meet at the foot of the ladder.  

Voice recording: Heavy breathing. Sound of a medical injector. Female voice: "Darling Ferrik I hope you get this. I think they are coming for me. That imperial scumbag has found where I am. Hoping to scare them off. If not I'll take them with me. I love you."

Camera 3: One rises up the ladder and pauses for a moment. He then creeps to a position with good arcs of fire. He wields a gun. The other two rise up the ladder, One produces a strange looking pistol and the other produces a grenade and primes it. They take up positions like a well drilled unit, covering each other and preparing to enter the next door.

<FROM THIS POINT THE RECORDINGS ARE LOCATED ONLY ON HELMET COMPUTER. PERSONAL COMPUTER HAS BEEN TURNED OFF>

Voice recording: Heavy breathing. Small click - perhaps a safety being turned off and firing mechanism primed.

Helmet camera: view of closed iris valve. Head moving around. Looking at switch in hand. Looking at firing mechanism on an old rusty gun.

Voice recording: Sounds of metal scraping on the other side of the iris valce. Female voice: "Krud it" click, then very loud gunfire. Female voice yelling.

Helmet camera. Iris valve opens. Gun firing through hole as it opens. Smoke fills the corridor. Nothing can be seen clearly. Figures moving about. A flash.

Voice recording: Female" Holy Krud ... <incomprehensible>... see a damned thing... <incomprehensible>  .. damned piece of shit... small bang.

Helmet camera. One figure suddenly looms out of the smoke.

Voice recording: Female:  ."NOOO!" Loud explosion.

Helmet camera: <RECORDING ENDS>

Voice recording: <RECORDING ENDS>

You again?

The story continues on Theev.

Thoughts turn to how to find Miria Silverhand. Having tried looking him up on the local net, Lady Nitrane instead considers if Lomar Fisk might be able to find a way. She contacts him again, at first to thank him for the evening before, and then to see if he can answer some more questions. He agrees to meet her for lunch the next day at a delightful restaurant on the top floor of a hotel which has panoramic views of the whole city.

Captain Slaid on the other hand, remembering that The Grand Hotel caters to the imperial crews when ships visit, decides to take a room there and let it be known, in a roundabout way, that he is an Admiral. The hope is that someone will let Admiral Darokyn know that another admiral is in town and maybe an approach will come that way. All the staff at the hotel are 'unable to say' should any direct questions be posed, but Slaid is pretty sure that they have taken it in and someone will be told. But will it be Darokyn.

The Grand Hotel lobby

The next day, after taking in the entertainments, Captain Slaid decides to lunch at the best restaurant in the hotel, on the top floor, where he is intrigued to see Lady Nitrane lunching with a gentleman. Aware of the rendezvous with Lomar Fisk, the Captain says hello, whereupon Fisk grabs another chair and insists that he join them. Whatever Fisks' motivation to help Lady Nitrane is it does not appear to be romantic.Captain Slaid introduces himself as the captain of the ship that Lady Nitrane travels on, which doesn't seem to contradict any stories and lunch continues.

Following lunch, where Fisk agrees try to get in touch with Darokyn, Lady Nitrane and Captain Slaid, joined by Silent Unter, return to the ship and change into armour and pick up their weapons. It's time to start asking people about Miria Silverhand.

Up front it is agreed that there would be no threats or intimidation, only gossip, rumour and bribery. They start hitting the bars and shops of the Lower City...

...where three days (and quite a few credits) later they have their information.

Miria is located in the Scrapyard, a region of the lower city that consists of many downed ship that have been part scrapped, and part welded together, It is an area of lawlessness (more so that the rest of the lower city) and even knowing that she's in there, a fair amount of searching for her will still be required.

Upon surfacing from the Lower City the party find waiting for them a note from Fisk to meet him later that day as he also has some information to share. Captain Slaid too has a message, a pristine white card with gold edgings inviting him to dine at the Rose Pavilion that evening. It does not mention who he is to dine with, but it takes no brainpower to determine that it must be Admiral Darokyn himself.

Lady Nitrane, taking Silent Unter along as bodyguard, meet with Fisk at a bar. As they enter they notice that he is with a man. Before they can be introduced Unter says "Hello Davon". It would appear that Silent and this Davon have a history. Luckily, they are on excellent terms, and with this good fortune a potentially tense meeting becomes an invitation to dine with Admiral Darokyn, who it transpires is Davon's commander.

Oh calamity! What to wear? Lady Nitrane goes shopping again. The assistants at Blacksand's most prestigious and fashionable boutique welcome her back, and instantly get to work. Lady Nitrane pays the small fortune for the frankly astonishing dress, and everyone is ready for the evening.

The Rose Pavilion

Lady Nitrane, looking absolutely stunning, is escorted by her bodyguard Silent Unter, Captain Slaid in full Admiral dress uniform (with ceremonial sword) is accompanied by his batman Jack Sparrow. Lady Nitrane is welcomed back and led to Darokyn's table with Slaid. Unter and Sparrow are shown to a table close by.

Admiral Darokyn welcomes them and a small field springs up, preventing eavesdroppers from hearing their conversation, which after some excellent small talk turns to Miria Silverhand and her boss Ferrik Redthane.

Admiral Darokyn

The meal is excellent, the conversation and wit sparkles, and in the end they agree that they will 'take care of' the Redthane problem for Darokyn in exchange for her exact location. They also agree not to return to Theev for one year while it all blows over and everyone forgets that the party were here at the same time that Redthane and his lieutenant are removed from play.

The party have a morning to complete all their shopping before they need to take on Miria in her hiding place, after which they are to leave Blacksand and the Theev system for 12 months.

To be continued...

A night to remember

The story continues on Theev.

Lady Nitrane and Silent Unter find themselves working together in this episode. After returning to the ship they agreed that the approach was not working and that some loose ends needed to be tied up.

To that end Lady Nitrane decides that they needed to hire a new crew member (an engineer specifically), resolve what to do with Vii Lon (the lass in distress in the lower city), and also find where to get a transponder for the ship.

Vii is hunted down in the first bar that they visited the night before. She is ecstatic that passage will be given to her - nevermind that it's low berth - and with nothing to gather up accompanies them back to the ship. After a clean up and a meal she gladly enters the cryopod, although perhaps expecting that there would be less time between entering it and what they party expect might be the case.

(Lady Nitrane)

With that taken care of the duo visited two crew brokers in order to try to find a suitable crew-mate. At the first one they ask to see any engineers that are currently available. It turns out that one, called Babson Emit, has just become available. He is in his mid-30s, fairly normal looking but has a pronounced limp. He is fit and in his holo appears to be quite engaging and keen. The broker declares that they can find no evidence of a criminal record nor to any reports of criminal behaviour.

Not entirely satisfied Nitrane and Unter try the second place. There some four people are available but not as skilled or experienced as Babson - so back they go and sign him up. They are told he will report to the ship within a day.

Lastly on the agenda Lady Nitrane looks for a place to purchase transponders that can be turned off or customised. Considering the fact that the item she is looking for would be illegal on nearly all worlds (but forgetting that this is one of the worlds where it is perfectly fine) she concocts a story about how she is hard done by, needs protection, is being hunted, and generally would really really appreciate help getting one. With her story straight she looks for a suitable place to try out her ruse.

After a little searching she finds an engineering company that specialises in bespoke and unusual requests. Flashing a little of her charm to the person who lets her in, and with Silent as her bodyguard taking adding to the scene, she is ushered in to see Lomar Fisk who is the manager.

Lomar is immaculately dressed, although his makeup is a little overdone. He listens intently to the tale of woe and appears to be persuaded (or perhaps deceived) into allowing that  yes, perhaps he can help. Given the lady's obvious distress he offers to take her to dinner while the order is being assembled, tested and boxed up with instructions for her mechanic. With no real way of refusing she agrees to accompany him to the Rose Pavilion that night.

(Silent Unter)

Naturally, being taken to the fanciest and most exclusive restaurant in Blacksand means a new dress. So back they go shopping to look for even more impressive clothing. This time, taking advice from the assistant in a very up marked shop Lady Nitrane spends a few thousand credits on a quite stunning backless number, while very reluctantly Silent is dressed in a very elegant but armoured tailored suit.

With no time to spare the duo prepare and are collected by Lomar. The restaurant is very exclusive, with tables far apart and special locations in the room for bodyguards to watch the room. Nitrane is in excellent form, fist playing the diplomat and then effortlessly moving into a carousing persona. All the time she looks around the room for something interesting. Of all the people there one man catches here eye. It looks like Admiral Darokyn is there with small entourage. Does he meet her eye? She is not sure.

Dinner over, and having been a perfect host all night, Lomar escorts Nitrane and Unter back to the hotel where a package is waiting. The transponder has arrived.

To be continued.