Catch up

Much has happened since the last post. Here'a an update.

ACE
After meeting up with the Q-Ship on Thebus, and following the altercation with the Aslan, the party headed eventually to Ace where they met with Peter Vallis. The kindly (?) pirate made a deal whereby the party got some contacts on worlds which increases standing, and they also got Professor haut Belzoni as a passenger.

With much deliberation it was decided that the firing solution obtained from the message globes would be executed with Peter Vallis' ship out of the way on the other side of the planet. A coruscating cascade of light resulted thanks to the atmosphere of the planet which laid out - in numbers tens of miles long - the coordinates for a location in empty space.


The party replaced the Harrier (jump 2) with the Far Scout (jump 4) for the journey as the empty hex was 2 hexes away and so if nothing was there they could return. The rest of the ships went the long way around to Salif where if everything went to plan the party would meet up with them.

SPACE STATION
Arriving in empty space a long range scan was initiated and by good astrogation (or plain luck) they detected a large metal anomaly that was not that far away. Upon getting closer it was seen to be a large space station - and as they approached the ship was hailed by the station comms:

This is Admiral Gani Peras of the Star Guard. This station is off limits to unauthorised personnel. If you attempt to dock, this station will automatically self-destruct. Officers of the Star Guard with Ducal-level clearance, transmit your authorisation codes before attempting to dock.

The party transmitted the codes from King Oleb...

This station holds the contents of the Imperial Vault of the Star Dragon. I implore you, use this treasure with wisdom and humility. The mistakes of the old dynasty must not be repeated. I have done my duty to Humaniti; I ask you to do likewise and wish you good luck. Admiral Gani Peras, signing off.

With that the comms went silent.

Access was made to the station via a Harrier-sized docking port. The station itself appeared to have been mothballed - deliberately shut down in good order. Looking through it the party eventually found what seemed to be the Treasure of Sindal: a large cache of huge torpedoes. Half the 48 torpedoes were found to have atomic warheads (and would do large amounts of damage themselves) but the other 24 had plague warheads and a single one would result in huge loss of life.

With some time to look around, the party found that while everything was deliberately shut down, there would need to be extensive repairs made simply because of the two millennia that had passed. In addition to the station, and it's manufacturing and ship construction features, two Harriers were docked and looked like they could be repaired.

SALIF
In  order to meet up with the other ships the party jumped to Salif. Explaining what they had found the entire fleet jumped back to the station the crews were put to work to start repairs. The magnitude of the job and the lack of expertise meant that it became apparent that someone with appropriate skills would be needed to head up the job.

The decision was made to ask Lady Yemar to find out if she had someone. After all, she has a highport on her planet.  The problem of Professor haut Belzoni also arose; ever since seeing the station and the warheads he was very keen to get in contact with the Imperial authorities and tell them to bring a fleet to take possession of the station and to dispose of the warheads. That would not be a good outcome for the party.

PALINDROME
Heading to Palindrone via Salif the party met up with the alarmingly ill-looking Lady Yemar. After pleasantries were completed she was told about the station (although not where it is) and immediately grinned as she said she knew just the man for the job. The person she had in mind is called Goff, and can be found on the planet called "The World". Some advice: impress him with the Harrier and if possible something like Sindalian Brandy would do well to persuade him further. He's not going to be in it for the money. The best mechanic in this part of the galaxy would be more interested in new experiences.

The trip to get the scientist who devised the bacterial weapon that incapacitated Lady Yemar was also discussed. He's on Tobia, which is an Imperial capital, and as such new identities might be in order, and a reason for visiting. New identities really mean a trip to Theev as there's nowhere else likely to be able to make them to pass scrutiny. You have the name of the scientist and the name of the fixer who has provided Lady Yemar with that information. They are both on Tobia.

Jim Cheese and the Lab ship were on Palindrome too, and the party directed him to take the lab ship to Salif where they would meet him and together jump to the space station where the lab ship should be useful for accommodation and workshop purposes. Cheese was super excited that you had got him a space station.

However the next stop was Torpol to get some money (hopefully) from the trading ship.

TORPOL
The jumps to Thebus and then Torpol were uneventful. Meeting with their contact Falx they were told that the trading ship was likely to be 10 days away. With no time to go anywhere else it was decided that the party would spend just over a week at a luxury resort with a discount provided by Falx. Sun, sand, surf, swim, and getting sloshed was the order of the day.

With the trading ship arriving soon the holiday was over, and when the party returned to the downport at the south pole the ship had arrived. Making contact the crew were happy to see the party and recounted the things that had happened - and advised that there was MCr25 profit.

With the amount of interest shown by Lord Wrax and other parties it was decided to have the far trader also return to the space station by way of Salif. The route back would be to Oghma, Thebus, Number One and Salif, then meet with the lab ship and all head to the space station.

The last action was to persuade Vii Lon, the party's broker on Torpol whom they had rescued from Theev, to accompany them back to the space station and to act as onboard broker for the far trader.

SALIF
The trip to Salif was uneventful. New crew members were picked up on Thebus and Oghma, and the Warden on Number One was apparently unaware of their visit. On Salif they found the lab ship and also the Frontier Trader which was picking up spare parts for Space Station repairs.

SPACE STATION
Back at the station the party were keen to see what had been done in their absence. The docking bay contained many airtight habitation modules connected together into an accommodation and work area, and power from a ship was being routed to many now-powered systems which made power tool use possible as well as local doors, lifts and lighting. Refuelling was possible now that the pumps and safety systems were powered and water reclamation and food synthesisers had been brought from Salif to supplement the shipboard facilities of the resident ships.

Thanks to the party harrier being available for comparisons, the two docked harriers were now operational, although still needing repairs to make them 'as new'. They each had an operational particle barbette, but hull brittleness meant that the hull value was 40 instead of 100. Other then difficulty in maintenance, a less effective hull covering and the chance of occasional power fluctuations, the only other significant issue was the lack of turret weapons in the second hardpoint. Oh, and the interior also needs to be fixed.

When the harriers were all powered up an interesting feature was noticed. The ships synchronise so that for every harrier beyond the first they get a +1 to attacks and +1 to sensor rolls. The ships seem to be capable or swarming enemies as well as hiding from them.

No progress was made on any of the larger problems, such as space station power, but with habitation possible and powered tools and lighting (not to mention that the docking hangar can be used) there are many of the facilities needed to undertake the repairs.

OPTIONS
The following course of action has been discussed:

• Send the harriers off to Paal where they will meet with the party and then head to The World to see Goff.
• Party go to Theev to get false identities and then go to Tobia to get the scientist, then meet the harriers and head to see Goff.
• Have the trading ship set up on a Salif to Number One trading route instead of the Drinax to Torpol one
• Identify people on various planets who can be hired to fix:
• Power and Engineering (Goff)
• Computer / Technology / Robotics (someone from Tech-World?)
• Life Support / Hospitality / Station Administration (someone from Falcon, a series of hollowed out asteroids?)
• Mining and Refining (someone from Acrid, which is a mining colony?)
• Manufacturing (someone from Vorito which is the only high tech level industrial world in the reaches?)
• Biosphere (someone from Pandora which is a garden world, or again from Falcon?)
• Ship Docking and Repairs (someone from Salif, which is a Class A Starport, or Theev?)
• Ship Construction (someone from Theev, or maybe Tobia if living dangerously?)
• Gunnery / Marines (the Star Guard or mercenaries?)
• Probably other things I can't remember.