The Acrid stench of success

The next day in Acrid's spaceport began with Slayed performing his usual morning inspection walkabout of the treasure ship. This time he was looking in particular to see the mood of the crew, and keeping an eye open for Launch Pilot Henshaw and Marine Salvesdes.

The mood on the ship was darker than normal. Many crew seemed upset that the captain had not turned the ship around and gone back to the Imperium for proper repairs. Others were grumbling about the fact that the journey ahead of them would take many weeks longer than first planned, not to mention the many weeks spend waiting on Arunisiir for repairs.

On the other hand, some were pleased that they were off Arunisiir at last, and away from that Aslan noble who kept pestering them for fees for landing on his land, and in a spaceport with proper amenities at last.

With the inspection complete Slayed returned to the Harriers and the party established a series of tasks for the crew and travellers to do.

• Slayed would stay near the Harriers and coordinate the efforts.
• The crew of the Harriers were tasked with talking to the crew of the treasure ship to find out more information.
• Unter was tasked with finding a secluded location where the suspects amongst the treasure ship crew could be interrogated.
• Sparrow was tasked with the most important job of finding either Launch Pilot Henshaw or Marine Salvesdes alone. The idea being to lure (or force) them to the interrogation spot.
• Nitrane decided that another party might be a suitable distraction and so went about finding somewhere to host it.

These missions were met with mixed success:

• Unter found the perfect spot - a short term hire commercial office in a secluded part of the spaceport.
• The crew found out that the treasure ship apparently has a self destruct mechanism, but could not determine how it worked, and also that there are a large number of gemstones in the vault, although it's not clear how that came to be common knowledge.
• Nitrane unfortunately was not immediately able to find a suitable location so decided to leave it for a few days.
• And Sparrow found Henshaw, alone, in a dirty dingy space bar. Lady Nitrane decided that it should be her that approached Henshaw. 

The Launch Pilot was alone in a very dirty dingy bar - the sort frequented by dirty mechanics, people who spilled beer on the floor, and bartenders who spat in their glasses before cleaning them with an oily rag, and who didn't clean the floor. There were two other treasure ship crew in the bar but they were not with Henshaw. Lady Nitrane went to the bar and realised that while Henshaw was alone, it would be clear that Nitrane would not normally frequent such an establishment, and that if she were to be seen talking to Henshaw that it would be very obvious. She aborted the attempt.

That evening Nitrane and Slayed were required, with the officers of the treasure ship, to attend the Captain's table for dinner. In port the captain had taken up residence in a large suite in the best hotel and entertained the officers in his dining room.

With everyone sitting around a large round table, Nitrane found herself sitting between First Officer Jagad and Assistant Astrogator Ven Laffit, a young man who turned out to be a firm believer in the superiority of the Imperium and was a total bore. Slayed sat between the Captain and Purser Vaughan, a terribly boring man more interested in accounting and number crunching. Nitrane tried to start up a conversation with Vaughan but he was not at all interested, dismissed her attempt and polite enquiry, and ignored her for the rest of the evening.

The dinner ended quickly and everyone made their excuses to leave - nobody seemed interested in staying behind to talk to the captain. Slayed and Nitrane made their way back to the Harriers. There the discussion turned to what they might do with the treasure ship.

It was noted by Unter that if they wanted to get rid of most of the crew then taking the ship while in port would do that for them - most crew were on shore leave at any one time. What that meant though was they needed some way of opening the hangar doors and making an escape in the dangerous acrid atmosphere of the planet.

The next day the tasks were reassigned. The crew continued with their casual interrogation of the treasure ship crew, Sparrow was tasked with finding someone who might be persuaded or bribed to let the ships leave when the party want then to. The rest of the party would look for the two suspects.

First though Slayed took Unter on his daily inspection of the treasure ship. Unter knew a few people from Arunisiir but the visit was really to give him an idea of the layout of the ship. Salvesdes was on board but they had no opportunity to speak with him.

Meanwhile Sparrow was using his investigate skills to find the right person to ask. Eventually he tracked down an official who was authorised to open the doors and control the weather systems, and who was also rumoured to be very easy to do business with. A preliminary agreement was reached.

As Sparrow was returning from finding the spaceport official he noticed Henshaw shopping in the commercial district. He immediately called the other travellers and Lady Nitrane jumped into action. Nitrane joined the other woman at the shopping district and casually joined her looking for clothes. Henshaw seemed to be taking advantage of the facilities on Acrid after a lack of opportunities on Arunisiir. Eventually Nitrane suggested that she knew an out of the way place to shop and persuaded Henshaw to accompany her.

Henshaw and Nitrane are about to enter the party's hired space, where the rest of the party await, and  where they intended to interrogate the suspects.

To be continued.

On to Acrid

With Lady Nitrane and Admiral Slayed on the treasure ship the fleet jumped to Acrid.

On the first day they were given a tour of the ship and familiarised themselves with the layout and personalities on board. On the following days Slayed kept circulating around the treasure ship, and as the days passed the response from his appearance changed from surprise, to cautious deference, to expectation, to happiness. Admiral Slayed was the officer they wished they had, with a carefully considered compliment here, a quip there, and stern consternation when required.

Meanwhile Lady Nitrane was spending all of First Officer Jagad's off-duty time in the company of the other woman, but when the first officer was on duty Nitrane wandered around the ship and was able to find something to occupy her by going to the med-bay and performing the duties of the on-board doctor.

Over the next few days the following encounters took place:

• Captain Torsa - On the first day Torsa mentioned that the vault could only be opened in the right location (for this trip it being the Byrni system) and with the right key (using the DNA of the captain). Over dinner Slayed tried to get the captain to open up about the contents of the vault, and while he was rebuffed the response was more of a deferral than an outright refusal.

• First Officer Jagad - Lady Nitrane spent a lot of time with the First Officer, gleaning much information about the composition of the crew and when the crew joined the treasure ship. The reason for the questioning was the communications burst sent from the treasure ship to the pirate ship that buzzed low over the spaceport on Arunisiir which Jagad investigated but ultimately decided it could be anybody on board.

• Second Officer Halbinar - Harried and overworked, Halbinar deals with ship logistics in concert with the cargo chief. Slayed and Nitrane made his acquaintance on Arunisiir and kept up polite relations on board. Halbinar seems to get space sick but tries to hide it.

• Astrogator Osha - The blue-skinned astrogator was alarmed to see the two travellers aboard the treasure ship, and has been her usual nervous self the whole journey. Whenever she sees Slayed or Nitrane she stammers and flaps her hands nervously and leaves.

• Cargo Chief Niven - Stocky and foul-mouthed. Slayed spoke with the cargo chief  and learned that the ship was carrying Dust spice as well as advanced electronics and advanced machine parts. Niven could not divulge the contents of the vault though.

• Marine Commander Harc -Paranoid and always seen in battle dress holding a pistol. As the ship entered its sixth day in jumpspace Harc visited the med-bay and asked Nitrane to help tend to his cybernetics which need constant attention. She was very successful and Harc grateful. He almost smiled.

• Marine Salvesdes - this marine was on duty a few times when the travellers visited the treasure ship on Arunisiir, and escorted Unter when Nitrane had dinner with the captain. During the jump Salvesdes has been seen around the ship in his role as security guard.

• Crewman O'Leary and Crewman Ilin - These two are troublemakers, and were first seen on Arunisiir in the bar. On the ship they tend to be located wherever gambling is taking place. They are clearly dislikes by all the officers, and seem resigned to leaving the ship at the first naval base they come to.

• Chief Engineer (acting) Polo - She is not happy being the acting Chief Engineer, and lets people know it the first opportunity she has. Very superstitious, she has routines on board that are very strange - going down corridors on one side, only entering a room that's lit, and so on. Other than that she's nice company.

Other crew members have been met but not really talked to much. They are faces seen around the place, and have been introduced, but have not yet had anything much to do with the travellers:

• Tactical Officer Grimsbold - A veteran naval officer and close friend of Plot Smith. She regularly butts heads with Commander Harc.

• Launch Pilot Hanshaw - A middle aged woman who talks lovingly about her child, a girl in a boarding school on the planet Cyan. Seems more the carousing sort than a strait-laced naval crew member.

• Assistant Astrogator Ven Laffit - a young man on his first tour of duty. Firmly believes in the superiority of the Imperium and advocates all out war with the Aslan. 

• Lead Pilot Smith - an older man, on the verge of retirement. Brags that he knows many pirate ships by their sensor signature, having been to the Trojan Reaches many times.

• Co-Pilot Ashen - Comes from deep in the Imperium and has a strange accent and customer. Off duty he wears bizarre garments made of tattered silk rage which he claims are the height of fashion on Capital.

• Purser Vaughan - grey bureaucrat caring only about paperwork and protocol - and as such is Captain Torsa's right-hand marionette. Cold and unsympathetic Vaughan seems to have been against the idea of asking the Drinaxians to accompany the treasure ship to Byrni.

Arriving on Acrid after a week, the treasure ship and the Harriers landed and were  put into the one large hangar away from the caustic (and acrid) atmosphere of the planet. The captain, seemingly pleased at progress, let the crew have shore leave, with a rotation of crew to guard the ship and perform maintenance, cleaning and do on.

On Acrid, Slayed had a conversation with:

• Mechanic Talis - Seen in a bar crying her eyes out, which was different to the sharp and efficient mechanic on board the treasure ship. She was in a relationship with Mechanic Felmar who died in the explosion that downed the ship. Once back in port she broke down and happened to be seen by Slayed, who put a fatherly arm around her and let her cry out her tears. Gently questioning her it became clear that Felmar had talked about a 'new beginning' for both of them where they'd be rich and free, but he refused to explain the plan. Felmar spent a lot of time talking to Launch Pilot Henshaw and Marine Salvesdes. After she dried her eyes she gave Slayed a big hug and thanked him for his sympathy.

Once back together the party talked about possible approaches to getting into the vault. Nitrane came up with scheme after scheme that involved somehow gassing or tranquillising the crew (although with no means of doing so). Sparrow was more interested in maybe tricking the vault to stay open after it was suppose to be closed, but that would mean any treasure in there now would be gone.

The relationship between Felmar, Henshaw and Salvesdes was discussed as being a possible lead, but as they were just sitting around in the Harrier drinking nothing was done.

To be continued.

He loves me, he loves me not

The next morning some of the crew went for a hunting expedition (which was more of a shooting expedition with no intention of killing anything) while the rest stayed in the bar and around the ships.

Upon returning Lady Nitrane found that she had received an invitation. It was a gold edged card, carefully written out with meticulous penmanship, inviting her to dine with Captain Torsa of the Imperial Treasure Ship Martin II. Did he have a thing for her? Had she gone overboard by talking to him for such a long time the evening before?

The day was drawing to a close, leaving little time to prepare. Nitrane chose a simple but elegant dress and asked Unter to accompany her as her bodyguard. She chose not to take electronic lock openers or other devices in case of detection, and then crossed the flat expanse of the spaceport and arrived at the treasure ship.

At the hatch she was met by a guard and accompanied up to Captain Torsa's quarters. Unter meanwhile was escorted to the galley for his meal.

Torsa greeted Nitrane cordially and kissed her hand. He led her to an end of the room where some memorabilia were strategically placed. She took in the scene as aperitifs were offered to her. Taking a moderately alcoholic one she realised that there were pictures of ships on the sideboard but no family. Torsa's conversation was smooth and practised - he was clearly used to speaking in noble circles - but there was something that Nitrane picked up. He was apprehensive about something that he was carefully trying to hide.

The couple moved from the end of the room to the table, where Torsa slide Nitrane's chair under her at her end of the table and took his position at the other end. Soup was followed by fowl, and then a roast haunch, but Nitrane was more interested in finding out what Torsa was up to.

Lady Nitrane mentioned it was terrible luck that the ships had gone missing, but Torsa took it that she felt bad for him rather than the missing (presumed dead) crews. She then tried a slightly clumsy attempt at flattery but he seemed to be aware that it was less than honest and she ceased that line of conversation.

Over the dessert Torsa got more and more agitated and eventually asked if he could be quite blunt. Did Admiral Slayed think poorly of him?

Nitrane managed to successfully stifle her huge guffaws when she realised that was the whole purpose of the evening. Torsa wanted to know if Slayed liked him or not! She told him that Slayd didn't hate him at all, and in fact had talked about Torsa the night before. The captain seemed entirely heartened and more or less dismissed Nitrane - her usefulness at an end.

Leaving the captain's quarters Nitrane bumped into First Officer Jagad who had been waiting for her. Jagad asked about the meal with Torsa and as Nitrane rolled her eyes and suggested it was less than pleasant Jagad asked if Nitrane wanted a coffee and that she had a coffee machine in her quarters where they might be able to talk more privately.

Entering the First Officer's quarters Nitrane took in that Jagad was a tidy person but not afraid to be feminine. There was indeed a coffee machine and Jagad promptly made one. With nowhere else to sit she motioned Nitrane to sit on the bed and brought the coffee over.

Talk turned to the treasure ship and the predicament that it was currently in. Jagad gushed that it was such a good party the night before and how difficult it was to meed new people who were interesting - most times in port the locals were underwhelming and the port officials somewhat overawed by Imperial Navy people.

As Nitrane was mentioning that she and her ships had been hunting pirates not long before Jagad reached up and tucked one of Nitrane's stray hairs behind an ear and smiled. That stopped Nitrane in her tracks as she looked into Jagad's eyes and realised it was no pure happenstance that saw Jagad waiting for her outside the captain's quarters.

Some time later (maybe eight hours).

Unter wondered for the hundredth time what was taking Nitrane so long. He'd seen many crew he'd recognised from the night before, but when they started coming in for their next meal he hoped that  the eight hours of so that Nitrane had been busy was worth it.

Nitrane stirred and got out of the bunk, dressed and bade Jagad a fond farewell. She went to find Unter and with him returned to the Harriers to tell Slayed that he should be expecting an invitation. Slayed laughed and waved a gold edged invitation to breakfast with Captain Torsa.

Slayed dressed in his Drinaxian officer uniform rather than the Imperial one and went across to the treasure ship. Eagle eyed crew on the Harrier saw that it was Torsa who met Slayed at the hatched and bowed to the approaching man. They entered the ship.

Some time later (probably an hour).

Slayed emerged and strode purposefully back to the Harrier. The PCs asked what had happened and he held up a single finger to motion them to wait. He pressed the button and the cargo door slowly closed, and when it did so Slayed laughed his head off.

Torsa was interested to know if the Drinax Harriers could  escort the treasure ship on its journey to Byni. It would be travelling at Jump-2 anyway and it seemed, with such good fortune, that Slayed could indeed accompany the Imperials.

What's more, Torsda had insisted that Slayed accompany him on the treasure ship and Jagad suggested in strong terms that Nitrane also travel on the treasure ship so Slayed was not alone. Torsa agreed and the two of them were to embark in an hour as they were  leaving shortly.

Nitrane and Slayed packed bags, went to the treasure ship, were assigned staterooms and prepared for take off.

To be continued....