Where to from here?

Wildeman
After discovering that the Wildeman base had been attacked, the party cautiously entered and found it to be abandoned, trashed, and booby-trapped. Unter was able to confirm that it appeared text-book Imperial operating practice.

Later they found out that during the blockade the Imperial Navy had either followed a ship that returned to the base with a damaged jump drive, or had finally triangulated where an unusual number of jump signatures were coming from. Either way, the base was now compromised and no longer hidden.

Space Station
Upon returning to the space station, which again only took hours with the new drive, Goff looked over the womp drive and noticed that there was a clear indication that the drive had a finite number of uses and that this unit had no more than 40 to 50 parsecs left in it. The drive did not appear to be repairable, but the design suggested that with more practice manufacturing it a longer lifespan would be achieved.

The news of the new drive and its miraculous properties was spreading among the crew and could not be stopped. This seemed to be another secret that the travellers could not keep.

Arrivals
A few days later, and as work progressed to dismantle and take as much of the station with them as possible, a small number of ships arrived, including one that was not part of Admiral Slayed's fleet. It seemed as if Tipper and GeDeCo had found this station after all. The returning ships included a single Harrier (one was confirmed lost and the other missing in action) and two more of the ships sent to the blockade - apparently the only survivors.

Tipper asked to speak to the travellers alone. The GeDeCo agent had sought them out to advise that the corporation intended to hold up its end of the bargain and look after them now that the psycho-historical future was on track. He also had news that the Imperial Navy would be returning very soon - within days - to finish the job.

Royal News
Tipper showed them a holovid message recorded by Prince Harrick for the travellers. In it the prince thanked them for their heroic actions in defense of Drinax and the many months and years of work in preparing for the day that his father had so dearly wanted - a new Kingdom of Drinax. Their loyalty to his father and his sister did not diminish the gratitude he felt for their actions, and he held no ill-will toward them.

He also declared that he had been persuaded to become monarch of a new Kingdom with a new capital based initially on Clarke. It would consist of many of the systems that had declared for his sister, but would be smaller initially, made up of worlds that supported the ideals of open trade, sharing of technology, and the general betterment of the region. It would not be warlike and he intended to make treaties with both the Imperium and Aslan as soon as possible.

He paused at that and looked weary. The problem was that the party were inexorably linked to his sister and to the schemes of the old king and, he regretted, had a reputation that meant negotiations with the Aslan at least would be problematic. If they were known to be alive and under the protection of the new kingdom he would be forced to choose between handing them over and the chance to have a peaceful relationship with a powerful neighbour. For those reasons he asked that the party leave the Trojan Reaches for the foreseeable future so he did not have to make that difficult decision.

The Offer
When the message ended Tipper looked somber for a few moments then said he had another message, this time from Fae Borshune, the head of GeDeCo in the Trojan Reaches.

In it Fae thanked the party for their actions in support of their psycho-historical purpose but expressed sorrow over the loss of their homeworld, even if it were for the greater good. She explained that GeDeCo had put in place some plans for the travellers if they agree to move out of the Trojan Reaches as per Prince, now King Harrick's request. Even if they refused the offer their personal records were being officially 'corrected' by GeDeCo to have them as incorrectly maligned, and that  they were citizens in very good standing, so they would not get into trouble if they entered the Imperium.

GeDeCo had recently taken control of a planet called Fulacin in the Spinward Marches through a subsidiary called Spinward Development. The planet had been run by MagnetoDynamics until two years ago but their charter had been revoked and given to GeDeCo. The planet had less than 100,000 inhabitants but had extensive estates for an Imperial Knight, a position currently vacant.

Amazingly, GeDeCo had recently discovered that Lady Nitrane, through a distant ancestor, was the legitimate heir to that position. If she were to take up the position on Fulacin she would become a member of the Imperial Nobility. She need not have any involvement in the running of the planet if she didn't want to, although there would be the small matter of hiring people to run her estate which did need some work as it had been neglected for many years.

Decisions
The party knew that the amazing coincidence was anything but. Even so they thought that some place like that might be acceptable while they found a somewhere to establish a new space station. On that matter they had half a dozen places of interest to explore in the Rhylanor, Lanth, Regina and Aramis subsectors which surrounded Fulacin.

Slayed had in mind that they could trade to make money rather than piracy, something that they had really been doing anyway. Tipper suggested that they could take only eight crew or friends with them into the Spinward Marches. GeDeCo could arrange for new identities as needed but people in good standing would be easier to ease into Imperial society. The crew left behind would have to fend for themselves.

Tipper also pointed out that it would be entirely impossible to take with them any ships that were not legitimately owned. He added as well that the Harrier would not be something that they could take either, being clearly a military vessel with illegal particle weapons. That left the advanced drive yacht (which Tipper assumed to be a normal yacht) and the far trader that had been completely overhauled on Palindrome.

For the other ships Slayed suggested that the crew that remained behind could use them, and hoped that should he or the party return to the reaches in the future that they'd be willing to join up again with the party. He didn't know how Harrick would react to armed ships manned by his old crew, but there were plenty of places outside both the new kingdom and the Imperium to travel in. Slayed put aside money for maintenance to get the crews going.

On the move
Once these arrangements were made Tipper urged that they abandon the station as quickly as possible as the arriving Imperials would not be in any mood to let people jump out once they arrived. This station and its occupants was a thorn in their side now and revenge would play out in entirely predictable ways.

GeDeCo had a large ship at Salif already to make the long journey in to the Spinward Marches. It had space for the two ships and an additional three hundred tons if they wanted to bring anything else. He also advised that destroying the station would be the ideal course of action as it would satisfy the Imperials and give the travellers a chance to wipe clean computers. If the imperials arrived to find it abandoned but intact they might take the opportunity to search it and uncover some of its secrets.

To be continued...

Revelation

Moving in a new way
The new drive came to life, what looked like plasma swirled and moved. It sped up, and streaked across the display port. The travellers exchanged looks - this was different to a normal jump drive. There was no explosive release of hydrogen, no feeling that the ship was cocooned. It felt like the ship was moving.

Some time passed. Goff alternated between watching the drive and the diagnostics on his computer pad. He seemed calm, but it was difficult to tell for sure. From time to time, and it took a while to notice, there was an almost imperceptible movement as if the ship were making microscopic adjustments.

Unsure how to take this or what to expect, the travellers sat on the bridge watching the holographic controls. Nobody moved. On a normal jump everybody would be dispersing to the lounge, galley, library, staterooms or somewhere else, with others or alone. Not this time.

Suddenly, after an hour, the outside world jumped back to a normal star-field view, surprising everyone. The drive had stopped.

Abrupt halt
Everyone seemed fine. The drive had not blown up or failed - or so it seemed - so why had it stopped? Was it a misjump? Were they in normal space still? Were they still even in their same time or had they travelled far into the past or the future? They had heard of all these things happening if a jump went wrong, but this wasn't a jump drive so who knew?

The computer indicated that they had arrived. The astrogation box indicated that they had arrived. A scan over many hours of the stars around them indicated they had arrived. But that made no sense. If everything was correct they had travelled one parsec in an hour. It was unimaginable.

Deciding that it was possible but unproved Slayed ordered that they plot a course back to the space station. He reasoned that if they arrived and had only been gone a few hours then the subjective time would be reliable.

Back to base
The astrogation calculations back to the space station were made with extreme deliberation, and double- and triple-checked. The power plant and prototype drive - which was dubbed the Womp-drive due to the noise it quietly made during operation - were checked. And when Slayed was satisfied everything that could be done had been done he hit the button to operate the drive.

Again plasma formed over the windows and the sensation of movement, with infrequent and imperceptible micro adjustments, was felt by all. After an hour they emerged into real space again and detected the space station some distance away. From this distance the damage looked extreme - which it was - and shards of metal span wildly, the debris of the recent battle.

They hailed the station who were very surprised to see them again so soon. The travellers decided that the story would be that things had not worked and they needed to make more adjustments to the ship. All on board were sworn to secrecy.

New Plans
The very low morale of the crew - it had only been a couple of days since the battle with Admiral Darokyn - combined with the realisation that the imperial navy could return at any moment to find a station that was very damaged - suggested a change in plan was in order.

The decision was made to assign all crew to one of the ships that were at the station. If the navy, or anyone else, attacked and the word was given then all crew had a means of escape.

Next a priority list of station components that would be the most useful to create a new station somewhere else was drawn up. The most useful things that could relatively easily be taken out of the station were to be put in the megafreighter, then the next most important, and so on until the freighter was full or there was nothing else useful to take.

The list was prioritised from the point of view of the manufacturing process, so the mining drones were first as they would provide raw materials. Then the smelter and refinery, followed by the manufacturing plant. The shiyard was next - and would be an enormous task as it would need to be removed as a complete block - some 1200 tons.

The crew were set to work disassembling the station and the captains, and Goff, put in charge.

Pondering outcomes
Slayed decided that it would be a good trial of the new womp-drive to go to Wildeman. He proposed a single eleven parsec trip. Nitrane suggested 2 parsecs was a better trial. So Slayed reluctantly agreed to a 3 parsec womp. Because Goff and the captains were busy overseeing the disassembly work another master engineer was selected to travel on the ship.

The course was plotted on the astrogation computer that visited only empty hexes. They initiated the drive for a three parsec trip and after an hour they emerged into real space again. Checking the computer they had travelled only one parsec, but the computer was asking if they wanted to engage the drive for the second trip. It seemed that the drive would only work one parsec at a time even if a longer journey were plotted.

They completed the three parsec trip, then carefully plotted another, and another until they reached Wildeman about 24 hours after they left. The engineer was in awe and kept rambling on, excited and amazed, about how he couldn't wait to tell his friends. The travellers pondered their mistake of bringing a normal crewman with them. He would talk - and they needed to keep this drive a secret.

Wildeman
The womp-drive turned off near the gas giant and proceeded to towards the hidden base as stealthily as they could muster. They scanned passively when they got close enough and noticed as they crept forward that the massive doors to the station were missing. Not open, actually gone. Closer still and there were signs of combat, as well as debris that could be from the doors.

No signs of activity could be detected, but that wasn't surprising. The base was well insulated against stray emissions, and there were no ships nearby that they could detect.

It seemed that the base had been discovered, and was abandoned.

To be continued...

Return of an old friend

The 30,000 ton ship was quickly identified as a Gionetti-class Light Cruiser. That meant it was Imperial Navy, and that meant trouble.

Reaching the bridge Slayed hailed the other ship, which was only 400km from the space station - close range. "Who are you and what do you want?" The screen lit up and a familiar face appeared. There, in full Imperial Navy uniform, was Admiral Darokyn.

Darokyn announced that he was here to ensure that Admiral Slayed and his colleagues would be stopped. They would no longer be allowed to perform acts of piracy and treachery. They were to immediately surrender by order of the Imperium. Lady Nitrane whispered "tell him we've already stopped".

Slayed asked what would happen if they surrendered. Darokyn said that they would be taken prisoner and be given a fair trial... And at that moment Slayed ordered all weapons to open fire.

Battle
Achieving some measure of surprise, the first salvo of over 240 missiles sped toward the imperial ship, which automatically deployed electronic countermeasures and point defense batteries, but about two hundred missiles struck the smaller ship. At the same time the ion cannons sprayed charged particles at the navy ship to reduce its power output, and particle beam bays shot out, causing damage and irradiating the other ship.

Darokyn returned fire, the spinal meson cannon shooting out enormous particle beams and hitting the station square on. Missiles streamed from turrets all over the cruiser. These converged on the station while the point defenses and countermeasures attempted desperately to halt over five hundred missiles. Many hundreds hit, up and down the side of the station, causing warnings and alarms to sound. Other turrets fired beam lasers and the station retaliated by using sandcasters to disrupt the lasers so they caused little or no damage.

Salvo after salvo sped across from one side to the other. Missiles sped, light flashed, particle weapons coruscated, and a field of debris and sand started filling the gap between the station and the navy ship. The cruiser was hitting harder, but the armour and immense size of the space station meant it was taking less of a beating.

After another round of salvos Darokyn, apparently realising that he had underestimated the firepower of the station, ordered the cruiser to move away from the station. It appeared to be preparing to jump. With fuel leaking and clear signs of significant damage the navy ship could take no more. On the station damage to ion cannons and sandcasters was worrying but none of the offensive weapons was damaged and Slayed kept firing even as the other vessel turned tail.

With one last salvo hitting it the imperial ship exploded. The hull had been completely breached and finally the thousands of un-fired missiles had been hit. The ship disintegrated.

Aftermath
On the station repair drones were already hard at work stopping leaks in the hull. Rather luckily the only serious hits had been to weapons - there were no fuel leaks and no engineering sections had been hit. Another salvo or two from the imperial ship however and there would have been much much more to worry about. The navy ship hit hard.

Slayed ordered that any breaches be repaired immediately but repairs to weapons could wait, as could the parts of the hull that were damaged and weakened, but not breached. He had other tasks in mind for the crew.

He asked Goff to put into action his plan for moving the jump drive from the megafreighter and installing it into the space station. Additional jump drive capacity would need to be built, and this would take some time. Goff said it would take him three days to plan everything and at that point he would know roughly how long it would take, and importantly how likely it would be to succeed.

The construction yard and manufacturing plant had not been damaged in the fight, so the prototype ship was able to be completed. The estimates were that it would be only another 11 days. Finally the so-called space station seed crate, containing manufacturing, computing and power facilities that had all the Sindalian knowledge and capability to build a new station if necessary, was only a few days from being completed as well.

Salif
Needing to inform others, Slayed and the travellers jumped to Salif in the Sorrowful Maiden to tell Tiznee what had happened and to ask her to pass a message to Lady Yemar as Palindrome was too far to jump to in the time available.

Arriving in Salif they immediately sought an audience with Tiznee who was keen to meet with them. She told them that Darokyn was in the region and that they should be careful. They sighed and told her that he had visited their station, attacked it, and had been killed. She cautioned that he had been in the Salif system with four ships; the cruiser had been accompanied by a Kinunir-class and two Gazelles. They had jumped two days after Darokyn's cruiser but she did not know where they were heading.

Rather than delay any longer they decided to jump back to the station.

Space Station
Another week in jump passed and they arrived at the space station. It was there (sighs of relief) but still showing the scars of battle. They were immediately informed that the Kinunir and Gazelles had jumped in, actively scanned the area, and jumped out. Nobody on the station had been keen to fire any weapons at them without provocation.

In Slayed's mind this changed nothing. He was told by Goff that adding the jump drive to the station was possible, although likely to be very difficult. The additional jump plant needed would take three months to manufacture. The obvious choice was to do the preparation on the station first and move the jump drive from the freighter later. This would keep the freighter operational should it need to be used.

The prototype ship and the space station seed crates were finished. The party decided that they would go on the first trip, along with Goff, Krrsh, Jaggad and Professor Cheese. the seed crates were added to the cargo hold in case they found a suitable asteroid or other location to set it up.

The biggest worry was the morale of the crew. The station was no longer a secret, the imperial navy were almost certainly going to return to finish the job, and the travellers and senior leaders were departing in a new ship and not sure when they would be returning. Slayed gave a somewhat rousing speech and seemed to have mollified the crew a little, but the undercurrent of unhappiness was there.

Nitrane pointed out that the ship that had been send to Wildeman to tell them to call off the blockade was likely to be returning soon, although with the defeat of Drinax, the close call with the imperial navy, and the backing down of the blockade without any kind of negotiations held, it was bad news all round. One or more returning ships would just emphasise the trouble they were in.

Prototype
The prototype ship, looking exactly like a rich noble's yacht, left the station with all on board and started a very abbreviated trial near the station. Deciding that 24 hours would be sufficient to see if everything worked, the people on board tested every system and underwent manoeuvering exercises and weapons tests. The only unproven components were the collectors and the new drive, the former seemed to be working in a six hour trial but the whole point of the exercise was to test the latter.

Picking the empty hex between Salif and Number One as their destination Slayed looked around at everyone and hit the red button.

To be continued...

Friend or Foe?

Messages
The travellers took a fast messenger ship to Theev to inform them of the destruction of Drinax and that they had survived. They also sent the Far Scout to Wildeman to let the people at their base know what had happened, and to order them to cease the blockade.

Arriving at Theev they radioed ahead and were given priority landing at the private hangers reserved for the highest levels of Theev society. They asked to see Varuk Nirgal and were given direction to his offices. Two Widows silently emerged from nowhere and took up positions to protect the travellers as they made their way to see the head of the ruling council of Theev.

When they arrived he was waiting for them in his enormous office, on the highest level of a tower that overlooked the city. He welcomed them warmly and motioned for them to sit in nano-bot chairs that were forming themselves as he spoke. Sitting, they informed him of what had happened.

Nirgal was obviously taken aback at the news, and asked the party what they would do next. When they suggested that they would be visiting systems to inform them of the battle, Nirgal suggested that he instead would send out messengers to save them time.

Lady Nitrane suggested that they might have to visit the other systems anyway to try to keep the empire together. She did a royal wave to emphasise the nature of the visits, and seemed reluctantly to entertain the idea that she was the heir. Nirgal asked about Prince Harrick and was told that he had given up his claims to the throne.

Hacking
Leaving Nirgal to organise messengers, the party then headed to see Kagni Vasiir, the security expert who had helped them previously with false identities. He greeted them and asked what they needed. They explained that they had some data chips that were encrypted by Imperial Secret Service and needed something to crack into them.

Vasiir asked how old they were - about a year maybe - and said that  he could probably help. After running some diagnostics he gave them two alternatives and said that both should work, but that there was a chance that the encryption was so advanced that the chip would recognise that it was being hacked.

Slayed and Sparrow got to work and managed to get one chip de-crypted, and most of another. The third unfortunately wiped itself before any data could be extracted.

The partially decrypted chip contained information about many people, including the travellers themselves. It seemed that Darokyn had been keeping records on various people who arrived on Theev and made names for themselves. There was nothing about any of the well established pirate lords - only newcomers.

The completely decrypted chip contained irrefutable evidence that Theev was backed by GeDeCo. In fact it was almost as if Theev was a small subsidiary of the mega-corporation so deep was the relationship. It seemed that by supporting piracy in the reaches more commerce travelled from the Imperium to the Hierarte on the GeDeCo freighters, and the area was kept unstable so no political body established itself to tax trade.

This bombshell stunned the travellers. It was clear that Nirgal must be a GeDeCo operative of employee as he was the one in charge of money and commerce. How many of the pirate lords were aware of this? They considered what they had told Nirgal, and what he might pass onto his masters in GeDeCo. They also wondered if they were the same people who had been involved with the psychohistorical theories that the PCs had agreed to support.

Leaving Theev - for the last time?
Sparrow wanted to leave Theev immediately, but Slayed argued that by fleeing instantly they would raise suspicions. So they headed to the accommodation that was set aside for them, and mindful that everything they said and did would be recorded or watched, passed the time until they left the next morning.

Returning to their ship they plotted a course for Palindrome where they were wondering if Lady Yemar was aware of the GeDeCo connections. On the trip they considered what they would do next.

Slayed looked at the astrogation box that Empress Rao had given them. It was at least two thousand years old but still had up to date information and he was looking for asteroids or other interesting places where they could set up a new base - one that nobody knew about.

Sparrow considered what would be needed to establish a base using the high technology capabilities of the space station. He devised a package or about 20 tons that would contain complete manufacturing capability, power supply, computer with AI, all the blueprints in the station and more. This shipping container would be able to produce more manufacturing capacity and produce the elements of a space station assuming the raw materials were available. This would cost about 30MCr
and take a week or so to assemble if they brought all their resources to bear.

Palindrome
When they arrived at Palindrome they nervously contacted the space port and asked for permission to land. That was granted and being known to the personnel there they were ushered immediately through to see Lady Yemar who was waiting in her rooms.

She was unaware of the destruction of Drinax - the news would have reached her soon though but when they mentioned about GeDeCo she became so incandescently angry, swearing at Nirgal and others and throwing objects, that they were somewhat  relieved. She had clearly been unaware of the relationship.

Calming herself down long enough to order her people to go to Theev and withdraw all her assets and personnel, she told the travellers that their only option now was to lay low for the forseeable future. Their involvement with Drinax and their relationship with GeDeCo (both from Vorito and Theev) made her worry that the party would be targetted. The corporation clearly had plans and the best course of action would be to not get in the way of them.

Salif
Leaving as soon as their ship was refueled they jumped to Salif. Now everyone was considering their next moves. Nitrane suggested making a fleet of warships but others pointed out that they had capacity to make 600 ton ships, and so slowly as to make no difference. Sparrow refined his plans for 'space station seeds', and Slayed looked even more closely at the astrogation box.

Slayed noticed that their space station was on the astrogation maps, but you had to look closely in exactly the right place. That made them wonder what other stations or ma made objects were in the map. The decided that only by plugging it into something like the space station's huge computers would they be able to get all the information they needed out of it.

Arriving on Salif they docked in their hangar and asked to meet with Tiznee, who could move her appointments around to see them in six hours. They waited, not leaving the hangar, then went to meet her. She was given the same information as Yemar - they were sisters who would no doubt share the information anyway - and she became terribly worried for their safety. Like her sister she advised that they lay low - go into hiding - and not emerge for a long time. They arranged some codes that intermediaries might be able to use to get in touch with her, and they they left.

On the way back to the station Slayed came up with the idea of taking the jump drives out of the Galoot megafreighter and putting them into the space station. They would need to add some capacity but the vast majority of the drives were already docked at the station. It should be possible, with some careful engineering, to adjust the outside of the station with vents and baffles to make a jump surface that would encase the station in hydrogen and allow the jump to proceed safely.

Also, that left the matter of moving the station, The freighters manoeuvre drives and power plant could be repurposed to make a huge tug to move the station when needed. He got to work on some back of the envelope plans to show Goff when they arrived.

Space Station
Arriving at the station they let out their breath. It was still there and undamaged.

Docking they immediately got to work on their new projects as well as checking on the progress of the prototype ship. The new ship was about two weeks away from being completed which would give them another ship to use, and work out what benefit the new drive would give them.

Leaving the ship to be completed, they prioritised getting the astrogation box connected to the computer with assistance from ALF, as well as working with Goff to start manufacturing of the 'space station seed crates'. The jump drive transplant would have to wait.

A few days passed and all plans were progressing well, when suddenly klaxons blasted and ALF informed them that a 30,000 ton ship had just jumped in. Slayed asked ALF "are all the weapons operational?"  to which ALF replied "Yes Admiral Slayed."

To be continued.

Rise and Fall

Preparing
As the days passed before the Aslan fleet arrived the palace became more and more tense and there was palpable nervousness among the citizenry. The travellers kept themselves busy as best they could, including choosing what they would wear. As Arch-Dukes they would be expected to show the Aslan delegation the pomp and finery of the new empire.

When the fleet was finally detected jumping in, the travellers were summoned to the royal chambers where Empress Rao was getting dressed in the robes of state. Her clerks and advisors were there, polishing speeches and noting negotiation points for the upcoming talks.

Arrival 
As the fleet arrived in orbit Rao was heard to mutter "let's do this!".

Suddenly a messenger ran in to say that the fleet had transmitted a message. As it was being played another messenger ran in shouting that the Aslan had fired missiles.

The message was as follows:

THE FOLLOWING ACTS HAVE FORCED THE ASLAN HIERATE TO DECLARE A STATE OF WAR EXISTS BETWEEN DRINAX AND THE HIERATE. THE WAR WILL BE PROSECUTED WITH UTMOST FORCE TO BRING A SWIFT END TO THE CONFLICT, LIMITED TO THE PLANET OF DRINAX AND TO THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACTS.

1. Drinax sponsored and supported piracy, sending out citizens in military ships to disrupt trade.
2. King Oleb and his daughter Princess Rao were kept informed of progress at all times, extending their sponsorship over many years.
3. Drinax sent people to look for a Sindalian space station where planet buster torpedoes had been stored since the days of the empire.
4. These Drinaxians talked to Peter Vallis, a notorious pirate and anti-Aslan racist, just before they jumped there.
5. The Drinaxians kept the torpedoes safe until they were needed later, not destroying them like anyone who wanted peace would have done.
6. Drinax also infiltrated the highest levels of the pirate world Theev, befriending pirate lords and themselves gaining position.
7. Drinax also harboured fugitives from Aslan justice, including Kaisyl, wanted for treason.
8. Drinaxians freed legitimately captured pirate prisoners, killing the crews of civilian ships in the process.
9. Drinaxians kidnapped the ruler of Salif, in an attempt to sow unrest in the Reaches.
10. Drinax is now militarising at a rate greater than at any time in history, at the same time as declaring a New Sindalian Empire.
11. The Sindalian Empire was famous for destroying planets with huge torpedoes and waging war on Aslan planets.
12. Peter Vallis, known to meet with Drinaxians, and carrying their torpedoes for them, was apprehended attempting to destroy an Aslan planet.
13. He was captured alive and when asked about his crimes implicated Drinax and people they associated with.
14. Peter Vallis was executed for an act of war, and Drinax now shall also be ended for acts of war and before it can do more harm.
15. The Sindalian Empire shall not rise again. The warlike aggressive Drinax shall not be allowed to spread its insanity.

SIGNED BY THE FOLLOWING CLANS
AHROAY’IF, TOKOFEAHR, YERLYARUIWO, TLAIOAWAHA, SYOISUIS

Rao turned white, turned to Slayed and said "Wrax is hopeless. You have to save Drinax!"

Orbital Ballet
Running to the ship the party launched to find that the Aslans had destroyed most of the missile platforms and had deployed fighters.

The Drinax defenses consisted of the Sorrowful Maiden, a dozen system defense boats, some other spacecraft belonging to Drinaxian nobles and royalty, as well as a number of fighters and the weaponry on the floating palace itself. Arrayed against Drinax were four capital ships, many smaller ones, and now swarms of fighters. Drinax was outnumbered and outgunned.

As soon as the defenders rose from the palace the missiles and lasers from the Aslan took their toll. Slayed shouted encouragement and orders over the comms channels of the defenders, giving Lord Wrax suggestions but being careful not to antagonise the Head of the Star Guard.

As the Sorrowful Maiden, thrusters at full power, manoeuvered around the battlefield Nitrane and Unter quickly identified targets and directed marines and other ships to perform boarding actions to disable some of the enemy.

The battle raged on. By now debris was raining down on the surface of the planet.

Emerging from the shadow of the palace Lord Wrax and half a dozen system defense boats swarmed the largest Aslan capital ship, disabling it by crashing their ships into it. Unter and Nitrane picked another capital ship and led marines on board with scuttling charges and it too was taken from the battle.

The Drinax forces were now dwindling. Someone on the bridge shouted and pointed and tiny figures were seen streaming up from the palace. The Winged Warriors, battle dress gleaming and grav belts pushed to the limit, approached a third capital ship with nuclear mines. They detonated, taking all warriors with them, leaving just one capital ship remaining.

This last enormous ship was clearly identifiable now as it slowly, ponderously, approached the palace. It was the Eikhoifiruah - the very ship that had bombed the surface of Drinax in the last war. It was coming in for a final approach to finish off what it had started two hundred years earlier.

Slayed swooped, initiating a desperate boarding action to try to stop it. At the same time, incredibly and awe-inspiringly, the Floating Palace rose from the surface of Drinax. It's gravity engines howling and pushed beyond their limit, and with atmosphere venting from a hundred unsealed cracks and hatches, the palace directed its weapons on the Eikhoifiruah. A combination of the boarding action and the additional weaponry disabled the Aslan ship. With the attackers retreating back to the Sorrowful Maiden the Aslan super-heavy bomber passed below the palace, breaking up to bombard the surface for the last time.

The Floating Palace was not a spaceship, and not even airtight. This last action was to be its last. The palace started breaking up, helped by exploding engines and by pockets of air bursting through doors and walls not designed to work in vacuum. As the Eikhoifiruah fell to the surface so did the palace.

The remaining dozen or so Aslan ships left orbit and headed away from the planet, leaving the Sorrowful Maiden, battle scarred but unbroken, as the only surviving defender.

Thinking fast, Nitrane shouted to be on the look for survivors, and while they turned their full attention to the search, the travellers only found one survivor from the palace; a young woman who had donned a vacc-suit and been blasted away from the palace by escaping gasses. Other bodies were reached before they fell back to the planet surface but none were alive.

Silence. Far below light flashed on the planet surface as large pieces of debris sparked as they hit the metal remains of the cities destroyed two hundred years ago. There was no radio chatter, there were no other ships around the planet. Drinax the Kingdom was no more. Drinax the planet would continue, but it would not have a civilisation worthy of that name again.

Slayed said some quiet words and the crew, moving automatically, checked for damage, plotted a course for Torpol, and headed to the 100 diameter limit to jump away. Nobody knew if they would be back.

Torpol
Arriving at Torpol the travellers immediately made contact and were given priority landing permission. Demanding as fast a turnaround as possible the ship was refuelled while the travellers went to visit Falx, who by now was in a position of seniority. He welcomed them and asked how they were. They answered slightly evasively, not that he noticed, and just told him that there'd been something happen that would be made clearer in the coming days and weeks.

Slayed gave the lone Drinaxian survivor 1MCr and left her on the holiday planet.

Thebus
Jumping nest to Thebus they repeated the demand for as fast a turnaround as possible. They stayed on the ship in case another Imperial patrol arrived, but left before they detected one.

Space Station
Arriving at the space station they were warmly greeted and the hangar doors were opened to let them dock. They immediately called a meeting of the senior crew on the station, including Goff, Dai'Kinnear, Rachando and Kaisyl. This group were told in detail what had happened. Dai'Kinnear and Kaisyl, as the only Aslan on board, assumed postures of submission and offered their heartfelt apologies. Slayed accepted them, as was Aslan custom, and said that he held them utterly blameless for the actions of their fellow Aslan and that would be the end of it. They visibly relaxed.

Setting crew to repair the ship the travellers pondered what to do. Next they would go to Theev to inform the rulers there of what had happened. They were also interested in trying to crack the security on the datachips that they had acquired when collecting Admiral Darokyn's private possessions and thought Theev would be the best place to start.

Beyond that they didn't know what to do. Would they return to piracy? Or become merchant princes? What would GeDeCo do? After all, the mega-corporation has promised to "take care of them" but now that sounded more like a threat than a promise. And what of the Imperium?

Suddenly Lady Nitrane then swore under her breath. "Crap! I'm the heir to Drinax!".

To be continued.

The waiting game

To and fro
The travellers jumped back to the space station to see if the prototype drive ship was ready. It wasn't. Goff met them and informed them that due to the complexities involved it was taking twice as long. He estimated it would be another four months.

Because they only had two months until Empress Rao expected the delegations from the two major powers to arrive for negotiations the party could only spend a few days on the station. They took another opportunity to take stock.

By now the station was fully operational and bedded in. The living quarters and common areas were gleaming white plastic and glass. Stylish, functional and ultra modern - certainly compared to the Drinax propensity for brass, velvet and wooden panels. The meals, prepared by the repaired Sindalian Empire food synthesisers was something familiar and yet different at the same time. Recipes and tastes had apparently changed in the time since this station had last been operational.

Visitors?
The voice of ALF, the computer, interrupted one trip through the station with word that a ship had that second been detected on the scanners. They made their way to the bridge less than a minute later to be told that the ship had again disappeared. It had not been detected jumping in, nor since the detection jumping out. It was clearly stealthy. Or perhaps it wasn't a ship after all: there was a possibility that the sensors were picking up false positives.

The ship had been detected about 50,000 km away. Quickly making a decision Sparrow ordered the Harriers to be prepped for immediate departure to stealthily go to that location and once near there actively search for any lurking ships. Within a handful of minutes the Harriers were speeding away, and the party waited the 20 minutes for them to reach the location.

Suddenly the sensors picked up the Harriers blasting the area with active sensors, but nothing else showed up. They were instructed to initiate a search pattern and for the next couple of hours scanned but found nothing.

Meanwhile Sparrow had been getting ALF to go over the old sensor data from the past few months and found that a similar signal had been detected three times but with a smaller signal. Of course they knew that someone else knew where the station was because of the stolen torpedoes, but it was troubling that there seemed to be someone keeping tabs on it.

Instructing ALF to send out fighters in randomised patrols to make sneaking up on the station more difficult, the party left to head back to Drinax.

Oops
The first system was Thebus, but on arrival they detected Imperial Navy ships - a Kinunir-class cruiser and two Gazelles - in orbit. Being in the pirate lord Admiral Darokyn's former flagship - a stolen Imperial Navy Destroyer escort no less - they decided to immediately jump to Noricum using their remaining jump fuel. Under different circumstances they might have gone to the gas giant and scooped and refined some fuel, but this ship had neither fuel scoops nor purifiers.

On Noricum they refuelled using unrefined fuel and then jumped, slightly concerned about the ramifications of not purifying the fuel. Everything worked out fine and they landed at Torpol.

There they talked to their contacts who advised that there were a lot of Imperial patrols around. No doubt these were in response to the blockage, although none seemed to be aggressive at all. The impression was that they were just reminding people that an enormous empire was just next door and that trying to create a new one was foolhardy.

Back home
The travellers arrived on Drinax just as the two months elapsed. However there were no delegates waiting for their negotiating skills, nor any suggestion that they were on their way.

Meeting with Empress Rao they described what they had seen and heard. She was confident that this meant the plan was working. The New Sindalian empire needed to be able to enforce its own borders or it would not be real political entity. The powers in the Imperium and the Hierate would understand that.

After a few days Tipper and Hanz Waltz from GeDeCo appeared and asked to meet with them. They agreed to meet on the GeDeCo ship where Tipper advised that an Aslan fleet, with at least two capital ships, was approaching Drinax. This seemed to be the first indication that an Aslan envoy was going to arrive. In typical Aslan fashion it would be accompanied by a show of force.

The travellers decided to first tell Empress Rao, who was delighted with the news. She and her empire were being taken seriously. They then decided to tell Lord Wrax of the Star Guard, who initially was distrustful (Lady Nitrane being his ex-wife) but when the evidence presented to the party by Tipper was sent to him he begrudgingly accepted the news as fact.

With the imminent arrival the travellers are now deciding what to do. The more pessimistic among them assume an attack. Time will tell. Less than two weeks in fact.

To be continued.

The Blockade, and other things

Assembling the forces
With the success of the blockade in their hands the travellers considered what to do first. The trade routes all went through Wildeman, so that was selected as the base of operations for Slayed. They would need trusted captains like Krrsh and Jaggad to take control in other key systems, as well as needing some of their own ships. That meant they would first go to the Space Station.

Before they left they were visited by Tipper who was still working for GeDeCo. He told them he was expecting that the Empress was going to need to move quickly to shore up her borders, and that there would be resources made available to them - in a logistics sense - from GeDeCo. After all, they wanted Drinax to prosper. This meant that Slayed and the others could use their forces to enforce the blockade and not worry about supplies and the movement of people.

They also contacted the representatives of the systems that had joined the empire and advised them of what they would be doing, and collected pledges of ships and support from all. Rendezvous points and numbers of ships were agreed, and a network or couriers to keep everyone informed of what was happening was established.

Space Station Surprises
Arriving at the Space Station they were met by Goff who advised them that aside from one small matter the station was, as of the day before, fully operational. The small matter was the science labs that housed their own computers, and which again needed Ducal clearance.

Entering the codes the research computer started up and after a moment, in which it seemed to be getting its bearings, it greeted them. Like the other computer it had no memory of what it had been doing before it shut down, but did have access to all research material that had been stored in it.

Intrigued to know what was being worked on, Slayed instructed the computer to produce the most progressed research - material that was in prototype or production state - so that they could see what might be possible to use. Professor Cheese was brought into the room, and after he calmed down from the excitement he got to work with Slayed sifting through and interpreting the information.

Researched seemed to have been focused on propulsion and drives, weapons, medicine, psychology, and artificial intelligence. Cheese informed them that the medical breakthroughs that were being worked on here were now common place, although it was interesting that Sindal had been at the forefront. The psychological outputs, mostly to do with maintaining sanity while stuck in a space ship for very extended periods of time were somewhat esoteric and could not easily be adopted and used. 

The other three were more promising. The weapons research was into turret-mounted meson weapons. These would ignore armour and radiation shielding, whilst themselves doing a lot of damage and radiation. Putting these into practice was going to be problematic given the resources on the space station as only early prototypes had been developed.

The artificial intelligence work seemed in part to have been built into the station already. Certainly the ALF system, as well as the research computer, were more advanced than anything the party had encountered before, although they had not been in advanced research labs where these things might be most useful. The research papers made it clear that it would be possible to clone ALF if they needed to, although the computer for that would be excruciatingly expensive.

That left the propulsion research, which was sufficiently progressed that blueprints for an early production version were in the research computer. If the war had gone on for a few more months then this new drive may have been able to sway the tide of battle.

Making things
With the station up and functional Goff wanted to know if they should start building anything in the shipyards. He was against making trade goods to sell as that would arouse suspicions, although selling some raw material left over from mining would be innocuous enough.

The party considered what they had learned and decided to make a ship that would use the new propulsion system. The plans seemed to suggest a limit of 200 tons so they decided to make something that would look like a normal yacht. As it was unproven they put in a jump-1 drive in case they needed to get out of trouble. With that they put collectors, which were slow but would collect enough fuel for a jump within a week. The ship would have a little armour and some hidden turrets, as well as some modifications to the hull. It would look like a yacht, but that was about it. It was a high performance test platform.

Wildeman 
With the ship started they instructed their ships to move to Wildeman and neighbouring systems to enforce the blockade. When they arrived they found that the system defense boats were complete, and the carrier ship was returning from delivering the first one. The other two would be delivered in the coming weeks. Slayed again took some of the profits from selling trade goods, although it was noted that this was starting to draw unwanted attention and that stopping the trade might be wise. Making more SDB carriers should be their focus for the time being.

The blockade
Over the coming months forces were secretly put in place so as to not tip off anyone, and when the time came to block trade, it was almost completely successful. A couple of systems proved troublesome but within 4 months they had completed the blockade and were confident that short of an imperial or aslan taskforce it would hold. They returned to Drinax to inform Empress Rao.

When they returned to Drinax with the news Rao was overjoyed. She had worried that it might take a lot longer, and at the cost of many more lives than had been lost, to enforce the blockade.

As a reward Rao gave Slayed a small box that had been held in the vaults of the Scholars Tower. She had instructed that all resources be brought to bear and there were some interesting items now being used. This device had its own power source and contained within it a full map of the known galaxy. It was up to date even though it was hundreds or thousands of years old and could therefore be used to help with astrogation checks. It was also possible to zoom in to planets and moons and see, somewhat fuzzily in places, the surface features. Where he device had been was much clearer for some hours afterwards, which suggested it was also scanning its surroundings although that could not be detected.

Rao declared that she expected that the blockade would need to be held for about two months while the imperium and aslan created delegations to come to Drinax and negotiate terms. The party took this opportunity to return to the space station where Goff informed them that due to complications with the prototype drive the build was taking twice as long as expected. The yacht would not be ready for another three months.

With Rao telling them to be back on Drinax within two months for negotiations, and the prototype ship not ready, the party considered what to do next.

To be continued.

Coronation, and a new beginning

Drinax
Arriving at Drinax a few weeks before the coronation the travellers docked and disembarked to find a representative of the Queen-to-be waiting for them. Their presence was required immediately, they were told, and so they made their way to Rao's private rooms.

When they arrived they were warmly welcomed and a brief royal hug was bestowed on each of them. They were asked to sit down and an informal meeting started where they were asked about all the systems they had visited, and about the rulers or significant people they'd met along the way. It turned out that many of the people they'd already met would be coming to the coronation and, with representatives starting to arrive Rao wanted to take the opportunity to meet with them individually, accompanied by the travellers.

Before that happened she wanted to discuss with them the type of ruler she intended to be, and the type of kingdom she would rule. She trusted the travellers and wanted to hear their opinions.

Firstly she wanted to have a feudal government, just as it was in the days of the Sindalian Empire. When it came to security she wanted an end to the piracy that her father had supported, at least for the travellers. She would invest in ship building in order to protect the borders of her new kingdom, but would not be an aggressor. Lastly she wanted to exploit the technological advantage of Drinax by establishing Drinax-owned enterprises in other systems, but not actively help other systems. She reasoned it was this that gave Drinax it's advantage and to give that away would not be wise.

The travellers agreed with her forms of government and security. It made sense to hearken back to the old days of the empire and to clamp down on piracy. When it came to technology they reasoned that the kingdom would be stronger if Drinax helped in some way to raise the technology levels of the systems that were willing to pay for it. That way she might get a fleet or more advantageous trading situations much faster without losing any advantage.

Rao considered the advice from the travellers and saw that it was good. She had her clerks modify the terms of treaties and agreements to match what the party had suggested and that she now accepted as good advice.

Meeting after meeting
The meetings with the representatives of all the systems in the Trojan Reach started almost immediately and all followed a common theme. The Queen-to-be welcomed the visitors and with the travellers by her side talked about the types of government, security and technology and listened to their hopes and fears. She hoped that they would join her in creating a new power in the reaches to provide stability and prosperity.

The systems all considered her words and formed their own opinions. Overall a good number of systems pledged allegiance to the new Queen and promised to be faithful and loyal subjects to the new Kingdom of Drinax.

Around this time Varuk Nirgal from Theev, who was one of the systems that agreed to join the Kingdom, met with the travellers. He proposed that in addition to becoming a loyal and faithful vassal state to Drinax that it might be advantageous to have strong ties going the other way, the better to represent the interests of Theev on Drinax. To that end he proposed that the travellers become full Lords of Theev. There would be no more piracy, for that was the wish of the Queen-to-be, but the trading and shipbuilding capabilities made it important that Theev had their fair say in matters.

The party agreed that being Lords of Theev sounded just fine, and with a handshake it was done.

Crowning the new ....
So the day of the coronation arrived. Everyone was in their finest, and the ceremony begun with the whole population of Drinax either in the huge throne room, or watching on screen positioned around the palace.

Pride of place at the front was given to the travellers, and they sat with Lady Hil and Lord Wrax, as well as Imperial Ambassador, who shot the party dark looks from time to time and didn't seem to be enjoying himself at all.

The travellers were as surprised as everyone else when Rao was crowned not as Queen but as Empress, as she declared that with over thirty systems they had created the New Sindalian Empire. The ambassador looked sick, but the rest of the palace rang to resounding cheers.

Empress Rao thanked Nitrane, Slayed, Unter and Sparrow by name. She declared them all Arch Dukes of the Empire and bestowed upon them the titles of Arch Dukes of Tlaiowaha (Nitrane), SIndal (Slayed), the Borderland (Sparrow) and Tobia (Under). After she made a roll call of the systems that had joined, she sent out a message of good will to neighbours that had not. She wished them well and stated that when they saw the benefits of the new Empire they too would be welcomed with open arms.

After Party
Immediately after the coronation the party were again summoned to her rooms - now those of the former King. There she removed the coronation robes and in more comfortable attire sat with the party to discuss the next move, which she said should be a blockade of the trading routes from the Imperium to the Hie-rate.

She declared that trade passing her borders should be taxed. Nothing onerous at all, but something that would help fund the security and prosperity of her empire. In addition, it would take something like a blockade to persuade the Imperium and the Aslan Hierate that Drinax meant business and that a treaty should be negotiated. Without a treaty with the powers Drinax has nothing.

Slayed considered the tactics of a blockade and thought it would be possible. The two main trade routes, a jump-2 route and a jump-3 route, along with a few other systems that might be used to bypass the main route, could be blockaded to bring about what Empress Rao wanted.

Rao smiled, and put the travellers in charge of the blockade. After all, they had a small fleet of their own, as well as good relations with many of the systems in question.

To be continued.

Sink or swim

Tech-World
Arriving at Tech-World on their way to Drinax for the coronation of Queen Rao, the travellers met with the ruling council to inform them that at last the three system defense boats that they had asked for were in production and would be delivered over the next few months. A virtual walk through was shown and the council were pleased.

On Tech-World the party also obtained a very high tech set of jewelry for the queen, including a psionic-blocking tiara, although being made of nano-technology it could take a number of shapes.

A sinking feeling
Two years earlier the party had cleared out the cargo hold of the Treasure ship on Sink, and being unable to take everything with them had put two hundred tons of cargo in storage. With Sink more or less on the way to Drinax they took the opportunity to see if it were still there.

Arriving at the now-familiar spaceport surrounded by massive lifting machinery and swamps they landed the Sorrowful Maiden and disembarked to see the Brother in Charge of Spaceport Operations waiting for them expectantly. They reintroduced themselves and asked for the ship to be refuelled, but he kept craning his neck to look around them. Eventually they asked who he was looking for and he asked if Admiral Darokyn would be getting off the ship. Apparently it was well known here.

Once they told him that Darokyn was not on board at the moment he asked if they were here to pick up his possessions. They exchanged glances before Lady Nitrane said a slightly tentative "Yes?". The Brother then asked for some identification. Perhaps there was something in the way that Nitrane responded, or the exchanged glances that made him suspicious.

Asking for a moment to get the papers, the party headed back into the ship and quickly put together some Darokyn-related evidence. They emerged and Lady Nitrane, who had been trained for this moment, spoke so persuasively in deceiving the Brother that he took their evidence as gospel and said that naturally he'd be glad to show them where Darokyn kept his personal possessions.

In the meantime they asked about their cargo and with an apologetic shrug were told that as per the conditions of the deal they agreed to two years ago the goods would be kept for 12 months, then when a further two months passed the cargo would be donated to the depths of the swamp. So it was all gone.

With little choice but to accept that outcome the travellers followed the Brother into the largest spaceport ziggurat. They were led down two levels to where a ramp led into a pool of water. Flanking the ramp were some diving suits on stands and a pump for breathing that was manned by an initiate.

Into the depths
Nitrane and Unter suited up, as did the Brother. Slayed stayed behind to watch the initiate. They entered the water and made their way a few hundred feet along a wide passage past a number of airlock doors before the Brother waved at them to stop and wrote on a board that they should open the one they had stopped next to.

After opening he door, he instructed that they should enter the airlock, disconnect their air tubes, and close the door. At that point the airlock would fill with air and they  could open the inner door where Darokyn's possessions would be found. The followed his instructions, and after a brief struggle with the inner door found themselves in a small room with two wrapped and waterproofed small boxes. They took them and reversed their actions to find the Brother waiting for them and quickly connecting their air tubes again.

Emerging from the water and removing the suits they returned to the ship which was still being refuelled. They opened the boxes and found in the first some personal memorabilia from Darokyn's time in the Imperial Navy and some normal data chips, although three were immediately identified as having military grade security that they could not open with the resources at their disposal. The other contained the memory cores of two ships. One appeared to be the one he'd brought to the Trojan Reach when he defected from the imperium. The other a vessel he'd commanded for many years and which contained his full journey from that time.

In addition to the data and memorabilia they found 7 MCr, of which they game 1 MCr to the Brother in Charge of Spaceport Operations as a donation to his cause. They left for Drinax shortly thereafter.

To be continued.

Friends and two bases

Visiting new friends
As Prince Harrick entered the Harrier, Princess Rao stopped short, turned to the travellers, and asked if they would swear fealty to her as their future queen. Nitrane and Unter did so immediately. Slayed and Sparrow then followed after a moment, exchanging glances.

Rao smiled widely, nodded graciously, and thanked them. She then asked if the four of them were capable themselves of flying the Harrier by themselves. They said that they could, and she asked for all other crew to be removed from the ship while they went to see the Zhodani agent.

On the trip to the rendezvous point Prince Harrick wanted to see the inside of a Harrier as he'd not had the opportunity previously. He seemed suitably impressed by the fabulous cargo bay and immediately grasped that it was to impress visitors.

Upon arriving the ship was brought to a halt as the Princess told them to wait for the Zhodani ship to arrive and make itself known. She wasn't sure how they would react to seeing the Harrier instead of her yacht.

Chbradlklodgiepr Dlmshar
When the ship was finally detected it was already adjacent to the Harrier. It's stealth properties were incredible, but went some way to explaining why there were no rumours of Zhodani ships in the area - nobody was detecting them.

A docking tube was extended and the party could hear the ships connecting. The Princess went to the airlock to welcome them with Admiral Slayed. Prince Harrick and the rest of the party stayed in the bridge awaiting the Zhodani.

Two Zhodani in armour appeared first, followed by a swarthy man with a mustache that curled up at both ends wearing a wrapping style headpiece. He was wearing robes and carried himself in a manner that indicated he was very sure of himself.

He bowed low to the Princess and announced to anyone who might be in earshot that he, a humble servant of the Zhodani Empire, was most honored to again meet Her Royal Highness, the Princess Rao, who in her wisdom, and in with the betterment of their two body politics had most graciously agreed to meet him.

Upon being invited onto the bridge the two guards took up positions while he introduced himself as Chbradlklodgiepr Dlmshar, representative of the Zhodani Empire, He explained that he was interested in Drinax as they were clearly the most civilised system in the Reaches, and as such the obvious partners with which to work to being prosperity to the area.

He asked to look over the ship, and was taken by Slayed and Nitrane, with Prince Harrick, to look at around. He seemed impressed but asked few questions. Returning to the bridge the conversation continued for a little while on topics that seemed innocent and innocuous he declared that he was ready to leave.

Speaking earnestly to each person in turn, grasping their hands in his, he wished them well, told them that they would do great things, and that he hoped that the alliance between Drinax and the empire would flourish. Each person got his full attention in this way. Prince Harrick was also advised to take his sister's words to heart and trust her and her judgement, to which he nodded.

Dlmshar took his leave, flourished a wave, and returned to his ship. Tracking it as it left he was there one moment and then, as they must have turned on some stealth technology, disappeared.

Back to Drinax, and bad news
The Harriers rendezvoused and jumped to Drinax where it was discovered that King Oleb had passed away. When they docked the Princess returned to her quarters where her retinue brought her up to speed with the events that had transpired since Harrick had taken her to Asim.

The palace was in mourning, and the coup still in their minds it was not sure what would  happen next. Prince Harrick calmed the situation by proclaiming that he was fully supporting his sister to be queen and that his followers must also support her from this moment on or be accused by him of treason.

Princess Rao advised that the coronation would take place in six months and that the heads of state of all systems in the Trojan Reach would be invited.

To the Space Station
The party needed no more prompting to head to the space station, which had been their destination all along. With the limited jump range of the Harriers it took five weeks to reach it whereupon they found that the megafreighter was connected up and providing power, and that already the mining and smelting facilities were running and stockpiling raw materials for manufacturing.

Goff had also supervised, with the help of the robot Maria, the repairs to the computer systems. The party needed to enter the Ducal codes provided to them by Oleb many years ago now, which they did with some trepidation - Goff had attempted to start the computers a day or two earlier and all defensive systems had sprung into near-catastrophic action. Nobody had been killed but it was a close thing.

Entering the codes deactivated any self-defense modes that the computer was in, and people could start the business of repairing the station once again. The computer greeted the travellers and called itself ALF, short for Artificial Life Form. It advised that it would be able to watch and control everything in the station. In its databanks were the manufacturing blueprints for anything the station needed to make - including the station. It was able to fully maintain itself once the engineers got things into an operational state after many centuries of neglect.

To the Hidden Base
Once things were in progress on the space station the party's thoughts turned to the Wildeman base. They travelled in the Sorrowful Maiden: the Harriers would meet them at Drinax for the coronation in a few months. Their journey started on Theev where Lady Nitrane picked up some dresses and gowns for when they returned to Drinax. The others picked up suits and uniforms as well.

Travelleing via Marduk and Exocet they reached Wildeman with three months to go to the coronation. There they found that Ben Parr, whom they had left in charge, had with Gobbo's advice built some additional manufacturing plant to increase capacity. This would allow the shipyard to work on three production lines rather than just the one it was previously.

The base was sending one trading ship per week to Wildeman - jumping in-system to disguise the source of the materials. In addition it was creating System Defense Boats for Tech-World has had been promised by the travellers some time ago. Slayed took some of the profits that had been made.

Considering how to get the SDBs to Tech-World, Sparrow suggested they stop SDB production to quickly produce a cargo ship capable of transporting one SDB at a time to its destination. Plans in the system were found and slightly modified to create a 600t ship with jump-2 and docking space for the 300t SDB. It would take a few weeks to create at which point the SDB production would continue.

The party stated on Wildeman for two weeks and then headed to Tech-World via Exe.

To be continued.

Much a-coup about nothing

Coup at the Palace
The travellers decided to land the ship at the main docks as instructed. They could see plumes of smoke as they approached the landing platform and there were people below running and taking cover. The palace seemed to have gone mad. Lady Nitrane tried to get hold of Lord Wrax on the comms but was unsuccessful. It seemed that so much was happening that they would need to fend for themselves.

Emerging from the ship they noticed Kasiyl and Rachando, the latter with some bodyguards, exchanging fire with a group of Prince Harrick supporters. As they watched two of the bodyguards  went down and the others ducked for cover. Gunfire and shouting could be heard coming from deeper inside the palace.

The party were wearing heavy armour and were armed with powerful weapons, but instead of attacking they shouted out that the Harrick supporters were dangerously close to committing acts of treason and that the King was alive and in the party's care. It took a little time but the Harrick supporters stopped and rallied behind the travellers.

Elsewhere in the palace Harrick supporters were converging on the throne room and on the life support section. They hoped that by taking these areas the might be in a position to negotiate a successful victory. Rao's supporters had other ideas and converged on the throne room. A pitched battle broke out and there were many casualties on both sides.

The travellers moved into the life support section where Harrick supporters had entrenched themselves behind barricades. Lady Nitrane, wielding her sword, led the charge. Under heavy fire more Rao supporters fell but the party started to overwhelm the Harrick defences. Just as they thought they might carry the day a group of androids arrived to bolster the defenders and the battle broke out again.

In the Throne Room sufficient Rao supporters arrived to persuade the Harrick supporters to drop their weapons or to join with Rao. The outcome was now a foregone conclusion and the last of the androids in Life Support were destroyed to finish the coup.

Aftermath
Lady Nitrane immediately went to the starport docks and patched into the palace-wide communications channel. She broadcast the video that she had taken on King Oleb as he was close to death down on the surface. The entire palace heard how he promised whoever found his medical kit would be made an archduke. The whole palace also however heard that the King thought the Scholar's tower were vampires for what they did to Prince Harrick, and that the King wanted to die instead.

The King was also heard saying that the floating palace was a joke, and that the party had been given a Letter of Marque and that he had instructed the party to go pirating. If they could, through piracy, bring back the kingdom they would be forgiven. Lastly he said that Prince Harrick was not the right person to be King after Oleb, which meant that it would be Queen Rao, but not without saying that she was too scheming and tool political and that she should be told to stop.

The people of the palace were shocked. Lord Wrax almost certainly smiled. Ambassador Polx of the Imperium could be heard exploding in anger. Lady Nitrane shrugged at the enormity of the thing she had done, saying "they all knew anyway".

The hunt for Rao
Neither Price Harrick not Princess Rao were to be found. Asking around they found that Princess Rao had been seen entering Prince Harrick's yacht and was not pleased about going. There were no guns pointed at her, and she was not tied up, but the observer got the feeling it was more a kidnapping than a cooperative act. That was one and a half days ago. People in the startport control told the party that the Prince had gone to Asim. The party decided to follow.

Putting the King on the hands of the Hawk Warriors seemed best, and they were instructed to have the king looked after in the Scholar;s tower and to not let anyone harm him. Lady Nitrane also instructed Lord Wrax to stay neutral but he just dismissed her.

The Harrier took off and arranged with the other two Harriers to jump to Asim. The yacht would come to pick up Kaisyl to take him to his scout, hidden in the outer reaches of the system, before he and the freighter headed to the space station. Rachando came with the party on the Harrier. His two ships were on trading missions but he just wanted to get out of Drinax.

Dull and brown
Arriving at Asim the party were reminded how brown the place was. Dull too. They scanned for any signs of the yacht but were not surprised to find no trace of it given it's lead. As they headed down to the spaceport the other two Harriers arrived and were told to stay in orbit to scan for ships leaving or arriving.

Coming in to land the party looked for a yacht but saw none. The Asim spaceport was an immense expanse of flat ferrocrete and it would be impossible to hide a ship given there were no enclosed hangars. They checked at the spaceport nevertheless but were told that no records would be given to them. The animosity of the Asim people to Drinax was strong.

Rather than go incognito they decided to contact Governor Telwax, the most senior Drinax official on the planet. She would be delighted to see the party in three hours at the Governor's Palace. The travellers had no choice it seemed but to wait.

The governor
Arriving at the palace at the appointed time they were taken in to meet the governor, her wife, and her child. Pleasantries were exchanged before they moved into the governor's office to talk about more serious matters.

Nitrane opened with a statement that the King was still alive and that the coup was over. The governor was clearly shaken at the news, although suspicious were aroused when she was interested more in why they were here rather than more news about a coup and the near-death of the King.

Nitrane and Slayed convinced the Governor that her best course of action was to put aside any misgivings and just tell them where Prince Harrick could be found, and she relented and told them he was at the Dragon Fortress in the mountains.

Dragon Fortress
After Drinax took control of Asim, primarily due to the huge technology level advantage they Drinax had, they created a fortress in the mountains that would be all but impossible for the locals to penetrate. It consisted of a large flattened area for ships to land, and a number of hundreds of metres deep vertical tubes leading down to a maze of kill zones and passages. To anyone with a grav belt it was simplicity itself to just waft downwards.

Unter and Slayed knew roughly where to look and almost immediately the landing area was spotted, along with a flight of Hawk Warriors flying protectively above. Deciding to approach as if they were permitted to be there they landed without being challenged.

Emerging from the ship, Lady Nitrane in ceramic armour and the rest in battle dress, they started towards the nearest vertical tube when three Hawk Warriors emerged upwards out of it. The warriors landed near the edge and one opened its helmet. A woman with somewhat familiar features curled her lip and looked distastefully at Lady Nitrane.

"Hello mother!" she snarled. "Hello dear" Lady Nitrane replied cheerfully.

The daughter of Lady Nitrane and Lord Wrax, Colonel Sedelti didn't have Lady Nitrane's attractive appearance and looked more like her father. Nitrane looked to be eighteen whereas Sedelti, without the benefit of anagathics, looked to be approaching middle age.

Sedelti shouted for her guards to arrest the party, but Nitrane shouted forcibly that they should not. They were representing the King, she said, and that any move against them would be clear treason. The guards faltered, and Sedelti, if possible, looked even more aggrieved.

Nitrane demanded to be taken to Price Harrick and, with little choice, and perhaps even hoping that the Prince would put Nitrane in her place, Sedelti ordered a grav-sled be raised for the party to be taken down.

Their highnesses
Led into an antechamber the party could see into the next room - a huge open space - and in there were Prince Harrick and Princess Rao, the latter sitting grumpily with her arms crossed. They appeared to be having an argument when the party arrived.

Looking up the Prince and Princess gave 'so what do you want' looks at the party. Nitrans told them that their father had gone missing but had been found and was still alive, and that there had been a coup and that it had been won my Princess Rao's forces with the help of the party.

Initially both stunned, the Princess recovered first and looked a lot more cheerful. She started telling her brother that his concerns were groundless. She told him that they should go and see the Zhodani envoy to put his mind at rest.

The party were nonplussed. It seemed that the princess had been seeing Zhodani agents for months and that the Prince had gotten wind and was concerned for the safety of the princess and for Drinax. The Princess on the other hand was entirely certain that the Zhodani could be trusted.

The travellers started arguing that the royal siblings should come immediately to Drinax but Princess Rao dismissed the idea. It would take a week to get back but this rendezvous with the Zhodani would take only a day or two as they were already in the system waiting. Perhaps King Oleb, unhinged as he is, had a point about his daughter.

As the Prince and Princess started walking out of the chambers and back towards the surface Nitrane tried again to persuade them to return immediately to Drinax, but was yet again dismissed.

Not knowing what to do, she looked to the other travellers for help.

To be continued.

Grand High Tum-ti-tump of the Outrim Void

Theev to Salif

Admiral Slayed and the travellers arrived at Salif with their jump-3 and -4 capable ships. There they refueled and met with Tiznee Zazzle to tell her about the liberation of the captured pirates and the seized ships. She was delighted that they were safe and that they had been successful.

Salif to Space Station

Jumping next to the space station they found it as it had been left - powered down and running silent. There were no signs that anyone had been there since they left. However, as soon as they reached the cargo bay that held the two dozen planet-buster and bio-weapon torpedoes they were shocked to find them all gone, and the word "Thanks!" painted on one of the walls. 

With all power off there were no cameras or other clues as to who had taken them. A quick check confirmed that nothing else had been taken, and there was no damage other than the forced opening of the door to the cargo hold. Nitrane, Unter and Sparrow were philosophical. They had wanted to be rid of them from the start. Slayed on the other hand was worried. Where were they, who had them, and why did they want them?

Planning Repairs
There was nothing they could do so they got to work powering up the systems that had previously been brought to the station. The longer term plan was to bring the megafreighter to the station and use its enormous power plant to run the station until the one on the station could be repaired. In the meantime they would  use what power they had to start repairs anticipating the later power that would be available.

The party spent two weeks working through the plans with Goff. The power plant from the freighter would mean that they could power the smelter and refinery and start preparing raw materials for the manufacturing plant by using the ores collected by the mining drones. The priority therefore was to get as much manufacturing, smelting and refinery machinery repaired as possible.

Space Station to Theev

After setting things in motion the party took the Sorrowful Maiden and most of the crew back to Theev. There they met up with the trading crew who had made a decent profit, and with Jaggad who reported that she had been successful with hiring new crew.

With nothing else left to do they all boarded the megafreighter and headed to Drinax.

Theev to Drinax

The trip to Drinax was uneventful. The first stop was in deep space and they transferred the fuel from the bladder to the fuel tanks with no problems. Then to Torpol where they happened to meet a local system defense boat in orbit around the gas giant and with their highly regarded reputation it stayed for the week to protect them while all tanks were filled.

Arriving in Drinax near a distant gas giant the freighter started refueling while the three Harriers and the yacht, which was to be a gift to King Oleb, headed to the main planet. The Harrier with Slayed, Sparrow, Nitrane and Unter went on ahead and as they opened up the thrusters to top speed they opened comms and were asked whether then wanted the highport, lowport or palace. The lowport was new, but they asked for permission to land at the palace, which was granted.

Man Missing

As they were on approach to the palace a new voice came over the comms. It was Lady Hil, a close friend of the party. She sounded distressed, but trying to hide it, and asked if instead of landing they could help locate a missing person. In fact it was the King, who had just gone down with a broken grav belt. Various questions that the party had were answered - Lady Hil sometimes having to ask others near here - but in very little time the ship was over one of the old bombed cities of Drinax.

The pillars of the destroyed city resembled the fingers of a blackened corpse, reaching towards the skies above. There were thousands of them, rising from the wreckage below at random angles. The metal of the pillars made the place a huge field of lightning rods, and as the bolts jumped between the pillars it made scanning nearly impossible. It was apparent now why the Hawk Warriors who accompanied the King were having difficulty finding him.

The head of Olebs guard, Brie Tollar, was coordinating the search. With the party having seniority and in a ship that would be better equipped to find the King, she flew to the ship and boarded to assist them.

Nitrane did a sensor sweep and detected nothing. The size of the city and the atmospheric conditions made it too difficult. Sparrow considered the information they had - Oleb's path, the downward trajectory that he was last seen on, and other factors, and calculated that the King was most likely in a small area a few hundred metres long that he carefully piloted the ship into.

Being much closer to the surface - and with Sparrow constantly having to adjust and trim the Harrier in he winds - meant that Nitrane finally got a reading. A small beacon that belonged to the King.

Oleb's Alive!
Landing very carefully, Sparrow put the travelers as close to the detected position as he dared. The party suited up and left the ship to search on foot. Soon they found the king, impaled on metal spikes in a small hollow. Hit breathing was laboured and Nitrane immediately knelt next to him and stabilised him as best she could with a medical kit.

‘Starcursed grav belt gave up on me,’ he muttered, ‘and I fell. I dropped my emergency medical supplies out there somewhere. Go fetch them, and I’ll make you a bloody Archduke of somewhere.’

The emergency medical pack turned out to contain a bottle of red wine.

‘Gah. I’m dying. That’s boring,’ muttered the king. ‘Listen, don’t let those vampires from the Scholar’s Tower get their claws into my carcass. I saw what they did to my boy Harrick. I don’t want to end up like the Duke of Albe, pulled out of stasis once a century to sign a form and take a dump. No, let me die. You, come up with some really good last worlds. I appoint thee Court Poet Extraordinary of Drinax, Bard of Sindal, and Grand High Tum-ti-tump of the Outrim Void.’ Oleb coughed up what appeared to be most of a lung. ‘Want to be Space Pope too, and absolve me of all my sins?’

As the wine – and the painkillers – took hold, he became less lucid, although it was hard to tell given Oleb’s usual sense of reality.

‘We can’t stay here. The Floating Palace... it’s a joke. A cage. A... stupid thing. We were dragons once. We will rule the stars again. I gave you a Letter of Marque when we started this campaign... of piracy. It’s still good. Bring back the Kingdom, and all will be forgiven.

‘Listen, listen lads, listen. Tell. Prince Harrick...no... he’s not right for it. Rao... she’ll be Queen, but she needs someone to... warn her... there’s too much of the Sindalian in her... warn her... no more...’

With that, Oleb lapsed into unconsciousness, and started to snore.

The party carefully took him into the ship and plugged him into the medical bay, which started injecting drugs and spraying his wounds with chemicals to disinfect and seal them.

To the palace
Taking off Sparrow headed the ship towards the palace, but as they got closer a flight of atmospheric flyers intercepted them and a voice came over the comms channel telling them to divert course to the main starport dock instead of the royal docks. The voice was Lord Wrax. He sounded worried. And there was gunfire audible in the background.

A coup had started.

To be continued.

Visiting old friends

To Palindrome
The journey to Palindrome was more or less event free. Arriving at a distant gas giant in the system, the shuttles would immediately head towards down to the planet, skim fuel, and then return to the freighter. The freighter meanwhile would be heading towards the gas giant - to reduce shuttle travel times - and then when it was nearly refueled it would head back to the 100 diameter jump limit so that once the fuel was refined it would be able to jump immediately.

The shuttles on the freighter were joined by other small craft and, in three shifts per day, they could fill the freighter in only four days. The work was exhausting for the pilots and the engineers manning the fuel purification plant, but it saved millions of credits as well as keeping them all away from prying eyes.

There were other ships that were encountered from time to time, but a megafreighter was a common sight in the Trojan Reach and it was not only enormous and slow but also clearly nonthreatening. The Harriers were prepped at all times to emerge to protect the freighter but were not needed.

Palindrome
When they arrived at Palindrome the freighter started its refueling routine while the party headed to the main planet in a Harrier to see Lady Yemar. She met them in her offices and was delighted not only that they were unharmed but also that they had been so overwhelmingly successful.

They told her about the preparations in the Wildeman base, the time in the space port waiting for the imperials, and then the brief battle that was ultimately very successful.

When it came to describing the ships that had been taken back from the imperial navy she became more somber. The presence of Admiral Darokyn and Hroal Irontooth's flagships interested her. Did that mean that there was a vacuum at the top levels of the pirate hierarchy? Slayed mentioned the same thought and that the imperial taskforce had perhaps been more successful than they had imagined.

Yemar reached over and typed something on her console, then asked the travellers what they would be doing next. They said that Theev was where they had agreed to take the freed prisoners, and then they would head to Drinax before heading to the space station in order to start repairs there.

She said that she had given orders to prepare her ship to take her to Theev, and that they should accompany her in the Harrier. They agreed and sent word to the freighter which would  arrive a day or two later. The early arrival gave a good chance to prepare the way.

To Theev
Arriving at Theev the party sent the code that allowed them to approach the planet and landed in a small hangar. The clam door closed above them and they exited to meet Yemar at her hangar.

After a quick discussion they decided to walk around Blacksand City while Yemar went to meet people she knew. They would then meet up for diner at the restaurant on the top floor of the Grand Hotel.

The contrast with their previous visit, when there had been the threat of an Imperial Navy taskforce arriving, was clear. Shops were open that had been shuttered, people seemed more cheerful, and there were more of them walking around and doing business. They took care of the trade goods that they had brought with them, and inquired about maintenance costs (which would  be astronomical) but generally took it easy and stretched their legs.

Dinner
That evening they dressed in their finest - Unter as bodyguard to Nitrane as usual - and headed to the Grand Hotel. There they were greeted and taken to a table some distance from the others where Lady Yemar and an elderly man with white hair were already seated. As they approached the man rose to greet them.

He introduced himself as Varuk Nirgal and welcomed them to Theev. His manners were impeccable and he was friendly and seemed to draw people into conversation with ease. The courses passed one after another - this was a very expensive meal - and talk turned to the raid on the Imperials and the freeing of the pirates.

Nirgal applauded the actions of the party and congratulated them. He admitted that he had become aware that there was a problem with so many pirate lords going missing, presumed deceased. He turned to Yemar and noted that not all was lost however and that perhaps for a while they would be less outwardly obvious. The hint was clear - no more loud brash pirate lords for the time being.

Lady Yemar broached the subject of the ships and Nirgal waved his hand and said that all repairs and maintenance would be taken care of by Theev as a thank you. He did caution that such a large fleet might be unwieldy and that the party might consider making donations of some of them to garner favours. He was clear that he did not mean himself.

Nirgal also noted that as they had done a great service to Theev they would be given certain rank and privilege on the planet. They would not be Pirate Lords, but a step below. Many of the opportunities and benefits without the responsibilities. This meant they were welcome to stay in the hotel that was set aside for the more senior members of the Theev ruling class. It also meant that they would be given bodyguards while on Theev - black widows - to accompany and protect them.

After dinner
As the mean ended Nirgal made his excuses and departed, escorted by a number of hulking minders who emerged from dark corners. Lady Yemar then breathed out a sign of relief. That was one of the two most powerful men on Theev - and had been before the pirate lords all disappeared too. His appreciation was genuine and they could not have expected a better result.

She asked what they wanted to do next, and the party and she talked for quite a long time discussing what to do with their fleet, where to go, and how they would approach the King.

As Slayed, Nitrane, Unter and Sparrow left, two black widows stepped up and walked with them, constantly scanning the area. This was different - in a good way. They seemed even more lethal up close. Arriving at the private hotel they noted that it made the Grand Hotel seem a little run down. They took up rooms and slept.

The fleet arrives
On the morning of the next day they received word that the freighter was en route from the jump limit and would dock at The Skull - the space station and shipyard - within two hours. They made their way up in a shuttle and saw that the arrival was expected.

A swarm of robots and shipyard workers took the ships out of the enormous cargo hold and they were distributed to different repair or docking stations depending on the needs. At every step they were kept informed via a terminal that was handed to them of the exact location and status of each. Another perk of having some standing now.

The first thing that they decided to do was send the mercenary cruiser out on a trading mission to Palindrome. They estimated that two round trips - about 8 weeks - would be sufficiently profitable and that the time would also be needed to find new crew members to man the freighter and to help repair the station. They badly needed engineers.

They arranged for fuel bladders to be installed in the freighter for 9000 tons of fuel - enough for another jump-3 which they would need for the next stage of their journey.

They also looked into setting up a base of operations on Theev, but when it looked like it would be about 5MCr per month for office space, protection, a hangar and storage facilities they decided against it. Perhaps Lady Yemar could receive messages on their behalf.

Departure
With the departure of the freighter set for eight weeks after it arrived, and with the mercenary cruiser busy trading, they decided that they could visit the space station in all the ships that were jump-3 or better, leaving some of them there to free up space on the freighter (now mostly full of fuel bladder) when they visited Drinax.

The fleet going to the space station would first stop at Salif and then jump to the station. This fleet consisted of the Sorrowful Maiden, Meatgrinder, the Far Scout and Fast Messenger, and the liner. It was this last one that would house the people left behind to start up the station again. When returning to Theev they'd just take the Sorrowful Maiden and Fast Messenger, leaving the others behind.

When they returned they would load up the freighter and head the most direct route - into empty hexes as they could refuel from the bladders - and take only three jumps to get to Drinax. There they would speak to the king and see what GeDeCo were up to.

To be continued.