Gathering the troops

Salif
Waiting on Salif for the traders to arrive, Sparrow wondered if there were any mercenaries available on Salif. Getting hold of Tiznee took some time as she was in meetings with advisors and delegates but eventually they met with her and asked about the mercenary situation. Tiznee said that she could not spare any of her own armed forces, but that she thought she knew of at least one company based on Salif and that she would get that information to them as soon as possible.

Within 24 hours the party were making their way to the offices of a mercenary company called Audley's Avengers. The door was opened by a ruddy faced stout gentlemen with white hair and mustache. He had a military bearing but was dressed in civvies.

Sparrow declared that they were looking for mercenaries and the gentleman ushered them in to sit around a small meeting table and got them tea. The other occupant of the small office was a younger man with cropped hair who kept at his work.

The travellers explained that they had a ticket for a mission in a system a few parsecs away that would involve ship to ship boarding actions against two large vessels. The agent for the mercenary company looked thoughtful and asked a small number of questions before agreeing that they can start negotiating.

The ticket:

• Employer Details: [Fully identified but information REDACTED]
• Employee Details: Audrey's Avengers
• Service Required: Commando-Retrieval mission.Target consists of two ships in space. Mission is to neutralise any defensive forces, to capture (fully intact where possible) the two ships and free (unharmed where possible) any prisoners on those ships. Unit size set at 50 combatants to achieve this mission.
• Service Location: [Fully identified but information REDACTED]
• Length of Service: Medium - 6 weeks on location, starting in 15 weeks. Duration to be extended should arrival of the targets not take place within those 6 weeks.
• Ticket Exposure: Hidden. Ticket offered only to Audley's Avengers
• Ticket Risk: Difficult. Defensive forces could be trained marines or equivalent. High tech armour and weapons will be required to counter.
• Pre-Ticket Support
• Services: Transportation to and from the location will be required. Location is [REDACTED] parsecs from Salif which can be reached via [REDACTED] J-3 jumps. The Employee to source transportation.
• Equipment: Boarding ships will be made available on location by the Employer.
• Post-Ticket Support
• Repair and Rearm: The Employer undertakes to fully repair and rearm Audley's Avengers on the completion of the ticket.
• Medical Care: The Employer undertakes to provide full medical care for unit members injured during the missions.
• Compensation: Taking into account mission type, location, duration, risk and services, the ticket is agreed at a price of 5.0 MCr, with 2.0 MCr up front to cover expenses and to ensure the unit is equipped appropriately..

Once the ticket was agreed the travellers returned to the space port to await the arrival of the traders. With this ticket in place there was no need to travel to Theev, so the party could instead go to the Space Station with Goff and Gobbo to have a look around and then shut it down and prepare to move all ships and crew to Wildeman's hidden base.

Arrivals
The Far Trader arrived first. It had been 18 months since the travellers sent it on its way, and even with a fairly casual schedule it was able to provide healthy profits, in part thanks to Vii Lon as broker and the fact it was plying a route between a Haven system and a Friendly system.

Next to arrive was the Frontier Trader coming from the space station. Everyone on board was delighted to see the travellers at last, and brought them up to speed with the small amounts of progress made on the station. Unfortunately with the departure of many crew members there was a need to hire new crew fairly soon. Slayed spent some time looking for crew and after careful consideration and vetting brought six new people to the hangar for induction.

To the Space Station
With plans in place retrieving the last remaining crew from the space station and shutting it down became the next task. As Goff and Gobbo had not see the station yet they were brought too in order to allow them to formulate plans for when the travellers returned.

On arrival the party could see that there was progress in repairing small things, but with most of the crew away on the Harriers supporting the party it was only a skeleton crew left on board. The travellers did check to see that the torpedoes were still in place and they were all there and appeared untampered with.

With everything shut down they jumped back to Salif. All ships and crew in the one place for the first time.

Salif, then Number One
Spending only a little time to formulate plans and see if more crew could be found (only one) the travellers prepared to jump their way across 15 parsecs to Wildeman.

They jumped as one group: three Harriers, a Frontier Trader, a Q-Ship, the Far Trader, the Far Scout, the Lab Ship and Goff''s ship. Next stop, Number One.

To be continued.

Reunion and rethinking

Arriving at Theev
The travellers arrived at Theev and requested permission to land at the downport, providing the special code that meant no missiles would fire at them. They landed and the giant clam-shell doors closed over their heads. No customs or inspections were required of course, so they planned what they would do.

Nitrane wanted to meet with Lomar Fisk, an admirer of hers and provider of tricked up transponders. Unter wanted to meet Davon who was Admiral Darokyn's right-hand man. Nitrane and Slayed wanted to talk to Admiral Darokyn as they had not seen him for nearly two years. Lastly Slayed wanted to meet with Zheukvi the Corsair who had wanted to meet with him for nearly 18 months ever since asking Krrsh to pass a message on.

In addition to meeting with friends old and (possibly) new, the cargo they bought on Palindrome needed to be sold and they thought that Klim Gobbo would like to get some high tech mining drones while here.

Heading out along one of the passages and into a main hub of the space station Nitrane and Unter noticed that there was a different vibe to the place compared to the previous timed they'd been here. There were fewer people out and about and the ones that were seemed more focused, moving faster and less interested in others. There were also more of the black-clad Widows of Blacksand around. Something was up.

Nitrane got hold of Fisk who was less effusively polite than other times. He said that he was in a rush and that he was about to leave. Nitrane asked why. Fisk was astonished and asked "don't you know?". Nitrane asked to meet him and he said he'd be at the spaceport in half an hour anyway as he had a ship to catch.

Unter tried to talk to Davon but was unable to reach him. This was not unusual as he was often out on missions but it was disappointing not to reach him. Slayed sent a message to Zheukvi announcing that he was in Blacksand City and would be happy to meet Zheukvi to talk. The message was taken and a response would be forthcoming he was told.

Meanwhile, after selling the cargo and picking up some more, Sparrow, Slayed and Gobbo went to buy 20 tons of mining drones from a reputable dealer. They asked them to be delivered to the docking bay and returned.

Fisk arrived and he and Nitrane accompanied him to the docking bay that his liner was leaving from. He explained that the Imperial Navy was in the sector doing a sweep for pirates. This happened every few years but this time seemed different. They had stayed around for a lot longer than before, and were more ruthless - intent on killing pirates rather than scaring them off. They arrived and, awkwardly, he shook her hand and hoped to see her again one day.

Meanwhile Slayed had started looking for Darokyn. He had no way to directly contact him - Darokyn usually contacted you - but started asking around. He at least had some more knowledgeable contacts than last time but it seemed Darokyn was not wanting to be easily found. What he did lern though was that Hrol Irontooth, Peter Vallis and a pirate lord they'd not heard of before called Dread Ashen had all been captured or killed by the Imperial Navy. There was no mention of Darokyn. He also learned that pirate bases in Exe and The World had been compromised. Some of Slayed's leads would report back the next morning so the travellers stayed on Lady Yemar's ship overnight.

The next morning, with all cargo and mining drones, they learned that Zheukvi was on The Skull and would be leaving in six hours, but there would be time to meet if Slayed could come up to the orbiting moon/spaceport soon. They also learned that Darokyn was not on Theev and so there was no other reason to stay. They talked about getting new identities but surmised that their contact would be long gone if the Imperial Navy were getting close, but also that they didn't want to stay around waiting for the navy to arrive. So they went to The Skull.

The Skull
Arriving at The Skull the party found that they were not far from where Zheukvi and his men could be found. They all made their way there, leaving Goff, Gobbo, Tiznee and the others on the ship. They didn't expect they would be long.

Zheukvi turned out to have multiple bays at one edge of the spaceport and had taken over, to all intents and purposes, the nearest bar as his centre of operations and heavy drinking.

Slayed learned here that Zheukvi was a Vargr, as were many of his crew. Slightly unusually they were all quite well behaved, politely apologising and getting out of the way as the approached the booth that Zheukvi could be found at.

As soon as the Vargr captain saw Slayed he stood up, growled a surprisingly cordial welcome, and shook his hand. He then shook everyone elses hand and asked them to sit. This was not at all what Slayed and the others had expected. He was not the archetypal Vargr corsair at all.

Zheukvi started by ordering a round of drinks, and Slayed followed suit. It has been long established that Slayed is a charming and entertaining host and as a guest he was equal parts diplomat a d rogue. He and Zheukvi got along very well. It was decided that they'd not mention the situation on Falcon (where Zheukvi had apparently planted a bomb to extort the inhabitants) as they didn't know him yet.

The conversation unearthed some interesting facts - or brags - from Zheukvi. Among other things he let slip that his based in Exe was compromised. The Imperials had raided it while he was luckily not there, but it was close. Slayed told him about the pirate prisoners being ferried to a prison planet in an Imperial convoy. This angered Zheukvi but he sighed as there was nothing he could do. Slayed hinted that perhaps he might think about doing something and Zheukvi smiled as if that confirmed something he'd been thinking.

The Vargr then got to the point. He'd heard about Slayed for some time now. That he was an excellent tactician, a cunning pirate, and a strong leader. Perhaps, Zheukvi thought, they could join up. He'd spoken to Darokyn and Lady Yemar about Slayed and his crew and heard good things. He'd be happy to follow Slayed, at least while they got to know each other, and they'd have time to do that as Zheukvi intended to stay low for a while until the Imperials left. He also wondered if Slayed had anywhere to stay out of trouble for the time being.

Slayed looked to Sparrow, Nitrane and Unter. They talked and while Zheukvi seemed nice enough the others, particularly Sparrow, sensed a trap or deception and in the end the decision what that they should go their separate ways for the time being. Zheukvi looked disappointed but thanked Slayed for his time and stood, rousing his crew to their ships.

Zheukvi shook hands with Slayed, wished him well. He and his crew would find somewhere to lay low for a few months. Hopefully they'd see each other in a year or so when the stars aligned and their paths crossed again.

Slayed and the others headed back to the ship. They noted when Zheukvi left in his four Corsairs and were careful to leave after him and head to the 100 diameter limit in a different direction.

They jumped to Salif.

On Salif
On arrival Tiznee announced that she was on board and they had an escort of two system defense boats and priority clearance to land at the presidential dock. They had no need to pass through customs and a number of grav trucks were waiting to take them to the hangar where some of their ships were to be found. The travellers learned that the Harriers had arrived and also that the Far Scout was on planet. Goff determined that his ship was also here, having travelled here on automation and landed at the cargo docks.

They bade farewell to Tiznee who hugged each of them tearfully, and very dramatically, and wished them well.

On arriving at the docking bay they found it to be a huge covered bay for ships of around 40,000 tons. This seemed to have been set aside for their sole use and all four ships - five when Goff fetched his - fitted easily. The crew were overjoyed to see them. They'd been kicking their heels for many months but the far trader had been bringing in money and they treated it as a long paid holiday.

The covered bay had been set up for long-term occupancy. There was a bar and food preparation area in the corner. Many mismatched chairs and a holo-display were adjacent. Portable sleeping quarters had also been stacked in another corner so nobody really had to leave. Food and supplies were delivered and nobody outside the hangar needed to know anything. When they left or arrived in a ship nobody asked any questions. It was pretty ideal.

They had also brought things from the space station to repair in more comfortable surroundings but the going was slow because most of the crew had decided to leave and so it was only a dozen or so who remained on Salif and the station. The arrival of the Harriers had boosted numbers by another twenty or so.

The far trader and the frontier trader were both due in the next four or five days. The far trader, on its trading route between Number One and Salif was not as profitable as the Torpol-Drinax run, but was not harrassed by Lord Wrax and the star guard. From time to time the Salif system defense boats had escorted them when there was trouble afoot so all in all it was a nice easy trading route. So much so that they'd started a trading company, headquartered here.

The frontier trader ferried things to and from the space station. There were only a handful of people in the space station at any one time and while there were some ships docked there wasn't any real activity going on.

Learning all this the travellers were disappointed to discover that they had only a handful of marines, not the 30+ they hoped to find. This presented a problem. They needed trained marines to board the freighter and the prisoner ship to execute their plan of freeing them all. Someone mentioned that perhaps Tiznee could lend them some marines but that was a very unlikely outcome even with the relationship they had with her.

They had a couple of days while the Harriers underwent long overdue maintenance and also while they waited for the traders. They spent some of this time planning and considering their options.

Goff and Gobbo thought that the secret base in Wildeman would be relatively simple to get up and running. Some fuel and maintenance should see at least partial functionality. Slayed admitted that being in the system that they hoped to ambush the convoy would give them time to plan and prepare. Unter pointed out that there were many mercenary companies based on Theev and perhaps there ware some still there that they could hire.

With the deadline of the pirate prisoner convoy weighing on their minds they decided that Slayed and the others would take the Far Scout to Theev and see if they could fund some marines to hire. The others would travel to the space station and fetch the last remaining people and shut it all down. This would take a couple of weeks and so they could meet back here in two weeks and them proceed to Wildeman.

To be continued.

Needs some work

Secret Wildeman Base
After returning to the ship after the initial look around the hidden base in Wildeman, the travellers, with  Goff, Gobbo and Lady Yemar, discussed what might happen next.

Everyone was keen to have more of a look around, but the party were keen to head back to their Space Station as quickly as possible to be back in tie for the Imperial prisoner convoy. Spending another day or two looking around wouldn't be too much of a delay so that's the time limit they game themselves.

Before that however was the matter of why they had come here in the first place. Lady Nitrane turned to Gobbo and told him that they had need of an expert miner/belter as they have an old base, near an asteroid field, that needed raw materials to bring it up to working order. She answered his questions, without giving anything away of where or what the station is. He asked to speak with Goff, whom he trusted and knew, and returned with another question - what were they offering?

Lady Nitrane advised him that they'd obtained Goff's services on the understanding that he'd get 10% of the manufacturing output for one year. Gobbo thought about it and asked for 5% and that the travellers provide him with the tools he needed - namely a seeker ship equipped in the manner that he needed, which would remain theirs after he completed the job.

The travellers agreed to this and he said he'd just need to return to Wildeman itself to pack and pick up his wife. His ship would be put into storage as it did not have a jump drive and nobody had any means of getting it to the space station.

Having agreed terms, and with the group rested and vacc suits recharged, they returned into the secret base. Wary at first about booby traps, and possibly critters, the base turned out to be devoid of traps and was just as it appeared, an abandoned base that people had apparently expected to return to. Nothing appeared to have been hastily left and there were no signs of struggle, explosions or dangerous activities of any sort. If things were quiet now it was just because they'd run out of fuel or battery life.

Base Description

The base comprised of:

• Residential - the rooms were all cut out of the asteroid rock but were appointed as staterooms. The fresher, beds, storage and other furniture and objects were clearly brought in from different ships. Some staterooms were much more luxurious and spacious than the majority - perhaps for Tamby and his lieutenants.
• Main drag - the first large corridor that they encountered outside  the residential area stretched along  the entirely of the base. Gobbo christened it the 'main drag' and the term stuck. It was about 8 metres wide and had cargo cranes along the roof and what appeared to be a mag-lev tramway on the floor. it seemed that large amounts of cargo or people could travel quite quickly from one end to the other.
• Concourse - this area consisted of large windows (perhaps from luxurious liners) overlooking the docking area, as well as being a large gathering and socialising area.
• Commons - cafes, bars and recreation areas were in evidence at a much wider part of the concourse, and could easily accommodate well over one hundred people at a time. The machinery and appliances were all from on-board ships - a recurring theme.
• Docking area - well over 200,000 cubic meters with docking arms, airlocks and boarding tubes - all seemingly from captured craft. The airlocks were of all sizes - passenger and cargo sizes - and lead to the concourse area. No ships were currently in the docking area.
• Fuel - the massive fuel tanks were located under the concourse and were accessible through hatches. The fuel tanks were all small but there were many of them, better to avoid catastrophic fuel leaks, but mostly because the fuel tanks all seemed to be taken from captured ships./
• Commercial - adjacent to the concourse were stores (more like those run by a company quartermaster than a proper shop) as well as offices that appeared to be merchants or traders or brokers.
• Biosphere - a large area of hydroponics growing racks as well as water and air purification and reclamation. This meant that the inhabitants didn't need to go to Wildeman for supplies.
• Power Plant - many small power plants linked together, all clearly taken from captured ships. Need more power? Capture a ship. The maglev and cargo cranes extend into here as well as the biosphere.
• Cargo and Storage - Huge areas, much higher than the rest of the crew areas of the base, containing cargo racks and cargo handling conveyors. Massive hoppers of raw materials took up a corner; raw ores through to refined and smelted products. In addition there were some containers of mundane items - nothing very valuable.
• Manufacturing - Huge ranks of machines and computer terminals stood in one large chamber. It appeared as if just about anything that could be made here would be. 
• Shipyard - fully equipped for even quite large ships, this shipyard looks like it specialised in asteroid based system defence boats. Many sections of hulls and machinery from captured ships are found in a large scrapyard that is adjacent: Hull plates, stacks of turrets, manoeuvre drives, electronics - you name it and it.s probably here somewhere.
• Mining - ranks of mining drones, docking bays for recharging and receptacles for receiving the mines materials with conveyors to lead to refinery, smelters and cargo areas.
• Refinery and Smelting - large machines that could break down mined raw materials, and molecule sifters and re-combiners to create materials needed for manufacturing.
• Defences - near the entrance to then base, as ships would enter, was a control centre and missile bay. Woe betide anyone entering that chamber without permission.

Return to Wildeman
After exploring, and deciding to seal up the hatch they came in through, they left to return to Wildeman itself. Arriving they noticed a Patrol Cruiser, surrounded by Imperial Marines. Considering the options, the travellers remained on-board while Gobbo put his ship in storage and returned within the hour with his wife, Mindy.

Exocet
Leaving Wildeman as nonchalantly as possible, they jumped to Exocet, where they quickly refuelled, bought some cargo as a cover. Exocet had only a few dozen inhabitants - with more employees of the space station brought in from outside by GeDeCo than actually lived outside on the planet surface. With no intention of leaving the starport they kept to them,selves and as soon as everything was ready they jumped to Marduk.

Mindy and Lady Nitrane didn't get on very well. Nitrane, to all appearances an eighteen year old girl dressed in fancy clothes  and very much expecting things done for her, contrasted with Mindy, a miner's wife and solidly working class who got in and did things, and looked older than her years.

Marduk
Unfortunately as soon as they arrived in Marduk proximity sensors identified that they were very close (within 10,000 km) to an Imperial Gazelle which immediately hailed them and demanded that they stop and prepare for customs inspection. Discussions broke out immediately about whether to comply, but quickly it was decided to shop rather than get shot at, and everyone made sure any illegal items were hidden from sight.

The Imperials came alongside and boarded through a docking tube. Two marines, a marine commander and a imperial officer came aboard. Having decided to use their real identities, the papers for the travellers were in order, and very luckily their names, known in relation to the Treasure ship incident, didn't trigger any special response from the Imperials. The fact that the ship appeared to be a merchant vessel - some high class passengers, some low class, and many tons of cargo - clinched the deal for the Imperials, who cautioned  that there were pirates in the area and left without any in depth searches taking place.

On Marduk they sold and bought cargo and refuelled as quickly as possible. They then jumped to Palindrme.

Palindrome
Lady Yemar asked what the travellers would be doing next. If they were going to Theev she would come with them, otherwise she would leave at Palindrome and the ship would continue to Salif with Tiznee and the party. They decided that Theev would be a good idea - they wanted to touch base with some people they knew, and there might be some specialist mining equipment that Gobbo could use, and so the ship once again refuelled and departed as quickly as possible.

To be continued.

That's not a moon!

Looking for Gobbo

Arriving in Wildeman in Lady Yemar's ship the travellers made their way to the spaceport. They docked and after making their way through basic security checks, followed Goff to the dingiest, dirtiest space bar they could find because Goff figured that's where is friend would be.

After asking around for Klim Gobbo they found out he was out prospecting and that his wife, who could be found at his office, might be able to help. Goff had never met Gobbo's wife, not having seen him for many years.

Upon arriving Goff was typically blunt which put Mindy on edge, but Lady Nitrane was more diplomatic and after a little while they learned that Gobbo would likely be out for a month and that he was at the trailing Lagrange point of the nearest gas giant where six large asteroids and many smaller asteroids could be found. Because Lady Nitrane looked so honest and trustworthy Mindy gave her a special code to use in comms messages to let Gobbo know they were friends.

Thanking Mindy they made their way back to the ship and waited for Lady Yemar and Tiznee to return from what shopping they had managed to do. Agreeing that waiting a month would not be a worthwhile use of their time they decided to spend a couple of days heading out to where Klim Gobbo might be found.

Travelling to the gas giant

On the way to the gas giant, which would take two days, Yemar and Slayed imagined, for every other ship they detected, how they would capture it. Some would be hailed, others they'd open fire. In this way some time was passed while Yemar reminisced about her past life as a pirate lord.

As the two days passed Slayed took the opportunity to tell everyone about the item he'd pocketed just as everyone was leaving the vault on Vorito's space port. He'd managed to decode it and it was news - actually intelligence - that the Imperial Fleet currently in Byrni were planning to send their megafreighter and liner back towards the Imperium with all the pirates they'd captured up to that point. The convoy would leave in a few weeks, arriving in Iligan in 18 weeks or so. 

The travellers immediately agreed it was something they should do something about. Not only would they be poking the Imperium in the eye, they would also have a lot of grateful pirate crew members and possibly some new large ships depending on how things went. The timing was tight though; they'd need to travel quickly if they wanted to get the Harriers and other ships back into the Wildeman system which was the last opportunity to attack the convoy before it reached the prison planet.

Lady Yemar agreed that they should do free the captives if possible, although she herself no longer had any pirating vessels having changed career to planetary ruler some time ago. She was interested in the possibilities of the Q Ship that was mentioned as the party discussed options. A ship with so many marines and a weapon to disable power plants would be useful.

Arriving

Once near the Lagrange point they opened the comms channel and hailed Gobbo but got no response. The area was very large though, so they started travelling through the area and sending out a comms message every hour.

After a while they received a crackled response asking who they were, to which Goff said it was him and Gobbo asked who he was with. Goff gave a suitable answer and Gobbo gave them directions where to find him, which was on a medium-sized asteroid somewhere near the middle of the field.

On the surface of the asteroid was Gobbos ship and sensors showed that it was tethered next to what appeared to be a hatch. Sparrow landed the ship close by and they agreed to meet outside. Everyone was very curious but Lady Nitrane noticed that Lady Yemar was a little apprehensive for some reason. She took her aside and asked if anything was wrong, to which Yemar responded that she'd known of someone in Wildeman but not Gobbo and not anything to worry about.

Exiting the ship in Boarding Vacc Suits they made their way over to Gobbo, who turned out to be a wizened old man. He had not seen his friend in many years but their friendship was there for all to see as they shook hands and patted each other on the back, with Gobbo's face lighting up when he saw Goff.

They asked about the hatch and Gobbo said that he'd noticed it only because he was doing a fine scan of the asteroid. Anything less than a square metre by square metre search would not have found it. And when he did find it he decided to open it. He invited the traveller's to come with him into it as he said he'd found something very interesting indeed.

Into the depths

Given that the gravity on the asteroid was very small they could all just float down the passage under the hatch. About 10 feet in diameter it was larger than normal but not remarkably so. Lighting their helmet lights they saw that at the bottom of the shaft, about 100 feet down, was a large mining laser which had cut through another hatch - this one considerably thicker and vault-like.

Looking through the cut-through door a very faint glow was visible. It seemed that the lighting in the vault was powered somehow, but very very weakly. Beyond the door was a vault of some kind, with a larger door across from where they came in.

The vault was empty but Gobbo mentioned that he'd found something when he first entered, and handed them two bottles and a note. The bottles were old gin bottles that Nitrane and Sparrow recognised as a very good brand from about a century ago. The note was in very fine calligraphy and said simply...

Looking at the unopened door no controls were at first apparent, but after some searching a seamless panel was opened that had what appeared to be a DNA lock. Rather bemused by what Gobbo had found, and not being in mind to start the week or more long exercise of cutting through the next door, the party and Gobbo returned to the surface.

Going deeper

Everyone was interested to know what was behind the next door. It was suggested that power cables could be sent down into the tunnel to provide power to the door. Lady Yemar and Tiznee, who had not gone down with the others, exchanged glances. The bottles and note were also handed to the ladies who made no remark. The plan to open the door somehow by circumventing the DNA lock saw Lady Yemar and Tiznee exchange glances again, and Tiznee arched an eyebrow.

This exchange was not lost on some of the travellers. Slayed asked if she knew anything more and Lady Yemar sighed  She said "It sounds a lot like Grandpa Tamby".

Tamby Dour

A few in the party had not heard of Tamby Dour, but Unter especially had heard of him. Known as "The Kraken" he was a notorious pirate - possibly the most notorious - and attacked shipping within four parsecs of Wildeman about a century ago. The Imperial Navy finally intercepted and killed him after many years of chasing shadows and wearing his forces out. At his might he had nearly a hundred ships but by the end he had only a handful left. Nobody ever found his base of operations.

Asked what he was like Yemar said she'd never met him but had heard stories from her father. The fact that there seemed to be some hidden vault, and possibly more, here in Wildeman was something that might be related to Tamby, but the bottles and note were in her mind clinching arguments.

Cracking the door

With a possible DNA source attention changed to getting the door open in the normal manner. They went down the hole again to check that the power worked, and when it did they took measurements and returned to Gobbo's ship to make something in his workshop that Yemar could use to safely apply her hand to the unlocking mechanism. This took an hour or two and at the end of it they returned down the hole and all stood in front of the door.

The device was attached to the wall and pressurised. Yemar put her hand to the lock and a small almost indistinguishable noise was heard. Removing her hand they all noticed that a small green light was now showing and it appeared her DNA had done the trick. The panel to open the door was pressed and nothing much happened other than some grinding that was felt more than heard and the door moving a fraction of an inch.

Slayed and Nitrane decided to put their backs into it and gave the door a helping hand or four. They got the door to move a little and Goff and Slayed then had a go, which got the door open a crack. Gobbo quickly returned to his ship and got a hydraulic mine joist which he applied and eventually the door opened.

Inside
What they saw was a corridor. That corridor had rooms, looking a lot like staterooms, leading off it. Looking in some of the rooms they found that many things were well preserved due to the vacuum. Other things had not fared as well for the same reasons. The rooms contained some possessions, as if they'd been left one day by someone who intended to return. They did not look like they'd been abandoned in a hurry.

The corridors extended over a large distance, and elevators suggested there might be other floors. Tens of staterooms were on these corridors. This was no small vault.

Eventually they reached an opening to what looked like a concourse. Commercial ventures, similarly abandoned, were visible. Common areas were here too This was somewhere that many people had lived, and with commerce there was the suggestion that there was a small economy thriving here so this was not just a large hideout.

The concourse led to a massive - incredibly so - docking area. Tens of thousands of tons of ships could be docked in here along each of many concourse arms. That meant there must be huge doors somewhere on the surface of the asteroid. The docking facilities were fairly advanced too - possibly TL13 or 14. There were no ships visible, but the area was so large they could not see it all.

The whole complex was only partially explored in the two hours they set aside. They had not seen any power or maintenance or refuelling facilities, but they mist be somewhere. The complex was completely unpressurised - they had passed through normal and massive airlocks which were all open. This place appeared to have been abandoned for decades - possible a century.

To be continued.

Debunked

Returning to Drinax
Before they arrived back at Drinax Lady Yemar asked how Lady Nitrane would approach discussing what  had happened on Vorito. Nitrane thought for a moment and declared that she'd tell people the truth, but would perhaps seek out Scholar Voha as there were some questions she had that he might be able to answer. She seemed resigned to her fate.

The ship emerged from jump-space into Drinax and Lady Yemar immediately advised starport control that they were a diplomatic vessel with the rulers of Palindrome and Salif, as well as the Drinaxian delegate. They were given clearance to land at the King's private dock and a few hours later they were landed and ready to disembark.

Waiting at the port were Princes Rao, who gathered up Lady Yemar and Tiznee Zazzle, and Lady Hil and her entourage who gathered up Lady Nitrane. Sayed noticed that Rachando was not among the welcoming party and went to find him while Sparrow noticed Kasiyl (who was not so much a part of the welcoming committee as someone who just happened to be around),and went off to speak to him. Unter didn't notice anyone he wanted to talk to, so went off to his old lodgings to see if there were any messages.

Reception
On the way to the reception chamber Lady Hil asked Nitrtane how she was and how it had all done. Nitrane said that she was fine, that the Vorito ceremony had gone well, and that really Lady Hil should really have been the delegate. They swept through the corridors, Lady Nitrane looking for a way to peel off and seek out Scholar Voha, but with no opportunity arising they eventually arrived. What they saw was King Oleb, dressed in a smoking jacket and holding a cigar in one hand and a glass of whisky in the other, talking to Goff who was similarly attired but holding a brandy.

Lady Yemar and Tiznee initially held the King's attention, but as they moved off to speak to Princess Rao and Prince Harrick Oleb turned to Nitrane and asked what she had gotten up to. She replied it was all good. that there was nothing much to report at all, and that it was all fine. Really. Nothing to see here. He nodded. She asked about the Torpolian Water Polo and he laughed saying that it was a foolish game, and that really he'd some to his senses. The King was apparently still easily distracted and turned to someone else. Nitrane started breathing again.

Scholar's Tower
Excusing herself, Nitrane made her way to the Scholar's Tower to meet with Scholar Voha. He was available immediately and so she entered his office only a few minutes after leaving the King. She explained that she'd encountered a hologram that introduced itself as Professor Jarl, a psychohistorian. Voha had not heard of the man, but went on at some length about Psycho-history being a completely debunked pseudo-science. Nitrane, he said, should not worry about it at all. It's just mumbo-jumbo and there's nothing accurate about any projections or forecasts.

Making Plans
Nitrane was much relieved, and returned to the ship. There she met the others. Slayed had talked to Rachando who seemed to take an alternative view to Scholar Voha in that he was going to actively start looking for somewhere else to set up shop. The fact that psychohistory was debunked was well and good, but GeDeCo (or certain important people within it) might not consider it so, and any agreements made would be acted upon by GeDeCo - and fast.

Sparrow had spoken to Kasiyl who had been hearing rumours of the Aslan iHatei (young landless warriors) forming near the border of Aslan space. He was worried, but not unduly so as they took years to get their acts together and raid somewhere. Goff also returned to the ship. The King was fine in small doses but spending long periods of time with him was tiresome. The brandy was good though.

Yemar and Tiznee finally made it back to the ship and the party made plans. They could just return to Salif to meet with their crew there or on the station, or they could take the opportunity to grab some help in repairing the station along the way. With a jump-4 capability they chose the latter approach.

The approach they decided upon was:

• Tech-World - to find an expert in robotics, and possibly pick up some robots to get the repairs started.
• Falcon - to find an expert in life support and living in an artificial environment indefinitely. Goff knew someone they could talk to.
• Pandora - to find an expert in hydroponics and biospheres.
• Wildeman - to find Goff's friend who is an expert miner.

Tech-World
They jumped to Tech-World and met with the ruling council of scholars. They asked for some military style robots to help protect them while repairing the station. Also some repair drones were ordered which would do a lot of the basic repair work. They were told it would take a week to manufacture these so they decided to jump to Falcon and then return.

Falcon
They arrived in Falcon and because Goff was with them they were allowed to dock. Falcon was a hollowed-out asteroid, dating back to the Solomani wave of colonisation. Over many generations the natives of Falcon had become dependent on Falcon’s precise mix of bacteria and germs, and had to wear encounter suits when travelling beyond their home. Visitors were not allowed to interact directly with the Falcon environment – a small section of the asteroid was set aside for them, and it was to this area that the travellers were directed.

Goff's friend met them but due to a father unfortunate turn of events, involving the locating of a bomb on the outer surface of their asteroid by a blackmailing pirate as well as the difficulties involved in getting his required atmospheric conditions right, he was unable and unwilling to come with them. Some discussion about the bomb situation uncovered the name of the pirate as Zhuekvi, which turned out to be the name of the person who very much wanted to talk to Slayed just as soon as he could return to Theev.

With no success in getting a person to come with them, and no immediate plans to help find a bomb (with Goff's friend making it very clear he was not asking for help) they returned to Tech-World.

Tech-World
When they arrived their new robots and drones were loaded on their ship, but they had in the meantime thought of new robots to get.

First off they asked about hydroponics and agricultural robots. These were available almost immediately and turned out to be short squad utility robots that were currently outfitted and programmed for the very things they needed, but which could be modified to perform other tasks later. In addition an expert roboticist would be desirable, but to that the council had no immediate answer and requested that they rest for the night and in the morning there would be an answer.

The next morning they were introduced to Maria, who was an expert robotics specialist, and who herself happened to be a robot. They introduced themselves and found that Maria was not only well mannered and intelligent, but had a good personality and even a sense of humour.

They loaded up their robots and made the jump to Wildeman.

To be continued.

(edit: last jump destination changed)