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...
Sunday, 21 July 2019
Saturday, 13 July 2019
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...
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...
Sunday, 7 July 2019
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.
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.
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