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...
