Fantasy turned out to be very nice. The atmosphere perhaps a little on the dense side, but temperate and wet and lush and green.
Locating the coordinates found on the pad in Dr Astor's lab, the party's scout ship did a scan of the area and, unusual for a TL3 planet, detected a source of energy near a small settlement. The starport (such as it was) was about 300 km from this location.
The landing pad was more a patch of dirt that had been cleared, and the port authority a small hut with a youngster poking their head out. The refuelling facilities were a small pond from which the ship's refuelling hose could be used to suck up water (but mind the frogs).
Asking about other facilities the youth in charge of the starport suggested that he could get some breads, cheeses and dried meat which were what people usually asked for. The party agreed that they sounded fine but to hold off getting any just yet.
The party took the air raft to near the settlement at the found coordinates. There Sparrow was left with the air/raft while the other three proceeded on foot. Aware that Slayed and Unter had better stealth Lady Nitrane stopped a little way short of the settlement to let the others scout to either side of the settled area.
Slayed found a high tech level building, a prefabricated construction of moderate size and integrated into the village. There were stacks of wood to one side and a small cart leaning against another wall. Unter came around the other side and eventually noticed the building also. Meeting up with Nitrane again they returned to the air/raft.
As they were deciding how to approach the situation they heard the unmistakable sounds of a space ship landing, just the other side of the settlement.
Wednesday, 2 May 2018
Peter Vallis has a point
The trip to Sink was terrible. Klowaaar demanded that he be given the best stateroom and kept up whinging, growling and whining about it until he was satisfied that he was in it. Then he started up about not being fed the right food, given the right drink, not being waited on hand and foot to quite the desired level, and so on and so forth.
Eventually Lady Nitrane persuaded him that all was in order and he settled down, just as the party arrived at Sink.
Sink is a plant with only one inhabited settlement - a monastery of monks who sink things into the swamp that makes up the landmass of the planet. For religious reasons.
Approaching the designated landing place the party observed a number of stepped pyramidal buildings and a lot of heavy lifting equipment. It appeared that lots of heavy things were dropped into the swamp, leading Unter to comment that there might be some interesting things down there.
As they landed they suddenly noticed the Aslan's ship just two landing pads away. Klowaaar noticed as well and started to rant and rave about the pain he would inflict on the ship thief. Lady Nitraane exited and talked to a small monk in an orange robe (who turned out to be the Senior Brother in Charge of Star Ports) to arrange for fuel but not for anything to be sunk into the swamp. He clapped his hands and had the novices fetch the carts of fuel to hand pump into the ship.
At this point Klowaaar escaped the grasp of the party and ran across the concrete to his ship, whereupon he started banging on the hatch in anger. The party started up to follow him at around the time that Klowaaar remembered that he had the codes to enter the ship and he proceeded to open the hatch and disappear inside.
Slayed was moments behind Klowaaar, and then the rest of the party followed in to see the Aslan on the bridge shouting at four bodies lying on the floor. Slayed had been so close behind that there was no way this was done by Klowaaar so the bodies were a mystery.
The bodies were dressed in normal ship-board attire. Checking them for marks none were found, and it was seen that they were lying in a row, as if put there. A quick medical scan showed them to all be alive. By this time Klowaaar had been persuaded to calm down as none were the ship-thief.
Unter and Slayed looked through the ship and found that only one stateroom had been used recently, and that by the captains chair on the bridge were ration bar wrappers for about one person's consumption. Checking the computer, Sparrow found that everything had been wiped recently but that in the active memory was some audio of muffled voices talking normally, then they got heated, then there was a small hiss followed by four thumps. After that a voice can be heard saying 'I'm sorry' over and over.
Telling the Senior Brother in Charge of Star Ports about their find the party helped take them in to the infirmary. They then asked the brother if another ship had been here recently, to which he said that one had left only a few hours ago. The party then asked that their ship be refuelled as fast as possible as they had to follow the ship. Klowaaar asked where they were going, and reluctantly they told him it was Fantasy.
Just as they were about to leave word reached the travellers that one of the four crew found on Klowaaars ship had come around. Lady Nitrane went to see him and ask some questions. The crewman answered them, possibly under the impression that Nitrane was Drinax Police or similar and corroborated the theory that Astor was the perp, and that he'd gassed them once they refused to swap ships with him. Theirs was already refuelled and ready to go.
Taking off the party headed to Fantasy.
Eventually Lady Nitrane persuaded him that all was in order and he settled down, just as the party arrived at Sink.
Sink is a plant with only one inhabited settlement - a monastery of monks who sink things into the swamp that makes up the landmass of the planet. For religious reasons.
Approaching the designated landing place the party observed a number of stepped pyramidal buildings and a lot of heavy lifting equipment. It appeared that lots of heavy things were dropped into the swamp, leading Unter to comment that there might be some interesting things down there.
As they landed they suddenly noticed the Aslan's ship just two landing pads away. Klowaaar noticed as well and started to rant and rave about the pain he would inflict on the ship thief. Lady Nitraane exited and talked to a small monk in an orange robe (who turned out to be the Senior Brother in Charge of Star Ports) to arrange for fuel but not for anything to be sunk into the swamp. He clapped his hands and had the novices fetch the carts of fuel to hand pump into the ship.
At this point Klowaaar escaped the grasp of the party and ran across the concrete to his ship, whereupon he started banging on the hatch in anger. The party started up to follow him at around the time that Klowaaar remembered that he had the codes to enter the ship and he proceeded to open the hatch and disappear inside.
Slayed was moments behind Klowaaar, and then the rest of the party followed in to see the Aslan on the bridge shouting at four bodies lying on the floor. Slayed had been so close behind that there was no way this was done by Klowaaar so the bodies were a mystery.
The bodies were dressed in normal ship-board attire. Checking them for marks none were found, and it was seen that they were lying in a row, as if put there. A quick medical scan showed them to all be alive. By this time Klowaaar had been persuaded to calm down as none were the ship-thief.
Unter and Slayed looked through the ship and found that only one stateroom had been used recently, and that by the captains chair on the bridge were ration bar wrappers for about one person's consumption. Checking the computer, Sparrow found that everything had been wiped recently but that in the active memory was some audio of muffled voices talking normally, then they got heated, then there was a small hiss followed by four thumps. After that a voice can be heard saying 'I'm sorry' over and over.
Telling the Senior Brother in Charge of Star Ports about their find the party helped take them in to the infirmary. They then asked the brother if another ship had been here recently, to which he said that one had left only a few hours ago. The party then asked that their ship be refuelled as fast as possible as they had to follow the ship. Klowaaar asked where they were going, and reluctantly they told him it was Fantasy.
Just as they were about to leave word reached the travellers that one of the four crew found on Klowaaars ship had come around. Lady Nitrane went to see him and ask some questions. The crewman answered them, possibly under the impression that Nitrane was Drinax Police or similar and corroborated the theory that Astor was the perp, and that he'd gassed them once they refused to swap ships with him. Theirs was already refuelled and ready to go.
Taking off the party headed to Fantasy.
Trouble on Tech-World
Tech-World
Arriving in system the travellers made contact with the starport and requested permission to land. They are given instructions and follow the virtual path provided. From orbit, Tech-World looks like a rusty wasteland. As the travellers got closer they saw the starport - a huge matt black dome, and around it the city which looked like a circuit board.
The landing instructions drew the ship towards the dome whereupon a platform formed out of the trillions of nanobots that make up the starport, and it extended out for the ship to land on. Upon landing the platform retracted, drawing the ship into a hangar sized just right for the ship. Normal robots approached the ship preparing to refuel, repair or unload the ship as required.
A female figure of steel and brass approached and waited patiently at the hatch. When Sparrow approached she introduced herself as Sophia, who could be the guide and aide for their stay on Tech-World.
Meeting new friends
With customs formalities taken care of, the party asked Sophia for information about robots. Lady Nitrane remembered that the party will need robots for the space station. Slayd asked about weapons, but the planet only makes weapons that will be used by robots.
As the party were travelling to a robot showroom, Sophia suddenly turned to Slayd and said "Admiral, do not ask questions. Behave normally. My masters wish to speak with you. Follow me.".The party followed. Leading through passages long unused, Sophia led the party to an exit that overlooked the dirt surface of the planet. Visible were two GeDeCo guards but the party nonchalantly passed by and reached the indicated building. Inside were three people.
When a representative of Drinax was known to be on the planet, and one with a good standing (through Peter Vallis' contacts) a decision was made to approach Slayd and put forward a proposition.
The Tech-World starport is owned and controlled by GeDeCo, whereas the rest of the planet is under the control of the scientific council. Because everything goes through the starport that means GeDeCo have an impressive control over the planet. The council want to stop that.
In exchange for joining with Drinax in the new Drinaxian Empire, including access to the technology and facilities that Tech-World has to offer, all they wanted was:
Meeting concluded, the party were offered accommodation for the night. This was accepted and Sofia lead them to a building where the nanobot technology rearranged the rooms to suit. Settling in and helping themselves to fine processed food, the party were interrupted by Dr Hodal who told them something terrible had happened and that they should follow him.
Arriving a short distance away the party saw a laboratory partly in flames with two or three lab technicians milling about outside. It was explained that this was Dr Astor's lab and that something had caused an explosion, and furthermore the lab would shortly immolate and cleanse itself before returning to a laboratory configuration. This approach apparently being required to ensure that any chemicals or biological agents did not escape.
Suiting up the party decided to enter the lab to see if there was anything to be recovered or that might provide a clue. They found a pad with the word "fantasy" written on it, with some numbers. They also noticed and retrieved a video recording device commonly used by scientists to record their thoughts and their activities. And finally they retrieved some of the memory core of the crucible in which Dr Astor was performing his experiments.
Exiting the lab just in time the party established that the planet Fantasy was important enough to write down and the numbers were interpreted as a location on the planetary surface. The recording device had only some vision available after being damaged but showed Dr Astor receiving a comms call, suddenly looking panicked, and then throwing chemicals and equipment into the crucible causing it to short and burst into flames, whereupon he grabbed something and left the lab. Lastly the crucible memory showed that the experiment was genetic in nature and that the fire was caused by certain volatile chemicals being thrown into it.
Where to next?
The party asked if it was known where Dr Astor had gone and Dr Hodal checked his wrist computer and advised that he had gone to the starport, so the party headed there at high speed.
Looking around for some information the party noticed the bemused Aslan male that they saw before. On a hunch Lady Niitrane asked him what was wrong. He growled somewhat reluctantly that he was looking for his ship. Being a male he was unused and unwilling to talk to robots but on Tech-World that's more or less all there is at the starport. He added that someone had offered to help not long ago bur that they had gone missing too.
Showing him a picture of Dr Astor caused the Aslan, who was called Klowaaar, to snarl and admit that it was Astor who had offered to help. Checking the computers it was apparent now that Astor had fled with Klowaaar's ship.
Returning to their ship the party got the robots to stop the maintenance activities and complete the refuelling. They them left with Klowaaar to the planet Sink, which was the stated destination of the Aslan's ship.
Arriving in system the travellers made contact with the starport and requested permission to land. They are given instructions and follow the virtual path provided. From orbit, Tech-World looks like a rusty wasteland. As the travellers got closer they saw the starport - a huge matt black dome, and around it the city which looked like a circuit board.
The landing instructions drew the ship towards the dome whereupon a platform formed out of the trillions of nanobots that make up the starport, and it extended out for the ship to land on. Upon landing the platform retracted, drawing the ship into a hangar sized just right for the ship. Normal robots approached the ship preparing to refuel, repair or unload the ship as required.
A female figure of steel and brass approached and waited patiently at the hatch. When Sparrow approached she introduced herself as Sophia, who could be the guide and aide for their stay on Tech-World.
Meeting new friends
With customs formalities taken care of, the party asked Sophia for information about robots. Lady Nitrane remembered that the party will need robots for the space station. Slayd asked about weapons, but the planet only makes weapons that will be used by robots.
As the party were travelling to a robot showroom, Sophia suddenly turned to Slayd and said "Admiral, do not ask questions. Behave normally. My masters wish to speak with you. Follow me.".The party followed. Leading through passages long unused, Sophia led the party to an exit that overlooked the dirt surface of the planet. Visible were two GeDeCo guards but the party nonchalantly passed by and reached the indicated building. Inside were three people.
- Dr Gerret Hodal, an elderly statesman and head of the council. Old and wrinkled, white-haired, and with a twinkle in his eye. Dr Hodal introduced himself as the head of the council.
- Archon Dreek, of middle years with a more thoughtful demeanour. He appeared more administrator than scientist, and the party did not learn of his position.
- Dr Rex Darke, dark haired and with a smile that was not entirely believable. He had a habit of rubbing his hands together and occasionally laughing maniacally. He was introduced as a roboticist formerly from the University or Regina.
When a representative of Drinax was known to be on the planet, and one with a good standing (through Peter Vallis' contacts) a decision was made to approach Slayd and put forward a proposition.
The Tech-World starport is owned and controlled by GeDeCo, whereas the rest of the planet is under the control of the scientific council. Because everything goes through the starport that means GeDeCo have an impressive control over the planet. The council want to stop that.
In exchange for joining with Drinax in the new Drinaxian Empire, including access to the technology and facilities that Tech-World has to offer, all they wanted was:
- Regular shipments of cheap Basic Consumables, Basic Raw Materials, Biochemicals, Petrochemicals, Radioactives and Uncommon Raw Materials.
- At least four System Defence Boats or equivalent, massing at least 300 tons each.
- Protection from any reprisals from GeDeCo.
- A contract that ensures Tech-World will be free to carry out any sort of scientific research without restrictions, even in sensitive fields like psionics or artificial intelligence.
Dr Hodal clarified that the planet has the resources to provide most of their own needs, including making robot-controlled System Defence Boats, but doing so would take many months and that in the meantime the planet would be vulnerable to GeDeCo reprisals or from pirate attack.
Slayed agreed that while he was not currently in a position to sign anything that guaranteed these things, the terms sounded fair and reasonable. The King would be approached to ratify these conditions and thus bring Tech-World into the Empire.
It's all about Astor
Lady Nitrane asked about Dr Jali Astor, explaining that they were looking for the scientist to help with a medical situation that only he could help with. Dr Hodal checked and found that Dr Astor was indeed on the planet but that he was not currently available, being in a Do Not Disturb state (common when scientists as in the middle of research).
Meeting concluded, the party were offered accommodation for the night. This was accepted and Sofia lead them to a building where the nanobot technology rearranged the rooms to suit. Settling in and helping themselves to fine processed food, the party were interrupted by Dr Hodal who told them something terrible had happened and that they should follow him.
Arriving a short distance away the party saw a laboratory partly in flames with two or three lab technicians milling about outside. It was explained that this was Dr Astor's lab and that something had caused an explosion, and furthermore the lab would shortly immolate and cleanse itself before returning to a laboratory configuration. This approach apparently being required to ensure that any chemicals or biological agents did not escape.
Suiting up the party decided to enter the lab to see if there was anything to be recovered or that might provide a clue. They found a pad with the word "fantasy" written on it, with some numbers. They also noticed and retrieved a video recording device commonly used by scientists to record their thoughts and their activities. And finally they retrieved some of the memory core of the crucible in which Dr Astor was performing his experiments.
Exiting the lab just in time the party established that the planet Fantasy was important enough to write down and the numbers were interpreted as a location on the planetary surface. The recording device had only some vision available after being damaged but showed Dr Astor receiving a comms call, suddenly looking panicked, and then throwing chemicals and equipment into the crucible causing it to short and burst into flames, whereupon he grabbed something and left the lab. Lastly the crucible memory showed that the experiment was genetic in nature and that the fire was caused by certain volatile chemicals being thrown into it.
Where to next?
The party asked if it was known where Dr Astor had gone and Dr Hodal checked his wrist computer and advised that he had gone to the starport, so the party headed there at high speed.
Looking around for some information the party noticed the bemused Aslan male that they saw before. On a hunch Lady Niitrane asked him what was wrong. He growled somewhat reluctantly that he was looking for his ship. Being a male he was unused and unwilling to talk to robots but on Tech-World that's more or less all there is at the starport. He added that someone had offered to help not long ago bur that they had gone missing too.
Showing him a picture of Dr Astor caused the Aslan, who was called Klowaaar, to snarl and admit that it was Astor who had offered to help. Checking the computers it was apparent now that Astor had fled with Klowaaar's ship.
Returning to their ship the party got the robots to stop the maintenance activities and complete the refuelling. They them left with Klowaaar to the planet Sink, which was the stated destination of the Aslan's ship.
So we're going to Tech-World now?
New Moscow
The party emerged from jump and quickly established that they had not misjumped, and were in fact near a gas giant in the New Moscow system.
The decision to refuel from the gas giant meant a tense couple of days while the fuel was refined. Ships kept popping into the system and the party carefully and without drawing attention to themselves slid around the gas giant in the other direction. Eventually the fuel was on board and they jumped to a gas giant in the Tanith system.
(Segue #1: Navy characters face a situation on Magen where they arrive in system before the main fleet and are challenged. A stand off ensues).
Tanith
The refuelling in Tanith was much the same as at New Moscow - more or less uneventful. The next system was Tech-World.
(Segue #2: Krrsh and the Harriers encounter another pirate, called Zhuekvi, who hands him a message to give to Admiral Slayd).
(Segue #3: Krrsh finds a prey ship on which to test the capabilities of the fully repaired Harriers).
The party emerged from jump and quickly established that they had not misjumped, and were in fact near a gas giant in the New Moscow system.
The decision to refuel from the gas giant meant a tense couple of days while the fuel was refined. Ships kept popping into the system and the party carefully and without drawing attention to themselves slid around the gas giant in the other direction. Eventually the fuel was on board and they jumped to a gas giant in the Tanith system.
(Segue #1: Navy characters face a situation on Magen where they arrive in system before the main fleet and are challenged. A stand off ensues).
Tanith
The refuelling in Tanith was much the same as at New Moscow - more or less uneventful. The next system was Tech-World.
(Segue #2: Krrsh and the Harriers encounter another pirate, called Zhuekvi, who hands him a message to give to Admiral Slayd).
(Segue #3: Krrsh finds a prey ship on which to test the capabilities of the fully repaired Harriers).
Friday, 20 April 2018
Imperial Adventures
To the Imperium
The trip to Tobia progressed relatively uneventfully through Marduk, Exocet and Wildeman. A number of rumours were picked up along the way (see separate post).
Fist
On arrival at Fist, the first Imperial world on the trip, the party passed huge nickel plated asteroids in orbit around the planet, carved into glorious sculptures of imperial might. On landing they were subjected to customs inspections, and were allowed to continue with their journey.
Tobia
The sector capital was the final destination, and was an astonishing sight for those who had not been there before. The world is a planet-wide city. Traffic in orbit when the party arrived was equivalent to all the ships arriving in Drinax in a year. Huge cargo ships in convoys, capital warships, and between them smaller traders, defence boats and shuttles.
All ships arriving at Tobia are given specific flight paths and the party were directed to land at the enormous starport immediately upon entering the system. The landing systems all but taking control of the ship as it came in to land.
The landing pad was around 1 kilometre from the main building, a huge structure around 8km long and 3km wide. Customs was relatively simple (albeit thorough) for everyone except Unter. He was detained due to some irregularities with his paperwork, and as a result of a crewman being under suspicion the ship was also locked down and would be unable to leave.
The fixer
The rest of the party got in contact with Lemuel Volin, the fixer that Lady Yemar had engaged to find the scientist. He arranged to meet them in a warehouse quite close to the starport. They arrived at dusk, as arranged, and discussed with him their intention to bring the scientist back with them to Lady Yemar.
The plans and information that he had passed to Lady Yemar were, to the best of his knowledge, were up to date. Getting another person to go in and check the maps and scientist details would take months as the infiltration of such a place would have to be done carefully and slowly. The party were not willing to wait months so started devising their own approach.
News reports showing CCTV footage gave a clue that there were cameras everywhere on Tobia. Checking the cameras near the target building might be a good place to start. Lemuel could have appropriate computers at the warehouse tomorrow morning. The party returned to the starport for the evening. Unter had been released but was still confined to the starport.
Hacking computers
The next day the party arrived back at the warehouse and commenced the search for the cameras in the area around the building. The local authority had archive footage as well which meant that the travellers could go back a few days to detect patterns.
It became clear that there were relatively few people coming and going for the size of the building. The building could house a hundred or more scientists and workers but they were not being let out. Similarly there were relatively few vehicles delivering cargo which suggested a high degree of self-sustainability. Following the journey of one of the delivery vehicles showed it to be entirely ordinary.
When trawling back through the old footage did not produce any more information it was decided to see if the local authorities had any information in the building ownership or plans. After a while a picture emerged of redacted information or misleading lines of holding companies which obscured the ownership entirely. The only information to be gleaned was that there was no information.
Building plans were easier to come by (although still difficult) and a good picture of the services and pipes into the building were established, including the air (as Tobia has a tainted atmosphere).
Luckily at this time Unter was allowed to leave the starport and joined up with the rest of the party.
Making plans
When other lines of investigation dried up a visit to the building, and a possible assault or infiltration, was planned. Needing some vehicles, communications gear, armour, weapons, support crew, etc meant that it would be a couple of days for he fixer to get everything organised. The party would need new identities for this endeavour and tickets to the location where the building was located.
Unfortunately Lady Nitrane's identity caused problems and she had to get another one, which resulted in a days delay in arriving at the city hub nearest the building. Luckily this did not disrupt the plans as the fixer was still getting all the necessary equipment together.
Going in
The plans took a long time to put together, but in the end it was decided that Slayd and Nitrane would approach the building while Sparrow and Unter would wait, fully equipped in armour and weapons.
Upon entering it was found that there was no reception desk nor anyone to talk to. Slayd and Nitrane sat on one of the benches in the open entry area and just waited.
After a while a door could be heard opening and someone put their head around the corner and asked if there was anything they could help the two patient party members with?
After some conversation, and an attempt to find Jari Astor in the computer, Slayd and Nitrane were taken up to an accommodation level where it became more apparent that far from being a bustling scientific hub with over a hundred scientists, this was all but abandoned and staffed only with a skeleton crew. The person they were led to advised that the scientist had moved to a planet called Tech-World some time ago.
Thanking them and returning to Sparrow and Unter the party decided that they would return to the starport and make plans to travel to Tech-World rather than stay on Tobia any longer.
Making their escape
The return journey back to the warehouse was uneventful but as the party were getting out of their vehicle they were challenged by police and told to stop what they were doing and submit to being arrested.
After a moment's hesitation, during which time the people getting out of the car remembered that this was not a situation they wanted to be in, they jumped back in the vehicle and sped towards the starport.
Abandoning the transportation in a parking lot they hurried inside. Unter was caught in the open and had difficulty getting in - and was seen by the pursuing authorities. Splitting up - some to kaff shops and Nitrane to the toilets to change her outfit, the party stayed one step ahead. From time to time they noticed that their pictures were shown on large screens, and the pictures were getting more detailed and therefore the chances of them being identified was increasing.
After dropping in to the hotel to pick up valuables, the party headed to the ship which the crew onboard were already prepping. Slayd immediately started setting a course for New Moscow, which had been selected as the best place to jump to. While he did that Sparrow was expertly piloting the ship, taking cover from the many ships in orbit and heading to the 100d jump point.
Unfortunately the sensors picked up defence boats and other military ships incoming and it was decided, reluctantly, to jump early and take the chance of a misjump.
To be continued.
The trip to Tobia progressed relatively uneventfully through Marduk, Exocet and Wildeman. A number of rumours were picked up along the way (see separate post).
Fist
On arrival at Fist, the first Imperial world on the trip, the party passed huge nickel plated asteroids in orbit around the planet, carved into glorious sculptures of imperial might. On landing they were subjected to customs inspections, and were allowed to continue with their journey.
Tobia
The sector capital was the final destination, and was an astonishing sight for those who had not been there before. The world is a planet-wide city. Traffic in orbit when the party arrived was equivalent to all the ships arriving in Drinax in a year. Huge cargo ships in convoys, capital warships, and between them smaller traders, defence boats and shuttles.
All ships arriving at Tobia are given specific flight paths and the party were directed to land at the enormous starport immediately upon entering the system. The landing systems all but taking control of the ship as it came in to land.
The landing pad was around 1 kilometre from the main building, a huge structure around 8km long and 3km wide. Customs was relatively simple (albeit thorough) for everyone except Unter. He was detained due to some irregularities with his paperwork, and as a result of a crewman being under suspicion the ship was also locked down and would be unable to leave.
The fixer
The rest of the party got in contact with Lemuel Volin, the fixer that Lady Yemar had engaged to find the scientist. He arranged to meet them in a warehouse quite close to the starport. They arrived at dusk, as arranged, and discussed with him their intention to bring the scientist back with them to Lady Yemar.
The plans and information that he had passed to Lady Yemar were, to the best of his knowledge, were up to date. Getting another person to go in and check the maps and scientist details would take months as the infiltration of such a place would have to be done carefully and slowly. The party were not willing to wait months so started devising their own approach.
News reports showing CCTV footage gave a clue that there were cameras everywhere on Tobia. Checking the cameras near the target building might be a good place to start. Lemuel could have appropriate computers at the warehouse tomorrow morning. The party returned to the starport for the evening. Unter had been released but was still confined to the starport.
Hacking computers
The next day the party arrived back at the warehouse and commenced the search for the cameras in the area around the building. The local authority had archive footage as well which meant that the travellers could go back a few days to detect patterns.
It became clear that there were relatively few people coming and going for the size of the building. The building could house a hundred or more scientists and workers but they were not being let out. Similarly there were relatively few vehicles delivering cargo which suggested a high degree of self-sustainability. Following the journey of one of the delivery vehicles showed it to be entirely ordinary.
When trawling back through the old footage did not produce any more information it was decided to see if the local authorities had any information in the building ownership or plans. After a while a picture emerged of redacted information or misleading lines of holding companies which obscured the ownership entirely. The only information to be gleaned was that there was no information.
Building plans were easier to come by (although still difficult) and a good picture of the services and pipes into the building were established, including the air (as Tobia has a tainted atmosphere).
Luckily at this time Unter was allowed to leave the starport and joined up with the rest of the party.
Making plans
When other lines of investigation dried up a visit to the building, and a possible assault or infiltration, was planned. Needing some vehicles, communications gear, armour, weapons, support crew, etc meant that it would be a couple of days for he fixer to get everything organised. The party would need new identities for this endeavour and tickets to the location where the building was located.
Unfortunately Lady Nitrane's identity caused problems and she had to get another one, which resulted in a days delay in arriving at the city hub nearest the building. Luckily this did not disrupt the plans as the fixer was still getting all the necessary equipment together.
Going in
The plans took a long time to put together, but in the end it was decided that Slayd and Nitrane would approach the building while Sparrow and Unter would wait, fully equipped in armour and weapons.
Upon entering it was found that there was no reception desk nor anyone to talk to. Slayd and Nitrane sat on one of the benches in the open entry area and just waited.
After a while a door could be heard opening and someone put their head around the corner and asked if there was anything they could help the two patient party members with?
After some conversation, and an attempt to find Jari Astor in the computer, Slayd and Nitrane were taken up to an accommodation level where it became more apparent that far from being a bustling scientific hub with over a hundred scientists, this was all but abandoned and staffed only with a skeleton crew. The person they were led to advised that the scientist had moved to a planet called Tech-World some time ago.
Thanking them and returning to Sparrow and Unter the party decided that they would return to the starport and make plans to travel to Tech-World rather than stay on Tobia any longer.
Making their escape
The return journey back to the warehouse was uneventful but as the party were getting out of their vehicle they were challenged by police and told to stop what they were doing and submit to being arrested.
After a moment's hesitation, during which time the people getting out of the car remembered that this was not a situation they wanted to be in, they jumped back in the vehicle and sped towards the starport.
Abandoning the transportation in a parking lot they hurried inside. Unter was caught in the open and had difficulty getting in - and was seen by the pursuing authorities. Splitting up - some to kaff shops and Nitrane to the toilets to change her outfit, the party stayed one step ahead. From time to time they noticed that their pictures were shown on large screens, and the pictures were getting more detailed and therefore the chances of them being identified was increasing.
After dropping in to the hotel to pick up valuables, the party headed to the ship which the crew onboard were already prepping. Slayd immediately started setting a course for New Moscow, which had been selected as the best place to jump to. While he did that Sparrow was expertly piloting the ship, taking cover from the many ships in orbit and heading to the 100d jump point.
Unfortunately the sensors picked up defence boats and other military ships incoming and it was decided, reluctantly, to jump early and take the chance of a misjump.
To be continued.
Rumours
This page lists the rumours that you have heard. Whether you investigate them is up to you. If you have any comments you want me to add here I will do so.
- The Space Kraken is hungry this year... (heard on Marduk)
- A mad engineer on Exocet is trying to find people to bomb his planet. He thinks that a big enough bomb in just the right place will cap some of the more active volcanoes, making the planet safer to live on. (heard on Exocet itself)
- Every ship from the Tobia Commerce Guild carries at least six trained marines on board to repel pirates. (heard on Wildeman)
- The madmen who live on the space station called The World have strange psychic powers. (heard on Wildeman)
- The Ine Givar are building a fleet of warships in the Trojan Reach. They’re going to launch an invasion of Corridor sector and cut the Marches off from the Imperium. (heard on Fist)
- The Jolly Roger hullplate from Scurrilous Dave’s pirate ship is somewhere on Pourne. (heard on Tobia)
Friday, 2 March 2018
And they're off!
Arriving on Palindrome the party make contact using their new identities. They are allowed to land and are subject to customs and entry checks.
Lady Nitrane, in her guise as Ann Drucher contacts Lady Yemar to tell her of the situation, and when the party check into the second best hotel in the city they are met with invitations to meet with the mistress of the planet.
On arriving to see Lady Yemar the plan is explained, and it is requested that her medical records be made available. She is concerned that if they should fall into the wrong hands it might be possible to trace things back to her, so Jack tweaks the data so as to be unidentifiable.
Upon being asked if she has anything more about the scientist or his whereabouts, she produces a picture of him, and some blueprints provided to her of the location where he can be found.
Thanking her, the party decide the best approach is to enter the Imperium via Fist, but to avoid Boulder (which is intolerant of visitors, and has no gas giants) which means the trip will be Marduk (over Borite), then Exocet, then Wildeman (the usual exit point from the Reaches) then Fist then Tobia. Five jumps to go.
Lady Nitrane, in her guise as Ann Drucher contacts Lady Yemar to tell her of the situation, and when the party check into the second best hotel in the city they are met with invitations to meet with the mistress of the planet.
On arriving to see Lady Yemar the plan is explained, and it is requested that her medical records be made available. She is concerned that if they should fall into the wrong hands it might be possible to trace things back to her, so Jack tweaks the data so as to be unidentifiable.
Upon being asked if she has anything more about the scientist or his whereabouts, she produces a picture of him, and some blueprints provided to her of the location where he can be found.
Thanking her, the party decide the best approach is to enter the Imperium via Fist, but to avoid Boulder (which is intolerant of visitors, and has no gas giants) which means the trip will be Marduk (over Borite), then Exocet, then Wildeman (the usual exit point from the Reaches) then Fist then Tobia. Five jumps to go.
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