Gibraltar Station, Inurin System – 095-1107
Finding themselves on Gibraltar Station, the group went out to a bar and spoke to locals and other crews alike. To their amazement, one of the grizzled, old spacers recognised the name of Captain Envai’s Cavern: sure, he said, he had heard of it. Damn, he’d even see a picture on a news site back in the day. Not that it was any good in finding the place because who even knew what system it was on?!? Our party, convinced that they knew which precise moon it was on in Pandora, realised that with a bit of maths and a little surveying, they had the final clue they needed to find Envai’s former pirate hideout, which had been a former Sindalian secret base.
Gibraltar Station, Inurin System – 096-1107
The next morning, the Travellers arrived – at 6am local time – to be served a fashionably nutritious breakfast at Eanzuearrgzoerraer Freight and Brokerage and then to meet with its Chief Executive: a Vargr who introduced herself as Amaldae. Brusque and to the point, she explained that the cargo was an Aslan who was using the name Ergneuel (doubltess a pseudonym since it is a Vargr word meaning a long and dreary road), and who had managed, in his short time in the station, to get himself deported, leaving his luggage behind. The deportation had occurred following a fight with several humans, all of whom had escaped or disappeared in the aftermath.
Amaldae explained that Ergneuel was presumably still at Hernon’s Claim, a small mining colony in the outsystem. She also mentioned that someone had been asking questions about Ergneuel.
Payment for delivering the cargo to Tyokh was 2 million credits: 500k up front on contract acceptance; 500k on picking up Ergneuel and his luggage crate; and a million on delivery by the set date. The party started to ask Amaldae for advice, but she explained tersely that she was the contract agent, and her work was done. She didn’t want to know more and the problems the Party faced were their own.
On their way back to the stardock, the party were intercepted by two impressive-looking gentlemen with tactical clothing that looked subtly armoured. They introduced themselves as Mr Carnac and Mr Cheng and asked if the party had encountered an Aslan of whom they had pictures (the party were able to say honestly that they had not). Were they flying with any Aslan (the party said yes)? They offered a five-figure sum for information leading to the capture of this dangerous war-criminal.
Checking out the Customs checkpoint at the station, the characters were perturbed to see that there were numerous individuals clearly pretending to be cleaners, janitors and idle bystanders, each of whom were lingering near places where weapons could be stored.
At this point the party were surprised to be greeted by Samuel Kegii, the aging, semi-retired Scout who captained the Type-S Suleiman ship Sam’s Leaky Bucket. After initially setting out to deceive Sam, the party decided to be honest with him about the danger that they wished him to undertake for him, but the good-natured old scout felt he owed them a favour for saving his life and his ship, and gladly offered to run interference for them.
So the crew of the So Much for Subtlety checked Ergneuel’s luggage out of the lock-up. Getting it through customs was aided by an amazing display of acting by Dr Parsifal, who convinced a cuatoms agent that a rash on his hand needed urgent medical inspection. The group then transferred the luggage to Sam’s Leaky Bucket, which set off at once. The party finished their own preparations then set off in the much-faster So Much For Subtlety, transferring the cargo to Sam’s Leaky Bucket and paying Sam well for his trouble before he jumped out to Tech World.
Hernon’s Claim, Inurin System – 098-1107
The in-system flight to Hernon’s Claim only took the party a day and a half. Customs at Hernon’s Claim were surprised that they had arrived carrying only air, not to mention a little disappointed: freight traffic was irregular and the colony looked forward to luxuries and novelty.
There were a few Aslan on the colony of Hernon’s Claim, and finding Ergneuel proved difficult for a jet-lagged party who had been awake for 48 hours straight. However, they spotted that a young Aslan girl was watching them, and talking to her lead ended up with her returning to their cafe and leading them to her father, who was a salesman at Hernon Robotics and Electronics. While he demonstrated cutting-edge construction and mining robots, the older Aslan subtly arranged to meet the crew for dinner at his house, where they could meet Ergneuel.
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