185/6-1105 – Torpol
The session opened with the party pointed (by their fence, Robert Fennick) in the direction of Daniel Vlaw, owner and master of the spaceship Sarcomond. His ship was involved in what was being called, around Euphoria City, the Sarcomond Incident, which involved an unsuccessful attack by a Type-S Scout which had then jumped out of the system.
Vlaw, Fennick warned them, was an Asiman who had fled his world twenty years ago when Oleb invaded, and as a result he was fiercely resentful of Drinaxians in general and their nobility in particular. As a result, Lady Penelope and Louis stayed out of the way for this encounter.
Vlaw was an introverted, grizzled man, who was not immediately open to conversation, even with the delivery of drinks from a distance. The universe, and everyone in it, was trying to get him and the offer of free drinks was just a bitter twist on top. However, when questioned more closely he seemed proud of his repulse of the Scout ship, and opened up when allowed to boast a little.
“My ship,” he said. “She has surprises, yes? She looks all innocent but she has two pop-up turrets. Bad news for pirates. So when they come in close I burn them amidships, here and here!” He emphasises this by prodding Eric in the shoulder and belly. “And she is scared. I have more guns, I’m bigger than her. Over my sensors I intercept them calling for the jump. Their captain is Vargr and he is yelling for a jump to Borite.”
193-1105 – Borite
Jumping (with a very well-plotted jump) to Borite’s mainworld jump-in point, the party changed decided to burn to the gas giant instead, a 22 hour burn which saw them pass up on a juicy target – a 600 ton backwater merchant freighter – the Viacom – bound for Borite in-system. Borite itself is named for the yellowish mineral in which the mainworld is phenomenally rich, and whose extraction forms the backbone of Borite’s economy. The party, however, knew that they were on the clock, and exchanged friendly greetings and enquiries rather than gunfire with the audibly nervous trader eyeing up the approaching, Sindalian, Harrier-class Commerce Raider.
194-1105 – Borite
Louis on the sensors station picked up a weak signal, apparently from a standard vacc suit radio hooked up to a larger repeater, which turned out to be from an ancient, Sindalian space station in a gradually-decaying orbit around the gas giant.
Investigating, the party found rivets and some plating floating near the station, as if a ship had very recently jury-rigged repairs. The station had partial atmosphere and power in places, and there was one life-form, apparently in a poor state, in one arm of the structure.
The marine contingent were dispatched to investigate. Not long after boarding the station, they were warned by Louis that sensors had picked up two other life forms apparently coming to life nearby.
Alien hunters appearing as blips on a screen on board an abandoned space station and approaching the party from multiple directions! A brief but deadly firefight demonstrated that the aliens were Chamax: insectoid or arachnid-like predators with armoured shells, about the size of a large hunting dog and armed with sacs of acid to spray at – and dissolve for eating – their prey. They have psionic life-sensing ability that triggers in the presence of prey, as well as the ability to communicate in the radio spectrum.
During the firefight, a Vargr in a vacc-suit appeared behind the party, carefully holding his weapon visible and pointed at the ceiling. He was taken to the So Much for Subtlety at gunpoint, where Louis checked his condition, finding him dehydrated, starving and sleep-deprived. He’d also been the subject of a beating. All perfect conditions for questioning!
The Vespexers used their expert scavenging skills to scour the station. Almost everything had been cleaned out over the centuries, but there was an intact substantial painting of an Emperor of Sindal which someone had propped up against a wall, as well as a rather more mundane autochef.
Questioning the Vargr reveals that he is Krrsh, former captain of the Misery’s Company, the Type S Scout that was part of Ferrik’s gang. Given porridge, rum and basic medical care, the discouraged and downhearted Vargr (who love to be pack leaders and hate to be isolated and rejected, as a rule) told all:
- He was part of Ferrik Redthane’s gang
- After he attacked the Sarcomond – which he felt was a legitimate roll of the dice – his crew turned on him as one of the crew was killed by a critical hit to the cargo hold
- He was part of the group that hit Clarke and Torpol
- Ferrik was formerly part of Admiral Darokyn’s pirate gang: Darokyn is one of the Lords of Theev. Krrsh doesn’t know why they quarrelled but he knows that Ferrik now has a 250KCr bounty on his head from Darokyn
- Ferrik needs the protection of one of the other, major pirate gangs if he is ever to return to Theev.
- Ferrik dare not set foot on Theev or its highport, so he probably sent his lieutenant and girlfriend, Miria Silverhand, to negotiate. Krrsh and Miria hate each other and Krrsh doesn’t know what gangs she might approach.
- Phoebe Cross suggested that Hroal Irontooth or Petyr Vallis would probably be strong enough to protect Ferrik from Darokyn
- Krrsh knows the secret codes that allow landing at Theev: without them ships attempting to land at the lowport instead of the Highport will be destroyed by the system defences
- Krrsh also knows the location of a secret fuel dump used by Theev pirates (located between Noricum and Theev in hex 2118)
The party scooped fuel at Borite’s Gas Giant and then jumped to the fuel dump.
203-1105 – Deep Space
The deep space jump, combined with the Subtlety’s suffering jump drive, made for a nauseating and lengthy eight day jump. However, the beacon for the dump was located and the Subtlety refuelled. After burning away from the dump for four hours, processing the fuel carefully on Krrsh’s instructions, the crew of the SMFS spotted two other ships jumping in to refuel: a 400 ton Arospi-class Hiver ship and her scout escort. The party burned back but declined to attack, while noting that anyone at the dump was probably fair game. Fuel filtered and processed, they then jumped on to Theev.
211-1105 – Theev
Krrsh’s codes worked, and the party landed at Theev without difficulty. Met by a young woman (one of three identical such women in the loading bay) they were warned of the Law of the Lords (no murder, no weapons fire, no carrying anything that could break the dome, no breaching the peace of the upper city, no killing anywhere else that is marked by the official red flags of the Lords – penalty for each being death) and the Law of the Streets that holds sway anywhere else (no killing under red flags, otherwise Do What Thou Wilt).
Deanna hacked the starport IT system via a poorly-secured helperbot and found that none of Ferrik’s ships were in the lowport. If Miria is in-system then her ship – the 400 ton Vulture-class salvage hauler Mercifuge – must be docked at the Highport.
They then wandered Theev, visiting Hroal Irontooth’s lair (where they bribed their way into the presence of Hroal himself – an Aslan pirate lord with a crystaliron jaw – and were offered the location of Miria for 100,000 credits, which they declined).
They went weapons shopping, then with some use of administrative prowess and computer hacking they located video footage of Miria frequently passing one street corner in Theev, two days ago. Sadly, further investigations saw the trail go cold.
At this point, the party visited Buchan’s Ordnance, in the upper city: a boutique provider of weaponry to special ops and small-force mercenaries.
Emerging onto the street, the Travellers receive a call from Patrick Steward, who remained on the ship with Krrsh and Boogie-Woogie. He explained that two humans and a Vargr were trying to break onto the So Much for Subtlety by hacking the airlock systems.
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