While the group consider Chiree's request they ask the little alien a few more questions but other than the fact that the humans on Vanejen call the creatures Chirpers very little meaningful information can be gained from the child-like being. While the group are still taking to Chiree, Bucky whips out a hand computer and begins looking up Chirpers. What he reads worries him enough to warn the group to watch out for any valuables they have, as Chirpers are known to steal shiny item. This upsets Chiree as he has never taken anything in his life without asking first, and he thinks that maybe some of these humans are no better than the others he has run into.
At about this time the bar owner catches sight of the group talking to Chiree and suddenly announces that he his shutting the bar early tonight and to drink up and get out, and looking directly at the group he tells them to make sure they take the Chirper with them. As they are leaving Vann catches sight of the bar owner talking hastily into a communicator.
The group and Chiree are about halfway back to their hotel when they are stopped by two peace enforcers who begin to question the group about their whereabouts that evening. the enforcers let it be known that they are looking for a group of thugs and a Chirper, and that the group fit the descriptions that they have been given but they do want to know what happened to the Chirper. It is then that the group suddenly realise that Chiree is not with them any more. Finally, the group convince the enforcers that they are not the thugs they are looking for, the enforcers move on and while the group are standing around wondering what happened to Chiree, the little alien suddenly appears by Olivers side. When the group ask him where he was Chiree just says that he was there with them and that maybe he was hidden by the shadows. Bucky though is not convinced and suddenly remembers something he read about Chirpers, he tells the others that it is said that Chirpers can move exceptionally quickly and that they are going to have to keep a close eye on Chiree.
Back in the hotel room the group begins to do some research on Chiree's story. Olivers search for 'Alien Prisons on Vanejen' and then just 'Prisons on Vanejen' produces the locations of several prisons scattered across the world, but there is not one specifically for aliens. Wilhelm provides a copy of his audit report on Vanejen, which leads Bucky on a vast research trip all about the Vilani and the roots of humaniti, but it ultimately fruitless in finding anything about where Chiree could have been held. With computer records not providing any information useful to saving Chiree's siblings Wilhelm suggests that they get some rest and begin anew in the morning/
The next morning the group splits into two teams with Bucky and Oliver going to check out any museums and science centres while Wilhelm and Tommy check out the docks and the starport. Oliver is the first one to get some information, the curator at a small science museum tells him that before he retired and became the curator he used to own a transport submersible and once made a delivery to the Imperial Research Station and that because the ice was bad that winter they had to deliver the supplies to an underwater dock at the station. Tommy and Wilhelm overhear a local radio report about a sailing ship being attacked by a multi-tentacled sea beast in the ice floes of the southern seas, but they cannot find any sailor that is willing to confirm the story.
The next day the group splits again to continue its hunt for specific information. Bucky and Oliver find nothing, though Bucky does eavesdrop on a couple having a conversation about the legend of Twilight's Peak and the cargo of drugs the convoy was carrying. Though, once back at his hotel room he realises that the couple have not added anything new to his notes on the legend. A drunken sailor in a bar at the docks tells Tommy about how he was almost sunk by pirates in the archipelago in the southern seas, but that he has never heard of the sea beast that was mentioned on the radio.
The third day of information gathering yields little for the teams with just talk about the excellent reputation of the local university and also how humans of Vilani extraction are superior to those of Solomani extraction.
The fourth day provides the group with a couple of nuggets of information. Firstly Wilhelm and Tommy discover that the old Imperial Navy Orbital Base used to be a research station but after several years it was moved down to the surface, in a dome on the bed of the southern sea. Meanwhile, Bucky and Oliver find a newspaper article about rumours of gold on the barren northern continent. The article concludes that the rumours are false like all stories about Chirpers and their hoards of gold. Back at the hotel, later that day, Bucky and Oliver take the story at face value and do not bother to question Chiree about it.
By day five the teams are running out of bars and institutions to visit. Bucky and Oliver pick up some interesting gossip that Zhodani agents frequently come to Vanejen and despite talking about trade and commerce they also spend a lot of time on the northern continent touring and studying the Chirper villages there. While Tommy and Wilhelm get talking to the owner of a tavern, who tells them of a down on his luck submersible captain who is likely to lose his ship, as despite having a lucrative contract he cannot get a crew because of the pirates. Deciding to follow up this rumour Wilhelm and Tommy make their way to the dockside.
Down on the docks Tommy and Wilhelm finally get pointed in the right direction and go to meet Captain Zoltan Hdratsky at his submersible, the Akula. The sea captain explains how he has a contract with the Desaix family to run supplies to various chemical factories, all owned by the Desaix family, on the planet. But, as he cannot get a crew to sail with him because of all the talk about pirates operating in the southern sea, he is likely to be found in breach of his contract and as a consequence the Desaix family will seize his vessel under Vanejen law. After further questioning the captain reveals that he knows the location of the Imperial Research Station as he has made several deliveries there, but he will only tell them the location if the group agrees to help him complete his delivery to Desaix Chemicals. Quickly Tommy and Wilhelm agree to the terms and return to the hotel to tell the others and to collect any gear they might need from the Aurora.
Whilst the others head of to the Aurora, Bucky heads down to the docks to wait for them. While he is waiting he has a rather unsavoury encounter with a desperate sailor, fresh in port after a long cruise. After refusing several cash offers for certain 'services' Bucky decides that violence is the only way to dissuade his admirer. The fight is very short and Bucky walks away leaving the sailor curled up in agony on the floor.
When the others arrive they all head over to the Akula and board the vessel, once in their assigned quarters Chiree pops out from beside a bunk and says that he will stay hidden in the compartment until they get to where his siblings are being held. The trip to the Desaix chemical factory takes eight days, in which the adventurers learn how the submersible operates. Zoltan is pleased that he has managed to fulfil his contract and with the way the group has worked in helping him to save his submersible. He points out on the chart the location of the Research Station and says that provided they pay the fuel costs he is willing to take them there in the Akula. The fuel bill comes to just under Cr6,500, a cost the group happily splits between themselves.
The trip to the research station is uneventful and takes just over two weeks. When they get there the problem of getting in starts, sailing close to the globes that spiral down the central shaft of the station reveals a hatch on the underside of each globe, with this in mind Captain Hdratsky positions the Akula underneath the globe nearest to the sea surface. Vann tries to reach the hatch from the top of the sail, but he slips and falls, the second time though he is able to climb higher which allows him to reach and unlock the hatch. Using brute strength he pulls himself up and on to the ladder in the hatchway and begins to climb. After about three meters though his way up is blocked by some form of machinery. After Vann returns to the Akula, Bucky decides he will go up and see what he can do about the machinery that is blocking the shaft, after leaping on to the ladder though, he finds he is not strong enough to pull himself up into the shaft. Dropping back to the sail of the submersible, Bucky returns to the group to report his failure and to decide what to do next.
As they are discussing what to do next, Zoltan suggests that they use the underwater dock, where he has delivered supplies before. Submerging the Akula, the ship spirals down until Hdratsky finds the docking module. The doors on the module open as the submersible moves closer and once it is inside the doors close around the Akula, holding it in place while the flooded module drains.
Tuesday, 31 May 2016
Monday, 30 May 2016
The Chirper of Vanejen - Introduction
With the Aurora all buttoned up, berthing fees paid for the next three weeks and the group all booked into a hotel close to the starport, they can finally begin their break on Vanejen. As seems customary they head out to one of the local bars on their first night.
Later that night, a small bird-like alien cautiously edged its way to the table and the adventurers. Afraid to speak, it stood in the shadows and watched. Finally, Tommy noticed it and beckoned it forward. "What's up, little fellow?" He asked.
Slowly, needing lots of encouragement from the group, it told it's story.
The creature was far older than anyone guessed, aged maybe sixteen or seventeen standard years, and said the group could call it Chiree. It had lived, with its nest of some forty or fifty adults and children, in a small village on the savannah between the jungle and desert. As a mere nestling, it had been taken from its home, along with two siblings, by rough men wearing guns and uniforms with gold badges. It spent weeks in a cage in the hold of a ship, and was finally taken to a terrible prison, where it had spent the last year. Chiree describes the prison as a lot of individual cells, each crowded with varieties of aliens, and guarded by metal monsters.
Weeks ago, he managed to escape by sneaking out of his cell and leaping into the icy waters around the prison. Washed up on a beach, almost dead, he recovered and worked his way here, living off fruits and berries. Initially hiding, he tried to get help from humans, but they drove him away with rocks. It ends it's story with a simple plea; "They will kill my nest mates, I just know it. They are planning terrible experiments on them. Won't you help me? Please."
Later that night, a small bird-like alien cautiously edged its way to the table and the adventurers. Afraid to speak, it stood in the shadows and watched. Finally, Tommy noticed it and beckoned it forward. "What's up, little fellow?" He asked.
Slowly, needing lots of encouragement from the group, it told it's story.
The creature was far older than anyone guessed, aged maybe sixteen or seventeen standard years, and said the group could call it Chiree. It had lived, with its nest of some forty or fifty adults and children, in a small village on the savannah between the jungle and desert. As a mere nestling, it had been taken from its home, along with two siblings, by rough men wearing guns and uniforms with gold badges. It spent weeks in a cage in the hold of a ship, and was finally taken to a terrible prison, where it had spent the last year. Chiree describes the prison as a lot of individual cells, each crowded with varieties of aliens, and guarded by metal monsters.
Weeks ago, he managed to escape by sneaking out of his cell and leaping into the icy waters around the prison. Washed up on a beach, almost dead, he recovered and worked his way here, living off fruits and berries. Initially hiding, he tried to get help from humans, but they drove him away with rocks. It ends it's story with a simple plea; "They will kill my nest mates, I just know it. They are planning terrible experiments on them. Won't you help me? Please."
Tuesday, 19 April 2016
The Lockbox - Epilogue
Kai Wyn is speechless with rage as he watches Bucky smash the sacred Kai-Laek relic and the just walk away as if he had done nothing. His followers want vengeance here and now and prepare to attack, but Kai Wyn recovers his composure and tells them to wait, here is too public the attack will be a futile gesture even though they outnumber the group many times over. So, he sends four man off to discover and follow the buyer, clearly he is the one behind the theft and they will deal with him first. Bucky and his friends can wait for now, when they think they are safe will be the time to strike, no matter where they go Kai Wyn promises they will have their revenge.
Later that day, back at the hotel the group are pleased to find that Wilhelm has returned. He is pleased that Oliver got a good price for the cargo and the new cargo is being loaded overnight, so they should be able to get off Treece in the morning. When he hears about all that has gone on in his absence, he is a little shocked but hopes that the group are OK, though next time to maybe try to research things a bit better before ending up in tough spots. Bucky sullenly heads off to the computer and tries to look up the Kai-Laek, sure enough there is a picture of an urn that looks just like the one they had, the article goes on to state that the Kai-Laek take extreme measures against anyone not of their religion who even looks upon a sacred relic. Bucky realises that they might not have heard the last from Kai Wyn.
The next morning the Aurora lifts off and Wilhelm says that they will be heading deep into the Rhylanor subsector to do his audit, he says that hopefully Bucky will be able to find some more clues to decypher the puzzle of Twilight's Peak as well as earning a bit of money with Oliver buying and selling some cargoes along the way.
The first stop is at Kinorb, while Wilhelm conducts his survey the group are free to wander around the starport for a week. Bucky finds no information on the Gyro Cadiz convoy, but Oliver finds a vendor who has some coynes similar to the one they found in the Pyramid on Yorbund, though the merchant says these are of Aslan origin and made of gold. Oliver buys the six the merchant has available but later discovers that they are just made of aluminium which has then been painted gold. The next stop is Fulacin, the world is run by an Imperial Megacorporation and there is no information available on the convoy.
After Fulacin the scout heads to Jae Tellona, Belizo, Bevey, Cipatwe before finally ending up at Vanejen. Bucky has so far discovered nothing that could help him in his quest, but as Wilhelm points out Vanejen is where the convoy started from so there could be more information here. It has taken them 14 weeks to get here since leaving Treece and the group look ragged, especially Wilhelm. So Wilhelm tells the group that they are going to have some rest here for a bit, he has paid the berthing fees for three weeks which will give them all ample time to recharge their batteries. Oliver quickly does the accounts from their trading and announces that so far they have made a profit of about Cr 72,000, after taking off his broker fees of Cr 12,000, so they can all enjoy themselves for a while.
Later that day, back at the hotel the group are pleased to find that Wilhelm has returned. He is pleased that Oliver got a good price for the cargo and the new cargo is being loaded overnight, so they should be able to get off Treece in the morning. When he hears about all that has gone on in his absence, he is a little shocked but hopes that the group are OK, though next time to maybe try to research things a bit better before ending up in tough spots. Bucky sullenly heads off to the computer and tries to look up the Kai-Laek, sure enough there is a picture of an urn that looks just like the one they had, the article goes on to state that the Kai-Laek take extreme measures against anyone not of their religion who even looks upon a sacred relic. Bucky realises that they might not have heard the last from Kai Wyn.
The next morning the Aurora lifts off and Wilhelm says that they will be heading deep into the Rhylanor subsector to do his audit, he says that hopefully Bucky will be able to find some more clues to decypher the puzzle of Twilight's Peak as well as earning a bit of money with Oliver buying and selling some cargoes along the way.
The first stop is at Kinorb, while Wilhelm conducts his survey the group are free to wander around the starport for a week. Bucky finds no information on the Gyro Cadiz convoy, but Oliver finds a vendor who has some coynes similar to the one they found in the Pyramid on Yorbund, though the merchant says these are of Aslan origin and made of gold. Oliver buys the six the merchant has available but later discovers that they are just made of aluminium which has then been painted gold. The next stop is Fulacin, the world is run by an Imperial Megacorporation and there is no information available on the convoy.
After Fulacin the scout heads to Jae Tellona, Belizo, Bevey, Cipatwe before finally ending up at Vanejen. Bucky has so far discovered nothing that could help him in his quest, but as Wilhelm points out Vanejen is where the convoy started from so there could be more information here. It has taken them 14 weeks to get here since leaving Treece and the group look ragged, especially Wilhelm. So Wilhelm tells the group that they are going to have some rest here for a bit, he has paid the berthing fees for three weeks which will give them all ample time to recharge their batteries. Oliver quickly does the accounts from their trading and announces that so far they have made a profit of about Cr 72,000, after taking off his broker fees of Cr 12,000, so they can all enjoy themselves for a while.
The Lockbox - Part Three
Day 4
The night in the cells has not been good for Oliver, the bad food and lack of sleep has left Oliver feeling exhausted and eager to get out of this place. Meanwhile, back in the hotel the others awake feeling refreshed and full after a hearty breakfast. No-one feels it is strange that Oliver has not returned yet, maybe it is taking longer to find the gun dealer than he planned.
In the early afternoon Bucky decides to get out of the room for a bit, and heads out to get a caffeine based beverage from a local vendor while Tommy and Vann spend sometime studying the urn. To confuse any watchers Bucky takes the empty briefcase with him. Two of Kai Wyns 'associates' follow Bucky at a distance whilst two others remain in the hotel.
Whilst Bucky is enjoying his drink the two watchers discuss what to do, Kai Wyn has told them to just observe but, here is a chance to get the case and the urn back. So, the two watchers manage to flank Bucky and proceed to attack him, they would prefer to leave him unconscious but they will kill if they have to. What they don't realise though is that under his coat Bucky is wearing his cloth body armour, which easily turns their first dagger thrusts. As Bucky draws his own dagger he feels a dagger cutting deep into his side, Bucky instantly slashes at the attacker and is rewarded by feeling his blade cut deep into the chest of the man, who staggers backwards giving Bucky an escape route. Bucky grabs the briefcase and runs for his life, heading back to the hotel. Meanwhile, his attackers are drawing attention from the other customers so decide not to pursue Bucky but to run in the opposite direction.
When Bucky gets back to the hotel he lets Tommy and Vann know what has happened before sorting his wounds out with the small first aid kit in the room and some strong painkillers. Later that evening Oliver finally returns having been released with a fine and a strong warning from the police.
Kai Wyn is not a happy man, the stupid and rash actions by his men mean that there is no longer a chance that the group will hand over the relic and his plans to involve the authorities is ruined as the attack on Bucky has cost him the moral high ground in the case.
Day 5
Finally the day of Gamegas arrival comes and the group departs to meet his starship at the starport. Despite feeling quite sore Bucky insists he is fit enough to come along. The trip to the starport is uneventful, though the group do spot Kai Wyn and several of his followers tailing them at a safe distance, though once they are in the starport they quickly lose sight of their stalkers in the crowds.
The flight from Kkirka lands on time and after a little wait the group manage to locate Urkinu Gamega and convince him that they are there instead of Shawn Grey, who they say has been killed. Gamega is shocked to learn about the death of Grey, but he is still a businessman and as long as the group have the item that Grey recovered then he is willing to conclude the deal. He takes the group to a quiet area of the starport and offers them the same deal that he had with Grey, he gives them Cr 5000 for the contents of the case. When he opens the case and sees the contents he gives a cry and staggers backwards before declaring that the urn is a Kai-Laek urn and that the group have signed their death warrants. Gamega then flees from the group and tells them to keep well away from him, inhis haste he has left the urn and the Cr 5000 with the group.
Not really expecting that reaction the group are left a little stunned, but Bucky is the first to recover and he picks up the urn and smashes it on the ground, scattering the contents before striding away.
The night in the cells has not been good for Oliver, the bad food and lack of sleep has left Oliver feeling exhausted and eager to get out of this place. Meanwhile, back in the hotel the others awake feeling refreshed and full after a hearty breakfast. No-one feels it is strange that Oliver has not returned yet, maybe it is taking longer to find the gun dealer than he planned.
In the early afternoon Bucky decides to get out of the room for a bit, and heads out to get a caffeine based beverage from a local vendor while Tommy and Vann spend sometime studying the urn. To confuse any watchers Bucky takes the empty briefcase with him. Two of Kai Wyns 'associates' follow Bucky at a distance whilst two others remain in the hotel.
Whilst Bucky is enjoying his drink the two watchers discuss what to do, Kai Wyn has told them to just observe but, here is a chance to get the case and the urn back. So, the two watchers manage to flank Bucky and proceed to attack him, they would prefer to leave him unconscious but they will kill if they have to. What they don't realise though is that under his coat Bucky is wearing his cloth body armour, which easily turns their first dagger thrusts. As Bucky draws his own dagger he feels a dagger cutting deep into his side, Bucky instantly slashes at the attacker and is rewarded by feeling his blade cut deep into the chest of the man, who staggers backwards giving Bucky an escape route. Bucky grabs the briefcase and runs for his life, heading back to the hotel. Meanwhile, his attackers are drawing attention from the other customers so decide not to pursue Bucky but to run in the opposite direction.
When Bucky gets back to the hotel he lets Tommy and Vann know what has happened before sorting his wounds out with the small first aid kit in the room and some strong painkillers. Later that evening Oliver finally returns having been released with a fine and a strong warning from the police.
Kai Wyn is not a happy man, the stupid and rash actions by his men mean that there is no longer a chance that the group will hand over the relic and his plans to involve the authorities is ruined as the attack on Bucky has cost him the moral high ground in the case.
Day 5
Finally the day of Gamegas arrival comes and the group departs to meet his starship at the starport. Despite feeling quite sore Bucky insists he is fit enough to come along. The trip to the starport is uneventful, though the group do spot Kai Wyn and several of his followers tailing them at a safe distance, though once they are in the starport they quickly lose sight of their stalkers in the crowds.
The flight from Kkirka lands on time and after a little wait the group manage to locate Urkinu Gamega and convince him that they are there instead of Shawn Grey, who they say has been killed. Gamega is shocked to learn about the death of Grey, but he is still a businessman and as long as the group have the item that Grey recovered then he is willing to conclude the deal. He takes the group to a quiet area of the starport and offers them the same deal that he had with Grey, he gives them Cr 5000 for the contents of the case. When he opens the case and sees the contents he gives a cry and staggers backwards before declaring that the urn is a Kai-Laek urn and that the group have signed their death warrants. Gamega then flees from the group and tells them to keep well away from him, inhis haste he has left the urn and the Cr 5000 with the group.
Not really expecting that reaction the group are left a little stunned, but Bucky is the first to recover and he picks up the urn and smashes it on the ground, scattering the contents before striding away.
Monday, 18 April 2016
The Lockbox - Part Two
Day 2
The next morning the group begin to look through the papers in Grey's box. The first thing Oliver checks are the bank statements and is disappointed to find there is only a couple of hundred credits in Greys account, though there is evidence of Gamega paying Grey Cr 5000 several times in the past. The other papers detail several jobs that Grey had done for Gamega and the items he had subsequently sold to him, the last job seemed to be on the obscure planet of Otrai.
After studying the papers the group decide that they need to find out what Grey has stored in the lockbox. They head down to the starport and find the lockbox, inside they find an attache case. With Oliver, Tommy and Vann keeping watch Bucky opens the case carefully. The case is heavily padded but sat in the middle of it is an ornate, inscribed urn, after showing it to the others he replaces it and closes the case. Not wanting to risk leaving the case in the lockbox they decide to return to the hotel with it, following them at a discrete distance are four shadowy figures.
A couple of hours later there is a knock at their hotel room door, Tommy cautiously looks through the peephole and sees a well dressed man smiling back at him. While Tommy is engaged in a conversation through the closed door, Bucky draws his dagger and stands to one side of the door, Oliver calls reception and demands that security comes to the room quickly while Vann stands around looking menacing. As the conversation through the door continues, Oliver decides that security is taking far too long to get there, so he opens the window and jumps out. Fortunately, they are on the ground floor of the hotel, so the fall is not too great. He immediately begins to run to reception, to berate the staff for allowing people to come to their room without announcing them first!
Meanwhile, back at the door Tommy decides to open the door to the man and his three companions. When they are in the room, the well dressed man introduces himself as Kai Wyn and says that he would like his property back. He says that he knows that the group have the contents of the lockbox and that the late Mr Grey stole the item from him on Otrai. Tommy remains non-committal on the subject of the urn, not wanting to give anything away or to give Kai Wyn any excuse to do anything drastic. Bucky stands in the corner of the room thinking how best to stab the newcomers, while Vann waits on the other side of the room waiting to see what develops. The situation continues for another five minutes until a couple of hotel security guards arrive at the room. As soon as the guards enter the room Bucky starts shouting about how Kai Wyn and his companions are threatening and harassing the group, though the only weapon visible is the one in Bucky's hand. Kai Wyn smiles and allows himself and his group to be escorted from the room, though he does turn and say that he hopes the group will consider his offer and do the right thing.
Day 3
The following morning the hotel receptionist contacts the group and says that a gentleman wishes to speak to Bucky. When Bucky accepts the call he finds himself looking into the smiling face of Kai Wyn, who apologises for the incident the previous day and says that he made a mistake in just turning up at their room. So, he suggests that just he and Bucky meet face to face in the lobby of the hotel.
The meeting with Kai Wyn is an awkward one, to say the least. Kai Wyn insists that Bucky, and the group, should do the right thing and return the urn to himself, the rightful owner, while Bucky tells Kai Wyn to prove that he is the owner. During the conversation Bucky confirms to Kai Wyn that the group have physically seen the urn and examined it. Even though he hides it well, this news saddens Kai Wyn as he knows things can only end one way now. Realizing that with Bucky in such a belligerent mood that further discussions are going to be fruitless, so Kai Wyn expresses his sorrow that they cannot come to terms but he does leave a communicator code in case the group change their minds about his offer.
When Bucky gets back to the room his version of the meeting is rather different to what actually happened. He says how Kai Wyn was hostile and threatening towards the group and refused to pay the group for the urn. This version of the meeting disturbs Oliver deeply, so he heads off to find some underworld contacts who might be able to sell him some guns for the group, despite knowing they are illegal on Treece. Unfortunately, he ends up making contact with an undercover police officer and is promptly arrested and put in gaol.
That night Kai Wyn is contemplating what to do next. He could take direct action against the group, after all they have seen the urn (by Buckys admission) and the penalty for that is death. But, killing the group would be messy, especially so soon after the death of Mr Grey. An alternative would be to approach the authorities and enlist their help. Proving that he is the rightful owner of the urn is simple enough, and getting it off the group will be simple especially if he shows the connection to the late Mr Grey, after all they had his locker key, they broke into his apartment after his death and many people saw them in the bar together. It would be so easy to link them to his murder. Finally, he decides to be fair and to give the group two more days to do the right thing, after that he will let the authorities know of the situation.
The next morning the group begin to look through the papers in Grey's box. The first thing Oliver checks are the bank statements and is disappointed to find there is only a couple of hundred credits in Greys account, though there is evidence of Gamega paying Grey Cr 5000 several times in the past. The other papers detail several jobs that Grey had done for Gamega and the items he had subsequently sold to him, the last job seemed to be on the obscure planet of Otrai.
After studying the papers the group decide that they need to find out what Grey has stored in the lockbox. They head down to the starport and find the lockbox, inside they find an attache case. With Oliver, Tommy and Vann keeping watch Bucky opens the case carefully. The case is heavily padded but sat in the middle of it is an ornate, inscribed urn, after showing it to the others he replaces it and closes the case. Not wanting to risk leaving the case in the lockbox they decide to return to the hotel with it, following them at a discrete distance are four shadowy figures.
A couple of hours later there is a knock at their hotel room door, Tommy cautiously looks through the peephole and sees a well dressed man smiling back at him. While Tommy is engaged in a conversation through the closed door, Bucky draws his dagger and stands to one side of the door, Oliver calls reception and demands that security comes to the room quickly while Vann stands around looking menacing. As the conversation through the door continues, Oliver decides that security is taking far too long to get there, so he opens the window and jumps out. Fortunately, they are on the ground floor of the hotel, so the fall is not too great. He immediately begins to run to reception, to berate the staff for allowing people to come to their room without announcing them first!
Meanwhile, back at the door Tommy decides to open the door to the man and his three companions. When they are in the room, the well dressed man introduces himself as Kai Wyn and says that he would like his property back. He says that he knows that the group have the contents of the lockbox and that the late Mr Grey stole the item from him on Otrai. Tommy remains non-committal on the subject of the urn, not wanting to give anything away or to give Kai Wyn any excuse to do anything drastic. Bucky stands in the corner of the room thinking how best to stab the newcomers, while Vann waits on the other side of the room waiting to see what develops. The situation continues for another five minutes until a couple of hotel security guards arrive at the room. As soon as the guards enter the room Bucky starts shouting about how Kai Wyn and his companions are threatening and harassing the group, though the only weapon visible is the one in Bucky's hand. Kai Wyn smiles and allows himself and his group to be escorted from the room, though he does turn and say that he hopes the group will consider his offer and do the right thing.
Day 3
The following morning the hotel receptionist contacts the group and says that a gentleman wishes to speak to Bucky. When Bucky accepts the call he finds himself looking into the smiling face of Kai Wyn, who apologises for the incident the previous day and says that he made a mistake in just turning up at their room. So, he suggests that just he and Bucky meet face to face in the lobby of the hotel.
The meeting with Kai Wyn is an awkward one, to say the least. Kai Wyn insists that Bucky, and the group, should do the right thing and return the urn to himself, the rightful owner, while Bucky tells Kai Wyn to prove that he is the owner. During the conversation Bucky confirms to Kai Wyn that the group have physically seen the urn and examined it. Even though he hides it well, this news saddens Kai Wyn as he knows things can only end one way now. Realizing that with Bucky in such a belligerent mood that further discussions are going to be fruitless, so Kai Wyn expresses his sorrow that they cannot come to terms but he does leave a communicator code in case the group change their minds about his offer.
When Bucky gets back to the room his version of the meeting is rather different to what actually happened. He says how Kai Wyn was hostile and threatening towards the group and refused to pay the group for the urn. This version of the meeting disturbs Oliver deeply, so he heads off to find some underworld contacts who might be able to sell him some guns for the group, despite knowing they are illegal on Treece. Unfortunately, he ends up making contact with an undercover police officer and is promptly arrested and put in gaol.
That night Kai Wyn is contemplating what to do next. He could take direct action against the group, after all they have seen the urn (by Buckys admission) and the penalty for that is death. But, killing the group would be messy, especially so soon after the death of Mr Grey. An alternative would be to approach the authorities and enlist their help. Proving that he is the rightful owner of the urn is simple enough, and getting it off the group will be simple especially if he shows the connection to the late Mr Grey, after all they had his locker key, they broke into his apartment after his death and many people saw them in the bar together. It would be so easy to link them to his murder. Finally, he decides to be fair and to give the group two more days to do the right thing, after that he will let the authorities know of the situation.
The Lockbox - Part One
Day 1
A couple of days after Wilhelm has left to do his audit and after Oliver has sold the cargo and arranged for a new cargo to be available when Wilhelm gets back, the adventurers are enjoying an evening of 'entertainment' in a bar near the starport. Late into the evening the group notice a pale, agitated man enter the bar, dressed in a standard ship-suit the man moves through the bar and seems to be looking for someone. Finally he spots the group and heads straight for their table, the stranger seems to recognize Oliver, though Oliver cannot place where he has seen the man from, and seems relieved that there is someone he knows in the bar. The guy quickly pulls out a key, held on a chain around his neck, and places it on the table.
With several nervous glances the guy says that the key is for a lockbox in the starport, box number 9764-A2, and that inside the box is a package that needs to be delivered to a man called Urkinu Gamega, who should be arriving shortly. He would stay and finish the job himself, but he has been called away on urgent business and has to leave in the morning, so as he trusts Oliver, could they keep the key safe and deliver the package to Gamega when he arrives at the starport. He gets out Cr 500 and drops it on the table and says that they can get another Cr 500 from Gamega when they deliver the package. He seems very reluctant to tell the group anything about the package, other than it is not dangerous and it is only going to be of interest to Gamega, who collects things like that. The guy then seems to get more agitated and finally he gets up and quickly makes his way to the back of the bar, Vann tries to follow him but soon loses him in the crowded bar. The group are left with a key, Cr 500 and an unexpected job to complete. Enquiries with the bar staff about either the man or Gamega draw a blank, with no-one knowing who they are, so with nothing else to do the adventurers settle down to enjoy spending the Cr 500 they have just come into.
Later that night, as the group are leaving the bar, they hear muffled cries for help and the sounds of a fight coming from a nearby alley. Bucky, Tommy and Vann decide to go investigate the fight while Oliver thinks that he might have left something in the bar and ducks back inside. Reaching the alley Bucky and the others are confronted by a body near the entrance in a pool of blood. Turning the body over Bucky discovers it is the guy that gave them the key, he has been stabbed several times and is close to death. Tommy and Vann get the impression that there are several figures hiding in the shadows, but a search reveals nothing. Meanwhile, Bucky attempts to staunch the wounds of their patron, who suddenly raises his head and whispers to Bucky, "Don't....Look", with his last breath. A search of the dead man turns up very little, just an ID card and a business card with the name of Urkinu Gamega, on the back of it is a date and flight number. Close to the body and half in shadow Vann finds a strangely curved dagger, stained with blood, carefully he picks it up and tucks it away in his jacket. Leaving the body where it is the group head back to the bar to rejoin Oliver. When Oliver sees the ID card he remembers the name, Shawn Grey, as an engineer on the ship that Oliver worked on, though Grey was only on the ship for a couple of jumps before moving to a different ship. The address on the ID card turns out to be not too far away from the bar, while the flight number corresponds to a regular star liner due to arrive from Kkirka in four days time.
Bucky is keen to investigate Grey's apartment straight away though Oliver feels that going in the morning would be better, the debate between them gets a little heated but when Tommy and Vann say that they will go with Bucky, Oliver decides to head back to the hotel by himself leaving the others to go to the apartment. What Oliver doesn't see however are the two shadowy figures following him back to the hotel.
Bucky and the others easily find the apartment block in a seedy area of the city, though getting past the security door is proving to be a little problematic as no-one seems to be answering. Eventually, Bucky manages to get an answer and he and Vann gain entry to the building, though it does cost them Cr 50 each from a demanding resident. Tommy waits in cover outside to make sure no-one follows them in. The apartment is clean and tidy, well it was until Bucky and Vann begin searching it. It takes them about an hour but they manage to find a hidden wall panel, after carefully removing it they retrieve a box filled with papers. After finding nothing else of interest they decide to head back to the hotel, though they don't notice the four people following them in the shadows.
In a dark warehouse the leader gathers his sixteen followers around him, he is displeased with them and makes sure that they know it. He says that they should have retrieved the key and dealt with Mr Grey before he could involve others in his schemes. Now he is going to have to find some way to negotiate with these strangers before they discover what is in the lockbox, and if that fails then they will have to be dealt with, but for now they must be kept under close scrutiny.
A couple of days after Wilhelm has left to do his audit and after Oliver has sold the cargo and arranged for a new cargo to be available when Wilhelm gets back, the adventurers are enjoying an evening of 'entertainment' in a bar near the starport. Late into the evening the group notice a pale, agitated man enter the bar, dressed in a standard ship-suit the man moves through the bar and seems to be looking for someone. Finally he spots the group and heads straight for their table, the stranger seems to recognize Oliver, though Oliver cannot place where he has seen the man from, and seems relieved that there is someone he knows in the bar. The guy quickly pulls out a key, held on a chain around his neck, and places it on the table.
With several nervous glances the guy says that the key is for a lockbox in the starport, box number 9764-A2, and that inside the box is a package that needs to be delivered to a man called Urkinu Gamega, who should be arriving shortly. He would stay and finish the job himself, but he has been called away on urgent business and has to leave in the morning, so as he trusts Oliver, could they keep the key safe and deliver the package to Gamega when he arrives at the starport. He gets out Cr 500 and drops it on the table and says that they can get another Cr 500 from Gamega when they deliver the package. He seems very reluctant to tell the group anything about the package, other than it is not dangerous and it is only going to be of interest to Gamega, who collects things like that. The guy then seems to get more agitated and finally he gets up and quickly makes his way to the back of the bar, Vann tries to follow him but soon loses him in the crowded bar. The group are left with a key, Cr 500 and an unexpected job to complete. Enquiries with the bar staff about either the man or Gamega draw a blank, with no-one knowing who they are, so with nothing else to do the adventurers settle down to enjoy spending the Cr 500 they have just come into.
Later that night, as the group are leaving the bar, they hear muffled cries for help and the sounds of a fight coming from a nearby alley. Bucky, Tommy and Vann decide to go investigate the fight while Oliver thinks that he might have left something in the bar and ducks back inside. Reaching the alley Bucky and the others are confronted by a body near the entrance in a pool of blood. Turning the body over Bucky discovers it is the guy that gave them the key, he has been stabbed several times and is close to death. Tommy and Vann get the impression that there are several figures hiding in the shadows, but a search reveals nothing. Meanwhile, Bucky attempts to staunch the wounds of their patron, who suddenly raises his head and whispers to Bucky, "Don't....Look", with his last breath. A search of the dead man turns up very little, just an ID card and a business card with the name of Urkinu Gamega, on the back of it is a date and flight number. Close to the body and half in shadow Vann finds a strangely curved dagger, stained with blood, carefully he picks it up and tucks it away in his jacket. Leaving the body where it is the group head back to the bar to rejoin Oliver. When Oliver sees the ID card he remembers the name, Shawn Grey, as an engineer on the ship that Oliver worked on, though Grey was only on the ship for a couple of jumps before moving to a different ship. The address on the ID card turns out to be not too far away from the bar, while the flight number corresponds to a regular star liner due to arrive from Kkirka in four days time.
Bucky is keen to investigate Grey's apartment straight away though Oliver feels that going in the morning would be better, the debate between them gets a little heated but when Tommy and Vann say that they will go with Bucky, Oliver decides to head back to the hotel by himself leaving the others to go to the apartment. What Oliver doesn't see however are the two shadowy figures following him back to the hotel.
Bucky and the others easily find the apartment block in a seedy area of the city, though getting past the security door is proving to be a little problematic as no-one seems to be answering. Eventually, Bucky manages to get an answer and he and Vann gain entry to the building, though it does cost them Cr 50 each from a demanding resident. Tommy waits in cover outside to make sure no-one follows them in. The apartment is clean and tidy, well it was until Bucky and Vann begin searching it. It takes them about an hour but they manage to find a hidden wall panel, after carefully removing it they retrieve a box filled with papers. After finding nothing else of interest they decide to head back to the hotel, though they don't notice the four people following them in the shadows.
In a dark warehouse the leader gathers his sixteen followers around him, he is displeased with them and makes sure that they know it. He says that they should have retrieved the key and dealt with Mr Grey before he could involve others in his schemes. Now he is going to have to find some way to negotiate with these strangers before they discover what is in the lockbox, and if that fails then they will have to be dealt with, but for now they must be kept under close scrutiny.
Monday, 21 March 2016
The Kinunir of Regina - Epilogue
Later that night in the bar the group witness an argument between a scout and a navy man about the epic Twilight's Peak, an argument that swiftly turns from verbal blows to physical ones. After the pair are ejected by the bouncers, Wilhelm asks Bucky if he knows about Twilight's Peak, Bucky says he only knows vague details about it, Wilhelm smiles and changes the subject of the conversation.
The following day, with the Aurora upgraded and loaded with a cargo of pharmaceuticals the group depart from Regina. The first stop is going to be Yori, where Wilhelm and Oliver will sell the pharmaceuticals and buy a new cargo. During the week in jumpspace Bucky tries his best to get into the book Wilhelm gave him just before they lifted off, it is a copy of Twilight's Peak, but, like most readers of the epic he soon gives up on the badly written, over-long epic. Deciding to let the ships computer do the hard work for him, Bucky patiently scans in each page and writes a program to produce a summary of the book with all the unnecessary bits taken out. The computer gets to work, and about six hours later is ready to deliver its findings. Bucky is surprised to discover the summary just says;
"We died".
Feeling that this is a little too summarised, Bucky rewrites the parameters used by the program and sets it running again, in a little over eighteen hours the computer delivers a five page summary of the epic, which is something Bucky feels more comfortable in reading.
After leaving Yori, Wilhelm sets course for Treece in the Lanth subsector as the next port of call. When they arrive Wilhelm announces that he is going to survey the system and do his audit of the world, which is going to take a week, until then the crew can stay groundside and try to sell the cargo, buy some new cargo and maybe Bucky can find out something more about the Twilight's Peak epic.
The following day, with the Aurora upgraded and loaded with a cargo of pharmaceuticals the group depart from Regina. The first stop is going to be Yori, where Wilhelm and Oliver will sell the pharmaceuticals and buy a new cargo. During the week in jumpspace Bucky tries his best to get into the book Wilhelm gave him just before they lifted off, it is a copy of Twilight's Peak, but, like most readers of the epic he soon gives up on the badly written, over-long epic. Deciding to let the ships computer do the hard work for him, Bucky patiently scans in each page and writes a program to produce a summary of the book with all the unnecessary bits taken out. The computer gets to work, and about six hours later is ready to deliver its findings. Bucky is surprised to discover the summary just says;
"We died".
Feeling that this is a little too summarised, Bucky rewrites the parameters used by the program and sets it running again, in a little over eighteen hours the computer delivers a five page summary of the epic, which is something Bucky feels more comfortable in reading.
After leaving Yori, Wilhelm sets course for Treece in the Lanth subsector as the next port of call. When they arrive Wilhelm announces that he is going to survey the system and do his audit of the world, which is going to take a week, until then the crew can stay groundside and try to sell the cargo, buy some new cargo and maybe Bucky can find out something more about the Twilight's Peak epic.
The Kinunir of Regina - Part Three
Ignoring the guards order, Wilhelm and Tommy duck behind a bulkhead and prepare their rifles, whilst Vann remains hidden also behind the bulkhead. The guards decide to advance towards the two people they have seen, but as they are crossing the debris strewn floor Wilhelm peeks out, levels his laser rifle and shoots one of them. The guards flak jacket proves to be no defence against the laser and the guard falls to the ground dead. Tommy now takes a shot at the other guard, but his flak jacket is a little more resistant to the discarding sabot round from Tommy's Advanced Combat Rifle, and the guard is just lightly wounded. The sound of the single shot is amplified in the confined area of the ship and echoes all around.
Outside the scrapyard, Oliver hears the shot as well and sees the three patrolling guards stop and begin to head towards the derelict Kinunir. He radios the others and tells them to expect more company soon, as he says this the sound of an ACR on full automatic echoes across the scrapyard. Oliver sees that one of the guards is on his radio and that lights have now come on in the security office, even more trouble is to come.
Back in the ship, the second guard is down on the floor, dead, and Tommy and Vann are making their way over to the ramps where they came in, to ambush the guards heading their way. On the way, Tommy stops and calmly cuts the throat of one of the guards on the floor, just to make sure he is dead. Tommy and Vann don't manage to make it to the loading ramps before another two guards appear, but before the guards can get a shot off at them a burst of fire from both Tommy and Vann cuts the two guards down.
Oliver informs them that the fifth guard is now under the ship and will soon be coming up the ramp, he also says that a sixth guard has now left the security office and is heading towards the Kinunir. The fifth guard suddenly appears on the ramp and manages to get a shot off at Vann, the revolver bullet though doesn't get past his cloth armor. Vann fires another burst at the guard and downs him. Before the final guard can appear, the group decide to get out of the scrapyard, they quickly exit the ship and make their way back to the fence and back to Oliver. To get back to the starport they decide to take a wide detour to get home, which proves to be a good choice as in the distance they see a couple of police ground cars and a Grav APC heading to the scrapyard.
The following day the group catch a news report about intruders at a scrapyard belonging to General Shipyards, in which two security guards were killed and three others seriously wounded. It says that the local police are currently waiting to question the surviving guards when they recover consciousness. Over the next couple of days it comes to light that the police have got no useful information from the wounded guards and are beginning to widen their search by questioning other staff at General Shipyards. This worries Wilhelm as at least half the group have given their names to General Shipyards employees in connection with enquiries concerning the Kinunir, and it was unclear if Tommy and Vann gave their names when they enquired about the scrapyard.
Bucky has been hard at work on his hacking program and finally manages to get through all the firewalls on the General Shipyards server without it crashing. He manages to download the information from the data archive that the group needs to complete the job for their patron. The executive is contacted and arranges to meet the group in a bar in three days time. In the meantime Bucky spends sometime destroying all traces of his hacking activities, including breaking and burning the computer he has been working on. Though, Wilhelm feels such actions are a little over the top. Wilhelm also announces that he is going to go and begin the audit of the Rhylanor subsector next, as he is finished in Regina. As it will be a long trip and expensive on fuel he is going to carry some cargo or passengers to offset the costs of the trip. As the Aurora will only be able to carry a couple of tons of cargo, it is going to have to be fairly high value goods and if they are carrying passengers then the crew are going to have to share quarters. He says that he will need some help with selling the goods on the planets they stop at, so he will need some help from Oliver, though naturally he will pay Oliver a brokerage fee for his help, which pleases Oliver greatly.
The meeting with the Oberlindes Lines executive goes well and the executive is very pleased with the work done by the group and happily pays over the Cr 200,000, which Wilhelm shares out to the group.
Outside the scrapyard, Oliver hears the shot as well and sees the three patrolling guards stop and begin to head towards the derelict Kinunir. He radios the others and tells them to expect more company soon, as he says this the sound of an ACR on full automatic echoes across the scrapyard. Oliver sees that one of the guards is on his radio and that lights have now come on in the security office, even more trouble is to come.
Back in the ship, the second guard is down on the floor, dead, and Tommy and Vann are making their way over to the ramps where they came in, to ambush the guards heading their way. On the way, Tommy stops and calmly cuts the throat of one of the guards on the floor, just to make sure he is dead. Tommy and Vann don't manage to make it to the loading ramps before another two guards appear, but before the guards can get a shot off at them a burst of fire from both Tommy and Vann cuts the two guards down.
Oliver informs them that the fifth guard is now under the ship and will soon be coming up the ramp, he also says that a sixth guard has now left the security office and is heading towards the Kinunir. The fifth guard suddenly appears on the ramp and manages to get a shot off at Vann, the revolver bullet though doesn't get past his cloth armor. Vann fires another burst at the guard and downs him. Before the final guard can appear, the group decide to get out of the scrapyard, they quickly exit the ship and make their way back to the fence and back to Oliver. To get back to the starport they decide to take a wide detour to get home, which proves to be a good choice as in the distance they see a couple of police ground cars and a Grav APC heading to the scrapyard.
The following day the group catch a news report about intruders at a scrapyard belonging to General Shipyards, in which two security guards were killed and three others seriously wounded. It says that the local police are currently waiting to question the surviving guards when they recover consciousness. Over the next couple of days it comes to light that the police have got no useful information from the wounded guards and are beginning to widen their search by questioning other staff at General Shipyards. This worries Wilhelm as at least half the group have given their names to General Shipyards employees in connection with enquiries concerning the Kinunir, and it was unclear if Tommy and Vann gave their names when they enquired about the scrapyard.
Bucky has been hard at work on his hacking program and finally manages to get through all the firewalls on the General Shipyards server without it crashing. He manages to download the information from the data archive that the group needs to complete the job for their patron. The executive is contacted and arranges to meet the group in a bar in three days time. In the meantime Bucky spends sometime destroying all traces of his hacking activities, including breaking and burning the computer he has been working on. Though, Wilhelm feels such actions are a little over the top. Wilhelm also announces that he is going to go and begin the audit of the Rhylanor subsector next, as he is finished in Regina. As it will be a long trip and expensive on fuel he is going to carry some cargo or passengers to offset the costs of the trip. As the Aurora will only be able to carry a couple of tons of cargo, it is going to have to be fairly high value goods and if they are carrying passengers then the crew are going to have to share quarters. He says that he will need some help with selling the goods on the planets they stop at, so he will need some help from Oliver, though naturally he will pay Oliver a brokerage fee for his help, which pleases Oliver greatly.
The meeting with the Oberlindes Lines executive goes well and the executive is very pleased with the work done by the group and happily pays over the Cr 200,000, which Wilhelm shares out to the group.
Sunday, 28 February 2016
The Kinunir of Regina - Part Two
It takes a day for Oliver's contacts to get hold of the equipment that they need, including an Advanced Combat Rifle (ACR) and ACR ammunition for both Tommy and Vann. Wilhelm expresses a concern that for an initial, stealthy, scouting mission the others seem to be preparing for an assault on the office block. All the same though, Wilhelm packs his auto pistol, cutlass and laser rifle into the air/raft along with a few other essentials that might be needed. Bucky asks if they should maybe get some stun grenades, Vann says yes but the rest say no to that idea.
The trip to the shipyard is swift and uneventful and Wilhelm manages to find a concealed position from which they can overlook the factory. During the day the group manage to identify security camera positions and patrol routes by the few guards that they see on site. They also manage to identify the actual manufacturing buildings, but cannot see the disused slipway that Wilhelm's contact mentioned, and none of the buildings seem large enough to hold a Kinunir class ship. That night the shipyard seemed very quiet, with just a couple of security guards patrolling the grounds, using IR goggles though, the group could see that the security cameras did have an IR facility, though the sweeps with it seemed to be very random. Getting into the offices was going to be a tough job.
The next morning, shortly after the workers had started work at the factory, a large Grav Carrier arrived and settled down at the rear of the shipyard, several workers hurried out and began to load what appeared to be crates of components onto the carrier. Thinking that it might be heading to another General Shipyards site, the group packed up and discretely began to follow the G-Carrier. After about ten kilometres the carrier crested a ridge and dropped from sight, when the group approached the ridge, Wilhelm landed the air/raft and together they quietly approached the crest on foot. In the middle of a small valley sat what appeared to be a large scrapyard, the G-Carrier was located at one edge of the debris field, the workers hastily off-loading it then re-boarding it they left. The interesting thing about the scrapyard was that almost in the middle of it sat a very rusty, pock-marked, hull of a Kinunir class battle cruiser. After the G-Carrier had departed the group tried to decide on what to do next, after ruling out the more homicidal plans it was decided that going down and asking about the wreck might work better.
The security guard that greets them is quite straight forward, no the group cannot enter and if they want to buy any scrap then they would need to talk to the owners of the scrapyard, General Shipyards, for authorisation. So, the group decide to return to their rooms to get some rest and to plot their next moves.
The discussions about their next moves are long and detailed, Oliver suggests that the best move would be to hit both the office and the scrapyard at the same time as that will reduce the chances of increased security at either site if one or the other of the break-ins is detected. Wilhelm is impressed by Oliver's thinking about this plan, but the only drawback is that there are only five of them and splitting the group into two uneven teams could be problematic especially if they are about ten kilometres apart. Ultimately, it is decided that Tommy and Vann will go to the General Shipyard office in the starport to see about the possibility of getting authority to get access to the scrapyard. Meanwhile, Bucky will try to get his hacking program fixed and running properly this time to try and access the General Shipyard data archives, and Wilhelm will go off and kick the daylights out of the contact that gave him false information about the disused slipway.
The trip to the General Shipyard office is unprofitable for Tommy and Vann, the secretary does not think that the company sells it's scrap but that she will check. After a quick phone call to the main office it is confirmed that General Shipyard does not sell its scrap to third parties. So, the two adventurers return to the group to discuss plans to break into the scrapyard. That night Oliver, Tommy, Vann and Wilhelm leave Bucky puzzling over what went wrong with his program, and head out to the scrapyard in the air/raft.
Once they get there they spend a few hours familiarising themselves with the layout, the patrol routes of the guards and looking for a suitable entry point for the team. It is decided that Wilhelm, Vann and Tommy will be the ones to break in, whilst Oliver provides radio support and cover in case of trouble, which surprises Wilhelm as he is the only one equipped with effectively a silent weapon with a long range capability, his laser rifle. Oliver just has his short ranged, very loud submachinegun. So, the three intruders set out and with some good support from Oliver calling out the guards positions, they manage to make it to the Kinunir unseen.
They enter the ship through one of the cargo loading ramps and what they find is a totally dark ship, the floor covered with litter and debris. Using their Light Intensifier goggles they see that they only structures that seem to be in place are the bulkheads, work must have been discontinued before all the internal fixtures were put in. After studying the aft portion of the deck they decide that there is no pinnace dock here, so the Black Globe Generator fittings must be on a higher deck. As they make their way up a ladder, Wilhelm stops them and draws their attention to the very large cat-like creature which has suddenly appeared behind them. The creature stares at them and emits a low, menacing, growl, very slowly the group resume their climb to the next deck with Wilhelm keeping one eye on the creature to make sure it is not following them. The search on the next deck also proves fruitless, so they carry on climbing to the next deck. This deck looks more promising as it has a dock on it large enough to hold a pinnace, a quick search soon finds the mountings they have been told to look out for. Measurements are quickly taken to pinpoint the precise location, and as a back up Tommy takes some photographs. Just to be on the safe side they check out the other side of the pinnace dock to make sure there are no mountings on that side. Finding none, the group decide to leave.
As they finish descending the ladder and are about to enter the cargo dock, the creature pounces out from behind some debris and attacks. Wilhelm was first down the ladder this time and is greeted by a swipe from the creatures large claws across his chest, wounding him deeply. Wilhelm and Tommy both draw their cutlass and begin to hack away at the creature. Vann tries to get into a position to get a shot at the cat. The fight loud though fairly short, with Wilhelm suffering another wound but managing to finally kill the large creature. The noise of the fight though has attracted a couple of security guards, who suddenly appear in the doorways across the cargo area with their revolvers drawn, pointing them at the intruders whilst yelling for the group to lower their weapons.
The trip to the shipyard is swift and uneventful and Wilhelm manages to find a concealed position from which they can overlook the factory. During the day the group manage to identify security camera positions and patrol routes by the few guards that they see on site. They also manage to identify the actual manufacturing buildings, but cannot see the disused slipway that Wilhelm's contact mentioned, and none of the buildings seem large enough to hold a Kinunir class ship. That night the shipyard seemed very quiet, with just a couple of security guards patrolling the grounds, using IR goggles though, the group could see that the security cameras did have an IR facility, though the sweeps with it seemed to be very random. Getting into the offices was going to be a tough job.
The next morning, shortly after the workers had started work at the factory, a large Grav Carrier arrived and settled down at the rear of the shipyard, several workers hurried out and began to load what appeared to be crates of components onto the carrier. Thinking that it might be heading to another General Shipyards site, the group packed up and discretely began to follow the G-Carrier. After about ten kilometres the carrier crested a ridge and dropped from sight, when the group approached the ridge, Wilhelm landed the air/raft and together they quietly approached the crest on foot. In the middle of a small valley sat what appeared to be a large scrapyard, the G-Carrier was located at one edge of the debris field, the workers hastily off-loading it then re-boarding it they left. The interesting thing about the scrapyard was that almost in the middle of it sat a very rusty, pock-marked, hull of a Kinunir class battle cruiser. After the G-Carrier had departed the group tried to decide on what to do next, after ruling out the more homicidal plans it was decided that going down and asking about the wreck might work better.
The security guard that greets them is quite straight forward, no the group cannot enter and if they want to buy any scrap then they would need to talk to the owners of the scrapyard, General Shipyards, for authorisation. So, the group decide to return to their rooms to get some rest and to plot their next moves.
The discussions about their next moves are long and detailed, Oliver suggests that the best move would be to hit both the office and the scrapyard at the same time as that will reduce the chances of increased security at either site if one or the other of the break-ins is detected. Wilhelm is impressed by Oliver's thinking about this plan, but the only drawback is that there are only five of them and splitting the group into two uneven teams could be problematic especially if they are about ten kilometres apart. Ultimately, it is decided that Tommy and Vann will go to the General Shipyard office in the starport to see about the possibility of getting authority to get access to the scrapyard. Meanwhile, Bucky will try to get his hacking program fixed and running properly this time to try and access the General Shipyard data archives, and Wilhelm will go off and kick the daylights out of the contact that gave him false information about the disused slipway.
The trip to the General Shipyard office is unprofitable for Tommy and Vann, the secretary does not think that the company sells it's scrap but that she will check. After a quick phone call to the main office it is confirmed that General Shipyard does not sell its scrap to third parties. So, the two adventurers return to the group to discuss plans to break into the scrapyard. That night Oliver, Tommy, Vann and Wilhelm leave Bucky puzzling over what went wrong with his program, and head out to the scrapyard in the air/raft.
Once they get there they spend a few hours familiarising themselves with the layout, the patrol routes of the guards and looking for a suitable entry point for the team. It is decided that Wilhelm, Vann and Tommy will be the ones to break in, whilst Oliver provides radio support and cover in case of trouble, which surprises Wilhelm as he is the only one equipped with effectively a silent weapon with a long range capability, his laser rifle. Oliver just has his short ranged, very loud submachinegun. So, the three intruders set out and with some good support from Oliver calling out the guards positions, they manage to make it to the Kinunir unseen.
They enter the ship through one of the cargo loading ramps and what they find is a totally dark ship, the floor covered with litter and debris. Using their Light Intensifier goggles they see that they only structures that seem to be in place are the bulkheads, work must have been discontinued before all the internal fixtures were put in. After studying the aft portion of the deck they decide that there is no pinnace dock here, so the Black Globe Generator fittings must be on a higher deck. As they make their way up a ladder, Wilhelm stops them and draws their attention to the very large cat-like creature which has suddenly appeared behind them. The creature stares at them and emits a low, menacing, growl, very slowly the group resume their climb to the next deck with Wilhelm keeping one eye on the creature to make sure it is not following them. The search on the next deck also proves fruitless, so they carry on climbing to the next deck. This deck looks more promising as it has a dock on it large enough to hold a pinnace, a quick search soon finds the mountings they have been told to look out for. Measurements are quickly taken to pinpoint the precise location, and as a back up Tommy takes some photographs. Just to be on the safe side they check out the other side of the pinnace dock to make sure there are no mountings on that side. Finding none, the group decide to leave.
As they finish descending the ladder and are about to enter the cargo dock, the creature pounces out from behind some debris and attacks. Wilhelm was first down the ladder this time and is greeted by a swipe from the creatures large claws across his chest, wounding him deeply. Wilhelm and Tommy both draw their cutlass and begin to hack away at the creature. Vann tries to get into a position to get a shot at the cat. The fight loud though fairly short, with Wilhelm suffering another wound but managing to finally kill the large creature. The noise of the fight though has attracted a couple of security guards, who suddenly appear in the doorways across the cargo area with their revolvers drawn, pointing them at the intruders whilst yelling for the group to lower their weapons.
Tuesday, 9 February 2016
The Kinunir of Regina - Part One
Once their patron has gone the discussion begins about how they can complete the job. Bucky, Tommy and Vann straight away begin talking about what they will need to interrogate people, and start making a shopping list beginning with handcuffs. Oliver goes off muttering about seeing what his contacts in the local underworld know, and Wilhelm sits there dumbfounded wondering about what sort of people he has got involved with. When Vann begins to ask where they might be able to get hold of some truth drugs, Wilhelm decides to step in and suggests that maybe they should find out what information is available publicly. As Bucky is the most skilled with computers he decides to go and see what he can find out. Tommy, Vann and Wilhelm decide to go check out some of the other bars in the starport to see if they can find someone who might have some information they could use.
Oliver's contacts come up dry, but say they will put the word out and get back to him. Bucky has more luck and manages to retrieve ship specifications, a list of all the ships in the Kinunir class and the fate of some of the ships that have been lost. When the others return to the Traveller's Aid Society hostel, where they are staying, they say that they were unsuccessful in finding out anything. Oliver and Bucky sit down and calculate how much fuel would be carried based on the specifications Bucky found, they come up with a figure that actually exceeds the tonnage of the Kinunir class! Later, when the others are asleep, Wilhelm works out his own figures on the fuel requirements and comes up with a total of 1,080 tons, which would only leave 120 tons for drives, weapons and crew accommodation. Wilhelm decides that the public specifications are certainly inaccurate. The next day Oliver and Bucky decide to go and check out General Shipyards to see what they can find there while Tommy, Vann and Wilhelm head back to the starport again.
Bucky and Oliver manage to find a General Shipyards office in the starport and go inside, it is not what they expected though. The only occupant is an attractive woman seated behind a desk typing awat on a computer. Oliver introduces himself but when the woman asks how she can help, he realises that he has no ides what to say and just babbles incoherently. Bucky steps in and tries to pass himself off as a covert naval operative who requires information on a military vessel that had been built by General Shipyards. The stunned secretary says that General does not produce military starships, that all she can do is make appointments for people to go to the shipyard and if he worked for the navy surely they would have the information he was looking for. The logic of these statements throws Bucky into silence, clearly the intelligence of the secretary is superior to Bucky. Oliver gets the ides of actually just making an appointment to see someone at the shipyard, finally faced by someone making sense the secretary makes an appointment for Bucky, Oliver and Wilhelm to see Mr Hansen at the shipyard in five days time. Meanwhile, Tommy and the others manage to find and talk to a retired shipyard worker who had worked on the Kinunir ships produced by General Shipyards. He tells them that from what he remembers the Black Globe Generator was on the drive deck not too far from the pinnace dock. Though, at present, the only Kinunir the group know that is in the Regina subsector is the Gaesh, the prison hulk at Pixie, and that has had all the drives ripped out. The problems with the Gaesh are that getting to Pixie will be time consuming and expensive, and short of getting arrested, breaking into a prison ship will be almost impossible.
Over the next few days the group continue to track down leads and rumours, though the only ones circulating around the starport are in connection with possible Imperial suppression of political opposition. This leads Oliver to think that a civil war is about to break out in the subsector. Bucky decides to make himself useful by trying to hack into the General Shipyards data archive. On the day of the appointment at General Shipyards a car arrives outside the Traveller's Aid Society to collect them, but only Oliver and Wilhelm decide to go, leaving Bucky to carry on writing his program. The meeting at General Shipyards is short and unproductive, Mr Hansen knows nothing about the building of the Kinunir class and says the previous management team were borderline criminal in their working practices. He then brings the meeting to a close and Oliver and Wilhelm return to the group empty handed. When they get back to their rooms there is a message for Oliver saying that one of his contacts has found a couple of people that might be willing to talk to him, for a price. They are Daniel V Adar and Guy Self, both formerly worked at General Shipyards, Oliver and Tommy decide to pay them a visit in the next couple of days.
The next morning Bucky announces that he has almost finished working on the hack program and should be able to give it a go in the next 24 hours. Wilhelm and Vann decide to give the starport another go for leads while Tommy and Oliver head out to see Mr Self. Tommy slips a pair of handcuffs into his pocket, in case Mr Self proves to be a little unwilling to provide them with the information.
Guy Self was the former Project Manager (Military Division) at General Shipyards, he was a casualty of the board room battle that took place when General pulled out of the military shipbuilding market and narrowly avoided criminal charges for misappropriation of funds. Since then he has only been able to get junior and low paid work, so he greedily snaps up the Cr 500 that Oliver offers him. He tells them that the publicised range of 200 days was pure rubbish and that the Kinunir only had a range of 28 days fuel for the power plant and manoeuvre drives. He also says that the Black Globe Generator was on the port side of the drive section. As they leave Tommy looks a little disappointed that he did not get to use the handcuffs. Maybe next time, he thinks.
Vann and Wilhelm are also having a bit of luck, they have run into a navy veteran who everyone calls 'Lucky' Jim. Jim was an engineer on the Allamu, until its last fatal flight, when he had to stay in port because of a fever. Which technically makes him the last survivor of the Kinunir class battle cruiser, Allamu. He puts his luck down to the old maintenance shaft key that he kept from the ship. However, no amount of convincing from Vann will get him to part with it willingly, so Vann decides to try a little drinking contest with him. Things do not go to plan though and Jim soon discovers that instead of whiskey Vann has been giving himself measures of apple juice. So, Jim decides to buy the next few rounds and pretty soon Vann is slumped unconscious at the table. Between Wilhelm and the very drunk Jim they manage to get Vann back to the hostel and into his bed.
The next morning Vann is feeling rather unwell, so decides to spend the day in his room, but Wilhelm shows him a little present, it is the key that Jim had last night. Wilhelm explains that while they were carrying Vann home Wilhelm was able to lift the key out of Jim's pocket. Tommy and Oliver say they are going to pay a visit to Mr Adar today. Wilhelm says he is going to go and see a contact he made while Vann was having his contest last night. Bucky says he has a couple of final tweaks to make and then he is going to try the program.
Mr Adar is a former designer at General Shipyard who got dismissed as he was an incompetent architect. He never worked on any military vessels, but he does hint that he has something that could be useful. Oliver offers him Cr 500, but Daniel dismisses the offer. So, Tommy quickly steps in with an offer of Cr 2,000 which is gleefully accepted. Daniel hands over a piece of paper with a code written on it, the code he says will access any data archive at General Shipyards but, it will only work from a terminal within the General Shipyards office. Once they leave Tommy and Oliver have a heated debate about the level of the bribe and about just who is going to be paying it. Wilhelm searches a couple of bars and finally finds the shipyard worker he was talking to last night. The guy seems to think that the Adda Dubsar, the last Kinunir built by General, was not scrapped or broken up, but is sat ready for outfitting on a disused slipway at the General yard.
Bucky finally runs his program which seems to work, until it gets caught in a loop and crashes. Obviously, it needs a bit more work. Though, when the others return another plan comes to mind, to break into the General Shipyards offices to get the data there and to look for the hulk of the Adda Dubsar. Bucky and Vann instantly begin to work on a list for Oliver's black market contacts while trying to find an ingenious way to use their disguise kits.
Oliver's contacts come up dry, but say they will put the word out and get back to him. Bucky has more luck and manages to retrieve ship specifications, a list of all the ships in the Kinunir class and the fate of some of the ships that have been lost. When the others return to the Traveller's Aid Society hostel, where they are staying, they say that they were unsuccessful in finding out anything. Oliver and Bucky sit down and calculate how much fuel would be carried based on the specifications Bucky found, they come up with a figure that actually exceeds the tonnage of the Kinunir class! Later, when the others are asleep, Wilhelm works out his own figures on the fuel requirements and comes up with a total of 1,080 tons, which would only leave 120 tons for drives, weapons and crew accommodation. Wilhelm decides that the public specifications are certainly inaccurate. The next day Oliver and Bucky decide to go and check out General Shipyards to see what they can find there while Tommy, Vann and Wilhelm head back to the starport again.
Bucky and Oliver manage to find a General Shipyards office in the starport and go inside, it is not what they expected though. The only occupant is an attractive woman seated behind a desk typing awat on a computer. Oliver introduces himself but when the woman asks how she can help, he realises that he has no ides what to say and just babbles incoherently. Bucky steps in and tries to pass himself off as a covert naval operative who requires information on a military vessel that had been built by General Shipyards. The stunned secretary says that General does not produce military starships, that all she can do is make appointments for people to go to the shipyard and if he worked for the navy surely they would have the information he was looking for. The logic of these statements throws Bucky into silence, clearly the intelligence of the secretary is superior to Bucky. Oliver gets the ides of actually just making an appointment to see someone at the shipyard, finally faced by someone making sense the secretary makes an appointment for Bucky, Oliver and Wilhelm to see Mr Hansen at the shipyard in five days time. Meanwhile, Tommy and the others manage to find and talk to a retired shipyard worker who had worked on the Kinunir ships produced by General Shipyards. He tells them that from what he remembers the Black Globe Generator was on the drive deck not too far from the pinnace dock. Though, at present, the only Kinunir the group know that is in the Regina subsector is the Gaesh, the prison hulk at Pixie, and that has had all the drives ripped out. The problems with the Gaesh are that getting to Pixie will be time consuming and expensive, and short of getting arrested, breaking into a prison ship will be almost impossible.
Over the next few days the group continue to track down leads and rumours, though the only ones circulating around the starport are in connection with possible Imperial suppression of political opposition. This leads Oliver to think that a civil war is about to break out in the subsector. Bucky decides to make himself useful by trying to hack into the General Shipyards data archive. On the day of the appointment at General Shipyards a car arrives outside the Traveller's Aid Society to collect them, but only Oliver and Wilhelm decide to go, leaving Bucky to carry on writing his program. The meeting at General Shipyards is short and unproductive, Mr Hansen knows nothing about the building of the Kinunir class and says the previous management team were borderline criminal in their working practices. He then brings the meeting to a close and Oliver and Wilhelm return to the group empty handed. When they get back to their rooms there is a message for Oliver saying that one of his contacts has found a couple of people that might be willing to talk to him, for a price. They are Daniel V Adar and Guy Self, both formerly worked at General Shipyards, Oliver and Tommy decide to pay them a visit in the next couple of days.
The next morning Bucky announces that he has almost finished working on the hack program and should be able to give it a go in the next 24 hours. Wilhelm and Vann decide to give the starport another go for leads while Tommy and Oliver head out to see Mr Self. Tommy slips a pair of handcuffs into his pocket, in case Mr Self proves to be a little unwilling to provide them with the information.
Guy Self was the former Project Manager (Military Division) at General Shipyards, he was a casualty of the board room battle that took place when General pulled out of the military shipbuilding market and narrowly avoided criminal charges for misappropriation of funds. Since then he has only been able to get junior and low paid work, so he greedily snaps up the Cr 500 that Oliver offers him. He tells them that the publicised range of 200 days was pure rubbish and that the Kinunir only had a range of 28 days fuel for the power plant and manoeuvre drives. He also says that the Black Globe Generator was on the port side of the drive section. As they leave Tommy looks a little disappointed that he did not get to use the handcuffs. Maybe next time, he thinks.
Vann and Wilhelm are also having a bit of luck, they have run into a navy veteran who everyone calls 'Lucky' Jim. Jim was an engineer on the Allamu, until its last fatal flight, when he had to stay in port because of a fever. Which technically makes him the last survivor of the Kinunir class battle cruiser, Allamu. He puts his luck down to the old maintenance shaft key that he kept from the ship. However, no amount of convincing from Vann will get him to part with it willingly, so Vann decides to try a little drinking contest with him. Things do not go to plan though and Jim soon discovers that instead of whiskey Vann has been giving himself measures of apple juice. So, Jim decides to buy the next few rounds and pretty soon Vann is slumped unconscious at the table. Between Wilhelm and the very drunk Jim they manage to get Vann back to the hostel and into his bed.
The next morning Vann is feeling rather unwell, so decides to spend the day in his room, but Wilhelm shows him a little present, it is the key that Jim had last night. Wilhelm explains that while they were carrying Vann home Wilhelm was able to lift the key out of Jim's pocket. Tommy and Oliver say they are going to pay a visit to Mr Adar today. Wilhelm says he is going to go and see a contact he made while Vann was having his contest last night. Bucky says he has a couple of final tweaks to make and then he is going to try the program.
Mr Adar is a former designer at General Shipyard who got dismissed as he was an incompetent architect. He never worked on any military vessels, but he does hint that he has something that could be useful. Oliver offers him Cr 500, but Daniel dismisses the offer. So, Tommy quickly steps in with an offer of Cr 2,000 which is gleefully accepted. Daniel hands over a piece of paper with a code written on it, the code he says will access any data archive at General Shipyards but, it will only work from a terminal within the General Shipyards office. Once they leave Tommy and Oliver have a heated debate about the level of the bribe and about just who is going to be paying it. Wilhelm searches a couple of bars and finally finds the shipyard worker he was talking to last night. The guy seems to think that the Adda Dubsar, the last Kinunir built by General, was not scrapped or broken up, but is sat ready for outfitting on a disused slipway at the General yard.
Bucky finally runs his program which seems to work, until it gets caught in a loop and crashes. Obviously, it needs a bit more work. Though, when the others return another plan comes to mind, to break into the General Shipyards offices to get the data there and to look for the hulk of the Adda Dubsar. Bucky and Vann instantly begin to work on a list for Oliver's black market contacts while trying to find an ingenious way to use their disguise kits.
The Kinunir of Regina - Introduction
Whilst out one night celebrating their new found wealth Oliver is approached at the bar by a well dressed gentleman who tries to engage Oliver in conversation. Oliver thinks the guy is a little creepy and so disengages himself from him and goes back to the table the group are sat at and begins to moan about the well dressed weird guy at the bar. A few minutes later the well dressed guy comes over to their table and sits himself down.
He explains he is an executive from Oberlindes Lines and he is looking for a cautious group to perform a discrete job for him. He needs to obtain some data regarding a certain class of military vessel, some of which were produced here on Regina by General Shipyards. The class of ship he is interested in is the Kinunir class battle cruiser. Bucky indicates that he knows of the type of ship but has never served on one, the executive says that serving on one does not matter as the information he needs could be classified more as trade secrets rather than military secrets. Despite repeated attempts he will not divulge why he needs the data or even his name. After a bit of discussion the group decide to accept the job.
The executive says that he has a budget of Cr 200,000 available for the full (and he emphasises the word full) completion of the job, which will be to get accurate data on the capacity of the fuel tanks and to get the exact location of the Black Globe Generator. He says that he can provide pictures of the Black Globe Generator mountings to help them find the location. He also says that to fully complete the job he will need two pieces of evidence for each piece of data to confirm the accuracy of the groups findings. With that being said, he hands a card to Oliver with a communicator code and says to contact him when they have the information. He then thanks them for their time and gets up, leaving the group to finish their drinks and to consider their next move.
He explains he is an executive from Oberlindes Lines and he is looking for a cautious group to perform a discrete job for him. He needs to obtain some data regarding a certain class of military vessel, some of which were produced here on Regina by General Shipyards. The class of ship he is interested in is the Kinunir class battle cruiser. Bucky indicates that he knows of the type of ship but has never served on one, the executive says that serving on one does not matter as the information he needs could be classified more as trade secrets rather than military secrets. Despite repeated attempts he will not divulge why he needs the data or even his name. After a bit of discussion the group decide to accept the job.
The executive says that he has a budget of Cr 200,000 available for the full (and he emphasises the word full) completion of the job, which will be to get accurate data on the capacity of the fuel tanks and to get the exact location of the Black Globe Generator. He says that he can provide pictures of the Black Globe Generator mountings to help them find the location. He also says that to fully complete the job he will need two pieces of evidence for each piece of data to confirm the accuracy of the groups findings. With that being said, he hands a card to Oliver with a communicator code and says to contact him when they have the information. He then thanks them for their time and gets up, leaving the group to finish their drinks and to consider their next move.
Wednesday, 3 February 2016
Shadows of Yorbund - Epilogue
Wilhelm tells the group that their destination is Regina, as he has some business with the Scout Administrator and he also wants to report the pyramids as a possible undiscovered Ancient site, with the hope that the scout service will pay them for finding it.
The route back takes the Aurora through Beck's World, Feri, Roup, Hefry and finally to Regina. By the end of the five week trip the air in the scout ship is smelling pretty bad, a common problem with the Type S Scout/Courier, so Wilhelm says that he will get the scout station mechanics to rip out the old system and replace it with something better, though to perform the task will probably take about three and four weeks to complete once he has bought the parts needed. After that Wilhelm heads off to his appointment with the Administrator.
Meanwhile, Bucky heads off to the University of Regina, where he meets a biology professor who states that his plant and dropping samples are common enough for Yorbund and nothing special. Upon seeing the gold coin however the professor gets a little excited, he says it is a casting coyn used by the Droyne to determine which caste the Droyne belongs to. The professor says that, sadly in his opinion, that individually the coyn has no real value, but a full set of 36 would be worth something to a collector.
When Wilhelm returns he says that the IISS are interested in the site and that he has registered the claim to it, in the names of the crew, in case the Imperium determines that it is an Ancient site. If they do then the crew will be entitled to a substantial reward, but in the meantime the Scout Service have paid a 'finders fee' to the group, which Wilhelm happily divides equally between them.
The route back takes the Aurora through Beck's World, Feri, Roup, Hefry and finally to Regina. By the end of the five week trip the air in the scout ship is smelling pretty bad, a common problem with the Type S Scout/Courier, so Wilhelm says that he will get the scout station mechanics to rip out the old system and replace it with something better, though to perform the task will probably take about three and four weeks to complete once he has bought the parts needed. After that Wilhelm heads off to his appointment with the Administrator.
Meanwhile, Bucky heads off to the University of Regina, where he meets a biology professor who states that his plant and dropping samples are common enough for Yorbund and nothing special. Upon seeing the gold coin however the professor gets a little excited, he says it is a casting coyn used by the Droyne to determine which caste the Droyne belongs to. The professor says that, sadly in his opinion, that individually the coyn has no real value, but a full set of 36 would be worth something to a collector.
When Wilhelm returns he says that the IISS are interested in the site and that he has registered the claim to it, in the names of the crew, in case the Imperium determines that it is an Ancient site. If they do then the crew will be entitled to a substantial reward, but in the meantime the Scout Service have paid a 'finders fee' to the group, which Wilhelm happily divides equally between them.
Shadows of Yorbund - Part Two
The group decide to explore the long passageway leading down from the pendulum chamber, Wilhelm and Vann lead the way with Bucky bringing up the rear. Whilst they are walking Bucky stops to collect a sample of the animal droppings that litter the floor. At the end of the corridor the group find a room full of machinery, but its complexity defeats them and they cannot find a way to switch it off. Down a side corridor they find a barred exit to the outside, which seems to lead to the shaft Tommy and Wilhelm found earlier at the base of the largest pyramid. Wilhelm suggests that he could cut through the bars, using his laser rifle, in about twenty minutes but the others want to press on as they only have about two and a half hours of oxygen left in the suits. So, they decide to return back the way they came.
Returning to the upper level and to the shaft where Bucky made his descent, they explore the two side corridors that Bucky ignored when he was first here. The first just leads to another small chamber, whilst the other one leads along to what seems like a door, Vann and Bucky give it a push and slowly it begins to open, flooding the corridor with light and opening a doorway to the outside. Bucky decides to head back to the Aurora while the others begin to rappel down to the lower level. Everyone makes it down the cable without any mishaps.Quickly they make their way along the main corridor to where the pendulum is. Three large chambers are located off the chamber, in two of them the group find what appear to be sets of controls, in one chamber all the controls seem to be turned off but in the other the controls show that power is going to a number of systems in the pyramids. The third chamber is empty except for a curiously smooth block of stone set in the middle of the chamber. In the active control chamber Tommy examines each of the controls and finds three depressions beneath each one, pressing each depression does not seem to change any of the readings, so Tommy and Vann go back to the pendulum chamber leaving Wilhelm to study the controls. One thing Tommy notices is that the pendulum is swinging in an intricate pattern over three plates on the floor, he and Vann remove the plates and reveal eight small compartments. After opening all the compartments all he finds are twelve small metal clips which can be clipped on to a cable to help in climbing.
When they return to the control room Wilhelm says that he has had a bit of luck in decyphering the controls, he presses two of the depressions simultaneously and the power level for that gauge drops to zero. Rapidly, the three of them each take a bank of controls and turn them all off, plunging them into darkness. Tommy radios Oliver and Bucky and tells them that the beam might be disabled, To test this Bucky goes back to the pyramid and looks for something to test the theory, not finding anything on the ground he delves into his pockets and throws the first thing he finds towards the pyramid. The thrown animal droppings do not trigger the beam, and there is a profound silence from the others when they hear what Bucky has done.
Wilhelm tells Oliver to lift off gently and to bring his ship closer to the pyramid, as the ship comes over the dunes there is no reaction from the pyramid, with a sigh of relief from both Oliver and Wilhelm the Aurora, settles back down beside the pyramid. Tommy, Vann and Wilhelm make there way back to the cable and with the help of the clips Tommy found they quickly climb back up and exit the pyramid through the door they found. Wilhelm goes and retrieves his cable before following the others back to the ship. Gingerly Wilhelm takes off and at a safe distance climbs up and back into orbit.
Returning to the upper level and to the shaft where Bucky made his descent, they explore the two side corridors that Bucky ignored when he was first here. The first just leads to another small chamber, whilst the other one leads along to what seems like a door, Vann and Bucky give it a push and slowly it begins to open, flooding the corridor with light and opening a doorway to the outside. Bucky decides to head back to the Aurora while the others begin to rappel down to the lower level. Everyone makes it down the cable without any mishaps.Quickly they make their way along the main corridor to where the pendulum is. Three large chambers are located off the chamber, in two of them the group find what appear to be sets of controls, in one chamber all the controls seem to be turned off but in the other the controls show that power is going to a number of systems in the pyramids. The third chamber is empty except for a curiously smooth block of stone set in the middle of the chamber. In the active control chamber Tommy examines each of the controls and finds three depressions beneath each one, pressing each depression does not seem to change any of the readings, so Tommy and Vann go back to the pendulum chamber leaving Wilhelm to study the controls. One thing Tommy notices is that the pendulum is swinging in an intricate pattern over three plates on the floor, he and Vann remove the plates and reveal eight small compartments. After opening all the compartments all he finds are twelve small metal clips which can be clipped on to a cable to help in climbing.
When they return to the control room Wilhelm says that he has had a bit of luck in decyphering the controls, he presses two of the depressions simultaneously and the power level for that gauge drops to zero. Rapidly, the three of them each take a bank of controls and turn them all off, plunging them into darkness. Tommy radios Oliver and Bucky and tells them that the beam might be disabled, To test this Bucky goes back to the pyramid and looks for something to test the theory, not finding anything on the ground he delves into his pockets and throws the first thing he finds towards the pyramid. The thrown animal droppings do not trigger the beam, and there is a profound silence from the others when they hear what Bucky has done.
Wilhelm tells Oliver to lift off gently and to bring his ship closer to the pyramid, as the ship comes over the dunes there is no reaction from the pyramid, with a sigh of relief from both Oliver and Wilhelm the Aurora, settles back down beside the pyramid. Tommy, Vann and Wilhelm make there way back to the cable and with the help of the clips Tommy found they quickly climb back up and exit the pyramid through the door they found. Wilhelm goes and retrieves his cable before following the others back to the ship. Gingerly Wilhelm takes off and at a safe distance climbs up and back into orbit.
Saturday, 30 January 2016
Shadows of Yorbund - Part One
Date: 001 - 1105
On the morning of departure the group gather at the starport and Wilhelm takes them out to the landing pad where the Aurora is sitting waiting for them. After showing them to their staterooms and the group have unpacked their belongings Wilhelm shows them around the ship, the ship looks old but everything seems to be working fine and Wilhelm has equipped it well for most situations. He also says that the destination is Regina, as he has a bit of business to conclude there.
During the countdown to take off a large seismic tremor rocks the ship, though take off proceeds normally, once in orbit Wilhelm requests that everyone checks the ship for damage. No damage is found but through a break in the normally dense clouds the sensors detect an anomaly on the planet surface, about 1,000 Km from the starport. Computer enhancement shows it to be some kind of structure, Wilhelm is intrigued by the structure, which appears to be a pyramid complex, as it did not show up on his survey of the world and none of the planetary officials have mentioned anything in his interviews with them. Wilhelm decides it is certainly worth investigating and tells the others that they will head to Regina shortly, but first he wants to return to the planet for a little field trip to examine the pyramids.
As the Aurora is on final approach to the pyramids an energy blast passes within meters of the hull, Wilhelm quickly puts the ship down behind some sand dunes which mask the ship from further fire, but are about one Km from the complex. A computer analysis of the attack indicates that the energy blast originated from the pyramid complex and that there is an 80% chance of the ship being disabled if the energy blast hits the ship. Wilhelm says that the weapon is going to have to be put out of action before he will risk taking off again. The computer also determines that the corrosive atmosphere of the planet will breach the integrity of a vacc suit in about eight hours, so speed will be essential in finding the weapon.
(Image from: http://scarecrovv.deviantart.com/art/Yorbund-Pyramids-Exterior-454522879)
The crew suit up and set out from the Aurora towards the pyramids, except for Oliver Skyler who is going to stay in the ship and provide radio support to the group. The walk to the pyramids takes about twenty minutes and Tommy and Bucky quickly discover that the alien statue at the top of one of the pyramids can be moved to reveal a deep shaft leading into the heart of the structure. It is at this point that Bucky realises that they have no way to get down the shaft, Wilhelm tells him that there are some fifty meter cables back at the ship. Bucky and Vann trudge back to the ship to fetch a couple of them back, returning about an hour later they hastily tie the cables together and attach it to the statue, which looks strong enough to support the weight of someone descending the cable.
Bucky is 'volunteered' to be the first one to descend into the depths, after about twenty meters the shaft opens up into a large dimly illuminated chamber, Bucky though carries on his descent. At just about the end of the first cable he finds a ledge where the shaft seems to have been fractured by seismic activity, on the ledge he finds several small skeletons of a snake like creature. As he is about to swing off the ledge his torch beam catches on a small gold coin, engraved with a flame, which he pockets to examine later. Rather than descending further he decides to climb back up to the chamber he passed earlier. After swinging over to the chamber floor he finds that there is nowhere on the metal floor to attach the cable, so he decided to keep it attached to his belt and begins to walk down the wide faintly illuminated corridor. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he sees something scurrying around a corner into what appears to be a side passage, drawing his revolver he proceeds cautiously to where he saw the movement.
Looking around the corner he sees eight small creatures huddling around some stairs leading up to a metal door. One of the creatures suddenly rushes at him, baring its teeth, Bucky fires at it and it is thrown backwards, dead. The noise seems to frighten the remaining animals causing them to rush past him and into the darkness of another side passage. Bucky climbs the stairs and examines the door, apart from a small slot off to one side, he tries to open the door but fails, so he calls for someone to come and join him. Vann agrees to come down and begins to descend the cable.
Meanwhile, Tommy and Wilhelm have continued to examine the exterior of the pyramids, but they cannot find any sign of the weapon that fired at them and the only other feature is another shaft near the base of the largest pyramid, but they do not have any way to descend it.
Using brute strength Bucky and Vann manage to raise the door, it leads to a small chamber filled with boxes that contain some organic material. Further examination of other side chambers reveals more boxes and also some sort of plants growing in some soil, Bucky carefully picks a sample of the plant for later study. Further down the wide corridor they find another large chamber with a shaft leading down in the center, attached to the ceiling is a cable running down into the shaft . Tommy and Wilhelm are called to come and join the others and to help with the exploration, by the time they arrive it has been discovered that the cable is swinging slightly as if it is attached to something loose further down the shaft.
After taking some careful measurements using the electronic sight on his laser rifle, Wilhelm realises that the cable seems to be located under the apex of the largest pyramid in the complex, though there is no obvious reason for it to be there. Off the chamber there are three other large chambers but they are all empty except for some faint markings on the walls, when Vann and Wilhelm examine the markings using their IR goggles striking murals are revealed. Two of them show the pyramids being used for some sort of social or religious gathering by reptilian aliens, whilst the other one shows the energy beams shooting from the faces of the pyramid to attack some sort of flying creatures. Back in the cable chamber Tommy discovers a panel concealing a doorway, when it is opened four flying creatures burst out and begin to attack the group. Wilhelm manages to down two of them with shots from his laser rifle, while Tommy gets one with a carbine shot and Bucky kills the final one but not before it manages to bite him and make a small tear in his vacc suit. After patching the tear the group decide to head down the passageway where the creatures came from.
On the morning of departure the group gather at the starport and Wilhelm takes them out to the landing pad where the Aurora is sitting waiting for them. After showing them to their staterooms and the group have unpacked their belongings Wilhelm shows them around the ship, the ship looks old but everything seems to be working fine and Wilhelm has equipped it well for most situations. He also says that the destination is Regina, as he has a bit of business to conclude there.
During the countdown to take off a large seismic tremor rocks the ship, though take off proceeds normally, once in orbit Wilhelm requests that everyone checks the ship for damage. No damage is found but through a break in the normally dense clouds the sensors detect an anomaly on the planet surface, about 1,000 Km from the starport. Computer enhancement shows it to be some kind of structure, Wilhelm is intrigued by the structure, which appears to be a pyramid complex, as it did not show up on his survey of the world and none of the planetary officials have mentioned anything in his interviews with them. Wilhelm decides it is certainly worth investigating and tells the others that they will head to Regina shortly, but first he wants to return to the planet for a little field trip to examine the pyramids.
As the Aurora is on final approach to the pyramids an energy blast passes within meters of the hull, Wilhelm quickly puts the ship down behind some sand dunes which mask the ship from further fire, but are about one Km from the complex. A computer analysis of the attack indicates that the energy blast originated from the pyramid complex and that there is an 80% chance of the ship being disabled if the energy blast hits the ship. Wilhelm says that the weapon is going to have to be put out of action before he will risk taking off again. The computer also determines that the corrosive atmosphere of the planet will breach the integrity of a vacc suit in about eight hours, so speed will be essential in finding the weapon.
(Image from: http://scarecrovv.deviantart.com/art/Yorbund-Pyramids-Exterior-454522879)
The crew suit up and set out from the Aurora towards the pyramids, except for Oliver Skyler who is going to stay in the ship and provide radio support to the group. The walk to the pyramids takes about twenty minutes and Tommy and Bucky quickly discover that the alien statue at the top of one of the pyramids can be moved to reveal a deep shaft leading into the heart of the structure. It is at this point that Bucky realises that they have no way to get down the shaft, Wilhelm tells him that there are some fifty meter cables back at the ship. Bucky and Vann trudge back to the ship to fetch a couple of them back, returning about an hour later they hastily tie the cables together and attach it to the statue, which looks strong enough to support the weight of someone descending the cable.
Bucky is 'volunteered' to be the first one to descend into the depths, after about twenty meters the shaft opens up into a large dimly illuminated chamber, Bucky though carries on his descent. At just about the end of the first cable he finds a ledge where the shaft seems to have been fractured by seismic activity, on the ledge he finds several small skeletons of a snake like creature. As he is about to swing off the ledge his torch beam catches on a small gold coin, engraved with a flame, which he pockets to examine later. Rather than descending further he decides to climb back up to the chamber he passed earlier. After swinging over to the chamber floor he finds that there is nowhere on the metal floor to attach the cable, so he decided to keep it attached to his belt and begins to walk down the wide faintly illuminated corridor. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he sees something scurrying around a corner into what appears to be a side passage, drawing his revolver he proceeds cautiously to where he saw the movement.
Looking around the corner he sees eight small creatures huddling around some stairs leading up to a metal door. One of the creatures suddenly rushes at him, baring its teeth, Bucky fires at it and it is thrown backwards, dead. The noise seems to frighten the remaining animals causing them to rush past him and into the darkness of another side passage. Bucky climbs the stairs and examines the door, apart from a small slot off to one side, he tries to open the door but fails, so he calls for someone to come and join him. Vann agrees to come down and begins to descend the cable.
Meanwhile, Tommy and Wilhelm have continued to examine the exterior of the pyramids, but they cannot find any sign of the weapon that fired at them and the only other feature is another shaft near the base of the largest pyramid, but they do not have any way to descend it.
Using brute strength Bucky and Vann manage to raise the door, it leads to a small chamber filled with boxes that contain some organic material. Further examination of other side chambers reveals more boxes and also some sort of plants growing in some soil, Bucky carefully picks a sample of the plant for later study. Further down the wide corridor they find another large chamber with a shaft leading down in the center, attached to the ceiling is a cable running down into the shaft . Tommy and Wilhelm are called to come and join the others and to help with the exploration, by the time they arrive it has been discovered that the cable is swinging slightly as if it is attached to something loose further down the shaft.
After taking some careful measurements using the electronic sight on his laser rifle, Wilhelm realises that the cable seems to be located under the apex of the largest pyramid in the complex, though there is no obvious reason for it to be there. Off the chamber there are three other large chambers but they are all empty except for some faint markings on the walls, when Vann and Wilhelm examine the markings using their IR goggles striking murals are revealed. Two of them show the pyramids being used for some sort of social or religious gathering by reptilian aliens, whilst the other one shows the energy beams shooting from the faces of the pyramid to attack some sort of flying creatures. Back in the cable chamber Tommy discovers a panel concealing a doorway, when it is opened four flying creatures burst out and begin to attack the group. Wilhelm manages to down two of them with shots from his laser rifle, while Tommy gets one with a carbine shot and Bucky kills the final one but not before it manages to bite him and make a small tear in his vacc suit. After patching the tear the group decide to head down the passageway where the creatures came from.
Shadows of Yorbund - Introduction
Date: 362-1104
Mustering out seems a long time ago, in reality it was only three months ago. The adventurers had got talking in the mustering out centre on Regina and after a few (or more) drinks in the Starhaven tavern at the starport, they decided to do a bit of travelling in the Regina subsector and try to find some jobs that might add to their 'retirement' funds.
Things were going well until they landed on Yorbund. The inhospitable nature of the planet did not help and added to that the well paid job they had been offered had fallen through. due to their patron getting himself arrested. That was all three weeks ago, since than nothing seemed to be going right, no jobs worth taking, the next merchant vessel was not due for another three weeks, so no way off the rock.
The only thing of interest that had happened in the past week, apart from the seismic activity, was the arrival of a Type S Scout/Courier, the Aurora, and its pilot Wilhelm Seelow. One night in a bar the group got talking to the ex-scout and found out that even though Wilhelm had been retired for about five years he was still doing some work for the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service (IISS). He had been contracted to perform an 'internal audit' on the Spinward Marches, it meant he had to visit every system and verify that the information held by the Scout Service is correct. Wilhelm does not conceal the fact that he is being well paid for the job, but that it can get a little boring being out there alone.
When the group explain their situation to him he is more than happy to offer them a place on the Aurora, and says that he could always do with the company and a little more adventure in his life. He says that he could even stretch his funds to offer them paid positions on the ship.
The adventurers gladly take Wilhelm up on his offer as it means they get off Yorbund, have access to free transport around the Marches and they are going to get paid to do it. Oliver accepts a position of engineer, Vann will act as the gunner, Bucky will be the ship's medic and Tommy says he will be a steward in case they pick up any passengers. Wilhelm tells them that they will be leaving in a few days, on 001-1105, after he has finished writing his report on Yorbund.
Mustering out seems a long time ago, in reality it was only three months ago. The adventurers had got talking in the mustering out centre on Regina and after a few (or more) drinks in the Starhaven tavern at the starport, they decided to do a bit of travelling in the Regina subsector and try to find some jobs that might add to their 'retirement' funds.
Things were going well until they landed on Yorbund. The inhospitable nature of the planet did not help and added to that the well paid job they had been offered had fallen through. due to their patron getting himself arrested. That was all three weeks ago, since than nothing seemed to be going right, no jobs worth taking, the next merchant vessel was not due for another three weeks, so no way off the rock.
The only thing of interest that had happened in the past week, apart from the seismic activity, was the arrival of a Type S Scout/Courier, the Aurora, and its pilot Wilhelm Seelow. One night in a bar the group got talking to the ex-scout and found out that even though Wilhelm had been retired for about five years he was still doing some work for the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service (IISS). He had been contracted to perform an 'internal audit' on the Spinward Marches, it meant he had to visit every system and verify that the information held by the Scout Service is correct. Wilhelm does not conceal the fact that he is being well paid for the job, but that it can get a little boring being out there alone.
When the group explain their situation to him he is more than happy to offer them a place on the Aurora, and says that he could always do with the company and a little more adventure in his life. He says that he could even stretch his funds to offer them paid positions on the ship.
The adventurers gladly take Wilhelm up on his offer as it means they get off Yorbund, have access to free transport around the Marches and they are going to get paid to do it. Oliver accepts a position of engineer, Vann will act as the gunner, Bucky will be the ship's medic and Tommy says he will be a steward in case they pick up any passengers. Wilhelm tells them that they will be leaving in a few days, on 001-1105, after he has finished writing his report on Yorbund.
Friday, 29 January 2016
An Introduction to the Characters
Here is a summary of the characters that will be taking part in these adventures;
WILHELM SEELOW (NPC): AAA7D7, Scouts, seven terms. Enlisted in Field Branch.
Special Assignments: Field School, Contact School, Intelligence School (x2).
Awards and Decorations: None.
Equipment Qualified On: Laser Rifle, Auto Pistol, Cutlass, Air/Raft, Vacc Suit
Skill List: Pilot-2, Laser Rifle-2, Streetwise-2, Auto Pistol-2, Brawling-2, Survival-2, Air/Raft-1, Bribery-1, Liaison-1, Engineering-1, Vacc Suit-1, Cutlass-1, Jack of All Trades-1, Navigator-1
Born and raised on Trin, Wilhelm's father was part of the management of the local starport authority and he was brought up on tales told by merchants and scouts who came to visit the family, or, as he grew older, from visits to the starport.
At 18 Wilhelm decided to join the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service and as he was always one for action rather than admin, he joined the Field Branch. After eight years on the Serpent Class Scout ship 'Viper' Wilhelm was selected to attend Field School and to have a ship of his own, the 'Palantir' which he kept until the end of his career.
OLIVER SKYLER (Dan): 5B9C96, Merchants, five terms. Enlisted in Free Traders.
Special Assignments: None.
Awards and Decorations: None.
Equipment Qualified On: Ship's Boat, Vacc Suit, Auto Pistol, SMG
Skill List: Streetwise-3, Liaison-3, Carousing-2, Engineering-2, Pilot-2, Bribery-1, Broker-1,
Forgery-1, Navigation-1, Ship's Boat-1, Ship Tactics-1, Vacc Suit-1, SMG-1, Auto Pistol-1
Oliver, real name Ryan Hickston, was born on Tureded the only son of a farming family. Tired of the farming life he ran away from home at 18, changed his name and enrolled in college, after college he signed up on a Free Trader and over his career he worked his way up to the rank of Third Officer. The only member of his family that he is still in contact with is his younger sister.
BUCKSHOT 'BUCKY' MACKOWSKI (James): 6BBAC5, Navy, seven terms. Enlisted in Gunnery Department, transferred to Engineering after third terms, transferred to Line after fifth term.
Special Assignments: Engineering School, OCS, Cross-Training - Flight, Intelligence School.
Awards and Decorations: None.
Equipment Qualified On: Revolver, Dagger, Vacc Suit, Ship's Boat, Wheeled Vehicle, Grav Vehicle.
Skill List: Computer-3, Revolver-3, Vacc Suit-3, Mechanical-2, Ship's Boat-1, Forward Observer-1, Medical-1, Dagger-1, Leadership-1, Wheeled Vehicle-1, Grav Vehicle-1, Zero-G Combat-1
Buckshot was born on Mirriam in the Vilis subsector, his parent tragically both died when he was a baby and he was brought up by the elders of the nomadic tribe that his parents came from. At the age of ten he learned that to he had to undergo a terrible religious test so that he could become a full adult member of the tribe, so he decided to run away.
Months later he stumbled into an Army training outpost one evening, not understanding what the soldiers were asking, he just held up a scrap of paper bearing one word ‘Buckshot’, and so the boy got his name. When the time came for the army unit to leave Mirriam a kindly soldier, Sergeant Mackowski, decided to take the boy home and to bring him up as his son.
The flight back to Camp Rico in the planetoid belt made an indelible mark on the boy and he grew up wanting to spend his life in space and at eighteen he enlisted in the local subsector navy, much to the disappointment of Sgt. Mackowski who had hoped he would join the army.
‘Bucky’ enjoyed the navy life and was finally accepted as an officer late into his career. He finally mustered out as a Lt. Commander.
TOMMY RODAK (Gav): 699996, Marines, three terms. Enlisted in Marine Infantry, transferred to Commando after second term.
Special Assignments: Commando School
Awards and Decorations: 2 x MCUF, 2 x SEH
Equipment Qualified On: Combat Rifleman, High Energy Weapons, Cutlass, Vacc Suit, Battle Dress.
Skill List: Combat Rifleman-2, Vacc Suit-2, Cutlass-2, High Energy Weapons-1, Battle Dress-1, Leadership-1, Mechanical-1
Born on Mora into a rough family Tommy was forced into criminal activities at a young age by his father and older brothers while his mother was too afraid to stand up for him. On his twelfth birthday Tommy was able to escape from his family and spent the next few years surviving on the streets and distancing himself from his family.
At the age of seventeen he discovered that his family had been killed by a group of Vargr corsairs after his family had double crossed the corsairs after a robbery on a space liner, while Tommy felt no sympathy for his father and brothers the loss of his mother grieved him deeply and he swore vengeance on the corsairs if he ever caught up with them.
At eighteen he joined the Imperial Marines spending his first two terms in the infantry before attending commando school and re-enlisting as a commando. During his third term he finally got the chance to exact his revenge, his commando unit was assigned to take out a Vargr corsair lair and during the raid Tommy discovered that they were the same Vargr that had killed his mother. There were no corsair survivors and Tommy now felt he had avenged his mother.
Tommy left the Marines at the end of that term with the rank of First Sergeant and a good collection of bravery awards.
VANN COLT (Josh): CB8B55, Marines, seven terms. Enlisted in Marine Infantry.
Special Assignments: OCS, Staff College
Awards and Decorations: 5 x MCUF, 1 x SEH, TAS Membership
Equipment Qualified On: Combat Rifleman, Light Assault Gun, Cutlass, Vacc Suit, Ship's Missiles
Skill List: Light Assault Gun-2, Cutlass-2, Zero-G Combat-2, Brawling-2, Combat Rifleman-1, Mechanical-1, Vacc Suit-1, Ship's Missiles-1
Orphaned as a child Vann was forced to fend for himself at an early age until he picked up by a group of extremists in the backwoods of Bendor/Glisten, who forced him to follow their xenophobic rules. Vann always felt that their regime was wrong but what could he do as a child. His life was to change though when the group finally picked on a another extremist group that was stronger than them, left for dead he was finally found by peace enforcers who came to investigate the reports of gunfire and smoke in the woods. Taken into care Vann found himself being moved from one foster home to another, before finally coming of age and being able to join the Marines. His superb physical shape and intelligence soon marked him out as officer material and he passed Officer Candidate School with flying colours.
Vann rose steadily through the ranks finally leaving as a highly respected Marine Force Commander after seven terms.
WILHELM SEELOW (NPC): AAA7D7, Scouts, seven terms. Enlisted in Field Branch.
Special Assignments: Field School, Contact School, Intelligence School (x2).
Awards and Decorations: None.
Equipment Qualified On: Laser Rifle, Auto Pistol, Cutlass, Air/Raft, Vacc Suit
Skill List: Pilot-2, Laser Rifle-2, Streetwise-2, Auto Pistol-2, Brawling-2, Survival-2, Air/Raft-1, Bribery-1, Liaison-1, Engineering-1, Vacc Suit-1, Cutlass-1, Jack of All Trades-1, Navigator-1
Born and raised on Trin, Wilhelm's father was part of the management of the local starport authority and he was brought up on tales told by merchants and scouts who came to visit the family, or, as he grew older, from visits to the starport.
At 18 Wilhelm decided to join the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service and as he was always one for action rather than admin, he joined the Field Branch. After eight years on the Serpent Class Scout ship 'Viper' Wilhelm was selected to attend Field School and to have a ship of his own, the 'Palantir' which he kept until the end of his career.
OLIVER SKYLER (Dan): 5B9C96, Merchants, five terms. Enlisted in Free Traders.
Special Assignments: None.
Awards and Decorations: None.
Equipment Qualified On: Ship's Boat, Vacc Suit, Auto Pistol, SMG
Skill List: Streetwise-3, Liaison-3, Carousing-2, Engineering-2, Pilot-2, Bribery-1, Broker-1,
Forgery-1, Navigation-1, Ship's Boat-1, Ship Tactics-1, Vacc Suit-1, SMG-1, Auto Pistol-1
Oliver, real name Ryan Hickston, was born on Tureded the only son of a farming family. Tired of the farming life he ran away from home at 18, changed his name and enrolled in college, after college he signed up on a Free Trader and over his career he worked his way up to the rank of Third Officer. The only member of his family that he is still in contact with is his younger sister.
BUCKSHOT 'BUCKY' MACKOWSKI (James): 6BBAC5, Navy, seven terms. Enlisted in Gunnery Department, transferred to Engineering after third terms, transferred to Line after fifth term.
Special Assignments: Engineering School, OCS, Cross-Training - Flight, Intelligence School.
Awards and Decorations: None.
Equipment Qualified On: Revolver, Dagger, Vacc Suit, Ship's Boat, Wheeled Vehicle, Grav Vehicle.
Skill List: Computer-3, Revolver-3, Vacc Suit-3, Mechanical-2, Ship's Boat-1, Forward Observer-1, Medical-1, Dagger-1, Leadership-1, Wheeled Vehicle-1, Grav Vehicle-1, Zero-G Combat-1
Buckshot was born on Mirriam in the Vilis subsector, his parent tragically both died when he was a baby and he was brought up by the elders of the nomadic tribe that his parents came from. At the age of ten he learned that to he had to undergo a terrible religious test so that he could become a full adult member of the tribe, so he decided to run away.
Months later he stumbled into an Army training outpost one evening, not understanding what the soldiers were asking, he just held up a scrap of paper bearing one word ‘Buckshot’, and so the boy got his name. When the time came for the army unit to leave Mirriam a kindly soldier, Sergeant Mackowski, decided to take the boy home and to bring him up as his son.
The flight back to Camp Rico in the planetoid belt made an indelible mark on the boy and he grew up wanting to spend his life in space and at eighteen he enlisted in the local subsector navy, much to the disappointment of Sgt. Mackowski who had hoped he would join the army.
‘Bucky’ enjoyed the navy life and was finally accepted as an officer late into his career. He finally mustered out as a Lt. Commander.
TOMMY RODAK (Gav): 699996, Marines, three terms. Enlisted in Marine Infantry, transferred to Commando after second term.
Special Assignments: Commando School
Awards and Decorations: 2 x MCUF, 2 x SEH
Equipment Qualified On: Combat Rifleman, High Energy Weapons, Cutlass, Vacc Suit, Battle Dress.
Skill List: Combat Rifleman-2, Vacc Suit-2, Cutlass-2, High Energy Weapons-1, Battle Dress-1, Leadership-1, Mechanical-1
Born on Mora into a rough family Tommy was forced into criminal activities at a young age by his father and older brothers while his mother was too afraid to stand up for him. On his twelfth birthday Tommy was able to escape from his family and spent the next few years surviving on the streets and distancing himself from his family.
At the age of seventeen he discovered that his family had been killed by a group of Vargr corsairs after his family had double crossed the corsairs after a robbery on a space liner, while Tommy felt no sympathy for his father and brothers the loss of his mother grieved him deeply and he swore vengeance on the corsairs if he ever caught up with them.
At eighteen he joined the Imperial Marines spending his first two terms in the infantry before attending commando school and re-enlisting as a commando. During his third term he finally got the chance to exact his revenge, his commando unit was assigned to take out a Vargr corsair lair and during the raid Tommy discovered that they were the same Vargr that had killed his mother. There were no corsair survivors and Tommy now felt he had avenged his mother.
Tommy left the Marines at the end of that term with the rank of First Sergeant and a good collection of bravery awards.
VANN COLT (Josh): CB8B55, Marines, seven terms. Enlisted in Marine Infantry.
Special Assignments: OCS, Staff College
Awards and Decorations: 5 x MCUF, 1 x SEH, TAS Membership
Equipment Qualified On: Combat Rifleman, Light Assault Gun, Cutlass, Vacc Suit, Ship's Missiles
Skill List: Light Assault Gun-2, Cutlass-2, Zero-G Combat-2, Brawling-2, Combat Rifleman-1, Mechanical-1, Vacc Suit-1, Ship's Missiles-1
Orphaned as a child Vann was forced to fend for himself at an early age until he picked up by a group of extremists in the backwoods of Bendor/Glisten, who forced him to follow their xenophobic rules. Vann always felt that their regime was wrong but what could he do as a child. His life was to change though when the group finally picked on a another extremist group that was stronger than them, left for dead he was finally found by peace enforcers who came to investigate the reports of gunfire and smoke in the woods. Taken into care Vann found himself being moved from one foster home to another, before finally coming of age and being able to join the Marines. His superb physical shape and intelligence soon marked him out as officer material and he passed Officer Candidate School with flying colours.
Vann rose steadily through the ranks finally leaving as a highly respected Marine Force Commander after seven terms.
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