IY6026.289
Elapsed time: 396 game days
SAFCO starts from where we left off, onboard the Rambler II, attached by docking clamp to a doomed freetrader hurtling into the sun. They have the mentally-broken survivor of that craft onboard as well. Roger releases the docking clamp and gets the Rambler to safety with plenty of time to spare. On the trip back to Mylor, Barney attempts to break the corporate encryption on the optical storage wafer containing the doomed ship’s log. He succeeds only in breaking into some image files – pics of alien artifacts and antiquities presumably found on one of that ship’s missions. At skill level of Computer-1 he is unable to break the more difficult encryption. They keep the rescued man sedated. They consult the ship computer’s library program to find that InStarSpec does have an office on Mylor. Removing the vacc suit from the man, they find and InStarSpec ID saying “Igor Ravensky: planetologist”
Returning to Mylor, they turn the man over to the Scout service, who in turn put him in a local hospital.
The team debates what to do. They ask Fardt (who has Streetwise-1) if he knows a hacker who might help with the encryption. Fardt makes his roll. They meet a tall man in a leather overcoat, high hair, and small hipster glasses with circular lenses at the Happy Gluck — Tahm Slykk. Tahm has his portable gear with him. They get Vern to find them a private room, explain the situation. Tahm agrees to help them for an even share of whatever profit they make off this “caper”. They agree. At Comp-4, Tahm easily breaks the encryption and makes them a copy of the ships log. He of course has a copy on his rig as well. He agrees not to step on their toes, and Flint gives him 2000 cr as an advance on payment and goodwill gesture.
Back onboard the Rambler, at the space port, they evaluate the data. They see that the other ship was a typical Type-A Freetrader that had been modified for exploration, with various labs and gear. They see that right before the incident the ship had been two parsecs away, just coreward of the Zerix system (where they have been before). According to the time stamps, the ship was gone less than 3 weeks – enough time for the Jump-2 back and forth and just a little time in that parsec. They also know that there are no planets charted in that system, so obviously InStarSpec has found a new system.
They decide to go attempt to question Igor. Arriving at the hospital they are told he is being kept sedated, that whenever he starts coming around he starts getting agitated and violent. As they discuss next steps, and man in a nice business suit arrives and questions the desk clerk, who points to SAFCO. He introduces himself as Sevor Halin , manager of the local InStarSpec office. He thanks them, asks them what kind of ship Igor was on, and asks them to come to his office the next day.
The three former scouts in SAFCO are familiar enough with InStarSpec to know they are essentially for-profit explorers. They look for new resources, make a claim, then sell rights to other companies that might be able to exploit them. They have hired scouts out of the service, and the Scout Service tends to look down on them as profiteers, which they are, but then again in this universe who isn’t?
SAFCO meets with Halin, and agree to travel to the new system, named Chamax, to find out what’s going on, as they actually sent a two-ship expedition. The other ship is a 400-ton Subsidized Merchant, also retrofitted for exploration. They agree on payment, and Halin urges them to leave quickly.
SAFCO launches the next day, traveling first to the Zerix system, refueling at the gas giant there, and then jumping to the Chamax system.
Unknown to Halin, they have the ships log from the freetrader so they know exactly where to look. From orbit they use the ship’s sensor array and can see the Sub. Merchant still sitting there next to a plateau. They see no movement. Roger lands the ship stealthily on the top of the plateau. Flint and Roger creep up to the edge with Fardt with binoculars. Lucky mans one of the laser turrets on the ship and Barney gets in the pilot’s position.
Looking down, Flint, Roger, and Fardt see the Sub Merchant leaning to one side into the sand. They see a portable temporary shelter and an ATV near the ship as well as the location where the other ship was probably landed. Nearby there are a bunch of stone domes – ruins. One is bigger and has been opened up. They also see holes in the side of the ship with the same kind of scorch marks they saw onboard the doomed freetrader.
End of session:
IY6026.305
Elapsed time: 412 game days
[…] Session 30 was really fun, and was a reminder why I love this group so much. Since William moved to San Antonio last year we are taking the game back to Roll20 rather than in-person. I’ve not run or played a game on Roll20 since the pandemic lockdown, though I’ve kept my account and all the stuff in there. The biggest issue I’ve had with it is that putting things online is an added layer of preparation. I really like doing everything in a small notebook and using that with my small ring binder that has all the campaign materials and playing in-person. I spend a lot of time on the computer already. BUT — I have made some progress on Roll20. […]