March Harrier Session 4: Anolas, a Charter, and a Bannerji Sighting

Player Characters:

Everett de Clisson (Adam), Medic and Engineer

Ganidiirsi Ashran (Ben), Steward and Cargomaster

John Matrix (Nick), Broker and Navigator

Sacha Bright (ChaoticNeutral), Temporary First Officer and Pilot

PCs Temporarily Run by the GM:

Gvoudzon, Vargr Gunner and Pilot

Dale Conan Wilder (Phil), Captain

Significant NPCs:

Randall Dorsainvil, First Officer of the March Harrier

Fenna Song, Captain of the Margin of Profit

Arrlanroughl, VP of Oberlindes Lines

Maddox Kader, lawyer on Zila

5 Anolas

Professor Lars Dagiran, University of Junidy

Lizab Diiringer, University of Junidy

Cai Calula, Chosen of Cratersea

Lana Calula, Cai's sister

Celia Bailee, Lana's surrogate mother

Thoren Soner, Cai's bodyguard

2 Human Terrorists

4 Llellewyloly Terrorists

Roet Bannerji, Captain of the Wolblutn

Anonymous Naval Intelligence source

Dates: 

131-1105 to 192-1105

Worlds:

Junidy/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3202)

Towers/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3103)

Nasemin/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3003)

Aramanx/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3005)

The March Harrier landed on Junidy, the highest-population world in the Aramis subsector.  They offloaded a major cargo and a low passenger.  There were a couple of xmails for them in the system.  One was from Randall to the captain, indicating that he and Captain Song were still imprisoned on Zila (as of the time of sending, several weeks ago) but their lawyer said they would have their trial soon and should be released.  The other was from Arrlanroughl to Sacha, indicating that a ship with drive parts had been sent to Zila to repair the Margin of Profit and asking whether he was planning to head back toward Zila to resume his job with Oberlindes Lines.  Sacha chose not to answer the xmail yet.

Gvoudzon still appeared unnaturally obsessed with the anolas, so the crew set about finding a buyer for the anolas to get them off the ship.  Posting them on the local electronic merchant boards got a bunch of instant low-bidder offers from bots.  Over the next couple of days, some better offers came in, from merchants and an exotic pet dealer and a University professor.  The offer from the professor asked to visit the University of Junidy South Continental Campus Psychology Building in person, so most of the crew boarded a crowded high-speed monorail and visited the campus.  They left Gvoudzon and the Anolas behind in the care of the captain.  When they met Professor Dagiran, he indicated that the psychology department would like to acquire the anolas to conduct non-invasive research, and offered KCr 50.  He also asked whether any crew members were exhibiting odd psychological symptoms and offered diagnosis and treatement.  The crew mentioned Gvoudzon's symptoms.  John was a bit concerned about high medical bills, but the professor assured the group that the cost of any treatment would be included in the purchase price for the anolas.  Everyone except Everett agreed to a quick examination, and the professor indicated that those examined only showed mild symptoms from exposure to the anolas.  The group came to an agreement, and the professor sent his grad student, Lizab Diiringer, back to the March Harrier with the crew to take a look at Gvoudzon and fetch the anolas.

John and Gani decided that the professor had taken their offer a bit too quickly, so decided to make up a fake counter offer to try to get more cash.  Lizab took a quick look at Gvoudzon and suggested that he go back to the University for treatment, as he was clearly afflicted with something.  She called the professor, then indicated that he would like them all to come back to the University so he could take a look at Gvoudzon and the anolas in person.  Lizab unfolded a high-tech pet carrier for the anolas, and they took another monorail ride.  After some negotiation, the price for the anolas was raised to KCr 80 and it was agreed that Gvoudzon would receive treatment.  Everett didn't trust the psychologists and again refused to participate, but the rest of the crew remained with Gvoudzon.

About week later, the captain called with exciting news: he'd found a very profitable charter, paying double standard rates for four high passengers and a large cargo all the way to Paya.  He asked that the crew hurry back to the ship as soon as possible.  The crew met with the professor again, who agreed that Gvoudzon could leave, and his recovery should eventually be complete after separation from the anolas, though a few more weeks of treatment would be preferred.  They headed back to the ship.

The custom was Cai Calula, a very rich young man from Paya in the Spinward-Rimward corner of the subsector.  The world had been hit by an asteroid a few decades previously, most of the population had died, and most of the survivors had been evacuated.  But a small group of eccentrics had remained and gained claim to the whole planet.  And the fees to allow recent construction of a Navy base and Oberlindes Lines subsector headquarters had made each of them very rich.  Cai was the new ruler of the Cratersea District and had been yachting around the system buying vehicles for his collection when his yacht broke down.  Rather than waiting for it to be repaired or taking a luxury liner home, he decided it would be fun to rough it on a Jump-1 freighter back to Paya.  His cargo consisted of several vehicles: a G-Carrier, a jet fighter plane, a ketch, and a couple of ATVs.  The crew loaded the G-Carrier and ATVs themselves, but needed some help from the starport workers to handle the airplane and boat.

While waiting clearance for takeoff, the March Harrier received a radio call that their cargo had been selected for customs search.  None of them liked the idea, but messing with the Starport Authority sounded like a bad idea, so the captain indicated they should cooperate.  Six uniformed starport workers, two Human and four Llellewyloly, came on board and five of them headed for the cargo hold.  A bit later, one of them indicated that some unspecified illegal powder had been found on board the G-Carrier and that the ship would not be allowed to leave.  The captain protested and asked for details, as one of the other "customs workers" began a radio transmission that the Llellewyloly of Junidy had been oppressed for far too long and were going to blow up this starship in protest.  Gani heard the transmission and shot the terrorist with his gyroc pistol, and a fight was on.  The fight lasted only a few seconds, with Gani (with gyroc pistol and morph axe), Captain Wilder (unarmed), and Cai's bodyguard Thoren (with some kind of large black pistol) taking down all six terrorists (armed with low-tech handguns and a bomb they didn't have time to set off).  John and Sacha reached the cargo hold just as the fight ended, and Gvoudzon never even realized what was happening until it was over.  Captain Wilder called Starport Security to report the attack and several Starport Authority police came on board to take the surviving terrorists.  They interrogated the crew for a few hours and it was determined that the crew had done nothing wrong and was free to go.  Thoren tried to figure out if the terrorists had targeted his employer in particular.

The March Harrier and their passengers jumped for Towers.  They made a quick turnaround to replenish supplies then jumped for Nasemin.  After another quick turnaround they made a double-jump through the interdicted Zykoca system for Aramanx.  On the way to Aramanx, Celia, Cai's sister's unspecified associate, confided a problem to Gani.  Her job was to be Lana's surrogate mother and carry Lana's artificially-implanted embryos to term.  However, Cai wouldn't leave her alone, and Cai was rich and powerful and used to getting his way.  Lana wanted the crew to find a way to keep Cai away from her on the small ship.  Gani talked to Everett, and they suggested putting Celia in a low berth and claiming there had been a medical emergency threatening her health.  Everett put her under, then Gani and Everett explained to Cai and Lana that Celia had been suffering from acute gravity sickness and had been transferred to a low berth to preserve her health and that of the baby.  Cai and Lana seemed to buy the story.

After over a month cooped up on the ship, the crew exited into the relatively open spaces of Aramanx Highport and headed for the Worldview bar.  While there, John noticed one of the local news videos discussing a protest against offworld interests in the nation of Senled, The protests were apparently triggered by the visit of a group from the megacorporation Sternmetal Horizons LIC.  The crew was not particular interested in local politics, but the interesting part of the video was that one member of the Sternmetal group was Captain Bannerji of the Wolblutn.  John pointed out the video to his crewmates, who agreed that was definitely Bannerji.  The crew mentioned the sighting to the captain, who said he'd discussed Bannerji with a contact in Naval Intelligence, and that it would be great to talk to him and figure out what was going on and if he was indeed linked to the nuclear missile attack in Patinir.  The crew asked if the Navy had any resources to help, but the captain said there was no Navy base in the area and his contact was on his own and would appreciate the crew's help.

Everett, Gani, John, Sacha, and Gvoudzon took a shuttle down to Seniek, the capital of Senled.  Weapons were not allowed on the shuttle, so they decided not to risk bringing any, but would look for weapons planetside in case there was trouble.  After landing in Seniek, Sacha (the most streetwise of the crew) found a gun store, where it was made clear that (some) guns were legal for citizens but foreigners weren't allowed to possess any weapons.  The gun owner also pointed out a place where citizens who had lost their identification documents could get replacements.  Sacha headed over to the shady passport photo store and paid a king's ransom in local money (which was not very much in Imperial credits) for a fake ID.  Then, armed with the ID, he headed back to the gun store to load up before looking for Bannerji.

We stopped at that point, with the group considering what kind of low-tech gear they wanted to buy.

GM's Notes:

The crew were pretty lucky with the anolas.  Gvoudzon, as the one spending the most time with them, got penalties to his rolls to resist their mysterious effects, and temporarily lost several points of IQ, reverting to a childlike state.  The rest of the crew made their (hidden) rolls and so were able to deal with the situation fairly effectively.  Their attempt to raise the purchase price after a deal had already been made was a bit sketchy, but apparently Professor Dagiran wanted the anolas enough to comply.

The Llellewyloly-separatist terrorists were not particularly effective, and the crew (plus their passenger's bodyguard) were highly suspicious, so the fight was pretty one-sided.

March Harrier Session 3: Imprisoned on Zila

 

Player Characters:

Everett de Clisson (Adam), Medic and Engineer

Ganidiirsi Ashran (Ben), Steward and Cargomaster

John Matrix (Nick), Broker and Navigator

Dale Conan Wilder (Phil), Captain

Sacha Bright (ChaoticNeutral), Temporary First Officer and Pilot

PCs Temporarily Run by the GM:

Gvoudzon, Vargr Gunner and Pilot

Randall Dorsainvil, First Officer and Pilot

Significant NPCs:

5 Anolas

Monte Sladek, Zila starport worker

Cola Hillee, Zila starport worker

Thane Kiana, bartender at the Dead Spacer

Fenna Song, Captain of the Margin of Profit

Park Abyssi, Steward of the Margin of Profit

Marc hault-Oberlindes, CEO of Oberlindes Lines

Arrlanroughl, VP of Oberlindes Lines

Maddox Kader, lawyer on Zila

Dates: 

084-1105 to 131-1105

Worlds:

Zila/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3209)

Aramanx/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3005)

Nasemin/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3003)

Towers/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3103)

The March Harrier landed on Zila and unloaded passengers and cargo.  The starport was very small, and most services required leaving the extrality zone and taking a train to the nearby city of Crescence.  At the extrality fence, an Imperial Starport Authority guard required signing a waiver that Zila was an Amber Zone due to its overbearing local law level and that legal representation was recommended.  Gani decided to purchase legal insurance for the crew, and the law office clerk issued several collar badges which were claimed to reduce police harassment.

Looking for rumors of business, the crew proceeded to the Dead Spacer bar, which featured a picture of a vacc-suited spacer with the faceplate shattered.  Inside was a table with a couple of starport workers, a table with several blue-suited Akerut Lines crew, and a table with crew from an unrecognized line wearing green jumpsuits.  One of the starport workers, named Monte, recognized Gani and offered to buy the crew a round of Zilan wine, which was excellent and cheap.  The crew mentioned wanting to buy more, but the bartender indicated that only a very strictly limited amount could be taken off-world for personal use, as Akerut had an export monopoly.

The other starport worker, Cola, asked if the crew knew anything about the crash of the Mammoth on Aramis.  She said that she'd seen a few short news bulletins and heard a bit from the crew of the Wolblutn when they came through, but wanted more details.  She indicated that another 5000-ton Akerut freighter, the Titan, had originally had the naval priority cargo from Inthe to Aramis, but Titan's chief engineer had reported serious problems with the jump drives and refused to allow flying until they were repaired.  At that point the Titan's cargo was transferred to the Mammoth.  She noted that the Mammoth's chief engineer was beat up on Zila, and so the Titan's engineer also transferred to the Mammoth.  Finally, she indicated that she worked on the Titan's drives and they were a complete mess, as though the L-hyd valves were left open after a jump.  All in all, she thought the Mammoth's original engineer was competent, but the Titan's engineer who got transferred to the Mammoth was a complete idiot and probably caused the crash.

Overhearing the conversation, a couple of drunk Akerut crewmen wandered over and responded to the insults to their line by saying that the March Harrier was fit only for a garbage run, and that it was a good thing it had arrived as it could drag the Margin of Profit away.  This caused one of the green-suited crew from the adjacent table to jump up and get in his face.  She was apparently the captain of the Margin of Profit and didn't appreciate the slander against her ship.  A fistfight ensued between the captain of the Margin of Profit and the drunken Akerut crewman.  The bartender started yelling for everyone to stop and then started blowing a whistle.  The March Harrier crew took a step back, not wanting to get involved, but then Randall saw that a second Akerut crewman was about to join in, and restrained him.  At that point a couple of Zila police burst in and made everyone, including people who had not been fighting, hit the floor.  After a few minutes, they hauled off everyone in the room except the bartender to jail.

The March Harrier crew asked for their lawyer, and he showed up fairly quickly.  After talking to his clients he indicated that if they hadn't been involved in the fight and hadn't resisted they should be discharged routinely.

Randall recognized Sacha from their shared service in the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service.  They updated each other on recent events, with Randall serving as First Officer on the March Harrier, and Sacha serving as First Officer on the Margin of Profit, an Oberlindes Lines freighter.  Sacha said they'd been grounded on Zila for five weeks, waiting for parts.

Everyone spent a night in jail.  The next morning, the lawyer Maddox Kader showed up along with an older gentleman who turned out to be Marc hault-Oberlindes, head of Oberlindes Lines.  Everyone except Randall was discharged, and Oberlindes had covered their fines.  Randall was facing an assault charge for grabbing the Akerut crewman, and his trial was expected to come up in six weeks.  In the meantime, Oberlindes had a business proposal for Captain Wilder.  He and his right-hand Vargr Arrlanroughl were in the process of moving Oberlindes Lines' subsector headquarters from Paya to Aramanx on the Margin of Profit when it broke down on Zila.  He didn't know how long it would take for another ship to bring the needed parts, and he would like to hire the March Harrier to carry them and their cargo to Aramanx at maximum possible speed.  Additionally, if Randall was going to be stuck in jail awaiting trial, Oberlindes would bring a substitute pilot, Sacha.

Captain Wilder tentatively agreed to the deal, though he wanted to spend a few days trying to get Randall out of jail first.  Once it became clear that nothing was going to move up the trial date, Captain Wilder agreed that it would be better to spend the time moving a cargo than sitting on Zila.  Oberlindes agreed to cover Randall's legal expenses and have his captain, Fenna Song, keep an eye on the lawyers.  They then moved Margin of Profit's cargo to the March Harrier, and the Harrier jumped for deep space, then Carsten's gas giant, then immediately to Aramanx's orbital starport.

Upon reaching Aramanx and discharging their VIP passengers and their cargo, the March Harrier had to decide whether to immediately head back to Zila to try to pick up their first officer, or look for other business.  Aramanx was a balkanized world with many independent countries rather than a world government, and there appeared to be war brewing between several of the countries.  Sacha took a day shuttle trip down to the one of the more lenient (and currently peaceful) cities to buy some stimulants.  Captain Wilder wanted to do more research on the Wolblutn, and the vacation itinerary that the crew had found in its captain's lost wallet had indicated that it was heading for Scangen in the Vargr Extents.  Attempts to find the Wolblutn failed, so Captain Wilder decided to look for passengers and cargo headed in the direction of Jesedipere on the border, before heading back to Zila to try to pick up Randall.  They found a couple of passengers and a small cargo for the water world Nasemin, along with a low passenger heading to Junidy.  

The March Harrier jumped through the Zykoca system but skipped the interdicted planet, then continued to Nasemin to drop off their passengers and cargo.  At Nasemin's orbital port they found a small cargo for Towers and a large cargo for Junidy, so they continued that way.

Towers was an Amber Zone because of local customs involving dueling, which had seen a few offworlders stabbed by touchy locals.  The upside was that it was a great place to learn to fight or buy swords.  Sacha decided to buy a sword, and John thought it would be great to spend a week learning judo.  Unfortunately, the dojo he chose appeared to be run by someone who's learned judo from holovids and whose other clients were mostly hyperactive children, so he didn't learn anything useful.

During the extended trip, Gvoudzon's behavior toward the anolas became increasingly curious.  At first he seemed to just enjoy feeding them and playing with them, but he gradually started shirking his duties in favor of spending all his time with them.  Confronted about this, he responded with babble.  Captain Wilder had Everett check Gvoudzon out, and then had the anolas moved to a stateroom and Gvoudzon isolated from them.  He said it was because they worried that Gvoudzon might be sick and they wanted to protect the anolas, but it wasn't clear if Gvoudzon actually believed this.  The March Harrier then jumped for Junidy, the highest-population world in the subsector, with Wilder looking for a way to get the anolas off his ship.

GURPS Traveller: March Harrier House Rules

We're mostly using the rules from GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars for the March Harrier campaign, but some house rules and rulings are inevitable.  I'll try to detail them here and update this post as more emerge.

Homeworlds:

Each character has a homeworld.  This determines citizenship, default Area
Knowledge, and default tech level.  If in doubt, pick a high-population
Imperial world within the Spinward Marches sector.

Tech Levels:

Peak Imperial TL (in GURPS 4E terms) is currently 11, but with some variation in the "safe tech" direction.  (Traveller doesn't do a lot of cyber, nano, strong AI, etc.)  The March Harrier is a TL 10 ship, and much of the Aramis subsector is also a bit behind the curve.  The GM will mostly ignore TL penalties for skills within the  "normal Imperial range".  Default TL for the campaign is 10, but players can take skills at TL 11 if they're from a high-tech world or previously worked for a high-tech employer like the Imperial Navy.

Ship's Locker:

The March Harrier has a locker full of routine equipment that are needed for merchant starship operations.  If you're a crew member with access to the locker, and you need a particular piece of equipment, you can ask the GM if it's there.  (If you start looting equipment to sell, then there won't be much there for long.)  The GM might just say yes. (Yes, there are emergency vacc suits).  The GM might require a Scrounging roll.  (There *might* be some shotgun shells around here somewhere.)  The GM might just say no.  (No, there is no Imperial Marine Battle Dress just sitting around in the ship's locker.)

The intent of this rule is to reduce the amount of micromanagement of PC inventory required.  You can still micromanage your special equipment, but you can probably find basic stuff in the locker.

Low Berths:

Low berth travel being dangerous is an important feature of the Traveller setting, and something GURPS Traveller messed up.  (Why would anyone pay way more for uncomfortable middle passage if low passage was completely safe?)  A low berth passenger needs to make a HT+6 check when thawed.  If they fail, they die.  If they barely make it, they may be injured.  An attendant with any appropriate medical skill (such as First Aid, Medicine, or Electronics Operation (Medical)) can attempt a skill roll to save the patient or reduce injuries; it's not automatic.

Computers:

The various rules in GTIW about Imperial computers being single-purpose and non-programmable were only for the First Imperium.  Third Imperium computers are fully programmable.  Ignore those rules.

Jumps:

The "Deep Space Jumps" rule on GTIW page 171 was for the First Imperium and does not apply.  Jumps from empty hexes are fine.

Jump tapes are not required.  They are available, and give a bonus to Navigation (Hyperspace) rolls.

Passengers:

Use the rules from GTIW 179 except

BTN 6.5 gets 1d-5 passengers per day.

BTN 6   gets 1d-5 passengers per 2 days.

BTN 5.5 or less gets 1d-5 passengers per week.

(Basically, there's a small chance of getting a few passengers even on thinly traveled routes.)

Mail:

Carrying Imperial mail requires Imperial registry, 5 tons of secure cargo space, that the ship be armed, and that the crew includes qualified Gunners.  

If the ship qualifies, it can see if there is mail available for any world reachable within 16 days (2 fast jumps).  Mail is available on 8 or less on 3d6.

Modifiers:

Subsidized merchant on its regular route: +1
Minor trade route: -1
Feeder trade route: -2
Intermediate trade route: -3
Main trade route: -4
Major trade route or Xboat route: -5

Mail pays a flat KCr 25 for transport to the next destination world (regardless of distance) for up to 5 tons.  Mail is due within 16 days.  It's allowed to try for multiple worlds, but only up to 2 worlds' mail can actually be taken because of the time limit.

As with other freight, failure to deliver the mail within 16 days forfeits 10% of the pay per day late.

Provisions:

GTIW says Cr 6 per person-day.  That's correct for middle passengers and crew, but high passengers must be provided high-quality fresh food costing Cr 20 per person-day.  Carrying high passengers also requires that at least one crew member have  Cooking skill.  (Crew may choose to pay the high passenger rate to get better food.)

March Harrier Operating Expenses

Here's is an overview of the expenses of running a 400-displacement-ton Subsidized Merchant starship using the rules in GURPS Traveller Interstellar Wars.

The single biggest expense is the subsidy payment.  In exchange for paying for the starship, the subsidy holder (a trust run by the Duke of Rhylanor) gets 50% of the ship's gross income.  Gross income consists of all passenger and freight income before expenses.  Note that if the crew decides to speculate on cargo, they have the option of leasing the cargo hold space at standard freight rates (half of which goes to the subsidy holder) and then keeping any profit made.  There is however a clause in the subsidy contract that the crew should not monopolize the cargo space for private purposes, so they should only do this with a small amount of the available cargo space, or when there is not other demand.  The good thing about the subsidy payment is that since it's a percentage of the gross, it's lower in months where there's not much money coming in.

The second largest expense is crew salaries.  The suggested formula for crew salaries is given on GURPS Traveller Interstellar Wars (GTIW) page 175: Cr 600 + (Cr 900 * Merchant Rank) + (Cr 300 * best job skill), per month.  For the March Harrier's current crew of 6, this comes out to Cr 37500 per month, and that could go up if any crew members increase their rank or best job skill.  Note that some of the crew are owners of the ship and so might be willing to forego or defer their salaries if the ship operating account is short on funds.  Asking non-owners to do the same would be unlikely to go over well.

A relatively small expense is provisions.  Everyone on board the ship needs to eat, with crew meals included as a fringe benefit on top of their salaries, and (middle and high) passenger meals included in the cost of their ticket.  (Low passengers are unconscious in their low berths and thus don't need to eat during the trip.)  GTIW page 175 says that standard provisions cost Cr 6 per person per day.  As a house rule, the cost for high passengers is higher: Cr 20 per person per day, as high passengers demand high-quality fresh food, prepared well.  (Gani, the March Harrier's steward, has Cooking skill.)  A full ship with 6 crew and 14 middle passengers would cost Cr 120 per day just to feed.

Fuel is a variable expense.  GTIW 175 says that refined fuel costs Cr 350/dton and unrefined fuel costs Cr 80/dton.  The March Harrier now has 100 dtons of fuel tanks, so a complete fillup (sufficient for two Jump-1s) would cost KCr 35 refined or KCr 8 unrefined.  However, the March Harrier has fuel scoops and a processing plant capable of refining unrefined fuel, so the crew can often avoid paying for fuel, trading time for money.  If on a planet with sufficient water and sufficiently permissive local law, they can take water from a lake or ocean.  If in a system with a gas giant, they can scoop hydrogen from the gas giant.  In both cases, that costs time: from an hour or so to fuel from a nearby water source to days to travel to a gas giant and scoop fuel, plus time to process the fuel.  If there's no ocean and no gas giant, then buying fuel is the only option, but buying unrefined and refining it onboard is still a way to save money.  The fuel processors table on GTIW page 192 says that a 4-dton TL 10 processor can process 3.2 dtons/hour, so the March Harrier can process a complete load in 32 hours, or enough for a single jump in 16 hours.  (It's possible to jump with unrefined fuel, but that leads to increased chances of problems, so is typically only done in emergencies.)

Using a starport means paying berthing fees and starport administration fees.  These are detailed on GTIW page 175.  The berthing fee is typically Cr 20/dton (or Cr 8000 for the March Harrier) for the first 6 days then Cr 2/dton (Cr 800 for the March Harrier) per day afterward.  The starport administration fee is a flat Cr 500 per landing at all Imperial Starport Authority starports.  Both fees are unavoidable, except by landing away from the starport on a lawless planet.

Carrying freight can involve paying for freight handling.  The March Harrier's crew is capable of handling some cargo on their own, but for cargo that requires special equipment or that the crew doesn't have time to deal with, the cost is typically Cr 20 per dton of cargo, with a minimum cost of Cr 500.  Some cargo requires special handling, which adds a 50% surcharge.

The charge for shipping other people's freight is net of taxes, so customs duties on freight don't really affect the crew.  However, if the crew ships speculative cargo that they actually own, then they are responsible for any customs duty.  Customs duty is variable depending on the world and product, but averages about 4% of declared value.  Some crews have been known to smuggle cargo or lie about the value of cargo to avoid such duties, but that's risky.

The final major cost is the annual starship maintenance overhaul.  This only happens once per year rather than every week or month, but smart captains budget for it anyway, as it costs 0.1% of the base price of the ship.  For the March Harrier, a MCr 182 ship (as built using the GTIW rules), this is KCr 182.  It also means the ship is not making money for two weeks as it undergoes maintenance and the crew takes their vacation.

March Harrier Session 2: Nuclear Missiles and Anolas

Player Characters:

Everett de Clisson (Adam), Medic and Engineer

Ganidiirsi Ashran (Ben), Steward and Cargomaster

John Matrix (Nick), Broker and Navigator

PCs Temporarily Run by the GM:

Gvoudzon, Vargr Temporary Gunner and Pilot

Dale Conan Wilder, Captain

Randall Dorsainvil, First Officer and Pilot

Significant NPCs:

Gyles Honsen, Broker on Natoko

Ulrich Baseru, Broker on Natoko

Ghan Siverns, Broker in Patinir

Gavin Kinnear, Prospector in Patinir

Homy Righte, Shuttle Pilot in Patinir

Baraatsa, Farmer and Howood Sculptor on Pysadi

5 Anolas

Dates: 

021-1105 to 075-1105

Worlds:

Natoko/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3209)

Patinir/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3207)

Pysadi/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3008)

The March Harrier jumped to Natoko with a cargo of machine tools and drive parts for the Tukera starship maintenance facility, but no passengers.  They arrived at the port to find a backlog of ships undergoing maintenance having reserved all the outgoing freight and passengers.  Their usual broker, Gyles Honsen, told them that it take a month or more to find a significant cargo.

The next day, another broker, Ulrich Baseru, contacted the crew with a proposal.  He needed some supplies carried to Patinir to supply some prospectors.  Patinir was a Jump-2 away across deep space and so out of range of the March Harrier's Jump-1 drive, but Baseru said that he had some demountable fuel tanks taking up space in his warehouse, and he would trade them to the March Harrier in exchange for carrying his freight.  The crew talked to the captain and did some math and determined that the value of carrying the cargo greatly exceeded the value of the tanks.  Baseru eventually agreed to KCr 60 plus the tanks, installed by A Guy He Knew.  It took a week to install the tanks, and when Everett and Gani inspected the work they found some of the hoses a bit fragile and liable to be damaged by cargo, so they insisted on having some protection added to make the hoses more robust.

With the fuel tanks installed and freight loaded, the March Harrier skimmed some fuel from the ocean then jumped for deep space.  The captain chose to use a well-known deep space jump point rather than random coordinates, to improve the odds of being found if there was a problem.  However, there were no problems, and after spending a few hours pumping fuel from the demountable tanks to the main tanks and calculating another jump course, the March Harrier jumped again to Patinir.

Patinir Belt featured two main space stations, Achilles and Ajax, at two Trojan points of the large gas giant Helen.  Each station had about half a million people, and then there were close to another million people widely dispersed at various small asteroid stations throughout the belt.  The March Harrier delivered their cargo to Ghan Siverns at Ajax Station, then started looking for passengers and freight.  They hadn't found much when, two days later, Siverns contacted them with a job offer.  His supply shuttle carrying cargo to one of the prospectors was late and could not be contacted by radio.  He asked the March Harrier to carry a replacement cargo and also look for the missing shuttle.  He said the in-system run only paid Cr 1000, but he'd also look for freight and passengers for the March Harrier free of charge.

On the trip from Ajax to the Belt, the sensor and comms operators found no sign of the missing shuttle.  They delivered their cargo to Gavin Kinnear's small prospecting station, and Kinnear indicated that he still hadn't seen or heard from the shuttle.  On the way back toward Ajax, the captain detected a faint distress signal.  Vectoring toward it, the crew eventually found the shuttle, badly damaged by an apparent missile attack.  There were no responses except the automated distress beacon, and a sensor sweep indicated strong radioactivity.  The crew decided that the March Harrier should stay at a safe distance and they'd send the launch to the shuttle, with Everett and Gani injecting themselves with anti-radiation drugs before popping in for a quick look.  They found one unconscious crewman, Homy Righte.  Everett dragged him out while Gani tried to find any evidence in the shuttle's computer of what had happened.  He was unable to find anything within a few minutes, and then it was time to get back on the launch and away from the radioactive shuttle.

As the March Harrier resumed its trip back to Ajax, Everett tried to provide medical care to the unconscious Righte.  He awoke briefly and said one word, "Wolblutn," before passing out again.  Righte died before the March Harrier reached Ajax, having taken too many rads to survive.  The captain radioed the news of the shuttle to both starport control and Siverns.  When the March Harrier reached the starport, the Starport Authority Police were there to receive Righte's body and interrogate the crew members.  The interrogations went routinely, with it being clear that the March Harrier crews were would-be rescuers not the perpetrators of the nuclear missile attack, and the crew was allowed to go.  Siverns had found them a good cargo, 100 tons of raw gemstones for Pysadi.   The March Harrier refueled at the nearby gas giant, then made a double jump to Pysadi.

The captain met with the co-owners of the ship to determine whether to offer Gvoudzon a paid position, now that he'd reached the three-jump limit for working passage.  There was some discussion of whether a deep space jump counted and Gvoudzon was already over the limit, but it was moot as they decided to hire him as gunner and co-pilot.   Gvoudzon accepted the offer.

Pysadi was a low-tech world ruled by a local religious dictatorship, the Mother Church.  It had a tainted atmosphere requiring a cheap filter mask.  Unfiltered, the atmospheric taint resulted in giddiness and loss of coordination and mental control.  The crew found some filter masks in the ship's locker and headed out to The Bar, the only bar on the planet, within the Extraterritorial Zone of the starport.  There they found crew members of the other three ships currently docked at the small port: a Tukera freighter, the Vargr trader Thuksirra, and the Vargr trader Ghututh-Aeg.  The Tukera crew didn't feel like talking.  The captain of the Thuksirra told Gvoudzon that he was buying preserved groat meat for shipment back to the Vargr Extents, and gave the crew a lead to a groat farmer, Jakub Bell.  The purser of the Ghututh-Aeg said that he was delivering decorative inlays from Violante for a church, but was headed out carrying candied fruits back to the Extents.  He also noted that he'd heard that Pysadi's howood was currently popular, but unfortunately the Tukera ship had bought up all available stocks and he could not get any.

Gani ventured into the city of Sadi, adjacent to the starport, to try to get a permit for his grav belt.  The clerk had never heard of grav belts and needed to check with a supervisor.  When he came back the next day, he found that grav belts were not permitted.  Looking into howood, the crew found that none was available in Sadi, but it might be possible to harvest some near the town of Itzeny, about 1000 kilometers away.  They would have to take a train there, as flying the March Harrier or its launch anywhere except the standard approach route to the starport was not allowed.  Howood was a very dense tree with its wood almost as hard as metal, so gathering it was usually done using explosives to blow the dense trees to bits, then gathering the bits.

The junior crew got visas and train tickets and headed for Itzeny, while the captain and first officer stayed behind to look for freight and passengers.  At Itzeny, the crew found an elderly woman selling various arts and crafts, including some sculpted from howood.  After Gani bought a couple of pieces, she divulged that the howood was carved by her nephew, a farmer named Baraatsa, who lived nearby.   She gave them directions to his farm.  After spending a night in town and getting permits for explosives and renting an animal-drawn wagon, the crew headed for Baraatsa's farm.  The farmer was friendly and gave them directions to a nearby howood grove, asking that they scatter the seed pods and bring him back a few pieces for carving.

The crew took their wagons toward a hilly, wooded area where howood could be found.  Gvoudzon took off his filter mask to briefly sniff for howood, but didn't find any.  Gani, however, managed to sniff some howood despite having a less sensitive human nose.  The group headed toward the grove, then spent a long time trying to find a path wide enough for the wagon to get near the trees.  They then placed some explosives and managed to knock down a tree without killing themselves.  Emboldened by success, they then continued breaking cracks in the tree with Gani's (illegal on Pysadi but not detected) morph-axe and inserting explosives in the cracks and breaking up the wood into smaller and smaller chunks.

While they were harvesting the howood, the crew noticed a small monkey-like creature watching.  When there hadn't been an explosion for a while, the monkey approached the begged for food.  When this worked, four more monkeys appeared.  The display of cute begging was rudely interrupted by a panther-sized carnivore that pounced on Gvoudzon, ripping a large chunk out of his side.  Fortunately for Gvoudzon, Gani had his axe handy and whacked the carnivore, badly wounding it.  It fled, slowly because of its wounds, but Gani followed up with a second attack and killed it.  Everett performed first aid on Gvoudzon, and then the rest of the crew continued loading howood into the wagon.  They also took the dead carnivore.  Gvoudzon was too injured to work much so he played with the monkeys.

The group headed back to Baraatsa's farm with the howood, the dead carnivore, and the monkeys.  Baraatsa initially greeted them warmly, then his expression changed and he told them to get off his land.  The crew assumed that killing the carnivore, even in self-defense, was some kind of offense, and decided to hide the evidence.  They left some howood chunks on Baraatsa's porch and headed back to town.  On the way, they saw a kid on a fast riding beast giving them a wide berth and reaching town in front of them.

The crew went back to the local church to get their visa back to the starport.  The church official was initially friendly, but once the whole group was inside his office, several more church officials appeared, some brandishing revolvers.  They herded the group into a detention cell, mentioning an affront against the Mother Church.  Apparently the monkeys were called anolas and they were holy animals and not to be touched except by designated priests.  Surprisingly, the anolas were left in the cell with the group.  The priest indicated that he would be contacting the local high priest to deal with the problem, and the crew spent a night in the cell.  They tried reaching the March Harrier on their communcators, but did not have any radios powerful enough to reach it on a primitive world with no datanet or cell towers to assist.

The next morning, the high priest appeared and indicated that the local elders had made their decision.  Because the group were offworld heathens and had no idea what they were doing and had not actually harmed the anolas, most of them would merely be exiled from Pysadi and not allowed back.  Gvoudzon, however, as the one who the anolas seemed to like the most, clearly had been chosen by Mother Pysadi's holy family and would be joining the church to serve as a caretaker priest.  Gvoudzon didn't like this idea, but did not appear to have any choice in the matter.  Gani slipped Gvoudzon a small homing beacon, hoping this would help the others find him if he was moved.  The rest of the crew then boarded the train back to Sadi, which already had their howood on board.

When they reached the starport, the crew contacted the captain and told him of Gvoudzon's fate.  The captain wrestled with the decision between breaking local law and letting one of his crew members be kidnapped, and decided to allow a rescue mission.  They would launch the March Harrier into orbit normally, then he would stay on the ship while the rest of the crew took the launch and attempted to find and recover Gvoudzon.  First Officer Randall piloted the launch, while the rest of the crew loaded up their (totally illegal on Pysadi) weapons and armor.  They swooped down over Itzeny at night.  The group attempted to contact Gvoudzon over short-range communicator, and he answered; the church hadn't bothered to confiscate his phone.  He said that he was still in the same cell, with the anolas and an primer on the Mother Church.  His cell had a window, though it had very thick multi-pane glass to keep out the tainted atmosphere.

The rescue tactic was straightforward: figure out which window Gvoudzon was behind, land the launch as close as possible, break the window, grab Gvoudzon, and get out.  Randal landed the launch quickly and everyone piled out.  Gani broke the window cleanly with his morph axe.  Gvoudzon dove out, cutting himself on the sharp glass.  Someone handed Gvoudzon a filter mask, and everyone ran for the launch.  The anolas followed Gvoudzon and were taken along.  A salvor appeared, saw the launch, and ran for help, but the launch door was closing before the priests found a gun and got a shot off, and they didn't seem to have anything large enough to affect the launch.  Randall flew the launch back to the March Harrier, which jumped out of the system.

GM Commentary:

This was a whirlwind session, as the group covered three worlds in just over three hours.  I didn't really expect to get to Pysadi in this session so didn't have any maps prepared, but winging it seemed to work.  There were a few high-danger spots: the carnivore attack against the mostly unarmed crew, using high explosives at default skill levels, and the rescue mission in the launch.  The crew rolled well in all three cases and succeeded at their missions.  Now they have some demountable fuel tanks and a family of anolas, but they are probably never going to be welcome on Pysadi again.

March Harrier Session 1: Vacation on Aramis Rudely Interrupted

Player Characters:

Everett de Clisson (Adam), Medic and Engineer

Ganidiirsi Ashran (Ben), Steward and Cargomaster

John Matrix (Nick), Broker and Navigator

PCs Temporarily Run by the GM:

Gvoudzon, Vargr Temporary Shuttle Pilot and former Liaison

Dale Conan Wilder, Captain

Randall Dorsainvil, First Officer and Pilot

Significant NPCs:

Leonard Bolden-Tukera, Marquis of Aramis

Roet Bannerji, Captain of the Wolblutn

Jelika Chan, Chief Engineer of the Mammoth

Dates: 

001-1105 to 014-1105

World:

Aramis/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3110)

The Subsidized Merchant March Harrier landed on Aramis for its annual maintenance and the crew's two-week vacation.  The captain and first officer stayed with the ship to supervise the work, while the rest of the crew went off to spend two weeks exploring and having fun.  Or as much fun as they could have on a desert hellworld with a corrosive atmosphere.

Aramis only had one real city, Leedor, which had been built in the remains of some played-out mines, as the active mining extended out to the south and east.  Leedor had grown to 600000 people, almost the entire population of the planet.  Everett, Gani, and John set out to explore Leedor.  The paid the air tax for their two-week visit, then took a slidewalk toward the Marquis' Palace to hear his Holiday speech.  One the way, they spotted a wallet on the ground.  Inside were some credits, a vacation itinerary, and a Traveller's Aid Society card belonging to a Captain Roet Bannerji of the Wolblutn.  They decided to head over to the local TAS building to return the wallet.  The TAS clerk looked up Captain Bannerji and confirmed that the Wolblutn was at the starport, but the Fourth Officer who answered the call said that the captain was currently unavailable.  The crew made an appointment to meet Bannerji later to return the wallet.

They then checked into a hotel, and resumed their trip to see the Marquis' speech.  Sadly, the speech was boring, with the Marquis just spouting political platitudes.  Afterward, they tried visiting Escanil Park, but it was swarmed with families. They moved on to a bar, and tried drinking and interacting with the locals.  While Gani was getting shot down by a woman, all the video screens changed from music channels to breaking news.  A freighter in orbit around Aramis was out of control and expected to crash into the planet.  The news developed: the freighter wasn't going to hit Leedor, the crew had escaped in their pinnace, and there was no way to intercept the ship before it crashed.  It later turned out that the freighter was the Mammoth, run by Akerut Lines, and the blame was pinned on its chief engineer, Jelika Chan.

After the excitement died down, the crew headed to the Wolblutn to return Captain Bannerji's wallet.  He thanked them for returning it, returned the cash as a reward, and invited them to dinner later at the TAS.  When they later arrived for dinner, the manager informed them that Captain Bannerji had been called away by an emergency, but that he had paid for their meal.  They cheerfully ate and drank on his tab.

Their next tourist excursion was a visit to watch large-scale ore mining.  Unfortunately the mines available for tours were mostly played out, and the truly active mines were off limits to the public for safety reasons.  Another day, the crew visited Cavern Park, the other large park in Leedor.  Someone bought a portable disco flasher, designed for viewing the reflections off the minerals in the walls, and a fashionable sequined shirt.  They also managed to get into Escanil Park, and saw that it had lots of life not native to Aramis, like grass and trees and animals.  It was not entirely certain which animals were real and which were simulated.

They tried to visit the Museum of Aramis, but it was completely swarmed by school tour groups, and they weren't able to get a reservation until the day before their scheduled departure.  Out of interesting options in the tourist guidebook, they hit upon the idea of touring the Navy or Scout base.  The Navy base was a no-go for security, but a call to their ex-Scout First Officer was enough to pull some strings and arrange a tour of the Scout base.  This far from the border, it was mostly dedicated to Express Boat mail service rather than exploration.  They did get a tour of a well used Scout/Courier and got to experience its rudimentary air circulation systems firsthand.  No Xboats were available to tour, since they were not suitable for atmospheric landing, and so were kept in space aboard their tender ships.

Two days before their departure, the crew finally got into the Museum of Aramis, which had some excellent exhibits on scientific subjects, paired with some rather crude propaganda on social topics.  There was also a 500-year-old Scout ship that had originally surveyed the planet, but they unfortunately weren't allowed inside the historical relic.  On their way out, they heard an altercation between a Vargr and the museum's manager.  The Vargr claimed that the museum had stolen a brooch that belonged to him, while the manager insisted that it had been procured legally, and had a couple of security guards subdue the Vargr with stun batons and shove him out the door.  A tall man who had been hanging out in the gift shop followed the Vargr.  Everett decided to follow the Vargr as well, in case he needed first aid.   However, the Vargr, recovering from stun, noticed the crowd following him and broke into a sprint, easily outpacing the Humans on his tail.

Later that day, while heading back to the hotel, the crew heard the sounds of a fight in an alleyway.  They stepped off the slidewalk to investigate and saw the same Vargr, menaced by two knife-wielding thugs.  The thugs appeared to not like the odds and fled.  The Vargr passed out.  Everett provided first aid for a knife wound, and then the group decided to take the Vargr back to their hotel room where Everett had his larger medical bag.

The Vargr woke up, thanked the group for their assistance, and introduced himself as Gvoudzon.  He said that he had run out of money and pawned his brooch, and had seven days to reclaim it.  He got his first paycheck from his job flying a shuttle from the downport to the highport for Naasirka, returned to the pawnshop to reclaim the brooch, and was told it was gone.  The pawnbroker claimed that he had held the brooch long enough to sell it, which Gvoudzon disputed.  Gvoudzon got the pawnbroker to identify the buyer as the Museum of Aramis, then went to the museum to confront the manager.  The thugs had later caught up with Gvoudzon, looking for the brooch, which he did not have.  Gvoudzon admitted that he had taken the brooch from the Kforuzeng, a Vargr corsair group for whom he used to work, as an unofficial severance bonus.  He knew the brooches were used to carry messages, but had no idea that the Kforuzeng had the ability to follow him a full subsector into Imperial space, or cared enough about the brooch to do so.

Gvoudzon asked the crew about their ship and whether their captain was hiring, since he wasn't keen to stay on Aramis if knife-wielding thugs were after him.  They forwarded the request to their captain, who said that he'd be willing to hire Gvoudzon provisionally on a working passage.

Gvoudzon also mentioned that he still really wanted his brooch back, and asked the group if any of them would be willing to help him get it.  His plan was to break into the museum during local "night" (as an underground city, there were no real day or night cycles, but there was a six-hour period each day when most people slept and most businesses were closed), find the brooch, and then leave.  Not much of a plan.  The crew did some computer research and found a floor plan and some information on exhibit intake, which gave them a few ideas where the brooch might be.

The night before their departure, Gvoudzon and the crew went to the museum and found the loading dock.  None of them knew much about alarm systems or picking locks, but Everett was mechanically inclined enough to try taking the lock apart, and managed to do so without setting off any obvious alarms.  The workshop was right next to the loading dock, and the crew managed to find the brooch before their intrusion was detected.  They fled out the door as they heard the night watchman approaching.

Gvoudzon mentioned the need to avoid being followed to the ship, and suggested maybe getting a co-worker at Naasirka to leave him in orbit.  The crew suggested instead buying a spacer's chest with a false bottom and then smuggling Gvoudzon into the cargo hold.  Gvoudzon handed over the credits he had accumulated to buy the brooch back, and the others used them to buy a chest, some hardware to construct the false bottom, and a lot of cheap booze.  They dumped out enough of the booze to roughly match Gvoudzon's weight, and then had Gvoudzon's remaining credits ready to bribe any customs officials suspicious about the booze.  Fortunately for them, security was lax that day, and they managed to smuggle Gvoudzon in without any bribery.  (They didn't bother to tell him that, and split the bribe money evenly.)

The Captain had managed to find a 200-displacement-ton cargo of starship parts bound for Natoko, but no passengers.  He decided that was good enough, so they jumped for Natoko.

GM Commentary:

The first session was mostly a tourist trip, with only a few moments of excitement: the crash of the Mammoth on the news, Gvoudzon's two altercations, and helping Gvoudzon steal his brooch back from the museum.  The crew really didn't have any appropriate criminal skills, but were quite lucky and managed to avoid setting off a burglar alarm.  They were also lucky that the brooch was in the workshop rather than the vault.