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.
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