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
Cai Calula, Chosen of Cratersea
Lana Calula, Cai's sister
Celia Bailee, Lana's surrogate mother
Thoren Soner, Cai's bodyguard
Roet Bannerji, Captain of the Wolblutn
Jeffry Marte, Sternmetal Horizons employee
Kfouzorr, ex-member of the Kforuzeng
Eneri Giilaan, Imperial Naval Intelligence officer
Dates:
192-1105 to 286-1105
Worlds:
Aramanx/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3005)
Carsten/Aramis (Spinward Marches 2906)
Heguz/Aramis (Spinward Marches 2706)
Violante/Aramis (Spinward Marches 2708)
Paya/Aramis (Spinward Marches 2509)
Violante/Aramis (Spinward Marches 2708)
Everett, Gani, John, Sacha, and Gvoudzon started the session in Seniek, the capital of the nation of Senled on the balkanized world of Aramanx. Their goal was to reach the remote border city of Tavanix and find Captain Bannerji. They considered renting a car or taking the train, but it would be a three-day ground trip, so they bought airplane tickets instead. The plane was grounded for several hours due to reports of aerial incursions over the border, but eventually reached their destination. In Tavanix, the crew looked for the Sternmetal Horizons party that Bannerji was with. A solider in a bar told Gani that he'd seen the Sternmetal reps at the Provincial Governor's Mansion, which was the temporary seat of local martial government. Sacha made a phone call and managed to get an appointment at the Mansion to meet with the Sternmetal party. The crew rented a ground vehicle and headed to the Mansion.
While waiting for their meeting, the crew saw an argument break out. A Vargr was yelling at a Senledi army officer, who was ordering soliders to take the Vargr prisoner. Gvoudzon recognized the Vargr as his friend Kfouzorr, and the crew joined Gvoudzon in trying to get the officer to listen to Kfouzorr's story. Kfouzorr had deserted from the Kforuzeng mercenaries serving the rival nation of Lanax. He said that he had been on the staff of Thane Dhurgeng, a batallion commander, but had decided to leave rather than being subjected to further blows to his charisma. He had come bringing information on the mercenaries' plans, in exchange for asylum and transport. Kfouzorr continued that the mercenaries were about to launch a raid to try to capture the Sternmetal representatives and destroy the local Senledi forces. He thought the Sternmetal group were to be bargaining chips in upcoming negotiations. The officer decided to pass Kfouzorr's story to higher authority, and level to find his commander.
The crew, with Kfouzorr and some soliders in tow, went for their meeting with Bannerji and the other Sternmetal representative. Bannerji looked surprised to see them, but before discussion started, sounds of machine guns and artillery fire could be heard. The Mansion was under attack! The soldiers hit the deck and the crew hid under the conference table. Bannerji and the other Sternmetal employee were slower to react, and when the ceiling started coming down, both were pinned under rubble. When the explosions stopped, Bannerji was screaming for help. The crew and one of the soldiers worked together to unpin Bannerji, while the other soldiers left the room. Everett began first aid, including splinting a broken leg. The other Sternmetal employee was dead. The crew asked Kfouzorr for more details of the attack, and he said it was a pincher with two armored columns trying to cut Tavanix off from the rest of Senled. The crew decided to rush back to their vehicle and try to get out of the war zone. Bannerji begged them to bring him along, which they were happy to do. Everett inspected the other Sternmetal rep to make sure he was dead, and took his wallet, which contained a Sternmetal business card identifying him as Jeffry Marte.
Reaching the parking lot, the crew saw that all vehicles that had been there were gone except for two, both of which were badly damaged. Their own rental car was upside down. The crew took a quick look to see if it was repairable, but there was no chance without major parts and a lot of time. They decided to head back to town and look for another vehicle, carrying Bannerji. Kfouzorr asked for a minute to grab something from the Mansion, and came back with a bolt-action rifle and some ration packs.
After some walking, the group reached Tavinax, and saw a huge traffic jam, with all roads heading north out of town toward the rest of Senled completely backed up. The crew approached a man in an off-road vehicle and said that they needed to take it for military reasons. He didn't seem to believe them, but he was outnumbered and they had guns, so he abandoned his vehicle and ran away. Bannerji said that his ship was hidden in a mining camp across the Renitza border, and if they could get him there, he could get them offworld. The roads toward the border were clear, so the group headed that way, though they stayed off the roads as much as possible. There were some primitive rotary-wing aircraft patrolling the area, but nothing took a shot at their civilian vehicle.
While heading toward the border, the crew started asking Bannerji questions. He revealed what he'd been doing with Sternmetal: smuggling lanthanum to evade the Navy's price caps on domestic lanthanum. He had been picking up lanthanum in Patinir, then bringing it to Aramanx and hiding, while forging documents to make it look like the Wolblutn had gone to Scangen in the Vargr Extents and bought the lanthanum there. He said the missile attack on the shuttle that found his ship in Patinir Belt had been an accident: he had only meant to fire a warning shot, but had hit the wrong button and accidentally nuked the shuttle.
The crew reached the Renitza border and found the gates closed and guarded by Renitzan troops. Everett and Banerji produced Sternmetal IDs and said they needed to get back to their ship in Renitza. The story worked and the vehicle was let through. However, once past the border area, Everett said that going to Bannerji's ship was a bad idea, as there might be an ambush waiting for them, and they should instead just head for a spaceport and get a shuttle back to the highport. There was no spaceport in Renitza, but if they drove north far enough, they could then cross back into Senled away from the battle zone, and head for the spaceport in Seniek. They stopped at a fuel station for directions, and the attendant there said that Senledi border guards were notoriously corrupt and demanded bribes of alcohol to cross, and he happened to sell the kind of alcohol they liked. It was cheap, so the crew bought some, and then refused to give any to Bannerji.
After several hours of driving north, they headed west for Senled. The border was closed except for citizens, but Sacha pulled out his fake Senled citizen ID and told a (mostly true) story about trying to get out of the war zone and back home. The story combined with a bribe of alcohol worked, and they were back in Senled. When they reached the nearest airport, they found it jammed full of people trying to get away from the border. It would have been a long wait for a flight, but there was a long-distance communicator at the airport that could send a message to Captain Wilder at the highport. He responded that he would try to get permission to come get them in the launch, and an hour later the launch arrived. The crew plus Kfouzorr, Bannerji, and two random people who were willing to pay for the two empty seats piled into the launch.
Reaching the highport, the Captain discharged the two paying passengers and instructed the crew to keep an eye on Bannerji, then left to contact his Navy contact. A bit later, the Navy officer appeared to collect Bannerji. He later returned to question the crew members and Kfouzorr about what Bannerji had confessed. A couple of days later, the Captain called a meeting of the crew and handed out some reward money to everyone involved, plus some cards with Imperial Navy logos identifying the bearers as good citizens.
A couple days later, the Captain called a meeting of all owners of the March Harrier. The ship's First Officer, Randall Dorsainvil, had xmailed Captain Wilder letting him know that he was engaged to Fenna Song, the Captain of the Margin of Profit, and would like to remain on that ship permanently. The Captain's suggestion was offering Randall KCr 100 for his share of the ship. On the one hand that was a very low offer because the ship was worth a lot more, but on the other hand Randall would be leaving the crew, and his ownership share had been contingent on being a crew member. So the Captain thought that would be a fair offer. The other owners agreed, and the Captain sent off an xmail.
Cai Calula, the ship's VIP passenger, was ready to resume his trip to Paya. However, Everett thought he saw an angle and wanted to meet with the Navy officer to see if there was any chance of going back to the surface, seizing Bannerji's ship, giving the lanthanum and evidence to the Navy, and keeping the ship as a reward. The officer took the meeting but said that the matter was above his pay grade and it would take a few weeks to get an answer from the brass. After some discussion among the crew, they decided to give up on grabbing the Wolblutn and resume their trip to Paya. Kfouzorr stayed on Aramanx Highport, after telling Gvoudzon that he was going to use his reward money to find passage as far away from the Kforuzeng as possible.
The trip to Carsten was fairly uneventful. While there, Gani found some ammo for his gyroc weapon. The March Harrier then double-jumped to Heguz, a water world where two different colonies had mysteriously disappeared over the last few centuries. The third group of colonists were inhabiting a space station and trying to investigate the planet from orbit before trying again. With no gas giant in the system and no fuel for sale on the station, the March Harrier risked a trip to the surface to refuel from the ocean, and managed not to be eaten by any sea monsters.
The March Harrier then double-jumped to Violante, an estate world owned by a small number of nobles from Deneb sector. While there, John finally found a decent price for the howood they'd been carrying since Pysadi, and Gani set up the March Harrier's ATV as a food truck and made a bit of money selling food outside the starport.
The ship then double-jumped for Paya. On the way, Cai Calula announced that he thought the March Harrier was a quaint and fun ship and would be an excellent addition to his collection. He offered MCr 250 for the ship, well above its value. However, the crew did not actually have clear title to the ship, as the subsidy holders were also owners. Also, Calula indicated that the crew would need to stay with the ship and become his employees, and nobody really wanted to work for him. The Captain held a meeting of the owners, who decided not to entertain the offer.
The March Harrier landed directly at Cai Calula's spaceport at Cratersea, rather than at Paya's main starport. Someone goaded Calula into flying the G-Carrier out of the cargo hold himself; fortunately he managed to do so without breaking anything. The ATVs, ketch, and fighter jet were also offloaded, and the crew was free of their charter. They headed to the orbital highport to look for other passengers and cargo, and did find some mail heading for Violante, but nothing else.
Jumping back to Violante, the pilot asked John and Sacha whether they should head for Heguz or Zila. Sacha immediately said Heguz because he hated Zila after his bogus arrest, but John said that Zila had better commercial prospects and they just needed to be careful there to avoid getting arrested. Captain Wilder agreed and said maybe it would be safer to just stay inside the XT Zone on Zila. The March Harrier then jumped toward Zila, and the session ended.
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