GURPS March Harrier Session 11: Undercover on Lewis

Player Characters:

Everett de Clisson (Adam), Medic and Engineer

Ganidiirsi Ashran (Ben), Steward and Cargomaster

John Matrix (Nick), Broker and Captain

Sacha Bright (ChaoticNeutral), Pilot and First Officer

PCs Temporarily Run by the GM:

Gvoudzon, Vargr Gunner and Pilot

Significant NPCs:

Marc hault-Oberlindes, CEO, Oberlindes Lines

Arrlanroughl, VP, Oberlindes Lines

Quala Carthen, Oberlindes Broker

Ranate Zaitsiik, Inselberg New Hire Orientation Leader

William Irani, Inselberg Head Chauffer

Quill Steward, Inselberg Chief Mechanic

Nyx Bentzen, Inselbert Chef

Sir Orson Tukera, VIP at Inselberg

Lady Thalia Tukera, VIP at Inselberg

Gharukh, Vargr Cryptography Researcher

Dates: 

164-1106 to 214-1106

Worlds:

Aramanx/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3005)

Zila/Aramis (Spinward Marches 2908)

Lewis/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3107)

The crew started on Aramanx Highport, where laser damage to the March Harrier was being repaired.  Marc Oberlindes had another proposal for them.  Data from the captured Tukera courier Nebula had indicated the presence of a secret Tukera research facility on the interdicted world of Lewis.  Baron Marc said that they couldn't get away with directly attacking the base like Tukera had to the Oberlindes facility on Nasemin, but it might be possible to infiltrate it to gather information.  He said that Tukera hired servants for the Inselberg estates on Lewis using Central Hirings SA on Zila, and that a manager at Central Hirings had been influenced to hire whoever Oberlindes wanted.  He also said that payment would be similar to the previous mission: the idle March Harrier would be paid for its full passenger and cargo capacity.  The crew agreed to the terms, and set out for Zila aboard the Oberlindes courier Inside Information.  On the way, Everett cut a small Flesh Pocket in Gani's leg, which could be used to hide a communicator.

Arriving at Zila Starport, the crew met their Oberlindes contact Quala, who assigned them Zilan aliases and fake backgrounds and identify cards.  Quala told them that an Oberlindes trader with fake papers would be landing at the Tukera lanthanum mines on Lewis in about a month, and would be their ride home.  The crew headed over to Central Hirings SA in downtown Crescence, where they were all hired and given tickets to board a Tukera far trader in a few days.  They hung around the starport for the interim, since it was the only place on Zila safe from random police harassment.  Then they boarded the Far Trader Pegasus, where they were loaded into double-occupancy staterooms, given the starport safety dance, and then introduced to their trainer, "Lady" Ranate Zaitsiik.  She instructed them in the use of a tablet computer, then subjected them to aptitude tests.  Each crew member was then assigned a week of personal computer-based training for their prospective position.  Gvoudzon was slated to be a house servant, Gani a cook, John and Sacha to work as grav vehicle drivers or mechanics, and Everett to be a groundskeeper.  Each was also issued a combination filter mask and respirator and warned not to go outside on Lewis without it, as the atmosphere was both very thin and tainted with carcinogens.

The Pegasus was passed through the Navy interdiction on Lewis thanks to a Tukera family exemption, and then landed at the estate of Inselberg.  An enclosed grav vehicle was waiting by the landing pad to carry them to the main estate on top of a plateau.  There the crew was split up, with John and Sacha sent to the vehicle garage, Gani to the kitchens, Everett to the dome enclosing the main house, and Gvoudzon to board another air/raft to fly to the outlying Retreat.  The group spent the next couple of weeks in training, with John and Sacha learning basic grav vehicle operation and maintenance, Gani working on his large-scale cooking and food delivery skills, Everett learning to care for plants, and Gvoudzon being introduced to Gharukh, the cryptographer he would be serving.

After the initial training period was over, the crew started getting time off, and were able to arrange occasional meetings.  John and Sacha had some access to grav vehicles.  Gani had access to the main house to deliver meals.  Everett had access to the pressurized dome around the main house, but wasn't supposed to go inside much.  Finally Gvouzon was serving at the Retreat, which was set up as a Tukera research facility, though Gharukh was closely guarded there.  Each of them attempted to explore a bit and find information, but lacked access to much.

Gani discovered that another nearby plateau hosted a Tukera corporate site, and found an excuse to deliver food there.  The Tukera workers there had company-networked computers, and on his second visit he managed to steal a password and grab and email archive.  Sacha found another nearby plateau had a warehouse, and managed to break in and poke around, but didn't find anything interesting.  A young VIP, Lady Thalia Tukera, wanted to be driven around by grav vehicle to see various plateaus and also some squatter settlements, which gave John and Sacha a chance to explore the area.

On one of his trips back to the main estate, Gvoudzon reported that Gharukh was a prisoner and wanted out, and also that she was a genius scientist who probably knew important things, and finally that she had a brooch similar to his.  He proposed taking her with them when they made a break for the Oberlindes ship.  The crew was on board with the idea.  A few days later Gani's hidden communicator received a message from the Oberlindes ship, which had landed at the lanthanum mines.  The plan for the escape was pretty simple: John and Sacha would rig the charge gauges on most of the grav vehicles to read full even when empty, then would discharge all but two of them, and take the working ones.  Then Sacha would fly around as a decoy to distract the guards, while John flew over to the Retreat to grab Gvoudzon and Gharukh.  Finally everyone would meet at the Oberlindes ship.

The first part of the plan went well, though the Tukera guards already had a few grav vehicles out of the garage.  Sacha led some guards toward the squatter settlements.  John took another air/raft to the Retreat, where Gvoudzon and Gharukh had snuck out past the guards and hid in a cave on the side of the plateau.  They grabbed the Vargr and then flew straight to the mines and into the cargo hold of the Oberlindes ship.  Sacha followed up a few minutes later, and the ship took off for the 100-planetary-diameter limit at top speed, with the crew, Gharukh, and two incidentally-stolen air/rafts.  They made it there without trouble from Tukera ships or the Navy, and then jumped for Aramanx.

GM's Notes:

This session was almost all roleplaying, with each PC having to use their alias, fake incompetence at high-tech skills, and spy without getting caught.  Their die rolls were solid and they didn't press their luck too often, so they managed to not around suspicion from the Tukera guards until they were ready to escape.  They didn't manage to steal much information, other than the one email archive that Gani found, but they did get Gharukh.

March Harrier Session 10: Deep Space Ambush

Player Characters:

Everett de Clisson (Adam), Medic and Engineer

Ganidiirsi Ashran (Ben), Steward and Cargomaster

John Matrix (Nick), Broker and Captain

Sacha Bright (ChaoticNeutral), Pilot and First Officer

PCs Temporarily Run by the GM:

Gvoudzon, Vargr Gunner and Pilot

Significant NPCs:

Marc hault-Oberlindes, CEO, Oberlindes Lines

Arrlanroughl, VP, Oberlindes Lines

Lars Svelberg, Captain, Oberlindes Patrol Cruiser Guardian

Karla, Diirgiirii, Captain, Oberlindes Free Trader New Horizons

Dates: 

118-1105 to 163-1106

Worlds:

Aramanx/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3005)

Deep Space between Aramanx and Feneteman (Spinward Marches 3105)

The crew was invited to a meeting with Marc hault-Oberlindes at Oberlindes Subsector Headquarters on Aramanx Highport, but when they arrived, they were met by Arrlanroughl instead.  Baron Marc was busy leading an investigation into an attack against the Oberlindes freighter Bottom Line.  Arrlanroughl reviewed the recent attacks against Oberlindes ships and bases, and concluded that Tukera had started a tradewar to push Oberlindes out of the Aramis subsector.  He said they had an idea to get Tukera to back down, and would like to hire the March Harrier to carry out the plan.  Arrlanroughl said that the March Harrier would not be carrying passengers or cargo for a few weeks, but Oberlindes would pay them for the equivalent of a full load, plus expenses, plus 10% of any profit from the venture.

Arrlanroughl turned to Captain John, who spoke with his crew, and when there was no dissent he agreed to the venture.  Arrlanroughl then called two Oberlindes captains into the room, and went into detail.  Oberlindes had acquired the coordinates of a deep-space breakout point, used by jump-1 Akerut freighters when traveling between Aramanx and Feneteman.  They would like to disguise March Harrier as a Tukera or Akerut ship, using an (illegal) reprogramable transponder and a new coat of paint.  The March Harrier would find freighters when coming out of jump and vulnerable until they had transferred fuel and plotted course for their next jump, then distract the freighters while a heavily armed Oberlindes Patrol Cruiser would induce them to surrender or, if necessary, attack them.  The ships could then be searched for information, their crews captured and interrogated, and prize crews could take any intact ships to a rendezvous point.  Arrlanroughl said that a Hercules-class freighter could be briefly crewed by four people, and that the March Harrier, the Patrol Cruiser Guardian, and the Free Trader New Horizons could be packed with a total of 48 extra crew at double occupancy, thus allowing the capture of up to 12 ships.  Arrlanroughl said that the operation could continue for up to 3 weeks, since it would take a week to notice the first missing ship, maybe up to a week for Tukera to get suspicious and organize a response, and then a week for the investigators to jump.

Arrlanroughl asked if the March Harrier needed anything before the mission, and said that Oberlindes would pay half (as half-owner of the ship), with the crew's half coming out of the mission profits.  Gvoudzon noted that the ship's two turrets could each use a third beam laser.  There was some debate among the crew, with Everett mentioning that missile racks or sandcasters could also be useful, but eventually they agreed with Gvoudzon that triple lasers were the simplest.  Arrlanroughl arranged for the extra lasers, the new transponder, and plenty of paint.  Meanwhile Gani stocked the ship with enough provisions for an over-sized crew for several weeks, and John asked for ammunition resupply for the crew's personal weapons, just in case.

The March Harrier took on its extra crew, and then flew past the 100-diameter limit of Aramanx.  Before jumping, the crew and some of the Oberlindes extras put on their vacc suits and went outside to do some deep-space repainting.  The March Harrier then jumped to the deep space point, where they communicated with the Guardian and New Horizons to set up positions, and then switched their transponder to the Tukera setting.  The next day, they picked up their first prey, the Akerut freighter Colossus.  March Harrier sucked them in with a fake distress call, then mentioned that the Patrol Cruiser would be launching a volley of missiles.  The captain immediately surrendered.  The Patrol Cruiser launched its 20-ton Assault Craft full of marines, who boarded the ship and then radioed that the ship was secure.  Most of the March Harrier crew then flew over, interrogated the captain, and dug through the computer.  When they were satisfied, the Akerut crew were locked in their staterooms and the prize crew brought over to jump the ship to a rendezvous point.

The ambush worked successfully three more times the first week, with the Titan, Sauropod, and Elephant all captured.  The Titan had some interesting data in its logs, about the meson guns that had been transferred to the Mammoth, and Jelika Chan's tour as chief engineer.  There was also an xmail from the ship's captain to Vemene subsector head Aran Ashkashkur about the need for Vemene agents to also be competent in their cover duties so that they don't destroy any starships.

In the second week, the ambush induced four more freighters to surrender: the Megalodon, the Galaxy, the Rhino, and the Mongo.  Unfortunately, two captains resisted, which meant the Mondo and the Amazon both perished to volleys of missile file.  The Mondo damaged March Harrier with its lasers pretty significantly.

The captains of the three ships agreed to keep going for a third week, during which they captured a Type S Scout, the Nebula.  Logs indicated that the Nebula was a Vemene courier and had been moving records of a scientific base from Pretoria/Pretoria to Lewis/Aramis, an interdicted planet.  Apparently Tukera had land on Lewis, and was allowed exceptions to the interdiction.  In addition to the computer records, the Nebula had carried one VIP passenger to Lewis, a female Vargr scientist named Gharukh.  The Nebula's logs also contained a poorly-encrypted xmail from Sylvie Mobutu to Aran Ashkashkur.  The xmail said that the March Harrier had been watched carefully since it was discovered that Gvoudzon and the brooch were on board, and that it was apparently working for Oberlindes.  Mobutu suggested that a Vemene ship ambush the March Harrier, under the pretext that it was a routine tradewar ambush.

After capturing the Nebula and sending it off with a prize crew, the ambush bagged two more freighters.  The Albatross resisted and was blown to bits, though its pinnace survived and was captured with two crew aboard.  The Whale surrendered.  After three weeks, with a total of nine freighters and one scout captured and three freighters destroyed, the captains of the three ambushing ships agreed that it was time to return to Aramanx.

After reaching the Aramanx system, the March Harrier crew repainted their ship back to its original colors, and then flew to the starport.  They they met with Marc Oberlindes.  He congratulated them on the successful mission, told them the captured cargo had been appraised and their 10% was being deposited in their account, listened closely to the news about the Titan and Lewis.  He then suggested possibly infiltrating Tukera's base on Lewis to learn more.  The crew was receptive to the idea, so Oberlindes said he would have his people gather more information, then they could meet again in a few days to make a plan.  Oberlindes also agreed to repair the remaining damage to the March Harrier's hull.

GM's Notes:

This session involved the campaign's first space combat.  The Patrol Cruiser Guardian seriously outgunned the Akerut ships, so their captains needed to make morale checks to surrender, but three of them were a bit too brave for their own good and decided to fight.  March Harrier sustained significant hull damage once, though, showing that maybe the tactics used weren't the best.  Perhaps the more heavily armored Patrol Cruiser should have been the only one within laser range of the freighters.

Was having ten starships captured and three more destroyed enough for Tukera to call off the tradewar?  We'll see next time.

March Harrier Session 9: Tradewar Brewing

Player Characters:

Everett de Clisson (Adam), Medic and Engineer

Ganidiirsi Ashran (Ben), Steward and Cargomaster

John Matrix (Nick), Broker and Captain

Sacha Bright (ChaoticNeutral), Pilot and First Officer

PCs Temporarily Run by the GM:

Gvoudzon, Vargr Gunner and Pilot

Significant NPCs:

Lisa Fireau, Fireau et Fille Winery Co-Owner

Gustav Fireau, Fireau et Fille Winery Co-Owner

Lars Dagiran, Professor of Psychology, University of Junidy

Marc hault-Oberlindes, CEO, Oberlindes Lines

Harlan Jann, Professor and pyramid researcher

Vuzuege, Vargr Refugee Leader

Dates: 

341-1105 to 108-1106

Worlds:

Aramanx/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3005)

Nasemin/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3003)

Towers/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3103)

Junidy/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3202)

Marz/Pretoria (Deneb 0201)

Rugbird/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3102)

Jesedipere/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3001)

After rescuing Lisa Fireau from Tukera-sponsored kidnappers, the March Harrier's crew found a parting gift from the Fireaus: 60 bottles of rare Eiswein.  Most of the crew kept theirs for trade, but Gvoudzon drank a bottle.  The crew decided to head towards Junidy, but first Gani made an xmail-order of some high-tech goods from Rhylanor.

They picked up Professor Harlan Jann and some freight for Towers, refueled from the Aramanx ocean, and double jumped for Nasemin.  At Nasemin, they picked up more passengers and cargo heading for Towers.  They also got an xmail that gave more information about the Oberlindes Cargo Carrier Grand Tour, which had been attacked in the Aramanx system while they were there.  The crew had been boarded by pirates impersonating health inspectors, then forced to help the pirates destroy their cargo of bulk plastics.  Three crew had resisted and been shot.

At Towers, they helped Jann search for pyramids, didn't find any, but found some passengers for Junidy.  At Junidy they had their annual maintenance done, which meant the crew had two weeks off.  Gani wanted to visit the University of Junidy again, to look into possibly studying there.  Gvoudzon and Everett tagged along to visit the anolas.  The group managed to get an appointment with Professor Dagiran, who let them see the anolas and also interviewed Gani and Gvoudzon about their experience with the anolas and Gvoudzon's mental issues caused by close proximity to them.  (Everett once again was not interested in being interviewed.)  Everett ran into a police officer who thought he looked a lot like a suspect and asked him to help out by standing in a police lineup.  Everett reluctantly agreed and nothing bad happened as a result.  Professor Jann also looked for pyramids on Junidy, but found none.  Another disturbing xmail reached the crew on Junidy: the Oberlindes Far Trader Llewellyn had come to the aid of a ship's boat being attacked by a patrol cruiser, at which point both craft had turned their weapons on the Llewellyn.  The Llewellyn had defended itself ably, at which point the ship's boat had boarded the cruiser, which jumped outsystem.

With maintenance done, the crew decided to leave the Aramis subsector briefly and double-jumped to Marz, carrying several passengers and some cargo.  They then returned to Junidy and picked up Professor Jann again, then proceeded to Rugbird then Jesedipere.  Two passengers headed to Jesedipere were medics, heading there to help at a refugee camp of Vargr who had fled from Kforuzeng attacks in the Vargr Extents.  The situation on Jesedipere was getting bad, with a small group of Imperial Interstellar Scout Service personnel trying to help out.  Sacha visited with the Scouts to see if he could help.  A Vargr named Vuzuege approached the crew and said she needed a ride to Junidy to try to get more help from the Scout leaders at the Way Station there, but could not afford to pay for passage.  The crew decided to take her to Junidy for free.  Meanwhile, another disturbing xmail came in: the Oberlindes trade station on Nasemin had burned, with no casualties but over a megacredit in damages.

Meanwhile Professor Jann wanted to search thinly-populated Jesedipere for pyramids.  He convinced the crew to fly him around the planet in the launch, and they eventually scanned some promising-looking structures and landed for a closer look.  Jann excitedly said that they were clearly artificial in origin, and he would be staying on Jesedipere to continue his research.  At some point Everett did some research on Jann and found that he was a legitimate Professor Emeritus of Literature (not Archaeology or anything else related to pyramids) at the University of Rhylanor, and that his brother was the Duke of Rhylanor.

The March Harrier flew back to Rugbird and then to Junidy.  Sacha, as an ex-Scout, agreed to help Vuzuege get a meeting with the Scout leaders.  They did not manage to meet with the actual commander of the Way Station, but they met with several fairly senior Scouts, who agreed to send some more aid to the refugees on Jesedipere.

Gani found a tour group who wanted to book high passage for themselves and middle passage for their bodyguards to Towers, so they could learn to swordfight.  There weren't actually enough staterooms for all of them, so Gani convinced them to have most of the bodyguards fly low passage.  On towers, the crew received another disturbing xmail, that the Oberlindes Merchant Wallen Bar was overdue and suspected lost due to hijacking.  Another xmail to Captain John indicated that Oberlindes was worried that the large number of recent violent incidents indicated that either Tukera or Akerut had started a tradewar.  From Towers, the crew continued to Nasemin, where they got a mail contract for Aramanx.  As they reached Aramanx, they got a local xmail from Oberlindes Lines.  Marc hault-Oberlindes himself wanted to meet with the crew at Aramanx.

GM's Notes:

This was a session of travel and trade, with the March Harrier visiting a lot of worlds and even leaving the sector.  The main events were helping Professor Jann search for (and eventually find) pyramids, helping Vuzuege and the Vargr refugees on Jesedipere get some help from the Scouts, and hearing a lot of disturbing news about attacks on Oberlindes Lines ships and facilities.