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.

March Harrier Session 8: Raid on the Villa

Player Characters:

Everett de Clisson (Adam), Medic and Engineer

Ganidiirsi Ashran (Ben), Steward and Cargomaster

John Matrix (Nick), Broker and Navigator

Sacha Bright (ChaoticNeutral), Pilot and Temporary First Officer

PCs Temporarily Run by the GM:

Gvoudzon, Vargr Gunner and Pilot

Dale Conan Wilder, Captain

Significant NPCs:

Lisa Fireau, Fireau et Fille Winery Co-Owner

Gustav Fireau, Fireau et Fille Winery Co-Owner

Boris Dree, Fireau et Fille Employee

Lorn Denveldt, Tukera Lines Employee

Jelika Chan / Arion Jamail, disgraced Akerut Engineer / kidnapper

Marc hault-Oberlindes, CEO, Oberlindes Lines

Commander Eneri Giilaan, Imperial Naval Intelligence

Detective Carter Voight, Imperial Starport Authority

Lord Magistrate Vernor, Klavisur politician

Harlan Jann, Professor and pyramid researcher

Dates: 

325-1105 to 332-1105

Worlds:

Aramanx/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3005)

While waiting for Boris Dree to return from Zila, Gani went carousing in Aramanx highport's bars, looking for anything interesting.  He met an older man named Professor Harlan Jann who was looking for evidence of pyramids on many worlds throughout the Spinward Marches.  He said he had finished surveying the Rhylanor and Regina subsectors and was starting on the Aramis subsector, and was looking for a ship that would let him take long-term middle passage and explore various worlds along the way.  Gani got the Professor's contact information and said he'd run the idea by the Captain and get back in touch before they left Aramanx.

When the Oberlindes Lines fast courier returned from Zila, it had Gustav Fireau, Lisa's father, on board.  Gustav had the MCr 20 ransom, secured by a short-term loan against the winery.  He insisted that the group pay the ransom and try to recover Lisa, rather than immediately resorting to force and possibly getting his daughter killed.

The kidnappers contacted the March Harrier again and instructed that Gvoudzon should take the public shuttle, alone, to Ulfrey, the capital of Klavisur, and then await further instructions.  Before Gvoudzon left, he gave his brooch to John for safekeeping, and Gani made a copy of the brooch in the March Harrier's workshop.  Gvoudzon also swallowed a small tracking device, so that the crew could find him if something went wrong.

Gvoudzon took the shuttle down to the surface, then waited for a phone call from the kidnappers.  Meanwhile, most of the crew piled into the launch and flew above the ocean, outside of Klavisur waters, to attempt to track Gvoudzon, using both sensors and the tracking device.  The kidnappers called Gvoudzon and instructed him to go to a certain warehouse just outside the spaceport.  Gvoudzon complied, then someone snuck up behind him and hit him over the head.

When Gvoudzon stopped responding to communications, the crew started tracking him.  They saw that his phone was no longer trackable (because the kidnappers had smashed it and left the pieces behind), but his tracking device was headed east at high speed, probably aboard an aircraft.  They used their sensors and eventually found the aircraft, which landed at Ulrach on the east coast.  Sacha flew the launch up to orbital altitude to avoid infringing on Klavisur airspace, then over to the east coast.  At that point Gvoudzon was removed from the airplane and placed on a high-speed boat headed to Zenfalen Island.  The crew tracked the boat and got some fuzzy pictures of it docked at a private dock on the northeast corner of the island, near the villa.  They then tracked Gvoudzon being taken to the villa, where they already suspected Lisa was held.

At that point, Gustav Fireau agreed that the kidnappers were unlikely to return Lisa and that a rescue operation to recover Gvoudzon, Lisa, and the ransom was the best option.  Everett suggested contacting Detective Voight of the SPA and Commander Giilaan of the Navy, but neither could render any direct assistance.  So the plan was to put the crew and all their weapons in the launch, fly down to the villa at night, and rescue both kidnap victims.

The launch descended slowly in the dark, with all lights out.  Sensors showed one guard in the courtyard and a couple outside the villa's wall.  Sacha put the launch down in the tree-lined courtyard.  Unfortunately, he hit one of the trees.  Fortunately, the damage to the launch was fairly minor.  The crew all piled out of the launch.  The nearby guard got on his radio, yelling for help, as he started shooting at the crew with a machine pistol.  He missed, as Gani (wearing a grav belt) flew right up to him.  Gani and John closed in on the guard from the east and south and shot him in the leg, crippling it and knocking him down.  Sacha went south into a door and found a kitchen. 

Gani checked his scanner and saw that Gvoudzon was to the west.  There was a doorway in that direction.  John and Gani headed west into the villa, with Captain Wilder right behind them.  Then another guard they hadn't seen took careful aim at the Captain and put a bullet in his forehead.  Wilder collapsed to the ground immediately.  Everett grabbed the Captain and dragged him back into the launch then started first aid.

Gani flew right at the attacker, firing gyroc rounds.  John followed up, firing his shotgun.  A gyroc round hit the guard in the arm, destroying it.  The guard collapsed in pain.  There were two locked doors.  John and Gani each took one.  The first one had Lisa behind it, so Gani told her to stand back then shot the lock with a gyroc round.  Lisa came running out and grabbed the guard's gun.  Meanwhile, John got no response behind the other door, so bashed the lock open and found an unconscious and beat up Gvoudzon lying on a bed inside.

The crew carried Gvoudzon into the launch and herded Lisa inside too.  Everett relieved Lisa of the guard's machine pistol, so Lisa grabbed another one from the other disabled guard.  Someone interrogated one of the guards as to where the leader was, and he indicated that the woman Arion Jamail was the leader and her quarters were to the north.  The crew headed that way quickly, with Sacha breaking into the eastern door while John broke into the southern door.  In her bedroom, they found Gvoudzon's bag, which Sacha quickly checked to verify it still contained (at least most of) the ransom money.

One of the guards' radios was squawking with chatters from other guards, so at that point the crew decided to grab both wounded guards, pile into the launch, and take off before reinforcements arrived.  As they prepared to take off, a jet fighter flew over the villa.  Everett got on the radio and told the fighter that they were doing a medical evacuation and to stand down, while the fighter pilot told them to land their vehicle and get out.  Sacha basically blasted off straight up at maximum speed.  1G isn't much for a starship, but it's much faster than a low-tech fighter plane, and the launch escaped Klavisur airspace before anything faster came after it.

Approaching orbit, the crew debated going back to the March Harrier with its small med bay, or just taking the Captain straight to the (hopefully better equipped) hospital at the highport.  They went to the highport, first making a radio call to announce that they were inbound with three gunshot casualties, one a life-threatening head wound and two with serious limb wounds.  They were given clearance to dock near the medical facility, where a team with grav stretchers awaited.  Captain Wilder was immediately whisked off to surgery.  Unfortunately, he did not survive.  Both guards were also treated, and both survived their wounds.

Lisa told the crew that she had been treated well during her captivity.  Gvoudzon, on the other hand, had initially been treated well (other than being knocked unconscious), but after the kidnappers realized the brooch they'd taken was a fake, they had beat him up to try to find where the original brooch was.  Arion Jamail (who appeared to be the same person formerly called Jelika Chan) had been the main questioner.

Detective Voight was alerted to the incoming combat casualties and questioned everyone.  The crew told him the truth, that the kidnappers had taken the ransom and kidnapped Gvoudzon, so they had no choice but to launch a rescue mission.  One of the kidnappers refused to answer questions, but the other one believed Voight's talk about a murder charge for shooting the Captain, and said that the kidnappers were working for the Vemene, Tukera's covert security service, and that Arion Jamail was in charge.

After the crew was released, John used an override code to look through the Captain's records and found his will.  He had a lawyer named Ezraa Foxwell on Aramis who needed to be contacted.  His cash and minor possessions were to be divided equally between his two children, except that Cr 1 was to go to his ex-wife. His share of the March Harrier was to be divided equally among the active crew.  This raised John and Everett's ownership to 20% each, with Gani, Gvoudzon, and Sacha each becoming 3.3% owners, and the Duke of Rhylanor's Aramis Trace Commercial Development Trust, LIC owning the other 50%.

Gustav and Lisa Fireau met with the crew before heading back to Zila.  Gustav indicated that in gratitude for rescuing Lisa and recovering the ransom money, he would give the March Harrier an exclusive export contract for five years.

Marc hault-Oberlindes contacted the crew with a message of condolences on the loss of their captain, and a note that they should contact him about a business matter before leaving Aramanx.  When the crew met with Oberlindes, he informed them that he had recently purchased their subsidy contract from the Duke of Rhylanor.  He thought the March Harrier was clearly a great venture to have a half interest in, based on their recent run of profitability.  He clarified that he couldn't change anything in the subsidy contract without the crew's permission, but that he was willing to expand the subsidy area from the Aramis Trace to the entire Aramis subsector, giving the crew more freedom to wander.  Oberlindes also said that Gustav Fireau had told him that he was giving the March Harrier an exclusive license contract, and Oberlindes offered to have Oberlindes Lines handle the Zila wine exports for them, in exchange for a 1% royalty.  The crew discussed this and ensured that they got to keep the whole 1%, not give half of it back to Oberlindes as the subsidy holder.

The last order of business was picking a new captain.  The two qualified candidates were John and Sacha.  John had more seniority, so it was agreed that John would become Captain and Sacha would be (permanent) First Officer.  Gvoudzon asked if as a co-owner he could be promoted to Chief of Security, and the title bump was approved, though this didn't change his actual duties.

We stopped at that point, with the March Harrier ready to leave Aramanx and in search of passengers, freight, and cargo.

GM's Notes:

Don't get into a GURPS gunfight without Luck or a very strong helmet.  Preferably both.  One bullet to the brain can ruin your whole day.  RIP Captain Wilder.

The March Harrier no longer needs to return to the Aramis Trace in six months.  It does need its annual maintenance soon, as it's been almost a year since the start of the campaign.

Ownership of the March Harrier

The subsidy contract complicates things, but to a first approximation, the March Harrier is owned half by the subsidy holder and half by the crew.  (Any crew members who bought Merchant Rank 1 or higher at the start of the campaign were part owners.  Any crew members without Merchant Rank, and any crew members who joined later, were just employees.)

At the start of the campaign, the March Harrier's ownership was:

• Aramis Trace Commercial Development Trust, LIC (Duke of Rhylanor) 50%
• Captain Dale Conan Wilder: 12.5%
• First Officer Randal Dorsainvil: 12.5%
• Second Officer John Matrix: 12.5%
• Engineer/Medic Everett de Clisson: 12.5%

After Randal Dorsainvil left the crew (to get married and join his new wife's crew), the other crew owners split his shares evenly, resulting in revised ownership:

• Aramis Trace Commercial Development Trust, LIC (Duke of Rhylanor) 50%
• Captain Dale Conan Wilder: 16.7%
• Second Officer John Matrix: 16.7%
• Engineer/Medic Everett de Clisson: 16.7%

After Oberlindes Lines bought the March Harrier's subsidy contract from the Aramis Trace Commercial Development Trust LIC, ownership was updated to:

• Oberlindes Lines 50%
• Captain Dale Conan Wilder: 16.7%
• Second Officer John Matrix: 16.7%
• Engineer/Medic Everett de Clisson: 16.7%

After Captain Dale Conan Wilder died (of a machine pistol bullet to the forehead while attempting to rescue Lisa Fireau and Gvoudzon from Vemene kidnappers) and his will (pending completion of probate or any other legal challenges) divided his share of the ship evenly among the surviving crew, ownership became:

• Oberlindes Lines 50%
• Captain John Matrix: 20%
• Engineer/Medic Everett de Clisson: 20%
• First Officer Sacha Bright: 3.3%
• Steward Ganidiirsi Ashran: 3.3%
• Chief Security Officer Gvoudzon: 3.3%

March Harrier Session 7: Island Stakeout

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, Captain

Significant NPCs:

Lisa Fireau, Fireau et Fille Winery Co-Owner

Boris Dree, Fireau et Fille Employee

Lorn Denveldt, Tukera Lines Employee

Jelisa Chan, disgraced Akerut Engineer

Marc hault-Oberlindes, CEO, Oberlindes Lines

Commander Eneri Giilaan, Imperial Naval Intelligence

Detective Carter Voight, Imperial Starport Authority

Lord Magistrate Vernor, Klavisur politician

Dates: 

325-1105 to 332-1105

Worlds:

Aramanx/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3005)

After the ransom note arrived, there was no longer any doubt that Lisa Fireau had been kidnapped.  Detective Voight was handling the investigation for the starport, but had no jurisdiction planet-side.  He indicated that extradition from Klavisur would be difficult, as Klavisur was not a member of the Imperium and women had few rights there.  However, he was willing to share some information.  He had security footage of Lisa Fireau unsteadily boarding the a shuttle to Ulfrey, Klavisur along with Lorn Denveldt, a woman who Gani was sure was Jelika Chan, and other two large men.  He was also willing to let the crew talk to the pilot and steward of the shuttle.  The steward remembered that Fireau had appeared wobbly when boarding, and that she hadn't said anything.

Boris Dree advocated for getting in touch with Lisa's father Gustav Fireau on Zila, and seeing if he was willing and able to pay the random. Zila was 3 parsecs away, so Boris wanted to find a fast ship to get there and back quickly, before the kidnappers got impatient.  Marc Oberlindes contacted the crew, indicating that he had heard of the kidnapping and offering to help.  Boris asked if there was any way Oberlindes could get him to Zila quickly, and Oberlindes agreed to make a fast courier available.  Boris boarded the courier, and asked the crew not to try anything rash until he got back, unless it appeared to be the only option.

Captain Wilder's Navy contact Eneri Giilaan told him that it appeared Lisa might have been taken to Zenfalen Island, a small fishing island off the coast of Klavisur, owned by Lord Magistrate Vernor, a powerful Klavisur politician.

The kidnappers contacted the March Harrier again over a video feed, with the only person visible being Lisa Fireau, who was sitting in a sunny formal room, alive and apparently unharmed, holding a copy of that day's Ulfrey's Daily Truth newspaper.  (Aramanx was at the tech level where paper periodicals were still popular.)  The captain called the crew to the bridge to watch and try to find clues.  A disguised female voice indicated that the kidnappers would wait 3 weeks, not a day longer, to hear whether the MCr 20 ransom would be paid.  Then the sound muted for a minute.  The female voice returned, saying that the Vargr emissary must be the one to deliver the ransom.

The crew decided to check out Zenfalen Island and see if they could find Lisa.  They left Gvoudzon on the March Harrier, thinking the Vargr might stand out too much on the small fishing island.  First they went looking for a grav vehicle, but they only found one Air/Raft listed for sale on planet of Aramanx, for about double the usual price.  Deciding not to spend that much, they instead boarded a commercial shuttle to Ulfrey, then took a jet aircraft to Ulrach on the coast.  They then nosed around the docks looking for a fishing boat who could take them to Zenfalen.  The first captain they found indicated that he would indeed be going that way in a couple of days.  The crew offered to pay a lot more to leave immediately, and the captain was motivated to find a couple of crew members and leave within an hour.

The ride to Zenfalen on the low-tech fishing boat was mostly uneventful, with the highlight of the voyage being Everett actually catching a fish.  The crew disembarked and went looking for a hotel.  There were two on the island: the Grand Zenfalen Hotel (expensive) and the Fisherman's Rest (cheap).  They chose the cheap option, then visited a general store to buy some local clothing.  They walked around the island a bit, seeing the main docks, the town of Falenza, the dormant volcano, the star-shaped Klavisur Army fortress, and a few outlying villas and farm houses.  

The crew decided to split up and snoop around the island at night.  The most interesting thing they found was that a large villa in the northeast of the island had unexpectedly heavy security, with a high wall and a circling guard.  Gani scoped out the villa from a distance with his night vision gear, but avoided risking detection.  The next day, the crew watched the road to the villa and saw a couple of men with gun bulges under their clothing returning from the villa to the Grand Zenfalen Hotel, and then an older man with a cart bringing supplies to the villa.  

Further investigation showed that there were four men staying at the hotel and working at the villa in shifts.  Searching their hotel rooms found a high-tech tablet (locked) and some clothing.  Following the delivery man to a bar and buying him drinks gave some information: the villa belonged to Lord Magistrate Vernor himself, but he was rarely there, as he spent most of his time at the capital.  Besides the guards, at least one female guest was staying at the villa, but the delivery man didn't know her name.  She did not match Lisa Fireau's description.

The crew used their long-range laser communicator to contact the March Harrier in orbit, so that Gvoudzon and Captain Wilder could do some research for them.  Gvoudzon found video of Lord Magistrate Vernor giving a speech in the Klavisur Parliament in Ulfrey the day before.  The crew waited until night and then Gani used his grav belt to spy on the villa from above.  He saw a guard outside the wall, a guard inside the wall, and a guard inside the villa's central courtyard.  Most of the windows were closed.  He threw some rocks at a shuttered window, and a few minutes later the shutters opened and a man who looked like Lorn Denveldt stuck his head out, as a guard came over to investigate and Gani hid on the roof.

The presence of Lorn Denveldt was enough that the crew thought it was likely that Lisa Fireau was held nearby, but they were out of ideas for safe information gathering, so the next day they got back on the fishing board back to the mainland, then took a jet back to Ulfrey and a shuttle back to the highport.  They still had about 11 days remaining until Boris Dree's return and the deadline for paying the ransom.

GM's Notes:

This session ended up being mostly medium-tech information gathering on a low-tech planet.  The crew had night vision capabilities and a grav belt, which were helpful, but they did not manage to find Lisa Fireau.  However, they found Lorn Denveldt, one of her kidnappers, which they thought was close enough.

March Harrier Session 6: Bureaucratic Infighting

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:

Lisa Fireau, Fireau et Fille Winery Co-Owner

Boris Dree, Fireau et Fille Employee

Chelsea Vilchis, Receptionist at the Department of Commerce

Lorn Denveldt, Tukera Lines Employee

Marc hault-Oberlindes, CEO, Oberlindes Lines

Dates: 

286-1105 to 325-1105

Worlds:

Zila/Aramis (Spinward Marches 2908)

Aramanx/Aramis (Spinward Marches 3005)

The March Harrier landed on Zila.  The crew spent a couple of days at the starport, doing their best to keep out of trouble after their arrest last time on Zila.  But they did not quickly find any passengers or cargo, and Gvoudzon got bored and went looking for something to do.  He found that Fireau et Fille, a renowned winery, had a free wine tasting at a location in the suburbs of Crescence, near the starport.  Free wine sounded good to the whole crew, so they renewed their Zila standby legal insurance and then took the train out to the winery.

The wine was excellent, though the small winery was a bit crowded.  A woman eventually approached the crew, saying she's overheard they had a starship, and wondering if they were interested in work.  She was Lisa Fireau, the "Fille" in FIreau et Fille, and she said that the winery's exclusive interstellar distribution agreement with Tukera Lines was about to expire, and that Tukera was buying up land on Zila and looked to be making a play to take over the wine market, so she and her father wanted to end the agreement with Tukera and go independent.  However, they were worried about Tukera's response, as Tukera had stockpiled a lot of Zilan wine and could possibly flood the market and put Fireau out of business.  Fireau had one advantage: a large and fine vintage of eiswein, a very rare wine that should sell for a large profit.  Lisa asked the March Harrier to get the eiswein to Aramanx without Tukera finding out, at which point she should be able to auction it for enough money to keep Fireau solvent.  She offered 10% of the sale price, and said it was important to leave within two weeks, to get the payment in time to make a tax collection deadline.

Unfortunately, after having Tukera handle all their exports for decades, nobody at Fireau knew the exact process to legally ship their own wine off-planet.  Furthermore, she didn't think it was safe to ship the wine from the main winery 2000 km away to the starport, as she feared Tukera intercepting the shipment.  So she was counting on the crew to handle all the legalities to let the March Harrier land at the winery, pick up the wine, and fly it to Aramanx.  She helped out by identifying five forms that she thought were required.  Form 117: Special Landing Permit, would allow landing the March Harrier to land at the winery.  Form 82a, Customs Declaration/Export Authorization, would allow shipping the wine offworld.  Form 29, Waiver for Pre-Launch Inspection, would allow taking off again after landing away from the starport.  Form 106, Local Landing Permit, was required to allow landing in Polykarp  Province, where the winery was located.  Finally, form 11/2, Application for Visa, was required to let Lisa Fireau and her employee Boris Dree leave Zila and return.

Lisa also knew of a few government and non-government organizations that might be able to help.  The Zila Trade Authority (ZTA) in Crescence dealt with imports and exports.  The Bureau of Offworld Affairs (BOA) in Crescence worked with offworld corporations and individuals.  The Department of Commerce (DoC) in Crescence was in charge of all commercial and economic affairs.  The Zila Port Authority (ZPA) at the starport was the Imperial Starport Authority (SPA) office on Zila, in charge of the starport.  The Polykarp Provincial Government Administrative Offices (PGAO) in Amali was in charge of local affairs in Polykarp.  The Imperial Consulate (IC) in North Crescence was the Imperial diplomatic center on Zila.  Finally, the Merchants' Guild (MG) at the starport was an association to help offworld merchants.

Given five forms to procure and a large number of possible offices to visit, the crew split up.  The Captain stayed at the starport and prepared the March Harrier for travel.  The others alternated between telephone calls and visits to the five offices they thought might handle the appropriate forms.  First they called the ZPA, and the receptionist there said their organization handled Form 29.  They also tried calling the PGAO, but didn't manage to talk to the clerk who knew about Form 106 before the office closed.

The next day Gani called the PGAO again, who said they had Form 106, but it required a local visit.  Sacha volunteered to take a plane trip to Amali in Polykarp Province to deal with that office.  Everett called his lawyer to see if he or any other lawyer at his firm could handle the forms, but they appeared to only do criminal work.  The crew visited the DoC in person and Gani met a very cute receptionist named Chelsea, who referred him to several officials who might be able to help, and also agreed to have dinner with him.  One clerk named Ditha was no help.  However, they also talked to a more helpful clerk named Randy, who extracted a small "cash only expediting fee" and produced a blank Form 17, but said it took 1-6 weeks to get approved through channels.  Told the crew needed it faster than that, he referred them to a supervisor named Lee.  Gani and Chelsea had dinner at a Vargr restaurant, which was not very authentic.

On the third day of the job, Gani called the BOA to get information about forms and scheduled an appointment with a supervisor named Joshua.  John met with the supervisor Lee at the DoC, who got him a meeting with Eneri, the Assistant to the Administrator, who could sign Form 17.  Sacha got on a jet airliner and flew to Amali in Polykarp Province, near the main winery.

On day four, Gani met with Joshua, who referred him to Zebulon, the Trade Relations Coordinator.  Meanwhile, in Polykarp Province, Sacha met with a receptionist named Lo, who got him a copy of Form 106 and a meeting with District Administrator Kynon, who could sign it.  That afternoon, Gani and John also managed to get Form 29 signed by Tamsin, a supervisor at the ZPA.

On the fifth day, the crew met with Zebulon "call me Mr. Askvig", who signed Form 82a, after they visited the receptionist Lizab to get the form.  Lisa Fireau called the crew to tell them she had been threatened by an anonymous person.  The Captain appointed Gvoudzon to take charge of ship's security in case of sabotage or hijacking attempts.

On the sixth day, Gani thought he was being followed by a couple of suspicious individuals.  He called his lawyer, who directed him to their nearby office.  While in the office, he took a photo of one of the followers, then went out the back door into a waiting taxi, which took him back to the starport's XT line.  Back on the March Harrier, Gani tried to find out who the tail was using the ship's databases, but didn't get a hit.  He and Gvoudzon used the ship's computer to make some wanted posters accusing the man of various crimes, and then printed out a bunch of copies, which they could later dump out the hatch before leaving the planet.

Sacha's appointment with Kynon happened on the seventh day, at which point he got Form 106 signed.  On the eighth day, the crew got another signature from General Supervisor Verrill at the DoC on Form 82a, and at that point they thought they were legal.  Lisa was getting nervous and asked to meet the crew in person on the ship.  She asked that they fly to the winery, load the cargo, and leave the planet as soon as possible, before the threats of violence escalated further.  The Captain agreed to leave the next day, and the crew called Sacha and asked him to meet them at the winery.

On the ninth day, Sacha took a taxi from his hotel to the winery and started working with the Fireau employees on a cargo loading plan.  Meanwhile the Captain got the ship fully fueled and then the March Harrier took off for the winery, taking a rather roundabout route required to avoid all commercial air corridors.  After landing, the crew and the Fireau employees loaded 150 dtons of wine onto the ship as quickly as possible.  Some police showed up outside the winery just as the loading finished, but Lisa had her local employees deal with them while the ship took off.  The March Harrier got off Zila without further problems.

Getting to Aramanx first required a double-jump to Carsten, which went smoothly.  Since they wanted to reach Aramanx quickly, the ship just refueled from the ocean on Carsten (because it was closer than the gas giant) and then took off again and jumped for Aramanx.

Arriving at Aramanx Highport, the crew found that all the long-term berths were full, so the ship would have to park in orbit near the port and take the launch back and forth to the port, except when actually unloading the cargo.  Still worried about security, the Captain asked Gvoudzon to keep an eye open for trouble.  Meanwhile, Lisa and Boris, with Sacha helping, started setting up a wine auction.  Lisa invited multiple merchants, but not Tukera, to bid at an auction for the wine in three days.

When the auction started, Lorn Denveldt of Tukera showed up, despite Fireau's attempts to exclude the company.  He was representing three merchants who did have invitations, and the auctioneer ruled that he could stay.  Bids started at Cr 150 per bottle (KCR 22.5 per dton) and rapidly rose to Cr 225 per bottle.  At Cr 250 per bottle, it appeared that Tukera might win, but then a new bidder appeared in the back of the room.  It was Marc Oberlindes, and he escalated the bidding all the way to Cr 310 per bottle.  At that point Denveldt asked for a hold on the auction while he got authorization to bid higher, but the auctioneer denied the request.  The total load went for a bit over MCr 8, leaving the March Harrier's 10% share over KCr 800.

The crew attempted to use the March Harrier's sensors to see if the Wolblutn could still be seen on the surface of Aramanx, at the mining camp in Renitza.  They failed to find it.

With the initial sale completed and enough money raised to keep the company afloat, Lisa stayed at Aramanx Highport setting up future wine deals.  Still concerned about security, she stayed on the March Harrier and took the launch to the starport.  However, one evening she failed to appear for the trip back to the ship.  Her employee, Boris Dree, indicated that it wasn't like her to not show up or answer calls, and asked the crew to help look for her.  Some investigation showed that Lisa had gotten on a shuttle to the nation of Klavisur, along with two men and a woman.  A few hours later, a message was sent to the March Harrier, saying "If you wish to see Fireau alive again, arrange payment of Cr 20,000,000.  You will be contacted."

We stopped at that point.

GM's Notes:

The Zilan bureaucracy paperwork challenge was one of the more annoying quests I've run in any RPG, but the players handled it well, using reaction rolls, Streetwise, bribery, and Sex Appeal.  After the profitable charter to Paya followed up by a profitable wine run, the ship is doing very well financially.