Up to Traveller
Katja von Reinhold (Von) 4B893C Noble: 7 terms, Leader-1, Engineer-1, Brawling-1, Hunting-1, Mechanic-0
Karl Nathaniels, M.D. (Don) 489CF4 Doctor: 6 terms, Medical-5, Wheeled Vehicle-0
Oleg Sevenus, Ph. D. (Jax) 66ABD7 Merchant: 2 terms, Scientist 3 terms, Computer-2, Electronics-2, Vacc Suit-1, ATV-1, Cudgel-1, Jack-o-T-1
Alaina Summers (Cheli) 79A967 Rogue: 2½ terms, Streetwise-1, Forgery-1, Dagger-1, Laser Carbine-1, Computer-0
Tabitha Windsor (Don) 986C9F Navy: [?] terms, Ship's Boat-3, Fwd Obs-2, JOT-1, Nav-1, Pilot-2, Auto Pistol-1
[Rookie] (Jon) 7659CA [Army & Buearocrat] Tactics-1, Air/Raft-1, Laser Rifle-1, Mech-1, Rifle-1, Liaison-1, SMG-1, JOT-1, Halberd-1
Katja von Reinhold, recently retired, has decided its time to see the galaxy. She has hired a crew for her yacht, Swan's Grace. She will be engineer, captain, & owner-aboard.
Among her crew is Dr. Karl Nathaniels, who also recently retired & thought serving as ship's doctor would be an entertaining way to pass the years & do some travelling.
Finding enough high passengers to fill the yacht's unoccupied staterooms, the Swan's Grace left for Jenghe/Regina on 072-1100.
While at Jenghe, Katja is approached by Dr. Usheglii, a medical researcher from Dinomn/Lanth. He tells how the children of his homeworld are afflicted by an endemic disease causing blindness. The only treatment has required a trip here to Jenghe, something few there can afford.
Dr. Usheglii, however, has discovered a cure that can be produced locally. He needs to get himself, a colleague, & 2 dTons worth of equipment to Dinomn. Unfortunately, he lacks the funds for such a trip.
Karl interrogates Usheglii thoroughly & his story seems solid. Since Katja hasn't been able to scare up any paying customers for her next port-of-call, Dinom/Lanth, she agrees to help Usheglii out. (She gladly takes what funds he can spare, though.)
Passengers for Dinomn are found. Katja forces Usheglii & his companion to share a stateroom.
Just before arrival at Dinomn, Dr. Usheglii mentions to Katja that the local government might not be entirely pleased with his discovery. He requests avoiding the starport.
Katja, however, has paying passengers & freight to deliver. The only person on the ship qualified to pilot the ship's boat is the pilot. She tells Usheglii & his colleague to stay in their stateroom while the yacht docks at Dinomn's Highport.
Everything seems in order with the port officials, so Usheglii & his equipment remain unnoticed.
The pilot, Katja, & Karl then deliver Ushiglii, his colleague, & their equipment to Ushiglii's institution via the ship's boat & ATV.
The locals are thrilled. The foundation that had been funding Ushiglii's research & assistant programs cashes out much of its investments in order to quickly build additional production facilities based on Ushiglii's prototype & to pay Katja a handsome reward for her service.
Also, Ushiglii gives Katja the name of a local shipper & supporter of the foundation who will gladly break up lots & adjust schedules to make sure the Swan's Grace cargo hold is full upon departure to their next port-of-call.
Karl & Katja decide they'd best get back to their ship ASAP.
Katja begins looking for passengers bound for Dinom, Wypoc, or Rech. A number of high passengers bound for Rech are found, so that is choosen as the next destination.
During the week, the local media reports on the activities of Dr. Usheglii's foundation. The government warns that Usheglii's cure has not been analyzed & approved by the goverment's medical regulation agency. Some officials have suggested that the government might need to take action against such an unapproved medical treatment.
After Alaina's career misfortune (failed survival roll), she'd been getting by on Dinomn by selling her biweekly high passage from her TAS membership.
Checking the classifieds one day, she comes across a job listing for a "document specialist". Perhaps an opportunity to exercise that Forgery-1?
She meets with Frederick Reginaldi, a merchant. He explains that he's planning to buy a used starship. Since the paper work on used ships isn't usually very good, & since that can cause annoying delays at some starports, he's looking for someone to cross-the-Ts & dot-the-Is on the ship's paper work once he purchases it. He offers 9,000Cr for the job, plus passsage to Rech, where the ship will be purchased. He also mentions that there may be the opportunity for a long-term position.
It's clear to Alaina that Reginaldi isn't completely on the up-&-up. It doesn't seem any more shady than other deals she's been involved with, though. She says she'll do it for 10,000, & the deal is sealed.
Oleg Sevenus, Ph.D. (the seventh character generated by that player) is on Regina when he gets a message from an old colleague from his merchant days. Fred Reginaldi's message says simply that he has a business opportunity he'd like to talk to Oleg about. He asks Oleg to meet him on Dinomn, & a mid passage on a jump-2 ship is attached.
Ole Fred. He was always searching for an angle or a get-rich scheme. Always looking for the short cut. Figured he would either wind up either destitute or filthy rich. We'll since he's paying the passage, might as well go hear him out.
Roughly a week later, Oleg meets with Fred. Fred says he finally made enough profit on his last tour to retire & become his own boss. He's found a good deal on a used ship. He remembers that Oleg was a quite resourceful & seemed to be able to handle almost anything (Jack-o-T-1), so Fred wants him as part of his crew. Fred offers to pay his expenses until the ship purchase is finished & then they'll work out a deal for Oleg to get a share of the profits.
Oleg: This doesn't involve smuggling virgins, does it?
Fred: No, not again.
So, Fred Reginaldi & four other associates in addition to Oleg & Alaina board the Swan's Grace as high passengers bound for Rech.
Katja is awoken in the middle of a night by a call from the bridge.
Bridge: There's all kinds of warning lights going on down here. You may want to get to engineering ASAP.
When Katja steps into the corridor outside her stateroom, she finds two of her passengers--one to the left, another to the right. They are both pointing guns at her. She quickly ducks back into her room. Both shoot at her, but miss.
After locking the door, Katja calls the doctor & the steward on the ship's intercom & informs them of the situation. She tells the steward to contact the passengers.
Dr. Karl Nathaniels dons his armor & grabs his shotgun, but finds his stateroom door won't open. He calls the bridge.
Bridge: Yep, doc?
Karl: Ericson, open my door.
Bridge: Umm...I can't.
Karl: Open my door or the next time I see you [threat censored].
Bridge: Talk to you later, doc.
Katja dons her armor & grabs her laser rifle.
Katja: I'm taking back my ship.
She stands to one side of the door so that she can, she hopes, shoot one of the goons without the other being able to see her. She then opens the door & shoots the first goon, taking him down. She then steps around to fire at the other goon. His shot misses, but her's doesn't.
She drags the bodies into medbay & heads towards the doctor's stateroom. When she gets there she hears a sound like someone trying vainly to cut through the stateroom door with a chainsaw.
Katja: What are you doing to my ship!
Katja sets about opening the door manually. Once she gets the door open far enough for Karl to get out, he heads to the medbay to stablize the goons, but keep them unconscious & immobilized. Then Katja goes to talk through the door to the passenger in the next stateroom.
After being contacted by the steward, Dr. Oleg Sevenus decides to ignore her advice to stay in his cabin. He wants to face any danger head on. (His stateroom door opens.) Seeing no activity on the upper deck (where his stateroom is), he heads down to the main deck.
He encounters Katja in the corridor. She tells him to get back to his room, which he does. He then hacks into the ship's computer system & manages to access the ship's security cameras. He then sets about trying to figure out what's going on.
Katja returns to medbay. Once Karl has stablized the goons, he grabs a tank of Nitrous Oxide, & the two head for the lower (bridge) deck.
Finding no one in the workshop, Katja & Karl move into the lower deck lounge. (Unbeknownst to them, a goon is in front of the bridge door at the end of the corridor from the lounge to the bridge. He hears the door in the lounge open, so he gets ready to shoot the first thing he sees.)
When Katja moves into the corridor, a goon shoots at her, but misses. She hits the deck & returns fire. The doctor also fires his shotgun down the corridor. Katja's shot hits the goon & takes him down, but he gets a second shot off & hits her.
Karl checks to make sure Katja isn't in need of immediate attention--which she isn't. He heads down the corridor & picks up the goon to use cover. He then knocks the valve off the nitrous tank & tries to open the door to the bridge. It, of course, does not open.
Meanwhile, Oleg has determined a few things. He can't get a view of the bridge. Frederick Reginaldi & four of his companions are no where to be found. The baroness & the doctor are storming the bridge.
I might not have expected this of Fred, but I wouldn't put it past him.
He intercoms the doctor. He explains that he's hacked into the computer system & says he'll try to get the bridge door open--which he manages to do. Karl tosses the nitrous in. Oleg then closes the door & turns off the air circulation for a while.
Voice 1 from inside the bridge: Foolproof plan, eh?
Voice 2 from inside the bridge: Hey, you're the one who picked a ship with insane, vigilante captain & doctor!
After a bit, Oleg restarts the air circulation & opens the bridge door. Inside the pilot, Reginaldi, & the remaining goon are found unconscious.
I have no idea whether the open nitrous tank would've realistically knocked everyone on the bridge out. I have no idea whether they might have been able to stopper it somehow. It was sufficiently entertaining for me to just let it work.
Reginaldi is questioned. He admits to trying to steal the ship. He intended to sell it so that he could buy a freighter & have some capital left over to invest in some spec trading. He insists that he didn't intend anyone to get hurt. He'd had Ericson plot a course to Wypoc instead of deep space. The plan was to put everyone in the life boat & leave them near Wypoc. He says that Dr. Sevenus & Ms. Summers did not know the details of his "creative financing" plan.
Ericson, the pilot, agrees to handle the critical portions of his former job until Katja can turn them all over to the authorities when they reach Rech.
Oleg offers his services as a consultant to improve the ship's security systems.
During the journey (both before & after the attempted hijacking), Oleg gets to know Alaina & decides she could be a very handy person to have around, no matter what sort of business he decides to get into. He also thinks that continuing to travel on & be associated with a baroness' yacht could be good for business.
Fredrick Reginaldi & John Ericson arrive on Regina. Since retiring from the merchants, they've been trying to figure out how to get a ship & the capital for some spec trading. Reginaldi comes up with a plan. Ericson starts looking for a job as a pilot on just the right ship.
Ericson is hired by the Swan's Grace. Reginaldi books parallel passage to Jenghe on another ship.
Reginaldi has been trying to track down an old colleague, Oleg Sevenus. He finally discovers that Oleg is on Regina just before he's about to leave.
When Ericson informs Reginaldi that the Swan's Grace will be taking Dr. Usheglii to Dinomn, Reginaldi books passage to Dinomn on a jump-2 ship. He sends a message to Sevenus on Regina.
Reginaldi hires some goons & places an ad for someone with forgery skills.
Reginaldi hires Alaina Summers. He meets with Sevenus. He books 7 high passages on the Swan's Grace.
Ericson sets course for Wypoc instead of deep space.
[I'm finally updating this, but my notes haven't been very good. The following my require corrections.]
The Swan's Grace arrives at Rech. Reginaldi, Ericson, & the goons are handed over to the authorities. The crew & passengers are all briefly questioned.
Sevenus develops a radio scanner to snoop on x-boat signals. Some investigation turns up information about an old encryption standard used by the scouts. It's fairly breakable using available technology & some techniques that have been discovered. It's still used a lot, although really important information uses newer/stronger encryption schemes.
Katja hires a new pilot: Tabitha Windsor.
Sevenus' scanner turns up the following:
Sevenus decides to investigate the special alloys. He calls up the listed contact, which turns out to be a warehouse manager for Combs Properties. A company called Infiniti Enterprises stopped leasing a warehouse but left these alloys behind.
Alaina forges some papers indicating she is employed by Infiniti Enterprises. After examining her credentials & asking for a small storage fee, the warehouse manager hands the alloys over.
Meanwhile Sevenus checks out the spices. The merchant explains that there was a local shortage of spices so he had a bunch shipped in from off-world. Unfortunately, a lot of others had the same idea, & he ended up with a surplus, some of which didn't arrive until the market was glutted. So, he's been selling them off for whatever he can get for them. This is his last ton & it's priced to move.
Sevenus arranges for a courier service to pick up the spices & the alloys & transport them to Katja's ship.
Alaina & Sevenus make a handsome profit off the alloys & spices.
Sevenus' scanner turns up the following:
While unloading cargos, the custom officials refuse to allow a 5 ton shipment of "chemicals" through. Katja has Dr. Nathaniels check it out. It turns out the "chemicals" are the waste products produced by a certain drug manufacting process. It is normally quite costly to properly dispose of them & shipping them off planet is generally illegal, though not on Echiste.
Katja tries to contact the listed recipient, but there is no such person. So, they load it up into the ship's boat, fly to the sun, & dump the cargo. All of which occurs without incident.
Sevenus' scanner turns up the following:
The Swan's Grace spends two weeks in port hoping to turn up some cargo or passengers bound for Fulacin, but finds none.
Katja has a double turret installed on the ship. She doesn't have the money for a gun yet, though.
Sevenus' scanner turns up the following:
Investigating #1, the company has sent several messages to company agents & a few other select individuals on Risek. They state simply that a "X9000" chip is missing. (They seem to assume the recipients would know what that is.) Risek is a likely destination or port-of-call should it have found its way off-world.
Sevenus notes that the messages were sent roughly one week ago. Not counting the Swan's Grace, 10 other ships have arrived at Risek in the past 3 weeks.
Investigating #2, googling "Yohann McIntyre" turned up evidence that it is an alias used by someone involved in various corporate espionage incidents. A real name is not found, but Sevenus does find a poor quality image of three people, one of whom is believed to be McIntyre. (Though it isn't indicated which of them might be him, if that is known.)
Sevenus manages to break into the star port's survellience video archive. The then runs a pattern matching against the photo & manages to turn up one seemingly solid hit. McIntyre was in this port three days before the Swan's Grace arrived.
One ship arrived that day: the Centennial Raptor. She appearantly started life a few decades ago as a standard type A free trader, but has had a few upgrades, including some basic armaments & a maneuver drive upgrade. Some hacking turns up the manifest of the Raptor &, sure enough, one Yohann McIntyre was listed as a passenger.
Alaina calls all the hotels in the port to inquire whether McIntyre is checked in, but finds nothing. It is also determined that four ships have departed Risek since the Raptor arrived.
Investingating #3, googling for Benedict Garza reveals him to be a well respected citizen. He started as a merchant running a free trader & is now a travelling commodities trader & philanthropist. It appears that he has not been on Risek in at least eight weeks.
Meanwhile, Katja searches for passengers & cargos available for her possible destinations. She determines Kinorb is her best choice.
Sevenus looks for possible spec cargos & turns up 30 tons of silver being sold at 35 KCr/ton. Katja, Nathaniels, Tabitha, Alaina, & Sevenus all agree to buy shares. They decide that if they fill up the 11 tons of cargo hold, the 10 tons of the ATV bay (stowing the ATV in the ship's boat), & stuffing another 6 tons in the ATV itself, they can carry 27 tons.
They'd like to sell on a Industrial world...
Sevenus' scanner doesn't come up with too much. (Which he doesn't mind until they sell the silver.) There is one interesting item: An estate sale. A wealthy business man & venture capitalist, Running Deer Chang, died without heirs. His estate is being liquidated.
Sevenus tells the rest of the group where he's going, & they all decide to go. They take a shuttle from the orbital to the down starport. From there they take a grav-cab to a private island.
It seems like Mr. Chang owned just about anything that can be imagined.
Katja asks one of the officials if there's any ship weaponry available. The official goes to check. Another official appears & greets Katja as "Baroness?" When she responds, he says, "Please come with me." When he notices Tabitha, he acknowledges her as "Your grace."
Betty leads them to an elevator & uses a retinal scanner to access it. As they descend, Betty explains: "Mr. Chang did indeed trade in ship weaponry, but he was not licensed to do so by the local government. We, unfortunately, cannot help you get anything you buy off-world."
When they reach their destination, Betty leads the noble women into a warehouse full of weaponry. Betty quotes them the following prices:
| sandcaster | 100KCr |
| missle rack | 300KCr |
| pulse laser | 200KCr |
| beam laser | 400KCr |
Katja & Tabitha headed back to the ship. They stashed the silver in the ship's boat wherever they could find space & headed down to Mr. Chang's island. On the way, Tabitha detected some police air/rafts hanging around near the island.
They pick up the goods & are quickly asked to "pull over" by some police air/rafts. The police declare the weapons contraband that must be confiscated. It turns out that the local authorities don't have jurisdiction over Chang's island.
Tabitha: Who's your supervisor?
The official on the scene says that would be Vladimir Akaka, the DA. Katja contacts Akaka's office. He is unavailable, but an appointment could be scheduled for tomorrow. Katja explains that she is nobility. Suddenly, there isn't an open appointment until next week.
Oleg considers offering a bribe, but the officers do not react well to him. (i.e. he suffered an unfavorable reaction roll)
Tabitha contacts the local Baron. He is currently off-world, but his office sends an official, Bob Smith. Mr. Smith explains that the local government in general & Akaka in particular have a strong dislike of Imperials. Mr. Chang's subverting the local government & laws with the aid of Imperials is a particular sore spot. Mr. Smith offers some suggestions:
After much consideration, Katja decides to let the legal process take its course & to wait for it to finish.
In the meantime, Sevenus finds one item of interest with his scanner: One Mac Yohansen is wanted for questioning on Inthe.
The baron's lawyers do manage to get things cleared up in three weeks, & the crates are finally delivered to the ship. Katja finds three high passengers bound for Risek, & at long last, the Swan's Grace departs Kinorb.
Upon arrival, Katja pays to have the weapons installed & buys some more sand.
Sevenus tries to re-acquire Yohan's trail...