Session 16 (25 August 2023)

Location: Pel Avena (Far Home 1528)

Date: 102-5600

Travellers: Ada Windsor, Jacobe Kyman, Griff Kodiak, and Torka Jax

NPCs: Yeksav Kinova, Maximilian Stana

After several long hours of detention and debriefing by officers of the Rimward Federation Marine Corps and, later, executive director Yeksav Kinova of Tagryn Industrial, you're back on the Dejah Thoris. You've been fully exonerated and cleared of any suspicion regarding the deaths of the scientists you were sent to retrieve and Kinova is grateful for your cooperation. It seems that Stana, though caught off guard by your presence in the mines and resistance to his mercenaries, reacted quickly by sending the authorities a message pinning the blame on you for the outbreak of violence and taking advantage of the ensuing kerfuffle to make good his escape. An unregistered, transponder-less ship was detected departing the planetoid shortly after you left the mines. It seems Stana also made efforts to frustrate forensic investigations by leaving explosives of his own at the scene: the marine squad that reached the site later reported signs of an explosive conflagration doing damage well beyond what Griff's grenades had done. Dr Abbasi and his unfortunate colleagues have, it seems, been reduced to tiny fragments along with their equipment. (The same goes for the dead mercs, naturally.) 

It turns out that, while Abbasi's victims had all been from universities within the Rimworld Federation, Abbasi himself was a visiting scholar from the distant University of Pador (Far Home 2325). How this may relate to his treachery, you're not sure. You relinquish the data wafer you found on Abbasi's person to Kinova, your patron, trusting him to ensure its delivery to the University of Peset that was funding the expedition. Even so, you know corporations all too well and therefore hedge your bets by sending a copy anonymously through the mails to make sure the data reaches its destination. Your accompanying note provides few details about what happened but does name Abbasi as a traitor. Kinova pays you well enough for your trouble (i.e., for getting shot at while undertaking what was supposed to be a simple fetch quest): Cr50,000.

There's more: the latest courier ship has also brought a message from Merant addressed to Ada, Jac, and Griff. A short note explains that you may collect Cr30,000 for "services rendered" from any branch of Federation Capital, a bank owned by Tagryn Financial, itself a subsidiary of Tagryn Industrial. You can only presume that Braxton Kader somehow managed to get word from his prison cell to his compatriots on the outside, confirming your delivery of stimpaks to the Timerckian Liberation Front in Vhenja several weeks ago. You are grateful for the long overdue payment.

Whither now? The valuable salvage of the derelict mining ship Alexis still beckons, but it's not going anywhere and currently your sympathies are stirred by the plight of Captain Jarumi's psionically gifted niece and nephew. Where can they find sanctuary in a subsector where psions are generally mistrusted and occasionally abused? Jacobe's perusal of Library Data suggests that Yimin Jiti, a pacificistic and insular interstellar polity in the Halcyon sector to spinward, might be a good option: it is ruled by the Yimi, "a self-perpetuating order of psionic warriors and elders who protect and serve the citizens of the worlds they administer and ensure that age-old rulings, traditions, and wisdom are followed." Surely the children's talents would be nurtured and respected there?

You present the idea to Captain Jarumi and, after some reflection, she agrees. It's a long journey — over a dozen weeks at the very least —but it makes sense. After all, you've drawn some small degree of heat in the Rimworld Federation, incurring the ire of one low-tech country (Vhenja) and, more seriously, earning the enmity of a ruthless mercenary (Stana) and, possibly, whoever's backing him. Moreover, there's at least one TL 12 world en route where you might procure useful upgrades to your ship and equipment. You decide to resupply, refuel, and set off at once for Lansote, two parsecs spinward.

Radar panel on the Dejah Thoris showing an incoming missile.

No sooner has the Dejah Thoris left the ground than your sensors detect an unidentified ship altering course to intercept you. Seconds later, it fires a missile. Fortunately, the small size of the planetoid means it only takes minutes to reach a safe jump point and Ada, your astronavigator, has already calculated your jump plot. Missiles travel speedily, however, and this one is upon you even as the pilot Jacobe's hand hovers over the jump drive controls. Fortunately, Griff is at a laser turret and manages to provide well-timed point defence, blasting the missile out of existence before it can hit you. 

During the encounter, Torka at the sensor station gathered what info he could on your attacker: a 600-ton ship bristling with triple beam-laser turrets and an M-drive capable of accelerating at least twice as fast as yours. There was no signal or communication. Was it Stana, or a random pirate? You suspect the former.

A week later, you drop out of jumpspace near a ringed gas giant in the Karvor-Lansote system (Far Home 1528), planning to refuel before proceeding to the mainworld, Lansote. Almost immediately, your comms pick up an automated distress signal. It's coming from a 400-ton merchant freighter that's in a decaying orbit around the gas giant. In less than two hours, it'll be broaching the upper atmosphere. The possibility that it's a trap laid by pirates crosses your mind. It'd be prudent to refuel first before investigating but if you want to save the ship and whoever may be aboard, you'll need to act now....

Image credit: "Retro Starship Radar Screen" assets by Lazarus on itch.io.