Session 22 (13 October 2023)

Location: Bathur binary star system (Far Home 0928)

Day: 137–5600

Travellers: Griff Kodiak, Torka Jax

There's no time to celebrate your victory in Lansote's laser tag arena; Cinlu needs you out of sight, and  pronto. The real Yinka Liu, by now mostly recovered from his illness, is ready to meet the press and receive the adulation of his fans. His doppelgänger, Griff, is somewhat miffed at missing the spotlight, but takes some measure of spiteful comfort in the fact that in the final triumphant minutes of the match he invoked an ancient Earth ditty known as "Baby Shark" and now leaves Yinka saddled with the burden of endlessly singing the annoying tune to placate an adoring public.

Having already replenished your fuel tanks at the system's gas giant, you collect your winnings and depart immediately. After a routine stopover at Raselk (Far Home 1128), you collect bulk cargo and passengers for your next destination: the binary star system two parsecs rimward (Far Home 0928). On day 137, the Dejah Thoris drops out of jump space and set a course for Bathur's Edge, a small settlement in the asteroid belt around the smaller red main sequence star, Bergan, which orbits a barycenter in an eternal dance with its larger twin, Ossobo, some 6.3 billion km distant.

Duke Norlande Manjoo of House Oquaba

You're still a few hours from your destination when you receive a priority message from the office of Duke Norlande Manjoo, the undisputed head honcho of this independent, unaligned system. It seems he desires to speak to your captain, Lady Nika Jarumi. Jarumi asks your advice; you suggest stalling until more information can be gathered. You do so, and use the time to learn more about this system. From what you can gather, Manjoo, the current leader of House Oquaba, runs the system as a private fiefdom for the benefit of his faction. He has a reputation for ruthlessness in the service of his House. It would be unwise to displease him unnecessarily.

When you're closer to Bathur's Edge, Jarumi holds a holoconference with the duke. They converse in the stilted, highly ritualized ceremonial language of the interstellar nobility; you can barely understand what they are saying. When the exchange is over, Jarumi translates: the duke has more or less ordered the crew of the Dejah Thoris to meet with his chief scientist, Haruto Wood. You can of course refuse... at your own risk. It seems a small enough ask: you agree.

Soon enough you've docked at the modest class-C starport and are en route to meet Wood at his home in a wealthy quarter of the settlement. Servants usher you into a lavish study where the scientist greets you cordially. At 38, he seems rather young for his position. He is somewhat apologetic for having used his influence with the duke to strong-arm you into the meeting, but mostly he exudes excitement for the proposal he now lays before you. You are invited to take part in a groundbreaking discovery that could change history.

Astrophysicist Haruto Wood

Wood believes he's found a new planet orbiting Ossobo. A single obvious world does indeed orbit the star: an irradiated hellworld, easily visible. But for years, if not centuries, observers have had occasional glimpses of a second planet. The infrequent sightings and inconsistent data have led most scientists to dismiss the evidence as sensor glitches. But Wood has recently retrieved logs from an ancient space probe, long thought lost, that was sent out by the first humans to reach this sector over three millennia ago. They offer additional evidence of a second world circling Ossobo. Wood believes that this world's orbit is such that it is always on the opposite side of the star when viewed from the Bergan-Bathur subsystem. Moreover, he hypothesizes that some other technology is being used to mask the planet from observation. This "ghost planet," as he calls it, is being purposefully concealed using stealth tech on an almost unimaginable scale. Whatever secrets it's hiding, he wants you to find out. All you need do is travel to the far side of Ossobo and bring back proof of what you discover. He can offer a rich reward (one you succeed in bumping upward): Cr300,000, with one-third paid up-front. (It's actually the Duke's money; Wood has finagled the sum out of his boss, possibly by overpromising on the anticipated benefits of the project. Currently, Manjoo's feeling well-disposed and appreciative of Wood's work on Bathur's planetary defenses, but if the expedition fails to achieve results, Wood will likely never win this degree of support again. He's putting everything on the line for this, and it shows. You don't regret taking advantage of his desperation.)

You weigh your options. Without a gas giant or waterworld in the system, you're going to need to buy hydrogen to get out of here. The duke might make things difficult if you refuse outright. You could always accept the job, fuel up, and abscond with Wood's advance, but you'd earn the enmity of a vengeful noble. You can undertake the mission, but if Wood's right that someone, or something, has the technology to hide an entire planet, what price might you pay for pulling aside the veil?

Image credits: all images from AI Comic Factory.