The Asharias Intervention

Re-cap of sessions 61 to 65 played on 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30 May 2025

Location: Asharias (Halcyon 1920)

Dates: 001–5601 to 012–5601

You depart Veesene on the interstellar holiday, Day 001, and celebrate the season in jump. Sasha, having researched the customs of everyone's homeworlds, does her best to replicate key elements of each crew member's traditions. Fresh foodstuffs from the agricultural planet you just left help make it a truly festive occasion. Many baked goods are consumed.

Customs official Modala

When you arrive in the Complest-Asharias system, you refuel at a large ringed gas giant without incident and make your way to the C-class starport at the Tectigon mining colony on Asharias. Dour customs official Wyna Modala comes to inspect your ship and, after a thorough examination, announces that everything is in order and asks to see form XE-34J2. You've never heard of this form before and wonder if this might be a ploy to extract a bribe. But sizing up Modala's rigid bearing and by-the-book efficiency, you conclude that it's just red tape. In this case, it's particularly annoying because the form needs to be signed by officials at your point of departure, meaning that you'll need to send it back to Veesene by mail and await its return: a minimum of two weeks' delay and probably more. Until then, you're grounded. But maybe there's a workaround: as he leaves, Modala's subordinate, a meek-looking young man named Dun Netumbo, whispers that he might be able to help you out. You agree to meet him later in the starport bar.

Dun Netumbo

When you meet Netumbo, he has a proposition for you. He claims he can make your little customs problem go away, but in return you'll need to do something for him. He wants you to retrieve his prized pet, a small exotic animal that is currently in the possession of his ex-girlfriend, who refuses to give it back. Naturally, there's a whole story behind it. Their relationship was one that crossed lines: Netumbo is, like most of the corpos working for Tectigon, an offworlder assigned to manage the operations on the surface complex. Pushpa, his ex, is a miner, a member of the largely self-governing and self-reproducing community of labourers that work and live in a multi-level maze of passages beneath the surface of the planet. He believes in free-market capitalism; she subscribes to the socialist values embodied by the Asharias Labour Collective. You gather that their affair didn't last long and that, for his part, Netumbo tried his best to conduct it clandestinely. Things ended badly and when he tried to talk to Pushpa about returning the pet, she allegedly refused. Her friends, typical tough miner-types, threatened to beat him up if he didn't leave well enough alone. Netumbo's embarrassed to talk to corporate security about the issue and would prefer to handle things quietly. He's counting on you Travellers to solve the problem. He needs the pet back, he says, because it was a gift from his wealthy uncle, a rare specimen that enhances the owner's social status. You come away thinking that Netumbo's a bit of a jerk — a callow corpo who's ashamed to date someone from the working class and a grasping social climber who sees his pet more as an object than a companion.

You weigh your options. You're not that interested in waiting weeks to get the form filled out and returned. With your various skills, you could almost certainly find a way to circumvent the minimal safeguards that are keeping you grounded here, but it'd mean breaking some laws and making even more enemies than you already have. So you decide to check out Netumbo's story and see what can be done.

You descend to the first sublevel, a main concourse where the subterranean world of the miners begins. Some corpos are to be found here but mostly it's miners and their families shopping, dining, and socializing. You notice the ubiquitous plain garb and low-tech facilities: it seems the miners, quite deliberately, avoid technologies and frivolities that would make them dependent on the corporation. Almost everything is hand-crafted, jury-rigged, and re-purposed. Jacobe's streetwise experience allows him to sense their in-group solidarity, a marked contrast to the ultra-competitive, everyone-for-themself ethos of the white-collar workers above.

Settling into seats at a watering hole named "The Drill," you engage some of the locals in conversation and learn more about how things work here. Griff's experience as a belter helps him connect with the miners, particularly a guy named Weiao. Sasha's life-like robot guinea pig causes a sensation: the miners generally don't have pets as the Collective can't justify the additional life support costs.  Hoping to move things forward, you announce that you're looking for someone named Pushpa. No problem, says Weiao, just send her a message. He calls over a child who works as a runner and hands you paper and pencil. 

You craft a written message designed to get Pushpa's attention, mentioning the pet directly. The runner, Mira, is happy to carry the message and even happier when Sasha gives her the robot guinea pig as well — a clever, if extravagant, ploy that will allow you to track the child's movements. In less than twenty minutes, the door swings open and Mira re-enters the bar followed by a slight young woman with a confident air. It's Pushpa Nettasinghe and she doesn't look happy.

Pushpa
Nettasinghe

Mira, tearfully, returns the robot guinea pig to Sasha, explaining that the Labour Collective rules forbid her keeping such an import. Nettasinghe sits down with you at a table in the back to discuss. She adds more detail to Netumbo's story. Apparently her ex-boyfriend had promised to recommend her for a job in Tectigon's technical department but had failed to follow through. Thoroughly committed to her community, Pushpa claims she aspires to bridge the two worlds and help the miners by advocating for them within Tectigon's corporate structure. Naiveté or something more calculating? It's difficult to say, but it's clear that Nettasinghe has a bottom line: she wants that job. If Netumbo keeps his promise, she'll let him have the pet back. You realize that's she's no animal lover either: for her, the creature is leverage, nothing more.

Soon enough you're topside again, confronting Dun in his slick modernist living quarters. You urge him to get Pushpa the job. After much whining and prevarication, he relents, realizing that it's the only way to solve the problem. He submits the paperwork recommending her for the position. Emboldened, you pursue your intimidation tactics and get him to proactively deal with your customs problem too. While he does so, Torka hacks his personal electronic devices. 

When you leave Netumbo's quarters, you're on easy street. You can leave Asharias whenever you like and you don't even have to make sure the hapless subordinate gets his pet back right away. But things are never so simple. You feel sorry for this creature you've never met; neither of the people who are fighting over it actually love it. You decide on a bold move: you'll collect the animal, but instead of returning it to Netumbo, you'll abscond with it and give it a proper home.

Following Nettasinghe's directions, you make your way deep into the lower levels of the mining community, passing security checkpoints staffed by the Labour Collective's "wardens" — a kind of police force — and dodging gangs of teenage ruffians who see offworlders as easy marks. Griff is carrying a cat cage with the robot guinea pig inside. Soon enough you reach residential unit 219A, where Pushpa's cousin Brynta admits you and shows you the creature.

The treemist is a two-kilogram cat-like quadruped with big, intelligent eyes and gossamer wings sprouting from its back. It looks at you quizzically. Thanks to Nogudnyk's telempathy, not to mention offers of fresh snacks purchased from a street vendor, you persuade the creature to hide itself in your backpack. You make your way out past security, brandishing the cat cage before the wardens to keep them from investigating your other possessions too closely. Other than a run-in with drunk miners, one of whom takes a couple of ineffectual swings at Griff before his laughing companions drag him away, you make it back to the Dejah Thoris without incident. You quickly file your flight plan and take off, accelerating towards the jump point. Your comms receive a series of increasingly frantic messages from Netumbo, culminating in a call from Tectigon security. You answer and, realizing that Netumbo has hidden key details from them, simply deny everything. It seems to satisfy them. Meanwhile, Nogudnyk takes the treemist to the cargo bay and lets it fly free, telempathically sensing the creature exult in the joy of free flight after being confined for so long in small spaces. The pure feeling brings tears to your jaded Traveller eyes. 

Minutes later, you're engaging the jump drive. Next stop: Kylen (Halcyon 1918).