Characters: Gvarokh, Vlad, Vincent, Slade, Simrii
NPC: Chuck, Uengghae and Kagfak
Location: Miishakaal, inside the pirate base
System: Gamgilebo - near the gas giant, Getes
Gvarokh is still in a very bad mood. His ears are erect, a snarl locked in,
his fangs always visible. "Simrii! On my signal, I want you to open fire on the
offices. Vincent, hold fire, until you see activity between Simrii's shots. I
don't want a firing lag to afford them any opportunity to launch a
counteroffensive."
The ship unloads Darrurz and Lakir right in front of the airlock and backs away
to take up a position facing the offices and quarters. Lakir takes a position at
the end of the airlock with the wall as cover. He leans out far enough so that
he can pick off anyone emerging from the offices with his shotgun. Meanwhile,
Darrurz trots over to the access panel to see what he's up against.
Gvarokh shouts, "Play time is over!"
Realizing this is his cue, Simrii opens fire on the offices and quarters.
Despite their toughness, Simrii's shots easily puncture holes in the thin
crystaliron walls. Figures are occasionally spotted but Vincent picks them off
and, in the process of doing so, accentuates the damage.
"Stand down," Gvarokh barks. Once the gunners comply, Gvarokh says to Uengghae
move the ship back to the airlock, Chuck needs to assist Mister Darrurz." As
Uengghae complies, Chuck nods to Gvarokh and heads out. Once he's clear of the
ship, Gvarokh says, "Ok, let's finish the job."
Uengghae moves the ship into hangar bay one and Simrii and Vincent lay waste to
the rest of the offices.
After a few minutes, Chucks comms, "Ready!"
Gvarokh instructs Uengghae to turn the ship so that it's facing outward. Should
another ship come in, they'll be able to take it by surprise and shoot at it.
"Ok, here goes," Chuck says.
There's a slight rumble that's felt more than heard. Outside you can see that
anything that isn't bolted down flies past and out the doors. Horribly burned
and mangled bodies swiftly exit along with tools, bedding, chairs and
miscellaneous debris. The offices are clearing out though some debris is
catching on the remnants of the walls.
Eventually the winds die down as vacuum takes residence inside the pirate base.
Nothing stirs in the wreckage.
Chuck comms, "We're all ok. Heading back to the ship." There's a pause. None of
the trio emerge from the airlock. Finally, Chuck asks, "Captain, is it all
clear?"
"Affirmative," Gvarokh barks back.
"See, I told you," Chuck is heard to say. He soon appears around the corner and
jogs back to the ship.
Gvarokh instructs Uengghae to open the main cargo hatch. Chuck is last seen
heading inside.
Darrurz and Lakir cautiously maneuver around the corner and inspect the office
complex. They can see what the rest of the crew knows: that's it's been totally
fragged all the way out to the excavated rock wall. It's all a smoldering ruin.
The pair spend about half a minute looking at the carnage then start walking
towards hangar bay two.
Gvarokh says over the comm for all to hear, "Darrurz: You said the bastards owed
you a ship. There it is. Good luck with it. And sorry about that turret.
"Lakir, come on back so we can get going. Darrurz now has what he was looking
for and our mission is no longer his concern."
Lakir replies, "Roger that; heading back to the ship. See ya around, D dog."
Darrurz and Lakir appear to be exchanging some final words over a private
channel, then Lakir trots inside the cargo hold.
Characters: All
NPC: Chuck, Uengghae and Kagfak
Location: Miishakaal, inside the pirate base
System: Gamgilebo - near the gas giant, Getes
With Lakir back on board the ship, Gvarokh gives the order to close the cargo
bay doors and leave the pirate base. Once inside the air lock, they encounter a
problem. While the outer air lock doors are open enough to expose the pirate
base to vacuum (1 meter), they aren't open far enough to let the ship out.
Slade comms, "I vote we open the lock all the way first."
That gets a round of chuckles from the crew, even from Chuck. "Sorry, but that
was the best I could do under the circumstances."
Gvarokh decides to have the gunners melt the doors with controlled plasma
bursts. "I don't want this base to be any closer to functional when we're done."
Simrii and Vincent oblige him and start to work on ruining the outer airlock
doors.
About a minute into the slagging, the ship is hailed by Darrurz. "Hi Gvarokh.
Seems like there could be someone still in the 'Swift Little Biter' over here.
Would you mind if I borrowed Vincent's skills to hack into the ship and change
the command codes?"
Gvarokh gives a terse, "No, I don't mind." He puts the comm on mute and says to
Vincent, "Vincent, Darrurz needs your assistance in gaining access to the
Seeker."
"Sure thing, captain," Vincent replies.
Gvarokh then instructs Uengghae to rotate the ship so that Simrii can do the
melting work himself.
As he begins composing the "we're leaving this system" message to Khalidurton,
Gvarokh listens to the conversation between Vincent and Darrurz over the
shipwide comm.
"Hi, Darrurz. I understand that you can't access the Seeker."
"Correct."
"Ok, getting on it now. Give me two minutes."
Two minutes pass by.
"Ok, I'm in. Transferring control over to you."
"Thanks Vincent. If you haven't already would you lock everyone out but
you and me?"
"Already set."
"Great! If there is anything in the logs or computer files that can help you in
your endeavours please take a look."
"I'll download their database just to be sure. Vincent out."
On command, Uengghae rotates the ship back so that Vincent can resume melting
the door.
Before they finish, Darrurz contacts the ship again. "Hi Gvarokh, apologies for
disturbing you again but would you mind if I had a word with Uengghae or Kagfak
please? I just want to identify the two corsairs I've just discovered in the
Seeker."
Gvarokh replies, "Kagfak, can talk to you."
Upon seeing that he is talking to another vargr, Kagfak speaks in Gvegh, "Yes?"
"Can you identify these two? The video surveillance is from the Swift Little
Biter's Engineering section."
"It's looks like Verroel the engineer and Vuedueloghz, who was one of their
gunners. A technician too. They're good wolves, not like Ghang. Uengghae and I
prowled around a few times with them over at the Lovestruck Rock and a couple
other places in other systems. They're both skilled professionals who could
easily be making a living outside of supporting these hunters. Considering
what's happened to their pack, I think they'd be amenable to joining yours."
Darrurz replies, "Many thanks, Kagfak," and disconnects the call.
Two minutes more and they have a hole wide enough for the ship to pass through.
"Go!" Gvarokh barks.
After the ship has cleared the base and begun to make its way out of Getes'
gravity well, Uengghae asks for a heading.
"Dathsuts, but don't jump until I give the word. I have a message to send to
Khalidurton and I want to make sure we're far enough away from Getes for it to
get through."
"Aye, aye."
Miishakaal is now at safe jump distance but interference from Getes is still too high to send the message.
Interference is sufficiently low enough for Gvarokh's message to go through.
After he sends it, he gives the order to jump.
Once the ship is safely ensconced within the surreal pink-white-black glow of
jumpspace, Gvarokh orders the crew to get some sack time. Everyone has been up
for 20 hours straight, some have been up for 24. "We'll have a meeting to
discuss the events of the past day, and where we're headed, over breakfast.
Good job today, everyone."
With that everyone heads off to their bunks for much needed sleep.
Characters: All
NPC: Chuck, Uengghae and Kagfak
Location: Miishakaal crew lounge
System: Jumpspace between Gamgilebo and Dathsuts
After a good day's sleep and a meal, the crew is feeling rested after the
battles of yesterday. The ship has lost one vargr crewman but gained two more.
Chuck does his best to make Uengghae and Kagfak feel comfortable by serving them
a traditionally prepared vargr meal of warmed ngarz from their former
ship and introduces them to a Terran delicacy: bacon.
As promised, Gvarokh calls a meeting to order. "Everyone. I fully understand the
desire we had to loot the pirate base. Ordinarily, I would have been much more
willing and agreeable on that plan. However, we had a few things working against
us. First, we have a mission. Our job is to find those two missing crews. We
found one set. Unfortunately, we could not help them, but we did find them. The
other set is still missing and we have the task to find them and retrieve them.
All else is secondary to finishing that. I do want to stress the importance of
that." He pauses to make sure it sinks in.
"Second, we had a time limit. We didn't know when more pirates were going to
return; we could have had days, or we could have had minutes. We simply did not
know, and, fortunately, we will never know. It was a huge risk.
"Third, there were too many of them. There were at least ten pirates cooped up
in their offices waiting for us to assault them. Whether we did it with the
atmosphere still there or we did it in vacuum, it was going to be a deadly
proposition. We would be fighting for loot. They would be fighting for their
very lives in their den. Simply put, there would have been casualties, and, to
be totally blunt, I need every one of you to accomplish our mission. Any
trinkets gained would have not been worth the cost. It was better to just kill
them outright and move on."
Gvarokh pauses to allow anyone to challenge or respond to his statements thus
far. No one does, so he continues.
Gvarokh takes a deep breath and lets it out. "For whatever reason, Darrurz
decided he could no longer subject himself to operating under my command.
Because of his valuable service to this ship, this crew, and myself prior to
this, I chose to let him go and even helped him as he left."
Chuck blurts out, "I know why, because he thought he was better than you.
Present company excluded, but there are just some vargr who don't respect the
chain of command. That's why they're fighting all the time and why the Extents
are always a mess. Some of them have no patience and aren't willing to see
things through. They'll mutiny if the captain paints the ship the wrong color!"
After Chuck is finished with his outburst, Gvarokh thanks him for his input and
continues.
"I fully realize my leadership style is more laid-back than a typical Vargr. I
do not apologize for that, but do not let it fool anyone into thinking I am weak
or soft. We have had success on this mission, and we will continue to have
success as we find the missing crew and get them home."
Again, the crew is silent. Some heads nod in agreement. Gvarokh thanks everyone
for their time and adjourns the meeting.
Characters: All
NPC: Chuck, Uengghae and Kagfak
Location: Miishakaal crew lounge
System: Dathsuts - near the gas giant, Tikal
Miishakaal arrives in the Dathsuts system near the system's only gas giant, Tikal. The ship had a large vector leftover from Getes so she's already cruising in at a high velocity. Fortunately, the passive sensors fail to pick up anything so the ship is safe to head in to skim.
Characters: All
NPC: Chuck, Uengghae and Kagfak
Location: Miishakaal
System: Taksarrgh
The ship emerges from jumpspace and begins it deceleration burn. Once passive sensors come online, you can see that there is a small amount of traffic around Taksarrgh. As there is no orbital facility here, all ships must descend to the surface.
Characters: All
NPC: Chuck, Uengghae and Kagfak
Location: Miishakaal, parked at Gaedze Down
System: Taksarrgh
Miishakaal has landed in the dark at the starport, Gaedze Down. The ship
is outside, connected to a gantry arm which leads to a terminal. The starport is
a simple "+" shape and Miishakaal is located on the western arm.
In case it becomes necessary, Taksarrgh's gravity is half that of Earth (0.495)
and its atmosphere is very thin (0.22 atm) and tainted with pollutants. The
average temperature is 7.6°C (45.7°F). Nights are brutally cold as the
atmosphere is too thin to retain any heat. The downport computer informs you
that the local forecast is for clear skies with a high of 32.8°C
(91°F) and a low of -116.4°(-177.5°F). The current temperature
at the starport is -92°C (-133.6°F). Sunrise is at 09:00 local time
on a 36 hour clock.
Gvarokh explains to the crew that he wants to pick up some cargo to bolster
their cover story that they are traders. As there is no longer anyone officially
in that capacity, he takes on that job himself.
He dismisses Uengghae and Kagfak to take a nap and informs Slade to be ready for
the local refueling crew. He logs in to the starport network to arrange for
fuel and life support and find the local version of BrokerNet. Unfortunately, he
is informed that safety regulations prohibit refueling operations after 30:00
and before 9:00. Gvarokh growls as he makes a fuel reservation. Afterwards, he
informs Slade of this and the engineer is able to catch some shuteye.
Gvarokh has better luck with BrokerNet, but not much. No deliveries are
permitted after dark due to safety regulations. Furthermore no trading is
allowed after 30:00 or before 08:00. The explanation for this is some mumbo
jumbo about creating shipping logjams on the tarmac. However, Gvarokh is free to
look at the speculative cargo. And here is what he finds:
Characters: All
NPC: Chuck, Uengghae and Kagfak
Location: Miishakaal, parked at Gaedze Down
System: Taksarrgh
Gvarokh awakens before the markets open to finish his research. With another 90
minutes before sunrise, the sky has begun to brighten. He lets the crew sleep in
for another hour as their services are not yet required.
Gvarokh considers this cover cargo to be expendable so he passes on the
expensive lots. It's down to either lead or aluminum. He calls up Ikhog in the
library to see if it can make the decision for him.
While Ikhog has a large manufacturing base, it isn't considered "industrial."
Treaties between the five major powers regarding the handling of pollution has
kept the planet clean yet maintained a robust economy. As such, manufacturers
are always looking for raw materials (lead and aluminum included). Refined
metals are preferred as it helps to keep costs and emissions down.
As soon as BrokerNet opens, Gvarokh buys ten tons of both the refined aluminum
and lead. He pays 10,500 in Imperial credits. The owners of each lot promise to
deliver them this morning. Gvarokh lets Lakir and Vlad know that they'll be
receiving a shipment.
Characters: All
NPC: Chuck, Uengghae and Kagfak
Location: Miishakaal, crew lounge
System: Jumpspace - between Taksarrgh and Ikhog
Gvarokh has called a meeting to discuss what you're going to do once you reach
Ikhog. He fires up the holoprojector and some library program offers
introductory information about the system.
As a Terran looking world appears from the projector, a voiceover begins, "Ikhog
is a Ngath Confederation world located in the Gvadhoe subsector of Windhorn.
It orbits the gas giant Sagvo but lies far enough out that it is unaffected by
ionizing radiation. Ikhog is a pleasant world with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere
of 0.89 standard pressure. 78% of its surface is covered with water but gravity
is only 0.576 standard. Mean surface temperature is 9.6 degrees Celsius
(49.3°F).
"Total world population is 3.87 billion spread among five nations. The law level
rating is a four. Explosives, poison gas, portable energy weapons, weapons of a
strict military nature and light assault weapons are prohibited.
"The native vargr population, although proud of their heritage, do not display
any signs of xenophobia. While most of the original human population has
emigrated, a tiny sample remain.
"Ikhog's starport has a B rating while it's technological level is 8. While the
presence of starships is common, the world lacks the technological
infrastructure to manufacture starships and thus these must be imported. There
is a level two global telecommunications network in effect. Visitors wishing to
connect with the local network will have to use wires.
"Ikhog's prosperity is the direct result of many successful business
enterprises. It has a healthy manufacturing base but, to maintain its appeal to
tourists, the nations have agreed to avoid the trap of rampant industrialization
and abide by mutually agreed upon environmental regulations. As an added
benefit, Ikhog's has a thriving agricultural industry. This diverse blend of
corporate endeavors manifests itself in the uniquely vargr art and architecture
which has blossomed over the years.
"The Ikhogians have taken to sponsoring several corsair bands who meet their
strict criteria for personal conduct. Ikhogians prefer corsairs who abide by
traditional values and frown upon bloodthirsty cutthroats. These patrons live
vicariously through their preferred swashbucklers, savoring their tales of
mischief. That isn't to say that all corsairs found on Ikhog are savory
characters. It just may be that their cunning is such that they are able to keep
their dark deeds hidden and they'll do anything to maintain that ruse rather
than lose their adoring public."
After the library data has been presented, Gvarokh says, "Our mission here is to
find and retrieve the crew of the lost merchant ship. We don't know where or
when the Auction is held. I've even checked the pirate base database. We won't
know the parameters of the actual effort until we get to Ikhog and can study the
situation first hand, but I would still like to at least have some initial
lines of approach. Any suggestions on what we should do first?"
Slade says, "I think just by showing up, a certain amount of trouble will locate
us and provide us with something to do."
Gvarokh is taken aback for half a second and then bursts out laughing for a
couple of minutes. Vlad and the other vargr chuckle as well.
Composing himself, Gvarokh answers, "Yes. Yes it definitely will! But, while
fending off our guaranteed trouble, does anyone have any ideas on how to find
our missing crew? Hell, just figuring out where and when the Auction is without
attracting new trouble would be helpful, too."
Kagfak says sheepishly, "We c-c-could just ask-k-k. We look-k-k Touzagh," he
gestures to the humans and then the vargr, "and ship might pass-s-s for
c-c-cors-s-sair, even if no have flaming eye. C-c-color good for vargr ship."
Uengghae adds, "Auction legal. We never-r-r hear-r-r talk about pr-r-roblem with
Ikhog and Auction. Other-r-r cor-r-rsairs have auctions, though most prefer-r-r
to use broker-r-rs to sell prizes."
Kagfak says, "Might be VIP only."
Uengghae nods. "Yes. Aerrdathin br-r-rags about big buyer-r-rs, but never-r-r
say names."
Next: Arrival at Ikhog