Olympus RPG Blog

Desperate Measures

The arrival of the Albatross in the local evening was cause for celebration amongst the Team—their ticket off this snowball, in the form of a [coupling] to repair the broken jump-drive. Listening in to ATC radio traffic, they heard their captain declare they were looking for the Titanic VII and wanting to know what happened; the colony director took the comm himself, and told them “It’s complicated,” and that they should look up the surviving crew once on the ground.

The Albatross set down next to the Proud Mary on the clearing that served as the colony’s landing pad. The Team went out to meet her crew, and invited them aboard to go over the situation. Seated in the passenger lounge on the top deck, drinking Buck’s coffee, Ella told the whole story, from the asteroid-strike to the final showdown with Astro-Core. The captain of the Albatross, Stannis, explained that they were chartered by the company to determine the condition of the Titanic and get it running again, if necessary, and were not prepared for a total loss of the ship, nor authorized to render aid to its survivors. It was apparent that their captain didn’t really trust the Titanic’s survivors, but Ella successfully convinced him to give their claims a serious look anyway. However, as she followed up with an attempt to guilt-trip him into giving up the jump-drive parts, he took offense and insisted the meeting was over. The crew of the Albatross was escorted off the ship, and were thereafter observed being intercepted and picked up by an Astro-Core roller on the way into the colony. Afterward, the Team spent some time discussing their limited options, in the event the Albatross refused to help.

The next morning, the Albatross was observed taking off, heading in the general direction of the wreck of the Titanic, and returning some time later. Haank commed over to see what they had found; they reported that they had only found a little debris at the site, the rest presumably having sunk into the depths, but that was good enough to corroborate the report of the accident.

The Team was bereft of ideas on how to repair the situation, and by proxy, the jump-drive. Sam suggested they smooth over any raw nerves with copious amounts of adult-beverages; it might be a stretch, but the others agreed to give it a shot, taking the opportunity to do whatever it took to convince the Albatross’ crew that they were worthy of a second chance. Almost-surprisingly, given the earlier encounter, the scout’s crew agreed to come over. Over the next hours, Sam engaged their XO, Luke, in some lively drinking games (specifically, Battle-Shots), while Haank and Buck cheered them on (Haank capitalized on Luke’s inebriation to find out how their encounter with Astro-Core had gone; Luke admitted Astro-Core had tried to strong-arm them into not helping get the Proud Mary off the planet); Abe schmoozed up to Kaalii, their engineer, eventually following her back to her ship to spend the night; Ella took Cpt. Stannis to the bridge to talk, one-on-one.

In the morning, Abe returned with a smile, to tend to the formerly-drunk (Luke had passed out in one of the passenger cabins), giving Ella a knowing high-five—although her meeting had resulted in capitulation, with regard to the jump-drive parts, Ella would never actually reveal what it had cost her. Some time later, Kaalii returned with an old, spare [coupling] that should do the trick, and assisted Buck in installing it; with Buck’s expert touch (or good luck), they figured it might last quite a while.

So, finally, the survivors of the Titanic VII were free to leave Kegena-Prime.

Haank immediately hit the network to pick up some freight and/or passengers bound for Bevey. He found enough of both to fill the ship to capacity. Three cabins were spoken for already: Kella paid the standard-rate for a cabin (covered by her grant money), and Smith and Jones had already been offered a ride out of here. He avoided the Astro-Core freight, and put the leftover passenger cabins to auction, getting considerably more than the average—a lot of folk were also desperate to get anywhere-but-here. It was decided to take on jump-fuel from the sea—as Kegena was 90% water. Once the fees were taken care of, and everything/everyone stowed, the Proud Mary took to the Black once more, to leave Kegena-Prime in her wake; some hours later, without incident, she made the transition to jump-space, Bevey-bound. The Team took advantage of the week in jump-space to discuss their options, but they were all in general agreement that staying headquartered at Bevey would be less than desirable—thanks to the iron-fisted government—and that continuing in the employ of Neverfail, LLC (headquartered in Bevey), which would undoubtedly mean returning to Kegena, was also right out. There was also the matter of the ownership of the Proud Mary, registered at Rhylanor; after some plotting, they determined it might be best to take her to Rhylanor and declare for salvage in-person, taking a bit of cargo on the way—a chance to make some money first, in the event someone laid claim to her.

Otherwise, the trip was uneventful, and the ship exited jump-space in the Bevey system, and was cleared to land at the starport. As the Team gathered to see somewhere-other-than-Kegena outside the window, they didn’t notice the smile fade from Ella’s face at the sight of a familiar (to her) Vargr Corsair at dock…

Notes

• Ella had some help, and success, with her initial Diplomacy check, but when she made a Fast-Talk attempt to get the parts “now”—must’ve come across as desperate—it backfired. The dice are a fickle mistress. There was some real concern, afterward, that we might have to resort to either theft, or waiting another two weeks (minimum)
• The Carousing plan was one of many unsavory ideas—perhaps the least unsavory—involving someone sleeping with someone over there, to get in their good graces
• Captain Stannis—who was randomly determined to be less than attractive—actually failed at a Sex Appeal attempt against Ella, by two, but she had decided to play along and “take one for the team,” though in the end, it was never decided whether or not that involved…more than words 😉
• Buck rolled a Crit on the coupling installation—the GM decided that, rather than last a single jump as originally intended, it would last a few
• The decision to forego any Astro-Core freight wasn’t solely an “F-U” to the corporation, but a paranoia extending from our experiences in the previous Traveller game, with the Emerald Monarch (which involved explosives and cargo containers)
• The Vargr ship is Ella’s “Enemy”—which nobody else on the crew knows anything about

Snowball’s Chance

The Team gathered and processed all the intelligence they had on the situation. There were few choices: raid Astro-Core offices for evidence they had ordered the hit on the Team and/or the massacre of the Aslan colony, a blatantly illegal action that would cast doubt on their story, whether or not it succeeded; talk to the Imperial authorities and convince them to deny Astro-Core’s extradition demands, which held only a marginal chance of success without some sort of proof of the Team’s innocence; submit to “due process” and hope for the best, which they believed to be doomed to fail, as Astro-Core held the majority share in the colony and had all the power to do as it pleased, and so would likely fabricate whatever evidence they liked to keep the truth from ever seeing the light of day. They decided, as a backup plan, to head back out to the Aslan site, where they could dig around for clues, let Kella have a little longer to study, and by making a show of their leaving, potentially draw Astro-Core into another confrontation that could be recorded as evidence against them. All agreed, the Proud Mary was readied for departure, and a flight-plan registered with colony traffic-control—the Director commed, and, while expressing his sympathies with their situation, warned that running away would result in official arrest warrants being issued—then, with a close pass over the colony, they made for the SE range.

On arrival at the crevasse, the Team split up: Sam, Buck, ENS Smith and ENS Jones would remain aboard the ship, Sam watching the sensors and scanning comm frequencies for traffic, and Buck on the ship’s laser, to provide security (the ship would hover inverted, as the laser was in the dorsal turret); Ella, Haank, Abe, and Kella dismounted to descend into the crevasse.

As they set up autograpnels for the climb, Haank noticed some unfamiliar boot-prints in the snow, and alerted everyone to the potential of a trap. At the bottom of the cavern, Haank proceeded in first, scanning ahead with his sensor pack, in biosniffer mode—he picked up a number of other human biosignatures—and continued down the “street” as the others searched the area for other evidence, and looked for a good place to set up Buck’s button-cam to record the inevitable confrontation. Everyone that had the capability was transmitting video back to the ship to be recorded. On the surface, it seemed that nothing had been disturbed, but Ella had a strong sense that they were walking into an ambush. Then, as Haank followed the biosignatures through the colony, he heard a boot on the stone surface, and spotted a shadowy figure in one of the homes carved out of the cliff-face: LT Richards stepped out, slow-clapping, and with his usual sneer, pointed out the Team’s apparent predictability. Haank matter-of-factly asked him if he had come to finish the job from before, to bury the Team here; Richards responded that he had. Haank then revealed, with a finger-tap to his HUD-glasses, that Richards had just recorded his criminal confession, which had been transmitted back to the ship.

This is when things started to unravel.

LT Richards revealed that he had gunmen hidden throughout the site’s buildings, prepared to kill everyone—including those on the ship—and started negotiating for the handover and/or erasure of all recordings relating to the Aslan site and his own confession. Ella was unwilling to acquiesce without some assurances of the Team’s safety. Richards would allow all but one of the Team to return to the ship, providing they were escorted by one of his men, who would oversee the erasure of the incriminating data; Ella ordered the others to go, as she would be remaining behind. Haank and Abe reluctantly complied, though before Kella could follow, Richards demanded she stay as well, despite Ella’s protestation. Richards then demanded Ella surrender her helmet, with its integral communicator, so the rest of the Team would not be able to communicate with her without his knowledge; Ella protested again, and Richards gave her his communicator in exchange. Richards also demanded that ENS Smith be sent down—as Smith had shot Richards in the back during the previous incident here, it was an easy guess what he meant to do with him.

This is when things completely snapped.

Haank and Abe preceded Richards’ man into the ship, which had been righted to allow access to the ventral airlock hatch for entry. Haank seized the opportunity, as the man had his rifle slung to climb the ladder, and dropped onto him, feet-first, knocking them both out the bottom of the ship. Haank, still prone, went for his pistol, while the other got to his feet and went for his rifle, alerting the other security-men to the trap via his comms (which Richards was unable to hear; one of the men had to come out of hiding to let him know). Haank took careful aim at the man’s weapon arm—expecting a standoff—but the other man fired a burst at him instead, a round hitting Haank in the torso; his armor soaked much of the impact. Haank pulled the trigger three times; an ETC APHD round cut through the man’s monocrys body armor and splintered the bone in his arm, crippling it, leaving the man writhing in pain (afterward, Haank would provide first-aid, preventing him from bleeding out, though the man didn’t exactly “appreciate” the help).

As Haank’s gambit was in progress, Abe was attempting to descend the ladder to provide assistance, when Sam and Buck spotted a telltale smoke-trail of a surface-to-air missile coming from a copse of trees some distance away down the ridge, and Sam performed an evasive maneuver, causing the missile to miss; as the missile returned, Buck snap-shot it down, and promptly turned the ship’s laser on the source of the missile, as Sam pitched the ship forward to allow the turret to bear down on its target. There was nothing left of the area but ash and steam when Buck finally let off the fire-button.

Meanwhile, in the cavern, after some tense words as a result of learning of the attack, Ella pulled her pistol, resigned to a firefight. Backpedalling to cover, she failed to hit Richards, who tackled her to the ground (not wanting to give up his living hostage) and attempted to disarm her. They struggled, Richards slamming her hand against his knee in an attempt to force her to drop the pistol, while she punched at his head with her free hand, eventually stunning him, such that she was able to turn the tables on him. Kella had run for cover, but was shot through the abdomen in the process, as was moaning in pain, bleeding. Richards finally snapped to with Ella’s gun to his head, and agreed to order his men to stand down; they complied.

Afterward, Abe was able to tend to the wounded, and the kill team members were all collected and secured aboard the ship. The ship then returned to the colony, and the Team handed Richards and his men over to the Imperial authorities—all the while knowing that they would be given over to Astro-Core custody (as they were responsible for security at the colony), who would release them. However, Astro-Core made no further attempt on the Team; instead, given the evidence, Mr. Duushii pinned the entire matter on Richards, claiming he had gone rogue. The Team remained behind the extrality zone for the next two weeks, after which a company scout-ship arrived insystem, as predicted.

Notes

• As it turned out, the GM was caught by surprise with the plan to go back out to the site; he was expecting the office raid to go on as originally planned; after talking it over, with several characters bearing the Honesty Disadvantage, we just couldn’t justify the break-in
• Buck used Gizmo to give us the button-camera, expecting to leave the site and catch the security guys tampering afterward; there was some confusion at the Aslan site as to whether or not it was already being used to record, as Richards kept demanding it be handed over—a likely culprit for any apparent logic holes in the ensuing chaos
• Haank’s death-from-above is actually a standard Technique from his Military Zero-G style; been waiting for a chance to use it 😉
• The struggle between Ella and LT Dick over the pistol went on for quite a few rounds, as Ella was strong enough to keep hold of it no matter Dick’s apparent success, which gave her time to actually connect—she was having a really bad dice night
• ENS Smith never got the opportunity to shoot LT Dick (again)
• The GM is now talking about making LT Richards into a recurring villain, since we screwed him over so badly, but left him alive

Rule of Law

The Team landed the Proud Mary back at the colony quickly, hoping to precede the news of the failed assassination. There was some discussion about how to proceed; Buck didn’t trust the Director on principle, and every potential move they could think of left the Team vulnerable in some way or another. In the end, Ella went, escorted by Haank, the only Team member who was authorized to carry weapons inside the colony walls.

The Colony Director received Ella and Haank, and listened intently as they told the story of the Aslan find, the warning from Mr. Duushii, and the attempted murder by Astro-Core security. Even as they explained the matter, they knew that the Director would be in a weak position to do anything about it; he seemed to believe their story, and wished to do the “right thing,” but limited by his Imperial office, he could do little more than file a complaint when the next ship arrived insystem. Haank commed ENS Smith and Jones, still on a “scenic route” back to the colony, and asked them to proceed to the Director’s office on arrival to tell their side of the story. After some discussion of their legal position, it was decided that it would be best to remain aboard the ship under the protection of the Extrality Zone—the limits of which were a bit fuzzy in this situation.

During the conversation with the Director, the two rollers driven by ENS Smith and Jones arrived at the colony gate, but Mr. Duushii was there to greet them, presumably to enquire about the status of the “mission.” ENS Smith commed back to Haank to inform him, and ask for recommendations on how to handle the situation. Haank suggested that if their passengers (the kill-team members who surrendered) were likely to keep quiet, to play along, and if not, pass him up—he would learn of the results soon enough either way. ENS Smith’s impetuous nature won out, and he gunned the roller past Mr. Duushii without a word of explanation, making haste to the Director’s office.

Ella and Haank knew they didn’t have much time before Mr. Duushii would make a move, so they thanked the Director for his time and hurried out to meet the incoming rollers. They released their captives, and as they were about to pile into one of the rollers, they heard Mr. Duushii in the distance, yelling at his men to arrest them; Ella growled, “Don’t even think about it,” while Haank shook his head sternly, and their former-captives decided to let someone else handle it. Haank slipped behind the wheel of the roller and spurred the vehicle toward the gate, where Mr. Duushii and a handful of armed security personnel had spread out across the path, blocking their exit. Haank opted for a game of “chicken,” counting on their opponents’ sense of self-preservation to win out. Mr. Duushii didn’t blink, but held his ground, and the security personnel raised their gauss rifles. Ella was convinced their opponents would not budge, and rather than be party to vehicular-homicide, shouted for Haank to stop, but as Haank aimed the vehicle for the right-hand guard, he read “jump” in the man’s body-language, and proceeded through despite Ella’s orders, scraping the buildings that bounded the path; the guard dodged the speeding vehicle as predicted. Ella was less than pleased, but held her tongue for the moment. Seconds after, as they continued speeding toward the gate, Mr. Duushii and his men in pursuit on foot, they spotted the gate closing; Haank mentally timed the closure and sped through with nary a scrape. The rest of the Team had been prepping the ship for departure—just in case—and Buck opened the ramp to receive the speeding roller, and closed it after them.

The Team was settling in for a long bout of waiting when Sam received an incoming comm: Mr. Duushii, demanding they return their “kidnap victims” and turn themselves in to face murder charges, and Sam hung up on him; he continued to call, but Sam refused to answer further. Abe had done what he could with the wounded Astro-Core men, and as LT Richards was healthy enough to drive, they were put in the roller and released—there was little more to be done with them, though the Team agreed that they would likely run afoul of these men again. LT Richards sneered and quipped as he drove off, not knowing that Buck had removed a necessary part of the roller; the Team watched as he reached the colony gate, only to break down, forced to walk the rest of the way.

Some time later, the Colony Director commed—Astro-Core had demanded extradition, and the Imperial authority needed to take statements from those involved to determine whether or not to grant it; he also informed the Team that they may need to be legally detained. Of course, there was much discussion of the relevant law, and what could and could not be expected. Buck was adamant that the Director had been bought off, and that this was merely an attempt to put them in a position to be “silenced.” Running away would be seen as guilt, and crossing Astro-Core would mean they might face blacklisting in this sector, at the least. They had no indication as to how high up the Astro-Core chain-of-command the cover-up went. ENS Smith brought up the involvement of the Death’s Head Hussars mercenary unit in the early days of the colony; this might be important later, but didn’t serve their situation at the moment. Ella eventually agreed to allow Imperial reps to take statements, at least; they also offered up copies of their video evidence of the Aslan site and whatever else might be helpful. Some time after the statements were taken, and reviewed, the Director commed again to inform the Team that those who had discharged their weapons in the incident—Buck, ENS Smith, and ENS Jones—would need to be detained, at what Imperial facility was available, or on the ship, providing it was landlocked; he gave until the morning before he would send men to arrest them or landlock the ship. The Team was still concerned about safety, knowing that Astro-Core had all the power here—they could easily be framed as guilty of murder and/or accessory, and little could be done about it. In the end, the only plan they could come up with was to raid the Astro-Core offices for evidence that would exhonorate them, before the detainment deadline.

Notes

• It was fortunate that I had spent a point in Driving (Tracked) from Kella’s Rescue, as Haank would need to make emergency use of it several times. His knowledge of Law (Imperial Astronautical) was also leaned upon quite a bit
• This session tested the limits of those characters that had the Honesty Disadvantage—it would have been far easier otherwise—and it will be tested more next time, as the chosen course of action is definitely not “legal” (though certainly “justified”); this would not have been a hard call for the crew of the Emerald Monarch, I think 😉
• We were a little surprised ENS Smith didn’t just shoot Mr. Duushii—“Day ain’t over yet”

Cold Betrayals

The morning after Kella’s rescue, after the blizzard had cleared, a courier delivered a message from Mr. Duushii, Haank’s Astro-Core security boss, requesting his presence to brief him on what had occurred the previous night. Haank did as he was bidden, and told Mr. Duushii the whole of what happened, including the discovery of the Aslan ruin, as he had no cause to be suspicious, and informed him that they had promised to take Kella out to the site when the weather cleared. Mr. Duushii warned him against returning to the site, as the geology crew had declared the area “dangerously unstable.” Haank asked to speak to someone in Geology about the area, hoping to gain some insight into what sort of dangers a survey team might expect from the area; Mr. Duushii made the call. A couple of geologists arrived, and they all went over the maps—paper maps; these guys are Old-School—and data together. Haank had some trouble following their geological jargon, but their story matched that of the security boss; stay clear of the area. Haank acknowledged the warnings, and responded that they were going to take all necessary precautions to get a “quick scan” of the site, for the sake of their promise to Kella, and return. On the way out of the office, Mr. Duushii cornered Haank and, in a subtly-threatening manner, again warned Haank to stay away from the area.

Now, with plenty of cause to suspect Mr. Duushii’s intentions, Haank brought the matter to the rest of the Team. It was decided to go ahead with the mission: the Team would take Kella to the site in the Proud Mary’s air/raft, while Ella and Haank would remain behind to observe and report whatever actions the security department might take in response.

Not long after the air/raft departed for the SE range, Haank, while practicing his golf-swing on the roof of the ship and keeping a subtly-watchful eye, spotted a pair of rollers leaving the colony in the direction of the Eastern mining facilities; he zoomed in with his HUD-glasses, and identified the occupants as eight members of the security department. He radioed ahead to the rest of the Team that company was on its way.

Meanwhile, the air/raft arrived at the crevasse they had discovered the night before, now re-buried in snow. Although the plan, as discussed, was to scan the ruins from the safety of the air/raft, on arrival, Kella excitedly jumped out and set about digging it clear, so Abe and Sam followed; Buck remained aboard to keep watch, bringing out his hand-held sensor pack to scan for incoming vehicles. Once the crevasse was cleared, Kella wasted no time, but immediately secured a line and climbed down; Abe and Sam followed after. The conclusion from the night before was easily confirmed; it was an Aslan colony, dug into the rock-face. Skeletal remains of Aslan colonists were found; Abe scanned them, and determined that they were likely between 5-10 years dead, and riddled with bullets—given the behavior of the colony security team, everyone presumed that the attempts to warn them away from this place was an attempt to cover up a massacre. Everything witnessed was recorded for later study. Knowing they had little time left before the security team would arrive, Abe and Sam convinced Kella to leave—perhaps to return later.

Before they could climb out of the crevasse, Buck’s sensor picked up incoming vehicles; the security team had arrived. Buck alerted the team via radio, and still seated atop the air/raft, placed his laser rifle across his lap, expecting a fight. The colony rollers pulled up to their position and the team dismounted; ENS Smith and ENS Jones were among them. The team-leader, LT Richards, with a haughty sneer that belied his ill-intent, declared that they were trespassing, and should surrender; seeing only Buck at the moment, he demanded the location of the remainder of the Team. Buck was undaunted; he patted his laser rifle, and in so many words, inquired which of them wished to die first. As a result, some of the security team began to think less of their leader’s murderous plan; an argument was sparked, and in typical ENS Smith fashion, ENS Smith shot LT Richards on the spot. A brief firefight ensued among the security team; some fled for cover, some stood their ground trying to follow their orders by firing on Buck and the “traitors,” while the others (ENS Smith and Jones) tried to prevent them. Sam was the first out of the crevasse, and joined in the fray from a distance. The fight ended with one dead, two seriously wounded (including LT Richards), and the others surrendered; ENS Smith was wounded as well, though not severely. Abe climbed out of the crevasse in time to see to the wounded, and Kella followed without incident.

Once the call went out that the rollers had arrived, Haank and Ella fired up the ship to come to the Team’s aid; it arrived as the fight was ended. The wounded—including LT Richards—were taken aboard, while ENS Smith and Jones drove the rest in the colony rollers on a “scenic route” back to the colony (to give the Team time to interrogate LT Richards before, themselves, returning). Abe patched up the wounded, and forced LT Richards to consciousness. Ella began to question LT Richards, still on the medical table, as to the nature and source of the orders he was attempting to execute; when he refused to cooperate, she responded by poking at his wounds with a finger until he changed his tune (to Abe’s irritation). LT Richards confessed that his orders came from Mr. Duushii, but knew nothing of why they were given; they had initially headed for the Eastern facilities for the purpose of “plausible deniability,” leading the Team to believe that the non-corporate colony administration was unlikely to be involved in the plot.

After a brief discussion of their findings, the Team decided the best course of action would be to report the incident to the Colony Director, and go from there…