Traveller Session 12

We plot a course for Iderati and we aim to drop out of Jump close to the gas giant to scoop some fuel before making our landing on the planet.

Our present Jump is progressing smoothly and during the Jump we decide to land at the low star port to offload the Debarren Bear. Our exit from Jump close to the gas giant puts us around three days out from Iderati, Masuyo contacts Star port control to alert them to our presence and our intention to gather fuel from their gas giant before requesting a berth in the low star port and giving them a quick report. Tharbin successfully scoops some unrefined fuel for processing.

While we are travelling towards Iderati we find out that they have and A class star port, a dense atmosphere so masks may be required and a lot of oceans, we are not allowed to carry weapons or armour as they have a Law level of 8. We are assigned berth 36 after letting them know that we have the Bear on board which is tranquillised. We have a good landing and an official is heading towards us with all of the relevant paperwork of customs etc., Masuyo pays the docking fees from her own personal funds on this occasion. we have 20 tonnes of standard cargo to be offloaded to the Merchants Hall and the Brokerage may be the best place for us to sell the Bear. The official asks if we need any supplies and she replies with a not right now we are here for about one week.

We get 18,000 credits for the cargo we brought, and we split up to do our own thing. I receive an email:

We get an offer of 4,000 credits for the Bear, we know we can get more for it but that will take longer and we may have to transport it elsewhere so for the sake of convenience to us we sell it but tell the buyer they have to collect it or pay us more for delivery. the buyer opts to collect it but tells us it may take a few days to organise transport for it.

I tell the rest of the crew about the email I received and Masuyo is instantly suspicious why I am I getting this email and not the Captain of the The Hope? Who is the person sending it? She then does some research and it seems that the email is in fact legitimate, she also finds out that he is quite high in the Chain of Command for the sub-sector, he is in fact the Knight in charge, I find out when and where this dinner is to be held, and what kind of dress code is required, We need to be clean neat and tidy, smart clothing but not dress uniform. The dinner is to be held two days hence at his personal estate.

Earl heads to the market to mosey around, whilst Cyn heads out to the pub, they both kind of get similar information, we are near the edge of The Imperium, no trouble is expected in the area, there are the occasional Sword World travellers for trade but nothing more dramatic and there are no reports of Zhodani ships.

We decide who is attending the dinner with me and Earl decides to stay behind while the rest of us go, we call for a taxi to take us. We arrive at the estate and are greeted by Mamon Wakisha, he takes us inside and makes sure we all have a drink, then he asks us about our recent adventures and talks about the events on the Nicholas de Nicola, it turns out that he chose to crew rosters for the trip out to Leviathan. Masuyo notes that I am being treated as nobility by him even though I am not. We openly tell him about what we have been up to since we became a detached scout unit and he seems to be very impressed about our rescue of the town in danger from the volcano. he then moves on to tell us that he is not impressed with the Nobility and Navy on Iderati, but he has no real clout to make any real changes in the sub-sector. We finally get to the reason he invited us and it seems he has recently come across some conflicting reports on the planet 886-945 one report E800000-0 states that there is an atmosphere and water but no people and E833000-0 states that there is no atmosphere and water, he offers us 250000 credits to investigate and carry out a more thorough survey of the planet for him. we discuss potential travel routes one of which would take us to Gothe which has a Law level of 11 and we are vert reluctant to take this route so we check for alternatives. I negotiate with Mamon and he agrees to 300000 credits or he can arrange for a weapon for the ship. We agree to take the job but ask him for some time so we can discuss which reparation option we want to choose, this seems to impress him.

After quite a bit of discussion we opt to take the money, and as for the question on Annual or Monthly maintenance for the Hop we opt for the yearly maintenance and aim to get her in at around 50 weeks.

A view of 886-945 from the first scout report

A view of 886-945 from the second scout report

We have a few questions for Mamon:

Has anyone else been sent to 886-945 and not returned?

No.

We need copies of the Scout reports.

Copies of the reports are sent to us, surveys were carried out from orbit, ground surveys from different locations, the first one was carried out 20 years ago and the second 10 years ago.

What if we take damage?

Repairs will be carried out if there is demonstrative damage.

The reason he has asked us to investigate is that he would like to know if the planet is habitable, he has only recently found to two conflicting reports which is why we are being asked to carry out this task now. From the reports he has it seems there are no people, infrastructure or Government etc. We make the final agreement and officially accept the mission. We take on some standard cargo for our next stop.

Jump route Iderati - Ucella - Bularia - 886-945.