Four ships spotted after the Vagabond's Hope emerges from jump

160 - 1105 (Day before emergence from Jump at Flammarion): Some of the crew have been experiencing some strange and vivid dreams and are all behaving somewhat irritably and strangely, is it due to the strange crate we found aboard the star? Are the problems being caused by psionic means? Does the crate contain a Zodani? Masuyo asks Cyndariel to run some tests for any anomalies or abnormalities in our brain chemistry. The tests prove negative for Earl and Cyndariel, I however am showing some slightly elevated levels of cortisone and adrenaline, which may be the cause of mine and other crew members abnormal behaviour. She asks that these test be carried out at regular intervals until we emerge from Jump.

Masuyo sends a message ahead to request a meeting with Casarii and also sends a quick request for information on the strange crystal we have and also decides to have a closer look at it, and does some research for more information, but there is not much available. She comes up with the idea to try and shine a light through it onto a bulkhead to see if there is anything inside it or if there are crystal formations or anything else. She sets it up on a box with a bright light set up to shine through it, turning off the room, her best guess is that there is no liquid inside, if there is it is full to the brim and would be transparent. The crystals themselves are not well defined, not sharp as may be expected.

Cyndariels second round of tests continue to show elevated chemical levels in myself a several others from the group that boarded the Vigilant Star, but this may be a false positive due to the stress of regular and multiple tests, the levels have not risen and appear to be the same, as a baseline and for a control Cyndariel tests Masuyo as a comparison and she shows much lower levels than the rest of us. The final test before emerging from Jump shows the same results, no increase but also no significant reduction either.

The next day we emerge from Jump and see several Far Trader ships, tightly grouped, they appear to be doing something but it is unknown what this may be. Earl informs us that this scenario exactly matches his dream. I head down to the engine room to try and coax a little more power out of the engine as requested by Masuyo, Chase carefully manoeuvres us around the group of ships as a precaution - as we pass the Far trader ships we get a quick message from them "Just remember there was nothing to see here..." Masuyo replies with a "Fine."

We get a message form the Scout Service "Message sent to Casarii, head to High Port" and they will let us know when Casarii responds. A couple of hours later we get another message requesting we change our destination to the Naval Base and Casarii is waiting for us. Once we land we get everything powered down and invite Casarii aboard for a quick tour after a quick debrief. After the tour we let him know what happened at 567-908 - We inform Casarii and the Navy of the encrypted crystal we have we tell them how to find us to retrieve it, we also tell Casarii of the container we found and where we are keeping it, but that none of us want to go near it again. We also point out all of the oddities and abnormalities experienced in regards to the item, Masuyo asks if there is a geologist aboard the station that can have a look at the crystal for us, and is informed that there is indeed someone who can help so Casarii sets up a meeting for her. We hand over copies of the salvage data to Casarii and we are each paid 1,000 credits. He lets us know that he has booked rooms for us all at the Advantage Hotel for the two weeks it will take for the ship refit.

The lobby of the Advantage Hotel as visualized by the marketing department (the reality is a little more worn and grubby - buit not too far from this image)

We all head out and check into the hotel some of us head down to the bar for food and drinks, we spot a group of people who are for all intents and purposes NUTS, full of conspiracy theories on the Ancients and various other subjects. They are on their way to Karin for a conference on it. Cyndariel and I have heard about the Ancients, I zone out while they continue with their loud and boisterous discussions. After I have had enough of the craziness I head back to room for some sleep, Cyn decides to stay a while longer listening some more, and the craziness just continues.

Chase is out wandering around the station, Flammarion is a company planet Ling Standard Products (LSP), mostly mining, there is talk that they may be closing down on Flammarion. Chase runs a quick background check on them. Chase them happens upon a bar that appears to be for Navy personnel, so he enters (in his Scout uniform) and they bar goes quiet, he heads to the bar and asks for a pint of ale and starts chatting with the barman, the whole bar seem to be listening in on their chat. "So what do folks do around here?" two burly guys approach and Earl (who is accompanying Chase) asks "What can I do for you?" Most of the bar is now standing at this point obviously ready for trouble, and Earl asks for a non alcoholic beverage, Chase discreetly steps to the side and moves subtly away from Earl and as he (Earl) sits down a punch is thrown but misses as the target had moved. Earl manages to knock the puncher out but this only aggravates his friends so he makes a hasty retreat out the door and heads back to the hotel. Chase in the meantime has moved back to the bar and buys a round of drinks for the guys in the bar. He kind of sticks out as a Scout with his uniform on and he doesn’t really fit in the squaddies bar, he does notice that there are no Officers present, finding out for the boys that security is more lax here that in other Naval bars. These guys have only been here between 0 - 18 months and are based out of Glisten - Mora, they are not funded within the Spinward Marches, Regina gets all the funding apparently, but this is the quieter end of the Marches. They pass some banter back and forth and Chase buys a final round before leaving.

A polished Denuli Crystal

The next morning after a peaceful night, Masuyo meets with the Geologist, showing the crystal and explaining where and how it was acquired, she also explains the oddities she found with it, the Geologist has a closer look and informs Masuyo that it is indeed a rare find and want to conduct some further research on it asking for permission to hold on to it for while whilst she does this. Masuyo agrees and gives her the information on our hotel and how long we will be staying, asking for the results to be sent as soon as possible. She then heads to the Brokers Hall with the details of the of the goods we have, here she is offered a tidy sum of 3,600 credits for it all which we add to the ships funds. A nice payday for a little bit of work.

Cyn visits the Med bay to get a second opinion on the brain chem tests, a check up was performed and confirmation of match to baseline is confirmed, leading to the conclusion that the box was responsible for the imbalance and strange behaviour.

The Navy sends a message thanking us foe the encrypted crystal, as for the box the response was WHAT BOX?

The results from the geologist tell us that it is a Denuli Crystal, very few have ever been found, they first appeared around 600 years ago and the actual location of them is still unknown. The estimated value of it is 10,000 credits. Some scientific studies have been carried out on them. All of this information has been provided on letterheaded paper to help with authentication, crystal returned as well. Masuyo heads back to the Brokers Hall to see if she can generate any interest in the crystal, she is informed that this item is not common in the Imperium, more interest from the far side of the Imperium and a higher price may be fetched, In the Core we could potentially get hundreds of thousands for it, There are some people more locally situated interested in it and we are offered 8,000 credits.

Casarii notifies us that the ship has been fully refitted, re supplied and refuelled (1 months worth), lockers have been restocked and a new air raft has been loaded, we have one double turret and an extra hard point but no weapons.

Casarii tells us that the white box we picked up is ours due to the salvage, was destined for Andor and he would like us to take it to Karin Naval base, and to keep an eye out for Zodani activity. We ask where headquarters for the 208 Imperial fleet is as it may be more prudent to take it there rather than anywhere else, and they are based at Iderati, we discuss the possibility of taking it there and loosely plan to Jump to Debarre and then Iderati. Would there be a benefit to us for taking the box to Iderati? Should we just take it there and ask them what to do with the damn box.

Deck Plan of the remains of the Vigilant Star (click on the plan for a larger version)

After boarding the launch and exiting Vagabonds Hope we make our way to the location of the Vigilant Star, and as we approach we see that the entire front section of the ship appears to have been sheared off and we can see into some of the staterooms on board. We hail the ship as SOP, but get no response. It appears that we will have to use our Vacc Suits to get to the other ship as there are no hatches for us to connect to. We get the launch into position and fire a magnetic grappler over to anchor the tether and then we make our way across, I communicate to Cyndariel to stay on standby whilst we make an initial re-con of the other ship. Cyndariel the relays our plan and current position to our own crew aboard the Vagabonds Hope.

I am first to attach my line and make my way across followed by Earl, we enter into a cabin. it is in reasonable condition, a piece of paper floats away from our passage so i grab it and it shows the flight plans of the Vigilant Star. We are in the cabin of Niamon Eirak and the paper has the Jump calculations the he has made. I take a copy of it and send it to Tharbin to see if he can give any more information on it.

In the cabin of Niamon Eirak can be found calculations for jumps:

In the meantime Earl has continued to explore and finds some cargo containers and I make my way along the outside of the ship to see if i can find any other access points we missed on our initial pass with the Launch. We get a call from Masuyo telling us to be exceedingly careful and stay in a group if at all possible so I make my way back into the ship to regroup with Earl and I also ask for Cyndariel and Junebug to join us at their earliest convenience. Cyndariel suits up and joins us right away but Junebug is tied up with something else and will join us as soon as she is free. We do have gravity on board with a vacuum but no power. With both Earl and I in the cargo area we can cover more space quickly and make short work of that exploration. The crates weigh a few hundred kilos each and most of them have a lot of stickers all over them with various destinations but the majority of them are destined for Flammarion. Thankfully the grav plates are still functioning but the Atmosphere has vented out into space. On her way to us Cyndariel has found an engineers cabin, determined by the debris floating around inside. Earl suddenly comes across another cargo container but this one is very different from the others, there is no location label and there is no obvious method to get into the crate. We spot some airlocks south of our position so we approach and find an iris lock, as there is no power Earl accesses the manual override to get it open, we find the engine room on the other side which has the dead engineer and a terminal which seems to have some power. I access the terminal and a name pops up CAPTAIN KEALIN VEXAR of the BLACK SWAN, I read it out and Earl instantly recognises the name.

We have all the information we can get from here for the time being so we continue to check the ship for possible survivors, Cyndariel has confirmed the cause of death was rapid decompression. The next alcove leads to a ladder to the next deck up and I make make my way up to the hatch and access the manual override to open it. in the corridor here we find sveral empty passenger cabins and Cyndariel finds the Captains cabin in which there is handwritten notes in a small notebook labelled "1105-".

Captain's Notes for 1105

The route from the Captain's Log plus the computed jump from Ator to Flammarion). Click on the map for a larger version

Stave (Spinward Marches 0710)

Date of Departure	010-1105
Duration	4 days in-system
Purpose	Stopover to celebrate Prime Day - even if we arrived on 006-1105!
Notes	Shame we're on this primitive world but at least the beach is a very pleasant stopover (and the locals do have some interesting alcoholic drinks).

Terra Nova (Spinward Marches 0511)

Date of Departure	019-1105
Duration	2 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	Our one stop in the Zhodani Consulate on this tour. Papers all in order and no problems negotiating for our new cargo.

Mizen-fel (Spinward Marches 0311)

Date of Departure	029-1105
Duration	3 days in-system
Purpose	Routine fuelling and maintenance stopover
Notes	A minor delay due to unforeseen cargo issues, but all cleared up while the fuel purifier did its work

Prinx (Spinward Marches 0212)

Date of Departure	038-1105
Duration	2 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	Smooth transactions with local merchant guilds; we took on a shipment of rare, high-quality minerals from the Prinxian mines.

Yiktor (Spinward Marches 0114)

Date of Departure	046-1105
Duration	1 day in-system
Purpose	Brief stopover for crew R&R
Notes	A group of our crew members took part in a popular underwater sports event, which was...illuminating, to say the least.

Rushu (Spinward Marches 0215)

Date of Departure	056-1105
Duration	3 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	A successful transaction with local merchant guilds; we took on a shipment of rare, exotic spices from the Rushuan plantations.

Attica (Spinward Marches 0414)

Date of Departure	064-1105
Duration	2 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	Local merchants quite cagey but we made a profit from the minerals and spices.

Retinae (Spinward Marches 0416)

Date of departure	072-1105
Duration	1 day in-system
Purpose	Delivery of supplies
Notes	While the research remains classified (and I "don't have the required security clearance") I was asked to carry a cargo all the way to Andor (and personally deliver it to the star port on the planet's surface!). The accompanying paperwork is in order (including authorisation from the 208th Imperial Fleet). I've agreed to take the cargo but to be on the safe side I'll route via Flammarion and consult with Mr. Casarii since the penalties for violating the Imperial Interdiction are quite severe.

Faisal (Spinward Marches 0518)

Date of departure	082-1105
Duration	3 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	Picked up unrefined ores for Dekalb. A vessel of a few thousand tons spotted leaving system but no record of it present in the star port’s (hand-written!) records.

Dekalb (Spinward Marches 0618)

Date of Departure	091-1105
Duration	2 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	A smooth cargo delivery - the local stevedores are very efficient!

Winston (Spinward Marches 0620)

Date of Departure	099-1105
Duration	1 day in-system
Purpose	Brief stopover for minor repairs
Notes	Jump Drive capacitors needed adjustment; Kaida reports the 'refined' fuel we bought on Dekalb had a very high concentration of Deuterium which affected the jump.

Terant 340 (Spinward Marches 0622)

Date of Departure	109-1105
Duration	3 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	A successful transaction with local merchant guilds; we took on a shipment of rare, exotic spices from the Terantian plantations.

Jacent (Spinward Marches 0624)

Date of Departure	118-1105
Duration	2 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	A smooth transaction with local merchant guilds; we took on a shipment of high-quality textiles from the Jacentian textile mills in exchange from the spices from Terant 340.

Rorre (Spinward Marches 0526)

Date of Departure	126-1105
Duration	1 day in-system
Purpose	Brief stopover for crew R&R
Notes	We allowed our crew members to take part in a popular recreational activity, which provided some much-needed relaxation.

Darrian (Spinward Marches 0627)

Date of Departure	136-1105
Duration	3 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	A successful transaction with local merchant guilds; we took on a shipment of rare, exotic minerals from the Darrian mines in exchange for the Jacent textiles (though the profit margin on the textiles was quite low).

Ator (Spinward Marches 0729)

Date of Departure	145-1105
Duration	2 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	A smooth transaction with local merchant guilds; we took on a three ton shipment of redundant electronic components. They may be scrap but the shipyards at Flammarion's highport will pay enough for them for us to make a significant profit.

I open the iris valve to the common area which has another empty cabin, I come across another body which i search for ID and request Cyndariel have a look at the body, again cod is rapid decompression. She was Elara Aurora a courier from the Federation of Arden on her way to Iderate, there is no indication as to why she was aboard this ship. was she working to pay her passage, she is carrying encrypted documents on her which we decide to take with us. The Captains cabin also had an encrypted crystal which we also take with us. throughout our entire search we have not found a shipping manifest. Junebug has finally made it on board with us as as she approaches the strange create she has bad feeling about it. Having found no survivors we contact the Vagabonds Hope to request they put in a salvage claim for us so we can tow the wreckage back into the range of the plant and scavenge what we can from the derelict.

We get back aboard our Launch and set up the tow to get the Vigilant star onto orbit around 567-908, as we begin we get confirmation that our salvage claim is successful, it will take around one day for us the get it into a rough geosynchronous orbit over the settlement. Masuyo requests that we load the unmarked cargo crate onto the Launch and to take any and all suspicious materials down to surface with us. We get the Vigilant Star into a relatively stable orbit. Masuyo and Tharbin traced the route of the Star back to Zodani Space skirting Querion Darrian - it appears that a mis jump brought them to 567-908 and this is what caused the ship to be sheared apart. After landing Junebug tells us all about the bad feeling she has around the crate but cant explain why it make her feel this way so she asks those of us affected by the singers performance aboard the Liner to get close and see if we also get the same reaction and now that we have to time to focus on it we do in fact get the same strange feeling around it. What is inside? we need to get it open.

We drop off the cargo we picked up from Walston and Masuyo is offered a strange crystal for 2,750 from our cargo takings so she buys it. When she gets back she asks me to take a look at the maneuver drive to see if I can coax some more power out of it, i make moderately successful attempt it's not 100% but it is an improvement. Earl suggests the Junebug have Kimbley take a sniff at the strange container and she suspects that he is also having a strange reaction to it

Vagabonds Hope is refuelled and ready to go, all salvage has been recovers and loaded. we make our Jump successfully and continue our training from the previous jump.

The Vagabond's Hope ready to be repaired at Wlaston's Starport

Kimbley had to be wrangled out of the way but we have discovered that he may have been chewing and most certainly has been drooling over some parts of the ship, he is now safely out of everyone's way allowing repairs to be carried out.

• Life Support systems took 3 hours to repair and is now giving us a green light.
• Power Systems Electronics took 4 hours to complete.
• Navigation Systems, Earl makes an attempt at getting these fixed and does a reasonable job but it is not at full spec.
?
• Flight Controls take 5 hours to complete

This takes us into the evening and Masuyo having repaired the Life Support has prepared us a decent meal with pasta meat and sauce. After dinner we receive a message from the oligarch Masterton inviting us to a banquet being held in our honour at the capital to thank us for our efforts in rescuing the residents of Salbarii after the eruption. We have a couple of drinks and head to bed for the night.

The next morning I decide to have a look at the Drive systems electronics and manage to get them reconnected and we now have a working Jump Drive, I have no idea how well it will work but we can Jump. We have computer confirmation of an active Jump Drive, this has taken most of the day. Whilst I am working on the Jump Drive Earl has another look at the Navigation Systems, taking most of the day but he is much more successful this time around and it fully functioning.

Whilst those of us who have repair work to carry out Tharbin takes the time to head back into the Star port to gather all of our personal belongings and to collect our cargo to bring back to the Vagabonds Hope. Masuyo also heads in to visit the Merchant Service to get us some cargo to carry back to 567-908 and hopefully earn us some more credits. She States that we are leaving in a couple of days and manages to procure 5 tons of cargo for us to take, delivery expected the next day, after checking for any further opportunities she calls it a day with what we already have.

• Maneuver Drive is the only system left to be repaired, which is taken on by Chase and again taking most of the day is successful in repairing it.

The Ship is now in a reasonably flight worthy state, we are uncertain how flight worthy but she will fly. Cyndariel takes this opportunity to inform me that she attempted to make some repairs in the engine room whilst I was indisposed, but broke something, possible spark plugs. She proudly informs me that she has cleaned them up nicely and is now keeping them as souvenirs in the Med Bay???

Note to All crew: "NO-ONE TOUCHES MY ENGINE"

After the repairs are done we all retire to get ready for the banquet, we arrive at the Capital via train and are welcomed in. Masterton thanks us for completing the survey and for our efforts with the rescue during the eruption. The banquet proceeds, it is a relatively intimate affair with members of Masterton’s family and the ruling "Council" members of Walston along with Alan Greener, Masuyo lets Alan know that she wished a private meeting with him tomorrow.

The political situation surrounding Walston comes up in conversation and I zone out as I have no interest in it, so I cannot comment directly on what was discussed exactly, but I do remember a lot of ships entering the system and refuelling at the gas giant and then jumping back out of system totally ignoring the local Star port, being mentioned. I also remember hearing the Walston is Pro Imperium but is reluctant to officially join as this would make the a target considering their position in the universe.

After the banquet is over we all head back to the Star port and the ship.

The next morning Tharbin and Masuyo go back to the Capital to see Alan Greener in regards to our fee for completing the survey as requested, and he seems a little nervous. He agrees that our contract has indeed been fulfilled and offers us remuneration for said contract but Masuyo expresses her displeasure at the figure offered, Tharbin then adds that surely our efforts in helping to rescue the people of Salbarii deserve some consideration on top of the survey money. Alan then offers 15,000 credits, they both feel this is somewhat begrudged and more than Alan wanted to offer us but Masterton may have had some influence here. They accept the offer believing that this is the best offer we will get and state that we may well return this way at some point and Alan replies with a positive response. They return to ship to find that the cargo has been delivered and stowed and we are ready to depart. Masuyo makes a quick call to the Merchant hall but no new cargo options have come up.

We get clearance for take off and we fire up the engines and are only marginally successful with our take off we are moving but very slowly, we continue with the proviso of diagnosing the problem when we reach space. We get an on-screen message informing us that the servicing for the Maneuver Drive needs to be completely overhauled within a month, at our current rate of travel it will take us all day to reach 100 diameters in order to make our Jump to 567-908. Once we arrive at our target area the Jump is plotted and we make it into Jump Space with no further issues. Whilst were in Jump Space we all decide to take on some training to keep us occupied and to improve our skills:

Masuyo

Steward

Cyndariel

Medical

Fiorana

Engineering

Earl

Pilot(Small Craft)

Chase

Vacc Suit

Tharbin

Vacc Suit

Junebug

Animal Handling

After the week in Jump Space, which was relatively uneventful, we return to normal space and immediately pick up a faint G-K signal, an automated distress call from ship called the Vigilant Star, which has suffered a malfunction in Jump Space. The current location of the ship is ten diameters away from our current position, we let them know we have heard their distress cal and will be sending help but we are going the send the Launch as we have our own ship issues and need to land ASAP. We check in with the planet to see if they have received to same distress call and have they already sent aid, we get confirmation that the message has been received but unfortunately they are in no position to offer any assistance for lack of facilities.

Masuyo radios ahead to inform the planet the we will send help for the other ship with our Launch explaining that the Vagabonds Hope needs to land as we have our own issues that require landing as soon a possible, the ground crew agree and thank us for helping in any way we can. Masuyo, Chase and Tharbin stay with the Vagabonds Hope while the rest of us prepare to board the Launch to assist as much as we can. We move the ATV aboard the Launch into the multi-environment area on the right of the cargo hold, before loading the launch up with supplies we might need.

137-1105 Walston

VAGABOND'S HOPE - HEROES OF WALSTON

Kimbley, the abandoned pet of the previous crew of the Vagabond's Hope

In a daring rescue mission, the crew of the battered Vagabond's Hope has saved nearly fifty lives in the face of catastrophic disaster on the planet Walston. Mount Salbarii, a towering volcanic monolith, erupted with devastating force, engulfing the town of Salbarii and surrounding areas in pyroclastic fury.

The Vagabond's Hope, a ship notorious for its questionable condition, had coincidentally landed near the summit of the mountain at the start of the eruption. Despite being abandoned by its previous crew - who infamously mistreated the vessel and left behind their ill-tempered pet KImbley, a Tensher's Wolf - the current crew managed to wrestle the decrepit ship back into service.

Against all odds, they successfully evacuated many of Salbarii's inhabitants from the path of destruction, earning the gratitude of a grateful population. The rescue effort was no easy feat, given the Vagabond's Hope's dubious reputation and the sheer ferocity of the eruption.

Details of the daring rescue are still emerging, but one thing is clear: the crew of the Vagabond's Hope has proven themselves to be true heroes in a time of crisis. Their bravery and determination have saved countless lives, and their names will go down in Walston's history as examples of courage in the face of overwhelming adversity.

Article has been AI generated and can be assumed to have been the result of interviews with the crew of the Vagabond's Hope!

Aside from the bug fight in the cargo hold, it has been a quiet jump.

It is dinnertime on board and Earl has a private dinner with the singer Bhu Ki Hyt, the food is very good and they have a nice conversation, Bhu Ki Hyt is heading to the Lysander School of Operatic & Performance Arts. She is from the planet Miriam and she developed a good reputation there. She is taken aback by the implication that she is an unattached female, and she has received an anonymous note stating "if she is running from Z does she require any help, and if she is working working for Z she is in the wrong business." She received the note around 4 days ago which coincides with the timing of the bug fight. She is asking for our help to investigate this incident. After the meal Earl shares this information with us.

Junebug and Tharbin have been invited to the Captains office for dinner to thank them and us for dealing with the bug problem during the jump. No official reports will be made by us in regards to this matter, which the Captain appreciates. He informs them that he will only be planet side on Watson for a couple of hours for restock and refuelling. They ask about the other passengers on board to see if any of them have used this route/Liner previously, and only Lucan Jorgenson has been on the route several times before, but he will check the passenger manifest for us, and look into Lucans routes/trips as well. They ask when Lucan booked his passage on board the liner but it was not a surprise to the Captain as he regularly books last minute as required for his work and he had been dropped off only two weeks ago.

Name of the Liner:

MV Emperor Cato.

Captain:

Joseph McKinley.

Medic:

Gina.

The rest of us are in the main dining hall and everything is running smoothly until a scream break the silence, the mother of the small family on board watches as her daughter collapses. Cyndariel goes over the assess the situation and tries to help make the girl more comfortable, whilst awaiting the on board medic. She appears to be suffering from extreme altitude sickness and needs oxygen. They get her stabilised and take her away to the Med bay where the oxygen levels are returned to normal for her.

Earl escorts Bhu Ki Hyt back to her stateroom before joining us, and we find out from Cyndariel that the family is from a planet with a thick rich atmosphere, hence the issue with the daughter.

The World map of Walston

The next morning we emerge from the jump which is uneventful and land on Watson. The population here is very sparse in the thousands rather than the millions on most other colonised worlds, and is concentrated on a smallish island in the eastern area of the planet. We are the only group disembarking at Watson, Earl leaves his contact information with Bhu Ki Hyt and Cyndariel has been keeping up on the progress of the young girls recovery, the good news is that she is recovering well. We have only 15 minutes to disembark ans the airlock, so we all grab our gear and prepare to disembark. Before we leave Cyndariel asks Gina if the cargo bay has ever been invaded by anything before and but she responds in the negative but does admit that there have been payouts on damaged cargo due to the staffs complacency. We all equip our breathing masks due to the thin atmosphere, Masuyo heads straight to customs and puts her things in a locker before heading into the scout office inside the Star port. Masuyo makes two reports, the second of which is about the Liner with its negligent crew, bug infestation and long overdue maintenance required. I want to head out ASAP to find the ship so I can assess how bad the damage is and what sort of repairs will be required. Masuyo also inform the scout office that we are here to collect the Vagabonds Hope and can he tell us where to find it? Does he have any idea where we might find the previous crew? He did complain about the previous crew being real jerks that hated everything about Watson, They turned up back at the Space port about two weeks after their ship left in an air/raft and hung around until another liner showed up then they left Watson as soon as they could. No-one else has left the liner since we disembarked and it is now getting ready to take off again, the clerk in the scout office tells us to report tot the Port Authority Office for any more information on the Vagabonds Hope.

A mint condition Air/Raft

We are informed that the air/raft from the Vagabonds Hope came up from the South East ish, but if we want a more detailed flight plan we need to visit the Capital City and get in touch with the Government. We find out the next train is due in the afternoon so we hang around until we can board it, and it takes around an hour to reach Capital City. Masuyo and Tharbin visit the grandly named Palace and head to the government building. The reception desk is unmanned but there is a bell, when they finally get a response to the bell by a bumbling clerk passing by, they explain that they are visiting dignitaries working with the Scout Service and the clerk asks them who they would like to see. They state that they would like to whomever can give them the information regarding jobs given out to the Detached Scouts, and they are shown into a waiting room. Alan Greener comes in from Off-world Affairs, Masuyo explains the reason for our visit and Alan remembers the troublemaking crew and asks for our documents to prove who we are and our purpose. It appears that the previous crew had been given a job by the government and botched it and disabled the ship in the process before they departed the plant. They took the money that was paid but did not complete the job and now Alan is trying to trade us the information we require to complete the job in question. The job itself was reasonably simple, it was a survey carried out by the Vagabonds Hope using seismic charges on Mount Salbarri. Alan assumes that the ship is still somewhere in the region of Mount Salbarri, but as the previous crew were incompetent he is unwilling to offer us any further assistance, we do inform him that if we have time we will try to carry out his survey, but only if we have time. As a concession he will allow Masuyo yo carry her personal weapon with her despite the planets restrictions against it. Most of the land animal population here is relatively small and not considered dangerous due to the thin atmosphere, but apparently the sea creatures are quite large. We head to a hostel/hotel for some food and rest before setting out the next day.

We return to the star port on the train the next day because we need to collect our equipment/ cargo containers for the trip out to Mount Salbarri, we unfortunately have to leave our armour and weapons behind, but I need my tools and laptop. We the travel back to the Capital and then out to Salbarri the nearest town/village to the mountain, where we pick up an ATV and driver to take us up the Mountain. At 1100m the terrain gets much rockier with no vegetation, but there are signs of previous lava flowing down the mountain and showing that the volcano was once active. There are no new signs of volcanic activity, and the pumice is well rounded showing that it is quite old and there a faint permeating smell of rotten eggs but no other overriding scent of sulphur, at this point we have to leave the ATV behind and walk the rest of the way. We get to 1200m and the terrain begins to get very steep with a few extra hazards but we are still making good upward progress. At 1500m cresting the Mountain we see our first view of the crater, it is quite large and a small lake fills the centre with an island with lots of vegetation on it inside the crater. The island has a ship on it and it is surrounded by trash. The airlocks are all closed, but it looks like the previous crew has stripped it of anything valuable and left everything else strewn around. One thing catches our eye as we look through some binoculars is a forlorn metal bowl off on its own with the name Kimbly painted on it. Was it a pet? we make a note to check the ships log and have a look around for it. Masuyo descends into the crater with us following, the lake appears to be reasonably shallow, a deep wade we think, but we will need to test the water to make sure it is safe before we cross.

The view from the lip of the crater

Whilst on 567-908 we all find something to keep us occupied whilst planet-side. Junebug and Earl visit the medic before we depart, to get further clarification on the strange effect the singer Bhu Ki Hyt had on most of us and the other passengers and the medic believes it may have some type of mass hysteria or some form of psionic symptom, he also mentions the Zodani as being somewhat neighbours being known for these kinds of skills.. we all re-board the liner in preparation of departure. We depart on time and make our jump with no issues. One new passenger has boarded with us he is a middle aged civilian.

Junebug fights off the aliens

One day passes whilst in jump space at which time Tharbin gets a ping from his sensors in the cargo bay indicating movement around our cargo, he checks the video feed and find some strange creatures in the hold and alerts the rest of the team. We all get our armour and weapons equipped to head into the hold to deal with the issue. Junebug leads the way as our heaviest hitter. There are seven very strange six legged and creepy creatures in the hold. They do not seem particularly interested in the cargo, but when in doubt we treat them as a threat and move to eliminate them. Tharbin runs a search to see if we can get any more information about the creatures before we fully engage the critters, he finds some reference to them being native to the planet we have just left and around the size of a small human, there is no known name for them. Junebug manages to open the door fairly quietly so as not to alert the critters to our presence, it does offer some resistance outwards and to the right, she gives the door a good shove to see if any of the critters are right behind the door and possibly frighten the others with the noise, but a rusty hinge prevents the door from slamming into the wall. Junebug fires at the number 5 creature and manages to severely wound it, then number 3 moves in front of her and she manages to kick it away from her. Masuyo moves into back up Junebug and manages to kill number 5. Meanwhile Junebug moves further into the room and gets surrounded which was her intention to allow the other team members to move into positions for combat. Masuyo moves to a new position and fires but misses, Cyndariel moves into position and takes a shot but misses and leaves some new dents in the cargo bay doors. Junebug fires at another creature and then kicks it away form her to give herself some more room and then goes on to kill another one of the creatures.

Meanwhile the other passengers are starting to come out of their rooms to find out what is going on, and the members of the team still in the corridors outside of the rooms reassure them that all is in hand and under control and that we are dealing with the problem. I finally get into a position to use my static blade and score a hit. Meanwhile Tharbin has tracked down the new passenger who is one of the high staterooms and asks him to remain in his room until we have dealt with the problem in the hold. Earl has managed to wound another of the creatures, and I have managed to kill number 7. I then move onto number 2 and manage to kill it too, Junebug finishes off the last creature, and we check our cargo and there is thankfully no damage. Tharbin get a hold of the Purser to come down to the hold to see what has happened and to ask for an explanation. He seems surprised and arranges for a cleaning crew to clear up the mess. He later shows the video footage showing the crew leaving the doors open whilst they load the new cargo and it seems that the creatures justed wander into the hold and hid in the dark spaces and the crew did not notice them. Tharbin goes back to let the new passenger know that everything is all clear now and gets into a conversation with him, he finds out that he works for a company that develops advanced medical supplies and he is heading home 15 jumps away from he departure point. Cyndariel meanwhile is getting patched up at the medics and the rest of us go back into the common area to mingle with the other passengers for the rest of the trip.

No further side effects from the recital are noted, but the singer is decidedly avoiding Earl, making him even more suspicious of her.

External view of the MV Emperor Cato (placeholder image for now)

Some clarifications from last session.

The previous crew of Vagabonds Hope were Scouts, but they did not have a very good reputation, notes made that they had a very “slapdash” feel to them. They were using the generous refit budget provided by the Scout Service to get the parts need for the ship but instead of using them they were selling them on the Black market for profit and then buying cheaper parts from the breakers yards. They were also noted to not be an exceptionally talented team, the lowest end of the scale as far as Anders is concerned.

Our liner is not set to depart until the following day so the team catches up with any last minute shopping and preparations before relaxing for the evening. The next morning most of us don’t notice anything untoward as we board the Liner, but Junebug notices that some people are paying more attention to those of us boarding, she gives a small nudge to Tharbin to point out what she has observed, for further discussion in private. After we choose our staterooms and get settled Junebug calls us all together to talk over what she saw. The people did not stand out as such with no military style uniforms or fancy clothing they appeared to be dressed as standard dock workers.

Masuyo requests to talk to the Purser, asking about Piracy levels in the region, to which he replies that there have been no attacks recently, but being at the edge of Imperium space and on the borders of the Sword Worlds does somewhat increase the risks. Masuyo asks all of us to not discuss what cargo we brought aboard with us, having planted a seed with the Purser to find out if there is any kind of information exchange aboard the Liner. As an extra precaution Junebug arranges for some extra security measures with our cargo by setting up a clipboard with a regular schedule to run checks at regular intervals to check for tampering she has also implemented some simple and timeless measures with tape. Tharbin has also provided a bug with both live video and sound feeds to watch the cargo as well. After our meeting we all head back to our rooms to change into civvies for the trip.

The ship departs on schedule, and Tharbin decides to have a look at some pictures we managed to get of the "dock workers" that were watching the passengers boarding but he could not establish a connection to the net. 100 diameters from the planet (or any large object), which is for safety purposes, the ship prepares to Jump. as is traditional from earliest memory with Jumps using up almost all of the power, the lights are dimmed. We all find things to keep us occupied during the week in jump space. During our time on board we make a note of the fact that the Purser does not make any kind of checks on the cargo and we have not noticed anything untoward so far.

Being a mechanic myself I have been listening to the ships "hum" and believe that although not dangerous the crew are carrying out the barest minimum maintenance, leading me to the conclusion they do not really care too much to go above and beyond to maintain the ship, they keep it running and nothing more. This is further backed up by the lack of Stewards aboard and the overall shabby and slightly grubby feel of the ship in that there is a bare minimum of cleaning being carried out. There are no High or Low passengers aboard the liner only us Middle passengers, the Scout Service is subsidising the liner, this maybe the reason for some of the noted issues.

Five days into the Jump we are made aware that one of our fellow passengers is a singer and has offered to perform an impromptu recital for any that are interested. the Singer is pretty good and impresses all of the attendees, but I and it seems a few of my party feel uncomfortable for some reason, as if there is something odd about how I and the others are responding.... Something is definitely not normal about the performance but I am unsure as to what it could be. I make a note to discuss it with the others later. After the performance Earl decides to have a chat with the singer to see if he could ascertain the reason for the strange reaction. Was it a drug/gas, Psionic in nature? The feeling was only prevalent during the performance and faded soon after. Upon further investigation no drugs were found to have been used and we all comment on how strange it is that all attendants of the recital agree on how good the performance was, everyone has different preferences so that is also unusual. So Tharbin decides to investigate the singer himself.

Masuyo makes her concerns regarding the condition of the Liner to us all and states that she would like to report the liner upon return to Flammarion to get it checked and serviced before a disaster can occur. She also make us aware of her suspicions that there may be a Zodani connection, and then explains that the person responsible for helping to rescue Cyndariel and Chase is part of the Anti-Zodani faction and the possible Zodani connection with the singer.

Masuyo has made a fairly thorough check of the Low berths to make sure that there are indeed empty and we have no other signs of any stowaways.

View of the landing pad on 567-908 prior to the arrival of the MV Emperor Cato. The buildings of the scout base are behind the viewpoint.

168 hours out of Flammarion we exit jump space at 119 diameters from 567-908, Masuyo and Earl are both in the gallery and make note that no other ships are in the vicinity, The planet is a greyish brown colour with some signs of surface water, and a thin atmosphere. The liner's atmosphere has been slowly adjusted during the jump to help passengers acclimatise. We are given 24 hours planet side whilst we wait for refuelling to be completed by the crew and checked and supervised by the Scout Service personnel. I go off the investigate Mandels Prang, the remains on an ATV that has been crashed into a large rock. It look quite eroded maybe due the high winds that occur planet side. The others wander off to find their own entertainments.