Game Date

240-1105

Location

886-945 → Bularia

View of 886-945 when landing half a planet away from the encounter.

Earl is trying to research the creature he assures us he saw and has asked the computer to try and scan the photo he took and the computer does appear to be doing something but to the rest of us there is something wrong with it. There is no indication that anyone is tracking any specific keywords during this search.

While this search is taking place we search for a water source to gather for fuel and somewhere we can also land to gather all the relevant samples we need for the survey. We find a fairly large lake and set down on its shoreline and there are several types of terrain for the samples we need. Cyn lifts the quarantine of the other crew members, and Earl's initial searches done turn up anything useful, but over time the results throw up a lot of references leading to conspiracy theories around Aliens that can make themselves invisible and can alter memories and perception. Cyn runs some tests on the blood sample that was gathered from the ground after the creature was injured, it is contaminated with sand and soil but still viable for some tests, the results are that it is indeed some form of blood mixed with soil, but it not Human, Vargr or Aslan, it in fact shows no terrestrial markers at all.

Junebug reports that the communications blackout has been lifted. (familiar somehow?)

Masuyo wonders about the age of the two ships we encountered wondering how long they have been here. The smaller scout ship appeared to have more dust gathered around and on it showing it may have been here for some time, a few months maybe?² The other larger ship seemed to be on the surface for less time, perhaps it was here to investigate the Scout ship? Is it worth us heading back for another look? I enquire if it would be possible to remotely access the ships logs to download them for further study and request a flyby but it is decided that we should probably just focus on our survey.

We have almost gathered enough water to purify for our refuel when an active scan of our ship is detected from a ship in a transfer orbit, heading out to the jump point. We are unsure who is scanning us , possibly one of the two ships we already found? The comms activate and a female voice is heard asking What are you doing here? Earl responds with We are surveying the plant at the request of the Scout service, who are you? The voice is familiar somehow. You don't recognise me, well that is disappointing. Then Earl makes the connection this is the same female we helped on one of our previous missions, dealing with the contraband we had unwittingly picked up. She seems to be under the impression that we are in fact following her, but Earl assures her that it is merely a coincidence that we happen to be here on the same planet as she is at this time. They continue their conversation for a while the creature is mentioned and Psionic abilities etc. and she asks a few questions which are answered but by this point I have tuned out of their talk, focusing on my task of refuelling. She expresses some concern over what we have found and experienced on the plant but Tharbin assures here that none of it will go into the official report only the relevant survey report will be submitted she seems the be happy with this and tells us not to be concerned over the creature as it has been handled and advises us not to do anything Stupid and takes her leave wishing us a cheery goodbye and we may meet again.

Throughout this entire process Masuyo has been diligently gathering all of our samples and has now completed this task and has brought them back to the ship for testing and storage, after Masuyo has been briefed on the events whilst she was away from the ship we discuss what to do with all of the evidence gathered and the internet searches on the creature and any other odd findings, and it would be best for the to be deleted so that there is no trace of what we encountered here for anyone to find and we do not want it to be shared or downloaded in our information transfers. I, as an amateur artist, however have made several sketches of different creatures form the planets we have previously visited and like to sketch random thing as well have made a few discreet sketches of the creature mixed in with my other drawings so they could be seen as the figment of some ones imagination, but still serve as some kind of record of what we encountered. Cyn manages to purge the medical records of the blood tests and the psionic testing she carried out and then incinerates the samples.

We look through all of the samples Masuyo gathered and check all of our scans and photos of the planets surface and decide that we have what we need to make the official survey report. Would we recommend colonisation? Although colonisation is a viable option, the costs would exceed the overall rewards of doing so, the return is not worth the effort. and as there have been signifiant reports of Pirates in the area this would pose a considerable risk to the colony.

Chase purges the computer system of any remaining information on the strange creature.

We plot our course back to Bularia and make a smooth Jump, we continue our training/studying whilst in Jump space and one uneventful week later arrive at our destination.

View on approach to Bularia Town

Masuyo contacts Star port Control announcing our arrival and requests permission to land, refuel and pick up cargo, this is given at landing pad 6. The crew on the bridge however pick up that the voice on the other end of comms is less friendly than from our last visit.

As we make our approach, Cyn advises caution. There are two Cutters (50 tons, short range vessels) on pads adjacent to ours. Masuyo acting upon the advise of Cyn asks our pilot (Chase) to make our approach flight a bit off and to only let some of our landing gear deploy to show we cannot land at this time, she then contacts SP control again We are having trouble landing need to pull up, standby It is very strange as they do not give any of the usual responses for this situation and respond very slowly Vagabonds Hope is there a problem?

We have a problem with our landing gear we will need to come around again or land on water

We keep a close watch on the Cutters as we move away from the Star port, and still there are no comms asking if we need to declare an emergency they have not initiated any emergency procedures at all, we find this highly suspicious as this is the first place we have attempted to land after our survey was completed. We find a large body of water approximately 50 miles South of the Star port and make our flight towards it a bit more erratic playing into the 'we have an emergency situation on our hands' to help allay any suspicions and make our landing there as this will give us plenty of time to see anything coming our way. Tharbin sets up the passive scans to help detect any active scans directed at us and we begin scooping the water we need for fuel. SP control are not really showing any concern about our apparent situation which is very odd, not the reaction that would be expected under normal circumstances.

All available crew are sent topside with bins to keep watch and assess any damage to the ship. Masuyo asks if i can make something on the ship smoke without actually causing any damage and being the engineer it goes against everything I believe in but yes I can make one of the thrusters emit smoke without any damage. A small dot is eventually spotted coming from the North, the direction of the Star port, Masuyo asks us all to discreetly arm up, An active scan is detected and it is coming from the Cutter that is making an overflight, Junebug watches the Cutter and determines that it is making a tactical surveillance flight not a rescue flight. we currently have enough fuel to take off but not enough to make a Jump flight, The Cutter makes a second overflight and we keep the scoop going. Strangely the Cutter is making no attempt at communicating with us and makes a third pass over us, so Masuyo makes contact: Orbiting Cutter are you going to help us or not? there is no response and it heads back to the Star port. We cruise away from our current location to make it harder for them to pinpoint our exact location if they return.

We finally collect enough fuel to make our Jump 2 but it still needs to be refined and we need 22 hours for that so we decide to attempt to submerge the ship and make it look like it sank, while Chase takes the Air/Raft away from the ship to appear that we have abandoned the sinking ship, the attempt to submerge fails but we continue South while Chase pilots the Air/Raft around the lake back to us.

Game Date

237-1105

Location

886-945

View of 886-945 from space (with cartographic information added). Source of the radio jamming is shown as a pink ≏ at roughly the seven o'clock position about half way from the centre of the circle of the globe (and in a mountainous hex)

We use the asteroid belt around the Gas Giant as our launch point and set our trajectory towards the planet. We all man our own stations and are equipped with all our weapons, Cyn has medical supplies in a pack for emergencies, Junebug and Kimbley are in her quarters for safety. Masuyo has set up the recording device, and is on the bridge along with Cyn, Tharbin and Chase are in the pilot seats, Earl is in the Gunner seat and monitoring sensors and finally I am in engineering. Our pilot makes a perfect trajectory plan and pulls it off flawlessly.

The planetary maps we got from the previous surveys the first of which shows no water and the second one shows around 20 % water on the surface, but we estimate around 30%, we approach from the North and ship is holding up well, no active scans as far as we can tell as we make our approach. Respirators are required as the atmosphere in very thin (again!).

The site of the radio interference. The left hand ship looks like a standard Type S scout ship. The right ship is larger and has two decks. The ships are separated by a shallow canyon (easy to climb from the lighter colour base of the canyon to the darker colour of where the ships have landed (taking, say, only one combat round to do). The site is overlooked by a much taller and larger rock/cliff made of a much darker brown than the rest of the scene.

Tharbin stays with the Hope and the rest of us except Junebug and Kimbley head out. We are around 11km away from the installation which will take us a day or so to reach on foot. After we several hours of walking we begin to see a narrow ravine in the distance, with two ships on either side of it. Neither of them are Imperial ships but one is a Scout ship at around 100 tons the other ship is of unknown origin and is around 300 tons, we don’t see any signs of movement around either of them but they do have running lights on. we approach from the North and pick out a discreet campsite to watch the ships overnight and forming a plan to get to them unseen. Watches are set and the night passes uneventfully, no signs of movement and no other signs of change overnight except for one cabin light that came on towards to front of one of the ships for about an hour before it was turned off. I have been asked to have another look at the unidentified ship to see if my time in the Navy jogs my memory for its configuration but nothing comes to mind, but I can confirm that it is not Imperial. The scout ship is armed as is the unfamiliar ship. Earls time with the Scout Service allows him to guess at it possibly being Darrian or Zhodani.

Artist's impression using the description of the creature as described by Earl.

A hatch opens and someone climbs out and then disappears as if they have fallen to the ground, we are in pretty open ground with very little ground cover for us to take shelter behind. Earl tells us of a humanoid approaching us but he is the only one who can see it???? He thinks it might be a Vargr, which is a humanoid canine, bipedal and sentient.

Why is Earl the only one who can see it?

As it gets closer it becomes obvious to Earl that it is not in fact a Vargr as it does not have any fur or the distinctive long snout and it does not appear to be wearing any clothing. Earl tries to communicate with it but gets no response and it attacks Earl with long claws but misses. He jumps back away from it, putting Chase in its path for the next attack and Chase feels a breeze pass his face. Masuyo radios for Tharbin to bring the ship to us and gives him our position, Cyn is next and her Armour seems to somehow fail and she is in a lot of pain but has no idea why. After several shots from all of us Earl informs us that it appears to be retreating and that it seems to be glowing. After having a careful look around Earl confirms that it has completely retreated and it appears safe for us to proceed. We head for the airlock on the Scout ship.

Again the question that most bothers me is why was Earl the only one able to see that creature? I ask him but he has no idea himself but Cyn decides she wants to runs some tests when we get back aboard the Hope.

Game Date

211-1105

Location

Iderati → Ucella → Bularia → 886-945

Preparations for departure have gone smoothly and you've completed the small amount of maintenance needed between jumps (The annual maintenance covers the major overhauls and servicing, but there is always some inexpensive checks that must be made between jumps).

Chase and Earl hear that Captain Vexar's activities have picked up lately.

Permission for take-off is denied as we await agents, four of them arrive at our dock with a warrant to search our vessel based on reports of us carrying Imperial contraband. We are only carrying standard cargo, so permission for them to board is given as we have nothing to hide. They will not provide us with any information on our accuser. Masuyo however accompanies them and makes sure they make quick work of their search, they are thorough and make a general search, the only information we get from them is that it came from an anonymous tip off... Masuyo asks Chase to check on all recently departed and currently departing ships. The Customs agents do not find anything, all the paperwork has been thoroughly checked and signed by Captain Earl. Only two ships have left within the past hour, a Far Trader and a Bulk Cargo Freighter. Junebug is suspicious in regards to our delayed departure. Launch clearance is finally given and our jump plot is successful.

Masuyo asks me to look through all the engine and power systems and to keep an eye on things just in case of sabotage. As far as I can tell everything is running fine. The standard Jump nausea has passed so it should all be fine, but I will keep a watch on everything anyway.

The view of Ucella Town as seen during the approach.

We reach our destination without incident and plan to land at the D-class star port, as we radio for landing permission, we are instead directed to land in a nearby playing field next to the river, we request authorisation to refuel from the river which is granted. LSP have had an accident of some kind is what we have been told. The star port will send trucks to us for unloading our cargo. Junebug decides to stand guard on-board for this as she is again suspicious. As we come in for our landing Chase makes a flyby the Star port which is no longer there, (smog causes visibility issues) but what we can see is a 10,000 ton freighter lying in what was the star port. We land and set up our hoses for the water refuel transfer.

I make quick check on all our power systems and all is good.

According to the star port staff LSP are crap, they have been planet-side for twenty years and own the star port for their freighters, but sometime within the last week one of them took off then crashed a few minutes later taking out the star port as well as the freighter. They are not overly forthcoming with information on repair times etc. The Merchants Hall is open for us to be able to acquire more standard cargo for our next stop.

There is nothing of note happening (aside form the crashed freighter) for the day that we are on the planet surface, no strange incidents, we do have Kimbley sniff at the cargo as it is loaded to check for anything untoward which is great practice for her.

We request launch approval and offer to pass on the information regarding the star port to Bularia which is our next stop. Our Jump this time was slightly more turbulent than usual and the nausea lasted a bit longer than normal as a result. I need another 8 week study period to up my Engineer(Power) to 2.

View on approach to Bularia Town

We reach 110 diameters from Bularia (due to Jump), and contact star port control for landing permission and are assigned docking pad 7. We are informed that refuelling is 100 credits per tone of unrefined fuel. We pass on the news about the star port on Ucella, and we are thanked for the news and told an advisory note would be issued. We land and offload our cargo and pay for some fuel. We don’t take any cargo from Bularia as our next stop does not have a star port but they seem very keen to sell us their grain, we ask if they can keep 20 tons of it for our return trip. Bularia is an agricultural world.

We all decide that this is a great opportunity to have some down time, 2-3 days, Chase heads to the pub to glean some information/gossip, and finds that a fair amount of non Imperial traffic comes through here from the Sword Worlds, Zodani and Darrians. Chase is approached by a journalist about the LSP freighter on Ucella but declines to give any information. He does ask about entertainment in the area and is told that there are dances and radio stations available and there is gambling as well (music and dancing is 1930's style). Chase tries out the gambling with a few bets and breaks even, while doing this he hears that pirate activity has increased which is unusual for Bularia. Traders have seen some action with laser scoring on the hulls. There is no specific route which stands out as being targetted. Masuyo and I offer to keep watch on the ship so Junebug can Get Kimbley out for some much needed fresh air and exercise and longer walks. Our downtime winds down and we plan for our next Jump.

Launch clearance is given and we perfectly plot and execute our Jump. The trip is smooth and we all continue with our training/education. We emerge from Jump and a familiar level of static comes across on comms. We head for the systems gas giant as fast as possible, as the jamming affects the sensors too. We all dash for the windows to see if we can visually see anything unexpected, Cyn tries the sensors again but we are sitting in a ball of static and it's no use. Possible pirate activity, there are no active scans only passive ones. The jamming does appear to be coming from the plant we have been sent to survey, which seem to have a frontier style installation. We put the gas giant between us and the planet and any further scans do not net us and further information. The jamming does not appear to be affecting any of the other plants in the system, so we discuss our options for approaching the plant. We talk about trying to approach when the installation is on the dark side of the plant but as it is tidally locked to the gas giant this is not an option. we decide to approach with minimal systems online to leave as little signature as possible for any scans, which will essentially make us appear as a falling rock. as we will be running with very minimal life support we all put on our Vacc suits and put Kimbley into an emergency Vacc ball, then we turn off all no essential systems and head for the planet. We aim for a near miss by the installation so we can try and land on the backside of the planet as fast as possible.

Game Date

177-1105

Location

Flammarion, then Debarre

Vessel spotted over Flammarion. Probably some noble's overengineered streamlined fighter (it certainly doesn't look all that practical!)

Masuyo graciously purchases me an auto-pistol as I only have my static blade, Cyndariel buys some psionic inhibiting drug for the crew and is testing it in her Lab to see if it can be replicated, Junebug and Tharbin both purchase a hunting rifle each so we can hunt the bears on Debarre. The bears are armoured and we want to try and capture one alive

We prepare to depart after loading the mails and cargo for Debarre, we successfully take off, and Tharbin successfully plots our jump co-ordinates for when we reach 100 diameters to perform the jump. I ask Junebug to give me some lessons in using my new my new auto-pistol, she agrees and we set up a practice range in the common area.

Six days into the Jump and I am carrying out a routine check on our power systems, all is fine except for a marginally higher than normal reading, but as we are on our shake-down cruise this may be the new normal for our renewed systems. I decide to monitor it just to be sure.

A Debarrean Bear

Both Chase and Earl tell us they have experienced strange dreams again and I exclaim "Is this another one of your prophetic dreams?"

We plan to land and take some time away from the ship and the damn white box!

Our last day in Jump is uneventful and proceeding normally until...

The sensors (civilian) are overwhelmed with an unusually high amount of static, comms are out and we cannot contact any other ships in the system nor the Star port. The guys in the cockpit try and use the new military sensors to try and pick the origin of the sensory overload, Tharbin finally succeeds in getting the location, it is coming from an island to the north of the Star port. There are a couple of other ships in the system and at the Star port according to our sensors, one of the ships at 100 diameters out is currently stationary, we have also established that this does not appear to a normal type of static. We decide to go ahead and make for the Star port and land in an empty bay, Tharbin and Masuyo prepare to disembark and talk to Star port officials to find out what the hell is going on, the rest stay aboard for the time being.

There is a Star port official waiting impatiently outside our ship and he does not appear to be happy by our sudden appearance, "What the hell is going on?" Masuyo explains what happened as we exited our Jump in system and asks if there is a problem from the surface, "I was hoping you could tell us, it only happened when you guys showed up."... "We thought it was you that was causing it and would ask you turn it off but you seem to be as in the dark as us." They both then explain that we have managed to locate the source of the static and he seems very surprised, we can't get any signals out or in all of our comms are currently jammed, our sensors cant pick anything up because they are not working, everything is offline for the moment. Masuyo and Tharbin threaten to leave with the intended mails and cargo for the planet as they are not happy with the Star port officials attitude, "NO, no that won't be necessary," as his demeanour changes to a more friendly one, he explains that it has been some time since they have had any mail or fresh cargo delivered (we get paid 60,000 credits). As the signal is new and not natural, but only seems to have started literally seconds after we entered the system it may have something to do with the white box aboard our ship??? They ask after the stationary ship we passed on the way in and it is a Safari class ship of hunters who are on their way out of system on the way to Iderate after hunting bears planet side.

Tharbin and Masuyo offer to investigate the strange signal in return the Star port will refuel our ship as payment, it is agreed but the official persists in stating that the island is just that a forested and uninhabited (except for the wildlife) island why would any kind of signal be coming from it? Earl heads down to prepare the launch for the trip.

We all get ready to depart after a sharing of the conversation and the plan of action, we equip armour and weapons as well as our breathing masks and any other relevant equipment needed, for me this is my Laptop and toolkit, We fly north toward the island and fly around a couple of times to take readings and take note of any visual anomalies. We find a suitable landing site in the south west corner of the island. Our flyover reveal some kind of ruin and only helps to confirm that this is location of the strange signal. We set the ship down at the chosen landing site.

DJV's Mongoose Traveller V2 Trade Plugin Version 3.380.0. View the Change History.

Game Date

185-1105

Location

Debarre

Once all are aboard & the cargo secured, the launch returns to spaceport taking approximately 8 hrs for the return, Tharbin keeps a watch full eye on the bear for the duration of the trip back. Earl makes a rough landing next to the Vagabond, scraping the perimeter fence.

On arrival at the space port, Cyndariel briefs Earl as captain, that an irate captain Grimstone, whose ship was attempting to jump out of system, is claiming compensation as he blames the issues on us, as all the troubles coincided with our arrival. On cue the captain returns and engages in a heated argument with Earl, who stands his ground and points out that the phenonium was not caused by us and in fact we are currently engaged in trying to sort it out.

Tharbin & Earl return to the launch and head back to the site, after loading the white box discreetly. Whilst Chase is checked over by Cyndariel and administered pain killers then instructed to rest in quarters.

Cyndariel tends to the bear's nourishment over the coming weeks as we wait for something to happen, as well as feeding Kimbley using the ship rations.

Kalinda

Kalinda (human) an agent of the sentinel’s arrives a few weeks later and is confronted by Masuyo, who insists on a briefing on what the cargo / box is. The agent eventually discloses her patron is an Ancient and the box is from another ancient, and in fact the war is not over between the ancients, just gone quiet. The agent & Masuyo oversee the destruction of the box which lifts the communications blockade. After the completion of this task a discussion takes place as Kalinda’s patrons would like to keep this event quiet and out of the imperium’s spotlight.

A plan is hatched and agreed by all present, which involves some diversion tactics and cover story. A location with a hunting lodge has been chosen to be set up as the dummy location of the signal origins, before it is conveniently destroyed by rock/meteor, which will be arranged by Kalinda’s ship.

Game Date

184-1105

Location

Debarre

The site of the radio jamming

184-1105: Reminder: Cyndariel (and Kimbley) are back on the Vagabonds Hope, everybody else is at the landing site of the Launch. The heavy radio interference is overwhelming so there is no radio communication between the Launch and/or characters and/or (in particular) the Vagabonds Hope.

We start heading towards the ruins with our lights on as it is permanently twilight due to planet being tidally locked. Masuyo finds a strange door, the building looks ancient, very high tech but ancient none the less. I approach a window and I see nothing unusual, the room is fairly empty but there are some cubicle like objects in the corners of the room around 50-100 cm tall. The door is closed with no obvious opening mechanism, Masuyo readies her weapon gives the door a push and surprisingly it opens, (strange for something this high tech???).

Chase hears something coming from the south, there is a bear in the tree close to him, (Dream?). to my left is a river not too deep and relatively swift flow from north to south, Junebug moves closer to the window and confirms that aside from the strange items -which are 75cm tall- it is empty, she opens the window and hears an electrical hum which she lets me know about. The bear quickly approaches Chase and attacks knocking him out. Tharbin takes a shot at the bear and misses but it does distract the bear from Chase. Hearing the shot Junebug moves into position and also takes a shot at the bear and scores a minor hit causing a small amount of damage but the bear is still moving. I ready my autopistol and take a shot if nothing else to cause confusion and distract the bear more knowing my pistol won't do much if any damage due to the armoured hide, I do score a hit but as expected it only causes minor damage but I do make a hasty retreat and leave the guys with the hunting rifles to their work. Tharbin and Junebug continue shooting at the bear with the tranquilliser darts whilst continually moving to avoid taking too much damage although the bear is very focused on Junebug, Tharbin misses most of his shots but Junebug is successful in all of hers she takes a small amount of damage from the bear but her armour takes most of the punishment and finally it collapses due to the tranquilliser. Tharbin shouts for me to head back to the launch to get the restraints we brought for the bear and Chase after receiving some emergency first aid from Masuyo and has regained consciousness returns very slowly and carefully to the Launch to recuperate until he can get back to Cyndariel on the "Hope". After collecting the restraints I head back and see Chase making his way gingerly back to the Launch, I give a pat on the shoulder gently as he passes and a smile as I carry on my way.

A Sentinel of the signal site

As I am making progress with my task Masuyo and Junebug make their way into the ruins to explore, Masuyo is in the lead and she enters a room to find what appear to be bones lying on the floor, upon closer inspection they are in fact cybernetic parts, these are of similar technology to the wall high tech and antiquated. The size is overall taller than standard humanoid at around 7 feet tall. Whilst they are exploring Tharbin and I restrain the bear and drag it back to the Launch. Masuyo and Junebug continue their exploration and find more doors which are extremely sensitive to physical touch, even after all this time the doors work very well. There are strange lights inside the are some form of construct like old fashioned torches, no fire, but they give off a faint light, in the room there is a filing cabinet like object with no obvious doors or drawers or opening of any sort, upon closer examination it reminds Masuyo of the white box we have aboard the "Hope". She eventually finds the room Junebug and I saw through the window and hears the strange hum but disregards the rooms as there is no signs of danger or anything else of interest, as she moves further into the ruins she finds a hole of some kind in the floor but there is no way back up so she leaves this for now and continues to the door instead. in this room there appears to be two of the cybernetic beings, complete and apparently standing as sentinels, they are not moving, at this point she calls off further exploration and retreats to the entrance to wait for Tharbin and I to return to the ruins. We arrive back to find both Junebug and Masuyo waiting for us, "Problem?" I ask, Masuyo fill us in on what they have found so far and motions us to follow and we head back to the room she discovered, here Junebug takes the lead and throws a small pebble from her pocket into the room, no reaction from the "Sentinels", this time she throws her dagger into the room it causes a small mark on the floor and there is a slight twitch from one of the "Sentinels", she relays this information back to us and we all hear "Language identified, why are you here?". Junebug tells the "voice why we are here and asks about the comms blackout, The "Voice" explains that they have initiated a quarantine due to contraband being present, can you identify the contraband for us? "Yes", elaborate please, "It is a foreign probe and it is not permitted to go any further". Junebug asks permission to collect her knife from inside the room which is granted.

Meanwhile back at the Star port there is a commotion coming from outside which disturbs Cyndariel and i seems to be coming from the ship next to ours, so she goes to the window to have a look and an angry mob is heading straight for the "Hope". Banging comes from the door with a loud demand to OPEN UP, having no other choice and being somewhat flustered she lets them in and asks "How can I help you gentlemen?" The Captain of the other ship starts shouting demands for compensation for lost fuel and a collapsed jump bubble. Cyndariel stumbles through an explanation that she is only the medic on board and has no authority to authorise something like this, but lets him know that he can talk to Earl (the Captain?) when he gets back from his expedition, this mollifies the other Captain somewhat for the time being.

Back at the ruins Masuyo continues to have a conversation with the "Voice" asking if the comms jamming is coming from this facility and if so can it be turned off, the answer to both is "Yes, but only if we leave the probe here". We start to record everything, and I whisper to Tharbin to leave his bug here while he returns to the "Hope" with the Launch, Chase and Earl to retrieve the contraband (white box). "Where do we have to deliver it?" "The pit" is the response, the hole Masuyo found we assume. She explains that we will have to return to our ship for retrieval and are informed that this is acceptable.

Masuyo asks permission to enter the room form which the "Voice is issuing" and gets a somewhat surprised affirmative, Junebug stays on guard for us as Masuyo continues her conversation with the "Voice" I go off to investigate the cybernetic parts that are strewn around.

Masuyo discovers that the "Voice" wants to quarantine the contraband and has made a request for assistance to investigate the probe, but it will take a while for this assistance to arrive (at least two weeks). Can the comms for our party and ship only be unjammed to help us expedite the process of retrieving the probe and delivering it faster? "Not possible". Knowing that we have to report on everything that has occurred here Masuyo is concerned for the welfare of the facility and the "Voice" and asks if it can defend itself? response "You will not leave until contraband has been examined"

P.S I hope you all don't mind but I have taken to shortening the name of our ship to the "Hope" to save me a bit of time, and don't all great ships deserve a nickname.

Game Date

160-1105

Location

Flammarion

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 then 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 for 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.