Adventure Log for Captain Auri Strannix

[Gadrin]

Adventure Log of Captain Auri Strannix

FALSE FACTORS

Background: Auri mustered out of the Scout service Year 1106 Day 214 on Lanth with
the rank of 2nd lieutenant. With the prospect for further promotion years off, at the
advice of his superior Colonel Ruhle, he mustered out, gaining elegibility for
a starship, a civilian Marava the IISS owns. Thanks to a token monetary arrangement,
Ruhle will divert the ship to Strannix, which he can run at a (supposed) profit and
kick back an amount every quarter, to keep the ship off the recall sheet. Civilian scout
vessels are indentified by a 15 character, alphanumeric string, then a pair of 3 digit
numerics, so Strannix names her the THREE PLUS THREE, which any scout would know
is an IISS inventory vessel. Strannix goes about building a crew and drifting down to
District 268, taking a few IISS subsidy trips and following some private money-making
ones as well. We find them still in District 268 when the adventure log begins...


Year 1106 Day 319

Docked in the Bowman Belt and unloaded our cargo, 37 tons of supplies for the local base.
It was a profitable trip so later we all celebrated at the ROCKET CLUB where I bumped
into a fellow on the next stool over who was with the Imperial Police. We felt each
other out and when he found out I was with the scouts he offered me a job...sort of.

Apparently he'd recently apprehended a criminal who was faced with significant
imperial jail time. As an alternative to a long sentence, he agreed to cooperate with
authorities. One of his many pecadillos was that a local crime cartel was planning
to subvert the Sharushid factor on OLDOR during next month's run on disseminated
information from megacorp's home office. Since OLDOR wasn't along the regular xboat
route, info couldn't be relayed in the normal manner and the megacorp relied on sending
out a courier. Since the courier would be making other stops, the computer he carried
had a large database of information crucial to Sharushid. Normally a factor inputs his
serial number, the unit verifies his id and the program retrieves all the info he's
supposed to have. Scouts operate this way, but slightly different. Once in possession
of the information, the cartel could crack the entire database open and be privvy
to Sharushid's business, which no doubt, was worth a fair bit. Anyway, the policeman
can't make the trip to OLDOR, since he's got other assignments, but was figuring on
sending a message to the Sharushid factor to warn him. Of course even with a CR500
honorarium there's no guarantee the message will make it on time. I asked him if he
thought Sharushid would reimburse a concerned Imperial citizen for the trouble and
he thought they would, especially if said citizen presented them with his official
summary report. It certainly couldn't hurt. So over a few drinks we talked at length
of the strength and options the cartel might have for such a situation and he assured
me it was one or two people maximum that would handle this. In his experience they
relied on subtlety and stealth, not warfare.

We'd spend the night here, replenish fuel and jump to OLDOR in 12 hours. I hope
he's right.

note: OLDOR is the replacement for Faldor IMTU.

 

[Gadrin]

Year 1106 Day 327

Dropped out of jump and made our way into OLDOR. Bit of a backwards place at TL
2. E-class starport with very minor facilities. The lower portion of the peninsula where
the port is located was socked-in with heavy fog. With the assistance of a landing beacon
we set down just after 10PM local time. It took about 20 minutes for the Port Inspector
to arrive so we waited patiently inside, cutting through the soup by scanning via our
millimeter wave unit; hardly anyone out tonight. The man's inspection was very cursory
since we had no cargo and he took our 100 credits for the port fee. I asked him about
the Sharushid factor, Tronas Maison, and he seemed to know of him, but directed us to
the Port Office for more information. It was also the only place that had an accurate
map of the port. I decided not to tell him why we'd come. So we donned jackets and I
issued snub guns to myself, the comm officer and our steward/medic. We headed to the
Port Office.

Despite imperial-level technology, the port workers favored writing everything on
dry-erase boards, undoubtedly to give them more to do. The Port Clerk on duty knew
of the factor, but wasn't on more sociable terms with him. He gave us a general
description then pointed us to the approximate position of the man's house, thanks
to a large, hand-drawn map on the wall. The port sat on the edge of a large river,
which split the city in two; but it was impossible to tell with the fog. We spent a
few minutes getting the feel of things before committing the route to memory and leaving.

Our ship was parked near the North Wall which had a major street running along it. The
wall was massive, a 40-foot tall, stone item that must have taken hundreds and hundreds
of souls many years to make. It arced the entire length of the port, closing it off
from easy access from the rest of the planet. While not interdicted, the local rulers
believed in insulating their masses from the likes of spacers. We walked through the
fog for about 25 minutes before intersecting with a second cross street, which lead
to the factor's home.

 

[Gadrin]

A few other homes had lanterns burning, but the factor's was easy to spot, since it
was twice the size of any of the surrounding homes. Made of wood and stone, it also
had a lantern burning on the porch, as well as an interior light. We entered the small
portico and knocked. A shadow drifted across the back-lit curtain and an eye peeped at
us through the gap in them. A minute later the door was opened by a middle-aged man,
who clearly wasn't the factor, asking us our business. He gave us a most surprised look
at my response then brought us all in the front room. Sitting quietly on a setee was
a heavily bandaged man, his skull partially wrapped in cloth and both hands. His eyes
were worn and his skin a sick, sallow color, like he was in the throes of a serious
illness. Turned out he'd been attacked earlier in the day and tortured, no doubt by
the persons we'd come to warn him about. The man who let us in explained he was the Port
Physician and was tending to the factor for the next few days. The courier had come
and gone. With nothing to do, we offered our regrets and left.

Back at the Port Office we asked for information on the ships in port, seeing if we
could scare up some business since it was unlikely that Sharushid would offer any
payment for coming in after the damage was already done. When the Port Clerk asked
us why I explained. He gave me a very bewildered look, before informing us the Port
Physican didn't resemble the man we'd seen in the least. We exchanged a few blank looks,
thanked him and then ran out.

This time we went around back.

The lock on the door wasn't much, especially with the laser hand-torch my steward had
brought along with him. We stayed to the sides of the wooden floors then crept in. The
two were still there all right, but the "wounded factor" had removed the dressing
from his head and hands, so the two of them could play cards. Apparently he'd undergone
a miraculous recovery since we'd seen him last.

At this point, we broke in on them.

The doctor was flabbergasted and protested until we confiscated his little black bag
that held a small automatic. The "wounded factor" just sat there mouth wide open. We
asked them what had happened to the real factor and he kept protesting. I heard a
tearing sound and realized the "wounded factor" was retrieving a nasty little machine
pistol he had taped underneath the table top. His panic-burst missed but a 10mm chem
round from our comm officer caught him high in right shoulder. He dropped to his knees,
fumbled the weapon, gurgled, then fell flat on his face. The other man surrendered.

Upstairs we found the real factor, asleep in his bed, a hypodermic and vial perched on
the bedstand next to him. My medic thought it might be a derivative of a FAST drug. Now
we had to figure out what to do. I felt strong that Sharushid would be more amenable
if we handed over these two to them in person. That, along with getting their factor
back on his feet would be best. There was no telling how much involved the locals would
want to be. I didn't want to risk them sweeping it under the rug, or having these two
escape. We had an air/raft, but the Port Inspector had warned us not to use it because
of the weather. I was inclined to ignore him, since it was a long walk back. We also
needed to get the factor to our med-bay. So I sent back the steward with orders to
bring the air/raft and not be seen and by all means to be extra careful. He floated
the air/raft down to street level almost an hour later and we transported the drugged
factor back first, then our prisoners.

The next morning, I made good with the Port Master, and got his permission to fly the
THREE PLUS THREE out past the river and take on water for our processor to convert to
fuel. We waited two days for the Sharushid courier to show up. Now the factor had all
his information up to date.

Instead of going back to Bowman, the factor instructed us to head for Flammarion
since it was the nearest port with an xboat office. His home office was on Iderati,
too far for us but Sharushid had regular ships through there every week. That was good
enough for me, besides the now healthy man repaid us by advancing CR 10,000 from his
own pocket. We left OLDOR the evening of Day 329, with the two prisoners in low berths.

 

[pendragonman]

What, no interogation? I know a guy named Markov who is reaaaaally efficient at pulling information out of people. If you can get over the smell of his hand rolled cigarettes, that is.

 

[Gadrin]

Nope, no captain "who's really a green-beret/special forces/knows everything and is all seeing type" of guy ... or his crew.

The idea is that they're more or less regular people, who get drawn into adventures through just going about their business, so no ACRs with RAM GLs or "we just happen to be carrying Battledress in the cargo so break it out" and so forth.

I'll leave that for television/movies. They've got better FX.

The premise allows me to:

1. Do a little worldbuilding and Marches-fleshing.
2. Do some NPC building
3. Do some back-plot building

all for MTU. So say we were gaming something else, these situations help
me build up some ideas for people you might come across or plots that can thicken up thin spots with some flavor.

 

[Cyberwere]

Very enjoyable, easy read. Hope you keep up the posts. It's nice to see a well though out adventure being played out. More a James Rockford, Magnum PI style that the usual John Wu bang and boom.

Thanks for the posts. Now in my subscription list.

 

[Gadrin]

Year 1106 Day 336

In orbit around Flammarion. During the jump I made it a point to get Tronas Maison
to come up a fair ballpark figure for our involvement without looking too much like
we were begging. He was certainly grateful as he'd have likely "disappeared" once the
cartel had their hands on the goods. No sense in having him warn Sharushid that he'd
been attacked and the info was stolen. While his own budget was modest, he felt we
could gain another CR 34,000 in addition to the CR 10,000 he'd already given us. While I
wasn't ecstatic, it was fair. He also promised to talk to any Sharushid people in port,
to see about cargo while we waited two weeks for him to return. We turned the prisoners
over to local SPA security, who had wild looks on their faces when we explained the
circumstances. Luckily Tronas' credentials and the Imperial Police report clinched it.

Now where to? Two weeks was too long to wait...

more to come...

 

[Jame]

I take it you use a variant of GT: BtC instead of CT Supp. 3?

 

[Icosahedron]

Sorry to nitpick, Gadrin, I just stumbled across this thread and decided to nosey.

In what seems to be a village-size TL2 settlement, where presumably everyone knows everyone else, just who was the 'doctor-patient' scam designed to fool? All the locals would know both the doctor and the 'factor'.

Perhaps the GM had told them that strangers would come calling.

I'll shut up and go away, shall I?

 

[pendragonman]

Iccy, you are really a nitpicky bugger aren't you?

Perhaps it is a "sustainable production tech level 2" not a medieval society?

 

[Gadrin]

Sorry to nitpick, Gadrin, I just stumbled across this thread and decided to nosey.

In what seems to be a village-size TL2 settlement, where presumably everyone knows everyone else, just who was the 'doctor-patient' scam designed to fool? All the locals would know both the doctor and the 'factor'.

Perhaps the GM had told them that strangers would come calling.

I'll shut up and go away, shall I?

The starport is separate ground from the planet. Locals can come and go, but it's mainly "neutral ground" for spacer types and those that work at the port. The local king doesn't want too much contamination.

Those that work at the port are "free merchants" who have the local government's blessing/favor and of course the factor for Sharushid (and possibly one or two others). The "port city" isn't very big. Naturally the off-worlders who mind the port also live here, but over the years the population has grown such that not everyone knows everyone else.

The doctor is actually employed by the port and is known to the port master and most of his men. When the two impostors show up at the factor's house they take him by surprise then hunker down, waiting for the courier to show up. The courier doesn't know either, and just has directions and an address to work with. He's got a hand-comp and scanned photo of the factor. Once he's admitted to the house by the "doctor" to visit the "wounded factor" well he's going to be facing a pair of weapons.

That was the premise anyway.

 

[Icosahedron]

Ah, right, yeah I'm just being too picky.

Nice map, BTW. CC2?

 

[Gadrin]

basically, IMTU Oldor's port (aka "Faldor with a port") is basically the top half of the city in that picture, and mostly the left "quarter" of that. you could cross the bridges, but it was usually frowned up (and a good spot for your bribery/fast-talk/etc skills)

in the Keith brothers Faldor, he had them land at a walled city that was under attack and the "sky people" weren't really any big deal. they just landed, people gawked and that was it.

I wanted a bit of an area that featured some higher tech, strangers and yet was separate.

 

[su_liam]

Really nice map you have there.

 

[Gadrin]

If you're an old D&D-er then it's from the city of Calaunt from the Forgotten Realms Adventures...one of my favorite places

 

[Gadrin]

Crewman In Jeopardy

CREWMAN IN JEOPARDY

Background: Auri mustered out of the Scout service Year 1106 Day 214 on Lanth with
the rank of 2nd lieutenant. With the prospect for further promotion years off, at the
advice of his superior Colonel Ruhle, he mustered out, gaining elegibility for
a starship, a civilian Marava the IISS owns. Thanks to a token monetary arrangement,
Ruhle will lend the ship to Strannix, which he can run at a profit (supposedly) and
kick back an amount every quarter, to keep the ship off the recall sheet. Civilian scout
vessels are indentified by a 15 character, alphanumeric string, then a pair of 3 digit
numerics, so Strannix names her the THREE PLUS THREE, which any scout would know
is an IISS inventory vessel. Strannix has previously left District 268 and headed coreward
when the entries for this adventure log begin...

Ever before the First Imperium, the Ziru Sirka the Vilani have been collecting and categorizing knowledge for the sake of it.

Year 1107 Day 006

Put in at VILIS just after noon local time, carrying a pair of 20-ton small craft for the
Vilisan Civil Affairs group. We hadn't been down more than 30 minutes when I got a radio
call from another captain in port, who wanted to know my schedule for this evening. His
name was Krefek and I explained that after cargo was unloaded and the items delivered I'd
be willing to meet with him. He mentioned the TAS-sponsored Brubek's in the port at 9PM
and I agreed. He made no mention of anything specific, other than saying that I was "his
type of fellow."

Met Captain Krefek and since he's an ex-scout too, I was indeed his sort of fellow
and he mine. With him was a slightly tarnished robot he referred to as Flush,
which it turns out he won in a card game with a half-drunk engineer from the Tukera
megacorp. He explained he had his ship's computer monitoring the port net for likely
candidates and when he saw the THREE PLUS THREE, he had to immediately contact me. Turns
out he wants to deliver a message to a third party, a subsector merchant who I'd heard
of named Ramik Sajjo. With Krefek's type-S under emergency repairs, he needs me to
take his place, offering an expense voucher (meaning fuel) on top of the regular pay,
which was CR 3000. I can spot and Intelligence Branch Operative when he's staring
me in the face, so I was naturally more than happy to oblige; provided of course,
he got the scout base at GARDA-VILIS to loan me a collapsible fuel rig. He agreed,
but he insisted we jump to ARKADIA tomorrow morning. The crew would be put out at
the prospect of a short liberty, but that's the breaks. I spent the rest of the night
trying to gather any freight headed for ARKADIA, with little success.

Krefek's robot showed up at dawn. It turned out that it was the item I'd be transporting
to Ramik Sajjo.

 

[Gadrin]

Year 1107 Day 010

Krefek's robot has been sitting in the common area since we left. Without moving. At
first it kinda spooked the crew but after a while we realized he's harmless.

Year 1107 Day 011

I take that back about being harmless. Our steward, mister Bredfell "woke" our passenger
and got him to gamble. One hundred and fifty credits later Bredfell retreated. The robot
asked us to recharge one of his power cells, which we did. Eight hours later he's back
to just sitting. The word got around about his gambling ability and the crew is now
avoiding him like the plague.

 

[Jame]

The word got around about his gambling ability and the crew is now avoiding him now like the plague.

:rofl: That's a classic!

 

[Gadrin]

Year 1107 Day 014

Touchdown on ARKADIA. Not much of a starport, but a fair amount of traffic, more than
I'd anticipated. Me and the bot found Sajjo's office just after 3PM local time. It
wasn't quite what I expected: half run-down office which sat facing away from the
port. For such a hot-shot, I expected something more extravagant. The man was in his
chair, feet up talking on his headset when he spotted the bot. He made a quick excuse
and ended the comm session, then vaulted up from his desk and totally ignored me. From
its waist compartment the bot produced a data disk and a small package, which only
vaulted Sajjo's spirit higher. I sat quietly by while he viewed the data, before he
kissed the bot where the paint was peeling on it's turret.

"So you're Captain Strannix," he finally got around to me. Apparently Krefek's disk was an
introduction of sorts. He then quizzed me about my experiences in space, particularly
about any orbital cargo transfers. Since ARKADIA had been masked when we arrived I thought
he was setting us up for some LASH-type jobs, which wouldn't pay nearly as well as jump
freight. He assured me that if I handled these jobs the future would hold something much
brighter. It stood to reason that once you're in with Ramik Sajjo, you're in, so I agreed.

I got a radio call from him at 6:15PM and we lifted off shortly after for the incoming
jump point.

 

[Gadrin]

Year 1107 Day 017 & 018

We just spent a bewildering two days waiting for arriving ships, off-loading their cargo,
then off-loading it once more to another cargo shuttle waiting right beside us, which
then took the freight dirtside. By dinner of the first day, we'd come to the conclusion
Sajjo was testing our aptitude for zero-g work. It was an easy gig and earned us CR
500 each ship we unloaded, which amounted to 4 by the middle of the second day. Around
dinner time we got a radio call from Sajjo himself, informing me that he was forwarding
the coordinates to a luau he was hosting that night on one of the Paradise Islands. We
were to land there and enjoy ourselves he'd be along later to talk business with me.

The islands were aptly named and the brisk shoreline breezes drove off any whiff
of the volcanic taint in the atmosphere. The crew and I were relaxing on the beach,
drinking and partying amongst ourselves when a Firefly-class shuttle roared overhead and
illuminated us with it's landing lights, followed by an admonition over it's loudspeaker
that we were all under arrest. My team wasn't the only ship crew as there were at least
three or four other starships here enjoying the warm water, evening breeze and food as
well. Sajjo's shuttle did a buttonhook landing and parked up past the long grass near
the other craft. He eventually found his way down, stopping to talk and schmooze with
each of the other groups before weaving his way to us, cradling a half-empty bottle
of Chateau Zhunastu like a newborn in his left arm. He gobbled down a roast sausage
before we made our way back to the THREE PLUS THREE to talk business. Most of the crew
tagged along when he announced his skill with cards; all except Virlasttii our comm
officer. He'd stayed on the ship's scanner after landing, when he picked up a female
voice among the ships here. The two of them were down on the edge of water putting
their heads together. Who was I to intrude ?

Sajjo was the third person through the airlock when the internal radscanner went
off. The display showed a rather minor radiation detect. We localized it on Sajjo
and the UV light in the airlock found the back of his "genuine Zhodani cloak" was
stained with a spray, comprised of some sort of beta-particles. Possibly strontium
hydroxide. Sajjo looked shocked, then balled up his cloak and casually tossed it
outside since it wasn't dangerous.

We spent the rest of night, until about 3AM playing cards, drinking, eating and
hammering out the details to a salvage job he wanted to offer us. Ramik Sajjo was quite
a showman. He bought drinks for the crew from an impressive wad of bills he had with
him, including some SOBER-UPS from our medical stores. The job was a micro-jump to the
outer system to a wreck in the asteroid belt, spend 2 or 3 days salvaging the rest of
the cargo (he'd been there already) and bring it back to ARKADIA. He had placed some
salvage beacons which would respond to a signal once we got close, and we could use
that as a beacon to find the wreck. Apparently the message from Trefek was that the
items from the initial salvage were snapped right up and they'd found a bidder for
the rest of the lot. Things eventually calmed down and Sajjo left for the head. His
voice came over the intercom: "Good night and I'll see you all bright and early."

The next thing we heard was the airlock cycling. I made my way to the bridge, spotted a
form in the darkness putting on a cloak and jogging towards his shuttle. I hit the outer
lights and got a wave in appreciation. He fired up his craft, engaged the auto-pilot
and left.