Traveller Adventures
04 March 2024
Review: GURPS Traveller Interstellar Wars
18 December 2021
Chaos over Hades!
114-1120
Imperial Patrol Cruiser Boxing Kangaroo’s maneuver drive fired, breaking orbit for the jump distance from Dismal to Hades. Sublieutenant Hassan prepares the jump plot. He can’t remember if he’s done this particular route before, but it’s a routine Jump-3 in well charted space. Brand had one of her juniors at the controls, who was a jump tech by training. With the final power diversion, the ship shudders slightly as it leaves reality. The watches go to their jump space norm, interrupted by the occasional drill. The major project, under Sergeant Valdez’s supervision, is cleaning up the bunk room. Without the distressed Solomani aboard, it’s possible to give it a deep clean. Besides, it gives the crew a chance to do something useful during the down time.
117-1120
On the afternoon of 117-1120,
Spacehand Recruit Castillo is working with Marine Fini in the bunk room, and
they find one of the rescue bubbles in the space removed from the packaging. Looking
at, it, they speculate for a few minutes before calling for Sergeant Valdez.
Fini pops to attention, while
Castillo matches her in a manner that suggests a less intense discipline, when
Valdez enters the compartment. “Sergeant, we found this rescue bubble removed
from stowage, and now it’s useless,” and hands the damaged bubble over to him.
Taking a second to examine it, Valdez notes the external seals are all broken, and but the oxygen tab wasn’t pulled. It looked like a quick examination by someone bored as all get out. He remembered his first tour, with his company crammed on a Caen-class Dropship. That was unpleasant, and the order of the day for the rest of the mission was finding things to do to keep the crew out of trouble. There were a lot of locker inspections, and a couple of Terminal Lances were muttering about how this wasn’t the Force. He turned to them, and said “Good work finding this, we’ll get a replacement at Hades.” He went up to the captain’s day cabin with the tampered item. He explained to Lieutenant Brickley about what it was, and how it looked more like boredom than sabotage. Besides, there was no indication of any tampering with the locked door to the missile magazine, and the alarm circuit was intact.
121-1120
Keith Illustration, from Megatraveller |
The Boxing Kangaroo began to shudder noticeably as the ship came close to returning to the normal universe. Dropping into the system, the crew was on edge until Hassan and Zabiyah determined the ship had emerged in the Hades system. The cool, red star was normal for the Outback, but the small population orbited a gas giant. It also meant the fairly nice starport was relatively secure, given the lack of population. Officially a colony of Fenris, but that world’s military occupation meant it was a de facto Imperial possession. Other than the message stating the nature of the navigation instructions, there was nothing of interest nearby. Chishan and his section returned to an orbital watch, watching as normal.
Later that evening, the subsisized liner Albatross jumped in from Prometheus, and a pair of fuel shuttles came to start it loading fuel, ready for it to continue on Fenris in a few days.
123-1120
Solomani Uriel class Escort, from MgT Solomani |
After a quiet day in orbit, and watching the Albatross make her way to the jump limit, the Boxing Kangaroo was in her usual patrol routine, with intermittent sensor sweeps showing little that changed in the system, when the main sensor array came alive for Zabiyah’s section that afternoon. An incoming jump flare was detected, and he immediately went for an active sweep.
3,000 kilometers away, a small ship came into the universe, barely making emitting anything on the electromagnetic spectrum. The challenge, to submit to inspection of papers and identify the ship, was ignored. Going back to his training, and how he had seen leaders react in the past, he turned on the main radar system, and resent the challenge, further informing the intruders they were under sensor notice. He managed to get a lock on the little target easily. It proved to be a Uriel-class escort of Solomani design, but without the transponder, there was no way to identify the craft.
Brickley
came in, ready for ship-to-ship combat, “Officer of the Deck, report,” he
stated, standing in front of his seat in the center of the bridge.
“Sir, we
have an unresponsive intruder at 3k kilometers and closing. Positive ID with FC
radar has it as a Solomani designed Uriel class Escort. They have not
replied to challenges, and we have sent two.”
“Very well,
what is the status of the ship?”
“All
systems normal.”
“Attention
on bridge, this is the Captain, I have the Deck and the Conn,” Brickley stated,
and paused for a second, and turned on the announcing circuit, “Man General
Quarters for hostile starship intercept.” The alarm sounded, rousing the
off-watch sections to their stations. Chishan to the missile turret, and Valdez
and Afari preparing the Marines in the Ship’s Boat. Hassan slipped into his
console, while Brand was readying the power plant and drives. The crew strapped
in, sending reports to the captain’s console.
The two
ships closed, with the intruder’s operator attempting a sensor lock. The Joey
is released from Boxing Kangaroo’s hangar, and takes station. As the two
starships reach under 1000 kilometers distance, the Joey races in, to
attempt to board. Corpral Afari narrowly makes it, and docks with the Solomani
Escort. Upon doing so, they note a name for this little ship; battered but
faint, Glycon. The escort, lacking turret mounts, fires the each of its
lasers harmlessly at the Ship’s Boat as it closes to dock.
Sergeant
Valdez is the first one across, with his team. Yap and Binici are ready with
them. The Marines start working on opening the portside airlock, but end up
blowing through the outer iris valve to get inside. Glycon’s crew tries
to break the docking, but just can’t get it. The airtight door from the airlock
to the crew’s area, and gets forced open, and the Marines storm in. They open
the forward door on the little escort’s common area, and pull the hapless
engineer off his couch. Placing him under Binici’s guard, they then force the
overhead iris valve, and take the tiny bridge, and the two individuals in there
surrender once the laser rifles are on them. The man at the pilot’s couch
speaks, “I’m Andre Charpentier, and I surrender the family yacht to you. That
includes you, Franca. Is my engineer, Teun, alright?”
“I accept
your surrender,” Sergeant Valdez says through an external speaker set to boom
in the cramped bridge. “Your man is fine. We’ve got him back on the boat.”
Switching to the radio, he calls out to the Joey. “Afari, you and Franke
over here. We’ll need you to get this to a stable orbit. Before that, call the
Skipper, and tell him to ready a prize crew.”
Appledorn
and Fini escorted the two crew down from bridge, and into the waiting boat. The
four Marines ensure the three crew are all separated from each other. Corporal
Afari and Marine Franke were able to get the ship into a stable orbit, and
Valdez and Appledorn stay on the captured Escort.
“Another
prize, here we go.” Sublieutenant Hassan notes, with Castillo and Maurer in the
boat on the return trip with Appledorn. The Kangaroo had closed into an
appropriate distance. The small population here at Hades just couldn’t support
a defense force, so roving patrols were about it. The plan for the Glycon
was simple. Search the main cargo bay, and place her down at the Starport until
the Navy could condemn and sell her. The ship would be under guard until then.
The Class B port offered the space to put the captured boat down securely until
a real prize crew could come for it. The Marines said the crew refused to talk,
other than requesting comfort items, and an advocate. The four junior Marines
stayed back on the Boxing Kangaroo as guards for the prisoners, as the Kangaroo
secured from general quarters.
Sergeant
Valdez was standing by in the bridge of the little ‘yacht’ when the Joey docked.
Appledorn was down at the airlock, showing the XO where to go. When they all
returned, Hassan gave a final set of instructions.
“Maurer and
I will be checking out the M-drive, flight controls, and comms for the
Downport. Sergeant, you’ll start searching the cargo bay. I understand you and
Appledorn haven’t checked it yet?”
“Yes sir,
we haven’t. We’ll do a quick sweep for anything of interest. They did dump the
log, though. Standard procedure for when you’re getting boarded by us.”
“Good.
Sergeant, carry out a search.”
The trio
departed for the cargo bay, and the Marines and Spacer looked through the
crates in the space. Valdez found nothing of interest, just some spare parts he
didn’t have a clue about. Castillo did find something interesting. A crate of
Aquitanian Eau de Vie, lacking the Seals for Imperial Customs, as did
Appledorn.
And Appledorn’s was far more
interesting than some rare liquor. Eight travel cases for weapons. Two with
gauss support weapons, six gauss rifles, eight ammo drums for the support
weapons, and four mags for each rifle. All had Imperial model numbers and
serials. Somehow, these were stolen and aboard a ship caught in questionable
circumstances. The three men leave the cargo bay, and seal it. Weapons
smuggling in the border is always an issue, especially with the Solomani Party
General Conference going on.
Meanwhile,
Hassan and Maurer were going over the flight controls, comms, and powering on
the transponder. Everything seemed fairly standard, and though it had been
quite some time since he’d landed a starship at a downport, Hassan was certain
he could with this one. They managed to get the comm system turned on, and
contacted the downport for clearance, along with that for the Ship’s Boat.
After about thirty minutes, Sergeant Valdez returned to state what they’d found.
The information would immediately be passed to the Boxing Kangaroo and
the Imperial Magistrate once they’d landed.
“Boxing
Kangaroo, this is Navy Prize Three One. Black sun standard heaters aboard,
over,” Hassan radioed to the Kangaroo.
“Prize
Three One, Boxing Kangaroo, copy black sun standard heaters. Got a
count? Over,” Lieutenant Brickley responded. The Skipper was still on the
bridge.
“Couple of
heavies and half a dozen regulars. Over.”
“Enough for
a squad. I’ll note that, and send it down to the Starport Security and the Warden’s
office. Anything else of interest? Over”
“Crate of Aquitanian
Eau de Vie. Small stuff, but still a fine. Prize Three One Over.”
“Copy on
the fun water. Prize Three One, this is Boxing Kangaroo¸ you can land
when directed by Hades Down control, and be followed by the Joey. Boxing
Kangaroo out.”
“Boxing
Kangaroo, Navy Prize Three One, we can land when directed, and return on Joey.
Out.” Shortly afterwards, the prize crew lands the captured Glycon,
and starts turning it over to the Starport Security Officer.
Recent News Stories:
Home/Aldebaran
079-1120
Daedalus/Aldebaran 063-1120
The pleasant island resort of White Kyros was attacked
before dawn this morning by an armed party of unknown origin. Over a dozen
cottages were destroyed before the attackers withdrew. Although no specific
report has been released to the media, casualties among both security staff and
vacationers were apparently high.
Esperance/Solomani Rim
049-1120
Capital/Core
229-1119
A near tragedy was averted today, when quick thinking on the
part of a sport rentry diver prevented the death of a companion.
02 July 2021
Preparing for In Person Play
Putting this to use! |
Examining my bookshelf and extensive folder of PDFs, I settled on running One Crowded Hour for the group in August. I'll have character sheets for the pregenerated characters from the adventure prepped, but offer character generation if anyone wants it using Mongoose Traveller 1st Edition and limited options. I'll be copying the deckplan down onto graph paper so it's larger than the one provided in the PDF. Mr. Dougherty, a normal sized sheet of paper (US Letter or ISO A4) just doesn't quite work for the table!
I have the adventure printed, and I'll make a pamphlet out of Traveller - in Two Pages, and provide prefilled character sheets for everyone. I'm hoping it turns out well, and that in the future, I can progress to more free-form games. I'm definately wanting as much input as possible for running a game for non-roleplayers. Maybe even start with Research Station Gamma....
09 May 2021
Patrol Over Dismal
108-1120
Unchanging bureaucratic stereotype |
The Boxing
Kangaroo was felt crowded, with the Solomani locked in the bunk room, and
the crew forbidden to associated with them outside of the OOD and Marine. The
survivors set up a rota, to ensure there would be one of them ready to meet
with the crew. The most junior would have had the overnight. In the starport’s
morning, Brickley found himself negotiating with the Starport Warden, an
unpleasant cretin named Bretodeaux. They spent most of the time bandying about what
responsibilities and authorization would be allowed for landing the crew of the
Heartbreak Hill.
“You see Lieutenant,
I am under no obligation to allow ANY non-Imperial personnel on to this world,
even if they stay inside the XT line,” was how it started after brief
introduction. Self-importantly, the man continued, “I’m not even sure where
this whole idea comes in, you know, that spacers whose craft can still support
their lives…”
“Except it cannot
support their lives for the MINIMUM three weeks that it would be to get an
official ship out here, with a diplomatic representative, to repatriate them.”
Brickley calmly responded, at the man. “Additionally, my orders do not
authorize me to maintain personnel onboard outside of ship’s company for any
longer than required. Your starport is on an inhabited world in the Imperium,
and the High Laws require that distressed starfarers are allowed to be landed
at the starport and granted a minimum of parole around the starport vicinity.
Additionally, I will inform my superiors that you were not willing to assist
the Navy in standard missions.” His unspoken addendum was this would end
Bretodeaux’s career, as the Navy in many ways was the authority with quick teeth in the Imperium.
“Gah! I
just want a nice easy time here,” came Bretodeaux’s response.
“In that
case, grant my ship or boat clearance. I know the only other ship in system is a safari
ship!”
“Fine,
fine, we’ll take them,” Bretodeaux replied, seemingly resigned. They shifted the
call to communications specialists, and Brickley called for the Marine Sentry
to escort Mr. Strnad up. He took the half minute to think about what he had to say.
As the door
opened, and the Solomani official entered, Brickley waved him to a seat. “Mr.
Strnad, we’ll be able to get your crew ashore on Dismal. At this point, you’ll
be covered under the Distressed Starfarers provisions. You can land on Dismal,
and there’s a moderate hotel in the Starport that should be able to put you and
your crew up for a few weeks. It may be a while, maybe the 130th or
so, before you can get back to the Confederation.”
“That’s
some good news,” Strnad replied, his guarded features not showing a reaction. “I
take it we’ll be limited in our movements?”
“I’m afraid
so. The Starport Security Officer will require daily check ins. I’d like to
think this would be true for an Imperial ship unable to leave the Confederation
under its own power.” A moment, and Brickley thought of misadventure BM3 Zabiyah
told him of, having been in Mirabillis/Capella accidentally.
“Well, at
least there won’t be any S-men bugging the suites. Thank you for offering something
positive for my crew, Lieutenant, and showing me a positive side of Imperials.”
Strnad replied, with polished look. “May I take my leave, and return to the
bunkroom?”
“Of course,
I’ll have the boat take you down later today,” as the two men parted.
Corporal
Afari found himself loading up his entire fireteam for the short flight down. A
routine flight path, with a published approach, made this a piece of cake.
Franke was in the other chair as systems operator, with Yap and Binici making
sure the passengers sat down and didn’t rock the boat. Yap was the lead for passenger
section, and the passengers wearing their vacc suits for the very thin atmosphere
when they landed. Nice and easy, no major weather patterns. Coming in with
minimal flare, he stuck the landing, making it look easy. But then, the contragravity
and computers made any landing look easy, but he did it with style. “Thank you
for flying with the Imperial Marine Force. Please enjoy your stay on Dismal!”
he said over the loudspeaker as the port connected the boat to their
pressurized concourse. The first person Binici let aboard was a security
officer.
Entering, the
officer came aboard and entered the flight deck. “Alright, corporal, do you have
the papers?”
“Here’s
their papers, and the required docs from the Skipper. Any questions?”
“Not really,
let me see,” as the security man flipped through the docs. “Huh, that’s
interesting.”
“What’s interesting?”
“Looks like
your ‘Mr. Strnad’ may be under an alias. Something clicked with him in my database.
We’ll take him, but I’ll be watching him as best we can.”
“What,
nobody else around here security?”
“Pretty
much. I’m one of eight, we don’t have much out here that happens. The
occasional border trader goes big, but that’s it. I’ve been authorized to tell
you as soon as you’re ready, you can request clearance for launch.”
“Well good luck
with them.” As the security officer steps out, and the three other Marines
moved to remove them, and their baggage that was removed from the wrecked courier.
The return trip to the Boxing Kangaroo was routine and uneventful.
A day
later, a single seeker from the belt came in, to refuel and replenish some
stores and then jump for Ember via Loki. Catalogued as routine, Sublieutenant Hassan
noted it, and allowed the ship’s routine to continue for the rest of the day.
Once again, Sublieutenant Hassan
found himself on watch when a ship entered the system, this time the midwatch, when
the courier came out of Jumpspace a mere 500 km from the Kangaroo, coming
in with the mail. Make way for the Imperial Scout Service, indeed! Logged and noted,
they continued their lonely reverie. Consulting with the captain, they move
their orbit in from the 100-diameter limit, closer to the geosynchronous orbit
over the starpot.
Running an
afternoon training exercise for Owen, Chishan ended up noticing a comet in the
system, and adds it to the astronomical database. While not a requirement, it
costs them nothing in the long run.
15 April 2021
A Dismal Place for Search and Rescue
My apologies about how long this took! I hit some major writer's block as I finished up the New Year, New Character challenge, and on how to ensure there was action in this. I also added Sharrukin's Palace to the blogroll. It's the blog of Jon F. Ziegler, author of Rim of Fire.
093-1120
Ready to leave this backwater for another, the crew mans stations for preparing to jump. Sublieutenant Hassan starts, as usual, at the Astrogation plot, and prepares it for a standard two parsec jump to Dismal. A normal task, he does it quickly and passes it up to Lieutenant Brickley who verifies that it is done correctly. As they prepare for the jump at the 100d limit, MM1 Brand prepares her engineering team with the regular task of diverting power to the Jump Drive. They set up the controls and the ship enters jump space flawlessly.100-1120
Seven days and four hours after they jump out from Loki/Sol to Dismal, the Boxing Kangaroo reemerges from jump space after an uneventful week. Somehow, the combination of in-ship drills, training features, and entertainment nights, kept the crew from becoming unhappy. Even the junior personnel, barely out of their training weren't that unhappy.
When sensor cleared, it became clear the system name of “Dismal” was appropriate. A few hundred thousand people running after small petrochemical and mineral deposits, on a world with little water and a thin atmosphere. The resources were there, but not in amounts that made sense for a major colonization effort. The local government didn’t even have local orbital police, just a few hundred officers to enforce what law there was on this small world. At three parsecs from the nearest Solomani world, there was no reason to even try and defend it, the thinking went. Beaming some messages down to the port, the Kangaroo flew in to low orbit, approximately 400 km from the surface of the world. Entering in to brief communications, including their mission, they fell into the routine of patrol duty.
106-1120
At about 2000,
well into the evening watch, GM2 Chishan was watching the primary radar scope,
when an unknown ship entered the system, jumping it at 60,000 km out. He sends
the standard challenge, “Unknown ship, this is Imperial Patrol 234. State your
name and intention. 234 out,” before calling for the Captain.
The
response is almost instantly, “234, this is Corporate Yacht Lustrous
Ambition, inbound from Inferno. Corporate mission from LSP. Sending over
our papers now. Ambition out,” as Brickley stepped into the Bridge.
“Captain on
deck!” Spacehand Apprentice Owen shouted.
“Carry on.
So, a corporate yacht. Anything yet?” Brickley replied.
“Just
getting it now, sir,” Chishan replied. “Lustrous Ambition, we have
received your transmission. You are cleared to enter orbit, once there, await
permission for landing. 234 out.”
“We copy
all, 234. Just not expecting any Navy boys around here. Ambition over.”
Brickley starts by examining the
papers. The registration checked out for an LSP owned Safari Ship, and it
seemed they were here to make a sales call on a minor customer. Unusual, but it
happens. He forwarded it to the downport, and recommended they approve the
landing. The Lustrous Ambition took orbit, and stayed in orbit until the
Starport Warden was ready to deal with them.
The
following watch, with Hassan and his section on watch and the Lustrous Ambition
still in orbit, another ship jumps in. At 100,000 km, it’s even farther
out, almost half a light-second. Nodding at Castillo to get Brickley again,
Hassan starts with the challenge, “Unknown ship, this is Imperial Patrol 234.
State your name and intention. 234 out.”
“Heartbreak
Hill, this is Imperial Patrol 234. Can you maneuver? Stand by for further
instructions. 234 out.”
“234, Heartbreak
Hill, we can maneuver, but not well. We suffered a computer failure while
in jump from Lyoness to Tlaoc. The only thing we’ve got is about half a gee of
maneuver from the ship, life support, and I’m talking to you on the launch’s
radio. Heartbreak Hill out.”
Brickely
arrives on the bridge, his suit barely even on, and he’s still fastening it.
“OOD, report,” he flatly commands, still waking up.
“Wait one,”
Hassan acknowledges the command, and then returns to talking to the wrecked
courier. “Heartbreak Hill, we copy your last message. You are to maintain present course and we
will meet you in your current orbit and get you into a high orbit for
investigation. Maintain a guard on this frequency. 234 out.” He then turned to
Brickley to report, “Sir, we’ve got an assumed Sollie Fleet Courier, and that’s
what they’re squawking as well. So far, they’re story holds up…”
“Heartbreak
Hill copies, 234. Out.”
“As I was
saying sir, I’m planning to bring us out of our low orbit, and help them get in
to a high orbit. They’re claiming a misjump and computer damage. We can take
them to Hades with us when we get there in a few weeks, or drop them off here.”
“The
rendezvous makes sense. Get everyone to general quarters, and we’ll go from
there.” Brickley said as he finished getting his suit on and sat in his chair.
Keying his internal announcing microphone and alarm controls, “All hands to
stations to provide assistance to a distressed ship,” and the crew piled out of
their berthing, ready to go.
Afari leads
the Marines in reconfiguring the bunkroom to take personnel, from the current
arrangement as a recreation room, as the ships moved to rendezvous, as the Boxing
Kangaroo to tow the damaged Heartbreak Hill. As the ships moved
closer, BM3 Zabiyah made sure the Kangaroo would be positioned to moved
the damaged courier into a very high orbit. Lt. Brickley was making decisions
for how to prepare for the personnel. Calling up what information available for
Solomani Couriers, he thought around seven personnel would be expected. Maybe a
few more, maybe less.
Pilot |
|
Flight Engineer |
Marine 1st Class Franke |
Salvage Lead |
MM1 Brand |
Salvage |
SA Owen, SR Castillo |
Boat Security |
Marine Binici |
Medical |
Marine Yap |
Ship Security Lead |
He called the people named to the bridge, and turned to face aft for briefing. “Corporal, your fire team is running the boat. Get them onboard, separated, offer treatment, and don’t let them touch anything. ANY OF THEM could be SolSec,” broken by a pause to take a drink, “Brand, take Hall and go onboard to rig for a tow. Ensure any drives are shut down, and complete the rig. If you can, take a look for anything interesting. Sergeant, run our guests to the bunk room, and make sure they’re comfortable. Once they’re aboard, treat them as guests, but limited to the bunk room. Any questions?”
The group
looks at him, and shake their heads no. “In that case, stand by to drop the Joey
and provide aid.”
“Aye, sir!”
was the group response. Brickley turned his next task, where to put the guests
while they waited. He started by directing a call to the port, and with chance
they’d heard the prior conversation. The only resident ship was an old Type A2
where the J-drive had been shot years ago, and was now fuel barge. Dismal was
one of those worlds that was in the Imperium mostly by astrography, rather than
economy. Just as well, the ship had to stay in orbit, as he wasn’t sure if
there was anything on world worthwhile for them.
“Heartbreak
Hill¸ this is Navy Patrol 234. Cut your thrust, and prepare to take on tow.
We’re sending our boat over to take off personnel and send over a salvage team.
Report number of survivors. Over,” Hassan radioed the crippled courier.
A different
voice answered, “Navy 234, we copy boat is coming over and your instruction to
cut thrust. I have six, correction, seven survivors onboard. I say again, I
have seven survivors. Heartbreak Hill, over.”
“Hill, this
is Navy 234. Seven survivors. State assistance needed and injured personnel,
over,” and Hassan turned to Brickley, “We’ve got their skipper on. We’ll need
to prep space for seven personnel, sir.”
“Understood,
OOD. Continue on the recovery operation. We’ll limit power in this case to 1 g,
get them into a permanent orbit,” Brickley replied.
“Navy 234,
this is Heartbreak Hill, I require removal of all personnel, have no
injured personnel. My damage is a destroyed computer, and failure of clamps on
the launch. I request your boat take us on at the forward end of our hold deck,
over,” was the reply from the wrecked ship
“We copy
boat at forward end of the hold deck for launch, Navy 234, over.” Hassan
replied, and turned to Brickley, “Can we send the Joey over to them now?”
“Release
the boat, and away the salvage party,” Brickley commanded.
Switching
to a different, encrypted channel, as well as the direct link to the Joey,
Hassan spoke “Joey, Boxing Kangaroo, you are go for mission. Mate your
airlock to your cargo hatch. On open channel, we are Navy 234. Kangaroo
over.”
“Boxing
Kangaroo, boat away! Will mate airlock on their cargo hatch. Joey out.”
The boat fell away from the Patrol Cruiser, and maintained a safe distance
before Afari lit off his drive. The Joey mated to the forward cargo hatch
with its portside airlock, and Marine Binici stood by to cycle the airlock, and
allow Brand to enter, with the two junior ratings. As this went on, the Boxing
Kangaroo took position 100 kilometers to the stern of the Heartbreak
Hill, ready to push the stricken vessel into the appropriate orbit.
Brand
examined the hatch, and noted that it showed the normal gravity direction,
which was aligned, and that it still held atmosphere on the far side. This was
a good sign, at least initially. She gave a thumbs-up to Marine Binici, who
relayed it to the flight deck. Brand started by connecting the equalizer, and
plugged into an intercom. Afari keyed his radio, “Heartbreak Hill, this
is Joey. I am docked to your cargo hatch, and awaiting personnel. Our
salvage team is standing by to check on your ship status, for our message
outbound.”
“Joey,
Heartbreak Hill. I read you loud and clear. We will transfer over our crew
except for our pilot and engineer, over. Do you have anyone at the hatch? Over”
“Heartbreak
Hill, my salvage team lead is there. She’s ready to open the hatch, and
bring your atmosphere to normal. What are you running on? Joey over.”
“Joey,
Hill, we’re running T-norm, over.”
Of course,
they’re running Terran Normal atmosphere, they’re Sollies! Afari
thought, and shook his head before replying. “Hill, we are as well.
Stand by to open your hatch when we hit it three times. Joey over.” He
passed the word back to Brand, who removed a 46 cm adjustable wrench from her vacc
suit tool harness, and CLANG CLANG CLANG on the hull plating that made up the
cargo hatch.
The
internal dogs on the man passage on the hatch opened, and the scent of poorly
recycled atmosphere came in, and then a middle aged Solomani man. “Permission
to come aboard?” he asked as he stumbled to his feet, feeling the artificial
gravity.
“Name and
identification?” was Marine Binici’s response, gauss rifle slung to his strong
side.
“Cebrail Strnad, here’s my Confederation Passport,” drawn from a shirt pocket, “I’m a
member of the Solomani Party on a fact-finding tour before next year’s
Congress. My crew was provided from the Solomani Navy Reserve, and all well
trained.”
“Right. One
at a time, come into the cabin, and take a couch,” Binici spoke, in the fashion
of a man who is very afraid of making a mistake. “Marine Yap will assist in you
have any problems in here,” as he returned to the airlock.
Brand had
gone into the zero-g section, and was meeting with the master of the Heartbreak
Hill. A professional woman, slightly shorter, but more solidly built, she
introduced herself as Riika Manz, and retired from the Confederation Navy, but
an old friend of Mr. Strnad’s. She and her engineer would help Brand, Owen, and
Castillo rigging a push into a graveyard. While this conference went on, the
navigator, each gunner, and the medic came aboard the ship’s boat, and was
seated in separate couches. This surprising mixed crew managed to rig cables on
the damaged courier in a reasonable amount of time.
“Petty
Officer, thank you for helping salvage this ship. It’s not much compared to the
old Stalingrad class cruiser I commanded, but the Hill’s a nice
ship,” Manz spoke with Brand, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to ride her in.
Captain’s prerogative, and all that.” The two Imperial Spacers had gone back to
the Joey, as well as the Solomani engineer.
“Ma’am, I
think the skipper would agree. Out here in the black, we’re all together. Give
me a few, and I’ll ask,” Brand replied as she shifted her radio to contact the Boxing
Kangaroo. “Captain, this is the Cheng. I’ve got a question from their
Captain.”
“Cheng, go
ahead,” was Brickley’s curt reply.
“She wants
to ride this in to the parking orbit, and leave from there.”
“Cheng, let
her do it, but take some pictures first, and you’ll go with. Old tradition but
I’m still not trusting them.”
“Aye-aye,
Captain,” turning her suit radio to communicate with the Manz, “Ma’am, we’ll
let you ride her in to orbit, but I’m coming with. For legal reasons, I need to
take pictures for the Admiralty Court.”
“What, yes,
that makes sense, and thank you,” was Manz’s response. They spoke with the boat
crew, and shut the hatch at the cargo bay, allowing the Joey to return to the Boxing
Kangaroo. The two of them went through, and it did look like something had
caused the ship’s computer to explode, as well as feedback into a regulator in
the jump drive, inducing a misjump.
Afari was
sitting on his flight deck in the boat, comfortably flying the return course.
The party left on the wrecked ship would help rig the tow. The salvage team and
ship’s crew were aboard, and they were ready to get back to the Boxing
Kangaroo. The rest of his fireteam was ensuring the passengers were
settled, and there were no ill effects from the week in microgravity. The
steward/medic had brough over some information regarding the health status of
all members of the team, and Marine Yap reviewed it, finding no problems. The Joey
returned to the Boxing Kangaroo, and docked without incident.
Sergeant Valdez began processing the survivors aboard the patrol cruiser. The
Marines aboard were keeping them under guard, and with strict orders not to let
the survivors speak unless answering questions about health and information
about their incident. Sublieutenant Hassan came down to start preliminary
inquiries about what happened aboard the ill-fated Heartbreak Hill. Brickely
returned to the bridge to plan for him and the Boatswain to push the ships
together.
Brand and
Manz went through the wreckage, and the Imperial Petty Officer took pictures of
the damaged computer, and entered the engine room with the Solomani officer. The
cursory examination of the drives revealed they were in fairly good shape, but
the interface modules to the computer on the jump, maneuver, and powerplant were
slagged. Whatever destroyed the computer, it was quite powerful, in providing
enough feedback to take out those lines. Brand’s investigation revealed nothing
more about the destruction of the computer, only that it was enough to hide it
from the anyone short of a trained investigator. A common tech, not as much.
That concluded, the two women suited up for the required EVA. Going into space,
they noted the Kangaroo having shifted to the stern, and taking up position
to nudge the damaged courier into the right orbit.
Brickley
and Zabiyah were sitting on the bridge, preparing to use the Kangroo’s
drives to nudge the damaged courier into a graveyard orbit, and then to drop the survivors off. Working together, they plot the course, and come up with
the exact piloting needed, in a matter of minutes. “Won’t even have to eyeball
it sir, this’ll get it moving to the right orbit, and we can get back down in to
low system orbit,” Zabiyah commented on the completed plot.
Down in the
bunk room, Hassan found himself in an argument with an irritated Solomani dignitary.
“I DON’T CARE ABOUT ANY OF THIS, I WANT TO GET BACK TO THE CONFEDERATION!”
Strnad bellowed at the experienced officer.
“ALL
SHIPWRECKS MUST BE THROUGHLY INVESTIGATED, AND THIS INCLUDES THE CREW AND
PASSENGERS!” Hassan counted, just as loudly. “I don’t know what the regulations
are in your so-called Confederation, but here, I will take statements, and they
will be forwarded to the Admiralty Court. Your transportation back to your port
of origin will be arranged as well.”
“You
half-breed occupier,” Strnad speaks in reply, noting Hassan’s obvious Core
accent, compared to the Rim Anglic the rest of the crew spoke with. “I will
give you nothing, more than what’s in my passport, as will my crew.”
“In that
case, I’ll be recommending that we treat you as prisoners, and hold you until
the diplomats come up with a solution. You can’t be preparing to break the
truce, but are you giving information to a deep cover agent?”
“And what
of your engineer and my captain? Will your captain believe you when we get their
information?” Strnad’s response was calm and collected, obviously used to
ignoring crude threats.
“Fine,
fine, we’ll just have some basic testimony, so the insurers can hash it out.
You know, credits make the galaxy go round.”
“Of course, Sublieutenant. As we said initially, we were jumping from Lyoness to Tlaloc with plans for Smade’s Planet, to refuel, and then to New Greenpernt. I was there to speak with various Party organizations and support candidates for the Congress…” Strand trailed off, giving a long story, short on details relevant to the incident, but providing background information.
Seeing their leader give answers, the rest of the survivors, under the watchful eyes of the Marines, asked him for material to write a statement and then explain it.
Brickley went
to his chair on the bridge, and got Brand on the radio, a private channel,
using. “Are you read for us to play tug?”
“We are. The skipper of this little boat gave me the full tour. It looks like something went off in the computer, and slagged the controllers for the drives. I can’t say much else, but they’ll need a full survey team,” Brand replied.
“So, they’re telling the truth?” Brickley asked, considering his options.
“Yessir.
Standing by to shift orbit. Then we’ll MMU over to the Kangaroo.”
“Copy.” Shifting
his attention, Brickley picked up the 1MC microphone, and announced to the
ship. “Set general quarters, as we move the wreck into a graveyard orbit. All
survivors to stay in the bunkroom, and prepare to don escape bubbles.” Sergeant
Valdez’s team stayed behind in the bunkroom, and insured the escape bubbles
were passed out to the six in there. The two junior engineers went to the
engineering space, and the gunners stood by. GM2 Chishan had them ready, if any
damage control was required. BM3 Zabiyah stayed in his right-hand pilot seat,
ready to make the precision controls required. Cutting his thrust down to micro-gravities,
he got the Boxing Kangaroo’s aircraft like prow up against the tall
aerofin of the Heartbreak Hill, well clear of the cruiser’s wings. The two
figures on the hull of the stricken courier went boarded the cruiser. Manz
found herself sitting in the bunk room, and giving a written statement under
Valdez’s watchful eye, as Brand went to the engine room, and prepared for the precision
adjustments required.
A steady
hand, eyes on the display, and two throttle taps. The damaged Heartbreak Hill
began on her trip to a graveyard orbit, as the Boxing Kangaroo
separated. The secured from General Quarters, to land the next morning. Unhappily,
the Solomani were confined to the bunkroom the entire time.
31 January 2021
Character Creation Challenge 31 of 31, Adalwin Pethes
Completing the series, Adalwin Pethes is a less traditional Traveller character. Not much experience in space travel or operations, he's still ready to be a contact, adversary, or ally in the Sol Subsector.
Aldalwin "Call me Dall" Pethes is a man of some reputation in the region. He grew up on Ember/Sol, where his family grew some of what little locally available food was available in hydroponics facilities. Seeing the heavy handed treatment of the citizens by the Office of the Military Governor, he wanted to Change the System from within, by becoming a reporter. Gaining employment with Sol Interstellar News at an early age, he spent twenty years as an investigative reporter in and around the Subsector, exposing corrupt military government officers, investigating organized crime, and the like until he was injured while investigating work conditions on Loki. Recovering from his injury, he started to study the law, and became a crusading lawyer, often looking after those harming "the little guy". Some younger reporters, not knowing his background, have called him "The People's Attorney General of Sol Subsector." Crossing the subsector, he has a knack for showing up at the worst possible moment for many nobles, officers, and crime bosses. He recently stepped down from his firm's management, and is now listed as "Of Counsel".
Advocate 3, Art (Holography) 0, Art (Writing) 3, Carouse 1, Comms 1, Computers 2, Deception 1, Diplomat 2, Drive (Wheeled) 2, Guns (Slug Pistol) 1, Investigate 3, Melee (Foil) 1, Persuade 2, Stealth 1, Steward 0, Streetwise 0, Trade (Hydroponics) 0, Vacc Suit 0,
Today's FINAL Roundup
- Alesmiter translated a Saurian with Tiny Dungeon: Hatchling Edition
- Green Sage Library has a former Surgeon
- Craig produced a T5.10 Marine Officer
- Chimerical Realm, who is only at Day 26, used Cyberpunk 2020
- Tardis Captain prepared an AD&D 1e Paladin
30 January 2021
Character Creation Challenge 30 of 31: Captain Riika Manz, Solomani Navy
Riika Manz is a native the cloud cities of Vantage/Capella in the Solomani Confederation. Her family was involved in some trade with nearby Aquitaine, where French is the nominal language of choice. Deceiding to chart her own course, she barely made it into the Yamato Naval Base Cadet Corps, and squeaked out a pass and commission, despite being drawn into a minor political disagreement regarding particulars of the Solomani Cause. She was accepted and commissioned in to the Solomani Confederation Navy upon graduation, and drawn into their flight program. Her service records show she's been assigned to survey operations in astrogation, assigned to a flight test team, and commanded a ship on a diplomatic mission, where hers was assigned to help SolSec maintain security. She's been noted as a close companion of a senior SolSec officer in the area, Colonel Altair Popov. Her recent retirement notwithstanding, she may be assigned independent operations. Her skill set indicates she could operate a Scout Ship on her own.
Art (Painting) 0, Astrogation 4, Carouse 0, Comms 0, Engineer (Jump Drive) 1, Flyer 0, Gun Combat (Slug Pistol) 2, Gunnery (Turret) 2, Language/French 0, Leadership 1, Mechanic 0, Pilot (Spacecraft) 2, Recon 1, Tactics (Naval) 1, Vacc Suit 1, Zero-G 2
Today's Roundup
- Alesmiter found his copy of AD&D 2e and created a bard
- Green Sage Library went third-party and created a System Guard
- Craig went for T5 and rolled a scout
- Tardis Captain used to totally not Star Trek D20 games yesterday and today. I'm still waiting for ADB to come out with their Star Fleet Battles Traveller module
- Chimerical Realm went with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness and got a Teenage Mutant Ninja Bobcat