14/08/2019 - Murder! (1)

Journey to Regina

Vlen Kennedy, Grant's rather elusive but rich Uncle, is dead. Grant's father has tasked him with travelling to the Regina system to recover Vlen's assets and inheritance, as they are desperately short on funds at the moment.

The Regina system is 12 parsecs away from Aramis, which the Liberator can achieve in a single jump. It is the capital system of the Regina sub-sector and the main habitation is a habitable moon, called Credo, orbiting at large Gas Giant called Assiniboia.

Grant reviews the message from Inspector Pallod Norrim of the Public Order Commission, Highport, Credo, Regina. It instructs him that Vlen Kennedy has died and as next of kin he must claim the body in order to gain access to Vlen's assets.

Assigning Crew Positions

Grant calls a meeting of the Liberator crew to inform them. They will need use the Liberator to get there, as it is their only ship at the moment and it would not be wise to leave it behind.

They decide on the following crew positions:

Position	Crew Member
Pilot	Drent Winter
Astrogation	Dirk Trillby
Sensors	Cyrus Arrington
Weapons	Del Tarrrant
Comms	Grant Kennedy

They board the Liberator and choose to manually pilot and navigate the ship to Regina. Drent pilots the ship easily away from Blackhawk, then Dirk programs a jump to the Astrogation console and gets Zen to confirm he has done it correctly.

Cautious Arrival

Drent jumps the ship and it will take two hours to reach Regina. Cyrus relaxes and takes drugs. Dirk talks to Orac, who has begun his mission to investigate the mysteries of the Galaxy, including the disappearance of the Ancients.

They jump into the Regina System and head towards Credo. There is a space station in orbit above Credo, called Highport. They park the Liberator far out in the system. Drent will pilot one of Liberator’s shuttles to get them to Highport, leaving Dirk behind to look after the ship.

They park the Liberator and use a shuttle to head to Highport, leaving Dirk on board.

The Crimson Queen is their code name for the Liberator. Grant communicates with Space Traffic Control and he tells them their mission is the recovery of his Uncle Vlen Kennedy at the request of the Public Order Commission. They are given priority clearance for landing.

Trent has a body pistol on him. Cyrus has a cane (sword) and body pistol.

Murder!

When they dock they are met by officers of the Public Order Commissions (POC) and taken through priority customs to the POC offices, where they meet with Inspector Norrim. He is a serious bureaucrat and informs them that in all likelihood that Vlen Kennedy was murdered.

He was found shot through the heart by a pistol at point blank range, probably silenced as no one heard the shot. Traces of the drug Tempest was found in his blood and on his body and scattered around his room.

They question Norrim but he is vague and unhelpful. There is an on-going investigation and he cannot comment.

Norrim tries to get some information from them about what they know. He also points out that William Kennedy has a conviction for fraud and there is an outstanding warrant for Grant’s arrest in the Pretoria system. There is no longer a treaty of extradition with Pretoria, so he is safe from arrest here, but his reputation is tarnished.

Credo City

When it is clear that they do not know anything, Norrim tells them there is a 100,000 Credit bond that can be claimed by taking Vlen Kennedy’s body from here back to Aramis.

He gives them a data pad that will allow them to claim the body from Credo City. That is the same city where Vled was killed, in his room at the Traveller’s Aid Society.

They leave the POC and take a taxi down to Downport in Startown on the moon. There they get the metro to Credo City. They stop at a diner for something to eat and discuss whether to go to the Morgue or the TAS first, settling on the TAS.

Travellers Aid Society

When they get to the TAS, they find they are unable to gain access as they are not members. They question the Concierge, who is interested when they are mention the death of Vlen Kennedy, it’s the talk of the hostel. Apparently Vlen came home with three strangers, two of whom stood outside his room while he went in with the third one. Later, the three visitors left, but they stopped by reception to report a spillage. The cleaning robot reported the dead body.

This is odd, because they made it obvious quickly that a murder had happened. Unfortunately, the surveillance footage is poor, thanks in part to an unusual power failure in the building that affected everything.

End of Episode One