06/11/2014 – Flee to Phosos (1)
Dirk says he has detected strange signals in hyperspace and retreats into his cabin.
Mary apologises for projecting into Grant’s mind, an image of computer enslaved people on a large robotic ship. She is psionic. Grant tells her not to do it again.
They discuss what they are doing and whether they should head for Phosos. It seems they have little else to do. They have chosen to run and it makes sense to jump ahead of the news they are fugitives, which would mean jumping away from the Seven Systems towards the edge of the sector – which Phosos is. It will take weeks to jump there, refuelling at several systems along the way.
They decide this will be their plan.
Journey begins
They sit out the rest of the journey to Gauda quietly, contemplating what is to come. After four days they arrive at Gauda. The jump goes well and they head for the Gas Giant to refuel. Drent successfully pilots the ship into the planet to refuel for free.
Then they head into the planet Gauda Prime. They need supplies for a long journey. Fortunately, news of the death of Popara Hunt has not reached here yet.
Grant gets 50,000 Cr in hard currency in case of emergencies from his bank account. Cyrus gets 20,000 Cr in hard currency.
They buy lots of preserved food, spending 1000 Cr and another 2,000 Cr on luxuries. 2000 Cr on other basic supplies. Cyrus tops up his medical supplies.
Grant uses his Admin skills to ensure they do not spend too long ordering all this and are soon ready to leave.
In choosing their next destination, they decide to avoid the Denatrix system. Although the plague outbreak is under control, it is still a restricted system and there could still be a Sector Authority ship in orbit.
They jump instead to the Vash system. Cyrus is a little nervous as he was a sheriff on the main planet there, until a religious cult took over the government and forced him out.
During the four day journey, Mary starts to come out of her shell and, in an effort to please the crew and earn her place here, does cooking, cleaning and various other tasks.
Vash
They arrive without incident in the Vash system. Cyrus counsels against visiting the planet. Drent has them skim a Gas Giant and process the fuel for a jump and they are ready to leave again within half a day. An astrogation course for Hort is set and the ship jumps.
Hort
A further four day journey has the crew quiet and anxious. They are seriously heading away from civilisation. Mary continues to do what she can to help. She asks that they can go via the Best system, where she used to work. As this is on the way, Grant agrees.
They arrive at Hort and again refuel at the gas giant without going near the local planet. It is noticeable this system has less communications and more ships around with no transponders. They are not disturbed though.
There next destination requires a decision. The fastest route is via the Argos system, which does not have an inhabited planet or any significant settlements. However, it does have a gas giant that they can refuel at. If anything went wrong though, there would be no hope of rescue.
The alternative is a much longer path following more habited systems, at least 8 more days. So the next jump is to Argos.
Pirates At Argos
After another quiet journey through hyperspace, they arrive in the Argos system and set course for the Gas Giant. As they get nearer, they detect two small ships in their path. One of the ships messages saying that Galacticus the Gas Giant is owned by “Captain Reynolds”. They have to pay 8,000 Cr to scoop the planet. The two ships appear to be fighters of some kind.
After some discussion the crew decide to pay up. It’s just not possible to tell how powerful they are or how many there are of them.
Grant puts hard currency in the airlock as instructed and one of the fighters docks to collects it. Ace watches the airlock and sees a single guy with an energy pistol and space suit claim the money. As they approach the planet to refuel, two more fighters appear on the long range scanners behind them. They begin to close in on the Red Queen and ask about what they are carrying. When Grant tells them they are empty and sensors confirm it, they lose interest and allow the Red Queen to leave.
Quick as they can, they calculate the jump to the next destination, which is Besh, and leave the Argos system.
Besh and The Wheel
Mary is a little anxious as the ship is heading for the system where she used to work. She has very little memory of how she ended up leaving the system and wants to talk to people on the Wheel space station when they arrive.
When they arrive, the ship refuels at the Gas Giant, but the Wheel space station detects them on their long range sensors and asks who they are. Mary recognises the voice and takes the communication system from Grant, talking to her former colleague. She has an emotional discussion with her, hearing how she apparently met some man, fell in love with him and left, while acting strangely and not saying anything to her employer or friends.
The rest of the crew wait until she is finished then begin to plot the course for the next system, their destination Phosos, which is only two days jump away.
Phosos
After a tense journey they arrive at Phosos. It is a big system with lots of planets and a large central blue star that pulses quite frequently. The inner part of the solar system carries a radiation danger warning.
The co-ordinates they have are by the sixth planet in the system, a large Gas giant on the edge of the radiation danger zone. As they get nearer, the sensors work out that the co-ordinates are actually on a moon orbiting the Gas giant.
The Federation Data Catalogue says that there is the site of an Ancient ruin on that moon.
Dirk does some calculations and works out that the moon orbits in such a way that one side is always shielded from Phosos. That is also the site of the Ancient Ruins.
The sensors tell Cyrus that there is an object in orbit around the moon, on the far side but just visible from their approach vector. The computer is not sure what it is, best guess is a shipyard.
As they approach, a voice communication asks what they are doing in the system. Grant says they are tourists. The voice tells them the system is off limits and they should leave or be destroyed.