??/??/2013 - Mission for Popara Hunt (1)
The Red Queen
The Red Queen is small, independent trading vessel, based on the planet Dyvers in the Pretoria system, the Sub-Sector capital of the same name. The ship is 70% owned by Grant Kennedy, a member of the well-known Kennedy family. Grant’s father used to be a high-up politician on Dyvers, but fell from grace after being convicted of fraud by his political opponents. His father fled custody and his location is currently unknown, but the family’s assets were mostly seized, with the Red Queen being the only asset that Grant could prove was his.
c Grant was helped with his case by his friend, Ben Ward, a retired Navy Captain, who also owns 10% of the Red Queen. Ben is also a member of the crew. The other crew members are Sebastian Sloane, a pilot with a shady background and Cyrus Arrington, an aging former scout, frontiersman, medic and a number of other professions.The final 20% of the ship is currently mortgaged with the First Galactic Bank. With the rest of his family’s assets gone, Grant needs to make money from the ship in order to keep up the payments to the Bank.
The First Freight Run
The crew’s first major contract, a basic freight run, does not go well. The shipment was late due to obtaining the wrong travel permit and there were long delays, resulting in the shipment making a loss. The crew are rather short of money and need a job quick to cover their losses.
Unexpected Meeting
A few days later, the Red Queen is in dock in Dyvers, waiting for work to come by, when a man called Varl approaches the ship. His employer, Popara Hunt, wants to meet Mr Kennedy and his crew, possibly for a job, in 3 hours time in docking bay X23.
Grant quickly agrees to the meeting and summons the rest of the crew. He keeps quiet who the client is, as the Hunt family has a shady reputation. They meet up at the ship and prepare for the meeting. Cyrus takes has cane - hidden stun and rapier, duster and ablative vest underneath, while Ward puts on a Flak Jacket.
Into Orbit
When they arrive at docking bay X23, they meet a well-dressed but ordinary man, who politely introduces himself as Varl, agent of Mr Popara Hunt. He has a silent assistant who feels a lot like a body guard.
Varl tells them he has a shuttle prepared for them to use and takes them to a posh-looking Ship’s Boat docked near-by. They sit in the passenger area and the pilot takes them into high orbit. Where they dock with an expensive luxury Yacht.
Once on board, Varl explains this is the Imru Ottoman, the personal Yacht of Mr Popara Hunt, owner of the Derwyn Mining Company. Derwyn is another planet in the Pretoria system.
Popara Hunt
The Yacht is clearly very expensive and luxurious, with plush fitting and a number of staff on board. They are all impressed with the ship and are escorted by Varl through to a huge audience chamber, where Popara Hunt and his son, Zonnos, are waiting for them, each occupying a couch in an alcove of the room. There is a third alcove in the room but it is empty.
Popara greets Grant warmly and ask him how he is doing. He clearly has been a friend of the Kennedy family for some time. Popara offers his condolences on the down-fall of his father William Kennedy, stating that the charges were all trumped by President Starmann, the current leader of Dyvers.
The Kennedys and the Hunts are supporters of the Democratic Party, who lost the last election to Starmann’s United Party. Since then, Starmann has been using his power to purge his political opponents from their positions. William Kennedy was a Regional Governor and possible Presidential candidate at the next election until his conviction.
Rescue Mission
Then Popara tells them about the plague on the planet Endregaad, a planet in the Ghatsokie system, which is 7 Parsecs away, outside established Federation space. He has a shipment of medical spice that needs taking to the planet, 100 tons to assist the relief effort. He will pay 500,000 Cr for delivery, which is a very generous payment.
He also mentions his son is stranded on Endregaad. Attempts to get the authorities to help have failed. President Starmann’s administration on Dyvers has been uncooperative, not surprisingly. He will pay a further 500,000 Cr and buy out the bank’s 20% of the Red Queen (20,000,000 Cr) if they bring back Mika safety by running the blockage. A very, very generous payment. He suggests using the medical spice Shipment to try to get some leverage from the Sector Authority ship.
The Sector Authority is a co-operative authority that was established in the Spinward Marches after the fall of the Federation in this area. It is a relatively new institution and lacks a lot of resources, but does what it can to deal with problems like this. It is, though, very bureaucratic, with its Headquarters on Blackwater, in the Magash system. The Sector Authority have a single large, capital ship enforcing the blockade on Endregaad and handling the relief effort on the planet’s surface, with help from volunteers
Zonnos, the other son, says the Sector Authority were singularly unhelpful and rather rudely expresses his doubts that this bunch of idiots (the party) will do any better. Popara gives him a disapproving look.
What does Grant know about the Hunts?
Grant agrees to this deal, which pleases Popara. He says his man will make the arrangements and draw up the paperwork. They are shown out and meet back up with Varl, who takes them back to the Ship’s Boat and has them transported back down to the planet.
Once they disembark and head to the Red Queen, the crew turn on Grant and want to know how much he knows about the Hunt family. Grant tells them they were friends and business associates of his father and they made donations to his father’s political campaigns.
A few years ago, Grant was been trying to get by working for corporations. When Grant failed to obtain a government contract for a company he worked for, Hunt gave him a tip off why the contract failed - political interference. He provided evidence that the official involved, who was from the United Party, had a financial interest in the company that won the contract. As a result, Grant’s company got the contract, giving him a promotion. Hunt then asked for a favour of cheap goods from the company through Grant, which stained his reputation and he was asked to leave. Ben voices his disapproval at working for such sleazy clients, but both Cyrus and Sloane are happy with the money being offered.