Current Games
Traveller
A summary of events in each session of the game.
The first story ran using Traveller, based on the Star Wars RPG module of the same name.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The crew do more research into the situation on Endregaad. It is a struggling frontier planet that was being terraformed by Federation backed corporations when the Federation collapsed in this Sector. The terraforming project was axed and the terraforming stations have begun to fail due to lack of funding. As a result the planet is reverting to an arid atmosphere. There are still a number of people who moved there due to the lucrative mining opportunities, who have since found themselves stranded.
The plague, known as Desert Fever, struck recently and has quickly spread across the planet as it thrives in an arid atmosphere. The plague causes dehydration and medical spice is one of the best ways to tackle it.
A few hours later, Grant gets a video communication from one of Zonnos’s thugs, telling him his employer wants to meet him at the Slutty Bitch (a hooker’s bar) in two hours and he should be there. Grant tells Cyrus, who agrees to go along but is suspicious. They decide to keep this quiet from Ben. They tell Sloane they are going to a “business negotiation”.
At the Slutty Bitch, Grant and Cyrus are surprised to meet Zonnos. He tells them that they are heading into a dangerous situation on Endregaad. He would fully understand if they do not try to rescue Mika but just drop off the spice and leave. In order to help their mission, Zonnos offers two of his men as additional crew. Grant turns down his offer and Zonnos becomes upset. He had hoped they were smarter than this and abruptly leaves.
Getting back to the ship, Grant and Cyrus see that the medical pallets have arrived. Sloane has begun loading them on board and he is getting on well with the Varl, who enjoys sharing his whisky. Varl then hands over a legal pad to Grant and asks him to sign the legal agreement. Grant skim reads it through briefly, relying on his legal training and signs it. Varl wishes them well and leaves.
With the ship loaded up with medical spice, they are now ready to depart. Grant obtains permission from Space Traffic Control to leave the space dock and head out of orbit to 100 radius distance from the planet. This will take about an hour. The Red Queen only has Jump-4 engines so cannot jump the 7 parsecs to the Ghatsokie system. They will have to make it a two-jump journey. The first jump will be to the Carmel system, three Parsecs away and from there make a further four-parsec jump to the Ghatsokie system and its planet, Endregaad.
They activate the jump engines and the jump succeeds but only just. The power drain causes life support to cut out. When power comes back – life support does not come back up. Ben quickly heads to engineering to deal with the problem, restoring the life-support system in 10 mins. They spend three days in hyperspace during the jump to Carmel, in which the crew mostly entertain themselves.
The ship falls out of hyperspace early, as they are too close to the star, Carmel. The ship is in danger of being trapped in the gravity field of the sun, a very dangerous situation. Fortunately, Sloane is able to pull them out of the sun’s orbit and sets course for the planet Carmel Prime, which will now take several hours. When they reach Carmel Prime, they dock at the space port and refuel, then prepare to jump again.
Grant does some Brokering, looking for possible business opportunities between here and Endregaad. He finds three charity workers looking for passage to Endregaad and arranges to interview them in the departure lounge with Sloane and Cyrus.
When they arrive, they are a punk guy, Sam, his girlfriend Jasmine and a smart young man called Merlin. They are all medical students going to help the relief effort. They agree to a total cost of 5000 credits for passage for three to Endregaad. A quick search of their equipment shows nothing unusual. The crew eat and drink while the ship is re-fuelled.
They activate the jump drive and it succeeds, but the power drain causes life support to cut out - again. When power comes back, life support does not come back up - again. Ben is on repair restoring the system in 20 mins.
They spend four more day in hyperspace for the jump to the Ghatsokie system. The ship falls out of hyperspace far out from the system, a precaution after the previous fiasco. Sloane sets the Manoeuvre Drive to maximum travelling towards Endregaad. The Comms system registers an automated Interdiction - Plague Warning.
After an hour travelling towards Endregaad, a voice comes over the Comms: “Surrender your cargo or be destroyed”. A pulse laser beam hits the ship, disabling the sensor. Cyrus goes to Engineering and sends probe outside to repair the external damage.
Sloane pilots the ship away from direction of the laser fire and throats the drive to maximum, while Grant signals an SOS to the Sector Authority ship that is still far away. The pirates demand they power down their Manoeuvre drive or they will be destroyed. Lasers are again fired at the ship but miss this time. The decision is made to power down the MD and stop as the pirates have the edge over them in weaponry. The Red Queen can’t detect the pirates due to the detector malfunction. When the pirates come closer they can be detected and they will be in range of the Red Queen’s missiles.
It becomes apparent the pirate ship must still be far away from them as it is taking its time arriving. Cyrus concludes there must be a transponder on the ship giving away their location – which allowed the pirates to locate and fire at them so far away.
Grant, Sloane and Cyrus go armed into the passenger’s quarters, tie up and stun the passengers. All electrical items are smashed, as are some drugs that Merlin seemed worried about. The crew then plan to fire the sand casters, which disrupt laser fire, and turn around as the pirates approach and fire their missiles. The pirates fire and manage to cause Hull damage despite the Sand Casters.
Two missiles are launched at the pirate ship. The pirates try to shoot the missiles, but they hit, inflicting three hits to Manoeuvre Drive, disabling it. This is a very lucky hit as the pirate ship is not disabled, unable to change course. The Red Queen fires missiles again. A further three hits strike the turret twice and the Hull – disabling their laser turret. The pirates are now helpless. The Red Queen manoeuvres as close as possible within missile range and orders them to surrender. Cyrus detects on the repaired sensors that the pirates are building up to a Jump. Grant orders them to power down or they will be fired on – no answer. They see that the ship is named Vengeance.
Cyrus fires two more missiles, which hit, causing six more points of Hull damage, damaging the Vengeance’s hull badly. Sloane begins to move away in case they get caught in the wake of the Jump. Cyrus fires two more missiles, which miss but they continue to home in on their target. He launches two more missiles just in case.
The Vengeance signals to say they surrender – too late, four missile impact, Smashing the hull completely and damaging the inner structure, hitting the Bay and Hold. The Vengeance signals they have a hull breach in bay 2 and beg to surrender. Their attempt at a jump falters and fails when their power system shuts down.
A signal is then received from the Sector Authority ship Resolute. What is your situation Red Queen? Kennedy signals everything is OK now. Resolute asks what they are doing in this system, they reply delivering Medical Spice. A Lieutenant Lockerbie tells them he is dispatching two pursuit ships to their location; hold there, they will arrive in a few hours.
The crew of the Red Queen begin to discuss what to do with the crew and ship of the Vengeance. Cyrus records they have fired 12 missiles – 8 remaining. Sloane suggests ordering the pirates to abandon their ship before it is destroyed, which he does. The pirates are incredulous and go quiet.
Ben goes to the cargo hold to try to locate any transmitters on board that could have given their location away. He finds two using his hand scanner, but can’t see them. Then he closes in on one and it sprouts legs and moves like a spider! He chases but can’t get close enough, quick enough before it moves. He communicates with the bridge and goes to engineering to rig up an automated grabber.
Cyrus goes to see the passengers. He is attacked by the man Sam, who is in some sort of rage. Cyrus shoots Sam twice and he goes into spasms.
Sam’s girlfriend Jasmine comes out of the cabin and shouts at Cyrus. Grant hears this and runs to the cabins. They move Sam into his room and stabilise him. Grant checks on the other passenger, Merlin, who is sarcastic but does not attack.
Ben tries to catch the bug transmitter, but it is not fully magnetic so he has to try to manually grab it, but twice it just slips out of fingers. He calls Cyrus for help. The pirate ship, Vengeance, has launched a shuttle and Sloane orders them to match heading and velocity of their ship, which with its M-Drive out is drifting under its previous momentum in the same direction. The Sector Authority Fighter ships are closing, but the Red Queen is moving away from them. They ask for course change, but they can’t without letting the pirates go. ETA is still an hour then.
Cyrus is busy trying to stabilise Sam. He works out he has taken some sort of drug, which Jasmine confirms as something new called “Tempest”. He has to keep working to keep his heart rate down but manages to stabilise him eventually. Merlin enters and offers to help but is sarcastic to Cyrus as he leaves.
Eventually, Ben, Cyrus and Sloane manage to trap and disable both transmitters, flushing them out of the airlock. The ships from the Resolute arrive and order the Red Queen and the shuttle to head back to the Resolute. This will take several hours. They negotiate with Merlin who agrees not to tell the Sector Authority about them being attacked in return for a refund and medical expenses.
They arrive at the Resolute, which is Battle Cruiser which carries a number of smaller ships. It has dozens of fighters patrolling the planet, which are modelled on Federation Pursuit Ships. They are ordered to dock, which Sloane does.
They leave the Red Queen and are met by soldiers. A medical team takes the passengers away. Merlin does not want to press charges and says the shooting was a misunderstanding. Lieutenant Lockerbie takes them to a waiting area, asking their details. He tells them the pirates were known outlaws and there is a reward for their capture, as well as salvage of their ship.
He tells them they will be under formal interview with Commander Kryn. Ben says he is not dressed for a formal interview and Lockerbie works out that he is military and arranges formal Captain’s dress for him. The rest of the crew get a glimpse of the “military old boy’s club” mentality.
They meet Commander Kryn. She asks them why there are there and is surprised at their offer of 100 tons of medical spice. It’s very generous. When they mention the Hunt family, she is scathing of Zonnos Hunt and his arrogant demand for her to stop her relief efforts and rescue Mika Hunt.
They ask permission to go down to the planet, but she refuses. She does not have the authority to allow such private missions. She does allow them to use the Resolute’s communications network. They try to communicate with Mika Hunt on Endregaad, but get a recorded message from the Tel Bollin offices of Skydove Freight, which due to the current planetary emergency are closed. Please call back another time.
Grant calls through to the Planetary Government, but they inform him that Mika Hunt is not in the list of dead, nor is he a citizen of Endregaad. As he is an off-worlder there is no record of his current location. They go to the mess for food and then go back to the Red Queen, where Lieutenant Lockerbie is supervising the unloading of the spice from their ship. He praises the spice as very pure and it will help to save lives.
They tell him of their desire to go down to the planet to rescue the son of the man who donated the spice. He sympathises but says the planetary blockade must be maintained. He does drop into the conversation that their patrols are timed every 6 hours and that is the most difficult time for the patrols.
They board the Red Queen and begin planning a way to run the blockade of Endregaad. They get some sleep and wait for news of their salvage of the pirate ship. Grant has a drink. Half a dozen whiskies later he is very drunk. Wanders around giving random orders then sleeps. Ben tries to work out how to run the blockade but realises he lacks the equipment to leave an orbital sensor. He goes back to engineering to try to sort out the cutting out of the life support during jump. Cyrus goes to his room to rest as he is injured and recovers. Sloane fixes the squeak on the pilot’s chair.
So ends their first day in the Ghatsokie system.
In the morning Grant has a massive hang over but does a thorough job of registering their salvage claim. Ben asks Lockerbie about the salvage, no news but he points out they want the ship for prosecution of the pirates, so they won’t get the ship right away. He now realises that was why they sent fighters, it was never to help their salvage claim. It could be months or years before they get the salvage. Given this, the crew decide to leave the Resolute and go to refuel at the gas giant, then come back and run the blockade.
At Ghatsokie’s gas giant, Ghatsokie-5, the big giant turns out to be too volatile and Sloane heads for the next one, Ghatsokie-6, which he manages to scoop fuel for their journey back to Gauda Prime. Sloane does some computer calculation of the predicted location of the Resolute and what angle to return to Endregaad on. The ship’s transponder is disabled. They calculate their journey, thrust hard then silent run towards Endregaad.
They approach as close as they can but are detected and warned away by the Resolute. Sensors show no ships in their local area right now, so they ignore the warning, turn the engine thrust to maximum and rush towards planet fall. Sloan shows off his piloting skills, getting the Red Queen into the atmosphere ahead of any Pursuit Ships. They find a mountain range to hide in, not far from Tel Bollin, and the searching fighters do not find them.
Ben tells them naval tactics would suggest wait at least 24 hours for the search to finish. They go outside, where they need oxygen top-ups as the air is a little thin. They see the stone in the mountains are beautiful. They load ATV up with supplies, food and water. Cyrus points out they only have four seats – when they get Mika he will have to use the boot.
They have 20 doses of medical spice each, and Cyrus has the other 140 doses. They take their first dose. Cyrus has an allergic reaction to the medical spice and has to take anti-allergic medication to off-set the effect. He only has 6 full doses of anti-allergic medication. He decides to ration it and take a half measure each day.
So ends their second day in the Ghatsokie system, first day on Endregaad.
In the morning, they take off and head closer to the Capital, Tel Bollin. A piloting error exposes the ship to scanning beams briefly, but the Resolute does not respond. They put down near Tel Bollin, board the ATV and set off for the city, taking their second dose of medical spice.
As they approach the capital city, they see there is a dusty haze over the city. It smells of burnt flesh. They pass through the mostly derelict outer-city with the odd survivor moving around. When they reach the central Town Hall then ask for directions to the Skydove Freight offices. A shaking, drugged up local points them to the big building.
They reach the Skydove Offices and see the door is open and the windows smashed. They enter and see the place has been ransacked. They go through the building, looking for any clues as to the location of Mika Hunt. On the top level they find “FALLEN WARRIOR” written on the wall in paint. They also find paperwork details of the Geode Mining Syndicate as well as a basic paper map of Tel Bollin.
They head for the Mining Syndicate. The guy behind the barred door, an infected miner, asks for medical spice in return for help. He tells them Mika Hunt is at the Skydove Freight offices – which Grant says they have been to. He says an employee of Hunt’s came here looking for him, and said he would leave his location at the Skydove offices. Finally, he says for them to tell Mika Hunt the Geodes for credits offer is still on.
They realise the Fallen Warrior is a bar which is on their map. They head towards it, passing the relief effort at the sports centre and see Merlin as part of the staff. They discuss whether to talk to him but decide against it.
As they move towards the poorer sector of town where the Fallen Warrior is, they are passed by a hover-bike gang. One of the bikers throws a bottle at their car, smashing on the window. Sloane, driving, is forced to swerve and catches the bike, causing it to crash. Sloane quickly drive away as the bikers open fire, smashing the ATV’s back window.
The bikers give chase but Sloane manages to lose them. However, they are utterly lost in the poor sector of Tel Bollin. They ask directions from a prostitute, but when her pimp wants 100 credits, they drive off. When they eventually get to the Fallen Warrior, they see a familiar looking set of hover bikes parked outside.
They park the ATV round the corner, arm up and enter. The place is smoky, dark and smelly. The bike gang are sat in the middle of the room. The party get drinks and retire to the corner, the bar woman telling Cyrus he must have a drink or leave and advising them to avoid the gang. Ben sees a guy in the corner wearing a Skydove Freight coat.
Ben goes to the toilet, intending to talk to this man on the way back. As Ben leaves the horrible toilet, a biker bumps into him and despite Ben’s apologies, starts a fight, going into a rage. A fire fight ensues, with the party hurt by shotgun fire but the biker gang are mainly killed. The barwomen joined in towards the end, shooting the head off one of the bikers with her shotgun.
They make peace with the bar woman, offering her the money and kit remaining of the bikers and moving their bodies out. Sloane checks all the bikers are dead and kills those that are still alive.
Ben gives the guy with the Skydove Freight jacket a drink and talks to him. His name is Nikto and he works for Mika Hunt. He was asked to organise supplies and head out to meet Mika at Temple Valley, where Mika had gone to investigate the cause of the plague outbreak. Sadly he caught the plague and the supplies were robbed from Skydove Freight, so he is stuck here. Sloane notices on the bikers there are drug capsules that smells just like the drugs he smashed that belonged to Merlin.
Ben offers to give him some medical spice and transport him to Temple Valley. Nikto agrees enthusiastically. Cyrus uses medic packs on himself and Sloane.
They load up the ATV. Nikto suggests they leave now to avoid the curfew. They start off and Nikto says he won’t know the way in the dark, but it’s good to get out of the hell hole that is Tel Bollin. So they head to the ship, sleep there and head off in the morning. On the ship, Nikto tells them how awful the plague is.
So ends their third day in the Ghatsokie system, second day on Endregaad.
In the morning, they take their medical spice and head off after realising they need more oxygen enrichers. It is a long journey and the day is hot. They travel all day but don’t get to the Valley. They hide from the exposed land and sleep.
So ends their fourth day in the Ghatsokie system, third day on Endregaad.
In the morning they all take more medical spice. Nikto is feeling much better now he has had two doses of good medical spice and enough food. They work out he is a whiney office nerd who is not suited for this situation. He complains about everything and sucks up to Grant once he knows he is in charge.
Around lunch time they arrive at Temple Valley. The valley is long and full of groups of miners looking after their individual or group claims. The valley is thought to be caused by a mineral rich asteroid / comet landing here a long time ago. It will take ages to find Mika in the mile long valley.
They travel down the shanty town / valley, passing various miners and survivors. They travel to a market area, where they park up and have to pay “parking fees” to a nearby stall owner. Grant, Ben and Cyrus talk to a food stall owner, who has them buy ration no 3 (fish) in return for information that Mika Hunt went to a crashed ship north of the valley. Sloane and Nikto have gone off elsewhere, Nikto thinks he’s seen someone he recognises.
Four crazed, drugged miners attack, demanding their belongings. Recognising their drugged state, Ben says no talking – attack. There is a fight. Ben is surrounded by three of them and badly injured before Grant and Cyrus shoot them down. Sloane returns with Nikto, who had gone off trying to talk to someone he thought he recognised but did not.
Cyrus does a good job healing the badly injured Ben. Sloane takes the driving seat and they head off north. At the end of the valley there is a forest. Cyrus sends up his probe, which finds the site of the crashed ship and they head there.
Mika Hunt and some locals are there, packing up a cargo skiff with crates. He is glad to see them and Nikto tells him they are there to rescue him. He is very pleased when he learns they came here on his father’s bidding and effectively takes charge of the party. He wants himself and all his men transported off the planet. He makes much of being loyal to his workers.
The crew explain there is no enough space on the ship for all of them. Mika apologises to his men. The crew point out a large ship could not have run the blockade. Mika is charming and entertaining. He gets them to head back to the Red Queen, pulling the cargo skiff along with his crew sat on it. He refuses to say what is in the crates.
They park up for the night and Mika sets up watches, then asks for full details of what has happened since they reached the Ghatsokie system. When they suggest his brother tried to stop them rescuing him, he does not seem that bothered, suggesting that there are 100s of reasons why his brother hates him, mostly because he used to sleep with his girlfriends.
So ends their 5th day in the Ghatsokie system, 4th day on Endregaad.
Ben discusses with Mika in the morning how to run the blockade. He points out the commander of the Resolute is a by-the-book career military type, who is running a pattern. They decide to get a ships boat that Mika has hidden in Skydove Freight’s shipyard to launch as a diversion. Mika insists all his people get the medical spice today so everyone is feeling better. They head off, travelling all day. Do not reach Tel Bollin.
So ends their 6th day in the Ghatsokie system, 5th day on Endregaad.
Mika again insists all his people get medical spice that day. They travel most of the day until they get to the Red Queen. Mika has his cargo loaded on board. Mika has Sloane stay at the ship, co-ordinate the satellite up-link once they get it working at Skydove Freight. After they set off, Mika has them stop. One of his employees has vanished since they left the ship. He radios Sloane and tells him if there is a stow-away on board, deal with him.
Mika tells them the missing guy was one of his poorer employees then talks politics, criticising a guy he hates – President Starmann of Dyvers and his United Party. Starmann is using his power to hound out the opposition Democratic Party from their elected positions.
They get to Tel Bollin and reach Skydove Offices. Mika is upset at the state of the place. Has the security shutters raised to seal in the lower level from intruders. Sloane radios in to say “The stow-away has been dealt with.” Mika sets one of his people to work restoring the computer system while Ben services the emergency power generator.
So ends their 7th day in the Ghatsokie system, 6th day on Endregaad.
Everyone is given medical spice in the morning. Cyrus notes supplies are beginning to run low. Eventually, the computers are brought up and using the satellite dish on the building, they contact the Skydove Satellite and use it to scan the orbiting fighters. Mika sets off for the Skydove shipyard, with most of the workers except the computer guy and Nikto. Ben and Grant stay behind, but he asks for Cyrus to accompany him to the shipyard.
Mika, Cyrus and 6 works head for the shipyard. When they get there he activates his personal ships boat and has his six workers stay behind to pilot it, with Tom in charge. He gives them plenty of spice and some credits.
He then heads back with Cyrus to Skydove offices, where they plan their escape, with or without the ship’s boat launch. Mika says even if some of the workers leave, Tom is a good man and will do as he is asked. He points out that he, Nikto and Greg the computer guy will be coming with them. When they seem sceptical, he points out they brought three passengers in with them.
They head off for the Red Queen. When they arrive, Mika says they need to get round to the other side of the planet. They run as many maintenance checks as they can before launch. Then Sloane takes off. Mika checks with Tom and he is ready to launch. Once they are in position on the other side of the planet, Tom does an erratic launch.
They watch on the satellite up-link as the fighters change course from their pattern, then Sloane pushes maximum thrust to get them off the planet using the blind spot. He does a good job and they are well away before the military realise the ship’s boat is a distraction. Their first attempt at a jump is so poor Sloane abandons it and starts again. The fighters from the Resolute, which have radioed that they must stop or be destroyed, are closing slowly. Sloane’s second attempt is better, so they jump and make good their escape.
When they return to Dyvers with Mika Hunt, Popara Hunt keeps his word and pays Grant Kennedy’s company KIT 1,000,000 Cr. One of his employees also completes the buying out of the bank from its 20% stake in the Red Queen, transferring that 20% ownership to one of Popara Hunt’s subsidiary companies. Grant declares the mission costs as 250,000 Cr (an over estimate that leave KIT with money in the bank), leaving a profit of 750,000 Cr. That money is the profit which is split amongst the crew:
Sloane (10%) – 75,000 CR
Ben (20%) – 150,000 CR
Cyrus (10%) – 75,000 CR
Grant (60%) – 450,000 CR
They are still owed the bounty and salvage on the pirates of the Vengeance ship, but due to the slow bureaucracy of the Sector Authority, it’s likely to be months to years before they see any money from that.