Numero Nine

 Finally back in the game...

8;

 2022.10.28  Session 8 (Unrecorded session)

Continuing in the buy-in for Common Raw Materials, Virgil buys 4 tons (17,000 Cr).  RUR-67, wanting to learn about finance, is persuaded by Capt. Derwatt to buy 2 tons (8,500 Cr) with a precious cash reserve of 40,000 Cr that was conferred to it by MATERNOSTER.  [There are only 3 tons of space left to option more Common Raw Materials.]  But mostly RUR-67 is looking around, observing, trying to figure out humans at "play".  RUR-67 looks at the sun, the sand, the sinusoidal decomposition of the wave-equations...and is unmoved.

Virgil shares that the man he contacted at the bar, Richard, revealed that "art" refers to artifacts.  Richard hinted that normally artifacts are relics of early settlement, or relics from sophonts that are older, but these artifacts "looked like pieces of wood".  Richard didn't elaborate much further, because he was getting drunk.

The PCs call Sarosho Cardozo at the number given by Brianna.  Cardozo only has 5 tons of Luxury Goods to send as freight.  He doesn't have any more, but arranges a meeting for the PCs the next afternoon with "Lady Karoleena", a wealthy patron who may have a lead on more future employments.

Virgil and Wilson take an airbus over to Akapulko again.  Virgil is trying more reconnaissance work and tries a different bar called the BoVe Ameeketso Kloobo (Frontier-Verdulan Friendship Club).  The crowd here is more like retired government workers and diplomats from both sides of the border.  Virgil tries to listen in to conversations.  As this is at some remove, I gave him a task to roll 6+ with a Bane (disadvantage).  He sits down next to a table with 2 Verdulans who seem to be retirees from some government bureau.  He pieces together that their concern was the "Stranguloy" ("Strangers" or "Strangelanders" (in the sense of odd), which in the Frontier are called the Skraelings).  They are a mysterious third branch of humanity known only from radio signals 100s of light-years away. (edited)

[20:13]

Virgil introduces himself to these two men, who give their first names as Petro and Yakobo (Peter and Jacob).  The two feel at ease discussing with Virgil what they know about the Stranguloy from the pitifully poor video transmissions received from deep space.  It's public stuff.  The public of the Verdulan Federation have been told the Stranguloy are too far away to be any threat.  Petro and Yakobo talk about their work:  an interesting mix of image enhancement techniques on the poor signal, and cultural deductions and comparison from intense research and object-matching of the blurry images to items from cultures present and past. Very little can be deduced about Strangulo culture from the images available, and the audio of their language has been untranslateable to this date except for some words referring to people and places as old as Old Earth itself.  Virgil gets the impression that Yakobo is bittersweet about his work years, spending a lifetime but having few concrete facts to show for it.

Captain Derwatt joins Virgil; more chit-chat.  At some point (lubricated by drinks) Virgil and Wilson do a back-and-forth tale:  they tell a whopper about having discovered an unknown ship in Frontier space of a strange design.  Petro and Yakobo are amazed at this, imagining it may have to do with the Stranguloy.  They press for details.  At that moment the Verdulans don't seem to have caught the PCs out in their lie.  They are on the cusp of dropping everything and phoning this tid-bit out to their old office!  The Verdulans show one image from their datacomp with the PCs about the Stranguloy (Handouts:  Artwork:  Unknown Skraeling Crew).

Brogan and Tōmō surf, compete, appear adequate and relatively even in surfing skill.  They attract some interest from the ladies.  Tōmō does feats of strength, and Gerry's route is to use Persuade.

Astria opts in for 3 tons of the Common Raw Materials (12,750 Cr).  She spends her time simply, on the beach. (edited)

[20:14]

Ronnie tries to make contact with the underworld, asking around about "art", goes to Kuban Pete again.  [No results, as far as I remember.]  But he easily scores some feeherbo (weed) for 40 Cr.  It's probably legal or unenforced anyway.  The drug-vendor asks if he wants to purchase more or move more of this product, and hints that there are drug vendors eager to hook up with starship crews.  The people involved in this trade are Rokuloy, a name for low-lifes who can't afford the best beaches, but only the unfinished, "rocky" beaches of the planet, not developed for resorts.

RUR-67 approaches Astria because it has developed a problem.  Its taste-buds are emitting a constant taste of vinegar, and Capt. Derwatt is not around.  It asks Astria for help.  The problem is in establishing baseline voltages in the taste-buds, and one of them is out of whack.  Astria partially solves it.

The next afternoon (Day 72-73), Capt. Derwatt, accompanied by Virgil and Ronnie, go to the mansion of Administrator Karoleena Rudgsheeldo III aka Lady Karoleena.  Her name is very old-money; like, millennia old.  The mansion is in another beach town in the Akapulko area and it costs 10 Cr transit fee to get there.  The mansion is quite out of place in this tropical paradise, because it looks like an unadorned 3-storey stone castle, with a moat!  Two goons flank the portcullis gate.  The PCs are greeted by two "chiefs" of a fierce appearance, one fat, one thing.  As they enter, Virgil notices things mounted on the east wall, which look like misshapen, polished lumps of wood.  Could this relate to the "art" he found out about?

Lady Karoleena, a matronly middle-aged woman, is seated at the "queen" end of a U-shaped arrangement of tables.  A younger woman in a black cocktail-dress is seated on the side and is introduced as Ursula.  The PCs are invited to take chairs and sit inside the "U". (edited)

[20:14]

Lady Karoleena offers more jobs transporting the Luxury Goods, as she obtains them.  She says she is willing to pay more than the usual freight charges.  She will pay 10,000 Cr per ton per parsec of travel, but the PCs must keep these jobs completely "off the books".  But the availability of shipments is not something perfectly predictable.

The PCs return to their resort.  Late that evening, Capt. Wilson Derwatt hears a tapping at his window.  He pulls the drapes apart a crack, but the window is blocked with splotches of blue and green.  He pulls the drapes wider, and a creature with mottled skin and four red eyes stares back at him.  It is a Savrette, the indigenous sophont of Flostono, clinging to the glass and wood of the hotel with the pads of its toes in the manner of a gecko.  The creature speaks Verdulan in a chittering, too-fast way.  He gives his name as Sibrinlichinripitlian, which Wilson in his mind shortens to "Sir Lich".  Sir Lich goes into a chittering, tweeting talk that he is offering to pay for a cargo to be transported from the Ribikur system, a Mars-like planet known to be surfaced entirely with sea-green copper oxide (just as Mars is rust-red from iron oxides.)  Sir Lich refuses to disclose the nature of this cargo, only asking that it should be delivered from Ribikur (3 parsecs away) to here and that the PCs should be discreet about it.  Sir Lich offers a business card with a number, and then pads away across the hotel roof and walls and out of sight.

The next day the PCs discuss that job, and consider taking a detour to Ribikur, come back to Flostono and then hauling the Luxury Goods .  But it takes 4 weeks to go to Ribikur and back, plus fuel refining and maneuver time.  And they would have to leave cargo behind here in storage, as their cargo hold is full-up at this point and they would need room.

Number 7

 2022.10.14  Session 7 (Unrecorded session)

Launching from Bellerophon, the Astrogation (Brogan aided by Virgil) and Engineering (Ved) stages are successful.  The PCs Jump to Prenglaro, more specifically the gas giant there.

Day 60 is during Jump.  The PCs can claim their monthly salary and ship shares.

On the last day of the 7-day Jump, Tōmō cooks a meal featuring jelly eggs.  The player rolls a marginal fail!  The flavour of the jelly eggs doesn't fail, but a gel forms over the eggs.  The taste is okay, but the texture is gelatinous, like tapioca pudding!  5/10!

The Steppenwolf arrives at Prenglaro on Day 63:

0715  Prenglaro  C510640-6  Na Ni  (A G5 V sun with Prenglar orbiting in the 2nd orbit, with a smaller M4 VI sun orbiting in the 4th orbit.  Prenglar is a Mars-like but hot world, sometimes hotter if near the M4 sun.)

When they arrive near the gas giant, the sensors detect that there are patrols.  They are hailed by the Patrol Corvette "Invictor" which orders the Steppenwolf to stand by to be boarded and inspected.  An officer and soldiers board, but they were disinterested in the Steppenwolf's food cargo, and hint they were looking for ore smugglers as this is a border-world.

The PCs spend several hours to load up on hydrogen and immediately Jump on to Flostono.  The Jump is successful.  During the Jump, Capt. Derwatt initiates a project to install taste-buds on RUR-67!  He works out the basics of this project.

Day 71:  The Steppenwolf arrives at Flostono:

0915  Flostono (a.k.a. Fhloston)  B868873-7 Ri

Flostono is a tidally-locked satellite of a bigworld closely orbiting a red M2 star.  It is Rich but not quite a Garden planet because it has a touch too much water.  It has a population of 482 million but no unified communal government, and the Law Level is low at 3. It has a fast 14-hour rotation period, but the locals lump two such periods together to make a leisurely 28-hour day, not much caring if their parties are daytime or nighttime. (edited)

[09:07]

Flostono developed geologically with long striated masses of land stretching roughly northwest to southeast.  This interrupts the oceans repeatedly and prevents major storms or hurricanes from forming, despite strong Coriolis forces.  The temperature over most of the planet is a tropical ideal.  With some small terraforming and sand production it was turned into a resort planet with sandy beaches and several cities and mid-sized towns all along its many coastlines, named after the tropical beaches of Earth.  Communes all over the Verdulan Federation offer short visits as incentives to workers.  Very successful workers scrape enough together to retire here, and the very rich (who have somehow developed in the socialist Verdulan Federation) have even purchased land and their own islands...somehow.  How did they get their money?  Possibly there is a criminal element hidden under the palms.

The Savrettes, intelligent four-eyed sophonts native to the planet Flostono, were unceremoniously pushed out of many of their lands.  There is currently a contentious set of negotiations concerning their reserves and their rights.  It is hoped they may regain their traditional territories, but they may have to engage in the same sort of resort business to be viable.

As this was the 8th week that the PCs spent in Jump, they had a chance to gain or increase a skill with an EDU+ roll.  Rolls for Astria and Siseri are pending.

Virgil received intelligence information, aided by the Jump-6 diplomatic courier channel afforded by Frideyan trade envoy status!  Smuggling across the border is of concern to intelligence forces.  Miners go across the border to try their luck in the "wrong" federation.  Both federations trade information about that.  There is also people-smuggling, which is uniformly one-way from the Verdulan Federation to the Frontier Federation.  The Frontier intelligence forces don't care about that, but Verdulan intelligence cares deeply. (edited)

[09:08]

But there is also some new thing going on, a smuggled product known as "art".  What is it?  The information seems to associate it with pirates.

As the Steppenwolf gets out of Jump and is moving to the planet Flostono, precisely 2 hours after Jump a klaxon sounds, and a voice intones, "Please stand by for an important message."  Once again a countdown-timer appears on all screens that counts 5 minutes. All the monitors have this message, but it will not interfere with any ship functions the PCs want to do.

Then a video of Brianna Anderson appears, "Greetings again! This message was set to start when you arrived in the Flostono system. When you have finished your delivery of the jellyfish eggs, enjoy yourselves! The Argosy Dawn corporation has paid for an all-expenses-paid vacation for the crew for six days at the beach resort run by the Lunlumai Ventetoy [Moonlight Breezes] commune, a modest midrange hotel with an impeccable beach nevertheless.

During this time, I ask you to get in touch with Sarosho Kardozo, a trade factor who will transfer 5 tons of Luxury Goods to you, to be shipped to the planet Teknika."

The Steppenwolf lands at Flostono.  The planet is not unified, but the largest city is called Akapulko and has the main spaceport.  The Aparatoy are satisfied with your paperwork as you do have the cargo of foodstuffs that you say you do.  The fee to dock the ship for a week is somewhat higher, at 200 Cr (400 Ayooros).  Each crew-member gets a bonus from the freight fees of 1,200 Cr each.

The Moonlight Breezes resort is not in Akapulko, but in a small coastal town called Nova Korinto about 300 km away.  You are not allowed to use your starship for transport on-planet, but can easily take public transit there for 15 Cr each. (edited)

[09:08]

The Surfsailor and its cargo of jelly eggs Jumped near Flostono and arrived a bit after the Steppenwolf.  Brogan is gleeful that the Steppenwolf "beat" them.  They too were offered a resort vacation, but in a different locale suited for alien sophonts.

Once in Flostono space, Virgil gets an electronic update on intelligence information.  He wants to investigate this talk about smuggled "art".  He finds out that, 1) whatever it is, it is not a bulk commodity.  Smaller ships are suspected, never giant cargo haulers.  2)  There are large sums changing hands, of the order of 1 MCr/ton!

Knowing that the freight they are to pick up is only 5 tons, Cpt. Derwatt looks for cargo to haul to Teknika (1116  A324533-D Ni).  (After many hours,) he makes a deal for Common Raw Materials at 85% of base price (4,250 Cr/ton) and can find enough to fill the spare 57 tons of space.  Then there is a scramble to finance the deal, and the distribution of funds is as follows:

15 tons bought with company funds (63,750 Cr)

10 tons bought with Cpt. Derwatt's money (42,500 Cr)

4 tons bought with Tōmō's money (17,000 Cr)

5 tons bought with Ved's money (21,250 Cr)

4 tons bought with First Officer Reilly's money (17,000 Cr)

9 more tons can be optioned by other characters if they wish (pending).

[09:09]

Ronnie hops transit back to Akapulko, claiming he wants to buy weapons.  In reality, he wants to sell his 3 suitcases full of drugs, still in his stateroom on the Steppenwolf.  He is encouraged by the low Law Level here.  With Streetwise he hears of a contact known (in Verdulan) as Kuban Pete and is directed to the Twin Dolphins bar to ask for "Giorgio".  The bartender directs him to a back-room to meet Kuban Pete.  Ronnie uneventfully sells them for 8,000 Cr.

Back at the resort, Tōmō buys a surfboard (reinforced), some Hawaiian shirts, board shorts, and a ukulele.  I said this would all be 500 Cr.

Virgil wants to try to link up with the intelligence community to try to find out more about "art".  This resort planet strikes him as a place where people will mingle.  In the city of Akapulko he learns of a bar for expatriates from the Frontier (English-speaking people settling here).  The bar is named the Sub Rosa Trinkayo (Sub Rosa Bar).  Virgil goes in, Recons the place to see there is only one entrance and exit, and possibly another exit through the kitchen if he needs one.  Virgil sizes up a likely prospect, a man with salt and pepper hair but in a shaved buzz-cut he has often seen with Frontier agents.  He strikes up a conversation with the man, name of Richard, and engages in a drinking bout (Carouse skill).

Virgil gleans certain things from this interaction, and eventually returns to the resort at Nova Korinto.  Virgil also reflects more on building a security infrastructure for the Frideyan robots (TBD).

It is about this time that Capt. Derwatt has concluded the deals for Common Raw Materials and gotten them stored on the Steppenwolf.  Ronnie attempted a deal for 1 ton of Precious Metals, but the asking price was pretty high; he bought it for base price.

The PCs still have almost 6 days left in this sunny resort, and are to meet Sarosho Kardozo the trade factor. (edited)

[09:14]

(Oh, and I want to clarify up there that Flostono is a tidally-locked moon of a bigworld, but as it still swings around its primary world in 14 hours in close orbit, the local star tracks along in the sky in that period so it looks like rotation, with long periods eclipsed and in semi-twilight by the bigworld.)

10 November 2022