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