Beyond the Horde

Where the adventurers continue onward after helping a low tech world defend against an alien invasion.
 
This writeup is based on Carl's and Kay's notes.
 
This was played on Sunday the 8th of July 2012 .

Continued from Horde - Conclusion

Location: Rachev, a planet in the Reidain Subsector
Imperial Date: 047-1101
 
Raschev was secured from the Chamax. Sam had returned from Garoo with two of the parts we needed to repair the Skylark on 047-1101. He and the crew of the ship he traveled in made sure all systems in the potential range of the Chamax ships coming out would be notified of the potential incoming ships, both for friendly folks seeking refuge and for bugs seeking food.  He updated our information about the nearby systems, both from astrogational and other hazard (e.g. pirates) standpoints, and we were glad to see him return.

60 Tons of Marble

      In the next couple weeks we wrapped up our repairs and refitting, purchased some cargo (he got a great deal on some marble) and spent some time with the people we had met, now socializing instead of being armed to the teeth and fighting wave after wave of bugs.  It was quite a change.  The town got a celebratory feast and party together for all who could be there, complete down to the  tracklements, and a good time was had by all.
 
      When Kipenzi asked what a "tracklement" was, she learned that it was a kind of mushroom gravy made from a native fungus served on special occasions.
 
     Sadly, ("What?! Are you out of your MIND?"- Kipenzi) or maybe not so, our time on Raschev came to an end, and on 060-1101 we left the Raschev system behind, hopefully for the last time - unless we can come back and see that *)#$(*) game.
 

Over Rachev making final checks before leaving orbit

067-1101
Jumped into the Alenzar system, with 4 days of travel to get to the spaceport here. This time, unlike our last arrival, there was no ship in distress, and we had plenty of life support in reserve (lesson learned back then, never to be re-learned).
 
     At the port, we spoke with the people we knew from InStarSpec , and learned that their scientists on Chamax had made a lot of headway at understanding the writings and some of the culture of the old civilization, and had a good bodyguard team consisting of the Aslan mercenaries we had encountered before. (They had constructed an almost medieval fort around the ship landing area - it looked cool) - Kipenzi.  We were glad those folks found work to do, and that the scientists would be safer in their studies.
 
    We, and the entire system, were also glad that the Skylark crew had sacrificed a lot of our day-to-day computer space to load up the database from the ship that landed on Raschev, and the Alenzar managers were thrilled to be able to purchase both the cooling device that put the Chamax in stasis and a copy of the database for their use in the future.  A nice bonus payday for all of us, and a good deal for them too (11 million credits ain’t pocket change- and we kept one stasis-field generator for ourselves as equipment.  We’re using it to make shaved ice for our margaritas.) - Kipenzi
 
     Mindful that our next real activity is likely to be at or near an Ancient Site, on a planet that has an extremely corrosive atmosphere, we purchased an Insidious Atmosphere Kit for the Skylark‘s airlock system, and 6 maintenance and refurbishing kits for our VACC suits. (two 48-hr replacement seals for 3 sets of hardened VACC suits)
 
  We all wanted to talk to archaeologists before leaving, so on 075-1101 we headed out to revisit the planet Chamax, the long-ago start of all the debacle that has filled these journal pages.  By the time we got there, the download of the database had already begun, and the scientists were both thrilled and a little bit disappointed - to have the information was great, but to miss out on the analysis and discovery that would have been part of the thrill --- tradeoffs, always tradeoffs.
 
  Discussions of things archaeological proceeded, and we learned that while no one there knew anything about an ancient site on Yorbund, there is generally not much left of any site that is found (those black balls that killed people still keep popping into our minds, so we were and still are not buying into the 'empty' idea), but in a more important aspect of the discussion:
 
   Once an ancient site is found and marked, it is off limits to everyone who is not formally given Imperial access for research.

   Before they are found, anyone can go looking.

   If you find one, and date it back to 300000 or so years, you must report it to the Scout Service immediately

   NEVER NEVER NEVER is anyone allowed to take anything from a site without Imperial approval.
 
    The information we got from the datachip in Uchefuna Yoruba's area, which long-ago Medicus purged and copied before we turned the chip over to InStarSpec, seems to have been for his eyes only, coming most likely from one of his contacts across the galaxy. Talking with the people at the site, we learned this time that Dr Yoruba was a TREASURE HUNTER, as well as a highly respected scientist.  The members of the dig team told us a couple other names of well-known treasure hunters as well, but no one had any idea as to whereabouts.
 
    From here on, most of our journey back to Vilis was nothing more than fly-jump-fly-sell-buy-fly-jump, so only the interesting bits are detailed from here on in this narrative.  Sufficient that Sam and Medicus did (and continue to do) a magnificent job of trading and keeping us well in the black.
 
080-1101  
Jump to 886-945.
 
   Coming out of jump, Sam at sensors caught a reading on some wreckage nearby.  Concerns of pirates immediately raced to the front of our minds, and we carefully investigated.  Fortunately it turned out to only be space junk that some less friendly ship had dropped.  Two shots from the turrets and it was nothing but space dust.
 
091-1101  
Jump to Kardin.
 
  Kardin is one of two locations we are sure have currently investigated Ancient Sites, and we hoped to be able to speak with the teams there and perhaps see it, but we were denied access.  At least we were able to make sure we know exactly how an Ancient Site is marked as off limits, so if we encounter one unexpectedly we won't stray into out of bounds territory
 
103-1101  
Jump to Roget.
 
113-1101  
Jump to Engrange.
 
125-1101  
Past turnover toward our jump out of Engrange for Jacent, we got a call from a trader ship warning us about pirates in the area.  We changed our vector to a different angle for jump out, but after some head scratching we realized that though the ship had said it contacted the Navy, we had not heard any calls before that.  So on a tight beam we talked to the Engrange port and reported the incident - a ship seemingly disabled by pirates, with as much of a description as we were able to give.  Our jump went without incident and we wished the other ships well in avoiding problems.
 
132-1101  
Arriving in Jacent, we flew to the port for the normal trading activities, and of course for fuel.  The only thing that made this a noteworthy entry is that during our time here a news item arrived saying that in the Engrange system a week or so earlier, a coffee transport ship was hijacked by a team of pirates [3 X 400 ton Type R and a 400 ton Corsair ]. One of the pirates had taken some damage, and an unnamed ship had reported the incident to the Navy, who sent ships out to take in the pirate ship. (yay us, no formal credit but we were/are absolutely sure that the Darian Navy knows the name of the ship that sent in the report).
 
135-1101   
Jump out to Trifuge.
 
153-1101   
Jump out for Tizon.
 
163-1101   
Jump out for Margesi.
 
175-1101   
Jump out for Vilis.
 

Ah, Vilis, our home port and the start of all our wanderings.

 
    The first thing that greeted us was a recurring news report of a navy commando raid in Zhodani space to rescue many frozen Navy personnel from an old warship, The Haunting Thunder. Big warm feeling for us, no need at that point to cruise the bars hoping for some rumor of a plan to rescue them. Also on the report was that the Thunder was sinking into the sea at the time, with the entire ship from fighter bay down under the liquid.
 
    Our first purchases on Vilis were all the possible training classes we could get, since it is always lonely in the jump time, and there is always more to learn about.  With only 5 of us, we have had to double up on skills, and training software are/were/will be an excellent way to come to grips with what we need to know.
 
    We spoke with our old patron Victor Romeo, and as well as learning that there is NO report of a known ancient site on Yorbund, even though we would never take anything that we should not, if some unknown items fell into our laps, he would be happy to help us help them find a welcome home.
 
     On another note, with his help we were able to contact a computer specialist who was able to access the Captain's PDA we recovered from the Thunder.  We can now interact with it, just being careful to never give the machine a link to the outside world. We did not want it calling home.
 
     We spent over a month on Vilis, with some people taking classes, some testing for certifications [may never help but cannot hurt] and Sam doing  a fair amount of local trading, honing his brokerage skills and adding to both his own and the ship's bank accounts.
 
    Speaking of bank accounts, we also caught up on our ship payments, and have done all we can to prevent a recurrence of being out of range and unable to make the monthly (one years-worth of payments in advance and another year’s worth of payment money in a bank with instructions to continue payments if we aren’t heard from).
 
     Sam met with a naval architect with his designs and spent time detailing the new ship, to be called the Skylark II, and we put in an order and the down-payment for it while in system.
 
    More head scratching got us thinking that maybe 6 VACC suit repairs were not enough, and what about the camera equipment on them, and ah yes, we have to be able to determine the age of the place, so we purchased that equipment, with instructions in preparation for our exploration.  Hopefully, we have gotten all we will need.
 
    We learned all that we could about ancient sites, but it looked like Regina would be a better place, with all the universities there.  Only a few jumps away, and right on our route of flight.
 
    Most of the crew shipped money home to families, and a pretty good time was had by all.
 
    Kipenzi sent all of her salary minus SOC upkeep to her homeworld bank on Arcadia; all except for about 400 credits for going out on the town in a big way.  Last heard saying: “pirates, bugs, ship damaged, 3 months on a no-tech world, bugs, more bugs, pirates again, I DESERVE THIS.”  Last seen heading for a 5-star restaurant in an haute couture gown, coiffed hair and very expensive accessories. - Kay

Continued in: The Trip from Villis to Regina 
 
See Also: Dramatis Personæ, Campaign Starts, The 2nd Adventure, The Chamax Plague, Horde.