The First Flight of the Skylark 2

 

Where the adventurers go back to Villis, pick up their new ship and travel to the planet Vanegen and find out what Fig has inherited from his late Great Aunt McTavish.

Based on Carl's notes from the game on Sunday, the 2nd of December 2012.

Continued from last months game.

Location: Vilis Subsector
Imperial Date: 217-1102

We made our way back to Vilis safely, and with a fair added profit thanks to Sam's continued expertise and good work.

At Vilis, most of the crew went into a month of intensive studies on some skills, and Sam haunted the spaceport and merchandise areas for cargoes and to sell the Skylark.

He got us a reasonably fair price after four weeks. We picked up the Skylark 2, transferring our personal possessions over to it, as well as our well-gotten gains. The new air raft took a little bit longer to put together, so we were on station about 5 weeks total, a nice respite from the jump - refuel - sell/buy cargo - jump cycle that has been our lives for a long time. It seems compressed, but about 2 full years have passed since we first set foot on the decks of the good old Skylark, but time flies.

The Skylark 2. It looks like a barely streamlined flying brick, but 2/3rds of the non-cargo spaces inside the hull are drives and power plant. It will accelerate at 3G's and do 3 Parsecs a week in hyperspace.

Fig received a letter from the attorney on Vanejen, indicating that his 'inheritance' was, sadly, not a Barony, but a key to a safe deposit box. After some discussion we all decided to go see Vanejen instead of mailing back and forth for probably a couple more years to get the attorney to open the lockbox and deal with it.

Leon offered to teach saber fighting as a first step toward a 'better class of people'. Saber, laser carbine... hmmmm, let me think that over...

The trip to Vanejen was largely uneventful, just the gas and go with Sam doing his usual superb job of keeping us in the black financially. We anticipate that upon return to Vilis we should be nearly able to pay off the new ship if we are lucky.

Gungnir - Durendal - Adabicci - Lunion - Resten - Heroni

Cue dramatic music as our only real event in transit unfolded. On departure from Heroni, Medicus made a quick maneuver to avoid a collision with a Scout ship that took off on crosspaths with us. Their mistake, but we would have all paid for it had there been a collision.

"Heroni Control, should there be another ship on the same vector?"

From Heroni it was onward to Loneseda, Gitosy and Vanejen.

Also worth a mention was our faster times in system, from jump to refuel and to spaceport, thanks to our 3G ability, without the aggravating tilt to the decks when under power. The Skylark was a great starter ship, but this is a definite step up.

359-1102
Early morning down on Vanejen:

First things first, as always, so we got settled into port, arranged refueling and the start of the search for the next load of cargo, and only after the immediate work was done did we head out onto the planet.

While Sam and Medicus continued dealing with cargoes, Fig and Kipenzi strolled through the town to the attorney's office and sure enough there was a key. Fig's aunt had retired on Vanejen but as far as anyone knows, no other relatives live on this planet. So the only way to pay any visit was to go to the gravesite. That was left for another day. Kipenzi and Fig had intended to open the safe deposit box and see what was what, but it turned out that the bank is in Kelesen, about 640 Km away. So, back to the ship for an overnight and to catch up the rest of the crew. There was a night train available but we decided that it is just as easy to go in daylight and get back on the overnighter on the morrow. That apothegm about never putting off til tomorrow... went out the window a lot of the time.

The second day on planet, Fig and Kipenzi boarded the train for an uneventful ride to the scenic little burg of Kelesen. The safe deposit box held a book, and a quick scan showed it to be poetry, entitled Twilight's Peak and penned by Wen Livern. We had heard a couple of spacers arguing over the legend of Twilight's Peak on our way back to Vilis from Yorbund, and the 'urban' ( if a space-faring society can use that term ) legend is passed around from time to time, basically a Legendary story of lost starfarers who discovered fantastic structures and devices while surviving a terrifying winter season. Based on an epic poem of execrable quality, the story seems to be based on the disappearance of a task force in the last century, never been completely accounted for. A few verses into it Fig was wishing he was reading the poetry of Gunthos the Flatulent, a noted Vogon, and closed the book up.

In a customarily conservative mood, Fig put the book back and locked up, going with Kipenzi to purchase two backpacks and two largish books, plus some food for the train ride back. Returning to the bank, Fig got the poetry book and the pair repaired to the train station for the sleeper coach ride back, returning on 361-1102.

While the train rides and poetry sessions were happening, a different set of events unfolded at the spaceport. Comfortable with the trade situation, Medicus and Sam visited the town and did some bar hopping. Just left beyond the gate they found themselves in the Winking Lizard, a local bar. There they were able to get some local food and drink and observe a little of the townsfolk.

During their sitdown, Medicus noticed a small being (a birdlike small biped, not dissimilar to a Droyne ) looking furtively at them, as if wanting to talk but not sure how to go about it. Medicus, after some observation, made the initial move, and there unfolded a story of a kidnapped family taken to some faraway place and tortured by mechanical monsters and some grey-eyed man. It also told them that there were a variety of aliens in the facility. It told them of an escape into icy waters and a long journey to wind up here in the spaceport, now looking for help. It offered to pay, showing them a gold coin with a flame on one side, very similar to the one we picked up on Yorbund, and the promise of caves full of them.

The alien (a Chirper, who's name was Chiree) asked if Medicus and Sam could help him with the family. Sam and Medicus (hereafter designated M&S) told the chirper where we were berthed and to come by that evening. About that time the bartender, who had been the usual 'glad to have a customer' man, turned surly and said the place was closing up, and "Take that chirper with you!" As they left, Sam noticed the bartender picking up a phone and watching them as they left.

On the way back to the ship, M&S were approached by a group of surly folk, three thugs with an obnoxious leader, and asked about "a couple of trouble makers and a Chirper". Shrugs and 'sorry, not sure what a chirper is' comments later, M&S went on. The Chirper had vanished from sight by that time.

That evening (360-1102) the chirper arrived and Leon plus M&S talked to it some more, putting it up on the Skylark. Medicus gave him a medical review and food until everyone had returned for a full crew discussion.

The next morning (361-1102) Kipenzi and Fig returned and showed off the big inheritance. After a slight reading, and the accompanying nausea, the crew decided that it must mean something but since no one wanted to read it cover to cover we would get a computer scan (ideally here on Vanejen, technology permitting) and get a computer summary of the main points (much like making a Cliff Notes for it). We also did a scan with every piece of equipment we had, just in case the real inheritance was a microchip or a metal strip or something, but it was just a book of lousy poetry. A Barony would have been better but what can you do. As P.G. Wodehouse said so long ago, "Aunts will be aunts".

Continuing the discussion with the Chirper, Kipenzi suggested that he may have been on a preserve or other safe zone rather than held as a captive initially, but was poached away to a not-so-nice place. The Chirper had described an insignia that the people who took his family were wearing, but either his description or the local databases are incomplete, Sam was unable to locate it during his research.

Fig returned to the lawyer to clarify some things about Vanejen, and learned that most of the chirpers on the planet live in the north, and that most people don't like them to be around, concerned about theft or just nuisance (much like gypsies were viewed on ancient Earth.) A visit to the grave site wrapped up the day for him.

Kipenzi and Leon went looking for rumors and heard gossip about a Zhodani base in the north. With our Querion trip still in the frontal cortices, we DO NOT want to meet up with any mind readers... They did find some good maps of the planet, indicating icy seas to the south and that an Imperial Reserve was in the ocean down there, and according to some postings the Reserve is still in operation.

We reconvened back on the Skylark 2 that evening, to consider our options and course of action.

Carl and Kay discus what to do with the book while Bryce looks up cargoes and the giant jar of cheese balls looks on. Not shown: Mark and Jo Jo.

Continued in Research Station Gamma, part 1

See Also: Dramatis Personæ, Skylark 2, Campaign Starts, The 2nd Adventure, The Chamax Plague, Horde, Shadows.