The Wolf at the Door - Conclusion

 

Where the Travellers flee across the surface of a backwater world and solve the mystery of Captain Bannerji and the Wolblutn.

This note is from our October 12th, 2014 session and was mostly written by Carl with edits and additional material provided by Kay and myself.

Continued from: The Wolf at the Door, Part 1

Date: 197-1104 Imperial.

Location: The Union of Senled's Borderlands, on the planet Aramamx in the Aramis Subsector.

197-1104
Aramanx, on the run from a fight we didn't (for a change) start.

After a cold night in which no one slept well, we moved on. The world's thin air required us to wear breather masks and they are just are not good for racking the Z's.

At that time there was no Communications with our ship possible. Jamming was ongoing, and only one hour out of three did we have line-of-sight to the satellite we needed. We would try on a recurring basis.

We headed off toward the border with Renitza and Bannerji's ship, the Wolblutn, optimistic but cautious.

We asked Kfouzr and Gvouzdon how well they could scent things here. We didn't want to just walk on up to Bannerji's ship and knock on the door. They said the breathers made it difficult but not completely unworkable. At least it was something we could try.

Sadly, the masks can be customized for trackers. This means that the Vargr who are really after Gvouzdon could have 'blood hounds' on their side. The Ursine scent would mask the Vargr, but only til they figured out we were all one traveling pack.

Sam, back at the spaceport, was monitoring the news, and saw that we were not on any of the captured or killed lists. We learned later on (after comm was established) that he figured we would be making tracks literally. He looked at the map, and rightly saw that the shortest way back to the spaceport was to follow the monorail tracks. Unfortunately we were actually going in the opposite direction, heading across a national border to Renitza. He had no way of knowing. He kept on trying the comm to reach us too.

Moving on, a little slower with an injured bear and an injured Capt. Bannerji in our party, we noticed that three dog-like creatures were following us. They followed us for a while, and then charged. Probably trying to break up a group of prey species, they got a rude shock. The shock was followed shortly by three ruder shocks that resulted in three dead predators. We cleaned one and cooked it for dinner. We also confirmed that they were not wearing any electronic gear. We rested a bit and pressed on.

We came to a small northerly road leading to a large ranch house with people who were flying the Republic of Senled flag. After some discussion we decided to bypass any and all contact unless we were forced into an encounter. We skirted the ranch area, and about as we got beyond it a helicopter flew in from the south. The ranchers/militia fired on it and we got under the cover of the nearby trees.

As we moved through the terrain we observed several of the local fauna. One was a large apparent carnivore, probably massing about 100 kilos. There was a kill at its feet, and while keeping a wary eye on us, it continued to eat as we passed.

Near sunset, as we set down for the night, we watched a Lanax helicopter fly up the road. Slowly we moved to the Northeast... step by step, inch by inch. Or not, since it was time to bed down for the night.

The second night on the trail, we got Bannerji drunk and talking. He pretty well confirmed all that we had suspected and surmised.

Bannerji was an independent trading captain until about three years ago, when he fell on hard times. In need of money, he came into contact with a representative of Sternmetal Horizons and began doing odd jobs for them. He frequently hauled cargo for them in instances where the company was clearly engaged in extralegal proceedings such as arms shipments to Lovrenyi, smuggling and so forth. His reputation as a reliable doer of dirty deeds grew and Sternmetal began making even more use of him and a few others like him.

Recently, a new set of jobs came up. Because of tensions along the frontiers and the threat of war with the Zhodani Consulate, the Imperial government has begun imposing restrictions on the price of domestically produced Lanthanum, a mineral vital to the function of jump drives and hence of importance in the general naval build-up in the Marches.

Sternmetal does a great deal of business in lanthanum mining and the company was threatened with some losses at the prospect of a price ceiling. But there is a loophole, a thoroughly illegal but viable loophole, which Sternmetal has taken advantage of. Price ceilings are imposed only on domestic lanthanum not on imported ore. Vargr and human traders do a good business in imports from the Vargr Extents and the price of this ore is rising as the Navy diverts increasing quantities to military use.

The company’s subsector manager has forged an elaborate plot to take advantage of the situation. Shipments of ore mined in the Patinir Belt and other locations, normally subject to the price ceilings, are being passed off as imported ore from Scangen, a planet in the Vargr Extents just across the frontier. Sternmetal mines the domestic ore, transports it in ships like Bannerji’s and carefully forges itineraries and other documentation. The ships then are hidden for a period of time to match that required for a trip to Scangen. The vessel – with its cargo of ore – shows up at Junidy at the proper time. There to sell the ore at the going market rate for imported lanthanum. The ship’s captain passes the money on to Sternmetal and receives a sizeable payment.

Everyone profits – except, of course, the government which wanted the lower prices.

Wolblutn, Bannerji’s ship, is currently engaged in this kind of run. Having left Aramis with an itinerary officially taking the ship to Pysadi, Zila and on through the Towers Cluster to Scangen, Bannerji proceeded instead to the Patinir Belt and picked up his load. When a supply shuttle stumbled upon his ship, Bannerji panicked and fired, putting out a spread of highly illegal nuclear missiles into the intruder.

Bannerji made his way as quickly as possible here to Aramanx, where his ship is to be hidden during the time of his supposed passage to Scangen and back. Within Lovrenyi’s budding empire, the company has established several small installations, used as mining camps. One of these, in the mountains of Renitza, also has some maintenance facilities for ships, although this is not generally known.

While Wolblutn has been on Aramanx, most of her crew has been staying at the mining camp. Sternmetal’s shorthanded planetary manager pressed Bannerji into service with a team being sent to study economic possibilities in Senled in the interim period before Wolblutn is ready to leave.

Yes to the Lanthanum smuggling. Yes to nuking the shuttle in Patinir. Yes to collusion with Sternmetal. (OK we were leaning toward Tukera/Akerut, but close enough).

Kipenzi: "BTW- he said he never had a partner named Eneri Gillam".

He also was pretty sure that Kfouzr's saying the Lanax people wanted Sternmetal capturees was correct. They wanted to put pressure on Sternmetal.

He denied knowing anything about the Ozarr or the missing Meson Guns. His reactions and body language made it seem to be the truth. Kfouzorr agrees with Bannerji’s story, under the Kfourzung, the raid was to get proof Sternmetal was smuggling lanathium. "Kfourzorr was leaving group and tried to warn the people of the raid, and just lucky that Gvoudzon was there." - Kipenzi

Comm was up, off and on. We got in limited touch with Sam, and discussed him flying down. Overall tempting but not worth the risk. We determined to press on to the mining camp (or at least get close).

198-1104
The next morning Bannerji was a little more draggy, from the alcohol as well as fatigue and pain from his wounded leg. After a few hours of travel, we came onto a burned out ranch house, it looked deserted and we decided it was worth a look. The barn held some interesting things: freezer with meat mostly still frozen, vessels for water, a nice cart to haul it all, and some tools for making a bridge (or at least a sorta) if we could not find a ford across the river. Yes, we had one wide river to cross ahead.

Guilt ridden, we left money and a thank you note.

Another farmhouse was further down our path. This one had what looked like a camouflaged helicopter behind the barn, and we went carefully around. That night passed uneventfully

199-1104
Into the forest, pressing on toward our goal. We reached the river, and after some scouting Leon found a suitable ford. We crossed, and shortly found a clearing in the woods. It was an abandoned site that was probably bootleg logging camp. The rest of the day was uneventful.

200-1104
Carefully crossing the road we came to, we saw a military aircraft in the distance. It was moving along the road and we covered up as best we could. Perhaps luck, perhaps the bears, but it kept on going.

We got close to Banerji's ship,the Wulblutn and our Vargr traveling companions checked out the area. Feeling safe, we headed toward the ship. It was camouflaged, and the netting had to go before takeoff.

Bannerji was more nervous and skittish than he had been. We became doubly watchful, lest an ambush or a trap get us.

Just as we approached the ship, a machine gun opened up on us and a military grav vehicle approached. Kfouzorr went down right away. Medicus dragged him into the ship and started working on his wounds. While most people piled onto the ship, the ursines and Fig took up defensive positions and fired back at our attackers.

On board, Kipenzi went to the helm and Bannerji to Comm (to enter the pass codes) and scan. Leon went back to engineering to help get things cranked up. The fire fight continued outside.

Gvouzdon went to the fire control area, and after making sure the missiles were NOT NOT NOT nuclear, got one primed. As the assault vehicle was landing he fired one off. It went high (waaaaaaaay better than low) and hit a nearby hill. The Vargr assault team hit the dirt briefly.

"Gvoudzon re-aimed and got off two more missiles to keep them down."- Kipenzi

The mining camp would have already known we were there from the sound of the gunfire and the missiles would have warned them to keep down.

After the tie-downs were released, we got everyone on board. All the ursines were hit, and Medicus had his hands full doing triage for a while. At last the the engines were powered up, and Kipenzi got us airborne.

Once in orbit we got a call from air traffic to 'pull over'. Two 400 ton warships told us we were under arrest and to go to the spaceport. We cooperated, and they escorted us to the station.

Oh well, another night in jail.... "Actually 10 nights in jail, and released on 211", Kipenzi.

Sam arranged for a lawyer for us. Sternmetal got one for Bannerji, but his ship was impounded. As the days passed the charges mounted. Illegal Lanthanum, nuclear missiles, smuggling, ... Oh My.

211-1104
Finally we were approved for bail. Our story was verified shortly after that and all charges against us were dropped. We suspected that Baron Feri might have lent a good reference for us.

The Skylark got a thorough going over by the authorities as well. Sam let them board and cooperated fully.

213-1104
We heard that Bannerji, bailed out and represented by a Sternmetal lawyer, had "committed suicide" in his hotel. Pretty sure that was not a literal truth, but not our problem.

All the bears had recovered enough to head home. Enough of this mercenary business, they planed on taking the next ship coreward.

"Sadly, Kfourzorr had died of his injuries before getting to the station. We throw a goodbye party for the bears at a bar. No one bothers us." – Kipenzi.

215-1104
Later that day we were visited by Arlanrroughl (Baron Feri's top dog). He passed on a message from the Baron, that if we make it back to Zila anytime soon, we should get in touch with Lisa Fireau of Fireau et Fille. She could use 'your type of help'. Clearly he was not referring to Steward.

So, we were faced with a decision:

• Back to Zila for our cargo and to help Fireau
• On toward Junidy to try and pass off the brooch.
  

With Kfouzorr telling us that the Vargr are still trying to get money for their ship and the gun(s), the Junidy trip can slip a little bit.

However, we kept mindful that there are almost surely two Meson guns out there someplace, and we really needed to keep that in mind. We discovered that the Kforuzeng are buying one of them, but what about the other one? There’s still one meson gun missing.

Information we planned to gather, at every port we hit, included all the ship comings and goings, flight plans and cargo, since the Mammoth crash. Maybe in all of that we can get a sense of where the guns went. Tallying ship flight plans versus actual arrival, declared cargo versus reasonable destinations. Who knows what a few hours of computer analysis can show? Even if nothing at all, it would be an interesting exercise and a possibly useful tool for the future.

"At some point during this last part, we finally sit down at a computer and check on the robot’s memory chips to see why ordinary work bots would have weapons and fire at us." - Kipenzi.

Continued in Zillan Wine, Part 1.

See Also: Dramatis Personæ, Skylark 2, Campaign Starts, The 2nd Adventure, The Chamax Plague, Horde, Shadows, Research Station Gamma, Twilight's Peak, Prison Planet, Leedor on Aramis.