Trade War - Part 3
This note is from our May 31st, 2015 session and was mostly written by Carl and Kay with additional material provided by myself. I did the pictures using Sketchup, Kerkythea and Gimp.
Continued from: Trade War - Part 2.
Date: 109-1105 Imperial.
Location: Deep Space, about one parsec out from the Aramanx system.
As we pick up the narrative, we had just detected a courier ship coming out of jump. The courier was the Nebula and it was about 40K Km out from the barge.
As we maneuvered the three ships to attack position (and to let the courier know there WERE three ships) Kipenzi spoke to them.
Completely outgunned, they stood down and became our second prize.
We locked the captive ship’s crew in a habitat module and loaded it in their own cargo bay, making room for the prize crews.
We had a long discussion and concluded that a maneuver-1 ship was not going to get into a chase anyway, so the having the Cyclops remain was just an opportunity to get a prize ship shot up.
After proper preparation both the Nebula and the Cyclops jumped out to Oberlindes’ base in the Aramanx system.
Over the next several days the routine was largely the same. A ship
would jump in and we got it to surrender. A couple took a shot before
making a good decision, and sadly one courier either panicked or decided
they had data that could not be compromised, and we had to blow that
one up.
In our time at the barge point, we captured 6 Hercules
class ships and 2 couriers, one with its data intact. We also learned
the encryption key/password used by Tukera's ships. No doubt it will be
changed in the near future but who knows what legacy information is
laying around waiting for proper decryption.
Not so sadly, in
most ways, was the arrival of a 400-ton ship that matched the
specifications for the raider who had killed some Oberlindes crew and
pistol whipped others. It jumped in with no transponder signal, later
identifying itself as the Aramis Wind, a Tukera security patrol ship. Kipenzi ordered all ships to open fire.
We opened up with all lasers from all three ships and damaged the ship pretty badly in the first few minutes of combat.
It returned fire, but our first set of shots had ruptured the fuel tank and damaged one turret. The Guardian took
a good amount of hull damage when it returned fire. The Aramis Wind,
unable to maneuver without fuel, coasted in as it was shot again. It
took a critical hit and exploded. Some of the wreckage hit the barge and
damaged the aft compartments and engine.
On 124-1105 we decided that we had spent enough time in the ambush area. After programming the barge to move off about 30M Km to a predetermined location, we all jumped back to the Aramis system at a point 100K Km from our original rendezvous, just in case there was any trouble brewing.
Some information that we recovered bears special mention.
The first courier had this message:
Attn: Ashkashkur, Vemene – Junidy
From: Sylvie Mobutu, Vemene - Aramanx
Skylark 2
has been watched closely since the discovery that Gvoudzon and the
brooch were on board. The ship was recently overhauled at Aramanx, a
move sponsored by Oberlindes Lines. Further movements not certain but it
seems that Skylark 2 is now in the employ of Oberlindes. It may be
possible to stage an ambush by a Vemene ship, under the pretext that
this is just part of the tradewar; if it can be arranged for one or two
officers to be part of the ‘inner circle’ there will be no reason to
have word of the brooch spread any further. She will take all possible
action to resolve this action speedily and closes by wishing luck and ‘a
speedy fruition of our plans’.
The logs
also showed that there had been several trips through Aramanx to Lewis
from a world in the Deneb sector over the past few months. Possibly
significant in that Lewis is interdicted. We learned more about that
later on.
One of the Hercules class ships that we took was the Titan. The Titan had
carried the Meson Guns, still unaccounted for, as far as Zila. Their
records confirmed some of what we knew and added some details to our
puzzle.
Titan's log shows that the ship was originally assigned
to carry two meson guns from Regina to the naval base on Aramis. Titan
was grounded at Zila by damage to the ship’s drive and discharged its
cargo for transfer to the Mammoth.
Following repairs, the ship
took on a cargo of farm machinery which providentially turned up at Zila
starport, totaling roughly the same tonnage as the transferred cargo.
This was ultimately delivered to Jesedipere. A check of the cargo
manifest annex to the log shows that the cargo taken aboard at Regina
consisted of two Type-J meson guns and two fiber-optic computer
fire-control systems. This cargo, disassembled, was shipped in 18
shipping modules totaling 2,050 tons. The cargo was transferred to the
Mammoth at Zila starport on the recommendation of Lt. Commander Warren, a
Navy representative accompanying the shipment.
Three days after the drive repairs were completed, the Titan loaded
a cargo of farm machinery from a planet-based firm for shipment to
Jesedipere. This cargo was contained in 20 shipping modules and totaled
2,100 tons. The consignor is listed as Swartemann and Closter General
Equipment, LIC, headquartered on Zila. The consignee is identified only
as Ozarr.
We remembered from a previous adventure on Aramanx, that the Ozarr is the warship that the Vargr pirates are trying to build. More information to use or pass on to the Navy
Another computer file, containing a record of communications to and
from Titan, had some interest as well. A message sent out during the
ship’s layover at Zila included a report addressed to Aran Ashkashkur,
head of the Aramis branch of the Vemene security organization. This
message was apparently coded before dispatch and is marked as a
high-security item. In the report, the captain indicates that, following
Ashkashkur’s orders, the meson gun shipment was picked up at Regina on
schedule and carried by Ashkashkur’s new route. He then discusses the
drive breakdown and the decision to transfer the shipment to Mammoth.
Good thing they used the same code for all of their messages.
The message goes on to indicate that Jelika Chan, Ashkashkur’s operative, transferred to the Mammoth after an accident to the latter ship’s chief engineer. Titan’s
captain goes on to report that, as Ashkashkur desired, no one else
aboard knew of Chan’s Vemene affiliation. However, the captain points
out the fact that Chan’s lack of skill was largely responsible for
Titan’s drive malfunction and suggests that in the future the Vemene
assign personnel competent in their cover assignments as well as their
actual ones.
131-1105
We arrived in the Aramanx system
and rendezvoused at the agreed on point. After a little debriefing we
went back into the station.
Oberlindes himself met with us, for thanks all around and an offer of a mission more up our alley than space combat. The short version is that he wants some or all of us to take temporary jobs on Lewis at the Tukera family estates and gather information about their activities.
"Also,
Oberlindes says that the Tukera family estates tend to hire from a
staffing agency on Zila that Tukera has minority shares in. Currently
there are several positions open: a mechanic, gardener, medical staff, a
housekeeper, and a very specific request for a 'male Vargr about 38 yrs
old with no defects or visible scars to be a personal assistant/valet'.
According to Oberlindes, the staffing agency has been compromised (read
bribed) to get us into the Tukera estates with fake IDs." – Kipenzi
As this closes, we were pondering who would be suitable, and if anyone
should stay with the Skylark, or if we should leave our ship in dock
there at Aramanx for the duration.
"We’ll need to get a new dye job for Gvoudzon, obviously he’s recognized by the Vemene - damn" - Kipenzi
Continued in Inselburg - 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, First Call at Zilla.
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