Showdown at Jesedipere - Part 1
Where the Travellers travel to the planet Jesedipere and prepare for a showdown with Aran Ashkashkur and the Vargr Pirates.
This note is from our October 4th, 2015 session and was mostly written by Carl and Kay with additional material provided by myself. I created the renderings with Twilight Render from models built with SketchUp.
Continued from: Inselburg - Part 2.Date: 195-1105 Imperial.
Location: An outpost in the outer Aramanx system, Aramis Subsector.Returning from Lewis and debriefing, Oberlindes had asked us to do "just a couple more things".... That conversation NEVER ends really well, but in for a penny...
Our tasks:- STOP the Vargr from getting the Meson Guns.
- Get the guns back for the Navy, intact if possible.
- Get video (or at least audio) of Ashkashkur making the trade.
- Capture Ashkashkur, or at least don't let him get away.
- Set up a conference room for the Oberlindes/Tukera meeting.
“Oberlindes plans to go to Lewis (interdicted world – good luck with that) and broadcast a demand for meeting with Roald Bulolo, Director for Tukera’s Operations in the Aramis Subsector and the Marquis of Aramis to sit down and end the tradewar. To have them meet at Jesedipere with Ashkashkur with the pirates on 219-1105. I can think of SOOOO many things to go wrong with that, but we’re not going to be there to back him up. Hence our own backup plans.”
“In addition to that, we realized that Commander Warren, the Tukera nephew in charge of the investigation of the Mammoth crash (make it look like Oberlindes did it, signed Bulolo) was also on both the Titan and the Mammoth. So... does that mean he’s been part of the conspiracy all along?”After the meeting, we spent some time speaking with people at the outpost who were familiar with demolitions, and got various types of explosives - Det Cord, a small bit of impact sensitive explosive, and enough not-impact to take down a warehouse if needed. The people at the outpost spent a few hours talking with us about what to do (and especially what to NOT do).
We planned to find out where the meson gun containers were stored. That many cases of that much tonnage (100 containers of 20 tons each) could only be in a large warehouse. In the worst case we figured that bringing down the roof would be a sufficient delay, and minimize the risk of injury to the workers. None of us were particularly worried about hurting Ashkashkur or the Vargr. 196-1105
Jumped for Nasemin.
Arrived in the Nasemin system.
Kipenzi: “We gave the Scout Service base there the message for the Navy that the Meson guns are on Jesedipere, we’re going to try to stop them from getting into the pirates possession, and please hurry your asses there. Just in case something untoward happens to Oberlindes on Lewis”.
206-1105Jumped out of Nasemin.
213-1105
Into Jesedipere system.
- Jesedipere (0601 C775500-7) is a medium-sized world with a standard, tainted atmosphere and seas covering approximately half of the world’s surface. A backwater world at the edge of Imperial space, Jesedipere has never been exploited and remains a wilderness. This is largely due to the fact that the planet, a relatively young world, is undergoing a high degree of volcanic activity. The air is tainted by varying amounts of sulphur and sulphurous compounds. Thus the world has not been deemed particularly suitable for any significant degree of settlement or exploitation. Jesedipere was selected, in the period following the last of the Frontier Wars, as the site of one of several trading stations established in the Aramis subsector to promote trade into the Vargr extents. The class C starport at Jesedipere is the mainstay of this trading facility and is operated under the auspices of the Scout Service. An IISS detachment, numbering some 15 individuals skilled in interspecies relations, is stationed at the port. Most of the major mercantile companies doing business in the subsector maintain factors and small supporting contingents at the starport.
- Several of the larger companies, including Tukera/Akerut, maintain separate warehousing and landing facilities at some distance from the main starport, in order to maintain a degree of privacy and security in their dealings.
- Jesedipere’s population, numbering (at last official census) some 4,600 individuals, is concentrated at the small town of Downport, located about five kilometers from the starport proper. These people attempt to make the best living they can by catering to visiting starships. A wide-open planet, Jesedipere has neither an organized government nor enforceable laws. Order is maintained at the starport by Port Authority Enforcers under the auspices of the Scout Service but outside the starport perimeter fence virtually anything goes. This has made Downport one of the most notoriously unrestrained dens of iniquity in the subsector, where a spaceman can obtain anything from drugs to a deal on a new – and usually stolen – starship. Downport has not been posted an Amber Zone – but it is generally considered to be a town where visitors should be prepared for anything.
- A second element of Jesedipere’s population – only recently established – is the large refugee camp set up for Vargr who have fled across the border in the face of Kforuz expansion. A colony of approximately 3,500 refugees has been established on a large island 250 kilometers distant from Downport. Scout Service authorities on the planet are awaiting official word from Aramis concerning the ultimate fate of these Vargr, who in the meantime have suffered greatly from a lack of medical supplies and food. Relief efforts have been organized by the Torenlee Foundation on Junidy and the situation has stabilized somewhat but conditions are still very harsh.
On landing, we found two other ships at the port: the Bottom Line, a 200 Ton Type A2 and Bad Attitude, a 400 Ton Type R. The Bad Attitude was for sale. The Owner, Shad Dinsha, wanted 35 MCr for it when we talked with him later. The jump drive was so much scrap metal and there appeared to be blood stains on the floor in the common area. Someone had replaced the standard R-Type launch with a third laser turret. The power plant and maneuver drive seemed OK so it could fly in system.
There were no other ships in port, but Akeut has their own landing pad out at their warehouse area, and those ships land there directly.
214-1105
Filling the tanks with water and starting the refinement process. We
also got an offer from one of the scouts to let us in on all arrivals in
system, for a nominal fee. We were on that offer like stink on a
monkey.
Arlanroughl, Oberlindes' right hand, came with us, as did Gharukh (the Vargr cryptographer we helped off Lewis). With Oberlindes having personnel on Jesedipere, an Oberlindes bigwig on the scene would be a big help.
Oberlindes was scheduled to arrive between 222 and 224-1105, and Ashkashkur around 219-1105 or thereabouts. With about a week to get everything done, we set to work.
First thing was to consult with the Oberlindes employees about who in the Scouts might be susceptible to "accommodations", and how the layout of warehouses and the community in general went. Oberlindes had asked that we not involve the Scout Service directly if it could be avoided. He wanted to be able to present a complete package to the Imperial Navy, with a signed peace contract with Tukera and non-disclosure agreements in place to cover any leftover messiness from the trade war.
We learned that:
- About half of the Scouts were open to favors for fees. Kipenzi: “that’s bribable.”
- There were warehouses at the Starport, in a Sternmetal facility some ways off, and in an Akerut facility about 1000 km away.
- The Sternmetal and Tukera personnel mostly come into town only on the weekends and only a few each time. The Oberlindes people didn't have a lot of direct contact with Akerut, and could offer no suggestions about bribing.
Our arrival night, a Thursday, Kipenzi and Fig went to a couple of the bars on Downport’s Joy Street (vowing to avoid any fights) to establish our presence as passers through. Downport was mostly enclosed against the tainted atmosphere and the skylights all along Joy Street were covered, with the street being lit mostly by neon bar signs. Asking about "services" indirectly, we learned that Jesedipere is a border crossing point, and probably a fair amount of unofficial cargo comes through. If the price is right, you can buy just about anything here.
215-1105
Friday.
The Skylark 2 in with its new name and paint job
While looking for someone to buy our cargo, Sam asked around and learned more about the Sternmetal and Akerut warehouse facilities. Saying that the Chamax (our ship name for the duration) might want to store some cargo for a while, he scheduled a visit to the Sternmetal compound. There was also a likelihood that, if needed, hand held weapons could be purchased locally.Arlanroughl, Gvoudzon and Gharukh went out to visit the Vargr refugee camp. Those hand held weapons, if we wanted to get them, would probably need hands... I am sure that the trio were motivated by concern as well as our self interest, but I don't want to get all sloppy sentimental.
Sam's trip out to Sternmetal showed him a marginally maintained facility, and demonstrated clearly that the Meson guns were NOT there.Arlanroughl returned with the encouraging word that we could definitely count on assistance from the refugee Vargr if we needed additional personnel. They hate the pirates.
Kipenzi: “Bar hopping turns up Alapirlu Hammacher, a Scout Service man who seems to be feeling us out for a bribe. If we need the Scout Service, we’d actually want one who isn’t on someone’s payroll (as it’s likely to be Tukera’s).”
“BTW if the pirates bring cash, they will need to bring 500 million in credits in cargo containers and armed guards.”
216-1105
Saturday.
Sam and Medicus went out to the Akerut facility for a visit. The tour showed them a trio of well maintained warehouses, one in the Goldilocks zone - it had "just the right" amount of containers [100 20-ton containers would do it-Kip]. Medicus planted a few bugs, and one video feed in the warehouse itself. Getting them in place was super good, but we knew we would have to get a repeater and position the Air Raft off a ways to be able to record anything since the low powered transmitters couldn’t reach the ship 1000 Km away.
Returning to Downport, with six Akerut personnel coming in for the weekend, Sam took a brief tour of the Bad Attitude. With a damaged jump drive it was going nowhere, but most of the other systems were supposed to be functional. We put that on our list of possible assets.
Saturday night, what a great time to barhop. Medicus, Sam, Kipenzi and Fig kept the Skylark tradition alive. At least the barhopping tradition. We managed to not get in any fights this time too.
Listening in on some Sternmetal folks we just heard grumbles about the conditions here and that they weren't getting much work.
We heard the Akerut folks complaining about the same general stuff. Comments about Jesedipere being the wart on the ass end of the universe were typical of the view of this world.
217-1105
Sunday.
09:29 - The Bottom Line, a free trader we had encountered in times past, departed. It had arrived before us, and must have completed its work here.
218-1105
Monday.
The Bad Attitude
We had considered a field trip to the Akerut area, to preposition the explosives, but had decided to minimize the time they might be noticed. Now it just remained to wait the arrival of some ships.Kipenzi: “Plan X involved setting explosives on the roof to blow it down into the warehouse. The cargo containers would not be going anywhere and it had the advantage of our not having possession of the containers at an awkward time if the Navy showed up and Ashkashkur or the pirates didn’t.”
Continued in Showdown on Jesedipere - Part 2
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, Trade War.
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