The Bloodwell - Part 1

The Crew of the Skylark 2 takes a new job with Oberlindes and finds evidence of foul play aboard a wrecked starship.

This note is from our January 2016 session and was mostly written by Carl and Kay with additional material provided by myself. I did the models in Sketchup and used Twilight Render to do the renders.

Continued from: From Jesedipere to Regina

Date: 045-1106 Imperial.

Location: The moon Regina, Sector Capital of the Spinward Marches.

We spent the last month getting the Skylark 2’s annual maintenance done and taking some classes. Sam purchases a new computer for the ship and software to make us mad genius gunners.

In other news, Medicus continues to fail his med certification exam.

Having decided to travel to Efate to talk with an Oberlindes representative who wanted to hire us to investigate the Bloodwell Incident, we looked up the news concerning the troubles on Efate:

⑆REGINA/REGINA (2314-A788899-A) 004-1106

¶ The Travellers’ Aid Society has obtained an exclusive interview with Major Windan Lorimer, Imperial Marines (ret), recently returned from six months of duty as a captain of auxiliaries engaged in counter-insurgency actions on the planet Efate (Regina 2109-A64930-D).

¶ In the interview, Major Lorimer revealed that four months ago his battalion became engaged in a firefight and subsequently captured twenty insurgents, two of who were officers. Subsequent medical examination revealed that one of the two was actually a Zhodani officer serving as an advisor to the Ine Givar cadres.

¶ In response to queries concerning Major Lorimer’s claims, Rear Admiral Lord Santanocheev, CINCNINT/RS (Commander-in-Chief, Naval Intelligence, Regina Subsector) today held a press conference during which he claimed that Naval Intelligence was convinced that there was neither Zhodani nor Ine Givar involvement in the Efate disturbances.

¶ “What we have on Efate is a local, very minor situation. We’re handling it with local forces and few mercenary contingents. If it were serious, we could commit army or marine assets. We have some very potent assets in this subsector, but we haven’t felt the need to commit them. This is not a serious situation”, he reported.

¶ When asked about the report of a Zhodani officer, Lord Santanocheev replied, “Naval Intelligence has this man in custody, and I can assure you that he is not a Zhodani officer, or a Zhodani anything. I fought the Zhodani twenty years ago in this subsector. I know the Zhodani, and this man is not a Zhodani.”

¶ When contacted afterwards, Major Lorimer refused to comment on the admiral’s remarks, beyond insisting that his original reports had been accurate. Ω

This story dovetails with an earlier TNS story from 241-1105 discussing explosions at the General Shipyards Vehicle Assembly Building No. 3 on Pixie where the new L-Hyd drop tank project is located. The Naval Counter-Intelligence office stated “unequivocally” that they had no evidence whatsoever of Ine Givar activity on Efate, Feri or Forboldn.

The problem with the statement is that Forboldn wasn’t mentioned to begin with as having problems with the Ine Givar. Oops.

Ine Givar did it…There are no Ine Givar… Zhodani captured… there are no Zhodani in system… Pick a channel that has the report you like best.

045-1106
With a full cargo hold and cleared to leave Regina, we headed out. A few hours en route, we picked up a distress call from the Transstar Regina. Kipenzi looks up the stats: 400 Ton, Type R, subsidized Free Trader, with 9 crew, 13 stateroom passengers and 9 low berths. There had been an explosion of some kind in the cargo hold. Nine survivors needed rescue and oxygen. We were closest to the ship, at one hour out. The Navy was sending aid: Two Dragon class system defense boats, but we were a lot closer.

We matched course, and used the air/raft to rescue the survivors and the rendezvous with the Navy’s boats and passed the crew on to them.

Later on, about 2/3 (67%) out to the jump radius, absolutely NOTHING happened.

046-1106
We jump out to Knorbes.

053-1106
Into the Knorbes system for fuel and go only.

057-1106
Ready to go, jumping to Efate.

064-1106
Out of hyperspace and safely into the Efate system. Light traffic reported, we were cleared in toward the planet.

Once landed we received a comms call asking us to attend a meeting with an Oberlindes representative. We were directed to a private conference room, where we were introduced to a male Vargr by the name of Uegz Dhorsanokh.

Uegz indicated that Oberlindes will be conducting a formal inquiry into the loss of the Bloodwell with the intent of taking legal action against the Imperial Navy. However, Marc Hault Oberlindes had also authorized an independent investigation using Non-Oberlindes personnel that can investigate areas that the official team could not for fear of compromising the upcoming legal action.

A big concern for Oberlindes, as well as the loss and the mystery, was that their insurance wanted to deny a claim. Probably due to non-response or something.

Recall that the ship was nuked by the Imperial Navy for having no transponder ID, not slowing or responding to radio or warning shots. It is fairly standard for the Navy to nuke a pirate ship rather than let it get away or hide in a gas giant, but this whole thing sounded off, way off.

Given the timing of the incident, we figured it could have been related to the trade war that Tukera started. Fig, in particular, was ready to blame Tukera. In all fairness, Fig was ready to blame them for a comet arriving off schedule, but we kept our minds open. It goes where the evidence leads.

An offer of 100K credits with 15K up front and standard cargo rates to Dentus seemed reasonable. But this wasn’t just about the money.

The Bloodwell was outbound from Dentus when the incident occurred, adding to the mystery. If the Navy thought it was a pirate, why let them leave the world at all?

We also got an ‘emergency letter’ of reference from the Oberlindes lines, with the request that we use it only if we absolutely must. Uegz also provided us with full technical information and plans for the Bloodwell class ship: It was a 1,000 ton, Jump-3 merchant class Oberlindes ship with 10 crew, and 20 mid passengers. It had two triple laser turrets, a 30 ton launch, an air/raft, and a small truck on board.

We got the passenger, crew and cargo lists from Uegz as well.

The passenger list showed only 3 family names, possibly an extended family, all travelling together: da Costa (11), Breville (5) and Akii-Bua (4). The cargo list showed 2 tons of passenger luggage assigned to da Costa, but no other luggage for the other two names. The cargo list showed 580 tons of Lanthanum ore, the rest were Vargr specific consumer goods, electronics, animal based fabrics, talc, and prescription medications. Their run was from Pandrin (Vargr Extents) to Efate and back.

The ship is currently in a Scout service impound area in a synchronous orbit, and is off limits to visitors. Since we consider ourselves consultants rather than visitors, that didn’t pose a big problem. But, since their view might be different, we planned to be sneaky.

All bodies had been recovered, and while it was unlikely that any were still in a morgue, the autopsy results would be available (one way or another). The passengers were, it seemed, all part of an extended family. The 21 had booked all together, though the cargo manifest showed containers only for one or two.

The offloaded cargo had been put in a warehouse (midnight madness, anyone?) on planet, and we had the manifest of what was supposed to have been on the ship.

So, initial questions we had were:

• Why nuke them? Why not just stop them at the port?
• Who are the families?
• Cargo recovered vs manifest
• Autopsy reports
• Condition of the ship itself – comm, transponder, engine controls…
• Pirate activity? Hijacking?

068-1106
We jump to Pixie.

075-1106
Into the Pixie system, on the way in to the planet we saw the Maverick, a 300 tonner, with an navy impound beacon on it. We left it alone.

Leon sounded out navy personnel in bars and gathering areas, trying to get any feel for the incident. The Adamdun, the navy ship involved, is well thought of. It turns out the Adamdun is based here and the ship and crew are well-known.

A significant increase in pirate activity in the past several months could have been a factor, but no one thinks it likely that the Adamdun reacted badly or too fast. They confirmed that nuking a non-responsive ship rather than let it get into a gas giant or jump out is a standard response, so one question was covered. The piracy rate, they said, had increased in the Dentus system in the past few years and especially in the past 6-8 months due to the Kforzung. We didn’t inform them that they were about to get a downturn in that piracy real soon. The Bloodwell had just had their annual maintenance on Efate, so there may have been sabotage (pirates, Ine Givar or Zhodani) but no real motive there yet.

We heard a rumor of another ship in the Dentus system a few weeks ago, a 600 ton ship with an unusual design. It had no transponder, and jumped out before being confronted.

079-1106
Jump out for Dentus.

086-1106: Into the Dentus system. A nice view of a comet caused a little distraction at the helm. Fig blamed Tukera.

Spotting the Bloodwell in its orbit, we made a quick decision. The away team, complete with red shirt, would take the air raft and analytic gear (weapons too…duh), and our video recording gear over to the wreck while Medicus and Sam got some orbital training.

The wreck was radioactive from the nuke so we wore our heavy Vacc suits. They were good protection for the short stay we planned.

Arriving on board the Bloodwell, we immediately noticed that the ship’s boat was missing as well as the ship’s air raft and truck. The door was open, so we used the boat bay to land in and used our holographic projector to hide it from outside view while we were on board.

Hmmm, need to find out if it was taken by the Scouts or was just missing – pirate? saboteur?

First place we wanted to see was the transponder area, then the passenger compartments. Add to that an overall viewing, and we would be pleased.

While Leon opened some closed doors we needed to pass through, Kipenzi and Fig checked out the cargo area. Debris floated around, and a few containers were still present, but as expected the cargo area was mostly empty.

The Cargo Bay

One container, labeled Enterprise Brokers (that’s one more thing to check) had been opened (it seemed) from the inside. Looked like a torch had been used to cut the latch. Stowaway or saboteur? Leon, hearing this, immediately suggested a robot. We had to acknowledge the possibility.

The cargo manifest said electronics, and we determined it mostly still there. 80% of the cargo container was filled. Which meant enough empty volume for two humans without vacc suits, or one human in a vacc suit with cutting equipment, or maybe three Vargrs...

On the cargo floor level, one maintenance hatch had been opened. Near it on the floor was a puddle of melted metal. We got a good analysis of that. It appeared at first glance that the liquid had been hot (and liquid…) at the time the gravity failed.

Behind the panel we noticed a cable next to a junction box had been cut. Referring to the ship plans, it looked like this was a meeting point for the comm lines. The transponder information would have passed through here on the way to the ships antenna array. Single point of failure… not the best design.

The jump drive was severely damaged, but there was no discernible transponder damage. And we learned little from the badly damaged bridge area. Ventilation and life support did not show any unexpected damage.

The passenger areas had considerable blood, consistent with a hard impact coupled with an unexpected loss of gravity. A few other blood spots were where they would be expected.

After a few hours we rendezvous with the Skylark, headed for the planet and further investigations.

If it was an act of sabotage for the purpose of piracy, then the lanthanum ore was probably the target. The intention would have been to disable the communications and have a pirate ship standing by at the jump point to take them. The Navy intervened first. If the sabotage was intended to target the people, then we need to determine motive there.

Looking at the passenger list, with ages of the members (54 to 0.8 yr), there were young children and a baby. They all boarded at Dentus, destination to Efate.

Kip’s reaction to the deaths of the passengers: “Yes, we’ve committed acts of high treason against the Imperium (Haunting Thunder). Yes, we’ve committed cold-blooded murder (Tarkwell Prison/Keanu). Yes, we’ve committed acts of piracy on a grand scale (Tukera), but these people have crossed a line. Whoever did this, will pay”.

Leon’s take: “Yes, and some of that debris was a dead child's half radiation burned doll, yes? I disagree with a couple of characterizations, in that we never committed high treason, and privateering during a trade war isn't piracy, sheesh. But I do agree that those filthy murderers responsible for this mass murder need to be brought to justice.”

Continued in The Bloodwell, 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.