ANNIC NOVA - part 2

The Crew of the Skylark 2 continues to explore an abandoned starship and Medicus has a potentially fatal accident.

This note is from our August 14th 2016 session and was mostly written by Carl and Kay with additional material provided by myself. I did the models with Sketchup and rendered them in Twilight Render. This was the first time we used Roll20 as a virtual tabletop since we could no longer all be in the same place. Thanks to Neil Luna for providing the Roll20 tech support.

Continued from: ANNIC NOVA, Part 1

Date: 122-1106 Imperial.

Location: The Keng system in the Regina Subsector.

Medicus, Leon Cruz and Sam Penney, our away team explored a lot of the derelict (?) ship in our last session.

On returning after checking out most of the ship, we think there was/is a plague of some sort on board. Medicus is confident that we are not infected since we kept our space suits on, but we are all worried and wondering where the people who left (likely in the missing pinnace) went.

We did not want the ship to jump out on its own, possibly taking some of our crew with it or even damaging the Skylark 2. Towing the derelict toward the 100 planetary diameter radius seemed like a good idea at first, but we could not find a good way to do that effectively.

Disabling the jump drive sounded like a better option. The system on the ship should (if our engineering knowledge is accurate) take about three weeks to prep and jump, so figuring out how to do that should not be an issue.

Exploring the rest of the ship was a good idea, so we could be sure that it is really empty. We can take a logbook (if we find one) and leave a radio transponder marking our 'claim'. It might or might not guarantee us salvage, but couldn't hurt.

Kipenzi and Leon headed over to try and find a logbook, or a download of it. Disabling the jump drives would be good too, and they look for a way to do that as well.

Sam built a radio beacon to leave behind on the ship.

Fig contacts the local spaceport and tells them about the derelict and possible plague aboard.

123-1106
Medicus continues to try to isolate the virus, no progress yet. Some progress from Kipenzi & Leon on understanding the derelict’s computer. Kipenzi is studying the drives; Leon is looking for the ship’s logs. No logs yet and no grasp of the systems yet.

Sam took the completed beacon over to the derelict. The beacon works as a transponder and is coded to say it’s our salvage and a plague ship.

Fig stays as alert as possible, watching sensors and comm on the bridge.

124-1106
Work continues for all of us. Some progress on the computer front. Medicus is pretty sure the problem is a bacteria instead of a virus, but no specifics so far.

125-1106 0200
Sam detects a new ship jumping into the system. It is a 600 ton merchant ship, the Imimuka. It came in just outside the 100 planetary diameter limit, about a third of the way around the planet from our location, about 3 hours away in travel time.

Sam hit the alarm and woke everyone up, in case it was a cleverly disguised pirate or a band of adventurers who stole a merchant. Short hello to the ship about the plague.

Most of us went back to bed, with a request to not panic if another merchant jumps in.

Medicus had trouble getting back to sleep and decided to try to get some work done on the plague.

Medicus had an accident working with a sample. Thinking he may have contaminated himself, he sealed the med-bay and woke everyone else up again. He thinks we should suit up, so we do. Once suited, we vented our possibly contaminated air out into space. We then used the med-bay’s UV lamp to try to kill any microbes that may have attached themselves to any surface and hope for the best.

Fig started looking in detail at Medicus's data and records of the plague investigation.

We pump enough air back into the ship so that Medicus can get out of his vacc suit and get into the auto-doc. Then we vacc the air again, just to be sure. Fig in his vacc suit enters the sick bay and runs the auto-doc’s diagnostics with Medicus’ help.

Once in auto-doc we re-evacuate the ship. Medicus starts passing out and stops carrying on the conversation. Fig realizes what the problem is, and oxygen control is the issue. He corrects it and makes a big red sign of what happened and how to avoid it in the future.

Later, we called back to the port to warn them about the plague. They told us that no ship arrived there within the estimated window of the ANNIC NOVA’s arrival. We think the missing pinnace might be in a different system, possibly Shionthy or Moughas.

Kipenzi and Leon go back to the derelict and continue trying to figure things out. They are still puzzled.

Fig got a good understanding of what Medicus had done and learned, made a sorta suggestion which way to pursue more analysis.

126-1106
Medicus is definitely infected. Since all the rooms are on the same pressure system, we may all be infected. We all keep track of how we feel and note anything.

May need to refit the ship to take care of that.

Kipenzi and Leon keep on trying to figure the derelict computer system. Some progress today.

127-1106
Medicus is feeling a little better than yesterday. The autodoc is maintaining him better, and his system may be fighting back a little more.

Leon had a breakthrough in understanding. He learns more of the language, and that the log is MISSING. It looks like the log was wiped deliberately. They check around for any written notes in the captain's cabin, but came up empty.

Kip checked around for "black boxes" on the two remaining pinnaces. Maybe learn where it had been, at least. The pinnace that had been checked out had nothing. The boxes on the jump drives had been wiped. Someone wanted to make sure they could NOT be backtracked.

128-1106
Keng space control has double checked and tells us that no ships (i.e. the missing pinnace) landed anywhere during the weeks prior to our arrival.

Heya, Kinorb and Dentus are previous know locations of the derelict.

Early morning the Regina Causway, a 200 Ton type A2, jumps into system. Probably a free trader. The book says 2 hard points, 64 tons cargo, jump 2. Inbound from Moughas.

Medicus is feeling much better.

Computer work continues, with some better success. They found the controls for the jump drives, and they shut down the battery-charging thing. The sails start to retract.

They confirm that the ship cannot be maneuvered other than by using the pinnaces.

How F********g tacky.

They checking the jump drives, Kipenzi confirmed that the last jump was a jump 1. Unless they jumped in from deep space, only Shionthy or Moughas could have been their last stop before Keng.

We ask the Regina Causway if there were any reports or sightings of this ship there, or notice of plague. They say no. So Shionthy it is. Unfortunately, according to reports it’s “the most dangerous system in known space”.

They were somewhat worried when we told them about the plague, but we reassured them that it was not on planet.

Shionthy is red zone because of an antimatter presence in system, but only part of the system is actually red-zoned. Also a candidate for original homeworld of... wait for it... the ANCIENTS.

Rumor that the red-zoned moon in the Shionthy sytem is interdicted because of an Ancient site there.

Kipenzi and Leon went to check out the remaining pinnace, hoping to find a flight record of some kind. No such luck.

They found no face huggers and no log of locations, they did find it was set up for passengers, and for long distance in system passenger carrying.

The memory in the pinnace looked like it had been wiped.

Both pinnaces are fueled up and ready to push the ship around. Second one (the first examined) was set up for carrying cargo.

Called the starport and asked about the Lusty Wench. It arrived 016-1106 and left 036-1106. They checked the gate log and legal insurance brokers at the port and found that they had no record of anyone named Harry Liimiri. This planet has 19th century tech levels, he could have changed his name and walked out of the port. We have no way of knowing. But probably he’s still traveling. Maybe.

No records of him going into town or onto planet. Similar law vendors to what we had on Zila, and there is no record of Harry Liimiri purchasing legal insurance. If we want to make sure he was there, we are going to have to go down there and look for clues.

The Lusty Wench is a jump 3 ship, based on what we know about her travels. There are thirteen worlds within jump, but we can narrow that down a lot.

Reading a review in our database concerning Keng:

"It's got an extreme law level, a huge population for a world with very little water, low gravity, almost no starport and 19th century technology, it's right next to Shionthy (perhaps the most dangerous place in Known Space), and it's right by the Imperium's borders with the Zhodani and the various Vargr states. Not recommended."

Continued in ANNIC NOVA, Part 3

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, and The Bloodwell.