The Kinunir - Part 2

The Skylark’s crew finishes exploring the Kinunir, reports their find to the Navy and then hits the bars on Socrates station for New Years.

We used Roll20 online virtual tabletop to connect with each other since we are now scattered around the country.

This note is from our April 9, 2017 session and was mostly written by Carl and Kay with additional material provided by myself. I did the Illustrations in Sketchup and Twilight Render.

Continued from: The Kinunir, Part 1.

Date: 357-1106 Imperial.

Location: In orbit around an uncharted asteroid in the Shionthy system, Regina Subsector.

1445
Our away team of Leon, Kipenzi and Fig were aboard the Kinunir which we had found abandoned. It had laser and blast damage, was broadcasting no transponder signal and had only minimal power.

Medicus and Sam had gone to recover the four bodies that we detected orbiting the asteroid. If they turned out to be Navy, we intended to keep them safe and secure; but if pirates... well, we still haven’t tested the Ancient teleporting lifter pads with organic material... waste not, want not.

Medicus and Sam go to recover the bodies.

We discussed the idea of transferring fuel to the Kinunir so we could move it the 150-200 meters to be on the asteroid instead of orbiting and decided against it.

We also discussed the idea of jumping out to Moughas and report our findings to the Navy, and come back to continue our Shionthy doings.

In the end we decided to just leave it here and go tell the Navy here in Shionthy at the interdiction station. We got some physical loot (coffee cups) to mark our claim, as well as our video and medical logs to prove that we were there.

Sam and Medicus got the four bodies into the Skylark cargo bay.

The away team started looking for body bags. Medicus suited up and went to check out the bodies. Uniforms are Imperial Navy, they were frozen solid and pockmarked from micrometeorites.

They may have been dead before being spaced. Some indications of beating/torture, or at least mistreatment.

Medicus looked at the uniform insignia and name tags and was able to ID the bodies:

• Lt Cmdr Idaash Morgan, Drum and Bugle corps insignia, must be the leader of the ships band.
• Capt Rikart Telson
• Lieutenant Piikerdi Rolland, also a band member.
• Able Spacehand Harwood Holmes, not a band member but could be stage crew by the looks of his insignia.

Fig was able to access the medical log tablet, and the names were on the list, but not listed as band members.

• Morgan - chief engineer
• Rolland - computer officer
• Telson - the real captain
• Holmes - captain's aide

Leon, a navy veteran himself, corrected Medicus's misread of the insignia. It was, in fact, legitimate Naval insignia. What Medicus thought were musical insignia were actually engineering insignia.

We got the bodies over to the Kinunir, to keep them 'on ice' for proper retrieval. Captain's face looks angry; others look frightened or in pain. One had a broken arm.

We put a low level beacon on the ship and get asteroid movement data for several weeks. By this time it was near midnight now and everyone took a break.

358-1106
We left behind a respond-to-inquiry transmitter device for subsequent location and we left for Socrates Station, about 60 degrees around the Shionthy (cold) belt.

The plan was that while Sam did the cargo thing, the rest of us would check on the history of arrivals and departures in the timeframe that the Annic Nova departees might have arrived, as well as checking for any rumors of plague.

361-1106
On Socrates Station.

No plague came here, fortunately. Checking the arrival and departure records in the system, we noticed that the Lusty Wench arrived on 062-1106 from Keng. So Harry Limiiri was here, but at this point it is just a record to keep in the database since we knew what happened to him once he got to Aramis.

Alas, poor Harry - NOT.

There are lots of other places in system that ships could have landed, but there was no aggregate database of all ports. “There are five major stations in system. So we're in for a lot of travel time in system”, says Kipenzi

1107-0000
New Years celebration on Socrates Station, Shionthy. Party central, kinda sorta.

Leon stayed to keep the ship company, and the rest of the crew went out to ring in 1107. What could go wrong?

The Molten Lemon bar looked promising, “...so we bellied up and had another round. It would be long, cold and lonely before we hit the ground again.”

We went barhopping for party time and listening for any good rumors or information.

We learned that there were Navy ships in system, near the gas giant Georgio. We decided to try and contact them instead of going to Moughas to tell the Navy about finding the Kinunir.

Fig met a party-goer and struck up a good conversation. A woman who came in from Styx Station got talking about a weird thing that happened about 6 months ago (around 106-1106). A strange ship came in. It didn't even have a jump drive. The crew was human but she didn't recognize the race. They were looking for supplies and then took off.

That time frame would have been about 3 weeks before we jumped into Keng and detected the Annic Nova.

She figured they must have a parent ship someplace. The description fit the folk we "encountered" on the Annic Nova. She didn't know where they (about 6 of them) were going.

Only one spoke to her, the others occasionally spoke in an unrecognized language. Apparently only one (a male) spoke Glanglic. She figured a noble and servants, or family maybe. She had no idea where they went and they never came back.

The ones she saw were all adults, all kind of short - 5 ft or so. All 6 were bald. They may have been deserted or abandoned here, and may still be in system.

With 3 days to the gas giant where the Navy were found, and a week or so beyond that to Styx station, heading out that way seemed sensible.

002-1107
Medicus went shopping for armor. With the local law level 2, portable energy weapons are illegal but little else. For a price, you can find almost anything here.

We sent a message to the Navy ships about the Kinunir. We had to finish the trading in system before heading out anyway, and that might preclude us needing to go to the Navy.

They asked for the coordinates, and we sent the location off to them, or at least the best astrogational guess and the beacon information to help them locate the ship. We also sent video from our body cams and scan information.

And that was a good enough reason to go party a little bit more. Let the good times roll.

Leon joined us for that one, and showed us a little bit of how the hoity toity do it. We went to "The Maroon Body", a fancy place.

Someone overheard, "I like to contemplate pizza but when I stop my talking, my mind turns straight to beer". Afterwards we spent way too long trying to find some meaning in the phrase.

Third bar: "The Perfect Jewel", no rumors there.

003-1107
4th bar: "Fragging Rhythm", no rumors of note, but the music was good.

It took a couple more days for Sam to finish dealing with the cargo situation, and we spent more time in bars and inns. Leon set a good example for us, and we tried to emulate him (or mime in satire) some.

004-1107
The Navy asked us to hang around the system til they located the Kinunir, and we decided to head over to Styx Station. We planned to look up the arrival and departure records there, and any (if any) video surveillance.

007-1107
While we were in transit, the Navy located the Kinunir. There was a big reward for finding it for them, 13,366,300 Credits. It would be forwarded to our ship account and would available on about 030-1107.

The Outer Shionthy System.

010-1107
We arrived on Styx Station.

The Story Continues in The Kinunir, 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, The Bloodwell and ANNIC NOVA.