Justice - Part 1

The Skylark’s crew cleans up some loose ends and makes plans to bring Lord Julius to justice.

This note is from our February 4, 2018 session and was based on Carl’s and Kay’s notes with additional material provided by myself.

Since we are now scattered around the country, we used Discord for voice communications and Roll20 online virtual tabletop to connect with each other. I made the model for the first illustration in Sketchup and I rendered it using Twilight Render. The other one is a screen shot from Roll20.

Continued from Prelude to Justice.

Imperial Date: 132-1107.

Location: The Planet Rhylanor in the Rhylanor Subsector.

We spent a lot of time talking about plans to 'bring to justice' Lord Julius Maolivir, a noble who allegedly killed a friend of the people who want to hire us. We took a 250K deposit, and now needed to do our research. Always possible the video was faked, and whether or not... we need to know a LOT more about the players before we commit.

Looking into Markelson – of the Kesser- at the University of Rhylanor we found a whole lotta nothing. Lots of denials and not remembering going on.

Medicus spent most of the day getting his prosthetic arm repaired. It was the first time they had seen that particular circuit fail on that model. It was fixed free since it was still under warranty. We speculated that it was the radiation on the Kesser that had caused it to fail.

Feeling nervous about his own prosthetic, Fig got appointment to get his annual maintenance done. He was scheduled for 135-1106 at 1100.

We also got an appointment at the shipyard for the Skylark 2 itself, the last thing we need right now would be a miss-jump. The yard can take the Skylark and have the maintenance done by 145-1107.

We deposited the Skylark money, and our individual assets, to the Imperial bank of Rhylanor. No need to have huge piles of cash just laying around. Sam insisted that it be transferred from the Skylark to the bank by the entire crew, just to be safe.

With 10 days to spend, we invested a lot of time into research on our 'target' and the 'victim'. No reason to not know all we can and go in (if we do) with our eyes wide open and fully informed.

The target: Lord Julius Maolivir - brother of the hereditary president of Icetina. (the Lady Angela Maolivir) Lives in capital, along with about 2/3 of the planetary population. Basically, a banana republic planet. Guarded by royal protection unit. Ruthless. Faithful to family (at least no evidence of affairs). He lost a public duel once and has a scar on his thigh to show for it.

The victim: Horace Surrabeck has a widow on Equus, Layla Palamara (Age 45). She is a veterinarian. His teenage son is Evan Surrabeck. (Age 15). They live on Stonemetz Island, about 45 minutes Northwest of Equus Down Starport.

133-1107
Fig went to the Rhylanor equivalent of National Enquirer, asked about Lord Julius. He got nowhere. Bastards.

Medicus's arm was under warranty and all well now.

More research on Horace, the victim -

Horace Surrabeck was born on 202-1061 in the city of Plankwell on Rhylanor. In 1079 he joined the Imperial Civil Service and worked at the starport on Rhylanor in an admin job. He married his first wife Kalyn Bucanan on 333-1080. They divorced on 093-1088 and he transferred to Equus later that same year to take a promotion at the starport there (211-1088).

On 042-1090 he married Layla Palamara, a well-respected veterinarian. They had a son, Evan on 230-1092. They own a house on Stonemetz Island, about 45 minutes from the starport.

He retired from the Imperial Civil Service in 1099 and sold a previously purchased ship share, cashed out his retirement and used the money for a down payment on a used Animal Class safari ship, the Safari Endeavour. With his contacts from working at the starport he was able to offer new and unusual tours.

Meanwhile, Sam spotted Theodore “Crow” Allen in the broker district, a former contact/customer. He had some paintings, recently recovered... hmmmmm. Currently calling himself <(name withheld)>.

Allen is a forger and has a painting for sale: “The Dawn Odyssey”, a famous painting from the founding era of the Sylean Federation that was lost to commerce raiders during the Third Frontier War. Hmmm... We might find a use for something like that.

Horace had an office on Icetina. We could address mail to him there, maybe allude to a painting available for purchase...

We had some discussion and re-discussion of how to make the lure without being too unsubtle.

Medicus found some information about Horace:

In 1105 Horace met Lord Julius. Lord Julius directed many new customers from Icetina’s upper classes to Horace’s business (safari ship). Times were good, and Horace expanded the business. Just then business suddenly dried up as his Icetina customers stopped. Horace was desperate and accepted Lord Julius’s offer to become a business partner. That was 6 months ago, and things seem to have stabilized. It was then Horace met his tragic death, and the company’s assets reverted to Lord Julius as the remaining business partner.

Hostile takeover??? Was Horace making whoopee with Julius's gal?

Torture before death is usually a sign of immoderate displeasure.

134-1107
We got a call at Skylark from Giilar Brengart of Rhylanor University. Somehow he got the mistaken impression that we worked for Dr. Markelson. He wanted us to come and pick up Dr Markelson's stuff that he had left behind. It is all in a storage unit awaiting his return. Pay the storage and pick it up. 6490 credits. We decided to pay the next month and get it all when Skylark is out of maintenance.

Medicus and Kipenzi went to the storage unit and did a basic search.

They found:

some data chips,

a lot of miscellaneous stuff,

vacuum bottle with some misc liquid (smells foul - old tea), diplomas and certificates(took photos of those),

8 boxes of printouts and receipts including a letter

The envelope has a return address of a George Dupree in Liduka, a city here on Rhylanor.

It contains a letter to Dr. Markelson saying that he enjoyed an article that he had published in a scientific journal and that some of formulas matched those in this notebook that had been in his family for years. The envelope has worn spots and indentations where a notebook had been but no notebook.

We went back at the Skylark, checking out the data chips. Lots of data, formulae and physics stuff.

Fig returned to the National Enquirer place, and referencing the 'hostile takeover' of Surrabeck's business, had better results. Nothing about Surrabeck and Mrs Julius. Julius is rich but has a cash flow problem; had a monopoly on the export on some wood (Icetina Starcone Pine) but had overharvested (idiots). Enemies in royal family (got the names). Not well liked. Art collector.

135-1107
Fig went in for his (early) annual arm maintenance.

Looked into George Dupree (had notebook referenced in the storage locker). Investigating George Dupree leads to the news that he was killed in an aircar accident on 139-1105 on Porozlo while traveling on business. He was a professional agent. No family. Oh well...

Kipenzi says, “Which begs the question, if he was an orphan, where did his “notebook” come from that put Markelson on the right ‘path’ to the beta space drive?”

Returning to the data chips for a thorough look-see... ALL physics, the early work that Markelson did. It is largely notes he left behind, the wrong turns he took before getting on the right track.

136-1107

Skylark went in for check over and annual maintenance.

Pretty well researched, time for a bar trip. Medicus, Kipenzi and Fig head out for a well-earned trip to the relaxation zone.

Street Market in one section of town, something with dragons. Fig had learned a lot from Leon about being sophisticated, and scored well. Medicus and Kipenzi...not so much.

137-1107
Morning: Kipenzi and Medicus are hung over. Fig arrives late with a smile on his face.

Visit to the Traveller's Aid Society, but nothing special in news from Icetina.

Sam reconnected with his old 'friend' – Theodore “Crow” Allen and tried to learn about collectors. No cooperation.

Equus is one jump from Icetina, could be a good place to send the letter from. Another option.

Icetina is in a dispute over gas giant rights with Ivendo, and Equus is taking Ivendo's side. Our thinking is that if we can get an Icetina native to Equus, and get them to understand he’s responsible for an Equus native’s death, they may take a healthier interest in Lord Julius when he’s accused of buying/selling a forged painting.

Pretty well planned out, at least as much as we can from Rhylanor, several thoughts and decisions yet to be made. Theodore “Crow” Allen may go with us, or may have already found a buyer, or maybe we can lure Julius to come to Rhylanor. His ship is only Jump 2, could not make it to Rhylanor without a LOT of time passing.

Initial decision is to buy the painting and take it to Equus. Still thinking but could be good either getting Julius to try and sell fake painting, or make a big profit on the sale.

142-1107
Skylark is back and good for another year. We could make a Jump-3 to Equus as soon as we finalize our thoughts.

Asking our 'employers', we are the first people they approached, and they do not know why Horace's death was as brutal as it was.

Fig says, “As far as we know, the safari ship has no armament. It is essentially the Skylark 1, without a cargo bay --- hijack would be no problem if that was the route we took.”

Kipezi replies, “But we just want someone else to arrest Lord Julius for a crime on another planet, after all, he’s personally protected by the planetary royal guard. We’re not going through them.”

Continued in Justice - 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, The Bloodwell, ANNIC NOVA, The Kinunir and Kesser's Return.