Mission to Mithril - Part 1

After getting repairs the crew gets a job to deliver a snow plow and pick up a Secret Agent. They find the job is not as simple as they thought and discover a mystery.

This note is from our July 8, 2018 session and was written by Carl and Kay with additions 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.

Continued from: Raid on Lunion.

Imperial Date: 261-1107.

Location: The Lunion System in the Lunion Subsector.

Any and all red lights that could possibly indicate trouble in the cargo hold were lit, but at least we had maneuver drive (unlike most of the other ships in our immediate vicinity).

We confirmed that our passengers, at least, had made it through the battle in good shape, and you can always buy more metal and cargo. (If the banking system ever starts working again that is.)

Luckily, our SOP is to be in vacc suits with the ship depressurized when we come out of hyperspace. So the passengers, both marines and diplomat, were in the vacc suits they brought with them and the merchant was in an emergency air bag. It turns out depressurizing saved all our lives. The sensor hit we took breached the hull on the bridge and it would have caused explosive decompression had there been air present.

Calling ahead for dry dock and repairs, we were told, "A proper triage will be done later".

Medicus of the silver tongue sweet talked the port into getting us a repair slot early on, like right away. We got assigned to Bay 23 at Lunion Highport.

On the way in at 1G, we did as much of a damage assessment as we could. Kip and Leon went below to check out damage to our cargo bay.

Comm was working but we left our passengers out of the loop as Kipenzi, and Leon assessed the damage, we didn’t want to panic anyone if it turned out really bad.

Darkness met us in the cargo bay. We could see stars at both ends of the cargo area and wreckage in the middle. Our fuel pressure looked good so at least we didn’t have any fuel leaks and the nozzles for refueling from the cargo bay appeared intact.

The cargo bay doors are damaged badly, front door hanging in shreds but hinges appearing OK at first glance. The front loading ramp was attached on one side and cattywhampus. The floor near the loading ramp is badly damaged. No cargo container, it was just gone. The ceiling crane is gone and the track is on the floor. The teleport disks we picked up at Fulacin are gone. Cargo lifters gone. Our extra life support packs were in the cargo container so they are gone as well. The walls themselves are scratched but not broken as far as we can tell.

The inside airlock was shredded. The droid bay and charging station were gone.

The door in the rear was dangling in such a way that turnover could have tossed it into one of the engines, so it had to go.

We cut engines to stop accelerating – at 1 g we’d get to port in 6 1/2 hours, but we would need to cut the back door off before we make turnover to decelerate, otherwise it might just kill us.

We cut the engines to zero acceleration, giving us more time to fix the problem before turnover, and we heard/felt metal grinding. Most important thing for the moment was to get that cargo door off.

At our current speed we would pass the station’s orbit and impact the planet in just over 10 hours. The operative word is impact since we are moving at 65,000 Kph and would accelerate further as we got deeper into Lunion’s gravity well. On the other hand, we wouldn’t actually get that close since Planetary Defense would vaporize us before we got close enough do any damage on the ground.

Leon got his tools and as much security line as he could find and got the door loose safely at about 0520 with plenty of time to make turnover for deceleration and landing.

At about 0930 hours we were docked in bay 23, and some of the port personnel were getting set to get ready to form a committee to discuss when to start thinking about repairing us.

After landing, and they start to pressurize the docking bay, we find there was also a hole in the bridge at Medicus’ feet. We didn’t see it in vacuum. We lost part of a hull plate when we took sensor damage (see above: SOP vacc suits on jump in, re: survival).

Medicus thawed the Low passage people well enough, and the mid-passage folks were happy to see the ground, too.

We moved all our money (personal and ship) to the local bank, it’s not that we don’t trust the shipyard workers, but we have a lot of cash onboard. It would take one week to repair. The cost would be 825,000 credits to repair and restock our equipment. We also ordered cargo lifters, a bot charger and 5 extra life support packs.

Kipenzi and Leon stayed with the ship to get the repair crew started and everyone else headed for a local hotel to get some rest. They also got rooms for Kipenzi and Leon for when they arrived a couple of hours later.

262-1107
At Lunion High Port

Sam goes out and looks for cargo.

In the morning, Leon and Fig checked in with the Navy to make sure neither were being recalled to active duty, and we contacted the Oberlindes office to say “hi” and see if there was anything from their end.

We got on the news - it turns out that we had the only confirmed kill in the battle, so we were local heroes.

Checking the News:

• The New Sacnoth Beer and Sausage Festival was cancelled this year.
• There is an interview with Jacinto Jann, one of the Skylark 2’s passengers; he is asked how he felt during the battle. His response is that he didn’t feel anything; he was in low passage and didn’t know about it until after he woke up.

Essapai Lergo

At the Obernindes’ office, Manager Essapai Lergo, starts to say they have nothing for the Skylark, but then she checks her screen and says she has something after all -- a job offer, to deliver a snowplow and pick up a passenger at Mithril. An "economic consultant" named John Drake needs a ride home.

We would be given two codes. One identifies us as delivering humanitarian supplies to Mithril, somehow evading the Imperial blockade, to be given if we are stopped by Sword Worlds Forces. If we are stopped by the Imperial Navy, the other identifies them as working on an intelligence mission for the IISS.

Ms. Lergo says, “Don’t get them mixed up.”

Sam asks for 825,000 Credits, half up front, half on delivery. She’s fine with that.

Looking up data on our destination, we find:

Four systems (Iron, Bronze, Mithril and Steel), commonly referred to as the 'Metal Worlds', are claimed by the Sword Worlds Confederation as ‘reserve worlds’ but are not members of the Confederation as they have no indigenous population. Largely undeveloped and unexplored, the reserve worlds have a token Sword Worlder presence and are occasionally patrolled by naval vessels.

Mithril is listed in the directories as having no population, government, or law level; this is not entirely true. Mithril was one of the group of Metal Worlds held in reserve by the Sword Worlds Confederation for future development. To support that claim, a rudimentary Starport (type E, little more than an administration building next to a paved area) is maintained, along with a port warden responsible for establishing sovereignty. Formally Mithril thus had both population, government, and law, but with no way to enforce the law away from the administration building, the Scouts chose to ignore it.

Mithril is/was a low traffic area, so no reason it should be a big concern for any aspect of the war.

Before the war, they averaged less than one ship per month there.

So the cargo will be a Snowplow (20 Tons), 25 Tons of extra fuel, and our extra life support packs again, no passengers this time.

We planned on Lunion to Zaibon to Olympia to Mithril as our route.

That evening we went out for relaxation and rumor gathering. The navy had recovered the fighter we shot down, and we got a round on the house for being the shooters. It confirmed that the Sword Worlds ARE working with the Zhodani. The fighter is Zhodani but pilot was Sword Worlder.

Zhodani tech is higher than SW so it would make sense that they would be using their hardware.

No unusual rumors, just more of the same stuff.

While bar hopping Fig succeeds at carousing. Medicus is asked if he’s Zhodani, by a suspicious bar patron.

“No, Cassilldan”, he replies.

Kipenzi wore her psi helmet under hood in case there really were any Zhodani spies around.

269-1107
The Skylark is repaired, with SW icon on hologram on ship.

Loaded, ready to head out. Jumped out at midnight

275-1107
Back into Zaibon.

282-1107 Midnight
Jump out for Olympia.

289-1107
Into the Olympia system, C-class port: water, no gas giant, no passengers, unrefined fuel available, port fee 15 cr/day, piracy low, low law, low tech, 1k pop, thin, tainted atmosphere, originally a Sword World colony but claimed by Imperium in 256.

Inbound we pass the Red Sun, a 50-ton mining colony vessel. They were rightly suspicious of strangers and were not friendly to us.

Sam sold the cargo, but did not buy any.

The latest news of the war consists of conflicting reports of win/lose, but it sounds like the Empire is getting back onto a winning track at Efate and Louzy.

296-1107
Leaving Olympia for Mithril.

302-1107
Out of jump into the Mithril system, 3 hours from planet. Just getting an auto beacon, no voice contact with the starport.

Once we land it should be simple to locate Drake - we know his face and have a recognition phrase and the place is not that big.

Approaching Mithril, it is a Brilliant white planet, almost silver in the light of the F-Class star. It is on the outer edge of the system’s life zone, with 10 imperial year orbit. Mostly covered with ice, so a snowplow could really be considered humanitarian aid.

There is one gas giant in the system about 4 days away in case we need an alternative fuel source.

303-1107 0130
On approach, about two meters off the ground, our power plant cut out and we hit HARD. Medicus smacked his left elbow, Fig's left knee, Sam a hard smack to left pectoral area (he got hit by his drone). Sam’s drone hits the floor with a crunch.

On the ground the ship was slightly tilted, suggesting some suspension damage. The power plant rebooted so we could at least move, but this did not look good.

Looks like the gravitics burned out, most of ship seems fine. According to the sensor logs, there was a specific spectrum EMP spike that hit us.

Looking outside, nothing that appears a threat. Sensors show that the Mithril Starport fusion plant was rebooting also, so not necessarily an attack on us specifically. We can see 12 cm of fresh snow on the runway, no footprints, no people visible, no other ships, no ships in orbit. The temperature is -1 Celsius, dark clouds overhead but currently not snowing.

It is local noon, the local day is 20 hours with 10 hours of daylight since it is mid-spring here in the northern latitudes.

We got no answer from the port when we called.

Checking the ship gravitics (maneuver drive), Kipenzi and Leon found the gravitic lifters and drive are inoperable. There was an ominous smell of burning circuitry, apparently feedback induced during the 'event'. It is not reparable with the equipment and spares we have with us.

But DOH!!! the air/raft has the same kind of circuit, we might be able to use it to get the ship running. We would have to work on it in the cargo bay, but that could be for a later time. First thing we need to do is to get in touch with someone at the starport.

Fig and Leon tried to put together a detector that could give a direction if another pulse came, but didn't quite figure it out yet.

Sam noticed that his drone could no longer fly. The same circuit as the ship gravitics was fried. Hopefully that the air/raft was NOT running will make a difference in the result, and it will not be burned out too when we get around to checking.

On the right side of the landing strip are three iced over ponds for unrefined fuel.

Mithril Down Starport

A) hole at end of runway: is pit, garbage pit with a wrecked vehicle and trash

B) Empty parking lot

C) Greenhouse

D) Control tower

E) fusion plant at back of admin bldg.

F) Door to greenhouse and plant to outside door at corner of bldg.

The building has thick walls. No one is visible in the tower.

Mostly flat terrain, on sensors we see something about 200kg in size with 2 smaller beings just under 1 km east. The Skylark is about 400 meters from the building.

Sam and Kipenzi armed up with weapons and button cams. Kipenzi wearing psi helmet under hood, they walked to the port to see what they could see. They went to the chart ID’ed as the admin building (the only building) at the port.

They went in the left entrance and found themselves in a small room. There was a solvent smell and odd reddish stains, snow gear and parkas hanging on hooks on the wall have holes in them. Bullet holes or maybe BIG moths?

Sam with shotgun ready and Kipenzi with gauss pistol drawn and rifle slung, open the door to see a long corridor and find the first left door locked.

They found a room labeled “directors office” and checked it out. Looked like what you would expect. It looked like someone left in hurry.

At the end of the hall past another door they found a room with chainlike cage with door, it was empty, hatch in floor. The next door led to a hallway to the left heading back to the front of the building.

Tile floors toward the front, the cage room was bare concrete along with the 2nd hall.

The door at the end of the hall led to a sort of garage with a large six-wheeled ATV and a place marked for an air/raft, but no air/raft.

Sam opened the left door and it led outside.

Right door leads to a room where everything was covered with a fire-retardant chemical – used within the last hour. There is a small fusion power plant here, powered up and running. Screens show it was recently rebooted.

Maybe an automatic fire suppression system went off when the power plant was hit by the EMP.

At the back of the room is a small electronics workshop that looked ransacked, or just sloppy and massively disorganized, we can’t tell. There are a bunch of half-built devices laying around. It is a mess.

On one bench is a large device burnt and melted. There is heat still coming off it. Maybe this set off the fire alarm? Probably something that was burned out by the EMP as well.

The part(s) we need might be here, but it would take many hours of focused search to try and find them. That was for another day.

They exit the building and go in through the door to the greenhouse. Lots of plants, but no answers.

Going back into the main building they find the door next to the greenhouse locked.

The next door is damaged – kicked open, inside is a comm center bigger than it needs to be. A large room with two comm consoles, Kipenzi gets com working and is able to retrieve some ship records.

Kipenzi found a reference to E-a-taka Wasab, a newt name ship. Before that, subsidized merchant Jinfrei came through a couple of weeks previously, and three weeks earlier a Sword Worlder vessel designated only Supply Run 4-14 called at the port.

Appended notes indicate Jinfrei makes a semi-regular run from Zaibon to Caladbolg by way of the reserve worlds and is a friendly vessel – i.e. her crew interacts with the port staff. On this trip, one of her passengers disembarked and remained at the downport. There is no indication as to this person’s identity.

Similarly, Supply Run 4-14 has an appended note that supplies were delivered and four personnel remained at the port. These were Eric and Myntelle Bothildr, noted to be explorer-scientists, and their children Egino and Runa.

As we knew, this was not a really active world.

The next room to the South was a computer room filled with empty racks. There were only two computers mounted and both were missing their data cores.

Back into the hall, they found another locked door and passed it by.

The next unlocked door they found led to a lab of some sort, looked like biological and chemical. It looked about tech level 12.

The door to the west from the lab went to a small hospital. There were two autodocs and other medical equipment. Kipenzi checked the logs and found that they had never been used.

Back into the hall and into the next room, it looked like a dining room. There were tables turned over like a barricade and bullet holes everywhere. There were at least 100 rounds fired by the looks of things.

Whoever did this picked up their shell casings, but missed a few and Sam picked those up. Behind the tables were large blood stains on the floor that someone had used a solvent-based cleaner to mostly clean up. It was hard to tell, but it looked like it was maybe a week old, or at least not much longer than that.

The double doors on the West side of the dining room led to a large kitchen, mostly unused. One cabinet that looked like it was for cleaning products and was empty. Medicus watching though the button-cams said that cleaning solvents will destroy DNA.

At the back of the kitchen was a walk-in freezer and pantry, both about half-full.

Walking back out into the hallway, they went into the next door on the left and found a room with a pool table, bar and storage room.

Down a side hall they found what looked like private quarters. There were a number of small rooms similar to starship staterooms, they all looked like they had been ransacked and all were missing any form of cash, jewelry or small electronics.

The living quarters

A quick search identified who was staying in the rooms:

1. Padraig Staki, male, Safety and Wildlife Officer.

      2. Katia Karseffini, female, Starport Engineer. This room was especially messy.

      3. Egil Tedorsson, male, Field Operative.

      4. Katrin Gyrowetz, female, Communications Tech.

      5. Looked like a storage room, it had extra desks and chairs stacked in it.

      6 - 10. Unoccupied rooms.

    11. This one was odd. The floor had one of those semi-cleaned up blood smears on it. The bed looked like it had been slept in, but there were no personal effects and no indication of the name of the occupant.

    12. This one contained junk and damaged outdoor clothing.

    13. Unoccupied room.

    14. Basic medical supplies, most of which are in cases that have at some time been opened to deal with a minor emergency or something.

    15. Laundry and men’s and women’s bathrooms.

East of the laundry room, the kicked down door led to a private two-bedroom suite with its own kitchen. It was much nicer than the rest of the rooms and showed signs of having been lived in by a single male, probably the Port Warden.

Sam and Kipenzi return to the main hall after exploring the Port Warden's suite

“What the hell happened here?”

“Whatever it was, it is not looking good for the staff that were here.”

Continued in: Mission to Mithril - 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, Kesser's Return and Justice.