Showdown on Jesedipere - Part 2
The Travellers have a final showdown with Aran Ashkashkur and the Vargr Pirates.
This note is from our November 8th, 2015 session and was mostly written by Carl and Kay with additional material provided by myself. I created the renderings with Twilight Render from models built with SketchUp.
Continued from: Showdown on Jesedipere - Part 1.
Date: 218-1105 Imperial.Location: The planet Jesedipere in the Aramis Subsector.
After the "review" of the Bad Attitude, we discussed the remote possibility of renting it. If shooting started, more guns would be better.That idea passed on when the owner wanted a 25 million credit security deposit.
1006While discussing our plans, we get a report from the tower. The Day Star, a type R trader, had entered the system. We were on edge every time we got a call from the tower, not knowing if it was normal traffic, Ashkashkur or the pirates.
In our planning, we remembered that one of the messages we intercepted while in the trade escapade included a specific shipping number for the meson guns/farm equipment this would help when we needed to find whether or not they were actually in the warehouse.
We also reminded ourselves that Ashkashkur's message indicated he would arrive around 219-1105. With that in mind, we decided to put the explosives in place during the next dark period. Jesedipere’s 26.5 hour day was completely out of sync with the 24 hour Imperial clock we were using on the ship. We needed to make sure we took the local day and night cycle into account when we made our plans as well as the fact that the sun rises almost an hour earlier at Tukera’s site compared to the starport.Before we planted any explosives, confirming that the meson gun parts were actually in the warehouse sounded good. Sam (explosives), Garrukh (hack the computer for specific case location in the warehouse), Kipenzi (escort and scanner) and Medicus (air raft backup) would go out that evening.
1013Air Traffic Control notified us that a shuttle from Akerut was coming in from their site.
That was unusual enough to investigate, so Sam and Kipenzi flew our air/raft to the landing zone to wait. A woman got out. Sam recognized her as one of the Akerut people. She went to a hotel and got a room. Following that she went....SHOPPING! good to know that some things don't change.
She bought clothes and a travel suitcase. After putting them in the hotel, she went back to the parking area and returned to Akerut’s site.
Kipenzi got a room too, and an extra 100 Cr to the clerk got her not just on the same floor but right next door. Picking the inter-room lock, she checked out the clothes and put a camera in place to view the room.The clothes were, as Kip best recalled, the right size for Jelika Chan, Askaskur’s agent. They were not the size for the woman who bought them. Kipenzi locked things up and returned to the air raft, and to Skylark.
1133
ATC said that a 1000 ton freighter, the Horizon Enterprise, entered the system.
Registered to Oberlindes lines, we hoped the big O was finally arriving. Arlanroughl called to the Horizon, and learned it is on a normal trade route returning from outside the subsector. No Baron Oberlindes on board, but the ship had plenty of firepower, should we need that.
Shortly afterward Arlanroughl and Gvoudzon rented a grav vehicle of bus proportions to get a squad of armed Vargr together. Never hurts to have some extra firepower, and Gvoudzon might recognize some of the pirate tactics as well. Better to be ready for a fight and not get into one.
1642The Calbucano Conveyor - 1000 ton. Arrives from Yebab. It is one of the Imperialines freighters serving the C ports in the subsector. Imperial Lines competes with Akerut and Oberlindes for shipping to the planets off the major routes. Fortunately they are not involved in the tradewar.
1734
The Horizon Enterprise lands at the star port.
Sunset at the starport. Air raft and crew head out for fun and adventure. Arlanroughl and the grav bus took the Vargr out too.
Leon and Fig alternated a listening watch for incoming ships and any words from the rest of the crew.
Kipenzi: “As I recall, Fig turned to Leon and asked ‘how about we fly off, sell the Skylark and get out of here?’ then realizing that all of the crew with pilot training were in the air raft, two hours away”.
By about midnight our Vargr encampment was set up and Medicus on the air/raft was monitoring the button cams they had put out. The Akerut/Tukera compound was pretty quiet, but one person was in the warehouse. Medicus was able to get video of the screen that the person was viewing, and Fig used the Skylark computers to enhance it. An org chart, showing who is who. We learned that about 20 people work in the compound.
We verified that no ship was on the landing pad.After concluding that the warehouse person was not going to leave, the midnight madness commenced. Access via rooftop and skylight with grav belts, Sam got to work on the explosives while Garrukh and Kipenzi snuck up to the office area. A squeaky door awakened the man, but a nicely placed tranq dart by Kipenzi settled him down. His computer was still logged in and we got the location of the boxes containing the meson guns in the warehouse.
It turns out that 2000 tons of crated meson gun pretty much filled the warehouse. Except for a few containers on the far wall away from the office, everything there was the guns or farm equipment as they were labeled.
The warehouse interior
While Garrukh dug though Akerut’s databases, Kipenzi used the portable scanner to search the cargo containers in the warehouse. Unlike most of the audio/video, the shoulder camera view of her scanning was relayed via air raft to the Skylark, and saved off for the future.Sam set up the explosives, with two radio activators and an impact firing as a last ditch backup. Unwisely, he also set up a timer for a specific date/time. He set it for 14:30 on day 223, the middle of the night.
They all returned to the air raft and headed back.The roving security guard found the drugged man. Figuring they had a robbery attempt, guards and searchers did their thing.
The scanner video definitely showed meson gun parts. This gave us a last confirmation that we were in the right place.There had been some doubt that we were "the right place" because the message that Garrukh decoded from the brooch said the transfer would be on Lablan, two parsecs away. Anyway, we were now officially good to go
220-1105Sam sold the last of the cargo that we had brought to Jesedipere from Aramanx. Back to the basics for a day.
221-1105 1545
A report from ATC: Tukera Caroline had just jumped in from Junidy. It went into orbit and at 19:45 sent a ship's boat down to the Akerut facility.
Our video feed from Akerut’s meeting room showed Aran Ashkashkur is on the planet. Jellika Chan was there too, and six body guard types.
Other than confirming that they thought our midnight madness was a robbery attempt, we got no useful dialog from them, and no one went to the hotel room.
222-1105Arlanroughl asks that the timed explosives be turned off. The rest of us (except Sam) wonder why it was set that way in the first place...
So, a revisit of midnight madness.
(As it actually turned out, the timer would have been almost perfect. Still a bad idea, but it would have worked.)223-1105
ATC
announced the arrival of Artazhkha, a 400 ton escort, arrived and sat
out at the jump point. Arlanroughl tells us that their company,
Eqzvorkse, is a front company for the Kforzung Vargr pirates .
0544
Oezsaghzko, 2000 ton transport jumps in to system.
Avag Ozngan, another 2000 ton transport at the jump point also.
0630
Kipenzi, Medicus and Sam flew out again in our air/raft.
Azsouth Akhtoen, 400 ton security escort arrives in system and then all 4 of the ships headed in toward Jesedipere at 1 G.
0830
Sam turns off the timer on the explosives.
A ship’s boat from one of the freighters landed on the field at the Akerut site.
A Ships's Boat Lands with the loot.
Eleven heavily armed Vargr disembark. Gvoudzon, looking through binoculars and the spy eyes, was pretty sure the leader was Dhurgeng.Kipenzi: “Thane Dhurgeng was the money person Ashkashkur referred to in the brooch message.”
On video, Ashkashkur looked angry. It appeared to us that the money was not all in convenient cash form. Not sure if it was all pennies, but Ash was not happy.1500
They got a grav lift to take the loot to the warehouse.
1600
One of the freighters heads down from orbit toward Akerut. Ashkashkur
had by this time made several incriminating comments on our video for
posterity. :)
Freighter landed on the field.
Shortly afterward, Sam set off the explosives. Kipenzi got out the popcorn in the air raft for the four of us to enjoy the show. Not perfect, but a good chunk of the warehouse roof came down. Fig notified the Scout Service about an explosion at the Akerut site, and basically was told “No our job, we do air traffic only”.
We couldn't see much of what happened afterwards, we lost most of our cameras and the ones that survived were all pointing at odd angles. We were getting audio and it was indicating that some of the Tukera Security and Vargr Pirates were dead and most were injured despite their body armor.
The finger pointing started soon after. Shooting followed after that.
ATC announced that a space battle was going on in orbit.
It looked like, best we could tell, the Vargr leader was hurt and pulled back to his ship, which departed... without the money or meson guns!!
Ash wound up in the infirmary, and we got a video clip that looked like a woman taking an air/raft. Kip, Med and Sam hopped in our air/raft and came back, going at top speed and using the hologram ability to avoid being seen.Fig called a taxi from the ship and headed to the hotel, in case Jellika Chan was the one returning.
Our air/raft landed. The Akerut air/raft landed. Jellika got off and headed toward the hotel. Kip, Sam, Med followed. Fig waited near the hotel with the cab on hold. The music started.Jelika was distracted enough that she didn't notice anyone following her. Kipenzi, Medicus and Sam followed her into the hotel. When Kipenzi opened the door between rooms, Jelika recognized her, drew and fired. Jelika Chan must have been really rattled, missing two almost point blank shots and taking out a table lamp. Kipenzi did not miss.
Kipenzi: “Sam looted the body before the blood stopped pumping. Found 3 ID cards, only one was for Jelika Chan herself. We took all three to check against various databases, and her pistol. The button cam we set up in the room verified that Jelika shot first. Sooo, Kip ‘self-defensed her to death’”.All four of us taxied back to the Skylark, leaving the air/raft for another day.
224-1105We recovered the air raft. The space battle was done, and all the ships that survived were gone, last seen headed towards the systems’s gas giant, presumably to refuel.
225-1105
Gvoudzon
and the Vargr bussed back in and returned to their neutral corners.
Except for Gvoudzon and a couple, who returned to maintain a watch on
Akerut’s site and monitor the remaining cameras.
0822
The Golden Rose,
a 300 ton Stretch Trader arrived at the 100 planetary diameter limit.
It was registered to the Marquis of Aramis. It moved it a little and
stopped.
A yacht, The New Hampton arrives from Junidy and also stays out at the jump point.
1233
The Magnus Paya, an Oberlindes liner jumps in. It waits too.
Mustang - a gazelle class escort, assigned to Rhylanor 212th Fleet according to our database.
All four ships then move in toward planetary orbit at 1G.
We find that the Baron is on the Magnus Paya, Rold Bulolo is on the New Hampton and the Golden Rose carries the Marquis of Aramis. The Mustang is escorting the Marquis, and not being a Navy representative to the negotiations.The tradewar negotiations started almost as soon as they landed, using the conference room that Arlanroughl had rented earlier.
After much discussion, with Sam doing his negotiating thing, the talks had resolved by 228-1105.Bulolo, one of the known instigators of the trade war, passed all the blame onto Ashkashkur. Politics... bah. At least the sniping would be done.
We aren't sure what Oberlindes or the Marquis got out of it, but we got a relatively standard recovery fee, near 10% of the value of the pirate loot, 47,500,000 credits. All of it in cash, none of the Bonds, Jewelry or bags of quarter-credit coins that had upset Ashkashkur.As soon as we can we plan to head back to Regina at top speed. Enough of this Aramis horses***.
Kipenzi: “We realized we’d be ahead of the message propagation of the end of the tradewar, with our jump-3, so we asked Oberlindes and Tukera if we could carry their verifiable message through the ports we encounter towards Regina. That way we can avoid inter-Lines bar fights. Just the usual bar fights for us.”
Continued in: From Jesedipere to Regina
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.
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