On Regina - Part 4

The crew of the Skylark continues to investigate the death of Fig's Uncle Vlen and have a very interesting conversation with a Dandelion.

This chapter is based on Carl's and Kay's notes from our November 14, 2021 session. Since we are scattered around the country, we use Discord for voice communications and the Roll20 online virtual tabletop to connect with each other.

Continued from: On Regina - Part 3.

Location: On Regina in the Regina Subsector.

Date: 214-1110

What to do, what to do???

After Fig and Sam’s visit to the Winter Shipping’s Startown offices, we discussed our options and possible midnight madness.

Detective Odoy sad that Winter Shipping was controlled by Harlen, the man who shot Fig’s Uncle Vlen. Fig said that his uncle wouldn’t work for people like that.

Professor Ujinka had said, “Finding Ancients sites has traditionally been a rather hit-or-miss affair. Either the site is so large that it is obvious from orbit, or so well hidden that they are discovered only by chance. All of the surviving intact sites are virtually impossible to detect using conventional sensors – there are no electromagnetic emissions, no thermal signatures, no gravimetric traces. They’re effectively invisible.”

She told us that she found spacer’s journals that said that there were anomalous signal distortions in the g-band around known Ancient sites. She went to Beck’s World with her assistant Juni to isolate the signal conditions.

She wanted Vlen to go to Beck’s World with his ship, and get her scanner and take it somewhere else, she had an idea as to where to use it.

From her assassins we got:

• After killing Vlen Backett, Harlen took a statuette and a data tape from Vlen’s room. We have no idea as to what is on the tape, but it might be important.
  
  
• They had a device that they called “The Gadget”, that is some kind of EMP pulse device. Harlen used it at the hotel the night he shot Vlen and Regi Navarro used it when they assassinated the professor. Regi escaped with it when Kinson and Labre were caught. Regi also works for Harlen.

Vlen Backet has something in his brain. Some sort of tech, we don’t know what it is, but may be memory related.

We talked about whether to keep investigating Winter Shipping or to bail and take Vlen’s body to Alell, where he left instructions with the Public Order Commission for Fig to take him.

We decided to make another visit to Winter Shipping, but make plans to bail if we needed to.

Our Plan:

Only Fig and Sam went to Winter Shipping; they haven’t seen the rest of us. This time Kipenzi and Medicus would go, with Fig and Leon as backup and Sam at the Skylark on comms.

Kipenzi and Medicus would use their code phrase “'seventeen tons of flax” and we would see what happens.

The main (Startown) office had definite hours, but the starport office/warehouse was just closed with a sign to talk with the folks at the main office.  Likely tomorrow in the early workday would be a good time to make that move.

Body and Gauss pistols all around, ballistic cloth under the clothing.

215-1110  Morning.
Kipenzi and Medicus went to Winter Shipping with concealed weapons and armored with ballistic cloth. Chamax was the distress word, as well as any loss of communications. Leon and Fig stayed as near as possible without obviously lurking on their security cameras.

Kipenzi walked up to the counter to talk to Marid, with Medicus acting like a bodyguard.  She said that she had seventeen tons of flax to offload.

Marid hit a concealed button under her desk and a section of the marble floor slid open and exposed a ramp.  She said, “Just proceed down the tunnel. Exceedingly Discreet is waiting at the far side.”

The ramp led to a tunnel that ran under the fence toward to starport warehouse.  It closed behind us. The turnel looked like a utility tunnel with pipes and cables running along the sides.

Back at the Skylark, Sam noticed that the feed from Kipenzi and Medicus was breaking up and then he lost Medicus completely. He relayed the information to Fig and Leon.

Before her signal was cut off completely, Kipenzi says, “I hope our friends get to the warehouse soon, so we don’t have to wait.”

Leon and Fig quickly went to the security checkpoint and through the gate to the starport and down toward the warehouse.

As Kipenzi and Medicus continued down the hallway, they noticed that one of the pipes in the tunnel was newer than the others.

Suddenly a voice came from a hidden speaker, “‘Ok, talk fast or I’ll flood the tunnel with poison gas. Who are you and what do you want?”  It was Marid.

Kipenzi replied, “We want to talk to Harlen about alien tech.  If you don't want to buy, OK.”

Gas started coming out of hidden vents in the new pipe.

There was a locked door part way down the tunnel, and a fence at the end. The fence was not passable without tools and there were no apparent turnoff valves for the gas.

As he started to lose consciousness, Medicus recognized the gas as anesthetic instead of poison. Kipenzi went down a few seconds later.

*** 

Leon and Fig had headed to the starport and the Winter Shipping office. There was still no comm with either of the others. They confirmed that the building was closed and the door was locked. They went around to an alleyway with a large door, suitable for trucks and etc.  On the south side there were a couple more doors.

Sam started picking up signals from Kipenzi and Medicus, but no voice.  He told Fig and Leon and recommended forbearance rather than immediate direct action.  The signal was coming from inside the northeast part of the warehouse.

Moving around, they found a door that looked breakable, in a push comes to shove case. They waited, as patiently as possible.

Sam reported that the button cams made it look like they were unconscious and being dragged by a couple of thugs. 

A speaker by the door Fig and Leon were near said in a strange, musical voice, “We seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot, please come inside and we can talk.”

Leon and Fig went inside, and a voice said that they were not dead, just that an employee got a little overenthusiastic with security.

The thugs looked like they got different orders all of a sudden, and another door in the warehouse opened up. 

“Please step into my office, and bring the other two as well."

As they dragged Kipenzi and Medicus, Kipenzi started to come out of the sedation.  The office had a Llellewyoly, presumably Exceedingly Discreet in it.

Library Data:
The Llellewyoly are a minor race native to Junidy in the Aramis subsector of the Spinward Marches. They are nicknamed ‘Dandelions’ or ‘Dandies’, as they resemble a two-meter-tall version of a Terran plant, with five stalk-like limbs that are used for manipulation, movement and sensing. Llellewyoly are highly intelligent and have excellent memory recall and organizational skills, possibly as a result of their incredibly complex social structure. A Llellewyoly possesses dozens of formal titles simultaneously and addressing it by the wrong title is a grievous insult. They are rarely encountered outside their home world.

The Llellewyoly unfolded like a blossoming plant, unfurling long sensory-tubules in their direction.

Through its translucent environment suit, strange colors played over its central mass as it activated a small communications device attached to its central stem. In a musical voice it said, “I am Exceedingly Discreet. What is your title at this time, strangers?”

After introductions it apologized for the excess action of gassing the two.

It said, “I apologize for my employees to gas your associates, inheritor Figueroa Newton and what is your title?”

Fig says Fig.

We had a long conversation with Exceedingly Discreet and it spoke evasively about almost every topic but we were able to extract the following information:

It  was under the impression that Ven Yasha called in the hit on Professor Ujinka, we had heard Harlen rumored to be the source of the attack.

• It  was under the impression that Ven Yasha called in the hit on Professor Ujinka, we had heard Harlen rumored to be the source of the attack.
  
  
• When Fig asked about Ven Yasha ordering her death: “It makes no sense. The value of Ancients artefacts is enhanced by greater understanding of Ancients technology.”
  
  
• Kipenzi asked Exceedingly Discreet about the hit on Vlen Backet. It thinks that Ven Yasha ordered the hit on Uncle Vlen. It believes Backett was a messenger for Ven Yasha; it has correlated orders from Ven Yasha with visits by Backett. Presumably, he was killed because he brought bad news.
  
  
• Exceedingly Discreet says Ven Yasha must be a powerful precog or else is high up in Imperium, has high reach and has connections everywhere.
  
  
• It knows that Harlen retrieved a statuette and a data tape from Backett’s room in the hostel. These items were transported to Harlen’s station.
  
  
• It asked, “Are you aware that Imperial agents are following you?” We answer in the affirmative.
  
  
• Exceedingly Discreet informs us it is aware that Imperial Intelligence agents are on Regina. The Alahir recently departed the system; Gand Holcess is the captain of that ship. The purpose of the visit is a mystery to Exceedingly Discreet but it suspects that Holcess holds a special portfolio within the intelligence services, most likely to do with existential threats to the Imperium. But agents left behind are following us and suspects they followed Vlen too.
  
  
• It looks to it like the intelligence folks were interested in Uncle Vlen, and may be interested in us now hoping we will lead them to Ven Yasha. That may be why they followed us to the professor's place.
  
  
• Harlen is only a caretaker, shortsighted and incompetent, but loyal. Harlen keeps things running when Ven Yasha is away.
  
  
• Exceedingly Discreet beat around the bush a lot, and finally asked, “Does our cultural norm include revenge killing for relatives?” Fig says it’s not cultural." It wants to have us go after Harlen and kill him, making way for Exceedingly Discreet to move up in the organization.
  
  
• Exceedingly Discreet has the coordinates to Harlen’s orbital station. We can get them later if we have an agreement. It also offered to have a shuttle take us there.
  
  
• Harlen’s station is actually three 1,200-ton shipping containers welded together. The database was scrubbed of their existence a long while ago, so it would be pretty secure for the owners.

This conversation took place with the other “employees” on the opposite side of the closed door.

We thanked Exceedingly Discreet for it offers of the access codes and an appointment with Harlen. We tell him that we still have business to conclude that will take several days (buying cargo for next port), before we can take it up on the offers. We made a tentative agreement and it gave us the coordinates for Harlen’s station, but not the security codes or appointment, we could get those later if we agreed.

Fig suggests that Kipenzi & Medicus go back out through the office door and Fig & Leon go out from warehouse, just in case Imperial Intelligence had been following us today.

Back at the Skylark, Fig talked of sending Marid a bouquet of dandelions with a red rose as a “thanks and fuck you”. Kip suggests we may need their good will later.

Sam checked the coordinates Exceedingly Discreet gave us for Harlen’s station and it matched up to a multi-thousand container yard where cargo containers are stored in space. Some containers have been there for hundreds of years.

We probably need to talk with Harlen about the killing(s). The statuette and the data tape that were taken are also now on Harlen's station.

Exceedingly Discreet can also supply us with a shuttle to take us to him – WAY TOO COOPERATIVE. But he was also bringing up – in a very roundabout way – the suggestion that if we killed Harlen (aka revenge killing for relative), he would move up in the organization. It might be worth something to have the goodwill of a member of this organization, but what would Ven Yasha’s response be to killing of a lieutenant?  We definitely want answers from Harlen, before any mayhem, but we don’t know what type of info that will be.

Also discussed whether or not an appointment is a good idea.  It does guarantee us access to Harlen, but leaves a definite record of our presence. Unlikely that we could sneak in unless we set up a cargo container retrieval nearby. Still, they are likely paying close attention to what is going on in their area

Sam said that our cargo will be loaded around 217. Our expected route with be Regina – Knorbes – Alell – Feri – Beck’s World.

The container storage yard is a hazard zone, and a maze. It’s 4 hrs away from Regina and 10 hrs from the jump point.

The Shuttle is 40-tons with 22-tons of cargo.

Harlen knows who we are, so we can’t go in and lie to him about our identities or mission.

While we were making plans, an X-Boat arrived with news from Dentus:

Knowing our luck, we will probably run into Vargr renegades on the way to Beck’s World.

Continued in Leaving 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, The Bloodwell, ANNIC NOVA, The Kinunir, Kesser's Return, Justice, Mission to Mithril, Outback, Skylark and the Pit, Last Flight of the Amuar and One Crowded Hour.