T20 Traveller - The Kursis Charter (complete Aug 8th 2005)

[Morte]

Act 1: Avarice Rewarded - Kursis Mail LIC

Date: 135-993 to 136-993 Imperial.
Location: Shanape system (1023), various port areas.

Calls were made, acquaintances renewed, brains picked. [And the first skill checks of the game were rolled, for Gather Information.] Not much came of it until a former navy type working in the port authority said “Well, Kursis have a job touring the boonies but it needs maybe five tons of cargo space. I suppose you’re in a type S, that won’t be quite enough.”

“Nope, I’m on a rickety A2. That leaves me 61 tons to make a loss on.”

“Hey, what are you doing on a merchie?”

“Long story. Want to hear it over lunch?”

“Sure, but get hold of Fridrick Hilmersson at Kursis Mail LIC planetside first and make an appointment to discuss the Linkworlds charter before someone else does.”

Lunch was eaten, the appointment kept, formal and informal references given. Avarice Rewarded and her crew didn’t have much of a background, but local corporation Kursis Mail LIC didn’t have much of a mail fleet since all their ships were requisitioned by the navy as auxiliaries. It was time for the quadrennial collection of starport management logs, bonded hardcopies of the electronic reports kept for anti-fraud reasons. Kursis normally shipped them to Sentry (0921) in its regular mail fleet for forwarding in the high jump mail system, but just now they were stretched too thin.

Sir David got a pretty good deal, what with his charming manner and his old friends telling him exactly how bad the corporation needed outside help. Kursis would pay their normal overheads and fuel throughout the job, and pay for a full maintenance overhaul at 069-526 once the job was done. They were free to trade as they went along.

It wasn’t the most exciting job in the world, but a charter on these terms was perfect for a trader with next to no capital and a major spaceworthiness inspection a few months down the line. Sir David hired a lawyer, and set contracts in motion.

“Looks like a nice easy job” said the Fish when he heard about it.

 

[Morte]

Act I: Avarice Rewarded - Ms. Luan Derhayenne

Date: 135-993 to 136-993 Imperial.
Location: Shanape system (1023), Shanape highport, aboard the free trader “Avarice Rewarded”.

Meanwhile, back on ship, the Fish glided around poking at the hardware and making lists while Silea ordered supplies and looked for unemployed space medics to interview. The supplies were a problem until Sir David came up with the money from his own pocket. The medics were a problem, period, because their was a war on.

In the end they interviewed two. The first was a port employee, he had a bit of medic skill from his army days and some experience working in planet side hotels and a bit of this and a bit of that and… and he looked OK, if uninspiring. He was on a month’s notice at the port authority, and might have a problem shipping out earlier than that. They said “we’ll let you know”.

The second was a bit odd. She was a full-blown medical doctor, with sixteen years in medical education and acute hospitals behind her, and she should presumably be coming into the prime of her medical career. She’d come up the hard way, indentured to a corporation in return for her training. But she’d somehow bought them out a decade earlier than usual, which meant she was free to quit her job and leave the planet.

And quit she did, and leave she did, on the first grav shuttle to highport where no job awaited her.

They asked why she’d burned her bridges so thoroughly. She said something to the effect that she found life in Shanape “a bit stifling”. “The Avaricious”, as the owner and crew were beginning to call themselves, took this as a reference to Shanape’s level D law. The previous charismatic leader had pulled the planet up by two tech levels in fifty years, but his successor couldn’t let go of control when the time came. Now everything that wasn’t compulsory was illegal. Law enforcement was draconian and intrusive.

They asked how she’d found the money, if she didn’t mind telling them. “I invested” she said. “I speculated on the stock market and eventually made enough to buy out my indenture. I did quite well on pharmaceutical stocks.”

She asked questions too. What medical facilities were aboard? Would they be getting supplies before departure? Did they intend to carry passengers in low berths? And what would be the terms of her contract?

They said they’d let her know as well, and two hours later they did. That solved the “who buys the speculative cargo” question.

They had a crew, they had a job, and it all got very busy.

 

[SpaceBaby Industries]

Ah, Traveller. I've been a fan of the game, especially the setting that drove it, all the way back to when I bought those three little books in the box. I don't want to date myself even more by saying how long it's been since I've actually played a Traveller game - managing to get together for D&D is tough enough to schedule as it is.

In any case, it's good to experience the Traveller universe again, albeit vicariously.

Type A2 Far Trader Avarice Rewarded. 200 tons displacement.

Fuel requirements: 44 tons
Jump Capability: One Jump-2
Manoeuvre Drive: 2 constant
Cargo Capacity: 66 tons
Passenger Capacity: 4 low berths, 10 staterooms (including crew)
Crew: 4 standard ( Pilot, Astrogator, Engineer, Steward/Medic)
Aramament: 2 hardpoints for standard turrets, one dual beam laser fitted, one hardpoint empty
Ship’s Vehicles: none
Ships Locker: emergency vacc suits, various survival gear, small arms, assorted junk

Question: Do you know if the other tried and true Traveller ships got revised, was the A2 an anomaly as a class, or is this one special? I remember the original A2 had J2, but only 1G. Cargo was 61 tons, and there was a handy Air/Raft. There was also that extra fancy oversized stateroom for the owner aboard and/or captain with a big window and such.

Yes yes, I own Supplement 7: Traders and Gunboats. More frighteningly, I remember these things.

The assorted junk part in the ship's locker...that sounds like some things never change regardless of the rules set in use.

 

[Broccli_Head]

Hey Morte,

I'm all over this. Good to see someone playin' T20 like me, though many sectors to trailing and over 100 years earlier.

Space Baby Ind--Yes, several of the classic ships have been revised.

 

[Morte]

Question: Do you know if the other tried and true Traveller ships got revised, was the A2 an anomaly as a class, or is this one special? I remember the original A2 had J2, but only 1G. Cargo was 61 tons, and there was a handy Air/Raft.

I don't really know the ship rules (awaitng reprint of the proper rulebook), I just used the design provided with the adventure. Maybe it's a revision or maybe they were just built at different tech levels by different shipyards. E.g. your A2 might have been TL 11 while this one is TL 12/13.

An air/raft weighs five tons, which may explain why I've got one less air/raft and five tons more cargo capacity. The lack is deliberate. When they visit a world in the steam era, they'll have to ride steam trains to get around (unless they improve their finances).

With a bit of prior history handwaving I swapped the scout ship Sir David was entitled to for a larger trader + extreme cash shortage, so that they could do a bit of trading and I could put "interesting" passengers aboard.

There was also that extra fancy oversized stateroom for the owner aboard and/or captain with a big window and such.

Yep, Silea and the Fish have somehow blagged that on the Avarice Rewarded.

Yes yes, I own Supplement 7: Traders and Gunboats. More frighteningly, I remember these things.

It's scary, isn't it?

 

[omnimpotent]

This is excellent! I've heard about Traveller for decades now, and even got around to getting a copy of T20. (second hand, at a bargain, and still in good shape - maybe in better shape than your old A2!)

It sure is nice to hear a few of someone else's runs before I jump in myself.

As a bonus, it seems like you have woken the sleeping Broccli Head, my other T20 educational series. Huzzah!

 

[Morte]

Act I: Avarice Rewarded - Hortalez et Cie

Date: 136-993 Imperial.
Location: Shanape system (1023), Shanape downport, Hortalez et Cie offices.

“So the loan is to provide an operating fund, Sir David?”

 

[Morte]

Act I: Avarice Rewarde - All Systems Go

Date: 137-993 Imperial.
Location: Shanape system (1023), aboard the free trader “Avarice Rewarded”.

“Roger highport, we have telemetry for your traffic pattern. Detaching.”

…

“Avarice Rewarded, you are clear for 2G burn to 120 diameters per agreed telemetry.”

…

“Avarice Rewarded jumping for Liar’s Oath in three minutes, highport.”

“Roger Avarice Rewarded, bon voyage.”

Silea ran jump plot checks, instrumentation checks, navigation checks, and made a point of calmly sitting back to watch the status displays for another minute.

Back in engineering, the Fish studied a few panels then leaned against a bulkhead feeling the vibration though his shoulder blades to make sure everything was alright.

Luan ran over procedures for jump sickness and cold sleep berths in her head. She had four crew plus passengers hot and cold to look after. Space medicine was new to her, but she had studied with fierce intensity since coming aboard.

Sir David sat in his co-pilot’s chair and did nothing.

…

Silea flipped the lid and hit the switch. Cerenkov blue played around the ship for a moment, and then it was gone. She turned to the owner aboard. “Right then, you’d better go and see if you can poison the passengers”.

 

[Morte]

Act II: Liar's Oath - Jump

Date: 137-993 through 144-993 Imperial.
Location: jump space, aboard the free trader “Avarice Rewarded”.

Jump was an anticlimax after the rush to get going. Fish spent most of the time playing video games -- Liar’s Oath was a lower tech world and Luan had bought consoles as speculative cargo. Silea did her homework on the next system and played the flute. Many Luriani were musical, and she found plenty of time aboard ship. In the “evenings” she used radical measures to tear Fish away from his video games. Fish thought it was a pretty good trip.

Sir David learned, much to his shock, that there was more to cookery than noodles.

Luan studied. At first she studied space medicine, xeno medicine, allergic and respiratory conditions, and anything else that could go wrong on a planet hopping trip. Eventually she unwound, and began to read more about worlds and people as it sank in that she had a new life to come.

They had passengers. There were two students returning from university in cold sleep low berths; and in middle passage they had a couple of construction engineers who were going to supervise expansion work on the starport. They worked for the same company that was paying haulage on the sealants in the cargo bay. And there was a military man, an army captain returning home after a “consulting” stint on another world.

According to library data Liar’s Oath (1021) UWP C4247A7-8 was a 0.5g moon orbiting the system’s smaller gas giant. It had a thin/tainted atmosphere and about 40% surface water. The military dictatorship enjoyed the broad confidence of the 60 million inhabitants. Law levels were about average, e.g. wandering around with firearms was not allowed. Intrinsic technology was level 8, the beginnings of the space age, with higher tech imports.

The captain gave them a bit more spin on the place. The current boss was one major Alice Lakaii, whose government was more progressive and less corrupt than the military junta they’d ousted twelve years earlier. They were trying to boost the economy, starting by improving the starport, and they earned a bit of imperial currency to pay for this by hiring out soldiers trained to fight in hostile atmospheres like their own. The captain was one such starmerc.

 

[Morte]

Act II: Liar's Oath - Arrival

Date: 144-993 Imperial.
Location: Liar’s Oath system (1021), free space, aboard the free trader “Avarice Rewarded”.

The Avarice Rewarded came out of jump about half an hour early and found the stars and planets in their expected places. Silea locked on the geosynchronous beacon over the starport and received permission to land. She plotted a course, agreed it with Sir David and started the 2g burn. There was a tiny shiver as the ship’s artificial gravity shifted to counter the acceleration.

Meanwhile, Luan did her rounds to see if anyone was jumpsick and the Fish communed with the engines. All was well, so everybody settled down for system transit.

They were 174 minutes in-system when an amber light began to flash on the comms console. Silea’s eyes snapped to the traffic summary. Sir David, manning the comms console, verified the signal and hit the intercom switch for crew areas. “Bridge to crew, we have a signal GK ship in distress and we are investigating. Standby for manoeuvres.”

“Got a bearing?” Silea asked.

“It’s coming from the direction of the gas giant. It’s faint, something’s interfering.” He punched his comms bearing into the ship’s TMA system and continued working. “It’s data, not voice. A looping signal. Short. I’m working on it, computer’s trying to pull an average out of the noise. I’m pinging on radar. Can you roll up 30 clockwise 118 to give me a good aperture?”

“Roger. Programming… manoeuvring.” Again, the tiny shivers as ship’s gravity compensated for the bursts of thrust. Silea looked at her TMA tracks. “Well, we’re the only ship on anything like an intercept. We might get to it. Depends how fast it’s going.”

“Computer’s cracked it. Oh… no wonder it’s faint. They’re inside the gas giant’s atmosphere.”

“What in the name of seaweed are they doing in there?”.

“They don’t say. Here’s what I’ve got… It’s the ship’s computer talking, emergency programme. Vessel identifies as the scout/courier Malfeasant. Malfeasant is on a ballistic trajectory, no engines, blasting out from deeper. Malfeasant has expended all fuel already and… cannot reach orbit. Crew not responding. The broadcast has looped for 84 minutes. Looks like it was blocked by atmosphere while they were deeper.”

“They used all their fuel” said Silea. “Whatever happened, they rigged a blast trajectory and the recorded message. They must have hoped someone would come and get them.”

“That implies there’s somebody alive to go and get. But they aren’t talking… The ship’s broadcasting telemetry with the message. Here, put these in TMA.” He fed her a string of numbers.

Silea studied her trackers again and started working plots on the nav software. “We could intercept, barely. But we’d be inside the atmosphere. Pressure at that depth is… significant… but within our tolerances. We might have fifteen to thirty minutes alongside as their trajectory tops out.” She paused, and kept her eyes on the console as she asked “Are we going for it?”

“Of course we’re…” Sir David came to a halt as his face turned sour. He’d been flying tiny scout ships all his life. “Passengers. We’ve got five passengers. That’s probably more than the crew of Malfeasant. If they’re alive at all… Can we risk our passengers on a rescue?” He went quiet for a few seconds, and slowly turned to look at Silea.

“Go on,” she said, “I know it’s coming.” [1]

“Sorry. Do you think we can do it, without ‘unreasonable risk’?”

Silea tapped buttons and made a verbal log entry. “For the record, pilot estimates that we can attempt an intercept on the distressed vessel Malfeasant within the atmosphere of Honora without undue risk to passengers and crew. We must evaluate the chances of a boarding and rescue as we close. Mission should abort if the risks become too great.”

Sir David gave her a grateful look.

“Go on, start getting ready” she told him as she punched go on the intercept plot.

[1] Interstellar law requires that assistance must be rendered to any distressed vessel, unless this would unduly endanger the rescuing ship. It also says that a ship with passengers shouldn’t play dice with them. The Avaricious are under no obligation to assist Malfeasant, and are possibly sailing a bit close to the wind by doing so. Silea, who has studied for her merchant officer’s exams, knows all this and Sir David is an old enough hand to know it too.